Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

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

Capitalism is driven by consumerism, and it has made western countries rich and comfortable. But in our want-consumed lives, where the goal is to own more stuff, have we lost peace and replaced it with worry?

Anyone that knows me will know that I’m really into my cars. In fact, I need to keep buying a new car every few years. Once I’ve got a new car I’m already thinking about what the next car is going to be. There’s always something better out there. When I look at the car I can’t go for the previous model, I’ve got to have the latest model with all the latest gadgets, the things I’ve just got to have in order for it to be the perfect car.

Maybe for you it’s not cars but perhaps for you it’s other things that you just need to have: clothes, shoes, gym membership, all things that we’re persuaded by the media and by advertisers that we have to have in order to make our lives better. Now this is what is known as consumerism and it’s what drives our economy. We are a must a mass consumption economy. In fact, in post-war America in the 1950s the government encouraged people to buy things. Good Americans, good citizens were those that bought lots and lots of things because when people buy things that drives our our capitalist economy, it makes us a richer wealthier country and it works. That’s exactly what it does and in the west most of our countries are affluent because of capitalist and consumerism ideals.

But I’m wondering that in our pursuit of wealth and comfort that we’ve actually lost something. I mean, before capitalism we didn’t have individualism, at least not as we define it now, and we didn’t have careers except when it came to race horses and yet that’s what drives our economy. What drives capitalism and consumerism is the individual and our need to fund our comfortable lifestyles.

I find that actually what it does do is fill our lives with worry – worry that we are keeping up with the Joneses, worry that we’re missing out, worry that if we don’t buy that new pair of shoes or eat that particular food then our life isn’t going to be as good as it could be. So we form careers, we pursue the best life in the support and then we worry that we haven’t got enough money or maybe we’ve borrowed money to buy more stuff. We worry that we’re not going to be able to pay it back and then we worry that our children aren’t going to have enough stuff or have a good enough quality of living. Our life is just full of worry mounting up when really we’re wondering why we’re not enjoying the comfortable lifestyle that we have.

There’s another thing about worry: worry makes us introspective, it makes us more concerned about our own problems and our own issues, and because of that we fail to look up and see the difficulties that other people find themselves in and we fail to see the suffering of people around us. We’re less generous because if we’re generous we haven’t got as much to keep for ourselves, we haven’t got enough money to spend on ourselves. Philanthropy has reduced significantly in the last 100 years. The latest generation, they’re the generation least likely to give money to church because they need that money to fund their lifestyles, to remain comfortable and to have all those things that society says that they need to have.

Surely there’s a better way isn’t there? Is there a way to escape this sinkhole of worry in our lives? Is there a way to live our lives where we’re not consumed with what we have or haven’t got, where we’re not constantly worrying about the things that we’re missing out on? A way where we’re not in competition with other people and we’re not pushing ourselves, driving ourselves so we can have a better and more comfortable life. Surely there’s got to be a better way – is there?

Thank you so much for watching our midweek message. If you want to find out more about this, if you want to go a bit deeper, if you want to find out what the Bible has to say about worry and possessions then do join us for our Sunday service where Rob Bell will be talking to us about trust and simplicity, and what Jesus said about it and how he lived. So do join us this Sunday on our YouTube channel to find out more about that. ‘bye!

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[1] YouTube link: Does more stuff make a better life?
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.

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

How do you choose your friends? Who do you hang out with? Are you willing to step out of your normal comfort zone with regards to friends in order to break down divisive barriers?

Some people say that dogs can recognise their own breed; if you put a load of different dogs in a pen together they’ll end up grouping in their breed. Now I think that’s actually a bit of a myth and that wouldn’t really work with my dogs because they’re mixed breeds. But actually, that probably works with us. As humans we tend to be attracted to, drawn to, people who are like us, similar. As the saying goes “birds of a feather flock together” and those divisions can be all sorts of things, you know, type of football team that you support, the clothes you wear the music you listen to, but those divisions can be much bigger. I mean race, class, the country you live in.

^[01:14]Of course there’s always people that will push the boundaries a bit. People will move to other countries, try out different cultures but nine times out of ten – possibly more than that – people will stick with people that they know, places they know, places they feel comfortable with, people they feel comfortable with and can understand.

^[01:38]That’s fine to a certain extent but where it becomes a problem is when those divisions become a way of not only dividing us but causing us to look down on other people who aren’t like us. We draw away from them because we view them with suspicion, we view them with distrust, maybe even hate and anger, and that’s why – you know – last year in particular things came to a head with the differences and divisions in race in the States. Well actually we’re just as guilty of divisions in our own country and the things that divide us – politics, race, religion – can cause us to look down on others, to even hate others and to keep as far away from them as at all possible.

^[02:36]But if you’re a Christian that can cause some significant problems. It is a reality for the UK church because if you look at the UK church most of our UK churches are mono-cultural and they’re full of slightly older middle class people. Actually the group which is least attractive to church, the group that churches do the worst job of reaching out to, are white working class males and perhaps it’s because we tend to draw in people that are like us. That’s certainly part of the problem but actually also part of the problem is that we are drawn to people who are like us, that we’re not willing to step beyond the boundaries of our own culture, we’re not willing to make friends with people who aren’t like us, people of a different colour, people of a different religion, people of a different class. You see, who you eat with says a lot about who you are and also a lot about what you believe.

^[03:56]Jesus ate with people who were the outcasts of society. Jesus associated with people who were looked down on, they were the people that if you wanted influence, if you wanted power, if you wanted a good reputation you didn’t hang out with. I wonder how concerned we are about our reputation when we choose who it is that we hang out with, who we eat with. You see, if those early followers of Jesus had been really concerned about sticking with their own culture and not straying outside the boundaries of that then Christianity would never have taken off, it would have stayed within the boundaries of a Jewish sect.

^[04:43]But that’s not what happens and Christianity is now the largest religion in the world, crossing all cultures, all races, all countries so the challenge to us really as a UK church is “what are we doing to do the same, to be the same, to draw into our friendship circles as individuals as well as our church those people on the boundaries, those people who are different, those people who are left out?” We need to buck the trends that are so readily adhered to of distrust and hate.

Hey guys, thank you so much for watching this midweek message. Do remember that this message is really just an introduction to some of the ideas that we’re going to be exploring in our Sunday sermon so do tune in to watch that either at 10:30 on our service or you can watch it later online on our YouTube channel this week. This Sunday we have got Dr Chris Tilling who is a lecturer at the largest Anglican training college in the country and he’s going to be talking to us about good food and friendship as we continue our “living like Jesus” sermon series.
Cheers, ’bye
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[1] YouTube link: Who do You Eat With?
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.

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

There are lots of things that we would love to do if we only had the time. But is time really the issue?

I don’t know what your new year resolutions are. Maybe you don’t make them but I think probably all of us feel there’s some way in which we can improve our lives, ways in which we could make our lives better. Perhaps it’s doing something new, perhaps it’s giving something up. Maybe you look at other people’s lives and think “if I had their time then I’ll be able to do the things they do, all the things I want to do, my life would be so much better”.

^[00:46] Time’s a really big thing for us, isn’t it? If we had more time we’d be able to do those things that we find more important, wouldn’t we? You know, spend more time with a family, maybe learn that skill or that language – you know – go to the gym, take up painting. There’s so many things we would do if we had more time, wouldn’t we?

^[01:10] I remember when I was in my 20s a good friend of mine who was a keen bodybuilder was trying to persuade me to go to the gym more, to exercise, you know it’s good for you and I said to him “Yeah, I’ve tried it before, I tried loads of times but I just had to give up in the end because I just haven’t got the time” and what he said to me was “There’s always time, it’s just a matter of priorities” and that’s so true isn’t it? If going to the gym was really, really important to me I would find the time to go and it’s the same with following Jesus.

^[01:55] If you’re a Christian, if you’re a follower of Jesus, you know how important it is to pray more, to read your Bible more, and there’s loads of things that will help you to do that. There’s an app for that, there’s books, there’s podcasts, there’s all sorts of things you can use to deepen your relationship with God, to deepen your relationship with Jesus. But I’m just too busy, I haven’t got the time

^[02:25] Well actually, is that really true? because if I made my relationship with Jesus a priority then it’s guaranteed that I would find the time. I would make time, in fact I would prioritize Jesus and God and my relationship to such an extent that I would build my whole life around that relationship. I would put Jesus first and put everything else afterwards. See, whether or not we’ve got enough time isn’t really relevant in this conversation. “Ah, but no. Time is important; you don’t know what I have to do in my life, you don’t know the things I have to do, the responsibilities. I’m just too busy!”
Perhaps I’m just too busy to follow Jesus

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^[03:32] Well, welcome to 2021! Just to let you know, our midweek messages will be continuing and they will be linked to our sermon series so whatever you hear on Thursday, or whenever you listen to it, will be a link in some way to what will be preached upon on Sunday morning. So if you want to explore this topic a little bit further then do tune in on a Sunday morning, do go to our Youtube channel and find out what we have to say.
bye

[1] YouTube link: Am I Too Busy To Follow Jesus?
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.

[Transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube^[1], December 2020]

Jesus offered his disciples a peace that the world didn’t offer. So what’s the difference?

We have been, over this Advent period, looking at different subjects: the first week was hope, second week was faith, last week was joy and this week we’re going to be looking at peace. There’s these words that Jesus said to his disciples – found in John chapter 14 verse 27 – He said this:

“I give you peace; the kind of peace that only I can give isn’t like the peace that this world can give so don’t be worried or afraid”

I’m just wondering what is the difference between the peace that Jesus offers us and the peace that the world offers. See, the time that Jesus was ministering in the world about 2000 years ago things were relatively peaceful. At least that’s what it appeared like on the surface. It was the ‘Pax Romana’, the Roman peace where the Roman empire was at the at its height. It was its height in terms of its population and in terms of the territory that it covered. It’s a time where people could travel the empire freely in relative safety and yet it was a superficial peace because this peace was held in place by violence and war, where harsh and strict rules limited individual’s freedoms and stopped any whisper of unrest or dissent.

When you read between the lines of the gospels what you see bubbling below the surface is this discontent, this hate towards the Roman empire that held the Jewish people in bondage. In fact, it was only a few years later there was a Jewish Roman war which saw the destruction of Jewish towns and the displacement of the people and the destruction of the temple.

See, there’s a big difference between being a peacekeeper and being a peace maker. A peacekeeper will do its best to keep the peace, to keep the status quo. You know, it’s stepping on eggshells in an abusive relationship; it’s learning to keep your mouth shut when injustices are seen, it’s doing nothing when things are not as they should be, so as not to ruffle any feathers.

Yet Jesus called the children of God ‘peace makers’ not ‘peacekeepers’. What is the difference? You see, the Jewish word that would have been familiar to Jesus and his hearers that we translate as peace is ‘shalom’, and shalom is so much more than just the absence of conflict. It’s about wholeness, it’s about well-being, completeness, it’s about prosperity and welfare. It’s this idea of taking that which is broken and fixing it, making it whole, making it as it should be. This is the kind of peace makers that Jesus is calling his people to be and this is the kind of peacemaker that Jesus was.

Jesus is the light of the world that stepped down into a dark and broken world, a world that is not as it should be, so that through his life and ministry he hinted, he demonstrated a different kingdom, a different way of being, a different world – the kingdom of God. Through his death and resurrection he has set us on a pathway which leads to complete peace – shalom, completeness where the broken world is made whole again and that is fundamentally what the message of Advent, the message of Christmas, the message of Jesus is all about. There will come a time where things that were once broken, the broken world that we live in will be made whole again. It will be made as it should be, where the kingdom of God will come fully and there will be no more pain, no sickness, no more death, and God will take his throne and his proper place as Lord of all. That is what we have been promised and that is what we are waiting for.

Thank you so much for watching our Advent series. We’re going to take a break for a couple of weeks over the Christmas period and we’ll be coming back in 2021 which hopefully will be a much better year than 2020. Do subscribe to our YouTube channel, do share these videos with your friends and family through Facebook and look after yourself. Have a great Christmas and see you next year. ‘bye!

[1] YouTube link: Are you a Peace-Keeper or Peace-Maker?
Bible references: John ch 14 v27

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[Transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube^[1], December 2020]

The Bible seems to suggest that followers of Jesus should be filled with joy – that they should be happy all the time! Is that possible or even realistic? Should Christians have permanent grins on their faces?

See, in the Bible it talks about the followers of Jesus being full of an inexpressible joy, that somehow being a follower of Jesus Christ makes you more joyful than anyone else. In fact James – that’s Jesus’s brother – wrote in his letter that can you should consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds. I mean, that’s just crazy, isn’t it? That regardless of what is going on in your life, particularly if you’re going through difficult times, that you should be joyful about it. Does that mean that as Christians we should walk around with a big smile on our face all the time? Is it wrong to be sad?

^[01:03] Joy is defined as being happy. That is what joy is and happiness, well it’s an emotion and I don’t have really any control over my emotions. I can’t decide to be happy despite sad circumstances any more than I can decide not to be scared if I get chased by a big bear (not that’s ever happened). I mean, can God really expect me to live a life full of joy?

^[01:30] Perhaps the answer can be found if we carry on reading those verses from James. In James chapter one verse two it says “Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds” but it continues in verse three “because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance”. See, I think one of the key factors to living a joyful life is the knowledge that God is in control, that God has our best interests at heart and through the trials that we may face in life actually there’s an opportunity there for God to shape us, to refine us, to make us better reflect his image, to mature into a Christ-like person.

^[02:27] I mean that’s okay, I can perhaps intellectualize the need to feel joyful, maybe I could have a debate with myself and win the argument that this is all for my own good, but in reality I still can’t feel joy even if intellectually I can argue that I should.

^[02:48] Well, that’s where actually the Holy Spirit steps in. In Galatians it tells us that the fruit of the Holy Spirit, the fruit of having God living within us by his Holy Spirit is love and joy amongst many other things. That actually one of the symptoms, the side effects, of welcoming Jesus into our hearts and being filled with the Holy Spirit is that we gain joy. Actually we have the emotion of joy, it’s not just an intellectual thing but through the Holy Spirit, through the gifts of God, we can change our emotional state. As our spirit, our soul, partners with God’s spirits then we can have a deep joy, a happiness despite our circumstance.

^[03:47] Does that mean I’m walking around happy all the time? No it’s not about that superficial external happiness, it’s not about feeling jolly all the time, but actually I think it’s linked to a security in our future, our hope for the future through Jesus, our faith, that is going to happen and therefore a happiness, a joy, that regardless of what life may throw at me I am secure and safe in my Father’s arms.

[1] YouTube link: Advent Episode 3 – Can I Find Joy In My Life?
Bible references: James ch 1 v2-3, Galatians ch 5 v22

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[Transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube^[1], November 2020]

Advent Episode 1

Hope seems to have a sense of uncertainty about it – we hope it’ll happen, but we’re not too sure. Is this the same for our hope in Jesus?

This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent and the thing we’re going to be looking at as a Church for this Sunday is hope. My question to you is ‘what do you hope for, what do you put your hopes on?’

^[00:28] See, hope by its very nature involves waiting. Waiting for something to happen that you hope is going to go the way that you want it to. It can be something as simple as ‘I hope the weather’s nice tomorrow.’ ‘I hope I don’t get wet on this dog walk’. It could be something broader like ‘I hope these vaccines for covid work’. It could be something more serious like ‘I hope I don’t catch covid’ and it could be something a lot more personal like ‘I hope my life goes back to how it was once all this is over’, but in all of these things there’s a certain amount of uncertainty, particularly with the weather. You know we’re not quite sure what the outcome is going to be, just got to wait and see.

^[01:27] See, Advent is all about waiting, it’s a period of waiting. It’s a countdown to Christmas unsurprisingly as the chocolate Advent calendars suggest but it actually is a much bigger thing than that. It’s about waiting for the return of Jesus and this is a part of the Christian faith that is a little bit hidden, unfortunately perhaps due to the over-excitement that the ‘Left Behind’ series created in the 70s and 80s. We tend to hide the fact that we are waiting for Jesus to return.

^[02:13] Actually, it’s fundamental to our Christian faith; we hope, we have hope that Jesus Christ will return again and this time it won’t be to obscurity to take on a human form as a little baby in a stable somewhere in the Middle East. No, this time Jesus will be returning as King. He will show once and for all that sin and death and Satan are defeated, that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. It won’t be a matter of choice, it will just be fact, there will be no other option. God has taken this world back.

^[03:20] But is it a hope like those hopes about the weather that are really based on uncertainty? We hope it will happen but we’re not sure it will. Well, the Bible says that through Jesus we have a sure and certain hope. In the original language this word ‘hope’ doesn’t have the same uncertainty that it does in English. This is definitely going to happen.

^[03:48] This period of Advent is a reminder of that. It’s a countdown, not into Christmas, but also pointing towards that time in the future. It could be today, could be tomorrow. Who knows when Jesus will return again? It also reminds us that we have a hope that goes beyond vaccines or good weather or that life will be good. As followers of Jesus Christ we have an eternal hope. We are anchored, our soul is anchored to Jesus Christ and the kingdom of heaven, and that no matter the uncertainty of life, no matter how shaky our foundations may be, however bleak the outlook may become, we can have hope in Jesus Christ that in the end everything will be okay.

[1] YouTube link: Advent Episode 1 – What Do You Hope For?
Bible references: ~

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