Fly on the Wall

“I wouldn’t mind being a fly on the wall there today!”  I wonder if you’ve ever used an expression like that.  Perhaps you wanted to be a witness to the moment two people were meeting up, or when somebody was being told a particular piece of news.  As a fly on the wall you would have a great view of the event, but more importantly an unnoticed one.  We’re all a bit inquisitive – nosy – aren’t we, so if we haven’t said it, we’ve probably thought it.

    When we think about it, it is actually a daft thing to wish for.  Who would really want to change places with a fly?  They don’t seem to have much of a life do they?  And in most of our houses that life wouldn’t last long as we’d soon get out the fly spray, or clobber the insect with a rolled up copy of the Argus.  It’s far better to be a human being.  To become a fly we would have to give up our intellect, skills, emotions, thought processes and so much more.

    It’s Christmas time again, and so we as Christians are beginning once more to celebrate the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ.  When we think of what the true message of the season really is, we are reminded just what an amazing truth it is.  God became man.  Without for a moment letting go of His God-ness, the Son of God chose to become man.  He took a frail human body and came to live on the planet that he had created.  The One who was eternal became a helpless infant.  He gave up the glory of life in Heaven with His Father, a life He had enjoyed eternally.  He gave up the worship of the countless angels that live there – worship that was rightfully his.  He came into a world spoilt by sin, a world of pain and death, and suffered the rejection of men and women who would not believe in him, and who eventually would execute Him. 

    For you and I to become a fly would be a major thing, but we would be simply exchanging one created form for another.  Though man is the highpoint of God’s creation, he is but a creature, made in the image of God.  But at the first Christmas the creator stepped into the world He had made.  God became man, a far greater transformation than you becoming a fly! That should really blow our minds.  It should cause us, along with the shepherds, their angelic visitors and the wise men, to adore and worship.

    That is particularly so because of the purpose of the incarnation.  The Lord Jesus Christ came into the world “to save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).  The incarnation happened for our salvation.  You and I have fallen short of God’s glory and broken His perfect law.  Because of that we are rightly under His condemnation.  Nothing we can say or do can change that.  It took the incarnation and the atonement on the cross that follows to give us a hope.  He came from Heaven to earth, so that we might go one day from earth to heaven.

    So don’t get lost this December amongst all the tinsel, turkey and TV!  Thank God for the incarnation, and worship the One it’s all about.

A Special Star

Something special - a bright star. Someone special - the Christ child. But what did the Wise men see? Early Chinese astrologers recorded a brilliant star about this time. A super nova, many times brighter than the brightest star.  What is the brightest star you know Venus, Jupiter,  bright as they all shine they cannot give any amount of useful light. 

Balaam prophesied 'A Star shall come out of Jacob' NUM 24:17. Isaiah said 'Arise shine for your light has come...' ISA 60:1. 'The people who walked in darkness have  seen a great light those who dwelt in the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined'  ISA 60:2.
Peter speaks of 'the morning star arising in your hearts' 2PET 1:19. Jesus claimed to be the light of the world JOHN 8:12; 9:5, and revealed Himself to John as ‘the Bright and  Morning star' REV 22:16.

Notice in MATTHEW 2:4-6 The chief priests and scribes KNEW where Christ was to be born v5. Now they should have been the ones seeking Jesus, they should be the ones worshiping Him, but they do not.
Instead we find (Gentiles) the Wise men seeking with intent to find, to worship, Him.

How did these men from the East learn of this great event. It is possible they were aware of the Messianic prophecies, for they came seeking the one 'born King of the Jews' MATT 2:2. Suffice to say they believed their source, and followed the star.
We are blessed with Gods sure word, the Bible, but like the chief priests and scribes although many men 'know of’ Christ, there are few who seek Him, and fewer follow Him. The Wise men came not just to find Him they came to worship. And they came  with gifts, that their  worship may be acceptable.

The gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh are symbolic - Gold, royalty kingship. Frankincense - deity - God. Myrrh - death, mortality, passion and burial.
Note these are costly gifts - we are to give Him our all. He still requires a gift from us as he required of Israel of old. What can we bring Him? These words from a  children's hymn simply but completely answers that question.

        What can I give Him poor as I am?
        If  I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb,
        If I were a Wise man I would do my part,
        Yet, What can I give Him? Give my heart.

Each time we come to worship, and no less at Christmastide. Our hymns, our songs, our carols are empty and meaningless unless we give ourselves to Him. Indeed Paul writing in ROMANS 12:1 says it is our reasonable service to present to God our bodies as a living sacrifice to Him.

However, presenting their gifts and worship was not the end of their encounter with God. For we read in v12 'Then, being divinely warned (instructed) in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed to their own country another way'
Here we note they obeyed God. Now this is very important. God spoke, they obeyed. It is often debated as to whether or not the Wise men became true believers.
On the evidence of this verse, they did. For they obeyed God.

This is surely the mark of a believer, not only does he seek God, not only does he worship God, but that he obeys God. If this is true of us, then we can agree with Peter 'The morning star has arisen in our hearts'. The true light has shed its radiant beams into our darkened souls.

The Wise men believed what they had learned concerning Jesus and they diligently sought the one they had learned about. They worshiped with costly sacrificial gifts. Then they were obedient to the word of God. Their message to us is clear we may search for God we may follow His star, we may even find God, we may even worship God. But unless we obey God Then His star has not arisen in our hearts and we are yet in the darkness of our sins.

May you truly experience His star in your life this Christmastide.

Fifty Years Ago This Month...

    On 22nd November 1963, one of the most memorable events of the modern age took place – the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, USA.  Famously just about everybody can remember where they were when they heard the news.  Its effect on the modern world was immense, and the conspiracy theories about his death will probably get another airing this month as television will be full of programmes marking the anniversary.

    For believers, however, the date will be remembered as the day when the world lost a great modern Christian thinker and writer, Clive Staples Lewis, or C.S Lewis as he was better known.  He has been known to successive generations of children as the author of the Narnia series, which began with the famous The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  A wise reader will spot the Gospel themes in that book, themes that were enlarged upon in some of the Christian classics that also came from his pen.  Although many Christians find difficulty agreeing with everything he wrote, Mere Christianity and Screwtape Letters are among his works that should be read by all believers.

    C.S. Lewis became a Christian in a most ordinary way. He simply records that, on top of a bus, “I was driven to Whipsnade Zoo one morning. When we set out I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and when we reached the Zoo I did.”  From then on his life was different.  Though he remained an academic of the first order, being a Professor of English Literature at Cambridge University, he spent a great deal of time writing Christian apologetics; books that showed why belief in the gospel was valid in the modern age.  He once wrote; “… the Christian knows from the outset that the salvation of a single soul is more important than the production or preservation of all the epics and tragedies in the world.”  There is good evidence to suggest that Lewis suffered for his faith amongst his fellow university experts, and probably didn’t achieve the academic accomplishments his genius deserved.

    C.S. Lewis never saw himself as a theologian, but he loved theology and felt that proper theologians didn’t do enough to make Christian doctrine understandable and attractive at the level of ordinary people.  That was his job as he saw it.  In his words again; “If real theologians had tackled this laborious work of translation about a hundred years ago, when they began to lose touch with the people (for whom Christ died) there would have been no place for me.”

    Lewis’s view of the Old Testament wasn’t one that many of us would share.  He believed that stories such as those of Noah and Jonah were probably fables, though other parts of the history books were probably true.  In all his writings, as far as the Old Testament was concerned, he only wrote on The Psalms.  He would probably have described himself as a ‘New Testament Christian’, something which again many of us might take issue with him on.  But though his doctrine of Scripture was not evangelical, he had a much clearer view when it came to the person of Jesus Christ.  He defended the fact that Jesus was God all through his writings.  Perhaps his most famous quote, found in his book Mere Christianity and often cited from the pulpit in New Inn, was his reaction to the idea that Jesus was just a good teacher;
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God". That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

    Though he may not have had a fully worked out doctrine of justification by faith, he believed that salvation was only through the death of Christ, and that through it we can go to heaven.  He believed that Christians should think of heaven more than they do; “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next ... It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at heaven and you will get earth 'thrown in': aim at earth and you will get neither.”

    As well as some unorthodox views on the Old Testament there are other areas where we would part company with him. Certainly, at least in the latter part of his life, he had regular confessions, prayed for the dead, and believed in some sort of purgatory. This belief in purgatory was a strange aberration and added to his agony on the death of his wife, Joy.  But on the basics of the Christian faith we would regard him as a brother, and thank God for the inroads his writings made in academic circles where other Christians wouldn’t gain a hearing.  At a time when liberal views of the Bible were in the ascendency, he wasn’t afraid to unapologetically defend belief in Jesus and express that in the language of common people.  He understood the world around him, and tried to show that to believe in another world wasn’t as irrational as many made out. Let him speak again; “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”

In all the celebration of JFK this month, thank God for CS!

The Bible's Value

 How valuable is your Bible to you?  If you were stranded on a desert island, would it be something you would choose to have with you?  That question cropped up again this summer as rumours about the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs hit the press.  Whereas in the past the fact that you would have the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare was a given, the Corporation is under pressure to drop the first of these to keep in line with our increasingly secular society.  Though the BBC denied that this change was under consideration, I guess only time will tell. 

    One of the questions that the Desert Island Discs debate fuelled was; What makes the Bible so important?  Lots of so called experts contributed their ideas to the discussion.  Even arch secularist Richard Dawkins is on record as saying that due to the impact the King James Bible has had on our language, culture and history, to not know the Bible make us little more than barbarians.  Many of the points that were made were ones with which we would agree.  The Bible is a great book.  It contains marvelous stories of all sorts, wonderful poetry, history that is proving more and more reliable as archeological finds increasingly prove its accuracy, and a moral code that still forms the basis of most of civilization.  But is that all there is to say?  If so, then one day the Bible will be outdated.  Other stories will be written, and more fine poetry will be composed.  As ideas change, a new set of laws, more suitable to the tastes of modern mankind will emerge, and so the Bible will no longer merit our consideration anywhere, let alone on a desert island.

    But the Bible is more than a great book.  It claims for itself much more.  Indeed it claims to be the Word of God.  The Apostle Paul wrote;

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16) 

If it is the Word of God, then it immediately transcends anything written by even the greatest of men.  That will also mean that we need to bring every area under the wisdom of its pages.  Only then can we hope to live life as God intended for us.

    But the Bible is also important because it is ultimately about Jesus Christ, God’s Son, and not just a handbook to life on earth.  He told the religious leaders of His day; “You search the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of Me.” (John 5:39).  If we want eternal life the answer as to how to attain it is found in God’s Word. It is found in no other book.  But that is because the Bible from beginning to end points us to the Lord Jesus. He came into the world to deal with the problem of our sin that the Bible is equally honest about.  Outside of Jesus we must face an eternity separated from God – forever lost.  But when we commit ourselves to Him, confess our sin, and trust in the sacrifice He made on Calvary, then all our sins can be forgiven and we can enjoy heaven – more of a paradise than any desert island can be!

Indentity Crisis

“Don’t you know who I am?” is the famous line that celebrities often use to get them out of a sticky situation, or to get them into somewhere they initially are excluded from.  But in one of the funniest stories of the last few weeks, one famous face had to use the line in a most unexpected situation.

    Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, was minding his own business walking in the grounds of Buckingham Palace when he was challenged by armed police who demanded to know his identity and the reason why he was there.  According to some reports, he was made to lie on the ground whilst he protested that this was his mum’s house, and he could go for a walk in her garden if he wanted to!  In a short time the confusion was sorted out, although the embarrassment to the police officer concerned might take a little longer to fade away.

    Just a few days earlier an intruder had evaded the security at the Palace and got into the building.  As a result, having been caught out once, the ‘boys in blue’ were being extra cautious and so the blunder resulted.  Being the Son of the Monarch was no use – they simply didn’t know who he was!
    When I heard the story I thought of a verse in the New Testament.  In John’s first letter, written to persecuted Christian believers in the first century he reminds them;
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!  Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him” (1 John 3:1)

    One of the most wonderful things about being a Christian is that we become children of God.  That is not something that we are naturally, but a right we have when we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:11-13).  But although God knows that we are His children, the people around and about us do not.  We are just another member of the population to them.  But just like with Prince Andrew, just because we are not recognized as such, it doesn’t make us any less the child of the Sovereign One.

    In the next verse of the same chapter of 1 John we read;
“Beloved, now we are the children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”

     That verse tells us that there will come a day when the reality of what a Christian is will be unmistakable and recognized universally.  When the Lord Jesus Christ returns to this world every eye will see Him and will have to acknowledge Him as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Those who have trusted in Him will go to be with Him forever, and as well as seeing Him as He is, we will be radically transformed and will have a resurrection body like His.

Are you a child of the King?  Does He know you now?

Worthy of Our Wages

What would you do with all the money if you were on a salary of £300,000?  No not £300,000 a year, but that much every week!  That equals almost £30 a minute, every minute, whether you are working or not, indeed even when you are asleep.  That was a question posed by some of the newspapers a week or so ago.

Gareth Bale, a footballer originally from South Wales, had been transferred to a team in Spain for £85 million, and as well as getting a cut of that fee, those are reported to be his wages.  Reaction ranged from anger - that someone could be paid such wages for doing something so ultimately unimportant - to a more relaxed ‘good for him’ response. Either way, it’s difficult to work out how you could ever spend that much money every week.  

Is a footballer worth so much money?  Is anybody?  How can you judge the value of someone’s contribution to society?  Asking those questions gets us into difficult territory.  Though the Bible, our final authority on all questions of life, because it is God’s Word, doesn’t answer a question like that, it does have much to say on the subject of wages.  It was the first book ever to establish the right of a worker to a fair wage.  Way back in the Old Testament the truth that a worker is worthy of his hire was established and legislation in Old Testament Israel was framed to ensure the worker was never exploited, and always received his wage at the end of the day.  The Bible also has much to say about money, and especially riches.  Though money itself is not sinful, or being rich, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and riches are a snare which ultimately can cost us eternity if we are not careful.

Though the word ‘wages’ is used rarely in the New Testament, it is used in one of its most famous verses.  The Apostle Paul once wrote “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).  Gareth Bale will no doubt say that he receives those wages because he deserves them.  They are not a gift but what he has earned.  The Bible tells us that because we sin – say, think and do things that are contrary to God and His holiness – we are due the consequences.  That is why ultimately we all must die.  But the good news of the Gospel is that we can escape what we do deserve and instead have what we don’t.  Instead of wages, what is rightfully ours, we can receive a gift from God.  That is eternal life, a life which has a unique fullness here on earth, and continues for ever in God’s presence in Heaven.  None of us can earn that because of our sin.  But through Jesus Christ, and only through Him, we can receive this wonderful present. 

One day Gareth Bale’s footballing days will be over, and with it his ability to earn such sums.  However much we earn on earth, or however much we can build up in our bank accounts, one day we must leave it all behind too.  But if we are trusting in Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross, our treasure will not be what we leave behind at death, but what we go to!   

The Consequence of Actions

If you need to do a spot of shopping, then why not take a trip to our village? If you want to buy a birthday card there’s Sam and Ella's shop. Or, you may wish to buy a handcrafted piece of jewellery from Murphy's; he will personally greet you. If you need flowers, then try Baxter's; he is so committed to customer care, he even sleeps amongst the flower pots. As you’ve probably guessed, our local shop assistants are canine: Sam and Ella are West Highland terriers, Murphy is a very gentle black Labrador, and Baxter is an endearing border terrier. However, there are two more doggy retail characters to tell you about, but they have had a bad week...

During a recent trip to the newspaper shop, I heard a sad tale about the newsagent’s dogs. Their owner had come down in the morning to find an empty packet of ibuprofen tablets; in humans, ibuprofen is a pain killer, but it is poisonous to dogs. There was no way of knowing which dog had consumed the entire packet of tablets, so off to the vets for treatment both dogs had to go. The dogs had to endure some rather unpleasant medication and their owners had an anxious 48 hours. Now you may be thinking how foolish of the owners to leave the tablets where the dogs could reach them, but there’s more to this story. In addition to his family, the newsagent shares his home with two dogs and two cats. In the night, the cats had visited the kitchen and raided the cupboards, not only opening them, but pulling out the ibuprofen tablets. The dogs had opportunistically gobbled up the tablets as treats and, well, the rest is history.
This episode brought to my mind how the actions of one person can seriously affect another. Consider the story of David: as a consequence of his sin with Bathsheba, an innocent man, Uriah the Hittite, died (2 Samuel 11). 

Although we may not realise it, people watch us: our behaviour, our speech, our reactions to the circumstances of life. As Christians we want to honour the Lord in every part of our lives and draw unbelievers to Him. We want people to ask for the reason for the hope that lies within (1 Peter 3:15), so it is important that we walk with integrity and similarly, it’s important not to be a source of stumbling.
The cats in today’s story never intended to harm the dogs, but as a result of their misdemeanours both dogs had to be treated; thankfully, all turned out well in the end. It’s a reminder that in our daily lives we ought to walk carefully, not only for our own sakes, but also for those around us.
See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:15 (NKJ)

The Best Wedding

It’s hard to remember now the days of only two or three television channels to choose from, isn’t it?  Now we have thirty or forty to choose from even if we haven’t got satellite television as well.  I suppose with the coming of multi-channel television, however, there was always going to be a lowering of quality.  I couldn’t help thinking that as I chanced on a programme on one of those extra channels the other week.

It is called ‘Don’t tell the Bride’.  Perhaps you have seen it, but if you haven’t, it takes as its premise the ludicrous idea of a groom being given total control of his wedding day.  To be on the show, he and his bride have to agree that she will know nothing about the day until it arrives.  The venue for the ceremony and reception, the flowers, colour of the bridesmaid dresses, even the design of the wedding dress itself is determined by him alone.  It’s hard to think that anybody would allow their special day to be organised like that, but with the TV company footing the bill, and the chance for fifteen minutes of fame, it’s surprising how many people agree to it.  Thankfully, I couldn’t imagine Linda letting me choose her wedding dress, but I’m sure she would have looked great walking down the aisle in a Newport County top!

Perhaps one of the reasons why I found it uncomfortable viewing is the fact that the Bible has much to say about the seriousness with which marriage is to be approached.  That is not surprising, because marriage is, after all, God’s idea.  He has given it to us as the basis of the family and of society.  One of the Ten Commandments is given over to protecting its sanctity.  That, of course, is why no politician should be foolish or arrogant enough to think he can redefine it.  Sadly we live in a day when marriage, if it is considered at all, is often treated as a light thing which can be entered upon thoughtlessly, and finished with just as casually.  Maybe television shows like this are a by-product of such thinking.

But then as I watched the programme I thought of something else from the Scriptures.  Marriage in the Bible is often used as a picture of the relationship between God and His people, between the Lord Jesus Christ and the church.  Perhaps Song of Solomon and Ephesians 5 spring readily to mind.  Because of that the last book of the Bible, Revelation, ends with a marriage.  That is because the whole of human history will end with a marriage and a wonderful banquet to follow.  In Revelation 21:2, the church is pictured as a beautiful and complete bride, ready to be joined with the Lord Jesus for eternity together.   The church will be more beautiful and pure than any bride has ever been.  And that too will be all because of the Bridegroom.  He doesn’t just choose the outfit she will be wearing, but provides it Himself, through His sacrificial death. She, that is, the church, will be clothed in His righteousness.  All our sins forgiven and paid for at the cross, we will be covered by His perfection.  That’s the wedding to end all weddings. 

Seeking Jesus

As revealed on this magazine page a few months back, I’m always amused by these surveys that you find reported on in the newspapers, and another one caught my eye a week or so ago.  It was published in The Times, and concerned the answers 2,000 adults gave to a question relating to what people considered important in life – things to do before you die!  The list gave us the fifty things considered essential to ‘living life to the full’.  As I reach another birthday this month, it seemed wise to have a good look at this list!

Some of them were obvious – stop worrying about money; be true to yourself; concentrate on what you have rather than what you don’t have.  Others were bizarre; try an adrenaline-packed activity such as sky-diving; visit all of Britain’s historical landmarks; go outside more.  Rather too many were just immoral so I won’t list those.  One of fifty was to ‘reach your desired career peak by the age of 40’.  Perhaps you’d better be the judge of whether I could include that in my list of ‘ticks’.  A brief scan of the list suggested that I could write ‘done that’ alongside about twenty of the fifty.  I won’t be taking up sky-diving to get to twenty-one!

So what are the truly essential experiences that make life complete?  How would we answer that as Christians?  I suppose the first thing to say is that the foundation of a question like this can often be a wrong one to start with.  Lists like this start with the presumption that death is the end, that ‘you’re a long time dead’ and so in the mean time we should eat, drink and be merry/skydiving’.  It suggests that all the truly wonderful experiences of life can only be enjoyed before death and so we need to pack as many of them in whilst we are able.

One of the things that we have seen in our studies in the book of Revelation is that this sort of thinking is simply not true.  For the Christian there is something unspeakably wonderful beyond the grave.  To be in a place where we can enjoy God, His presence, provision and protection, for ever, will be a far superior experience to anything that this world can offer.  To be in a place where every tear is wiped from our eye is a glorious hope to look forward to.  For the Christian, life will be incomparably better after death.  That is why the Apostle Paul didn’t know whether given the choice he would want to stay or go.

If that is the case, it should colour how we approach life here and now.  There is nothing wrong with the ambitions to learn a new instrument, go on safari, visit 25 different countries (others on the top 50).  After all we live in a world where God has given us ‘all things richly to enjoy’ (1 Timothy 6:17). But above all we need to “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).  Ultimately, the one thing we all need to do before death is to get right with God.  We need to acknowledge our sinfulness, believe in Christ as Saviour and commit ourselves to Him. Only then can we really enjoy life in this world or have hope of the greater pleasures of the next.   

Trying Our Best?

The death of Margaret Thatcher last month brought to an end the life of one of the defining figures of the last few decades.  Love her or loathe her, and there were few who didn’t have an opinion at one end of the spectrum or the other, her place in British history is undoubted.

In the newspapers in the days immediately following her death there were many personal stories about people’s dealings with her.  One of them particularly captured my attention, and not just mine.  The Bishop of London referred to the same story in his funeral address.

It concerned a letter from the nine-year-old son of a vicar which the Prime Minister had received.  It said; “Last night, when we were saying prayers, my Daddy said everyone has done wrong things except Jesus.  I said I don’t think you have done bad things because you are the Prime Minister.  Am I right or is my Daddy?”

Much to the family’s delight, Mrs. Thatcher sent a handwritten reply.  In it she wrote; “However good we try to be, we can never be as kind, gentle and wise as Jesus.  There will be times when we say or do something we wish we hadn’t done and we shall be sorry and try not to do it again.  We do our best, but our best is not as good as his daily life … As Prime Minister, I try very hard to do things right and because Jesus gave us a perfect example I try even harder. But your father is right in saying that we can never be as perfect as He was.”

I wonder what you make of that reply.  It has much that we would agree with.  It is hard to think of our current batch of leading politicians being quite so ‘politically incorrect’ as to praise Christ and acknowledge the perfection of his life.  All that the late Baroness said about Him is true; although I am sure we would want to say much more, because the Bible does.  He was not only perfect man, but God incarnate, the only Saviour and mediator between man and God.  There is no other way to God, eternal life and heaven, no other way to avoid eternal separation from God in hell itself, than through Jesus.

It is, perhaps, in our response to the perfection of Jesus that we must differ from Mrs. Thatcher.  Her response was to use Him as an example and “try even harder”.  Although 1 Peter 2, amongst other passages reminds us that He is an example, the whole of the New Testament, indeed of the Bible, proclaims that however hard we try, we can never achieve a standard that is acceptable to God, and that could earn us His favour.  He demands perfection of life in word, though and action, because He is perfectly holy.

That is why the Lord Jesus came.  He didn’t come just to be an example that if we follow would enable us to be saved.  He came into this world precisely because we can never save ourselves.  He came to bring salvation through his death in our place on the cross.  By trusting in Him we can have salvation and eternal life as a gift from this holy God.  Are you still trying hard … or are you trusting Christ?  

Keeping Going

The Welsh hymn singing programme Decra Canu Decra Canmol was being broadcast from Blaenanerch Chapel. The chapel had been a focal point for the 1904 revival in West Wales. As is often the case during the programme, a visit is made to a nearby place of interest. On this occasion the place visited was indeed unique.

During the Second World War prisoner of war camps were set up all over the country. One was located at Henllan, near Newcastle Emlyn, not far from Blaenanerch. At one time it housed 1500 Italian p.o.w’s, many of which were employed on local farms.

During their enforced stay in Wales they remembered the faith of their homeland and set about converting one of the huts into a place of worship. Leading the group was an artist named Mario who painted a mural of The Last Supper on a wall behind the altar. But with no paint available, they had to make their own, using naturally sourced dyes from plants, fruits, grasses, and using fish oil as a binding agent. Given that food was also scarce; to use fish oil in this way entailed a degree of personal sacrifice. Bully beef tins were recycled into candlesticks.

Whilst we do not accept many of the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church we can but admire the fervour and passion of those who out of scraps created a beautiful place to worship God. It would have been easy to have taken the line that Israel did in Babylon, when they hung their harps on the riverside willows and asked, "How shall we sing the Lords song?" (PSALM 137:1-4).

Surely it could be said of the Italian prisoners they had kept the faith (REV 14:12) in a strange land. This reminds us that we are in a strange land, that this world is not our home, yet the challenge is the same: to keep the faith in an alien environment, to leave behind a lasting testimony to that faith.

David Livingstone (1813-1873) Part 3

In the two last magazines we have traced the early influences on the life of David Livingstone, one of Congregationalism’s finest figures, born two hundred years ago last month, and seen how his life was spent evangelizing and exploring in Africa. This final article attempts to assess his life and draw lessons for us two centuries later.

It is always difficult to assess the life of an historical figure writing decades or even centuries later, and that must be true of a complex character like David Livingstone.  We have already commented on the criticism that he faced for concentrating on exploration rather than evangelism, and on the frequent inter-personal problems that he had with those with whom he worked. How can we evaluate this, and what more needs to be said?

We are all products of our own age, and life is very different in the United Kingdom at the end of the second Elizabethan age, compared to how it was at the beginning of the Victorian era.  Despite the political uncertainties, Africa today is a largely open continent.  Television, jet travel, foreign holidays and the computer age mean that we can know as much about it as we do about other parts of Europe or even of the United Kingdom.  The people of Livingstone’s day knew less about Africa than we do about Mars.  Those who criticize Livingstone for being more of an explorer than a missionary need to remember this! 

The evils of the slave trade too were much more open in the nineteenth century than they are today, and Livingstone’s conviction that Western civilization and commerce, along with the Gospel, would eradicate this wickedness was an understandable one.  Some might even say that subsequent events have proved him right.

That Livingstone was a difficult person to live and work with seems undeniable.  It is hard to think that he would have achieved so much as an explorer, and endured so much personal tragedy if he had not been such a determined and independently minded man.  One man’s determination is another man’s stubbornness, however, and perhaps we would have to admit that his behavior was sometimes unhelpful in many ways. 

Looking at his personality through modern eyes, however, more than one modern medically minded Christian has noted in his life and diaries a pattern of alternating highs and lows that were often not to be explained by circumstances.  At least one expert has concluded that Livingstone probably suffered from what we would now call manic depressive disorder, a condition that also appeared to be present in his brother and two sisters.  Perhaps that was the case, but even if not, we are reminded again of the truth that we see so often in the Scripture; God uses deeply flawed individuals to do His work!

That Livingstone was a thoroughly converted man cannot be doubted.  The depth of his conversion experience and of his subsequent dedication to Christ is well attested.  He never lost sight of the greatness of the Gospel, nor lost his burden to take the good news to the lost.  He had a great stamina as a missionary, spurred on by his biblical belief that God was going, in time, to call men and women to Himself from every nation in the world.  He also saw that though he might be called to be a pioneer who would begin the work in Africa, later generations would be wonderfully transformed by the message he carried.  His own words are interesting, as we compare the one African conversion that could be attributed to Livingstone’s work with the many hundreds of thousands converted in Africa during the twentieth century;

“… when we view the state of the world and its advancing energies … we see the earth filling with the knowledge of the glory of God, - ay, all nations seeing His glory and bowing before Him whose right it is to reign.  Our work and its fruits are cumulative.  We work towards another state of things.  Future missionaries will be rewarded by conversions for every sermon.  We are their pioneers and helpers.  Let them not forget the watchmen of the night – us, who worked when all was gloom, and no evidence of success in the way of conversion cheered our path.”

Not only has Livingstone been proved correct abundantly, but his faith serves as an example to all who serve God in barren days, us included.

          What was the secret of such dogged perseverance and commitment?  The answer shines clearly from his own diaries and writings and from the testimony of those who knew him and worked with him.  He had a great desire for God, a personal humility about his own gifts, and a longing for Jesus Christ to be proclaimed and glorified in the lives of men and women.  He was never satisfied with his level of experience of Christ or of personal sanctification, but always wanted to know more of Him.  Are you like that?

          The Africans amongst whom he worked give the most eloquent of testimonies to his love for them.  They would have been sensitive to any patronizing, superior or racist attitude towards them, but they recognized in Livingstone a man who genuinely loved them and desired their welfare.  How else can you explain the fact that two of his African associates were willing to carry his body those 1500 miles on the journey back to eventual burial in Westminster Abbey?

All Sorts of Emptiness

What springs to mind when you hear the word empty?  It’s not one of our favourite words is it?  The definition in the dictionary we have in the house goes like this; “void, containing nothing; devoid of, vacant, unoccupied; unloaded, destitute, desolate; meaningless, unsubstantial, shadowy; senseless, inane; without intelligence, ignorant; hungry, unsatisfied.”

If that were not bad enough it goes on to give some ways in which the word is used, in expressions such as empty-handed, which reminds us of someone with nothing to call their own, or, what is worse, empty-headed.  I guess we’ve all had to deal with people we could apply that to!  Even worse would be to describe somebody as empty-hearted.

As we look at the world around us we see spiritual emptiness.  It is clear that many people have a void at the centre of their life which they vainly try to satisfy with the material things that they can buy in the shops they visit.  Indeed the whole process of materialism seems to depend on such an ‘emptiness’.  Many people who are part of that approach to life often look at Christians and think that we must be empty-headed to believe in an unseen God and live for a crucified Saviour.

But as Christians we have to own up to the fact that our faith is based on something empty!  Right at the heart of the Christian faith there is something wonderfully empty.  It is the grave of the Lord Jesus Christ!  If it were still occupied, Christianity would be truly empty.  It would be futile.  As we celebrate another Easter Day, we rejoice that the fact that the grave is empty means that Christians, of all people, have a ‘fullness’ that the world will never give us.

The emptiness of the tomb of the Lord Jesus is one of the indisputable facts of history.  Unlike Mohammed, or any other great religious figure, there is no corpse and no occupied tomb to visit.  Though men for twenty centuries have advanced other explanations for the emptiness of the tomb, the only one that really stands up to investigation is that the resurrection of Jesus Christ really happened.  Scared, cowardly disciples, absent at the cross and dejected for the next two days, are transformed into fearless preachers of the resurrection, willing to be martyred rather than deny that it happened.  The Apostle Paul staked his life upon the fact and was willing to refer people who doubted it to over 500 people who had met the risen Jesus, in his writings (1 Corinthians 15:6).  Have you examined the evidence for this great event?

 But if Jesus did rise from the dead, everything is changed.  Death has been defeated.  There is a hope that goes beyond the grave.  And if He did rise, He must be who He claimed to be – the Son of God and the Lord of life itself.  We need to worship Him as such, and repent of the empty lives we live.  We need to come in worship to the Lord of the empty tomb and receive the fullness of life that He came to bring.

Lesson from a Lost Lead

In our household, our mornings begin with walking the dog, come rain, come shine. Usually, at least two of us walk the dog together, but on this particular morning, it was just me.

As I walked our dog Lily at the local park, I zigzagged across the large field playing games with her. When it was time to go, I put my hands to my side to rummage for the lead, and to my dismay, it was no longer around my middle, where I had tied it. I looked around the large open field, which now seemed very large indeed, and wondered exactly which way I had sauntered. Oh, why hadn’t I just stuck to the path? Surely the multi-coloured lead ought to be reasonably easy to spot on the green grass! Though I tried to retrace my footsteps, I could not find that lead. I asked the other local doggy-walkers, a friendly and kindly lot of folk, but no-one had seen it. Some of them even joined in the search.

By this time, Lily was flagging and definitely wanted to go home, but we live a good ten minutes’ walk from the park, and it necessitates walking beside main roads; there was no safe way of going home without a lead. I was wondering quite what to do when I saw two ladies come towards me; they stopped to talk to me. One of the ladies insisted that I have her dog’s lead, saying that she’d come by car and could manage without it. Gratefully, I accepted and we swapped phone numbers to enable us to make arrangements for its return.

Though I tried to contact that lady to return her lead, each time an arrangement was made, something would happen; she would text to say she couldn’t come, but she insisted I keep the lead. Now generally speaking, I know my fellow dog-walkers, yet this kind lady I have met neither before, nor since. The more I have considered the happenings, the more providential they seem.

The Lord knows our needs even before we ask Him. It seems to me that in His great kindness He sent me help. If the Lord should care about such a small event in the scheme of my life, then the big issues, that each of us agonise over, are of great concern to Him too.

“Let the Lord be magnified,

 Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”

 (Psalm 35:27) 

The Fine Art of Procrastination

If something needs doing in your house, are you the sort of person who gets it done straight away, or are you more likely to put it off until a later date?  According to a survey, the results of which were published in The Times a couple of weeks back, we have become a society addicted to postponing household tasks – not so much a nation as a procrasti-nation!

2000 adults were surveyed by Crucial.com, apparently, and three quarters confessed to having this problem.  The domestic tasks that were most often delayed included filing documents, ironing, vacuuming, cleaning the toilet and washing the car.  The ‘winner’ however was cleaning the oven, which 56% of people said they were likely to put off until the last minute.

The survey also described the effect that this procrastination of tasks had on people, and particularly on their marriages. Leaving tasks incomplete not only makes us feel bad, it provokes regular arguments with partners. Over a quarter of the UK find they argue with partners about unfinished tasks around the home at least once a week. Men and women respond very differently to the pressure, with men admitting that they just wish their partner would stop bringing up the subject (31%) or occasionally be just that bit more understanding (27%). Women on the other hand overwhelmingly want their men to be more helpful (42%) or take control of the situation (27%).

Whatever your house is like – please don’t ask Linda about ours – we would all agree that the stress produced by putting things off is unnecessary.  But putting things off in other areas of our lives however can be more dangerous.  For example, we are always told to be watching our body and to be alert for symptoms of various diseases that need to be caught quickly.  Delaying going to the doctor can have serious consequences.

But with some things it is even more important that we act quickly.  That is certainly true when it comes to how we respond to the message of the Bible.  We may have read the Bible a lot, have listened to many sermons and have a good understanding of the Christian message.  We may have owned up to the inescapable fact that we are sinful, and considered the claim of the Bible that in Jesus Christ and in Him alone, we can find forgiveness and peace with God.  But we may have put off making a decision to submit to Him and come in faith and repentance that we might have eternal life.  Perhaps we are like Felix whose story is told in Acts 24.  After hearing the Apostle Paul challenging him to believe in Jesus, Felix sent Paul away and said he would hear him again when it was convenient.

As far as we know there was never a convenient time for Felix, and so he died, unforgiven, and went to a lost eternity.  Don’t be like him!  Listen to the Bible when it says; “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2).  Don’t delay, come to Jesus today!

David Livingstone (1813-1873) Part 2

In the last post we saw the early influences on the life of David Livingstone, one of Congregationalism’s finest figures, born two hundred years ago this month.  We also saw how he came to faith in Christ, and was led to full time missionary service in Africa. This article deals with his three spells in Africa.  

David Livingstone set sail for Africa at the end of 1840.  This would be where, with the exception of two brief spells back in Britain, he would spend the rest of his life.  The first of his three spells on that continent lasted fifteen years, and began at the Kuruman Mission Station, 650 miles north east of Cape Town, where he worked for two years.  Immediately he became convinced of two principles. Firstly, native Christians needed to be trained to evangelise their own people.  Secondly that rather than having a large number of missionaries operating from a mission station it was better that some went to unexplored areas of the land, and reached people yet to hear the Gospel.  He moved further into the interior, and was encouraged when his young bride, Mary was able to join him.  The pattern of his years in Africa was set, as time and again he moved further and further into unreached areas, reaching Kolobeng in modern day Botswana, where he would spend some five years.  It was here that he had the joy of seeing his first (and perhaps only) convert, Sechele, who was baptized on confession of his faith in Christ.

          

From his base at Kolobeng, Livingstone made many long journeys to visit and bring the Gospel to other tribes.  These were hazardous, especially in terms of the health of him and his growing family.  His wife almost died and the children suffered dreadfully from the mosquitos.  At this time, Livingstone became the first European to discover Lake Ngami and the Zambesi River, but also became more and more aware of the evils of the slave trade which was bringing great misery to so many on the continent.  Livingstone realized that African tribes were engaging in the slave trade out of a desire to possess European goods, especially guns.  If only legitimate commerce could be established, Livingstone believed that the slave trade would cease to exist.  It could be argued that from then on Livingstone lost sight of the primacy of bringing the Gospel to people, such was his desire to find and open up trade routes in, until then, unknown tracts of Africa.  But, Livingstone felt that the three controlling forces of his life worked hand in hand.  He wanted to explore, evangelise and emancipate.  Finding new paths and new tribes would mean he and others could bring the Gospel, but along with this would come European civilization and commerce which would bring freedoms for those who were now oppressed.

Livingstone set out, therefore, on the ambition of finding a trade route to the coast. Though this necessitated sending his wife and children back to England, and caused some to think that he was now more of an explorer than a missionary, the London Missionary Society, at first, accepted his plan.  Between 1853 and 1855 he went first west and then east from Linyanti in the Upper Zambesi, seeking a suitable route.  It was at this time that he famously discovered the Victoria Falls.  Wherever he went, he sought to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the locals, but by this time the LMS felt unable to support his new style of working, and Livingstone left the service of the Mission.

His second spell in Africa saw him lead a government-sponsored expedition to the Zambesi and to the Shire Highlands of Lake Niassa.  At the same time a Universities Mission in the area had been established by some English Churchmen, which Livingstone gladly assisted in.  But the Mission was not a success and the failure coincided with a series of other disappointments which brought the pioneer missionary to his lowest point.  The expedition itself achieved little, and cost the life of Livingstone’s wife, Mary, and others who succumbed to fever. Mistakes in decision-making, and a failure to work with other team members, meant that Livingstone was at least partly responsible for the failure, and he returned to Britain for his second furlough a sad man.

Livingstone returned for a third spell on the continent encouraged by a friend to search for the source of the River Nile.  Though some have thought he ceased, in reality, from being a true missionary at this point, his letters at the time show that he still thought that evangelization, discovery of new trade routes, and the emancipation of those in the grip of the slave trade went hand in hand.  He sought to tell people about Christ wherever he went. 

Again, however, Livingstone met with continued trials and discouragements.  The brutal reality of the slavery he saw being perpetrated by Arab traders in particular appalled him. He was witness to a number of terrible events, including one massacre at Nyangwe, when some four hundred people were killed, many of them women and children.  He likened what he saw to being in hell itself.  He was more convinced than ever that his days should be spent on the three goals that had inspired him throughout.

But his health was failing, so much so that his two faithful servants, Susi and Chuma, had to carry him from place to place.  It was they who famously carried his body some 1,500 miles to the coast so that it could be transported back to England, following his death, whilst in prayer, on or around May 1st 1873.  His internal organs, however, including his heart, were removed and buried in Africa.  The rest of his remains now lie in Westminster Abbey.

(To be continued)

Miracle on the River Kwai

One of life’s little mysteries is how the books in the chapel library get rearranged. Almost every week I find new volumes have come to light at the top of the pile. This was how I stumbled across Ernest Gordon’s Miracle on the River Kwai.

Captain Gordon served in the Far East at the start of WWII, and after the fall of Singapore he was sent to a succession of Japanese PoW camps – including building the notorious railway along the River Kwai. His account describes how amidst the suffering and barbarity of the camps, the PoWs slid further and further into selfishness and despair; he went on to recount how spiritual revival came to the camp and changed many lives, including his own.

This book should be compulsory reading for anyone who has read Pierre Boulle’s novel Bridge on the River Kwai. Boulle’s book suggests that military discipline and civilised ideals could overcome the conditions in the camps and the manic cruelty of the Japanese guards. Capt. Gordon’s writing reveals that in fact those things crumbled under the reality of life there; only the hope and compassion brought by true believers in Christ could survive.

Although life in 21^st century Britain may be far removed from that in the prison camps, the lessons learnt there are strikingly relevant today. Firstly, for the PoWs spiritual life was indivisibly welded to practical compassion. To follow Christ meant to actively live as He did. In doing so they also completely abandoned self-pity and complaining. Perhaps what struck me most was the effect of a few Christians whose behaviour opened the door for the Gospel. They didn’t make an impact by talking about religion; it was their actions that prompted others to ask for “an account for the hope that was within them”. They stood out by their unwavering integrity, selfless kindness in the midst of selfishness, and hope in the midst of despair.

David Livingstone (1813-1873) Part 1

Next month marks the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of David Livingstone, one of the great pioneer missionaries of Christian history, and one of the most famous Congregationalist figures of all time.  This first article explores his early life.

          David Livingstone was born on March 13^th 1813 in Blantyre, Lanarkshire, about eight miles south of Glasgow.  He grew up in a typically poor, protestant Scottish family, where there was an emphasis on personal piety, hard work, the importance of education and a sense of mission.

          His parents, Neil, a tea salesman, and Agnes, had been married just over two years before in Blantyre.  Neil’s family came from the island of Ulva, just off the Scottish west coast, and Agnes’s from the lowlands of Scotland, being descended from a family of Covenanters, evangelical protestants who suffered much persecution in earlier times.

          The family were poor, and David was brought up as one of seven children in a single room at the top of a tenement block known as ‘Shuttle Row’.  It had been built for the workers of a cotton factory on the banks of the River Clyde. 

The Livingstone family was devout, and David was brought up to treasure God’s Word.  Before he was ten, the boy received a prize for reciting the whole of the one hundred and nineteenth Psalm, "with only five hitches," we are told.  It was in this factory that David was forced to go to work to help the family’s finances, when he was only ten years old.  He had to work there from six in the morning until eight in the evening every day.

          Along with the other children, Livingstone would then spend what was left of the evening at the night school run for their benefit.  Though many children simply fell asleep exhausted, Livingstone studied hard, often until late at night.

He bought a study-book out of his first week's wages, and in the evenings, when David could have the schoolmaster's help, he took it, and when he couldn't, he worked on alone. In this way he mastered his Latin. He was not brighter than other boys, but more determined to learn than many. He used to put a book on the spinning jenny, and catch sentences now and then, as he passed the place in his work. In this way he learned to put his mind on his book no matter what clatter went on around him. When nineteen, he was promoted in the factory.

Though David had been brought up in a Christian family, it wasn’t until he was twenty that the young man became an earnest Christian, and the spiritual change that took place then determined the whole course of the remainder of his life.  Before his conversion he had often thought about eternity; "Great pains," he says, "had been taken by my parents to instill the doctrines of Christianity into my mind, and I had no difficulty in understanding the theory of a free salvation by the atonement of our Saviour; but it was only about this time that I began to feel the necessity and value of a personal application of the provisions of that atonement to my own case."

He now began to reflect on his state as a sinner, and became anxious to experience the peace that the Gospel promises. He often felt his unworthiness to receive the grace promised by the Bible and consequently long felt that he couldn’t commit himself to the only true hope of the sinner, the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.  In His grace, God revealed to him his error, and he renounced all hope in himself; and as a bankrupt sinner he trusted in the power and willingness of Christ to save. To use again his own words: "I saw the duty and inestimable privilege immediately to accept salvation by Christ. Humbly believing that through sovereign mercy and grace I have been enabled so to do, and having felt in some measure its effects on my still depraved and deceitful heart, it is my desire to show my attachment to the cause of Him who died for me by henceforth devoting my life to His service."

Following his conversion, Livingstone soon became aware of the desperate need for qualified missionaries, and as a response, he began to intersperse his work in the Blantyre cotton mill with studies in theology and medicine.  He was a member by now of a congregational church, where the pastor, the Rev John Moir, encouraged him in his missionary training.  Close friends also supported him, and they persuaded him to apply to the London Missionary Society.

The Missionary Society were reluctant at first to accept him, on the grounds that that he was a dismal failure as a preacher, and very hesitant in his leading of public worship.  They therefore extended his probationary period.  Livingstone had always had an interest in China, and so determined that this would be where he would serve the Lord.  The Opium War that was then raging in the Far East frustrated him in this desire, and so his attention turned to Africa, after hearing Robert Moffatt, an LMS worker there.

(To be continued)

A Life for a Life

 Did you see the interview that Prince Harry gave from Afghanistan, broadcast at the end of his deployment as a soldier there?  It was interesting to catch a glimpse of this ‘playboy’ prince in his camouflage uniform, poised at a moment’s notice to put himself in mortal danger.  It is good to know that he is back home again, and we pray that all serving there will return home just as safely.

          The war in Afghanistan has caused Christians great concern.  Many believers would take a pacifist stance toward any war, especially one which seems to be so far away and so unconnected with British life.  They would argue from Scripture that all war is wrong and that Christians should campaign against it.  Pacificism has a long and honourable Christian tradition.

          Other Christians would take a different view, arguing, from Scripture, that in some circumstances it is right for countries, and even Christians, to take up arms against evil.  Through history, there has been an equally strong Christian doctrine of the ‘just war’.  For those of us who hold such a view, however, the war in Afghanistan has caused us almost as many problems as it does the pacifist, particularly when we consider what might end up as the government of the country in the future.  Perhaps it will be many years before we can truly tell whether such fears were groundless.

          We struggle with war because all war involves killing people, and Prince Harry openly acknowledged that.  When asked directly if he had been involved in such killing he was frank;

"Yeah, so lots of people have. The squadron's been out here. Everyone's fired a certain amount… We fire when we have to, take a life to save a life…” 

          It was the last part of that quote that struck me particularly.  When the pressure is on, and a soldier’s finger is on the trigger, that is what goes through his mind.  It must have been the same for those who fought in previous wars.  They thought of their own life and those of the fellow soldiers with whom they served – take a life to save a life.  Or perhaps they thought of families and friends back at home who might face danger if they didn’t succeed – take a life to save a life. 

          But as a Christian, when I heard those words I thought of the Lord Jesus Christ.  His life could be summed up slightly differently – Give a life to save many lives.  It was one of his enemies who counselled that “one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish” (John 11:50).  Caiaphas spoke more truly than he realised.  Jesus gave his life that others might be saved.  Because He willingly went to the cross, you and I can be rescued from our sin and the wrath of a holy God.  As one of the hymns we sing says, he “gave His life that we might live.  This is our God, the servant King”

The One the Bible calls the Prince of Life, calls us now to follow Him!