A Message for Today?

Health Warning: I am not an economist, a politician, a historian, or a clairvoyant!

           Comment, written in Long Itchington in October 2008:

 
A Future Church?

Imagine a people for whom God is the centre of life, who know him, trust him and love him with all their heart. A people whose main purpose in life is to please him, who are so smitten with what God has done for them in Jesus Christ that they gladly will make any sacrifice, suffer any hardship, endure any disgrace or persecution, if only they can serve him.

Such a people would be bringers of God’s peace, instruments of his love, ambassadors bearing good news of the kingdom of God to the whole world. Through them the world could be changed. Although evil will continue to spoil until Christ comes again, through such people blessing would also come to people and nations and even the natural world, and we could all experience ‘times of refreshing’. Through them God would work out his purposes, and the time for the ‘renewal of all things’ will come quickly.

What is holding us back?

We are too much in love with this present world. We are not in love enough with the world which God is bringing into being, nor with the God whose purpose this is. God is calling us to repent: to turn from a distracted life to a life in which his kingdom and his righteousness are always our first priority, a life in which God occupies centre stage, a life in union with Christ, a life which he can truly bless.

What does he want of us?

1) ‘Repent of your love of comfort, your love of pleasure, your love of security.’

Comfort, pleasure and security are all blessings which God delights to give, and which he wants us to enjoy with grateful hearts. However, full enjoyment will only be possible in the age to come; in this world these blessings are foretastes. Our goal is not these blessings, but the age to come – ‘seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness.’

So enjoy comfort when God gives it – but always ‘take up your cross and follow me’.

Take pleasure in God’s good gifts – but ‘rejoice in the Lord always’, and ‘accept hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.’

Love the security of having a good shepherd, and follow him wherever he leads, whatever the apparent ‘risk’.

 
2) ‘Repent of your lack of zeal for me and my purposes’.

God is love; his purpose for creation is the best – far better than we can imagine. This is what God has made us all for, and this is the goal he wants everyone to choose, through Jesus Christ. God will not override anyone’s free choice; those who reject his Son will not be forced to enter his kingdom. But he does want everyone to have the choice, and we are his messengers, demonstrations of his grace, Christ’s representatives on earth, bringing the good news to all. Through Christ God’s purposes for the earth are fulfilled, and he wants us to be involved with all our heart, mind and body.

How important is Christ’s mission to us, really?

 
3) ‘Repent of your contentment with the way things are’.

This word is addressed to those of us who are content with things as they are, by and large. All of us can see things that need improving; yet many of us only want minor changes to increase our comfort or pleasure or security. Radical change is needed.

The standards of living in the Western world cannot be enjoyed by all – there are not enough resources on the planet. Our hope is for a world where love rules, all have enough, and all creation is in harmony, vibrant with life.

The culture of the Western world liberates evil as well as good - covetousness, licentiousness, and much more. Our hope is for a world where goodness is liberated.

We need to be prepared to be counter-cultural in today’s society. It will be costly, but we cannot keep things as they are.

 
4) ‘Repent of your lovelessness’.

Lovelessness lies at the root of all our spiritual problems in the church. Our love for God is so small. We may be moved in worship, teaching or meditation, and feel our hearts bursting with love for God. But if we love God we will obey him.

The new commandment was to love one another. Where is our love for our fellow Christians? What church is there which is not stained by disunity, by party spirit, by superiority?   The old commandment was to love our neighbours as ourselves. Not to be nice, but to love – to put ourselves out, to spend and be spent on behalf of those who deserve nothing from us.

Imagine what it would be like if the Church was known for its sacrificial love! But what is it known for, today?

 

What should we do?

        First, seek God for grace to live according to the new nature he has created in us.

        Second, pray for mercy. Not for ourselves – we have already received mercy. Not for our church, for mercy on our church depends on what we do next. Love calls us to pray:

a) for our Christian brothers and sisters, especially those who are being persecuted for their faith,

b) for the poor and the oppressed and the hurting, wherever 
they may be.

c) for our planet and all its creatures affected by human carelessness 
or sinfulness.

d) for our own nation, and especially for those who have been put off God by the church.

         Third, we are to be ready and willing to be the answer to our own prayers. That will involve:

a) practical support to the persecuted church and mission organisations that partner with them, and to aid organisations and environmental organisations.

b) changing our way of life. The world will change when we change. People will listen to us when they see and feel the love of God in us.

c) readiness to obey, despite risk or discomfort. When Jesus calls us to get up early or go to bed late in order to pray, or to go where we do not want to go to help the poor or seek the lost, it may not be comfortable or pleasurable, nor even safe. Nothing is too much for us to do for him!

God is calling us to change, and he will help us, step by step. There will be opposition and ridicule. But love compels us to act, and to be his agents of blessing.