Ecclesiastes 7:29 – In praise of simplicity?

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NASB – ‘God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.’
NIV – ‘God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes.’
RSV – ‘God made man upright, but they have sought out many devices.’
ESV – ‘God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.’
AV – ‘God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.’

This verse in its GNB version…

‘This is all that I have learnt: God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated’

…has been recruited by at least one preacher as the text for a sermon on simplicity. …

Luke 5:4 “Put out into the deep water”

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Luke 5:4 “Put out into the deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”

Let the preacher beware of allegorising and over-spiritualising such details.  Example:

‘The invitation to put out into the deep for a catch provides a sharp contrast to our human penchant for the predictable and the routine. It is an invitation to venture into new ground or new depths, but it also points to new challenges in mission and ministry for the church in every generation…In the case of Simon, as for the Christian faced with such a command, there is the realization that the most profound and significant experiences of God and life are not to be found in the safe ways and places.’

…

Isaiah 9:6 – ‘Wonderful counsellor’

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In the NIV, Isaiah 9:6f reads:

6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.…

Luke 1:46-47 – ‘My soul…my spirit’

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Preachers should always pay close attention to the biblical text.  That is a given.  But there is a danger of paying such close attention to the text of Scripture that we see more in it than is actually there.  I came across an example of this in a little book of Christmas Sermons preached by D.M. Lloyd-Jones.  Lloyd-Jones is speaking about the opening words of Mary’s ‘Magnificat’ (Luke 1:46-47)

The preacher said,

‘First, let us notice the depth of feeling with which she spoke, which is conveyed in these words. 

…

Discussion Starters – Luke 6:12-36

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Icebreaker

Tell us something about your name.  What does it mean?  Why were you given it?  What do you like, or dislike, about it?

Read verses 17-19

Which of these men do we know most about?  And which do we know least about?

What do you think these disciples were expecting when they first responded to Jesus’ call to follow him?

Look back at Luke 1:1-4.  What aspects of this list of disciples gives us confidence that they were reliable ‘eyewitnesses’ of Jesus?…

Luke 21:24 – Israel to become an independent state?

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‘Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.’

This is the one passage in the NT that seems to speak of the return of Jerusalem to the custody of the Jews.

For some, the ‘times of the Gentiles’ came to an end on 14th May, 1948, when Israel became an independent state, or Jane 1967, with the capture of East Jerusalem.

For Derek White, of Christian Friends of Israel, there is no doubt:

‘The plain meaning of these words of Jesus is that the imposition of Gentile rule and possession of Jerusalem is to have an end, and that it will come again into the possession of the Jewish people as their Capital.

…

Luke 21:18 – “Not a hair on your head will perish”

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This difficult saying has been understood in various ways:-

1. Some, such as Barnes, think that this is a promise of supernatural protection to a particular people at a particular time.  Barnes thinks that this was fulfilled at the time of the fall of Jerusalem, when it has been thought that Christians suffered no serious harm.  But Kidner (commenting on Psa 121:7f) notes that

‘God’s minutest care (‘not a hair of your head will perish’) and his servants’ deepest fulfilment (‘you will win true life’, NEB) are promised in the same breath as the prospect of hounding and martyrdom (Luke 21:16f.).’

…

Science and miracles

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Sir Colin Humphreys recently spoke at Norwich Cathedral on ‘How Can Science Fit With Miracles?’.

A video recording of the lecture, together with the Q & A session which followed, can be found here.

Sir Colin spent most of his time discussing three miracles – the ancient Israelites’ crossing of the River Jordan, the crossing of the ‘Red Sea’, and the resurrection of Jesus.

When approaching miracles from a scientific perspective, he said, we should first ask if any known natural mechanisms can be invoked in order to help us understand what happened.…

Proverbs 22:6 – ‘Train a child’

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22:6 Train a child in the way that he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it.

This well-known proverb has been understood in a variety of ways.

In popular Christian thinking, it is thought to constitute an unconditional promise to parents.  It is taken as a guarantee of the success of early training of children.  But not a few parents find that, despite their best efforts at bringing up their child ‘in the way he should go’, when he is old he does turn from it. …

Joshua 3:7-17 – Crossing the Jordan

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Josh 3:14 When the people left their tents to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. 3:15 When the ones carrying the ark reached the Jordan and the feet of the priests carrying the ark touched the surface of the water—(the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest time)—3:16 the water coming downstream toward them stopped flowing. It piled up far upstream at Adam (the city near Zarethan); there was no water at all flowing to the sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea).…