True knowledge

‘The Hebrew language does not recognize any distinction between knowledge that is an accumulation of information and knowledge that is personal acquaintance. For the Hebrews, all true knowledge is based on experience. Therefore, when the prophet speaks here about the “knowledge of the LORD”, he is not speaking primarily of knowledge about the Lord but of the insight into reality born of a close and intimate relationship with him. The Messiah will make it possible for all people to know God intimately.’

John N. Oswalt, NIV application commentary on Isaiah, p189 (On Isaiah 11.1-9)

The importance of faith

I recently returned from India. It was a challenging time. A time of seeing what really matters in life and ministry. I was, amongst other things, compelled by simplicity. Why do we make this so complicated when Jesus spent all his time making it so simple? God forgive us!

I also learned from India was that I need more faith. I think that the curse of the western world that I live in is a lack of faith. As my old pastor used to say, ‘faith is the magic with God’. I’m starting to see how right he was. We can’t be any use to God without faith. In fact, without faith it is impossible to please God. We are saved by grace through faith. Faith is the door into all of the blessings that God has laid up for us in Christ.

The truth is that we can’t even see God without faith. Without faith all we will see is some watered down philosophical construct, which might make us feel God about our lives for a season, but which won’t provide transformation in us. Without faith we won’t see God, just a dim reflection in a mirror of our own pitiful souls.

Without faith we will always attempt to change our lives through our own efforts. We will seek to help ourselves to healing. We will become skilled in the language and liturgy of psycho-babble, heck, we might even construct a watertight theology around it, but we won’t see change. Our worship will become narcissism, self-obsessed squandering, empty tunes with empty hearts. Without faith God will not listen to our singing and preaching. It will be empty noise to Him and He will take no pleasure in it.

Only faith pleases God. Not effort. Not perfection or excellence. Not aesthetic. Not performance. Not knowledge. Not anything. Only faith worked out in love.
So how can we grow in faith? The first and most important step is to take our eyes from ourselves and put them onto God. Only when we choose to centre our lives on the character, nature, size and stature of God will we grow in faith.
The bible calls this Fear of the Lord.

We need to learn it. We need to be schooled in the power and size of God, the same God who could crush the universe just by ceasing to will it into existence. This is the God we serve. He owes us nothing. We owe Him everything. We revolve around Him, not He around us.

Faith grows in this environment. We must repent of our self-obsession and offer our bodies to God for His use. We must tear down the biggest idol and obstacle we have in seeing God as who he is. Us. We have to learn to fear God again and to live with big visions and big expectations.

The many or the few

I see a disturbing pattern in the world today, which I believe is as prevalent in the Christian community as the ‘real world’. It’s an obsession. It’s the desire to impact the many, to make a big impact in the world. To start movements that will affect hundreds, thousands, even millions. For God, of course. For His glory. So that He might become famous.

Only it’s not that simple is it? Yes, we want God to be glorified, but we position things so that our name might be lifted up by association. He can have the starring role, but we will take the Oscar for supporting actor.
And so we seek to achieve our godly aims by ungodly means. Self-promotion and exaggeration through social media, coupled with gossip about what others are not doing as well as we are. Pushing ourselves forwards to opportunities that our characters are not strong enough to bear and pushing others down when they threaten us. How do I know all of this? Well, it’s in my heart too. It’s the sinful striving of the unrestrained human heart.

At the heart of the matter is, I believe, a misunderstanding regarding what matters most to God. We seem to think that God is into the big spectacle, the event, the mega-strategy and the big impact. But He’s not. That’s not the way He plays the game. Think about it, He appeared to an insignificant man called Abram and promised to make Him great. He continued that promise through a people who had nothing to call their own other than their relationship with Him. They were always closest to Him when they reveled in their insignificant place in His mighty plan. He appeared in flesh in Jesus. A small town carpenter born in a stable, who spent most of his public life homeless and on the run.

God doesn’t need our PR. He chooses to use us in His plan out of His grace, but He doesn’t need us and He never will. He is far more interested in seeing us be good to the few than trying to impact the many. That is one of the fundamental truths we can garner from Jesus’ own ministry. Yes, Jesus spoke to very large groups, but we gather that this was peripheral to His ministry. It wasn’t the centerpiece. The cornerstone was his interaction with a small group of people. That’s the lasting impact that he had on the earth.

“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” (1 Cor 1.27)
Yet we still trust in the outwardly wise thing, rather than choosing the simple and humble task of loving one another in small things. Why are we so fascinated with the big splash which we hope will affect the many, when He died an ignominious death after a lifetime set on impacting the few?

Why are we so focused on being significant people? We have forgotten that in striving for significance we are ruling ourselves out of the greatest plan there is, of being a small cog in the big wheel of God’s plan. It does not matter whether or not people (Christian or otherwise) know who we are. What matters is Jesus knows who we and approves of our work for him.

“Seek first my Kingdom”, Jesus says, “and all these things will be added unto you as well”. As we meet with Jesus all of our priorities are completely re-ordered and we see what truly matters once more.

Mystery and new creation - the Easter story

Without any doubt, the mystery of our religion is great: "He was revealed in flesh, vindicated in spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among Gentiles, believed in throughout the world, taken up in glory."

- 1 Timothy 3:16

When you think about it the Christian faith is pretty weird. If you've grown up within it you may never have seriously considered how 'out there' it all is. We believe that God fully revealed Himself in flesh through Jesus. We believe that although he died that he was bodily raised. This was not merely a 'spiritual' reality but a fully physical one. Indeed it was more physical than anything we have ever seen. We then believe that he ascended to be with the Father, taking up the place that always belonged to him, as Lord of everything that he had made in the first place.

God come to earth, living, dying and rising for us. Weird. Crazy, unless true.

This Easter we are confronted once again with a decision to make. Firstly, will we believe in these events? Will we believe that they happened and that they show us something deeply true about the world that we are in? Namely, that it contains mystery, that which is infinitely explainable, but which always escapes mere doctrinal assent. That which always provokes wonder and faith. Can we allow these Easter events to leave us in awe this year? Will we embrace reality and faith that goes beyond the checklist?

And secondly will we also choose, once more, to let these events that can't ever be fully explained away but yet which are rooted in historical fact to shape the way that we actually live in the 'here and now'? Will we choose this year to become resurrection people, who hope not only in Jesus' resurrection but in our own which is to come and in the resurrection and renewal of everything God ever made?

Will we begin working for that future reality right now, because that is what is demanded by the resurrection of Jesus. The fact that the greatest event in eternity happens within human history means that we must begin building the new heavens and the new earth right now. Let's get to work!

Francis Chan on persecution in India

Grow up before you grow old

"God wants us to grow up."

In reading these words in Andre Agassi's recent and excellent autobiography, I was taken aback. I've felt the challenge to 'grow up' from a number of different angles recently, not least conversations with others and engagement with the scriptures, but this was the final nail in the coffin, as it were.

The goal of Christian discipleship is, after all, full maturity in Jesus, which equates to absolute conformation to his character. To put it another way we are intended to become just like him. We will, one day, be fully conformed to his image, just as he is perfectly in the Father's image. As Peter puts it we will 'participate in the divine nature'(2 Pet 1.4).

So often I think we sell ourselves short of this massive goal. We get through conversion and then, feeling fully assured of our salvation, we fail to grow up. We carry on drinking spiritual milk when there is meat to be had, and plenty of it. We begin a relationship with the Father through the Son, but we miss out on the daily empowerment of the Holy Spirit. We fail to consummate the relationship we have begun with God. This is tantamount to failing to grow in relationship with our wife after exchanging the vows.

This hits on the main way in which we will grow in maturity in Christ, which is through 'sharing space' with Jesus. We grow in relationship with our spouse, friends or kids by sharing experiences and space with them. We aim to cross paths as often and as intimately as possible, through which we grow in intimacy and passion for them. We understand them, they understand us and they rub off on us.

It's the same with God only more so.

If we are going to grow into Christ's shape then there is only one way. Sharing space and experiences with him. I would want to call this prayer. I'm not simply thinking of the stuff we do when we're on our knees by our bed, but everything in life which is said and done in communion with Jesus. We become like him through the mundane things we do in communion with him. Things like eating, talking, laughing and even sleeping.

Of course, this is not a passive growing. It takes great energy for anything to grow. We are saved by grace through faith, yes, but God has prepared good works for us to do that will enable us to grow so that Christ will fill us up in greater measure. Being formed in the image of Jesus is the hardest thing we will ever do. It is the culmination of millions of little decisions we make over the course of our lifetimes.

Ultimately the final consummation comes when we are raised again through the power of the Spirit. We then see him as he is and so become fully like him.

In the meantime we need to re-focus our efforts and energy on becoming like him. We can't settle for anything less than this. This is, after all, the whole point of us being saved in the first place. God wants us to look like Jesus that the world might see the blessing that comes in relationship with Him, and that they might seek it for themselves. It was the Pharisaic propensity to hoard this blessing to themselves that Jesus criticized so heavily.

May 2010 be the year of growing up. For me, for you and for all God's people.

John 21 - Jesus and Peter

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?"
"Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." (John 21.15)

Simon Peter is on the rebound. He has ridden the rollercoaster of following Jesus all the way to the bottom, denying Jesus in his time of need. He has nothing left to give, nothing to boast about. There is no way back for him except by the grace of Jesus. Is there a way to be good again?

Jesus meets him in his time of need as they sit down for breakfast on the beach. Peter is desperate for reconciliation and Jesus doesn’t disappoint him. But it’s the way that Jesus does this that interests me.

Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"

It is Simon’s love of Jesus that has been tested and found wanting. The denial episode has shown him and Jesus what was really going on in his heart all along. His answer to the question is, of course, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."

Jesus asks him the same question three times, once for each denial. Each affirmation of love heals the wound of previous betrayal. And the love that Simon affirms is linked to his calling. Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."

And that’s the point. Simon’s only capability in his calling is his love for Jesus. His only preparation for being useful in the plans of Jesus is his relationship with the one he loves. The situation is no different today. We become useful to Jesus when we fall in love with him. It’s not about our gifting, our striving, our savvy, our training or anything else. It’s not a matter of whether we love going to church, reading our bible, teaching people about God, or anything else. It doesn’t matter whether we want to build his Kingdom by working in church, Starbucks, Costco or anyplace else.

It all means nothing unless we love.

We are only useful to Jesus if we truly love him. This is the one and only qualification Jesus asks for in Simon and it is what he asks for in each of us too.

Do you love him?

Faith: Part 3

This is my third and final post on faith. In these posts, which focus on the calling of Peter and his friends, I have been trying to assert is that faith is never merely about what we 'believe', as if belief in something can be limited to the intellectual sphere. No - faith must necessarily spill over into what we do, into the essence of who we are as people. This is the lesson of Peter's encounter with Jesus. So how can we become the kind of people who are filled with that kind of faith?

The extent to which we respond in faith will always be the extent to which we know the risen Jesus. We cannot be filled with faith unless we know Him for ourselves and are filled with his Holy Spirit. Derivative knowledge will not do. Our churches are filled with people who leach their pastors faith, believing that they can live 'through' their pastor. They can't and this is why many church-goers' lives look no different to the world's lives. Vicarious knowledge of Jesus is not enough.

But how can we develop such a knowledge of Jesus? Firstly, we need to learn to be in Jesus’ presence. Just to sit with him. We need to become more and more familiar with him through any and every element of our lives. We need to get familiar with him through reading the bible, through developing an active prayer life, through talking with other Jesus followers and through acting on what we think he might be saying. We need to encounter Jesus on every level of the human experience and we need to do it often. We cannot survive on our 'conversion experience' alone. Every day God is waiting for us to meet Him afresh. Faith in God which does not engage the daily experience will soon become academic and stale, losing its vitality.

Jesus himself says this to his disciples in Luke 18.

"¹Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ²He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. ³And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.'

⁴"For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, ⁵yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' "

⁶And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? ⁸I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

Persistence in prayer is one of the key ways we develop faith, because through it we find out about who God is what He is like.

We learn something more on this subject from Simon Peter. In verse 8 we see Peter’s response to the miracle he has just witnessed. He says “go away from me , Lord, for I am a sinful man!” This is typical of anyone who has come into the presence of the living God. Peter sees Jesus for who he really is and in so doing he recognizes who he really is too, a sinful man.

Peter's analysis of the situation is quite wrong at this point. He thinks that his sinfulness means that Jesus won’t want to associate with him. In reality, quite the reverse is true. Simon’s sinfulness is exactly the reason Jesus wants to associate with him. Jesus has come to 'seek and save what has been lost' and that begins with Simon and will eventually be done through Simon. Jesus knows there is something in Simon that is totally untapped and unrealized, and he wants to bring it out of him. He wants Simon to be his disciple. He thinks that Simon can become like him because Simon has the X-Factor - faith and humility. In other words Simon knows what he lacks and what he needs.

Jesus, in interacting with Simon in this way, is saying that Simon is up to the job of becoming just like Jesus. This, too, is his promise to us.

In verse 10 we see that Jesus sees beyond Simon's fear into his heart and ultimately into his future. He calls him, redefining what he has always done and re-directing it for the greater purpose of the Kingdom of God. That’s how Jesus wants to work in our lives too. He takes what we have and directs it for his greater good. Our job is simply to submit and obey. Jesus is not asking us to put a mask on before we come and serve him. In fact quite the opposite is true. He wants us to come just as we are and he will use what we have and multiply it.

Simon's response says it all. He is the representative of his accomplices here, making the same decision they all choose to make. This is the hinge point of their lives. They have seen Jesus do amazing things before this, but they have not yet made the key decision to follow. Here, they unmistakably and irrefutably do just that; “they left everything.” This is the true response of faith and also the test of faith. You know when someone has really given themselves over to Jesus because they choose to leave everything for Jesus.

It’s pretty amazing to think that Simon leaves even the catch of fish, which would have been worth a heck of a lot of money, as well as his business and family behind in order to follow this guy he has only recently met. Simon knows that the financial value of the haul, even the total value of the business is nothing in comparison with the value of being around Jesus. The young men don't even bother to sell the fish!

Simon has been made aware of the fruit of obedience and now he chooses to follow with everything he has. He, John and James now know that it will be totally worth their while. Meeting Jesus has put everything else in perspective for them. Even their livelihood has now taken second place to the call of Jesus. Their faith in them has led to greater obedience to what he wants for them. They could not bear to be without him after what they have seen.

What impact must this have had on the crowd watching? Surely it shook them to their core? What impact would it have on the places we live and work if we were known as people who would gladly follow Jesus even if it meant leaving behind all the trappings of the world? What kind of world would we inhabit have if those of us that believe in Jesus gave up everything for him, even the things that hold us back and stop us from being totally abandoned to Jesus? What would our gospel look like if we held it out especially to those who are fully aware of their inability to make it on their own - to the least and the poorest?

Jesus used these fishermen to change the world! He can do the same with us!

How much are you willing to give up for him to do that?

Faith is an event and a process; it is a departure point and a journey. Some of us have set off on the journey and are now walking with Jesus and keeping in step with His Spirit. For us, we need the encouragement to keep on walking and obeying as we go. Others have not yet set off. We need to make the decision to begin walking and trusting in Jesus with all we have, knowing that He will bring along what we lack. Others have walked with him before but have stopped walking. They need to begin again, knowing that there is enough grace for them to stand up and re-start the journey.

There is room for all of us in a story as big as this and there is grace for all of us too. Jesus says the same thing to one and all, 'come and follow me'. This is our duty but it is also our destiny. Only in following him do we discover who we are and what we were born to do.

Faith: Part 2

In verse 4 we see that Jesus finishes teaching. He hasn't finished working though. In fact, the greater work of testing and calling Simon is only just beginning. Jesus is not content merely to work in the supposedly 'spiritual realm', with things like teaching crowds. No, he is innately relational. There is as much in that sphere for him as in any other element of his ministry. He is perfectly well balanced in his priorities. No one element of his work takes precedence over the other and all are in submission to his relationship with God the Father. This is the model he lays down for the lives of all who follow him. 

Yet this will involve a certain amount of laying down other priorities, processes, even relationships if we are to re-order our lives in line with his. We will often need to learn to say 'no' before we can properly say 'yes'. This will come as each of us make the step of personal obedience to listen to God and to obey what says. 

This is exactly the same attitude that we see in Simon, Jesus’ first disciple. After Jesus has finished speaking he looks to Simon and asks him to begin fishing. Where does Jesus get this idea from? It must be that he has heard it directly from the Father, otherwise it is lunacy. There is absolutely no worldly sense in this request. There is no reason whatsoever that Simon should obey him, other than through recognising who Jesus really is by faith. Faith is the only reason that Simon would even allow Jesus to say something so preposterous. How can a carpenter advise a fisherman on fishing? Simon has been fishing all night – which is when you fish – and has caught nothing. If nothing has been caught at night then fishing in the day is hardly going to help.

But this act is not merely about Simon’s faith, it is about Jesus’ faith. Jesus is the one who has started this event through his hearing God and knowing that God was not finished with him once the sermon had ended. Jesus obeys what he hears his father saying. And it Jesus’ obedience that gives Simon the model for his own obedience.

Simon knows that what Jesus is asking him makes little sense, and in a gentle way he tells Jesus so. “Master…” In spite of this Simon doesn't ask for a sign or even an explanation, he simply obeys.

Jesus’ authority comes from knowing that his Father has told him to do this. Jesus is perfectly obedient to what God is asking of Him…and so is Simon. He knows it doesn’t make any sense to do what Jesus is asking Him but he trusts it all the same, simply on the basis of his faith in Jesus. He doesn't even know Jesus that well. But he trusts on the basis of what he does know, and he does not allow what he doesn't know to stand in his way. Simon has already seen his mother healed and he trusts that something good will come of this even if he doesn’t know what. He doesn't know everything but he knows enough, and this is enough for him for now.

And here is the crucial element, he acts. Much of the church has tried to separate faith and action as if they could be held apart. They can’t. To have faith in Jesus is to trust in what he is saying and to demonstrate that by following him. Sometimes that means that we will end up doing some really stupid things. Sometimes we won’t have a clue about the outcome until we are halfway through the story. Sometimes we won’t know how God has used us until afterwards. Sometimes we will have to wait until heaven!

“Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.”

Simon’s trust is not in the advice Jesus gives but in the person who is giving it. He has faith in Jesus and he acts out that faith.

And the fruit of obedience is abundance. Simon’s nets are so full that he has to bring his partners James and John into the equation to help. Even then both boats are sinking under the load of the haul of fish.

What has happened here is in no way normal. What has happened here is totally miraculous. Simon has learned a key lesson through this; when we are fully obedient to the powerful words of Jesus we see our lives bursting with fruit. There is nothing that can stand in the way of the obedient disciples of Jesus. This has to be true for us too. Sometimes the blessing of faith, the abundance, will be the faith itself. Sometimes it will be material. We don't choose. All we can do is receive and be thankful.

Those of us who follow Jesus know that what we want to see happen in the world is so much greater than anything we could imagine on our own and anything we could grow. It's an agenda born out of hope, not rationale or even experience. We want to see this creation transformed by the love of Jesus. We want to see God’s Kingdom spill out of us and touch the world that we encounter day by day. We want to see people fall so deeply in love with Jesus that their lives are changed forever. We want to see addictions forgotten, demons cast out, people healed and the name of Jesus become synonymous with our city, state and country – and we want to see radical faith filled communities sending other churches out into the world for this to happen elsewhere.

 We are only ever going to see this happen if we hear and obey the word of Jesus. There is no short cut to this. Hear and obey. Hear and obey. We believe in the one who has all we need because we know we can't do it on our own.

In the final blog in this series we will look at how we can position ourselves for this kind of life.

Faith: Part 1

How do we follow Jesus into the job of changing the world? What do we need in our proverbial locker if we are to see God’s Kingdom come to change and heal this hurting and broken world through us? We need to have an intimate relationship with the living God by His Holy Spirit for one. This will lead us to a genuine love for others too, which is crucial; but we also need faith - and lots of it.

Despite his many shortcomings, I see Peter as a fine model of faith in the gospels. He gets some things wrong but he gets a heck of a lot right too, so I thought I would spend the next few blogs going through Luke 5.1-11, where we see Peter being called to follow Jesus. This is how the story goes...

1One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, 2he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

 4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch."

 5Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."

 6When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

 8When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" 9For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken,10and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners.

   Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." 11So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him."

We begin with a description of the scene, but without much of an explanation for it. Why was Jesus standing by the lake? The implied explanation given is simply that he was there to teach. That is what his ministry is about in some part. He has just laid out the multi-faceted nature of his ministry in Luke 4 - his own manifesto as it were - drawn from Isaiah 61, and now he has begun to work it out in public. He has already healed one man with an unclean Spirit, a woman ( Simon's mother) from a fever and has cast out many demons - no sickness is too big or too small for Jesus - and now he continues to teach. His teaching can never be separated from his healing and vice versa. They are inextricably linked as they both form a part of his composite announcement of the reality of the Kingdom, which has drawn near in his own self.

The crowd is pressing in on him. They know why they are there. They have seen something in him up to this point that they have never witnessed in anyone before this point. Even in this short time of his active ministry they know that this man Jesus is unique and they want more. They want to hear what he has to say. There is something about this man that marks him out from the others, even in an age where there are many opinions and leaders. 

He has authority (Luke 4.36).

What the crowd see is a man filled with the Holy Spirit (4.1) and empowered by the Holy Spirit (4.14) to do the very works of God. How could the crowd fail to see that? They can! That’s why they’re there. His teaching is different (4.15) because it is active and it draws people. This is reminiscent of Paul's approach in Corinth (1 Cor 2.1-5). It is the only sound basis for the preaching of the gospel. 

"1When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power."

This kind of preaching, in itself, requires great faith. Jesus has that kind of faith and he inspires it in those he meets.

Jesus observes the situation he is in and he sees more than meets the eye. An opportunity not simply to teach the crowd but to draw disciples to himself. Jesus is able to focus on the large scale and the small scale at the same time. He does not get so enamored and distracted by the crowd that he loses his focus on the individual. Nor does he become so intrigued with the personal that he withdraws from the corporate. He has bifocal vision. He sees the purposes of God in both and has a big enough picture to honor God in both.

He climbs aboard and begins to teach the crowds. He does not ask permission, he simply does it. He is demonstrating his authority in action. He has also 'paid his way' in some measure by healing Simon's mother in the  previous verses. There is some relationship already stirring between Simon and Jesus. 

Jesus is totally free to ask Simon to do what he says. He has no fear of offending Simon, no worry about putting him out. Simon obeys him word for word by 'putting out a little way from the sure'.  Jesus is 'testing the water' of Simon's heart, so to speak. He is working out whether this is the kind of guy he would like to have with him. Simon doesn't know he is at a job interview, which makes his obedient response all the more impressive. 

Notice this. Simon does not alter Jesus' request at any point. He simply hears and obeys. This is the response of faith, that we hear and we obey. Simon is about to demonstrate this again, although he does not know it yet. 

We'll move onto this in the next post.

Pastor is as Pastor does

I have observed a worrying trend in much of the church, which is that pastors are no longer willing or able to live up to their calling as pastors, instead choosing to be 'entrepreneurs' and 'visionaries'. I see the same trend in my own heart too. It is a sickness born of the desire to be significant before being obedient.

Reading from the introduction to 'Working the Angles' by Eugene Peterson;

"The pastors of America have metamorphosed into a company of shopkeepers, and the shops they keep are churches. They are preoccupied with shopkeeper's concerns - how to keep the customers happy, how to lure customers away from competitors down the street, how to package the goods so that customers will lay out more money.

"Some of them are very good shopkeepers. They attract a lot of customers, pull in great sums of money, develop splendid reputations. Yet it is still shopkeeping; religious shopkeeping, to be sure, but shopkeeping all the same.

"The biblical fact is that there are no successful churches. There are, instead, communities of sinners, gathered before God week after week in towns and villages all over the world. The Holy Spirit gathers them and does his work in them. In these communities of sinners, one of the sinners is called pastor and given a designated responsibility to keep the community attentive to God. It is this responsibility that is being abandoned in spades."

'Pastor' is not a job title, nor is it a designation of the level one has reached in the organisation of the church. The Pastor is the one who serves the flock, who even lays down his own life for the flock. The true Pastor is the one who knows what the sheep need and is able to go to God with and for each flock member within his pasture to attain it.

It is not that we don't need teachers, visionaries or entrepreneurs. In fact, we need them all in greater measure. However, these gifts and roles are not, in my humble opinion, what is most important in the life of the church. The most pressing need in the church is for Pastoral care to emerge which will help 'average folks' become the saints that God has ordained them to be. God provides the growth, of course, but we are still told that Paul planted and Apollos watered (see 1 Cor 2). One of the things I most enjoy about the church I work at currently is that there is a sustained emphasis on the need to care for and train people to live out their life in Christ on a day-to-day basis. Even with such an emphasis it is a tough job. Imagine how things go when this emphasis is lacking!

Loving people is not something we do if have the time. It's not an optional extra in the mix of Christian leadership. It is, in fact, the primary requirement. If we can't act pastorally we should wonder what we are doing in the church at all. It is something that all of us are commanded to do by Jesus himself. If we are not doing this we are not Christians, never mind Christian leaders. It really is that simple. Let the visionaries first be pastors. Let the teachers be pastor-teachers and let the church entrepreneurs know that unless they do their work in love it will be as a 'resounding gong and a clanging cymbal' (1 Cor 13).

Yes, let us build the most innovative and exciting church the world has ever known. Let us work as hard as we can in this regard, but let us build it on the foundation of faith, love and care. And let those of us in leadership surrender our agenda for greatness to the greater gospel agenda of love, that we might 'present everyone mature in Christ.' (Col 1.28) 

Prayer - Stanley Hauerwas

2 things to learn from prayer;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYRk3uPVhvY

Sharing

If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be ... Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, "Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land."

Deuteronomy 15:7-11

Sharing trumps giving because when we share we don't get to stay in control of our stuff. When we open up our lives to sharing with our community we allow others to invade our space and take what they need. We don't get to choose when and what we give, we give as there is need.

We get the same benefits in return too. There is a mutuality to sharing that is not present in the same way through giving.

The freedom of obscurity

"For you have died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." Colossians 3.3

The gospel is first about death, Jesus's death and then our death. We enter into the story of the gospel through the cross of Jesus, which demands that we die. When we begin this journey of following Jesus we say 'no' to those things that used to drive us forward and instead choose to follow Him.

Our life is no longer our own, it is now hidden in His life. We no longer have a life apart from Him but our life is derived from His life. This is what it means to be hidden in Him. It's no longer about us. We're not the central figure in the play - Jesus is.

The advantages of this are obvious. Jesus is now with God. He enjoys all the benefits that being in the presence of God allow. He has intimacy with the Father and He knows the will of the Father. Through Jesus we now have access to all of these benefits which were once beyond our reach. We participate in the very life of God. This is the life after the death.

Peter puts it like this;

"His (Jesus') divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he (Jesus) has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." 2 Peter 1.3-4

All this means that we must become hidden, obscure and discounted. It's not about us. We are freed from the need to be at the center of the story. It can't be about us any longer. It has to be about Him if it's going to work as it should. This truth has obvious implications for how we function as followers of Jesus. A sure sign of the authenticity of our faith will be our humility. We will live as if we are nothing and He is everything. We will get out of the way.

How often can we say this is our reality? How often are we actually more concerned with being noticed and approved of? I can say for myself that this is a big problem. I think the culture of Christian celebrities is one of the biggest signs that we have missed the gospel and one of the reasons we see so little of the power of God in our midst. We have made it about us and none of us has anything to offer.

Our job is to point to Him. To become hidden that He might be revealed. Are we ready for this? Are we ready to die again? There's nothing I want more but nothing I feel less able to do.

This is why John the Baptist is so amazing. What a humble man it takes to say
"He must increase, but I must decrease." John 3.30

Resurrection

I am reading a book on the resurrection by Peterson (below). He writes that resurrection always happens at the fringes of things. Jesus was raised from the dead in the quiet of a garden with nobodies (Mary Magdalene etc.) there to witness the aftermath and no-one there to see the event itself.

This is a deep truth.

As Christians who want to make a difference in and to the world we must position ourselves on the fringes of things - this is where the life is. I think this is where God would have us be. It is in some ways a dangerous place to be. A cliff edge has drawbacks and great dangers attached to it, but I feel that God would rather us live there with the associated risks than in the certainty and boredom we often choose. He hates lukewarm, remember?

Why are our churches so boring? Perhaps because we are boring and safe. Is God bored? I think He might be.

"When the son of man returns will He find faith on the earth?"

A matter of life and death

The foundational events of the Christian faith are the life, death and resurrection of the God-man Jesus Christ. These events happened 2000 years ago, more or less. However, they are not intended to be merely historical events for those of us who follow Jesus. Instead we are to engage with these truths and these events today. In fact if we are not engaging with the reality - not merely historical but current - of these events in the here and now we will fail to live the kind of life that Jesus has promised us.

How might we do this? One suggestion would be that we would be a people who embrace all of life, including those elements of suffering. Bonhoeffer said that we should 'drink the dregs' of this life. Much of our time in this cozy world is spent seeking to avoid suffering and decay. Nowhere is this more true than in my current location, Orange County, California. Yet the cross and resurrection call us into a new reality. The entrance way into this reality is suffering and death; the cross. Yet the fruit of this reality is new life and peace; the resurrection.

As followers of Jesus we are thus called to embrace the full story of life. The good, the bad and the ugly. We are not to hide in the corner when suffering comes our way. We are to face it head on with God at our side. Note that we cannot enter this new reality without dying with Jesus. Our suffering must be done by his side if we are to be sure that it will lead to new life - remember the thieves on the cross. Suffering can be meaningless. It always is when Jesus is not in it with us. But we need not fear or live to avoid it. As Christians we do not believe that Jesus died so we would not have to but so that we would know how to.

In the world, not of the world

The above phrase is often trotted out as the ideal for the relationship between the Christian and the world. But where does this come from?

In John's gospel Jesus provides the basis for this way of looking at the world. See John 17.14-19 (NIV).

14. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.

We are not of the world. We are the misfits and outcasts. The Kingdom of God is to be made up of no-ones and and nothings. If we were not such misfits when we came in we soon should be after we enter in.

Paul puts it like this;

"Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him." (1 Cor 1.26-29)

Unlike the rest of society, becoming increasingly uniform over time, we are to be the opposite. The more our love and knowledge of Jesus grows the less we should follow along with the world's tune. We demonstrate that we belong to the Kingdom of God when we do not fit in with the world.

15. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.

We do not follow Christ so that we might be removed from the mess of the world. Far from it. When we choose to join in with Jesus' mission we join in with his cause, which is to rout Satan's armies. To advance the Kingdom of God at any cost.

Jesus prays that we will be protected precisely because He assumes we will need it! We are in a battle and when we are really living in the power of the Spirit we will regularly be confronted with evil. We can be confident that in the midst of this that we are protected because our saviour has prayed this for us. "He that is in us is greater than he who is in the world" (1 Jn 4.4).

18. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

We are sent into the world by Jesus. He expects a radical engagement with the world from His own disciples. One of the signs of our authenticity is our willingness and ability to do this work.

18b-19. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

We do all this through the work that He has done for us and in the power of the Holy Spirit that He secured for us through His life, death and resurrection. Without Him we are nothing, just another group of people doing stuff in their own strength. The only hope we have of completing His mission is that we have been sanctified, washed, prepared by Him. The hope we have for the success of our work has nothing whatsoever to do with us but everything to do with Him.

The Spirit of God

John's gospel is a masterpiece. Perhaps the best thing ever written in the history of everything written. What a unique perspective John has on the most influential and important events in all of human history!

Here is one small nugget from the great gold mine.

"The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life." John 6.63

One of the central themes of John's gospel is life. Jesus consistently reminds us in this gospel that he is the way to life as it was meant to be. He is in fact the way, the truth and the life. He is totally synonymous with life. Life cannot be known outside of relationship with Him. Giving us that kind of life is at the heart of his mission (John 10.10).

This passage reminds us that the way to that life is mediated by His Spirit in us, not our own flesh. We can't do anything worth doing in our own strength. It is only by the power of God the Holy Spirit that any good will come of anything we are a part of. The only lasting fruit of our lives will come through and by the power of His Spirit.

What a relief!

One year in the USA

As of last Saturday we have been in the USA for one year. It has been a remarkable growing and learning experience. We have found that Jesus is far better than we could have imagined. He continues to surprise us with his mercy, grace and healing power. He's so good. There aren't words to describe Him.

There's always more of Him to be experienced, loved and enjoyed. He goes on forever. "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation." He never stops loving, never stops giving, never stops forgiving. What a friend we have in Jesus!

We are so excited about this journey of following Him. It never ends. We get to do this for all eternity. Spending all time in His beautiful presence. If you don't know what that's like you should ask Him to show you!

better world or better church

I'm really excited about the focus on mission within the global church at the moment. Whilst there is certainly a lot of guff and spin flying around, the essence of the situation is this; the church has recognised that it hasn't done a great job of representing what the gospel is and actually getting that message to the people who need to hear it.

This cultural basis for 'mission shaped living' - fancy way of saying 'being a Christian' - is joined with strong biblical evidence too. In each of the gospels Jesus makes it his final priority to remind his disciples that the good news about his death and resurrection leaves them with an obvious imperative - go and preach the good news to all the nations. Get out there, tell them about what this all means and show them the evidence at the same time. Pronounce that the Kingdom has come and do it with all the resources that I am about to send you by my Spirit.

This mission is not an add on to the gospel message, but something very central. Just as the purpose of the Old Covenant was that the nations would be blessed through the seed of Abraham, so the New Covenant has the same aim. Jesus came to fulfill the Old and to bring the New whilst continuing the same thread. The difference of course between the two Covenants is that the New includes all who believe on Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile. Secondly, and as evidence for the first, there are new resources given for this work - namely the Holy Spirit! Those who have received the Holy Spirit are now God's people in the world, called to do the work of building His Kingdom and inviting others to do the same.

The point is this. The mission of the church is not to build a better church but a better world. Whilst the latter will obviously include the former, what history has shown us is that those that concentrate on the former never get much further. Instead our starting point as Christians is worship which flows out into Mission, not into ecclesiology (talk of the church). We will of course finally get round to talking about how the church should be shaped in the light of all this but it must never be our starting point.