Connecting life with mission

Christmas is a great opportunity to share the gospel.  But Christmas is also sometimes the most frustrating time to do mission because there is so much else going on; nativity plays, concerts, social engagements, family commitments and so on.  This is all exacerbated by the disconnected way in which we live life.  We often live at a distance to family, meaning time with them is more difficult to crave out because of travel and also less possible to do spontaneously.  If you live three hours drive away from family you can't just drop in, or come over for dinner.

Many of us also work at a distance from where we live.  Increasingly people work in different towns or cities from where they live commuting for 30-90 minutes is not abnormal.  That is often hailed as a good thing enabling professionals, especially in caring professions, to keep their distance from those they are involved with.

Because travel is so easy many people now commute not just to work and to see family but to church.      A 20 minutes plus drive to church is not unusual.  And tragically for many, especially in the North, they have no other option.

But here's my concern.  If we don't live and work and do church in an area will we really see it as our mission field?  My experience would lead me to believe that people don't really engage in mission unless they live in the area you are trying to reach.  Instead they see it as the mission field of those who do live in that area.  I wonder too if people disengage from mission at work if they commute any distance because realistically any friend they get into conversation with is unlikely to travel to come to church with them.  (Though recently we've had a work colleague drive 40 minutes to church twice because of how positive someone from church has been about his church family).

And honestly the distances people live from the church do make it more difficult to be involved.  If you add an hours commute to church then doing church twice on Sunday is a bigger commitment than someone who walks 5 minutes each way.  If you commute to church, attending prayer meeting or Bible study also becomes more of a commitment midweek.  Yet many people are choosing to commute to church.  And evangelistically that makes mission more difficult, are your neighbours and friends going to do the hour round trip to come to church that you do?  Unlikely, so again by living at a distance are you subconsciously opting out of mission or out of church?

Imagine instead if everyone in your church family lived in the community you were trying to reach.  If everyone lived on the mission field.  It's funny how we expect missionaries to move but we rarely consider it.  Imagine the multiple opportunities for discipleship, for involvement, for evangelism, for shared friendships that display the gospel.

A non-conformist parish?

How do we engage our communities?  That is a huge question all churches, but especially church plants, need to answer.  How do we ensure we are known?  How do we reach out to the community?  How do we meet people, invite people, disciple people?

The default from a previous generation is to hold evangelistic events, good quality events at which the gospel is spoken or which function as bridge building barrier breakers.  Except this makes an assumption I'm just not sure we can make anymore; that our people are plugged into their communities.  I'm not sure this is the case.  Certainly in my experience it is the minority of church members that bring a guest.  Many simply don't know anyone to bring, or their work is so distant a commute from their home and church that it is too far for people to consider coming, many of our churches contain a considerable number of commuters which makes inviting their friends harder because they are less likely to come (or we simply believe they are).

So how do we change this?  We need to readopt the parish mentality, that the area around our church is our mission field.  That ought to be reflected in a number of things:

1. Get people to live in the area where your church meets and work within a 15 minute drive.  This creates a sense of shared mission.  Put simply people will disengage from reaching the community if they don't live in it.  (Evangelism is already hard to get people to do, I wonder if living like that is a short cut to not having to invite anyone without a guilty conscience?)

2. As pastors we must see the area as our parish and connect with it.  I guess for some of us this is easier than others.  Geography will define the limits of our patch naturally, but even where this isn't the case I wonder if it'd help to have an area we view as ours.

3. Pray for people in your parish by name.  This is only possible if we've done the above.

4. Preach addressing the issues the parish faces.  Not in terms of what passage or series we pick but in terms of some of the issues we address.  What are the local fears?  Where do people falsely turn for their security?  What are the things they rely on?  What are their hopes and dreams?  And how does the gospel as revealed in the passage we are preaching confront, challenge and address those?

5. Connect your church to your parish.  That is one of our challenges, for those who live out of area I need to be thinking through how I get them to connect with individuals in it.  Because once they get to know and care about individuals they will pray for them and naturally want them to come to know Jesus.

Our area is naturally defined by geography, though that is changing as it grows through housing development. But I know my parish.  I walk it everyday with the dog.  I do everything I can in that parish, play football twice a week, send my kids to school, and so on.  That means I am getting to know people and am getting known by people.  At the school gates every morning and afternoon there is the chance to speak to the same people, to listen, to care, to break down some barriers.  We've even had some parents approach us to ask out of the blue for pastoral help because they just need someone to talk to.  Those people we meet are the natural people for me to invite to any and every evangelistic event we run.  For some people these events have become a yearly staple, they put them in their calendar before they are invited, often asking about it before I've even done the invites.

And it gives me a wealth of people to pray for.  As a leader I need to lead in evangelism.  If I haven't got out of the office and gone fishing for men why would anyone else?  If I haven't prioritised meeting those who desperately need Jesus why would anyone else?  And if I'm not meeting these people and listening to them I won't preach in such a way that their deepest need and pressing issues are addressed in the gospel, and that won't encourage anyone to invite their friends.

Church Planting: Bring your coffin...

Church is about relationships.  The story of the universe is about the relationship we were made for it's ruin, it's redemption and it's final perfect realisation and enjoyment.  It should therefore be no surprise that relationships matter.  But it should also be no surprise that the ruin of the fall marred relationships and continues to mar relationships.  It should also be no surprise that church is about relationships.  Every "one another" in the Bible is predicated on relationships which are significantly developed and committed enough to enable that one anothering to happen.

But our society is increasingly moving away from relationships, certainly on anything more than a superficial level.  Ask yourself honestly how many people are you truly friends with?  How many are committed deeply to your well being?  So deeply that they will put themselves out for you in times of crisis?  Who rejoice with you, mourn with you, sit with you, listen to you?  Whose very presence brings comfort even in silence?  How many of your friendships are like walking through a puddle rather than swimming in the depths of an ocean?  If we're honest these relationships are few and far between.  Increasingly sociologists tell us they are becoming scarcer, the number of those deep committed friendships we experience has reduced some suggest by as much as half.  We settle for superficial friendship whilst longing for something deeper.

There is another facet of this change.  As our society has become more fluid, more temporary, more mobile so our commitment to a place, to people, to community and to church has shifted.  In the 1960's many people would attend 1 or 2 churches in their lifetime.  Now many of us have attended more than that before we leave home because we have moved with our parents work.  That mobility subtly influences the way we think of church and in turn impacts the churches we plant and their effect on the area evangelistically.

When we planted I asked people who were coming with us to commit to a minimum of 5 years.  How do you feel about that?  About right?  Too great a commitment?  I now think that was a totally wrong expectation to set.  Instead I should have said bring your coffin with you.  Come with me for life.   Missionaries in earlier times often took their coffins with them because they didn't expect to return home, it was a sign of their commitment to the people they were going to reach with the gospel.  How about us?

Pastor is that your expectation about your current pastorate?  How long do you plan to be there?  5, 10, 15, 20, years?  Is that a biblical expectation or a worldly one?  Is that careerism or calling?  Church member is that your expectation?  Are you there until something better comes up or until the next promotion comes available?  Or are you called too?

I particularly think that in working class and deprived communities being there for life matters.  Committing to that early on matters because you will want to give up.  You will experience push back, you will experience set backs, you will experience slander, you will experience unexpected barrier after barrier to the gospel.  You will find that the slightest perceived slight or failure will bring the shutters that have taken so long to raise up crashing back down.  You will find preconceived misconceptions about church, that surface and have to be refuted again and again.  But you will also find a harvest field that is ripe for harvest amid the hardships and hard hearts.  So church planters bring your coffin.

It's not just Cadbury's...

As usual there has been something of a fuss made of an organisation taking the word Easter off their eggs.  I have to say something like that just doesn't bother me.  The sooner we wake up and realise that we live in a post Christian culture the better.  Christianity is an increasingly small part of our nations thinking, it plays little part in moulding national policies and laws or in people's everyday actions.  So why does this sort of thing surprise us?  Why do people protest this?

What is the correct reaction?  Easter gives us a prime opportunity to tell people the gospel, not moan about the word being removed by a secular organisation from their publicity or products.  Easter is good news to tell people, yet if that isn't know or realised then surely that is our fault for not making it known.  Surely this just shows us again the scale of the need for us to go and tell people all about the great news Easter marks.

The result of Jesus resurrection was a spirit filled, passionate and galvanised community that revolutionised the world as they told everyone the good news of Jesus and the redemption now available in him.  Sadly we seem to be more interested in writing a letter of complaint than talking about Jesus to our neighbours or our community.  Do we get as het up about people's eternal destiny as about Cadbury's packaging?  Someone is unlikely to buy a chocolate egg see the world Easter and drop to their knees in repentance in an aisle in ASDA.  In fact when scouring my Bible I can't find that evangelisation strategy in there.  And yet, again and again, in scripture when a friend, or even a stranger, in love shares the gospel with someone they turn to Christ.  Perhaps we ought to redirect our efforts.

While I'm here let me mention another bug bear of mine.  Why, oh why, do christian organisations put conferences on during Easter?  Seriously?  Why not use a half term?  As far as I'm aware, unless I'm missing something, there are no obvious evangelism opportunities in October or February and May half term.  But Easter.  Easter is a time when we ought to be telling friends, family, neighbours all about Jesus.  When local churches ought to be on mission in their communities, inviting friends, family and neighbours to a service, making the most of every opportunity.  And yet this is when thousands of Christians leave their home church and gather in holiday centres away from those who need the gospel.  (I know the teaching helps, I know the arguments for such conferences, it's the timing I'm bemoaning.)

I wonder is it just Cadbury's who are missing the good news of what Easter is all about?

The joy and sorrow of evangelistic events

I don't know how you feel about evangelistic events.  But as someone who regularly preaches at them I have a curious love hate relationship with them.  I love the fact the we see non-believing friend, family and neighbours come along and hear the gospel and in many cases begin to engage with it and see the gospel in action in the church.

But here's the hate.  I hate the feeling of despair that tends to wash over me in the days afterwards.  There's the usual sense of I wish I'd said that better, or if only I'd tweaked this, or thought of that, which ultimately leads me to remember that salvation is all of God and helpfully is not to do with my gifting or otherwise.  But that's not the biggest hate.  My biggest issue is always the sense afterwards that for those who haven't responded that is another opportunity gone to respond to the gospel, a burden that they have heard the gospel and not responded and what that means for their eternal fate.

I know that I am only responsible for preaching the gospel clearly and winsomely.  But that sense of burden is very real, and I think it's right.  The day I am not burdened for the lost and the implications of their rejecting the wonderful salvation that's on offer in Jesus is the day I think I've forgotten how sweet salvation really is.  So for now I'll keep living with that burden, keep letting it drive me to pray for the lost that the gospel might not be snatched away but might bear fruit over the long term.  And keep on enjoying - for want of a better term - that curious love hate relationship with evangelistic opportunities.

Why inviting people to church works.

As a church we're not flush with cash so any promotion of events we do tends to be low key, a few posters and some invitations for our folks to give to friends, neighbours and family.  Occasionally we'll leaflet drop the area we consider our parish, but that rarely seems to get results.  So much so that we didn't even do it for our Easter Service this year.

Yet for our Easter service we had over 60 visitors from the community we serve.  Visitors outnumbered regular church family which was a real answer to prayer.  Sunday School jumped from about 30 to 60+ and lots of families came to church for the first time and others returned having been at Christmas.

Why?  God works, first and foremost it was obviously God at work bringing people in.  But how did God work?  God worked through his people committed to, embedded in and caring for their community inviting people from that community to come to church.  The community see that the church is for them, both in terms of loving them well and welcoming them if they come along.  That melts away some of the barriers in terms of getting through the door.  The community have also experienced that the church loves their families, of all ages.

It wasn't a high glamour event, we don't really do those.  It was a simple Easter service followed by an Easter Egg hunt, followed by a BBQ.  Some families couldn't stay for the egg hunt and BBQ but came for the service anyway - which was a huge encouragement.  Others came and stayed for all of it.

Our prayer is that God is just beginning his work in the hearts and minds of these people.  But the lesson we've learnt is simple and in many ways not unexpected. God works through his people building relationships, caring for, and inviting others to come and see his goodness which they've glimpsed in his people.  A people not perfect but trying to relate to one another by grace as they live assured of God's love in Christ, praying for him to bring others to know that love and grace.

Insiders reaching outsiders

When was the last time you did something really outside your comfort zone?  I don't mean you had coffee from Starbucks instead of Costa, or started shopping at Aldi instead of Tesco's.  I mean in terms of who you reached out to with the gospel?

This afternoon at Yorkshire Training in the preaching workshop we were led through Mark 7v24-37.  As we were taken through it I was reminded again that Jesus takes his disciples out of their comfort zone; geographically - they go to Tyre and the Decapolis, and religiously - Jesus ministers to a Syro-Phoenician woman and a deaf and mute man.  Given that just before this Jesus has been challenged by the Pharisees about the uncleanness of his disciples and then teaches on what really defiles it is telling that Jesus goes straight to those the Pharisees and the Jews, including the disciples, would see as unclean.

It's a lesson Jesus has to teach the early church, using persecution to drive them out to Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth.  It's a lesson that has to be constantly kept in mind by the early church (Acts 15, Galatians 2, Ephesians 2).  The gospel of Jesus Christ sees outsiders made insiders who then reach outsiders.  It sees those outside the kingdom brought into the kingdom and then reach out and bring more outsiders into the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

The gospel is for everyone in every place.  That challenge remains today when did I last take the gospel where I was uncomfortable trusting in the power of the gospel to save?  Who are those I am tempted to think are outside the gospels reach and am I prepared to follow Jesus out of my comfort zone to reach them with the gospel that saves?

When is an invitation not an invitation?

I've been thinking about what it means to invite someone to church this week.  Partly because we've given out over 800 invites to our Christmas events and there have been some surprising responses.

Our default assumption is if I've given you an invite to something you are welcome at the event.  However, what we've been finding is that invites through a door aren't enough, in fact they don't seem to be taken as saying that at all.  Lots of people in the community have then messaged people in church to ask if they are "allowed to come".  Do you see the unspoken assumption in that question - general invites aren't for everyone even if you give them to everyone.  Whereas personally reassuring people that of course they are invited and not only are they allowed to come but that we'd love to see them works without question or confusion.

It makes me question again the value of flyering.  It proves the value of real face to face contact in our invitations so people can see the invitation and welcome in our actions and faces that you can't see in a flyer posted through a letter box.  A personal invite says I want you to come along.  Does that mean next year we need to knock on doors with the invitation, maybe, its certainly something we need to think about?

At the time when we celebrate God's incarnation, his coming to us personally with the greatest invite of all, I'm glad he didn't just post an invite through my door.  Perhaps its not so surprising that we need to invite people to celebrate the incarnation in the way God invited us, incarnate!

Another extraordinary but totally normal Sunday morning

I wonder how you think of church?  My hunch is that we tend to get used to it.  It becomes normal and therefore rather than being thankful for it we think of it as mundane.  We often fail to recognise what is really happening as we gather, as we sit, as we pray, as we sing, as we listen to God speak to us, and as we rise to respond.

Yesterday was just another normal day in the life of Grace Church.  If you'd been a fly on the wall you'd have seen people setting up, being welcomed, conversations - both mundane and more spiritually significant - being had, refreshments being served, biscuits and Christmas confectionery being consumed, people singing, praying, the Bible being read, and people listening to God speak.  Children playing, singing, acting, laughing and having fun.  It all looked so ordinary.  The church wasn't packed, we didn't have to get out more seats.

But something extraordinary was happening too.  People who would not normally think to darken the door of a church came, felt welcome, heard the gospel and discovered church wasn't so scary after all.  That actually church was for people like them, that people in church would speak to them, include them and care for their children.

There were no blinding Damascus road conversions, no excited queues of people signing up to do Uncover.  Just barriers to the gospel being put silently aside so that people could more easily meet Jesus again.  But we mustn't underplay that, we mustn't forget how significant that is.  In an area where church has so many negative connotations something extraordinary was happening.  Each person drawn there by God as part of his plan at his timing to hear from him.  Each person there hearing eternal truths of cosmic importance yet applicable to them as individuals.  Our prayer is simply that next Sunday would be another extraordinary but totally normal Sunday in our community coming to know, love and follow Jesus.

Are we on the defensive when it comes to evangelism?

How do you feel when someone starts asking you questions about your faith? ‘How can you believe in God when there is so much suffering in the world?’ ‘How can you believe in the Bible when we now understand so much more about the universe because of science?’ ‘What about other faiths?’ How do you react when someone asks you those sorts of questions? What about when someone mockingly says ‘You don’t believe that do you?’ as if they expected you to be cleverer, or less gullible, or more enlightened. We tend in both those situations to go on the back foot, to go on the defensive, either in our answers or by going quiet. We almost apologetically answer the questions if we know the answer, or we mumble something about ‘finding out’ as we feel got at. Or we come away thinking this is what I wish I’d said.

Those reactions come from a faulty understanding of what is happening when we’re questioned. As we look at Acts 5v12-42 this morning my prayer is that our thinking will be turned on its head. Because we’ll realise that as we’re questioned God is with us, he wants the gospel proclaimed, and he is sovereign even over any hostility we face. And secondly we aren’t on the defensive the world is because it is opposing God and can never win.

God is at work through his people(12-16)Give us an astonishing snapshot of the church gathered and united and its ministry in, and effect on, Jerusalem. Luke highlights the “many signs and wonders” that the apostles are doing. So great is their reputation for doing the miraculous that just like with Jesus people come from all the surrounding towns and bring their sick and possessed(16) and they are healed. In fact there are so many healings that people just long for Peter’s shadow to fall on them(15). Do you remember the purpose of the signs and wonders? (2:22)They were Jesus accreditation by God that he was the Son of God and the Messiah, Saviour and Lord, that God was at work in him and therefore people should listen to his words. Now God is at work through the apostles in just the same way. Accrediting them as his spokesmen by signs and wonders, calling people to listen as they preach about Jesus risen and still at work by his Spirit. Every wonder and sign shows that God is at work through his church and apostles and that he approves of their message, that their message is his good news to the world.

Their signs and wonders and teaching produces a curious but normal set of reactions. People are both fascinated and yet fearful, amazed attracted and afraid. People know the opposition the church faces, they know what happened to Ananias and Sapphira, they can see the power and authority of the apostles, some are amazed and think well of them but are too afraid to join the church(13). But others “more and more men and women” come to faith in Jesus. There’s a curious fascination with the church but a fear of joining for some, but others come to faith. We shouldn’t expect any less, God is at work through his people.

But they aren’t the only reactions(17f). As we’ve seen before the gospel preached always brings two reaction; faith and opposition. (17-18)The high priest and other religious leaders are filled with jealousy, so they arrest the apostles and throw them in jail. But God sends an angel for a prison break and tells the apostles to go back and preach again in the temple courts. Before the confused Sanhedrin have them arrested again and brought to trial.

It’s a slightly comical incident isn’t it? Can you picture it? The jury are all gathered together and told the apostles will be brought out, the captain of the guard is sent to get them. But they aren’t there and a confused captain reports back that the jailed is tightly locked up, the guards are still stood at the doors, but when we opened the doors we found no-one inside(23-24). No wonder everyone’s puzzled. No trick brick in the wall that opens a secret passage, no tunnel dug with a spoon, no insider among the guards. They are just gone, disappeared, it’s as if they were never there in the first place.

And then it just gets stranger, because where are they? They are back where they were originally arrested, preaching about Jesus in the temple courts, and so they are rearrested and brought before the Sanhedrin.

We have to ask why did God free them? When the Sanhedrin put them in prison for the night what were they intending to do the next morning? Put them on trial. God releases them but notice they still end up on trial the next morning. Nothing really changes for all their miraculous escape. So why did God do it? Why the temporary get out of jail free card? Why not tell them to run? Why send them back where they would get caught again?

There are two reasons. Firstly God is showing the Sanhedrin that they aren’t in control. God is and he is at work through the apostles and will decide what happens to them and when and where, not the Sanhedrin. And secondly God is showing that he wants the gospel proclaimed, God frees the apostles and sends them back out to “tell the people about this new life.” Sharing the gospel is God’s work, the apostles aren’t alone against opposition God is at work, God is with them, they are on his mission and he isn’t a silent partner or uninvolved. God Father Son and Spirit are invested in taking the good news to the world.

The Sanhedrin can only do what God allows them to do. Their power is limited. They can’t keep them in jail, they can’t arrest them by force because they fear the people. God is at work. Can you imagine the encouragement that gave the apostles as they went to face the Sanhedrin, God is sovereign, he wants the gospel preached, he is at work in us by his Spirit and he is sovereign over even the opposition, they can do nothing he doesn’t permit.

But there’s one other thing we need to see here. God is answering his people’s prayers. Do you remember their prayer(4:29-30)? Here God answers it as he empowers them to perform signs and wonders and to speak boldly, as he encourages them to do so.

Do you see how that transforms our thinking as we take the good news of Jesus to a needy world. God is at work in the church – we don’t just gather out of habit, we gather expecting God to be at work. That means when we gather together we should expect to hear from others how God has been at work in their lives and in our lives together. When we pray for God’s help in his mission to make the gospel known we should expect God to answer.

It means that as we share the gospel with family, friends, neighbours, colleagues we’re not alone. God wants Jesus proclaimed to the world, that’s why Father, Son and Spirit planned for Jesus to come and die and rise again so that the world might find life with God in him. So that people could be resurrected from being spiritually dead and given Jesus life and relationship with the Father. That’s why Jesus sent the Spirit, (Acts 1:8)the Spirit comes to enable and empower his people, us, to be his witnesses. God is with us as we share the gospel, God is with us as we answer out friends questions, God is with us as we face those who mock us for our faith, God is with us in their reaction whether it is hostile or trusting Jesus.

And God is sovereign even over opposition and how that shows itself. They can do nothing that God does not permit them to do. That doesn’t mean there will be no suffering as we share the gospel. Sometimes we may get the equivalent of the get out of jail free card, but other times that will mean suffering for sharing the gospel as in(40). But God is for his people, he wants Jesus to be made known, he is sovereign and he’s at work through his people.

To oppose the gospel is to fight against God(27-40)Why are the Sanhedrin so angry with the apostles? There are three reasons(28). The apostles disobeyed their charge to stop teaching the people. They are angry about the spread of the message they “have filled Jerusalem with your teaching” that Jesus is Saviour and Lord. Thirdly the Apostles are “determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

How would you react to being put on trial on those charges? Peter doesn’t go on the defensive. He turns the tables and puts the Sanhedrin on trial. (30)The Sanhedrin want the apostles to disobey God and they won’t. The Sanhedrin are opposed to God because God raised Jesus whom they killed to life and God has declared Jesus to be Prince or ruler and Saviour. In Jesus there is forgiveness if people repent and the Sanhedrin won’t accept him, and (32)they are ignoring all the evidence and the eye witnesses. In short the church is now the people of God and the apostles the leaders of God’s people. The Sanhedrin is in opposition to God.

(33)The Sanhedrin’s reaction is no surprise is it. They just want to kill the apostles. But God sovereignly intervenes again, at work even in the Sanhedrin through the actions of those who oppose him. Gamaliel speech is the key to this chapter really, especially(38-39). Other groups have come and gone, they didn’t last he says “Therefore, in the present case I advise you; leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

Acts charts the proof that it is from God. As the gospel spreads and more and more people come to faith, in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Gamaliel’s words are proven true – God is at work and opposing the gospel and the church is opposing God himself.

Again we need to realize that and adjust our thinking so that we live in the light of it. God is at work in the gospel and through his church. To oppose it is to oppose God and there will only ever be one winner. The church is unrelenting, it endures even though it faces opposition from without and within. That must change our thinking, it isn’t us on the defensive it’s the world on the defensive.

As a church as we take the gospel to our community and family and friends in the run up to Christmas we are to expect both acceptance and rejection. But we can confidently hold out the gospel because God is at work, God is with us, the gospel is God’s good news he wants the world to hear and we participate in his mission. And to oppose God’s church is to oppose God.

History tells us that. Under communism in the last century the Chinese governments aim was to eradicate Christianity, yet today more Christians will meet together in church in China than in the whole of Europe. That same growth despite persecution happened in Romania and other countries that were behind the Iron Curtain. It is happening today in places where persecution continues to be the norm. To oppose the church and the gospel it holds out is to oppose God and you cannot win.

We don’t need to feel defensive, we need to pray and go trusting God, empowered by the Spirit.

And do you see the confidence these two facts bring the Apostles. God is at work through his people as they join in his mission of making Jesus known. And to oppose the gospel is to oppose God. (40-42)Even as they suffer for the gospel, they know events are not out of God’s control. In fact they count the dishonour of being flogged an honour because the stripes of their flogging echo those of their saviour. “rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.” And they never stop teaching and proclaiming Jesus as Saviour and Lord(42). They don’t take a step back, they don’t retreat, they don’t go on the defensive. Because God is at work and is for his people and they treasure God above all else.

Isn’t that helpful. Isn’t that encouraging. Shouldn’t that change our thinking. We’re not alone, we’re not on the defensive. God is at work through his people taking his message about Jesus to a world in need and we have the privilege of cooperating in his mission. God is with us by the Spirit and it is his powerful message about his Son that we have to share. And opposition is futile, they can do no more than he allows, because you can’t fight against God and win.

Class divides and Church, Part 4

Having looked at some of the reasons why our churches might be middle class or certainly more accessible to the middle class, the question is how do we change that?  I want to tentatively suggest some ways that might be helpful.

Develop a vision of a classless (gospel) church.  As you read Acts you can't help but be struck by the believers all encompassing vision of who both the gospel and church was for.  We need to do the same, to develop and cast a vision of a truly classless church.  We need to challenge the unwritten rules of church, to challenge the assumption that middle class values are gospel values, and preach a better, more biblical vision to our churches.

Perhaps churches ought to think about selling existing buildings and moving church to working class areas. Encouraging those who are willing to relocate too but asking the more middle class to commute on Sundays.  Because the middle classes operate by network not neighbourhood we can reach the middle class from a working class base location, we cannot do it the other way round.

We need to think about restructuring church so that all can access everything (e.g. home groups, things that cost, transport).  We need to make preaching accessible to all by painting pictures,  telling stories and making practical concrete applications not just preaching abstract ideas.  We need to make Sunday school a place where we teach to those with varied learning styles, where we disciple, invest in and pastor young people from difficult backgrounds.  We need to share meals not in homes but as a fellowship all together where everyone is welcome and where a range of food is available.

We need to ensure that as churches we value the skills of everyone not just those who are good with words. How can church enable those with practical gifts to serve?  How can it make the most of the God given practical skills those from working class occupations have.

We must recognise that right now is a time of unprecedented opportunity for middle class churches to reach the working class and deprived areas of the UK. Cuts have left these areas in greater need than ever, largely because they are easy targets. These communities have no voice and no connections to protest the loss of a children's centre or youth club or community resource, we can be their voice and serve and lead them to Christ. There is a great gospel opportunity and need to serve in working class areas without charging, providing services and support.  Not riding in as the white knights who will do the rescuing but getting alongside the community to empower it and enable it to flourish and develop.

But maybe that all feels a bit too extreme.  Sell buildings, relocate and so on.  Well there is another way there are churches already working in such areas but as you can imagine the needs always outweigh the resources to meet them.  As you read Acts you find wealthy churches giving generously to meet the needs of others.  Could our wealthier more middle class churches partner with a church in a working class or deprived area?  Could it part fund a worker there?  Could it encourage short term missions teams to help run holiday clubs, staff CAP centres and so on?  Could it partner in the gospel by praying regularly for such a church?

Class Divides and Church, Part 3

Yesterday we looked at a few possible reasons why church in the UK is perceived as and appeals to middle class people, today I want to suggest some more.

Middle class people generally value objectivity and rationality.  Our sermons reflect that tendency, partially because that is what our hearers value but also because that is the background of many pastors and preachers and that is certainly the way they are taught to preach.  However, people from working class areas judge authenticity by passionate engagement with truth rather than by detached logic.  It is not that they are illogical but rather that they want to see someone who passionate believes in what they are saying.  Discussion about truth will be passionate and at times heated in working class environments and that is not a sign of people falling out, or not listening to one another, it is them passionately sharing the truth and engaging with it.

Middle class people, and therefore, the vast majority of churches are ‘respectable’ and not forthright.   There are certain unwritten assumed rules about how we will interact, what we will speak about, how we will answer the question 'How are you?'  For those from working class background such interactions may be perceived as unreal or fake, because life just isn't like that.  We need instead to honestly reflect and lament the reality of living in a broken world in our service and in our conversation, and talk openly about the hope and transformation the gospel brings in those.

Our conversation is also another area where there is a stark contrast in approach to relationships.  Questioning is middle class, we ask one another how our weeks have been, how the family is, and so on in a series of questions.  However for someone who is working class that can seem like an inquisition, as if we are on the hunt for something, as if we don't believe them and are looking to catch them out.  By contrast in working class communities they communicate via storytelling, recounting their day, or an incident while the other listens before then sharing their stories.  If we want as churches to have a church that is cross classes we need to learn to story tell as well as ask and answer questions.

An issue I had been unaware of until we moved Grace Church to meet in Hayfield is the difference in the attitude towards use of homes.  Those churches of middle class background tend to utilise homes lots, we meet there for home groups, for leaders meetings, we rightly use it for hospitality etc...  And that is right.  However, that can also be barrier to those from the working class for whom entering someones home is hard.  We need as churches who want to be cross class to be finding ways of meeting people where they are at and where they find listening to the gospel comfortable, as well as gradually easing people into hospitality and making them feel comfortable with it.

The Bible assumes churches will be bridging divides, reaching groups unlike themselves, being multicultural and multi-class united around the gospel (see Acts 6, 1 Corinthians 11, James 2).  The Bible assumes churches will bridge economic and class divides, not that we will be planting separate churches in such areas for such people but church that bridge the divides.  So if we aren't, are we really gospel churches?  Is this our Jew Gentile issue, where just as the early church and its leaders had to be confronted and challenged to move beyond their comfort and their prejudices we do too? 

Class Divides and Church, Part 2

We need to stop and ask the question why are our churches so middle class in nature?  Here are some the contributory factors:

Our church are situated (planted) in middle class areas, or are in working class areas but are commuter churches.  Many of the churches situated in working class and deprived areas are struggling or have closed and been sold for other uses.  Many new plants are started in middle class areas because they are the people we know and the need we see because they are part of our network. And often those churches that are in working class or deprived areas are still middle class churches where people drive into the church building because that historically is where they meet but few if any live within walking distance of the church.

We operate in networks through work, education or hobbies which span a town or city or wider afield. The working class, by contrast, operate in neighbourhoods.  This means that middle class christians have little contact with those from working class or deprived backgrounds.  We spend our days with those in our work places our communities and our networks.  We will rarely if ever meet someone from a working class area within them partly because of a lack of social mobility but also because they live life based around the neighbourhood.  That means if we want to reach such areas and communities we need to live in them and serve in them and commit to them.

We put on events with middle class appeal.  Think about the last 3 evangelistic events your church has run and my hunch is that they would be for people like those already in the church.  In other words we put on events that appeal to people like us, therefore limiting their appeal to those different from us.

Because churches aren't in or connected to working class and deprived communities our Churches don’t play key roles in working class areas.  This means working class and deprived people cannot see the gospel tangibly lived out in front of them.

We have a class prejudice (we like/value people like us).  Everyone of us suffers from this bias, we valued those most like us, we naturally find them easier to relate with and therefore have fewer issues and conflicts and misunderstandings.  Until we recognise this and face up to it not just individually but corporately as churches large swathes of Britain will remain unreached.

We wrongly assume middle class values are gospel values.  In Tim Chester's Unreached there is a helpful table which provides a list of hidden class rules which determine how each class operates.  The tragedy is that some of these we have confused in our churches with gospel values.  Therefore what we preach is sometimes a mishmash of middle class values masquerading as gospel values.  This is a huge topic which I've blogged on before and will come back to again.  But let me give one quick example - in the application to read the Bible - we assume that a middle class value - reading/formal education - is a gospel value.  Actually we would be better to talk of listening to and obeying the Bible because that is a more biblical application.  The bible looks not for us to read God's word, but to hear God's word and put it into practise in tangible ways.  Speaking of it and applying it in such a way is more working class than middle class.

An evangelistic strategy that works

Here it is; invite your friends to come to church.  That's it you say, that's not new!  There's no revolution, no steps, no technique.  How does that help me?  That is exactly why it helps you and it works.

If you want proof of that you ask those visitors who come along to church why they are there and the vast majority will say that they were invited by a friend.  All our flyer-ing and advertising and so on does have an impact sometimes but by far the most successful thing is simply inviting your friends and colleagues to come along.

We've given out hundreds of invites to things over the years, promoted services at Toddlers or football or at all manner of other things.  But by far the most successful thing is personal invitations to friends to come along to church.  Most often it takes a person to bring a person to a personal God.

So who are you inviting this Sunday to come along and hear about Jesus?

Abdication: a theme of our age?

Abdication is a big biblical theme, it is also a travesty whether that's in Genesis 3 or elsewhere in the Bible.  But it isn't just a biblical problem, it is a human trait as a result of the effect of sin on our hearts and that means it is a significant problem today in our generation and in our churches.  So where might we see it?

Pastorally - pastoral care involves more than just hours of preaching, it involves pastoring.  I am tempted to abdicate when I decide to just preach about an issue rather than meet with people to resolve an issue face to face.  I am tempted to abdicate when I resolve (retreat?) to spend more time in the office than with people.  Yes primarily pastors are to prepare to preach and preach and pray, and we must get the balance right.  But often I wonder if that can be a cover for abdicating from the hard work of conflict resolution, confronting sin, pastoral visiting and face-to-face discipleship.  Or maybe that's just me.

Great commission - Have we abdicated from our calling?  We all know what Jesus calls us to do, but am I so aware of grace that I am overflowing in joy that reaches out to others with the great news of the gospel.  Am I engaging with and building friendships with those around me that are gospel capable?  Am I aware of and looking to pursue gospel opportunities to share and speak about Jesus?  Or am I abdicating from this glorious and joyful calling?

Discipleship - I wonder if this is our biggest problem.  To what extent are we making disciples, living life with others, intentionally inputting into their lives, modelling the gospel to them, revealing our battles with sin and  our constant need of grace, but our awareness of the sufficiency of the atonement won for us in Jesus?  To abdicate discipleship is to reduce the church to a club that comes together to hear a talk on the bible, it is to assume even we preach enough some of it will stick.  We abdicate here perhaps most easily by thinking it is the churches paid staffs job to disciple others, it isn't they train and equip us to disciple each other.

Parenting - This is another of those areas where abdication is rife.  We effectively contract out our children's education to school, their leisure time to other professionals, and so on.  The danger is we carry that thinking across into church - we outsource teaching our children the wonder of the gospel to the Sunday School teacher, the youth worker and so on.  When the Bible clearly (Deut 6) says it remains the role of parents.  When everything about our week cries out to us that it is in their parents where children will most see the gospel lived out and where the most significant opportunities to teach about Jesus will arise.

Abdication is a very real danger for us as a church and its consequences are potentially disastrous for ourselves, our families, church families, and the lost.

Can you eat for the Glory of God?

Last night I was speaking at Leeds University Christian Union on Genesis 1 at the start of their series on Meals with Jesus.  Here are my notes:

We live in a society that’s confused about food. Just think about all the conflicted messages you’ve heard about food this week; what’s good for you, what isn’t; you need to diet, why not go large; Britain faces an epidemic of obesity, anorexia and bulimia are on the rise. Our society is schizophrenic when it comes to food and the messages we hear.

And it’s not just in the area of food, but in the area of relationships too. We’re encouraged to live as independent individuals who rely on nobody and manage on our own and yet society mourns the loss of community and the rise of loneliness and isolation. We create things like Facebook and Twitter to enable us to connect but they end up making us less connected than ever as we each sit at home or in our rooms on our own and ‘cyber-connect’ rather than really connecting and being known.

We live in a world that’s screwed up, but it’s screwed up and doesn’t know it, and the very things it thinks will solve the problem so often only end up making it worse. Why? Because the virus of sin has got into our DNA and deleted chunks of our operating system and replaced other bits with defective code. And it isn’t out there, the problem is in here – it’s in our thinking about relationships, body image, and food.

Grab your bibles and turn to Genesis 1v26-31. We’re going to see God’s original plan for food and relationship and how the two are intertwined.

We are made for relationship
(26)ought to amaze us. God – the almighty creator of the universe, who has just created with a word, the Father, Son and Spirit, the holy blindingly glorious awesome God – said “Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness...”

Don’t rush over that, just think about it. God makes us in his image. Unlike every other creature God makes this marks us out as unique, as different. We’re made in the image of God. But what does that mean?

That doesn’t mean physically you look like God, or for the more image obsessed among you that God looks like you. It can’t be can it? Just look round the room at all the noses on display, big ones, small ones, rounded ones, pointed ones. It’s not that God looks like us physically. But it does mean for example that God sees, hears and speaks as we do. But there are lots of others things God does which we don’t.

Think of it like this I have 4 boys at home, people often say that you can tell who their dad is. It’s not that they all look the same, or that they all look like me, luckily for them. But that they bear the family likeness. We reflect something of God’s nature in a way nothing else does – some of that we see here, for example we’re made to rule, as regents mediating God’s rule.

Part of that image bearing, that likeness is that we are designed for relationship. (26) “Let us... in our image, in our likeness”. God is Triune; Father, Son and Spirit, from eternity delighting in and enjoying relationship with one another. And Genesis 1 flows out of that joy in relationship within the Trinity. They create not because they need worshippers, or were bored or lonely but so that their joy and relationship can be shared with others.

And because they create out of this joy in relationship they create us in their image – designed to find joy in relationship, both with Father, Son and Spirit but also with others. (27)God made not a lone man but when he declares it very good, there’s a man and woman in relationship with one another. In the image of God. And notice the command that they are given – they’re to (28)”Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it...” Making lots more God-image bearers, fill the earth with them.

We mustn’t shrink this passage to being about marriage, (28)expands this picture – God made us to relate to a multitude of people in a multitude of different ways. God’s plan is a community of image bearers knowing and enjoying him and knowing and enjoying one another. The picture isn’t just of Adam and Eve at home on their own with a Dominoes take away, a DVD and one another for company to the exclusion of everything else. Marriage is given as a way to create community.

God is good and in his goodness he made us for relationship with him and for community.

God gifts us food to facilitate relationship
It’s no accident that having created humanity for relationship, to image God to the world, that (29)God gifts us food. “I give you every seed bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” Do you see the generosity of God there? All the seed bearing plants, all the seed bearing fruit trees, on the whole earth! Wow! Did you know there are over 2000 known types of fruit. Adam and Eve look at the world it’s your larder, now go enjoy! Thousands of different tastes, textures, and smells to be enjoyed. There’s a sense in which as we enjoy food and new tastes and textures we should just praise God for his goodness and generosity – life isn’t about one pot noodle after another! God is better than that! God lays on lavish enjoyable eating. God designed food for our enjoyment as a celebration of his goodness, love and generosity.

That’s why in the rest of the Bible celebrations are tied in with food, with eating. That’s why in the Old Testament so much eating is tied in to blessings.

God provides food lavishly to facilitate relationship. Meals in the Bible are viewed as family and community time, as teaching opportunities, as chances to get to know people better. Just go away and read Luke, Jesus seems to eat more often that a London food critic!

In sharing a meal with someone we slow down, we prepare and have time to talk as we do so. Then we sit and eat, we take time out and give people the invitation to get to know us better. We invite them to share something of themselves with us, we show someone we value them. Food connects us with family, with friends, and provides the opportunity for strangers to become friends.

God designs food to facilitate the building of relationships.

But we need to recognise that sin has infected our view of food and our view of ourselves. How? It leads us to think of eating as just refuelling, or as a necessary inconvenience, as functional, as guilt inducing rather than enjoyable, or as a necessary evil or an idol. And from all this infected thinking come obesity, anorexia, bulimia, dieting, gorging ourselves, fast food, junk food and so on.

But God redeems food for us in Christ. It isn’t an accident that the means of remembering our salvation is a meal. And as Jesus sat down with his disciples it isn’t to a cube of bread or a wafer and a thimble or mouth full of wine. It’s part of a lavish celebration feast. The New Testament church carried on that tradition, a celebration meal at which communion was part. Why? Because it was part of a bigger picture of the wedding feast of Christ and his bride when he returns.

Eating is a sign of relationship and welcome in Jesus. It is a way of building community, reminding ourselves of God’s lavish provision and looking forward to our eternal home.

So What?
Some of you will have huge struggles with issues of food, guilt and body image. Can I say to you God knows and he loves you. You are his child and he longs to see you free and whole. He loves you and has given you a church family to help you, to demonstrate his love to you, and to apply the gospel to you if you will trust them. Ask them to pray for you, to care for you, to walk this hard path with you. Because Jesus alone can free you from that struggle, but he uses people in relationship to you who will help you. By all means share it with someone tonight, someone who will come with you to speak to a church leader and who will pray for you.

For all of us the implication of Genesis 1 is that God has made us for community, for relationships and he has given us food to facilitate that. And God didn’t create Pot Noodle trees he made a world much bigger and tastier than that. He gave us an astonishing variety of tastes, textures and smells in which to see his love. Buy a recipe book or get on line and download one, and try God’s goodness to you.

But don’t do it in isolation. Food is God’s good gift to facilitate relationship. So get others round cooking with you, talk as you prepare, talk as you enjoy, talk as you wash up together. Use it to deepen already existing relationships.

But also use it to build new ones – how many here are 2nd or 3rd years? How many are 1st years? Build new relationships, invite these guys round for a meal, prepare together, eat together, wash up together.

Use it to advance the kingdom. When you read the early chapters of Acts you notice something, they didn’t do big mission events, yet the church grew? How? Because people saw their love, people saw their relationships, their being in and out of others homes, and by implication they were invited in to share it. Why not have a 50:50 meal? 2 people from CU, 2 people from the sports team you play for or your course, or your house mates? Food is God’s good gift to facilitate relationships, to experience his goodness, and to point others to him.

Why not serve others in need, by together providing food for those around you who are struggling.  Showing God's love to them, and talking of him as they ask why you do it.

Do you see the goodness and love of God, do you see the gift food is to make Jesus love known.

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?

Paralysed by need

Have you ever found yourself paralysed by the sheer overwhelming scale of something?  Maybe it's the state of the playroom when the children have gone to bed, or the floor after the children have eaten with friends, or maybe it's the scale of the project you have on at work and you find yourself asking where do I start?  You find yourself paralysed by the sheer scale of what is ahead of you, its seems almost too big for you to take on.  The danger is that we do nothing because the project is too big or that we feel defeated before we even start.

That is how I think we often feel when we hear a sermon or a talk about sharing the gospel with the world.  The world is so big, so hostile, that we find ourselves paralysed.  It's the same when we talk about the UK, 60 million people, 'Where do I start?' the task is too big.   It may be the same for us in the work place when we hear that on average only 1 in 70 employees is a Christian - most of us don't feel a Pauline excitement and hit of adrenaline we feel fear and paralysis.

Whilst Jesus sets the big picture for his disciples, Acts 1:8 "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."  A pretty overwhelming task when you consider the hostility of the Jews and the size of the embryonic church of 120.  Jesus doesn't stop there he empowers them for the mission by giving his Spirit.

And as they witness to Jesus there are big breakthrough moments like Pentecost, and the highly significant summary verses which recount God working to add many to their number.  But as you read Acts you can't help but be struck by the number of individual names, encounters and conversions that we see (Saul to Paul, the Ethiopian Eunuch, Cornelius, possessed slave girl, Lydia, Philippian Jailer, Jason, Dionysius, Damaris, Apollos and so on).  The big picture of the spread of the gospel is fulfilled through everyday encounters and witnessing to Jesus.

As I look at Doncaster sometimes the gospel need is paralysing, it is poorly impacted by the gospel even for Yorkshire, probably the least reached county in England.  But Jesus invites and empowers me not to witness to Doncaster all in one go but through one on one, day by day, interactions, encounters and friendships when I show and speak of the love of Christ my Saviour and that knowing God is truly life indeed.

What would Jesus say to Michael Jackson?

Michael Jackson had it all; world-wide fame, a long career, the adulation of millions, phenomenal wealth and status. He was what millions long to be, or strive to obtain. But as you look back on his life there is that nagging question which keeps on coming back again and again – but was he happy? His talent and ability were never in doubt, the Guinness Book of Records recognise him as the most successful entertainer of all time, Thriller is still the best selling album ever, yet there were also hard times, stranger actions, failures and accusations. Michael Jackson always left you with the feeling that he was still unsatisfied, still searching for meaning.

He was not afraid to look at the world and see what was wrong and try to make it better, his songs called on people to make a change to make the world a better place. Yet his own search for meaning shows he recognised the need for someone greater than him to make that happen, his mum was a Jehovah’s witness, and certainly explored Islam and Christianity in his search for meaning before his tragic death.

So what would Jesus have said to Michael Jackson?

There is an end to the search.
I think Jesus would have taken MJ back to a small and surprising book in the Old Testament called Ecclesiastes. In it the teacher sets out to find out the meaning of life, what brings peace and fulfilment.

I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. 2 “Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” 3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.

4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well—the delights of a man’s heart. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labour,
and this was the reward for all my toil.
11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun.

The teacher tried it all and concludes that it is meaningless, none of it satisfied. All the fame, all the adulation, the mansions, the millions, the relationships, nothing was gained under the sun.

But I think Jesus would go on to explain to Michael that it isn’t hopeless, that little phrase is the clue, in Ecclesiastes there are two ways of looking at the world – “one is under the sun” viewing the world as if God did not exist and he concludes whatever you try from that viewpoint it will prove meaningless.

The other is seen in his conclusion
"Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of every human being.
For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil."

Fear God and keep his commandments. That fear doesn’t mean be terrified of but listen to, respond to, respect and reverence God, know him and live under his ruler understanding that in knowing God is wisdom and an end to restlessly searching.

I think Jesus would have wanted to explain more about what that looks like, specifically how he satisfies.

We are not the answer
Michael Jackson recognised the world was broken and that there was something wrong, but he seemed to think we could fix it just be changing just by trying harder, by changing ourselves.

In his song Man in the Mirror Jackson sings:
“If you wanna make the world a better place,
Take a look at yourself and then make that change.”

Here is a comment from an interview he gave: “We have to heal our wounded world. The chaos, despair and senseless destruction we see today as a result of the alienation that people feel from each other and their environment.”

I think Jesus would share Michael’s pain at the brokenness around us but he would say that we are not the answer, that we are incapable of fixing it.

Turn to Mark 7:14-23 what does Jesus say the problem is?

It is our hearts, it doesn’t matter what we look like on the outside because the problem is on the inside. We can amend our behaviour and that might work for a while but ultimately the problem will remain and will show itself at some point. Sin lives in our heart not in our actions.

The problem is far worse than we realise, sin is so serious no amount of behavioural change will get rid of it. Turn on to Mark 10:13-22.

The rich man asks a question “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” In other words how can I make sure I am saved, and he has been very, very good, he has kept all the commandments, surely he has feared God. But notice Jesus says he has a rival to God it’s his money, and he leaves sad. Being good, being religious aren’t the answer, in fact teh problem is so serious we can't provide an answer to it..

Accept God’s gift
The contrast in Mark is made with the children, the children come with nothing in their hands, they don’t come touting their good works, or religion they simply come and accept the gift, the welcome, the rest Jesus gives.

Jesus would have offered to Michael what he offers to each of us - rest and a relationship with God by grace, he solves he problem of sin for us at the cross and gifts us not just mercy but grace - God's undeserved favour and an end to the restless searching.

What would Jesus Say to Peter Kay?

Peter Kay is the down to earth northern who shot to fame as a stand up comedian but is now one of the UK’s top entertainers, with voice over’s for children’s shows, song writing credits, and parts in Doctor Who, Coronation Street and other shows. His fame is such that having been the warm up act on Parkinson early in his career he was a guest on the final show. He has also written 3 books, the first of which, ‘The Sound of Laughter’, sold a million copies in its first 3 months. But what he remains famous for is his wit and distinctively different humour.

Peter Kay was born in Bolton and was an altar boy at the local Catholic Church and attended the local Catholic school. Here is what he wrote about it:

“It made me realise how dangerous Catholicism could be. When I was at school I was always told that if I was bad God would punish me and in the same breath I was told that God would forgive me for my sins whatever they were. It was a bit like being slapped one minute and getting a big cuddle the next. Catholicism sure knew how to mess with a child's head...

Over the years I've come to the conclusion that Catholicism is rife with hypocrisy and confusion. It's preyed on people like myself while people like myself were praying.”

Peter Kay isn’t alone in having that problem with the church. So what would Jesus say to Peter Kay?
It might surprise him and you but Jesus would agree about the repellent nature of hypocrisy. Turn to Matthew 23:1-12 where Jesus leads a stinging rebuke of the Pharisees because of their hypocrisy and the confusion they cause. Jesus problem with the religious authorities of his day is that they don’t do what they teach(3), they burden others(4) and they put on a good act(5). Not unlike many people’s experience of church today.

Jesus would, I think, then move on to show Peter Kay that he did not come to call people to religion, in fact he preached against religion, instead he came to call people to understand and live by grace. I think Jesus would want to clear up the confusion that Peter obviously has about what Jesus taught and who he was.

Answering the big question: How do you get right with God?
Is God a vengeful God who punishes wrong doing or is he a God who forgives no matter what your sin is? I think Jesus would want Peter to understand grace.

Look on a few verses to v37-39, it is a staggering statement from Jesus. As he surveys Jerusalem he almost reads out a charge sheet against it as a city “you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you...” What does such behaviour deserve? It deserves judgement.

But what does Jesus go on to say? How often I have longed to gather your children together...” Despite Israel’s repeated rejection of the messengers God sent, Jesus God’s Son expresses God’s heart desire to gather Israel, to love them, to forgive them. God is not a harsh petulant, changeable monster doling out punishment on a whim. He is gracious, he warns again and again and finally sends his son to warn again.

But Israel is not willing, Israel reject even Jesus. And if you reject God’s loving warning you will face judgement, in fact it is right that you do. God can forgive your sins no matter how bad they are but only if you are willing to accept and trust in Jesus.

And there lies another of Peter Kay’s problems, here’s what he says about Jesus:

"I also believe that a man called Jesus did walk the earth at one time but I don't think he was the superhero that the bible makes him out to be.... I think Jesus was just an ordinary person like me and you (well, I'm comparing you with myself in the hope you're not a mentalist). I believe that Jesus spoke about peace, he spoke about turning love into hate (sic), tears into laughter, war into peace... Jesus' teachings spread and quickly he built up a passionate following. People hung on to his every word, some would even walk for miles just to catch a glimpse of him... Ultimately Jesus' success bred contempt, people of power weren't fond of this hip and trendy preacher and before you could say 'Happy Days' Jesus was beaten, whipped, nailed to a cross and crucified. They didn't understand him, so they murdered him, in their ignorance and fear.

But Jesus had the last laugh. Apparently two days later on Easter Sunday he came back from the dead. Well, he'd have been daft not to with all those chocolate eggs knocking around."
Yet despite thinking Jesus is just an ordinary man he goes on to say life would be better if we lived it according to Jesus teachings.

You can't sit on the fence
What would Jesus say to that? You can’t sit on the fence. Either I did the things I did and I am who I say I am or I am not. Turn to Luke 5:17-26 – Jesus would want to show Peter that he can’t say his teaching is good but he was not God because of the claims he made about himself. That’s what Jesus shows the Pharisees as he heals this man – and as an aside all it takes for miracles to be possible is for God to exist. But Jesus claims are astonishing – he claims to be able to do what only God can do, forgive sin, if that isn’t true then he is either mad and his words should be ignored or bad in which case they should be destroyed.

Jesus would want Peter to focus not on religion but on deciding who he really is and what he came to do, to forgive sin.