Carols amid Confusion

Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4 this morning (27 December) focused on confused people and the memories that held significance for them. A person with dementia might, for instance, remember carols and be able to sing them clearly when all else was confusion.

The Bishop of Leeds made, in passing, the point that it is a real loss when youngsters grow up without much knowledge of traditional carols. I'm sure he is right. All that is served up to the rising generation is a handful of carols popular in schools and shopping precincts. Many of these will be purely secular. Not much meaty content there to latch on to.

This sparked off in me a whole chain of thoughts. My mother once spoke of a dramatic experience in her 1930’s nursing days. One night a young man was seen pacing up and down a ward singing hymns at the top of his voice. He had no known church associations. By the morning that young man had died. Hymns - dragged up from somewhere in the recesses of his mind - came to the fore as his life systems began to shut down.

I personally remember a terminally ill man, who had become very anti-church and a long-time non-attender, asking for a hymn book he could sing from in his side ward. He explained how it was a comfort to him.

A number of Scottish people have told how they left church after their Sunday School days. During that time they had been trained in the Church of Scotland’s beliefs. These beliefs came back to them in times of crisis and were a comfort and a help.

And then there are the sobering examples of people clinging to much darker and less healthy influences in their closing days. A well-meaning but surely misguided lady told us of her experience visiting in a hospital ward for men. She noticed that the eyes of one elderly man lit up with recognition when a swear word was used. She saw how this wretched expletive helped him to concentrate. Thinking she was being helpful, she went round to other men on the ward and encouraged them to voice the same word. It had the same effect on them!

Even the most well brought up people can suddenly come out with bad language when in the throes of dementia. This causes great distress to friends and relatives who have never heard them use these expletives before.

In my view, swear words have demonic power and should be avoided like the plague. Hymns, on the other hand, can build us up and benefit us. So can verses of scripture. A number of famous people have died with some such words as

“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”

(Acts 7:59 - the dying words of Stephen, the first Christian martyr) on their lips. Rev Charles Wesley passed away quoting, “I shall be satisfied with thy likeness”:

“As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness” (Psalm 17:15).

I have no control over what words I may babble if and when I come to that stage in my life. All I know is that I hope what I come out with will be hymns or Bible verses and not swear words.

Born ... what for?

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 1 Timothy 1:15 ESV

What are people born for? Well, you might think, what a silly question! Couples may expect to start families, sooner or later. There may be some planning behind it; some wishes to fulfil. But usually it is not the result of a profound philosophical choice.

Of course, there may be incentives behind having children that don’t normally come to mind. We hear stories of “saviour siblings” being born. The intention is that they will one day provide healthy tissue that can transform the life of an older brother or sister whose existence would otherwise be blighted by some congenital abnormality.

What the baby will eventually think about this reason for its being born can only be imagined. It never had a say in the matter.

Before the advance of modern science, life was, if tragic, at least less fraught with moral dilemmas over what is right or wrong for the unborn child.

With the Lord Jesus, the supreme “Saviour sibling” in a family of mother, father, four boys and at least two girls (Mark 6:3), it was different. As Christians we believe in the pre-existence of Jesus before His life on earth. He was in glory. He and God the Father and God the Holy Spirit were in full agreement from all eternity about His eventual birth as a baby on earth and its purpose.

It would underline a theological truth: that Jesus was both fully human and fully God.

And it would not just be about abstract theology. He would be born

“into the world to save sinners”.

He also came to pass judgment on the rights and wrongs of the world:

“For judgment I came into this world,” He said, “that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” (John 9:39)

In other words, He would apply a litmus test that would show clearly who was on God’s side and who was not.

He also came to give abundant life to those who believed in Him.

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

The old carol “Good Christian men, rejoice” has it about right:

Good Christian men, rejoice
with heart, and soul, and voice,
give ye heed to what we say:
Jesus Christ is born today;
ox and ass before Him bow
and He is in the manger now.
Christ is born today!
Christ is born today!

Good Christian men, rejoice
with heart, and soul, and voice;
now ye hear of endless bliss:
Jesus Christ was born for this!
He hath oped the heavenly door,
and man is blessed for evermore.
Christ was born for this!
Christ was born for this!

Good Christian men, rejoice
with heart, and soul, and voice;
now ye need not fear the grave:
Jesus Christ was born to save!
Calls you one and calls you all,
to gain His everlasting hall:
Christ was born to save!
Christ was born to save!

The Recce

The great day approaches: I am due to lead my first walk for Get Wiltshire Walking next Tuesday.

One essential for being a good walk leader is that you reconnoitre your walk beforehand - not more than a week in advance, and ideally as close as possible to the date.

The walkers will want to know that you have already been round the course and spotted any difficulties that might make the walk hazardous or uncomfortable: lots of mud, slippery ice, fallen branches and so on. The knowledge that you have taken this step builds confidence all round. Walkers know that leaders have trodden the route in advance and are taking them nowhere they would avoid going if doing it on their own.

Of course, hazards can unexpectedly appear. That mound of earth that someone has dumped in the middle of the path wasn’t there the other day. In such cases the leader is looked to to make responsible decisions about alternative routes so as not to put anyone at risk. In most cases this is not necessary. The potential hazards have been viewed and addressed in advance and the risk controlled.

In the armed forces, where danger is unavoidable, good leadership is vital. The most loved and respected officers have generally been those who prove themselves able to do what they expect the troops under them to do.

Admiral Lord Nelson was popular on board ship because he 

“... understood the realities of combat, and he understood that when leaders set the example, their subordinates are more likely to rise to the challenge. Nelson’s sailors loved him, because he shared the dangers alongside them”. 

Anyone who has been on board HMS Victory and spotted the plaque which marks where Nelson was fatally shot will know this truth. Danger is unavoidable in naval combat, of course, and Nelson was targeted in the most exposed of spots where he expected his men to be.

For precisely this reason, it does high credit to Jesus to say that

“… we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weakness, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15, NIV 1984).

In His thirty or so years on earth, there was no facet of human experience that Jesus did not go through in some way or another.

An old hymn includes this verse which sums it up neatly:

Christ leads me through no darker rooms
Than He went through before;
He that into God’s kingdom comes
Must enter by this door.

Richard Baxter, 1615-1691

Every time a believer is baptised, the same truth is remembered in dramatic fashion as the person goes down into the water and then emerges again.

“Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new [resurrection] life” (Romans 6:3-4).
The Lord Jesus Christ may not have gone through every detail of our experience. Yet in our bitterest and most forsaken moments He can still remind us with true conviction, “I understand; I’ve been there”.

Mentors

Last time I shared one venture I have embarked on: leading a local walking group. This time I shall introduce another, which is mentoring at a local school.

The word “mentoring” is now being increasingly heard in certain Christian circles. It can involve someone, possibly older and with more experience of life, meeting with a younger Christian to give support and encouragement on his or her journey.

In the school context, mentoring is rather different. It may involve a child who is not fitting in to school life. Maybe self-esteem is low or social skills are lacking. The need is for the child to grow in a sense of self-worth and readiness to overcome challenges. That way the experience of school life will be more positive and successful.

Mentors do not go in as advocates for Christian faith as such. However, the school is aware that they are trained by a local organisation that links churches to schools, so there is a Christian ethos in the background. If the child happens to raise issues of faith, these can be discussed.

A prime inspiration for Christian mentors is the apostle Paul. Paul mentored a younger man, Timothy. He was preparing him to take on something of his mantle as an overseer of church life.

… I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher,  which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me. Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you (2 Timothy 1:6-14 ESV)

Join me in suffering … join me in not being ashamed. This guidance that Paul gives to Timothy is real mentoring. He is not just giving him advice – though there is plenty of that in this letter. He is actually inviting Timothy to imitate him. Paul, nearing the end of his life and ready to suffer the ultimate penalty for his faith, is consciously passing on the baton of leadership to Timothy.

Paul treats the younger man as a true colleague and not a junior that who has to be lectured from a great height. They are fighting together, side by side, contending for the gospel. That is the respectful way in which Paul treats those who are around him. It is important to any mentor that he takes the same attitude.

I was once on the receiving end of a mentoring exercise. It was an experimental process called "accompanied self-appraisal". The mentor was supposed to accompany me in achieving a particular goal for that year of my ministry. Unfortunately it didn't work out. The man became sidetracked into censuring me for various attitudes which I held that he didn't agree with. As a result the whole process became a waste of time and the mentoring relationship came to an end.

Even though mentoring a child is a different matter, I hope I will learn from Paul to be a respectful person, accompanying the youngster on the journey as a supportive encourager. There are many in desperate need of a boost to their self-esteem in this day and age when other students can so easily put them down by a cutting remark. The Lord Jesus typically sought to build up rather than tear down. May I be like my Master, who has always been my best mentor.

These Boots were Made for Walking

Over the last few weeks I have been in training to become a walk leader with our local walking group. I’d never have envisaged doing that when I first moved to Wiltshire. Certainly I hoped to join a group. I had been part of one in the North West and had seen the benefits. There were also walks with friends at church. But leading anything connected with physical fitness was a different matter. Equally unnerving was the thought of taking responsibility for a group with mixed abilities and medical conditions.

However, the need was put to us, along with assurances that we did not require technical qualifications. There was a day’s training - very informative and helpful - and some mentoring, and then finally the day when you led a walk on your own.

My progression towards becoming a serious walker has made me think about the equipment required. A key element of this is suitable footwear. Discovering what is suited to you is a hit and miss operation. The hiking boots I started out with had been dependable companions for more years than I care to remember. Yet they probably leak now and are decidedly yesterday’s fashion. Faced with leather, they are quite heavy and hard to clean. Most present-day walkers wear a different type with a suede-like appearance. These are much lighter, but they don’t necessarily have as good a grip in challenging conditions.

No doubt it will all eventually be sorted. The encouragement is to know that my involvement with walk leading will be good news. It will be good news for the other leaders, who can draw up a rota knowing that there is at least one other person to share the workload with. And it will be good news for the walkers, who can set out assured that there is someone out in front who has walked the route already and can tell them what to look out for.

Repeatedly in the Bible, good news of salvation is likened to an announcement set on foot by a welcome messenger.

How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns” (Isaiah 52:7 ESV)

The picture calls to mind a runner bringing news of a battle. As the people in the city see him approach, they notice he is a lone runner. This is not a straggling group of forlorn survivors, which would betoken defeat. This runner has a spring in his step. He announces victory, unmixed with any sad tidings. He announces peace after a time of conflict and anxiety. He announces happiness; there can now be a joyful feast. He publishes salvation - the power of the enemy has been broken and captives have been set free. The God of Israel, not the gods the enemy boasted of, now reigns supreme.

Of course, this all anticipates that key piece of the Christian’s armour, the footwear.

“… as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15).

Fortified by the good news of Jesus Christ, at peace with ourselves and with God, we can fight the good fight with confidence.

Not only you, but many who look to you as an example and an inspiration, will benefit from your having the right footwear.

Be Reconciled ... and Reconcile

This past week has seen some hard things said among politicians. One incident in particular seems to have led to physical injuries.

It led me to notice a fascinating point that was made in Sunday morning’s Our Daily Bread notes. There were two men in Jesus’ team of disciples who normally would not have had a good word to say to each other.

Simon the Zealot had a background as a freedom fighter. Bitterly opposed to the Roman Empire, he would have gone to extreme lengths to cast off the Roman yoke from the Jewish province, Judaea.

Matthew, on the other hand, had left his work as a tax-gatherer at Jesus’ call. Such men were hated in the land. Agents of the Roman power, they collected taxes on their behalf and were allowed to milk their victims for a bit extra that they could keep for themselves. You can imagine Simon looking daggers at Matthew and wondering what on earth Jesus meant by calling him to be a member of the team.

And yet, says the writer of the article, they seem to have got on. There is no evidence of any blazing rows erupting between them. What a fascinating example of reconciliation!

It is a mark of true Christians that they are reconcilers. This causes them to be different in a way you would not normally think about. I once had an interesting conversation with a church pastor who had come from a non-Christian home. His recollection of life there was that nobody seemed able to disagree nicely. Whenever there was a difference of opinion it always seemed to lead to a shouting match. Now the head of a Christian household, the pastor was glad and relieved to be part of a family that modelled a different approach. Problems were calmly, rationally and Christianly thought through and peaceable solutions reached.

For the apostle Paul, becoming a Christian means no longer looking at other people from an earthly point of view, regarding them, as he says, “according to the flesh”. We no longer – or should no longer – jump to hasty conclusions about them. We seek reasons to be at peace with them rather than to be at loggerheads, to bring about agreement rather than dispute.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:16-20 ESV)

If you really want your life to be a compliment to Jesus, be a reconciled and reconciling person every day!

Dream no more

Outside the guest house where I stay in North Wales there is a large model yacht pond. Few but enthusiasts seem to use it for sailing model boats, but I have long itched to own a remote controlled one and sail it on this expanse of water. Being able to direct it from the shore, I would be safe in the knowledge that it couldn’t be becalmed in the middle, unable to be retrieved!

I had little idea, though, what it would be like to be at the controls of such a craft. One day recently on a visit to the Channel Islands I spotted my chance to find out. You could hire a model boat and its controls for a minimum of 15 minutes and sail it on a pleasure lake in one of the local gardens.

It came as a surprise how stressful the experience was. The man whose boat it was warned me not to sail it too close to the edge of the lake or anywhere near any overhanging branches where it could become entangled. Even with a small craft like that, backing out of trouble took several agonising seconds as the propellers cancelled their forward momentum and went into reverse. During that quarter of an hour of achieved ambition the danger of getting the boat snagged up in some obstacle was a constant worry. Staying well clear of all the pitfalls, there was little room for manoeuvre! The whole experience became a grim battle to both keep the boat safe and yet live out at least something of a spirit of adventure. Fifteen minutes seemed like an eternity.

As a result I will be much less inclined to rush out and buy a remote-controlled model boat when my next visit to North Wales approaches. There is a strong sense of “been there, done that” … and been left underwhelmed by the experience. What a disappointment! My long-nursed sense of ambition has fallen totally flat.

How should I react to this? Perhaps I should take a lesson from good old King Solomon in the Bible book of Ecclesiastes. He had a bash at everything that he thought might give him a sense of fulfilment - pleasure through acquiring wisdom; pleasure through wine, women and building projects; pleasure through a little bit of foolishness. His conclusion was the same for all of them:

So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind. I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity (Ecclesiastes 2:17-19, ESV).

Solomon could respond in a number of different ways. He could abandon himself to despair and cynicism. On a quick reading of Ecclesiastes it may seem he has done just that. Yet his way is to take a new and more constructive approach. Right at the end of the book, he sees that everything has significance because it comes under the judging eye of God. It is therefore worth living in a way that God judges to be worthy.

“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master’” (Luke 17:10).

Returning Home

I am preparing to pay a visit to my home island of Guernsey, Channel Islands, this week. The event brings into play a strange set of feelings.

On the one hand, Guernsey is special because it is my birthplace and the place where I grew up. My parents and I left there in 1971 when I was 18. Like many people I have become more patriotic since my move than when I was a resident! I still cheerfully stick up for Guernsey - especially when the traditional rivalry between Guernsey and Jersey comes into play.

On the other hand, the act of moving on is two-sided. I have moved on, but so has the island. Of course, much of the landscape will be familiar and so will many of the buildings - give or take the successive coats of paint each will have received in the past 45 years. Even among the people I knew, a fair few are still around.

I value lasting friendships, especially with island Christians. It was on the island that I came to know Jesus as my Saviour, with their help. During the Spring before I left, I went to a conference for workers with young people. An awkward so-and-so at the time, I let it be known that I thought prayer and conversion were childish ideas. A minister rounded on me - it was the first time anyone had ever really challenged me - and pointed out that my thinking was just like any old Western philosophy; I did not think the way God’s word, the Bible, did. I felt humbled, indeed crushed.

Down-to-earth believers in the Deaf Christian Fellowship that my mother attended had already been breaking down my resistance for some time. Their homespun truths were filling in some of the tragic gaps there were in my understanding. Their simple remedy for unbelief was to trust in the shed blood of Jesus Christ and accept Him as your Lord and Saviour. I knew I would have no peace until I did just that. It was a turning point. As well as being born there, I was now born again there!

Thus I indirectly owe to Guernsey my place in heaven. I’ve been glad to go back from time to time and celebrate that with believing friends. Yet in other respects my status now is that of just another visitor from the Mainland. No doubt one can spend a very happy retirement in Guernsey, but it would be quite impracticable now for me to consider putting down roots there once more. Home is elsewhere.

A Psalm speaks of the specialness of Zion to God’s people:

On the holy mount stands the city he founded;
the LORD loves the gates of Zion
more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.
Glorious things of you are spoken, O city of God.
Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon;
behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush —
“This one was born there,” they say.
And of Zion it shall be said,
“This one and that one were born in her”;
for the Most High himself will establish her.
The LORD records as he registers the peoples,
“This one was born there.”
Singers and dancers alike say,
“All my springs are in you.”

Psalm 87 ESV

It is easier to settle in some places on earth than in others. But in the end the Christian’s home and identity are with his or her Saviour in heaven.

Single-minded Winners

Like many here in the UK I have been following the Rio Olympics. I can’t cope with the suspense of actually watching the competitions take place(!) but I enjoy hearing the news of our people gaining medals and looking at the award ceremonies.

The whole range of emotions is set before us. Some Olympians display unbounded delight and relief and pour out gratitude to all and sundry. Others are quieter and less intense, but still honoured to achieve what they have done.

More distressing is the sight of those who are disappointed for whatever reason. Some feel cheated and angry; others that they have let themselves and their supporters down. Still others seem bewildered by the runaway success of the competition in what they had regarded as “their” event.

In the eyes of most of us, simply being chosen to represent one’s country in the Olympics would be an unimaginable achievement. Yet all that is lost on those who have invested years of time and effort in an event of maybe only a few minutes’ or even seconds’ duration - and have come nowhere. Devastated, they speak of quitting the sport. Some may be persuaded to keep trying, and may succeed in the end.

It is common knowledge that the Olympics since 1896 are the modern equivalent of a contest that began in classical times. Less well known is the fact that ancient Olympians were at least as single-minded in their preparations as modern ones. Diet, exercise, lifestyle - all had to be tip-top for the athlete to compete at his best. Distractions could not, must not be allowed.

In the Bible, the apostle Paul harnesses this image in his description of the Christian life. There can be no such person as a part-time Christian.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified (1 Corinthians 9:24-27 ESV).

Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything (2 Timothy 2:3-7).

“Remember Jesus Christ,” he adds, pointedly. Christ endured everything in the build-up to the cross at Calvary, and then on the cross itself. He won the crown. But what gave Him the greatest satisfaction was to see believers saved from sin by trusting in Him.

If we have died with him,
we will also live with him;
if we endure,
we will also reign with him;
if we deny him,
he also will deny us;
if we are faithless,
he remains faithful —
for he cannot deny himself (2 Timothy 2:11-13).
So far, it may sound as though I have said too much about the place of your own efforts and not enough about the place of our Saviour in bringing us to heaven. Let me finish with the story of the little Caribbean lad who kept dropping behind in a running race. It seemed unlikely he would win. Suddenly his legs seemed to get going. He seemed to move faster and with great regularity. He passed all the rest of the field and won. Observers noticed that his lips were moving constantly and asked him what he had been whispering to himself as he ran. He replied that he had been praying, saying over and over again,

“Lord, you pick 'em up an’ I’ll put 'em down!”

Spiritual Blindness

It is an uncomfortable feeling that comes around every so often and worsens with age. People are watching me take my spectacles off and squint when reading, writing or looking at photos. They think to themselves, even if they make no comments out loud, 

"Should've gone to … a certain well-known firm of opticians". 

The optician (or optometrist, as we must now call some of them at least) has duly given me a new prescription. It prompts me to look up a passage from 2 Corinthians (4:3-6 ESV):

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

I ponder afresh the two different types of blindness that Jesus and His followers identified: physical blindness and spiritual blindness.

Jesus saw His work as applying healing on both levels. He would sometimes perform miracles of giving sight to the blind. As He did so, He gave teaching about the need of the people for spiritual sight.

There is a widespread blindness to such things in our country now. We tend to believe only what we can see. Surely we should wake up to the fact that, even in the material realm, over 80% of our universe is said to be unseen (“Dark Matter” and “Dark Energy”).

I often think how spiritual blindness may be at work when people pass churches, some times daily for many years, and simply do not notice that they are there.

At times you might think this is understandable. Some churches simply do not look like churches. They may display no Christian symbol such as a cross. The building style may not make you think of ecclesiastical architecture, especially if the congregation is hiring a school or public building to meet in. If your idea of a church is a Gothic structure with a spire or a clock tower and pointed windows, by no means all churches look like that.

People should realise, of course, that church is not simply a building: it is the people that worship there. It is a pity if their publicly visible activities are permanently linked with the four walls of the building, as though they never related to anything outside.

It is always difficult to discern whether spiritual blindness is the fault of uninformed outside observers or of local Christians not having a high enough profile. In either case, the blindness in this country to the things of the spirit is profound and depressing.

If you talk about "spirituality" to people in the West, they may well think of Eastern meditation techniques or similar. These things may cultivate a more positive attitude to life, but they are certainly not the spirituality which glorifies God as the Lord Jesus intends. In less materially favoured countries the ordinary person is very much aware of the spiritual dimension. Their spirituality is vibrant and keen. 

Jesus's plan in encouraging people to have their spiritual eyes open is that they should see God at work and glorify their heavenly Father. Most of all it is only through spiritual alertness that they can find and embrace true life which He offers – eternal life, life in which physical death is just a momentary blip.

May we go through life with our eyes open, seeing beyond the merely material to the place where life is eternal and abundant and where Jesus Christ is enthroned as King and Lord.

By what authority?

“Who gave you the right to do that?” 

It is very human to challenge someone that way, and it goes right back to the Bible. When Jesus had entered Jerusalem in triumph and overturned the tables of the moneychangers in the Temple, the chief priests and elders asked, 

“By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?” (Matthew 21:23 NIV).

People today are just as resentful about Jesus having any claim on them. “By what authority? Why should this Jesus have rights as King over my life?”

Jesus is not embarrassed by the question. It is the questioners who have the problem, not He. They are making three tragic and disastrous refusals:

• a refusal to believe (Matthew 21:23),
• a refusal to hold up a mirror to themselves (verses 24-27) and
• a refusal to obey (verses 28-31). 

The rest of the chapter spells out the grim consequence of these refusals. It is, spiritually, a matter of life and death. 

First, the Jewish leaders demonstrate a refusal to believe. “By what authority?” they ask. The only authority they recognise is the qualifications they approve of themselves. It is a bit like our society today with its stress on paper qualifications.

Jesus saw authority in a different way. His mighty works of healing and compassion were evidence in themselves. They demonstrated God’s love and authenticated God’s power. Every one of them made a statement about Jesus’ authority and bracketed Him with God.

As far as we know, nobody in Jesus’ day ever denied that the miracles had happened. Rather than believe in Him, His critics fished around for an alternative explanation - the same as the deniers of miracles are doing to this very day.

The leaders refused to believe and, secondly, they refused to hold up a mirror to themselves. They wanted to ask awkward questions of Jesus. But how embarrassed they were when He turned and asked awkward questions of them!

The Scottish poet Robbie Burns, seeing a flea on a lady’s bonnet at church, wrote these memorable and relevant lines in the poem “To a Louse”:

“O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!”

Finally, verses 28-31, the refusal to obey. I love the parable of the two sons. Dad asks each in turn to go and work in his vineyard. The first one barks rudely, “I don’t want to!” But afterwards he changes his mind and does it. The second one couldn’t be more of a daddy’s boy. “I’m your man!” (Literally, “Me, sir!”) But go he did not. For Jesus, truth shows in character. A truthful character does what it says on the tin.

Think about it, comments Jesus. You can be as awkward a cuss as you like, but if you go away and on reflection do the right thing, you get the credit. On the other hand, you can be ever such a little creep, but if you end up not doing the right thing you don’t get the credit. Good intentions don’t count. Obedience does.

“By what authority?” we challenge the Lord Jesus Christ, we who are merely strangers, pilgrims, tenants on this earth. But as we point the finger at Him, 3 fingers point back at us:

• Why did you not believe the evidence?
• Why did you not take a long, hard look at yourselves?
• Why were you not obedient?

When the crowds heard John the Baptist, they asked, “What should we do?”
Years later, when the jailer at Philippi saw God at work in the apostle Paul and Silas, miraculously freed from their chains (Acts 16), he asked, “What must I do?”
Sadly the Jewish leaders were asking a different question: “How can we avoid losing face?”

The right response to Jesus Christ’s works is “What should I do?” And the Lord loves that question and replies, 

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).

By what authority? By royal authority. Through the inspired pages of Matthew’s gospel, this first-century Man and His first-century miracles come to your 21st-century door. Will you give the right response?

Those Difficult Names

One of the hurdles I have found over the years in persuading people to do Bible readings in church is the unpronounceable names.

Whether these are long like Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz or short like Kios, many potential readers come to the name, spot that there is more than one way it could be rendered and immediately freeze. “I don’t mind reading for you,” they say, “but please make sure there are no difficult names in the passage.”

You can buy English pronouncing dictionaries. Some - dating from a day when the problem exercised many more minds than now - have a wide range of Bible names and advice on how to say them.

I tell people they worry too much, though. The simple truth is that the languages of Bible times were so outlandish to our ears that we can’t possibly pronounce the names authentically. Your guess is as good as mine!

OK, I can tell you with some confidence that the name “Salmon” was never pronounced like the English fish spelt the same way. The “l” is meant to be sounded. Also “Shealtiel” shouldn’t come out like “shield teal”. But surely there are worse crimes than getting those details wrong!

Why, you might ask in exasperation, did God cause His word to be written in a day and a culture so far removed from our own, so that we are left to struggle with names and places that are completely unfamiliar?

I can think of one excellent reason. One day when I was a student an African studying theology approached me and admitted, “I’m not a believer”. “Why?” I asked. “Christianity is western,” he complained. “It’s the culture of colonialists like the British. It has nothing to say to us Africans.”

I thought how false and unfortunate this was. You could equally claim that no culture is at home with the Bible outside a narrow strip of land on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The places and the names belong largely to that restricted area. Even then, 2000 years have passed and many of those features have changed beyond recognition. The concept that “God was man in Palestine”, as Sir John Betjeman put it, is not something that we Brits can wear like a glove.

Thank God every race and culture is in the same boat! Each one must wrestle with the unfamiliar to pledge allegiance to Christ. In particular we must abandon the culture of self-reliance to which we are all wedded. As we do so, our storm-tossed boat becomes the focus of a glorious divine rescue mission.

Day by day His tender mercy,
healing, helping, full and free,
sweet and strong, and ah! so patient,
brought me lower, while I whispered,
‘Less of self, and more of Thee!’
      Theodore Monod, 1836-1921

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”        (Revelation 7:9-10 ESV)

What God Counts Wise

Seeing the impressive number of floral tributes to the late Jo Cox MP laid at the foot of the Joseph Priestley memorial in Birstall sent me researching into who Priestley was.

He was born in 1733 in the Fieldhead district of Birstall. The Age of Enlightenment was in full swing and Priestley was a true son of that era. He travelled a great deal, sometimes impelled by persecution because of his freethinking views. His most famous discovery was probably that of oxygen, though there are rival claimants to that honour. But there was a string of other surprising discoveries, some of which we take for granted today. One was carbonated water - the original fizzy drink! Priestley demonstrated how it was possible and others, including a certain Mr Schweppe, developed and commercialised it.

Indeed we owe to Priestley much of our understanding of the air we breathe and the environment we live in. Priestley demonstrated photosynthesis, the chemical process by which plants derive sustenance from sunlight and water. But all this hardly scratches the surface of his scientific achievements.

Other than that, we should note his contribution to philosophy. He was politically on the Liberal wing. He did not see eye to eye with the Establishment and in religious terms (a matter still held to be of great importance in that day) he was a firm Dissenter, providing education in the Dissenting academies that were founded as an alternative to the universities.

Less happily for one like myself who believes firmly in the Trinity, he was a founding member of the Unitarian Church. Unitarians refuse to assert that Jesus Christ is one with God the Father and the Holy Spirit: the Three-One God.

Unitarianism appealed to the logical minds of the time. How could God be one God and yet three at the same time? It seemed irrational. You might well argue till the cows came home that water can occur in three different states (ice, water and steam) and yet be one and the same substance. There are indeed many such true to life models that can help us understand Trinity. Unitarians remained firmly unconvinced.

Yet Christianity is full of areas where a thing and its apparent opposite are both true at the same time. God is sovereign and in control of His universe, yet humans are responsible for their actions. How can this be, if they are just tools in the hands of a sovereign God? It would, though, be a wacky world if He did just push us around like pawns on a chessboard.

To my mind, the real breakthrough in human religious thought took place within a few years of Jesus’ death and resurrection. That hard-bitten persecutor of Christians, the apostle Paul, was driven to understand that he must call the risen Jesus Christ “Lord” - the same title that his Jewish religion gave to God Himself. Yes, it defied logic. Yes, it jarred with every fibre of his being as a Hebrew of Hebrews. Yes, it put him in immediate danger of death at the hands of the very nation he was proud to represent. But it was a conclusion his Damascus Road conversion forced him to accept. Neither logic nor his Jewish heritage came into it.

We owe much to Joseph Priestley and his courageous, innovative and fertile mind. We likewise owe much to Jo Cox, who was bold and positive in humanitarian causes and who voiced what she thought without fear or favour. In many ways she was a true spiritual daughter of Joseph Priestley. It is fitting that tributes to her were laid at the foot of his memorial.

We should also pause to thank God for the apostle Paul, the reluctant independent thinker. Under God, he gave us authentic Christianity - a faith not confined to the strait-jacket of mere human thought.

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men (1 Corinthians 1:20-25 ESV).

The Cost of Fear

As I checked my answering machine for messages some years ago, a great wailing sound issued from the telephone. It was the representative of a well-known fire security company, who had long been fleecing my church by lying that appliances needed to be replaced when they didn't. But I had finally grown wise to this and ended the contract with the company. By the howl of anguish I perceived that the wretched man was on commission. His firm trained him to see customers like our church as his bread and butter. Replacement appliances meant money for the firm – and money for him. Now the company was telling him bluntly that he'd better get my church back on side or else he could wave goodbye to a significant chunk of his income.

Of course I felt desperately sorry for the man and for those who might have depended on him for their welfare. But nonetheless I felt sick and angry that he had to make his living by lying on behalf of this company. They were making the client pay the price of fear – fear that if the client did not have the required appliances the property would burn down. If and when we claimed on the insurance in such an event, the insurance company would ask us pointed questions about why we had no adequate fire precautions in place. Insurance companies trade on our fear too. I have likewise discovered the same appetite for trading on fear in those security companies who provide alarm systems. The fear industry, I reasoned, must be worth quite a lot of money.

It sadly cheapens the great Referendum debate of our day that both sides are trading on the fear of the unknown – whether people vote to remain in the European Union or whether they vote to leave. They both produce experts who maintain that there could be catastrophic consequences to the “wrong” decision: a halt to economic progress, a descent into uncontrolled immigration. They do not point out that nobody can really predict with certainty what will occur in the future. They have simply cottoned onto the fact that there are votes in people’s fears.

Sadly, world faiths have traded on fear too. Primitive religions portrayed angry gods who had to be placated all the time to stop bad things happening like a loss of crops or other catastrophe. Even the Christian religion has been tainted with this attitude in the past. The one abuse above all that made Martin Luther so angry, that caused him to take the first steps towards the Protestant Reformation, was the sale of indulgences. People were persuaded to part with great fortunes in order to buy their way out of torment in purgatory. Many went to their graves never being completely sure whether they were right with God or not – the church had endless ways of leaving them in suspense.

The beauty of the gospel is that it is a free and effective remedy against these terrible, demeaning and crippling fears. The Lord Jesus died on the cross to bring us full forgiveness from our sins and an assurance that we are in the right with God and able to enter His presence without fear.

This is no light matter. The Bible describes God as

“You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong” (Habakkuk 1:13 ESV).

Perfect in power, perfect in purity, if He did look at us it should guarantee our instant destruction. But He goes to great lengths to give believers freedom in His presence – a freedom we should treasure and not pass up.
 
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).

No Frontiers for Nature

I have been busy in the garden. I would have thought my garden shed was fairly sacrosanct as far as weeds were concerned. Oh yes, creatures like spiders creep in and spin their webs. But the last thing I expected to see was a large stem of bindweed creeping its way right across the shed floor. I obviously had to tackle this intruder fairly quickly, before it smothered everything in the shed.

Pondering this has helped me to think about an intriguing reference in Psalm 84. The Psalm-writer exclaims:

“Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young - a place near your altar, O LORD Almighty, my King and my God” (Psalm 84:3, NIV 1984).

Even the likes of sparrows and swallows manage to make a nest at the altars of God in the Temple. There were severe restrictions on human beings gaining access; it was the preserve of the priests. These alone could approach in order to perform the ritual sacrifices.

The Christian who has understanding of the Bible will think straight away of what happened when Jesus was crucified. I have referred to this a few times before: the remarkable fact that the curtain of the temple was torn in two. The barrier was down and anybody could get in. In fact there are puzzling references to a new state of affairs where people literally muscle their way in, just as desperate migrants force a path across barriers – obsessively anxious to get from one country to another and so to their chosen land, they brush aside all resistance.

"The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it” (Luke 16:16).

It is intriguing to think of this happening, and of God allowing it to happen. Clearly these are new, special “Kingdom of Heaven” conditions, which the Lord Jesus looks forward to with a prophetic eye. Of course, this does not mean that God will, out of some sort of misplaced kindness, let in any Tom, Dick or Harry simply because they happen to be desperate not to be kept out. Otherwise the Lord Jesus would not have told the parable of the five wise and five foolish girls, where the foolish ones are banished from the house of celebration because they failed to buy sufficient oil and were not ready for the hour when the bridegroom turned up.

“At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.' 'No,' they replied, 'there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.'

"But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

Later the others also came. 'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!' But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you.' Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour” (Matthew 25:6-13).

We cannot simply demand entry. Yet the Lord Jesus is more than willing to be our entry pass. By trusting in Him we can gain access. We are privileged like kings and princes where the great ones of the earth will be turned away. Let us take none of this for granted, but reverently and humbly accept what God offers.

Hedges

Hedges

I was staying with my farming friends in Banbury recently. They showed me a fascinating book published by RSPB, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, about farm management. It included a section on hedges.

I dare say hedges are something I've taken for granted over the years. They are just there – you only notice them when they are gone. I had often wondered what the point of them was any way. I think I've learned over the years that without hedges, fields are very exposed, and can be windswept and vulnerable. But apart from that … well, what other purposes do these things serve?

The RSPB book opened my eyes. Hedges perform many useful functions at the service of nature. One of the most important is to provide safe highways along which birds, insects and small animals can travel, protected from the gaze of predators that might otherwise prey upon them. These little creatures can pick their way from one destination to another quite readily by relying on the cover that the branches of the hedges provide.

This reminds me of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. As a contemporary song puts it,

"For He made us a way by which we have been saved, He’s the Saviour of the world".

The Lord Jesus described Himself as the Way as well as the Truth and the Life. He provided a way through to the presence of God, who would otherwise be inaccessible to ordinary people. This is symbolised by an incident during the time He hung on the cross.

Two extraordinary events took place during the last hours. Darkness came over the whole land and the curtain which blocked off the inner sanctum of the Jerusalem Temple was torn in two. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews mentions this incident and comments,

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:19-23 ESV).

By means of Jesus, we are furnished with a clear and safe way forward in our spiritual lives. Where predators lurk, the Lord Jesus protects. He reminds us of the right path to follow when our spiritual enemy strives to lead us into the superficially attractive route heading the wrong way.

We may be glad that the Lord Jesus set Himself up as the true and living Way. There are many ways to self-fulfilment offered to us nowadays: ways leading to bodily health, ways to well-being, ways to self-gratification. They can’t all be right.

Like a hedge, Jesus appears at times like a narrow corridor between broad and fertile fields. But woe betide the small creature that steps outside the cover of the hedge! Follow the hedge and you make progress towards where you can flourish. Trapped in the talons of a bird of prey, you are heading nowhere but doom.

Jesus, the narrow corridor, leads to life. We should take with both hands the opportunity He offers.

Postcode Privilege

It is strange how some of life’s little details can trigger memories for you. I read in the Our Daily Bread notes recently that the Republic of Ireland now has postcodes. It adopted them in the summer of last year, apparently.

Learning this took me back to my days working in print and mail for a catalogue company, when I was “between churches” – without a pastorate, in other words. Sometimes the supervisor asked me to “do the Irish” – process the mail shots that were to go out to the Republic of Ireland. I recall that the labels were different and the bags were smaller than for the UK! Certainly, in those days, there were no postcodes in the Irish Republic, only postal areas. Life could be very confusing for postal workers because people with the same or similar names lived in different houses that had no distinguishing numbers or other identification.

The new postcode system is a boon to anyone wishing to deliver mail. Ireland is even in advance of many countries with postcodes, as every house has its unique identifier. In the UK, postcodes only narrow the target down to a group of properties.

The writer of the notes reminded us that each one of us is unique in the sight of God. This is just as well! My mother once told me how, when I was christened, the muddle-headed old priest mixed me up with another baby that was being done at the same time.

It would be just too crushing to the spirit to think that God could make the same mistake. But He knows each of us directly. He notices the problems of each one and the personalities of each one. His relationship with us is tailored to our walk in life. He grieves over each of our falls, and notes with pleasure the steps of our spiritual progress.

O LORD, you have searched me and known me!

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from afar.

You search out my path and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD,

you know it altogether.

You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. …

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there were none of them.

(From Psalm 139 ESV)

There is a challenging side to this knowledge. The Psalm-writer is well aware that the all-knowing God not only picks him out from the crowd, but sees his sins and faults as well:

Search me, O God, and know my heart!

Try me and know my thoughts!

And see if there be any grievous way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting!

It is comforting to know that there is One in heaven who both knows us through and through and cares – cares enough to send His only Son to die for us. But that also means we have something to live up to.

Identity

What is your identity? I sometimes think that my identity has been reduced to a date of birth, a national insurance number, a physical address, a phone number and an email address. That is all that the official people seem to want to know about me.

As for family relationships, in these days of genetics it seems to revolve around who you inherited your genes from. Your DNA defines your paternity and many of the characteristics you possess.

The Middle Ages were a different age. In those days the correct answer to the question of identity was supposed to be, "I am a Christian".

The Archbishop of Canterbury has had a recent shock. He has discovered that the father he thought he inherited his genes from was not in fact his biological father. A DNA test unearthed that it was somebody completely different. The Archbishop has received credit for the way he has handled this news, which for some people could be really devastating. He can respond to the news about his paternity with calmness and even humour, since he regards his real identity as being in the Lord Jesus Christ.

This seems to me an excellent response and a challenge to the thinking of the current age. Many times at funerals a list is read out of relationships that the dead person has had: father, brother, son, uncle, husband … and so the list goes on.

No doubt for some people the recital of this is comforting. I would certainly not wish to deprive them of their solace at funeral times. All I know is that I personally no longer qualify for such a memorial. I have no living blood relatives left to testify how good I am as a family member. So, more than ever, I find my true identity where it really is – the fact that I am a Christian.

If that is truly a man or woman’s lasting memorial, it is a great loss if they decline in their lifetimes to claim a relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. If they persist in not finding their identity in Him, they are virtually robbing themselves of their place in history and in eternity at the same time.

The apostle Peter distanced himself from his Master three times in quick succession. When invited to declare his association with Him at a dangerous moment, He denied all knowledge of Him.  Fortunately, there was a way back for Peter. After Jesus had risen from the dead, the merciful Saviour made a point of visiting Peter specially. He challenged him to renew his allegiance and once again find his identity in Him – a challenge which Peter now readily accepted. Not only did he cease to be a nobody, he is forever remembered as the natural spokesman for the remaining disciples who made up the first Christian Church.

The apostle Paul in his second letter to Timothy reminds us:

"If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful –
for he cannot deny himself.”

(2 Timothy 2:11-13 ESV)

Who are you? What is your identity? I hope you do not rely on your genetic make-up or your nationality or your race or any such thing. Come rain or shine, come easy times or the cold winds of persecution, we need to remind ourselves of this one thing that really matters: "I am a Christian".

The Magnet

As I have thought about the Easter message this year, it has become clear to me just how far Jesus’ expectations were shaped by the cross. In no way did it come to Him as a disappointment or a shock. He foresaw that the cross would not be a place of defeat; far from it. Instead it would become a massive magnet to draw people to Him.

“... I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” (John 12:32 ESV)

I discovered early in life the pull of the magnet. It has drawn me throughout my days. It started when I was six years old and saw a Gospel Hall being built at the bottom of our lane in Guernsey. I was drawn to that place and joined the Sunday school there. I never had a great attendance record. When I was 10 I left, questioning the existence of God.

My mother took seriously her promises, made when I was christened, to bring me up as a Christian. She sought out a church where she could take me, and attend herself, rather than just send me. There the magnet’s drawing power worked on me again. I can't say I was particularly thrilled by the style of this church – very urban, very social gospel – but nonetheless I wanted to belong. This was unusual for me because normally I wasn’t a joiner. None of the youth organisations that were available to me appealed to me at all and I was not very well adjusted socially. However, I enrolled in a membership class and became a member of the church on Easter Day 1967.

I wanted to serve – the magnet was now drawing me into service – and I taught Junior Church. At first I was a poor specimen of a teacher of Christian things. I was not a believer and indeed dismissed many of the essential doctrines. But somehow the attraction of the Lord Jesus Christ simply kept pulling me onwards. I became a committed Christian when I was eighteen. My parents and I then migrated to the UK. My desire to serve now took a different route. I trained as a local preacher and then as a minister.

But it would be wrong to say I had “arrived” at that point. I felt increasingly uneasy with the old denominations and their compromises with the world. Independency seemed the right place to be.

Many times, after making the move, I wondered what on earth had happened to me. In ministry in Independency I seemed to be permanently beating my head against a brick wall. But my sense of being called – and that magnet – never stopped drawing me forward. This late in my pastoral working life, I am delighted to have found a place in an Independent church which allows me space to breathe and to serve.

Why should this magnetic power have drawn me throughout the years while others simply have not felt it? I can offer no explanation for that. I suppose it is same as in the case of real magnets. They may come into contact with a variety of metals. Yet only certain sorts respond to the magnet. Others are immovable and unchanged. But if God has His sovereign hand upon a person, the magnet will unfailingly draw them.

I don’t know whether you feel the pull of the magnet, the drawing power of the Lord Jesus Christ who died on the cross and rose again. Perhaps it is simply a matter of seeing for yourself how attractive His story really is. Other stories may look intriguing and draw you into them, but all eventually display their limits. The drawing power of Christ goes on for ever. I believe I will always be led by Him – to my dying day and beyond.

Neglected Mentors

As I write I am back in Wales, on one of my visits to do guest house ministry. Obviously, now I have been blessed with a pastorate, these episodes are fewer in number. Yet they bring with them happy memories of my continual journeying back and forth to the Principality last year. At that time, guest house ministry was a lifeline. Without it I would hardly have been involved in any meaningful Christian service.

As an icebreaker on this occasion, I asked the guests to say a few words about those who had been an inspiration to them (see my entry on "Role Models" from last December). Some said that different people fulfilled this role at different points in their lives. It almost seemed as though different angels visited them periodically, to minister to them specially at moments of crisis.

All this made my thoughts turn to the example of a young king of Israel called Joash, who was blessed with a mentor in time of need. A high priest called Jehoiada was his inspiration and guide when he first became king, following the violent overthrow of his usurping, grasping grandmother Athaliah. The old priest guided the new monarch wisely. Joash learned good things from him and became zealous for God and transparent in his dealings. Jehoida eventually died, however. Soon the king neglected what he had learned and his reign took a downward spiral. He even had Zechariah, Jehoiada’s son, killed because this man had spoken up against him (2 Chronicles 24). Joash was really bereft without his mentor and sadly there was no one to step in and fill Jehoiada's shoes.

Who is your inspiration? Sometimes, under God, we can be blessed with someone who does us good simply by being the person he or she is. Even if somebody like that is absent from our lives, we can always turn for inspiration to the Bible characters and especially to our Saviour Jesus who is our pattern for life.

The apostle Paul regarded Jesus as his hero and model and constantly invited others to do the same. He pondered long and hard in his devotions on the example Jesus set. Our Lord is thought to be the inspiration for Paul's great so-called love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8 in the ESV.)

God may have sent someone to you to model Christ for you at just the moment you needed it. We neglect our God-given mentors at our peril.

Join our Club!

As I write, the campaign about the place of Britain in the European “club” is getting under way. Should the UK stay in the European Union, or should it leave? It will be up to the British people to decide in the referendum vote on 23 June.

The core of the argument to stay in is the same as in the Scottish independence referendum: it is wiser to be part of a group with some influence in the world than to become splendidly isolated - and vulnerable. On the other hand, the independence-seekers argue, an integrated club member may have little say over corporate decisions that are not in its best interests.

In the view of other countries, Britain can be a difficult partner and they should let her go if that is what she wants to do. Yet it is good to have a strong country with a major economy inside the grouping.

So much for nations. What about individual people? Youth organisation leaders used to have a word by which they measured the sociability of potential club members: “clubbable”. The question comes to each one of us: am I clubbable?

To the great disappointment of my parents and others, I showed no desire to join any youth organisation. Scouts, Boys’ Brigade, Junior Church, Youth Club - my response was always the same: I preferred my own company. I guess I lost a great deal by way of personal development as a result. The one exception I made was the church itself. I always felt drawn to join this, as if by a magnet.

We tend to think of the followers of Jesus as a “club” of twelve whom He called to be His disciples. We see this group as static, dependable, loyally with Jesus throughout except for a temporary wobble when all deserted Him at His arrest. After the resurrection most of them re-formed and made up the nucleus of the first church.

This picture fails to take account of the many people who came and went throughout Jesus’ ministry. Some didn’t like His challenging talk and drew back.

Perhaps the most thought-provoking story is that of the rich young man in Mark 10. He asked Jesus a question about the commandments. When Jesus answered, there was a most interesting exchange between them:

“And he said to him, ‘Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.’ And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’  Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. 
“And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!’” (Mark 10:20-23 ESV)

For some reason Jesus warmed to this man. He would have liked to see him in His band of followers. Yet he spotted that there was in this person a block, a sticking point. The man was simply too attached to his wealth. Jesus proposed a radical solution: the man should exchange all he had for treasure in heaven and come and follow Jesus.

At that point the man proved not to be clubbable. He went away sorrowful. Maybe he tried being spiritual on his own, cushioned from the disturbing challenges of Jesus and His followers.

Though I joined the church, I was slow to grow because I still wouldn’t take part in study and other groups that were available. In such activities, the rough edges can be knocked off you more quickly and you can progress further and faster.

Please don’t make the same mistake. The company of Christ may disturb and challenge, but none but He can satisfy.

A Double Inheritance

Along with taking up my new post as Pastor at Durrington Free Church, I have come into the occupation of the manse, or pastor's house, next door. There has not been a pastor at the manse for the past 31 years, so it is quite an honour to be here. It is also a most intriguing exercise to find my way round my new surroundings. Within a few weeks I knew most of the ins and outs of the bungalow which was my new home. But getting to know the quite sizeable garden which I have also inherited – now that is a different matter.

Gardens do not reveal themselves all in one go. A succession of plants will be coming up during the next few months, and I have no idea really what variety of plant life is available to me on this patch of land. It will be fascinating to see the plants gradually emerge as the season wears on, and to be able to identify them one by one, or get some plant expert in the congregation to do it for me.

Musing on this the other day I pondered the inheritance we have when we put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour. He is the Elder Brother of our new family. We are adopted into this new family under God and along with the other members of that family we receive an inheritance. This talk of “inheritance” does not mean, of course, that our God is going to write out His last will and testament as though He might die on us. It is simply that we come into ownership of all the blessings and all the riches of our new family in the kingdom where God rules.

It was breathtaking when I first came to see the blessings that are listed in Matthew chapter 5 in the light of our inheritance. Just look at these verses from that point of view:

Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
For they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
For they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Look what's in your inheritance! You inherit the kingdom of heaven; you inherit comfort; you inherit the earth; you inherit fullness, mercy, the chance to look upon God, the status of son or daughter of God. What amazing riches!

We need to be tremendously glad and excited about our prospects as new members of God’s family. If you want to get on in life, this is certainly the family to belong to. And yet we do not join it simply because of what we are going to get out of it. We join it because we come to realise that our God wants us to be his people and He wants to be our God. He desires a relationship with us that is closer than any relationship we can have on Earth. It is a most beautiful thing to be wanted in this way.

And so I look forward to getting to know my garden, unravelling the mystery of what I have come into in this new place. I am delighted to be getting to know my church. It is a great privilege to have come into the pastorate of people who are willing to rise to a challenge and are full of good ideas. May I be a capable manager, under God, of the inheritance that I have received.

A Good Read

I am currently reading a really helpful book called “Did You Think to Pray”, by Dr R.T. Kendall (Hodder and Stoughton, 2008). As its title suggests, it stresses the importance of prayer in the Christian life.

The writer is passionate and engaging on his subject and gives priority to prayer in his own life. As I read it, I hear a lifetime’s experience talking and feel enthused as well as challenged about my own devotional life.

Guess where I picked up this gem! At a Christian bookshop? From a church bookstall? At a church jumble sale? Actually, no! I found it on the shelves of a local public library.

What a surprise! You always think that public institutions have to be extra cautious these days about what material they carry. Critics are always on the lookout for bias towards a particular religion. Some will even complain about any religious beliefs being promoted at all. Yet if any institution should be a bastion against creeping censorship of the thought life, it ought to be the public library.

Christians are sometimes encouraged to present books to their local library. The library service is often strapped for cash in these days of economising. Free gifts of good, reasonably sturdily bound new books may well be welcome.

Of course, undesirable cult literature may benefit from the same welcome you hope for. I remember once picking up in a library a cult-inspired work that denied the Trinity. As cults do, it de-throned my Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, from His proper status as fully part of the Godhead.

So what did I do? Of course I was not legally entitled to steal or deface the book. In the end I slipped a tract into the back cover which was a corrective. It stressed Jesus’ place as a full Person of the Trinity, forever one with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Then I simply returned the book, with the prayer that the next reader might discover the tract at the back and be led to consider the alternative viewpoint.

Thank God for those who are still producing and selling good Christian tracts, books and other materials. Christian bookshops often have a hard time surviving. They may have to diversify. This can take the form of running a café area or a craft shop or Fair Trade shop within their premises. But they fulfil a hugely valuable function.

Sometimes they are literally a “shop window” on the church. Those who staff them - often volunteers - may have time to spare in sharing the gospel with those who come, spiritually curious, through the doors. Many a person has become a Christian through entering a Christian bookshop. Patrick Johnstone of Operation World is quoted as stating,

“More than half of the born-again Christians in the world testify that literature played a part in their conversion …”

The discovery of a book can sometimes change not just an individual but also a whole people. In the book of Nehemiah we read that God’s people called for the scribe Ezra to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses and read it to them publicly. They listened with riveted attention. They were dumbfounded by the amount of the Law that they had neglected. They almost went into mourning there and then. But their leaders advised that feasting and rejoicing were more appropriate:

“Then Nehemiah the governor … said to them all, ’This day is sacred to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.’” (Nehemiah 8:9 NIV)

And why should they rejoice first? Mainly, because they had heard God’s intentions read - and had understood them.

Out of Season

Even the seasons seem unseasonable at the moment of writing. I have daisies growing in my lawn. Daffodils, in full flower, are to be seen in the roadside verges. We are all left wondering what on earth is happening to our climate. The question persistently goes up, “Is this the effect of global warming?” The repeated answer is that nobody can be quite sure. All we know is, Nature’s rhythms seem disrupted. Things happen out of season.

Recently there has been quite a trend in favour of eating food that is “in season”, as opposed to what has been brought in from distant countries with a different climate and seasons at variance with our own. The “Eat Seasonably” campaign claims that “Eating seasonably means better taste, better value and a better deal for the planet” (www.eatseasonably.co.uk, accessed 11 January 2016).

Our forebears in ancient times had to study the seasons far more closely than we do. It may surprise you to know that in July food stores in the barns were at their lowest point. The crops sown in spring had not yet matured. On the very eve of the August harvest the poor could find themselves starving.

The Bible has memorable things to say about there being a right time for everything. The most famous is a passage from a wise preacher, probably Solomon, in the book of Ecclesiastes:

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NIV)

But there is at least one thing that the Bible says should be done out of season.

Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction. (2 Timothy 4:2)
The question is: “out of season” - for whom? For some zealous souls this verse may seem to supply a licence to pester. At the drop of a hat they may challenge some unsuspecting stranger with the full diet of the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. They may do so in complete ignorance of the issues facing the person at that time. On the other hand, if someone is known to be complacent in his or her sin, that one may need a timely jolt.

But isn’t it equally likely that Paul, the writer of the verse, means “Preach the gospel even if it is out of season for you, the preacher”? Someone may long to hear the message of Jesus from you even when you don’t feel like giving it. Are you ready? After all, Christ died for our sins even when He felt He would like to steer clear of suffering.

Often great work is done for Christ because the time is just right. Just as much to be celebrated are the efforts faithful Christians make when they are tired, suffering and jaded. Thank God for them.