Difficult Scripture 2

This is the parable of the shrewd manager

As I see it this chap is suspected of being dishonest, so when he is called to account he fiddles the books to get a few friends on his side who will help him out when he gets sacked.

I get the point Jesus makes later on that if you are dishonest in small things you will also be dishonest in bigger things.
I also get the point that the world is much more shrewd than the kingdom when it comes to dealing with money- but I reckon that's because we try to be honest and kind in our dealings and don't lie or con people.

The bit I don't get is that Jesus commends him for being shrewd. I reckon he deserves to be blasted for his dishonesty- Can anyone explain this one for me?

I also get stuck with verse 9

I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings

Any offers on this one?

Difficult Scriptures 1

1 Corinthians 10:13
This is saying we will not be tempted more than we can cope with, but I reckon the evidence of life shows we ARE tempted more than we can cope with because in times of crisis or temptation we DO fall and we DO fail.

These are a few ideas that try to match the promise that we are not tempted more that we can cope with, and the evidence that sometimes it is all too much and we fail.

• God does know how much we can cope with, just in our moment of crisis we fail to grab a hold of the life belt he throws to us.
• The temptation was not too much for us, just we wanted to do whatever it was so did not fight the temptation hard enough
• The failure we have gone through is not the end of the story. God is into the bigger picture and the lessons we will learn in the long term will strengthen our character and give God glory.

The Bible is full of people who love God but mess up. Moses had a bad temper and murdered someone. David had a problem with women, commited adultery and had the woman's husband killed to cover it up. Peter promised never to deny Jesus and tried to kill someone to stop them arresting Him, and then he denied Him, ran away, and went back to his old life after the crucifixion.

These people were still used by God loads. Moses got to see God face to face. David knew God deeply and wrote the Psalms, including ones that prophesy about Jesus. Peter was re-comissioned and led the church after Pentecost.

So... another thought is that God knows that the temptations and failures will not be enough to destroy His plan for us. So the promise that it will not be “too much to endure” might actually mean more like “so much as to wreck your whole life”???

But that still does not sit right with me 'cos I do know people who have wrecked their whole life. People who have gone back to drugs and killed themselves young without getting back to God. Or people who are so much less than they used to be 'cos they have given in or given up 'cos things got too tough.

Looking at the people above, Moses temper eventually meant he did not get to enter the Promised Land. David's violent life meant he could not build the temple and his children by different wives caused all sorts of problems after his death. They still had consequences to deal with even though God was gracious to them.

The only person who did live without sinning was Jesus.
The biggest struggle He went through was Gethsemane.
Jesus was fully human as well as being God, I think the battle of facing the cross was too much for Him to humanly bear. The battle of Gethsemane was the battle for Jesus' will, it was the battle for human will to be broken and handed over to God, it was the battle for all mankind to be able to say “Your will be done”.

Jesus prayed “if it is possible” not to have to go through with the cross, but He got to the point where He agreed with the Father's will that he should go through with it. In His human weakness he was able to find Divine strength.

On the cross Jesus faced the battle again- he felt totally abandoned. He cried out “My God, why have you forsaken me?” but in that abondonement was able to also pray “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit”. Jesus was totally broken of all his human strength and so Jesus leads the way for everyone who finds their difficulties too much. He showed that we cannot handle what we are going through- the point is we can and should hand it over to the Father.

So, thats the point where I can reconcile myself to this verse. I do find things are too much for me sometimes, but the Holy Spirit in me links me to Jesus who was able to surrender to the Father and find strength there. So the strength to get me through is not my own, it is Divine. It will not be easy, but the strength I need is available once I give up my own strength.

Difficult Scriptures Intro

Do you ever come across bits in the Bible that you really wish were not there? Or bits that never will make sense, however often you hear someone talk about them in a meeting?

I think there is a tendancy for Christians to focus on the bits they do like or do understand, and kind of hope the rest will go away. As a church we have tried to "do the difficult bits", hence you will find people among us who live in community, or are celibates, or are from the "poor of society". We do believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are real and for today, and the thing that changed the church from a traditional baptist church to what it is today was people praying along the lines "God, if what I read is real then I want to see it happening today"

BUT I don't really think it is good enough to belong to a church that does such things and not make a decent attempt to be reconciled to the hard bits of the Bible personally. I don't think we can do faith second hand.
SO this is the beginning of a series (however long) about the bits of the Bible I find hard...