Yesterday was our first day out with a new SatNav. The deep Russell Crowe Aussie voice is calming and reassuring (particularly for the female ears).

 But my first try-out revealed rather more about my stubbornness and independence than I had intended to divulge. Ironically, it was the words I spoke to my wife – out of my own mouth! – that brought about my own conviction.

 Reaction one – “please turn off the verbal directions”

 Being told what to do by someone else – even an electronic voice – was irritating. I preferred observing the Satnav screen and making my own way. As I journey through reading the Bible in a year I recently reread the bizarre story of Balaam and his donkey. That stubborn old mule – Balaam – failed to heed the words of the Lord and needed rebuking by his donkey:

 The angel of the LORD asked {Balaam}, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared her.” (Num 22:32-33)

 Finally, Balaam gets the message and confesses his sin for failing to hear the voice of the angel of the Lord.

 What are you like at asking for, and then heeding, directions? God has given us His Word and His Spirit to instruct and to guide us. I must not turn the volume down or allow it to be drowned out by the hullabaloo of modern living. Pump up the volume (particularly when your instinct is to do the opposite!)

 Reaction two – “please turn off the speeding notifications”

 The Satnav reminders were convicting and uncomfortable. But rather than ensuring that I always drove within the law, my conscience felt more comfortable when the notifications were turned off. We do the same thing in the spiritual realm, don’t we?

 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at their face in a mirror and, after looking at themselves, goes away and immediately forgets what they look like. (James 1:23-24)

 The warnings of the bible are there for our own good and failing to heed them is to self-inflict harm. Talking back to the Satnav helps no one!

 A better way – “Be wise; Be warned; take heed; listen; have ears to hear….”

 The bible has a lot to say about, first hearing and then, heeding God’s word.

My driving experience yesterday reminded me of the need to be less stubborn and to be better at listening: first to the words from my own my which convict me; then, secondly, to the voice of Scripture.

 I’m still not sure I am going to turn up the sound on my SatNav, but I will renew my pledge to hear and heed God’s voice, something which God strongly encourages:

 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.  Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. (Psalm 32:8f.)

 In “Blue like jazz” Donald Miller wrote that he did not like Jazz because it didn’t resolve. He didn’t like God for the same reason.

Job helps to answer the question: what do you do with the unresolved, and how do you love God when life doesn’t make sense?

Miller argues that he eventually learned to love Jazz when he heard a street saxophonist “playing his heart out”, utterly absorbed in the music. When you love God you learn to live with the unresolved. Job helps us feel the heart of God.

Job is a complex and detailed book. The following four points are intended as an introduction to the long exchange between Job and his three so-called friends.

1. The value of Job

“If I did not have Job! It is impossible to describe all the shades of meaning and how manifold the meaning is that he has for me. I do not read him as one reads another book, with the eyes, but I lay the book, as it were, on my heart and read it with the eyes of the heart… just as the child puts his schoolbook under his pillow to make sure he has not forgotten his lesson when he wakes up in the morning, so I take the book to bed with me at night. Every word by him is food and clothing and healing for my wretched soul. Now a word by him arouses me from my lethargy and awakens new restlessness; now it calms the sterile raging within me, stops the dreadfulness in the mute nausea of my passion. Have you really read Job?” (Soren Kierkegaard in Repetition ).

Kierkegaard encourages a deep absorption into Job in order that we might be immersed in the “melodic line” of the book and find our dependence on a God who knows what he is doing, even in spite of appearances to the contrary.

2.  The unhelpful role of his friends

As some have observed, perhaps their most useful contribution was when they wept with their suffering friend and said nothing. Unfortunately, they broke their silence all-too-soon! (2:13). Not everything they said was wrong, in fact, someone once remarked that they spoke “the right words at the wrong time”.

For example, Eliphaz

-        4:7 – do the innocent really suffer? Have you examined your heart?

-        4:17 – you are presumptuous to think that you are “right with God”

-        5:9ff – God is so much greater than you, so don’t question his plans

-        5:17ff – God sends suffering to discipline and correct us

-        5:27 -  He is confident that “he has the mind of God” …

• How easy it is for “friends” to presume to know definitively what God intends to teach in this or that circumstance…

3.  Job as a model of innocent suffering (6:1ff)

Job’s responses are helpful

-        6:2f – My suffering is very real (“if it could be weighed”)

-        6:4 – but my suffering drives me To him not from him

-        6:8-10  – heaven would be more preferable to suffering on earth (Phil 1:21)

-        6:14-20 – The comment attributed to Teresa of Avila “God, if this is how you treat your friends, have you no wonder you have so few of them?!”

• Job hasn’t gone that far — he finds himself comforted by God’s consistency, but deeply troubled by his so called friends    
• Undependable (v15) – like overflowing streams, thawing ice
• And like caravans which have gone of course 9v18ff)
• They are confident that they are going in the right direction,  but in fact they are way off track
• V24ff. Look, I’m not saying this because I am unteachable…but your arguments are not convincing (namely that I must have sinned; and that is why I suffer)
• V28ff. You are judging me, but won’t look me in the eye; you believe you know my heart and my integrity
• V30 But, in fact, I am suffering innocently — I have not spoken wickedly not been malicious to anyone. Cf v10 “I have not denied the words of the Holy One”

-        Consistently throughout Job, he is held up as a model of one who – though he suffers greatly – he is innocent.

4.  Job points us to Christ

 1.      Jesus denied a simply link between sin and suffering

 John 9:1ff – “who sinned that this man is suffering?”

• Jesus’ answer implies
• There is a connection between sin and suffering, but it is not simplistic;
• There is an answer to suffering but that too is not simplistic

 2. Jesus taught: We are blessed when we suffer unfairly or unjustly (Mtt 5:10-12)

 3. Jesus is the sinless suffering par excellence (1 Peter 2:21-25; 3:13-18) … and unlike Job, his suffering deals with the very problem of sin and suffering

It is sometimes said: “Suffering makes you bitter or better”.  The way you react to suffering depends on your prior commitment to trust God in whatever circumstances he brings your way. A deep engagement with Job and his sufferings will help the Christian prepare for the trial, testing and difficulties of life.

Its purpose? To consider the threats posed by four main areas:-

• Climate Change;
• Artificial Intelligence;
• Nuclear War;
• Rogue Biotechnology

The centre is to be led by professor of philosophy, Huw Price, a professor of cosmology and astrophysics, Martin Rees, and Jann Tallinn, the creator of Skype.

Apocalyptic disaster from nuclear fallout has long been thought to be a real threat. We are increasingly aware of the impact of climate change and aware that advanced biological or germ warfare could wipe out large numbers of the human civilisation.

Media coverage of the launch of this centre has focused on the advances in Artificial, or Super Intelligence, which raises the potential that “we are not the smartest things around” and, it is posited, could potentially threaten human survival.

These are real concerns. Somewhere beneath the Blockbuster movie hype is buried a genuine anxiety that humanity could well destroy itself. 25years ago Neil Postman’s perceptive book “Amusing Ourselves to Death” elicited one commendation “This comes along at exactly the right moment…we must confront the challenge of his prophetic vision”.

Postman argued that 1984 had come and gone. George Orwell’s book of that name feared the banning of books and the imposition of totalitarian oppression, reducing human beings to a mindless existence. But the world of 1984 was free from many of Orwell’s imagined threats. Aldous Huxley was more prophetic, though, in “Brave New World”. Here the threat is the trivialisation of culture, the preoccupation with image and feelings and the drowning out of truth in a sea of irrelevance. The threats which Huxley imagined could much more easily be implemented through artificial intelligence and out-of control biological forces.

But, Christians maintain, the existential threats to our existence pale into insignificance when you consider what a dreadful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31).

As the Church approaches the season of Advent we prepare ourselves for Christmas. Not, in fact, by thinking first of Christ’s coming as a baby in the incarnation. But rather, we think his return as judge and king. When we ponder a final day of judgment we approach Christmas to welcome the saviour with open arms.

It might be that, as in the days of Noah, God will use natural means to execute the destruction of the world. But, nevertheless, the controlling initiative comes from outside of our world. Ultimately we will not destroy ourselves, but God will come back to wrap everything up: it will be a day of final destruction, initiated by the Judge of all the earth (see 2 Peter 3).

So, in the, we might say, the threats to the end of the world are more apocalyptic than existential. I wonder, will our Cambridge professors give my thought to this threat?

What is quite clear is that everyone seems stressed; everyone worries (at least in the western world). And, because Christians are not exempt they are also tend to add “guilt” to the list, assuming that believing in a sovereign, loving God should mean that we don’t worry and don’t feel stress.

We cannot expect perfection in this life. Moreover, we live in an overstretched world; consequently we often feel close to breaking point. Of course, the Bible has plenty to say about how to live a life trusting God and with an expectation that God will supply all that we need in Christ (e.g. Phil 4:19- “… my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”). But how can we put this into practice?

As I have continued to ponder this issue, two dominant themes from early days as a Christian have returned to me. In my teens I attended a large Sunday night youth group. I remember a talk which I gave entitled:-

God wants warriors not worriers

The theme was that we dissipate worry by getting to work fighting for the cause of the Gospel. It’s not bad advice, of course.  But, again, I ask: how does this work in practice? If you tell a worrier not to worry then you add to their worries their own anxiety over worry itself!

When Jesus told his disciples “Do not worry” (Matthew 6:25) He spoke about the futility of worry (you won’t live any longer by worrying – actually it is likely to have the opposite result!); He said: you need not worry because your heavenly father looks after the lilies and the birds, so how much more will he look after human disciples; and He encouraged a God-directed focus so as not to be preoccupied with the affairs of this world. “Seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness…” (v33).

My other regular teenage activity was night fishing. After several hours peering into the water, imagining my float was about to go under, ever expectant of hauling another fish out the water, exhausted, I finally went to bed. But then sleep was elusive as my mind was swimming with the sight of fish swirling around my mind!

Worry causes sleeplessness, of course. Not least because the mind is filled with all the activities and stresses of the day, swimming around the mind!

Part of the answer to sleeplessness is the redirection of one’s gaze. Christian meditation is not about emptying the mind, but rather filling it with thoughts of God. Telling a worrier not to worry doesn’t help. But assisting them focus on the God who won’t give us up and won’t let us down, is the perfect displacement.

This leads me to a related thought which also came from my teenage youth group.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus

We used to end every Sunday evening singing the same song:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus

Look full in His wonderful face,

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of His glory and grace.

These were good thoughts: staying focussed on Jesus does put this world properly into perspective. This is consistent with the advice we find in the Bible: “Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith” (Hebrews 12:2).

More on this anon, but before I finish writing my own book on the matter, you might like to check out two helpful recent IVP books on these matters:

* The Worry Book. Finding a path to freedom (Will can der Hart & Rob Waller); and

* You can Change. God’s transforming      power for our sinful behaviour and negative emotions (Tim Chester).

 The much hyped movie “The Hunger Games” (2012) is based on the 2008 book by Suzanne Collins. My 15 year-old’s verdict is: “BEST FILM EVER!”

 The 76^th Annual Hunger games are, we are led to believe, the entertainment of the future. Here is game show hype with ultimate risks and rewards. Katniss Everdeen takes her young sister’s place and competes against other randomly selected contestants from other districts. Included among the contestants is also Peeta Mellark who will also compete for her affections. Most of this can be gleaned from the back of the DVD, but if you really want to spoil the plot for you why not read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunger_Games_(film)?

 There are some reminiscences of Jim Carrey in “The Truman Show” (1998) which also featured a game show contestant who found his world manipulated from the outside in order to keep up ratings.

 Christian bloggers have emphasised the themes of self-sacrifice and found echoes of cosmic battles and apocalyptic overtones. Whilst the author of The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins, is a Roman Catholic she is on record indicating that there are no intended Christian themes in the book. This Christian content review is worth reading (http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/protecting_your_family/book-reviews/h/hunger-games.aspx).

 There is much that can be said about this movie. It is a sensual (and refreshing relatively non-sexual) movie which should be just enjoyed!

 My main reflection as a preacher and evangelistically minded pastor is the vision of the future contained in this movie.

 The expectation of conflict and a final battle it seems is inherent in our human imaginings of the future.

 There is realism in this plot, though. The future envisioned by the author is no utopia. It carefully observes the fallen human desire for constant entertainment and titillation, and the gentle mocking over the ends to which game show contestants will go for fame and fortune. There are outside forces bringing influence to the outcome of the games, but ultimately the cynical producers and fickle audience are not, apparently, able to destroy the heroism and sacrifice of the individual.

 The future, apparently, is not the utopia which made up the theme of so many Hollywood movies of previous generation. Rather, despite the entertainment-orientation and cynicism of the audience, the power which makes the world of “The Hunger Games” go round is that self-determined love. There is an ideal, not of utopia, but the power romantic love.

 This is a clever film, based on a well conceived book. It also reflects the modern age: true love is found, not in God, but rather is an ever elusive human-romantic love: an ideal for which even the most cynical person longs.  But the Christian will want to say: this is too hope to much of any human love. Romantic love needs to be subservient to agape love and, for me, movies such as The Hunger Games actually make me marvel afresh at being loved sacrificially, fully and savingly in the Father, Son and Spirit. The greatest demonstration of self-sacricial love is in the PAST not in the FUTURE. As Paul says: Galatians 2:20 “…I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Re-posted 2000 blog post, see below

Castaway – A film Review

 This is an unexpectedly enjoyable film.

Tom Hanks deserves an Oscar for carrying the script almost single-handedly.   He plays an ambitious Federal Express Agent jetting round the world chivvying the boys at international depots to perform their best.  His drivenness is having disastrous consequences in his personal life, though.  Just before he is marooned on a beautiful paradise island he seems to make a promise that he will return to ‘do right by that girl’!

When we meet him, the biggest disaster he could envisage would be his Palm Pilot crashing!  But, as the title of the movie hints, it’s a lot more than that that comes crashing to the ground.

When the Fed Ex plane goes down in the Pacific Ocean (and quite dramatically portrayed on the big screen) we find Hanks struggling to make his way to a beautiful sun-drenched, palm-lined shore.  Some of his colleagues wash up dead on the beach along with other apparently useless bits of cargo which never make their destination.  Of course all come in handy, even the ice skates!

As I said, Hanks makes the film stay very much alive as we share with him in his fear, isolation, resignation and determination.  The filming is very well done and apparently all the sound was recorded in the studio afterwards.

In case you haven’t seen it I won’t tell you about the eventual escape and what happens on his return!   Well, you knew he was going to escape eventually didn’t you!

However, there are a couple of themes which resonate very well, I think.

First, like most of the audience I’m sure, I sat there thinking: ‘Wow!   I could manage a few months marooned there – no phone, no traffic, no email, no palm pilot’!!  I have recently written elsewhere about the human longing for Paradise.  Ever since we were first kicked out of the Garden (in Genesis 3) human kind has longed for intimate re-engagement with God’s beautiful creation.   But as Hanks soon finds out, life is tough there and far from being an escape, he longs for human company.

Secondly, this film reminded me of how attached we get to the routine and ritual of our western way of life.   When all the things we think we can’t do without are taken away from us, we survive!  Hanks finds himself reflecting on human relationships which have gone wrong.  And, though not really portrayed in the film, surely it is also a time to come face to face with who we really are in the sight of God.  When everything else is stripped away from us what is it like to be spiritually naked before the Almighty?

Well, it is all a bit corny!  But there is some good stuff in this film.  It also reminded me afresh that Paradise will not be found until heaven!  I hope it won’t take a shipwreck before we wake up to that!

 As team GB secure the first silver medal of the Olympics in the women’s cycling road race, I was reflecting on my recent (and more modest) cycle ride: 300 miles over Cumbria and Northumbria covering East Coast to West Coast of England.

 I rode with a friend, in blustery but not unpleasant, conditions, during the last week of July. By all accounts ours was a less arduous affair than the 150 mile single day Olympic event. Nevertheless: mental and physical fitness is required if one is to complete the task.

 A few key lessons from long distance cycling have occurred to me which translate into the summons to long-distance discipleship:

 Pack light

 It is something of an art to pack two panniers with everything needed for all conditions over 6 nights. Judicious selection of clothes and jettisoning anything unnecessary is essential.

 Long distance discipleship requires “travelling light”. The Bible’s advice is:

“…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  (Hebrews 12:1). For that reason we should confess our sin daily and look to our marvellous saviour as if today was the first day and the final day in which we believe.

 Wear the gear

 I think that it would be fair to say that Lycra is not a fashion item! The extra padding (in the posterior) and protective and streamlined clothes are essential for the long distance cyclist.

 Of course, we realise that we should “put on the full armour of God” (Ephesians 6:10ff.) in order to engage in the fight for the faith.  But I am also reminded that once Jesus had exorcised the demon from a man, the crowd noted that he was sitting at Jesus’ feet “dressed and in his right mind” (Mark 5:15). I guess this is one of the outward evidences of “putting on the new self” (Col 3:9ff); becoming more Christ-like.

 Fuel up

 Cycling 60-70 miles per day over hilly terrain meant that we burnt more than 5,000 calories.  It is not quite enough to replace that with 20 Mars bars! We tried to balance protein, carbohydrates, sugar and salt to maximise energy over the long day, and not just find quick sugar fixes.

 The obvious analogy is the need to keep feeding on God in order to be sustained in the Christian life. Jesus is both the “bread of heaven” and the one who promises the Holy Spirit – “streams of living water flowing from within” (John 6; John 4, 7). We should eat and drink for our daily sustenance.

 Find friendly support

 One of the tremendous benefits of this ride was to use it to connect with friends along the way and enjoy their generous hospitality as well as be encouraged by them.

 Studying the “one another” words in Romans 12-14 and Hebrews 10 reveals how much we need other Christians and how much other Christians need us. It is in the body of Christ that we learn to love, we learn to bear one another’s burdens, we learn to teach and to learn, and we begin to appreciate the connectedness which comes through the benefit of being united in Christ.

 Go the distance

 I’m not a good sprinter.  I don’t have the lungs or legs for it!  I am better on the long haul. We are similarly reminded that the Christian life is not a sprint; rather it is “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction” (as Eugene Peterson has memorably called it).  The writer to the Hebrews expressed a similar sentiment:

 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (Hebrews 12:1-4)

 Finally,

 Look up and take in the view

As we panted up some of the Lake District climbs it was so easy to focus on nothing other than the track in front of us.  It took a concerted effort not to miss the glorious hills!  And, of course, what goes up invariably does come down, and some of those swift 40mph descents were great!

The psalmist regularly looked to the hills (the Psalms of Ascent). Sometimes because it was from there that he anticipated help from their maker (e.g. Psalm 121); sometimes it was to look for mercy (e.g. Psalm 123); but mainly it was to make himself consider the greatness of his and their maker (e.g. Psalm 125)

The long distance cycle ride is both exhausting but, in an odd way, also refreshing.

Christian endurance may be helped by physical and mental stamina, but spiritual fitness comes first. I hope that you will be encouraged to: pack light, wear the gear, fuel up, find friendly support, go the distance and look up and take in the view, so that we both might be able to say with Paul:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.  (2 Tim 4:7-8)

 Easter is one of the busiest times of year for any Preacher. There is a sense of build-up through Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday (silent Saturday) and Easter Day as we walk through the week of Jesus’ betrayal, mock trial, crucifixion and finally resurrection.

 The “finally” gives it away, though.  As a Vicar of a parish congregation I was usually exhausted by Sunday. I often felt that I had given my all, particularly as we paused and lingered at the foot of the cross. I often also found myself musing: Big crowds come on Easter Sunday, but isn’t the heart of the message the cross? How do I do as Paul did and resolve to “preach Jesus Christ and him crucified?” (1 Cor 1: 17f; 2:2) when the crowds are biggest and my energy is at its lowest?

 Two simple thoughts have helped sustain me over the years:-

 Preach the cross and the resurrection – a combined, powerful package

 There has been a lot of discussion over whether the heart of the Gospel message is “the cross” – for it was there that Christ bore the penalty of human sin, becoming the sacrificial offering and scape goat. For others the heart of the Gospel is the resurrection – for if there is no resurrection Christ is rotting in a Palestinian tomb and we are people with no hope (1 Cor 15).

 By all means follow the liturgical pattern of the Holy Week, but don’t miss the fact that Christ’s death and resurrection belong together.

• [David] spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. (Acts 2:31-32) 
• You killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.(Acts 3:15-16, see also, 10:39)
• In Athens it was the thought of resurrection from the dead that turned the crowd against Paul but which also compelled others to hear more (Acts 17:31-32);

 As these few examples from Acts demonstrate, it also means that on Easter Day – indeed every other day too – I preach the resurrection as a celebration that “the price is paid”, his one perfect sacrifice is accepted by the father; and I preach the reality that “he is alive” – today, among us.

 Remember that the cruciform pattern is: Strength through weakness

 When Paul told the Corinthians that he resolved to “preach Christ and him crucified” I think that his point is that the kind of Christ he preached was not a “super apostle” type of Christ but one who hung on a tree, one who was abandoned by friends and ultimately by his father. This is the Christ we preach.

 This message is apparently weak; but so too is the messenger.  Not with wise or clever words; not in human strength or vitality, but in weakness, fear and trembling – that’s how Paul summed up his preaching (1 Cor 2).

 Paul had learnt the lesson that when he was at the end of his human resources God was most likely to act.

 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor 12:8-10)

 Preacher, as you crawl out of bed to preach, often exhausted, sometimes discouraged:

• remember that it is your weakness that God seems to use more than your strength; and
• make sure you preach the whole package: the cross and the resurrection. And, oh yes, in your weariness, allow this great Gospel to refresh your own soul, seeping into the marrow of your being, before you preach it to others. 

 Happy Easter!

 This is an excellent and wise book on Christian marriage which started life as a sermon series preached at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in 1991.  At least two sections are more strongly shaped by Kathy (chapter 6 “Embracing the other” and the appendix “Decision making and gender roles”).

 The 8 chapters are:

-         The Secret of Marriage;

-         The Power for Marriage;

-         The Essence of Marriage;

-         The Mission of Marriage;

-         Loving the Stranger;

-         Embracing the Other;

-         Singleness and Marriage;

-         Sex and Marriage.

 The context in which the book is written, 20+ years in Manhattan, New York, clearly shapes the way in which the conversation about marriage takes place.  Theirs is a congregation full of many single young adults living out their relationships where tolerance is expected, “try before you buy” is the norm, and hopes of a “fairy tale ending” are often dashed.

 What is particularly helpful is the way in which the Kellers have an eye to their context, a good grasp of the social sciences’ perception on gender roles, but primarily seek to see the Gospel shape and pervade their interpretation of what makes for marriage as God intended it.

 There are four particular areas which I found refreshing:-

 1)      The basis for a strong marriage is friendship.  Marriages that last for a lifetime are those where partners work at being good friends to each other, above almost everything else.  This also means that if Christian marriages are based on friendship then they can be the place where single people are brought into the friendship.

 2)      The foundation of strong marriage is the Gospel.  The book carefully answers the concerns of the postmodernist (who might tend to think that marriage is archaic and unsustainable) and also the traditionalist (who might tend to have a blinkered romanticism attached to bygone traditional roles). As with all Tim’s writing and speaking, the good news is a message to the religious and the irreligious:

The reason that marriage is so painful and yet wonderful is because it is a reflection of the gospel, which is painful and wonderful at once.  The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope… love without truth is sentimentality; it supports and affirms us but keeps us in denial about our flaws.  Truth without love is harshness; it gives us information but in such a way that we cannot really hear it.  God’s saving love in Christ, however, is marked by both radical truthfulness about who we are and yet also radical, unconditional commitment to us (p48).

 3)      The power for a strong marriage is found in knowing its purpose. Here Tim draws on the excellent work in Peter O’Brien’s commentary on Ephesians (Eerdmans 1999). The mysterion (Eph 5:32) is God’s unveiling of that which was previously hidden.  The profound insight of Ephesians 5 is the way Paul applies the foundational text of Genesis 2:24 (for this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh). The created purpose of marriage, it would seem, is in order that God would have demonstrated on earth a living, breathing illustration of his divine purposes, subsequently to be fully revealed in Christ’ relationship with the Church. Christians will find purpose in their marriage when they see the way in which God expects it to perform for the Gospel’s sake. My own debt to Peter O’Brien is acknowledged in The Diamond Marriage. Have Ultimate Purpose in your Marriage. (Christian Focus 2005) which explores many similar themes.

 4)      The mission of marriage of to have God’s sanctifying work on display for the benefit of others too.  The goal of Christian marriage is much the same as the goal for the Christian life: to be like Jesus.  Here, issues of complementarity come into play.  Headship is defined as “servant leadership” and submission as being a “strong helper”. Of course, not everyone buys into the complementarian theology which pervades much of this book, but there is great insight here and the Kellers carefully warn about sins of overbearing dominance, and passive surrender; and I hope persuade others of the biblical wisdom in the complementary way in which the sexes are made.

 There is more to say.  But for now the wisest move would be buy the book, read it and give it away.  I highly commend it.

 Simon Vibert, January 2012

http://metamorphe.wordpress.com/

www.SimonVibert.com