In The Hands of the Potter

Reading Dave Black's blog this morning, and again simply revelling in the power of the Holy Spirit, to take a man, who from a fleshly point of view "deserves" accolades, and recognition, and cause him to be a true disciple of Christ. That's what has attracted me to read his blog.

He has learned one of the greatest lessons a Christian can learn. Here is a part of one comment he makes :

"I've been amazed by the number of questions and comments about the church that come up time and again in my discussions with students. Several have realized that becoming the senior pastor of a large church is no longer a goal for them. Whenever I reevaluate my own commitment to Jesus, I am reminded that size and recognition are not important; only faithfulness is. Into my life have come ministries that are insignificant by the world's standards but are part of a long chain of opportunities to serve the Lord with special people who are unsung and unnoticed. I do not feel pressured in the least to be part of a mega-movement or a mega-church or a mega-mission or a mega-anything for that matter. I believe that one is truly wealthy when one is free from these kinds of Spirit-quenching pursuits."

Being recognised as a "somebody" in the wider "Christian" world, is, without doubt, part of the agenda of a large number of people in ministry. It is an evil "seed" which seems to often take root in the hearts and minds of those who are deemed to be pastors, elders, deacons, and many others.

I have had grown men (a couple of them "pastors, as well as deacons), and women, say to me that they are upset because they are not being "appreciated", or "recognised" for all their efforts, or, for the number of "converts" they have made (which makes one fear for the genuineness of the "converts").

"But Jesus called them to Himself and said, 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

When a person begins their ministry with the ambition to be another Wesley, Spurgeon, or Whitfield, he has already negated his calling to be the man God wants him to be.

When a leader's imagination is filled with visions of large congregations, a reputation so grand as to elicit invitations to speak hither and yon, he has already sown the seeds of his own failure as a servant.

The One whom he is supposed to serve, was Himself, a servant, who shunned the limelight, who sought no fame, had no wealth, whose oratorical powers are never mentioned in Scripture, who only did what His Father desired. As the Son of God, the God Man, He had no grand plans for Himself.

And again, Dave wrote:

"Some years ago, on a trip to Israel, I was taken to a pottery shop in the city of Hebron. I stood in amazement as the potter shaped and spun clay into magnificent pots and pitchers. Suddenly he stopped his work. Taking a clay pot he had just finished shaping, he pushed it back into a clump and tossed it away. I was aghast. The pot looked fine to me. Perfect, in fact. But the potter's eyes had caught some tiny defect, and the pot had to be completely remolded.All of us are like clay pots in the hands of the Potter.

I like to think of our upcoming seminar on ecclesiology (Alan Knox will be the speaker) as an affirmation of our willingness to allow God to do His "beautifying" work in our lives. I know that's true for me. I am ready to reaffirm before God that I am willing to allow Him to shape my thinking about His Bride. Such shaping means learning from failures and mistakes. It means asking God to uncover those unbiblical presuppositions that lie beneath the surface of my consciousness. It means releasing my agenda and giving it to Him for His resolution. I believe that God has purposes for my church -- and yours -- that He has not yet unfolded. Cooperation with the Divine Potter means risk and potential failure. I'm sure it will mean of lot of difficult decisions. Friends, let's not settle for the status quo. Let's keep on growing into maturity. Let's sharpen and expand our thinking. Let's learn new insights from the Old Book. Let's ask good questions that pave the way for further dialog. Let's allow ourselves to be remolded and reshaped. I think that is vastly preferable to being tossed back into the clay pile, don't you? But even if that is what God has to do with me, I am willing!"

Now! There's a man who will "hear" God's voice.

Seven years ago, I attended a conference in the North of the USA. Like many I have attended in this country, I realised that I was amongst those who had a human oriented presupposition of what God's precious bride should be, and an agenda to match.

That realisation is embodied in the importance of these words from the above quote: "I am ready to reaffirm before God that I am willing to allow Him to shape my thinking about His Bride. Such shaping means learning from failures and mistakes. It means asking God to uncover those unbiblical presuppositions that lie beneath the surface of my consciousness. It means releasing my agenda and giving it to Him for His resolution."

All I can say is "AMEN!"

Are You Journeying to the Wrong Destination?

What if, assuming you are a follower of Christ, after all the years you've spent faithfully attending church meetings, listening to sermons, studying the Scriptures with presuppositions which come from a particular theological position, that you find you have been going in the wrong direction, and that you are actually farther from where you actually ought to have been going?

Are you actually getting closer to where you should be? If you think you are getting closer to your destination, why do you so think? Indeed, where, or what, is your destination?

As I think of the lives of the people I've known and ministered to for half a century, I'm aware that most only thought they knew what, or where, their destination was. I'm certain that many assumed that if they attained to the lofty heights of some church “office” such as “pastor” or “deacon”, or “elder” they were closer to their destination, whatever that may be.

Isn't it strange how easy it is to board a train, bus, or some other mode of transport, with the most sincere belief that the journey's end will result in being whre you wanted to be? Yet, many have told how they set out on such a journey only to find they had been given misinformation, not only about the destination, but about the journey.

Asking most evangelicals about there destination would almost always elicit the reply that heaven was where they were headed. Death is inevitable, and for those who die in a saving relationship with God through the finished work of Christ, heaven is where it's at.

Heaven is for dead Christians!

What is the destination for living followers of Christ?

What did Jesus say about that? What did the apostles say?

Did they speak about regular attendance at meetings at which one person monologued?

Did they speak of silent masses sitting on their posteriors, nodding their heads in agreement at the pontifications coming from a guru whom many call “pastor”? Did they ever say that “making a decision for Christ” was arriving at the destination, or adhering to a theological system,or slavishly following rules and regulations, or any number of other things we might add?

The destination for living followers of Christ is a far cry from what we have been led to assume, or accept.

Thankfully, many thinking followers of Christ are asking the questions and adjusting their journey to the schedule set down by the Shepherd of the Sheep, and His apostles.

The Fig Tree

Just over five years ago, when my wife and I retired to where we now live, we did what many people do when moving. We took cuttings from some of our plants. One such cutting was of a fig tree, which was already flourishing in a pot.

It was duly planted, and nurtured and is now about nine or ten feet high.

A couple of months ago we were on the back patio enjoying a cup of coffee, and observing the back garden. Looking at the fig tree, I said to my wife,”If that tree doesn't bear fruit this season I will chop it down!”

Two weeks ago, we were repeating our mid-morning ritual with a cup of coffee. What do you think we saw? Figs!

Hidden amongst the lush green leaves were some beautiful, fat figs.

I suppose I could be excused for being reminded me of the occasion of Jesus cursing the fig tree:

“Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, 'No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you'. And at once the fig tree withered”.

As we talked about it, we remembered the context in which this event happened. Jesus had entered the city to much excitement from the population. It seems from the record that, having traversed through the excited populace, His first stop was at the temple, the use of which reminds me of the edifices which are usually called “churches” today.

Here Jesus found some very religious people who regarded themselves as the spiritual leaders, even the elite, of the day. They were using this building, which was supposed to be for the worship of God, for all kinds of purposes. It had become a place for satisfying greed, for the selling of goods and livestock, and, there is no doubt that the religious leaders were doing well.

Jesus was rightfully indignant regarding the charade confronting Him. He literally created havoc as He disrupted the cosy arrangements between the businessmen and the religious leaders. Can you imagine the scene as He tipped their precious money-changing tables over, the contents spilling on the floor to get trodden into the animal manure? The indignant religious leaders were seeing their cut of the profits disappearing, and, to make matters worse, their leadership and authority were being brought into question. Their prestige, high standing, and importance, were shown to be like the stinking mess on the floor.

They were all show, and no genuine fruit!

The religious leaders were great salesmen, but what they were selling was mainly self oriented, to be well regarded, housed well, financially comfortable, well dressed and well fed. Just as importantly they worked hard at convincing the religious adherents that they were extremely important as a means by which God communicated with them.

These fellows made themselves publicly prominent. Can you imagine what they would have done with today's media. Although; we probably don't have to imagine. Do we? It does seem rather familiar! I wonder why?

It was after this that Jesus observed the fig tree. Beautifully resplendent with leaves. What a glorious site!

But, wait! There is something about this fig tree of the eating kind. Fig trees really do put on a great show of beautiful leaves, but on a healthy, productive fig tree we will find, almost hidden amongst the leaves, the fruit. Some actually begin to show fruit even before the leaves appear.

The variety we have in our back yard is the former.

Jesus wanted His followers to realise that religious behaviour, religious show, attendance at religious meetings, even praying and reading the Scriptures does not ensure that a person is pleasing to Him.

This tree was a great example: It looked so lush and beautiful dressed in it's God given finery. It made a great display. It said,”Look at me!” But it wasn't saying, “Look at the fruit I'm bearing because of what the Grower has given me”. This tree was saying, “Look at ME! Aren't I glorious in all my finery! I've put so much effort into looking good.”

In Jesus' day, a traveller was legally able to pick the fruit of any tree growing by the road. The fruitless fig tree was representative of everything the religion of the temple and the Pharisees displayed to the world; an exercise in futile self interest; a disgusting display of meaningless, fruitless religion, which denied all that the prophets had foretold, and scorned the Messiah.

Is your purpose in life to display your religious finery and to practice meaningless rote rituals of attendance at meetings, clearing your conscience by partaking in the Lord's Snack, listening to sermon after sermon, attending Bible Studies?

It sure looks good!

But, with all our religious activity and busy-ness, are we, being built up as a part, “of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Surely three or four years of being discipled, nurtured and taught, ought to be sufficient to bring us to a level of maturity which will enable individual Christians, as a part of the Body of Christ, and as individual parts working properly, to be used to cause the growth of the Body for the building up of itself in love.

The fig tree wasn't cursed because it had no fruit, it was cursed because of its hypocrisy. It acted a part. It pretended to be what it wasn't. It was all show and no substance.

How many hungry "travellers" have had to go on their way hungry because we are like that fig tree?

THIS CHRISTMAS

This Christmas I am reminded of the foment going on in that section of the population of the world, which labels itself “Christian”, much of which represents what amounts to nothing more than a “product” of the production line of the religious enterprise of Christianism .

As I read the newspapers, watch the TV, listen to the radio, and speak with people, I am astounded at the diversity of understanding amongst many of those who bear the Christian trademark. The “product” they represent would never get past the quality control of any manufacturer, no matter how lacking in rigour.

One matter which comes to mind is revealed by Pauls statement to the Roman Christians, "The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more" (Romans 5:20).

The Mosaic institutions, the Law of which Paul speaks including the Ten Commandments, were institued because of sin. The result was that a spotlight was shone upon sin, the common attribute of every member of humanity. The introduction of the Mosaic institutions, was designed to highlight the prevalence of sin. Without the law sin wasn't an issue.That's what Paul understood when he said, “...I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died ” (Rom.7:9), and that is the result for all humanity; the law reveals all as spiritually dead towards God.

The Apostle then says, “..where sin increased (abounded),” where the light of the law showed how wide spread and abundant the fact of sin was , “grace abounded all the more”.

An amazing word is used here. It's the only time it is used in the New Testament. It's the word which has been translated as “abounded” in this verse. There is no English word, of which I'm aware, which can replace the Greek word which Paul used. To understand what he is saying we would have to say that grace super-abounded, abundance upon abundance.

That's why, for a genuine follower of Christ, Christmas is the celebration by a sinner, who, through God's gift of faith in the person, and finished work, of Jesus Christ, has received the super-abundant gift of grace; the unearned, undeserved gift of God's Riches At Christ's Expense.

That's why the Bethlehem event is precious to genuine followers of Christ, and an occasion to be remembered and celebrated.

That which masquerades as Christian, the world of Christianism, it seems has tunnel vision which ignores sin. There is a constant emphasis on what I consider is a perversion of grace, a grace which winks at sin, a grace which is the gift of a loving, chubby cheeked, gray haired old fellow called “god”, who smilingly lavishes this “grace” upon a people who have no concept of their sinfulness, or the gravity of sin before the holiness of the Almighty God.

God's grace is no ordinary grace, such as the benevolnce and leniency of one human to another. When we speak of God's grace we are speaking about grace which not only offers judicial mercy and forgiveness from the consequences of God's just laws, but a grace which opens a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, in fact SAVING GRACE.

God's gift of saving grace, revealed through the very same Jesus Christ, who lay in that manger in Bethlehem, is nothing apart from sin!

How can the kindness and compassion of mercy be understood as a gift of saving grace if the hard , legal requirements of God's justice are not understood?

How can teaching about God's pardon and the absolution of His forgiveness as a consequence of saving grace be understood apart from the cold facts of deserved, and just, condemnation and retribution of God's law?

To talk about grace without understanding this is a meaningless nonsense.

The first Advent, which we celebrate at Christmas; God coming to earth in human form (God incarnate), was necessary because of the insidious disease of sin which infects ALL human beings. It was the earthly beginning of thirty three years of the sinless life of the perfect Man , who lived the perfect sinless life, which made Him the only being eligible to be the sacrifice God's law required as a satisfaction of His justice.

God's law declared all human beings as guilty. The work of Jesus Christ satisfied the requirements of God's law for all who trust in His person and finished work, who come to Him, recognising they are guilty before, and justly condemned by, God's law, and who, desiring to turn away from the behaviour and tendencies which sin works in their lives, seek His mercy.

It is meaningless, if not impossible, to understand or teach God's gift of saving grace, without understanding and declaring the absolute need of such grace, which the law points out!

As Paul told the Roman Christians, “For the wages of sin is death (separation from God), but the free gift of God is eternal life (with God) in Christ Jesus our Lord. “

Many in Christianism moan about the “Xmas” abreviation as being Christless, but they have no qualms about speaking/writing about God's saving grace apart from man's sinful need !!

This Christmas, as always, I, and mine, will be reminded of our sinful need, as we are reminded of God's great grace in Jesus Christ, and we will praise His name and rejoice in the freedom He has bought for us..

AN EXTRAORDINARY PERSON.

Occasionally, in life, we meet an extraordinary person. Quite often they are extraordinary for the wrong reasons.

I know such an extraordinary person who today, reached her seventieth birthday. She is extraordinary for all the right reasons.

Travelling in a bus to Brisbane, I looked into the large mirror which facilitated the driver's supervision of his passengers, I saw this person, whom, at that time, I had no idea was so extraordinary. She saw me looking at her, and with a slight toss of her head, moved out of my sight to another seat.

I had to wait two years before I met that person.

That was one half century ago!

At that time it was my privilege to lead a youth group in a small country district, which had an unusual name. The Risk. A young man and I were visiting homes recruiting other young people to the group.

He suggested we go to the home of his cousin and invite her to join. He knocked on the door of his aunt's house. She appeared at the door, but my eyes were drawn to a person sitting at the kitchen table.

There she was! The person I saw on the bus!

My composure was shattered. I mumbled something, about why we had come, to the figure in the doorway, but my attention was fixed on the vision sitting at the table. Seeing her affected me in exactly the same way as it had two years before.

I really can't remember how it happened, but she agreed to allow me to take her, with the other young people, to our next meeting.

I'm not sure how the meeting went, but I had a fixed intention, that I would ask her out. I carefully planned dropping the others off before taking her home.

I asked, “Would you care to go to the pictures with me on Saturday night?”

The smile said it all! “Yes!”

I think I carried the car home that evening! The following week seemed to be much longer than normal.

Three months later, I was certain that I didn't want to spend my life with anyone else but her. In a most unlikely place, a stony track leading into a State Forest, I looked at the beauty before me, and asked her to marry me.

She blushed, and coyly replied,”Yes!”

Her name was like the soft touch of the hands I still love to hold!

Valerie! She is everything the name means, of Latin origin, it means " healthy and strong" .

In the time I've known her, I've come to know the extraordinary woman, my wife, who bears this name, has far more to her than the name implies.

She is all, and much more, than any man could desire to have as his wife, partner and friend.

The wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon, once said , "If you can find a truly good wife, she is worth more than precious gems! “

I believe that God led me to find that good wife. I truly mean that!

King Solomon said that, “Her husband can trust her, and she will richly satisfy his needs. .She is energetic, a hard worker, and watches for bargains. She works far into the night! She sews for the poor, and generously gives to the needy. . .She is a woman of strength and dignity, and has no fear of old age. When she speaks, her words are wise, and kindness is the rule for everything she says. She watches carefully all that goes on throughout her household, and is never lazy. Her children stand and bless her; so does her husband. He praises her with these words; 'There are many fine women in the world, but you are the best of them all!' .

Many times I have told her those very words, and I say them again, “Valerie! There are many fine women in the world, but you are the best of them all !”

I want to justify my words:

Valerie married an ambitious young farmer, who owned a car, and nothing else, whose ambition blinded him to reality. I had a dream for our future, a picture perfect property, and was prepared to do the hard graft to obtain it.

This extraordinary woman adjusted her life to suit, working alongside me, working as no woman ought to be required to work, whilst raising a family and seeking to meet the requirements of my ambitions, at great cost to herself. All the while maintaining her gentle humility and loving quietness of spirit.

Because of my stupid ambitions which required hard work and long hours I gave myself, I ended up in hospital. Valerie shouldered the full brunt of caring for a young family, milking a herd of cows, feeding pigs and everything else which goes with that.

Most of this time we were involved in seeking to practice our Christian faith, during which time we both sensed that we ought to go into the full time ministry of the church, which we eventually did.

Valerie was recognised as extraordinary by those who came to know and love her. So many told me that they had never known such an accepting, non-judgemental, loving minister's wife. They recognised that she had great gifting in hospitality, and loving people for who they are, without expectations of conforming to some artificial pretense, as is often the case.

During those years it was our misfortune to have some malcontents amongst us who wanted to remove us. All their efforts using legitimate means didn't work, so false accusations were made. Like many of such, there was no way of proving them false, so we left. Our lives were turned upside down. We were shattered.

Two years ensued in which ,I later realised ,I entered into deep depression. I have very little recollection of those two years, but I did fail my wife seriously.

You ought, by now, to be understanding why I call her extraordinary, she stuck by me, and supported me out of the pit I had allowed myself to fall into.

Soon afterwards through a most amazing process, which only our Sovereign God could organise, we met one person after another who wanted to grow in their Christian lives. An independent church was born adhering to the historic Christian Faith.

We had almost ten years of happy memories with those dear folk, until our age and health dictated we leave. My extraordinary wife was again able to function ij the loving, compassionate, caring way which expresses the love of Christ.

We left there with the love and good wishes of those very dear people, whom we still love, who still continue to function as a church.

That was five years ago, when we came to Bribie Island to retire.

Valerie is still the same extraordinary wife she has always been. There is no man, including me, on the face of this earth, who deserves to have her as his wife.

I am so very proud of her! I am the most blessed of all men!

Isn't Salvation By Grace?

It is clear that there are many members of the Body of Christ who are having an increasingly heavy and uncomfortable yoke placed on their shoulder, most of which is the baggage of traditions and and teachings which are often personal opinion rather than what Scripture reveals.

For quite a long time I have sensed a compulsion to read Matthew 5, over and over again. I'm writing this because of that sense of compulsion.

Matthew's Gospel has been in the minds of others as well, such as (the most recent at The Assembling of the Church , and at A Better Covenant ).

The picture I see at the beginning of Matthew 5 is a very big crowd of people in the general vicinity of Jesus, but closer to Him are the disciples. This is the scene in which Jesus teaches, what have been called, The Beatitudes.

Many, if not most, of those gathered near Jesus would have, at least heard of, with possibly most, actually hearing, knowing and trusting, the teaching of the leaders of the prevailing religion of the day .

What Jesus was saying in the Beatitudes was not to declare an ideal to labour under with much personal effort, but the very opposite of the legalistic, performance oriented, example set by the practitioners of the prevailing religion of the day.

What Jesus then tells His listeners, which accords with His call to repentance, is that one is blessed if marked by characteristics such as , having a realistically humble understanding of oneself as a sinner having no inherent righteousness of our own, having genuine sorrow leading to repentance regarding sin (2Cor 7:10), having an attitude of meekness, patient forbearance under difficulties instead of being reactive when goaded, and so on. He intimates that living in this way will cause real personal difficulties, never-the-less, the rewards are great.

As Jesus continues, He uses two very stark, and irrefutable examples of how powerful these characteristics are: they are like salt, which once applied cannot be reversed; and light, which, when allowed to shine cannot be negated by darkness.

The Old Covenant Law, given to Israel, were professed as a religious code by the religious of Jesus day, especially the leaders who were extremely proud of their external adherence to it, and very concerned about this upstart who seemed to be upstaging them. Jesus sought to allay their fears by declaring that He hadn't come to destroy that law, but to fulfill it.

Even as Jesus is seeking to put religions minds at rest, they have no idea of where He is going with this. He told them that nothing of these laws will cease to exist until “everything has been accomplished”. The accompishment of the “everything” Jesus mentioned is the same as His earlier declaration that He came “to fulfil” the law.

In the face of deep dyed self-righteous thinking and behaviour, Jesus fires a missile, “....unless your righteousness SURPASSES that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Can you imagine the indignant gasps of those who followed codes and rules to the nth degree, as well as those who thought their leaders were the epitomy of what God required of them? “How can we function in a way that outperforms the righteous practices of our religious leaders?”

What about the religious leaders response? What did they, who were so certain of their performance, think about Jesus words? Do you think their response might have been similar to another man, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” (Luke 18:21)

Many of these religious people were like so many today, who fail to realise that their religious leaders are tarred with the same brush as themselves. Many of those hearing Jesus' words were like many people today who hang on every word that comes from their religious leaders, who jump when told to jump, and then fall into great guilt when they can't perform as demanded!

Now! They are hearing Jesus raise the bar to impossible levels!

Jesus summarises the law, using examples, commenting on the teaching of, and the approach of, the religionists had towards it, “you have heard..., BUT I SAY”.

He is confronting them with the fact of that His own authority is greater than theirs. The affront of this fellow! Who is He to speak thus to these people, who, even today, believe that they have the last word on matters of faith and practice, and Jesus says, “No! I do!”

The shock of what He said must have been profound in such company. What Jesus had done was to confront His listeners with the utter impossiblity of any human being keeping God's laws in such a way that they are not a personal offence to the righteousness of God. He had made it plain that even an attitude of heart and mind in which law breaking was entertained, was no different to actual deed!

What a great dilemma for religious people who have been legalists for many years, possibly a lifetime. Jesus was confronting the very counterpart of much of what we see today, ”Here we are, attending church every Sunday and all the announced meetings, doing devotions at the right time every day, praying long prayers, even quoting Scripture. We don't drink, don't swear or curse, we avoid the riff-raff, we won't allow ourselves be seen in the company of those frowned upon by the church leaders. We consciensciously avoid those who are of beliefs different to ours. We read the right books, watch the right movies, and shudder every time an unbeliever acts like an unbeliever, not to mention when an unbeliever does the same. We have subscribed to the heavenly insurance policy which was presented to us, and we have been paying our prescribed performance dues year in and year out, even trying to improve our payments. Now this fellow is trying to tell us that all of our effort and good work ,to please God, is worthless!”

Then as if to heavily emphasise what He has been saying, He says, “ Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

“As perfect as God?”

“Absolutely,yes!”

“Then who is equal to that task?”

Only the One whose words they are listening to, the Lord Jesus Christ! During His perfect life He fulfilled EVERYTHING the law required. He did it on behalf of all who come to Him in repentance and faith. And as His cry on the cross declared for all to hear, He ACCOMPLISHED everything of what He came to do,. That's exactly what He was saying,“It is finished” (John 19:30), “It is accomplished, paid in full”.

Knowing that the Pharisees of today, who sail under a Christian flag, stand up, and say, "It is necessary to observe the Law of Moses, and do all these things to prove yourself to God. He needs your performance of duties to seal the deal."

There was a lot of arguing as the Senior Pastors, Junior Pastors and their Yes Men looked in to the matter, and Peter stood up and rebuked his opponents,"Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are."(15:10)

Why do these leaders risk the displeasure of God by attempting to impose upon His people, whom He has called to Himself, rites, rules, and laws which simply weigh them down with misery? Why do they belittle the work of our Saviour by preaching the guilt and misery of Judaizers?

God provided His sacrificial Lamb as a perfect, unblemished sacrifice, by which He is propitiated regarding their sinfulness.

Why insult His great free gift of saving grace upon those who receive it?

Why attempt to shackle God's people to the religious idol of a denomination, system, building, or leader to fulfill requirements which, in effect, shut these precious brethren away from the joy of God's acceptance of them in His Son?

This is the “yoke of slavery (bondage)” of which Paul speaks.

Those who claim to be these elder brethren are the prodigal son's brother spoken about by Tim Keller in The Prodigal God:

“We see that the elder brother ”became angry.” All of his words are dripping with resentment. The first sign you have an elder brother spirit is that when your life doesn't go as you want, you aren't just sorrowful but deeply angry and bitter. Elder brothers believe that if they live a good life they should get a good life, that God owes them a smooth road if they try to live up to standards.
"What happens, then, if you are an elder brother and things go wrong in your life? If you feel you have been living up to your moral standards, you will be furious with God. You don't deserve this, you will think, after how hard you've worked to be a decent person!...Elder brothers' inability to handle suffering arises from the fact that their moral observance is results-oriented. The good life is lived not for delight in good deeds themselves, but as calculated ways to control their environment.

The yoke of the elder brother generally represents slavery, heavy bondage, affliction, punishment, oppressive and burdensome ceremonies, as was true of the situation in which the Galatian believers found themselves. Judaizers were seeking to add the yoke of slavery to the consciences of God's people, a yoke by the way, which, in their ignorance, they apply to themselves, often reaping the whirlwind as a result..

As Jesus said, They tie up burdens that are heavy and unbearable and lay them on people's shoulders, but they refuse to lift a finger to remove them. They do all their actions to be seen by people. They increase the size of their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. They love to have the places of honor at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, to be greeted in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by people.
There is a yoke which we can wear, which Jesus desribes in Mt 11:29,30, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

The Lord Jesus Christ was determined to accept all who would come to Him without rites, rules, and authoritarian leadership, all of which He had shown were now abolished through His own perfection, and final sacrifice.

Whether a leader or not it is an affront to our Sovereign God when anyone seeks to add performance (a yoke of slavery) to the finished work of Christ, such additions are what Isaiah called “filthy rags” (stinking menstrual clothes).

DOES THE BEHAVIOR MATCH THE NAME?

A seminar on evangelism was being addressed by well known, very experienced leader and preacher from the USA, whose intense focus on training people in evangelism exceded almost anyone else I am aware of.

He spoke with an enthusiasm which is often not seen. It wasn't that apparent enthusiasm which comes from inexperience, and often seen in many a young preacher, like an excited yappy puppy with far too much energy. No! It was an enthusiasm which came from much experience in seeing the fruit of his endeavors.

He came to a point in his talk where he addressed the issue of what causes evangelism to be more difficult than it ought to be. It wasn't the evil one, it wasn't that the unbeliever was ignorant of Christian things.

The biggest hurdle to overcome was the fact that the unbeliever DID know a Christian or Christians!

Many times I had heard the comment, “No! I don't want to talk about those things. My experience with Christians (often very specific comments) has been enough to make me not want to be one.”

Alan Knox has been talking about the Truly Local Church and there is some discussion regarding how such a group should meet in the local area, such as in a home.

I have been reminded of what another great old servant of Christ , who is deceased, Dr.David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, who has written a book “Studies on the Sermon on the Mount”, which has a large bearing upon our attitude in meeting in our homes which are generally surrounded by unbelievers.

He describes the Sermon on the Mount thus: "The Sermon on the Mount is a description of character and not a code of ethics or of morals. It is not to be regarded as a law- a kind of new ‘Ten Commandments’ or set of rules and regulations which are to be carried out by us-but rather as a description of what we Christians are meant to be" .

He declares that we, “constantly have to remind ourselves of the Beatitudes”

How I wish I had taken that advice as a young elder,pastor,teacher! Even if I had heard it, like many other bright young folk, I probably would have thought it the simple ramblings of a fellow past his use-by-date!

From where I sit today his words have so much wisdom in them!

We need to be reminded that, regardless of our educational qualifications, our knowledge, our enthusiasm, zeal and bold confidence, we are to “remind myself daily that I am to be poor in spirit, merciful,meek, a peacemaker, pure in heart, and so on”.

He goes on to say, “In everything I do and say, I am to be like the man I see in the beatitudes”

All who knew the Godly author would say he reflected the very spirit of the Beatitudes, and that he knew what he was talking about.

You see, he lived what he taught, “But, not only are we to remind ourselves of the Beatitudes, we are to live accordingly. What does this mean? It means we are to avoid everything that is opposed to this character, we are to be entirely unlike the world. It is a tragic thing to me that so many Christians, because they do not want to be different, or to suffer persecution, seem to be living as near as they can to the world. But this is a contradiction in terms. There is no mean between light and darkness; it is either the one or the other, and there is no communion between. Either it is light or it is not.........”.

In response to a comment on Alan's blog regarding complaints from neighbours, I said, “ I would complain on behalf of the community, if, as we have witnessed, a group seemed to believe it had a divine right to fill the street with cars, assume that "worship" must be accompanied by as much noise as they pleased, allowing children to run riot while the parents met.

I have strong convictions that local congregation meetings in homes ARE the right way to go, but, as members of a secular community we must bend over backwards to show love and consideration towards them (unbelievers).” “ ........over a period of 10 years of no complaints, that regardless of the make-up of the community, respect for others, good manners and moderation in all behavior are well regarded. “

During those ten years God drew many into His Kingdom , and some wonderful testimonies of His gracious working in the lives of older believers, mine included, have been shared.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote, “The world is becoming more rude; rougher,uglier,louder. I think we all agree with that.” But it is clear that what passes for Christianity is also becoming more rude; rougher, uglier and louder and the world around us are not slow to notice.

As our author suggests, it is far too easy to say,”I'm a follower of Christ” , loudly proclaiming the benefits, and in the same heartbeat be rude and inconsiderate of those around us.

“We are to be humble, peaceable, peacemaking in all our talk and behaviour, and especially in our reactions to the behaviours of other persons. I believe that the individual Christian is having a greater opportunity today than he has had for many a century, owing to the whole state of the world and of society. I believe that people are watching us very closely because we claim to be Christian; and they are watching our reactions to people and to the things they say and do to us. Do we flare up? The non-Christian does; the Christian should not. He is like the man in the Beatitudes, so he reacts differently. And when confronted with world events, with wars and rumours of wars, with calamities, pestilences and all these other things, he is not overanxious, troubled and irritable. The world is; the Christian is not. He is essentially different.”

Far too many claiming to be Christians are mimicing, and emulating the ways of a lost world.

Two of Jesus illustrations of the life He initiated were salt and light.

Salt doesn't mimic the food in which it is placed, it enhances and, sometimes makes the food vastly more pleasant.

The same with light, it doesn't emulate darkness, it disperses darkness, and yet we have those who claim to be Christians who think that they have a mandate to inconvenience the neighbors in their area with the clutter of cars, unruly behavior of their children and the noise of their singing. Many seem to have found a verse of Scripture which says that God is deaf.

Our God is much more interested in the state of our heart, which is reflected in the character revealed in our daily lives. Jesus said, ^“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matt.5:16)

The genuine Christian never draws attention to himself. Genuine poverty of spirit means that self has last call on our plans, desires,and inclinations, that our first concern is to reflect the Christ who denied Himself for us, before a lost community, seeking to serve them, not antagonise them, to love them, not disregard them.

At the same time we must have great sorrow in our hearts for the lost, not despise them. They are lost, and don't know it. We must have concern for them, not ourselves. We must have compassion for them, not contempt.

It is so very true that the reason some don't want to hear about the saving work of Jesus, is because the DO know one or more, who claim to be Christian, who are loud, bombastic, inconsiderate of others, arrogant about their spirituality, who love to display their great learning!

I have known very quiet people who, some claimed Christians deride as simpletons and dumb mice, yet make such an impact for the Kingdom of God that they leave those who know utterly amazed at the fruit of their, almost underground, ministry of God's grace in Jesus Christ.

I am reminded of a story told about Alexander the Great. The great soldier had sent out a conscription party. One young man had hidden in a cave to escape conscription. He was brought before Alexander, who demanded to know his name. The young man whispered tentatively,

“A -a-a lexander.”

Alexander the Great drew himself up to his full stature and exploded, “WHAT!!”

The young man again said, “A -a lexander, sir”

Alexander the Great, in full voice, said, “Young man! Change your ways, or change your name!”

Our Commander in Chief says, “Christian! Change your ways, or change your name!”