United We Stand?

At RSS on Saturday, Chris started running us through 1 Corinthians – the book we’ll be studying this term. There were loads of great things to take away, even from a general, overview-style session. However, there was one thing in particular that really struck most of us and something which I believe is really pertinent to us right now.

The issue was something Paul addressed in many places, including 1 Corinthians 1:11f.

¹¹ My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. ¹² What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” ¹³ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?

Essentially, the church in Corinth was dividing itself into factions – people were organising themselves into groups, uniting behind whichever leader or teacher most suited their personal taste.

To be honest, it sounded like a very familiar scenario!

We’re really good at setting up camp. Whether that’s over a political party, a sports team, a genre of music – whatever. The fact is, much of our culture is geared up to encourage us to unite with those who hold to the same things as us, and to divide with those don’t.

What about in church? I see it there too. While Paul refers to the Corinthians, saying “I follow Apollos” or “I follow Paul” or “I follow Peter (Cephas)”; we could just as easily read that as “I follow Piper” or “I follow Johnson” or “I follow Driscoll”. It seems that that basic human instinct of forming into tribes very much has a theological expression as well.

Is there anything wrong with honour and valuing “high profile” leaders and gleaning from them. ABSOLUTELY NOT. In fact, there is much to gain and one of the major blessings of the internet has been making this possible. Apollos, Paul and Cephas were all vital leaders in the church – as are many of the people the Lord has raised up today.

The problem comes when the formation into “teams” moves from being a point of unity with like-minded people, to a point of division with others. If you’re in relationship with someone solely on account of having the same position on something, unfortunately you’re on rocky ground. Sooner or later an issue will crop up that you see differently, and if your unity was based entirely on agreement then it has no other option than to end. You get forced into division.

Often it’s an attitude that can creep in quite subtly. Imagine this: you’re at lifegroup, someone pipes up and gives an opinion, your first thought – “oh that’s just X, they think that because they’re on team Y, I’m not really going to listen, I’m definitely right.” Maybe it wouldn’t be quite such a formed set of judgements, but hopefully you get the idea. We easily (and often unintentionally) judge people, discount them.

The Bible tells us in so many that within the Body of Christ there is to be complete unity. But how is this possible when we’re all so different? Simple: love. We all qualify on account of the same thing: love (of God). And we are all callled to relate to everyone in the same way: love (mirroring what God showed us). While political parties are formed over a common stance on issues, churches are built on relationship. Relationship isn’t a means to an end; it’s an end unto itself.

So maybe you think Bill Johnson’s the best thing since sliced bread, maybe you want John Piper to be your dad. Maybe both. That’s totally cool! Just don’t distance yourself from others or put people in categories on account of what they do or don’t subscribe to. If they love Jesus, they’re your brother or your sister. Treat them as such!

Want more?…

Listen to:
Phil’s talk – Heaven’s Relational Government (23/01/11)
Sarah’s talk – Favouritism Forbidden (13/02/11)

David & Goliath: A Different Slant

We haven’t had a 1 Samuel entry for a little while, but fear not: today sees the end to this drought! We’re about halfway through the book now and we’re just about to meet its most famour character: David, son of Jesse. In 1 Sam 16, God sends Samuel to go find a new king to anoint and he promptly heads to Jesse’s house in Bethlehem. This chapter is a classic example of how God’s way of viewing people is completely different to how we often do it – “People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (v.7) – but more on that in a second.

Jump forward to the next chapter and we find one of the most memorable stories in the Old Testament: David & Goliath. Everyone knows this story, church background or not. It’s so popular because it tells of how man can overcome the odds – look at pretty much any Hollywood movie and you’ll see that that’s something we love to imagine ourselves doing. And you can. Because God can strengthen you in any situation. And he has made you an overcomer. There is no giant in your life so big that he cannot defeat it.

But I’d like to draw your attention to another lesson from this whole section of the story. If you look back to 1 Sam 16, notice how when Samuel asks Jesse to bring out all his sons, the father doesn’t even include David initially – it is only after all the others have been passed over that David gets a call, the “last resort”. Similarly, in 1 Sam 17 :28 when David heads to the front with supplies, one of his brothers dismisses him, asking why he wasn’t doing the only task he was fit for: looking after “those few sheep in the desert“.

David’s biggest challenge wasn’t Goliath – it was having a family, a father in particular, who didn’t believe in him. But thankfully, he hadn’t fallen into the trap of agreeing with their doubts – he had made a connection with his heavenly Father by which he believed what God had to say about him: that he was a champion. Unlike Saul, he didn’t need the affirmation of people because he found enough of it in God.

And the result? He started doing ordinary things in extra-ordinary ways. He didn’t just move sheep around; he killed lions to look after them. He didn’t just take his brothers lunch; he stuck around and won the war. He was a giant-killer before he met Goliath and he continued to be one afterwards. And not only that, he went on to raise up a whole new generation of giant-killers in the form of his “mighty men” (look it up).

So what am I saying? Believe what God says about you rather than looking for human affirmation – you’ll change the world. Actually.

And a classic Bill Johnson quote to finish:
“I cannot afford to have a thought in my head about me that He doesn’t have in His.”

Twitter!

We’ve noticed a few more of you have finally been getting cool and signing up for twitter, so thought it would be a good time to shout out some of the people we like to follow so you can do the same (twitter ID in brackets).

Reach (@reachmanchester) / Vinelife (@vinelifeMCR)
First things first, get your home team in order!

Bill Johnson (@billjohnsonBJM)
Classic one-liner after classic one-liner. An essential.

Relevant Magazine (@RELEVANTmag)
Lots of interesting articles and links from the popular website.

John Mark McMillan (@johnmarkmc)
Friend of reach John Mark keeps you up-to-date with his comings and goings as well as making some interesting comments on worship music.

International House of Prayer (@IHOPKC)
All the latest from IHOP in Kansas City.

Banning Liebscher (@thebanning)
My new hero Banning recommends books and updates you on all the major happenings with Jesus Culture.

Gary J. Cutlackowitz a.k.a. Sexy Executive (@sexyexecutive)
Not strictly Christian, but his interpretation on mundane, office life is pretty funny.

Then of course there’s always myself (@ralphpedley) and Jon (@jon_hodges) – you probably want to get right on that.

Happy tweeting!

The Importance of Honour

I really enjoyed Jon & Emma’s seminar on Sunday (check the podcast!) – especially all the things about honouring each other that they were sharing. I heard a brilliant teaching about honour when I was down in Cardiff last month (Yeah, good old B.Johnson again!). Here’s what I got from it:

The basic principle is that honour releases supernatural power (e.g. 5th commandment). Or, to look at it differently, we limit what God can do in and through our communities when we refuse to honour each other; when we refuse to recognise the gifts, talents and anointings that God has placed on other people (i.e. not just ourselves!)

Take Luke 4 as an example. Jesus has come out of the wilderness and is now at the synagogue in Nazareth. The scene is set for that seminal moment where Jesus stands up to read from Isaiah 61 and announces that he himself was the fulfillment of the scripture just brought forth – in other words, Jesus is proclaiming himself the Messiah.

Now when we think of Nazareth, we think of it as a by-word for unbelief on account of the rejection that Jesus is about to receive. But check out the first thing that is recorded after Jesus has made his claim, Luke 4:22a:
“All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.“

Some translations render this, “all bore witness to him.” In other words, they were impacted by what Jesus said – their spirits came alive; their hearts leapt at what he was saying. On a spiritual level, they believed Jesus. This has parallels with a story in John 6 where Jesus tells the people they must “eat his flesh and drink his blood“. Many people leave Jesus because of such a hard teaching yet the disciples respond by saying: “Lord, to whom would we go.. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69) – they chose to believe even though they didn’t necessarily understand. Their spirits bore witness to the truths Jesus was sharing.

Switch back to Nazareth. The hearts of the people are pounding – could this be the Messiah?? But then the doubts kick in, 4:22b…
“‘How can this be?’ they asked. ‘Isn’t this Joesph’s son?’“.

So what happened? Well, suddenly everyone remembered that they’d seen Jesus grow up. Their rational minds overtook their spiritual understanding – how could the boy next door, Mary and Joseph’s son, be the Chosen One of God? Ultimately, they did not honour the anointing that was on Jesus’ life.They shut down the witness of their heart and as a result missed out on a potentially massive move of God in their area.

In 4:25-27, Luke records Jesus listing examples from the Old Testament where the same thing happened. Like Jesus, neither Elijah nor Elisha were honoured by their “home town” (a.k.a. Israel) and, because the people did not recognise the anointing that these prophets carried, God witheld from Israel His supernatural supply.

The people of Nazareth had the greatest opportunity for supernatural release, but that same opportunity was also the greatest stumbling block – namely, that they had seen Jesus grow up and therefore there was an absence of honour in their attitude towards him.

We need to get better at celebrating each other; at recognising the grace/spirit/anointing that we all carry. But so often we let things get in the way of that: maybe paranoia of human worship or even our own insecurities – not wanting to consider others above (“better than”)  ourselves. Or maybe we look at people and see them like the Nazarenes did Jesus – we see people we’ve grown up with, people who we’ve seen stuff up and make mistakes. But regardless of the obstacles, we need to overcome them.

So the challenge is this: honour other people and what God is doing in their lives. Celebrate their victories. Rejoice when God prospers them. Recognise their gifts and talents. Choose to believe what your spirit bears witness to in another person rather than what your rational mind argues back. Finally, understand that it’s not all about you and consider that how you view other people may just be the most accurate way of determining what your heart really looks like.

It could all be one of the keys to what God wants to do in Manchester…

UPDATE: Bill recently preached about this again at his church, Bethel, in a sermon called ‘Discerning the Lord’s Body’. You can listen to the podcast for free. Click here!

Questions (part 2): Understanding and Rebellion

In part 1 we looked at how every promise that God makes comes with a question; a test to whether we really believe it’s true. Usually this question comes from the enemy by way of temptation.

But what about questions that we ask. Did you know there are two types? Good questions and bad questions.

Good questions are all about learning.
Bad questions are all about rebellion.

Let’s go to Luke 1 for an example.

First up, Zechariah, who has just been told that his elderly wife will conceive a child to be named John the Baptist:

“Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”The angel answered, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time.” (Luke 1:18-20)

So Zech’s response to the coming miracle is a question, “How can I be sure?”; a question which, according to verse 20, displays his unbelief and lack of faith in God’s decree. So this is an example of a bad question – i.e. one of rebellion. Zech’s initial response to go against God, to question the validity of the message he had heard. Notice how almost indignant Gabriel is: “I’m Gabriel, I stand in the presence of God” – what more proof do you need?!! So Zech is struck dumb, the mouth from which his lack of faith was manifest was shut so as not to undermine the miracle. (Sometimes when something is so important, God has to bypass us in order to make sure we don’t mess it up!)

But what about Mary. She received some very similar news, and also responded with a question. But look how it differs:

“You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”"How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1: 31-35)

Mary didn’t doubt what the angel was telling her, she just didn’t understand quite how it was going to happen. It was a good question; she wanted to learn. Her faith was never in doubt.

So what’s the point of this post? Quite simply, that it’s good to question God on things – but you need to check your motives first. Are you questioning in order to understand more of him? Or are you just trying to justify not believing something He’s said because it’s difficult or doesn’t seem to fit into your circumstance or theology?

Do you want to learn or do you want to rebel?

(By the way, just in case anyone thinks i’m pulling all this stuff off the top of my head, pretty much the entirety of these two ‘questions’ posts have been mercilessly ripped from a Bill Johnson conference I went to…expect a few more treats in the weeks to come!)

Questions (Part 1): Testing a Promise

How do you know if something works, or if something is true? You test it, see whether it stands up to the challenge, and if it passes then you know you can have confidence in it. It’s the same whenever God says something to us – pretty soon after we hear it, it’s going to be challenged with a question.

Luke 3:21-22:
“When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.“

Here we find Jesus getting a promise, and a big one. In front of everybody God is audibly confirming Jesus’ identity to the whole world – he is the beloved Son of God. No question.

The very next scene (after a genealogy) we find Jesus in the wilderness…

Luke 4:1-3:

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”“

What is the first thing that Satan goes for with Jesus? His identity. “If you are the Son of God…”. No sooner had Jesus received a promise and an affirmation from God than it was tested. (Note as well in verse 1 where it says Jesus “was led by the Spirit in the desert” – God wanted him to be there.) But Jesus knew what was going on, he knew he had to come through a challenge. And he did so by holding on to the promise that the Father had given him about who he was. And where do we find Jesus next? In Nazareth telling the whole world that the prophecy os Isaiah 61 has been fulfilled in him. He was stronger for being tested.

We can see a similar pattern in the Fall…

Genesis 2:16-17:
“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” “

Genesis 3:1:
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”“

Can you see it? God gives a direct, unequivocal promise – eat this and you’ll die. But what does Satan use to test Adam and Eve? A question – “Did God really say that?”. Unfortunately, these guys weren’t like Jesus and they did crumble under the test, they did relinquish their promise on account of it coming under pressure.

But why? Why does God want us to be challenged like this? Wouldn’t it be better to just make it easy for us to trust him?

The thing is, if we don’t have the option to not believe God then it makes our decision to believe less valuable – where there is no option, there is no reward. There were two trees in the garden, we always have the choice to go against God. And while that does make living harder, it also means that when we do say ‘yes’ to God, when we do choose to believe what he has promised over us, even when it’s being challenged, it means so much more. We have a confidence and trust that God is just going to rush to bless.

So when the devil says “If..” to something God has promised you, when he asks “Did God really say…?”, don’t take that as a reason to doubt but see it as an opportunity to put your faith to the test and see God come through for you. God needs to know that we trust him. And when we do, he will honour it.

Bill Johnson – He Tore the Heavens

Bill Johnson talks from Isaiah 64 about the significance of God ‘rending the heavens and coming down’. It’s really good stuff – you’d be well advised to give it a listen!

iBethel.TV // Bethel Church // He Tore the Heavens : Nov 16 ’08
(to watch this you’ll have to sign up to iBethel.tv – it’s free to register and just requires an email address and password)

If you’d prefer, you can directly download just the audio (via facebook) here

The whole thing is about an hour long, but there’s about 10mins of pre-amble at the start. Go listen!!!

P.S. – off to Soul Survivor this weekend so it might be a little while before the next update