Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during March 2022]

I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound;
Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us ^[1].

For all of my life to date there have been wars and rumours of wars, but they have been at a safe distance. Insurrections and violent unrest has been sufficiently far away to be simply items of news and perhaps prayer; even the troubles in Northern Ireland were, for the most part, over the water. Now I am sitting just 15 miles from a country that is fighting for its survival and knowing that we too could become a target if a single man decided that would help achieve his ambitions.

Throughout history people have lived with the threat of war, whether declared or implied, and our own times are no exception. Human attempts to bring peace usually have limited success and are often temporary. Where is the Prince of Peace when you need him?

In his discourse on times and seasons the writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us that there is

a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace ^[2].

Does this mean that war is part of God’s plan? Surely that does not fit with our preferred image of him but we have to recognise that there have been times when he has allowed strife to illustrate the consequences of mankind’s inherent sinfulness. Nevertheless, that does not imply that the victims of aggression are any worse sinners than others; we all have sinned and have fallen short of God’s requirements.

Where is the Prince of Peace when you need him? Are we not his representatives? Sometimes it is necessary for the strong to make sacrifices in order to help those who are weaker. What sacrifices are we willing to make? There may well be occasions to use force to resist aggression but we claim that prayer is the most powerful weapon in our arsenal; are you ‘weapons-trained’, are you willing to use it?

In Exodus 17 we see Joshua leading the people of God in a fight against an aggressing force. As long as Moses held up his arms in an attitude of prayer, Joshua’s army prevailed; when the prayer lapsed the advantage went to the enemy. Last Sunday a more contemporary Joshua asked us to pray to God to intervene in the situation developing in eastern Europe. Subsequent events have emphasised the urgency of that call.

A final thought. In first-century Damascus the early Christians were fearing the arrival of Saul, a man who believed that his violent actions were justified. Who would have thought that their deliverance would come through the conversion of that same man? Can God do the same now?

[1]: Habakkuk 3 v16
[2]: Eccesiates 3 v8.

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Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
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[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during May 2022]

Have you ever gazed up into the heavens on a clear night and marvelled at the extensive array of lights? How wonderful it appears, myriads of stars in faraway galaxies sending beams of light directly to you. Meteorites, satellites and aircraft all contribute to the spectacle of heavenly lights. But all may not be as it seems. A recent report suggested that there might soon be so much discarded space debris floating around that it becomes too dangerous for humans to continue to venture into space.

Can you recall setting out for a quiet walk in an area of natural beauty? You hear the babbling brook and the birds are singing but as you look down you see that other people have been here before you. The evidence suggests that the maxim about leaving only footprints has not been heeded. It all started when Adam and Eve discarded a pile of fig leaves on their way out of the garden of Eden.

Of course, we are talking rubbish, but we are in good company. The apostle Paul was also accused of talking rubbish. He was explaining his Damascus Road experience to king Agrippa, with whom he shared a cultural heritage, when his discourse was interrupted by the Roman governor who was probably struggling to understand the relevance of Paul’s account. He dismissed Paul’s words as spurious rubbish resulting from Paul’s over-developed intellect^[1].

To what extent are we, too, liable to dismiss as rubbish those things that people tell us and we don’t understand, especially if matters are complicated by cultural differences?

Paul wrote extensively about many aspects of Christian behaviour but, like the other New Testament authors, he was writing as a man of his time. Paul’s letters were composed in a different age and cultural context, and we might argue that times have moved on. To what extent are we tempted to dismiss as irrelevant those passages of scripture which seem to be pertinent only to a different time and culture?

It is a small step from discarding people’s words to discarding the people themselves. Both in our secular society and in our community of faith we have people who represent different backgrounds, different understandings, different ambitions. The extent of the diversity is such that everyone is unique; no one can make a legitimate claim for superiority. That is the way God loves us and God rejects no one.

I am reminded of a Sunday School chorus from many years ago:

Red and yellow, black and white,
All are precious in his sight,
Jesus loves the people of the world.

The words may be of a different era but the sentiment is eternal.

[1]: Acts 26 v24.

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Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during February 2022]

During a recent sermon, Pastor Martin quoted an old African proverb:

‘It takes a village to raise a child’

That invokes an image from a by-gone age: a man, his wives (plural), their collective children, aunts, uncles grandparents, neighbours; probably all related to a greater or lesser degree. And all working together to raise the educate the younger generation in the ways in which their society functions. Actually, for me, that is not so much an image as a memory; part of my formative years were spent in a country where such arrangements were common.

Compare that with our modern, western 2+2·4 (ideal?) family where ‘village’ is largely irrelevant, relatives are best kept at a distance most of the time and where to comment on a man’s parenting abilities is only slightly less impertinent than criticising his driving skills.

Are there any spiritual lessons that can be drawn from these two scenarios? Despite their differences, they are both examples of households and throughout the Biblical narrative we see that God deals with and through households. In New Testament we see the household of Lidia as just one example of those households that hosted the meetings of the local Christian community. In Old Testament times, too, we see that Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Rahab and others all moved their households in accordance with God’s instructions; Moses even took a whole nation along with him.

How does our closely-knit western family unit react when faced with the more diverse composition of a church? We believe that we are saved as individuals; how does this affect our endeavours to worship as a community? Are there brothers and sisters in the congregation from whom we prefer to keep our distance or move away? Does the prospect of spending eternity with “them” fill you with dismay? Don’t worry; in heaven they will all be changed – and so will you!

As individuals, we have easy access to the Bible and numerous expositions and commentaries; we can make do without having someone else to interpret God’s word for us. Beyond that, and for a variety of reasons, there are those who cannot access conventional church services. COVID restrictions have encouraged churches to explore the opportunities offered by developments in communications technology. The potential embarrassment of personal witness can be mitigated through the interface of a keyboard. Sermons are no longer addressed to, and forgotten by, a single congregation.

This is obviously a major divergence from the model demonstrated by the churches of New Testament times. Those churches had a greater sense of immediacy that Jesus could be coming back soon, so ordered themselves accordingly. We are 2,000 years closer to the Second Coming yet we have, largely, relegated it to a theoretical possibility.

God is working his purpose out as year succeeds to year;
God is working his purpose out and the time is drawing near;
Nearer and nearer draws the time, the time that shall surely be:
When the earth shall be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea. ^[1]

Are you ready to get your feet wet?

[1]: Arthur Campbell Ainger (1894), after Habbakuk ch 2 v14.

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Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 20/February/2022]

A few weeks ago I asked God “What message do you have for the Connect in Faith group?” and immediately I felt him say “Tell my people I love them”. This month we have been looking at different aspects of God’s love for us.

1. Like a mother, he feels our pains and pleasures as if they are his own. Jesus said in Matthew 25 v 40: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine you did for me”. We tend to think of this verse in terms of us doing good to others, but it also means that when someone is kind to us, they are being kind to Jesus, as he is so intimately involved with us that our pains and pleasures are his.

The bond Jesus has with us is even stronger than the bond between mother and child. It says in Isaiah 49 v 15, 16: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will never forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands”.

2. Jesus rejoices over us as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride Isaiah 62 v 5 says “As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you”. Ephesians 5 v 25 says “Husbands love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her”.

3. Jesus loves us like a father who would go to any lengths, even risking or sacrificing his life, to save his child. Romans 5 v 8 says: “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”.

4. Like a mother who forgets her labour pains when she sees her child and says “You are worth it”, Jesus says that we are worth all the pain He went through to give us our second birth. Jesus said in John 16 v 21: “A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world”.

Hebrews 12 v 2 says: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus … who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”.

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Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 13/February/2022]

Recently a friend at Thursday Group said that she didn’t feel that she was doing anything to serve the Lord; especially when she thought about what other Christians were doing because they were more able and gifted than her. I sympathised with her feeling this way, but I shared with her the many things she did for the Lord that others wouldn’t notice.

The parable of the talents that Jesus told came into my mind [Matt. 25:14-30], and I said how it was important that we use the talents we are given by Jesus even if we feel they are little compared with others, which she found helpful.

It may be in the parable that the servant with one talent thought it wasn’t worth using it because the others had so many more talents to use, and so he buried his talent – he just didn’t use it.

I thought afterwards that this was emphasised by the true story that Jesus told about how He watched people giving large sums of money for God’s work in the temple. He then saw a poor widow insignificantly give two small coins as her gift, following which He said a most amazing thing.

“I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” [Luke 21:3-5]

Jesus wasn’t saying that the rich people were wrong to give what they did, but that the widow gave much more because it was all that she had. This is a challenge to each one of us, because we may feel that we can’t do anything compared with what we see other friends doing in the church. But that’s not true. We must take actions for the Lord in the church and in the world around us to the utmost of our abilities strengthened by His Holy Spirit. If we don’t do this we are burying our talents.

Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.