Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

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

Why do we have names?
To answer that, try referring to someone you know without using their name. Some references are straight-forward – you might mention ‘the guy who starts the church service each week’ and most members of the congregation would know who you mean. However, how would you refer to a specific member of the congregation without using their name? You can image the confusion arising from ‘the man with the bad back wants a large-print Bible’.

We all have a name but names might not be unique so we resort to using alpha-numeric codes instead. Whether we are dealing with the bank, the health services or the tax office we all need to be able to quote an appropriate number. In some countries the ability to be able to quote your personal identity code on demand is an everyday experience. To some people this is an ominous portent of things to come; in the 1960s TV series ‘The Prisoner’ the character played by Patrick McGoohan rebelled against the system, declaring “I am not a number; I am a free man!!!”

Names can be misleading. The great green greasy Limpopo is no more green than the Danube is blue and I cannot recall the Red Sea actually being that colour. There was even a report recently of a politician arguing that because Greenland is so called it must once have been tropical.

Names can be descriptive. Mention the Great Barrier Reef or the Snowy Mountains and most people will have a fair idea of what to expect. We expect people with certain names to have particular characteristics; this is often based on previous experiences of other people with that name. So what does a person expect when someone calls themselves a Christian? Are you, as a Christian, reinforcing or diverging from that expectation?

Many ventures have been undertaken in the name of Christ, including some that we might think Christ would never have put his name to. How can we be sure that what we do is bringing honour to his name? In 1749 Charley Wesley wrote a hymn that offers some advice:

Forth in your name, O Lord, I go, my daily labour to pursue,
you only, Lord, resolved to know in all I think or speak or do.

Help me to bear your easy yoke, in ev’ry moment watch and pray,
and still to things eternal look and hasten to that glorious day.

It is a prayer, addressed to the Lord, committing to him our activities of the day and promising to focus on him in all our thoughts and words. Then it asks for help as we work for him, being alert and praying constantly, always aware of his coming kingdom and eagerly anticipating its eventual arrival.

Is that your prayer too?

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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 reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 25/July/2021]

We live in a very uncertain world and, if the past year or so has taught us anything, it’s that we never know what is around the corner! Did we ever envisage living through a pandemic? I know I didn’t – of that I am certain!

We have learned not to expect anything to necessarily go to plan, and the expression “Covid-permitting” has become part of our daily language. Is anything guaranteed anymore?!! Will things ever be like they used to be? Will we go back into lockdown, see our families this Christmas, go on that holiday? Questions, questions, questions –
UNCERTAINTY! And this in turn can lead on to fear, anxiety, panic, worry!

I stumbled across this devotional recently, which reminded me of the foundation on which I stand as a child of Jesus…

“The secret to true rest isn’t our activity – or lack of it – but our soul’s anchor. When we choose to relax and let go of all our worries, our faith anchors us to the goodness and sovereignty of God. He’s in charge, not us. The secret to rest is anchoring yourself to a foundation that never moves. Our lives change constantly, but God’s power, love, and sovereignty never change. He is the same now and forever. So today you can rest easy.” (Graig Groeschel).*

Does this mean I will no longer have uncertainties or will always know what the future holds? No, of course not. But I do know the One who holds all those uncertainties and my worries in His hands. He is with me always, He is in control, I can trust Him, He sees, He knows, He cares, He loves, He leads, He teaches, He was, He is, He will be. “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus” – as long as those words are always on my lips, my hand is in His, and my eyes look to Him, I can have certainty and peace.

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
(Psalm 20:7)

Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. (Hebrews 6:19)
SO….
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your
minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)

*Faith Scribbles (Instagram).

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 July 2021]

For those of mature years the question no doubt invokes memories of a certain programme for children broadcast on BBC Radio between 1950 and 1982. The catch-phase became so well-known that it was often copied or parodied in later productions as diverse as the Doctor Who series, various pop songs and even in a PlayStation game. Irrespective of your era or genre, are you sitting comfortably?

What image does comfort invoke? Were you one of those who listened with mother in a way that modern society no longer deems necessary? Perhaps you prefer the idea of cotton sheets on a freshly made bed or settling into a recliner chair beside a log fire on a winter evening. How about the experience of escaping from a car crash and resting on a stretcher in an ambulance, surrounded by caring hands? Comfort is not necessarily luxurious, it can also be simple relief from pain and anxiety.

Should you be sitting comfortably?
We have seen images of devastating flooding in western Europe, in parts of eastern Europe, in India, in Arizona; huge fires in Oregon and California, volcanic eruptions in Italy; rioting, social unrest and civil war in too many places to list. We may think ourselves at a comfortable distance from such events but is complacency justified?

We are not all rich, we do not have the resources to tackle these global problems but we all can have an influence locally. In chapter 16 of his gospel, Luke recorded a parable in which a rich man was reclining in comfort and had no concern for those in need. A poor man begging at his gate suffered a life of misery. It would have been no great sacrifice on the rich man’s part for them both to be comfortable, and the outcome of the story would have been so different.

Will you be sitting comfortably?
In last Sunday’s reflection, David told us about three travellers sitting comfortably on a train. He went on to explain how, for each of them, the comfort of the journey was more important than the destination.

To misquote William Shakespeare, ‘All the world’s a platform and all the men and women merely travellers’. We are travellers in life but we are not simply passengers along for the ride; we have a choice about our eventual destination. We can sit back and see where circumstances take us or we can make the decision to follow the route that God has planned for us.

A few centuries after Shakespeare, songwriters Gerry Goffin and Michael Masser wrote a popular song with the refrain:

Do you know where you’re going to?
Do you like the things that life is showing you
Where are you going to?
Do you know?

Are you comfortable with a mystery tour or do you prefer to have some confirmation of where you are going?

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus
[Ephesians 2:6 NIVUK]

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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 reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 18/July/2021]

Picture three people arriving at a train station. We’ll call them travellers A, B and C.

Traveller A walks up to the platform. He gets onto the train, takes a seat and settles himself. Another passenger walks up to him and asks, “excuse me, but do you know where this train is heading to?” “No, I don’t actually” he says, “it looked good from the outside, so I thought I’d hop on.”

Traveller B knows where he wants to get to. He arrives on the platform and the chap next to him asks, “Oh, it seems like we’re headed for the same place. Do you know whether this is the right platform?”. Traveller B looks at him and says, “Oh I don’t worry about that. I’m convinced that they all lead to the same destination, so it doesn’t matter which train I get on”.

Traveller C walks up to the station with a few other work colleagues. They are off on a weekend break to a holiday resort, sponsored by the company. Their boss has paid for the trip and given them all tickets. Traveller C doesn’t really have much time for his boss, but hey, it’s a free weekend, so here he is. He and his work colleagues get on board, enjoy the journey and get to their destination. As they start to go into the resort, the attendant asks him for his ticket. He says he doesn’t have one. The attendant says that she is sorry, but she can’t allow him in without a ticket. She says that she knows the company boss had got tickets for all the employees. He says he never had much time for his boss, so he didn’t bother taking the ticket. He said he didn’t need his boss’s charity, so he thought he’d make his own way and sort out a ticket when he got to the resort. She tells him that unfortunately, this won’t be possible. The tickets were exclusively for people attending this weekend, which is why his boss had made sure he got one for each of them.

Fictional characters, yes, but that’s the tale for many in our world today. We’ll call the train life’s journey and the destination heaven. For traveller A, it’s all about enjoying the journey, but not giving a thought to where he’s headed. Traveller B knows where he wants to get to, but is mistaken when he says that any train he gets on will get him there. He is great danger of getting on the wrong train and ending up in a completely different place to where he hoped to be. Traveller C knows which train to get and where it is headed but has refused to use the ticket purchased for him, thinking he can get in by his own means, but then finds he is not allowed to enter the resort.

Jesus cares about our journey. He knows that things aren’t always smooth, and reassures us that He will never leave us, nor forsake us. He also cares about the destination. When we get there, we will find that our own tickets are worthless. For us to be accepted into God’s presence at the end of our journey, we need the ticket Christ paid for. He is the way, the truth and the life and no one gets to God the father except through him.

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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.

[Transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube^[1], July 2021]

One day life is going fine, the next you haven’t a clue where you are or where you’re going. If that’s you then there is hope!

Do you feel lost in life? Maybe you’re struggling to see the way ahead. Well, I want to tell you now that there is someone there who wants to help you, wants to save you and wants to bring you home.

I was once on a trip to the Lake District with a friend who was celebrating his 40th birthday party and we decided to head up the mountain side for a nice walk during the day. It was lovely when we set off but when we got towards the top suddenly the weather changed and a mist descended on us. Whereas before we knew where we were going; it was familiar sights and landmarks, we knew the way ahead, when that mist descended on us we could no longer see anywhere beyond a few metres. We were completely lost.

Maybe you’re finding that life is like that; at one point you knew where you were going, everything was great but suddenly this mist has descended on you and you no longer have those familiar landmarks that help you and guide you through life. Maybe you’re in a downward spiral and you just can’t seem to get out of it; you’re just getting worse and worse.

It’s at these moments that often we’re tempted to try and help ourselves; to strategise a way out of this predicament, this desert place that we find ourselves in, and this is why self-help books are such a huge section in our bookshops. We try and work it out ourselves, we want to just buy that ‘get out of jail free’ card because that’s what it can feel like. It can feel like a prison.

What I want to tell you now is that you cannot rely on yourself to get yourself out of these situations. It’s just not that easy. So how can you get help? How can you be found, how can you be rescued?

Well, first of all you need friends, you need people you can trust around you who are willing to say the hard truths, who are willing to guide you and help you, pray for you. This is why, in Horley Baptist Church, home groups are so foundational to what we do because it’s those places where people are discipled and and you can help disciple others and guide them through life. You know, when they’re feeling lost, put them back on the straight and narrow. Maybe you need professional help; we can feel a little bit embarrassed about that in the UK – it’s an American thing – but sometimes you just need that professional help, someone to talk to, someone who will listen and help you.

Both of those things are great but I want to say, as a follower of Jesus Christ, that Jesus is the answer, that Jesus wants to help you, that Jesus has come to seek and save the lost. You see, Jesus, we’re told, was listening to the mumblings of some religious leaders who were a bit upset that Jesus spent so much time with those who they labelled sinners, the people on the fringe, the irreligious, the lost. In response, Jesus tells this story of a shepherd who has 100 sheep and one sheep goes missing; there’s still 99 left but he leaves those 99 sheep in open country and goes off to seek and find that lost sheep. When he finds that sheep he brings it home and he rejoices that that sheep that was lost was now found.

You see, Jesus wants to seek and find you; he wants to bring you home. No matter what you have done or haven’t done, Jesus is there for you. You might argue “Well, that’s all well and good” if you know it’s not your fault that you’re lost, but maybe for you you’re guilty, it’s your own fault you have got yourself in this mess, and I’ve certainly found myself in that position. Well a character in the Bible, in history, called king David, arguably the most popular most successful of the kings of Israel. There was a time where he had an affair with a married woman called Bathsheba, he gets her pregnant and he tries to cover it up and ultimately he has Bathsheba’s husband killed and then marries Bathsheba instead.

I’m guessing that probably whatever you’ve done isn’t going to be quite as bad as that, but David still cried out to God. You can read it in Psalm 69. He says I’m up to my neck in water, he cries out to God to help him and he admits his guilt, he admits his fault in all this but still he cried out to God. Maybe you need to humble yourself, you need to swallow your pride and say you know I am guilty but I need help. See, if you’re on a mountain side and you’ve broken your leg – yes, you can try and crawl home but ultimately you need mountain rescue to come and rescue you.

It’s the same in life; you know, yes, you can try and help yourself, try and drag yourself to home but ultimately you need Jesus to come and save you. No matter what you have done, Jesus is there for you. He wants to rescue, he wants to save you and he wants to bring you home. All you need to do is send up that flare and ask for help.

So, if you’re lost, have friends around that can help you, ask them for help, maybe seek professional help but ask Jesus because he is there for the lost, he is there for you and he wants to save you. So, send up that flare.

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[1] YouTube link: Are you lost?
Bible references: ~

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 July 2021]

Seated one day at the keyboard, I was weary and ill at ease,
And my fingers wandered idly over the noisy keys [1]

Then something on the screen caught my attention. It was one of those muggy evenings when the gnats and the midges conspire to negate the benefits of having the windows open. One such insect was slowly meandering across my screen. I tried moving the cursor to see if I could influence its movements; initially it seemed to have some effect but the creature soon realised that this arrow head moving around it was on a different level and was of no consequence.

Even if you have not had the dubious pleasure of commuting into a major city you will have seen the images of millions of people arriving at London’s mainline stations each morning. Every individual has their own objective but collectively they look like a swarm of insects. Does any of them think of God? Even if they do, would they dismiss him as being on a different level and his activities as being of no consequence? Are God’s attempts to influence their behaviour futile?

As we read through the Biblical narrative we see that God’s chosen means of communication with humans is through other humans. Prophets, priests and Godly leaders spoke his words in Old Testament times then apostles, evangelists and pastors continued this process. But God is not limited to working through these professionals; everybody who is willing can be a channel of God’s blessing to those around them.

The problem for us, as Christians, is that every one of those teeming millions is someone whom God loves, someone for whom Christ died. To what extent are we obliged to be concerned about these fellow creatures? The gospel writer Mark tells us that when Jesus saw the multitudes he had compassion on them. How can we replicate that compassion? Later Jesus quoted from the book of Deuteronomy:

For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’
Deuteronomy 15 v11 [NKJV]

The preceding verse gives an incentive for generosity:

You shall surely give to him, and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand. ibid v10 [NKJV]

Jesus commended the woman who gave a few mites and criticised the man who hoarded his millions. However, the poor are not just those who are hard-up financially. There are those who are poor in health, poor in relationships, poor in opportunity, poor in spirit; most significantly, there are those whose eternal prospects are poor.

Recently, we have been invited to think about volunteering; maybe helping with some of the church activities or getting involved with some activity with a wider social benefit. Our salvation is as a result of Christ’s death, not our good works, but perhaps there are opportunities for us to show our thankfulness. We know about tithing our income, what about tithing our time? Could those hours spent watching TV or browsing the web be put to better use?

God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. [Hebrews 6 v10 NIVUK]

[1] Adelaide Anne Proctor, altered. Set to music by Arthur Sullivan as ‘The Lost Chord’.

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.