The greatest threat facing the church today.

What is the greatest threat facing the church today? OK maybe I change it to “What is ONE OF the greatest threats….”  It’s a question every pastor comes around to asking sooner or later. It’s certainly is a question many books have been written to address and are still  being writing about today, so I might as well throw in my two cents worth.

Some of the things I hear around the traps are cultural differences, materialism, post modernism, the rise of Islam, feminism just to name a few. I remember asking the pastor what he believed was the greatest threat to the church in his city. He couldn’t think of anything.  OK let me suggest that one of the greatest threat is forgetfulness. We keep forgetting the gospel and being distracted from it and so in the end we abandon it. Sadly I regularly hear of people who were once firmly rooted in the gospel but have now forgotten it.

How do people forget? Very simply. We forget because many of us constantly assume that we know, or that others know the gospel and because of this we stop preaching the gospel to ourselves and to others.

So we have parents who constantly assume their children are Christians and therefore never help them to understand the gospel. Instead what they do is to keep talking to them about how to live the Christian life and how to serve. The end result is moralism and legalism.

We have preachers who constantly assume their people are well taught in the scriptures and so believe that what they need is not to be taught the gospel again but to be challenged to serve, to pray, to read the bible more etc etc. The end result is a works based faith which is not rooted in the gospel.

And we are bound to forget when we say to ourselves “Yeah I know all this but I need something more than this!”

I’ve seen churches where this is clearly the case. I’ve talked to long standing church member in many churches who do not have the foggiest idea of what the gospel is. I remember hearing one lady trying to “evangelise” an unbeliever by telling them to obey the 10 commandments,  go to church and  pray. I remember speaking to many young people who have been going to church for many years. When I asked them what it means to be a Christian and what the gospel is they struggled to rattle it off.

We accept people to be members of our church on the assumption that they understand what the gospel but soon find out that have no clue what it is.

I remember a classic example of this many years ago. I was attending one of our young workers church canps. During free time I was chatting to one of the guys (Let’s call him Bill – Not his real name, besides he is no longer at our church) who had been coming for about a year but whom I had not met as yet (I had just started working in the church)  Anyway I asked him if he was a Christian to which he said no, so I took the opportunity to share the gospel to him. By God’s grace he accepted Jesus as Lord and saviour. Anyway we went back to the rest of the group and shared that Bill had become a Christian. The response was astonishing. Everyone else had assumed he was already a Christian so never bothered to share the gospel to him. Unfortunately I find this happens far too often in many churches.

Forgetfulness is a thing which the bible constantly warns God’s people not to do. Many times Moses warned his people, before they entered the Promised Land, not to forget all that God had done for them in bringing them to where they are (Deut 4:9,23; 6:12; 8:11,14,19. So  it’s no surprise that one thing God constantly calls his people to do is to “remember”. (Just type in “remember” in your online bible and check it out yourself)

The threat of “forgetting” the gospel is a serious problem I find in so many churches and the consequences  are dire. As I said above, it eventually leads to a moralism and legalism that has no power to change or to tranform the world.

So what can we do to ensure that we and our church do not “Forget” the gospel? Here are a few things.

a. At church, if you meet someone you’ve never met before or have never had a good conversation with then make it a point to ask them if they are a Christian and if so how they became a Christian? I head up a leadership conference and I made it a point to say to my team members every year to never assume the delegates are Christians. During the conference I saw many of my team members sharing the gospel to the delegates. Many had come thinking they were Christians but sadly did not know what the gospel was or was confused about it. So don’t assume!

b. As a matter of encouragement and conversation make it a point to ask people if there are any theological issues or questions they are wrestling through. It’s amazing the number of people I find at church wrestling with burning questions. I remember speaking to one youth leader who couldn’t work out why he had to read the bible.

c. Make a decision in the bible study group and in the preaching program to regularly and annually work through your Statement of beliefs

d. Make it a point to take new members through a membership class where the gospel is clearly explained and expounded.

e. Encourage parents to make it a point to teach their children the truths of the gospel regularly and consistently.

If we all get into these habit we might avoid one of the greatest threats facing our churches today and for generations to come – the danger of forgetting the gospel.

Can women preach?

I know this is a really hot topic and a lot of blood has been spilt over the topic and divided churches. Some ministers will choose not to work in a church over their stance on this issue and church leaders will refuse to hire someone who holds a different view to their own. From what I hear, anyone who wants to join the Acts29 network has to be a complementarian otherwise it’s game over . So it’s a real hot topic.

OK just to lay my cards on the table, let me say up front that I’m a complementarian. For those who don’t know what this means, basically a complementarian believes that God has made men and women different while at the same time still being equal. In the complementarian view God has ordained that the husband should be the head of the household, the spiritual leader and the wife as the second in command. This position also means that Complementarians believe that spiritual leadership, particularly expressed in the teaching ministry, is the responsibility of men. Contrary to this are the Egalitarians who believe that God has made men and women equal. This equality is not only in terms of who they are before God and man, but also extends to what they can do. So headship is more random rather than something that is built into the man’s DNA. Egalitarians have no problem with women leading men even in the household, and certainly not in church, whereas the Complementarians would spit the dummy over this. This, in a nut shell, is what it’s all about. Now this might be a bit simplistic but then again I’m a simpleton at heart.

Having said this, don’t fear – I’m not here to argue for one position over and above the other. I don’t have the brains for that sort of thing. Besides I don’t think I would add anything new to the debate. If anyone is interested it’s not hard to find stuff on the internet, so I won’t bore you with the theological arguments.

However what I’m interested is the difficulties of trying to apply theology to practice. While I’m convinced that the complementarian view is the right view (apologies to all you Egalitarians) I’ve noticed that even those in the same camp as myself have differences of opinion when it comes to applying the scriptures at this point. So on the matter of preaching there have been major differences of opinions I’ve come across. Here are a few

• There are some who will not preach at all to a mix congregation, or even lead a mixed bible study.
• There are those who don’t have a problem preaching as long as the Senior minister is a man
• There are those who won’t preach but are happy to share from the scriptures but this begs the question “How is sharing from scripture different to preaching from scripture?”
• There are those who don’t mind preaching occasionally but this begs the question “What is occasional?”
• There are those who don’t mind lecturing but not preaching

I think the list can go on and on and on.

This highlights the complexities of applying scripture. We all know that our theology needs to drive our practice but the difficulty lies when the practice is one of those grey areas where it’s not so clear. So what do you say to a person who strongly believes in the complementarian view and yet believes that it’s OK to OCCASIONALLY preach. Like I said above – how do we define regular as opposed to occasional? Is preaching once a month regular or occasional? Ok we can stand against this and say that a person cannot preach at all. So what do you say to the person who believes it’s OK as long as it’s clearly seen that the spiritual leader is a man? At this point we can start arguing for the nature of preaching, the nature of gender, the nature of relationships, authority etc etc but I suspect this might not solve our problem. Much of the debate has turned on the question of authority and preaching but what about the writing of commentaries. Some of the great commentaries are written by women. What about lecturing in a bible college? Is it OK that women lecture as long as she does not preach? Hmmmm?

At the end of the day my observations is that those of us who hold the complementarian view as I do will continue to differ on how to apply this scripture at this point. So what do we do? Well I can imagine the egalitarians thinking to themselves that this only supports their view because they don’t have half the problems of application as those of the complementarians. It would be nice but unfortunately my reading of scripture still leads me to hold to a complementarian view no matter how difficult it is in the application. So what to do?

Some reflections:

a. I think we need to be clear that, while there are many many theological issues that need to be debated out, many of the arguments turns on how to apply it rather than on the theology itself.

b. The difficulty of this is only heightened by the fact that while it is clear how to apply theology in one context it can become very  difficult to know how to apply it in another context. (Which can only make things more confusing for us simpleton who likes everything in a neat box). This is certainly a problem which most cross cultural missionaries have to struggle with every day. Anyway the classic  and most obvious example how different our application can be is in the matter of circumcision. In one context it was a real gospel issue so much so that Paul would die for it. But in another context it was a completely none issue. Paul’s theology had not changed, but it’s application was very different because the context was so different. I wonder if the question of women preaching is something similar? Please hear me correctly. I’m not abandoning my complementarian view, but I wonder if we need to take more seriously the context in which our theological position needs to be applied? This is not arguing for pragmaticism but for a cultural sensitivity in applying scripture.

c. I think we need take Paul’s exhortation seriously in 1 Cor 4:1-5

1 So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. 2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 3* I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.

I think this passages helpfully reminds us of some key things in ministry.

1. We need to be faithful in ministry.
2. We need to do our ministry with a clear conscience  believing that what we do we do in faithfulness to the word of God as best as we understand it.
3. We need humility recognising that we could be wrong and that God is the final judge who will make all things clear.
4. We need to be graciousness with those who differ with us in how we do things.

Again I’m not being post modern or liberal at this point. There are key gospel issues I would die for. But there are many areas where I would differ with others in how to apply the scriptures but many of these areas are such that they are not something I would divide the church over let alone die for. I would die for the cross but not for anything else.

Thinking through how scripture applies in various context requires great wisdom. But even after everything has been said and done I suspect that we, in the complementarian camp, may still differ in how this is fully worked out. But that’s OK. At the end of the day everyone has to make their own call as to how to apply scripture. Hopefully we are wise enough to listen to others but even if we disagree to such an extent that we might not be able to work with each other, let’s at least maintain our unity in Christ, be gracious towards each other, keep dialoguing and to make sure that the main thing is that the main things remains the main thing.

So can women preach? Well I have my views.

OK these are some reflections from a simple run of the mill pastor. What do you think?

Joy as the motivation for Christian service. Hmmmm?

I was talking to a friend the other day and we got on to the subject of talking about ministry. As he shared with me, he is now trying to serve out of joy and not out of duty. He wants to glorify and serve God, but more often it is because it is the right thing rather it is something that he finds joy in doing. His question  now is trying to work out how to find this joy to serve. Anyway as I listened to him share  I couldn’t help but feel a sense of awkwardness in what he was saying. I shared this with him. This might be because I’m an old Aussie Chinese Stoic. Whatever the reason it got me thinking about this subject: “Is joy the prime motivation for Christian service?” “Is serving out of joy the antithesis of serving because of a crass legalism?”

Joy as the prime mover for Christian service seems to be the biggest and latest trend these days. No doubt John Piper’s book “Desiring God” and his catch phrase “God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him.” has been a bomb that has exploded on the Christian scene and generated much of this thinking. So here are my reflections.

Before I offer my thoughts let me put a disclaimer. I’m not a first class theologian. I’m your average run of the mill pastor who’d prefer to sit around and watch reruns of Star Trek and play on my Mac than read deep theological books. So what I offer may not be a first class argument but at least it’s something for reflections.

Ok so what are my thoughts on this?

a. I think the first thing that needs to be said is that joy is certainly a big theme in the bible. As I read the scriptures it hard not to miss the spirit of joy that radiates from it’s pages. One need only think of the many Psalms where David sings with joy of his love for God and of God’s great work. Or think of Philippians. Paul is stuck in prison unable to fulfill his calling to preach the gospel to the world and with the possibility of being executed for his faith and yet, of all his letters, this is probably the most of joyful of all. We are also told that joy is a fruit of the spirit(Gal 5:22). In his priestly prayer Jesus pray that his disciples will have the full measure of Jesus joy (John 17:22)  It was because of the joy that lay before him that Jesus endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2). And when you come to Revelation you can’t help but feel the joy of heaven as it celebrates God’s work of salvation. So a joyless Christianity is in many ways a deficient Christianity.

b. However my question is whether joy is ever put forward as the antidote for a works based Christianity? This seems to be what many of my friends are thinking today. Many others feel trapped in a “dutiful’ type of Christianity and are trying to a find a Christianity based on joy. Yet when I read the scriptures it seems that the antithesis of a works based faith is not joy but grace. In other words, it seems that the Christian paradigm and the key motivation for Christian service and obedience is grace rather than joy. Now I don’t want to set one over and against the other. Grace should invariably lead to joy, but grace is not the same as joy. Joy is the fruit of grace, but joy is not the same as grace. Grace reminds us of what God has done for us, but joy is the natural overflow of one who has indeed been gripped by grace. But that being said grace seems to be the chief motivation for service not joy.

c. Take a look at the following examples.  Think about Romans 6:14. Here Paul strongly exhorts the Christians to put to death the sin in their lives, but the chief reason is because they are now under Grace and not law. Similarly, after having spent the first 11 chapters in Romans outlining the grace of God, he then exhorts his readers that in view of God’s mercy….. Romans 12:2. One favourite passage of mind is Psalm 78. Here the Psalmist reminds his generation that they need to teach their peers, and their children and their grandchildren about the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done. (vs.4). The reason for this is so that every generation will not forget the deeds of God and will keep his commandments. (vs.7). As we read through the rest of the Psalms we are reminded that the praise worthy deeds of God was his great work in rescuing his people out of Egypt, guiding them through the wilderness and bringing them to the promised land. In other words, as the Psalmist would argue, the key to ensuring that people keep his commands is to be reminded of God’s grace seen in His work of saving people

d. Having said there are a few passages that does seem to describe joy as the prime reason for doing what needs to be done. Most notably is Hebrews 12:1-3

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Here Jesus is presented as the example for all Christians to follow, but even here we need to remember that all the previous chapters leading up to this point have painstaking and meticulously expounded the supremacy and the sufficiency of Christ’s death on our behalf. So in other words, while Joy is certainly a motivation, the bigger context is God’s grace,  fully expressed in Christ.

So as I read the scriptures it seems to me that the overarching paradigm for life and service is grace rather than Joy. Again let me say that this is not meant to set joy in opposition to grace. Grace is the source of joy. But with all the emphasis on joy I wonder if there is a danger of forgetting the grace of the Lord Jesus. I know the fear of many who see many Christians living a works based faith, feeling enslaved to a life of duty without joy. Yet the solution is not to keep pushing joy, but to remind them of the grace of the Lord Jesus. One needs only think of Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 8: 2 as he exhorted them in their giving. He reminds them of the Macedonians and how they gave so joyfully, however when he turns to the Corinthians, his argument is to take them back to the grace of the Lord Jesus and to be gripped by what He has done for us.

OK this is way way too long, so just bear with me one more moment.

A personal testimony. I’ve been a Christian for nearly 40 yrs (wow – long isn’t it?) and I’ve preached and taught grace and yet for nearly half of my life I think I was living a works based faith, driven by guilt and a sense of duty. One day I was reading a book about God’s grace in the Lord Jesus and for the first time in my life I understood what God had done for me through his son. Like Luther I was gripped by God’s grace. I remember ringing my friends out of great JOY and telling them about God’s grace in the Lord Jesus. Afterward I raced off to the local Christian bookstore and began reading furiously as many books I could find, not about joy, but about God’s grace and what he had done for me in the death of His son. I was a new man. I had a new joy, but what drove me was the grace of the Lord Jesus and when you think about it – isn’t that what the gospel is all about?

OK how do we grow in joy? Grow more and more in the grace of the Lord Jesus. Understand more and more what He has done for us in His death and resurrection. Feed our hearts with the greatness of His atoning work on our behalf. A man gripped by the grace of the Lord Jesus is a man who is unstoppable.

A missing element in our evangelistic training….

We all know how important evangelism is and one of the things we keep drumming into people’s mind are the opportunities all around us. There are opportunities galore – in the work place, catching the train to and from work, going to the local butcher etc etc. The opportunities are everywhere yet why is it that people, myself included often find it so hard to take up these opportunities?

As I reflect on this it seems to me that the real opportunity is not in the circumstances we find ourselves, but in the conversations we have. You see more often than not, sharing the gospel takes place most naturally in the context of a conversation. Very rarely will we ever have a complete stranger race up to us and ask us “Good teacher what must I do to be saved?” It hasn’t happened in the last 38 yrs of my Christian pilgrimage and I can’t imagine it will happen in the future.

As I said most times sharing the gospel usually arises during the course of the conversations. I remember one time I was having a chat with the taxi driver on the way to the airport. We got talking about various things. Eventually we got talking about religion and out of that I had a good opportunity to share the gospel with him. Similarly I had a good opportunity to share the gospel with my mechanic. We just got talking and eventually this led on to talking about the gospel. I can rattle off a lot of similar stories. The bottom line is that “all” my gospel sharing was in the context of a natural conversation. You see  the danger most of fall into is to think that the opportunity lies in the circumstances I find myself. However the reality is, is if I am not a good conversationalist or do not like talking to people, I will never ever be able to share the gospel.

So let me put this whole thing differently. The opportunities for sharing the gospel are opportunities where we can have a conversation with people. This might seem trivial but it’s quite an important distinction. Simply being around people does not make it an opportunity. An opportunity is created when and only when we can start “Conversing” with people.

But herein lies the problem. In my experience most of us, apart from talking to our friends and families are not very good at striking up a conversation with other people. I see this all too often at church. Most times people just hang around with their friends and sadly leave the newcomer or stranger to fend for themselves. If we can’t do this at church, we’ve got zero chance of doing this outside of church let alone with people we don’t know.

Learning to be great conversationalist is one step to learning to be great evangelists. It’s not a big step but it is a significant step.

So what does this mean when I go about training people in Evangelism? Most times we train people in a gospel tract and the basics of apologetics. Without a doubt we need to keep doing this. However it seems to me that we need to add one other element in our evangelistic training and that is to teach people how to be great conversationalist with everyone we meet.

OK, here is an assignment you can give the next time you train someone in evangelism: Challenge them to get into a conversation with a complete stranger, in fact make it an assignment that the trainee has to talk to a completely new stranger every week. This will really push them beyond their comfort zone but if they can do this, they certainly will have the makings of a great evangelist.
Hmmm. What do you think?

The 39 Articles of Faith or 40 Days with Rick Warren

Just recently I was talking to an Anglican minister friend of mine. He was telling me how he was going to take his church through the 40 Days of Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren of Saddleback Orange County USA. In response I  suggested that he should take his church through the 39 Articles (ie the 39 Articles of faith of the Anglican Church). Besides the fact that it’s shorter (only 39 days compared to 40), he is an Anglican and its good for the church to know what they believe and why. Having said this I asked him if his church members knew the “39 Articles” to which he said no! I was somewhat shocked to say the least.

Now I have nothing against Rick Warren, nor is this against his book. Rather my beef is that in so many churches around Sydney and beyond, there are many people who do not know the Articles of faith (AoF) of their own church, be they Anglican, pressy, baptist, Church of Christ or Chinese independent churches. Personally I think this is heinous. (Maybe this might be a tad too strong).

The AoF lays down what the church believes are the essentials. It summarises in a neat packages what we believe. For this reason it serves as a sentry post to guard the church against false teaching. However it does more than just this, it should also shape what we do. So if our church believes (Which I hope it does) in the “Divine inspiration and infallibility of the Holy Scriptures as originally given and its supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct” (from the AFES Article of faith), this should not only determine who can and cannot join as well as whom we are prepared to work with, it should also shape the way we run church. Therefore it should affect the way we view the preaching of the scriptures,  the role of music, the way we make our decisions,  the priority we give to the study of the scriptures in all our small groups, and what we teach our kids in Sunday school plus a thousand and one other things.  But often times it doesn’t. Sadly, the way the AoF operates in many churches is that it serves as nothing more than a mere litmus test. That is to say it shows which side of the theological line we’re on ie Are you Friend or Foe?  Beyond this it has little or no significant function in the life of the church. So a church may be able to tick all the theological boxes in the AoF, yet conduct its affairs in a way that denies it.

This is not helped when most of our members including it’s leadership are ignorant of the church’s AoF and it’s implications for church matters. If the members and many of it’s key leaders are like this is it any wonder that many churches are going off the rails. This is not to deny the importance of  preaching. However the responsibility to guard the gospel and to shape the church is not helped if the rest of the church is ignorant.

Here is a scary test. This coming Sunday, quietly and gently ask the members of your church if they have ever read the AoF of their church. I’m guessing that most of us would be quite horrified to discover just how little our members know what the church believes and why.

I suspect that if all our members took the AoF more seriously  half the problems we have in our churches today might be easily resolved. In fact it might helped us to stay focused on the key and important issues rather than quibble over the paint job of the church building. Of course it won’t solve all our problems. We’re still sinful and that’s always going to be the case until the Lord returns. Nevertheless knowing and understanding the AoF is a good step in the right direction for building a strong biblically solid gospel centred church

However that being said my real fear is that the churches of today will forget, if they have not already done so, our reformed evangelical roots. There is a danger, in our quest and passion to grow the church and to expand God’s kingdom that  we produce a faith that is a kilometre wide yet only a centimetres deep. It is a faith with all heart but little or no substance or depth. For this reason I’m passionate that every member of our church study once again, or maybe for the first time, the AoF and reflect on the shape of their church in the light of it.

Of course this makes one very huge assumption, and that is that the AoF reflects the shape of our evangelical roots. Of course there are many churches out there which have totally lost the plot theologically, in which case the last thing you want to do is to follow their AoF. However for the sake of brevity, I’m going to assume that I’m speaking to those who all share the same historical faith as taught by the reformers such as Calvin, Luther and others and as such we essentially share the same AoF.

So here is my plea – Make it a goal to ensure that every member of our church knows, studies and understands our AoF and it’s impact on the affairs of our church.

So when I was throwing this idea to my Anglican friend, I was not taking a pot shot at Rick Warren. I’m told he is a really nice guy. But if we want to talk about purpose I would have thought that a more natural place to begin with is with our AoF. Surely that lays out for us who we are and what we are on about. Ok, once you’ve done this and you still want to spend 40 days with Rick Warren – go ahead! Just make sure we know what we believe and why.

Any thoughts?

What to do when you don’t have a pastor?

The more I  move around the more depressing it gets as I see the number of churches (and there are a lot of churches) without a pastor. Every Sunday these churches struggle to find a pastor who can preach at their Sunday Worship Service. As well as this many of these churches are led by ill equipped lay leaders who often don’t know what they are doing and often have very little support or direction .

Well for those who know me, they know that one of my passions for nearly two decades has been to challenge people to think seriously about full time ministry. Yet as I look around, I’ve come to discover that no matter how hard I push and pray, the workers are still so few and the harvest is still so plentiful.

Given this, if you’re in a small struggling church without a pastor to teach you his precious and life saving Word what do you do?

Well I’m no great church historian (I hated history) but I do remember one small thing -  one of the key turning p0ints in the history of Christianity was when the bible was translated into the language of the common people for them to read for themselves. For the first time in their lives people could see with their very own eyes what God was saying. Underlying this was the strong and clear conviction, known as the “perspicuity of scripture” otherwise known as the “Clarity of scripture”  It was a truth the reformers held to for dear life and many died with this conviction.

The doctrine itself simply means that the bible is not a mysterious book that only a few can understand. Rather it is an open book for all to read and understand for themselves. This is not to deny the need for teachers and scholars. There is a place for these guys. In the reformation tradition what teachers and scholars have over and above the rest of us, is not a hot-line to God. What they have is time to study , the ability to digest things quickly and to communicate these truths to others. I think I could be a world class New Testament scholar. The only problem is that it would take me a life time to get pass Greek 101, let alone my Hebrew and I think I would need to be reincarnated to finish off reading Calvin and a third reincarnation to finish reading Luther. On the other hand I have friends who could probably blitz’s the Greek, Hebrew, Calvin and Luther while travelling on a bus to the beach. You see in the reformation, teachers and scholars did not have hot-line to God – they just had time, brains and a good mouth. That aside that are just like you and me.

OK back to the topic. You see the perspicuity of scripture reminds us that the bible was for all and not just for some, which is why the reformers were so committed to translating the bible into the language of the common people and  determined to see as many people could get a hold of the scriptures.

This conviction was certainly a major attack on the Catholic church which believed that no one could understand the scriptures except the church and her bishops and priest. Yep, they were special because in their eyes, they had a hot-line with the special number straight to God himself. So not surprisingly only they could work out what the bible was saying.  Well given how corrupt people are, and the Catholic priests,  Bishops let alone the big man himself – the Pope were no exception, for many many years the pe0ple were held in bondage to sin and Satan because what people heard, without knowing it, was merely the word of men rather than the Word of God. But when, for the first time in their lives they could read the Word of God for themselves, they could distinguish between what was the word of men and what was the Word of God. The result – Life and freedom.

Putting the bible back in the hands of the people for them to read had a major impact on people and the church. Lives were turned upside down and churches renewed.

When I look back at the many churches struggling to find a pastor to teach them God’s word, I fear that we have forgotten our reformation roots and the simple doctrine of the “Perspicuity of scripture”.  I fear that we, in part, have returned back to our pre-reformation roots and think that the bible is somehow a book that is hard to understand, mysterious and something only the super spiritual can understand. And so in many churches the bible is very seldom read. For some it is because they are too busy and the reading of scripture is not important. But for others, there is a perception that it is too hard and mysterious.

For this reason I think we need to remember our reformation roots and this invaluable doctrine “the perspicuity of scripture”. We need to assure people that when they read the scriptures humbly and obediently they will be able understand it, encouraged and equipped to serve.  Maybe not at first, but over time, if they are persevering and prayerful they will understand it. Certainly not everything, but enough that will grow them in Christ likeness.

So what does this mean for the small struggling church with out a pastor?

Well here is one simple idea we can try out – read the scriptures. It seems so simple and yet history and the word of God testifies that it is life transforming. So in all our meetings if you don’t know what to do, give a major part of your time to slowly reading and meditating on the scriptures. In your worship service if you can’t find a preacher don’t worry about it. Instead pull out the bible and read the scriptures publically. In our bible study groups, if we don’t have a bible study leader, then don’t worry about it. Pull out the bible and make it a point to slowly and thoughtfully read through the scriptures. And when you meet up with people make it a point to read the scriptures, meditate on and prayer about one or two things you learnt from. In your family life, if you don’t know what to do why not simply read through the scriptures slowly and thoughtfully. It certainly won’t hurt. If anything it will certainly help.

Ok this might seem simplistic but is it really? Scripture reminds us, most profoundly in Psalm 119, that to read and to meditate on the scriptures is life giving.

Yes we need our pastors and our preachers and our teachers, but we mustn’t forget that many have gone before us and died gruesome death to do one thing for us – to translate the scriptures into our language so that we can read it for ourselves and be encouraged by it. Why? Because they believed that the bible was an open book for all to read and if people would simply read his word with humble and prayerful hearts their minds would be expanded, their hearts encouraged and their hands equipped to do his work.

So if we don’t have a pastor, I think the best thing we can do is to encourage people to simply read his Word,  individually, in small groups and publicly.

Motherhood and ministry

I was talking to a young mother the other day and asked how motherhood was. “It’s good, but sometimes it’s hard to get excited about changing nappies, cleaning the house and washing the clothes every day.”

While I’m very big on motherhood, it reminded me that motherhood, important as it is is not easy. Not only do they have to struggle against community attitudes that subtly puts down motherhood, it can also be a very isolating and “boring” calling. Let’s be honest (speaking as best a man can) it is a very hard call for some to move from the fast lane of a career life to then suddenly talk baby language and change nappies every day. Don’t get me wrong. I still think it’s a very important ministry. Nevertheless this sense of boredom and isolation can be hard.

Yet this whole thing got me thinking, for while I’m all for motherhood it is nevertheless important to remember that this is NOT the thing that should first define them. We must never forget that a Christian mother is first and foremost a CHRISTIAN before she is a mother. She is not a mother who happens to be a Christian, but a CHRISTIAN who happens to be a mother.

So what does this mean? It means that while a mother has responsibilities as a mother, she also has responsibilities as a Christian. What are these  responsibilities – to grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, to become more like him and to use their God given gifts to grow God’s people and to bring the gospel to those who do not know the Lord Jesus.

It’s worth noting the injunction to the father’s (and indirectly to the mothers) to raise their children in the fear of the Lord in Ephesians 6:4 and Colossians 3:21. This comes after a lengthy discussion of what Christ has done for us, his grand plan of salvation and the transforming work of the spirit in our lives. In other words regardless of what station in life we are in we always operate within the broader sweep of what it means to be a Christian.

And so because we are Christians first before we are mothers, we are also called to play our part in the building up of God’s church and in encouraging each other. Note the following verses.

“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” Ephesians 4:15, 16

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:16

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24, 25

Now I’m pretty sure these verses were not written only to the pastor, or just men, single people, couples without children or empty nesters. These exhortations were written for ALL God’s people including mums, even young mums.

So while motherhood is an important stage of a women’s life we must never forget that Christian mum’s are firstly CHRISTIAN mums rather than Christian MUMS.

Of course how this works out for young mothers will be different, indeed very to different to how everyone else does things. And it will be different again as a woman goes through different stages in her life. Everyone goes through life changes. The challenge is to learn how to do things differently while staying fixed on our core values. What are our core values – to follow Christ, to grow in the knowledge of him and to serve him in whatever way possible.

So what might this look like for young mums?  I think they have enormous opportunities which they would not otherwise have in another stage of life.

1. They have great opportunities to meet up with other mothers for mutual fellowship, prayer and encouragement. It is hard work to be a mum and many struggle with difficult babies and insensitive husbands. Who better to encourage such mums than other Christian mums who know how hard motherhood is and yet who also know the love of Christ.
2. They have great opportunities to meet up with unbelieving mothers at the local mother’s play group and to bring Christ’s love to these women who can often struggle with loneliness and difficult marriage etc. As we know there are many many single mums who are really really doing it tough.  Who better to minister to these women that Christian mums.
3. They have great opportunities to teach younger women both the joy and challenges of motherhood. Many young women do not have good models of motherhood. Again who better to teach them than other Christian mothers.
4. Mums have a great opportunity to meet up one on one with other young mums
5. As well as this, there are great opportunities for young mums to learn the scriptures. There is so much good stuff on the internet. You can even learn NT Greek on the internet. Let that blow your mind! So the next time you talk baby talk to your baby, you can try some NT Greek on him. Imagine the baby growing up learning Greek. Awesome!

Having said this, I can already hear the objections – “It’s hard, it’s too difficult with a young child, or even a baby. Getting together with other mothers is very chaotic. It’s hard to be committed to anything regularly.”

Yes I know this. I see the chaos in my own wife’s ministry when she was raising up our young children. It is totally chaotic

Well call me a naïve optimist or whatever, but I don’t necessarily see this as a problem, or at least not an excuse. All this means is that motherhood and ministry needs a high degree of flexibility.

In a society where money is time, efficiency is everything and where the agenda is often set by men, chaos and last minute changes is hard to cope with. I’m all for efficiency but we have to be careful that it doesn’t become our god.

Motherhood and ministry invariably involves a lot of flexibility and chaos. That’s the name of the game. That is the terrain that mothers operate in and everyone (And I mean EVERYONE) needs to recognise this and accept it.

So what’s the problem when a mother’s bible study group only gets through half the bible study because a baby’s pooed on the carpet? Let’s be thankful that the mums got through half the bible study at least.  And what’s the problem that the mums had to cancel the study at the last minute because one baby got chicken pox, the other one smashed the TV set, another one stuck his finger in the tap and can’t get it out? That’s life! Accept it.  And besides, it’s good for young women, indeed young men as well, to know that  this is what life’s like with a young child. And everyone needs to know that this is OK.

Yes motherhood is an important stage in a women’s life, but they must never forget that they are first and foremost a CHRISTIAN mother who has been called to serve the Lord Jesus, grow his church and bring his gospel to the nations. Yes mums (probably all of us as well) will have to think outside the box about how to do this, but to do this is something that mums are called to do regardless.

Finally I guess the most important thing for mums to remember is that regardless of what happens, never give up. If the

So to all you young mums, I think you’re doing a great job with changing the nappies and doing the baby talk, but let me also encourage you that you still have a vital and important role in the building of his church and the spreading of his gospel – it just means you’re going to have to do this very differently to what I’m use to – but’s OK

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24, 25, NIV.

Preaching on Leviticus 1 at a wedding?

It’s not that I’m a masochist but I’ve always wondered how I would approach it. As a pastor and preacher I’ve been to tons of them and the wedding sermon usually covers the following passages

• Gen 2:18-25
• 1 Cor 13:4-13
• Ephesians 5:21-33
• 1 John 4:10-19
• Revelation 21:1-7

There are some odds one here and there but in the main the above passages are, to a large degree the set text for preaching at a wedding

Now I’ve got nothing against preaching on these passages. I use them as well but one wonders whether there is more we can say at a wedding than just these passages. Besides if you are in a marrying congregations as I have been, I think your congregation can only stomach so many rounds of 1 Cor 13. As well as this, not only will they get a dose of what you have to say, more than likely they’ll be invited by others, and the pastor will undoubtedly choose one of these passages.

So why these passages? We need to remember that they were never originally written for weddings, but for churches facing a lot of relational problems. In Corinth they were trying to out do the other person in spirituality. In the church John was writing to they also had relational problems. Sure enough Genesis 2, John 2, Ephesians and Revelation are more directly related, but apart from these it seems we have very little more to say. Of course time is a major problem. When you only have 10-15 minutes you can only say so much. So it’s understandable that we zoom in on passages which speaks more directly and pointedly about core issues related to marriage. But there in lies the problem. Doesn’t the WHOLE bible have something to say, directly or indirectly about marriage and not just these few passages?  In fact as I said, even the passages we commonly turn to are not really directly related to marriage. If we can make the connection between these passages and marriage could we not make the connection between marriage and the more “obscure”, if not seemingly unrelated passages? Undoubtedly the whole of scripture touches on the key issues of life that is relevant to all of us irrespective of our station in life.

OK so here is the challenge; What does Leviticus 1 have to say to a married couple if anything? Here’s my stab at it for what it’s worth in simple point form;

• God rescues his bride to be and brings her to himself (ie the exodus) but can they live happily ever after?
  
• It depends on whether they can own up and deal with the dark side of their relationship that will invariably tear them apart i.e. the problem of sin.  Instead, we only think of marriage in terms of kisses, flowers and romantics walks at sunset but never face the dark side of sin
  
• The sacrificing of animals regularly and daily is an extremely powerful and painful reminder of this dark side. The every day activity of slicing the animals throat, ripping out its insides, washing it and then burning it – the sight, sounds and smells tells us that sin cannot be ignored nor  is it a small matter. It is something that will destroy all relationships  – God/man and man/woman
  
• Sin cannot be ignored. It has to be dealt with, but dealing with sin is both costly and painfully yet very necessary.
• How do we deal with sin in marriage? God has dealt with our sin and the sin of our spouse. We need to therefore forgive.

Hmmm? Well it all comes back to Jesus doesn’t it but imagine talking about all the blood and gore at a romantic wedding. But instead of  jumping straight to 1John 4:10-19 we start with Leviticus 1.  It would really make an impact and graphically show the reality of sin and the need to deal with it. But when you think about it that’s what it was intended for in the beginning.

OK what do you think? Yes? No? Try a different angle? Or maybe I should just stick with 1 John 4:10-19 for the next 10 wedding sermons?

Why the Tiger’s fall reminds us of the gospel.

Well it’s hard not to miss all the media attention Tiger Woods has generated in a matter of a few days. Equally noticeable is the flurry of Christian responses to how we should respond to his fall. Not surprisingly the call, and the right call, is for us not to stand arrogant and to think that we are any better. There are so many passages in scripture which speaks to this issue. We need to be humble and to pray for this man’s restoration and reconciliation with his wife and family.

So really there is nothing more to add to this. I guess the only thing I’d say is that, unlike anything else, the fall of someone so well respected as Woods, unfortunate and tragic as it is, draws a sharp and clear distinction between the gospel and the world.

What is the normal response from our community to  Woods’ fall? On the one hand there are those who are completely indignant, furious, outraged and have lost all respect for him. They have looked to him as a good role model but now have felt totally betrayed by the revelation of his sins. As far as they’re concerned they don’t want to have anything to do with him ever again. There is no mercy, no grace and no forgiveness.

On the other hand there are those who, while they are do not like  or agree with what he has done, are nevertheless prepared to overlook it. They argue that because he has contributed so much to the golfing world and to charity, and since no one is perfect we should be prepared to give him a second chance.

The first response takes his transgression seriously and for this reason there is no hope but only continuing shame and condemnation.

In the second response there is hope of salvation but only by ignoring the seriousness of his transgression and the enormous hurt he has done to his family.

This is the conundrum our community finds itself in. It can only take sin seriously and thus condemn the sinner and with no hope of salvation, or else it provides salvation for the sinner, but only by ignoring or down playing the seriousness of the sin and the damage done to others.

In either case there is no justice or no salvation and ultimately no good news.

Over and against this stands the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ, for it offers BOTH Justice AND Salvation. In the gospel the sinner is soundly condemned yet at the same time there is the offer of real forgiveness. What Woods did was wrong and heinous. God condemns such actions without question. Yet at the same time God offers real forgiveness and grace. How does he combine the two? Because it is in the cross of Christ that God pours out his anger on the sinner. Yet it is in the same cross that God pours out his forgiveness to all who would repent and come to Him for forgiveness. I think this is nicely captured in the words of Paul the Apostle.

God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished– he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Romans 3:25,26

This passage reminds us that the cross not only brings about our justification but also demonstrates God’s justice.

So back to all the talk about Woods. As mentioned in the beginning, the unfortunate fall of Tiger Woods makes clear the distinction between our community and the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How do we respond? I think there are two ways to respond.

To those who want Tigers’ blood we need to show them there is always forgiveness and salvation in the cross of Christ.

To those who want to tell us to overlook his transgressions and to think about all the good he has done we need to remind them that God did not overlook it but took our sins so seriously that he was prepared to kill his one and only own son because of our sins, Tiger Woods included.

In the gospel both Justice and salvation meet. And isn’t that what the good news of the Lord Jesus is all about?

Preaching to our modern world

I remember meeting a guy who was aiming to be a TM Master (Transcendental Meditation Master). We got talking and then I invited him out for coffee, hoping to share the gospel with him. Anyway he kindly gave me the opportunity. After rattling off the gospel track I have been using for over 20 yrs (Two Ways to Live), at the end of my speel, to my astonishment he affirmed everything I said saying that this is what he believes. Now at this point either I knew there was something majorly wrong here but I couldn’t work out.  So I asked him to explain to me what he believed. It was a real eye opener. He was using words and concept that was so strange that it took me nearly two hours of hard listening just to understand his world view.(I know I’m pretty slow) He talked about Brahman (I only know of Bradman but who is Brahman), Atman, Karma, moksha, infinite, consciousness. I was getting a head from all this weird talking.  Then it dawned to me that we were talking a totally different language, and I’m not talking about Chinese vs. English (my friend was an Aussie dabbling in eastern mysticism), but the world of east and west as well as of TM and the Judeo Christian framework. He was using different words, ideas and a totally foreign worldview that was completely strange to me and I didn’t know how to respond.

In many ways this highlights the difficulty many Christians have when trying to communicate the gospel to our modern world. Too often we are unaware, if not completely naive that many of our words and concepts, while relatively familiar to our church members are quite strange and foreign to outsiders. Our language is an in-house language that only those in the know know how to interpret it. As well as this we share a common way of looking at the world. But we often forget that most people do not speak like us and think like us.

This ignorance arises from the fact that most times the only people we hang around with are Christian or at least church friends. And because of this,  unconsciously we drift in to talking our in-house language. We talk about “Church”, “ministry”, “house parties”( ie church retreat for those in a different church tradition). We talk about “holy Communion”, diaconate, wardens, offertory, trespasses   and a whole host of other Christian or church things. Since this is how we “normally” talk with those we “normally” hang around with ie Christians, then when we encounter unbelievers, or unchurched people, we struggle to know how to talk to them about the gospel, except with our in-house language. And because of this  it’s not surprising that this only reinforces in the minds of many the  perception that our message is  unintelligible or  irrelevant. This state of affairs invariably only leads to misunderstanding as to what Christians are all about. If people can’t make out what we’re saying then the only natural thing to do is to interpret things in ways that we are familiar with which is anything and everything other than the gospel.

But the struggle to communicate the gospel to others is not merely a problem we have with unbelievers. It is also a problem we have even with our own church members. I remember sometime ago when I was reading the bible to my children, I was saying to them that Jesus lives in us. At this point one of my daughters looked down at her chest with a quizzical look and was feeling around for something. When I said that Jesus lives in us she took that literally and so was try to feel for Jesus. Again when I was saying to my children that God is everywhere one daughter asked “Are we sitting on God?”.

What this highlights is that understanding the gospel is one thing but communicating it to others, indeed to our modern world is a completely different thing. I know that understanding the gospel is a work of the Holy Spirit, but on our part, when I listen to how Christians (and I’m talking about genuine believers and dear brothers and sisters in Christ) explain their faith, I wonder how much of the confusion is caused by our inability to speak the language of the world.

The challenge then is to explain and communicate the gospel in words, ideas and with a framework that the other party can understand. It is all too easy, but may not be helpful, to explain the gospel in a way that “I” can understand. However this is only half the story. I need to communicate the gospel in a way that OTHERS can understand. And this OTHER  is a very different and diverse group. Now I know that we live in a diverse society, but too often I do not appreciate how diverse this society is. I’m use to preaching the gospel to someone who has some vague judeo Christian background. At least we have a similar frame of reference. But trying to explain the gospel to a Buddhist or a Hindu is a completely different story altogether. The way they look at the world and even speak is just so out of this world.

So how do we do it? Very simple – we listen. Too often we are quick to speak and far too slow to listen. In our eagerness to preach the gospel we can forget the simple rule to listen first, understand second and then share. Listening to how our friends speak, the words they use, the ideas they have  is a wonderful teacher in educating us how to speak to them. But while listening is one thing, it doesn’t stop there. We need  to take the gospel that has been handed down to us and repackage it using their words, ideas and a framework that they are familiar with. This is not an easy task itself. We can make the mistake of listening but then explain the gospel still using our words and ideas and framework, when in fact we need work with their words and their worldview.

One thing I try to do now and then when preaching is to talk to others and to different sorts of people about my sermon and ask them if they understand what I’m getting at. This will inform me as to whether my words connect and my concepts make sense.

Anyway after listening to my TM friend for two intense hours I finally got an idea of how to approach it, so I began to explain the gospel using his words, ideas and world view. It was a very strange experience having to talk about the 7 States of consciousness, Brahman, Atman, Karma, Reincarnation to bring out the gospel.  Anyway when I finished talking he responded:  “I don’t agree with that. That’s not possible!”. Now I knew we we’re talking!

So can I suggest, if we want to preach the gospel to our modern world, we need to get out and start rubbing shoulders with the world and do some intense listening. It’s not easy but vital.