To the Christians who argue we should focus more on Jesus and less on Kony

Jesus is glorified when we call for justice in this world.

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? - Micah 6:8

It’s not about the campaign. Maybe you disagree with the ‘trendy’ nature of this, or with Invisible Children..I don’t know. But consider this: if you opt out of this campaign for the right reasons, then you need to be loving the LRA victims by praying for them, financially supporting the organisations that do rehabilitation work in Uganda, and raise awareness about this anyway. And when I say pray, I don’t mean ‘quickly arrow pray’. I mean get down on your knees, and intercede, calling on God to reveal Himself to Uganda and the rest of Africa again as the God of Justice that He is.

There is no other way for Jesus to be made known to this world, no other way to shine as His witnesses in 2012, if you do not do what the LORD requires of you: to do JUSTICE, to love KINDNESS, and to walk HUMBLY with your God.

You’re the God of this city

Jesus said:

Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

John 14:11-14

Brothers and sisters, do you realise how powerful a weapon prayer is? It is our attack on the battlefield against Satan’s desire to hold people back from freedom. 

Do you realise that, as followers of the LORD on this side of Christ’s victory on the cross, that we are purposed to do even greater things than the miracles Christ had performed? For He purposed us, and empowered us by the Holy Spirit, to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth. As a people who declares to be “Christians”, followers of Christ, are you obeying His Word? When you see the state of the city that you live in, does your heart break? For Christ’s heart broke for His city.

And as a people declaring to trust in His promises, do you trust that He can answer prayer? Because God can, and does answer bold prayer.

Here is one incredible example of the church asking the Father for big things in Christ’s Name. This prayer is answered for it is in line with the will of God to see more and more come to life.

 When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord,who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant,^[a] said by the Holy Spirit,

    “‘Why did the Gentiles rage,
   and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
   and the rulers were gathered together,
   against the Lord and against his Anointed’—

for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand andyour plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servantsto continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

- Acts 4:23-31

Christ came to preach good news to the poor, proclaim liberty for the captives, recover the sight of the blind, set at liberty those who are oppressed, and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour. 

Are you witnesses to this? 

Body of  Christ, are you doing what Christ did, following His command? Are you preaching good news to the poor? Are you proclaiming liberty for all those who are held captive by and oppressed by government, or their family, or their addiction, or their brokenness, or their greed? Are you recovering the sight of those who are spiritually blind?

It’s a big mission.

But it is God’s will for His body to be alive and moving, and He will empower you with His Spirit.

Pray for greater things to be done in your city, because Jesus is not just the LORD of Christians. He is LORD of all, and one day every knee will bow at His Name. Pray for revival. Body of Christ, proclaim that your LORD is risen, and call those who are spiritually dead to come awake and rise up from the grave.

Greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city! We believe; we believe in You God 

Church: His body, His bride

What a glorious collection of unglorious people! 

I’ve been very indecisive about what I want this post to be about, and have decided not to overwhelm you with thoughts, particularly as I’ve come across great resources summarising what I’d want to say anyway. So I’m going to be focusing this post on what it means to be the member of a local church (since this is what a lot of people have been posting or asking me about anyway) rather than the church as God’s universal body. You might like to check out what the Bible says about the local and the universal church (both here and here). I also recommend our brother Hans’ post “5 questions to ask when you are bored with your church”. At times, it is appropriate to leave your local church to find another one, and Hans also offers some helpful thoughts. My pastor Mike Paget’s sermon “Church: Life together” is also immensely helpful (sorry for the sound quality). 

Okay. Now for my own, far less eloquent thoughts (they took a long time coming I know!). In the past few years I’ve been really challenged by my current congregation to grow in my willingness to love and to serve the members of my church. My pastor once put it as being committed to saying, “this is my church, and I will bleed for her.” For me, it was revolutionary. We’re not called to attend church just for what it offers us, but to serve and encourage others. 

Being a member of a church is not easy. You’ll never get along with every single one of your brothers and sisters. Sometimes you’ll be at completely different stages of life, with different responsibilities. Sometimes you’ll enjoy different hobbies. Sometimes you’ll feel tempted to yell at each other in disagreement. Sometimes there’s a really awkward person who stands too close to you and only responds to your attempts to make conversation with yes/no answers. Why is the church so uncomfortable?

Because unlike social clubs or other community groups, a local church is often united only by Christ.

And because of that, it’s important to remind ourselves of what the value and purpose of attending and actually serving in a local church is.

I absolutely love the description of the early church in Acts 2:

 ⁴²And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. ⁴³And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. ⁴⁴And all who believed were together and had all things in common. ⁴⁵And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶And  day by day,attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, ⁴⁷praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

I’m fairly certain every Christian I’ve talked about this passage with agrees that this is a beautiful image. This is what church under the Lordship of Christ should be like. And if this is what a local fellowship can look like, then most of us (I hope!) want in. It’s also interesting to note that this kind of fellowship isn’t just about going to a service once a week. These brothers and sisters are devoted to serving Christ together, to doing life together, to caring for each other. It takes a great deal of energy and commitment to do this. But they do it with such joy - they are glad, they are generous, and they overflow with praise to God. It’s a wonderful image of people meeting together to worship the Lord and grow in spiritual maturity, seeing many added to their family each day.

Church is also a context in which we serve one another with the gifts that we’ve been given. Each of you are blessed with spiritual gifts that are valuable for encouraging and edifying others. These spiritual gifts are given for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7). Ephesians 4:

¹¹And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherdsand teachers, ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, ¹⁴so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. ¹⁵Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

I know we all know that the internet is an incredible opportunity to serve each other with our gifts. There are people I’ve met through tumblr who are a great encouragement to me, who share their words and teaching and prophecy and prayer. But there is something precious about fellowship done in person. There is something wonderful about eating meals together, in packing up a church hall together, in laying hands on one another, to worship together side-by-side. You have gifts that will build and edify His body much better in person than over a blog. It is much more personal, and at times it takes much more patience as well. But let us be reminded of Romans 12:3-8, and not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, but instead to focus on using our gifts to serve one another, whatever they may be. Brothers and sisters, let’s not waste our gifts.

I’ve also been reminded recently of the fact that for Christian who meet together, the fellowship they share is a witness to those who don’t yet know Jesus. Church is also a context in which non Christians can see that we are His disciples and witness Christ’s love manifested in His people. Jesus said in John 14:34:

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. 

While no-one has ever seen God, when we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete (1 John 4:12) I have many brothers and sisters who came to know Jesus because they were encouraged by how they saw church members love one another. Seeing God’s people love each other radically made themsearch for the reason behind this love, and find Jesus’ love for them. If you’re a Christian and not a part of a local church, will you be the only witness to those you know who don’t know Christ? Are they experiencing the love of only one person who in their mind, just happens to be a Christian? Or are they being challenged by how different the love shared between brothers and sisters is to the world’s idea of friendship?

And finally, we need each other. 1 Corinthians 12:

It is tempting at times to think that you’ll be fine  without brothers and sisters to encourage you and keep you accountable in this race, but the Bible tells us that’s not how it is. We are made to be in fellowship with other believers. What you offer the Christians around you is so valuable for their growth in spiritual maturity, and what they offer you is so valuable for your growth. We all know that it’s really hard to be a Christian in this world. Being a Christian on your own is even harder. 

My dear brothers and sisters, we are called to hang in there. Hebrews 10:24-25:

Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

I pray that we will respond in obedience. I pray that His Spirit will guide us all individually to see how we can stir up others to love and to good works. I pray that His Spirit will strengthen us in times of temptation, that we will not neglect meeting together, but that we will persevere with encouraging one another. I pray that we will remember how important this is as Jesus’ return draws nearer and nearer, and I pray most of all that God will be glorified by His people.

O, Lord Jesus

I am so unworthy of Your presence.

I squandered the gifts You gave me. I rebelled in what I thought was freedom, but it was only death. And I gained a reputation. O, Jesus, I gained a reputation. And I was known. They knew what kind of woman I was. They knew that I was a sinner. Even the world knew. I wasn’t dirty just by the church’s standards - I was dirty beyond the world’s standards. 

And I heard. I knew that You were there and so I came. I came with an alabastar jar of perfume. I didn’t deserve to even see Your face, so I stood behind You. And I wept. O, my Lord, I wept. And those tears of brokenness and repentance flowed like a river to Your feet. I knew my failure. I knew. I fell to my knees. I was so undeserving even of this, my Lord. I was undeserving of the privilege to be on  the ground behind you, where I couldn’t see Your eyes, weeping onto Your precious feet. I wiped them dry with my hair and I poured out the fragrance of my alabastar jar. You deserve so much more than this. You deserve so much more than some perfume from a sinful woman.

And You turned to me. You turned to me and You said it out loud so that the rest of the world around me could hear. You told me: Your sins are forgiven. You declared it. My many sins have been forgiven. My many stains have been washed clean. For those who have been forgiven much, love much. O Lord, open my eyes. Open my eyes to see how wretched my sin is, that I may know the depth of Your forgiveness and overflow in praise, in a fragrance of praise pleasing to You.

O, beloved, do it all for the glory of God

O, beloved - why are we so caught up in this world? Why are we so worried about earthly things? Why do we indulge in momentary pleasures? Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we shall await a Saviour, the LORD Jesus Christ!

O, beloved - why are we forgetting? Why are we forgetting that the day will come as a thief in the night? Why do we allow ourselves to become distracted from the hope of His return? Why are we so easily seduced, when we know that it is on that day when we will appear with him in glory?

O, beloved - why are we so confused? We have been raised with Christ, far above the things of this earth. Set your hearts on the things of above, for that is where Christ is seated. Let go. Let go of the things of this world, for they lead to death, and cling to the hope that is to come. Cling to the cross and remember that you have put on your new selves.

O, beloved - let yourselves be renewed. Let yourselves be renewed in knowledge of the LORD and moulded into the image of your Creator. You were made to be a reflection of God. Be restored.

O, beloved - clothe yourselves. You are His chosen. You are holy and dearly loved. Clothe yourselves in love and all that it binds together. Be compassionate, kind, humble, gentle, and patient. Bear with one another, for the LORD has been patient with you. You are members of one body, and you have been called to His peace, a peace that the world cannot understand.

O, beloved - let the word of Christ dwell in you. Let it dwell in you richly. Let it dwell and grow and blossom into teaching and rebuking and encouraging as we run together in this race. Meditate on it day and night and let it bear its fruit. Let it direct you in wisdom as it sheds light on your path. Let it steer you into songs of praise, let it tune your heart to sing a melody to the LORD. Let its promises spark an overflow of gratitude to Christ.

O, beloved - give glory to Christ. Whatever you do, be it word or deed, do it in His Name. Do it all for the glory of God.

sometimes my heart just aches

…and all I want is the Kingdom of Heaven to just collide with this earth. I just want to know what Jesus looks like. I just want to hear His voice so clearly. I want to laugh with Him and dance with Him and fall to my feet before Him. I want that moment when He’ll split the skies and every single part of me will realise that the King has returned. I want that moment where I get to see Him face to face; I long for an eternity of enjoying His presence, and where God dwells us, His people. I long for this order of things, this not okay, to pass away. I long for that restoration that creation is groaning for. I want to see those open gates. I want to see the glory of God in all its brilliance. I want for the reality of this to just flood my soul. 

There are moments when you know that this broken world is not how things were made to be, and moments when you can’t do anything but yearn for the life to come. Jesus, You’re beautiful. I want to know Your glorious beauty completely.

It’s just a little while longer and I’ll see You

It’s just a little while longer and I’ll know You

It’s just a little while longer and we’ll be together.

What a King we worship

The Father…has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

- Colossians 1:12-13

Oh my word. What a King we worship. What a kingdom we have been welcomed into! Do you realise that we will serve, for the rest of an eternity, a King who washes the feet of His servants? Let that truth just flood your soul for a moment. 

God is worthy of all your praise, because of His power. And yet He stoops down washes your feet. And God is worthy of all your praise, because of His justice. And yet He stoops down in mercy and love.

I wish I had the words to communicate to you how complicated and wonderful His character is. The glory of God is carried in all that He is. Mighty. Powerful. Strong. He has a voice that sounds like rushing waters. When people’s eyes were opened to see the Son of Man in His glory, they always responded with reverence. And yet, He is a God who will stoop down to draw in the dirt, to free you from condemnation. He is a God who will forgive you and give you another chance to love  Him, when you’ve already denied Him three times. He is a God who will heal and restore you, even if the strength of your faith is weak, for He restores those who place their faith in Him. He is a God who is willing to be forsaken for you. 

I wish I had the words to describe. Words just don’t do Him justice.

Thy justice, like mountains, high soaring above Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.