Is the church going back to normal?

[Transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube[1], November 2020]

Now that a possible end is in sight for COVID, are we looking forward to returning to how things once were, or have things changed forever? How has the church changed? Should it change?

With the announcement this week of a vaccine for covid there’s been talk of when things will all go back to normal and we can’t wait, can we, until we are able to do various bits and pieces – you know, socializing, go to the cinema, stuff like that. But are we truly going to be going back to normal in terms of how things were before, or in reality are things going to be very different? When it comes to church, well surely we can just go back to how things were, can’t we?

[00:56] There’s this passage in Isaiah 55 verse 11 that says these words “My words that proceed from my mouth will not return to me empty but it will accomplish what I please and it will prosper where I send it”. This is God talking about the power of his spoken word. Creation happened, the universe was created when God spoke. When God speaks things change; when God speaks new things are created, and I think that God has spoken in an amazing way in these past nine or ten months that during this time of covid God has been creating something new. I don’t just mean a new season because seasons come and go, they’re on rotation. I mean a new way of being, a new way of doing things, a break from the past.

[02:10] Some of you may recall in my first midweek message, my first little talk on a dog walk, I talked about God doing a new thing. Do we perceive it? I don’t think that we can go back to how things were, particularly as a church, and I think to do so would be to ignore the new things that God has been doing in this time, the new era that God is ushering in for his people, for the body of Jesus Christ. So does that mean that some churches won’t ever go back to how things were? No, I don’t think that; I think there are some churches that will act as if nothing had happened, nothing had changed but I think that will be a massive failure on the church’s part if they have learned nothing from this and if they insist on going back to how things were. I think we need to have a recognition that this time has helped us to realize that our mission should not be building-focused. We have a sense of pride in our buildings – not saying that buildings are wrong but if we make that the focus and the centre point of our mission, of God’s mission, then we’ve got something seriously wrong.

[03:40] We need to realize that our gifts should not be Sunday-focused. Too many people have felt beret, felt unemployed, during this time because they’ve been removed from their normal Sunday rotas or rotas that are building-centric. We need to realize that our gifts, our spiritual gifts from God, are meant for mission. It’s meant for the world out there, it’s meant to empower the church to do the task that God has for it. Also, I think we need to recognize that our aim should not be to get people into a service and if the only thing that changes about the way we do church is the way we do our Sunday morning service then I think we are focusing too heavily on such a minor part of what it means to be church.

[04:48] One of the things that I have loved about this time has been the fact that the church has been on display, that we have had an opportunity to show our local community, and beyond, the things that we are doing. We’ve been able to show them our worship, we’ve been able to tell them our sermons, but also we’ve been able to show the ways in which we have been showing love and care and support to those who are most vulnerable in our society. We’ve been able to feed the poor through food bank or make lunch but actually people have started to see that God loves them and that we as churches are agents of God in this world, involved intimately in his mission.

[05:43] I think that’s the thing that needs to be significantly different in this new era. They say that technology has jumped ahead five years within a couple of weeks in this time. I think as a church we’ve been talking about mission and justice and all that sort of stuff for years. I think this has been the time when we’ve had the opportunity to have that fast forwarded; that this will be an era of justice, this will be an era of helping the poor, feeding the hungry, speaking out in truth and love, sharing Jesus with the world rather than just expecting them to come into our buildings where they can hear about Jesus. We’ve been able to show them Jesus, not only through the things we do corporately as a church, but also through those acts of love and kindness that many people have shown to their neighbours and those in need.

[06:49] This is what God has been doing, I think, in 2020 and we mustn’t let that go to waste. The question is – are you going to get on board, are you going to get on the surf board and ride the wave that God has created? It’s God’s doing, this isn’t us, this is God making the best possible outcome from a bad situation. It’s a wake-up call, not just for our nation, not just for the world, but for us as a church as well. Now really the question comes, are you just looking forward to getting back to how things were, or are you waking up to the fact that God has fundamentally changed the way that we should be functioning as the body of Christ?

[1] YouTube link: Is the church going back to normal?
Bible references: Isaiah 55 verse 11

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What are You Planning?

[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during November 2020]

In 1 Kings we read that “King Solomon also built ships at Ezion Geber, which is near Elath in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea”. “The king had a fleet of trading ships at sea along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and peacocks.” In this way his maritime adventures brought great wealth to Solomon.

Jehoshaphat, a later king of Judah who is described as doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord, also built a fleet of trading ships. He had intended to replicate the success of Solomon’s ventures but this second fleet was wrecked at Ezion Geber before it had got very far.

Why is it that some ventures succeed and others fail? Both were initiated by godly men so those who wish to learn from these events must look elsewhere. Perhaps it was the destination – Solomon’s cargoes came from Ophir, often identified with an area to the east of India. Jehoshaphat’s fleet was intended to go to Tarshish, in southern Spain. (You will recall that Jonah tried the same, with no greater success.) Surely it was not realistic to send ships based at a Red Sea port to southern Spain before the days of the Suez Canal, especially when Joppa offered a more direct route.
Are there times when we let our ambitions override God-given common sense?

The Biblical accounts tell us that it was in fact the kings’ choice of partner which was key to the success or failure of their respective ventures. Solomon’s sailors worked with those of Hiram, a man who at least recognised and respected the Lord, the God of Israel, whereas Jehoshaphat chose Ahaziah, a man whose ways are described as wicked. Jehoshaphat was told “Because you have made an alliance with Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy what you have made” [2 Chronicles 20 v37].

Is there a lesson here? You may not be planning to go down to the sea in ships, or even to venture outside your own front door right now. As we have seen so dramatically this year:

“The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm for ever, the purposes of his heart through all generations” [Psalm 33].

Are His plans your plans too?

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It’s in the Bible

[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during November 2020]

The Biblical book of Hebrews opens with these words:

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He has appointed Heir of all things. [AKJV]

There is some debate about who was the author of this book, and several different theories have been propounded. Although both Peter and Luke have been suggested, the most common argument seems to be that they are the words of the apostle Paul, despite the book differing from the structure of his other epistles.

Perhaps it is a transcript of a sermon that he delivered in person and therefore it omits the personal greetings that Paul usually included. Alternatively, perhaps the text that we have is incomplete and one day, as with the Dead Sea Scrolls, someone will come across the missing information. Either way, God has deemed that it is not necessary for us to know and for nearly two thousand years Christians have accepted these words as having been inspired by the Holy Spirit.

As examples of the ‘diverse’ ways in which God speaks we might consider two people whose birthdays fall on this date. William Hogarth (b. 1697) became a leading English painter during the 18th century. He produced several series of paintings with moral themes, in which he often quoted Biblical passages and brought them to the attention of his contemporaries. Unfortunately his familiarity with the Bible does not appear to have had any lasting impact on his personal life.

Martin Luther (b. 1483) also became very familiar with the Bible. Through his studies, he came to believe that salvation is the free gift of God through faith in Christ as redeemer. He quoted verses that upset the established church and led to the Reformation which started the formation of the protestant church. He wrote the hymn that we know as

“A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing”

Is our familiarity with the Bible just a guide to a moral life or do we see more than that? Are we willing to hear God speaking to us through the records of His dealings with His people and the life of His Son?

“God’s truth abideth still; His kingdom is forever.”

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Do Church and Politics Mix?

[Transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube[1], November 2020]

France and the USA – 2 republics who view religion very differently. Should the church be involved in politics or should faith be kept separate from positions of power and influence? What is the role of the church in the broader life of our nation?

In the news this past week two republics have dominated the news. One was France where they’ve unfortunately had some religious and Islamic terrorist attacks and Macron the secularist has condemned those attacks and reiterated the fact that France is a secular not a religious country. On the other hand, you have the United States of America, also a republic, and yet in their elections we’ve seen time and time again the prevalence the importance placed on the church, on faith, on Christianity when deciding who to vote for. So which one’s right – the secularist or the religious republic?

[01:00] One of the things that came out of the Christian reformation in the 16th century in Europe was a separation between church and state, where no longer was the church the authoritative figure within a country so it’s not surprising you have countries like France where religion and state, church and state, are very much kept separate. President Macron said that spirituality is a matter for the individual, not for the state, and in some ways there’s real positives in that. Out of that separation there became freedom of religion and the United States for example was a place where many of those new Christian groups had to end up moving to because it was illegal, for example Baptists, to be a church within England because only the Church of England, the state registered church, could actually function. We also found that all sorts of other faiths, be Jewish or whatever, went to the States because of that religious freedom that they experienced so there are real positives in separating church from state.

[02:23] Now England didn’t do that; the church is still very much integrated into the country. The Queen is the head of our country, the head of the state but she’s also the head of the Church of England and yet we have to realize – in fact you probably do – that England is a secular country, it’s not a Christian country. The Christianity that we do kind of adhere to is a mixture between history and folklore. Really, it’s not a real Biblical Christianity at all and the church, well it just gets wheeled out at special occasions, you know state weddings or funerals. It’s more akin to a historical re-enactment at Warwick Castle than it is to a powerful authority. It’s a bit of a toothless lion really; it can growl a lot but it’s not really any threat to anyone.

[03:24] So what should the church be? Should it be dominating politics? Should it be an authority within a country or should spirituality – Christianity – be only within the realm of the individual where people have a freedom to worship as they wish as long as they keep themselves to themselves? People could do whatever they want as long as they’re not harming anyone.

[04:12] In Peter’s – one of the disciples of Jesus – in Peter’s letter to the early church he told those early Christians who were struggling to find their place within a state run by the Roman emperor, he told them to live good and peaceable lives, to obey the authorities, to not cause any problems, not give any reason to people to look down on them or find a problem with them, and probably for many Christians that seems like a great idea. Let’s just keep ourselves to ourselves, let’s just do our thing, let’s just worship in our churches, let’s close our doors, let’s close our homes to the horrible world out there and let’s just worship God. Let’s just try and be the best person that we can be.

[04:54] If you read the gospels, if you look at the likes of Jesus which is who we we as Christians are supposed to be like you see a very very different kind of life. In fact, Jesus had less issue with the authorities in terms of the Romans than he did with the religious authorities – those people, God’s people, who were supposed to be setting an example, who were supposed to be a light.

[05:26] Jesus told his followers to be salt and light. They’re supposed to bring healing, they’re supposed to stand out, supposed to stand up, supposed to make a difference because God’s people, the nation of Israel, were called to be a blessing to all people: a shining example of what it means to be a human, what it means to live under God’s rule. They were supposed to stand up for justice, supposed to bring freedom to the prisoners, to protect the rights of the vulnerable and, as followers of Jesus Christ, that’s what we should be. As the church of the body of Christ that’s what we should be doing.

[06:10] It’s not about our rights, it’s not about what we can and can’t do. A lot of issues being raised at the moment, that churches have been shut during lockdown and we get quite uppity about our right to worship, our right to practice our religion, but actually Jesus was not about our rights, he was about the rights of others, those people who quite easily be pushed aside by stronger people by the authorities.

[06:44] See the UK organization ‘Christians in Politics’ their vision is to seek positive relational political engagements. They want to engage with the political sphere in order to see justice at the top of the agenda, to raise issues of fairness. It’s not so much about morality which unfortunately the church has been consumed with for many years; it’s about people being treated as images of our heavenly Father, of people getting what is right and just and fair, being treated in the right way. It’s about elimination of poverty, it’s about freedom for those that are held captive by abusive relationships or substance abuse or addictions of any kind.

[07:55] The church is there, not for its members, but for the people in our community, the people that need a voice and need help and maybe we need to have a position of authority and power in order to bring about that change, I don’t know. I don’t know what the answer is; perhaps as a church we need to find out who Jesus is calling us to be rather than being overly concerned about influence and power and our rights to do religion in whatever way we choose.

[1] YouTube link: Do Church and Politics Mix?
Bible references: 1 Peter ch 2 v13-14

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The River Of Life

[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 08/Nov/2020]

One of my favourite Old Testament passages is the description of the River of Life flowing from the temple (Ezekiel 47 v 1-12). The river flowed out from the temple towards the East. After 1,000 cubits (around a quarter of a mile) it was ankle deep; after another 1,000 cubits it was knee deep; after another 1,000 cubits it was up to the waist and finally after another 1,000 cubits it was deep enough to swim in –a great river no-one could cross.

Centuries after this prophecy Jesus said: “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. (John 7 v 38,39).

I do not like cold water and when on holiday with David I watch him jump straight into the pool, while I lower myself into it very slowly. Getting from ankle deep to knee deep is not too bad, but it takes me much longer to get up to my waist and the hard-est part of all is getting the water past my heart and up to my neck. Yet all the time I am hesitating and shivering, I am unable to enjoy the pool. It is only once I am in it up to my neck that I can start to swim and get warm.

All too often we are like that with the Holy Spirit, content to get our feet wet, perhaps even wade in up to our waists, but too frightened to let him take control of our hearts and our lives. I have often held back through fear, but I do know that on those occasions when I have been able to take a leap of faith and trust God, I have never regretted it.

Psalm 34 v 8 says “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.”

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One for the Guys

[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during November 2020]

What can be said about the 5th November which has not been said so many times already? This date, in English culture at least, has become linked with the name Guy and it is probably inevitable that our attention will be focussed on those who carry that name[1].

Leaving aside the fictional French food fanatic, Guy de Michelin, we might think of Guy de Maupassant, the 19th century French writer of very popular short stories. His writings made him rich and he was also known for his quotations, one of which was “It is the lives we encounter that make life worth living.” Can we, as members of a church congregation, echo that thought? Especially at a time of separation, it is our friendships and fellowship that help us to encourage each other. Ultimately, of course, it is the life of Christ that makes our lives worth living.

Thomas Guy was born into humble circumstances in London in 1644. In due course he became a bookseller, initially importing Bibles from Holland and later producing Bibles under contract to the University of Oxford. Did his familiarity with the Bible extend to valuing its contents or was it for him just a commercial opportunity? To what extent do we recognise any value in the Bible as God’s word or is it just one of those books on a shelf somewhere?

Later Thomas Guy became a benefactor of St Thomas’s Hospital and then a founder of Guy’s Hospital. What motivated his generosity? Maybe he had read the sermon on the mount where Jesus said:

“ let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” [Matthew 5:16]

‘Good works’ will not get us into heaven; rather, it is our confidence about heaven that encourages us to do good works whilst we wait.

This coming weekend includes the time of national remembrance, when we think of those who have given their lives in the service of their country. One of those was Guy Gibson, leader of the RAF Dambusters squadron during World War II. He was later killed in action.

Are you in active service on the Lord’s side? Do your good works say more about you than about Him? How will you be remembered?

[1] See also Whose Guy are You?, November 2018

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