A CARE DARE

He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
John 10:13

It costs to care. I was chatting with a fellow minister of a church not in our tradition. We were discussing our commitment levels of our churches to the evangelism component of the Great Commission. He told me that in one church he was part of that if a visitor ever happened to turn up, most people in the church would deliberately completely ignore them (or worse) because they felt that visitors were "invaders"! In his current church he lamented that although they paid lip-service to reaching out, they didn't. "Our people are comfortable with each other, and reaching out to others is too uncomfortable for them", he admitted. He then said, "It costs to care. It costs comfort. It's too inconvenient." My heart sank as he told me this. It is my hope that our church will care - that we will have a heart for others. I want to issue a "Care Dare".

But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.
First Thessalonians 2:7

How often did Jesus walk into an environment with His disciples that was strange and unfamiliar to them? Often. Initially after Christ's resurrection and the birth of the Church on the Day of Pentecost, believers were reluctant to "go" into all the world (Matthew 28:18-20). Instead, they enjoyed thousands of people 'coming' to them. I suspect that the Father orchestrated this as any father would do to help his children gain the confidence to grow up by taking risks and at times experiencing necessary failures. But the first Church seems to have been reluctant to 'go'. Commencing with the persecution of Stephen in Acts 7, it seems that the Father brought a wave of persecution against His Church which had taken its comfortable seat in Jerusalem, despite being surrounded by a lost and needy world. Like any father teaching his son to ride a bike his first step is to give his son confidence and then it is necessary (yet painful) that he let his son fall. The way God treated His infant Church in Acts 2-4was not the same way that He treated his adolescent Church from Acts 8. And I suspect that He generally expects His Church to have matured  some since then, and treats us accordingly today. This means that while the Father 'held onto the bike' initially by bringing people to hear the Gospel when the Church started, we see that His heart was for His Church to go where unreached people were. God still wants His Church to go - to reach out- to care for others.

IT COST JESUS TO CARE

¶ Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confessionHebrews 3:1

What must it have been like for the Lord of Glory to leave Paradise, lay aside His glory and become a zygote? It cost Him. The Eternal One entered into time, forever. This cost Him. The Holy One dined with the unholy. Our Saviour paid a series of costs then the ultimate cost. As Hebrews 3:1 instructs, we should consider the cost that Christ has paid and therefore the cost involved in following Christ. The Gospel is free, but there is a cost which Jesus said must be 'counted' before someone could follow Him (Luke 14:28). Following Christ also has a cost which is described in Romans 12. 

¶ I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Romans 12:1

To follow the Caring Christ is to increasingly become a carer ourselves. Battle-seasoned pastors are caring pastors who soon come to realise that they must do their job with two ears - one ear for the voice of the Lord and the other for the heart cries of those they minister to. Sit under the ministry of such a pastor and you'll soon find yourself beginning to listen with two ears as well. The battles that season such a pastor come when they fail to listen with both ears. Throughout their pastorate they receive scathing notes and letters from those they have disappointed which either make them or break them. Such pastors receive letters like this-

"I came to your church last Sunday after losing my brother to a long protracted battle with cancer. I came looking for hope - instead, I hardly felt welcomed at all. No one even said hello to me. No one asked me how I was. I came in with a heavy heart and left with an even heavier one. I don't go to a church and I thought you above all people might have been able to give me some comfort at this time. I don't want anything from you now but thought you might like to know how I was treated."

If you meet a seasoned pastor you are meeting a much criticised pastor. But the pastor who learns to care for his critics (rather than let them injure him) is the pastor who learns that criticism is sometimes a gift that enables them to more effectively care. Following the career of such a pastor from the days of his youthful enthusiasm to the days of his most fruitful season and you will notice two almost paradoxical things develop. The first is a tenderness toward people (the second I may discuss another day). He becomes softer. He is more easily moved to tears. He more naturally prays for those in his charge and feels wounded when someone speaks ill of their brother or sister under his oversight. He listens more closely to what his flock disclose to him. He learns that words are not always the best form of communication and often get in the way of what a heart can only say through a tear, an outburst, or a silence. This softening is seasoned by the times when he feels the pain of having not been as sensitive as he should have been to some hurting souls. These painful moments cause a seasoned-pastor to look at people differently, with compassion, with interest, with patience. It is every pastor's desire to impart this care for people to every member of his team. 

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ...And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 

Galatians 6:2, 9

One of the biggest dangers that an established church faces is complacency. This is when a congregation becomes comfortable with each other. They confuse their mutual friendship for friendliness. Yet the visitor to their church finds them unfriendly - even though they are friends with each other. This of course is an aspect of care. A church's care is done with two hands: one hand embracing each other, the other hand reaching out to others. But, if a congregation is not careful, it can becoming uncaring if it only uses one hand of these hands and ignores those it exists to reach out to with their other.  

PEOPLE, HANDLE WITH CARE

Caring costs, but caring also rewards. Take a moment today and consider who Christ might care for through you. This Sunday someone will walk through the doors of our church for the first time. Will you show care for them? It starts with an greeting of introduction. It continues with an act of service. It is sealed with a sacrifice. It takes place in the work-place, the class-room, the bus-stop, the club. It begins with clichés, becomes an exchange of facts, moves to revealing opinions, and invites the other to explore the mysteries of God's Word through reading the stories of Jesus and discovering what these say, what they tell us about God, and what relevance it has for our lives.

Do we care for those we know, yet who do not yet know Christ? Will you join me in prayer that we might accept this dare to care so that we can be a church with two ears and two hands?

Father,
forgive us for being so pre-occupied with matters that detract us from worshipping You in our devotion and witness. May we hear Your voice. Grant us the grace to present our bodies and our minds to You as living sacrifices so that we can worship You with all aspects of our lives. Use us Lord to reach out to others with Your love and forgiving grace. May we hear the hearts of others. Fill our hearts with Your heart that we might see people differently. Help us to lay our lives down for Your glory as we willingly serve others. Cause us to show Your care to those who are lost, lonely, and longing.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen.

Ps. Andrew

GOD'S TWO-FOLD DESIRE

What does God want? Theologians will quickly refer us to the aseity of God and remind us that God does not  need anything. Yet, we might respond to these doctors of the Queen of the Sciences by pointing out that we didn't ask about God's needs but rather His wants or desires. In the New Testament there are three desires of God revealed, but one of these is actually a two-fold desire. Understanding this might help us to realise what the Enemy of God is vigorously working to undermine and prevent. And it might help us to see that the first of these desires can only be achieved if we simultaneously work on the second.

This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ JesusFirst Timothy 2:3-5

Firstly, God desires all people to be saved. While most Evangelists depict being saved as "going to heaven" or even as "not going to hell", it is not merely about our after-life climate (perfect or blazing hot!) that being saved entails. Rather, and if you can apprehend this, it will transform your understanding about God and His plan for you, it is about being reconciled to God through the forgiveness made possible by Christ's substitutionary atonement (His death on the Cross in our place). But this is not all. Being reconciled to God goes way beyond just having our sins forgiven. God not only forgives those He reconciles, He also justifies us with Christ's righteousness. This is not merely fancy religious language - it's legal language. It means that we are eternally deemed to be sinless and thus qualified by Christ to be adopted as God's children. 

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"Romans 8:15  

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 
Galatians 4:4-5

This paramount desire of God to save all people is not involuntarily imposed upon people - each person must choose to turn to God for this forgiveness of their sins, have the meriting of the legal status of innocence and be adopted as a child of God. This enables the creature created in the image of God to have fellowship with their Creator. He desires this! He wants us to love Him and experience His love! But being saved also involves receiving an inheritance that jointly belongs to Christ, His only begotten (not created) Son. Our salvation means we become joint-heirs with Christ!

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. 
Romans 8:16-17

God's desire to save all people involves forgiveness of sins, justification, adoption as children of God, an infinitely valuable inheritance which grants us immediate and unimpeded access to God Himself anytime, and the hope of a new, glorified, super body that will never tire, expire, or perspire! For those who refuse God's offer of salvation - the consequences are eternally dire. Eternally. God does not desire that any should eternally perish. And neither should we. 

No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."
Luke 13:5
¶ "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16

AND TO COME TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH

As much as God wants all people to be saved, He simultaneously wants all people to come to the knowledge of the truth. This is the second half of God's two-fold desire. This Divine Two-fold Desire is not an "or" - it's an "and". When a lost lamb turns back to the Searching Good Shepherd they become aware of the truth in a way they weren't before. They also become increasingly compelled by God's desire to help others to know the truth.

In a very compelling presentation called Christianity and The Problem of Popular Culture, Dr. John M. Reynolds (of BIOLA University) makes the case that through the 19th century people valued truth - especially Christians. In fact, Christians were more often than not the promoters of truth in popular culture throughout the early 1800s. But then naturalists (those who rejected the supernatural including God) began to claim that there were different kinds of truth and relegated Christians to promoting only "a religious truth" rather than the truth. Truth was being dumbed down. Around this time Charles Darwin published Origins Of The Species and increasingly Christians were regarded as intellectually backward and subject to ridicule. Careful thinking, once a hallmark of Christianity, became increasingly neglected as the Church appealed to people to come to Christ by not thinking but rather taking a step of faith - as if faith was wishful thinking rather than careful and truthful thinking. The 20th century saw the invention of film and the rise of the entertainment industry - which began to amuse people. Where once culture drew its recreation from reading, it had begun to value amusement over reflection as its source of recreation. People used to read Dickens, Tolstoy, and Verne, around the family's nightly fireside gathering. Thoughtful Christians down through the centuries had made Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, their sources of theological reflection, but into the 20th Century along with popular culture amusement became prized over musement (thoughtfulness). 

Dr Reynolds sees an analogy between what people think about, with what people eat. He asks whether there is anything wrong with eating food which tastes really nice but has no nutritional value? He concludes, no. He calls this type of "food" 'yum yum'. Modern culture has largely become addicted to a diet of intellectual yum yum. This is reflected in "pop" songs, "pop" movies, and "pop" video clips. He goes on to say that this presents a huge problem for the Church today. He's not bemoaning culture's craving for yum yum (as many sour Christians do). Rather, he's trying to get the Church to realise that we are now trying to reach a culture that is not familiar with careful thinking or the nature of truth. He suggests that Christians "slowly educate" their friends and colleagues about the truth and careful thinking, so that they can eventually share the Gospel with them. Readers will note that this is precisely the second half of the Divine Twofold Desire.

Justice is turned back,
and righteousness stands far away;
for truth has stumbled in the public squares,
and uprightness cannot enter.Isaiah 59:14 

This is why we must persist in defending the truth about God, the Bible, salvation through Christ alone, sexuality, marriage, the dignity of human life, and freedom to worship. We do this, not to win an argument, but to remove the obstacles to winning a soul. The Gospel is grounded in truth. Christians need to be prepared to use "truth language" when responding to those who ask us why we are Christians and why we believe the Bible. Rather than simply responding, "I believe the Bible because I believe it's the Word of God" we could use 'truth language' and respond, "I believe the Bible is God's Word because there are good reasons for believing so." People aren't used to hearing Christians using words like- "reasons", "evidence", "proof", "reliable sources", and "historical data".

As believers we can enjoy yum yum too. But if that's all we are feeding our minds on, we won't be in a position to fulfil the second part of God's twofold desire. 

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect
First Peter 3:15

As a church we want to help equip each of our church family to fulfil God's twofold desire by being committed to helping people come to a saving knowledge of Christ while simultaneously affirming the truth to a world that thinks truth is determined by each individual. For the Christian truth is not merely about correct facts. Truth is firstly an integral attribute of God. Jesus declared Himself to be "the Truth" (Jn. 14:6). Truth is instrinsically beautiful ('glorious', John 1:14). Truth involves doing right (Rom. 2:8; Gal. 5:7). Truth corresponds to reality. And truth can be verified - that is, it can be put to the test (1Thess. 5:21). We need to help our friends and colleagues understand the truth. This may take a while, but it may also help them to appreciate that Christians love the truth and that faith in Christ is the result of careful thinking - not the absence of it. By doing this, we are working toward the goal of satisfying God's great twofold desire.

Ps. Andrew

THEY WANT TO SEE JESUS

I've just returned from an interstate trip where I interviewed two elderly men for the upcoming FW Boreham Documentary. Both of these gentlemen were in their nineties and had been friends for over 70 years. After from sitting under the preaching of F.W. Boreham, they had many other things in common, but their one joint passion was for their local church and their Saviour. These men radiated the presence of Christ and such there was something peculiarly attractive about them. This was the same with the first followers of Christ as well.

¶ Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.  So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."
John 12:20-21 

Jesus chose to be represented by people. These representatives are called the Church. The genius of having people represent you, is that you reach more people. In this episode in John 12 where these Greeks say to the disciples, "We wish to see Jesus", there is something very profound going on. Over the years I've heard many preachers use this passage to say that people often get in the way of other people seeing Jesus. "The church should just get away of people wanting to see Jesus", they preach. But the problem with that conclusion from this text in John 12 illustrates the exact opposite point. Far from followers of Christ being a hindrance to people seeing Jesus, followers of Christ are the means by which people come to see Jesus. 

Jesus has called you to follow Him so that others might see Him. Keith and Russell, the two gentlemen in the nineties, had spent their lives helping others to see Jesus. There are some people that might not ever see Jesus because of me - but these same people may well see Jesus because of you! When these Greeks approached the disciples of Jesus, I guess they could have asked any of the disciples to introduce them to Christ. But they didn't ask Matthew, or Judas, or Thomas, or Simon, instead they went straight to Philip. Did you notice something in that list of names? Philip is a Greek name. These Greeks went to a disciple of Jesus with whom they felt they could relate. If we read on in this passage we see that Philip went to another of Christ's disciple's who also had a Greek name.

Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.
John 12:22

CONNECTING POINTS

This week I was contacted by someone interstate who knew me primarily as a tennis player. (In my early life, tennis was my life.) They wrote to me reminiscing about watching me play tennis and knowing that I was a Christian. He then shared a small summary of his recent journey to Christ after having been delivered from alcohol and drugs. Tennis become the connecting point for our relationship. Yet other people connect with me because they hear me on radio. In fact, yesterday as I checked in for my flight, the stewardess asked, "Are you the Andrew Corbett on radio?" This became another connecting point for me to reach out. Jesus has strategically invested in you certain connecting points with others. Like the disciples, Philip and Andrew, it might be your ethnicity and family history. It could be the school you went to. It could be your sport, or sporting team. It could be your job or profession. It could be your love of craft. It could be your children or even your parents. It could be your choice of music. 

FOLLOWING PRODUCES FOLLOWERS

Far from the Church being in the way of people coming to know Christ, the Church is the greatest means by which people can! When these original Greeks approached these original disciples, they lived at a time when so much about life was uncertain. The Romans were swift in dealing with those who displeased them. And many people displeased them. Death and the after-life were extremely important issues to the people of the first century. Today, without the looming threat of a Roman sword, most people in the Western World (which includes much of Australia) do not ponder these deeper matters. Arguably, many people in these more affluent societies are blinded to their real need by the utter deception that they have no needs. It's into these peoples' lives that God sends a follower of Christ with a connecting point. They observe in this follower of Christ a deep peace that comes from having the deepest need met - a need thay they now begin to recognise because of this Christ follower. This is a need that a Mercedes cannot fill. It is a need that having the right address does not address. It is a need that a Mastercard cannot buy. And while there are many followers of Christ who have similar stations in life to these need-blind people, they see their wealth and possessions as resources at the King's disposal so that even more people can be healed of their blindness. It is followers of Christ which produces followers of Christ.

For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
Revelation 3:17

WHERE TO FIND JESUS

These Greeks of John 12 knew where to find Jesus. Find His disciples and you'll find Him! The same is true today. Find His followers and you'll find Him. When Joseph and Mary wanted to find the twelve year old Jesus, they went to the House of God. The same is true today. When the family of Christ followers gather, Christ is in their midst (Matthew 18:20). When the Church gathers with Christ in her midst, everything she does is worship of Him. If anyone would find Jesus, they should look in church. If they also want to see Christ they should look at the One the Church is worshiping. 

so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another... ¶ For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
Romans 12:5, First Corinthians 12:12

THEY WOULD SEE JESUS

This Sunday we will have people join with us who have never been to church. These people are not interested in becoming religious. They are not coming to be controlled or duped. They have, however, been given a glimpse of their true need and painfully come to realise that stuff, although momentarily numbing, does not (because it can not) meet this need. They've discovered that what the world calls medicine is actually the very poison that made them terminally ill in the first place. They need to see Jesus. They have come to where He can be found. As the followers of Christ assemble to worship Jesus, people are drawn to Him. 

After I met with these two veteran followers of Christ to film them for the FWB documentary, they chatted about their church (Kew Baptist Church). Russell, who enjoyed better health than Keith, warmly invited Keith to come to their next Chat and Chew outreach morning. Russell then turned to his pastor, Nick, and told him how he had been encouraging his great-granddaughter to come along to church. There are some who have grown fed-up with the church. Through their immature response to some offense they have chosen to despise the flawed followers of Christ like you and me, and have instead justified their detachment from the Body of Christ as somehow being more spiritual, and even more Biblical. This is sad and unnecessary. When these Greeks wanted to see Jesus, they came to His flawed disciples. And Philip and Andrew then brought them to Jesus. In the next verse, Jesus announced that the hour had come for the Him to be glorified. When people are drawn to Jesus because of His followers, He is glorified. 

And Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified."
John 12:23

And every time when the church assembles to worship God The Son through praise, giving, prayer, reflection on the Lord's Table, the ministry of the Word, and fellowship with one another, Jesus is most glorified. And when Jesus is most glorified we help more needy people to see the only One who can eternally meet their need.

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

Ps. Andrew