Entrusted

2 Tim 2:1-2 says "You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others."

It would be fascinating to have the time to trace back how the gospel came to you, not just directly but right back to Acts and the Apostles. To see how people like Paul entrusted the gospel to reliable people like Timothy, Titus and others, how they then in turn entrusted that gospel to the next generation of leaders, who taught it faithfullya nd entrusted it to others who.... No doubt sometimes a line of trust went cold but then just like with King Josiah God stirred someone after reading his word. It would be an amazing opportunity to be struck afresh by the sovereignty and grace of God to us.

To be entrusted with something is a serious privilege. You don't entrust someone with something that is of no account, you only entrust someone with something that is valuable that is precious, and what could be more precious than THE means of salvation and redeeming the world for the purpose God intended it?

Paul's challenge to Timothy is not a one off, we are meant to be involved in the same process of entrusting the gospel to the next generation who will be able in turn to teach and entrust it to others. Is this something that I have taken seriously? That our churches take seriously? It involves planning long term, for succession not stop gaps. But it is a natural result of realising the precious nature of the gospel that is entrusted to us. Who am I entrusting the gospel to?

Commitment-ophobia

I guess that is the term for it. Commitmentophobia - an irrational fear of making a commitment to something or someone. It is one of the features of our society. We do instant - be it coffee, fulfilment or happiness. If something isn't working how you want, well, you deserve to be happy so dump it goes the line.

That's why people move jobs so frequently - how rare it is to hear of someone who has been with the same company 25 years let alone a working lifetime. Ruby, golden and even silver wedding celebrations are becoming rarer and rarer as the average life of a marriage tumbles as a result of our instant society. It informs so much of our thinking from the trivial; the car is three years old I better start thinking about getting something newer, to the vital. I have to ask myself have I absorbed the commitmentophobic attitude of society? Especially when it comes to faith, discipleship and church.

Jesus makes no bones about the level of commitment that he is calling for when he calls the disciples. Mark 8:34-5 "Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it." Now that is commitment, and the reward is not instant.

Or take Luke 9:62: Jesus replied, "No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." Jesus is calling those who follow him to do so above everything else, above career, family, and hobbies. And where does he give us to be grounded and equipped to serve him? The local church.

Am I committed to following Jesus? To discipleship? Am I committed to the local church? What is it that drives my decision making? Is it career, family or discipleship? As I've been thinking about commitment and what I am committed to, the question is will I give my life to serve Christ expressed in serving the local church, will I commit to staying long term to serve there for God's glory? Am I prepared to turn down other opportunities in order to serve Christ faithfully in one place for my one lifetime if he so calls me to?

Character before competence?

Which do you look for most in a leader? Character or competence? I know we'd ideally like both, but which most important? Which can you train and develop and which rarely changes?

I've been looking again at Mark Dever's book 'The Deliberate Church', as I've been musing over the results of the survey I mentioned yesterday. Its a great book on the church and has some good chapters on leaders, specifically elders. He gives a helpful list of what a Biblical elder is not:

• simply an older male.
• simply a successful businessman.
• simply an involved community member.
• simply a "good ol' boy."
• female (1 Tim 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9 assume male leadership).
• a politician.

This is then followed by what an elder is, I've picked out the following highlights. An elder is:

• a man of exemplary, Christlike character.
• a man who loves Christ and displays that love in his service of others.
• a man who holds firmly to the truths of the Bible and will stand for them.
• a man with a good reputation in the community.
• able to lead God's people by teaching them God's Word profitably.
• committed to private prayer and Bible study
• living a holy life whilst engaged with society.

A good leader is known by his character and character is vital because the elder models godliness for others. Just as Israels spiritual health rarely rose above the level of its leader so it is with the church and its leaders.

A growing concern

According to a study undertaken in Britain and published in the last 12 months 65% of free church pastors/ministers are 55 years old or over. Now that is quite a worrying statistic, even if most of those pastors delayed retiring until they were 68 or 70 that would mean that in 12-15 years time 65% of free churches would be pastor less. Now I know that there are those at the moment who are off and being trained to take on those roles, but that statistic is only for current pastors, not total number of churches. And there are a significant number of churches who are pastor-less at the moment and looking for a godly gifted man. The number being trained will not fill both gaps.

In short there is something of a leadership crisis looming in evangelical Britain. Now I am not saying that churches have to have a pastor - pastors are after all only servant leaders. Others can preach and teach better, often those within our own congregations. But I still think there are benefits of having a pastor who is set aside and provided for by the congregation so that he can devote himself to teaching God's word, pastor the people and leading the church. I know for myself I have benefited immensely from that privilege and I hope in turn my preaching of God's word has improved and been used by God for his glory in the lives of those who listen.

But the looming leadership crisis may not be just in terms of pastors. I wonder if a study on elders would yield similar results? Certainly from the churches I can think of with whom I have close contact there are not many elders under 50, and most are 60 or over. Now I am not saying we need young men instead and should oust the older leaders, we benefit greatly from the wisdom and godliness that these leaders have acquired over the course of their lives. But how do we train up young men to take their place of leadership?

Are these young men not present in our churches or is it that we do not give them enough opportunities to grow and develop? The Bible seems to teach that you will be able to recognise men already qualified and doing the work of an elder in your congregation (1 Tim 3:1-7, 5:24-25). Lifestyle and character are the key, passion, commitment and love for others and Christ are identifying marks.

Is the question where have all the young men gone? Or is it have we given young men godly examples to follow, have we sought to mould them by praying with them and studying the Bible with them?

God's word develops character as we see what the calling of discipleship truly is, as we see what the love Christ has done for us and as that knowledge compels us to live lives that glorify him and the God we serve. As we teach and preach the gospel to people and pray for their transformation through the spirit applying that word we will see evidence of those characteristics God says denotes a leader.

The statistics that worry us should cause us to fall back on our only recourse - God, his word and prayer.

Who is he?

Who is he? That is the fundamental question that the gospels seek to answer, who is Jesus. And that is still the fundamental question in our evangelism. We can answer peoples questions until the cows come home and it is important that we engage in that business of knocking down barriers. But the key question is who is Jesus?

So we want to get round to looking at the evidence for him which the gospels give us. What we must encourage people then to do is to decide for themselves who this man is; who stills the storm, feeds the hungry, raises the dead, casts out demons, teaches brilliantly, dies on a cross, and is raised to life again. Who is he?

And having realised who he is what are they going to do about it? Is it to reject him or to accept and follow him?

Thinking Biblically about suicide

Suicide is a big issue in our society, in 2005 there were 5,671 suicides in adults aged 15 and over in the UK, three quarter's of which were among men. Apparently over the past four years more young men have died from suicide than any other cause. They are horrific statistics and show how hopeless many peoples lives are. But what is a Biblical and Christian response to such an issue?

Firstly we need to make sure that we have God and ourselves in perspective. God is infinite, sustains the universe without tiring, is glorious in his majesty and we are finite, need sleep, forget our anniversary and need to dress to impress, wear make up and do our hair. Yet the wonder is that God chooses to reveal himself to us and calls us to know him. Psalm 8 and Job 38-40 are good places to go to think about these things.

Having got our thinking straight what does the Bible have to teach us about suicide? Firstly the Bible doesn't hide from it, in 2 Sam 17 we see the frustrated Ahitophel take his own life and in Matthew 27 Judas does likewise. Secondly we see that sometimes God's people feel overwhelmed and unable to cope, in Numbers 11 we see that with Moses, in 1 Kings 19 with Elijah and with Jonah. Each asks God to take their life or expresses the sentiment that I'd be better off dead. Thirdly it is a sin to commit suicide, it is unlawful to murder (Ex 20:13) and only God has the right to take life (Jer 10:23, Ezekiel 18:4). Fourthly we need to realise that forgiveness for sins is through Christ alone (Acts 10:43), and fifthly that life here and now is an ongoing battle with sin.

Suicide is not the unforgivable sin. It is, however, a sin. It is swallowing Satan's lies that death must be better than this, that in the believers case you can't trust and rely on God as your rock. Suicide should make us feel compassion for our mixed up and hopeless world. The gospel, Jesus Christ saves from destruction and despair. The people of God must hold out the hope we have been given to the world.

We must also be engaged in the spiritual battle that is life here on earth, putting on the full armour of God as Paul exhorts the Ephesians to do. We must encourage those with depression and other problems to seek the relevant medical help and pray with them, love them and spur them on to put on that armour and live lives worthy of the gospel.

Can Christianity be moderately important?

I guess we prioritise lots of things in life, some are the most important things some are less so and some are moderately so. Where does Christianity rank?

Christianity is either true and the most important thing in the world, or it is rubbish and should be totally rejected, the one thing it cannot be is moderately important. The message of Christianity is actually astounding, it is unlike any other news you will here; that God sent his Son to die in our place so that we could be with him face to face without fear of judgement, that having died in our place God raised him from the dead as a sign that death is defeated. That is a phenomenal statement, and it either has to be true and the most important thing you ever hear or it has to be dismissed as rubbish.

At the end of Luke 5:1-11 as Simon, James and John have met Jesus they show us that actually they believed it was THE MOST IMPORTANT thing they had ever heard as "they left everything and followed him." Why? Because they recognised in Jesus someone who could remove their fear of judgement from God for rebelling against him. Simon goes from terrified to leaving everything because of the wonder of such great news.

Can you be a nominal Christian? The Bible says not. Can you be a lukewarm Christian? The Bible says look out if you become lukewarm. Why? Because the gospel, the good news of what Jesus has done is so amazing that it should be the dominant feature of your life. It is not news you can respond to moderately it is news of eternal consequence that is life changing.

Fear

I've been looking at Luke 5:1-11 for Sunday morning, its the calling of the disciples. What has struck me as I have done so is that Simon's response to Jesus revealing himself via the miraculous catch of fish is fear. We are told that they were "astonished" and Jesus first words to them are "Do not be afraid". Why were they so terrified?

Because of what the miracle revealed about who Jesus was and what they feared it meant for them. They knew they were not right with God and Jesus found them out! The natural response is to be afraid, judgement should follow.

But we don't really do fear, even when it comes to God. So somewhere there is a fundamental difference in our thinking about God and the disciples. I think there are two areas where we fail to appreciate reality here: we have a wrong image of God and a wrong view of sin.

The Bible reveals a God who hates sin, who can't even look on it, who finds it utterly abhorrent. Sadly that is not how we think. The challenge is to bring my thinking in line with the Bibles especially on these two issues and to tell others the truth.

Forgiveness for missed opportunities

Don't you hate it when it happens? You pray for opportunities to share the gospel with someone and then one comes along and you miss it. I was having a minor op yesterday and just as I was having the local anaesthetic injected into my head before the biopsy the nurse said "That looks like a heavy book you are reading?"

The book concerned is Jeffery, Ovey and Sachs 'Pierced for our transgressions'. She then went on to ask what it was about and was it blood thirsty? Probably not the question you want as the doctor is poised with the scalpel. I was not alert enough and just said that it was a theology book. What a missed opportunity - the book is all about hoe God in love sent his Son to die in our place for our sin so that we could again be in relationship with God.

What an opportunity and I missed it. It was a bit of a wake up call to:
1. keep reading books like that in public places - you never know when they will present an opportunity,
2. to always be ready - you never know when an opportunity will come, I should have thought more about the questions the book might pose,
3. to ask God's forgiveness (1 John 1:9) and be ready for the next opportunity to tell people the great news about God's grace.

The Word became Fresh

The Old Testament can be quite hard to read and understand. We all like stories but sometimes we get so caught up in the stories that we miss the point the Old Testaments narrative is making about God, his purposes and his future.

So when a book that is easy to read interesting and establishes sound principles for looking at such texts comes along it deserves reading. Dale Ralph Davis is an excellent expositor of the Old Testament and he has helpfully written 'The Word became Fresh'. Though designed for the preacher it is a great tool for anyone wanting to learn how to look at the Old Testament. The chapters on how to approach Old Testament narrative and reading with God at the centre are worth the price of the book on its own.

It's one book that I will keep returning to when having to preach Old Testament narrative or just reading it in my quiet times.

Why religion is never enough

Do you think of yourself as religious? My hunch is that actually we could all do religion pretty well, it would look different from person to person but we could all do religion. We like rules and laws from a young age and religion can provide us with those things.

What do you expect Jesus to say about religion? Luke 11:37-54 gives us a bit of a jolt! Jesus says religion is not enough. He is speaking to the Pharisees and religious experts of his day, they did religion brilliantly - they had ways of washing and strict rules about giving - but Jesus comments to them are quite devastating. He calls them 'fools' (v40), now that's not particularly polite in any circumstances but especially when sat around someones dinner table. But Jesus doesn't do it because he wants to be cruel he does it because he wants them to repent.

You see a fool in the Old Testament was someone who was blind towards God and therefore couldn't respond to God properly. That was the religious leaders problem, and Jesus does the most loving thing someone can, he risks opposition and offence by warning them of their mistake and the danger it placed them in.

You don't need religion he says you need a change of heart. Your religion isn't enough to make you right with God. He then goes on to show that he has come to do that, the prophets all point to him and if they want to honour them they need to recognise who he is and what he has come to do. To win a people for God who can come into a holy God's presence not because of religion but because they trust in Jesus who will make them right with God.

The tragedy is 2000 years later, I can still find myself slipping back into religion mode rather than trsuting in God's means of being right with him his Son dying in my place.

Am I an alien?

Am I an alien? Sometimes people regard Christians as being well a bit odd. And we are meant to be different but all too often we are not regarded as odd because we are different but because we are odd - because we are not engaged in the real world.

I was at a conference last summer and heard John Piper speak, I've been reviewing my notes again and came across this phrase in my notes; "Nobody is too heavenly minded. We are just not engaged in the world." Driscoll, whose books I have mentioned, suggests that holiness is not removing yourself from the culture around you but striving to be different whilst engaged in the culture around you.

That is what taking gospel risks is. Its all too easy to withdraw from the culture in order to strive to be holy. But how much more radical to strive to be holy whilst engage with the culture. How much more would people take note of us if our holiness was seen in the pub or club or in the workplace. The New Testament seems to envisage holiness to be a struggle and also to be obvious to the world around us, it certainly was in the early church as they stopped idol worship (1 Thess 1:9) as they changed their eating patterns (1 Cor 10) and tried to live a life worthy of the gospel not in monastic terms but whilst engaged in the culture.

No divide of sacred or secular just God's redeemed people living out the call to be holy as I am holy whilst going about their daily life.

Preparing disciples for university

I've been struck by the lack of a good book on discipleship for students about to go to university which will help them thing through the issues they will face. Its a real shame because it is a huge shift from living at home to living away, how do you find a church? What do you look for? How do you decide on boundaries about alcohol, going out, relationships? Do you get involved in sports clubs and the likes which some worry are just drinking clubs? How do I share the gospel with my new flat/hall mates?

All these are real issues which students face along with lots of others and there seems to be a gap in the market for a good book that Biblically examines these areas to help young people in this huge challenge.

Living life

We were thinking about 1 Thessalonians 2 in home group last night where Paul defends the gospel and himself by calling God and the Thessalonians to remember how they had lived while they shared the gospel with them.

I was particularly struck by verse 8 "We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us." Paul and his team had worked whilst in Thessalonika tent making so that they would not be accused of exploitation and greed. And as they had lived and worked among the Thessalonians they had shared their lives with them, those lives were what gave the gospel credence. It made the love that they had for the Thessalonians real, it made the message real. I can imagine the Thessalonians thinking; 'Wow they do really care for us look at how their lives show it, they're not like other peddlers of philosopher or ideas'.

It was as Paul shared his life with the Thessalonians that he shared the gospel with them with boldness (2) and daring. My biggest danger is of dividing my times into secular and sacred, this is my time for doing this, this is my diary or PDA allocated time for doing that. Actually the challenge of Thessalonians is that it shows us Paul, Silas and Timothy 24/7 sharing their lives and therefore the gospel with those around them. There is no secular/sacred divide. They shares their lives with the Thessalonians as they seek to win them for the gospel.

So what's my motivation?

Do you ever pause and wonder why you do the things you do? Or maybe why you do them in the way that you do? I guess ultimately it comes down to what drives us, what motivates us.

In Acts 16 we see that it is the gospel that motivates Paul. It is what causes him to go round strengthening the Churches that he has planted, no hit and run evangelism for Paul he has taken the great commission seriously and is in the business of making disciples not getting decisions. It means he goes to the churches he has established and clarifies the gospel by explaining the decision reached at the Council of Jerusalem.

But we also see Paul's motivation by the gospel in his training up of Timothy. Here he takes on a young man who has shown his character already (16:2, Philippians 2:19-22) and looks to train him in serving the gospel. Even going so far as to have him circumcised not because he has to be, but because it will enable him to reach the Jews for Christ, to enter the synagogue and temple and be accepted. The gospel drives everything Paul does, it leads him to bend and flex in order to avoid putting barriers in peoples way.

Then in verse 5-10 we see that the gospel motivates Paul in his movements. He is always seeking to go somewhere and share the gospel. He tries to go to Asia but is stopped so he tries to go to Bithynia but is stopped. What does he do next? Well he doesn't fold his arms and say I'm not moving until God tells me where he wants me to go. Because God has been doing just that, telling him where he wants him to go. So Paul takes the only way left which is to head North West, as he does so God doesn't prevent him and he has the vision of the Macedonian man. This leads to the establishment of the church in Philippi by verse 40 because God is at work. What drives Paul is the gospel, he is continually looking for ways to share it, to build up those who already believe it by clarifying it. Because Paul is gripped by the wonder of the gospel, by what he was and what he has been made in Christ.

Am I that gripped by the gospel? Is it what drives me? How do I react to negative guidance? Am I ready to go where there is a need and trust that God will direct me where best to be to meet that need? I need the encouragement of seeing that it was as Paul went that he was guided, that I am not to sit and wait but to get on with taking the gospel to a lost world.

An unlikely church

What is your church like? What sort of people sit in the seats or pews? Acts 16 is an amazing account of the founding of the church at Philippi, there is Lydia a seller of purple and a god-fearer, there is the spirit possessed slave girl and there is the jailer. Then in verse 40 it says Paul and Silas "met with the believers and encouraged them."

The gospel saves rich and religious, the possessed and enslaved and the pagan who is part of a hostile regime. It takes those people and welds them into a community based around the person and work of Jesus. This church is an astonishing display of the miracle of grace.

Are there people I have given up on seeing saved? Well the gospel is able. Are there people we don't try to reach? Well the gospel is a call to love and reach out to all.

The challenge of engaging with our culture

I recently finished reading Mark Driscoll's 'Confessions of a reformission Rev', its a book that is well worth reading for the challenges it poses to us in terms of engaging with the culture around us but also in terms of learning from the experience at Mars Hill.

The big challenge I found was that of being theologically conservative but cultural liberal. The call to equip our people and ourselves to be missionaries in their and our everyday lives, to encourage and exhort them to be that. To be in the culture but still be separate is the call to holiness. Am I in danger of being a Pharisee, they questioned Jesus integrity because he ate with sinners as if sin were somehow contagious, I must make sure I don't fall into the same trap. A helpful reminder and call to reengage with our lost culture and world.