Christless Christmas and Christless marriage

Christian groups typically invest much effort trying to keep Christ in Christmas or to put him back there.

This is in view of the relentless squeeze from secularism on one side and commercialism on the other.

Why bother?

Why don’t we just walk away from the public festival and leave it to its pagan roots as a solstice festival? (Think Constantine and his reasons for dating the Christmas celebration as he did.)

We can then have a distinctly Christian festival to mark Jesus’ birth, if we so choose, at a time of our choosing.

Let the unbelievers have their ‘Xmas’ and debauch it as they will!

Can this principle be extended to marriage?

In several western countries the fundamental Christian character of marriage is being undermined by easy divorce on the one hand and permission of homosexual marriage on the other hand. Thus Christians may find themselves hand in hand on the marriage register with persons of multiple marriage partners and with same-sex partners.

Once again, Christian groups invest much energy trying to preserve or restore the basically Christian character of marriage. Is it worth it?

What would happen if Christians simply opted out from the legal marriage system? Why not start a register of Christian marriages which is kept by the churches (as in previous times) and then have Christian couples register a civil union with the government for the sake of orderly property etc matters?

Let the unbelievers have ‘marriage’ and debauch it as they will!

Let Christians be Christians and the world be the world!

The Test

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realise that Christ Jesus is in you – unless of course you fail the test. (2 Cor 13:5)

Some in our congregation have the habit of a personal AGM to examine themselves before God. Here are some questions that can be used ….
Do I trust the mercies of God in Christ for my salvation or do I still try and impress God with my goodness?

Am I listening to God by regular deep reading of Scripture and meditation on it?

Am I talking to God in regular, deep and varied kinds of prayer?

Do I depend on God to meet my needs and bring them to him in prayer?

Am I turning my profession of faith into good works by doing what God says?

Do I act on the great commandment by loving God with all I am all the time and in all parts of life and do I love my neighbour, my enemy and strangers?

Do I play my part in the great commission by showing and sharing my faith on a personal level through involvement in some kind of outreach ministry?

Do I serve by giving generously of my time talents and treasure?

Do I allow others to serve me?

Am I transparent and accountable to at least one other person who is able and willing to ‘tell it like it is’?

Which of the above areas most needs my attention now and what will I do about it?

These questions useful in a year-end time with the Lord. They can also be used to track our progress or regress: ask if you are showing more or less of these qualities as time passes.

Let’s do as the Scripture says and examine ourselves as to how we are going with the Lord.

POSTSCRIPT: this is my last ministers message as senior minister of Orchard Rd Presbyterian Church Singapore.

God’s Big People – Jesus

When it comes to God’s ‘big’ people there is none bigger than Jesus. And that is why the Bible is centred on him and why the western calendar measures time based on his life.

Jesus is …

• … the son of Adam who alone displayed true humanity and thus was enabled to break the first Adam’s deathly hold and make those who believe into children fit for heaven (Gen 3:15; Rom 5:12; 1 Cor 15:45-49) …

• … the son of Abraham, through whom the promise of a ‘great nation’ was actualised and through whom Jew and non-Jew are alike blessed (Gen 12;1-3; Rom 2;29; 4:12-17) )..

• … the son of David who sits on the long-promised eternal throne (2 Sam 7:12-16; Is 9:6-7; Matt 4:13-16)

• … the virgin’s child who is Immanuel, God with us (Is 7:14; Matt 1:23)

• … the one from little Bethlehem who is Israel’s ancient ruler (Mic 5:2; Mat 2;4-6)

The links roll on and on. In short Jesus is the one in whom all God’s promises are ‘yes’ (2 Cor 1:20). Thus he rightly taught his followers to get into the habit of reading the Old Testament with respect to himself, and especially with regard to his death and resurrection (Lke 24:27; 45-47; Jn 5:39-40).

The centrality of Jesus is why the two major Christian festivals of Christmas and Easter centre on him and on the key events of his incarnation, death and resurrection.

It is also why Jesus is the ground and object of Christian faith, hope and love. Our faith is in his redemptive life and death. Our hope is in his glorious return to usher in the fullness of the kingdom which he inaugurated. Our love arises from his love for us and is expressed to him before our neighbour.

Let’s be sure to keep an uncluttered faith, hope and love in Jesus and Jesus alone as he is the one whose name is given by God as the only means of salvation (Acts 4:12; 1 Tim 2:5).

Let’s use this Christmas to rekindle our focus on Jesus and to help others do the same.

The Test

"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realise that Christ Jesus is in you – unless of course you fail the test." (2 Cor 13:5)

Some in our congregation have the habit of a personal AGM to examine themselves before God. Here are some questions that can be used ….

Do I trust the mercies of God in Christ for my salvation or do I still try and impress God with my goodness?

Am I listening to God by regular deep reading of Scripture and meditation on it?

Am I talking to God in regular, deep and varied kinds of prayer?

Do I depend on God to meet my needs and bring them to him in prayer?

Am I turning my profession of faith into good works by doing what God says?

Do I act on the great commandment by loving God with all I am all the time and in all parts oft life and do I love my neighbour, my enemy and strangers?

Do I play my part in the great commission by showing and sharing my faith on a personal level through involvement in some kind of outreach ministry?

Do I serve by giving generously of my time talents and treasure?

Do I allow others to serve me?

Am I transparent and accountable to at least one other person who is able and willing to ‘tell it like it is’?

Which of the above areas most needs my attention now and what will I do about it?

These questions useful in a year-end time with the Lord. They can also be used to track our progress or regress: ask if you are showing more or less of these qualities as time passes.

Let’s do as the Scripture says and examine ourselves as to how we are going with the Lord.

God’s Big People - David

There are some people whose names keep getting mentioned in the press. They make the headlines and major events cannot be understood without them. They are key to their era or nation.

The Old Testament figure of David is one of these. His rise from shepherd to king fascinates us. Likewise with the rise and rise of his kingdom whose true dimensions are best seen in his son Solomon. His psalms provide a vehicle for our praise, pondering, confession and lament. His sins make us shake our heads as we ourselves in his mirror. The history of kingship in Israel is the story of David.

‘David’ is a big name in the Bible. This continued so 1,000 years after David’s death when Jesus walked our planet. Thus the New Testament has almost 60 references to David. These invariably centre on his kingship and this is what connects him to Jesus.

Let’s listen to a crowd that was hostile to Jesus (Jn 7:41-42). They thought that they where he came from (Nazareth in Galilee). They also knew that the Messiah would come from David’s family and Bethlehem (Mic 5:2). Their logic was simple – the gap between Nazareth and Bethlehem proved that Jesus was not the Messiah. We shake our heads as we read of this for we have Matthew and Luke’s accounts of his Davidic ancestry and Bethlehem birth.

Paul is explicit about Jesus: as to his human nature (he) was a descendant of David (Rom 1:3). The same is reflected in the common Gospel title Son of David.

Jesus’ links to David are significant for our understanding of Jesus and of what God was doing in his advent. Let’s listen to words that a prophet had said to David centuries before:

I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father and he will be my son (2 Sam 7:11b-14).

The coming of Jesus was according to promise and vindicates the faithfulness of God. As for Jesus, he is God’s ruler over God’s people in God’s place. When we submit to the gospel of Jesus we enter God’s kingdom and become heir to its blessings. Of course, we must then give our wholehearted loyalty to Jesus. Even more so than his earlier namesake, Jesus is the king whose worthiness deserves our full loyalty.

Let us celebrate and submit to Jesus who is David’s son and our good king.

The pool of sin

Recently I read Cornelius Plantinga’s well-written chapter on the fall into sin (in ‘Engaging God’s World’).

He is vivid in tracing the dynamic destructiveness and infectiousness of sin.

It was an odd sensation as I read. I was sitting by a hotel swimming pool in the early morning by myself. The water was clear and just right for a swim. The gardens were lush green and well kept. The solitude prompted deep and welcome thoughts. Good friends would soon join me and we would go together for a choice breakfast buffet before returning to the pool.

In short, themes of God’s good creation abounded.

It was hard to square all that with the dark chapter on sin.

Or was it?

I felt compelled to bring my key valuables pool-side rather than leave them in the room unattended. I was careful not to display them to anyone but kept them covered at the pool. And then at breakfast, one of my companions was concerned lest a possession of little value was taken and thus kept it in view.

And thus the fall was in evidence.

God’s Big People - Abraham

Every story line has a cast of characters. Many of them play important but smaller parts – they add ‘colour’ and detail and are a necessary part of the plot. There are also the larger characters whose actions ‘turn the hinge’.

This is equally true in the story that we call the ‘history of redemption’. This is ultimately the story of God’s eternal choice to save and how it worked out in Biblical history. God’s story is worked out through significant people as well as through the little people of his kingdom.

Matthew shows clearly in the introduction to his Gospel (Matt 1:1-17). He presents a family tree of Jesus which is summarised at both its beginning and its end in terms of the line of Abraham / David / Jesus Christ (Matt 1:1:17).

Let’s look at Abraham.

We first meet Abraham as an idol-worshipping man from Haran and then Ur in modern Iraq (Gen 11:27-31; Acts 7:2-3). Abraham became significant by God’s choice. God made covenant with Abraham with the promise of him becoming a great nation, occupying vast lands and being both blessed and a blessing (Gen 12:1-3; 13:14-17 etc). This was not only true for Abraham but also for his descendants, as symbolised by the old covenant sacrament of infant circumcision (Gen 17:1-14). Abraham’s part was to trust God sufficiently that he would leave the comforts of Ur and go to a yet-unseen and unknown land. That’s faith on the move!

Abraham’s significance is shown in the number and importance of his mentions in the Old and New Testaments. Consider, for example, the importance of claiming Abraham as ‘father’ in Jesus’ day (eg Lke 3:8; Jn 8:31-40). Paul takes this a dramatic step further when he asserts that all who believe in Jesus are Abraham’s children (Rom 4:16-17). The claim that Abraham was put right with God by his active faith and not his works is even more startling – Abraham was a gospel man who anticipated the era of Jesus (Rom 4:1-11).

All this reshapes the way we think about Jesus and ourselves.

Jesus was not an accidental hero who stumbled into his decisive role against the flow of history. Rather, Jesus was the intentional conclusion to the story that began when God chose Abraham.

As for us, we are the ingrafted and adopted children of Abraham (Rom 11:17-24; Gal 3:26 – 4:7). Let’s thank God for our father Abraham and for his descendant Jesus who makes this possible.

God’s little people – Phoebe and Her Friends

Romans is Paul’s most weighty letter. It gives a systematic exposition of the Christian message and includes a tough section on the issue of Jews and Gentiles (Rom 9-11). This weighty letter has been pivotal at some great turning points such as the sixteenth century Reformation and the turn from theological liberalism in the early twentieth century.

Readers of Romans may be forgiven for wilting under this weighty material and abandoning the read. However, it’s worth pushing on to the quite tender and personal closing words of Ch 16.

This is typical of most of Paul’s letters. He has a strong sense of being God’s appointed Apostle, yet in the end he is just a man. As such he values the people who loved and cared for him in very practical ways.

Hence his mention of Priscilla and Aquila (note that the wife comes first) who pop in and out of the New Testament story as a married couple who opened their homes, hearts and business to Paul and others over many years. Thus also the ‘mother of Rufus’ (v13) who had been a substitute mother to Paul. Paul’s language makes it clear that his ministry could not be undertaken without these little people of God playing their part.

Let’s look at one of these people ... Phoebe (Rom16:1-2). She belonged to the church at Corinth. Several things are interesting about her. Firstly, that she is mentioned first in the list of Paul’s helpers. Indeed, some have suggested that this marks her out as the one whom couriered this letter to the Roman church. Secondly, she is labelled a servant. The Greek word is the term for deacon. In our terms, Phoebe is among the elected lay leaders. Thirdly, the concern (v2) that she is well-treated in Rome as befits a person so useful to the non-Jewish church. We know nothing else about her, but these references make it plain that she is a ‘little’ person of God’s kingdom who packs a punch.

Phoebe, along with the others who are mentioned, challenges our sense of who is important in church. As we have seen, churches need all kinds of people doing all kinds of things. Men and women; young and old; majority and minority culture people; left brain and right brain; practical and conceptual; high and low born; well-educated and less-educated; taxi driver and theologian – all have their place in God’s church.

Let’s welcome and celebrate the diversity in our church members. This is Christ’s church – a kaleidoscope of Paul, Phoebe and the rest.

The Genesis of Christian World View

'In the beginning God' and therefore ontology grounded in the prime reality of God.

'God said' and therefore epistemology grounded in God’s self-revelation.

'God saw that it was good' and therefore axiology grounded in God’s standards.

Youth Gangs?

Singapore media presently have a preoccupation with youth gangs (Nov 2010).

But is the problem so bad?

Yesterday I was walking on a footpath when a group of five mid to late teens came riding by, on the footpath and mounted on pushbikes. They were in black Ts, with unkempt hair, course language and apparent indifference to other people. A gang?

We all came to a set of traffic lights. Some walkers (including me) crossed against the lights when there was evidently no cars. The teens on bikes waited meekly until the lights changed and then rode off .... all that training in social compliance showing its fruits!

God’s Little People – Barnabas

Many people want to be the ‘number one’. The ‘number ones’ are the key leaders who drive agendas, decide directions and set the pace. They also tend to be more prominent. We need great number one leaders, even though misplaced ambition can lead some to seek this position from base motives (eg, Mrk 10:35-45).

Barnabas challenges our sense that we must always move to a higher position.

Barnabas was a Levite from Cyprus whose real name was Joseph (Acts 4:36-37). He was later called ‘Barnabas’ because he was an encourager. That’s the person who gets alongside others, especially when they are stumbling or new at something. The encourager builds others up and then steps back so they can be their best. We see this coming out in the ministry of Barnabas.

Barnabas showed early promise and was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit (Acts 11:24). Thus he was sent from Jerusalem to inspect the burgeoning work at Antioch, was co-commissioned with Paul to the great western mission work (Acts 13:1-3); was instrumental in turning that mission to work among non-Jews and later in defending the standing of non-Jewish Christians (Acts 13:46; 15:1-12). So far he is looking like a great number one gospel worker.

However, Barnabas’ role was to be a great number two. At first Paul depended on Barnabas. Thus Barnabas introduced him to the sceptical leaders at Jerusalem and then recruited him to help with the ministry at Antioch (Acts 9:27; 11:25-26). Paul soon outgrew his encourager and emerged as the key leader. (Note, for example, how Paul is soon mentioned first when their names are paired – eg Acts 13:2,7, but then 13:42,46 etc.) Paul even criticised Barnabas for being misled by peer pressure and compromising on a gospel issue (Gal 2:13). These two had a later disagreement over a cousin of Barnabas who once deserted the cause (Acts 15:36-39), but their affection remained.

Do we see the pattern in Barnabas?

It takes the grace of the Spirit for a more senior leader to step aside for his acolyte. Likewise it takes grace to encourage and nurture another person into their more prominent ministry. Barnabas did both.

It’s easy to criticise others and thus to feed our ego with a sense of superiority. However, encouragement is the far more useful ministry. Who can you encourage in faith and service during this week? Be a Barnabas!

Publications

TO 1980

• ‘The Early Hebrew Monarchy: A Sociological Study of Charismatic Leadership’. Binah 1,1, 1977.

• ‘The Covenant in Puritan Thought’. In Evangelism and the Reformed Faith Christian Education Committee, 1980.

1981 - 1990

• Regular articles and book reviews in Australian Presbyterian Life 1981-99, including article series on church history, cults, and a Christian view of current events.

• Occasional book reviews and articles on general religious matters in New Life, 1989.

1991 - 2000

• Regular articles on Christian education matters in EQUIP, a publication of the NSW Christian Education Committee – 1983 - 1999.

• God's Own People - a set of Bible studies on 1 & 2 Peter, co-author with Sue Mackenzie, GAA Christian Education Committee, 1985.

• Understanding and Sharing Your Faith - a distance course for Presbyterian Special Religious Education Teachers, NSW Presbyterian Christian Education Committee, 1989.

• Introduction to Presbyterian Doctrine - a distance course in the Certificate of Christian Studies, Presbyterian Theological Centre, 1991.

• Basics for Believers - a set of studies on basic Christian doctrine, GAA Christian Education Committee,1992.

• ‘Adult Education in The Christian Churches’, Interlink, 3, 1992.

• ‘World View, Philosophy and Theology’, M2M Academic Supplement, Feb - Mar 1994.

• Church History Introduction - Distance Education Notes, Presbyterian Theological Centre, Burwood, 1995, 2nd edition 1998.

• The Presbyterians in Australia, co-author with P Hughes, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1996.

• Introduction to Church History - a distance course in the Certificate of Christian Studies, GAA Christian Education Committee, Sydney, 1997.

• At the Coal Face - studies in the Presbyterian eldership, editor and co-author with Philip Campbell, GAA Christian Education Committee, Sydney, 1997.

2001 - 2010

• Review; ‘Dictionary of Asian Christianity’; Reformed Theological Review, 61,1, April 2002

• Quarterly columnist in The Express, magazine of the English Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in Singapore, 2003 –2007.

• Should the Teaching of Pastoral Ministry be Church Based or Seminary Based? Paper presented to Icthus Research Institute, Singapore Bible College, October 2004.

• Introduction to the Westminster Confession of Faith. 2009. Revised version of 1995 publication Understanding Presbyterian Doctrine.

• Time to Leave the Wilderness? – The Teaching Of Pastoral Theology In South East Asia, in Tending the Seedbeds (ed. Allan Harkness, Asia Theological Association, Quezon City, Philippines 2010).

• Review: The Westminster Assembly: Reading its Theology in Historical Context; Reformed Theological Review, 69:2, August 2010.

ONGOING

• Blogspot: davidburke51.blogspot.com

The musical mite

The other afternoon I passed by a room where a group of older saints were singing hymns.

The pianist was struggling with the tune. The saints were not many and their voices struggled and quavered. Technically, they were far below our church’s regular music ministry.

But I know those people.

They are the people of God. They sang the songs of the saints from the hearts of saints. Theirs was a musical mite, but it was the widow’s might for they gave all they had.

God’s Little People – “_”

There are no little people and no little places. Thus spoke Francis Schaeffer, a twentieth century Christian philosopher and theologian. I first heard those words while driving to preach in a little place where the sheep in the surrounding paddocks outnumbered the little congregation. What an encouragement! The smallest deeds and the least of God’s people matter.

Let’s meet someone so little that she is not named. We read about her in 2 Kings 5.

“_” was a young Jewish woman who was a domestic helper to the wife of a man from Aram. The husband was a senior military officer . “_” had been captured in a raid on Israel and sent to his home.

This big shot soldier had a name, but so did his disease: leprosy. In popular view, this was like being HIV AIDS positive today. And that’s where “_” came into the picture. She spoke up and pointed her mistress’s husband to seek help from the one true Lord who was his enemy’s God. It was a big blow to the husband’s pride, but eventually he accepted the help provided through God’s prophet. Thus he was healed and the fame of the Lord’s name spread in Aram.

It is a thought provoking story. “_” is so small that she is not named, yet the Lord’s name was lifted up because of her. Perhaps unintentionally, she sets an example for all of God’s people as she did her best but remained anonymous. There are several lessons for us here:

• Like “_” we all have our part to play in the story of God’s deeds.

• We are to play our part rather than to be silent and leave our task undone, for there are no deeds so little that their absence makes no difference.

• Further, we are to play our part as well as we can, for God is the ultimate audience and not the soldier whom “_” served nor the people whom we serve.

• Yet again, what matters is not that our name is even remembered, but that the Lord’s name is exalted. Thus a Christian leader of vast influence left instructions that he was to be buried in an unmarked grave lest he be exalted and God’s glory be robbed.

Who are we making a name for? “_” made a name for the Lord. Let’s copy her so that his name is hallowed amongst us and through us.

God’s ‘Little’ People – Baruk

The history of the world is but the biography of great men. Thus speaks Thomas Carlyle, a nineteenth century Scottish philosopher. On his view, history is made by great people doing great things.

Carlyle has a point. Where is broader history without the heroes who ‘turned the moment’? Where is the story line of the Bible without Abraham, Moses, David, Paul and such like? However, there is a balancing truth. The spaces between the deeds of great people are filled by ordinary people faithfully playing their part with ordinary deeds. Furthermore, the deeds of these people enable the deeds of the great.

This is a great encouragement, for most of us are the ordinary people or little people of God. In the language of Paul (1 Cor 12) we are a fingernail or a minor blood vessel in the body of Christ. Yet, Paul also reminds us of the necessity, importance and honour of every part including the smallest (1 Cor 12:21-26).

Baruch is one of God’s little people. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Baruch was of noble birth. According to the Bible, his brother held a staff officer’s post under King Zedekiah (Jer 36:4; 51:59). However, we remember him in more humble roles as the personal assistant and note-taker to the Jeremiah.

Thus Baruch witnessed a land transaction of Jeremiah (Jer 32:11-15) and hand-wrote a scroll of Jeremiah’s sermon notes which he later read in the temple precinct(Jer 36:4-9). But this tedious note-taking was in vain! King Jehoiakim did not like what he heard on the scroll and burnt it and thus Baruch had to repeat the task (Jer 36:11-32). He was later accused of treason (Jer 43:1-3) and he and Jeremiah went together to exile in Egypt (Jer 43:6-7). Josephus records that both Jeremiah and Baruch were then taken to Babylon after the 583BC invasion of Egypt by Babylon.

Jeremiah was certainly one of the great ones of his day as he bore faithful to the Lord over 40 or more years of preaching in difficult circumstances. However, Baruch seems to have been the ‘enabler’ who made Jeremiah’s ministry possible. Further, in all likelihood we would not have the book of Jeremiah without Baruch’s labours to write, re-write and then safely secure his record of Jeremiah’s sermons. Without Baruch, Jeremiah would be a silent prophet to us.

What is your part in the ordinary works of God? We are not all called to be a ‘number one’. Most of us will be a ‘number two’. Let us strive to be the best ‘number one number two’ that we can be.

Past, Present and Future

Christianity is essentially an historic faith. Some world views have a mainly cyclical sense of time, but ours is linear. Thus we see a story line where the present is shaped by the past and lived in the hope of the future.

This is true for us as a church. On our anniversary we have a sense of gratitude for the past and a consciousness of how the Lord has protected, provided, blessed and used the women and men of this church since October 31st 1856. It is folly to forget our past and thus be condemned to repeat its errors.

But it is also folly to be ruled by the past. Our calling is to build on the past by faithfulness in the present as we adapt the changing circumstances in our witness to the changeless gospel. In this we always look, and always move, forwards with an eye to God’s future.

The past, present and future of the church takes its place within the broad flow of redemption’s story. For Christians, this is measured by the end-markers of the first creation and the re-creation when Jesus returns. This story is punctuated mid-point by the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.

This sense of redemption’s story gives our sense of ‘when’ we are. It is our privilege to live in the last era after the reality of forgiveness and power for life through the new covenant of Christ and his Spirit. The technical term for this is that God’s kingdom has been, and is, inaugurated in Jesus.

However, the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus are not the end of the story. Thus we await the kingdom’s consummation in the Lord’s return. This future hope should shape life and witness now.

We catch a glimpse of how the future invades the present in today’s passage (2 Tim 4:1-8). At one level it’s a very ‘present’ passage in which one Christian leader urges his successor to keep the work going and gives instructions as to the ‘how to’. It’s a timely and orderly handover.

However, this present is shaped by the future (vv1&8). The up-and-coming leader is to act in the light of Christ’s coming, his judgement and his kingdom. This gives a sense of urgency and importance, for our faith and witness are on an eternal horizon. On the other hand, the departing leader has the immense reassurance that it has not all been in vain - God’s crown awaits.

Let us neither ignore the past nor be ruled by it. Let us be faithful in the present but not trapped by it. Let us be conscious of God’s eternal future and work towards it.

Survivors and heroes

One axis for leadership is the scale of survivor / hero.

The survivor adapts, lives to make another contribution on another day and will tend to achieve change over a longer time frame in an incremental manner.

The hero crashes through or crashes out. This leader can be divisive and a wrecker, or can be the one who lifts a group of people into a new era and new realities in a short time frame.

Both kinds of leader are needed in their time and place.

The survivor is probably the more common style and the one that is needed in most settings at most times. This kind of leader is the salt of the earth.

The hero is more likely to be useful at a time of crisis or a time when significant change is needed quickly.

The extremes of either style can be dangerous.

A typical leader will be on a continuum between the extreme form of each type and may swap between them depending on circumstances. That being said, an individual leader will tend to display a leaning for one style of the other and hence the idea of 'preferred style'..

A wise leader will:
(a) Know their preferred style
(b) Not glorify their preferred style and denigrate the other
(c) Correct the imbalance in their preferred style
(d) Choose wisely what style and balance of styles is needed in this and that moment
(e) Be able to move between styles and be skilful in both
(f) Be true to themselves as they do all this.

Christmas 2010

Christmas 2010


As I write this it is two months to Christmas 2010.

Christmas is usually a difficult time for me and I expect this year to be worse than usual.

Here’s why:

1. Christmas is a time of heavier work load in pastoral ministry, yet much of it seems very light and without effect.

2. It’s usually a time of family separation for me rather than family reunion.

3. My mother died on December 13 and my father on December 30. It’s thus a season of lingering grief.

4. This years Christmas carols are the funeral songs for my ministry and time in Singapore which ends soon after.


All that being said, it is the season to remember that the word became flesh and that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners such as I. That gives a quiet and deep significance which fights against the difficulties.

The over-planned church

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great for churches to plan their activities and then to work to plan and review against it. And, I also think that many churches can do with better planning.

Of course, its important that our planning dovetails with God’s revealed will for his church, otherwise our plans are just hebel – a passing puff of noxious wind.

But that’s not the issue here.

I’ve seen churches that are over-planned. What I mean is that there’s a very detailed plan of ministry activities in which every calendar block is filled for 12 months or so ahead. If this plan is treated as prescriptive rather than descriptive or indicative problems can come ...

… there’s no room for new activities to be added or existing ones changed as circumstances change and as the Lord leads differently;

… meeting the plan becomes the criteria for success or failure in evaluation. That takes the focus off doing effective and appropriate ministry.

So let’s indeed plan but not become the over-planned church. There’s a balance somewhere in between the chaos of the unplanned church and the rigidity of the over-planned counterpart.

When love is not enough

I recently attended a community group meeting where someone declared that ‘love is all we need’. This is an admirable sentiment. However, is a simple call for love sufficient?

‘Love’ is one of those words that means everything and therefore means nothing. ‘Love’ is a word that needs definition. What or who do we love? Why do we love? How do we love?

2 Timothy talks about people who loved much. Trouble was, they switched the tags. They loved what they should not have loved and did not love that which they should. Their false loves were as follows:

• Egotism, or love of self (2 Tim 3:2a). This is the ultimate idolatry – worshipping the image of God (Gen 1:26-27) instead of God whose image we are.

• Materialism, or love of money (2 Tim 3:3b). Money is essential for life and we should not despise it. But, love of money – well that is a root of all kinds of evil that can take us from God, for mammon is a demanding deity (1 Tim 6:10; Matt 6:24).

• Hedonism, or love of pleasure (2 Tim 3:4b). This is a slightly tricky issue. As John Piper says, there is nothing wrong with loving pleasure when it is pleasure in God. Hence his term ‘Christian hedonism’. The problem is that these people did not love God (2 Tim 3:4b) and thus their love of pleasure was in apposition to love of God. We can guess that their pleasure was in wordly delights, not heavenly.

To cap it off, these people did not love God, the ‘good’ or other people (2 Tim 3:2-4). Instead they were proud, abusive, ungrateful, unforgiving, slanderers, brutal and such like. It is an ugly picture and shows the terrible outcomes when our loves are inverted.

These are not only ancient errors, for these three false loves and their consequences are evident all around us today.

Of course, we know the loves that God does call us to. It is a whole-person, whole-of life love of the Lord coupled with a generous love of neighbour, stranger and enemy (eg Matt 22:37-40; 25:40; 5:43-47). This is true love.

Let us hate the evil that God hates and love the good that God loves.

Toxic Sludge

Have you seen pictures of the October 4 sludge spillage near Ajkar in Hungary? The spillage is indeed colourful but it is also highly toxic. Eight people have perished, the river Marcal is ‘dead’, an area equivalent to 5% of Singapore’s land mass is covered by red muck and the Danube is being polluted. The blame game and cleanup will doubtless continue for some time.

Hungary’s toxic sludge is highly visible and presents a largely technical challenge. But what of the spiritual toxic sludge that pollutes the life of a church, chokes its streams of living waters and slowly poisons its people?

Today’s Bible passage (2 Tim 2:14-24) identifies several aspects to this sludge:

• Foolish and ignorant arguments that turn into quarrels (vv14&23)
• Irreverent babble that spreads like ungodly gangrene (v16)
• False teaching on important matters such as the resurrection (vv17-18).

It is interesting to note how careless and unwise words feature in this list. As James notes, the small tongue can have powerful effects for good or ill (Jas 3:5). Let’s all ask ourselves if our tongue is toxic, producing whispered gossip and such like instead of words that build others up.

Such spiritual sludge requires decisive action to minimise its polluting effect. On a personal level we do well to flee besetting passions (such as those of youth), avoid the silly quarrels and cleanse ourselves so we are fit for God’s use and depart from evil (vv22,14,16,19,21,23). The positive side of all this is work to present ourselves as approved workers who pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace and such like with a pure heart (vv15,22).

Church leaders have particular responsibilities when it comes to spiritual sludge. Thus Timothy is to charge his congregation to avoid silly quarrels (v14). All leaders are to act with kindness and gentleness in the hope that the polluters will come to their senses (vv24-26).

Pollutants like the sludge spill and India’s Bhopal gas disaster tend to come without clear warning. Likewise in the church. Church pollutants may quietly accumulate until they burst into action and it is too late for preventative measures.

Now is the time for a clean-up. Let’s all ask ourselves whether we contribute to a pollutant-free church life or distract from it. What can we do to maximise the cardinal virtues of faith, hope and love in our own life? How can we promote these virtues in others?

The Faithfulness of the Lord and His People

2 Timothy is an occasional letter designed to give encouragement amidst the discouragements of church life and leadership. The following words are amongst its many gems (2 Tim 2:13):
If we are faithless,
he will remain faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.

This is an unexpected saying. The logic of the preceding lines (possibly taken from an early hymn) leads us to expect something different. It is also a remarkable saying. Think about it. It is teaching that the faithfulness of God to himself does not depend on our response to him.

This is quite different to our normal human behaviour. We tend to have a transactional shape to qualities such as love and faithfulness. That is, if we love someone or are true to them, we look for a matching response. If they love us and are faithful, we continue in our love and faithfulness to them. However, if they do not respond with love and faithfulness we change our behaviour.

God is not transactional in his love. In his very nature he is love, faithfulness, truth, justice, mercy and such like (eg Ex 34:6-7). His faithfulness means that he is always consistent with his own character and words. This means that we can depend on God to always be God. He is not like the capricious gods of ancient mythology who could be bad-tempered one day and indulgent the next, with no warning of which was when.

This consistent faithfulness of God is an anchor for us. He is predictable and dependable and we can confidently build our lives within this frame.

God’s consistent faithfulness is also a model for us. We are not only to love because he loved us first but we are to love in the manner with which God loves (1 Jn 4:7,11,19). This means that we do not tie our love to the responses that others make to us (transactional love) but we tie our love to the character of God. That is, we don’t love because people are loveable or love us, but because God is love and we draw our identity and character from him. This is a remarkably powerful and transforming approach.

The Cross of Jesus demonstrates the faithfulness of God, irrespective of our faithlessness. Because he was faithful to himself he was just to judge sin. Because he was faithful to himself, he was merciful to himself bear the judgement penalty. We cannot presume on the faithfulness of God but we can rely on it.

May we have grace to understand and to reflect the faithfulness of God.

Sharing in the Work of the Gospel

During recent days we have hosted several visitors from one of our regional mission partnerships. These people came from a difficult and remote area where to be Christian is to be in a distinct minority and to be under a real and constant threat of persecution. They are humble folk who had not had the life opportunities common to most of us. But they are our brothers and sisters in the Lord and thus we welcome them as equals and count it a joy to be identified with them.

It has been our privilege to host these people. Some ORPC worshippers have taken them into their homes. Others have hosted meals. Others again have given their time and everyday professional expertise and experience to help train these visitors in various self-help projects. This fits with a wider pattern where a number of both younger and older church members give of themselves to go to this remote area and serve our brothers and sisters in the faith. This partnership has been, and remains, a rare hands-on mission experience for the congregation at large.

This is a positive experience on both sides as we are blessed by contact with these folk and as they are blessed by us. As such it links with some themes as the Scripture talks about the work of the gospel.

Gospel work is suffering work (2 Tim 1:8,12). It is a shared work in which we stand and suffer with brothers and sisters from other places. Far from being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus, or of suffering fellow-believers, we are to be shameless and proud. The reasons for this are clear: the shameful and foolish message of Christ crucified and raised for our salvation is God’s power for salvation (1 Cor 1:22-24).

Gospel work is difficult and sometimes dangerous in places such as those our visitors come from. However, we are to persist for the gospel brings life and immortality (2 Tim 1:10). In all this our confidence is in God’s enabling, for it is he who gives the grace of the gospel, who sent Jesus to enact it and who is more than able to guard the gospel trust (2 Tim 1:9,10,12).

The difficulties and dangers of gospel work mean that we sometimes share the discouraging experience of seeing people desert the field (eg 1 Tim 1:15). Let us be like the largely unknown figure on Onesiphorus who remained a loyal gospel partner (1 Tim 1:16-17).

The Lord will give us gospel opportunities. So let us be sure that we guard the faith and remain heralds, apostles and teachers of the sound words that bring life (2 Tim 1:11,13,14).

Missions in Motion – the People Who Go

God’s mission is done through people. There are those who stay where they are to sacrificially pay, pray, promote and publicise. Then there are those who go.

This going may be a sacrificial leaving of what the world calls ‘prospects’ and serving in some kind of full time missionary service in the home country. We have two examples of that in our congregation. Others will ‘go’ in the sense of leaving kith, kin, culture and comforts for varying periods of time.

What kind of people are called to ‘go’? Overwhelmingly they are ordinary people. Think of the 12 apostles who were rather average men. Listen to Paul’s word: Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. (1 Cor 1:26-27). Think also of his reference to people like himself who were hard pressed, perplexed and persecuted (2 Cor 4:7-8).

Think also about some of these people used by God in his mission:
• A domestic helper serving a powerful family in a foreign land
• A church deacon taking a surprising opportunity to witness
• A new graduate giving up party and holiday time for a short term trip
• A professional person using their annual leave and their own money to serve short term with specialised skills
• A farmer leaving his farm to a manager and going to serve a remote indigenous people
• A widow making her first trip abroad to settle and serve in a poor country
• An early retiree being a self-funded missionary using pre-retirement skills in a difficult environment
• A promising scholar going to an arduous field, forgoing career, disappointing his family and facing an early death
• A mid-career person walking away from their pension to be a missionary
• An 85 year old going to a stubbornly hard people in Jesus’ name.

Perhaps we excuse ourselves from a lack of missionary skills? Read 1 Corinthians 12. All kinds of skills are needed and can be used. Further, we can all readily learn new skills to be of greater use.

Get the point? All manner and kinds of persons can be used on the mission field. We often speak as though missions are an ‘opt-in’ activity? Maybe it should be the reverse and we should ask ourselves: why am I not serving in missions? Most of us are not called to go. Some of us are. Are we listening? Are we available: Lord, here am I, send me (Is 6:8).

From Mission-Minded to Mission-Motion

Today is the start of our mission’s emphasis month. Being ‘mission-minded’ is on every church’s lips and in our statements of core values, ministry plans and such like. However, it is one thing to say we are mission-minded but another to embody ‘missions in motion’. It’s sometimes true that the more we assert we are mission-minded the less motion we have for missions.

What is mission-motion? It’s going beyond talk to actions to fulfil the command that we make disciples from of all nations (Matt 28:19). Three mission actions come to mind:

1. Pray for missions. Disciple-making is spiritual warfare on the front line. Only God can move people to believe in the Lord Jesus (1 Cor 12:3). We need action to pray consistently and specifically for this work. This includes praying for more missionaries and for missionary workers to be protected. Just today I received an email from my missionary brother speaking of his underlying weariness from serving on a field where 1,000 plus people have been killed in the last 12 months. This work needs prayer!

2. Pay for missions. Most mission works and missionaries need to be entirely supported by people outside that mission field. It’s expensive. Missionaries need to eat, educate their children, have medical attention and travel to see their folks just as much as any of us. Their costs in all these things are often higher than for those who stay at home. And there’s the cost of the mission projects themselves. This work needs money!

3. Go for missions. There are mission fields at home and we need to be intentional about going to them. Think about the many non-believers among our fellow-Singaporeans and also the outreach opportunities among foreign workers and students here. However, the larger and needier mission fields are abroad and we also need intentionality to go to them. This includes short-term missions exposure visits (such as our PaCE trips) but goes far beyond that. We need people who make a long-term commitment to go from home comforts and familiar things and serve the Lord in strange lands. This work needs people!

Because God is mission-minded, all his people should be mission-minded. God also shows mission-motion. The prayer of his heart is that all are saved (1 Tim 2:4). He paid the price of sending his one and only Son to the mission field (Jn 3:16). The Son left the comforts of his heavenly home to go and then come among us as a servant on the father’s mission (Phil 2:6-8). Let’s imitate our father God and add missions-motion to our talk of being mission-minded. Let’s pray, pay and go!

The Waiting of Prayer

Prayer is waiting on God with our heartfelt desires.

But prayer has another waiting. It is to use our waiting moments to pray.

Consider how often we wait in life (go on, track your day). Waiting for a bus or train. Waiting in a queue. Waiting for people.

Waiting moments are often wasted moments. We sink into a semi-comatose state of mental nothingness. Or worse, waiting moments become frustration moments. Our patience is tested, blood pressure arises and we became angry at that or those who make us wait.

Why not cultivate the habit of making waiting moments praying moments?

Carry a prayer list on a notepad, electronic gadget or in your head. When its clear that this is a waiting moment, make it a praying moment.

Consider the outcomes: time well-used rather than wasted; praying ministry conducted; frustration avoided.

Power for Change

Self-improvement books and DVDs are some of the hottest items to fly off the shelves in bookshops. It seems that we all want to lift our game in some area or another and are looking for tips and techniques to help us get there.

Some of these resources are great. I’m a fan of the Dummies series with its no-nonsense approach, clear layout and plenty of practical applications. Other self-help resources dig deeper and address more basic issues such as how we see ourselves and the world (framing techniques) and especially to address the area of our attitudes.

However, there is a limit to self-help. Self-help can assist us to map the direction of change with precision and even to map the steps to getting there. But, what of the power to change ourselves, especially at the most basic and inner levels? Maybe you can identify with this. Have you set out to effect change in some fundamental aspect of who you are and how you act? Maybe you succeeded for a time by a massive exertion of the will, but then relapsed to the old default ‘you’? The direction and desire for change were there, but not the power. It’s so frustrating.

The Christian message promises power for change at the most basic level. As Paul puts it, the gospel is the power of God for salvation (Rom 1:16). Let’s look at those words.

‘Salvation’ refers to the most basic change possible. It’s much wider than some narrow idea of saving a ‘soul’ from judgement. In its rich Biblical use, it is about the restoration of whole people to human wholeness in its richest and fullest sense. As Jesus said, he came to give life in abundance. That’s salvation to the max!

What kind of power is involved? It’s a massive power – our word ‘dynamite’ comes from the underlying Greek word. It’s massive power because it is God’s power. This goes way beyond the power for self-change that we find within ourselves. Instead, it’s the same power that was there when God created all things with a word and when he raised Jesus from the dead.

This power for salvation comes through the ‘gospel’. The gospel is the message about Jesus and especially how he died and was raised so that people like us can reconnect to God. All this is ours if we put our faith in Jesus. It’s not faith in faith, or faith in ourselves, but faith in Jesus who is God’s Son.

Do you want real power to change for lasting good – look to Jesus. We are dummies if we try self-help here!

Pity Pakistan

Pity Pakistan

The recent monsoon has cut a disastrous swathe through Asia. China has been badly affected but seems to be handling it well. Not so Pakistan. Imagine a land area 343 times the size of Singapore under water. Imagine double the total population of Singapore being displaced by floods and now facing the danger of disease. And all this in a country ill-equipped to cope with normality, let alone a disaster on such scale.

Pity Pakistan!

Some may see the floods as God’s judgement for the increasing persecution of Christians in Pakistan. It is not our part to presume on such conclusions. Jesus rejects the grim logic that draws a necessary connection between suffering as judgement for sin (eg Lke 13:1-5; Jn 9:1-3).

Others again may see these floods as a sign that the end times are upon us and that Jesus is about to return. Well, Jesus may return any time (Matt 24:36-44). However, we have been in the end times since Jesus’ resurrection, and, natural disasters such as floods have been part of the warp and woof of human experience since the Fall (Gen 3:17b; Matt 24:6-8).

Pity Pakistan!

Donor fatigue is a real danger in situations like this. The world wearies of giving again and again to needy people in distant places. Let it not be so among the household of faith (Gal 6:10). Let us consider the unwearied love of God for his world and respond by a ceaseless care of the needy for his sake (Matt 25:34-40). Let us give as Christians: secretly (Matt 6:2-4); according to ability (2 Cor 8:3); willingly (2 Cor 8:12); generously (2 Cor 9:6); and cheerfully (2 Cor 9:7).

Let us give not just with our hands. It is good to give with our hands and we should do so. However, if we only give with our hands there is a real danger of a detached heartlessness in which we do no more than a charitable duty. So let us consider the heartfelt giving of the Lord Jesus for us (2 Cor 8:9) as we excel in the grace of giving (2 Cor 8:7). Let us give from the heart. And let us give our heart, through earnest prayer that the world will be generous to Pakistan; that the relief effort will be effective, that the donated money and supplies will get through. And let us also pray for the beleaguered Christian community in Pakistan: that it will not be discriminated against in the relief effort and that Christian people there will open their hearts and hands to their neighbours.

Pity Pakistan!

Tending Seedbeds: Educational Perspectives on Theological Education in Asia

Tending the Seedbeds. Educational Perspectives on Theological Education in Asia. ed. Allan Harkness, Asia Theological Association, Quezon City, Philippines, 2010. 306 pages.

This volume is a series of various papers published to recognise the 40th anniversary of the Asian Theological Association.

Allan Harkness has done a fine job of commissioning these papers and then sequencing and introducing them as a coherent whole.

The publication of the papers is a symbol of two things. First, the emerging sophistication and strength of the church in the Asian part of the two-thirds world. Secondly, the ongoing western impact on the Asian scene. As Harkness notes, six of the 12 contributors (including this reviewer) are western males.

The papers in this book are all written within a broadly Asian perspective and to an Asian audience. However, there are universals here and these give the book a currency beyond its immediate context.

Heroes and coaches

We need a hero.

Jesus is the hero who goes out to win for us and do what we can never do for ourselves.

Our part is to recognize our need of Jesus as hero and to accept his heroic act on the Cross.

We also need a coach.

The Holy Spirit is the coach who comes alongside to cheer us on, encourage, say the sharp truths in love, empower, enable and push us to growth rather than infantile dependence.

Our part is to accept his coaching; to lean on him and to grow in him.

Hey … this is also a role we have to give other people and to accept from others.

To ‘accept’ means facing our need of others to do things for us and being humble enough to accept their service as they do that thing that God puts them there for, be it hero or coach,

To ‘give’ means knowing whether the hero or coach role is needed at this moment. And, not to stroke our own ego by being a hero when we should be a coach. Nor: to duck the need of the hour by not giving ourselves as a hero when that is called for.

‘Lord, give me the insight to know the difference between a hero and a coach. Give me the wisdom to know which is needed in the moment. Give me the wisdom to k now when I should be hero or coach. Give me the humility to let others serve me as my hero and coach.

Choosing a church

I am sometimes asked for help in choosing or evaluating a church.

Here are some questions that may be useful. Of course, they need to be modified depending on just what kind of church is under consideration.

1. Is Christ effectively central to all aspects of church faith and life?

2. Is apostolic and historic Christian doctrine maintained, especially with respect to Trinity, Christology and the means of salvation?

3. Is there a well-balanced doctrine and practice of the Spirit, or is there a neglect of the Spirit or an undue emphasis on certain aspects of his work?

4. Is the Bible warmly regarded as God's Word and well-taught, or is it undermined by an emphasis on interpretive traditions or by human reasoning?

5. Are the sacraments administered in a way that keeps focus on Christ as the source of grace, or do the sacraments effectively become the means of grace?

6. Is the church mission-minded in reaching out with the truth and love of the gospel?

7. Are the opportunities for fellowship with people who will accept you as you are and promote your Christian growth?

8. Is there opportunity for you to serve with the gifts with which God has endowed you?

9. Is there a pattern of healthy relationships within the church, especially between leaders and led?

Singapore Idols

Idols are ever-present in human affairs, but they take many forms.

Jeremiah and others mock the folly of hand making an earthly object then worshipping it. As he says, the idols are like scarecrows in a melon patch - there is nothing to be scared of for they can do neither good nor harm (Jer 10:5). That’s something to ponder as we see plenty of old-fashioned idols around us in Hungry Ghost month. The problem with this kind of idolatry is the attempt to render the immortal and invisible in mortal and visible form.

Greed gives an extra dimension to idolatry (Col 3:5). Consider greed for pleasure (hedonism) or possessions (materialism). Both these idols are well-represented in our local pantheon. In both cases the object of greed becomes a God-substitute. This is an underlying problem with all idolatry. God is pushed from his place as the object of our worship, dependence, centre of our life, source of truth and values.

There is yet another form of idolatry which is the idolatry of people. We first idealise someone into a flawless being and then we make them an idol. In our eyes they can solve every problem and do no wrong. Their every move is photographed and their every word is fawned on.

This may be a sporting or entertainment identity, or someone who is famous for nothing more than being famous. Or maybe we idealise and idolise our beloved. All this takes a more sinister form if the human idol is an influential leader. This idolatry can happen to a Christian leader, be they a pope or a persuasive pastor, and it even happened to Paul (Acts 14:11-15). It can also happen to statesmen when they set themselves up against the Lord of heaven (Dan 5:22). This happened to the all-conquering Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar and his son Belshazzar who reigned around the time of Jeremiah (Dan 4-5).

A moment’s reflection exposes the folly of this. The celebrity, religious leader or statesman is just a person. They may have remarkable ability, discipline, strategic focus, vision and drive but they trim their toenails like the rest of us, will grow old and die, will make mistakes and will sometimes be wrong. They are mortal, finite and fallible. Further, our idolisation may inflate their hubris and hasten their decline – as happened with Nebuchadnezzar.

Let us remember who our God is and what he has done, then resolve that we will have no other god alongside or before him and make no idols of him or anything and anyone else (Ex 20:1-6).

National Day 2010

First of all then I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may live a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way . This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God who desires all people to be saved .. (1 Tim 2:1-3).

As we celebrate the 45th anniversary of independence it is natural for Christian people to pray for the nation. Is there any better way to be good Singaporeans than to pray for the Lord’s blessings on the nation?

The above Bible passage focuses our prayers on our President, Prime Minister, cabinet and other senior leaders.

Why pray to the Lord in this matter?

• Because government is too important to be left just to politicians.

• Because God is sovereign over all earthly rulers, even over those who do not acknowledge him.

• Because God is the source of all blessings and it is from his hand that we must seek further national blessings.

• Because prayer is our consolation and remedy when governments are bad or take bad decisions.

How should we pray in this matter? We are urged to two kinds of prayer.

We are to give thanks. The history and progress of Singapore since 1965 is breathtaking and we should thank God for it. Let’s thank him for this and for the leaders in all sectors of national life that have enabled such progress.

We are to intercede. The object of this is that we may leave peaceful and quiet lives. In context, this is a prayer that Christian people will have a free and stable environment in which to do the gospel work of encouraging one another in the faith and commending it to others. This prayer is important in the light of some recent measures affecting Christian groups in Singapore.

Let’s indeed bless Singapore this National Day – by praying as we are told to.

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Making the Most of Every Opportunity

In our time-starved lives we want to squeeze the most from every moment. The Apostle Paul says … make the most of every opportunity (Col 4:5b). We may rejoice at this apparently shrewd advice in time management. This is all the more so when we hear that the word he uses for opportunity is the Greek word for special or opportune time. Seen this way, Paul is another coach urging another surge of greater time efficiency.

Not so fast! As Don Carson says, a text without a context becomes a pretext, and that is certainly so here.

Paul’s immediate concern is not general time-management but a prayer for the spread of the message of Jesus. This is for himself and also a concern that we readers make the most of our opportunities with outsiders to the faith (Col 4:3-6). It is neatly complemented by his word that ... as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers (Gal 6:10 – same word for special time again).

This saying has both intentional and opportunistic aspects. We are to consider and plan how we can intentionally make the most of openings to do God’s good, and especially to bring God’s gospel to the people around us. We are also to be sensitive to opportunities that unexpectedly open up for such good.

Consider the examples of both Jesus and Paul. Jesus was intentional in his purposeful move towards Jerusalem and the words that he said at different times (eg Lke 9:51; Jn 12:23-27). Yet his was also open to the casual opportunities to do good and to speak a kingdom word when he went for a funeral, a meal or met people for a drink (eg Jn 4:4-10). Likewise Paul with his intentional strategy of moving between major centres in his missionary journeys but then also using the opportunity of being in prison to speak for Jesus (eg Acts 13:5-6; 28:16-23).

What openings do we have to do God’s gospel good in our everyday life? How can we best use these for God rather than squander them in trivialities?

Here’s something we can all do. Let’s sit down with a friend and look over our week. What are the typical situations we encounter and who are the people that we meet? How can we best use these to do good to people in God’s name? How can we use them to do the best good – which is to introduce people to Jesus and help them on the path to faith?

Our time is short. Let’s use it well for God.

Global junk mail?

My wife and I, who live in Singapore, made contact from Canada and organised for junk mail from our houser in Mittagong Australia be cleared by two Mittagong residents who are in Florida on behalf of another Mittagong couple who will be in the UK at the time.

Yet, to all of us, this seemed all quite ordinary.

Can anything prepare us for heaven's glory?

I recently visited Niagra Falls.

I had read about them.

I had seen pictures.

However, nothing in this prepared me for the overwhelming grandeur, power, majesty and beauty of the sight and sound of the Falls 'in the flesh'.

How much more for heaven, of which the Falls are as but a leaking faucet?

The Problem of the Will

The human problem is sometimes to know what the will of God is in this or that situation. This is a situation where no one option is more or less godly or another and where the Bible is silent or unclear.

At other times the problem is that God’s will is quite clear, whether through revelation or circumstances. This will may even be submitted to as a godly action. However, there may be a problem in graciously accepting it.

This is the problem of a disconnect between the mind that recognizes God’s will, the soul that submits to it but the will and emotions that do not like the will of God that is thus recognized and submitted to.

What is the remedy for this?

The audacity of hope?

I have visited the USA several times in the last eight years to attend a Boston conference. This follows visits to other parts of the US in earlier years.
Below are some cumulative observations from my more recent visits.

• More foreign-made cars, comments on their superior quality and pessimism re local car manufacturing

• Pessimism re the economy and the prospects for the next generation (eg, folks talking about the US being on the Greek road of sinking under government indebtedness)

• People commenting on the inability to solve the of Mexico spill as a symbol of the limits to a hitherto ‘can do’ spirit

• Fear re the rise of China as the world super-power but one with no Christian heritage

• Conservatives opining that Iraq was a mistake and Afghanistan is a never-ending quagmire

• Conservative Christians saying that they were taken for a ride by the Republicans in the 1980s Moral Majority era and having no hope in the political process or parties


Is this the audacity of hope or its end?

iphone 4

Today I held an iphone 4.

It feels and looks good.

I’m told it’s faster, has better battery life and has a video-cam.

I admired and returned it, then turned to my iphone 3. It looked and felt old.

Until iphone 4, I delighted in iphone 3 – wonderfully useful and far superior to my old phone.

What is it that holding 4 breeds discontent with 3?

You shall not covet ..

… greed which is idolatry

On Coming and Going

Things have changed when people come and go.

Once-distant people looked anticipated meeting – real time for unknowns to become known.

But now most of us are in constant and close contact in virtual time. The only unknown is that which we don’t want to be known. There is no catching up, for that which is desired to be known is already known.

And thus departures and returns are also diminished, for those who go and those who stay need never lose contact.

All Things Good?

It is most encouraging thing to know that God not only works all things according to his big and good plans in Jesus (Eph 1:11) but he also works them for the individual good of his beloved people (Rom 8:28).

This gives consolation that the worst of times are also the best of times. When life seems overwhelming and the valley of despair just gets deeper and deeper we can comfort one another with the knowledge that God knows, God cares, God is in charge and God is working for our good and his good.

This teaching is known as providence. Here is a summary: God, the great Creator of all things, does uphold, direct, dispose and govern all creatures, actions and things … by his most wise and holy providence … to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice and mercy (Westminster Confession V:1).

However, providence gives problems. God … makes use of means, yet is free to work without, above and against them at his pleasure (West Confess V:3). The problem is that God may work through the ‘means’ of the sinful behaviours of people. Does this make God the author of sin? Does this condone sinful behaviours and make them ‘good’ because God uses them to achieve his good purposes?

Such problems arise in the cases of David and also of Jesus. David’s son Solomon was a product of his sinful relationship with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband. Yet from this sin came the family line that led to the ‘good’ of Jesus (Matt 1:6. Note how Matthew draws attention to the sin). Jesus’ death was an evil act of Roman and Jewish officials who defied God, yet it achieved the immense ‘good’ of redemption (Acts 2:36).

God is not the author of sin (2 Chron 19:7; Jas 1:13,14,17) but rather sometimes allows it and works through it. That is encouraging. Sin and evil did not have the first word and will not have the last word. God’s good is both the first and last word of creation and the word of sin is woven into good by his providence.

We cannot use God’s providence to condone or excuse our sin. God did raise Jesus from the line that worked through David’s sin with Bathsheba, but it was still a sin for which David was accountable (eg 2 Sam 11:1-13; Ps 51). The Jewish and Roman officials who sent Jesus to die were part of the good redemptive propose but were likewise accountable for their sin (eg Acts 3:36).

God indeed works all things for good, even the bad things that we and others do. That does not excuse or condone sin. Rather it ought to encourage and comfort us as we see his good triumph through and despite evil.

I don't get it

I don't get it ...

Tens of thousands sit on their backsides in a stadium while a small number of super-fit men kick a funny ball around trying to get it between some sticks at the other end. Meanwhile millions around the world sit transfixed eating and drinking unhealthy stuff while watching the spectacle.

A website offers random web-chat conversations with people anywhere in the world randomly linked. Meanwhile we neglect talking to the real people who are closest to us and with whom we are linked with filial and other bonds.

And on it goes .... its an upside-down world

A Son and the Son

Have you tracked your family tree? It can be interesting to see where our ancestors came from and to have a sense of where we fit it. Many in our congregation are of immigrant stock – with ancestors who came from the southern Chinese provinces or via a time as Straits Chinese. My ancestors are also immigrants: from Celtic stock in Ireland and Cornwall.

King David of Israel also came from migrant stock. His grandfather was the child of a Moabite immigrant who moved to Israel in the tragedy of young widowhood and then married a local boy after an interesting courtship (Ruth 4:13-20). David was the youngest of eight sons and, as the youngest, was given the lowly job of looking after the family herd while his brothers had the glamour of military service. (1 Sam 16:8-11).

The Bible tells us that David was good looking (1 Sam 16:12) and apparently presumptuous – a typical youngest son? Thus he asserted that he would do what his older brothers and the rest of the army could not do, namely defeat Goliath the Philistine (1 Sam 17:26-32). His brothers were not amused!

However, there was more to this episode that a presumptuous youngest son and sibling rivalry. For David was not only Jesse’s son but was also destined to be ‘son’ of God. Put simply, he was the one chosen to be God’s king – a choice that was validated when he was the Lord’s anointed servant to defeat the enemies of God’s people (1 Sam 17:34-47). Psalm 2 makes much of this as it speaks of how God vindicates his son (Israel’s king) and establishes his rule.

At this point David’s sonship to God overshadows his sonship to Jesse.

The New Testament traces Jesus’ earthly line back through David (eg Matt 1:1; Rom 1:3) and explicitly applies Ps 2 to him (eg Acts 4:25-26; 13:33; Heb 1:5; 5:5). This has big implications for God’s people. David’s parents and brothers took shelter from their enemies under his protection in later life (1 Sam 22:1-4). In the same way, Christian people gather under the protection of Jesus, God’s Son and our big brother. As the son of Jesse’s son and as God’s son, Jesus is our protector from our enemies.

David and Jesus both came from odd family lines. Both had special places in God’s salvation plan. Both were to be trusted and followed as the one sent from God for his people’s deliverance. It must have been hard for David’s father and older brothers to submit to him as king. Likewise, pride can make it hard for us to trust Jesus and submit to him. However, let’s swallow that pride and keep our faith in Jesus who is God’s son and saving king for us.

Our Families: Pain and Pleasure

Many find that people bring us our greatest pain and pleasure. Both pain and pleasure increase as the distance between people diminishes in our families.

Why is this so? The answer is simple. God made us for relationships (Gen 2:18). This is no surprise, since the ‘us’ of the triune God is essentially relational (Gen 1:26). It is his gift to place the lonely in families (Ps 68:5-6a) and most us find it true that there is strength in numbers when it comes to family (Eccles 4:9-12).

The Bible holds out a high ideal for family life with its picture of devoted and lifelong monogamous marriage complemented by wise and godly parenting to which children respond with respect and faith (Gen 1:18-25; Ex 20:12-14; Matt 19:1-9; 1 Cor 7: 1-16; Eph 5:21-6:4). Phew!

Is your family like this? Mine isn’t and I have yet to meet a family that is. It was a wise person who said: Every family has its shame and every family is hiding something.

Consider these families:
• A husband and father took extra women to his bed and then committed murder to cover up yet another acquisition.
• One son of the same man raped one of his sisters and another son publicly slept with one of his father’s ‘other’ women.
• A respected leader of the eighteenth century revival didn’t attend his own wife’s funeral.
• Another leader’s wife left him and he said: I did not ask her to go and I will not ask her to return.

The first two stories are especially interesting because they concern King David from whom Jesus was descended and who is the model king of which Jesus is the fulfilment. Even David’s origins are a little murky in his maternal great-grandmother’s behaviour with the man who was later her husband.

What’s the point? The point is not to lower our aspirations for our family away from God’s ideal. Nor is it to condone sin. But the point is to encourage us.

What’s the encouragement? God was and is present in our complex, messy and less-than-ideal families. Our family is the place where grace is mediated. There is hope as his good purposes are worked out there.

Let us always strive to lift family life closer to the ideal. But let us not despair when they are places of pain as well as pleasure. God is still there.

The Prize

There’s something about a prize that makes us want it. Whether it’s the door prize at social function, an academic award or a sporting trophy – we want to win. Our desire for the prize can push us to amazing acts of focus, self-discipline and self-sacrifice.

But what if we can’t see the prize? What if all we can see are the challenges and difficulties – along with a besetting distraction that is at least visible, as compared with our hoped-for prize?

This can be a real spiritual problem. The Bible holds out the promise of sins forgiven and eternal life in God’s presence if we believe in Jesus (eg Jn 3:16). But, what does forgiveness look like? And just what is eternal life and what are the alternatives? Part of our problem is that we cannot see God’s prize.

Meanwhile, we are called to pay visible costs of discipleship. Some in our church have been ostracised or banished by their families because they left the traditional religion. Others have their careers held back because they refuse to tell lies to clinch a deal or because they leave the work place at a sensible hour for family or ministry priorities. As for the rest of us, we pay the price of repeatedly saying ‘no’ to temptations that wider society indulges in and the cost of giving our time, talents and treasure to follow the Lord.

It can be hard to keep on track with Jesus when the costs are visible and the prize is invisible. The danger is that we become, weary and then fall by the wayside. For a time we may go through religious and churchly actions, but our heart is not with the Lord any more.

We are not the only ones who face these issues. The book of Hebrews is designed to encourage people like us to hang in with Jesus. It does this by highlighting the dread cost of abandoning him (eg 6:4-7), by holding out the secure reality that we already have in Christ (eg 10:32-29) and by mentioning the prize that awaits those who persevere (9:11-15) .

Ours is not a tatty earthly prize. We await the glittering heavenly Jerusalem with its vast company of God’s people and the company of God himself (Heb 12:22-24). This is a kingdom that cannot be shaken by political disturbances. It is a treasure that the markets cannot snatch away (12:28). And this is why we must now be outsiders. We are a people who go outside man’s city to bear the shame and disgrace of Jesus in the hope of his heavenly city (13:13-14).

Let’s stay with Jesus – the prize is worth it.

We Are Not Alone

When life seems tough it’s easy to go into a downward spiral. We may look at our problems (and only our problems), complain that no one has it as tough as us and whine that we are all alone. All this takes an added dimension when our complaint is about the toughness of following Jesus. It’s no wonder that others abandon us when we wallow in such self-pitying misery!

The first readers of Hebrews had grounds for such self-pity. They had found that following Jesus was tough going. Wearying years of self-denial and paying the high costs of discipleship had taken their toll. Ostracism, and even persecution, from their former co-religionist at the temple left them isolated and vulnerable. Where is God in such tough times?

We are not alone! For starters, we have the company of woman and men of faith and courage who also have it tough. Thus the readers of Hebrews are told to look around at the great cloud of witnesses (12:1). We can do the same. Who are the people of great faith and encourage around us and what can we learn from them? Such inspiring examples help us to throw of entanglements and run God’s race with perseverance. They should help us be stickers and not quitters with God.

Further, and more importantly, we are to consider Christ. He is the trailblazer who went ahead to make our life of faith less tough. He is the one who now sits at the right hand of God’s throne to intervene on behalf of his people (12:2; 4:14-16). The fact that he suffered to the point of death for us should help set our problems into perspective – we have not yet suffered as he did (12:3-4).

Rather than complain when the life of faith is tough, we do better to ask what we can learn and how we can grow. This is not mere wishful thinking, but is based on a Christian world-view. Our tough times are not the products of a universe ruled by mad or bad forces to whom we are playthings for their amusement in our sufferings. Rather, the universe is ruled by our good father-God and our tough times are his fatherly discipline for our good (12:5-7).

This dramatically reframes our view of tough times. They are an opportunity for God’s good to be done in our lives and for us to grow in healthy directions. Many of us find that personal growth happens more in tough times than in easy times. Such times are unwelcome, but they are an opportunity for growth. Let’s not waste it!

Finally, the Cross of Christ is the most powerful evidence that we are not alone in tough times. God was there in the vortex of suffering. He is still there. We are never alone.

The Faith That Moves People

Faith works! That’s a simple statement to make after walking through the ‘portrait gallery’ of faithful men and women in the era before Jesus (Heb 11).

Christians have long discussed the relationship between faith and works. Technically, it’s a discussion about justification and sanctification. The modern discussion has been running for over 30 years and is associated with a view called the ‘new perspective’ on Paul. However, whether it’s new or old perspective, Luther, Calvin, Paul or James – one point is clear. Faith is far far more than mental assent to propositions about God or the Cross of Christ.

Faith is a life-changing certainty of what we do not see and is essential to our pleasing of God (Heb 11:1,6).

Look again at Hebrews 11. These women and men did remarkable and risky things because of faith. Abel sacrificed his best for God, Abraham left home and family then became a father, Moses’ mother hid him from infanticide, Rahab changed sides and sheltered enemy spies ... and so on and so on.

There’s a deeply personal challenge for all of us here. What risky deeds have we done simply because of our Christian faith? What big life-changes can we point to? We say we have faith, but where are the faith-works?

Note something else. The faith that works is not faith in faith (positive thinking) nor faith in ourselves (egotism). It is faith in God. Faith can be compared to an electrical lead. The lead must be intact, but what matters is the power source to which it is connected. God in Christ is the object of Christian faith.

Our faith is in the same God as the heroes of Hebrews 11. As the writer points out, they did not see the things that they trusted God for (eg Heb 11:1,13-16, 39-40). However, they did trust God. The faith that moves people is a faith that trusts the faithfulness of God. This is key and it is amplified for us after and in Jesus. In Jesus we see the character of God in a personalised and human form (Jn 1:14; Col 2:9). Thus we are called to be faithful in Christ Jesus (Eph 1:1) and it is faith in the gospel concerning him that brings salvation (Eph 1:13).

There’s another personal challenge here: to what extent is my faith focussed on Jesus rather than elsewhere?

Finally, it’s humbling to read Hebrews 11. These people did so much by faith, yet caught only glimpses of God’s nature. How much more do we see of God in Christ Jesus? How much more should we be moved by faith. How much greater should our faith-works be?

The Problem of Evil - a forethought

The problem of evil is classically formulated in terms of three propositions.

Any two, but not all three, are held to be compatible: ...

God is all good
God is all powerful
Evil exists

Now to the book of Job.

The 'resolution' in the closing chapters is a revelation by God of himself.

The 'why?' question of Job's suffering is never answered to Job (although the reader of Ch 1-2 is well aware if the 'why?' and how it is the inversion of the theodicy advocated by Job's friends).

Note however the resolution: God reveals himself in precisely those attributes that are seen as problematical in the classic formulation of the 'problem'.

Thus, as with the Cross of Christ, the 'solution' is in the puzzle and the problem.

What Matters - 8 May 2010

What matters?

Global; stock markets are in turmoil.

Who knows who governs the UK.

Greece is broke and there are fears for Spain.

Thailand continues with a political crisis.

Headlines in Singapore's Straits Times: 'World Cup TV deal in on'. Yes, locals can watch the soccer world cup (for a fee)

Let Us Not Give Up Meeting Together

Someone has identified loneliness and social fragmentation as a feature of our times. We busily pursue our own agendas and make only passing connections with others – and many of those are electronic and fragmentary anyway.

This can also happen in church. Let’s face it, church gatherings are sometimes dull and church people sometimes ‘impossible’. Meanwhile there’s a great Bible talk that we can download from somewhere elsewhere and absorb through our headphones in a solo experience. Why meet up with real people who are less than perfect when we can create a perfect virtual church of our own tastes?

The Bibles urges that we not neglect ‘meeting together’ (Heb 10:25). The word used is the common term for a synagogue – which was a place and occasion for God’s people to come together.

How can Christian people meet together? The basic meeting is our Sunday time for gathered worship and the associated activities. It’s a great habit to be in church every Sunday. This meeting is complemented by small groups and our gathering at occasions like prayer meeting and church camp. Of course, we can also ‘meet’ through the new e-media, especially in its more interactive forms. However, it remains true that there is no real substitute for meeting face to face (2 Jn 12).

It is one thing for Christians to meet together, but another to use the time well. We sometimes use the word ‘fellowship’ for any occasion when Christians meet up. However, fellowship is more than some believers meeting, eating and having general chit-chat. Fellowship happens when our meeting has a spiritual focus, whatever the immediate topic of conversation. As Hebrews 10:25 puts it, we are to meet to encourage one another in the faith and especially in view of the Lord’s return (Heb 10:25).

There are some timely challenges for us in this:
• Do we individually make it a priority to meet regularly with God’s people, or do we minimise such contacts?
• When we meet with other Christians do we make it an opportunity for spiritual encouragement, or do we fritter all the time away in trivia?
• Do we only meet with people who are less ‘senior’ to ourselves and thus avoid accountability where it is needed?
• Do we, as a church, organise our meetings such that they promote fellowship with one another, as well as a vertical relationship with the Lord?

Let’s heed the encouragement of Scripture to meet together regularly.

Comfort in Suffering

Suffering is part and parcel of life. In varying ways and to varying degrees we all have experiences and moments that perplex our minds, break our hearts and prompt our tears. Life is often a vale of tears. What comforts us in our suffering and how can we comfort one another?

Let’s start with what does not comfort.

• False hopes. A well-meaning person may say ‘don’t worry, all will be well’. It may, or may not, be so. Further, such a remark may say more about the speaker’s discomfort with suffering than anything else.

• Problem solving. When we hear of another person's problem it’s common to offer a ‘solution’. Men are especially prone to doing this. There is a time for solutions, but it’s not the first need of a suffering person. Further, it is often best to wait until someone asks before offering our ideas.

• Shared despair. Another ‘comforter’ may climb into the pit of suffering with us, reinforce how bad things are, then lead us into a downwards spiral. Thus Job’s wife urged him to curse God and accept death (Job 2:9). Far from helping, this may breed self-pity and depression.

• Theologising. When Job suffered, some friends came to sit. When they spoke it was a lengthy theological discourse about how only the guilty suffer and therefore Job had best confess his sins and lift God’s curse. His friends were wrong. Moreover, their many words only exasperated Job (eg Job 16:1-3).

What does comfort in suffering? Let’s go back to Job. When his friends first came they sat silently with him for seven days (Job 2:13). That seems to have been their most useful contribution and it’s worth pondering. Consider the comfort of someone who simply attends a Wake service and gives a silent handshake as they greet the family. Their mere presence means so much. Our silent presence is a great gift when someone suffers.

However, our greatest comfort is to look at God and to God. The many words of Job and his friends end with God’s self-disclosure (Job 38-41). Job’s response was effectively to repent of his words and bow his heart (Job 42:1-6). Who was he to question and doubt God? The New Testament takes us a step further. It urges us to consider the sufferings of Christ (Heb 12:2-3). Not only was his suffering greater, but its redemptive effect demonstrates forever that God is sovereign and working for good even in our suffering.

Let us, too, also find and give comfort in looking at God and to God.

An End and the Beginning

Have you ever been in a plane during a hard landing? It’s uncomfortable and even frightening. The end of a journey can be a time of fear and uncertainty as the era of the familiar yields to a new unknown.

It was like that when Jesus came. Each Gospel makes that point rather forcibly in the introductory section. The coming of Jesus was a decisive end to the era of earthly temple, priests and sacrifices - shadows fled before reality and God’s promises became fulfilment. The wilderness years of the old covenant were over and change was upon the world.

Mark begins with some important Old Testament references (Mrk 1:2-3). The selection of passages is explosive as the coming of Jesus is linked to the three great ‘movements’ of the exodus from Egypt (Ex 23:20), the return from exile in Babylon (Is 40:3) and the coming day of the Lord (Mal 3:1). It’s as though Mark is saying ‘the former things have passed away and the new is here and now’. This is integral to the gospel of Jesus Christ (Mrk 1:1).

Endings and beginnings may be resisted. The keepers of the old order in Jesus’ day resisted the new era of God’s dealings and adopted defensive behaviours. Many of Jesus’ initial followers were confused about his message and eventually sank back to ‘business as usual’. Others were angry and vented their wrath on the one sent to be God’s Christ. However, the end had come. The beginning of the era of the new covenant was irresistible, for God’s will is done.

As we read on through Mark we see the nature of that new era as love and mercy filled the space once occupied by religious formalism; as mercy and forgiveness replaced the grim accounting of human merit; and as a new familial ease with God replaced distant fearfulness. Only those with vested interests were the losers in this end and new beginning. For those with ears to hear it was the best news they could ever hear. And so the crowds flocked to hear the message (Mrk 1:5).

In all this the mysterious ways of God were much on view. However painful the end, the beginning was sweet indeed. As William Cowper puts it:

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Let’s hear Mark as he announces an end and the beginning. Let’s follow him as he points us to Jesus as God’s Christ and Son.

Moving on

This is a personal message.

Glenda and I are moving on from Singapore where we have been since mid 1999. It's been a great stint living and serving in South East Asia and we shall miss it greatly. Deep and welcome changes have happened in us as a result of being here.

Family wise its been a time when two grandchildren have been born, one son has migrated to Canada, David's mother passed away and our last child left home.

Personally, its been a time of stretched horizons, rich experiences and the heartaches, joys and opportunities common to all ministry assignments.

God-willing, and subject to confirmation by the July 2010 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of NSW, David will be teaching at Presbyterian Theological Centre Sydney from January 2011.

Meanwhile, ORPC remains our church and Singapore is definitely ‘home’. We seek God’s honour and good for the church, the nation and for ourselves. We covet your prayers to that end.

For further information visit the ORPC / PTC websites: www.orpc/org.sg; www.ptcsydney.org/home.

Note: this post has been edited since first posted.

Knowing The Will Of God

God’s will is sometimes clear. Thus, when Jesus was in his garden agony he knew full well that it was the father’s will that he go to the Cross (Lke 22:42). The only question was whether he would obey this revealed will. It’s the same when we have a temptation to sin. If we know our Bible, we know God’s will. The only question is whether we will bend our will to try and do what God wants.

God’s will is sometimes unclear. These are times where we face decisions of spiritual significance, but they are not questions of (dis)obedience to God’s will as revealed in Scripture. A decision one way or another could be godly. We pray ... not my will but yours be done and then we add ... show me your will.

How do we know God’s will in these situations? Sometimes we may have a powerful and clear impression that is quickly given and which we interpret as God’s leading. More commonly, God’s will is sought through careful and prayerful decision-making. Here are some elements of that process:

• Sanctified common sense. Draw up a list with the plus / minus for each option. Which decision gives the best objective ‘fit’?

• Listen to your heart. What is the ‘inner voice saying? This is not the same as asking what we most desire, but desire is part of it.

• Prayerful conviction. Soak the whole process in prayer and do not take a final decision until we have a settled conviction before God.

• Know God. Know God so well through prayer and Bible that our mind and heart are deeply in tune with him.

• Open and closed doors. God may lead by closing a door we expected to find open. We may then turn and find another door open.

• Godly counsel. In the end we must take responsibility for our own decision, but there is benefit in talking things through. Let’s seek people who know God, know us, know the situation and who speak the truth in love.

• Be open-minded. God may lead us against our expectations, desires or our sense of what is best. As we were reminded at prayer meeting, God’s answer to our desires may be ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘not yet’ or ‘something different’.

In all this, let us remember that God is sovereign and moves all things according to his purposes (Eph 1:11). Our choices and those of others around us may be finite and flawed but God works his good purposes through them anyway. The Bible has many examples of this and it is an immense encouragement as we look at the realities of human decisions and actions.

I have often found these processes useful in taking decisions. What do you find helpful? However we do it, let us always strive to know and to do God’s will.

Review: A Day's March Nearer Home

Graham Miller; 'A Day's March Nearer Home', Banner of Truth 2010. (editor: Iain Murray)

Graham Miller was a notable NZ born servant of Christ in New Zealand, Vanuatu (formerly New Hebrides), Australia and elsewhere.

This book is an edited autobiography which tells of his life and ministry as a pastor, missionary and teacher.

The intrinsic value of this book is in its subject, especially for those who knew Rev Miller and were blessed by his ministry. Graham Miller held a warm-hearted Biblical Christianity in which his reformed theology was always visible but with such graciousness of character.

The book is of interest not only for its revelations about the author, but also for the backdrop of Australasian church life through a significant period that impacts on the present.

There is a certain quaintness in Dr Miller's language and in some particulars of his ministry. However, in a day when the basic nature of pastoral ministry is again under criticism and revision, this book is worth reading for its insights into the core of pastoral ministry. The enduring themes are abiding prayerfulness, Bible-centredness and a deep love for God's work and God's people - coupled with a readiness to make big personal sacrifices.

The Communion of Saints

Where is our sense of belonging and who are our ‘kin’? Many of us will point to our earthly family or maybe to a tight-knit workplace, club or such like. For Christian people, that sense of belonging is expressed in a phrase ‘the communion of saints’. We affirm our belief in this every time we say the Apostles’ Creed. However, what does it mean?

Let’s start with the words. ‘Saint’ is a common Bible term for people who are full of faith in Christ as a result of God’s initiative to choose and save (eg Eph 1:2-7). ‘Communion’ refers to the bond between believers and it’s a word synonymous with ‘fellowship’, ‘sharing’ or ‘participation’.

The ‘communion of saints’ is thus the fellowship that is shared between Christian people because they share the faith of Christ. This communion exists on three levels and each is important.

Firstly, there is the sharing between members of a local church. As we come together, each with our individuality we combine into the one body and coexist, co-suffer and co-serve with one another (eg 1 Cor 12:12-13,20,25-27). This is powerfully symbolised in the one table of the Lord that we come to in the communion service (1 Cor 10:16-17). And this all rests on one Lord, faith and baptism (Eph 4:4). What can we do to foster this communion within ORPC?

Secondly, there is the sharing with Christians elsewhere on earth (the church militant). Thus Paul writes of the shared bonds with Christians whom he had never met (eg Rom 1:11-12) and organised a collection from a group of Christians for other needy believers of a different culture, race and language (eg 2 Cor 8-9). When we hear of Christians in other places who are needy or being persecuted, our sense of communion with them should mean that we feel their sufferings as though they are ours (eg Heb 10:33; Rev 1:9). Do we do this when we hear of believers in Iraq or Pakistan being driven to exile by violence, or killed in their hundreds as in Joss, Nigeria? How can we express our oneness with such people?

Thirdly, there is our partnership with believers in heaven (the church triumphant). Although absent from us in the flesh they are a living and ever-present cloud of witnesses to encourage our life of enduring faith (eg Heb 12:1) and they are people to whom we have now come when we join ourselves to Christ (Heb 12:22-23). As we sit at the Lord’s table today, let’s remember that they sit at the same table in heaven (eg Ps 23:5-6; Matt 22:1). Let’s celebrate and be comforted by that fellowship in our communion services today.

Let us be thankful to Christ who makes the communion of saints possible and who is its root, head and purpose.