Merredin Uniting Church

Living Dangerously ….

Perhaps there is no more dangerous way of living than behind the enemy lines; to be a champion of another Kingdom while living in alien territory.

And, when we choose to follow Christ, that is exactly what we are doing.

Peter challenges us (1 Peter 2:11) to live as aliens and strangers in the world, abstaining from sinful desires and living such good lives among the pagans, that though they accuse us of doing wrong, they may see our good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.

He goes on in that passage to speak of the challenges we face from the authorities, from foolish men, from our masters, from those who insult us and even from those we love; our spouses and our fellow Christians.

In Mark 1:15 & 16, Jesus says, “The time has come, the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news! Come, follow me.”

It is an invitation to repent, believe and to follow Jesus in discovering the beauty of His Kingdom.

This Kingdom is the realm of God’s action. It is where God is present … His Kingdom is not in some faraway place beyond the grave, but right here with us. He is active in this world: it is His world, and He came to redeem it. And everywhere He acts, His Kingdom is present. When He answers a prayer, saves a soul, heals a body, gives sight to the blind ….

And He calls us into this redeemed world: to enter into it and to partake of it and to champion it.

And its dangerous!

Paul describes this crossing over in Colossians 1:13, saying that we have been rescued from the dominion of darkness and (have been) brought into the kingdom of the Son.

Its a dangerous place because the geography and the politics of the old dominion of darkness have not changed. We continue to live in this geo-socio-political space but under a different banner, with a new ruler and a new set of values.

No longer friends of the world we have become “aliens and strangers” in this world; and we have a subversive mission. Our mission is to proclaim this Kingdom come, to pray for it and to present the redeeming action of God as the only way in which anything in this world will ever make sense.

Dallas Willard makes the point that it is not enough to preach the good news about the Kingdom, we also need to manifest it through the transformation of our own character into Christlikeness. And, he says, the only way in which we can do that is by placing our confidence in Jesus as Lord of all – Lord over life, sickness, circumstances, demons and death.

We need to show that our understanding of the omnipresence and omniscience of God translates into the reality of our everyday life.

This Kingdom life is detailed for us in Psalm 145:10-12

10 All you have made will praise you, O Lord;

your saints will extol you.

11 They will tell of the glory of your kingdom

and speak of your might,

12 so that all men may know of your mighty acts

and the glorious splendour of your kingdom.

And our way of living in it is given in Psalm 55:22 – “Cast your burden upon the lord and He will sustain you” and 1 Peter 5:7 – “Cast your anxiety upon Him because he cares for you.”

God is an all-loving and all-powerful God who is active in this world. Indeed the whole story of the Bible, as you will discover in following through with the E100 Bible Reading Challenge is that God is constantly active – speaking, guiding, leading, coercing, directing, chastising. All with one purpose, that none should be lost and that all should come to repentance.

Coming into the kingdom means that we understand this clearly, and though we live behind enemy lines (in the place of the dominion of darkness) we are not overcome. Indeed, quite the opposite – we are confident of the victory for we have seen it in our own lives at our conversion and every day since then!

REPENT!

This idea of repentance has been much misunderstood. We hear explanations of reversal of behaviour, of deep confession and so on. Perhaps a good way to understand the Greek word metanoeite is given by Prof Dallas Willard. He says, “Think again about how you have been thinking.” Or, get a new insight about things as they really are … think about your life again, how different would it be in the light of God’s immediate presence and availability.

How would you behave?

What would be your priorities?

Who would be your friends?

BELIEVE!

Repentance is a decision about the past and a resolve for the future.

Believing shifts us into yet another paradigm. Now the resolve, based on our past and our new experience of God, must become a way of life.

Just as repentance must shape our thinking so believing must determine our values.

Who do you trust? Who influences your decisions?

How different would you be if you understood that God actually was at hand, in your every day, as Lord of your life?

Would you be anxious about anything?

Would you be self conscious about your abilities?

Would you be fearful of your future?

FOLLOW!

Repentance is a change of thinking.

Believing is a change in values.

Following is a change in behaviour.

When Jesus called the disciples to follow, He required them to leave behind their careers – Peter, James, John, Andrew and others had to leave behind their fishing business. Matthew, his tax collectors box.

In essence they had to leave behind everything on which they had depended. When Jesus calls us to follow Him He still does that. It may not mean that you must resign from your job or walk off your farm; but it will mean that you must uncouple yourself from your safety net(s). It is the safety nets which compromise our relationship with the Kingdom. This was Judas’ problem – he wanted to be both; in the Kingdom of God but also he wanted to continue as a political provocateur (His former role: Iscariot means assassin).

We need to remember that when Jesus called His disciples, it was for an historic and unique purpose – they had to be WITH Him for the next three years in order to be equipped for the ministry of being the springboard of the Gospel.

In calling us Jesus wants us not necessarily to be apostles but He does want us to be agents of the Kingdom. And whenever we are called into the kingdom it is just not possible to follow Jesus unless we do it with everything we have.

In your work, do everything with and for Jesus. That means unscrupulous honesty in your dealing with God, your suppliers, your customers, your fellow workers and your means of production.

It means trusting God into the unknown; taking risks, and rising to challenges which He might lay before you.

But above everything else “following Jesus” means that we must remain close to Him. He must always be in our sight, we must not risk any kind of detour.

Our present life is lived “in enemy territory” – we are behind the lines, so to speak. Our danger is not that we would be found out – indeed, part of our mission is that we must be found out – no, rather our danger is that we would get sidetracked; that we would step into an enemy minefield; that we would lose sight of where our leader is taking us.

In numerous places in his letters, Paul gives us guidelines for living behind the enemy lines. Perhaps the best one is in Colossians 3.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

21 Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.

22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Some have exalted religious fasting beyond all Scripture and reason; and others have utterly disregarded it. John Wesley

Why do we hesitate to fast …

1. It is considered an excessive and outdated ascetic practice
2. We are convinced that we need three large meals a day
3. We think it might be unhealthy

Fasting in the Bible …

An abstention from food for spiritual purposes

Partial fast = restriction of diet. (eg Daniel: vegetables only)

No limit of time

Total fast = no food or drink (other than water) at all. (eg Jesus)

40 day limit

Absolute fast = no food, no drink (Esther, Paul)

3 day limit (Moses & Elijah did fast for 40 days)

Usually fasts are private.

The Day of Atonement is the only regular public fast in the Bible.

Sometimes public fasts were called in times of group emergency

(eg Joel 2:15, 2 Chronicles 20:1-4, Ezra 8:21-23)

Other fasts were added over time – in Jesus’ time the Pharisee boasted “I fast twice a week”.

There is no biblical law which commands regular fasting for Christians although Jesus did uphold the discipline of fasting and He did anticipate that His followers would fast. eg “when you fast”

So why fast?

1. Although there are many physical benefits to derive from fasting we must remember that spiritual fasting must first and foremost centre on God – it must draw us near to God.
2. Fasting reveals the things which control us. Food, drink, pride, anger and so on. That which controls us keeps us from God.
3. Fasting helps us to discover a balance in life and so to be able to discard the non-essentials.
4. Also greater effectiveness in Intercessory Prayer, seeking of Guidance, Deliverance ministries etc

The Practice of Fasting

Phase One

1. Begin with caution, say lunch to lunch (ie skip 2 meals), not more than once per week. In the beginning drink fresh fruit or vegetable juices with the water.
2. Be conscious of allowing your regular tasks of the day to be a sacred ministry to the Lord.
3. After several attempts, stop taking any juice but use healthy amounts of water.

Phase Two

1. After a number of further attempts you can extend the fast to 36 hours, or 3 meals.

Phase Three

1. Seek the Lord as to whether you might go on to a longer fast. Do not exceed 3 days to begin and then you might like to extend it to 7 days.
2. A forty day total fast should not be attempted without a great deal of caution. Check health, life responsibilities etc.

The Process of Fasting

It is imperative throughout that you drink copious amounts of water (min 2 litres per day). Cut out tea, coffee & alcohol for several days before you begin to fast. Let your last meal be fruit and/or vegetables . Your body will feel the cold because your metabolism is no longer producing the same kind of heat.

1. For the first three days your body will begin rid itself of toxic poisons built up in your body over years. You will feel hunger pains and have bad breath and headaches.
2. From the fourth day these things will begin to subside but you will feel weak and might have dizzy spells. Move slowly!
3. By day 7, because the toxins have been expelled you will feel stronger and more alert with higher levels of concentration. Hunger pains will be only a minor irritation. This is the most physically enjoyable part of the fast.
4. From Day 21 to Day 40, depending on the individual, the hunger pains will return as the first signs of starvation. The body then moves into a state of ketosis – this is where the body switches from a carbohydrate-burning mechanism to a fat-burning one ie your stored fat becomes your primary energy source. This is a serious condition and the fast should be stopped at this point.

Ending the Fast

Because your digestive system has gone into a state of hibernation, break any fast longer than 3 days with small amounts of fruits and vegetable juice. Add milk and yoghurt from day two with fresh salads and cooked vegetables from day three.

Do not overeat!

NOTE BENE

Diabetics, expectant mothers and heart patients should not fast.

If you are in any doubt, speak to your doctor.

Spiritual Practices during Fasting

1. Be constantly aware of your spiritual condition, in relation to God, Satan, yourself and others
2. Set aside at least two periods per day of one hour each to be alone with God
3. Have a specific study or devotion which you will follow

Tags: fast, Fasting, Spiritual Disciplines

In our journey of living this year dangerously, we have been challenged to trust God through His word (to read the Scriptures), to pray wildly foolish prayers and to believe that God does actually want to speak with us.

We were also challenged in the areas where we have erected barriers which will prevent this from happening. We looked at sins, selfishness and our lack of submission, and we wrote them down on a piece of paper and symbolically burned them up.

Tonight we begin to venture further along this dangerous path. No venture into the unknown – jungle, desert or spiritual reality can be successful without the necessary preparation; without gathering up the tools, the maps, the provisions and ensuring that we are physically, mentally and spiritually fit.

There are very many classical disciplines which we could use in our preparation to draw closer to God and so to live this Christlike life. These have developed in Christian communities through the ages; all of them have their roots in Scripture, but some are more appropriate for our particular situations.

Tonight we will begin with a brief general reminder of why the Christian life is a disciplined life and then go on to the first spiritual practice, that of meditation. It is a practical exercise.

Over the next few weeks we will also look at prayer (seems to be coming up over and over again – God must be wanting us to see its significance!); also fasting, the experience of solitude, how to study, the life of simplicity, submission to one another, the making of confession and the experience of absolution.

So lets begin…..

Why should we be interested in the Spiritual Disciplines?

I think the main reason is probably that the fast pace of our life and our communication systems force us to be fairly superficial. We live on the surface; we scan read the newspapers, emails and even the Bible. We want instant gratification. The disciplines slow us down, they force us to take notice, to drink in the rich nectar of God’s intention for us and guidance of us. Richard Foster says that the disciplines have their greatest effect in the “ordinary junctures of human life”. In other words, they are not something for special occasions, they need to be experiences at the coal face of our busy-ness … because that is where we lost sight of God.

In the busy-ness of our ordinary lives we have ended up like the wicked of Isaiah 57:20 where the prophet says “The wicked are like the tossing of the sea; for it cannot rest and its waters toss up mire and dirt.” All around us, the natural motion of our lives tosses up this “mire and dirt” – it is a mixture of our sins, the sins of others, confused interpretations and bad attitude. We don’t need to do anything special to create it; it just happens.

Our usual response to all this “mire and dirt” is to attack it head on, usually on the first of January. By sheer willpower and dogged determination we resolve to clean up our act. And we fail! As long as we think we can save ourselves by our own willpower, we will only make the evil stronger than ever.

The problem is that we usually only deal with the surface issues and our initial success is therefore only outward – like when your mother comes to visit, you stuff everything into the drawers and wardrobes. It looks great but the problem has only been hidden.

What we need is an inner transformation, and this can only come from God. Until we stop and let God into our lives nothing will change. This transformation is God’s work!

What the disciplines do, is simply allow ourselves a place before God so that He can transform us. They are not to be thought of as ways by which we might force or encourage God to come to our rescue – this would be an attempt to manipulate God.

They are a means of submission to God; of saying “here I am, I cannot do this on my own, I need your help and guidance.”

And then hearing His still small voice … discipline, by the way, does not mean some kind of rigorous training. It comes from the same root as the word “disciple”. We are offering ourselves as disciples to God … or rather, hearing His invitation to us, so that we might learn from Him.

Modern day people, particularly men, have a problem with the spiritual disciplines. We have learned that if you cannot see it, feel it, touch it, manipulate it then it is not real. It is “airy fairy” stuff, best left for the women and children. The truth is that Jesus, who is a better man than any man I know, followed the disciplines as an essential part of His life and He taught His disciples to follow them as well. So don’t discard the disciplines as just more flotsam and jetsam in your life – they are not “mire and dirt”; they are the means of dealing with the “mire and dirt”.

What I am saying is, “don’t even just ‘give it a go’”. If you put your heart and soul into it, you will see real benefits in your life and in your relationship with God and with other people. I am speaking from my own personal experience. All my Christian life, the past 34 years, I have tried to practise the disciplines – I fail frequently, I might add, but God has blessed even my feeble attempts because He knows that my heart is right.

So our first discipline is Meditation.

Before anything else, meditation takes us away from noise, hurry and the crowds and draws us into the world of Spirit, silence and imagination. Most of us are uncomfortable in this place – we want to switch on the radio, look up at what’s going on around us.

We wonder what other people are thinking and doing.

But it is in the silence that we are re-created. It is in the silence that God speaks with us. We will deal with the experience of solitude at a later time, now our interest is in meditation which is a focussed silence.

Meditation is very much part of the Biblical experience.

Genesis 24:63 – Isaac went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching.

Psalm 63:6 – On my bed I remember you;

I think of you through the watches of the night.

Psalm 119:148 – My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises.

In the Revelation to John, the Apostle was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day” when he received the vision.

Biblical Revelation is quite different to Eastern meditation. The latter attempts to empty the mind while Christian meditation is an attempt to empty the mind so as to fill it. Eastern mysticism seeks to detach oneself from the miserable world of existence whereas Christian meditation seeks to attach oneself, through the exercise, to the mind of Christ.

Some people are of the opinion that meditation is too difficult for them or that the do not have the time. The truth is that if you have the ability to think through something, you are already meditating. If you can use your imagination to “see things that are not yet” you have the ability to meditate.

Meditation is a serious and dangerous business which should demand our best thoughts and energies. It is not a flippant diversion. Like anything serious, it is more difficult in the apprentice stages, but one we are skilled, it becomes one of our ingrained habits. In other words the beginning is hard work.

And it is hard work because it calls us to be changed. We cannot enter the world of the Spirit and not be changed.

Most of us don’t like change and none of us likes to be changed. That’s the reason why we usually leave the meditating and the praying to someone else. It means that we can agree or disagree with the result without any threat to our personal sense of being.

We have to have the desire to be in God’s transforming presence or else meditation is simply a futile exercise. The best place to begin is by praying, and the best way to learn to meditate is to meditate.

Preparation for Meditation

TIME – Make a time daily in which you can commit yourself to formal meditation. I like the mornings when I come to the church.

PLACE – It’s good to have a regular place where you cannot be disturbed. Away from phones or other interruptions. That’s why I like the church, and with the lounge furniture its even better.

POSTURE – There is no “rule” about this. In the Bible people meditated lying down, sitting, standing. Whatever you choose, make sure that you can comfortably hold that posture for 20 to 30 minutes. (5-10 minutes at first)

How to Meditate

We enter the world of the Spirit most easily through the door of the imagination. We must become convinced of the importance of thinking and experiencing in images.

Children have no problem with this. Carl Jung said that just as a child must learn to think logically, so adults must re-learn how to think imaginatively – as a child does – if they want to meditate.

Ignatius of Loyola taught a method of meditation that involved a mental visualization of the Gospel stories. He went so far as to invite the senses to participate. So when Jesus feeds the 5000, we imagine the murmuring and hubbub of the crowd. We see the troubled disciples, we hear Jesus’ instruction to feed them. We listen as they inquire if anyone has any food. We smell the grass as the crowd begins to sit. We see a boy coming with a small basket with fish and bread. We feel the hard bread and dried fish as we hand it on to Jesus. We hear the crack as he breaks the crusts. We watch as he divides the food into baskets to be handed out. We listen to the stillness as the crowd hush for the singing of the grace and then settle into their meal. We see Jesus looking with satisfaction as the crowd is fed, and then He looks at us and hear His voice, “And how can I feed you, child?” And we begin to speak ….

There are other methods too …

CENTERING DOWN

There are two versions of the Centering Exercises.

PALMS DOWN, PALMS UP – Place your hands with palm faced down, symbolically demonstrating that you hand everything over to God. In your mind surrender the issues in your life: an angry outburst, anxiety over unpaid bills, frustration with someone. Release them to God.

After several moments turn your hands palms up as a symbol of receiving from the Lord. Allow the lord to communicate with you – it might be a word, or a feeling, or some kind of impression.

BREATHING – Become conscious of your breathing. When you are ready, conscious name out your concerns as you breathe out. As you breathe in, imagine that it is God’s light and life that comes into you.

The next four exercises FOCUS ON SOMETHING …

CREATION – take some aspect of creation (a tree, a leaf, a stone, your hand, ponder it carefully and prayerfully. Become awed at the wonder of what God has made

SCRIPTURE – here we take a story from the Bible and use the Ignatian model to apply all our senses to it. Imagine yourself in the story, as one of the characters or as an observer. Read the story slowly several times until you have it in your mind without reading – it might be good to begin with a story we already know well … like the one of the feeding of the 5000.

We can however use any Scripture – the Psalms are good, the historical books in the OT and the Gospels are good. The Prophets are a bit more difficult and so are the letters of the NT. Revelation is already a story of the imagination – it is John’s record of the vision given to him by Jesus.

Do not analyse the story. You might seek a little background but then just accept the Word of Scripture and ponder it in your heart.

What did it say and mean then, what does it say and mean today, what does it say to you specifically.

This is a form of Lectio Divina – the divine reading of Scripture. Lectio Divina has four components:

Lectio – reading slowly, perhaps even aloud.

Meditatio – a chewing or ruminating on the text

Oratio – Talking with God … responding to God’s words to us in the text. He has spoken to us in Scripture, we reply. It is a dialogue.

Contemplatio – being still, to hear God speaking to our spirit.

ENTERING THE PRESENCE

Here, with pure imagination, we bring ourselves into the holy presence of God. Think of yourself entering the throne room, or like the Temple priest, entering behind the curtain into the Holy of Holies. Allow the awe of God’s presence to overwhelm you.

What would God say to you?

Listen carefully, and even if no words or impressions come, be still in His presence until it is time to leave.

EVENTS OF THE TIME

The last is to focus on the events of the time. We need a newspaper in one hand and a Bible in the other to do this.

We do often read the news with questions. More often than not, we also have the answers too. We find ourselves angry, or opinionated, or prejudiced.

Meditating on the events of the time means that we put our prejudices away and meet with God on these issues. Newspapers always have a slant to them, we seldom get the whole story, but God knows it all. He knows why and He knows what He wants you to do about it.

We read the report ignoring as much as we are able all the cliches and propaganda. And then we bring ourselves into the presence of God so that He might make us wise to understanding.

Finally then, we will practise tonight before we go home. I have chosen some things at random for each of us. We will spend no more than 10 minutes.

Don’t be discouraged if you find that it has no meaning for you. You are learning something for which you have had no training. Our culture does not encourage you to develop any kind of spiritual skills.

You are going against the tide, but believe me, it will be of immense worth.

You will be able to get the script of this teaching from the church website if you have not taken notes, or forgotten something. Each day, for the next two weeks, set aside 15 minutes for a time of meditation. We will reflect on our experiences on Sunday March 25th

Tags: Christian contemplation, Meditation, prayer

How do we live dangerously for Jesus?

How do we live at the utmost limit of our faith and trust in God?

Last time we looked at our faith…..

I encouraged you to read the Scriptures with an eye on the way in which people did put their trust in God. I mentioned Gideon, Abraham and Jehoshaphat but there are dozens more. Read the Scriptures and you will see that God CAN be trusted.

And I encouraged you to pray expectantly for wildly foolish things.  I said that God does the ordinary things anyway.  I said that there is nothing, absolutely nothing beyond His power and that He can be trusted to know which prayers are raised out of love and for His glory. And He will always respond positively to those.

I also asked you to trust that God wants to communicate with you. He is not silently watching us struggle through the confusion of this life – He wants to share things with us and to involve us in the ministry of His Kingdom which had been declared in Jesus Christ.

I said that we were at the edge of an adventure with God – that we were entering a spiritual revolution in which God is going to do amazing things in the lives of people who never before thought twice about Him.

But how do we raise our faith from the ordinary into the extra-ordinary?

How do we move on from humdrum to revolution?

How do we live dangerously for God?

I think that I argued it sufficiently last time to dispense with the idea that our faith may not be strong enough. It is not about how much faith we have … but rather about how strong and powerful the One is in whom we put our trust.

He is to be trusted – He is all powerful – He can do all things without our level of faith. Conjuring up “more” faith is not going to achieve anything more: God will not act faster nor more powerfully.

Strengthening our faith has more to do with us that with God.

And indeed its not so much that our faith needs strengthening as it is that the barriers between us and God are removed. It is the barriers between us and God which keep us from trusting Him, from hearing Him and from Him hearing us.

Although there are probably many specific barriers which might be applicable in particular individuals, I want to speak in general about three of the main barriers, which may well embrace all the barriers – Sin, Selfishness and Submission.

1. Sin

Sin is obviously the greatest barrier between us and God and therefore a major feature in the limitation of our faith.

BOOK ILLUSTRATION

I don’t suppose that I need to say much about this – we know it!

But why is sin such an issue?

At its root, sin is disobedience towards God. It was so in the Garden and it is still so today.

In the Scriptures God has given us some very simple guidelines on how to live properly the life with which he has gifted us. In their expanded form, they are called “the Ten Commandments”. Jesus simplified them to only two: Love the Lord your God and love your neighbour.

The issue is that we are not satisfied with these guidelines. its not that we don’t understand them, WE DO! What we want are some loopholes.

We want ways in which we can justify ourselves and our actions when we transgress.

I was revising the Anglican Eucharist service in response to a request from the Anglicans in Mukinbudin that we have such a service once a month in our church there. I had forgotten that the first part of the service included a reciting of the Ten Commandments. We don’t do that anymore. In fact these Ten Words have become an anathema even in the law courts of America.

No other gods …. but we want heroes, and we enslave ourselves to all kinds of desires.

No graven images …. but we parade our substitute gods everywhere.

No blasphemy …. but everywhere the Lord’s name is taken in vain.

Keep the Sabbath …. but we work ourselves to death.

Respect for parents …. its been lost.

No murder … instead we now have justifiable homicide, and extenuating circumstances. We have abolished the death penalty but legalised abortion.

No adultery … but two out of three marriages end in divorce, most of those because of “affairs.”

But let me not go on with theft, false testimony and covetousness.

It is our transgressions which create a barrier between us and God. We are locked out from His presence, not because He doesn’t want us, but because we have locked ourselves out. We want life on our terms, with lots of loopholes and excuses – we are like the cheeky child, full of backchat and disobedience.

But in Christ, this issue has been dealt with. Jesus has taken our sins upon Himself, He has wiped the slate clean.

The problem though is that we continue to mess it up. That’s why the call is not just to confession, but to repentance.

If a child says, “I am sorry” but proceeds to act in exactly the same manner, are we ready to listen to them, to help them?

No! We want to see some evidence of penitence – a sorrow and a resolve to avoid the transgression.

Our faith is strengthen when we accept what Christ has done for us – this is our first step of faith, and we resolve, with His help, to live the kind of life He desires for us – this is the second step of faith.

The Bible calls us to confess our sins one to another but we have moved so far away from that idea that we presently don’t even know where to begin – and are often so ashamed that we don’t even want to begin. So we hunt for more loopholes instead.

I will suggest a way forward in a moment; let me first deal with the other two major barriers.

1. Selfishness

I suspect that for most of us, the prime focus of our attention is ourselves. We are driven by selfish motives, by our pride, by our greed and by our disdain for the behaviour and abilities of others.

Even someone as humble as Mother Theresa has admitted to this weakness. And she saw it as a major stumbling block in her desire to live her life wholly for God.

We make choices to suit ourselves … its almost instinctive. Watch a child choose a slice of cake from a plate – almost every time the child will choose the biggest slice, or be upset that someone else chose it.

Someone once said that the sin of Adam was, in fact, the sin of selfishness. It is the original sin.

And when we choose for ourself we are choosing not only against someone else, but we are choosing against God.

Selfishness is the most unloving thing that we can do.

That’s why our discipleship to Christ begins with dying to self. In Galatians 2:20 Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

If discipleship means that I am “disciplining myself to conform to another” then I need to have the same attitude as Christ.

So, as Paul writes to the Philippians:

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

but made himself nothing,

taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to death—

even death on a cross!”

The antidote to selfishness is humility. It is looking to the interests of others; it is considering the voice and opinion of others; it is the attitude of servanthood towards others. And when we have done this, God smiles at us.

1. Submission

Closely connected to our selfishness is our resistance to submit ourselves to anyone else, sometimes even to God.

The issue is pride.

Proverbs 16:18 tells us that “Pride comes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Pride deceives us, it inflates our ego – it forces us into situations from which we find it difficult to extricate ourselves.

In Proverbs 11:2 we see that “when pride comes, then comes disgrace; but with humility comes wisdom”.

Ghandi’s romance with Christianity took him along the path towards passive resistance. But he never became a Christian because he did not see any Christians practising this teaching of Jesus. And indeed we don’t – it’s against human nature. Our instinct is to fight, to retaliate. Our bodies are wired to pump adrenalin in confrontational situations.

We hate submission then for two reasons: pride and because of our sinful nature.

And yet Jesus calls us to the place of submission, or non-retaliation.

Matthew 5 – “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.”

This is perhaps the most difficult teaching of the whole Bible – yet it is crucial to understanding the Gospel.

We will fail to fully grasp the extent of our salvation and of God’s love for us until we recognise that this is exactly what Jesus did – in coming to us and in dying for us. It was not a Jewish Court which condemned Jesus, or a Roman soldier who killed Him – it was you and I. We were the evil person who struck Him again on the other cheek, it was us who sued Him for His tunic and took His cloak as well … it was us who forced him to walk to the Cross.

And God submitted to it all because He loved us so much that He would go to any length to bring us back into relationship with Him.

“Though He was in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

but made himself nothing,

taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to death—

even death on a cross!”

And when we grasp this, we are overcome with remorse at our sin, selfishness and pride.

So how do we overcome these barriers to our faith and trust in God?

1. Self-examination
2. Confession
3. Repentance

When we become Christians we often say that we have “put our faith or trust in Jesus?”

There are people who go into ministry, or into the mission field, and they say that “they now live by faith.”

But what is faith? How do you know if you have it? And what do you hope that it will do?

I have been challenged in my own life over the past several months about this. Do I trust in God or my own ability? Do I really trust God to provide for my needs or must I rely on the generosity of others? How do I know that my prayers have any effect at all?

And as I have struggled with this, I have been drawn into a place where I have been asked to put my faith onto the spiritual anvil, so to speak. To have it tested in the fire to see if my faith really is “built on the foundation of Jesus Christ and is built of gold, silver and costly stones rather than wood, hay or straw.” 1 Cor 3:11-12

As I have shared this with others, especially those of more spiritual maturity, it has become clear to me that I am not alone. We have a longing to be a people of faith but in the reality of our material world we hold back on laying ourselves down completely for Christ’s sake.

So that’s the root and reason for our focus at SNAC this year. I thought of calling it “A Year of Living Dangerously” until someone told me that it was the title of a movie relating to the events around the overthrow of the Sukarno regime in Indonesia in the 1960’s. But the thought is still there … it is dangerous to live by faith. It is full of risk.

I came across a blogger on the internet the other day who was suggesting that Christians should stop arguing with with atheists about the existence of God. He said this, “Faith is belief in the absence of proof. That is the whole point. That is God’s way of testing us. I have no doubt that if He wanted to prove His existence, He would. If we could point to actual physical proof that He exists, that would remove the need for faith, our only obligation. It would then become very easy to believe in God, and nowhere in the bible does it say being a Christian will be easy… It follows that we would never be able to prove His existence.”

Faith is acting in the absence of proof.

And this is something we really struggle with.

And yet we exercise faith everyday without realising it. We go to doctors, receive prescriptions we can’t read and take medication we know very little about. In fact, we do that without even bothering to examine the doctor’s credentials or investigating the effects of the medicine. We could be killing ourselves but we never think twice about it. We simply trust that the doctor knows what he is doing and that the medicine will help. That’s faith.

However, we say that such faith is insufficient for the really big decisions of life. Really?

Do we trust a human doctor more that we trust our Creator and Saviour?

Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”  In verse 6 we read that “without faith it is impossible to please God …. because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”

The chapter goes on to list those of the Old Testament who lived a life of faith in the promise of God but who never saw that promise materialise. Clearly a case of “being sure of what is not seen, certain of what is hoped for.”

In Hebrews 12 we are challenged to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles … and run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

We are called to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” The Author – the one who creates it and gives it substance and authority; the Perfecter – the one who makes it complete in every way. Sometimes Perfecter is translated as the Finisher of our faith, meaning making it complete so that nothing needs to be added.

In the KJV Hebrews 11:1 is translated as ‘Faith is the substance of things we hope for …” We have kind of skipped over the word Hupostasis in the more modern translations – it implies a concrete assurance, or directed translated “a fixed thing of which you may be certain, or which you can hold in your hands.”

Faith is about real things and it is accepting these real things as relevant for you. Your salvation, your hope, eternal life and life right now.

You know the story of Blondin’s invitation to the man in the audience to go across the Niagara Falls on his shoulders on a tightrope. The man believed that it was possible but he was unwilling to stake his life on it, and refused to go with him.

Faith is not real until it’s all your holding onto and it is only as good as that in which it is placed.

No matter how much you trust people, religion, church, ministers, politicians, not one of them can help you in every crisis, and certainly not after you die. It’s not that they don’t want to help you; they just don’t have the power to do it all.

Faith must be a reliance upon God – Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith. He alone has power to deal with your sins. He alone can give you eternal life beyond the grave. He alone can deal with the impossibilities of this life to bring healing and reconciliation, to supply all the needs of the hungry. He alone can set the prisoners free, release the oppressed and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

The question is then: Do we really trust God? Do we trust Him enough for all these things? Will we bank everything on Him – throwing off those things which hinder, and so live our lives in absolute faith and trust in the Almighty?

Some may say that their faith is not strong enough for that. Some may live a little bit more in their faith but few will really put their whole life into God’s hands.

I understand that … I have some hesitation myself, but let me tell you a story.

A young boy had been waiting for the first big freeze of winter so that he could ice skate on the lake. When it happened he ran down to the lake and confidently he went out onto the ice. But a few metres out, the ice cracked and he fell through into the freezing water.

What went wrong?

He had sincerely believed that the ice would hold him.

The problem was not with his faith, but with the object of his faith.

A few weeks later he went back but was now afraid to trust himself on the lake. At the insistence of his friends he reluctantly ventured out, nervous and trembling. The ice held firm.

You see, it is not the strength of our faith that matters but the strength of what we place our faith in. Even a weak faith has a strong Saviour when that faith is in Jesus.

And so, where are we going with this?

I want to challenge you to step out in faith this year in a way which you have never done before.

Live dangerously. Take risks with God.

The Bible is full of people who did that and one of the reasons why we have the Bible and why we should read it so much is that it shows us that God can be trusted. Even in the things which seems foolish, no, perhaps especially in the things that seem foolish.

Think of Gideon and his fleece. God wanted him to lead a depleted army against a strong enemy. Gideon was scared, uncertain. He went through this whole testing of God thing with the fleeces and no matter what he did, God’s answer was “Yes!”

God’s answer to us is “Yes! Trust me and see what I will do.”

Read the Bible for your encouragement this year. Remind yourself that God is to be trusted in every way.

Pray expectantly for wildly foolish things. Don’t try to guess which things are “in the will of God” – you have no idea what God wants to do. But He does want you to trust Him to know which things are right and which are actually foolish. He knows when to turn water into wine, when to walk on the water and when to multiply food. He knows when to heal and when to raise from the dead. There are no things which are beyond His power; and if what you ask is out of love and for His glory, He will do it. Always!

Trust that God wants to communicate with you, that He wants to share things with you and involve you in His ministry.

He is not always the still small voice. Sometimes He is a thunder on a mountain, a burning fire, an earthquake.

And sometimes He might require difficult things of you – Trust Him. For Abraham, his faith was credited to him as righteousness.

Abraham did not always believe God because God seemed to say and expect foolish things. “You will have a child” when his wife was past childbearing. It was a promise but it didn’t seem possible so this 90 year old man had sex with a young servant girl to help fulfil God’s promise – as if God needed any help.

But a child was born to this aged and barren woman – that was God’s plan.

So when God invited Abraham to offer this son in sacrifice he had no hesitation. He headed to the mountain with the wood, the fire and the son of God’s promise. He trusted God in this most difficult and foolish of choices, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

Take risks with God this year – not for God but with God.

Read the Word, pray expectantly, trust His voice, do what He says.

To close, let me remind you of the story of Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20. A vast army was coming against him, the future was hopeless and so he turned to God.

God said to him that he would not have to fight the battle. He trusted this word, gathered his people told them to have faith in the Lord their God. Then they marched out towards the enemy with the worship team up front and they sang songs praising God for the splendour of His holiness. When they came over the hill to the battle field they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground.

I believe that we are at the edge of a new adventure with God. I believe that God is going to be doing amazing things in the lives of people who never thought twice about Him. I believe that we are entering a spiritual revolution. And I believe that He wants to use you and me – He doesn’t need us, but He invites us to be part of what He is doing. Take the risk!