Growth and Growth.

Eleven men on a Galilean hillside, listening to their leader. Go and tell all the world, i have all authority, and i'll be with you. All the doubts and worries of the last few days seem like a dream...He's alive, and He's coming with us. It's all going to be ok.

Why did Jesus choose just twelve? You know He could have efficiently disciples a thousand times that number. Why twelve when one was a betrayer? Why not disciple all of Israel, and send them out? Now you're a light to the nations.

The church always works when it's the shepherd boy agains the giant. The church is Ruth, starving and looking for mercy, the church is Esther, casting herself on the mercy of the king, the church is Jeremiah preaching from the sewer, the church is the unpopular kids at Corinth High School. And in that way, the church thrives. Jesus loses about twenty thousand followers in a day in John 6, and then turns to His guys and asks if they're leaving too. He doesn't count gain and loss like we do, His ushers aren't in the balcony counting because the Kingdom of God is not a matter of flesh and blood.

The Kingdom advances as Bibles are opened in caves in northern Iraq. Demons flee as the Gospel is proclaimed from makeshift pulpits in primary schools in southern England. The sick are healed as 'thus saith the Lord,' rings out from a multi million dollar campus in Texas.

Trendy music isn't growing the Church. Neither a light show, or the best kids work in town, or the greatest summer camps, or the newest programs, or the biggest offerings. Those things might grow a church, but not the Church.

The Church grows as one man finds other faithful men to find other faithful men. It always has. Not the rich and the famous, but the poor, the weak, the needy. Men like you and me.

Grace Filled Community

The following is from 'No Other Gospel; 31 reasons from Galatians that salvation is by faith alone', by Josh Moody, p259.

Here are five comparisons of a legalistic community and a grace-filled one.

1) A grace filled community seeks to restore those who make a misstep, whereas a legalistic community  condemns them.

2) In a grace filled community, the mature are those who, like Jesus, reach out to restore and save, whereas in a legalistic community, those held up for honour are, like the Pharisees, seemingly able to achieve more personal, if superficial, moral attainment than others.

3) A grace filled community encourages those who are secure and have an appropriate self-confidence, which is really a confidence in what God is doing in their lives through faith in Christ, whereas a legalistic community encourages insecure individuals to try and prove their worth by being better than others.

4) A grace filled community is full of individuals who think very little of themselves, not because they do not have self worth but because they are thinking of others, and how they can help them, whereas a legalistic community is full of individuals who think highly of themselves and are thus self-decieved. Anything good comes from God, for naturally none of us is good.

5) A grace filled community is filled with energy service and outreach. Each one carries his load of restoration, other peoples burdens, whereas a legalistic community is full of individuals who do very little, because they are always wondering about whether they've done enough to be saved. Rather than focussing on what God has done, they are focussed on what they need to do.

Church Life is Shaped by the Gospel (1 Timothy 3:14-17)

In 1 Timothy 3:14-17, we see that the churches life is shaped by the Gospel.  

Church life is shaped by obeying God’s Word.  Verse 14 tells us why Paul was writing, so that Timothy, and the church, might know how to have things in order. Paul isn’t wiring advice from one friend to another, he’s writing Scripture as an Apostle. And we must listen and obey. A Gospel shaped church is a church that knows the Bible, and preaches, prays and sings the Bible, a church that obeys the Bible and is shaped by the Bible. A church that will compare what the world says and what the Word says and follow the Word no matter what the personal, corporate or cultural cost. A church shaped by the Gospel is a church shaped by the Bible.

A Gospel shaped church remembers their standing before God. Paul describes the church as the household of God, the church of the living God. What a mess we get into when we forget that the church is about God and not about us! When our preferences and our desires take precedence over the designs and desires of God. There are all sorts of good things that the Church can be doing, all sorts of things that people within the church think it probably should be doing, but since it’s God’s household, He needs to be the One who has the final say. The church is the pillar and buttress, or support, of truth. God’s truth, not our truth. A Gospel shaped church remembers it’s place before God.

And finally a church shaped by the Gospel will be filled with people who know Jesus. It seems as though Paul changes subjects or gets confused here doesn’t it? He says ‘great indeed is the mystery of godliness,’ and then starts talking about a person. But godliness is simply knowing and growing in your relationship with Jesus, and this only really happens in the midst of a local church. So Paul doesn’t change the subject from church, to godliness to Jesus. Those three are one! We need to know the Jesus who walked on the Earth, the greatest and most real man there ever was. We need to know the Jesus who was vindicated at His baptism and in every miracle by the Spirit of God. We must believe in the glorious Jesus who was seen by angles, and who has been believed upon in the world as the Gospel spreads, the Jesus who will return from Heaven just as He arrived there. The Gospel shaped church doesn’t believe in a safe Jesus, a plastic Jesus, a Jesus who above all just wants us to be happy, a Jesus with perfect hair. The church that has it’s life shaped by the Gospel believes in the Jesus of the Bible.

Church Leaders are Shaped by the Gospel (1 Tim 3:1-13)

First Timothy is Paul’s instruction manual for church life, and Christian life. First Timothy shows us what lives ruined and rebuilt by the Gospel look like.1 Timothy 3:15 tells us that Paul wants to remind Timothy, and us, how to behave in the household of God. He had hoped to come and see Timothy sooner, but hadn’t been able to. What a blessing we’d have missed if Paul’s travel plans had remained intact! He’s already taught us about how to deal with false teachers, he’s taught us about the different roles that men and women have in the church, and now he’s going to teach us about what leading and living in the church itself looks like. Verses 1-13 tell us that the churches leaders must be shaped by the Gospel, and verses 14-17 tell us that church life is shaped by the Gospel.

The first two sections of chapter three deal with overseers, or pastors, and deacons. It’s pretty clear that the early church had a structure much the same as the one we use. Of course our deacons don’t do exactly the same thing as Timothy’s did, but the principles are the same. In verse one Paul says that this saying is ‘trustworthy,’ that’s his way of saying ‘pay attention, listen up at the back, this is important.’ Then he lists the standards for Pastors, and the standards for Deacons. The lists for the two are much the same apart from one difference, verse 2 says Pastors must be able to teach. They have to, morally and intellectually, be able to handle the Bible and explain what it says. Deacons don’t have to do that, although at Trinity we’re blessed with Deacons who are able to teach as well as their normal responsibility.

The men who lead the church must live lives shaped by the Gospel. In verses 2-5 and verse 8, we see they must meet a high moral standard. It’s a noble task, and we can’t just slouch our way into it. They must be ‘above reproach,’ they must be a one woman man. They must be dignified and disciplined, not violent, or argumentative, or greedy for money. Essentially, he must stand out from the world. When the world is angry, he must be calm, when the world is basking in immorality, he must be loyal to his wife, when the world is obsessed with the dollar, he must be obsessed with purity.

Overseers and deacons must also prove that they believe the faith. This sounds obvious, but if Paul included it in both lists, in verses 6 and 9 then it must have been an issue for Timothy. It’s certainly been an issue for the global church in the past. Overseers obviously must believe what they are to teach, but deacons too, even though they are not required to teach must hold fast to the truth.

These men who lead the church must also be a good example to those around them. Verses 4 and 12 teach us that church leaders need to lead their own households well. Their wives and children should be in church and growing in the faith, as far as it depends on them. Paul’s logic is obvious, if a man can’t lead his own house, what chance has he got of leading God’s house well? These men should be well thought of by outsiders. A church can’t grow if it’s leadership is setting a bad example. A church can’t grow if the man leading it isn’t well thought of. Why would be come to that man’s church? When we do these things well, we’re given great assurance of our faith. When we don’t fall into disgrace, when they serve well, they have a great reason for believing that their faith is growing, and that their lives are shaped by the Gospel.

Why I'm Thankful for Sunday Nights

I know a Sunday night service doesn't fit into the model of every church. Some churches use Sunday nights for prayer meetings or small groups, some churches don't have a sunday night service for a variety of good reasons. I don't want to debate the rights and wrongs of Sunday night services, i just want to say this:

I'm so thankful for our Sunday night service at Trinity.

I'm thankful for an opportunity to just go to church

On Sunday morning i teach sunday school and children's church. I want to meet visitors and make sure i touch base with all our teens. I love the sung worship, but i'm focussed on teaching for most of the morning. Teaching and containing the forty kids we had in children's' church this morning! But Sunday night, i just get to come to church, sit next to my wife, and be fed from the Word. And i'm thankful for that.

I'm thankful for an opportunity to sabbath

Sunday's are for God's glory and our improvement. Rest for the Christian doesn't mean to cease from activity, but to be with Jesus. There's a wonderful rest in being with God's people, in singing, giving and just seeing each other. There's rest in praying together, there's rest in gathering to sit under the Word, because there's rest in Jesus.

I'm thankful for family

In these Christ-haunted south eastern states, we might might be the last people in the world who are expected to be at church in Sunday morning. It's just part of the cultural make-up. Sunday nights though, are made up of the people that really want to be there. They really want to grow, they really want to sing, they really want to commune. They want to get up, get dressed and come to church again. I love the praise time we have sometimes on Sunday nights at Trinity. The battles and victories of the last week are shared and rejoiced in. Details are shared, because we're family. We love eachother and we love our church.

I'm thankful for the chance to be upside-down

The early believers were described as 'men who turned the world upside down.' And the Bible has that effect on it's readers. As i read through Matthew's Gospel recently i was struck by how Jesus constantly upends our categories and thought processes. Reading Genesis at the moment is teaching me that there is no middle ground, you're either following the God of Abraham, or you're not. And Sunday night church gives us another opportunity to do that. It'd be so much easier not to go back to church, so much easier to spend Sunday afternoon chasing our own entertainments. But what a waste! I'm thankful that Sunday night gives us a chance to say that there is something more important than our own comforts or interests, and that thing is churxh.

Reject and Protect

One of the reasons i love reading the Bible is the times when you can feel it slowly reshape your heart. Sometimes with the sudden power of a tornado, sometimes with the gentle persistence of the ocean reading the Bible informs us, changes us, it smashes up our categories and puts them back together again.

Reading the Bible confronts us with reality. In a day of mega-pastors, mega-churches and mega-conferences we need to the Bible to gently, or strongly, remind us what the church is for. That was Paul's aim in 1 Timothy. He doesn't give his young charge growth tips or ideas for a more engaging Sunday morning. he tells Timothy what the church is to reject, and what the church is to protect.

The Church, universal and local, then and now, must reject false teaching. Paul makes this very clear as early as verse three. Tell people to stop teaching different doctrines. Paul does tell us what they were teaching, but it was something Jewish, something mythical, something legal. Something that resulted in vain conversation and speculations, rather than the love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience. Reject false teaching. No matter how fashionable, no matter how comfortable, no matter how many people read the books, reject it. Spurgeon said, 'wrong is wrong though all call it right,' or something like that. And the church has to say that as well.

The church must reject false teachers as well. Not just their teaching, but them. Maybe this is who Hymenaeus and Alexander were. Hymenaeus pops up again in 2nd Timothy, so it's a fair guess that he at least was a teacher. Paul doesn't tell us that their popular and he doesn't want to cause a scene, he doesn't tell us we need to wait and see what they say next. He tells Timothy that he, personally, has handed them over to Satan. And this is a mercy! Mercy on false teachers means pointing out their false teaching.

And the church must protect what is true. How can we know what's true? Well does it issue in a deeper love for Jesus? A more whole-hearted love fro the brethren? Does it come from a pure faith and a clean conscience?

Paul's testimony in verses 12-17 are not a digression, he tells us what the church is to teach and protect.

Verse 13 tells us that Paul was a sinner before he was saved. A blasphemer, persecutor and insolent opponent, to use his words. So are we all, to a greater or lesser extent. That’s the bad news before the good news, that we’re all sinners, that we all deserve death. To get the Gospel right, the church must teach that.

Verses 12, 14 and 16 tell us that Paul was a sinner, saved by grace. Paul says that his strength comes from Jesus, that he received grace and mercy from Jesus. Our salvation is all of Jesus, and none of us. Jesus comes, Jesus lives perfectly, Jesus dies instead of us and rose again three days later. All we have to do is open the gift. Paul doesn’t want, or take, any credit for his salvation. And the church must teach that our salvation is all from Jesus, from beginning to end, if we’re going to teach the Gospel right.

Paul shows us in verse 17 that we’re saved to praise Jesus’ glory. Read that with me, because it’s so beautiful. This is what worship is. Recognizing God and giving Him glory. God is immortal, without beginning or end. He’s invisible, you can’t see Him. He’s the King of ages, His reign never ends. He is the only God. The choice is between God and no-god, not one god or another god. You were saved to give Him your attention and your affection.

These truths are the key and foundation of the church. Lose these, or even just assume them, and we lose everything.

The church must reject what's false, and protect what's true, for the sake of it's people. For the sake of every Timothy, every Hymenaeus and every Alexander. That what is beautiful may fill us to the core, and what causes shipwreck may be protected against. 

Tip Your Sacred Cows

First off, take about eight minutes to watch this beautifully shot, and compelling odd, film, Venom and Fire.




Like i said, odd huh? But i'm not trying to make fun of these people or the things they believe. When we finally know as we are known, there are probably things i do, and believe, that will make running around the auditorium with a molotov cocktail seem pretty mundane. And there's no doubt that these people sincerely believe what they're doing is within the boundaries of Biblical Christianity. That makes them sincerely wrong of course, but in many ways it makes them preferable to whatever the latest megachurch craze is by the time you're reading this!

There are sacred cows in every church, every movement, every denomination. And we need to find them, and tip them over.

We find them, first of all, by looking to the Bible. Protestants are people of the book. We're Protestants basically because we believe that the Word forms the Church, not the other way around. It's not just as simple as that, but i think that's a decent summary. We're not saved by handling snakes, or wearing a tie, or reading the King James, but by trusting Christ for salvation, as it tells us in the Bible. Would that guy go to Hell if he stopped handling snakes? No! Will your church be Ichabod if you try something new this weekend? No! But we all have this golden calfs that we can't see beyond. The subjects of this film's are fairly obvious, but only because they're not the same as ours.

We're all like Solomon, we don't know how to come in or how to go out. We all need the wisdom that's from above. And we need protecting from extra Biblical practices, because what we practice is what we believe. We need to know the Bible well enough so that we don't think that just because Paul handled a snake in Malta, we all do. It's the same thing that leads to advocates of homosexuality pulling random verses out of Leviticus to argue with. They could save time by simply tweeting, 'i don't understand how the Bible works.' But we, people of the book, should. Practice like this should drive us back to our Bibles, humble and childlike, making sure we are the people of the book we say we are.

'People say, if I come to your church you'll throw a snake on me.' Well that would put me off! But what extra Biblical expectations put people off coming to your church or to mine? What they have to wear? What they have to do? We may not handle snakes, but if there's something outside the Gospel that puts visitors off, what can we do about it? What sacred cows must we tip? Where are our snake boxes and flaming bottles?

On The Fringe

Over the past thirty years, people's view of atheism has shifted from seeing it as being fringe, extreme, and morally suspect. Now, secular, atheistic ideology seems to be at the heart of the British establishment. No one bats an eyelid that the leaders of the two main political parties are atheists.

Michael Foot, leader of the Labour Party in the early 80s, was seen to be brave, principled, even foolish for not tempering his atheistic beliefs. This can't be waived off with the suggestion that 'everyone used to be a Christian,' - even the ruthless sceptic Voltaire admitted 'i want my lawyer, my tailor, my servants, even my wife to believe in God, because it means that i shall be cheated and robbed and cuckcolded less often...If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.' 

While many find the new atheists (Dawkins, Miller, Grayling, et al) a tad angry and awkward in their presentation, their application of evolutionary biology to religion and ethics is mainstream. Moreover it is now Christianity which is held to have the extreme, edgy and morally suspect worldview. Christianity is variously accused by aspects of the establishment as being totalising, judgmental, homophobic and threatening to the harmony of our secular state. Christians who wear crosses to work or who publicly express the historic, Biblical view on homosexuality may find themselves arrested by the police or dragged in front of employment tribunals.

Richard Cunningham, UCCF Director, UCCF Annual Review

In my 10th grade history class on Friday, we talked about how Christianity went from being illegal to mandatory in the Roman Empire in just 70 years. 'And the church has never recovered,' i quipped. The current state of affairs, and the change in that state has been brilliantly outlined above by Richard Cunningham, and the situation in the United States can't be far behind, in the bigger cities at least. But i'm not sure it's a bad thing. Richard goes on to talk about how the change in mood on British campuses has lead to more and more people asking about the Gospel.

Why?

I think because Christianity, by design, does it's best work around the edges of culture, rather than in the mainstream. Jesus, after all, was a carpenter living in a backwater of a backwater, rather than the Roman Emperor. His earliest followers were fishermen and tax collectors from the wrong side of town. It was Peter's redneck twang that revealed him in the high priest's courtyard. And yet these men changed the world. You're reading this because of them!

I say all of that to say simply, we must not lose heart, or grow frustrated when we see Christianity and Christians pushed to the fringes of social acceptability. That's where we've been for most of time, in most of the world. And as proven by the work on British university campuses, that's where we do our best work...

Holy Spaces

'I stood in the room where Nate Saint's wife heard about her husband's death, can you imagine?'

He had goosebumps telling me. I had goosebumps hearing it. Why do some spaces evoke such emotion in us? Why do some piles of bricks and mortar make us feel something?

I've been thinking recently about church buildings. Alistair Begg said, in a message on mark 13, that 'God is no more present inside a church building than he is in the gents toilet...' To which i want to say, 'yes...but.' Yes, God is omnipresent, and nowhere more really there than anywhere else. (how's that for a sentence!) But there is something special about church buildings isn't there?

Why do we whisper in a cathedral? Why does it feel peaceful to sit in an old church building? Why did Moses have to take off His sandals? is there such a thing as a holy place? Sports fans obviously think so. There is something special about Adams Park. The looking Frank Adams stand on the far side, the loomed over old main stand housing the dressing rooms and the club offices. The Valley End with it's once blue crash barriers, and the away end (or the new away end, depending on how old you are!) For supporters of a certain age, there's something special about the carpark at Wycombe General Hospital, because that's where Wycombe Wanderers used to play. (not on the carpark, they've paved over it! Criminally.) 

Yes...but, you say. I know, Wycombe Wanderers are actually, really, spatially present at Adams Park in  a way that they're not anywhere else. God isn't. God doesn't live at church, you know that. But...but there is something special about the building where we meet Him isn't there?

Right now that building is empty, dark, quiet and probably a bit stuffy because, even in North Carolina, no one expects the weather to warm up forty degrees in a week! By 1040 on Sunday morning it will be filling with people ready to worship, and hear the Bible preached. The church has entered the building. 

So maybe it's not so much the places that are special, but what we do there. There was nothing intrinsically sacred about the burning bush, but something sacred was about to happen. God isn't more present in the church building than the gents, or the supermarket, but i don't gather to worship with my brothers and sisters at Walmart. And this applies whether you meet in a thousand year old cathedral, and thirty year old church building or a brand new movie theatre. God is not more present, but you are.

So we need to be careful in our attempts to 'de-spiritualise' spaces. We're not walking out of the Temple marveling at the stones and lattice work, we're just gathering to worship. God is not more present in these spaces, but we are. 

The Great Promise

I love the great promise of Matthew 24:14. This Gospel will be preached to all nations, and then the end will come. Is there a sweeter 'and then' in all the Bible?

Jesus doesn't say the Gospel should be preached, or might be preached, or could be preached, He says it will be preached to all nations, and then the end will come. And we know Jesus is coming, we know the end is coming, so we know that the Gospel will fill the Earth as the waters fill the sea.

Nations doesn't mean Canada, Mexico and Brazil, but language groups or ethnic groups. The Gospel will be preached in and to every language, and then Jesus will return. So there's no fence sitting in the Christian life. There's no waiting around to see who wins, and then jumping in, we commit to pray, participate and proclaim.

We commit to pray. Jesus told us to. When He looked at the fields white for harvest, He didn't tell us to go, he told us to pray. How we pray for the end is how we gauge our passion for Jesus return. We don't prepare for His return with rapture wallcharts and collecting tinned food. Neither do we prepare for His return by doing nothing about it. We pray, maranatha, come Lord Jesus.

As we pray, we participate. We take part in the life of our local church, we commit our time and our treasure and our talents to what our church is doing. We share our faith with our friends, we let them know that we have found a feast in the wilderness, we ask them to come with us, because we will do them good, we tell them of our beloved and invite them to enjoy Him with us. We pray and we participate.

And we proclaim. The Gospel isn't true because it works, but it does work because it is true. It changes people, and so, because know the Gospel overcomes, we share the truth of it with people. We're not worried about being slurred because we believe in one God and one way to Him, we go and we lay down our lives to share the Gospel, like the millions before us have.

Is the great promise of Matthew 24:14 making a difference in your life? Are you praying? Are you participating? Are you proclaiming?

The Ramshackle Religion

The following is an excerpt from Unapologetic, by Francis Spufford, which i've just finished. Unapologetic attempts to explain Christianity from the inside, essentially, from inside the author's head. I'd cautiously recommend it, as i'll (hopefully) explain when i review it some time this week.

So no, i don't think that most British Christians are in mourning for times past. And though i write this book to try to extricate for people, from the misleading ruins of half-memory, what Christianity feels like from the inside, i don't expect my religion ever to be any less ramshackle, in my time, where i live. And that's all right. For sure, i would be be if people weren't quite so rude. It would be nice if they didn't brandish crude cartoons of nineteenth century thought and expect you to reel back, dazzled. It would be nice not to be patronised by nitwits. It would be nice if people were to understand that science is a special exercise in perceiving the world without metaphor, and that, powerful as it is, it doesn't function as a guide to those very large parts of experience that can't be perceived except through metaphor. It would be nice if people saw that the world can not be disenchanted, and that the choice before us is really choice of enchantments.

 

It would be nice. But it isn't necessary. Because the churches are open, doing their ancient and necessary business, and they will be open tomorrow, and the day after that, and that, onwards into far time, in some form or another. And it doesn't really matter what form, much though we may love the form they have now. They will still be offering a hush in which we can bear to find out what we're like. Christ will still be looking at us from the middle of the angry crowd. God will still be there, shining.

 

Unapologetic. Francis Spufford, Pp 221-222

A Church on every corner

It takes five minutes to drive from our house to church. Three minutes when we get both green lights. In those five minutes we drive past five churches, of which ours is the sixth. Five churches in five minutes...it's like a Bible belt joke, but it's true.

You'd think that in such a churchified city, something would be different. I guess i don't know what but perhaps you wouldn't expect the first segment of the local news to be a round up of young men who have killed or been killed in the last twenty four hours. But it's true.

A church on every corner should point to the great spiritual strength of a city, but increasingly, i think it does just the opposite. You knock on someone's door, and it's 'no thanks, i go to that church...over there.' It makes us complacent, it makes us insular because if we disagree with someone, there's always another church to try. I think it actually hinders a mission to reach a city.

But i think, perhaps paradoxically, it also makes finding a good church harder. I've never lived anywhere that has churches advertising on TV, but on some local stations in Greenville, they do. What do they advertise? Their faithful repetitiveness of the Gospel? Their solid Bible study classes or commitment to the great commission? Well maybe i've missed that advert, but the ones i've seen is all about the music and the lights. The youth. The venue.

It makes choosing a church hard because having a church on every corner obscures the major issue.

How do i find a church? Do i go where my friends go? Where i can see my front door from the church? Where the music is to my taste? Somewhere the kids enjoy? Or where the Gospel is preached? It obscures that issue because it makes it harder to settle. It's the tyrany of choice. If you didn't like the music, or the way people where dressed in one church, well you can try another one...and then another one...and then another one.

This sort of culture encourages us to be church shoppers. It encourages us to focus on secondary issues rather than on the Gospel, We should be able to say 'if the Gospel is being preached, i can put my preferences to one side.' I can wear a tie or not, i can take the Lord's Supper slightly more, or slightly less frequently than i'd prefer, i can deal with the youth pastor's funny accent. But what chance has that sort of thought got when there's a church on every corner? It caters to the very worst of our attitudes to church.

So how should we find a church when there's a church on every corner? It's simple. Go where the Gospel is preached. Don't go where your favourite phrases are repeated, go where the Gospel is preached. Don't go where people look like you, go where the Gospel is preached. Don't go where your friends are, go where the Gospel is preached.

A church on every corner should be a good thing. But don't let the hundreds of secondary issues settle where you go to church. Go where the Gospel is preached. And go often.

How will I love Jesus in 2013?

First and Second Timothy might be two of the most emotive books of the Bible. Paul, moved with love, compassion and care writes two last times to his son in the faith, to encourage him after he has gone. The question on Paul's mind would have been, 'how will Timothy love Jesus when i'm gone?' The question on our lips this morning should be something like, 'how will i love Jesus in 2013?' With the distractions of the world, with the constant buffeting of sin, the discouragements  and strife, how will we love Jesus in 2013?

Paul sums it up for Timothy, and for us in just one word in 2 Timothy 3:14, 'continue.' 2013 will be about continuing for Christians. There will be new fads, new controversies, new 'follow this programme to grow your church into the 1000s', but the only Biblical answer? Continue.

Christians must continue in Bible reading. No matter how you read the Bible this year, make sure you're reading. The Bible will help us continue in our faith. It reminds us of the constancy and ancient relevance of our faith. Once again we'll start with 'in the beginning' and end with 'amen.' Adam will sin, Abraham will lie, David will go for an ill advised walk, Israel will fall, and Jesus will rise again. We'll sing Psalms and lament sins. If God has spoken in the Bible, may our prayer be that we would hear Him clearer in 2013 than ever before.

We must continue to pray as well. I was challenged towards the end of the year by a tweet from John Piper. The idea was that if you're not praying for influence over people, you must not think that what you believe, or can input is very important. We are nothing more than who we are in secret with Jesus. Pray to glorify God with your life, pray for forgiveness and sanctification, pray for those around you, pray for the lost, across the street and across the globe. Talk to Jesus each day like He is a real person. Continue in prayer.

And continue in church attendance. I am more and more convinced that your view of Jesus is reflected in your view of the Church. If church isn't a priority, then Jesus probably isn't. If signing, giving, and listening to good preaching bores you, guess what? Jesus probably bores you as well. If you struggle to pay Jesus attention at the one time where you know a lot of other people are, what makes you think you're ever paying attention to Jesus. If you think you're 'too cool' for church, then you need to repent, if you don't understand why church attendance is important, the you need to read the Bible, and ask the Lord to fill your heart with love for His Bride.

2013 will bring us many opportunities to indulge in that which Christians should be most wary of, novelty. Don't spend 2013 chasing what's new, continue in the Bible, continue in prayer and continue in church. And by so doing, you'll continue with Jesus.

But Grow

2 Peter 3:18 tells us to 'grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.' That's a command. Peter tells us that Paul's letters are hard to understand and some people twist them for their own means, but we, Christians, are to grow as we read them.

So whats your plan for growth?

Jesus has graciously given us means for growth. We have the Bible. if you're reading this from an English speaking country then you are incredibly privileged to have the Bible in a multitude of translations and readily available. We need to pay attention, we need to grow, we need to obey this command to have more of Jesus. What's your Bible reading plan? What's your Bible reading time? I need to read in the morning when i first get up or i really struggle to get it done! Do you read a chapter or day, or four, or ten? It's not important how much you read, but how you read, with our eyes on Christ, and that you read. As Cat Caird puts in two wonderful posts, we need to feast on the Bible.

But we grow in community. Jesus came to earth and started the church. It was His idea, so we really should get on board! It's wonderfully true to say that we have a 'personal relationship' with Jesus, but that's not all that's wonderfully true. We need community, we need to live out our relationship with Jesus in community. That was the idea from the start. In fact, that's one of the reasons that Robert McCheyne came up with the first Bible reading plan, so that his church would all read together and he would know what his people were reading. Church helps us to grow by exposing us to gospel preaching, wiser saints and the ordinances which present the Gospel to our senses.

Hebrews 2:3 asks us 'how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation.' Neglect, not oppose. Drift away from, not walk away from. The tide of our natural affections take us away from Jesus. if we neglect the course of this tide, we'll drown. So we have to swim against this tide. Drifting from Christ doesn't happen mainly by opposing the great doctrines of the faith, but simply by slowly being carried away.

We need more of Christ. Our champion, our standard bearer, our king and husband. What's our plan to grow, to get more of Him?

Richard Sibbes, via Dave Bish, sums it up well:

It should be the study and care of every Christian to study the excellencies of Christ, not only in general, as in the Creed, 'he was born for us of the virgin Mary, was crucified, buried died etc.' which every child can say but to be able to speak particularly of the high perfections and excellencies of Christ.

What is the ability to speak particularly of the high perfections and excellencies of Christ if not Christian growth? And how shall we grow if we neglect the means God has given us?

When the World Laughs

Our Christianity has the appearance of being an adjunct or an appendix to the rest of our lives, rather than the main theme and driving force of our existence. We seem to have a real horror of being different. Hence all our attempts and endevours to popularise the church and make it appeal to people. we seem to be trying to tell people that joining a church will not make them so very different after all.

The world expects Christians to be different and looks to him for something different, and therein shows an insight into his life that regular church-goers often miss. The churches organize whist-drives, bazaars, dramas, fetes and that sort of thing so as to attract people. We are becoming about as wily as the devil himself, but we really very bad at it; all our attempts are hopeless failures and the world laughs at us. Now, when the world persecutes the church, she is performing her real mission, but when the world laughs at her, she has lost her soul. And the world today is laughing at the church, laughing at her and her attempts to be nice and to make people feel at home. My friends, if you feel at home in any church without believing in Jesus as your personal saviour then that church is no church at all, but a place of entertainment or a social club. For the truth of Christianity and the preaching of the Gospel should make the church intolerable and uncomfortable to all except those who believe, and even they should go away feeling chastened and humbled.

Martin Lloyd-Jones, March 20th 1927. From a sermon on Hebrews 13:14

As we prepare for Sunday, are we putting more effort into making the truth known in our towns and cities, or into making sure we get a good crowd of people who feel like we are respectable members of their society? The above quote is not to say that guests are unwelcome at church, (obviously!) but that they shouldn't be comfortable, it shouldn't be like going to a coffee shop with their friends. Something of the almighty and eternal must be bought to be bare on their consciences, something of the unique hope in Christ, or we have failed. If communion, or baptism, or church membership or anything that marks a line between church and world teaches us anything, it is that, in the best way possible, there is no real belonging to a church, until you believe, and when you believe, everything changes.

The Pendulum of Christian Liberty

Is there a right way to 'do' church? One of the most interesting, and at times, frustrating elements of the New Testament is that Paul nowhere outlines what Sunday mornings looked like in his churches. Is this because his people already knew? Or simply because it wasn't important?

I think Acts 21:17-26 is really helpful in thinking through this question. Paul had been among the Gentile churches for a few years now, and he returns to Jerusalem. James hears about God's work among the Gentiles and rejoices, Paul hears about God's work among the Jews in Jerusalem and rejoices. As an aside, 'many thousands' in Jerusalem at that time must have been a significant minority, if not a majority.

Then, at the end of verse 20 and into 21 comes the showdown. James tells Paul, 'listen, in Jerusalem our Christians are zealous for the law, and they've got a bad idea about your approach to the law. What are we going to do?' Basically James is telling Paul that nothing has changed since Acts 15. What would you expect Luke to tell us next? That Paul opposed James to his face, like Peter in Galatia. But instead, he takes a vow, purifies himself, and goes to the temple. What ever is going on here? Surely Paul is not selling out?

First of all, we have to see that as long as the Gospel was believed, observance of the Old Testament law was not an issue. This wasn't akin either to idol worship, or the ice cold legalism in Galatia. It didn't swing either into licence or legalism. The culture of law keeping had submitted to the Gospel. James rejoiced that Gentiles were being saved, he knew they weren't keeping the law which shows us that these Christians did not believe that their law keeping saved them.

Secondly, and what struck me the most, was the example that Paul gives us about Christians and culture. We can keep any part, of any culture, as long as it doesn't counter the letter to the Gentiles in Acts 15. That is, any part, of any culture that isn't idolatrous, immoral or inhuman. Any loveless part of culture, or any part that might cause us to stumble is out. The problem in Galatia was that the law had become and idol, the problem in Corinth was that the cults had prostitutes. Neither of these things are an issue in Acts 21.

This is why i should, shouldn't and do, wear a coat and tie to church. There is no one culture that Jesus would show up in tomorrow and say 'yeh, this is it,' not even here in the Bible belt. God is no respecter of persons. At the loving, warm, mission minded, conservative Baptist church that i serve at at the moment, it's broadly expected that the men, particularly the leaders, wear a coat and tie on Sunday morning. Not everyone does, not everyone has to, but because of Acts 21, i do. I used to go to church in shorts and flip flops. was that wrong? A thousand times no. Does Jesus love me more now i dress like a lawyer on a Sunday morning? A million times no.

What we see in Acts 21 is the pendulum of Christian liberty swinging both ways. Christian liberty means, as long as you have Gospel central, and right, everything else is negotiable. Turn the lights down and the amps up if you want, or put on a tie and open up your hymnal. As long as the Gospel is central and preached, love Jesus and do what you want.

The centrality of the Gospel is important above all things. James rejoices of the salvation of law breaking Gentiles. Paul observes the law in Jerusalem. In all things they are bound only by the Gospel. In all things we must, must, be bound, only by the Gospel...

Pass The Baton

The Gospel, and thus the local church, is only ever one generation away from disappearing from the face of the Earth. If no Christian alive today taught his children, or reached his friends with the Gospel, then there would be no church for our grandchildren to attend. It is one of the most remarkable, and overlooked, miracles that the church today still possesses and proclaims the apostolic Gospel.

How does that happen? We pass it on, we tell people about Jesus. We reach out to those who don't know Him, and we reach over, to help those who do know Him to know Him better. Paul shared this concern with Timothy in his final letter to him. If 2 Timothy 1 is about the protection of the Gospel, then 2 Timothy is about the propagation of the Gospel.  Paul tells Timothy to remember the Gospel he preached. Paul's not talking about a private conversation here, a ministry insight he shared with Timothy over coffee one day, but something that happened 'in the presence of many witnesses,' maybe at Timothy's ordination, or maybe just on a normal Sunday. Timothy's apostolic authority remained as long as he was faithful to the apostolic message. Paul didn't tell Timothy to reinvent the wheel. He didn't tell him to remember what the people in Ephesus liked, he simply told Timothy to remember the Gospel he had heard.

Then Timothy was the 'entrust' that message to others. He was to pass it on to 'faithful men.' This could've happened then and can happen now in a variety of ways. Firstly, it had to happen from the pulpit. As Timothy looked out on a Sunday morning at his people, he knew part of his job was to preach the Gospel to them, to help them remember what they had heard from Paul. But it had to happen elsewhere as well. When Timothy met with a troubled family, he had to remember the Gospel, when he married people, he had to remember the Gospel, when he went to buy bread, he had to remember the Gospel. And he had to pass the Gospel on. He had to find the faithful men in his church who he could train and disciple, the men to whom he could entrust the message. He had to meet with them, spend time with them, and love them, just as Paul had with him.

One thing i love about being a Youth Pastor is when i see someone's eyes opening to the joys of the Bible for the first time. The Bible stops being something their parents read, and becomes their's. It stops being something for Sundays and starts being food for the day. It stops being a chore and becomes a delight. I love seeing that and hearing that. I love passing it on.

At the moment, it's my responsibility to pass on what has been given to me. And soon it will be theirs. What a responsibility all of us, whether in paid ministry or not, have to find faithful men and women and teach them, the Gospel, so that they can pass it on in years to come.

Holiness is a Group Effort

What do we think when we think of holiness? I guess depending on how deep or shallow our relationship with God feels at the moment we're asked, our answer will fall somewhere on a line between boring and beautiful. If we're drinking from the cracked cistern of sin, we'll see holiness as dull, as something that ruins our fun, if we're bathing in the living water that comes from Christ you'll see holiness as life itself.

But how often, when we're asked about holiness, do we think about the local church? The local church is holy in itself in two ways. First, that it is set apart from the world, as the visible body of Christ in it's town or city. It is holy in that it is different. Second, it is holy in that the men and women who make up the church are, or should be anyway, men and women who love Jesus and who see Him as their first priority, who love Him and seek to honour Him.

But the church should make us think of holiness in this way too. We need the local church, the gathering of Christians in a certain place, at a certain time, to be holy. I'd even go so far as to say that you're love for Jesus, and therefore your commitment to holiness is directly reflected by your commitment to the local church.

Paul is saying his goodbyes to Timothy in 2 Timothy. He knows the end is near, and he'll probably never see his son in the faith again. In chapter 2:22 he exhorts his young protege to holiness. He calls on him to 'flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace. along with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart.' Sometimes we overlook the small but important parts of the Bible. Timothy's holiness was a group project. He wasn't called to do it by himself, but to do it 'along with those,' who were also running after righteousness, faith, love and peace. There is no way Paul expected him to do that in any arena other than the local church. You could argue that Paul just described the local church!

We need to be along with those. We need to be along with those, as in people who are like-minded and like hearted, people who will do us good. And we need to be along with those. We need to be together with these people. Sharing our lives, our time and our homes with them. Sharing our Sunday mornings with them. This is where you might think, 'well i'm ok with just Jesus and me, i don't need the church.' Well, yes you do, for at least three reasons.

• Jesus will return for a bride, not a harem. 
• You're not ok. Your mind is an idol factory, and apart from good teaching and correction in the local church your mind will happily call any feel good idol 'Jesus.'
• The local church needs you, your gifts, your abilities. And you need the gifts and abilities of the local church. This was Jesus' plan from the beginning. He instituted the church and  organised a religion. So stop going out into the woods with your candles!

Your commitment to the local church shows your commitment to Jesus. Your commitment to the local church shows your commitment to holiness. Holiness is a group project...get involved!

What Provo is Teaching Me (II)

Personal reflections in a public space are a difficult thing. We've all got that friend on Facebook who seems to think they're writing in their private diary, but at the same time, i think i'm learning some things that are worth sharing, but i guess that'll be up to you to decide!

In Provo i learnt that the Gospel is our only hope.

Ok, so i knew this already, but it's easy to lose focus on that isn't it? Mormonism is a dense plot of thorns and the Gospel is the only sword that will cut through them. It's easy to think that to introduce Mormons to the Gospel you have to go for the jugular on some of the things they believe. But you don't. The truth speaks for itself, it shines the glory of God out for those that will see it. Obviously there is a huge need for culturally sensitive outreach, for well thought out apologetics, but only if they flow from and to the Gospel.

In Provo i learnt Church planting is hard, so we need to do it.

It's not just Provo that needs a Christian church. It's Francis, and Heber City, and Park City, and South Summit and the innumerable communities that line the interstate on the way to the airport. Church planting out there is hard. It's not just that Utah is full of Mormons, it's also that there just aren't that many churches there. In fact, leave the Bible belt, and there aren't very many churches anywhere. Plant a church 'out west' and you'll probably be up against it. But this is Christianity isn't it? We move away from leisure, like Christ, so that others can move towards God. We who are rich become poor, so that those who are poor become rich.

In Provo i learnt If you're good enough, you're old enough.

You don't need to cross an age threshold to serve the Lord. You just have to have a heart for God and people. Cities need churches, and we need to produce the men who are going to plant them. We might be the men who are going to plant them. Logan and Grayson discovered their passion, and lived it out.

Jesus never leaves us.

Jesus' last words in Matthew are so precious. I will never leave you. On the plane, i'm with you, when you knock on a door, i'm with you, when you have a difficult conversation, i'm with you, when you're discouraged, i'm with you. I am always with you. Beautiful.

Don't Lose Focus on Sunday Mornings

Sunday morning's service was busy. We had the usual welcome and announcements to make, offering to collect and message to be preached. We also had a separate offering for our mission trip to Utah, a baby dedication,  baptisms and people coming into membership. It felt like a lot to fit into an hour and a quarter, and more than that, if felt like a lot was going on apart from the preaching!


How do we avoid losing focus on a Sunday morning. How to keep from slipping out of our busy week into a busy Sunday morning and end up not meeting with God at all? 


First of all, i believe our Sunday mornings are bathed in prayer. We pray throughout the week and throughout the morning, asking God to be honoured and God to speak during our meeting time. The best way to lose focus on God, is to stop praying. When we don't pray, we're liable to work in our own strength, pointing people toward our own wisdom and trying have our needs met. 


Secondly, everything we did on Sunday pointed backwards and forwards to the Gospel. We gave our money joyfully to support the cause of Gospel in Greenville and beyond. We welcomed new members to our church, covenanting with them. We baptised, and we were reminded of Christ's death and resurrection as believers went under the water and rose back up again. We sang songs that reminded us of the depth of our need and the fulfillment of Christ.


And finally, the Gospel was preached. The Bible was opened and God's man was God's mouthpiece. Everything we did was driven by the Gospel, everything we did served the Gospel. 


The main thing is the keep the main thing the main thing. As the Gospel bears fruit in people's lives, it will produce busier church services. And that is good, and Sunday was very good. If the Gospel is the centre, the church will grow, and God will be honoured, and focus will not be lost.