Ecc 3:1,6.
For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to keep and a time to throw away. (NLT)

We’re all familiar with the items above: Penny Farthing, Iron, Phone; all 3 could be used in society today. There’s only one problem. The world has moved on and we have far more modern versions of each item. In fact, if I came to your home and your transport was a Penny Farthing, you ironed clothes with this iron and spoke to people over this phone; we would all be a little embarrassed.

And if I told you these were now old fashioned, you would be hurt and wounded by my words. Why is this?  It’s because we haven’t moved on with the changing world around us.

Society is always changing; and it’s not that we have to be up to the minute with all the latest gadgets, clothes and houses, but we do have to adapt to changing times otherwise we become what’s called, ‘an anachronism’; which means, ‘A person or thing that is chronologically out of place’. We become outdated and old fashioned.

We all laugh when we look at the gadgets above and yet many of us Christians and Churches have become anachronisms without realising it; and we’ve become like this because we see every new invention or fashion as being ‘worldly’ or ‘self indulgent’ or a ‘moral attack against Godly values’. Not realising that God put the creative spark in mankind for such a reason.

We can embrace the new by adapting it to suit our needs. We can be fashionable without being sexualised. We can use technology without becoming addicted to it. We can be modern without being consumed by materialism.

God has put us in the driving seat by giving us the fruit of self control. If we can’t adapt to changing times, it’s us who are in the wrong, not society. We are saying we are too weak to master the changes.

Failure to embrace the new will always make us irrelevant to society and we’ll lose the ability to connect with the Gospel. So let’s choose to open up and learn from the Churches who are pioneering a new way forward for the Gospel of the Kingdom.

These kind of Churches are irreligious, modern, technological and mobile without losing the essence of relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ; and they are attracting people from all walks of life, from fashion, media, entertainment, politics, sport and business.

A new day is dawning for the Church and God wants to include all of us. He wants a multi-generational Church that appeals to all sections of society.

Meditation Point: Father, help me like a snake, discard my old skin. Help me to embrace the new. Help me to see it is the fear of change that I need to deal with.

No tags

Eph 1:22, 23.

And gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.  (KJV)

We’ll now unpack some of the areas where the Church needs to change, as mentioned previous Blogs; we’ll start with the Church.

The Church is not the building, it’s the people. We all say we know this but fight against any change. Why is this? it’s because we’re creatures of habit. Habits can be good things but we have to learn to ‘hold them lightly’ otherwise we  become set in our ways and controlling, thus making the process of change more difficult than it needs to be.

The word ‘Church’ in Greek is ‘Ekklesia‘ and means a ‘calling out to assemble’. In Greek society the Local Counsel would call the people out of their homes into the Town square for a meeting to discuss relevant issues

Hence the word ‘Church‘ speaks of the people that God has called out of this world to be His own group so that we are in the world but not of the world.

John 15:19 You do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. (NIV)

1 Peter 2:9 That you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. (NKJV)

Therefore , whenever God’s people meet together, we become the Church; And it doesn’t matter where we meet. It could be in a home, a movie house, a bar or pub, a cafe, an industrial unit.

So the next time the leaders want to change the interior, exterior or location of the Church in order to be relevant to society, we are now able to flow and change with their leadership.

Those of us in Gt Britain and N. America have become used to a static model of Church – meeting in the same place, at the same time, in the same way; But as the great upheavals of the world intensify, preparing the way for Christ’s return, we must adapt to a mobile model of Church; One that can fit in with changing circumstances.

Meditation Point: Father, help me to hold lightly to the things of this world. My security is in You (Prov 3:5). You are my anchor when all around is changing (Heb 6:19). You never change (Mal 3:6).

No tags

Ps 33:11 The Lord’s purpose is eternal, the designs of his heart go on through all the generations of man. (BBE)

God has promised us that His Word (thoughts) remains the same to all generations. His word is unchanging, secure and established for all time and eternity. This truth establishes and anchors our hearts in an ever changing culture and world. (Mal 3:6, Num 23:19).

But though God’s Word never changes – the vehicles He uses to proclaim and communicate that Word, are always changing. They change because society changes: family, government, business and fashion are some of the institutions that are in a state of continuous flux.

It’s when the Church doesn’t recognise this and fails to change with this flux, that it gets left behind, becomes out of date, an anachronism. The Church then becomes separated from society and loses it’s impact, it’s voice and it’s authority.

In Europe, secularism has reduced the influence of the Church to a minimum; And we now have whole generations arising that have little or no knowledge of Jesus and His Gospel. This alone should tell us that the models or vehicles we used 30yrs ago to proclaim the Gospel, will not connect to the current generation.

Sunday Schools, Ceremonial dress, King James 16th century language of thees and thous, will not strike a chord with the youth of today. For example: many Churches have ditched their old fashioned names such as Zion Baptist Church, Beulah Assemblies of God or Jesus is Lord Ministries and instead use names such as Pioneer, Hillsong, New Life etc.

Their buildings are not shaped like a Church building. They are minus crosses, organs, wooden pulpits, pews and hymn books. Instead they are modern with up to the minute technology, musical instruments, comfortable chairs and fashionable decor.

Instead of Sunday School, Young People’s Fellowship and Bible Study they use titles such as ‘Ignite, Catalyst, Connect, Fuel and Refresh’.

They have been accused of watering down the Gospel and removing any trace of what a Church used to look like; but Christians who criticise, do so because they either don’t realise the Church has to change or they simply don’t want to change.

We are creatures of habit and change is hard. That is why we must adopt a pioneer not a settler type mindset; The Pilgrim Fathers paid a great price when they left the shores of Britain to sail to America. On arrival they built a community to sustain life. These people were true pioneers. But when it was suggested they build a road 5 miles into the forest, those same pioneers baulked at the idea and shut it down. They had changed their mindset from that of a pioneer to one of a settler.

Meditation Point:  Do I have the motivation of a pioneer or have I settled for the de-motivation of a settler.

No tags

If I asked you the question: Imagine in your mind a picture of the Church?  Would that picture show the Church to be – old fashioned, out of date, culturally irrelevant, an anachronism (stuck in the past), unattractive etc. Or would it be a Church that is modern, up to date, culturally relevant and attractive.

I suspect it would be the former. In fact, it would be an embarrassment to invite a visitor to many of our Churches. They would sing hymns that were written 300 yrs ago. Speak to a people who’s language they don’t understand, who’s dress sense is old fashioned and listen to a sermon that is full of do’s and don’ts; And leave promising themselves never to return again.

“Harsh words”, you say! Maybe, but I think you would agree there is a ring of truth to such a picture. So why has this happened, why are we so out of touch with the world around us; and I’m not just taking pot shots. I love the Church like many of you and want to see it become relevant once again.

The answer to the question: Why has this happened is because of the teaching of extreme holiness and separation. We’ve been told for decades that the world system is sinful, that we should separate ourselves from anything that has a whiff of uncleanness and should resist anything new lest we become locked into the kingdom of the sinful trinity: satan, the beast and the man of sin.

Because of such teaching, we have extricated ourselves from this world. Cut ourselves off from it’s changes, it’s progress, it’s new inventions. So, there’s the critique. In my next Blog we will look at the remedy and how we can become relevant and in the process become a change-agent to the Church.

Meditation Point: Has this Blog made me aware of my irrelevancy to the world. If so, how can I change?

No tags

Gal 5:2-1.

‘I am emphatic about this.’
Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you. (TM)

All Christians have been set free from shame, but not all Christians know it !   Christ took our shame to the cross and dealt it the death blow. In Christ, we also died with Him on the cross, therefore our shame died with Him and now we are risen together with Him to live the resurrection shame free life.

Then how come many Christians still struggle with shame and how can they get free from it ?

First: We need a revelation of who we are ‘In Christ’ (read above). This revelation will totally set us free from shame and keep us free in the future if satan seeks to shame us if we sin. This is why Paul said in Gal 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free. (NKJV)

Second: We ‘stand fast’ in our freedom by resisting and throwing off all condemnation. Condemnation is satan’s way of tricking us into thinking we should still feel shame for our mistakes or weaknesses. Paul said in Rom 8:1 There is ‘NOW’ therefore ‘NO’ condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.  (NKJV)

Condemnation takes place when satan seeks to accuse us for our mistakes. He will try to shame us by injecting his accusations into our minds. This shows us that shame is first a way of thinking and secondly a way of feeling and it is all rooted in condemnation.

God has created us such, that the way we ‘think’, determines the way we ‘feel’. Therefore if we think thoughts of fear, our thoughts will trigger the emotions or feelings of fear, worry and anxiety. Likewise, if we entertain thoughts of shame, our thoughts will trigger feelings of shame.

Third: We negate thoughts of shame by becoming conscious of who we are ‘In Christ’ and the freedom we have from shame, and we ‘hold fast’ to those thoughts. As we do so, our feelings will remain in a natural state of peace, joy and rest.

Many Christians are stuck with the shame of past sin because they allow demonic spirits to inject the memories of the mistakes they made into their minds. All they have to do to break free is to remember that:  1) All sin is forgiven 2) The blood of Christ washed our sins away completely. We are now cleansed from all unrighteousness. 3) We cannot now be accused of sin that was forgiven and washed away by the blood of Christ. 4) As we hold fast to these thoughts of who we are ‘In Christ’, we will come free from past shame. Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Meditation Point: Father, strengthen me to hold fast to be conscious of who I am ‘In Christ’. Open my understanding to see I have been delivered from all shame.

No tags

Rom 8:30 And having chosen them, He called them to come to Him. And having called them, He gave them right standing with Himself. And having given them right standing, He gave them His glory. (NLT)

Today’s ‘good news’ is that ‘shame’ has been eliminated from the Christian life. How did this take place? It took place at the cross.

Remember that the ’1st Adam’ sinned and forfeited the glory of God. For this, he was ashamed; He was now naked and nakedness became the symbol throughout Scripture and all of life of the shame of sin. But Jesus as the ‘last Adam’ went to the cross completely naked. He wasn’t wearing a loincloth as is depicted in paintings.

Matt 27:35 When they had crucified Him, they divided up His clothes by casting lots.  (NIV)

He went to the cross naked and there took upon Himself the judgement for all our sin, past , present and future. He also took upon Himself the shame of our sin and the nakedness that came as a result of sin. He took all of this to His death and when resurrected left it all behind in the grave and rose as the firstborn of a new creation (Col 1:18).

He ascended to heaven, sat down on the throne at the right hand of His Father and  had restored to Him the glory He had before He came to earth as a man (Jn 17:5).

You and I are now ‘In Christ’, therefore together with Him we ‘were’ crucified, died, went down into the grave,  conquered death and rose again as a new creation. We ascended to the right hand of the Father, sat down on His throne and had restored to us the glory we had before the 1st Adam sinned.  All this took place in the past tense, therefore we are now free from all judgement of sin, shame and nakedness (Rom 8:30).

I Realise this is a lot to take in, but if we will meditate on these things, the Holy Spirit will lead us into the truth and understanding of Scripture.

In our next Blog we will look at how to practically and experientially live a life free from shame and it’s consequences.

Meditation Point: Holy Spirit, you are the author of Scripture, therefore, as I meditate on these things, open the eyes of my spirit to see who I am ‘In Christ’.

No tags