Stewardship – The Priority of the Cross – 1

Priorities

How does your life reflect your priorities?

Whatever answer you feel you want to give, the fact is – that your life already does! Your life reflects your priorities – whatever we say they are, our life tells the truth! Your life will be an active reflection of the things that truly are close to your heart.

James 2:18-20 “…someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?”

Our actions show us up! They reveal our commitments and priorities. It may be that we have good intentions, that we are in the midst of change and growth – and they will change over a lifetime – the priorities we have at 19-20 are different from when we’re 40 or 60. But our actions, our lifestyle will be the proof of what we value.

As Christians my guess is we want to have the same priorities as God through Jesus. We talk about this in different ways – seeing the world through God’s eyes – having his perspective, doing God’s will, sovereignty of God etc.

Paul says to the Corinthians church… 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

When we become Christians we take on a new outlook, a new plan of life – the old has gone, the new has come. The new improved “ME” – interesting concept! Over here, the old me – lifestyle, activity, thoughts, plans, purposes, goals, choices and priorities – over here, the new me – lifestyle, activity, thoughts, plans, purposes, goals, choices and priorities – I am a new creation! It’s like New Year resolutions except permanent and life changing rather than thrown away at the first sign of opposition.

What is that going to mean in the big things of life? What am I going to look like?

Because – let me say – it’s easy becoming a Christian. It may not seem so at first because it’s a tough choice in some regards giving up control – but it is a simple choice. The hard part comes day one – when the choices and the decisions need to be made according to God’s principles and plans. My priorities as God’s man have to be different from what I was before – for example with sin!

Romans 6:1-4 “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

Dead to sin, alive to Christ – everything – all my attitudes and hopes and dreams – all my priorities are new! What’s it going to mean in day-to-day life? How will I regard the world and it’s inhabitants with my new eyes? What will be my new priorities?

2 Corinthians 5:16-17 “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Over the next few posts I want to explore the theme – the Priorities of Christian Life – the Cross, the family, the Church, and finally money! I would love to encourage you to learn the verse immediately above, 2 Corinthians 5:16-17, off by heart. Memorizing scripture is one of the most valuable things we can do – if it’s in our hearts and minds then it can guide us and the HS will use it to change us.

Why do we exist?

The Stupid Things People Do!

Two men tried to steal some cash by pulling the front off an ATM machine in Adelaide. They ran a chain from the ATM to the bumper of their 4WD – but instead of pulling the front panel off, they pulled their bumper off. Frightened and with people looking on, they drove off – the chain attached to the ATM, bumper attached to the chain – license plate attached to the bumper. And no – they didn’t use a stolen car.

Another guy in need of a beer decided to throw a brick through a liquor store window. He heaved the brick at the window with all his might – it bounced back and hit him in the head, knocking him unconscious. The windows were made of Plexi-Glass. Even better – the whole thing was caught on videotape, and the storeowner sold it to the TV stations.

Why tell these stories?

Simply to ask the question – why do such people exist?

There are so many people who seem to lack purpose – or pick the wrong purpose to run with. It’s said that we all have a purpose… but when you look around in our world you would have to ask – really? Everyone in this world has a purpose – really? Is that what we see in the world? In your community? People living out their purpose? What about the church – do we see people living out a purpose?

I reckon one of the most common purposes people lay claim to is “to simply make a difference”. We’re here to serve, help others, make the world a better place – not hurt anyone. And maybe for many people purpose has something to do with money and houses – they might claim something else but surely their purpose is linked to how they spend all their time and energy in the pursuit of?

Why do we exist?

Psalm 63 O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. They who seek my life will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth. They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals. But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by God’s name will praise him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.”

God’s Love

David’s got it? You’d have to say David had a profound understanding of God – a very deep relationship with his Heavenly Father. From everything we can understand about David we know that he wasn’t afraid of venting his feelings and saying what he thought. He was a king who really did love his people and love God’s people. His words are not just words – they reflect what’s going on inside.

Psalm 63:1 “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

David was probably writing as he hid in the desert from his son – Absalom wanted to kill him and take the throne. That’s gotta hurt!

“The kingdom’s mine dad”.

“Over my dead body son.”

“Ok dad!”

This is written in the cut and thrust of a painful life. As he reeled at the thought that Absalom wanted him dead… he also clearly saw the inner workings of the world.

Psalm 63:2 “I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.”

David had seen God’s power and might over his lifetime. He had seen it in the life and history of Israel – as had Israel. He had seen it in the building of Israel, in the riches and might of the kingdom and the prosperity of the nation. He had seen it in the promises of God coming true – land, freedom and peace, nationhood and a vast population. He’d seen it in his own personal life as well – a dead infant son, rejection and pain, a family war. This is not ‘out there’ stuff that David is talking about – when he says, “I have seen…” he means “he” has seen. And – taken notice! Through personal, often painful experience he’d found God’s love was worth everything!

Psalm 93:3-5 “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.”

Why does David glorify God?

David says that his soul will be so satisfied that it’ll be like 3 o’clock Christmas Day after the family feast.

Why does he declare himself satisfied?

Psalm 63:6-7 “On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.”

Why?

Because God’s love is better than life!

Tease that out – God’s love (friendship, protection, riches, faithfulness, kindness, support, care – and more) is better than holding onto riches, family, health, food, prosperity, friendship – even love. He says it again…

Psalm 63:8 “My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.”

Better Than Life

Back in 1984 – Boxing Day – we watched the TV in horror as the Tsunami swept everything before it. But for me one of the saddest things in the aftermath was seeing Christian ministers and priests unsure of what to say or do. I recall one guy standing in the midst of devastation as he was interviewed for TV saying “how do I tell people God loves them in the face of this.”

Whilst I can see why he was frustrated and distressed – he missed the point.

As King David writes Psalm 63, telling us about his anger and pain, about his foolishness and sin, his highs and lows – always in the midst of that reality is the truth about how the world works – the truth about God and God’s character, might, God’s gentleness, mercy, kindness, strength, wonder, beauty, power, presence – love! The truth is – hard to see though it can be and often is in this world – God’s love is better than life.

David learnt that giving glory to God is the purpose of life. He dedicated himself to God – and lived most of the time in God’s service. He had some major lapses – hopefully far bigger, from our point of view at least, than we will ever have – yet he comes at the last to the truth – he will give God glory by his lips, his actions, by his praise and willingness to be obedient, by his trust – he will cling to God and bring God the glory because that is the central truth of life.

Psalm 86:9-10 “All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name. For you are great and do marvellous deeds; you alone are God.”

The Mission – Our Purpose

The very purpose of our lives fits hand in glove with God’s plan – that is to glorify himself – for the world to glorify him – for every living creature to declare the wonders of God’s majesty might and power – to have the very earth and universe itself declare the wonders of God. The reason Jesus came to die and rise again was to bring God glory. He says to his disciples – as he faces his impending death…

John 12:27-28 “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!”

People says Jesus came for a huge variety of reasons – but Jesus says his purpose – was to come to the point of his own death on the cross – the pain, physical and spiritual agony that the cross would bring – that is the reason for his existence – obedience even unto death – and to bring God the glory of a Son who obeys, a son who by his obedience declares his Father’s Lordship and power. “Father, glorify your name!”

John 12:28 “Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”

God the Father speaks and declares that what Jesus is doing is precisely what God has planned – God is bringing glory to himself and we are part of that plan – not that we can thwart God’s plans – he will be glorified no matter what. But we are called and commanded by God to be like his Son – even if it means obedience to the point of death – that will bring God glory. In the face of the Tsunami being able to declare God’s love and mercy may be hard – that’s why we keep going back to the cross. In David’s words…

Psalm 93:3-5 “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.”

David knew nothing of the cross – but his words certainly fit. In the face of a disaster and destruction we are to bring God glory. We are to declare his love and goodness by pointing people to Jesus on the cross. Instead of doubting God’s goodness we are called to look to the cross and be reminded that God is good and loving and powerful. That doesn’t mean the world will listen – or agree. Most will think we’ve slipped a cog – that our faith is the worst kind of foolish escapism.

1 Corinthians 1:22-24 “Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

This is one of the great things about the mission we have from Jesus – we are commanded by God as his creation to live in obedience to Jesus and declare the wonders of God’s love as demonstrated in the cross – and in doing so to glorify God. Even if no one listens we can be obedient and bring God glory.

Psalm 93:3-5 “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.”

Meeting Jesus – Just a Man?

Passion and Pain

Do you think you understand what Jesus went through on the cross?

I think that’s one of the things Mel Gibson’s “The Passion” did for many people – give them a new perspective on Jesus’ death – a much more violent ending to Jesus’ life than they were used to.

It takes a lot to shock me. I have this tendency to dissect what’s happening rather than be affected by it – I just want to know how they do it. But “The Passion” really got me. It didn’t surprise me – I’ve known for a long time what was involved in the cross – maybe more than most people – but the movie leaves no real room for the imagination. There are so many movies about Jesus – in many Jesus is white with long beautiful flowing hair, clean white clothes – purity. Movies tend to over spiritualise the truth – the white robes, clean sandals, lack of blood, pain, tears, grief – Jesus becomes a super-human – mythical, easily consigned to the pages of history.

Was Jesus superhuman more than human? There was something special about him – a man like all others and yet unique! The church spent the first 500 years arguing about how Jesus could be just like everyone else and yet be something completely different. It’s hard to see how Jesus could be a man. It’s much easier to see Jesus as altogether different.

Unique

Every time you write the date you acknowledge that Jesus was unique – all history is divided by Jesus’ birth. In 1969 Richard Nixon declared the American landing on the moon was “the greatest day since creation”. The evangelist Billy Graham said he was right – except for Christmas and Easter. Which has to be true! Jesus spoke to less people in his ministry than Billy Graham spoke to at just one stadium – and Graham spoke at thousands of stadiums. Yet Jesus changed the face of the earth in ways we would never suggest that Billy Graham might have. For 2000 years the world has revolved around Jesus. More than 2 billion people, ¹/₃ of the world’s population swear allegiance to Jesus. For the rest Jesus is the enemy, a swear word, or maybe real but irrelevant. Even other religions feel the need to acknowledge Jesus.

Normal

As unique as he was, he was also normal – lived a human life, died a human death. Not superhuman, not alien, not especially endowed in any sense – a Jew from theGalilee, with a name and a family. When you read in the newspapers or hear in the news about Palestine, the West Bank, Jordan and Jerusalem, that is where Jesus lived and breathed and ate and slept and walked and did all the things humans do, including dying – right there. Until he was 30 he could walk down the street basically unnoticed – Joey’s son, the carpenter’s apprentice.

Nobody on the ground would have thought anything other than that Jesus was a man.

• They were amazed at his teaching.
• They were stunned at his authority.
• They were angry at his claims.
• They followed him around because he was incredible.
• No one talked like him.
• No one did the things he could do.
• No one made the claims he did – outrageous claims for any human and yet strangely compelling for Jesus.
• No one gathered such a following.
• No one talked to storms with the expectation that they would obey him.
• No one else cast out demons simply by telling them to leave.
• No one healed the blind by spitting on the ground and using the mud on the blind eyes.
• No one expressed rage at the use of the temple, as though it were a personal affront.

But not one person assumed that Jesus was anything other than a man.

They saw him on a daily basis. He ate like they did, slept when he was tired, used the toilet, drank water, bathed daily, walked like everyone else, wore clothing, rode donkeys, built things out of wood with his hands. Jesus wasn’t Harry Potter – he didn’t wave a wand when people’s backs were turned and turn trees into furniture.  Jesus was a man with limitations. When he wanted to go from one end of  Jerusalem to another he walked – just like everyone else. When people were sick or died he was filled with concern and compassion. When his friend Lazarus died he wept. Jesus didn’t wander around in a kind of calm, cool and collected daze like Mr Spock, able to deal with everything unemotionally and logically. People affected him. Obstinacy frustrated him. Self-righteousness infuriated him. Simple faith thrilled him. In fact Jesus seemed more human than most – more emotional, passionate, fiery, compassionate – but still, unmistakably a man.

Understanding Jesus as Human

It’s odd – given all that, that we find it hard to understand Jesus as a man. He is God, Son of God, King, Word, and High priest – any of those titles that remove him from our earthly realm. But the more you read about Jesus the more human he seems. Don’t read through eyes that know how the story ends. Read the story of Jesus through eyes that are wondering where this is leading. Understand the man who walked, talked, lived on earth.

Imagine you’re face to face with him.  Despite everything you’ve heard, he’s a Jew – male, 30 years old – short but strong, big arms and shoulders, long hair, beard, often dirty from long walks on dusty roads – he looks like everyone else. Where’s the 30 foot tall shining king who will crush the Romans, who heals the sick as he rides around on his white horse? How did this man heal anyone? How did this man stop a storm – surely that’s fiction? Come to think of it, why do the religious leaders want to kill him? He’s no one – he’s fromGalilee – who cares what he says – they’re all mad down there anyway.

The more you look at Jesus the harder he is to understand. Everyone  in Jerusalem is talking about the Roman occupation – Jesus says almost nothing about it.  Instead he gets a whip and drives out the thieving religious con men from the temple. He urged obedience to the Law of Moses yet had a reputation as a law-breaker. He could be moved with sympathy for a stranger, yet turns on his best friend with the rebuke “get behind me Satan”. He had uncompromising views on rich men and adulterous women, and yet was a friend to both. Jesus must have been real – no one would invent such a character.

The Final Stupidity

You come to the ultimate stupidity – the cross – the foundation of Christianity.

Jesus who everyone knows has done nothing wrong – great teacher, heals the sick, loves the unlovable, being executed for a crime he never committed. Everyone knew he’d been sold out, that the crimes were fabricated, that men had lied. Yet there he is hanging on that ugly piece of wood – his mother, and brothers and friends a little way off, confused, sick to the stomach, wondering what on earth has gone wrong, in despair – what do we do now?

The one hanging on that cross is a human – “The Passion” gets that right and in gruesome detail. This is a man being subjected to a painful death.  He sweats, he bleeds, he suffers, feels the pain and agony. All the torment of being crucified – and there are less painful and degrading ways to die – Jesus experiences all. And there’s the spiritual agony of knowing God’s wrath was being poured out on himself, that the punishment for every sin was being laid on Jesus shoulders at that very moment of his physical death. Who died on the cross? A man – not a superhero, not someone uniquely able to deal with the pain – a man!

And then a man rises from the dead. The one who walks out of the tomb is Jesus – born of a woman, lived and died and raised from the dead by God his Father as a man. It’s unbelievable isn’t it? No one rises from the dead. In all the funerals I’ve taken not one has ever opened the coffin and walked away. Death is irreversible – like popping a balloon? “Daddy my balloon burst – please fix it?” “Sorry – I can’t.” You can’t reverse the irreversible. You cannot rise from the dead.

Jesus did.

Walking on the Moon?

Our history is full of events that changed the course of history and life – wars, technology, landing on the moon, transport, communication, computers, science, medicine and more! Many great men and women have touched the lives of people – but in the death and resurrection of Jesus we see the greatest single event in history.  Just a man dying – nothing particularly unusual, happens to most people. Except in this death we see sin and death defeated. In the resurrection we see victory over our mortal enemies.

Which would all mean very little if the passion were simply an historical event. We could read it with the same level of disinterest we might read about the building of the Great Wall of China, or the life of Caesar.  But Jesus positioned himself as the dividing point of life. According to Jesus, what I think about him and how I respond will determine my eternity.

Matthew 10:32-33 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.”

In Jesus we see God stretching himself out on the dissecting table and saying, “Examine me. Test me. Make a decision.”

What is the point of the greatest event ever to happen on this planet? The point is you – your life, your salvation, and your future – your decision. No other event has so affected history and this world than the death and resurrection of Jesus. But what Jesus is interested in is how it affects you. He stands before us as a man who died and rose again so that all who believe in him would have life and salvation for eternity. Jesus says to each of us – “Follow me.”

If you have never taken the opportunity to respond to Jesus then do so today. If you have already but you know that you need to once again turn back and repent and be in step with Jesus.

Real Men in Church

Real Men in Church – Men After God’s Own Heart!

What would you say to men if you had the opportunity – about men being men in the church?

What does it mean to be real men in the church?

I was thinking about who we see as real men – I guess we tend to think adventurers…

• Edmund Hillary – climbing Mt Everest
• Chuck Yeager – first man to fly at Mach 1
• Donald Campbell – land speed record holder
• Ken Warby – water speed record – inventor of the phrase “that man’s an idiot”
• Captain Joseph Kittinger – you don’t know this one do you? Jumped from a balloon at 31.3 kilometres and free fell at a terminal velocity of 988kmh (1960).

But does the fact they do daredevil stuff – make them real men? Or are they just idiots putting their lives in danger? One of my mates is right into mountain bikes – proper down-hill-if-you-fall-off-you-might-die mountain bike racing – he fell off recently – broke his kneecap, leg, arm, shoulder, 3 ribs and the little wings off 4 of his vertebrae – he’s a good bloke but I’m not sure I want to say the fact that he’s an idiot who wants to race down mountains on a push bike makes him a real man. He’s also a firey so maybe he is!?

Maybe it’s the warriors – war heroes. If we’re giving out real men awards we might consider pilots in WW2 – the Germans were targeting V1 rockets on London – the pilots would fly alongside and use the Spitfire wing to tip the rocket off course causing it to explode harmlessly in the air. That is impressive manly stuff.

Maybe we think of actors – Charlton Heston, John Wayne, Cary Grant, George Clooney, Harrison Ford, Will Smith, Sam Worthington… Bruce Willis… has nothing to do with them being real men – some of them seem like good blokes, down to earth – some of them are more female heart-throbs than real men – but I guess if I’d said Jim Carrey, Rowan Atkinson or… Adam Sandler – they don’t quite fit the right image?

Maybe real men are the blokes on Top Gear – TV for real men – Richard Hammond – real man? Jeremy Clarkson – real man? James May??? Puts us in a bit of quandary – it would be hard to think of a TV show better suited to real men – yet the presenters are so different? Our own version of the show with Shane Jacobson and two other blokes – well it was a flop even though Shane is pretty much the stereotype of the big Aussie man – burgers and bbqs and beer – a total boofhead.

The Husband Store

So I discovered the other day that there’s a new store in New York – called “The Husband Store!” It’s a store that sells husbands – for women to choose the perfect man. As you enter the store you’re greeted like royalty and escorted to the lift – and handed an instruction sheet.

You may visit the store ONLY ONCE! There are six floors and as the lift ascends each level so do the qualities and attributes of the men. You can choose a bloke from any floor but you can’t go back to a lower floor!

So, this woman goes in one day to find a husband. Into the lift and up to the 1st floor – the doors open and she reads the sign over the doors; 1st Floor – these men have jobs and love the Lord (it’s America).

Sounds great – but what does the next floor contain. So up she goes. The lift opens and the second floor sign reads; 2nd Floor – These men have jobs, love the Lord, and love kids.

Tempting – really who could want for more! But she presses the button. The doors open… 3rd Floor – these men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, are extremely good looking and guaranteed to remain faithful.

“WOW”. This is sensational – yet she feels compelled – she might miss out… so she pushes the button. The doors open and she reads… 4th Floor – These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, are incredibly good looking, guaranteed to remain faithful and help with the housework.

Tempting as it is to simply rush out and grab one off the rack she can hardly stand the suspense, and simply presses the button, fidgeting as the lift ascends. The doors open and she reads… 5th Floor – these men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, are unbelievably gorgeous, are guaranteed to remain faithful, help with the housework, and have a strong romantic streak.

She almost pounces on the button, hardly able to contain herself wondering what on earth the 6th floor might hold that could be better. The door opens and she steps out, eagerly scanning the sign, a large electronic display which reads… 6th Floor – You are visitor 4,363,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely to prove that women are impossible to please. Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store. Watch your step as you exit the building, and have a nice day!

Men after Gods Own Heart

So we’ve got men in the world… we’ve got women’s expectations… and we’ve got the church – us!?

How do we be real men in the church?

The Bible has a huge amount to say about being real men.

In Acts 13 Paul is explaining the OT to a group of Jews and Gentile converts to Judaism – on the Sabbath in the Synagogue – he goes through their history so they can see that Jesus truly is the long awaited Messiah. And he speaks about King David – and David had one particular quality, different to the kings of surrounding nations and different even to the rest of the kings of Israel.

Acts 13:21-22 “Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years. After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’”

Saul was a shallow vain king – just like the kings of surrounding nations – in the end he had no relationship with God. But God’s assessment of David before he was king – a man after God’s own heart. We read the same words in Jeremiah 3 – one of the main OT passages that speaks about the coming Messiah, at a time when Israel is falling apart and are looking for God to save them from themselves – Jeremiah speaks of a time to come…

Jeremiah 3:15 “Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.”

Jeremiah is ultimately talking about Jesus – the passage goes on to speak about the coming of the Messiah.

What do we know about the Church? I’ll tell you the big one – we know that the church is God’s! We belong to God – in a very real sense we are his possession – Christ is the king.

2 Corinthians 6:16b “For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

The church is God’s people living God’s way – God has given us the promise he gave Israel – to be our God and that we would belong to him forever and share his glory.

Let’s pull this all together. David as King was not to be a ruler like other rulers who used their position to lord their power over others. He was to be a servant king and particularly to serve Israel as a model – the people of Israel were called to follow David’s example as a man after God’s own heart. Just as we Christians are called to follow Jesus – not simply in his footsteps or doing good works or preaching the gospel or whatever – but to follow Jesus who was a shepherd ‘after God’s own heart’. This is not about leaders and ministers but about ordinary Christian men and women – and I’m just looking at us boys today – as we look around the Bible at what it says about us men – we are to be men after God’s own heart. We are to be men whose life and heart is from the same mould as God’s. Having been made in God’s image, to have a heart that strives after that image. That was the thing about King David – he was not perfect – in fact at times he was an appalling sinner, though I’m sure we can’t throw stones his way. God chose him not because he was beautiful, handsome, tall, politically connected, well liked or from the right family – he was the youngest son of a family of shepherds – a total nobody. God chose him as king because his heart belonged to God.

In our world we value our men if they are strong, wise, shrewd, educated, have nouse and guts, manage people, use time well etc. They might all be important – or not – but when we come to the church we need men who are men “after God’s own heart”.

I like that husband store joke – you’re not sure whether to laugh or just smile knowingly.

Let me tell you another.

A man was walking along a Melbourne beach, deep in prayer for the people of Tasmania – and he calls out to God; “Lord grant me one wish”. The sky clouded and a booming voice said, “Well mate – you have been a faithful servant so I will grant you one wish.” The man said, “Build a bridge to Tasmania so I can drive over anytime I want to take the gospel to those godless men and women.”

The Lord answered, “Whilst your motives are pretty good think of the logistics – the bridge supports into Bass Straight, the storms and danger – the concrete and steel required just makes it a huge job – you know I can do it but it’s pretty hard to justify. Think again – ask for something that would honor me”.

The man thought for a long time and finally said, “Lord, I wish that I could understand women. I want to know what they feel inside, what they are thinking when they give me the silent treatment, why they cry, what they mean when they say ‘nothing’, and how I can make a woman truly happy?”

After a few minutes God said, “How many lanes did you want on that bridge?”

Jokes are fun – but jokes also tell us about our world – and especially about the damage sin has done – about the damage between men and women. We know that God’s judgment against men and women in Genesis has come true – women desire to be in the role of men and men want authority over women. And in lots of churches I reckon that the consequence we are seeing is that men take a back seat in church life and we just keep the ladies happy. That’s a strong statement I know and maybe it’s not true here – but I have to say I’ve seen it enough times – it’s easier to let the women have their say in how churches work.

Yet I would say what we need are churches with men taking the lead – just like David did with Israel – maybe we won’t all be king – but then David’s job was to be an example first.

I don’t just mean that men should be taking on all the different ministry roles in the church. Every minister wants to fill up the program with people and then create more programs requiring more people. What I really mean is that men should be doing David’s job – being men after God’s own heart and taking the lead, being the example in life and love and faithfulness and service.

Titus 1:5-9 “The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.”

This is not just about the overseers and leaders but about the men – just as David was to be an example of a God driven character to the people of Israel – so Titus is to be and to appoint men with God’s heart to the leadership of the church that they might be the example to all men in the church.

Jesus says the same thing to his disciples – after they have walked dusty roads in sandals – and Jesus is on the floor washing their feet and says…

John 13:15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you

Jesus is the head – the chief shepherd – he wants us to be faithful, to be men after his own heart – to be servants – and his practical example was that he washed their feet and said – go and do the same thing.

The leaders that Titus is to choose are not good leadership material – they are simply real Christian men – not actors, athletes and adventurers – but rather Christian men whose characters are modelled after Christ and shines through the day-to-day mess of life.

Maybe we need to ask… why do we need men with character in the church – men like David?

We could go to any number of passages to see why. We could look at Ephesians 2 and talk about the fact that we are God’s workmanship created by God to do good works in Christ Jesus. We could look at 1 Corinthians 12 and the Spiritual gifts that we have all received.

But have a look at 1 Timothy.

1 Timothy 1:12-17 “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen.

I reckon the world needs to see that men go to church – men are involved in church life – not because their wives are or their families but because we know – we know deep down inside us that we have been saved from our sins – that despite the fact we in no way deserved God’s grace… he has given it to us anyway. Men need to see men as Christians. Women need to see it – our wives and daughters need to see that men stand for Christ and we should be leading them in the faith. Our sons need to know that we have turned away from sin and to Jesus and that we are taking the opportunities to grow and serve. Why – because we want them to share what we have received – surely? I want my wife to know the fullness of God’s love for her so that she will be safe forever. I want my son and daughters to know what it means to be a Christian and how to live as a Christian in this crazy confusing world – and no-one else is going to do what I can do – no-one else is going to care like I do that they are safe.

I like Paul’s words to Timothy because there is no doubt in Paul’s mind what has happened. He was a thoroughly convinced persecutor of Christians – he would leave Richard Dawkins or any of the modern atheists in the shade – a blasphemer and a violent man – Paul not Dawkins. Paul’s life was turned around by the grace and kindness of God – grace poured out even on a terrible sinner like Paul. And Paul gets it – it drove his life from that moment.

If the church was filled with men who got it – who like Paul were driven by the conversion, driven by the change in their life at the hands of God – what would we see? What difference would it make?

Are you driven by the change that Christ brought to you?

If you’re not a Christian – just investigating maybe – that’s cool – cause if you decide to follow Jesus you need to know what you are up for. Jesus wants you – he designed you for a relationship with him – so now is very defiantly the time to hand over control and ask for forgiveness.

If you’ve been a Christian for a while – what you are doing with it? Are you a man after God’s own heart – are you a man who is progressively looking like Christ? Or are you a man that makes excuses?

Let me tell you a quick story – and finish with a Psalm.

The names have been changed to protect the… Brendan was a big Aussie male – tough, solid, faithful Christian, very well off, very well regarded, the CEO of one of the largest Insurance companies in Australia – and at Church he looked the perfect Christian. I asked him to come and speak to my young adults group about being a Christian in the workplace. He sort of paused for a minute and then said – look I’m not sure I can do that. At work I’m not a Christian – I’m just a ruthless business man – I don’t work as a Christian. So I wouldn’t know what to say to others about being a Christian in the workplace.

I didn’t get him to speak!

Psalm 51:10-17 “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. Save me from guilt that requires my blood, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

Dummies Guide to Maturity

Just Not Funny

Q: Why did the chicken cross the road? A: To get to the other side!

Q: What did the cat say to the elephant? A: Meow

Q: What kind of keys do kids like to carry? A: Cookies

Q: What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire? A: Frostbite

Q: Why do bees hum? A: Because they’ve forgotten the words!

Q: Why did the cat cross the road? A: It was the chicken’s day off!

When you were a kid most of those would have been the funniest things you’d ever heard. My son has a joke book and he loves it – can’t get enough and the kids will hit one or two that simply crack them up. Watching him is much funnier that the jokes themselves.

How come we don’t find them funny as adults?

Because we’ve matured! We might have started out on jokes like them but tastes change as we grow and develop. That’s what happens with childhood – we grow out of it. How fast do kids go from kindergarten to hitting high school and suddenly needing to sort out university placements? Can you remember the events of your kids’ lives as they have grown – riding a bike, eating some weird food, learning to write or read, performing their first song or dance or concert or whatever – developing strengths, abilities, growing, maturing – do you remember?

Watching Christians Grow

Childhood is one of the main analogies the Bible uses to talk about maturating as Christians.

Mark 10:13-16 “People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.”

The only way we can receive the kingdom of God is to come as children – with childlike faith – putting our trust and our lives in Jesus hands – we have to receive the kingdom without any pretense that somehow we are the ones earning it or making our own way to salvation. But childhood is not where we should stay – though many Christians do!

Hebrews 5:11-14 “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”

There should be an expectation, just as we do in every area of life, that young Christians will grow and mature. If you have teenagers at home – what are your hopes and expectations and plans for them – whatever plans they have? How do you feel about them staying at home till they are 25 or 35 or 45 – not making a career, not getting their own lives, not marrying, playing video games or partying for the next 20+ years…? We’re seeing some of these phenomena in our society and it grates on us – we see it as a lack of maturing. We have expectations a progress of maturity from childhood to adulthood.  A child who never learns to cross the road by themselves is in grave danger. Your boss is unlikely to be happy if you never grow to maturity in you job. You can’t drive on L plates for the rest of your life – you’re expected to move on and grow. You can’t expect mum and dad are going to pay for your life forever – at some point you have to grow to maturity and take responsibility for yourself.

Why don’t we assume the same thing in faith and Christian life? An expectation of growth to maturity and then growth in maturity.

The Danger of Immaturity

Many churches suffer from immaturity – from a lack of growth. Paul tells Timothy that there are dangers for the immature Christian.

1 Timothy 4:1-5 “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.”

The debate on Stem Cell Research continues – it’s a hard, complex topic with many interest groups on both sides. But one of the most common points made in its defence is that the scientists and researchers are all only interested in helping mankind, bettering mankind, easing suffering and curing diseases. I’m sorry to point this out but that’s like saying North Korea and Iran only want nuclear capabilities for peaceful purposes. When did we become so gullible? There is a huge amount of money to be made in stem cell research – most of which is being funded by multi-national pharmaceutical companies. There is a huge amount of control and power to be gained, and a massive amount of kudos to be gained – imagine being the scientist who cures Alzheimer’s. There may or may not be merit to stem cell research – but being gullible in the debate leaves us open to foolish decisions.

Being gullible in faith does the same. Maturity leads to the ability to discern between right and wrong, between good and evil, between deceiving spirits and the Holy Spirit. Paul says to Timothy the danger is very real – don’t be a fool when it comes to Christian things – there will be people who want to take advantage of Christians. How do we deal with it?

1 Timothy 4:6-8 “If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”

How do we deal with the danger? We be open about it – we confront wrong teaching, we stick to the truth of the Bible, we leave old wives tales to the old wives and we train ourselves to be Godly. These words are written to Timothy as a leader – but he’s told to pass them on to reliable Christians who will also pass them on – this is Christian maturity at work.

Training To Be Godly

Training ourselves to be Godly is not hard – being Godly can be hard – but the training process is simple. I’m trying to loose weight and get fitter again after a couple of years of setbacks in those areas. It’s not something I find easy but I know that physical training is of some value so I get out there and walk. I know that self control with food is one of the keys so I’m watching my diet and eating well. Training takes hard work but the process is simple enough.

Godly training holds great value for this life and the next – and it’s relatively obvious what we have to do. Timothy had some basic instructions to follow.

1 Timothy 4:13-16 “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”

Do you think it would be fair to say that if Timothy and all who follow in his footsteps are to devote themselves to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching – then we should be devoted to those things as hearers and readers?

The Dummies Guide to Maturity says some pretty simple things.

1. Devote yourself to the reading of Scripture! To know God’s will and purpose and teaching means god speaks and we listen? We should be reading the Bible for ourselves – that’s what mature Christians do. Listen to it in the car. Read it at lunchtime. Read it on the train. Stop watching 1 TV show a day and read it. Don’t have dinner in front of the TV – instead sit at the table and read it after dinner with the family. Read it to your children before bed. Read it instead of the newspaper. Read it on the toilet. Get up 15 minutes earlier and read it. These aren’t rules – just good basic plans – if you want to mature in understanding then you have to read the Bible. Do you have a good modern translation to read from? Does your family know you need some space each day to read the Bible? Do you have a list of what to read? Are you willing to ask questions about what you’re reading? To watch your life and doctrine closely you have to work out from God’s word what they should be and persevere at them over a lifetime.
2. Get yourself a good Bible Study group where they read the Bible, study the Bible and discuss the Bible so that they can apply the Bible. If we regularly spend all our time at growth group, praying and sharing prayer points and little time reading and thinking and discussing then we’ve gone of track. A Bible Study group is one of the best most intensive ways to grow – and it should be an environment where you are encouraged by a whole group to stick with the Scripture and not give up.
3. If you’re tempted not to go to church… fight the temptation. Timothy was told to devote himself to the public reading of Scriptures and to preaching and teaching. If that’s the right instruction for the teachers then it has to be the same for the listeners. We are told in Hebrews not to forsake gathering together but to do so more and more as the day of Christ approaches. So that’s what we should do. And when we get together our focus should be the same as Paul commands Timothy – the public reading of Scriptures, the teaching and preaching of God’s word. We might do other things together, but the basis has to be the word of God proclaimed.
4. Growth and maturity come with ministry. You want to know if you really know something – try and teach someone else what you know!? Each of us has been gifted by God for the work of ministry – probably we have more than one gift – and all of us have the gift of ministry. And the responsibility.

Why do we gather together…?

Colossians 3:16-17 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

With the word of God our task is to teach and admonish one another – to minister to each other’s needs and maturity. The Dummies Guide to Maturity says that ministry is not just formal or done from the front – but is informal – it’s about relationships – it happens over morning tea, it happens when you’re singing a tune, it happens when you pray with someone, matter of fact it’s happening right now.

Sorry – couldn’t resist!

When you speak to others after church will your aim be ministry or are you totally focused on coffee? If someone is hurting will you pray for them and listen to them – will you be obviously open to that – will you pay attention and offer assistance rather than wait for them to start? Will you share the truth of God’s word together or the reality of the weather?

Can I ask… Is it hard to ask the right questions or speak the truth?

“Hi George – how have you been?”

“What did you think of the sermon this morning? Do you know – I’m not sure I know how to encourage people with my singing – what do you reckon?”

“Hi there – I don’t think I’ve met you – I’m Alfred. Great passage this morning – that young fella Paul’s a gun preacher – but I’m not really sure I got his last point. What did you think?”

“You know… Paul really laid it on the line for Timothy. He was only 19 – big responsibility. I must admit I find it hard some days to read the Bible…”

One Track Mind

The Dummies Guide to Maturity has a bit of a single track – reading the Bible. It hasn’t said much about the Holy Spirit or prayer, or about helping other, acts of kindness and mercy, singing, worship, praising, meditation, fasting… all good stuff. But when it comes to maturing the big element is the Bible.

• The Holy Spirit works through the Scriptures to turn us to Christ.
• Prayer should happen in response to what we are reading and bringing before God the things on our heart – including our growth and maturity.
• Singing, worship, praising, acts of kindness – all worthwhile as we grow – all necessary responses to faith and the scriptures – but that’s what they are – responses.

Jesus says that growth comes from receiving, hearing, retaining and persevering in the word of God.

Luke 8:11-15 “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.”

Which one are you? When the seed comes do you…

• Hear but not believe and so are not saved?
• Have you responded with joy but lost hope and faith?
• Have you heard and responded but been choked by the world and are not mature?
• Have you heard, changed, retained the word and are persevering to produce the crop?

It’s interesting I think – there is only one crop that makes sense – there’s only one sort of Christian – the maturing persevering sort. The rest of the soils produce nothing – they are not growing – they whither and die.

Myth Busters – All Christians Are Hypocrites

The Church and Hypocrites

A 10,000 seat church in America was filled to overflowing one Sunday morning. As the preacher rose to preach two men dressed in long black coats entered the rear of the church. One walked to the middle of the church – the other stayed at the back. On cue they reached under their coats and withdrew automatic weapons. “Everyone willing to take a bullet for Jesus stay in your seats!”

The church emptied – the choir ran for the exits, there were people scrambling over one another – it was bedlam – the junior staff, the assistant ministers – all ran. It wasn’t long before there were just twenty people left sitting. The preacher stood alone at the pulpit.

The two men put their weapons away, sat down and said, gently, to the preacher, “It’s OK boss – the hypocrites are gone now. You may begin.”

Real Hypocrisy

What do you reckon? Is that a harsh call? What would you do? As much as the joke above is an attempt at humour, there have been attacks on churches.

“The Saint James Church massacre was a massacre perpetrated on St James Church in Kenilworth, Cape Town on 25 July 1993 by four cadres of the Azanian People’s Liberation Army (APLA). 11 members of the congregation were killed and 58 wounded. In 1998 the attackers were granted amnesty for their participation by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.”

“The attack occurred during the Sunday evening service. The attackers approached the church in a vehicle stolen beforehand. They entered the church armed with M26 hand grenades and R4 assault rifles. They threw the grenades and then opened fire on the congregation, killing 11 and wounding 58. One member of the congregation returned fire with a .38 special revolver, wounding one of the attackers. At this point they fled the church. The attackers had also been ordered to throw four petrol bombs into the church following the shooting, but abandoned this intention as all four fled in the vehicle.” (See http://frankretief.wordpress.com/about/the-st-james-church-massacre/ for further details.)

Frank Retief’s church was bombed by terrorists. Search on the internet and it won’t take you long to come up with a list of news stories of churches in Indonesia and other Islamic countries being threatened and bombed, of churches and Christians facing far more than the mere threat of death and destruction.

Isaiah 7:9 “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.”

There are plenty of people who think – and claim – that the church is simply a haven for hypocrites – that there is no way they’d join a church or enslave themselves to Jesus because of the hypocrites.

• Preacher: “How come I never see you in church anymore, John?”
• John: “There are too many hypocrites there, Reverend.”
• Preacher: “Don’t worry, John; there’s always room for one more.”

Here’s an excerpt from a letter a friend of mine in England received.

“I choose not to believe in the incredible hotchpotch of superstition which is Christianity… which is all the more understandable if you come from Northern Ireland, a place where religion has been the excuse for appalling barbarity.”

He’s not alone – and I guess if we take a moment we can understand, especially coming out of one of the countries in the world that has been torn apart by religious factionalism, as has Ireland. He’s not alone… every time there is a terrorist act the fundamentalist Islamic movements get the blame (automatically) and then the bleeding hearts run around in the media claiming that its religious fundamentalism of any creed or colour that is the problem and that Christians are just as much a problem. The church is full of hypocrites – we condemn Islam for its fundamentalism and violence yet we Christians have been guilty of the same thing in wars and empire building. America – a “Christian” country promotes violence to deal with violence. The British Empire was built on the back of the slave trade as white “Christians” claimed the blacks were sub-human. We should be honest about our history. The crusades were fought against the Moors – the Muslims – and great atrocities were committed by both sides – including the “Christian” knights and soldiers. We preach one thing and do another.

Though let me also say this is not about what Christians do in wartime. It must be monumentally hard to not be drawn into the brutality of war. It is a fearful thing to go to war, to be face to face with enemies whose greatest desire is your death. There is no way we can imagine the horrors of what men (and women) went through in both World Wars, in the Vietnam war, in Cambodia, Laos and Afghanistan – to name just a few of the many conflicts. If you are ever in doubt the watch ‘Band of Brothers’ or ‘The Pacific’. I’m with Spielberg and Hanks who want us not to forget the true horror of war and what it does to families and individuals.

We preach one thing and do another – from my point of view there is certainly a picture, even today of the church spouting old fashion morals and pious rubbish. No matter the changes to the church people’s view is an old view.

What do you think?

Is the church full of hypocrites?

What is a Hypocrite?

A hypocrite says he’s one thing but is in fact another – an actor playing a role (not having a go at actual actors!). The hypocrite claims to believe (in the context of church) but their beliefs are not borne out in their day to day existence.

If that is the church… then we’re in trouble! Even if we just take Jesus’ words and no one else’s – he responded scathingly to the hypocrites of his day.

Matthew 23:23-28 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. “…You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. “…You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

Are We Hypocrites

A hypocrite is someone who intentionally lives one way whilst claiming to live another. So we would have to say yes – in some ways we are hypocrites. Though no more so than any other person – the environmentalist who drives a car or worse flies all over the world promoting carbon taxes? The vegetarian who drinks milk and eats fish? The peace activist that beats his wife? The bank manager who steals his client’s money. The politician who demands austerity from the nation and then doubles her own salary? The list could go on.

Think about the Simpsons – Ned Flanders and the Simpson family – every church member in the Simpsons is a hypocrite – not one of them lives by what they say or what they hear – they’re in church because they are American. Except Ned – he’s twisted by his desire to what God says – he’s so fundamentalist that he’s almost a pretzel, turning in on himself. He’s a nerd – he’s a geek – but he is trying to live God’s way. I know it’s only a tv show, a cartoon at that – but it is also a fascinating snapshot of church life – and you can bet that lots of people in our world have their views shaped by what they see in the Simpsons and elsewhere.

There surely are hypocrites in the church – in my opinion less so than 50 years ago when going to church helped your career and social standing – but for most people in the church today they are aiming to serve Christ faithfully – we’re just not very good at it.

Which is the point – we will never be good at it – that’s why Jesus had to die for our sins.

Luke 5:31-32 “Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

To come to Christ at all we have to acknowledge that we will never on our own be good enough – we will always have the appearance of being hypocrites in some ways. Unless we are perfect we will always look hypocritical – but if we are perfect we don’t need Jesus at all.

Answering the question

How do we answer the question? How do we defend the accusation?

Let me say when people ask this sort of question don’t back down – this is a great opportunity because often they think they have been really clever and that there is no way we can answer the question/defend the accusation. But we can – and in doing so we can show them the truth.

Let’s say you’re in a conversation with an old friend – school, work, wherever.

• “Christians are just a bunch of hypocrites!” It’s worth thinking about whether it’s just a throw-away comment, like a get-out-of-jail-free card, or if there is some serious intent to attack.
  • We could ask… “Me too? What do I do that makes me a hypocrite?” or “Have you seen something in me that makes you think that?”
  • Be interesting to know what their answer is – or how good a friend they are. They might back down “Oh no – I was only joking” – or they might be serious and have a dig (gentle or not so) – “Well, you were speeding the other night on the way to tennis?” or “Christians shouldn’t drink/swear/smoke?” Or maybe “You know, you say you’re a Christian, but here at work you’re just as driven to make money and you don’t really care who you step on to get to the top?”
  • Each of those has a different intent and a different background.
    • Speeding is maybe fairly innocuous – they are probably having a gentle dig unless they are president of the pedestrian council.
    • The second might be that they have a very old/strict view of what a Christian is – fundamentalist maybe, or they have some old Methodist or similar influence, or maybe from a moralist background. Maybe they have a Roman Catholic upbringing where they were under the very strict and harsh guidance of a church school. Maybe their background is Mormon or JW’s – so that odd vaguely Christian moral lifestyle. Maybe it’s an SDA background or Brethren. Each will have a different input into how they are perceiving our lifestyle. So that might be an opportunity to explore what a Christian really is and where their understanding comes from. Do you know how to defend your faith, what a Christian is, what the gospel is in a nutshell and at length – we need to be prepared to defend the faith!
    • The third is more of a direct attack though it may also be simply confusion – or it may be that you’ve been living a hypocritical life and you’ve been caught!
• What can you say? You might start with a variation on “Christianity’s not about being perfect – in fact Christianity is specifically saying that we can’t deal with sin and death and that we need Jesus to do that.”
• If you’ve been caught living the hypocritical lie then guess what – time to fess up and repent and be honest with your friend – tell them they’re right. But at the same time the truth remains that Christians are not required to be perfect and becoming like Christ is a long process that will only ever find it’s fulfillment in heaven. In one sense you can say that church is a place for hypocrites – though it’s not about encouraging people to intentionally live a hypocritical lifestyle. But that conversation has all sorts of possibilities for talking about Jesus, faith, sin and its consequences, salvation and grace.
• You might say something like (without the pious undertone)… “I won’t be going to heaven because I’m perfect but because Jesus died on the cross for my sins and rose again from the dead to offer me life.” We want them to understand that it’s not about whether we can summon up the ability to live a perfect life, but that Jesus who lived a perfect non-hypocritical life, died for them. We always want to get the conversation back to Jesus and his death and resurrection – not to shortchange them on questions that are important to them, but because the answer doesn’t lie with whether I’m perfect, it lies with Jesus and his death and resurrection.
• At some point we want to ask the hard questions and we need to think about how we can turn the conversation to get us to the right point. “Did you know Jesus claims your life too – what have you done about Jesus?” That’s where our conversations need to get to – asking the question, letting the gospel get on and confront people where they are at. Their decision is their decision and we can’t change it – we have no control – but we can ask – and so often that’s where we fail in evangelism – we never ask them to make a commitment.
• I was thinking too – it would be interesting to ask if they were a member of a church how they would stop from being a hypocrite? What sort of things would show that they weren’t living a hypocritical lifestyle?

In every conversation where someone has a go at us for Christianity we want to get to the point we can ask them the hard questions – the salvation questions. It’s the example Jesus gave us – he always came back at his questioners and accusers. Never think they have the upper hand! Never let them go without a hard question. Put the onus back on them to defend their position. Because fact is – if either of you are a hypocrite – it’s not going to be the Christian who is striving to live faithfully (and fails regularly). Rather it’s the non-Christian who says that they can deal with sin and death themselves – that they’ll be ok – that’s where the issue lies.

Making Sense of Failure

Apparently this is the alcoholic’s prayer – it’s a little bit ’12-step’ and it comes across as pious (like the pharisee and the tax-collector in the temple) – but maybe there is some truth in it for Christians too.

• Father – I’m not the man I should be, I’m not the man I want to be, I’m not the man I’m going to be – but I thank you that I’m not the man I used to be.

We need, as Christians, to take the accusation seriously – that the church is made up of hypocrites. We need to deal with it individually and corporately – all too often the church has been seen to allow sin to flourish rather than to stand against sin – and yes I mean inside the church.

But we also want to take to heart what God says about us.

• We are called to perfection.

Matthew 5:48 “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

But that perfection only comes by Christ’s sacrifice – not by our efforts.

Hebrews 10:14 “…because by one sacrifice he [Jesus] has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”

We need to be aware as Christians who are fighting the fight and learning to live like Christ that even as we fail and get back on the horse and seek to serve again, that we are being made into the likeness of Christ. We are both sanctified once for all by Christ’s death – and we are being sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit. Or to put it another way – we are being made, by the work of the Spirit, into the people that God sees us as right now. We are becoming in reality – what we are now.

Hebrews 12:10 “Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.”

As we grow and mature we take on Christ-likeness – just as God promises – and we will become more aware of our failure to be like Christ. But there is truth in that prayer – if we belong to Christ then God IS sanctifying us – making us like Jesus. We are no longer the person we once were – and despite the attacks of the world it’s worth remembering that in God’s eyes when we belong to Christ, he sees us as perfect. We should take to heart the words of John – even as we seek and strive each day to live without hypocrisy.

1 John 2:1-2 “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Dummies Guide to Money

The Tax Man

Luke 19:1-4 “Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.”

Zacchaeus – short, dumpy (?), rich, middle aged, successful, balding (?), hard nosed, tough as nails, in your face, tax collector – no offense but I’m thinking Danny D’vito in the first century. Jericho was a major tax collection centre and Zacchaeus apparently a successful tax collector – a chief collector so maybe he had others working for him, or maybe he was just exceptional at his job. His name means “clean” or “innocent”… possibly in the sense that a baby is?!

He’s not well liked – clearly he’s a sinner, and from people’s opinions a sinner of sinners… he is a traitor to Israel – he has enemies – he has few friends – he is a thief and scum and he’s protected by the Roman system. He preys on his fellow Jews – he collects their hard earned cash to give to the Roman invaders and he takes a solid cut for himself.

“One for the Romans, one for me.”

“One for the Romans… hmmm… it’s been a hard week this week – so many bills…. two for me.”

All that… yet something is obviously not working out for him – mid life crisis, emptiness inside, maybe he’s working out that riches aren’t everything and that he needs something more…? Whatever it is he climbs a tree to see Jesus.

A sycamore tree!

Zacchaeus is middle aged probably – 40’s – some of us know what that’s like, some of us wish that we were closer to the beginning of our 40’s rather than the end of them… but I have to say it’s been some time since I climbed a tree? In our 40’s most of us are not as nimble as we once were. As a kid I could spend all afternoon high up in the Mulberry tree next door – massive thing – covered the whole backyard. But now – it would be embarrassing – clumsy, humiliating, probably painful… in front of a crowd…?! Not a good look.

Luke 19:5-6 “When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.”

Jesus knew his name! Meeting a celebrity is one thing – Zacc would have been happy to catch a glimpse – but – Jesus knows his name. He climbs down and welcomes Jesus into his home – gladly?

The people aren’t too glad – they want Jesus to use their values.

Luke 19:7 “…the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’”

Our value systems leave a lot to be desired – we base decisions on jobs, colour of skin, social standing, country of origin, beauty and ugliness, height, popularity, sporting prowess – anything we can find that in reality has no value. The Jews were the same – on the road into Jericho they tell a blind man to shut up when he calls out for Jesus to heal him – compassionate…! Zacchaeus WAS a traitor and a sinner – he stole from his own people – he wouldn’t have been welcome in the Temple, though it probably wasn’t high on his list of priorities – he’d sold his soul to the Romans.

Luke 19:8 “But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

STOP

Zacchaeus doesn’t happen in a vacuum – the story is the last one of 8 related stories – they share a common theme – not of money but of reversal. In chapter 18 we start with the parable of the persistent widow – it’s about prayer – but it has a kick in the tale – a question from Jesus.

Luke 18:8 “…when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Will he find faith? Remembering that he came to the ‘people of God’ so faith would be something of a given… surely? The story that follows is the Pharisee and the tax collector praying in the Temple… then followed by Jesus demanding the disciples allow the little children to come to him… then the rich young ruler. We meet the blind beggar, then Zacchaeus and then the parable of the talents – the king who leaves his stewards in charge of investing his money. Altogether these parables and meetings come before Jesus entering into Jerusalem as the triumphant king.

So the question…

Luke 18:8 “…when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

What about the Pharisee praying in the Temple – a serious religious man – Paul says of his own standing before God that he is 100% perfect as far as the law is concerned – I guess this Pharisee thinks along the same lines… he looks down on the self confessed sinful tax collector next to him.

Luke 19:11 “The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.”

Totally assured of his own faith, blind to his position before God – “God will be impressed with me…”! Jesus says …no faith here – but the tax collector… he humbled himself before God and went home right with God – mercy was asked for and given.

The disciples try to stop the little children coming to Jesus – he not only demands they desist, but welcomes them openly into his arms – that’s a great picture of heaven? Jesus declares…

Luke 19:17 “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Question: will the Son of Man find faith?

Yes! But not in the proud and religious! In the sinners! In the socially irrelevant – the children! The tax collector understood his desperate plight and need for mercy. Children understand dependence.

The rich young ruler comes to Jesus.

Luke 19:18 “…Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

He is good, moral, upright – perfect in human terms. Only has to sell all he owns and follow Jesus. But sadly he cannot give up what he has devoted his whole life to obtaining. Wealth gives power, status, comfort, security – it’s hard to walk away.

Luke 19:23 “When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

It’s impossible… well no – but extremely hard for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven!

Luke 19:26 “Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”

Luke 19:27 “Jesus replied, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”

The RYR walks away – unchanged – it is hard for those who rely on money to give up the thing that supplies their worth, their value, their identity. The disciples ask the logical question – if the good man can’t get in to heaven unless he sells everything – what happens to people like the disciples who aren’t perfect but have given up everything? Need to reverse the values!

Luke 19:29-30 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.”

As Jesus approaches Jericho the blind man calls out to him…

Luke 19:38 “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Lord… I want to see!”

Luke 19:42 “Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.”

You realize the irony in this story don’t you? The only one in the great crowd of people whose eyes were open – who could see clearly… was the blind man! He’s been calling out to Jesus, Son of David, Lord – he’s the only one to actually see the truth. He brings no status or wealth, no position – he is outside the bounds of society – an irrelevance, cursed by God with blindness. He is not the upright RYR who also calls Jesus Lord. He’s not the self righteous Pharisee. He has no wealth – in fact the opposite – he is completely destitute – but he receives God’s mercy when the ‘good’ people don’t.

The Heart

The heart of these stories is the great reversal of verses 31-34.

Luke 19:31-33 “Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”

The great reversal – the Lord, King, Saviour, Master, Teacher, Son of God, Son of Man, Creator, sustainer – the one who could, should expect to be honoured as king, to enter triumphantly and be worshipped – instead… mocked, insulted, spat upon, flogged and killed.

Why does Jesus die in our place?

Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

Salvation & Money

Zacchaeus, the other tax collector, the blind man, the children – the “lost”. Zacchaeus somehow knows he’s in trouble – he climbs a tree to see Jesus… and given the opportunity he gladly welcomes Jesus into his home. What does that mean?

In the context of these stories and people – what does it mean to gladly welcome Jesus in?

Luke 19:8 “But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

His gladness is not some private emotion – his gladness leads him to act. He generously gives away ½ his wealth in response to salvation – it’s an act of recognition. He obviously knows his wealth is stopping him – he sees the chance to make a new start, to be forgiven. Maybe that’s why he climbed the tree – he was empty – along comes the Son of Man – opportunity! Like the blind man… takes his one chance as Jesus walks by. He responds to salvation by giving away ½ – he repays all those he has cheated 4 times the amount. He must have had great records! At one level he is simply being a good Jew and responding to the law – Exodus 22:2 demanded a four-fold payment for a stolen sheep. But we can see that it is much more than that – he is bringing his lord and master – that is… money – he is bringing his old lord and master to the feet of his king – bringing it under the Lordship of Jesus.

Luke 19:9-10 “Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

The Dummies Guide to Money

The Dummies Guide to Money is a practical guide – and a simple one – and that’s realistic.

1. Money makes us dumb – we think it gives us freedom and power – therefore the more the better. Instead it takes away our willpower to make the wisest choices. In Luke 18 and 19 is it the rich people who are better off – or the poor people?
2. Money is a god – for rich people… for poor people… for middle class – for us. We hear all the time that money has become the basis of everything in society – user-pays – shareholder profits. That should show us how clever money is. We know the problem – but we refuse to do anything about it because at the end of the day money has become god. Some money is good, more money is better! In Australia according to the reports the majority of increased shareholder profits in the past few years have gone to the mum and dad investors – and personal super funds. We have identified the problem – but we are the ones benefiting! Money is god when we allow it to decide our ethics and our morals. As Jesus says for the Rich Young Ruler – money made his choices for him!

Luke 18:24-25 “Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

3. Money has power! The Rich Young Ruler walks away sad because his money has power over him. Sure… we’re not rich like he was – but money still has power and we still succumb to it. He relied on his money. To gain salvation he had to give up his lord and master and accept Jesus. If money is making the decisions about faith and salvation then we’re in trouble. Its only power is that it can keep us away from God.
4. Money calls out to money – you can never have enough. Are you satisfied with life? If you keep wanting more and more then has money already won? If you are never really satisfied then who’s winning? Can you imagine being made happy, being made content… by giving away ½ of your wealth?
5. Investing is dangerous! We have to invest wisely – money, time, education, family, church – every resource we have is to be invested. But God says – invest in the kingdom. So… are we? Like many ministers my superannuation will eventually be the way we buy a home. We’ve set up a super fund. The projections look good – thanks for asking. It’s important to get it right? But it can also be all consuming. To work out what to do I bought a financial magazine – and reading it is compelling… and much of it sounds like good advice. It told me I can save $1 a day per child till they are 21 and set them on the path to having a million dollars by the time they’re 50. Wish my dad had done that – couple of years to go and we’re sitting sweet – money, money, money! Except he didn’t! Sounds so insignificant – $1/day. Good advice? Or dangerous territory? What about investing with World Vision… about $1/day can feed, clothe, educate and provide for an African child and their family. So where is the best place for me to spend a dollar a day – for the kingdom of God? A million for my kids by the time they are 50 or a family fed, clothed, housed, educated and evangelised, and given a future? A good friend said to me recently – you have to ask yourself when you’re investing… where’s the trusting in God part?

Zacchaeus spent his adult life with money as master – he sold his soul and everything else to gain cash. His motto was Greed is good! We aren’t like Zacchaeus! Well… we are if we follow the world’s rules when it comes to money.

• Do you need that promotion? Will it give you more or less time for ministry and family?
• The overseas trip – a good use of money? The world says it is! How is it worthwhile for the kingdom of God?
• What job gives you the most money? What job gives you the most time for the kingdom?
• New car – a worthwhile investment? A kingdom investment?
• Christmas shopping nights at big department stores where they ply you with free champagne – celebration or do you feel compelled or even tipsy so that you spend more. Good choice?
• New low interest credit card – how will it help you build the kingdom?
• And the list could go on…

Zacchaeus used his money wisely – he gave up half – an unquestioning spur of the moment choice – based on the fact that money was winning and the only way to stop it… is to give it up. He pays back all those he has wronged. Was he still wealthy? Who knows? But what he did was to bring even his money under the Lordship of Jesus. He decides – and we know this is a hard thing for a rich man – the faithful, devout, good hearted Rich Young Ruler couldn’t do it… but Zacc decides to trust Jesus with his bank account. The Dummies Guide to Money says… trust Jesus with your cash – even when it hurts.

How hard is it for a rich man to get into heaven? About the same as a camel going through the eye of a needle! Zacchaeus is a camel!

What is impossible for man – is not impossible for God – he can change even those for whom money is god.

Luke 19:9 “Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.”

The way you treat money is a sure sign of where you stand with Jesus – and your eternity hangs on it. Be generous with it for the kingdom of God and be wary of it in every other circumstance.

The Dummies Guide to Ministry

Introduction… Stewardship

How do we as Christians practically act as God’s stewards in this world? A steward is someone who looks after the owner’s property and protects the owner’s interests. Money, time, energy and everything else is exercised according to the owner’s instructions. They manage the property and honestly report to the owner every detail. One of the foundational passages for this in the NT is the parable of the talents.

Matthew 25:14-18 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.”

In four blogs I want to look at Maturity, Ministry, Materialism and Money… to do so with some practical ideas – what do our choices and commitments say about our faith? Would someone know we are a Christian by the way we speak, the way we act, the way we spend our time, the movies we watch, the company we keep, the books we read, the way we spend money, the way we act at work, the way we treat the poor, the way we speak to or about our spouse or kids?

If you’ve ever been tempted to read one of the “Dummies Guide’s to…” – well that’s my aim – a “Dummies Guide to Stewardship”. You don’t have to be dumb or act dumb – a dummies guide is simply a non expert’s guide – an everyday guide. Stewardship for us is not a matter of putting into practice our expertise but rather putting into practice our beliefs and our trust.

I want to challenge you for four commitments.

1. Maturity… actively working towards maturity in Christ through prayer, Bible reading, regular church attendance and ministry.
2. Ministry… to use God given gifts in ministry for the encouragement and building up of Christians and the ministry of the Gospel
3. Materialism… to prayerfully and courageously stand against the world in the pursuit of happiness through possessions.
4. Money… to give generously and regularly to the ministry of the gospel in your church.

A Dummies Guide to Ministry

Two Little Boys – P.S. it’s a Joke!!!!

• Two little boys, 8 & 10 were always getting into trouble – whenever anything happened in their small town their parents knew their sons would get the blame. But mum heard on the grapevine that there was a clergyman who’d been successful in disciplining kids, so she asked him to speak with her boys. He agreed to see them individually the next day.
• So, mum sends her youngest down to the church next morning. The clergyman, a huge man with a booming voice, sat the boy down and asked him sternly, “Where is God?”
• The boy’s goes to speak, but makes no sound, sitting there with his mouth hanging open.
• The clergyman repeats the question. “Where is God?”
• Again, the boy makes gives no answer.
• The clergyman raises his voice, shakes his finger and bellows, “Where is God!?”
• The little boy screamed, sprinted from the room, ran home to hide in his wardrobe, slamming the door behind him. His brother finds him crying, and asks; “What happened?”
• The little boy, fighting off tears says: “We’re in so much trouble – this is bigger than anything we’ve ever done. God’s missing, and they think we did it!”

Ministry’s such fun!

The Church 100 years on!

100 years ago that story might well have been a good description of church – things have changed dramatically (though you can still find churches that would not think this joke was a joke!). Ministers were scary – fire and brimstone preachers bellowing about sin and damnation from pulpits high in the air – dressed in black with big black Bibles. They still exist!

In the Anglican church and in plenty of others what the priest said was law – except it had greater authority because it came from God. The priest had standing in the church and the community; he was an integral part of society. Churches did limited ministries – teaching happened at church by the preacher. It happened in the home when every member of the family was catechised – which is what catechists used to do – come to your home and teach you the catechism – it’s in the back of the prayer book. The Priest preached and read services, did the prayers and the readings (3 or 4, even 5 at times) – there were few lay preachers or readers. Sunday Schools, if they existed, were tightly controlled by the minister, there were few youth groups, mostly no Bible Study groups (we have the Wesleys to thank for those in the modern church) – the ones that existed were an opportunity for the priest to come to preach to the gathered group in your home. I know this probably seems foreign to most – yet I know from personal experience that some groups still operate this way, and some ministers and even lay people operate this way.

Makes me wonder how they dealt with a passage like…

1 Peter 4:7-9 “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ…”

Mostly today the church is very different. The 16^thC Reformation changed how we view church and ministry by going back to NT principles – especially that ministry was never meant to be the exclusive domain of the professional ministers and priests. Peter speaks of the new people of God, the church, as a priesthood of all believers.

1 Peter 2:9-10 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

Once we did not belong – we were not the people of God – but together now Christians are the people of God, the priests of the kingdom, called to declare the praises of Jesus who called us out of darkness – we are chosen and we are priests – a holy nation that crosses all boundaries, all colours, all national and racial differences to form one nation of priests under God.

The Dummies Guide to Ministry says… Ministry is not the domain of professionals – it is the responsibility and lifestyle of all who believe.

The Priesthood of all Believers

Peter writes about change – the real change that’s required of those who belong to Jesus. This shouldn’t come as a surprise – at least the theory – yet Peter goes to great lengths to describe the changes. His letters describe Christians at length – the new people of God – a chosen people, a royal priesthood, holy, a nation belonging to God, receivers of God’s mercy – God’s elect, strangers in the world, no longer strangers to God – spread throughout the world, yet gathered around the word, gathered before the throne of God – the chosen ones, made clean by God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, chosen for obedience, made one with Christ by his blood, granted peace and God’s grace in abundance. Why go on and on?

Why so many descriptions of the change?

Is it so detailed because even after 2000 years we still struggle to leave our old lives behind and be wholeheartedly committed to the new?

1 Peter 4:3 “For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.”

All this we must leave behind gratefully, enthusiastically, with a sense of the reality that faces all people – that we must face God and deal with the lifestyle we have led.

1 Peter 4:4-5 “They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”

In the face of imminent judgement – how are we to live?

1 Peter 4:7-9 “The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.  If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

Living as Priests

This passage is the Dummies Guide to Ministry. As we read the rest of Peter we can see that as God’s gathered people we are to be holy, to be self controlled, to purify ourselves through reading and obeying the Scriptures. We are to love one another, to crave what is good, to encourage rather than tear down, to get rid of all the relational tools that don’t belong in the church – malice, rage, anger, slander – there are standards of behaviour and love that we must live according to, no matter how imperfectly.

It is spectacularly easy to fail in these areas, to fall back into the behaviours of our old life, to revive the relational tools we were committed to as non-Christians. If that’s where you find yourself – failing in relationships as Peter is speaking of here – it’s not impossible to change, though it will often feel like it is. If you wrong someone – apologise – go to them and seek forgiveness – be open about it, talk about it – ask them to forgive you. It’s tempting to just ask God and to think that’s enough – it’s not. When we sin we sin against God and people – we need to seek the forgiveness of both. If its 20 years ago then deal with it today – seek forgiveness today. Forgiveness can only happen when you seek it. And if you fail today – seek forgiveness from the person you have wronged and repent and start again. And if you fail tomorrow do it again. How many times do we need to forgive – or be forgiven…? Jesus says 7 times 70? 7 is the number of God, times the number of God, times 10. We might say infinity + 1.

Christians are the priesthood of the kingdom – we have a new lifestyle – not one given to satisfying our cravings but given to ministry. Don’t think of ministry as a great list of gifts and abilities – Pater has no lists – this is the Dummies Guide – the experts guide for the rest of us – it gives us the simplicity of love and hospitality. Every Christian is a minister – we are each responsible to build, encourage, teach and train – to use our gifts, which every one of us has been given, to further the work of the gospel. We are to think clearly and carefully about life, relationships, the world, church, the cross, salvation, money, family – think clearly about this things from God’s point of view. We are to be self controlled – not pursuing things that will kill us but instead that which will save and keep us. It’s the work of a lifetime – to give up pagan commitments and commit to the work and life of Christ. Ministry starts with love.

Ministry Starts With Love

Actually – ministry starts with recognition – every one of us is a minister. There are no pew sitters in Christ’s kingdom.

1 Peter 4:7 “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”

We have to start by believing God – he declares he has gifted us for his work.

Do you believe God?

Do you believe God when he says that you have been gifted by Him for the work of ministry? I guess I’d want to ask if you think God hasn’t gifted you – why is that? Why would God single you out to lack the gifts to serve in ministry – when he clearly promises that every Christian is gifted for the good of the church?

Maybe it’s hard for you to see where you can serve – maybe you need help working out where to get involved – maybe you need an environment that supports you or a ministry team who will encourage you – but the Bible is clear that each of us, as Christ’ chosen people, have been given the gifts required to serve Christ’s church faithfully.

1 Peter 4:9 “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.”

The thing is – getting involved in ministry is not a complex issue. It’s not a matter of discovering a specific gift – though that can help. Rather it’s a matter of realising the wonder of what we have received – the grace of God, the riches of Christ, the glory of heaven, and the forgiveness of sins… once we realise how unbelievable it is that we are in a right relationship with God through Christ – ministry is the means by which we will share that news. Ministry starts with love that is clear about the nature of this world and the judgement to come and out of love for God and others shares the gospel.

When two people get married – how ready are they for what’s to come?

Let’s be honest – they are not!? They’re not ready for the changes, the commitment, the differences, the day-to-day wonder of learning to live in intimate relationship. But… we commit to love and to service – to love one another to the exclusion of anything that will destroy, wreck, hurt, damage etc.

It’s the same in ministry – we don’t have to know precisely what our gift is or how to use it – what we need is a commitment to love. With self control – not living just for pleasure… and with clear mindedness – not clouded with the world – and a commitment to pray – we must love each other deeply and offer hospitality without grumbling.

The Whole of Ministry

This is not just the Dummies Guide to Ministry – this is the whole of ministry. Everything else fits into these two ideas. Firstly Peter speaks of Agape – love of a family member – Christians – we are to demonstrate a real and abiding love for each other firstly by sharing the gospel together and building each other up in the truth of God’s word. That love is powerful because it can bring about the obliteration of sins. Peter says “love covers over a multitude of sins” – in the context of church and relationships and ministry. He doesn’t mean we sweep the sins under the carpet – we don’t deal with them as some churches do with a false ceremony of absolution, which has no effect whatsoever. No – the love of the Christian community can deal with sin – on the basis of love we can make sin disappear – we can remove the stain of sin from our relationship and relate to each other not based on sin but on holiness. The pain from personal hurt may well remain, but relationships can be rebuilt. Peter says we are through with sin – that was our lifestyle but no longer. Our practice should meet up with the theory, and though it never will in this world, that is what we are to strive for. We minister together when we deal with sin, forgive sin and no longer treat each other as sinners but as forgiven and beautiful.

Can I just make a bit of an aside and be really, really clear. Sweeping sins under the carpet is not what we are talking about. I wouldn’t suggest for a moment that a victim of abuse (for example) should be told that “love covers over a multitude of sins” as though that somehow fixes the sin of others who did the abusing – it doesn’t in any sense. But go from a different position – the active, compassionate, practical, persistent and long term love of a Christian congregation towards a victim of abuse can mend brokenness and ‘cover over’ the sins and bring healing.

• A girl who has been abused by her mother might (eventually) find a whole group of mums at church that care for her and provides the sort of relationship a daughter has with a mum. It’s not the same – but it can bring healing and strength, a person or people to confide in, get advice from and to learn from. The mum still needs to be brought to account if that’s possible. But you know what churches so often do – they support the mum because they can’t believe their friend would ever do such a thing, and they condemn the girl and try to force her back into the abusive relationship.
• Or consider the case of a paedophile priest – for too long the church has fumbled around ineptly dealing with these issues – all too often by sweeping the sin under the carpet, blaming the victims, and paying people off whilst moving priests to new location where their past is not obvious. The church has taken the idea of ‘love covering over a multitude of sins’ entirely the wrong way! This is wrong! The victims of abuse deserve support and love that in time may cover the effects of the sin by rebuilding trust, faith and hope. And for some victims this will not be complete until we reach heaven – in fact maybe for most victims. All too often the victims are the ones rejected by the church – frankly this is reprehensible – if we do that we deserve the condemnation we so often receive in the media. But a church can also demonstrate the love of Christ by not covering over the sin, by not excusing the behaviour of the abuser, by not condemning the abuse victim, by not allowing the evil to continue, by not assuming that the priest could never have done such things because he’s always been such a lovely man, by not excusing sin as an aberration. The priest who abuses deserves to feel the full effects of the law and the condemnation of the church. Whilst the aim of the law is punishment, the aim of the church is to bring that priest back from sin to forgiveness and relationship – but that should not EVER be an easy path and they must NEVER be trusted without responsible and obvious supervision at all times – that is part of loving both the victim and the perpetrator – and even of loving those who could have been victims had the priest been allowed to continue. They must repent publicly and openly (within the bounds of the law) – there must be no prevarication – they must be thrown out of the church and we must not fellowship with them until they are fully aware of their sinfulness, and make a full, honest and public confession and pay for their crimes – we must treat them like the criminals they are. If and only when they have completed an appropriate lengthy time of repentance and excommunication should they be allowed back into fellowship – under the strictest conditions and warnings. We may forgive the truly repentant, we may choose to fellowship again with them and treat them as a fellow Christian, but it is right that their sin should follow them – for the sake of others.

Anyway – back to the Dummies Guide – the second part of ministry is this…

1 Peter 4:9 “…Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.”

The word hospitality is not really the word we think of – it comes from a Greek word that means to demonstrate love to the stranger. It’s hard to see that in English. On the one hand we are to love our brothers and sisters deeply – with such love that we face up to sin – we don’t sweep it under the carpet but we deal with it – and once dealt with we forgive and get rid of it and no longer relate on the basis of the sin (duly noting what I have said above about abuse) – and – we are to love the stranger in our midst. We are to welcome strangers into our gatherings and into our lives. We are to give them of ourselves, our homes, our wealth, our resources, our time, our energy – we have a responsibility as priests of the Kingdom to…

1 Peter 2:9 “…declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

True love for non-Christians is not to condone their lifestyle by getting involved in the pursuit of pleasure (which so many Christians do – and I’m guessing all middle class western Christians probably fall into that trap at least at some point)… but to call them out of darkness into God’s wonderful light – to help them confront their sin and deal with it obediently under Christ.

A Dummies Guide

If we’re going to be practical about this then how do we do it? How do we minister? The Dummies Guide to Ministry is about good basic practical things.

• The end of all things is near – so don’t give into the world but live prayerful, self controlled lives – be clear about the world.
• Christians – love each other deeply. Love is ministry – love leads to ministry and love deals with sin.
• Love those who are not Christs’ people – yet! Tell them the truth and help them be won to Christ – this is ministry.
• Each of us has been given gifts for the purpose of serving Christ’s Church.
• Use your gift to faithfully administer God’s grace.
• If your giftedness is as a speaker of the Word then speak as though God were speaking – be humble but strong, loving but don’t water it down, ever truthful but gentle.
• If your giftedness is a service gift get on with it and do it with the strength God provides.
• Whatever you do in life as a Christian you are a minister – in all things we should live so that God may be praised through Jesus Christ.
• The end result of ministry should be…

1 Peter 4:9 “…that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

From our ministry people should be left praising God.

How do you wake a sleeping giant? Spiritual Gifts 1

We are God’s workmanship!

How do you feel about yourself – do you like who you are? Are you gifted? Are you an introvert or an extravert, an optimist or a pessimist – a little of both? Are you clever, cute, bright, smart, talented, special, beautiful, handsome – all of the above – or maybe the opposite? In our world if you’re one of the beautiful people then it’s all yours – if not?

So many children are growing up thinking that they have no value unless they can be certain things or do certain things or get to a certain level of life. Every day in shopping centres you can see at least one of the reasons… parents who abuse their kids emotionally and mentally, using every name they can think of, and a few we’d rather not. In western culture we worry so much about smacking or caning or other forms of physical punishment – but in my experience many more children suffer to a far greater degree from emotional and mental abuse (without for a moment excusing or condoning any form of physical abuse). So many people can’t get a handle on their life because parents never told them how much they were loved, how special they were, how wonderfully they were made.

Do you know – regardless of how we see ourselves, or how our parents or other important people see us – God sees us as his workmanship – wonderfully made.

Psalm 139:14 “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

And as David goes on to say in the Psalm not just wonderfully made but created from the very start, known to God from before the very beginning of time and creation, and woven together in the womb with God watching over his creation. As we read in Ephesians…

Ephesians 2:10a “For we are God’s workmanship…”

Maybe that’s easy to see – if you’ve watched the program called “The Body” it’s hard to imagine how you can’t see. For many of us God creating and working his magic in this world is the only possible answer – the human body is just too amazing, as is the world and the universe. But there’s more to it than just our bodies, or the wonder of life.

Ephesians 2:10 “…created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Whatever the opinion of this world, whatever we have been lead to believe about ourselves, good or bad, God says that having become his children in Jesus, having trusted in Christ for salvation and moved from being God’s enemies to being God’s friends, he has remade us in Christ so that we can now start to fulfil his original design. We were created from scratch to do good works that God prepared for us before we were even a twinkle in our parent’s eyes. This is about how we fulfil the mission God has given us – how the church fulfils its mission in this world. I like to use Ephesians 4 as a guide for the life of the church – not the only one but I really like this.

Ephesians 4:12-13 “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

That’s God’s plan! And God has given us the means to carry it out – not one or two people able to fulfill his plans – but churches full. It is not the few who are wonderfully made and who are God’s workmanship – it is all – everyone – all creation. Every person is made to perfectly match God’s plans – in fact created in the image of God – made with purpose. So we read in 1 Corinthians…

1 Corinthians 12:1 “Now about spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be ignorant.”

Who is Paul writing to?

The whole church – the same as in Ephesians when he says we are God’s workmanship, the same in Romans when he says we have different gifts but one body. What does he says to the whole church about Spiritual Gifts?

1 Corinthians 12:2-3 “You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I want you to understand no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except in the Holy Spirit.”

What can we say about these Spiritual Gifts – without going further than the Scriptures do?

1.      Spiritual Gifts Are Given To Glorify God

Paul sets the stage by declaring that the purpose of Spiritual Gifts is to glorify God – especially designed to help us declare Jesus is Lord over all other gods – the mute idols that Paul talks about. The Corinthians came from a pagan, idol worshipping background, where spiritual utterances and demonic activity were par for the course – the cultic priests claimed all sorts of spiritual powers. The way to know that the spiritual gifts of the church are real – is by what they declare! No one speaking by the Holy Spirit can curse Jesus – no one speaking without God’s Spirit can declare Jesus as Lord. When the chips are down and life is threatened – you will only declare Jesus as Lord by the power of God.

The real evidence of God’s presence is not the gifts and the power that we so often seem to associate with the Spirit. The real evidence is Jesus proclaimed as Lord. Whatever takes away from the glory of God, whatever tears down or destroys the unity of the church, or damages the name of Jesus, even if it appears to be legitimately from God’s Holy Spirit – if it does not glory God and proclaim Jesus’ name then it has no place in the church. This is how we will know the work of the Spirit amongst us. As we start to learn about the gifts themselves we see…

1 Corinthians 12:4-7 “There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities, but the same God empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”

2.      Spiritual Gifts Are Given For The Good Of All

How will we know that the gifts we exercise are from God?

By their fruit!

1 Corinthians 12:7 “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”

Just as we know a good fruit tree when we see one – the product tells us everything we need to know.

It’s not that everyone has to have the same gifts, or start at the bottom and work your way up to the top of the gifts pile. In fact there is an array of gifts given to the church – everything we need to fulfill God’s plans of maturity and growth for us – that is His promise to us.

2 Peter 1:3 “God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”

So many people believe that faith is a private thing and that you don’t have to go to church to be a Christian. Nothing could be further from the truth – not least that you don’t stick a light in a cupboard – how useless is that? Why become a Christian with gifts from God for the good of his people – the church – and then not use them? Faith is not private – it’s designed to be shared with all, as scary as that may be at times. Together Christians make up the body of Christ – arms, legs, back, head, shoulders, feet, heart, lungs, eyes, nostrils, hair follicles –

1 Corinthians 12:12 “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.”

Together the body of Christ serves to strengthen and build up the whole body so that together the body matures. If there is one thing a body is designed to do it’s to work together for the common good. If your spleen goes on holidays for 6 weeks where does that leave you?

3.      Spiritual Gifts are given as God determines

1 Corinthians 12:8-11 “To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit – gifts of healing by that one Spirit – miraculous powers – prophecy – distinguishing between spirits – speaking in different kinds of tongues – the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

In distributing the gifts of the Spirit God doesn’t listen to the world. Thank God!!!! (And yes – I really do mean that). The criterion is not wealth or cleverness, how beautiful or wonderful we are, how much people like us or how famous we are. God has given every Christian gifts of the Spirit according to his plan and designs – just as he determines, as he decides.

The danger the church faced for many centuries was that they taught that it was the professionals who were gifted by God to serve in the church – the priests, the monks and nuns and so on. They alone did God’s work and the job of the congregation was to be obedient, to fill the pews and provide the cash (I now the time to take up the offertory??!) J And back then if you did get involved in ministry it was helping the priest or doing the flowers or the food or raising money through fetes, or distributing food to the widows or the needy – all good stuff but from the churches point of view back then – not the main game. Sadly we still see the same thing in some churches – it’s hard to imagine how they justify it when the Bible is so blatantly clear that God gives gifts to all Christians for service and ministry. Every part is as important as any other; every ministry and servant is important and valuable.

The Sleeping Giant

So “How do we wake a sleeping giant” – not the fee-fie-foe-fum variety – rather the largest company in the world, with combined income and numbers Bill Gates would sell his soul for?

You!

The church!

The company of believers!

Every survey I’ve ever seen on ministry by people in the pews – not the paid staff of a church – suggests that most churches have less than 20% of people involved in the ministry of the church – it’s called the 20/80 rule and as far as I can tell it’s a pretty good indicator not only of ministry but of money, energy, time, support. And that is a sleeping giant!

Why do people in the church not get involved?

Too tired, worn out, busy in work and family?

Too scared, or afraid of mistakes, too young, too old?

Too immature, done too much already, not enough work to do in the church, don’t know what to do, can’t find a spot to serve, never had the opportunity, never took the opportunity, was cut down when I took the opportunity – badly burnt by past experiences?

All these may be true in your life – but let me say they don’t stack up too well as excuses.

If someone gives you a gift for your birthday or Christmas – what do you do with it? If you don’t open it what value does it have – and what does that say to the giver? You can admire the paper, read the card, and rattle the box to work out what it is – but while it’s wrapped it’s basically meaningless. The only way to deal with a present is to open it and use it.

It’s the same with God and his church – he has given gifts to every single person who belongs to him – if you tick the box “Christian” – “follower of Jesus” then you also tick the box “gifted by God for his church”. So what are you doing with it?

If you answer “nothing” what’s going on? Do you not believe God? He says he has given gifts to every person who is a Christian. So is he right or not? Have you tried and failed? Cause if you have I bet you have also said to a child to get back on a bike after falling off, or back on the horse, or suggested (or just thought) someone should face their fears?! Have you been cut down or unappreciated? Has your minister or another leader had a go at you for getting it wrong or not being very good or for failing? If so – give them a boot in the backside from me and tell them to support you as you try rather than having a go at you when you fail. And if you want to do something and are scared then ask for prayer and support – from minister, family, friends… get some training, do a course, get some practice in with someone you can trust, start small, volunteer to assist someone else who is doing it, give it a go. And if you have no idea what your particular gifts may be then ask for help and make sure your minister or leader gives it to you.

Around the world the evangelical church is growing – slowly, but faster than most churches. But imagine what would be happening if every single Christian used their gifts from God for the benefit of the church. Imagine your own church with the 80/20 rule reversed – if every person was using what God has given us to serve his people.

Churches should bloom not by the ministers’ energy or strength – such as they are – but by the enthusiastic use of the gifts God has given us – churches should be so committed to God’s plan that nothing could stop us using what God has given us.

The church should be able to tattoo this to our foreheads – that we are a church that is preparing…

Eph 4:12-13 “God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

Kid’s Ministry Resources

Just a quick note to say if you are looking for kids ministry resources head over to http://ministry-to-children.com/ – they have a huge range of great resources including lesson plans and ideas, crafts, games, colouring pages (check out the work of Mandy – fantastic and simple), training guides and so much more.

And to just make it so much better – they have made it free. Well done guys – not just growing one church but helping others out who don’t have the same resources. Very cool!!!