Life + Faith – joncoombs.com

Tag: Bible

  • More Than Anger

    What do you get angry about?

    Is it after hearing the news of the day and all that is going on in our world? Is it while driving and you must let other road users know about it? Is it when your footy team loses or circumstance or other people?

    Jonah has just watched the entire city of Ninevah repent. As a result God relents from the judgements he planned and Jonah is so angry about it.

    You’d think he’d be pleased, wouldn’t you? It’s a successful ministry in my book, a whole city turning away from evil and toward God! Yet, Jonah is angry. Very angry.

    In Jonah 4:1-2, we read:

    But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the LORD, ‘Isn’t this what I said, LORD, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.’

    This book is full of irony, and here is a great example of it again. Jonah wasn’t running away from God the first time because he was worried he would fail, he was running away because of his fear of success! He knew God was merciful, but he did not want Ninevah to receive that mercy.

    Jonah goes and sits outside the city and again God provides for him, this time in the form of a plant. It gives shade to Jonah and he is well pleased. God then provides a worm and the plant withers and Jonah’s ridiculous response is again anger, so much so that he wants to die all over a plant!

    So, God asks him a question to try and get some sense into him. God asks,

    “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

    “It is,” says Jonah. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

    God’s response to Jonah is gentle but it cuts to the heart of the irony and what’s going on here. Jonah cared about the plant, which he neither planted or looked after, which appeared and then disappeared. Should God not care then for a city of 120,000 people!?

    We aren’t told Jonah’s response. Perhaps he didn’t have an answer. The book ends here and there is no resolution to the question. What we’re left with is that question hanging, which is addressed to us just as much as it is to Jonah.

    Are we genuinely concerned for the people God is concerned for? Or are we more invested in our own comfort, our own shade, than in the mercy God extends to others?

    The anger we hold reveals what we value. Jonah’s anger revealed his heart shaped by nationalistic pride than divine compassion.

    The question for us is whether our hearts look more like God’s or more like Jonah’s.

    For Reflection:

    1.     What does your anger tend to reveal about what you truly value? Is there a place where your priorities need to align more closely with God’s?

    2.     Is there a group of people that you find it difficult to want God’s mercy for? What might it look like to bring that before Him?

  • More Than A Second Chance

    “Can I have another go?” is an often-used phrase in our house when we’re playing games. Whether it’s darts, chess, or a card game, this phrase is used in hope by one of our kids after they’ve realised they could’ve made a better decision. They want a second chance at it.

    Jonah gets a second chance, which we read of in Jonah 3:1-2,

    Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.’

    Notice it was not, “Jonah got himself together.” Nor was it, “Jonah decided it was time.” But it was for the second time, “…then word of the Lord came to Jonah.” God speaks again. God initiates again. The mission Jonah ran from the first time is offered again. There is no change to the mission. It’s the same city, the same message, and the same calling. And this time Jonah goes.

    Jonah walks into Ninevah and delivers the message that the Lord has given him. It’s only eight words long, “Forty more days and Ninevah will be overthrown.” That’s it. The entire sermon. No explanation. No illustration. No application. It is quite an amazing scene.

    The result of this message is that the city repents. The king gets off his throne and sits in dust. There is a decree issued for humans and animals to fast and cry out to God. The message of the Lord has had an impact on the city.

    And God relents.

    In contrast to Israel, God’s own people, here is a pagan city who turn toward Him. God’s own people continue to rebel and refuse to repent are outdone by the Ninevites.

    This passage reminds us that God is the God of second chances. There’s a second chance for Jonah, for Ninevah, and for us. The call God gives to us in our lives doesn’t expire the moment we fail to answer it. He calls again and again and again, offering us a second chance at life, love, and hope.

    It also challenges our expectation of who can be transformed through responding to the message of God. Ninevah was the last city anyone would expect to repent, but God is always at work in the places our human minds have given up on.

    The gift of the second chance is for us!

    For Reflection:

    1.     Is there an area of your own life where you need to receive God’s second chance? Are you open to accepting God’s invitation into what you may have been avoiding?

    2.     Is there a person or situation you have mentally written off? How does the repentance of Nineveh challenge that assumption?

  • More Than A Prayer

    I suspect most of us know what it’s like to pray when we’re in a panic.

    That crisis moment when we receive a phone call with bad news, the family member requiring urgent help, the conflict and crisis at work. In these moments prayer comes quickly and easily. We reach for God because we know we can’t reach for anything else.

    Jonah is in one of these moments, praying on the inside of a big fish, like clutching for a wall in the dark.

    In Jonah 2:1-2, we read:

    From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. He said: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.”

    What follows is a poem, a psalm, a prayer of help and hope.

    Jonah uses the language of the Psalms to describe being cast into the deep. He even talks of the literal currents swirling and the seaweed wrapped around his head. It might not be the valley of the shadow of death, but it’s certain the belly of the shadow of darkness. He’s as low as a person can go.

    And it is in this event that God hears.

    Notice that Jonah’s prayer is not confession. Nor is it total repentance. He doesn’t say, “I’m sorry I ran”. He doesn’t repent of the disobedience to the call of God. He thanks God for saving his life, but there is still some deep work of the heart to come.

    When we need rescuing it’s easy to call on God. It’s hard to come to Him when things are calm, settled, and stable; when there’s no crisis to drive us to our knees.

    In v9 we read the heart of the chapter: “Salvation comes from the LORD.” 

    This is a declaration of faith. Jonah is aware of where his rescue comes from. The question is whether he will allow that same salvation to transform his heart that first ran away from the Lord.

    Prayer, in any moment, is a good place to start. But God wants more than crisis prayers. He wants ongoing conversation, connection, and worship. He loves for us to come to Him, to daily turn to Him in all things. Are we honest enough of where we are and how we are react to be open to God’s work in us?

    In the end the Lord sets Jonah’s feet back on solid ground, which He also does for us when we call on Him.

    For Reflection:

    1.     Do you tend to pray more in crisis than in calm? What might it look like to foster a more consistent conversation with God?

    2.     Is there something in your heart that you have not yet brought honestly before God?

  • More Than Running Away

    Jonah is full of humour if we’re on the lookout for it. And in the first chapter we find one of those funny moments being when Jonah thinks he can run from God.

    It’s funny.

    Jonah legitimately thinks he can flee from God, that he can outrun God. God tells him to go east to Ninevah, but instead Jonah heads west to Tarshish. He finds a ship, he pays that fare, he goes below deck. Jonah is so committed to running away that he falls asleep while a storm threatens to break up the ship.

    In Jonah 1:3, we read:

    But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.

    What is of particular interest here in chapter 1 is the contrast between Jonah and the sailors. These are pagan men, they worship various gods, and they begin crying out to them the moment the storm hits. These men are terrified, but they are also sincere. They recognise the spiritual while God’s own prophet is asleep!

    The sailors end up throwing Jonah overboard; after discovering he is the source of their trouble, but very reluctantly. They evidently fear the Lord as they make sacrifices and vows to him. It’s quite amazing really, their pagan sailors become worshippers of Yahweh despite the sleepy reluctant prophet. Jonah was running away from sharing the message God wanted him to share to heathens in Ninevah but ends up drawing these sailors toward Him.

    God has a way of working around our resistance and defiance.

    There is something to reflect on here. How often do we resemble Jonah more than the sailors? These sailors had no scripture, no tradition, and no covenant with God. Yet, when that moment came for them, they cried out, paid attention to the Lord, and responded. Jonah had all these things, but he ran.

    Running from God isn’t just blatant disobedience. It can occur in quiet ways; that prayer we put off, the conversation we avoid, that step of obedience we keep meaning to take. We find ourselves running in all sorts of directions.

    The good news in this chapter is not that the storm is stilled, it is that God is sovereign over all of it. He is sovereign over the storm, the sailors, and the fish that is in the water.

    God doesn’t abandon His mission because the messenger runs from it, nor does he abandon us when we run too.

    For Reflection:

    1.     In what area of your life have you been sleeping through the storm rather than responding to what God might be saying?

    2.     What might it look like to take one step back toward God this week, rather than continuing to head in the opposite direction?

  • More Than A Mission You Can Refuse

    There is something rather Mission Impossible about the book of Jonah. You can vibe God saying, “Your mission, Jonah, should you choose to accept it, is to go and share my message with the Ninevites.”

    In Jonah 1:2, God calls Jonah to share what all prophets of God are to share, the message of God:

    “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

    For those of us who know the rest of the story, or can catch up by reading the rest of chapter 1, we know that this is not what Jonah does. Instead, Jonah flees. He wants to get as far away from Nineveh as he can, and away from the Lord’s presence, by running away in the opposite direction.

    When we sense danger around us we tend to stop, turn around, and flee from whatever that danger might be. Here Jonah is doing the same thing. He is turning and fleeing in the opposite direction to what God wants him to be doing. He doesn’t want anything to do with the mission that God has for him.

    There’s something understandable for us in this. We don’t always follow God’s instruction, nor take the steps forward into the calling God has for us. This can be as simple as avoiding taking the step to follow him completely, to ignoring the explicit truth and teaching of his Word, to turning back to sin that we enjoy.

    Now, the time in which Jonah receives this call is when Assyria is one of Israel’s most hated opponents. Assyria are the superpower of the day, and there is no love lost between them and God’s people the Israelites. One reason Jonah is no doubt reluctant to even go to Nineveh is because he hates the people. His nationalism for God’s people is so ingrained in who he is as a prophet and person of God. Yet here is the Lord calling him to go to people who are his enemies, to go and give them a message and see if they will repent and believe.

    This mission that the Lord gives Jonah is quite extraordinary. It highlights just how much God has concern for all people, not just his own chosen people. God’s care and compassion isn’t for a select few, it’s not for a holy enclave of people who keep to themselves, but it is for all. As 1 Timothy 2:4 reminds us, we worship a God who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

    God’s heart is for all to come to know him.

    This call of Jonah to the Ninevites foreshadows the commission and promise Jesus gives his disciples in Acts 1:8, that they would receive power from the Holy Spirit and be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The mission that made Jonah run is the same mission Jesus gives to his people.

    Unfortunately, we can be so taken up by what we are doing ourselves, among our own Christian cohort, that we forget the mission of God is to others. It takes effort, intentionality, and compassion for others to go and share the message of Jesus. But it’s not about us, it’s about God and his love, grace, and concern for all.

    Let’s not forget the mission of God, which each of us are called to as his disciples.

    For Reflection:

    1.     Where in your life are you currently running away from something God might be calling you toward?

    2.     What would it look like for you to take one intentional step toward someone outside your usual Christian circle this week?

  • King Jesus: The Calling of The Ordinary

    Today, the announcement of good news, of great news, of world transforming news would be shared virally across social media, it would make headlines on news websites, it would be part of the regular conversation down the street and with neighbours. So it should be a little surprising to us that the first place Jesus proclaims the good news of the gospel of God (Mark 1:14-15) is in a small town up in the north of the country of Israel, away from the power and influence of Jerusalem and its religious leaders. 

    Here in Melbourne, important political news comes from Spring St, and important AFL news comes from AFL House. These are the places where the power and influence of our city come from. However, here in Mark’s gospel this news of Jesus and the good news he has to share appears in an out of the way, quite backward place, among ordinary people going about their ordinary days. 

    And we read of this in Mark 1:16-20: 

    16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.

    19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

    Jesus sees Simon (Peter) and Andrew at work, casting their nets. A little farther along he see these guys James and John preparing their nets. These fisherman are in the middle of their normal work day and Jesus comes along and calls them to follow him into a completely new direction and purpose. 

    Notice who Jesus doesn’t call. 

    He hasn’t gone to the highly ranked schools and universities. He hasn’t gone to find who is the smartest or brightest in the country. He doesn’t look for the leading academics and performers. He doesn’t start with the religious elite. 

    Who does he call? 

    The ordinary. Ordinary people doing ordinary things. Everyday people. People getting on with their jobs and responsibilities. 

    How encouraging is it to know that God’s kingdom isn’t built by the impressive, the influential, and the highly credentialed. Jesus calls those who have not made it in the eyes of the world. He doesn’t choose people because of their status or education or reputation. 

    Jesus calls ordinary people to follow him. 

    And what’s even more amazing is that Jesus is the one who takes the initiative. It was usually the other way around in the first century, a prospective student would approach a rabbi to be their disciple. Here, however, Jesus takes the initiative. He is the one who calls. He chose those who are to follow him. 

    This is a pattern throughout the Bible. God calls a people to himself. He takes the initiative and forms a people who belong to him and live under his rule. This same pattern is here in Mark 1, but in personal form. Jesus calls these men to come follow and become part of God’s mission in the world. 

    We are called in the same way today.

    Those of us who follow Jesus can say that God has taken the initiative toward us. He has called us to belong to him. 

    On one hand this is personal and individual, but on the other it’s not. Jesus calls these fishermen into a small group, a small community of followers who will become the early church as the New Testament unfolds.

    Following Jesus is personal, but it’s not isolated. We follow Jesus together and are shaped by him as we walk with others in faith. 

    When Jesus calls these fishermen he calls them into a life that will be changed and reshaped. One moment they are known locally for their trade, expertise, and work. In the next moment they are disciples of the Son of God, leaving behind all that is familiar to them.

    What a call we are part of! What a calling we have in Christ Jesus!

  • King Jesus: The Kingdom of God

    Have you ever received news or advice that changed your life?

    There are moments and events that reshape how we live and how we see the world. On a cultural level we might think of events like 9/11 or the COVID pandemic and how they altered patterns of work, travel, and security. On a personal level it could be a job promotion, a relationship breakdown, or the loss of someone close. These moments leave a mark.

    On a spiritual level, coming to Christ and trusting him as Lord and Saviour ought to have been life changing. As we walk with Jesus we might come through seasons, take a step of faith, or sit under the influence of a mentor that alters our life. I know that when I read a very basic biography of the missionary Jim Elliott I was never quite the same again. There are a few other moments like that I could name. 

    In Mark 1:14–15 we come to the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. It begins with an announcement and a call. It is a moment that is life altering not only for those who first heard it, but ultimately for the world. We read, 

    After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

    What do we notice? 

    First, Mark gives us the timing. Jesus begins his ministry after John the Baptist is imprisoned by Herod. The one who has prepared the way has completed his ministry, now it’s time for Jesus. 

    Second, Mark gives us the location. Jesus goes into Galilee. Technically he is already there because Nazareth is in that region, his home town. But the Sea of Galilee is around 30km away from there and this is where he shares this message. Note that this is not the religious centre of Israel or Jewish thought. This is a northern region, far away from the seats of power and influence. 

    Third, Mark tells us what Jesus is doing. He’s proclaiming the good news of God. He is announcing something that demands attention and response. He is bringing a life changing message. 

    In the Roman world, good news (or a gospel) would often be declared after a war victory, or at the birth or coronation of a ruler. There’s even an ancient inscription that speaks of “the beginning of the gospel of Caesar Augustus.” Mark deliberately uses this same kind of language, but now the good news is not about Caesar. It is about Jesus and the reign of God.

    Jesus says, “The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near.” 

    The long-awaited moment in God’s plan has arrived. What God has promised and prepared is now here.

    It’s hard to define the kingdom of God. One commentator I recently read had nine different angles on the kingdom of God from Mark alone! 

    At its most broad, the kingdom of God is God’s rule and reign over his creation. But in other places Jesus describes the kingdom using metaphors and objects in life. It’s like a mustard seed that grows into a large plant (Matthew 13:31-32; Luke 13:18-19). It is like yeast that when mixed with flour transforms everything it touches (Matthew 13:33; Luke 13:20-21). It’s like a pearl or a treasure that is so valuable that one sells everything to gain it (Matthew 13:44-46).

    In terms we might understand in our day and age, we might say the kingdom of God is like a washing machine. Dirty clothes go in and through the action of water and detergent they come out clean and renewed. Or perhaps it’s like the body when eating well and exercising, change is happening even if you do not see it on the scales each day. Or maybe it’s like a software update working in the background so that over time everything runs differently and hopefully better (!). 

    In Jesus the kingdom of God is not just an idea. It’s personified. The kingdom of God makes a personal appearance in Jesus. The rule and reign of God is revealed through the person and work of the Son of God. 

    When we enter this kingdom through Jesus, we are aware that it is not fully complete, either in us or in the cosmos. But as we step into it, and continue in it, we are asking Jesus to take his rightful place upon the throne of our heart and to establish God’s kingly rule over every dimension of our lives 

    This proclamation by Jesus then brings a call to action. To repent and believe. 

  • King Jesus: The Love of God the Father

    The baptism of Jesus, by John, is a key moment in the life of Jesus and his ministry. 

    In Mark 1:9-11 we read, 

    “At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’”

    Jesus arrives from Nazareth and is baptised by John, who has been preparing the way for him to be received. Mark gives us a pretty simple description of what’s going on, but we can’t miss the vivid details either. Heaven is described as being torn open. The Spirit depends on Jesus like a dove. The voice of God the Father is heard. 

    This is the point of affirmation and anointing of Jesus. It establishes his identity. He is named as the Son, loved by the Father, and is pleasing to him. 

    We notice a particular closeness between Jesus the Son and his Father. This is unique in scripture. Throughout the Old Testament we know there are plenty who walk closely with God, think Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and others who are faithful followers and friends of God. But here it is the language of family. He is the Son. He is loved. God is pleased. The relationship described here is personal and direct. 

    As God the Father reveals the identity of Jesus the Son of God (Mark 1:1) it is also worth highlighting that this affirmation of identity and love occurs before he has done anything. This declaration occurs before Jesus has done any ministry at all. He hasn’t performed any miracles. He hasn’t taught any crowds. He hasn’t called any disciples to follow him. And quite obviously, he hasn’t gone to the cross or been raised from the dead. Yet, God the Father declares his love and pleasure in his Son. 

    I find this encouraging. 

    I find this a helpful reminder about God’s love and pleasure for us. 

    When someone you know tells you that they love you it lifts you. When someone says they are pleased with you or proud of you, then you are encouraged and stand a little taller. Here’s the Father speaking those kind of words over the Son. Love and pleasure is declared before achievement, not after it. 

    It’s the kind of reminder that helps us understand God’s love for us as we are, not in what we do. 

    God doesn’t love us because of what we are doing for him, how we are serving him, or whether we are becoming ‘better’ (whatever that might mean for us). No, God the Father loves us for who we are, as his child, as part of his family. God’s love and pleasure toward us comes before any sort of achievement we believe we are offering to him. 

    Remember John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…” This isn’t after we have proved ourselves. Nor is it after we’ve improved ourselves. This is out of love for us. 

    This is part of the deep comfort of the gospel. We come to a loving Father through a loved Son. 

  • King Jesus: The Messenger

    One of the few times Mark directly quotes the Old Testament comes at the beginning of his gospel. He writes:

    I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” (Mark 1:2–3)

    The Messenger

    These words point to a coming messenger. Someone sent ahead of the Lord to prepare people for his arrival, like the announcer before a basketball game who introduces the players from each team or the caller at a darts match who declares each score as it lands. The role is to get people ready and paying attention.

    Mark tells us that this messenger is John the Baptist.

    He appears in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People from the Judean countryside and Jerusalem go out to him. They confess their sins and are baptised in the Jordan River.

    John is presented as a prophet in the mould of the Old Testament. His clothing of camel’s hair, leather belt, and wilderness lifestyle all point in that direction. He is especially reminiscent of Elijah. His role is to call people back to God and prepare them for what God is about to do next. In that sense, he stands as the last of the Old Testament style prophets, right on the edge of the new era that arrives with Jesus.

    The Message

    From this messenger comes a message that is clear and humble:

    “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1:7–8)

    John knows exactly where he stands in relation to the one who is coming. He is faithful and bold, but he is not the King. He says he is not even worthy to untie his sandals.

    That image can slip past us today. We tie and untie shoes all the time without thinking about it. But in the first century, with open sandals, dirty roads, and poor sanitation, feet were filthy. Cleaning them was servant work. The lowest servant work. It was considered such a degrading task that even Jewish servants where warned against doing it.

    John says he is not worthy to perform even that lowly role for the one who is coming. That is how great he understands Jesus to be.

    Baptism

    Part of John’s ministry is baptism, and it is worth noting what his baptism means. Mark says it is a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. It is about turning back to God.

    Repentance is a change of direction. Like when you miss a turn while driving and need to do a U-turn. Repentance is that turning of the heart and life back toward God, with confession and humility.

    Christian baptism includes repentance too, but it also goes further. It is baptism into Christ. It speaks of forgiveness, new life, belonging to God’s family, and receiving the Holy Spirit. John’s baptism prepares the way. Jesus brings the fulfilment.

    John’s role is not to draw attention to himself but to point forward. Prepare the way. Straighten the path. Get ready for the King.

    Have you got a prepared heart ready to hear from the King?

  • King Jesus: The Beginning of The Good News

    Do you like a good action movie?

    A James Bond film, Mission Impossible, or one of the Bourne movies? The kind where things are moving from the opening scene and the story carries real momentum.

    If one of the gospels were turned into action flick, Mark would be the script. It moves quickly, has lots of movement, and gets straight to the point. There is no warmup, no stretching beforehand, no long preamble. It is like the starter’s gun at the beginning of a race and we are off.

    Mark begins like this:

    “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.” (Mark 1:1)

    That single line acts as both introduction and purpose statement. It tells us what the whole book is about before anything else is said. Like the opening line of a great novel, it draws us in. Except this isn’t fiction. This is the announcement of a real person and the purpose for which he came.

    Mark doesn’t include genealogies, birth stories, or any post-resurrection events. His focus is clear and deliberate. He wants to announce and show that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God. The book is centred on who Jesus is, what he does, and what it means to follow him.

    The word gospel (euangelion in the Greek) means good news. In the first century, good news would be publicly proclaimed when there was a military victory or a royal announcement. You can picture the town crier calling out the news of the day in the streets. In that sense, Mark is like a paper boy standing on the corner calling out the headline,

    “Good news. Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God has arrived.”

    But this good news is greater than a victory in battle or the birthday of an emperor. This is the announcement of God’s King and the fulfilment of long-awaited expectation and hope.

    The good news is not merely an event. It is a person. Jesus himself.

    Notice the titles Mark gives him. Messiah. Christ. Son of God. These are not polite honourifics. They are identity claims. They tell us that Jesus is not simply another religious teacher or prophet. He is uniquely connected with God and shares in God’s own identity.

    From the first sentence, Mark wants us to know who stands at the centre of this story. Everything else in the book hangs from this opening declaration.