CHURCH AS A FIREPLACE

CHURCH AS A FIREPLACE...

I was stoking the embers of our overnight fire the other morning and once again reflected on church. In a similar way, church is like these embers in my fireplace. In the morning I take the lightly glowing coals and move them into a pile together. The result is that they once again catch aflame. Once alight, it becomes appropriate to put some more kindling and wood on it. But if there was no flame, the extra wood would only be singed rather than burnt. Can you see how this is like church?

We are sometimes like those cooling yet glowing embers. Once on fire until we drifted from the flame, we became a mere glowing ember. Christ is like the fire-box and the Holy Spirit is like the directing fire-poker. It is the Spirit's desire to bring together the members of a church so that their glow becomes a flame. But even this temporary flame is doomed to become a fading glow unless new wood is brought into the flame. In a similar way, the church needs to be continually inviting pre-Christians to church to keep the flame of zeal and passion for the Lord burning brightly.

for our God is a consuming fire. 
Hebrew 12:29

But consider what happens to the wood in the fire-box. In order for the wood to become a burning coal, it must be transformed. When we come to Christ He doesn't leave us the way we came in. He transforms us. The flame of His Spirit begins to burn in our hearts. The wood has to give up something though. When we come to Christ, we also have to give up something. The wood lays down it's identity in order to be in a life-giving flame. We have to lay down our identities as selfish sinners and take on a new identity as followers of Christ.

so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
First Peter 1:7

Over the twenty years I have now been pastoring (nearly 16 of which has been at Legana) I have observed that people who come to church often get offended by someone within the church. I now wonder if this process of offence is not part of the Holy Spirit's transforming, purifying flame? The Holy Spirit may well be using the hurt, disappointment, and offence from another brother or sister in Christ to change us. How often have I heard the story of someone who has "tried" several churches, come to our church, but then experienced the same kind of hurt and offence which they experienced in their previous churches? In such a scenario, there is only one common factor: them. Could it be that if in every case where a believer feels offended in, or by, a church that it is the same flame of the Holy Spirit seeking to refine them through offensive fire emanating from another 'coal' (read: "believer") in Christ's "firebox"?

Then He said to the disciples, "It is impossible that no offenses should come...Luke 17:1

I've been trying to imagine what a piece of dried dead wood feels when it is placed in a fire. I guess it experiences instant transformation. I guess it experiences other pieces of wood similarly being transformed. I can imagine that the heat of the flame gradually may even become uncomfortable. But I guess that at some point, the wood comes to enjoy the flame. The wonderful colours it emits! The beautiful benefits of its warmth. Even the aromas of the different woods can be very pleasant. But, the woods would soon realise something. Unless it replenishes, it will die. The fire it has become integrated with, and come to love, must be renewed. More wood is needed. In the same way, a local church must continually strive to reach out to others, and evangelise.

An isolated coal or ember does not enjoy the benefits of community flame. When we come to church, it shouldn't be with the motive, what can this church do for me? But,what can we contribute to each other? This is the lesson of the fire-box: each piece of wood on fire not only benefits the other pieces of wood, but also benefits from the other pieces of wood. Church is like this. Why should you be a part of a church? Because weneed you! Why should you be a part of a church? Because you need us.

1Cor. 12:26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

The next time you sense yourself becoming isolated ask God to use the Holy Spirit in your life like a fire-poker to guide you back to the flame within Christ's fire-box, the local church. If you are already on fire but sense your flame is waning, ask God to use you to bring another to Christ and into His church. If you feel that your spiritual contribution to church is all one way, ask God to use you to be a blessing to even more people within the church. Maybe you've positioned your Christian walk within the fire-box, but intentionally on the outskirts of the fire. This may be like living your Christianity as a Sunday-only church Christian rather than as a two-winged Christian who enjoys the wing of the Sunday gathering of the church and the complementary wing of the small-group-community of the church, where the flame burns brighest.

Father, set us ablaze with Your love. Fill us with a fresh passion for Your cause, the Church. May our hearts burn with zeal to reach more people for Christ. Help us to see hurt, offence, and disappointment as a part of Your holy flame for our good. May we forgive easily and quickly so as to keep the love-flame of Your church's witness burning brighter. In Jesus Name', Amen.

Eph. 3:21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Ps. Andrew

Reaching or Preventing Prodigals

Reaching & Preventing Prodigals

I love Saving Private Ryan. It has a powerful message about the value of an individual. It's not too difficult to see the similarities between its story and God's great redemption through sending His Son to save mankind in the themes of this movie. But Saving Private Ryan also raises questions such as- is one life more valuable than another? In what way is it right that many lives be risked and lost in order to save one life?

While we ponder these questions, perhaps we could consider some less theoretical questions that relate directly to the spiritual battle we are engaged in. Imagine a war-time scenario where news is received that a naval ship has been hit and there are 100 survivors stranded in the water. A battle-ship nearby is summoned to go immediately to the rescue. All 10,000 sailors muster into action, but before they get there they sail into a ferocious battle and are engaged by the enemy. Thousands of lives are lost in the heated conflict. But the battle-ship is eventually on the way to rescue the 100 survivors, which they managed to do.

Psalm 89:1b I will make known your faithfulness to all generations...

Psalm 22:30 Posterity shall serve him;
it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation

Those numbers may at first appear to be out of proportion. But sadly, they're not. When it comes to passing on faith in Christ to the next generation, we're not doing so well. Some of the statistics range from 70-80% of all Christian teens and twenties who enter into a university will walk away from their commitment to Christ. There are apparently common reasons for this which the survey results reveal. These include an ability to reconcile the teachings of the Bible with the irrefutable data of science; unanswered questions about the Bible; and, the absence of meeting a fully committed and passionate Christian who lives a consistent Christ-honouring life.

If we are going to make a serious attempt at possibly fulfilling the Great Commission we must learn the importance of winning our children to Christ. I've spoken with many strong believers who have tried their best to raise their children in the faith, but without success. I've also seen parents who have set out to disciple their children in Christ and have had to learn how to do it. There are of course no guarantees that even if we do everything "right" that our children will take up their spiritual inheritance and follow Christ. But, there does appear to be some common pitfalls for Christian parents trying to raise Christian children. Added to this there are pitfalls that churches can fall into which make it more difficult for them to pass on their faith to generation of children growing up in their church community.

I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.Second Timothy 1:5

At the very least, in order for us to consolidate the next generation of Christian children into fully devoted Christ-followers, we must work harder at being informed about how the Bible and Science can be integrated. I strongly recommend the resources of Reasons To Believe to this end. Secondly, we should welcome honest questions about the reliability and trustworthiness of the Bible. Naturally, this demands that we ourselves become more familiar with the Scriptures. I can not recommend more highly doing a course with ICI Theological College (which can be done by correspondence at your own pace) to increase your depth of understanding into the Bible. Thirdly, we need to model what genuine, passionate, commitment to Christ looks like.

"Now, let us turn briefly to the point that is not in the text. I want to make a particular application of this whole subject to the conversion of children...Children need to be saved. Children may be saved. Children are to be save by instrumentality. Children may be saved while they are children...To reclaim the prodigal is good, but to save him from ever being a prodigal is better. To bring back the thief and the drunkard is a praiseworthy action, but so to act that the boy will never become a thief or a drunkard is far better."C.H. Spurgeon, The Soulwinner, pages 297-298

Spurgeon writes that he would teach every mother in his church that they were his greatest evangelists. A mother's chief goal is the salvation and discipleship of her children. If we could heed Spurgeon's words today we may make the task of evangelism for the next generation a little easier.

Perhaps you are not a parent? But perhaps you hope to be one day. Learn from those parents who have successfully evangelised and discipled their own children. Watch them closely and immitate those things they are and do which have aided in the conversion and growth of their children. When in church fellowship, encourage the children of other parents to turn to the Lord and remain steadfast in their commitment to Him. But especially pray. Pray that you will be able to parent as a soulwinning parent who can pastor your child into the depths of Christ.

For those Christian parents who have children who are now "prodigals" it might be encouraging to remember the actual story of the Prodigal which Jesus told. The heart-broken father of the Prodigal never gave up hope that his prodigal would one day return. "...But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion..." (Luke 15:20). The father expected that his wayward son would one day return. What did the father do in the meantime? He never disowned his son. He would have continued to pray for his son to return. He didn't pester or nag his son. He kept his relationship with his son open (his son knew that his father would accept him back). He made it clear enough that he disapproved of what his son was doing (the Prodigal knew that his father would expect confession of sin and admission of guilt- "Father, I have sinned against you..."). The father worked at maintaining a relationship with all his children despite the attention his Prodigal was receiving. While there is no formula for success when it comes to winning prodigals back, the things which hinder prodigals from returning can be avoided.

Parents not wishing to raise prodigals would do well to consider little listening ears and little watching eyes when they are tempted to drop their own display of commitment to Christ. Secondly, in a similar vein, while there is no perfect church, where their church is obvious in its imperfections, these points should not be the focus of criticism but of prayer. I once had a dad of a prodigal who was very critical of his church and his pastor tell me that not even his unsaved friends wanted to come to church because of "what the church had done" to him. I asked him how they had come to feel this way to which he responded that he had told them! No wonder his children didn't want anything to do with Christianity when their father had beat up so much on Christ's bride! Wise parents would do well to never run down Christ's church or Christ's servants in the presence of their children.

If you have the opportunity, turn your family dining table into an 'altar'. At this altar invite your children to share what they have read/learned/heard from the Bible that day. Invite your children to share their current prayer requests. Share a Scripture and a prayer as a model to your children showing them how you mine God's Word and cultivate your relationship with Christ in prayer. Let's commit ourselves to preventing and reaching prodigals.

Lord Jesus, save our children. Keep those who have been brought up by Christian parents. May these parents have a deep work of the Holy Spirit in their own lives which greatly impresses their children. May these little children see Jesus in their Mummy and Daddy. May these children be taught the Gospel in such a natural way that to them all of life is sacred, and all of life is God's. May they come to know that the Gospel is not a truth, but the Truth. Help us as a church to raise up a generation of children who will love God with a passion and totally surrender their lives into His service where
Amen.

Ps. Andrew

Why So Many Churches?

There are apparently 35,000 Christian denominations. But why? Of course, when the Church originally started there were no denominations. But this didn't last long. Paul the apostle refers to the beginning of denominationalism when he noted that some believers were already gathering around the teachings of certain teachers.

First Corinthians 1:12 What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.”

Paul rebuked this divisive attitude among believers. A couple of hundred years later a Creed was formulated which stated- "I believe in one holy and catholic church". This Creed (The "Apostles' Creed") stated what the New Testament clearly taught about the unity of the church. (The term 'catholic' actually universal, or the whole.)

Up until 312AD the Church was somewhat able to be minimally structured. Churches were usually overseen by elders with a lead-elder (who later became known as a "Bishop" and today would be referred to as a pastor). Initially these churches were grouped under the oversight of an apostolic leader. This primitive church leadership structure is seen in the opening chapters of The Revelation. It is here that we seen John the Apostle writing to the lead-elder (referred to as a 'messenger' or an 'angel') who then passes this message onto his congregation. But this structure was unable to keep up with the growth of the church. In 312AD the then World Emperor, Constantine, claimed to convert to Christianity and then decreed that everyone in the Empire should also convert. The then persecuted underground church then took centre stage. When Constantine wanted to speak to the leader of the church, there was no one to speak to. So Constantine summoned all of the bishops of the churches to come to Nicea in Turkey to hold a meeting to determine what was essential Christian doctrine. Because there was no universal leader of the church, Constantine declared hiimself that leader and gave himself the title: Pontifex Maximus ("Great Leader"). A couple of centuries later this title transfered to the bishop of Rome after he saved Rome from being destroyed by Attila the Hun. To accommodate its growth, the church had added hierarchical layers. This continued unabated for several more centuries.

But those in leadership within the church were increasingly irreligious. Despite the affirmation in the Apostle's Creed (I believe in one holy and catholic church), the Catholic church was becoming anything but "holy". Around this time, the Catholic Church had a major split. The result was that the churches of East, who traced their leadership back to Constantine, formed a denomination called- The Orthodox Church, while the churches of the West, who traced their leadership to the successive bishops of Rome, became known as- The Roman Catholic Church. By this time both the Eastern and the Western Church leaders took the title "Father". For the Eastern (Greek speaking) Church the word for "leading father" was Patriarch (from the Greek word: Pater). For the Western (Latin speaking) Church the word for leading father was Pope ("Papa"). It was about this time that a forged document surfaced called The Donation of Constantine which allegedly claim to the record of the Apostle Peter's statements that the Roman Bishop should be the leader of the global Church.

A few hundred years later the moral condition of the Church's leadership had deteriorated so much and their teaching had become so unbiblical that some could take it no more. The English churchman, John Wycliffe responded by making the New Testament freely available in contemporary English so ordinar people could see the situation for themselves. This started an inevitable schism that would take 100 years to explode. It was Wycliffe who challenged the hierarchical leadership of the Roman Catholic Church and its divergence from the teaching of Scripture. Wycliffe inspired William Tyndale who translated the Bible into English which continued the brewing revolution of the Church. But not until Martin Luther came did the Reformation explosion occur. Luther was a priest who lectured on the Book of Romans. As he read this epistle, he became disturbed that the Roman Catholic Church was teaching something which the Bible condemned. He was initially convinced that the Pope was unaware of what his priests on the frontlines were teaching. To make the Pope aware of these disgraceful teachings, Luther nailed 95 Objections (Theses) to the door of the local university at Wittenberg. He soon learned that Pope was not only aware these anti-biblical teachings, but was himself promoting them! Luther also made the Bible available to the common people to read for themselves. The result was a new denomination of the Church called, The Lutheran Church.

Meanwhile in France a young lawyer was coming to similar discoveries from the Bible as Martin Luther. He was John Calvin. He was driven from France and fled to Geneva for his life. Another denomination arose around the teaching of Calvin based on his "Reformed Church" teaching. This was the beginning of thePresbyterian Church. This Reformation teaching also gripped England and the result was the birth of another denomination called- The Anglican Church. By the late 1700s the Anglican Church had largely become 'formal' (all form and no authentic spirituality). Out of this spiritual deadness came John Wesley who is credited with the rise of another denomination- The Wesleyan Methodist Church. It was also around this time that the Baptist Church, which rejected the idea of "infant-Christening" of the Reformed/Presbyterian/Angican Churches, emerged as a growing Church. William Carey was one of the greatest Baptist leaders of this era and within a generation it produced one of the greatest preachers of all time - Charles Haddon Spurgeon (referred to as "the prince of preachers").

About 100 years later, on at least four continents, there arose a simultaneous outpouring of the Holy Spirit which gave birth to the Pentecostal denomination. By this time, around 1900, the idea that the Bible does not prescribe a single heirarchy of leadership meant that congregations did not regard it as necessary to belong to a large denomination. This coincided with the rise of independent Protestant churches, generally called Evangelical Churches Thus, there are now thousands of Pentecostal and Evangelical denominations.

Throughout the history of the Church it is possible to see how God has guarded and guided it. The Reformers coined a Latin phrase, Ecclesia Semper Reformata - "the Church always being reformed". Each generation of the Church has been guided by the Lord to return to a more refined understanding of what it means to be the Church. As we seek to be a part of the ongoing reformation of the Church we too must be reminded by history, reformed by Scripture and responsive to contemporary culture.

For this reason it is my hope that Legana Christian Church will strive together to build a Biblical community of Christ-loving, Scripture-honouring, Spirit-led believers. In this light, I look forward to what God has in-store for us over the coming years. We want to be a New Testament Church, not a denominational Church. That is, in our attempt to be reminded by history, reformed by Scripture, and responsive to culture, we affirm the ancient Creeds of the Church (The Apostles' Creed, The Nicene Creed, The Chalcedon Creed) and the New Testament's plea for people to be reconciled to God through Christ, and in the power of the Holy Spirit to save, speak, guide, and gift the believer. Therefore, in striving to be a contemporary church we want to respond to culture not with irrelevant tradition, but with the ever-relevant Gospel presented in a way that is itself relevant to culture, but most importantly relevant to God and His Word.

Father, help us to follow You and to be guided by Your Word and Spirit. Help us to honour history but not to become enslaved to traditions. Give us the ability to be both prophetic and pastoral to our society and communities. May we understand Your Word more clearly. May we be able to make the necessary and reforming changes that must be made in order to remain faithful to Christ and His intention. Grant it Lord that we can care for each other like we should. Help me as the pastor of this precious church to lead by example in word, deed, and thought. I ask that You would speak Your Word to us continually. Fill us each with Your Spirit and Your joy, in Jesus' Name,

Amen