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

Our new Bible studies will be looking at the letters of John, so tonight was an introduction to these epistles. John, ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’ (John 13:23 TNIV), wrote these letters to warn against ‘spiritual con artists’ who would have led the church astray. The New Testament abounds with warnings about false teachers, for it is easy to be led astray (see 2 Cor 11:13-15 TNIV, Acts 20:29-30 TNIV, Matthew 7:21-23 TNIV). John ultimately sought to expose the false teachers who were ultimately unbelieving heretics and reassure the faithful, who may well have been unsettled and confused as a result of their teaching. In order to accomplish both purposes, John provides a series of tests in 1 John for distinguishing between genuine Christians and those who falsely claim to know Christ:

1) In response to the ‘new’ theology (which centred on the denial of the Incarnation, following gnostic views that the body was intrinsically evil and that Jesus therefore only ‘seemed’ to have a body – a heresy known as Docetism – or that the divine Christ descended on Jesus at His baptism, but departed before His crucifixion, a heresy known as Cerinthianism), John provides us with a doctrinal test: ‘What does the person believe about Christ?’ (see 1 John 1:5-2:27)

2) In response to the ‘new’ morality (which effectively meant the false teachers taught they had reached such an advanced stage in spiritual experience that they were beyond ‘good and evil’ and had no sin, in the sense that ‘what might be sin for people in a less mature stage of inner development was no longer sin for the completely spiritual man’, as F. F. Bruce puts it), John provides us with a moral test: ‘How does the person respond to the commandments of Christ?’ (see 1 John 2:28-4:6)

3) Finally, he provides us with a social test: ‘Does the person love other Christians?’ (see 1 John 4:7-5:12)

John is essentially writing to differentiate between genuine Christians and those who merely claim to be Christians. John Stott writes, “John’s argument is double-edged. If he seeks to bring believers to the knowledge that they have eternal life, he is equally at pains to show that unbelievers have not. His purpose is to destroy the false assurances of the counterfeit as well as to confirm the right assurance of the genuine.” (see ‘The Epistles of John’ [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eardmans, 1964], P 52)

John is at pains for his flock (whom he lovingly calls ‘dear children’ repeatedly in his letters) to know who Christ is and why He came (see 1 John 2:2 TNIV, 1 John 4:14 TNIV). He assures them that Christ came to be the Saviour of the world (not just of the exclusive, enlightened few) through three witnesses:

1) The historical events witness to Jesus Christ, who was sent (1 John 4:9,10,14 TNIV), who came (1 John 5:20 TNIV) and was manifested in the flesh (1 John 1:2 TNIV, 1 John 3:5 TNIV, 1 John 4:2 TNIV).

2) The apostolic testimony witnesses to Jesus Christ. The apostles had first-hand, eyewitness evidence of His reality. (1 John 1:1-3 TNIV, 1 John 4:14 TNIV)

3) The Holy Spirit gives inner witness of the truth about Jesus Christ to every believer, corroborating the external witness. (1 John 2:20, 27 TNIV, 1 John 3:24 TNIV, 1 John 4:13 TNIV, 1 John 5:7, 8 TNIV).

Our eternal destiny depends on passing the tests John sets us.
Do we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, come in the flesh?
Do our lives reflect growing obedience to Christ?
Do our lives reflect growing, practical love for others?

These are the questions we’ll be considering over the coming months as we study these letters!

If surrender is the topic I refer to most often, waiting is probably next on the list of ‘most mentioned subjects’!! That’s because I’ve had to spend a lot of time waiting. I know a lot about this subject!

I don’t drive, so I dread to think how many hours I’ve spent waiting for buses, trains or (continuing the transport idea) aeroplanes. I’m the kind of person who likes to arrive early for every appointment, because I hate being late, so again, that’s a lot of (often unnecessary) waiting added to the list. As a parent, I’ve done my share of waiting for my son (at piano lessons, swimming lessons, sleepovers and the like.) I’ve had to wait for hospital appointments. I have an awful lot of experience in waiting.

I used to think waiting was a waste of time. And I hated the idea of wasting time. I would spend the time waiting thinking of all I could be doing instead and fuming. There’s nothing like being late for work because a bus doesn’t turn up when it’s not your fault and you’re freezing cold and miserable for making waiting seem utterly disconsolate and wretched.

But then I discovered that the Hebrew word for ‘waiting’ (‘qavah’) could also be translated as ‘hoping’ and was connected to the slow and patient task of rope-making, and my understanding of waiting began to change. I meditated on Scriptures like Psalm 130, Isaiah 40:31 TNIV, Romans 8:24-25 TNIV, and came to see that God wasn’t in half as much of a hurry as I was! I also decided that ‘hoping’ didn’t have the same negative connotations for me that ‘waiting’ had and therefore I could learn to ‘hope’ while I was waiting.

I learned that waiting was essential to the development of character and that God is ‘working in the waiting, sanctifying us’ (‘Sovereign Over Us’, Aaron Keyes). I learned that waiting is not passive stoicism or misery personified, but is a means of displaying active trust in God.

John Waller’s song ‘While I’m Waiting’ was important in helping me to see that waiting isn’t a waste of time, for there I learned that there were things I could do while I was waiting:
‘I’m waiting on You, Lord,
And I am hopeful.
I’m waiting on You, Lord,
Though it is painful,
But patiently I will wait.

While I’m waiting,
I will serve You,
While I’m waiting,
I will worship
While I’m waiting,
I will not faint,
I’ll be running the race,
Even while I wait.’ (‘While I’m Waiting’, John Waller)
‘While I’m Waiting’, John Waller

All God’s people have had to learn to wait. Noah had to wait for the flood. Abraham had to wait for a son. Moses had to wait in Egypt before he could see Israel delivered. David had to wait from being anointed king to actually being crowned king. Daniel and Ezekiel had to wait in exile. Mary had to wait for her son to be born. Jesus had to wait thirty years before beginning His ministry. Waiting is inevitable, but it’s important we understand it’s not a waste of time. It’s all part of God’s plan, for His timescales are not the same as ours.