The Welcoming Church!

So – thinking about churches being welcoming places, rather than what so many people describe – how do we do it well? Or go a step further – do we want to do it well, or at all?

How many churches only welcome those who look like the people already attending? In how many churches is it really only the ministry team and maybe – maybe – a couple of hard-core members who do the welcoming?

And how many Christians in our churches simply aren’t looking beyond themselves and their group of friends, to look around on a Sunday morning and think beyond their own needs and desires and to go out of their way to welcome new people into the community – and not just a quick hello and my name is Bill, but a real welcome, a genuine opening of the arms to gather in those Christ has called to his body, opening our homes and lives to new people, sharing what we have received for the kingdom of God? Not just Sunday – but for weeks and months and years even welcoming those who come to the churches we attend.

Is that the problem with welcoming? We think of it as a job – but really it’s a lifestyle, a choice to respond to those Jesus has called!?

Casting Crowns – “If we are the body…”

What should you do this Sunday? Monday? Tuesday?… etc!

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!!!

Myth Busters – All Religions are The Same

Religion – All Roads Lead To Rome

A Jew, a Baptist and an Anglican were discussing how they worked out their tithe each week. The Anglican said that he drew a square on the ground, threw the money up in the air and anything that landed in the square he gave to God. The Baptist was much the same, but being freer in his thinking he would throw the money in the air and whatever landed outside the square he gave to God. The Jew said they were both mad. He would stand in the square and throw the money in the air… and whatever God caught God kept.

What Does a Christian Believe?

• We believe in one God – the Father the Almighty – creator and sustainer.
• We believe in one Lord – Jesus Christ – truly God, truly man who died for our sins and is alive and coming back to judge of all.
• We believe in the Holy Spirit who is one with the Father and the Son and has been sent by both Father and Son to call us to life and to speak through the prophets.

One God, three persons. Equal yet different – the Father did not die on the cross, the Son did create the universe, the Holy Spirit points to the Son and caused the Scriptures to be written.

What do people you know say about religion?

Plenty of people think that all religions are the same – if they think about it at all. All religions are simply different expressions of one truth. Especially in western thinking, no religion has an exclusive claim to the truth. So Christians and Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Baha’is, Shintoists and Atheists all believe the same thing – and we should just get on with peace and harmony.

Is that true? Are all religions the same?

Activity

Have a think – maybe talk to some people.

• Write down all the religions you can think of and just one thing you’re pretty sure those religions believe.
• What do people you know world think of organised religion?

Reality

The reality is most people have no idea what religions teach – only what the tv tells them. We can actually see that pretty clearly – western Buddhism looks almost nothing like Eastern Buddhism – and western Buddhism tends to be a caricature of what Buddhists seem to believe on TV. In many cases Western Buddhism looks like a spiritual capitalism.

Anyway – it’s true to the outside observer that religions can look remarkably similar to each other. Christians, Jews and Muslims all worship one God – Monotheism – one God. So people say… isn’t it the same God just with different names? We see the Muslims praying. We see Jews praying – what’s the difference? Obviously there are extreme Muslims who obviously aren’t following God’s plans. And the Jews aren’t exactly innocent, but then neither were the Christians in years gone by. Are they all just pointing to the same God?

What about the other religions? There are 5 main types of belief – including monotheism.

• Hinduism and Buddhism say that there is no God. You become one with the universe by self sacrifice.
• Tribal and folk religions are called Polytheism – many gods and spirits.
• Ying and Yang – Taoism – the dualistic religions – good and evil in balance.
• Atheism is the belief there is no god – so Marxism, Communism and secular humanism. If you go to the secular universities in Australia you will come under the influence of secular humanism.

Spiritual Hunger

Most religions are dropping in numbers, especially in the Western world. There are a couple of exceptions, though they probably aren’t the ones you think. But spirituality is on the rise. There is a hunger in many people to find ways to deal with life – religion and capitalism can’t help. Many people who turned to Eastern religions in the 60’s and 70’s are now turning to new age spiritualism – new in that it’s been around for about 6000 years. Spirituality in the modern western world is very much like jelly – it wobbles all over the place and can be any shape you like. People mean by ‘spirituality’ whatever they want. They include devil worship, tarot cards, crystals, meditation, yoga, vegetarianism, self actualisation – whatever that is. It’s all about following your “inner spiritual path”. In Sydney each year there is a “Body Mind and Spirit Festival” – more than ½ million visitors each year. There was a “blessed medallion” on ebay a few years back that was ‘guaranteed’ to bring the wearer good luck and spiritual peace. It sold for almost $2000. There is no lack of desire for the “spiritual” aspect of life.

In fact what is happening is that an old form of religion is reviving – multi-spirituality – people wanting to determine their own spiritual path to peace and happiness. Spirituality comes from whatever pursuit you choose – as long as you are faithful to that god/spiritual path then you are spiritual.

Do all these paths get to the same God? Are all religions the same?

The Problem

The thing is – as soon as you start investigating you can see that religions have statements of faith that are in direct opposition to each other. And oddly – for most religions that’s ok by them. Moderate Muslims – not the fundamentalists – they believe that Christians, Jews and Muslims all worship the same god – but the Jews and the Christians just need to learn the true name of God. The Bahia religion expects you to worship how you want and to whom you want when you go to a Bahia temple. I visited one once – it felt evil to me – and I’m not that sort of person who gets those sensations. Hindus and Buddhists don’t really care who you worship as long as you are seeking a right path. [P] Are they all the same?

No! And we know because of the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ.

What’s Different About Christianity?

I could do the old one liner – Christianity’s not a religion. It’s a relationship. That’s true enough but it’s only a starting place. Jesus and responding to Jesus is what makes Christianity different.

1 John 4:9-10 “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

1. John reminds us that Jesus’ birth, life, teaching, death and resurrection are historical events, not mythical. We have good evidence for all of them, including the resurrection. Without Jesus there would be no Christianity – unlike all other religions which are about teaching and practice. It’s what you do and learn and how you act that will determine your future. We are focussed on Jesus’ death and resurrection and his act of salvation.

1 Cor 15:17 “…if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.”

This is unique to Christianity. Second…

John 1:14-15 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

• What’s different is we received the one and only Son of God. God became flesh and dwelt with us. Jesus was God incarnate – the word of the week – use it in conversation. It means that he wasn’t simply a representative, or even an image of God, like a statue come to life. Jesus was God in the flesh – dwelling in person on earth.

John 14:9 “Jesus answered: … Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”

• All religions – even atheism – claim that mankind has a problem. All of them claim that the solution is human effort. Even Catholicism claims this. Jesus declares that our problem is far worse – we are spiritually dead – and unless we accept his life for ours and start living through him then we will remain dead.

Romans 6:23 “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

• All religions claim we become one with god/universe etc by our own effort. It’s the great Aussie lie! She’ll be right! God and I are mates. But that is patently untrue. God has a zero tolerance policy with sin. He declared the punishment for sin is death and separation from him for eternity.

Habakkuk 1:13 “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.”

God is 100% Holy. His holiness and love are not demonstrated as the world wants them to be in leniency. He demonstrated his love for us by sending his Son to pay the price of our sin.

• The kicker is this. Salvation does not come by moral hard work – it is a free gift.

Romans 1:17a “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last…”

Do you know what you lose when you try to make salvation dependant on us rather than God?

Assurance!

The more my salvation depends on me the less I will be sure because I know myself. I know where I fail. That’s why Hinduism is so cruel. You are reincarnated into a body that reflects your previous life. Make even little mistakes and you come back as a slug, or a cat. That’s why cows are sacred – there goes Auntie Bessie. That’s cruel – no hope, no assurance.

God offers us hope based on His character not ours – on his holiness. Because God loves us he sent his son – it’s not that we loved God. As we come to understand that there is no way that we can live up to God’s standards – as we come to release that we only have hope by entrusting Jesus with our lives – then we will come to understand the assurance we have in Christ. Our salvation depends on Him who chose us rather than me being good.

Do All Roads Lead To Rome?

The Bible answers our question.

Acts 4:12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

John 14:6 “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

As the team would say on MythBusters – this myth is busted. We could do a lengthy comparative religions study – interesting but meaningless really except in understanding that Christianity is incredibly different. There is pretty much no similarity between the claims of Christianity and those of all other religions. There is no way to match up the claims of Christianity and the other religions.

It all comes down to this – the character of Jesus and the reality of his death and resurrection. That’s what we need to help people understand – the Bible makes clear claims based entirely on Jesus Christ.

Talking It Up

When we are talking to people who want to argue that all religions are the same we want to do two things.

1. We really want to pray. Obvious – Yes! The first thing that comes to mind? Maybe not! Whenever we are talking to people about Jesus we really want to be asking God to help us speak the truth in love, and for the Holy Spirit to make it clear to them. Without the Holy Spirit opening their eyes they will remain dead.
2. We want to focus entirely on Jesus and especially his death and resurrection. We want as best we can to answer their question, or complaints, but we also want to turn it as quickly as we can to Jesus – because the thing they have to deal with is that Jesus died and rose for them – if it’s true then they have to accept or reject knowing the claim Jesus is making on them and the consequences.

True safety – true faith – true life – true assurance rests in Jesus alone – he alone can save us from sin and death – he alone offers us hope that can never fade an inheritance that can never be destroyed. No other religion offers what Christ does.

Myth Busters – Faith Expectations – What Can Faith Really Do?

Christian myths – or myths about Christianity – or myths propagated by Christians and those opposed – what is reality, what do we/should we believe, what is the truth about some of the claims made by or about Christians – mythbusters is a great fun TV series – but also a great idea. What is true? What’s not? What is plausible, proven or busted? Christians should ask these questions constantly. Test the Spirit – don’t just swallow everything you hear uncritically!

So Little Faith

Matthew 17:14-21 “…a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”

“O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

What can faith do?

Indiana Jones in “The Last Crusade” – faith is a blind trust to fate. He must (if you haven’t seen the movie then I’m about to spoil it for you)… he must step of a ledge into nothingness in an act of faith and trust – which is not so much faith in God, but rather trust that his father got it right. Is that what faith can do?

Faith can… move mountains, rebuke demons, heal sick kids – and raise the dead, stop the rain, start the rain, part the seas, change the course of rivers, bring food, change water to wine, knock down walls, defeat armies and avoid death. James writes…

James 5:13-15 “Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.”

Through faith in Christ we inherit what has been promised to Jesus – we receive his inheritance by sharing in his glory – we receive life and freedom, we grab hold of the teachings about Jesus and we share the good news – by faith in Christ. We are to take hold of faith, to be known for our faith, to pursue faithfulness, to help others in their faith, to pray for greater/stronger/more faithful… faith, and more.

What People Say About Faith

Whatever the Bible says about faith, and its power, Christians believe a whole host of things about faith – and across the board Christians don’t agree amongst ourselves about the boundaries and abilities of faith.

Consider: what views are there about faith that you have heard? Maybe ask around and see what people believe?

Some of the things I’ve heard…

• “If you have enough faith you will be healed!” Meaning healing here on earth right now – and in most cases immediately! If you are not being healed then you do not have enough faith!?
• “If you have faith you will be wealthy!” Materially wealthy on earth! If you are not wealthy as a Christian then you are not acting in faith!?
• “Faith means having no doubts!” Doubting/questioning is a sign of faithlessness!?
• “Faith fixes everything. Before I came to Christ my life was a mess – but now nothing goes wrong – my life is amazing!” I have heard this so often it’s amazing. “Now, whenever I am going shopping I pray in faith that I will find a parking spot, and I always find a parking spot. That’s faith in action.”!?

A Year of Trying Times

We had a very hard 18 months a few years ago. We moved house (which is apparently right up there with the whole stress thing)… my grandmother died, I had a family member in increasing pain eventually requiring a major hip operation, I spent the 3 months working in pain with a back injury, followed by a month completely incapacitated by pain (flat on my back and for the first few days wanting God to take me), followed by 2 months of recovery and physiotherapy (I don’t know why the medieval world complained about the rack – did wonders for my back). To top it off I caught every bug going around because my immune system had been mucked about by the drugs. And then we were robbed, including my computer with about a year of sermon and teaching materials not backed up (my fault I know). Now – as a story – it’s not really up there with the worst ones – no earthquake or Tsunami destroying my life or livelihood, didn’t lose an arm or a leg surfing, didn’t get diagnosed with cancer – so I understand entirely there are people in far worse situations.

But – thinking about faith and the power of faith… I’ve been a Christian for over 35 years. I try to be faithful – but I’m not perfect. I’m certainly not lacking in faith – I believe what the Bible says about Jesus to be true and to be applicable to me – and I try to live by it. I live a faithful life – I am a minister and work pretty hard at not just my ministry but my personal growth in Christ and faithfulness to his service. And over the years my faith has stood the test any number of times – I am not going to change my mind, I hold my beliefs and faith very strongly (in so far as it’s up to me – and thankfully for the most part, it’s not).

But – thinking about the power of faith… what was happening?

If faith fixes everything then surely I’ve got a problem.

If the prayer of the righteous man that James talks about means immediate healing then I have a problem. My back problem was dealt with, without surgery, but it hasn’t gone away. I could stand to lose a good amount of weight and I’m sure that would help my back no end – but my back will still be damaged. Does that mean that I don’t have enough faith? Does that mean I have a problem in my relationship with Christ?

Well – if the answer is yea – then it’s also yes for pretty much every Christian. It would also be true for Paul the apostle, for Job in the OT, for Stephen the first Christian martyr, for the apostles – all of whom endured suffering without relief – or at least without relief for a significant period of time, and quite often suffering that ended not in miraculous healing or release, but in death. Paul says about himself…

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 “…there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Paul had a thorn in his side – we don’t know what it was. But it was long term, made him suffer and he had to endure. However – is there anyone who would be dumb enough to say that Paul is anything other than a prime example in the Bible of faith? Others – us – are to follow in his footsteps – and frankly we’d be hard pressed to keep up with Paul. Who would have the hubris to say Paul lacked faith – or that his suffering was due to a lack of faith?

However – let’s go further. It’s not just the thorn that we should consider – it’s also Paul’s delight in weakness – a delight that confirms to him Christ’s power and strength. The thorn was a given under God’s sovereignty and for God’s purposes, though it was of Satan. From Satan’s point of view it was a torment – from God’s point of view it was to strengthen Paul’s faith, to make him rely on Jesus and to see that in his weakness Christ’s power was at work. Jesus says…

Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Paul is an example of that – rest doesn’t mean the burden is gone – simply that in Christ’s strength and power and might and mercy the burdens of this world can be dealt with and be understood to be part of God’s power working in us to make us like Christ.

The example of Job

When it comes to suffering and faith the name of Job always seems to make an appearance – so not to disappoint… reality is Job is an amazing example.

Job 3:23-26 “Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in? For sighing comes to me instead of food; my groans pour out like water. What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.”

Read the story again – it has its moments and it’s a somewhat torturous path to get from beginning to end – when I read it I want to slap his 3 mates… but consider… he was in such mental, physical and spiritual agony that he wanted to die. Some of us have been there – even in small ways after a small amount of suffering – so I guess we might be able to understand, even a little, what brought him to that point of wishing for it to end. What do we know from the Scriptures about his suffering?

1. It was from Satan – Satan is not called the tormentor for nothing!
2. It was by God’s permission and under God’s control. Satan could do nothing unless permitted by God
3. It was a test of Job’s faith – a refining through suffering, like gold is purified of impurities!
4. God declares in the end that Job, above all men, was faithful and importantly – did not sin!

Job had to endure his suffering – and be freed from it in God’s own time. He cried out to God not only to be released but simply to understand and no answer came for a long time. He was faithful yet suffered – and lest we think otherwise God very clearly declares him to be his most faithful servant – yet he suffered. Job had faith – I guess from our perspective faith far greater than the size of a mustard seed – faith that could move mountains… yet he suffered terribly!

The Example of Jesus

What about Jesus? Jesus’ own suffering is surely our greatest example. We’d be pretty game and foolish to declare that Jesus lacked faith. Yet he suffered! He suffered and died an agonising death.

Matthew 17:20-22a “He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” I don’t really understand why, when we read that passage, that we don’t read what comes next?

I don’t really understand why, when we read that passage, that we don’t read what comes next?

Matthew 17:22b-23 “When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief.”

If anyone had faith to move mountains – surely Jesus had enough – not that he did it – but enough to walk on water, enough to wither fig trees, enough to heal the sick, enough to cast out demons, enough to raise the dead.

But under God’s plan he suffered.

And he didn’t shrink from that suffering – he embraced it as God’s plan. He walked towards the suffering. He did not change the circumstances. He did not demand from God that the suffering be taken away – he asked “Father, if it is your will – take this cup from me”… but clearly it was God’s plan that Jesus suffer, not just death but humiliation, torture and agony, the betrayal of friends, followers and family, the jeering crowds, the gloating high priests, the murderer crucified next to him… at no point do we see Jesus saying that if only he’d had enough faith… then…!?

The Myth Busted

The myth is that faith will fix everything – that enough faith will lead to health, wealth and a lack of suffering.

The truth is that faith will most often lead to suffering – and that’s by God’s design, plan and under his control not Satan’s. It’s through suffering that we learn to rely on Jesus rather than ourselves. It is through suffering that we see God’s power at work in our lives as we come to greater faith.

Practically speaking – what can I say about my own suffering – death, sickness, theft?

• Was it Satan is attacking me and my family – meaning the that the suffering is a sign of faith?
• Was it God causing me and my family to repent?
• Was it a sign of a lack of faith?

You will hear each of these views in churches. And I would say, none of them is quite true.

What is true – from the Scriptures – is this.

• God is constantly bringing us to repentance through suffering, he is refining and testing our faith and causing us to rely on him. We know that this is part and parcel of faith in Christ.
• We also know that Satan is still at large, chained and defeated, but still lashing out, still active, still dangerous – and still a bully, a coward and a prat – Satan’s rule of this world means that we should understand that evil, sin and attacks on Christians should be seen as Satan at work – if the book of Revelation makes anything clear it should be that.
• But we also know that Satan is not outside God’s influence, power or control.

Faith is trusting in Christ no matter what this life brings – knowing that in the next we will receive life for eternity unfettered by the things that drag us down in this life. Suffering here on earth is not a sign of faithlessness – but rather part of the work of God to bring us closer to him. In the end – it’s not my quantity of faith that has any meaning whatsoever – but Christ’s faithfulness that means everything. What Christ inherits – I inherit. Where Christ spends eternity, I will spend eternity. What Christ receives he offers to share with me and you – if only we will give up the pretence of control over our lives and trust in him, in his death and resurrection – by faith and action Christ Jesus dealt with sin and the power of death and he offers that victory to us. I tell you what – in the end – I don’t want to put my trust in the quantity of faith I have – I want to put my trust in Christ’s proven faithfulness.

Why Believe In God?

The Existence of God

• Buddhists believe in no god – rather that we are all one with the universe and play our part in making it work.
• Hindus say there are many gods and you must be true to your god.
• Eastern religions – Shintoism for example – say each family’s ancestors are gods.
• Muslims says there is one God, Allah, and no other.
• Jews say there is one God, Yahweh, and no other.
• The Bahai’s – there are many gods and spirits – all represent the one god. Bahai is sort of a Western Hinduism.
• The atheist says there is no God. This is all there is – life is about how you live now.
• The agnostic says there may be a god but we cannot know.
• Some people worship Mother Nature as an actual spiritual force, the power behind all things that we need to coöperate with and even please or she will react. This isn’t new by the way – nature worship, and worship of the spirits of the earth is one of the oldest religions in the world.
• Some people worship the universe. Self help books like “The Secret” – claim that the universe will provide anything to those willing to ask for it. Ask, believe, receive – simple! Which is sort of a materialistic consumer driven Buddhism.
• People worship Satan as a god – they call him “the prince of darkness” as though that makes him great, and ask him to grant them all good things – which is impossible.

And they say we’re strange!
According to some statistics 19% of Australians attend a church at least once a month. 65% say there is a god. They have a multitude of ideas about that god – he’s distant, spiritual, inhabits the heavens, plays games, she’s female, doesn’t care, walks like a goat! But, for the majority of Australians, God simply isn’t part of each day. They may have some vague idea of something greater than them in the universe – but it doesn’t really mean anything. They might pray when in trouble or looking for a parking spot – but equally might use Jesus name as a swear word or God as an exclamation mark – “oh my …”!
Psalm 10:4 “In his pride the wicked person does not seek God; in all their thoughts there is no room for God.”
Some Christians say people have a God shaped hole. Is that true? Really? The Bible says that without God’s direct intervention people don’t seek God – and left to our own devices we happily ignore God. I reckon if you ask around most people don’t think they have a God shaped hole – though that may be the point being made – the hole is there but we don’t know what it is. Most people have issues, mortgages, credit card bills and problems like everyone else – but God doesn’t get a look in. If they think they have a void, how do they try to fill it? A good job, a promotion, a new house or bigger car; earn more money, give the kids a better start, a plasma TV, a nice holiday, keep their kids off drugs. The void might be filled by alcohol, sex, food – anything that feels like it works. There are a million ways that don’t involve God – any god… “in all his thoughts there is no room for God.” I think Christians like to think people have a God shaped hole – maybe it gives us something to aim for? The reality is though, most people only think about God in relation to death! They make no connection between God and living.
What do Christians believe? What do you and I believe?

Apostles Creed

• We believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth;
• And in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. He descended to the dead. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there he shall come to judge the living and the dead.
• We believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy universal church; the fellowship of the saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen
• There is one God – who has been revealed to us by his creative work in the world, by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and by the ongoing work of Jesus in our lives and in the world in the person of the Holy Spirit. One God, three persons – God the father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit!

Reasons to Believe

When the majority of the world disagrees with you… why do you believe?
Our reasons can often be a turn off for non-Christians. For many of us the answer to “why do you believe” is “I just do!”

• I feel that there is a God.
• I have experienced God’s love or kindness.
• I have felt the Holy Spirit at work in me.
• I know Jesus loves me.
• I can’t believe that there isn’t a God because of the complexity of the universe.

All of these are exactly the same excuses an atheist uses to disprove God’s existence – they are the centre of their world and it doesn’t make sense to them… therefore there is no god. They have never seen God at work and therefore God must not exist.
As a Christian my reasons for believing in God cannot be centred on me. Or in other words… I am not the reason you should believe in God.

Why do I believe in God?

• Jesus – I’ll come back to him in a minute…
• Creation – I find creation is too amazing, too beautiful, too complex to be anything other than the work of a Creator. This is my belief and my observation and the interpretation of the evidence, and whilst I think atheists are wrong, their beliefs about creation and my beliefs are equally valid. They start from a position – “a priori” there is no god – therefore the creation is the result of some other force – natural forces. For me – I start from the position of knowing Jesus – “a priori” there is a God and he has revealed himself to us. So when I read…

Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

…I agree – the hand of God in creation is obvious to me.

• I find water fascinating and amazing – it can be in the form of ice, steam, liquid – the freezing point and boiling point of water are exactly right for life on earth. The freezing properties of water, the universal solvent, that it is the basis of life – our bodies are 97% water – and waterfalls – I find waterfalls to be majestic and a thing of beauty – something that for me points to the creator. I could go on about water – waves, oceans, etc.
• I find the enormity of space – the majesty of the stars – the size of the universe – the complexity, the inter-connectivity of relationships between sun and moon and earth and planets and stars – the beauty of the galaxies – all point to a creator rather than chance
• The human body – where to start – the eye… a wonder of evolution or the creation work of an incredible God? The brain – the heart – the complexity of the nervous system. We humans are smart – but there is so little we really understand about the body – we can walk on the moon, we can excise cancer – but we can’t defeat the flu?
• I could go on – talk about complexity and apparent design – there’s the old story… I was walking along a street the other day when I looked down in the gutter and saw all these atoms and dust particles laying there – and as I watched they started changing and evolving before my eyes until finally there was this beautiful watch laying the gutter – and I picked it up and it was working and telling exactly the right time – and I thought to myself – isn’t it amazing how the universe just evolved out of nothing.
• The thing is though – I start from the position that there is a God and we can know him. The atheist starts from the position that there is no god. Science only helps – it’s not absolute unless you’re willing to accept the evidence. That’s what faith is – what you are willing to accept as evidence of the truth.

• Parents – my parents are part of the equation of belief and faith for me. I don’t mean that they forced me to believe – but I saw the evidence of their lives that matched with their words. My father was a minister – my parents were in ministry for many years – and despite failings and sinfulness and all the rest of the normal human equation – mum and dad lived by what they said. Their lives matched what they preached and taught. That had an enormous influence on me – because I could see the reality of the Scriptures lived out in front of me – imperfectly to be sure – but still true.
• Sin and death – these two great enemies of mankind have something in common. No matter what I do – I cannot defeat them. No matter how hard I try I still sin – I want to do what is right and I fail and I struggle with not doing things I don’t want to do – and I fail. And death – death is not natural – death is an aberration. Someone has to deal with sin and death – they cannot be allowed to continue unabated. Again though – this is just my opinion and belief.
• In the end – my reason to believe comes down to Jesus – Jesus is the answer to the question. I don’t think atheists and agnostics engage with the question of Jesus.

How do you know God exists?

Because God sent his son, Jesus, to died on the cross and pay the penalty for sin, and Jesus rose again from the dead to prove his power over death and to offer us life with him.
In fact – like in Sunday school – Jesus is the real answer to every question – not in a superficial way. You can use all the other evidence, but often they simply become side tracks, ways for people to get out of dealing with Jesus – and that’s the one thing they need to do. For example – people say…

• I couldn’t believe in a God that hates homosexuals!

• The answer is… “God sent Jesus to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins and raised Jesus to life to offer us victory over death. He doesn’t hate homosexuals.”

People say…

• There is no God – otherwise there would be no pain or death or evil.

• The answer is… “Jesus died on the cross to deal with sin and the penalty for our sins and God raised Jesus to life to offer us victory over death. He has dealt with evil and death.”

People say…

• All religions are the same. Why should I believe in your god?

• “Because God sent Jesus to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins and to rise from the dead to prove his power over both sin and death.”

Just as we might “just know” that Christ died for our sins, and we “believe” that there is no other way to be saved, and we are “certain” of what we believe – the reason is not that we just believe. I could ‘just believe’ that the earth is flat. I can say “I know the Holy Spirit is in me” and someone can deny that reality with equal conviction. I can say “I feel God loves me” – a new age proponent can say they “feel at one with the universe”. I can say “I know the power of the Holy Spirit” and a Satan worshipper can say that they “know” the power of the prince of darkness – with equal conviction.
Religion is about faith – but unless that faith is based in real things, it is simply blind wishful thinking. In my opinion the most religious and faithful people in the world… are the atheists.

• They refuse to believe in the existence of a God despite the evidence that seems so obvious to me.
• Or they simply refuse to think about it – they don’t want God in charge and they do want to be in charge so rather than thinking through the issues they just claim there is no god, and they latch onto any reason they can find that ‘disproves’ the existence of God.
• Richard Dawkins who wrote “The God Delusion” says that the human body, despite its complexity, does not display the purpose and plan of an “intelligent designer” because in many ways it is foolish. No intelligent creator would make the body so fragile. The need to excrete waste, the pointlessness of the appendices, the wasted potential of the brain – all this points to evolution as a much better explanation over millions of years rather than a god.
• Douglas Adams, the author of Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy: “…I am convinced that there is not a god… I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one.” “…People will … say “surely it’s better to remain an Agnostic just in case?” … If it turns out that I’ve been wrong all along, and there is in fact a god, and if it further turned out that this kind of legalistic, cross-your-fingers-behind-your-back … impressed him, then … I would chose not to worship him anyway.”
• Just two of a million different reasons people have for not believing. The common denominator in every reason not to believe in the existence of God is… the person at the centre. The atheist and the agnostic are their own gods in their own little world.

Defend the Faith

As Christians we are told that we need to be prepared to defend our faith.
1 Peter 3:15 “…in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…”
200 years ago we didn’t have to convince the majority of people that God existed. But increasingly preaching the gospel will have to start with helping people see that there is a God and that we humans must take notice of Him. They need to be introduced to Jesus – that’s where our answers need to start and finish – not with me and what I think or feel but with Christ and what he has done.
I think Paul’s conversion and ministry is a good example. Paul was converted when he was confronted by the living physical risen Lord Jesus who appeared to him in a blaze of heavenly glory as Paul was on the road to Damascus where he planned to kill Christians. It would be hard to think of a more dramatic life changing experience of Jesus. Yet when Paul preaches the gospel, and he starts almost immediately, he uses the history of Israel, the scriptures, the confusion of the gentiles, the logic and reality of the world and the creation.
Acts 13:26-33 “Brothers, children of Abraham, and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people. “We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus.”
He never uses his feelings or the strangeness of his experiences to proclaim the truth of the gospel. It would have been all too easy to put those weird experiences down to other things – rather than the reality and power of Jesus. This is something we need to understand in our world too. Jesus is the proof of God’s existence. Telling people we’re trying to witness to that we’re praying for them is one thing – and that’s a weird thing for most blokes. But talking about spiritual feelings and experiences will turn most people away. They will only believe when they have understood the truth about Jesus, by the work of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus = the Proof

As we defend what we believe there are four things that are important in our understanding of God and in what we tell people.

1. He exists – he has shown himself in the person and work of Jesus the Christ. In Jesus we meet the Lord of the whole universe. This is no distant spiritual force – we can know God as his friends.
2. He creates – this is God who is intimately connected to his creation – one of the surprising things about Jesus is the power he displays over creation – the wind, waves, demons, sickness and disease, life and death – and over people. The world responds to the voice of the creator when it responds to Jesus.
3. He cares – he sent Jesus to deal with sin and death – the two enemies that would defeat us without God’s intervention. He sacrificed his Son to pay the price of our sins.
4. He commands – commands repentance and obedience. People in our world want to ignore God – but that’s a very dangerous thing to do. He commands that all people everywhere live according to Jesus.

Acts 17:30b-31 God “…commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”
In the end it won’t be science or history or experience that changes people. Richard Dawkins needs to meet Jesus – it’s as simple as that. He needs to come face-to-face with the risen Christ, just as Paul the Apostle did. For us we need to help people meet Jesus – or at the very least we need to help people see that they need to deal with Jesus – he claims authority over sin, death and over our very lives – and offers life and perfect freedom to those who belong to him.

The Opportunity of Money

Luke 16:1-9 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’ “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg—I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ “‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. “The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.’ “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’  “‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. “He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’ “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

An Odd Story

It’s an odd story isn’t it – a man rips of his boss – gets fired – devises a scheme to rip off his boss some more – succeeds – and gets commended for it. And then Jesus says Christians should be like the man! It comes as a bit of a shock all things considered.

What’s a modern example of the shrewd manager? What about ex president of the USA Bill Clinton – last hours in the oval office he apparently provided pardons to a couple of allegedly criminal businessmen – in return for favours. You can bet, and the reports at the time indicated as well, that he didn’t do it out of the goodness of his heart – he wanted to be remembered financially and materially once he was out of the oval office. He was surely expecting a return on his investment – just like the shrewd manager.

Money and property! Money makes the world go round? The stats tell us that almost 90% of money and wealth in the world is possessed by 10% of the world’s population – which is a frightening sort of statistic. Though as I look at my own life I wonder whether I’m meant to fit into the 10% or the 90% – or maybe I’m somewhere in the middle.

• A reporter with the Getaway program was asked in by Money magazine (Australia) to finish this sentence: “Money makes…?” and she said: “money makes life easier – ultimately it can offer you choices – even though it can bring out the foulest qualities in some people.”

She’s right – on so many levels. Money is opportunity – for good or for evil. It gives you choices. And – it certainly can make people turn foul. Take 9/11 – money and religion = the worst terrorist activity – the destruction of thousands and 10’s of thousands of lives, pain that will linger for years, the changes to international travel, loyalties, revenge that has been meted out, ongoing hatred it has caused – not simply due to religion but due to money. Without money it would not have been possible. The Muslim terrorist was a multi-billionaire – money can bring out the foulest qualities in some people. I realise this is a pretty extreme example but that doesn’t mean it ain’t true!

The story Jesus tells of the Shrewd manager is a story about the opportunity of money. It’s a story about a man who sees his world with a startling sense of reality.

The Manager

Here is a man caught out – he’s stuffed up big time and someone’s dobbed him in. He’s been foolish with his masters money – he’s meant to manage his masters affairs with sense and integrity – honesty and transparency – but instead he wastes his master’s possessions. Obviously we are not talking small scale – the sorts of sums involved are big business. And his world starts to crumble. He’s not going to be able to get another job in the same position once people find out about his mismanagement. There’s no social security, there’s no other avenues for employment – what’s he to do?

Luke 16:4 “I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.”

He calls in the people he normally deals with – they haven’t heard that he’s had the chop – think ‘window of opportunity’. And he carves up their bills – “take off 50%”, “take off 20%” – just examples probably of the many debts that changed in size that day. What is he expecting to get by ripping off his master?

He’s ensuring that he has rich friends who will put him up – maybe not forever but for a while – maybe give him time to sort out his life in comfort rather than on the streets. It’s a very smart move.

Luke 16:8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.”

Why does the master commend the manager? If someone in your employ ripped you off… and then did it again you would hardly say “well done”. Well he’s probably not saying thankyou to his manager – he’s not offering him his old job back – but when the circumstances were against him he found a way to keep himself out of the gutter – he saw his situation for what it really was, he found a way to make it work to his advantage and he acted. Smart guy!

The Punch Line

Now here’s the kicker. Jesus says…

Luke 16:8b-9 “For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”

What Jesus is saying is use worldly wealth to make friends for the kingdom of God – so that when this world passes away and God’s kingdom comes we will be standing there with many, many people – eternal friends. Instead of using money for things that can only pass away use it for eternal rewards. Jesus words are almost a plea for seeing and acting according to the truth – people in this world can act shrewdly – can act wisely and sensibly according to the reality they see – if only God’s people would see this world for what it truly is and act accordingly.

Jesus is talking to the Jews – but it applies even more to Christians. The Jews were meant to be God’s people living God’s way in God’s world – which is also a description of Christians. If anyone should understand the true situation of the world it should have been them – and us. If only we who know the truth about Jesus, who know the coming judgement to be real, who know the wonder of God’s love in Christ – who see the real problems in trying to serve both God and money – if only we would act according to the reality of the world from God’s point of view and use what God has given us to further the cause of the kingdom of God. See the world with God’s eyes – act in the world according to God’s plans.

The thing is we are good at spending money on ourselves – we even dress it up as wisdom and sensible stewardship. We buy and sell with the best of the world – we are entrepreneurs when it comes to using money and worldly goods – we scrimp and save, we take on debt burdens, we lock ourselves into wage structures, we spend up big on our kids or our spouse, we provide the best we can get for our families. We know all about using money to mould our world around us, to fill in the gaps and make life as comfortable as we can make it. Just like the Pharisees – perfect according to the law and yet lovers of money – in fact as Jesus declares not only do they love money but money has become their master. Instead of money being an opportunity we have become slaves to the love of money and what money can do.

Making Friends for Life

What is the opportunity of money? Jesus says simply that the opportunity is to use money to make friends for the kingdom of God.

Here’s a question. Why do we have what we have?

• We live in a rich society and in comparison to many people in the world we are well off. Why?

As we read in Corinthians riches are to enable generosity – in Christians in any case.

2 Corinthians 9:11 “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”

The end result of generosity is thanksgiving to God. That is – what we sow with what God has given us will produce a harvest. If we sow our money and life into worldly pursuits then we will harvest a worldly crop. We may well have everything this world says we should have – education, home, cars, holidays, shares, big superannuation, lifestyle etc – but that is all we will gain – and we may not gain that because as we know this is a dangerous world. One minute you can be a multimillionaire and the next a terrorist can park a plane in your office. God says to us store up riches in heaven.

Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

If we sow what God gives us with an eye to eternity then what we will reap is God’s riches for ourselves – and thanksgiving to God. When we arrive on heavens doorstep there will be all those we invested in there giving thanks to God. As Paul says to the Thessalonian church;

1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 “For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy.”

The opportunity of money is you can take it with you – if we spend what God gives us on heavenly treasures, if we put it to work for the kingdom then the harvest will be those who join us for eternity – the friends we make for God.

How?

How can we spend money for an eternal harvest? Well we can take the example of the shrewd manager – he used worldly goods to make friends – he saw his situation and the reality of his world and he acted accordingly. Jesus says to us that we need to be like that – not dishonest but using what we have to make friends for God.

How do we make friends by using money? Well I can think of a couple of possibilities. We could pay people to come to church. Hmmm? Better still we could use our homes and hospitality to build relationships – having non-Christian friends for meals, spending money and time to build those relationships so that we can be witnesses for Christ. When you buy presents for people buy Christian books or give people a Bible and offer to help them read it.

We can give to the poor and the needy through various Christian agencies who intentionally seek to address people’s spiritual as well as physical needs. Sponsor a child in the third world – $40/month through a group like World Vision – they feed and educate and address spiritual needs. Even more – the child’s family probably praises God for the help they receive. Imagine if every Christian family in Australia sponsored just one child each – $1 a day… it’s not a lot of money but it’s an amazing opportunity.

We can learn to be generous towards each other so that people give thanks to God for what they receive from us. Christians praise God when they receive help from God’s people. What we do even in small way can bring praises to God.

Our world is moving towards a day of judgement – that is the reality that we have learnt from Jesus. Our world is in the grip of two enemies – sin and death – that is the reality we have learnt from Jesus. And we know the solution – the opportunity of money is that we can use it to sow a crop that will be harvested in eternity – if only we will see the world and our situation with the same clarity that the shrewd manager saw his situation; if only we will use what God has so generously given us to make friends that will stand for all eternity.

Only A Fool Believes – the Evidence for the Resurrection

Only a Fool…?

• Only a fool carries drugs into Bali
• Only a fool drinks and drives
• Only a fool buys a lotto ticket expecting to win – or sits day in day out at a Poker machine, pushing buttons!
• Only a fool gambles all on the roll of a dice, the turn of a wheel, the fall of a ball

Only a fool believes that Jesus died on Friday, was buried and on Sunday rose again and walked out of the tomb.  We all know it’s utterly impossible.

What’s the difference between the foolishness of gambling, or drug running, and believing in the resurrection?  All the evidence says don’t run drugs into Bali. People play poker machines though we know 90% of the time the house wins. Christians believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead – what’s the difference? The evidence is compelling.

Of course – not even all people who call themselves Christians believe in the resurrection of Jesus. It’s a difficult thing to come to grips with. If Jesus had been a good man who died a martyr’s death and we were to follow in his footsteps there would be billions more Christians around the world. But the Bible had to go and claim that he was not only divine but that he rose from the dead. And for most people, maybe even you, that’s enough – no other evidence is required, no other argument necessary – only a fool believes a man can rise from the dead.

And I have to admit I agree! I’ve read about people who coming back from the dead – don’t believe any of them. But I do believe Jesus rose – because the evidence all points in that direction.

Luke 24:36-40 “While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.”

Why don’t people believe?

The great claim of Christianity is that Jesus died and rose again. Why do people find it so hard to believe?

• It’s entirely possible to prove that Jesus existed.
• It’s historical fact that Jesus was executed by the Romans and Jewish leaders in acting in collusion?
• Jesus was clearly a great leader, a compassionate teacher – clearly not a liar and not a fruit-loop.
• So how do people reason away the resurrection – how do they explain the ‘facts’ without saying “Jesus rose”?

1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

Reality is – people are correct to think that only a fool believes Jesus died on Friday, was buried and on Sunday rose and walked out of the tomb. We all know it’s utterly impossible. What is it about Christians that we just can’t let go of this aspect of Christianity and move on? Why do Christians believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead? If you’re a Christian reading this – why do you believe? Why aren’t you convinced like most people that it’s impossible – that no other evidence is required, no other argument necessary – only a fool believes a man can rise from the dead?

The Key

There have been stories – not many but some over the years – claiming modern day resurrection – some dead person being raised to life. Some are simple stories of charlatans scamming the gullible – not only in third-world countries but in the West as well. Even high flying Pentecostal pastors have claimed it from time to time – I must admit I’m always reminded of Steve Martin in “Leap of Faith” – playing a scamming faith healer in a down and out mid-western US town – rolls in to take the people’s money – good story, though sadly a little too close to real life! There are some stories out of Africa, India and South America. But all of them share one particular trait – implausibility! All of them lack compelling, unambiguous evidence. All of them lack credible reliable witnesses. Not one of the stories stacks up or seems able to withstand even the most basic scrutiny.

But Jesus’ story is believable – the evidence stacks up – despite the impossibility of it.

The resurrection is the vital element of Christianity – it is the key. Without it Christianity is nothing more than religious superstition. Even the Bible is transparently clear about this.

1 Corinthians 15:14, 17 “…if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. … if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.”

Everything Christians believe about God rests on the fact of the bodily resurrection of Jesus. There is no church without the resurrection and there is no meaning to what we do or believe – if Jesus didn’t rise again. So what is the evidence? How do we know it’s true, and how do we help others believe? What are the arguments or explanations against the resurrection and how do they stack up?

It often surprises people – as I guess it should, given the claim – that there aren’t that many credible arguments against the resurrection evidence. The main arguments are…

1. Jesus didn’t die – he revived in the tomb and walked away. After hours on the cross, being strung up by professional executioners, with a multitude of witnesses both for and against Christ, after being stabbed in the side with a spear and the expert witness declaring blood and water separated came out – a pretty clear sign of death – that Jesus was pulled off the cross, placed wrapped in a cold stone tomb and sealed off, guarded by Roman soldiers… and then revived, unwrapped himself, rolled the stone away, overpowered the guards, and walked away. Hmmm?!
2. The disciples overpowered the guards and stole his body – 11 dejected, almost paralysed fishermen and disciples overpowered a squad of battle hardened Roman Legionnaires and stole the body – neither the Romans nor the Jews could find it– and then they conspired to create Christianity and perpetrate the hoax, including dying for the lie.
3. Jesus rose spiritually not physically – championed by some liberal scholars – we all know that people can’t rise physically, so clearly we’re mistaken and it’s a simple spiritual resurrection. And Jesus was mistaken – though he clearly claims that he would rise bodily, maybe it was just a metaphor or he just misunderstood?
4. Everyone went to the wrong tomb – Jews, Romans (guarding the wrong tomb?), disciples, the women, Joseph of Arimathea (the owner of the tomb)…
5. The Jews took his body to prevent his disciples claiming he was raised! And then presented it in public so that everyone would know that the disciples were lying – thus preventing the rise of Christianity! Oh – that’s right – they didn’t! Why would the Jews hide the body of Jesus?

Do you know – it takes a lot more faith to be an atheist than it does to believe the resurrection.

Six Reasons to Believe – the Evidence for the Resurrection

1. Jesus claimed he would rise.

Why should you believe Jesus rose again? The place to start is with Jesus’ character.

John 2:19, 21 “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up… the temple he had spoken of was his body.”

Jesus claimed a number of times he would rise physically from the dead. If he’d meant a spiritual resurrection, he would have had to challenge basic Jewish belief and their understanding of what comes after death – the Jews believed and were looking forward to a physical resurrection. There is no evidence that Jesus challenged this basic belief of Jewish faith – in fact the opposite – he appealed to it himself.

And afterwards – as he appears to people and says touch my wounds, eat with me, walk with me – this is clearly a physical being, not a spiritual one.

At that point we can believe Jesus or not – but if we don’t then what are our other options. One choice is that Jesus was not telling the truth that he would rise from the dead – so he’s a fraud. Or maybe he believed it but was delusional – a lunatic. But pretty much everyone agrees he looks like a wise, good, honest teacher and leader. Nothing about his behaviour is erratic or in any way linked to lunacy. If he’s a lunatic or a liar then how do we account for his obvious integrity and honesty – even his enemies agree he was a great teacher? He taught wonderful things – but he claimed to be God’s Son who would rise from the dead. I guess we can’t have it both ways. What is he? Liar, lunatic or…?

2. The empty tomb

Once we work out his character we have to ask – is there any doubt, historically, that Jesus was placed in the tomb, the tomb sealed, and guarded by up to 20 professional Roman soldiers?  No there is no doubt!

Was it was open and empty on Sunday morning? Yes it was.

The Jews couldn’t find the body, nor did they confiscate it – otherwise we can be pretty sure they would have paraded it with as much fanfare as they could manage. The disciples were hiding in a secret room, fearing for their lives – so they could hardly be accused of stealing the body for an elaborate hoax. None of these are a matter for conjecture – provable, historical facts.

John 19:33-34 “…when [the soldiers] came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out.”

Jesus was dead. When they pierce your heart with a spear after hanging on a cross ½ a day you don’t sink into a coma and then revive in the cool tomb and roll the stone away.

Matthew 28:11-15 “…some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.”

The Romans couldn’t afford their reputation as killers to be questioned – it meant a sentence of death for them – but they took the cash and spread the rumour. If the Jews or the Romans had taken the body they would have simply produced it – case closed. The dejected frightened disciples didn’t steal the body – I guess we can be fairly certain the Jews and Romans asked.

3. The dramatic change in the disciples?

The dramatic change in the disciples is simply amazing and you have to wonder why? Jesus dies. They are utterly dejected and terrified – at first they’re in hiding. They didn’t understand – some of them go back to fishing – back to the mundane of life before Jesus called them – some of them are so scared they stay hidden. They refused to believe the first reports of Jesus’ appearance when the women come from the tomb.

But in just a few short weeks they’re proclaiming Jesus risen, they are full of joy and courage, and importantly they are ready and willing to die for Christ! If they’d stolen the body would they have be willing to die for a lie – a lie that they were certain contained no truth? Why the change?

Their explanation – “we have seen him” – he is raised! Jesus rose from the dead? We don’t have to believe them – but it’s worth asking the question.

4. The Eyewitnesses

This small group of men and women were eyewitnesses to the resurrection – but there were more. Twenty years later Paul wrote to the very sceptical Greek Christians in Corinth – Greeks were good at scepticism – they’d seen it all.

1 Corinthians 15:4-6 “Christ was raised on the third day . . . He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep [died].”

Paul started out murdering Christians. He was converted dramatically on the Damascus Road. He claims that these Greek sceptics should be able to find some of the more than 500 credible eyewitnesses that are still alive 20 years later – go and ask them – they were there.

I’m always a little fascinated by our opinions of people from the past. We often have this sense that they were more gullible, less thoughtful, and easier to pull the wool over, clueless, uneducated or maybe just plain stupid. It’s a funny attitude, given the respect and adoration we give some ancient writers (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Da Vinci, Shakespeare to name a few).

People in the first century were no more gullible than we are – the early church was full of cluey people, many who were educated, who ran businesses, were trained in the law and the arts, politicians, speakers, philosophers, many who could speak multiple languages like Jesus and the Apostles (who most likely spoke Hebrew and Greek and quite possibly Latin). We today are often impressed by people who can speak multiple languages. Modern educational theory indicates that it’s a sign of some intelligence to be able to do so fluently – how many languages do you speak? In Australia the vast majority only speak English (unless we count ‘Strine’ as a language).

The gospel grew from its earliest days in the presence of quite literally hundreds of credible eyewitnesses to the resurrection.

5. The NT Writers

Over the past few years we’ve seen movies and books like the “Da-Vinci Code”, the court case between Dan Brown and the writers of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and more recently the ‘media sensation’ over the “newly” discovered “Gospel of Judas”. These old documents claim to reveal the true Jesus.

Q. Are they true because they’re old?

No!

Even if that were true – the gospels in the Bible are at least 150 years older.

Q. Are they true because they disagree with what the church teaches?

Seriously?

Q. Are they true because the writers are more honest or credible than the NT writers?

That’s an interesting way to look at Judas? A document appears, supposedly from his hand, written at best and provably 150 years later than the gospels. In it ‘Judas’ claims that he wasn’t betraying Jesus but was in point of fact ‘obeying’ Jesus… when he betrayed him! [Dramatic pause – that’s for you reading this] I don’t know about you but I have this image of John Cleese saying “Right!” in that way that only Cleese can. Obviously – must be true. I mean in our modern world we always acquit criminals when they say “I didn’t do it”!

We already know the character of Judas from proven and reputable eyewitnesses.

The NT writers who proclaim the resurrection appear in every way to be sensible, clear thinking, honest, open and not easily fooled – not just that this is claimed about them, but any fair reading of their works comes to that conclusion. What they wrote hangs together well. They are clued up on human nature. They are personally committed, sober in speech and careful. They teach coherently – we don’t seem to be reading inventions. Their moral and spiritual standards are acknowledged as very high. They are obviously devoted to truth and God’s sovereignty and honour. In our modern courts we apply the same sorts of tests for character witnesses – and the gospel writers would be found to be trustworthy.

6. 2000 Years of Believers

And there is a final piece of the puzzle – Christians!

A personal relationship with Jesus changes you forever! When we put our faith in him, Jesus comes by his Spirit into our lives and begins to show his power and love in our lives. He brings a new love for God and for people, a new hope and joy, a growing patience in trouble, freedom from old enslavements, and courage to stand for justice and righteousness. On top of all the evidence for the resurrection, only a living Lord Jesus could make these changes. Jesus Christ is alive and real. On its own it might not mean much as a claim – but with the evidence it means we have put our trust where it should be.

If you’re a critic of Christianity or an unbeliever – why is it that so many people over 2000 years, have believed? I know there is the same argument the other way – that millions (billions) have not. But it can’t be gullibility can it? It’s not as though everyone who believes is a rank moron. There are believers of every educational standard – doctors, scientists, politicians, labourers, philosophers, university professors, nurses, police, judges, lawyers – you name it. So not a lack of education, not simple gullibility – it’s not limited to a particular race, country, or ethnicity – it’s not linked to parents or ancestry, it’s not limited by colour of skin. Why do so many believe?

Frankly – by itself the belief or lack of belief of people, no matter how many, means nothing. But with the realities of the factual evidence – it means a lot.

Making Sense of the Resurrection?

The evidence for the resurrection is provable and overwhelming – in the face of no other argument that makes sense of the evidence the only sensible thing to do is accept the resurrection as very real. It requires far more faith to doubt the evidence. That doesn’t mean everyone will believe – but some will.

• If you believe then we need to be sure of what and why we believe.
• We need to share why. Not everyone will believe you, family may well hate you, get angry, the opportunities may not be there, or be very obvious, you may be seen as a crackpot or simply an annoyance.
• Learn to speak – tell someone what and why you believe.
• The worst thing that can happen? Jesus said…

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25)

When he said it he turned to the woman standing by and said, “Do you believe this?” And Jesus turns to us and says, “Do you believe this?”

Romans 10:9-11 “…if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

The evidence for the resurrection is only part of the story – but a key part. My challenge to you is… investigate Jesus, and the death and resurrection – try if you can to find some other credible explanation. But if you conclude that Jesus really is who he says he is – the Son of God, the creator of the whole universe – and that he did die and rise to offer you forgiveness for your sins and to defeat death – and that he makes a claim on your life – if that’s your conclusion, then it requires much more than an intellectual decision about Jesus.

John 1:12 “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God^.”

How do I go beyond merely agreeing that Jesus is who he says he is and entering into an ongoing relationship with him by being adopted into God’s family?

Believe + receive = become.

• Believe: that I am a sinner, that Jesus died to forgive me my sins and that I need the cross to bridge the gap between me and God. If the evidence is real then believe.

1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.”

• Receive: every religion and cult and faith system in the world is based on me doing something, or earning my way to peace and happiness. Christianity is based on what’s been done for us.

Romans 6:23 “…the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life inChrist Jesus our Lord.”

Jesus offers us forgiveness and eternal life as a free gift – what we have to “do” is make a decision to accept that gift. We can do that simply by praying an honest prayer – something real not fake. Admit your wrong doing, turn away from that lifestyle and accept the gift of forgiveness and eternal life – and ask for his help in starting a new life following him.

• Become: over the rest of your life you will change to be what Jesus says – a new person.

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Wherever you are in the process of investigating Jesus – contact me – happy to help you take whatever next step you need to take. But let me say – this issue is the key issue in life – put it on the front burner and go for it.

John 8:24 “…if you do not believe that I [Jesus] am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.”

Thinking about Marriage and Divorce

Marriage Vows

Do you recognise these words?

We have come together in the sight of God, and in the presence of this congregation, to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony; which is an honourable state of life, instituted from the beginning by God himself, signifying to us the spiritual union that is between Christ and his Church. Christ adorned and beautified matrimony with his presence, and with the first sign by which he revealed his glory; at the marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the Holy Scriptures command that all should hold it in honour.

It is therefore not to be entered upon unadvisedly, lightly, or merely to satisfy physical desires; but prayerfully, with careful thought, and with reverence for God, duly considering the purposes for which it was ordained.

• It was ordained for the procreation of children and that they might be brought up in the nurture and instruction of the Lord, to the praise of his holy name.
• It was ordained so that those to whom God has granted the gift of marriage might live a chaste and holy life, as befits members of Christ’s body.
• And it was ordained for the mutual companionship, help, and comfort that the one ought to have of the other, both in prosperity and adversity.

Into this holy manner of life these two have come now to be joined. Therefore if anyone can show any just cause why they may not lawfully be joined together, let them speak now, or hereafter remain silent.

Most of us will have heard those words – or something similar – and many of us will have been on the receiving end, standing before the minister. It’s surely one of the biggest decisions we can make – right up there near giving our lives to Jesus.

But in our world marriage has become disposable, unnecessary and costly – you can always get a new one. We went to a 50^th wedding anniversary recently – my wife and I have been married 21 years – 50 still seems a way off – and it’s unusual to get an invite to a 50^th.

In 1976 Australia streamlined divorce proceedings making the only possible divorce a ‘no-fault’ divorce. Stay apart for a year, make the necessary application and fill out the forms and the marriage is history. There was an immediate spike in the divorce rate which took about 3 years to run its course and then things settled down. By 2000 the divorce rate was around 46% of all marriages. By 2007 this had dropped to about 40%. So for every 100 couples that get married, 40 get divorced. There’s a pile of other stats you can find – there is some evidence but little in the way of hard stats as yet that the 40% is actually a skewed number because a much higher percentage of 2^nd, 3^rd and so-one marriages fail – some analysts suggest as much as 65-75% of second marriages end in divorce.

http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/0/947114F16DC7D980CA25773700169C64?opendocument

That’s what the world says about marriage!

What does the Bible says about marriage and divorce? What is God’s view?

God’s view of marriage

One flesh

Genesis 2:24 “…a man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”

In a nutshell this is God’s plan and summary of marriage – and at no point does the Bible move from this picture – both Jesus (Matthew 19:5) and Paul (Ephesians 5:31) use this verse as their authority for teaching on marriage – it would be fair to say this verse is normative for every marriage relationship regardless of time, country, Jew or gentile – this is God’s plan.

God’s view of marriage starts with one fact – that he designed it – just as he designed the world and us for his purposes. It’s not man-made – or woman-made institution which is what some blokes think – it really was ordained by God – and is designed for our good.

Marriage comes into the picture of Genesis when God sees that man is alone.

Genesis 2:18 “The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.””

Now let’s be clear – I’m only going to touch on the Bible’s teachings and I will leave some things out. Don’t take what’s said as a judgment against you or your choices – it may be that God is and you’ll have to deal with that – but I’m not.

For example – Genesis 2:18 is not saying that singles somehow don’t measure up to God’s plan. God loves and saves us as individuals – our value is due to his saving grace rather than our relationships. So don’t hear a condemnation of single-hood or even an elevation of marriage over being single. But I do want to think about marriage and divorce.

Marriage is God’s design. And the key to it is the “one flesh” idea – God’s design is an exclusive relationship on all levels – physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual – and the physical oneness, which may be the most obvious part of a relationship, points us to the complete unity of two people of the opposite sex.

Contract

The one flesh relationship is in all senses a contract – in God’s eyes a legally binding contract. I know that’s not very romantic – “would you agree to a life-long contractual relationship that is legally binding on both parties with a mutual benefit clause” – doesn’t really cut it against “will you marry me?”! But it might help us see the truth. This contract – we sign the papers, there are witnesses, promises and consequences for a broken contract – this contract is not just an agreement between two parties with a mutual benefit clause but a contract of ownership.

1 Corinthians 7:4 “The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife.”

We have to be careful here. If you’re a bloke and you’re thinking this gives you permission to beat or abuse your wife – pull your head in. Abuse is not on – if you have abused then it’s time to repent and confess your sin, and don’t just confess in private, or just to your wife – abuse is a crime – so go to the police and admit what you’ve done! Any pastor or minister worth his salt will support you through that process – and mate if your wife is able to forgive you, you may end up with an amazing marriage – totally worth the price of admission.

But – getting back to 1 Corinthians – God is declaring and defending the exclusivity of marriage – there is no place for infidelity or adultery, and we can’t withdraw from our spouse. They say the wedding ring is a tourniquet – it stops circulation – that’s the point. I gave myself to my wife. We have this joke – what’s hers is hers and what’s mine is hers – when we were first married we’d go to McDonald’s and she wouldn’t order fries – but then she’d happily eat mine – I learnt to order two lots. But – truly – it’s no joke. I belong to her – I’m no longer free to give myself in any way to another woman. She is no longer free to give herself to another man.

Exclusive

We have to think of this more broadly than just sex. For some people marriage has proven not to be everything they hoped for.

• A wife might find a man that seems to really understand her – she gives herself to him – not sexually because she’s a Christian, but they talk, laugh and share like she never could with her husband.
• A Christian guy has a secretary who finds him attractive – they flirt – but nothing further.

Is it wrong? Where’s the line that guards the exclusivity of marriage? This is where Malachi’s helpful – it brings into the equation the idea of faithfulness. Israel has been the subject of God’s judgment and they were wondering why?

Malachi 2:14-15 “You ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.”

It’s not just sexuality – though that’s a bit of a dead give-away of unfaithfulness. Breaking faith is bringing into an exclusive relationship something that doesn’t belong – anything, not just sexual, but anything that damages or has the potential to damage the marriage bond. Bring it back to our relationship with God, which is the model for marriage. If we Christians were to chat up other gods – so to speak – if we flirted with worshipping them, never quite actively praising them or offering ourselves to them, but skirting the edges, putting ourselves in temptations way – would we be being faithful to God?

Exodus 20:2-3 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me.”

You wouldn’t say to God “I’m yours but when I’m at work I like to spend a little time with Buddha – he understands my situation better – knew you’d understand.” Keeping faith means doing whatever it takes to actively protect marriage, for better or worse, in sickness and health, richer or poorer, until you get bored and give in? No – until death! So Paul says to the Corinthians…

1 Corinthians 7:3-5 “The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”

Don’t deprive each other – this is one area that constantly surprises me – the number of couples who have given up sex. Sometimes it happens through illness for example and that has to be dealt with. But if you are depriving each other of sex – and yes I realize how bluntly I’m speaking – you are breaking your marriage vows – God’s plan and command is that your marriage is an exclusive, life long, contract of one flesh, one mind, and one family, under him.

God’s view of divorce

So what about divorce? We can have all the excuses in the world, and I hear them every other day – incompatibility is the big one – we no longer love each other, we should never have been married, we don’t find each other attractive, we never have sex anymore, he’s not a Christian!

Let’s be blunt! An exclusive marriage contract between two people for life is an exclusive marriage contract between two people for life! Until death do we part! With blokes I often end up wanting to thump them when they come to me about divorce – what is it about the word “promise” we don’t understand?

This is what God say about divorce!

Malachi 2:16 “I hate divorce,” says the LORD God of Israel, … says the LORD Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.”

We have managed, even in the church to get away from the directness and the bluntness of God’s view of divorce – “I hate divorce”. How do you read that any other way? Divorce goes directly against the good plans God has for us – the exclusive relationship – one flesh! In our world you can get divorced for no reason at all – and Christians have picked this up. As far as God is concerned – from the Bible – marriage in all circumstances is meant to be life-long.

Matthew 19:3-6 “Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

It’s not a free for all – get divorced for any and every reason. It is… “what God has joined together, man must not break apart.” Jesus gives one concession – and it is a concession.

Matthew 19:9 “I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

Concession

You may be the innocent party – where the other person has broken the marriage vows and severed the exclusive contract! And you find that you cannot live in that relationship anymore – then, and only then is divorce and remarriage permitted – not encouraged or commanded. In all other circumstances adultery and remarriage is sin. Now – we humans, we like rules, we want specifics – yes! We can get divorced if our spouse has had an affair. What about brutality, abuse, verbal abuse – what about being a bad father – being an alcoholic – what about “he’s an obnoxious ‘prat’ and I can’t imagine why I ever married him?”

Like the Pharisees we want our excuses to be given Gods’ approval. Christians will talk to their minister to get the minister to say “yes – I’m sure God approves!” But the mistake, surely, is looking for an excuse. God’s plan for our marriages is that we do everything and anything under God to preserve our marriage – and that we divorce only in the most drastic circumstances, where the other person has broken the one flesh nature of the marriage beyond repair. If we’re ferreting around for an excuse then that hasn’t happened – and our promise as Christians is “until death we do part.”

Two Facts

This is a huge topic and the Bible has a pile of stuff to say that would be beneficial. It’s also a very painful subject for many people – which is why we should stick to what God says. If you’ve been affected by divorce please understand I don’t want to make it worse, or judge you. And frankly I would say that the church has really dropped the ball when it comes to accepting and caring for divorced people – we either ignore it and God’s will, or we make it impossible to have fellowship. Madness!

But I also know this is an area Christians need to fix. Not a week goes by that I don’t spend hours dealing with people’s marriage problems, divorce and the pain – it takes up the largest part of my time, next to preaching. I keep coming back to the two facts of marriage as being the most important.

1. God hates divorce – full stop!

We must, as Christians, become extraordinarily slow in approving divorce and remarriage – if not then we will go beyond the provisions made by God for the breakdown of relationships and we might be approving people in their sinfulness. Yes – that does sound hard – but I would challenge you to think on Jesus’ words – how far does he go in allowing divorce?

2. God’s wonderful plan for us is that men and women will form “one flesh” relationships that last a lifetime – and they are worth every effort and any amount of pain to preserve and grow them.

Note:

• In the Old Testament the word divorce is related to the word for cutting down trees – divorce cannot happen without a huge amount of damage, without amputation of the one flesh.
• The word adultery means, “to break the one flesh”.

Disasters and God

9/11?

It was with morbid fascination we watched aircraft plough into NY’s Twin Towers. An outrageous act – how could anyone justify it in the name of god? It was appalling – 3000 dead – and it changed our world. 9/11 has new meaning – terrorism, aircraft security, air marshals, the war on terror. There are lingering fears about high-rise buildings.

Where was God?

Boxing Day 2004 – 237,000 dead or missing, in the aftermath of the Tsunami. Other disasters seem to pale into insignificance with those sort of numbers. 237,000 dead. That means in family terms 1-2 million immediately affected by lost loved ones. 5 million people displaced. How many people would be affected by your death – immediate family, extended family, family you don’t talk to very often, friends, colleagues, neighbours, workers in shops and stores you visit, school friends… how big a list. 237,000 dead – if you know 100 people that’s over 23 million affected in some measure by those deaths. 200 family and friends? Almost 50 million affected long term. And apart from human suffering – a $50 billion clean-up bill, 10-20 years to fix the disaster – psychological trauma, lost businesses and livelihoods, lost networks.

Where is God?

And in-between 2001 and now or 2004 and now – count the disasters. Just this year… earthquake and tsunami in Japan, earthquake in …, mudslide in … floods and cyclones in Queensland, NSW and Victoria,

Letter to the Editor

This bloke wrote to the Sydney Morning Herald in 2004, in the aftermath of the Tsunami.

As the scale of the tsunami tragedy unfolds I wonder just how all the religious people among us are going to explain it to themselves and to people like me. When I hear that 300 Sri Lankans were swept away to their deaths while praying in church I think I can be excused for being somewhat cynical about God’s benevolence. Yet the natural reaction of the faithful after an “act of God” is to flock back to church to praise Him.”

Clearly he is not alone in his thoughts or opinions – and I would say in response… fair question!

Is God proved dead?

Humanists and atheists tell us God’s not around. These events – these disasters are simply “Mother Nature” at her worst, or maybe part of the effects of global warming. It’s an opportunity to show how powerful we are, to make the world a better place. The environmentalists blame humans for it. Some Muslims have called it Allah’s act of vengeance – a judgement against man for ignoring the true and only god. Some Christians have done the same – they just mean a different God. Hindu’s call it the world’s Karma – it was meant to be. Buddhists say something similar. Truth is most religions have nothing to say – certainly no meaningful answers. And neither do the atheists or the environmentalists – the reasons they give are pathetic excuses by a world that simply doesn’t know why. In fact – they are the very opposite of the truth.

Is God proven dead by the disaster? Where is God?

Disaster

It’s a reasonable question – God’s existence, goodness and power? Each fresh disaster brings heated debate! People are afraid – the sheer scale of these disasters is overwhelming. It is devastation on a grand scale, in some case amongst some of the poorest nations on earth. In a country like Australia, the resources we can bring to bear on a disaster are astronomical. The $50 billion clean-up for the Boxing Day Tsunami – in Australia we would basically say “so what”! Yes – it’s a little painful – we’ve just seen the introduction of the disaster recovery levy – we all get to pay a little extra in tax. But – we have that capacity. We can find 50,000,000 dollars. And if it was more, or happened more than once – we could do it again. But in a 3^rd world country, or simply a poorer country – the numbers are basically incomprehensible.

And it shows the weakness of religion and atheism – both of which offer meaningless sayings and platitudes, or are simply reduced to helpless silence.

It’s shocking because there’s no sense to the destruction. Terrorism has a rhyme and reason and someone to blame. Natural disasters wreak havoc and destruction with no logic in who lives and dies. Christian, Muslim, child, adult, poor, rich, innocent and guilty – dead! No one to blame except maybe poor old “Mother Nature”.

If God exists, what’s he doing?

If he’s in charge why would he do such a cruel, undiscriminating thing? Isn’t he a God of love? And if he’s not in charge of nature, then what good is he? Does he look on helpless, sad but unable to intervene? Is he simply weak? Is he a tyrant punishing whoever he feels like punishing? Does he simply not care?

‘god’ Is Dead

Actually disasters do prove that god is dead!

Disasters should wipe away any pretence that the god the world believes in exists at all. The real God of the universe has been forgotten and in his place there is a vague, general religious feeling. We have domesticated and trivialised the true God. We have diluted his character and purpose with false religions, and even with false Christianity. We have turned Jesus’ life, death and resurrection into a sideshow – a child in a manger, a movie star – but mostly just an expletive – a common, foul mouthed, swear word.

And we think we‘re invincible.

In our country, we are well off. We are generally safe. War is relatively unknown to us in Australia. We take great offense when our soldiers travel overseas to fight and worse to die. It’s quite easy for us to think we’re the masters of the world. To us natural disasters are unique, strange – a natural disaster is almost an insult. The world is not meant to be like this; God is kind, God is safe and inactive. Disaster should only occur far away and not too big, where we do not have to explain or respond and so that our short attention span can allow us to forget what the world is really like. And even when it happens here in Australia, to us – well it’s an opportunity to band together, to demonstrate to the world what it means to be an Australian – and we should be proud as a country that we can and do help each other out – mateship is alive. But we do that rather than face the truth that disasters should bring us face-to-face with.

If you want reality – look to the Bible – and to experience. The theme of the Bible is that we are out step with the world because we are out of step with God. The Bible never considers the world to be safe and secure. From the Biblical flood (Noah and the Ark) onward – the whole assumption of Biblical faith is that we live in a fractured, dangerous world. We will frequently experience drought, flood, famine, earthquake, disease and pestilence. The normal relationship between man and nature is one of exploitation and pain.

The god of the world has no answers.

The God of the universe does.

Misunderstanding and Forgetting

My grandmothers both died a few years ago.

I read a story a few years back about four-year-old girl who died by choking on a pebble.

A few months ago a policeman was killed in the line of duty.

Just the other day another Australian soldier was killed in Afghanistan.

Every day we are reminded that death stalks us. But here’s the thing – why are the deaths of 237,000 people worse than the death of my grandmother, or a little girl, or a cop, or a soldier? Does the death of one person mean nothing but the death of thousands suddenly become proof that God does not exist?

The world is mistaken in thinking that a Tsunami, a flood, a cyclone or some other ‘natural’ disaster is the worst disaster to befall mankind. And mistaken too in thinking that the deaths of so many at once disproves the existence God. That argument is simply about scale – so many dying at once – God must not exist – it shocks us!

As shocking, and maybe terrifying as it is that so many can die at once – it’s really the death of individuals that matters.

And truth is – we forget so easily. We have the attention span of a goldfish when it comes to disaster. How many “innocents” have died from AIDS and HIV, smallpox, plague – from starvation and famine, drought, earthquakes, crime and murder? It is not the scale we should question – it’s the very existence of death, disease, crime, pain, sin, hunger, thirst, sadness, poverty – that these exist at all – that is where our questions should be directed.

• In WWI more that 250,000 Australian men died.
• In WWII 20 million Russians – we always think of the Jews murdered – and frankly we should never forget such atrocities – but we mostly do forget the 20 million Russians. We remember Hitler… we forget Stalin!
• Saddam Hussein murdered something like 20 million.
• Pol Pot, Stalin, Idi Amin, Gaddaffi – Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, South America, Rwanda, Bosnia, Chechnya – you want disaster on a grand scale? Pick a war.
• The great flu epidemic of 1919 – 40 million people.
• The Japanese earthquake in 1923 – 140,000!
• Earthquake in China – 242,000.
• 3 million have died in the Congo wars over the last decade.
• 20 million people right now are on the verge of starvation in the Horn of Africa.
• And let’s be honest – I haven’t touched the surface in recalling the disasters that we have seen in the last 100 years, let alone the rest of history.

We forget!

We ask the question but we don’t remember the disasters. Where is God?

Responding To Disaster

We Christians should probably be accused of failing to answer – many of us blindly accept God’s plan, or misunderstand it – and our answers are often less than helpful. Sometimes we raise as many questions as the world does, because we fail to answer from God’s Word. In all these disasters…

• Was God passing judgement on those people for their sins?
• Were they evil?
• Did they incur God’s wrath?
• Were they being judged for being Muslim or Hindu or for not being very good Christians – or for something else. Were they being judged for being – atheist or agnostic?

There are four things we need to understand if we are to make sense of our world.

1. The Sovereignty of God

Is God sovereign over all things? Is he good? Is he all-powerful? Is he a God of love? The answer is yes – yes – yes and yes! We’re not going to be able to see it clearly from the world – only from Jesus on the cross. It’s God who acted in the person of Jesus to defeat our enemies. Our world cannot explain sin let alone get rid of it. But we can. Sin is rejection of God and ignoring God and it kills us – because God is good he refuses to live with us as sinners. Yet he offeres us life in his presence for all e

ternity.

As the Bible tells us

– when we were still God’s enemies, Jesus destroyed sin’s hold and the power of death by dying to pay the price and rising again.

Is God powerful? Well

… God through Jesus dealt with the two enemies we have no power over. He destroyed the hold that sin had over us and he destroyed the anguish and certainty of death. Yes God is powerful.

1 Corinthians 1:24 “… Christ [is] the power of God and the wi

sdom of God.”

Jesus is the power, the wisdom, the love and the goodness of God in action.

Psalm 25:7-9 “Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD. Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.”

2. The connection between sin and judgement?

Some Christians say that disasters are God’s judgements against sin. And it’s tempting I suppose to try to see that sort of sense behind it – but they are tragically mistaken. There are numerous instances of the link between specific sins and judgement under the Old Testament covenant – that was the agreement between God and Israel. But Jesus says this is no longer the case.

Luke 13:1-9 “Now there were some … who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Were any of the victims of any of the disasters being judged by God for their sin or unbelief?

Yes and no!

Yes in that they have perished and have faced the judgment seat of God.

But no also – the disasters are not sent by God to destroy those who are “more evil”. We need to be very clear. Jesus is asked about some Jews killed at the Jewish altar as they were making sacrifices for their sins – so good, upright, faithful or at least religious Jewish folk. Their blood mingled with the sacrifices, contaminating the sacrifices and making them worthless. Were they worse sinners than everyone else, being judged by God? Absolutely not! Nor were the 18 who died when a tower fell on them. Specific sin and judgment are not linked directly. If you go and sin right now God will not strike you down because of that specific sin.

But – and this is the chilling part, the part the world fails to notice…

Luke 13:5 “unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

3. The reality of judgement?

Zephaniah 1:14-18 “The great day of the LORD is near—near and coming quickly. Listen! … That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness,… I will bring distress on the people and they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their entrails like filth. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the LORD’s wrath. In the fire of his jealousy the whole world will be consumed, for he will make a sudden end of all who live in the earth.”

The day of God’s judgment is very real. In each disaster did the people die because of some terrible sin?

No!

Did they die and face judgment for the way they lived and how they responded to Jesus?

Yes!

Sin and judgment are directly linked. If you don’t want to face the judgment of God and perish then repent of the sinful life. However your life is taken from you – a massive “natural” disaster, terrorist attack, a car accident unnoticed by the media, dying alone and senile in a hospital bed – whether the world reels in horror at your death or simply doesn’t notice – if you die unrepentant of your sins then you lose.

God has said clearly that His wrath against sin will consume all who do not belong to Jesus. We must not water down judgement – nor minimise the day of judgement that is coming. We can take God at his word – in the great disasters it is not the scale of the disaster that is at issue, but the death of many individual – and in each disaster every-one who has died has been judged.

Revelation 20:12-13 “… I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. … each person was judged according to what he had done.”

But we also know – as sure as judgment is for all people – Jesus offers hope in the face of disaster. Disaster is meant to be a warning to those left – not that more will come or that life is fragile but that God takes life when he chooses – and he chooses who will survive. He demands our response – turn back to God, repent of our sins and live. Jesus tells a parable…

Luke 13:6-9 “Jesus told this parable: “A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ ”‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

Every day, every month, every year that we don’t die is a day, a month or a year more in which to produce fruit for God – that is to turn back from our sins and receive life at God’s hands. If we bear the fruit of repentance – if our lives are shown to be faithful in Jesus then we will not be cut but will live. We will receive all that Jesus offers – life, safety, hope, peace and freedom.

How to explain it to non-Christians?

1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

In helping others see the truth we have to recognize that the vast majority of the human race will think we are fools – hopeless, blind children. You can hear it in their words…  “…the natural reaction of the faithful after an “act of God” is to flock back to church to praise Him.”

When you stand up for Jesus people will think you’re a moron. When you stand up for Jesus in the face of a disaster – they will think much worse. But some will believe.

John 1:10-13 “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

The fact is they killed Jesus when he told the truth. Yet a few believed – and 2000 years on – a few still believe. Do you want to know how to explain it to non-Christians?

Tell them the truth and pray for them. We are not responsible for how people believe.

1 Corinthians 3:6-7 “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.”

God makes them grow.

What we must do however is live the task of faith. In Paul’s words…

Acts 20:24 “…I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.”

We who already believe must tell people the truth – that Jesus died and was raised again so that even in the face of a massive disaster we might have hope for all eternity.

And pray for them, faithfully day after day – that God by His Spirit would move them to see the truth clearly and repent of their sins.

Some will believe.

Competing With God – Money and Generosity

Duty, Scraps and Little Expectations

A friend’s dad used to come to church at Christmas – every year – he was very religious. And he thought that he should support the church. He was well off – not a Packer or Murdoch, but he had plenty. When the plate came around he would drop in 50c. He deliberately came to church without notes – he felt it was his duty to give money to the church once a year, but only what he wouldn’t miss – the scraps.

Big John was a great guy – the sort of bloke that would make a fat guy feel positively slender – big hearted too. He was a commercial banker – nicely set up with all the trappings. He said to me one day…

“God doesn’t want me to deprive my family so he doesn’t expect me to give more than I can spare. That’s right, isn’t it?”

He is a Christian, generous to his family, gifted, faithful, hardworking, and good at witnessing the gospel. I have seen him in action and especially amongst men at church he was a gifted evangelist.

Was he generous towards God – absolutely not!

• Where does generosity come into our relationship with God?
• What does it mean to be generous towards God?
• How has God been generous to us?

Lifestyle Religion

Malachi was the last book of the OT to be written – about 450 years before Jesus – and it summarises Israel’s relationship with God, gives God’s assessment – have they lived according to the covenant – have they been God’s people living God’s way in God’s land. That’s the question. The answer is not just a resounding NO!

Malachi 3:7 “Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’

Israel simply refused to live by the covenant for any length of time. They were just ordinary people – not particularly bad, not particularly good – just like us except they were Jewish and most of us aren’t. Many of them probably wanted to serve God faithfully, to be obedient – in the same sense that we see today –Christians generally want to be faithful. But Israel had a problem.

Malachi 3:14 “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty?”

Their problem was obedience and repentance – or rather a lack of!

Negative Equation

They looked at the world and said…

Obedience + repentance = 0

Doing God’s will, repenting of sin – gets you nowhere. The rich get richer at the expense of the poor. The arrogant are happy, evildoers prosper and escape God’s wrath. So they followed the nations. They wanted what other people had – security in an insecure world, security they could touch, taste, hold and be sure that it was real. They wanted love, and justice, fairness, romance, health, wellbeing, prosperity, enjoyment, safety, and peace. And they decided to get them through money and by calling God a stupid fool.

Foolishness

See, what they said was ‘evil people prosper and get ahead’. The part they didn’t say – but obviously believed – was that God was either wrong or stupid. The world doesn’t work the way God says it does. God says ‘hang on – take a step back from your sin? Give me glory and honour – obey me, be my special possession as you agreed to be – and then you will see the difference.’

Malachi 3:18 “And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”

But Israel wanted to see a difference that didn’t exist. They wanted God’s blessing even though they were exactly the same as the evildoers – there was no discernable contrast between Jew and pagan. Be mine says the Lord, be absolutely my people – be discernibly different and then you will see the difference.

Money

In their relationship with God they had given up everything that had any meaning and were simply doing the religious bits and pieces. And one of the clearest indicators was with their money. This is so often the truth with the people of God – what you do with your money says volumes about your faith. The Jews thought that money would get them ahead. They saw the locusts devour the crops, the thieves steal and storms destroy, they saw the taxman and the banks taking more and more and their superannuation destroyed by downturns in the market and they said to themselves, “I have to stop giving to God so that my family can live.” And they did – they gave up the tithes and offerings.

What do you think God said to them?

“Look guys – sure – yeh – no worries – no problem, I understand. Times are tough, I know it’s all been a bit hard – heaven’s been a little tight too – there have been cutbacks you know – so look, that’s fine.”

You know what God says to Israel?

Malachi 3:8-98 “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me.”

Israel responded to God’s generosity with disobedience and a lack of generosity.  They weighed up faithfulness and financial security and money won. Their interests and security had to come before God. They thought they had to provide every good thing, that they were responsible for prosperity, that they had to make a name for themselves, to protect themselves against locust, thieves, storms, disaster – have you ever tried to stop a swarm of locusts? They decided that it was up to them to provide generous blessings for themselves.

At this point there should be big flashing neon signs saying “Danger” “Danger” “Danger”.

Lifestyle

How different are we from Israel? We are God’s people living God’s way for eternity in God’s kingdom – by the death and resurrection of Jesus – the new covenant. We are not Israel, we don’t have a regimented lifestyle religion, we don’t live in Palestine, nor has God ever promised any such thing. But like Israel our lives are meant to conform to God’s will. We are to worship God, to walk in Jesus’ footsteps, to live by the Spirit, to grow closer to Jesus day by day, to fellowship with each other, to do specific things when we gather, to support and care for each other, to witness the truth of the gospel even to the point of death. It’s not a matter of rules and regulations but our entire lifestyle is to be a reflection of what we will be for eternity – God’s people living God’s way in God’s kingdom – by the death and resurrection of Jesus. For all eternity we will be focused solely on praising God in word and action – shining lights sharing in Christ’s glory.

Modern Society

But right now we live in a society obsessed with money and possessions, and the temptation for us is to see a hostile world, to see its dangers and difficulties and to bunker down – to protect our assets and build for the future. That is what the world encourages us to do – at every turn, if we are to be productive members of our society then we must strive for security, for the money and possessions that will free us – and we have bought the message so fully that we think God agrees with our aims! We think it is righteous to withhold from God – we think God agrees with the worlds view of cash!

But God says that we are in the greatest danger – danger of robbing him – danger of responding to his generosity without generosity – of being like Israel bunkered down, relying on themselves and their wealth, trusting their ability, giving glory to themselves and lacking generosity towards God.

The question is – what to do?

God says “be generous as I am generous” – but what does that mean?

I guess we could do what Israel did – look for rules – how much should I give to God in $$$ terms or % terms? The Pharisees of Jesus’ time gave 10% of everything they produced, including the herbs on their kitchen window – they had rules, hundreds of rules to regulate what generosity to God meant. I know for myself that is my temptation as well – to look for rules in my giving. I was brought up with the idea that 10% was a good starting place – I’ve hardly questioned that principle in my life. Even now as I write it bounces to the surface – if only people in the church would all give 10% the church would be loaded – ministry would progress, evangelism abound… (just leave aside the little element of self-righteousness that threatens to creep into my thoughts).

But God isn’t interested in how much! God is not interested in how much money – or time, fellowship, worship, praise, prayer, possessions, love, care – or money. There are no quantities being bandied around in the heavenly realms – quotas and targets. No – not how much… but rather God’s interest is how will we respond to God’s overwhelming and outrageous generosity?

You know what must have stuck in God’s throat with Israel? God promised them everything – their heart’s desires. In fact God was the only way they would ever have their hearts desires. And he came through – when they were obedient and repentant they received everything with abundance. Did they respond with gratitude – did they respond in kind? No! They said – “Wow, look at what we’ve done. Look at what we have built for ourselves – look at how rich I am – I did it my way – I better make sure that I protect it – that is the most important thing.”

And you thought they were different to us?!

How should they have responded?

With cheerful generosity! To say to God “You’ve given us everything we need and desire – can we give back to you.” To say to God “I will trust in you to fulfil your promises because you hold out the things I want and need.”

Look – the reality is no different for us. All the things we desire are found in Jesus – he offers us love, security, peace, hope, life, esteem – everything we really want, the things we seek. How should Israel have responded to God’s generosity? How should we respond? When we look at our little world – our home, possessions, education, superannuation, family, kids and grandkids, friends, holidays, leisure, our plans for the future, our marriage, our church and church friends here, the lifestyle that we have – do we look at all that, do we survey our domain and say “look at what I have done for myself”? Or do we say “thank you God”. Do we say, “I did it my way” – or with cheerful generosity, do we say to God “You have given us everything we need and desire. I will trust in you to fulfil your promises because you hold out the very things I want and need. How can I be generous towards you Lord?

Reality Check

Here’s the thing – I know lots of churches struggle to exist. But I do wonder why? Why are finances always an issue? It makes sense if there is real growth and the money just keeps outstripping the demand for ministry – that’s a nice problem to have. But for lots of churches that’s not the case. Why are the finances in constant trouble? Is it that there are not enough people earning enough money? Is it that we don’t give enough as individuals? Is it that churches spend the money unwisely? Is it that budgets are too adventurous or simply wrong?

As I look back at Israel it strikes me that when they did not prosper it was because as individuals and as a nation they refused to be generous to God!

There could be all sorts of reasons why churches lack sufficient funds – but if what the Bible says is true about money and generosity… if we will respond to God’s generosity with generosity then we will lack nothing – God will provide far above our desires and even our imaginations.

It’s a hard question isn’t it – it hits home pretty hard, right into every aspect of our lives and our families. But hear me on this – it’s not a matter of how much we give, or don’t give. Rather it’s a matter of living by God’s principles as we deal with money.

Principles of Generosity

I’d like to suggest three Biblical principles about money and possessions. This is not everything – just a part.

1 Timothy 6:17-19 “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”

Paul says… don’t be arrogant about wealth, don’t put your hope in wealth, do hope in God (the provider), do good with the cash, be rich and generous towards others (probably speaking about those in the church), lay up heavenly not earthly treasures, take hold of real life not the falsehood of money. And… it’s also ok to enjoy what God has provided.

Three Principles?

• Be generous.
• Don’t assume responsibility for what God has done.
• Set your hopes on God.

We can bunker down all we like in the face of trouble. We can fear for our financial security and hoard and store and protect OUR assets for all we are worth. But none of it matters an ounce should God decide to alter our perspective. None of it’s worth a drop should we be found in the end to have been trusting in riches. It’s true for individuals and for churches.

God is the one who provides. God is the one who gives us generously out of his great wealth – if you have wealth of any sort – in fact if you have anything at all, it has come from his generosity. We falsely assume responsibility for our position in the world and in society when God is the one who gives and can take away. If you are hoping in your riches – your hope is entirely misplaced.

God says… don’t hoard and protect – don’t bunker down in the face of trouble.

He says “Try and beat me at being generous.”

Try and be more generous to me…
than I can be towards you…
and see who wins!

Money & Church

Christians don’t like it when ministers talk about money and generosity. Maybe you feel churches should focus elsewhere rather than on money and giving. I’d say the opposite – I can’t think of a more appropriate place than church gatherings to be asking myself (again and again) “How am I responding to God’s generosity?” If I am God’s person, living God’s way in God’s kingdom for all eternity because of the tragic death and the incredible resurrection of Jesus Christ then how will that affect my cash? For no other reason than God’s gracious love, he gave his son to take my place in death so that I might live.

We talk about the wonder and joy of Christmas – do you know the truly amazing thing about Christmas?

It’s not that Jesus was born as a baby boy!

But that he was born at all – that God acted generously towards me and you by providing his one and only Son as the sacrifice for our sins.

Do you think there will ever be a day that you can be more generous than God has been towards us? Out of that outrageous act of kindness God gave us life – life that is without limit, life that is full of every good thing, life full of everything I need and all my hearts true desires. How can we respond to God’s generosity by living generous lives towards God?

Some Questions for Thought and Discussion

Think/Discuss

1. What is your attitude towards money? Especially – what is your attitude towards giving money to God?
2. How did you decide what to give?
3. Where did your understanding about God and money come from?

Read 1 Timothy 6:17-19

1. Is your hope in God or your wealth and financial standing?
2. How would your friends and family answer that question about you?
3. What does hope in wealth look like in day to day life?
4. How are you using your money to lay up treasures in heaven?

Read: 2 Corinthians 9:6-11

1. Can a lack of growth in maturity, converts and the church be linked to a lack of generosity towards God?
2. If the harvest is small – does that mean we have put too little in?
3. If we lack anything we need does that mean we have not been generous to God?

Think & Pray: How can my church use the money God has given to proclaim the gospel? What will it take to convert those we live amongst?

Action: What actions do you need to take regarding money? Who do you need to speak to this week about Jesus?