Not getting on the property ladder

Grace Church has now been actively looking for a permanent building for a little over 6 months now. Those who know the area we are in will know as a former RAF base all the land was sold to Peel Holdings and there is precious little land in the area owned by anyone else.  We've spent the last 6 months enquiring as to the availability and cost of various pieces of land or property.  We have so far drawn a total blank.  Peel have nothing that is suitable for us.  The vacant, for sale, piece of land next to our house, which has been a car park of sorts for 12 years is for sale at offers over £1.2million (slightly beyond our budget)for an acre and a half.  We enquired about properties for rent or sale on the various business parks only to be told that they would not let or sell to a church because the owners want them to be business parks.

More recently we have been in contact with the council about any land available as part of the building of the new airport road (FARRRS).  But have heard this week that they are only compulsory purchasing the land required to build the road and so there will not be any land available to buy or build on.  The former local post office, that would be less than ideal but is vacant is being developed as further office space.  And the area of land, empty and disused, owned by South Yorkshire Housing Association they want to hold on to and will not sell.

It leaves us with few places to go.  We are very blessed in that we have a great working relationship with the school we hire, and there is no pressure from them for us to leave.  However, due to building work at the school we have had to stop our coffee morning and are just meeting there on a Sunday morning.  We are also limited as to what we can offer to serve and meet the community by not having our own building.  We remain convinced that God is good and sovereign and that though his ways are not our ways he will build his kingdom.  We are sure what he has in store for us is better than we can imagine even if we cannot see what that is yet.  And so I'd ask you to pray with us and for us.

When my will clashes with God's word

What do you do when your will clashes with God's?  There are two options aren't there, Jonah 1 makes that abundantly clear.  God says 'Go' Jonah can either say 'yes' or 'no'.  But it is what he does next that is so telling and also so easy for us to relate to.  Jonah says no and goes on the run. "But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord."  The question is why does he run?

It is clear that it isn't a theological problem.  Jonah knew that God was not limited by geography, that he wasn't restricted to the boundaries of Israel.  After all God had sent him to Nineveh, where Jonah expects God to be at work, hopefully (from Jonah's point of view) to judge the Nineties or maybe, Jonah fears, to forgive them when they repent.  He also has a large view of God as the one who made the seas and the land and who is the God for heaven.  Jonah doesn't run away because God may not be able to find him, though man has reacted to his sin by hiding from God ever since Adam in Genesis 3.  I think Jonah runs because he doesn't want Nineveh to have a chance of salvation and because he doesn't want the daily reminder of his sin in refusing to take God's word to Nineveh.

We are no different are we?  When our will clashes with God and we decide to sin we run from God and remove ourself from reminders of God's will and our disobedience.  We might start to become irregular at church, or home group, or anywhere where through his word God may confront us about our sin.  So often a long time after the event you find that behind the given reasons for someones non-attendance at church the real reason is a clash between God's will and the individuals.   And they stop coming because they don't want to be reminded of their sin, they don't want their conscience pricked, their sin outed.

But there are more subtle ways we may do it.  Are there no go subjects in our lives?  Places where our friends and family know not to confront us or challenge us?  Are there parts of the Bible we simply avoid because of the challenge they bring, a challenge we will not accept?

The great news of the book of Jonah is that God pursues his hard hearted people with grace.  Grace seen in discipline, grace seen in patience, and grace seen in forgiveness and undeserved restoration.

Haggai 1v1-15 - Mind the Gap

What does normal Christian life look like for you?  What do we just take for granted or assume is the norm?  Are there things which we assume are normal which really shouldn't be?

Haggai chapter 1 poses two big questions for us: 1. Is what we think of as normal really normal? 2. Do we have a glory gap?

Is what we think of as normal really normal?

When God’s word comes to Haggai Israel have been back in the land for how long? 18 years. In 538 B.C. about 50,000 Jews returned and enthusiastically began rebuilding the destroyed city. But – Ezra in his history tells us - the sheer scale of the job, opposition and hardship gradually slowed everything down, until final work on rebuilding the temple ground to a stop. As Haggai opens the temple remains a ruin. And gradually day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year that has just become normal for God’s people. It’s now 520 B.C. and they walk past the temple ruins everyday without batting an eyelid. They just don’t see it anymore, the house of God in ruins is normal, just part of the landscape.

It’s the way we work. When we see something for the first time we’re amazed by it. Then gradually as we see it everyday it becomes familiar, until we just don’t think of it as significant anymore. It’s happens with the new wallpaper, or a new car, or a building, or a ruin. Think about it in the UK, we are no different are we, we walk past ruined or boarded up or churches converted to carpet shops, clubs and Mosques and don’t even blink.

But God sends Haggai to wake up a complacent people, to show them that what they have begun to think of as normal must not be normality. Israel should not be in the land God gave them without a temple. They should not be able to walk down the road without stopping and praying and determining to do something about the temple. God’s presence is what set Israel apart from the nations around about them. The temple was the sign of God’s presence. It was a physical reminder that God hears prayer, brings grace, and forgives sin. It was the political and religious and social centre of life for God’s people. Or it should have been, but it had been left in ruins because they had gotten used to life without it. The abnormal had gradually become the new normal, and the temple and God was forgotten.

Is what we think of as normal really normal? When you think about the UK what have we complacently just accepted as the way it is? I can’t help thinking that we’ve just accepted the protected place of Christianity as normal. That’s seen in our shock at the increasing pressure we face as Christians living out our faith. Our freedom has quickly been eroded and it’s as if we’ve been caught by surprise. But what is biblical normality? John 15v20 “Remember the words that I said to you: A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” John 17v14 “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” That is biblically normal Christianity. Has living in this bubble of Christendom just lulled us into a false sense of security, a wrong headed idea of normality so that we are so shocked that we are in danger of failing to stand in the coming storm? So that when we experience opposition or rejection we find ourselves wondering what we did wrong rather than expecting the gospel to offend.

What about for you as a church? Where might you be settling for a normality that isn’t normal? Are we settling for comfort rather than stretching to reach the lost? Is our normal a cosiness that avoids speaking the truth in love to one another, avoids challenging sin? Or that settles for being thought well of as we engage in reaching our community rather than seeing the lost won and risking the offence of the gospel? Or that settles for middle class values rather than gospel values?

What about individually? What has become normal that just shouldn’t be? A prayerless life? Weeks without sitting down to listen to God speak to me in his word? A creeping cowardice that means we won’t dare to talk about Jesus with family or friends or colleagues? A defeatist acceptance of repeated failings with the same sin that means we just accept it as sad but inevitable and so no longer fight it?

Haggai asks us to stop and look at our normal, and ask is it really what God calls normal for his people? Where have we accepted things that just should not be? Where are we in denial of Biblical reality or all that God has made and calls us to enjoy as his people redeemed, adopted and blessed in Christ and empowered and filled with the Holy Spirit himself.

Do we have a glory gap?

God speaks to his people through Haggai, first to the leaders(2-3), “Thus says the LORD of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD.” God knows that they have stopped building the temple and won’t restart it again, and God wants the leaders to know and to lead. God knows the excuses the people have given. You can imagine the conversations ‘It wasn’t time to rebuild yet because of the opposition, when things quieten down’, ‘the time isn’t right we’re just too busy with the kids’, ‘there’s this and that that needs doing at home’, ‘Me, but I’m sure there’s someone more gifted at building than me’. Maybe the issue was disposable income, after all the economy has taken a downturn(6) and we never have enough. Perhaps they were waiting for a clear sign from God that this is what he wanted them to do?

Whatever the excuses were, God is dismissive of them in the contrast he makes. “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your panelled houses, while this house lies in ruins?” All your excuses and yet you’ve been able to find the time, energy and money to build ornate, fancy houses for yourself. God’s house is a ruin you’ve not got time for but your own home, well, that’s different. God shows them that their excuses are exactly that.

Because here’s the problem behind the problem, they have a glory gap. Well, gap is a bit of an understatement there’s a yawning chasm between how they think of God and what God deserves. Look at (8)what is it God wants them to do? To build the house so that he takes pleasure in it and is glorified. God deserves glory and they aren’t giving it to him, they’ll get to him once they finished the panelling and maybe an extension or two and the kids are through university. God is getting the left overs of their time and energy and there is little of that. Notice how God describes himself (5) “the LORD of hosts” literally Yahweh of heavens armies. He is the incomparable, the almighty, the one whose glory the temple could not contain, yet they aren’t concerned with his glory. God has brought them back, he is faithful to his promise, and yet they won’t rebuild.

Turn to 2 Samuel 7 do you see what David says (v1-3), the contrast? David wants to build a temple for God though God says he is not to. David desires to see God glorified, ‘how can I have a house like this when God is in a tent.’ What a contrast to Israel in Haggai’s time, a people content with God’s house lying in ruins whilst they panel their houses. David thinks of God rightly, he is concerned to see God glorified, but Israel in Haggai’s time have this glory chasm. Their view of God is too small.

Don’t we see that temptation in ourselves? To be so taken up with building our reputation, our home, our family, our comfort, our kingdom, our glory when we should be concerned with God’s. And the shift rarely happens all at once, we don’t wake up and think do you know what today I’m going to live for my glory. It’s so much more dangerous than that because it’s gradual, incremental, bit-by-bit that our priorities shift, that our sense of amazement at the glory of God wanes. And Haggai leaves us no room for excuses – look at your life and consider where your priorities are, whose glory are you seeking? Where have I, have we, just slipped into seeking my kingdom rather than God’s kingdom?

The faithfulness and grace of God

Haggai is one of God’s covenant watchdogs. He comes to call Israel away from danger and back to the covenant. Because God is faithful to his people and to his word. (6)Israel can’t find any fulfilment, there is little harvest, famine, drought, and don’t you love the picture of putting wages into a bag with a holes in – doesn’t that seem so true to how life so often is. There’s no satisfaction for Israel in material things, they just can’t get enough. And (9-11)God explains why; “I blew it away… I have called for drought…” Does that shock you? God withholding, God keeping stuff from his people.

But we need to realise that this is God loving his people. God is being faithful to his word in Deuteronomy 28, his promise that if his people turned from him, if they broke the covenant he would discipline them with famine and drought. Why? Because God loves them so much he won’t allow them to be satisfied with anything less than him, because nothing else will bring lasting satisfaction. “Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified says the LORD.”

God is faithful to his covenant, so full of love that he won’t let them be satisfied without him. He’s been calling them in the drought and the withholding, but they haven’t listened. So God slow to anger now sends his prophet Haggai to call his people back to him. To consider their ways, to see what they have gradually fallen into; the complacency and half-heartedness.

And what is Israel’s response? (12-15)They repent. “They obeyed the voice of the LORD their God…” We see a great picture of what repentance is here, they recognise the glory gap they have been living with and stop building their own kingdom and start building the temple. They turn from what they were living for and turn to God and are taken up with a concern for his glory which is evidenced in practical works of worship.

And just look at what God does. (12-15)Even as the people respond God is poised waiting to help them at the moment of their repentance. It’s as if God has been poised ready and waiting to pour out his blessing on his people, longing to spur them on if they will just repent. (13)He comforts them that failure isn’t final, complacency, wrong priorities haven’t forfeited their relationship with God, when they repent he is with them. God is full of grace. And more than that God is active in stirring them up to work. God isn’t giving them the silent treatment, he isn’t waiting for them prove the genuineness of their repentance. Full of grace he stands ready to accept it and pour out his spirit to help his people know him and live for his glory.

Do you see the grace and love of God? He knows that we cannot find satisfaction in anything other than him, and he disciplines us to that end. Calling us by his word and his work to make him our greatest treasure. Proving it once for all at the cross where he gives his son so that he might be our treasure.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus calls us as his followers to “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Why does he do that? Because it is what we were made for, it is not a hard task it is where joy is found. We are made to enjoy God and glorify him and we will not be content until we do, and God will let his people be satisfied with nothing less.

Do you see the call of Haggai, consider your ways? Where have we slipped from seeking to serve and seek him? Will we repent and seek him? And don’t you love that comforting image of God, just longing for us to find our satisfaction in him, ready, willing and waiting to enable and encourage us as we seek him and his kingdom and the joy to be found there.

Why is there so much poverty and inequality in the world?

That’s a great question isn’t it? Why do the richest 10% of the world’s population hold 75% of its income whilst the poorest 10% hold only 5%? Why tonight will 1 in 7 people go to sleep hungry? Why do over 300 million children go hungry every day? Why does a child die every 5 seconds of every day of hunger related causes? Why in our world do 1.2 billion people have to exist on less than 85 pence a day? And over 3 billion strive to live on less than £1.70 a day?

Today more people will die from hunger than from AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis put together, why? And it’s not just the poverty is it but the way it isolates, marginalises, exhausts and makes powerless.

As we explore what the Bible says about why there is poverty and inequality, we’re going to do so by asking three questions: Is God indifferent? Why does it exist? Why doesn’t God act?

1. Is God indifferent?

We have to start with that question don’t we? Poverty and inequality is a reality in our world. God is all seeing and all knowing so why doesn’t he do something about it?

Leviticus 19v9-18. Here’s God speaking to his people calling them to live life at it’s best. This is society as God envisages it, society with no poverty and inequality. (9-10)Landowners would be generous and provide for those in need to be fed. (11)There’d be no stealing, lying, or deceiving; everyone would be dealt with fairly and honestly. (13)There’d be no delaying of payment or looking for ways to wriggle out of paying people they’re wages, no need for a minimum wage or employment tribunals. (14)The disabled would be cared for. (15)There’d be access to justice in law for everyone. (16-18)And community would be marked by care, concern, forgiveness and love for one another.

If that’s the community God longs to see his people become, clearly God cares for the poor and the needy. If you glance back to v1-2 we see the motivation for Israel to live life like this. “Be holy, because I, the LORD your God, am Holy.” God wants his people to be like him.

Sometimes people say a child is just like their dad or mum. What do they mean? That they have the same characteristics or looks. What is God saying here to his people? Be like me. Love others just as I do.

God is gracious and good and cares about the poor and seeing inequality and injustice overturned. His people are to mirror God’s love for others. God isn’t indifferent to poverty and inequality and the powerlessness and suffering that comes with it. As you follow the Bible’s story you see that Israel frequently fails to be like in God in its love for others and care for the poor. And God acts, God intervenes, God sends prophets.

You know the signs you see that say beware of the dog. The dogs are there to ensure you stay off property that isn’t yours. The prophets function a bit like that; they are covenant watchdogs. They are there to ensure Israel live as God’s people, to keep them away from places they shouldn’t go and things it is unwise to do. But tragically Israel don’t listen and here’s the message God sends them. Amos 8v4-6 p.874 God charges Israel with abuse of the needy and the poor, with injustice and dishonesty that impoverishes others. He calls them to repent or he’ll turn their singing into weeping. Or Isaiah 10v1-5 where God charges Israel with making oppressive laws, perverting justice, robbing widows and orphans. And promises that a day of judgment is coming when he’ll judge their oppression of the poor. We could replicate those calls over and over again. God is passionately concerned for the poor and hates oppression and injustice. God isn’t indifferent to poverty and inequality.

That leads us to another question

Why does it exist?
Reaching conclusions just off what you can see can be dangerous can’t it. A magazine photographer was told to get photos of a great forest fire. Smoke at the scene stopped him so he asked his office to hire a plane. Arrangements were made and he was told to go quickly to a nearby airport, where the plane would be waiting. When he arrived, a plane was warming up on the runway. He grabbed his equipment jumped in and yelled, “Let’s go! Let’s go!”

The pilot swung the plane into the wind and soon they were airborne.

“Fly over the north side of the fire,” yelled the photographer, “and make three or four low level passes.”

“Why?” asked the pilot.

“Because I’m going to take pictures,” cried the photographer. “I’m a photographer and photographers take pictures!”

After a pause the pilot said, “You mean you’re not the instructor?”

There’s a similar danger if we just look at the world and from it draw conclusions about God that we will get God wrong because our assumptions are wrong. So God, graciously, gives us the Bible so we can know who he is, why the world is like it is and who we’re made to be.

The Bible starts off by explaining how the world became like it is. God created a world full of rich lavish overflowing provision. He gives it to humanity to enjoy and calls on them to steward it wisely. To care for it as he would, to love him and one another in the way they use the plentiful resources of the world he created.

And everything in the world was perfect until humanity listened to a lie and began questioning God’s love and goodness and decided we didn’t want to live according to God the creator’s instruction. Until we decided we’d be better of deciding right and wrong for themselves. The result of that one decision to de-god God, to take what he’d given but rule it our own way fractured everything. The world is dislocated as God’s good instructions are ignored, relationships fracture as man selfishly determines not to care and love others but to get what he wants. And most importantly relationship with God is lost and with it all the wisdom God gives on how to live life skilfully, at its best, in his world.

Sometimes we learn the hard way that we need to follow instructions. Just think about flat pack furniture, the person who created the furniture tells you how to build and use it. When you don’t listen to their wisdom things go wrong, as sometimes has to be pointed out to us. Flat pack is simple. Now imagine brain surgery, brains are phenomenally complex. But I’ve just read a book by a brain surgeon, does that mean you’d be happy to let me operate on you? No, why not? Because it takes phenomenal wisdom and skill to be able to perform such delicate and skilled operations. Yet we, living in an infinitely more complex world decide to go it alone and ignore our creator’s instructions on living skilfully in his world.

The Bible honestly records the consequences of that; murder, oppression, a selfish desire to assert oneself, hatred, hoarding, and as a result pain, suffering, loss, poverty and injustice. And God isn’t indifferent; in love he warns and in love he acts in judgement on the pain and suffering he sees all caused by the sin of rejecting him. But always man drifts back to sin, to living life for self, rejecting God not loving him, oppressing others not loving them.

Poverty, injustice and inequality aren’t God’s creation they’re ours. Just think about our world right now; God has given us enough, the problem is how we use it. What percentage of the world’s global income do you think it would take to eradicate poverty? It’s estimated it would take $175billion, that sounds huge. But it’s only 1% of global income. Isn’t that staggering. What stops that happening? It’s not that God hasn’t given us enough but we need to learn to love God and love others and live by his wisdom.

Or take hunger. 16,000 children will die today of hunger, 16,000 died yesterday and 16,000 will die tomorrow. Yet what’s the biggest health challenge facing the UK? Obesity. Over eating. The UK’s average calorie intake a day is 3440. We typically need 2000 for a lady and 2500 for a man. We eat 50% more calories than we need on average. Yet in the Democratic Republic of Congo the average calorific intake is only 1590, in parts it is much, much, lower. There is enough to go round it’s just that we hoard it. Why? Because of sin, because we rule by our rules we don’t listen to God’s wisdom on living life well.

Someone has said “Sometimes I’d like to ask God why he allows poverty, famine and injustice in his world. But I’m afraid he might ask me the same question.”

Sin has turned us away from God and away from others and curved us in on ourselves. That’s why no government or system has solved the problem of poverty. It’s not an organisational problem it’s a heart problem. The problem lies not with God but with us and our selfishness and greed.

But that poses the question:

Why doesn’t God do something about it?

God isn’t indifferent, he’s loving and generous and cares passionately about justice and the poor. But we ignore him and so lose his wisdom on how to live in a way that would eradicate poverty and inequality. So why doesn’t God do something is the question people often ask. But as that quote alluded to the problem isn’t with God it’s with us, so in asking that we’re inviting God to judge. And not just the big faceless them but actually injustice, oppression, greed lurks in our hearts not just out there. It’s my problem as much as anyone’s problem. And we don’t want to face God as judge.

One day God will judge. But God is gracious and so he doesn’t judge instantly. Instead he does something unique and amazing; in Jesus God the Son enters into the world and experiences poverty and injustice, he lives a life alienated and marginalised, misunderstood, lacking power, and experiencing rejection and injustice. He enters into not just humanity but poverty and inequality.

Born to an unmarried mother with the scent of scandal and illegitimacy following him everywhere he goes. Born in poverty not a palace. Without a house or a home. Frequently misunderstood and marginalised by those who had power and influence. Thought mad even by his family. Persecuted, falsely accused, rejected, isolated, friendless, powerless and condemned to death as a result of the greatest miscarriage of justice the world has ever seen. Why? Not just so God can say well I know what you went through. Sympathy, even empathy doesn’t help us. But so that he could take the punishment for every injustice that you and I have ever committed. To bear God’s just anger for our rejection of God and his wisdom for life in his world and all the consequences that follow.

Jesus comes to rescue us from the cause of poverty; sin. He comes to create a people who will overcome poverty giving a glimpse of what life will be like when he returns when there will be no hunger, poverty, inequality, or injustice. A people bear the family likeness, who live looking just like their heavenly Father because they love as they have been loved by the God who held nothing back from them. A people who therefore think differently about life and stuff.

Acts 4v32-37 p.1035. Shows us the transformation that experiencing God’s love and grace in Jesus brings. Do you see how it echoes that passage we started off with? This is a community who know God’s rescuing love. Which they don’t deserve but experience by grace and who, because of that, overflow with love to others. “So that there was no needy person among them.” Why? Because when there’s a need others sell their possessions and meet that need, because they’re loved by God and overflowing from that love is a love for others.

Why is there so much poverty and inequality in the world? Because of sin, because we reject God’s way of living, loving him and loving others. Because we’ve become turned in on ourselves and unlike God who is generous and giving. God isn’t indifferent to it; he will one day judge all the sin that is the cause of poverty and inequality. And by grace he provides a way for us to escape that judgement, because Jesus in love bears our punishment.

And having experienced that love we love others. We become God’s children living by the family values, a new community in God’s church where people glimpse what life lived in God’s kingdom is like. Not immune to need but meeting it, not curved in by selfish greed but loving others, not grasping but generous, not pitying but giving, not full of inequality but welcoming and graciously loving as we have been loved.

Reflections on ill health

Last week was the first week since the final week in May that I have not suffered with any tiredness or illness, nausea or stomach pains.  I hadn't really realised just how normal it had become, until I felt back to 'normal' last week.  Sunday was the first Sunday when I felt the freedom to preach unconcerned about whether I would have a dizzy spell or need to conserve my energy to last the sermon.  It was also the first time I had led, spoken to the children and preached, and so far there has been no subsequent Monday collapse and 24 hours in bed.

I am incredibly grateful to God for my recovery.  It was refreshing to preach without feeling concerned about making it through, or conserving energy for later in the talk.  It has been a joy just to be able to do more with the boys and lift some of the burden of child care and housework that Lucy has patiently, willingly and uncomplainingly, had to bear for the last 6 months.  Thank you for your prayers and please join me in praising God our Father for a good week and pray for it to be a full recovery with no relapses.

I am also grateful to God for the illness, even the prolonged nature of it.  Whilst I haven't enjoyed it, it has given me time to reflect, it has made me stop and rest on my relationship with God, it has highlighted lots of undiscerned sin in my drivenness, my approach to ministry and my attitudes to others.  In short illness has been God's grace to me.

It also leads me to reflect that God knows me better than I know myself.  After my first month of feeling ill and being challenged a slight recovery led me to throw myself back into everything just as before, short term learning had no long term effect.  So, God graciously and lovingly, has kept on teaching me the same lessons over a longer period, drumming it into me so I don't forget (or at least that's my prayer).  Truly God is good.

Back in the saddle

So after two weeks holiday today sees the first day back in the saddle as it were, though also curiously not in the saddle.  After spending quite a chunk of the first week of holiday in bed (post viral fatigue syndrome is the doctors best guess) after starting on some health supplements the second week saw an improvement and I was able to be up and about all day, going to the beach, rock pooling etc with the boys and Lucy though at a reduced (frustratingly restful) pace.  Thus I have come back to Donny feeling much more rested than I went, though still needing to carefully structure my days so as not to exhaust myself, which seems to happen quite easily still.

I am very gratefully to God for the two weeks rest which have a made a massive difference and enabled me to take time to talk through some longer term decisions which need to be made after some serious overwork last year.  Looking back on it it is hard to know exactly when it all started and why, but basically I said yes to too many things in too many areas too much of the time which led into a cycle of unhealthy work and rest patterns.  There were lots of people around me warning me about it, and who very graciously haven't said 'I told you so', in the two months since the problems started.  But God having warned me through others has now enforced a rethink of my time in his love.  It is something I can say I am thankful to God for.

This next month I am on sabbatical.  I'm going to spend lots of time reading the Bible, possibly writing the Proverbs 1-9 material we've been studying up in to a series of bible studies to do as dad with my boys when they become teens (less that two years away - gulp!), and catching up on all the reading and study that has been neglected this year.  Again I am thankful to God for his love shown to me in a church that has given me this time to recharge.

Dealing with Discouragement

Discouragement is part of parcel of ministry, so how do we deal with it?  1 Kings 19 is such a helpful passage when we are feeling either elated by ministry joys (its a helpful reminder) or discouraged by ministry hardships.  Here's a recent talk I gave on the issue:

I'm sure you’ve seen quiz shows where they stop the action and ask ‘What happens next?’ Sometimes it’s helpful to do that with the Bible.

In 1 Kings 19 God’s people are ruled by evil King Ahab, ignore God and worship idols. God has disciplined them by withholding rain for 3 years so they turn back to him. But Ahab and the people have refused. So God through Elijah calls for a show down on Mount Carmel. In one corner is Elijah representing Yahweh. In the other; 450 prophets of Baal. Each builds an altar, puts wood and an offering on it but mustn’t light it. They’re to pray to their God and the one who sends fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice is the real God.

The priests of Baal go first, they pray, plead, shout, cut themselves, and dance from morning till evening but nothing happens. Why? Because Baal isn’t God. Then it’s Elijah’s turn, he rebuilds God’s altar, sets up the wood, cuts up the bull, then has 12 large jars of water poured over it all. Then he prays to God. And fire falls on the offering burning up the sacrifice, wood, stones, soil, and water. Israel fall down and say “The LORD, he is God!” and put the prophets of Baal to death, then Elijah prays and for the first time in 3 years there’s rain.

What happens next? You’d expect everything to change wouldn’t you? Ahab and Israel will turn back to God and Elijah and Ahab lead God’s people to live enjoying his rule.

But that’s not what happens. Ch19 focuses on Elijah. In a one on one with God we see God’s love and plans for his people and in dealing with his servants when we’re discouraged.

Be Passionate about God and his People

A survey of pastors asked; ‘what the best thing about their job was?’ The results were put into a top ten. What do you think was number 1? Seeing people change. My hunch is that’s why you do what you do; we love to see people trust Jesus, we love seeing people go on and grow as they’re changed by the gospel. It’s thrilling.

That was Elijah’s big hope and what he expected as he left Mount Carmel. Israel will change, things will be different. It’s what he’s been longing for, preaching for, praying for. His name means ‘Yahweh is God’ and that’s what Israel have just declared. Surely now everything will change, God is going to be glorified as Israel live serving and praising him.

But look at(1-2). Ahab tells Jezebel everything that happened, but she isn’t repentant, she doesn’t weigh the evidence and think wow Baal isn’t God and Yahweh is I better change. No, she ignores the evidence and sets out to kill Elijah. And that’s not a one off in the Bible, some people just won’t accept that God is God. And will do anything to crush those who say he is. Just think of North Korea or part of India right now where Christians are being killed for exactly that reason. We mustn’t be surprised when some people just won’t accept or even look at the evidence but react to it with aggression.

(3)Elijah sees what’s happening and runs away to Beersheeba, and then goes a further day’s journey into the desert. There he sits under a broom tree and prays “I have had enough, LORD... Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” That ought to shock us! God’s prophets aren’t meant to pray like this, I’m done, I’m finished, Lord kill me now. What’s going on?

Elijah isn’t despairing because Jezebel wants to kill him, he’s not afraid of dying or why would he ask God to kill him? Elijah’s in despair because Israel haven’t turned back to God. After Carmel Israel should’ve turned back to God, Baal should be finished, God’s people should be God’s people, revival should have broken out. But, Jezebel has just ignored it and Ahab and therefore Israel are just going to be led back into idolatry. ‘God, my ministry is a failure, just like every other judge, leader and prophet of your people, nothing changes, take away my life.’

Don’t read this through the filter of psychology, some people do, looking for signs of depression and diagnosing Elijah with all sorts of disorders. He doesn’t have our self-esteem hang ups. His name is his mission, and he’s devastated because even when it’s blindingly obvious to everyone that Yahweh is God Israel aren’t going to change. He thought Carmel was the key turning point but it was just a temporary high, nothing and no-one has changed.

Elijah is passionate for God’s glory and for his people, that’s what we’re meant to see, and he feels like his whole ministry is a failure. If they didn’t change at Carmel when will they?

We need not just to see Elijah’s passion for God and his people but to share it, the danger is discouragment saps that passion.

Have you ever felt like this? You share the gospel with a friend and they begin to respond, to see Jesus, to recognise their sin and they can’t make themselves right with God. They’re amazed at Jesus love in dying for them. But then something or someone holds them back from trusting him.

Or you’re studying the bible with someone and they are grasping it, it’s exciting watching them grow and change. Then suddenly the shutters come down and they make excuses as to why they can’t meet, and grow cold.

Or someone in leadership begins to drift; they close up, get into an unhelpful relationship, become distant, then irregular, then just disappear.

Or maybe it’s a low after a high. The term looked so good and promising; there is growth, people are engaging, unbelievers hearing the gospel, but then comes your Jezebel moment – your opposition that threatens to derail everything, and it can come from an unusual source can’t it. It can be a church or a leader or a Christian organisation, or even internal.

In each case we find our hearts breaking, we find ourselves discouraged, and yes sometimes we can find ourselves like Elijah saying ‘that’s it Lord I’m done, that’s enough.’ We don’t go as far as take my life. In fact we often don’t verbalise it at all, we just withdraw from sharing the gospel with people, from discipling, from relationships. Every disappointment, every person that drifts, every contentious issue seems to take a scalpel to our heart and cut it open a little more and the danger is we wall off our hearts so we don’t get hurt, don’t feel the disappointment.

The danger is a slow bleed of gospel joy from our lives. We’ve got a small leak in our central heating system. It’s nothing major, you just lose a little bit of pressure every day. It’s barely even noticeable. But if you leave it then the system will break, there will be nothing to pump round to keep the system going. Disappointment and discouragement is like that small leak.

We need to realise this if we’re to be sustained in gospel ministry: God doesn’t rebuke Elijah for his discouragement, rather as we’ll see God lovingly, graciously ministers to him in it.

But before we get to that can I ask; do we share Elijah’s passion for God’s glory and his people? And have discouragement and disappointment begun to do their deadly work of hardening you one slow leak of joy at a time?

Trust God and his plans

(5-8)God doesn’t tell Elijah off for running away, twice God provides food and allows him to sleep. It’s vital we get this; God is concerned with Elijah’s physical needs. God doesn’t want Elijah burning the candle at both ends to try to right the situation! He mustn't develop a 'Mini-Messiah complex'.  God provides physical rest and refreshment. Notice the food is described in detail, why? Because the angel prepares the same food(6) the widow prepared when Elijah was on the run from Ahab and Jezebel before. God provides and has a track record of protecting Elijah. God’s previous faithfulness and protection is supposed to provide a positive feedback loop to fuel Elijah’s bold ministry. And (7-9)the Angel feeds Elijah enough for a journey to Mount Horeb, God provides for his physical needs and leads him to where he’ll teach him about his plans and purposes.

What did you dream serving God where you are would look like? For some of us where we are doesn’t look like we imagined. We rarely dream of serving God in the ordinary and the mundane, or in the small and slow to change, or in the difficult and the opposed. We long for significance, we don’t dream of the slow, the hard and the steady.

But God teaches Elijah to trust him and his plans even if they don’t look like he imagined.

Elijah is led to Mount Horeb, or Sinai, as it’s sometimes called, his journey of 40 days and nights mirrors Israel’s journey to the Mountain where the covenant was made. His experience there also mirrors Moses seeing God pass by. It’s a deliberate leading by God to the Mountain of the LORD. And when Elijah gets there God asks (9) “What are you doing here, Elijah?” It seems an odd question, some argue it’s a rebuke, but it can’t be if God has led him there can it. It’s not a rebuke it’s an invitation; ‘Elijah share with me your disappointment and despair.’ Isn’t that encouraging, the Almighty God of the universe who knows asks Elijah to share what is on his heart, he doesn’t want any less from us. That is gracious loving care.

And Elijah does, he pours out his heart about how Israel have broken the covenant on the Mountain where the covenant was made, and how his ministry is a failure. His words(10) are primarily about God’s glory and Israel’s breaking of the covenant – they’ve torn down God’s altar, put God’s prophets to death, and rejected God’s covenant. And we hear the pain and despair Elijah feels in each charge.

And God listens. God doesn’t tell him to ‘Man-up!’ God graciously, tenderly and lovingly teaches and encourages him to see God’s plan. God appears not in the hurricane force winds, or the earthquake or the fire. But in the gentle whisper.

And God invites him to repeat his charge against Israel again. And just as God was in the gentle whisper, the quiet word, so God reassures Elijah that he is at work through his word, and that change will come as he keeps his word(15-19). It won’t be the spectacular that sees Israel judged for breaking the covenant, it won’t be the spectacular that leads the people to repent. But as God’s word works in ordinary ways. God tells Elijah to appoint Hazael, Jehu and Elisha who will act in judgement. And promises that there will be a faithful remnant who follow him.

Israel may not have turned at Carmel but God isn’t done with them yet. Elijah be encouraged and trust me.

But I want you to notice something else too Elijah is told to go back to where ministry is hard and keep going, to be link in the chain in God’s gospel project to the world he has called him to be. The revival he longs for won’t come through his ministry but through Elisha’s – whose name means God saves. Elijah is to prepare the way for those who will lead Israel back to God.

Don’t despair, don’t think you care more about God’s glory than he does. Don’t think you know what your role in God’s kingdom looks like better than he does. God has put you where he has put you to serve him. Don’t mortgage the present by longing for something more significant in your eyes, be the link in the gospel chain God has called you to be.

Where you are may not be as you imagined it but God has put you there to serve his kingdom and is working his purposes out. It may not look glorious and significant as you dreamed it would. And the temptation is to despair in the unspectacular, slow, steady, and opposed or maybe even to think of going somewhere else. You long for God’s glory and salvation to be known and realised but it doesn’t seem to be. God knows your longing for what he longs for, but he is working. 

Elijah lived his whole life longing to see God bring salvation, to see his glory, he never did in his lifetime, the temporary high on Carmel was as good as it got. But years later at the transfiguration he saw Jesus – the word made flesh, the Saviour of the world who would bring millions from every nation back to him, he sees the importance of his link in the chain. And the wonder of God’s salvation plan through the ages. God will fulfil every longing one day, we will see his glory, we will see the significance of our ministry, our link in the chain, in hard places for his glory and it will all seem worth it.

But as we labour, God provides, he doesn’t want us to burn out but to take time to be refreshed, he wants us to trust in what he is doing, to serve trusting, to serve reliant, and to come and speak to him about how we feel. Be it that we are at the top of Mount Carmel, or feel like we’re running from or facing down a Jezebel.

Strong in Grace - how grace in Christ frees us for courageous leadership

On Saturday I had the privilege of sharing some thoughts with CU leaders from Yorkshire from Isaiah 6 on how grace in Christ frees us for courageous leadership, here are my notes:

How you would answer this question; what would it look like to lead CU successfully?

There are a number of perils associated with leadership; pressure, people looking at and up to you, the fear of being the exec that screws up, wanting numerical growth, to run a successful mission, to get on with the SU, to be respected, to lead well, and be approved of by church leaders to name just a few. They aren’t unique to student leadership.

But the real danger is that they can lead you to be one person up front, or in exec meetings or with CU members and another in private. That’s what the bible calls hypocrisy, wearing masks, taking on the role of an actor. And that is a tragedy and a recipe for spiritual stagnation at best and shipwreck at worst. So how do we avoid that?

Here’s another question to think about; which matters most in leadership competency, character or capacity?

The bible stresses character above competence, but that character flows out of capacity, not a capacity for workload, but a capacity to grasp, live and lead out of God’s grace. Because it is our capacity and hunger to understand and know God through the Son by the Spirit that sustains us, keeps us, enables us to love, forgive, risk and not be crushed if and when we fail or are hurt.

In Isaiah 6 we see Isaiah’s commissioning and he’s told that his mission won’t be welcome, that it’ll be risky and be a failure in terms of results. No crowds repenting, no buzz about his ministry, no acclaim, no followers on Twitter and yet God calls him to this risky unpopular ministry. The question is what will sustain Isaiah in that ministry? What enables him to keep going? What stops him being crushed or giving up? Because what sustains Isaiah will sustain us.

Isaiah 6 calls us not to look externally but to look at God who we serve. To see God in all his holiness, sovereignty and grace because that will enable us to keep going, to risk, to lead, to love even when things are hard.

1. Seeing God and Receiving Grace
Isaiah’s vision of God comes in a time of pressure; King Uzziah has just died. He’d ruled well; was a brilliant military leader and social innovator and Judah had flourished under his rule. As he died Judah was uncertain about the future especially as Assyria was growing as a threat. But as the human king dies and the future looks so uncertain Isaiah sees a glorious vision of the real King whose reign never ends.

John 12 tells us that Isaiah’s actually sees God the Son, a pre-incarnate Jesus in his glory. He sees him ruling and reigning on his throne, above all, this is where the real power lies. And just the train of his robe fills the temple, the place which symbolises God’s presence with his people. Just the trailing edge of his glory fills the temple, so great is his majesty glory and splendour.

The glory of God is underlined by the description of the Seraphs who hover above the throne. They are awe inspiring in their own right, their voices shake the temple, but they are just God’s servants. They cover their faces from looking at God’s glory, they cover their feet and call to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”

These amazing creatures praise God because he is holy. We misunderstand that word, we think it is cold, dry, and distant, about restrictions and can’t do’s. But it’s not, the word holy means totally set apart, not in terms of being aloof or not wanting relationship – that can’t be right because God is Trinity, Father, Son and Spirit, he is a loving relating community and creates us so we can share in his love. Holy means God is totally different from his creatures. Jonathan Edwards wrote “Holiness is more than a mere attribute of God, it is the sum of all his attributes, the outshining of all that God is.”

And how does Isaiah’s react to seeing God in his holiness and glory? “Woe to me!” Ch5 is full of woes on society and its failings but now in God’s presence Isaiah is personally unmasked. In God’s presence there is no argument, no comparative righteousness just an awful awareness of sin in contrast to God’s holiness. “I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the king, the LORD Almighty.”

He highlights his lips because they reveal his heart; we never speak what is not already in our hearts. Do you ever catch yourself saying something and then trying to take it back, saying I didn’t mean that? That is a lie we did mean it, it was in our hearts, what we mean is I didn’t mean for you to hear what is in my heart, what I really think!

But secondly compared to the seraphs knowledge and worship of God his own praise from sinful lips is unfit.

Seeing God, understanding more of who he is always unmask our sin, our fears, our hearts. We pick up our bible and read of God’s character; his love and concern for the poor and find ourselves convicted of our half or hard heartedness. We read of God’s compassion for the lost, a compassion so great that God takes the ultimate risk in Jesus becoming man, living, and dying and it convicts us of our half hearted concern for family and friends or our fear of risk and love of comfort and familiarity. Knowing God convicts us until we stand with Isaiah and cry “Woe is me!”

That’s a right reaction, we should be amazed at who God is and convicted of our sin. Turn to Luke 5:1-11 we see a similar reaction when Peter realises who Jesus is, he drops to his knees and cries “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man.” Isaiah and Peter are both forced to confront their sin in the face of God’s holiness, you and I as we spend time with God and get to know him better will be forced to confront our sin, to see how its roots are more deeply enmeshed in our hearts than we ever dreamed. Sin separates us from God, and we are helpless to do anything about it. Isaiah doesn’t cry out for salvation, he simply realises and confesses his sin.

But (6-7)God acts by grace, a coal is taken from the altar where the peace and sin offerings were made which atoned for sin, and it atones for Isaiah’s sin. Grace is God’s initiative, God’s love freely given to undeserving sinful people. Isaiah experiences grace just as we do, the altar points to Jesus, the sacrifices which that coal has consumed point to Jesus sacrifice once for all. Grace is all a Holy God’s initiative and is extended to undeserving sinners.

Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking God’s holiness is the flip side of the God’s love. In Batman there is a character called Harvey Dent, also known as two face. He has a normal half to his face and a horribly disfigured other half. He has a coin similarly marked and when making decisions he flips it to see which side of his character will act.

Tragically we can think like that about God; love is one side of God’s character, holiness the other. People even say that is reflected in the Bible, the OT shows the holy wrathful side of God, the New the loving, gracious side of God. That’s utterly wrong and blasphemous! God’s holiness is all about his love, it flows out of his love. You see that here, God’s holiness is his difference from us and our failings and sin, but it doesn’t make him harsh and judgemental. Because God’s love is also holy just as his holiness is love. It’s not just his perfection that is other than ours it’s his love, you see we love what we find lovely, he loves because he is love and that means he sets his love on the unlovely, the unholy and makes them holy! His holiness makes him welcoming and loving and that’s seen in his provision of grace to undeserving Isaiah, it is seen supremely in Jesus who is terrifyingly holy but who lovingly welcomes, bringing sinners back to God by grace, making atonement for us at the cross, making the unholy holy and the unlovable beloved children.

Seeing the holiness of God will show us more of the depth of his love for us. We mustn’t shy away from reading or exploring God’s holiness because in knowing God we will be more amazed at his grace. It is seeing God’s grace that fuels loving service; that saves us from being crushed by failure or paralysed by fear because it thrills our hearts with his grace.

2. Grace sustains and liberates us to serve(8-13)
I wonder how you picture(8)? I’ve always pictured Isaiah stood bravely and heroically declaring in a loud voice that he will boldly go on this impossible mission, not unlike Captain Kirk boldly going on the Starship Enterprise.

But I’ve realised that’s wrong. Isaiah humbly offers himself to God if God could possibly use him. It can’t be any other way, can it? He’s just seen God in all his glory, he’s heard God speak, he’s in the presence of the awe inspiring Seraphs. He can’t in that company be thinking ‘Yep, I’m the only man for this job, God is lucky to have me’. He has been humbled and made aware of the sin of his lips, but God has shown him grace so Isaiah humbly offers himself if God can use him.

What is it we need in leaders? An awareness of the greatness of God, a sense of wonder at the grace they have received, and a humble desire for God to use them for his glory.

And what a task Isaiah is given(9-13). He’s to preach to people who won’t listen, his preaching will harden their hearts. As he warns people that they have broken the covenant and calls them to covenant faithfulness they won’t listen. It’s not the way he preaches which makes it hard, in fact some people rejected his words because they were too simple. So why will his preaching harden?

Because preaching the truth confronts people with their sin and they react one of two ways, they either respond like Isaiah or they reject it, that rejection acting as part of their judgement as they turn their back on God’s word. Turn to John 8:45 we see the same thing in Jesus ministry. Jesus, speaking to the Pharisees who reject him because they are Abraham’s children, says “Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe in me!” That is an astonishing statement, turn on to ch12and we see these words from Isaiah used to explain why so many reject Jesus. We must expect the same and that will save us from being crushed when people reject the gospel, it’s not a personal rejection.

God’s truth provokes reaction. However there is a danger in over realising that truth, it can make us callous and hard hearted – serving, leading, sharing the gospel as a duty and not caring for people. Isaiah asks a brilliant question which shows that he has God’s heart (11)“How long, Lord?” The answer is until the exile brings destruction, a destruction so harsh that even when a tenth is left it will be laid waste again. God will judge his people who reject him, his word, his grace, but God still loves and therefore Isaiah still loves.

Leadership burn out is a reality and one of the key factors is lack of response so how on earth does Isaiah keep going in a hard mission field? I think two things sustain him and will sustain us. Because being a Christian at Uni is tough, leading a CU is hard, atheism is on the attack, nominalism is a reality, and so many people have no time for the gospel.

Firstly Isaiah knew God. He knew God in all his glory, splendour and rule and the joy of having his sins forgiven – he remembered and lived out of his identity – who he had been made in Christ. Whatever he faced, whatever rejection it was not outside of God’s control, and it never mortgaged his experience of grace and challenged his identity. He was not defined by his ministry and its success or how people viewed him he was defined by grace as a child of God.

Secondly he preached aware of judgement and hope. (13b)”But...” If (v9-13a)are judgement here comes the hope “as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.” Judgement was not final, that phrase looks back to Abraham and the promises made to his seed, promises God would keep, and to God’s promise in Gen 3:15 about an offspring who would conquer sin. But it also looked forward to the “shoot from the stump of Jesse”(Isaiah 11:1) the Messiah and the kingdom he would bring. God will judge sin but he brings salvation. There will be a day when God will be with his people he has made holy through his Messiah.

Both hope and knowing God will sustain us. As we lead it is knowing God in his holiness and love that will keep us going – we will dry up and shrivel and burn out if we don’t keep refreshing ourselves in who God is and what he has done for us, if we don’t keep mining the depths of grace as we are confronted with the depths of our sin in the face of the holiness of God. And we must remember that God is sovereign even over people’s rejection of the gospel or we will exhaust ourselves trying to do what is God’s work in our own strength.

What has happened to all your joy?

That phrase has stuck with me in the last few weeks since preaching on Galatians 4:8-20, it is the question which the horrified Apostle Paul asks the wandering and bewitched Galatian Churches as he looks at how far they have fallen since they first came to faith.  I can't help thinking it is a great question which the church in Britain, our congregations and we ought to be asking ourselves.

Joy doesn't characterise us, if you asked 50 people to say what word sprang to mind when they hear the word Christian I'm not sure joy, joyful, enjoying life would feature at all.  And yet that is what Paul remembers about how he left the Galatians, they were a joyful people, they were a people who knew and enjoyed God, who revelled in what Jesus had done for them by grace.

Before I go any further perhaps a definition of joy will help: joy is the experience of gladness or happiness not in plans, possessions, people or circumstances but in God. It flows out of understanding who God has made us to be in Jesus by faith.  That I am a son of God, an heir of life, in whom God the Spirit dwells, who has the family DNA, and is secure in what Christ has done.

If we are not joyful is it because we have forgotten who we are and all the great priviledges that are ours in Christ.  Many translations translate that question 'what has happened to your joy?' as 'what has happened to the blessedness you felt?'  That is part of the problem we don't count our blessings, we forget the joy that is ours.

There are lots of reasons for this; the wonder of the gospel becomes normal unless we continually seek to refresh ourselves in it, we find ourselves lulled into a life of church-ianity rather than a vivid life enriching following of Jesus, we become to-do list focused, we feel we must contribute, we absorb the worlds message which is not thankfulness but you haven't got everything you could have yet, so strive don't be content!

Where is all our joy?  It is found, and rediscovered daily, in the wonder of the grace of our Saviour who died for us, and in a growing appreciation and joyful realisation of all that is ours in him.

If I’m forgiven anything can’t I live however I like? Luke 7v36-50

We live in a society that loves to compare. We compare houses, we compare children’s achievements, there’s even a website where you can compare salaries with other people, and we even do it with morality.

We think of morality as a bit like a ladder (draw) we put people like Mother Theresa and Martin Luther King near the top, then at the bottom are people like terrorists, murderers…

Where would you put yourself? When we have to think about where we put ourselves, we go through a process like this; I’m better than so and so, but not as good as them, often on the basis of actions. But the Bible comes to us and says acceptance by God is not a ladder, it is a matter of grace and faith.

The scandal of the gospel

What do you think the most scandalous scene in the bible is?

Turn to Luke 23:39-43(read it) what is the scandal? There are two injustices; Jesus the innocent one dies as punishment even though his judge has declared that there is no charge against him. But this scandal is then magnified as we see what happens next. Why are the two criminals there? Because of their actions, in fact in their execution justice is being done – that is the second criminals’ confession “We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve.” And yet scandalously Jesus goes on to promise the dying criminal eternal life (43)“Today, you will be with me in paradise”.

In other words because of the confession of his sin and his simple expression of trust in Jesus, when he says “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” this criminal, this insurrectionist or terrorist is forgiven and will be in heaven.
It’s one of the greatest pictures we have of salvation and grace and of the great transaction that takes place on the cross as Jesus dies for the criminals’ guilt while he is credited with Jesus innocence simply by faith. This passage confronts us with the problem of grace, the gospel is scandalous!

God’s grace is readily available to all, and as the criminal on the cross shows us it is not earned it is given by faith, there is NO morality ladder.

God’s grace is not cheap it cost Jesus his life and experiencing his Father’s anger against and judgement for sin. But it is available to all at any stage in life.

But some people look at that and grasp that the gospel is all of grace and therefore conclude if I’m forgiven and if grace is readily available to all that means I can live any way I want. If we just look at Luke 23 you could reach that conclusion, but it is not a good place to think about it because there is no after for the criminal. In a few hours he will die and be with Jesus in paradise, we don’t see what difference grace made to his living.

We are all spiritually bankrupt

Turn to Luke 7:36-50, (read) Jesus is eating in the home of Simon. When suddenly the conversation, which Luke tells us nothing of, stops and everyone turns to look at this infamous woman who has just walked into the room. There is muttering and shuffling of feet as people move back out of her way as she walks with her head bowed low and carrying a jar in her hands right up to where Jesus is reclining.
Then the shock deepens as her tears begin to drop onto his feet, she loosens her hair and begins wiping away her tears with it. Then she breaks the jar and pours the perfume on his feet. We see another sinful person, someone else who would be near the bottom of our comparative morality ladder.

Who is the other character? Simon the Pharisee. In contrast to the woman Simon is very religious, he gave his money to the poor, he served God, he had dedicated his life to God, I guess he’d be near the top of our ladder. How does Simon react? (39)He is horrified that Jesus accepts this woman, because he has totally misunderstood who Jesus is and what he has come to do. Jesus tells a story to get behind his defences, to show him why the woman acts as she does but also why someone who is forgiven their sins will never want to live however they want.

(40-41) What do you notice about the two men? They both owe a debt, one owes 50 Denarii – about 50 days wages, the other owes 500 Denarii a year and three quarters salary. But the sums aren’t what is important what vital fact does v42 give us? (42) “Neither of them had the money to pay him back.” Neither has the money or any hope of paying it back, though one owes significantly more both are bankrupt. It’s a picture of what we are like before God it doesn’t matter whether you’re a very good person like Simon – he has still sinned even if it was only in failing to love his neighbour this woman as himself. Everyone is spiritually bankrupt. It is utterly impossible for us to make ourselves right with God. There is no ladder of morality there is simply perfect or sinful.

But Jesus carries on with the most amazing part of the story; what does the money lender do? He cancels the debt. So Jesus asks “which of them will love him more?” It’s a good question isn’t it? And it gets to the root of our question.

If you know how much you are forgiven you won’t want to live life however you want.

Do you see what Jesus is saying – the woman knew how much she was forgiven and it meant she loved lavishly, a love that was shown in the way she lived and acted(44-47).

Simon by contrast has not loved Jesus because he does not think he needs to be forgiven, he is depending on himself on his own performance to save himself. Though he is wrong.

No-one who understands how much they have been forgiven will walk away and live life to please themselves. No-one who knows how sinful they are and the cost to Jesus of their forgiveness and the wonder of grace will walk away and live life their own way.

Instead if we understand the depth of our sin and the love and grace of God in Jesus death to save us it is impossible for us to ask that question; if I’m forgiven anything can’t I live how I like. Because if you understand what it cost and what it means to be forgiven everything you will not want to live however you like. You will love and want to live life for the one who gave his all for you.

Do we identify with the woman or with Simon? Do we rejoice in God’s grace and the scandal of the gospel because we recognise that we are spiritually bankrupt without it, or do we begrudge it because we mistakenly think we can earn it?

Evangelists conference

Well worth attending.

The Prodigal Sons

What prompts Jesus to teach these parables in Luke 15? (1-2) Give us the answer, Jesus is explaining the apparent contradiction between him being God’s judge but spending time with ‘sinners’. That word was a common way of referring to someone considered to be under God’s judgement, people like the corrupt and cheating Tax Collectors.

The 3 stories explain why Jesus befriends sinners and in the third story Jesus gives us his definition of a sinner. 15:11-32 The younger son represents the sinners, the elder son the religious leaders and the Father, God

We all have our own definition of sin, from really serious crime to anything that causes injustice to be felt by another. Often our definitions of sin, subtly ensure we are not classed as sinners - ironically that's exactly what the Pharisees do. But Jesus definition of sin is more subtle and more troubling.

V11-13, what was the young man’s offence? It's not that he ends up in wild living, it’s that he demands his share of his Father’s resources and then spends them on himself far away from the Father. He wants what the Father has to offer but not relationship with the Father himself. (It’s actually the same problem the older son has too!)

That is Jesus definition of sin. We claim God’s resources – relationships, food, money, environment, right to live a suffering free life, but want nothing to do with God. Do you see why Jesus definition of sin is so troubling? Because he says sin is not living wildly it is living separately.

But Jesus not only has a unique view of sin but of God.

(20-24) What does the Father do? He sees the son while he is a long way off because he is looking for him, then he runs, embraces and kisses the son before he can offer his apology. Then after the apology the Father lavishes gifts and sonship on him.

Jesus speaks with God’s authority and we need to listen to what he tells us about ourselves and God. Our problem is not what we do so much as how we do it, we cut God out of life, we ignore him. But says Jesus God is a searching, running, embracing, pardoning, lavishing, partying parent who wants to see those who have ignored him return to relationship with him.

He is a God who loves those who deserve his judgement and sends Jesus to warn and to save. That’s Jesus mission, that’s why Jesus befriends sinners to assure them and bring them back to God, whether they alienate themselves by outright rejection or by pride and religion.

The question that comes out is am I a sinner still living at a distance from God or have I returned to him and asked for forgiveness?

Aren't all good people Christians

This is one of the enduring legacies of Christendom. Is can be expressed as aren't all good people Christians or sometimes as I'm a Christian, I'm British. It is the assumption that a set of moral characteristics or nationalistic ones makes you a Christian.

We need to be probing and getting people to examine that idea. What is a Christian? is the fundamental question to ask. Once people see that actually to be a Christian is to be a follower of Jesus Christ it begins to raise questions about whether they are or not. It also may enable us to talk about who Jesus was and what he did with them.

The other question to ask is what good is. How do you decide who is good. Romans 3 says "there is no one who does good, not even one." That is quite a stunning statement, and provokes much discussion and debate. Ultimately the question of good is one of relationship to God, whether we have rebelled against God and decided to determine right and wrong for ourselves is the decisive factor in determining whether we are good or not.

However, this question also allows us to ask one back - what do you think grace is? Can a bad person go to heaven?

Prayer - why does it have to be so hard?

Do you struggle praying? I've just finished re-reading an article on prayer, or more correctly on diagnosing a sick prayer life. The conclusion was that we struggle with prayer because we are sinners, not a great surprise but a helpful reminder. But it was also very helpful in suggesting three viruses that infect our thinking be it consciously or subconsciously. Here they are:

1. We doubt God is able
2. We doubt that God is willing
3. We misunderstand our relationship with him.

These three thoughts lead us not to make use of the immense privilege that is ours, the antidote to them is grace as seen in the gospel.

Aren't Christians just doormats who use Christianity as a crutch?

Is a question often posed by people who are skeptical about the Christian faith. It is seen as something that is needed by those who can't really cope with what the world throws at them.

However, the Bible sees Christianity as anything but a crutch. Instead of making your life easier it actually makes it more difficult. Here's Jesus is Luke as he explains what discipleship means: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." Jesus certainly didn't see Christianity as a crutch, he saw following him as a challenge.

The cross today has become a bit sanitised, it is viewed as a nice clean religious symbol. But in Jesus day it was the ultimate sign of suffering, carrying your cross was not and is not easy, it is not a crutch under your arm it is a burden on your back.

Jesus then goes to on to teach his disciples some of the practical outworking of this, it means going out with the message that the kingdom is come in Jesus and facing rejection, it means being the neighbour to those in need, even those you wouldn't naturally help, and bearing the cost yourself. It means your priorities, aspirations and desires are to be being increasingly conformed not to what I want but to what gives God the glory for his grace.

Its worth reading Acts posing the question - is Christianity a crutch for the early church? Acts 4 Peter and John are hauled before the Sanhedrin and threatened, Acts 5 the Apostles are flogged for preaching. Acts 7 Stephen is stoned, Acts 8 persecution breaks out against the church, and from Acts 13 onwards as the gospel is proclaimed you see persecution, riots, threats, arrests, and trials. In the rest of the New Testament much of the teaching is encouragment live out the scandal of the cross in light of the rejection and persecution it brings. A crutch? I don't think so, a cross? Most definitely.

In many places today (China, Philippians, Saudi Arabia, Iraq to name but a few) Christians are persecuted for their faith yet still they stand and proclaim Jesus Christ is Lord. The history of England shows that for all our freedoms we enjoy now hundreds, if not thousands, before us died for their faith. Even in what seems to be a multicultural Britain persecution exists, Christians are derided for their beliefs.

Christianity is not a crutch it is a cross, not just a cause of persecution but a life of self denial to glorify God who has worked in us so great a salvation.

Why isn't being good, good enough?

How do you know what is good? What is the standard for goodness? Is being good a little like marmite all a matter of taste? What does a good child look like? Is it one who eats their greens, does her homework, is polite, washes without being frog marched to the sink, helps out around the house, and writes his thank you letters? Is that a good child? You may think that is more than a good child, that such a child would be a miracle but I may just consider that normal behaviour and not especially good.

Or how about a good employee, what does a good employee look like? Is it someone who is punctual? Always meets deadlines? Uses their initiative? Obeys instructions without question? Works long hours? Buys into the company ethos? Makes the coffee without being asked? What does a good employee look like? My hunch is if you asked 10 managers you’d get 10 different answers.

So what does a good person look like? Is it someone who is law abiding, no criminal convictions, well apart from a few speeding tickets? Do they give to charity? Are they animal lovers? Do they have to be religious?

How do you know who is good? Is a terrorist a good person? Someone who sets out to kill others to highlight a cause he or she believes in. Those who share his or her beliefs might say they are good, his victims’ families would no doubt say otherwise. Who is right? Who decides?

How do you know who is good, how do you decide? Surely there has to be a standard. In industry there are kite marks that can only be used if your product passes certain standards of goodness. If it isn’t good enough, if it fails to meet the pass mark it cannot have the stamp to say it has met the standard.

Who decides what is good? God does. Why? Because “In the beginning God created…” God designed the world, he created us therefore he has set the standard. Just as in industry it is a manufacturer’s agreed standard that sets the pass mark for goodness, so God, the creator sets the standard for goodness.

So who does God say is good? The startling thing is that according to Romans 3 God says “No-one”. There is no one who passes the test for being good, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.

Why isn’t being good, good enough? because although I may be good in my eyes, I may pass my standard of goodness, I may award myself pass status. My verdict doesn’t matter, it is God’s standard that counts. There are two reasons why we are not good?

1. Because God says so.
(Romans 3:10-18) are a collection of Old Testament quotations that emphasize God’s standard, and our utter failure to meet it. God’s standard is not some shifting idea of goodness, like ours where the standard changes as societies values change. God’s standard is righteousness. God’s standard is not comparative, it is not about how good you are compared to so and so down the road. God’s standard is an absolute - righteousness -living a life that pleases God, living in line with God’s priorities, not mine, living a life that acknowledges God’s right to rule.

What is God’s judgement – there is no-one who seeks God, no one living in fear of him, no-one living with that continual awareness that God rules, is watching and is relevant.

In Genesis 3 we see that God has made the world and it is good and God has placed Adam and Eve in the midst of that world to enjoy it and to rule it on his behalf. The whole of God’s perfect creation is theirs to enjoy, they can eat of every tree bar one. The question is will they ‘fear the Lord’, can they live righteously, and can they accept the creator’s word and rule? Will they give God the respect he is due? Will they follow the maker’s instructions?

Well you know the story don’t you, they grasp for autonomy, they try to knock God off his throne, they reach for self rule, they want to decide for themselves how to live. They reject the creator and that in a nut shell is the problem, why can’t I be good because I reject the creator.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” God says do not lie but if I don’t lie I’ll look silly, or be found out, so I decide what is right and wrong. God says love your neighbour as yourself, but well he doesn’t know what they are like, I’ll make do with ignoring them – again I decide what is right and wrong. God says love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength, but I love my work, I love the money it brings in, I love the things I can buy with it, I love my family, I love my hobbies. What is it I spend most energy and time on in the week? That is what I worship, that is what my idol is and again I decide what is right and wrong and push God’s standard away.

Why isn’t being good, good enough? Because it is not what I think that counts, I may measure up to my standard of goodness, may be you even measure up to my standard, but we fall way short of God’s. God says “no-one is righteous”, no-one measures up. “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”, we all miss the target. God’s standard is a life lived with God’s glory in mind, with God’s priorities in place and God’s rule established.

I’ve never played rugby except in PE at school. What would happen if I suddenly found myself playing for England against the Springboks in a few weeks time? I guess it wouldn’t be pleasant to find out, and would involve a substantial period of time taking food through a straw. Why? Because I am just not up to their standard, I could not stand the pace, the sheer intensity would find me out and leave me broken. To even be on the same field would place me in danger because I am just not good enough.

One day we will stand before God and we can bring our coupons of goodness with us, but we will realise that they are worthless that we do not know what goodness is. That our definition of good is not on the same plane as God’s standard.
Why isn’t being good, good enough? Because God says so. But also because

2. God shows so (24-6)
If your death would secure world peace would you willingly die? What about if it would end the conflict in Iraq? What about if it would save the life of a child who is stood in front of a bus? Is the sacrifice worth it?

We only make a sacrifice if we consider it worth doing. If the benefits outweigh the cost, that’s true in every small sacrifice, like giving up chocolate to lose weight, or going out jogging to keep fit, let alone in the big decisions. I wouldn’t be prepared to sacrifice my life unless I had to, unless it was absolutely necessary, unless I was convinced it was the only way to save somebody.

Well if being good is good enough then why did God sacrifice his son? Surely God only paid such a high price because it was the only way to save us. The cross is such a radical rescue package that it screams out you can never be good enough. It is the only way to make us good in God’s eyes, otherwise why would Jesus go through it. That is why God’s Son veils himself in humanity, that’s why the creator submits himself to the blows and indignities rained down upon him by the creation, that’s why God’s Son experiences his Father’s just anger against all rebellion against him.

Every blow, every insult, every second of bearing God’s judgement, says there is no other way. Jesus atones for us – he does what we can’t do, he meets God’s standard on our behalf.

John 18:1-11 shows us Jesus arrest, what stands out as you read the account is that Jesus is in control. He is not being swept along by events, merely reacting to circumstances, he is orchestrating them. He identifies himself to his would be captors not once but twice, he secures the safety of his followers, he prevents his disciples fighting for him. Why? Why doesn’t he escape when he can? Why doesn’t he fight his way heroically to freedom?

Because he must drink the cup the Father has given him. He must face the cross and God’s anger against sin as God’s obedient son because we cannot do face it. Only Jesus death can pay the bill, I can never be good enough; I need Jesus righteousness – Jesus total obedience to God to be credited to my account.

If being good is good enough then Jesus death is pointless. The cross stands over history and God points to it and says look at the lengths to which I will go because I love you and you could never be right with me. You can never make yourself good enough but look at the price I am prepared to pay.

Why isn’t being good, good enough? Because God says so, and because God shows so in sending his only Son to die for us to make us right before him.

This brings with it implications:
1. I had better understand God’s standards.
If what the Bible says is right then there is no point trying to live up to our own standards of right and wrong, no matter how high you set the bar it falls short. God’s standard is the only one that counts. If God’s verdict is “all have sinned and fall short” “There is no-one righteous” If I fail to meet those standards I had better find out if it is possible to meet God’s standard.

2. I better examine God’s solution
Jesus is the only way to be made good enough, we fall far short of God’s standard and he has met that standard for us.

3. I better warn others
There are millions of people who will go to sleep tonight thinking that even if, on the off chance, there is a God they are OK. If they were to be face to face with him they have a back up plan, they lead pretty good lives and that’s good enough isn’t it?

There are others who believe in God but think that being good is the key to heaven. That if they can show their giving, their being nice, their kindness, their goodness that will get them in. That God will accept them. If being good isn’t good enough someone needs to tell them.

Why isn’t being good, good enough? Because God says so and because God shows us so.

Grace

What is it? What does the word grace mean? Is it just a description of the way someone moves, or just a prayer giving thanks for a meal? Or is it something bigger than that? Is it just forgiveness? Is it a human action or is there some other meaning?

On their album all that you can't leave behind U2 have a track that asks just those sort of questions. Is grace just the name of a girl or is it an idea that could change the world? It is a brooding song that poses lots of questions but is it a song about a girl or about a bigger reality.

When they sing of how grace makes beauty out of ugly things, or finds goodness in everything is it just an individual or grace personified that they are singing about.

And what difference would grace at work make to the world in which we live?