'I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no-one can snatch them out of my hand' John 10:28
I always find this one of the most encouraging verses in the whole of God's Word.
It is a wonderful reminder that from first to last it is Jesus who saves a Christian, Jesus who sustains a Christian, Jesus who brings a Christian through their earthly life into their eternal home.
Life can be confusing sometimes, and there are many times when we cannot understand why certain things happen to us if Jesus really is in control. When loved ones are ill or die; when we're really struggling to pray; when friends turn away from Christ; when a church stops preaching the gospel; our natural reaction is to wonder if we can make it through, whether perhaps it'll all go wrong and we'll will stop being a Christian. So you start to look at yourself and ask yourself if you'll fall away.
But don't worry - you're looking at the wrong person! Look to Christ, because it's him and not you who won your eternal life. Look to Christ, because it's him and not you who saved you from perishing. Look to Christ, because it's him and not you who sustains the faith of those who truly trust in him. Look to Christ, because no-one; not the world, nor sinful despair, nor the devil, can take his people away from him.
If you love Christ, however hard it may be for you to follow him, however great the pressure to turn away from him, if you love Christ and look to him and cry out to him, you can be sure that he will never let you go. How wonderful it is when times are hard to know that we don't need to rely on ourselves and our efforts; for in Christ we find everything we need; salvation, security and sustenance for this life and the next.
Why not thank Christ now for what he's given you, and thank him that those who are in his hand can never be snatched away. What a friend we have in Jesus!
Friday, 19 January 2007
Friday, 12 January 2007
All to play for - Christian to serve
I'm preaching on Sunday on Mark 10:35-45, which is (as all of God's Word is!) one of those passages which the more you look at it the more it says to you. The whole section builds up to the model Jesus sets us in rescuing us on the cross, verse 45; 'For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
Jesus, the eternal ruler, was prepared to serve his people, prepared even to die for his people; what's challenged me this week is this question - what am I prepared to do for Jesus' people? Do I serve them as we gather as a church, and throughout the week, with everything I have?
It strikes me that we need to learn how to serve, and a good place to start (as with the disciples in this passage) is in our relationship with other Christians gathered together, what we call church. How can we serve others at church?
- Why not come ten minutes early? Then you can help with last-minute preparations, and if there's nothing to do you can chat to someone.
- Afterwards, pick up service sheets or litter. There's always some, and someone's got to do it - why don't you?
- Introduce yourself to someone you don't know each week. It's not an easy thing to do (but then, neither was Jesus' service), and it's really welcoming if someone welcomes you 'out of the blue'.
- Sign up to do a job that isn't particularly glamorous. We all like jobs like doing children's addresses, or taking biscuits round - easy jobs - what about lugging chairs about, picking up rubbish, cleaning toilets, etc - there are never as many volunteers for those
- Lastly, if you are involved in a group at church, think about whether that group serves the other Christians or expects to be served by them. For instance, choirs and music groups often think they are serving people - but actually the whole service is planned around what they're doing and when they want to do it, and woe betide anyone who tries to meddle with what the music leader/choirmaster wants! Groups should serve the church, not the other way round.
After all, if Jesus had demanded to be served, and decided that he would put himself first and everyone could fit round what he wanted, there wouldn't be a church because there wouldn't have been a cross. So, as Mark 10:43 puts it, 'whoever wants to become great among you must be your SERVANT.'
Jesus, the eternal ruler, was prepared to serve his people, prepared even to die for his people; what's challenged me this week is this question - what am I prepared to do for Jesus' people? Do I serve them as we gather as a church, and throughout the week, with everything I have?
It strikes me that we need to learn how to serve, and a good place to start (as with the disciples in this passage) is in our relationship with other Christians gathered together, what we call church. How can we serve others at church?
- Why not come ten minutes early? Then you can help with last-minute preparations, and if there's nothing to do you can chat to someone.
- Afterwards, pick up service sheets or litter. There's always some, and someone's got to do it - why don't you?
- Introduce yourself to someone you don't know each week. It's not an easy thing to do (but then, neither was Jesus' service), and it's really welcoming if someone welcomes you 'out of the blue'.
- Sign up to do a job that isn't particularly glamorous. We all like jobs like doing children's addresses, or taking biscuits round - easy jobs - what about lugging chairs about, picking up rubbish, cleaning toilets, etc - there are never as many volunteers for those
- Lastly, if you are involved in a group at church, think about whether that group serves the other Christians or expects to be served by them. For instance, choirs and music groups often think they are serving people - but actually the whole service is planned around what they're doing and when they want to do it, and woe betide anyone who tries to meddle with what the music leader/choirmaster wants! Groups should serve the church, not the other way round.
After all, if Jesus had demanded to be served, and decided that he would put himself first and everyone could fit round what he wanted, there wouldn't be a church because there wouldn't have been a cross. So, as Mark 10:43 puts it, 'whoever wants to become great among you must be your SERVANT.'
Verse of the week
'But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port.' Jonah 1:3
Jonah is one of my favourite prophets just because he seems so real. Here's a guy who, when God told him to go and tell a big, powerful city called Ninevah that they were facing God's anger, said 'No, thanks, that doesn't sound like much fun - I think I'll go to Spain instead.' And so he tried to run away from God, tried to run away from obeying God.
Don't we do that all the time? Every day we say to God that we'd really rather not obey his call, we'd really rather have a nice time instead - we choose Spain instead of Ninevah. Think about where you are ignoring the will of God; think about who you should be telling about Jesus and salvation, but you're not because you'd rather have an easy life. In which areas of your life are you a Jonah?
The great news of the book of Jonah (and it is a cracking story) is that though we may run from God, he doesn't run from us. Jonah, of course, was prevented from running away by a storm and a big fish and an even bigger God. He went to Ninevah in the end and the people there turned to God. God's purposes will be achieved, and he will achieve them through the people he's chosen; but how much better it would have been for Jonah if he hadn't tried to run away, hadn't had to be disciplined like that by the LORD!
There are areas of all our lives where we are running away from doing God's will; we can expect to be disciplined in those areas. But we can also, wonderfully, know that God is a patient, forgiving Father who will bring us back to his way and, despite our Jonah-like muppet-ness, will still allow us to have a part in his plans for the salvation of men and women all over the world.
Jonah is one of my favourite prophets just because he seems so real. Here's a guy who, when God told him to go and tell a big, powerful city called Ninevah that they were facing God's anger, said 'No, thanks, that doesn't sound like much fun - I think I'll go to Spain instead.' And so he tried to run away from God, tried to run away from obeying God.
Don't we do that all the time? Every day we say to God that we'd really rather not obey his call, we'd really rather have a nice time instead - we choose Spain instead of Ninevah. Think about where you are ignoring the will of God; think about who you should be telling about Jesus and salvation, but you're not because you'd rather have an easy life. In which areas of your life are you a Jonah?
The great news of the book of Jonah (and it is a cracking story) is that though we may run from God, he doesn't run from us. Jonah, of course, was prevented from running away by a storm and a big fish and an even bigger God. He went to Ninevah in the end and the people there turned to God. God's purposes will be achieved, and he will achieve them through the people he's chosen; but how much better it would have been for Jonah if he hadn't tried to run away, hadn't had to be disciplined like that by the LORD!
There are areas of all our lives where we are running away from doing God's will; we can expect to be disciplined in those areas. But we can also, wonderfully, know that God is a patient, forgiving Father who will bring us back to his way and, despite our Jonah-like muppet-ness, will still allow us to have a part in his plans for the salvation of men and women all over the world.
Sunday, 7 January 2007
When good ministers leave...
It’s always sad when a minister leaves a church, particularly a church where he has set up a lot of Bible-based work, and where God has blessed his ministry by using it to bring people to trust in Him. It’s also an important moment in the life of any church. It’s a time to pray that the Bible work would continue, and that a replacement who will teach the Word of God clearly and faithfully will be found.
History shows us that sometimes when a man who has done much great work, teaching the Bible and setting up a new church or service, leaves, a church which was once a good, Bible-teaching church stagnates and stops teaching properly. There’s an example of this happening in the Bible, right at the beginning of the life of the Christian church. It’s worth looking into because it teaches us much about the reality of church life:
In Acts 19, Paul, the greatest preacher and church planter of them all, set up a church in Ephesus, on the west coast of Turkey. We’re told that ‘the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power’ (Acts 19:20). It was a good church, a church which loved God and His Word.
But when the time came for Paul to leave, in Acts 20, he gave them a warning. He told them that ‘after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spread the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth…So BE ON YOUR GUARD’ (20:29-31). Paul knew that even though he had ‘not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God’ (20:27), in other words taught them the Bible well and faithfully, there was a danger that afterwards the church would stop teaching the Bible, and that the truth about Jesus would be distorted.
An interesting point to note is that Paul describes these men as ‘wolves’; perhaps he was deliberately thinking of Jesus’ words, in which he described people who didn’t teach God’s word properly as people who ‘come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves’ (Matthew 7:15). These people were nice guys, good people, who were friendly and funny and great to have around – but they didn’t teach the Bible properly, and that’s what mattered.
And so Paul told the church he was leaving to be on their guard – to WAIT and to WATCH what happened to the church.
The tragic thing is that the church in Ephesus didn’t remember Paul’s warning. Years later, when Jesus gave His Revelation to John, part of it was a letter to the church in Ephesus, in which Jesus said to them; ‘You have forsaken your first love (ie Jesus)…Repent’ (Revelation 2:4,5). The church had forgotten to base everything on Jesus, and learning from His Word; and now Jesus threatened to ‘come to you and remove your lampstand’ (2:5) – in other words, remove His blessing.
The warning is clear; if a church that the apostle Paul set up could stop teaching the Bible and stop loving Jesus after he left it, then it can happen to any church when a minister who has set up lots of Bible-based work leaves. That’s not to say, of course, that it definitely will, and we must all pray that it doesn’t; but we must also remember to listen to Paul’s words to that church in Ephesus, and ‘be on our guard’.
We must be watchful, making sure that that minister’s replacement loves the Bible too, and that he will teach us well too, and that the church will continue to be centred on God’s Word and nothing else. No church is too good for it to go wrong if its people do not keep watch; and no church is important enough for those who do love the Word to stay there if its leaders do not.
History shows us that sometimes when a man who has done much great work, teaching the Bible and setting up a new church or service, leaves, a church which was once a good, Bible-teaching church stagnates and stops teaching properly. There’s an example of this happening in the Bible, right at the beginning of the life of the Christian church. It’s worth looking into because it teaches us much about the reality of church life:
In Acts 19, Paul, the greatest preacher and church planter of them all, set up a church in Ephesus, on the west coast of Turkey. We’re told that ‘the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power’ (Acts 19:20). It was a good church, a church which loved God and His Word.
But when the time came for Paul to leave, in Acts 20, he gave them a warning. He told them that ‘after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spread the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth…So BE ON YOUR GUARD’ (20:29-31). Paul knew that even though he had ‘not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God’ (20:27), in other words taught them the Bible well and faithfully, there was a danger that afterwards the church would stop teaching the Bible, and that the truth about Jesus would be distorted.
An interesting point to note is that Paul describes these men as ‘wolves’; perhaps he was deliberately thinking of Jesus’ words, in which he described people who didn’t teach God’s word properly as people who ‘come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves’ (Matthew 7:15). These people were nice guys, good people, who were friendly and funny and great to have around – but they didn’t teach the Bible properly, and that’s what mattered.
And so Paul told the church he was leaving to be on their guard – to WAIT and to WATCH what happened to the church.
The tragic thing is that the church in Ephesus didn’t remember Paul’s warning. Years later, when Jesus gave His Revelation to John, part of it was a letter to the church in Ephesus, in which Jesus said to them; ‘You have forsaken your first love (ie Jesus)…Repent’ (Revelation 2:4,5). The church had forgotten to base everything on Jesus, and learning from His Word; and now Jesus threatened to ‘come to you and remove your lampstand’ (2:5) – in other words, remove His blessing.
The warning is clear; if a church that the apostle Paul set up could stop teaching the Bible and stop loving Jesus after he left it, then it can happen to any church when a minister who has set up lots of Bible-based work leaves. That’s not to say, of course, that it definitely will, and we must all pray that it doesn’t; but we must also remember to listen to Paul’s words to that church in Ephesus, and ‘be on our guard’.
We must be watchful, making sure that that minister’s replacement loves the Bible too, and that he will teach us well too, and that the church will continue to be centred on God’s Word and nothing else. No church is too good for it to go wrong if its people do not keep watch; and no church is important enough for those who do love the Word to stay there if its leaders do not.
Thursday, 4 January 2007
Verse of the week
'This is love; that we walk in obedience to his commands' 2 John 6
How can I show someone I love them? When it's Lizzie, chocolates or flowers usually do the trick, but actually it's by putting her first day by day, in big things or little things, that really shows whether I love her or whether I'm just saying it. After all, anyone can buy flowers and convince themselves they love that person; it doesn't mean they do.
How can I show I love God? John is very clear, isn't he? - by obeying his commands. That's what love towards God (and towards others) is - obviously God loves it when I say I love him, when I stand in church and sing that I love him, but actually it's obeying his commands, putting him and his wishes ahead of my own day by day, that really proves that I love him.
Anyone can say they love God - but not all of those people do. I can think of lots of people who've told me they love Jesus and trust Jesus and will follow Jesus - but they never bothered to follow his commands. Let's pray that God would give us the desire and the ability to love him in a real way, love him in the way he asks; by following his loving, perfect, righteous commands, not just on Sundays or special days, but day by day, in big things or little things, as we learn to love God properly.
How can I show someone I love them? When it's Lizzie, chocolates or flowers usually do the trick, but actually it's by putting her first day by day, in big things or little things, that really shows whether I love her or whether I'm just saying it. After all, anyone can buy flowers and convince themselves they love that person; it doesn't mean they do.
How can I show I love God? John is very clear, isn't he? - by obeying his commands. That's what love towards God (and towards others) is - obviously God loves it when I say I love him, when I stand in church and sing that I love him, but actually it's obeying his commands, putting him and his wishes ahead of my own day by day, that really proves that I love him.
Anyone can say they love God - but not all of those people do. I can think of lots of people who've told me they love Jesus and trust Jesus and will follow Jesus - but they never bothered to follow his commands. Let's pray that God would give us the desire and the ability to love him in a real way, love him in the way he asks; by following his loving, perfect, righteous commands, not just on Sundays or special days, but day by day, in big things or little things, as we learn to love God properly.
Makes you think if you're in ministry...
More from Charles Simeon: here he is talking about the responsibility of being a minister and how serious it would be to be a lazy minister. The words are John Piper's, who's written a book about him called 'The Roots of Endurance':
'The pastor is like the keeper of a lighthouse. Simeon painted a vivid picture of a rocky coast strewn with dead and mangled bodies with the wailing of widows and orphans. He pictured the couldn't-be-bothered lighthouse keeper being brought out and the answer for all this given; 'Asleep!' Wakeful endurance was a life-and-death matter for Simeon. He dared not have a casual sleepy-eyed approach to ministry.'
In other words, he believed Hebrews 13:17 - 'Your leaders...keep watch over you as men who must give an account.'
It's useful for all of us who are in ministry, be it being an archbishop or a vicar or a youthworker or a Sunday School teacher to think each night when we go to bed; 'Have I done everything I could today to care for those in my charge?' We may choose to ask that question of ourselves or we may choose not to; but one day, on the Judgement Day, God will ask it of us whether we like it or not.
Makes you think!
'The pastor is like the keeper of a lighthouse. Simeon painted a vivid picture of a rocky coast strewn with dead and mangled bodies with the wailing of widows and orphans. He pictured the couldn't-be-bothered lighthouse keeper being brought out and the answer for all this given; 'Asleep!' Wakeful endurance was a life-and-death matter for Simeon. He dared not have a casual sleepy-eyed approach to ministry.'
In other words, he believed Hebrews 13:17 - 'Your leaders...keep watch over you as men who must give an account.'
It's useful for all of us who are in ministry, be it being an archbishop or a vicar or a youthworker or a Sunday School teacher to think each night when we go to bed; 'Have I done everything I could today to care for those in my charge?' We may choose to ask that question of ourselves or we may choose not to; but one day, on the Judgement Day, God will ask it of us whether we like it or not.
Makes you think!
Simeon: a Christian through many trials
I'm currently reading a book about a man called Charles Simeon. Simeon was vicar of a church in Cambridge (but we won't hold that against him) at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th, for over 50 years. Here are a few things I've found out about him:
For over a decade at the beginning, the congregation, who didn't like him, stopped him from preaching at one of the services (in his own church!), locked the pews so there were no seats (in those days you could lock a pew to stop anyone sitting in it) and then threw away the chairs Simeon bought to put in the aisles for people to sit on, and when he tried to set up a new evening service, locked the doors so that other people couldn't come in. He was despised by all the tutors and lecturers at the university, who refused to talk to him, and when he preached students would gather outside to throw stones at the windows.
It goes to show how tough being a Christian who preaches the Bible or tells people about Jesus can be, but because Simeon knew his Bible he expected it, was prepared for it, and knew he could rely on God to get him through it. He told a friend; 'My dear brother, we must not mind a little suffering for Christ's sake.'
Here's another thing he remembered later in his life, of a time when he 'was an object of much contempt and derision in the University...I prayed earnestly to God that he would comfort me from his Word. The first text (in the Bible) which caught my eye was this: "They found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name; him they compelled to bear His cross" (Matthew 27:32). Simon is the same name as Simeon. What a word of instruction was there - to have the cross laid upon me, that I might bear it after Jesus - what a privilege! It was enough. Now I could leap and sing for joy as one whom was honouring with a participation of His sufferings.'
Too often as a Christian I'm surprised when things are tough, when people don't want to listen to me, when the world seems determined to ignore Christ. I need to remember Simeon's experience of a decade of being shunned and tormented by his own congregation and colleagues, and see that my 'difficult days' are nothing in comparison to that.
But most of all, I and we all desperately need to remember that even Simeon's trials are dwarfed by the man who didn't just carry a cross but was crucified on it, by the man who bore the sins of an unthankful world. That's the man we follow, and if being rejected, laughed at and looked down upon was good enough for him, we should in Simeon's words 'leap and sing for joy' when we are fortunate enough to suffer for Christ just a fraction of what he suffered for us.
For over a decade at the beginning, the congregation, who didn't like him, stopped him from preaching at one of the services (in his own church!), locked the pews so there were no seats (in those days you could lock a pew to stop anyone sitting in it) and then threw away the chairs Simeon bought to put in the aisles for people to sit on, and when he tried to set up a new evening service, locked the doors so that other people couldn't come in. He was despised by all the tutors and lecturers at the university, who refused to talk to him, and when he preached students would gather outside to throw stones at the windows.
It goes to show how tough being a Christian who preaches the Bible or tells people about Jesus can be, but because Simeon knew his Bible he expected it, was prepared for it, and knew he could rely on God to get him through it. He told a friend; 'My dear brother, we must not mind a little suffering for Christ's sake.'
Here's another thing he remembered later in his life, of a time when he 'was an object of much contempt and derision in the University...I prayed earnestly to God that he would comfort me from his Word. The first text (in the Bible) which caught my eye was this: "They found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name; him they compelled to bear His cross" (Matthew 27:32). Simon is the same name as Simeon. What a word of instruction was there - to have the cross laid upon me, that I might bear it after Jesus - what a privilege! It was enough. Now I could leap and sing for joy as one whom was honouring with a participation of His sufferings.'
Too often as a Christian I'm surprised when things are tough, when people don't want to listen to me, when the world seems determined to ignore Christ. I need to remember Simeon's experience of a decade of being shunned and tormented by his own congregation and colleagues, and see that my 'difficult days' are nothing in comparison to that.
But most of all, I and we all desperately need to remember that even Simeon's trials are dwarfed by the man who didn't just carry a cross but was crucified on it, by the man who bore the sins of an unthankful world. That's the man we follow, and if being rejected, laughed at and looked down upon was good enough for him, we should in Simeon's words 'leap and sing for joy' when we are fortunate enough to suffer for Christ just a fraction of what he suffered for us.
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