Mission Mumblings

I don't know about you, but when you say the word 'Mission' you may get all these images of running off to deepest darkest Africa, or maybe its spending a few weeks over the stinking hot summer living in a tent preaching to holidays makers.

Well, clear all these images out of your head! this week i'm on College mission - a week where the entire student body of the college head out and partner with various churchs around Sydney to proclaim the Gospel.

This week I'm out at Merrylands, joining in fellowship at church meetings, taking scripture seminars in the local Schools, door knocking, ESL classes, train station evangelism and a Mens outreach dinner 'Has God got a Beef with you' at the local leages club (the big problem is that its Chicken night).

Its a lot of hard work, but there are also great opertunities to have fun and get to know others as well. Feel free to check out the mission vodcasts created by Joel A at Fervr.

Great encouragement

the last few days have been hectic as for me with College mission and College graduation all happening. That said, its been also been a great 2 days with a lot of encouragement from God's word.

At Graduation last night we had a great talk from David Peterson about keeping our faith in God despite the hard times in life, especially in the face of the ongoing drought throughout Australia, the Qld floods and the Victorian Bushfires. he based it from Psalm 116 which is also the same passage that Richard Johnson preached on after arriving in Australia with the first fleet.

then this morning in Chapel we had a talk from an Anglican Bishop from Nigeria. it was really encouraging to be reminded of our role as ambassadors of the Gospel. it was also encouraging to be reminded that even though sometimes our words don't make an impact, that it will change someones life.

a great piece of encouragement from the talk was the idea that there is great rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents, and our 4 years in College will still be so worth it if through our life in ministry only one person comes to know Christ though our ambassadorship.

Luther - biggest impact

I'm sitting in Church History and we have just been asked to think about what has really struck us about Martin Luther's life.

Some of the things that people have said were his view of living your ordinary life as a great way to bring Glory to God, my mate Dave has been struck but Luther's time spent thinking on the toilet. Another big one was Luther's sermons, and the way that some of them were actually fairly anti-Semitic.

For me, the biggest thing that strikes me about Luther and his life is his view of the Church and his motivation. Luther was not out to bring division to the church - he was not seeking to make a name for himself as a revolutionary - he didn't want to be the names sake of a denomination of Christianity. No, Luther rather wanted to keep the Catholic church united as the physical manifestation of God's community. Luther wanted to bring the Church back to a truth based on the Bible, not bring division!

No Line on the Horizon

If you looked at my CD collection you would quickly see that I'm a bit of a fan of those famous Irish Rockers, U2 - actually, they were the first CD that I ever bought. And so it is that almost 30 years after the release of ‘Boy’ on 20th October 1980, their 13th studio album ‘No Line on the Horizon’ was released a few weeks back. So here I am chilling out listening to it thinking what has changed about U2 and what’s the same. Their sound is one of those things that’s still distinct yet totally different. When you think of those early songs and then their newer stuff, you can certainly hear a lot of changes. There isn’t so much of that old sense of anger that’s there in songs like ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’, ‘Pride (In The Name Of Love)’ and ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’. They don't have those overtly Christian vibes such as in ‘I Will Follow’, and ‘I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For’, yet they r still rocking the world in the same way.

I know that a lot has been made of their ‘Christian beliefs’ and all that with lots of statements being made that they are and they are not Christian. Throughout their works they have often included Christian references right up to a possible reference to Jeremiah 3:33 on the cover of their album ‘All that you can’t leave behind'. I’m not going to head down that road however and start to speculate, in the end I believe that’s between you and God. But look at their Lyrics and listen to their songs and you might see what I’m talking about.

This is the words to 'Magnificent', one of my favourite songs on ‘No Line on the Horizon’:

Magnificent
Magnificent



I was born
I was born to be with you

In this space and time

After that and ever after I haven't had a clue

Only to break rhyme
This foolishness can leave a heart black and blue



Only love, only love can leave such a mark

But only love, only love can heal such a scar


I was born
I was born to sing for you 

I didn't have a choice but to lift you up
And sing whatever song you wanted me to
I give you back my voice
From the womb my first cry, it was a joyful noise ...

Only love, only love can leave such a mark

But only love, only love can heal such a scar


Justified till we die, you and I will magnify

The Magnificent

Magnificent


Only love, only love can leave such a mark

But only love, only love unites our hearts



Justified till we die, you and I will magnify
The Magnificent

Magnificent

Magnificent


Whether it be the true God of the Bible or one loosely created around their own ideas and Christian heritage I don't know. It doesn’t change the fact that U2 is still one of the biggest name bands in the world and I really enjoy listening to them.

* Lyrics copied from U2.com

Demons - they are out there!!!

I was cruising through my Feeds about an hour ago when i saw an article on Sydney Anglican site talking about the fact that most Christians today ignore the reality of our spiritual struggle. Click here to read the article.

I thought that this would be a great opportunity to share with you my latest sermon that i preached a few weeks back. At the Garrison we are working through the Gospel of Luke looking at selected passages that show who Jesus is and what the purpose of his life on earth was. this isn't the full text of my sermon, but rather a highlight of what i feel are the important parts.

Today we investigate the notion and idea of Evil Spirits and ask some big Questions. Does Jesus hold authority over them? if so, how much? Do evil spirits even exist? And how is this important to us? For us living in 21st century Australia it
may be all too easy to downplay and ignore these ideas of demons and evil
spirits, after all we live in the age of science, logic and reason and spirits
generally have no place in this life we live. The closest thing to an evil
spirit that we seem to come across has its origins in a Hollywood studio and
comes to us in the form of ‘Lord Voldemort’ from the Harry Potter movies or
Ghost busters if we are a little older.

When it comes to looking at the happenings of passages such as today, even amongst Christian scholars there is some debate. There are those who are more liberal and try to suggest that what we see has a logical scientific explanation, that he was a man who was merely mentally ill, but I disagree with them, as do many others. I believe that when we look at these passages in the Gospels, in conjunction with the rest of scripture, we are presented with an insight that there is a spiritual realm as well as the Physical world in which we live. Whilst I admit that this sounds a lot like superstitious garbage, as we look at society we see that more and more people are starting to embrace these new age ‘spiritual’ religions.

In the Old Testament we see that as Moses gives the law to Israel there are warnings against the occult and 1 Samuel 28 we read of King Saul visiting a witch to seek advice from the spirit of a dead prophet. In the New Testament, time and time again we find mentions of the fact that there is a constant struggle between the powers of good and evil on a scale so epic that it makes ‘The Lord of the Rings’ look like a walk in the park. Paul’s letter to the Church in Ephesus is loaded with references of this spiritual reality saying in ch6:12:

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

As Jesus taught in the Synagogue at Capernaum we read in verse 32 that the people “were amazed at his teaching because his message had authority.” And again in verse 36 they say ““What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders…” Time and time again the writers of the Gospels make note that Jesus teaching was different to that of the religious leaders of his time. Again and again people gathered and listened intently to what Jesus was talking about. Repeatedly we learn that the religious elite took offence at what he had to say for because Jesus didn’t just try to explain things, He said how things were. Jesus after all, with the full authority of God.

And there sitting calmly in the synagogue was a man who was, as Luke reports, possessed by a demon – an unclean spirit. Now it would seem from reading Luke’s account that the majority of the time this man was his normal self – he hadn’t been alienated from society, nor was he excluded from the Synagogue – yet as this spirit recognised Jesus, he takes control of his victim and cries out

“Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to
destroy us? I know who you are —the Holy One of God!”

This evil spirit was disturbed and in fear of the power and authority that it knew Jesus had. This spirit knew that this man standing and teaching in the Synagogue that day spoke with the Authority not of man, but of God. This evil Spirit also knew that there was coming a time when this man Jesus was once and for all going to put an end to all evil. And Jesus, unphased by the direct confrontation, stood his ground, and with 6 simple words, 5 if your reading the Greek, the Demon was silenced and sent away, bound by the command of God and made powerless. This is not the only time that Jesus confronts demons – Luke tells of at least 3 other occasions where Jesus stands his ground, commands these evil and unclean spirits, and they have no choice but to obey.

As Christians today, the reality is that we are constantly under attack from these forces. They will lead us astray and distract us from our goal of living lives in service of God. Whilst the attacks and distractions are not as obvious as we saw in this reading, they are still there. In a life that is as hectic as it is today, it doesn’t take much to make us loose our focus. It’s been a hard week and I don't feel like going to church! I’m too tired to read my Bible tonight and too busy during the day to pray! These are all common thoughts that are used against us to shift our focus away from living for the one who holds true authority.

Today we have a baptism but this act of baptising isn’t some magical act that ensures safe passage into heaven. Instead, it’s a public statement of belief that the ones being baptised, or those bringing the child to be baptised, want to live a life under Gods rule. It’s a statement that we want to freely submit to the authority of God and take a stand and 'fight against sin, the world and the devil' as we read in the service.

There are two things I want you to think about as you head home today. The first is that there is going to come a time when all things will submit to Gods authority. The question is whether u will freely submit by your own will now, or will you be forced to submit to Gods authority as the demon in this passage we looked at. The second, if you are living a life in submission to the authority of God, it will be inevitable that you will encounter times of hardship, times of doubt, times when it seems there isn’t a point at all. When that happens – do not despair! Stand strong in the knowledge that the victory has been won. Stand, in the strength of God, encouraged by His Spirit that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has the Authority and has exercised his authority over evil!

Reply and clarification

I recieved a coment on my last post asking me about part of what i said. Here is part of what he said:

'...I got a question. The part where you say “...to Glorify God as I grow in Christ and witness to what he has done for me and through me.” What does all that
exactly mean?'

Here is my quick reply:

Let me first state that I’m follower of Jesus (a.k.a. a Christian). Sometimes I’m hesitant to use the term Christian because of the atrocities that have been committed in the name of the church, but there it is – I’m a firm believer in the God that is presented in the Bible. You may not agree with everything that I say, but hope that you will listen and respect what I believe to be true.So here we go & I will try to break it down.

"to Glorify God": I don’t want to live my life for myself - I want to live my life for my God, I want to live my life for Jesus – God incarnate, and give God the Glory for anything that I achieve.

"as I grow in Christ": I'm the first person to admit that I’m not perfect, but my aim is to live my life following the example set for me by Jesus. I know that from time to time I’m going to stuff it up and follow my own selfish ways, but I know that God will forgive me which leads me into the next part.

"witness to what he has done for me": I believe that Jesus was more than just a prophet, but rather the fulfilment of God's plans to save all people - this forgiveness of sin and reconciliation to God is made possible through the death of Jesus and God raising him back to life. This happened not by accident, but because it was the will of God, because God loves all people and wants all people to know him (1 Timothy 1:15, 1 John 2:1-2). I want to show the same love that has been shown to me, to those that I meet, and let them know that they too can be reconciled to God.

"witness what Christ has done through me": I believe that God will use me, my life and my experiences, to let other people know more about him. That really brings me to the title of my Blog – “this jar of clay” – it’s not about me, but the message that I have inside me. My life is not about me – it’s about God and what he has done for me.

Welcome

Well, this is a big step for me - I've finally decided to set up a blog!

So, welcome to This Jar of Clay!!! I love the book of 2 Corinthians as much as i love the rest of the Bible, but the image of Clay Jars has always captured my mind. Paul reminds us in 2Cor 4 that we, as followers of Christ Jesus have been given a special gift to share with the whole world - that being message of the Gospel that brings salvation to all. In Romans Paul also reminds us that we are lumps of clay in the hands of the potter and he will mold our lives to become what he wants us to be and not what we want.

Later Paul tells his friend Timothy:
"In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay;
some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble.
If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes,
made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
(2Ti 2:20-21 NIV)

I think this idea of me being a Clay Jar willing to do the work of my Master tells everything you need to know about me: I'm a simple, human bloke wanting to be used for whatever purpose God calls me to.

This tool of my ministry is where I aim to Glorify God as I grow in Christ and witness to what he has done for me and through me.

Sit back and enjoy the journey with me.