Gospel, Gospel, Gospel Care

Once again, a privilege bestowed upon me by my current job.
This time it was receiving some training on "Gospel Care" from Steve Timmis (Founder of the Crowded House in Sheffield and also Director of Acts29 Western Europe, amongst other things).

It was a wonderful reminder that the gospel really is the answer to all of life's problems, and just when you think a problem to hard, too big, too deep or too complicated has arisen, that tempts you to adopt worldly practices, or give up, the gospel remains the one true hope.

One of the main reasons for this is summed up in the following quote: "The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart."
One way to view the whole of the message of the Bible is God saying "Trust me!". Then what we see is that the essence of human sin is failure to trust God.

We spent the first of our two sessions unpacking Hebrews chapter 3 and 4. There we see that human hearts are hard, wandering, evil and unbelieving. This is terminal problem. It requires outside intervention, open heart surgery on a spiritual level.

We always do exactly what we want to do. The desires of our hearts control our wills.
The heart is the control centre of the person; affections, will and actions all flow from the heart. That's why the gospel is such good news because we are given a new heart, and that is what we so desperately need.

Our new heart is in dwelt by the Spirit and He changes us from the inside to see Christ as more beautiful and satisfying than anything this world has to offer. This in turn is the answer ultimately to all of the psychological issues that we have or situations we face. Jesus really is the answer for all of us, not just for Sunday school kids!

So, when we come to caring for others, dealing with pastoral issues and seeking to counsel people biblically, all we really need is the gospel. We need to know it well and be able to apply it. We need to be able to exegete people as well as we (hopefully!) exegete Scripture.

Alongside this teaching day we (as a staff team) are currently reading "How People Change" by Timothy Lane and Paul David Tripp. So far, an I am only about a third of the way through, it is excellent. It too advocates really applying the gospel to every situation. (why not check out the Christian Counselling and Education Foundation)

My thoughts on this, as my blog sub-heading suggests, are not fully formed and may seem a bit sketchy. There may well be another post on this as I think it through further and finish the book, but suffice it to say I find it liberating and challenging to truly trust that the gospel is really the answer to all of life's issues.

In spite of my sin

Earlier this evening I had the great privilege of speaking on Ephesians 2:1-10, twice!!!

But this story really begins earlier today. My wife had earlier asked my how my preparation was going for speaking at Teesside CU. I replied and told her that I was using a talk I had given previously on the same text and would re-read it and make the application more specific to their context. In my sinfulness I think I was relying on having a talk up my sleeve and partly in the fact that it is almost impossible to preach a bad sermon on Ephesians 2:1-10 because it is such a wonderfully clear passage! My wife rightfully rebuked me, in love, and told me that what I needed to do was pray and ask God what it was He wanted me to say, from the text, to the students.

Not having a lot of time to start writing a talk from scratch, I prayed and asked God to speak through by His Spirit and that all the glory would go to Jesus. I was in the car at the time, heading to Middlesbrough to meet some students.

I spoke at Teesside and although my lack of preparation was evident to me, God graciously used me in my weakness and sin to speak to the students. I hope that there is real fruit as a result.
But God's grace did not end there...

I headed over to the Queen's Campus CU in Stockton to catch up with the students and arrange some meetings. When I arrived I found out that my colleague, who was due to be speaking from Hebrews 11 on a hero of the faith, had broken down on the A19 and was awaiting the AA to come and sort his car out.
To cut a long story short, I spoke on Ephesians 2:1-10 again and God graciously used it. There was a real sense of His presence.

So, I learnt a good lesson, once again, that I need to prepare well and yet totally rely on the Holy Spirit to take the Word and bring it to life in people. On top of that I was reminded, that in spite of my sin, God graciously uses feeble jars of clay, like me, for His glory. I got what I didn't deserve because God is good, gracious and loving and His plan is far greater than I can know.
How great is this God who brings spiritually dead people to life (one major point of the passage) and who works in spite of our failings to bring about His purposes?!

Mumford and Sons - Roll Away Your Stone

Finally, the third installment of the series looking a some Mumford and Sons songs.
You will have noticed that after doing the first 2 songs on the album, this one is number 4. My plan is not to look at each track on the album, but just a selection.

Here are the lyrics:

Roll away your stone, I'll roll away mine
Together we can see what we will find
Don't leave me alone at this time
For I'm afraid of what I will discover inside

You told me that I would find a home
Within the fragile substance of my soul
I have filled this void with things unreal
And all the while my character it steals

Darkness is a harsh term don't you think
And yet it dominates the things I've seen

Seems that all my bridges have been burned
You say that's exactly how this grace things works
It's not the long walk home that will change this heart
But the welcome I receive with the restart

Darkness is a harsh term don't you think
Yet it dominates the things I've seen

Stars hide your fires,
These here are my desires
And I will give them up to you this time around
So I'll be found with my stake stuck in the ground
Marking the territory of this newly impassioned soul

You, have gone too far this time
You have neither reason or rhyme
With which to take this soul that is so rightfully mine.

There are just a couple of things I'd like to comment on.

The second verse in which the song-writer speaks of filling the void in his soul or his life with "things unreal" is a very poignant thought.
Here is a quote from Bernard Levin which speaks of something similar:

Countries like ours are full of people who have all of the material comforts they desire, yet lead lives of quiet (and at times noisy) desperation, understanding nothing but the fact there is a hole inside them and that however much food and drink they pour into it, however many motorcars and television sets they stuff it with, however many well-balanced children and loyal friends they parade around the edges of it...it aches.

The world in which we live is all about instant gratification. We want everything yesterday. The advance of technology serves to fuel those desires within us. I wouldn't say that family, friends, and possessions are unreal in the sense that they have no value at all, but if they are what you live for, ultimately they are unreal. All these things are good gifts from a wonderfully loving and gracious God. They are to be enjoyed in the context of a relationship with Him.
Tied in with this is a sense of something greater that we all feel, even if we have suppressed it so far that we would claim not to. The interesting thing is the the song-writer realises it steals his character.
I think that is because we are made to delight in God alone. We are made for a relationship with the Living God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We can only find true rest, satisfaction, joy, meaning and purpose there.

The chorus is also a very honest assessment of the world. Darkness does sound like a harsh term, it sounds a little bit extreme. But as the writer says, it dominates what he sees. That's right isn't it, the news spekas of it daily, facebook pages, tweets and other sources often contain stories that make us sad, angry and despairing, do they not. Yet, this is exactly what the Bible speaks of; the world being a dark place, full of sin, sadness, sorrow, suffering. And even more strikingly that we are the source of it.

So what is the solution? Well, the song hints at. It does seem that all bridges have been burned. Paul writes in the letter to the Romans that no-one is righteous and before God we stand guilty, how can a holy God forgive, justify and yet remain just? (See Romans 3v21-26) It is grace in Jesus Christ.
The song speaks of grace, and it is right. That is exactly how grace works, its not a long walk home that sorts the problem of the heart, but the welcome you receive with the restart. In Christ Jesus we are freely redeemed by grace through faith in Him. What an amazing salvation!!!
We get a new heart and a new start in Christ!

I am sure there are many more things that could be discussed here, but I feel the post is long enough. I haven't really touched on the final lines of the song or the bridge. The last lines I missed as I don't now if the writer is speaking to God telling Him that He has no right to take His soul or not.

Comments welcome as always!

Mumford and Sons - Sigh No More

After re-listening to this album recently I thought I would write a few blog posts about some of the lyrics from the songs.
As a debut album I think it is fantastic. I know that the band have a Christian background, I don't know where they all stand in terms of faith in Jesus, but that is not going to be the point of these posts.
I want to try and engage with some of the ideas that come out, and try to show, with my limited wisdom, how they could be used to engage in fruitful gospel conversations.

So, without further ado, the opening track is the title track, "Sigh No More."

Serve God, love me and mend
This is not the end
Live unbruised, we are friends
I'm sorry

Sigh no more, no more
One foot in sea and one on shore
My heart was never pure
You know me

But man is a giddy thing
Oh man is a giddy thing

Love it will not betray you
Dismay or enslave you, it will set you free
Be more like the man you were made to be

There is a design, an alignment, a cry
Of my heart to see
The beauty of love as it was made to be

What I find interesting are little references such as "my heart was never pure" and being "more like the man you were made to be." These are both things Christians can totally get on board with.
We know that everyone is fallen, we most certainly do not have pure hearts. Jesus made that clear in Mark 7, it is out of men's heart that sin comes. The old saying that the heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart. We know we can't live up to our own standards never mind God's and not matter how hard we try we can't give ourselves a pure heart. We need a heart transplant, we need to pray with David in Psalm 51 "create in me a pure heart, O God."

But what about the real emphasis on love in the song. Love we are told will not betray, enslave or dismay, but it will set us free. That is a popular thought in many places, is it not? Many Hollywood chick flicks present this idea of finding the right person solving all of life's problems, or bringing true fulfilment.

Can love do this?
Does love never let you down? Does love never betray, dismay or enslave?

In our experience love does let us down. Relationships break down, family members let us down, and some relationships are totally enslaving, because the person they are "in love with" becomes their idol!

If we define love the way the Bible does (1 Cor 13:4-7; 1 John 4) and we see that "God is love" (1 John 4) we can affirm that love will not betray, dismay or enslave, but truly does set up free as human beings. The love of God displayed in the gospel truly does set us free from slavery to sin, it frees us to be the people we were created to be. When a person accepts the love of God shown at the cross and repents, they become more fully human, and the Holy Spirit continues to make them more and more like Jesus each day. Jesus after all was the perfect human being. He shows us the real way to be human.

The final thing I want to draw out of this song is the design, alignment and cry that the band say comes from the heart to see the beauty of love the way it was meant to be. I may well be reading too much into it, but does that not echo the fact that the Bible says God has "...put eternity into man's heart..." (Ecc 3:11)
There is something inside every human being which they suppress (Romans 1:18-32) and try to hide away that longs for something more than this world, something eternal, God. God is Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit in perfect loving relationship. That is where we see the beauty of love the way it was meant to be. The beauty of the Trinity is supremely attractive.

Quote of the Day - Sin and Salvation

"the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting Himself for man" John Stott, The Cross of Christ, IVP.

I wish I could so succinctly sum up glorious doctrine and truth! At the heart of our sin as human beings is our desire to please ourselves, look after number 1 and reject the One who created us and sustains us and deserves all our praise and worship. Yet, God, who could so easily have left us in this state, out of love and to show mercy, came to earth, stepped into time in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and gave Himself so that we might be brought into relationship with the Triune, Living God, to glorify and enjoy Him forever.