XV_Comfort

XV

Comfort
‘May your unfailing love by my comfort’ Psalm 119 v 76

I was at the annual Delirious? Christmas concert the other day, an awesome night, interspersed with weird costumes, revamped Christmas carols and passionate worship. I had heard the band’s new album was called ‘kingdom of comfort’, this immediately made me think about the verse from 2 Corinthians 1:2 ‘praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion, and the God of all comfort...’.
Well, although this is a truly awesome verse and one that shows the great grace and love of our Father God, this was not what the album title was referring to.

We heard of how the band had travelled to places like Cambodia and India, how they had met children in rubbish tips and seen people living so far below the poverty line they were utterly shocked and broken by the experience. Encouraging us to think about all we had in the west, in England, all our abundance – especially at this time of year, the title track of the album was played, with these lyrics ringing out....

‘see me falling down...there will come a day when all this will fall away....see me falling down..save me from this kingdom of comfort where I am king...from my unhealthy lust of material things...save me...’

I find that at this time of year we sit in church or in meetings and talk about how materialistic society has got. I shake my head and say ‘but it’s all about Jesus’ and bemoan the increasing PC culture that seems to shake every aspect of Christ out of Christmas. We now have ‘happy holidays’, ‘seasons greetings’ and that coca cola advert where all their lorries are driving through the snow bringing us our coca cola as the trademarks of Christmas.
Yet for all my head shaking and theological grumbles – I know that I’m just as much to blame. I still find myself wanting, expecting, needing ‘things’ this Christmas. I find myself in this mindset that having that i-pod, or that computer, or that thing for my car or that new album, or just...a...little...more...money....will somehow make things a bit easier........a bit more comfortable.

When God came to this earth as a baby, there was nothing comfortable about His arrival. Born to a virgin in a society that would condemn a birth out of wedlock, arriving in a cold and windswept stable, being a marked ‘man’ before his birth. There has been a great inaccuracy in our Christmas cards nostalgic rendering of this event.
I think the bottom line is this -> this Christmas we have a choice. As a friend has often said, if we take Christ out of Christmas we only has MAS = Minus A Saviour.

I think we all need to decided whether this year we will be participants of ‘the kingdom of comfort’ where our needs are met in ‘things’ and where we’re ok and comfortable with our lot....or whether we are going to choose to be sons and daughters of the ‘God of all comfort’, finding our joy in Him and being part of the Kingdom of Comforters, bringing Jesus, bringing light, to others this Christmas and beyond.
God Bless and Merry Christmas

XV_G.L.A.R

XV

G.L.A.R

‘for the law was given through Moses; ...

grace and truth came through Jesus Christ’ John 1:17

I recently read these words below in Philip Yancey’s book ‘What’s so Amazing about Grace?’ and was struck by the overwhelming power and unfathomable nature of this thing called ‘grace’......see what you think....
‘’...Grace makes its appearance in so many forms that I have trouble defining it. I am ready, though, to attempt something like a definition of Grace in relation to God. Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more – no amount of spiritual calisthenics and renunciations, no amount of knowledge gained from seminaries and divinity schools, no amount of crusading on behalf of righteous causes. And grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us less – no amount of racism or pride, pornography or adultery or even murder. Grace means that God already loves us as much as an infinite God can possibly love.
There is a simple cure for people who doubt God’s love and questions God’s grace; to turn to the bible and examine the kind of people God loves. It tells of a murderer and adulterer who gained a reputation as the greatest king of the Old Testament, a man after God’s own heart. And of a church being led by a disciple who cursed and swore that he had never known Jesus, And of a missionary being recruited from the ranks of Christian torturers. I get mailings from Amnesty international, and as I look at their photos of men and women who have been beaten and cattle-prodded and jabbed and spit on and electrocuted, I ask myself; ‘what kind of human being could do that to another human being?’ Then I read the book of Acts and meet the kind of person who could do such a thing – now an apostle of grace, a servant of Jesus Christ, the greatest missionary history has ever known. If God can love that kind of person, maybe, just maybe, he can love the likes of me.
I cannot moderate my definition of grace....because the bible forces me to make it as sweeping as possible. God is ‘the God of all grace’ in the Apostle Peter’s words (1 Peter 5:10). It means that I, even I who deserves the opposite, am invited to take my place at the table in God’s family.
The world runs by ungrace. Everything depends on what I do. Jesus’ kingdom calls us to another way, one that depends not on our performance but his own. We do not have to achieve but only follow. He has already earned for us the costly victory of God’s acceptance....’’
If I’m honest, I’m selfishly writing this devotion as a letter to myself because this is a message I need to hear again today. God’s grace is a force we can’t contain. His grace is like a river it consumes and covers, flowing over all of us, drenching and enveloping us. But what is our response?? Graham Kendrick was once asked to define the art of leading worship, he simply said ‘be a worshiper, be a servant and be yourself’. Love God, serve his people and be the person he created you to be. This is our response and our calling.
The enormity of what Jesus did only sinks in when I realise that he did it for me. We have much cause to worship, for as one of my favourite songs goes...‘Grace Like A River, is flowing down, on you and me’

XV_Instead

XV

Instead

‘A garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair ….’ Isaiah 61:3

I love this passage for many reasons. First of all, because it sets out God’s purpose in bringing salvation through his anointed servant -> who comes to restore the broken relationship between people and their God. The words of Jesus in the synagogue in Nazareth identify him with the servant: ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing’ (Luke 4:18).

In their historical setting, these verses are a powerful reminder that God’s plan will not be defeated. It might look as if it was all going bottom up, but even if the people were rebellious, they were still precious in God’s sight. Looking back across their history, the only explanation for their continuing place in God’s purpose was that there was a plan that they had not understood. Is this why we read elsewhere in this book of Isaiah the promise – ‘my righteous servant will justify many’?

There is a repeated word ‘instead’ in this chapter. It occurs in v3 (x 3) and v7 (x2). When a word occurs this often, it indicates something important. The link in each case is to the year of jubilee, which happened in OT times every fiftieth year. There was a release from debts, property reverted to its original owner, servants went free and even the land had a rest! Blowing a trumpet marked the beginning of this tear of thanksgiving. Although the literal observance of jubilee does not happen today, Jesus announced a jubilee for all humanity, in which the mourning, despair, shame and disgrace of the human condition is taken away and instead we are given a crown, oil, a spirit of praise, an inheritance and everlasting joy. Picture language, yes, but wonderful pictures.

This is where we came in! Praise should mark those lives where formerly there was despair. We can only praise God in the measure that we value what he has done for us. So, be honest, and ask yourself, how do you measure up? I do not think that we are just talking about singing and praising God in church or even in the bath or the shower! It seems that it is more of an attitude, something that we ‘wear’ as the verse says. There is an old song whose first verse runs:

Fill Thou my life, O Lord my God, In every part with praise
That my whole being may proclaim, Thy being and thy ways …

Is that my prayer? Is it your prayer? If answered, it could bring hope to our world, full of despairing people, who do not know the ‘instead’ that Jesus could bring them.