God's Ambassadors

By Christof Spies

Same God, same people?

A brief glance over time tempts me to wonder if God is ever-changing, or at least if he changes his rules of worship for his people. The Old Testament is full of blood, sacrifices and a strict legal system that intended to keep the Israelites on a worshipful path of obedience. God seems to delight in this and punishes (very harshly, one would think) those who wander from this way.

The New Testament and the coming of Jesus seems to paint a picture of love and grace for all who have faith in God. Priority is given to humanistic virtues like faith, love, patience and goodwill to all, over and above a legal system of  punishment for wrongdoing and reward for obedience.

Today, a glance at various church movements sows even more confusion. Catholics worship God through patron saints acting as intermediaries, traditional protestant churches seem stuck on grappling with traditional theological struggles over the nature of God and his people, while many charismatics seem to abandon the mind in a wild surge of "Spirit"-filled egocentric song.What are we to make 

out of all of this? Has God changed over time? Or does he expect something different from us today than he did 2000 years ago?

The Bible claims to be God-breathed (1 Tim 3:16) revelation of himself through human agents, so if indeed there is some stabilising truth to be found, this is where we can expect it. Comprising some 66 different books in various literary genres, our challenge is to spot the common thread – the BIG picture – throughout the work as a whole, if indeed there is such a thing.

In the Old Testament, the Israelites are selected by God as a chosen people, a treasured possession  Deuteronomy 7:6) without any deserving merit (v.7) in order to reveal himself to this people through a covenant of provision and blessing for faithful worship, and punishment for disobedience (v.10).

"Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a a thousand generations." (v.9) God intended for Israel to be a light, a witness to all the nations, so that the testimony of God's generosity towards his chosen people would attract all other peoples to come into this sphere of light also (see Isaiah 60).

History has it that Israel did not keep their side of the deal and God's punishment was to send them into exile to Babylon and Assyria. However, God does not abandon his covenant with his people. Through the prophet Jeremiah, a renewed covenant is prophesied whereby God will not only instruct, but also enable his law to be followed by his chosen people: 

"I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people … for they shall all 
know me, for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more" 
(Jeremiah 31:33-34)

This prophecy is fulfilled in the New Testament. God sends his son Jesus to be the light of the world (John 8:12) and to pay the penalty for the sins of all people, making forgiveness available to all who take hold of this offer. This opens up a new way of relating to God, not as sinners under judgement, but again as his chosen, loved people.

"God made him to be sin who knew no sin [i.e. Jesus], so that in him [Jesus] 

we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

With the sin-separation out of the way, the working of the Holy Spirit enables those who take hold of this offer to to draw closer to God with divine help, further fulfilling Jeremiah's prophecy. God bends our hearts towards him as we look to him, free from the veil of sin and the Mosaic Law:

"And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being

 transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For

 this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Paul also understood that all of this furthers God's original goal – to reconcile the World to himself

"In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses 

against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are 

ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us." (2 Corinthians 5:19-20)

Where does that leave us today? God's plan has not changed, and the role of his people has not either. Through Jesus, God has accommodated our inability to fulfill the original terms of the covenant, but God's side of the deal is still valid! God still wants to reconcile all people to himself. He wants to gather us all into a people that knows Him and lives under his covenential favour and forgiveness.

Our role still is to be a light in the darkness (Isaiah 60), ambassadors of the new covenant (1 Corinthians 5). God has called each of us to know Him, to be a part of his chosen people, and to be ambassadors of his Kingdom. Knowing God today means following Jesus, who reconciles us to God by paying the penalty for our sins. Being a part of his chosen people means understanding our place as a Citizen (not a foreigner) of God's beloved people. And being an ambassador translates into a lifestyle that is driven by the purpose of reflecting God to the world. God has not changed his plans for the world. The better question to ask is if our identity, belonging and purpose aligns with His plans, or not? 

Laughing with...

By Spencer-rae

Today we find ourselves in a culture of individualism. Magazines, television and the internet teach us how to groom ourselves, what we should want and how we should behave. We idiotise ourselves in front of our televisions and computers, wasting our lives on excessive viewing, uploading and downloading. We are self appointed gods, believing that we deserve anything we can get ours hands on; from money, to sex, to fame. 

And when life becomes too boring or painful, we just get drunk and later use our drunken state as an excuse for our conduct. Science is the game we play, there is no other game. We are to believe only that which can be proved through rational empiricism and logical deduction. God is a social construct that makes us feel better about ourselves and broken lives. God is the object of our humour. God is a dinner table joke. At least until our lives fall apart and we start to pray.  We pray and negotiate and beg and plead and suddenly it's perfectly logical that there is a God out there. 

I was struck by a song by Regina Spektor recently. The song is called 'Laughing with'. Some of the lyrics are as follows:

No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one’s laughing at God
When they’re starving or freezing or so very poor

No one laughs at God
When the doctor calls after some routine tests
No one’s laughing at God
When it’s gotten real late
And their kid’s not back from the party yet

No one laughs at God
When their airplane start to uncontrollably shake
No one’s laughing at God
When they see the one they love, hand in hand with someone else
And they hope that they’re mistaken

No one laughs at God
When the cops knock on their door
And they say we got some bad news, sir
No one’s laughing at God
When there’s a famine or fire or flood

But God can be funny
At a cocktail party when listening to a good God-themed joke, or
Or when the crazies say He hates us
And they get so red in the head you think they’re ‘bout to choke
God can be funny,
When told he’ll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus
God can be so hilarious
Ha ha
Ha ha

It's not my place, nor my mission to pin Regina to a definitive faith or worldview. But what I will say is that I believe her to be a teller of stories through song, and that in this particular story-song she has presented us with a narrative that speaks about a human trend we are more than familiar with. It's about the tendency for us to pray in times of trial and difficulty and our tendency to mock God when things are going well. It's easy to lose our faith when times are easy. It's just as easy to mock God in the times it seems we do not need him. But when our worlds fall, even the most skeptical among us may find himself on the floor pleading and crying out for God's help. Suddenly the 'flawed' logic of the Christian becomes plausible and the 'loony', the sanest man in town.

Here's some food for thought. I googled this song to find out some stuff about it. I ended up on an Atheist community site. There is a board where people post their thoughts about things like Regina's song. According to the site rules, it doesn't matter what you believe (or don't believe), as long as you show respect to the other people that are commenting. Most of the people are atheists, but they are expected to be tolerant for the sake of harmony. It's basically a community of people that share a similar set of beliefs (or non-beliefs). Natural enough, right? Community is just one of those things all of us do. Community is the norm. Interestingly enough, community remains one of the most consistent characteristics of our postmodern times, despite all the technology that allows us to live relatively independently. Ironically, we live in a culture where individualism is praised. So we try be individual in community. Most stuff has been done before and nothing is really new, but we can always consume. So we consume and define ourselves by our dress codes, interests and hobbies. Then we get together with people that share similar ideas about life, and go straight back to the community thing. We create and recreate community and then, almost as if by following a perfect sequence of events, we become defined by our religion or worldview. Truth is, none of us are all that different. In fact, despite all the science stuff we hear every day, most of us still believe in God or a 'higher power' and devote our lives to him/it. Those of us that don't, make a god out of our careers, lifestyles or philosophies. Now I am by no means saying that all beliefs are true; but what I am saying is that in a world where we are spoon-fed scientific explanations for almost everything, perhaps there is something to be said for the fact that so many still devote their entire lives to some or other transcendent being.

So these two things have always been, and still remain: The desire within us for a personal relationship with each other (community), and the desire within us for a personal relationship with God. In the Christian faith, both of these are are perfectly reconciled: the personal community of God within himself (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and the personal community of ‘God with us’ through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son, and the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit. He gives us who believe, direct access to the father and our shared church community.  

Never have I seen or heard of anyone who in sickness, starvation, cold, poverty, anxiety, fear, disappointment or hurt, crying out for help or compassion from a philosophy, lifestyle, scientific explanation or principle. If they had, I doubt they would have received a satisfying answer. Even the skeptic is more likely to be angry at ‘The God’ (or a god) he claims not to believe in. And where does his right to be angry come from? Science? Was it also science that produced in him this notion of 'fairness' he believes himself entitled to? For the rest of us, let us consistently choose to put our faith in God and acknowledge our relationship with him and each other when we pray 'Our (community) Father (personal relationship)...'

Braai

We're having a braai! There will be fire and meat, and fire, and dancers mixed with fire! Did I mention fire?

Why Series - Happening Sept and Oct

Theology of Questioning found in Psalms

When last did you ask God a question? When last did you sit back while praying and let Him know where you were at? And I mean, where you are really at? Do you feel comfortable telling God your inmost thoughts and worries?

I really enjoy reading through the psalms, especially the ones by David. One of the main reasons I enjoy them is that he makes me feel a little bit normal again. He seems to struggle with the same stuff I struggle with, and yet he didn’t seem to mind voicing his opinions and struggles to God. He didn’t feel uncomfortable saying to God things like:

“Answer me quickly, Lord; my spirit fails” (Psalm 143)


“Hear my prayer, Lord; let my cry for help come to You…In my distress I groan aloud and am reduced to skin and bones” (Psalm 102)


“Why, Lord, do You reject me and hide Your face from me?” (Psalm 88)


“O God, do not remain silent; do not turn a deaf ear, do not stand aloof, O God” (Psalm 83)


Maybe you’ve read these verses or verses like them enough that you merely brush over them, and take them as part and parcel of the psalm. I know I often do. But recently I have been thinking – when last did my prayers sound like that? When last did I question God on something that was bugging me? When last did you? You see, as I read those verses, I realise two things that together make me appreciate David’s prayers so much more. Firstly, I think to myself – “My prayers don’t sound like that most of the time.” Now, that would be fine, if I the second thought didn’t slap me square in the face. The second thought as I read the Psalms is that I suddenly feel human again. I think: “Wow, David felt like that too!” I realise that David had the same doubts in his mind that I have, and that he messed up in his life in very similar ways to me. And so, reading his honest songs written to God, I feel human and understood.So, on the one side, I don’t pray like David does. And if I didn’t have any questions or doubts like he so obviously did, that would make sense. But, on the other side, I do have those doubts. I do feel at times as if I have been abandoned or as if God is turning a deaf ear.

The humbling lesson for me as I read the psalms is this: Maybe I don’t feel close enough to God to voice my real thoughts and opinions. I feel this random sense of obligation as a Christian to cover up my feelings of doubt that hit me every now and then. I want to encourage you to take the time to go back to each of those quotes at the top of this post and grab your bible and read through the psalm. The whole psalm. You see, when I take the verses on their own, they paint a stick figure outline of a guy who had doubts and wasn’t afraid to voice them. Don’t stop there though – see what happens to David as he bravely voices his doubts: His faith and love for God grows. Check it out – no matter where David starts in his songs, he almost always finishes by praising and worshipping God.

This paradox is pretty cool, and I enjoy it every time I have the guts to question God on something. He meets me where I am at and makes me feel more loved and more secure in Him than before. But this only comes when I step out and voice what I am already secretly thinking anyway. My point is this: Don’t be afraid to question God if you have questions for Him. As David did, do it with humility; but don’t ignore your thoughts and questions. Bring them to Him bravely and humbly and I guarantee You He will meet you where you are. He who created the universe is not afraid of the questions of a human being like me.


Stu

The Kingdom of Heaven

A while back, my 9-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter were memorizing the Lord’s Prayer. I asked them what they thought, “Your kingdom come” meant. They were stumped for a moment. Then I took a step back and asked a preliminary question, “What does a king do?” That was a bit easier. “He rules.” Then it dawned on them. “’Your kingdom come’ means that we want God’s rule to come.” 

That’s it. To be in God’s kingdom means that what he says goes. His way or the highway. He commands, we comply. He decrees, we agree. His way on earth as it is in heaven. God is busy ruling and reigning – in and outside of the church. And our aim is to get busy spreading his rule and reign – through the gospel, through social action, through our testimonies, through our good deeds, through our parenting, and on and on. 

Would you say you participate in God’s kingdom? Does he rule and reign in every area of your thoughts? In every area of your deeds? In every area of your decisions? In every area of your relationships?

Isaiah prophesies about Jesus, “Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this” (Isaiah 9:7).

Are you a part of increasing his Kingdom? Jesus was busy demonstrating his rule and reign through everyone he came in contact with – healing, testifying, loving, teaching and more. If you were to participate more in God’s kingdom, what would that mean for you?


Drew

Why Do Bad Things Happen?

SICKNESS. DISEASE. MURDER. RAPE. DISASTER. THEFT. PREMATURE DEATH. INJUSTICE. ABUSE.

WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN?

___________________________

If you need an answer, be at Unit 11 on Sunday - 7pm. We're watching a DVD series over the next few weeks by PJ Smyth from God First church, in Jozi- 'Why do Bad Things Happen?'

Free, but living in slavery

Drew spoke last Sunday night about a family in America who lived for a hundred years in slavery after the emancipation proclamation was signed. They had legally been set free from their life of bondage and slavery, but they didn’t receive the message and there were no televisions in those days so they just carried on serving as slaves, until a hundred years later when they found out that they were, in fact, free.

Can you imagine that? Can you imagine living as a slave, working the ground with no freedom or light at the end of the tunnel, only to find out that you were free the whole time? It’s not that far fetched though, is it?


How often do you feel inadequate when you walk into church because you sinned the night before? Or because you did not have ‘quiet times’ with God that week? Or even because you haven’t been to church since you were in Sunday school? How long does it take you to put those feelings aside and worship God? Two or three songs? The whole service? Or do you brush it off and think, “Maybe I’ll do better next week.” ?


I’ve got to be honest here, this was the way I ran my life for a long time. If I was playing guitar in the worship band, I would make sure I was ‘in tune’ with God the day before. I would make sure I had a quiet time at least. This would be okay if my reason for doing so was that I could lead more people closer to Him, but it totally wasn’t – it was a matter of passing some religious test I had made up in my mind in order to meet the qualifications I felt were required to stand in front of the church and lead them into worship. And the litmus test was this – if I didn’t spend a set amount of time with God before that Sunday, I would feel completely unqualified to be up there and, distracted by that feeling, I would not worship God at all (Yip, I know…“performance junkie” alert). Man, I look at that paragraph as I write it and I think, “You fool!” How did you think that performing a little task like having a quiet time would qualify you to worship God? Is that what God asked for anyway?


Jesus talked about this topic with the performance junkies of His day. He said to them, “You diligently study the scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” It is not about you. It is not about your performance. It is not about how often you have messed up in the past. It is not even about how often you haven’t messed up. It’s about Jesus.


Stop. Read that again, because it is vital to your freedom. Don’t go on living a life of performance driven slavery when the emancipation proclamation has been signed on the cross.

Galatians 5 v1:“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not letyourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery”

John 8 v 34-36:Jesus replied, “ I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slavehas no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Sonsets you free, you will be free indeed.”

Stu

Make us broke! First drink is free!

In all probability - Part I

 To dispute that Jesus walked on the earth is tantamount to saying that social networking sites such as Facebook have not made a mark on your life. To dispute that Jesus was the Messiah prophesied about about 60 times in the bible is near unthinkable.  It was through the fulfillment of prophecies in the Bible that Israel was told she would be able to recognize the true Messiah when He came. It's a wonder that many didn't know who he was when he rocked up on the scene. He was a pleb, an insignificant carpenter from Nazareth.


Today is not for prophesies. Today is for statistics and probabilities. Just like money, people understand numbers. So what exactly is probablility? It's an odd branch of mathematics also known as 'odds'. Ask the math minds of this year and they will tell you that it is the likelihood that a given event will occur. This applies as much to which horse will cross the finish line at the Durban July  as it does to what you could have pulled out of a lucky packet when you were at school.

Some interesting odds and ends...


- Your chance of being struck by lightning in a year = 7 x 105 or 1 in 700,000
- Your chance of being killed by lightning in a year = 2 x 106 or 1 in 2,000,000
- Your chance of becoming president = 1 x 107 or 1 in 10,000,000
- Your chance of a meteorite landing on your house = 1.8 x 1014 or 1 in 180,000,000,000,000
- The chance that you will eventually die. No chance. Your odds are  1 in 1.


One of the most interesting probability studies that has been conducted was by a Dr. John Stoner. (seriously? Stoner? Ja.) This guy is the author of Science Speaks. Google him, he's legit.  He applied the principle of probability, which states that if the chance of one thing happening is "1 in M", and the chance of another independent thing happening is "1 in N", then the chance that they shall both happen is "1 in M x N", as it pertains to fulfillment of Biblical prophecies.


To answer the question of what is the probability of one man fulfilling all of just eight prophecies, the principal of probability is applied. Therefore, multiplying all eight probabilities together (1 times 2.8 x 105 x 103 x 102 x 103 x 103 x 105 x 103 x 104) gives us 2.8 x 1028, or for simplicity sake 1 x 1028 or 1 in 0,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. Too many noughts.


Now, there could be two possible ways that the prophets came up with these prophesies. They either received them directly from God or just wrote what they thought would happen. Given the time span between the prophesies and writings of the Old Testament and the fulfillment of them by Christ in the New Testament how can we even debate that the prophets were just guessing? To fulfill 8 prophesies it is staggeringly improbable, but 60 - next to impossible without divine intent.

Unity

Have you ever considered what you would do if you had one day left to live? What if you knew, without a doubt, that this time tomorrow you were going to die? What would be foremost in your mind? Who would be foremost in your mind? 

I guess most of us would change something about the way we lived today if we knew that we would not be here tomorrow, but the reason I bring this up is not to look at what we would do. I want to know what Jesus would do. Because I guess the question we are answering when we answer all of the above questions is this: 

We have a very unique perspective when we read about Jesus in his final week of life. He knew He was headed to Jerusalem to die, and He knew when His hour had come. So, by reading about his last week of life, we see what was most important to Him; what made Him tick. And we get the chance – an intimate opportunity – to hear His prayer in a garden where He knew He was about to be betrayed. Wow.

So what was on Jesus' mind?

The answer is mindblowing and simple. Jesus was praying for us.Jesus spent His last few minutes in the garden before he would be crucified praying about us – the guys and girls who would believe in Him through His disciples' message. So what did He pray for? What was the last thing on Jesus' mind before He stood up and went to where He knew Judas was waiting? What was the most important thing to Him when He prayed about us? Unity. Jesus wanted us 'to be one.' He wants us to be a family, united with each other. He wants us to have each others' back. He wants us to look out for each others' well being. If one of us is struggling, He wants us to take the load – financial, emotional – you name it, Jesus wants us to jump in there and bear it together. We see this in Acts – these guys sold their property and gave it to the elders of the church to be distributed where it was needed. 

"Cool, Stu," I hear you say. "That's a nice concept, and I agree we should all like each other and get along. But I'm not going to go selling my property for the church – that's a bit extreme and I don't think God would ask me to do that". I hear you, and I agree that we need to use wise judgement when making these decisions. But check out the standard Jesus set for our relationship with each other – check out who He compared us to: 

"...that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You"

Jesus wants us to be one in the same way that Him and God the Father were one. This is huge! In the trinity, Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit are all three distinct persons but also all one and the same God. In the same way then, Jesus wants us to be distinct people with personalities and character traits (and not clones) but to be so connected with each other that we are one church. 

Man, I love our church. I love the guys and girls in it, and I love hanging out with them and worshiping God with them. And you want to know an amazing thing? God loves that too. WAY more than I or you do. It was the last thing on His mind before He died.

Grace

Grace is an amazing thing. It is a simple word that comes up over and over again in Christian circles – hundreds of books, songs, articles, blogs have been written and sermons preached trying to grasp this thing that is grace.

And it seems sometimes like we are trying to pick up a ray of light with our hands to show people – we will never be able to do it with the bodies and understanding that we have now; we will never fully understand it. And sometimes, in trying to explain it, the best thing is instead to turn the ray of light itself onto the person we are talking to so that they can experience it themselves, feel the brightness and the warmth of having grace shone on them.


This is a large part what we are called to do as Christians in Durban – to experience God’s grace and, in turn, to shine it from ourselves onto others so that they too, may experience it. It is, in fact, a matter of pure grace that, when we turn to God and say “What can I do for You? What work do You want me to do?” He says tous “Nothing. Just experience my love and grace for yourself. Then you will know what to do.”


It is not about us. It is not about what we can or can’t do, or how well we do it. It is not about spending our lives scrubbing the sin away as hard as we can. It is not about spending our lives doing the best ‘good works’ we can. It is not about proving ourselves – to anyone.
This is a relief for me because if it was about any of that, I would have dropped out a long time ago. Rather, I would have been drop-kicked out a very long time ago.


So what is it about? This is what we will be chatting about over the next few weeks at church at unit 11. I don’t mind giving the punch line away though – it’s about grace. It’s about what He did for You. It’s all about Jesus and the cross.
Acts 16v30-31:


Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.”


It’s that simple. Nothing more, nothing less.


Stu

“Yet we are all damaged, it’s sure

And so there is grace” 

David Crowder band, “The veil”

The Glorious Death of a Salesman

Rob Bell's Story

Interesting article by Cameron McAllister on Rob Bell's controversial book: 'Love wins'. 


http://www.rzim.org/resources/read/essays.aspx

Too Far from God Part 1: Jonah - the rebel

Too far from God’s plan?

A series following men and women from the bible who found themselves a little far from God.

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to take a look at a couple of guys from the bible that may have seemed to be “Too far from God”. See if you can find yourself in these guys, I have found it is often not too hard.

Jonah – the rebel

“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.” Jonah Ch1

One of the most common wishes people have when struggling to figure out God’s plan for them is this: “Why can’t He just come down to me for five minutes and tell me exactly what it is He wants for me?”. At various stages in my life I have just wished I could step up to God’s throne and hear some audible answers about where He wants me to be. Do you want me to study in Durban or Cape Town? Where do you want me to apply for a job? Who should I marry?
But take a look at Jonah – this guy heard God tell him what His plans were for his life. He literally knew exactly where God wanted him next and why. Wow! Imagine for a moment that was you – imagine you are sitting on your bed praying about what job you should take and God says “Take the job at Roberts and Sons, I have a plan for you in that business.” Boom! Prayer answered, easy as pie. You’d go for it, right? Or would you? Check out Jonah’s response to God’s straightforward command: He rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He deliberately went in the other direction. (literally if you look at a map). Nineveh was about 700km east of his hometown, Gath Heper, and Tarshish is believed to be the town of Tartessus in Southern Spain, over 3000km west of Joppa.
Jonah you idiot! (you may say) Who hears a specific word from God and says “Not for me, I’m heading west instead”? We see a bit of Jonah’s reason for doing so in Chapter 4 after Nineveh repented and God decided not to destroy it. Jonah did not want Nineveh to be saved! The issue of why he did not want this is speculation, it seems to me that Jonah had a religious heart and felt that he deserved (and had perhaps, in his mind, ‘earned’) God’s grace and compassion; whereas the wicked people in Nineveh did not. (This is similar to the attitude of the older brother in the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15v25-30).

I guess we can have two responses to Jonah’s actions. The first is to brush it aside, secure in the knowledge that you would never do that. “If God spoke to me and told me specifically what to do, I would totally go for it!” Of course, the Bible is God speaking to us specifically, so in order to have this response you would need to have followed everything God has told you to do in the Bible. Impossible. The second response may be a place of repentance and despair. You know that God called you to a certain destiny and future; and you remember a time when you knew what you had to do to get there. You felt that burn in your heart, and knew God had called you to that purpose. This may have been a certain job or ministry. It may be less obvious than that – like how God called you to purity, and you ran west instead and messed up sexually. Or how he called you to integrity and you ran west and lied on your tax return. Or how he calls us to love our enemies and you ran west by not bothering; choosing to spend time with your friends and ‘grow in love’ with them alone.

If that is the place you are at; if that hits some deep heart issues there; I have some awesome news for you. You are never too far from God’s plan. Jonah deliberately turned his back on God’s specific plan for him. Did God turn his back on him? Absolutely not. No. Negative. He went after him and pulled him back on track. (sometimes he has to use a large fish in our lives to do this too). Let me explain why God does this. He explains it very clearly for us in 2 Timothy 2 verse 13:

“If we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself.”

God’s personality and character is such that, no matter what we do to run away from Him, He HAS to pursue us and ensure that His promises to us are fulfilled. He cannot disown himself – what an awesome fact. I’ve heard it put in this way by a pastor: “God’s grip on us is way bigger than our grip on Him”.

The excuse that we cannot continue in God’s plan because we have drifted too far from Him is null and void with this truth in our artillery. Sure, the devil will be chatting to you now, convincing you that your circumstance is different; that your particular form of ‘running west’ was too much and too far for God to bring you back. This is rubbish. Follow Jesus example and combat these temptations and thoughts with scripture. Phillipians 1 v 6 is a good place to start:

“And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus”.

Dogged by Cynicism

A shameless rejection of conventional manners and a  decision to live on the streets... 

Do you have it in you? Do you have what it takes to be called a dog? Have you ever been called one? As far as my experience tells me, the word 'dog' is a pretty derogatory term, often used as an insult: 'She's a dog', or for guys it's a twisted sort of affirmation, 'So you took her home last night? You dog, you!' 

Anyway, enough of that. Are you cynical? Well then you may want to consider yourself part of the canine brethren. In ancient Greece and surrounds, there used to be a school of philosophers known as the Cynics. Their philosophy was that the purpose of life was to live in virtue and agreement with nature by rejecting all conventional desires for wealth, power, health and fame and living a simply, free from all possessions. It all sounds very admirable. Isn't that what being a Christian is about? Wait, maybe not.

The name Cynic derives from the Greek word κυνικός, 

kynikos, which means "dog-like".

There are four reasons why the Cynics are so named:

INDIFFERENCE

...they had an indifference of their way of life and made a cult of indifference and like dogs, ate and made love in public, went barefoot and slept in tubs and at crossroads. Sounds just marvelous! No shame in that, for cynics of course.  

SHAMELESSNESS

...the dog is a shameless animal. Cynics made a cult of shamelessness, not as being beneath modesty, but as superior to it.

ON GUARD!

...the dog is a good guard. Cynics guarded their philosophy with a dog-like tenacity. As long as they were pretending to be big dogs and not pesky chihuahuas, I'm happy with this point. 

DISCRIMINATING

...the dog is a discriminating animal which can distinguish between its friends and enemies. Cynics recognized as friends those who were suited to their philosophy, and received them kindly, while those unfitted they drove away, like dogs, by barking at them. Not so friendly.

Some might be tempted to draw a few parallels between Jesus' teaching and that of the cynics'. The cynics were often seen as a threat to morality and order and just like them, Jesus was also often at odds with the authorities. Along with his disciples he was an itinerant preacher to ordinary people and asked followers to renounce family ties and material possessions. He was not a cynic, however. When the cynics' movement largely died out at around 100BC and mid 1st Century AD, Jesus' movement never did. That's because it was not just a movement. The cynics, unlike Jesus, were not good at casting out demons and healing people. Barking at people also doesn't earn you a great deal of followers either. Besides this, nothing in their teaching corresponds with the central message of God's Kingdom that Jesus brought. Where the Cynics focused on a life philosophy, Jesus called men and women to believe, repent and turn around their entire life in favour of a far richer one. Jesus may have been a threat to an acceptable order, but he was anything besides a threat to morality. 

Welcome

Ever been into a church where they lock the doors? No? Neither have I, but I hear that it happens. Creepy. So, what about a church where you can buy a beer and talk about Jesus? A bit less creepy? Yes? No? Well, whether you think having church in a bar is a novel concept or not, come and check it out! 'Church' is going to be happening in Durbs just off your local Stanford hill road at Unit 11 from the 26 June this year. Expect preaching, expect worship, expect Jesus straight and simple. 

Let not conscience make you linger,
Not of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness He requireth
Is to feel your need of Him.

Joseph Hart - 1979