Rejoice with those who rejoice

Rejoice with those who rejoice Romans 12: 15

After careful consideration, I am almost certain that playing golf can seriously damage your sanctification!  By which I mean the golf course is one of the best places to halt if not reverse the process of turning the Christian into the likeness of Jesus. The frustration and sheer incomprehensibility of why one minute you are playing like Tiger Woods and the next you hit three shots sideways is a mystery on a par with the Bermuda Triangle.  You start out a happy Christian and can end up full of bitter thoughts, anger and intense irritation.

Your own game can be frustrating enough but rejoicing with your playing partner over their incredible if not incredulous shots can be trying in the extreme. It is always easy to rejoice with those who perhaps have worked hard at their exams and got good results or with friends who have got engaged, married or are having a baby. We can rejoice with those who have got a job or promotion or moved to a new home but rejoicing with those who don’t in our eyes deserve it, is quite another matter.

I have a pastor friend who tells the story of another pastor who felt God was going to give him a new car. This pastor did not look after his present car; it was badly in need of a good clean and a service and he certainly did not deserve a new one. Nevertheless he was given a brand new, top of the range Mercedes. Rejoicing with those who rejoice in those circumstances is hard – it comes through gritted teeth. Or, back to the golf course, rejoicing when your playing partner hits a shot and with a few bounces all round the banks surrounding the green, the ball hops, skips and jumps down the hole!  It is these times of undeserved favour or good old grace that test our capacity to rejoice with those who rejoice.

Yet there is a lesson I have learned that if one can rejoice and congratulate those who do not deserve whatever it is they have got whether it is a new car or a flukey golf shot, something inside of us changes. Complaining about their good luck whether to their face or others just makes us sound what we are – bitter and jealous. Rejoicing with them and others enlarges the place of our hearts and makes us look what we may not be feeling – generous and gracious.

Yet something else also happens. As we learn to rejoice in the most unlikely and undeserved circumstances, we not only look generous and gracious; we become generous and gracious. It starts as an act of the will but gradually our attitudes start to line up with our words. We are all recipients of amazing grace and we rejoice over God’s abundance to us. Rejoicing with others over their good fortune leaves no room for jealousy and bitterness in our hearts but instead increases the sanctification process of turning us a little bit more into the likeness of Jesus

The Good Shepherd

¹The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
² He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
³ he restores my soul.  He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23: 1 - 4

What is it that God so loves about sheep and shepherds?  The Bible is full of references to them. The most famous psalm read at weddings and funerals is Psalm 23. Jesus himself said he was the good shepherd – twice - just to make sure we got it!  (John 10: 11 and 14). In addition the two most famous leaders of the Jewish people in the Old Testament, Moses and David, spent their formative years as shepherds.

In Old Testament times, the concept of a shepherd / king was well understood by the people many of whom would have been shepherds and probably all of whom kept some flocks.  These kings were not tyrants lording it over the people, exacting taxes and demanding allegiance; they looked after their people and protected them. The Lord was acknowledged as the shepherd / king of Israel and it was when the people forgot this that they got into all sorts of difficulties.

Psalm 23 is a great insight into the role of a shepherd, learned firsthand by David. He understood that the way God looks after us is very similar to the way he had looked after the sheep. Just as a shepherd wants his sheep to prosper and flourish so the Lord wants his people to do the same. They will flourish through the Lord’s good provision for them through metaphorically green pastures and quiet waters. This speaks of good quality provision of all we need to both sustain and refresh us.

The shepherd makes his sheep lie down in safety and God too wants his people to feel secure and safe and he leads and guides them in his righteous ways. When they are down hearted he restores them. This is not just for his people’ sake but also for the sake of his name for when God’s people prosper and live in his safety and protection, his name in honoured.

However, even when the times are tough and it feels like we are walking in the valley of the shadow of death, we know God is with us and we have nothing to fear because he is by our side. We know he will keep us on the path of righteousness with his guiding ‘rod’ which can rescue us if necessary and protect us from danger. His supportive staff will comfort us in the hard times.

As we think about how a shepherd looks after his sheep, how much more the Lord, the Good Shepherd looks after, provides, protects and watches over us, his people because of his amazing love for us. As we trust him he will guide us and keep us on his path and bring restoration and comfort if we need it. The Lord is indeed a Good Shepherd to us.

You are not your own

You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body. I Corinthians 6: 20

It is very unfortunate that this week there have been pictures of a naked Prince Harry on the internet and now in one of the national newspapers. Everyone is saying he should be given privacy and he is just a young man on holiday enjoying himself with his friends.  However Prince Harry is not just a young man on holiday; he is a prince of the realm. No doubt he is very embarrassed and angry at the friend that took and then sold the photographs. Trust has been broken but for Prince Harry it is more than personal embarrassment, he has embarrassed the Royal Family. I am sure there will have been an apologetic phone call to the Queen.

In the same way, we too as Christians, do not have the liberty to behave in any way we choose.  Not only can it bring personal embarrassment but it also brings Christians and even more importantly the Lord Jesus into disrepute. Jesus death on the cross which has saved us and means we will spend eternity with him, is much more than that; it changes our lives. The power of sin is broken and we no longer want to live the old way. However, sin still has its grip on us and it takes time to break the power of old habits and old ways of thinking but Jesus is in the business of transformation.

God wants to transform our lives but it takes our co-operation. Too many Christians are happy to live with old sinful habits, ungodly beliefs bound by fear and rejection and the devil would like us that way too.  It keeps us bound and ineffective and a poor witness. The Holy Spirit is there to help us and work powerfully in and through us. We need to be active participants in our transformation seeking God’s help to be turned into the likeness of Jesus which is God’s desire.

Prince Harry will almost certainly grow out of some of this foolish behaviour but it will dog his life as he will always be in the public eye. We too need to go on to maturity, leaving behind our sinful ways and thoughts. We may not be in the public eye as Prince Harry is but our witness to our circle of friends and family is just as important. Let’s honour the Lord Jesus with our lives in all we do.

Imagine

The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.  I Corinthians 2: 14

At both the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympics they used John Lennon’s song Imagine. It was beautifully sung by Emeli Sande and for many people its apparently noble sentiments will have deeply touched them. The song imagines there is no heaven, no hell, no countries, religions, beliefs - in fact everything that God has created. Then John Lennon assumes there will be nothing to fight over, so no war and we will all live as one.

These wonderful sounding ideas are of course deeply flawed and yet they are a perfect example of the secular humanism that underpins our western societies today. Secular humanism supposes that man is capable of being moral and ethical without religion or God. It is completely opposed to faith and believes every human being must carefully examine ideas for themselves based on science or philosophy. 

As we know nothing could be further from the truth and it is faith that pleases God our Creator.  Man in his fallen state is completely incapable of high moral or ethical behaviour without God whether acknowledged or not.

Instead let’s imagine a world where people acknowledge and worship God; a world so beautiful and perfect where creation dwells together in harmony and people walk with God. Let’s call it the New Earth. Let’s imagine a beautiful city coming down from heaven clothed like a bride called the new Jerusalem. Let’s imagine how magnificent it will be clothed with the glory of God. Let’s imagine the thick walls made of jasper and the city fashioned from pure gold like transparent glass and every gate a single pearl. How truly awesome that will be.

Let’s imagine this city with no sun or moon because God himself will be there and his glory will illuminate everything. The glory of the nations will be brought into the city and there will be nothing impure in it. Let’s imagine the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. Let’s imagine that on each side of the river there stands the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And let’s imagine that instead of no nations the leaves of the tree of life will heal the nations.

C S Lewis said, ‘It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one.’  Let’s think about our eternal destination and imagine its awesome beauty and the wonder of spending eternity with our Lord and Saviour. Let this change our attitude to this fallen world and its lost inhabitants who believe that without God everything will be fine. Let’s instead show them the love of God and reach out with compassion and power to change the world around us – just like Jesus did.
 

It's the thought that counts

It is more blessed to give than to receive.  Acts 20: 35

There is no doubt that when giving a gift, it is the thought that counts.  Some of the best gifts I have received have had small monetary value but huge value in terms of the thought behind the gift. One Mother’s Day I received four gifts from my children, none of which had great monetary value but each of which said a huge amount about the giver. Each child had taken a great deal of thought to give me something that would bless me and therefore each gift was very precious to me.  Amongst the gifts was a CD compilation of my favourite worship songs put together by my younger son. The thought behind it was amazing that he knew the songs I liked and as I listened to it for the first time, I never knew what the next track would be and so the gift became a blessing over and over again.

It is very hard to give something to someone who seems to have everything. The Royal Family apparently only gives small gifts to each other at Christmas. The Queen was reportedly delighted when someone gave her an apron. She loved it and whoever had given it had thought about it and knew it would give her pleasure.

God has everything and it all belongs to him. In themselves the Trinity are complete. They need no one or nothing more but yet they draw us into this complete relationship of love. Their love is so overwhelming they want all of their wonderful creation to enjoy it. So what can we bring to the One who has and is everything?

The answer of course is the only thing we have to give – our lives, our hearts and our love. So many people want to live independently of God not realising they are denying themselves the greatest gift that has been given to humanity – a relationship with God. What else could anyone want? Everything else pales into insignificance.  Yes man’s greatest treasure so often is his freedom and his independence, not realising that actually he is not living free but in bondage to sin, pain and suffering.  Only a life given freely to the one who gives life can lead to true freedom for mankind.

Jesus gave us all he could give; his life. The greatest gift we can give is our life given back to the one who loves us so much he died for us so we could enjoy fellowship and true freedom with him.

Games Pastors

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Isaiah 52:7

The Olympic Games are almost over; just two days to go and I have enjoyed watching just some of the action. There has been such joy for the athletes who have won medals and such disappointment for the many who may not have even qualified for a final.  Yet all of them have displayed such dedication and determination. They have trained for years sometimes for a few seconds of a race and behind every athlete is a team of just as dedicated and determined coaches, physiotherapists, psychologists, dieticians and so on.

All of them will have been there during the years of training through the cold, dark winter months, the early mornings, the hours in the gym or pool and though they may not have been running, swimming, rowing or participating in the actual race, they have played a vital part in the success of the athlete.  Only one person may have actually won the medal but the support team made it all possible.

For the last two weeks I have been a Games Pastor working on some of London stations.  Every day we walk for hours round the station talking to people, helping them on their way, encouraging them and talking about faith when appropriate. We have even been able to pray with people.  Behind me though has been my support team of encouragers, prayers and intercessors supporting me on my journey. 

I have met so many interesting people and talked to many from travellers to the police who have come to London from all over the UK, the Network Rail people who normally work in offices around the country who for two weeks are supplying vital information to travellers, to the security staff who have made sure everyone gets on their way safely.  Everyone has served with good humour and kindness. I have met those eager to find a greater depth of meaning to their lives and those whose lives are in a mess. I have met those who profess no belief to born again Christians happy to talk about their faith.

Behind all of my endeavours and the work of Games Pastors is the support team whose sterling work has made it all possible. I am sure many Games Pastors would have given up weary beyond measure and discouraged if it had not been for the dedicated prayers and encouragement of those at home faithfully praying.

In the Olympics only the athlete gets the medal. The support team do not.  In the Kingdom we all get the medal, we all get to share in the success of the one on the front line.  You may not be called to be out there but your support in prayers, finances and encouragement is vital and your reward assured. Do not believe the lie that your prayers are insignificant; they are the vital lifeline to give strength, faith and encouragement to the one who is bringing the Kingdom to others.

Today ‘let us not become weary in doing good’ (Galatians 6: 9) but be encouraged that your prayers make such a difference and your reward in the work is assured. God sees and knows and he is so proud of every one of us involved in the business of the Kingdom bringing good news, life and hope to the poor.

I am reconciled to God

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. II Corinthians 5: 18 – 20

Have you ever watched one of those television programmes which reconcile family members who may have been separated for years or even most of their lives? Suddenly brothers and sisters or children and mothers and fathers who have not seen one another for ages are reunited and reconciled. Sometimes they were separated by a family argument or adoption and sometimes people cannot remember what happened to cause separation.  The reconciliation though is sweet and joyful and there are tears not just from those being reunited but also from the television audience.

Reconciliation is at the heart of the Gospel. God wants to have fellowship with his creation and he has done everything necessary to bring it about. Before we became Christians we were separated from God by sin but Jesus through his death on the cross reconciled us to himself. When we ask Jesus to forgive our sins and place our lives and hearts in his hands, there is great rejoicing in heaven.  We have been reconciled to God and nothing can separate us any longer from his love. 

However Paul also says God has committed the message of reconciliation to us so we become his ambassadors. Ambassadors represent the interests of the one they are acting on behalf of to others. The British ambassador represents the interests of Britain in other countries. Paul says it is as though Christ were using us as ambassadors to make his appeal for reconciliation to others (II Corinthians 5: 19 – 20).  

Is there anyone you need to be reconciled with?  Or does God want to use you in the ministry of reconciliation between himself and another? Reconciliation is a joyful event – let us do all we can to bring it to others.

The desires of our heart

Trust in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
 Delight yourself in the Lord
and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37: 3 – 4

There is something in each one of us that is rather suspicious of our desires feeling they will be fleshly and that God would not give us those things as they would be bad for us. However I am not sure that is the case.  Imagine your child really, really wants a bicycle or a Wii or some such for their birthday or Christmas and it is within your capability to give them this. Most parents would do this, knowing that the huge pleasure their child would have at receiving their desire would also bring joy to their own heart.

As parents we do not want to spoil our children but we do want to bless them with the things they desire.  God, as the perfect dad, must also want to bless his children with the desires of their heart. He doesn’t want to spoil us but he knows better than we do how to give us good gifts without making us selfish.

When I was still a young Christian, I felt God say to me one day, ‘What would you most like?’  Now I could have, like Solomon, asked for wisdom but almost immediately I said, ‘I want to travel Lord’.  God has taken that desire and over the last 28 years we have been to so many places both on mission trips and on holiday. Indeed for 11 years in a row I went on a short term mission trip as well as having some enviable holidays.

We do not have lots of money but God has blessed us again and again with travel opportunities and paid for them!  He has given us the desires of our heart as we delighted ourselves in him. I am asking God now to open up fresh travel opportunities and mission trips as I feel there are many more places I would like to go to. 

On another occasion, my father took the family to a show in London. It was amazing and on the way home I thanked God for the opportunity to do something we could never have afforded then. His reply surprised me. ‘You wanted to go, didn’t you?’ I remembered that I had said to God almost in passing that I would love to see a show in London and he had remembered and answered my desire.  There was nothing spiritual about it – it was just a desire I had.

I know now that I can trust God to bring about my desires in his own way and time and if they really are ‘bad’ for me, he will withhold them like any good Father would. We do not have to be afraid of our desires and ‘crucify our flesh’ so we have no desires. As with so many aspects of the Christian faith, it is a balancing act between ‘your will not mine’ and God giving us the desires of our heart.

The key is to seek the Giver not the gift. It is delighting ourselves in him, loving him for who he is not what he can give us. No Father wants a child to be looking at his hands to see what is in them but rather to be looking at his face and then finding his hands are full of blessings.

Overcoming the past

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8: 1 – 2

I don’t know about you but there are times when my past failures, mistakes and stupid errors of judgement come flooding back to condemn me. There are so many things that I would not do now especially with the benefit of hindsight that I foolishly did in the past. There are so many things I would do differently. 

However when failure and condemnation seek to come flooding in the first and most important thing to remember is that God is not calling us a failure nor is he condemning us. The devil is. You see if he can get us to focus on our failures and mistakes, we will not be focusing on the possibilities before us now. It is like driving a wedge between God and his plans and purposes and ourselves. 

Condemnation swamps us with failure and a sense of guilt and inadequacy. God showers us with blessings and possibilities. If we trust God with our lives, he will bring good out of every situation – even our monumental mistakes. His word assures us of that. Romans 8: 28 says, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose. It may be a very familiar verse but it is also the EXIT sign to feelings of shame and failure from mistakes.

My teenage years were not a time in which I take any pride. I was rebellious and foolish because I felt no one like or loved me.  I did a lot of very silly things. Yet God used those experiences to give me such a heart for teenagers so they would not walk in the same rebellion and rejection that I had felt.  

We must resist the devil and all his lies, not invite him in and listen to his nonsense. Jesus’ death on the cross took all our sin, guilt and shame. Our past is not a problem to God and we must not let the devil use it to condemn us. We are free so let’s walk in freedom and let God renew our minds so when the devil reminds us of the past and its failures, we think instead of how much God has done and the good he is bringing from our mistakes.

Praise the Lord!

¹ Praise the Lord, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
² Praise the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
³ who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103:  1 – 5

There are times when, like David, we need to encourage ourselves about the goodness of God. If we wake up one morning and just feel a bit out of sorts, or life is not going well, this is a great psalm to read to remind ourselves of all God’s wonderful ways.

The psalm exhorts us to praise the Lord. Praise is a gateway into the presence of God. Psalm 100 tells us ‘to enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise’. This is not because God’s gates only open with praise; indeed there are times to rush to God in our distress for his comfort and grace. However, praise reminds us of who we are worshipping and why. As we think, speak, sing or shout his praises, it is our hearts and spirits that are enlarged and our vision of both God and the wonderful possibilities for our lives that is changed.

David then goes on to encourage us to remember all God’s benefits – and who do they benefit-  us!  He forgives our sins, heals our diseases and redeems our life from the pit. If that is not enough he crowns us with love and compassion.  A crown is what a king or queen wears to show their royalty or in past times the winner was crowned to show their success. God elevates us with love and compassion. The psalm says many times that God is compassionate to us. He feels deeply for us in our weaknesses and distress.

God also satisfies our desires with good things – God only gives good gifts because God is good. God does not give us bad gifts anymore than we would give bad gifts to our children, no matter how wayward they were. God does not send sickness, pain, poverty, unhappiness and so on. Indeed his desire is to lift us out of these things and give us good gifts. He wants to satisfy our desires, not keep disappointing us. ‘Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights’ (James 1: 17).  

Finally, as if all that was not enough, God renews our strength like the eagle. In the Bible the eagle is a symbol of vigour and God does not want us weak – he wants us strong in him. God has such wonderful plans and purposes for our lives. He wants to fulfil our dreams; he wants to give us good things; he wants our lives dripping with his love and grace. This psalm is a source of huge encouragement to us and as we read it, let our spirits soar again with praise and thankfulness to our amazing, wonderful God.

Grace and truth

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1: 14

Jesus always operated in grace and truth. He never denied or overlooked sin; he never said. ‘That’s alright, it doesn’t matter’ He always dealt with sin but in grace and truth. 

I love a story Bill Johnson tells in his book The Supernatural Power of a lady who came to the front in one of their worship services but ‘her movements did not seem to flow from the Holy Spirit’. Instead of confronting the woman and telling her to sit down, Bill got the leader of their dancers to begin to dance on the stage ‘to break something in the spiritual realm’ that was not of God. Immediately the other woman collapsed on the floor and they were able to pray for and minister to her. The lady had ‘real sincerity and a heart that was right but she needed deliverance and salvation’. They dealt with the situation in truth but with great grace.

In another story I heard there was a new café for homosexuals about to be opened somewhere in America. Many Christians wanted to picket the place to show their outrage but one group of Christians instead asked if they could help in any way. Naturally the homosexuals were very suspicious but the Christians showed their seriousness by getting some new T shirts printed for them. On the opening night they just served them in the kitchen. The café staff were just blown away by the sincerity of the Christians’ faith and their obvious love for them and some came to faith themselves as a result.

Unfortunately many Christians feel the best way to deal with other people’s sin is to point it out and castigate them but this rarely works. For instnace, there is nothing more upsetting than Christians shouting at homosexuals that they are perverts and going to hell. Coming in an opposite spirit – a spirit of love and grace – is a powerful testimony. People need to be loved and accepted, just as we do, not have their weaknesses and failings, sins and compromises pointed out by people less than perfect themselves. They need to be dealt with graciously.

Let’s encourage one another to be gracious to others and to show them the love and mercy that we all need.