Cut the compartmentalised living

Mission is not something we do from time to time it is something we are always engaged in as we follow Jesus.  Jesus life is lived for a purpose - he came to save his people from their sins.  Everything he did was geared up towards fulfilling that mission from victoriously battling temptation and being baptised, to calling disciples and deliberately apprenticing them in mission.  Jesus was always on mission from the desert of Judea to the Garden to Golgotha.  In the same way as disciples we don't have times when we are on mission and off mission.  We are always disciples, or as Paul puts it to the Corinthians we are ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us.  You aren't an ambassador sometimes and not at other times.

I've been musing on this as I've thought about a number of things, an advantage of a week without pressing sermon preparation to complete.  We compartmentalise life.  Home, work, play, church and so on.  We even compartmentalise roles: parent, child, aunt, uncle, employee, boss, deacon, elder and so on.  I wonder if that constant compartmentalisation, encouraged and fostered by societies pressures on us to have a divided professional and private life, leads us to think of mission like that.  I am on mission then but off mission then.  I am on mission when reaching the people I am praying specifically for, but not when in the office with colleagues I am not.  I am on mission on camp but not at work or school.  I am on mission at Holiday Club but not in Asda.

Maybe we even carry that across to the way we think of church, we think of the church as having a mission, rather than of its mission being our mission.  We, tragically, listen to preaching about mission, whilst assuming that applies to everyone else but me.  We nod along to the prayers for the lost without ever speaking the gospel to those we are praying for.

It's that time of year when I am asked to write references for leaders for camp and the like.  Mostly I enjoy doing so, especially as the amount required seems to have gotten shorter and shorter.  But here's my plea; if you want your pastor to write you a reference for camp or a short mission trip - give them something to work with.  If the only evidence of evangelistic zeal is your application to lead on a christian camp your pastor cannot write you a reference.  If all year you come and sit, with your screen saver firmly fixed and unchanging whilst listening to the sermon - be it the 'Is there a pulse' screen saver, or the 'Bored now' screen saver, or the 'startled' or 'outraged' screen saver (ask your pastor he'll be able to demonstrate each for you) - and then leave again without ever engaging in reaching the lost, in showing concern for people's eternal destiny there is something wrong.  Why then do you want to lead on camp?

The proving ground for mission for the local church.  Reaching the lost is not something we do one week a year, or 3 weeks a year but every day of our lives.  To get the gospel, to taste and see that the Lord is good is to want others to share in that too, or we have not drunk deeply enough of it.  Compassionate concern for the eternal well being of those facing a Christ-less eternity cannot be  slotted into our vacation time.  How you engage all year in mission is your reference.

As a pastor it is joy to write those sorts of references, about someones whole-hearted prayer-saturated concern for their lost friends and family which has led them to witness to Jesus despite opposition that makes them suitable to lead on camp.  Or about someones walking with friends and family through suffering and pain whilst demonstrating and speaking of the love of Christ that proves they are ready for short term mission.  Make that the kind of reference your pastor can write for you.  Not because you want a good reference but because you've drunk deeply of God's grace and it has gripped your hard and imparted to you Christ's compassion for his children who face a lost eternity.

Why Mission and therefore Church Planting matters Part 3

The final part of three on why mission and therefore church planting matters from Acts 1.

So the mission of God to glorify himself by bringing people to know and enjoy him as they were made to do has not changed.  And the need of men and women to know God through Jesus and be saved from a lost eternity has not changed either.  I wonder how that makes you feel?  

It's both thrilling and terrifying? But ‘I can’t do it’ we think, ‘it’s too big’, ‘where do we start’, ‘how do I choose who I share this good news with’ ‘where would we as a church seek to reach and how’? ‘I’m not an extrovert or a public speaker...’ Jesus anticipates and demolishes every potential excuse the Apostles and we might make in(v8) of Acts 1.

Jesus says two things to them regarding timing of this massive mission: Wait and Go.  

Wait

The disciples aren’t sent out straight away, they’re commanded to wait(4). They’re to be Jesus witnesses but they can’t do it themselves, and Jesus doesn’t send them alone. What are they waiting for? (5)“you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.” (8)“you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses...”

Often we think wrongly about the Apostles and the early church. We read the stories and assume they were rocket fuelled extrovert types, naturally charismatic powerful speakers, who were brave and fearless and loved living life on the edge. You know the sort; adrenaline junkies who in their spare time relax by base jumping, free climbing or snowboarding. By thinking of them like that we excuse ourselves from witnessing because that’s not me, so we limit witnessing to Jesus as just for the extrovert or the adrenaline junkie.

But Luke in his gospel has shown us they aren’t like that. They‘re just like us; prone to avoiding confrontation as they slip away from the mob in the garden, prone to worry and anxiety in the face of a storm, prone to want their comfort as they try to send the 5,000 away rather than feed them, prone to saving their skin rather than standing up for Jesus round the fire in the courtyard.

So what changes? How come these men and women turn the world upside? God doesn’t change their personality type, if you’ve been praying for that you’ve been praying for the wrong thing. These men turn the world upside down because Jesus keeps his promise and he sends them the Holy Spirit. They aren’t alone as they go to witness to Jesus, God the Holy Spirit fills them enabling them, and us, to know God and enjoy new life in Jesus. He helps us know we are loved and share in the Father, Son and Spirit’s joy and delight in each other. And he causes that love and delight to overflow into our words and actions as we witness to Jesus as our Saviour and Lord.

He says wait for that to happen and then GO.

Do you see the significance of this? This isn’t mission impossible, the message doesn’t self destruct in 10 seconds. The Apostles aren’t sent out alone. Neither are we, but unlike them we don’t need to wait. When we trust in Jesus for forgiveness, when we repent of our sin and ask him to be our Lord he promises and gives us the Holy Spirit. And by that empowering God equips us to be his witnesses; to take on his mission for his creation to delight in and enjoy life lived with Father, Son and Spirit. God doesn’t give us a character transplant to make us extroverts! He calls, equips and empowers us to witness to him as he has made us.  We are to witness to who he is and what he has done for us and in us.

The mission can seem vast, it can seem overwhelming, if we take our eye off who God is and who he has given us.

Only one power exists on this planet, in this town, in this community that can bring lasting change. Only the love of Jesus Christ that conquers sin, wipes out shame, heals wounds, and reconciles enemies can change the world one life at a time. And God has given that message to his church, to us, filled with his Spirit to bring others into his kingdom while we wait for that kingdom to be fully realised.

And notice one last thing. (10-11)The angels come and prod the disciples, don’t stand around waiting staring up into the sky, he’ll come back, yes, but don’t wait for it. Live in the light of it. God’s unchanging mission is for his people to witness to him. To break new ground with the gospel, see the lost saved and churches planted to disciple new believers.

Mission matters and therefore church planting matters as we establish disciples in every city, town village and suburb that are reaching out to others with the gospel.  The church is the visible embodiment of our mission to witness to Jesus.

Why Mission and therefore Church Planting matters - Part 2

This is part 2 of 3 posts on why we should be engaged in mission and how that necessitates church planting in all its forms from Acts 1.

Part 2: The world still needs to hear the gospel(6-8, 10-11)

The kingdom is both now and not yet. The kingdom has come because Jesus is God’s anointed king, the Messiah. His people enjoy living under his rule as a result of his rescue. But (10-11)he’s going away, and his kingdom will only be fully realised when he returns. The disciples (7)live in the now but not yet time of the kingdom.

It’s a bit like pregnancy. When you’re pregnant you know you’re having a baby, you’re waiting and getting ready. Things have changed and are changing and yet the real change is still to come. Until the moment when the child is born are you a mum or a dad? Well, both yes and no. You are already a parent but you haven’t yet realised your parenthood.

We live in that same time, between Christ’s comings. We live in the kingdom, preparing for it, enjoying the reality of it, but awaiting the full realisation of it.

And Jesus gives his disciples a task between times; to be his witnesses. To tell others about him, as they stake their lives on who Jesus is and what he’s done. Luke 24:46-48 tells us what they witness to “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” Jesus will bring about the kingdom through them, as they go to the nations and tell others who Jesus is and what he’s done because otherwise they face a lost eternity.

You might be thinking ‘yes but that is the Apostles’ job, it’s given to them.’ As you read through Acts we see that they teach and witness to others who come to faith and automatically start teaching and witnessing to others, who come to faith and automatically start teaching and witnessing to others, and naturally churches gather and are formed. Acts isn’t just about the Apostles, this isn’t just their responsibility. For every Peter and John there’s a Dorcus, Cornelius or Philip. For every Paul there’s an Apollos, Priscilla or Aquila.

Acts 1:8 isn’t just the Apostles’ mission it’s the mission of every believer. Turn to Acts 28:30-31, read it, (yes you right now, unless you've memorised it that includes you, read it) it feels a bit unfinished doesn’t it? Paul is witnessing in Rome, lots of places have heard the good news about Jesus, but it hasn’t yet reached the ends of the earth yet. We are left thinking what happens next? It is deliberate because the mission still stands. When we trust Jesus as Saviour he becomes our Lord and his mission becomes our mission, his glory becomes our concern as we enter the family business, the world needs to hear the truth about Jesus.

Someone, I don't remember who, said the world needs the gospel because for believers this world is all the hell we will ever know, but for unbelievers it is all the heaven they will ever experience.  The sheer lostness of the lost must compel us to take the gospel to them.

There’s no-one the gospel is not for. It is for all classes, all races, all genders. And it isn’t just about leaving wherever some is and going to the ends of the earth, though it may mean that for some, it’s about witnessing where we are. Will you be a witness right now right where you are? And in Acts we see the Apostles strategy for doing this is through the church. Not lone ranger evangelists, but believers gathered together on mission to reach and disciple the lost together. It’s about churches looking at the places around us where the gospel doesn’t currently reach and thinking creatively and boldly and outside the box about how we witness there. It’s about looking at where churches are struggling to reach out and witness and revitalising and re-energising them with the gospel so they can witness.

As you think about your city, town or village this morning, where are those unreached places? Is it the council estates that are bounded by neighbourhood relationships? Which we drive past but at the moment aren’t reaching? Is it some of the surrounding towns or villages which are very much self contained units?

Only one power exists on this planet, in this town, this community that can bring lasting change. Only the love of Jesus Christ that conquers sin, wipes out shame, heals wounds, and reconciles enemies can change the world one life at a time. And that message has been given to God’s church, to us.

Why Mission and therefore Church Planting matters - Part 1

I'm going to post three short posts about why mission and church planting matters from Acts 1.

Part 1: The Unchanging mission of God(1-8)

When you remove the key leader often companies or movements struggle. Think of Manchester United since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson, or the concerns about Apple without Steve Jobs.

When they crucified Jesus the Jewish leaders hoped that’d be the last they heard of him. That his disciples would drift back to their normal lives and Jesus and his works would become a fading memory. But on Easter Sunday Jesus rose again, death wasn’t the end, (Luke 24:46)just as the law and prophets promised. Jesus proves it conclusively to his followers(3). But now, here in Acts1, Jesus is about to go away, (2)he’s going to be taken up to heaven. The question is what will happen to the disciples without him? Will they go back to their fishing boats and tax booths? Will Jesus become a forgotten footnote in history?

Fast forward 30 years after Jesus’ ascension and the good news of Jesus has turned the world upside down. Jesus who never left the area surrounding Judea is known, worshipped and followed across Asia, Europe, Africa and elsewhere. How and why did that happen?

That’s the story of Acts. The explosion of the gospel from the backwater of Palestine across the world. And in his opening verses Luke wants Theophilus, and us as we read over his shoulder, to see why. (1-2)“In my first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day he was taken up...” Luke’s gospel is about who Jesus is and what he did before he ascended to heaven, Acts is the account of what Jesus does after his ascension. Jesus isn’t done when he ascends; Jesus is alive and reigning at God the Father’s right hand. And he isn’t distant; an isolated, pampered prince. He reigns and intercedes on behalf of his people and Acts will show us how. Acts isn’t the Acts of the Apostles. It’s the continuing Acts of the risen reigning Jesus at work by the Spirit in his people.

And that hasn’t changed. What is true in the first century is true this morning. Jesus is alive and reigning right now at his Father’s right hand. That’s the lens through which we view the world. All the chaos; the fractures caused by sin, the pain and hurt which is the result of rebellion against God, the evil which comes from wanting to rule ourselves is painfully real. But Jesus Christ is reigning over all. It doesn’t knock him off his throne. That’s our confidence, just as it was the church’s confidence in Acts as they faced external persecution and internal challenges, as they went to a hostile world with the gospel, Jesus reigns and rules.  He is still on mission.

Jesus reigns, right now this morning, he will be reigning tomorrow as you go to work or school or home. And he is at work, it may be small and hidden, but he is at work.

You can imagine the disciples’ excitement can’t you? Like Christmas, birthday and bonfire night all rolled into one. Jesus is alive, raised to life again by God so now he’ll bring the kingdom he’s been teaching about into being. His rule will begin, his enemies will be defeated and everything will be amazing. So they ask “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” You can imagine the excited glances, smiling expectantly, like children waiting for the cake at a party as they ask the question.

They expect Jesus to bring his kingdom right now. But (7-8)Jesus wants them to understand the nature of the kingdom, the timing of the kingdom and their role in bringing the kingdom.

They ask about the restoration of the kingdom of Israel. But God’s plans have always been much bigger than one nation. Jesus has been teaching them about (3)the kingdom of God. God’s kingdom has never been exclusively to one nation. Father, Son and Spirit have planned from eternity to reconcile, redeem and reunite all humanity. Jesus says “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

God’s plan has always been to reach and win the world. In Genesis 12 as an embryonic Israel is in promise form, the promise is of people, place, and protection but also God’s plan that “in you all families of the earth shall be blessed.” Throughout the Old Testament we see glimpses of that plan as Joseph blesses the nations by providing food, as Solomon’s wisdom impacts nations beyond Israel’s borders. As Rahab, Ruth, and others join God’s people by faith, as Jonah and Nahum are sent to the Assyrians, as Daniel and friends witness in Babylon. As the prophets cast a vision of God’s people as a light to the nations who flock to know God.

God’s plan has always been for people from every nation to enter his kingdom through faith in Jesus. To know the king, follow him and live enjoying his rule.  And God invites, no he commands his people to share the family values.  Mission not an option it is a necessity.  Therefore planting churches, communities that hold out the gospel - not are inward looking and naval gazing - is an absolute must if we are to play our part in God's mission.

Sheep rustling or building the kingdom?

I've just had the first of what will no doubt be a number of emails from student/youth/assistant pastors asking me that if we were sending any students to university in their town/city we would direct them towards their church.  I always have mixed feelings when I receive such emails.  Whilst in one sense its great to know that there are churches to direct students towards I almost want to vet those churches.  To email back and ask if they will be sending those students back to us (or any other church) three years hence better equipped and trained, more in love with Jesus and more aware of the need and more determined to see God's kingdom grow in the United Kingdom.  Or whether their students usually stay on with them after graduation, thus growing their church at the cost of churches in non-university towns.

Last year I posted some questions I'd love to ask them but haven't yet dared to:

1. What percentage of students who come to you do you encourage to engage in the work of mission on campus through the CU because you recognise the unique strategic opportunity it presents?  How practically do you encourage and facilitate that?


2. How do you help students gain a vision of God's kingdom that encompasses more than just your church or city or town, but a passion for the gospel to be known across the UK?


3. How do you equip, train and release those students who come to you to serve the kingdom across the world?

4. What percentage of your students stay with you on graduation and why do they stay?

5.  What percentage of your graduates leave to go to gospel deprived areas of the town or city or to serve in gospel work in other UK towns or cities?

There are others but they are the principle five.  Because here's my concern the cost to small evangelical churches of sending their young people to university is staggeringly high because most do not return.  It means that nationally churches outside of university towns are ageing, lose the next generation of leaders, and will eventually die out.

I'm almost tempted to add one last question to those above.  'Imagine, that over the next 5 years every one of your young people left to move to another city and did not return and were not replaced by other young people, how would that impact your church?  How would it effect it's budget, it's children's work, it's bible study, it's pastoral care, it's ability to reach out with the gospel, it's leadership?  What values would you ask the churches where those young people went to instil in them?'

Grace church and the next 5 years.

This Sunday we were looking at God's mission for the church and what exactly that will look like for Grace Church.  It is in short our vision for Grace Church for the next five years.  Here's a summary:

Why does the church exist? What’s it here for? What’s God’s purpose for it?  Matthew 28v18-20 is Jesus final instruction to his disciples about what they’re to do when he has ascended into heaven. It’s their marching orders, and the mission of the church as we’ll see in Acts.

In 2007 Tearfund research found that 70% of the UK population had no intention of attending a church service at any point in the future. 70%, and my guess is that figure has only gone up in the last 8 years. Another organisation looked at trends in Sunday School attendance; in 1900 55% of children attended Sunday school, in 1940 30%, 1970 14%, 2000 4% and by 2016 it’s estimated to be 1%. Another study concluded: 96% of children in Britain grow up without any significant exposure to the church or the gospel. Isn’t that staggering?  Given that context of the country and community we live in.  We need to go with the gospel.

The first thing we must see about this mission in Matthew 28 is the context in which it’s given. Jesus and his disciples know how needy the world is, but what Jesus wants them to know is the power they have behind them. Jesus has been given “all authority in heaven and on earth...” He is God the Son, he’s the King and he commissions them. The disciples carry the royal warrant as they go on this mission. And they aren’t alone; Jesus is with them, how? Acts 2 by the Holy Spirit.

It is knowing that authority and presence that they are to “therefore go” and make disciples. Notice the scale of the mission, to all nations teaching them all or everything I have taught you. But that mission isn’t impossible because of scale of the authority Jesus has. Jesus doesn’t just pass on his mission but he promises they are joining with him in his mission with his authority and presence.

And notice what they’re to do. They aren’t to make converts but disciples. People who follow Jesus; who make Jesus their overriding passion in life. How do they do that? By teaching them; calling them to repent of their sin and put their faith in Jesus as the one who rescues and reconciles them to God. That means teaching them the gospel, that we’re rebels against God, cut off from him and facing life and eternity without him. Until God the Son became man because of the Father’s love for the world, and lived, was put to death to pay for our sin as he experienced God’s just anger on our behalf, and who rose again just as he raises us to new life. So that by trusting in him we’re credited with his perfect record and by grace given a right relationship with God. Adopted into his family to live as God’s children. All symbolised in baptism and resulting whole life change.

This mission to make disciples who live life following Jesus, transformed by grace and called to obedient sonship drives the disciples and the early church, and it’s a mission which is passed on to us.

But what does it look like to live out this mission?

Gospel teaching and learning are vital
In Acts we see the mission undertaken. So in ch1v21-22 a new Apostles is chosen, why? Because teaching about Jesus matters and it is necessary to fulfil this mission. In Acts 2 when they receive Jesus authority as the Spirit fills them they preach Jesus and 3,000 believe. And straightaway (2v42-47)we see the church meet, focused on making disciples. Devoted to the Apostles teaching and remembering Jesus death, devoted to gospel teaching, learning and transformed living.

In Acts 4 the Apostles keep on teaching God’s grace(33) and that becomes the key driving force in this new community bringing transformation and unity. In Acts 6 they restructure the church so they can focus on making and discipling believers by teaching the gospel. In Acts 8 they’re driven out of Jerusalem by persecution (4)preaching the word wherever they go. In Acts 15 they contend for the truth of the gospel to safeguard the message they must pass on. In the epistles the gospel is taught, learnt, applied and lived out. And in the pastoral letters the charge is given to the next generation to pass it on.

The churches mission in action. We stand in that tradition with the same mission. We must teach the gospel, learn the gospel, and live out the gospel, living as and making disciples.

The gospel taught, learnt, and lived produces a community marked by grace and overflowing love
Acts stresses that the teaching of the gospel produces a community of grace. (Acts 4v33-34)The gospel drives everything they do. It’s a church that’s quick to welcome, love, forgive, bear with and sacrificially serve one another. Why? Because that’s how they’ve been loved in Jesus, and grace becomes the heartbeat of the church.

That expresses itself in their devotion to sharing life with one another. In their generosity with their money, their homes, their possession and their time. That this isn’t a one a off is seen in the letters to the churches; in Corinthians Paul rebukes a church that has stopped treating one another with grace, in Ephesians he helps a church marvel at what God has made the church by grace, in Philippians he encourages them to live lives increasingly transformed by grace, in Thessalonians he praises them for the transformation and love grace has brought and is bringing about in them.

The gospel at work; taught, learnt and applied produces a community of grace. But it doesn’t stop there. That community with its passion for God, the gospel and people goes with the gospel to the world. It loves those outside the church because it serves a God who so loved the world he gave his only son. And that means the church works to relieve suffering where we can find it especially eternal suffering.

Practically as a community focused on grace we’ll be propelled outward to love others, we’ll “go”. As a community constantly taught the gospel we’ll be equipped by the gospel to do good works(Eph 4v11-12) which display God’s love and grace to those outside the church. Drawing them to see and meet Jesus as we hold out and speak the gospel.

But how? What will that look like for us in Auckley?

The challenge for us is to take God’s mission and work out what it looks like in our context. What that looks like for us? What will we put our energy into for the next five years?

Seeing the gospel taught, believed in, applied and lived out
Only one power exists on this planet and in this community that can bring lasting change. Only the love of Jesus Christ that conquers sin, wipes out shame, heals wounds, and reconciles enemies can change the world one life at a time. And that power has been given to us. Our mission is to go and make disciples. We’ve always been a church focused on bible teaching, but we want to increasingly add to that bible learning and living.

So on Sunday mornings our focus will continue to be teaching the bible well, on applying it to our world, community, family and lives. We’ll continue to have questions for discussion after the service and encourage one another to use them to think practically about how we learn and live out what God has taught us.

Gospel Group on Tuesday night will continue to provide a second opportunity to be taught, believe, apply and live out the gospel. We’d love to see more people coming along, we’d love to multiply groups, times, locations and leaders.

We want to see the gospel taught to those who don’t yet know Jesus. To share this good news with the community around us. I think since we’ve been here we’ve made a great start. Assemblies are an ongoing way we do that, holiday club was another way, Uncover has been another. And we’ll keep on doing those. One Big Question this March is another way we want to go with the gospel and bring people in to hear about Jesus, provoking questions and providing responses.

We want to build on the annual set pieces. Easter Sunday was brilliant last year and we want to maximise that opportunity again. Christmas saw over 50 visitors come across the 4 services and hear the gospel. We have the potential to develop harvest opportunities and others as we proclaim the gospel and look to make disciples.

Here’s the challenge for us as a church. We need to multiply bible teachers as we do this. That means both considering if that’s a gift we have or if you could serve in other ways to take some of the pressure off those who teach so that they can focus on teaching well. For example you might consider; setting up church on Sunday, doing the rota’s once a term, collating and emailing the weekly church prayer update, visiting people, and so on. Jobs where you could serve and free up time for those who teach the bible.

It also means giving to enable that to happen, to set aside those who teach and are freed up to teach well.

We also need to pray. Pray for those teaching the bible, turn Matthew 9v38 into a prayer for more bible teachers. Pray for people to come along to events and for those who come along to respond to the gospel. Perhaps that is going to be your focus for this year.

Seeing the gospel taught and lived out produce a grace filled community of overflowing love
One of the dangers as we grow is becoming more diverse. The call of the great commission is to make disciples of all types of people, different backgrounds, ways of thinking, likes, dislikes and so on. How does the early church overcome that? We saw in Acts 6 by keeping the gospel central, and by being a community where grace is at work. Practically they maximised the opportunities to be together.

Sunday morning has ample opportunities both before and after the service, could you make more of those? Church lunch provides a great opportunity to get to know those you don’t know so well. Gospel group provides another opportunity, as does prayer meeting. Why not use Sunday afternoons to have people over for lunch.

As we’ve thought about what it will look like to be a grace filled community loving the area we’ve contacted some people to ask what they thought the key issues were. We’ve decided to focus on three areas:

1. Building community. 

Our area is changing rapidly with new developments, but it has also lost lots of resources. The children’s centre and community hall have all closed in the last 7 years and nothing has replaced it. It’s an area of need but with little provision. There are three things we think we can do to meet this need:

a. Community Governance Review – we’ve been in contact with the council to see about renaming the area. We want to lead a petition to see if there’s interest in getting the area renamed Hayfield. That potentially would mean forming a Parish Council for the area which would have some money to spend each year to meet community needs. It may also provide a way for residents to have a say in creating community.

b. Community space/provision - The area needs community provision, somewhere for things to happen, for people to meet, but there isn’t anywhere. Peel Holdings promised a community centre, play park and green space but apparently there wasn’t anyone willing to oversee it. We want to explore with them whether this is a role Grace Church could play.

c. Coffee mornings - We want to grow our coffee mornings, making it a place of contact and where we can help build community.

2. Strengthening Families
a. Toddlers - We already do some work in this area through Toddlers, but we want to expand and grow toddlers. One of the current limitations is the bungalow and we want to explore a potential new place so we can develop this more.

b. Christians Against Poverty - Debt and money management are an issue in the area. We are exploring getting training on becoming a CAP provider, so that we can teach budgeting to those in need. We need people willing to be trained and provide that service.

c. A voice and link. Grace Church is becoming known as a place to go to for help, we want to develop that further. Pointing people to agencies and providing practical help. We also want to be a voice for those who feel that haven’t got one, writing to local MP’s, councillors etc.

3. Nutrition
Food is a need in the community. Figures say 1 in 5 mums has gone without a meal so their children can eat in the last year. It’s not just having enough food that is an issue but providing nutritious food.

a. Foodbank - It’s great to see the foodbank developing in town and in Rossington but we want to explore setting up one or a satellite here, and becoming a point of contact for those in need.

b. Recipe book - We want to put together a book of healthy meals for a family for under a fiver. Potentially providing the opportunity to teach this to parents via twilight evening session, though again a venue remains an issue.

c. Voicing the need - Again as we do this we need to contend for those who are marginalised and in need.

As we serve in those areas we will hold out the gospel, knowing that the greatest need is the eternal need. Here’s the challenge as we think about the next five years. What gifts has God given you to serve as we look to make the gospel known?

Only one power exists on this planet and in this community that can bring lasting change. Only the love of Jesus Christ that conquers sin, wipes out shame, heals wounds, and reconciles enemies can change the world one life at a time. And that power has been given to us and our mission is to go and make disciples.

Are missions unbiblical?

There are lots of books and resources around on running successful missions and evangelistic events.  Every church does it?  National initiatives encourage us to do it?  Big conferences focus on the need for it?  But as you read Acts you find yourself searching for the idea of a church carrying out Evangelistic events, or having concentrated times of mission in vain.

Don't miss hear me mission is everywhere in Acts, from Peter preaching at Pentecost, to Peter and John in front of the Sanhedrin, to Paul on his missionary journeys.  The churches send people, Philip is known as the evangelist, and so on, mission is everywhere.  Yet that is not the same as having concentrated times of evangelistic activity, such as we often do.

In fact when you read Acts 2:42-47 there are lots of features of the church mentioned yet evangelism isn't explicitly mentioned yet we are told "the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."  The church gathering, loving, doing live together, generously and self sacrificially giving, committing themselves to the scriptures, prayer, fellowship and remembering Jesus seems to have automatically brought in unbelievers who were more than intrigued they were fascinated and thirsty for the gospel.

If people are coming to faith everyday there was no need for evangelistic weeks or mission events.  The church didn't need to do mission because they were on mission!

I can't help wondering if having evangelistic weeks or mission events actually is counter productive?  Does it make it seem as if evangelism is something we do just this week?  Or as if this is the service to bring your friends too, and by implication all the others the rest of the year aren't for them?  How do we ensure this isn't the case if we do concentrated mission?  Or maybe better how so we recapture the life being about mission?

The struggle to remain Gospel Hearted, Mission Minded and Kingdom Conscious

I don't know about you but I struggle investing in people only to see them leave, part of me - heavily influenced by the sinful world around me says 'only invest in those who won't leave, only pour your time, energy and discipling into those who you will see develop and benefit you and your church'.  That's in part why Romans 1 has been such a challenge personally Paul is so kingdom conscious, so gospel hearted and so mission minded.  I think I and we in the UK have much to learn from this.

Just think about the non-university town church, who has always invested heavily in its young people, teaching them the bible from an early age and throughout their teenage years, discipling them and training them in how to handle the bible and living out the gospel in front of them.  In non-university town churches a high percentage of those young people will go to university, serve in CU's settle in a church and often stay in that church after they graduate, serving along with other young twenties.  It takes a kingdom consciousness to keep on training up young people, investing in them to see them leave and then serve in often much bigger churches.  We have to keep telling ourselves to be gospel hearted, mission minded and kingdom focused.

One church I was part of has seen 3 of its youth group or young twenties go into the ministry having been discipled in it, they have been very generous in giving away and supporting those they have invested in, especially as they are now without a pastor.  Such continual giving away can be energy sapping, the temptation is to focus on those who will be around long term, indeed some ministry manuals would tell you to do just that.  But Romans reminds us and refreshes us in truth that to love Jesus is to love people and to be gospel hearted, mission minded and Kingdom conscious.

But what about the university town church?  Increasingly parts of the United Kingdom are less churched than overseas mission hot spots.  These areas are non-university towns with faithful churches but often faithful churches with few young people in their twenties.  In the UK I fear that there is a very real danger that in 20-25 years time Christianity will have shrunk to the university towns with many areas unreached and unreachable with the gospel from those towns and cities.  This situation is exacerbated by young people rightly wanting company of like minded people and therefore staying in university town churches with twenties groups etc...  But what if those churches encouraged small groups of twenty somethings to move together to a different town, maybe encouraging those who are from a non-university town church close by to find a like minded group of people and support that local church.

It has been thrilling to see just some of that sort of gospel hearted, kingdom conscious thinking beginning to happen, but it is still a rarity.  We as churches in the UK and in gospel partnerships need to think big picture as Paul did - encouraging the Romans to partner with him in reaching Spain with the gospel.  We need to encourage larger congregations to partner with smaller congregations in reaching their area with the gospel, we need smaller congregations to keep investing in those who will leave, we need groups of believers willing to move to the town or area they work in rather than commute 35 minutes.  Dare I say it we don't always need to new churches in an area where there are bible teaching churches already but we need people to involve themselves in those bible teaching churches with gospel hearts who will labour conscious of the kingdom of God.

Father God save me from being 'my kingdom' focused and liberate me through the gospel to serve your kingdom with your heart not my agenda.

Could God ever love me?

My Notes from last talk at Leeds Met Mission week.

Morality ladder – If God is at the top as the only perfect being, where would you put the following people? Hitler, Mother Teresa, Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth, Amy Winehouse, David Beckham, you? Where is the cut off point at which you please God and why?

Hope fully that little activity gave you something to talk about. It’s an interesting little conundrum isn’t it. Who pleases God and how? Who is moral? How do you make it right if you’ve got it wrong?  I want to think about that for a few minutes this evening, where does God set the bar? Who does he love? Who does he view as moral?

Jesus tells a story in the story is a man “a man who had two sons”(11). It’s a story that confronts us with three ways to live and ends with a shock.

Life without God
This man has two sons but then comes the shock(v12), the younger son wants to leave home, and not just move out and get his own place but he wants his share of the inheritance. What he effectively says to his dad is this; ‘Dad, you’re not dead yet but I can’t wait that long, can I have now what will be mine when you are!’ That’s what he’s saying; I am wasting my life waiting for you to die before I can do what I want so why don’t you give me my inheritance now! You are holding me back, I’m missing out, I wish you were dead!

And having been given his inheritance the younger son leaves, he gets as far away from his father as he can(13) and begins living it up. He lives and spends recklessly, wildly. He joins the young wealthy socialites, the ‘in crowd’, he throws himself into the party life. He lives life how he wants trying to eek out every last second of fun to give it meaning.

(14-16)But soon the money is gone and he ends up doing a demeaning job and life isn’t fun anymore. His pursuit of pleasure, living his life his own way, deciding right and wrong for himself leaves him in need. It leaves him empty and longing for home even though he knows he can no longer be a son, notice that his plan is to go back to his dad and ask to be a servant because his dad can’t love him after what he has done, he is just too bad!

It’s a picture of the story of the Bible, God creates a world and gives it to us to enjoy in relationship with him, but we want the world but not the relationship. We want to be free to pursue what we want when we want it.

It’s an idea captured in the song from a couple of years ago Bonkers by Dizzee Rascal:

I wake up everyday it’s a daydream
Everythin’ in my life isn’t what it seems
I wake up just to go back to sleep
I act real shallow but I’m in to deep
And all I care about is sex and violence
And a heavy bass line is my kind of silence
Everybody says I got to get a grip
But I let sanity give me the slip

Some people think I’m bonkers
But I just think I’m free
Man I’m just living my life
There nothing crazy about me
Some people pay for thrills
but I get mine for free
Man I’m just living my life
There nothing crazy about me

Freedom matters and freedom is about doing what I want when I want it, about getting thrills, it is about self determination.

I guess we wouldn’t put it as bluntly as that. But we can be just like this rebellious son. We share his view of God as a harsh disciplinarian who limits fun, who I need to escape to be free and really live life? But when we find things are empty and we think about God we can feel too bad for God to love, we think like this son God could never love me now.

That’s the first way we can relate to God, we can live.

Being very good
At first glance the older brother seems the opposite of the younger brother. He stays and works for his Father, he doesn’t squander the inheritance, he doesn’t rebel.

I think that’s the way we think morality works, I’d guess we think God loves the very good. We earn God’s favour by being very very good, that we tot up brownie points to make it into heaven.

But(27-30) notice something about this good son, he may have been very good but he has exactly the same problem as his brother he just expresses it differently. He doesn’t want relationship with the father either, he just wants his father’s riches, but he goes about getting it by being very, good.

His wrong attitude is shown when his Father welcomes back the younger son, it is just too much that his Father would welcome back such a rebel, because his father should only love good, hard working sons who have stayed on the farm!

The older brother is a picture of another way we can wrongly think we relate to God, by being very, very good, thinking that we earn God’s favour. Older brother types think that what God wants to hear from them is “All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.”

They believe you can save yourself, that if you just try hard enough, if you are good enough, if you go to church enough, if you serve others enough, if you are moral enough you will be good enough.

Yet where is the older son at the end of the story? The good moral person is outside the feast – the place of welcome and relationship. Why because he will not accept the Father’s gracious welcome to the feast, because he is furious that God could show grace to rebels.

But fundamentally if that is us our problem is that we haven’t understood the nature of our problem. You see God’s standard is perfection, Jesus says elsewhere it is to love God with all you heart soul mind and strength and to love your neighbour as yourself. We fall short, we may be better than so and so but no amount of goodness can make up for that failing.

Am I an older brother? Do I think relationship with God is based on performance, on my being very good, that I can earn it? Jesus is warning here that we can’t!

But there is a third way to live, and that is to live accepting the gracious love of the Father.

Sheer Grace
The father in this parable is utterly astonishing in his love and graciousness isn’t he? (12)He gives his younger son what he wants when he wants to leave, he doesn’t force him to stay. He longs for his return and welcomes him with open arms and lavish love, not making him grovel or apologise but graciously giving him relationship. And with the older brother, he doesn’t rebuke him for his harsh words or lack of respect rather he goes out and asks him to enter the feast, to have relationship too. Those actions for a Father are costly.

God’s love and acceptance are free and you can never have been too bad to return, but you have to accept it. God offers grace to both the lost sons. Is that how you think of God?

This is the third of three lost parables Jesus told. The first(3-7) is about a lost sheep, the second a lost coin. In each something gets lost, is found, and ends with feasting and celebration over that discovery. But there is something missing in the story of the lost sons.

In the other two someone searches for what is lost, but in the third no-one goes to search. In Luke 19:10 Jesus says this “The Son of Man (himself) came to seek and save what was lost.” Jesus comes sent by the Father to seek lost sons, whether they are lost because they have overtly rejected relationship with God and are seeking meaning in pleasure, or they are lost trying to save themselves by being very, very good and earning a place in heaven.

He comes to find the lost but he also comes to pay the price of forgiveness. God doesn’t stand waiting looking for us to return he sends his Son to find us and bring us back. To pay the price for our rebellion and make us right with God. That was the Pharisees problem they knew sin had to be dealt with, how could Jesus welcome sinners without dealing with their sin.

Once a month in our house the credit card bill plops onto the door mat. It contains details of all the spending of the previous month and tells us the date it must be paid for.

Jesus is not letting sinners off here! He is not saying sin doesn’t matter. But rather he is saying because we can’t make ourselves right with God he will pay for the price for us. As he dies on the cross he pays for the rebellion of those who repent and believe in him. He gives us his perfect record and relationship with God.

Not so that we can get the inheritance, but so that we can enjoy relationship with God. Heaven is not the prize God is! The feast is a picture of restored relationship.

Do you see the three ways to live; you can reject God and live life but at some point you will come up empty, you can live life thinking you are earning credit with God but it will never be enough because the standard is perfection, or you can accept God’s grace freely given to you in Jesus, and live with him as your king.

God is waiting for you to return whether you think you are too bad or too good. He sends his son to bring us back not to be slaves, not to work our fingers to the bone to earn eternal life but to accept the free gift of relationship with the Father, of becoming his loved child.

What will you do with that gift?

Some of you here tonight may want to accept that grace that God gives, you may have realised that you’ve rejected God either by living life how you want, or by thinking being good would be good enough. I’m going to pray in a minute and you may want to join in with that.

Some of you may want to know more, on your table are feedback cards please sign up to look at who Jesus is.  Or Maybe you think what I’ve said is a load of rubbish, why not right that down as well.

Father God, I recognise that I need your forgiveness for the way I have lived my life. I am sorry for putting myself at the centre and living in your world as if I was in charge. Please forgive me. Thank you for sending your only Son into the world to live in my place and to die in my place. Thank you that Jesus has experienced the judgement I deserve.

From now on I want to follow him as my Saviour and King, so please help me by your spirit, day by day, to do whatever Jesus says.

Amen 

Why would a loving God allow suffering?

This is without doubt the question that is most asked by people and it is a great question. We are just going to watch a clip from a film called Patch Adams. Patch played by Robin Williams is a student doctor; he has set up a free clinic to care for those without medical insurance. But one of the patients murders his girlfriend. We pick up the story as a grieving Patch confronts God over what has happened.

Clip from Patch Adams Ch 13 1:28:50-1:31:00  “Let’s look at the logic; you create man, man suffers enormous amounts of pain and dies. Maybe you should have had a few more brainstorming sessions before creation. You rested on the seventh day maybe you should have spent that day on compassion.”

I think it’s a clip that sums up our problem as we look at the world. The world is full of tragedy and suffering isn’t it? Tsunami’s, earthquakes, war, genocide, drought, starvation, oppression, slavery and so on.

The bible is not silent when it comes to suffering, it doesn’t hide from issues like death, grief, mourning, illness, childlessness, disability, or the impact of natural disasters. But the Bible maintains that even in the face of suffering God is good and it considers both natural disasters and man-made suffering. Its honesty about these issues is another thing which makes the bible and Christianity unique. Ask a Muslim about suffering and they will reply it is the will of Allah, ask a Hindu and its karma, ask an atheist and they will tell you it is just random chance, part of the natural evolutionary cycle. But the Bible’s answer is both more satisfying and more serious.

It may surprise you but the Bible gives some time to thinking about life without God and concludes that everything; riches, poverty, pleasures, sadness, enjoyment, suffering is all meaningless if there is no God because the end result is the same we die.

If there is no God then suffering is just part of evolution, a way of weeding out the weak from the strong, we shouldn’t mourn over it but marvel at its ruthless efficiency. If there is no God there is no point in suffering so we should just get over it and get on with life.

The author of that book concludes at the end that life only makes sense with God in the picture. So how does the bible explain how a loving God can allow suffering?

Positive Pain
Luke 13:1-9. The crowds are gathering around Jesus and they tell him about how (1)Pilate has massacred some Galileans and mixed their blood with sacrifices.

Every society has its perceived wisdom, in Jesus day it was that those who were killed in such a disaster must somehow have deserved it, that they must have been worse sinners than anyone else. But Jesus disagrees(2-3), in fact he says “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no!”

And what he does next is even more surprising isn’t it? After all its easy to explain this suffering s man made – Pilate did it. (4-5)But now Jesus raises the bar by discussing the issue of natural disasters, and he reiterates his point, those who were killed when the tower fell on them were not more sinful than anyone else, but neither does Jesus say it just happened.

(3,5)Jesus warns the crowd that those who died in both incidents were no more sinful than anyone else and calls on the crowd to recognise they have a common destiny. Everyone dies the only question is timing and circumstance, and he uses both tragedies to warn the crowd to repent. He goes on to tell a parable to show them that they must respond and bear fruit or face judgement.

Do you see what Jesus is saying? Suffering is a warning, it reminds us of our frailty and that we will all die, it shows us the consequences of a world where we live without reference to God.

Leprosy is a horrible disease, it stops you feeling pain so that you no longer remove your hand from the hot surface, or feel it when you step on glass, or notice when you slice into your finger. Pain is an early warning sign that something is wrong. Suffering is in part designed to warn us that something is wrong, wrong with our world, and wrong with us and to make us ask big questions and search for big answers.

I think we like Patch make an assumption that God made the world like this.

What’s wrong with the world?
Do you notice how Jesus describes the people he is talking to and the people who died? “Sinners” And not just those that died in fact he says all humans are sinners.

Behind our question ‘How could a loving God allow suffering?’ is the wrong assumes that the world is how it is because God made it that way. But actually what Jesus says is that God didn’t make the world this way sin did. The Bible shows us God creating a perfect world, a world without suffering, without natural disasters, without acts of evil, until man decided to oust God and rule the world according to our version of right and wrong.

And from that moment on everything unravels. The chaos, destruction, evil, suffering and natural disasters are all the result of a world where we try to rule the world in our wisdom rather than God’s.

But God is not done with the world yet. If you read through the gospels you see Jesus calming a raging out of control creation, you see him free a demon possessed man, then he heals a sick woman liberating her from her years of suffering, and finally he brings an end to mourning as he undoes death itself. Jesus is not indifferent to suffering nor is he incapable in the face of it. Jesus gives us a glimpse of the world we all want. A world with no death, no mourning, no pain, no illness, no conflict, no natural disasters. A world with none of the consequences of sin because there is no sin, a world which is perfect because it is ruled by God.

Jesus gives us glimpses of the world we all want and he comes to prepare us for it. Our world is dislocated because it is out of relationship with God because we reject God and want to decide right and wrong for ourselves. One day God will deal justly with all the sin that has caused suffering, but that means he must deal justly with us – with our rejection of him and the suffering we have caused others.

The Silent Plain.
At the end of time, billions of people were scattered on a great plain before Gods throne. Most shrank back from the brilliant light before them. But some groups near the front talked heatedly – not with cringing shame but with belligerence. “Can God judge us?”

“How can he know about suffering?” snapped a pert young brunette. She ripped open a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. “We endured terror … beating … torture … death!”

In another group a black man lowered his collar. “What about this?” he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. “Lynched for no crime but being black!”

In another crowd, a pregnant schoolgirl with sullen eyes. “Why should I suffer?” She murmured. “It wasn’t my fault.”

Far out across the plain were hundreds of such groups. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering he had permitted in his world. How lucky God was to live in heaven where all was sweetness and light, where there was no weeping or fear, no hunger or hatred! What did God know of all that men had been forced to endure in the world? For God leads a pretty sheltered life, they said.

So each of the groups sent forth their leader, chosen because they had suffered the most. A Jew, a person from Hiroshima, a horribly disabled arthritic, a thalidomide child. In the centre of the plain they consulted with each other.

At last they were ready to present their case. It was rather clever. Before God could be qualified to be their judge, he must endure what they had endured. Their verdict was that God should be sentenced to live on earth – as a man! Let him be born a Jew. Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted. Give him a work so difficult that even his family will think him out of his mind when he tries to do it. Let him be betrayed by his closest friends. Let him face false charges, be tried by a prejudiced jury and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let him be tortured. And last, let him see what it means to be terribly alone. Then let him die in agony. Let him die so that there can be no doubt that he died. Let there be a whole host of witnesses to verify it.

As each leader announced the portion of his sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the throng of people assembled. When the last finished pronouncing sentence there was a long silence. No one uttered another word. No one moved. For suddenly all knew that God had already served his sentence.

Jesus comes and shares our suffering, in fact at the cross he goes beyond our suffering because God is not indifferent, God is not in attentive.

A loving God will deal with suffering but for now he waits because in love he is warning us that one day he will deal with all the suffering in the world, but that means he must deal with us. Jesus is God’s warning but he is also the solution, he gives us a glimpse of the world we all want and he is the way there by trusting in him.

In Luke 13 in response to the warning the suffering gives Jesus urges the crowd to repent. To change, to say sorry and stop living life our way with our version of right and wrong and instead live life God’s way, to say thank you for sending Jesus to warn and provide a way we can be forgiven, and lastly ask Jesus to be your king.

If you’re really there God, why don’t you just prove it?

A primary school teacher was once walking around her class during art; most of the children were painting animals or their family or something recognisable. And then she noticed Scott’s rather shapeless yet extremely colourful creation, she stopped by his desk and asked; ‘That’s lovely Scott, what is it?’
“That’s God,” Scott replied.
“But no-one has ever seen God,” his teacher said.
“They have now.” Said Scott looking up at her.

That’s exactly what most of us do in terms of God, not with a paint brush but in terms of our thinking. According to the last census 82% of British people believe there is a God. But I think that what God was like would be different for so many people, for some he’d be the harsh judgemental headmaster who you try desperately to avoid displeasing because he’s just waiting for a chance to punish you, for others he is a slightly senile grandfather figure who is always comforting and ready with a hug no matter what you do, for others, well, they think God must exist but have no idea what he’s like and don’t give it much thought.

They can’t all be right can they? So if God exists why doesn’t he just prove it and show us what he is like. I believe that he has.  John 10:22-42. (Read)

Jesus is proof that God exists
As I read it did you notice the extraordinary claims Jesus makes? What are they?

“I give them eternal life”(28), “I and the Father are one.” (30), (38)“the Father is in me and I in the Father.”

Jesus astonishingly claims twice that he and God are one and the same, that he is God the Son, as well as claiming he can give eternal life. (33)The Jews understand exactly what he is claiming, he isn’t just claiming to be a good man, or a good teacher, or even the most important prophet he is claiming to be God. That’s why they are about are about to stone him, and by the way just so we are clear that is with stones, because “you, a mere man, claim to be God.”

Jesus is claiming that he is God; there is no doubt about that. It’s the greatest declaration of the existence of God ever – Jesus is saying I’m God right here right now standing right in front of you in 1st Century Jerusalem. If you want to hear God speak listen to me, if you want to touch God I’m him, if you want to understand what God has to say to you and about you listen to my words, if you had any doubts about God’s existence I am here to dispel them.

And it isn’t just in this chapter of John, in ch14:8-9. Thomas, one of Jesus followers, asks Jesus to show them the Father and Jesus is a bit surprised by the question. Thomas if you have seen me you have seen the Father. Making that same claim again.

In John 8:58 Jesus makes another amazing claim to the Pharisees “Before Abraham was born, I am!” Jesus is saying he existed before he was born. Jesus consistently declares that he is God.

But I guess anyone can make a claim can’t they, the question is ‘what evidence is there to back up his claims?’

Exhibit A
When the Pharisees are about to stone him notice what Jesus says, he doesn’t issue a retraction or talk about being misquoted, or misunderstood. (34-39)He says look at the evidence, if the evidence backs up my claim believe in me.

What evidence is he talking about? He is talking about his work; if he is doing the work that God does they ought to believe.

One chapter later Jesus goes to his friend Lazarus’ house because Lazarus has died, it looks like a normal graveside scene as Jesus stands there and weeps(35). But Jesus is not ordinary (36)”Then the Jews said: see how he loved him! But some said “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

There is an amazing expectation – if Jesus had been there he could have healed Lazarus even though he was so ill that he died from that illness – Jesus could work miracles. It’s an astonishing expectation. But it’s a statement based on the evidence – already John has recorded Jesus turning water into wine, healing a sick boy, an invalid, a blind man, feeding 5,000, and walking on water. In fact even in books written by his opponents don’t doubt his miracle working they simply attribute it to sorcery.

Later on at the end of his book John writes “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book...” These miracles are a sampling, it’s no wonder the mourners say if he’d been here he could have kept this man from dying, Jesus does what only God can do.

And at the graveside Jesus is about to astound the crowd, because even death is no obstacle to God and therefore to him. (38-44)There is a resounding tone of realism isn’t there, no-one is expecting a resurrection. Even Martha the dead man’s sister when Jesus asks for the tomb to be unsealed says Lord he’ll stink, and you can imagine the dramatic pause after (43)as the crowd wait.

Jesus doesn’t resuscitate Lazarus he speaks the word of life to him conquering death. Jesus does the work of God with God’s power because he is God. The evidence backs up his claims, (11:25)”I am the resurrection and the life...”

But you may be saying the bible is bound to claim Jesus can do all these things. In fact from other sources those hostile to Jesus and Christianity like Josephus the Jewish leaders and Pliny and Tacitus you can discover that:

1. He was a Jewish teacher
2. Many believed he performed healings and exorcisms.
3. Some believed he was the Messiah
4. He was rejected by the Jewish leaders.
5. He was crucified by Pilate during Tiberius reign.
6. Despite crucifixion his followers believed he was alive.
7. Belief was widespread both geographically and socially.

God makes himself clear in Jesus.

Exhibit B
And it isn’t just what Jesus did, hundreds of years before prophets had written down that God would come to his people, across the centuries different prophecies built up the detail of how and where he would be born, how he would live and how he would die. Sometimes sceptics claim that Jesus deliberate fulfilled those prophecies so people would believe in him, now some of those prophecies Jesus could decided to deliberately fulfil but others were beyond Jesus control. For example he couldn’t determine or influence where he’d be born, or his parents taking him to Egypt when he was a toddler, or where he’d live on his return, or how he would die. Yet every single one is fulfilled in Jesus.

John’s gospel starts with just such a prophet, John the Baptist who described himself as “the voice of one calling in the wilderness, “Make straight the way for the Lord.” Later when John baptises Jesus he says “I have seen and testify that this is God’s Chosen One.” This is the one I was telling you to get ready for, this is the Lord! Jesus is God made flesh, God making himself clear to us

If you’re really there God why don’t you just prove it?

It strikes me that God has done just that, physically, tangibly, with evidence to back up his claims. God made man revealing God to us. But he does more than just reveal God to us. If Jesus is God his words will be the most important that you will ever listen to. So what does he tell us, two key things:

1. The problem is more serious than we could ever imagine
Jesus says the problem of sin, of our rebellion against God, of our living life with us at the centre are so serious we face eternity cut off from God, now if everything good is from God, then somewhere without God will be the opposite and that is hell. And God’s justice means that is the reality we face. Jesus also tells us that we can’t make it up to God by being good.

2. We are more loved than we ever dreamed
But brilliantly Jesus shows us not just the problem but the amazing solution. We can’t live a perfect life but he does it for us.

‘I want to stand where you’re standing’, those are the words on a gravestone in America and underneath is the story behind those words.

During the civil war, a group of confederates were lined up to be executed when a 19 year old Yankee soldier recognised the man he was about to shoot. He marched over to his senior officer and said ‘Sir, I cannot shoot this man. I know if I shoot him I end the lives of his wife and young children too.’

That young man walked over and stood before the condemned man and said those words, ‘I want to stand where you’re standing’, he took his place and the confederate soldier left to go home to his family, and that 19 year old was executed in his place. I want to stand where you’re standing.

That is Jesus message – I want to stand where you are standing, he pays for our rebellion and we get credited with his perfect record.

If only...

If you could only ask God for one thing and knew that he would give it to you, what would it be?

Maybe it would be fame, fortune, love, relationship, stuff. There are all sorts of things that we think ‘if only I had...’ then life would be ok.  Read Luke 5:17-26

If you want a definition of friendship then you see one here, (18)these men bring their paralysed friend on his mat to see Jesus, who has been healing people, and when they realise they can’t get in the door they aren’t put off. They are so determined that their friend must see Jesus that they go up onto the roof of someone’s house and rip part of the roof up and lower their friend down at Jesus feet. So there Jesus is with this man at his feet looking up at him expectantly, a slightly dusty crowd around him, these four faces looking down, and no doubt one slightly miffed home owner staring up open mouth at his new skylight.

What is everyone; the man, the friends, the crowd expecting Jesus to do? They are expecting Jesus to heal him. You can see their thinking it’s simple and its logical: The man is paralysed, Jesus can and has been healing the sick, put two and two together: Jesus will heal their friend. It’s why what comes next is just such a shock, because what does Jesus say? “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

You can imagine their disappointment, you can imagine the crowds surprise, everyone is expecting Jesus to say to this man get up you are healed and for the man to walk off happily ever after into the sunset. You can imagine the man’s confusion, his problem is obvious he is paralysed, he doesn’t lay awake at night thinking ‘If only my sins were forgiven’ he lays awake thinking if only I could walk. What is Jesus playing at?

But what Jesus is actually saying to the man is; you have a bigger problem than not being able to walk and I love you enough to deal with that too. I love you enough to take you deeper than what you think you need. You see if Jesus heals the man’s paralysis that’s great and for a while he will be happy, but eventually there will be another ‘if only...’ Great my legs work and I’m grateful for that but if only I was in a relationship, or if only I had a job. Being healed physically will not heal this man’s deepest problem, it will only provide a temporary fix not a lasting answer.

Cynthia Heimel has worked with a variety of people who have been struggling actors or actresses but finally made it big. When they struggled, waiting tables or working in bars while awaiting their big break they lived life saying ‘If only I could make it in the business, if only I had this or that, I’d be happy.’

We aren’t any different are we? We think that something will bring us fulfilment, answers, that if we could just have our ‘if only...’ we’d be happy.

But she goes on to say, when they got the fame they had been seeking so desperately they were unhappier than before here’s what she wrote “I pity celebrities. No, I do. Celebrities were once perfectly pleasant human beings... but now... their wrath is awful... More than any of us, they wanted fame. They worked, they pushed... The morning after... each of them became famous, they wanted to take an overdose... because that giant thing they were striving for... that was going to make their lives bearable... provide them with personal fulfilment and... happiness, had happened. And nothing changed they were still them.”

Later on she adds this “I think when God wants to play a really rotten practical joke on you, he grants you your deepest wish.” Isn’t that a really interesting idea; when God wants to play a really rotten practical joke on you, he grants you your deepest wish.” because actually we live life pursuing our deepest wishes our ‘if onlys...’ and think it will make us happy not unhappy.

Here is this paralysed man and what he wants is to walk, it’s his deepest wish because he thinks it will give him happiness. But Jesus loves him so much that he says I will give you something better, he won’t just heal the man’s legs so weeks later he realises he still isn’t happy. He will heal his heart, that is what Jesus is doing when he says “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

We share the same problem that this man shares we are all searching for meaning in life, something which will bring us happiness. We might try to find it in a relationship and for a while we may think that we have found it but eventually we realise it isn’t working and so we move on to the next relationship and the next and so on. Or we might try to find it in a career, or in education, or the search for fame, or anyone one of a hundred other ‘if onlys...’ But Jesus says those solutions are only skin deep, they are temporary solutions, they will never fulfil you, they will work for a little while, like a lemsip alleviates the symptoms of a cold, but when that pleasure has worn off we will have to search for the next thing.

Our problem is that we so often in our search for meaning we exclude God. The bible calls that sin, when we try to build our identity on something other than God on our ‘if onlys’. But do you see how much Jesus loves this man, he doesn’t condemn him for wanting to walk, he doesn’t say you are asking the wrong question and stand waiting, tapping his foot until he asks the right one he lovingly deals with the real issue. Just as Jesus says to us; I want to move past giving you your ‘if onlys’, I love you too much just to do that, I want to heal your heart.

You see if we think meaning will come from fame or career what if we don’t get it, if we think it will come from a relationship what if we never achieve it, and because it is what we are relying on for meaning we are likely to stifle it or crush it, if we think it will come from our looks or how we feel about ourselves what when our looks fade, or more likely wrinkle. Do you see how much Jesus loves this man; he loves him so much that he sees past his ‘If only I could walk...’ Jesus does the same for us as he says it isn’t an ‘if only’ problem it is a heart problem. You will never know contentment while you reject me as the one who will bring meaning to your life, you will never know contentment while you try to fill a God shaped whole with temporary stuff.

Do you notice what happens next – The religious people realise that Jesus is claiming to be God. You see only God could forgive sin because all sin is against God. Imagine for a minute that Pete punches Tim in the face. Who has to forgive Pete. Only the person who has been wronged can forgive, I couldn’t do it, you couldn’t do it. All sin is against God but Jesus here says he can forgive sin because he is God.

(22-26)Jesus asks a great question – which is easier to say your sins are forgiven or to say get up and walk, well I guess it is easy to say but harder to do. Any healer could say take up your mat and walk but only God can forgive sin. And Jesus proves he can do it by healing the man as a sign outwardly that he has the power to do what is happening inwardly.

But we all know forgiveness isn’t cheap. You can’t just sweep injustice and sin under the carpet. It has to be paid for. As Jesus utters these words he knows what it will cost him, at the end of Luke’s gospel we see Jesus declared innocent yet die condemned by men and cut off from God. And as he dies he utters these words “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” That cry for forgiveness is not just for the soldiers dividing up his clothes, or for those who mock him, it’s for the paralysed man who lived his life as his life without reference to God, it’s for you and for me who similarly live life without God in the picture.

Jesus is not a divine genie he is more loving than that he comes to be our Saviour, he dies as our saviour, he pays for our sin securing our forgiveness. And freeing us from our ‘if onlys...’ freeing us from looking for anything else for meaning in life because we can know the love of God.

God, why are you such a Killjoy?

It’s a popular image of God, isn’t it? God is anti-alcohol, anti-sex, anti-smoking, anti-freedom, anti-fun. In fact God is the ultimate killjoy and Christians well they are repressed, miserable and boring living their lives in shades of grey.

It may surprise you but the Bible engages with that sort of wrong thinking about God and records it consequences. The first lie ever told was that God is a killjoy. God created a perfect world for humanity to live in – no pain, no suffering, no arguments, no struggles, in short a world that was perfect that was marked out by joy and enjoyment. A world so perfect that even work was fun! God made enjoyment, God made us for enjoyment.

But Satan came and whispered that first lie (Gen 3)suggesting to Eve that God didn’t love her, that God who had given them everything to enjoy in a perfect world was out to curb their enjoyment of it by having one rule about not eating of one tree in the whole world. God doesn’t really love you he is holding you back, that is what Satan says, he is stopping you really being free. It’s that same question we find ourselves asking – Is God a killjoy?

As we look to answer that today I want to begin by looking at the world.

The Character of God as Creator and Father
God made a world that is enjoyable and full of fun and laughter; your sense of humour, the things about creation you love, the things about other people you love, that moment when you score the winning goal, or scale that rock face God made everyone one of those and made us to enjoy them. God isn’t a killjoy he is the designer of fun and he is a loving father who wants us to enjoy life at its best.

But I guess the question will come back; So why all the rules? Rules curb freedom don’t they? Rules limit fun? If God isn’t a killjoy why does he give us loads of rules?

But what if God isn’t limiting our freedom and fun but enabling us to enjoy life to the maximum possible. What if the rules are a sign of love? I’ve got four boys at home and I love them, I want them to love life, to have fun. Often on a Saturday afternoon the oldest 2 will come to the watch the rugby with me, or we will have a wrestling match, or last week we went sledging, built snow men, built a toboggan run in the garden and saw how high we could jump on the sledge off snow ramps. It’s pretty obvious at those times that I want them to enjoy life!

But what about the times when I am limiting their freedom – for example we have a log burning stove at home and it gets incredibly hot – so around it is a fire guard and they know they must never touch the fire. Do I put that fireguard and rule in place because I love them or because I don’t? I limit their freedom in order to protect them and to enable them to really enjoy life rather than go through it scarred and in pain.

We know that is how good fathers operate and the Bible tells us that God is a good father, in fact God is such a good father that even our best fathers can’t compare to him. Just think about those rules God gives for life for a minute. “Do not murder” you can see God’s love in that law can’t you, no-one argues that is limiting my freedom. Or “Do not steal” again a good way to live. You can see how living like that is the best way to live.

But what about God’s teaching on sex; Does God limit my freedom, in fact lets go one stage further does God hate sex?

God doesn’t hate sex, in fact God created sex, God created us to enjoy sex to be stimulated. In fact God doesn’t hate sex he has a far higher view of sex than society does. Our society says sex is cheap, sex is just a biological act, it’s just sharing fluids, or it’s a marketing tool, it sells stuff. But God says he has designed it to be so much more special than that, in fact sex is so important that it has a context in which it is best enjoyed, marriage between and man and a woman. Like that fireguard designed to protect.

The bible teaches us that sex is a key part of marriage, it is a way for a man and wife to enjoy each other to give themselves to each other, to be vulnerable to each other and get to know each other intimately. In fact it is the means of two becoming one flesh – that isn’t the Spice Girls idea that is God’s idea.

It’s a bit like a piece of duct tape, it is incredibly sticky, if I stuck it to your arm it would stay there. What would happen when I pulled it off, it would hurt but it would come off your arm, what if I stuck it to someone-else’s arm it would stick but be less painful when I pulled it off. What if I stuck it to another, and another, and another. Each time it would become less sticky, until eventually it wouldn’t stick at all.

That is a picture of what sex is like, it is designed to be a means of openness, intimacy and vulnerability between two people, but you can’t keep on becoming vulnerable to different people soon sex becomes meaningless, it becomes less than what God in love designed it to be at its best. It just becomes shallow, unfulfilling sex rather than a means of building vulnerability, intimacy and relationship.

Even here God’s instructions are loving, he is not killing joy he is protecting it for us. God is a loving heavenly father who designed us and the world to bring us enjoyment but who wants us to make the most of that enjoyment.

God is the creator of joy and a loving heavenly father, he is not a killjoy, here’s the second thing;

Jesus shows us what God is like
I want to apologise if you have met Church goers who have given you the impression that God is anti-fun. I have to say that I have too. But don’t judge God by them, some people are just boring that isn’t uniquely Christian. You may have just met people who were boring before they became Christians. The person to look at if you want to know what God is really like is Jesus.

And Jesus is anything but boring. His first miracle might surprise you, it is to turn water at a wedding in Cana into 150gallons of the best wine, Jesus acts to keep the party going not stop it! And as you read the gospels you see he gets invited to the best parties and meals with everyone from prostitutes to tax collectors – the bankers of their day, in fact the religious people of his day are scandalised by his behaviour because they disapprove of his partying.

And he doesn’t kill the party, he isn’t sat in the corner nursing a coke and looking disapprovingly at everyone else he is very much the centre of attention. Here’s what Jesus said he came to do: “I have come that they may have life, and have life to the full.” In fact he will die for us so that we can have life because we know God as a loving father, and he will show us God’s loving fatherly plan for our lives lived to the full.

The Kingdom of God is like a feast
Jesus also talks about the future and he describes life lived in God’s kingdom as being like a feast, like a party. He describes the angels partying in heaven when people become part of God’s kingdom. And the Bible describes eternity not as clouds, harps, choirs and tedium, but as a relation and laughter filled enjoyment of a perfect world!

Don’t believe the lie that God is a killjoy; God made you for enjoyment, he created you to really enjoy life. Jesus comes to start the party, to enable us to know God as our father. But he also comes to highlight that we have made good things ultimate things – sex, alcohol, laughter all good things made by God for us to enjoy. But they are not ultimate things, they are not meant to give life its meaning rather they point to a loving heavenly Father in whom we can find really satisfaction, real joy.

Living with Questions? Looking for answers?

Next week I'm working with Leeds Met CU on their exciting events week.  It will involve lunch bars looking at:
Monday - God, why are you such a killjoy?
Tues - How does the world end?  And is there anything after?
Weds - If you are there God, why don't you prove it?
Thurs - How do I make the most of life?
Fri - How can a loving God allow suffering?

There are also evening events, I'm speaking on Wednesday night at an acoustic night on 'If only...' and on Friday on 'Could God really love me?'

All prayers greatly appreciated.

Easter Unwrapped

Mission

We are planning on running a mission at easter time. We've decided however to refer to it as 'events week' rather than mission week because we are on mission every moment of every day whereas this is just a concentration of opportunities to introduce your friends to the gospel.

However we are trying to think of a title for the events week, a theme if you will. Last year we did A Passion for Life. Some ideas already being floated are 'A Reason for Life', 'A Purpose for Life', or something around an easter theme e.g 'Easter Explored'.

The week is very much at the planning stage, but the right title which grabs peoples attention is key. All ideas gratefully received.

Renewing the vision

We are always in danger of becoming stuck in maintenance mode. There is work to do, the family to look after, the house to keep clean and running smoothly and so on. Its the same for churches we spend so much energy in doing the maintenance; preparing to lead the service, or teach the Sunday school class, or preparing the refreshments that we can lose sight of our vision. Church leaders are under the same pressures as church members.

Its interesting how often as you read the Bible God reminds his people of his plans for them. As you move into the New Testament how often Paul reminds churches and young pastors of the need to renew their focus rather than getting stuck in maintenance mode.

The challenge is to faithfully remind ourselves of our mission and vision whilst carrying out the maintenance, in fact it is for the maintenance to be with the purpose of sustaining the vision.

It is helpful to carry out an audit of what you do and whether it is purposeful; is it achieving the vision, is it contributing towards where you want to be? Is it recognised as such by those you lead?

We need to do this for each individual ministry. For example for home groups ask questions like this; what is the goal of this home group? Is it edification or evangelism or both? Is it a growth group or a comfort group? What part does it play in the overall role of the church? Are there things that could be done to improve its effectiveness? How would its members describe its purpose?

OMF's call for 900 to go and reach East Asia's gospel neglected frontiers

God's church, God's mission

“It is not the church of God that has a mission in the world but the God of mission who has a church in the world.”

Summer in the Suburbs

Our mission weekend starts on Friday, with 2 days of community projects followed by a guest service on Sunday looking at the World we all Want and looking to answer some of the questions about suffering and God.

Praying for good weather and good gospel opportunities.