Missions Paul

In conversation with my new friend the other day we were discussing a nation where the church were not only in the minority but they were persecuted and seen as second-class. He described the Church as a tiger with a collar and lead, tamed, held back, not being what it is, not realising that it is a tiger and not a domesticated pet-cat! If only they knew who they were!

That can be said of the Church in many nations I am sure. Can it be said of us?

Have we become tamed? Are we held back because we have become timid? Do we just continue to make excuses for what has happened? Have we not understood who we are? Are we blinded to our potential?

Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, Ephesians 5 v 18

In contrast to the instruction on not letting the drunkenness of wine effect you the Apostle says instead I do want you to:

1. Lose control – let the Spirit impact your decision-making, taking those opportunities that come your way and understanding what the Lord wants you to do.
2. Lose confidence – let the Spirit edify, encourage and strengthen you not your self-confidence or any other stimulant.
3. Lose context – let the Spirit have the last say over your life not the evil days that the Apostle says we are living in.

We don’t have more of Him. He has more of us!

Paul uses the present tense and says ‘go on being filled to the brim, continually, be completely taken over, let every aspect of your life be invaded and ultimately possessed by the Holy Spirit without ceasing, ongoing, keeping on being filled again and again, daily and throughout the day.’

Oh and the Apostle means this also, ‘this is a command not an option but the work is God’s not yours, you cannot fill yourself, He does it, but your role is that you must give permission, allowing yourself to be filled, that is the area the command sits.’

A tiger can be kept in captivity but that doesn’t mean it is domesticated. Being ‘tamed’ which is usually done by way of abuse, fear or starvation is what the enemy of our soul has done to the Church. The persecuted Church and the pandemic-affected Church may look like it has been tamed. However, there is a new desire rising to being filled with the Spirit of God, recognising who He is and where He is, here with us His Church.

I don’t see persecution or pandemic I see followers of Jesus, the Church, being agitated by what has held them back, seeking to give all to the Spirit and to be continually filled with the power of God. Open the cage the Church is coming!

Noah became naked; Lot impregnated his daughters; Nabal died and so did Amnon; just a few drunk people in the Bible.

The Apostle says: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery” Ephesians 5 v 18.

How do we get wisdom to make great decisions?

How do we make the most of every opportunity?

How do we understand what the Lord’s will is?

These are the questions that we are left with in this section of Paul’s prison letter.

The answer is, stay sober.

It would seem Paul is contrasting pagan practices where the worship of Bacchus (the god of wine) also known as Dionysus whose worshippers felt they received special powers and abilities as they got drunk in honour of him. Bacchanalia parties were simply wine-soaked feasts leading to sexual and violent orgies. They were common place and everyone knew of them and so when the Apostle speaks of wine leading to debauchery and especially moving to speak of the impact of the Spirit upon us then his readers easily make the connection.

So why should we stay sober in 2020?

1. Don’t lose control – we need to make decisions, take our opportunities and know His will.
2. Don’t lose confidence –a depressant will not help your self-respect or respect from others.
3. Don’t lose context – the Apostle has said these are evil days and we need to be alert.

Jesus struggled to understand the Lord’s will as he prayed and cried out with tears to the One who could save him from death, according to Hebrews 5. But in that place of prayer he not only understood but he learnt obedience.

It is one thing to hear, to understand and to agree. It is another to carry out those instructions and to obey.

It isn’t until you sit with someone starting out in life with all their youthful energy and passion to change the world that you realise hearing and obeying is something that isn’t high on the agenda. It is to be heard and to be obeyed which is the loudest voice.

Similarly, it isn’t until you stand with someone towards the end of their life that you realise hearing and obeying has been replaced by many experiences often hurtful ones and that the spiritual deaf aid went in ages ago and the self-preservation wall was erected soon after.

Hearing and obeying is a journey of discipleship till we die.

The last couple of days I have paused on this sentence by the Apostle:

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Ephesians 5 v 17

Hear through opening your eyes, slowing your life down, in prayer, meditation of the Bible and listening to others. Obey through change, through the difficult day of testing, it may not be the devil having a go, it may just be the testing and perfecting of your obedience by God. So don’t run ahead thinking that hearing and obeying doesn’t apply and it is too slow a process for you and don’t become embittered by your life like one man who recently boasted, “No man can take me on, I win every argument.”

The Apostle is saying because the days are evil understand the Lord’s will. In the context of what is happening in your world know what God is saying or wanting from you.

So here we are, at least 6 months into the pandemic and we need to know more than ever what God is wanting from us. Early on in the pandemic certain people rose with their declarations of what God was doing and how long this pandemic would last. Easter came and went. Pentecost came and went. The pandemic is still here and the voices have gone quiet.

I want to offer something this morning which I well expand on later. But for now, do you remember the men of Issachar? What we know of the men of Issachar is that they ‘understood the times and knew what Israel ought to do’ (1 Chronicles 12:32). Issachar was one of the 12 tribes of Israel and when their father, Jacob, blessed them he said these words over them:

“Issachar is a raw-boneddonkey lying down among the sheep pens.
When he sees how good is his resting place and how pleasant is his land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labour.” Genesis 49: 14-15

For every Pastor who is wondering if they will ever get through this season. For every Christian who is struggling with furlough, redundancy and the major disruption of what the pandemic has brought. For all of us who listen to constant social media drip-feeds of advice and what God has said and is doing. From utopia to doomsday we need to be people who understand the times and knew what we ought to do.

That is this:

We ask “Whose burden can we carry? Who needs help?”

And we do it with determination to go through this tough time; we don’t give up.

The world we live in whether that be in our work, home or neighbourhood need Issachar people. Will you be one who is not foolish, but understands what the Lord’s will is?

Without being cynical I have heard a lot of testimonies in my life from people ‘hearing a voice’ which has been for some prospering of their life. They are going to have a greater, bigger, better future. It is wonderful! Who knows how accurate their experience was, but they for a season were filled with hope.
I have not heard many testimonies from people where the voice has told them to do something that is counter cultural, or that is against their norm. Or that is quite frankly, offensive.

I have paused for a moment on one sentence the Apostle says regarding knowing God’s will. Not only is He not as loud as I think, He is also not as obvious as I think.

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Ephesians 5 v 17

Isaiah took off his clothes and preached naked for 3 years.

Jeremiah hid his underwear under a rock and then after a long time went back for them! He also attached a cattle yoke to his shoulders for a season.

Hosea married a prostitute.

Ezekiel ate a scroll. He lay on his side for 390 days and then rolled over and repeated the action for a further 40 days.

But it is interesting that prophets acted out their messages. It was not because as some think that prophets are strange, off-the-wall kind of people. But at the centre of their lives is the core message that consumes their whole life. Their actions are the symbols for the truth.

The nudity of Isaiah was a sign that the Assyrians would make the Egyptian and Ethiopian prisoners march naked into captivity.

Jeremiahs soiled underwear shows God’s thoughts on the worthlessness of His people who went against His word.

Hosea’s marriage decision shows God’s relationship with unfaithful Israel.

Ezekiel laying on his side was to show the years of the nation’s sin, 390 years for Israel and 40 years for Judah.

The prophet lives out the word that is in their hearts, they are more than preachers. They show us this that the Word of God can so consume our lives that it disrupts our behaviours and transforms our actions.

And they did all of these actions because God told them to. The ultimate embodiment was that of the coming of Christ who is the Word of God made flesh. Just like the prophets Christ’s behaviour seems eccentric as he spits on people and throws mud in their eyes, casts demons into pigs and promises to rebuild the temple in 3 days to name a few.

We need to let the Bible overwhelm our lives. It is not a reading book, a text book, a study book. It is the Word of God. We need to demonstrate how totally life-changing the Word of God is. People need to see the message of God in us. Some will never read the Bible but they can read us. If the Spirit is leading then show this. “I’m just the messenger. Don’t shoot the messenger,” is not good enough. Be more than the messenger, be the message! Be Christ’s letter of love! This is what it means to understand the Lord’s will.

May it be so for us today.

Hearing the voice of God is a lifetime of discovery. Some hear God every single day and for others not so. Some hear him speaking audibly with no trouble at all and some have never done so. However you think about that, what is true, is that a Christ follower knows (certainly at strategic times of their life) that God has told them something significant. It may come in various forms and places but what is constant is that they know. They know they have been told.

Because the days are evil, the Apostle says, “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” Ephesians 5:17

But I have discovered He is not as loud as I think. In fact He draws me into His quietness and I discover His whisper which is loud not in terms of decibels but in regards to the impact upon my life. It is in contrast to the world we live in.

The silence of God. The loudness of man. The still small voice of God. The shouting of man.

Heroic figures displaying their celebrity statuses.
This is the world we have come to know so well.

But the world of God is at times so much different.
Ask the Persecuted what God is like and they will say ‘He is quiet’.
There are many unknowns today, in prison, tortured, deprived of their human rights. Many unknowns facing shame and lifelong battles with their families for becoming Christian. The unknown knows all too well unanswered prayers, the fear of worsening danger and the absence of courage.

What is God like?
He is quiet.
But he is still there His whisper is loud.

There was a wife in my first church who didn’t go out to work but every day she would walk around the shops looking for bargains. It was amazing the savings that this couple made on their food bills. I remember going round to their home for a meal to be told it cost less than £1 for the whole meal! I wasn’t sure whether to say another prayer for protection regarding what I had eaten. But her ability to grab a bargain was indeed impressive.

It is this ability to spot a bargain, to see something that won’t be there for long, so you buy it there and then, this is the word that the Apostle uses. It is exagorazo.

Making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5 v16

Our translation uses 3 words ‘making the most’ from that one word. It means to redeem the time.

The days of evil create opportunities that must be ‘seized in the lifetime of that opportunity’ (a well-known phrase from revivalist Leonard Ravenhill).

The days of the pandemic have created opportunities.

The days of the Lebanon blast have created opportunities.

The days of the Persecuted Church have created opportunities.

Redeem the time.

Then what about your life?

What was in your sights a few years ago, maybe decades ago? You never saw it realised. But maybe it’s still in your heart. Maybe the Holy Spirit is restoring vision to you as you listen to this. Yes you’re older now but still you know you are called for higher ground. You are not called for the foothills, but for the summit. Like Caleb you cry out ‘God give me one chance, grant me the opportunity of higher ground.’

You only stop being a pilgrim in this world when you pass into the next. Retirement doesn’t stop you. Your health doesn’t stop you. You are a journeyman redeeming the time, taking the opportunity to be who God has called you to be.

There are works of God in your life still to be finished. There is potential that is not being realised.

Michaelangelo worked on 44 statues in his life. Thirty were never finished. These unfinished works, the unfulfilled potential of a great genius will never be completed. Whole theses and books have been written trying to understand why there was so many unfinished works. Still to this day arguments continue over the opinions ranging from simply dissatisfaction with his own work to some spiritual conflict over his Christian subject in an art form that was seen at the time as pagan.

It is a sad day when we leave this world with unfinished business especially when our hearts are full of ideas and desires to something larger which we know we were meant and intended to do.

Redeem the time now.

This is my time. I don’t get another chance.

This is my time to stop blaming my enemies as the excuse for not being who I am.

This is my time to come from behind the scenes of failure and obscurity.

This is my time to stop pretending in order to escape facing reality.

This is my time to stop hiding, holding back what lies within me.

This is my time of finding strength in God.

This is my time for a new anointing.

This is my time of taking the good news to those in need.

This is my time to heal the heartbroken.

This is my time to announce freedom and grace to all who are captive.

This is my time to forgive those who are guilty There’s no time like this time.

Redeem the time

What matters is not where I live, but who I live for. God is everything to me. No matter what happens I will survive.

If disaster comes tomorrow I am ready

I am living for God now and he will guide and protect me through the attacks of the enemy.

I don’t know what is around the corner but I am nearer to it today.

Redeem the time

I have ‘10,000 reasons’ to be so.

The sun comes up, it’s a new day dawning, it’s time to sing MY song again

Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me, I WILL be singing when the evening comes.

And on that day when my strength is failing the end draws near and my time has come, still my soul will sing HIS praise unending, 10,000 years and then forevermore.

Redeem the time

God is working in me and so I do not give up.

All things will work together so I will hang on.

Even though I stare defeat in the face I do not look away or back off, I keep staring.

I will never be intimidated by anyone.

If I become disabled or suffer a setback I will manage it, I will learn from it and change.

I will always try again.

If I am defeated it does not mean the battle has been lost I will surrender to God no one else.

Redeem the time.

I have a friend who is the best painter I know. I love his paintings of boats in particular and recently he blessed me with one as a gift. His ability to take what he sees and apply it to canvas is nothing short of a gift. It leaves the person looking at the finished work with inspiration and joy.

Now give me a canvas and some paints and ask for a boat and I would paint something I had done when I was 5 years of age. A boat with sails no less, perched right on top of the flat sea! I am not 5yrs anymore, I know boats don’t sit like that but nevertheless that’s what would be produced. My knowledge has grown but how to practically apply that hasn’t.

There is a Greek New Testament word for this and it is Sophos. It means to practically apply an acquired knowledge. The Apostle uses it in today’s verse of Ephesians 5 v15: “Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise (Sophos).”

The one thing I have prayed for the most in my life is wisdom and the second is knowledge. It hasn’t changed how I paint but it has helped me immensely in other ways as God has answered that prayer.

You may be in difficult situations. You may be in a prison of some sort today. The temptation is to focus solely on the prison doors opening. Instead ask for wisdom to know what to do, how to live in such a situation. He will give you the ideas, the keys and the ability to make decisions . Ask Him today for such wisdom.

For wisdom is found with God. Reading the Bible every day, meditation and receiving the Spirit’s presence is the path of wisdom. That’s the benefit of such disciplines.

When you sit with God and ask for wisdom you are sitting with someone who created the most amazing things. He saw it and He made it. He had knowledge and He was able to practically apply that knowledge. There are no limits to what He can inspire you with if He created the hummingbird.

Yes, He created the hummingbird! How did He think that through?! It is incredible but if I want to know how to do life I want to sit with the One who created the hummingbird.

Hummingbirds are the lightest birds in the sky. There are approximately 240 species and range between 2 and 8 inches long. They can hover, fly backward, even fly upside down. They can dive out of the sky at sixty-one miles per hour which is the equivalent to diving at 385 body-lengths per second! The human eye cannot see its wings flap they are too fast at 60 times a second. Of all vertebrates it has the largest heart which accounts for 2.5% of its body weight. If we were as active we would need to 155,000 calories per day!

God who created the Hummingbird invites us each day to spend time with Him. If He can do this for the smallest of birds, what more can He do for you in terms of Sophos?

Spend time with Him and seek knowledge and then wisdom and you just might be painting a Hummingbird. After all it isn’t going to be a large painting!

May God grant you the ability to practically apply knowledge.

It’s time to wake up.

Are we asleep? Are we irrelevant? Are we not connected to what is the important issues for their lives?

AW Tozer wrote that if the Holy Spirit were completely withdrawn from the Church, “95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference”. Sigmund Freud said that we do things asleep we would not do if awake! The problem is we may be asleep but we hate the alarm clock. It can be disappointing being part of a group who are snoring. Other people sleeping can keep you awake!

The Apostle writes, “But everything exposed by the light becomes visible – and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said: ‘Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Ephesians 5 v13-14

Paul was not speaking to sinners but to a really good church. It is possible for a really good church to be asleep. It is possible for Christians to be awake and talk about all the things of the Kingdom of God but for their spirit to have fallen asleep.

Wake up!

In 2018 Pope Francis expelled Fernando Karadima from the priesthood. He was Chile’s most notorious clerical abuser and as a result of the crisis in their country, 34 Chilean bishops offered their resignations to the Pope. It was this event which turned the tide on how the Catholic Church looked at the abuse crisis in the present.

It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. Ephesians 5 v 12

What does this mean?

Well it does not mean it is giving licence to cover-up.

It does not mean that the disobedient are not exposed because the Apostle has told us to do just that.

In 2016 the Church of England in the UK were dealing with 3,300 complaints of sexual abuse. This can be added to all the other Churches who were dealing with official complaints. Then what about those who didn’t complain or who weren’t heard. Now stretch that back decades, generations, to the time of the Apostle in prison who says what I think he is saying, “There are some acts that are so bad that we will be ashamed to talk about them, they disgust us that much.” He is not saying don’t talk about it in order to deal with them.

Perhaps the Church should step into shame even for the previous generations who abused and covered it over.

This is a hauntingly powerful story of a woman from Bethlehem. She was a concubine. In a fit of anger she ran away from her master and owner to her father’s house in Bethlehem of Judah. The man found her and wooed her back.

 On the way back to his home in the hill country of Ephraim, it became late in the evening and they needed a place to stay. They depended on the hospitality of the people of Gibeah, but there was no hospitality forthcoming. Finally, an old man offered them a place to stay in his home.

 That night a set of townsmen knocked on the door. They demanded the body of the male visitor. In order to appease the sexual hunger of the men outside, the old man grabbed the concubine and threw her out and shut the door.

The crowd outside gang-raped her, abused her all night. When dawn broke they left her lying on the ground. When her husband came out he saw her lying dead at the door of the house with her hands on the threshold.

It is a horrible story told in Judges 19 and there is no mention of God. Does He not care? Was it too shameful to even make an appearance or speak a word?

Her memory calls out. It calls out to the psychological numbness of those around her, and it calls out to us down the centuries to amplify her silent cries.

There are people crying today because of acts that are too shameful to even mention where the presence of God seems remote. We need to speak up and out. We need to step into the shame and feel the dirt and the pain and we need to stand for justice. For the greatest shame is on those who turn away from that cry.

One of the victims in the Chilean abuse scandal said these words after meeting the investigating team led by the Archbishop of Malta, Charles Scicluna, “For the first time I felt that someone is listening, I think [Scicluna] was sincerely moved by what I was saying. He cried.”

Whatever nation you are in today it is certainly time to cry over the shameful pain that has gone on for too long.

The Talmud speaks of 7 different types of Pharisee. One of which was called the ‘bruised Pharisee’ who walked into walls to avoid looking at women. Ridiculous but true.

Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. Ephesians 5 v11

Set apart yourself from the world.

Come out from among from them.

I have heard these mentioned so much in church over my whole life. But what did they mean? They were often said within the context of some prophetic utterance by people I didn’t necessarily want to become.

Last night I watched a repeat BBC documentary Inside the Bruderhof. Founded in Germany in 1920 there are over 23 communities scattered around the world which members move between them throughout their lives. These communities seek to live like the early Church in the sense of sharing all their possessions and not owning anything. What is interesting is their approach to separating from the world. “To avoid clothing that indicates status or wealth as well as anything provocative or sexualised.”

Yesterday I also watched a video posted on Twitter by Masih Alinejad an Iranian who in 2013 started a movement which has thousands of women following who are protesting against the compulsory wearing of the hijab. The morality police in Tehran are regularly filmed slapping or arresting women who are exposing their faces. Part of the commentary of the video I watched has this:

Man: If my son rapes you, then it’s your fault because you’re not wearing proper hijab.

Woman: I am Christian.

Man: It doesn’t matter. You still have to wear Islamic dress-code.

So what determines a provocative piece of clothing? Do women have to wear dresses to their ankles? Where does the darkness truly lie, in a women’s face or in the desire of a man to abuse her?

What are the deeds of darkness the Apostle mentions? What needs to be exposed? Perhaps what was dark in the 1^st century is not dark in the 21^st? Or is it we get used to the darkness?

I’ve often eaten food outside in the dark in Africa. I don’t like it. I am always concerned about what has jumped onto my plate without being introduced to me! I don’t like going into restaurants when I can hardly see what the menu says. I like to see my food, I like to see the table cloth and I like to see who I am eating with. But in both settings I know that if I stay in the dark after a while my eyes will become accustomed and I will be able to see.

Has the Church become accustomed to the darkness?

Yes we may shout! But before we start painting our placards with catchy slogans think about this. What if the most religiously observant Christian denies love and mercy to those who clearly have broken the ‘rules’? Who is actually in darkness then? The religiously observant Christian will believe it is the rule-breaker. What do you think?

The Apostle has already told us in this prison letter that the Gentiles are darkened in their understanding and that we should live as Children of the Light. But are we meant to be like the Morality Police of Tehran?

Paul says ‘expose them’. That’s not to follow any religious governance whether done in the name of Mohammed or Jesus of denouncing the shameful deeds committed or burning witches at the stake as the Church still does figuratively. But it is definitely to allow the Light of Christ to shine through our lives. To be different not with a new darkness. But to allow the glory of Christ, His love, His beautiful, selfless, sacrificial life to settle into the darkness of people’s lives. To treat people as human beings. To see them not as sexual objects but as people created in the image of God. To love so that God is seen and to live so that we are not seen.