Flesh

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1.14).

Word became Flesh. Not just Word. Not just Word and Flesh joined. Nor Word made known in Flesh. But Word become flesh.

The Gospel is not the Gospel unless it is expressed in and through flesh. Our flesh demonstrating and modelling something of God as He has made Himself known in Jesus Christ.

Let is be blatantly clear. We do not believe it is enough to tell people about Jesus. Or to try and convince them to believe in or put their trust in Jesus. We believe that Biblical Christianity - what we call baptistic Christianity - requires us, as church together, to journey a path where 'what' we do and 'how' we live express something of the dimensions of the life of Jesus Christ. Models real Christianity. This is real witness and mission.

This is where we are heading in our congregation. To look for the Word become Flesh among us.

Discovering identity

Wherein lies our identity? To grasp the teaching of 1 Corinthians 12 – 13 we need to recognise:

We are not first and foremost individuals. Nothing in this passage validates the narcissistic quest of ‘discovering our personal gifts’. Truth is, we are often blinded by the powers and principalities that rip our families and communities apart. Even as Christians, we make the mistake of lauding people who gain profile and notoriety. But God sees our significance collectively. Individually, we are grains of salt. We are defined by being part of the bigger unit. Relationships of love, forgiveness, humbling ourselves and service are what are to define us as people who are part of something bigger than ourselves.

To grasp this as Biblical truth is immensely difficult and a huge challenge for people who belong to a western culture and context. It involves deep repentance. A turning out from introspection. And it has implications:

* Faith is not an end in itself. It is a means to an end. What matters is that we are transformed more into the image of the God who is Love. Faith challenges and changes us, as we look with hope to what we are becoming on this transformational journey.

* Christian faith is not belief about Jesus Christ. Christian faith is positive participation in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. It is journey we enter into, through the portal of the Cross. A transformational journey that will continue throughout our life here on earth.

* Faith is an expression of desire that brings us to the place where we begin to open to the Spirit of God and find Him at work within our lives, releasing us into the ministry of the Jesus Christ whom we now find identify in. This is true identity discovered.

Resident Aliens

• The Bible is an exciting book – because, for us in our culture, it continues to present people with an alien culture. But this is a good thing. Because it challenges us to work out how the story of our lives can find a reference to the Jesus Christ that the Bible speaks about. I am tremendously excited about the way things are, here in Bristo, at present. I can see we are in a season of exciting transition. Why?
  
  Key is the way that we are seeking to do Christlike mission, rather than ‘gimmicky’ proselytisation. Real witness will make, longterm, real disciples. Our focus on disciple-shaping cell groups. The involvement in Bethany shelter and care-van. And for after Christmas –
  
  Our planning of a healing – counselling facility.
  The intiative with ALPHA and also developing a new concept-course, designed for people with serious questions: ‘TRY FAITH’.
  And not least, the ongoing and developing of strategy for the redevelopment or relocation of our facilities so that we make disciples on the basis of ‘doing mission’ rather than ‘seeking to attract’ people. May the invitation to purposeful participation in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ be attraction enough.

Discontent

We can only grow in Christ if we become discontent with who we are. Most times, this is not how it is. Many are fearful in ceasing to be who they are. And deafen the call.

To be of use to God we have to grow profoundly discontent. We have to yearn for deep change within. To really want to become more like Jesus.

Some imagine that Christian faith begins with believing about Jesus. But there is something even more basic. We have to become discontent with who, what and how we are. We have to begin a journey that does not simply recognise the Cross but that carries us into the Cross as the portal into resurrection life and witness. Pointing to the life that God is bringing us into.

Shining like stars

So, it's good to be back here, engaged in ministry with God's people. And we look forward to our new intern, Tanya, arriving from Voronezh as a sister in Christ, ready to share with us. We have been called by God to be distinctive. As I was reminded by her father (pictured with his daughter), from Daniel 12.3:

Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.

Let's focus on this, entering deeper into the light of Christ and not fearing the darkness that flees from His presence.

Impressions

Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time (Daniel 11.35)

I have been so blessed in this journey into Russia. The students in the seminary were gracious and friendly people, open to God. As one friend has put it, the Russian culture is inherently spiritual, rather than sensual. This means that, in the churches, there is a depth among the people. A quiet reserve with a genuine and generous heart beneath. This is what I have experienced in this country among lovely people.

It has been a joy and a delight to visit with the pastor and his family in Voronezh. To hear the story and see the evidence of lives formed in the midst of persecution – the pastor was born in a village in Kazakhstan, while his father was in prison for his faith. Again, so humbling to hear of how, when his father was again taken off to prison for 5 years in 1962 for being a Christian and therefore an enemy of the State, how he and his mother prayed until his father was released after 3 years. To sense the excitement when the first Russian Bibles for the church arrived from American Baptists in 1982. And the singing and harmonies, in home and in church, so beautiful.

Impressions are strange things. The nicest of elderly ladies, two in succession, just asked me for directions in Russian as I sat in the airport at this cafe. So polite. And many people here are so nice! Impressions are strange things. I also just bought the most expensive mineral water I’ve ever had: Moscow is a pricey place. But this is also the nicest and most modern airport I’ve ever been in. The security and passport controls so friendly and helpful. And Moscow is the nicest big city I’ve known. I found the environment safe and comfortable. And that has been true of all my time in Russia.

Dangerous things, impressions. The devil finds opportunities through false impressions. Misrepresentations, fear and hate bred and festered in an atmosphere of deceit. Far better to get first hand experience, and find out how things really are.

This is why one reason why the Word became flesh. He came to show people what God is REALLY like. And this is our job too. Why need to enter into holiness. To live our lives out of union with Jesus Christ, enabled by the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Then people will start to see something of God as He really is. Start to understand something of the Kingdom of God and the Gospel as it really is.

Forged by fire

Wisdom proclaimed. And Roses of Rememberance on a winter's day. Pathos shared.

It is always interesting to me to see how God speaks to me, in a fresh way, when I travel into Eastern Europe in ministry. The visit to Voronezh has proven no exception. Indeed, it has brought special blessing. Not only in meeting the families of former Bristo interns, Tima and Yulia, and the parents and siblings of our new intern Tania, who comes to Bristo in January. I so enjoyed the dignity and depth of the services, and found favour and enabling from God for preaching in both on the Sunday morning and evening, and in conversation with people. People appeared very receptive and engaged. Perhaps it is to do with the deep, latent spirituality of the Russian people, which a few decades of virulent demonic attack under communism could not wipe out; perhaps it was something special formed in the heart of this church, strengthened by God during persecution. Forgd by fire; and so committed to spiritual holiness and mission. Whatever the reason, God blessed the visit and spoke to me deeply on important matters.

Stoicho and I deeply appreciated conversation with the godly pastor of the church, Tanya’s father, Aleag Alexeev. He helped me gain insight into the style of Russian Baptist services, which last at least 2 hours, and where there are three of four sermons as well as times for open prayer, choral work and spiritual poetry.

The role of the first preacher is to present the Cross and the grace of God, drawing us into Jesus. This gives the people a reason for thanksgiving and a joy in coming to worship the living God. The role of the second preacher is to present teaching from the Bible, bringing us to focus on the Word of God. The role of the third preacher is to bring application of what has been preached into the lives of the people. And then there may be a 4th sermon, where one of the 3 who have preached is invited by the presiding elder to preach again, on the strength of wisdom expressed in their first sermon.

There is something to be learnt here, for the way we continually seek to develop a relevant and Christ centred ministry at Bristo. And I have no doubt that this is also but the beginning of a developing relationship with Baptists in this part of Russia’s heartland.

from Russia with love

Greetings from Moscow! Stoicho and I arrived here this afternoon, and are settling into the seminary. Tomorrow morning we are off to a church in the north of this great city of 20 - 25 million, to a church where the choir from Voronezh are singing together with others.

The first thing that strikes me about Moscow is how prosperous this city is! Yes, there may be poverty; but I haven't seen it yet. Far more western than Sofia! Strange, so similar and so familiar. This should be an interesting time.
Our hosts are lovely people. Here is Stoicho with me, outside the seminary.

Two sides of a coin

I've just been out for a wee walk before the sun goes down. I've been preparing materials for lectures in Moscow, next week. I'm teaching on 'The understanding of salvation'. Thinking about it.

For some people, it's so simple. They see the one side of a coin. The glorious truth of Father's love and mercy, and the full and effective atoning death of Jesus Christ, in bringing us back to God.

And for others, a quite different message. The other side of the coin. The call to turn back to a life worth living and a path worth pursuing. To invest our feeble lives in something worth expending ourselves for.

Blessed is the person who can see that every coin has two sides.

A journey forward

Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast - as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
(1 Corinthians 5.7)

The central problem that Paul was dealing with among the Corinthians has been identified in 1 Corinthians 4.8: ‘we’ve arrived!’ This is continued in chapter 5, by this emphasis in 1 Corinthians 5.7, on the paschal lamb. We haven’t arrived. We’ve embarked on a journey.

Some people get to the starting line, take one step, and say ‘that’s that then!’ The Corinthians had fallen for this. They thought they had arrived. No-one was fooled but themselves.

Today, people are looking for a meaningful journey to enter and engage in. Most searchers are not looking to join a club who know they are right. People look for leadership and direction. They need to find people who are followers, not simply believers in, Jesus Christ.

Empowered weakness

Reading 1 Corinthians 3 & 4 for yesterday's preaching makes me freshly aware of the heart of Paul’s appreciation of Jesus. He really does resonate with Jesus’ own teaching in the Gospels. He’s calling people to a life of ‘empowered weakness’ - a life where the power of God is not understood in terms of attaining private goals or goods, but in being strengthened to walk the way of Jesus Christ.

The trip to Bulgaria brought the focus on this right back for me. To minister to people and to touch their lives with healing, hope and a deeper understanding of the way of following Jesus. This is what ministry is all about.

Lom

2 Peter 2.1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.

It is always a joy and privilege to come here to Lom. The welcome is always sincere and heartfull. This is the 6th year of bringing teams to Lom from Bristo Baptist Church. The relationships as well as ministry support in both directions continues to grow, and Stoicho will be coming with me to teach in Moscow Baptist Seminary next month.This morning, we looked at the issue of holiness and deceit. It is something God has been speaking to me in upon my heart. There are some practices that are central to the work of the Lord, such as Forgiving and humbling ourselves, in seeking to love and serve others. But a further aspect of Christian discipline is the call to holiness and avoidance of ‘deceit’ - living a lie.

‘the medium is the message’. Deceit is to be avoided
The Christian life involves being rooted in Jesus – if we are in deceit, it pulls us out off Him
The Holy Spirit is quenched by deceit – it hurts him and stops him filling us as He wants to

May the Lord show each of us any areas of deceit we need to deal with, to build our lives into credibility and effective witness. May each of us find the will to repent and be filled afresh with the Holy Spirit of God.

Seasons

righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14.7)

The changing of the seasons. The warmth of summer passing through into the cool of winter. The rhythm of God’s Creation. Truth is, though, many of us prefer one season over another. Perhaps we love the light and heat of summer. Or maybe we like to retreat inside in winter.

It’s tempting to become a ‘one season’ Christian. Perhaps with a radical, social consciousness; pursuing causes and voicing concerns. Or maybe a deeply contemplative type, reflecting on the wonder and beauty of life, meditating on Scripture and Nature and seeing the reflection of God and finding peace all around. Then there’s the one who pursues joy and exuberance, confident for God’s prosperity, healing and demon defeating.

When I see people stuck in one season, it makes me sad. They’re missing something of the majesty and beauty of what God has given us in Christ. We need to learn to thank Him and follow Christ through each and every season in life. To embrace them all. To find a place for each of them in our life and worship.

A Song for the Rich Man

(Matthew 19.16-30)
You’ve called me to a path, O God
To walk on through this land
Through full atonement I’ve been bought
To serve the Risen Lamb
To one who shows me how it is
To praise and worship you
To touch the heights of heaven
And to really bring good news

Yes the selfish life I have walked
Looking for your blessed hand
To fill my bank and give me all
My fancies could demand
But now I see another way
That changes me inside
That lets the light of God break through
This stumbling sinner's mind

No easy path do I seek
To walk on through this land
You’ve called me to a different path
From the one instincts demand
No selfish life, no earthly place
Where I can feel secure
But a path that speaks of Calvary
And that reaches to the poor

I want to tell you now, O God
It’s no small thing you demand
For me on follow on the way
Of that Galilean band
Yet a journey from my bankrupcy
Entices me to life
To walk forever as a friend
Of the One called Jesus Christ

A Son of man He truly was
Right human to the core
But the Son of God He’s proved to be
Through all that He endured
With righteousness and justice
He faced the cunning rich
And from conflict with the darkness
He never once did flinch

So take me God and fill me
With your Holy Spirit’s power
And guide me now with those around
To walk His path right now
Help me to see and love the truth
That You’ve called me now to own
To bless and help and heal and serve
And carry your Shalom

Choosing Life

If by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live (Romans 8.13)

We have a choice. We can live the life of Christian hypocrites, or live a life characterised by the presence and the ministry of Jesus Christ. And if we choose the latter, we can only succeed by the enabling presence of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is described as Holy for good reason. We can be enamoured by and desire to see signs and wonders, and this is potentially good. But if this is not set in the context of prioritising holiness, it can and will be disasterous. Holiness is the context that allows what we do do carry the flavour and savour of Jesus Christ.

And for this we need the Holy Spirit. We need to seek Him. Thirst for Him. Ask the Father to pour Him out, through Jesus Christ. We must learn to yearn, as the Christians at the first Pentecost had yearned. And we must not stop yearning until the HOLY Spirit breaks through to touch our lives with holiness.

But we also need to desire to walk this way. The outworking of holiness in our lives is not automatic. There has to be a harnessing. A discipline to seek Him and then, when He comes, to walk with Him.

At the Reformation, the Reformers saw something of this. Martin Luther saw our absolute inability to please God of ourselves, or to walk the way of Christ. John Calvin sensed it and argued that Christians should seek to walk in the guidelines of the Law of God. But it was the anabaptists who most clearly grasped it - that Chriatians are called to walk Holy lives, which can be enabled only when we seek the Spirit and resolve to change the way we live.

A prayer

Lord, this day help me to see and recognise afresh the way of Jesus Christ. By Your Spirit, let me sense true holiness. And strengthen me in my will, that by Your Holy Spirit's enabling, I should walk that way.

In Jesus' name, Amen

Marriage matters?

Matthew 19.1-15

This passage is about a lot more than marriage! It invites us to recognise:

A. the Cosmos as it is - There is a tension between what God desires for us - what was designed and intended - and the way things are. This, before anything else, is vital to see. The world as it is not as God designed it to be, or wants it to be!
People will say, ‘how can there be a God if ......’ And we have to point out that things as they are do not reflect God as He is!

B. The relationship of Law to Christianity - the 10 commandments and all that comes with them - is about dealing with our flawed society. Conformity to the Law is expedience, not excellence. Laws work to compensate for, not solve, human sin. It’s not possible to legislate a Christian society into existence.

C. The Kingdom of Heaven -
not an ‘afterlife’, above the clouds
not a world state, enforced by ‘divine’ Law

The Kingdom of Heaven is met with and found in the process of bringing the presence and the influence of God into this world, in new and significant ways. What matters are the ‘drivers’ in our lives. Drivers that enables power and resources to find expression in purposes and results. The drivers that implement the ‘Jesus way’ in and through our lives.

What are the key drivers?

The present passage is part of a discourse about being ‘childlike’ that goes all the way back to Matthew 18.1. It is not power that defines the Kingdom of God, or is its ‘driver’. The drivers are to be:

18.1-14 Humbling ourselves:

recognising the ‘other’
doing the will of God

18.15-35 Forgiving & reconciling

It is by using these drivers that we can channel our creativity and energy, our latent skills and abilities, for service in God’s Kingdom.

Once we have established this agenda, we can talk about marriage:

1. It is good if we are not compelled by sexual instincts. Singleness is good. Singleness allows a clearer focus on pursuing the purposes of the Kingdom of Heaven. There are good things about being single.

2. Marriage recognises an explicitly sexual and social integration of a man and woman. Marriage exists as a social institution to recognise, embrace and harness instinctive desires for sex, physical intimacy and propagation. The two are to ‘become one’.

3. The invitation to live by the ‘drivers of the Kingdom of Heaven’ is upon the married couple in the same measure as it is upon the single person. There can develop a type of selfishness in marriage, as in singleness. The married Christian ‘unit’ and also the single Christian ‘unit’ are both called to walk the same path of discipleship.

A healthy Christian church will be made up both single and married people. The focus must be on living out together our calling to live by the ‘drivers’ of the Kingdom of Heaven, thereby allowing that Kingdom to touch other people around us here on earth.

A child's eye view

whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18.4)

Humbling ourselves can only be understood when we realise what it is not. Neither a lack of self confidence nor a readiness to endure humiliation is what we have here. Jesus is not speaking of something forced upon a person, by circumstances or by others. He is talking about something a person chooses: whoever humbles himself.

Jesus speaks this way because humbling himself is something that He Himself undertakes. Paul speaks, in Philippians 2.8, of how Jesus humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross! Humility is something that takes place deep within a person. It is an inner attitude of self abasement, placing ourselves below others: so we can look up at them. Where people can in humility consider others better than yourselves (Philippians 2.3).

And because this is an inner attitude, it is something we cannot easily detect by a person’s demeanour. It is evidenced rather by its fruit in relationships. Where genuine interest in others is expressed and pursued. An inclination to see potential, not simply faults; strengths, not simply weaknesses. This is why we, like the disciples, find it so hard to humble ourselves. It is so much easier to compete and compare, criticise and complain.

To be great in God’s eyes, Jesus invites us to adopt the perspective of the least. It’s not easy. It’s not very self-affirming. It’s a bit like taking up a cross.

Painful truth

Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." (Matthew 16.23)

Those who recognise and embrace Jesus Christ as the One in whom God meets us in our humanity are entrusted with the power of the keys, but this does not make us magicians or superheroes. To be drawn into the path of Jesus’ humanity, we are drawn into the path of suffering. It is inescapable. It is the suffering of the heart of God in the face of endemic sin, defacing and marring humanity.

Why emphasise this? Because for us, like Peter, it is easy to try and make the ‘Jesus event’ a place of escape from the pain of life. All healing and blessing and prosperity. But proclaiming and applauding such a reduced message holds the danger of creating circuses of escapist fantasy, not communities of faith. Peter, like so many, was shocked at facing the inevitable outcome of what Jesus stood for. And Jesus rebukes Him severely for this failure.

The real spiritual power of church, as community in Christ, is found when we recognise that Christ is fully involved in both the heights and the depths of human existence. He walks with us through all of this. The good and the bad. The beautiful and the ugly. Part of what God has given us is the commission to allow others to see His and our involvement in real life and all its consequences. Yes, to bring healing, health and hope of wholness. But also to recognise that there are also hurts and pains and struggles and even agony.

And if this is true for Jesus, it is also true for those who would walk His way with Him. So it is that the declaration of the via crucis - ‘the way of the cross’ - is here made. As Jesus will inevitably suffer, so too will His disciples. There is a losing of our life to be experienced. In order that the full life of Christ be entered:

Then Jesus said to his disciples,
If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
(Matthew 16.24-25)

Something Different

"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matthew 16.15-16)

People were wondering about Jesus. He was not fitting into their preferences and prejudices. His way of life, His attitudes and His actions didn’t conform to categories that people were used to or even wanted. He not only brought relief to people who suffered, but spoke of justice and the need to care for the poor. He didn’t play ‘power politics’ or side with the right people. He was different.

What was special in Peter’s declaration, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of God’? We’ve got used to speaking about Jesus as ‘the Son of God’ as if it were an admission of His status. This is because divine status became a big issue in the 4th - 5th centuries AD, when Christianity was being explained in terms of pagan philosophy. It came to mean, ‘Jesus is really God’. But what we read here is from the 1st century AD. So what did it mean for Peter?

The Expression, ‘son of God’, is not one we find in the Old Testament. But the expression ‘sons of God’ appears in Genesis 6.2-4, where it refers to a time when people were remembered as special in the abilities they had. And here is the key. Peter is recognising there’s something different about Jesus, something that defines Him in terms of God and God’s agenda. Yes, He is different. But He’s different in a way that reflects what God is about.

If you and I are different, what makes us so? Is it because we’re religious or pious? Is it because of peculiar opinions? Or is there something about us that speaks of God and His agenda, His purpose, His presence? This is what marks people as the Sons of God: followers of the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. Something of the smell of God.

Dear Father, today help me to keep my eye on the ball. Not to be obsessed about my savings. Not to be preoccupied with my preferences. Help me to look on others with your love. Let me carry hope and healing to them, through your presence in my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Fragile beauty

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God

(Micah 6.8)

It’s so easy to get disgruntled with others. It happens when we get ‘out of sorts’. We start to project our own dysfunctionality onto them. Our pathologies become, as we see them, their ‘problems’ that ‘they’ need to deal with.

That’s why it’s so much easier to approach church as a consumer commodity. Somewhere people go to have our needs met and our religious sensitivities soothed. Always keeping our distance from others. And there are people who can work in such a setting.

For me, there is no future in this. I have tasted community. Both its fragility but also its beauty. Like orchids. And therefore I have turned my back on church run as organisation and institution for religious consumers, constantly searching for new ways of commodifying the Gospel so that people will decide to believe. No. I have seen what the challenge of community does for people. I have chosen community over against commmodity. Discipleship over against decisions.

Being faced with Christ’s demand to forgive and be reconciled in the face of conflict and competition changes people for the better. Where humility is honed and love is learnt. This can only happen when we approach church as community: the discipline of gathering together, seeking out each other with sensitivity, in Christ’s name.

But note this. To sustain ourselves in a journey into humility and love we first need to learn to be alone before God. To face ourselves and all our fleshly appetites, and then to yield not to them but to the God who would pour out His Spirit upon us.

So this weekend, take time to be alone with God. So that you might go on Sunday to embrace the community of Christ in humility and love. And be changed for the better.

The path to success

If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them. (Matthew 18.15-21)

This morning I delighted in listening to Keith Jones, the rector of IBTS, preach from this passage. Because he preached it in a way true to Christ. I’ve heard people talk about ‘binding and loosing’ as if it was about how to get spiritual. But Keith, as always, brought us to focus on how the spiritual is only truly such when it is profoundly physical and ethical.

The Christian life is not believing about Jesus. It is believing like Jesus. Without forgiveness and reconciliation leading into life together that expresses love to others, there is neither Christian message nor mission.

To ‘bind on earth’ is to bring into concrete expression the love of God in human lives, thus bringing the presence of heaven to earth in a way that makes sense and that really affects the lives of those around us.

Has someone offended you or caused problems in any way? Seek them out. Don’t run away. Be reconciled and go forward in love. This is the way of Christian discipleship.

Investing the past for the Future

So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant (1 Kings 19.21).
Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’ (Luke 9.62).

I am here in Prague, where we are have students gathered from many countries, from as far away as the Americas and SE Asia, as well as Europe and former Soviet Asia. Their research studies are divided among the departments of Biblical Studies, Baptist and Anabaptist History, Missiology and Applied Theology. These people are mostly mission workers, theological educators and pastors, some serving in dangerous places. Why are they all here?

At the heart of what we are about in the seminary is the task of examining and applying the legacy of our Christian knowledge to the present, to help serve the purposes of God now and into the future. As Christians, we look to the Bible and the interpretations of it over 2,000 years, seeking to root the understanding of our faith now in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ in a way that is true to what the Bible tells us.

But there is a paradox in this. For while we need to past to define our present, we cannot go forward in service by holding to the past. We have to look to our heritage and then, investing our energy into God’s future, move forward. So let us be thankful for what has been passed onto us by previous generations; and for the opportunity to invest it sacrificially for the future.

A clash of powers

There are two types of spiritual power that are, in some senses, very similar. They are both supernatural. But one is of God, and the other is of the devil.

Matthew 12.22-45. This passage is about two different types of spiritual powers. Understanding what it is that the Spirit of God does. Because, superficially, supernatural manifestations have much in common. So it is that, in the last days, the anti-Christ will deceive people: Revelation 13.13-14; 16.14; 19.20.

We need to see:

1. The importance of grasping that salvation, and the path of life, is made known to our humanity through humanity. Salvation is not about escape from the limitations of our humanity. Salvation is about the fulfilment of the purpose of our humanity:1 John 4.2-3; 2 John 1.7.

2. The Spirit, working in our humanity, calls us into the path of Christ: John 16.5-16.
It is in and through the lives of disciples who live in harmony with the Holy Spirit that other people are presented with the reality of God and the truth of Life.

3. The Holy Spirit works in those who walk the path of Christ: Luke 4.18. He is active in filling and empowering those who identify with Christ crucified: Philippians 2.5-11. Those who share in His life also share in the power of His resurrection: Ephesians 1.18-21. This is how the Spirit of God works in us.

Awakening

Sometimes I wake up early in the morning with startling clarity about something I'm writing or teaching. I have come to value these times and get up to write down what I have seen in a fresh way. It happened today at 4.30am! It's very simple.

To be part of Bristo is to be part of a group of Christians seeking to do church in a new way - veering back to basic foundations to be part of emerging church in the 21st century. Because church is designed by God to bring to daily life:

• God’s supernatural presence


• Jesus based relationships and life-objectives


• A portal for people to pass from death into eternal life

So you and I need to:

• Plug into the Holy Spirit


• BE God’s building


• Get serious

It really is that simple. Up for it? Welcome to Bristo!

Foundations

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3.11).

Jennifer and I are just back yesterday from a wonderfully enjoyable holiday in Bulgaria, partly spent with our friends Stoicho and Yura Apostolov in Lom. Also in a mountain town, in the north west of the country. There we are engaged in renovating an old building as a holiday/retreat centre. It made me think a lot about foundations.

Whatever we do in life, we need foundations to build on. This building needs to be strengthened, to stand firmly on the foundations. It’s easy to get carried away with superficial niceties and decorative features. But the foundations are where detail and investment matters.

I feel challenged to make my own personal foundations deeper in the right way. Is this a good time to check our foundations?

Soaking

Go about your life in a way that is being directed by the Spirit of God! And don’t allow the passions of your fleshly nature lead you into their inevitable outcome ..... (Galatians 5.16)

Rain, rain, rain ..... what weather! But so necessary to bring life to the earth. Yet we prefer the sunshine alone, even if the UV light rays can kill us! This is true of the spiritual life too.

It’s so easy to lose an appetite for being in Gods presence; and so hard to get it back again, when we’ve got to love the things that kill us! And this really is what happens, when we allow our passions and longings, unrestrained and unrestricted, to lead and direct us. They will carry us on into death. Our lusts fulfilled will bring us death.

The Spirit leads us into a harnessing of our longings. Harnessed to God. Trained to express His presence. His purpose. His pleasure.

And we can get to enjoy this again. To laugh with delight and bask and soak in His presence. This is life. I’m really enjoying tasting this presence of God. Try it again. Get harnessed to Jesus once more.

Pumping and pursuing

I met with a colleague recently who contrasted the development of two new Christians under his care. One was converted a few months ago. When not working this person spends much time ‘hanging out’ with new Christian friends in the local church. Growing in community and growing in Christ. And it’s working. The other comes to church once a week and has no other fellowship contact: little or no change or growth occurring.

There’s a perversion of Christianity that says it’s just about ‘me and Jesus’. Converted and that’s it. Oh yes, plus a consumerism: ‘I go to the type of church that fits with my style’. I’m appalled by this attitude, so far from the dynamics of New Testament church.

Baptistic discipling is not about individual attainment or self-realisation. Self-emptying and self-denial might not seem attractive, but they're part of the programme. Changing lives to be life enhancing for both the individual and society around us. And part of this conversion is becoming part of a local Christian community. People who are prepared to share their lives together: not just a sing-song, an ecstasy evening or savouring a sermon. Yep, start with one of these, by all means. But don’t get stuck there.

Developing discipleship doesn’t need course books or DVD’s: they can become a poor substitute. It just needs commitment and consecration among Christians. Accountability and relationships. Growing spiritual muscle as a human being. Scary, eh?

Effectiveness and Productivity

For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1.8)

We have been focusing, through the studies on 2 Peter 1.1-11, on building Christian effectiveness and productivity into our lives. This has implications for us in our personal relationships with family and friends, at work with clients and colleagues. What more?

A critical part of our witness is as a Christian community together. As we come to the end of holidays let us, as a community of faith together, prayerfully reflect on this. How can we together, through your Home Fellowship Group, take initiatives in faithfully witnessing to our Lord Jesus? In what ways can we touch the lives of folk around us who have not yet seen the light of Christ?

I look forward to hearing what God stirs in our hearts, as new initiatives are formed. And remember, all this can only be birthed out of heartfelt prayer and listening to God. God will open up His path for us. Both individually and collectively.

A prayer
Lord, I acknowledge that you have called me to bear fruit flavoured with the presence and love of Jesus. As I feed on your word and drink deep draughts of your Spirit, dispel the darkness and allow the light of Christ to shine out from us.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.

Where love begins

and to brotherly kindness, love (2 Peter 1.7)
We all think that we know what love is! Better, with humility, to discover from the Bible what God’s idea of love is.

From the life of Jesus:
· Engaging love begins with repentance
Proclaimed by Jesus and John the Baptist, as an OT prophet and preparer for Jesus: Mark 1.1-4; 14-15

Love does not shun the fundamental issue: turning to face up to God, His sovereign Righteousness and the pursuit of Justice being established upon the face of the earth.

There is no true love without the acknowledgement and declaration of God’s love, purposes and plan.

· Jesus’ love is expressed through godliness and community
The 1st thing Jesus establishes is a personal discipline of holy godliness: walking with God in the face of life’s challenges (Mark 1.9-13).

The 2nd thing Jesus establishes is a community of brotherly love (Mark 1.16-17)

This is why the baptistic way emphasises personal discipline and also community. Because it is the Jesus-centred, Biblical way.

· Jesus’ love is shaped by God’s agenda
We don’t see Jesus ‘handled’ by people. Yes, His personal walk with God and the initiative in love that He takes evokes response from among people. But He stays in the driving seat and knows what the focus is: that God’s rule, or Kingdom, be expressed through His life. The agenda is inviting people to turn back to God in repentance (Mark 1.37-42). That is how they find complete healing and deliverance: full salvation.

It is so easy for the outflow of love to be shaped by our flesh, rather than the heart of God, which calls us to conform to who He is, in ‘the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord’.

This is why the process of Peter’s outworking from faith through to love is so importance, both then and now.

Agape is the end product of a shaped, harnessed and disciple-forming process.
Agape is proactive, not simply reactive: it is not triggered by guilt.
Agape is intentional and disciplined: it pursues participation in God’s purposes.

In Celebration of Summer

All is well and all is good
The life of Word bringing
Touch of God filling
Creation around singing

All is well and all is good
The light of God shining
Such intensity burning
Patterns of Christ forming

All is well and all is good
The Holy Spirit flowing
With endless life finding
Likeness of Christ smiling

All is well and all of faith
The present full of hope
Future filled with love
Upon us here and now

Love

and to brotherly kindness, love

(2 Peter 1.7)

Love is a strange word. In the languages of Europe, it has many shades of meaning. ‘I love chocolate’. ‘I love you’. We can tell the difference between these expressions. Or so we think.

For the early Christians, to find a word that expresses what Christian discipleship is ultimately about was difficult. There were different words available in Greek. Storge described the love between members of a family. Philia was about friendship love, extending into the ‘brotherly love’ of philadelphia. And eros of the sexual intensity shared between lovers. But none of these sufficiently conveyed what Jesus was about. So they spun an old Greek word, using this to describe Jesus’ love. The word was agape.

In Jesus, we meet with a love where suffering is inevitable. Because loving the Jesus way means that we have to take down the barriers that protect us. It involves coming into close community. Vulnerability. Self giving to others. And because of that, they find out what we are really like. There is disappointment. Betrayal. Pain. The way that leads to crucifixion.

The Jesus way of love is nothing to do with enjoying chocolate or finding someone attractive. It is about a deep investment into people that is patient, looking to bless them in ways that will, ultimately, change them.

This is what God has done. This is the God the Bible witnesses to as the lover of Israel, the people through whom He chose to show Himself to the world. And this is the God we meet with in Jesus Christ. God’s full light to the world. Demonstrating the faithfulness and vulnerability that takes Him to the Cross of Calvary.

And this is the love we pursue as a baptistic community. Often we stumble, sometimes we fail. But the path and goal are clear. To model and express something deeper and profounder than anything else. Expressing the very heart of God. This is the heart of worship.

Brotherly kindness

and to godliness, brotherly kindness
(2 Peter 1.7)

Peter is talking about developing and maturing our lives as Christians. He’s concerned to encourage disciples into lives that are both effective and productive. What would you expect as the climax of this teaching? That we have massive crowds listening to lectures about the Bible? Or huge Praise parties, with lots of music and singing? Perhaps a meeting full of miracles, healings and deliverances? The answer is, none of these.

Moments of glory are a good place to start. But they are only the beginning. The progressive development of Christian life leads from the ecstasy of finding faith in the God of glory into reflecting God’s goodness. This leads us into a deeper knowledge of His Promises and also of ourselves, requiring self-control . This itself demands perseverance, so that we can carry His presence into every aspect of life: the meaning of true godliness. Where does all this now take us?

It shouldn’t surprise us, really. We know that He was born in humble circumstances. That He had no apparent beauty, to attract people to Him. He didn’t do religion the way that people expected. He didn’t focus on ceremonies or big buildings. What made the difference was the way that he treated people. The way that He drew close to them. The way He said, ‘Come, follow me’. And really cared for His friends. A band of brothers.

Brotherly love may seem a basic commodity. So is water. But both can be in scarce supply in today’s world. What matters so much more than all the things that draw crowds is this sharing of our lives in sustained, committed relationship. It’s costly. And it is so precious. Who will share these seats of brotherly kindness, close to your soul, today?

A prayer
Lord, my life can be so busy. Yet also so lonely. I acknowledge I need you. And I need people. To care for them and they for me. Thank you that this is what matters in your eyes.

Thank you that caring and being cared for does not diminish me,

but leads me into effectiveness and fruitfulness.

Help me today, to live this way, my Lord and my God.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Godliness (pt 2 of 2)

Great is the mystery of godliness; He who was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the spirit, Seen of angels, Preached among the nations, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.
(1 Timothy 3.16)

What has godliness to do with worship? Everything! I love to sing to God, and really appreciated the musicians here at Bristo. Praise is part of worship. But only part. Worship is something that involves ‘giving God His worth’. In the every-day routine, reality of living.

That’s what Peter is getting at in 2 Peter 1.5-6. He makes clear that faith is the door into the Christian life. That’s why, once a person’s grasped enough about Jesus that they want to identify with Him, we begin with baptism. But baptism is not arrival. It is the beginning of a journey. A journey punctuated by the fellowship meal of the Lord’s people, reminiscent of the Passover meal their predecessors shared before going from Egypt into the desert, towards the Promised Land. Deeper into and looking to the full coming of the Kingdom of God.

Worship is about being taken up into the life of Jesus Christ. A long process. Worship comes out of a human life that is seeking to be shaped by the Who, What and How of Jesus Christ. This is a life that expresses true worship.

When our lives are focussed on following this path, we are embarked on worship. And such worship is properly understood as godliness. What is godliness? It is a life seeking to be rooted in Jesus Christ. A life that really wants to belong to Jesus Christ.

A life pursuing godliness seeks to be filled by the Holy Spirit. And equally importantly, a godly life wants to work out the implications of this in practical, daily affairs.

A life pursuing godliness is not just about following rules. It’s deeper than that. It’s about following through on what it means to be harnessed to Jesus Christ. This is why faith has to be supplemented with goodness, knowledge, self-control and perseverance.

This doesn’t produce slick answers to all of life’s challenges. But it does mean that, through the challenge and the struggle, there is the shaping in us of a life that better reflects the light and truth of God.

Godliness (pt 1 of 2)

make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness
(2 Peter 1.5-6)

There’s a sequence that starts with faith. Each step builds on the previous. Faith - goodness - knowledge - self-control - perseverance - and now, godliness.
Let’s pick up with self-control.

Self control
This term occurs only in Acts 24:25, Galatians 5:23 and 2 Peter 1:6. This word is about power, control. The ability to restrain ourselves and abstain.

In the New Testament, the emphasis is not upon our strength of resolve but upon the Holy Spirit’s control. We see this in the key passage, Galatians 5.16-26. Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit’s presence. It is something that arises when our purposeful participation is focussed and brings us to harmony with Christ.

This is the difference between ancient Greek and Roman and Christian thinking here. In Greek and Roman thinking, self-control was something to enforce upon ourselves. For the Christian, self control is enabled from a rich communion with the Holy Spirit. This is what gives us power over ourselves.

And this is why we seek the Holy Spirit. He is not simply an experience. He lifts us up, to commune with Christ and glimpse the future. And He brings us a taste of the fullness to come. But we seek Him not to escape reality; we seek Him to harness us in Christ, to be yoked to our master. And for this, even with the Holy Spirit’s enabling, we have to stay focussed and play our part. We need to hold to self-control.

Perseverance
This word, also translates as ‘patience, steadfastness, endurance’. It’s about keeping going. Persevering not only in self-control, but in that which enables self-control: communion with the Holy Spirit.

There’s a huge amount of slog in the Christian life. As there is for all people. For us, as disciples of Christ, there is the daily challenge of bringing our Christian identity and character into everyday life. What are we to be patient about? What are we to endure? There are moments when we ‘soar’, when we catch sight of what is to come. When we see and sense the presence of the Kingdom of God. And then there are the times of getting on with it.

Faith, which is purposeful participation in the life and ministry of Christ, requires us to focus. In adding goodness,we are grounded in communion with the God of Glory, who calls us into His goodness: His compassion, graciousness, slowness to anger, mercy, faithfulness, constant love and forgiveness. Once this is grasped, we have to hold to Christ and continuing with Him on this transformational journey. It is this that leads us into worthwhile worship: godliness.

Perseverance

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness;
and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control;
and to self-control, perseverance
(2 Peter 1.5-6)

Peter’s take on faith is not about ideas or opinions. It is rooted in an Old Testament perspective. God meets with people through His glory and goodness. He embraces us and then commissions us. He touches us with the weight of His loving presence and then sends us to express the heart of it to others. This is goodness.

To add knowledge is not to get theoretical. It is about recognising God as He is. The God who makes and keeps promises. Who fulfils them in and through Jesus Christ. Knowledge is about recognising the fullness of God.

And knowledge is about recognising ourselves: fragile and fallible. Faint and often failing. We will never know God without also knowing ourselves. We need to recognise our need of God. His fullness. Our emptiness. To see His willingness to fill and shape and enable us. This is knowledge.

And self control is regulating the reality of who we are. Safeguards and sentinels. Realising how easily we can go out of control. Our appetites. Our fears. Our fantasies. Embracing fellowship and accountability so that we can continue as conduits of God’s Kingdom. This is self control.

And this is not easy. When things are going well, it’s fine. But what about when we get weary? When we are confronted with our own limitations and the hugeness of others’ expectations? Or trip up and make a mistake? An overwhelming sense of failure can overwhelm us like a wave, threatening to engulf us. And we just want to crawl away and hide.

And this is when perseverance is required. Perseverance in keeping getting back on the path. To get up again, dust ourselves down, and keep going. Remembering that He said it would be tough at times. But it’s the journey that really matters. The journey into life.

And keeping focus. Remembering it’s Jesus who travels with us. His path we walk, through the Holy Spirit. Keeping our eyes on Him. This is perseverance.

A prayer
Father, thank you that it all begins with your glory and goodness reaching out to me. Embracing me. Filling me by your Holy Spirit.
Lord, I want to keep going.
Help me to keep focussed on what lies ahead: the fullness that I’ve tasted through Your touch on my life.
Help me to go forward, one step at a time.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

The Meaning of Knowledge

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness;
and to goodness, knowledge (2 Pet 1:5 NIV)

We live in a culture awash with information. Conflicting information and opinions. So many perspectives and so many facts. So where is knowledge to be found?

There is a simplicity in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the knowledge it invites us to embrace. As God has shown Himself in and through Jesus Christ, the essential nature of Who God really is becomes clear. God declared His character to Moses, at Sinai: 'The Lord, the Lord, the Gracious and Compassionate God, slow to anger and full of mercy and faithfulness. Showing His love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin'. And we meet with this, fully manifest, in Jesus Christ.

And here is a profound knowing to be grasped. This knowledge of God is expressed through humanity - our humanity which Jesus Christ came to share. It is not facts or words recorded on the internet or simply in a book. It is when the Word becomes rooted in flesh and blood. In humanity expressing the Father-love of God, empowered and enabled by the Holy Spirit.

Deeper. Truer. The meaning of knowledge is to discover the richer depths of our own humanity.

A Prayer

Father, lead me into a deeper knowing of you in Jesus Christ. Into a deeper knowing of Your Word Who became flesh. Lead me into a deeper understanding of His humanity. That I can better understand the person you have made me to be. In Him and through Him.

Amen

The Transformational journey

Summer is here! For many, it is a time for slowing down and resting. Taking stock. Thinking over how our life has been and where it is going. It’s a time for fresh simplicity. And in the midst of this, the possibility of a new profundity.

So I’d like us to pause and think together about the quality of our life. What you mean to God. How it is that God would express and manifest Himself through you. And in this quest, we begin with our humanity.

Humanity that is like a summer rose. Full of beauty. Fragrance. Delicate and fragile yet able to weather the storm. Humanity that grows, buds, blossoms and then fades. But for a season capable of bringing so much joy and delight and happiness.

And this is how we are crafted. Called to be fashioned and honed and shaped into the likeness of Jesus Christ. To be rooted in the knowledge of God testified to in Scripture and to be expressive of that perfect life after which we are patterned and empowered.

Our season is so short. But the potential is so huge. Nourished in the power of God’s Word and irrigated by the living waters of the Holy Spirit, poured out upon the church by the Risen and Exalted Christ whose life has been vindicated by God.

Yet in this short season prepared for something more. Becoming participators in the Divine Nature. Anchored into eternal life through longing and yearning and wanting and serving and pursuing the expression of what we hope for in Him.

So reflect on these things. And find fresh fragrance and bountiful beauty arise from within you, as you commune with the One who is the key to the Cosmos. As you delight in the wonder of what God has made in and through Jesus Christ.