Friday 29 December 2006

Verse of the week

'This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.' Luke 2:34-35

Shortly after Jesus' birth, he was taken to Jerusalem, where an old prophet called Simeon met the baby Christ and told Mary these words. They're a great reminder to us, as well as to Mary and Joseph, that Jesus' mission was not to win a popularity contest, or to be successful in worldly terms. With all the events of his birth, the angels and the shepherds and the excitement, it's easy for us to forget the great challenge that God's entry into his creation represents.
And it's particularly easy at Christmas for us to see the nativity story as being all sweetness and light, all happiness and good news for everyone. But in fact this baby, Jesus, has come to cause many to fall, and this baby, Jesus, will be spoken against throughout his life, most notably at its end when he will be hoisted onto a wooden cross by those who hate him.
This Christmas, the thoughts of many hearts have been revealed - those who know in their heart that that baby is their Lord and Saviour, and live for him; those who pretended to worship him for a couple of days, but only on their own terms, and speak against him when he challenges them; those who have ignored him altogether.
So let us ask God to help us throughout the year to be those who are raised up by Jesus, through his life, death and resurrection. Let us ask God to protect us from speaking against Jesus' words to us in the Bible. And let us ask God to make the thoughts of our hearts worthy to be revealed by Jesus, both as we live by his word today and when he returns to judge us at the last day.

Friday 22 December 2006

An amazing story

Here's a true story that a member of our church told everyone at our Carol Service last week (I've changed the names). It's quite long but well worth reading properly.

Dave is a Christian, and a year ago his brother, not a Christian, Will, was diagnosed with cancer. At first Dave prayed that Will would recover, but as Will went downhill Dave began to pray that he'd get a chance to talk to his brother about Jesus, and especially explain to him a certain verse - 'For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life' - John 3:16.

Dave never got that chance, and Will died in September.

A few days after Will's death, Dave was in the hospice Will had died in, sorting some stuff out, and was just leaving when the hospice chaplain bumped into him. The chaplain found out who Dave was, and told him this:
A couple of days before Will's death, he'd asked the chaplain to explain a particular verse to him. It was John 3:16. The chaplain explained who Jesus is and what he could do for Will, and Will trusted in Jesus and was saved. The chaplain asked Will why that particular verse? Will replied that months before, when he was walking around a big town, some total stranger had come up to him in the street, said that verse to him, and then walked off. He'd wanted it explained to him ever since, but hadn't asked.
Dave hadn't found the chance to talk to Will about John 3:16 - but God had arranged that he would be saved through understanding that verse.

Just think about that story - and then think about how good God is, not only for saving Will in that amazing way but also for making sure that Dave found out that his brother is now waiting for him in heaven. Think about how amazing God's plans are, and how wonderfully he saved Will, and the hairs on the back of your neck should stand on end. Think about how wonderful it is, that you, if you're a Christian, are part of God's eternal plan to save people. Think about who you can tell about Jesus this week - you may never see the results of what you've said until you get to heaven and find that person there! That man who told Will the verse is somewhere right now not knowing that God used him to save Will - what a wonderful surprise that will be when he gets to heaven and finds Will waiting to thank him there!

Verse of the week

'"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.' Luke 1:38

Continuing with the Virgin Birth, this verse has really challenged me since I preached on it last Sunday...here's Mary, who's just been told by Gabriel she's pregnant. It's unlikely people will believe the story of how she's pregnant ('It's God's kid, honest!') - so she faces losing her fiance, possibly being stoned to death for adultery, certainly being shunned and whispered about for the rest of her life. All her hopes and plans and dreams as a teenage girl are over - yet this is how she replies. She's God's servant, and she's prepared to fit in with his plans whatever the cost.
We probably won't meet an angel this week, we certainly won't be told we'll be God the Son's earthly parent; but we will as Christians be called upon to talk about Jesus at the risk of rejection, be called to behave differently to our friends, be called to give things up in order to live Jesus' way. Will we answer as Mary did? When it's tough to follow God's plan and not our own, will we say to ourselves; 'I am the Lord's servant (and not the other way around). May it be to me as he has said (and not as I want)'. Quite a challenge!

The Virgin birth - just a joke?

Here's a good Christmas joke...a little boy, Johnny, really wants a bike for Christmas. So he writes to Jesus - 'Dear Jesus, I've been a good boy for twelve months, please give me a bike for Christmas, love Johnny'. But then he remembers that Jesus knows everything about everyone, so he rubs out 'twelve' and writes in 'few'. But he knows that he hasn't been good for that long really, so he scrubs out 'few months' and puts in 'two days'. But on reflection, he knows that's not true either, so he gives up and goes downstairs...passing the family Christmas tree, he notices the nativity scene with little figures underneath, and Johnny has a thought. He takes the figure of Mary, goes back upstairs, shuts Mary into a drawer, and starts his letter again; 'Dear Jesus, if you ever want to see your mum again...'

That's a good Christmas joke - is the Virgin birth another one? 27% of Anglican clergy, according to a 2004 survey, think that it isn't true - and many commented that it doesn't really matter whether it's fact or fiction. Well here, based on Luke 1:26-38, are two comments on the Virgin birth...

1 - It's REAL. Luke says at the start of his book that 'I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning', and he's writing to his readers, 'so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.' (1:3,4). So Luke's not writing half-truths or jokes, but real FACTS - so that we can be CERTAIN that these things really happened.
Add to that, this book is in the Bible, God's own word, written by God (2 Timothy 3:16) and containing no lies (Titus 1:2). And so God doesn't allow mistakes or jokes we might mistake as being true into his word. If someone (even a vicar!) says something in the Bible isn't true, listen to God, not to them!

2 - It's RELEVANT because it's REVOLUTIONARY. Gabriel tells Mary 'You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.' (1:31) That's a very normal sentence - all mums get pregnant, give birth and give their child a name. Jesus is totally human - but then, verse 35, 'the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.' In the Old Testament, 'the holy one' is God - and no-one else. So Jesus is a human, but he's also God - Mary's child is fully human and fully God, a unique one-off revolution. And so understanding who the baby in the manger is means we can understand the rest of his life - that his teachings aren't just guidelines we can pick and choose from, but the words of God which we must obey - and most importantly means we can understand his death - that the cross wasn't a terrible mistake, but was God dying for us in our place to rescue us from the punishment for our sin. If you throw out the Virgin Birth accounts, you throw out the God-man who brings us salvation.

The Virgin Birth isn't just a sweet fairy story for primary school kids to act out in school halls at Christmas - it's a REAL REVOLUTION, the coming of God to mankind, to be mankind, to lead us, to teach us, and to rescue us. Wonderful!

Thursday 14 December 2006

Verse of the week

'The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it' 1 Thessalonians 5:24

We're currently reading 'Morning and Evening', which is a verse each morning and evening (clever, huh?!) with comments by a man called CH Spurgeon, who was a top preacher minister guy about 100 years ago. This was Monday morning's verse - here's what he says (it's old-stylee language, but worth reading...)

'The doctrine of God's word is that all who are in union with the Lamb are safe; that all the righteous shall find Christ a faithful preserver. Sustained by such a doctrine we can enjoy security even on (this) earth; not that high and glorious security which renders us free from every slip, but that holy security which arises from the sure promise of Jeuss that none who believe in Him shall ever perish, but shall be with Him where He is.
'May our God bring home to you a sense of your safety in Christ Jesus! May he whisper in your ear the promise 'Fear not, I am with you.' You will have a foretaste of the enjoyments which enthral the souls of the perfect saints above, if you can believe with faith that 'the One who calls you is faithful and he will do it.''

Fuelled by that, Monday was a great day - I'm praying I'd remember those words every day.

Heaven: it's not the end of the world

I've just finished reading a really good book by David Lawrence called 'Heaven: it's not the end of the world', which is all about what happens when we die, and what will happen when Christ returns, and what will happen after that. Here are some reasons to read it, in no particular order:

1 - It's pretty short - only 141 pages
2 - It's very thought-provoking; it really helped me to think seriously about what exactly the Bible means by the New Creation, and why it matters to the way I think and act now
3 - It's biblical and imaginative; Lawrence goes through the Bible and clearly and convincingly maps out what it has to say, and then at the end of the book he allows himself to 'speculate biblically', in other words imagine what things will be like based on what the Bible says. The great thing is that he clearly divides the two, which is helpful for readers
4 - The last chapter is a concise summary of several ways our understanding of what is to come should affect our behaviour and thinking of what is now. The only drawback of this last chapter is it could have a bit more in it, but that's just me being picky.

I've thought for a while now that in general, in churches and on summer camps, we don't talk enough about the New Creation and what eternal life will be like for Christians. This means that some Christians are stuck with the 'children's talk' version - 'It's got all your favourite toys and sweets in it', others see it as the 'cloud model' - 'We'll all have harps and sit on clouds around God, a big old man with a grey beard'. And lots of Christians are completely unsure about what heaven is, and what the New Creation is, and their relationship to one another. I have to say that in my youth work at Highgate I didn't do enough to deal with this, with the result that I'm not sure I communicated the excitement with which we should be looking forward to the New Creation. And if we don't communicate this we can end up with Christians who are simply relieved they won't go to hell when they die, but are not particularly enamoured by where they will be.
Anyway, enough...this book goes some way towards helping deal with all this, I recommend reading it with a big dose of Revelation 21-22 each week, and then soon enough you'll find yourself saying with John at the end of Rev 22 - 'Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.'

Tuesday 12 December 2006

Answering back

As Advent has started at St Andrew's we've been looking at a series of psalms which point not to Jesus' first coming (the first Christmas) but his second coming, at the end of history. Last Sunday we looked at Psalm 11, which is all about answering back - it's quite a funny psalm in some ways (or maybe that's just me!)
My boss, Johnny Juckes, who's a top-notch, very interesting speaker, was preaching, and this is the gist of what he said...
If you read the psalm the first three verses are what the world says to the church, to Christians. Essentially, the message is 'Stop bringing your Christianity out in public. It's fine for you to do it in private, but don't think about talking about Jesus to society. You're too weak, there are too many people who don't like you. Just go away.' And if that was the message to God's people three thousand or so years ago, it still is today (just think about how many Christian voices we hear in the media, or in schools, for instance).
Verses 4-6 are the church's answer back to the world, and notice these verses don't really talk about the church or the world - they talk about God. And the basic message is 'Wait and see'. God is the ruler, even if that's hard to see (v4), and he's watching what everyone does (v4). And look at what he hates in verse 5 - he hates those who love violence, and he will judge them (v5). So the Christian answer when the world tells us to get lost, that there's nothing we can do, is to point towards God. We say that God is the ruler, that he does see what's going on, and he will do something about it. And ultimately we can point to a day when, in verse 7, 'upright men' (those forgiven through faith in Jesus) will see God's face - on the day when he judges evil and punishes violence, and recreates a perfect world for his forgiven people to live in.
So, when the world tells us that God's dead, when the world tells us to keep our faith private and not talk about it because it's useless, we can and must answer back; God is on his throne. He's coming back. Wait and see.

Thursday 7 December 2006

Out of sight...?

It's taken me until today to recover from our crushing Ashes defeat (that's cricket against Australia for the uninitiated). On Monday evening I went to bed knowing that we'd draw, and reasonably confident that England could still save the series...on Tuesday morning I got up to find we'd collapsed, were going two down in the series, and could kiss goodbye to the Ashes.

I don't know about you but I sometimes find it amazing to think that as I go to sleep, there is a huge cricket match going on on the other side of the world. And it's amazing to think that as I sleep there are billions of people all over the world going to work, brushing their teeth, laughing, crying...it's quite hard for us to really picture things that are going on in places we've never seen.

And I guess that's why it's sometimes hard to realise that right now, at this moment, there's loads going on in heaven. We can't see it, we haven't been there (yet!), but John tells us in Revelation; 'I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise!"' (Revelation 5:11-12)

It's awesome to think that, just as the cricketers really are playing in the Ashes series Down Under even though we can't see them, so in heaven right now the angels and Christians who've died are surrounding God on his throne, worshipping him and celebrating what he's done for us. And also to think that whenever we pray, our prayers go to that place, to be listened to by our heavenly Father. A great encouragement to keep praying, and to remember that heaven is going on right now (and it's great to know that God's rule in heaven will never go wrong, unlike England's batting efforts!)

Verse of the week

'If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?' Romans 8:31-32

On Sunday evening we had our twenty-somethings group After Hours, and were looking at the issue of 'work'. This verse is a great reminder that whatever we're doing, at work or at school, God will give us everything we need to live for him. After all, he's given us his own Son, who we needed to give his life so we could be forgiven - so he's hardly going to refuse to give us anything else we need to keep going as Christians!

Monday 4 December 2006

A whole new world - Psalm 24

Yesterday I preached on Psalm 24, which is quite short but a bit complicated so it was a bit of a struggle! :o Anyway, it's a really exciting psalm because it's written to celebrate the day when the ark of God (a big box where God dwelled among his people in the Old Testament) entered Jerusalem, which was God's chosen city, where God would rule over his people. The clever bit is that the New Testament tells us (in Revelation 21) that one day there'll be a new Jerusalem, which is actually the whole world. And so just as ages ago God entered the city of Jerusalem to rule over his people there, one day he'll come to his world to rule over the whole thing - and, of course, everyone who trusts in Jesus will get to live there!
At this time of year, when most people are concentrating on what to get their Dad for Christmas, Christians focus on Jesus' second coming. So Psalm 24's a great one to think about, because it points towards the return of Jesus in glory and power to judge and to rule. Just think about that - if you're a Christian, just as truly as you're reading this, one day you'll be living in this world made perfect, ruled perfectly by and being friends with King Jesus; the baby in a manger will be sitting on his throne - wow! :)
Right, best get on and decide what to get Dad for Christmas....

Hello everyone

Hello everyone,

This is our new blog. We hope you like it, I think I'm meant to write something funny or deeply profound but I don't know any jokes or long words so this will have to do.

Hopefully this blog will get a bit more interesting than this!