Manly Life Church

Jesus Brings Life – John 10

The vision for our church is to join God in bringing life to Manly. It is the kind of life that Jesus lived… compassionate, whole, healing, full, generous life. And as we grow we hope that life will emerge here in our church community and we will bring life into the wider community! Already I believe we are seeing this life emerge in both of these areas! So why on earth would we presume that life will emerge in our community or spread into the wider community? What is it that fuels life here? What is it that brings life through us to out there? To both we would point to Jesus – the bringer of life!

In John 10:1-18 we find Jesus making some staggering claims ; “I am the good shepherd” and “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” These are big claims that invites us to respond to him and to trust and follow him into…

Something resonates with us about the shepherd imagery… Although not many of us could claim a connection to the land it still makes sense. I have only ridden a horse once and couldn’t walk for a week. We also had a farm at school – I think there were 4 token sheep… poor things! But deep down we kind of know that we are all a bit like sheep in need of a good shepherd! We tend to follow the pack, need a bit of direction and often get lost along the way.

Well if we are going to understand why Jesus brings us life we need to understand the context in which he proclaims he is the good shepherd and bringer of abundant life! In John 9 Jesus has just healed a man born blind and then John 10 finds Jesus at the Feast of Hanukah (or dedication). This was not an Old Testament festival but had become a festival in between the time of the OT and NT. So what was this Feast of Dedication about? Well in the Middle East from 175 BC to 164 BC most powerful leader was Antiochus “Theos” Epiphanes. He was totally devoted to Greek ideas, culture and wanted to Hellenise the world – make it Greek. But the reality is this promoted widespread immorality. These guys were into bad stuff: I was reading a book on Ancient Greece and Rome a few years ago. This was not civilised society. The economy was built upon slavery, women were treated like animals and children were often abused by older men as a common place practice. Yet his goal was to “civilise the world”.

Part of this was to get rid of a transcendent deity. His philosophy was man is ruler of all, we are shapers of our future… Has anyone met him recently? Of course this put him in conflict with the Jews of Palestine – folks who kept on pledging allegiance to someone greater than him. So he tried to get rid of their religion, and the tension builds… In 170BC Epiphane’s army attacks Jerusalem and eighty thousands are killed, his army wipes out the temple treasury. He made having a copy of the Torah a capital offense and outlawed the big things for Israelites: observance of Sabbath and circumcision… So Epiphanes took over the temple in Jerusalem and turned it into an alter to Zeus. He put prostitutes in there and offered swine blood on the alter. Amazingly, during the reign of Antiochus some of the Jewish priests stood by while the temple was defiled. There was a High Priest named Jason who had actually helped desecrate the temple. This went on for 3 years until Judas of Maccabees finally leads a revolt and recaptured the temple.

So Jesus is at the festival of dedication where they celebrated the cleansing and re-dedication of the temple. At the Festival of Dedication, they would read Ezekiel 34 – do you know this passage? A cracker! It’s a passage of judgement and promise – uses this sheep/shepherd imagery speaking of judgement on the leaders of Israel and promise that God will come himself and lead his people.

So they would read Ezekiel 34:2; “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: This is what the Sovereign Lord says; Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock?” and verse 4; “You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals.”

Do you see why with that recent history they would read this? Particularly with their Priests abdication… Such strong verses of judgement against the rulers of God’s people. In vs 7-10 God basically says that he will remove them from their role, but then comes this incredible promise…

Ezekiel 34:11; “For this is what the sovereign Lord says; I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so I will look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness.” And finally vs 16 says; “I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak.”

So at the feast of Dedication, they remember the betrayal of their leaders, the rescue led by Maccabees, and the promise of God that he would come and be their shepherd… So this is what they are reading, and remember Jesus has just healed a blind man in John 9.

And then John 10:11 – in the midst of this festival, he proclaims; “I am the good shepherd”. Be under no illusions about what Jesus is saying… He is claiming about himself what God had said he would do… So the good shepherd has arrived, God’s promised saviour has come and he has come to bring the healing, justice and restoration that Ezekiel promised.

So how does Jesus bring us this life? Well Jesus describes his role as a shepherd. My friend Darrell Johnson helped me understand this: shepherds would lead their sheep into a cave like structure with 3 walls around it. The shepherd would then lie down across the entrance acting like a gate. The only way in or out was through the shepherd.

But Jesus says he is not the only one interested in the sheep – in God’s people… Verse 8: “All who came before me were thieves and robbers”. Jesus is referring to these leaders who have not looked after the flock. Verse 10: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy”. And then outside the pen are wolves. Verse 12: “The wolf attacks the flock and scatters it”.

But in Verse 7 Jesus says; “I am the gate for the sheep”. Again in verse 9 “I am the gate for the sheep, whoever enters through me will be saved”. But this saving is not just about our eternal destiny it is also about our lives now… Verse 10: “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.”

Is this a good description of life and what Jesus does for us? In this life are there wolves and thieves who come to attacks us, ruin our lives, scatter us from God? I don’t think you have to be a doomsayer to think that there are lots of people who will take advantage of you for their own gain – wolves who are out to get you! My Nana used to watch Today Tonight a lot, so I would have to reassure her that not every butcher, mechanic and real estate agent is trying to get her. But the truth is that there are plenty of people peddling promises that can ruin our lives.

See, if we are married or single, we are only ever a couple of decisions away from making a mess of our lives. Whether it be a temptation to pollute your life with pornography that will ruin your relationships and sex life or the chance of an affair or encounter with a sex worker. Just the other day we celebrated as a nation spending $500 million on a horse race. Maybe there is nothing wrong with a small bet, but for the hundreds of thousands of lives ruined by gambling, it isn’t cool.

Or in the business world there is always someone trying to offer you a scam, a get rich quick deal that will ultimately ruin you… The Bernie Madoffs of this world who will take your money and embezzle it in a Ponzi scheme… Is this being too harsh? It can be quite brutal out there – lots of wolves ready to attack the weak and not so weak. And what about our leaders? Well hopefully we’re not as bad as the leaders spoken about in Ezekiel 34 but it is always helpful to remember that we don’t put our faith for salvation in men and women, fallible as we are!

But the picture Jesus paints is full of hope too. God has seen the way wolves and bad shepherds come to steal and kill and destroy. So God has, and is doing something about it. John 1 tells us that the Word became flesh and lived amongst us and we have seen his glory – full of grace and truth. God has moved into the neighbourhood… He is the gate through which we come to be saved. He lays down his life for us. He lets us come in and out and find good pasture. He has come to give us life and have it to the full….

Well finally, what is the way into this fullness of life? And it is simple: We need to listen to Jesus voice. Jesus talks of the sheep knowing the voice of their shepherd. So listen to his voice, listen to his voice, listen to his voice… And there is no other way to do this except through following him, his ways, his teaching and his life. In other words, to align yourself with Jesus – the author of life! That is why we believe that life will emerge in our church community and then spread into our wider community. Jesus has come to bring us life – saving us from those who would steal, kill and destroy it. If we listen to his voice and take his gospel to our community – life will grow!

Trusting God When Life is Hard

In the amazing hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness there is a fantastic line “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow”. The writer of the hymn, Thomas Chisholm lived a very difficult life due to ill health. Despite this, his songs are full of faith and hope in the love of God, and the promised presence of God in our lives. It is an amazing confession of faith despite his circumstances!

I am aware of a lot of my friends who are currently struggling with all kinds of issues, from sickness and depression to difficult relationships and finances. In the midst of that it is easy to ask where is God in all of this? In fact, it is often only when things become very difficult that our faith in a good God gets put to the test. Prayers that are prayed earnestly can seem to go unanswered, plans that would seem to honour God can come to nothing.

The Christian life is not one without tensions. It is not a neatly packaged magic wand that we can wave over our troubles to make them go away. King David was depressed. At the beginning of Psalm 13 he writes, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?” Our saviour Jesus knew what it was to endure betrayal, suffering and death. The Apostle Paul carried a ‘thorn’ in his side despite also seeing wonderful signs and wonders of God’s presence. Through the ages many of the great Christians like Luther and Spurgeon have had dark nights of the soul or been bed ridden with depression.

So how is it that we can sing “Great is thy faithfulness” or “Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow”? How can we hold on to a good and loving God when all seems dark and lost? Let me suggest some reasons as way of bringing some encouragement to those who are struggling to hold on…

1. I love Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian Christians. He writes; “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

It is a prayer grounded in reality. He prays for strength in our inner being that comes from Christ in us. It prays that we will know the depths of God’s love in our circumstances. It is a prayer that is full of hope in a God who does answer our prayers. Even if your life seems like a mess, allow this prayer to be sung over you by the angels in heaven and the saints down through the ages!

2. Future Hope and Present Hope. The faith that we believed into is one that promises a brighter future. Because Christ has defeated death we have future hope of resurrection. The bible says there will be a time when sin and death are gone, when tears will be wiped away. This hope though is not all future, it is to be experienced in the now. Jesus said his kingdom was here and that we should seek it in our lives. As hard as this may be to hear, despite our circumstances we must continue to seek his presence and power in our lives right now. Even if your prayers seem to go unanswered, keep seeking after God. We always have the opportunity to theologise our experiences, or we can choose to hang on to our faith in the promises of the bible.

3. Seek Peace. Jesus knew what it was like to speak a word of peace into the troubled and afflicted. When he appeared to his disciples after his death he said “Peace be with you” and then he breathed his Holy Spirit on them. If you can, seek out opportunities to be prayed for. Ask God to fill you with His Spirit. Paul says in Romans 5 that the path to hope is through suffering. It produces perseverance and character. Nothing of any worth comes without struggle. In the midst of this may God give you peace. That is my prayer!

Hang Around Great Leaders to Become a Great Leader

I have been blessed to have just spent a week in NZ at a New Wine Leaders retreat. It was a reminder of the blessings of being able to spend time with great leaders. No matter what sphere you exist in, if you can spend time with people who have achieved great things, you will get hugely enriched from the interactions. I was with Mark Bailey from Trinity Cheltenham in the UK, Mike Norris from St Paul’s Auckland and Dave MacGreggor from Grace Vineyard Christchurch. All of them high capacity leaders who have made a big impact for the kingdom in their cities and increasingly their nations. There were so many little pearls of wisdom, insights and great laughs along the way. Here is what hanging out with great leaders will do…

1. Increase your vision! Mixing with leaders who you admire will give you a bigger vision for what can be achieved. While I admired the high capacity for work and gifts in each of these men, it also was encouraging to hear how through ordinary men and women, persisting for the kingdom, great things can be done. While it is easy to sit back and think that the big things are out of reach, it was huge to see how these leaders had stuck to their core values. They also spoke of constantly expanding and sharing the vision God had given them with their people.

2. Give you an honest perspective! A really great leader will be honest about how difficult it can be along the journey to success. Often from the outside we get the sugar-coated version of what it is like in a history changing church or business. When you spend time with great leaders you realise that the challenges are the same for most people. It is also refreshing to hear great leaders talk about their own failings and insecurities. Hopefully you can see something of yourself in the great leaders you hang out with.

3. Call you on! One thing that Mark Bailey accredited the great success of Trinity to, was his persistence and longevity in his calling. The big things we may dream of may not be achievable in 2 years but they may over 10 or 20 years. It was a huge encouragement to see how these great leaders have kept on despite all the criticisms and set backs leaders face. Think Steve Jobs being sacked by the company he started… But great leaders persevere because they know, that they know, that they know, what they are called to do.

If you get a chance to spend time with people you admire who have achieved great things in your sphere – take it. And soak it all up!

Leading a Response after Sermons

When I was 21 I lived for a year in South Africa and Kenya. I was blessed to be asked to do quite a bit of open air preaching. The expectation was that after my message I would ask people to respond by making a decision to follow Jesus. Hence about half way through the sermon I would begin to get a sickening feeling in my stomach… the end is approaching… I am going to have to ask people to respond… what if no one comes forward… this could look very stupid.

Graciously, God would often draw people to respond, but what was most helpful was a Kenyan friend of mine who took me aside. He basically encouraged me that it was the Gospel that is powerful, it is God through his Holy Spirit that will convict people, so all we needed to do was preach faithfully and then relax. It is God who draws out a response in people! It was a great relief to hear this and I actually found myself growing in confidence in my ministry… because it was no longer about me.

When I moved to London I ended up at a great church called St Paul’s Hammersmith. It was an Anglican church that had come alive in the things of the Spirit. Again I experienced great times of ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit. After each message an opportunity was given for people to respond to the Word of God by coming forward to be prayed for. I loved it! The journey I have been on since has been in discovering the value of response and the power of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Last Sunday at Manly Life we looked at Ezekiel 37 and the valley of the dry bones. God promises that he will breathe His Spirit into us and we will live. At the end of the sermon it was obvious that we needed an opportunity for people to respond. For those without hope or life, to come forward and be prayed for. It allows God to take what has been said and then move powerfully in the lives of those being prayed for. Over half the church probably came forward for prayer and we are hearing great testimonies of what God did and is doing in his people.

Here are some keys…

– Without an opportunity for response and prayer a lot of our preaching can just end up being information. But information with response can lead to transformation. It allows God to minister prophetically into peoples lives, and to meet them where they are.

– Often when we have a ministry time we will see God move powerfully in the life of the responder. These visible manifestations of the Holy Spirit’s power are often a sign that God is doing something new or powerful in a person. Other times we just see a sense of peace enter the person (think Jesus appearing to his disciples after his death, saying peace be with you and breathing his Holy Spirit on them).

– We need to trust God that he will move as he promises to, in the lives of those who respond. We simply ask the Holy Spirit to come and minister. We don’t need to whip it up or be all emotional… In the words of John Wimber, we can be naturally supernatural. “God we ask you to come and fill x with your Spirit.” Then shut up… and let God move! If you are saying a lot, often that can be a sign that you don’t trust God to move. Come Holy Spirit…

– Responses can be defining moments in a persons life. God loves a decision, he loves an act of faith, he loves a heart responding to him. God will use that! Never underestimate the power of putting a stake in the ground. Faith in God is a choice, it is an action, it is a response.

– Don’t be afraid of coming forward time and time again. Often if we don’t see God move like we hoped for, we lose that hope. But like the persistent widow, we need to personally be responding time and time again. Seek first the Kingdom, ask, seek, knock, open the door, reach out to touch his robe, come in the dark of night, confess simple prayers of faith… Go after God!

– Finally I would say try and build in a culture of response in your lives and ministry. I take my hat off to the Hillsong’s, and C3’s of this world. They are always giving people an opportunity to respond to the Gospel. There is a reason these churches have experienced huge growth for the kingdom. They give opportunities for people to respond, and then create space and believe God will move.

Bless your ministry and please keep praying for Manly Life!

I will put my Spirit in you and you will live

For those who are coming on Sunday to church I thought I would give you a taste of what we are going to be looking at and experiencing. In the amazing prophesy of Ezekiel 37 God gives Ezekiel a vision of a valley of dry bones. I want to not only speak a word of hope but also to ask God to come and fill us with his Spirit!

In life it is easy to settle for a mentality that this is as good as it gets – so deal with it. And while our faith is not a magic wand that makes everything ok, it is a promise that God will come and fill us with life. In other words, if we can walk in the Spirit as the Apostle Paul encourages to do, a quality of life will emerge.

The prophecy of Ezekiel comes at a time when the people of God had been dragged off into captivity by the Babylonians, their temple had been robbed and they were under the judgement of God. Although their scriptures told stories of a God who acts powerfully to bring life, they were without hope. It was not their experience of God… And like them, sometimes as our lives don’t turn out like we hope they will, we too can lose faith in God. We rationalise the promises of the bible down to our own experiences. Sick, just cope, depressed, somehow just get on with it, broken – aren’t we all…

But into their story, into our lives, God’s promise is to move. Breathing new life, restoring hope, making us his people. So let’s orient ourselves to this passage, and ask him to come… to once again breathe this new life into our tired and weary bones!

The picture Ezekiel paints starts as one of the people of God without hope. In a valley where a battle may have taken place, the people have been reduced to a great pile of dried out bones. It suggests the people have been in this situation for a long time… defeated, deteriorating, decaying. And it was there story – defeated by Babylon, taken into captivity, their temple robbed. Life has got hard. Hope is in short supply.

You know it never ceases to amaze me just how hard life can be for some people. Just this week I was having lunch with the homeless and broken of Manly at the Salvation Army. Many of them wonderful people, but if our brokenness is sometimes internalised, many of these people were wearing it visibly. Sometimes it is our bad choices that lead to life getting off track, but often it is the circumstances that life thrusts into our hands… The result is a valley of dry bones – of a people without hope…

God asks Ezekiel – can these bone live? It is a great question, one to which Ezekiel can only answer “O God, you alone know.” Because from a human point it looks to be a situation without hope. How can these bones live, they have long been dead. A work colleague many years ago when I was working in London took me out to lunch. She shared with me some tragic things that had happened in her life that had overshadowed everything else. She was one of these dry bones… maybe surviving but never thriving in life. Can these bones live? When hope is gone what from a human point of view can we do?

God asks Ezekiel to do something quite incredible. First he asks him to speak! To Prophesy, in other words speak the Word of God to these dry bones! Tell them, God says, that he will make “breath enter you, and you will come alive. Then you will know that I am God.” In Ezekiel’s vision a remarkable thing begins to happen… A noise emerges, a rattling sound and the bones come together, tendons first… and flesh appeared on them, skin begins to covers them… But there is no breath in them… in other words it looks like a sleeping army. They are not yet alive. Hope is coming back but it aint quite there yet.

But it isn’t over. Prophesy to the breath says God. Come from the four winds. O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live. And the breathe enters the bodies, they came to life and stood up on their feet – a vast army. It has echoes of the creation story where breathe enters into the first man Adam and he comes alive. It is something God alone can do! As far as I know scientists haven’t figured out how to take a rock and make it come alive. God is the source of life. It is his creative breath that brings us alive!

And we hear the echoes of this passage after Jesus has been resurrected from the dead! Remember Jesus has said to Nicodemus in John 3 that to be born again you must be born of the Spirit… And so the first disciples… huddled in an upper room, afraid and without hope. Their saviour has been crucified, the movement of new life he has launched into the world seems to be over. Just another dead saviour. And then he appears to them! “Peace be with you.” And then we hear he breathes on them and says… “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Like the prophesy of Ezekiel here is our God – bringing his hopeless people back to life. The wind is blowing, the breath of God is entering them! Filling them with his Spirit – launching them into the world to continue his mission!

It makes sense right? Ezekiel has pointed towards this wonderful future… Verse 14 – I will put my Spirit in you and you will live! The vast army of Ezekiel’s vision is a testimony to the world that God is God. That he breathes life into the hopeless. All pointing towards this glorious future where God would pour out his Spirit into his people through the coming of his Son Jesus Christ.

You know I believe we are living in an age where the church is reawakening to the powerful life of the Spirit. An interesting thing we may note in this passage is that it is a two stage process. The first bit is the coming of the Word of God – Ezekiel is asked to prophesy to the bones! But the life doesn’t fully emerge until the Spirit of God moves on them. It is this powerful combination of Word and Spirit that brings the people of God into the fullness of life that He intends…

I was reading this week about the Great Awakening. This was a powerful move of God in the early 1800’s that came in both the UK and America through the ministries of John and Charles Wesley, Whitefield and Edwards. These great evangelists took the Gospel of Jesus out of the churches and onto the streets. The industrial revolution was bringing huge changes to society, and not all good. Huge swathes were moving from the country into the cities, families were breaking down, children were working in mines, many churches had fallen asleep!

Men like Wesley and Whitefield would ride from town to town preaching in open air gatherings. It was the birth of the Methodist church movement and renewal of many other churches. But the history has been rewritten with much of this powerful move of God’s Spirit removed from the books. But in these huge crowds of up to 30,000 people after the sermons, the Spirit of God would often come and move in the great assembled crowds. Not only did coal covered faces wash white with tears, but it is recorded that hundreds would often fall over under the power of the Spirit. Miraculous manifestations of God would occur as new life came to a broken people. The secularist Benjamin Franklin even noted that during the great awakening you couldn’t go down any street without hearing Psalms and Hymns being sung in every home. The big moves of God are always Word and Spirit – preaching and power!

So let’s ask once again, for God to come and breathe his Spirit on our lives and His church! That is what we will be doing this Sunday at Manly Life Church. As Paul encourages us to be filled with the Spirit, to walk by the Spirit and to live by the Spirit. The breathe of God is moving again in this generation. Come Lord Jesus and move in our lives. Make us come alive so that we might live for your glory! Hope is making a comeback and it is called Jesus. Breathe… breathe… breathe on us we pray!

Manly Life Update and Progress

Victoria and I are so thrilled with the progress of Manly Life. Just 5 weeks ago the church launched publicly in Manly and the response has been wonderful. For those who live afar or who have been praying for our new church community I thought I would give an update on how things are going.

From Crowd to Community…

Around two thirds of the 100 or so people now coming regularly to Manly Life are people Victoria and I had never met a few months ago. This means that we are in the process of shifting from being a crowd to a community. Everyone in one sense is new to Manly Life. One of the things that has been of greatest encouragement is how friendly and inclusive new people keep on saying the church community is. Building a strong culture of welcome and hospitality is a big challenge though! Lots of our community only get to church every 2nd or 3rd week. It means building a sense of community and continuity is difficult. Despite this new friendships are blooming, people are slowly getting more involved in different ministries and the values we dream of are becoming a reality!

Strong Identity Forming…

I am biased but the things that I believe in and care about in a church community are taking shape. Just last night Chez Robbins preached a cracker of a sermon, there was good ministry time, people stayed around for a BBQ, the worship was full of the presence of God. Alpha has shifted us too, out of the building and into the community (The Space Bar in Manly). People seeking friendship and the truth are coming along and enjoying a glass of wine, listening to the Gospel and then speaking their minds. A stake is being put in the ground about who we are as a church.

It Takes Time…

With all of these fantastic things happening, the reality too is that it just takes time! For this wonderful new church to be strong and viable into the future there are some big things we are still praying for and working towards. Some of the big markers of commitment to a church is giving and serving. Both of these areas have room for growth! Planting a new church is a big step of faith for the all involved and often people wait a while to see what emerges before they really get stuck in with serving and giving. So pray with us that the finances will improve and the gifts that God has placed in people will increasingly be released into the life of the church.

Please do keep praying for Victoria and I, the leadership team and the formation of this exciting new church. There is so much to give thanks for. To God be the glory…

Why Not to Go to Strip Clubs

I regularly get invited to go to bucks parties of friends. At the end of the evening the customary thing to do is to go to strip club as a last act of wild living before the buck gets married. At that stage of the evening I make my excuses and head home. BUT in my head everything is screaming to say to all the guys DON”T GO! Sadly Christian friends occasionally end up joining in too. For that reason, and for sake of not screwing up your life – here are my reasons for Christians and non-Christians not to go to strip joints!

1. This is a fundamental issue around human dignity. The bible teaches us that we are all created in the image of God and that the greatest commandments are to love God and to love our neighbour. When we go to a strip club we dehumanise someone who is created in the image of God for our own personal pleasure. It reduces the girls in the clubs to pieces of meat for our own enjoyment. They deserve better, and don’t give me any crap that they want to be there doing that. No one grows up dreaming of stripping for horny blokes.

2. For the sake of your marriage don’t do that to your wife or future wife. Whatever they may say, it is not cool with them. They hate the fact that you felt the need to cheat on them, even if just in your mind – for the sake of some fun with the boys. Jesus said; “I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” In other words imagining sex with another woman is the slippery slope to having an affair. If you value your wife or future wife, keep a pure heart just for her!

3. You will have a better sex life, romantic life, and friendship with your wife if you give the strip joints a miss. If you cultivate a pornographic vision of the other sex, it will have huge implications on the quality of your relationship with the one you love. I know of too many guys who have unsatisfying sex lives because sex has been corrupted in their minds by pornography and strip joints. Your wife is not a stripper – she is the most treasured person in your life.

So what should you do if you have been to strip joints in the past or are tempted to in the future?

1. We are all broken individuals and God loves the broken no matter what we have done. But God calls us to repent – to turn from sin and to embrace the life he has for us in Jesus.

2. Take a stand and don’t go to strip joints. It doesn’t have to be the normal thing to do. Take a stand and use your life to point to a better reality.

3. Embrace faithfulness, fidelity and purity of heart. God knows, it isn’t easy in our sex saturated world. But Jesus came to bring a fullness of life to those who will follow him. It is an offer that leads us into a richer, deeper, more fulfilling life.

Why Women Must Fully Minister in our Churches!

Victoria preached a wonderful sermon last night on the compassion of Jesus. It reminded me of the urgent need for the full participation of women in every aspect of ministry! At Manly Life we believe that the Spirit of God is the primary giver and determiner of gifts and leadership. Just as in New Testament churches, which were led by women (Priscilla), had outstanding Apostles (Junias) and faithful servants like Phoebe, we want to see the full body of Christ released into ministry.

Sadly there are still parts of the church that do not recognise the full participation of women in ministry. For that reason I thought I would post on how radical the full inclusion of women in the New Testament was. It literally turned the ancient world on its head. For the first time a movement was being launched into the world where women were as valued as men. So here is some background and thoughts…

Obviously the difficulty is in interpreting texts like 1 Timothy 2:11-15 where Paul talks about not permitting a woman to teach or have authority over a man. Well that is an interesting text… what do we do with that… The temptation is to skip over it… put it in the too hard basket. But before we start into trying to understand this passage particularly in view of the broader biblical perspective let me say a few things as to where I am coming from…

Firstly we need to be sensitive when dealing with passages like this. One of my hopes at Manly Life is that we are a community that can embrace some different viewpoints. I hope we are a learning community who are on a journey and we are in conversation with each other and the biblical texts. I also want to recognise that I am not a woman… In my experience this text and the one in 1 Corinthians 14 have caused a lot of women a lot of pain and that men in particular have often used passages like this to oppress women…

Sarah McKenzie from the Sydney Morning Herald expressed a common view in an article not too long ago. She wrote; “After all, the Catholic Church is just being true to form – it has actively discriminated against women since its inception. Perhaps rather than condemning the Church for this slip-up, we should be thanking it for the reminder that religious values and teachings have been used to incite, aid and justify discrimination against women throughout history.”

Well there are diverse views on this passage and the role of women in the ministry and mission of the church. It is sometimes helpful to remember that the Catholics, Baptists, Anglicans and Presbyterians all govern their churches differently and they use the same texts as their guide… (HA!)

I want to put 1 Timothy 2 into the broader biblical perspective and talk about the problem we are presented with. How does this text fits in with the rest of scripture? And we will have a look at the ministry of Jesus, and then the Apostle Pauls letters.

We all approach the bible with certain experiences of the church in hand, presuppositions, in place. It is difficult to come to terms with coming to the text without these… we may think we come to the text clean… I remember hearing about a bumper sticker that said – Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it… but what does bible say???

I grew in a typical conservative evangelical church. I was quite unaware of these texts for quite a while but on reflection my experience was that I never once heard a woman preach or teach in the church. Indeed I remember one group of men once leaving a service because they were allowing a woman to speak. My basic hermeneutical stance (the way we understand and interpreting the bible) is evangelical. In other words I assumes the text is God’s word, and thus authoritative. I have a great passion to hear from God, and to understand what it means to be obedient to God. But at the same time, I have presuppositions as to how the bible works and is to be interpreted.

A major shift happened for me when I lived in Africa for a year. Firstly I had a major experience of the Holy Spirit that opened my mind to who God is and how he still works today. Secondly I encountered some of the most wonderful female preachers. A message by Elizabeth Mbogo on prayer that I can still remember almost word for word to this day. The Holy Spirit had clearly anointed her to preach – and watch out devil!

So as my journey continued I wanted to remain faithfully evangelical and yet also open to what God had to teach me. So we all come to the text out of our own experience of the church. I am charismatic by experience and choice. In this heritage the starting point is the abundant experience of the HS. The church is said to be born on the day of Pentecost and it is about this new message and ministry revolving around Jesus and the outpouring of God’s presence into believers lives.

So Acts 2:6… Peter describes what is going on; “This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.”

So on men and women, God will pour out his Spirit, his presence and they will prophesy. Prophecy obviously is understood to do with what? – Ministry… it cannot be otherwise… And women having this ministry becomes the practice of the church. Indeed in 1 Corinthians 11 Paul gives instruction on how women should prophesy and pray in public meetings.

Gordon Fee the brilliant New Testament scholar puts the problem this way; The issue when we come to texts like 1 Timothy 2 is not between our cultural sensitivities and understanding and theirs. You know sometimes we read these passages and think, yes, but I know thousands of women who teach in schools, lead businesses, are involved in government. What do I do with these cultural dinosaurs of passages.

The problem though is not with us and them. It is with them and them. Put simply there is not consistency in the biblical data but considerable ambiguity. 1 Tim 2:11-12 seems to forbid women speaking and teaching in the church, but the problem is that it stand opposed against all of the other biblical data. It is not an our culture, their culture issue… but inconsistency in their own understanding.

So let me give 3 reasons why I support the full participation of women in every aspect and role in God’s church!

Jesus
Paul and the Spirit
The need to read texts in their context

So firstly Jesus… You got to understand Jesus came into a man’s world (it was like that James Brown song – It’s a man’s world – on steroids…). Ben Sirak – a Jewish teacher…200 BC – reflects the very negative view of women In 42:14 he boldly says “Better is the wickedness of a man than a woman who does good”. This was how people at the time perceived women.

Come to the Talmud. Ancient Jewish text, says “100 women are no better than two men”. In another place: “Woe to him whose children is female” – of course this is not just ancient view… The sad prevalence today continues in the abortion in China of female babies because they would prefer a male.

In Jewish culture – Women were not to be taught the law… so obviously they couldn’t teach the law if they had never been taught it themselves. It is obvious that a woman’s place was pretty low and the Greek world was no better. Socrates (beloved philosopher in universities around the world) – said that he counted 3 blessings…. First that I was born a human and not a beast. Second that I was born a man and not a woman. Third that I was born a Greek and not a barbarian. The average Greek man married at 30 and the woman was 18… By time of marriage he is experienced, slept with many women, including prostitutes. One ancient historian noted – “we attend prostitutes for our daily needs and a wife to bear us children.”

Into this world hear Galatians 3:28; “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (no you are not hearing it…), There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

So Jesus (God come as flesh who enters the world and begins to minister) ran rough shot over all of the expected norms. He ministered to women in the public sphere. Jewish leaders would not speak to or touch a woman but Jesus dives right in. To a woman with menstrual bleeding who was deemed unclean – Jesus responds with compassion and mercy.

In Luke 7 a woman called the “sinner of that city” – basically a prostitute comes to Jesus. She weeps over Jesus feet and wipes his feet with her tears. Jesus not only allows this to happen, he blesses her and forgives her…

We are told in Luke 8: 1-2 Jesus has women in his disciples… Now hear this – particularly with what I said before about women not being allowed to be taught the law. In Luke 10 – Mary and Martha… Martha is doing what is expected of inviting a well known Rabbi like Jesus into her home. But Mary is sitting at his feet listening to instruction on Torah – what it means to be God’s people. Jesus rebukes Martha mildly, not for serving (that is ok) but for being distracted and for not getting involved.

He says; “Martha Martha you are anxious and distressed about many things but only a few things are necessary.” Indeed he says only one thing is necessary and Mary has chosen the better part and it will never be taken from her… Hear this: Jesus is pronouncing that it is now time for women to receive instruction about Torah and it will never be taken away… Unfortunately we don’t hear texts clearly in our culture and what is really going on.

We have already mentioned the key text in understanding the new age we live in Acts 2 – men and women prophesying. But what about Paul? To some a misogynist to others the greatest feminist the world has ever known. Which is he? It has been said we create Paul in our own image… Well, Acts 18:26 – Who is doing the ministry…

“Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.”

Now hear this – something radical is going on – something turning the world on its head… In the ancient world you would never mention the woman when it came to whose house it was… And it is Priscilla who is mentioned first – and clearly they are teaching this man named Apollos. And Paul mentions them again in Romans 16 in a very interesting way. It is radical in light of their culture. He says the church that meets in their house. Again – Priscilla is mentioned first – so co-leadership in the church in their house. They are sharing the ministry.

In that same Romans passage, chapter 16 Phoebe is called a diakonas in the church – a servant. This is the same way Paul refers to himself in his letter to Timothy. This woman is not called a servant because she is cooking casseroles, she is clearly distinguished. I could go on… Romans 16:7 A woman named Junias – called outstanding among the apostles… From Pauls experience apostle has to do with teaching, with ministry, with giftedness… Now this is brilliant – in later copies of the text this woman gets her named changed to Junia a mans name, though in the Greek world this male name does not exist. Misogyny dies slow…

The point is this – the prophecy of Joel has come true in the early church – women are ministering, there is now no difference between men and women when it comes to giftedness… The ministry of Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit has opened a new day. In Galatians it says the old things that have kept people apart, that have kept groups oppressed have been broken down. Ethnicity, status and gender divisions are gone! All are free in Jesus Christ

Well there you go… Hopefully this has been about how to read the bible as much as on the role of women in the church. Also that we need to read particular verses in their cultural context and particularly within the broader biblical perspective. Jesus – our Lord running roughshod over all expected norms with women. The church gets born with the fulfilment of a new age in which Joel predicts men and women will prophesy… will minister… We have countless examples of women in the early church having teaching and apostolic roles… And maybe most importantly, God is still getting on with his mission of restoring this world and to do this is sending his Spirit on men and women that we might minister and take the gospel to the whole world.

And at Manly Life Church I believe God is sending his Holy Spirit to enable us for His mission. Do you want in on this? Do you want to play your part? Male female, rich or poor, whatever nation you come from… Ask… and the Lord will give you his Spirit and include you in his wonderful ministry!

Alpha + Wine Bar = ?

On Tuesday, October 2nd we will be starting the amazing Alpha Course at The Space Bar in Manly. Alpha is an opportunity to explore the meaning of life and the Christian faith over something to eat and drink. Everyone is welcome and every time it is run I’ve seen incredible changes in people’s lives.

Running Alpha is a bar is going to be an interesting experiment. While we would hardly be the first to share the good news of Jesus outside of a church, we think running Alpha in a wine bar is going to be great. Jesus dined with the people of his time, he took the good news to the people that forgiveness was possible and a fresh start was here! he healed people and taught people where they were… Rather than retreat to a holy huddle, we need to follow Jesus to where the people are.

The Space Bar is great. It is a fantastic piano bar in one of the lane ways of Manly. It has a great vibe, lots of live music, good food and a nice wine list! Victoria and I have been there several times. Last week we got the chance to pray with the Bar Manager and bless him. It reminded us of the openness people have if you are normal and not weirdoes. OK – yes we are weirdoes because we pray for people in public – but you get the idea.

So come along. Order a glass of wine, get to know some people and explore life with us!

Seeking Jesus’ Ministry of Healing

I have just been speaking to a friend of mine from bible college days about the healing he received on coming back to church in 1992. The meeting was being held in a pub and after the Pastor received a word of knowledge about my friends need for healing, he went forward. His left arm which was shorter began to grow over an inch and a half over the next 5-10 minutes. The Jesus he had known many years before had just moved in power in a way he did not expect.

There is lot’s about healing that I do not understand. Good Christian friends who pray for healing who do not get healed. Great Christian leaders who God has used to heal other people who do not get healed themselves. And yet healing was such an integral part of Jesus message and mission, with the expectation that it would continue into the life of the church – that I know we must pursue this gift of God in our lives and churches!

John Wimber used to say, pray for no one and no one gets healed, pray for everyone and some get healed! So we orient ourselves towards the promises and ministry of Jesus and seek the healing that is a part of his in-breaking kingdom. Of course the Christian hope is a future reality in which God will restore his creation, and his people will be fully healed and refreshed. But Jesus makes this future possible now.

The ministry of Jesus brought this future reality into the now – that is why he announced the kingdom of God was here in his ministry. That is why we are to pray “Your Kingdom come, your will be done.”. That is why he sent his disciples to “Heal the sick who are there and tell them the Kingdom of God is near you!” It is why the first disciples after they were filled with the Holy Spirit began to do the works of healing that Jesus had done. It is why the early churches were told by James, “Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well.” The kingdom of God is powerful to heal. It is a sign that there is a different reality breaking in that speaks of the love and goodness of God.

This Sunday we will be exploring the healing ministry of Jesus and then we will ask the Holy Spirit to come. I expect all to be touched in some way by presence of God. It is still a broken world, it is still a future hope, it is still an age where sickness is a part of our lives. But we seek every little touch where that future reality of total healing breaks into the now! It is good news!