Crisis Management

Just been reading a cracking book “The Church in an age of Crisis “ by James Emery White, who is the pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in North Carolina. The sub title is “25 New Realities facing Christianity”

This is a well researched attempt to understand modern culture, the modern mind and lifestyle – a “whirlwind tour of our day” and the obvious challenges it presents for the Christian church, as we seek to communicate unchanging truth to a fast, changing world.

The 25 new realities are conveniently divided into 5 sections, namely Faith, Mindset, Marriage and Family, Media and Technology and Mission and each of those is subdivided into 5 e.g. the 5 realities of modern day marriage and family are “We’re just not into marriage”; pornification; modern family; regarding gender and the disappearance of childhood. 

I found myself saying yes, yes, yes, many times throughout this book. Using comprehensive research, Pastor White very helpfully pinpoints the key cultural markers of our day. The book doesn’t attempt to say what we should do about living in such a world and how we should work out our calling to be salt and light in our world – that is left to each reader and each church leader to think through for themselves. But at least he does paint a very helpful picture. Whilst much of it is specifically orientated to a north American mindset, none of us should be unaware of how relevant this is for our own culture too.
 
Here’s one example of many I could choose. In a chapter entitled, “Is Google God?” he shows how indeed for most people Google has become the fount of all knowledge and information, even though much of what you read is little more than “endless volleys of nonsense, folly and rumour masquerading as knowledge, wisdom and even truth”. A practical and relevant example – google “Easter - its meaning and its origins” and you will get millions of articles. The average, non –churched biblically illiterate person may read any one, believe it is definitive and be further misled away from truth. There is a disconnect in our world between information (much of it false) and knowledge and wisdom.

The implications and challenge for the modern church should be obvious. The men of Issachar understood the times” (1 Chron. 12 v 32) – and so should we, so that we are effective witnesses for the unchanging Christ and reveal eternal realities to a confused world.

Sinful Nature and the Flesh

I’ve been preaching on Romans recently. What a book! Last week we were in chapter 8. The key/hinge verse is v 5 which says, “Those who live according to SARX have their MINDS SET on what SARX desires but those who live according to the Spirit have their MINDS SET on what the Spirit desires”.

This word SARX literally means “flesh”. Translation is a notoriously complex task as it is very difficult to convey all the nuances of a word in one language into another equivalent one word translation (eg try translating Ulster ‘banter’ or ‘craic’ in one word to someone from another country). The NIV translators in the 1984 version translated ‘SARX’ as ‘sinful nature’. The newer 2011 translation has gone back to the translation ‘flesh’, originally favoured by the KJV.

The NT uses the Greek word effectively to mean “the meat on the bones”, literally “the flesh”. So for example in John1 v 14 “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” ie Jesus took on human skin.

But the NT also uses the expression to refer to the tendency to sin that is a part of fallen human experience. So faced with the challenge of translating ‘SARX’, the translators were a bit afraid of conveying the impression that ‘sarx’ referred only to the physical (as in our expression in English ‘the sins of the flesh’) so they went for ‘sinful nature’. But this could convey the impression that we have two natures when Paul clearly says that we have one – the new nature that comes from being in Christ. Hence “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8 v1) so in the 2011 version they have gone back to the translation ‘flesh.’

But Romans 8 v 5 is crucial in the sense that that it provides a very clear test as to whether or not you truly belong to Christ. Where is your “mind set”? What world/realm do you live in? What dominates you? What is your default mental position? What are the issues in life which really motivate you and mean most to you? What do you really live for? What controls you? What matters more than anything else? If you could only have one thing what would it be? If it is not Christ above all, then serious self examination is required.

We are all dominated by a certain “mindedness”. The only difference between an unsaved ‘moral’ person and the worst rogue you can think of is on the outside, not the inside. Counterfeit gods come in many shapes/sizes but unless our lives are dominated by the One true God, His cause and His glory, then according to Paul we haven’t really got it at all. Makes you think doesn’t it??

Lovely Limerick by the Banks of the Shannon

We spent last week in Limerick, where I started my formal Christian ministry in September 1986.  We spent 8 years there as a family and my youngest daughter Rachel was born there and she was keen to revisit to see her birthplace, the hospital where she came into the world, our old house and it gave me a chance to reconnect with some of the folks, who are still in Limerick Baptist Church – worthy warriors who survived my 8 years of ministry among them.

The roads are now fantastic.  Between Lisburn and the outskirts of Limerick we only had 1 traffic light.  When the Celtic Tiger roared, it roared loud and the signs of growth and progress are hugely evident.  The city itself has changed incredibly since we lived there.  In those dark days of the late 80s, the city was known as the city of the 3 ‘P’s’– priests, poverty and pox!!  In our 3^rd month there, one of the main shop buildings in O’Connell street fell down one night in a strong wind and landed in the middle of the road.  It was a decaying place and the Catholic church held sway and firmly gripped the hearts, minds and thinking of the populace.

Now there are shiny hotels, shopping centres, coffee shops and restaurants.  The church’s grip is weakened; the sex abuse scandals hastening its decline.

When we arrived there in 1986, Limerick Baptist Church consisted of about a dozen or so hardy souls and met in a large red brick building in O’Connell Avenue.  It was a building nearly 100 years old and was sucking the church’s resources in terms of maintenance and upkeep.  We spent 6 years leading the church through change and into a brand new building in the suburbs where the people were.  When the building was opened 20 years ago this month in 1993, it was only the 2^nd Baptist church built on a green field site in the Republic of Ireland for a century.

It was strange being part of the congregation last Sunday morning, worshipping with what is now a thriving, multicultural congregation.  I looked at the bricks and remembered how we had even chosen the colour of them, laying out various samples on our living room floor.  The site was large, too large for a church 20 years ago and we debated long and hard whether we needed such a large site.  But years ago, the church sold off a large bit of it for a large sum of money to a property developer, during the boom years – not only securing the church’s financial future, but also bringing new houses, people and families to the church’s doorstep.  I remembered the difficult days, knocking endless doors and seeking to share Christ, praying for God to move in this dark place – and meeting much resistance.  And now seeing His work flourishing under the good leadership of  Pastor Paul Ritchie did my heart good.

How good is God.  How strange are his ways and how good to know He is working.  There will always be a bit of me left in lovely Limerick by the banks of the Shannon.

Birthdays are Good Days!!

Guess what? It’s my birthday today. 2 of my favourite birthday quotes are…..

“You know you’re getting old when the candles cost more than the cake!!”

“For my birthday I got a humidifier and a dehumidifier.  I put them in the same room and let them fight it out”

When I was 18, I thought 40 was pretty old.  I remember not long after I started going to church, one of the deacons had a 40th birthday party.  I remember thinking how old that was – 40!!  That was 22 years away.  That seemed a lifetime.  But here I am now – way past 40 and 50 and still motoring on.  You see an old person is someone who is more than 10 years older than you!!

So today, on my birthday, I put up the cards, read the text messages and got reflecting again on my likes and dislikes list.  What am I passionate about and what really sends me into a rant. Despite my age (or perhaps because of it)……

Im still passionate about my family, Christ, the scriptures, the gospel, the gathered church, worship, preaching, truth, communion, believers baptism, small groups, grace, leadership, discipline, good stewardship, relationships, making the most of every opportunity, good holidays, John Grisham, Jaffa cakes, midget gems, steak, chicken, being organised and sport in general (to name but a few!!)

I still don’t like legalism, dishonesty, lack of integrity, inconsistency, deceit, false teaching, bad theology, hypocrisy, immorality, blasphemy, those who tell you ‘how’ to do it when they have never done it themselves, strong winds, freezing rain, liver, spinach, mushrooms and any team except Manchester United!!

I’ve got many things wrong in my life and sometimes allowed wrong emphases and faulty thinking to distort my perspectives and my judgments.  But, by God’s grace, I am still trying to get passionate about the right things.  And as I look back on my years I can say “Ebenezer” – up until now the Lord has helped me.

I read this today...

“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom”(Psalm 90 v 12).  A good prayer for any day – especially your birthday!

Who Killed Jesus? I Would Like To Know.

I got these lyrics of a song sent to me.  Food for thought!  The soldiers, Pilate, the Jewish leaders – they all had a hand in the dreadful act of the crucifixion.  But supremely it was God behind the scenes.  Aren’t these astonishing words? “It was the LORD’s (YAHWEH’s) will to crush him” (Isaiah 53 10)

 And why was it the Father’s will to do such a thing?  Because of the horrible reality of our sinfulness and there was no other way.  My sin, your sin led Christ to the cross.  His death was Vicarious – a just God transferred his wrath against moral offenders to his perfectly innocent Son, who was treated judicially as if he were guilty.

Who Killed Jesus? I Would Like To Know."
 
Who killed Jesus? I would like to know.
Who is guilty of a crime so low?
Why did He have to die? What is the reason why?
Who killed Jesus? I would like to know.

Was it Roman Soldiers, with their tools of war?
Pounding nails through hands that did no wrong.
Mocking and abusing, crowning Him with thorns,
All the evidence is very clear.

Was it Pontius Pilate, he was Governor,
Trying to decide the case that day?
Finding that the Saviour had no fault His own,
Was he guilty when he turned away?

Was it Hebrew children, proud of who they were?
Shouting "Crucify Him" to their King.
Rejecting their Messiah for a common thief
Turning down the Kingdom He could bring.

When I think of Jesus, and the way He died,
How upon Him all my sin was lain.
All the other people, fade away from view,
It's for me the Sacrifice was made.

I no longer wonder anymore,
I have found what I've been searching for;
My sin demanded Hell, on Him the Judgment fell,
I am guilty, now it's plain to see, that it was really me! 

Source(s): http://www.standingtogether.org

Judas and the Danger of a Double Life

In preparation for the sermon I preached last Sunday, I got thinking again about Judas and his part in the Easter drama.  He had everything going for him.  From Kerioth in southern Judea, the son of Simon Iscariot, a noted freedom fighter.  A loyal Jew, he would have been picked out from the disciples as “the one most likely to succeed”.  That was probably why he was made the treasurer of the group – the one to be trusted above the others.  Yet it all fell apart as he slipped out into the night to negotiate a deal with the chief priests and teachers of the law to betray Christ to them.  The price was agreed – 30 pieces of silver.  The very price placed upon the head of a slave in Exodus 21v32.

Certainly, that was not a sudden decision by Judas.  Gradually, his heart was becoming hardened, his disappointment with Christ growing more acute by the day.  He probably thought that Jesus would head up the political revolution.  But as it dawned on him that his kingdom was not of this world, he allowed his disappointment to grab and embitter his heart. Having become disillusioned, he started to steal (John 12 v 4) and covered up by pretending to be spiritual and genuinely concerned for the poor.  He was neither.

How delighted the enemies of Christ must have been by his offer of betrayal.  How thrilled they must have been to have an insider on their side.  How much easier that made their terrible work.  His double life though did not satisfy his conscience or give any pleasure and Judas died in ignominy and disgrace.  To this day his name has nothing but negative connotations.

Oh, this is a powerful lesson.  It is so easy to live a double life.  This is a theme I think about often and try to safeguard my heart against.  How easy our sinful hearts can slip into ‘spiritual’ mode when trying to impress others.  How easily we wear masks and put on the evangelical grin, when our hearts are really cold, dead and lifeless.  Beware the danger of a double life and heed these words “these people worship me with their lips but their hearts are far from me”. 

Ah Judas – what you could have been!

'Where the birdies is'

After my last blog I remembered “where the birdies is” – they’ve been building a nest above the rooftiles in my office.  I wondered what to do with them and finally the deacons came to the rescue.  But it reminded me of a story of 3 Baptist pastors who were having a problem with bats in their very old church buildings.  They were a real nuisance and they were each discussing what they had already done and any possible solutions (its amazing what pastors will discuss at conferences!!!) 

One of them said, “I even tried shooting at them but all I ended up with were large holes all over the roof and – THEY ARE STILL THERE!!”

The 2nd said, “Well I did something different.  I tried capturing them, driving them out into the country and releasing them.  But they just returned to the same spot and - THEY ARE STILL THERE. 

The 3rd pastor then confidently spoke up, “I got rid of them easily.” 

“How?”asked the incredulous and curious other two, “how on earth did you get rid of them?” 

“Easy,” he said, “I just baptised them, made them church members and then I never saw them in the church again, except twice a year at members meetings!!”