Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 12/September/2021]

Back in February, I wrote this in my (ever-so-faithfully-kept!) journal:

“Jesus, please rid me of a default setting of shame and guilt. I want, need, to get up each morning and go to bed at night knowing that I am your son and that you are proud of me!” It’s forgetting THAT that leaves me feeling lonely, OUTSIDE! The Bible references were Hebrews 8:12 and 10:17; and Ezekiel 36:25-28.

Spinning around in my head for a few days has been Yahweh’s challenge to Isaiah in 1:18. God has just been listing in painful detail how his people have disappointed him. Now he asks Isaiah to stand before him, as in a courtroom, and attempt some kind of defence! ‘Come and reason with me, present your case!‘ Knowing there is no excuse, God himself says, ‘Though your sins are blood-red, they’ll be snow-white‘. HE WILL DO IT, NOT ME!

It’s my insistence that I must do better that’s the real problem! I AM ALREADY HIS SON. HE ALREADY HAS PUT MY FAILINGS BEHIND HIM ‘AS FAR AS THE EAST IS FROM THE WEST‘! (Psalm 103:12)

When will I learn to relax? Am I alone?

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[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during September 2021]

Twenty years ago I was in Trafalgar Square with the then Mayor of London and senior members of the management of the Ford Motor Company, along with a gaggle of international motoring journalists. We were attending the global launch of a new car – a two-seater fully electric urban runabout that was expected to have a major influence on city motoring. There were thirteen vehicles at the launch – who decided that 13 was an appropriate number? The cars had their 15 minutes of fame and we went back to our respective offices.

Then the world changed.

The date was the 11th September 2001. Two commercial airliners had been flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, a third hit the Pentagon and a fourth was brought down by its passengers before it could reach the White House.

It was, by all accounts, a bright clear day in the northeastern USA, no floods, no bush fires, no tornados; not the type of day when one would expect thousands of people to die. No doubt people were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, marrying and giving in marriage right up to the moment that the disaster struck.

Jesus used similar phrases to describe the situation immediately before the flood that killed everybody apart from Noah and his family …

People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. [Luke 17 v27 NIVUK]

… and then again referring to the destruction of Sodom:

It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. [ibid, v28]

Jesus was not just recollecting ancient history from the early chapters of the book of Genesis. He was talking about history-future; his-story, his own return in glory.

As I have demonstrated above, many of us can recall exactly where we were when we heard about ‘nine-eleven’. It is, perhaps, a sobering thought to realise that there is a generation growing up with no such memory; for them the events of that day are history.

How much more sobering, then, to realise that many generations have grown up thinking of Jesus as some character from history, if that. For them, the rumours of his return have been much exaggerated.

A few years later Ford decided that there was no future in the electric car and they discontinued its development. Are we at risk of writing off those who do not share our vision of the future? Jesus said that he will return when people are not expecting him – that, too, is an event that we should remember.

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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 September 2021]

Do you suffer from insomnia? You may not be sharing the nightmare journey of the Lord Chancellor in Gilbert & Sullivan’s ‘Iolanthe’ when he crosses the Channel in a bathing machine and cycles across Salisbury plain wearing only his shirt and socks. Nonetheless, sleep eludes you and a shortage of sheep to count leaves you tossing and turning.

Have you ever noticed how so many sermons seem to address the problem of insomnia? Admittedly, most of them were not intended to do so but listening to them may well send you to sleep. Don’t feel guilty – both you and the preacher are in good company; the Bible relates an incident when the apostle Paul preached for so long that one of the congregation dropped off.

Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third storey and was picked up dead. Acts 20 v9 [NIVUK].

Eutychus was restored to life and throughout church history his experience has been a salutary lesson to preacher and hearer alike. On the other hand, if the sermon doesn’t send you to sleep then maybe God has something to say to you as you listen. The stories of Joseph, Esther and Daniel all tell of God using insomnia to get his message across.

We are often at our most vulnerable when asleep. Adam lost a rib, Samson lost his hair, Sisera lost his life^[1]. (It’s interesting that a woman was involved in each case!) Nevertheless, sleep is a blessing from God; he who neither slumbers or sleeps will watch over us as we replenish our physical energy.

Another way to tackle insomnia is to try to pray. So often when we try to stay awake to pray the opposite happens, but once again you are in good company. Peter, James and John were asked to keep watch with Jesus during that final night in Gethsemane but they fell asleep.

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. ‘Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?’ he asked [Matthew 26 v40 NIVUK]

Recently, we were told of the advantages of getting up early to pray. If only we could. How many times have you got up early, closed your eyes to pray and … sweet dreams! Once again we have a Biblical example that we should aim to emulate:

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. [Mark 1 v35 NIVUK]

Learning to pray like this is not easy, it requires persistence and a re-assessment of our priorities. We might need to rearrange our evenings so that we are able to get sufficient sleep in advance. Maybe we need to put some measures in place so that we are forced to get up or to prevent us from being distracted. Here is some advice from Jesus:

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. [Matthew 6 v6 NIVUK]

Lord, teach us to pray.

[1] Genesis 2 v21-22, Judges 4 v21, Judges 16 v19.

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.

[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 05/September/2021]

Jesus loved to mix with those who enjoyed a good party..

Many folk saw what He was doing & scorned Him.

How can this man who has done so many amazing things in God’s name mix with the likes of republicans, tax gatherers & sinners?

Recently we had the privilege of going to a party with non church goers, they enjoyed a good time, they enjoyed a drink, talked freely about their fears, worries, anxiety, the past the present and everything in between. I felt if Jesus had been there (which He was) He would have loved it too.

My desire is for the Church to be like that too, putting away our Sunday smiles and loving the unlovely, saying it as it really is and coming alongside each other in our sorrows and our joys.

Because Jesus loves the ones we may not choose to mix with, we can ask Him to give us the love He has for them. Then we will see lives changed, healing, repentance and revival happen with those we least expect.

Let us go forward boldly to live and work for His praise and glory.

Every blessing,

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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.

[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during August 2021]

Most of us who have had an online presence for any length of time will have encountered spam of one form or another. For the benefit of those who have thus far avoided this online onslaught, spam is the practice of using unsolicited messages in an attempt to persuade the recipient to divulge personal details that can be used to the sender’s advantage. Typically, a spam message might take the form “Your bank account appears to have been compromised. Give me the log-in details so that I can check it for you.” It is not difficult to guess what happens next.

For those who are unwary, receiving such a message can be a shock and cause them to panic. Imagine, then, the effect of the message received by the Christians in first-century Damascus. “Saul of Tarsus is coming!” Saul was one of the foremost persecutors of Christians in that time. By his own admission:

“I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. … On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities.”
[Acts 26 v9-12 NIVUK]

There could be no doubt as to why Saul was coming: this man’s reputation preceded him. Christians were about to have a hard time. Did any of them try to flee? Where could they hide? No doubt many of them prayed for God’s protection. I suspect that very few of them expected that God’s protection would come in the form of Saul’s conversion: their principal antagonist would become their most prominent advocate.

In our own times, Christians in many places have received a similar message: “We know who you are, we know where you live”. Certainly, receiving such a message would be very worrying. Can they flee? Can they hide? We have been asked to pray for God’s protection for them as they face the prospect of oppression and possible martyrdom. It is our responsibility to do so but is that enough? Recall the words of Jesus in his sermon on the mount: “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”^[1] – those oppressors, too, are souls for whom Christ died.

God moves in mysterious ways; there is nothing too hard for him. After Saul’s conversion we read:

“Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.” [Acts 26 v31 NIVUK]

Do we have the courage and audacity to ask God to do the same in our own times?

[1]: Matthew ch5 v44.

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.

[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 29/August/2021]

One of the subjects that I most enjoy teaching at Spurgeon’s College is Christian Ethics. It’s always interesting to ask the students about what they think it means to live a ‘good life’. In today’s world we often feel under pressure to live ‘the good life’. Before I became a Christian, I thought that living a good life was just a matter of indulging myself with lots of material comforts and superficial pleasures. My aim was to live ‘a good life’, buying a nice house, a flashy car and possessing all the other ‘good’ things that life has to offer. I thought that if I had all these things, then I would be ‘successful’ and able to live ‘the good life’.

But for the Apostle Paul and the other New Testament writers, goodness has nothing to do with wealth, fame, glamour, power or material well-being. Goodness, from a biblical perspective, is about living according to the righteousness, purity and love of Jesus Christ. Since “only God is truly good” (Mark 10:18), it follows that it is impossible to live a good life without God, regardless of how many material comforts we might have.

As disciples of Christ at HBC our aim should always be to live a good life in the eyes of God. Essentially, what this means is to live according to the goodness and purity of Christ. Rather than indulging the flesh (Rom 13:14), we live according to the Spirit of God, who leads us into truth and righteousness.

In other words, the Holy Spirit leads us to Jesus, who lived not just a ‘good life’, but the ‘perfect life’ (2 Pet 2:2). We know that although “he faced all of the same testings we do” (Heb. 4:15), still he was entirely without sin.

Over the years I’ve realised that I don’t need a grand house or a flashy car in order to live “the good life”. That’s probably just as well for me, since I drive a Nissan Micra and I live in a small terraced house!!! But far more important when it comes to living a good life is following Jesus, dying to self and letting the Holy Spirit do His good work of transformation of my character.

So being a good person and living a ‘good life’ isn’t a matter of owning lots of stuff. Neither is it about conforming to other people’s expectations about how we should behave or what the world thinks we should spend our money on or devote our time to. Rather, living ‘the good life’ means submitting our whole lives to Jesus. When the watching world sees His goodness shining out of our lives, Jesus says that the people will praise our heavenly Father (Matt 5:16).

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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.