During Ronald Reagan's American presidency in the 1980s, his administration came under scrutiny surrounding 'who knew what' about alledged sales of weapons to secure the release of seven American hostages in Lebanon. I noted one media report of the time saying that Reegan had replied to an investigating committee: 'I remembered forgetting being told'. I don't know if he actually made this statement but it illustrates how we often claim we were unaware of something and therefore absolve ourselves of responsibility. How often do we claim: 'I wasn't aware of that' or 'I don't remember being told that'? In the church today it is not credible to claim we are unaware of what we should know to make our lives attractive for others and to cause them to follow our example.
The apostle Paul tells the Church at Corinth: I do not want you to be unaware (1 Cor. 10v1). In other words, he is writing down advice and wisdom for them which is rooted to examples from the past which can warn and guide them. They are urged to learn from the Israelites who escaped Egyptian captivity but who got stuck in the wilderness, where they grumbled about nearly everything and engaged in all sorts of harmful behaviour and rebellion against God (ref. 1 Cor. 10v8-10). The Corinthians were in danger of repeating these past mistakes through their harmful lifestyle choices and the divisions among them. One message for the church of today is to learn from the church of the past and avoid repeating the same mistakes. We hear it said that hindsight is a wonderful thing and as someone put it: everyone is a genius with the benefit of hindsight! In that case, considering the centuries of church history and what has been documented about it, the church today should be a genius at learning from the past. Sadly, this is not the case a lot of the time. It's as if we forget to remember or, (to return to the Reagan analogy) we suddenly 'remember forgetting being told'.
We may forget to learn from the past if we believe it has limited use and we can get used to thinking independently of what has gone before and operating in our own self-reliant efforts. Paul goes on to warn those who think they are standing fine to be careful that they don't fall (1 Cor. 10v12 paraphrase). Put another way, self-reliance is unreliable. Paul intends guiding us towards God-reliance instead and in his second letter to the Corinthians reminds them that when God allows us to go through difficult times this often deepens our reliance on Him (2 Cor. 1v8-10) - again, when wrting there Paul retreads that phrase, I don't want you to be unaware (2 Cor.1v8). The good news is that God is faithful and He doesn't allow us to endure more than we can bear and always provides a way through the situation (1 Cor. 10v13 paraphrase and emphasis added).
I write these comments at the end of another year and we will have our own view of whether or not it is a year to remember or one we'd rather forget. Perhaps the past year has some painful memories for you. I'm not saying we should dwell on the past - that was a problem for many of those Israelites in the wilderness who thought they should give up and go back to Egypt. There are times when God leads us forward and shows us that we shouldn't look back (see Genesis 19- Lot's family rescued from Sodom and Gomorrah). It is not about looking back with longing but rather an awareness of what is to be learned from the past. Even if we are not confident about learning from previous experiences, we can learn immeasurably from those who have already tread similar paths to those before us. It is no coincidence that Paul says twice within the space of a few sentences: these things happened as an example (1 Cor. 10v6, 11). Let us benefit from all the examples we have to draw from so that we never have to claim 'I remembered forgetting being told'. Let it be said of the Church: they do not forget to remember!
Saturday, 29 December 2018
Tuesday, 18 December 2018
The Necessity of Love
Within the organisation I work for there have been several cuts to funding over recent years. This has meant that a lot of services we used to provide for the community can no longer be guaranteed due to fewer resources. These were activities that were considered 'nice' to do but which didn't have to be done. Put another way, they were the 'luxury' or 'icing on the cake' services that could be discarded without compromising the basic requirements of our role.
A basic requirement of a Christian is to demonstrate the love of God. There are various spiritual pursuits the follower of Christ can be engaged in which are 'helpful' to themselves and others, such as sharing their personal story, encouraging others in faith, and serving on teams within their local church. However, the Bible makes clear that one thing is vital in the life of the believer: to love others, and this is non negotiable:
In his first letter to the Corinthian church, the apostle Paul underlines the necessity of love in a number of ways and sets out his stall at the outset of chapter 13. He remarks that it's no good speaking in the tongues of men and angels but not having love. Without showing love, the Christian is just like a noisy gong or clanging cymbal (v1). Paul goes on that it's no good having prophetic powers and understanding all mysteries and knowledge and having 'mountain moving' faith if love is not evident. Without love we are nothing! (v2) Strong stuff! These striking thoughts are rounded off with the assertion that even if we give everything away to those in need and make outlandish sacrificial gestures in our Christian service but again don't have love, then we gain nothing! Did we catch that: we gain nothing. (v3). From these powerful, far reaching words we learn what it amounts to when there is no love flowing from Christ's followers.
Without love flowing from my relationship with God outward towards others I may create a lot of noise, saying and doing a lot of the right things, but my life and witness for the love of God will not have lasting, life transforming impact. People will close their heart and mind to me and the door of their soul. They will want to move away from me and seek escape.
My teenage son plays computer games whenever he is awake and to say that he becomes very noisy when doing this is an understatement. He shouts at the screen and forgets to consider others in the house, especially in the room next door. It is natural to look for space away from this. We have seriously considered sound proofing his room to lessen the impact of the noise on the rest of the household.
When we don't have love for others we may generate noise about Jesus but it only causes people to retreat from us and to soundproof themselves from the message we represent.
Elsewhere in the Bible we are advised that it is no good seeing another believer in need when we are in a position to help and offering no assistance. Indeed, this begs the question - how can God's love be in that person? (1 John 3v17b NLT). The point is reinforced further with a plea for the children of God to stop just saying they love each other but really show it by their actions (1 Jn 3v18). The bottom line is that noise without love is useless and unfruitful.
It is supposed to be the case that God's love has been poured out lavishly in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (see Romans 5v5). Is there evidence of this in our dealings with others, who are drawn to the loving Christian but repelled by the purely noisy one? We should be dripping wet with God's love and others in our vicinity should be getting wet.
Paul prayed that those in the church would overflow more and more with love towards one another as they grow in knowledge and depth of insight (Philip. 1v9). This 'growing' in love occurs as we grow in our walk with God. We need to keep reading the Bible, praying, meeting with other believers and so on, but we must also keep listening to the Holy Spirit within us revealing more and more of God's love and it's implications for each of us. More revelation about what God's love has accomplished in Christ motivates us to action; it compels us, we cannot stand still and do nothing. For example, before I received the Holy Spirit, the Bible seemed little more than words on pages but now the Holy Spirit makes the truths and promises and challenges within it come alive to me and it is not enough to just know what is being said; I am motivated to apply it with strength and passion.
We are strong in God when we are strong in love. Let us go deeper with God and in turn go deeper in His love. The famous pop music group 'The Bee Gees' had a song called 'How Deep is Your Love?' The challenge for us here is to discover afresh 'How Deep is God's love?' Paul's prayer for the Ephesians (see Eph. 3v14-21) is not a bad place to start. He longs that they grasp how wide and how long, how high and how deep is the love of Christ, and that they know this love that can never be fully understood, so that they will be filled with all the fullness of God (vv18-19). Without love there is no fullness, there is only emptiness! For the Christian, showing the love of God is not a luxury, it is a necessity!
A basic requirement of a Christian is to demonstrate the love of God. There are various spiritual pursuits the follower of Christ can be engaged in which are 'helpful' to themselves and others, such as sharing their personal story, encouraging others in faith, and serving on teams within their local church. However, the Bible makes clear that one thing is vital in the life of the believer: to love others, and this is non negotiable:
In his first letter to the Corinthian church, the apostle Paul underlines the necessity of love in a number of ways and sets out his stall at the outset of chapter 13. He remarks that it's no good speaking in the tongues of men and angels but not having love. Without showing love, the Christian is just like a noisy gong or clanging cymbal (v1). Paul goes on that it's no good having prophetic powers and understanding all mysteries and knowledge and having 'mountain moving' faith if love is not evident. Without love we are nothing! (v2) Strong stuff! These striking thoughts are rounded off with the assertion that even if we give everything away to those in need and make outlandish sacrificial gestures in our Christian service but again don't have love, then we gain nothing! Did we catch that: we gain nothing. (v3). From these powerful, far reaching words we learn what it amounts to when there is no love flowing from Christ's followers.
No love = Plenty of noise but nothing of substance to back it up.
No love = Impressive outward displays of strength, gifting, knowledge and faith but without any real or lasting power.
Without love flowing from my relationship with God outward towards others I may create a lot of noise, saying and doing a lot of the right things, but my life and witness for the love of God will not have lasting, life transforming impact. People will close their heart and mind to me and the door of their soul. They will want to move away from me and seek escape.
My teenage son plays computer games whenever he is awake and to say that he becomes very noisy when doing this is an understatement. He shouts at the screen and forgets to consider others in the house, especially in the room next door. It is natural to look for space away from this. We have seriously considered sound proofing his room to lessen the impact of the noise on the rest of the household.
When we don't have love for others we may generate noise about Jesus but it only causes people to retreat from us and to soundproof themselves from the message we represent.
Elsewhere in the Bible we are advised that it is no good seeing another believer in need when we are in a position to help and offering no assistance. Indeed, this begs the question - how can God's love be in that person? (1 John 3v17b NLT). The point is reinforced further with a plea for the children of God to stop just saying they love each other but really show it by their actions (1 Jn 3v18). The bottom line is that noise without love is useless and unfruitful.
It is supposed to be the case that God's love has been poured out lavishly in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (see Romans 5v5). Is there evidence of this in our dealings with others, who are drawn to the loving Christian but repelled by the purely noisy one? We should be dripping wet with God's love and others in our vicinity should be getting wet.
Paul prayed that those in the church would overflow more and more with love towards one another as they grow in knowledge and depth of insight (Philip. 1v9). This 'growing' in love occurs as we grow in our walk with God. We need to keep reading the Bible, praying, meeting with other believers and so on, but we must also keep listening to the Holy Spirit within us revealing more and more of God's love and it's implications for each of us. More revelation about what God's love has accomplished in Christ motivates us to action; it compels us, we cannot stand still and do nothing. For example, before I received the Holy Spirit, the Bible seemed little more than words on pages but now the Holy Spirit makes the truths and promises and challenges within it come alive to me and it is not enough to just know what is being said; I am motivated to apply it with strength and passion.
We are strong in God when we are strong in love. Let us go deeper with God and in turn go deeper in His love. The famous pop music group 'The Bee Gees' had a song called 'How Deep is Your Love?' The challenge for us here is to discover afresh 'How Deep is God's love?' Paul's prayer for the Ephesians (see Eph. 3v14-21) is not a bad place to start. He longs that they grasp how wide and how long, how high and how deep is the love of Christ, and that they know this love that can never be fully understood, so that they will be filled with all the fullness of God (vv18-19). Without love there is no fullness, there is only emptiness! For the Christian, showing the love of God is not a luxury, it is a necessity!
Wednesday, 17 October 2018
Knock Knock, Who's there?
This is a question I haven't heard for a while, but when I was a child it was the question that came before someone telling a joke. For example, one of the first times I heard it was when a British TV programme called 'Doctor Who' about a time traveller saving the world was at the height of its popularity. So, the joke would go: (Question) 'Knock knock, who's there?' (Answer) 'Doctor'. (Question) 'Doctor Who?' Believe it or not this was funny the first time I heard it. Sometimes it may feel as though we're playing 'knock knock' with God and not getting the desired response. I'm not sure if God is into telling jokes but he may reply with 'Who were you expecting?' This is partly because we often don't recognise that God is already present in our situation and working his purpose in our lives. Alongside this we can look for him to appear in a way that fits our expectations. When the Old Testament character Job was dealing with extreme suffering he eventually recognised God's intervention in his circumstances but he saw that God had different questions for him than the ones he, his wife and his fairweather friends had been asking (see Job 38 where God answers Job). Without seeking to diminish the anguish caused by suffering, some of the most unhelpful questions we can ask are 'Why God Why', 'When God When' or Where are you God in all of this? These questions form blind spots where we can miss potential blessing from God in the midst of the struggle. There will be occasions when we feel we are wrestling with God for a response to our pain or hurt but sometimes we need to persevere for breakthrough. Jacob declared to God: I will not let you go unless you bless me (Genesis 32v26). This doesn't mean that if we are continuing in suffering it is our fault but that it is important to know the Truth that God is near, that he is working for our good even when it doesn't appear true; Romans 8v28 ...we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him... (NIV - emphasis added).
This brings us to the heart of the matter: I have been learning throughout my Christian journey that we are not (despite appearances) in a power struggle! Rather, we are in a truth struggle. A Bible passage which has impacted me lately is Psalm 145v18, The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth (emphasis added). One of the magnificent truths from the Bible that believers can enjoy daily is that God is near. Psalm 46v1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present or well proved help in trouble. V1 proclaims The Lord of Hosts is with us. God's message to Joshua when he became leader of the Israelites as they moved from the wilderness to the promised land was I will be with you wherever you go (Joshua 1v9b). When Jesus issued The Great Commission to his followers he assured them I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28v20 b). In the book of James we are urged draw near to God, and he will draw near to you (James 4v8). The message coming through is that God is with us, He is near. For the unbeliever God may be viewed as a far away concept, certainly not a God who can be known personally and is involved with our lives. So what makes the difference in the believer's understanding of this? The Bible teaches us about the key role in this of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised he would not leave us as spiritual orphans but would send us the Holy Spirit (see John chs 14 &16). Paul wrote to the church about the indwelling of the Spirit in the life of the believer (see Romans 8). Consequently, instead of questioning if God is near, we can walk in the Truth that he is, as we allow the Holy Spirit to teach us. Romans 15v13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. The Holy Spirit enables our minds to know peace (Romans 8v9) and we can know transformational thinking as we lay hold of Truth when it seems elusive. Psalm 145 v18 suggests the key to experiencing that God is near is in laying hold of Truth. The Holy Spirit enables us to do this. Let us not neglect reading, hearing and meditating on the Truth in scripture and keeping it at the forefront of our minds so that the the Holy Spirt has opportunity to bring it to our remembrance (ref John 14v26 about the Holy Spirit bringing Truth to our remembrance). Instead of us asking God, 'knock knock, who's there', it is God who knocks on the door of our hearts and minds by the power of his Spirit and asks 'Is anyone there?'
Unless otherwise stated all scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version.
This brings us to the heart of the matter: I have been learning throughout my Christian journey that we are not (despite appearances) in a power struggle! Rather, we are in a truth struggle. A Bible passage which has impacted me lately is Psalm 145v18, The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth (emphasis added). One of the magnificent truths from the Bible that believers can enjoy daily is that God is near. Psalm 46v1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present or well proved help in trouble. V1 proclaims The Lord of Hosts is with us. God's message to Joshua when he became leader of the Israelites as they moved from the wilderness to the promised land was I will be with you wherever you go (Joshua 1v9b). When Jesus issued The Great Commission to his followers he assured them I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28v20 b). In the book of James we are urged draw near to God, and he will draw near to you (James 4v8). The message coming through is that God is with us, He is near. For the unbeliever God may be viewed as a far away concept, certainly not a God who can be known personally and is involved with our lives. So what makes the difference in the believer's understanding of this? The Bible teaches us about the key role in this of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised he would not leave us as spiritual orphans but would send us the Holy Spirit (see John chs 14 &16). Paul wrote to the church about the indwelling of the Spirit in the life of the believer (see Romans 8). Consequently, instead of questioning if God is near, we can walk in the Truth that he is, as we allow the Holy Spirit to teach us. Romans 15v13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. The Holy Spirit enables our minds to know peace (Romans 8v9) and we can know transformational thinking as we lay hold of Truth when it seems elusive. Psalm 145 v18 suggests the key to experiencing that God is near is in laying hold of Truth. The Holy Spirit enables us to do this. Let us not neglect reading, hearing and meditating on the Truth in scripture and keeping it at the forefront of our minds so that the the Holy Spirt has opportunity to bring it to our remembrance (ref John 14v26 about the Holy Spirit bringing Truth to our remembrance). Instead of us asking God, 'knock knock, who's there', it is God who knocks on the door of our hearts and minds by the power of his Spirit and asks 'Is anyone there?'
Unless otherwise stated all scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version.
Sunday, 29 April 2018
Knowing
One of the topics that usually comes up in everyday conversation is how people's jobs are going. 'How's work been this week' is a typical question to be asked. Sometimes, people experience uncertainty, whether it's through losing their job or uncertain if they will keep their job after the next company review - a situation I've experienced in the past myself and I've heard work colleagues say 'it's the not knowing I can't stand'. A Christian is supposed to live from the standpoint of knowing what God did through the saving work of Jesus Christ. This was evidence of God's mercy towards us: Romans 12v1 says: Therefore, I urge you...in view of God's mercy... The phrase in view of hints at keeping something in our vision, holding to it, keeping it at the forefront of our thinking. The passage continues with a plea to live in an attitude of worship to God in view of knowing how He has helped us. It then encourages us to let God change the way you think - Romans 12v2a (CEV).
Herein lies the key to a transformed life from living in a place of uncertainty to a place of knowing: we have the opportunity to let God change the way we think. God gives us space to choose certainty, to take it or leave it. What takes place in this pause is our choice.
What often happens is that we hear the wrong thing or rather hear it in the wrong way. As soon as we hear an instruction like I urge you from the Bible or one that is prompted in our life, our first thought can be 'regulation', law, another layer of requirement or restriction for us. Then we put pressure on oursleves to perform or to live up to some perceived standard. If we fail to achieve this standard we can feel guilty or unworthy and see ourselves as failing to live a transformed life. This scenario and accompanying mindset illustrates the difference between religion and relationship. Religion = doing things to earn acceptance; Relationship = responding from a place of certainty that we are accepted already.
Are we responding to God and His revealed truth in Christ from a place of 'knowing' or uncertainty?
The apostle Paul writes to the church at Rome (and all Christians everywhere) about God's sure and certain mercy in Christ, speaking later about those who were like broken off branches being grafted into salvation (see Romans ch11). Rom12v1 is a challenge to what I call our 'start up view' when we are called to live at a higher level. WE OFTEN START WITH WHAT WE ARE BEING ASKED TO DO, NOT WHY WE ARE BEING ASKED TO DO IT. Paul is urging us to have an earlier and clearer view of what God has done for us and not delay living it out as a present reality. When this viewpoint is our startpoint it empowers us towards a grace response to a gracious and merciful God who sent Jesus to pay the debt of sin we could never pay (ref Romans 3v23). We are being shown here that when we allow the Truth of God's love in Christ to fill our thoughts, then we cannot help but live a life in response. Is it too much to ask to live wholeheartedly for the God who has given so much to us and keeps on giving? LAW DEMANDS A REQUIREMENT FROM US; GRACE EMPOWERS A RESPONSE WITHIN US. Let us start in the right position. Let it be a position of knowing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)