Monday, 23 March 2015

Dirty Feet

I have never been a big fan of foot washing; I wash my own feet of course but it's when people follow the example of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples when I get a little uncomfortable. I never knew why I felt like this until I heard our two sermons this Sunday on John 13:1-17, the sermons were on service and both mentioned the signifance of the guest of honour, the master, Jesus doing what the least honourable person, probably a servant, would have done. So when we foot wash following Jesus's example are we in danger of putting ourselves in the place of the guest of honour, the master? Are we elevating our own position in order that we may demonstrate our own humility? Is this an act of service or self-righteous service? Whilst I guess most people have the right motive in mind when we do this it does make me think and conclude with the answer; if we want to demonstrate humility in service let's not do something symbolic, let's do something that actually serves others.

Saturday, 21 March 2015

Not all will die!

If you are some sort of Bible scholar, or theologian you will read Matthew 16:28 and think 'yes, of course.' But if you are just an average Joe like me you will read those same words of Jesus and think 'what an earth is he going on about?' However we all know that when we spend time with God and his Word he occasionally reveals something to us. This happened to me this morning whilst I was meditating on Romans 6 again (good spiritual discipline that!) and thinking about death 'we will all die in these bodies' I thought, but then the words of Matthew 16:28 came to me when Jesus said some will not experience death before he returns. Then these words finally made sense to me; we will not all die, some will be here to greet Him on His glorious return, but we shall all live! I still have several questions about Matthew 16:28, but I think I am lot happier now that I believe God had revealed some if the wisdom behind Jesus' words.

Thursday, 19 March 2015

Getting it wrong?

I have been reading the text of Roman's 6:1-14 for some days now in preparation for the Easter Sunday service. I don't normally prepare this far in advance, but I find Roman's a difficult book to study so wanted to make sure I was really getting to grips with the text. It is tough reading, it makes me feel uncomfortable when reading it because of the fact that like most people I find it difficult not to sin, it is part of my daily struggle with life and "the flesh" and Paul's opening statement “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” although not meant in that way feels like an accusation with the text launching into what seemingly is a condemnation: I should be dead to sin, when I die I no longer have any senses: touch, smell, taste and sight will all be alien to my dead body. That being the case, on first reading it seems that it is the same when we die to sin; we will not be able to sense sin and therefore not able to sin. Oh boy, what a downer, I can sense sin, I struggle with sin, I cannot help but sin; I judge others, I don’t respect my parents, I covet what my neighbour has, etc. etc. etc. Am I sure I am saved? Am I sure that I have been reborn to righteousness? Reading some of the biblical commentators I might be left feeling like this. A majority of Christians might be left feeling like this and the rest are so self-righteous that they will be like it without realising it!

However, I have recently progressed from just reading the text to studying it with the help of John Stott’s commentary on Romans and he makes three points that has allowed me to breathe again: (1) Jesus on the cross ‘died to sin once for all’ he was aware of sin, didn’t fall into sin, but wasn’t and isn’t after his death unaware of our sin. (2) Paul writes to believers that we are no to let sin ‘reign’ in our bodies and that we must not obey sins ‘evil desires’ so even in our sanctified nature we are still able to sense sin and even to sin. (3) Not being aware of sin, not being able to sin is incompatible with the Christian experience; we are all tempted and sometimes we fall into sin. If we deny this we are denying the truth of the evidence of our own lives.

So what does it mean to die to sin, well for that I will leave you with the explanation of Robert Haldane that John Stott suggests is the best way to look at it. It doesn’t entirely explain it for me but does give a different insight into ‘death to sin’, Stott explains that “Paul is referring not to a death to the power of sin, but to a death to its guilt, that is to our justification.” For me the danger is that if we are dead to its guilt, then are we not inviting ourselves to continue to sin?

Answers on a postcard, I think I need to study this a bit more…..

Wednesday, 11 March 2015

Sharing the news!

I opened a prayer meeting this evening (Wednesday) asking God to speak to us, to respond to our prayers. Later in that meeting I was meditating on equipping people to share the gospel and as you may know there is a plethora of books, programmes and training material that is intended to help Christian's in this task. A question swam around my head 'how do we share the gospel' and an answer was quickly forthcoming; with the gospel. The reality being that if the gospel is not only on our lips, but in our hearts and embedded deeply in who we are, our very being, then to share the gospel is a natural consequence of our existence. It seems a simple enough message, one that the early church thrived upon, perhaps it is something that the 21st century church should think about before it turns to the latest 'share the gospel quick' programme.

Friday, 6 March 2015

A stake in the ground!

I think that often when people come to Christ that they see it as putting a stake in the ground as if to say 'I have made it here!' Whilst it is a significant event becoming a Christian, we need to be careful that we don't view it as an opportunity to place a stake, rather we should see it as planting a tree. A tree that will be nurtured and grow throughout our faith journey with the hope that it will "bear fruit in season" with the hope that the fruit that we bear will be good fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, & self-control. Because ultimately we are not a Christian because of a stake in the ground that marks a point in time when we acknowledged that Christ is real, no, we can call ourselves a Christian only if we have planted a tree and through nurturing by a life that acknowledges Christ, that tree, our faith, bears good fruit.