We will not lose heart

2 Corinthians 4:1-6

According to recent research, 93% of people have a great deal or fair amount of respect for nurses. Followed by doctors – 90%, then scientists, vets & engineers.

A mere 20% respect journalists, while politicians & bankers come in with 15% just beating car salesmen who are respected by 14% of people.

Church ministers are respected by 76% of people… in America… and 54% in the UK...!

I wonder how much you value your own profession - or the way you use your time if you’re not employed.

Do you wake up every morning and leap out of bed thinking, ‘Today could be the day when you change the world!’?

Do you feel that you lead a valuable life? That you use your time to do valuable things?

Do you believe that what you do is making a difference – a difference that will outlive you?

Whether you’re retired or you’re a full-time mum, whether you’re a nurse or a car salesman, you can make a lasting difference – you can have the most valuable, the most glorious job in the world.

The hours are long & the pay’s not great – at least not in terms of a monthly pay cheque.

And it will be hard work – in fact it will involve considerable suffering & hardship & pain & distress & sleepless nights.

You’ll be accused of being an intolerant trouble maker, and some people will refuse to speak to you.

What is this work?

It’s the ministry of the gospel  -  sharing the good news about Jesus Christ.

Last week we saw that the gospel ministry is the most glorious work anyone can ever be involved in. When you share the news that Jesus Christ is Lord and saviour, you give people the possibility of coming to the knowledge of Almighty God, of having their guilt removed, and being filled with the power of the Holy Spirit himself.

The gospel brings people into an eternal relationship with God the Father, and enables them to be transformed into the likeness of God the Son with ever increasing glory – 3:18.

“And”, says Paul, in 4:1, “since we have this ministry – this glorious ministry – we do not lose heart.”

Yes, there’s the temptation to lose heart – humanly speaking, it’s a stupid ministry. Fancy trying to convince people that God came to earth as a baby, healed people with a word, raised dead people to life, fed thousands with a picnic, died and rose again.

Humanly speaking, you’d have more respect and be seen as a more valuable member of society if you were a used car salesman.

But because this message is so powerful – because it comes with the authority of God himself to change people from enemies of God to friends with God – it’s glorious.

And nowhere in the Bible is this ministry the exclusive preserve of professional ministers or clergy.

From the very start of the church, the HS filled every believer to make every believer a minister of the gospel – to give every believer this glorious ministry – to empower every believer for this glorious ministry.

Now because this ministry involves suffering, long hours, hard work, sleepless nights & opposition, people have always been tempted to find a way to make it easier.

Again, we saw last week how some people water down the message to make it more palatable, and how others dress it up to make it more attractive. And by doing this, such people hope that they will make they themselves more attractive and more acceptable.

But, says Paul, we don’t engage in this kind of deception, Rather, v2,  we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

When J K Rowling sat in various café’s in Edinburgh writing her first Harry Potter novel, she could make Harry, Hermione and Voldemort do and say whatever she wanted. She was free to make it as believable – or unbelievable – as she wanted.

But the gospel is not our invention.

God decided on the gospel. And he didn’t just make it up in his head and write it down. He enacted it in history. It happened. It’s reality.

So if we change it, it’s no longer the gospel – for ‘gospel’ means ‘news’ it’s the reporting of events and their meaning.

If we change the message, it’s no longer the gospel. It’s just an empty story.

The task and commission of every Xn is to know and tell the gospel: to understand what God has done in Jesus, and then to tell the truth.

That’s gospel ministry. Knowing and telling the gospel. And it’s a glorious ministry because it’s a glorious gospel.

But, you might say, I’ve told people and they don’t respond – they don’t believe what I tell them…  ….I share your frustration!

But we shouldn’t be surprised – not if we understand what’s needed for people to see the glory of Jesus: have a look with me at vv3-4 READ

So non-Xns cannot see how wonderful Jesus is. They’ve been blinded to his glory by the god of this age.

It’s not that there is another god - “the god of this age” – but that whenever someone lives their life for something or someone other than Jesus, they have created their own god or idol.

I don’t need to list the gods people create for themselves – you all know them because, if you’re a Xn you know the gods you’ve been freed from, and if you’re a not yet a Xn, you probably don’t believe that you have idols and gods. Even if I named them, you’d deny that they were your idol.

But the truth is that everyone gives their life for something or someone, and that’s your god.

And our devotion to our little gods prevents us from seeing that Jesus Christ is the image of God – that if we want to know God we simply have to look at Jesus who radiates the truth and reality of God because he is the exact likeness of God.

Now the only way the non-Xn is going to recognise their need to change gods, the only way they’re going to see the glory of Jesus, is if God does a miracle in their life and opens their eyes.

Thankfully, God does do that – God does open the eyes of those who are blinded by the gods of this world – as many of us would testify.

But how does that happen?

Newton’s third law of motion is ‘every action has an equal and opposite reaction.’

If that were true of gospel ministry, there’d be no hope at all – the response to preaching the gospel would be equal and opposite – a 10 minute evangelistic talk would get a 10’ negative response.

Sometimes, I have to say, it feels like that!

But thankfully, Newton’s laws don’t apply to gospel ministry.
Gospel ministry is more like striking a match.

First of all, you need to make sure your matches are good – that they’re not wet.

Assuming the match is good, you strike it and it lights. But sometimes a gust of wind will blow it out as soon as you’ve struck it.

On the other hand, if the conditions are right, you strike the match put to the paper in the grate, and create a wonderful, warming fire.

Or, if you’re Ian, you can start a bonfire that will smoke for a fortnight!

Sharing the gospel is like that: first of all, we have to get the message right. We mustn’t damp it down, but use it fresh & straight from the Bible.

That’s what Paul’s saying in v5, We do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.

We don’t muck about with the message, we don’t preach about our experiences or about our faith or even about our church. No. We tell people about Jesus Christ as Lord.

You see, if I speak about my religious experience or about my faith, people can respond, ‘Well, that’s nice for you, but I’m not religious.’ Or, ‘My faith’s a bit different from yours.’

And today, people think that all faiths are of equal, you choose your faith, I choose mine - you prefer Sainsbury’s, I prefer Morrisons.

But if we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, then we’re saying something very different.

Then we’re saying, ‘Look, if you want to know God, you need to look at Jesus. He is the only true image of God, and unless you look to him, you don’t know God, you can’t know God. More than that, unless you admit that he’s your Lord he will not admit you to his eternal home, and you will be cast out to an eternity where people constantly fight for their own supremacy. It’s called hell.’

That’s the match we have to strike.

And tho it will often be blown out by scorn and derision, sometimes we’ll find that God starts a great fire with as we strike the match of the gospel.

In v6, Paul describes this miracle, ‘For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.’

At the beginning of time, on the first day of creation, God spoke and there was light.

But not the light of photons – the sun wasn’t made until the fourth day – this was the light of God’s self-revelation.

The room was dark. No-one knew God was there. Then he spoke. He revealed himself. There was the light of the knowledge of God.

And now, says Paul, God has spoken again, this time, he’s spoken into our hearts.

God has, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God.

The only way we can know God is for him to speak into our hearts – for him to dispel the darkness of our ignorance and replace it with the light of the knowledge of him.

In particular, he gives us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Christ.

And that’s why, when we witness to others – when we engage in gospel ministry – we speak of Jesus.

The light of the knowledge of the glory of God is not in our faith.

The light of the knowledge of the glory of God is not in our church.

Yes, my faith lived out bears witness to Jesus. Yes, our church points to Jesus and shows what he can do.

But for people to encounter God himself, they need us to talk about Jesus and for God to shine the light of revelation into their hearts.

Now we begin to see why Paul began by saying, ‘Since we have this ministry we do not lose heart…’

We don’t lose heart because we know that God uses our weak and simple words about Jesus to change people’s hearts, lives and eternal destinies.

We know that God does miracles today by shining the light of the knowledge of Jesus into the dark lives of non-Xns.

And if ever we doubt that, we just need to look around us in church. Here, we’re surrounded by people who are filled with the light of the knowledge of the glory of Jesus. (And that’s a good reason for being here in church each week!).

God worked in their lives when someone explained to them that Jesus is Lord. And he will do that same work again. And again. And again. And so we don’t lose heart.

This is a glorious ministry that you and I have – yes, you and I - don’t think for one minute that gospel ministry is for paid ministers only.

This is your ministry. This is your glorious ministry.

And it’s this ministry that can transform your life from one of mundane drudgery into one full of expectation and value.

This ministry will get you out of bed in the morning.

There are no application forms, and there’s no salary.

There will be rejection and opposition. There will be sleepless nights and heartfelt, desperate prayers.

But because, through God’s mercy, we have this ministry, we will not lose heart…   …Will we?!

The unsurpassed glory of the gospel

2 Corinthians 3:7-18

How good is the Christian message? How glorious is the gospel? 

If someone was to ask you, ‘Why is Christianity so good?’  What would you say – if anything?

To most non-Christians, Christianity is not great nor glorious. It’s irrelevant. Or boring. Or moralistic hypocrisy. Or all three.

But as I’ve shared the gospel with hundreds of people over many decades, one thing is constant: What non-Christians are rejecting is not the true Christian faith but one or other distorted form of Christianity. What’s rejected is not the glorious, life-transforming gospel, but a distorted faith – a faith that’s been distorted by Christians like you & me – by well-meaning but wrong-thinking Christians.

You see sometimes, we’re tempted into thinking that the gospel God has given us isn’t very attractive – Christmas is OK, so long as you focus on a little baby in a manger. But when you get on to all that stuff about sin and judgement, about Jesus’ death on the cross, about heaven and hell, well then it’s… well, difficult to talk about that over a coffee at Fenwick’s or Costa.

So in an attempt to make the faith more attractive, Christians have changed the emphasis of the gospel so that there’s little talk of Jesus, and more emphasis on social engagement. In some churches, services are more about entertainment than hearing the word of our great Lord. More about generating nice emotions & feelings than obedience, character transformation and hard work for the gospel.

But there’s also another problem: the original gospel does have some astonishing things to say about God’s authority & sovereign power, about how Jesus defeated death and gives us hope beyond the grave, about the work of the HS to change people and free them from self-destructive behaviours.

The problem is, the gospel is a glorious gospel. But why’s that a problem? Because faithful, God-honouring, loving, prayerful Christians suffer.

Christians who give their lives for Jesus get ill.

Christians who have the HS living in them still sin.

We who believe in Christ’s victory over death still die.

Churches that are supposed to be united, divide.

And some Christians are embarrassed about this apparent failure - it doesn’t look like God has won a great victory. It doesn’t look like the gospel is glorious.

So not only have Christians have altered the faith to make it look more acceptable, they’ve also embellished it in an attempt to make it look more spectacular, more powerful, more glorious:

Some build great cathedrals, dress church leaders in gold cloaks & hats & robes.

Some have claimed that it’s not God’s will that we should get ill or suffer.

Others insist on great music – the echoing choir singing Bach’s B-minor mass or the thumping rhythm of a worship band.

Christians have been embarrassed that the glorious gospel not only means knowing God, having hope and freedom, but also means taking up the cross of suffering.

Now all of this embellishment and alteration of the gospel was going on in the Corinthian church just as it is today. Of course they did it in their own ways to suit their culture. But the church in Corinth was particularly embarrassed by the apostle Paul. He wasn’t impressive. He kept getting into trouble. He was an poor preacher. He was ill. He confronted people. His ministry was weak. His gospel was all about the cross of Christ.

So some of the Corinthians began to say to Paul, “Surely this new work of God in Jesus – the gospel – must be more impressive than the old works of God. Don’t you remember, Paul, how, when Moses came down the mountain after receiving the 10 commandments from God, ‘his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.’ Now that was a glorious ministry! But you, Paul, let’s be honest, your face doesn’t exactly shine with the glory of God. Your ministry is more wooden than golden! It’s more matt black than radiant gold! Surely a New Testament apostle should be even more glorious than Moses! Surely the New Covenant ministry of the Spirit should bring prosperity and health and healing to all. Why isn’t your ministry like that, Paul?”

So Paul sets about showing how truly glorious the gospel is. It’s glory may not be outwardly visible – but the glory of the gospel is unsurpassed.

We all love to look back and think that things were better in the old days – as a Spurs supporter, I look back to the glory years of the 70s & early 80s – to Chivers & Peters, Mullery & Jennings, Villa & Ardiles. If only we could recreate some of those great days! In Corinth, Paul picks up on this longing to go back to the glory days, but unlike a Spurs supporter, he can say, actually things are far more glorious today!  And Paul shows that, though the Old Covenant (i.e. the relationship between God & his people in the OT) may have been outwardly impressive, it was ultimately lacking power.

At the same time, he shows that though the New Covenant (i.e. the relationship between God and his people made possible by Jesus) may be outwardly lacking, ultimately, it is impressive and lacks nothing.

Now the OC was glorious – that was demonstrated by Moses’ face shining with the glory of God after God had given him the 10 commandments written on the stone tablets. And the commandments were good: they showed the people how to live as God’s people. 
 

But... the OC brought death – death because the people were unable and unwilling to live as God’s obedient people, and their disobedience resulted in God’s punishment of death.

And the glory of this old covenant was fading – fading because it was always pointing forward to Jesus – to the new and more glorious covenant: 

If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!  v9

So the OC brought death because people wouldn’t & couldn’t obey it.

But the NC covenant brings righteousness – that is, it puts us in the right with God. Our disobedience is forgiven, so we’re able to have a right relationship with God – the NC makes us righteous.

So what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!  V10

But do you see the problem?  The problem is you can’t see the glory of the NC in the way the people saw the glory of the OC on the shining face of Moses.

And this wasn’t because Moses had been using Dove Summer Glow & Soft Shimmer Deeper Effect body lotion – no, Moses’ face shone with the reflection of the glory of God himself. And it was scary - when the people saw Moses they were astonished and cowered in fear.

And the Corinthians were saying, ‘Look, we could do with a bit more of that!’ And today, people say, ‘Look, we could do with a bit more of that outward, visible glory in the church.’

But the NC doesn’t come with that sort of glory. No, the glory of the NC is the lasting glory of righteousness & the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The NC, 2 Cor 3:12, is about hope and boldness. The hope – the certainty – that we will never come under God’s judgement again, and the boldness to draw close to God without cowering in fear.

Boldness was one thing the people of the OC did not have. In fact no-one can ever have boldness towards God without the ministry of Jesus – without the NC:

If you’re not confident that you will never be condemned by God, then you don’t know the glorious ministry of Jesus.

If you’re not confident that when God looks at you he sees you as righteous – as standing in a right relationship with him – then you don’t know Jesus.

So back in Moses’ day, the people  cowered in fear because his face radiated the glory of God – and they were afraid that God would judge them. So they insisted that Moses hid the glory of God with a veil. But, v16, whenever anyone turns to the Lord Jesus, the veil is taken away. 

When anyone turns to Jesus the fear of judgement is taken away. No longer does the glory of God need to be hidden behind a veil. No longer do you need to hide from God. Fear is replaced with boldness.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  v17

Jesus brings the freedom to approach God. The freedom to live without fear. The freedom to change – to become someone new. The problem with the OC was that the people didn’t want to obey God. But the glory of the NC is that we’re filled with the HS and he makes us want to love & obey & please & enjoy God – not as a fearsome judge but as our loving Father in heaven.

So, v18, We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 

Not only have we received righteousness from the NC, but we’re now being transformed into the glorious likeness of Jesus himself by the power of the Spirit at work in us. Not, of course, that we’re being changed into the visible likeness of Jesus –  but his moral likeness.  But as we begin to think like Jesus thinks, we will begin to behave as Jesus behaved, and so his glory will be seen – not in our faces, but in our words and in the choices we make.

That’s what your experience of the glory of the NC should be like – righteousness, hope, boldness, and transformation. That’s the glory of the NC.  

And we don’t need to be embarrassed by it. We don’t need to dress it up nor dress it down. No embellishment. No apology. The gospel is what it is, and it is glorious. Glorious in its sufficiency to do for us all that we need done: to make us right with God and to transform us into the likeness of Jesus.

God-honouring Ministry

2 Corinthians 1

With the need to appoint a new Archbishop of Canterbury, the qualities required for a senior church leader are much in the news.

So if you were on the 16-man Crown Nominations Committee, what qualities would you be looking for?

Some recent suggestions have included:

• A great manager of people
• An effective communicator, a powerful speaker
• A presidential figure
• A skilful politician & negotiator
• Someone with charisma, wit & common sense.

At a more mundane level, some rural parishes in Surrey are looking for a new vicar who must be

• Is a strong and inspiring spiritual leader able to share his or her faith in God.
• Is a good communicator, compassionate and with a sense of humour.

You may – or may not – be pleased or surprised to hear that I won’t be considered for Archbishop and, much as I love Surrey, I won’t be applying for that job!

The question of the qualities needed for a church leader was very much on the agenda when Paul wrote to the church in Corinth back in AD55.

If they’d written a job description for a church leader, they’d have wanted someone who had the characteristics which showed they were blessed by God:
For them, this would have included:

·         being a powerful communicator (preferably with an international ministry)

·         being physically strong & healthy

·         having charisma & charm

·         visions from God

And…

·         the wit and cunning to avoid persecution by the Romans or the Jews.

And some men who fitted that profile had turned up in Corinth. Each had his own group of followers, and church members liked to boast about the prowess of their preferred leader.

But Paul was not like that.

He wasn’t a powerful speaker, he wasn’t particularly fit or healthy. Yes, he had visions from God, but he kept them to himself. He hadn’t managed to avoid the Romans or the Jews. He’d been in prison many times, he’d received 39 lashes from the Jews on 5 separate occasions, he’d been beaten up, stoned, & shipwrecked 3 times.  Humanly speaking, Paul was a walking disaster!  Not only that, but he upset church members by challenging their belief and behaviour – in person when he visited and by letter.

 So, as far as many of the Corinthians were concerned, Paul was a bit of a second-rate church leader, and they’d rather follow these more impressive leaders, who said what they wanted to hear in the way they wanted to hear it. And as he begins his 4^th letter to the Corinthian churches, Paul shows what a genuine, God-authorised, Christ-honouring, Xn life & ministry looks like.

And he begins with his usual greeting: he writes as a God-appointed apostle of Jesus – he was one of the few who met Jesus – and so he writes with the authority of God himself.   2 Corinthians 1:1-2

So the letter is addressed to a number of fellowships which met in the courtyards of large houses. And many of them had serious problems and issues. Perhaps this explains why the letter seems a little disjointed at times – Paul seems to turn his attention from one fellowship to another – and of course they all knew exactly what he was talking about and who he was talking to – even if we don’t.

 And so Paul begins by tackling this issue of his weakness – do his problems and sufferings mean that God has abandoned him? Does he really have the authority of God to lead the church?

In the face of that criticism, Paul writes, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles.

You only have to turn on one of the Christian TV channels to see the belief that only suave, sophisticated, healthy, wealthy people are truly blessed by God. These people would never admit they had any problems at all. But Paul admits it – he’s had all sorts of troubles. But God has not abandoned him. In fact it’s in the midst of trouble and suffering that God has drawn near and poured out his compassion and comfort into Paul’s life. It’s only because Paul suffered these troubles that he’s received this compassion and comfort of God.

Not only that, but this has happened so that, v4, we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. Suffering means receiving special grace. Receiving special grace means having a special ministry – the ability to pass that grace on to others.

Now, on one level, we might simply see this as a great example of the difference between sympathy and empathy:

Sympathy is expressing compassion and giving comfort to someone who is suffering.

Empathy is showing a deeper level of understanding, entering into their experience with them.

So perhaps Paul’s simply saying, ‘Look, I’ve suffered. We all suffer. And because I’ve received compassion and comfort from the Lord, when you suffer, I can empathise with you.’

But in fact, Paul’s saying something much, much more profound than that. He hints at this in v5, for just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. This is no mere human empathy, no mere human comfort and compassion that Paul’s experienced. It’s not even that Jesus is able to empathise with him because he also suffered (though that is certainly true). What Paul’s experiencing here are the benefits Christ won for him on the cross – reconciliation with God, friendship with God, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul’s relationship with God has been healed through the sufferings of Jesus, and now he can know & receive the comfort of God. Comfort in our sufferings is only available through the sufferings of Jesus because it’s the cross that heals our broken relationship with God, and opens the floodgates of his mercy. And this is what Paul’s talking about in v7 when he says, Our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. The suffering of the cross is shared by Paul, and through Paul’s ministry, it’s shared by the Corinthians.

When your football team wins, it’s the players & the manager who have actually won the game. The crowd who were there shared first hand in the win. But then, when you hear the classified results read out by James Alexander Gordon at 5 o’clock on a Saturday afternoon, you share in their joy & comfort because you’re not going down! So here, Paul is saying, ‘we who witnessed the resurrected Jesus were overjoyed when we saw him. And we passed on to you the news of Jesus’ death & resurrection. When you accepted Christ, you shared in his sufferings, but you also share in the joy & comfort of the cross & resurrection.’

But being a Christian isn’t only about sharing in Christ’s sufferings spiritually – there will also be real emotional & physical hardships and pain. Of course some preachers claim that Christians won’t suffer if they are faithful and blessed by God. These preachers want the crown of blessings without the cross of shame. But Paul says they’re wrong. He knows that even the most faithful, obedient and blessed Christian – will include sufferings. After all, if Jesus suffered, why do we think we won’t suffer? As he himself said, -‘No servant is greater than his master’ if they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.

So Paul says… 2 Corinthians 1:8-10.

 It has always been true that when life is easy, even the most mature Xn can begin to rely on themselves. When life’s easy, we become more independent of God, we forget that we need him, we forget that all we have is from him. And so hardships serve a vitally important role in our lives – they drive us back to trust in Christ. Hardships and sufferings should not, therefore, be seen as a sign that God has left us or that we’ve upset him or that he’s not blessing us. Quite the opposite, suffering can be God’s blessing on us, forcing us to discover new depths of faith and trust in him. As Paul says, his sufferings happened so that he & Timothy would rely not on themselves but on God. And Paul knows that, ultimately, God could call him to martyrdom – he might be called upon to lay down his life for Christ. And if that happens, so be it. Paul knows that God raises the dead and will deliver him even through death. And yet, Paul is confident that, for the time being, God will deliver him from physical dangers and enable him to continue with his ministry.

But it’s not guaranteed, and Paul urges the Corinthians to help him by praying for him, and then, v11, many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favour granted to us in answer to the prayers of many.

As Paul continues in ministry, many will thank and praise God that he has been granted more time to teach and minister to God’s people – more time to share the hope of the death and resurrection of Christ – more time for the comfort and compassion of God to overflow into the lives of others.

Christian ministry is not hampered by suffering. Because God is the Father of all compassion and the God of all comfort, he brings life and joy from the depths of human troubles.

True unity

In these days when so much of the Anglican Church in the west is insisting on a different gospel from the one we received from the apostles, it's good to read about the Christ-centred, gospel-driven, God-honouring, Spirit-filled Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans Primates Conference. ['Primates' means Senior Bishops & Archbishops!] [1]

A Pastoral Letter from Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, Primate of the Anglican Church of Kenya and Chairman of the FCA Primates Council to the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans


October 29, 2012

The day we give special thanks for James Hannington, Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa, and his Companions, Martyrs, 1885

My dear people of God:

Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Primates’ Council has just concluded its October 2012 meeting in Dar es Salaam where we witnessed the blessing of God in a number of key areas:
•    In the increase of our numbers
•    Through the achievements of our April meeting
•    By the testimonies of those who are joining with us
•    In the new funding provided for our communication efforts
•    Through our decision to meet again in a Global assembly
•    By the recognition that we are not alone in this spiritual battle

We gathered in this historic city grateful for the faithful witness of the Anglican Church of Tanzania during these challenging times. The Most Reverend Valentine Mokiwa, Bishop of the Diocese of Dar es Salaam and Primate of Tanzania, welcomed us. We were made aware of some of the current difficulties facing Tanzania and committed ourselves to prayer for protection for the Church and peace and prosperity for all of this nation’s citizens.
During our meeting we were vividly reminded of the costly struggles of so many of our fellow Christians, whether facing violent persecution, natural disaster or spiritual conflict with competing ideologies. Such struggles have shaped our intention to use the next Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON2), now to be anticipated in October 2013 (rather than May as previously indicated) to stand in solidarity with all of our oppressed sisters and brothers and to study the theme of declaring the gospel of God ‘in the midst of much conflict’ (1Thessalonians 2:2).
We were pleased to welcome the Most Reverend Henri Isingoma, Primate of the Anglican Church of the Congo as member of the Primates’ Council. We are thankful for his faithful witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, his embrace of the tenets of the Jerusalem Declaration and his enthusiastic support for the work of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans.
We reflected on our meeting in London this past April when we gathered 200 leaders from 31 countries and enjoyed outstanding fellowship. We received excellent theological and biblical material that is now published on the GAFCON website.  We also heard remarkable testimonies of leadership under pressure from around the Communion. But perhaps the most telling quote was from a Nigerian bishop who said, ‘Now we know we are not alone.’ That is at the heart of our calling as the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans – to provide an authentic Anglican community for those who have been alienated for whatever reason.
As a result of the increased aggressiveness of the revisionists there are now those in every province and beyond who wish to stand with us and who need our help to stand for Christ: in Recife (Brazil), in South Carolina, in the Church of Scotland, in Ireland, in England, in Australia and many more. We received reports from various FCA affiliates and rejoice in their faithful witness in the face of tremendous pressure and were delighted to receive an application for the establishment of an FCA affiliate in Australia.
We were also reminded of the need for prayer for those who will gather in Auckland, New Zealand, for the meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council. In particular we prayed that they will avoid compromise and have the courage to declare boldly the Gospel of Jesus Christ that is good news for all people at all times and in all cultures.
We also rejoiced in the news that we have now received funding to expand our Communication efforts and look forward to more regular communication between our various constituencies and the ability to be able to share the remarkable stories of courageous and costly discipleship. We are also hopeful that this will also be a means by which we can be more effectively mobilized for intercession for one another and the communities that we serve.
From our very inception we have always understood that our fight is not with any particular person, political party, program or province but rather we are engaged an age-old battle for the soul of the Church.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, … Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:12-20)
At its heart we are engaged in a spiritual and theological struggle and we were unanimous in our commitment to renew the FCA Theological Commission with Provincial representation and a revised mandate that will provide theological resources to address areas of current concern.
We concluded our meeting with a glorious service of evening worship at the Cathedral of St Albans in Dar es Salaam. As we sang the familiar words of the evening hymn “The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, Is Ended” we gave thanks that “The Voice of Prayer is Never Silent. Nor dies the strain of praise way!” We are indeed not alone!

In Christ’s love and service,

The Most Reverend Eliud Wabukala
On behalf of the FCA Primates Council


[1] The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans arose from the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem a few years ago. It's a worldwide fellowship of Anglicans who believe that the Christian message and Christian morality is not changed by the winds of sinful human culture. You can find out more here: http://gafcon.org/  and here: http://fca.net/  and here: http://fca.net/uk

Punishment & forgiveness

Few things are as fundamental to our Christian lives than a correct understanding practice of punishment and forgiveness, and there is nothing that Satan loves more than injustice and enmity.
The Christian life can only start when we realise our guilt before God (see John 16:7-11 where Jesus explains that this self awareness is the work of the Holy Spirit). That is hard enough for people to accept, but the next steps are unnacceptable to many 'Christians' today; for if we are guilty and God is truly just, then there must be punishment (that's the point Paul labours in Romans 1-3, climaxing in Romans 3:19-20), and for us to be forgiven, someone has to bear that punishment or God ceases to be just. Once we see this, then we can understand what happened at the cross - how Jesus Christ took our guilt and was punished for it on our behalf so that we could be forgiven and God remain just (Isaiah 53; Romans 3:21-26).
But punishment and forgiveness sometimes also has to occur in human relationships. When someone has wronged someone else, then there may have to be just and fair punishment. Clearly this had happened in Corinth when someone had persisted in sexual immorality and would not repent (1 Corinthians 5:1). And in 2 Corinthians 2:5-11, the issue of punishment and forgiveness crops up again. It's hard to know exactly what had happened, but someone had done something that had so upset some of the Corinthians that they had punished him. Perhaps the punishment was just, perhaps not (v10). But Paul's point is that there comes a time when forgiveness has to be offered and reconciliation made, "in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes." (v11).
There's nothing Satan likes more than enmity. Enmity between God and man or enmity between Christians. And Satan hates the cross because there he was defeated, for there reconciliation and peace between God and man were made possible. Not only that, but when sinners are reconciled to God, they learn to be reconciled to each other.
At St Peter's, as we begin to experience growth and now have two paid ministers, we enter into areas where Satan sees opportunities for division and strife. We need to be on our guard and remain united. It will, from time-to-time, mean forgiving one another. But we're people of the cross, united to Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, and we must not - we will not - be divided!!

Tolerance

Whether or not you agree with the consecration of women as bishops in the C of E, surely any right-minded, tolerant person would want to provide for those who do not agree with this innovation. The following are just some of the reasons for providing alternative episcopal oversight for those who hold that headship in the church should be male:

1. It is taught in the Bible. You may think that this no longer applies, but you have to admit that this is the teaching of Paul (e.g. 1 Cor 11:2; 1 Tim 2:11-15), that submission was a quality of the Son of God and that the Father directs the Son (e.g. John 8:42; 12:49f; 14:31; 15:10; Mt 26:36-46). It is this submission of the Son to the Father which is mirrored in human relationships. Therefore, those who hold to make headship do not demean or disctiminate against women, but desire to uphold a testimony to the Trinity.
2. Those who are now ordained, were ordained into a church that did not consecrate women as bishops. They should at least be allowed to continue in that integrity.
3. Those who have been installed in a parish and swore the oath of allegiance did so on the understanding that the succession of bishops would be male. 
4. Those who want to change the system agreed, when they were ordained, to be ministers in a church which did not consecrate women. They knew the score and could have chosen to be ministers in a church in which women were given positions of headship (e.g. the Methodist church).
5. Does not the tolerance which these people so espouse mean that they themselves should be tolerant of those who disagree with this innovation. 
6. It is an innovation. This is new. The proponents could be wrong. Do they not have the humility to admit that?

In light of all this, please consider signing the petition to retain "Clause 5 (1) c". You can find the petition and an explanation of it here:
http://www.change.org/petitions/the-house-of-bishops-of-the-church-of-england-keep-clause-5-1-c-in-the-consecration-and-ordination-of-women-measure

If you want a detailed explanation go to John Richardson's blog

Active righteousness

If God forgives us every sin, why not carry on sinning? After all, the more I sin, the more it highlights God's kindness and the more he is glorified! That's the question at the beginning of Romans 6.
We, of course, would never dream of deliberately sinning so that God's grace would be magnified! Rather, we'd agree with what Paul says in Romans 6:11-13(a):

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness,

We don't want sin to reign in us, we try to avoid sin. But I wonder if we conveniently forget the second half of Romans 6:13,

but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.

Paul says that we all have two possibilities in the way we live our lives. We can either use our lives as 'instruments of wickedness' or as 'instruments of righteousness'.
Mankind has invented some amazing things, which can either be used for evil or for good. The same instruments which can be used to save lives in the hospital theatre or give shelter by building houses or haul life-giving water from a well, can also be used to maim and kill in the torture chamber.
So it is with our lives. We either put them to serving wickedness or to serving righteousness. And yet, all too often, we think that not doing evil is the same as doing righteousness. It's not. It's no use if a surgeon leaves his instruments in a drawer. They must be used to treat and to heal. It's no use a builder leaving his tools in the van. He must use them to repair and to build. It's no use leaving a bucket, rope and pulleys in a heap on the floor, they must be used to pull water from the ground.
So with our lives. Too often we leave our lives in the drawer, in the van, in a heap on the floor, avoiding evil, perhaps, but certainly not actively doing good. We're ready to count ourselves 'dead to sin' but not to be 'alive to God in Christ Jesus'.


(Elsewhere in the NT, this word for 'instruments' is translated 'weapons', and perhaps this more vividly creates the image of activity. So we could say that we can either use our lives as weapons for wickedness or weapons for righteousness).

There's only one way to find out... FIGHT!!!

Today, the press has its eyes on the meeting of The General Synod of the Church of England because it's at this meeting that a decision will be made about the possible consecration of women as bishops (btw, bishops are not 'ordained', they're 'consecrated').
Of course the press only wants a good story, and they interview only the people who'll give them a story in dumbed-down, bite-sized, tasty morsels. So this morning on the BBC we hear from a woman desperate to see women bishops because, after all, God created us all the same, and from a man who thinks 'priests' should be men because Jesus only called men and because he was a man.
But which is right? "There's only one way to find out... FIGHT...!!" (as Harry Hill would say). Of course the truth is more complicated, and neither are right. But that won't stop the fight nor the ensuing damage to the name of the Lord Jesus, his church and the gospel message.
The liberal pro-consecration of women are wrong because they fail to recognise that human relationships between men and women should reflect and testify to the glorious relationships in the Trinity (1 Corinthians 11:3 cf John 10:18; John 12:49f; John 14:31; John 15:10 etc.). The anglo-catholics are wrong because they think that the ordained minister (the 'priest' or 'bishop') stands in the place of Christ and his apostles in some kind of royal succession and so deny the sufficiency of Christ as our one High Priest and his church as the priesthood of the new covenant (1 Peter 2:4-10; Hebrews 7:11-8:13; Hebrews 19:1-18).
But which is worse - to deny the glory of the submission and obedience of the Son of God or to deny the glory of the sufficiency of the priesthood of the Son of God? If I had to choose, I think I'd say that the latter is worse because it keeps people away from direct contact with God by placing human priests between us, whereas the former, while it removes a testimony to the glory of Jesus and denies men and women their full humanity, doesn't keep people away from God.
Of course what we really want is a church that fully proclaims free access to the Father through the Son and the full glory of the submission of the Son to the Father.