Be Faithful. Galatians 5: 22-23

A couple of days ago, I was speaking at a Church some miles from where I live. I had been asked to speak on the theme of faithfulness as a gift of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5: 22-23).

My message was that we have to choose to be faithful to God, and that he expects us to be so in every area of our life. Being faithful to God is an intentional act which is possible only because of the Holy Spirit working within us. The Spirit enables us – but we have to choose to be faithful to God. As part of the service, my wife, Jo, had been speaking about the distractions of life which prevent, or at least inhibit us from being faithful.

So there we are. Allow the Spirit of God to fill your heart, and be intentionally faithful in every area of your life. (Easier said than done!)

Last night I was part of David’s Tent, a gathering of several thousand people worshipping together in the middle of a field close to my home in South East England. In the space of about an hour, I sensed God telling me to go up to several individuals and say specific things to them. I love it when that happens. There’s usually a moment of hesitation, especially when I don’t know the individual, but most times, when I step out and pass on the words which I have been given the reaction is such that I know I was right to do it.
So, here’s the thing. Not everything in my life is perfect – like me for example. Like everyone else there are things which bother me and upset me. And to be honest, there’s one area of my life which is a constant frustration. I have this deep sense of disappointment, even injustice, because I feel constantly undermined and distracted in my work by one or two people who hold a position of influence over my work. . (It’s interesting that even as I write I’m fighting the desire to explain my frustration and justify myself!).

Late in the evening, we were driving home from the worship event when Jo spoke to me about my own relationship with God. She was talking about the things she sees God doing in my life. All this was good. It felt like an affirmation of something that I was already aware of. But then, she said, just imagine how much more God could use me if I just stopped stressing myself out about the above mentioned sense of frustration.

In my imperfection, I was immediately defensive and within seconds I was rambling on about the righteousness of my own position.Jo stopped me, or at least she tried to, and really turned the knife in my self inflicted wound. My frustration, she said, is spilling over. Other people are noticing, and starting to join in. It isn’t honouring God, and my reaction is beginning to impact the team. Regardless of the core issues, the whole thing has been a huge distraction to me. Now it’s becoming a distraction to others. It needs to stop. It needs to stop because it’s preventing me from being faithful in a key area of my life. It’s beginning to gamble with the faithfulness of the team.

It’s not wrong to deal with the issues – but it’s wrong to let them distract us from being faithful to God.

Two points.

I love it when God gives me a message and the Church receives it well. How much more amazing is it when I walk away and realise that apart from anyone else the message was really for me. It’s as if he says ‘Preach this! Tell my people to apply this to themselves. And if you have a moment in your own busy schedule – apply it to yourself aswell!’

Secondly, I love it when God gives me a message for someone else. It’s great when he – the Living God – graciously uses me as a messenger. How much more amazing is it when he uses someone else to bring a message to me – even if I don’t like the message!

I love it when God says to me ‘Stop feeling sorry for yourself! I’ve got this situation in hand. Be Faithful. Just get on with the job!’

Keep on praying!

Work Together

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After a challenging couple of weeks, here is another quote from William Barclay which I found rather helpful.

“There is nothing which the Church needs more than to learn how to yoke in common harness the diverse temperaments and qualities of different people. If we are failing it is our own fault, for, in Christ, it can be done..”

New Daily Study Bible: Gospel According to Luke, Luke 8:1-3

I think we can all learn something from that!

Keep on praying!

It’s obvious when you think about it. It’s one of the inadequacies of the English language that when we use the word love, we can mean all sorts of different things. Love is probably one of the most over used, or abused words in the English language.

Some other languages have several different words to explain different aspects of what we call love. Early copies of the New Testament were written in Greek, and that is a language which has three different concepts, each of which we would translate as ‘love’.

Arguably there are four concepts. Let’s just deal with the one which didn’t make it into the New Testament. The Greeks knew a bit about love. They were a passionate people. They knew about the sort of love which comes into being when two people are attracted to each other. In Greek, it’s called eran. This is the word which is at the root of the name Eros, the Ancient Greek god of love. It has to do with physical love. Passionate, sexual love. But let’s be honest, It’s possible to make love to someone, without ever loving them at all.

So let’s look at the three which are in the New Testament. First off, there is stergein. It means natural affection. This is about the kind of love we might associate with a family, or the bond between very closest of friends. This is a very special kind of love. (Romans 1:31; 2 Timothy 3:3) Obviously, it is very different from the eran kind of love. There are some aspects of Christian love which may be reflected here.

The second New Testament word is philein. At times, Philein has been used as a boy’s name, and it speaks of the love between good friends. If you think of God as your Father, Christ as your brother, then there are things floating through our minds which relate in some way to the philein type of love. People who have a common interest, or are part of a sort of shared community. This is an important concept for Christians, who are called on to love one another.Indeed Peter used this word when he professed his love for Christ (John 21:15). This word appears 45 times in the New Testament.

But here’s the thing. None of these words really demonstrate the sort of love Christ wants us to show to other people. Christ wants us to love one another. Christ wants us to love our neighbour. Christ wants us to love even our enemies. This just doesn’t work with eran, stergein or philein. So probably just as well that in Greek there’s another kind of love. Agapan.

Agapan is a really special kind of love. The word, or its derivatives, appears 320 times in the New Testament, so we need to get our head’s round this one. It’s a conscious decision to love someone, to desire the best for them in every way, whoever they are and whatever our relationship with them. There’s something rather unnatural about it. It goes against the grain. It means that always, regardless of the circumstances, we are to desire only the highest good for everybody else. Whether they are our lover, our family, our friend our neighbour or our enemy. To love in this way, in all circumstances, is only possible with the help of the Holy Spirit. This is the love of John 3:16.

‘We cannot love our enemies as we love our nearest and dearest. To do so would be unnatural, impossible and even wrong. But we can see to it that , no matter what others do to us, even if they insult, ill treat and injure us, we will seek nothing but their highest good.’

William Barclay

We should celebrate and cherish the gift of love which exists between man and wife, within the family and between friends. But we must understand that Christ demands of us that we practice agapan love. This is the type of love which Christ commands us to share with others around us, regardless of our relationship with them, however they are treating us, and whether or not they return the love. Agapan love, my friend, is not always easy.

Never forget, however, that this was the love which He first showed, when he gave His life for you, for me, and for all mankind.

Whether they liked it or not.