September 2018

We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world – John’s Gospel

The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing – The prophet Zephaniah

A good friend of ours, someone our age died recently. We mourn with his wife, with his family. The speed at which he was taken took our breath away, and I found the nature of death very confronting. I managed to see my friend in the last few days, and as ever his humour was high. We quipped about a few things and talked openly about life in the presence of God. I got to pray with him and his wife.

Since then, I have been amongst a great deal of people it seems, who are bent on self-destruction; consuming drugs at an alarming rate, prone to violence or just generally careless about life itself. Just last night, a woman stepped from the shadows and asked if I would walk her across the road. Likely younger than me, she had an amputated arm, and had already suffered a stroke, and what I thought would be a 5 minute jaunt turned into a half hour mission. Along the way, she spoke of violence, drugs and alcoholism, with 2 children taken away into foster care. When we got there, she lit up a fag as I prayed for her. What struck me though, was the bravado, arrogance even about the way she lived. A life rapidly careering towards death. She is not alone, or even unusual, we know many people who exist in the same vacuous, vacant state. Death will come fast for many.

As I have been pondering about this, I reflected on the immense variance Jesus makes in the entire equation. He is all the difference.

The church at large, has shifted it’s focus far too much toward what is happening in this life; we discuss maybe too much, the kingdom here, the community here, Jesus solving our problems in the here and now. Yet, far and away the greatest achievement of Christ, was his conquering of death.

This world needs saving above all else; I’m not that convinced the condition of the world is ever going to change, even in our Christian communities. From the Old Testament, through to the early passages of the Gospels though, Jesus is announced to us as the one who will save us. In particular he will save us from our sins, which means he will save us from the terrible judgement of God that is coming upon the world. God promises those who believe, an eternity in his presence.

The difference in outcome between the death of my friend, whose hope was set on salvation through Christ, and the woman I met last night, whose hatred of all that was good is immense. She faces total separation of God for all eternity, whereas my friend is merely changing address. He will be more alive than ever.

This means two things. Firstly, it means the Gospel message is hard nosed and raw. It demands action on our behalf to come to God on our knees and ask for his forgiveness. There is absolutely nothing passive in the Gospel, nothing at all. It cost God everything, and the alternatives are unbearable, beyond imagination. We have softened it, watered it down at our peril. In spite of this, the message has not changed, it starts with repentance.

Secondly, it demands that all those who say they believe, us, must do something about it. We cannot take our salvation and pack it away tidily in a suitcase. In our lives, it demands action. I have heard so many, witnessed far too many who do so little with the Gospel in their lives. I am saved, why should I worry?

Friends, if that is your Gospel then it is no Gospel. It is not the Gospel Jesus lived. Every day that goes by, without our having advanced the cause of Christ – you and me, is a day in which the Devil and all darkness has scored.

Even if people do not respond, our job is to make sure they hear from us – everyday, at all times and all the time, that Jesus came to save us from our sins. We do not know where our witness will end in someone else’s life.

Strangely God seems to be willing to take the risk that we will be good messengers of his message – that is, Salvation is found in no one else. Let’s get to it.

‘and the government shall be upon his shoulders’

One of the great challenges facing Christendom, is Western Christian’s obsession with taking political sides. Trump or Clinton, Brexit or Remain, Liberal-Labor, passions run high. For many Christians, their identity is seen more in their politics than in Jesus, in fact you would assume from the outside, that politics is their Lord.

Refugees in America stood amazed as the battle lines were drawn between various church factions prior to the last election. Where they had come from, their unity was first and foremost in Christ and standing united under him was their only chance of survival. We in the West need to take careful note of this, because if we read the signs correctly, a time is coming when any government and all government will be against Christ and his followers. Do we think we will be able to preach ‘one true God’ in the pulpit for much longer? It has already been banned from the streets in many countries.

In different ways, the church and its followers are preparing for this; some, a minority, are realising that there will be a need to toughen their resolve and face what is coming. But for most, there has already been a merging of the message with modern day political acceptance. There is a subtle but widespread shift amongst many evangelicals, towards a soft-Left morass of the Gospel and political tolerance. The hard, uncompromising Gospel of Jesus Christ is being soft-pedalled to accommodate our recent acceptance of new standards. Jesus, we are told, would be much more accepting of homosexuality today, that he would be environmentally friendly, and more proactive for women’s rights.

The cross has become an embarrassment to many believers today in the West, especially amongst the enlightened. That Jesus had to die to save homosexuals, or young couples living together today is simply abhorrent to the vast majority of Christians. The political line goes, who are we to judge, how dare we? Sin is slowly being dismantled from the Gospel. The next obvious question then becomes is Allah any different from Jesus, do we have the right to tell Hindus that our religion is superior to theirs?

The combined effect of all this though, is that proclaiming the Gospel at all is seen as offensive, pointless. Even dangerous. Christians everywhere will be content with the notion, ‘I believe in my God, they believe in theirs.’ We can express our differences in our politics. It reminds me of Israel in the Old Testament, the great compromise that occurred where Yahweh and all that he stood for, became ‘the also ran God’ in Israel.

We think of course, in our naivety, that this will lead to the world being a much happier place. We will all love each other and be more accepting, just as Jesus wanted. In fact, history teaches us the opposite is true. God doesn’t wholly agree with our terms he is just another God and the world refuses the notion Jesus should be Lord. Clashes erupt on both sides, quite the opposite to the outcome we expected.

The only politics Jesus spoke about, was the one where he reigns unfettered across all Kingdoms, including this world. He promises us that will happen one day and urges us to cling to that at all costs. I have been reminded recently, that it is impossible to show the love of Jesus to my neighbour, while expressing my disdain about some political leader or another. That it is impossible to preach the uncompromising Gospel about sin, while being unwilling to accept that so many of today’s norms are sinful in his eyes. The cross, however abhorrent is the centrepiece of the Gospel.

I have become alarmed, when so many Christians post their political views on social media when these so clearly clash with the teachings of Jesus. When we claim special insights into his teachings (found nowhere in Scripture) that somehow justify our political position; but mostly, when our political views, not him, dictate and govern our thoughts and behaviours.

I fear we have slipped into a position from which we will not easily recover unless of course we are willing to repent. That the ramifications of our continually willing to accept the current worldview over the cause of the Gospel of Jesus will be severe.

For those of us who refuse to compromise, who are willing to bury our political views because of our desire for the Lordship of Jesus in our own lives, and who will not stop preaching the Gospel of the Cross beware. The fiercest opposition may well come from within the church itself.

It wouldn’t be the first time.

Archives for September 2018

We need Saving.

The Political Jesus

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