Stop the rot in society as a GPS community.

Being a missional church is much more than knowing a new church word or understanding a theological concept. It is about the sensible way that we are the church, fulfilling our purpose and making a difference in the world.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:13-16:  “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.  You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Salt was used in biblical times to preserve food. (There were no fridges or freezers to conserve it). We are the church in a world where sin, impurity, disobedience and spiritual decay destroy lives, communities and society.   This rot is a real enemy of the church when it destroys our testimony and when our way of being church suspends our witnessing for the holy Son of God and his triumph over physical and spiritual death. 

To be the salt of the earth is to preserve the world through living the Gospel by being made holy in Christ.

This same world also seems to be lost. 

During load shedding we all bumped against our furniture, cannot find the torch or the matches quickly enough, become disorientated in our own homes and fear the enemies that may lurk in the dark.

Christ Jesus is the light of the world. His Spirit makes his light shine in and through us without any risk of “spiritual load shedding” that will steal our impact on life’s murkiness.

So we become the light of the world. Our words and testimony, and more importantly, our lives, servanthood, care, outreach and example become a lamp on a stand providing a way out of the haze caused by the confusion resulting from a corrupt world where the dangers of foolishness and disarray destroy lives, families, communities and a nation.

So let us with determination shine the true Light before others.  Lets be the church that stops the rot and becomes the GPS for a world in fear that lost its sense of direction and of the celebration of life.

Let’s restore purpose, joy, festivity, peace, mercy and love!

“This little light of mine – let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!”

 

The right to be a child of God!

The true Light of God, the eternal, one and only Son of God, came from his Father’s heavenly home to bring the message of the grace and truth of God to those who were God’s own. 

The Father sent his Spirit to us and we were changed into God’s children.  And as children of the Father our eyes were opened to recognise Jesus, to believe in his Name and receive the right to walk in the eternal light.

John 1: 10-14 - To those who believed in his name,  Jesus gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth

We are given the right to be a child of God when we are adopted by the Father in Christ and are given the privilege to call the almighty Creator “Abba” which means “my Daddy”. We are given the power to claim our divine heritage to be children of God.  We share in the wonder of childship even as Jesus claimed to be God’s Son.  The Spirit individually grants us the faith to know Jesus as the Truth and receive his Light!

Celebrate the right to be a child of God today.

Celebrate the gracious life of Jesus that brought you truth and light.

Celebrate the calling to be the instrument used by the Spirit to open the eyes of the blind and call those who are dead, to live.

Because you have the right to childship of the Most High God, you too cannot only see, but as a member of God’s family,  share the glory of Jesus with a world stumbling forward in darkness.  

The old has gone, the new is here!

We do not have to wait till the day when Jesus returns, to become a new creation.   It all starts here and now.  It starts on the day God reconciles us with Godself.  On the day we experience our redemption, we celebrate by singing and shouting:   The old has gone, the new is here!

As we read in 2 Corinthians 5:17ff:  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:  The old has gone, the new is here!    All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:  that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ,

All this is from God.   The Holy Spirit recreates me into someone new. I was born again.

The new creation within me does not hide or run away from God anymore. The new creation within me does not oppose the Kingdom or the values, the dream, the vision and prayer our Lord has for the Church and his people.

No, the new creation in me thirsts for friendship with my God. It longs to walk with God. It prays to work for God. It celebrates that my sins do not count against me anymore.  It begs the Lord that I may become a change agent for his sake. It urges me on to seek the glory and honour of my God in every aspect of life.

We now represent the eternal King on the Father’s right hand. We teach what he taught, we bring the message he brought, we testify about his resurrection and his victory.  We promise the forgiveness of sin. We live for our King and invite the world to enter and celebrate the everlasting Kingdom of life and love.

We shout it out every day:  The old has gone, the new is here!

Winning the good fight!

The real battle of your life is with your own selfish desires and sinful pride. In James 4:6 he quotes the Scriptures (Proverbs 3:34) when he says  "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Pride and selfishness go hand in hand. Where you find pride you will also find selfishness  - and Christians losing the battles against unhappiness, sadness, depression and burnout!

Our real need is for humility. James 4:10 tells us: Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.  We can choose to go on in selfish pride or we can choose to humble ourselves. The way of humility leads to be lifted up from our dark places to enjoy the light of God’s joy and redemption!

So, how can we express this humility? How can we fight the real fight against our own selfish desires and sinful pride? James gives us four things we must do.

1.  We must accept God’s will. In verse 7 James tells us: Submit yourselves, then, to God. When we submit to God we are acknowledging that his way is right. But submitting to God is more than that. It is giving him control of your life. To do that you must yield to him. Quit trying to run your own life. Put God in charge of your life by obeying him.

One of the reasons why we have so much conflict is because we have not settled our own relationship with God. We have not really decided to submit to him in practical ways. Make no mistake about this — you can’t follow Jesus without obeying him! Jesus is not the Lord of your life if you do not do what he says.   There is no real peace if you do not submit to God. The Spirit of God will bring conviction to your heart and you will never enjoy the peace of God until you surrender to him. So accept God’s will. Submit to God.

2.  We must reject God’s enemy. James not only tells us to submit to God but he also tells us: Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. How do you do this? How do you resist the devil?

You do it by resisting his philosophy of life. You do it by resisting what he wants you to do. You do it by resisting living by his standards. Be smart. Be on your guard. The devil is trying to trip you up. He is trying to destroy you. He is not trying to help you. He wants to hurt you.  Remember Joseph!

Evil shows up when you are tempted to substitute other things for God. He shows up when you are tempted to stay home from church. He shows up when you are tempted not to come to the prayer gathering. He shows up when you are tempted not to read your Bible. He shows up when you are tempted not to tithe. He shows up when you are tempted to substitute activities for worship, television for prayer, giving to yourself for giving to God — doing something good for doing what is the best. When he shows up like this — resist him! Don’t give in. If you won’t give in, he will flee from you.

3.  You must also pursue God’s presence. In verse 8 James says, Come near to God and he will come near to you. In other words, you must be proactive. It is not enough to accept God’s will and reject God’s enemy. You must actively pursue a living relationship with the living Lord.

Have you become too busy to work on your relationship with God? No one can do anything about it except you. What you spend your time doing is what you are investing your life in. We need to invest in eternity because that’s where we are going to spend a very long time.

4.  There is still one other issue James addresses in this passage of Scripture. We must accept God’s will, reject God’s enemy, pursue God’s presence, and then we must receive God’s forgiveness.

Look at verses 8-10: Wash your hands and purify your heart, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. Here James gives us the key to receiving God’s forgiveness.

This is where humility comes in. It is humbling to ask God for forgiveness. It is humbling to ask anyone for forgiveness.

But we need to do it. We need to do it because it is the right thing to do and we need to do it because we need forgiveness. Just think of how much conflict, sadness and dark places could be avoided if we were to say, "I was wrong, please forgive me."

And then God lifts us up!  He brings us into the light of his peace and joy!