Category: Pastor’s Pen

God’s Plan A

Was the church always God’s Plan A? Was it always God’s intention to have Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female (Gal 3:28)? To have a hodgepodge of people from different backgrounds and experiences, many of whom were weak and unimportant to the outside world (1 Cor 1:26)?

There are Christians who believe the answer to those questions is ‘no.’ That God sent Jesus to be the Jewish Messiah, and when he was rejected by his people God then turned to the Gentiles to start his church. This church is viewed as the great parenthesis, the brackets in the sentence detailing God’s grand plan for Israel. They believe that one day soon God will close those brackets and begin again with the Jewish nation.

But this is not a natural reading of the Old Testament promises, or the New Testament reality. Consider Gen 12:1-3. God promised Abraham that all the nations would be blessed through him. When he was given the sign of circumcision in Gen 17 there were people outside Abraham’s family who received the sign. When the Israelites came out of Egypt, some Egyptians came with them (Ex 12:38). We have the stories of Rahab, Ruth and others who joined Israel. Israel was never ‘pure’ racially. There were always Gentiles included.

Think also of the New Testament church. The first Christians were Jewish. The Apostles called the Jews to join the church. James even declares Amos 9:11-12 (where David’s tent would be rebuilt) is fulfilled as the Gentiles enter the church.

Just as Israel can be called the congregation/church in the wilderness (Acts 7:38), so the church can be called the ‘Israel of God’ (Gal 6:16).

It was always God’s plan to have one people of God united together in Christ. We are God’s Plan A.

A Sure Word

We are a sceptical people filled with suspicion. I saw a photo recently of a truck filled with manure, with the statement written on it: ‘This truck is loaded will political promises.’

It is easy to laugh at such a statement. But it is also a sign of our sadly cynical times. We live in a time when we disbelieve whatever politicians say, and even the media are accused of bias. The question is, who can we trust? Is there anyone who will tell the truth?

The Bible makes a bold claim for itself. It claims to be the word of God, and therefore entirely trustworthy and true.

It says in Prov 30:5, ‘Every word of God proves true.’

‘Ah,’ someone will say. ‘Of course the Bible will make that claim! The Bible says it’s true, and people believe it blindly!’ The irreligious sceptic will use terms like ‘circular argument’ to get away from examining the claims of the Bible.

But when you examine the claim, how could the Bible say anything else? If the Bible is the word of God, then of course it is true! If these words are from him, if he was so in control of everything written that what we have in our Bibles is exactly what he intended, then they must be true! God cannot lie, the Bible tells us, therefore the Bible cannot lie because it is his word!

Every word from his mouth is truth. How comforting to know that in a world full of deception, there is a sure word we can turn to. When the world fears a political crisis will be the end of the world, we have the truth. When we are tempted to believe our sin has defeated us, we have his promises. His word is truth.

Divine Addition

It’s always important to know what your role is. When you know your role, you know what you are responsible for and what you are not responsible for. When I worked at the front office of a building company, I knew my job. I sent out and paid invoices, took calls, and other minor tasks. My job was NOT to arrange a tradie to attend a job.

When it comes to evangelism, we can often be overwhelmed because we forget what our responsibilities are and what they are not. We are quick to be disheartened when we fail to see positive results, feeling like failures when invitations to church are rebuffed, or people remain as hard as ever despite our best efforts at answering objections.

But don’t feel discouraged. Consider Acts 2:47 – ‘And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.’

Who is it that adds people to the church? Certainly not us. It is the Lord who adds to our number. It is him alone who brings people from their natural state of rebellion to humble submission and joyous reception of the gospel. Only he can bring the dead to life and give faith to his enemies.

All this happens in the context of gospel proclamation and loving, self-sacrificial service of course. God has chosen to act through his church. But what a comfort. My role is to proclaim and leave the results to him.

Does this mean we don’t need to evaluate our efforts? No! We should always be evaluating whether we are clear on the gospel, answering questions as well as possible, being kind and loving. But even when we do all things perfectly, it will always be up to the Lord to add to our number. May he add many.

The disease of Self

We all have a disease. In every part of the globe, in every class of society, the disease of selfishness has infiltrated and wreaked havoc. We can’t escape the day without desiring something for ourselves.

Looking at some newspaper headlines before the start of the year, selfishness was a common theme. One energy company admits to duping customers with cheap rates on sign up only to raise them without warning a few months later. A Hollywood star speaks of being objectified when she was a teenager. A shoplifting syndicate which has been disrupted by police.

But this selfishness isn’t only in the world ‘out there.’ It is in the church, threatening to tear it apart. Consider James 4:1-2 – ‘What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.’

These are words to Christians! And they are a warning we must heed if we want to honour Christ. If we want to be friends with the world, desiring what they desire, we make ourselves enemies of God (Jas 4:4). How can we represent Christ to a fallen world if we are focussed on ourselves – our own reputation, our own preferences?

Jesus calls us to be united together in love. The gospel is to transform us that we no longer listen to selfish desires, but eagerly desire the good for others. Rather than taking, we give. Instead of harbouring grudges, we forgive. We seek to imitate the one who had the glories of heaven but left it for us; who was reviled on the cross but prayed for their forgiveness.

Let’s put selfishness to death, and love one another in 2019.

Waiting for another advent

As we come to the end of one year and anticipate the next, we usually have one of two attitudes: eagerness or dread. We either expect things to improve, or to turn sour.

The reality is, there is a measure of appropriateness to each attitude when they aren’t taken to the extreme. It is right to be hopeful in a world controlled by a good God. It is right to have a measure of apprehension in a world populated by sinners (either regenerate or not).

Our hope can never be merely in the changing of the seasons, or the advance from one year to the next. Our hope must be fixed on something greater and more significant.

We have just celebrated the advent, the coming, of Jesus. Or, to be more precise, we have celebrated his first advent. We’ve celebrated the wonders of the incarnation where God took on flesh in order to bear our punishment.

But there is another advent coming, and it is in this advent that we put our unbridled and unmeasured hope in. Christ will return to claim the world he not only made but died to save.

In Revelation 21:5, God makes that astounding statement, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ In the world to come the old things – death, mourning, crying, pain – will all be done away with. There will only ever be good things, never bad. Only ever joy, never pain. We have no need to be guarded in our anticipation, because it will be greater than we could even imagine.

As we come to a new year, let us put our hope in that Great Day, the dawn of the new age. ‘He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!’ (Rev 22:20).

The Branch has come

CS Lewis once said it would be too difficult to write something like The Screwtape Letters from the opposite point of view. The Screwtape Letters is a fictional record of letters, giving instructions from a senior demon to a junior demon seeking to keep a man from Christ and lure him into sin.

But to attempt something from the angelic perspective? Lewis didn’t have the skill. It seems to be a common lack among storytellers – they can’t imagine the good, pure and holy. The fictional world abounds with dystopian futures, but none that are truly utopian. We either can’t imagine a world that is completely good, or we so sugar-coat it that it becomes boring.

Yet this is the yearning of our hearts. The desire for utopia is the motivator for so many in the political sphere – if only tax rates were… if only those people weren’t allowed here… if only my moral code was legislated – then the world would be perfect!

But utopia will never be gained by man’s laws, or social change, or a health care system, or education, or an immigration policy. Utopia is beyond our reach to achieve. Whether we live in the most progressive or conservative state, we will never reach it.

But a utopia is what God promises to bring. How? By raising up a Branch.

‘Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land’ (Jer 23:5).

The Branch has been raised up. He came, opening the way to the New Creation. And he will come again, this Branch from David, bringing the New Creation with him. O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord!

Jesus: the greatest gift

What’s the best gift you’ve ever received? Once Bec and I were given an ice-cream maker! It was fun to make our own flavours. Another year Bec was given a few nights at a B&B near Apollo Bay, which was wonderful!

Unsurprisingly, God is the best gift-giver. Nothing we could give can top what he has already given. And God still promises more!

Consider Isaiah 9:6-7. ‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.’

What is God’s gift to us? A son! And what a son he is. We see his authority and majesty all throughout these verses. But surprising, this son will be God himself. He will be called Mighty God, Everlasting Father. We must be careful not to read this verse in isolation, concluding the Father became a man – he didn’t. But Jesus himself said, ‘Whoever has seen me has seen the Father’ (John 14:9).

God was saying that the child would be God, and yet from David. And there is no better gift than that. Nothing you could receive this Christmas could compare with getting God himself. There are many great things to look forward to: an eternal kingdom of justice, righteousness and peace for one. But nothing could compare to God himself.

Do you have God yet? Receive the precious gift of the Son. He died to bring sinners to God. There’s no better gift than that.

God with us

God being with his people is a common biblical theme. You can trace it through Genesis, with mankind enjoying God in the garden, then being cast out. Exodus begins with the people enslaved, and ends with God dwelling in the middle of the camp.

But God being in a tent is one thing. The rules and procedures to get through to him, the one man who could approach him – God living in a tent, and then the temple, was only a glimpse of life in the garden.

And finally, we hear the promise longed for since the man and the woman were cast out of the garden. Through Isaiah, God speaks to the wicked king Ahaz:

‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel’ (Isaiah 7:14).

In this child to be born, God would be ‘Immanuel’, meaning ‘God with us. In this child to be born, once again God would walk with his people. We wouldn’t be separated from him by veils or altars or priests. He would be with us, walking and talking with us.

And finally, the child was born. God in the flesh, walking among an unclean and sinful people. Yet he won’t break out in judgement. Instead, he’ll show them mercy.

This God in the flesh will show compassion to the poor and sick. He’ll preach of the coming kingdom, and will raise the dead. But most importantly, he will go to the cross. Rather than coming in judgement on us, he’ll face the judgement of his Father for us.

And because of his death and resurrection, those who trust in him are guaranteed an eternity with God. Everlasting life, with our everlasting God. Because of Christmas, and Easter, those cast out can be welcomed back into his presence.

From humble beginnings

When it was first announced that I would be the minister at Eaglehawk, one friend was particularly excited about the name.’ But while there’s much to love about Eaglehawk, it’s not what many would call ‘exciting.’

But God is the expert at using the humble for his purposes. In the 8th century BC he made a startling promise:

‘But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days’ (Micah 5:2).

It was in Bethlehem that a ruler would come! No one would have expected that! When the Wise Men came, they went to Jerusalem (Matt 2:1), until they were directed to Bethlehem. Bethlehem was a hick town, not a place of palaces and kings!

But it has a history. From here God had raised up David, youngest of his brothers. God made him king and promised he would always have a son to sit on his throne (2 Sam 7).

And from this same humble place God would bring forth the Great King. The one promised from the beginning. The one who would save his people.

To keep this promise God, at just the right time, had Mary and Joseph travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem. He ordained that a decree would be made by the Roman King (Luke 2:1, Prov 21:1), so his humble king would be born at the promised place.

Perhaps you feel small and powerless. God is the expert at using the weak to shame the strong. Who knows? It might be that through you inviting a friend to a Christmas event they will receive eternal life as they hear of the humble King.

Back to Basics

WSC Q5: Are there more gods than one?

WSC A5: There is but one only, the living and true God.

It was once inconceivable that this belief, that there is only one God, would be abandoned by Western Society. Christianity had held sway for so long, and even as the Reformation challenged (and in some places broke) the power of the Catholic Church, there was still clear agreement between the different groups that there was one God.

Today we are surrounded by many spiritualities and religions. You can imagine, if we were writing an explanation of the Christian faith in the 21st century, monotheism, the belief that there is only one God, would be important to include. God is a mystery to our world, and we would need to go back to basics. This is something the world, new converts and our children need to hear.

But why include it in the Westminster Shorter Catechism (WSC), written in the 17th century? This was known and believed by everyone, Catholic and Protestant alike!

The reality is, we always need to go back to the basics. We can never assume that everyone believes or knows the basics. People are continually being added to the church. They need to hear this news, they need to know the basics.

And for those of us well familiar with the basics, we need it too. Like Israel, we can be tempted to believe in other gods – gods of our own making. Gods that are more convenient, that demand less from us, that make promises we prefer, who are easier to understand and fit with our morality and view of humanity.

It’s good to get back to basics. Our God is the living and true God. He is one. And he alone is worthy of our worship.