I'm not Jesus

I'm not crazy; I don't have a histrionic personality disorder. I do not suffer from delusions of grandiose; I did not come away from my trip to Israel with Jerusalem syndrome. I am a relatively sane, normal human being.

However, I often fall into a trap. I try to be Jesus to people. I try to solve their problems and I believe that the onus is on me to make sure that they become good, sinless Christians. This means I often worry  needlessly about friends, I'm often quick to rebuke them, I make small issues into big issues. In doing this, I often forget to involve Jesus in the process. As I'm to busy trying to be Jesus, I don't have the time and energy to focus on Jesus.

Back in the day, (well, you can still get them) W.W.J.D. band were pretty popular. These were so that in times of decision making, we were to ask ourselves what would Jesus do. It's really good to focus our minds on our Saviour when making decisions, but in some cases we are not able to do what Jesus did. We are not able to forgive people of their sins. We are not able to restore them of their brokenness. These are just cases of the blind leading the blind.

We are called to be ambassadors of Christ. An ambassador does not go with his own authority or power, but with the power and authority of the Head of State. They represent their country and its leader. We, too, represent Jesus and his church. We are to show his love, humility and goodness to people. What's more, we do not do this alone. Jesus gave us authority and power through the Holy Spirit. We go with his authority, not our own.

When I finally realised that I wasn't called to be Jesus, it was both terrifying and liberating. It was terrifying because I had to concede that I wasn't it control. It wasn't up to me whether my friend became a Christian, or whether another friend made the right choices about certain areas of their life. I had to trust that God was working in their life. It was liberating because I no longer felt panicked or guilty whenever I thought my friends were doing something that wasn't right. I no longer had trouble sleeping think about what I needed to do.

I still care deeply about my friends. I pray for them and love them. And if God chooses to use me in whatever way, I'm ready to do that. But, I can sleep at night because they're in far more capable hands than mine.

Quick Question

• Have you felt the pressure to be Jesus to people?

No way back

A while back, I wrote some posts about the more scary sections of the Bible, one about whether God refuses forgiveness and another on getting through the narrow door. These are tricky passages that often startle us and cause us to question what we believe. These, however, are not the only scary passages of the Bible.

Yesterday, I got a text that read, 'Hiya, do you know what Hebrews 6v4-6 means?' My initial response was, 'Of course I do; I know what everything means.' (As a trainee English teacher, I feel the need to have a least one literary device per post. This is an example of hyperbole.) So, full of confidence, I dropped Hebrews 6 into Google and read the passage. The verses my friend was asking about were these:

It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

I don't know about you, but I felt slightly tricked. The beginning sounded so positive; I was sure it was going to have a happy ending. When I was reading it, I was expecting it to go a bit like this:

It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age to be separated from the love of Jesus. They will go to heaven, which we know is like Disneyland but without the queues.

But instead, it dropped a bombshell. It tells us that 'it is impossible for those who have once been enlightened... and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance'" Initially I was a bit stunned so I reread the passage. Then, just in case I missed an important 'not' somewhere, preferably before the word 'impossible', I read it again. There was no missing not. (I did debate with myself whether I should pencil it in, but I didn't.) Then a load of questions flew around my head. ('What happened to "once a king and queen of Narnia, always a king and queen of Narnia"? Did Alsan lie?'; 'But what about people who grew up Christian, had a wobbly moment but now are committed to following Jesus?'; 'Who was right, then, Calvin or Arminius?') Needless to say, this passage left me somewhat confused.

The Bible suggests that at least the appearance of original salvation isn't everything. Philippians 2:12 talks about continuing to work out your salvation. There are loads of other verses, some of which I have compiled for you here, that talk about falling away. Even Paul voices a concern at becoming "unqualified for the prize" (1 Corinthians 9:27). 

However, the Bible is clear that salvation is not based on what we do. It is based entirely on what Jesus has done, and it is a case of having to accept this gift. This is what really matters. The Bible also says this in a lot of places. So, Jesus saves, and that's where you have to put your confidence. Once you've done this, persevere in it and the evidence of your faith will be a life that bears fruit.

I don't think we should be surprised if we see people seem to put their faith in Jesus and, either pretty much straight away or over time, lose this. The parable of the sower warns of this. However, this does not leave us hopeless. James 5:19-20 tells us:

My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

This passage explicitly states that those who have turned away can be bought back to repentance. As a brother or sister in Christ to such a person, we are to bring them back to repentance. And as they say, prevention is as good as a cure, Hebrews 3:12-14 is also helpful:

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.

The prevention and cure both involve the role of others. It is, therefore, so important to be in a community of believers that can encourage you. Find people that will encourage you and find those that you can encourage as well. Run the race, run it well, and may you be blessed in doing so.

Quick Questions

• Who encourages you?
• Are the questions that come into my mind normal? Or are they an insight into a troubled psyche?
• What passages do you find worrying?

Want to know more?

• tweet your questions to @thomasashmead
• Have a read of Hebrews 6:4–6 and Losing One’s Salvation. I found it pretty helpful.

John 8: Cast the first stone

John 8 contains one of those mysterious floating texts about the adulterous woman. Some early versions, my NIV tells me, don't have it, but it's a really good example of the grace of Jesus.

• Which crimes deserve the worst punishments?
• Are there any situation which you think are hopeless?

In this chapter we have a criminal. There is a woman who has been caught in the act of adultery. She has been tried, witnesses have spoken against her and she was found to have broken the law. She would have known what the law is, and she still broke it. The punishment for committing adultery is death.

The Jewish have a strong sense of family bonds, the unity of marriage and family is sacred. To ruin this is a heinous offence. This is precisely what this woman has done, and as a result she is about to be stoned. The Pharisees are only doing what the Bible tells them to. 

Jesus, however, does a strange thing. He stoops down, writes in the sand and says, "those without sin, cast the first stone." He's basically saying, if you've honestly done nothing wrong in your life, go ahead and kill her. Of course, none of them can. They've all messed up at some point, and therefore have little right to condemn the woman. The only person who ever had the right to cast that first stone was Jesus himself. He could have quite legitimately picked up a rock and chucked it at her head. But he doesn't. He tells her that he isn't interested in condemning her. Remember what was said in back in chapter 3 verse 17:

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Jesus chose not to condemn, not because we were doing it so well already, but because our God is a God of mercy, reconciliation, restoration and mercy.

This passage also got me thinking. I may not literally pick up stones and chuck them at people. Even if it is tiny pebbles like in A Year of Living Biblically, but I do condemn people. I write people off as lost hopes. I see the sin before I see the image of God in that person. I get angry and use my words to destroy rather than build up.

Our actions should be life giving. We should be pursuing everything that gives hope and reconciliation and mercy. We should be a people of a God that saves.

John 6: The next party trick is...

Back in John 2 we saw how Jesus' party trick reminded everyone of Moses and helped people to believe. In John 6 Jesus feeds five thousand people.

• What is the largest amount of people you've cooked for?
• What is the longest amount of time you've been without food?

Party trick number 2

Jesus is preaching to a huge crowd of around five thousand when some tummies start to rumble. So, Jesus armed with a boy's packed lunch of five small loaves and two small fish feeds them all. Not surprisingly, people say, "this is the prophet that we were told would be sent."

Back in chapter two, it was after the turning the water into wine that the disciples believed. There were also strong parallels between Jesus' miracles and the miracles of Moses. So, I thought it was worth a look into whether there were any Old Testament links with this miracle.

The most obvious parallel is with 2 Kings 4:42-44:

A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of new grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said.

“How can I set this before a hundred men?” his servant asked.

But Elisha answered, “Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat and have some left over.’” Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.

It's strikingly similar, even with the type of bread to there being some left over. Jesus is, once again, acting like a prophet of the Old Testament.

The miracle also reminded the people, again, of Moses. When the Israelites were wondering through the desert they were hungry and they moaned (they did a lot of moaning), so God sent down quail and manna. The Israelites were also told to keep some of the manna as a reminder that God had provided them with bread. When Jesus provided the people with bread they remembered Moses and the provision of manna. In remembering Moses they also remembered what was written in the Old Testament:

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. (Deuteronomy 18:15)

The parallels with Moses are not an accident. Jesus, in acting like Moses, is fulfilling the prophecy written down hundreds of years previous. This is why they say, "surely this is the prophet who is to come into the world." Jesus means to be recognised.

But later in the chapter, Jesus trumps Moses. Jesus isn't just a provider of barley loaves, he is the Bread of Life. He promises that anyone who comes to him will be completely sustained. Jesus even mentions Moses. Moses, he said, provided quail and manna, but those who ate it eventually died. If you get your life from Jesus, symbolised here by the eating of his body and drinking of his blood, you will live forever. The feeding of the five thousand all leads up to this amazing statement: Jesus can give us eternal life.

John 4: The Testimony of the Broken Woman

In John 4 we see Jesus travelling through the country of Samaria. The discussion between Jesus and the woman he meets there is an interesting one for a lot of reasons.

• Think of some countries, ethnicities or groups that are known for their dislike of each other.
• Who are then people that are looked down on in our society?
• What is your story? Do you believe in Jesus? How did that come to be?

John 4:4 says that Jesus had to go through Samaria to Galilee. We often read it like someone saying, "I had to go on the M25 to get into London." There was no way that Jesus could have got to Galilee without setting foot there. This was not the case, and most Jews would avoid it. They would cross the Jordan River and go a longer route just so they didn't have to bump into any Samaritans. The Jews believed that Samaritans made them ceremonially dirty, just like eating pork would. They really hated each other. So it says that he had to do it, it wasn't because that's what GoogleMaps told him to do. There must have  been another reason. 

Jesus meets a woman, on her own, drawing water out of a well. This woman, it turns out, is on her own because she is an adulteress. She hasn't got much going for her. The Jews would already hate her because she is a Samaritan, then the Samaritans don't seem to be too keen on her because she has too many husbands. Yet, Jesus asks her for a drink. This is surprising because first, she's a lady. First century jewish men don't really speak to woman (see verse 27); Rabbis didn't even talk to their wives in public. Second, he's about to take a drink from a Samaritan, which will make him unclean. Yet he has a very interesting exchange with her. He tells her how she has sinned, and unfazed she asks him various questions. In verse 25 and 26 things take a very interesting turn. Although, Jesus gives very strong hints about who he is, and we're helpfully told in John 1, in the whole of the book of John, Jesus only says he is the Messiah twice. That's it; only twice does he admit who he is. One is at his trial, the other time is now.

Of all the people to admit you're the Messiah to, you'd have thought Jesus would have chosen someone else. Perhaps he should have told Nicodemus in chapter 3. He was an important chap. But instead he chose to tell a woman, from Samaria, who was shunned by her neighbours. She had nothing going for her, until she was told that Jesus was the Christ and she believed.

This woman then went to tell the rest of her village who Jesus was. Because of the testimony of a broken, unwanted woman many believed. If you're feeling broken, unwanted or unimportant your testimony is still amazing. Tell it and many people may believe.

John 3: Getting to Heaven

If you feel you don't quite know what's going on, don't worry, you're not the only one. In John 3, we meet a character called Nicodemus who seems pretty confused.

• How do you think you get to heaven?
• What did we learn about Jesus from John 1?

We're told that Nicodemus is a part of the ruling council of Jerusalem. This means that he's a clever chap. Yet he seems to be a bit confused by what Jesus has been saying. Nico recognises that God is with Jesus, and then Jesus says something very strange about being born again. Poor Nicodemus is rather confused. Surely, when a woman gives birth, she's given birth. That child is staying out. Jesus, however, says this is a different type of birth. This is a spiritual birth, given to us by the Holy Spirit. This rebirth by the Holy Spirit is essential if we are to see the Kingdom of God. 

Then we get one of the most famous passages of the Bible, John 3:16-17:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 

This is reiterated at the very end of the chapter:

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him.

 These verses tell us what is needed to gain eternal life: a belief in the Son of God. Doing good things or having a wishy-washy notion of the "being something bigger" doesn't seem to cut it. If you believe in the Son, you get eternal life. It's through believing in Jesus that we are able to get this spiritual rebirth.

Philippians 2

This is my second Bible study on Philippians. We've been doing it in Mosaic, and I just love this book. It's short but has a major impact factor. It's like well good, innit.

Philippians 2

• v 1-4 Humility, like that of Christ
• As Christians we are:
• United with Jesus
• Loved
• Tender and compassionate with each other
• United in purpose, love and attitude: that of Jesus (v 5)
• We have a fantastic passage about Jesus (perhaps an early hymn)
• This tells us about humility and the lack of ranks in the church.

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 28:25-28)

• v 14 & 15 again emphasises the importance of our relationships. It results in being blameless and shining out like stars (what a lovely image!)
• v 12-13 interestingly tells us to ‘continue to work out your salvation’. Hasn’t Jesus done that for us? Here Paul is writing about the fact that having a faith in Jesus, which results in salvation, will have a response in how we live our lives. Have a look at James 2:14-19.

Implications for Mosaic

• Love, love, love, love one another
• Unity in purpose and attitude. We are ultimately united by a love of Jesus (not our age!)
• We need to serve each other and all that come into Mosaic’s midst before the needs of ourselves.
• We cannot have a faith that isn’t outworked somehow. Otherwise it is dead.

 Quick Questions

• What parts of the Bible have you been studying recently? What did you learn from it?
• Is humility something you've either got or you've not? Is it something that can be worked at?
• Isn't that a fantastic passage about Jesus? What are your favourite passages about him? 

  

Refusing forgiveness

Last week I wrote about some of the tough passages of the Bible. Since then I found another one. It's short; it's only two verses in length. It's also tucked away just after the Lord's Prayer so I expect it often gets overlooked. The passage is Matthew 6:14-15:

"If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins."

This, again, seems to fly in the face of what I know about God's love. If you repent your sins are dealt with.This is what I thought to be the basic principle of what Christians call grace. 1 John 1:9 summarises it like this:

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

These two verses seem to contradict one another, or at least the second one needs some small print. It's pretty confusing. You will be forgiven if you confess your sins (unless you have a grudge or two). So why is this?

This verse comes in a chapter where a major theme is hypocrisy. So how do these verses fit into this? Dictionary online has a helpful definition of hypocrisy, which could give us a few clues:

the practice of professing standards, beliefs, etc, contrary to one's real character or actual behaviour, esp the pretence of virtue and piety

To ask for forgiveness is to profess a belief in the need for it; however, if you refuse to forgive others that behaviour is contrary to such a standard. Asking for forgiveness is a humbling process: you are recognising how you are a flawed and sinful; you are a screw up. To say, however, that someone doesn't deserve your forgiveness is an act of pride. They have screwed up, but you are somehow better than them and to give them forgiveness is beneath you.

Sometimes, I try to imagine how God reacts when someone has refused to forgive someone else but expected forgiveness themselves. I would be outraged. I would be thinking, "How dare you suggest that what ever that person did is a more significant wrong than what you did against the God of the universe! What makes you so important or special that you can withhold forgiveness when the Creator of Everything doesn't?"

Moreover, if you can't forgive someone, you're not really taking the gift of salvation seriously. Jesus Christ had to go through hours of agony, be ritually humiliated and have his heart broken as he was separated from his Father so that you could receive the glorious gift of forgiveness. Although forgiving people can be tough, it is not going to be anywhere as tough as that. If you are amazed by the gift of salvation that you are given, if you are humbled by the thought that the God that gave everything being would send his son to die for you, if you are aware of your own brokenness and need for the transformative power of grace, then a desire to bestow forgiveness on those that have wronged you must be a natural response. So don't refuse to forgive someone or you will be refusing forgiveness for yourself.

Quick Questions

1. What pet peeves do you have that you really struggle to forgive?
2. What passages of the Bible do you struggle with?

The Narrow Door

I've recently finished Erasing Hell by Francis Chan. It got me thinking about some of the more challenging passages of the Bible. One particularly challenging passage really concerns me. It's what Jesus says in Matthew 7: 

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"

Does that not terrify you? You can prophesy, drive out demons and perform miracles, all in the name of Jesus, and he can still say he never knew you. He will say you were an evildoer. Am I a person that is just saying, 'Lord, Lord' yet not doing the Father's will? It may appear on the surface that I am doing the right things, in Jesus' name, but is it meaningless?

Something similar is recorded in Luke 13:

Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”

He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’

“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ 

“Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’

“But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’ “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

Am I like the people who will say, 'But Jesus, I was there. I was with you.'? The result of both passages is horrific. These people will not enter heaven, and the alternative is dreadful.


These verses seem to go against what I've been taught: the way to heaven is to say Jesus is 'Lord, Lord' and to do all the miracles and prophesying and stuff. The Message versions of these passages are really helpful. There is obedience involved and not half-hearted, self-indulgent, look-at-how-good-I-am, obedience; the obedience is total and sincere. It's the faith that James talks about; one that isn't hollow and empty, but full of life. I suppose it all comes down to this:

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

Quick Questions

• Do you find these passages as scary as I do?
• Can you see yourself amongst the people who say "But you know me. I was there. I did things for you?" (I certainly can see myself there sometimes.)
• What passages trouble you?

Scrubbing up

Sometimes, working for a church is tough work. Working with teens in a church is even tougher. Last night we had great fun doing some modern painting using Bible passages as inspiration. The only problem was the resulting mess. Today I went into the church to tidy up. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but it can be easy to forget that when you're on your hands and knees scrubbing mats you put down, or when a bin bag splits leaking garbage juice all over your foot, or you're washing up the cups that got put away dirty a few weeks back and started to grow things. Yes, that was my wild Saturday evening.

While on my hands and knees I was getting a bit frustrated about the attitude of some of the teenagers.* I was finding half-filled glasses every where despite asking them to put all the cups in the kitchen and paintbrushes despite have asked some one to collect them in. I was thinking how unfair it was for me to be going out of my way by coming in on what should be a day off and serving my teens. Then I realised that my grumbles were a bit petty. Mark 10:45 tells us that:

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Here I was moaning that I was serving a bunch of absent minded teens, when Jesus came to serve the very people that would have him crucified. This reminded me what an awesome privilege it was to be able to, in my own small way, offer an act of obedience to the God of the universe. Yes, we are called to serve. This isn't because someone is holding a gun to our head, or telling us that we are bad people if we don't, or we're being bribed by the promise of heaven. Even if I didn't clean up after the teens I would still get to heaven and I've still be made pure by Jesus' death (although I would upset the people who next came to use the room). I do it because I am grateful for what God has done for me.

Like I wrote in a post a while back:

I have received salvation. It's amazing. It's free. Stop complaining.


* I love my teens. For the most part, they're really helpful and lovely and I know how lucky I am as a youth worker. I don't want you to go away with the impression that they're a handful.

Why the long face?

I heard a story* about someone who worked with seminary students. He would ask them "When God looks at you what expression is on his face?" A lot of the answers would be "disappointment" or "anger". It seemed to be a common consensus that, when God looked at us people, he probably wouldn't be happy.

At Mosaic we managed to get into a discussion about what judgement day would be like. Some people were saying that God would get out his big book, look up their entry and read out every wrong thing they had ever done. He would list every cruel thought, every lie, every act of lust, every cutting word they said. The list would go on and on and on. It would remind them of every time you rejected God's way and followed their own.

Surely it's different from this. If God still holds our sin against us, still has it written down in some massive dusty tome, then what was the cross for? Why did Jesus die? The Bible tells us that it is not like that.

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)

God does not count our sins against us. The passage goes on to say in verse 21 that we "become the righteousness of God." Through God's initiative, he has reconciled us to himself, so that instead of being sinful we become his righteousness.

Colossians 1:21-22 fantastically summarises what Jesus has done for us:

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation

We are no longer blemished. We can no longer be accused of all the things that we have done. Those thoughts, those lies, those words: we're free from them.

I offered my take on the day of judgement. I suggested that God would flick through his massive book, and he'd come to my name. There would not be a long list of all my past crimes and mistakes. Instead, the entry would look like this:

Thomas Ashmead

See: Jesus Christ.

1 John 1:9 tells us how we can get your entry to look like this:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

If you have confessed your sins to God, whenever he looks down on you he sees someone who his holy, pure, without blemish. I bet he looks well chuffed.

*Nicked from Kara Powell, 'Deep Ministry in a Shallow World' (DVD)

Perpetual Motion

There seems to be quite a common theme with the events in Genesis. Abraham and his descendents never seem to get things right. There's this pattern of God reminding them of the covenant he made to Abraham, they make some sort of testament to it (usually a pile of stones), then they go and mess up.

One person I felt quite sorry for was Abimelek. In Genesis 20, Abraham lied to him and said that his wife, Sarah, was his sister. Fortunately, God prevented Abimelek and his people from mistakenly taking her to be their wife so they were spared from any punishment as a result. Abimelek ended up giving Sarah gifts for any offence that may have been caused, despite the fact that it was Abraham who was in the wrong. It seemed Abimelek was more willing to act in a way that honoured God than Abraham, despite the fact that he did not have God's promises as Abraham did.

Abraham's actions were the result of a mistaken attitude towards God and fear as a result. Abraham thought that the region of Gerer was not a God-fearing place and therefore his life was in danger. He then lied to protect himself, got himself in a sticky situation and had to be baled out by God. He had no reason to fear though, God had constantly told Abraham that he would be protected and that he would prosper. Abraham didn't seem to take this too seriously at times and got into a lot of trouble.

This scene is repeated again and again. God gives his promise and then the person (be it Abraham, Isaac, Jacob...) falls short, forgetting what God had just told them. It's the same story again and again: a perpetual motion of God bringing his people to him, them going astray and God bringing them to him once again.

Quick Questions

1. Are you a forgetful person?
2. Do you sometimes fail to remember God's promises to you?

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

On this day, nearly two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ died. Christians believe that this event was one of the most significant events, not just for believers, but for humanity as a whole.

Here's a hymn Isaac Watts wrote in 1707:

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God,
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down,
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Amen to that.

Giving your gifts to God

When receiving salvation we offer our lives to Jesus for renewal and transformation. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" There are some parts that are relatively easy to let go: baggage and burdens we no longer want, the less palatable aspects of our character. Yes, there are some sins and selfish ambitions that we want to cling on to, but we are aware that they need to be dealt with.

What we often forget about is our better parts, such as the gifts and talents we have. We like them too much, we're proud of them. But, before salvation even these are under the curse of sin and death. No matter how good they are they are still a part of our old selves. These, too, have to be transformed in Christ.

Salvation is not like some Grand Designs program, where some rich couple take the best bits of an old building and incorporate it into their dream modern home. There is no fusion of old and new. The old has gone; the new has come.

There are consequences if you don't offer you gifts to God. They can lead to pride, to independence from God and to disobedience. I am always happy to rely on my own abilities rather than letting God work through me. If you don't do it, you're seriously missing out. Jesus said he came to bring "life to the full". There isn't simply room for this new full life if you're not giving up all of the last one.

Respond
Think of your talents and gifts. Offer them to God for renewal and transformation.

Quick Question

1. Do you have any party tricks (like burping the national anthem)?

God loves those who beat you

Three of us from Mosaic went to the Trago Lounge quiz. Unfortunately, it didn't go too well. There were a lot of sport and pop questions. Now, I have as much chance of attaining any sporting accomplishments as the Queen Mother and my music knowledge died with Chopin. I wasn't much help. The others of my team were marginally better than I was. There was some confusion between Sandra Bullock and Dick Van Dyke, but we'll let that slide. Our score reflected our general lack of knowledge and we ended up second from bottom.

What made it worse was that the table next to us were doing quite well and they were pretty open about it. In fact, it could firmly be categorised as gratuitous. They would whoop and high-five at every answer they obtained (which was quite a few). It made me think some ugly thoughts. I had remind myself that God loves show offs as much as us losers. I had to remind myself that I had been given the free gift of grace and I deserved it no more than they did. I had to remind myself a few times, especially before I went to throw my drink in their faces.

And when that didn't work I just thought of this verse.

Quick Questions

1. Who really tries your patience? (I'm really setting myself up here.)
2. How do you deal with it?
3. Would you join our quiz team? We need the help.

Messed Up Bunch

The more I learn about the people that make up Mosaic, the more I discover what a messed up bunch of people we are. We are a broken, hurting, obstinate set of people. You may think this has caused me to despair. But it hasn't.

I know I am a messed up person. Often, I have decided that God's way wasn't good enough and that I could do it better. I have been lonely, I have been hurting, I have felt so lost that I thought there was no way back. I have been burdened by guilt, shame and humiliation. I have resorted to self-destructive and harmful measures in an attempt to give my life some meaning.

It turns out that everybody else has a story on a similar theme. But there is something else our stories have in common: hope.

We have found hope in a God who heals our wounds, finds the lost, frees us from burden and gives meaning to our lives. This hope is not a false hope either. It is a real hope, a firm hope, a fulfilled hope.

We are a group of people that are united by this hope, healed by this hope, found by this hope. This hope continues to change us, shape us, challenge us. We have hope.

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10).

Quick Questions

1. Does this story sound familiar?
2. Do you have hope? Where do you find yours?

Ungrateful faith

Whenever I buy snacks for the youth group someone will complain. Someone won't like the drinks, the crisps or it wasn't served at 23.5 degrees celcius. My response is always the same: it's free so don't moan. Be a bit more grateful.

However, I used to moan about the way I came to know God. My testimony is the "I was brought up in a Christian family..." type and I always felt it to be boring. It affected my attitude to having a relationship with God. When I heard amazing faith stories involving bank robberies, years of drug use or car crashes I would get angry. Why would God give them such exciting stories and not me? Why did they see the awesome power of God in such an obvious way but I hadn't?

Then one day I read Matthew 20:1-6. I realised I was like the workers who had agreed to work for a denarius but was envious because of the landlord's generosity.

I have received salvation. It's amazing. It's free. Stop complaining.

Quick Questions

1. What flavour of crisps are most universally acceptable?
2. If you're a Christian how did you become one (keep it short!)?
3. How are you remembering your salvation during Christmas?