Get Me Out of Here!

A recent incident caused me to remember a piece of good advice I was once given: "What you pray yourself into you do not normally have to pray yourself out of!" The incident was almost getting my car stuck in a river!

My satellite navigation system (Navman F20) has served me very well - until today. I was travelling from Harrogate to a Yorkshire village called Harden. The journey had already taken longer than the time that friends had suggested and we should have been at our destination (the church) five minute ago when the voice from the navigation system instructed me to turn left. I checked the diagram on the screen and there was no doubt I was to take the turn immediately before the river. I turned and the satellite system confirmed that was the correct turning. But a few yards further on and what was a road turned into a very narrow single track lane with high walls on either side. Again the screen illustrated that we were perfectly on track.

Moments later I braked to a halt a few feet from a shallow river with the lane we were travelling on clearly continuing from the far side. There was nowhere to turn but two young men and a dog were handy and assured my passengers and me that provided we could get across the water we were on course for Harden.

So, always up for a challenge, and having come such a long way down this narrow lane, and being already late, I decided to have a go. The first half was OK but then the bow wave (I really wasn't going fast!) washed over the bonnet, something clonked underneath and the car refused to mount the extremely steep exit from the river. I tried again but frankly I knew that a 14 year old Vauxhall Astra is not designed to move from the horizontal to the almost vertical without at least some kind of a run at it!

There was nothing for it but to either do a three point turn in the river or reverse. The latter seemed to be the best solution. I had kept the revs high in the hope of avoiding water up the exhaust pipe but backing was bound to be a challenge both to the engine and my driving skills.

Moments later we were out of the river and up the steep incline we had previously driven down, though now a large amount of steam was billowing from under the bonnet (did I say this car is not diesel which made the exercise all the more dodgy!).

Happily a few more yards of reversing with the stone walls of the lane mere inches from either side and I was able to turn in the driveway of a house. Annoyingly, as we emerged from the lane at the far end my satellite system immediately offered an alternative route and we turned up at church 15 minutes late.

As we drove out of the lane I was reflecting on how amazing it was that we had got into and out of a mess without any apparent damage, with the engine still running perfectly and without the passengers becoming hysterical. It was then that Janet murmured from the back seat, "Well I was praying rather hard".

Later today I recalled that I had deliberately - and possibly carelessly - programmed the navigation system to include rough lanes. If only!

Of course it could have been a different story and we might have all got wet feet and worse. A little more care in venturing forward would have been wise. We can be so easily and confidently led down a path into problems where more care earlier would avoid it. Or as my friend so wisely said, "What you pray yourself into you do not normally have to pray yourself out of"!

What is the Main Purpose of a Church?

"The main purpose of a church is not worship" was the rather sweeping statement I made recently at a gathering on eleven churches in the Midlands. Afterwards someone described this as “putting the cat among the pigeons”. I suggested instead that evangelism was the main purpose of the church; a subject known to ruffle a few feathers. Was my assertion wrong?

When one asks a question about the main purpose of a church, people seem to drag up from their memories something that comes from the Westminster Shorter Catechism of 1647 which states, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him for ever”. Even though the use of this catechism is not something common to all Christian traditions it is often quoted and we all tend to pick up on it. But those who are familiar with the catechism know that this is only the first of 107 points. The remaining 106 points largely qualify what is meant by the first.

The second emphasises the importance of scripture, and the third emphasises the importance of obedience to its teachings. Thus it implies that to glorify God means to live in harmony with God’s character and his purposes as revealed in scripture.

At the end of his ministry Jesus left behind a band of disciples whom he tasked with the duty to be his witnesses, to take the gospel throughout the world, and to make disciples among all nations (or peoples). He made it clear that in his agenda this was “the main thing”. It is to be hoped that all Christians value the mission of Jesus that brought about his life and ministry on earth, his death and resurrection. Those first disciples had to continue the outworking of that mission, and indeed we in turn have to today.

But for many Christians we have substituted other things for that mission such as attending worship services and maintaining ecclesial systems and buildings. No matter how laudable these things may be the main thing is to ensure that the main thing remains the main thing.

King Saul’s excuse for his disobedience was his desire to offer worship to God (1 Samuel 15:15). But the prophet’s response was “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.” Psalm 51 also emphasises the worthlessness of worship from a life that fails to be in line with God’s expectations. The prophecy of Malachi seems to be God’s disappointment in a people who go through the motions of worship but have compromised on obedience.

To these examples from the Hebrew Scriptures we could draw on what we often call the Lord’s Prayer. The first aspiration is for the Lord’s name to be hallowed, but we cannot divorce that from the following petitions relating to the coming of God’s kingdom and obedience to his will.

I find myself wondering what God thinks about our offerings of prayers and hymns and worship when we live in disobedience whether by deliberate acts or simple neglect. Just what value does God place on worship that is unsupported by genuine discipleship?

Pentecost is not a Birthday Party

While I suspect that in some ways I might have become a little bit of a “grumpy old man” I believe that there are a few things where popular teaching in churches has strayed from what the Bible actual says, and where it is important that we take care not to mix fancy with the truth.

Recently I wrote to a major, well known educational body that is promoting a children’s teaching programme on Pentecost as a party to celebrate the birthday of the church. I politely pointed out that this is not only an error but that by doing so we are in danger of trivialising the person and work of the Holy Spirit. The reply I received saddened me immensely. Instead of either agreeing or seeking to refute the theological and biblical argument from scripture, they merely quoted other contemporary sources that also refer to Pentecost as the “Birthday of the Church”. What are we to do when major Christian educational bodies rely on popular opinion rather than careful biblical interpretation?

My concern is not just about whether or not there is such a thing as the birthday of the Church and if so when it took place. I am concerned that we grasp the significance of Pentecost and earnestly seek the person and power of the Holy Spirit so that we might faithfully and effectively witness to Jesus Christ in the world of which we are a part today. I am desperate for the winning of men and women for Christ and to see God’s kingdom of peace and justice advance. To that end I believe that we need to be far more serious (but certainly not miserable) about what and how we believe.

Pentecost is, of course, a Jewish festival related to harvest time. Jesus had told his disciples that they needed to wait in Jerusalem until they received the empowerment of the Holy Spirit that would enable them to start out on this incredible journey of witnessing to Christ throughout the world. That empowerment first happened on the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, and a new kind of harvest was celebrated that day. The book of Acts then records several other occasions when churches and individuals also experienced their own “Day of Pentecost”. It also reveals the need for an ongoing experience of the fullness of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

We are living at a time when we need a genuine and profound revival. My Christian awakening began at a time just prior to the beginnings of the charismatic movement. At that time I met people for whom a Pentecostal experience would mean exclusion from mainstream denominations. These were people who were passionate about the gospel and full of praise to God. Their meetings were marked with an almost tangible sense of God’s presence and conversions to Christ were common. In one church I delivered two young colleagues to lead a Sunday School meeting and arrived to find well over 50 young children who had met for prayer half an hour before Sunday School began! As I opened the door you could feel the wind of the Holy Spirit.

We need His presence like that today; not an excuse for balloons and party poppers in church. We need to be teaching why the Day of Pentecost was important then and relevant now. Please take care in your church this Pentecost not to trivialise something so precious.