FOR THE LOVE OF PETE!

How many chances should you give someone who continually let you down! I think John Mark might think the Apostle Paul would say “One!” Some of us might be a bit more forgiving and extend the ‘Once bitten – twice shy’ policy out to two chances. And some very patient souls may even be prepared to give someone threechances before they said enough is enough. Before assuming that you would show plenty of grace and generosity to a perpetrator of disappointment, put yourself in the shoes of a spouse whose partner had betrayed them, not once, not twice, but repeatedly – all the while apologising profusely each time. How easy would you find it to give them another chance? 

for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.
Proverbs 24:16

WOULD YOU HAVE GIVEN THESE PEOPLE A SECOND CHANCE?

Even good people make bad mistakes. Proverbs tells that even ‘The righteous falls seven times‘. Nearly everyone of the major characters in the Old and New Testaments whom God chose to use in His redemption plan, made a disappointing mistake. Think of Adam. We rightfully blame him for the fall of the human race from innocence into sin. But Scripture only records him sinning the once. Think of Noah whom God used to preserve the human race. After the floods waters subsided he sinned by getting drunk and shaming himself (Gen. 9:20-23). This was his only recorded episode of sin. Think of Abraham who denied that Sarah was his wife when he sought refuge with the Gerarites (Gen. 20:1-3). His half-truth nearly caused the violation of his wife! Think of David who committed adultery, lied, and then arranged the murder of a man (2Sam. 12:7). All of these received a second, third, fourth, (and more) chance. And these were the people who formed the human lineage of the Christ! (Matthew 1)    

¶ Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
Matthew 18:21

NEED A SECOND CHANCE?

Even though the level of offence and disappointment is immeasurably greater (than any disappointment we could ever experience), God’s ability to forgive and give people another chance is literally breathtaking. The one who asked Christ how many times should I forgive my brother who sins against me, would centuries later be described by Roman Catholics as their first ‘Pope’. Not only after he asked this question about how many chances he should give those who disappoint him, he would provide the Christ the greatest source of disappointment. This of course happened on the night of the Christ’s trial before the High Priest.

And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” … And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how He had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.”
Luke 22:55-57, 61

The depth of disappointment that Peter committed is difficult for any of us to appreciate. Peter was the first of the Christ’s disciples. He was meant to be their leader in the Church that Christ was about to establish. He was the one who first declared that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt. 16:16). If anyone ever needed a second chance, it was Peter. 

And he went out and wept bitterly.
Luke 22:62

REDEEMING THE ‘POPE’

It is one of the most beautiful portions of Scripture. Days after the resurrection of Christ, Peter and the other disciples begin to doubt. They go fishing. Out all night, they caught nothing. From the shores of the beach someone calls out to them to cast their net on the other side of their boat. Soon their net is breaking with the abundance of fish. Peter recognises that the one on the beach was the Christ. He dives into the water to swim to the Saviour. When he arrives he finds that Jesus has already prepared a fish breakfast. Having previously denied Jesus three times, in a matter of minutes, Jesus asks him three questions about his devotion to Him. 

That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off. ¶ When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread…¶ When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
John 21:7-9, 15-17

This beautiful transaction between the Redeemer and the one in need of redemption is one of the most touching scenes in the Bible. Peter had been sifted like wheat and nearly lost everything in the process if it wasn’t for the prayers of his Messiah (Luke 22:32). In a little under two weeks he would be assuming his appointed role as the lead apostle an standing before thousands upon thousands of pilgrims in the temple precinct and summoning them to repent and to turn to their Christ (Acts 2:38-41). He would be imprisoned for preaching the Christian gospel and then released by an angelic visitor in response to the prayers of the believers in Jerusalem. He would travel to the northern limits of Asia Minor to preach and plant churches, and then in 64 AD stand before Caesar Nero, King of Rome, and courageously bear witness to the redeeming mercy of the King of the Universe. 

Peter’s testimony stands as a glorious reminder that our God is the God of another chance – not just a second chance! Who knows who God will bring across our paths or through our doors whom God will redeem by giving them another chance? But what we do know is that we live at a time when the need and the numbers have never been greater for people needing another chance. Perhaps you’re one of them? In Christ you will find the One who can put Humpty Dumpty back together again and give you another chance. You may feel all hope is lost. But it isn’t. No matter what you’ve done – how many timesyou’ve done it – or who knows what you’ve done – God’s breathtaking mercy is available to you if you will receive it. It just takes one prayer to reset your life. 

A HORRENDOUS MISTAKE

Sometimes we Christians look at good people and think, “Now they would make a good Christian!” And other times we look at people who seem to care little about religion and God and think, “This person’s heart is so cold and indifferent, they could never be converted to Christ!” Both points of view are horrendous mistakes! God gave Peter another chance when he probably thought he’d blown it for good. His nemesis, Saul of Tarsus, the first and most violent persecutor of Christians, received mercy and another chance from God and ended up writing two-thirds of the New Testament! Let’s not make this horrendous mistake that thinks it’s easy for a ‘good’ person to become a Christian – and impossible for a ‘bad’ person to ever become a Christian. God is so unimaginably merciful that He is continually transforming both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ people into His adopted sons and daughters (and more often than we realise it’s response to another mercy-recipient’s prayers!). Maybe some of us need to repent of such horrendous thinking and ask our Heavenly Father for another chance.     

“God, please forgive me. Help me to live the way I should. I need Your mercy and Your help.” 
Amen.

A simple prayer like that can change the rest of your life and put you back on your God-ordained destiny track – and for the love Pete, I should know!

Your pastor,
Andrew Corbett

GOD GIVES US SECONDS

SECONDS

Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.
Second Timothy 4:11

Generally I believe that a person's past is the best indicator of their future. The general problem with generalities is that there are generally exceptions. And this one is no exception. The reason is that history reveals that nearly every person who achieved anything of note had a past which bore little resemblance to their actual futures. This is good news for people like me and perhaps it's good news for you too. If you've given up on who you one day dreamed you would become, here's some good news: God is in the business of giving people seconds - a second chance, a second wind, a second half.

For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.
Galatians 1:13

It seems that God loves to sovereignly change the direction of people. Saul of Tarsus is a stunning example of how a person's past bears no resemblance to their actual future (Gal. 1:13). Moses is another example. King David is another example. Each of the faithful disciples is an example. Throughout history we see this over and over. John Calvin, Count Nicolas Ludwig von Zinzendorf, John Wesley, William Wilberforce, Thomas Chalmers, F.W. Boreham, Billy Graham, Ravi Zacharias, all had moments where they got a second go at life. In modern times we see the same thing even among business leaders - Ingvar Kamprad (the founder of IKEA), and Nicolas Hayek (founder of SWATCH) - both men started off their lives in a certain direction which bore little resemblance to how they ended up living their lives. God gives seconds to people. Do you need God to give you second? 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 
Second Corinthians 5:17

God's seconds don't just begin at our conversion to Christ. To be sure, our conversion to Christ is a dramatic turning point in our lives. Some people claim to have had a conversion experience yet there doesn't always seem to be any evidence of a second in their life. Jesus described this required evidence as 'fruit' (Matt. 7:16). Here's a principle about the seconds which God gives: they are always significantly more fruitful than your pre-second past. Being converted to Christ is not necessarily about 'making a decision' or 'praying the sinner's prayer', it's about what God does in your life and the fruit that results from it. But conversion is not the only second a person can experience from God... 

YOUR SECOND

You may be stuck in life. You may by in a rut. You may have given up. You may have given up on finding happiness, on your marriage, your weight, your addiction to food, your ability to get organised, your pursuit of a job or a better career, or your spiritual progress. I understand what this feels like. I am a pastor who longs to see more people find hope and purpose through knowing Jesus the Christ and connecting in a wholesome way with the community of Christ-followers (the church). Only a pastor knows the pain of disappointment that comes from longing for this to happen and not seeing it. I'm sure I'm not the only pastor who is often overwhelmed with discouragement because our church isn't growing. The temptation that I face as a pastor under these circumstances is to quit striving, cease dreaming, theologise my lack of effectiveness, and surround myself with others who reinforce these God-dishonouring postures. After all, I have served as a pastor at Legana for twenty years and if God was going to grow our church to what I felt He put in my heart in September 1995, surely it would have happened by now? My thinking (and inner discouragement) is galvanised when I go to a Pastors' Conference and hear the amazing stories of how God has blessed some pastors with church growth where a handful of people has grown to thousands of people in just a few years. But then I wonder if God might have a second ahead for us?

I'm encouraged to think He might when I consider most of those He redeemed in the Bible. I frequently think of a man named Harland (pictured left). He had a dream. He loved to cook. His dream was crushed when he was 40 years old when a highway by-passed his small Indiana café. But he kept dreaming. The Governor of Kentucky loved his cooking so much, he made him a 'Colonel of Kentucky'. Then in 1955 at the age of 65 he began to see his long-held dream come to fruition as his business was franchised across America. In 1960 he sold his business for two million dollars, and the new owners chose to maintain Harland Sander's face in their marketing of Kentucky Fried Chicken. He died in 1980 at the ripe old age of 90 having seen his dream extend around the world and for his face to be one of the most recognised faces on the planet even to this day.

¶ Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21

Tasmania is yet to see the kind of church that best portrays what the New Testament describes. Tasmania is yet to see the kind of church that deeply affects and shapes our State's culture. Tasmania is yet to see the kind of church that gives hope to tens of thousands of people. Tasmania is yet to see the kind of church that it respects and deems to be beneficial, relevant, and authentic. Tasmania is yet to see the kind of church that endures hardship, persecution, and opposition and yet remains faithful to Christ, caring for the poor and oppressed, and generous toward the undeserving. Tasmania is yet to see the kind of church that gives them a glimpse of heaven - where people from every tribe, nation, skin colour, ethnicity, and language, worship the King of Kings in loving unity. Decades ago I committed my life and ministry to doing all I could to see this vision fulfilled. It's why I pastor. It's why I write. It's why I do WayFM. It's why I YouTube. It's why I Tweet. It's why I preach. It's why I get out of bed in the morning! I long for God's second for me, for us.  

¶ After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands
Revelation 7:9

A major challenge to fulfilling this vision and experiencing our second is openness. Have we closed our hearts, our minds, our souls, to what God could do here in Tasmania? Do we make excuses for God and His inability to build a church and see hundreds more churches planted across our island, because it's never been done before, we're not like the mainland, we haven't got the population, we don't have the resources, or, we're just not that important to God in the scheme of things? Perhaps you do a similar thing with your life? "I've never been able to do that." "I'm not smart enough to learn how to." "I haven't got the money to do that." "I don't have the support I need." "I could, but my wife is too ...." "The economy isn't doing well."

THE SECOND THING ABOUT SECONDS

Moses was a washed-up desert goat-herder in his 40s when he remembered his dream to unite his Hebrew kin and deliver them out of Egypt. David was a teenage boy, the youngest of 7 brothers, given the lowliest job of his day - staying out nights on end looking after the family's few sheep, when he dreamed of uniting Israel's fragmented tribes and securing its borders. Saul of Tarsus had a dream of being a great Rabbi and leading Israel back to full devotion to the one true God when he was a young boy. In one sense it looked like each of these sample men had their dreams dashed by life's disappointments. It looked like their efforts in the first half of their lives was wasted effort and counted for nothing. But this was not true. God was honing Moses' leadership both in the palace of Pharaoh and the backside of the desert. God was skilling the warrior in David when he bullied by his older brothers and harangued by wolves and bears as he guarded his few sheep. God was investing into Saul wisdom, knowledge and literature so that he could become the Apostle Paul. The trials, setbacks, and disappointments in your life are not wasted years! God is preparing us for our second half! The farmer who sows his seed in Autumn might despair that Winter has destroyed his potential crops, but then Spring and harvest-time come! Life has its Winters but God also brings about our Springs! This is the second thing about seconds - the more you faithfully sow in the first half, the more fruit you'll harvest in your second! It's my hope that our church is putting as much seed in the ground as possible so that we can reap for Christ as much as possible in the seconds that God gives us!

Ps. Andrew