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.