'The gates of hell shall not prevail' - a re-reading of in the light of Rev 12

As I write three Christian workers known to me are in trouble.

One has been removed from a faithful pastorate by unprincipled and worldly actions from within the church.

Another is threatened with removal from a cross-cultural ministry situation. This is not an intemperate street evangelist, but someone who quietly serves a community through a ministry of helps in the name of Jesus.

In the third case another cross-cultural worker sees a local friend suffer because of the friend's contact with Christian people and literature.

These three stories can be multiplied many times over. Persecution from without and difficulty from within are normal not exceptional.

At one level this should not surprise for the Lord warned that 'if they persecuted me they will persecuted you also'  (Jn 15:19-20) and Paul warned of wolves arising even from within God's church (Acts 20:29-30).

Yet Jesus also spoke of how he would build his church and that the gates of hell would not prevail against it (Matt 16:18-19).

How can the reality of persecution from within and without and Jesus' word about hell not prevailing be reconciled?

My daily Bible reading recently turned to Rev 12.  John writes the book against a background of terrible persecution and the book pulls no punches in describing the troubles of the earthly church. God seems to be absent and the mad and bad have been left in charge.

A key literary feature of Revelation is the way it switches between earthly and heavenly perspectives - if you like, the view from the control tower (heaven) is set against the view from the earthly ground. This is the same reality in different perspectives.

The heavenly scene gives a different view from the earthly. God rules in heaven. He also rules earthly events from heaven. It is his scrolls and trumpet blasts that act like stage directions for human history. The earthly church suffers because God is strong and because Satan has been defeated (Rev 12:7-11). Satan's desperate lunges against the earthly church are because he is evicted from heaven and knows that his time is short (Rev 12:12).

This is a dramatic re-framing of the church's struggles and suffering. When Satan is strong he does not need to trouble the church but can let leave it in complacent slumber. When he is week he attacks like a cornered beast.

The people known to me above, and others like them, will continue to suffer and evil will appear to gain the supper hand from time to time and place to place. The great encouragement is that evil can reach no further than God allows (Rev 13:7) and that its power is temporal and bounded. Christ has conquered in his cross and resurrection. He is building his church and hell shall not prevail against it.

The message?

1. Expect difficulty and persecution, but rejoice that it is a sign of God's triumph over evil in Jesus.
2. Give ourselves to faith and endurance (Rev 13:10b) knowing that God's day is at hand and that the battle is already his.
3. Persist in living and serving for the Lord, for that is our share in his sufferings and the means by which his kingdom is extended on earth and that of Satan rolled back.

The ‘inbetweenness’ of who we are.

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The ‘inbetweenness’ of who we are.

Got you there with ‘inbetweenness’? Terrible word isn’t it?

But is a useful way of thinking about who we are.

We usually identify ourselves by positive statements that act as labels within categories. Thus I am male, 62, Caucasian, an Australian citizen and resident, and who is a husband, father and grandfather. The categories here are gender, age, race, citizenship and family.

Those words give an outward picture that helps ‘place’ a person. (Of course, the order of those categories and the list of what categories are included / excluded is quite revealing of the person doing the classification.)

However, such categories often fail to capture our reality. A while back I read a comment that has stayed with me and which I find useful in self-understanding and in talking with others.

That’s the ‘inbetweenness’ bit.

As well as being described by what we are, we can be described by what we are in-between.

Consider a person born in one country, who has lived in two others during formative years and who studies in yet another country. A label of political citizenship or residence makes a true statement but fails to capture the cultural identity of that person. However, if we describe that person as in the space between circles of varying sizes representing each culture / country in their past and present, we gain a richer and fuller picture.

I have found that an affirmation of ‘inbetweenness’ in identity is personally useful as I think about myself. For example, I can bring my Australian heritage and 11.5 years in Singapore alongside one another. Likewise with my pastor-teacher; teacher-pastor ministry identities.

What are you in-between?

A further thought.

If a person is only in-between, then  that can be profoundly destabilising for they are defined purely by what they are not. Talk about ‘hollow man’. On the other hand, if someone has a strong inner core grounded in their being in God and under Christ, then their inbetweenness can be a strong strength. This is a global citizen: at home with and in God and therefore enabled to be at home anywhere in his creation.

Scholarship as worship

This post is written seated in a Bangkok chapel with a group of fellow-Christians.

Earlier this morning (8.30am) we sang, prayed, shared and heard the word of God. That was self-consciously an act of worship in the classic sense of an intentional gathering of God's people.

The same group of people is now seated in the same place.

What are we doing?

We are engaged in a scholarly pursuit. We students are presenting our doctoral research. Fellow students and academics are asking questions and giving critiques, affirmations, suggestions and encouragements.

That is a description of our actions. What is the nature of these actions?

Last night one of the academics remarked that if we are called by God to scholarly pursuits it is a kingdom vocation in Christ and part of our discipleship and disciple-making ministry. If it is not God's calling and a kingdom activity why are we doing it?

Worship is a presentation of my whole self to God as a living sacrifice, including renewal of the mind - motivated by the mercies of God in Christ (Rom 12:12).

So, if what we do at 11am is not an act of worship why are we doing it? If scholarship does not belong in the chapel where does it belong?

On reflection, chapel is a most appropriate place to be at 11am.

The things we notice on social media

Just noticing.

When people post personal update or quirky items on face book, or personal photos - our comments abound.

But when social media is used for serious causes, we rarely bother to comment.

Is this a comment on the essence of social media ... a place to chill out and idly pass the time in digital chat?

Or is it a comment on humanity - happy to be entertained and diverted for a moment, but, please God - spare me from having to face the confronting stuff that reminds me of a painful world out there?

Review: John McClean, From the Future.

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Review: John McClean (2013). From the Future. Getting to Grips with Pannenberg’s Thought. Paternoster. 157 pages plus endnotes, references and indices.

Wolfgang Pannenberg illustrates some dilemmas in modern theology. How can the faith of the Bible as further defined through the years be re-presented in a listenable form to the modern reader? And again, how can complex matters (described as seeing through the window darkly) be explained in a way that both befits the world of the theologians and the world of every-person?

From the Future arises from the author’s doctoral thesis and sets out to explain and comment on central ideas in Pannenberg’s ideas. The book is well-presented, although there is an error on p16 (last para).

McClean sets Pannenberg in context, introduces his theological method and key themes and then proceeds to an explanation and discussion of some of these themes. McClean has deep respect for Pannenberg but is not afraid to critique his views from within the confessional Presbyterianism with which the author identifies.

Why should anyone apart from professional theologians read this book? Firstly, Pannenberg is a major modern theologian. He is one of those people that serious Christian readers need to be familiar with. Secondly, this is a lucid work both in the exposition of Pannenberg’s views and in McClean’s interactions. Thirdly, it is a book that will help beginning theological students come to grips with a major modern theologian and also think about how to do theology in the present age.

Pannenberg is a difficult writer and leaves readers peering at the glass dimly. McClean makes the glass clearer and resolves some dilemmas for readers of modern theology.

(David Burke is a colleague of John McClean at Presbyterian Theological Centre, Sydney Australia.)

The missing link in worship

--> It was a great gathering of God’s people. The welcome was warm, events started on time, announcements were efficient, music was superb and the word was well preached. Even the coffee  was good!

What’s missing?

I attend many church services in different places and notice that many modern services go light when it comes to prayer.

This ‘going light’ has two dimensions.

First, prayer is somewhat absent.

These simple tests can be applied. How many prayer slots were there? What share of the gathering was taken up with prayer, and what share by other activities? Anecdotal evidence is that services nowadays have fewer and shorter prayers. Meanwhile announcements, music and various sharings have grown in prominence.

Second, prayer is often on a low horizon.

Consider the prayer that taught (Matt 6) and the prayer that Jesus prayed (John 17). Both start on high horizons. Jesus prays on the horizon of God’s glory and teaches his followers to pray on the horizons of God’s name, kingdom and will. These are big horizons.

Consider now the prayers typically heard in Christian gatherings. My impression is that we pray for immediate needs (troubled relatives and friends, work pressures etc) and conversions (well worthy of prayers). These are worthy prayers, for all dependence on God to meet needs is an act of worship. However, where are the prayers that take in the world outside the local church and its connections?

Further on this, the kind of prayers we pray are changing. A recent pattern was to work with ‘ACTS’.  That is, with prayers adoring (or admiring) God, prayers on confession, thanksgiving and finally supplication (prayers that ask for things). It is commonplace now to focus prayers around the theme of asking. It is especially now rare to hear a prayer of confession, coupled with suitable words of gospel comfort.

And of course it’s not just in church services that we go light on prayer. The congregational prayer meeting has all but disappeared. Prayer times in small groups is often related to the rushed interval before supper and, again, are often prayed just on the low horizon of our immediate needs.

Prayer seems a bit like washing hands after we go to bathroom. Everyone agrees that it’s a good idea but not many do it.

It is such a contrast to look at the book of Acts. 2:42 sums it up as it speaks of a church ‘devoted to the prayers’. The church of Acts had nothing but God to rely on. And so they prayed.

This is the missing link.

Hearing well

What’s wrong with this scene?

The worship leader introduced the service theme with care and led a carefully crafted opening prayer. Later on, someone else preached and someone prayed. While they did so the worship leader opened his ipad, looked at his face book page and read a page from a book.

We expect that those who preach and teach the Bible do their job well (eg 2 Tim 2:15; Jas 1:1). This means that the preacher is well prepared, devoted to his task and executes it with dependence on God and the best use of his gifts. A preacher who fails to do rightly comes under criticism.

But what of the listeners?

I was present at the above scene with the inattentive worship leader. I was appalled. It was made worse by the fact that he holds a senior ministry post. It’s the kind of scene that makes you wonder if this is an aberration or is it the real person. If it’s the real person, his fitness for a key ministry role is doubtful.

But then I thought. What kind of sermon listener am I? Maybe I am don’t give such obvious outward signs of inattentiveness, but what is going on inside me. Am I listening or are my thoughts wandering? If I am listening, am I listening as one who delights in God’s word, desires to know it as well as I can and who bends my will to live according to the word that I hear?

Jesus tells those who can hear to hear and warns that the measure of our hearing is the measure of what God will give us to hear (Mrk 4:9, 23-24). This coupled with his earlier words about the parables hiding things from outsiders (Mrk 4:11-12) is a warning that the hearing of the word of God is as serious a task as it’s preaching.

How can I be a responsible hearer of God’s word when I read it or hear it preached?

·      Prepared I can read and pray over the text before coming to the meeting. I can ensure that I am well rested an unhurried rather than rushed with last minute activities.

·      Focussed I can ensure that nothing needlessly distracts me during the preaching. If I am using a devise to read the Bible or take notes, put it to airline mode so that no distracting push-alert diverts me. I can keep my eyes in two places only: on my Bible and on the preacher.

·      Engaged I can engage with the word by taking notes. Even if I discard them afterwards, the act of taking them requires engaged listening rather than superficial attention.

·      Responsive The word is meant to change my beliefs and behaviours and make me a more complete Christian (2 Tim 3:15-17). Do I pray the word that I hear into my heart and life? As I listen am I looking for applications that I personalise and then pray into my heart, will and hands? Doing this avoids the problem of unprofitable knowledge (2 Pet 1:3-8).

It’s easy to criticise the way the worship leader was inattentive to the word. Perhaps I am better to look to myself and ensure that I learn from the bad example and become one who hears well.