Do you ever wonder whether you really love Jesus?
To be honest I don't (wonder that is); I kind of just assume that I do.
But there's a problem here....presuming my standing before God is very dangerous. The Scriptures teach that we should make our calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:10) and that we should examine ourselves to see that we are in the faith (2 Cor.13:5). We should be asking ourselves some critical questions. Not questions about whether we're trying hard enough, for it's all by grace, but questions about whether we're truly walking in faith and repentance or whether we are in fact just relying on something we said or did more years ago than we care to remember.
J. C. Ryle (Anglican Bishop, 1816-1900) gives us some pointers as to how what genuine love for Christ looks like. He writes:
If we love a person, we like to think about him. We do not need to be reminded of him. We do not forget his name or his appearance or his character or his opinions or his tastes or his position or his occupation... Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
If we love a person, we like to hear about him. We find a pleasure in listening to those who speak of him. We feel an interest in any report which others make of him... Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
If we love a person, we like to read about him. What intense pleasure a letter from an absent husband gives to a wife, or a letter from an absent son to his mother... Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
If we love a person, we like to please him. We are glad to consult his tastes and opinions, to act upon his advice and do the things which he approves... Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
If we love a person, we like his friends. We are favorably inclined to them, even before we know them. We are drawn to them by the common tie of common love to one and the same person... Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
If we love a person, we are jealous about his name and honor. We do not like to hear him spoken against, without speaking up for him and defending him... Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
If we love a person, we like to talk to him. We tell him all our thoughts, and pour out all our heart to him. We find no difficulty in discovering subjects of conversation... Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
Finally, if we love a person, we like to be always with him. Thinking and hearing and reading and occasionally talking are all well in their way. But when we really love people we want something more... Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
Holiness, (Darlington, England: Evangelical Press,) 247-249.
So what if that's not us and we want it to be? The path of "trying harder, getting up earlier, doing more" is legalism and death. What we need to do instead is to see Jesus in the pages of the Bible - see his worth, his work, his provision, his grace. We need to see him through hearing the Word with faith (1 Sam. 3:21, Gal. 3:3-5).
In short we need to bring the gospel to bear on our paucity of love and see God work in our hearts. And he will!
Wednesday 31 August 2011
Friday 26 August 2011
Our Toxic Culture
I thought this letter from Steve Clifford, head of the Evangelical Alliance, was worth quoting in full. There certainly is a vacuum of ideas and I really don't think those at the helm in the UK have any sense of which way to go when it comes to the societal challenges we face. We really are in uncharted waters and huge rocks lurk just beneath the surface. Maybe the Church could step up and.....be the Church.....
A letter to members of the Evangelical Alliance concerning the recent riots in the UK, 18 August 2011
Although it seems that everything that can be shaken is being shaken, there is a danger that within a few weeks life will have moved on, the images will have faded, we’ll be back to ‘business as usual’ and nothing will have changed.
But we have to change. It is now obvious that our society is just not working and our national culture is toxic. Our house is built on sand - we have no place for God, no space for values or virtues, and a social environment in which it’s really hard to talk about right and wrong.
In the wake of some of the worst and most widespread social disorder that this country has experienced, the analysis is already taking an obvious focus. Things like family breakdown, the loss of fatherhood, lack of discipline in schools, the collapse of a sense of common good, the rise of individualism and human rights culture have long been highlighted by many Christian commentators – but have largely fallen on deaf ears. However, what has been described by one commentator as ”the all-too-predictable outcome of a three-decade liberal experiment which tore up virtually every basic social value” may now provide Christians with a renewed voice and a more attentive audience.
The truth is that, as a nation, we have created new gods, with materialism and consumerism now defining our social relations. The ‘stuff’ we acquire - designer clothes, the latest flat screen TV, car or mobile phone – shouts out ‘this is who I am’. We worship at the temple of our shopping centres, our credit cards paying homage to consumer gods. So why, in a society that tells its young to ‘get rich quick or die trying’, were we surprised when some of our number went shopping without cash or a card? Anaesthetised by an over-reaching welfare state and incentivised by an insatiable free-market, many of our young people are spiritually impoverished. Drugs, cheap booze and celebrity culture fuel this. Lacking respect for others and for themselves, some have simply opted out, seeing society as something that happens for other people, but not for them.
Where was the voice making it clear that these attitudes were ‘wrong’? It seems that the institutional shaking has exposed a crisis of public leadership. Complicit through a lack of moral leadership, and ill-equipped by the unworkable ideals of secularism, our politicians are now struggling for answers.
We need genuine social cohesion, a willingness to invest in the small and trust in community, allowing faith communities and those who act like them to do what they know best, build relationships, support and care. But how do we get past the liberal elitism and political correctness which has all too often suffocated living communities.
First, we need to vocally reject the economic liberalism of the right and the cultural liberalism of the left, and affirm the need for a renewal of Christian principles in public life. As the fallen idols of the state and market continue to wreak havoc in materially and spiritually impoverished communities across the UK, it is vitally important that Christians turn up the volume in the national debate.
In his recent address to the 2011 National Prayer Breakfast in the Palace of Westminster, director of the Message Trust Andy Hawthorne OBE gave numerous examples of young lives transformed by the gospel. Stating that “The Bible works … and Jesus really is the solution to our countries problems”, he challenged our leaders to understand the truth that ‘as the Church goes, so the nation goes’. This is our challenge.
With calm having returned to our streets (if only for the present), as the analysis and reflection begins, Christians need to play their part in finding ways of helping families to prosper. It’s the building block of a stable society. The 21st century family comes in all kinds of shapes and sizes, but we all know that a committed relationship for life between a man and a woman has to be the best place for children to prosper. Let’s call for government to look again at employment, tax and education. As a nation, how can we support the family and make it a bit easier to be a parent? If we don’t, the gang will take its place, providing support, respect and a place for belonging.
And we have to look again at education. We are all thankful that there are some great schools out there, with wonderful teachers doing brilliant work. But sadly there are still failing schools, and in our larger inner city education centres where discipline is almost impossible, we have seen expectations crash and the prospects for employment diminish.
Our toxic culture of failed families, failed education and failed employment, has created a significant underclass in all of our major cities.
As Christians we need to be reminding ourselves and our neighbours that those we saw on the streets are our young people, our young adults. Although they were a minority, they are still part of our communities and we have a responsibility to see change - for them but also for the well being of our communities as a whole.
Throughout the unrest, we saw both the worst and the best of how we are living together. It was great on Tuesday morning to wake up and see that alongside images of burning buildings, wrecked cars and exhausted police officers, there were an army of broom carrying local residents refusing to give up their streets to the rioters. This was an image of hope, and it gave an insight into the often untold story of the Church at work in the UK. We were among the street cleaners, and we were also opening up our buildings, providing refreshments for emergency services, collecting clothes, basic supplies, offering advice on insurance claims and re-housing those who have lost everything. Many church leaders provided genuine local leadership in the crisis, and Christians across the country visited neighbours, the elderly and vulnerable – and Street Pastors have been out every night of the last week. And of course there’s the secret weapon – the Church was praying, and how they were praying; with so many large meetings, small meetings and public vigils. I’m convinced we saw God answering prayer. Who knows what would have occurred if God’s people had not been asking?
So where to from here? In the vacuum of ideas, this is a time of unprecedented
opportunities. We have to see change and the Church, God’s people – rightly positioned – are the catalyst for such change in our nation. This is not a time for fear but for hope.
Here are a few practical steps we can take immediately to detoxify our culture with salt and light…
• Take action – get involved in (or start) church projects for renewing our battered and neglected communities
• Continue to pray for healing in our communities – for peace and security. And pray
for wisdom for our local and national political leaders
• Contact your local MP or councillor, and graciously express the need for a renewal of biblical principles in social policy decisions – citing examples of Christian action
• Contact the local and national media, and graciously express the need for a renewal
of biblical principles in public life – citing examples of Christian action
• Look at how you and your church can get involved in shaping politics and
government by visiting www.susa.info
Steve Clifford
General Director
Evangelical Alliance
A letter to members of the Evangelical Alliance concerning the recent riots in the UK, 18 August 2011
Although it seems that everything that can be shaken is being shaken, there is a danger that within a few weeks life will have moved on, the images will have faded, we’ll be back to ‘business as usual’ and nothing will have changed.
But we have to change. It is now obvious that our society is just not working and our national culture is toxic. Our house is built on sand - we have no place for God, no space for values or virtues, and a social environment in which it’s really hard to talk about right and wrong.
In the wake of some of the worst and most widespread social disorder that this country has experienced, the analysis is already taking an obvious focus. Things like family breakdown, the loss of fatherhood, lack of discipline in schools, the collapse of a sense of common good, the rise of individualism and human rights culture have long been highlighted by many Christian commentators – but have largely fallen on deaf ears. However, what has been described by one commentator as ”the all-too-predictable outcome of a three-decade liberal experiment which tore up virtually every basic social value” may now provide Christians with a renewed voice and a more attentive audience.
The truth is that, as a nation, we have created new gods, with materialism and consumerism now defining our social relations. The ‘stuff’ we acquire - designer clothes, the latest flat screen TV, car or mobile phone – shouts out ‘this is who I am’. We worship at the temple of our shopping centres, our credit cards paying homage to consumer gods. So why, in a society that tells its young to ‘get rich quick or die trying’, were we surprised when some of our number went shopping without cash or a card? Anaesthetised by an over-reaching welfare state and incentivised by an insatiable free-market, many of our young people are spiritually impoverished. Drugs, cheap booze and celebrity culture fuel this. Lacking respect for others and for themselves, some have simply opted out, seeing society as something that happens for other people, but not for them.
Where was the voice making it clear that these attitudes were ‘wrong’? It seems that the institutional shaking has exposed a crisis of public leadership. Complicit through a lack of moral leadership, and ill-equipped by the unworkable ideals of secularism, our politicians are now struggling for answers.
We need genuine social cohesion, a willingness to invest in the small and trust in community, allowing faith communities and those who act like them to do what they know best, build relationships, support and care. But how do we get past the liberal elitism and political correctness which has all too often suffocated living communities.
First, we need to vocally reject the economic liberalism of the right and the cultural liberalism of the left, and affirm the need for a renewal of Christian principles in public life. As the fallen idols of the state and market continue to wreak havoc in materially and spiritually impoverished communities across the UK, it is vitally important that Christians turn up the volume in the national debate.
In his recent address to the 2011 National Prayer Breakfast in the Palace of Westminster, director of the Message Trust Andy Hawthorne OBE gave numerous examples of young lives transformed by the gospel. Stating that “The Bible works … and Jesus really is the solution to our countries problems”, he challenged our leaders to understand the truth that ‘as the Church goes, so the nation goes’. This is our challenge.
With calm having returned to our streets (if only for the present), as the analysis and reflection begins, Christians need to play their part in finding ways of helping families to prosper. It’s the building block of a stable society. The 21st century family comes in all kinds of shapes and sizes, but we all know that a committed relationship for life between a man and a woman has to be the best place for children to prosper. Let’s call for government to look again at employment, tax and education. As a nation, how can we support the family and make it a bit easier to be a parent? If we don’t, the gang will take its place, providing support, respect and a place for belonging.
And we have to look again at education. We are all thankful that there are some great schools out there, with wonderful teachers doing brilliant work. But sadly there are still failing schools, and in our larger inner city education centres where discipline is almost impossible, we have seen expectations crash and the prospects for employment diminish.
Our toxic culture of failed families, failed education and failed employment, has created a significant underclass in all of our major cities.
As Christians we need to be reminding ourselves and our neighbours that those we saw on the streets are our young people, our young adults. Although they were a minority, they are still part of our communities and we have a responsibility to see change - for them but also for the well being of our communities as a whole.
Throughout the unrest, we saw both the worst and the best of how we are living together. It was great on Tuesday morning to wake up and see that alongside images of burning buildings, wrecked cars and exhausted police officers, there were an army of broom carrying local residents refusing to give up their streets to the rioters. This was an image of hope, and it gave an insight into the often untold story of the Church at work in the UK. We were among the street cleaners, and we were also opening up our buildings, providing refreshments for emergency services, collecting clothes, basic supplies, offering advice on insurance claims and re-housing those who have lost everything. Many church leaders provided genuine local leadership in the crisis, and Christians across the country visited neighbours, the elderly and vulnerable – and Street Pastors have been out every night of the last week. And of course there’s the secret weapon – the Church was praying, and how they were praying; with so many large meetings, small meetings and public vigils. I’m convinced we saw God answering prayer. Who knows what would have occurred if God’s people had not been asking?
So where to from here? In the vacuum of ideas, this is a time of unprecedented
opportunities. We have to see change and the Church, God’s people – rightly positioned – are the catalyst for such change in our nation. This is not a time for fear but for hope.
Here are a few practical steps we can take immediately to detoxify our culture with salt and light…
• Take action – get involved in (or start) church projects for renewing our battered and neglected communities
• Continue to pray for healing in our communities – for peace and security. And pray
for wisdom for our local and national political leaders
• Contact your local MP or councillor, and graciously express the need for a renewal of biblical principles in social policy decisions – citing examples of Christian action
• Contact the local and national media, and graciously express the need for a renewal
of biblical principles in public life – citing examples of Christian action
• Look at how you and your church can get involved in shaping politics and
government by visiting www.susa.info
Steve Clifford
General Director
Evangelical Alliance
Wednesday 24 August 2011
Remembering Our Leaders - John Stott
I heard the news that John Stott had died from the Bishop of Mubende whilst in Uganda. We were out in the middle of goodness knows where and he'd just led (and our family had just sat through) a four and a half hour church service. We'd had some lunch (a story in itself) and I was asking him who had influenced him in his spiritual journey. And then he told me about the great man's death a couple of days previously.
I was pleased for Dr Stott, he was 90 and was now with his Lord but sad for the rest of us who will miss his huge contribution. And his contribution was ongoing - his last book was written when he was 88!
I only heard him speak once (and it wasn't all that great to be honest) and I've only read a few of his 50 books but his impact on me has been massive. This is in large measure due to the fact that without him the whole Christian landscape that we enjoy today would be so much the poorer. So many of those who have helped me in my Christian walk and ministry have been mentored and shaped by him.
He fought battles that we don't have to fight anymore. Battles over the scholarly integrity of the Bible; he led the way in showing that our Scriptures are academically coherent and reliable. Battles over the relationship between evangelism and social action; no longer do we see them as separate - it's just a non issue now but back in the day if you cared for the poor you were considered to be a liberal. Battles over whether or not Christians should be involved in political and social issues; he said that of course we should in fact, he told us, to have the Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other.
John Stott helped me to understand the Bible and to love clear doctrine. His commentaries are phenomenally helpful. He also modelled to me a commitment to unity and to working well with others. When we're so quick to fragment and divide this has been a gift to the Church.
With the Langham Partnership he did more than just talk about the need to support majority world church leaders he got on and did it.
And there's loads more that could be said.... This link will take you to the EA's tribute that's worth a read.
http://bit.ly/r4inLC
Let's not idolise those who help us but rather honour them in ways that honour Him. Kind of like Hebrews 13:7 says.
I was pleased for Dr Stott, he was 90 and was now with his Lord but sad for the rest of us who will miss his huge contribution. And his contribution was ongoing - his last book was written when he was 88!
I only heard him speak once (and it wasn't all that great to be honest) and I've only read a few of his 50 books but his impact on me has been massive. This is in large measure due to the fact that without him the whole Christian landscape that we enjoy today would be so much the poorer. So many of those who have helped me in my Christian walk and ministry have been mentored and shaped by him.
He fought battles that we don't have to fight anymore. Battles over the scholarly integrity of the Bible; he led the way in showing that our Scriptures are academically coherent and reliable. Battles over the relationship between evangelism and social action; no longer do we see them as separate - it's just a non issue now but back in the day if you cared for the poor you were considered to be a liberal. Battles over whether or not Christians should be involved in political and social issues; he said that of course we should in fact, he told us, to have the Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other.
John Stott helped me to understand the Bible and to love clear doctrine. His commentaries are phenomenally helpful. He also modelled to me a commitment to unity and to working well with others. When we're so quick to fragment and divide this has been a gift to the Church.
With the Langham Partnership he did more than just talk about the need to support majority world church leaders he got on and did it.
And there's loads more that could be said.... This link will take you to the EA's tribute that's worth a read.
http://bit.ly/r4inLC
Let's not idolise those who help us but rather honour them in ways that honour Him. Kind of like Hebrews 13:7 says.
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