MARGINS...
The Art of Margining...
Have you noticed that nearly all books have margins? Why is it that publishers don't print books with the text right up to the edge of the page? It's because margins enhance text. Have a look at really effective billboards. They are as much about margins of space as they are about the message. In fact, the margin forms an integral part of the message. The margins of your life are not wasted space. They help to define you.
Accountants advise their clients to build margins into their business. Financial advisors help people to see the need to live with a margin through savings and wise investments. Physical trainers develop their athletes with a margin of physical conditioning. Margins are healthy.Margins are times of quiet. Margins are free spaces. Margins are reserves. Margins are moments of retreat. Margins are times of rest.
The more important something is, the greater the margin required. Every publisher employs this principle in their books. Highly important books have wider margins. Each new chapter in a book commences with a much larger top margin. Every title page of a book has the largest margins.Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God...
The world calls its foot-soldiers to "live on the edge". We are constantly being bombarded with noise, materialistic idolatry, rubbish that is marketed as "news" on tap 24 hours a day, portable distraction units that ironically get marketed with the prefix "i".
John 6:15 ¶ Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.Living with a margin means saying "no". Margin living people do a few things. On the edge people fill their page. Thinking about how Jesus chose to live out His incarnation, we see that He often withdrew (Matt. 4:12; 12:15; 14:13; 15:21; Luke 9:10; 22:41). Fancy that! The One who would capture the attention of the world did not make the attention of the world His aim. We also remember Jesus resting, sleeping even, when those around Him were distressed. We see Jesus living with a great margin. Of course, it is the margin of Christ's life that makes His life message all the more sublime and singularly outstanding.
For some people, their life is just a margin with no text. But this kind of margin is no margin at all. It is a blank page. For some people, God has blessed them with a large page. It may appear that there is a lot of text on the page of their life, but the grandness of their life's text is enhanced by an appropriately elegant margin that many other large pagers consider to be a waste.Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Being a part of a God-worshiping, God-adoring, God-honouring, Word-enriched, faith-community is a part of building a margin into our lives. Attending congregational worship on Sundays is building a margin around our lives. It might look like a waste of time to the world. It may even seem like an unimportant priority when compared to kids' soccer games, AFL matches, car races, which coincide with it. But it is a necessary margin for the believer. No wonder the god of this world wants to keep the people of God from weekly re-establishing this vital margin.Col. 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Families need margins. The evening dinner table is a wonderful margin-builder for families. Marriages need margins. Sometimes another person trespasses into a marriage margin which is an indication that someone in the marriage didn't understand that marriage margins are not just about space but are also about boundaries. Margins help to heal marriages because breaches of trust and the pain that comes from being reminded of them are put on the other side of the margin where the hurt spouse refuses to allow the memory of the hurt past the margin. Business people need margins to know when work and business stops. We all need margins to build reserves of strength, resources, wisdom, and fellowship.
Ps. AndrewFather, help us to build healthy margins around and in our lives. Help us to build practical margins of fitness, finances, and faith. Help us to build spiritual margins of prayer, study, fellowship. Help us to build marriage margins where we set space for each other and boundaries to protect each other. Help us as a church to build margins of praise, silence, reflection, and prayerfulness. May these margins make our lives clearer; our souls stronger; our marriages more fulfilling; and our church more relevant. In Jesus' Name, Amen.Eph. 3:21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
The Epistle To The Hebrews warns its readers that certain ideas are incredibly spiritually destructive. The language of Hebrews is bold and strong. At times it is offensive to those who have the idea that Christianity is not about holy living ("Legalism!" they protest) or devotion to Biblical teaching. Offensive? Indeed! The unnamed writer to the Hebrews scolds his countrymen for being too easily swayed by false teaching. He pastorally urges them to use discernment which comes from correct understanding of Scripture, rejection of false ideas about Scripture and the application of Scripture leading to holy living.
The Epistle to the Hebrews is set against the backdrop of false teaching about Christ which had been gaining an increasing foot-hold among Jewish Christians. The writer to the Hebrews puts first things first:correctly understand Who Jesus is and What He has done. Get these two aspects wrong and your soul is in peril because it inevitably leads to unholy living (sin) and forsaking the truth.
The need for discernment by Christians is critical. The Epistle to the Hebrews stresses this. There are so many false teachers with growing platforms that reiterate the spiritually toxic venom of the Edenic Serpent- "Has God said...?" - undermining the Word of God and its teaching; and, "You shall not die!" - making a mockery of the consequences of unholy living and calling immorality "outdated". The writer to the Hebrews has some stern and strong words to say about this type of attack on sound Biblical teaching. But it takes discernment to sometimes hear the error behind sometimes seemingly plausible sounding "Christian" teaching. Asking the questions- "Where does the Bible say that?" and "Is that how the original audience of this Text would have understood it?" Just these two questions can help modern followers of Christ increase their discernment skills.
The local church is God's ordained plan for Christian community. "...not neglecting to meet together..." the simple act of meeting together to worship in singing, communion, and prayer, while giving heed to the preaching of God's Word, is designed by God to advance the growth of believers and to extend His Kingdom.
The Enemy sows discord. Discord between the believer and God. Discord between the believer and a fellow believer. Discerning the schemes of the Enemy and clinging to the Word of God, the House of God, and Ways of God, helps to guard against such discord. This is why the next time you hear a teaching that unsettles you, ask the Lord to help you discern it. Ask God to protect your mind, your soul and your closeness to Christ. When you hear a teaching that claims that teaching is wrong, discern the irony of such a claim and consult the Word of God to see if it lines up. Anytime anyone teaches the Bible, ask the two primary discerning questions- "Where does it say that" And, "Is that what this text in context really says?"
Christianity is principally a Charismatic religion. It is supernatural, spiritual, miraculous, and mysterious. These are words that sum up 'charismatic' which comes from the Greek word- "charis" which is most often translated 'grace'. Therefore, Christianity is principally a religion of grace. This makes Christianity unique among the world's religions.
Jesus spoke with the deepest respect about the Holy Spirit. In John 3 He said that it was the Holy Spirit who brought salvation to a human soul. In doing this the Holy Spirit removes an unbelieving heart and replaces it with the gift of a believing heart. He takes out the still-born spirit of a person and replenishes it with a God-enriched new spirit. He removes God-hating sinful desires and plants in their place the seeds of God-honouring desires. At first, Jesus said, the Holy Spirit would confront people. They would immediately recognise what they had previously been blinded to - their true condition before God. Jesus referred to this as conviction of sin. Without this initiation, the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit could not commence.
History cetainly verifies what Christ stated. From the mighty Medieval Italian street-preaching evangelist, Savonarola, to the great English outdoor preacher, John Wesley, to the erudite Australian public theologian and one of the greatest preachers of all time, F.W. Boreham, to the history-making American preacher, Billy Graham - the Holy Spirit has un-arrested the most unlikely people and set them ablaze with a holy passion for the Cause of Christ.
Each Sunday night we meet to pray for the people of the Tamar Valley to have the Holy Spirit blow upon them. And from George Town to Youngtown He is! We now have people from all over the Tamar Valley experiencing the breeze of the Holy Spirit across their souls. Every Sunday new attenders are drawn to our worship services with an alien curiosity about the things of God. As the Holy Spirit continues to blow across the formerly dead spirits of those He has wooed we can expect that the Unstoppable Spirit of God will ignore devilish, carnal pleas to desist, and will continue to interrupt people's lives with His saving grace.
The problem I have with discussing eating to be nourished is that it is such a foreign concept to most of us. Most of the time my eating is for pleasure rather than nourishment. While I've fasted a day here and there recently and experienced mild tummy grumbling, the notion of what two-thirds of the world calls "hunger" is largely an alien concept. But if I can be allowed the forgiveness to discuss the need for 'nourishment' I should like to draw from what our bodies may experience to what our soul's need.
Our souls need nourishment even more than our bodies do. A malnourished body can be dramatically revitalised by nourishment as Jonathan's was when he ate the honey that his father had banned his starving troops from eating while in long pursuit. Then Jonathan said, "My father has troubled the land. See how my eyes have become bright because I tasted a little of this honey (1Sam. 14:29). Jonathan's weary body was nourished and restored from eating wild honey. A nourished soul is a restored soul. In Psalm 23, David describes God as restoring souls ("He restores my soul...") and concludes with a picture of God's restoration of a soul as a banquet table set to to nourish ("You prepare a table before me...my cup overflows..."). Souls need nourishing.
Jesus knew how to nourish His soul. The way He did it was almost counter-intuitive. Do you know how to nourish your soul?
God is the only true Source of our soul's nourishment. Our spiritual fellowship with Him is the only sustainable means of finding nourishment. And there is much that connects our soul with Him - such as wonder at His creation, admiration of what He has inspired. I know of a man who would go to an art gallery each week and sit for an hour or so in front of a painting which the artist had done to the glory of God. This man found his soul nourished as a result. 
My hero, F.W. Boreham, had an interesting approach to proving God to unbelievers. He warned believers not to expend too much of their efforts attempting to prove God to a skeptic. Rather, he wrote, believers were more likely to be apologetically fruitful if they talked about God, who He was, what He had done, what He was doing. In fact, FWB wrote toward the end of his life that if he had his time over again as a preacher he would preach more about God than anything else.
Boreham argued that "proving" something that was obvious, could actually cause doubt about it. For example, imagining entering a majestic cathedral. The architecture is inspired by God's majestic transcendence. Its lofty ceilings, its tall stained glass windows, its artistically Biblical wall hangings, and its glorious timber beam trusses, all create a wonderful ambience for admiring the God Who rules the Universe. The Dean of the Cathedral, in the course of the worship service, may even draw the worshipers' attention to these elements of the old building. He may point out that the central part of the ceiling is dome-like and designed to point the worshiper to heaven. He may point to the very front of the Cathedral, the Chancel, to remind worshipers that we must draw near to God by means of approaching an sacrificial altar. But, if these objects and fixtures are pointed out in a cold fashion, their meaning is somewhat diminished.
But if the Ministering Dean was to go to great lengths to assure the gathered worshipers that the building they were in was "safe" and that there was no need to fear that the great timber beams they were gathered under would fall on their heads, and then proceeded to go to even greater lengths to describe in detail the material contained in the foundations of the Cathedral, he may actually be introducing an element of doubt into the minds of his listeners that was previously not there.
Instead, FWB encouraged, the believer was more likely to achieve their goal of helping seekers to believe if they spoke more of the One they believed in. By helping the visitor to use the Cathedral's majesty to help them worship the One the Cathedral was dedicated to, they could more likely help the seeker meet with God.
There are good reasons to believe in God and equally good proofs for Him, but the danger is that we spend more time proving our proofs than introducing the One we are proving to the one who is seeking. Once introduced to God, the unbeliever-turned-believer can now appreciate the proofs for God - in a similar way that a worshiper more likely appreciates a Cathedral and its sacred fixtures when they are experiencing it.
Of all the glorious things to which our Lord could have compared Himself, among other things He identified Himself with "bread". In fact, Jesus spoke of bread quite often. He said we should ask God for it daily. He said children should expect it from their fathers. And on that night when eternity intersected with time, He took bread and broke it, and said, "This is my body."
The resultant flour must then be mixed with oil. The anointing of the Holy Spirit is described in Scripture as being like "oil" poured over a person. As Christ entered Gethsemane, I suspect the anointing of the Holy Spirit "increased" upon Him. But this is not when He initially experienced the Holy Spirit. Clearly the Spirit was in Him from His conception in much the same way that we who are born again receive the indwelling Spirit of Life. But it was at Christ's baptism that the Spirit came upon Him. In a similar way we are saved when the Holy Spirit comes into us, but we are empowered by the Holy Spirit when He comes upon us. This is the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. For the flour to become bread, it has to have some oil poured over it then mixed into it. We too must have the Holy Spirit infuse every part of us. He renews our minds, cleanses our hearts, opens our ears, enlightens our eyes, fills our mouths. It is the Holy Spirit who causes us to bear fruit (Galatians 5) and enables us share our Lord's Word with the world.
What was once a single grain of wheat is now fused with inumerous other former grains into a new identity. In a similar way, the believer can not remain just a solo believer. He must be kneeded into the dough to become a part of a local body of believers which is ultimately kneeded into Christ Himself. Of course this kneeding process rubs us the 'wrong way'. We struggle to get along with people. We take offence. We experience pain from others. We all too easily yield to the temptation to withdraw and do Christianity on our own. But the wheat must be harvested, sifted (with its chaff burned), ground to flour, mixed with oil, salted, and kneeded together, to be transformed into what our Lord desires.
The next time you hear the words declared over the Table of the Lord, "and He took bread", pause to consider the impact of what our Lord is telling us. In this moment, consider that He, The Bread of Life, The Bread That Came Down From Heaven, calls us to be bread as well. This is one of the reasons why we take the time and especially why we take our time, to celebrate the Table of the Lord each week. For us this reminder is also an act of worship. It is not just a reminder of what Christ has done for us, but it is a reminder of what He is doing in us. As He declares to us, "take eat", He is transforming us into His bread and He is calling a hungry world to His table to "take eat".
In the 1930s two men had a very public stand off. One was a soldier turned political leader, the other a pastor-theologian. As Adolf Hitler incited hatred, German church leaders stood idly by. Except one. His senior churchmen colleagues oft repeated the false mantra "Christianity has nothing to do with Politics!" They refused to withstand the leader of the Nazi Party as he began the systematic persecution of Jews, Gypsies, and Evangelicals. All the while, these fellow churchmen hid behind a veil of what they called "the Gospel" which they claimed had no bearing on how political leaders behaved toward their people.
But Dietrich Bonhoeffer saw things completely differently. He understood that the Gospel of Christ not only saved a soul but also salted a society with goodness for the benefit of all people. This stand eventually cost the young pastor his life after Hitler ordered him imprisoned and eventually executed just two days before World War Two ended. In the meantime, Bonhoeffer preached, wrote, went on radio, decrying the growing influence of the Nazi Party and its leader. After the War, one church leader regretfully said something like this, "When Hitler was killing Gypsies, we said nothing. When he started killing Jews, we said nothing. Then when he started killing us, it was too late."
This past week, many of us gathered at the University of Tasmania to defend the Institution of Marriage. I had the difficult task of sharing with a frequently heckling audience why Marriage was only between a man and a woman. I gave reasons why Marriage is not merely defined as being between a man and a woman, it is describedas being between a man and a woman. I showed that despite the Homosexual Lobby's claim that the current understanding of Marriage was "discriminatory", in actuallity, it treated all people equally without discriminating against any segment of society. Campbell Markham spoke from a Christian perspective and showed that far from Marriage being a political issue which was a distraction to the church preaching the Gospel, Marriage and the Gospel were inseparable. He showed that the New Testament teaches that Marriage is a demonstration of the relationship that Christ has with His people (Ephesians 5). Marriage therefore is a gift from God which serves to picture how God relates to people. Marriage is therefore a picture of the Gospel. Therefore, rather than being a political side-issue it is actually front and centre to the Gospel! Our third speaker, Senator GuyBarnett spoke about why Marriage is not only an Institution - it is a "bedrock" Institution that best protects the welfare of a soceity especially children within that society.
Paul wrote to the Romans, who dwelt in the city where the seat of power for the Roman Empire was, that they should challenge the sexual deviancy of their city. He particularly mentioned homosexuality-
This would have been particularly courageous for the Roman Church since the then Emperor, Nero, was a flagrant homosexual. The great Apostle didn't see it as merely a matter of sexual preference, he identified that what was at the heart of homosexality was idolatry - the rejection of otherness and the worship of sameness. "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator" (Romans 1:25). Paul didn't excuse idolatry because its practitioners were non-Christians (I'm actually not sure that there is such a thing as a "Christian" idolater). Many people within the church falsely think that God does not expect people in the world to obey Him! But Paul didn't stop at calling non-Christians to repentance. He said that if Christians didn't challenge such sexual deviancy in their society there were approving of such things and therefore equally as guilty as committing them! (Romans 1:32)
There is a type of ugly political engagement that Church has been guilty of. It is an engagement where the Church tries to run government, rather than saltgovernment. I am not advocating that the Church runs a State. But the idea that the Church should just operate only within its four walls and only between the hours of 10AM to 12noon each Sunday is entirely devilish. The Apostle Paul was told by Christ to minister to "Kings", "Governors" and "Rulers". 
I was grateful for the many wellwishes I received after speaking at this event. Each time I take on one of these presentations to a potentially hostile audience, I am told that I am courageous, or brave. While I appreciate the unwarranted compliment, I am in a way saddened by it also because it paints public Christian engagement in the political/societal arena as the domain for only a few of us. But Christianity generally requires courage. That is, to be a Christian is to be a public witness. We should not be intimidated by the threats and rantings of people who vehemently oppose us for challenging their idolatry. Neither should we be intimidated by the internal threats that come from well-meaning brothers who say, as they said to Bonhoeffer, "Christianity has nothing to do with politics!" Of course they may word it cleverly in a form such as, "Surely the Church has bigger fish to fry than getting embroiled in this political debate about Gay Marriage?" But don't be fooled. It's not merely politics that's in play here. There is a profound and fierce spiritual battle going on over the souls of men. Every time we speak up for something (such as marriage, sexual purity, or family values) we must, I repeat must, in effect being against something. This is not being "negative", it is in reality being the most positive.
I was stoking the embers of our overnight fire the other morning and once again reflected on church. In a similar way, church is like these embers in my fireplace. In the morning I take the lightly glowing coals and move them into a pile together. The result is that they once again catch aflame. Once alight, it becomes appropriate to put some more kindling and wood on it. But if there was no flame, the extra wood would only be singed rather than burnt. Can you see how this is like church?
But consider what happens to the wood in the fire-box. In order for the wood to become a burning coal, it must be transformed. When we come to Christ He doesn't leave us the way we came in. He transforms us. The flame of His Spirit begins to burn in our hearts. The wood has to give up something though. When we come to Christ, we also have to give up something. The wood lays down it's identity in order to be in a life-giving flame. We have to lay down our identities as selfish sinners and take on a new identity as followers of Christ.
Over the twenty years I have now been pastoring (nearly 16 of which has been at Legana) I have observed that people who come to church often get offended by someone within the church. I now wonder if this process of offence is not part of the Holy Spirit's transforming, purifying flame? The Holy Spirit may well be using the hurt, disappointment, and offence from another brother or sister in Christ to change us. How often have I heard the story of someone who has "tried" several churches, come to our church, but then experienced the same kind of hurt and offence which they experienced in their previous churches? In such a scenario, there is only one common factor: them. Could it be that if in every case where a believer feels offended in, or by, a church that it is the same flame of the Holy Spirit seeking to refine them through offensive fire emanating from another 'coal' (read: "believer") in Christ's "firebox"?
I've been trying to imagine what a piece of dried dead wood feels when it is placed in a fire. I guess it experiences instant transformation. I guess it experiences other pieces of wood similarly being transformed. I can imagine that the heat of the flame gradually may even become uncomfortable. But I guess that at some point, the wood comes to enjoy the flame. The wonderful colours it emits! The beautiful benefits of its warmth. Even the aromas of the different woods can be very pleasant. But, the woods would soon realise something. Unless it replenishes, it will die. The fire it has become integrated with, and come to love, must be renewed. More wood is needed. In the same way, a local church must continually strive to reach out to others, and evangelise.
An isolated coal or ember does not enjoy the benefits of community flame. When we come to church, it shouldn't be with the motive, what can this church do for me? But,what can we contribute to each other? This is the lesson of the fire-box: each piece of wood on fire not only benefits the other pieces of wood, but also benefits from the other pieces of wood. Church is like this. Why should you be a part of a church? Because weneed you! Why should you be a part of a church? Because you need us.
The next time you sense yourself becoming isolated ask God to use the Holy Spirit in your life like a fire-poker to guide you back to the flame within Christ's fire-box, the local church. If you are already on fire but sense your flame is waning, ask God to use you to bring another to Christ and into His church. If you feel that your spiritual contribution to church is all one way, ask God to use you to be a blessing to even more people within the church. Maybe you've positioned your Christian walk within the fire-box, but intentionally on the outskirts of the fire. This may be like living your Christianity as a Sunday-only church Christian rather than as a two-winged Christian who enjoys the wing of the Sunday gathering of the church and the complementary wing of the small-group-community of the church, where the flame burns brighest.