Godliness

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Holiday church - 29 June 2010

As Christians – perhaps especially evangelical Christians – we are not always very good at maintaining unity. This becomes evident in lots of different situations, but one example that’s particularly relevant at this time of year is when we go to church on holiday. We find ourselves in a different place, with people following traditions that differ from our own, and we don’t quite know how to handle it. The danger is that we focus simply on the differences from what we’re used to, and end up complaining about the perceived failings of our new-found holiday church:

“I didn’t much like that song.”

“Why did they have to repeat it 6 times?”

“The sermon was a bit short.”

“The notices were very long.”

“And they used a strange version of the Bible.”

Of course different churches will do things differently. But let’s keep things in perspective. After all, you’re probably only there for a couple of Sundays at most. There are many issues that ought to be hammered out at length within our regular congregation, but which can safely be left to one side when we’re occasional visitors somewhere else. If you’re able to find a Protestant church where Jesus is worshipped, why wouldn’t you be delighted to worship with them?

To my mind, if you’re able to find an evangelical church anywhere near where you’re staying on holiday (like within an hour’s drive, if you have a car), then it would be great to go along. Even if you’re in a foreign country and don’t speak the language very well, wouldn’t it be a great gesture of fellowship in the gospel to join with them anyway? You’ll meet them on the last day; why not get to know them in advance?

Leave it all behind - 23 June 2010

“Upon acknowledging the redemptive power of Christ crucified, the Christian is asked to ‘take up his cross’ by first renouncing something which he discovers never truly existed in the first place: spiritual independence.” (Gerry Wisz)

That’s what the world thinks of this sermon - 21 June 2010

If you want to be biblical in your understanding of family life in 21st-century Britain, you’ll have to be prepared to be counter-cultural. Here are a few highlights of Steve Hayhow doing exactly that in last Sunday’s sermon on Psalm 128.

“God gave you a wife for a reason, and not just to clear up after you.”
“If you’ve just got married, or if you’re getting married, you need to buy a table.”
“You’re a bigoted male chauvinist pig. Right? And worst of all, you’re a Christian, male chauvinist, Bible-believing, fundamentalist, reformationally-minded pig. So there. That’s what the world thinks of this sermon.”
“This Psalm is addressed to the men … if [your wife] is not flourishing then it’s your problem, and you need to address it – gracefully – not because there’s something wrong with her, but because there’s something profoundly wrong with you, that everyone else can see.”

Advice to a young seminarian - 3 June 2010

A friend who’s soon to start at seminary asked me for some advice. Here, without the slightest pretence of either originality or profundity, are a few of the thoughts I scribbled down:

Read the Bible. Lots. Bread down the silly, artificial divide between “academic reading” of the Bible and “devotional reading” of the Bible. Remember how little you know. Remember that Christian ministry is about people, not just preaching. Talk to little Christian children, and listen to old Christian ladies. Read Helmut Thielicke’s A Little Exercise for Young Theologians, James Jordan Through New Eyes, Peter Leithart’s A House for My Name and Calvin’s Institutes. While you’re at it, read all of these books too. And read lots of really old books (from the Reformation and Patristic eras). Don’t get caught up in faddish nonsense in worship. Pray through a Psalm every day, and teach them to your children (that way you’ll learn them yourself). Remember that even unbelievers have something to teach us sometimes. Find someone to teach you how to pray. Don’t church-hop. Remember that your wife needs to thrive, not just survive. Remember that the Lord lifts up the humble, and that you (like all of us) have a lot to be humble about.

Knocking stuff all over the floor - 14 January 2010

Listen to Jesus for a moment: ‘Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye’ (Matthew 7:3-5).

At one level, this is a fairly amusing image. Imagine the scene: you’re beavering away in the garage, knocking together a set of shelves, and without thinking you blow the sawdust off the newly-sanded surface, only to have it fly up in your face. As you stagger around, half-blinded and cursing your stupidity, your neighbour happens to poke his head through the door. ‘Don’t worry – I’ll help,’ he calls cheerily, as he strides toward you, a huge log protruding from his face, knocking stuff all over the floor.

At the same time, it’s a sobering image. Jesus clearly thinks that such ludicrous hypocrisy is enough of a danger that we need to be warned about it.

It’s therefore worth trying to answer Jesus’ question: ‘Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?’

The answer is obvious, of course. We don’t see because we’re not looking, and we’re not looking because we can’t see. We’re so blinded by our sins that we scarcely think we’ve done anything wrong.

But the Lord isn’t blind to our sins, and he says we need to confess them to him.

By jove! I’m being humble! - 18 December 2009

Some extracts from C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, on the subject of humility, from last Sunday’s Forum.

Your patient has become humble; have you drawn his attention to the fact? All virtues are less formidable to us once the man is aware that he has them, but this is specially true of humility. Catch him at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, ‘By jove! I’m being humble,’ and almost immediately pride—pride at his own humility—will appear. If he awakes to the danger and tries to smother this new form of pride, make him proud of his attempt—and so on, through as many stages as you please.

You must therefore conceal from the patient the true end of Humility. Let him think of it not as self-forgetfulness but as a certain kind of opinion (namely, a low opinion) of his own talents and character … By this method thousands of humans have been brought to think that humility means pretty women trying to believe they are ugly and clever men trying to believe they are fools. And since what they are trying to believe may, in some cases, be manifest nonsense, they cannot succeed in believing it and we have the chance of keeping their minds endlessly revolving on themselves in an effort to achieve the impossible.

To anticipate the Enemy’s strategy, we must consider His aims. The Enemy wants to bring the man to a state of mind in which he could design the best cathedral in the world, and know it to be the best, and rejoice in the fact, without being any more (or less) glad at having done it than he would be if it had been done by another.

A deafening silence - 26 November 2009

Christians often find it difficult to deal with the ungodliness of office banter in the secular workplace. How are we supposed to react when we hear unbelieving colleagues gossipping about each other, or when we discover that someone’s been sniping at us behind our back?

Sometimes it can be helpful to sit down and talk about it. Indeed, this is often the Christian’s first instinct – to try to do in the secular world what we are plainly instructed to do when disagreements arise within the church (cf. Matthew 18:15ff; Philippians 4:2ff).

However, don’t be surprised if this doesn’t work. Tragically, the same sinful blindness that provokes gossip and backbiting in the non-Christian world also prevents unbelievers seeing the folly of it. Any attempt by a Christian to discuss the issue rationally will probably just add fuel to the fire.

But there’s still something you can do. Listen to what Peter says to Christians surrounded by an oppressive, ungodly pagan culture:

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. 13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. (1 Peter 2:11-15)

Godliness speaks louder than words.

The right kind of frustration - 20 November 2009

As we carry on in the Christian life, it’s likely that we’ll find our sin increasingly frustrating.

In one sense, that’s a good thing. For since sin is inevitable, frustration about it is better than apathy.

However, let’s be careful that it’s our sin, not merely the painful consequences of sin, that we’re frustrated about. For example, it’s very easy to imagine that we’re grieving over our (sinful) grumpiness, when in fact we’re just (sinfully) irritated that we feel so grumpy. Grief over our sinful grumpiness would be understandable and godly, whereas irritation about how miserable our grumpiness makes us just adds to our sin.

Unconfessed lies - 18 November 2009

I’m not normally in the habit of reading the Church Times, which is why I’m glad that someone pointed me in the direction of this article by Elaine Storkey, since it would have been a shame to miss it.

Insightful, thought-provoking, and just a little bit frightening.

If a single lie requires further reinforcements, until a whole army of falsehoods has been assembled, some people are still prepared to continue the battle rather than give in and admit the truth.

Lying moulds our identity and influences our relationships. Most psychologists can tell us that this occurs in much deeper ways than we suspect. Dishonesty changes who we really want to be. It forces us to harden our hearts and embrace self-delusion and distortion, so that we can live more easily with our lie.

What could be more chilling than his reminder that there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed — that what we have whispered in private will be shouted from the housetops (Luke 12)? … We cannot radiate a public persona that professes virtue or calls for justice while doing something different in private … even if no one else knows our secret, we cannot escape it.

Building up - 6 November 2009

Scripture frequently reminds us of the danger of sinning in our words. Lies, anger, corrupt talk – all these things have no place among the people of God. Listen, for example, to Ephesians 4:

25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbour, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil… 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Notice that the Lord here also makes a positive demand of us. It’s not just that our words shouldn’t do damage; they should positively do good: only such words as are ‘good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.’

This is particularly important to remember when we are discussing the sins of other people. It’s sometimes necessary to discuss the sins of others – for example, parents talking about their children, or when we feel wronged and need to seek advice about responding to a difficult situation.

But Ephesians 4 reminds us that the goal of all such conversations should never be simply to get confirmation that we were in the right and that ‘they’ (whoever they are) were in the wrong.

Rather, our goal should be to do good to everyone, including the one who has wronged us. ‘Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up.’