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On the night between the 4th and 5th of November
1605 a plot was foiled to blow up King James I and the English parliament.
English Catholics were disappointed that their new king, who after all
had a catholic mother, had failed to champion their cause and a group
of plotters decided to take drastic action. Thirty-six barrels of gunpowder
were stored under parliament, enough to blow the whole thing and everyone
in it to smithereens. Drastic indeed! The plot came to light when one
of the plotters warned his friend that it would be wise to avoid parliament
on that day. The written warning was passed to the king, the plotters
were found, Guy Fawkes literally sitting on the evidence under parliament,
and their punishment was gruesome - hung, drawn and quartered.
Already, on the that same day, agitated Londoners who knew little more
than that their King had been saved joyfully lit bonfires in thanksgiving.
Fires have been lit every November 5th ever since with an effigy of
Guy Fawkes added to the flames as the tradition grew. There is a saying
that Guy Fawkes was "the only man to enter parliament with honourable
intentions" and some Englishmen have speculated, tongue in cheek,
whether the bonfires are to celebrate the foiling of a dastardly plot
or to mark an honourable attempt to do away with the government.
People might be forgiven for not understanding 400 years later all the
historic/political issues involved and Guy Fawkes night these days is
no more than a great bun fight with fireworks. What is disappointing
is that so many people can't understand how anyone could get worked
up about religion at all. They cannot see how religion could have anything
to do with what happens in our lives today, why it should have a place
at all in the Town Square. I recently met a young woman who had no Christian
friends in her growing up years, was raised by atheist parents, and
was shocked on entering university to find a Christian Union. She explained
that she had always been aware of Christianity but regarded it as "something
historical" - much like the story of the Gunpowder Plot. Thankfully,
by God's grace, she became a Christian at university and has always
been glad to have found Christianity alive and well and having something
to say in the modern world.
This week's passage is typical Paul. He is coming to the end of his
letter to Timothy and seems to want to cram in as much as possible before
he writes those words, Grace be with
you. "Flee from unrighteousness", "Fight
the good fight", "Make a good confession", "Take the lead", "Guard what
has been entrusted to you". Just this one passage of ten verses is full
of wise, pithy, challenging advice and speaks to us all. All this matters
very much, says Paul.
Calling Timothy "Man of God" Paul adjures him:
Flee from all this, and pursue righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight
of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called…
In the sight of God…I charge you to keep this command without spot or
blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring
about in his own time - God the blessed and only Ruler, the King of
kings and Lord of lords…
Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care.
This is Paul reminding Timothy that faith not only has to do with life
but also is life itself. It is the outworking of being a "Man of God";
the pursuit of the highest virtues that make life what it should be
at its best, "righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness".
It is something precious to be guarded and something to be fought for;
It is eternal life, of such worth that the Christian would rather lay
up treasure there than on earth. It is the inevitable response to this
great God, "blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords."
Of course, it is no wonder the world fails to understand these things
when they don't know the great God who inspires such things. No wonder
Paul is earnest as he commands Timothy to live out these things. It
is said that we either stand for something or fall for anything. I hope
we have no plans for something so radical and destructive as the gunpowder
plot but this week lets resolve to show all those who fail to understand
that there is something stand for, something to live for and that belongs
in the Town Square because it has something important to say to everyone.
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