You've Got Three Wishes...Go

"OK, YOU'VE GOT THREE WISHES"

The offer has been made. The terms are simple. The Genie is waiting. Ask what you will.

1Cor. 4:21a What do you wish?

Money? Health? Happiness? Certainly these were the respective wishes of Japanese, European and American parents for their childrenaccording to a recent survey. But I have an advantage over my Japanese, European and American survey respondents. They only gotone wish. I've got three! I could trump them all and wish for all three of their wishes! But should I?

Wishes reveal hearts. Is my heart driven by money, good health, or the pursuit of happiness? Perhaps. But if it isn't, why should I wish for it? If I could, I'd somehow wish for super-time. But the Genie's already explained the preclusive terms. I must confess though, that when I consider what to wish for, I keep coming back to what I want now. After all, I want my wishes to be relevant.

Who would make irrelevant wishes? When it comes to all things beneficial, and therefore helpful, relevance should certainly be presumed. This is especially true when it comes to wishes. But it's also true when it comes to any claim of helpfulness such as churches which claim to help make life better. Any church daring to make such a bold and public claim would first have to be relevant to its claimants. 

Some churches attempt to be relevant by changing their message and the way its delivered and packaged. But this tends to make them irrelevant. Other churches feel their traditions and formal structures and proceedings are the things that make them relevant to a spiritually hungry world. The spiritually hungry hungry don't seem to agree.

Reading the opening chapters of The Book of Revelation where The Risen-Crucified-Voice speaks to the seven churches clustered in Turkey, we should be jolted to read of His Majesty telling all but one of these churches that they were irrelevant! Not irrelevant to themselves. Not irrelevant to their communities. Irrelevant to Jesus.

How might a church that despises irrelevancy (and seeks to be relevant to its own community, relevant to its city, and relevant to its Christ) demonstrate that it really can help to make life better? This is not an original question. Earlier this week someone who saw our current TV ad asked someone in our church how we could possibly make such a claim? Perhaps in their mind, churches should not advertise because churches have nothing relevant to advertise. But we actually have nearly 200 ways to answer this question. These are the stories of people who can share how a small seemingly insignificant church in Bridgenorth Road has helped. Heart-broken people have been comforted. Guilty people have found forgiveness. Despised people have been accepted. Confused people have found direction. Sick people have been healed. Despairing people have received hope. Yes, this church on the edge of the Tasmanian Bush can substantiate their advertised claim to: help make life better.

A young man wondered though. He was 'forced' to accompany his parents to church. "Irrelevant!" his body muttered. But then he witnessed his parents marriage very nearly disintegrate. Confused, despairing, fearful, he did not know what he could do to help his parents. What happened next changed his life. It was something the boring and irrelevant preacher said during one his boring and irrelevant sermons in his boring and irrelevant church that totally rescued his parents' marriage. The young man was forced to reconsider how he understood "relevant" and "irrelevant." That same young man grew up to become a preacher!

Each week I have people contact me who want help making their lives better. Some of these people turn up on a Sunday and discover that what they previously thought was irrelevant is now very relevant. From the acceptance shown by those who greet them to the love they experience from those worshiping around them to the strange sense of the transcendent as the music begins to the inner whisper of the Spirit of God they hear as the preacher speaks. Relevant and helpful.

But you must be wondering what my three wishes were? For those who criticise those of us who wish with the Pharisaical charge that wishingis unspiritual it might be worth taking a little time to do some of our own rebuking. I rest my case with the Original Genius-

John 15:7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

You don't need an Arabian Genie to offer you 3 wishes when you have a Genuis-Saviour who invites you wishcontinually. Not only do we worship a Saviour-Genuis (the French word for "genuis" is 'Genie' by the way) Who invites us to wish, He Himself wishes. (You can read of the record of His biggest wish in Second Peter 3:9.) So what were my three wishes?

Father, help us to be fresh for You. Fresh in Your Word. Fresh in Your Spirit through prayer. Fresh in Your love through fellowship. Prepare us for eternity with You by helping us to be the kind of people You want us to be. May we wish what You wish. Cause us to give our all for The Christ and His Cause. Amen.

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

Ps. Andrew

SUCKLED WITH ROCK HONEY

Deuteronomy 32:13 He made him ride on the high places of the land,
and he ate the produce of the field,
and he suckled him with honey out of the rock,
and oil out of the flinty rock.

I'm reading F.W. Boreham's, "The Uttermost Star", which he wrote shortly after he had been pastoring the Hobart Baptist church. He opens this classic book with an essay about Majorie. She was an elderly lady that FWB was asked to visit. Prior to meeting her he wondered how he would make conversation with her. But when he met her and introduced himself he soon found that the conversation flowed so naturally that he felt that he had nothing to do with it. Marjorie was now blind in her old age. Yet FWB found her witty, bright, and engaging. As she spoke, Boreham was struck by her breadth of vocabulary. (People who read widely invariably develop such a broad vocabulary.) He asked her about her conversion. Her answer soon enchanted him.

She described her conversion as finding "the sweetness of religion". Boreham had never heard anyone describe their conversion in this way. As he invited her to share about her life's journey with Christ Marjorie implied that the rest of her walk with Christ could not be described as "sweet". Boreham picked up on this. "Well" she explained, "life got hard." Marjorie described life after she got married and together she and her husband had children. There wasn't time for the sweetness of religion then, she offered. Especially, she went on, when in one week they buried one son on Tuesday and the other on Thursday and then her husband died shortly after! Life could indeed be hard. Boreham interjected, Did you lose the sweetness of religion during these times Marjorie? She replied that it was during this time that she experienced not the sweetness of religion, but the power of religion that sustained her through such heart-ache. Did you ever lose faith Marjorie? She put her face momentarily in her hands as the pain of the answer uneasily came forward.

Yes there was a time, she said. I despaired. I went to my usual place of prayer beside my bed and once again put my knees into the well-worn spots on the carpet, but I couldn't pray. I looked to heaven but there was too much disappointment in my heart toward God. It was then that I felt His hand. Literally. I felt an invisible hand on my shoulder and heard the comforting words of the Saviour telling me that He would never abandon me. This is the power of religion that Marjorie referred to earlier. From this point, Marjorie continued, I remained steadfast to the Lord in the security of His unfailing presence in my life.

FWB thanked Marjorie for her time and also for her inspiration. Inspiration? Yes, said Boreham, you've given me my sermon for Sunday! I shall preach on the Lord the Rock. I shall base this on Deuteronomy 32 where the Rock is described as guiding Israel to its Promised Land and then suckling them with honey. This is the sweetness that Marjorie had referred to. But it is also the power that Marjorie referred to- a Rock of immovable steadfastness and protective security.

Deuteronomy 32:13 He made him ride on the high places of the land,
and he ate the produce of the field,
and he suckled him with honey out of the rock,
and oil out of the flinty rock.

As I read this opening chapter in THE UTTERMOST STAR, I also pondered Marjorie's story and FWB's reflection upon it. Boreham explained to Marjorie that he had just read an article about Palestinian bees and how they often hive their honey in rocks- especially the rocks of cliffs. To retrieve their prized honey, the hunter would sometimes have to scale a cliff-face where he could literally suck the honey out of the rocks. Boreham's analogy made me think about the statement that if you want leaves you use a rake and just scratch the surface; but if you want gold you use a shovel and dig a little deeper. I also considered the most common description of the Promised Land as a land that flowed with "milk and honey". But it appears that although God had provided the honey, he sometimes expected people to climb cliffs to retrieve it! Yes Marjorie, life can be hard! I considered how lazy I sometimes am when it comes to enjoying the sweet things of Jesus. Sometimes the Word of God is like a cliff that requires time and effort to scale for its sweet treasures. But there are also other seasons of life, as Marjorie found, when you need a Rock underneath your feet, and cleft in that Rock to keep you safe. It's sometimes during those times when we are most worn down, and even worn out, that Jesus becomes our Rock from whom we can suckle honey and have oil proceed to soothe our injured souls.

Deuteronomy 32:13 He made him ride on the high places of the land,
and he ate the produce of the field,
and he suckled him with honey out of the rock,
and oil out of the flinty rock.

It is my pastoral prayer that we may enjoy the sweetness of the Lord Jesus, the security of the Lord Jesus' presence, and the oil of His Holy Spirit to soothe and heal our wounded hearts. If you have Jesus in your soul, you have Treasure incomparable, worth more than honey suckled from a rock.

Ps. Andrew

A New Model of Contemporary Church

What is a 'Church'?
Some people answer this question by limiting a church to a group of people who meet in a house for worship through prayer, sharing and Bible study.
Other people now claim that a church is a community of anonymous people who meet in a chatroom to discuss aspects of their faith in Christ.
Still others claim that a church is an institution with a priestly class, a liturgy, and a governmental structure.

Can a church be "independent"?

Can a church belong to a group of churches and share common ideals, methods, understandings, then still belong to that group if those things radically change?

Can a church be called a church if it is vague about what it believes?

What role should tradition have in defining what a church is today?

If one church disciplines a member, and that member leaves that church, should this member still be disciplined?

Should a church have a leader or leaders?

What do you think?