Joy to the World... Matthew 2. 1-12 with Isaiah 60. 1-6 and Revelation 21. 1-2, 22-24; 22. 1-2

Isaiah 60 promises that "The glory of the Lord shall shine upon you... the wealth of the nations shall come to you; camels from Midian and Ephah; people from Sheba, bringing gold and frankincense." (Isaiah 60. 1,2,6). Who is he speaking to? Jerusalem, Zion (v. 10-14).  Several hundred years later gentile star-gazing Arabs arrive in Jerusalem (for Matthew's readers living in Palestine, the East meant East of the Jordan - i.e. Arabia). And they bring gold, frankincense and myrrh with them across the Jordan ; but the gold isn't for Jerusalem: it's for the new-born king. It was all a bit embarrassing. Until they arrived, Herod didn't even know a king had been born!

The Wise men are not interested in Jerusalem. They are looking for the one born King of the Jews. As soon as they find out from Herod (who has asked his Bible experts) that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, that's where they wanted to be.  Their gifts were for the child King, not the city. They were interested in a person, not a place: indeed, people are always more important than places. And this Person is always more important than the place or any place. This child is always more important than any city.

It is through this child, found not in a palace in Jerusalem but in a ragged wee one roomed cottage in Bethlehem, with the place for the animals at one end of the living room, that God's purpose for the city is going to be worked out. Jerusalem is a city that has a unique place in God's purposes. At the end of time we are told there will be a new heaven, a new earth, and a New Jerusalem (Revelation 21) and the New Jerusalem is called the "Bride of the Lamb" (Revelation 21. 2, 9) and the Lamb is Jesus. Truly the wise men, led by the star right to the place where Jesus was laid, were in the presence of the greatest King ever. This is the King whose Kingdom will envelope all other Kingdoms.

So the Wise men rejoice with exceedingly great joy.  It doesn't come much more joyful than that, does it?  And in their joy they fall on their faces, and worship the child.  Here they are, outsiders, gentiles, stargazers. But they have been "Welcomed in to the courts of the king!"

Joy was very much part of the Christmas story:

• John the Baptist's birth would bring joy. (Lk 1. 14)
• Elisabeth spoke out blessings, when the Baby in her womb leaped for joy. (Lk 1. 42ff)
• Mary sang out "my Spirit has rejoiced in God my saviour". (Lk 1. 47)
• The shepherds were given news of Joy. (Lk 2. 10)
• They went home praising God (Lk 2. 20)
• Simeon blessed God. (Lk 2. 28ff)
• Anna thanked god.   (Lk 2. 38)

Maybe we need to recover a sense of Joy. This Christmas story is about a welcome for us, outsiders, sinners, messed up people. And God has saved us, rescued us and revealed his amazing love to us.

They then they open their gifts.  Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Yes, I know the song about "We, three kings of orient are."  Gold for a King; Frankincense for God, Myrrh for suffering and death. Jesus is King; he is God; he is our sacrifice, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  But for these Arabs they simply were bringing the best from their own country. Gold was mined in Arabia; frankincense and Myrrh are resins drawn from trees that grow in the southern reaches of the Arabian Peninsula.  This was the best that they could bring, from the resources available to them. Maybe there was something prophetic about the things they brought. But it may be that the immediate result of their gifts was not prophetic but simply provision: giving this poor couple the resources they needed to make the journey they were soon going to have to make.

Because when they had given their gifts, the Arab star-gazers hurried away. One or more of them had had a dream warning them not to go back to King Herod. So they went the long way round, back across the Jordan to their own country. Their world, like our world, was messy. It wasn't all plain sailing. Even the Child king had those who hated him and who wanted rid of him.  The world of the wise men is not that different from the world we live in.

And like these Arabs,

• We are welcome, just as we are although we are outsiders.  
• God can take what we bring, from the place where we are, and use it in prophecy and in provision. Jesus is King; he is God; he is our sacrifice.  But he accepts what we are, and what we offer.  HE can take what we are, and what we offer, and make it prophetic; he can make is useful to provide for people's needs.  Maybe some of the thins we do will be prophetic. They will speak into people's lives, with the words of god.  Maybe some of what we do will simply be a matter of meeting people 's needs. That's OK.  Let's be open to the possibility of both.
• And we can welcome outsiders, too, and let them meet the Christ child.  

And as we come, and as we bring what we have to bring to Jesus, we don't just bring people to Jesus, we bring them to the New Jerusalem.  We bring them to the fulfilment of all things, for all time, when the purposes of God are all rolled up in a way that we can only imagine.  The image of the New Jerusalem is complex. The city is both made of people and full of people.  God isn't just planning for a renewed city made of bricks and mortar or sapphires, emeralds, amethysts and pearls. He's planning for a city built of and built for precious people. He's planning for a city where all the nations will bring their gifts: no-one will be an outsider. No-one will do other than surrender all they are to Jesus. And he's planning a city were all the nations will find healing.

Gentiles, Arabs, outsiders, star-gazers.

Joy to the World!


© Gilmour Lilly December 2011

Luke 1. 39-56 - Mary's Song (Advent 2, 2011)

I wonder what Mary was feeling as she went off to visit Elisabeth in the hill country?  The angel Gabriel had told her she was to have a son called Jesus, who would be the Messiah and saviour of the world. Maybe she could feel the earliest stirrings of her pregnancy, in her body. She had God's word in her mind: attendance at the synagogue and participation in family worship meant she was soaked in the Old testament scriptures (her song, as yet unsung, is almost completely made up of Old Testament quotes: it's even structured like one of the psalms with parallelism, one line repeating what the previous line said) But still she doesn't sing.  Maybe it was too much for her to process. Maybe she didn't know what to do with this. But then, in the secure presence of an older woman, childless up to that point but now six months pregnant, she is able to get her head around it all. When that older woman believes her, honours her, and encourages her (v 42-45) her spirit is set free: she can sing!

The Kingdom, and You... 
Mary sings about the promises God has made - promises for her and promises for the world. It begins in her own experience, (the Lord has looked at, noticed and cared about a lowly person like me) but it very quickly moves on to see her experience as the first fruits of the upside down kingdom of God impacting the earth. Her song isn't just about herself; it is about the Kingdom that is coming with the coming birth of the Messiah.  The Kingdom incorporates our experience, what God does in our lives. We are always challenged and called to encounter the Kingdom of God in the things that happen to us.

The Kingdom and the King... 
He who is mighty has done great things.  Mary rattles off three important truths about God.

1. He who is mighty: literally meaning he who has the power, he who is able. (cf. v 37 "nothing is impossible for God". Our God, the King, is the God of the impossible, the God of possibilities.
2. His Name is holy. He is totally other. The word doesn't so much mean morally holy, as separate, different, exalted. Holy and awesome is His name. (Ps 111.9)
3. He is merciful.  (Mercy implies compassion to the unfortunate, and also covenant love: it is the "Steadfast love of the Lord that never ceases" (Lam 3. 22) 

That all adds up to a pretty good summary of who God is and what God is like. The way the Kingdom is will be a reflection of he way the king is. In the Kingdom, we are engaged in a wonderful journey of discovery, a journey into the character of the King himself.

The Upside-down Kingdom. 
This Kingdom of God involves a number of reverses. It brings salvation to broken lives, sick bodies and minds and communities.  Things are turned upside down when the kingdom of God touches earth.

• v. 51 Scattering His enemies: Salvation also involves judgement.
• v. 52 He has brought down the mighty from their thrones.  Literally dynasties are removed, swept away like rubbish when someone is tidying the house.  And he has exalted to a place of prosperity the humble, the lowly. (cf v 48)
• v. 53 He has filled the hungry (not only physical hunger but those suffering want in every way) with good things...   and sent the rich away empty.

The Kingdom involves the forgiveness of sin, the healing of disease, the reconciliation of enemies and the liberation of the oppressed.  It's about turning the world upside down. It's a great reversal of the injustices we see in the world around us today. Yes, that happens in the spiritual realms. But it also happens in the practical realm of economics and politics. "The kingdom of God... bringing the ordinary life of mankind into line with the will of God." (Marshall) But wait a minute...

Kingdom faith
Mary says all this in the past tense. He has scattered his enemies; he has brought down the mighty and exalted the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. (v. 51-54) It doesn't look like this reversal has happened. But Mary already knows herself to be pregnant with Jesus, pregnant with the Kingdom of God. God has already done something absolutely amazing. He has taken decisive action already.  Mary sees the results that will follow from Jesus' mission as an accomplished fact already, just as certain as the historically recorded events of God's actions in the Old Testament "God has already taken decisive action in the promised sending of his son and she foresees as an accomplished fact the results that will follow his mission" (G B Caird)

That was faith.   And faith is hopeful... Elisabeth said "Blessed is she who has believed...(v 45)  Luke later recorded how someone got all sentimental with Jesus and said "Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you"(11. 27f.)  But Elisabeth isn't sentimental.  She says, "Blessed is she who believed. The Kingdom community is a community of faith; and it is a community of hope. We look forward to the fulfilment of God's plan, the final triumph of Gods Kingdom, as certain as the events of recorded and documented history.  That is faith. And it enables us to be hopeful.

"Hope" by George Frederick Watts.  Public Domain

 The Victorian painter G F Watts painted this picture called "Hope". Pastor J A Wright, Jr (who gained notoriety as Barack Obama's outspoken Pastor) was deeply moved when he attended a lecture on the work. He describes it thus:  "Hope - with her clothes in rags, her body scarred and bruised and bleeding, her harp all but destroyed and with only one string left, she had the audacity to make music and praise God ..." And in the midst of a tough world, like Mary, we carry the Kingdom of God within us, and we dare to sing the song of the Kingdom, as an accomplished reality, even if we have only one string left.

The Kingdom community. 
And like Mary we do that in community: the last line of Mary's poem says God has remembered his mercy (again: compassion and covenant, keeping his promises) to Israel his servant-lad v. 54f.  There is a kingdom community.  God has always chosen to work through a relationship with a covenant community of people.  And that community - today the Church - is a sign of hope, a sign of the certain coming of the Kingdom of God. It is the community of courage, that dares to say, "this Kingdom has triumphed". And it is the community of encouragement, where we can help other people to sing.  We can equip other people as we honour them, believe in them, and encourage them: what a joy and privilege to watch other people begin to sing!

 © Gilmour Lilly December 2011

A Christmas Pentecost! Luke 1. 26-38 (Advent 1)

I wonder if you are ever tempted to ask that question?  "How can this be?" not in unbelief like Zechariah but in a genuine search for answers.   I don't really blame Mary. What God asked of her was somewhat daunting. She wanted to ask God, how can this happen. We too want to know how the things God promises can become reality in our lives.  Things like...

1. Receiving Jesus
The angel promised Mary that she would become pregnant and give birth to a son and call him Jesus... She says, "How can this be?"    The angel's answer: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you ad the power of the most high will overshadow you."   "Mary, you will have this gift of Jesus because the Holy Spirit will come upon you.

We often hear Christians talking about "asking Jesus to come into their hearts."   How can this be?"   The Holy Spirit comes into our hearts. It is he, the active power of the Most High, overshadowing us, who brings Jesus into our hearts.

Someone once came asking Jesus how to have eternal life. Jesus answered, "You need to be born again".  The man, called Nicodemus, answered, "How can this be?"   Jesus' answer was the same. "The Holy Spirit." (John 3. 6)

The Holy Spirit is at work whenever a person receives Jesus into their lives, whenever a person is "born again."  Becoming a Christian, being born again, receiving Jesus (all different ways of saying the same thing) is a Holy Spirit event.  That's why Paul says we all (as Christians) have the Spirit of Christ. If someone doesn't have the Holy Sprit he does not belong to Jesus. (Rom 8.9) I don't believe in what is sometimes called "second blessing theology." I don't believe we receive Jesus and then receive the Holy Spirit later.  When we receive Jesus it is the Holy Spirit who comes. But there is always more of the Holy Spirit to receive.

2. Incarnation
The angel invited Mary to be part of this amazing thing we call the "incarnation."  God becoming flesh. "The one born to you will be called 'Son of the Highest'". She says, "How can this be?"    The angel's answer: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you."   "Mary, you are to play your part in God becoming flesh because the Holy Spirit will come upon you"

We have the challenge today of being incarnational, missional, as Christians and as a church.   In our Mission statement we have agreed that God calls us to "Learning to show the Father's love."  We are called to Discipleship, Demonstration, getting Deeper with God and Dealing with people in love.  "How can this be?"   It is the Holy Spirit at work within us who will make us incarnational. It is as the power of the Most High overshadows us that we will be enabled to be God's hands and feet in Rosyth, "learning to show the Father's love."


3. The Kingdom
The angel told Mary that her son would "reign over the house of Jacob for ever and of his Kingdom there will be no end."   She says, "How can this be?"    The angel's answer: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you ad the power of the most high will overshadow you."   "Mary, you are to play your part in the breaking in of the Kingdom of God because the Holy Spirit will come upon you."

The Kingdom is for all the world, for all people. Jesus taught the Kingdom, lived the Kingdom, demonstrated the Kingdom, and then before he died to entrusted the "Keys" of the Kingdom to his followers.  And we, today, are called to continue to sow seeds of the Kingdom in the world we live in.  There is plenty of injustice, plenty of pain, plenty of fear, in our world.  We are to keep sowing seeds of "righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit", which are the substance of The Kingdom of God.  "How shall this be?" It is the Holy Spirit that will bring the kingdom to our world though our prayers, our ministry, our service in the world; it is by the power of the Spirit that the sick can be healed and the demons driven out; it is by the power of the Spirit that injustice can be toppled; it is the Holy Spirit who will bring the final, complete triumph of God's Kingdom in due course.

The Christmas season is a very Pentecostal season. Luke in particular emphasises the Holy Spirit's work. The story of Mary emphasises the connection of the work of the Spirit, with the major theological themes of the new birth, the incarnation, and the coming of the Kingdom:. And we are connected with these theological themes.  They are our themes.  They should be part of our lives.

That means the Holy Spirit should be part of our lives; he should be welcomed in our lives.  We need to say to him "I want to be God's servant. Let it happen to me according to your word."  Then let the Holy Spirit ruin you.

© Gilmour Lilly November 2011

1 Corinthians 13. Dealing with people in Loving relationships

The first time we meet the person who wrote these words, he is a young man full of hatred.  Saul of Tarsus, a proud, well-read Jew fanatically opposed to the message of Jesus Christ; watching with cold-hearted loathing as others stone to death a Christian leader called Stephen. Then he's organising a systematic round-up of Christians, and on his way to Damascus with a list of suspects in his pocket, he meets with Jesus, and is ruined, blinded, helpless. He doesn't know friendship. He has simply "men who were traveling with him" (Acts 9:7, cf the other two records of the same story in Acts 22. 9 and 26.13). They lead him into Damascus, and shortly there is a knock at the door, and someone is shown into the room where Saul is praying, trying to figure out what to do with his life. This visitor is Ananias - one of the people in Saul's list. And Ananias says ""Brother Saul..." As soon as Saul encountered Jesus he had a brother. Ananias took him seriously, believed in him, and introduced him to the other believers in Damascus. Later, An older believer called Barnabas took Saul on a mission trip, again believing in him and encouraging him. A wee while later, another young Christian called Mark joined them; Mark had let them down, bottling out and running away. Saul, by now called Paul, wouldn't give a second chance to Mark, and as a result he and Barnabas fell out... but later that was put behind them and Mark became a great help to Paul.  Out of these experiences came what someone has called "one of the most strikingly original things Paul ever wrote," this wonderful meditation about love, which finds its place in 1 Corinthians.

Love is Essential. Verse 2.  "If I have not love, I am nothing. If I have not love, I gain nothing." What do we have, and what do we gain without love? NOTHING! It's more important than gifts like tongues or prophecy; it's more important than education or understanding; it's more important than traditionally "good things" like Christian giving. "I can turn everything I own into morsels of food for the hungry... but without love I gain nothing." Professor FF Bruce said "A Christian community can make shift somehow if the 'gifts' of chapter 12 be lacking: it will die if love is absent." The church can muddle through without gifts, without education and insight, and without having a programme to give to TEARFund; but without love we are nothing.

Love is Substantial. Paul sees love as something that you either have or do not have. As Bible teacher James Jordan says, "Love is stuff."  It is real, nourishing as a fish supper of haggis and neeps; refreshing as Irn Bru or ginger beer; solid and reliable as a mountain.  Paul says, "God has poured out his love into our hearts" (Rom 5. 5).  It's either there or it's not there.  And its stuff that lasts.  (Verses 8-13)  Sometimes we talk about love as something you can fall into - and fall back out of.  But real love is something that lasts. It is more than Sentiment.  You can have sentiment without love.  But you can't have love without some sentiment, some feeling.  And it is more than sacrifice. You can have sacrifice without love. Paul talks about giving everything away, surrendering your body to be burned but not having love. But you can't have love without sacrifice.  We'll learn a bit more about that later.

Love is behavioural. Paul describes fourteen qualities of "love"
1. Love is patient.  Longsuffering.
2Love is kind; makes itself useful to people.
3. Love does not envy - does not get into rivalry over who is best...
4. Love does not boast; (empty bragging)
5. Love is not arrogant  (puffed up, doesn't have a swelled head (Msg)
6. Love is not rude. (does not act in an unseemly way; "ain't misbehavin'")
7. Love does not insist on its own way; goes beyond simply "looking after number one" Isn't always "me first," (Msg)
8. Love is not irritable -  not easily angered. Not given to paroxysms of rage. Not easily stirred up. You know what it's like to be stirred up. When I get stirred up it takes tact and diplomacy to calm me down.    Doesn't fly off the handle, (Msg)
9. Love is not resentful; doesn't reckon up the wrong things people have done in order to pay them back.    Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, (Msg)
10. Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing. There is no room for gloating or scorn when people make mistakes. Doesn't revel when others grovel,   (Msg)  Instead, Love rejoices with the truth. Love is thrilled and affirming when someone gets something right.
11. Love bears all things, suffers in silence when it is wronged.
12. Love believes all things, always ready to believe the best
13. Love hopes all things, hopes against hope
14. Love endures all things. Never looks back, but keeps going to the end.  (Msg)
Now each of these is a matter of character. They define our behaviour. They are about how we deal with people. There can be a lot of  sacrifice in forgiving, letting things go, not getting angry, being patient and generous with people.

Love is relational. You can't do love in a vacuum. Love is about connectedness, about presence, communication, encounter, developing relationships.  Some of these qualities - like patience, hope and endurance - may be there when we are all alone.  The person who is stuck on a desert island or in solitary confinement for their faith, need patience, hope and endurance. But most of these qualities are only meaningful in situations with other people, and all of them can affect  how we deal with people. We can't have love without dealing with people.  We can't have love in isolation.  It is in relating with people, getting along in a community of people who are diverse and different, that love is put to the test and becomes the substantial, meaningful thing it is meant to be.  That's why love is eternal, goes on forever, even when we are with Jesus in glory: because we will be eternally part of a redeemed community. In accepting the Mission Statement that says, "Learning to show the Father's love," we accept that the essential nature of life together is relational. It is about dealing with people as people. It is not just about propping up the institution of the church.  Love is character in relationship. It is the character of Jesus in our relationship with each other and with our neighbours. It defines how we deal with each other. It defines how we deal with people who are not yet Christians.

Ouch. This is demanding. It is tough. If love is stuff, were does it come from? How can I get "Love" in my life?  How can I show the character of God?  How can this "love" infuse my dealing with people?

What are the keys? I believe there are three...
1. The story...  Paul's story was that he had gone from being highly principled but remote, distant, friendless, to being someone recognized as a "Brother".  I can't prove this but I believe that the day eh met Jesus on the road to Damascus was the first time in his life that Saul of Tarsus knew the reality of unconditional, accepting love, from his heavenly father and from a courageous brother called Ananias. That story of being loved, should surely draw love from us.  Jesus once had a woman pour out her expensive perfume at his feet. He responded (Luke 7:47) "her sins, which are many, are forgiven--for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little." It's in our story of being loved that we are released to love.
2. The Spirit... Paul slips this love meditation right in the middle of his teaching in the work of the Spirit.  The last thing Paul mentions before launching into the love passage is "gracelets" (gifts); and the first thing he moves onto when he has finished the love passage is "Spirituals" (gifts) Love is a work of the spirit. Rom 5:5, which we quoted earlier, says, "God has poured out his love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit, who is God's gift to us."
3. Sensitising our souls. Paul says "Pursue love". (1 Cor 12. 1) Time for a Greek lesson. The Greek word pursue is dioko, from which we get diakonos meaning a "deacon", who is literally "someone who runs errands".   Chase after love. Serve it. Run errands for it. In other words you need to co-operate with the Spirit - not quench his gifts, and not quench either, the love he wants to bring. (1 Thess 5. 9) Allow your whole being to be sensitised to the promptings of love. And love will begin to grow within your heart and to affect how you deal with people.

© Gilmour Lilly November 2011

Love and Sacrifice - No Greater Love: John 15. 12-17

 To get into the meaning of these words, I want to tell you their story. Jesus is having a meal with his friends. He has broken bread and said, "This is my body"; he has poured out wine and said, "This is my blood".  He has already said (John 14. 31) let's go from here.  Every Greek speaker recognised these as heroic words, the words that a group of men would say before going out to meet an advancing enemy. Forces were conspiring to get rid of Jesus. A company of temple guards were going on duty at that moment, ready to march to the garden of Gethsemane to arrest him.  It's the last night of Jesus earthly life with the disciples. "No greater love..." Jesus was speaking about himself.  In less than 24 hours he will be dead.  Not the end of the story.  He would rise again, but only after three days lying in the dust of death.  We must not let that soften the reality of his death. There's no greater love than to lay down your lei for a friend.  That's the story behind these words.  It's Jesus' love, Jesus sacrifice, for his friends: Jesus is talking about himself. He says, "You are my friends..." the One who laid down his life is Jesus.  


The point is that this is the measure of love. There is no other way of defining love. You can start with how you feel towards the girl or boy of your dreams. Amy Winehouse recorded in 2003
There is no greater love 
Than what I feel for you 
No sweeter song, no heart so true...
There is no greater thrill 
Than what you bring to me ...
(But it was a cover of a song written in the 1930's and sung in 1947 by an equally tragic female singer called Billie Holiday.) And we know it's rubbish. People spend years feeling let down by romantic love.  


You can start with the sacrifice of a young airman in the Battle of Britain. The words, "There is no greater love..." have been much used, on war memorials and at acts of remembrance But it's all wrong. It's too little, too insignificant.  These loves are all just a pale reflection, like a badly taken photograph of the real thing. The definition of love is God's love.   John summed it up later in a letter: 1 John 4. 10. This is love: not that we loved God but that he loved us and gave his son to be the means by which our sins are taken away. This is how you define love. When John says "God loved us" he doesn't mean that God doesn't love us any more. What he means is that God loves us so much that he focussed that eternity of love, in one short period of time when he sent his son, Jesus to be the way our sin is sorted out. The NIV says he sent his Son as an "atoning sacrifice".  John uses a very difficult Greek word and translators have fallen out over how to translate it. The AV says "propitiation".  The RSV Says "Expiation." Nobody who lives in the real world knows what either of these words mean.  The point of the original word is this:  God sent his son, to make amends for our sin.  We messed up. We were embarrassed, ashamed and afraid.  We wanted to make amends for what we had done.  And god made amends instead.  That's what it says. 

by Peter Fleuth.
In Public Domain

Imagine it.  Through carelessness and disregard to the rules, you wreck your friend's unique limited edition guitar made in Chicago.  So you offer to make it right: "how can I make amends? How can I make it right? I'll pay to get it fixed, I'll borrow money from all my mates and get you a new one."  And you friend says, "Here's how to make it right. I want to travel to Chicago, visit the factory in Chicago personally and order a new guitar; I'll stay in Chicago for a few weeks while it's being made; collect it and fly home. And I don't want to do that trip on my own so you will come with me.  That's how to make amends. And, I will pay for it, for both of us. It will be my treat. That will make amends. Accept my offer, and I'll put the whole thing behind me."   But it's even more outrageous than that. Because God gave more than a fortune, more than a King's ransom, he gave the King himself.  His Son died to make amends for our sin. 


Isn't that amazing.  Breathe that in. that is how much the Father loves you.  That is how much Jesus loves you.  Breathe it in. Let it change you. Accept his offer today.  Can we get a handle on the extravagance of grace? Can we realise how much the father loves us?   


Poet Luci Shaw talks about the despair we feel when we realise like Peter did that we have messed up and goes on
but if we find grace
to cry and wait
after the voice of the morning 
has crowed in our ears
clearly enough
to break our hearts
he will be there
to ask us each again
do you love me


(from Judas Peter by Luci Shaw)

That's God's love. That's Jesus' love. That's father's love.  We mess up; he makes amends.  He puts all the mess behind him, when we accept his offer of love.  We mess up, over and over again, and he welcomes us back , over and over again.  That's grace. And God has always got grace.  When he asks "Do you love me?" it's a healing question. He doesn't ask us in order to condemn us. He asks us "do you love me" in order to bring us to the place of complete dependence on him.  And then we realise the depth of grace and our hearts almost explode with love. 


God's sacrificial love calls out from us a sacrificial love for each other and for the world God loves. 


In the Gospel, the words "no greater love" are sandwiched between 
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you, (John 15:12) 
and
These things I command you, so that you will love one another (John 15:17)


In John's letter, the words about God's love are sandwiched between these words
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1Jn 4:8)  
and
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1Jn 4:11)  




The amazing, sacrificial love of God, draws out from us a sacrificial love for one another, measured by the love Jesus had for us.  It's that simple really.  An outpouring of love. An extravagance of love. A generous love; a love that forgives, that builds bridges, makes amends for the sins of others. A love that, when we are sinned against, goes and puts things right.  It's not optional: it's a commandment. But it's not a rule it's a response. 


And as we learn to live in love, we learn to function fruitfully. Loving each other, along with prayer (v 7, 16), staying close to Jesus (v, 4) letting him snip away at the rubbish in our lives (v.2) is key to bearing fruit.  Sacrificial love within the Church is part of mission. It's part of spirituality.  As we walk in love, we find we are bearing fruit.  By this shall all men know you are my disciples, if you love one another? 


© Gilmour Lilly November 2011

Deeper with God... (Spirituality)

 "Learning to show the Father's love..." 

Matthew 6

"Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and soul and mind and strength..." was the first and greatest commandment.  We celebrated it in our opening worship today. And Jesus said that this remains the first and greatest commandment.  John says he is writing something that is both old and new. (1 John 2. 27) rooted in the fact that "God is love".... Love is not something God does. It is what he is.   And that covenant has always been a covenant of grace, but it has been a veiled grace. Paul speaks about the way when the old covenant is read, a veil remains over people's faces and minds (2 Cor 3.14) In Jesus there is a "new Covenant".   However, with Jesus, something completely new arrives.  The really new thing, the amazing new thing about the way Jesus describes going deeper with God is found in one word: "Father". A couple of weeks ago we were learning about the importance of "Being like our heavenly father..."   After making that point in Matthew 5, Jesus goes on in Chapter 6, to talk about "heart stuff". He is concerned with what is going on inside.    Over and over again in Chapter six, as he describes the kind of "heart surgery" that we need in order to go deeper with God, the way life should b as disciples, he talks about God as Father.  Ten times in chapter six... Jesus spirituality means knowing God as father.  Let's look at what that implies.

Firstly, about acceptance.  

There were people around in Jesus' day - as there still are - who do religious things, like giving generously (verses 1-4) praying regularly (verses 5-6), and fasting (verses 17-18), for all the wrong reasons: so that other people could see them and be impressed - maybe even intimidated - with how generous and holy they were

We need spiritual disciplines.  They are good for our inner lives.  I recommend giving things away.  A few years ago when we were kind of struggling financially as a church, the Lord gave me a clear word, and it was this "give 'till it stops hurting."  The Lord loves a hilarious giver. (2 Cor 9. 7)  We need to pray, not just when we feel like it but in a disciplined way, regularly. Fasting is not something I find easy. When my stomach gets empty, my head gets sore.  But fasting - whether from food, luxuries like chocolate, or activities like TV, challenges our appetites and exposes our physical and behavioural addictions...

But, it's not about impressing the people around us. And it's not about impressing our heavenly father. We don't need to impress him. He sees in secret. (verse 4, 6, 18) He sees what is going on in our hearts. And he loves us. He accepts us.    Isn't that releasing?

Isn't impressing people a real drag; doesn't it wear you out?  I love to cook a really good curry and see people enjoy it. I like the Scottish voice on the sat-nav that says at the end of the journey "nice driving, mate". It's better than the Dalek one that says, "You have reached your destination. Get out of the vehicle, earthling."  It's good to get the worship right, the teaching relevant and helpful.  It's good to encourage those who lead worship or teach or make cakes.  Some of us are not good at giving that; some of us are not good at receiving it. Some of us need it because we never received it from parents when we were growing up. But it's good to do what we do out of a flow of love to our heavenly father. He sees and knows and rewards.  We don't need to impress him. He accepts us, just as we are. He is pleased with you today.

Secondly, about intimacy.

I was shocked recently to hear that the average British Church leader spends 4 minutes each day reading God's word and 2 minutes each day in prayer. If I was to ask you how many minutes you spend each day praying, would we all be embarrassed? Don't we struggle with prayer? Be honest!  Loads of people are afraid to pray in public because they feel they can't get the words right.  But getting the words right could even get in the way. Jesus said when you pray, don't pile up loads of empty words, as thought you had to make God hear you. You don't need to shout. You don't need to make a speech.  Father knows what you need before you ask so you don't even need to tell him what needs to be done.  There's no point in piling on the words.  We don't have to "persuade" God to answer our prayers.  We don't have to cajole him. You don't have to use big words to pray.  

Prayer is a simple matter of saying "Father, you're in heaven and you're great, and even your name is special, we have such a privilege to simply come to you... God we want to see what you want happening, on this earth just like it is in heaven.  Keep on giving us what we need, and forgive the rubbish in our lives, just like we forgive the people who dump their rubbish in our lives. When hard times come don't let us drift away from you but keep us safe from the devil, because you deserve all the glory..." That's the Lord's Prayer. It's simple.  It's a child's cry to daddy; it's a son's conversation with Dad.  Prayer isn't about getting things; it isn't about making things happen.  I have no doubt prayer does make things happen. God does answer; and he does sometimes wait until we pray. But at its core, it is about intimacy and dependency. Father knows what you need before you ask. And Father wants to hang out with you.    

Thirdly, it's about transformation.

At the end of the Lord's Prayer are two little sentences that are quite disturbing. (Verses 14-15) Father will forgive - if we forgive.  It seems like father is suddenly getting picky and conditional in his love.  If we forgive, he will forgive. If we don't forgive, he will not forgive. But if we don't' forgive, we are trying to function within another kind of pattern. We are trying to function under a covenant of law. And we simply can't have both law and grace in our lives. If we invoke law, we close the door to grace. Not that God is picky. But we just cannot be two things at the same time. We cannot be saved by grace and live by keeping the law. We can't be saved by grace and treat other people according to the law. It is not a matter of "keeping the rules" but of choosing who we will hang out with. And as we hang out with father, we become like him. When I don't feel I want to be like Father, because I am cross with someone, what happens? I lose the intimacy.  I stop hanging out with him.

The relationship we have with Father is meant to be a transforming relationship.  The grace that we receive transforms us. Being forgiven, really forgiven, transforms us. When we go for grace, the Holy Spirit comes to live in us.  And his activity inside us, transforms us, heals us.     The outcome of all that is that we behave and live differently. "Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship." If we are simply ourselves before God, he welcomes us - and changes us. It's about transformation.

Fourthly, it's about trust.  

Consider the birds (verse 26) He's just a wee dunnock: but isn't he splendid? He's just a robin, but isn't he smart?  "Your heavenly Father feeds the birds...How much more will he feed you" We're kind of tempted to run about getting things, looking after things, worrying about material things.

Yes, there is a world economic crisis at this time; jobs are harder to find and money doesn't go so far.  Jesus doesn't say he will make these circumstances go away.  Not at all.  He says, "In the world you will have trouble. But don't be afraid, I have overcome the world." (John 16. 33)  In the midst of the series of crises, (which put us in a similar place to the earliest disciples who lived a world where there was much poverty, no pensions, no health service and no social security) Jesus calls us, instead of panicking, to trust our heavenly father.  "Your Father knows you need all these things.

And if you trust him and seek his Kingdom, "all these things" will be yours as well  (verse 33). He is faithful, reliable. You can trust him. It is Father's pleasure to give you the Kingdom. (Luke 12. 32)

Being a disciple of Jesus isn't a matter of impressing anyone, of doing all the right things all the time or even of doing things right. Spirituality is a walk with Father.  If we have lived with critical, distant, chaotic, unreliable Fathers, God wants to heal us and wrap us in his loving arms.  He wants us to know him as our Heavenly father.

© Gilmour Lilly November 2011

Demonstration: Luke 6. 17-36

Demonstration: Luke 6. 17-36

As a Church we have committed ourselves to “Learning to show the Father’s love”!
That breaks down into four sections:
* Learning – Discipleship.
* Showing – Demonstration
* Father’s – Deeper with God (or, “Spirituality)
* Love – Dialogue with people i.e. (Relationship)

Today I want to look at the “Demonstration” part of our vision.  Learning to show the Father’s love.  In Matthew 5 (the teaching known as the “Sermon on the Mount”) and in its sister passage, here in Luke 6 (sometimes called the “Sermon on the Plain”), Jesus actually talks about showing the Father’s love: "be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked".(verse 35) "...sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust". (Mt 5.45)    "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." (verse 36)  "Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Mt 5.48)

The people
For  a start, Jesus is talking to disciples.   Now there was a large crowd who had gathered around Jesus and were listening and watching.  This is very much like the setting for the sermon on the Mount. On both
occasions, interestingly, Jesus is in among a crowd, yet talks to his disciples.  And I think that when he does so, he is not just talking to the twelve, as though nobody else was there or mattered even if they were there.  His disciples were not just the twelve but those in the crowd who had genuinely opened their lives to God’s kingdom, and begun that lifelong process of learning to live as a son of God.  And I believe that is important.  Sometimes we talk about the “ethical teaching of Jesus” as though it were just a great ideal; but this is a manifesto for the new community, a pattern sheet for what their life together is supposed to look and feel like.  And that community is meant to be real, loving, belonging; it is more than an organisation. It is a family, a body.  Demonstration is done in community. And that community consists of ordinary people, not all  superstars.  You can be part of this demonstration, this showing the father's love. Indeed you are called to be. part of it.

The Place
These disciples, this new community are living in a world where not everyone is sympathetic to the Christian message. "Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man." (v. 22)

That is the world Jesus and his disciples lived in That is the world the early Church lived in.  It is in many ways not that different to our world.  We have the World wide web: they had the world wide Roman Empire. We have a world of urbanisation, oppressive economics, injustice, moral degradation, military dictatorships, nationalism and globalisation. That is just exactly the world of the earliest Church, the world in which the Gospel first thrived. So let us not imagine that the Gospel cannot thrive in our world We just have to make sure we understand the Gospel and apply it correctly to the world we live in, and that means living as the earliest Church lived.


There are going to be “enemies” who will curse and ; there will be the Romans with their right to demand menial service at a whim; there will be the ever present temptation to settle for life as a little, misunderstood, despised holy huddle, to “love those who love you” and ignore or hate everyone else; to only give a cheery greeting to our friends.


The practice of showing Father’s love.
How are the disciples to show the Father’s love.  What will that look like?

Firstly, it involves being among people in the power of the Spirit. That was one of the main planks in Jesus strategy for demonstrating the Father’s live, the reality of the kingdom.  We read about that again in verses 17ff as Jesus is mobbed by crowds – some of whom want to experience God’s healing.  But Jesus described his healing ministry as "Doing what he saw the Father doing." (John 5. 19)   It’s not about going and emptying the hospital to sweep everyone into the kingdom.  But because healing is part of the character of our Heavenly Father, there is no reason why we should not be seeing healings today, alongside other forms of demonstration that are just as vital.

Secondly, it involves having a radical upside down values.  Jesus says blessed are the poor, those who hunger, those who weep… Matthew gives a bit more detail: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, blessed are the merciful, blessed are the pure in heart, blessed are the peacemakers…"  Remember what the complaint was about Paul when he preached at Thessalonica? “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too…” (Acts 17. 6)  It involves being those who themselves have been turned upside down. We can only turn the world upside down if we ourselves are turned upside down by the kingdom of God.  That kind of "upside-down-ness" is an absolutely necessary antidote to the “right-side-up” attitude of a world that lives by “me-first, take what you can get, reject authority and always avoid consequences”

Thirdly, it involves an outrageous generosity (to quote shamelessly from the theme of this year’s Baptist Assembly).   That in turn means
* Open hearts: Forgiveness and forbearance. This is the ability to deal graciously with those who fall. "If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also" (v 29);  "love your enemies, do good to them... be merciful…(v. 35-36)  We need to demonstrate the Father's love by being generous in our evaluation of people. In one episode of The Simpsons, Maude Flanders returns from a time away from home and explains that she has been on a Church retreat, "Learning to be more judgemental!"  Ouch. if we are known to be judgemental we are not showing the Father's  love. If we are critical and waspish, we are not showing the Father's  love.
* Proactive giving – not only to support the "Church" as an institution,  but to support the poor. Giving to those who ask (v. 30); lending when we know we are not going to be repaid (v. 34). It may mean that we are prepared – especially in months and maybe years of recession and hardship – to show the love of Jesus by making resources – our resources – available for the relief of people’s emergency situations round about us.

* Inclusive hospitality.      “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. (v. 32-33);   "And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?" (Mat 5:47)   There are people out there - and in here as well - who need to be loved. They need to be shown the Father’s love.  They might eventually trust in Jesus, if over a period of time we can show them the love of a heavenly Father, breaking out of any sense of cliquishness. As Mike Pilavachi says, the world isn’t waiting to see better sound systems or better video presentations, it’s looking to see better people.

© Gilmour Lilly October 2011

Discipleship: I Thessalonians 1.

The Story
When Paul arrived at Thessalonica, he did what he always did: went to the Jewish meeting place, the synagogue, and presented the arguments to prove that Jesus rose from the dead and is the Messiah. (Acts 17. 1-3)  For three weeks he was there, taking every opportunity to share the Good News of Jesus.  There were signs too of God's power as 1 Thess 1. 5 says. Maybe some people got healed. Maybe some people had a deep sense of God's presence and couldn't stand up in his presence (as happened in the revivals under the ministry of George Whitefield and in places like Lewis in the 1950's) or maybe there were prophetic words that made people say "God is really in the midst here" (1 Cor 14. 25) and certainly there was a supernatural sense of authority in Paul's preaching. People believed and accepted Jesus. (Act 17. 4)   Then the trouble had started, and the weren't wanted in the Synagogue. It was not long before some of the local leaders were arrested and the believers decided to smuggle Paul out of the city. (Acts 17. 5-10) And through the struggles (pretty soon there was persecution in Thessalonica) as well as the successes, they saw the realities of Paul's character.  (1 Thess 1.5b: "You saw what sort of guys we were.")

As a result of what they saw and heard, a group of people in Thessalonica had become followers of Jesus. When Paul wrote to them, a little later, he sums up their conversion: see vv 9-10.  Three things marked the Thessalonians' reception of the Gospel: repentance, service, and expectancy.    And they became "imitators of Paul".  They liked what they saw and wanted to be like what they liked. As a result the word was spread what kind of people the Thessalonian Christians were.  They had doctrine: they had hope; they understood why Jesus suffered, and believed that Jesus had risen from the dead; they knew that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah (Acts 17. 3); they were waiting for Jesus to return. They had faith, hope and love, the three things that last (1 Cor 13. 13)  

But James that the only kind of faith that doesn't produce works is a dead one!  (James 2.26) And Paul would agree with.  Hel gives thanks for the Thessalonians' "Work that springs from faith".    And he gives thanks for their sacrificial "labour of love."  Not doing wee jobs with no hope of reward, but a costly and maybe painful effort, that expresses real selfless concern for others.  And he mentions patience in hope.  That is the willingness to put up with unpleasant stuff, because we have a rock-solid certainty of God's Kingdom future lying before us.  .  The Thessalonians had Faith, love, and hope- expressed in good deeds, real effort and longsuffering.

They had an experience of the power of he Spirit.  They had the basics of doctrine. They had faith that worked, love that produced real effort, and hope that meant they were on their feet ready for the Master to come back.  But they didn't have everything.  Paul had to leave town in a hurry, so there were truths this church had yet to grasp. He wasn't frustrated with the godless behaviour as he as when he wrote to Corinth or with seriously wrong doctrine as he was in Galatia.  He just wants to fill in some of the gaps. So he sat down to write what may have been his first ever letter...


So what does this show?   
Paul - who never uses the word "disciple" in his letters - was heavily into making disciples. He was concerned with helping people grow; he was concerned with truth; he was concerned with practical living; and he was able to do that because he was a disciple himself.  You can only make disciples if you are a disciple.

The Jesus model was this:

• I do it; you watch.  
• You do it; I watch.  
• You do it. 

Paul had exactly the same model.  It is about apprenticeship not distance learning. He says, "imitate me" in the same way your journeyman would do when you were an apprentice. Discipleship is practical.  

We are all meant to be disciples; we are all meant to be making disciples.  Discipleship is essential.

 We could define Discipleship in these ways:

• Discipleship is the unfinished process of learning to live the Christian life.
• Discipleship is the unfinished process of learning how to be like Jesus.
• Discipleship is learning how to be a son to the Father.  
• Discipleship is unfinished process of learning to show the Father's love. 

Whichever you choose, it is by definition: lifelong; practical, spiritual and relational.

The Problem: 
Some of us struggle with any learning at all.  We find it difficult to handle facts and ideas. Others love theory but are not good at learning skills. But we use the word "learn" in two ways: "learning about..." and "learning how to..."   Discipleship has to be about "learning how to..." It is never enough to accumulate knowledge.  Learning involves the development of three things: Knowledge, skills, character...  leading to confidence, competence, credibility and influence.

In order to learn we need:

• The Holy Spirit at work in our lives.  His task is to reveal Jesus and to make us realise we are God's sons. He gives gifts that help us towards that. And he uses
• The Word of God, written, or spoken or sung; preached, shared among us
• Doing the stuff. We learn through "reflection on practise."  Not just through practise. You can do something wrong dozens of times and never learn from it. You just keep repeating the same mistake. You can do something right and not know how you managed it (or maybe not even not realise you did it right!)  
• Fellowship. The fact that learning involves reflection on practise, suggests one reason why we need fellowship; we need to be accompanied on a learning journey.

And it is interesting that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians as friends. The letter begins with the "normal" sort of introduction, which suggests it's a real letter, which in turn suggests a relationship-based approach, an expression of friendship.  And Paul models the importance of teamwork by writing as a member of a team - indeed there is no reason to suppose that Silas and Timothy did not have some genuine input into the letter.

The Difference
I believe that Discipleship is a key to effective mission. If we can get the Discipleship thing sorted out, if we can really do the "Learning" in "learning to show the father's love" then the rest will follow; we will show the Father's love and people will be drawn to him.

When Paul came to Thessalonica, being a disciple and making disciples, those who didn't like the message of Jesus described Paul and his team as, "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also... saying that there is another king, Jesus." (Acts 17. 6f) It is living the kingdom as well as proclaiming the King that is at the essence of Discipleship that turns the world upside down.

© Gilmour Lilly October 2011

"Learning to show the Father's love" Matthew 4. 17-25 and 28, 18-20

What kind of world did God make?  
A good, perfect world!

"Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near!" It must have been exciting when the travelling preacher, Jesus arrived in town with an exciting, challenging message. "Repent" that means to turn around, change the direction of your life.  And what made that turn-around necessary? The arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven! The Kingdom of Heaven is Matthew's way of talking about the Kingdom of God (but Matthew writing for Jewish readers preferred not to mention the name of God) The Kingdom of God means the rule of God, made visible in the created world to restore the world to the "good" that God originally intended.  And as if that wasn't exciting enough, Jesus called Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John to be directly involved in this great enterprise that Jesus called the "Kingdom of Heaven."  Isn't that exciting?

When Jesus called Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John -they became part of a group known as the twelve what?  Disciples.

And what is a disciple?  A learner.

"Payallar fishing" by "ozgurmulazimoglu"
used under GNU license

From the moment Jesus called them, they were "Learning to show the Father's love" as they walked with Jesus, were kind of apprenticed to him, saw the things he was doing in the world, and even joined in.   Jesus was talking about a transformation.  They were going to become something that went beyond their previous experience.  Shaped, formed, made. "I will make you fishers of men."  Discipleship - learning with Jesus is always going to be more than going to school.  It's always about growing, becoming, being formed into what God wants you to be.

Jesus' teaching was amazing!  This idea of the Kingdom of God, the reign of God actually happening, the good that God wanted being restored in his world.  The idea that the Kingdom was "at hand" ... just around the corner, within reach.  Isn't that amazing and exciting?  Jesus was the best teacher. He knew how to communicate truth. But he was never content to impart truth as a concept.   It's a practical kind of learning. So as Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John followed Jesus, they were learning to show the father's love. How to demonstrate that love.  Jesus was healing the sick and the weak; he was healing those who were ill, bound by various sicknesses and tortures, with demons, moonstruck (mentally ill or epileptic) and paralysed. The kingdom was more than a concept. It was demonstrated.

They were learning to show the Father's love.  The miracles were demonstrations of the Kingdom. Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom of God, which is about the character of a heavenly father, who makes the sun shine on good and bad together (Matthew 5. 45).  That learning and showing beckoned them to a Deeper walk with Father. To spirituality.    That meant that like Father, like Jesus, they were not just concerned for the miracle but for the encounter with God.  And it meant that like Father, like Jesus, they were not just concerned for the crowd but for the individual. Over and again they would hear Jesus have a Dialogue, aconversation with someone who needed healing: "How long has it been like this?  I want to heal you. Who touched me? Give the lassie something to eat."  Like Father, like Jesus, they were to go beyond loyalty to the group, love their enemies (Matthew 5. 44) and make belonging a possibility for all.  To show the Father's love.

So they followed.  They watched; they learned, they showed the father's love.  And as they did, they got to know Jesus better; they go to know the Father better. And they hoped that together with Jesus they would see a whole new age on earth, get rid of the Romans, and have a share in God's perfect kingdom.  But, eventually, Jesus was arrested, tried, sentenced to death, and crucified.   All pretty horrendous. No wonder the disciples were gutted, after that.  They had lost their best friend. But more: they had lost hope. It seemed like all this "Learning to show the Father's love"  was for nothing.

Then three days later, they began to see Jesus, alive.  So they were thinking "Maybe now is the time for the Kingdom to be set up?" In fact they actually asked Jesus that (Acts 1. 6).  "Now that you've conquered death, Jesus, surely you can set up the Kingdom". That's not the way it was to be. For forty days, Jesus appeared, taught, challenged, but he was prodding, pushing, making them look outwards. He made it obvious he was alive, but also that he was not around for keeps. It was not going to be the way it had been before. They'd been Learning to show the Father's love for some other purpose. His last words to them, before the clouds took him out of sight and touch, were "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you... oh, and I'm always with you."

"Dandelion seed dispersal"
by Alex Valavanis

They have been Learning to show the Father's love, not so as to set up the Kingdom, but so as to continue making disciples... learners, people who are Learning to show the Father's love.  Until God's Kingdom is finally set up, there is to be a community of disciples - people who have heard the call to "repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand." There is to be a community who are Learning to show the Father's love. Who are seeking the kingdom.  So Jesus says, "Go and make disciples. Teach them..."  Where there are teachers there are learners. And that learning is still practical.  "Teach them to observe all I commanded you."  It's about doing, not just knowing, the truth.  It's about doing it. Demonstrating it. Living in some of the realities of the Kingdom of God until Jesus finally sets up the kingdom.  It's about Father's heart - new disciples are to be baptised in the name of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit.  What Jesus wants as the next stage, is a worldwide community of people - from all nations -  who are Learning to show the Father's love.  

What do you call that community?
It's the Church!!!

That is the church, people. After the death of Jesus, his followers might have wanted to establish a living memorial of this great and wonderful founder Jesus. People often see the role of the Church as maintaining that memorial. But the church is about more than that. It is about Learning to show the Father's love. It is a community where that baton is passed on from one generation to the next.   Discipleship , Demonstration, going Deeper with father (spirituality), and Dialogue (relationships).  Learning to show the Father's love. 

I am excited about the facft that at our AGM, the Church adopted as our Mission Statement "Learning to show the Father's love."  That is what we are about.  It's nice and simple. And it's totally biblical. In fact, it's basic. It sums up what the Church is about. It sums up what Rosyth Baptist Church is about.  Nothing else matters. Nothing else is important.  It's what being a Christian is all about. Learning to show the Father's love. 

When I went to study in London in the seventies, I had my first encounter with a well-known fast food chain. Now I'm not fond of mustard, or relish, or mayonnaise, or gherkins.  So I'd ask for my burger plain, with the result that I often had to wait, and usually by the time I got my burger, all my friends had finished theirs. Imagine you go in to the fast food restaurant and say, "I'll have a cheeseburger with no cheese, please."  You'd have to wait even longer than I did!  If you want to follow Jesus without discipleship, if you want to follow Jesus without mission, if you want to follow Jesus without power, Healing the sick, showing compassion, caring for the needy. if you want to follow Jesus without loving, if you want to be a Christian without Learning to show the Father's love, you're looking for a cheeseburger without cheese.

You should be able to tell me what our mission is.  And as we walk together, my task is to teach you to show the father's love... to as you learn, as we all learn together, we welcome and love a rainbow of people from all nations, who are Learning to show the Father's love...

© Gilmour Lilly October 2011

Boring? Untrue? Irrelevant? Reading: John 2. 1-10.

Today I hoped to tackle some questions "sent in by the audience" but didn't receive any. So decided to look at what I suspect are some of the questions people are asking, or maybe felt too polite to ask.

Question 1: 
"Isn't Christianity a lot of boring old mumbo-jumbo?"  Why should I bother with Church when it's so boring?

I'm afraid to admit that sometimes Church can be Guilty as charged! But it shouldn't be!

 The Church has managed to pull of a major miracle by turning wine into water.  Jesus' life and work was all about the "Kingdom of God" - and that meant healing for the broken, freedom for the enslaved, justice of the oppressed, a challenge for the greedy and the oppressor. It all sounds pretty exciting, exhilarating, far from boring. Too demanding, maybe; but boring?

And Jesus said his "Kingdom" was like "New wine" that was still alive, fermenting, growing... but the church has turned "the Kingdom of God" into religion, turned excitement and challenge into manageable routine, turned wine back into water.  So, if the Church has given you the impression that Jesus and the faith that bears his name, Christianity, is boring, I can only apologise, and assure you that it doesn't have to be that way.

A few years ago a guy from Edinburgh – in fact he’s a Christian and goes to Barnton Baptist Church – was into serving a charity by driving trucks full of aid  to Eastern Europe.  As an ex-fireman he realised that the emergency services in some Balkan countries were inadequately equipped and trained for dealing with road traffic accidents – even to the point of having nothing better than crowbars and screwdrivers to get victims our of smashed cars.  The result was a project that got loads of Scots working together to buy up retired fire engines, restore them and donate them to eastern European countries, driving them over and training local rescue workers in the right techniques.  That has been a hugely demanding but also exciting project.  Definitely not boring!

Question 2
Isn't Christianity just a bunch of myths?   Why should I sign up for something that means I have to leave my brain at the door?

There are a number of things to say about that.  We're going to have to think hard, so keep your brain in gear!

Firstly, let me give you a philosophy lesson... The "scientific method" of finding things out uses what is called "Inductive reasoning."  It begins with observations about specific things that happen in the world, and creates a general rule.  Someone observes that water freezes at 0ºc under normal pressure. That is observed over and over again.  So we have a rule that the freezing point of water is 0ºc.  That is reached by the scientific method.

Once you have a rule, you can use it to answer questions about specific events, like, "What will happen if...?"  and "What made this happen?"  What will happen if I use water (without any antifreeze) to cool my car and the water cools down to below 0ºc? It will all freeze up.  That's called Deductive reasoning. It's about predicting outcomes.  On the other hand, if I take my car to the garage because it is leaking water, and the mechanic tells me the radiator has split open, he might say that happened because there was no antifreeze in the system and the water froze up. (That, for those who are curious is called Abductive reasoning.)  It's concerned with determining causes.

Now when you encounter a book that talks about the miraculous, the supernatural, if you have a rule that says "There is no such thing as the supernatural", then you are going to explain the so-called supernatural in some other way. You are going to say that the book was written by simple, credulous people.

Albert Einstein receiving US citizenship

But, what if that "rule" isn't right?  This week the CERN lab in Switzerland reported observing particles moving at more than the speed of light.  So rules can be wrong. CERN stated that this is at odds with well-established laws of nature, though science frequently progresses by overthrowing the established paradigms Maybe E>mc2(!) If there is a God, the "law" that there is no such thing as the supernatural is suddenly highly suspect. As comedian Frank Skinner - who is a Christian said, "If you believe in God, all bets are off..."

But what about those places where there seems to be a direct conflict between the bible and science? Where the Bible apparently says one thing and science says another?

We need to get rid of the idea that the people who wrote the Bible were somehow stupid.   The book of Genesis contains two different perspectives on creation: two different versions of the same story.  Did the person who put them together in the same book not notice?  Or maybe he did it intentionally.  Where did Cain - Adam and Eve's son - get his wife from?  A favourite question from people who are trying to knock Christians off their perch.  But do you think for one moment the literary genius who wrote Genesis never noticed the problem?  He is unperturbed by the fact that there were other people in the world, besides the people mentioned by name... that should tell us something - he isn't writing a scientific textbook but a history with  "God-story".

So, maybe there isn't  so much of a conflict as you think. The bible - properly used - and science - properly used - dovetail together, telling different parts of the same story.  As one wise poet wrote long ago, "the heavens are declaring the glory of God" (Psalm 19. 1)

Question 3

What is the relevance of all this to my life?

There's one more thing about stories like Adam and Eve. In the way they describe the human condition - the terrible sense of loss of Man thrown out of the Garden, the idea that we are made for something better - they have a ring of truth. We just know  - we instinctively feel - that we are different from the animals, that there is something "missing".  It seems being human involves seeking a deeper dimension.  When you see a bunch of teenagers getting drunk in the local park you just know they were made for better things, When you see a Somali refugee child too weak to flick the flies away from her face, you just know she was made for better things. A human death is a tragedy. Loss is loss because there was something better.

When Jesus turned water into wine - it was more than a neat conjuring trick. It was care and love for the practicalities of life for a poor and embarrassed young family: it was highly relevant to that young bridegroom's life.  It was a reminder that the kingdom of God is meant to spill out through our lives to bring refreshment, healing and hope for us and for our world. It's meant to be life changing and it's meant to be world changing. It takes us back to live with the purpose and dignity we were made for; it promises a reversal of all the injustice and pain in our world. It's highly relevant.

© Gilmour Lilly September 2011

The Spirit and Gifts: Tongues and Interpretation

The Spirit and Gifts: Tongues and Interpretation
1 Cor  14. 1-28;  and 12. 8-10, 28-30

Background. We have been learning about the gifts God stirs up among his people by the Holy Spirit, beginning with the list in 1 Cor 12. 8-10.  Today we look at the gifts of tongues and interpretation.

Firstly, what are these gifts and what are they for?
Tongues is speech that is unlearned and beyond the scope of the rational mind. On the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, they all spoke in other languages, so that all the visitors in Jerusalem for the feast heard the Christian message in their own languages.  Sometimes tongues is like that. Sometimes it isn't: the speaker simply speaks out in a flow of praise or prayer in no known language.  Paul talks about "tongues of men (known languages) and angels (unknown languages)" - and scholars talk about a language miracle, and about ecstatic speech.   Both are possible: ecstatic speech probably more possible than a language miracle. (Some of the earliest Pentecostal missionaries came a cropper because they presumed that when they arrived in a tribal area the Holy Spirit would enable them to speak in the local language - to they never bothered to try to learn a language before going out! And in fact, they forgot that the tongues that were spoken on the day of Pentecost were not used in a conversation. There is no suggestion that those who spoke in tongues were able to understand what the people from all over the world said, or to decide what they wanted to say in their new languages. Just that they were able to speak. This was never intended to replace language learning or to enable a conversation to take place. It was there to let people hear the Good News in their own language and so have a demonstration that God really cared about them).

You might ask, "What possible benefit might there be in my being able to speak in a language I've never learned: unless I am able to say something in a language someone else will understand.  Even than, I can't have a conversation.  All I can do is say make my voice available for God to speak.  Actually, that would be good enough. I have heard testimonies of people being dramatically impacted by events like that.  But what possible use could it be to be able to speak in a completely unknown tongue?

Paul in fact answers that question:
1. see 1 Cor 14. 4: "He who speaks in a tongue builds up himself." - meaning promotes growth in character, virtue, holiness, blessedness. Through the release that comes from tongues,  the personality of a person can be built up: that is a faith statement, but one borne out by research.
2. see 1 Cor 14. 14-17: tongues can be used for prayer.  We can use the gift of tongues to speak out God's praises.  There may be moments when you are overwhelmed with the majesty, greatness and glory of God.  Those are the moments to let that new language come into its own.  There may be moments when, as Paul suggests in Romans 8. 26-27: "The Spirit helps us in our weaknesses: when we don't know how to pray as we ought the Spirit prays inside us with groans too deep for words.  I don't know for 100% certain that Paul was thinking about the use of tongues when he wrote these words. He may well have been. But I do know for certain that tongues is definitely one way in which those groans too deep for words can be presented before God as prayer.

Interpretation is a rendering of the tongue, into a language that can be understood. It is not a translation. It is an interpretation.  It explains, makes sense of the whole tongues event. Bittlinger says "Interpretation is not an accurate translation nor a commentary on prayer in the Spirit. Rather, it is  a presentation of the essential content in the mother tongue."

It is given so that there may be some understanding of the event that has taken place. It is important that we engage all of our being.  Paul talks about praying - or singing - with the spirit and with the mind (1 Cor 14. 15).  It is good to come to God and just engage with God, Spirit to spirit.  But it is good to engage the mind as well.  Interpretation enables the minds of others to engage with our prayers and praises and to agree with them.

A mission question?  
Paul raises a question about the impact of tongues as they were being used in Corinth - the kind of tongues that are not any human language - on "outsiders", those who don't trust in Jesus and have not had the things Christians do explained to them. Paul's argument is difficult but we should make the effort to understand it...

He begins by quoting (1 Cor 14. 21) from Isaiah 28. 11, where Isaiah says in effect to Israel, "Because you have not turned to God when you heard me speaking to you in Hebrew or Aramaic, God is going to speak to you through people who speak foreign languages - the Assyrians. Maybe when they come and invade the land, you'll wake up and repent of your sins."  In other words, when God speaks to Israel through "men of strange languages" he is speaking judgement.  So, says Paul, tongues is kind of like that. It's real, and it's God, but if everyone is shouting out in an unknown language, to unbelievers it sounds like gibberish and confirms them in their unbelief.  So tongues is a judgement-sign for unbelievers. Prophecy - that speaks clearly and incisively and exposes what is really going on in people's hearts - can turn unbelievers pretty quickly into believers.

This is an important passage, because it wrestles with the missional impact of the Church's ordinary day-to-day life... What do we look like, how do we come across, to the uninitiated?  We may tell ourselves that our society has turned its back on God; that men and women are under judgement.  But if, by whatever means - tongues that can't be understood or a little routine that doesn't make sense - we present ourselves as a stupid, self-indulgent minority who are busily carrying on our little rituals and don't care about our world, we are helping people along the road to judgement.

So what are we to do?
We need to be open. Paul says "I wish you all spoke in tongues" (1 Cor 14. 5) and adds that he uses the gift more than any of the Corinthians.  (1 Cor 14. 18)  He says at the end of the chapter, just in case anyone thinks it would be better not to bother with tongues after
all,  "Don't forbid speaking in tongues." (1 Cor 14. 39)
In private.  If Paul says he speaks in tongues more than anyone else. People need to be told that; it's not a well-known fact - because Paul uses the gift,  mainly in private. We need to explore and unpack the gift in private prayer and praise. It can be deeply releasing to our souls as well enabling our prayers.
In the body.   "In the Church I would far rather speak five words in prophecy." (1 Cor 14. 19) There needs to be proper functioning in the Body of Christ, the church, so we do what we do for building up one another not just ourselves.  (v. 17)  that means
* Pray for the power to interpret. (1 Cor 14. 13)
* Only two or three at most should speak out in tongues in public worship (1 Cor 14. 27)
* and if you don't believe there is someone with the gift of interpreting the tongue, and you don't feel you will be able to do so, you keep quiet. (1 Cor 14. 28)
* Space needs to be made for the interpretation as well as the tongues. 
What if you haven't got tongues?  You can always ask (1 Cor 14. 1: "Earnestly desire the spiritual gifts"); but don't be uptight about it. If you haven't got the gift, it means what? Precisely this: you don't speak in tongues. It's not the proof of anything. It's not evidence of being more spiritual than someone else. Jesus said "he who believes in me, out of his inner begin shall flow rivers of living waters." (John 7. 38)  It's not something to force yourself to do, something to squeeze out of you. If it doesn't flow, don't worry about it. If God wants you to have it, it will come.

© Gilmour Lilly September 2011