Slavery

It was at Jersey Airport, a number of years ago. I was in the check-in area. On top of a desk stood a weighing machine. The back of it carried prominently the name of the manufacturing company – a well-known one. Someone had written in big felt-tip pen the letters “SL” in front of it. The result was there for all to see: “SLAVERY”.

I smiled. A little imagination conjured up a scenario. An employee, disenchanted with his work or perhaps just having a bad day, had added the letters to make a point. His conditions of work amounted to slavery, at least as he saw it.

Of course, real slavery, ancient or modern, is usually a much more degrading and oppressive business for the sufferer. A slave was viewed as little better than an inanimate tool. The slave could be abused in almost any way the owner chose – there were few sanctions against it from the law or from society.

In light of this, the way the Bible views slaves and slavery can come as something of a shock. Whom do the writers of the New Testament regard as the king-pin of ancient society? Is it the emperor, at the top of the social pyramid? Or the army general? Or the merchants, or the heads of families, around whom so much of social and household life revolved? No! Believe it or not … it is the slave!

“How can this be?” you ask. Did we in this country not fight a lengthy battle to rid the world of slavery? We are proud of the fact that William Wilberforce, a British parliamentarian, finally steered the Slave Trade Act through to the statute book. This struck the first blow towards ridding the world for ever of the vile practice of slavery. We rightly have a horror of this distasteful trade rearing its ugly head again in the form of people-trafficking, “modern slavery”.

I don’t believe for a moment that early Christian stalwarts like the apostles Paul and Peter ever intended to give the institution of slavery their seal of approval. Yet for them one feature at least about the slave could be an inspiration.

Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:18-24 NIV)

If Christian slaves suffered unjustly and yet kept a dignified composure, they gained credit with those around them. Better still, they reflected in a small way the character of their Master. The Lord Jesus was insulted, abused and finally put to death. Philippians (2:7) says that he “made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness”. He did so in total obedience to God His Father. In His wounds we find healing for our sins. He was subsequently raised from death. In His wake we followers, too, may be raised.

Jesus Christ did not endorse slavery for one moment. Yet He raised slaves to a new level of dignity by the way, slave-like, He handled abuse and unjust suffering. This is a lesson that needs to be learned again in a day when we are so ready to insist on our supposed rights. Don’t get me wrong: nobody is called to be a doormat. But by what right should we expect better treatment than our Master?

Second-hand faith

“We’ve made my son an elder at the church now,” commented the interim pastor apologetically at a cause where I was the visiting speaker. “He should be on duty tonight, but I’m afraid he always turns up late.” A quarter of an hour after the service had begun, a man in his twenties slunk into the back pew, took no active part in the proceedings and seemed quite disengaged from what was happening. Clearly this was the pastor’s son. He had nothing to contribute to the conversation after the service. If he said anything at all, it had nothing spiritual about it.

I came away from the scene disillusioned and with a poor impression of the set-up at that place. If the young man had any faith to speak of, it looked as though it had been borrowed from his father. He gave no sign of having a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And he was an elder! Surely this was a dismal reflection on both church and pastor. The pastor was not a strong enough character to challenge his son, and the church members had not queried the son’s promotion for fear of offending the father.

In my time I’ve been privileged to meet a number of keen high-profile Christians and their families. Some children grow up a credit to their parents. Not only do they follow their good examples, but they have a lively faith of their own which they can pass on. Some children, alas, disappoint their active Christian parents by rebelling against the faith altogether. Others, lacking what their parents have, aim to please and show willing. They deserve some credit for staying under the Christian banner when their peers ridicule their stand. Yet there is a huge gulf between agreeing to uphold a Christian family tradition and having your own life-changing meeting with the Saviour.

Recently the ever-useful Our Daily Bread notes reflected on the career of King Joash of Judah – a lesser-known monarch, ninth in succession to the great King David. His career started well. He had a wise counsellor by his side – his own uncle, Jehoiada, the chief priest. Cindy Hess Kasper comments, 

“But once his uncle was no longer there to teach and lead by example, Joash fell away and his life ended badly … It seems that the roots of his faith did not run very deep. He even began to worship idols. Perhaps Joash’s ‘faith’ had been more his uncle’s than his own.

“Others can teach us the principles of their faith, but each of us must come individually to a lasting and personal faith in Christ.”

I sometimes tried to sing to my congregations an old gospel song that puts the point plainly and challengingly. There are variations on the words, but the chorus of the version I know goes:

"You've got to walk that lonesome valley; You've got to walk it by yourself. There's no-one here can walk it for you; You've got to walk it by yourself” (Traditional).
 

To grow up in a Christian home is surely a great blessing. In most cases you are surrounded by wholesome talk, mild manners, love and encouragement. Differences are settled by reasoned discussion, not aggression. There is even a strand of Christian thought which argues that the faith of parents transmits itself to the children. They absorb the Christian way, so to speak, with their mother’s milk. The apostle Paul congratulates his pupil Timothy on having faithful forebears:

“I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also” (2 Timothy 1:5, NIV).

Further, he called Timothy his spiritual son. He had commissioned him to Christian work by the laying on of hands. Yet, valuable though all of this was, Timothy needed to take ownership of his faith for himself:

“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:6,7).

If you’ve had a good start in life, praise God. But that doesn’t excuse you from responsibility for your own good continuation and good ending.

Blackberry harvest

For the first time this year I have managed the serious blackberrying I have long dreamed of doing. In fact it is a very suitable year for this activity, because they say the harvest is six times bigger than usual in the UK! The weather, apparently, has been particularly favourable for blackberries right from the last mild, wet winter till now. In fact there are abundant crops not far from my home. A short walk with a bag and a container, and I am ready to go.

This friendly, free food is proving good to stew with apples and eat with evaporated milk and chunks of bread. I also scatter it on breakfast cereal or take it as a snack to supplement the teatime bread and jam. It is handy to give as a gift, too.

A phrase keeps coming back to me from an old prayer: “... the kindly fruits of the earth”. “... to give to our use the kindly fruits of the earth”, the Litany says.

“Kindly” in what sense, I wonder? It seems strange to call an inanimate fruit “kind”, even if it is benign and nourishing. The Oxford English Dictionary has a bewildering array of meanings for the word. The appropriate one seems to be, “Of good nature or natural qualities”. The fruits are, quite simply, intrinsically good for us. That is what God created them to be.

“And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food’” (Genesis 1:29 ESV).

On an early visit to Cornwall in the 18^th century, the great Evangelical Revival leader John Wesley found that blackberries saved him from starvation. A travelling companion writes,

“One day we had been at St Hillary Downs, and Mr Wesley had preached from Ezekiel’s vision of dry bones, and there was a shaking among the people, as he preached. And as he returned, Mr Wesley stopped his horse to pick the blackberries, saying, ‘Brother Nelson, we ought to be thankful that there is plenty of blackberries: for this is the best country I ever saw for getting a stomach, but the worst that ever I saw for getting food: do the people think we can live by preaching?’”

In defence of the good people of Cornwall I must say that Wesley was given a hearty welcome wherever he went in the county once he had become better known and accepted. The tradition of hospitality continues today and I well remember the generosity of the people in the early 1980’s when I was a minister there!

Even if the meaning of the word “kindly” has changed over the course of centuries, I think the more usual signification was always there. God is kind – and not just because He has given us nourishing harvest produce. His plan to save lost outsiders is kind. This does not mean we can presume on His kindness. It is the other side of His severity towards those who will not take Him seriously. There were some non-Jews who became cocky because they had been accepted into God’s kingdom whereas some of the formerly privileged Jews were left outside. The apostle Paul warns them in Romans 11:19-22 –

Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.

And we should imitate God by being kind to others. Too many Christians let the side down by not being kindly. “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you”, says Paul again in Ephesians 4:32. If we can’t be kind in these ways, have we truly understood the kindness of God?

Jesus the Living Bridge

Recently I read a devotional article entitled “Living Bridges”. As sometimes happens, the words sparked off thoughts that the writer never intended.

My mind made two unexpected connections, in fact. One was to do with an old Welsh proverb which may be translated, “He who would be a leader must also be a bridge.” It comes from the story of a Welsh giant who crossed the Irish Sea with an army to rescue his sister, who was being cruelly treated in Ireland. His sister’s husband, Matholwch, retreated beyond a river and destroyed the bridges. The giant laid himself down across the river and acted as a bridge by which his army could cross. “He who would be a leader must also be a bridge” was his cryptic comment.

The second connection goes back to 6 March 1987, when the MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsized in just 90 seconds after setting sail from Zeebrugge, Belgium, towards Dover with the bow doors still open.

A man called Andrew Parker, a 33-year-old former bank manager, placed his 6ft 3in frame in the gap between two metal barriers. His wife, Eleanor, daughter Janice, 13, and twenty other passengers crawled across his back to safety. Ever after that he was known as the “Human Bridge”. He survived and was honoured with the George Medal, though he went on to battle with depression and stress.

These powerful stories from two completely different contexts remind me of the achievements of the Lord Jesus Christ as a bridge between God and humans. Had he not fulfilled that role, there would have been no hope for us. The opening chapter of Genesis pictures the original situation where there is unbroken companionship between God’s side and humankind’s. Then sin intervenes and a gap opens up which becomes ever wider over the course of time. As early as Genesis chapter 4 we have the first murder (Cain on Abel) and the first recorded instance of bigamy (Lamech). Sin has twisted itself into the story of the human race and has long since become impossible to untangle. Every human being is born into this dismal heritage.

Since it is beyond humans to rise above sin, it is down to God to do something for us, if He is willing. And not only does that “something” need to be done, it needs to be seen to be done. The issue is too serious for God to work a few tweaks for us while remaining aloof. If He won’t visibly and personally intervene to bridge the divide, we can’t have any reassurance.

In fact God has been more than willing both to act and to reassure. In his letter to the Christians in Galatia, the apostle Paul makes an announcement of immense significance to all who are born “under the law”, in other words, under the blight of sin: 

“... when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5). 

Jesus Christ lived in our sin-dominated environment but was not Himself tainted.

It was a huge risk. God becoming man sounded like childish superstition to some and blasphemy to others. The claim of Christianity that it actually happened is a key driver for much of the anger and contempt of Muslims in many lands against Christians today. But we steadily and lovingly maintain it because it is the only route to certainty that God is for us and not against us. He has met the knotty problem of human sin head-on, by tackling it Himself and tackling it at our level. Thank God for our glorious Living Bridge.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,

save in the death of Christ, my God;

all the vain things that charm me most,

I sacrifice them to his blood.

Isaac Watts, 1674-1748

My favourite hymn

My favourite hymn is “Jesu, Lover of my soul”. In case you don't know it, it goes like this:

Jesu, lover of my soul,
let me to thy bosom fly,
while the nearer waters roll,
while the tempest still is high.
Hide me, O my Saviour, hide,
till the storm of life is past;
safe into the haven guide;
O receive my soul at last.

Other refuge have I none,
hangs my helpless soul on thee;
leave, ah! leave me not alone,
still support and comfort me.
All my trust on thee is stayed,
all my help from thee I bring;
cover my defenceless head
with the shadow of thy wing.

Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
more than all in thee I find;
raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
heal the sick, and lead the blind.
Just and holy is thy name,
I am all unrighteousness;
false and full of sin I am;
thou art full of truth and grace.  
 
Plenteous grace with thee is found,
grace to cover all my sin;
let the healing streams abound,
make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the fountain art,
freely let me take of thee;
spring thou up within my heart;
rise to all eternity.

This beautiful outpouring was written around the year 1740. It is by Charles Wesley, still famous today for his Christmas hymn “Hark, the herald-angels sing”. In fact he wrote thousands of hymns.

There was a time when hymns stayed around for decades, maybe even hundreds of years. Today we call them classic hymns. Some churches still love and cherish them and make sure they are sung week by week. In many other churches they have been completely replaced by Christian songs that have been composed recently and are soon discarded in favour of new ones. In a way this is a good thing. We need to be reminded that the eternal God lasts, and the word of God in the Bible lasts, but the words of man are not inspired in the same way. They are often shaped by the day and age they are written in. Each generation finds new ways of expressing praise to God for sending us Jesus Christ, our Saviour, who is “the same yesterday and today and for ever”.

However, because they are so durable, classic hymns often carry many memories for people. We used to sing “Jesu, lover of my soul” at the primary school I went to. In those days schools regularly had a Christian assembly every day where the hymns were often the same as at church. I don’t know why I loved it so much as a youngster of nine or ten. Much of its meaning was lost on me. Maybe it was the beautiful Welsh tune we sang it to, but I like to think it was because of the sense of peace it gives. God is firmly in control. Through all troubles He will bring safely home those who have put their trust in Him through Jesus.

I’ve since come to appreciate the hymn even more for the many Bible quotes it contains - to give just one example:

"... in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by ..." (Psalm 57:1 ESV)

and the way it teaches Bible truth through poetry. There are four well balanced lines in the middle where Wesley contrasts our weakness and sin with God’s perfection but also His patience and kindness:

Just and holy is thy name

I am all unrighteousness

False and full of sin I am

thou art full of truth and grace.

There are many stories from the past about how the hymn has affected people. But my favourite goes back to the American Civil War (1861-1865). A sentry in Grant’s army sang it as he paced backwards and forwards. A soldier of the opposite army had lifted his gun to shoot him through the heart, when the words

Cover my defenceless head

with the shadow of thy wing

rang out on the night. He dropped his weapon, and allowed the sentry to pass unharmed. Eighteen years later an excursion steamer was sailing down the River Potomac, when an evangelist sang this hymn. A gentleman pushed through the company and asked if the singer had fought in the Civil War. He was the man who had refrained from shooting down the singer.

Charles Wesley’s more famous brother John declined to give “Jesu, Lover of my soul” a place in his hymnbook. He thought it was too emotional and intimate. In our times we are less bothered about such things. There is a place for saying openly how much we love and treasure God. For our sakes He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die in pain on a cross. The result is infinitely good for us. We can be put right with God and receive new and everlasting life. Surely in our day more people would be blessed by rediscovering this warm, vibrant and very beautiful hymn.

The Hearing Test

Every so often my optician – who I thought was only there to test my eyesight and prescribe spectacles – invites me to come in for a hearing test. I am not sure what would happen if I went, but I can imagine a number of the checks that would be applied. The audiologist would see how far my ears could pick up noise on a range of frequencies. As likely as not, they would also be interested in how far I could filter out background noises so as to hear what was important.

I noticed an interesting spiritual hearing test in John MacArthur’s notes on Psalm 12, and thought I would share it with you. The psalm is typical of King David’s writing and has some very raw emotions:

Help, LORD, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men.

Everyone lies to his neighbour; their flattering lips speak with deception.

May the LORD cut off all flattering lips and every boastful tongue

that says, "We will triumph with our tongues; we own our lips – who is our master?"

"Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise," says the LORD. "I will protect them from those who malign them."

And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times.

O LORD, you will keep us safe and protect us from such people for ever.

The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honoured among men.

(NIV 1984)

MacArthur points out that men’s words hurt, but the Lord’s words heal. As the Psalm goes on, “David provides a model for passing a spiritual hearing test, in that genuine disciples listen to and properly respond to two radically different sources of speech”.

The first speech source that comes screaming into our ears is the voice of the wicked: lying, flattering, deceiving, boasting, triumphant and self-important. This voice clamours to be heard above all else and is very disconcerting. It has no apparent competition, for the faithful and godly have died out from the land.

How do we blot out this raucous din? Your task and mine is to recognise how twisted and unjust it all is and to pray, despite all the distraction it causes. “Help, Lord!” the psalmist cries out. He appeals to God’s prevailing power. God is the ultimate key to cutting off the claims of false tongues.

Then the psalmist strengthens himself with the fact that God answers him with a voice of His own that rises above the hubbub. God has not overlooked the troubles of His suffering ones even though the only voices they have heard up till now are hostile ones. God resolves to protect the oppressed. His words are pure and clear and He will persevere.

The psalm-writers are realistic, level-headed people. David does not suggest that the wicked ones with their unnerving bluster simply go away as soon as you and I think about God. “The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honoured among men”, he laments. That is a fact of life that we have with us until God’s kingdom is finally established in His Son Jesus Christ, and His will is done on earth as it is in heaven. But with His guidance we are at least tuning in to the right voice.

Name That Plant

I love seeing natural places with plenty of trees, grasses or wild flowers. The trouble is, something occasionally spoils the experience for me: not being able to put a name to whatever specimen I am looking at.

It was very rewarding to do a walk on the Great Orme in North Wales recently with a couple of ladies who obviously knew their wild flowers. “That’s a scabious,” one remarked. I was grateful to be enlightened, given that I thought scabious was a disease that made your skin itch. It was satisfying to think that, next time I saw one, I would be able to Name That Plant.

Someone once became very frustrated with my lament about not knowing more botanical names. “You don’t need to know all that!” she protested. “Just enjoy the scene!” And I have to admit that something of the wonder is lost if you are forever fretting about not being able to define what you are observing.

This passion for defining is a relatively recent urge in human history. The Age of Enlightenment was all about men of science examining huge numbers of samples – be they of rocks, animals, plants, languages, viruses, stars or anything else observable – and cataloguing, codifying, classifying them until everything could be put in its place. Clearly this process has brought untold benefits. Medicine has advanced by leaps and bounds because of researchers’ patient analysis of vast amounts of data, spotting connections that may indicate an approach to treating damaged areas of the body more effectively.

Indeed, naming and defining creation has God’s endorsement. We are told in Genesis 2:19, “So out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name” (ESV).

Yet, whenever the gaining of knowledge becomes entirely a matter of classification and analysis, other discoveries can be missed. For instance, there is the valuable deduction that man the classifier and analyst is not above God.

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

Out of the mouth of babes and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour.

You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet,

all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,

the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8 ESV

Fallen angels and men pretend they know better than God. Jesus Christ, Son of Man and Son of God, never went down that road. God the Father crowned Him with glory and honour. He also crowns those who trust in Jesus with reward, because that route is the way to an infinity of new and exciting discoveries.