Above all things

We Australians are often viewed by people from other countries as unusual and unorthodox. Our deep mistrust of authority leads others to believe we do not respect or hold sacred matters which are important.

In the USA, when the President presents himself at any event or campaign, he is applauded and welcomed. His office is held in such high esteem, people go out of their way to show honour and respect.

In Russia, when great orators, poets and authors are on display, the most solemn reverence is shown to them; - literature is respected as part of the Russian culture.

When our Prime Minister appears at a sporting event or on TV - we boo him. We treat sporting and cultural achievers with wary respect, and often cut them down so they don’t get “too puffed up with themselves”.

So, when the Bible asserts that Jesus is above all men; above all creation; above the angels and spirits of Heaven and Hell; that He is Son of God and Son of Man - how do we declare Him in our society without people instantly taking a back step and being wary? Because be assured - Jesus is the One, the anointed One of God Himself who has all things under His dominion and authority.

Will you bend the knee, and bow the head to your Lord with Australian wary mistrust or with joy and free abandon of a person alive in the Spirit ?

Somtimes, you just can't see it!

As a preacher of the Gospel, it can sometimes feel dark and fruitless as only a few people respond to the claims of Christ over a given period of time. In my own ministry there have been years of amazing fruit, and years of barrenness.

However, we often forget the principle of evangelism revealed in Mark 4 - the parable of the sower. We focus so much of our attention on the soil and the sower in this parable we diminish the actual outcome of the parable; where some grain produces thirty more grains, some produce sixty more grains, and other one hundred grains.

If we lead 1 person to Christ, who in turn leads 20 people to Christ in his lifetime, who in their turn lead 120 others to Christ, we are part of an amazing chain of Gospel ministry and the sense of fruitfulness merges into God's picture of evangelism, and not ours. Refreshing, isn't it!

Let me illustrate from an video produced by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association:

1. In 1855 a young minister named Edward Kimballwas trying to reach a young shoe salesman, and it was getting nowhere, until one day this show salesman believed. His name was Dwight L. Moody.
2. In 1873, Dwight L. Moody was preaching in Liverpool, and a Baptist minister named F.B. Meyer became influenced by Moody's style and content and began to revive his own congregation and community.
3. F.B. Meyer toured the USA and at the Northfield Bible Conference a struggling young minister named J. Wilbur Chapman was transformed and he, in turn, became a travelling evangelist with a very influential ministry.
4. In the early 1900's, J. Wilbur Chapman led a young baseball player named Billy Sunday to faith in Christ and this man became one of the most famous travelling evangelists in USA history.
5. In 1934, at a crusade in North Carolina being led by Billy Sunday, a local evangelist participating in the crusade prayed, "Lord, give us a Pentecost here". That day, a young student was born again in this crusade. His name - Billy Graham.

Could Edward Kimball, in 1855, see Billy Graham and His ministry. Not at all. But God could.

So, focus intently on the ONE you are ministering to, and let God produce the grains of wheat from your ministry - maybe one, maybe thirty, maybe thousands.

Reclaim & Rebuild

There comes a time in the life of most churches, when after years of powerful, expanding ministry, a time of serious decline occurs and things must alter in order to embrace a new era - a new generation of ministry in the Church, and in the community. In our wonderful, little Church, we are in such a time now.

The Brighton Church of Christ has been here for 150 years, declaring the Gospel and sovereignty of Jesus Christ, and building the Kingdom of God on these important cornerstones. We declare these inalienable truths again, and remain standing on Jesus Christ.

But if you look into history, there are a lot of ancient cornerstones lying around as ruins. Yes, the strong foundations are still in place; the original design still evident. One of my favourite TV shows is Time Team from Great Britain and they weekly investigate ruins and lost sites. Foundation stones are wonderful and necessary, but who wants to be part of a museum? Who wants to be a point of interest for people to reflect on the past?

So we must again begin to boldly declare the Gospel in Brighton and confront the Godlessness and spiritual strongholds that have advanced in Brighton which have stifled the Gospel. It is time for renewed vigour and spiritual power OUTSIDE THE CHURCH WALLS. Our worship, prayer, and fellowship are all still functional and powerful. Now we need to evangelise this generation.

Lord God, give us your heart for the lost, and a Gospel message relevant to this generation, that we might assist you in building your Kingdom once more. Amen

Sola Scripture

When Jesus was at the pinnacle of His ministry while alive, He had numerous people following Him. There were the 12 designated apostles, his mother and probably other family members, devout Jews, Gentile God-fearers, the lonely, the destitute, the rich; even people like Gamaliel, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. So many people of so many different types, and from different positions in the social and economic fabric of Israel and Palestine.

When Jesus spoke about "eating His flesh and drinking His blood" in John 6, many of these followers departed - they could not accept these deep teachings and spiritual nature of what discipleship to Jesus was all about.

After Pentecost and in the apostolic age, many more thousands chose to follow Him. And throughout the centuries, many of these people have written to encourage us and lift us to Him in faith and action.

Unfortunately, for too many, some of these writings have been elevated to being equal to sacred scripture. Joseph Smith and the Latter-day-Saints; Mary Baker-Eddy and the Christian Scientists; Jehovah's Witnesses and Charles Russell; and we also remember the cults of Jim Jones at Jonestown, David Koresh in Waco Texas, and even the Little Pebble here in Australia. They wrote a list of their preferences, and formed a band of people to follow their preferences, and made their own writings equal to Holy Scripture.

More than any other post-apostolic Christian leader, I respect Martin Luther and His writings, but neither He, the Lutheran Church, nor I declare His writings to be equal to scripture, nor proclaim Martin Luther as a special Christian of a higher order than other "normal" Christians. He is famous for the phrase Sola Scripture - that Christian life, faith and practice and our knowledge and understanding of God comes from the Bible alone. Luther determined that the Church submits to the scriptures, not the scriptures submit to the Church.

It is sad that so many people are so easily deceived, and people feverishly study the words of special leaders, as if it was the very Word of God.

Friends, read and study your bible and listen for God, and listen to God as you read it. Your life will change. And on your journey, read the writings of Luther, Calvin, Lewis, Bonhoeffer, Barth, Kierkegaard - they have insightful and significant commentary to make. But their writings are not the revelation of God and do not have this authority.

Read well. Study well. Live well.

As our Church is currently exploring the book of Ephesians, I have had to do some serious study, to get my head around this idea that God chooses people to inherit the blessings He lavished on us through Jesus Christ. Trying to understand that although I have reached out to God and asked for salvation, this action was not initiated by me and never could be.

The Bible teaches that no human being has the the capacity or desire to seek God, that we are spiritually dead in our sins, without hope and without God. So if not everyone believes, it must be that God determines who He gives the capacity to have faith.

The difficulties and worries about this doctrine are usually of 2 types:

1. What happens to those who are not chosen?
2. How does God determine who He saves?

As Jesus chose 12 disciples to become Apostles, this does not mean He rejected all His other followers. As the tribe of Levi was chosen to be priests, God did not reject the other 11 tribes. Apart from this understanding of election form the Old Testament, the Bible is silent on those who are not chosen. There is not much that can be said because the Bible reveals little else.

God determines all things through His base nature - love. He chose Israel because He loved them. He chooses the elect on the same basis.

Some will say that in John 3:16, Jesus uses the phrase "whosoever will will be saved". Does this not mean that whoever reaches out to Christ is saved. Yes, but other parts of the Bible teach that no-one can reach out unless God enables them.

The more important question is - what are you doing with His offer of salvation to you?