High and lowly

Somewhere recently I read an article about how the birth of Jesus brought together both high and lowly in society. The shepherds, probably simple folk, were keen to hurry and see the sight that a revelation of angels had told them about. The wise men, altogether different, of aristocratic line and steeped in the learning and wisdom of the East, stuck to the convictions their researches had led them to. They travelled far and displayed steely determination in reaching the new King who, they calculated, must have come to the land of Judah.

High and lowly. I sometimes worry about the likelihood that the life of any given church might appeal to one class but be off-putting to another. I think to myself, “This church is too middle class. They can never expect to appeal to the residents in that rough and ready estate across the way.” Yet we must never underestimate the power of the Gospel to jump across social boundaries.

At the moment I am excited to be reading a major biography of George Whitefield. The writer is recounting the career of this eminent 18th-century Christian preacher and evangelist, who exercised a hugely influential ministry on both sides of the Atlantic. The social divide in his day, certainly in Britain, was in many ways more acute than it is today. Yet all sides, rich and poor, clamoured for preaching visits from Whitefield.

Arnold Dallimore, Whitefield's biographer, reports this about Whitefield’s early ministry: "Charles Kinchin, Rector of Dummer in Hampshire, expecting to be at Oxford for some time, asked him to officiate in his stead, and he accepted.

“Kinchin's parishioners were poor and illiterate, and Whitefield learned a valuable lesson among them. He was becoming too fond of his University associations and admits that, at first, he was ill at ease among the Dummer people and longed for his Oxford friends. But this attitude was soon changed and he wrote, 'The profit I reaped from … conversing with the poor country people was unspeakable. I frequently learned as much by an afternoon’s visit as in a week’s study.' The experience among the Dummer villagers proved effective, for never again was there the least suggestion that he was not equally happy in ministering to the poor and illiterate as to the wealthy and learned."

Truly those were times the people of Jesus’ day would have recognised. Jesus undoubtedly appealed to the more thoughtful of the ruling classes in Israel. But as we are told in Mark 10:37 when Jesus taught in the Jerusalem Temple, “... the common people” [or, “the crowds”] “heard him gladly” (KJV).

This, I must admit, is a challenge to me when I begin to imagine that the religious “gene” in British people has somehow died out, that hardly anybody is capable any more of responding to the good news of Jesus the Saviour, and that I must content myself in the cosy company of the few that have. No, God has promised us that He has His people from “those who dwell on earth, ... every nation and tribe and language and people” (Revelation 14:6 ESV).

“He speaks, and, listening to His voice,

new life the dead receive,

the mournful, broken hearts rejoice,

the humble poor believe.”

- Charles Wesley, 1707-1788

Rich or not, influential or not, wise-man-like or shepherd-like, have you heard and thrilled to the voice which is for you this Christmas time? And have you let yourself be blessed by talking to someone from a level of society you don’t normally associate with?

Just a reminder, by the way – please view my Christmas broadcast, a new venture for this year. You can watch it by clicking on this link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5hu43eamq9x68ak/bcast.m4v?dl=0

It’s quite safe and you don’t need to install any software.

Before and After

“He humbled Himself”. What constantly amazes me is the “before” and “after” of the story of Jesus. We know the story of Jesus on earth from the four gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Each in his own way, the writers piece together a life story. Two of them recount the birth of Jesus, its humble circumstances and the mighty portents which surrounded it. Then they tell of His spotless life and matchless ministry. All four then describe the wretched and painful death on the cross, followed by the resurrection and the reactions of awed puzzlement that greeted it.

Yet in some ways what speaks most for Jesus was the height He came down to this earth from and the glory to which He returned – the real “before” and “after”. To me it is breathtaking that anyone with such exalted origins and such a glittering future should bother with us on earth at all. And yet this side of the story is easily overlooked.

For various reasons, the first three gospel writers felt the need to stress the Messiah’s earthly career rather than emphasise the “before” and “after”. Matthew wished to appeal to his fellow-Jews. Mark wanted a practical, action-packed gospel to fit the needs of his Roman audience. Luke wanted to portray the human warmth of his Master. Only John, writing in more reflective vein, gives us an assessment of Jesus Christ the eternal, pre-existing, creating Word of God.

“In the beginning was the Word,” is John’s opening salvo, “and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. … He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” (From John chapter 1, ESV.)

If John is the great singer of the “before”, the apostle Paul is the master portrayer of the “after”.

“For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For ‘God has put all things in subjection under his feet.’ But when it says, ‘all things are put in subjection,’ it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:22-28 ESV).

To me, this eternal exaltation makes the way people treated Jesus on earth all the more outrageous.

- Still more remarkable is the fact that He was prepared to come into such a scenario, let alone put up with the arrogant and abusive behaviours that went with it.

- And more remarkable still that He should embrace the most wretched of all capital punishments as an unjustly condemned criminal, all to bring forgiveness of sins to those who hated Him.

- And yet more remarkable that He should be interceding for us with His Father in the realms of glory.

I know that if I were in His shoes, returned to my rightful place after having endured such spite, I would be more likely to exclaim, “Goodbye and good riddance”.

But then, I’m not the Saviour.

The onus is now on me to decide, “How shall I respond to One who went through it all for me, returned to such glory, and still cares?”

By the way, please view my Christmas broadcast – a new venture for this year. You can watch it by clicking on this link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5hu43eamq9x68ak/bcast.m4v?dl=0

It’s quite safe and you don’t need to install any software.

Humility

What does a humble Christian look like?

Recently I enjoyed a series of devotionals by Selwyn Hughes on the subject of humility as a fruit of the Spirit. This virtue is much misunderstood. Hughes spent much time explaining what it was not before going on to what it was.

In the ancient world humility had a bad press. Christians had to more or less reinvent the whole concept, because humility was looked down on as a “servile, grovelling spirit”. Writers throughout the ages have given it overtones of hypocrisy. Witness Charles Dickens’ character Uriah Heep – “We are so very ’umble, Master Copperfield.”

Yet God’s people felt driven to work at changing this view of humility because they were so inspired and impressed by the character of the Lord Jesus, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ‬

‪Therefore God has highly exalted him ...” (Philippians 2:6-9 ESV).

Hughes quoted Philip Brooks, a great American preacher, as saying, 

“The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatness is. Stand at your highest, and then look at Christ, then go away and forever be humble.”

In John 13, the famous chapter where Jesus washes the disciples’ feet, Jesus begins with the breathtaking awareness that God the Father has given everything into His hands. Then, in the full knowledge of this, he takes the towel and washes the disciples’ feet. He is our perfect example. He had greatness, but it was rooted in God.

We should not get above ourselves, but neither should we put ourselves down: that is false humility. The apostle Paul urges us in Romans 12 not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, but to think soberly, Romans 12:3. That means we should have a balanced view of ourselves in God’s sight.

So what is humility? William Barclay calls it “a gentle, gracious and submissive spirit”. He offers us five Bible examples that, taken together, give us a composite picture.

James 1:21 counsels, “Humbly accept the message that God has planted in your hearts, and which can save your souls” (J. B. Phillips). Humility is a teachable spirit. We learn nothing if we approach the Bible in a proud and know-all way.

Then humility is needed if ever we must say to someone, “A word in your ear”. If you put yourself in the other person’s shoes, a word of warning or rebuke can come across as very threatening. Correction must be given in a spirit of humility if someone is caught in a sin (Galatians 6:1) or is in dispute with us over a vital matter (2 Timothy 2:25). It can be given in a way which discourages or in a way which sets a person on his or her feet with the determination to do better.

The same applies when non-Christians ask you why you believe and behave as you do. 1 Peter 3:15-16 advises, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you ... But do this with gentleness and respect.” Courtesy in word and deed is only wise. James 3:13 – “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”

Seeing that Christian humility may not be what you imagined, you may conclude that it is sadly not for you. Nature hasn’t endowed you with a mild-mannered personality or the gift of seeing yourself and others in perspective. Yet it is amazing what God can do in you if you let Him. Didn’t proud Paul eventually come to regard his carefully built up status with the leading Jews as so much muck, and call himself the chief of sinners?

Vacation pep talk

At the end of each term in the ancient and venerable school I attended, a tradition was kept up. The head boy would come out to the front during the final assembly of the term. In clipped, cultured, well-bred tones, he would recite a Bible passage. It never varied. It was this one from Paul’s letter to the Philippians:

Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you (Philippians 4:4-9 KJV).

Having a rather lazy imagination, it took me a long time to start wondering why this reading kept coming up. Why the same one at the end of each term? I believe there was a strategy behind it.

During term time, the school had the bodies and minds of us lads under control for the best part of six days every week. If there weren’t lessons, there were sports, homework and other activities. What free time we enjoyed tended to happen by accident rather than by design! Traditional educational wisdom had it that, literally, the devil found work for idle hands to do. Letting boys loaf around was a recipe for moral decline. But, of course, the school had no control over what we thought and did in the long holiday weeks. So it would do the best it could – send us away with an improving pep talk from the Bible, that hallowed repository of wisdom which was then central to school assemblies every day.

“... whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report ... think on these things.” These are far more wholesome topics to fill your mind with than most of the fare that is served up to us in today’s media. What a difference it would make if people actively sought these out!

Without doubt your thought life is an important determining factor for your character. I mentioned last time a form of therapy, popular today, that seeks to change the way clients think about themselves and their situations. Cognitive-behavioural therapy is used to treat many forms of anxiety and depression. Negative thoughts can lead to low self-esteem or fear of making wrong choices. When the client is trained to replace these with can-do, positive thoughts, a surge of constructive energy can occur. The client grows in confidence with each small step.

Counsellors caution that cognitive-behavioural therapy is not without drawbacks and cannot fully replace other, more traditional methods. But this approach is undoubtedly attractive because, at its most successful, it can achieve measurable progress in a relatively short time, thereby saving money and minimising lost productivity.

Yet still more important is the way it chimes in with what the Bible says. The ancient world produced a pagan mindset that could be spiritually devastating. I well remember being brought face to face with the lurid, degraded religious culture of ancient Ephesus with its many-breasted goddess Artemis. The cult of the goddess spawned a seedy tourist souvenir industry which still persists today. But the Bible encourages us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2 ESV). Thus the apostle Paul writes to the Roman Christians. He appeals by the mercies of God – Jesus’ total self-sacrifice on the cross for the rescue of sinners. He argues that this calls for our total commitment of body and mind.

What a challenge – but how good and wholesome it can be if our minds are totally focused on this, the best of all good news!

Managing Memories

The management of memories is surely an art rather than a science. It is certainly a happy hunting ground for counsellors and psychologists. People suffering from post-traumatic stress may need help to confront their demons – nightmares which surface unbidden and cause acute anxiety and agitation. One counsellor may suggest recalling the ugly incident that gave rise to the problem, blow by blow, until it is projected outside of the sufferer’s personality. Another might suggest replacing the negative thoughts with positive ones. There is no simple formula. Skill, intuition, empathy – all may play their part in the art of helping a broken person back to wholeness.

I’ve recently been using some spare time to scan my old paper photographs into the computer. Seeing them again has brought back a whole variety of memories: some pleasurable, some not. The one above is a mixture. It is a self-portrait taken in the days before the craze for “selfies”. I cannot remember the exact date but it was towards the end of my longest and happiest spell in the ministry, in Banbury, Oxfordshire. The over-exposed and out-of-focus image still manages to display contentment in the surroundings which had become familiar and pleasant to me over that time. On the other hand, it may also reveal a hint of sadness. Storm clouds were gathering over the old church denomination where I had been securely cocooned for nearly 15 years. Its national body was poised to take decisions that would lead me into a painful move and an uncertain future outside.

One piece of self-help for managing memories is to realise that my old photos are at my disposal. That photo of mixed memories is one I’ve kept. But I’ve found it useful to shred those images which really jar with me today. It is like taking charge of a bit of my history. I am not shredding people or places; I am only letting go of unfortunate images.

Nobody who does this should be under any illusions about wiping out inconvenient truths. If a painful memory represents something in me that is inconsistent with being a Christian and has not been dealt with, I need to deal with it. Shredding a photograph cannot achieve that for me. The truth will only come back to bite me.

On the other hand, it is at least as likely that I have nothing to blame myself for. The bad memory then comes from someone dumping a feeling of frustration and guilt on to me (some individuals, sadly, have the knack of doing that). The task now is to affirm that that person will no longer dictate my thought life. Of course, that also implies that I must resist all anger and any thought of revenge. True, I may not wish to see the person again, and the thought that this might happen may fill me with apprehension. But we are not Siamese twins, the person and I: I have my life to lead, the other individual has his or hers, and it is down to us to get on with it.

At first I used to worry about whether God ever meant us to leave any memory behind, however painful. There are always lessons to be learnt. But a kind Christian friend reminded me of the words of the apostle Paul. Paul carried into his new-found Christian faith baggage which could induce both pride and guilt: religious purity and murderous fanaticism. Yet by God’s grace he was simply overwhelmed by what Jesus Christ had done for him. All he wanted to do now was follow where his Master had gone before, through death and on to the crown of eternal life.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him ... 

One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. (Philippians 3:8-16 ESV)

Don’t just shred the bad memories past; strain for the prize that lies ahead!

Slavery

It was at Jersey Airport, a number of years ago. I was in the check-in area. On top of a desk stood a weighing machine. The back of it carried prominently the name of the manufacturing company – a well-known one. Someone had written in big felt-tip pen the letters “SL” in front of it. The result was there for all to see: “SLAVERY”.

I smiled. A little imagination conjured up a scenario. An employee, disenchanted with his work or perhaps just having a bad day, had added the letters to make a point. His conditions of work amounted to slavery, at least as he saw it.

Of course, real slavery, ancient or modern, is usually a much more degrading and oppressive business for the sufferer. A slave was viewed as little better than an inanimate tool. The slave could be abused in almost any way the owner chose – there were few sanctions against it from the law or from society.

In light of this, the way the Bible views slaves and slavery can come as something of a shock. Whom do the writers of the New Testament regard as the king-pin of ancient society? Is it the emperor, at the top of the social pyramid? Or the army general? Or the merchants, or the heads of families, around whom so much of social and household life revolved? No! Believe it or not … it is the slave!

“How can this be?” you ask. Did we in this country not fight a lengthy battle to rid the world of slavery? We are proud of the fact that William Wilberforce, a British parliamentarian, finally steered the Slave Trade Act through to the statute book. This struck the first blow towards ridding the world for ever of the vile practice of slavery. We rightly have a horror of this distasteful trade rearing its ugly head again in the form of people-trafficking, “modern slavery”.

I don’t believe for a moment that early Christian stalwarts like the apostles Paul and Peter ever intended to give the institution of slavery their seal of approval. Yet for them one feature at least about the slave could be an inspiration.

Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:18-24 NIV)

If Christian slaves suffered unjustly and yet kept a dignified composure, they gained credit with those around them. Better still, they reflected in a small way the character of their Master. The Lord Jesus was insulted, abused and finally put to death. Philippians (2:7) says that he “made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness”. He did so in total obedience to God His Father. In His wounds we find healing for our sins. He was subsequently raised from death. In His wake we followers, too, may be raised.

Jesus Christ did not endorse slavery for one moment. Yet He raised slaves to a new level of dignity by the way, slave-like, He handled abuse and unjust suffering. This is a lesson that needs to be learned again in a day when we are so ready to insist on our supposed rights. Don’t get me wrong: nobody is called to be a doormat. But by what right should we expect better treatment than our Master?

Second-hand faith

“We’ve made my son an elder at the church now,” commented the interim pastor apologetically at a cause where I was the visiting speaker. “He should be on duty tonight, but I’m afraid he always turns up late.” A quarter of an hour after the service had begun, a man in his twenties slunk into the back pew, took no active part in the proceedings and seemed quite disengaged from what was happening. Clearly this was the pastor’s son. He had nothing to contribute to the conversation after the service. If he said anything at all, it had nothing spiritual about it.

I came away from the scene disillusioned and with a poor impression of the set-up at that place. If the young man had any faith to speak of, it looked as though it had been borrowed from his father. He gave no sign of having a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And he was an elder! Surely this was a dismal reflection on both church and pastor. The pastor was not a strong enough character to challenge his son, and the church members had not queried the son’s promotion for fear of offending the father.

In my time I’ve been privileged to meet a number of keen high-profile Christians and their families. Some children grow up a credit to their parents. Not only do they follow their good examples, but they have a lively faith of their own which they can pass on. Some children, alas, disappoint their active Christian parents by rebelling against the faith altogether. Others, lacking what their parents have, aim to please and show willing. They deserve some credit for staying under the Christian banner when their peers ridicule their stand. Yet there is a huge gulf between agreeing to uphold a Christian family tradition and having your own life-changing meeting with the Saviour.

Recently the ever-useful Our Daily Bread notes reflected on the career of King Joash of Judah – a lesser-known monarch, ninth in succession to the great King David. His career started well. He had a wise counsellor by his side – his own uncle, Jehoiada, the chief priest. Cindy Hess Kasper comments, 

“But once his uncle was no longer there to teach and lead by example, Joash fell away and his life ended badly … It seems that the roots of his faith did not run very deep. He even began to worship idols. Perhaps Joash’s ‘faith’ had been more his uncle’s than his own.

“Others can teach us the principles of their faith, but each of us must come individually to a lasting and personal faith in Christ.”

I sometimes tried to sing to my congregations an old gospel song that puts the point plainly and challengingly. There are variations on the words, but the chorus of the version I know goes:

"You've got to walk that lonesome valley; You've got to walk it by yourself. There's no-one here can walk it for you; You've got to walk it by yourself” (Traditional).
 

To grow up in a Christian home is surely a great blessing. In most cases you are surrounded by wholesome talk, mild manners, love and encouragement. Differences are settled by reasoned discussion, not aggression. There is even a strand of Christian thought which argues that the faith of parents transmits itself to the children. They absorb the Christian way, so to speak, with their mother’s milk. The apostle Paul congratulates his pupil Timothy on having faithful forebears:

“I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also” (2 Timothy 1:5, NIV).

Further, he called Timothy his spiritual son. He had commissioned him to Christian work by the laying on of hands. Yet, valuable though all of this was, Timothy needed to take ownership of his faith for himself:

“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:6,7).

If you’ve had a good start in life, praise God. But that doesn’t excuse you from responsibility for your own good continuation and good ending.