Favourite parables

Do you have a favourite parable of Jesus?  Mine is the parable of the dishonest manager from Luke 16. 

The shrewd manager realises that his master has found out about his unethical dealings and is about to sack him.  So, while he is (curiously) still in his job, he escalates his unethical behaviour to curry favour with potential future employers. 

He realises what his potential future holds (unemployment) and he acts decisively to secure a better future for himself.  Here is Jesus’ assessment of this kind of thinking:

“The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.” 

The master said, “You cunning so-and-so.  I should have sacked you immediately.  But well done on being a shrewd rat with my money.  As a rat myself, I can respect that.  Now, get out.”  Jesus is not commending dishonesty.  But he is commending the principle of letting what we know about our future, drive our decisive and shrewd action today.  The people of this world are so good at looking forward to the future, and letting that vision determine their considered actions today. 

But what do Christians know about the future?  We know that all humanity is headed for judgement – for we are each destined to die once and then to face the judgment.  (Hebrews 9:27)  There is no reincarnation.  No second chance life.  No escaping the justice of God.  Hence the absolute urgency of mission and evangelism. 

For how can people experience the grace and forgiveness of God in Christ unless Christians proclaim it?  Unless Christians declare it clearly and invite a response?  Unless Christians act decisively and deal shrewdly with their resources to support such Gospel-proclaiming and Gospel-promoting activities? 

We are each accountable for the life we lead, the decisions we make, the gifts and resources we steward.   Jesus goes on to say, “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”

Just as the shrewd manager used his worldly power and resources to secure his future, Jesus declares that we ought to use our worldly resources to win friends for the eternal future to come.  The passage ends with these famous words of Jesus’:

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Notice what Jesus says:-  It is impossible to serve both God and Australian middle-class monetary aspirations.  One will lose and be hated.  Which will you hate?  

Will you love God by letting God’s certain future determine how you act decisively and shrewdly with the worldly wealth he has entrusted to you?  Will you give to causes like the global missions work of CMS?  It’s a shrewd investment!  One that will help us continue and increase our work of winning friends for heaven. 

A song for someone

One of our missionaries was recently surprised when he learnt that I majored in English poetry in my Arts degree.  Among my claims to literary fame are that I had some poetry published in my gap year before university; and that, as an undergraduate, I had afternoon tea with Seamus Heaney the Nobel Laureate for Literature whose work I was proposing to investigate in my honours year.  I was so nervous that all I could say to him was, ‘More tea, Mr Heaney?’

Here is a poem, actually a song, that I would like to tease apart for you this month.  It begins with these lines:-

You got a face not spoiled by beauty

I have some scars from where I've been

You've got eyes that can see right through me

It’s a love song.  One in which the admirer is looking at his lover’s face, which is ‘not spoiled by beauty’.  Perhaps it is scarred.  It is nothing the world would look at.  But then, neither is the singer’s.  He carries the scars of life too, and his lover has eyes that can see right through them, perhaps even to the heart of the hurts he carries. 

But the irony is that the song’s refrain is thus:

And this is a song, song for someone

This is a song, song for someone

The identity of the lover, is unknown.  The idealised lover who is being sung to, is unknown.  The song is tinged with a longing for a better world, a more perfect relationship, light instead of darkness for each of us.  Another verse borders on preaching to the listener:-

If there is a light you can't always see

And there is a world we can't always be

If there is a dark within and without

And there is a light, don't let it go out

That last line is a plea to keep hoping, to keep searching, to keep looking for that light even if we can’t quite see it yet.  What reason can the poet give us for keeping on hoping and searching?  Here is the final stanza:

And I'm a long long way from your Hill of Calvary

And I'm a long way from where I was and where I need to be

It turns out that the poet actually knows who his lover is after all.  He refers to his Hill of Calvary – his lover is Jesus the Crucified One.  It is Jesus whose face is not spoiled by beauty, who carries the scars of Calvary, who has eyes that see right through us.  This song, is a song for Christ the Crucified.  This plea, this sermon, is for the listener to hope in Jesus, to persist in pursuing that light that only Jesus has. 

Up to the middle of this month, 500 million users of Apple’s iTunes music software will be able to download, completely free, this song and others from Songs of Innocence, the latest album from the Irish superstar rock band U2.  It’s all part of Apple’s latest marketing ploy.  But imagine if even a tiny percentage of those 500 million were to respond to the Jesus of whom U2 sings?!  

Pray, care, give... GO?!

Those four words have been close to the heart of CMS Australia for as long as I can remember! 

It was a tremendous privilege to go on a pastoral visit to the Northern Territory last year. 

I got to visit and meet with people serving in Darwin at NungalinyaCollege, with the Anglican bishop, and with the Uniting Church Northern Synod.  I caught up with past CMS Victoria affiliates Steven Tong and Kerryn Gijsbers.  I got to visit Geoff and Hannah Harper in Nhulunbuy, East Arnhem Land. 

David Platt, writing in his excellent book Radical, describes how I used to think about money and visiting missionaries.  It costs a lot, so isn’t it better to save the money and send it over to them?  Why go through the effort and expense of visiting?  Platt was visiting a Sudanese brother, Andrew, who said:

“A true brother comes to be with you in your time of need.  David you are a true brother. Thank you for coming to be with us.”

Internet communications means that we can be in better touch than ever before, but nothing beats actually turning up in the flesh.  After all, that’s what God did when he sent Jesus.  Turning up is a powerful expression of care. 

But something else happens when we go.  We are exposed to the actual context and circumstances of life and ministry in that other place.  We give ourselves the time to relate, to share, to be affected, to walk and talk with God over there.  All that adds up to the possibility that our hearts might be changed as we prayerfully process the experience of being in that missionary context.  Hopefully, under God, our passion for Gospel ministry in that place increases, our prayerfulness is boosted, our own willingness to relocate and serve is increased. 

The evidence points to the fact that almost all of our current missionaries had some sort of shorter-term visit or exposure experience before going out with CMS long-term.  Going on an exposure visit can be dangerous if you’re trying to avoid God’s call to become a missionary long-term... 

Is there somewhere or someone you can visit as part of your travel plans this summer?  Is there a part of the world where some good is being done that you can get exposed to?  Have your heart enlarged - do it! 

 

Children are our future

It was an amazing group of young evangelists and Christian leaders in-training.  We were forming a new pastoral care group at the start of another academic year at Ridley. 

As usual we went around the group sharing our testimonies of conversion and stories of journeying towards full-time Gospel ministry.  By the time we got to end, we realised that every single one of us had influenced by a godly, faithful Christian children’s minister. 

Never underestimate the strategic importance of children’s ministry. 

“Hear my child, your father’s instruction; and do not reject your mother’s teaching” – Proverbs 1:8.  Proverbs goes on to underscore the value of godly parenting and instruction of young ones.  What we teach and model for our children about God, grace, forgiveness in Christ, Gospel mission in life… these stick for life.

I was converted in a Presbyterian Sunday School in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.  It seemed to me that all my teachers were either returned missionaries or missionaries in training.  Unsurprisingly, the Gospel message was proclaimed and modelled.

I felt – and can still feel – the love that those teachers had for me and all the children in their care.  They loved us, because Jesus first loved them.  They shared that message of love and forgiveness and mercy and care very effectively in word and deed.  Ask me, and I will show you the Sunday School materials and gifts that I received from them, and that I treasure still. 

My family moved to Johor Bahru on the southern end of West Malaysia when I was nine.  It was there, in a local Methodist church with a strong Sunday School and youth fellowship, that my whole family – mum, dad, older sister and myself – were baptised at the one service in August 1987. 

Later in Australia, it was in the context of a young adult ministry at St Matthias’ Anglican Church, North Richmond and at MelbourneUniversity’s Christian Union that I kept growing as a Christian.  My wife Valerie and I met doing children’s and youth ministry at church. 

Children are our future.  Young people matter.  Children’s, youth and young adult ministries matter.  How effectively we communicate the Gospel and call for conversion and radical discipleship from people at a young age matters. 

That’s why every local church worth its salt should be investing heavily in children’s ministry.  That’s why CMS invests heavily in children’s, youth and young adult ministries, most notably through our Summer Under the Son conference and camp each summer.  Decisions made for Christ in our earliest age, steadily nurtured and carefully mentored along the way, can – under God – lead to a lifetime of amazing Christian service and adventure with the Lord. 

Go on - encourage a kids' minister or get going with some kids' ministry today! And come along to SUTS if you're able to. 

Partnership in Mission

What does partnership in mission look like in the twenty-first century?  CMS has used four key words: Pray, Care, Give Go. Is our role simply to pray, care and give so that missionaries can go?  Is there more to it?

Here’s a challenge for us: read Paul’s letter to the Philippians through in one go.  Scribble all over your Bible with some coloured pencils to work out some themes.  Notice the preponderance of ‘gospel’ and ‘Christ’.  Notice how the Gospel shapes Paul’s self-identity, prayers and ambitions, and relationships.  Notice how the Gospel shapes the partnership between the Philippian church and Paul the missionary.  

There are at least four ‘mutuals’ in there: mutual prayer, mutual care, mutual suffering, and in mutual giving and receiving.  I’d like to focus on mutual suffering, for I think that’s what I’m weakest at.

First, notice that Paul is obviously suffering for the Gospel.  He is in chains defending and confirming the Gospel (1:7).  Because of this suffering, the Gospel advances as Paul preaches in prison and the church is emboldened to speak the Word (1:12-14).  This often happens for me, that others’ faithfulness in difficult ministry makes me bolder in mine.  As they suffer, we are made bold!  Does that happen for you?

Second, know that testifying to Christ may invite strange looks, gossip, and being marginalised in our workplaces, universities, schools, neighbourhoods, groups.  That’s Gospel partnership that involves mutual suffering!  1 Peter 2:12 puts it this way:

‘Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.’

Are Christians determined to live such lives?  Are you willing to be accused of doing wrong because of your Christian living?

Third, mutual suffering must be quantified.  Suffering is not notional.  Paul spells it out for the Philippians.  Prison.  Envious trouble-making rivals (1:17, 28).  Sorrow and worry over the health of friends (2:26).  Illness and the danger of death – for ourselves and for those we love (1:20, 2:26-30).  Separation from loved ones (2:26).  There’s an acknowledgement of the opportunity cost of giving to missions (4:19).  I give, so I won’t buy a new flat screen tv or take that expensive holiday.  Or at least I'll get a smaller one and take a cheaper holiday!  It helps me to quantify ‘suffering’, and to thank God for the privilege of partnership.  Have you counted the cost of your mission partnership?  Will you thank God for it? 

Christians Praying for Power

Most Australians are innately suspicious of power.  When we spy a tall poppy, our instinct is to lop its head off.  Preferably unceremoniously.  Suspicion of authority and power is blamed on that ‘convict past’.  It’s so pervasive that even a migrant like me has absorbed it to some degree. 

‘Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely’ – Lord Acton.  So we are right to be suspicious of power.  Right?

Actually, the Scriptures give us a mandate to pray for power!  And to pray for power for ourselves, for every Christian involved in Christian work.  It’s in Ephesians 3:14-21. 

‘I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power…’ v16

But what sort of power is Paul asking God to strengthen the Ephesian Christians with?  Four observations: 

First, it is power that comes from God’s infinite storehouse of wealth and might, ‘out of his glorious riches’.  God’s power!  For us!  A mighty power, and a holy power – untainted by sin and corruption. 

Second, it is power to ‘strengthen’ us.  What is achieved is a spiritual strength that will enable us to dominate any evil influence.  That’s real power!  It achieves all the things Paul writes about in the next three chapters.  Culminating in chapter six, Paul writes, ‘Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power… Put on the full armour of God’. 

Third, it is a spiritual power.  It is ‘power through his Spirit in your inner being’.  It is the kind of power that comes with the indwelling Holy Spirit, who lives in every converted Christian believer, transforming us from ungodliness and unholiness to become increasingly godly, holy, wise, loving, humble, servant-hearted and … powerful.  Powerful in a way that the world struggles to understand, but still recognises when it acknowledges true godliness and wisdom working for peace and justice. 

Fourth, it is a Christ-in-you power.  For the purpose of that power, is ‘…that Christ might dwell in your hearts through faith’.  The verb ‘to dwell’, indicates living or dwelling in a place in a settled or established manner.  We pray for a power that results in the exuberant, un-self-conscious exclamation, ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me!’  (Gal2:20). 

Will you pray for this sort of power?  Will you use Ephesians 3:14-21 and the four observations above to pray for all those who exercise Gospel ministry in the name of Jesus Christ?

Jonah the Reluctant Prophet

One of my resolutions upon being appointed to serve at CMS was to work through the book of Jonah.  It’s so full of wisdom, insight and sharp truth for the cross-cultural mission enthusiast.  And a fair share of irony, paradox and hubris too. 

My young children love the story of Jonah and ask for it often.  They delight in knowing all the answers to my questions!  ‘Where did God send Jonah?’  ‘Neee-neee-veeeeehh!!!’  What did the Lord tell him to do?  ‘Tell the people to stop doing baaaaa-d things!!!’  Our discussions usually then trend towards whether it was a whale, a large fish, or a leviathan.  You might be interested to know that your staff team at CMS has been reading through Jonah together weekly, with slightly more adult discussion. 

The plot of the book is simple enough.  God tells Jonah to preach to the Ninevites, but he runs away.  God sends a storm and then a huge fish.  Jonah relents and preaches to the Ninevites.  They repent and turn to God.  But here’s the sting in the story: Jonah becomes bitterly disappointed in God for saving an evil and wicked people.  The book ends with the Lord posing this question:

“Should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?” (4:11)

Indeed, Jonah the prophet is revealed as having a deep seated antipathy towards people not like himself.  If it is possible for a genuine prophet of God to be so unlike God, so ungodly, unloving, unkind, then it is also possible that we and our churches might harbour that same anxiety that the loving Saviour might choose to save … people not like us.  People who look different, speak different, eat different, relate different, smell different, choose different, spend different, honour and shame different... 

May the Lord keep faithful followers of Jesus from such ungodliness!  May the Lord replace our hearts of stone with hearts of full of loving concern for all the peoples of the world and, indeed, our neighbourhoods.  Perhaps there is someone not like you in your immediate vicinity.  What would it mean to be offer hospitality, kindness and the word of grace to them this week? 

ps. I’ve found Peter Adam’s recent sermons from Jonah helpful.  They were preached earlier this year at Christ Church Ormond.  Go to http://www.ormondanglican.org.auand search for ‘Peter Adam’. 

Introduction

I thought it might be time to start a new blog.  It's two years since I started a new job with the Church Missionary Society (CMS) Victoria, Australia.  Do link in, click on, sign up, or whatever it is that people do these days to connect if they are vaguely interested in what I might have to say.  For starters, I'm going to post each of the monthly articles that I write for CMS Victoria.  Stay tuned for more!