Missions Paul

Mugs, cards, shirts, jumpers, phone covers and bags are just a few terms of merchandise that can be purchased since the year 2000 all with the famous slogan blazoned on it.

The slogan was first used in 1939 by the Ministry of Information which served as the British propaganda department. In fact, it was created but it was never used and when Britain faced a huge paper shortage in 1940, 2.45 million posters displaying the slogan were pulped.

The slogan is of course, “Keep Calm and Carry On”

Moving into the 3^rd of the Beatitudes list we see something far more than a slogan:

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5 v 5)

On that mountainside we may have a picture of idyllic beauty with not a care in the world. But it is in the region of Herod Antipas. After Herod the Great’s death the nation was broken up into smaller regions and one of his sons, Antipas, ruled the region of this mountainside. Antipas had imprisoned John the Baptist because John had been condemning his affair with his sister-in-law who he had stolen from his brother. The people lived at a time where the powerful chased more power. Whether that be the political leaders or the religious leaders they would assert themselves over others in order to advance their own causes. Sadly we still see it in our world today. Jesus was meek but he wasn’t weak. He was strong in facing the religious hypocrites and he was strong to go to the cross but he never trod on anyone for any reason. The Apostle Paul said he himself had learnt to be content in every situation.

There isn’t many people operating a ‘keep calm and carry on’ policy. The angry fight and conquer. I have wrote blogs on the abuse of leadership however it isn’t always top-down. Yesterday I was mistakenly copied into an email from a member to a minister (actually they weren’t even a member) accusing them of being divisive, hurtful and discourteous. Why? The minister wanted to bring a really small change. There’s nothing like enforced change that challenges meekness. A few days before that I sat with a minister as he experienced a fierce onslaught from a member who didn’t like his ministry. After 20 minutes (19 minutes too long) I had to stop the conversation and said, ‘I had never heard anything like this for 30 years, meaning I have never heard anything like it at all.’ It isn’t that I am against criticism. I think the reason why we don’t get better is we ignore the critic. However I am against anger and the grabbing of power. Abuse is all around us and we need to make sure it doesn’t take up residence as acceptable behaviour.

We live in a world which will do absolutely anything to cling on to power. It exists in the Christian world as much as outside of it. It flies in the face of the 1939 slogan. More importantly it has nothing to do with the counter-cultural invitation of Jesus when describing His Kingdom.

Look at what the Message says: “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.”

So Keep Calm and Carry on even if you’re in a war.

I was only a child but I found the courage to kneel at the Mercy Seat. Every Salvation Army building has one. It is basically a bench at the front where people kneel to pray, to confess and to receive their salvation. Tears fell easily in that moment as I realised that even in such a small amount of years I had offended God. I had hurt the one who loves me. I was Peter who looked at Jesus and wept. Someone knelt down next to me and prayed a prayer with me. I returned to where I had been sitting tears still falling. I don’t know who the lady was and no doubt she had good intentions but after the meeting she came to me and said, “Why are you still crying? You should be happy now.” The process of mourning was disrupted by a woman wanting me to be happy.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Matthew 5 v 4)

Do you remember your own tears of salvation story?

Do you remember those church services where after a call to come to Jesus people lined up at the front in tears because their heart of stone was being turned into a new heart and their spirit was being reborn by the Spirit of God?

My prayer is that there is going to be a renewed, fresh, loving conviction falling on the ministry of the Church in all that we do, whether inside or outside our buildings. Can you hope for this too?

But there’s more to this statement of Jesus. Here is the help from the beautiful paraphrase from the Message: “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.”

I would think that I have known more grief in the last 10 years than at any other time in my life.

Through my work I have seen a broken world more than ever. To sit with the suffering is to sit in tears.

But then to experience the personal loss of loved ones has been a pain of deep pain, anger and depression. What have I learnt?

I have become acquainted with a world broken by sin, death, injustice and wickedness.

I am understanding the impact that this brokenness has on God and the need for change and transformation.

I have discovered the most important thing: God is present in the place of mourning. He is familiar with suffering. He is longing for the day to wipe away every tear (Rev 7:17) and so our mourning has hope, death is not in vain (1 Thess 4:13)

Happiness comes through grief. For leading you into mourning, through it and out of it is the God of all comfort (2 Cor 1:3)

He is there and where He is we are happy.

Slow the title above down. You may not agree with it and if you don’t then you are not alone. But your pursuit of happiness may not in the end bring you the happiness that you thought it would.

Jesus is about to bring his famous sermon about the kingdom but first he starts out with a list.

“He said: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5 v 3)

The Message is going to help us: “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.”

It helps us because we realise that this list is not something to be achieved but what actually is. Preachers would often preach that we should be poor in spirit to be part of the kingdom. But not so much now since Dallas Willard’s Divine Conspiracy, which enables us to see the list as descriptive not prescriptive. The list has categories that are opposite to what we would deem happy.

The world teaches us that happiness is achieved with what you have gained or earned. Jesus teaches us that happiness is found in Him. Those that enter the kingdom are people who realise that all that they chased after would never have satisfied anyway.

So, if today your life is unfulfilled and maybe empty of what the world says you should have then step into this kingdom again, His domain and rule for your life is yours because there is room for Him.

If you want to keep the list descriptive then there will be times when you have to physically sit with the poor in spirit to embrace their loss and become one with them, especially if you are stepping into greatness in areas of your life. Doing so is not for their benefit but yours for they are citizens of the kingdom and are richer than you. They remind you that happiness is not in having but not having.

Where and how should discipleship take place?

In the pursuit of this word (discipleship) Churches are being challenged over how well they are doing in making followers of Christ. They are being questioned and rightly so as no one is above scrutiny. Some think the Church as we know it is over as we search for a more meaningful, accountable and effective discipleship.

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. (Matthew 5 v 1-2)

I don’t think the traditions of the Church need to be seen as out-dated and rejected, they simply need refreshing for a new generation. Let’s look at these 2 verses again.

Jesus begins to teach the disciples (not just the 12 but his followers up to that time) but he is aware of the crowds listening. The message has been ‘the Kingdom of heaven is near’ and his teaching will be to explain the kingdom to the disciples but it is in the context and the hearing of the crowds. Discipleship has always got to be lived out within the crowds of life.

But what fascinates me is that Jesus remains within the traditions of the Jewish faith and custom.

He follows Moses the teacher who ascended the mountain of Sinai.

He ‘sits’ in the tradition of the rabbis.

He teaches his disciples as the custom of the rabbi’s. (The difference was he never borrowed from other sources but had his own authority. Matthew 7:29)

Discipleship can be done within the traditions and customs of the church and Jesus shows us this. But of course we can always do better.

The Church on the move, not contained inside a building, but physically expanding and reaching every sphere of society within the village, town, city and county and even nation, covering the whole area, no place left unreached. But doing what?

• Teaching the truth but with amazing application in mass open air gatherings but also packing smaller gatherings in the many buildings of worship.
• Proclaiming the good news to those who have not heard of the kingdom.
• Healing every disease, rising with authority to overcome every evil act.

Imagine this …

The Church being talked about even beyond its borders. And the effect?

• People coming from every direction because they have heard that the Church can make them better.
• Crowds coming from places that had not known the gospel, from different faiths, attracted to what was happening in and through the Church.

Can you imagine this again for your Church?

It has happened before. It happened to the Christ, the Head of the Church.

It can happen again to the Body of Christ, the Church.

“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis,Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.” (Matthew 4 v 23-25)

It can happen again. Imagine this …!

Francis Chan: Why I quit my megachurch and started again.

That was the headline from an article I read this morning online.

Here’s another one:

Peter, Andrew, James and John: Why we quit our business and started again.

“As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.” (Matthew 4 v 18-22)

There are many conversations amongst Church leaders about discipleship than anything else at the moment. In each and every one of those conversations the question has arisen: what is discipleship?

Sometimes I wonder if we over complicate things? Why does everything always have to sound like you need some sort of degree to be involved in the conversation? Why do I have to carry a thesaurus around so that I too can use words that have never been used before?

Here is my attempt at what discipleship is?

The steps of discipleship are:

1. Encounter

We have to hold the Matthew verses to one side for one moment realising that this is not the first time that these 4 radicals had met Jesus.

In John’s gospel he tells us that Andrew had left John the Baptist’s discipleship team and joined Jesus having brought his brother Simon Peter to him also.

Andrew and John (probably) had been following Jesus at a distance until he turned around and asked them what they wanted. They replied they wanted to see where Jesus was staying. So Jesus took them into his house and it radically changed their lives. These 4 radicals were following Jesus before the call that Matthew records. In this following they were encountering Jesus who said things like, “you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.” (John 1:51) They were going to see an open heaven and he would take them on an incredible adventure as Jacob experienced in his dream of which the next day he called the place Bethel, the House of God. In fact the whole purpose of John’s gospel could be that he is revealing Jesus as the new Temple, the House of God. We certainly need the encounter of God. May our homes, work-places and our churches be places of Bethel!

2. Practice

These 4 radicals accompanied Jesus to the Wedding of Cana where it was there that they believed (2:11). They witness others encountering Jesus and they baptise with Jesus. They see the Temple being cleared out and the encounter with the Samaritan women at the well. In their journey to be a radical they witness Jesus as a radical offending the norm. Above all they are listening to what he is saying. After all that is the mark of a disciple and their rabbi. The disciple wants to be able to copy exactly what their rabbi has said just as Moses copied exactly the Torah from the mouth of God.

We certainly need the practice of discipleship in our homes, work-places and our churches. We can see evidence of that. We can see the transformational stories that Jesus brings. We can see the teaching of Jesus that Christians base their life on.

I know that the Church in the UK is needing a revival but let us not fall into the danger of rubbishing it all. There is so much good that is taking place. The Church you attend has many stories of engaging with the community through projects such as Foodbanks etc. Faithful men and women serving the community and each other in the church giving their time, energy, money to the work of mission here in the UK and internationally. Each week listening to sermons and then trying to apply the lessons into their life so that they might become more like Jesus. Steadfastly praying for the good to happen, for God to be glorified and people to know Jesus.

But there is more and it is where we now pick up Matthew’s verses.

“As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”

3. Sacrifice

I am writing this in bold because it is directly connected to the verses in Matthew and my main thoughts this morning.

It is nearly a year that has passed since they first met Jesus. They are living their lives so much better now that they have encountered him and been involved in what he is doing. During that year something was rising within their spirit so that when Jesus came by one day they responded easily to the official call he gave them.

Let me caveat what I am about to write: Sacrifice isn’t necessarily seen in leaving but staying in your home, work-place and church but leaving the person you are in those situations.

• Matthew doesn’t record that any of the radicals were frustrated with their business prior to leaving and that is maybe because they weren’t. Frustration isn’t always the sign from God to quit.
• They didn’t take the catch of fish with them but they didn’t burn their fishing boats either. We know at the end of John’s gospel Peter went back to his business.
• They left their father in the boat but they didn’t abandon their family. Matthew will record how Zebedee’s wife, their mother, was one of the women at the cross. They had kept a good example which led their family over the next couple of years.
• They sacrificed to be fishers of men. They were not leaving their family units to join some Qumran Jewish monastic group. Mission is everything. If the lost were not going to be caught then they might as well have continued fishing for fish. They left for mission. The sacrifice is mission.

In conclusion. Whether Francis Chan was right to leave his mega-church is absolutely nothing to do with me. I am more concerned about the 4 radicals and what they can help me with. Sometimes when we make that final sacrifice and leave, people question us. We disturb their status quo perhaps and they dont like what our actions say about their apathy. I just don’t see that from the families of the 4 radicals. If it happened, the gospel-writers don’t mention it. But they do tell us what discipleship involves: Encounter, Practice and Sacrifice. I believe those 3 principles are in a recurring cycle of experience for us. Which principle are you at right now?

Everything is in place. Matthew has revealed his genealogy; the birth story; John the Baptist has been introduced as the forerunner; Jesus is baptised and anointed for ministry; tested and proved by overcoming Satan in the wilderness; John is now side-lined; and through it all we see prophecy being fulfilled. So in just a few words with no pomp and ceremony nor with the millions of people in the world watching through every media possible, Matthew has his own inauguration of Jesus’ ministry:

“From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matthew 4 v 17)

From that time on …

Do you remember that moment when it could be said of you, ’From that time on …?’

Perhaps it was a painful time in your life? Maybe you were rejected in Nazareth your home town? Maybe you had to leave people and a certain place? From that time on …

Maybe you wake today and you have to make the announcement, ‘From now on…’ Perhaps the opportunity is in front of you and you need to grasp this moment with courage? This is your inauguration moment and you have to take it.

Jesus began to preach, “Repent …

It is the same message as the forerunner, repent. The word is metanoeo made up of 2 words: meta meaning move and noeo meaning your mind and thoughts. Often you will have heard preachers call for a change of behaviour and then give the list of things that need changing. This is only the outcome of what repentance is. The truth is we need to continually move our thoughts so that we do not get stuck and then trapped. Do your thoughts free you or suppress you? Move them! Pause right now and ask yourself whether most often than not you fall into the same negative thinking about you, others, situations. Move that thinking. Repent! This is your inauguration moment and you need to move your thinking.

For the kingdom of heaven has come near

The Jews were waiting for the kingdom. Will they be satisfied when it comes? We are going to read of how Jesus describes the kingdom. Will they be for him or against him? We have read the book. In the end they are disappointed because Jesus hung on to His appointment. For the kingdom they were wanting isn’t the kingdom of heaven.

The rule of Christ, the sphere of His activity, the realm and presence of God, the Kingdom, only has citizens who have moved their thinking to be like Jesus.

We will read Matthew’s record of Jesus’ parables of the kingdom. The mustard seed and the yeast; the hidden treasure and the pearl; the net; the unmerciful servant; the workers in the vineyard; the wedding banquet; there are more and they all end up with the greatest demonstration of the kingdom, which is of course the cross.

If your life on earth is about you then you will not come into the Kingdom, so move your thinking.

You may be religious but if your faith is about you becoming someone then forget it, you will not come into the Kingdom, so move your thinking.

If your focus is not to serve and to help but to get and to gain because you are not thankful for what you have received then forget it, you will not come into the Kingdom, so move your thinking.

Others may think you are in the Kingdom because of your personality, charisma or title but forget it, you will not come into the Kingdom, so move your thinking.

You cannot grab what you think you deserve and hold the hand of a God who is generous.

You cannot use people and expect God to use you.

You cannot be full of yourself and be full of God.

There’s no place for selfishness in the kingdom.

How do you get in? The cross.

The kingdom is the orientation of life, how you see things, the way you speak and yes how you act. I have come to discover that there is no other way than through the shadow of the cross.

Move your thinking and step into this kingdom, your inauguration has begun.

Your life isn’t probably full of big moments but smaller, unnoticeable ones. You have made decisions to give and go and to bless and love and it has all been done in a hidden way. Yes there have been times of great accolade and you have stood before crowds perhaps as they have clapped you. But mostly the audience has been one. You went to the unassuming, the least expectant, you found a need, a small cry you heard and you responded with love. It was of course an audience of two. The one who would receive you and the One in heaven who called you to join Him in the act of grace.

“Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali – to fulfil what was said through the prophet Isaiah: ‘Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles – the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” (Matthew 4 v 13-16)

Matthew continues to delve into the Scriptures to see prophetic connections between the decisions Jesus made and what the prophets foresaw (Isaiah 9).

The 2 tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali settled in this region of Galilee. Nazareth was in the area of Zebulun and Capernaum within Naphtali. The ministry of Christ would predominantly be seen here. It wouldn’t remain here. It would stretch far and wide. It would be carried beyond, along the trade route to the Sea and especially to the world of the Gentiles.

The Jews who have settled in Gentile territory away from the glamour of Jerusalem and its flamboyant religious festivals are in effect living in the shadows. But Jesus has come. The Light is here.

I know of a Pastor’s wife who bakes cakes for her neighbours to bless them. I have a friend who isn’t ordained but she has tirelessly taught the Bible to a group who come from a deprived housing estate and would never think of going to church. My daughter continually meets non-Christians online to discuss life and the gospel. The highlights of my life have been feeding a young prisoner boy food in a run-down prison of Burkina Faso; stooping low and contorting my body so that I could hug a man with severe leprosy in India; teaching the Bible in an isolated Enkaji (Masai hut) to a man with 4 wives and lots of children; singing action songs with children who had spent 8 hours making bricks in the factories of Pakistan; weeping with an escaped Chibok girl from the evil clutches of Boko Haram; sitting speechless but making plans to help those rescued from the traffickers in Cambodia; paying for someone’s petrol in Sainsbury’s; picking up dog excrement every Sunday morning outside church so that my people didn’t step in it; the list goes on.  You have your list. Think of them now.

We need to keep on making these lists.

These are the Zebulun and Naphtali moments: God in the least expected places and moments. No one knows you are doing it but He does. The hidden stages of life.

You won’t be on Youtube. But your acts will go viral because they will go way beyond so that only eternity will tell you what happened with that gesture, the act of kindness, the word of love shared etc.

Maybe today again you will go into the least expected place. There isn’t a stage but the Saviour is with you. It isn’t Jerusalem or a big church stage. There isn’t a crowd but He is watching you.

Jesus arrives in Galilee and Luke tells us he returned, “ … in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.” (Luke 4:14-15)

Then (Luke 4:16) “He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up …”

He decides to go back home. His mother and brothers are there. Everyone likes to go back to where they were brought up. Everything seems smaller when you go back home. The streets and the buildings are not as huge as in your memory. He certainly found Nazareth to be small-minded.

Matthew writes, “Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali” (Matthew 4:13)

He left Nazareth because in his words ‘no prophet is welcome in their hometown’ (Luke 4:24).

What happened? Why did he leave?

Sometimes you have had to move on. You couldn’t stay. Maybe you wanted to. It could have been all so different. Not everyone understood the reason because they were not there when you made that decision. There have been times when you simply had to leave people behind. The place of that decision may have been the one place you least expected it. For Jesus, his hometown, the place of familiarity became the place of rejection.

In the synagogue on a Sabbath day, Jesus caused offence. He announced the love of God and that his focus of ministry would be to reach the Gentiles as well as the Jews.

The people of the synagogue were furious and they dragged Jesus to the cliff of Nazareth to throw him off. Luke writes how Jesus walked right through them (4:30).

Authority is being able to be taken to a cliff edge but not be thrown off it. You may think you are on the edge today and that actually you are really close to giving up. But within you is the presence of Christ and you have the authority to resist.

Authority is being able to walk through a condemning crowd. The fear of man is a snare. Ignore the threats and what people have said they will do or won’t do. Ignore and walk on. Walking away from conflict is at times stronger than staying for it.

Authority is saying I choose where I surrender and who I surrender to. Jesus knew this was not the place for his death. They would not take his life from him. He came to lay his life down.

Nazareth’s loss became Capernaum’s gain!

Jesus set up ministry base-camp in Capernaum and the towns close by of Korazin and Bethsaida. We will read later how Jesus did more miracles in these 3 towns than anywhere else (Matthew 11:20).

When you look at the story of your life you will see how with your God-given authority you have had to leave those who rejected you. It was painful but you began new chapters because you came to realise that sometimes you just have to leave.

This is it. The ministry has begun. Baptised by John, hearing his Father’s voice, being led by the Spirit in and out of the desert’s temptations, he is now ready! He is empowered. Then see what happens …

When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. (Matthew 4 v 12)

Isn’t this strange to you? On first reading it can look like Jesus wasn’t bothered about John being in prison. There isn’t any reaction except it looks like he is withdrawing perhaps also afraid?

Have you ever written an email and you left out some details because either a) you didn’t want your letter to end up being an encyclopaedia or b) the other details were not relevant to what you were wanting to focus on? However the person reading it totally misunderstood what you had written.

Look at the next verse which we will unpack tomorrow:

“Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum” v 13.

So when he decided to withdraw to Galilee, did he leave Nazareth to go to Capernaum? NO. Nazareth is in Galilee. So there is a period of time in between verse 12 and 13. He left for Galilee – gap (presumably arrived in Nazareth) – then he left Nazareth.

Similarly, Matthew leaves Jesus in the desert being looked after by angels in verse 11 and immediately John is in prison in verse 12. Another gap.

The recording of life is full of gaps. There are things we do not know. We are thankful for the other gospels that bring us information that brings the missing jigsaw pieces. But sometimes life has missing pieces. When you are trying to make a judgment about something then digging for evidence is important. An official investigation is often needed to settle disputes. Fake news is often created by taking half a sentence and taping it seamlessly to another half sentence creating a whole new story. So we do need wisdom of course otherwise we will be believing anything.

But settling our minds that there are things to life’s story that we simply do not know allows for a life to be lived by faith.

In between the desert and “When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee.” What had been happening?

John tells us in his gospel (chapters 1-3) that Jesus had called his first disciples, he performed his first miracle at the Wedding in Cana (north east of Nazareth, in Galilee), he goes and spends a few days in Capernaum with his mother, brothers and disciples before going to Jerusalem to clear out the temple. Finally, he encounters Nicodemus and then settles at Aenon to baptise, on the west side of the Jordan.

He hears of John’s imprisonment which happened under Herod in Galilee, a region populated by Gentiles but a rising dominance of Jewish settlers in the cities and towns. John is down but Jesus goes to take up the baton. The work carries on. He will carry the same message, ‘Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is near’. It is heaven’s message. He withdraws to Nazareth and along the way he will meet a Samaritan woman at the well. But that’s another missing jigsaw piece for Matthew. He returns to Galilee and behind him are already many stories and encounters with people. Lives are changed and God has been glorified.

It is the same with you. When people look at you they see a life where you have lived and the major things you have done. You are fine with that. At the end of our time people will say, ‘he/she lived a full life’ and they will have actually no idea! They will not know just exactly what you have done. The conversations you have had, the acts of kindness you have given, a trail of love and grace behind you, the poor you have helped, the broken you have healed. Yes, a full life indeed. And there were gaps of missing information that you had to live with. Questions unanswered, things you didn’t know but you found that faith is learning to live with missing pieces from the story.