Tag: Jesus

Hope Gone Viral – A Christmas Reflection

In 1991 Metallica released their self-titled album, commonly known as ‘The Black Album’. On this album they released a song called “The God That Failed”. The central theme of this song being about faith and the human reliance on promises which are broken by the God of the universe. Lead singer, James Hetfield, wrote the lyrics soon after his mother’s death from cancer. She had such a strong faith she would be healed that James felt that had his mother not held to her beliefs she would not have lost her life. The lyrics read:

Pride you took
Pride you feel
Pride that you felt when you’d kneel

Not the word
Not the love
Not what you thought from above

It feeds
It grows
It clouds all that you will know
Deceit
Deceive
Decide just what you believe

I see faith in your eyes
Never your hear the discouraging lies
I hear faith in your cries
Broken is the promise, betrayal
The healing hand held back by the deepened nail

Follow the god that failed

There are no doubt times in our own lives when we wonder, due to our personal situation or from observing what is happening in our society and around the world, whether God has failed.

This week alone we can think of the atrocities continuing in Aleppo, the attack in Berlin, and the assassination of a diplomat in Turkey. To have your mind blown check out the list of terror attacks that have occurred in December to date. Crazy times.

Yet despite all of this we can still have hope for the future.

This hope comes from knowing that God is faithful to his promises.

If we go back some 2700 years we come to a time where God’s people are dealing with a similar question – has God failed?

Through the prophet Isaiah we read of a time where God’s people were struggling for hope. Isaiah is called by God to speak to the people of Judah and Israel, bringing a message of warning and judgement with a sprinkle of hope. In one particular section, chapters 7-9, Isaiah is called to warn and encourage King Ahaz to trust in God despite what looks like very bleak circumstances.

King Ahaz rules over the Southern Kingdom of Judah and is a terrible king who is constantly disobeying God, worshipping other gods, and following his own devices. You can read of his reign in 2 Chronicles 28. And having been warned by Isaiah not to make allegiance with the Assyrians he decides it would be a good idea to do so. He is soon run over by them and then neglects the worship of God, making other gods for himself and his people.

So God’s people are in a bleak and dark situation. Their nation is being bombarded and they are wondering whether God is truly faithful to his people.

They wonder whether God has failed.

Yet in chapter 9:1-7 Isaiah brings a glimmer of hope. Like the sun poking through the clouds on an overcast day, Isaiah brings a brief message of hope in amongst the warnings and judgement to the people of God. This hope culminates in v6-7, which reads:

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Here we find that the hope for the people of God is a child-king, a person, who will be born, who will be named, and who will rule an eternal kingdom. This passage, and these two verses in particular, give the people of God great hope for what is to come.

For those who believe, who live 2700 years after Isaiah’s message and this side of the cross, recognise this child-king as Jesus.

Isaiah’s message is that there is a great king to be born. This king will not be like the current king, Ahaz. Rather he will be a king that surpasses all other kings. He will lead well and true and fair. His leadership will bring peace and his rule will be eternal.

God had not forgotten his people, nor had he left them. His promises come to fruition through this child-king. God himself will fulfil his own promises and come as a baby, making a way for everyone to know him and bring hope for the world.

In this Christmas season we can look back and see that Jesus was a gift of hope to people in the time of Isaiah, just as he continues to be the gift of hope for Christians around the world today. Through this child-king Jesus hope has gone viral.

God himself fulfils that which he has promised in Isaiah by sending his Son Jesus, who rules wisely with strength, power, and holiness. Isaiah calls Ahaz to turn from his disobedience and sin and put his trust in God. In the same way God calls us to do the same. This trust is made manifest through the life and death of Jesus, through this child-king, who came and lived, and died on a cross in order for us to know our God and King.

This Christmas, like last Christmas and the one before that, and the one before that, we celebrate our Lord’s birth; knowing that he came into this world as a baby. We also celebrate him because of what he has done for us. The gift of mercy, grace, and hope he provides us with.

Christmas reminds us that we worship a God who has not failed.

Christmas reminds us that we worship a God who will never fail.

Christmas reminds us that we worship a God who is faithful.

This post is in response to the WordPress Discover Challenge – Hope Gone Viral.

December 24, 2016
Jesus Invites You In – A Christmas Poem

Below is a Christmas poem written by someone who attends Rowville Baptist. It was written and shared last week at a local retirement village. I had the privilege of having it emailed to me and received permission to share it here. Enjoy.

Jesus Invites You In!

Young Mary with Joseph a journey did make

Tho’ pregnant with child, this risk she must take

There were thieves along the way, the road was rough

By the time they reached Bethlehem they had had enough

They were hungry and weary, the babe was due any minute

When they saw the inn they hurried to get in it

They knocked on the inn’s door and asked to lodge there

The innkeeper refused, for their plight he didn’t care.

“No room” he said, you cannot stay,

“Go to the stable, go sleep on the hay”

The tills were overflowing, business was good;

Take in these straggling strangers? Couldn’t see why he should

But he paid a price when “No room” he cried

He missed big time when the shepherds arrived

He never got to hear how the heavenly host did sing

He missed being at the birth of our Saviour and King

We recall this story each year for a reason

Lord, help us reach out to others this season

As the day approaches and we are all set to rejoice

Help us remember those who have no voice

Lord may we not reject with a word or a glance

And say “We have no room”, not give others a chance

With your heart and your eyes help us to see,

And pray for the suffering, for those who aren’t free

We pray for ourselves to do unto others

Remembering always they’re our sisters and brothers

Lord we think of the many souls that are lost

We thank you, you saved us at such a great cost

How thankful we are that You made Yourself known

Visited us as a babe, left behind Your own throne

We are so thankful Lord Jesus, that you love us so much

Others who don’t know You, they too need Your touch

Now as Christmas approaches, You stand at the door

Saying “Come in, come in, there’s always room for more”

– Marlene S

December 21, 2016
You’re More Than A Number

Hey,

Tomorrow you find out your VCE results.

This is a big day.

It’s a day where you find out where you’re academically rated amongst your peers after 15 years in the education system.

Tomorrow is also a big day for your parents. For 18 years they’ve been encouraging you, praying for you, and helping you learn and grow into who you are today. For them it marks the final hurdle in seeing you complete your studies and the beginning of a new season – university, work, and other adult-like activities.

As much as family, friends, and teachers have told you that your ATAR score doesn’t define you, I know it doesn’t feel that way. I’m sure you’ve been in conversations about what you’d like to get, what course you might like to apply for, and what you’d like to achieve in 2017 and beyond. People can say this moment doesn’t define you but I’m sure you can’t help but feel nervous and anxious about these results. The text message you receive tomorrow may well dictate the mood of your coming days, weeks, and months. It’s certainly not easy to be in the middle of it all, let alone have others try to convince you that it’s not as important as everyone makes it out to be. Everything from school to family to culture implies something different.

It screams make or break.

A friend of mine received a score lower than 30 when he went through VCE. It was disappointing for himself and his parents. Yet over the years he has held a full-time job, completed studies in Marketing, and in the world’s eyes has become ‘successful’. Another friend scored over 98. She had her pick of all the courses in Victoria but chose to continue her passion and study Psychology (a course that didn’t require such a score). A little while after completing her degree she switched to teaching and has enjoyed it ever since.

I mention these examples because as much as their scores reflected their academic results in the year they completed year 12, they didn’t let it define who they were.

The culture you’ve grown up in, the culture you continue to grow into, tells us that it is what we DO that defines us. It is what we achieve, what we accomplish for ourselves, what we are ‘successful’ at, that makes us who we are.

For those of us who follow Jesus this is turned upside-down.

Rather than having to impress God with the things we do and achieve, we are made free because of the person and work of Jesus Christ. When we have our faith in Jesus, recognising that he has taken our brokenness upon himself, and turn to follow him, we are made new. We are a new creation, a child of God, one who has been bought back to God through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Since the middle of the year our Sunday services have focussed on our identity in Christ. In the Letter to the Colossians the author makes clear that because of this Good News we are now considered holy and blameless in God’s sight (Col 1:21-22).

Our identity is not defined by what we’ve done, good or bad, or by what we’ve achieved, successful or unsuccessful. We are defined as one who has been made alive in God, forgiven and free (Col 2:13-14).

When you get that text, or make that call tomorrow, the knowledge that you are ‘in Christ’ enables you to have a different perspective.

No longer does the result you achieve define your intelligence, your gifts and abilities, or who you are. Rather, knowing that you are ‘in Christ’ brings perspective and redefines who you are. Look at yourself. God has made you to be you. And nobody else. He’s given you unique passions, abilities, gifts, and ambitions for his good and the good of his kingdom. Therefore, high marks, low marks, bettering your friends or bombing out, do not define who you are.

When we move away from understanding that we are ‘in Christ’, the perspective we have of ourselves becomes distorted. Our self-worth, our identity, and what we deem to be valuable turns inward. We begin to consider ourselves more important and valuable than God and soon enough those things that we DO are defining us again.

So tomorrow, remember that you are worth incredibly more than the number you are given. You are a child of God, made in his image to reflect who he is. You are valuable, someone worth dying for. And you have been made new by the grace and freedom given through the work of Jesus on that cross.

Whatever happens tomorrow Jesus continues to love you and seek you.

Remember, you’re more than a number.

December 11, 2016
Growing Young – Take Jesus’ Message Seriously
This is post four in a series of reflections on the book Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies To Help Young People Discover And Love Your Church. For an introduction to the series please read part one and continue reading the reflections in part two and three.

As the title of the chapter states, another reason for seeing ‘young people’ actually stay in church is through churches taking the message of Jesus seriously.

This is pleasing to know.

It means that instead of softening the message of the Gospel and the teachings of the Bible, as many kids and youth ministries are assumed to have done over the years, it is better to increase the temperature of what it means to follow Jesus.

In providing a place for young people to discover and discuss the hard questions of faith, receive a challenging vision of what it is to follow Jesus, and see how this faith becomes counter-cultural in its application is what is keeping those in their teens and twenties at churches.

It’s not surprising that the research highlights how those under 30 are more focussed on Jesus than the Bible or Christianity. In recent years there have been plenty of YouTube vids, posts, and other articles and papers highlighting how Millennials are following Jesus and doing away with institutionalised religion. Reading this reminded me of when I signed up for Facebook and entered my religious views as “A Jesus Guy”. It was something I thought was a bit different, but evidently not. It also speaks of how those my age and below (Millennials/Gen Y) are more prone to say they follow Jesus rather than say they are “a Christian”.

Chapter 4 of Growing Young outlines a variety of reasons why taking Jesus’ message seriously actually keeps young people in the local church. Anecdotally I can see in my own experience, and with a number of my friends, that throughout our emerging adult years we craved serious Bible teaching and looked up to people who took Jesus and the Bible seriously.

One particular section of this chapter outlines a phenomenon known as Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. This is the idea that young people in the West are generally following a philosophy of thinking that is (1) moralistic, where faith is equated to being a good moral person. It is (2) therapeutic, because it is this faith that makes them feel better about themselves. And it is (3) deistic, meaning that God does exist but this god is not involved in human affairs.

MTD a curse upon the youth and young adult conscience and has been helped to solidify itself in those who’ve had a little church background because of the super-mega-hype youth ministries of the last 20-30 years. To be a nice person, believe in a God you think is going to help you and bring favour upon you, but not be too close to you in your daily life is a distortion of the reality of the Christian faith and what it truly means to follow Jesus. Sadly, the rise of individualistic Christianity, a sprinkle of post-modern thinking and the dumbing down of Jesus through youth ministries have no doubt contributed to this.

Yet all is not lost.

As young people seek a faith that is authentic and in line with the reality of who Jesus is churches are beginning to realise that teaching the costly and sacrificial side of faith might actually be important. Growing Young puts it this way:

“Following Jesus is costly, requires sacrifice, and invites us to actively participate in God’s kingdom. In fact, the church by its very nature is participatory, which means everyone shares the work. It’s a body (Rom. 12:5–8; 1 Cor. 12:1–31; Eph. 4:1–16), and every part needs to play its role in order to build up the whole. As indicated by Jesus’ command to both “follow me” and “take up your cross daily” (Luke 9:23), pursuing Jesus requires no less than everything, every day (Rom. 12:1). There’s nothing therapeutic about that call…In short, teenagers and emerging adults in churches growing young aren’t running from a gospel that requires hard things of them. They are running toward it.”

In what ways can your church help young people run toward faith, a genuine faith, that takes the message, actions, and words of Jesus seriously?

One of the critical experiences in my time as a Youth & Young Adult Pastor is small groups. That is, groups of around 10 people who gather together to eat, read the Bible together, and then pray for one-another. In one group I’ve been involved in we had a couple who had just joined the church. Both were reasonably new to faith but one of them wasn’t a Christian. Over a period of time, by simply looking at the Bible, passage by passage, she became a Christian. It showed me how instrumental it is to simply read through books of the Bible week by week and then seek to communally apply it to peoples lives. Through doing so we take the Bible seriously, but more so, we take the person, work and message of Jesus seriously too.

How this taking-Jesus-seriously thing applies further in our churches might be to consider the application we teach in children’s and youth ministry. The classic example for people teaching Sunday School, particularly the ‘famous’ stories of the Old Testament, is to make the application moralistic. Through the story of Abraham, Moses, Joseph, David, and Jonah we somehow come to suggesting that our hearers should change behaviour and because of that change in behaviour God will be happy with us. In the end we get the reading of the passages incorrect by making them all about ourselves and then say all we need to so is be a nice person and through this we’ll be made right with God.

Sound familiar?

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism perhaps?

Rather than this let’s teach the Old and New Testaments in line with the overarching redemptive storyline. This is where we see the main person of the story is not actually us but it is about God and his work in this world, culminating in Jesus Christ. A good example of this type of teaching is The Bible Project and The Gospel Project.

Growing Young itself gives a good outline in how to teach the storyline of the Bible in this way through a Good-Guilt-Grace-God’s People-Gratitude-God’s Vision framework:
- Good (Gen. 1:26–27): God created us good, in God’s image.
- Guilt (Rom. 3:10–12): We then chose to disobey God, leaving us with the guilt of sin. All of us carry this mark and it impacts us every day.
- Grace (Rom. 3:23–24; Eph. 2:6–10): Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God has extended grace to us to make things right and restore us to relationship with God and one another.
- God’s People (Eph. 2:19–22): As we experience grace, we are adopted into the body of Christ, enacting God’s reign in the world. We join the mission of God, participating in the work of God happening in and through God’s people today.
- Gratitude (Col. 2:6–7): Out of this gift of grace, we respond in gratitude toward God. This is the well out of which our obedience—which includes moral behaviours—flows. In other words, the gospel doesn’t begin with behaviours nor is it dependent on behaviours. The behaviours are an act of thanksgiving to God in response to grace. As we grow in trust, we naturally grow in obedience.
- God’s Vision (Rev. 21:1–5): We are living in between Christ’s first coming and his return.
Other areas where churches can increase the temperature of their teaching regarding Jesus is in one-on-one meetings, youth leadership meetings, youth group itself, and in other gatherings where there is a discipleship purpose. But wherever that may be for you, your church or ministry may you be encouraged, as I was, knowing that teaching the hard things of Jesus and the Bible isn’t something to be scared of.

Another good article reflecting on the book, and mainly on this chapter, has been written by Trevin Wax at The Gospel Coalition.

Here are the links to the series of reflections on the book:
October 26, 2016
Of Masks and Men

Professional wrestling seemed to peak in the late 90s, while I was finishing up high school. I remember nicking off from school to go watch Main Event: WrestleMania at a mate’s house, hoping to get a glimpse of Sting come down from the rafters and scare the hell out of everyone in the ring. Ah, fun times.

Sting was one of those wrestlers that wore a mask. He wouldn’t wear a corny one that looks like a piece of lycra with some holes in it. No, Sting’s mask was painted on, a white paint with some black flowing stripes. It showed enough of his face to know who it was but also hid something behind it, enough to leave some mystery.

Like entertaining wrestlers we too live behind masks. Probably more than one.

A wrestler does it for entertainment, for their work, to become someone they’re not in real life. Much like an actor playing their role in a biopic. We, on the other hand, seem to hide behind masks because we’re fearful of what others might think of us.

I wonder what masks you wear?

In Matthew 23:25-26 Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for wearing masks. He says,

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

Jesus condemns the Pharisees and scribes for their two-faced hypocritical lives. They elevate the law and commandments and self-made rules above loving God and neighbour. They wear masks as they walk around pontificating about their own righteousness, shown by their outward signs and condemnation of other ‘sinners’. Yet on the inside these Pharisees and scribes are as unrighteous, sinful and dirty as the prostitute, tax collector, and leper.

It is hard to take our masks off. Like a woman taking off her make-up, scrubbing hard to get the foundation and blush and lippy off her face so too it is hard for us to scrub our masks off and reveal our true self to the world. If we expose our blemishes to the world we fear what people will think, we fear we will be judged, we fear we will be rejected.

Thankfully we have one that knows our true self. Thankfully we are known by Him who accepts us, blemishes and all. As much as we turn away, hide and put Him aside, God sees all of us and accepts all of us. Despite our faults and imperfections God stands with open arms accepting us just the way we are.

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

April 28, 2016