St Barnabas devotional

Introduction

I was leading a prayer meeting and bible study on Thursday morning and I came across a verse I had a problem with. It’s in 1 Peter 2:2.  It says “like newborns CRAVE pure spiritual milk.”  I’m interested in the verb in this sentence this morning. Crave. In Greek “ἐπιποθήσατε - epipothēsate”.  It’s an imperative form of the verb “epipotheó”.  Everywhere else in the NT it’s used in the present tense – ‘I crave’ – only here is it a command ‘crave!’

Let me show tell you why I had a problem with that verse.  My wife and I have had three children – and during each of the pregnancies she had different cravings.  The first pregnancy involved me getting up at 6am and making fish finger sandwiches for a couple of weeks.  It’s pretty inconvenient but it’s relatively cheap and a pretty easy way to show her that I was a good ‘involved’ husband – whatever that means.

The second pregnancy was a problem.  See we had a lower combined income than before and when I got home from work and Emily said she was craving fillet steak I was pretty frustrated.  Every night she was desperate to eat steak and spinach for tea.  I’ve got no problem with steak – but our bank account did, and to be honest I wasn’t super keen about going out to buy steak when I got home after work.

Imagine then – if you dare – that I turned round to Emily and said “craving steak is stupid – crave fish fingers instead!”  What do you think would happen to me?  I’m pretty sure there wouldn’t have been a third pregnancy.

You can’t tell someone what to crave.  Can you?

Guard your heart

One of my favourite verses in the Bible is Proverbs 4:23.  It’s been translated in different ways because the concept is tricky to communicate in English – but literally Proverbs 4:23 says something like this:

Before doing anything else – before guarding anything else – ahead of any other protection – guard, protect your heart.  Because it is the very source of your life – all your life comes from it – everything you do flows from it.

Micah, my son, is five and he invented a phrase last year – keep a care.  I think it helps us here – doesn’t quite work in English but you understand what he’s saying – keep a care on your heart.  Keep a care on your heart bigly.  Is that a word now as well?!

We’ve been theology students for a while now – so you don’t need me to tell you that ‘the heart’ from any biblical worldview is more than our emotions.  The heart, as Oswald Chambers said, is:

"best understood if we simply say “me,” it is the central citadel of a man’s personality. The heart is the altar of which the physical body is the outer court, and whatever is offered on the altar of the heart will tell ultimately through the extremities of the body. “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”

The heart is the seat of all our cravings.  Everything we desire, we desire it because our hearts desire it.  So when Solomon says to keep a care on your heart bigly – he’s talking about sorting out your cravings.  Crave pure spiritual milk.

Why? Because everything we do flows from the cravings of our hearts.  All our ministry flows from the cravings of our hearts.

If we crave fame?  We’ll be gutted when no one notices us, and proud when someone does.

If we crave sexual gratification?  We’ll be angry when something gets in the way – maybe an institution, a person or even our own bodies – and led into all kinds of debauchery by what offers us gratification.

If we crave power?  We’ll be dangerous when we don’t get our way and easily swayed by who or whatever offers us power.

Brothers and sisters, keep a care on your hearts bigly.

As Jesus himself said: out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks, or:

"It is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly"

This morning I’m going to offer you one thing you can do which will guarantee to keep a care on your heart.

Eyes on Jesus

Eyes on Jesus.

The author of Hebrews had it right

Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus... consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hebrews knows that the heart is always craving.  The only way to stop a heart from craving is to kill it.  Surely we must have a better solution – surely we must offer the heart something better to crave after.

It’s all over the Bible – it doesn’t matter how true your beliefs.  It doesn’t matter how right your actions.  If your heart is sick your life is sick.

There are two biblical solutions for a sick heart.  God has done the first one – he has taken from us a heart of stone and given us a heart of flesh.  The second solution – once we have a new heart – crave well.

Someone in the Bible study I was leading suggested that if they were to talk about chocolate for five minutes then everyone would want to eat chocolate.  How much more with Jesus?

We don’t glorify Jesus because he is on an ego trip – we glorify Jesus because as we lift up Jesus he wins our hearts.  You don’t sing his praises because he needs it – we sing his praises because our hearts need to hear it.  My heart needs to hear your singing.

The great Puritan pastor, John Flavel, reflecting on our proverb, wrote that the heart is like a stringed instrument that can be tuned – but needs retuning every day and in every new situation.

“and therefore every duty needs particular preparation of the heart”

Conclusion

Let us make much of Jesus today.  Let us lift him up as the hero of our ethics, our linguistics and our preaching.  Let us learn to glorify Jesus in our apologetics, our study of mission and our biblical studies.  For the sake of our hearts.

As we do it we are protecting our hearts – and helping each other to find life.  But more importantly – as we practice exalting Jesus in our studies we will learn to exalt Jesus in our lives.  Lifting up Jesus is the only way to guard your heart.  More than anything lift up Jesus – adore him in your heart because from it flows the springs of life.

And maybe as we go and minister from this place in days and weeks and years to come we will be known as people who make much of Jesus – and by lifting up Jesus the people we serve will not only learn to think rightly.  They will not only learn how to live rightly.  They will learn how to crave rightly – and that is the greatest gift a pastor can impart.

Present Presence

They’re two words that sound an awful lot alike.

• Present: NOUN “the thing put into the presence of another”
• Presence: NOUN  “the state or fact of being present – as with others”

I’ve not bought my wife her Christmas present yet this year.  In fact it’s her birthday two days before Christmas and I’ve not sorted that either.  Queue the anxiety, frantic impulsive shopping and stressful waiting to see what she thinks…

What should I get her?

Maybe there’s a clue in the talk I did last week at a men’s breakfast where I was encouraging men to love their wives, (and to some extent the other women and children in their lives) as Christ loved the church.  How did Jesus love the church?  Ephesians 5 says by ‘giving himself up for her’.  There’s a clear sense in which Jesus gave himself as a gift to the church and we should give ourselves as a gift to our wives.

Give myself?  If that sound odd to you then I’m with you.  What on earth does that mean?

Friday Night Theology

I wrote this blog for the Evangelical Alliance a few months ago and re-posting it here so I can find it in future.  The original is: http://www.eauk.org/culture/friday-night-theology/to-die-is-gain.cfm

At the Pearly Gates

What state do you want to be in when you meet St Peter at the Pearly Gates?

It seems to me that the goal of much western Christianity is to arrive in style.  The physical style of the most relevant hairstyles and inculturated clothes.  The emotional style of the most ‘chillax-ed’ horizontal hippie you might hope to never imagine.  The spiritual style of the expensive-suit-wearing, bearer of glazed eyes – the pastor in a mid-life crisis extending their adolescence so that they might be ‘attractive’ to their generation.

Arriving in style might be in vogue but it’s not my style.

I don’t exactly believe in the image of the pearly gates and St Peter with a silky white gown and a shiny golden halo – but even if I did I wouldn’t want to match his style on arrival.

Check out those Love Jugs

You’ve heard of the idea of love languages right?

Basically it’s the idea that we understand love given and received in a certain form better than others.  You might give and receive love in terms of touch.  You might give and receive love through helping out – serving people.  You might understand love communicated through kind words, quality time & attention or possibly even through giving and receiving gifts.

Love languages.  They’ve helped my wife and me understand and communicate our love better.  I think they’re great but let’s not get stuck in one metaphor.

Studies: Scripture and Authority

Here’s the question of the week:  if the Bible is a story, in what sense can it be authoritative?

This is my first ever class in academic theology and I was slightly underwhelmed.  My first reflection was that it was rather a bizarre reflection on the philosophy of language, the way in which God might or might not guide our behaviour and the destruction of some fairly feeble straw men.

We got tied up in knots discussing whether God dictates the Bible or in some other sense fixes every iota of the text in some magical way.  We felt good about ourselves for dismissing the demythologising of the likes of Spinoza, Kant and Bultmann.

There was a fairly frustrated discussion about the degree to which the church creates or discovers the Scriptures. And we had fun ridiculing the ESV for fixing their translation for all time after a couple of pretty controversial translation edits in the final version.

I’m no academic theologian – at least not yet – but I’m a Pastor and practical theologian by trade.

My sense is that people need to know they can trust the Bible as authoritative – but they have no idea quite what that means.  This class did little to reinforce or clarify but it did allow for some interesting exchanges.

For what it’s worth – probably nothing in an academic sense – my answer to the authority question is fairly simple.  It’s all about Jesus.

You are my son

Let me tell you about this hero.  Ethan is 5 now - nearly 6.  He's hilarious, beautiful and smart.  He's the world's greatest oldest brother - and has the world at his feet.

Last week my wife and I had a couple over to dinner after he (and his little brother and sister) had gone to bed. Just as we're serving food he rocks up in the dining room asking for a drink - he didn't know we had guests over and when they greeted him he was terrified.

I'm standing near Ethan so I pick him up and hold him close.  Ethan buries his head in my chest and looks for the world to swallow him up.  I feel for you little man - I've been there - we've all been there.

Except this time your dad's got you safe.  I introduced him like this:

"Hey guys this is Ethan.  He's amazing.  He's so big he's nearly six now.  Did you know he is so clever - he even got 6 on his spelling test this morning.  He's my biggest boy and I'm so proud of him."  Or something equally gushing and cringe-worthy.

Except he didn't cringe.  He didn't hide even more.  He jumped down to show off his spellings, talked about his day at school and his computer game and his little brother.  He came out of himself and our guests got to see the 'real' Ethan.

I wonder if that's how Jesus felt when the Father says "this is my son - I love him - I'm proud of him"?  As Christians we have the same status as Jesus - so maybe today - if you're struggling to show people the 'real' you the solution is not another social media update, drink or label.  Maybe just maybe the solution is stopping to let yourself hear God your Father whisper

"You are mine.  I love you.  I'm proud of you."

It worked for Ethan.

Salzburg - the 3rd story

I constantly live my life in two stories.  In one story I'm boss - nothing happens outside my will.  In one story I'm hopeful - I have no idea what will happen but I trust it will turn out OK.

In the first story I'm sending a team of students to Salzburg in March.  Inspired by Fusion's 'Escape & Pray' initiative I'm committed to letting the blessing God has poured on our church impact on the European church scene.  I'm excited about the idea of linking Christian groups across the continent to serve students who are becoming increasingly internationally mobile.  I'm convinced that a cross-cultural mission partnership for our students will increase our boldness in sharing faith back home.

In the second story I have arranged transport and accommodation but little else. We're going over the top in faith.  I don't know if we'll be able to minister God's healing, grace and truth on the streets of Salzburg - but I know we can't if we're not there!  We have an invite from a Catholic group called Loretto but I don't know how to connect people with church in Salzburg - but I know we can't if we're not there.  In fact I don't know anything much about out time there except that we will pray our hearts out, serve our butts off to make Jesus famous in Salzburg - and that we can't do that if we're not there.

But maybe there's a third story?  Maybe there's a divine narrative that we connect with through faith not risk assessments?  Maybe there's an adventure to be lived, a set of assumptions about church to be shaken and new story to be written?  And what if we're invited to join by trusting the master storyteller??

I want to live my life in the third story - not one where I'm struggling to control details, or one where I'm pretending to understand what's happening - one where I admit I have no idea, that there is a master storyteller and my place in the story is determined by my willingness to trust him exactly where I don't understand why.

I don't understand why we're going to Salzburg - but I trust there is a third story, a master storyteller and that he rewards those who seek him in faith.  And we'll never know if we don't put ourselves in the game.

Calvin's Institutes

John Calvin - you either love him or you hate him right?

I mean 'Calvinism' is either synonymous with the orthodox faith or the most serious danger to that faith. Depends on your theological stable.

To call someone a Calvinist could either be an insult or a acclamation. In some ways the word Calvinist divides Christians like none other.

Here's the irony. We've never read any of Calvin's writings. If you know anything about Calvinism it's probably associated to the acronym TULIP which stands for:

Beautiful Beauty Broken Broke

We get to host this amazing exhibition at St George's Church this week - and I get to write a piece about the heart behind it.  The text is here - but there's nothing like coming and seeing it for yourself.

Beauty.  The thing that creates intense pleasure or deep satisfaction.

Beauty in the wrinkles around deep and soulful eyes.  Beauty in the sun-kissed landscape.  Beauty in the moment of connection of two hearts.  Beauty in the moments of massed non-violent protests against injustice.

Beauty.  In the miniscule and the massive.  It’s everywhere and it’s just out of reach.

Brokenness.  The thing that’s left after violation, crushing or forcible separation.

Brokenness in the frail, aging and dying body.  Brokenness in the scorching and devastation of the rainforest.  Brokenness in the heart of a child who can’t understand why their parents hate each other.  Brokenness in the society that allows the 1% to abuse the 99.

Brokenness.  In the miniscule and the massive.  It’s everywhere and just beyond cure.

As a society we have a strange relationship with birth and death.  The two most natural of all human passages.  Our society would have us hide them away in whitewashed, clinical, sterile environments.  We take the most human moments and put them in the most inhumane buildings.

Maybe we can’t really cope with seeing beauty and brokenness up close and personal.  Maybe there’s something in us that is happier to pretend everything is ok rather than face the fact that we’re surrounded by astonishing beauty and devastating brokenness.

Maybe the reason we hide behind facebook profiles, dress ourselves in other people’s labels, define ourselves by what we do, maybe it’s because we can’t bear the idea that this beauty and brokenness is not just outside us.

If there’s real beauty then there’s real value.  If there’s real value then there’s a real value-giver.  If there’s real brokenness then there’s real value – destroyed.  If there’s real value then there’s a real value giver and they will be eager to restore value.

The Christian message is born in the cauldron of beauty and brokenness.  In the beginning God created… and he declared it was very beautiful.  Then, as the story goes, brokenness enters our beauty.  Mistrust into a perfect moment of vulnerability.  Pain shatters perfection leaving a world divided, unequal and hurting.

The good news of the Christian ‘gospel’ is that God himself has stepped into his beautiful and broken creation.  He is not hiding behind a facebook profile, a book, a messenger or an institution.  God himself has come face to face with the highest heights of beauty and the deepest depths of brokenness.

The cross where Jesus died shows the brokenness of the world absorbed in one man.  The empty tomb bears witness to the fact that beauty wins.  God wins.

The invitation of Christianity is to allow God to restore you to the person you were meant to be.  As you become restored you will join in the work of restoring beauty in a profoundly broken world.

This is why St George’s are thrilled to host such a spectacular exhibition.  We are in awe of the quality of these artists and their ability to bring beauty and brokenness to our attention.  We believe that you cannot know beauty and brokenness intimately and not be drawn to Jesus – the pinnacle of beauty and brokenness.

How big is your kingdom?

I spent part of yesterday doing some teaching to church leaders about how to be better leaders.  I started off with the premise that John C Maxwell coined as the ‘law of the lid’.  It says that the limit of the kingdom you’re building is determined by how good you are at leading.

This gives us two options.  See, I really want God’s kingdom to grow and be fruitful in Leeds especially among students.  What can I do?  Either I can get better at leading it; or support things that I’m not building.  I’m committed to get better at leading – but I’ll never be good enough as a leader to see God’s church grow enough for my liking – let alone for His!

Here’s my solution: I will encourage, support and pray for things that I’m not building.  I will not get the credit for their successes.  Sometimes their successes will make me look less good.  I will advertise other people’s churches – not because they’re better but because we need each other.  I will support the CU AND I will support the local church – because we need all the help we can get.

We've just released a map (below) pointing students in Leeds to churches who are working together with the CUs for the gospel.  There are 12 churches on my list.  I wish there were hundreds.  There are around 70,000 students in Leeds and I can’t find more than 350 in Christian communities in this city – I’ve been looking for three years now.

I might be able to run a student ministry that, God willing, impacts 1,000 or 2,000 students every year.  Even then, there’s still enough work to go round.  I must encourage, support and pray for that other work. Even if I look less good as a result.

Euro '16 qualification: what a load of rubbish!

Is anyone else utterly uninspired by the qualification tournament for the European Championships in 2016?

I want to see England playing competitive football against the likes of Spain (last in 1996), Italy (once since 1997), and France (twice this century).  I know we'd lose lots but, like rugby union's 6-nations, it's when Europe's best compete that we're interested!

Someone needs to tell San Marino/Faroe Isles/Andorra that they're not very good, never will be, and they should not be wasting our time.

Can we please keep the Euro finals to 16 teams, keep the main draw of qualification to the teams in the world's top 100 and stop allowing Asian countries to masquerade as European to cash in on European football? Please?

Maybe we'd replace pointless qualification games with a Spring series of 4 international games with European nations split into divisions of 5 with annual promotion & relegation?

In case you're wondering England would be in div 2 (on world rankings) against: Netherlands, Belgium, Greece & Croatia. Exciting & evenly matched internationals...there's an idea!!

That would mean missing out on games against the following...

Asian: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Cyprus, Turkey, Israel, Kazakhstan

Currently too poor: Gibraltar,  Andorra, San Marino, Faroe Islands, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Malta

Would you miss football against that lot? Who's with me?

Surely you know...

surely you know what 'The Gospel' is?  How about defining it in a sentence?

I came across a blog the other day where someone had posted a lot of different definitions of 'The Gospel'.  He was worried that if Christians couldn't agree what the Gospel was then they couldn't accurately convey it's message to the world.  I thought I would have a stab at it.  Here goes:

Gospel = Good News. The 'Good News' were proclaiming is simple: Jesus is Lord. Let that be heard from the rooftops, from the churches, from the underground venues, from the halls of academia and let it resound throughout the pubs of this great land. 'Jesus is Lord'. There are as many reasons why this is good news as there are stars in the sky, grains of sand on the seashore and people whom God has loved. There are as many reasons as there are thoughts in the mind of God.

Jesus is Lord. Let me give you one reason why this is THE gospel...

The the second law of thermodynamics is subject to the reign of Christ and ultimately superseded by the promise that all things are brought together in him. The increase of Entropy will be overwhelmed by the increase of Shalom. Why? Because Jesus is Lord

Everyone you ask will explain why Jesus is Lord is good news in a different way.  Why?  Because he is the sufficient Lord.  Let that draw us to worship not worry.  Let that cause us to join together in praise not bickering.  Let that inspire your worship as you work, warm your hearts as you love and refuel your hope today.  Jesus is Lord.

The irony of Christmas

Waking up at 5am and feeling the unmistakable weight of a stocking loaded down with presents by your toes.  Jumping out of bed and running into your parents room to empty the stocking and rip the paper off - silly string, chocolate oranges, party poppers, a DVD, a book, a water pistol to chase your brother around the house with.  Realising that your allowed to eat as much chocolate as you want BEFORE breakfast!

Getting downstairs to find a roast gammon for breakfast, eggs, fresh home-made bread and your favourite juice on the table already.  Spotting the huge pile of presents under the tree and knowing it'll take you all afternoon to open them, build them and learn how to use them.

Physics-shattering miracles?

One of my favorite questions sent in after my talk on the 25th Nov @1830service was this:

Aristotle talked about a prime mover who kicked things off and left it.  I guess miracles are a sign there is an interventionist God.  But how many truly physics-shattering miracles have we seen?

I've seen a man blinded (probably by cataracts) healed by God while one of my friends was praying for them.  I've prayed with a woman incapacitated by advanced malaria serving her family with food less than 24 hours after being prayed for.  I've seen a friend walk out of his wheelchair and a huge bruise disappear on a different friend. I've heard accurate words of knowledge and seen countless people impacted physiologically and emotionally by the power of the Holy Spirit while being prayed for.

But these are all as nothing...

Can everything be explained without God?

I've been answering a number of questions that were sent in via text or tweet after my talk @1830service on the 25th Nov.  One of the toughest questions that was sent through that night was this:

'Outside the Bible, how can we find concrete evidence to help our friends who are looking for tangible evidence of God?  Everything I day as an example my friend explains it with science.  Even miracles, she doesn't believe in them.  Help!'

Faith with evidence?

Another question that got sent in on Sunday evening was this:

Does a sign which shows the existence of God as a certainty take away the point of faith? - faith being a belief in something you can't prove.

I think this is a great question - it gets at something really central in the Christian life.  We all talk about something called the 'Christian faith'  what is that thing?  Is it like the belief in the existence of Santa - unprovable, false but ultimately quite useful for a small child?  Is it like belief in the existence of gravity - provable, true and ultimately obvious and whether you believe it or not it makes no difference? Or is it something else entirely?

Can Jesus save ET?

There are always one or two questions that make you chuckle when you ask people to fire away. This is one of my favorite ones from Sunday night:

Would God create another planet, in another solar system with the right living conditions to support human life or is it just ours?

But other religions work too!

There were a couple of questions on Sunday night about other religions and this is one of them:

'What about people of other religions who believe that they have been changed in the same way that we, as Christians, feel that we have been changed?'

So I've met a number of Muslims who have had their life changed for the better as a result of following Islam. I've met Jews who have had a deeper sense of morality and care for the world because of their faith. I've met Mormons who have received a sense of purpose and value as a result of their new-found Mormon faith.

Can we trust the Bible?

I got a couple of questions on Sunday night that relate to whether or not we can trust the Bible:

"Didn't Constantine change (or compile) the Bible for his own ends?"

"When was the Old Testament written? How do we know this?"

These are good questions - they show a seriousness of thought.  Some churches and some Christians live in a way which makes you think you have to leave your brain at the door if you want to follow Jesus.  You do not.  Jesus calls us to love him with all our mind - and this involves applying the same level of intellectual rigour to our faith as we do to our studies.  It is a very good idea to ask why Christians trust the Bible.