Missions Paul

Belief and practice filter through the story of life. Understanding a person’s story therefore is crucial to not dismissing them.

“Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarrelling over disputable matters.” (Romans 14 v1)

In this chapter it seems there were 2 kinds of believers: those who had strong faith and those whose faith was weak. From the list of ‘disputable matters’ we will read in the next few days it is probable that it is referring to Gentile believers (strong) and Jewish believers (weak – who struggled to let go of some of their practices). This is a message to the strong to give the weak a chance; to stop judging; to let people journey at their own pace; to accept them. Something that is still relevant to the church today.

Today is a special day. It starts at 2pm. It has been in the diary for a long time and the last few years it has been about this moment this afternoon. But let us read our next few verses first:

“And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Romans 13 v 11-14)

Today my daughter is being ordained as a Reverend. It’s a special day for us all.

We are up early. The food is being prepared. Clothes are washed and ironed. We are eagerly awaiting the 2pm service. There is a sense of excitement and rightly so.

This is not the time to spend the morning getting dirty in the garden; neither is it the time to get stressed about other things that need doing; it is the morning for reflections of times past and dreaming for the future; it is the morning for thanking God for all He has done and the family and friends that have supported her to this point. It is the morning of love and kindness.

Why do I say all this?

Paul is wrapping up a section about Christian lifestyle (that he began in our chapter 12).

We don’t know the time but 2,000 years ago Paul believed the day of Christ’s return and what will be in effect our glorious ordination as believers is upon them. Well …. Even more so now!

What’s occupying your attention today? Make sure it is Christ.

What are the temporary, earthly desires that you are tempted to chase after?

Is your life being wasted on things that pass away?

Are you dressing your attitudes and conversations and behaviours with that of Christ?

Why? It is nearly 2pm.

The greatest need in our world today is for people to love others sacrificially.

We can turn the world upside down with love. True love is the love that hurts the lover.

Where will that hurt be most felt? It is not when you are loving someone the other side of the world. But it is to love those closest to you. It is to love your neighbour, the person next to you, who lives near you, even in your home.

“The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law.” Romans 13:9-10

It doesn’t matter which commandment you choose and which one you profess to be successful at. The reason for obedience is not for any other reason but because God has transformed and renewed your mind and now within you is the love of Christ for other people.

Adultery, no, because you are committed to your spouse.

Murder, no, because you don’t want anyone to be harmed.

Steal, no, because you don’t want the person to be without.

Covet, no, because you know how to celebrate what others have.

The commandments could continue and your response is the same, you want the best for others because within you is Christ’s love for the world.

Why? Because you see God in people. They bear the image of God.

After an interlude about governments, Paul gets right back to relationships and the love of God that we share with others.

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.” (Romans 13 v 8)

Some focus on the debt and use it as a proof text to show we shouldn’t borrow anything. They not only miss the whole point about the outstanding extravagant love for each other but they miss even what Paul was saying about debt. He isn’t saying don’t borrow but he is saying make sure you pay back what you borrow.

The aim for your Christian life is not about being more powerful and doing great exploits. It is not even about not being in debt. But it is about grasping, comprehending, perceiving, learning, reaching, testing, plumbing to the depths and rising to the heights in discovering the love of Christ for other people. It is to learn the unconditional, non-judgmental, selfless, sacrificial love within community where you will always be in debt. There will never be a time when you can say I have loved that person enough. You are to go on and on and on. You are to die loving. Yes there are heartaches and yes we have to move on but we do so not with bitterness and anger but with love. It is to give extravagant, outlandish, loud and courageous love to others. It is this love that fulfils everything that God wants in terms of obedience (known as the law).

We are going to read a section that might be difficult depending on your political persuasion or your experience of working for management or other leadership forms.

But spare a thought for those who live under the regimes of evil dictators as you read the following:

“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. ² Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. ³ For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. ⁴ For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. ⁵ Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. ⁶ This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. ⁷ Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honour, then honour.” (Romans 13:1-7)

What are we to make of this?

The powers that be are there because God appointed them.
For the Christians, living under the wicked Roman Emperor, Nero, they would find this hard to swallow.
You may also. For your powers that be may not act anything like God.
You may struggle to obey them.
Your government.
Your manager or supervisor.
Your spiritual leader.
All these can make things difficult for you.
In turn you may want to belittle, rebel and usurp the authority above you.
But strangely God has them there for a season.
They are serving a bigger picture than just your life here and now. You are part of that big picture so submit, do what’s right and respect those people.
For when you do this you are in line with God.

But this is not blind obedience.

Paul says 2 things: God has established these authorities and you must obey otherwise they will punish.

How do we weigh this with resisting the beast’s demands for worship?

Or how do we hold to this teaching alongside the refusal to be silent about Jesus, ““Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than men!”? (Acts 5:29)

Perhaps it is this:

1. No government or spiritual leader has ultimate authority over you; that belongs to God.
2. God is in control of history and governments and we need faith to believe this even when we cannot see Him.
3. Do all that we can to obey respectfully those in authority.
4. When it is against that ultimate authority we serve God not man.

Let’s be different today. Where there is hurt let us bless. Where offence comes let us take every barrier down. Where there is war let us bring peace. Who do you struggle with today? Bless them. Show kindness. Demonstrate the cross. Die for them. Do not pick up the sword no matter what they have done.

Paul continues on from instructing not to retaliate by speaking of doing all we can to reconcile: “On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12 v 20-21)

The Rwandan genocide in 1994 only lasted 100 days. But during that time 800,000 citizens were brutalised and murdered by their own neighbours.

Though Hutu and Tutsi tribes are the same ethnic group, share the same language, lived and worked together, shared the same religion (mainly catholic), Tutsis and supportive Hutus were slaughtered by people they had co-existed peacefully with for generations.

Even from school age Tutsis became dehumanised.

They were called snakes and cockroaches.

The killings were horrific and sadistic.

Here is a story of a mother whose son was killed in that genocide.

The woman had nursed bitterness, grievance and thoughts of vengeance; she just wanted to find her son’s killer and bring due punishment. But one night she had a dream and in the dream she was going down the street and saw a house and she knew it was a house of her enemy.

And she heard God say, “Go into the house”.

She said “I don’t want to go into the house”

She went into the house and God led her through many rooms and then up the stairs.

And He said “I want you to go up the stairs”

She said “I don’t want to go any further in this house”

“I want you to go up the stairs”

She went up the stairs, opened the door at the top, and found it led into heaven.

And she had a revelation.

That the path to heaven goes through the house of her enemy.

Two days later there was a knock on her door.

A young man is standing there at the door and he is shaking.

He says to her, “I am the man who killed your son. I place my life in your hands, whatever you want to do with me, I accept it. I have had no peace since I did what I did. And I will accept whatever. If you want to kill me, you can kill me.

If you want to turn me in to the authorities turn me into the authorities. Whatever you want, my life is in your hands.

And because she had a revelation from God, she said “I will not do any of this. But I do have one request. You must now become my son.”

She took him in and fed him at the table where she fed her son. He’s the same size so he wore his clothes. He actually moved in and became a son to her, because heaven passes through the house of her enemy.

Who is your enemy? Who is the person that hurt you? Would you believe that heaven goes through that house? It does. It’s called the cross. Pick it up today. Love is your most treasured commodity that no one will take from you. Give it today. Do what you can to reconcile.

The right to retaliate is sadly front cover again. The demand to carry guns and use them because otherwise evil would wreak havoc from those who carry guns. I’m so glad I live in a culture where this particular argument is not an issue. Yet retaliation is in every culture of the world.

Was Paul a pacifist? “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.”  (Romans 12 v 17-19)

Was Peter? “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” 1 Peter 3: 9

Was Jesus? “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” (Matthew 5 v 38-42)

We must go back to the beginning to understand the reason why the law of Moses stated “an eye for an eye” for it was to make sure that punishment was not harsher than it deserved to be.

In Genesis 4:23-24, the father of Noah, Lamech, says, “I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times”

Lamech’s son, Tubal-Cain, had invented what was the first primitive sword and weapons of war are seen for the first time. We don’t know what happened but it would appear that the punishment did not fit the crime. He truly believed that those who tried to take revenge on him for his revenge will receive the vengeance of God 77 times over. A huge presumption on the mercy of God. Lamech was now self-confident and self-sufficient because of the weapon he had in his hand.

Interestingly when Jesus teaches Peter to forgive he says that he should forgive not 7 times but 70 times 7 (Matthew 18:22).

So what do we do with the bad guy?

Here’s the big thing and I simply write it in a number of different ways, my own responses to the attacks that come our way, I have failed many times but this is what I try to say and do:

“I will not do life like you do life. I belong to a different kingdom to you. I choose a higher level. Not out of arrogance or pompous attitude but simply because I will not stoop down to a level of the world which says I should retaliate by ‘hitting your cheek or saying NO to my shirt, that mile, that ask or the loan.”

“Look down on me, make me look unequal to you and my response to you will show the world that we are indeed not equal.”

“Make my life hard and I will expose your injustice by making your life easy.”

“Make me look like some cattle carrying your bags for a mile (the Romans practiced conscription amongst the citizens) and I will show you I will not be demeaned for I will go the extra mile. My generosity will defeat your conscription”

“Humiliate me but I will not be humiliated in my heart.”

“My humanity will expose your violent humanity by revealing a bigger heart than what is being shown.”

“I will fight within the Kingdom of Jesus not within your kingdom.”

“Though you are a bad guy: I will do my best not to retaliate.”

There is one more thing. If not retaliating is difficult then what Paul says next is even more so!

The Spirit comes on people that are full of the mission to love the world and reach it with the Gospel.

The Spirit comes on people that do not think of themselves higher than anyone else.

The Spirit comes on people that have learnt to live on the level of common ground.

“Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.Do not be conceited.” Romans 12:16

Happy Pentecost Sunday everyone

As we celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of our Queen’s reign we marvel how she has been the one constant in what at times has been a turbulent family. Can you remember 30 years ago? 1992 and the year that she described as ‘annus horribilis’? Maybe she has known further ‘horrible years’ as she has kept the family together in harmony?

Even prestige families struggle.

I knew these 2 family members for all the years that they disliked one another. But as a friend and a Pastor I managed to bring them together in unity and there was a public display of peace and reconciliation within a church service and it was indeed very powerful. But it didn’t last very long, maybe a couple of years if that. Then it all unravelled and that was nearly 30 years ago and today they don’t speak to one another at all. Neither of them attend church now. Their hurt and anger ate away at them.

These stories are sadly all too prevalent in any community but even more so when we see it in the Church.

Paul says “Live in harmony with one another.” Romans 12:16

There are deeply engraved divisions in our upbringing. Look anywhere in the world and you find historical disputes that the present generation don’t fully understand why they hate that tribe or family but they do. Anyone can live in harmony with what agrees with their position. But can the Jew forbear the Gentile and vice versa? That is the question. The answer is obviously NO. That is why we need more than ever the Spirit to empower our lives. Without HIM this is a nonsense.

Tomorrow we celebrate Pentecost Sunday, the day the Spirit came to birth the church.

Shortly after that first outpouring we read these words in Acts 4:32, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.”
This passage is one of the most incredible passages from the New Testament regarding harmony. They have all been filled with the Spirit again and the outworking was a united church body where no one was in need.
They were one in heart and mind.
People are never convenient. If you wait till you feel like it, you will never have genuine fellowship, nor if you wait for things to be perfect. There can be a fantasy of what community should be like.
“He who loves his dream of community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter … If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed, even when there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith, and difficulty; if on the contrary, we keep complaining that everything is paltry and petty, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow.” Bonhoffer. a German pastor who was martyred for resisting the Nazis.
no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own.
We have no claim to anything except we are a child of God, a servant to the King. We have no claim on anything we have or title we have gained. All that we have all that we possess belongs to Him. We do not own a penny. But He owns it all.
Plato, the Greek philosopher of the 4thc.BC saw his ideal republic as one devoid of all private ownership. The people reading this were aware of this theory. The instruction from Paul would have brought an immediate response from the Gentile readers. What was an ideal is now a reality and it is found in the church and it is for both Jew and Gentile. That is still true today. The ideals of the world for harmony, happiness and love are a reality and they are found in Christ’s body, the church.

Who are you out of harmony with today?

Children’s birthdays are really happy occasions. The joy of them opening their presents and cards fills their home. But for their sibling it is often a challenging moment. As they learn the art of sharing in the other’s happiness. They don’t have presents to open or cards to read or money to count as it falls out of the cards. They just sit there learning to ‘oooh and ahhhh’ with joyful noise grateful for the opportunity of being happy for their loved ones happiness.

Do you know this learning experience as an adult? When a work colleague gets promotion but you don’t? When your friend finds the lover that you don’t have? Can you find such generosity of heart that you can be happy in their happiness?

It applies for the negative too.

I was standing in a field of volcanic rock in the civil war of DRC listening to a woman tell me that she had lost count of how many times the soldiers had raped her over the 5 months of her capture and she had truly lost everything and every person in her world. Tears began to fall. Not from the lady but from me. Real tears. The Holy Spirit was taking me on a journey into the generosity of heart where we learn how to cry with strangers. These are the tears of God for the suffering.

We should spend more time in the moment with people. To feel what they feel, to see what they see, to get into their position and perspective, to get into their shoes and under their skin.

We sometimes bypass the person to get to the cause of their celebration or the root of their problem, we want to analyse, justify, dissect the situation to best help. But perhaps the greatest help is to sit with the person (as Job’s friends did when they didn’t say a word for 7 days but just got into his space) or we dance with them (as Jesus did when the disciples returned from a successful missions trip).

This is the inspirational short sentence from the Apostle Paul: “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” Romans 12:15

Let’s be present more. In the moment. Occupy the space of emotion.

Rejoice with those who rejoice even when they are receiving what you have always wanted.

Rejoice with those who rejoice even when you don’t think it is deserving.

Rejoice with those who rejoice even when it only exposes your own lack.

Mourn with those who mourn even when they are getting their just deserts.

Mourn with those who mourn even when you cannot see the reason for their sadness.

Mourn with those who mourn even when you want to rage, fight and campaign for their cause.

Enter into happiness for those who are happy and learn tears for those who are suffering.

“Holy Spirit lead us”

Be there. Dance. Sit. No words.