Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, August 2019]

Why do you read the Bible? For some, this is an irrelevant question, as it is not something they do. For others who read the Bible though, it is, I think, an important question.

For me, the reason changed at different points in my life. When I was in secondary school, it was because I needed to read it to pass my GCSE equivalent in Religious Knowledge. In University, I hardly ever picked the Bible up. Just after that, when I became a Christian, I read it to understand more about this faith I now professed. Not long after, I read it because it seemed to be my ‘duty’ to do so (as the song says – ‘read your Bible, pray every day’).

More recently, it has been more likely to happen when I need to prepare something for a sermon. Now and then however, I have picked the Bible up just to ‘hear’ what it says, to understand more about Christ and about people who lived in Old and New Testament times. I have learnt more each time I have read the Bible, but I think I have felt blessed the most when it was not for a deadline or an exam, but rather, those times when I just wanted to know more about God, more about Christ.

CH Spurgeon said:

“Knowledge (of Christ) opens the door, and then through that door we see our Saviour. Or, to use another analogy, knowledge paints the portrait of Jesus, and when we see that portrait then we love Him, we cannot love a Christ whom we do not know, at least, in some degree. If we know but little of the excellences of Jesus, what He has done for us, and what He is doing now, we cannot love Him much; but the more we know Him, the more we shall love Him. Knowledge also strengthens hope. How can we hope for a thing if we do not know of its existence? Hope may be the telescope, but till we receive instruction, our ignorance stands in the front of the glass, and we can see nothing whatever; knowledge removes the interposing object, and when we look through the bright optic glass we discern the glory to be revealed, and anticipate it with joyous confidence. How important, then, is it that we should grow not only in grace, but in the ‘knowledge’ of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”

It is important to move from knowing about Christ, to knowing Christ. Reading the Bible with this as our aim is one of the main ways that this happens. He moves from our minds into our hearts, so that the knowledge of Christ abounds not just in our heads, but in our hearts.

Our words will then make an impact in the lives of others, for “what you say flows from what is in your heart” (Luke 6: 45, New Living Translation).

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[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, July 2019]

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path (Ps 119:105)

Have you ever read a novel and looked first at the last page to see how it ends. I have known some readers who do just that. However, I must confess that I have a book that I start at the last page and read towards the front .It is the Hebrew “Authorised Daily Prayer Book” and is printed in the Jewish manner, from the back to the front. Sadly I cannot read Hebrew but the book has a parallel English translation by Sir Jonathan Sacks who was this country’s Chief Rabbi until his retirement.

Reading the Jewish prayers and the commentary included in the book has given me insight into how the Jewish beliefs as fulfilled by our Saviour Jesus are the foundation of our own Christian faith. Many of the prayers are based on what we read in the Bible’s Old Testament, and especially the book of Psalms. In the Psalms, loved by many Christians, we are led to praise the creator God, find answers to our daily problems, question God as to why evil things go on in the world and in our lives today, and learn prophecies about the first coming of Jesus already fulfilled and those about His second coming that are still to happen.

The evangelist, Billy Graham, recommended reading five Psalms a day in order to read through the book in a month to help us through our daily life. The only problem is that some Psalms are much longer than others, and so reading all 176 verses of Psalm 119 together with four other Psalms on the same day takes a long time. For my own use I worked out a reading plan based on the number of verses in each Psalm so that I read about the same each day – some days less than five Psalms and other days more than five. Psalm 119, for example, is read on its own over two days.

Can I encourage you to follow Billy Graham’s advice and read the Psalms in a month? By using the following plan it is much easier, and can be used as a basis for your prayers.

The Psalms: daily readings for one month

 
PS.If you really want to see how the Bible ends, turn to the back and read Revelation 21 and 22. It really does have a happy ending for those of us who believe in Jesus as our Saviour and Lord.

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[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, June 2019]

It Is Important To Remember, Lest We Forget

It is worth asking ourselves why we come to church whenever we do. Some of us, perhaps because we are so busy with various tasks, have forgotten and need to remember that it is about meeting with Christ in the company of others. For some, this truth will need to be realised for the first time.

Christian author Max Lucado writes about a king who had many wives. Of all his wives, he loved one the most. When she died, he grieved deeply. He resolved to honour her by constructing a temple that would serve as her tomb. Her coffin was placed in the centre of a large piece of land and construction of the temple began around it. No expense would be spared to make her final resting place magnificent. As the weeks turned into months however, the king’s grief was eclipsed by his passion for the project. He no longer mourned her absence. The construction consumed him. One day while walking round the site, his leg bumped against a wooden box. The king’s son brushed the dust off his leg and asked a worker to throw the box out. The king didn’t know that he had ordered the disposal of the coffin – now forgotten – hidden beneath layers of dust and time. The one the temple was intended to honour was forgotten.

Max Lucado asks if this is difficult to believe, then asks us to think about ourselves in church. Some remember the one who was slain. They are wide eyed and expectant, like children watching the unwrapping of a gift. Some only see the temple. Their eyes wander, their feet shuffle, their mouths open – not to sing, but to yawn… all temples lose their lustre after a while. The temple gazers don’t mean to be bored. They love the church, they come every week. They don’t mean to grow stale, but something is missing. The One they once planned to honour hasn’t been seen in a while. But those who have seen him can’t seem to forget him. They find him, often in spite of the temple rather than because of it. They brush the dust away and stand ever impressed before his tomb – his empty tomb.

The temple builders and Saviour seekers. You’ll find them both in the same church, on the same pew – at times, even in the same suit. One sees the structure and says, “What a great church.” The other sees the Saviour and says “What a great Christ!” Which do you see?

It is important not to lose sight of Christ in all that we do, so once you’ve started to put Christ back at the centre of church, don’t stop there. Take this attitude, this awareness with you to work, take it home with you, take it to the shops with you, take it everywhere you go. Christ won’t barge in, but he is waiting patiently to be recognised, to be invited in.

“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.” (Revelation 3:20)

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[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, May 2019]

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God (Psalm 46:4)

Wading through cold water in a narrow tunnel 60 feet underground in single file with only torchlight to lighten the darkness does not seem like an enjoyable holiday activity. This happened to me on a holiday in Israel, but it helped that the young lady behind me was laughing and joking most of the time. The real enjoyment was knowing that I was in a place built over 2,500 years ago which we can read about in the Bible.

The tunnel was built by King Hezekiah to bring a secure water supply into the city of Jerusalem, which was about to be besieged by the king of Assyria. “As for the other events of Hezekiah’s reign, all his achievements and how he made the pool and the tunnel by which he brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?” (2 Kings 20:20) It was built by men starting at opposite ends as they cut through solid rock until they met in the middle. An inscription commemorating this event was found where they met and is now in a museum. The water was collected in the Pool of Siloam where we came out of the tunnel and where, hundreds of years after it was built, Jesus sent the blind man to wash his eyes so that he could see. It is so encouraging to see the truths of the Bible, and even today the water forms part of the supply for the city of Jerusalem.

Water is so necessary for life, but living water is even more necessary for eternal life and it is why Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.” (John 7:37) When we come to Jesus to cleanse us from all we have done wrong in our lives we drink of His living water, the Holy Spirit, and this gives us a new and unending life with Him. But the Holy Spirit living in us and through us also gives us the gifts and the power to serve Him in our daily and church life. As Jesus went on to say as we read in John 7:38, “Whoever believes in me, as scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

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[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 05/May/2019]

Last month saw the 35th anniversary of my first visit to Horley Baptist Church. My employer moved me from Warwick to Epsom, and Horley turned out to have the only house that I could afford. Those who befriended me at that time will recall that the house required a ‘certain degree of renovation’ but that was something that I could change. Change is an antidote to stagnation. Horley has changed – you can no longer buy tyres at the Jack Firman or park with impunity on the High Street. Horley Baptist has changed – the manse and the church building have changed, pastors and leadership have changed, the style of music has changed, the demographic of the congregation has changed.

Change has its downsides. We can all think of examples when we would have preferred not to change.

• Change is not always beneficial
• Change does not always last
• Change is not always welcome
• Change does not always satisfy

 
We often speak of a God who never changes. If change is necessary for progress what do we make of a God whose last acclaimed visit was over 20 centuries ago? Does this mean that He is out of date, irrelevant or even obsolete? Is God anti-change?

Consider these words from Daniel chapter 2:
He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. The benefits of God’s changes are always long-lasting and for our good but whether they are welcome and satisfying is up to us.

This period of 35 years represents more than half of my life (so far) and despite the changes HBC has been an example of stability in a life where much else has changed. Henry Lyte also valued the stability of his faith when he wrote these well-known words:
Change and decay in all around I see
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.
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