Marks of the Messengers 3: Faithfully Repetitive

On Saturday morning we had our church leadership conference, an annual morning where we get together and share the vision for Trinity in 2013. I spoke on 'Marks of the Messengers,' from Mark 6:7-14. You can view part one here and part two here.

But we have to remember, that hopefully at least, it’s not us they are rejecting, it’s our message. And it’s a message we repeat. We see in verses 12-13 that messengers are repetitive. Look at those with me. What did Jesus send the 12 out to do? Preach repentance and heal the sick. Call people into the Kingdom and exorcise demons. Jesus didn’t tell them to make it up by themselves, He told them to repeat. This is just Jesus’ version of 2 Timothy 2:2, ‘what you have heard from men the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men, who will able to teach others also.’ What’s our aim this year at Trinity? To discover some great new idea? To be novel? No! To be old and faithful and orthodox and repetitive. To remember that the Gospel is the only relevant message, and to repeat it. And repeat it. And repeat it!

This is particularly important in youth ministry. There’s always a new curriculum, always a new dvd series, always a new guy with trendy facial hair telling us how he went from five teens to five million in five easy steps. Do you know how your teens are taught? Verse by verse, through books of the Bible. Read and explain, read and explain. It’s deeply unpopular, and deeply fruitful. Last Wednesday we looked at Mark 7:1-30 together, this Wednesday will be Mark 7:31-8:21. And when we’re done with Mark, we’ll go to chapter one verse one of somewhere else. Because Christian ministry is a ministry of repetition.

Christian messengers are always ready, sometimes rejected, and faithfully repetitive. And from this faithfulness, this obedience, the Lord gives fruit. I always pray for growth in two different ways. I pray we’d grow wider and deeper. Deeper in our knowledge and love and obedience to Christ. Deeper in our response to the Gospel, deeper in our prayer life and Bible reading. And that growth is happening in many, many teens, and that’s exciting. And width growth, growth in numbers. More people in Sunday school, more people in teen church. And that’s happening, slower than I would prefer, but happening all the same.

Everything that this youth ministry does, whether it’s bowling or a mission trip is informed by this philosophy. This is why we do awana, this is why we have Sunday school and this is why we have Wednesday night classes. We never do something just to do something. The teens who come bowling tonight will be challenged from the Word, a message I’m ready to give, a message that may be rejected, but a message that’s repeated.

As we go out as messengers, and as we train people to go out, we must prepare to be ready, to be rejected, and above all, to be repetitive.

Marks of the Messengers 2: Sometimes Rejected

On Saturday morning we had our church leadership conference, an annual morning where we get together and share the vision for Trinity in 2013. I spoke on 'Marks of the Messengers,' from Mark 6:7-14. You can view part one here.

But we have to remember, as Jesus warns us in verse 11, that sometimes we’ll be rejected. Read that with me. This is not a new teaching from Jesus. Remember He said if He was called Beelzebul as the master of the house, what will they call the servants in the house. Jesus was rejected wasn’t He? He came to His own, but His own didn’t receive Him. He was rejected in Nazareth; a prophet is not without honor, except in His hometown. He was rejected by the crowds in John 6, and finally, but the majority of His disciples. Jesus was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, and rejection.

Should we expect any better? Of course not! Paul warns us in 2 Corinthians  2:16 that we are the aroma of death to those who are perishing. That’s rejection. When you smell something like death in your house you throw it out, you don’t make a bouquet out of it. So many problems that the evangelical church gets itself into these days are because we’re afraid people don’t like us, we change to be liked. We worship a guy who got murdered, of course people don’t like us, of course our message is offensive! If we are going to be effective messengers, we have to get over the idea that everyone, everywhere is going to like us, sometimes they’ll shut the door in the face of your teenage son, sometimes they’ll ignore you in the checkout line, sometimes they won’t send you a Christmas card. That’s ok, that’s a mark of the messengers.

Marks of the Messengers 1: Always Ready

On Saturday morning we had our church leadership conference, an annual morning where we get together and share the vision for Trinity in 2013. I spoke on 'Marks of the Messengers,' from Mark 6:7-14.

One of the best things, and most vital things about Christian ministry is resisting the temptation to re-invent the wheel every year. Avoiding the thought that just because something is new, it’s also better. In 2013 there will be new books written, new programmes published and new ideas followed. But we know our responsibility, we know what will grow a church, and that is staying faithful to the plan that God reveals in the Bible. So, it’s with great joy that I take you to a two thousand year old book and share with you how Teen Ministry at Trinity fits into the overall philosophy of our church.

We see in these 7 verses from Mark’s gospel three things I’ve called ‘Marks of the messengers.’ Marks of the messengers. We’re the messengers, just like the original 12 were back then, what are to be our distinctive, what are to be our marks? We see in these verses that messengers are ready, messengers are sometimes rejected, and messengers are repetitive.

The messengers are ready, look at verses 7-10 with me. Jesus tells the 12 what to wear, how to dress, were to stay, what to bring. Is that important? Why couldn’t they bring bread or money with them? Because they had to be ready. They had to have a single focus on the task that Jesus had given them.

He doesn’t send the 12 out as sightseers; they’re not going to catch up with friends. They are going with a message. They don’t need money or food; they’ll be fed and accommodated. They need a staff, but not two coats, nothing that would distract them, nothing that would weigh them down. The instructions Jesus gives here are similar to those given by the LORD to Moses before the Passover escape. Moses is told that the Jews must eat ‘with your loins girded, you shoes on your feet and your staff in your hand,’ (Ex 12:11). They had to be ready to eat, and we have to be ready to carry the message where we go, and where we are.

The Church of England and Relevance

The first paragraph of Saturday morning's BBC website article sums it up well.

'A decision by the Church of England to allow gay men in civil partnerships to become Bishops has prompted criticism from both liberals and conservatives.'

Why? Because 'the announcement would allow gay clergy to become Bishops only if they remain celibate.' Quite apart from the simply impossibility of ever enforcing this stipulation, it's hard ignore the dangerous path that the CofE is on, and we mustn't ignore it, we must take heed of the warning it gives us.

Lets look at the policy for a minute. The CofE will ordain gay men in civil partnerships providing they remain celibate. Why? If it supports, officially and institutionally, gay marriage, then there's no reason they shouldn't be Bishops. I'm not clear on why they have to be married at all to be honest, are single heterosexuals allowed to be Bishops? That's a genuine question. But back to the main point. If the CofE sees no problem in two men, or two women being married, then those two men or two women should be afforded the same rights that any other married couples should be.

So why the celibacy clause? Why take away from these marriages the one thing that makes marriage unique? Why take away from these marriages what God has given to marriages? Unless...

Unless it's just a concession to keep conservatives happy. Unless it's just something for the CofE leadership to point to for people who don't want to be led by a gay Bishop. If demanding celibacy concedes, or even defines, that gay marriage is an oxymoron, why ordain gay men as Bishops?

It seems to be, as an outsider, that the CofE is trying as hard as it can, to be all things to all men. To be relevant, But if you try to be all things to all men, you end up being nothing to anyone. Liberals aren't happy because the Church is demanding celibacy from those who have been given the right to be married, and conservatives aren't happy because they see no way you can take the Bible seriously and call two men or two women a marriage. In chasing relevance they become irrelevant to all. What a mess.

The Gospel, the Biblical Gospel of the virgin birth, perfect life, vicarious death and glorious, bodily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth will always be relevant. It speaks to the greatest need of every man, woman and child who ever lived. The Church of England simply can not continue down this path. If gay marriage is ok, ordain married gay men, and let them be married. If not, don't. It's not that complicated is it? If the Gospel is relevant to all everywhere, preach the Gospel and don't be ashamed of it.

Imagine a Britain where the Church of England was true to it's Gospel roots. Where every little church, in every little village was a Gospel station. Where the Church uses it's privileged position in society to preach the Gospel. If the Queen can manage it, why not Archbishops?