Back to Basics (Hebrews - Day 13)

Elijah (my son) is 20 months old today! Happy whateveritis!!

He is currently learning new words - and each newly mastered word makes Jen and me squeal with delight as we praise his development.

We won't be so excited if he's still saying "STAR!" on repeat in two year's time. By then I would expect him to have an actual conversation with me...indeed, by the time he's four I would like to think he'll even know the letters that make up the words that he says...his ABC.

In today's passage, Hebrews 5:11-14 we are told that the recipients of the letter, the Hebrews, need to go back to "basic principles"...their ABC.

Imagine that...you've been a Christian for a number of years and someone who you respect turns round and says, "...it's like you've not even learnt how to talk...and you should be teaching others by now". Brutal. Harsh. Honest.

Today's passage is very blunt: there are basics we come to learn about the faith (tomorrow's passage will reveal what these are), and then we move on. Furthermore, once you've mastered the basics teach someone else. This is a simple principle most teachers learn - if you want to learn something: teach someone about it.

I find this incredibly helpful in my witness. When I got asked about Ascension Day, of which I knew relatively little, I committed to going away, reading up, and then trying to 'teach' someone else what I'd learnt. You should try it!

When I talk to people about the cell group I facilitate, it's helpful to divide the group into two...into those who are still infants in the faith (not infantile...I stress!!), as opposed to those who are mature in the faith. Typically, you would expect a mature Christian to be one who has walked with Jesus for a long time - typically, in our cell, from birth. But that's not always the case - some new Christians quickly move to maturity. And this passage explains how.

A mature Christian is one who:
- Has understanding of the basics (again see tomorrow for a definition)
- Teaches others the ABC
- Has skill when dealing with the 'Word of Righteousness' (The Bible), and
- Is able to distinguish between good and evil

This is such a challenge!

Surely the writer is expecting too much?!?

But as ever I don't think this is beyond us. In a sense this simply points to the two elements of our daily walk: the Spirit and the Word.

We HAVE to learn to know, read and study God's word, to listen to sermons, to let the "oracles of God" seep into our thinking. God's word doesn't answer every situation, but it certainly directs my path, and sets before me examples of Holy living that inspire and encourage. (I want to, once again, remind people of the helpful pneumonic I use when studying the Bible: ASPECT. I'll blog about it here. In that approach we are encouraged under letter E, to think about the example in each passage...what can we learn from others). Most chiefly the Bible points us to Jesus!

- Have you stopped and read God's word today - for yourself - even for a few minutes?

- Do you need help learning how to read the Bible? ASK SOMEONE...please!

And then there's the Spirit, which is given to every believer. The Spirit comes into our heart and transforms us. In relation to mature Christians the Spirit gives us the strength to resist temptation, and the awareness to notice when sin is creeping up on us. The Spirit also inspires us when we talk to others. When we 'teach' others we shouldn't think of a teacher in front of a class of unruly teenagers, no! When you think of teaching someone think of how you might show someone how to bake, or sew, or play piano, or better yet...think of the baby you are encouraging to speak!

How many times do we go, "Say...Daddy.....go on.....say 'Daddy'..." etc

We devote time and effort into one person, simply helping them master a task.

- Are you aware that the Spirit is in you - guiding, leading and inspiring you today?

- Who might God be setting before you to whom you can teach the ABCs of the faith?


I encourage you today to commit your life with God to one where you won't ever have someone say to you..."you need to go back to Basics!"

Your Heart - Hard or Huggable? (Hebrews - Day 7)

¹² See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ¹³ But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. (Hebrews 3:12-13)

A big old block of stone...hard, cold and very VERY dead.

On Sunday I was sat in front of a beautiful old war memorial in church - man it was cold - it was an anti-radiator - it gave off this chilliness which made me and a friend move away. We wanted to be warm but were made cold.

The passage from Hebrews today - 3:7-13 - is very clear:

DO NOT LET YOUR HEARTS GO HARD!

Our hearts can go hard for all sorts of reasons...bad habits, time away from God, deliberately avoiding doing what we know deep down is right to do, allowing resentment and anger to fester in our hearts, and on it goes. Rarely do we intend to be hard-hearted, but so often we look back and realise what we thought was 'growing up' or toughening up, has actually been a deadening. Do you notice what happens to make us die? In the verses above it says we turn away from the "living God" (v.12).

Turning away from something living implies, I'm afraid, that we might well turn to something dead - to something that won't give life, but take it.

How might you have been turning from God?

So what are we to do??

1. Encourage one another to live for God
2. Do it daily!

We are instructed to stand together.

I love our cell (small midweek church fellowship group that meets to get to know one another more, worship God, challenge one another from His word, and think through how to live in service of others)

Cells are the opposite of stone - they are alive, living, breathing, active...

And this is how we have to be: alive, soft, fragile, vibrant...

But notice - cells work together - I need other people to help me, to encourage and to exhort.

Please - this day think about your Christian brothers and sisters - how are they doing? Are they struggling? Would they benefit from a supportive word, a hug, a text?

We do not do this alone.

The Man Drawer

Of all the descriptions for the Wisdom literature of the Old Testament, the man drawer is one of the most imaginative!



Makes me chuckle every time!

Cell last night continued our look at Proverbs - one of the five Wisdom books.

Proverbs is a book we often overlook; its pithiness makes it awkward to 'study'. Nevertheless, look at Proverbs we did. Now I must be quite honest, I really enjoyed the lesson-esque nature of our cell meeting last night, and I want to give our vicar, Paul, props for doing such a helpful overview of the book - both in his sermon on Sunday and for us to recap at cell.

So here are his notes:

The 'Wisdom Literature' is the name often given to the bunch of books in the middle of the Bible– locate them in your Bible and thumb through to familiarise yourself with their layout. (they are Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs).

They are like the 'man drawer' of the Bible, containing books that don't belong anywhere else. We are probably more familiar with the first five books and the histories that follow, and with the prophets. These tell the story of God's dealings with Israel and his speaking to them, 'thus says the Lord'!  The Wisdom literature is more about people reflecting on life with God.

Get hold of the pages of Proverbs and ruffle through to see the structure (dont' spend long on this, just get an overview of how the land lies):

ñ  ch.1-7 – instructions to the reader (addressed as my son) to pay attention to what follows

ñ  ch.8-9 – Wisdom personified as a female calling everyone to come and be instructed.

ñ  ch.10:1 - 22:16 – Proverbs of Solomon – pithy sayings to make you think.

ñ  ch.22:17 - 24:34 – Sayings of the Wise – more anonymous proverbs

ñ  ch.25-29 – more Proverbs of Solomon

ñ  ch.30 – Sayings of Agur

ñ  ch.31:1-9 – Sayings of King Lemuel

ñ  ch.31:10-end – The Wife of Noble Character

Although many of the sayings seem to be in a random order, certain themes emerge. Look up some of these and talk about what they tell you.  (You could get different people to each look up one of the verses in each theme.)

ñ  God and man – for example 9:10; 19:21

ñ  Wisdom – for example 1:1-7; 8:4-11

ñ  The Fool or simpleton – for example 14:15; 1:32; 17:16, 18, 21, 24, 28.

ñ  The Scoffer – for example 21:24; 22:10

ñ  the Sluggard – for example 6:6-11; 26:13-16;

ñ  The Friend – for example 17:17; 18:24; 27:6; 27:10

ñ  Marriage and family life – for example 5:15-20; 19:13; 21:9; 14:1; 31:10-end

Proverbs is about the ordinary stuff in the 'man drawer', the stuff made up of keys and batteries and coins and phones and menus, how we deal with our homes and families, our work and communications, our eating and talking and the stuff that makes up ordinary life.

Not bad eh?

Ministry...where you are?

Are you doing your part today?

Or are you patiently waiting for your vicar, pastor, or priest to start preaching the gospel to all who would hear - and those who won't!!

I've had to re-learn (and am going to keep re-learning) a valuable lesson this week. And my cell group is mostly to thanks.

What?

We are all involved in the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:20) - but we can all learn how to minister when we look at Paul.

This week we were exploring 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 (the passage from Sunday morning, which I blogged on here). The original sermon had presented the passage as an explanation of Paul's ministry - the pattern of his life. The point wasn't made emphatically that this wasn't just a ministry for apostles, but everyone. We should all pattern our lives around Paul's motifs of URGENCY, AUTHENTICITY, and VULNERABILITY.

So what?!

I particularly enjoyed the discussion we had on Tuesday night and want to record some of the more salient points:

We must be urgent. But let us be specific about what it is we're urgent about. Firstly, we must always be urgently seeking to declare the gospel to those around us. There is an evangelical impreative here - "Now is the Day of Salvation!" (2 Cor 6:2). But lest we get wrapped up in a world of incessant proselytism, we must heed the warning to not receive grace in vain. This stopped us short - it can, surely, only be a Christian who receives grace in vain. We must never take for granted or devalue the glory of grace - nor must we cease working with God to see change and growth in our lives. We must be urgent not only for more Christians, but urgent that we be more Christian - we need to be more Christ-like.

The issue for many in cell is how to encourage this growth. Certainly the usual Christian jargon tripped off our lips: we need more prayer, more Bible, more quiet, etc, etc...but how?? There was an acknowledgement that it is entirely possible to become a Christian but you carry on regardless, no transformation takes place. [I would want to explore this idea though - isn't the mark of genuine faith the transforming presence of the Spirit?]

As a cell we all agreed with the second point, that of authenticity. In fact, cell is one of the places par excellence where the rough and the smooth are seen together. If your experience of Christian fellowship was restricted only to church services then, yes, you might get the impression that Christians are people who have it together - who don't get rocked by the storms of life.

When a non-Christian encounters the Christian community of cell they quickly realise that real faith is marked by the struggles and hardships, not just the blessings. As we discussed this point, we wondered whether the idea of 'life is a bed of roses for Christians' has been defeated in church - I've certainly not experienced that in all the churches I've attended. Is it not, therefore, one piece of baggage a non-Christian might bring to church with them. We have to challenge these opinions that we're immunised from life's troubles.

Within our own community we have people who are being pushed to the limits of their strength...and as a result our family feels more authentic and real than if we pretended God only wants to bring us strawberries and cream (much as we'd like that!!)

Fascinatingly, when we thought through the gospel reading (Mark 4:35-41) and the disciples' reactions to the storm, we realised that their expectation was simply that Jesus not be asleep. They had no idea he'd still the storm - just look at their reaction. So, if we're asked 'would Paul have responded in the same way?' obviously he would not have. Paul's EXPECTATIONS differed to the disciples because of the KNOWLEDGE Paul has about Jesus, who he is, and what he achieved on the cross and by his resurrection.

The real question might be: how might our responses to a storm differ to Paul's?

And then in conclusion, Paul shows his vulnerability - his need for love. Some translations of vv.11-13 might give the impression that Paul is in fact asking these Christians to not hold back - but jump into more of God. Other translations give the sense that Paul is saying - I've opened my heart to you, please open your heart to me.

This is a vital part of the threefold nature of ministry. If we simply look to the urgency and authentic lifestyle of Paul we might quickly say, "Well...obviously...Paul was a one off, a first century apostle with a very unique role in the history of the church. Look at me and my gifts/abilities - God clearly wants me to act differently!"

Knowing that Paul wasn't a super-human means we too can step into this type of ministry. Paul was not impervious to the emotional (and physical) drain of his struggles, and he desperately longed for human company and love (cf. 2 Tim. 4:9-13) - just like us.

Certainly, we have in the church a group of individuals who are set-apart for the important role of priests. But we must NEVER forget that we are all called to imitate Paul, as he imitated Jesus. When we reach out to the world (as we must) we should do so with urgency, honesty, and love.

Now what?

When we turned our minds to living this stuff out, and we considered our witness we were confronted by two questions:

1. In what ways is God calling us to minister - urgently, authentically, and with vulnerability - in our present situation?

2. What one thing could we do this week to ensure we are growing as Christians - taking the urgency of growth seriously?

Yesterday was an Ember day - a day to pray about and for ministry/those preparing for ordination/those who are priests...

The prayer book I use had the following prayers in them:

Loving God,

from birth to death you hold us in your hand:

make us strong to bear each other's burden

and humble to share our own

that, as one family,

we may rest in your strength

and trust in your love;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

This first prayer, for me, gets to the heart of growth - bearing one another's burdens (a further mark of cell community as well). When we share our burdens with others we grow...



Almighty and everlasting God,
by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church
is governed and sanctified:
hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people,
that in their vocation and ministry
they may serve you in holiness and truth
to the glory of your name;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

This second prayer focuses on our universal ministry of reconciliation - we are all called to serve God. As Peter reminds us, "you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you might declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." (2 Peter 2:9)

Lest we get ahead of ourselves though...we must note that in this latter prayer it is the Spirit's work to enable us to minister. Indeed, when Paul lists his many hardships in the passage we looked at he suddenly starts referring to the various blessings he received.

I encourage you to think and pray through this list - asking God to bless you with these fruits/gifts:

Purity

Knowledge

Patience

Kindness

Holiness of Spirit

Genuine Love

Truthful Speech, and

Power of God

(2 Corinthians 6:6-7)