The Church as Revelator
Garry continued his series on Christ as revelator of God’s glory (see John 1:18) by looking at Jesus’ words to His disciples in John 14:1-14. Here, Jesus reveals the Father’s heart to His disci0ples (see John 3:16) and yet it’s clear that His disciples are confused, not understanding where Jesus is going or how He reveals the Father to them. God wants people to know Him and what He is like and the clearest revelation we have of God is through Jesus: ‘anyone who has seen me has seen the Father’. He reveals Himself through His word, through Jesus, through His actions and now through His church. We are now called to be those who reveal God’s character to a world which knows little of God.
So often, people’s experience or knowledge of God are second-hand. Insurance policies talk about exemption clauses because of ‘acts of God’, and these are always negative experiences such as flooding or earthquakes! Many people view the God of the Old Testament as wrathful and mean, failing to see that God’s nature is unchanging and that He is a God of faithfulness and love (not an evil God who is ‘replaced’ by the kinder Jesus-God, as some heresies claim.) Jesus reveals God as a God of justice who cares for the poor and who values the individual (all themes found in the Old Testament too) and then makes the startling statement that we, God’s people, are the salt and light of the world. (Matt 5:13-16)
The church is called to be salt. Salt is a preservative and we are called also to transform the flavour of the world around us (just as the word ‘salad’ originally meant to enhance the taste of green lettuce leaves with salt! – ‘You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavours of this earth‘, as the Message version puts it.) We are light, a city on a hill. During our recent visit to Malta, the cities of Rabat and Mdina which are set on a hill became a guiding point of reference for us; Christians are meant to show people the way to God by reflecting His light and pointing to Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6).
Light reveals colours (‘You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colours in the world.‘) So often, Christians are perceived negatively (and by association, people’s views of God are negative). We need to find ways to support and encourage all that is good as well as build bridges through our lifestyles so that we earn the right to be heard by others. God longs to grow the fruit of the Spirit in our lives – this fruit being a reflection of God’s character. As God’s character grows in us, we can then reflect that character to others, demonstrating love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, patience, gentleness and self-control. In this way, we reveal God’s character to a world which otherwise has many faulty ideas about God.
Coming soon…
Some advance notice of additional meetings and future plans:
On Saturday 7th May at 6 p.m. we will be holding our annual general meeting. This is a chance to look back on all God has done during the past year and to look forward to all that is ahead. Due to the nature of the meeting, it’s not really suitable for children, but we would encourage all adults who are interested in and committed to the work of God through our church to come along to this meeting. We’ll have drinks and cake after the meeting!
On Saturday 14th May at 6 p.m. at Furlong Road Methodist Church in Bolton-on-Dearne we’ll be having the next ‘Churches Together’ meeting to celebrate Pentecost. Do come along to support this meeting and to have fellowship with Christians from other local churches.
Looking even further ahead we are hoping to organise a missions’ trip to visit Fredrick and Reeba in India in the future and are interested in finding out exactly who would be willing to commit to a short missions trip (lasting between 1-2 weeks.) Mission opportunities in India are great: Fredrick is keen for people to see firsthand the work done with street children, help with children’s and youth ministry and be involved with the tailoring programme run by Reeba. This is a great opportunity to be see for yourselves the work we support and to participate in God’s work overseas. Each person going will be expected to raise the money for the flights there and back, but as a church we’ll also be looking at fundraising events to help people do this. See Garry for more details, including possible dates.
Avoiding the Titanic Mistake
Nicky Gumbel, in his ‘Bible In One Year‘ commentary, talks about how the Titanic, that flagship of cruise liners, sank in 1912 despite its compartmentalised infrastructure:
Its builders boasted that it had 16 watertight compartments and that up to four of these could be damaged or even flooded and still the ship would float; it was, in their words, ‘unsinkable.’ However, sink it did (on 15th April 1912), after hitting an iceberg, and when the wreck was found, it was discovered that damage to just one compartment had affected all the rest.
When we divide our lives into different compartments, we run the risk of sinking, just as the Titanic did. Psychiatrists talk of the dangers of fractured lives, how our attempts to deal with pain and trauma by boxing off our feelings or emotions, forcing them out of our consciousness, lead to problems in the long run. Repression and denial leave us looking good on the surface, but the pressure within these locked compartments of our psyche causes untold damage to our souls, like water flooding in to the Titanic’s compartments. Eventually, the force of those things comes crashing out, leading to depression, anger, breakdowns, as we cannot cope with holding all the separate pieces together. In extreme cases, schizophrenia results as our personality fragments.
In order to live lives of integrity, we have to root out sin, being aware that its pervasive influence seeps into every area of our lives. Attitudes to money, relationships, work, leisure and God are critical. Prov 23:7 reminds us that as we think, so we are.
We need to allow God’s ways of handling life to become our ways. Most of all, we need to receive God’s help, allowing His Spirit free reign, allowing Him access to every compartment, every room, in our lives. As He does this, He guides us day by day. Life is too daunting, too painful, too stressful to be lived on our own. Wholeness and healing are found in God; an undivided heart is the key to successful living. David’s success in life wasn’t because he was sin-free or his life trouble-free, but because he was a man after God’s heart who shepherded his people with integrity of heart. (Ps 78:72)
Pink Panther living
When I was at school, one of the desserts served was rice pudding, served with a dollop of strawberry jam:
Most children mixed the jam into the rice pudding and ate the subsequent pink dessert which they dubbed the ‘pink panther.’ The jam sweetened the pudding and changed its colouring completely.
Nowadays, I eat porridge for breakfast, usually with raspberries. Garry treats this breakfast like the children at school treated the rice pudding: he crushes the raspberries and eats a pink gloop for breakfast. I eat a spoonful of porridge with an individual raspberry.
I suspect that the pink panther approach works better in life, however, than my method, for (as Rick Warren says) ‘a life of integrity is one that is not divided into compartments.’
We think that the life works well when it’s divided into compartments (work, home, church, God, money, leisure, friends and so on.) It doesn’t. Life is messy; each area spills into another and can’t be divided up neatly. One area overflows into another and it actually becomes dangerous to try to keep these compartments separate, for it leads to fragmentation and disharmony.
Matt Redman’s song ‘King of My Soul’ has the line ‘so let my life be undivided, God.’ Jesus reminded us that we need to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love others as ourselves. (Matt 22:37-38) Only when there is integrity within, the ‘undivided heart‘ for which David prayed (Ps 86:11), can there be wholeness and strength. ‘A house divided against itself will not stand.’ (Matt 12:25) This applies to individuals, families, churches, even nations. Integration and integrity lead to health and strength.
Best of times, worst of times
When things go well for us, our reaction is usually favourable: we enjoy celebrating; we may even remember to praise God for the good things and good times! When something bad happens, however, we are usually full of questions: ‘why has this happened to me? Whose fault is it? Does God even care?’
Life will inevitably bring us a combination of good times and bad times and how we react is vitally important, for these incidents become pivotal points for us, with our reactions reflecting who we are. Job 7:20 reminds us that Job struggled at times, feeling that he had become ‘God’s target.’ He felt that he was a burden to God and tha he had been thrown into the clutch of the wicked (Job 16:11), just as Naomi felt the Lord’s hand had turned against her when her husband and sons died in Moab (Ruth 1:12-13).
Jesus reminded His disciples that the Holy Spirit will never leave us and is our comforter (see Luke 11:9-13). In good times and bad times, God does not leave us and in all circumstances, the best response is to praise God. There is power in praise (see Rev 4:8-11) and as we praise, we find that we can cope with the unexpected and that God picks us up and carries us through the trials.
We also had a belated birthday to celebrate:
April Prayer Topic
Throughout April we’ll be praying especially for families: our own families and families of people we know. There is so much pressure on families these days: financial pressure, emotional pressure, time pressure, to name but a few. The family is God’s idea and we so need God’s love to guide us and help us in the reality of living alongside others. Forgiveness, communication, appreciation and kindness are the essential ingredients that make a successful family: Virginia Satir says “Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible — the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family.”
Pray this month for:
- stability and healing of relationships within families – so many families are estranged and there are often complicated relationships throughout extended families, but God can help us to be stable and to demonstrate faithfulness and love in all our relationships and bring reconciliation and hope to painful situations
- children and young people in our families and in families associated with church to be saved
- new parents as they adjust to the pressures of parenthood and cope with the demands of sleepless nights and adjustments to their relationships
- grandparents to have wisdom and insight in helping each generation
- God’s transforming power to be seen in our families and in local families
- for people to be saved and welcomed into the wider family of God
There are many organisations seeking to work with the family. Check out the following resources: