Don't put off the Big Stuff

I want to tell you about my best friend Rob. As best friends go he was at the top of the tree. We first met when we were about 12. We went to the local church youth group together and hit it off straight away. One of the most noticeable things about our friendship was that we had nothing in common. On the surface at least. We would go for months and months and see each other each day, we talked for hours, but I’m not sure what about. We never had an argument. We both went to church though I’m not too sure what our faith was like back then. In our late teens Rob started to drift away from church. We didn’t have too many deep conversations back than but I remember clearly one we had. It was a Sunday night as Rob collected me after church to go out for the evening. He said that church didn’t fit well into his lifestyle at the moment. When he wanted to be out drinking, sleeping with his girlfriend and so on the church was saying he was wrong. He went on to say that when he was in his mid thirties, settled down with a wife and a few kids he would come back to church. Then it would fit in with his lifestyle and things would be great.

I can see him saying it now, “when I’m in my mid thirties I will come back to church“. Rob died at the age of 34. He never came back to church, though who knows if he came back to God. Rob contracted MS and in what seemed like the blink of an eye he was gone.

There are decisions in life that need to be made. Yet we put them off and muddle through. If we got a letter from government to say we were owed £1millon in back taxes and other repayments we might find it difficult to believe. We might dream and convince ourselves that it’s true and think of all the things we’d spend the money on. We might put on our rational hat and say that it can’t possibly be true as we’ve never paid £100k in taxes let alone a £million. However until you pick up the phone and ask them you’ll never know for sure. Wouldn’t you want to do everything you could to see if it were true?

The Bible claims some incredible things. In the two thousand years since they were written none of it’s claims have been disproved. Doesn’t that say quite a lot? People try to discredit the Bible for they know if they can’t the claims of the Bible mean that they would seriously have to change their life. Man would no longer be the greatest force in the universe and perhaps we’d have to be a little less self orientated. If the Bible were no more than a self-help guide on how to live our lives it would still be a brilliant book. Surely most of us would agree that it is better to love than to hate, to give rather than receive, live in peace rather than go to war, to tell the truth rather than to lie, to forgive rather than harbour grudges, to put people first rather than be selfish, to be faithful rather than be faithless, to honour people rather than be disrespectful. These are great ideals by which to live your life and if more of us did the world would certainly be a better place. But what if there was more to the Bible than just a life instruction manual. What if what it claims actually was true? Don’t you think it might be worth checking out? What if the world was created, if we do need forgiveness, if Jesus has paid the price for us? What if there really is a heaven and hell, a right way to live and a wrong way? Don’t you think it might be worth looking into, asking friends who do believe to explain what they believe and why? Ask questions by commenting here or join an ALPHA group.

We could put all these questions off until tomorrow. But what if, like Rob, we never have the chance to come back and check it out? Don’t put off until tomorrow what you could start today.

When did church become so different?

When you look at the western church today what do you see? Well, I don’t know about you but this is what I see both personally and when trying to look at it from a non-church-attendee’s point of view.

1. A building
2. Services on a Sunday
3. House groups - attended by about
10-20percent of attendees
4. The odd prayer meeting
5. Some social action
6. A cluster of peripheral groups
7. Occasional meals together
8. Some youth work

Now this isn’t, of course, the whole picture. Churches differ but the majority would have something of the list above about them. So then I look at the early church, a church started by Jesus and build upon Peter and I see.

1. Devotion to the apostles teaching
2. Devotion to the fellowship
3. Devotion to prayer
4. Devotion to the breaking of bread
5. All believers were together
6. All believers had everything in common
7. Together they met the needs of the fellowship
8. They met together every day
9. They met in public
10. They met in each others homes
11. They ate together
12. They praised God
13. They enjoyed the favour of all the people

And the result… The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

When you look at the two lists they are poles apart. So it begs the question when did the church change so much? To my mind the 13 points of the early church should be our basis for church today. After all it certainly worked as the Lord added to their number EVERY DAY! When was the last time we had even two consecutive days when the Lord added to our church those who were being saved? (don’t stop and try and work it out - you’ll be there far too long). We can look at the list and find some things that we are doing - I guess praising God would be the obvious one. However, I’d also guess that the first 9 are pretty far from what most churches are doing today. The word devotion would defeat most of our churches in the first four items, Yes, we pray as churches but could we honestly say that as a church we are devoted to prayer? In reality most of us pay prayer a bit of lip service and wonder why we don’t get answers.

When you look at that second list, don’t you just pray that we could capture something of that list in our lives and in our churches? Just think for a minute what it would feel like to be a part of such a church? Just think what it would feel like and how encouraging it would be to have people added to your church everyday not just once in a blue moon? To be apart of something that is vibrant and moving and united and encompassing and driven must be a wonderful feeling. The church has changed from a movement to a stop. When did the idea that a church had to be housed in a grand building separating it from the rest of the community come from?

When I look through the early church list something in my spirit yearns to get back to that. Do you feel the same? I’ve thought of a few ways that I might start - though most of the ideas I have hinge on finding likeminded people (it’s pretty hard doing church on my own). I’d love to find a couple or couples (or families) where we could meet each week and have a meal together and talk about Godly stuff. Where we can build such a depth of relationship that prayer, sharing, devotion to one another, praising God and learning from each other becomes natural, becomes the norm. I believe that God would use such a gathering powerfully. I’d challenge you to have a think about how you could implement an early church ideal in your life. I’d love to hear your ideas and any progress you make.

Gaining a Sense of Urgency

A few months ago I attended a seminar at Spring Harvest run by a friend of mine Rachel Gardener. It was an excellent seminar (I’d better put that in case she reads this!!) and as part of it I took part in a very thought provoking role-play. We were asked to imagine that a group of newly converted refugees had started attending our church. They were, however, going to be deported back to a country with no Christian presence in six months time. We were asked to devise a programme that would equip them with the Christian skills and knowledge they would need on their return.

There was quite a buzz as everyone in our group had something to contribute to this discussion. We talked about discipleship, links to be forged to mission agencies, trades to be learnt, prayer support to be set up, practical support for their six-month stay, gifts to be prayed for, the list went on. There was a sense of urgency and an eagerness to help. People really felt that it was something they could back and get their teeth into.

Then came the damming question…

Why don’t we do that for every single member of our congregations? It certainly is a challenge and one to which I shall return.

Many years ago I was challenged by a friend about the kind of films I watched. He said would I sit and watch 18 certificated violent films if Jesus was sat next to me? I replied that is Jesus was sat next to me I would not only not watch 18 certificated films I wouldn’t go to church, pray or go to work. I would be so interested in talking to him, getting him to pray for me, picking his brain and getting to know him more I wouldn’t have the time or the desire for anything else.

It was not until years later that I realised the absurdity of my words. Jesus IS sat next to me! Jesus IS praying for me! Jesus has given us His Word and His Spirit in order for us to get to know him better! I can pick His brain any time I want! So why don’t I?

Jesus left the disciples with a real sense of urgency. He hinted that some would still be alive at his return. They were left knowing that they had to get the job done, there was no time to waste. What has happened to this sense of urgency. Why do we constantly put off for tomorrow what we should be doing today? We have gotten so good at putting things off that we not only put things off until tomorrow we put things off permanently. We never get around to doing what we know we should. We put off things in our teens until we are adults and then put them off until we are married and then until we are retired and then we die never having done them. Yet if we knew Jesus was coming again at the end of the year we would accomplish so much for Him. We would draw close to Him in ways we have never attempted before. We would swerve Him with new vigour and determination. We would serve others with renewed love and concern.

I remember working for major supermarket in my teens. They used to display a poster in the staff area that said “Things that need to be done in the event of an Area Inspection… Absolutely nothing!!”

The implication being that good practise should be taking place at all times and when an inspection comes nothing should change. So it should be with our lives. Whether we know Christ is coming tomorrow, not for a million years or whether he is sitting right next to us nothing should change. This is far from the truth in my life and, I’m guessing, in the lives of most other Christians as well so why is this the case and what can we all do about it?

So why is this the case?

1. We live in the present and our mind is mainly focussed on the near past, the present and the near future.

2. Our lives are more easily moulded by the physical than the spiritual. What I mean by this is that we live with an “out of sight - out of mind” mentality. We are distracted by things and those around us rather than things like God and Jesus that are out of sight. The spiritual gets pushed out by the physical.

3. We focus on God’s loving, forgiving, patient, grace filled nature. We know when we fail God will forgive us, pick us up, brush us off and give us a fresh start. We conveniently forget His Wrath and Judgement and that we are created to glorify Him.

What can we do about it?

1. Take small steps. If we don’t break the task before us into small steps we will look at the big picture be overwhelmed and therefore do nothing. There is no point in diving headlong into a spiritual change, overdo it and after a week be back where we started. Think of one thing that we could do this week to improve the situation. Once you’re mastered that move on to something else.

2. Why is our spiritual life any different to the rest of our life? If we want to lose weight, be better organised, further our career or take up a hobby we plan. We set goals, make lists, plan our diary, seek advice and so on. So it should be with our spiritual life. We need achievable goals to head towards and advice on how to achieve them. I remember Graham Cooke saying that we should always ask ourselves how our relationship with God, how our praise and worship of God and how our service to God will be better this year than it was last year. This won’t just happen we need to work on it.

3. We need to surround ourselves with people that will join us, encourage us, share our struggles on this journey. Our Christian friends are the best physical aid to our growth as Christians. We need to be there for each other, we can’t journey successfully on our own. We need to work on devices with our friends that can enable us to be that motivation for each other.

4.We need to develop a sense of urgency. Be this through prayer or conversations with friends we need to have a sense of immediacy in our lives. I used to work with someone who lived with a sense that tomorrow she could be hit by a bus. Somehow we need to find that urgency. Jesus may not return tomorrow, we may not die tomorrow but we need to learn to live as if one of those possibilities were the case.

Sin - a new look at old vices

Often I read in Christian books and get told from the pulpit that sin is doing things wrong, that it is missing the mark. I think this is a useful, but only to a limited extent. I have found a way of looking at sin that make much more sense and is a more helpful way to look at it. I have learnt to see sin in relational terms. Sin is the breakdown in relationship. The breakdown in relationship between us and other people or between us and God. If you look at the Ten Commandments, for example, all of these can be seen in terms of relationship between us and God and us and other people. If ,for example ,you steal from your neighbour it will create difficulty in your relationship with your neighbour. If you use God’s name incorrectly it will put a barrier between you and God.

If we see the Christian life in relational terms it helps us see more clearly how God would have us live. Many things that we do have an effect on those around us, but is that effect positive or negative. Seeing our decisions in terms of how they will effect others will help us make good and right decisions. Are our decisions, our actions, building people up or breaking them down? Are our decisions bringing us closer to people and to God or taking us further away?

There are many areas in our modern lives that the Bible does not speak directly about. However, if we have a relational look at the things we do we can more easily see whether they would be the kind of things that God would have us do. Let us take an obvious example, that of taking drugs. Now it does not specifically say in the Bible “Thou shalt not take LSD” so should we or should we not take drugs? Well how would taking drugs effect our relationship with others? Is it likely to draw us nearer to others or push us further away? When honestly looking at it in this context it is clear to see whether it is something God would desire of us or not.　
　
This way of looking at sin has another helpful aspect. If sin is something that hurts our relationship with God and with other the opposite of sin, and what God wants from us, is the building up of relationship both with Him and with those around us. So, we now know to avoid doing anything to that breaks down our relationships we can focus on doing things that build up our relationships with others. We are not always too good at this aspect. We are good at being polite and civil but sometimes neglect to do things that actively build up our relationships with one another inside and outside of the church. So, which of the following could we consider doing for the first time or on a more regular basis?

Having someone over for a meal

Organising a day out with people from Church

Having Bring and share meals at church

Organising a church weekend away

Having a themed evening at your house (games, film, whisky tasting, discussion evening, quiz, party)

Hosting something like a Virgin V or Phoenix Cards evening

Discipling a younger Christian

Getting alongside someone in need