Archives for November 2017

Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? – Philippians 2

We’ve had a couple of meetings recently, both in stark contrast to each other. A week ago we were invited to a dinner with some people we knew. There was a small group of us who turned up, and we were anticipatory about sharing an evening with a group of fellow believers over food, to us it seemed so ‘church’ and it is something we love to do.

Let me put this into context, these were mature believers some of whom had been Christians all their lives, and one was a pastor. As we gathered around the table, and then while sitting around afterwards, we were slightly stunned that the person of Jesus Christ was never mentioned throughout. A couple of times we tried to bring the conversation around, but it never really stayed there. Soon, we drifted back into work issues, hobbies, family, children, schools – and on it went. Jesus was absent from the conversation and dare I suggest, absent from the lives of those gathered together. Church it certainly wasn’t, yet it had every opportunity to be so. We left early, walking home in silent disbelief.

A couple of days later I had a business lunch with a local young man, whom I had heard was also a passionate believer. Our meeting was to be about business, but the contrast couldn’t have been more extreme. Most of the lunch was spent discussing how business could be used most effectively to serve the Lord. Jesus was front and centre of the entire conversation, and it was not what I had expected at all. Two meetings, both with believers, yet so very different.

And the point being?

Open the book of Philippians, and count how many times the name of Jesus is mentioned throughout. Cover to cover, the letter is all about Jesus. Jesus was everything to Paul, is he to you and me?

Recently I had a discussion with someone about my views on church, and I expressed the concern that many sitting in the pew – far too many in fact, were perhaps in more grave danger than they thought, because they had never grasped what a relationship with Jesus was really about. That attending a church service, while the rest of our lives went largely unchanged, was a fairly clear sign that something was amiss in both their understanding of and practice of a relationship with God. The conversation by then too uncomfortable for him, descended into the dangers of errant theology in non-conventional church. While I didn’t agree with the theology of the young man I had lunch with, I couldn’t fault his devotion. Let me ask you, which do you think is more important to Christ?

A very wise woman once said, you can tell a person’s real faith by how much Jesus comes into their everyday conversation. They find it hard to leave him out. Is that the case with you, or me? Certainly for Paul it seems, Christ was never far from his lips. Surely the converse is true, that though we might go to church or wear any other religious facade, if we don’t know Jesus well, we are unlikely to ever speak of him.

As a simple example, this week while out to (yet another) dinner, this time to celebrate my son’s birthday, I managed to share the gospel in its entirety with a young girl sitting next to me. She was an agnostic or atheist, she wasn’t sure. A Gospel exposition is centred entirely on the person of Jesus, and it his power and his magic that is enough to draw the hard or confused of heart. All we need do is tell the story, he will do the rest. I am convinced that the seed has been sown, and change will come, and we pray expectantly.

Friends, the litmus test of all our faith is quite simply how much we talk of that which is important to us. If church, or religion, or whatever you want to call it, is little more than an opportunity to discuss politics, share business cards or even just assuage your own conscience, then I would suggest not only are you missing out, but you are also in danger.

If Jesus is missing from your conversation, he is likely missing from your life. Incidentally, if you have never shared him with someone else, I promise you it is the most fulfilling thing in the world, ever.

For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved, and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other, a fragrance from life to life. – 2 Cor 2

“Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself.”

– Charles Spurgeon

Yesterday I met with a young man over some business. In his mid-30’s his achievements were by any standards, impressive. He drove a Maclaren on the weekends, and had a choice of European cars for the week. He owned 17 properties and a successful business that, should he retire tomorrow, would deliver him a residual income of $50,000 a month for at least the next decade, possibly beyond. A failed serious relationship had kept him always on the hunt, and he was intimate with a string of different beauties almost continually.  He looked after himself, and drank (expensive) wine only modestly. He also played cricket to a near-professional standard and overall his day to day energy levels were quite extraordinary.

What was missing then? What do you say to someone who has everything they need, yet still seems to lack the missing ingredient? He knew about Christianity, considers himself to be an agnostic, and like many I hear, has a distorted view of the Father of the Heavenlies, and the relevance of Jesus Christ. What do you say, in the 5-minute pause in conversation, to bring things around to what is important?

In between mostly him talking, there was a pause, and I recounted a brief, simple Gospel. I must say, for 5 minutes, my guest was riveted to the conversation, and not because I was telling it. The Gospel story has enough power to stand on its own feet, with or without my delivery. How did it go?

Like many, this young man suggested that all Gods are the same, and we are highly unlikely to be held to account, after all what sort of a God would put together a world like this, when he knew we were going to fail? Frankly, a simple ‘well that’s okay God loves you’ patsy, wasn’t going to cut through. Let’s start with our sin and God’s holiness.

In our self-centred, self-righteous culture, the concept of how far we really have fallen is anathema, even to most believers. Sin, how bad can it really be we joke? We spoke of the fact that our lives are on a constant record setting, and one day we will be confronted by the reality of what we have actually done; in fact, if any of us were to take the very worst of that video of ourselves, and play it back on say, Facebook, we would likely be deeply distressed. Imagine then, how it looks before a Holy God. He seemed to get the point.

Yet then, if it is so bad and we deserve the fury of God, where does the love of God show up? The answer is in Jesus Christ and in him alone. God would not create a world where the only option was doom, a point my friend readily agreed to. Yet, we both agreed that what we had done meant that we rightly had it coming to us – and not just us.

What Jesus provides is precisely what the world misses, he is our payment or as the Bible so neatly puts it, our atonement. As we stand in the dock before God, he writes the cheque that pays the required penalty. The simple story is complete, and I hope, relevant. After that the conversation moved to more worldly things, but I didn’t mind; he was clearly disturbed.

Friends, it is all we have to do. Learn a simple Gospel presentation that can hit the mark. Don’t be put off by all these ‘do-gooder’ Christians who say we should never talk about sin, it is a complete nonsense. Sin, my sin and yours, is an intrinsic part of the story, in fact it allows God’s magnificent salvation to be set in the light. We should talk more of people’s sin, in many cases it is extremely cathartic.

And to my guest? I have done my part, now it is up to the Holy Spirit to work in ways that I cannot, and then the next person. Who knows, the next person the Spirit brings into this young man’s life might be you? If it is, make sure you share the Gospel with him.