Change, Wisely

Posted on by September 6, 2014
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1 Corinthians 7:18-20 — Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.

I heard somebody say something today, for the second time, that caught my ear. “All change”, they said, “is good.”. Well, the point was being made in a particular context, in which it made perfect sense. It did make me think, though, about the general principle.
Let’s start with some non-negotiable Biblical truths.
First, God does not change: “For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed” (Malachi 3:6). Warning — do NOT try to really wrap your head around the idea of an unchanging God interacting with a changing creation. Just take God’s word for it!
Second, we will all change: “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”(1 Corinthians 15:52-53). We are not, as we are, fit to inherit the kingdom of God. We need to be transformed to be ready. We will be transformed. It must be so, and it will be so.
So, we get saved. We are heading to an unavoidable change. So should everything in our lives change? A lot changes — but must everything change? Paul makes it clear, in his letter to the Corinthians, that the truth is very different.
When we are called into the service of God, adopted into the family, much certainly changes. We might be married or unmarried. We could be workers or bosses, rich or poor. We may be healthy, or sick. Whatever we are it is not an accident nor a mistake! “Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.”(Psalms 40:5 KJV). Knowing this, we ought not to jump rashly to change …
In fact I have come to believe, over time, that to change anything without a clear understanding that it is at God’s direction is to be guilty of the sin of pride … And to fail to change at God’s direction is to be guilty of the sin of disobedience!

Trust

Posted on by September 5, 2014
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1 Samuel 29:11 — So David and his men rose up early to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

In 2009, Brian Zahnd wrote a powerful little book called “What to do on the worst day of your life.” It tells the story of King David’s (actually, at the time I’d suppose we’d have to call him David the renegade) return from the army of the Philistines to Ziklag, to discover that raiding Amelekites have taken all that David and the men with him possessed — their goods, their wives, their sons and their daughters. Describing how David grieves, turns to The Lord for help, forms a plan, executes it and moves on, Mr. Zahnd provides a wonderful template for dealing with disaster.
But what if David hadn’t been there? You see, there’s a prequel.
1 Samuel 29:11 is the punch line. The rest of the story is like this … David, unjustly suspected by the paranoid Saul and at risk of his life, had found a bolthole in the court of Achish, one of The Lords of the Philistines.
Achish had come to trust David, made him the head of his bodyguard and promised that David would go into battle with him. The other Philistine Lords were not nearly as enchanted and insisted that David and his men be sent home before the battle … and so David came to Ziklag …
David had his ideas, Achish had his ideas … even the Amelekites had their ideas. David might have forgotten, and Achish and the Amelekites had probably never known — “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9 KJV)
David’s disappointment was the Lord’s protection …
If David had gone to battle what would have happened? Would he have supported the Philistines against the people who were to be his future subjects, the Israelites? Or was he to blacken his reputation by turning against the Philistines, and lose their protection against Saul? Really, David needed not to go into that battle. And of course, if he’d been in the battle he wouldn’t have got back to Ziklag until much later … with little chance of recovering goods, wives, sons and daughters.
We hear it so often. God makes all things work together for the good of them that love Him. Sometimes it’s hard though to grasp what that really means. The story of David and the Amelekites raiders is a wonderful practical example.
When you have what looks like a perfectly good plan and it seems like God sends you home from the battle watch out — chances are there’s a really good reason!

Surrender

Posted on by September 4, 2014
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Romans 6:16 — Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

I was reminded yesterday that surrender — yielding — was at the very heart of the Christian life. The other day I wrote about the idea that the church might have to lay aside some of its power and influence — to surrender its role in the establishment to gain a more central role in the life of those yet unsaved. The notion of personal surrender is, perhaps, more familiar. How often have you sung the simple hymn:

All to Jesus I surrender;
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.

I surrender all,
I surrender all;
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.

I suppose I sing that hymn (written by Judson W. VenDeventer, whom Billy Graham claimed as an influence), in an altar call, once every three or four weeks. Today, I’m asking myself if I’m really being honest with myself.
Am I completely surrendered? Is there anything in my life that is getting too much of my time, energy and resources that should be being devoted to other things? The answer, of course, is “probably” … The hymn is based on Luke 14:33, “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.”
It’s not, I think, a literal command (though others may disagree). It’s not a matter of getting rid of every possession – but of being ready to surrender anything that Jesus wants to be used for kingdom purposes.
I’d love to say that I feel completely comfortable ring-fencing some of my time, energy and things as “mine”, but if I’m honest I cannot avoid a scripture that has had one of the greatest convicting impressions on me:

Philippians 2:5-8 — Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Jesus surrendered. Time and again He made it clear that nothing was for Him, and that His will was only to do the will of His Father. Jesus surrendered completely, so that we might also choose to surrender. Thinking about it adds a whole new shade of meaning to Ephesians 5:1-2, “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.” That chapter, of course, goes on to talk about submission — another word for surrender.
As I’ve thought my way and written my way through this I’ve realized that there’s a lot of work and prayer to be done — and an oddly circular problem to solve. I have to surrender myself so that I can surrender all …

How’s It Going?

Posted on by September 3, 2014
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1 Chronicles 16:8-13 — Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works. Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face continually. Remember his marvellous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; O ye seed of Israel his servant, ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

How’s it going? Your prayer life, I mean. Mine comes and goes. I wish I could say it was a consistent, reliable, satisfying, effective activity. It would make me, somehow, feel a “better” Christian. I know. It’s stupid, it’s not a direct connection. But it’s frustrating.
You know what’s comforting though? I know that only me and about two billion other Christians have this issue — which is why there seems to be almost a whole publishing genre dedicated to “how to pray” books. I’ve read quite a few, especially by Elmer Towns and a particular favorite by Charles Spurgeon (see the references page). Yesterday a friend recommended yet another. If you a reader, read! It will probably have a marginal effect on your prayer life.
There are three or four things I think I’ve learned about prayer. I’m hoping if I share mine, you’ll share yours!
First, I don’t think prayer is about the results! Prayer is about opening my heart to God, and surrendering my will to Him. I don’t think there’s anything He doesn’t know about who I am or what I need!
Second, I am the biggest barrier to my prayers. If I have unconfessed sin in my life (and yes, sometimes I do!) that’s likely to hinder my prayers.
The third thing is that prayer really works — and it really doesn’t. If you haven’t seen it, you’ll have to take my word for it. Often the results of prayer are exactly what you ask for and, much more importantly, people who work at prayer definitely get closer to God. But sometimes, the results of prayer are not at all what you expect — because what I think is best and what God thinks is best are not necessarily the same thing!
The last thing (actually, I think I could add quite a few more, but you have to stop somewhere!) is that just praying doesn’t get it done. In fact David’s psalm of praise when the ark came up to Jerusalem provides a really good guide:
– Give thanks to God!
– Talk to God
– Tell people about Him (witness!)
– Worship
– Enjoy God!
– Remember what God has already done
– Remember His rules
– And be assured, you are in God’s family
Prayer isn’t an isolated practice — it’s part of an integrated spiritual existence.
“So,” you say, “if you know so much, how come your prayer life isn’t perfect?” Well, one last thing I think I know. It’s not automatic, and I have to keep practicing!

The Church Outside

Posted on by September 2, 2014
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John 17:14-16 — I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

There is a poem that I love by the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas that starts “Do not go gentle into that good night” — old men, the poet says, should not slip meekly into death, but should fiercely, furiously, resist. On Sunday, I wrote of the threats of nationalism and post-modernism to the Church. As I have thought more about a subject that bothers me quite a bit … the unity and future of the church … it seems to me that some parts of the Western church, at least, are like that old man slipping passively into decline and obscurity, and I have been praying and meditating about what a response might be.
I think there’s a clue in the first verse of this this little hymn by Cecil Frances Alexander that I learnt as a child:

There is a green hill far away,
outside a city wall,
where our dear Lord was crucified
who died to save us all.

Jesus was not the establishment man! Nor was He interested in His own position, or status, or wealth. He emptied Himself of His position and lowered Himself — even to a death outside the city wall.
Is this what the church needs to do? I’m not saying offer itself up for crucifixion — but what might happen if the church decided it didn’t need — or want — to be part of the establishment, part of the power structures of “the world”?
It’s easy to forget that the original church was anything but a big establishment institution — and though there were some “comfortable middle-class” early Christians, there’s nothing to suggest that they were a majority, or the automatic choice for leadership positions. Does today’s church need to work back to that idea? Jesus prays not that His disciples should be removed from the world, but that they should be protected from the world’s influence. Alexander MacLaren comments “Security from evil is given that we may be wholly devoted to the service of God. The evil in the world is the great hindrance to that.” Is this security not what we should wish for the Church rather than the security of respectability and financial strength?
I feel sure that it is time for every church to be mindfully considering whether it is time to be “the church outside” …

I Need To Walk Worthy

Posted on by September 1, 2014
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Colossians 1:9-12 — For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

Labor Day. Strangely, a break from normal labors — so deep breath, what should my Christian walk look like?
The first thing to note is that I need somebody to be praying for me. The Colossians had Paul in their spiritual corner, thinking about what was important for them and praying for them non-stop.
The next thing is that I need a foundation to base my walk on. I need to understand God’s will for me (not my will for me!). Now I don’t think Paul was talking about the details … He’s saying “I want you to be clear about the way God wants you to live your earthly life, and how He wants you spend your eternal life”. It’s not an abstract thing either — I am to have “wisdom” — which really translates as a knowledge of God’s rules, and “spiritual understanding” — which really translates as a knowledge of how to apply them.
It’s not just about knowledge. With prayer support in place, and knowing what I need to know, I am to be at work. To be at work, I need to be strengthened — which comes back to that prayer support!
Notice too that the strength I need is not “strength to work”. It’s strength to be patient with the people I live and work amongst, and cheerfully to enjoy the difficulties that might occur along the way.
The notion here is really a wonderful one … with the right support in place, I can form the knowledge and gather the strength I need, so that God’s will for my life can result in me sharing in the inheritance of the saints — eternal life.
There’s more to understand about the mechanism Paul is talking about here. He is providing me with an example to follow. I don’t think he’s telling the Colossians that he is praying for them just so that they will feel good — I think he’s suggesting a kind of spiritual “paying it forward” too. I should be praying for fellow Christians that they should be empowered to pass it on … and so the kingdom grows!
Now I happen to be fortunate. There are people who pray for me. There are people I pray for. I suppose that makes me part of a kingdom chain — which feels good!

Let’s Get It Together

Posted on by August 31, 2014
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Galatians 3:26-29 — For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Our world is falling apart — and the church should be trying to hold it together. One of the things that is often on my mind is the way the church has splintered into twenty thousand denominations. But there’s another aspect to this question of church unity. It’s the question of nationalism or even regionalism, and the challenge is often masked by ideas that sound really good.
It sounds right, doesn’t it, to be adapting programs and practices to national preferences. History, though, has plenty of examples of “national” churches that were far away from being part of a universal catholic church. Consider, for instance, the “German” church of the 1930’s. In fact, of course, any church that puts national identity ahead of identity in Christ fails the test. It might even be said that the Church of England failed that test at its foundation and has been in recovery ever since. Looking at the issue from a broader perspective Alan Lewis said:

The cosmic range of Christ’s crucified lordship means that, on the one hand He may be found and followed in every society, and His gospel and His church live in symbiosis with every culture; and, on the other hand, that no culture whatsoever may be sanctified or idolized, identified as the embodiment of truth on which His church depends.

The warning is especially appropriate to a world in which, as the Cold War threat has receded, nationalism has re-emerged and in
which it is be be becoming fashionable to talk of the Western church fading and the African, Latin American and Asian churches becoming the new focus of Christianity.
There’s another aspect to this risk, too. Just as fracture across national lines is a misunderstanding of the church’s mission, so too is a fracturing across generational lines. There is a church movement having it’s roots in Europe in the 1970’s but now accelerating, variously described as “emerging”, or “emergent”, that seeks to place Christianity in a context for today. In particular, rather than providing a pre-determined and pre-digested theology, the emerging church assumes the reader brings a cultural context to scripture and will interpret it accordingly. It is, if you like, a post-modernist, “no absolute truth” theology.
The “time-shifted” view of Christian truth is as fallacious as the “space-shifted” view. We need to be acutely on our guard against any attempt to further divide the church by taking a”local” view of it. That is, as it were, to look from the wrong end of the telescope. We should be looking for the one church’s view on our society … Not our society’s view on the one church. We are the universal catholic church … we must seek to be the glue that holds things together.

Happy Birthday!

Posted on by August 30, 2014
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James 1:17-18 — Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Next Saturday we have the retreat for this year’s Living Christmas Tree. But it’s also my lovely Myra’s Birthday! What to do! Well we kind of brought some activities forward — spent the day shopping for a present or two, then out for a nice dinner. I’ve been wondering how God feels about birthdays. I’ve a feeling He probably approves.
I’ve never really connected these two verses from James 1 before, but today as I thought about them I saw a connection.
James 1:17 says at least three wonderful things about God Himself.
First, though God created the stars and planets that are always changing, He is constant — always the same.
Second, God is the giver of every good and perfect gift.
Third, in so many senses, God is our Father:
He is the “Father of lights” — He creates the Sun, the Moon and the stars and, by implication, everything else.
He is the Father of Israel, the literal Old Testament Israel and the spiritual New Testament Israel — the Church.
He is the Father figure in the Trinity.
He is our Spiritual, Heavenly Father.
Now how does that connect to verse 18? What is the best and most perfect gift He could have given us?
The best gift that God could give us is the gift that He prepared for each of us from before the beginning of time — the gift of a spiritual birthday, enabled by the word of truth. Now what does that mean?
The first thing is that He gave us the Bible — His word of truth — to lead us to faith.
The second thing is that He gave us His Son, to lead us out of sin and into salvation.
The third thing is that He gave us His Holy Spirit to lead us through the process of sanctification, remaking us in the image of His Son.
Lastly, He has given us the gift of eternal life. The gift that truly never stops giving.
We are the first fruits. We are dedicated, like the first fruits, to God. We are His first in the sense, too, that we are His vanguard — the first to reach out to others and pass on the spiritual birthday gift and help in the creation of His church.
Like I say — I think God approves of Birthdays. Spiritual and literal. Happy early Birthday sweetheart!

Take A Vacation Already!

Posted on by August 29, 2014
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Mark 6:30-32 — And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.

Hmmm … What to write today? Well, maybe it’s natural that as it’s the Labor Day weekend I feel guided to write about vacations.
What does the Bible say about vacations? Well not much of course! The whole thing’s a pretty new idea. But did you know that the Bible — or at least “that old-time religion” had quite an influence on the rise of the American vacation?
Until the middle of the nineteenth century vacations were for wealthy people, and seen as a chance to refresh the mind. In the late 19th century a variety of Vacation options emerged — especially as the arrival of the railroad made travel more feasible — and one of those options was the camp meetings, essentially a religious revival.
So vacations are pretty new …so it’s interesting to see Jesus encouraging the disciples to take a break! William Barclay does a great job of explains the reasoning:

We cannot work without rest; and we cannot live the Christian life unless we give ourselves time with God. It may well be that the whole trouble in our lives is that we give God no opportunity to speak to us,because we do not know how to be still and to listen; we give God no time to recharge us with spiritual energy and strength, because there is no time when we wait upon him. How can we bear life’s burdens if we have no contact with him who is the Lord of all good life? How can we do God’s work unless in God’s strength? And how can we receive that strength unless we seek in quietness and in loneliness the presence of God?

There is a tendency for many of us to be driven by a Protestant — even a Puritan — work ethic; six days labor, one day for worship. And any tendency to vacation is even being eroded by modern work practices. There’s a real danger that we will be so diligent that we’ll make ourselves miserable — and that’s not the Master’s plan.
Let’s not go overboard here — we’re not all meant to go off and be crazy for weeks at a time. What we need is a plan to keep ourselves spiritually refreshed. A good plan is a mixture … downtime every day, short breaks. The occasional longer break … Whatever works for you.
Take a vacation. It’s not a sin.

Healer

Posted on by August 28, 2014
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James 5:14-15 — Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Devotions over the past few days have been focused on “last things”. Today’ will have a more cheerful feeling I hope! It’s inspired, as Thursday devotions often are, by a song we’re rehearsing in Choir. It has a wonderful celebration of who God is. “He’s my Healer, my Savior, my Deliverer”. Now I’m hoping that Savior and Deliverer go without saying – but Healer? Now I don’t know about you, but I know plenty of great Christians who have been sick, got worse, and died … So what’s going on?
First of all, God is definitely the Healer! He says so Himself:

Exodus 15:26 — saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”

Jesus was the greatest healer who ever walked the earth:

Mark 6:56 — And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.

There are those who argue that the promise of healing refers only to physical healing. But we are more than just our bodies — we are body, mind and soul. Jehovah-Rapha, “The Lord our Healer”, God’s title in Exodus 15:26, takes care of all of us … In the best way possible.
I believe the verses from James offer powerful confirmation that God takes care of all of us. Knowing as we do that physical healing is not always assured, how are we to interpret the promise, “And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick”? Lange’s Commentary describes the intent of the text:

if any man as a Christian has been hurt or become sick in his Christianity, let him seek healing from the presbyters, the kernel of the congregation. Let these pray with and for him and anoint him with the oil of the Spirit; such a course wherever taken, will surely restore him and his transgressions will be forgiven him.

Jehovah-Rapha is not just the physical healer — He is the total restorer. I am so grateful!