A Christmas Reflection on preaching and preachers

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14 NIV)

Truth, tempered with humility and openness to others, is so potent and powerful.

Truth, mixed in a man with arrogance and ignorance, is a tragic and terrible thing.

Celebrate with joy

Many years ago, in a land far, far away, I was sitting round a table with some Christian leaders. We were discussing church life around the world. I reflected on some of the complex, pastoral issues that faced me in my context. One brother remarked, 'Wow, what sort of church have you got?!'

I smiled; and afterwards, pondered on two realities. Firstly, I though, 'it's a normal church'. Secondly, my mind drifted to the nature of what we are called to be like : 'gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, showing love to others consistently and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin'. And, yes, remembering the power of what transpired on the Cross. And I thought of how wonderful it is that God's Word became flesh and resolutely dwells among us as Emmanuel: 'God with us'.

Yes, it's good and important to celebrate Christmas. Have a good one, filled with worship and thanksgiving in celebration of Emmanuel. May that truth increase in your experience in the coming year.

When is Matters

A humbling yet rewarding day yesterday, preaching in Montana baptist churches in the morning and evening. When sharing with people who have nothing, it is a very sobering challenge. No place for anything but the essential hope and expectation of what we have in Christ now. Hope. The active presence of the Holy Spirit present and active in our lives. Affective reality in meaningful ways. Receiving Christ’s gift of righteousness and peace right now.

And then an amazing realisation, when reading the news. Up to the Referendum, only 25,000 members in the Scottish Nationalist Party. And then on the three days since the referendum, 10,000 new members. That’s what I call revival! And a testimony to the effect that a small group of people, highly motivated and dedicated activists with committed leadership, can have upon a whole nation.

Now, remind me, how many people did we say attend Scottish baptist churches. Did I hear someone say 25,000? There’s a challenge!!!

Do I have principles?

A couple of recent conversations got me thinking about principles. Do I have any? I'm not sure I have, other than one: the Baptist Union Declaration of Principle. Let me explain.

Principles sound as if they are good. Things that are sure, steadfast, secure: truths that are tested and tried. Principles as foundational truths that we can build our lives upon. But are they?

It seems to me that Jesus didn't really deal in principles. He talked of himself as 'the way, the truth and the life'. He set out the standard in terms of his own dynamic, fluid, liberating life. A person, not a principle.

Now, some might say that there are principles for faith and living in the Bible. I observe that there are stories of faith and instructions for living. And promises: God's promises to mankind. But foundations framed as principles? Jesus is a person, not a principle.

Are not principles static things unyielding and unlistening? Like 'statements of faith' that will never change. Creeds and councils that render truths set in stone.

But the Bible gives us Jesus Christ: a way of living, love and truth set in human flesh and blood that is the key to our life. To enter into. To be filled by. And in the reading of the Bible, to be challenged to be changed by God. Embracing promises and purpose. Penetrated by Pentecostal presence and power. But principles?

I've learnt to embrace convictions that point to practices. But I'm less inclined to pontificate about principles. For one person's principle is just another's person's opinion or perspective. Principles change nothing.

In the light

Let it be abundantly clear. What we are witnessing now in Mosul and northern Iraq is naked, Satanic destruction. It is the rise of the beast, who will ultimately be destroyed by the hand of the King of kings. For now Christians everywhere and all humans who stand for justice and righteousness must stand and make it clear that this is unacceptable behaviour in a world that we claim in Jesus name.

The beheading of children simply because they are Christian. The crucifixion of converts to Christianity. This, compounded with the terror of Palestine and all that the people of Syria and Iraq are suffering, we declare as unacceptable, a sign of the inhumanity of the perpetrators and a demonstration of the falsehood of their religion.

I'm having problems with being a pastor

I'm having problems with being a pastor. Not with self-identity or ministry. With the word as a 'designation'. Forgive me, but I suspect it is usually used in a way quite foreign to Scripture. I mean, 'senior pastor', 'associate pastor', assistant pastor .......   What's all that about?

i suspect it is, albeit unwittingly, about power. Influence. Who calls the shots. Which is strange, when Jesus is about renunciation of status and repudiation of self-assertion.

I like the old word. The word everyone used in Scotland, until the mid-20th century. Minister. Minister, as in servant. Minister, as in self-giving and attentive to the commands of the master and the needs of the people. Yes. I want to be, quite simply, a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Apostle, prophet, evanglist, pastor, teacher?

I'll let others decide on what extra name-tags might apply.

You don't send midwives mothers' day cards *

So, what is the 'fruitfulness of your ministry'? I confess, I weary at listening to this being explained in terms of my 'productivity' or my 'success'. My problem stems from what the Bible has to say.

Fruitfulness, in the Biblical sense, is tied up with character and Christlikeness, rather than accomplishment and quantity.

In John's writing, the story of the vine in John 15 highlights not only the shaping and forming of a plant that can bear good fruit, but the very fact that the source of the fruitfulness is God and God alone. Productivity is God's, not ours.

In Paul, fruitfulness in ministry is about God's fruitfulness in and through us: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control ......  . These are all relational attributes, reflecting the character of a life in harmony with God Himself. They are the marks of a person who is being carved into the likeness of Christ.

When Paul talks about 'saving some' (1 Corinthians 9.22), it is in the context of his humbling himself to be in the place where God might work through him, a sentiment echoed in the great hymn celebrating Christ's example, in Philippians 2. The best we can manage is to die with Christ, that we might be raised in Him.

The Bible knows nothing about the 'fruit of your ministry'. So acknowledge that God alone causes fruit to arise. And that, not because of you, but despite you and your ego, insecurity and thirst for self-vindication. Every advance of God's Kingdom comes because of God's sheer grace. Because the Gospel is about His grace and His grace alone.

So please seek intimacy with God. Walk in integrity. Reach out in relationships of love. Speak gently the wonderful news of Jesus our Saviour. But please, please stop talking about the fruitfulness of your ministry. Concentrate on the fruitfulness, within you and others around you, of His alone.

 *  thanks to David Fraser for this wonderful line.

Convictions and Practices

I was reflecting on comments received on my last post. I found some of the suppositions evidenced interesting. I would make some observations which, I trust, are helpful: they are certainly at the heart of my understanding, in these matters.

 Theology, for me, is built on convictions and not propositions. Convictions always lead to and find expression in practices. This position I read as explicit in the teaching of Jesus. Because of this, ethical issues lie at the heart of mission, flowing out of the heart of Father God; expressed in and through the humanity of our Lord Jesus; a life in us resourced and empowered through the Holy Spirit. In this, mission and ethics are inextricably woven together.

There has been a failure, partly due to the introducing of marketing techniques into 'evangelism', to properly hold together the place of ethics and mission. Desperation to persuade others that God loves them can and has led, in tragic ways, to a rupture of the 'message of the Gospel' from the practice of the Christian life, as demonstrating a life rooted in the convictions and practices of the One God, expressed in and through the humanity of Jesus Christ.

There is a need to re-articulate the nature of Christian living as a commitment to holy living; to rediscover the joy of self-mortification in order to worshipfully express lives found anew in Christ. To offer people, in Jesus' name, not a product for consumption but a way of life for living. A way of life and living that is fundamentally different from that belonging to the agendas of the powers and principalities that dominate the lives of those held captive by the world. In other words, let's get back to reflecting on and implementing Biblical teaching on this.    

Basics

There are some matters of practice and behaviour that are so basic, so clearly evidenced in an understanding of Scriptural teaching of over two thousand years of Christian behaviour, consistent with a prior history of Israel's reception and adherence to God's instruction, perceived as so destructive of social coherency and healthy humanity, that it leads us to ask further questions when these practices are challenged or questioned.

This, in Baptist life on these Islands, is such a time. What do we really believe are essential indicators of repentance towards God and a Christian faith that evidences an encounter and surrender to the Living God? Is there a difference between being welcoming and loving to all and condoning and complicit with all? In what ways are those baptised into Christ expected to put to death themselves so that the life of Christ be expressed by the Holy Spirit through them?

I am deeply troubled, as are many, many others. Being baptist does not excuse us from acknowledging that some common practices need be embraced not only at a local congregational level, but across a whole Union of churches. The issues at stake are fundamental.    

Be not faithless, but faithful

We can come to know Jesus, personally, by various means:

• a personal meeting with Jesus.
• meeting with Christ in the lives of those who are his disciples.
• through reading of the Scriptures and giving ourselves into the likeness of Christ.

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” (John 20:21-23 NIV)

The interaction of Jesus with Thomas is perhaps one of the most commonly misunderstood passages of the New Testament. The Instruction of Jesus to Thomas is quite clear: and do not be unfaithful but faithful {καὶ μὴ γίνου ἄπιστος ἀλλὰ πιστός. (John 20:27b)}. Thomas has refused to acknowledge the vindication of Jesus through his resurrection, prior to seeing and touching him. Jesus clearly challenges this. Jesus had made it clear that Father would vindicate him and all he stood for. Those who will acknowledge him and embrace with faithfulness without seeing him physically will be blessed indeed; and by this he refers to all disciples since the moment of his ascension into heaven.

The order of events that we see in the Scriptural narratives is that we give our lives to Christ and then we receive the Holy Spirit. Identification with the Christ who has given himself for us, together with surrender and consecration to pursue conformity to Christ, precede the enabling power for the Christian life coming upon us.

Have you given your life to Jesus? Read the gospels afresh and come into life today. And then get ready for your personal Pentecost.

Worship

 Sometimes I think that Christians have today completely lost the plot in understanding the nature of worship. When did singing praise songs become synonymous to worship?

Don't get me wrong. I love praise songs. I have written many and have been a musician and singer all my Christian life. But when I read the Bible I can see that worship is far more than singing songs.

And Easter is the profoundest remembrance of all as to the meaning of worship. The self giving of the Son of God to his Father, as an act of worship; and as an expression of related commitment to those he would serve in the name of God..

Sacrifice. Compassion. Mercy. Forgiveness. Love. Reconciliation. Here is the heart of worship.

Be blessed this Easter.

A Palm Sunday Meditation

John 12.1-26

*** Christians or 'followers of Christ'? The middle eastern conundrum, for muslim-background believers who acknowledge and embrace Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord.

Realising that being a Christian involves more than believing about Jesus; but also embraces involvement in the values and the ministry practices of Jesus Christ.

Credibility is a key issue, in mission within our Western culture. Pluralistic. Materialist. What is there that is different about us, that we have the right to claim we have 'Good News' to share?

I'd like to reflect on these issue in looking at this passage, at the outset of the final week of our Lord's life among us on this earth, before His crucifixion and resurrection.


1-11

Features of this passage:

1. Jesus' focus on the motive of Mary, rather than the value of the perfume.
1. Jesus' acceptance that he was about to face death.
2. The chief priests' and Pharisees preoccupation with killing Jesus (Jn 11.53)

- that what Jesus stood for, together with his way of resolving the problem of establishing the Kingdom of God, was in such utterly sharp contrast with the attitude and the plan of the Pharisees and the chief priests.

Jesus was focussed, in caring and showing compassion, upon the outworking of what Paul would later describe in these words:

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:8-11 NIV)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21 NIV)

12-19

15 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9 NIV)

A donkey's colt. Peace (not a war horse). Humility (not a sign of ostentation).

Jesus is not someone who blows his own trumpet.
He is not someone who is highly self affirming.
His manner is not confrontational or combative.



20-26

The call is to walk the same path with Jesus, towards our destiny with him; and the process of development and maturing that takes place through him.

awareness and compassion for people
bringing reconciliation
peace
humility

It is not uncommon for the 'Jesus rule' of Matthew 18.15-17 to be written into church constitutions:

“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they 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 they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. (Matthew 18:15-17 NIV)

But in times of difficulty or disagreement among Christians, it is honoured more in the exception than in the practice.

Evangelical Christians need remember that the sharing of the Gospel in word is vital; but it must be punctuated by the practice of the Gospel in our lives. Huge harm is done by a failure to apply the teaching of our Lord with seriousness and intent:

Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. (John 12:23, 24 NIV)

This path is not easy. As Paul states:

I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:10, 11 NIVUK)

Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me. (John 12:26 NIVUK)

The Christian life begins with our self-emptying for service, our self-humbling for obedience:

rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:7, 8 NIVUK)

Self-emptying; humility; the pursuit of reconciliation: these are not options. Rather, these practices stand at the centre of Christian identity and witness.

Be attentive and obey.

Baptistic Spring

Like spring shoots
Reaching up through the anonymous
Earth packed and suppressed
Quiet and muted voices rise
Coloured and nuanced in beauty

Fear of cacophony quelled
Wisdom heralded in symphonic
Harmony extended beyond
Boundaries of expectation

A plenitude of wonder
Shades of delight expressed
Voices lifted in the light
Breaking through to wonder
Expelling the cold contained  

Saints discovering delight
In the other investing
Reaching in transforming
Emptying of self constrained

This is the beauty of baptistic
Holding light and love embraced
Through arms stretched out in pain
Healing broken hearts and soul

Perspectives

Banning the banality of brokenness
Haunting the hallowed halls
Conforming church to custom
Carved from the consciences of men

Striding into sunlight
Suffusing streams and flowers
Startling shades of brilliance
Born of another light

The presence of glory rediscovered
Engulfing compassion entered
Naked and vulnerable
In the tender touch of love

This is our calling
A commission conceived
And carried through such labours
From the heart of holiness

A costly path

Reconciliation is a costly process. Peacemaking is a painful and hard path to follow. Where relationships are ruptured and communications are cut, the shadows of despair invite demonisation of the 'other': precious people portrayed as harbingers of destruction. Truth and falsehood become pawns in a tragic dance.

Let no one imagine that reconciliation is easy. Loving begins with listening. Risking respect for the 'other' and revisiting the loathsome likelihood that we ourselves might be wrong. The real possibility that the searing searchlight of reality might rupture the protective womb of self vindication in which we have hidden.

Reconciliation carries us on a path to the Cross before we can enter into the joy of Resurrection. It is a path that all of us, if we are to grow and mature, must learn to walk upon. Again and again.

For those of us who walk this way, this painful path that promotes and produces peacemaking is neither inviting nor attractive. The humbling of heart that arises is simply necessary, before despair and darkness are exorcised in the light of love.

Let us seek to journey it together.

Out of ashes

Stunningly sobering day today, my first experience of visiting with people fresh out of a war-zone, refugees from Syria who have found sanctuary in unofficial camps in the Bekaa Valley, in the Lebanon. 

A seven year old boy, a beautiful child, with a hand blown off and toes destroyed. He kisses my cheeks, with the respect due to an elder. Mothers without husbands. Men my age with sons who have been killed. Showing hospitality and bringing me tea and coffe in their tents, reinforced with hardboard. Humanly speaking, no future to live for.

This is an environment in which many are turning to Christ, because they have no other hope. Wounded, broken and hurt. And church is growing because Christians are taking seriously the challenge of sharing the Gospel; but also demonstrating integrity as disciples, through caring for the homeless, the poor and the disadvantaged. Let'sboth pray for the work here and also learn from it.

Romanticising worship

Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. (Isaiah 58:7-10 NIV)

Today is my final day of lectures at ABTS, in Lebanon. It has been a privilege to be here, meeting and teaching Christian leaders and pastors from across the Middle East. However, I am keenly aware of the need not to romanticise.

Whether we live in a free land or a land of oppression, our needs are the same. Care for family. Hopes and ambitions. The desire for security and safety. These are no less important for followers of Jesus here, in a difficult and sometimes dangerous place.

This morning, I woke thinking of both the pain that brothers and sisters here face, in making choices; and also the words of God in Isaiah 58. Too often we think of worship as songs that please. But it is something far more than that. We are saved in order that we will worship. And, conversely, the sign that we are saved is that we go on worshipping. That we hold to the call of caring for the poor and the marginalised and looking to help the impoverished and destitute. To show mercy, pursue justice and walk humbly with our God.

Here is an integral part of our worship - a demonstration that we have been saved into the life of God in Christ - to be taken up in the mission of God. It is when we live and seek to have integrity in these things that we have a credibility to bring to our Evangelism. Evangelism without these things is hollow mockery, a taunt aimed as an arrow at the heart of Christ.

Mercy missions are not simply preparations for evangelism. They are a demonstration, both by congregations and people, of integrity in and ownership of the life that Jesus Christ calls us into.

Baptist Basics

Strange. When I first felt called to become a baptist, I thought it was about believer's baptism. Yes, that is still part of it. But now the heart of the matter has, for me, moved. It is now about developing communal discernment and disciples deciding together. Bringing people into a place of dignity, recognising the command of God as a people who belong together. Baptised disciples bonded together under Jesus' rule.

But there are other factors that can confuse the equation. Leadership and vision. Leadership is necessary, but only to serve the development of disciples in discerning and deciding together. The world want leaders to arise who can give us a vision: charismatic figures who can form a cult. But vision comes from God. It may be articulated by leaders. But it is for disciples to discern and decide together. That's our baptist way.

Leadership. Vision. Disciples discerning and deciding. Let's not confuse the three.

Risk Averse?

Are you 'risk averse'? If so, you might well be feeling spiritually flat. It's not just a matter of adrenolin. It's to do with the command of God and our active response of faith.

The Kingdom of God is steadily advancing. His redeeming, rescuing and restoring activity is constantly reaching out as many come to faith throughout the world - especially in areas where becoming or being a Christian is not 'safe'. Why is that?

Maybe its because 'risk averse' people always want to walk by sight. Safe ideas. Safe budgets. Safe, secure planning. Faith is replaced by engaging entertainment and defined doctrine.

People of faith take risks. they open their Bibles and look to be challenged. They hear the call and command of God, in Jesus' name, to roll back the boundaries and go outside the safe, city walls into new and dangerous territory: to cross Red Seas and deserts and face potential devastation. Because they invest in what God has promised to do in and through them.

Your budget. Your diary. Your security. What risks are you prepared to take, in order to worship God in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit? Decide to take some risks and get real with God again.

Open & Closed

Every church, if it is to be effective in fulfilling its calling, needs to be open to outsiders. Open hearted in a generous love, reflective of Father God's unconditional welcome of us all.

But each church needs also remember that the blessing comes in and through the arms of Jesus Christ. Jesus, who took us to Himself, that we might come to Father through Him.

Confessing Jesus as 'Lord' is the essence of saving faith. It is a personal awareness of Jesus, communicated to us through His Word and the Holy Spirit, that is the centre of it all. Jesus who died on the Cross, taking our sins, sickness and suffering to himself, that we might be raised to life in and through His resurrection.

We need to be open; but we also need to be closed. If our congregations are not to be cults dominated by the cries of charismatic personalities, or the lairs of legalistic legislators, they need be possessed of an identifiable constituency of core-members who are demonstrably people who look to Jesus as their Lord. Committed Christians who discern together whether the directions and decisions that their leaders commend are, in the leading of the Holy Spirit and in the illuminating truth of Scripture, true to Jesus Christ and His way.

This is the essence of our baptist way. Membership closed only to those who are serious about Jesus. But hearts open with love to all.

Getting it right

Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. (Romans 10:4 NIV)

I love this rendering of a key passage, in the NIV. I am quite persuaded that much present debate on appropriate behaviour and ethics among Christians would be enhanced if there was less 'anti-law' attitude: as if God should never have come up with the instructions He gave to His people, as recorded in the Books of Moses.

To understand that Jesus completes, rather than displaces, the Law of God. And that there are patterns of righteousness that are expected of the Christian. To refuse to betray an understanding of God's love, as found in the narratives of Scripture with anthropomorphic, romanticised notions that, ultimately, will lead us to deny the Cross.

Now, that would be a good beginning for a New Year.