Stone Throwers

Stone Throwers

John 8:1-11 “Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.  At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.  The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group  and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.  In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”  They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.  But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.  When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.   At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.  Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”  “No one, sir,” she said.  “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

A familiar story full of Jesus’ insight and wisdom. Yet it leaves three haunting questions. Why did Jesus go to the Mount of Olives? What was He writing in the dirt on the ground? Finally, where was the man? I suppose any answer given by any preacher is bound to be a bit of surmising because we just don’t know.

I feel that the first question is easier than the other two because we do know something of Jesus’ habits. We know that He often used to go off alone for time with His Father. So it is most probable that on this occasion He did indeed go off on His own for time alone with the Father.

What was He writing? The best answer I have heard to that question is, the names of those who had sinned with this woman. This is borne out by the fact that those accusing the woman were  scribes and Pharisees, those who knew the Law. Jesus, unbeknownst to them, actually wrote the Law and in Jeremiah 17:13 He wrote, “O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water.” Jesus could no more go against the Law than the accusers, but by writing their names in the dust, where the evidence could be brushed away and destroyed, He reminded them of the law that they had heard so many times.

Finally, we come to the question that has so often vexed us – where was the man? The law actually said that BOTH parties to adultery were to be brought before the priests, and yet, the man was conveniently ignored here. By doing this, the Scribes and Pharisees had themselves broken the law in respect of bringing only the woman. Again, when Jesus wrote their names in the dust, He was reminding them of the laws they had broken for themselves. No wonder John had accused them of being a ‘brood of vipers’ and ‘whitewashed sepulchres’.

Warning - Stone throwers beware. Your own glass house could get damaged.

Blessings

Just how Blessed are You

Do you have reasonable HEALTH – Sight, hearing, sense of smell, your own reasonably good teeth?

Just remember that over 1 million people will die this week of one illness or another.

Health is a great blessing

If you have never had to fight a BATTLE; if you have never been tortured; if you have not been thrown into prison just for being who and what you are; if you have never suffered starvation

Just remember the millions of those who have suffered these things.

Peace and freedom are great blessings

If you can go to church FREELY and openly and if you have never suffered persecution for your beliefs

Just remember the billion or more who cannot go to church or who are persecuted for their faith

These things are a great blessing

If you have sufficient FOOD at home, and money in your pocket and some to spare

Just remember that over 90% of the world envies you

God’s provision for you and your family is a great blessing

If your parents are still MARRIED; if you can smile and do just because; if you can hug someone and bring God’s healing touch to them

Remember the billions who can’t do these things

Every day freedoms and faith are a great blessing

If you had any EDUCATION at all and can read and write

Just remember the billions who cannot do these things at all.

Education and all that goes with it is a great blessing

When we count our blessings, start with these, then add the rest. You are far more greatly blessed than you often think.

Thank you Lord \o/

21st Century Church 2

Church Outside the Church 2

We ended part one by saying this “So church now has to be outside of religion, outside any church building, and reflecting Jesus love for people. It has to be totally and completely trustworthy too. How on earth do we start that?”

First we need to attract people to us. Not to the church – they’ll never come. We need to attract them to ourselves as people. How to do that? Well, when we are new to our homes, how do we get to know our neighbours. We talk to them. We introduce ourselves, and hopefully we make friends with them. After a while we begin to feel a little bit safe with them so we might invite them round for coffee or even a meal. If that goes well, we may even get invited back again and so the potential friendship grows. We show them some love.

Some people receive love quickly and openly, while others are extremely wary and suspicious and stay ‘reclusive’ for a long time. sooner or later we may even arrive at the point where our new friends confide in us or ask us questions and we can start to proselytise a little bit. Nothing heavy – just the mention of our views and stance on God, Jesus, and the whole of the universe. Seriously, we go to church and if you’d like to come with us then we’d love to take you. An invitation and that is all.

Alternatively, if there is a problem in our friend’s life, we can offer to pray for them – maybe even with them. Again just the prayer and leave it at that until the subject arises again – as it surely will if that prayer is answered !!

The whole point of this approach is that there is no church. We are just befriending people, perhaps those previously hurt by the church, and seeking opportunity to help them or walk alongside them – to help them carry their load. Or as I blogged a week or so ago, we seek to go the extra mile with them – just because we are a friend. If church or faith or prayer is raised as a conversation starter, then we can react, but it is no use raising it again and again if people don’t want to know. They want to see our faith in action before they will ever want to talk about it. The want to see the demonstration of Holy Spirit’s power before they ask who He is. They want to see our Christian faith in action before they will ever want to know more about it.

And if they don’t ever want to know about it? This is a ploughing church we are talking about. It is a church that ploughs unbroken soil and maybe plants a few seeds. Some seeds will give fruit immediately but some will take longer and others may well harvest them. The purpose of this type of church is to listen to God, do as He asks, love the people, and show them Christianity in action. Anything over and above is either us trying too hard, expecting too much, or God’s favour upon us.

The truly amazing thing about it is that we are just like the original disciples – unqualified, inexperienced, virtually untrained and with no personal resources. Yet even as God used the originals, so He can use us too. God has always used the foolish to confound the wise. 1Cor 1:27

I am excited by the possibilities of such a “church” as this aren’t you?

©Chris Bennett May 2012

21st Century Church - 1

Church Outside the Church 1

In the 1^st Century, when the church was in its infancy, meetings were in the people’s houses. Bigger meetings were either in bigger houses or in meeting rooms or even in public places – not something you would do in England in May 2012 as, today, the temperature hasn’t yet reached 50°F or 10°C yet !! Real dedicated, purpose built “churches” didn’t really start to appear until 3^rd or even 4^th century. Today, here in England, we have a positively wonderful legacy of church buildings from every century since about 580AD when the “first” one was founded in what is now Canterbury in Kent, Southeast England.

Given the present radical decline in church attendances, perhaps it is time to return to the practices of the first church and start meeting in houses or cafés. People are sick and tired of the church saying, “Come to us, all are welcome” when anything much further from the truth is hard to imagine. There is, of course, a huge and still growing “house church” movement. This is probably the only viable church in some places around the world, like China for instance, where church building is not allowed. Here in the UK, and I suspect in America and Western Europe too, even House Church is something not seen as particularly attractive by the average man in the street. Christians have not done themselves any favours at all by becoming the same as any other part of society. We are not seen as being any different and therefore have no, as sales folk say, “what’s in it for me” factor.

So how do we attract folk to church, or more specifically, to Christianity in this day and age? If we cannot answer this question, then, quite honestly, we might as well give up and go back to church as it has always been.

First and foremost, religion can no longer have any place in 21^st century church. How do we do that considering the vast majority of today’s church is founded and based upon the denominational structure, rules, and statements of faith. Most people in the street don’t want to know anything about that – it’s all gobbledegook to them. They don’t understand and neither do they want to understand religion. All they want to hear is the answer to that one question – “What’s in it for me?” The answer “Eternal life” is not much use either as it’s an intangible thing. Your average Joe wants something to hang his hat on and say, “That’ll do me. I’ll buy that.”

Do you want to know what I think is the most valuable asset we Christians have to offer the world at the moment? Trust !! Now trust is not something any of us gives away freely. Trust has to be earned the hard way. But how can we earn public trust? By not being like the rest of the world. We keep our word. We keep our promises. We keep our counsel until it is asked for. We keep quiet in front of others. We keep secrets. We don’t gossip or spread rumours. We don’t betray any trust placed in or with us.

The next thing we do is to give love. We love people all the time. We don’t judge them or necessarily even criticise them. I have a favourite saying about a pastors job. There are three golden rules for a pastor. He must love the people. Then he must love the people some more. Then he must love the people again. Jesus told us to love one another and to love our neighbours as ourselves. Have you ever really tried that? I personally have only ever known two people who do, or who have done that.

So church now has to be outside of religion, outside any church building, and reflecting Jesus love for people. It has to be totally and completely trustworthy too. How on earth do we start that?

See the second part of this little treatise - tomorrow.

©Chris Bennett May 2012

Christian Living

Christian Living

Isn’t it about time for Christians to act and live a bit more like the Word says a Christian should try to live? (Including me.)  You only have to watch FaceBook and Twitter and what do you see? Bad language? Questionable morals? Scandal & gossip mongering? Yes - All this and plenty more besides.

Go to any church and listen to the gossip. The divorce and separation rate among Christians is no lower than for the rest of the world. In fact in some places it even higher. Whenever a large Christian conference hits town, statistics show that the hotel TV porn channel usage figures go up exponentially.

How can we turn this tide of un-Christian living around?

Well, we could try to follow some Biblical advice. We need to try to be in the world but not of the world. One of the main troubles with Christianity and church, from the worldly perception, is that we are no different. Yet we are supposed to be carriers of God’s presence to the world. In order to show them that we are different we are supposed to show love, and more than that, to show respect to them that we may earn that same respect back again.

When the world sees those who call themselves brothers and sisters squabbling, sometimes fiercely – even viciously – what do they think? When we hide ourselves away in our buildings and never ask a stranger, or neighbour, or friend, or relative inside – what must they think? When they see us divorcing; turning our noses up at those we consider ‘the lost’; telling lies; swearing; having the morals of an alley cat; and generally carrying on as if we are better, holier, and somehow cleaner than the rest of the world – what on earth is there about Christianity to make them think that it is in any way a better way to live?

No, the Bible says that we are to love one another and to love our neighbour as ourselves. The Bible says that by our fruit they will know us. What fruit are we showing the world by the way we live now? Surely it is time for some proper Biblical Christian behaviour way and way of life. It is time to love the downcast and underprivileged. It is time to walk alongside the wounded and the prisoner. It is time to help the homeless, the widows and orphans.

Isaiah 61:1-3 tells us “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” If we change the word ‘me’ to the word ‘us’ – I am sure God won’t mind – we will get the idea. Then the Great Commission tells us to preach the Gospel, cast out demons and heal the sick. Finally Acts 1:8 says “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 

I think that we can be as the Word of God tells us. He never said that being a Christian would be easy. He never told us to try to do things in our own strength. He called us to do them and whosoever He calls, He enables through Holy Spirit. He doesn’t expect us to do what we’ve never been taught or shown without helping us to do it.

It really is up to us to take Him at His word, to believe Him, and to live the Christian life that His Word exhorts and encourages us to live. As I have said so many times before

JUST DO IT – and all glory to God \o/

Which Bible ??

KJV or not KJV

At the risk of upsetting a few people, I want to pose a question which to me is so un-necessary but which I know divides the church from top to bottom. Why the King James Version? The version we use today is nowhere near the version created when, in 1604, King James the 1^st of England commanded production of the Bible in English for everyone to understand. This work was completed in 1611 and was actually the third translation into English the first being Henry VIII’s Great Bible. Then in 1662 the, after some further changes, it became known as the Authorised Version for use in every English church. So those good folk who swear by the 1611 KJV as being the most accurate version ever and therefore the only trustworthy one are very probably slightly askew with their view.

As the centuries passed and scholarly study and learning increased, people wanted a Bible which spoke their English – without all the anachronisms of the 1662 KJV. So we started the plethora of versions now available – all claiming to be the latest most up-to-date translations and so on. The trouble is that everyone ignores the fact that the KJV was based on the Latin Vulgate which in turn was based on Greek texts. It all gets very confusing but we do the best we can with the translations we have.

The KJV was the first decent translation but more modern versions do have the benefit of better understanding of the ancient Greek and Aramaic languages. The more modern versions also have an additional understandability factor in that they are written in modern every day English. They are not perfect but then, neither is the KJV. For any group to claim, as some do, that to preach or even read other than the KJV is apostasy, is arrogant nonsense to me. It is an elitism that is so divisive and un-necessary. Quite honestly the church has better things to be doing than dividing her members by the version of the Bible they read. The only caveat I will put on that is the new “PC” version of the NIV which seems to have completely lost its way. The 1984 Niv is, in my opinion, a wonderful version. Also the Gay & Lesbian Bible, which is surely, a deception from the pit of hell.

There, that should have upset someone.

There is only one way to study the Bible and that is to go back to ancient Hebrew and Greek for intonation and nuances. That being so, what matter it which version you base your studies on? For the record, I have 8 or 9 different translations on my bookshelves plus I have CD versions of two versions. I use them, exactly the same as many people do, to find a wording that best suits the point I am making without forsaking the meaning – as best I understand it. Each has its own merits. I love the language of the KJV and that was what I was brought up on. The Good News version and the NIV were among the first ‘modern translations’ I bought. I love the expansions given in the Amplified version and the brilliant paraphrasing of the Message. Who can prove that the accuracy of any translation is better than any other?

I think sometimes we throw baby out with the bath water just because we don’t like something – any little thing – about a translation. The Word of God is exactly that – the Word of God. Holy Spirit was given to us as teacher and to ‘lead us into all truth’. Can He not lead us just as well through any translation He chooses? Can we not learn from Him using whichever translation suits us best?

Every version of God’s Word we have today, from the KJV onwards, was produced by fallible human beings but is revealed to us by God, the Holy Spirit.  I know which I prefer to believe – and it’s not any translation it is the revelation of the Lord Himself speaking to my heart and my mind, giving me His understanding.

After all, we have the mind of Christ don’t we?