It never pays to look for the rainbow till the rain has gone. It is the only way to be sure of the faithfulness of God's promises.
The rock of man's existence and all of creation is the faithfulness of God. The gospel is the story of that faithfulness. Man does not need faith, he needs a faithful God. The only One who can assure us of an everlasting existence at home with God is Jesus, the One who was the first born of that Father God, standing before Him as creation was spoken into being, rejoicing even then and delighting in man, the crown of that creation, made in the highest possible likeness of God. The only image of God permitted on earth to represent and rule in God's name over all He made, carrying the praises of that creation back into the courts of heaven.
Saturday, 13 July 2013
Sunday, 18 January 2009
NO GOLD AT THE END OF MY RAINBOW
After 25 years in a most spiritually-minded, non-conformist congregation in South Africa, I studied for a Diploma in Theology which would enable me to enter full-time mission work as a physiotherapist – a childhood dream. This was regarded as the highest honour. Furthermore my grandparents were missionaries. In conflict with this vision, I found it impossible to confront my unbelieving contemporaries with their sinfulness and need of salvation, which was much encouraged in my denomination.
After 2 years training at Theological College I became a pastoral assistant in my home church, assured that I would have a ministry amongst friends who wanted to be built up in their faith. Whilst at college I discovered the riches of the Bible through exegesis using the original languages. My study of the deeper meaning of a passage and the treasures it brought forth gave rise to a 23 year Bible Study ministry to the women of the congregations I was in. I had married a reformed minister and complemented his ministry.
For me, a ‘high’ was to discover Biblical truths and their implications for today and then to share this with others. I used questions to stimulate godly thinking and the studies had a profound effect on those who attended. My life was dominated by curiosity and reason. As it says in Ecclesiastes 12: vs 9, “Pondered , sought out and set in order” and it was profoundly satisfying.
Early on in my ministry I had been disillusioned by the lack of concern for the spiritual growth of the congregation shown by leaders of the church. This spurred me on to discover a true spirituality to be shared with others. I never wished to dominate the men but would rather share my insights with them and for them then to take the lead. I was searching for other seekers after truth, those concerned for the care of souls. This concern never left me.
Intensive Bible study, extensive reading and listening to sermons within the teachings of the reformation, gave me a vast knowledge of Biblical truth with all its themes. This brought me an immense sense of fulfilment and joy. I was acutely aware of deviations from accepted truths and defending reformed truth was a mainstay of my ministry. I was like a mother hen, shielding her chicks from any breath of heresy.
I had many numinous moments meditating on the Scriptures. It was all about knowing God, ‘And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God’ John 17 vs 3, a search which has been made down through the ages. One day I consciously set myself to know Him more than anything else, not realising that I also desired the heavenly feelings I had, associated with my searching of the Scriptures. This was a turning moment in my life. That same day a darkness and heaviness descended on me and cut me off from any sense of spiritual reality. This was never to leave me.
I now had two anxieties – where were fellow seekers after spirituality, and what was the way of discerning whether a new experiential insight was enlightenment from God or not? What about all I had learned? Each day I would fight my way out of the darkness using Biblical knowledge to settle my fears and bring consolation. Each morning the struggle would start all over again. This persisted for many years. I persevered in the study of Scripture as I knew of no other way forward. Now and again I had a glimpse of a fellow traveller but no sustained sense of certainty. I devoured books on living a Christian life, both current and ancient.
Then I found myself in a situation where I had no power to overcome repeated temptation. Time and again I fell and could not change my heart even though I desired to do so. I used to say ‘ I know it is wrong but I cannot feel the evil of it’. It brought about my spiritual ruin and with it everything else. Time and again I would cry out ‘How can this have happened?’
Since then, through many years of soul-searching, I have re-evaluated all that I have believed and experienced. It was sparked off by a passing comment made by a visiting preacher that God debated as to how He could demonstrate His great love for man made in His image. His answer was to send His Son, born into a human body, who was truly put to death and so wrought our salvation. It began to dawn on me that it was a deed that saved us, not mere empty words. His resurrection a real coming back to life, so guaranteeing the life of God to all who recognised and trusted Him.
The thought that God did something rather than merely said something struck me forcibly. Did I really know this God? Was He a God of doing perhaps even more than saying? If I had it wrong, how many others had it wrong? Who then is a true Christian? What do they look like? What lies at the heart of Christianity? What are the marks of true spirituality? What is a genuine spiritual experience?
‘A Critique of 21st Century Christianity’ is the fruit of this search. I now have a large measure of relief that God is still the God He has always been, even though I have never known Him. He is infinitely greater and more loving than I could ever imagine to which there is only one response “Fear God and keep His commandments for this is whole duty of man” Ecclesiastes 12 : 13 . Fearing God in a Biblical sense is the gateway to knowing Him. God has promised :”The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him and He will show to them His covenant.” Psalm 25: 14
CRITQUE OF 21ST CENTUARY CHRISTIANITY
QUEST FOR GODLINESS?
PASSION FOR PLEASING GOD?
IT WOULD SEEM NOT.
Most of us live in a fast-changing, self-absorbed, hedonistic, destructive, vicious age. This ’evil insanity’ some would say, with death of the familiar. Like birds we sense a coming storm. There is a growing sense of alarm.
Even as Hamlet said “THE TIMES ARE OUT OF JOINT’.
Where are those who are called to set it right?
Where are godly pastors, leading their people in ‘paths of righteousness’ by thorough application of the Scripture in today’s world? ? Are they giving us wisdom to correctly discern the times we live in? Are we living a moment-by-moment God-pleasing life?
As in the days of the prophets we would rather not hear “Thus says the Word of the Lord” directed at current issues. We want comfort not confrontation. The church resembles a departure lounge rather than a battle station.
Is it as Amos prophesied, ‘ a famine of hearing the Word of the Lord’? Men shall rush to and fro to seek it, but will not find it. Secular voices are raising the alarm. They discern the ills of society and their causes, and mourn the loss of virtue and piety. They call for self-sacrifice and discipline, surely foundational to Christianity but not much in evidence.
Christians are plugged into modernity and all its comforts, driven by its energy. They think they can sanitise the world by adopting a Christian worldview, holding on to evangelical principles but living easy-going, half-worldly lives. To claim to be ‘born again’ is a talisman, enabling the subject to engage safely in the secular world with all its comforts.
Out of a fear of God, who sent the storm in judgement on Jonah’s disobedience, the pagan captain calls on Jonah, who is sleeping, to cry out to his God for salvation. The world is crying out to the Church but no one seems to hear or answer. Are we sleeping like Jonah, running away from our God-given task? Where is our fear of God?
HOW HAS THIS COME TO BE?
CENTURY OF THE SELF
Man’s self-absorbtion overtly seeped into wider society from the early seventies. Heralding a new life for all, the promotion of a good self-image was embraced by society. Christians claimed that God expected us to love ourselves so that we could love others. ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’
Early in the 20th Century, Edward Bernys, Sigmund Freud’s nephew, wanted to manipulate the urban masses who were now a significant factor in society. Whoever controlled them had both wealth and power. The masses and their drives could be a danger unless kept in check. Using his uncle’s insight, he advised giving them what they wanted, ensuring there was always something more which they thought they needed. He pioneered the role of public relations, another name for social manipulation. Everyone became fair game through advertising.
Luxuries become necessities. Progress ensures that there is always something new and better. We need to have it now and are entitled to it - ‘we are worth it’. L’Oreal’s phrase was a watershed in advertising. The religion of today is declared to be consumerism – one of the most powerful ideas to change the world. It is a new totalitarianism which thrives on choice and progress. Wealth is having endless possibilities to please oneself. It is always relative as some may have more possibilities than others.
If consumerism is the new religion, the internet is the altar, say some journalists. Look into a home, day or night, adults and children are worshipping, each at his own computer. As one critic said, ‘the room is bathed in soft radiance’ while they surf the net. They go on to say ‘There is a mysterious ancient monster lurking as an ancient god with messages from the ether.’ Youth create a world of their own, a virtual reality, with values of their own choice. There are no checks and balances. Anyone can play at make-believe murder. Craziness and evil are shared with others who approve and encourage them. We have bred a generation of self-pleasers in the thrall of self-worship.
Notorious Nobodies. A phrase coined by a concerned journalist who observes that celebrity worship has spawned those who have a neurotic desire to be known simply for their search for notoriety. Anyone, no matter how degraded, can be a celebrity. Shameless self-promotion is resulting in a 'self-esteem-rich youth market' which is leading society into a blind panic. Vacuous nobodies are the new avatars of the info age, self-worshipers, each seeking to be his own god, a process known as apotheosis. Web2.0 is ideal recruiting ground - a profitable source of income to advertisers. Times December 2006. “The Person of the Year is YOU. Welcome to your world!” It is an altar of empty narcissism, deadly to society.
Rebellion is the natural response to the discovery that there is a creator God who holds us responsible for our words and deeds in the light of His laws. Man rebels against God’s curse of death and hard labour, the fruit of man's fall from grace. He will not accept that he is barred fom paradise and demands the right to happiness even at the risk of others loosing theirs.
He seeks to soften the blows of an angry God. Weeding would keep us on our knees, unthinkable these days with our deadly weed killers. What do we know of sweat on our brows? Ready meals of the finest , junk food at the worst! Gyms replace manual labour while worn jeans and tatty trainers give the illusion of hard work. Electrically-driven modcons liberating our bodies from drudgery but debilitating our backs through lack of use. Abortion and euthanasia on demand. Every man has the right to everlasting health and well-being. Eternal youth pursued at any cost.
A sense of shame is gone. Man flouts his body before God and society. ‘Looking Good Naked’, ‘Uncovering Britain’. Are Christians guilty of following these fashions? Man before God calls on the rocks to cover him. At Horeb the Israelites could not bear to stand before the mountain. But today ‘there is no fear of God before their eyes’. Do Christians show awe and reverence towards God?
Secular society drives its members to please themselves. The Church calls for self-denial. They can never live together in harmony. Secularism, energised by consumerism, is winning. However it is the secular critics who are warning us of the danger of the self-made man who worships his creator. Why do these “modern-day prophets” use religious terms? Celebrities are honoured for their vices rather than heroes for their virtues. A Sunday victory parade, not for returning combatants, but for the local football team. Social critics mourn the loss of godly virtues. Service, suffering and sacrifice are not popular but the Church’s voice is still. Virtues of enduring hardship and self-denial are strangers to us.
WHAT IS THE SHAPE OF 21ST CENTURY SIN?
We are told to ask for our daily bread, but buy long-life loaves, pre-cut. Two for the price of one is enticing and economic sense. With food and clothing be content. Why do we always buy twice as much as we planned? Farmers receive a few pence for their coffee, others higher up the chain make over £200. Many today take a loan to finance their life-style, enticed to do so by financial institutions. Money changers in the temple? Banks bet with our money and consumerism drives the market. Secular critics rate greed as the driving force of the economy. We pray lead us not into temptation and spend the morning in the shopping mall. Was the industrial revolution indeed a god-send?
Does the Church today depict God’s wisdom to a watching world?
Are we held in esteem so that the world can say: ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. What great nation is there that has God so near to it?’ Deuteronomy 4: 6-8 America claims to be that nation, while displaying foolishness and insensitivity. As one writer put it ‘ What despicable sins they commit while they lift their heads high in sacred ignorance’. Does this honour God? George Waldon defines America’s 21st century religion ‘not as a rebirth of faith but a sprawl of spiritual self-indulgence in a religious market place’.
As J I Packer says, we have forgotten our Christian heritage and have become a ‘generation of spiritual pygmies, insipid to an alienated and desperate world.’
What view of Christianity does the Western Church reflect? As one journalist commented on the American forces in Afghanistan, ‘They know how to make themselves comfortable in a war zone’. He sees them commuting to war each day, their families safely at home. The ‘Christian’ voters in America are declaring their right to security, munching Hilary Clinton’s chocolates while mothers in Iraq are burying their children. On a so-called ‘Christian tour’ in Israel, the ‘godly’ viewed Armageddon, God’s final battlefield, from the safety of their aircraft, calling for the day to come quickly and relishing the prospect of the destruction of the wicked.
Is this a cross-shaped life, the image of God that He would make known to this world through His people?
As one writer said, the Church is speeding away from Golgotha into the kingdoms of this world, so enticingly offered by Satan who has not changed his ploys.
THE CURE
What is God’s answer to this smell of death that is pervading our world? ‘The stench of decadence’ as some call it? Where is the salt to preserve the putrefying mass of humanity?
Service, suffering and sacrifice, the fruit of true biblical, regenerating faith. These are words seldom heard in the West today, even in the Church. The blood, sweat and tears promised by Churchill in wartime, are indispensable today but we call out ‘I have a right to be happy’. The final day of Christ’s life revealed God’s will for Him, planned in eternity. The Servant Slave, who sweated blood in prayer against temptation, and gave Himself as a sacrifice on a wooden beam from a tree that He had created by the people He brought into being to love Him. His people cannot escape this way. As C S Lewis commented ‘We think it is Christ who will do all the dying.’ Paul’s response to the godliness of God was to call for men to present their bodies a living sacrifice. Only then will man know the mind of God and live lives pleasing to Him, as it says in Romans 12: 1,2.
Obedience is the theme of Scripture. As J Pelikan says in his book ‘Whose Bible is it?’ it was written to obey. Do we think of what it meant that Christ had to ‘learn obedience’? The kind of obedience that God called for was a day-to-day living out of obedience in a broken world of suffering. This calls for a grace unknown to man. There seems to be no other way. It is all too easy to show zeal for orthodoxy rather than for godliness. Obedience and holiness are inseparable, the best protection against heresy, ‘If anyone wants to do his will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on my own authority’. John 7 vs17.
Is there any hope that man will admit to this in today’s world when our churches look more often like luxurious conference centres, with a back drop of warm sands and palm trees? As one writer states ‘We want a low-maintenance religion with light duties and little self-sacrifice but with plenty of pious pretence.’ Music and massage, rather than military discipline.
Do preachers today ‘send nails of terror into sleeping souls’? The puritans did, out of concern for men’s souls. Thus did John Wesley preach before the learned men of Oxford. He and Whitefield spoke so that their listeners thought they were being personally addressed and put into a fear of God. These men’s lives were driven for the glory of God and the saving of men. Satan never takes a day off and neither did they.
As Bishop J C Ryle says, for Christians holiness is not an option. What does it mean to develop holy habits? To daily renounce a self-serving spirit and replace it with a God-pleasing one. We are told to exercise our senses in order to discern right from wrong. Hebrews 5 vs ,14. This is an un-ending task, especially in our evil times, with change and choice racing us daily into further godlessness. With today’s speed of communication and unending choice, we have to ‘think without thinking’. Our response has to flow from an educated subconscious, formed by all our experiences of life. What are we using to educate ours? Only a godly subconscious can lead to God-pleasing thinking, separating the ‘vile from the precious’. More than ever our minds need to be drenched with the mind of Christ, who set Himself to please His Father. In his forward to ‘The Quest for Godliness’ J I Packer remarked in 1995, that the despicable state of the Church in our time must be due to the inability to think in this way, many unskilled in the word of righteousness.
It is worse than this. We typify the Laodician church with our complacency. We are somnolent, shallow and stuffy. As someone has said there are 'sleep-inducing eulogies from Laodician lips'. We have the smell of death about us. We must not be surprised if God spits us out.
Concerned for the future of a civilised society, Scruton, in his book ‘True Conservatism’, emphasises that we must inculcate honourable virtues in our children if there is to be a future worth living. Discipline, self denial and endurance of hard-ship are essential, all strangers to us. He maintains that there is a thread which runs through the generations. Only those who give a thought to the deceased and their values and pass these on to the unborn, demonstrate a value for the dignity of life.
As C S Lewis advised: the purpose of education is ‘to know what to approve and what to disapprove’ in other words to develop a clear ‘moral landscape’. In God’s eyes it is to separate the vile from the precious. Remarks made by a pastor of long ago: ‘there are only 66 books in the Scriptures in order to make us understand that it is not in many writings that man becomes wise’ In early days this wisdom was passed on from generation to generation by word of mouth as we see clearly in Deuteronomy 6.
So then what does God require? What only He can give. A God-fearing heart – the beginning of true wisdom. “I will take out the hearts of stone (self-pleasing) and give them hearts of flesh (God-pleasing). I WILL put my spirit within them and they WILL walk in my ways”
An ancient hymn states it thus:
Open thou mine eyes and I shall see
Incline my heart and I shall desire
Order my steps and I shall walk
In the ways of thy commandments.
What are the means God uses to bring about this renewal?
GODLY LEADERS
PASTORS WHO ARE FRIENDS OF MEN’S SOULS, WITH A PASSION FOR COMMENDING CHRIST AS SAVIOUR AND HAVING A HEARTFELT DESIRE TO PLEASE GOD IN THEIR OWN LIVES.
Who are such men?
There have always been such servants, at certain times more than others. They are marked out by Biblical authority and a fear of God. There is a biblical ancestry, a heritage of spirituality passed down succeeding generations. Paul talks of this to Timothy. 2 Timothy
Here are some who stand out, headed by the Reformers.
GERMAN PIETISTS 1560’s onwards.
Men who were Luther’s disciples, concerned about the excessive scholasticism of the Reformation at the expense of training in godliness. They knew that a renewed life was the chief concern of Luther. Practice of piety, rather than disputations of doctrine, was the main concern of their students of theology. Holiness is after all, the best protection against heresy.
Their vision was to encourage a heart-felt desire in His people to live a God-pleasing life in the body of the church. God who is good enough to save us is strong enough to change us, was their watchword. What was the fruit of this zeal? They worked out their salvation through acts of love to their members, the society in which they lived and the wider world.
PURITANS 1600’s onwards
Reformers gave great expositions on what God has done for His people. The Puritans’ legacy was authoritative declarations of what God does in His people. In fear of God, they exercised their own hearts and minds before addressing the hearts and minds of others. Thus they were able to exercise true, Biblical authority and so revived God’s people.
EVANGELICAL REVIVAL OF 18TH CENTURY
Many godly men such as Whitfield, John Wesley, Romaine, Grimshaw and Venn amongst others, devoted their lives to the cure and care of man’s soul.
PASTORS AND PREACHERS OF 19TH CENTURY
J C Ryle
He was a true shepherd of his extensive flock, through his writing as well as his preaching. His ministry was to cure the souls of believers and warn the unconcerned. He had a gift of addressing readers as if the care of their soul was his chief concern. They were driven to pay attention. To him holiness was never an option. He called his readers to “ return to the old ways of the seriousness of sin”. Man needed to see his true estate as that of the thief on the cross.
C H Spurgeon
He fed himself on the meat of the Puritans and learned to emulate their zeal for godliness. He was known as the ‘prince of preachers’ commending Christ in every sermon.
THEY WERE ALL FRIENDS OF THE SOUL
In all these ministries the concern for the cure of men’s souls was paramount, the cause of the fatal illness, sin. They drove men to self-judgement “ripping their consciences to pieces” Self-centred living had to be exposed. The truth was clearly applied to men’s lives, each feeling as if they alone were addressed and known to the pastor. Man was to be remade in the image of Christ.
They were expert at giving their flock “precious remedies against Satan’s devices” Men need to be warned of dangers to the soul in each age. As C S Lewis warns ‘those who marry the spirit of the age will soon be a widow’. We need those who can discern this spirit and warn their people of the dangers, leading their flock in the paths of righteousness. We are so easily deceived and can live in self-delusion.
All too often there is a zeal for orthodoxy but neglect of daily godliness. Enthusiastic religion can be mistaken for spirituality. A true pastor is a godly man who yet engages with the world, teaching his people wisdom on how to live in an ungodly age. He has deep concern for their spiritual well-being. Fearing God, he will be driven by a heartfelt desire to please Him, and, careful of his own life, he will foster a quest for godliness in his people.
Who are your friends?
Where are they going?
If we truly hear the words of God, as before Horeb, we will fear Him, a thought repeatedly expressed in Deuteronomy. God has a passionate longing for the hearts of His people. ‘Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all my commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!’ Deut 5:29
Surely a pastor should long to turn the hearts of his flock towards God? Such ministry is imperative if believers are going to stand firm in ‘this evil insanity’. He will call for service, suffering and sacrifice, the price of Christian certainty. 2 Peter 1: 5 - 11. What a tragedy that secular critics are crying from the housetops for piety and virtue but our spiritual leaders are so often silent.
“There will be a famine … of hearing the Word of God… Men will rush to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord but shall not find it”. Amos 8 :11,12
WHAT THEN IS TRUE CHRISTIANITY?
HEART-FELT DESIRES FOR A GOD-PLEASING LIFE.
This was the driving force of the life of God’s only son. His love for His father and obedience to His will in suffering even until death, was commended by His Father: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”. What does God have to say to us? Do we stop to ask this of ourselves?
True Christianity starts with an overwhelming fear of God. This is unmistakable. There is a sense of awe, a reverence and humility observant to all. Even men of this world can evidence this. Some of the rulers in the Scripture, and men in our own day put us to shame.This is the duty of all men: Fear God and obey Him for this is the whole duty of man. Ecclesiastes 12:13
This fear is lived out in obedience, in deeds and words springing from a pure heart and a renewed mind. We are called to learn obedience even as He did in the things He suffered. It is this which is pleasing to God. ‘Bringing many sons to glory He makes the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings’. Hebrews 2:10. Our lives will be cross-shaped. Such lives are rare today in our secular world.
True spirituality then, is being remade in the image of God in Christ through service, suffering and sacrifice.
What is the chief end of man?
TO LIVE A GOD-FEARING LIFE IN A SIN-DRENCHED WORLD, BRINGING PLEASURE TO HIM AS HE DELIGHTS IN US, REMAKING US IN THE IMAGE OF HIS BELOVED SON.
Then I was beside Him, as a master craftsman;
And I was daily His delight
Rejoicing always before Him
Rejoicing in His inhabited world,
And my delight was with the sons of men.
Proverbs 8: 30-31
The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you in His love,
He will joy over thee with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17
In this life blood, sweat and tears.
In the next, everlasting joy, the unending passion of God for His people whom He has loved since before the foundation of the world.
As C S Lewis said: Joy is the serious business of heaven.
AND SO TO THE END, THE POINT WHERE IT ALL STARTED.
In my journey of confusion and turmoil I have met some friends. They are friends of the soul.
My son was given a book on the Gospels by Bishop Ryle and found him to have a vital Christianity relevant to everyday life, even though from the 19th century. Someone who could be a spiritual mentor – someone sadly lacking in our day. I was intrigued and when, by chance, my eye fell on his book ‘Holiness’ with a forward by J Packer, I began to read. As I did so I knew I had never met a man like that before. He was God-fearing with a zeal for promoting holiness in God’s people. It was like finding a spring in the wilderness. He introduced me to his friends, all of whom had a passion for saving and curing men’s souls. They commended Christ at every opportunity and had a zeal for living a God-pleasing life. I also discovered Luther’s disciples who had a deep concern to promote godliness. They too lost no opportunity to commend Christ.
There is indeed a true spirituality.
A passion for pleasing God.
A passion for commending Christ.
A passion for curing men’s souls.
On God's part a passion for the joy of His people.
I knew then that I was not searching for truth, but for a living embodiment of it. The world is dark and there are few lights. This plight is evident to the secular world - men without godly faith but with a real concern for the future of mankind. They are rousing us to call on our God for salvation but we sleep on. 'The worst chains are those that are unseen and unfelt by the prisoner'
.
We are in a 24/7 world which is never silent. Men walk, plugged into a world of their own design. There have never been so many competing voices, so many sirens singing their songs of deceit, lulling us into apathy and worse yet the sleep of death.
Perhaps we are in a famine of hearing the One voice we need to hear above all others.
These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the beginning of the Creation of God:
"I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of my mouth. Because you say 'I am rich, have become wealthy and have need of nothing' - and do not know you are wretched, miserable, poor , blind and naked - I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eyesalve, that you may see.
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in and sup with him and he with me.’ Revelation 3: 1 - 20
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
T S Elliot
'I see the rainbow through tears but do not have the gold. I sometimes see it sparkle in others and am grateful.'
APRIL 2008
After 2 years training at Theological College I became a pastoral assistant in my home church, assured that I would have a ministry amongst friends who wanted to be built up in their faith. Whilst at college I discovered the riches of the Bible through exegesis using the original languages. My study of the deeper meaning of a passage and the treasures it brought forth gave rise to a 23 year Bible Study ministry to the women of the congregations I was in. I had married a reformed minister and complemented his ministry.
For me, a ‘high’ was to discover Biblical truths and their implications for today and then to share this with others. I used questions to stimulate godly thinking and the studies had a profound effect on those who attended. My life was dominated by curiosity and reason. As it says in Ecclesiastes 12: vs 9, “Pondered , sought out and set in order” and it was profoundly satisfying.
Early on in my ministry I had been disillusioned by the lack of concern for the spiritual growth of the congregation shown by leaders of the church. This spurred me on to discover a true spirituality to be shared with others. I never wished to dominate the men but would rather share my insights with them and for them then to take the lead. I was searching for other seekers after truth, those concerned for the care of souls. This concern never left me.
Intensive Bible study, extensive reading and listening to sermons within the teachings of the reformation, gave me a vast knowledge of Biblical truth with all its themes. This brought me an immense sense of fulfilment and joy. I was acutely aware of deviations from accepted truths and defending reformed truth was a mainstay of my ministry. I was like a mother hen, shielding her chicks from any breath of heresy.
I had many numinous moments meditating on the Scriptures. It was all about knowing God, ‘And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God’ John 17 vs 3, a search which has been made down through the ages. One day I consciously set myself to know Him more than anything else, not realising that I also desired the heavenly feelings I had, associated with my searching of the Scriptures. This was a turning moment in my life. That same day a darkness and heaviness descended on me and cut me off from any sense of spiritual reality. This was never to leave me.
I now had two anxieties – where were fellow seekers after spirituality, and what was the way of discerning whether a new experiential insight was enlightenment from God or not? What about all I had learned? Each day I would fight my way out of the darkness using Biblical knowledge to settle my fears and bring consolation. Each morning the struggle would start all over again. This persisted for many years. I persevered in the study of Scripture as I knew of no other way forward. Now and again I had a glimpse of a fellow traveller but no sustained sense of certainty. I devoured books on living a Christian life, both current and ancient.
Then I found myself in a situation where I had no power to overcome repeated temptation. Time and again I fell and could not change my heart even though I desired to do so. I used to say ‘ I know it is wrong but I cannot feel the evil of it’. It brought about my spiritual ruin and with it everything else. Time and again I would cry out ‘How can this have happened?’
Since then, through many years of soul-searching, I have re-evaluated all that I have believed and experienced. It was sparked off by a passing comment made by a visiting preacher that God debated as to how He could demonstrate His great love for man made in His image. His answer was to send His Son, born into a human body, who was truly put to death and so wrought our salvation. It began to dawn on me that it was a deed that saved us, not mere empty words. His resurrection a real coming back to life, so guaranteeing the life of God to all who recognised and trusted Him.
The thought that God did something rather than merely said something struck me forcibly. Did I really know this God? Was He a God of doing perhaps even more than saying? If I had it wrong, how many others had it wrong? Who then is a true Christian? What do they look like? What lies at the heart of Christianity? What are the marks of true spirituality? What is a genuine spiritual experience?
‘A Critique of 21st Century Christianity’ is the fruit of this search. I now have a large measure of relief that God is still the God He has always been, even though I have never known Him. He is infinitely greater and more loving than I could ever imagine to which there is only one response “Fear God and keep His commandments for this is whole duty of man” Ecclesiastes 12 : 13 . Fearing God in a Biblical sense is the gateway to knowing Him. God has promised :”The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him and He will show to them His covenant.” Psalm 25: 14
CRITQUE OF 21ST CENTUARY CHRISTIANITY
QUEST FOR GODLINESS?
PASSION FOR PLEASING GOD?
IT WOULD SEEM NOT.
Most of us live in a fast-changing, self-absorbed, hedonistic, destructive, vicious age. This ’evil insanity’ some would say, with death of the familiar. Like birds we sense a coming storm. There is a growing sense of alarm.
Even as Hamlet said “THE TIMES ARE OUT OF JOINT’.
Where are those who are called to set it right?
Where are godly pastors, leading their people in ‘paths of righteousness’ by thorough application of the Scripture in today’s world? ? Are they giving us wisdom to correctly discern the times we live in? Are we living a moment-by-moment God-pleasing life?
As in the days of the prophets we would rather not hear “Thus says the Word of the Lord” directed at current issues. We want comfort not confrontation. The church resembles a departure lounge rather than a battle station.
Is it as Amos prophesied, ‘ a famine of hearing the Word of the Lord’? Men shall rush to and fro to seek it, but will not find it. Secular voices are raising the alarm. They discern the ills of society and their causes, and mourn the loss of virtue and piety. They call for self-sacrifice and discipline, surely foundational to Christianity but not much in evidence.
Christians are plugged into modernity and all its comforts, driven by its energy. They think they can sanitise the world by adopting a Christian worldview, holding on to evangelical principles but living easy-going, half-worldly lives. To claim to be ‘born again’ is a talisman, enabling the subject to engage safely in the secular world with all its comforts.
Out of a fear of God, who sent the storm in judgement on Jonah’s disobedience, the pagan captain calls on Jonah, who is sleeping, to cry out to his God for salvation. The world is crying out to the Church but no one seems to hear or answer. Are we sleeping like Jonah, running away from our God-given task? Where is our fear of God?
HOW HAS THIS COME TO BE?
CENTURY OF THE SELF
Man’s self-absorbtion overtly seeped into wider society from the early seventies. Heralding a new life for all, the promotion of a good self-image was embraced by society. Christians claimed that God expected us to love ourselves so that we could love others. ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’
Early in the 20th Century, Edward Bernys, Sigmund Freud’s nephew, wanted to manipulate the urban masses who were now a significant factor in society. Whoever controlled them had both wealth and power. The masses and their drives could be a danger unless kept in check. Using his uncle’s insight, he advised giving them what they wanted, ensuring there was always something more which they thought they needed. He pioneered the role of public relations, another name for social manipulation. Everyone became fair game through advertising.
Luxuries become necessities. Progress ensures that there is always something new and better. We need to have it now and are entitled to it - ‘we are worth it’. L’Oreal’s phrase was a watershed in advertising. The religion of today is declared to be consumerism – one of the most powerful ideas to change the world. It is a new totalitarianism which thrives on choice and progress. Wealth is having endless possibilities to please oneself. It is always relative as some may have more possibilities than others.
If consumerism is the new religion, the internet is the altar, say some journalists. Look into a home, day or night, adults and children are worshipping, each at his own computer. As one critic said, ‘the room is bathed in soft radiance’ while they surf the net. They go on to say ‘There is a mysterious ancient monster lurking as an ancient god with messages from the ether.’ Youth create a world of their own, a virtual reality, with values of their own choice. There are no checks and balances. Anyone can play at make-believe murder. Craziness and evil are shared with others who approve and encourage them. We have bred a generation of self-pleasers in the thrall of self-worship.
Notorious Nobodies. A phrase coined by a concerned journalist who observes that celebrity worship has spawned those who have a neurotic desire to be known simply for their search for notoriety. Anyone, no matter how degraded, can be a celebrity. Shameless self-promotion is resulting in a 'self-esteem-rich youth market' which is leading society into a blind panic. Vacuous nobodies are the new avatars of the info age, self-worshipers, each seeking to be his own god, a process known as apotheosis. Web2.0 is ideal recruiting ground - a profitable source of income to advertisers. Times December 2006. “The Person of the Year is YOU. Welcome to your world!” It is an altar of empty narcissism, deadly to society.
Rebellion is the natural response to the discovery that there is a creator God who holds us responsible for our words and deeds in the light of His laws. Man rebels against God’s curse of death and hard labour, the fruit of man's fall from grace. He will not accept that he is barred fom paradise and demands the right to happiness even at the risk of others loosing theirs.
He seeks to soften the blows of an angry God. Weeding would keep us on our knees, unthinkable these days with our deadly weed killers. What do we know of sweat on our brows? Ready meals of the finest , junk food at the worst! Gyms replace manual labour while worn jeans and tatty trainers give the illusion of hard work. Electrically-driven modcons liberating our bodies from drudgery but debilitating our backs through lack of use. Abortion and euthanasia on demand. Every man has the right to everlasting health and well-being. Eternal youth pursued at any cost.
A sense of shame is gone. Man flouts his body before God and society. ‘Looking Good Naked’, ‘Uncovering Britain’. Are Christians guilty of following these fashions? Man before God calls on the rocks to cover him. At Horeb the Israelites could not bear to stand before the mountain. But today ‘there is no fear of God before their eyes’. Do Christians show awe and reverence towards God?
Secular society drives its members to please themselves. The Church calls for self-denial. They can never live together in harmony. Secularism, energised by consumerism, is winning. However it is the secular critics who are warning us of the danger of the self-made man who worships his creator. Why do these “modern-day prophets” use religious terms? Celebrities are honoured for their vices rather than heroes for their virtues. A Sunday victory parade, not for returning combatants, but for the local football team. Social critics mourn the loss of godly virtues. Service, suffering and sacrifice are not popular but the Church’s voice is still. Virtues of enduring hardship and self-denial are strangers to us.
WHAT IS THE SHAPE OF 21ST CENTURY SIN?
We are told to ask for our daily bread, but buy long-life loaves, pre-cut. Two for the price of one is enticing and economic sense. With food and clothing be content. Why do we always buy twice as much as we planned? Farmers receive a few pence for their coffee, others higher up the chain make over £200. Many today take a loan to finance their life-style, enticed to do so by financial institutions. Money changers in the temple? Banks bet with our money and consumerism drives the market. Secular critics rate greed as the driving force of the economy. We pray lead us not into temptation and spend the morning in the shopping mall. Was the industrial revolution indeed a god-send?
Does the Church today depict God’s wisdom to a watching world?
Are we held in esteem so that the world can say: ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. What great nation is there that has God so near to it?’ Deuteronomy 4: 6-8 America claims to be that nation, while displaying foolishness and insensitivity. As one writer put it ‘ What despicable sins they commit while they lift their heads high in sacred ignorance’. Does this honour God? George Waldon defines America’s 21st century religion ‘not as a rebirth of faith but a sprawl of spiritual self-indulgence in a religious market place’.
As J I Packer says, we have forgotten our Christian heritage and have become a ‘generation of spiritual pygmies, insipid to an alienated and desperate world.’
What view of Christianity does the Western Church reflect? As one journalist commented on the American forces in Afghanistan, ‘They know how to make themselves comfortable in a war zone’. He sees them commuting to war each day, their families safely at home. The ‘Christian’ voters in America are declaring their right to security, munching Hilary Clinton’s chocolates while mothers in Iraq are burying their children. On a so-called ‘Christian tour’ in Israel, the ‘godly’ viewed Armageddon, God’s final battlefield, from the safety of their aircraft, calling for the day to come quickly and relishing the prospect of the destruction of the wicked.
Is this a cross-shaped life, the image of God that He would make known to this world through His people?
As one writer said, the Church is speeding away from Golgotha into the kingdoms of this world, so enticingly offered by Satan who has not changed his ploys.
THE CURE
What is God’s answer to this smell of death that is pervading our world? ‘The stench of decadence’ as some call it? Where is the salt to preserve the putrefying mass of humanity?
Service, suffering and sacrifice, the fruit of true biblical, regenerating faith. These are words seldom heard in the West today, even in the Church. The blood, sweat and tears promised by Churchill in wartime, are indispensable today but we call out ‘I have a right to be happy’. The final day of Christ’s life revealed God’s will for Him, planned in eternity. The Servant Slave, who sweated blood in prayer against temptation, and gave Himself as a sacrifice on a wooden beam from a tree that He had created by the people He brought into being to love Him. His people cannot escape this way. As C S Lewis commented ‘We think it is Christ who will do all the dying.’ Paul’s response to the godliness of God was to call for men to present their bodies a living sacrifice. Only then will man know the mind of God and live lives pleasing to Him, as it says in Romans 12: 1,2.
Obedience is the theme of Scripture. As J Pelikan says in his book ‘Whose Bible is it?’ it was written to obey. Do we think of what it meant that Christ had to ‘learn obedience’? The kind of obedience that God called for was a day-to-day living out of obedience in a broken world of suffering. This calls for a grace unknown to man. There seems to be no other way. It is all too easy to show zeal for orthodoxy rather than for godliness. Obedience and holiness are inseparable, the best protection against heresy, ‘If anyone wants to do his will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on my own authority’. John 7 vs17.
Is there any hope that man will admit to this in today’s world when our churches look more often like luxurious conference centres, with a back drop of warm sands and palm trees? As one writer states ‘We want a low-maintenance religion with light duties and little self-sacrifice but with plenty of pious pretence.’ Music and massage, rather than military discipline.
Do preachers today ‘send nails of terror into sleeping souls’? The puritans did, out of concern for men’s souls. Thus did John Wesley preach before the learned men of Oxford. He and Whitefield spoke so that their listeners thought they were being personally addressed and put into a fear of God. These men’s lives were driven for the glory of God and the saving of men. Satan never takes a day off and neither did they.
As Bishop J C Ryle says, for Christians holiness is not an option. What does it mean to develop holy habits? To daily renounce a self-serving spirit and replace it with a God-pleasing one. We are told to exercise our senses in order to discern right from wrong. Hebrews 5 vs ,14. This is an un-ending task, especially in our evil times, with change and choice racing us daily into further godlessness. With today’s speed of communication and unending choice, we have to ‘think without thinking’. Our response has to flow from an educated subconscious, formed by all our experiences of life. What are we using to educate ours? Only a godly subconscious can lead to God-pleasing thinking, separating the ‘vile from the precious’. More than ever our minds need to be drenched with the mind of Christ, who set Himself to please His Father. In his forward to ‘The Quest for Godliness’ J I Packer remarked in 1995, that the despicable state of the Church in our time must be due to the inability to think in this way, many unskilled in the word of righteousness.
It is worse than this. We typify the Laodician church with our complacency. We are somnolent, shallow and stuffy. As someone has said there are 'sleep-inducing eulogies from Laodician lips'. We have the smell of death about us. We must not be surprised if God spits us out.
Concerned for the future of a civilised society, Scruton, in his book ‘True Conservatism’, emphasises that we must inculcate honourable virtues in our children if there is to be a future worth living. Discipline, self denial and endurance of hard-ship are essential, all strangers to us. He maintains that there is a thread which runs through the generations. Only those who give a thought to the deceased and their values and pass these on to the unborn, demonstrate a value for the dignity of life.
As C S Lewis advised: the purpose of education is ‘to know what to approve and what to disapprove’ in other words to develop a clear ‘moral landscape’. In God’s eyes it is to separate the vile from the precious. Remarks made by a pastor of long ago: ‘there are only 66 books in the Scriptures in order to make us understand that it is not in many writings that man becomes wise’ In early days this wisdom was passed on from generation to generation by word of mouth as we see clearly in Deuteronomy 6.
So then what does God require? What only He can give. A God-fearing heart – the beginning of true wisdom. “I will take out the hearts of stone (self-pleasing) and give them hearts of flesh (God-pleasing). I WILL put my spirit within them and they WILL walk in my ways”
An ancient hymn states it thus:
Open thou mine eyes and I shall see
Incline my heart and I shall desire
Order my steps and I shall walk
In the ways of thy commandments.
What are the means God uses to bring about this renewal?
GODLY LEADERS
PASTORS WHO ARE FRIENDS OF MEN’S SOULS, WITH A PASSION FOR COMMENDING CHRIST AS SAVIOUR AND HAVING A HEARTFELT DESIRE TO PLEASE GOD IN THEIR OWN LIVES.
Who are such men?
There have always been such servants, at certain times more than others. They are marked out by Biblical authority and a fear of God. There is a biblical ancestry, a heritage of spirituality passed down succeeding generations. Paul talks of this to Timothy. 2 Timothy
Here are some who stand out, headed by the Reformers.
GERMAN PIETISTS 1560’s onwards.
Men who were Luther’s disciples, concerned about the excessive scholasticism of the Reformation at the expense of training in godliness. They knew that a renewed life was the chief concern of Luther. Practice of piety, rather than disputations of doctrine, was the main concern of their students of theology. Holiness is after all, the best protection against heresy.
Their vision was to encourage a heart-felt desire in His people to live a God-pleasing life in the body of the church. God who is good enough to save us is strong enough to change us, was their watchword. What was the fruit of this zeal? They worked out their salvation through acts of love to their members, the society in which they lived and the wider world.
PURITANS 1600’s onwards
Reformers gave great expositions on what God has done for His people. The Puritans’ legacy was authoritative declarations of what God does in His people. In fear of God, they exercised their own hearts and minds before addressing the hearts and minds of others. Thus they were able to exercise true, Biblical authority and so revived God’s people.
EVANGELICAL REVIVAL OF 18TH CENTURY
Many godly men such as Whitfield, John Wesley, Romaine, Grimshaw and Venn amongst others, devoted their lives to the cure and care of man’s soul.
PASTORS AND PREACHERS OF 19TH CENTURY
J C Ryle
He was a true shepherd of his extensive flock, through his writing as well as his preaching. His ministry was to cure the souls of believers and warn the unconcerned. He had a gift of addressing readers as if the care of their soul was his chief concern. They were driven to pay attention. To him holiness was never an option. He called his readers to “ return to the old ways of the seriousness of sin”. Man needed to see his true estate as that of the thief on the cross.
C H Spurgeon
He fed himself on the meat of the Puritans and learned to emulate their zeal for godliness. He was known as the ‘prince of preachers’ commending Christ in every sermon.
THEY WERE ALL FRIENDS OF THE SOUL
In all these ministries the concern for the cure of men’s souls was paramount, the cause of the fatal illness, sin. They drove men to self-judgement “ripping their consciences to pieces” Self-centred living had to be exposed. The truth was clearly applied to men’s lives, each feeling as if they alone were addressed and known to the pastor. Man was to be remade in the image of Christ.
They were expert at giving their flock “precious remedies against Satan’s devices” Men need to be warned of dangers to the soul in each age. As C S Lewis warns ‘those who marry the spirit of the age will soon be a widow’. We need those who can discern this spirit and warn their people of the dangers, leading their flock in the paths of righteousness. We are so easily deceived and can live in self-delusion.
All too often there is a zeal for orthodoxy but neglect of daily godliness. Enthusiastic religion can be mistaken for spirituality. A true pastor is a godly man who yet engages with the world, teaching his people wisdom on how to live in an ungodly age. He has deep concern for their spiritual well-being. Fearing God, he will be driven by a heartfelt desire to please Him, and, careful of his own life, he will foster a quest for godliness in his people.
Who are your friends?
Where are they going?
If we truly hear the words of God, as before Horeb, we will fear Him, a thought repeatedly expressed in Deuteronomy. God has a passionate longing for the hearts of His people. ‘Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all my commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!’ Deut 5:29
Surely a pastor should long to turn the hearts of his flock towards God? Such ministry is imperative if believers are going to stand firm in ‘this evil insanity’. He will call for service, suffering and sacrifice, the price of Christian certainty. 2 Peter 1: 5 - 11. What a tragedy that secular critics are crying from the housetops for piety and virtue but our spiritual leaders are so often silent.
“There will be a famine … of hearing the Word of God… Men will rush to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord but shall not find it”. Amos 8 :11,12
WHAT THEN IS TRUE CHRISTIANITY?
HEART-FELT DESIRES FOR A GOD-PLEASING LIFE.
This was the driving force of the life of God’s only son. His love for His father and obedience to His will in suffering even until death, was commended by His Father: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”. What does God have to say to us? Do we stop to ask this of ourselves?
True Christianity starts with an overwhelming fear of God. This is unmistakable. There is a sense of awe, a reverence and humility observant to all. Even men of this world can evidence this. Some of the rulers in the Scripture, and men in our own day put us to shame.This is the duty of all men: Fear God and obey Him for this is the whole duty of man. Ecclesiastes 12:13
This fear is lived out in obedience, in deeds and words springing from a pure heart and a renewed mind. We are called to learn obedience even as He did in the things He suffered. It is this which is pleasing to God. ‘Bringing many sons to glory He makes the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings’. Hebrews 2:10. Our lives will be cross-shaped. Such lives are rare today in our secular world.
True spirituality then, is being remade in the image of God in Christ through service, suffering and sacrifice.
What is the chief end of man?
TO LIVE A GOD-FEARING LIFE IN A SIN-DRENCHED WORLD, BRINGING PLEASURE TO HIM AS HE DELIGHTS IN US, REMAKING US IN THE IMAGE OF HIS BELOVED SON.
Then I was beside Him, as a master craftsman;
And I was daily His delight
Rejoicing always before Him
Rejoicing in His inhabited world,
And my delight was with the sons of men.
Proverbs 8: 30-31
The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you in His love,
He will joy over thee with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17
In this life blood, sweat and tears.
In the next, everlasting joy, the unending passion of God for His people whom He has loved since before the foundation of the world.
As C S Lewis said: Joy is the serious business of heaven.
AND SO TO THE END, THE POINT WHERE IT ALL STARTED.
In my journey of confusion and turmoil I have met some friends. They are friends of the soul.
My son was given a book on the Gospels by Bishop Ryle and found him to have a vital Christianity relevant to everyday life, even though from the 19th century. Someone who could be a spiritual mentor – someone sadly lacking in our day. I was intrigued and when, by chance, my eye fell on his book ‘Holiness’ with a forward by J Packer, I began to read. As I did so I knew I had never met a man like that before. He was God-fearing with a zeal for promoting holiness in God’s people. It was like finding a spring in the wilderness. He introduced me to his friends, all of whom had a passion for saving and curing men’s souls. They commended Christ at every opportunity and had a zeal for living a God-pleasing life. I also discovered Luther’s disciples who had a deep concern to promote godliness. They too lost no opportunity to commend Christ.
There is indeed a true spirituality.
A passion for pleasing God.
A passion for commending Christ.
A passion for curing men’s souls.
On God's part a passion for the joy of His people.
I knew then that I was not searching for truth, but for a living embodiment of it. The world is dark and there are few lights. This plight is evident to the secular world - men without godly faith but with a real concern for the future of mankind. They are rousing us to call on our God for salvation but we sleep on. 'The worst chains are those that are unseen and unfelt by the prisoner'
.
We are in a 24/7 world which is never silent. Men walk, plugged into a world of their own design. There have never been so many competing voices, so many sirens singing their songs of deceit, lulling us into apathy and worse yet the sleep of death.
Perhaps we are in a famine of hearing the One voice we need to hear above all others.
These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the beginning of the Creation of God:
"I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of my mouth. Because you say 'I am rich, have become wealthy and have need of nothing' - and do not know you are wretched, miserable, poor , blind and naked - I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eyesalve, that you may see.
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in and sup with him and he with me.’ Revelation 3: 1 - 20
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
T S Elliot
'I see the rainbow through tears but do not have the gold. I sometimes see it sparkle in others and am grateful.'
APRIL 2008
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