COME ABOARD THE HMS CONTENT

You choose your ship. If you choose the MV More you will sail life's journey through the Siren sounding Sea of Discontent. If you choose the HMS Content you will be sailing through the Sea of Satisfaction. One of first differences you'll notice if you change ships mid-voyage is that the HMS Content doesn't have many of the same trappings that the MV More has - but it does have bigger windows. Through these windows passengers can see the wonders and beauty that those on the MV More sail blithely past.

But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.First Timothy 6:6-8 

The most dangerous person in the world is usually considered to be the desperate person. It's hard to argue with this. But I wonder if we have underestimated the content person? This person is motivated by noble causes - causes that benefit others. They can't be bought. They can't be bribed. They can't be deterred. The enticements of this world are not what motivates them. This kind of person can be dangerously good. On the other hand, the person is discontent because they entertain coveting is far less dangerous. This is because they can be easily enticed, lured, ensnared. This means that they can be easily controlled. To want is not a bad thing. But it can be. Two of the Ten Commandments are directed against its dark side. The first forbids stealing, the second commands against coveting(Deut. 5). This is striking considering that murder gets one prohibitive command and coveting gets two. Coveting is wanting what is not yours to have. It is eternally perilous to the human soul. Jesus lists it among the deadliest sins-

For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."Mark 7:21-23 

The content person is a thankful person. I suspect that thankfulness is the means to achieving contentment. Thankfulness helps the content person to rest. This restfulness is a position despite the circumstances. The content person is positioned to think, I am thankful for what I have. If I have only this, I am thankful for it. If I achieve no more than what I have done, I am at rest. This week, in the Bible Study Group meeting that I lead, one of our African members said wistfully,"If African young people from my country had the opportunities that Tasmanian young people are ignoring they would transform not only their lives but the entire nation!" This highlights the irony of discontentedness: Even what a discontent person has, they don't appreciate or even use. I would love to see the world, but there are still parts of my own State, that despite living here for the past twenty years I have not yet discovered. As a pastor I would like to see our church grow and become bigger with expanded facilities and exquisitely landscaped gardens and sealed carpark - but I am deeply grateful for what God has already given us (both people and facilities). I am becoming content.

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
First Timothy 6:9

Are you grateful? "Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your blessings. See what God has done!" Johnson Oatman Jr wrote.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the Cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, everydoubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings - money cannot buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high. COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS, Johnson Oatman Jr., 1897

Francis of Assissi who forsook his family's fortune to serve Christ among the poor of Italy, was once asked by a fellow monk, "What would you do if you knew your life was going to end in a few moments?" Francis is reported to have answered, "I would finish weeding this vegetable garden." Francis had learned the art of contentment. What many people see as mundane and perhaps pointless, Francis viewed as sacred. Contentment has spiritual implications. Things that are seemingless insignificant, when done by the spiritually content, become acts of worship. Jesus gives this principle in Matthew 25.

Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'Matthew 25:45

When you weed your garden, attend your child's Parent-Teacher night, hand out Communion, or serve someone a cup of coffee, and you do it gladly, thankfully, you are learning the art of contentment. And in this world where most people are sailing on the Merchant Vessel More, your passage on His Majesty's Content will cause people to realise there is another way to sail life's ocean.

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.
Philippians 4:11

Ps. Andrew

AFTER ALL THE EFFORTS TO GET RID OF IT, WHY IS THE CHURCH STILL HERE?

5 REASONS THE CHURCH IS STILL AROUND

It's actually remarkable. Considering the virulent, persistent, aggressive attacks on the Church over the past 1,985 years, it's remarkable that not only has the Church survived, but it has flourished and spread around the world. The fact that you attend a church today, in the twenty-first century, is due to five profound reasons that should lead the reader to wonder.

...I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.JESUS OF NAZARETH (later of Capernaum) Matthew 16:18b 

The Church has survived through to the present day because it has been an agent of good and progress in the world. From its outset, the Church began to care for those the world deemed outcasts. This included, widows, orphans, lepers, and the aged.

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."James 1:27 

This became the foundation for the establishment of hospitals, welfare agencies, and schools. The Christian worldview values each human being as bearing the image of God (imago dei) and therefore possessing inherent dignity. This means that a person who is newborn or even preborn is worthy of our care and support, as is a person with a highly contagious incurable disease, or a person at the end of their life.

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another."
John 13:34

An atheist was once decrying the missionary activity of Christians among Pacific Islanders - in particular, how Christians had "destroyed the existing native culture of the islanders." As chance would have it, there happened to be a person at that public meeting who was a native of one of the islands which the atheist had referred to. During the Q&A he asked the Professor whether he realised that his native ancestors had been cannibals? His question to the atheist professor continued, "Do you know what my ancestors would have done to you if you had arrived on our island before the Gospel came?" The audience instantly recognised that the Pacific Islander had shown the atheist's case to be ill-informed. Ravi Zacharias makes a similar point to atheists when he asks them how they might feel, if on a dark late night inner city street four pierced and tattooed large black men came out of a dimly lit alley carrying objects in their hands and were approaching you - if it would make any difference to how you felt if you learned that they were Christians who were just leaving their weekly BIble Sudy meeting? Yes, the Church has been a positive agent for good and progress in the world.

And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
Second Timothy 2:24-26 

The Church has given expression for mankind's most natural purpose: to worship God through singing, poetry, music, art, drama, and literature. The question for any person is never Do you worship? But, What or Who do you worship? Every person worships. Just as ducks are designed and created to paddle across water, fly closer toward the Equator in Winter, quack, and waddle - so every human being is designed and created to meet with other humans and worship the Creator who is the Kings of Kings and Lord of Lords.

All the earth worships you
and sings praises to you;
they sing praises to your name." Selah.Psalm 66:4

Jesus said that if people didn't declare the praises of God, "the stones would cry out" (Luke 19:40). It should be every person's priority to be in the House of God with other worshipers worshiping The Lord of The Universe. Wise Christian parents know that their children learn more about devotion to God by what they see their parents do than what they hear their parents tell them they should do.

The Church's ministers have been agents of comfort, consolation, reconciliation, and guidance to people - often in their darkest days. Jesus described Himself as the "Good Shepherd' (John 10)and all who minister on His behalf follow in His blood-stained footprints and are to be His underShepherds. They are called to care, lead, guide, feed, tend to, watch over, the community given to them by Christ. Down through the past two millennia, literallly hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of men and women have done just that. Most of these ministers have gone unnoticed by the world, unknown to those outside of their charge, and often unappreciated by most in their charge - yet they have gladly laid down their lives for their community because of the deep love of Christ for God in their lives. 

In my own city of Launceston, ministers of The Christ played a tremendously important role in the establishment and ongoing welfare of our city. I think of Pastor John West, a Congregational Minister, who worked to abolish the convict colony and promote free speech by establishing The Examiner Newspaper. We could also reminisce about some of the more well now ministers of the Gospel who worked as agents of peace and inspiration - not just to their churches, but to their communities and nation. I think of Pastor Charles Simeon who served as the Pastor of Kings Church, Cambridge England for 53 years and contributed not just to the religious life of Cambridge, but its educational and social life as well. In the United States we think fondly of Pastor Martin Luther King Jnr and the amazing impact he led for the cause of Civil Rights there. In Australia, ministers such as F.W. Boreham and Gordon Moyes have contributed to the welfare of our nation and played a positive role in sport, business and politics.

The Church's establishment, spread, and sustainance is due to the decree of Jesus Christ and His abiding Word. Jesus Christ is the omnipotent (all-powerful), omnipresent (all-present), omniscient (all-knowing), eternal, risen Lord. The Church is His "Plan A". He not only decreed that it should it be established (Matthew 16:18), He has decreed that it should spread throughout the world - 

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Matthew 28:18-20

Jesus Christ not only sustains the Church "unto the end of the age", He sustains every molecule in the cosmos!

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Colossians 1:16-17 

The Church is the visible expression of the Kingdom of Christ now and a portend of its ultimate expression after all evil is vanquished from the Universe. It is a majestic sign and wonder to the limitless power and majesty of The Christ. It was prophesied of in Daniel 2:44 as a stone that struck the feet of Nebuchadnezzar's statue and then grew into a great mountain which filled the earth (Dan. 2:34-35). This speaks of Christ and His Body - the Church. 

The Church's existence has been enabled by the presence of the Holy Spirit Who has empowered Christ's followers as well as filling them Christ's presence and gifts, and has led and guided the Church througout the ages and world. The Church was conceived in the heart of Christ and born on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out. The Church is comprised of Spirit regenerated, Spirit empowered, Spirit filled, Spirit baptised, Spirit enabled, Spirit led, followers of Christ. He is the "oil" in our "lamps" (Matthew 25) and He is the One that the Apostle Paul exhorted all believers should continually seek and be filled with (Eph. 4). 

The Church is no accident. The Church is no mere institutional legacy. The Church is not merely an organisation - it is an organism - the living body of Christ on earth. If you are a believer, you have the utter privilege of being a part of the Church of Jesus Christ! Sundays now are not for homework, time-to-yourself, time-with-the-family, but a day we dedicate to the One who declared - I am building!

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

See you Sunday.

Ps. Andrew

5 REASONS 4U TO BE (IN) CHURCH

When I first arrived in our city I was told two things about the existing Church here. Firstly, there were lots of them. In a city of 70,000 there were some 80 churches. Secondly, the biggest church in town was the Absent Church (the second biggest was the Roamin' Church). Over the past twenty years there has been little evidence to challenge this assessment. To have any chance of leading a church which could have its best chance of representing Christ and His Building Project to our city, I knew that I would have to commit for a lifetime and weather all storms. Over this time, my conviction about what God's Word says about the local church and my love for it has only grown. And although I am sympathetic to those who call themselves Christians yet absent themselves from a local church due to some bad experiences, I have little capacity that their vexation should be directed at Christ Himself.

...I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.Matthew 16:18b 

It requires a good deal of foreign toughness for a pastor to weather church storms. I say 'foreign' toughness because it doesn't come naturally to most pastors, especially this one. Most real pastors are long-term pastors. They heed The Great Shepherd's words in John 10 to not flee when wolves ('adversity') come along. They stand and endure. They do this because they inherently love people. They think about people. They care for people. They carry people. They pray for people. They spend a deal of regular time seeking to grow in God's Word and grace so they can help others to do the same. But along the way people get upset and take offence. In leaving the pastor's congregation they seek to injure while claiming that they have been injured. In my younger days as a pastor this confused me and hurt a lot. 

While we pastors don't always live up to people's expectations of care and attention, I have discovered that this same sort of thing happened in the Bible to the best pastors it describes. For example, Moses was a great pastor. He met with God face to face. Yet he had complainterisers and opponents from within his own congregation. Most of this arose when he did the right thing. In life you too may discover (especially if you are a parent) that those you care for may push back hardest when you've done the necessary thing! All leaders soon discover that not doing the right thing at the right time is nearly always the easiest thing. Moses had to become 'tough' and do the right and necessary thing even when it was difficult to do so. As if his example is not enough, my mind often thinks about Jesus as a pastor. He preached a sermon one afternoon that led to 15,000 or so people turn away from following Him! (John 6) He then received numerous complaints and allegations of being "offensive". Added to this, of the 12 specially appointed disciples, one betrayed Him and another disowned Him! 

Then the disciples came and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?"Matthew 15:12 

I have also discovered as a pastor, when you do the right thing, such as bring correction, some followers of Christ in your charge have not been sufficiently discipled to understand that correction is a Biblically necessary thing and that it is the means of God's grace for them to grow. It takes humility and a soft heart to be corrected. If we understand that the original sin wasn't so much about eating forbidden fruit as it was about the pride and arrogance to think that we (represented by Adam and Eve) could do so and get away with it! Thus, pride is our greatest obstacle to fellowship with God and attaining the beauty of Christlikeness, not the Devil, not temptations, not even acts of sin.

But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
James 4:6

If you are in a church whose leaders have never been instruments of God's correction in your life - either from the public preaching or from private counsel - chances are you are rarely (if ever) offended. But greater still are the chances that your are not in a Biblically healthy church! 

And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
Second Timothy 2:24-26 

I love being a pastor. It is the most rewarding job in the world (next to being a husband and father). It is a privilege of the highest magnitude. And I similarly love being a member of a local church. The local church is God's means of grace to strengthen His children for the battles we each face in life. Simply by being together as a congregation of committed believers gathered under the ordinances of worship, partaking of the Lord's Table together, offering our prayers gifts and time, being instructed together from God's Word, and interacting with each other in fellowship (where our goal is the strengthening of our mutual relationship with God) - we are strengthened in our souls. It is a divine imperative - not a divine option - to do this weekly.

not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.Hebrews 10:25

God is not done with the Church. On the contrary. God has ordained the Church to be salt and light (Matt. 5:13-14), the pillar of truth (1Tim. 3:15), and the vessel of His grace (1Peter 4:10). God has ordained for you to follow Christ by being committed to a local body of believers constituted as a 'church'. Together then we serve God's 5 purposes for the Church. These include binge a community of believers who-

1. Worship God together.

2. Witness to the world about the truth and the nature / identity / character of God, His ways, His will and His Word.

3. Provide welfare to the needy.

4. Help people to attain wellness in body mind and soul.

5. Educate people about God and His creation, teaching people to read, write and reason to the glory of God.

God wants you to be in a church for the following reasons-

1. He has ordained the local church as the means of His grace for you (1Peter 4:10).

2. It is only through the local church that you can obey the imperatives for following Christ as listed in Romans 12:9-21.

3. By serving in the local church God is able to fashion you into the likeness of His Servant-Son (Matt. 20:28)

4. It is only through the local church that God has decreed for you to be equipped for works of leadership (Eph. 4:11-13).

5. By you prioritising your fellowship to be in Sunday worship with your local church you are part of a glorious witness that God is using to reveal Himself to the world (Eph. 3:10).

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

See you Sunday.

Ps. Andrew

YOU SMELL!

You smell and you smell. You do both. It seems we nearly all prefer pleasant fragrances. This preference was demonstrated when each of my three daughters were young. On an excursion into town, they always wanted to detour into Myer making a bee-line for the Perfume section. Newly fragranced, they would tell me, "Just like the models Daddy!" 

¶ But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.2Cor. 2:14 

I say "nearly all" prefer pleasant fragrances because I'm not sure about some teenage boys. They've even coined a word to celebrate their mutual gagging: "getawiffofthis".

to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?2Cor. 2:16 

God has created us to see, hear, express, touch and smell. Great artists have painted portrayals of God's works and glory. Great musicians have written songs that have melodiously captured God's heart in lyrics. Great sculpturers and architects have given us objects and buildings to touch which salute God's grandeur. But I cannot think of one Christian Perfumer. Strange. Especially considering the detail of how God Himself wanted to be portrayed to the world. Each of the Old Testament aspects of the Tabernacle and its ceremonies reflect the visual beauty, the tactile grace, the audible magnificence and the 'sweet smelling aromas' associated with thoughts of God and His works.

And Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it. Every morning when he dresses the lamps he shall burn it, and when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it, a regular incense offering before the LORD throughout your generations.
Exodus 30:7-8

Each of us apparently has a detectable smell. Search and Rescue dogs use this for our advantage. God has designed us to emit a visual, audible, tactile, and fragrant impression. Our desire to smell pleasant is a testimony to this deep seated reminder of our first parents' Eden experience within each of us. When we think of Eden we might be preoccupied with the sights of the magnificent garden, animals, and pollution-free skies - or the sounds of friendly and tame animals, birds, insects. But how many of us wonder about how it would have smelt?

And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Ephesians 5:2 

There was once a man in a small town who loved his glass-house roses. Locals always knew he had just been with someone or in their home. His scent lingered. Long after he was gone the smell of rose would cause a local to fondly remember. 

his shoots shall spread out;
his beauty shall be like the olive,
and his fragrance like Lebanon.Hosea 14:6 

Christ has a fragrance. Those who spend time with Him end up smelling of His fragrance. This aroma is spiritually detectable. Even though people spiritually smell Christ's fragrance on us, to some it is what the Apostle Paul called "the aroma of death" because Christ smells so opposite to the fragrance of the sin which they love. Yet to some who seek to be delivered from their sin and its eternal penalty, it is "the aroma of life"

For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?
Second Corinthians 2:15-16

Some people, after they've gone, leave a fragrance behind that lasts for years - sometimes decades. Their life was lived with such dignity and service to others that their fragrance still freshens our world even after centuries have passed. Their generosity leaves a legacy that is fragrant for centuries and in the case of the Philippian believers - for millennia!

I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.
Philippians 4:18

I don't like to take out of Scripture what was never put there in the first place, so I beg your forgiveness for what I am about to do. If we were to understand the Song of Solomon to be a picture of Christ and His Church (which it is not, but indulge me for a moment), it is a tender moment when the two lovers in this song describe each other as much by the fragrances as they do by their appearances. Who you are on the inside, emits a 'fragrance'. The repentant, prayerful, follower of Christ emits a fragrance every time they pray that only Heaven can smell. These prayers fill Heaven with a delightful scent described metaphorically as, "incense". 

And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
Revelation 5:8

THE FRAGRANCE OF EASTER

Easter has such a fragrance. You can smell it. Don't confuse the smell of Easter eggs and hot-cross buns with the real smell of Easter. Breath in the ancient-but-still-fresh fragrance of Easter and you'll detect the finest fragrance the world has ever hosted. It's the fragrance of unconditional love and undeserved forgiveness. It's the smell of Jesus of Nazareth - the One who gave His life to offer the world this love and forgiveness. If you experience Him, you smell different - both what you can smell and what you smell of. I hope you smell this Easter.

¶ Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table.
Matthew 26:6-7

The irony of the Passion Week culminating in the Cross is that the One who was saturated in expensive perfume was the same One who was spat at, punched repeated so that His features were marred, and His back ripped to shreds. He would be spiked to a rough, blood-stained, cross as a bloodied, putrid, near-butchered barely recognisable man. Yet. After the stenchifying work of sin had done its best at transforming the Sinless One into its complete embodiment, His true fragrance was soon smelt again but this time surprisingly it had grown sweeter. This is the fragrance of Easter. It's the fragrance of lives transformed. It's the fragrance of the guilty being acquitted. It's the fragrance of the hopeless being granted undeserved hope. And every time a sinner is found by the Saviour, the fragrance grows sweeter still. You can smell it.

Ps. Andrew

The Search For Significance DVD Series - Special Offer

THE SEQUEL TO PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

We all love Pride and Prejudice. I don't mean the lesser known Jane Austin's version! When our original fore-father chose autonomy ("I'll do what I want to do!") rather than what The Maker told him to do, he doomed us all with a genetic code of pride and prejudice. As a result, all of us are controlled by our pride and our prejudice. This mercilessly robs and cruelly deceives us. While Adam wrote the original Pride and Prejudice, Jesus wrote the sequel... 

Pride and prejudice led man to lose his true connection with God, with others, with nature and even with himself. Pride still ruins our ability to be honest. Prejudice ruins our openness to learn from others. We now live in a world and among people who are ruled by their pride and by their prejudice. Human pride and prejudices causes terrible damage. It prevents a parent from listening to their frustrated child. It prevents a husband from hearing his wife. It prevents a man from being shown a better way by a younger man. 

But the sequel Jesus has written completely undoes the damage wrought by pride and prejudice. His sequel is called Humility and Honour. It causes a person to consider someone's criticism. It helps a person to applaud someone achieving better results than them. It empowers a wife to apologise to her husband. 

In the script of pride and prejudice we justify our rebellion. The genetic script tricks us into being overly-independent. In pride and prejudice the hero is always right. In the sequel, the story is quite different. The script of humble and honour has a different plot. It's hero is Jesus who was the perfect example of humility and honour. 

Which script are you using for your life? The free and easy script of pride and prejudice prevents a person from achieving their best. Christ's script of humble and honour gives a person the best means of dealing with difficult people, difficult situations, and difficult challenges. 

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Matthew 11:29

If you choose to live your life from the script of humility and honour you will stand out as someone peculiar. This world doesn't honour the humble. But Christ does. And that's all that really matters. 

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
"I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite.
Isaiah 57:15

The next you are tempted to react in pride when someone is trying to teach you something, read from Christ's sequel instead, and try humility. When you're tired and don't feel like you can keep giving, read from Christ's sequel and consider the One who went all the way to the Cross.

Ps. Andrew

REPAIRING RELATIONSHIPS

"Woops! It broke. Never mind, I'll get another one." We live in a throw away society. Electronic stores often have "recycle bins" for cell-phones that just a few years ago cost a week's wages to buy and are now considered worthless. When I was growing up as a boy there were "Repair agents" who would fix broken appliances. Not today. We just throw them away and get another one. We are losing the art of repairing. I don't really care about dodgy toasters or kettles, but I do care about the things that are priceless which breakdown and are too easily thrown away. Some of you are in broken relationships and you need repairing.

A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city,
and quarreling is like the bars of a castle.
Proverbs 18:19

We maintain our gardens, our cars, our machinery, and even our health, but all too often neglect our relationships. The busyness of life, the demands of work, the responsibilities we carry, the financial pressures we face, all undermine our most important relationships unless we take counter-measures to maintain them. The word, repair comes from the Old French re-parare which meant to take back to readiness. In this sense, repairing is the initial stage of maintenance. But as many parents discover, getting back to a harmonious relationship with your child is not an easy matter if the brokenness has gone on urepaired for a while. Any husband can tell you that repairing a broken marriage can be more difficult than scaling to the pinnacle of a great mountain bare-foot. Repairing is a skill, an art, an often elusive hope.

And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the Repairer of The Breach,
the restorer of streets to dwell in.
Isaiah 58:12

Jesus knows a thing or two about brokenness and repairing. The Prophet Isaiah foretold of Him as 'The Repairer of The Breach' having just prophesied of Him in very rich symbolic language, 'a bruised reed He will not break' (Isa. 53). Who can not be moved deeply when reading of the Christ's final moments on the cross when He felt for the first and only time in all eternity a break in His fellowship with His Father. The immense pain of the breakage caused Him to cry out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" And this highlights an oft misunderstood aspect of relationship breakdowns: it's rarely the relationship that breaks first - it's always the fellowship that is broken first. Your relationship with you parents, your children, your spouse, will always be - but when there is no investment of time together, talking, sharing, listening, caring, helping, your fellowship with the one you are related to will suffer. 

God has given us each the marvellous opportunity of both relating and fellowshiping with others. We are created to do so. Isolate a person from others and you injure their soul. God created each one of us for a primary relationship with Him from which we are designed to enjoy our most satisfying fellowship. From this centre, we are created to relate and fellowship with others to lessening degrees. The first relationship that the Creator ordained for mankind to enjoy beyond his relationship with God, was a relationship and fellowship with his spouse. "God brought the woman to the man." This first marriage was to be the model from which all subsequent marriages would follow. What God had been to Adam, Adam could now, to some extent, be to Eve. This marriage union was meant to show Adam and Eve the richness of the eternal relationship and fellowship that God Himself enjoyed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our most significant relationships are meant to be our richest.

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:17-19

God is the ultimate relationship. His eternal fellowship has never been broken, except once. And the reason it was broken then is the same reason it continues to be broken for others today. Jesus experienced the forsaking of His Father while on the cross. (Forsaking involves ceasing to listen, refusal to answer, being absent.) The Father forsook His Son because Jesus became what the Father can not accommodate: sin (2Cor. 5:21). And neither can you and I. When someone sins against us they break their fellowship with us and damage our relationship with them. 

Consider the Trinity (the Ultimate Relationship). It is a relationship that is noted for two goals. Firstly, each member of the Trinity is committed to the glory God. Secondly, the way they glorify God is characterised by holiness. "Holiness" sounds like a boring religious word reserved for monk types. But in reality, holiness is the only means of our greatest delights and pleasure. We are created in the image of a holy God to be holy. And not until a married couple realise that God has gifted mankind with marriage for the same two goals- to glorify God, and to grow in holiness. 

But sin is the opposite of holiness. Sin robs a person of being able to give God glory. Sin prevents a person from reaching their potential because it denies a person the beauty and power of holiness. The holiest people are the happiest people. Similarly the unholiest people are the unhappiest people. God gifted marriage to mankind, not for our happiness (the fruit of holiness) but so that a person might more completely glorify God and attain holiness. Marriage as God intended is for your holiness not your happiness. Repairing a marriage means getting back to these two foundational goals. It's the same for repairing any relationship - i) commit your life to living for God's glory and ii) pursue holiness.

¶ Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.
Hebrews 12:14

If you are married, these are the goals for your marriage (God's glory and your holiness). Your job is to help your spouse to give God the greatest glory and deepen their holiness. This is why us husbands should always take the lead in repairing our marriages. We repair intimacy with our wife when we give her attention, listen (actively, reactively and responsively) apologise for the disappointments we have caused, relearn what she wants from us, and take steps to meet her needs (even though they sound like "wants"). Marriages need constant repairing. But it's not just marriages that need repairing. Friendships, brothers, sisters, parents, children, all need repairing.

For any relationship to be repaired, sin must be dealt with. When someone has been sinned against, this sin must be atoned for. If you steal someone's TV, you can atone for it by either returning it or replacing it - and then apologising before asking for forgiveness. You may not have 'stolen' something from the one you're now estranged with, but the principle is still the same: i) You put it right, ii) You apologise (feel the pain you have caused and express regret for that injury), iii) Seek forgiveness. This requires an essential element in the repairing process that is extremely difficult: humility. Of course, each of us need our fellowship with God repaired. We may not have stolen God's TV, but each of us have violated our sacred mandate to bear His image when we lust, covet, hate, blaspheme, or make other things a higher priority than Him. But unlike a stolen TV we can't put these things right with God by returning them to Him. This is why our own efforts - even our own religious efforts - are utterly useless to repair our relationship with God. We need The Repairer of The Breach to take our sin, guilt and shame and bear our penalty. What love! What grace!

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride...
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
Isaac Watts, 'When I Survey', 1707

No matter how damaged your relationship is, it can be repaired. Jesus is still The Repairer of The Breach. Look to Him. See His humility in enduring the Cross. Notice His passion for the glory of God and holiness. This is why being in church for worship (giving God glory) and the instruction of the Word (our holiness) is indispensable for our fellowship with God. Like any of our relationships, it is from this basis that we draw the grace to repair all of our other relationships.

Ps. Andrew

What if?

We all do it. Those of us who are prone to make more mistakes than a reasonable person's allowance tend to 'what if' more than most. Due to my my hightened gift of hindsight I indulge frequently in "what if" moments with the adjoining words, "what if I had only..." These whatiferisms are nearly always in a regretful, reflective, nostalgic tone. But what if we looked forward rather than back? What if we dared to dream more than we regretted? What if we took steps to go where we could go rather than pouting about where we can't? What if?

Surely there is a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.
Proverbs 23:18

Rather than, "What if I had only..." and regretting that I cannot change the past, what if I embraced this amazing gift that God has given each one of us: and change our future? None of us has the power to change the our past, but we each have the power to change our future!

Remember not the former things,
nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:18-19

Rather than, "What if I had only done it this way?", I began to look forward and start asking different question: "What if I will take the necessary steps to achieve this dream?" "What if I will do what has to be done to ensure that I'm no longer haunted by the past?" "What if I will pray bigger, bolder, more outrageously glorious prayers?" (Eph. 3:20 ¶ "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")Then how different might my future look compared with my past?

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

What if I will refuse to accept that my past necessarily has to be the only thing that defines my future? What if we as a church began to pray together as if we really believed the hope that Ephesians 3:20 presents to us - that our God is able to do far more abundantly than anything we could ask for, think or imagine? What if?

¶ And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
Revelation 21:5 

Ps. Andrew

WHAT MOST IN THE MEDIA DON'T KNOW ABOUT MARRIAGE

I've been Marriage Celebrant for over two decades. I've also been married for nearly three decades. I understand about marriage - both legally, and emotionally. When I hear the 'arguments' put forward for redefining marriage I find it frustrating that what is often just sound-bites and slogans goes almost completely unchallenged by those in the media. Here's some things that most in Media do not know about marriage.

WHAT PROPONENTS OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGE WANT. . .

Proponents of Same Sex Marriage (“SSM”) are passionate about equality, tolerance and respect for all people. They are deeply hurt by the attitudes of others who are too often unkind toward them. Sometimes those who defend the institution of marriage as exclusively being the union of a man and woman, do so in an ungracious and aggressive manner.

Legislatively redefining marriage to encompass same-sex couples is also a powerful statement that is hoped to bring a sense of validation and endorsement to those who currently feel deprived of this. In this sense, SSM is as much a statement of our society’s value of equality, tolerance, fairness, non-discrimination, and inclusiveness. In fact, arguably, this is actually what SSM is fundamentally about. And because any decent, civilised society is so – because those values are at their core – it sounds hateful, intolerant, and bigoted, if anyone in that society opposes this highly symbolic legislative statement!

THE INTENT OF MARRIAGE. . .
But the Institution of Marriage was never intended to be a symbolic ambassador for any political agenda. Neither was it meant to be a government’s – or even a society’s – endorsement of a couple. The government has no interest in its citizens’ various social partnerships – none! You can form a partnership with a fishing buddy, a tennis doubles partner, a car-pooling colleague, and the government has no interest. But when two people intend to form an exclusive, life-long union with the aim of having and/or raising children, the government and society has learned that it must take an interest. This type of union must have individuals (not couples, for the Marriage Act can only apply to individuals) comply with the Act’s five criteria in order for the marriage to proceed (The five criteria necessary for proceeding with a marriage are summed up in the acronym, GRAPE -Gender, Relationship, Age, Person, Eligibility). This interest is designed to protect those who are historically the most vulnerable to abuse – women and children – and this is one of the two reasons why Governments have any interest in regulating marriage in the first place. And in doing so, Legislators did not have to define marriage – they simply describedit and reflected what is the case in reality, that as a group, as a rule, and by nature, it requires the literal wedding (a biological term – not a ceremonial term) of a man and a woman for a child to result. And all the social data states that a child is raised best when raised in a loving home by their married mother and father (cf. Children In Three Contexts in the Journal: Australian Children Vol. 21, No. 3, pp. 23–31).

THE NATURE OF MARRIAGE. . .
An essential social ingredient in this parenting union has long been observed: that this union provide that highest form of emotional security for each other and their children whom they birth and raise. This union derives its maximum effectiveness when the individuals entering into the marriage union do so voluntarily, to the exclusion of all others, for life, with a view to having and/or raising their children. This is not so much the definition of marriage as it is the description of marriage. Thus, marriage does not submit to redefinition – in much the same way that a shape doesn’t either. A circle is not a circle because it has been defined that way. Things like circles are best described rather than vainly attempting to arbitrarily define them. Any effort to redefine what a circle should now be is completely disregarded by the circle. Marriage is something. It does not invite redefining.

CONCERNS INDIVIDUALS NOT COUPLES. . .
Marriage doesn’t grant anything to couples – rather, it requires something of individualsand these requirements are applied equally, fairly, and justly, to every individual (irregardless of gender or orientation). Marriage is not the privilege granted to lovers. Two individuals can love each other without the regulatory consent of Government. In fact, there is no mention of love being a pre-requisite for marriage in the Marriage Act (although love is usually the vowed subsequent responsibility of those who marry). The idea that just because two people love each other they should be allowed to marry and similarly to forbid them this “right”, is to “treat certain people unfairly” is a furphy of enormous magnitude – because this is neither the criteria now, nor even the existing rightof a man and woman who do. This argument for SSM is a classic ‘Straw-man’ argument.

We want everyone in our society to be treated fairly, equally, and appropriately and not to be subjected to hate or spiteful intolerance. But politicising marriage and treating it as political tokenism is not the means to this end. We do not need to endorse the politicising of marriage in this way for these values to be demonstrated in our society.

Dr. Andrew Corbett
Legana, Tasmania