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.

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…..

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.

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.

Going Native

When I was working in industry as a consultant one of things we were warned against was "going native." I would be tasked to go into an organisation to analyse the way they worked, particularly their manufacturing processes, with a view to challenging them to change to become more efficient. Short term assignments would not present a problem, but longer term assignments - those taking months or even years - could result in one becoming to empathetic with the people, becoming "one of the lads" which would make it more difficult to implement change, or more commonly, not notice where change was needed.

This week at the WEBA Ministers conference we had a speaker - Malcolm Duncan - who suggested that this can happen when we are reaching out to the community. We start with an intent to meet the needs of people and share the gospel, but end up being one of the people and forget why we were originally doing this. I must say that I believe he is correct; I have seen many amazing projects and initiatives over the past few years that began as a way to share the gospel, but ended up being a social enterprise with the message of Jesus hidden or even absent.

As a church with a clear community vision we have to ensure that we keep the gospel of Jesus in our hearts and minds, and that our continuing desire reflects the words of the Northumbria Canticle that Jesus is "in the hearts of those to whom we speak, and on the lips of those who speak unto us." That whilst we go into a community to meet their physical, social and emotional needs, we are clear that our strong hope and ultimate objective is that they will come to know the Jesus that we know. We will not keep him hidden, but through our words as well as our actions we will be proclaiming the truth of Christ.

Jesus a Punk Rocker?

When you hear the word punk rocker you probably think of a weird, colourful hairstyle, safety pins, terrible language and even more terrible music. But that superficial expression of oneself is only part of the story. Behind all the shock of the punk movement which began in the late 1970's was a movement that was inclusive, non-judgmental and supportive and for many young people like myself who were suffering oppression or worse at home and living through the power cuts, 3 day weeks poverty and deprivation of the time it was a sanctuary where we could be ourselves, express ourselves and stick two fingers up at a nation that seemed to be in self-destruct mode. 

When Jesus appeared on the scene in first-century Jerusalem Judaism had been in self-destruct mode for generations. The leaders of the nation, in many cases no more than puppets of their Roman overlords, used their position as the keepers, interpreters and enforcers of the religious law to "load people with burdens hard to bear” (Luke 11:46) whilst living an easy life for themselves in luxury and false piety. Sound familiar? Then along came Jesus: counter-cultural and anarchic! He challenged the accepted order, lived among the despised and forgotten of society, preached a way of life that was inclusive, and stood up for those who couldn't stand up for themselves. Its no wonder that he was accused of being subversive by the Jewish authorities who preferred to have “notorious prisoner called Barabbas” (Matthew 27:16) amongst them who was “among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection” (Mark 15:7). They saw Jesus as not only a threat to the peace that they had with the Romans, something he had in common with Barabbas, but also a direct threat to them and their authority.

So Jesus was not only inclusive non-judgmental and supportive, he was also anarchic, subversive and non-conformist. Jesus a punk rocker? It's an interesting thought.

2014

Well what a year that was! I guess if I had written down in January 2014 my expectations for the year ahead I would have missed off a few major almost earth-shattering events that happened. Chief amongst those would be finding myself single at the start of 2015 with very little hope for reconciliation with Michelle in spite of my best efforts. This reminds me of two pieces of scripture, the first of which has cropped up many times in my life Proverbs 3:5,6:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. 

We must always trust in God to make things happen according to His plan and not our own, so I start 2015 with this scripture held close to my heart. What will 2015 have in store for my life, my relationships, my family? I will continue to pray and I trust God with the expectation that His will be done in my life and of those that I love.

The second piece of scripture comes from the book of James chapter 4:13-17. The wisdom of James tells us that we should not put to much store in our own plans, desires and wants. Yes make plans, yes have expectations but place them in His hands saying "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."

I have lots of plans for 2015, I am excited about what God may have in store for me and our fellowship, but the beat of my drum will be Proverbs 3:5,6 with the words from James 4:15 on my lips.