Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

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

Picture the scene – it’s Genesis chapter 2, Adam is alone in the Garden of Eden still waiting for Eve to show up. He has spent the day pottering around, marvelling at the wonderful variety of plants and animals that God has created. Now it’s the cool of the evening and Adam is pondering some of the big questions of the day like ‘if this garden is so perfect, why do the lemons taste sour?’ and ‘is it worth putting a fence around that big tree in the middle?’

It’s that time when the Lord God comes for his daily walk in the garden so Adam is not surprised to hear His voice. “Adam, I’ve got a job for you. You’ve been admiring all these animals that I have created but I need you to give them all names.”
“But Lord,” Adam responded, “I don’t know any Latin”.
“That’s ok Adam, English will be be fine. I’ll drop by tomorrow to see how you’re getting on.”

So Adam thinks to himself “I’ll go down beside the river where the animals come to drink. I’ll see them all there.” So he sets off along the path to the river. All of a sudden a large quadruped in Newcastle United kit runs across in front of him. “That’ll be a zebra crossing” thought Adam. Nested on a cliff was a small bird with a large beak who appeared to be short of breath. “Puffin” said Adam. Then he saw a large cat lying in the grass. It looked like a leopard that had changed its spots. “Cheetah!” cried Adam. At the river he saw an amphibian being pulled along by its mate. “Toad” Adam observed. In the shallows he saw a large bird with a long neck picking up things in its beak. “I think that’s a crane” decided Adam.

So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. (Genesis 2 v20)

Ok, a light-hearted look at a passage of scripture that is often dismissed as merely a sidenote in the story of creation. But what does it show us about being partners in God’s work? What does it teach us about our responsibilities towards the rest of creation? And, taking that one step further, what does it teach us about our relationships with those who, like us, are made in the image of God?

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

Ever wondered what God is like? Are all religions worshipping the same God? What sets Christianity a part is its belief that Jesus is God, so what does Jesus tell us about what God is like?

I don’t know if you ever wondered what God is like. Some people say “well, you know, all gods are the same, every religion is basically worshipping the same God”. Now, I know that is not the case because Christianity is the only faith – the only religion – that says that God is Jesus, that Jesus is God. Jesus actually said to his disciples “Look, if you want to know what God is like look at me. If you’ve seen me then you’ve seen the Father.” The writer of Hebrews said that “Jesus was the radiance of God’s glory, the exact representation of His being”. In other words, if you want to know what God is the like then look at Jesus.

^[01:04] Actually, the fact that we can say that says something really important about God. It tells us that God came down to earth. In John it says that he became flesh and he dwelt among us. In other words God moved into our neighbourhood. God wants to be with us, he’s not distant and aloof, he’s not off in space somewhere manipulating us like some cosmic chess player. No, God wants to be with us. It was never his intention for this separation to exist between him and his creation. God wants intimacy with us.

^[01:49] Also, what we find out is if you look at the Gospels you learn more about Jesus and therefore we learn more about God and we see God through Jesus has a real heart for the fringes of society, those that people want to reject, those who are the lowest of the low, those who are in poverty, those who maybe don’t meet societal norms, and God wants justice for them, He wants to lift up the down trodden, He wants to rescue those that need to be saved.

^[02:23] We know this because Jesus spent so much of his time with them and it wasn’t just preaching to them. He was friends with them, he went to their houses, he ate with them, and that’s another thing that Jesus tells us about God. Jesus enjoyed a good time, Jesus seems to spend most of his time going to parties or eating and meeting with people, socializing, making friends. In fact, one of the first miracles that Jesus did – in fact, it is the first miracle in John’s Gospel – is when Jesus was at a wedding in Cana he turned water into wine and solved an alcohol shortage problem. Jesus liked to party.

^[03:06] He had friends but he also made people feel uncomfortable because he challenged people, he challenged the status quo, he challenged people’s ways of thinking. He made them uncomfortable because he wanted them to think deeply about who they were and the world around them. He wanted them to change, he wanted them to get better but he did all with compassion. He did it all with love, he did it all with forgiveness because in Christ there was no condemnation, he wanted to see people grow and change and be a better human being.

^[03:47] Jesus also wept. Jesus wept with grieving friends, he wept over the death of a loved one, he wept over a city when he saw its falleness and its despair. Jesus died. Jesus was willing to die in the most cruel way possible, to be beaten and tortured, and to die on a cross for us so that we might be freed from those things that we are enslaved to and we might be freed from the curse of sin, so that we might be free to live, we might be free to flourish and we might be free to love God. But Jesus wasn’t defeated, he rose again, he defeated death, he defeated sin and he left us his spirit so that we might continue in his mission on earth.

^[04:55] That’s the real challenge. You know, if I believe in the God who was demonstrated and shown through Jesus then I have to take seriously the fact that Jesus wants to be shown and demonstrated through us. That just as Jesus said that he was a light of the world he also says that we too are the light of the world. We are there to be the radiance of God’s glory, we are there to reflect his likeness, to become more like him and that means I need to have Jesus’s heart for justice. I need to have Jesus’s heart for love and friendship and community, I need to have Jesus’s heart for those on the fringes of society, those that no one else loves. Those who are people that need justice, that need help, that need lifting up. Am I willing to be God’s representative here on earth? If this is what God is like then that should have a huge impact on who I am.

[1] YouTube link: What is God Like?
Bible references: John ch14 v9, Hebrews ch1 v3

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

We have in our garden about 30 different fruit trees – apples, apricots, cherries, pears and quinces, plus walnuts. The growing season started late this year but now we are seeing the various fruits starting to form. Some of our trees are growing on their natural root-stock, others are cultivated varieties grafted onto a wild root whilst others have had branches grafted into them as they have grown.

It had escaped my memory that the apostle Paul knew a thing or two about arboriculture. In his letter to the Romans, chapter 11, he speaks about how the gentiles have been grafted onto the root-stock of God’s relationship with the Israelites.

If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

Grafting is a painful experience for both parties to the process. The tree has be cut open to expose the sap, the life-blood, of the tree, then the incoming branch has to be made to fit the wound in the main stem. They are then bound together and the incoming branch starts to receive nourishment from its new parent.

Do you recognise the spiritual parallel? Christ’s body was cut, his life-blood exposed so that we could be joined with Him, to bear fruit for His kingdom. We become identified with Him. The process will not be painless, newly grafted branches need to be pruned to maximise their fruitfulness but the eventual outcome is beyond anything that we could achieve in our own strength.

Matthew Henry observed one significant variation from the normal horticultural practice. In the usual process, a branch from a good tree is grafted onto wild stock in order to improve the productivity of the natural plant. In the case of our salvation, the inferior branch is grafted into pure stock, to save the branch itself.

Have you been grafted into the Tree of Life?

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

There have been many recommendations for occupying oneself during lockdown and one of them was to try reading a new book. It was intended in a secular sense but it has a spiritual application too. This is the 109th reflection to be added to our online library and looking through the Bible passages that those reflections refer to has shown that Psalms, Matthew, Mark and John are the most popular sources but there is a group of Old Testament books that do not get a mention. Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah and Haggai have all been overlooked by our writers (so far). Do these Old Testament prophets have nothing to say to us today? Maybe we should take a look.

However, before we do, let’s keep in mind two guiding factors. In his second letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul reminded him that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” – that includes the words of these bygone prophets. Secondly, Jesus himself referred to the writings of the prophets, not least in his conversation on the road to Emmaus where “beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself”.

So, with that in mind, who are these guys?

• Hosea’s family difficulties were used to illustrate the unfaithfulness of God’s people.
• Joel made an appeal for repentance, echoed by Peter in Acts 2.
• Amos warned of complacency amongst the Israelites.
• Obadiah rebuked those who stood by and did not help the oppressed.
• Jonah had a whale of a time on a mission trip to Nineveh.
• Micah fought against injustice and corruption.
• Haggai called for the reconstruction of the temple in Jerusalem.

 
So, go and check them out. Perhaps, if this period of lock-down continues long enough, we might indeed be able to occupy ourselves with a ‘new’ book.

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[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 14/Jun/2020]

‘In times past and in diverse manners’ – this traditional quotation from the start of the Biblical letter to the Hebrews could be used to describe the reflections that I have had the pleasure of preparing during this time of social distancing. Meanwhile, in his mid-week musings, Martin has been talking about our attitudes to prayer. But now, without any further comment from either of us, let us listen to the words of Jesus Himself:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one

I have revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.

Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am.

My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.

Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

Amen

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[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 07/Jun/2020]

I was speaking to God about wanting to be surrendered and bold enough to share what he is saying to me. As I was praying, I saw a big electric table lamp. God showed me the different elements of the lamp – the socket that it is plugged into, the cable between the socket and the lamp, and the lamp itself. And then he showed me that, as we draw close to him, listening for what is on his heart for ourselves, our church, our world and different situations, we are like the table lamp. He is the power source (the socket in the picture) and we are the conduit between heaven and earth (the electric cable), through which the Holy Spirit moves as he fills us. As we receive from God, and then share that with others, so our light shines brightly (the table lamp in the picture). It’s a lovely big, bright lamp and it is needed to shine God’s heart around to others.

And then he showed me that for some, they are that lamp, but they have a dimmer switch on their lamp, which is preventing their lamp from shining. The dimmer switch represented all sorts of things – fear of what others may think, fear of looking silly, traditions that have told us to be quiet and reserved, a culture which shouts “it’s not the done thing”, and probably many other things that hold us back from being all God has made us to be.

I believe God is saying that he wants to remove those dimmer switches, that now is the time to shine, not to hide away, to ‘Rise Up’ and show who we are and whose we are. Whether it was because I was showering at the time, I don’t know (God often speaks to me then!), but I had a sense that God wants to shower us, to wash off all those fears and things that prevent us from being all that he designed us to be, those things that prevent our lamps from shining brightly.

This is not so that we can be seen, but so that God can be seen. An electric cable does not need to be seen to make the lamp shine brightly.

If this resonates at all with anyone, if there is a flicker of a tiny spark, then I believe God wants to fan that spark into a big flame. And we are to carry that flame for all to see – like those who carry the flame to open the Olympic Games. The flame is big, bright and held high. It is passed from one to another, to another, and so on. It brings light, it encourages each other, and cheers each one on to win the race, and it marks us out as God’s!

Matthew 5:14-16 says

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house.In the same way, let your light shine before others,that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Father, help us to give you those things that hold us back from being all that you made us for. Help us to shine Your light in us brightly, so that others will be encouraged, and You will be glorified. Amen.

God Bless!

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