Justified (Romans 3.9-26)

Introduction

Did you hear about the man who worked for the bus company and who got struck by lightning? Well, it turns out he was a conductor...  Sorry, that’s an old one.

Have you, or has anyone you know, ever been struck by lightning? You wouldn’t want to be. The electrical charge of a bolt of lightning can exceed a billion volts. That wouldn’t be much fun.

On 2nd July 1505, a young German student was travelling by horse to his university. On one part of the journey, he rode through a severe thunderstorm and, as the rain pelted down, suddenly a bolt of lightning struck the ground just a few feet away from where he was. He was terrified of death and divine judgment and as the bolt struck the ground he was filled with dread, and he cried out, “The righteousness of God! I’m damned!”

That man’s name was... does anyone know..? Martin Luther. And that thought of God’s wrath and fearsome judgement consumed him for years. He became one of the most zealous and disciplined monks in the monastery but he was still gripped with his obsession about the righteousness of God. As he celebrated mass his thoughts about the unimaginable heights of God’s infinite glory filled him with fear. It seems he physically trembled and had panic attacks just thinking about God’s ominous awesomeness.

So aware was Martin Luther of the deep darkness in his heart, of his utter unworthiness, that he was sure he could never stand before God and live.

Until one day, wrestling with his fears and tormented by his sharp sense of sinful unworthiness, his world was rocked to its core. It’s no exaggeration to say that the discovery he made that day changed the course of European and indeed world history.

Out of the blue, he came to realise that the righteousness of God is not that terrifying divine rage that could damn him in an instant.

No! The righteousness of God is the unblemished holiness and the sheer goodness of Jesus Christ that God wants to give you. And Luther made that discovery right here in Paul’s letter to the Romans.    

So let’s take these verses one by one and unpack them.

No One Righteous

Verse 9: “What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.”

Basically, Paul sums up here what he’s been saying throughout chapters 1-2. Everybody, both religious people (Jews) and irreligious people (Gentiles) everyone is in the same boat. 

We are all subject to a kind of inescapable downward tug in our soul. Everywhere you go in the world, whatever the continent and whatever the time in history, you find the same phenomenon. There is not a human being on Earth who is able to live a perfectly moral and upright life.

So in v10-18 Paul shows from 8 different Old Testament sources that, God already knows none of us really has a heart for him. In fact, from head to toe, our default position is to rebel against God’s ways.

Question: Has my life been filled with gratitude and trust toward God in proportion to his overwhelming generosity towards me? Answer: No.

So in v19-20 Paul makes this conclusion: nobody can stand up and proudly say “I’ve kept all God’s law.” Nobody.

Think about this with me: God made it easy for you and me to be good by giving us ten clear, basic and simple rules to live by; the Ten Commandments. But the truth is that not one person here - or anywhere - has even managed rule number 1.

The first commandment – what does it say? “You shall have no other gods before me.”

Let’s put that to the test. Is there anybody here this morning who has never, not once, ever considered anything or anybody in their life more important to them than God?

No one? No surprise there. Nobody, not even the most devout and saintly person on Earth can even get past Number One of God’s ten clear, basic and simple rules. This is the point Paul is making here and we’ve just demonstrated that he is spot on.

So Paul says (v20) “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by observing [God’s] law.” Why not? Why will no one be declared righteous by keeping the Ten Commandments?

Because no one has ever managed it. God is never going to say to someone, “Well done! You succeeded in keeping all the commandments. That’s amazing. For that, I’m declaring you righteous.”

Up to this point Martin Luther would have agreed. That’s why he was so full of dread. He knew he had royally messed up already many times. How could there be any hope for him when he died?

But Now…

And then he read the next bit…

Verse 21: “But now…” Here is the major turning point. “But now, apart from the law…” [in other words forget about never being able to live a perfectly holy life, you’ve already blown it – stop thinking about performance]…

“But now… the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.” [In other words, the Old Testament always said that something new was going to come along and change everything, and now it has.]

Verse 22: “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” There it is, right there. God’s righteousness is not about his wrath against sinners. It is his gift to anyone who accepts it – through faith in Jesus.

Verse 23-24: [Religious people and irreligious people,] they’ve all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

Verse 25 tells you how he did it; it was through the cross. That’s why Jesus died. That’s why we make such a big deal of the cross.

And then Paul goes on to say three times that people are justified by faith.

"Justification" is a word taken straight from the magistrate’s courts.

It means that you are standing in the dock, and you know you are guilty on all counts.

And, as you stand to have the verdict read to you, as your family brace themselves for the inevitable, as the judge sums up all the evidence of your undeniable guilt, and just as the death sentence is about to be pronounced and swiftly carried out, inexplicably and wondrously, all the charges against you are dropped.

The gavel hits the desk in front of the judge and he shouts “Not guilty! You are free to leave the court.”

The police take you handcuffs off. Even he is shaking his head and smiling. He can't believe it either. Your friends cheer. Your dad bursts into tears. Your mum faints. You are instantly released.

If you have faith in Jesus Christ, you are found not guilty by heaven’s jury, you are declared innocent and set free by the judge of the living and the dead and you are acquitted with a royal pardon.

Justification is a verdict. When God justifies you, he actually says, “as far as I am concerned, you are cleared of all the charges. The case has collapsed.”

That’s good news. What a God we have!

There’s a Pidgin English translation of the Bible they use in Papua New Guinea. The word for justification apparently, is “God ‘e say ‘im all right.”

Isn’t that beautiful?

So how do you get to a place where God looks at you straight in the eye and says “I say you all right”?

There is only one way; by faith alone. You get there by believing that God is who he says he is, in Christ, and then by acting upon it.

I sometimes find myself thinking, “When I compare myself to some others, I’m not all that bad.” And I have to stop myself. Because that’s not the gospel. The good news of Jesus is salvation for sinners who know they have nothing to offer God.

People are suspicious of a free offer. I once got a nice colourful envelope in the post. Inside there was a letter which read something like this:

‘Congratulations, Mr John Lambert, you have been specially selected for a unique prize draw. You have won a prize, Mr John Lambert. What is it to be Mr John Lambert, a Caribbean cruise, a Ford Mondeo or this key ring, made in China?’

I didn’t think “Wow, my lucky day!” We’re so used to this kind of junk mail that we miss the sheer majesty of the grace of God. We’re inoculated against free gifts. We just go, “Oh right, God’s free grace, cool…”

But hear this; if you have faith in Christ, God says you’re made right with him. You’re snatched from the pit of hell. You’re spared a fate worse than death.

The moment Jesus died, he settled a debt that you and I could never pay. The moment you and I believe in him that debt vanishes from our account.

But that isn’t all. Justification isn’t just a declaration that my unrighteousness no longer counts against me. Justification also means that Christ’s pure, spotless righteousness is reckoned to be mine.

In Philippians 3.9, Paul talks about “not having a righteousness of my own… but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.”

In other words, if you live by faith in Jesus, when God looks at me and you on Judgement Day, he will see Christ’s faultless obedience, his perfect blamelessness, his untainted innocence and he will count them as yours.

Ending

So, as I close, are you living under a cloud of condemnation? Don’t. Are you bowed down by failures? You don’t need to. Are you fearful of God’s judgement? There’s no need. Don’t live as if your justification were by works. Come back to the cross and marvel once again at the grace in which you now stand!

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 28th April 2013

Why I am a Christian (9)

Hell, If Real, Is an Irrevocable Eternity of Anguished Regret – Big Gamble

In 2012 I jotted down all the reasons I could think of why I am a Christian. I found 26 so I decided to serialise them in a blog every fortnight for a year.

The first four explain why I think belief in a creator is reasonable and credible from what I have learned from science – anything but a leap in the dark.

The next two examine the human condition and find that the way we are wired is entirely consistent with what the Bible says about us.

Now, I have moved on to some theological musings such as sin and providence.

Number nine, also from the world of theology, is unique in my 26 reasons for being a Christian; it is the only one that does not look at evidence and say “How do you explain that then?” or look at something positive in Christian faith and say “I have found this to be real and true in my experience.” All the others say “Look, it makes sense” or “Come on, taste and see that it’s good.”

But this one says, in effect, I am a Christian not just because the arguments for it are compelling or that my experience of it is satisfying, but also because the alternative to it is terrifying.

The fear of Hell used to be a significant factor in determining people’s attitude to Christianity in the U.K. Certainly in the Middle Ages, the thought that you could spend an eternity in conscious torment was a highly effective deterrent against any kind of crime, but especially if it had a sacrilegious dimension.

Until quite recently, for example, criminals might thieve lead from the roofs of public buildings but, like hitting a kid with glasses, to steal from a church just wasn’t done. That was then. Now churches are not only fair game, they are actually singled out by thieves as easy targets.

With the advent of the Enlightenment, there has been a steady erosion of the fear of God in the Western World. The idea that God is to be feared is now totally alien in our culture.

Subjects like God’s judgment and Hell are rarely brought up in evangelistic conversation - it’s as if doing so would end any remaining hope that the person might be interested in the Christian message. 

But it’s not just in conversation with unbelievers that Christians are noticeably silent on these things. God’s judgment and Hell are virtually redundant as sermon topics in all but a few churches. It’s as if mainstream Christianity is embarrassed about it. 

On a superficial level you can see the erosion of the fear of God in the way our language has evolved. Chocolates that are particularly sweet are marketed as ‘sinful’. An especially exhilarating theme park ride is ‘wicked.’ And ‘Hell’ is actually a brand of sugar and caffeine-rich energy drink these days. What once made people shudder is now little more than an instant pick-me-up.

The images of Hell in the Bible are all thoroughly negative though. Not one word in the Bible suggests that it might be a place of alcohol-fuelled partying while the pious are subjected to the monotony of harp music on the clouds above.

The word “Hell” is found 23 times in the New Testament: 12 times from the Greek gehenna, which means “place of burning,” 10 times from the Greek hades which means “grave,” and once from the Greek tartarus, which means “place of darkness.”

Jesus, from whom we have more information on Hell than any other character in the whole Bible, described it as a fearsome place of outer darkness where the noise of weeping and teeth gnashing are heard (Matthew 25.30) – that speaks of anguish and bitter regret.

He talked about a place where worms never die and the fire is never extinguished (Mark 9.48) – that speaks of endless decay and destruction.

In one of his parables, he talked about a man in Hell, begging for relief: "Cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire" (Luke 16:24). That speaks for itself.

He said that Hell will be a place for the devil and his angels. (Matthew 25:41) – that doesn’t sound like great company.

And he said “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more… Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into Hell.” (Luke 12.4-5). So according to Jesus, the prospect of ending up there is literally a fate worse than death.

There is a lot we don't know about Hell, but the verses above tell us all we need to know. 

How do I know Hell is real? I believe it is. I don’t think Jesus would talk about it so much and warn people about it so strongly if it were imaginary. If one thing is clear in the Gospels it’s that Jesus hated hypocrisy and deceitfulness. Knowingly misleading people about an imaginary punishment is appalling and runs completely contrary to Jesus’ ethical standards.

The thing is, how do you know Hell isn’t real?

Why gamble with your soul? If you spend your whole life betting that the Bible is wrong to claim that:

all injustice and corruption will one day face justice

people who have done evil things and die peacefully in their beds will still one day be punished

Heaven and Hell really do await us after death

you’d better be absolutely 100% sure you’re right.

If you type near death experience hell stories into Google you’ll find a host of testimonies from people, some formerly atheists, who claim to have had a foretaste of Hell when close to death. I don’t know if any of these testimonies are reliable. I tend to err on the side of scepticism and caution and I am not linking to any of them here. Look them up if you're interested and make your own mind up. 

The thing is this; even if the chances of just one of these testimonies being true were 1 in 10 – or even 1 in 100, wouldn't it be folly to just dismiss it?

The veteran evangelist Billy Graham sometimes uses the analogy of getting on a plane. If you were told at an airport that the plane on the tarmac waiting for you to board had a 10% - or even 1% - chance of crashing would you get on it? Hell is infinitely worse than a plane crash.

Jesus’ teaching (I’ll say a lot more about that in Reason 12) is widely respected and hugely influential, even among those who do not call themselves Christians. It has authority. It cuts out all the waffle and is crystal clear. Its winsome wisdom rings true.

What if the one who said inspiring things like “Love your enemies”, “turn the other cheek and walk the second mile” and “let he who is without sin throw the first stone...” what if he was equally inspired when he solemnly warned about the terrible reality of Hell?

Newcastle church leader David Holloway wrote recently, “Hell is self-chosen… No one can complain about the Bible's teaching on Hell. It is to stop you going there. It is a warning. It is like those warnings on the cliff top. It is like those danger signs at electric pylons.”

Since discovering Jesus through my reading of the gospels I have found him utterly convincing. Many years ago, I made the decision that I didn’t want to get to the end of my life having ignored Jesus’ warnings about Hell only to find it was true and too late, with no way back.

The next five posts will take us to the heart of why I am a Christian – Jesus of Nazareth. But, for now, that’s the ninth reason I am a Christian. Hell is an irrevocable eternity of anguished regret.

I think that all I’ve said so far in Reasons 1-8 and all I’m going to add in Reasons 11-26 build a pretty good cumulative case for the truthfulness of Christianity. That’s why this 9^th Reason says I’d be foolish to gamble that it’s just an ancient myth. So I’m not going to.

I hope you won’t either, my friend.

Born Again (John 3.1-8)

Introduction

Well, welcome Niall to the community of people who want to learn more about God’s amazing love and grow in faith.

We say at the beginning of the ceremony “In baptism the Lord is adding to our number those whom he is calling.” Baptism doesn’t make you a Christian. Baptism shows that you want to be one and that God is already working in your life. God loved us before it ever even occurred to us that we could love him.

Some people get baptized when they are old enough to say “This is what I want to do, this is my choice.” We had three people who were baptized in that way last month.

Some people get baptized when their parents say “This is how we want to bring our children up. We identify with Christianity as a family and we want our children to know that these are our values.”

Some dress up to be baptized. Others come just as they are.

Some get baptized with a trickle of water on the head. (The main health and safety issue there is to not drop the baby before he or she goes back to the parents).

Other people get fully immersed in the water. (The main health and safety issue there is to remember to pull them up again before they drown)!

The Outside and the Inside

What’s important is not really the form of the ceremony itself. The important thing is what’s going on inside.

The Bible says that people look at outward appearances, but God looks at the heart. He looks deeper. He sees what’s on the inside.

Let me explain how that works. We’ve all been to weddings haven’t we? Think of a wedding you’ve been to, maybe the last wedding you went to.

Let me ask you a question. What do you remember most about that wedding? Maybe or the dress, or the bells… perhaps the cake (I always remember the cake), or if you notice flowers it might be the poesy and buttonholes. Or the best man forgetting the rings, maybe the confetti, or the smiles and tears… Those things are all part of what makes a wedding day special; different to other days.

But what would you think if, as soon as the wedding was over, the bride and groom went on separate honeymoons, settled in different towns and lived miserably ever after?

You see, the really important thing about a wedding is not the dress, the rings and the bells; it’s the love between the bride and groom and their promise to go on loving each other whatever happens after that. So we remember the visual details in a wedding but God remembers the love of the bride and groom. People look at outward appearances, but God looks at the heart.

And with baptism, it’s the same. It’s great to remember the things that make you smile today, and let’s celebrate. Let’s have a party! But let’s remember what’s at the heart of all this as well.

God loves you, Niall, and he is calling you to know him.

There’s a prayer in the Bible that says:

You know me inside and out,

you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I’d even lived one day.

Who Said That?

Someone once said to me, “I want to be a Christian, but I don’t want to be, you know, a happy clappy sort of Christian.” I didn’t say it but I thought to myself “Would you rather be an unhappy clappy one?” He could see I was thinking about that so he said, “I just want to be a normal Christian. I don’t want to be one of those born again types.”

Where did this expression “born-again” come from? It sounds sort of American doesn’t it? Those evangelists you see on TV often talk about being a born again believer.

So it comes as a surprise to some people that the phrase “born again” was not in fact coined by Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush. It wasn’t invented by Billy Graham or Cliff Richard or even Mother Teresa.

If you’ve ever read the Gospels, you’ll remember that the first person to use the expression “born again” was none other than Jesus himself.

What he said was written down in John’s Gospel, chapter 3 and we're going to read from that passage now…

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.’

Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.’

‘How can someone be born when they are old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!’

Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, “You must be born again.” The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.^’

Spiritual Searching

So here’s this man Nicodemus who can see there is something different about Jesus so he comes to him one night with some questions. Why doesn’t he speak to him in broad daylight? Maybe he is afraid of being associated with a controversial figure like Jesus. Perhaps he just wants to know a bit more before deciding to come out into the light and follow Jesus.

Whatever it is, Nicodemus is searching for something; for answers, for truth. He knows there is an empty place in his heart. Do you feel like that sometimes, that you haven’t really found what you’re looking for in life yet? Some kind of spiritual longing… so he comes to Jesus and tells him what’s on his mind.

A Surprise at the End of the Trail

Jesus looks at him and says, “Nicodemus, you know what? You need to be born again.” In fact, he says, “Very truly I tell you…” Whenever Jesus said “Very truly I tell you” it meant that he was about to say something really important, really significant. “Very truly I tell you no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

What does it mean, “born again”? The Bible explains this experience in many different ways (it talks about new life, redemption, regeneration, conversion, justification, salvation, reconciliation - but it’s just different ways of saying the same thing).

You can call it what you want; the thing is has it happened to you? Have you been born again? Does Christ live in you? Do you know it?

“You must be born again” Jesus says.

I have a friend who has thought for a long time about Jesus and Christian faith and yet has never said, “Right, that’s it. I am going to follow Jesus from now on.” He has never really made a commitment. Are you committed to Jesus Christ?

Nicodemus must have been shocked when Jesus said, “You must be born again.” He must have thought “What me?” He was a big cheese. He was one of the really important religious leaders of his time. He fasted two days a week. He had to spend two hours every day in prayer. All the people in his group gave away a tenth of their income to charity. He was a good, upright citizen. Everybody respected people like him.

Why did Jesus say that he had to be born again? Surely he could see that he was pious enough. Because Jesus could read his heart. People look at outward appearances, remember, but God looks at the heart. Jesus saw that Nicodemus was devoutly religious but he had not yet found friendship with God.

Nicodemus might have thought, “Well, I’m religious. I believe. Isn’t that enough?” “No it’s not,” says Jesus. “You must be born again.”

I used to believe that because I had been christened (aged 2 months), and took my first Holy Communion (aged 6), went to a school run by nuns (aged 5-11), and had got confirmed (aged 12) that that was it. That was all I needed to book my ticket to heaven.

But Jesus would take one look at me and say, “Yes, but what about when you went massively off the rails between the ages of 12 and 17? You must be born again.”

It wasn’t until I discovered (aged 17) that all that was just the outward appearance. God looked into my heart. And Jesus said “You must be born again.” I had to experience new birth or I was no better off.

Some people say “Well, I’ve lived a pretty good life and I’ve done more good things than bad things. I’m sure I’m all right.” But Jesus says “No you’re not. You must be born again.”

Nicodemus had to understand that this is not like giving Jesus a lift in his car. It’s about saying, “Jesus, here’s the keys and the papers. The car’s yours. You drive me.”

You must be born again.

Some people ask the question: “What is this second birth?” Nicodemus asked that question too: “How can someone be born when he is old?”

Life is completely different for a baby when it’s born. There’s space, there’s light, you can see for the first time, there are clothes to wear, there are new sounds. In the same way, when you’re born again your life changes forever. Last week Rose was just beaming from ear to ear telling us how her life has been transformed. She’s come out of darkness into light. She’s born again!

But there is a mystery to new birth as well. Jesus said, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.^’”

I was out walking in a swirling wind on Wednesday. Honestly, it totally messed up my hair! But it was impossible to predict which direction the wind was going to come from next or where it was going to blow afterwards. But I could see the result. There were leaves and bits of rubbish blowing about everywhere. There were branches on the ground.

Jesus says that being born again is something like that. You can’t figure out exactly how it works but you know when it has - because things are different from the way they were before.

Simple as ABC

“You must be born again.” If this is all double-Dutch to you, let me tell you how you can experience this spiritual rebirth.

I like to think about in easy to remember terms; ABC.

Firstly, "a" is for admit. We all need to admit that we have not always lived like we know we should have done. If you’re not sure about that, imagine, if it were possible, that we could project on that screen all your thoughts in the last week. Who’d be relaxed to have all that up there for everyone to see? So “a” is for admitting to God “I’m a sinner, and I’m sorry.”

Secondly, “b” is for believe. We need to believe that Jesus is who he says he is. This is faith. Even Jewish and Roman historians in the First Century wrote about Jesus and said he did miracles, died, was seen live afterwards and gathered followers. Either he was a deranged lunatic, or he was an ingenious con man or he is the real deal. Billions of people down the years have come to the conclusion that he is who he says he is. Do you believe it?

Finally, “c” is for come. Jesus said “Follow me.” That is always personal but it’s never private. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Are you willing to follow Jesus in a new life of obedience?

Ending

If there is a doubt in your mind about whether you have been born again or not, I hope you will settle it this morning. Don’t put it off any longer because the Bible says “Now is the accepted time; ... [today] is the day of salvation.”

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 21st April 2013

Saved for Good Works (Ephesians 2.1-10 and Exodus 19.1-8)

All Saints' AGM Talk 2013

I read recently about a man called Tim White who had a little boy called Ryan. Ryan was born with multiple complications and needed over 30 operations in the first ten years of his life. And this is what Tim White said about one point during that time in his life.

When Ryan was about eight years old, he was in hospital for another surgery.

The medical staff began to roll his surgical bed to the operating room. As usual, we accompanied him to the two big doors that led to the theatre. That is where we stopped, and told him all would be OK.

This day, as we got to the doors and they opened, he sat up in the bed, looked at me in the eyes and pleaded, ‘Dad, don’t let them take me!’

At that moment my heart was broken. I would have done anything to take him off that bed except for the fact that he had to have the surgery. That knowledge didn’t ease the pain in my heart at all. I just stood trembling as the doors closed, and he disappeared. That is when I broke down in tears.

Shortly after, when I was asking God how such a good love could hurt so much, it struck me that he had gone through the same thing. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed: ‘Father, if there is any other way, let this cup pass from me.’ Translated into the language of a child, ‘Daddy, don’t let them take me.’

I allowed the surgeons to take my child for his own good. But God allowed the crucifiers to take his Son for our good. That is how much God loves us.

That is what it means in our passage when it says “It is by grace that you have been saved.” Jesus has already paid the price of sin – so you don’t need to.

Salvation is never painstakingly acquired; it can only be gratefully accepted.

What is striking in the 10 verses we read in Ephesians 2 is the contrast between before and after.

We were “dead” says Paul in v1-5, “captives” (v2), deserving of wrath (v3). It doesn’t look good does it?

But then in the middle of the passage, two little words change everything. “But” and “God (v4).”

But because of his great love for us, God… breaks in.

From that point on we are described as “made alive” (v5), “saved” (v5 and 8) and “raised up” (v6).

Incidentally, as I was saying at Saint Mary's last Sunday, the Bible has no sliding scale for “salvation.” You’re either spiritually dead or spiritually made alive. Either you’re saved or you’re not. 

To be saved, you must come to Jesus Christ, say sorry for past sin and decide that he is going to be your Lord and master.

And when that happens, God:

• cancels all past sin
• fills you with joy
• gives you a purpose in life
• crowns you with love and acceptance
• adopts you into his family
• assures you of eternal life; heaven, glory, new creation, joy forever

It really is an amazing programme. 

The question I have today is this: Why doesn’t God just take us to heaven now? Why the gap? What's all this time for between being saved and experiencing the full measure of glory and new creation?

The answer is in v10. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

The only reason God doesn’t just take you and me off to heaven now is because he has been carefully setting up a whole programme of exciting projects (good works) for you and me to get involved with. That’s one of the reasons he saved you.

And this is nothing new. God has always worked that way. It was the same in the Exodus reading. God did a miraculous deliverance for his people, out of slavery, through the Red Sea, towards the Promised Land. For 400 years those people slogged away making bricks for Egypt's grand buildings with no dignity, no holidays, no days off, no freedom of movement... just 365 days a year blood, sweat and tears.

And God, out of nowhere, decided to take them out of all that and give them freedom in a land flowing with milk and honey.

How much did it cost them? Nothing! It was a free and gracious liberation from slavery in Egypt.

But - never forget - once they had been saved from slavery, God said to them, “Now here’s how I want you to live.” And then he gave them the commandments as a way of showing gratitude for all he had done. He had prepared good works (respect for other people's property, truthfulness in court, wholehearted worship, proper rest on the Sabbath, faithfulness in marriage...) in advance for them to do.

So what are the good works God has prepared in advance for us to do?

Big highlights of the last year

Outreach 2012 - Love Stockton, Camp of Champions, Jubilee, Olympics

Roof - amazing generosity and unity on the project

Youth missions to Mexico and Chester

We have made progress on some of the things mentioned in last year’s AGM talk

Banners - we are on the way to rejuvenating them

Reinvigorate 6:30pm service - The Source, and Refresh are in a good place, Messy Church is coming soon and we are going to gather for prayer on the 4th Sunday

Prayer - new initiatives are springing up

Here's an example of what happens when churches pray that came in my e-mail this week:

While at our church cafe today I noticed someone standing outside so went to the door to talk with him. He’s a young man who lives in the neighbourhood who I've met before, given a 'try praying' booklet to and witnessed to. He said, pointing to our 'try praying' banner, that he's been doing that every day and he didn't know what was happening, but this peace came over him. He read through the 'try praying' booklet and is somewhat amazed that his prayers are being answered. He has come off drugs and is now coming off methadone and wants to get baptised.

Coming up

We will building up our pastoral network, Connect and Treasure Seekers ministries as we prepare to send Sylvia out

The Growing Leaders course will take 12-14 more leaders and give them training for their roles

Messy Church begins next month and is the big thing this year for discipling whole families

We will strengthen our 9:00am service - familiarity is good, staleness isn't

We will consolidate our 10:30am - it's in a great place now but let's not lose our commitment to using spiritual gifts as the congregation grows

We will host a regional New Wine Conference with Ian Parkinson, Mark Tanner and others in October

We will hold a church weekend in February as we prepare to refocus on our vision for what's next

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 14th April 2013

Why I am a Christian (8)

Providence Means That Even Life’s Tragedies Are Redeemable

In 2012 I jotted down all the reasons I could think of why I am a Christian. I found 26 so I decided to serialise them in a blog every fortnight for a year.

The first four explained why I think belief in a creator is reasonable and credible from what I have learned from science. The next two examined the human condition and found that the way we are wired is entirely consistent with what the Bible says about us.

Now, I am moving on to some theological musings. Firstly (Reason 7), what the Bible calls 'sin' accurately describes the undeniable mess the world is in. 

And now, what theologians call 'providence' means that even life's worst tragedies are redeemable. I've observed it so consistently that I have come to see it as evidence of God at work in the world.

What good could come from your father committing suicide, from your stepfather abusing you, from your three daughters dying of cancer, from your family being murdered before your eyes and from ending up as a street kid in a foreign land? Read on…

Are such people the victims of chance? This view holds that our universe is subject to pure randomness. There is no rhyme and reason to the way things happen, everything is meaningless, nothing is fair in the world and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Or are they at the mercy of fate? This view holds that the universe is manipulated and controlled in every detail. It’s all written in the stars, everything is determined beforehand so your destiny is sealed and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Providence, unlike chance, says there is a rhyme and reason to the way things are because God wisely governs his universe, holding all things together. Life makes sense. 

But providence, unlike fate, says there is something we can do about our future because God weaves our real choices into the narrative of his glorious plan.

The Bible verse that perhaps encapsulates best what providence is about is Romans 8.28.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Providence means that, if you are a Christian, everything works out in the end. Everything. That doesn’t mean that God spares those who love him the worst things life could throw at them. Patently, that is not the case. Globally, Christians are among the most hated people on Earth. No surprise there; Jesus said it would be so (see Mark 13.13 and John 15.18 for example).

But providence means that even life’s greatest sorrows and disasters are redeemable. Something good can come from them and indeed the very greatest blessings often seem to be born from the deepest adversity and tragedy. I have seen it so many times that I have come to view it as evidence of God at work.

Providence means this: Almighty God, in his unrivalled sovereignty and immeasurable wisdom, sees to it that all circumstances, however dire, however adverse, however tragic, in the end work out for his glory and for the joy of a particular group of people; those who 1) love God and 2) are called according to his purpose.

Oh, I love the doctrine of providence!

The tragedy is that for those who do not love God and who are therefore not called according to his purpose, suffering and tragedy are rarely productive. They tend much more to lead to bitterness, regret, despair and a hardening of the heart.

I have often noticed in pastoral work that personal grief, say the untimely death of a loved one or the birth of a severely disabled child, or a messy divorce, seems to either draw the people involved towards God or provoke a drifting away from faith – or worse, a bitter hatred of him.

One of Britain's most popular Christian songwriters, Matt Redman, has often spoken publicly of his experience of being told when he was 7 that his father had died, then learning two years later that the cause was suicide. He has also spoken about subsequently being abused as a teenager over a long period by his stepfather (for which he was convicted and jailed).

You can only imagine the confusion, pain, loneliness and self-doubt that those events would stir in a child’s heart. But refusing a path of bitterness and choosing to turn to God in trust, Matt testifies to healing in his soul and how he has, by the grace of God, been able to break the cycle of grief and become a loving father in a wholesome family, even writing the tenderest songs about God's Father heart.

A friend of mine from our time in France, Jacques Barbero, was for about 20 years a militant union leader in the steel industry. Jacques was a convinced atheist. Then tragedy struck. His three daughters, one after the other, contracted leukaemia. Jacques and his wife had the unimaginable sorrow of helplessly watching each of them fight a losing battle against their illness. They had to lay their three precious girls to rest before any of them reached adulthood.

For many unbelievers, such a devastating grief would have surely hardened their atheism. How could a God of love have allowed such a thing? 

But some time after his season of distress, Jacques bumped into an industrial chaplain who explained that sickness and death are never God’s perfect will for us. They come from living in a broken and fallen world. He urged Jacques to read the Bible.

Jacques’ life was turned upside down. The consolation, the balm, the release he had so longed for - and had found nowhere else - flooded his soul. His life radically changed direction as the open wound of his sorrows found healing at last.

Jacques started a charity called Une Bible Par Foyer (A Bible for Every Home) offering people God’s word in marketplaces and street corners. 

But most of all, this man who had been angry, militant, confrontational and anti-establishment became one of the gentlest, warmest, kindest and most peace-loving people I have ever known. He is also irrepressibly cheerful and positive. He has had a huge influence on everyone who knows him and he has a gift for bringing together deeply hostile factions so they work together in unity like no one I know.

Just today (this was written 17th March 2013), I was told about a man called William Sempija. William fled Rwanda after his parents and siblings were butchered before his eyes during the genocide. As a refugee he ended up as a street kid in Kampala in neighbouring Uganda. He lived ten years on the streets before he was spotted by a Christian and fostered. Miraculously, William began to achieve among the highest school grades in Uganda. After some time, William became a Christian and he now works with street children in Bwaise, Kampala. Over 250 children, orphans from war, AIDS or victims of poverty, are now cared for by his charity.

I am not saying that any of this makes Matt's traumas, Jacques and his wife's pain or William's suffering as somehow O.K. That’s not what providence is about. The point I am making is that through providence, beautiful things can come from even life’s worst tragedies. They needn’t define our lives or condemn us to decades of resentment and regret.

Stories like these are legion in the Christian world and it is a running theme in Scripture too. 

In Genesis 37-50, for example, there is the story of Joseph. An impulsive and gifted young man provokes the jealousy of his brothers who sell him into slavery. He ends up languishing in jail in Egypt after being falsely accused of sexual assault. Due to his gift of interpreting dreams he is brought before Pharaoh and made Vice President of Egypt. His rise to prominence averts mass starvation when a seven-year famine follows a seven-year period of plenty. The remarkable developments in the story show how he is eventually reconciled to his eleven brothers. The story ends when he reveals himself to them saying “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

Then there is the story of Ruth. It’s about a widowed young foreigner who shows amazing and sacrificial loyalty to her Israelite refugee mother-in-law (Naomi) when she could have pursued an opportunity to remarry while still young instead. The unexpected twists in the story show how it just so happened that everything worked out for good; Ruth eventually ended up harvesting in the field of a  man named Boaz who just so happened to be distantly related to Naomi. And Boaz, under local laws and customs, it just so turned out had a moral obligation to consider marrying Ruth. The family tree growing from their marriage included David (Israel’s greatest king) and their Messiah, Jesus.

What about the New Testament where, as Louie Giglio observes, all the good guys get killed? We know the Bible claims that it worked out well in the end for Jesus - raised on the third day. I'll say more about that in Reason 14. But what about John the Baptist (beheaded), Stephen (stoned), James (beheaded) and Peter (crucified upside-down)? What about Paul (imprisoned, severely flogged, exposed to death again and again, given the thirty-nine lashes five times, beaten with rods three times, pelted with stones, shipwrecked on three occasions, constantly in danger, deprived of sleep, often hungry and thirsty - and eventually beheaded)? 

Even then, their deaths resulted in an explosion of growth for the infant church. Persecution scattered Christians everywhere and the church rapidly spread. Tertullian, in his AD 197 work Apologeticus noted that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church. The more Christians were suppressed the more the message of Jesus got out. That so many were willing to lay down their lives rather than deny their faith speaks of the strength of their conviction fuelled by witnessing the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

This is more than just ancient history though. These events illustrate the principle that tragedy, even death, does not have the final word for those who love God and are called according to his plan.

In the mid 1990’s I went through the worst period of my life. Kathie suffered three miscarriages in a little over a year and our children were being bullied and mugged at school. Our income was slashed making it hard to live on our budget. I was in a high-pressure/low reward job where I was being publicly undermined and forced out of work. Kathie was being stalked and threatened at her job in a local hospital for refusing to cover up a professional error. Our house was a building site - I could go on.

I would be lying if I were to say that my faith didn’t wobble at all during that 2-3 year period. Pain and grief and discouragement and pressure seemed relentless and overwhelming. Doubts haunted me. Cynicism threatened to drag me down.

But I look back now and see that time as the most fertile ever period in my personal, emotional and spiritual development. I am so thankful for the character built in me over those years. I am grateful for the way it drove me to my knees – and so many prayers prayed through gritted teeth at that time have been answered over the long term. My family and I have truly prospered in every way.

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

I’ll leave the last word to Malcolm Muggeridge. Born in 1903, he was an agnostic for most of his life, but he became a Christian at the age of 66 and said this in 1978:

“Contrary to what might be expected, I look back on experiences that at the time seemed especially desolating and painful, with particular satisfaction. Indeed, I can say with complete truthfulness that everything I have learned in my seventy-five years in this world, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my existence, has been through affliction and not through happiness, whether pursued or attained. In other words, if it ever were to be possible to eliminate affliction from our earthly existence by means of some drug or other medical mumbo jumbo . . . the result would not be to make life delectable, but to make it too banal or trivial to be endurable. This of course is what the cross [of Christ] signifies, and it is the cross more than anything else, that has called me inexorably to Christ.”

That’s the eighth reason I am a Christian; my experience of providence. Time and again I have observed that life’s misfortunes do not have the last word for those who love God and who are called according to his glorious plan.