February
I do hope the current icy weather is not causing you too much hassle?
The other night our water supply was cut off - in Sutton Bridge we
think - Wendy and Danny had the same experience. At first we were a bit
worried that we had frozen pipes but Wendy took the trouble to 'phone
Anglian Water and discovered that a pump had failed. So water back on
this morning!
Reading Genesis can be tricky! Some parts seem warm and
understandable and then you read something and it feels like the water
has been cut off! You know what I mean? One just feels troubled about
the behaviour, telling lies, the wheeling and dealing. The point is that
God tells it like it is! Also, he tells us what we need to know. There
may be things we think ought to be there in Genesis. The Lord showed
Moses all kinds of things to write down - but only the things he wanted
us to know - things that would help us to come to God in repentance and
faith.
The other point about Genesis is that we must not lose sight of Jesus
Christ. All Scripture is about him in one way or another.
We had a good discussion about Abraham at our Home Group. A really
good question came up about the appearances of God in human form. In
fact these appearances occur throughout the Bible. Coupled with this we
thought about the way God speaks to us and wondered how our experience
compares with the people in the Old Testament.
So a major thing we tried to get our heads around is the fact of Jesus existing "before" he was born. Remember Jesus said, "Before Abraham was - I am!" When God appeared to people like Abraham it was through the Person of God the Son - Jesus. It makes a wonderful study to read each of these special appearances and the things that are said and done. In particular you will note the gracious promises that God made.
We may read the history of these people who God chose and worked through and feel that they were a not that godly! If so we can take encouragement that since the Lord could stay working through them he can stay working through you and me. This does not mean that we can carry on living a sinful life but it does mean that when we fall or fail God’s grace is there to pick us up, dust us down and help us start up again.
Well - the song says - Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
It seems really strange - sitting here at 11am on a Sunday writing an
email.
We have managed to keep Sundays special for the Lord through ice and
snow, storm and flood! But not today! The snow is so deep around here!
My car was a completely different shape and had about a foot of crisp
white meringue all round it. I shovelled it away and though about making
a snowman!
Really, it is sensible to stay indoors unless you have snow shoes and
snow chains. Countries where snow like this is common are set up for it.
Maybe the changes to our climate will cause us to be similarly prepared?
Meanwhile .....
Some of our church have been over-stretched lately - with extra work,
illness and family demands. Perhaps a quiet day will help recuperation?
If I had been preaching today I would have asked the question, "What
do you believe?" I am sure that your answers would have centred on our
Creator God and on his Son the Lord Jesus. No doubt your answer would
have been that you believe IN the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the point!
It is not what we believe but WHO we believe in.
Reading Genesis can get a bit confusing and even worrying. After all
those people were quite "naughty" weren’t they? Even Abraham got up to
some tricks. The thing we hold on to is that these are only shadows of
reality. We have reality in Jesus - they held on to the shadows they
could see of him and pressed on in faith. We must press on in faith and
it should not be as difficult as it must have been for Abraham. No
wonder God blessed him!
And - even though the characters of Genesis seem to have been
misbehaving and getting it all wro9ng - God was never caught out by them
- his purposes were never thwarted. That is the amazing thing. God is
sovereign and in control but does not have to control everything in
order to achieve his Will. It is a bit like being in a Squash Court and
hitting a ball hard against one wall. The ball bounces back and forth
all over the place - but it cannot bounce outside the walls! It is like
that for us. We might feel, at times, that we are bouncing out of
control. The truth is that God is much bigger than us and we cannot
bounce out of his Grace! His grace is sufficient.
So, even today - not meeting together - we are in God's grace and
mercy. We are in his Will. This may be tough to accept at times because
we might want him to stop the walls "hurting" us. But the walls are
there to keep us in his grace. That is what we learn from the stories in
Genesis. People were trying to please God - trying to understand his
Will for them. They bounced around and got things wrong but God still
worked through them and continued to work out his purpose.
What was that purpose? Well, he wanted to appear in the likeness of
"flesh" - becoming a Man - in order to redeem us and reconcile us to
himself. From there he has a plan to make us all "sons". He will have a
New Creation filled with "sons of God". You are included in this
glorious plan when you truly believe in Jesus!
January
Mi sono confuso!
Reading this title you might think you are confused? The truth is you may just not know what it says. Though I expect most of you will get that it is Italian for “I am confused”! This word means – disordered – unable to think intelligently, embarrassed, disorientated …
Yesterday (Sunday 22 Jan) I was talking about the Tower of Babel and how God CONFUSED the language of all the people. I explained that this was more than merely inventing loads of languages. God made their minds confused so that they could not understand each other. So they split up and spread out. This remains true in the world. People speak English to each other but do not really understand each other. Everyone lives a confused life – not knowing what to think or who to believe. That’s the point. The people who were building the tower of Babel could not continue and gradually were dispersed all over the globe because they were confused. Language changes, dialects and accents developed from this.
Now, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Full Day of Pentecost, God reversed the process! Everyone heard in their own dialect and understood. No more hiding behind “I’m confused!” However, that is what many did. Although they could understand in an intimate way what God was saying to them, they argued that they were confused. Instead of hearing they argued about possible drunkenness, or about the impossibility of iwhat was happening! So, it does not do for us as Christians to choose to go round in a similar state of confusion - having a disordered, disoriented, non-Jesus-like mind.
Christians need not be confused. There are many voices clamouring for attention and the world gets confused by them but Christians can hear the voice of Jesus. In this way Jesus is the ONE PURE LANGUAGE – the language of heaven. We speak “Jesus” – so we all understand each other and get along. No need for argument, division or confusion! If only it were so!
Genuine confusion comes from two things – the deceitfulness of the human heart and thepride of one's heart. So, a man tells his wife and children that he really loves them – but leaves them for another woman! That’s confusion. A world leader tells everyone that he is “For Peace” but sends in his army to overrun a neighbouring country. That's confusion - so, in the world, we may not know who or what to believe!
Christians should not be confused by all that and certainly shouldn’t live in confusion among their brothers and sisters. Yes, I know that it is a process and we need to grow more like Jesus in order to speak “His Language”. However, there is something about trusting and resting in the Lord. If we cannot trust one another – then we will be confused. Instead of living the life of the Spirit and enjoying the real meaning of the Gift of Tongues and interpretation of Tongues (the reversal of the judgement at Babel) we will live under the strife of tongues under the bable (Babel) of meaninglessness. What a misery – worse off than the world! Not understanding, feeling confused. And why? Because we want things to fit our selfish ideas and proud hearts. Instead of wanting to know the Lord Jesus who is the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE we crave a truth that makes us important and the centre of attention. We go around with a "me" shaped language and get confused because no-one speaks it but me!
Are you confused? Basically this means that you don’t know what to believe. Surely not? Perhaps you expect too much? You want everything to fit your personal language rather than learn the language of Christ? Perhaps you feel insecure and want to know everything that is going on? What good will that do – you will never know enough – and always feel “left out”. That is what happened at Babel and divided everyone. Have you noticed how accents and dialects develop so easily? In England there are all kinds of dialects and some people find it very hard to understand what the other is saying – even when talking about the same subject! This occurs all over the world. Its root cause is what God did to the people building the Tower of Babel. Let us do our best to make sure that we are rooted and grounded in Christ Jesus – not in self-interest and opinion or self righteousness. These things divide and confuse.
December
Christmas! "They" say that you either love it or hate it! Basically it is a two-day holiday! A time to enjoy with friends and family. Many good (Protestant) Christians avoid this festival because of its attachments to pagan ideas and sheer unrestrained materialism! However, we might take note that other religions (including Judaism) have many more festivals and celebrations. Devout Jews will celebrate every Sabbath with a family meal, candles and ceremonies. These kind of things have value in human life. They are (or can be) a way that societies stick together - they are about culture as much as about faith!
I like to enjoy the holiday and also use the reason for the season in teaching and preaching. This year I have been thinking about the amazing people who are central to the story of the birth of the Son of God.
Mary - what a magnificent girl! At the onset of marriage and family life God meets her and offers something that almost wrecked every hope and dream she may have had! BUT, I believe she had a greater dream - that Messiah should come and save "captive Israel". She submitted to God's will. She prophesied amaxing things in her poem of praise to God. And she was not alone!
I wonder about her mother and father - what would they think? Perhaps they knew their daughter well and would not expect her to lie her way out of a corner! They are not mentioned but must have been involved - especially in the long stay with Elizabeth in the hill country. And there was Joseph.
Have you ever stopped to think what he must have endured? At first because he was Joseph the Just, he worked a plan to break the engagement without Mary being implicated or embarassed (or worse!). Then God reminded him of his ancestry and that, as far as God was concerned, Joseph was the son of David. Joseph was King of Israel! Joseph was a dreamer (like his Old Testament namesake). In dreams God was able to make his plans clear to Joseph. So thi great man of God took a pregnant girl as his wife and endured the scoffing and backbiting and mockery that would have been made. He would have been the target of mean gossip - a cuckold - married to a girl who was having someone else's baby! And just think of the responsibility that Joseph and Mary had - parents of the Son of God. They were entrusted to nurture and train him. They were to care for this little boy who would change the world through his teaching, his power, his cruel death and wonderful resurrection.
Then we need to think about Elizabeth. What a woman! Having a baby in her middle-age (she might have been 40 or more). Her husband was one of the Priests of Israel (so he was under 50 - check your Old Testaments about this). If Elizabeth had any doubts about Mary that were dispelled when the baby in her womb kicked (and I think it was a big kick). Elizabeth rejoiced, she received Mary and she encouraged her. In all the fear and doubt that might flood in to a young girl's heart - Elizabeth was the steady loving voice of encouragement. Perhaps Elizabeth and Mary's parents played a part in helping Joseph come to terms with the challenge of marrying a pregnant girl? What ever the turmoil of all that God had "caused" these people remained faithful and held on to the fact that the baby in Mary was to be the Saviour of the World!
October
24th - More on Pressure
Strange - that I should have been thinking about pressure and stress! It so happens that I decided to attend one of those health checks offered by the National Health Service. I felt OK - until the nurse suggested that I ought not to be walking around with blood pressure as high as mine was!
Well - a second check saw the systolic and diastolic drop a little - not much. I was commanded to check my pressure three time a day. All done now and I am awaiting instructions, medications or whatever!
All this reminds me of the need for faith in the Lord and trust in his will through all situations. The apostle Paul does not claim exemption from the vagaries of life - rather he rejoices in the help and presence of his Lord. So he could rejoice in prison, in infirmities and so on.
The modern Christian way seems to respond to challenges as obstacles for God to move out of the way rather than as challenges and tests of faith. God tests our faith because it is the thing he values above gold!
Ecclesiastes teaches:
Ecc 9:11 I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favour to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.
This does not ignore the sovereignty of God - it simply reflects on the basic cause and effect of life that rarely sees intervention. Jesus used a tragedy where 18 people died when a tower fell on them to teach the importance of repentance.
Luk 13:4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
However, with the gift of hindsight - looking at matters after the events - we ought to be able to say with Samuel:
1Samuel 7:12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far has the LORD helped us."
So the situations of life call on the believer to demonstrate that he believes in God - a gracious Father. Pressure and stress become opportumities for God to demonstrate his grace. Instead of restlessness and fear, we are enabled by faith to overcome and know the peace of God that surpasses comprehension.
Pressure?
Sunshine ... Sea ... Sand - these can have a very restful influence in a chaotic life! We need to take note that Jesus lived for a while on the coast of the Sea of Galilee. There are several references in Scripture of his walking on the beach and simply being by the sea-side!
Returning from a holiday brings back the realities of life and the pressures it so easily lays on us. My "feeling" is that a local community of Christians ( a church) should not cause or contain those pressures that the world brings. Sadly, it can and does! There are, of course, issues of doctrine and behaviour that we must learn and make progress in but this ought to be in grace and mutual support. We all struggle with the world, the flesh and the devil - why add to this a fourth problem - a critical Christian?
Church leaders have been assaulted with pressure to be modern, have modern approaches, technology, be famous, write books, build a large congregation. Christians have been seen wandering from this to that "church" looking for the best - or one that suits them. Consumerism has bitten everyone!
Now, I would not suggest that every group that calls itself a church is genuine and there are false doctrines that might force one to move on - after all, we must live up to the light we have. However, the world looks on and sees Christians divided over small issues, minor matters and the Gospel is disgraced because of it!
We must settle down and realise that it is our message that is powerful and able to save - not the way it is presented (in terms of modern technology and so forth). Also, we need to see afresh that a community of Christians is much more than a group listening to a Sunday sermon! Christ saved us so that our whole life and being could be for his glory and praise. The home, the workplace, the shops, the garden - they are all involved in our being church. So, when we come together each one of us has a contribution - something that will help us grow and mature in our faith.
It is a sad state of affairs when church leaders come under pressure to entertain the congregation and struggle to get folk out more than once a week (if that). Now the pressure of work, the need to provide for one's family is essential Christianity. It can be a great challenge to put Christ first and realise the importance of fellowship with one's Christian family on a regular basis. It is another matter when people who name Christ as their Saviour can scarcely manage a few hours of church each week. Perhaps we have lost sight of the fact that God has chosen to demonstrate his wisdom (many coloured wisdom) through the Church. This may well be when two or three are gathered in his name. Please note, though, that these few are GATHERED. This suggests an action of the Holy Spirit and a willingness on the part of those gathered. Jesus did not say he would be there if a few people decide to turn up for a meeting!
Well, this October we have several special meetings and gatherings. Hopefully, the leaders will not be under pressure to get people there?
September ...
Gonna change my way of thinking,
Get myself a different set of views.[Bob Dylan]
Teaching from 1 Corinthians has made me think afresh about something I was taught a long time ago:
A text out of context is a pretext!
The point is that we can too easily apply something that was specific to a situation and give it too much emphasis. Words spoken by Jesus were specifically to the chosen people - the Hebrews (Israel, Jews). Jews are described as "lost" - we of the Gentiles are described as "dead". In Acts we find the saved Jewish leaders needing to reconsider how the Law of Moses should apply to a Church consisting of Jews and Greeks. Paul writes about divorce in the context of believers (Jews) and then goes on to speak as an apostle of the Lord with respect to various marital problems among those saved from heathen backgrounds.
I understand that there are different points of view among godly people concerning things like the permanence of salvation, receiving the Holy Spirit, baptism and marriage. Sometimes these discussions have more to do with the way we think or relate to a particular personal experience rather than what the Word of God actually reveals on a matter. The Corinthians were at odds with each other over a number of issues - so Paul draws their attention to the importance of humility and of being spiritual. We should have spiritual minds like the Lord Jesus and be able to accept the things the Holy Spirit reveals [1 Cor. 2.12-16]. And, writing to Timothy, Paul emphasises the importance of handling the word of truth correctly.
I am looking at the way Old and New Testament principles can get confused in people's minds - in terms of worship, church organisation, what it means to be a priest and end times prophecies. The letter to the Romans gives the foundational teaching about all these. 1 Corinthians takes us further into what it means to be the Church of God.
No doubt someone or other might feel the need to discuss this with me? We can use email. We used to have a forum but it was under-used and too much effort for too little reward!
ALPHA
Well, we have our ALPHA course starting soon. We got out on the Market Square recently to make music and let people know about the course. The "Supper" is on Saturday 17th September. Then the course actual starts on Monday 3rd October at 7pm. We have a team running this led by Martin Fisher. The talks are driven by an interesting powerpoint style presentation and there is a lot of time given for discussion.
August ...
Rainbows
The visible rainbow seems to have just seven colours. However, each colour graduates into the next. In a way we must see that there are an infinite number of colours there! Add to this the invisible infra red and ultra violet and we have a really complex visual experience.
There is a word in the New Testament: MANIFOLD - it occurs in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 10:
His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms
The Greek word here is: POLUPOIKILOS - it means "much variegated" or "multi-coloured". Like a rainbow maybe?
God planned to have a multi-coloured church. This refers to race, culture, character, style - the lot! So it remains a problem for me why Christians can become so narrow and conservative. If all the colours of the rainbow are intended to be seen in spiritual form in the church - why do churches narrow down on just one colour? Why do people try to find a church that suits them as individuals? The world says - Birds of a feather flock together. That is certainly what happens in many groups that claim to be Christian!
There is another parallel to this idea of a multi-coloured wisdom of God seen through his Church - it is found in the story of Jacob. When he served Laban he had as wages all the weird sheep - the striped and speckled and spotted. We see a breed called Jacob's Sheep around our countryside - so can get an idea of how varied they are. A local church should be full of Jacob's sheep - in a spiritual sense. As individuals, we may seem weird but together we begin to approximate to the amazing Person and Character of Jesus Christ.
There are things we should have in common - one is that we are all "sheep"; the other is that we should be growing up to be like Jesus Christ. One Day we shall all be like him - when he returns and we see him as he is!
Meanwhile we need all the spiritual variety of God's rainbow coloured wisdom. Then we might be able to show the world how wonderful Jesus is. He is the rainbow - we display his glorious much variegated nature through our speckled and striped and spotted personalities! This has nothing to do with sin but, maybe, a lot to do with our limitations individually.
Let's not forget the variety in the manifestation of the Holy Spirit - another evidence of the truth in all this. God has planned to show his wisdom to the world through a multifarious church!
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