Monthly Message Feb 2021

Adam and Eve

 

 

Did God really say…..?”.

Genesis 3:1

 

 

 

Dear friends,

Some years ago a symposium was held in London to consider the great doctrine of penal substitution, the classic view of the atonement that on the cross Jesus bore the wrath of God against sin, for us, as our substitute.  At the time, some had been rejecting that teaching, calling it ‘cosmic child abuse’ and so on.  That is one example among others that have emerged in recent times of it being deemed desirable, by some, to modify or re-interpret understandings of doctrinal and moral teachings that have been held for centuries as being the clear teaching of Scripture.

From time to time we are told by somebody that we’ve got it all wrong, and have done so for most of the past two thousand years!  Sometimes the arguments put forward for these novel notions sound plausible and look attractive, at least to the unwary, and especially if one fails to take into account the whole testimony of Scripture.  What should our reaction be?

It seems to me that there is nothing new in all this.  It goes back beyond the disillusionment arising out of the First World War, back beyond the Enlightenment of the 17th/18th centuries, it precedes the controversies surrounding the Reformation in the 16th century.  It fact, I would suggest it goes right back to the very beginning, to the Garden of Eden and to the doubt-inducing whisper of the serpent to the woman:  “Did God really say…?” (Gen 1:3).  How subtly the serpent twisted the words of God!  God had said: “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”  It was all about freedom!  I don’t know how many trees there were in the garden but there was only one that was forbidden!  ‘Eat that one and you’ll die’, so disobedience will hardly bring freedom.  But what was the lie the serpent put forward? “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” No! He didn’t say that at all! The serpent falsified the words to sound like a huge prohibition.  Subtly today the devil still likes to suggest that God’s offer of freedom is some kind of imprisonment.

Next time we are faced with a ‘revision’ of classic doctrine or morality let’s be sure to ask: “Did God really say that?”  And let’s turn the question from doubt to delight: when we next read a glorious truth, let’s say: “Did God really say that….and to me?!”

Did God really say:  “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”?  Yes, he did!

Did God really say: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”?  Yes, he did!

May you discover even more of what God has really said throughout 2021.

Your brother in Christ,

Monthly Message Pt 2 Jan 2021

Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from  sending calamity.”     Joel 2:13

 

Dear friends,

My last Monthly Message ended on a rather abrupt and solemn note, so I thought I should add a supplement leading on from Joel 1 to some of the great truths in Joel 2!

In his fallen state man not only dislikes the idea of dependence upon God but positively denies it. For centuries, man has assumed that politics, military power, philosophy, intellect, science and so on have the solutions to our problems.  Yet time and again history proves all that to be false. As Paul says in Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened”. We must, of course, do all we can professionally and socially, to combat coronavirus and its effects, but we were created to be dependent upon, and to live in relationship with, a loving, all-powerful Creator.

Joel 2 gives us several encouragements and challenges for serious consideration:

v2 “Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming” –  one day all sickness, fear, sorrow, injustice and wickedness will be no more. Though it will be a ‘day of darkness and gloom’ for those who persist in rejecting the Lord, it will be a day of gladness and full redemption for “all who have longed for his appearing” (II Tim 4:8).

v11 “The day of the Lord is great; it is dreadful.  Who can endure it?” – since God’s judgment on sin has fallen upon Christ, those who are in him, by faith, “shall be saved from God’s wrath through him!” (Rom 5:9).    Hallelujah!

v12  “’Even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning’” – no mere lip service will do but the Lord himself longs for his people to return to him wholeheartedly.

v13  “Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate” – however far we wander, he is still our God, solely on the merits of our crucified Saviour!  The repentant, returning soul knows, to his deep joy, that God is gracious and compassionate.

As we return to the Lord let us also have a sense of history and of thankfulness:

vv20/21  “Surely he has done great things. Be not afraid, O land; be glad and rejoice. Surely the Lord has done great things”. What has the Lord done in your life?  Will he fail you now?

Now to the final verses of the chapter: God’s promise to pour out his Spirit on all people.  h Peter declared that promise to have been fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost and now the life-giving Holy Spirit is available and at work still today. The promise of v32 still holds true: “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Understandably, the NHS, the Government and the news media are pre-occupied with the pandemic.  They need both our prayers and our co-operation.  But our greatest and most urgent need is to learn what it means to be totally dependent upon our Sovereign, Redeemer God, a God of justice and of grace who always keeps his word.

Your brother in Christ

God willing, Saffron Walden Bible Focus will take place this year on Saturday, 11th September. This is, of course, subject to lockdown restrictions having been lifted.

We hope the situation will be clearer by mid-April. 

We shall keep you informed!

 

Monthly Message Pt 1 Jan 2021

 

Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your forefathers?”     Joel 1:2

 

Dear friends,

Does the Bible have anything to say about pandemics?  I think Joel chapter 1 has a lot to say to us in our current coronavirus situation.  May I suggest you have that passage to hand as you read this?

Something had happened to Judah in Joel’s time that was quite unprecedented (when have we heard that word recently?): “Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your forefathers?” (v2).  It was something not to be forgotten for several generations (v3). About four waves of locusts had devoured everything in sight (v4).

Everybody and everything was affected; the devastation and suffering was all-pervasive, like the effects of Covid-19 on health, life, livelihoods, education, the economy and worship.

The locust invasion was likened to an invading army (vv6,7), or was it, in fact, an army likened to a swarm of locusts?  We can’t be quite sure but, either way, the result was the same: utter devastation with most serious consequences.  But what of the details?

Wine drinkers had a problem: the wine ‘has been snatched from your lips’ (v5). We, too, have been deprived of things we depend on – human contact, social gathering etc.

Plans and hopes had been dashed like a bride bereft of her husband (v8). We, too, have seen weddings postponed, funeral numbers limited, holidays cancelled. Temple worship had become impossible because there were no resources for the offerings and the priests were in mourning (v9).  We know all about closed church buildings and Zoom services being a noble but poor substitute for a ‘real’ service. Food production (vv10-12) was severely struck and we, though by God’s grace still have adequate food supplies, are facing a huge economic crisis from which it will take a very long time to recover.  The result of all this was that “the joy of people is withered away”.  Is that not true also of our society now?

The religious leaders of the day were the first to be called upon to give a lead in bringing the people back to a dependence upon God (v13).  As then, so today, the root problem and the root solution is spiritual.  So there was a call to prayer (v14) with ‘the elders’ to take the lead, for judgment is at hand (v15).  Maybe, if nothing else, this pandemic is a wake-up call to those of us who may have forgotten, or put to the back of our minds, the fact that we are all accountable to God.

A lack of joy and gladness in worship, together with a crisis in the environment (vv16-20) sound so familiar.  Is not a call to prayer of paramount importance and should it not start with us, and our church?

Now for the good news!  One day our sovereign God of grace and power will bring all sin and suffering to an end.  “…our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8: 18).

Your brother in Christ