What is your first thought when you read the title of this post, ‘front line ministry’? Did you think about those in ‘full-time Christian work’ (a phrase I loathe)? Did you think about missionaries, pastors, evangelists, apostles, people working for Christian charities and so on?

Or did you think about yourself?

The term ‘front line’ is defined in the dictionary as ‘The military line or part of an army that is closest to the enemy: “the front-line troops”.’ or ‘The most important or influential position in a debate or movement.’ As far as it goes, that definition is fine. But in church terms, if it has come to mean simply those with official roles or titles, it’s a very poor definition.

All of us who are called to be disciples of Christ are called into front line ministry. Graham Cray (Archbishops’ Missioner and Team Leader of Fresh Expressions) says ‘There is no way to re-evangelise this nation apart from the impact of the daily lives of ordinary, everyday Christians.’ (Foreword to ‘Imagine Church’ by Neil Hudson) I believe that. I believe we all have our ‘mission field’, that field of influence and work in which God has placed us. We all have family, friends, neighbours, colleagues and acquaintances who need to know more of Christ and for whom, perhaps, we are the only Christian they know. Our front lines may all look different and hopefully will be less physically dangerous than those faced by soldiers who are on the physical front line of war. But, as Stephen reminded us this morning, our struggle is not against flesh and blood and we are all engaged in God’s war. We need to see that no one is more ‘important’ than anyone else and that our front line requires as much prayer, determination and faith as anyone else’s. I am not denigrating those who serve overseas or who are paid to work for the cause of the gospel. But I do want us all to remember that discipleship is a lifelong process which involves obedience to Christ in our everyday contexts, wherever we are and whatever we are doing. Let’s pray for each other and seek to serve God in our own front lines.

This morning Stephen showed us a clip from the film ‘Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone’ where the three main protagonists (Harry, Ron & Hermione) take part in a game of chess.

Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone chess scene

We may sometimes feel that life is like a game of chess and may even feel that we are just pawns in this game of life. Sometimes we feel forced into situations we would not have chosen for ourselves; life can often seem arbitrary or unfair to us. At times, we have many unanswered questions about what happens in life, especially when illness or tragedy or disasters hit us. Often, we feel that we are going through difficulties whilst those who do not know God have it easy! (see Psalm 73). But there is more to life than we can see and whilst God may allow Satan to do certain things (see Job 1), He is always in control of life. God gives us the opportunity to cooperate with His plans and in doing so, we have the opportunity to participate in something far more significant than our own schemes and plans.

Job’s life seemed to go from bad to worse (see Job 1:13-19 TNIV). However, God was still in control, even during his suffering. Jesus knew that the devil (‘the prince of this world’) would cause him trouble, but he reminded His disciples ‘he has no hold over me.’ (John 14:30 TNIV) God is working in our lives at all times and has dealt Satan the fatal blow through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Rom 16:20 TNIV reminds us that the God of peace will soon crush Satan under our feet. There is an end to the chess game of life in sight and God’s victory is certain. It’s almost like two sides of a coin. On one side, there is earthly suffering and trouble, but on the other is heavenly joy and satisfaction. We need to place our total trust in God’s justice, mercy and love and understand that our struggle is not against flesh and blood EEph 6:12 TNIV). Our citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20 TNIV) and God is here with us through every struggle, trial and temptation to lead us into victory.

Yesterday Garry and I attended a training day in Barnsley led by Neil Hudson from the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity, otherwise known as LICC. This organisation, founded by John Stott, seeks to ‘equip Christians and churches for whole-life discipleship in the world’, trying to debunk the myth that God is only interested in ‘spiritual’ things and showing how our whole lives, including work, are part of God’s story, rather than trying to make God fit into our stories.

Churches can sometimes present the Gospel as a ‘quick fix’ solution to our problems, and there is no doubt that the plan of salvation is God’s solution to the monumental problem of human sin. However, God calls us to His cause, rather than us calling Him to ours. Christ calls people to come and follow Him; the goal of God is for each one of us to be transformed into the image of His beloved Son (Rom 8:29 TNIV).

Statistically, we will always spend more time away from ‘gathered meetings’ (commonly known as ‘going to church’) than we will at them. There are 168 hours in every week. If we assume we sleep for about 48 hours of those (roughly 7 hours most nights), that leaves 120 hours of living. The most even the most zealous of us is likely to spend in a church building or at church meetings is about 10 hours per week, which leaves 110 hours of ‘ordinary’ life. Pictorially, our church life may look a little like the picture below, with the red dots (sorry, Dave, the ones forming a small triangle in the bottom right hand corner) representing Christians and the grey dots the rest of the world:

We need to be aware that God is interested in how we live all the time, not just when we’re in an ‘official’ gathering and that the world of work may look vastly different in terms of the jobs we all do, but is nonetheless the place where most of us spend the most time and therefore has to be of enormous importance to both us and to God.

When we are not gathered together, we are scattered. That can feel quite lonely and scary at times, especially if our ordinary, everyday environments do not involve many other Christians. But at the same time, that gives us contact with a whole host of people whose lives can be touched by God through us. (The red people are scattered throughout the picture for those who are colour-blind.)

Many of us feel we are only living ‘effectively’ for God in this wider context if we are doing something overtly Christian: actually telling someone how to become a Christian, for example. But we need to understand that our whole lives are living letters which involve the ‘6Ms’:

1. Making good work (doing a job well and to the best of our ability is itself a witness: work is not of itself evil, but is part of God’s creation)
2. Modelling godly character (allowing Christ’s character to flow through us in the fruit of the Spirit makes an impact, whether we realise it or not)
3. Ministering grace and love (always a daily challenge!)
4. Moulding culture (maybe you’re the only Christian in your work environment who doesn’t swear, for example, but that example can influence and mould the environment you’re in)
5. Being a Mouthpiece for truth and justice (speaking out in the little things as well as the big ones)
6. Being a Messenger for the Gospel (the bit we usually think of as being ‘an effective Christian’!)

Today, as we gather together, let’s think about how God can work in and through us when we’re scattered as well! After all, as the picture demonstrates, we can actually touch far more people when we’re scattered than when we’re gathered…

Throughout history, various parts of the body have been thought to govern moods and emotions. The heart is equated with romantic love, rather than merely being a muscle that pumps blood around the body. Elizabethan doctors believed in the four ‘humours’ which governed health: blood, phlegm, choler (or yellow bile), and melancholy (or black bile) and proposed some fairly radical treatments if they felt these humours were imbalanced! It was a long time before the brain came to be recognised as the centre of the nervous system in the human body and essentially the body’s ‘control centre’.

How we think and what we think radically affects how we live. God wants our thinking to be transformed by Him: ‘Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.’ (Romans 12:1-2 TNIV) I am convinced that every battle is won or lost in the mind and that it is absolutely vital to our spiritual growth and health that we allow our minds to be transformed so that we can behave in right ways.

Transformed thinking is the antidote to feelings which vacillate from moment to moment, let alone from day to day. As we allow our minds to focus on truth and learn what it means to have steadfast minds (Isaiah 26:3 TNIV), we are able to have wrong thoughts washed away and let God’s thoughts have right of way. In 1 Corinthians 2:16 TNIV Paul says ‘we have the mind of Christ’ – an amazing thought that can revolutionise how we think and how we live!

The ‘how’ of transformed thinking is clearly laid out for us: ‘Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.’ (Phil 4:8 TNIV) If we are struggling with our thoughts – and Jesus reminded His disciples that all wrong behaviour ultimately starts with wrong thoughts (see Matt 5:21-48 TNIV, Matt 15:19 TNIV) – this is the key that unlocks our thinking. So often we dwell on wrong thoughts, weighing them, pondering them, even praying about them. The answer is to focus instead on what is true and good and most of all to focus on God (Col 3:1-2 TNIV, Heb 12:1-3 TNIV) – God as He reveals Himself and not as our faulty thinking imagines Him to be. That is why I love many of Matt Redman’s songs (see below), which repeatedly declare that God is who He says He is.

‘The Glory of Our King’, Matt Redman
‘We Shall Not Be Shaken’, Matt Redman

I’m a woman. Feelings have always seemed to rule my life! Being a woman is like being on a rollercoaster all the time (probably one reason I refuse to go on rollercoasters!) I am volatile, emotional, tearful, temperamental and often downright irrational.

When I was first dating my husband, he was bewildered by my mood swings. Garry is the most level-headed, rational, calm and stable person I have ever met and it must have been totally confusing to him to have to deal with someone who was so unpredictable. I’m grateful that he persevered with me, but it can’t have been easy!

Feelings can be great in all kinds of ways, but they’re not really a reliable barometer of faith. On the days when I feel God’s presence and the sun’s shining down on me, all’s well with the world and I can be a great Christian. But on the days when I’m ‘moody, sad and very grumpy’ (to paraphrase a song, this particular version by Rocky Kids!), God can seem fickle, unfair, unkind and downright absent.

I’ve come to see that
“I can’t live by what I feel
But by the truth Your word reveals.” (‘East to West’, Casting Crowns)
‘East to West’, Casting Crowns

One of the most important things I’ve learnt in thirty years of being a Christian is to walk by faith and not by sight and to trust what God says more than what I feel. As Nicky Gumbel says ‘Let your dreams be bigger than your fears, your actions louder than your words, and your faith stronger than your feelings.’ Feelings aren’t the plumbline for what’s right and true in the world. Paul says ‘Let God be true, and every human being a liar’ (Rom 3:4 TNIV). My feelings change so much that they can’t possibly be the truth I live by. Instead, I have to choose to listen to the Voice of Truth and accept God’s assessments of situations rather than believing my feelings all the time.
’ Voice of Truth’, Casting Crowns

Today’s nugget of truth is connected to yesterday’s musings on waiting. Waiting is hard for us because we are a people ‘who belong to eternity stranded in time.’ (‘Joy In the Journey’, Michael Card) We can’t imagine anything other than time and we don’t really understand eternity. Ecclesiastes 3:11 TNIV tells us that God has ‘set eternity in the human heart’, but that means there is a daily tension in our lives. We live on earth, but long for something more. We feel so hemmed in by the pressures of time and yet we yearn for the freedom of eternity.

God is eternal (Gen 21:33 TNIV, Deut 33:27 TNIV) and does not dwell in time. From everlasting to everlasting, He is God (Ps 90:2 TNIV). He gives us many promises about eternal things (eternal life being the most obvious!) These are mostly difficult for us to imagine or grasp.

The more we progress in the Christian life, however, the more we realise that God’s truth is timeless. It doesn’t matter if a promise was made centuries ago, a promise is a promise to God. We grow more confident in our daily living (in our time-bound lives) as we realise that God is always true to Himself and His Word and is not trapped in time. We can trust Him to take care of our everyday lives, because nothing is too small or insignificant for Him and nothing is too large or difficult for Him. Mark often says that God will move heaven and earth to work out His plan and I’ve recently had first-hand experience of that! (I Stand Amazed)

I’ve always loved science-fiction films and love those that involve time travel. I loved the ‘Back To the Future’ trilogy and various other films that deal with travelling in time and space; I’m a big ‘Doctor Who’ fan.

But no matter how many ways people try to describe those things or imagine them, I’m not convinced by their veracity, just entertained by their ingenuity!

What I have become convinced of in the past thirty years is that our times are in God’s hands (Ps 31:15 TNIV) and that however hard I find it to imagine eternity, it is real and true and will involve a lot of people worshipping an eternal God!

‘Endless Hallelujah’, Matt Redman