- Jul 9, 2015
Do you, like me, get frustrated when TV interviewers interrupt their interviewee before the latter has had a chance to lay out their position? No sooner has the interviewer asked the initial question, than they want to move onto the next before the first has been answered! I guess that it is all part of the sound bite culture. Recently, I was present when the preacher in church challenged each of the congregation to say how he or she would, in the space of 30 seconds or so, explain to a man in the street what the Christian gospel is. I think I would want to say something like this:
God is in the business of changing people’s hearts. This is his purpose because he knows that deep down we wish to keep him at a safe distance. God however wants to draw people close to himself. Out of all of his magnificent and complex creation, it is human beings alone that have the capacity for an intimate relationship with God their creator. It is through Jesus that cold hearts can be warmed, so that we desire to be God’s very own, in a marriage-like relationship.
Well I think that explanation took about 30 seconds to say! I would hope that such a sound bite would spark my listener’s interest, so that I could explain more about the importance of Jesus, and how he gathers people to God as a shepherd gathers in his sheep.
The fact is, the Christian gospel (gospel means good news) is not something that can be given a thoroughly worthy explanation in the space of a minute, or an hour, a day or even a lifetime. God has planned to give all eternity to his people so that they can explore the depths of his great love, utter faithfulness, impeccable justice - in short, God’s perfection.
That last part sounds pretty lofty, even mystical. God does not expect us to run before we can walk. What we each need right now is a heart for these things. This is what the good news of Jesus offers. The Christian message is the promise of a new heart for those who will place their trust in Jesus, a heart in which God begins to work his very own will in us, and this in a way that will delight us. One could say that God is in the business of spiritual heart transplants.
- Jun 5, 2015
Much of the news brought to us through the media is about disunity, whether that be between individual people or people groups. Statesman, politicians and management expend considerable energy either trying to bring about unity or maintaining it. The promised referendum on Europe and discussions between the government and the SNP are concerned with unity. Even the Eurovision Song contest had the theme of ‘Building Bridges’.
When one acts to bring two disunited parties into harmony, we are said to be reconciling them. Former President Bill Clinton is one who performed this role on his visits to Northern Ireland during the 1990s. When Prince Charles went to Ireland last month to meet former enemies of the British government, it was hailed as another step along the ‘pathway of reconciliation’.
In the great scheme of things, we may be assured that God is the God of unity and is in the business of reconciliation, but he accomplishes these on his own terms. God’s way of unifying people starts with uniting them to himself through the message of the Gospel. Firstly, the Gospel says that mankind is already united in a negative sense in that they are all, at heart, at odds with God, and that each person needs to acknowledge that this is the case. Secondly, God comes to us in the person of Jesus in order that men and women, on a one by one basis, may be reconciled to himself. He tells each of us to trust that Jesus can accomplish this bringing together of ourselves and God.
As a result, each person that is brought back to God is firmly united to all similarly reconciled people. These united men and women are what the Church is in essence. Nationality, ethnic grouping, gender, social status and age are rendered irrelevant. Each person has had to come through the same process of being humbled by God and then forgiven. Now they share the same hope of experiencing unhindered unity with God and one another in the age to come i.e. Heaven.
While it is right and proper for people in all levels of society, irrespective of religious faith, to work and look for unity, it should never be at the expense of truth. Further, it must be recognised that man’s efforts will, at best, produce a vulnerable unity. By contrast, Jesus offers something much better and longer lasting for each of those who are prepared to trust him and his gospel.
- Mar 11, 2015
As I write, the news headlines are featuring a story about three senior school girls from Bethnal Green. It is believed they have left their families and embarked upon a journey in order to join the group Islamic State. Understandably, their families are distraught.
In our day, when the unity of family life is under great pressure, is it acceptable for religion to cause family division? The reality is that religious tradition or conviction can result in family division, pain, worry and separation. Devout people of various ‘faiths’ can become estranged from close family members who do not share similar convictions.
God invented the family unit and it is right that we should honour and protect it. Christianity majors on forgiveness and reconciliation, firstly between God and people, secondly between one person and another, starting with our families. Jesus claims sole authority to forgive wrong-doing so that he may reconcile us to God. Many a wayward son, daughter or spouse has experienced forgiveness from Jesus and this has resulted in the ‘prodigal’ being reconciled to estranged family members.
But what happens when our honouring of God with our obedience runs contrary to the wishes of family, friends or colleagues who do not revere God in the same way that we do? Jesus calls men and women to follow him with undivided loyalty. He warns would-be followers to be aware that this may bring family division, setting ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law – a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
Stark words indeed, but Jesus is just being bluntly honest because he knows that many oppose God and his words. The salvation he offers to us is free but it does not come cheaply. When a couple get married, all former relationships ought to be reorientated so that one’s marriage partner takes precedence; this is what is meant by the words, ‘A man shall leave his mother and father and be united to his wife.’ When a man or woman embraces Jesus, so to speak, he requires a similar reorientation.
We should not fear his wanting our complete loyalty to himself. He invites us to entrust ourselves, our relationships and whatever else we consider precious into his hands, and to believe that his purpose and intention for us are only and forever good.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, by the time you read this, those three girls had been reconciled to their families and, in God’s own time, discover a better (spiritual) journey to embark upon?