Why God?

Does anyone know why God does some things, but then doesn't do others?

Why do some people survive, and others don't?

Why do some buildings catastrophically collapse while the one next to end it stays standing?

Why do some people have abortions, while others, desperate for a family cannot seemingly conceive?

Why, if God is Love, is there so much injustice, suffering, pain and death in the world? How can He bear it? Why does He stand idly by while children are murdered, parents are killed, people are abused.

Why God? Why don't You DO something?

I know of two different people, in recent times who have either had a "lucky" escape, or who have been tragically bereaved, even while doing something God has asked them to do.

There seems to me to be no logic in either outcome.

Needless to say I'm thankful for the escape, and from a distance share the pain of grieving loss.

Does God have a Plan?

I believe with all of my heart that He does. But that doesn't necessarily make it any easier.

For me, I am fully aware that my life is not under my control. Sure, I get up eat breakfast, brush my teeth etc. And if I really didn't want to, I could skip brushing my teeth. That part of my life is certainly under my control. It's called 'free-will'. (Don't worry I do brush my teeth at least twice per day, unlike other people I could mention).

But the big things - like when will I die - I honestly have no 'control' over.

In reality, today is all I have.

God knows when I will die, for I will one day. As will you. I personally don't intend on living forever, I'm quite tired already! In 100 years from now it's likely that the world will still be here but highly likely that you will not.

As humans we have to get our heads around this. Because it matters.

I don't mean to be morbid, but I do mean to be intentional.

I overheard someone last night (at the table next to ours) having a conversation about Faith.

He said "I don't need faith. I'm self-actualized"

He went on to say was that he had got his morals from the Bible, but didn't need any of the rest of it because he "knew now how to live his life and was perfectly happy, thank you very much."

I didn't interject into their conversation (it was our anniversary, 9 years, thanks for asking). But I think it illuminates something of the modern "post-Christian" condition.

The church has failed in its mission if it has successfully injected the 'moral message' of Christianity into society, but has equally failed to communicate the saving power of the Gospel.

In New Zealand, and lots of other places in the world 'good people' - Christians even - die every day. In sometimes random and unexplained "unjust" ways.

And this leads me back to my starting question "why doesn't God do something about it then?"

The answer is both easy and complex, personal yet offensive.

The answer is "He will." and "He has"

He knows that man does bad things to ourselves and one another. It's been that way since the first rebellion with Adam and Eve. And because He is a perfect, just God he cannot allow us to get away with our actions.

Motivated by Love for what he had made, he entered time and history as Jesus Christ and died on the cross taking all the sin of the world away, so that when we die we can enter into His Kingdom where there is no more pain, sickness or suffering of any sort.

This is history, we have it in the Bible.

This is the personal and offensive part. It's personal because you have to do something about it (say yes or no) and offensive because it offends our self-centredness to think that we need rescuing at all. I say get over it, you're not that perfect.

That's the "He has" answer.

The "He will" part is the complicated bit, but bear with me.

Right now, today, Jesus lived and died and rose from the dead 2,000 years ago. And we're living in a time when this message of salvation is still being preached to the ends of the world. Once everyone (and God is patient, so He's giving you time too) has had the opportunity to respond to the Gospel, then the end will come. This earth will get destroyed and a new heavens and a new earth will be made. Where there will be no more pain, suffering or injustice.

The Bible tells us that before the throne of God we'll be judged according to what we've done in our lives and Justice will be done.

The Bible also tells us that those who put their trust in Jesus will, on that day, not have their sins (bad stuff) counted against them, but will instead be saved from Judgement because our sins were dealt with through faith in Jesus Christ.

I believe that when we die is not dictated by whether we are "a good person" or "a bad person". In fact you could argue that that is irrelevant to the timing of our death.

But actually what happens after we die is the more important question.

I guess if you don't believe in an after-life then none of this matters.

But then why would we think it unjust for good people who we don't even know to die?
Why would we have this sense of right and wrong?

If it's all just molecules bumping against each other, then surely none of this is of any consequence to anyone. 

I can't decide for you whether there is an after-life or not. I believe there is. And we'll all get to experience it some day.

We don't get a choice of when that day will be. But we do get to choose whether we go there confident of our destination. Or not.

God makes us an offer we can't refuse in Jesus.

I know I'm going to heaven not "self-actualized" but actually trusting in Someone else. And that gives me remarkable peace and confidence in living life to the full. (Even if I do have man-flu right now).

I pray you know that peace and confidence too. It's life-changing stuff.

Thank you God for intervening in my life. Why don't you let Him intervene in yours?

Is the church a guilt-cash dispenser?

"You should read your Bible..."

...said the obviously homeless person to me yesterday morning, just before I was about to preach. 

He'd showed up at the Community Centre were we meet as a Newfrontiers church plant in Kitchener-Waterloo. 

The team had been warned that, because the centre is based in a low-income area, the staff there quite often get homeless people coming in looking for help. 

I'd been sitting in the reception area, doing one last read through of my notes when this guy walked in and asked the receptionist if "the minister was available" - we have a sign that's on the side of the street outside to catch any passers-by. The lady at the desk said she didn't know, so they guy wandered in. 

As I was sitting exactly in front of him reading my Bible, I knew I was in line for something. 

The guy comes up, asks me my name and sits down next to me. I tell him my name, and he starts telling me how his life is real bad, and that he has no work and whether I could give him some money. 

Immediately I feel guilty because, unless he takes Interac or Visa, I've got no cash to give him. So, thinking on my feet (or my bum, I was sitting down) I say, "I haven't got any money myself, but I can pray for you."

"Oh that's no good. I need the cash you see. You sure you haven't got any?"

I literally do not have 2 cents to rub together, so I say "No, I really haven't, what's your name friend"

The now departing man says:

"It doesn't matter. For someone with no cash there are plenty of $20,000 cars in the parking lot. Don't you know what your Bible says?"

With that he walks off to the main hall where the rest of Lamplight are getting ready for the service to begin.

Janet, on welcoming duty, does a great job of explaining that no we don't have any money, but that the anonymous gentleman is welcome to stay for the service. 

The man refuses and walks away, shouting. "You people with $20,000 cars should read your Bibles"

And I'm left thinking: is it Biblical to give money to someone who's obviously poor and in need, but refuses to appear interested in anything else but the cash he can get from us? 

Should we as a church arrange a special collection to have funds to give away so that people can turn up, take some cash and be on their way? 

Should we feel guilty for not handing over cash to the poor?

I haven't had the time yet to do a major Bible study on this. But I do know that God's heart is for the poor and the oppressed. I do know that Jesus spent a lot of his time with outcasts and rejects, shaming the wisdom of the religious. I do know that, in the early acts of the church, everyone shared together so that "none were in need" and that this was a powerful witness to the world of the transforming power of the Gospel. 

But I don't see anywhere where the church is to be used and abused (as this fellow's attitude seemed to want it) as a guilt-cash dispenser from the relatively rich to the poor. 

I pray that this guy comes back again. And that we can sit down and have a proper conversation with him. 

It probably seems to him that cash is the answer to his problems. Maybe he has a drug dependency. Maybe he owes money to other people. I really don't know. But for me, I won't give cash until I know he's part of our community. Not because I'm mean. But because I'm fairly sure that cash alone isn't the answer to his problems. 

I'm praying for wisdom for how best to serve the people in our community, particularly those in need. 

Life After Moving.

"How's life in Canada?"

Everyone asks us this. I suppose the correct answer would be the boring one "Pretty much the same as it was before, except all the people, surroundings and circumstances are 100% different"

People have said that moving countries must be a "life-changing" experience that they wish they had the guts to do. 

Well that might be true for some people - but maybe there wasn't that much about my life that I wanted to change?

Maybe we took a bit of a leap of faith in coming here, but the leap didn't come from our own desire to move. 

In fact, I'd have been quite happy to stay in Swindon. 

So what's the point in moving? I have to honestly say that we don't yet know the full answer to that question. Maybe we never will. But that's the risk you take when taking a leap of faith. 

We're certainly enjoying the adventure. 

But I've realized (sorry, realised) this. God doesn't care for our comfort. 

Don't get me wrong, he cares for us. But he doesn't care for us (you, me, everyone else) having comfortable, same-old same-old lives. 

God cares about the Gospel reaching the ends of the earth. So that everyone has the opportunity to hear, consider and respond to the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Everyone.

And each of us have a part to play in that. For those who haven't responded to the Gospel yet, it means saying "yes" or "no" to Jesus; and being fully aware of the consequences of either answer. 

For those of us who have said yes to Jesus. It means being concerned with what he is concerned about - as many people as possible hearing the message that God loves them, cares deeply for them, that Jesus died for their sins, and was raised to life so that they may have Life in all its fullness. 

And that will mean different things for different people. But Jesus is clear when he tells us to love our neighbour (sorry, neighbor) as we would love ourselves. That's a great starting point for the Gospel to go out from. 

And it's this same Gospel that we are seeking to serve here in Canada. 

So for us, right now, 'Life After Moving' is the same as 'Life Before Moving' - seeking to serve the Gospel of Jesus Christ in whatever way we can. 

Heaven knows we're not perfect at it. But God, in his infinite wisdom, chose ordinary people like you and me to advance his Kingdom. And God has given us his grace and power to accomplish the tasks he gives us to do. 

So I'm going to go all out for it. I'm not great at it. But I'm going to try. 

How about you?

PEACE.