For those of you who are wondering about my theology and background, I whole heartedly stand shoulder to shoulder with this post from Adrian Warnock:
I DON’T WANT BALANCE, I WANT IT ALL!
Adrian is a long standing friend. Adrian, Ian Jukes (who kindly edits this blog) and I had the immense privilege of being discipled by Henry Tyler. During the last few years of his life Henry took us under his wing and shared his experience of God, his leadership wisdom and his passion for preaching the word, and I am eternally indebted to God for the impact this wonderful man had on my life.
For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
1 Corinthians 4 v 15
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”
Matthew 5 v 7
Mercy is the beautiful sister of grace. Grace is receiving favour when none was earned. Mercy on the other hand is not receiving punishment when punishment is thoroughly earned. Both are attributes of God’s love towards is. There is a real sense that the most pressing need is for mercy, for one awaiting sentence “mercy!” is the cry.
But you might say that the verse seems to reverse this order. It says that those who are merciful will receive mercy, which sounds like cause and effect. To think this however is to misunderstand the whole nature of the gospel which always begins with action from God and never from us. This is also a trap which is easy to fall into when we separate and divide scripture down into individual verses, as if more could be learned by the components if they were split apart and laid on the work bench.
The beatitudes are clearly progressive so this “happy man” has already dealt with his standing before God and his desperate need for righteousness. It would be nonsense to pluck a man from the kingdom of darkness and demand he be merciful. It is however the attitude you would expect from someone who had himself been plucked from the very jaws of judgement.
“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
Matthew 18 v 23-35
The gospel always leads to radical change, to real, fundamental transformation. Where this encounter with God is genuine, fruit is always apparent – the distribution of mercy being such fruit. Where there is no genuine work of God, the fruit can never be manufactured.
We mix these up at our peril.
This is my final report on the Newfontiers conference ‘Together on a Mission 2007′.
In these reports have tried to emphasise the distinctives of this conference and church grouping. Here is a list of the highlights:
- 50 nations
- £1.25 million given
- family, on a mission
- multiple world cities in view for church plants
- dear friends from across the globe
- world class exegesis
- the power of God continually in evidence
- men and women preaching Paul’s doctrine and living out his example (planting churches, ministering in the Spirit)
- being lead in prayer for revival in many languages
- Evan Rogers leading a wild worship time (this was the offering, and yes there was stage diving)
- people grasping, for the first time, a vision for church planting and the extension of God’s Kingdom to the ends of the earth
Many conferences exist for themselves – the better they are the more people will attend the next one. This one exists for what happens back home. There has been a prophetic call to believe for more healings, signs and wonders to pursue God for sudden and rapid breakthrough. To be honest we are already seeing this in Honiton, and if there’s more to come GLORY!……and HELP
There is so much work to be done.
Groups and streams are often known for particular aspects of Christian experience. Being associated with one aspect sometimes indicates the absence of another. Being a Baptist indicates you don’t christen babies, being an Anglican that you don’t look to Rome. Charismatics are often thought of as people who don’t delve very deeply into the Bible.
It is on this point that Newfrontiers stands out. To be a family of churches that is strong in both Word and Spirit is unusual, especially in the UK. The received wisdom is that Charismatics are all shout and no substance, and that reformed evangelicals are lions in the pulpit but decidedly “vanilla” everywhere else.
For decades, in Newfrontiers, there has been a consistent commitment to the person, work and gifts of the Holy Spirit and to the systematic exegesis of the Scriptures. This dynamic combination is one of the keys to the longevity and success of what Newfrontiers is and does. I was recently listening to Mark Driscoll passionately demanding that preachers no longer expound the church doctrines of Paul without living the life of Paul. I wholeheartedly agree. Part of that church planting strategy was ministering in the Spirit. Healing the sick, confronting demonic powers and doing “extraordinary miracles” (Acts 19 v 11) Surly the same applies to the power as to the teaching. (see David Devenish, Wednesday, Main Session)
Both aspects of ministry are clearly in play here in Acts 19. The teaching in the hall of Tyrannus and the extraordinary miracles. For some there is no concept that a both-and rather than an either-or approach is even possible.
Can I again encourage you to download (FREE) and listen to the excellent teaching form the conference?
To reach a desperate world requires truth and power.
It’s great to see my good friend Adrian Warnock here, having rushed back from the States to be at this conference. For an in depth synopsis of the main sessions visit adrianwarnock.com.
It’s my great pleasure to bring a report on the Newfrontiers conference here in Brighton on the south coast of England. There are over 5000 attending, from some 50 different nations.
I could discuss the excellent teaching by Stephen van Rhyn from Jubilee Community Church in Cape Town (I used to share an office with Stephen when I lived in Cape Town), or Rob Rufus from City Church International in Hong Kong. Terry Virgo was magnificent teaching from Joshua 1. I don’t need to tell you about these guys as you can download the talks for FREE from the Newfrontiers website – give it a few days for the talks to be posted.
I would rather then talk about why this is such an enjoyable experience. Newfrontiers conferences are more like family gatherings. The title, “Together On A Mission”, is no corporate catch line. It really feels like doing something great with your friends. Having been part of all this for decades now and having served in various nations the thrill of being with so many genuine friends working hard for the vision of a glorious church and to see the ends of the earth reached is truly wonderful. Many conferences are highlights for believers and I know it sound bias but this is different. The focus is not on the conference but on the Jesus and reaching His world.
It’s friends that make this so special. People we’ve served with and shared our lives with now running hard after God in contexts far and wide. What is so unsatisfactory is only having a few minutes with each person and while talking to them, seeing others you dearly would love to spend days catching up with and you know you might have to wait until Heaven for that.
There are many prophetic words over us as a family of churches. One that shapes my thinking and is so evident here at the conference is that “we can do more together than we can apart”. For those who were worried about such things, the evidence from this conference is that the Church in the UK is alive well and aggressively looking to advance with the Gospel on all fronts.
More tomorrow…
Today I would like to continue asking questions about the nature of Christian Unity. As with most things, having an idea about where you are going is extremely helpful when planning the journey.
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”
Luke 17 v 20-23
There is a clear link here to what Jesus says in John 14.
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 14 v 34-35
Being one, as Jesus and the Father are one, is a high calling. The scenario we are in is a town with a number of churches, a wide variety of flavors. We all worship in different ways; some charismatic, some strongly cessationist and some who probably don’t have a clue what either of those words mean. Doing services together soon peters out. I honestly couldn’t give our pulpit to some leaders as I wouldn’t trust their theology.
SO… what does “ecumenical” look like?
I would suggest two areas where we can love each other.
- Helping the poor/social action
- Being a provocation to faith
Social action does not require doctrinal harmony and it doesn’t depend on worship styles. It seems like a good place to start. It’s also a great context to develop friendships and building trust. Many a friendship has been forged while digging gardens or painting fences.
Provoking each other to faith also an effective way to demonstrate love. We recently bought and converted a building in the center of town. It was a venture of faith but by God’s grace it was done. Obviously the other churches were aware, and provoked by what was achieved. As a result others have begun building projects and are embarking on their own faith adventures.
There is no doubt that these verses and others that reflect them represent a huge challenge. How we face them is of crucial importance.
The Beatitudes lead us on a journey from poverty of spirit and a mourning of sin to a life active in the advancement of God’s kingdom. The assumption throughout is that the goal of this “happy man” is righteousness, and because of that righteousness – a living relationship with God.
I want to think today about our relationship to righteousness. Is it important for the Christian, born again into a living relationship with Jesus, to live a holy life? If my righteousness is in fact imputed by God, why bother actually changing my behavior? The Apostle Paul leads us through this argument in Romans 5 & 6.
Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Romans 5:20-6:14
You are now free from slavery to sin – so what are you going to do with your freedom? If you carry on as you were before, are you really free from sin? Has anything actually happened to you?
Righteousness is still in view. What has changed is how we attempt to achieve living a righteous life. Or as the theologians put it, sanctification. All that was available until Jesus was the Law. The list of stuff you should do and shouldn’t do if you wanted God’s blessing. The Law was given to the Israelites, as the chosen people of God so in living according to it they might be blessed and be a blessing.
It didn’t really happen. The problem was not with the Law but with the people. So we need to change the people, the Law is already perfect. Being born again is that change – a radical transformation, a new creature, something fundamental has happened. This new man has been given righteousness as a gift. The righteousness of Jesus, no-less. The blessings of God can now be upon His people due to their righteousness.
So back to the question. Do Christians need to live a holy life?
NEED – no. Not in terms of their righteous position before God. None of my actions can add to Jesus’ perfect righteousness. But it would be strange for someone living to God, born again and free from sin, not to desire to live righteously. Not by going back to the Law to try and live by it’s rules, but by living in relationship with Jesus.
It would be so strange in fact that if someone were to consistently live without regard to their behaviour, you would have to assume their faith wasn’t faith and that they didn’t actually have a relationship with God at all.
John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us. For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.”
Mark 9 v38-41
I was recently in a small seaside town enjoying the beach and the weather. It happened to be Easter Sunday and the annual march of witness was taking place. For the uninitiated a “March of Witness” is a silent procession through a town where Christians follow someone carrying a cross. Here’s my problem – I believe in Christian unity, in as much as when someone is saved they are “in Christ”
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
2 Corinthians 5 v17
You can either be “in Christ” or “in Adam”. There are no other categories. Hence, one church. Imagine the dilemma then when I find myself wanting to shout at the silent and sombre procession – HE’S NOT DEAD! JESUS IS ALIVE!
It looked to me like the focus of the whole event was death. The atmosphere was similar to a funeral I attended a few weeks ago. I could not in good conscience join them, not because I doubted their desire to honor Christ or their courage to walk the street following the cross, but because I didn’t want my living, powerful Saviour depicted in that way. I have sat over years in ministers fraternals across the country experiencing similar emotions, trying to decide what we could do together. (Let me just say I’m not of the “spot it and stop it” crowd. I’m really searching for answers here.) I’m left wondering what it really means to be Ecumenical?
