Honor Debtors--Even those who are in our debt are to be respected and honored appropriately.

For Failing to Stand--Standing is a way of showing deference, as if to give up one’s seat to the arriving person.

The Role of the King--This is not the first time God had told His people they could have a king.

Appeal--This provision is not exactly a form of appeal, but it’s easy enough to see how such a practice could derive from what we see here.

Retribution

This retributive form of justice was harsh, ... Note, however, that the punishment must be carefully measured. Justice was meant to restore order and social harmony,

What would happen if we began to see our neighborhoods in this way?

Are we making the Word of God delightful to the people around us?

The Word is powerful to convict and convert even the enemies of the Lord.

November/Scholarship

The substance of those things, which are made by him, began in him before all the ages of the world, not in time but with times. Time, indeed, is made with all things that are made. It is neither made before them, nor is it preferable to them, but it is co-created with them.

  - Eriugena, Homily on John 1.1-14 (Irish, 9th century)

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

  - Ephesians 5.15, 16

Jonathan Edwards wrote of the "preciousness" of time. It is God's greatest gift to us, next to His glorious Son, for in time we exist, through time we serve, and for the redeeming of the time we pray and watch and labor earnestly.

But what is time? It is a creature, although not animate; a thing, though we cannot pin it down. Time is, in essence, but a moment. The time past is gone; the time to come is not yet. We have memories of the past and nothing more. We cannot return there, for that time - every moment - is gone. We anticipate the future, but we shall not know it until the actual moments arrive - one by one.

Time is but a moment of existence, created by God and sustained in all its features and inhabitants by the Word of God, even King Jesus. Eriugena wants us to see that every moment of our lives depends on the steadfast love and faithfulness of God. Every moment is a gift from God, and every moment is to be used as though each moment actually belonged to Jesus, and not to us.

Time is, indeed, a precious gift, fraught with opportunities for knowing the Lord Jesus in His radiant beauty and unfathomable grace, and for serving Him so that others might know His touch and His truth through us. Let us, indeed, make the most of the time allotted to us, each moment, every day, all day long. What we do in and with time in the present can redound to the glory of God forever and ever.

Thanks be to God for the gift of time.

We're not making the most of our time if we aren't serious about the Lord. The current installment of ReVision challenges us to make better use of our time for knowing and serving the Lord. Check out Three percent? Really?

No one could ever accuse Patrick of not making the best use of his time. Get your copy of The Legacy of Patrick from our bookstore, and see how great an impact on time one person can have.

T. M. Moore, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

November/Scholarship

...the body of the church, enriched by the splendour of its Founder, is augmented by the hosts of saints and is made resplendent by religion and learning, so that those who come after draw profit from the concourse of the learned.

  - The Monk Jonas, Life of St. Columban (Italian, 7th century)

...be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

  - Ephesians 4.23, 24

Those like Columbanus, who led the Celtic revival through nearly four centuries of world-transforming mission and ministry, were taught from their earliest years to be diligent students. They believed that God spoke through His Word and the creation, as well as through the writings of the Church Fathers, and they hungered to learn as much as they could, throughout the whole course of their lives.

The communities they began - in Ireland and beyond - benefited greatly from their commitment to learning and scholarship. Celtic Christians had a deep sense of the presence of God, a firm commitment to the pursuit of holiness, and a ready resolve to be witnesses for Christ. They were taught well and they learned well; but to be taught well they had to have a learned clergy instructing them.

Everyday Christians truly profited "from the concourse of the learned," because learning among Celtic Christian leaders was not an end in itself and not for the sake of participating in some gnostic cult of the learned. Learning was to adorn one's profession of faith, to enable one better to equip the saints, and to engage bold missions in the Name of Him Who spoke to them everywhere and in every situation.

God wants a learned clergy, and He wants learned leaders to serve with that clergy, to equip the saints for the work of ministry unto the building-up of the Body of Christ. The more we learn, if we learn aright, the better equipped we will be for seeking and advancing the Kingdom of Jesus - the most learned, most brilliant, most self-denying One Who ever lived.

Would we be like our beautiful Jesus? Would we follow in the footsteps of this altogether lovely and powerful King and Savior? Then let us pursue learning. We have the mind of Christ! It's time we fed that mind and trimmed and readied it for greater service to the Lord for the profit of His people and our neighbors.

In today's ReVision I comment on the opportunity before us for equipping the saints to a more serious and effective walk with the Lord. Check out Three percent? Really?

And let me encourage you to order a copy of The Legacy of Patrick from our bookstore. If you want a good overview of the period of the Celtic revival - if you want to learn more about this inspiring period and why it matters so much to us at The Fellowship of Ailbe - this little book is the place to start.

T. M. Moore, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

In any congregation, only about 3% of the members really "get it" about the Gospel.

November/Scholarship

This Brendan was the head of the belief and devotion of a great part of the world like faithful Abraham, a pre-eminently prophetic psalmist like David the Son of Jesse, a distinguished sage like Solomon the son of David, a lawgiver to hundreds like Moses the son of Amram, a prolific translator like Jerome, a wondrous thinker like Augustine; a great and eminently universal student like Origen...

  - Anonymous, Vita Brendani (Irish, 12th century, from an earlier ms.)

He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the LORD the God of Israel had given...For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

  - Ezra 7.6, 10

The leaders of the Celtic Christian movement - like Brendan (fl. 560 AD) - made a powerful impact for generations on those who came to Christ or were taught and sent into ministry by them. It is significant that their followers remembered them in comparison with great saints of Scripture and the Christian tradition. And it is significant as well that many of those great saints with whom the Celtic heroes were compared were men of scholarly accomplishments.

Pastors today are not typically compared with Augustine, Jerome, and Origen. They are not remembered for their prolific translations, clear thinking, or vast studies. What we like in pastors these days doesn't typically fall into those categories. But what if it did? What if Christians began to expect of and admire in their pastors that they were diligent students, well-read and steeped in the classics of the Christian tradition, and able to understand the philosophical drift, cultural issues, and moral concerns of the day with clear and penetrating Christian logic? Do you think this would make a difference in the churches?

I do. Ezra was effective in helping to renew the Jewish community following the captivity not because he was a great military leader, a charismatic preacher, or a skilled marketer of vision and programs. He was a scholar and a deeply spiritual man, and God looked to him to secure the new foundations of His reviving city and people. In our day, when we need revival so much, men of scholarship, piety, and ministry skill would fill a significant gap.

Do you encourage your pastor to be a good scholar? Do you give him the time to do so? And are you interested to hear what he has been reading and learning of late? Your pastor's vision for ministry and for your church will grow to fit the dimensions of his own worldview, and that worldview can be expanded and enriched by devotion to learning. Don't begrudge your pastor his time in the books. Urge him on to it.

Don't miss today's ReVision column: Of Rot and Salt - A door of opportunity for truth is opening to the Christian community. Will we be able to go through it?

T. M. Moore, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.