FROM THE INSIDE OUT

Subscribe to Ant's blog

 

January 27, 2012

I love it when the words on a page that I am reading seem to spring out of the page and resonate and bring life to me. I want to pass on a story that I read this week, in Greg Haslam's excellent book: "A radical encounter with God" It concerns the life of Martin Luther, the great German reformer. He went through many struggles in his life, both personal and spiritual, but through his study of Gods word he rediscovered the Gospel, this gift of Gods sovereign grace to an undeserving world. Through this he had many new insights which continue to inspire and challenge us today.

He was also pursued by his critics and subject to intense pressure and persecution. As a result he was a man who also experienced deep periods of depression. His wife Katherina had grown tired of her husbands bouts of the "Black Dog" (to use a phrase coined by Churchill). It so affected her that she too became close to despair. She realised that after a particularly lengthy period of depression, she had to do something to snap Luther out of it. So she decided to dress herself in black mourning clothes. Her dress, stockings, shoes, gloves and hat, were all black as if she was going to a funeral.

She went and took Luther his supper dressed in this way. Luther asked her: "Has someone died? "Yes," she replied, "and it is a most tragic loss. God has died." Luther at once responded passionately, "What, God cannot die, he is eternal. The ancient of days who alone dwells in immortality and unapproachable light. God cannot die. What blasphemy"

Katherina responded; "You speak the truth so well, my dear husband, but if that is so. why do you go about these last six weeks in such misery and despair as if the life of the eternal one was no more? I had to conclude that God must be dead"

What a timely reminder to us all, and I include myself in this, that God is always on the throne and in control of every detail of our lives! When circumstances conspire and pressure seems unbearable, remember that we have Father in heaven who smiles upon us with joy as we persevere in him! We have our brother Jesus who is now praying for us at the right hand of God. We trust him for our futures, and those of our friends, families and others that we shepherd. Luther the great reformer had to be reminded of this by his wife. We would do well to remind each other.

 

January 20, 2012

I have started this year feeling refreshed in God and full of faith for the year that lies ahead. I have also asked some friends involved in church leadership what they feel about the upcoming year and there have been some interesting responses. One has been that 2012 will be a year of building not battling. This does not mean that 2012 will not have its challenges, but rather that it will be a year that is characterised by building not fighting the same battles that we fought in 2011. For many in London 2011 was a challenging year.

Another friend had a prophetic word that 2012 will be a year of ripening and reaping. That we are going to see an increase in salvations and an unprecedented harvest for the Kingdom. Both of these words have really encouraged me in what I am praying for 2012. I believe that this is what God has for us. The question is how can we best prepare for it? I felt God speak to me simply out of Acts 2.42. There are six things described here that will help prepare us for what God wants to pour out on his church.

Acts 2.42: "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common."

Peter had just preached the Gospel and this portion in Acts comes directly after this. People have responded to what he has said, they have expressed their faith being baptised. From Luke's account of the story it is obvious that they have experienced forgiveness and that they have received the promised Holy Spirit. They are new people, they are born again.

This new birth produces something extraordinary in them. These few verses make this clear. Here we read the first account of a newly revived and restored congregation of Israel. This was the entire church! This was Gods "Israel" which was restored to life by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This infant church later multiplies and becomes many congregations. Gentiles would be saved and added and so on. Here we have a snapshot of a revived church. Here we see a church at it's best. A church as church should be! It is a picture for us to gaze upon and wonder at and be inspired by. It is a church that:

1. Has received the Gospel that has come from the apostles. They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching. The apostles simply preached the Gospel. As people listened to these eyewitness accounts of the story of Jesus they believed and embraced the story as their own. The good news of Jesus became their story, good news to them. They fully embraced and received the Gospel. As we gaze forward into 2012 with expectation this surely must be the starting point for all of us? That we fully embrace the Gospel. All of us need to ask if this is true of our lives. Are there parts of our lives that have not fully come into the freedom and forgiveness that the Gospel brings? Are we hedging our bets in any areas of our live? The simplicity of the Gospel is that we are saved by God's grace, not because we have earned God's favour but because Jesus died for us. This is all a gift!.
2. They have fellowship.As the early church received the teaching of the gospel, the result of this common faith is that they have fellowship together. We cannot have fellowship around any other thing in the church of Jesus. What brings us together is a common faith in Jesus, the gospel, not our culture, or that we like each other, although these things are good. Our fellowship is around Jesus.
3. They break bread.The cross is central to their lives, and they celebrate this by breaking bread together. Christians break bread together to constantly remind ourselves that we need the cross in our lives. It is through the Lords supper that the church keeps focussed on the cross. This is why we so value the breaking of bread in this church family, this is why we celebrate it often.
4. They pray. These things result in pray. Prayer expresses our need of God, and our willingness to trust him. Prayer is not mentioned first in this portion but fourth. First, we submit to Gods word, second we are in fellowship with Gods people, and have faith in the cross of Jesus. Then we can really pray! This is Gods order in the New Testament! Prayer is the oxygen, the life blood for our lives and for any church.
5. There is Power. We read further that the overflow of all of this is that they experience the presence of God amongst them in power. They have signs and wonders. There is also great generosity that is amongst them. (this surely is a sign!) They are all giving and all sharing with one another. There is also a short term voluntary communal lifestyle that some choose to be a part of.
6. They worship. Lastly Luke tells us that they worshipped daily in the temple. This was part of a persistent, dedicated and joyful anointing that they had found in the Holy Spirit. No one forced them or coerced them into doing this. It was in their hearts to do this, because they loved Jesus! The temple was a public meeting place and so they used the courtyard of the temple to meet and worship. Jesus had done this and it was a good place to preach and share the Gospel. They also had smaller meetings in each others homes, they loved being together, and as they effected those outside of their fellowship, many came to faith and joined the congregation. People are saved and added to the congregation daily! What a refreshing and simple snapshot for us today of what New Testament church looks like! This is what God has for us. We can experience this in 2012. Let us all give ourselves joyfully and passionately to what the early church gave themselves to. Let us love and preach the Gospel and love and value each other. Let us love breaking bread together and practically express generosity and hospitality to be conduits of his grace to others. Let us and give ourselves in worship. All of this simply because we love Jesus. Truly 2012 will be a year of building, ripening and reaping. God bless you all as you love and serve him!

 

 

January 10, 2012

I love the body of Christ. I love his church. I value and enjoy the many friends that I have made over decades in a number of different church communities. Some of these deep friendships I continue to enjoy today. These are the lifeblood of my life.

But as much as I savour the rich reward of deep friendships, my concern is that friendship and community is being eroded and lost in the body of Christ. The bedrock of church community is covenant. The church is wonderfully constructed as God knits together the hearts and lives of different individuals.

However, there is a particular evil that I believe God wants to deal with in his church. It is a pernicious and prevalent idol and it is the enemy of true Biblical community. It is the idol of individualism. It is the idol of ME.

We live in a world of nano seconds and instant communication. This is the Facebook, Twitter, web generation. This is a world where hundreds of varieties of coffee can be specifically chosen from a huge number of options. Skinny or full cream, decaf or double shot, expresso or cappuccino, latte or macchiato, whatever you fancy, you will be satisfied. It is the world in which even our technical gadgets speak pointedly about ourselves. This is the world of the "I-phone", "I-pad" and "personal computer".

This is the world in which every blogger has an opinion, and we are told that all opinions are equally valid and deserve equal consideration. This is a world in which relationships are treated as casually as coffee choices. A world where friendships are formed and discarded on whims. A world where men and women move in and out of each others lives and homes as easily as they would buy a new car every few years. When something better comes along, just take it!

This is a world in which real relationships with real woman are set aside by weak-willed men for the ogling fantasy of a fake-tanned, surgically enhanced, perfectly proportioned, air-brushed, latest page 3 Katie Price look alike. This is a world where real relationship, with real people in real community is set side for the deception of "internet intimacy". This is a world of convenience and self-centredness on a massive scale. Many are motivated by a basic selfishness. What is good for me is the anthem of our age!

Fortunately, into this self-centred, broken and sick world, God has always spoken, and God continues to speak! He speaks a completely different language and a completely different message. His Gospel, his good news, speaks a language of "other-centred love". He says that because of his love for us, he was prepared to lay aside all of his glory, and come and live with us, like one of us. He does all of this out of "other-centred love".

The Bible says that he so loved the world that he gave himself to us. He invaded our space and time world by taking the form of a baby and living amongst us, just because he loved us. This is magnificent, this is the good news of the Gospel. God calls those who know him to the same language of "other-centredness" and the same lifestyle of "other-centredness" that he exemplified in his son Jesus. He calls us to live like this, for others, by the power of his Spirit in us.

To live like this is challenging! It is not convenient, it is not easy for it goes against all of our selfishness and our lust for more of everything. It challenges our desire for comfort, for personal peace and affluence. It cuts against the grain of all of this but it is what God calls us to!

The Bible uses an unfashionable word to express what I now describe. It is a word that the world hates, spits upon and mocks. It is a word upon which God calls us to build our lives. It is a simple word ... COVENANT.

Covenant is a basic promise that commits itself to a God-honouring, others-centred, unselfish life. It is a commitment to building a community of faith, the family of God, together. The world of convenience doesn't understand this. Our instant world does not even begin to comprehend the majesty, the joy and beauty of covenant community that God has for us. Sometimes you do glimpse the beauty of it. You catch it in the eye of an old married couple that have been building together for many years. It sometimes does not even need to be whispered to be expressed but it is obvious and it is there.

I read an article published on 1 January 2012 in the Sunday Telegraph which discussed the growth of the Christian church over the last decade here in London. (This in contrast to the trend of a shrinking church-going population over the last 50 years) A desire for genuine community seems to be a central reason for why many churches are growing. I would strongly encourage you to read the article by following this link. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8970031/The-return-to-religion.html

There are some things worth fighting for. One is the Gospel. Its truth brings freedom and forgiveness to all who believe. Community and friendship are also worth fighting for. Firstly, friendship with God and then friendship with God's people. This however is birthed in a gospel that lives for others, and not for itself. Its motivation is other-centered love not self-centered fulfilment.

This is my encouragement as we step over the threshold into 2012. There does seem to be sea change in our society. Selfish "freedom", which has damaged communities for so long, is being challenged at long last. It is by the truth of the Gospel. Jesus came into a dying world for the sake of people that he loved. We are still called to go into the world, our communities, and take the same message of the gift of the gospel of grace to all we can. This brings true freedom and builds genuine community.

May 2012 be the most fruitful year for all of God's church, as we live for him and for the sake of others.

 

December 15, 2011

In my last couple of blogs, I have looked at the central place of the Gospel and what it produces in our lives. I believe that as we saturate ourselves in the wonderful sufficiency of Christ's gift to us on the cross, that it not only impacts us individually, but it begins to change the motivations for why we do things together in the church community.

A church that is centred on the Gospel of Jesus is a church that is about Jesus being set above everything else. This might sound obvious, however the truth is that when we don't aim at Jesus as the focus of all that we do, we can become distracted and drawn aside by many other things. Many times these are not bad things in themselves, but they can draw us away from our reliance on God's grace and the simplicity of the cross.

As I have been reflecting on this, it has become clear that this loss of being rooted in Christ can affect many churches from many different backgrounds and denominations. Sometimes our churches are motivated by doctrinal purity. The pursuit of truth is foundational but often intimacy with the Godhead becomes obscured. The person of Jesus is the author and finisher, the perfecter of our faith.

Sometimes our churches can be motivated by a desire to grow. There is a desire to see as many people as possible put their trust in Christ. This is good but can lead to a pragmatism in church life to get people through the front door! In this we can forget the wonderful gift of grace found in Jesus and the gentle leadings of his Holy Spirit.

There are also times when our churches are motivated by a desire for cultural relevance. All of these issues are valid things that need to be engaged with, but we should not allow them to become causes that stop us relying on the sufficiency of the cross and the power of Christ to change lives.

In all of these examples something other than the cross can capture our attention and hearts. Jesus is the hope of our redemption. He is the highest object of our passion. The good news of Jesus needs to motivate and inspire our preaching so that many will be drawn to him, many will be convicted of sin and come to repentance.

When we as the church grasp the wonder of the Gospel, we will intrinsically become those who love the truth; who reach out to the lost; who find ways to be a light to people from all walks of life. We will be the people of God who shine out like a light in a crooked and a perverse generation.

God has called out his church to be a covenant community on a mission together. The mission is to proclaim Jesus and his Gospel both with our words and with our actions and by the choices that we make. Let this be the focus of our worship and our work as we move forward into the future together.

Home | Contact us | Disclaimer