What might we expect from a new Prime Minister?

Since David Cameron resigned in 2016, we’ve had six prime ministers. Now that we have Andy Burnham as Prime Minister, do you feel a sense of optimism or have you lost faith in government?

Writing in the second half of the 19^th century, Liverpool’s Bishop J.C. Ryle told voters, ‘We must each do our duty conscientiously, and learn to expect little from any political party. If those we support succeed, we must not think that all they do will be right. If those we oppose succeed, we must not think that all they do will be wrong. To expect little from any earthly ruler is one great secret of contentment.’

 A Christian’s responsibility

Christian teaching instructs believers to pray for, ‘all kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour.’

In the middle of the first century, the message of the death of Jesus and his rising to life soon spread right across the Mediterranean. The followers of ‘the Way’, i.e. Christians,  had little interest in trying to change the governing political authority, namely Rome. Neither did they wish to exercise any violence against some Jewish groups, which vehemently opposed them and their teaching. The Christians simply wanted to speak about Jesus and what his life, death and resurrection meant for all people: Jews, Gentiles, slave, free, rich, poor, men and women, whether powerful or of little influence.

A Ruler par excellence

In those days, one Jew named Paul, who’d converted, becoming a follower of Jesus, spoke to people in Athens at what was the equivalent of Hyde Park’s Speakers’ Corner. He said that he recognised their understandable ignorance about the true God, his ways and the ultimate plan for a Ruler who would surpass all earthly governance: A King who would wisely administer justice and mercy, right all wrongs and so silence all critics.

He said, ‘In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.’

Whilst we await this Ruler par excellence, that is Jesus, I thank God that we don’t live in a land of anarchy or under a dictatorship.

Football needs Rules and so does Life

‘The beautiful game’ has to have rules and regulations in place otherwise chaos would ensue. These rules are overseen by the referee and his final decision stands. When God spoke his beautiful creation into being, he introduced rules to govern the way things were to proceed and thereby not dissolve into chaos. Just as footballers sometimes ‘try it on’ with the referee and hope to get away with it, so we may think that we can stretch the boundaries of God’s law and he’ll turn a blind eye.

Contravening the rules of the game is called a foul. Transgressing God’s rules is called sin. In football, a foul may result in the referee issuing a caution, a sending off or a penalty. His decisions will not always be perfect. God, on the other hand, is all-seeing, all-knowing and perfectly just in his pronouncements. Nothing that we think, say or do is hidden from him. As a foul may result in a penalty kick or banishment from the pitch, so our breaking of God’s laws will ultimately result in the penalty of banishment from God himself.

Still relevant today

Now at this point, you may be thinking, “This is all very well but haven’t we moved on from thinking that God made everything, that he lays down impossible rules, (which we can’t keep) and then punishes us, even threatening us with hell? Anyway, what happened to the God of love?”

God is perfect in all of his ways. We cannot play off his love against his justice, since both are essential elements of his character. Indeed, God is compassionate, kind and loving but each of us will only know this by experiencing the way that he rescues us from the penalty that comes from our flouting of his laws. How does this rescue happen?

Consider the notion of a substitute. In football, a player may be withdrawn from the scene and a substitute will take his place. When Jesus died on the cross, he was taking, in our place, the punishment/ penalty due to our rule breaking.

Getting onside

The Christian message is a call to turn away from our wanting to push the boundaries, from disregarding God’s ways and to stop questioning his right to rule. Then we should hold onto Jesus as our substitute. In this way, we can know God’s love has forgiven and saved us.

When Jesus says ‘Don’t be afraid’

Here is a fishy story; well it’s about a fisherman really, whose name was Simon a.k.a. Peter. He shared in a fishing partnership together with his brother Andrew and their mates James and John. Between them the business owned two boats.

One day they were on the beach cleaning their fishing nets, having had an unsuccessful fishing trip the night before. Nearby, Jesus was teaching on the beach. The crowd pressed in closer and so, in order to give him a platform from which to continue speaking, Jesus asked Simon to take him on board his boat and push away from the shore a little.

Afterwards, Jesus blessed the fishermen by instructing Simon to take the boat out to deeper water and lower the nets for a catch. Simon pointed out that they had been out all night with nothing to show for it. Nevertheless, as an act of respect, he obediently lowered the nets.

The result was a large catch. In fact, so big was the haul of fish that Simon ordered the others to bring their boat so that they could get all of the fish back to shore.

A man’s conviction of his own unworthiness

What had happened caused Simon to wonder in astonishment. He had just witnessed an awesome thing. The implications of the words and power that Jesus had exercised went straight to his very soul. Instinctively, Simon seemed to understand just who and what he himself was when faced with the reality of one from God; the God of purity and power.

He fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" Now, Simon wasn’t what some might consider ‘the religious type’, just an ordinary manual worker. Nonetheless, Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

A new employment with Jesus

Simon’s encounter with Jesus changed the direction of his life completely. Within a few years, this unlikely character would be a leading light in the spread of Christianity, teaching and preaching about salvation i.e. sin, forgiveness and the promise of a life with God for ever.

When we are faced with Jesus, we may be fearful of being drawn into his net but he says, ‘Don’t be afraid’.