As I’ve talked with Christians struggling with sin in their lives, and certainly felt those struggles myself, I’ve noticed that sin has a way of lying to us. It makes itself out to be an irresistible fruit, even when we know its rotten to the core. That is, imagine that the sin you struggle with could speak… my guess is that your sin would say one or more of these five lies:

1. “I’m not that bad.”
   Sin will try to convince you that its not actually a “bad” or “evil” thing to do. Sin will make you think of itself in “good” ways and all the good that might result in doing it.
2. “I’m not really sin.”
   Sin will try to tell you that its not actually sin… that you’ve been too sensitive, too godly. It’ll try and convince you that you’ve been missing out on something you didn’t have to miss out on. It’ll try and make you feel discontented.
3. “You need me.”
   Sin will try to say that you can’t go on without doing it. Sin will try to tell you that life is just too hard to go on without doing that thing. Sin will try to make you think about it so much that you can’t conceive of life without it.
4. “You’re always in control of me.”
   Sin will try to tell you that you can stop anytime you want, that you have the ability to let go. And it will tell you that to make sure you never really ask for help. Sin will convince you that you’re not in any real danger… so you don’t need to tell anyone, and you don’t need to ask God to help either. Sin will try and tell you that you can stop anytime you want, all on your own.
5. “You may as well do it… you’ve already come this far”
   Sin will try and tell you that there’s no point stopping yourself…. that you’re too far gone for God to want you anymore. Sin will make out like its welcoming you while God is shunning you, when the complete opposite is true. In other words, sin will try to stop you trusting in the gospel of grace.

One of the good things about the slogan “Jesus: All about life” is that its non-confrontational as well as being extremely confrontational, all at the same time.

See, its non-confrontational because really, who isn’t about life?!? You could put anyone’s name in there, and it would still be true… for example ”Robbie Williams: All about life” or “Dave Moore: All about life” and those statements still kinda’ hold true.

So in that sense, Jesus is just like you’re average Joe and your average Jane… what they care about is life… they’re all about life!

The rubber hits the road when you try to turn that sentence around… “Life: All about Robbie Williams” or “Life: All about Dave Moore”. That doesn’t really work does it?! But that’s the point… the slogan “Jesus: All about life” is the only one that is reversible and still holds true. That is, when people talk to us about “Jesus: All about life”, what we want them to see is that life itself is meant to be all about Jesus, because Jesus is all about life.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominicspics/

What do you think of the idea that, if you listen to a sermon or two every week off the internet, you don’t need to go to a local church at all? Isn’t church just about listening to a sermon? Apart from just being physically near people, are they really missing out on anything? I mean… anything “important”? (See some thoughts I’ve had on this while at College here)

One thing I’ve realised you would be missing out on is “corporate response”. That is, the pleasure of not only hearing God’s word taught together, but being able to respond to what God’s Word has said together.

See, if you listen to a sermon on your own, you also have to reflect on it on your own. You don’t get to share in the prayers that your brothers and sisters pray as they reflect on the Word. You don’t get to hear your brothers and sisters respond with songs of joy and grace. You don’t get to chat to your brothers and sisters about how the Word has challenged you and encouraged you.

In other words, you’re missing out! But not only that, your making your brothers and sisters in Christ miss out too!

Thinking how God has made us a family in Christ has encouraged me to care about how I express my response to God’s Word when I gather with other Christians. But more than that, its made me appreciate the time in or meetings when I get to share in the response of those around me to our common Father.

I recently got an email from a freind of mine, who was reflecting on how they thought about giving to church when they were at uni… they’ve given me permission to share their thoughts with you.

When I was at uni, and going regularly to my church I would look around at all the other people. They were older, had full time jobs, families, cars, houses and furniture… I worked a casual job and rented a unit with mates, and went to uni fulltime. I just assumed that they could afford to carry the church financial burdens. I didn’t bother giving it a second thought!

When announcements about church giving were made I tuned out. My thought process, unfortunately , usually went along these lines: “I only have a casual job to support myself. I don’t get Austudy or any scholarships. I can’t afford to give to church. Forget giving to church. I’ll think about it when I have more money.”

I obviously had a serious heart issue! I wasn’t being generous with the little I had…I wasn’t being generous at all! I know I only earned a tiny wage, but my heart wasn’t at all interested in supporting God’s work.

Even worse, I was happy to be ignorant and not think about it at all.

Knowing what I know now… what would I do differently? I wish I’d prayed and asked God to help me have a generous heart, in all areas, even with my hip pocket. I would work out my budget, and I’d set up a regular direct transfer to give what I regularly could to church so I wouldn’t need to think about it every week (less stress)!

I’m not putting this up to make people feel bad or pressured or anything… Its just worth hearing how someone was blind to an issue like that for so long. What aspect of your current Christian life will you be ashamed of in 10 years time?

Hunter Men’s Convention was a great day of hearing from God’s Word about God’s world. Ben Pharlet spoke very fankly about sexuality in our culture, sexuality in our churches, and sex in our marriages. Here are two of the talks for you to listen to…

I need to warn you that there are parts of this that get pretty explicit, so this is really MA15+ material.

Talk 1:

(Talk 2 not recorded)

Talk 3:

Check out the “Who we support” section for the latest news from the Webb’s and the Boxes…

Have you thought much about why you sing at church? I mean, have you thought personally about why you sing?

‘Cause its easy, I think, to come to church and just go along with the flow… so when the band gets up, and the words appear on the screen, you just do what everyone else is doing, and join in. But its never really a personal choice. Do you “choose” to sing along with everyone else?

I’d love us to be a fellowship of Christians who all “choose” to sing to God for each others benefit each and every week. I’d love you to make that choice this Sunday. I’d love to see you speak and sing every word that comes up on the screen to God with your whole heart. This is something I’ve personally been trying to do more and more. So I thought I might share a tip that’s helped me.

Stop looking at the words. Look at the screen as little as you can, even if it means singing with your eyes closed.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t sing the words! Please sing the words on the screen along with everyone else! But I personally find that if I keep looking at the words, I end up only making the sounds, and I forget to “mean” them (a bit like 1 Cor 14:14-17 ). However, when I try to look away from the screen, and try remember the line, or the whole verse, I (strangely) find that I “mean it” so much more. I find myself singing with more authenticity when I sing them from memory.

It might not work for you, but trying to sing with my eyes off the words has helped me mean what I sing more. And I pray that helps my brothers and sisters around me to sing with more meaning too.

So far the mere mention of a media campaign that reminds people about Jesus has become a storm in a teacup.  Dr Paul Harrison who is a senior lecturer in consumer behaviour and advertising at the Deakin Business School writes the following…

Yes, advertising does have some influence over attitudes and behaviour, but the reality is that it can only really work as a “nudging” tool. In other words, an advertisement will incrementally move you toward a decision, but there are a whole bunch of other variables that will determine your final behaviour or decision. In reality, one-way advertising is a relatively weak motivator when it comes to consumer behaviour (although the ad agencies wouldn’t tell you that when you are about to give them $1 million)….

…Who is most likely to notice, and be persuaded by a Christian advertisement, then?

The people who commissioned the advertising campaign; current, faithful, committed Christians, and maybe people who were already willing to be persuaded. It’s a simple proposition, but one that is often not stated - advertising works best amongst current users. It makes current users (who are satisfied with the product) feel good about themselves, and it has the potential to increase loyalty toward the product, but only amongst current users. So an expensive ad campaign is not going to do the trick. (read more…)

I am not expert on consumer behaviour but if what Dr. Harrison is suggesting is true then the “Jesus all about life” campaign will achieve what we want it to achieve - “the nudge”.

What shouldn’t we expect the advertising campaign to do?

We shouldn’t expect Jesus all about life to convert people - to get them across the line so to speak.  We know this theologically.  God brings life as we preach Christ as Lord (2 Cor 4:5-6).  Which means that even if the advertisements sought to proclaim the gospel (which they don’t), then it is God who brings life, not men or their clever advertising campaigns.

What should we expect the advertising campaign to do?

Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 2 that whilst we are the aroma of Christ among those being saved and those who are perishing to one we are the smell of death; to the other the fragrance of life.And so we should expect people to respond accordingly.  That means:

We should expect an increase in angst towards Jesus and his people.  People will be angry about the advertising campaign.

We should expect that some will be nudged into action and look for ways to investigate Jesus more thoroughly.

Whatever the response is though we can be sure that Jesus will be back on the lips of people in our work, study and play places (it is already on the lips of the media).  As people speak about the campaign it may be filled with antagonism, there may be lots of questions, people may be interested in your story.  Whatever the case, we need to be equipped and ready to share the reason for the hope that we have in Jesus.

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. (1 Peter 3:15-16).

More media angst

You can check it out on the 7pm project.  Right here at 4min 12secs (H/T MIkey Lynch)

I’ve been preparing talks for LIFE TO THE FULL and tonight’s talk is titled the Historical Man. It’s breen greatly encouraging to read back over the non-Christian sources that speak about the life and death of Jesus in a very matter of fact manner.  Check them out…

Jesus in Graeco-Roman writings

Mara bar Serapion - around AD 70

Who was he? He was a Stoic Philosopher and he writes to his Son in prison talking about a series of wise men who were persecuted…

What advantage did the Jews gain by executing their wise King? It was just after that that their kingdom was abolished… Nor did the wise king die altogether; he lived on in the teaching which he had given.

Mara mentions a wise King of the Jews and whilst he doesn’t name the Wise King we don’t know of any other figure in history who fits that description and most historians take this as a passing reference to Jesus.

Tacitus - AD 112

Who was he? Probably Ancient Rome’s greatest historian. Much of what you learned in school about Emperors in Rome comes from Tacitus. He mentions (again in passing) the death of Jesus and the flourishing of a movement that began in the name of Jesus

Christus, from whom the name [Christians] had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate, and a deadly superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but also in the City [Rome], where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world meet and become popular.

So Tacitus wasn’t really a fan of early Christianity but his disdain for Christians didn’t prevent him from accurately recording when and where Jesus lived, his title and circumstances of his death

Pliny the Younger - AD 110

In a letter to Emporer Trajan, Pliny asks for advice on how to deal with the new sect of Christians… he writes this…

The sum total of their guilt or error was no more than the following. They had met regularly before dawn on a determined day, and sung antiphonally [that is alternately by two groups] a hymn to Christ as a god. They also took an oath not for any crime, but to keep from theft, robbery, and adultery, and not to break any promise.

This is significant because it tells us about early Christian church meetings but also it tells us Christians were worshipping Jesus as God 200 years before the Da Vinci code would allow.

Jesus in ancient Jewish writings

Josephus: 70- 80AD

vimeo page:  

The most important historian is probably Josephus who provides an independent non-committal testimony to Jesus’ fame as a teacher, wonder-worker and martyr.

At this time there appeared Jesus, a wise man. For he was a doer of startling deed, a teacher of people who received the truth with pleasure. And he gained a following both among many Jews and among many of Greek origin. He was perhaps the Messiah-Christ. And when Pilate, because of an accusation made by the leading men among us, condemned him to the cross, those who had loved him previously did not cease to do so. For they reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that he was alive. And up till this very day the tribe of Christians named after him, has not died out.

2 chapters later in his book Josephus refers again to Jesus but this time as the brother of James…

But this younger Ananus, who, as we have told you already, took the high priesthood, was a bold man in his temper, and very insolent… He assembled the Sanhedrin of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus the so-called Messiah-Christ, whose name was James, and some others. When he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them over to be stoned to death.

What we learn from non-Christian writings about Jesus are the basics.

• There was a man named Jesus
• he lived in Palestine (during the reign of Pontius Pilate - AD 26-36)
• his mother’s name was Mary
• the ambiguous nature of his birth
• The name of one of his brothers - James
• his fame as a teacher and miracle worker
• his title: Messiah-Christ
• Christians worshipped him as a god
• the involvement of both Roman and Jewish leaders in his death
• the report of appearances to his follower after his death
• the flourishing movement that came after him

For further info read The Christ Files by John Dickson (much of this is taken from his book) or go to Public Christianity Website

Richard Baxter was a church pastor in the 17th century. In his day, he was famous for his teaching and his visiting. He made a practice of visiting people in their homes. His goal was to get to know the people in his church; to care for them and teach them more about Jesus. Baxter has passed from memory. But this practice continues today.

At HBC, we want to love and care for each other. Our pastors and congregational members have often visited people. This is a great way to encourage and teach each other more of the Scriptures.

As a church we need to be more systematic about this. We want to care for everyone at church; to act practically where there are needs. So we are setting up CALL.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/picsfromj/

CALL will be our home visitation ministry. We want everyone to feel free to visit each other - that is part of being in a family. CALL will enable us to be deliberate about this, slowly working our way through the church.

Someone from the team will call you to arrange a visit. They’ll drop by and ask how you are going. Then listen to learn how we can better help you. Maybe life is tough and you need some meals provided, or some work done on your yard.

Perhaps there are things you’d like the church leadership to know. Or you’d like to talk about an issue from life or a recent sermon. You may simply enjoy an opportunity to pray with someone. Our CALL member will pass your concerns back to Tim and Sharyn Hawes, so they can ensure as a church we follow up on them.

Hopefully this will help us to better love and practically care for people at church. We’re going to kick this off in October in our Lambton congregation. So stay tuned for a phone call!