nobrokenreed

All you need is love

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“You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, anyone who sins is a slave of sin” – John 8:31-33

The context of this passage, is Jesus talking of his complete unity with his Father. It was difficult for those listening to follow along, as they didn’t yet seen him as the Son of God.

I am convinced, more than anything, that the problems of our world are only moral ones. There are no others. We are, as Jesus so rightly says here, slaves to sin, confused and lost. At the moment, in our disciple making, we are working alongside half a dozen people who are, even by normal standards, messed up. At the bottom of it is the problem of sin. Sin has made them slaves, and extreme sin has put them in almost total bondage. Jesus compares sinfulness with slavery, and truth with freedom. What does that mean though?

At the heart of sin, is our total disregard for God. It is the very opposite of what Jesus speaks of here. We become the centre of our universe, not him, and in doing so we live for ourselves. Very quickly, things spiral out of control, and we find ourselves slaves to sin. Try telling a drug addict to simply ‘stop sinning’ and they will look at you in a hopeless haze. Are you serious, I cannot, I am a slave.

What is the antidote? Ultimately, unity with the Father through Christ.

Every year, I read again “The Ragamuffin Gospel” by Brennan Manning. Manning was an alcoholic Catholic priest who married. Not exactly the model priest, and as a result he suffered acute depression. In ‘Ragamuffin,’ Manning brazenly presents a one-sided Gospel that only deals with the ridiculous love of God. There is no other side to his story, and that is intentional. It is a refreshing book, because after reading it, my focus is again on the outrageous love of God that came alive through Jesus Christ. It reminds me that I am not good enough, and I will never be good enough but he still loves me.

Why is that so important, we may ask? Because, at the core of the Gospel message is God’s love for all humanity, and it is a story that needs to be told. We must be careful when presenting the Gospel that God’s love – not our sin, or even our response to sin, is at the centre of our story. “For God so loved the world…” we are told before any mention of what we have done.

In my experience, most people are totally unaware that there could possibly be a God that loves them, while the church has been telling them for centuries to stop doing whatever it is they are doing. That’s not to say that we need to present a soft Gospel, that doesn’t demand a response on our behalf. God’s love is available to everyone, and how we respond to it has eternal consequences.

Jesus tells us here though, that if we remain faithful to his teachings, we will be set free. Yet his teachings – in fact his entire life, were centred around the love of the Father. Many of his parables were about God seeking and searching for the lost to bring them home (it’s worth noting that the only harsh parables seemed to be reserved for the religious elite of his day, warning them of impending disaster). His whole life was a life lived out in the assurance of his Father’s total love, which he then showered on those around him. You and me.

In a recent post I mentioned Luther’s first treatise in his 95 theses, that “all of life is repentance.” This says to me that everyday, I need to come to the Father in humble submission and acknowledge my wandering off on my own, acknowledging that due to my own misgivings, we have become separated. As I do this, I begin to see his great love for me, and it is the love, this final admission that he loves me and wants me as part of his family, that begins to change me. My response is to God, rather than what I have done, or even what I can do.

His love for me will not be sentimental, in fact at times it may appear quite austere, but nonetheless it is unchanging. He points me to the cross of his Son as the ultimate example of just what such a love means. Sin, our separation is very serious.

But, in our explanation of the Gospel message to others, I am becoming more persuaded that it is this ultimate love of God that will begin the first change in a person. Along the way, we will need no doubt to point out the need for them to ‘turn from their sin’ in repentance. But for some, the response to that is likely to simply be too difficult. ‘I’ve been like this all my life, how do I change?’

The answer is as Jesus suggests here, unity with the Father through him. Turn our gaze from ourselves and our problems to him, and watch him begin to do the impossible in our lives. He will change us. Some of that change may happen instantly, for others it may take longer.

But, our job as disciple makers is to keep these new-born’s, indeed even the mature among us, reminded of our need to get in close to God, to discover his love in our lives, his desire to change us, his willingness to work with us and draw us to him, because of what his Son has done.

We are all slaves to sin, but the antidote is not so much what we do about it, as what he has done about it. This is the story we must tell.

Shall we get started?

How now shall we live?

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“Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?

No Lord, she replied.

Neither do I, Jesus said. Go, sin no more.” – John 8:12

Did you wonder whether this woman walked away, and left her life of sin entirely? If so, I wonder, was that immediate?  For many, many believers, the sign-up to following Jesus is a slow start, accompanied by ‘not knowing, what I don’t know.’ In the beginning there is an attraction, but honestly we are not really sure of all the details and the requirements. Change sometimes comes slowly or more quickly, as God’s grace takes hold.

I read a blog post this week, and I feel the urge to respond. It smacks of graceless Christianity, which is a most dangerous thing. Let’s go back a little first.

The most significant change in the church over the past few centuries has been the structural change, seen first in the China church, and now happening in many other countries.

Such a movement has been much needed, a breath of life from God, jolting the conventions from their safety and preoccupation with buildings, numbers and a paid priesthood, and bringing people back to a simpler and more rigorous faith. Christians are again beginning to feel the cost of following Christ, a good thing that has long been lost in the ‘sanitised faith’ of the West.

But the passion to move onto the streets, has led at times, to aggressive tactics. A return to the teachings of the New Testament, with a much needed stricter interpretation of lifestyle, has also led to a preaching of God without grace, and a theology where the cross of Christ is not enough. The emphasis is now shifted to being based on our response, our actions and how we then live. Woe to those who aren’t up to the mark! Now, a simple faith in what Jesus has done is not quite enough.

Along with this, comes the need for ‘true’ repentance, baptism in water, the Holy Spirit, signs and wonders…and giving up everything for Christ now. If you’re not sure of what that is, one of the disciples may be ready to tell you. Fail in any of these areas, and your salvation is questioned. This week, I read in this blog that someone was unable to be filled with the Holy Spirit because they refused to renounce something in their lives, which called into question (in the writer’s mind at least) whether they had really been saved. As there was no ‘true’ repentance, so there was no salvation.

Such a Gospel doesn’t allow for any human margin of error, or any of God’s grace through Jesus Christ. In fact, we are back to the very worst of the law. Many people reading this will look at themselves and ask, ‘am I then good enough to come to God’ and we know of several of our community who struggle with anxiety and depression because they still do not know if they are acceptable. It is immensely sad, graceless; deliverance is not the answer.

This then, is the panacea Gospel: got depression, you must have demons. Sore foot, let me heal that for you. Marriage in trouble, let’s pray for deliverance. Our instant society demands an instant God. In some instances deliverance or repentance may be the answer; but, let me ask, what happened to my 40 years in the desert that Moses experienced before coming face to face with the divine. What happened to taking up my cross daily, and allowing Jesus to teach me how to live through times of great joy, and terrible suffering.

The first of Luther’s 95 Theses, banged up on the door of the Wittenberg cathedral says that ‘all of life is repentance.’ It is a phrase I will never forget. It says to me that, thanks to the grace of God I will be different tomorrow from today, and then one day ‘I will be like him’ as the transformation of grace is complete. I cannot see what he does to me on a daily basis, and often I don’t even know what needs to be changed, but I can look back and see that I am a different person from 5 years ago, or even 12 months. Grace trumps it all as the light of the world leads me.

Our panacea Gospel’s fixation with the book of Acts ignores the woes of the Corinthian church. One assumes that Paul followed the pattern, ‘repent, believe and be baptised’ and yet the lifestyles didn’t seem to reach the expectation. What, no true repentance? Welcome to the mess that is humanity.

Woe to us, when we make demands on those coming to Christ that they simply cannot stand up to. Many are so dead in their sin, it is a miracle they can even stand up at all. When we put such a burden on them, we are worse than any Pharisee. We take on the role of God with our ‘who is good enough to be saved’ and whether they meet our standard.

As mature believers, God has a right to expect a certain standard from us. But when I read people’s personal encounters with Jesus, it was his sheer Grace that knocked them off their feet. “What, even you, the very one who has the right to condemn me, sets me free?” Such love, such grace is so compelling, my whole heart is changed.

Ah, the Gospel of Grace. Let us never forget, not what I do but what he did, that is the one that saves me. Nothing else needed. Amen.

How did it get to this?

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Teacher, they said to Jesus, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say? – John 8:4

Many of us, at some point in our lives, wake up and wonder how we arrived at where we are? Shaking our heads in disbelief, we ask ourselves, how did I get to this point? The addictions, the anger, the poverty, the broken relationships that will not heal. The list can be a long one, and few of us are excepted. What went wrong?

It must have been so for this woman here. Adulterous women were stripped naked to the waist and paraded in front of a jeering crowd, before being executed by stoning. As she faced almost certain death, she must have asked the question, how did it all come to this?

We meet many, many people in our day to day who are asking that question almost every day of their lives as they struggle with the gargantuan problems facing them. The answer is not always easy. For the woman here, without doubt the Pharisees will have laid a trap. They knew who she was, she was little more than bait for the bigger prize, hooking Jesus into saying something he didn’t mean to say. It says exactly that a few verses later. As I read this story, I have often wondered how they knew about her, and always come to the same conclusion that she must have been a mistress to one or some of the religious leaders of the day. How, she must have wondered, did I end up in a loveless relationship, as human fodder?

The story has such depth, it is difficult to know exactly what to write about, but there are a few obvious things, especially if you read this and are asking that question. The first is this, and it is the most important, that God is the God of the second chance. He may not provide a detail analysis of your situation, for to him the answer is simple, and Jesus refers to it time and time again. We sin. Far more importantly though, God does not leave us there.

The man Jesus, who masterfully rescues the woman here from her accusers, offers her a second chance. There is no condemnation, she can start afresh. He, this majestic person both divine and man, offers that to every single one of us. A second chance with God.

Sin is a double edged sword you see, on the one hand we are guilty before God, and there is no escaping the punishment that is due to us, on the other sin makes us so sick that we cannot escape. Jesus tells us that if we sin, we are a slave to sin, it is a slavery far worse than any we can imagine. The very sin we abused, turns and abuses us back mercilessly. An encounter with Jesus though, changes all of that.

So often in the Gospels, whether it be when we are healed or escape with our lives, Jesus tells us to stop sinning. For all of us, this is impossible, but with God we can begin again and he gives us the power to change. You get the distinct impression that whenever Jesus tells us to ‘sin no more’ he doesn’t leave us to our own devices, but provides us with the power to choose. Today, through his Spirit we are first convicted, and then given the power to live a life worthy of his calling.

So, God then, provides all of us with a second chance. For those – most of us, even all of us, who wake up one day and ask, ‘how did it all come to this’ we don’t need to even find an answer. God says to each of us, let’s make a fresh start. The double edged sword of sin, that makes us both guilty and sick, is replaced by the refreshing grace of God.

This week I was reminded that our lives of eternity start the moment we commit to living for him, every single day is a day in eternity with Christ. We may not see him, but he has us forever. This can only happen as God takes away our sin, ‘as far as the East is from the West’. God took it, and put it on his Son.

There is more than that as well, the sin that enslaves us no longer needs to make us sick. The healing process can begin, our enslavement can end. Sometimes that is immediate, other times it can be a lifelong journey. Neither should we be dismayed at the prospect of a lifelong journey, that is where we can go deep with God, to really get to know him and his refreshing grace that alone enables us to start again. In my own experience, my darkest times have been where I know him like no other, and as I look back I would not trade those times for all of the good times in my life, where he is merely a passenger.

There is a subtle warning in here as well though, isn’t there? While God is the God of the second chance he may not be the God of the third. Go, sin no more Jesus tells us, repent while there is still time. When he calls us, let us hear him and respond.

How dreadful it will be if we hear the call, and fail to respond. We must warn others it is what he tells us to do. There is a second chance for all of us, but we must take it while it is on offer.

Walking in the Spirit

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Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’ (when he said “living water” he was speaking of the Spirit who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given). – John 7:38

After decades of knowing Jesus, I am finally learning to walk in the Spirit. It is a phrase that has occurred in conversations or readings many times over the past months, and slow that I am, I am trying hard to listen.

It seems to me that walking in the Spirit is the pinnacle of our walk with Jesus, because at long last we listen to what he says, and try to act on it; strange though that may be at times. Jesus tells us here that anyone who believes in him may come and drink. Walking in the Spirit is for all believers, not just the chosen few. About the only two things I understand in this area, are that it takes time to cultivate, and time to listen. Don’t come to God in a rush and expect to understand him clearly, and be prepared to work at it.

We can walk in the Spirit every day of our lives, listening to him almost moment by moment, and it can be powerful. At no time is this more true than when we are looking for opportunities to speak to others about Christ. Over the years I look back and perceive the many times the Spirit was prompting me to talk to someone, and alas, I ignored it as a figment of my own imagination. In the past week, 3 incredible incidents have occurred that illustrate exactly why God wants us all to walk in the Spirit, listening carefully and closely to the Holy Spirit.

This morning I went out for an early surf, and waiting at the shower afterwards, I listened to 2 women my age talking about various male encounters in their lives, with little satisfaction. One was talking honestly about whether to leave her husband. At this point I was able to light-heartedly talk to them about the beauty and benefits of my own marriage experience, which like many I know, has taken time to nurture. The wait though is worth it. She listened, interested and ended up thanking me gratefully, genuinely – it’s as if she had been waiting for someone to come along and confirm her deep desire to stay. She would give it time. It was a prompting from the Holy Spirit to converse, and I’m delighted I did. Jesus in our everyday world, walking in the Spirit.

Last night a young man in our gathering whom we have come to admire told us how he prayed differently with the Lord this week, asking God to speak to him more directly about their future. So God obliged, and woke him up at 5am saying, ‘Buy a one-way ticket to China, and meet a man with this name.’ He, and his wife were surprised. They waited for confirmation given it was a huge decision, and were shown it later in the week. The man’s wife was applying for a particular job in the city and had been told she had been unsuccessful, but – they noticed a certain TESOL qualification on her resume and asked if she would be interested in working in China! They leave early next year. Walking in the Spirit, listening to the voice of the Spirit as he directs our paths.

A week ago, a dear friend was down visiting and we were in our local town, looking for opportunities to talk to people. As we sat having coffee, a young toddler rode up to us on her shiny bike, and stopped and stared. Our friend asked her name, at which she rode on – what a strange man. The girl’s father walked up, and we asked his name, to which he responded and then asked ours. Our visitor, out of the blue came up with a rather cryptic response, and said “I don’t know yet. I have a new name, but I don’t know what it is.” Only a very few would understand such a response, and who would say that to a stranger? But, our stranger understood, he retorted, “is it written on a white stone, your new name?”, to which I replied, “yes, as in Revelation 2.”  We couldn’t believe it, he understood.

He, his wife (who was on the next table already talking to one of our wives) and their daughter were from Brazil and they were believers, looking for a group to join who would go out on the streets to witness with. We have since connected with them, and are really looking forward to getting to know them, as we talk to so many Brazilian students where we are.  Walking, doing, while listening to the Spirit. When he leads, the conversations are meaningful.

As we’ve already decided, it takes time to move into a deep relationship with God. Few ever take the time. It is for me, a huge challenge. Slow down enough to spend time with him. Yet, without it we will be less effective than we might be. We are likely to miss those opportunities that only he can point out, because only he knows the hearts of each of us.

The beauty of it all – aside from a deep and intimate relationship with the Saviour though, is that we can bring Christ into our everyday world. There is no magic or mystique, we don’t need to be a famous preacher, or a ‘known personality’ in church circles, neither do we need to have all our theology correct and accounted for; all we need is to listen to him and to act on what he prompts us.

Walking in the Spirit of Christ, bringing Jesus into our world right where we are. Available to every believer in him. Fabulous isn’t it.

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