Churchcentral Blog

What on earth has happened to Simon Cowell! I wonder if at last he presents us with compelling evidence for alien abduction. A couple of years ago, he was in his X Factor judge’s seat, dishing out the cutting, pompous put downs that had become his trademark, then after a year in America, he returns with a saintly smile and a newfound love of puppies.

In fact, it’s not just Mr Cowell who has undergone this amazing transformation. Saturday evening’s plethora of talent shows has become full of Katarina Witts, Danni Minogues and Craig Revel Horwoods queuing up to out-mean Mr. Nasty. But not any more. The Voice and Britain’s Got Talent have been most notable for their judges’ camaraderie and general nice-ness.

The bodysnatching theory seems to fall flat when confronted with this cross-channel sea change in the tone of our prime time viewing. I don’t think it can be explained by a genuine moral change in the individuals involved either. Surely this is all calculated and deliberate. The only sensible explanation for this flurry of encouragement and pleasantness is that the market research has convinced the TV executives that the British public has had enough of nastiness (at least for the time being).

I think that, as Christians, we need to take this to heart. In offices full of gossip and slander, it is so easy to be sucked into the habit of character assassination. We can be led to believe that abstaining from such conversations (or even worse, combating the tide of viciousness) might cause us to be regarded as irrelevant and trite. Similarly, sometimes as Christians, living in a world that is often so hostile to God and his values, we get the idea that we should be openly and aggressively oppositional towards our culture- being the first to criticise unwise government policy or ridicule public figures who hold views that we consider anti-Christian. You don’t have to spend long on Facebook to find Christians even slagging off other Christians who veer from their theological position.

However, we are called to be the light of the world. This means that we should show people a way to live that is different but also attractive and winsome. Deep down, the world is fed up of back-biting and an over critical spirit. Let’s show them something different. Are you known as the type of person who builds people up or cuts them down? Would people expect you to be critical first or encouraging?  In your defense of the gospel, even in the face of hostility, do you speak with pride and aloofness or with ‘gentleness and respect’ (1 Peter 3:15)?

A year ago I had a very interesting conversation with a female student who was seriously investigating Christianity. She was clearly impressed by Jesus and seemed to like being around Christians, but she had one problem with Christianity: the Bible’s insistence on the need for retributive justice!

Now, I’ll back up a bit to keep everyone up to speed: basically, there are several reasons why societies punish people and two of the main ones are reformation (to make the offender a better person and stop them offending again) and retribution (to pay them back for their crimes). This lady believed that any form of retribution was wrong, as paying someone back for their crimes was a vindictive, mean thing. She believed (rightly) that God was neither vindictive or mean but, from this basis, reasoned God would only ever punish with a mind on reforming an individual.

While this may seem incredibly technical, it meant that she refused to accept that a payment was due for our sin, either through Jesus’ death on the cross or through an eternity in hell. As far as I know, this still is the main obstacle preventing her from becoming a Christian.

The reason I feel compelled to dredge up this unusual chat is that this very issue has been raised with some force in the news this week through the trial of Otto Breivik. Breivik is the Norwegian man who, acting entirely alone, bombed the Norwegian government building in Oslo before gunning down 77 people on a nearby island. In most countries, he would receive at the very least a lifetime in prison, but in Norway the maximum possible sentence is 21 years and Norway’s prisons are notoriously plush. In Newsweek, the journalist Stephan Theil, reporting on these elements of Norway’s penal system, concluded that Norway “considers the idea of punishment barbaric.” Norway has come to the same conclusion as the student with whom I conversed: punishment should be primarily to reform, there is no place for retribution.

Norway will certainly have to do some soul searching about this issue in the light of Breivik’s chillingly brazen show in court. However, I personally have no strong feelings about Norway’s methods of punishing criminals. In a fallen world, governments have to make calls on issues of law and order and I do not think that the Bible categorically supports any particular answer to these difficult questions. However I believe that there is a vital question looming behind all this that we need to think through and be ready to engage with our friends about: does God have the right to punish sinners?

The Bible makes it clear that we have all broken God’s law and stand before Him as criminals in the court of heaven. It is also clear in Scripture that God’s heart is to reform us. That is why he sent his son. The gospel is not just that we can escape punishment, but that we can change and become righteous. As Paul says in Romans 1:14 ‘in the gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed.’ Salvation starts with justification (an imputed righteousness) but is leads to sanctification (a stuttering but noticeable progress in our personal holiness) and finally glorification (when 1 John 3:2 says ‘we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.’ Woop woop!) One day, we will look back and see that secular Scandinavia does not have a monopoly on reformative justice, God is the master at transforming the worst sinners into Jesus’ doppelgangers!

However, the God of the Bible is a God who has put retribution at the heart of how the universe runs. Isaiah 59:18 says:

‘According to what they have done,
so will he repay
wrath to his enemies
and retribution to his foes’

and in Romans 12:19

“It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”says the Lord.

As Christians, I certainly don’t think these should be our most beloved verses and I can see why some people who aren’t Christians recoil from those who seem to take a cruel delight in God’s willingness to repay sinners for their sin. It is hard to read about Jesus and conclude that God delights in avenging sin in anything like the way he does in showing grace.

However, we need to maintain God’s prerogative to administer justice, because for all the technical terms, justice is what this involves. God is just. Justice is good. Sin needs to be paid for. That is the horrifying reality of the depths to which we have sunk, but a universe without such justice would be out of control and even more awful. In fact, it would be hell already.

Whatever Wenche Elizabeth Arntzen (the judge overseeing the Breivik trial) decides to do to Otto Breivik, there is another judge who will have the final say on the matter. Breivik’s sins will be punished by God along with all our much less public horrors. They will either be punished in the person of Jesus on the cross or in the person of Otto Breivik in an eternal Hell.

My guess is that this trial will raise serious questions about the nature of punishment in Norway and other secular nations (like ours). We must engage with those questions by presenting a God who longs to reform but who is utterly justified in taking retribution as well.

Most of us spend our entire lives trying to get rich. We work and scheme and worry in pursuit of this ever-elusive goal. And yet while we accumulate more and more stuff (and the worries that come with it), we never feel rich.

But what if we’ve already achieved that goal, and we don’t even realise it? What if the thing we’re chasing is already in our hands? And yet we never stop to consider how to be rich. Enticed by our culture, we focus so much on achieving an ever-increasing standard of living that we never realise when, in fact, we become rich.

So, this Sunday we’re going to be launching a four part series exploring a passage of Scripture written specifically to the rich, in order to help us learn how to be rich. In part one of the series, we’ll discuss the seemingly preposterous question: “What if you are, in fact, already rich?” Because the reality is that if you have a place to live, food in the cupboards and clothes to wear, then by the world’s standards you are rich.

As you may have noticed, our new church website features several videos relating to different areas of church life. If you haven’t had a chance to take a look at them yet, it’s well worth having a gander! They provide an excellent introduction to what Churchcentral is all about.

To make these videos the high quality products that they are we couldn’t rely solely on Russ’ chiselled features, Owen’s cheeky smile or even Sam’s comedy backwards leap (StarCity video- right at the end). We needed some decent music so decent music we did get! The soundtrack to all of the videos is provided courtesy of Zangproductions, a Moseley based independent record label (www.zangproductions.co.uk). All of the artists on the label are Christians (you will probably recognise at least one) and Zang exists not only to produce quality music but to bring the good news of Jesus to people in a relevant and thought provoking manner.

Interested in checking it out? Here are some recommendations:

Fiction Fight- I am a thief

http://fictionfight.bandcamp.com/

Beautifully crafted worship music that breaks away from the usual Chris Tomlin/Matt Redman mould. Fiction Fight blend together a variety of musical styles which provide the backdrop for deeply  personal, profound songwriting. And you can pay whatever you want for it. Highly recommended!

(The King Edwards site video features ‘Love is brave’ and the Lordswood site video features ‘My rescue’)

Benjamin Blower- Pillar of smoke

http://www.zangproductions.co.uk/releases/benjamin-blower-the-pillar-of-smoke/

Imagine Jeremiah the prophet crossed with Johnny Cash hanging out regularly with the Beastie Boys. That’s Benjamin Blower. He’s awesome and all his stuff is worth checking out but this is my favourite.

(The church homepage video from ‘Childhood by Benjamin Blower and the army of the broken hearted featured on the album ‘The darkness doesn’t love you’ )

Ickberg- Arctic Village Beaver

http://www.zangproductions.co.uk/free/ickberg-arctic-village-beaver/

Some people may remember the DJ Shadow album ‘Endtroducing’ from the 90s. If you don’t recognise the name you will definitely have heard the music on various film soundtracks or adverts. Ickberg make a similar brand of(largely) instrumental hip hop. Another quality free download.

(The StarCity video features ‘Make me’)

Selina Blakeney- Russian doll

http://www.zangproductions.co.uk/free/selina-blakeney-russian-doll/

Zang’s latest release is really just Selina’s beautiful voice and very little else. Almost entirely accapella, ‘Russian doll’ combines layers of harmonies with heartfelt songwriting to create a moving, hypnotic mini-album and once again it doesn’t cost a penny.

Joel the Custodian- My organs are yours

http://www.zangproductions.co.uk/releases/the-custodians-my-organs-are-yours/

Joel makes hiphop as it should be. His sound is crafted from reggae, electronica and even country music, with lyrics exploring themes such as the devastating majesty of God and the frail mortality of man. And, you’ll never guess, its FREE!

Prayer – It takes a minute to learn but we’ll never master it in our whole lives. There’s so much to pray for but, according to Romans 8:26, ‘we don’t know what we ought to pray for’. It’s the activity that falls off most quickly when we’re busy, but in the busyness it’s the most important activity. It’s the part of our relationship with God that often we’d wish God would axe, but the most godly people all seem to agree that it’s the most productive, joyful and fulfilling experience there is!

How confusing! However, setting aside all the complexities of prayer, here’s the deal: if we don’t pray, we don’t get!

2011 was a tumultuous year and, from a human perspective, 2012 doesn’t promise to be any more comforting. However, God has given us a tool by which we can lay our requests before the one who is most able and most eager to change things for the better. Our nation, our city, our friends and our church. We just need to ask.

That’s why we’re kicking off 2012 with a half week of prayer:

We’re meeting on Tuesday, and Wednesday evening next week at St Francis Hall from 8-9:30pm and on Thursday evening at StarCity from 7:30-9pm. For all the morning people out there we’re also meeting on Tuesday and Thursday morning at the church offices from 7-8am.

Here’s the third crucially important lesson from the story of Nehemiah:

Protecting your spiritual integrity requires bold leadership.

If the story of Nehemiah teaches us anything, it teaches that clear standards by themselves aren’t enough. The people made all these vows, but then promptly disregarded them! So how can we guard against falling into the same trap?

Well, that’s where bold leadership comes in. If we’re in a position of leadership – parents, bosses, if you carry any leadership in the church – when we see the shadow of someone just about to cross a line, we need to be bold in addressing it.

We also need to be under bold leadership. We need to be in a church where the Bible’s clearly taught; where its standards are upheld. We need to have people around us who will speak up if they see that we’re in potential danger. We need to have friends in our life like Nehemiah – people who won’t condone or turn a blind eye to behaviour that’s just wrong. Do you have that? If you don’t, won’t you give someone permission to be like that with you?

Here’s the second crucially important lesson from the story of Nehemiah:

Protecting your spiritual integrity requires clear standards.

If we’re serious about finishing well, especially in those areas where we’re susceptible to fall, we’ve got to have clear standards. A standard is deciding how far, and how much, and when, and who. It’s deciding in these areas, “Here’s what I’ll do, and here’s what I’m going to refuse to do… and that’s how I’m going to live.” A standard’s like an immovable object against which you can measure your progress. It’s something that gives you a point of reference because it doesn’t change. It’s not vague… It’s very tangible.

• How many nights will you be away from your family?
• How many hours of TV or computer?
• Who are you going to date?
• How far’s far enough?
• How long are you going to stay?
• Are you going to drink?
• If you travel a lot with work, you need clear guidelines that you’ll stick to.

Maybe you’re thinking, “This is all a bit heavy. You’re really starting to load me down here!” But God’s saying, “I’m not loading you down. I’m trying to protect you because I love you and care deeply about what happens to you.” We need clear standards… we all do.

The story of Nehemiah teaches us three hugely important lessons. Here’s the first one:

No matter what God has done for you, in you, or through you – you have the potential to drift right back into the same mess he saved you from.

How many of you have done this: Your life’s a wreck, you come to God, things start going well, and you decide you don’t need him again?

It’s a dangerous game! Because each time you disobey God you redraw the lines of what’s acceptable… and before you know it, you’ve completely lost sight of him. I’ve seen it so many times – friends of mine who’d experienced so much of God; and now it’s as though none of it ever happened, it’s as though they never knew him.

Maybe you you’re thinking that could never happen to you. You think you’re the exception. You’d never turn your back on God. But you know something? This story illustrates in a powerful way that no-one’s outside the realm of drifting. The fact that you’ve seen God do something incredible is a great kick-start to get you going. But that’s not enough to ensure you finish well; it doesn’t guarantee a good ending.

India!  What comes to mind when you read that word?

Curry – lots of it, people everywhere, beggars and eunuchs, rickshaws – hold your breath!, noise – it seems to never stop, slums (Mumbai has the biggest in Asia), heat, and don’t forget the humidity as well!, and on it goes!

India conjures up all sorts of thoughts, reactions and emotions.

What else? A thriving business community – banks and call centres,  millions of young people, some amazing sights – Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Golden Temple, Bollywood, and some of the richest people in the world …and some of the poorest too!

India is a kaleidoscope of sights, sounds and colours, causing so many feelings and emotions to rise up and swirl around in the mind.

Oh … and don’t forget the churches.  Amazing groups of Christians, often in the minority, pressing forward against the odds and making an impact through their changed lives.  Their lively worship, growing churches and various projects in the community – AIDS sufferers, Leprosy Care, Senior Citizens Care, Education etc. are always a challenge to us.

Are you interested in knowing more?  Would you fancy a trip to have a look, get involved, and to be stretched and challenged, possibly as never before?

Then come with us to India next year.

We are planning a trip to Mumbai and Nasik, visiting the church led by Sydney Nevis (he preached at Churchcentral in the summer), meeting some of the believers there, as well as visiting some of the projects.

If you are interested in knowing more, then please do contact John & Mollie as soon as possible for all the details or email office@churchcentral.org.uk

India awaits you – dare you rise to the challenge?!

Some of you may have heard people claim that money is the root of all evil. It’s not. It’s also the root of all kinds of good things. So it’s not altogether bad. You can do good or bad things with your money. You could put it to good use and provide for single mums and widows and those in need; or you could use it badly and blow it all at the casino. It’s just an opportunity. And you can use it well or badly. So money isn’t evil. But the love of money, which leads to greed, is the root of all kinds of evil, just like Scripture says.

That’s perhaps why Scripture has a whole lot to say about money, wealth and possessions. It speaks of money on more than 800 occasions. And roughly 25 percent of the recorded teaching of Jesus was about what we do with our money.

One very illuminating passage of teaching from Jesus is found in Matthew chapter 6, where he says that you can’t serve both God and money. Now, for some of us, money is our functional god. It’s more important than the real God. You need to choose: Is Jesus my God; or is it money, possessions and wealth?

Jesus goes on to say that your treasure follows your heart; meaning if you want to see what you really love, value and esteem – then just look at where you spend your money. For example, I’m a dad. I can’t say to my kids, “I love you. I just don’t provide food.” They’d say, “No, you don’t love us because your money follows your heart.”

As we’ve been working through the Old Testament book of Nehemiah this term, we’ve seen how the people of God rose to the challenge facing them and were making phenomenal progress. However, as we’ll see this Sunday, the whole work was threatened by disputes among the people over money. The hearts of some were more devoted to money than God and people. And the consequences were potentially devastating. However, Nehemiah’s wise leadership pointed the way forward for them… and for us today.