Category Archives: Opinion

Today’s Sermon: Springs of Living Water

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I had the opportunity to preach in my church a few weeks ago, and again in our satellite church today (I expanded and improved it a little in the meantime) This is the final version:

First there was message for children before they went to Sunday School, just after a song about letting the living water flow:

John 4: 13-14:

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

What is the spring of living water that Jesus is talking about? There’s a clue in the song we just sang. Yes, that’s right, the Holy Spirit. Do you know what it looks like when water starts to flow somewhere it hasn’t flowed for a long time?

As you can see, the sticks blocking the pipe don’t look too bad to start with, but as the blockage is pulled out, there are more and more tangled roots, as if they will never end, but as the lady starts to pull out more of it, you can see water starts to flow. Eventually the whole blockage is cleared, but the water that is flowing out is foul and filthy. It takes quite a long time for all that disgusting water to be washed through and the flowing water to turn completely clear, but eventually it does.

Now, that initial blockage is like the sin in our hearts that God wants to forgive and remove if we will let Him. It may not look like much from the outside, but it usually goes very deep and can be unpleasant for us when it gets removed and take a long time to really get it all out of us, and once it is removed, a lot of nasty things that were hidden deep inside of you can come out, bitterness, rage, guilt, lies we tell ourselves, it can seem like things are getting worse than when you started, but it is all part of the process of cleaning you.

What if the blockage was removed, but there was no clean water ready to flow through the channel? Then all the nasty stuff in the channel would stay there, slowly getting fouler, and other nasty things might crawl up the pipe to live in there and make things worse. This is why when you get forgiven of your sins, you also need to invite the Holy Spirit into your heart, to flow into and through you, washing and refreshing you, so you can be a source of blessing to others.

Luke 10: 1-12; 16-20:

Imagine being part of that group of seventy two: You’re healing the sick, driving out demons, preaching the good news, the Kingdom of God is finally breaking out in a way never seen before, evil is on the run, what a time to be alive! It must have been amazing, such an exciting and joyful reunion to hear all the stories from the others, we’re taking on the whole world and winning! Jesus even confirms that Satan has fallen from heaven, and we are protected from all harm! Nothing can stop us now.

We can pray for such times to come for us, as long as we are ready for the intense spiritual battle that will accompany them, but in the midst of their celebration Jesus says something unexpected.

Don’t rejoice that the spirits submit to you? How can that not be a cause for rejoicing? It’s everything they ever wished for. Then he gives an even greater reason to be joyful, an eternal reason. Your names are written in heaven. You have an eternal joyful secure future, no matter what happens to you on earth. The message is clear, do not expect an endless string of victories, your source of joy is in something much deeper and more reliable, your status before the faithful promise-keeping God of the Universe.

This may be a relatively easy shift in perspective to make in principle, especially when things are going well, but it only truly tested and is much more difficult and more important to do when everything seems to be falling apart, all you can see is your own failures and the damage you’ve done, there is tension at work or at home. Your current temporary situation is far less important than your eternal destiny. There is always a reason for gratitude, there is always a reason to rejoice.

Your name is written in heaven. If you’re anything like me, or stuck in a negative spiral of thoughts, you might ask, “God, why would you let me into heaven? I would just ruin it.” This might seem like a very pessimistic question, but there is a deep truth behind it. As you are right now, you would ruin it. But the good news is, that God is changing you, cleansing you like the channel in the video, if you will only let God’s Holy Spirit do its work. Some days or weeks or months, it may seem like you’re making no progress, or even getting worse and falling back into old bad habits that you thought you’d beaten. Especially if you lose something that you’ve depended on for a long time, it can feel like you now have one leg shorter than the other and can no longer stand up straight, or have suffered a stroke and need to relearn the most basic things, like walking, talking and using your hands.

Progress in life is never a straight line, it comes in waves, when you are training intelligently and gainfully you have periods of loading, of stress, interspersed with periods of rest and recovery.

Sometimes training methods can seem nonsensical. The classical example I would give would be in the remake of The Karate Kid:

The student gets more and more frustrated and angry with the seemingly nonsensical instructions, thinking he is learning a stupid, simple lesson that he already knows, until he confronts his sensei, who shows him that he’s been drilling into muscle memory a series of defensive and counterattacking moves. It is not just a lesson in self-defense, but in humility and trust.

God’s ways with us can seem just as confusing at times. There are things in this life that we will never understand this side of eternity. The questions you need to ask is, “Do I trust my trainer? Does he know what he is doing? Does he have my best interests at heart?”

At different stages of our lives, God takes away one set of our training wheels and asks us to step up and scale the same types of obstacles in new ways, to stand more stably and properly on the true foundation of life, which is Christ. He is looking at the long-term gains of our temporary sufferings. The long term perspective is eternity, which far outweighs any suffering we can endure in this life.

All too often we don’t see it that way, and the stresses of life overwhelm us, driving us to despair, bitterness or near insanity. When those negative emotions seem to be spiralling out of control and overwhelming you, visualise that foul flow pouring out of your heart onto the ground, gradually being washed out by that flow of pure living water until it is completely clear. You can trust Him, He knows what He is doing and He has your best interests at heart.

Philippians 1: 3-6:

3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Your name is written in heaven, and He is inviting you to grow into a worthy addition to that holy community, so that you will be a true blessing to it.

To Those Struggling with Depression:

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You’re not alone.

You could fail a thousand times a day, but He remains faithful.

You might not be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, or even far enough to take the next step in front of you, but He is ready to catch you if you fall.

You may find yourself without even the strength to get out of bed, but He offers you His.

You might feel lost and lonely in a crowded room, but He is with you. You are never alone.

He knows your pain and weeps with you. He knows your struggles and rejoices with each little victory. Sometimes just holding on and weathering the storm for one more day is victory enough.

You may see yourself as worthless, but He still loves you. This might make no sense to you, but it’s true. He is love. Love is not just what He does, it’s what He is.

He is the ultimate, infinitely loving, joyful, peaceful, satisfying, open, committed, generous, intimate, and uplifting fellowship, and He wants you to participate. Not just watch from the other side of the room, but be actively and fully involved, and be completely healed, purified, and invigorated.

You can’t escape from His love. Wherever you go, from the most luxurious palace to the cruellest dungeon, from the most pristine cleanroom to the filthiest sewer, from the depths of the ocean to the depths of outer space, and everywhere in between, He will be there, loving you.

You don’t need to be famous, you don’t need to be popular, you don’t need to be loved or praised by those in charge. The glory that this world offers means nothing in the end. The glory and peace and love and fellowship and satisfaction and joy that awaits you will make all of your sufferings down here worthwhile.

Cling to Him, open up to Him, and trust Him, because He loves you.

He sees you, He hears you. He has not abandoned you, and He never will.

You’re not alone.

Don’t Let it Die Out

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Today I had the opportunity to preach at my church. Here is the sermon I gave.

The two texts were Jeremiah 35 and 1 Corinthians 15: 1-8.

There was a craftsman who was getting old, his eyes and hands noticeably deteriorating, and clearly recognized that he only had a few years of plying his beloved trade left. He’d bought a sturdy foot-pedal and hand-crank powered machine that was now over a century old. It had served him well over the years and was still in perfectly good condition, and he wanted to hand it on to his daughter, but she wasn’t interested. This made him sad, that the art he had dedicated his life to was dying out in the modern world. He decided to offer the machine up for sale on an online bazaar at a reasonably low cost, thinking that perhaps someone who used to work in the industry would want to pick it up again as a hobby and delay the disappearance of his craft by a few years. A few days later, he is contacted by an interested party and they arrange to meet.

A middle-aged man and his twenty-year-old son arrive and carry the heavy machine to their car in two parts. Out of politeness, the artisan asks which of them will be using the machine, and to his surprise, it is the twenty-year-old son that is the enthusiast, and sees the machine as the ideal stepping stone as he builds his own artisanal business. With joy in his eyes, the old master explains the capabilities and foibles of the machine, tricks and tips for looking after it and getting the most out of it, where to get materials and spare parts, finding that the young man is already familiar with and excited by a lot of what he has to say, and has already built up an impressive portfolio of work that he’s done by hand. His beloved art will continue and thrive, and the classical machine still has a long and fruitful life ahead of it.

This isn’t just a story, it happened two weeks ago. I was the middle-aged man, my second son the young man, and it was a beautiful thing to witness.

As time goes by, many things can be forgotten and lost to history, such as highly specialised knowledge or skillsets, eyewitness accounts of events, fragile works of art, complex cultural rituals, ways of life, or loving communities.

These two passages are about people actively preserving traditions down through the generations, the first reports on the Recabites faithfully maintaining their family tradition of practising abstinence and self-denial without a fixed roof over their heads, to build up self-control and reliance on God rather than trusting in wealth or seeking short-term thrills or relief from their troubles, staying true and faithful in lesser things as an example to the rest of Israel who had abandoned a much more important authority than their ancestor on much more important matters than what to drink or where to live.

The second passage is also about actively preserving a tradition, but something far more important. This time it is not about maintaining a traditional lifestyle, but about ensuring that a key piece of knowledge is not forgotten, key pieces of evidence of the most significant event in human history, a list of eyewitnesses to the resurrection.

Scholars date 1 Corinthians to have been written at around 54 to 55 AD, only twenty to twenty-five years after the crucifixion, and Paul introduces it as passing on what he had recieved, the formula for presenting an established liturgical tradition, so it has to originate very soon after the events themselves, at most only a few years, most likely practically immediately afterwards, almost certainly from the Jerusalem church. This is something we can rely on, thanks to the efforts of many people to preserve this knowledge down through the generations and ages. Can you imagine the excitement, the joy in their eyes as they passed down this life-changing knowledge to the ones they cared about, to anyone that would listen? We are part of that long chain, sharing that revolutionary life-changing truth and adding our own experiences.

Just because something is written down doesn’t mean it will be remembered, we need to bring that knowledge to life by actively sharing it, demonstrating it, living it. Of course God is able to save people without us, but He loves to involve us in his work, and it is so good for us and so exciting to be part of His Great Commission.

It’s easy to think that because we have so many written records that are easily accessible online, knowledge is not being lost, but unfortunately that’s not true. Not only because far from everything that has ever been known was actually recorded, far from everything that has ever been written is actually available online, but also because not all knowledge is book knowledge, not all knowledge is a matter of information. Some knowledge and skills are never shared, and dies with the individual or group that discovered or developed it. Some skills are lost to time because there has been a lack of interest in preserving them, perhaps they are seen as outdated and irrelevant. What knowledge, what skills are still around in small measures but are in danger of being forgotten?

The ability to slow down and be patient; with everything so fast nowadays, instant answers and reports available 24/7, the prestige of being first to share new information ad developments, there is strong pressure to react immediately to initial reports instead of taking the time to see the issue from multiple angles, absorb more information that is less sensational and evaluate things with a cooler head, to take the time to make a careful choice instead of giving in to the ‘urgent need to Do Something!’.

The ability to truly stop and listen with a desire to understand rather than catch someone out, to simply be there for someone and be a blessing to them without having anything to prove, to discuss a difficult topic with someone with the goal of finding the truth together instead of proving yourself right. In the middle ages, it was standard practise that to earn the right to criticise a person’s position, you had to describe it to them to their satisfaction. Can you imagine that today? Today it’s fashionable to just present a grotesque or ludicrous caricature of someone’s position and castigate them for it.

There’s also a growing trend of intellectual laziness, encouraged by the ever more sensationalist media, to look for the gotcha moment that proves what the other side has been trying to hide all this time, that they are truly evil or stupid and we can safely condemn and ignore everything they have to say.

It’s a principle that Lenin advocated for that has slowly infected almost all public discourse: “The central question of politics is who whom” i.e. Anything done by our side to theirs is courageous justice, anything done by their side to ours is a despicable evil.

Why has this been so successful? Because it’s easy. You can look like a hero without doing anything brave. You can look like you’re fighting evil without ever taking any real risks. You never have to acknowledge your own faults or guilt. This is based on the horrific premise that mutually beneficial relationships don’t exist, all are nothing but relentless pitiless struggles for power, that love is just manipulation, self-sacrifice is foolishness and forgiveness stupid.

This idea of course didn’t originate with Lenin, or even Marx, of course. The Apostle Paul noted something similar in his letter to the Galatians (5:19-23):

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

I’d much rather be guided by a quote from a more enlightened Russian writer, Alexander Solzhenitzin:

“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart — and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained”

The fight against evil begins inside each one of us, and cannot be won without His sacrifice, His life flowing through us. Nobody is a lost cause, for as long as they are alive. Our God has redeemed the worst of us. Let’s continue that joyful tradition of gently witnessing to them, being there for them, demonstrating and offering that beautiful new life.

Let’s take a step back from the rush to react, the rush to condemn, to offer a quick fix. Take the time to truly listen, truly be vulnerable, truly love like Christ.

Who knows, you might be part of the even more joyful tradition of witnessing an old love for God restored, or a new relationship with God begin.

In the hands of a master, even an old forgotten machine can create wonderful new works of art.

Yesterday’s Sermon: ‘Course He isn’t Safe. But He’s Good.

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I had the opportunity to preach at my church yesterday. Here is the sermon I gave:

Galatians 5: 13-23:

13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever[c] you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Isaiah 42: 10-13:

Sing to the Lord a new song,
    his praise from the ends of the earth,
you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it,
    you islands, and all who live in them.
11 Let the wilderness and its towns raise their voices;
    let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice.
Let the people of Sela sing for joy;
    let them shout from the mountaintops.
12 Let them give glory to the Lord
    and proclaim his praise in the islands.
13 The Lord will march out like a champion,
    like a warrior he will stir up his zeal;
with a shout he will raise the battle cry
    and will triumph over his enemies.

The children of our church (my own included) recently went on a Royal Rangers camp based on the first book in the Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. There are so many lessons, illustrations and passages that can be taken to use as sermons from such a rich book, the one that has always stood out to me from a theological perspective is when the Pevensie children are with the Beavers and are first told about Aslan, when Lucy asks:

“Then he isn’t safe?”

“Safe?” said Mr Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

It’s only natural that people, especially children, want to feel safe. So why do I find this answer so satisfying? Why do we praise God for being a mighty warrior? Why does that reassure us?

Because a God who is safe, who is harmless, has no power to protect us from the dangers we face in this world. A kitten or puppy enriches our lives and makes us feel good, but it is no help against a wild animal, an invading army or tyrannical government. Safety, protection, requires strength, and our God is almighty. Good news!

While we’re on the topic of God’s omnipotence, people often ask the question:

“Can God make a stone so big that he can’t lift it?”

And think that they are asking something clever, as if showing that omnipotence itself is a contradiction. But this comes from a misunderstanding of what omnipotence is.

This becomes clearer when we break the question into two parts. The key is the second part: Can there be a stone so big that God can’t lift it? Of course not; size and mass are no obstacle to an omnipotent God. This is a logical impossibility, nonsensical. Now is the time for another favourite quote of mine from Mr. Lewis, this time from The Problem of Pain:

“…meaningless combinations of words do not suddenly acquire meaning simply because we prefix to them the two other words, ‘God can.’ It remains true that all things are possible with God: the intrinsic impossibilities are not things but nonentities. It is no more possible for God than for the weakest of His creatures to carry out both of two mutually exclusive alternatives; not because His power meets an obstacle, but because nonsense remains nonsense even when we talk it about God.”

So asking whether God can create something logically impossible, in this case a stone too big for God to lift, remains nonsensical. Omnipotence means being able to achieve anything that power can achieve. Let’s keep nonsense out of our discussions, and take God seriously.

So, God is omnipotent, and this concept makes sense, but strength, by itself, is not enough to reassure us. Bullies and tyrants are stronger than their victims (though they are not stronger than the strength of all their victims added together, which is why they like to keep people divided and fighting each other). I’m reminded of the American saying from the 1950’s (and probably earlier)

“A government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take everything you have.”

Everyone in this country (the Czech Republic) over the age of 40 has experienced this under Communism, and many people across the world, even in supposedly free countries, are experiencing it now. I don’t know about you, but I don’t place much trust in politicians and bureaucrats to not abuse their powers. This is why the second half of Mr Beaver’s remark is so important. Aslan is not safe, but he’s good.

Our God is not just dangerous, omnipotent, he’s also good, goodness itself. God’s unlimited power is reassuring because of his unlimited goodness, his love, his kindness, gentleness, and generosity, his forgiveness, his patience with us.

God is dangerous to the world, because he is stronger than it and better than it, he uses and turns around the world’s evil schemes to achieve something wonderful in the long term, even though in the short term things can get very unpleasant. He also shows us a better way to live to resist being part of the world’s evil. This is why the world hates Him and those who follow Him

Coming back to the first text, the world wants us to be impure, deceitful, angry, jealous, divided and out of control, because those kinds of people are easy to manipulate. It’s easy to point at someone and say, “That person is the problem, those people are the source of all the evil and danger you see around you, pour out all of your pent-up uncontrollable rage and cruelty on them. Whenever you start to feel bad about something you’ve done, look at today’s target and see that they are worse than you. Punish them, destroy them! Then you’ll be the deliverer of justice and can drown out your own guilt (for now).”

God’s kingdom doesn’t work like that. We are called to be productive, capable, self-controlled, loving, generous, kind, merciful and joyful. When we see someone doing something evil, our reaction should not be “Ha! I’m better than you!”, but instead “Without God’s grace, that could’ve been me.” We are not called to control other people, to make their choices for them, or take away all consequences of their actions; that’s not what God does with us.

[*Indeed, as Lewis opines elsewhere in “The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment” essay found in God in the Dock:

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. Their very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be “cured” against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level with those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.”]

God allows us the freedom to make mistakes, take the consequences and learn and grow from them. In this life his primary interest is in our salvation and our character, in the direction we are growing. Unfortunately, in order to truly pay attention to an issue and learn, it often takes a lesson that hurts.

That’s not to say that we should remain passive; we should stand up for what is right, and if we see someone doing something truly evil and dangerous, and it is within our power to stop them, then we should try to, but not with the goal of destroying them, but to give them a chance to see sense, repent and turn their life around.

Our God is not safe, but he’s good, and our king. He calls us to be free. As we serve him, and in our dealing with others, let’s try to be like Him.

(*unfortunately the Czech translation of God in the Dock only contains about a third of the essays in the original and omits this one, so I was unable to use it in the sermon, hence this section being in square brackets)

Today’s Sermon: The Master Renovator

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2 Corinthians 4: 6-18

Ezra 3: 10-12

The temple had lain in ruins for around 50 years. Destroyed, but not forgotten, just like Jerusalem itself. It still had immense, painful value to the Israelites. The visible sign of God’s presence among them desecrated and useless for anything except a reminder of what once was. Hence the strong emotions of both joy and sorrow, joy that the temple, and through it the nation of Israel, is being rebuilt with God at the centre, and also sorrow that it will never be like it was under the glorious rules of David and Solomon.

It’s hard to imagine the task of rebuilding an entire nation, but I’d like to look at the process of reconstruction, of renewal, from a different angle, using some modern examples from youtube. There are a lot of channels that focus on this sort of project, whether it’s restoring a classic car, a boat, an airplane or a house, but there are some projects that stand out.

A youtuber with a lot of followers often drove past a hill that had a ruin on the top of it. It wasn’t a castle or temple or anything like that, it was an incomplete construction project that had been planned to be a great mansion, but for various reasons construction halted and the partially completed house was abandoned to the elements for nearly twenty years, had been frequently snuck into by teenagers and animals, every window was broken, rain had gotten into the stonework, there was dirt, rubbish and broken glass everywhere, and many of the timbers were rotten. What could have been a very valuable property was now useless. He saw the potential of the place, bought it for a vastly reduced price and began to work on it, documenting his progress in various episodes and updates. He cleared debris and filth, tore down rotten beams, parts of the roof and walls until there was nothing left but the foundation and the interior walls and floors that had remained intact and undamaged by the elements, then over the next two years new frames and walls are added, roofs and windows replaced, plumbing and wiring done, doing a lot of the work himself alongside various professionals, learning new skills from those professionals, and in the process made changes and expansions to make the house even larger and more practical for his family, finally moving into it recently while some areas surrounding the house are still being worked on.

The viewership of his channel increased enormously, he obtained sponsors for the individual episodes that enabled him to pay for professionals to implement his more ambitious plans, His viewers are excited and happy for him, supporting him financially through buying his merchandise, giving him advice as well as professional contacts on all sorts of aspects of the project.

Another youtuber who specializes in restoring planes and motor vehicles was offered a plane for free if he could get it running. It had cost half a million dollars new, but had broken down and been left to rot outside for fifteen years, inhabited by birds, rats, mice and spiders. It was filthy, stank of mould and every kind of droppings, its engines were clogged with all sorts of gunk and seized up with possible corrosion.

Step by step he took the engines apart, scrubbed and cleaned the various components, cleared the lines with pressurized air, put them back together and after many failed attempts got first one engine to start, and with the help of some spare parts sent in for free by a viewer, also the second. Both engines will be sent for a full professional service later, the exterior has been given a deep clean, and recently crawled around the filth and foul stench of the interior to clear the trash, remove the seats and carpets to begin the process of giving the whole of the inside a deep clean.

Again, his channel received a major boost in viewership from this project, he’s raised over $200,000 via crowdfunding for the project, from people who will get nothing in return, only the knowledge that they helped make this project succeed.

Why is that? What is it about these projects that so captivates the audience? Is it following the progress of a pleasant, enthusiastic and skilled individual working hard to achieve their goal? That’s definitely part of it, but these cases also touch on something deeper.

Something that was clearly valuable was overlooked and written off by the crowd as worthless, beyond saving, too much work to consider bothering with. But then a wise and kind individual came along and fell in love with the beauty and potential and true value of the thing, currently spoiled as it may be. That person then lovingly and patiently and skilfully sacrifices their time and effort, working to restore and polish that treasure so it’s true magnificence can be seen by all.

Wouldn’t it be great if someone loved me or you like that? Are we dirty, broken treasures that can be repaired, cleaned, renewed and transformed into something wonderful? I have good news. You are a treasure, loved deeply by God himself, though you are full of dirt, brokenness and corrosive sin. He is ready and excited to work on you to clean, repair, renew and transform you into something glorious. If you have already given Him your life, then he has already begun that work, it is called sanctification. This process takes a long time, can be unpleasant and for long periods it can seem that no progress is being made. Parts of you need to be scrubbed clean of all the corrosive sins and attitudes that threaten to eat them away; that can hurt. Some parts will need to be thrown away and replaced entirely with something new and better, so we can become a new creation; that can be scary. Parts that have been seized up your whole life will begin to function, giving you capabilities you didn’t know you had.

You are a temple of God, a place for the Holy Spirit to dwell, a great treasure in a pot of clay. You might think that you are too broken, too polluted, to be of any use, but a whole new abundant life awaits you, if you only allow the master renovator to do his work.

A Sermon: Love and Terror

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(This is a sermon I gave on the 20th of February this year, before the Russia-Ukraine Conflict began)

Romans 8:14-18

1 John 4: 7-21

Last time I gave a sermon, I introduced a new song, and played a video connected to the sermon that also served as a pre-sunday-school message for children. This time, I have (almost) combined all of those into one (I’m not sure it quite works as a message for children, but they might enjoy some of the images at least)

Many people struggle to love God because they can’t grasp who and what God is, how indescribably wonderful he is and worthy of our praise and attention. This passage provides us with one key to grasping a whole lot more of who we are called to worship and follow.

God is love. Would you say that the song was telling the truth about love? We see examples of love in the world that reflect those aspects, those properties of genuine love. Even if we aren’t experiencing them directly ourselves, we have certainly witnessed something like them in the lives of others around us, or in stories that really resonate with us, because they are showing something true and pure, the love of good parents or grandparents, of good and honest friends, a motivated rescue worker or doctor, the camaraderie and sacrifice of an honourable soldier, a helpful colleague at work, a kind-hearted stranger, a loving husband or wife. All of those loves that we can see concretely are weak reflections of the perfect, abundant, generous and powerful love of god. All of those loves that we see around us or hear about ultimately come from him.

God is love. So everything that the song said about love, we can say about God. He is patient and kind; he won’t leave us to our fate, he looks us in the face; he sees our flaws, but that doesn’t discourage him; he gives us a place where we truly belong, he continues to care even when we turn our backs on him, he forgives us and welcomes us back when we realise how stupid we have been, he gives us room to grow and empowers us to be the person we were truly meant to be.

God is love. A key aspect of God is that He is a powerful, active, invigorating, joyful, and supremely generous relationship between three persons. God is so overjoyed by this relationship that he wants to share it with us! Imagine that. He wants us to be as loving, as joyful, as generous and fulfilled as He is—to have live in abundance. To grow the gifts that he has already given us and become more and more the magnificent creations he made us to be. Now that is an invitation worth accepting. If we have already accepted that offer, it is one worth remembering, being grateful for and living accordingly with all our heart, all our strength and all of our mind.

Perfect love casts out fear. What is the message that the world, our governments and news organizations has been telling us for the last two years?

Be terrified. Suffering and death is around the corner. Hide. Everyone around you is a threat; keep them away. Don’t meet together, don’t celebrate, don’t sing. Wear a mask, or two, or three. Be responsible and show everyone around you how terrified you are. I recently saw a video of a man on an airplane putting on six masks. He was very proud of himself, making a show in front of everyone of adding mask after mask, as if to say, “Look at me! I’m better than all of you, because I’m more afraid.” It’s absurd. Other people scream hysterically whenever anyone comes near them, as if standing next to someone is the same as attempted murder. Some just play at being scared so they can look down on others and bully them, others have become addicted to this foundation of fear and are unable to cope with things going back to normal. They should be pitied.

What else does the news try to terrify us with? War is coming with Russia! (Now that the war between Ukraine and Russia has begun, that it’s the start of World War III and nuclear catastrophe) Democracies are turning into tyrannies all over the world. Civil wars are on the horizon. Economies are collapsing. Everything is unstable, out of control and you’re powerless to do anything about it. Despair, cower, and most of all, be terrified.

How do we respond to that? We could quote Mark Twain:

“If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.”

Because so much of the news is distorted, if not invented, and important events and contexts are often ignored completely. Unfortunately this is not only true of the tabloid press, the never-ending news cycle means that reaction and attention is everything, and the easiest attention-getting reactions to evoke are fear and outrage. (The fact that these reactions also make the viewer/listener easier to manipulate is a bonus). There will be some fragments of truth mixed in occasionally, but without a reliable direct source for comparison, it becomes very difficult to know what is really going on (even moreso during a time of war, as all you will hear on the news is propaganda from one side or the other), so ignoring the sensationalized version of what a given news source wants you to think becomes more appealing, even healthy.

Even if every danger they warn of is real, the words of C.S. Lewis that have been recently circulating online in various venues come to mind:

In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.”

In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.

This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.

— “On Living in an Atomic Age” (1948) in Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays

If all of our hopes are in this life, then despair and terror are logical responses. It has always been that way. But our hopes are not all in this life. We are promised persecution, struggles, difficult tasks and difficult choices, but also the strength to endure and grow through them. We are not abandoned and helpless, we are treasured children of a loving God. If the worst happens and we die, we go to be in the arms of God, fully plunged into that amazing relationship, seeing His infinite beauty face to face.

Getting back to the song, a blind friend of a friend by the name of Michael Bayus listened to it, liked it and shared the following thought:

“Being deeply loved by someone gives one strength, loving someone deeply gives one courage.”

So know that you are deeply loved by someone stronger than the world, who has defeated the world, and take strength from that to deal with the discomforts and troubles of life, and we are still very well off compared to any era in history.

Let’s have the courage to love those that God loves around us, work to make our little part of the world a little closer to what it should be, create something beautiful and share it, renew a relationship that’s been neglected, support a friend in their efforts to improve themselves, work on developing the gifts we have been given, aim to be more like Christ in the way we treat others. Meditate on what it means that God is love, and that He loves you, and learn to love him back.

Today’s Sermon – They Can’t Hear the Orchestra

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1st text:

1 Corinthians 12:12-31:

12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues[d]? Do all interpret? 31 Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.

Main text:

1 Corinthians 3 5-15:

5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.

Message for Children:

I’d like to show you a short little video I made 11 years ago, that has a boring name, but is also called “How to Park a Toy Car”

Did you like that? As you saw, the little ball at the start had all sorts of adventures and did all sorts of interesting things before it set another ball going, which started another little chain reaction, and another, then finally the big ball hit the wall that set off the toy car to park itself.

That first ball didn’t see the end result, it just knew that it did its job well. Life can be like that, in that when we do something good for someone, it can seem like nothing has really changed, when in fact we’ve started a process that will end up causing something truly beautiful. So don’t give up and stop doing good things for people, because the good things you do, especially the things you do for God, are much more important than you realise.

Sermon for adults:

Basically, if you remember the children’s message, you’ll get the main point of today’s sermon, but us adults tend to make things much more complicated than they need to be, and like things to be explained in more detail, so let’s try to do that.

Deep down, all of us would like to make a difference in the world. Some of us have less ambitious goals than others, and many have given up on the idea, but ultimately we would like to think that we can make a little part of the world a better place than it would have been without us.

Many of us look at our own efforts and the results from them, and get discouraged. We don’t see crowds of people getting saved in response to something we said, we don’t get people coming up to us to thank us for something we did for them that changed their life completely. Of course, it’s a very good habit to be sure to thank people that have helped you in small ways, it is a real encouragement to them to persevere with acts of kindness, especially when the person didn’t realise how much what they did helped you.

But small acts of kindness can have much more impact than we realise. Someone who has just been shown a kindness, especially an unexpected one, is in a better mood and more likely to then show kindness to someone else themselves and less likely to be needlessly cruel, so our initial act is multiplied, echoing further and further, making more and more of a positive difference the wider the context we take in.

This is multiplied again by the fact that humans are beings of habit. When we overcome our nerves and do something once, it is easier to do it again, and the more times we do it the easier it gets until it becomes second nature and we do it almost without thinking.

The same can be said for speaking important, even painful truths. Openness breeds openness.

Unfortunately, the same is true in the other direction. Cruelty breeds cruelty, and deceit breeds deceit. So it is a great power that we have, a great responsibility, far more than we realize.

So a kind act, a kind word, a small piece of the truth can help another soul along their journey to find God, but a soul’s journey does not end when it gives its life to Christ, it is only just beginning. As God’s children we have that foundation of Christ, and it’s time to build on that. We can help each other practically, we can study together, share our discoveries, offer warnings about dangerous paths, support each other through difficult times and encourage each other to build good habits and grow in character, becoming more and more citizens of heaven down here on earth. We are not all teachers, we are not all prophets or miracle workers, we don’t all have gifts of healing, we all have different skills, talents and opportunities, but what we do does not have to be spectacular to be worth doing, it can still change the world.

Maybe you didn’t like the analogy from the children’s message. After all, you’re not an inanimate metal ball or block of plastic—you can think, you can choose, you can actively participate in or fight against things, so here is a different one, a musical one, from the ending to the film Robots:

When Herb starts playing by himself, even though he is putting all of his heart and skill into it, it sounds awful, like he’s gone insane and is just making random noises. It’s only when the others realise what he is doing and start playing the other parts that it becomes obvious that he is actually playing beautiful, fun and joyful music.

It can be like that with us. When we try as hard as we can to do what is right, serve God, and stand up for the truth, but to the outside world we can look like a fool doing pointless random things, and sometimes the situation can get so bad that we start to see ourselves that way.

But that’s because they can’t hear the orchestra. They don’t see the ripples of influence flowing out, the slow processes that have started, the grand context that will show the true beauty of what we’ve done.

In summary, I’d like to share a poem I wrote back in January for people who saw all the scary currents in the world and were tempted to despair and shut themselves off completely.

[Perception]

So don’t give up, you just can’t hear the rest of the orchestra yet.

God’s Solution to Worry, Anxiety, and Fear by Nathan Haddock

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For the purposes of transparency, the author is a friend of my wife and I was provided this book for free for review purposes.

The world is a stressful place, and it is easy to become consumed with worry, anxiety and fear. Doing so is very unhealthy, but thankfully also unnecessary. This book provides an effective antidote to the constant barrage of messages to be terrified and discouraged by what is going on in the world and what is just around the corner, by focusing on the unchanging rock on which our faith is built.

Nathan doesn’t do this with artful prose, ground-breaking insights or powerful rhetoric, but with simple reminders of biblical truths in a way that is accessible to new believers. For those of us who have been around the theological block a few times, you’ll most likely have heard these things before, but these basic principles that lead to a healthier mindset can be drowned out by the hectic pace of life, so reminding yourself of them can do no harm.

Come With Us

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Today I was reading Numbers chapter 10, and this little passage jumped out at me:

Numbers 10: 29-31 (NIV):

Now Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place about which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us and we will treat you well, for the Lord has promised good things to Israel.”

He answered, “No, I will not go; I am going back to my own land and my own people.”

But Moses said, “Please do not leave us. You know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes. If you come with us, we will share with you whatever good things the Lord gives us.”

This is the heart of evangelism. We, as beneficiaries of the New Covenant, are heading for the true Promised Land, and it is only natural that we should want others to come with us, since all are invited.

Our journey there is the greatest of all adventures, offering the greatest of all rewards, along the way choices and challenges with enormous stakes, our actions leaving ripples that echo to eternity.

Notice that Moses does not just offer to have him taken care of the whole way, but invites him to participate. He has something to offer Israel, he will make their journey better.

What Christ offers as part of being his children is not just an adventure tour, not just a journey where everything is prearranged for us like a safari, package holiday or adrenaline sports, but a partnership in a great and glorious mission.

You might not think so, but you have something to offer. You can make a very meaningful difference. You can share love and truth and hope with others. You can help to mould your own character and those around you in ways that will be reflected in eternity. You can be part of God’s blessing for someone else, take part in the great love story that started before the creation of the universe and will outlast it.

Who’s up for that?

Alma Deutscher, the Superversive and the Importance of Beauty in Art

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Alma Deutscher is a world-famous musical prodigy and composer, who at the age of 15 has already composed full orchestral concertos and even a full opera, with her music having being performed together with major orchestras and in major venues such as this recent performance at Carnegie Hall:

The piece is wonderful, but I found her introduction especially interesting, since it could have come straight from the Superversive Literary Movement’s mission statement:

“Some people told me that melodies are no longer acceptable in serious classical music. Because in the twenty-first century, music must reflect the ugliness of the modern world. Well, in this waltz, instead of trying to make my music artificially ugly in order to reflect the modern world, I went in exactly the opposite direction! I took some ugly sounds from the modern world, and I tried to turn them into something more beautiful through music.”

Another similar quote from almost three years earlier, when she was 12, puts it even more succinctly:

“Let me tell you a huge secret. I already know that the world is complex and can be very ugly. But I think that these people just got a little bit confused. If the world is so ugly, then what’s the point of making it even uglier with ugly music?”

The transformation of ugliness into beauty, the magical nature of beauty in art, and the desire to rebel against today’s pretentious fashionistas of foulness and lifeless drudgery with true and worthwhile art is the sign of a healthy mind and genuine artist.

A single flower poking through a crack in a vast concrete landscape, a small act of kindness in the midst of horrific war, innocence being protected from a depraved mob—each far outshines its surroundings and transforms the whole scene into something uplifting and inspiring—no wonder our intellectual jailers put so much effort into polluting, smothering and drowning out all glimpses of beauty, all glimmers of hope, all echoes of the truth, because just one breath of fresh, pure air will undo all of their work to enslave and convince the world that there is no point in resisting, nothing worthwhile to aim for, no meaning to be found in life.

That is why we as Superversives applaud Alma for her stand, and strive to create beauty, serve the truth and bring hope through our creations, whether they be poetry, prose, song, story, painting, sculpture, or any other art form.

The source of all beauty, hope, truth and love stands with us, and He is stronger than the world.

 

*update* found the source of the second quote and added the video