Life + Faith

Hey, I’m Jon.
And this is where I write about life and faith, no niche included. Just an honest attempt to be faithful and fruitful for Jesus. If that’s something you want more of, subscribe.

  • Lloyd-Jones On Prayer

    mljlifeinspiritIn 1952-1953 Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached a number of expositions on John 17. These have been put together in a book called “Life In The Spirit: Classic Studies In John 17”. Although, it now looks like its been retitled and republished as “The Assurance Of Our Salvation“. In his second exposition, “Why Pray?” there are some terrific quotes about prayer worth being reminded of here.

    “We might have considered a man very saintly because his will was conforming to the will of God, and because he meditated about these things and because his supreme desire was to live to the glory of God. Well, you might say, such a man would have much less need of prayer than anybody else, but it is not the case. Look at the most outstanding godly men and women, how often they spent much more time in prayer than anybody else. They did not just passively wait for God’s will to be done, no, they, more than anybody else, went, rather, and talked to God. And as you proceed to read the history of the church throughout the centuries, you will find exactly the same thing. Whether he belongs to the Roman Catholic Church or the Protestant Church, it is always the hallmark of a saint that he is a great man of prayer. John Wesley used to say that he had a very poor opinion of a Christian who did not spend at least four hours in prayer every day, and that is but a typical statement of God’s outstanding people in the church through the centuries.”

    (John 17:1, Why Pray?, p26)

    “You show me a man who does not pray very much and I will tell you the real problem of that man. It is that he does not know God, he does not know God as his Father. That is the trouble. The problem is not that he is not a moral man, or that he is not a good man. He can be highly moral, he may be very faithful in Christian church work, there many be nothing he is not prepared to do, but if he does not pray, I tell you that the essence of that man’s trouble is that he does not know God as his Father. For those who know God best are the ones who speak to him most of all.”

    (John 17:1, Why Pray?, p29)

    “Let me put it like this: the saints always prayed to God, and our Lord supremely did so, because they believed in God’s power, because they believed in God’s ability to help, and, above all, because they believed in God’s willingness and readiness to help. That is tremendously important. They, of everybody, knew the power of God, yes, but the world and its trials tend to shake our confidence in him and there is no better way of reminding ourselves of the power and the greatness of God, his ability and his readiness to help, that to go and talk to him; that is why the saints always fly to prayer. ‘The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe (Proverbs 18:10). In other words, the saint rushes to God in prayer and reminds himself of these things.”

    (John 17:1, Why Pray?, p31)

  • Nothing Else Matters

    A while ago I wrote a post about what I wished I knew when entering youth ministry. This is part six of a series dedicated to elaborating each of those eleven points. You can read part one, part two, part three, part four, and part five here.

    When in the guts of week-to-week youth ministry it is unlikely that anyone cares about what you’ve achieved in the past. The only time your education, prior experience, and variety of training helps you is through the application and interview process. Once your name has gone to the church, an introductory A4 sheet of paper is handed out about who you are (and your family, if you have one), and the vote has been taken, it’s all over. All of that is forgotten.

    What matters most to those in your church is how you relate to people and whether you can look after the students.

    Seriously, get those two things right and generally people will be happy.

    However, for us as Youth Pastors, we have a sense of pride in our work. This is not the kind of arrogant pride, overconfidence, and belittling of others. No, this is a sense of achievement, being happy and satisfied in the work, education, and relationships we have in our life.

    If you’ve been in youth ministry longer than 5 years you should feel good about that. If you’ve completed a particular course, you should feel good about that. If you’ve travelled, you should feel good about that. If you’ve been through tough experiences and come out the other side, you should feel good about that. If you’ve taken the step to get married, I hope you’d feel good about that! Whatever your accomplishments and achievements are you should feel good about them. We are all unique and will bring those experiences into our youth ministry role at church.

    The issue is, no one will care more about this than you.

    I wished I knew that what I’d achieved in the past would only matter to me earlier than I did. At one stage I believed that the two-years in mission work would help me gain a position as Youth Pastor. I thought it would at least provide a good platform for leadership in the church. After all, I knew what I’d done, the experiences I’d had, and was confident in my own abilities. Yet, when in conversation with someone in leadership they simply dismissed this experience because it wasn’t youth ministry specific. Little did they know me, let alone the experiences I had, and how totally applicable and formative it was to youth ministry.

    Often we begin to believe that the experiences we’ve had in the past aren’t very influential or relevant to the role we play as Youth Pastors. This isn’t true.

    Everything we’ve done is really formative for us. Our experience in life and work all helps in the youth ministry role, helping us relate, care, and create as Youth Pastors. Whether it’s a course of study, travel, corporate work, gardening, or cleaning toilets as part of your entry-level McDonalds job, all of these help in forming us in youth ministry.

    All this being said, it comes down to the realisation that we can’t rest on these experiences. We can’t have our hope and identity in our past accomplishments, just as we can’t have our hope and identity in our role as Youth Pastor.

    While these things help form us, they aren’t known to others. Youth ministry volunteers, parents, the students don’t know your story like you do. When something comes up that they’re not happy with, that they challenge you on, that they disagree with you about, then none of your accomplishments matter. It’s not about status and achievements. What matters is how you’re going to deal with the situation you have in front of you. What matters is whether you’ve learnt from your experiences, and how you can leverage them in dealing with the challenges and joys you face in youth ministry now.

    The point is really about identity.

    Our identity is not in our position as Youth Pastor. It’s not in our accomplishments. It’s not about our ego.

    It’s in Christ (John 15:15; 2 Cor 5:17; Gal 2:20; Col 3:3).

    We serve him. His people. And try to get the ego out of the way.

    Questions for reflection:

    • Do you put too much weight in the achievements of the past?
    • Is your ego seeking to remind you of all the awesome things you’ve done?
    • How are you learning and growing to serve others in humility?

    11 Things: A Youth Ministry Series
    Beginning As A Youth Pastor
    Part 1: Life With Jesus
    Part 2: The Senior Pastor-Youth Pastor Relationship
    Part 3: Church Health > Youth Ministry
    Part 4: Friends For The Journey And Friends For The Road
    Part 5: The Grass Isn’t Greener
    Part 6: Nothing Else Matters (this post)
    Part 7: Temptation And Holiness
    Part 8: Church Culture And Politics
    Part 9: Fixing People vs God’s Grace
    Part 10: Working Better
    Part 11: The Privilege Of Youth Ministry

  • Podcast: After 9 – Episode 82

    I was interviewed about my journey in youth ministry on the After 9 podcast. It was really fun to do and I think it ended up alright. It went live today.

    “In this episode of After 9 Zac interviews Aussie blogger and youth pastor Jon Coombs. Hear the ministerial honesty from half a world away as…[Jon]…shares his heart about what it means to serve in youth ministry long term and what the simple gospel has to say about the power of God working in the lives of young people. If you were called to ministry young or have continued to serve for more than a decade, or have a dad as a pastor, this one is for you.”

    You can find it here.

  • When You’ve Been Writing For 8 Years And Your Blog Still Sucks

    I’ve been writing on this blog, on and off, for about eight years.

    And yep, my blog still sucks.

    There are probably a number of reasons the blog sucks. The writing. The topics. The lack of consistency in publishing posts. The poor promotion, even though it is the age of social media.

    I don’t like to think about these reasons. It’ll send me into a spiral.

    But, yeah, the blog sucks.

    When You've Been Writing For 8 Years And Your Blog Still Sucks

    Any person with basic mathematical skills will work this out when they read my stats. A blog’s stats are like Microsoft Excel to an accountant, they measure and tell the story of the site. They help the owner of a blog calculate how well they’re doing.

    Well, my stats tell me that my blog sucks.

    I’m not even sure if I should tell you my stats. I don’t see this as a done thing in the blogosphere. Everyone is so secret about it.

    Here goes.

    • So far this year I’ve had 2000 post or page views. The most views in a year was 2016, at just over 2500.
    • The most views are directly to my homepage. In terms of the most viewed post, the winner is an obscure post about Christian persecution in the Middle East from 2014.
    • I have 97 people who follow this blog through WordPress or via email.

    So as I was saying, my blog sucks.

    There are days I want to blow it up. To detonate it and send it into internet oblivion. To see it gone from the history of the web forever. I then wonder whether anyone else would like to see this happen too.

    But then there are days where I just want to keep plugging away. To keep trying to publish regularly. To write things and let the world have them. To create and put out into the world thoughts, reflections, and understandings that might have an impact on someone.

    And so I don’t and won’t blow it up right now. I won’t hit the switch. I won’t delete my words from the interwebs.

    I’ll keep going.

    I’ll keep posting.

    I’ll keep writing.

    Because at the end of the day I have seen improvement. I enjoy the writing process and putting things out there for others to consider. I am pleased with some of what I have written. It’s not about the stats but my own growth in my writing.

    But, yeah, my blog still sucks.

    This post is a free writing exercise in response to The Daily Post topic ‘Detonate‘.

  • The Radiating Jesus

    The book of Hebrews, in the New Testament, is a terrific read. It’s a book that outlines how God is no longer tied to a particular place but is accessible through the person of Jesus.

    At the beginning of the book the writer, or ‘preacher’, outlines how God speaks. He used to speak through the prophets and fathers of the Old Testament. Now, however, God has spoken through his Son, Jesus. In explaining who this person Jesus is the writer uses these words:

    “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…” (Hebrews 1:3)

    This is some lofty language, and some kind of statement.

    -He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the

    First, we find the writer speaking greatly of this Jesus whose divine nature is seen and made known to us. Jesus, this God-man, reflects the image of God in the most perfect way. The glory of God and the nature of God shine upon the world through this Jesus. Jesus isn’t some sort of replica, a replica that is mass produced like small toys gifted to children at Christmas. No, this Jesus is God. And, the glory of God the Father and everything of him shines through his personhood. He is the light of the world (John 8:12).

    Second, we are then told of his divine rule. Jesus upholds the universe through his power. His words are the foundation of the world. It is by his word that things happen and things don’t happen. Here we see the power and authority imparted to Jesus as he rules over the universe. We shouldn’t be scared of his rule, for he is the perfect ruler. He is unlike worldly rulers who seek glory for themselves and go a little loco with power. Jesus is the ruler of the universe who rules perfectly.

    Third, we are made aware of a permanent salvation. No longer is salvation found through the Law and sacrifices of the Old Testament. There is no need for an annual sacrifice in order to purify our sinful nature and deeds. Jesus was that “purification for sins” when he died on the cross. He fulfilled everything that was needed in order for us to be made pure. This process doesn’t need to occur over and over again. It is not like water purification, which needs stage after stage, to make it clean. No, Jesus made us clean once and for all through his death and resurrection.

    To confirm its permanence we note Jesus “…sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high”. He does not need to go through this purification for sins process again, he is not required to die over and over and over again. No, “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10) and “…when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sin, he sat down at the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12).

    How astonishing to know that we have our sin covered, our person made clean and pure, through the sacrifice made by the ruler of the universe. This salvation is offered to us through he who radiates God’s glory and majesty. May it radiate from our heart into the world we live.

    This post is a free writing exercise in response to The Daily Post topic ‘Radiate‘.