Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, May 2017]

“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation — if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.” Colossians 1: 21-23

Even when I look at the part of the text which seems to be conditional “if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel”, I can take comfort into some other words from Paul, which state that it is God who works in us to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose (Philippians 2:13). Also we are reminded by Zechariah that it is “’Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.” Zechariah 4:6

So, if I were to keep a record on how well I keep to God’s promises in the coming week, I can predict, with better certainty than the political pundits, that I am likely to fall short of the mark. It won’t be the first time that’s happened either.

When Guy Partridge was preaching on Colossians 1 last week, he said we should read the words and be exceedingly joyful. I had never thought of the words in this light before. For someone who is more likely to fall short of the mark than hit it every day of his life, it leaves me in awe of a God who cared so much that I would miss out on eternity with Him, that He chose to pay the price for my sin, clear the slate and reconcile me to Him.

So, on that day as the song goes, “when the saints go marching in, Oh Lord I want to be in that number, when the saints go marching in”. And when I march in by His grace, and I behold his glory, rather than cower in fear, the words of this song will prove true:

Boldly I approach your throne,
Blameless now I’m running home
By your blood I come,
Welcomed as your own,
Into the arms of majesty

Let these words be a source of joy and peace as you face the week ahead.
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Colossians 1: 20-21.

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[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 17/Apr/2017]

I hope that Neil Robinson doesn’t mind me carrying on from his article last week as I didn’t get any inspiration for this week’s article until I read his words about the “hows” of creation. I know that many Christians believe that God made the universe and the earth in seven literal days, which is fine. But that for me raises problems that I can’t go into now. Like Neil, I concentrate on “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”.

Those words at the beginning of Genesis, I believe describe the whole of God’s creative acts from, dare I say it, the Big Bang and His creation of the universe “out of nothing”, to His later formation of the earth. He then focuses His attention on the earth which at that stage was formless, empty and covered in darkness, so that the following six “days” plus one symbolical day of rest was not a description of the whole of the creation by God but the preparation of the earth for the ultimate creation of us in God’s image. There are a number of suggestions put forward for the “days”. I prefer the suggestion by Professor Wiseman that the “days” were a series of dreams or visions received by the writer of Genesis between the “evening and the morning” of each day.

I can only consider two of the days or dreams which are the first and fourth days. Scientists have suggested that the earth was originally covered by a dense atmosphere, which for us may account for the darkness over the earth. Then over the ages, the first day, the atmosphere thinned in response to God’s command “Let there be light”. The light filtered through the thinning atmosphere so that day and night became apparent although the source of the light was not seen. If we skip to the fourth day we find that source. “Let there be lights”. The atmosphere thinned even more so that the sun, and ultimately the moon and stars became visible. They were not created on the fourth day but had been there all the time as part of God’s creation in Genesis 1:1. It’s just that they now came into view. If so, that explains why there was light on the first day as the light of the sun, otherwise unseen, shone through the darkness.

Then following the creation of man on the sixth day He prepared a paradise in Genesis 2, the Garden of Eden, for us to live in. It’s sad that we lost our home there by our disobedience to the One who created it for us. Praise Him that through the death and resurrection of Jesus, and as we have faith in His forgiveness, we shall have a new home in paradise in the new heaven and earth of Revelation 21 and 22. The creations of Genesis and Revelation are for us the beginning and the end.

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[This Reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 19/Mar/2017]

From my terrace at home I can often see flocks of sheep grazing on the surrounding hills. Throughout summer and autumn they stay there but during the winter and spring they are bought into the village for overnight shelter. Each morning they are taken out again to the fields. Does this suggest an idyllic rural scene in which the sheep follow the shepherd’s voice as he leads them out to find pasture?

Not exactly! The shepherd and his dogs encourage the sheep to move along, but not by calling them from the front. Collectively, the flock knows where it is going; it has done this trip many times and indeed one of the local flocks is actually led by a couple of old goats – perhaps some of us feel that we can identify with that!

We do not have the lion and the bear which honed David barJesse’s skills but the Romanian shepherd has a similar role – that of protecting the flock from danger. In this case the main risk is from passing traffic on the journey to and from the fields; the shepherd walks behind the flock and, by looking ahead, he will be able to see any approaching danger. He can encourage any stragglers and will move alongside any sheep that he feels is threatened.

Is there a spiritual parallel? We hear the Good Shepherd calling us onward to the green pastures and still waters but how often do we wander along, thinking that we know the best way to get there, or perhaps content to follow our own equivalent of the goats? Take a moment to ponder again on these words from Psalm 25:
Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long (NKJV).

Thank God that His Spirit is with us, to encourage us when we fall behind, to redirect us when we turn aside and to defend us when trouble comes.
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[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, February 2017]

The last time I wrote one of these articles, it was titled ‘Perspective’. With all that is happening in the world – natural disasters, surprising changes on the political landscape, challenges the internet brings to raising our young ones…, it is understandable that one might feel uncertain at times of what to think and what to do.

Perhaps again, it is a question of approaching things from what we could term a Christian perspective. Andrae Crouch, renowned Gospel singer’s song ‘It won’t be long’ has these lyrics:

It won’t be long, when we’ll be leaving here,
It won’t be long, we’ll be going home,
Count the years as months, count the months as weeks,
And count the weeks as days, cause any day now,
We’ll be going home.

When Jesus was asked about the end-times, He talked about turmoil, chaos and anguish, but then told those listening to “Be careful not to let yourselves become occupied with too much feasting and drinking and with the worries of this life” (Luke 21:34).

We’ll soon be going home, but what should our thoughts and actions be while we’re still here? With regard to our thoughts, the Apostle Paul has some advice for us: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things” Philippians 4:8. So, as you go out into the week ahead, rather than worry about things, guard your thoughts, and choose to think on the things Paul recommends.

With regards to what we should be doing, Christ told us to go and make disciples of all men. Andrae Crouch has a few more words from one of his songs about a practical way to do this:

“Tell them, even if they don’t believe you
Just tell them, even if they don’t receive you
Oh, tell them for me, please, tell them for me
That I love them, and I came to let them know”

For the people that you will meet in the workplace, in the shops, on your travels, if – with all that’s going on – like you they feel uncertain about things, ask God for His grace to help you to tell them about Christ, that He loves them and that He came to let them know.

Lastly, for yourself, remember the words of Paul from the letter to the Philippians:
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” Philippians 4: 4-7.

Have a blessed week!

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[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, December 2016]

It’s that time of the year when before we know it, we’re so busy, we’ve forgotten what really matters.

David Jeremiah on Premier Christian Radio on Monday morning this week, was speaking about his early years in Christian Ministry. He said that he was so busy with getting his Ministry started and that his primary motivation was a raging desire to avoid failure. He visited homes every night of the week, made appointments to visit people daily, spent practically all his time at work, while his wife was raising their two young children. He described himself as the classic absentee father.

He was busy trying to shepherd his sheep scattered across two counties of Indiana and was too pre-occupied to notice the two little lambs under his own roof and his wife who needed his concern. His wife had a dilemma – he was doing God’s work. How could she fight against the Lord? He told her he was all that the ministry had and didn’t she understand that if he didn’t do the tasks he was doing, they wouldn’t get done?

He said his wife later asked if they could talk. She said “I want you to know that I will never again ask you about how you spend your time. I don’t know how to do that in the light of what you do. I’ve been praying about it and the Lord just told me this – You are the priest in this family David and someday you’ll have to give an account to God as to what you’ve done as the leader of our home. These children are your responsibility and I’m going to hold you responsible to make the right decisions, but I’m going to leave it up to you and God”.

For David Jeremiah, that was a wake-up call. He said he later dropped to his knees and said “God, you didn’t call me to this place to destroy my family for the sake of building a Church. There is no conflict in your will. I am a father first and if you will help me, by your grace, I’ll make my children a priority from this day on”.

This Christmas, I pray we all get wake-up calls that help us put things in perspective and prioritise correctly. We need to remember that spending our time with those who need us may be more important than the money we spend on them.

Importantly, we also need to remember that it does not make much sense to celebrate the season without remembering the reason for the season. Christmas doesn’t really make sense without Christ. Make time over Christmas to get to know him.

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[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 22/Nov/2016]

Last Sunday as I parked the car at church I looked through a window of the church and for some reason I saw Brian Gawn and Mark Zivilik dancing. Later when Elizabeth Bellingham was leading the service we sang “God is good” and she emphasised the line “I feel like dancing”. As we were singing a number of the congregation began dancing in time to the music.

This reminded me of a time when I spoke in a previous church about Peter receiving a vision of a sheet containing unclean animals coming down out of heaven from God when He wanted Peter to do something he felt unable to do. I jokingly suggested that if I saw a sheet containing a church congregation dancing in praise to God I would find it impossible to jump in and join them, as dancing is something I do not do. Some weeks later I was near the front of the church and as we were singing in praise of God I was filled with a deep worship of Him and began dancing. I was told afterwards by one of the music group that the faces of the people there were a picture as they watched me dancing.

There are times when the Lord challenges us to serve him in ways that we consider unable to do. Perhaps we feel that we do not have the ability, the time or the right gifts to serve Him in a particular way, whether helping regularly with young people, or with catering for a church meal, or providing lifts to those who need transport. If we don’t realise that God wants us to get involved in such ways then we miss out on the blessings that He has prepared for us. I remember a time when an appeal went out in that other church for help with Boys Brigade and I said to myself that was something I could not do. However, the captain made a personal request for me to join them as a leader, and I found myself doing things I had never done before that later led to me being involved with Girls Brigade as their Chaplain.

Is God challenging you to serve Him in a new way even though you feel unable to do it? If that is truly His will for you then by His Spirit He will give you the power to do it. Even Paul had to say, “It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God.” (2Cor 3:5 NLT)

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