A modern proverb?

"Image is nothing.  Thirst is everything.  Obey your thirst."  So went the advertising slogan for Sprite that I still remember decades later.  How far from the truth that is in our modern culture.  In our society image is everything and nothing else really matters.  Oh we may trumpet soundbites like 'Be true to yourself', 'Be the you you really want to be' and so on.  But they come with subtle small print, and the small print says only be true to yourself if that fits with societies values and norms, with the you society will accept.  Don't be true to yourself if you don't, hide, suppress, repress.

Image has become everything.  I've been watching the Olympics and amidst all the great sport and phenomenal athleticism and dedication I've been heartbroken to see athlete's vilified and victimised for not portraying the right image.  Not having your hand on your heart when you sing your anthem, letting disappointment show, not having the right hair, or look and so on.  If people don't fit in with our media massaged and manipulated view of norms or right then we jump all over them.  We seem to forget that these are real people dealing with real emotions and four years (or a life time) of dedication and expectation, hopes and dreams.  Let alone the more fundamental truth that these are people made in God's image.

It has struck me again whilst I have watched with a sense of sadness athletes being attacked on social media for not fitting the image, not doing the done thing, not meeting others expectations of how they should react, that it shouldn't surprise me at all.  It is what disciples of Jesus should expect everyday.  I think of Daniel and his friends taking a stand for their faith in Babylon and the pressure they faced for not fitting in, not conforming.  And then tragically I think of Esther who hides her faith and does conform, for whom image is everything, at least initially.  But then I am reminded of the grace of God that transformed a wretch like Esther to save his people.

And that challenge hits me again.  The call to stand out, the call to live having experienced and drunk deeply of the water of life that Christ brings and to hold that out to others.  Knowing that it is what they really long for no matter what society says.  That image doesn't matter as much as the reality for which God has made them.  And that as people made in the image of God I am called to loved each and everyone of them and call them back to that image redeemed in Christ.

Walking with rather than talking at

I often want to be able to solve a problem quickly.  That's fine when it comes to DIY or even a simple admin job, but it is awful, destructive, and sinful when applied to people.  Part of the problem I think is absorbed from our culture of the quick fix, the instant remedy.  Part of it comes from wanting to remove pain and discomfort from the lives of those I care about.  Another part of it comes from wanting to be thought well of, wanting to be 'successful' in pastoring people, maybe even having something to dow with measurable goals or feeling like a job is finished.  And yet the Bible does not give us a steady stream of pat answers to life's problems and pains.  The Bible is not ordered or indexed or searchable in a way that enables us to look up 'd' for depression, 'a' for anxiety, or 's' for solution and we ought to be grateful for that.  Rather what we see is people walking with others through the story of their lives.

Quick answers, half thought through theology, hastily spoken misapplied doctrine is dangerous.  Just think of Job's friends.  They begin well, they sit and observe Job in silence but the problem comes when they speak and provide answers that are half thought through, received tradition misapplied to Job and his situation.  It would have been better if they had kept silent.  Or think of Nehemiah, he hears of a problem, he cares deeply about a problem, he is moved to help and literally moved to care for God's people, but he takes time to pray it through.  Even when he goes to Jerusalem he takes time to survey the walls and the people and live alongside them as he leads them to build first the walls and then a community with God at the centre within the walls.

There is a lot for us to learn from the Bible's walking with rather than talking at approach.  Think of the difference walking with gospel hope alongside a friend struggling with depression and anxiety would make rather than taking at them with quick answers about a situation we have not experienced or whose complexities and pain we don to fully understand.  Think of the difference walking with would make in any given situation of suffering you or those in your church family are facing; childlessness, infertility, loss, grief, unemployment, infirmity, disability and so on.  That is what Jesus did when he became man, he walked with us through suffering, he wept alongside Martha and Mary, he loved and lost and yet brought hope, it's no accident that we find him in the next chapter in their home again.  He walked with them and talked of hope and salvation as he walked.

Offering quick advice is easier but it is not more productive.  Walking with is longer term, it is harder work, it takes more commitment, and is more painful but it is what we are called to because it is what Jesus has done for us.

Standing out or blending in?

Christians are supposed to be counter cultural?  We are supposed to stand out not blend in.  No Christian should be a chameleon.  One of the ways that we should stand out is in our concern for righteousness and justice even when it is not in our own self interest.  The prophets repeatedly call Israel out of their lethargy and self interested stupor when it comes to the injustices being carried out in their society, in front of their very eyes.  Jesus calls his disciples and everyone else to be like the good Samaritan rather than the rigid religious minimalist.  Yet as I look at my own heart and the Christian landscape in the UK too often we mimic society in only protesting the issues that directly affect us.  We are effectively an interest group rather than a group that seeks the good of all.

As Christians we are to seek the good of our society and communities.  We are to fight injustice where we find it not instead of but as we proclaim the gospel of hope in Christ.  Yet too often we only campaign about things that directly affect us.  That is wrong!  It is not even being neighbourly let alone going out of our way to bind up, care for, and support the wounded and beaten.

Here's one such current issue to stop think through and ponder am I simply being self interested or am I seeking the good of the community and of people?

Education.  Teachers, governors, and children are under pressure like never before.  Changes to the curriculum, huge rises in expectations expected to be achieved in short spaces of time, and Multi-Academy Trust imposition which will, in some cases, remove local involvement in schools and affect teacher welfare are all putting pressure on those in education.  Headteachers and teachers unions are discussing strikes over such things, some are resigning because they feel so strongly that these things are wrong not just for themselves but more importantly for our children.  An 11 year old child shouldn't be placed under stress in order to be tested, and a 7 year old even less so.  Teaching to test should be anathema in education, yet is becoming a must.

So here's the question how do I respond to that?  Am I self interested; it doesn't affect me so I'm not going to do anything about it, or my child is able and unconcerned so I'm not going to do anything.  Or am I reacting to the injustice and stress being foisted on others?  As Christians we must think carefully about our response to such things.  We need to weigh up whether it is right to obey the God given rulers we have or to make use of the democracy we live in and make our voice heard.  Maybe by writing to express our concerns about the changes an their impact to our MP (www.writetothem.com) and/or the Education department.  We may even want to take part in the pupil strike being organised by Let the kids be kids (https://letthekidsbekids.wordpress.com).  If you find yourself saying but my children aren't in education, or aren't in a state school, or are grown up. We need to ask ourselves why?  Why am I only concerned for the issues that affect me?

You may weigh these issues and decide to do nothing because having looked at them in depth you support the testing and the curriculum changes.  You may decide that you don't know enough yet and you will go and find out more, talk to teachers or children or parents in your church family, ask how you can support them.  You may want to do as I suggest above.

As Christians apathy is not an option.  As Christians a dismissive shrug rather than compassionate consideration and action is not enough.  And this is just one issue, there are lots of others (don't let that put you off or overwhelm you).  But it's a good place to begin.  Imagine the difference it would make in our community if our churches were know as places that loved and campaigned for their well being rather than just our own.

Father forgive my limited love for others

I was reading 1 Corinthians 13 again this morning, and yet again I'm struck by the utter contrast between the love God calls us to have for one another in the church and the way the world loves.  But it is easy to deflect a passage away from ourselves and onto others.  It is right that we apply a passage to the world, looking at how far short the world falls of God's purpose and plan even as it thirsts and hungers for what God intended it to enjoy.  But it is never enough to stop there, in fact it is wrong to do so if we never turn the convicting light of God's word onto ourselves.

God calls us to love but that is something we find hard to do.  We have a tendency to love by common denominator, to love those who are like us, share or views, who we feel are of benefit to us, who love us in return, or who we aspire to be like.  But the Bible calls us to love as God loved us in Christ.  To love those who are unlike us, to love the different and the random.  But all too often I find it easier to go for the liquid love that mirrors the world, that is easily washed away by pressure, or tiredness, or stress, or simply someone doing something I don't like.  But God's call is to a love that pursues, that perseveres, that is patient and so much more.

Longsuffering is the way older translations often translate that word patient and I think there is something beautiful about that word, it is descriptive, it speaks of bearing with, it speaks of pain and difficulty, it speaks of long term commitment, it speaks of enduring love not liquid love, a love built on solid foundations not sandy ones.  As I read of God's love I can't help but be amazed and thankful and humbled.  As I see the call to love like that I can't help but throw myself on the mercy of God because I cannot do it, but as I do so I am amazed again that God not only calls me to love like that but fills me with his Spirit so that I love like that.  So that I fight the battle with liquid love and seek to love as I have been loved.

How not to love your community

I heard it suggested last week that Britain had become a nation who no longer moaned just about the weather but now moaned about everything.  My initial reaction was to disagree.  But then listening to others and my own conversations I began to wonder if they were right.  And the biggest tragedy is that I didn't detect any significant difference between Christian conversation and worldly conversation.  As the church we have absorbed societies negativity and made it our own.

But that is so dangerous because it subtly undermines the gospel.  We live and work in a community where there are lot of needs.  We live and work in a community where many people do not have the choices that others might; to move, to access different health care, to drive miles to a better play park, or to another toddler group, or school.  In that situation what does moaning about those things say to the community - I don't love this community, I don't value it, and I opt out of it.  And by implication I don't love the people in it, or at the very least I don't want to live through what they have to live through.  I'm not really in it with you, I'll parachute in and out when I feel like it, when it suits me!

The moan about there being nothing to do with the children, or about the local resources, or the local health care seems small but is actually incredibly damaging.  Stop doing it if you want to convey to the community that you love it and those living in it and that you are there for the long haul.  But secondly do something about it.

In order to moan we have spotted a need, a weakness, an area of opportunity, for development and that is incredibly positive.  We have glimpsed how life should be and could be.  So instead of moaning about something (which undermines our gospel witness) why not actively try to obtain a better deal for your community?  As a church how can you bless the community in terms of provision for mums and toddlers?  How can you bless the community and meet a need for youth activities?  How can you pray for the local leaders and the decisions they are making which are isolating your community?  How can you campaign for access for that community especially for those who can't?

Grumbling in the bible is never viewed positively, it is always detrimental to communities and nations.  So among God's people today it has no place, but don't just clamp your mouth shut when you see something you might moan about.  Think of it as an opportunity to bring change, to bless, to show God's love and pray that God would use it to open hearts and eyes to the gospel.

The bit I hate about pastoral ministry

What do you imagine your pastor or vicar hates about pastoral ministry?  I guess there might be a number of things: meetings, politics, admin.  I don't hate any of those things but I was powerfully reminded again yesterday of the bit I do hate.  I hate the brokenness of the world in which we live and it's devastating effects of those in our church family that I love in Christ.

Some days as a pastor your calling is to sit and listen as people pour out their hearts and lament the brokenness of the world and its impact on them and their families.  You are not called to be a dispassionate observer, or even a cool detached listener.  Your calling is to weep with those who weep, not in a professional or detached way but in a way that reflects your love of those you are called by God to care for.  It is not that their grief becomes your grief in an overly empathetic way but your compassion for them means you enter into their suffering and hurt with them, from that view point you look to minister to them.

One of those passages I turn to again and again in such circumstances is Psalm 42.  It beautifully and powerfully mixes lament at brokenness with a desperate determination to cling to God as our only hope:

1 As the deer pants for streams of water,
    so my soul pants for you, my God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
    When can I go and meet with God?
3 My tears have been my food
    day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
    “Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember
    as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
    under the protection of the Mighty One[d]
with shouts of joy and praise
    among the festive throng.

5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

6 My soul is downcast within me;
    therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
    the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep
    in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
    have swept over me.

8 By day the Lord directs his love,
    at night his song is with me—
    a prayer to the God of my life.

9 I say to God my Rock,
    “Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
    oppressed by the enemy?”
10 My bones suffer mortal agony
    as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
    “Where is your God?”

11 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

Back in the saddle

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

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

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

Simple steps to build gospel capable relationships

I was leading a session at Yorkshire Training yesterday on Everyday Evangelism or living mission depending on your terminology, what struck me as we looked at life and making connections between people and the gospel was how hard we find it to build friendships.

It is easy to be too busy to know anyone outside of the church as anything other than an acquaintance or work colleague.  A friend is someone who we do life deeply with, with whom we can relax and be ourselves, who we are committed to, who we will not turn away from.  Increasingly it seems that we aren't sure how to build friendships, or how to get to know people in anyway that is significant.

I shared 9 simple things yesterday that facilitate us building relationships from first meeting someone right through to building life long friendships.  They aren't steps as in you move from one to another, but they are things that ought to mark us out:

Smile
Simply put a smile says you are approachable and welcoming, it also signals a pleasure in seeing someone.

Make eye contact
Eye contact conveys an interest, a seeing of the person, that they have our attention.

Give people your undivided attention
Mobile phones they have off switches, or a text or phone call can be ignored.  Answering it or social grazing (texting or viewing Facebook or twitter while in a conversation) conveys a sense of disinterest and distractedness.  It doesn't convey welcome or invite commitment.

Get over yourself and be genuinely interested in others
Want to know about people, ask about them, pray that God would help you love others and want to know them not be absorbed in yourself.

Give honest sincere appreciation
Respond and be responsive to what they share with you.  Look for ways to encourage and build up and show that you value and appreciate the person.

Don’t criticise, condemn or complain
We live in a culture that is all about tearing down, or about building ourselves up by making us seem good in comparison to others.  That does not build good friendships, it makes us fearful to entrust ourselves to someone who may in turn criticise, complain or condemn us to others.

Remember names – it matters
It's a simple thing but it really matters.  It makes people feel welcomed and cared for.  Find a way to do it.

Be a good listener
Interact as you listen, practise questions that develop conversations, think about your body language does it convey that you are listening.

Talk about their interests not yours
Don't make the conversation about you and your interests, show that you care by asking about them and their interests.

This list isn't exhaustive but it is helpful for all our friendships.  I can't help thinking that in our increasingly fragmented lonely society that if Christians related to people like this we would stand out as those who love and are committed to others

Is iPlayer a godliness issue?

I'm aware I may be about to kick up a bit of a storm but I've been thinking about this for a while.  A while back Lucy and I debated getting rid of the TV licence and just watching DVD's and things available via on demand services online.  I  We know lots of people who do it, but just because we can should we?

s it right to buy a TV licence even if we only watch things via iPlayer?  The TV licence isn't a licence to have a TV its a licence to watch BBC broadcasts.  I know that the law of the land permits it but as those who love and follow Jesus the question we ought to be asking is 'what does the spirit of the law say?'  'What does it mean for me to love my brothers and sisters in the BBC?'  'What does it mean for me to honour the creative work of those who have made those programmes using their God given gifts?'

Now I want to go on record as saying that we don't watch much TV, we watch particularly little BBC TV, mostly its the Six Nations Rugby, Match of the Day, The Football League Show, Dr Who and children's programmes with the boys.  But that is besides the point, the question is not about value for money that is a totally different issue.  I wonder if we should be asking what is loving?

Is it loving for me to not contribute anything towards the creation of the programmes I enjoy?  To not pay the wages of those employed to do so?  To avoid supporting those who work hard using their incredible creative talents to entertain us even though I watch them delayed and online?

Does the spirit of the law call on us to love our neighbours and honour their work by supporting them by buying a TV licence even if we only watch content online?  Is it stealing to do otherwise?  Is it just an issue of being tight with our money rather than being generous?  Is it loving?  As unbelieving friends and family look on what do they conclude about our actions in doing so?

It's an issue we need to answer for ourselves, I think my fear is that we aren't even having the discussion.

Do we dare to expose ourselves?

In preaching through 1 John there are a number of themes which keep on coming up again and again and again. One of them is the truth that those who have been loved by God in Christ and who know the God who is love as their Father will love others.  It is just natural - you've been loved, you are an adopted son because of the love of the one who is love therefore the family DNA will flow through you.  You will love the brothers and sisters just as your Father who is love loves them and loved you.

But John also brilliantly points us to some things which might stop or limit our love for others.  One of those things is seeing need.  Do we look at our brothers and sisters and look for needs which we can meet as we look for concrete ways in which we can love them?  But the flip side of that is do we allow others to see the needs there are in our lives?  Are we honest about our physical struggles, our spiritual struggles, our emotional struggles?  Do we dare expose ourselves and our hearts to our brothers and sisters?

We will dare to expose our hearts if we are convinced that they love us as God's children love one another.  Loving one another makes it safe to reveal our needs knowing that they will be met with loving acceptance and a compassion that will do what it can to meet them.

The real joy in preaching this theme in 1 John has been to see how that love has been taking shape in the church.  With Lucy being out of action for weeks we've experienced that love in real tangible ways - loads of meals prepared for us, flowers dropped off, cakes baked.  The house cleaned (more thoroughly than I think it has ever been done before!!!) for us.  It has been both humbling and thrilling to have had a need met with such love.  It is a joy to see the gospel at work and the church displaying it's DNA as it loves.

Dealing with Discouragement

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

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

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

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

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

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

Be Passionate about God and his People

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Trust God and his plans

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have you been robbed of a valuable tool!

There are somethings which the bible encourages us to do which we find easy, or mostly easy.  But there are others which we do not, in fact which we make excuses to avoid doing.  In preparing both 2 Timothy 1 for Sunday and Gospel Groups on our commitment to One Another two things have come up which I think are hard but are interelated; love and rebuke.

The world thinks of love as something nice, complementary and gentle and this has robbed us of the robust and really life changing capabilities of the love the bible talks about evidenced in the gospel and which is to be at work amonst believers.  Our love for each other is not seen in saying nice things to each other but in saying what needs to be said to each other in love.  Because we love each other we will help one another confront sin and fight sin pointing each other and leading one another back to the glorious freedom we find in grace.

Rebuke or warn are key terms in the New Testament, we see Paul doing this to both the churches he writes to and to the young pastors (Timothy and Titus) he leaves behind as a lasting gospel legacy.  And, lest we think it is just Paul, he exhorts Timothy that he is to continue that same work.  Elsewhere we see the whole church encouraged to love each other enough to help one another fight sin.

It poses the questions how much do I love my brothers and sisters in Christ, when did I last in love warn or rebuke someone?  When was I last warned or rebuked?  How did I accept that warning or rebuke?

Because it doesn't even take love to say something nice to someone but only real gospel love will give and accept rebuke knowing it is for our good, designed to drive us back to the cross and the liberating grace and freedom we find their in Christ our Saviour.

Does Love win?

Rob Bell has published a new book (he is well known for the Nooma videos and other books such as Velvet Elvis), its called 'Love Wins' and it has provoked a storm of publicity both good and bad, and I am troubled by much of what I have read about it. I have yet to read the book itself but Dave Bish has and you can find his thoughts here.

A Man of God

"Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love." 1 Corinthians 16v13-14. Spent some time this morning meditating on this verse. Asking myself questions of each phrase.

What does it mean to be watchful? Where am I not watchful?
Where and when am I in danger of not standing firm?
What does it mean Biblically to act like a man?
What does it mean to be strong? How is it counter cultural?
Where do I fail to act in love?

Home?

Looked at Acts 2 again on Sunday as we revisited what the church is and why its exists and it is striking how totally counter cultural the picture of the church there is to today's society, especially in Britain.

One particularly striking area is devotion to each other, or to togetherness. We do friendly very well, we do polite very well, we even sometimes verge on the loving in our churches (at least with the people we like). But all too often we fail at being devoted to one another.

Acts doesn't just leave us with a principle but a picture - they sell fields when another has a need, they are in and out of each others houses - no castles with the draw bridges drawn up in that church.

It has given us much to think about. Am I devoted to my church family? Do I refuse not to see them? Do I do all I can to be with them? Do I welcome people who just drop by? Have I encouraged people to just drop by? Will I just drop in on others? Will I go out of my way to love and care for them even when it is inconvenient to me?

That is what God's love and a devotion to the Bible should lead me to do.

Love, love, love

1 John is a great, if somewhat complex, letter and one of its themes is love. As it deals with the issue of assurance for the church to whom John writes love is repeatedly the focus.

Be it God's love for us (3:1, 16) shown in Jesus death, lavished upon us making us children of God. Or the command not to love the world (2:15-17) or the things in the world.

In 3:23 we are given two commandments : "that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us." It got me to thinking do I love others as God commanded me to or is it in a half-hearted way the I command me to.

It is quite striking when you read the context surrounding the rest of 1 John 3. (16) "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers." John goes on to unpack this for us in terms of what we do with our money, and our actions.

God's command is for sacrificial love yet so often I (we) do manageable love, yet God through John says if I really get God's love and the way it is lavished on me in Christ then I cannot but love others like that! The challenge is will I?

Maundy Thursday

Commemorates the Last Supper and Jesus washing of his disciples feet, it was the day on which Jesus commanded his disciples to "love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."

It is something well worth pausing and thinking about today in a world centred on me and I. Contrast Jesus who in the midst of betrayal, knowing all that was going to befall him undertakes to wash his disciples feet as a sign of his love for them.

What will I do today to love my brothers and sisters as he has loved me?

What do you love?

1 John 2:15-17 is a great little passage, it reminds us that actually we are to be counter cultural especially in our relationship to the world.

John calls his readers and us to a mutually exclusive love. Notice what John says (15) you can’t love the world and love God. The world is a big theme in John (23x) and it is seen as everything that is opposition to God. To love the world is to live for the world – it is about setting your heart on it.

We live in a dangerous place, as did John's readers because we live in the world, and it competes for our love. That is what advertising is about - it is designed to make us love and want the world. The danger is that without being aware of it we become ensnared by it like the frog that remains in water which is gradually boiled.

The world – human systems, morality etc… are not to be loved by those who love God. (16) Makes even clearer 3 of the dangers the world brings: literally the desire of the flesh (living for physical pleasure), the lust of the eyes (Advertising, making us want; be it sex, a certain lifestyle or better bananas) and lastly pride in what we have and do (or maybe in waht our family, children, grandchildren have or do).

John reminds us we live in enemy occupied territory and the big question he poses is do I find myself loving the world?

But John also poinst out another mutual exclusive in these verses; Mutually exclusive endings.(17) John calls believers to wake up, to recognise the danger of loving the world but he also reminds them of the mutually exclusive endings of these things. In fcat bearing in mind the temporary nature of the world and its loves will help us. The question is will you live for things that are temporary or will you live for things that last forever?

What do I find myself living for? What do I find myself loving?

Interesting reactions

We tried something new yesterday, it is not groundbreaking but it was new for us and I was surprised by the reactions. Every Sunday two local boys football teams play on the school field of the building where we meet. Yesterday we took coffee out to the parents, not ground breaking, not stepping into the lions den, but trying to be what we are a community church. A Church that loves the community and ultimately wants to love them by sharing the gospel and our lives with them.

This was a small step in hopeful growing some relationships and gradual showing the relevance of Christianity in serving others. It is part of an overall strategy of impacting the community and we hope to make it a regular event, if not weekly then fortnightly.

The interesting thing was the reactions; most people were surprised, some tried to give us money for it (after all whenever a church does something it must need money - seemed to be the automatic thought process) others were just very grateful. I think we gave out some 40-45 cups of coffee. As we look to do it long term we hope it may see some come to out Saturday night carol concert or some of the boys to Duke of Edinburgh or it may just get some people thinking.

But the big thing that struck me was people's surprise. They were almost without exception genuinely surprised and pleased to think that a church would care for them enough to take them out a hot coffee on a rainy, cold November morning. It was as if they had never been shown the slightest bit of care by a church - this was all new!

Such a perception of the church is tragic and maybe explains why people are so resistant to the gospel. You don't listen to people who haven't showed that they care for you or that they are different. Now our challenge is to keep up this small ministry and find other ways to build on it so that we can build relationships and eventually share the great news that we love them because Jesus does and explain to them how he shows his love to them and the response such love requires.

The Easter Bunny

I wonder if you remember ghostbusters? You will if you are of a certain generation. It ended with the team battling the giant Marshmallow man - Ray's first thought and a humorous way of meeting out destruction to the world.

I have my very own marshmallow man fear at the moment, but it isn't a giant sugar confectionery foe fit for roasting over a roaring fire, it is the ever growing Easter Bunny. In our commercially aware culture retailers are seizing upon Easter as another way to increase sales - in between Valentines Day and our Summer holidays - and put pressure on us to spend, spend, spend. Easter cards are now in the shops and we are encouraged to remind someone that you are thinking of them, oceans of chocolate is setting as I speak and being ferried up and down the country, Easter presents are beginning to appear complete with Easter chick, rabbit and lamb wrapping paper.

And in all the commercialism where is the actual symbol of Easter? The rabbit has, or is beginning to, dwarfed the cross.

No, I'm not turning into scrooge (well not over Easter anyway), sat chuntering humbug over my keyboard as I type, but just as the commercialisation of Christmas has divorced it from its true meaning so I fear the Easter bunny is set to displace the cross and the empty tomb at Easter.

Easter is the most amazing opportunity to share the gospel with those around us. It is a time to remember the great news. "that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and after that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve..." (1 Corinthian 15:3-5).

That is what Easter is all about, remove the cross and resurrection from Easter and there is no reason to celebrate. God in his love sent his only Son to pay the penalty for our sin and to enable us to enter into relationship with God, to look forward to life without the wages of our rebellion - death - dominating our landscape, and all because God sent his Son who willingly goes to the cross in my place. And 3 days later the tomb was empty, Christ was alive again and was seen by many witnesses, as he rose again death and sin were defeated for those who trust in him, because his resurrection declares it is paid for, it is accomplished, it is finished. God now views me as his perfect Son in Christ and I can live now in light of that reality.

How should Christians respond to the rampant commercialisation of Easter - oppose the bunny! Declare the cross. The challenge is to convey the true message to our children, our neighbours, our family, our friends. It may not be popular but surely at Easter more than at any other time the love of Christ must compel us to witness to him. To give a gospel rather than an Easter card, to give a tract rather than chocolate, to speak of Jesus Christ rather than the Easter Bunny!