For what it's worth...

Four months on

2011-08-19T08:53:00.000+01:00

On Tuesday it was four months since Mum died.

In that time I have experienced varying emotions...

There have been some days when I have not really thought about mum at all. When I then remember her I feel guilty - as if by forgetting about her for a moment I have somehow betrayed her memory. I know that this isn't true, but in the moment of realisation it feels like it.

In contrast, at other times I have seen her face everywhere I look.

Not surprisingly I have found some days harder than others - my birthday, for example. For all that I had a lovely day, something didn't seem quite right. It was as though a shadow hung over the whole day; a sense that something - or someone - was missing.

People continue to ask me how I am. If I'm honest I don't always know what to say. Sometimes I'm genuinely fine. At other times I feel anything but.

I'm struck that the frequency with which people have asked me has changed. It's a good lesson pastorally for me. Other people often have shorter memories of death than those who grieve.

But here's what strikes me the most... for all that I grieve mum's death, my grief is different to dad's.

He has lost the wife of his youth.

At the end of the day I go home to Debs, Tom, Grace & Laura. Dad goes home to an empty house.

His life has now changed for ever. He cannot go back. He will never be married to mum again. Even in the new creation, when they see each other again, it won't be as husband and wife. Nothing is the same.

Biblically speaking mum and dad were one flesh, but when mum died dad was literally torn apart.

And yet for all this, God the Father wonderfully reveals himself to us as 'the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort' who comforts us in our troubles so that we can in turn comfort others.

So that son can comfort father, and father son, and together we can comfort others who also grieve.

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My forever family

2011-08-15T17:23:00.001+01:00

I love reading the dedications in the front of books (I think I've blogged about this before). They are one of the first things I turn to when I pick up a book. I'm not quite sure why I like them so much. I suspect it's the sentimental part of me.

Today I started reading 'Grieving, Hope, and Solace - when a loved one dies in Christ,' by Albert N. Martin, published by CruciformPress (who are a super little publishing company, by the way) and loved his dedication...

To the members and friends of Trinity Baptist Church who, as my "forever family," wept with me during my long night of weeping, and who have rejoiced with me in my extended morning of joy.

Praise God for his gift of the church family.

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Church Planter

2011-08-12T09:22:00.004+01:00

I was recently asked to review Darren Patrick's book, Church Planter. Here's what I wrote...

Church Planter is the first book on church planting to come out of the Acts 29 stable. The key is in the title – Church Planter. This is not a book about church planting per se (like Mike McKinley’s, Church Planting is for Wimps, or Graham Beynon’s, Planting for the Gospel), but the men who plant churches. It’s a call to be God’s man, being transformed by and proclaiming God’s gospel message, wholeheartedly pursuing God’s mission. This call shapes the book, which falls into three parts: the first looks at the requirements for God’s man, the second examines the message he’s to be shaped by and proclaim, whilst the third explores the mission he’s to undertake.

Church Planter is an easy and stimulating read. I found myself frequently underlining comments and marking particular sections to come back to. Personal highlights were the Preface (‘Why focus on Men?’) and the chapters on being ‘A Dependent Man’ (“As goes our walk with God, so goes our ministry.” pp.59-60), ‘A Determined Man’ (“Often a pastor has the greatest impact on his church only after he has been there a number of years. When pastors fail to endure in ministry, they drastically cut short their impact.” p.93), and ‘The Heart of Mission: Compassion’ (“The motive for mission is compassion. We join Jesus on his mission not because we want to grow our church or because we like to dispense apologetic insights to skeptics or even because we like to hang out with unbelievers. We go on the mission of the Saviour because we share the compassionate heart of the one who sees people as sheep without a shepherd.” p.176)

You can spot the influence of others, such as Darren Patrick’s friend, Mark Driscoll, and Tim Keller. If you like them, I’m sure you will like this too. That said, some of this might be familiar.

Church Planter is a thought-provoking book. I’m not sure I agreed with everything, but it certainly challenged me in a good way. It also left me with one or two questions. For example, how does its focus on the church planter relate to different models of church planting? Does every plant need a full-time church planter? We may find this desirable, but that’s not to say it’s essential. As Graham Beynon remarks, in Planting for the Gospel, what’s needed is leadership, teaching, and pastoral oversight. (Incidentally, Church Planter would still be useful for non full-time church planters.)

Looking back, I would have liked more on the centrality of Word Ministry and Prayer – a reminder, to coin a phrase, that the Spirit of God does the work of God through the Word of God. This may seem an odd comment to make given the chapter, ‘A Skilled Man’ in the first section, the second section on the message, and the chapter, ‘The How of Mission: Contextualisation’ in the third section of the book, but I think this could have been more pronounced.

But don’t let this discourage you from reading it. Church Planter would make a great book not only for the church planter, or would-be church planter, but for any church leader, or would-be church leader. In fact, it would be a shame if the title discouraged non-church planters from reading it, because this is a really helpful book for pastors and church planters alike.

PrayerMate

2011-08-11T10:38:00.003+01:00

I recently downloaded the PrayerMate app from the iTunes store. It's a great little app to organise your prayers.

It allows you to set categories, and then within those categories, subjects. So, for example, I currently have the following categories:

Biblical prayers
Personal Godliness
Family
Church
Gospel Workers
World Mission
Friends
People in need

Within those categories you can then set the various subjects that you'd like to pray for.

Each time you use it, you pray through each category, but you decide how many many subjects you will pray for each time.

When you've prayed for that item, you then swipe it to the left. In this way, PrayerMate records when you last prayed for something and how many times you've prayed for it.

I find that if I'm not organised my prayer life becomes very inconsistent. I can see that this app will be really useful in this regard.

I'm also conscious that people often ask me to pray for things, but unless I make a note of them there and then, it's easy to forget. Having an app with me like this, will make me much more likely to keep a record of things, and, therefore, to be faithful in prayer.

Many thanks to Andy Geers for developing this.

Two further observations on the riots

2011-08-10T09:49:00.001+01:00

One of the most common reactions to the rioting and looting has been anger.

Anger at those responsible for the violence.
Anger at their parents.
Anger at those in authority.
Anger at the police force.

Watching the news I have seen people literally shaking with anger at what has happened.

What do we make of this? Let me make two further observations:

We are right to be angry at sin. There would be something wrong with us if we didn't feel angry. Anger is not the opposite of love; it's the outworking of it. Because God loves the world he has made and rules over, he hates sin. He hates what it does. In the words of Psalm 5:5, 'He hates all who do wrong.' We are right, therefore, to be angry at sin.

But righteous anger can easily turn to sin - especially where it expresses itself as self-righteousness.

The gospel will not allow us to pretend that we are better than the rioters and looters. Were it not for the grace of God (both his saving grace and his common grace) who knows where we would be and what we would be caught up in.

As John Stott once said, were it not for the gospel I would be on the scrap heap of wasted and discarded lives.

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Two observations on the riots

2011-08-09T09:28:00.004+01:00

Like many others I have been shocked by the riots in parts of London and, last night, other cities around the country.

Neil Powell has written a very helpful article here on how Christians should think and respond to these events. I recommend it.

Let me just make two comments...

watching the scenes unfold on our TV screens makes me very thankful that this is not the norm in the UK. In part we are shocked because we don't expect things like this to happen here. But that is only true because of God's common grace - that is, "the grace of God by which he gives people innumerable blessings that are not part of salvation" (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, p.657). The riots, therefore, teach us not to take God's common grace for granted, but to be thankful that, in his mercy, he restrains evil and does not treat us as we deserve.
I like to think that I take the doctrine of sin seriously, but my surprise at the rioting and looting would suggest otherwise. As Neil notes, "We are not surprised by the events of the last few nights (although we are saddened and shocked) because as Christians we recognise the doctrine of total depravity when we see it." The problem is I think many of us are surprised. We don't expect things like this to happen here. For me, one of the striking things has been how quickly things have escalated. It really doesn't take much for the thin veneer of civility to be ripped away. So then, just as the riots teach us to be thankful for God's common grace, they also teach us not to be surprised at the sinfulness of ordinary people.

Sparkford '11

2011-08-08T11:40:00.004+01:00

It's a week ago now since Tom and I got back from Sparkford - a CPAS venture holiday for 14-18 year olds.

This year was Tom's second year as a member. He seemed to enjoy it this year even more than last.

I've now been involved with Sparkford for about 18 years I think, although I missed a couple of summers a few years ago.

I am so grateful to God for Sparkford. Amongst other things...

it's a great opportunity to proclaim the gospel - to Christian and non-Christian young people
humanly speaking Sparkford has been one of those things that God has used to keep me on track and help me keep going
it's a great joy to serve alongside other people who are wholeheartedly committed to the gospel
some of my dearest Christian friends are fellow leaders on the camp
God has taught me so much about Christian ministry from serving alongside others and sitting under their ministry
Sparkford is a great opportunity to serve - I now help with what we call the Taskforce team (who are effectively junior leaders), and a lot of my time this year was spent washing up in the scullery - it's a great reminder that Christian leadership is about service
it's a great encouragement to see young people growing as Christians, serving on the Taskforce team, and joining the leaders' team - this year we had a number of first-time leaders, who'd all served on Taskforce last year
it's a great opportunity to train a new generation of Christians to serve Christ and his gospel, wherever God puts them
and now, of course, my own children are starting to come and I see the fruit in their lives too

Dear Father, thank you for Sparkford. Please continue to use it to grow the gospel in this country and beyond, for your glory. Amen.

A world of perfect love

2011-06-07T13:42:00.004+01:00

I read chapter 8 of Tim Keller's Gospel in Life this morning, entitled, Eternity: The world that is to come, and was very struck by this quote from Jonathan Edwards' sermon, Heaven, a World of Love:

There are many principles contrary to love, that make this world like a tempestuous sea. Selfishness, and envy, and revenge, and jealousy, and kindred passions keep life on earth in a constant tumult... But oh! what rest is there in that world which the God of peace and love fills with his own gracious presence, and in which the Lamb of God lives and reigns, filling it with the brightest and sweetest beams of his love; where there is nothing to disturb or offend, and no being or object to be seen that is not surrounded with perfect amiableness and sweetness... where there is no enemy and no enmity; but perfect love in every heart to every being; where there is perfect harmony among all the inhabitants, no one envying another, but rejoicing in the happiness of the other... where love is always mutual and reciprocated to the full; where there is no hypocrisy or dissembling, but perfect simplicity and sincerity; where there is no treachery, or unfaithfulness, or inconstancy, or jealousy in any form... where there is no division through different opinions or interests, but where all in that glorious and loving society shall be most nearly and divinely related, and each shall belong to every other, and all shall enjoy each other in perfect prosperity and riches, and honour, without any sickness, or grief, or persecution, or sorrow, or any enmity to molest them, or any busybody to create jealousy or misunderstanding, or mar the perfect, and holy, and blessed peace that reigns in heaven! (p.132)

Don't you long for a world like this?!

Generosity - the mark of the Christian

2011-05-10T11:01:00.003+01:00

Preparing for our leadership training course - Learning to Serve - this morning, I came across this very helpful quote from Tim Keller...

Why is generosity the mark of being a Christian? Imagine a person who is deathly ill. The doctor announces to him that there is a medicine which can certainly cure him. Without it, he has no hope. "However," says the doctor, "it is extremely expensive. You will have to sell your cars, even your home, to buy it. You may not wish to spend so much." The man turns to his doctor and says, "What do my cars mean to me now? What good will my house be? I must have that medicine; it is precious to me. These other things which were so important to me now look pale by comparison to the medicine. They are expendable now. Give me the medicine." The apostle Peter says, "To you who believe... [he] is precious" (1 Peter 2:7). The grace of God makes Christ precious to us, so that our possessions, our money, our time have all become eternally and utterly expendable. They used to be crucial to our happiness. They are not so now. (Gospel in life, p.110)

Reading the text responsibly

2011-05-05T15:45:00.003+01:00

Whilst preparing for my sermon on Genesis 4:1-16 today, I came across this very helpful quote on reading the text of Scripture responsibly...

One of the things we wrestle with as we study this passage is the question of why God didn't look on Cain's offering with favour.

Writing in the New Application Commentary, John Walton notes that the text is more interested in God's response than telling us why God didn't look on it with favour.

Walton then says this: We need to practice the discipline of reading the lines instead of reading between the lines. A successful interpretation is not the one that fills in the gaps most persuasively; it is the one that lets the gaps remain and articulates the cohesiveness of the text as it stands. (p.266)

Mum's funeral

2011-05-04T14:23:00.003+01:00

This time last week, I was just praying for strength to preach at Mum's funeral. God was very kind and he answered that prayer. Here are the notes from my sermon...

What I’d like to do for the next few minutes is help us think about that Bible reading, which mum chose for her funeral. It was a great privilege to be her son and it’s a very great privilege now to preach at her funeral.

Jesus is talking to his closest friends. He says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” It’s a striking thing to say. Judas has just gone to betray him. In a few short hours he will be arrested, deserted by his friends, tried by a kangaroo court, flogged, and then nailed to a cross. Jesus knows what lies in store for him. He has told the disciples that he will die. They are frightened and confused. And Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”

It tells us something very special about him. He is about to suffer and die, and yet he cares so much for his friends, that even now, he is thinking about their comfort and peace.

These are words that we need to hear today as we mourn mum’s death. It’s hard when a loved one dies from such an aggressive illness. She died a little over 4 weeks after first going into hospital. She went downhill very quickly in the last couple of weeks. Her death was shocking.

And the point is, as we grieve, Jesus cares about our comfort and peace. And by his Holy Spirit, he says to us, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”

But mum’s death was shocking in another way too. For her death has brought us face to face with our own mortality. The reality is, that unless Christ returns, all of us will one day die. When a loved one dies, suddenly, unexpectedly, it reveals that we are not the master of our fate, or the captain of our souls, as we might like to think.

And so, as we come to terms with our own frailty, Jesus says to us, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”

To help us think about those words I want to ask two questions, very briefly. What is the answer to our fear? And how is Jesus able to help us?

Firstly, what is the answer to our fear? Let’s read on… “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.” Jesus says that the answer to our fear is to trust him. He’s talking about faith.

True faith is not blind. It’s not mere wishful thinking. It’s not even something you conjure up from inside yourself. Rightly understood, faith is a gift from God, by which we take Jesus at his word, and put our life in his hands. Faith doesn’t mean we have all the answers, or that we understand why things happen the way they do. Quite the opposite in fact. Faith is acknowledging that we don’t have the answers, but trusting that God does, and even though we can’t make sense of it, he can.

Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.”

Sometimes, in the face of suffering and death, people find it hard to trust God. It’s more than likely that there’s someone like that here today. What then? Be honest. Tell God how you feel – he knows anyway. And ask him to help you. True faith is a gift from God. Ask him to help you overcome your unbelief.

Which brings us to our second question: How is Jesus able to help us? Look at what comes next… Jesus is talking about heaven. He likens it to a great big house, in which there are many rooms. The best thing about this house is that it’s where his Father lives. The essence of heaven is that God will live with his people. They will see him face to face, and bask in the glory of his love, joy and comfort. In another place, the Bible describes it like this: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.” (Revelation 21:4)

A few hours later, Jesus would die on the cross. The disciples’ world would collapse around them. But Jesus wanted them to understand what was happening. His death wasn’t a mistake.

It was the very reason he had come. By dying on the cross and rising again, Jesus prepared a room in his Father’s house, for everyone who puts their life in his hands.

Mum had this confidence. It grew stronger in her in her last few weeks. I think that’s one of the reasons why she chose this passage. In the week before she died, she kept saying that she wasn’t frightened – she just wanted to go home.

The thing is, there’s only one way to heaven. It’s not being good, or religious, or sincere. It’s Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father, except through me.” You see, because of his great love, Jesus came to die on the cross. And there he died the death that we deserve for the way that we’ve treated God, and the way that we’ve treated one another. He took the rap, as it were, so that we might never have to. And when we place our life in his hands, and ask God to make his death count for us, he forgives us and accepts us and assures us that one day – either when we die, or the Lord Jesus returns – he will take us home to be with him for ever.

Many of the cards we’ve received, since Mum’s death, bear tribute to what a special person she was. And she was. By God’s grace, she touched many peoples’ lives. I thank God that she was my mum, that I had the privilege of growing up in such a loving home, with two parents who were devoted to one another and to Andy and I. The truth is, I didn’t always realize how fortunate I was, but I do now.

But Mum didn’t get to go home because she deserved it. She got to go home because the Lord Jesus died and rose again to prepare a place in heaven for her. She got to go home, not because of her love for us, or her love for others, or even her love for God; she got to go home, simply because of his great love for her.

A few days before she died, I read to her, a booklet called, ‘On my way to heaven’. It was written by a Christian called Mark Ashton, who died of cancer last Easter. It finishes with these words: “In dying, I want to say to those I have loved and to those who have loved me: ‘Don’t magnify me – remember the reality: I was someone who sometimes got you cross, and irritated you, and let you down, and disappointed you, and hurt you. So please don’t remember an imaginary relationship with me. It was good, but it could have been better. I loved you, but I could have loved you better – just as you loved me, but you could have loved me better. So don’t let’s trust in our love for one another. Let’s trust in God’s love for us…” (Mark Ashton, On my way to heaven, 10Publishing, pp.23-24)

What made that moment so special, was that Dad – you had come in as we were reading, and you had taken her hand in yours and the look you gave each other then said, “Yes, that’s right.” You had a great marriage. You shared more than forty very happy years together. But the way forward is not to trust in the love you had for each other. It’s to trust in God’s love for you.

And that you see, is how any of us gets to experience the comfort and peace Jesus talks about here. It’s not by trusting our love for one another, but by placing our lives in his hands and trusting his love for us, which took him to the cross.

Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.”

Jesus died to set us free from the fear of death

2011-04-25T10:52:00.003+01:00

Yesterday evening I preached on Hebrews 2:14-15...

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil - and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

It was part of a series we've been doing entitled, Why did Jesus die? And the point was that Jesus died to set us free from the fear of death.

I asked 4 questions:

Why do we fear death?
How do we try and cope with our fear of death?
How did Jesus set us free from the fear of death?
What difference does this make?

Here's how I answered the last question:

Four things.

Firstly, we take heart.

The devil has been defeated. He cannot take God’s children to hell. And, therefore, for the believer death is not a tragedy. It means going home and entering the very presence of God.

The only real tragedy is when someone dies without the hope of eternal life, facing eternity in hell.

There’s a lovely old poem that I’d like at my funeral, which puts it this way:

It is not death to die

To leave this weary road

And join the saints who dwell on high

Who’ve found their home with God.

It is not death to close

The eyes long dimmed by tears

And wake in joy before the throne

Delivered from our fears.

O Jesus, conquering the grave

Your precious blood has power to save.

Those who trust in you

Will in your mercy find

That it is not death to die.

It is not death to fling

Aside this earthly dust

Arise with strong and noble wing

To live among the just.

It is not death to hear

The Key unlock the door

That sets us free from mortal years

To praise you evermore.

This hope makes us strong. The fear of death makes us timid. It stops us giving ourselves up for others. It makes us count the cost and play things safe. But when you know that it is not death to die, it changes everything.

Secondly, we still grieve.

When a Christian dies the fact that they ‘find their home with God’, doesn’t mean we don’t grieve. Part of being human is that when you lose someone you love, you agonize over the loss.

The Christian writer, Nancy Guthrie, lost a daughter called Hope, to a rare condition called Zellweger syndrome. She wrote a book describing her experience called, Holding on to hope: A pathway through suffering to the heart of God. In it she says this: “The day after we buried Hope, my husband said to me, ‘You know, I think we expected our faith to make this hurt less, but it doesn’t. Our faith gave us an incredible amount of strength and encouragement while we had Hope, and we are comforted by the knowledge that she is in heaven. Our faith keeps us from being swallowed by despair. But I don’t think it makes our loss hurt any less.’” (Kindle location 116)

She went on: “Our culture wants to put the Band-Aid of heaven on the hurt of losing someone we love. Sometimes it seems like the people around us think that because we know the one we love is in heaven, we shouldn’t be sad. But they don’t understand how far away heaven feels, and how long the future seems as we see before us the years we have to spend on this earth before we see the one we love again.” (Kindle location 128)

Thirdly, we run to Christ.

For the Christian believer, it may not be death we fear so much as dying. What do we say to that? Two things: one general, one specific.

First, the general. We said earlier that we fear things that are beyond our control. But whilst death and dying may be beyond our control they’re not beyond his. In v8 the writer implies that everything is subject to him – even senility and incontinence, and cancer. Therefore, we run to him.

Second, the specific. Look at v18. When the writer talks about temptation, I don’t think he’s talking about things like lust or greed. I think he’s talking about those temptations we face in the face of suffering and death. The temptation to get angry, to despair, to fear. And the point is when these trials come, Christ will help us. He knows from his own experience what we’re going through and he will give us all the help we need to keep going. He is our merciful and faithful high priest and he won’t let us down. Therefore, we run to him.

Finally, we resolve to die well.

The writer of Ecclesiastes says a very striking thing. He says, “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart.” (7:2)

When we are confronted by death we need to take it to heart. We need to make the most of the opportunity that God is giving us – to think about our own death, to be reconciled to God and to one another, to look to the world to come, and to fix our eyes on the Lord Jesus. That’s what the writer encourages us to do in 3:1.

The thing is, when we do this, it doesn’t just change us, it changes others too. That’s the point he makes in chp 11 where he lists the great heroes of the faith. Watching someone die well is inspiring. It makes you not only want to die well yourself, but to live well. Don’t you want that? Don’t you want to be an inspiration to others? Then take death to heart.

3 books on death and grief

2011-04-20T15:57:00.005+01:00

While mum was dying I read three books on death and grief, each of which was extremely helpful in their own way.

The first, Sunsets: Reflections for Life's Final Journey, was written by Deborah Howard, a Christian hospice and palliative care nurse. Drawing on her experience as a nurse she helps people prepare for the pain and grief of death by providing practical instruction and pointing people to the

gospel. Chapters address topics including denial, the sovereignty of God, the purposes of suffering, preparing for approaching death, the truth about angels, heaven and hell, and comfort. The book has two features, which, in my opinion, make it particularly helpful: each chapter begins with the fictional story of Bachman McNair III, which relates to the subject of that chapter; each chapter also includes a case study, again relating to the subject of the chapter. The book is easy to read and written for the general reader. I think it's especially helpful for pastors and counsellors, and those facing death or wanting to support a loved one facing death.

The second, The Art of Dying: Living Fully into the Life to Come, was written by Rob Moll and aims to help Christians to prepare for death so that they die well. If the first book was helpful on a pastoral level, this was more personally challenging. Moll begins by examining the way our attitude to death has changed, not just amongst society in general, but amongst Christians in particular. Strikingly, at one point, he quotes a doctor who argues that "we're so pro-life, we're anti-death." Amongst other things, he talks about what it means to die well, how we grieve hopefully, what a Christian funeral looks like, and how we live in the light of our death. I was particularly helped by his comments on the place of the Christian community.

The third, Holding on to Hope: A Pathway through Suffering to the Heart of God, by Nancy Guthrie, sets the story of the death of her daughter, Hope, to a rare metabolic disorder called Zellweger Syndrome, against the backdrop of the book of Job. Perhaps not surprisingly I found this the most moving of the 3. The book deals with loss, tears, worship, gratitude, blame, suffering, despair, the question why, eternity, comforters, mystery, submission & intimacy. I think it's Don Carson who says that the time to think about suffering is not when we're in the midst of it, but beforehand. This would be an excellent book to chew over prayerfully to help prepare for suffering.

I was very thankful for each book and recommend them to you.

Don't wait until the end

2011-04-18T10:57:00.003+01:00

When it comes to talking to our loved ones about the gospel, I think there is a temptation for us to think that we'll always have more time.

And in his loving kindness the Lord may indeed give us more time.

One of the great blessings of dying gradually is that it allows us this opportunity.

And yet, especially during the last two weeks of her life, mum was so sick that, had she not been a believer, she wasn't really in much of a position to think things through carefully.

As I sat with her, it struck me that we mustn't wait until the end before we pluck up courage to share the gospel, because by then the person may not be able to take it on board.

Of course, we thank God for the gracious work of his Holy Spirit, who is more than able not only to remove the veil with which the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, but also to clear away the fog of sickness and medication, so that people can lay hold of the gospel.

But isn't it better to share the gospel with people before we reach this point?

In this God has used mum's death to remind me to make the most of every opportunity to give a reason for the hope that we have.

Mum

2011-04-17T12:50:00.001+01:00

Mum died last night at 9:10pm.

She had gone downhill very quickly over the last week.

We thank God that she died well, confident that she was 'going home'.

We also thank God that she died peacefully, with dad, Debs & I, and Andy & Rachelle all around her.

This week I have taken great comfort from these words from Psalm 56:8...

You keep track of all my sorrows.

You have collected all my tears in your bottle.

You have recorded each one in your book. (NLT)

We praise God not only for the certain hope of the resurrection of the dead, but also that he understands and shares in our sadness.

The blessing of dying gradually

2011-04-15T13:34:00.004+01:00

It is horrible watching someone you love die.

It really is.

I understand why people might want to die a quick, sudden death.

And yet the truth is dying gradually is also a blessing.

For the one dying, it's a blessing because...

you can say "Goodbye" to those you love
you can say things you might otherwise never say... "I'm sorry," "I forgive you," "I love you," "Do you remember when..."
you can prepare to meet your God and King
you can help people begin to prepare for life after your death
you can teach people what it means to die well

And for those left behind, it's a blessing because...

you can say "Goodbye"
you can say things you might otherwise never say... "I'm sorry," "I forgive you," "I love you," "Do you remember when..."
you can start the grieving process
you can reflect upon your own life and death
you can resolve to live well - that is, to live now in the light of the world to come

Evening Prayer

2011-04-13T10:53:00.003+01:00

As the Pastor of an Independent Evangelical church who used to be an Anglican minister, people often ask me what I miss about the Anglican church.

I tend to say the liturgy.

I know there are advantages and disadvantages to the use of liturgy in general, and Anglican liturgy in particular.

But last night was a good reminder of one of the great advantages of liturgy.

Before she went to sleep, I read mum the service of Evening Prayer from the Alternative Service Book.

Even though she was drained from the exertions of the day, she was able to follow the service and join in.

It was a great joy to see her mouth the words of the confession, the Magnificat and Nunc Dimitus, the creed and the Lord's Prayer.

It reminded me what a good thing it is to have a treasury of Bible prayers locked away in the heart and mind, for those moments, when we are too sick or worn out to do our own thing.

Stop. Don't go past Me.

2011-04-12T15:43:00.002+01:00

Reading Sunsets: Reflections on Life's Final Journey, by Deborah Howard, today, I came across this vivid illustration, which makes the point that warning people about hell is not act of cruelty, but rather of mercy and love and compassion. It comes from Don Whitney.

Imagine driving home at night through a horrible thunderstorm. The rain and hail are pounding your car. The streetlights are out. Limbs are down. The roaring, swirling wind is blowing so hard that it's difficult to hold the car on the road. Visibility is only a few feet.

There, in front of your car, you spot a figure in the your headlights, soaked and bleeding, waving madly and shouting something you can't quite make out over the howling wind. Man, you think, I don't want to stop for that guy. I'll get soaked. All I want to do is get home. No telling who he is. Might be some psycho or something.

You swerve - only to find him there again, waving and shouting for you to stop. When you realise you either have to run him down or stop, you finally stop. You roll the window down a quarter of an inch.

He rushes to your window and shouts through the storm, "Thank God you stopped. So many cars have rushed right by me, and now all those people are dead. The bridge up ahead has washed out, and they all plunged into the water."

This man's warning saved your life. It was an act of mercy. So is the warning of Christ about hell. He stands with His arms outstretched on a cross and speaks to our hearts, "Stop. Don't go past Me."

All the days ordained for me

2011-04-07T15:52:00.003+01:00

Following on from yesterday's post, here's a letter I wrote to our church family...

My dear brothers and sisters,

Let me share some personal reflections with you.

I write this the week before Mothering Sunday. Unless the Lord miraculously intervenes, this will be my mum’s last Mothering Sunday. Last week we were told that mum has an aggressive form of pancreatic cancer, which has spread to her liver, and is likely to take her life in the next two or three months.

Mum and dad are both in their early sixties, and quite healthy – or so we thought. Mum retired last year and dad is semi-retired. They were very much looking forward to the future together.

I have often thought about the reality of death. I am very conscious that unless the Lord Jesus Christ returns, we will all die. And yet, if I was honest, I didn’t expect, at the age of 39, to be looking forward to a future without my mum.

On one level her death is tragic – not in the same way that the death of a mother with young children is tragic – but tragic nonetheless.

One of the great Bible truths that I have long held dear is the sovereignty of God. Ephesians 1:11 provides us with a helpful definition of this. When we talk about the sovereignty of God we mean that God “works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.” The word ‘everything’ means just that – everything. Big things and small things; good things and bad things – even pancreatic cancer. The Christian writer, Jerry Bridges, puts it this way: “God’s sovereignty involves his absolute power to do whatever pleases Him and His absolute control over the actions of all His creatures. But God’s sovereignty also includes his absolute right to do as He pleases with us.”

While I was staying with mum & dad last week, I started reading a book called, Sunsets: Reflections on Life’s Final Journey, by a Christian hospice nurse called Deborah Howard. I have found it very helpful and recommend it to you. At one point, she discusses Psalm 139, where David teaches us that God is in control of life and death. He says, “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (v16)

Howard describes this as “a freeing truth”. She writes, “That sentence tells us so much. Each of us has a certain number of days to live our lives. We will not die one moment too soon or too late. We will die exactly when God has ordained it.”

I think she is right when she calls this ‘a freeing truth’. Mum’s cancer is not outside God’s control. It has not caught him by surprise, as it has caught us by surprise. Despite her relatively young years, mum will not die one moment too soon.

Howard then spells out three implications of this truth.

1. There are no ‘accidents’. God is in control of the time of our death.

2. No one dies ‘prematurely’. She says, “I often hear family members tearfully confess, ‘If only I had taken her to the doctor earlier,’ or, ‘If only I had listened when he tried to tell me how sick he was,’ or, ‘If only I had been with her instead of talking on the phone.’ But nothing we could have done would have ultimately changed the outcome of any situation. So we can just erase all that guilt. Events happen just as they are supposed to. We can dismiss all those ‘if onlys.” However, lest we misunderstand her, she goes on, “This does not mean, of course, that we can glide through life carelessly, recklessly, or dangerously. We are commanded to live our lives responsibly, soberly, and prudently.”

3. Our death was appointed for us before we were even born. Remember the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3:1-2. “There is a time for everything, and for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die”.

She concludes with these words:

“Aren’t these amazing truths? If we could really embrace them, we would find we could get through anything with more confidence and truth. We would realize our confidence is not based on who we are but on who God is. We would be at peace, knowing that all things are under God’s control.

Nothing will ever happen to us that is not either allowed or caused by His divine providence.”

Please don’t misunderstand me. Knowing that God is in control of mum’s life and death does not remove the hurt and pain. I hope you will not think I’m being overdramatic when I say that I cannot imagine life without her. It is not for nothing that the Bible refers to death as our enemy (see 1 Corinthians 15:26). And yet, despite this, the knowledge that God is in control is both liberating and comforting.

We want to thank you for your support and prayers. Debs and I have been bowled over by all the expressions of love that we have received over the last few days. We thank God for you. As you pray for us, please pray that we would hold fast to this truth.

With very fond love in our Lord Jesus,

Mike

Like grass

2011-04-06T16:20:00.003+01:00

Two weeks ago we were told that mum had an aggressive form of pancreatic cancer, which had spread to her liver. It was terminal.

Although she had been unwell for a while it caught us all by surprise.

It is a strange thing to be told that someone you love dearly is going to die.

For a moment everything stops.

At least it does for you... it doesn't for others.

The rest of world carries on going. People rush here and there, caught up in their own stories.

At the time it doesn't seem right that others don't stop, out of respect, to mark what is happening.

You want the world to stop and take notice, but it doesn't.

I suspect that this seeming injustice is actually part of the Lord's kindness, to draw us to himself. It's yet another reminder that we are not God and the world doesn't revolve around us.

Rather, as David says in Psalm 103,

As for man, his days are like grass,

he flourishes like a flower of the field;

the wind blows over it and it is gone,

and it's place remembers it no more. (vv15-16)

How remarkable then that "from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him". (v17)

While we were...

2011-04-04T20:35:00.004+01:00

Last night in our evening service we looked at Romans 5:8: "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

What I'd not seen before were the two other 'while we were' statements that Paul also makes - that stand out in the ESV...

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. (v6)

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. (v10)

All three of these 'while we were' statements underline both our sorry state - see my previous post - (we were weak, we were sinners and we were enemies) and, therefore, serve to highlight the wonder of Christ's death for us.

Our sorry state

2011-04-01T09:50:00.005+01:00

On Wednesday morning, at the Getaway, I spoke on the fellowship of the Holy Spirit from Philippians 2:1-11.

We thought about 3 implications of our fellowship with the Spirit:

unity
humility (v. vain glory - see 2:3)
glory (to come - see the pattern of 2:9 [Therefore God exalted him], which works out for us in 3:20-21)

Afterwards, as we talked about serving others, someone asked a question about allowing others to serve us.

It was a helpful question, but I confess that it makes me feel a little uneasy. I fear that talk of being served panders to our desire for vain glory.

Of course, on one level it's true. We do need to allow ourselves to be served by others. But I wonder if it's more helpful to put it in terms of our need of help.

When we talk about our helplessness it humbles us. It cuts away at our sense of proud self-sufficiency. It reminds us that we are sons of God, dependent on our Father in heaven for everything.

Interestingly, I'm preaching on Mark 10:32-45 this Sunday morning, where Jesus announces that he came to serve us. The way he puts it underlines our helplessness.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

I think it's John Stott who says that the emphasis here is on our 'sorry state'. We are lost; we are slaves to sin, death and hell. We cannot help ourselves. We need to be rescued.

Confusing the diagnosis with the solution

2011-03-31T10:34:00.004+01:00

From Monday to Wednesday this week I was in Southampton speaking at a UCCF Getaway for Staff and Relay workers from the South-East and South-West.

It was a really enjoyable time and great to meet a bunch of gospel-hearted people who seemed keen to love Christ and make him known.

On Tuesday afternoon we looked at Revelation 3:14-22 together. I had two points:

Jesus hates a spirit of proud, self-sufficiency, vv14-18
Jesus longs for us to open the door of our lives to him, vv19-22

During the 1st point I quoted some words from John Piper, in which he gives us a tool for diagnosing whether we struggle with a spirit of proud, self-sufficiency. He says,

Look at your prayer life. It doesn't matter what we think in our head, the test of whether we are in bondage to spiritual self-satisfaction is how earnest and frequent and extended our prayers for change are.

Afterwards someone picked me up on this. They asked a good question. How do we make sure our prayers don't become another work by which we try to earn God's approval?

As I thought about it, it struck me that we often confuse the diagnosis with the solution. In other words, if our prayer life reveals a spirit of proud, self-sufficiency, the temptation is to think that we put that right by praying more earnestly or frequently.

In reality, we need to repent and cry out for mercy. We turn away from ourselves to our Father in heaven. We open the door of our life to Jesus.

Of course, this will show itself in earnest and frequent prayers. But the focus is different. Instead of the focus being on me and what I do, it's on Christ and what he has done.

Children, families and God's family

2011-03-14T16:46:00.004Z

I'll blog about my recent trip to Ghana another time.

At our EAGP meeting today Justin Mote and David Whitehouse spoke about integrating youth and children's ministry in the church. It was excellent.

Justin looked at the Bible principles and then David talked about applying those principles.

Justin began with two questions...

Question: What do we most want for our children and young people?

Answer: We want them to be mature disciples of Jesus Christ.

Question: What has God given to make this happen?

Answer: The family and the church.

He then gave us two principles:

God places children in families - here Justin asked, What can parents do to give their children the best opportunity of growing into mature disciples? He identified 5 things: teaching; not exasperating; disciplining; providing; and letting go
God places believers in local churches - here we had 3 further principles: children can be true believers; children gather as part of the local church; children are, therefore, to be involved in the ministry of the local church

David then gave us a number of questions to think through for each principle.

It was a really helpful time and I look forward to chewing over the questions in the days ahead.

Europe - West Africa Fellowship Gathering

2011-02-18T18:52:00.002Z

Tomorrow I travel to Ghana for the SIM (Serving in Mission) Europe - West Africa Fellowship Gathering, in Abokobi.

The theme of the conference is 'Living as disciples and making disciples of Jesus Christ'.

There will be expositions on 1 Thessalonians from Pastor Calisto Odede, talks on Leading as Jesus' Disciples Across Cultures by Jim Plueddemann, and on Living and Serving as True Disciples by Bishop Egbunu.

After the conference, Keith Walker and I will be travelling north for a few days to visit some of SIM's workers in the region around Tamale.

It's an enormous privilege to have been invited and, although I will miss Debs and the children terribly, I'm very much looking forward to it.

I've spent much of today getting ready - but this has been much easier than it could have been, because of the great help I've received from Bex in the SIM office at Wetheringsett, and Debs' wonderful love and care.

Please do pray for me while I'm away - that God would give me a bigger vision of what he is doing in his world and a greater desire to live for him and serve him as a true disciple of Jesus Christ.

Relying completely on Jesus Christ

2011-02-18T10:34:00.003Z

Yesterday, Justin Taylor posted a really helpful extract from an interview with Bob Kauflin in The Power of Words and the Wonder of God.

Here it is:

I helped plant a church in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1991. I began to feel increasing anxiety at different times when we first planted the church. Then in January of 1994 my wife and I were at a couple’s house for dinner, and I cracked. My life fell apart. Mentally I had no connection with what I was doing, no connection with the past, no connection with the future. I didn’t know why I existed. These were the thoughts that went through my brain. That began a period of maybe three years where I battled constant hopelessness. I would wake up each morning with this thought: “Your life is completely hopeless,” and then I would go from there. It was a struggle just to make it through to each step of the day. The way I made it through was just to think, What am I going to do next? What will I do? I can make it to there.

It was characterized by panic attacks. For the first six months I battled thoughts of death. I’d think about an event that was three months away: Why am I thinking about that? I’m going to be dead by then. I had feelings of tightness in my chest, buzzing and itching on my arms, buzzing on my face. It was a horrible time. And in the midst of that I cried out to God, and I certainly talked to the pastor that I served with and other pastors that I knew—good friends—trying to figure out what in the world was going on with my life.

Five or six children at that time, a fruitful life, a fruitful ministry. And this is what I discovered: although I’d been a Christian for twenty-two years (since 1972) I was driven by a desire to be praised by men. And I wasn’t succeeding. When you plant a church, you find out that there are a lot of people who don’t agree with you. People who came to plant the church left. All of that assaulted my craving to be admired and praised and loved and worshiped and adored and applauded. God, I believe, just took his hand from me and said, “Okay, you handle this your way.” I knew the gospel, but what I didn’t know was how great a sinner I was. I thought the gospel I needed was for pretty good people, and that wasn’t sufficient to spare me from the utter hopelessness I felt during that time.

I would read Scripture. It didn’t make sense to me. It didn’t affect me. I remember lying at bed at times just reciting the Lord’s Prayer to myself over and over and over, hoping that would help. I couldn’t sleep; then at times all I wanted to do was sleep. I remember saying this early on: “God, if you keep me like this for the rest of my life but it means that I will know you better, then keep me like this.” That was the hardest prayer I’ve ever prayed.

During that time I read an abridged version of John Owen’s Sin and Temptation and Jerry Bridges’s The Discipline of Grace.

About a year into the process I talked to a good friend, Gary Ricucci, whom I am now in a small group with at Covenant Life Church. I said, “Gary, I feel hopeless all the time.”

He said, “You know, Bob? I think your problem is that you don’t feel hopeless enough.”

I don’t know what I looked like on the outside, but on the inside I was saying, “You are crazy. You are crazy. I feel hopeless.”

He said, “No, if you were hopeless, you would stop trusting in yourself and rely completely on what Jesus Christ accomplished for you.”

That was the beginning of the way out. And I remember saying to myself literally hundreds of times—every time these feelings of hopelessness and panic and a desire to ball up in a fetal position would come on me—“I feel completely hopeless because I am hopeless, but Jesus Christ died for hopeless people, and I’m one of them.”

Over time I began to believe that. And today when I tell people that Jesus is a great Savior, I believe it, because I know that he saved me. That’s where my joy comes from. My joy comes from knowing that at the very bottom, at the very pit of who I am, it is blackness and sin, but the love and grace of Jesus goes deeper.

Two things struck me as I read it:

the feelings he describes of utter hopelessness are not as unusual as we might imagine. In fact, I would suggest they're far more common than we realise - or let on
there is a great (and understandable) temptation to offer comfort too quickly, without first properly diagnosing the problem. Gary Ricucci's counsel was very wise. Of course, the danger is that if we misdiagnose the problem, any help we offer is likely to be ineffective

Ribbon Roads

2011-02-17T17:16:00.004Z

I was tempted to blog on Arsenal's defeat of Barcelona last night, but that would have been somewhat ironic given my previous post!

Instead, I thought I'd mention a lovely new song from Keith & Kristyn Getty, called Ribbon Roads.

"The song is about the drive on the North Coast of Ireland from our home in Portstewart through all the neighbouring towns. It is a place which hides many memories and stories for us from childhood vacations, to our first date to our marital home and place of refuge and creativity."

Walking in pride

2011-02-16T13:31:00.004Z

There was a lot of talk over the weekend about just how good Wayne Rooney's goal was against Manchester City.

Unquestionably it was a great goal. Whether it was quite as good as some people suggested, I'm not sure.

However, what struck me most, was not the goal itself - as good as it was - but the arrogance of the celebration afterwards, as Rooney stood there, arms outstretched.

For all the hard work and training that Rooney puts in, such talent is a gift - of God's common grace.

The Bible repeatedly warns us that 'grace flows downhill', or as King Nebuchadnezzar found to his cost, "those who walk in pride he is able to humble." (Daniel 4:37)

Keeping going

2011-02-15T16:39:00.004Z

This morning I attended our local FIEC fraternal.

Alan Taylor, who leads the fraternal, spent some time addressing the question of how we keep going in ministry.

I found it very helpful.

He began by saying that we only keep going by the grace of God - we're completely reliant on Him.

However, we also have a responsibility to press on.

When we're finding the work hard, and we feel discouraged, Alan warned us against feeling sorry for ourselves and thinking that we're the only ones struggling like this.

He then offered 3 practical tips:

plan for ministry - take regular time out, to plan and pray for your ministry
know yourself and your limitations - identify the warning signs that you are tired, stressed, or over-doing things. Recognise both the guilt (some of which is real, some of which is not) and fear that many pastors struggle with
don't forget the reality of spiritual warfare - in the heat of the battle it's easy to forget or ignore this. Church leaders will be special targets for the devil

What am I standing upon?

2011-02-02T11:12:00.004Z

We've just started a leadership training course called, Learning to Serve.

One of the ingredients is Tim Keller's, Gospel in Life.

We've done 2 sessions so far, and it's been very, very helpful.

The reading for last night's session included this great quote from Richard Lovelace:

Only a fraction of the present body of professing Christians are solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives. Many... have a theoretical commitment to this doctrine, but in their day-to-day existence they rely on their sanctification for justification... drawing their assurance of acceptance with God from their sincerity, their past experience of conversion, their recent religious performance or the relative infrequency of their conscious, willful disobedience. Few know enough to start each day with a thoroughgoing stand upon Luther's platform: you are accepted, looking outward in faith and claiming the wholly alien righteousness of Christ as the only ground for acceptance, relaxing in that quality of trust which will produce increasing sanctification as faith is active in love and gratitude. (quoted in Timothy Keller, Gospel in Life, Zondervan, p.27)

Dear Father in heaven, please help me each and every day to stand upon the gospel and not my own performance. And, therefore, please fill me with that humble confidence that only the gospel can give. Amen.

Planting for the gospel

2011-01-31T12:28:00.002Z

This morning I read Graham Beynon's new book, Planting for the Gospel.

It's a very helpful and readable 'hands-on guide' to church planting.

The book divides into 2 sections.

Section 1 deals with the following areas:

Reasons for planting a church
Different models of church planting
Deciding on a model
Different methods of church planting
Key issues in church planting
The early days of church planting

Section 2 provides a number of useful case studies, which relate to the varying models put forward in chapter 2.

All in all, I thought it was a great book.

As a church family we're wanting to prayerfully consider church planting and I think this will be a great tool to help us. I'm keen to recommend it as our book of the term.

If I was being picky, I'd have liked more from chapter 1, and it would have been good to have looked at some of the case studies in more depth, but all in all I thought it was excellent.

Steve Timmis' blurb gets it about right: "This is not the final word on church planting, but it is an exceptionally useful introductory one."

The comfort of the gospel

2011-01-27T10:00:00.003Z

This morning we finished working through Gospel-centred life.

The final study was on suffering. We looked at 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 and the principle was, God gives me suffering that I might glorify Him.

Once again, I found it very helpful.

The 'Read all about it' section listed 3 things we could say when an unbeliever asks us about God and suffering:

Suffering may not be pointless - "just because I can't see the point, it doesn't mean there isn't one. To conclude there's no point reveals an enormous leap of faith - faith in the ability of my reason to understand life."
Suffering points to the glorious grace of God - "What is the point of suffering? We don't know because we're not God. But maybe it's to demonstrate the glory of God's grace." Here we were pointed to Ephesians 2:7.
God has done something about suffering - "Why doesn't God do something about suffering? He has done something. He suffers with us. And He suffers for us."

It also suggested what we could say to the Christian who asks us about God and suffering (and here we looked at 2 Corinthians 1:3-7)...

We often think of suffering as our own. It makes us different. Makes us an exception. Gives us the right to be self-absorbed.

But God gives us suffering for the sake of other people. You may share a lesson you learned in your suffering. You may offer a sympathetic ear. You may speak a word of comfort from someone who's been there and found God is compassionate.

There is a 'chain of comfort' here: God - us - others. The God of all comfort comforts us so we comfort others. And if we pass on God's comfort to others, who might they pass it on to? But if we don't pass it on, then a piece of the chain is broken...

The comfort of which Paul speaks is not some sentimental 'There, there, it'll be all right.' It's the comfort of the gospel. It's the promise of salvation - the confident hope that through Christ there will be an end to suffering in the new creation. Pass it on.

The fall of Andy Gray

2011-01-26T10:16:00.006Z

Yesterday Sky sacked Andy Gray for what it called 'unacceptable and offensive' behaviour.

What strikes me about the whole affair is not the nature of Andy Gray's comments, but the response to him.

Please don't misunderstand me.

I don't condone what he said. It was totally inappropriate.

Nor do I want to fall into the trap of drawing a line between a person's public and private life - as if what goes on in our private lives doesn't carry over into our public lives.

Rather, my point is this...

Andy Gray has been sacked for comments he made 'off air'.

But who of us could live up to that kind of scrutiny?

If all our private comments suddenly became public, how would we feel?

What strikes me about this, and what is arguably even more corrosive and deadly, is not the blatant sexism, but the self-righteousness that underlies our response.

It reminds me of two things Jesus said...

When the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery, Jesus said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." (John 8:7)

Another time he said, "There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs." (Luke 12:2-3)

All of which makes me very, very thankful for the Lord Jesus, who lived my life and died my death.

The haunted house

2011-01-25T10:02:00.003Z

On a Tuesday morning, I'm working through Kris Lundgaard's excellent book, The enemy within: Straight talk about the power and defeat of sin, with a friend.

This morning we read chapter 3 on the heart, entitled the haunted house.

Here are a few extracts...

The haunted house scares us because it hides something unknown and deadly. It has countless coat closets, cabinets, false walls, trapdoors, attics, basements - corners and shadows where the monster lies in wait, licking its chops.

You have a haunted house within you: your heart.

The heart is a maze that only God can solve (Jeremiah 17:9-10)... we modestly admit that we don't know someone else's heart, but the truth is we can't even know our own. (p.36)

But the heart is more than complicated and unsearchable: it is "deceitful above all things" (verse 9)... Do you doubt it? Think how fickle you are... And think of your inconsistencies.

This unsearchable, deceitful heart is where sin hides. (p.37)

Jesus called the heart the fountain of sin (Matthew 15:19), and a treasure chest where we sock away evil (Luke 6:45). Put all this together and you have a scene no director could stage. He could never design a house as complex as your heart, or gather enough monsters to fill it. (p.38)

The believer has a new heart, a new mind... and new desires for the things of God. Yet God's work in this renewed heart is unfinished... The mind can't see as clearly as it will, the desires can be entangled, and the will can't fully do God's will. The flesh in the believer remains unsearchable and deceitful. (pp.38-39)

Never think for a minute that the war against sin is over in this life. There isn't even a cease-fire. (p.39)

If you violently war against your flesh, you'll win ground. It will grow weak, and you'll grow in grace into the image of Christ. Still, the work has to be endless as long as we're in this world. If you cut the flesh any slack, you'll watch it regroup and revive. You may even end up worse off than you were before (Luke 11:24-26). (p.40)

As endless and complicated as this war is, believers rush in with confidence: the Holy Spirit takes the horror out of the horror show... he is a blazing torch we carry into the haunted house, and he ferrets out the monsters. (p.41)

Gospel-centred life

2011-01-20T10:11:00.005Z

Over the last three months or so, a friend and I have been working through Steve Timmis and Tim Chester's excellent workbook, Gospel-centred Life - becoming the person God wants you to be.

It took us a little while to get used to the style, which is different to other Bible study guides we've used. But once we adapted to it, we found it really helpful.

There are 14 chapters in all, divided into 3 parts:

Gospel-centred change: a life for God; a life for others; a life of change; a life of miracles
Gospel-centred perspectives: look up to God; look back to the cross; look around at the Christian community; look forward to eternity
Gospel-centred living: decisions; relationships; friends; horizons; possessions; suffering

If you're familiar with some of their other work (such as Total Church) much of this will be familiar territory... but very helpful nonetheless. If not, it's a great introduction.

Each chapter follows a similar pattern:

Principle (today we looked at chapter 13 on Possessions, where the principle is: God gives me blessing that I might glorify him)
Case studies to highlight the issue
Biblical background with questions
Read all about it - notes that develop the principle
and finally Questions for reflection

It's a helpful format, which really serves to drive home the principle.

There are two other volumes in the series: Gospel-centred church and Gospel-centred family. We look forward to working through those in due course.

All in all, highly recommended. A great resource.

The light of the whole world

2010-12-24T21:49:00.003Z

I love The Jesus Storybook Bible.

Here's a super video of the Christmas story adapted from the book.

Ten questions to ask at Christmas

2010-12-22T17:31:00.003Z

One of the things we try to pray for over the Christmas period is opportunities to talk about the gospel with family and friends.

And yet sometimes we find it hard to know how to turn a conversation to the gospel.

The other day I came across this helpful set of questions by Don Whitney designed to help us with this.

They can be used in private conversation or in a more public setting, with Christians or non-Christians, with family and friends or total strangers.

(For more information visit here.)

What's the best thing that's happened to you since last Christmas?

What was your best Christmas ever? Why?

What's the most meaningful Christmas gift you've ever received?

What was the most appreciated Christmas gift you've ever given?

What was your favorite Christmas tradition as a child?

What is your favorite Christmas tradition now?

What do you do to try to keep Christ in Christmas?

Why do you think people started celebrating the birth of Jesus?

Do you think the birth of Jesus deserves such a nearly worldwide celebration?

Why do you think Jesus came to earth?

Better than I deserve

2010-12-21T16:04:00.004Z

Yesterday I mentioned Christopher Ash's response to the everyday question, 'How are you?'

Paul left a comment with C. J. Mahaney's excellent response to the same question.

I think it's so good it's worth repeating in full. (It comes from his great little book, The Cross Centred Life.)

Ask me how I'm doing on any given day and you might be surprised by my response. I don't give the typical 'I'm great' or 'Fine, thanks!'

Instead I say, 'Better than I deserve.'

It catches people off guard. Many times non-Christians have argued with me, convinced that I suffer from low self-esteem.

But no - I just understand who I am and where I deserve to be. I deserve God's wrath. Honestly, I deserve to be in hell. But instead I'm God's child. I'm forgiven and loved by Him. I'm going to heaven.

I'm doing much better than I deserve! (p.84)

Holding on

2010-12-20T10:54:00.003Z

It's not unusual for us to ask each other, 'How are you?'

But what do you say?

I've blogged about the difficulty of knowing how to reply before.

Reading Christopher Ash's, Bible Delight, this morning, I came across this helpful answer...

So the authentic Christian answer to the question, 'How are you?' is, 'I am holding on. I am held by the Covenant promises of God in Christ. I am surrounded by near enemies and great enemies. I feel the darkness around and within. And yet I know from the word a nearer God and a greater mercy. And I rest my present and my future on this word that is true from the dawn of time and will remain true to all eternity. (p.187)

200 countries, 200 years

2010-12-09T09:55:00.003Z

I came across this fascinating video about the growth in health and wealth in 200 countries over the last 200 years via Tim Challies...

The Radical Disciple

2010-12-08T09:28:00.003Z

Last night in our home groups we finished our series following John Stott's, The Radical Disciple.

The series was a great way to reinforce the teaching of the book.

In the book, Stott considers "eight characteristics of Christian discipleship which are often neglected and yet deserve to be taken seriously." (p.17)

They are:

Non-conformity
Christlikeness
Maturity
Creation-care
Simplicity
Balance
Dependence
Death

Of course, Stott's list is selective - he himself recognises this in the conclusion.

Indeed, he encourages the reader to compile their own list, their own portrait of the radical disciple.

(According to Stott, "the English word 'radical' is derived from the Latin word radix, a root." [p.17] It came to be applied to people whose opinions went to the roots and who were thoroughgoing in their commitment.)

One of the questions we discussed in home groups last night was whether there were any aspects of discipleship that we thought were omitted that we would consider important.

It got me thinking...

Here are 3 that I came up with:

health - that is, exercising discernment, holding onto the truth, in an age when people do not put up with sound doctrine but instead gather about them a great number of teachers who say what their itching ears want to hear (see 2 Timothy 4:3)
endurance - I think I have noted before that the more I go on in the Christian life, indeed the more I read the Scriptures, the more I am struck by how vital and urgent endurance is
childlikeness - you could argue that this comes under Stott's characteristic of dependence. However, what I have in mind is the topsy turvy nature of the Kingdom - his ways are not our ways, and our ways are not his ways. As Mary sings in the Magnificat, "He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble." (Luke 1:52) There is for us, I think, a very real danger that our talk of strategy and vision reflects the world's way of thinking, rather than God's. After all, how many of our strategies target the so-called 'little people'?

Be careful!

2010-12-07T17:39:00.004Z

On Sunday evening Debs and I started watching the final series of 24.

After 1 episode we were totally gripped.

We're now 3 episodes in and I'm reminded of how frustrating 24 can be.

Already we've started to get exasperated with several of the characters, who have made a succession of bad choices and mistakes, and seem to show an almost total inability to do the right thing.

In some ways, watching 24 leaves me feeling the same way I feel when I read OT narrative, 'watching' as God's people repeatedly fail to trust God and therefore do the right thing.

The danger of course is that I start to think that I am somehow better then them, and in their shoes wouldn't make the same mistakes.

1 Corinthians 10:11-12 is a helpful warning...

These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfilment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!

Advent Songs

2010-12-02T13:32:00.005Z

Being a relatively new convert to Christian music, I'm just beginning to discover how much good Christian music is out there.

(I realise that's a very subjective comment. What I mean by 'good Christian music' is songs with lyrics that teach the Bible faithfully, and 'my kind of music' - in other words music that I enjoy.)

Yesterday I came across Sojourn Music via a post on Justin Taylor's blog, and downloaded one of their albums, Advent Songs - a collection of original and traditional Christmas songs

So far I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

You can find out more about Sojourn Music here.

Their website has this to say about Advent Songs:

The emphasis here is on the already/ not-yet tension of Advent, the season of waiting and anticipation before Christmas. Advent comes to us in the darkest season of the year — a season when the nights are long, the days are cold, and we look with anticipation for the return of the warmth in the spring. The songs have both a dark sense of anticipation and glimpses of light dawning in the face of the Christ child.

As we celebrate this season, we celebrate that our Messiah has come, and we look with longing to the day when he comes again. As St. John says, “Amen! Come Lord Jesus."

If you visit Justin's blog, you can download two free songs from the album.

Let the Bible define reality and love

2010-11-24T09:10:00.005Z

One of the issues I have on the back burner, as it were, is that of mercy ministries.

I recently came across this very helpful quote from John Piper at the recent Lausanne Conference in Cape Town, on Justin Taylor's blog.

One truth is that when the gospel takes root in our souls it impels us out toward the alleviation of all unjust suffering in this age. That’s what love does!

The other truth is that when the gospel takes root in our souls it awakens us to the horrible reality of eternal suffering in hell, under the wrath of a just and omnipotent God. And it impels us to rescue the perishing, and to warn people to flee from the wrath to come (1 Thess. 1:10).

I plead with you. Don’t choose between those two truths. Embrace them both. It doesn’t mean we all spend our time in the same way. God forbid. But it means we let the Bible define reality and define love.

Could Lausanne say—could the evangelical church say—we Christians care about all suffering, especially eternal suffering? I hope we can say that. But if we feel resistant to saying “especially eternal suffering,” or if we feel resistant to saying “we care about all suffering in this age,” then either we have a defective view of hell or a defective heart.

I pray that Lausanne would have neither.

Set faith at work on Christ

2010-11-23T11:39:00.007Z

This morning, we finished reading John Owen's, Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers.

I've thoroughly enjoyed it and found it hugely helpful.

In his commendation of Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor's volume, C.J. Mahaney writes, "No writer has taught me more about the dynamics of the heart and the deceitfulness of sin than John Owen." Having read Of the Mortification of Sin, I would agree.

In the first 13 chapters Owen deals with things "preparatory to the work" of putting sin to death.

In the final chapter, he concludes with a specific direction:

Set faith at work on Christ for the killing of your sin.

How do we do this?

Owen says,

By faith fill your soul with a due consideration of that provision which is laid up in Jesus Christ for this end and purpose, that all your lusts, this very lust wherewith you are entangled, may be mortified.

Owen exhorts the reader to "Raise up your heart by faith to an expectation of relief from Christ," and, therefore, to "Consider his mercifulness, tenderness, and kindness, as he is our great High Priest at the right hand of God" and to "Consider his faithfulness who has promised".

In this, we are to fix our thoughts "upon the death, blood, and cross of Christ; that is, on Christ as crucified and slain."

We are crucified with him meritoriously, in that he procured the Spirit for us to mortify sin; efficiently, in that from his death virtue comes forth for our crucifying; in the way of a representation and exemplar we shall assuredly be crucified unto sin, as he was for our sin.

Owen then draws the work to a close by reminding the reader once again of the necessity of the Spirit's work in the killing of sin.

this whole work, which I have described as our duty, is effected, carried on, and accomplished by the power of the Spirit, in all the parts and degrees of it.

To be honest, I was a little disappointed by the final chapter. It felt a little rushed - as if there was more that could have been said.

However, that might just be the moralist in me, looking for a set of guidelines that I can tick off.

All in all, the book was a real tonic for the soul, one that I'm sure I'll keep returning to.

Next week we're starting Kris Lundgaard's, The Enemy Within - Straight talk about the power and defeat of sin, which, from what I can work out, is John Owen for beginner's!

Leadership training

2010-11-22T12:06:00.003Z

One of the things I'm working on at the moment is a leadership training course which we'd like to start with some of our folks in the New Year.

Having mulled this over for a while, there are 2 elements I want to include:

in the first place I want to help people to grow in the gospel - that is, I want to help people understand the gospel, apply it to themselves, and be changed by it, so that they serve out of love for Christ and his people, and not as a means of impressing others or establishing an identity for themselves
I also want to help people develop the various skills required of leaders

As I read through the NT, I am struck by the great emphasis on character. People often note how the requirements for elders in 1 Timothy 3 overwhelmingly focus on character.

The truth is that a godly character flows out of a life gripped and shaped by the gospel.

So the more I grasp that in Christ I am chosen, holy, and dearly loved (see Colossians 3:12), the more I will bear the fruit of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

One important implication falls off the back of this...

One leadership training course will never be enough to equip people for ministry.

It is a long term project, in which the Bible is prayerfully taught so that peoples' lives are shaped by the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit.

At the same time, people need to see leadership being modelled by godly, mature Christians who set an example 'in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.' (1 Timothy 4:12)

Designed to be a burden

2010-11-17T07:54:00.004Z

In our home groups this term, our studies have been based on bible passages relating to the various chapters in John Stott's super book, The Radical Disciple.

We've had some great discussions in our group relating to the different characteristics of discipleship that Stott examines.

Last night we looked at the characteristic of dependence.

I found this particularly helpful...

I sometimes hear old people, including Christian people who should know better, say 'I don't want to be a burden to anyone else. I'm happy to carry on living as long as I can look after myself, but as soon as I become a burden I would rather die.' But this is wrong. We are a designed to be a burden to others. You are designed to be a burden to me and I am designed to be a burden to you. And the life of the family, including the life of the local church family, should be one of 'mutual burdensomeness'. 'Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ' (Galatians 6:2).

Reaching the Unengaged

2010-11-16T16:58:00.000Z

A dear friend recently shared with me this moving and challenging video, from the Third Lausanne Congress in Cape Town.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Matthew 9:37-38

No love without affliction

2010-11-02T11:13:00.003Z

This morning, another quote from Bible Delight.

Regarding Psalm 119:71-72...

Good for me that I was afflicted,

that I might learn your statutes.

Good for me the instruction of your mouth

more than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

Christopher Ash writes,

And so here we have a deep truth. No man will love his Bible until God has afflicted him. He may be intrigued by it. He may have an intellectual affection for it. He may have been brought up to have a cultural affinity with it, or an aesthetic love of its verbal resonances. Be he will not delight in that word above all the wealth of the world until he has been afflicted, until he has felt the fragility of this world, this age, this mortal body. But when that happens he will cling to the word as the only tie to the age to come. Like a falling mountaineer clinging to his rope, he knows that the word of God is the only tie to safety. (pp.101-102)

Bible Delight

2010-10-29T09:44:00.004+01:00

In my quiet times recently, I've been working through Psalm 119, using Christopher Ash's great little book, Bible Delight.

I've really enjoyed it and found it extremely helpful.

This morning I read Psalm 119:65-72.

Christopher titles the section, The Adversity Gospel.

Here's an extract from his introduction:

The theme of the section is this: the affliction God gives is his good gift to his people. He gives affliction as his good gift to his people to draw us into, and keep us in, the word. He shows his goodness by allowing his servant to be afflicted by those who care nothing for his word, so that his servant will learn to keep and treasure his word. The process whereby the lover of God's word is afflicted is used by God to deepen that same love. It is not that we have to get through the affliction, and then we will get the good gift later. The affliction itself is paradoxically the good gift of God. This is a process at the heart of the Christian life and one we neglect or despise to our peril. (p.94)

Church Planting

2010-10-21T15:15:00.003+01:00

I'm currently on the FIEC Leaders' Conference at The Hayes Conference Centre.

I've thoroughly enjoyed it so far.

We had two great sessions yesterday from John Steven's (where he presented A Vision for the Fellowship) and Ray Evans (on Philippians 1:12-30).

This morning I went to an excellent seminar on church planting, led by Jonty & Linda Allcock.

Jonty began by saying that one of the problems with church planting is that we tend to think that only the big, successful churches can do it. He wanted to encourage us to develop a culture of readiness in our churches, so that when the time comes, and the Spirit calls us to go, we're ready to go.

Jonty then asked, How do we develop a culture of readiness?

We looked at the church in Antioch (Acts 11:19-30; 13:1-3), and identified 6 characteristics. The church was:

grace based - not performance based (Too often we want to plant churches for the wrong reasons: in order to look good, or because that's what successful churches do)
outward looking - not navel gazing (Their attitude was, "It's not all about us")
multiplying leaders - not a one man show (We will never be able to plant churches unless we multiply leaders)
God dependent - not self-reliant (You get the impression that worshipping and fasting was part of the life of the church. It's as they were doing that that the Spirit came and said, "Here's your opportunity". Are we calling our churches to fast and pray?)
giving away resources - not hoarding (When you give your best resources away, you acknowledge that it's not all about you)
decisive - not procrastinating (The church did it. They did it seriously and prayerfully, but they did it)

Jonty finished by encouraging us that even the smallest church, with the least resources, can be starting to get ready. We should be praying for and seeking a culture of readiness.

When should I talk to my children about sex?

2010-09-30T10:17:00.003+01:00

I found this a really helpful answer to a question lots of Christian parents wrestle with: talk often, talk freely, talk soon...

Be encouraged

2010-09-29T10:03:00.004+01:00

It's great to see The Gospel Coalition introducing something called 'The Ordinary Pastors Project,' designed to encourage 'ordinary pastors' who harbour a sneaking suspicion that they're not really doing anything of lasting importance.

You can find out more about it here.

I love this introduction...

TGC’s new Ordinary Pastors Project is an effort to say, “Be encouraged.”

Be encouraged. Be encouraged in the midst of ministerial duties that are mind-numbingly mundane. Be encouraged in a world drunk on the sweet nectar of the spectacular. Be encouraged when you preach the gospel clearly. Be encouraged after years of faithfulness, even if you don’t have numbers that impress conference organizers. Be encouraged in the tedium. Be encouraged when you see the same faces week-in and week-out. Be encouraged as you marry and bury, counsel and speak at the local lodge’s spring pancake breakfast. Be encouraged.

Be encouraged when dreams of thousands have careened against the retaining wall of reality with hundreds. Or dozens, even. Be encouraged when no one has heard of you, your church, or your town. Be encouraged in the midst of decline. Be encouraged when you must stop preparing your sermon to clean the bathrooms. Be encouraged, because you stand before God redeemed and loved because of Christ’s righteousness credited to you. Be encouraged, for this right standing before God is not based on the success of your ministry, loved no less because it is ordinary. Be encouraged, ordinary pastor.

Be encouraged when growth is slow and measured by generations. Be encouraged when guilt, fear, and the specter of failure form an unholy alliance against you. Be encouraged when young men grown fat on the feast of podcasts question your every move. Be encouraged when no one knows your name; it is written in blood in the book of life. Ordinary pastor, be encouraged: Your faithful labor in the darkened forest of obscurity is heroic.

This is not mere rhetoric. And it’s not romanticizing. This is the reality. Carson writes:

Most of us, however, serve in more modest patches. Most pastors will not regularly preach to thousands, let alone tens of thousands. They will not write influential books, they will not supervise large staffs, and they will never see more than modest growth. They will plug away at their care for the aged, at their visitation, at their counseling, at their Bible studies and preaching. Some will work with so little support that they will prepare their own bulletins.

They cannot possibly discern whether the constraints of their own sphere of service owe more to the specific challenges of the local situation or to their own shortcomings. Once in a while they will cast a wistful eye on “successful” ministries. Many of them will attend the conferences sponsored by the revered masters and come away with a slightly discordant combination of, on the one hand, gratitude and encouragement and, on the other, jealousy, feelings of inadequacy, and guilt.

Marcus Honeysett on Leadership

2010-09-28T16:40:00.004+01:00

Yesterday we had an extremely helpful East Anglia Gospel Partnership meeting with Marcus Honeysett, (from Living Leadership) thinking about Christian leadership.

Marcus began with a number of common statements about leadership, which all had the same flaw - they were descriptions of leadership rather than Biblical definitions.

He then put forward 3 (complementary) definitions:

Leadership is working with people for their progress and joy in the Lord (see 2 Corinthians 1:24; Philippians 1:25)
Leadership is based on why God acts and the purpose of the church
Leadership is predicated on the goal of God for creation; the work of the Holy Spirit in the church; how disciples grow in maturity; and the character of Christ

Putting these 3 definitions together, Marcus said that leadership is defined by:

the nature and purpose of God
the worship of Christ
the work of the Holy Spirit
the mission of the Church
the nature of mature discipleship
the character of Christ
the corporate nature of the Church

Marcus then noted that leadership is really a secondary doctrine, which is predicated on other things. He also remarked that Christian leadership is foundationally different to other leadership in the world. The heart of Christian leadership is making worshippers.

Marcus then addressed the question of what this kind of leadership looked like and made the following suggestions:

help people delight themselves in God
help them love his Word
help them appreciate the benefits of Christ
help them see the glory of God in the gospel of his grace
love them at all times and do them good
have ambitions for where God might take them if you live by faith, not by sight
help them pray

In the second part of the session, Marcus put forward his doomsday scenario: we are going to see very large losses of Christian leaders in a very short space of time.

Therefore, he urged us to devote ourselves to training up leaders and to delighting ourselves in the Lord.

Better workers

2010-09-24T08:47:00.004+01:00

Yesterday, I came across this really interesting article on the BBC website, via Charles Colson's Breakpoint commentary.

Entitled Christian faith plus Chinese productivity, the article highlights not only the spread of the gospel in China, but also the way that faith in Christ transforms life and makes people better workers.

The article features an interview with Chinese factory manager Weng-Jen Wau, who describes how members of staff are encouraged to attend on-site Christian meetings, and how the attitude of his workers is transformed when they are converted.

He says, "If you're a Christian you're more honest, with a better heart. The people who aren't Christians aren't responsible. I think it's very different. I'm not saying those people who aren't Christians are all bad, but from the percentage of the workers who are Christians, they seem to be more responsible. Also when they do things wrong, they feel guilty - that's the difference."

It's a striking example of Colossians 3:17...

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

More from Repentance

2010-09-23T09:40:00.002+01:00

Today, a few more extracts from C John Miller's, Repentance...

This sovereign Lord does not, however, confine His call to unbelievers. Christian sins are not venial (that is, lesser). Sin is sin wherever it is found, and it is worse to find it in the Christian. Therefore, He especially zeroes in on loveless, complacent and compromising members of the household of faith. For example, He says bluntly to the loveless, but carefully orthodox, Ephesians, "Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works." (Revelation 2:5) (p.33)

Repentance prepares the way so that the Lord of glory can enter into the spirit and be adored as the new centre of heavenly life. Before, such people were consumed by self-love, but once the Spirit convicted them of sin and turned them to the cross, self-love was crowded out by love to the Lord Jesus Christ. (p.47)

There is enough love, and more, accessible to any sinner who wants it. One drop of Jesus' blood will, as it were, atone for the worst of human sins. How then can we fail to respond when we are assured that cleansing love flows in superabundance from Calvary?

Jesus then teaches us that repentance for the worst of sins is freely given to believers on the basis of the greatest of gifts. Thus, it is not just the sight of my unbelief that makes me wish to repent, but my seeing the magnitude of the heavenly love. (p.66)

The core problem (regarding what he calls our powerlessness in witnessing) is that we are inviting men and women to come under the power of the gospel without having first come under its power ourselves. Frankly, I know of very few confessing Christians who have ever shed tears over their sins. Or if once they wept over their sins, they are careful never to do it again; they see no one else doing it, and they quickly become convinced that people who shed tears are not normal Christians...

What we really need is just to face the truth about ourselves. When we do that, our lives have a special appeal to God and to unbelievers. (pp.86-87)

Repentance

2010-09-22T09:23:00.002+01:00

Yesterday, I finished reading C. John Miller's excellent little book, Repentance.

In the epilogue, his wife sums it up like this:

Some of the language is old fashioned, but the central thought that repentance brings us into fellowship with God - and "to be near God and to have God near us is the whole purpose of human life" - is timeless.

She goes on,

When I do this, the grace of God flows into my life. As Jack used to say, "Grace flows downhill." Joy always comes to me as I take the lowest place and look to Jesus for forgiveness and grace. (pp.97-98)

Over the next couple of days, I'll post a few quotes from the book.

In chapter two, Miller contrasts repentance with what he calls 'penance' (which is human effort to save ourselves).

He makes the following points:

penance centres on what people do
penance focuses on what people see and feel within themselves
penance always leaves the sinner powerless and imprisoned
penance seeks out a human priest rather than Christ

I found this fourth point the most striking.

Miller writes,

Since legalists are at best only pretending to go to God through Christ, they are in a desperate position. They feel deeply sorry for themselves, and in their self-pity they seek out comforters to incorporate into their system of self-trust. Such comforters, frequently respected religious leaders, are expected to do the work of Christ, God's only mediator.

All too often religious leaders are flattered into accepting the role of priest by sympathetic parishoners who admire their gifts and graces. In accepting this role, they harm themselves and the ones for whom they attempt to mediate. It must be recognised that they are sinners and may love people's honour and praise more than they know....

We are not to make men and women our own disciples, but to make them disciples of the Lord. Therefore, repentance means that people must turn from trusting in empty cisterns like ourselves and thirst and drink from Christ alone.

Pastors and Christian workers are not merely to accept this as an interesting insight which is mildly relevant to their work. It is, in fact, a matter of spiritual life and death...

If you are in a position of spiritual leadership, do no direct those seekers to yourself. Send them to Christ. Bathe them in your prayers and your love. Open your home and your heart to them. But make yourself understood, and in loving humility be very bold about it: They are not going to find their salvation in you. (pp.26-28)

The quiet place

2010-09-21T09:21:00.005+01:00

Recently I've become conscious of just how much of my life I fill with 'noise'...

Debs and I wake up to the radio; I listen to the radio as I shave, shower and get dressed; very often I work to music - even when preparing a sermon; if I'm pottering around I tend to have something on in the background.

Thinking about it, there are very few times of real quiet, apart from my 'Quiet Time' and when I'm out running.

The more I've thought about this, the more I've become convinced that this is not a good thing.

Times of quiet are times to think, to pray, to meditate on God's Word, to reflect on my walk with the Lord and the sinful contours of my heart.

I'm conscious of how we see the Lord Jesus withdrawing to a quiet place in the gospels (see for example Mark 1:35) and yet if I'm honest I rarely do this.

Why is that?

There are at least two reasons for this:

so often I'm ruled by my 'to do list' - if I spend time in 'the quiet place' I don't actually get to cross anything off my list at the end of it
I'm think I'm also guilty of the pendulum swing - that is, I overreact against what I see in other traditions

But perhaps there is a third as well:

I prefer not to reflect on the poverty of my walk with the Lord and examine the sinful contours of my heart

Of course, the irony is, that the more I spend time in the quiet place, the more likely I am to live a life that is worthy of the Lord and pleases him in every way.

The problem with generalizations

2010-09-15T11:25:00.002+01:00

Yesterday, I listened to a very stimulating talk on ministry.

However, at one point, I was rather surprised to hear the speaker say that in the country they came from no one preached the OT, apart from a few 'purple passages' (my phrase, not his).

It struck me as a rather odd thing to say. How could he possibly know that?

The more I thought about it, the more I realised how easily we Christians make sweeping generalizations like this. More to the point, how easily I make sweeping generalizations like this.

There are at least two factors that ought to give us pause for thought before we do this.

The first is that a generalization is just that - a generalization. At best, it is a sweeping comment; at worst it is completely untrue.

Take this example. How could the speaker know what is preached in every single church? Our experience is limited. The best he could say is that in his experience the churches he visited did not preach the OT as they should. But even then it would be possible for a church to preach through a section of the OT at another time, unbeknown to the speaker.

The other factor is that when we make a generalization, by definition, we put ourselves forward as 'the expert', speaking definitively about a particular subject.

At the same time, we may (although this is not always the case by any means) cast others in a negative light.

In other words, there is a danger that we use generalization to exalt ourselves at the expense of others.

In saying all this, my point is not to say that we should never generalize (in a sense, this post is a generalization about generalizations!) - I think it's inevitable - but rather that we should do so cautiously, conscious of the (frequently sinful) motives of our hearts.

God is always doing more than we know

2010-09-09T15:02:00.005+01:00

Whilst doing some prep this morning, I came across these helpful words by John Piper, from a sermon on Luke 9:56b-62.

God is always doing more than we know. In every event in our life and in the life of this church and this city and this state and this country and this world God is always doing 10,000 things that we do not know. The designs and the effects of every event from the fall of a bird, or the birth of a baby, or the death of a Senator, or the capturing of a sniper, or the storming of a Russian theatre - the designs and effects of every event are 10,000 times more than we know. 99.9% of God's specific purposes are hidden from our eyes.

This wonderful truth has countless implications, including how we respond to trials and difficulties.

There is a great temptation for us to guess why God is working things out the way that he is. Whilst God has revealed the broad brushstrokes of what he is doing - working for our good to make us more like Christ (see Romans 8:28) - we don't know the fine details and we must be wary of giving the impression that we do.

That God is always doing more than we know is not only a cause for great rejoicing, but also a cause for deep humility and trust.

Laura's first day

2010-09-08T12:23:00.004+01:00

Today was Laura's (our youngest child) first day at school.

We're grateful to God the Father that she was excited about it and went off very happily.

We've now seen three children go off to school. Each time, I've been struck by how, as parents, we lose a little bit of influence over them - and in turn, give that to others.

As Christians, I think there's a great temptation to worry about the influence of the world on our children.

I understand this.

But when that happens we need to encourage one another to trust God and his gospel.

I don't mean this glibly. What I mean is that we need to trust the following truths...

God is sovereign over all things
he loves our children even more than we do
his grace is irresistible
the gospel really is the power of God for the salvation of any who believe
my children's greatest problem is not 'out there' (in the big bad world - although it is both big and 'bad') but 'in here' - as Paul David Tripp often remarks in his devotional writings, 'what we really need to be rescued from is ourselves - we are the biggest danger to ourselves' [I take it that he is not here denying that what we most need to be saved from is God's holy hatred of sin, but that we ourselves provoke that by our own sinfulness]

So as Laura starts her school life, I want to pray, not only for her, but also for Debs and myself, that we will trust God with her.

What are you looking for?

2010-09-02T16:54:00.005+01:00

This weekend we welcome our new apprentice, Sarah.

We're very much looking forward to her coming, and to all that God the Father will do through her and in her, during her time with us.

Sarah will be our fourth apprentice.

We tend to advertise on the 9:38 website and in The Briefing, but our last three have all been personal contacts that I have had through the Cyfa camp (Sparkford 1) that I serve on each summer.

Interestingly, if people do respond to our advert, they often ask how many students attend the church and how many other apprentices we have.

I quite understand why people ask these questions - and in their position I'd probably ask the same thing - but it raises a question too, and that is, 'What are you looking for?'

The reality is that most churches have very few, if any students - St. Neots where I serve has no college or university and therefore the only time we have any students in the congregation is when they come home for the weekend or on holiday.

Similarly most churches are only able to take on one or two apprentices at most.

To ask how many students attend and how many other apprentices there are immediately limits your options.

In the past, I've tried to persuade people that even though we don't have any students or other apprentices, we might still be a good place to serve and be trained.

Recently, however, I've begun to change my tack.

I've started to say, 'Thanks for checking us out, but if that's what you're looking for, I'm afraid you're not for us.'

I don't mean to be rude, but I want people who are really keen to serve and be trained in a 'normal church' (of course, I realise there's no such thing) - who have a passion for being part of an ordinary, church family.

Church Planter

2010-09-01T13:48:00.000+01:00

I came across this really striking video today on Tim Challies' blog, promoting a new book called Church Planter.

It makes some really interesting comments on men's ministry and what we ought to be aiming for as Pastor's.

The book certainly seems worth looking out for.

Our church family

2010-08-31T17:15:00.004+01:00

We enjoyed a really lovely holiday, spending a week in Edinburgh and then another week in York, with my parents.

It was a good break and great to spend time together.

Whilst we were in Edinburgh, we attended Charlotte Chapel, which we enjoyed. We received a warm welcome, the Bible teaching was faithful, and we were glad to have gone.

Afterwards we sat on a bench in Princess Street Gardens eating our lunch and talked together about how we'd found it.

We all said that as much as we'd enjoyed going to Charlotte Chapel it wasn't the same as our own church.

It wasn't that one was any better or worse than the other - that's not what we meant. But simply that as much as we all belong to the church of Christ, the congregation of Charlotte Chapel are not our church family...

they're not the people who know us and love us despite our faults
they're not the people who look out for us week by week and support us through the ups and downs of life
they're not the people who discipline us when we fall into sin
they're not the people who provide for us
they're not the people who carry our burdens
they're not the people who encourage us to keep going
they're not the people who spur us on to live for Christ
they're not the people God has chosen to care for us

As much as we enjoyed going to Charlotte Chapel, we missed being with our own church family even more. It made us all the more grateful for them.

I love Muslims

2010-07-21T12:38:00.005+01:00

I was recently privileged to hear a Muslim-background-believer talking about how they came to faith in Christ.

I was particularly struck by the 1st part of their story (I hope I've got the details right).

Many years ago, they were in this country studying.

One day, they were approached by a Christian who asked if they were a Muslim.

They said, 'Yes,' and asked why.

The man said that he was a Christian and he was studying Islam as part of his theological training.

This aroused their interest, and so they asked him, why if he was a Christian, he was studying Islam.

He replied, 'Because I love Muslims'.

His comment had a powerful effect

The Muslim-background-believer then remarked that where they came from, the more devout a Muslim was, the more they hated Christians. But here was a devout Christian, full of love for Muslims. The contrast couldn't be starker.

Ultimately, this was one of the things God used to bring them to faith in Christ.

It struck me as a wonderful tribute to the glorious gospel of grace!

The most important part of Christian parenting

2010-07-07T11:57:00.004+01:00

One of the things I've been mulling over recently is the subject of Christian parenting. It's partly because I've been reading Gospel-powered parenting, (by William P. Farley) and partly because we've been working through Ephesians 5 and 6 on a Sunday morning over the last few weeks.

Two things in particular have struck me:

the importance of male leadership - as a husband, following the pattern of Christ - and as a father, who brings his children up in the training and instruction of the Lord
and the sufficiency of the gospel - by which I mean, the gospel is all we need - both to have a happy and stable marriage, and to be effective parents. One of the things we noted when we looked at Ephesians 6:1-4, was the relative scarcity of Bible passages that directly addressed parenting. Why is that? As Farley notes, it's not because God doesn't care about children or because parenting is unimportant, but because the gospel is all we need

That was highlighted for me again this morning in my quiet time.

In talking about the importance of teaching our children well, Phillip Jensen says,

even though education is important both for this world and the world to come, only the sovereign work of God's Spirit in the lives of our children can transform them into citizens of God's Kingdom. Thus the most important part of Christian parenting is prayer. (By God's Word, p.115)

One of the ways that the gospel transforms my approach to parenting is by reminding me that my children are deeply sinful and, therefore, that their greatest need is to be born again. Thus I need to teach them the gospel, but also to be praying that the Spirit would open their eyes, wonderfully convert them, and then grow them.

Dear Father, please help me to pray faithfully for my children. Amen.

Prayer and sermon preparation

2010-07-02T08:45:00.003+01:00

I found John Piper's sessions at the EMA particularly helpful.

He preached on Living, Preaching and Praying in the power of the Spirit.

In his second session on Preaching in the power of the Spirit, Piper briefly explained how he prayed through his sermon preparation.

He said that he tended to follow the same pattern, whereby he prayed through, what he called, his IOUSS...

I - "Turn my heart towards your statutes and not towards selfish gain." Psalm 119:36
O - "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law." Psalm 119:18
U - "Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name." Psalm 86:11 (that is, please help me to have a clear, undivided focus, so that these truths come home)
S - "Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days." Psalm 90:14
S - Send me...

What I found really helpful about this was not only the progression through the prayers, but the way that they climaxed with being satisfied in God's unfailing love and therefore going out to serve him.

I think this is a model I will try and adopt / adapt in the coming days.

The guilt, danger and evil of sin

2010-06-30T08:59:00.002+01:00

Yesterday we read chapter 10 of John Owen's, Of the mortification of sin in believers.

I found it a very challenging chapter.

In it, Owen outlines his second particular direction for the mortification of sin.

It is this: Get a clear and abiding sense upon your mind and conscience of the guilt, danger, and evil of your sin.

Owen tackles each element in turn.

Of the guilt of it he writes, "Innumerable ways there are whereby sin diverts the mind from a right and due apprehension of its guilt. Its noisome (dangerous, offensive, foul) exhalations darken the mind, that it cannot make a right judgment of things."

What particularly struck me was Owen's claim that it is a far more serious thing for a Christian to sin than for a non-Christian. Our sin is in direct contradiction to the grace we have received from Christ. He quotes from Romans 6:1-2, where we see that our new life in Christ means that we cannot walk in sin any longer.

So Owen writes, "God sees a great deal of evil in the working of lust in their hearts, yea, and more than in the open, notorious acts of wicked men" .

Owen then highlights four particular dangers of sin:

of being hardened by the deceitfulness... He refers to Hebrews 3:12-13 and writes, "The hardening here mentioned is to the utmost - utter obduration (hardening); sin tends to it, and every temper and lust will make at least some progress toward it. You that were tender, and used to melt under the word, under afflictions, will grow as some have profanely spoken, 'sermon-proof and sickness-proof.' You that did tremble at the presence of God, thoughts of death, and appearance before him, when you had more assurance of his love than now you have, shall have a stoutness upon your spirit not to be moved by these things. Your soul and your sin shall be spoken of and spoken to, and you shall not be at all concerned, but shall be able to pass over duties, praying, hearing, reading, and your heart not in the least affected... And what will be the end of such a condition? Can a sadder thing befall you?"
the danger of some great temporal correction... "Though God should not utterly cast you off for this abomination that lies in your heart, yet he will visit you with the rod; though he pardon and forgive, he will take vengeance of your inventions".
loss of peace and strength all a man's days... "If ever, then, you have had peace with God, if ever his terrors have made you afraid, if ever you have had strength to walk with him, or ever have mourned in your prayer, and been troubled because of your weakness, think of this danger that hangs over your head. It is perhaps but a little while and you shall see the face of God in peace no more."
the danger of eternal destruction... I'm afraid I didn't quite follow all of Owen's argument here, but he refers to Hebrews 3:12 and 10:38. In the light of this he says, "while anyone lies under an abiding power of sin, the threats of destruction and everlasting separation from God are to be held out to him."

Owen then finishes by listing three evils of sin:

it grieves the holy and blessed Spirit... "Now, if there be anything of gracious ingenuity left in the soul, if it be not utterly hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, this consideration will certainly affect it. Consider who and what you are; who the Spirit is that is grieved, what he has done for you, and what he comes to your soul about, what he has already done in your; and be ashamed. Among those who walk with God, there is no greater motive and incentive unto universal holiness, and the preserving of their hearts and spirits in all purity and cleanness that this, that the blessed Spirit, who has undertaken to dwell in them, is continually considering what they give entertainment in their hearts unto, and rejoices when his temple is kept undefiled."
the Lord Jesus Christ is wounded afresh by it... he refers to Hebrews 6:6
it will take away a man's usefulness to his generation... "His works, his endeavours, his labours, seldom receive blessing from God."

Owen finishes with this verse:

Keep alive upon your heart these or the like considerations of its guilt, danger, and evil;

be much in the meditation of these things;

cause your heart to dwell and abide upon them;

engage your thoughts into these considerations;

let them not go off nor wander from them

until they begin to have a powerful influence upon your soul -

until they make it to tremble.

The Unquenchable Flame

2010-06-29T10:54:00.004+01:00

One of the regular features of the EMA is the bookstall. For the last couple of years it's been run by the excellent 10ofthose.com

This year I picked up a handful of books, including Mike Reeves' introduction to the Reformation entitled, The Unquenchable Flame.

I began reading it on the train on Friday and finished it yesterday.

I think it's a great book. It's easy to read, informative, lively and engaging - a brilliant introduction. (Mark Dever describes it as "the best brief introduction to the Reformation I have read.") I found it a real page-turner.

The book is divided into 7 chapters, looking at...

the background to the Reformation
Martin Luther
Ulrich Zwingli and the Radical Reformers
John Calvin
The Reformation in Britain
The Puritans (who wanted to apply the Reformation to everything it had not yet touched)
Is the Reformation over? (In reply to which Mike Reeves rightly says that if the Reformation was a movement to the gospel it cannot be over)

The title comes from Richard Sibbes, who called the Reformation "that fire which all the world shall never be able to quench." (quoted on p.185)

The Unquenchable Flame is a great read. I thoroughly recommend it.

Spirit-filled ministry

2010-06-23T20:44:00.006+01:00

Today I enjoyed the first day of the EMA (the Evangelical Ministry Assembly).

The title of this year's conference is Not by might nor by power and the theme is Spirit-filled ministry.

Today we had talks from Rupert Bentley-Taylor (on Judges 13), Christopher Ash (on the Spirit and the word in John's gospel) and John Piper (on Living by the power of the Spirit). There was also a 'conversation' between Hugh Palmer, Terry Virgo, Liam Goligher & John Cole, chaired by Vaughan Roberts, on the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the local church.

I may blog more about these another time.

Over lunch I met up with a dear friend.

We remarked that each year the EMA calls us back to a Bible-centred ministry and reminds us that preaching is hard work, that God calls us to be faithful and to leave the results to him.

We also remarked that each year we need this challenge and encouragement.

This year was no different - and for that I'm very grateful to God.

Humanly speaking the Proclamation Trust has had a tremendous influence on my ministry and has been greatly used by God to help me persevere.

The baton of forgiveness

2010-06-21T09:23:00.003+01:00

Eric Liddell is known as 'the man who wouldn't run on Sundays', but there is far more to his legacy is than that.

Liddell died in Weihsien Internment Camp on the 21st February 1945, aged 43 years.

A fellow internee of Liddell's, Stephen Metcalf, said this about him:

He gave me two things. One was his worn-out running shoes... The best thing he gave me was his baton of forgiveness. He taught me to love my enemies, the Japanese, and to pray for them. (John Keddie, Running the Race, EP, p.206)

In this way, Liddell showed himself to be a true son of God. The Lord Jesus said,

You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:43-45a)

My God cares

2010-06-18T09:06:00.002+01:00

Before this week I don't think I'd listened to any of Lou Fellingham's music before, although I'd heard people say how good she is.

Anyway, this week I downloaded her most recent album, Step into the light.

I've not been able to listen to it much yet, or look through the lyrics, but what I've heard so far, I've really enjoyed.

This song - My God cares - is one of the stand out songs for me.

Lifeʼs not always as it seems

A different route from A to B

And the plans youʼve made come tumbling down

When youʼre questioning the why

And itʼs hard to see the light

And youʼre praying for the wind to change

And though the pain is strong

And itʼs hard to carry on

I know that this is true

My God cares for you

All hope has disappeared

And youʼre running out of tears

I can tell you He is near

For my God cares for you

Yes He cares for you

When no answers can be found

As the waves come crashing round

And you find youʼre driven to your knees

When youʼre overwhelmed with fear

And it feels like itʼs been years

Youʼve been asking God please rescue me

Donʼt you know that His arms are strong enough to carry you

Lift you up in the safety of his love

Just hold on, He will come, the Lord our God will comfort you

Give you strength enough to see you through the storm

Running the Race

2010-06-17T09:42:00.002+01:00

I've recently been reading a biography of the Scottish Olympic Champion and Missionary, Eric Liddell, by John Keddie.

The focus of the book is on Liddell's sporting achievements, both on the track and the rugby field (before reading the book I didn't realise that Liddell also played international rugby), between 1921 and 1925.

I'm not sure it's a great biography, but it's interesting nonetheless.

Not knowing much about Liddell, two things in particular stood out for me:

Liddell was widely respected as a godly Christian and gentleman.

So for example, David McGavin (who became the General Secretary of the National Bible Society of Scotland) said of Liddell, "Eric was not only one of nature's gentlemen, he was a perfect Christian gentleman, and therein is the secret of all that he was and did. His life was centred in Christ, and everything was done as to the Lord." (quoted on p.185) And Arnold Bryson, a senior London Missionary Society missionary said this: "Yesterday a man said to me, 'Of all the men I have known, Eric Liddell was the one in whose character and life the spirit of Jesus Christ was pre-eminently manifested.' And all of us who were privileged to know him with any intimacy echo this judgment." (quoted on p.189)

This is illustrated, by one of my favourite stories from the book, from the British Championships in 1923, as recounted by a long-jump competitor.

I remember with delight an incident which occurred that afternoon. Eric was preparing for the 220 yards race. I was not jumping for some minutes so was able to see what happened.

Eric had brought a small trowel with him to dig holes for starting... and he carefully went from one to another of his opponents in the race, and offered each the use of his trowel. Most of them (four, I seem to remember) accepted. All the nearby spectators appreciated the action... All having prepared, he walked to each opponent again, and shook hands with him, smiling his very sunny smile. He then got 'on his marks' with them, was off at the gun, and won a very fine race from the outside berth.

I had heard a lot about him, and now I had seen him. I came away feeling that I had witnessed a gentleman doing all a gentleman should do. Afterwards, when I heard he had gone to China, I realised that I had been watching a Christian in action. (quoted on p.91)

Liddell lived for the world to come and not for success on the running track and rugby field.

In 1932, when he was passing through Canada on his way back from his first furlough, he was interviewed by a journalist, who asked him, "Are you glad you gave your life to missionary work? Don't you miss the limelight, the rush, the frenzy, the cheers, the rich red wine of victory?"

Liddell replied, "Oh well, of course it's natural for a chap to think over all that sometimes, but I'm glad I'm in the work I'm engaged in now. A fellow's life count for more at this than the other. Not a corruptible crown, but an incorruptible, you know." (quoted on p. 163)

Free to fail

2010-06-16T14:13:00.003+01:00

Much has been made of Rob Green's howler on Saturday against the USA.

For me, one of the most disappointing things about it was the reaction of his teammates - the absence of players going up to him to console and encourage him, straight after it had happened.

No doubt it was a huge blow to the team. And let's be honest - we don't know what happened at half time or after the match was over.

But for all that, the initial reaction of the players was typical of the way the world reacts to failure.

Why do we react like this?

In the first place, we like to kid ourselves that we wouldn't make the same mistake. We pretend that we're better than that.

More than that, Rob Green's failure directly impacted the rest of the team. It robbed them of the joy of getting off to a winning start. (Or so we say - we forget that England still had 45 minutes to win the game, but were unable to do so.)

By contrast, the gospel's response to failure is completely different.

As a church family, one of the things we like to say is that 'the gospel means we're free to fail'.

We want to work the truth of the gospel down deep into our hearts and to recognise that we're accepted by the Father because of Christ's performance, not ours.

This has any number of implications, two of which are relevant here.

The gospel teaches us that we're far more wicked than we realise. Were it not for the grace of God, we would make just the same mistake.

More than that, the gospel fixes our joy in our identity in Christ. In other words, it fixes our joy in the one thing that can never be taken away from us.

And that means that when a teammate makes a howler, we're able to go up to him, put our arm around him, and console him.

The need for 'sincerity and diligence in a universality of obedience'

2010-06-15T11:41:00.004+01:00

Yesterday I read chapter 8 of John Owen's, Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers.

It's a short chapter, and yet profoundly helpful.

Owen's point is this: Without sincerity and diligence in a universality of obedience, there is no mortification of any one perplexing lust to be obtained.

What Owen is saying is that if we are grieved by a particular sin in our lives, and try to put it to death, and yet at the same time, we ignore some other sin, or we neglect prayer and reading the Bible, we will not put sin to death.

In other words, it is no good focusing on one particular sin, and ignoring the rest of our Christian life. We must obey our heavenly Father in every area of our lives.

Owen uses the graphic picture of a man who has a 'running sore', because he drinks too much and his diet is poor. It is no good, he says, trying to cure the sore, if he ignores his drinking and poor diet. He will not do it.

He writes, "Hatred of sin as sin, not only as galling or disquieting, a sense of the love of Christ in the cross, lies at the bottom of all true spiritual mortification."

Owen says the reason why we simply set ourselves against a particular sin and not every sin, is self-love. We are troubled by it. The reason we don't tackle the other sin in our lives is because we aren't troubled by it. Therefore, our fight against sin is not because it grieves God, but because it grieves us.

Let me finish with an extended quote...

You set yourself with all diligence and earnestness to mortify such a lust or sin; what is the reason of it? It disquiets you, it has taken away your peace, it fills your heart with sorrow and trouble and fear; you have no rest because of it. Yea, but friend, you have neglected prayer or reading; you have been vain and loose in your conversation in other things, that have not been of the same nature with that lust wherewith you are perplexed. These are no less sins and evils than those under which you groan. Jesus Christ bled for them also. Why do you not set yourself against them also? If you hate sin as sin, every evil way, you would be no less watchful against everything that grieves and disquiets the Spirit of God, than against that which grieves and disquiets your own soul. It is evident that you contend against sin merely because of your own trouble by it.

Through the lens of the gospel

2010-06-14T10:39:00.003+01:00

I was talking with a friend on Saturday about the issue of mercy ministries and helping the poor and needy.

Amongst gospel-centred Christians, there is often a real concern about being involved in mercy ministries, because of the fear that it might distract us from the work of evangelism and discipleship.

Historically, I think this concern is justified.

However, it seems to me that the only way to approach this issue is through the lens of the gospel.

When we do that, two truths are clear:

the gospel moves us to show compassion for the poor and needy. The gospel teaches us that we are all spiritually poor and needy, and were it not for the sovereign grace of God, I would still be poor and needy. When I was poor and needy God lavished his grace upon me. That grace unlocks my heart and moves me to show compassion to others. When I see people who are poor and needy, in a sense I'm looking in the mirror. I would be just like them, were it not for God's grace to me. Therefore, I'm moved to help them
the gospel reveals my greatest need. As with the healing of the paralysed man in Mark 2, the gospel reveals that my greatest need is to be forgiven. Therefore, when I look at the poor and needy, the gospel teaches me that their greatest problem is not their material circumstances, but that they are objects of God's wrath (see Ephesians 2:3). Therefore, as much as I want to meet their material needs, my greatest concern is that they hear the gospel and respond in faith

Of course, much more could be said than this, but this is where we need to begin - with the gospel.

When we do that, we're moved to help the poor and needy, and yet we're reminded that what they need most of all, is the gospel itself.

Naked God

2010-06-02T12:41:00.006+01:00

I was recently asked to review Naked God. Here's what I said...

Naked God is the first book from Martin Ayers. The title is adapted from Jamie Oliver’s The Naked Chef. Just as Jamie stripped down food to its bare essentials, so Martin strips away the false ideas we’ve picked up from our culture or background to expose the truth about God.

The book falls into 3 parts. In the first, entitled Naked Truth, Martin reveals the depressing truth about what life is really like if God doesn’t exist. There is no real meaning or purpose to our lives, no real freedom, and no real right or wrong. The second, Naked Jesus, explores Jesus’ claim to be naked God (God in the flesh), before the final part exposes the truth about ourselves: Naked You. Here we see our real problem - there are only two ways we all respond to God (either to reject God and serve other things instead, or to try to be good and keep religious rules), and both leave us guilty before Him. Martin then explores why Jesus came – to pay the ransom so that we can turn back to God – before leaving us with the choice we all face.

Naked God is aimed at those who are quite happy in their unbelief and need to be persuaded to look into it. You see this in the way it encourages the reader to examine their presuppositions and interacts with common objections to the gospel.

Naked God is informal, engaging and easy to read. It’s also concise, which is a great plus with evangelistic books. And yet in this case, because of the target audience, it feels like a weakness too. As a Christian, I was convinced by the argument of part one, but I wondered how many sceptics would be. The argument really needs to be developed more. This plays out in other ways too. For example, the final chapter mentions the cost of turning back to God, but it’s too brief and again needs more.

Despite this, Naked God is a helpful book. It would be well worth getting a few copies to give away. But then be prepared to follow it up and talk it through.

Functional Blindness

2010-05-25T11:25:00.003+01:00

I finished reading Paul David Tripp's, A shelter in the time of storm, this morning.

Like Whiter than snow, I thought it was a superb book.

The penultimate meditation is called Functional Blindness. Here are a couple of extracts...

I gaze at my life

every day

and again and again I fail

to see You.

It is a scary

reality,

humbling to admit.

Though this world

is filled with

Your glory,

I exist so much of the time

glory blind...

Your glory is visible

and evident.

Yet, again and again

I fail to see

Your beauty.

So I seek Your

healing

one more time.

Please place Your

powerful hands

on my broken eyes

and give me sight again.

Please place Your

powerful hands

on my wayward heart

and make it seek again.

Don't let me be

so blinded

with me and mine,

that I fail to see

You.

For it's only

when my eyes

see Your

beauty,

and my heart

is filled with Your

glory

that I'll quit

seeking

identity

meaning

satisfaction

purpose

fulfilment

and life,

where it can't be found.

What mortification is

2010-05-21T20:49:00.002+01:00

I found John Owen harder going this week, and yet, nonetheless, helpful and thought provoking.

In chp 6 (Of the mortification of sin in believers) Owen discusses What mortification is.

He makes 3 points:

Mortification consists in a habitual weakening of sin - here he recognises the power that sin has over us. "He [that is the man who has not truly mortified sin] is always under the power of a strong bent and inclination to sin." He goes on, "I say, then, that the first thing in mortification is the weakening of this habit, that it shall not impel and tumultuate as formerly; that it shall not entice and draw aside; that it shall not disquiet and perplex the killing if its life, vigor, promptness, and readiness to be stirring". Here the key thing is tackle the root of sin. "This is the folly of some men; they set themselves with all earnestness and diligence against the appearing eruption of lust, but, leaving the principle and root untouched, perhaps unsearched out, they make little or no progress in this work of mortification."
Mortification consists in constant fighting and contending against sin - I found this the most helpful of Owen's three points. He argues that if we are to fight successfully against sin we must firstly know our enemy ("It is to be feared that very many have little knowledge of the main enemy that they carry about with them in their bosoms. This makes them ready to justify themselves and to be impatient of reproof or admonition, not knowing that they are in any danger."); secondly, we must "labor to be acquainted with the ways, wiles, methods, advantages, and occasions of its success"; and thirdly, we must fight against it continually ("Such a one never thinks his lust dead because it is quiet, but labors still to give it new wounds, new blows every day.")
Mortification consists in frequent success - that is, of victory over sin.

Jonathan Edwards on spiritual pride

2010-05-19T17:27:00.004+01:00

Last week, I came across this really helpful quote from Jonathan Edwards (and lightly modernised by Ray Ortlund) on Justin Taylor's excellent blog.

Spiritual pride is the main door by which the devil comes into the hearts of those who are zealous for the advancement of Christianity.

It is the chief inlet of smoke from the bottomless pit, to darken the mind and mislead the judgment.

It is the main source of all the mischief the devil introduces, to clog and hinder the work of God.

Spiritual pride tends to speak of other persons' sins with bitterness or with laughter and levity and an air of contempt. But pure Christian humility rather tends either to be silent about these problems or to speak of them with grief and pity.

Spiritual pride is very apt to suspect others, but a humble Christian is most guarded about himself.

He is as suspicious of nothing in the world as he is of his own heart.

The proud person is apt to find fault with other believers, that they are low in grace, and to be much in observing how cold and dead they are and to be quick to note their deficiencies.

But the humble Christian has so much to do at home and sees so much evil in his own heart and is so concerned about it that he is not apt to be very busy with other hearts.

He is apt to esteem others better than himself.

Dear Father in heaven, as I spend time at the Cross, please help me to put to death spiritual pride and to grow in pure Christian humility. Amen.

Three reflections on 'What mortification is not'

2010-05-13T09:32:00.003+01:00

Reading John Owen this week, I was struck by a number of things:

sin is very deceitful. Owen describes a number of ways in which it appears that sin has been put to death, only for sin to be lurking in the shadows, biding its time, before either it shows itself in some new way, or rears its ugly head again.
we must, therefore, be realistic. Every Christian will continue to wrestle with sin. As Owen says "an utter killing and destruction of it... is not in this life to be expected." And yet it's all too easy to forget this. We do that whenever we put Christians on a pedestal. When we do that we're only asking for trouble. We're placing a burden upon them that they will never be able to live up to.
we must not be taken in by appearances. In church life, it's all too easy for us to look at other people and make assumptions, based on what we see of them. This can go either way - we can conclude that a person is particularly godly or ungodly, based simply on what we see. And yet the truth is we do not see their heart. We do not know what they're struggling with, or how much (or how little) progress they've already made. Owen reminds us, for example, that a person can give the impression of 'a quiet, sedate nature', not because they're actively fighting against sin, but simply because they don't struggle with the same sins that we do. On the other hand, someone might give a very different impression, but if only we knew what they used to be like, and how much progress they had already made, fighting against a particular sin, we would think very differently of them.

What mortification is not

2010-05-12T09:44:00.010+01:00

I really enjoyed reading chapter 5 of John Owen's Of the mortification of sin in believers this week.

Here Owen explains what mortification is not.

He makes 5 helpful points:

mortification is not the utter destruction and death of sin. He writes, "Now, though doubtless there may, by the Spirit and grace of Christ, a wonderful success and eminency of victory against any sin be attained, so that a man may have almost constant triumph over it, yet an utter killing and destruction of it, that it should not be, is not in this life to be expected."
mortification is not the dissimulation of sin. That is, it is not simply about improving our outward appearance.
mortification is not the improvement of a quiet, sedate nature. Here Owen recognises that one person may appear more godly than another, because they don't wrestle with a particular sin, and yet it may simply be that they are not troubled by that sin, not that they are indeed more godly. "Some man is never so much troubled all his life, perhaps with anger and passion, nor does trouble others, as another is almost every day; and yet the latter has done more to the mortification of the sin than the former."
mortification is not the diversion of sin. We may fight against a particular sin, which then doesn't show itself, but rather than being put to death, it shows itself in some other way. Owen says, "Men in [old] age do not usually persist in the pursuit of youthful lusts, although they have never mortified any one of them... He that changes pride for worldliness, sensuality for Pharisaism, vanity in himself to the contempt of others, let him not think that he has mortified the sin that he seems to have left. He has changed his master, but is a servant still."
mortification is not just occasional conquests over sin. Here Owen identifies two occasions where it may appear that we have put sin to death, only for sin to rear its ugly head again, at some later time. He talks about some 'sad eruption' - perhaps we have a blazing row with our wife, or we blow up with the children - we are deeply convicted of our sin, and resolve to fight against it. But some time later, when the eruption is a distant memory, that same sin reappears as strong as ever. Owen paints a wonderful picture of this: "The whole man, spiritual and natural, being now awakened, sin shrinks in its head, appears not, but lies as dead before him: as when one that has drawn nigh to an army in the night, and has killed a principle person - instantly the guards awake, men are roused up, and strict inquiry is made after the enemy, who, in the meantime, until the noise and tumult be over, hides himself, or lies like one that is dead, yet with firm resolution to do the like mischief again upon the like opportunity." Owen also talks about a time of 'judgment, calamity, or pressing affliction', when we cry out to God and promise to flee from sin, and yet sin is not put to death. It simply lies quiet, waiting for an opportune time.

A passport to heaven

2010-05-11T09:35:00.003+01:00

Sunday was a very special day for us, because our son, Tom, was baptised.

Not surprisingly, I found it a very emotional day. It filled me with a profound gratitude to God for his work in Tom.

At the same time, it filled me with a deep longing that one day I would have the same privilege of baptising Grace and Laura too.

Before he was baptised, Tom gave his testimony. He has kindly said that I can reproduce it here.

I was brought up in a Christian family and I guess I would always have said I believed in God, Jesus, his death on the cross and his resurrection that meant we could have eternal life in heaven with him. And I would have told my friends that I was a Christian. However it wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I began to really understand what being a Christian meant. It wasn’t that I had never been taught that Jesus was the key to heaven the key that opened the door that we could not open. But I guess that I just began to think that I had heard it so often and it was so familiar to me that I didn’t really think very much about it.

However when I was 11 I went to a summer camp which taught what the bible said and I began to take notes and I really paid attention to the teaching there. I began to realise that I wasn’t living the way God wanted me to and that I was dead in the eyes of God unless I accepted him as my king. That year I was old enough to go along to attic, 1024, and open house and all the groups for secondary school aged kids were really helpful, especially 1024. [a bible study group - the name comes from Hebrews 10:24]

That year was the year I really began to live for God. However several people asked me whether I wanted to get baptised and I wasn’t sure. My reason being I didn’t think I was good enough. I had got it into my head that I could not get baptised because I would keep going against God and doing what I wanted instead.

Later that year I went on the same camp again and the thing I really learnt was that if we accepted God as our king we had a passport to heaven that would never run out. No matter how many times I did wrong against God I just had to say sorry and my passport would never get taken away! And that was a big turning point for me. I know I still have a lot of areas in my life I need to let God take over, but as I found out, being baptised isn’t about being perfect, it’s about showing what God has done for me and that I want to live for him.

Life, vigour and comfort

2010-05-07T09:44:00.004+01:00

Earlier this week I read chapter 4 of John Owen's, Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers, entitled: The life, vigour, and comfort of our spiritual life depend much on our mortification of sin.

Owen begins with two helpful points of clarification.

Whilst life, vigour and comfort may 'proceed' from our putting sin to death, they aren't 'necessarily tied to it'. In other words, putting sin to death doesn't guarantee comfort. Here Owen points to the example of Heman the Ezrahite in Psalm 88, whose life "was a life of perpetual mortification and walking with God, yet terrors and wounds were his portion all his days."

I found this helpful. God is God. He is free to do as he pleases. We must not think that we can twist God's arm in this regard. That is to act like pagans do.

Owen is also keen to recognise that 'the immediate cause' of life, vigour and comfort in the Christian life is our identity in Christ - our adoption and justification.

Again, I found this helpful. It keeps my focus on Christ and his finished work. It reminds me that every good thing I have, I only have because of God's grace.

That said, "In our ordinary walking with God, and in an ordinary course of his dealing with us, the vigour and comfort of our spiritual lives depend much on our mortification".

Why? Because sin...

weakens the soul and deprives it of strength
It untunes and unframes the heart (What a great picture! It reminded me of a piano, that is horribly out of tune.)
It fills the thoughts
It breaks out and actually hinders duty
It darkens the soul (Again, Owen uses another wonderful picture. Sin, he says, "is a cloud, a thick cloud, that spreads itself over the face of the soul, and intercepts all the beams of God's love and favour. It takes away all sense of the privilege of our adoption; and if the soul begins to gather up thoughts of consolation, sin quickly scatters them".)

Therefore, we must put sin to death.

Three alternate prayers for election day

2010-05-06T09:59:00.003+01:00

I'm conscious that many Christians I talk to are concerned about the outcome of this General Election.

It's right that we pray that God would raise up men and women of integrity, who will exercise power justly, seek the public good, recognise the importance of marriage and the family, and uphold the value of all human life.

It's also right that we pray that the new government would defend religious liberty so that Christians enjoy freedom to proclaim the gospel.

But on this election day, let me suggest three alternate prayers:

as much as it is within his power for God to raise up a government who, by his common grace, work for the public good, let's pray that we Christians would not put our hope in government - that is in our modern day equivalent of chariots and horses (see Psalm 20:7) - but in the name of the LORD our God
let's pray for those Christian candidates who are not elected - that their identity would be so firmly rooted in who they are in Christ (chosen, holy and dearly loved - see Colossians 3:12), that they respond with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience
let's pray for the salvation of "all those in authority... This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:3-4) Let's pray that whether the period of the next government is a time of religious freedom or not, it would be a time of great gospel growth

Hast thou no scars?

2010-05-04T10:08:00.002+01:00

On Sunday evening I preached on John 15:18-16:4, where Jesus says,

Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.

During my preparation, I came across this very challenging poem by Amy Carmichael...

Hast thou no scar?
No hidden scar on foot, or side, or hand?
I hear thee sung as mighty in the land;
I hear them hail thy bright, ascendant star.
Hast thou no scar?

Hast thou no wound?
Yet I was wounded by the archers; spent,
Leaned Me against a tree to die; and rent
By ravening beasts that compassed Me, I swooned.
Hast thou no wound?

No wound? No scar?
Yet, as the Master shall the servant be,
And piercèd are the feet that follow Me.
But thine are whole; can he have followed far
Who hast no wound or scar?

A wartime mentality

2010-04-30T08:51:00.004+01:00

Yesterday morning I was very challenged by one of Paul David Tripp's poems in, A shelter in the time of storm.

The poem, called, Watch out for the Flesh Eaters! was based on Psalm 27:2...

When evil men advance against me

to devour my flesh,

when my enemies and my foes attack me,

they will stumble and fall.

It began,

I wish that it were

peacetime

but

right now

you can't live that way.

Temptation is all around.

It's a smile

a whisper

a wish

an invitation

a sword.

There's little escape,

so little time to rest,

evil flirts with you

but will consume your flesh...

Tripp finished by asking whether we tend to forget, this side of eternity, that there is a great spiritual war being fought inside and outside of us. Then he asked this searching question:

What evidence in your life indicates that you are living with a peacetime mentality rather than with preparedness for spiritual conflict?

It made me think of the apostle Paul's words in Ephesians 6. There, one of chief pieces of evidence that we're living with a wartime mentality is that we,

pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (v18)

But to what extent are my own prayers marked by this kind of urgent, persistent, Bible-centred, focus, that is a sign of a wartime mentality?

Always and for everything

2010-04-28T17:31:00.004+01:00

Last night we had a really encouraging church meeting. I came home praising God for his goodness to us as a church family.

We heard about 3 new evangelistic initiatives; one of our members shared her desire to serve God on the mission field; and in the financial report, we saw how month by month God had faithfully provided for all our needs.

All this reminded me of the words of Psalm 136:1...

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.

His love endures for ever.

As I reflected on this today, I was struck by the fact that God would be no less good if none of these things had happened. The question is, 'Would my praise this morning still be as heartfelt and joyful?'

Of course, it's right that we praise God for these things, but one of the signs of the Spirit's work in us, is that we give thanks not just when things go well, but 'always and for everything' (see Ephesians 5:20).

He only is sufficient

2010-04-27T10:06:00.006+01:00

Sometime ago, I started reading through John Owen's, Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers, with a friend. After a break, we picked it up again recently.

This morning we read through chapter 3 again: The Holy Spirit is the great sovereign cause of the mortification of indwelling sin.

Owen stresses our total inability to defeat sin in our own strength.

At one point, he writes,

Men are galled with the guilt of a sin that has prevailed over them; they instantly promise to themselves and God that they will do so no more; they watch over themselves and pray for a season until this heat waxes cold and the sense of sin is worn off - and so mortification goes also, and sin returns to its former dominion. (p.60)

Isn't this a common experience?

We're faced with the reality of our sin; we want to put it to death; we make all sorts of promises and resolutions; for a while we appear to be winning the battle; but gradually that feeling we had wears off, and before long, we're back to where we were in the beginning.

Owen's point is that the Holy Spirit "only is sufficient for this work; all ways and means without him are as a thing of nought; and he is the great efficient of it". (pp.57-58)

How does the Holy Spirit help us to put sin to death?

Owen here lists 3 ways:

he causes our hearts to grow in grace and the fruit of the Spirit
he strikes at 'the root and habit of sin'
he 'brings the cross of Christ into the heart of the sinner by faith'

An honest picture

2010-04-26T16:34:00.003+01:00

On Friday I attended the Thanksgiving Service for the life of Mark Ashton at St. Andrew the Great, in Cambridge.

I thought it was a very encouraging and challenging service.

One of my concerns about the eulogies that are sometimes given at Christian funerals / thanksgiving services is that they can focus our attention on the individual, rather than on the Lord who saved them.

As Christopher Ash pointed out in his address, by choosing 2 Corinthians 4:1-18 for the service before he died, Mark wouldn't allow us to do that. He wanted us to know that he was, like us, a jar of clay, and that the real treasure is the gospel (v7).

Whilst we thanked God for Mark's faithfulness and passion for the gospel, we never lost sight of God's grace, which made him what he was. It was 'an honest picture' and for this I was very grateful.

Interestingly, reading 'On my way to heaven' (the booklet Mark wrote shortly before he died about Facing death with Christ), Mark himself says this:

We all die as great sinners saved by the great grace of a far greater God. Funeral eulogies rarely present an honest picture of a person's life. The good is magnified, the bad excluded. But when Christians are remembered as they really were: including their failures and follies, their bad moods and intolerance, their moments of harshness and unkindness, then Christ is made more glorious. For he is the one who has saved us despite our sin; who has loved us even in our weakness. Our salvation is not the record of our deeds on earth, but the intervening action of a loving God, who has saved us despite who we are and what we've done. And, if he can save us, then he can save anyone!

That is why it is so important to be realistic and to be biblical about death. In dying, I want to say to those I have loved and to those who have loved me: "Don't magnify me - remember the reality: I was someone who sometimes got you cross, and irritated you, and let you down, and disappointed you, and hurt you. So please don't remember an imaginary relationship with me. It was good, but it could have been better. I loved you, but I could have loved you better - just as you loved me, but you could have loved me better. So don't lets trust in our love for one another. Let's trust in God's love for us so that the change in our relationship, which my death will bring, can strengthen each of our relationships with Jesus." (pp.23-24)

O ye sons of men be wise

2010-04-02T19:04:00.006+01:00

Reading Justin Taylor's blog today, I came across this lovely old hymn by Joseph Hart.

On this Good Friday, it's a great reminder of our universal need to flee to Jesus.

O ye sons of men be wise,
trust no longer dreams and lies,
Out of Christ, almighty pow’r
can do nothing but devour.

God you say is good. ‘Tis true.
But he’s pure and holy too;
just and jealous is his ire,
burning with vindictive fire.

This of old himself declared:
Israel trembled when they heard.
But the proof of proofs indeed
is he sent his Son to bleed.

When the blessed Jesus died
God was clearly justified:
Sin to pardon without blood
never in his nature stood.

Worship God, then, in his Son,
there he’s love and there alone.
Think not that he will, or may,
pardon any other way.

See the suff’ring Son of God,
panting, groaning, sweating blood!
Brethren, this had never been
had not God detested sin.

Be his mercy therefore sought
in the way himself has taught:
There his clemency is such,
we can never trust too much.

He that better knows than we,
bids us all to Jesus flee.
Humbly take him at his Word
and your souls will bless the Lord!

Mighty Acts of God

2010-03-31T09:54:00.002+01:00

Since we finished Beginning with God, I've been using Mighty Acts of God with Tom, Grace and Laura.

Written by Starr Meade and illustrated by Tim O'Connor, Mighty Acts of God is a Family Bible Story Book, in a similar vein to The Jesus Storybook Bible or The Big Picture Story Bible.

It gets its name from Psalm 145:4...

One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts.

As the title implies, the focus in each story is on God rather than the human characters.

We've only read a few stories so far, but at this stage I have 4 observations:

In the notes for parents, Starr Meade says that Mighty Acts of God was written with elementary school-age children in mind (from what I gather this is roughly equal to primary school-age in the UK). My impression thus far is that it's more suited to Years 5 & 6 than 3 & 4
The theology is sound, reflecting historic Reformed Christianity. Indeed, the stories draw attention to important doctrines, which appear in the text in coloured type. Helpfully, words or theological terms that children may not be familiar with appear in bold. Each story is also accompanied by a Bible verse (taken from the ESV) and questions or suggestions for discussion. In this way, Mighty Acts of God encourages parents not just to read a Bible story with their children, but to teach them the Bible
That said, the story-telling is less vivid and gripping than something like The Jesus Storybook Bible
At the same time, the illustrations seem rather dated, and perhaps because it's aimed at slightly older children, there are less of them

All in all, I like the emphasis on parents teaching their children, but I think there are better alternatives for younger children. That said, I think it's good to have a variety of Family Story Bibles to read and this is certainly a helpful addition to the library.

Creation

2010-03-30T17:17:00.002+01:00

On Saturday night, Debs and I watched Creation, with Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly.

The film is based on a biography of Darwin by Randal Keynes, entitled Annie's box, and tells the story of how Darwin came to write On the Origin of Species.

I knew almost nothing about Darwin before watching the film and, therefore, have no idea how accurate the film is.

However, I really enjoyed it and found it both moving and challenging.

I was struck by three things in particular:

Darwin, played brilliantly by Bettany, comes across as a devoted and loving husband and father (as I say, I've no idea how accurate this is, but if true, it's a striking example of God's common grace)
Annie's death clearly had a profound impact on her father, and his relationship with his wife, Emma. There's a very interesting extra with Nick Pollard that accompanies the DVD - Pollard on Film - which is well worth watching, and raises the question of why Darwin changed his mind and arrived at the theory of evolution. Was he convinced by the 'evidence'? Was it as a result of the death of his daughter? Was it a combination of both these things and more besides? By all accounts the commentators differ on this
as I watched the film I couldn't help but wonder what I would have said to Darwin had I been his Pastor. How would I have counselled him?

The film is clearly supportive of the theory of evolution, and whilst some Christians might therefore be cautious about it, I think it's still worth watching - if only because you see Darwin in context, and begin to get a feel for the influences upon his life.

Having watched the film, I'd like to read more about Darwin. Perhaps I'll start with Annie's Box.

The precious garden of my home needs tending

2010-03-29T10:21:00.002+01:00

Depending on the blogs you read, or the websites you visit, you may well have come across the news that John Piper is taking a leave of absence from public ministry from May to December, because in part, "the precious garden of my home needs tending."

You can read the letter explaining his upcoming leave here and watch a video of him telling the people of Bethlehem here.

I found both the letter and the video deeply moving. I thank God for his humility and his desire to wage war against sin.

It also challenged me to pray for myself and my friends in ministry, that we would keep close and loving watch on the precious gardens of our homes.

When trials come

2010-03-23T15:41:00.003Z

Over the last few months, I've listened to Awaken the Dawn, by Keith & Kristyn Getty, more than any other album.

I know that musical taste is a personal thing, and this won't be to everyone's taste, but I love this album - I love it's blend of Biblical instruction and great music.

Since I downloaded it, I think almost every track has been a favourite at some point or another.

My current favourite is, When trials come.

It's a great encouragement to trust the God who works all things for the good of those who love him (see Romans 8:28), to keep going (see Hebrews 12:2-3), and to set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed (see 1 Peter 1:13).

When trials come no longer fear
For in the pain our God draws near
To fire a faith worth more than gold
And there His faithfulness is told
And there His faithfulness is told

Within the night I know Your peace
The breath of God brings strength to me
And new each morning mercy flows
As treasures of the darkness grow
As treasures of the darkness grow

I turn to Wisdom not my own
For every battle You have known
My confidence will rest in You
Your love endures Your ways are good
Your love endures Your ways are good

When I am weary with the cost
I see the triumph of the cross
So in it's shadow I shall run
'Till He completes the work begun
'Till He completes the work begun

One day all things will be made new
I'll see the hope You called me to
And in your kingdom paved with gold
I'll praise your faithfulness of old
I'll praise your faithfulness of old

The Visitation of the Sick

2010-03-18T17:02:00.005Z

I've been working through the GoodBook Guide, Soul Songs, with a friend.

On Tuesday we were looking at Psalm 32, entitled, A song for secret guilt.

At one point the guide asked, 'How does God discipline us today? Is sickness always a result of God's discipline?'

We thought about some of the Bible passages where sickness is a result of God's discipline, such as 1 Corinthians 11:30 and James 5:14-16, but our general conclusion was that there isn't always a direct link between particular sins and sickness.

However, we did go on to say that when we're ill, we ought to ask the question as a matter of course: Is my sickness a result of God's discipline? Am I denying or hiding my sin? Do I need to confess my sins to God?

Then we thought about the prayer for The Visitation of the Sick in The Book of Common Prayer...

Dearly beloved, know this, that Almighty God is the Lord of life and death, and of all things to them pertaining, as youth, strength, health, age, weakness, and sickness. Wherefore, whatsoever your sickness is, know you certainly, that it is God's visitation. And for what cause soever this sickness is sent unto you; whether it be to try your patience for the example of others, and that your faith may be found in the day of the Lord laudable, glorious, and honourable, to the increase of glory and endless felicity; or else it be sent unto you to correct and amend in you whatsoever doth offend the eyes of your heavenly Father; know you certainly, that if you truly repent you of your sins, and bear your sickness patiently, trusting in God's mercy, for his dear Son Jesus Christ's sake, and render unto him humble thanks for his fatherly visitation, submitting yourself wholly unto his will, it shall turn to your profit, and help you forward in the right way that leadeth unto everlasting life.

What I love about this prayer is its recognition of the sovereignty of God and the grace of the gospel.

Even if God hasn't sent my sickness to correct me, he's sent it to make me more like his Son.

Therefore, we're to pray that we would humbly submit to God, trust the gospel, and become more like Christ.

The power of grace

2010-03-17T10:07:00.002Z

I've benefited a great deal from the writings of Paul David Tripp. Hence all the recent posts.

On Monday I started reading another of his books, A shelter in the time of storm.

Like Whiter than snow, it's a series of meditations on a Psalm - this time Psalm 27.

Here's an extract on the power of grace from his meditation on v12, which I read today.

In light of the fact that sin brings all of us to the point that we exhale violence in some form at some time, it's amazing how much peace and cooperation exist in our relationships. What's the explanation for this apparent contradiction? It can be said in one word: grace. There's not a day where you and yours are not protected by the most powerful, protective, and beneficial force in the universe - the grace of God. Every situation, location, and relationship you're in every day is made livable and tolerable by his grace. In the majesty of his love, God causes his grace to restrain us, just as he causes the sun and the rain to fall on both the just and the unjust. Why does he do this? He does it because of his great love and for the sake of his own glory.

This means that every day you experience the power of his grace. Every day God keeps us all from being as wicked as we have the potential to be. And if he would for a moment withdraw his hand of grace, this world would explode into chaos and violence unlike anything any of us could conceive. You see, you only ever begin to really celebrate grace when you begin to understand how deep and pervasive the effects of sin are.

He goes on...

Take time to consider the ravages of sin on us all, because when you do, you'll leave with a deeper appreciation of grace than you've ever had. (pp.21-22)

The theology of uncomfortable grace

2010-03-09T10:12:00.002Z

Recently I listened to a John Piper sermon that made a great impact on me (you can read my post about it here).

In it Piper said that the green grass is not more nutritious. In other words, times of ease and comfort are rarely good times for us spiritually.

If I'm honest, I think this is one of those truths that I know, and yet it hasn't quite trickled down to shape me and change me.

I suspect that will take a life time.

This morning in my Quiet Time, I read a devotion by Paul David Tripp on Psalm 51:8 ("let the bones you have crushed rejoice.") which made a very similar point.

He talked about how God "brings us through difficulty, want, suffering, sadness, loss and grief in order to ensure that we are living in pursuit of the one thing that we desperately need - him."

He went on,

It's time for us to embrace, teach, and encourage others with the theology of uncomfortable grace. As long as sin still lives inside of us, producing in each of us a propensity to forget and wander, God's grace will come to us in uncomfortable forms. You may be wondering where the grace of God is in your life, when you're actually getting it. But it's not the grace of release or relief; no, you're getting the uncomfortable grace of rescue, relationship, and refinement.

So, if you are God's child, resist the temptation to doubt his goodness in the middle of your stress. It's time for us to stop thinking that our difficulty is a sign of his unfaithfulness and inattention. If you are God's child and you still recognise the battle of sin within, then those difficulties are sure signs of rescuing redemptive love. God isn't with-holding his grace from you. No, you're experiencing uncomfortable grace, grace that's willing to break bones in order for your heart to be true. This grace is unwilling to give up. This grace will not turn its back. This grace will not accept the status quo. This grace will not compromise or grow cynical. God hasn't forgotten you. He loves you with real love, and he's giving you real grace. And he'll continue to do so until you're finally free of your propensity to wander away. Now that's real love. (p.142)

Seeing ourselves with accuracy

2010-03-05T09:47:00.004Z

In my Quiet Time this morning, I read a meditation by Paul David Tripp on Psalm 51:3 (from Whiter than Snow)... "For I know my transgressions."

I found it hugely helpful.

Here is the gist of what he said:

I have counselled people for many years, and one of the things that has impressed me over and over again is how self-deluded people (including me) can be. It's amazing how hard it is to see ourselves with accuracy. It's been my experience over and over again that we see the other person with a fairly high degree of accuracy but can't see ourselves with the same precision.

Why are we so deluded?

Tripp lists a number of reasons, but then says:

Add to all of this the basic nature of sin. Sin is deceitful. It hides, it defends itself, it wears masks, it bends its shape into more acceptable forms, it points fingers of blame, and it even questions the goodness of God. Sin always first deceives the person who is sinning the sin.

So, since sin is by its very nature deceitful, we need help in order to see ourselves with accuracy.

Tripp mentions two communities of help:

We need community with God. He's the ultimate opener of blind eyes. Through the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit we begin to see ourselves with accuracy and becoming willing to own up to what we see. But the Spirit uses instruments, and this is where the second community comes in. God employs people in the task of giving sight to other people.

He goes on:

There are a whole lot of people who are blindly stumbling their way through life. But their blindness is made even more powerful and dangerous by the fact that they tend to be blind to their blindness... The scary reality is that one of the things that keeps spiritually blind people blind is that they're convinced that they see, but they're also convinced that they see quite well! And so they don't seek help for their blindness.

So, whenever you encounter a person who sees him - or herself with precision, clarify, and accuracy, you know for sure that grace has visited that individual. It's only God's grace that can enable blind eyes to see, and it's only God's grace that can produce in us the willingness to accept what we've seen.

Growing the individuals

2010-03-03T10:56:00.002Z

This morning, whilst doing the reading for our Growth Groups course this afternoon, I came across a number of gems in Colin Marshall's chapter on Growing the individuals. Here are the ones that particularly struck me...

In leading Growth Groups, our basic concern is not how the group is functioning but the salvation and growth of individuals (p.89)
We are working at both theology (the knowledge of God) and godly practice. Theology without faith is false. Faith without theology is foolish. To know God and ignore him is damnable. To try to please God without listening to him is futile (p.91)
The more we understand people, the better we will be able to apply the gospel of grace to their needs. Sometimes we address a 'spiritual' problem head on when the real issue lies just below the surface. For example, in considering the erratic attendance of one of our members, we might want to remind her of passages about denying yourself and taking up your cross daily. However, when the underlying problem is tiredness due to poor health, workaholism, or depression due to missing out on promotion, we can address the gospel to these issues (p.92)
Ultimately, the reason we don't pray is unholy pride. We actually think we will change people's lives ourselves, or deep down we think that they are a lost cause and don't believe that any change can occur. Such confidence in our own competence is the enemy of prayer and the antithesis of faithfulness (p.93)