The 'H' word

One subject that keeps on coming back and back and back and back again to the forefront of my mind is the subject of Final Judgment.

The question of Hell.

I don't know why.

I wonder if I'm unhealthily obsessed with it and like an addiction I think I've got it mastered but it rears its head again and again.

Is it wrong to think of hell? Is it unhealthy to want to read lots about it and try and get a more 'biblical' understanding of it?

I've read lots and lots on this subject and I've come to a point where I simply have to say 'I just don't know'.

Will all be saved? I don't know. Are some damned for all eternity? I don't know.

I trust in the grace and love and healing power of God.
I believe in the power (although I don't claim to understand) of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.
I believe that salvation is far more than simply saving individuals and contains the whole cosmic scope of God's creation being put back together.

But still, nagging away. The 'H' word.

As far as judgment goes I realise that it is absolutely necessary in order for evil to be rooted out of God's good world. I believe that judgment and wrath is the only action against evil that a loving God could and would perform. He judges because he loves.

I came across this short quote from a theologian called Richard Beck which really clarifies this well for me:

The more you love, the angrier you get. The more you love the more upsetting this world will be. The more outraged you'll be with injustice, senseless violence, exploitation, meanness, and cruelty. The more love, the more wrath.

This at least I am convinced of: God judges because he loves.

Whether that equals everlasting conscious torment is another question.

On that question I remain unconvinced...

Sent

We are called to be a sent people.

I've been challenged recently to consider who I'm actually sent to... Am I sent to the world? To Liverpool? To my street? To my next door neighbour?

All of the above?

I think we have a problem in a lot of Church circles in that we don't realise that we actually are sent to real, broken, flesh and blood people, some of which live next door, some of which we pub, or gym or eat, or facebook with.

We've forgotten we're all missionaries.

Who is God sending you to?
How are you going to recapture what it means to be sent out in His Name?

If you dare

The political novelty that God brings into the world is a community of those who serve instead of ruling, who suffer instead of inflicting suffering, whose fellowship crosses social lines instead of reinforcing them. The new Christian community in which the walls are broken down not by human idealism or democratic legalism but by the work of Christ is not only a vehicle of the gospel or only a fruit of the gospel; it is the good news. It is not merely the agent of mission or the constituency of a mission agency. This is mission. (Yoder, Royal Priesthood, 91)

What would it look like if this week we actually tried to practice this? To serve instead of rule, to suffer instead of inflicting suffering, to reach out to those who you wouldn't usually, to actually take mission seriously?

It would look like God really is in charge.
It would look like there really is Good News for the world.
It would look like forgiveness of sins and freedom and New Creation really was bursting out on this world.

May you and I dare to practice this. May we dare to actually get in line with the missionary God who calls his Church to actually join in with His Mission.

Grace and Peace

Mission or Consumption?

I came across this quote from Mike Frost, a pioneering Missiologist the other day:


"Many churches don’t have communities of missionaries, but audiences of consumers"

I tend to agree with him. We've been so entrenched in coming to a church service/meeting (usually on a Sunday), sitting there and waiting to 'get' something out of it. What if Churches were people who were equipped, called, and energised to be the missionary people of God WHEREVER they find themselves? That thought has captured me, and I want to aim to be a leader who can do that in my own church community.

Grace and Peace,
Craig

I want to know it...

The resurrection of Jesus was an event like no other.

I’ve read books about it.

I’ve read the key texts on it.

Still, I don’t quite get it.

It’s not that I don’t believe that it happened (I do), but that I know I still haven’t really taken on board its significance.

If I grasped its importance, I mean really grasped it, I would stop simply reading up about it and allow its truth to wash over me, to change me, make me more generous, kind and loving, more tolerant of others, less likely to shoot my mouth off when things don’t go right, more confident and trusting in my living Lord.

Do you ever feel like this?

Do you want to grasp the truth of the resurrection more fully?

What’s stopping us?

Fear? Pride? Busyness? Doubts?

If it really is that important, if it really is the central reason that the New Testament was even written in the first place, if it really is ground-zero for God’s new creation being unleashed upon his world then you and I need to rediscover the power of the resurrection once more. And here’s the thing…

We don’t need to wait until the fear, the pride, the busyness or even the doubts subside. Resurrection cuts through all of that if we let it.

So may you and I rediscover the power of Jesus’ resurrection once again.
May we breathe in its strength and sheer magnitude
May we be filled to the brim with its life-giving power.

May you know the resurrection, not just in books but working in and through your life .

Cast it!

I preached on 1 Peter 5.7-9 today.

7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around
like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him,
standing firm in the faith, because you know that your fellow believers
throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

Message went well. Hopefully we were all challenged. But here's how it was confirmed to me that it was from God...

Five minutes after the meeting, a man came into the building asking to see the minister. We went in to the office where he proceeded to tell me that he needed money to go to the Isle of Wight to I.D. his father who had just passed away. When I told him that we couldn't give him CASH there are then, he lambasted me with all sorts of colourful words about how rubbish we are etc. Inwardly I was mad, but thankfully I didn't tell him where to get off and encouraged him to "go in peace" (!)

phew... Ok..

Now is this me or is this a perfect example of that above text? "The devil prowls around... looking for someone to devour..."
why is it things like this happen? Why is it that you come away from a great time of worship and service, and the Enemy attempts to stick an oar in? Why is it you can have a great with the Lord at a summer camp, for example, or a service, which can rapidly turn into a feud between people who disagree over carpets?

Because the Enemy doesn't like it. He prowls, he looks for something to chew on...
Thankfully on this occasion I did stand firm, but there have been many other times when I haven't. It makes me realise that a) we disciples of Christ are always in the firing line of the enemies of Jesus b) We need to cultivate a spiritual radar that realises these attacks for what they are and by God's Spirit, resist and stand firm. The devil might want to devour you, but it doesn't have to get to that point.

Resist Him. He Will Flee. Get yourself into a small group of people whom you can speak to, pray with and encourage.

Most importantly, Cast all your anxieties upon Jesus. Come to Him FIRST. Not last resort, but first thought. Give him your time, like the Psalmists did so long ago when they were oppressed and crushed. Tell him what you think, how you feel and claim his promises over your life.

You don't have to twist his arm. He is the God of all comfort and he cares for YOU.

It's as simple as that.

Peace.

Stoneycroft

Oh man, so we went to visit Liverpool Stoneycroft corps today, which is the church that Gemma and I will be helping to lead in about three weeks.

I was blown away

Have you ever had one of those experiences when you're in church and simply 'know' that God is there? Or when you just know that what is going on around you is nothing other than a God-honouring moment?

This was one of those moments.

It wasn't the size of the church community, it wasn't the sung worship, it wasn't the bible teaching, it was the warmth of the people that got to me. People simply love each other. They love God, they love each other.

Isn't that what this is all about.

Isn't all else secondary?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind soul, strength and love your neighbour. (Matthew 22)

I certainly haven't cracked this, but I saw a glimpse of another world today. This stuff actually does work.