The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel Youth

['The tragic image is unforgettable. Like so many people, I wept as I saw the picture of 3-year-old Alan Kurdi’s little body washed up on the shoreline in Turkey. He had drowned, together with his brother and mother, as his family fled the war in Syria.\nOne of the biggest causes of the current European refugee crisis is warfare. Over 500,000 people have been killed in the civil war in Syria in recent years. In Iraq, Isis have murdered thousands of innocent people (many of them Christians) and displaced tens of thousands of people (again, many of them Christians). Appalling terrorist attacks around the world now occur with alarming regularity.\nThese atrocities are extreme and horrific instances of a violence that has always taken place at every level of society. ‘Brother fight brother, neighbor fight neighbor, city fight city, kingdom fight kingdom – anarchy and chaos and killing!’ (Isaiah 19:2, MSG).\nVirtually every day in the media we see the horrors of warfare. We live in a world that is constantly developing even more terrible weapons of physical warfare. These weapons have the power to maim, kill and destroy. But this warfare is not purely physical. The issues that give rise to it, as many in both politics and the media acknowledge, are profoundly moral and spiritual.\nJust as physical warfare is a serious global issue, so, according to the apostle Paul, is spiritual warfare (see Ephesians 6:10–20). This is unseen, but it is just as real. The great Welsh preacher, Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones, once said, ‘There is no grosser or greater misrepresentation of the Christian message than that which depicts it as offering a life of ease with no battle and struggle at all... sooner or later every believer discovers that the Christian life is a battleground, not a playground.’\nIn this battle, you are called not to be overcome by evil but to overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21). You are given the weapons with which to win the battle. Paul writes, ‘We do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds’ (2 Corinthians 10:3b–4).\nWhat are these weapons? How do you use them?', None]

The tragic image is unforgettable. Like so many people, I wept as I saw the picture of 3-year-old Alan Kurdi’s little body washed up on the shoreline in Turkey. He had drowned, together with his brother and mother, as his family fled the war in Syria.

One of the biggest causes of the current European refugee crisis is warfare. Over 500,000 people have been killed in the civil war in Syria in recent years. In Iraq, Isis have murdered thousands of innocent people (many of them Christians) and displaced tens of thousands of people (again, many of them Christians). Appalling terrorist attacks around the world now occur with alarming regularity.

These atrocities are extreme and horrific instances of a violence that has always taken place at every level of society. ‘Brother fight brother, neighbour fight neighbour, city fight city, kingdom fight kingdom – anarchy and chaos and killing!’ (Isaiah 19:2, MSG).

Virtually every day in the media we see the horrors of warfare. We live in a world that is constantly developing even more terrible weapons of physical warfare. These weapons have the power to maim, kill and destroy. But this warfare is not purely physical. The issues that give rise to it, as many in both politics and the media acknowledge, are profoundly moral and spiritual.

Just as physical warfare is a serious global issue, so, according to the apostle Paul, is spiritual warfare (see Ephesians 6:10–20). This is unseen, but it is just as real. The great Welsh preacher, Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones, once said, ‘There is no grosser or greater misrepresentation of the Christian message than that which depicts it as offering a life of ease with no battle and struggle at all... sooner or later every believer discovers that the Christian life is a battleground, not a playground.’

In this battle, you are called not to be overcome by evil but to overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21). You are given the weapons with which to win the battle. Paul writes, ‘We do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds’ (2 Corinthians 10:3b–4).

What are these weapons? How do you use them?

['Mick Hawkins was the most generous person I have ever met. He was always giving and always offering to pay for everything. We thought he must be very rich. Actually, he wasn’t. He was just very generous. His life overflowed with thankfulness for God’s grace. This opened his heart and his wallet in a way that inspired all who knew him.\nI want to be like Mick. I long for the church of Jesus Christ to be full of people like him because, as we see in today’s passage, grace, thanksgiving and generosity are very closely connected.', None]

Mick Hawkins was the most generous person I have ever met. He was always giving and always offering to pay for everything. We thought he must be very rich. Actually, he wasn’t. He was just very generous. His life overflowed with thankfulness for God’s grace. This opened his heart and his wallet in a way that inspired all who knew him.

I want to be like Mick. I long for the church of Jesus Christ to be full of people like him because, as we see in today’s passage, grace, thanksgiving and generosity are very closely connected.

['What was wrong with these people? Were they weird? Was it a cult? What was this strange expression they seemed to use?\nOf course, I knew that God or even Jesus could be called ‘Lord’, but never before had I heard God referred to so often by a group of people as ‘The Lord’. In the years since then, as I have studied the Bible, I have begun to understand why these Christians, whom I first met at university, used this expression so often: they loved their Lord! Now he is my Lord. I, too, love the Lord.\n‘The LORD’ is the most common way of referring to God in the Old Testament. When written in capitals, this word translates the Jewish covenant name for God, YHWH. Out of respect for God, Jews do not use the word. Historically, we have often pronounced the word as ‘Jehovah’, when in fact it sounds more like ‘Yahweh’. When the Old Testament was first translated into Greek (c.250 BC) the name YHWH was translated as Kurios (the Lord). This translation is then reflected in the New Testament.\nThe New Testament gives us a more Trinitarian understanding of ‘The LORD’. It makes the remarkable claim that Jesus is the Lord. In fact, whether someone can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ becomes the test of Christian authenticity (1 Corinthians 12:3). It also makes the claim that the Holy Spirit is Lord: ‘Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom’ (2 Corinthians 3:17).\nGod the Father is Lord. God the Son is Lord. God the Holy Spirit is Lord. But there is only one Lord: ‘One Lord… one God’ (Ephesians 4:5–6). The one Trinitarian God is Lord. The New Testament understanding of the Lord helps us interpret the Old Testament use of ‘The LORD’. The Old Testament enriches our understanding of what the New Testament means when it speaks of ‘The LORD’.\nHow can you love your Lord?', None]

What was wrong with these people? Were they weird? Was it a cult? What was this strange expression they seemed to use?

Of course, I knew that God or even Jesus could be called ‘Lord’, but never before had I heard God referred to so often by a group of people as ‘The Lord’. In the years since then, as I have studied the Bible, I have begun to understand why these Christians, whom I first met at university, used this expression so often: they loved their Lord! Now he is my Lord. I, too, love the Lord.

‘The LORD’ is the most common way of referring to God in the Old Testament. When written in capitals, this word translates the Jewish covenant name for God, YHWH. Out of respect for God, Jews do not use the word. Historically, we have often pronounced the word as ‘Jehovah’, when in fact it sounds more like ‘Yahweh’. When the Old Testament was first translated into Greek (c.250 BC) the name YHWH was translated as Kurios (the Lord). This translation is then reflected in the New Testament.

The New Testament gives us a more Trinitarian understanding of ‘The LORD’. It makes the remarkable claim that Jesus is the Lord. In fact, whether someone can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ becomes the test of Christian authenticity (1 Corinthians 12:3). It also makes the claim that the Holy Spirit is Lord: ‘Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom’ (2 Corinthians 3:17).

God the Father is Lord. God the Son is Lord. God the Holy Spirit is Lord. But there is only one Lord: ‘One Lord… one God’ (Ephesians 4:5–6). The one Trinitarian God is Lord. The New Testament understanding of the Lord helps us interpret the Old Testament use of ‘The LORD’. The Old Testament enriches our understanding of what the New Testament means when it speaks of ‘The LORD’.

How can you love your Lord?

['‘I am so happy I could cry! I am so excited that we might have the chance to go to Focus [our church holiday]! I can’t wait to see my children’s faces when I tell them!’ This was the reaction of a mother with two young children in our congregation when she heard she would be given a bursary (a discounted rate) to come to Focus. At the end of the week she wrote, ‘It is the best holiday we have ever had as a family. I am so happy.’\nI love the fact that hundreds of people come to Focus on bursaries, or even for nothing. Others give generously to make this possible.\nA few months later the mother who had written to me unexpectedly inherited some money from a distant relative. She gave extraordinarily generously. The amount far more than covered the bursary she and her family had received.\nThis is a practical outworking of the New Testament principle that those who can afford give to help those who cannot afford – so that there might be equality: ‘At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need’ (2 Corinthians 8:14).\nSo much of our world is taken up with thinking, writing and talking about money, wealth and riches. The Bible has a great deal to say about these subjects. However, the biblical position is in contrast to that of today’s culture.\nIn today’s New Testament passage, Paul tells us that the whole point of the incarnation of Jesus was that you might ‘become rich’ (v.9). However, the passages for today totally redefine this world’s understanding of the word ‘rich’.', None]

‘I am so happy I could cry! I am so excited that we might have the chance to go to Focus [our church holiday]! I can’t wait to see my children’s faces when I tell them!’ This was the reaction of a mother with two young children in our congregation when she heard she would be given a bursary (a discounted rate) to come to Focus. At the end of the week she wrote, ‘It is the best holiday we have ever had as a family. I am so happy.’

I love the fact that hundreds of people come to Focus on bursaries, or even for nothing. Others give generously to make this possible.

A few months later the mother who had written to me unexpectedly inherited some money from a distant relative. She gave extraordinarily generously. The amount far more than covered the bursary she and her family had received.

This is a practical outworking of the New Testament principle that those who can afford give to help those who cannot afford – so that there might be equality: ‘At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need’ (2 Corinthians 8:14).

So much of our world is taken up with thinking, writing and talking about money, wealth and riches. The Bible has a great deal to say about these subjects. However, the biblical position is in contrast to that of today’s culture.

In today’s New Testament passage, Paul tells us that the whole point of the incarnation of Jesus was that you might ‘become rich’ (v.9). However, the passages for today totally redefine this world’s understanding of the word ‘rich’.

['Pippa and I had just returned home from the hospital. Earlier that day, my mother had died of a heart attack while at her desk at work. She was sixty-nine.\nI was in a state of shock and turmoil within. I wandered out of our home for a breath of fresh air and was thinking that the one person I really wanted to see was Sandy Millar – our pastor and friend.\nAt that moment, I looked up and recognised his car approaching. He had just heard our news and had driven straight round to see us. God used Sandy’s arrival that day to bring us great comfort and encouragement.\nIn today’s New Testament passage, we read that Titus’ arrival was used by God to bring Paul great comfort and encouragement when Paul was in a state of turmoil, exhaustion, oppression, affliction, dread and fear: ‘But God, who comforts and encourages and refreshes and cheers the depressed and the sinking, comforted and encouraged and refreshed and cheered us by the arrival of Titus’ (2 Corinthians 7:6, AMP).\nTitus’ arrival brought even further encouragement because he carried news of how the Corinthians were being useful to God. As a result, Paul ‘rejoiced still more’ (v.7, AMP).\nHowever bleak things may appear, God always seems to raise up people who are instruments ‘for noble purposes… useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work’ (2 Timothy 2:21). How can you and I be useful to God?', None]

Pippa and I had just returned home from the hospital. Earlier that day, my mother had died of a heart attack while at her desk at work. She was sixty-nine.

I was in a state of shock and turmoil within. I wandered out of our home for a breath of fresh air and was thinking that the one person I really wanted to see was Sandy Millar – our pastor and friend.

At that moment, I looked up and recognised his car approaching. He had just heard our news and had driven straight round to see us. God used Sandy’s arrival that day to bring us great comfort and encouragement.

In today’s New Testament passage, we read that Titus’ arrival was used by God to bring Paul great comfort and encouragement when Paul was in a state of turmoil, exhaustion, oppression, affliction, dread and fear: ‘But God, who comforts and encourages and refreshes and cheers the depressed and the sinking, comforted and encouraged and refreshed and cheered us by the arrival of Titus’ (2 Corinthians 7:6, AMP).

Titus’ arrival brought even further encouragement because he carried news of how the Corinthians were being useful to God. As a result, Paul ‘rejoiced still more’ (v.7, AMP).

However bleak things may appear, God always seems to raise up people who are instruments ‘for noble purposes… useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work’ (2 Timothy 2:21). How can you and I be useful to God?