In CHRIST Alone...

THE Message for today, and these troubled times.

God's Saving work in Christ! 

The Current Context. - where we must stand.

Where we start. -

“I mean that the heir - as long as being a child - is no better than a slave (though being the owner of everything. They are still under a ‘guardian-ship’ and being managed by the conditions set upon them by the owner (the Father).

In this manner, we also were as children, were managed by both the elementary principles of this present world (order) until fulness came to us in our being clothed in the work of God in His only Son, who redeems us from being under the law.

True liberty, then singularly belongs to those He has adopted who truly are His children, who have His spirit in their hearts (thereby know Him as their true Father) and are therefore no longer slaves to any of the former things which bound them, but heirs of the Son, and therefore heirs of God!”  (Galatians 4:1-7).

Notice here the condition of those who are NOT free in respect to the actual inheritance of God - they are like children, without any true awareness of what is meant to be theirs, and are therefore compared to slaves, because they are actually still without what is necessary to be inheriters.

At present, they are very far from the actual riches which God is desiring for them. Our own natures and even the law in effect prevent us from seeing what is truly provided and leave us stranded in a place far from where the unmerited work of grace wants us to be.

We must, then, see the Church for what it is - the only save harder, able vessel, to deliver us safely from our certain demise and calamity to the shores of the new creation. If we determine that any other method or message must be pursed to give us clarity and purpose, we will entirely miss the singular means of rescue that the Father provides through His only Son.

The work of God alone takes us to safety - a confidence and living must be within the confines of that care alone.

I doubt many Christians would have felt at home most evenings in the smoke-filled lounge of the Kilns in Oxford during the 1950s and early 60s, where the likes of two brothers world sit most evenings smoking as they discussed everything from the news to the arts and science, and how to view life through the lease of what had been established by a man who had come some 2,000 years earlier, but anyone who has seen the film Shadowlands will know in that very context, miracles of all manner occurred, and God established a work that continues to endure and thrive nearly a century on. In my recent visit to that same house, I quickly recognised the telling divide between what we so often view as ‘vital’ to our religious frameworks and the true and profoundly deep work of God amongst His people - something which endures and is enhanced by the storms and troubles, and leans that these are indeed so often the very means that God introduces to lead us deeper and further into the unfathom-lall depths of His un-exhastive Love.

The arm of flesh is not our ‘aid’ - our working well must derive from a deeper and richer source than our own derived beliefs or intentions - true righteousness is the fruit only the cross and the life which grows from this in Christ’s resurrection.

The means God chooses to build His work so often appears futile in the view of the world. Who would chose the means of a man and woman naked in a garden as the method by which one day the entire order would become populated with a race that will be viceroys to express genuine might and majesty of the eternal Almighty. Who would judge it good that these same persons be allowed to truly choose their path and by their error, be clothed in an unwarranted mercy by their maker, who would ensure that their offspring would be made complete by simply trusting in the depths of that same maker’s unfathomable goodness.

True virtue is not some mechanised scheme that we can calculate and assimilate in some robotic manner - it is union and communion in a living relationship with a person closer and richer than our very own blood and scales.

The world we inhabit is indeed one inhabited by darkness and corruption because of the fall, and yet, time and again we learn that it amidst this very calamity that God sees fit to make His particular mark of unmerited mercy, using the very means that have been so marred to establish what will endure forever, and thereby write large the truth that His great redemption envelops all things - not merely those that our division-ist schemes define as acceptable and approved.

What begins as we meet in worship around the word and the supper, permeates out from there into every sphere and aspect of life - from sweeping the floor, to deigning a masterpiece of art - every facet of every area of life is ‘sacred’ territory’ which the Lord desires to make stamped with the mark of His presence and splendour, and we as His ambassadors are provided to the world to see that this is so - we fall so woefully shoot when we deny the vital nature of this goal.

The creed of true faith takes root in our entire dependance and communion within a norther - he who marries Himself only to us by being our Lamb, our food our sustenance and sufficiency that entirely satisfies us.

The church cannot be a place which merely echos or reflects what a lost culture rants as being vital - it must always speak from a calmer, deeper source of rightness and good care for all that is genuinely value.

Worship both stems from and leads us to a vision of the Lord that is holier and greater than the blindness of this moment, bringing a radiance that is as transforming as the moment when the Lord unveiled to Job that His was were more profound than a men could ever truly contain or comprehend.

This is the Lord with whom we have to do, and our beings, communion, giving of worship, service and Joy are all bound into His being Himself amongst us, however extraordinary and overwhelming that proves to be. The error comes when we seek to confine such marvel to the poverty of our impoverished desires or ambitions and thereby fail to allow Gods magnificence to find its true expression.

God must never be confined to the thoughts and ways of angry sinners!

Ours must always be a faith informed and energised by the Jesus of Calvary and the empty tomb - the God who has torn the veil from heaven on down to the earth, and there, raised the dead. The people He assembles have only come from amidst the precious shed blood of Christ, and thereby, on that Holy ground alone, give true worth and sacrifice in response to His giving all. No other ground, no other estate is worthy or acceptable, so let us be people who forever confess and express only that which He has declared good, for nothing but judgement is found outside those courts of true righteousness.

The Widow to Heaven is open - the Dove has brought the first fruits of a renewed world to us - feed upon the rock, and find true health, dear ones, in His eternal table.

State of Things

 "A man planted a vineyard, dressing it with a fence and a place for the wine - press as well as a tower. Having so established the lot, he hired those who would work the lot to provide the results of the crop, and left for another district. When the time arrived for him to claim the due results of his investment, he sent one of his servants to collect these from the tenets, but instead of paying what was due, they took this servant and mistreated him, and sent him away empty handed" (Mark 12:1-4).

How do we take Jesus words here in the light of the current state of Christianity?

How would we apply them to the present?

THE ESTATE.

Condition 1 - The “immersed”

Entirely submersed by the prompts of the culture.  See no need pragmatically,  to be anything else than what the current culture requires of you. In effect, hoarding the actual calling we have, to produce fruit worthy of our calling, and adulterating this into something entirely self-serving. We become those who dress the vineyard only to aggrandise ourselves.

Condition 2 - The Partially aware.

Beginning to emerge - aware of at least some of what actually counts and beginning to be altered by that awareness.

Such life in a troubled state. They know more is required - that the cost may be high, now they must chose which direction they will take - who they will truly serve.

Condition 3 - Those made genuinely free by truth, who are in the midst of the fray.

Like those 'helpers' Christian met on the road in Pilgrim's Progress, they are commonly berated and abused by those who use the Lord's instruments only to ingratiate themselves or taint good means and ends.

The 'down curve' of the spiritual condition of the message and estate of the church was noted by C H Spurgeon in the the 'downgrade' controversy of the 1900's, but Martin Luther informed his associates that the rich, untainted strength and significance of the Gospel of justification would be lost 'within a generation' of its re-discovery, simply because men would arise quickly who would proclaim themselves of the same cloth as those who had re-discovered the truth, but in their aims and intentions, their essential message, would be very different to the vital truth He proclaimed concerning the work and means of Christ.

The consequences of these troubles became crucially apparent during the 17th century and the feeding of the West upon the nursing milk of the Enlightenment and its accompanying 'liberating' revolutions of human ascendance against the vital role of genuine Christ-centred truth, leading in its wake the bloody confusion that has come to dominate human existence for over a century.

The church has proved to be the hireling, either miss-managing the owners interests, or having no real means to supply to the Lord what is rightfully due when sent to provide and facilitate this, and the reason is simple. Since at least the middle of the 20th century (as noted in the work, 'Letter to the American Church'), the modern church has relented to laws and associated requirements that have effectively silenced his speaking to the wilder sections of the contemporary society, which has introduced such legislation as  the means to silence the voice of the faith amongst the world - to make faith merely a 'private' matter, with no capacity to impact upon the behaviour or thinking of the contemporary closure of the message which calls us to the vital reckoning before God.

The belief is that such an estate brings escape from the day of consequence (it does not), but what of those 'servants' who chose to live "passive" through this day, who in effect entirely fail in their true service and perhaps even seek to use such an estate purely for their own ends?

If the last few years have surely taught us anything, it is that such duplicitous living cannot continue, and we must detach ourselves from this, or all indeed will be lost for good.

Megam Basham

 A superb introduction to one of the most important Christian journalistic voices of the last few years. Watch, and enjoy.

What is the need of the hour?

 Unpacking the first half of Psalm 68 -

Verse 1:

The verse speaks of the arising of the Lord in such a way that His enemies are "scattered" (submerged into disarray). Blessings and Judgement come together in this vital movement.

Verse 2.

The power of God changes the state and nature of the situation entirely. Wickedness evaporates when God arises in this manner and inhabits the moment entirely, making it entirely His own. 

Verse 3.

So what is our role in this? We need to delight deeply in our triumphant King!

Verse 4.

The hour has come to raise the Lord up in our songs of delight in His great majesty and total reign over all current circumstances and events. Such an estate truly elevates us because it fixes us on what matters in the moment and thereby raises us for what truly counts.

Verse 5.

In this, God's truth and righteousness is established, affirmed and secures us in a stability as profound as a vital, enduring relationship treasured at the core of the most bonded and loving family.

Verse 6.

This rescues us from our exclusion - it brings us to our true place of meaning and significance. Our souls are thereby liberated from the severance from being devoid of our Father.

Verse 7.

Our God is coming to us.dwelling in His might amidst the desert (what comes from the source of His walking through such a wilderness).

Verse 8.

The refreshing rain of God and His breaking upon our world are what is needed to come and increase in this hour.

Verse 9.

And this is the wonder promised for the hour - amidst the dry season, when all is so parched, God will confirm His inheritance by sanding a deep and satisfying refreshing to those who have sought Him.

Verse 10.

Our retched poverty then, is amply covered and replaced by the wealth of the riches He is seeking to bestow upon us in such a time as this.

Verse 11.

Here, then, is a word of encouragement for our precious sisters - to not be afraid to be bold and speak up!

Verse 12.

The day approaches when our enemies will melt away like a vapour before the rising and light of the great morning star. All they thought belonged to them will become the wealth of the meek and gentle folk of God.

Verse 13.

Your calmness and rest in the Lord will be beautiful and adorn with a deep majesty bestowed by His hand.

Verse 14.

In that day, the earth will once more become covered by the sweet and gentle grace and beauty that fall from His hand from heaven to make all good.

(Please take time to look at and unpack the rich promises of the rest of the Psalm).

Un-crumpled

The 24th chapter of Matthew's gospel presents us with a truly "Rubicon" moment in the life and ministry of Christ.

The years of public ministry are closing, the dark days of Calvary are already casting their shadow, and His disciples are uncertain as to where circumstances are about to take them - do they have a future.

They look around for something rooted deep, and point to the enormous stones and foundation's of Jerusalem's magnificent temple - surely here, they think, is something un-movable, but the Lord quickly corrects them. These very stones are soon to be hurled aside like chaff - the certainties that appeared so set are entirely unable to face the cracking and perplexity which is approaching.

Where do we find ourselves in this present hour? We find all those 'means; which we have taken for granted breaking in the same fashion - nothing appears to be able to stand before the tsunami of human evil and depravity being unleashed amongst us this past week. It confirms that the depth of human wickedness is rooted in our dreadful condition and, when circumstances allow, it rises to overwhelm all deemed just and necessary for civil society.

As the world begins its decent into unprecedented darkness, Jesus tells His disciples to look deeper, beyond the troubles that are now coming upon their day that will then continue in numerous forms across what would become the days of the church age.

What is required of us at this moment as that we become un-crumpled, that we adhere to Christ's call to watch and pray - that we in effect allow these circumstances to work upon us in such a fashion that we raise our gaze and perspective to what these troubles ACTUALLY signal - a far greater age is close at hand, ready to break upon us and transform this benighted sorrow-soaked age into something imbued with a richness and majesty we can barley comprehend - it's magnificence is so profound and enduring.

When we find ourselves despised by this falling regime, we will lift our faces because the hour of our great redemption is about to fall, and heaven and earth will be forever radiated by the glory encountered in God's Slavic work in His beloved Son.

Raise the arms that hang down, find a new strength to walk and run in your lengths, and raise your voices in clear expression of truth and delight - Christ is at the very gates of this plagued city - and they are about to burst open at the majesty of His victory!

Scientia ab initiis?

What happens when humans loose their way - what becomes the reason debt of what defines us, of what consumes our time,

And why does this ‘miss the mark…?

C S Lewis notes in one place (The Weight of Glory), how the majority of people in the modern world who reflect upon the issue of expressing some manner of virtue in life will almost always convey the notion that ‘unselfishness’ should be the hight to reach for. He goes on to note how such high ends can actually blind the soul to a far deeper and greater need - to actually, significantly know and convey genuine love. The inherent danger here is that some virtue can so saturate our existence that we entirely loose sight of what we actually need to be inheriting and thereby sharing with the world so needy beyond us.

I watched a superb example of this in a new popular movie this month. 

The new Science Fiction film, The Creator:

https://youtu.be/ex3C1-5Dhb8?si=6skmWKmJ6eVA89y7

it seeks to ask some deep questions about where we are as a society which is about to become soaked in the exponential capacities of Artificial Intelligence.

It does so in some familiar terms (conflict between two world powers) whilst using a far more relatable story (the union of two people, and what this creates) as the centre of what unfolds.

The story takes a surprising turn when we learn the nature of the AI and its aims, and this adjusts the manner of the objective the intention of the principle protagonist.

This leads to the acceptance that what is indeed required (no doubt, in measure, of what is defined as ‘loving’ behaviour) to sacrifice on an enormous level to insure what has been deemed “good” will be achieved.

What is surprising about this tale is not only the defined purpose of AI itself (somewhat entirely different to our present situation in reality) but the manner in which a kind of ‘religion’ or theology is wrapped around the views at thereby motivation of the two lead characters. This expresses well exactly the danger that I touched on above - how easy the ‘religions’ of our time can “sample” what they believe to be a ‘good’ from elsewhere (i.e. Christianity), when in fact they have missed the true value of the faith by a vast galactic distance.

It comes, then, too this - is our life here now merely contained and concluded in our own inclinations to ‘better’ ideals, or is it actually com-mated in the exhaustive intentions, coming and actions of another?

Christ, indeed, must become all for genuine, unchanging love to become evident here. The Creator gets one thing right - genuine comprehensive salvation must come from Outside of us!

The 'Ought' and the "Can' (Real progress).

 Utter progress in faith - where it actually comes from and takes place with the guys.