Christ Church Bromley

This half term my wife, Kirsten, and I (with our son Joshua happily in-tow) were able to enjoy a fantastic break in Brittany with some good friends. Brittany is a lovely part of France and we were with great company enjoying great food and great weather. We had a fantastic time.

As you can probably see, I love holidays. In fact, I really love holidays. What is there not to love: no work (well, not the vocational type, anyway) and plenty of rest and play. Kirsten can read all day in the sun while I pootle, play and bundle Joshua 'till we're all tired out from laughing and giggling. The normal pattern of life ceases and instead a new pattern - the holiday pattern - takes over.

Obviously, there are some things that we continue to do on holiday that we normally do at home: get up (albeit quite later than normal), brush our teeth, get dressed, eat, drink, etc. These things are essential to day-to-day living, regardless of whether we are on holiday or not. It stands to reason, then, that spending time with God in his word and in prayer will naturally be one such essential part of our day-to-day routines as Christians that we would carry over into our holiday routines. Hmm...

Nick's recent update on the forthcoming focus in Christ Church on a Passion for Life reminded me of something I read in a book before Christmas.

I find the testimonies of other people really encouraging. I love hearing how people came to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. I get really fired up when someone explains that they have always known Jesus and how the faith they were raised with is now the faith they personally stand on.

Before Christmas I was reading Band of Brothers, a superbly welll written and extremnely readable history of Easy Company, the famous WWII paratrooper company of the US 101st Airborne Division, which was written by Stephen E. Ambrose. Toward the end of the book I read a paragraph that had me in tears instantly. Suprisingly, this paragraph was not an account of heroic bravery in battle. It was not an emotional depiction of the realities of war. Instead, it was a paragraph describing the conversation between a granddad and his four year old granddaughter in 1991.

Two things I ask of you;
deny them not to me before I die:
Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that is needful for me,
lest I be full and deny you
and say, "Who is the LORD?"
or lest I be poor and steal
and profane the name of my God.
Proverbs 30:7-9

Generally speaking, sitting on the fence is something which the Bible doesn't permit. You either believe Jesus is the Son of God or you don't. You either love God and his people or you don't, and so on.

This term the Growth Groups in Christ Church (Bible study small groups that meet in people's homes) have been looking at the issue of money. Not only has this been encouraging and challenging in our current economic climate, but it has also been a helpful topic to study in the light of our current financial position as a church.

Last night was the last Growth Group meeting of this current term. Our Growth Group took time to share what one verse or passage from God's Word we have looked at this term has challenged us or encouraged us the most. For many in the group, it was Proverbs 30:7-9 , quoted above.

Incredibly, at least to me, today (2nd October 2008) marks the 25th anniversary of my ordination to full-time ministry as a pastor-teacher in the Church of England. The preacher at the ordination on 2nd October 1983 preached on 2 Corinthians 4 . Verse 5 has remained one of the key verses I have taken with me through my ministry: "For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake".

Have you ever tried to explain to someone the truths of our salvation? More specifically, have you ever tried to describe how we are saved now, but still await our salvation that is yet to come?

It's not as easy as easy as it sounds. Here is a made up but illustrative example of the kind of conversation that I find myself having:

Me: So, on the cross, Jesus saved us from our sin.
Friend: Okay, so if I believe in Jesus, I will stop sinning, right?
Me: Well, no. Um... you see, we still battle with sin now.
Friend: But you said that Jesus saved us from our sin on the cross?
Me: He does.
Friend: So Christians don't sin.
Me: Er... no. You see, we still fight against sin now, but we can have a certain hope that Jesus will save us from our sin completely on the last day.
Friend: Eh? So Jesus didn't save us from sin completely on the cross?
Me: No... well... um...
Friend: I'm confused.
Me: Look. We're saved completely now, but in another sense we're not yet saved. Yeah?
Friend: Christianity is weird.
Me: Oh 'eck.

Well, until last Wednesday I found it really hard to get across the now-but-not-yet aspect of our salvation. Thankfully, during one of our staff toolbox mornings (where we focus on handling God's word properly) Iain explained this seeming paradox to us in a very helpful way. He explained the three tenses of salvation.

I came across a web site a few years back which had a section of the site where you could post your 'thin places' - any place or situation where the distance between you and God was at its thinnest. Most of the places that people listed were sunrises, sunsets, a beautiful landscape, looking into their newborn's eyes, the exhilaration of skiing off piste, things like that.

In the 14-18s group on Friday we were looking at Psalm 148 . In this psalm, the entire universe - heavens, earth, sky, land, plants, animals and especially mankind - is to praise the LORD. They are to do this because he is our Creator and our King in Christ Jesus.

Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded and they were created. He set them in place for ever and ever; he gave a decree that will never pass away.
Psalm 148:5-6

Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his splendor is above the earth and the heavens. He has raised up for his people a horn (footnote: strong one, or King), the praise of all his saints, of Israel, the people close to his heart.
Psalm 148:13-14

The heavens and the earth praise the LORD simply by being his creation. So, when the sun rises and the morning sky is splashed with rich golden yellows and deep sapphire blues, it is speaking God's praises in a way that all of us can understand (Psalm 19:1-3 ).

The things that we easily mistake as 'thin places' - where we feel like the gap between us and God is at its thinnest - aren't actually thin places. The things we mistake as 'thin places' are actually loud places: where the praise of God being declared by his amazing creation can be clearly heard.

The only place where the gap between us and God is thinnest that I'm aware of is at the cross of Jesus. In fact, only at the cross is the gap (a.k.a. sin) between us and God removed entirely. Only there can I know God intimately, personally and completely because of his sacrifice for me in Christ Jesus (Hebrews 10:19-20 ).

That really is something worth praising God for.

Munching my muesli reading through the March edition of Evangelicals Now my eye was drawn to an article about Cuba. Last summer I had sat next to a Cuban Baptist pastor at the Evangelical Ministry Assembly. It was a real privilege to meet him and he very kindly gave me his contact details just in case I was ever passing through Havana! I was keen to read more about what was happening in Cuba.

A friend and I had a bit of wake up call this morning when we read the Bible together. 1 John 2:15 tells us not 'to love the world or the things in the world'. John defines the world very carefully for us in the next two verses. The world he has in mind is not a spinning globe but a system of organised rebellion against the Creator of the spinning globe: 'the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions'. It is all passing away. All the world loves most will become a few handfuls of dust.

My Bible study this morning was from Acts 16:16-40 . It's the well known event where Paul and Silas are in prison for the Gospel, singing songs with all the other prisoners listening in. At midnight there is an earthquake that renders the prison open and provides the simplest escape for all the captives.

However, much to the jailer's amazement (for he was about to top himself), all the prisoners are still there, sitting in the darkness denying their apparent opportunity for freedom.

Now, the main point of this passage centres around the jailer's question in v30, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” and the answer of Paul and Silas, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” Here in Acts 16 we see Gospel living providing an opportunity for Gospel preaching that led to the jailer putting his faith in the Lord Jesus.

Thinking about the passage further, though, I found myself asking this question: what about the brief role of the prisoners in v25-28?