Re-tyred

Today we're off for a few days' peace and quiet (sort of, five kids, you imagine the scene...). We've been flat out since the end of August and the charge to Christmas is always exhausting, so we need to use these days to go a bit more slowly. I'll have to take my ThM studies on my travels, but they're always a bit of light relief from the pressures of ministry!

It's not only me who's worn down. My motorbike tyres need replacing. I'm always keen to save my pennies, but you can't compromise quality with bike tyres, so I'll be choosing carefully. Bikes, like marriages, families and souls, need looking after. Let them wear down and you'll only have yourself to blame if you wipeout.

And next week I'm prioritising soul-care. I'm taking two days out to be completely on my own(something I try to do each six months). I'll take my Bible, an ipod with some sermons on and a favourite Puritan author and head off to a cottage. I need to hear the Lord speak to me, and I need to talk to Him. These are always thrilling and enriching times and charge me up again for Christian living and ministry.

So long, Sennacherib

On Sunday mornings at Gunnersbury we do a children’s talk, a short slot in which we teach a bible verse to the children before the primary-age attenders leave for Sunday school. This Sunday I was given 1 John 4.4: ‘the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.’ No easy task? How on earth was I to teach that to four year olds?

I decided to retell the story of the Assyrian threat against Jerusalem from Isaiah 36-37. Do go back to your Bibles and remind yourselves of this gripping narrative. A maniac Assyrian king Sennacherib, a godly but understandably terrified King of Jerusalem, Hezekiah, a desperate prayer to the Lord, a prophet from the Lord, and a shattering, and liberating, divine intervention. And the message for us? The One who is with is – and in us, by His Holy Spirit – is the One we can trust in for all our needs, day by day as well as for eternity. What an amazing hope we have in a Living God through Jesus Christ.

Listening to the talk was a church member with a literary passion, and it set her mind back to a Byron poem she learned as a school girl. I didn’t know it, but she called this morning and recited it down the phone. Glorious stuff, even from an ungodly poet! Enjoy the poem, and hold firmly to your faith in so good and mighty a God.


The Destruction of Sennacherib

The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!

And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.

And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!

Guilt-Edged Religion?

“It is guilt upon the conscience that softens and cowardizes our spirits: “The righteous are bold as a lion,” Prov. 28.1.

It was guilt in Cain’s conscience that made him cry, “Every one that meets me shall slay me,” Gen. 4.14.

A guilty conscience is more terrified with conceited dangers than a pure conscience is with real ones. A guilty sinner carries a witness against himself in his own bosom. It was guilty Herod cried out, “John Baptist is risen from the dead.” Such a conscience is the devil’s anvil, on which he fabricates all those swords, and spears, with which the guilty sinner pierces and wounds himself; guilt is to danger what fire is to gun-powder; a man need not fear to walk among many barrels of powder if he has no fire about him.”

John Flavel, Works, Vol. 5, p. 455

And thrice on a Sunday

Sunday saw me in William Grimshaw country, and what a stirring time it was. As I had a preaching commitment at Slack Top I really wanted to make the most of the day to see Gospel work in its different forms in West Yorkshire, so I planned a full itinerary.

After an early start from London I arrived in Haworth at Hall Green Chapel for their morning worship. I’d heard of Mick Lockwood and the work he’s involved in at Haworth, but it was a real privilege to attend the service and enjoy his ministry as well as meet many very friendly people there. Mick took on a situation of four people some ten years ago, and the Lord has really blessed his patient ministry of preaching, care and Gospel witness, so that the chapel has a real buzz about it, and the service was characterised by warmth and Gospel seriousness in a growing congregation. Singing a couple of Wesley hymns in what was once a Methodist heartland had a real poignancy. Old Grimshaw would have been a happy man!

After a quick lunch with Jill and Mick they were off to a church plant in Bradford and I went through Hebden Bridge and up to Mount Zion Baptist Church at Slack Top (not Slack Bottom, mind, that’s the other end of the hamlet…). This persevering band of brothers and sisters in Christ love God’s Word, and I brought Psalm 126 to them. We had great fellowship and talked at length as to how their work might go forwards. I hope that we can get an article on the work in Evangelicals Now soon.

Then it was into Halifax, where I found the Grace Baptist Church which meets in an attractive new building on the west side of town for the third worship service of the day for me. Grace is maintaining a solid Gospel witness in its area. Luke Jenner (not the one from here, but the one from here) preached a really thoughtful and helpful sermon on forgiveness, which got me thinking about some of my relationships and where my own heart is. Halifax is like so many towns in the M62 corridor, bereft of town centre Gospel witness and experiencing rapid Asian immigration. These places are crying out for courageous church planting. It’s brilliant to see the vision and the progress made in recent years by the Yorkshire Gospel Partnership and the North West Partnership. May the Lord raise up many more workers for the North of England.

At the end of a long day I was looking forward to hooking up with Martin Woodier at Otley who was giving me a bed for the night. Martin’s been pastoring the church at Otley for 23 years (and isn’t old!), and is pioneering a new witness in Ilkley. We enjoyed great fellowship and talked through the different aspects and possibilities of our respective ministries.

London is a long way from West Yorkshire in every sense, but united by the same realities: people are sinful and under God’s judgment, and they need to know the forgiveness and transforming power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What God did through John Wesley as he roamed the whole of Britain, and what He achieved through Grimshaw as he preached intensively through England’s Northern Counties, He is well able to do again. Ted Hughes, who grew up a few miles from Halifax, once spoke of the enduring influence of Grimshaw and his like on the landscape of West Yorkshire, and speculated that he must have been like a planet striking the earth in his own day. “Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few” (1 Sam. 14.6). Do it in our day, Lord.

Learn, Learn, Teach!

“The things you’ve heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will be qualified to teach others.” 2 Timothy 2.2

The best teachers are the best learners. A pulpit without learning is a great disservice to its congregation. However and wherever they learn, Pastors must be serious about growing in their understanding of God’s truth if they are going to be truly qualified to pass on the Gospel deposit to others.

Tuesday saw me joining with the Board of the London Theological Seminary for the AGM. It was a very encouraging time. The Seminary has been richly blessed with a good faculty and some excellent facilities. The number of men coming to LTS to train for pastoral ministry is a reflection of the Lord’s blessing on the institution, and it’s a genuine privilege to play even a very small part in its future development.

Training for ministry isn’t the sort of thing you do for a few years at the outset, but it must be a life-long commitment for any effective Pastor. I’m putting myself through my ThM in Historical Theology this year and next for that very purpose. I’m burdened, too, to see men putting their energies into stretching their minds and continuing to learn good theology and better ministry skills in order to be better servants of the Word. The many conferences and ministry courses which combine ministry placement and theological study are a much-needed and very welcome feature of the current Reformed and Evangelical scene.

To that end I organised a ministry morning with Paul Levy and Liam Goligher for Pastors and ministry workers in West London. On Wednesday 30 of us gathered for the inaugural meeting, and we profited from a full and very helpful morning together. Dick Lucas taught the Pastoral Epistles, and Garry Williams led our thoughts on Calvin and Justification. It was superb to be with other like-minded men (and women), and to share this precious opportunity. We plan to run another in the new year.

We learn in large part in order to preach and teach. I recently heard about a great ministry near Heptonstall, West Yorkshire. The church meets at Slack Top – what a fantastic Pennine place-name! - and is ambitious to bring a Gospel witness to its local community, but is lacking in strength at this stage in its life. I long to see churches like this continue in the Lord’s strength, so, as well as preaching for them this Sunday I would love to think with them about how their work can go forwards and flourish. Please join me in my prayers, and remember my travelling. Thanks.

Why the Banner is Brilliant

Just one of the reasons why the Banner is brilliant.

Happy Birthday to you!

My wonderful little boy, Asher, is 3 today. Happy birthday, little man!

Lots of love from his big brothers, Ezra and Samuel, and from his big sisters, Maisy and Jemimah. They all love him deeply, and their affection is returned with spoonfuls by their biggest (and smallest) admirer.

International Harvest Event

Harvest Services in London. Hmm, well, we've valiantly pressed on with them through the years, but the last few years have shown that they have little contact with non-Christians. So last year we tried something different. It was a great success. And with a few minor changes we're repeating the event this Sunday at 5pm, our International Harvest Event.

We'll set out table and chairs in the space where our pews normally are, and will set out a range of harvest-related activities and items. For the children there's a chance to try out instruments from around the world, plenty of craft activities and an expert face-painter. There's superb international food for all, including a BBQ on the forecourt. We have representatives from Tearfund, Traidcraft and Compassion UK, who will be informing us of the work of Christian relief and charitable works around the world, and providing opportunities to support their ministries. We will watch a brief DVD about what God is doing in His world, and then one of our members will be sharing the Gospel message with all assembled.

As you can see, this is a lot of hard work for all involved, but it's an effort which we believe truly honours the Lord. We're inviting many friends to join us, and have put the word around our community. We want to witness to the reality of a grace-giving and compassionate God, and to hear His Gospel of grace together. Please pray with us for the event, and if you're local, do come along!

Worse the Devil you know

“Remember, that pride is the worst viper that is in the heart, the greatest disturber of the soul’s peace and sweet communion with Christ; it was the first sin that ever was, and lies lowest in the foundation of Satan’s building. It is the most difficultly rooted out, and is the most hidden, secret and deceitful of all lusts, and often creeps in insensibly into the midst of religion and sometimes under the disguise of humility.”

Jonathan Edwards

One Fabulous Weekend

That's what many of us who were at Sunbury Court are saying. For me it was the most enjoyable church weekend to date - and all have been excellent! I'm scratching my head to think why it was so good. I'm sure it was a combination of factors. Here's a top three for me:

First, I really appreciated Wes McNabb's preaching. His warmth, humility and down-to-earth manner were a wonderful channel for God's Word. I ask you, who wants a cold, aloof preacher, however good his content is? A sermon is man and message, inseparably so, and a man changed by the Holy Spirit is the only fit person to speak with the Lord's authority and to show the attractiveness of the Gospel. I appreciated the godly servant who spoke God's Word, and valued all that he had to say about discipleship as we learn it through David's life.

Second, it's superb to be with God's family. I knew it would be. But I felt it at times almost overwhelmingly so. I felt quite choked on Saturday night as I looked around at my church family. So many godly people, using their gifts in the Lord's service and yielding to His Spirit's work in their lives. And some part of that work means putting up with me!
I remember hearing a politician once say that the thing he most dreaded in all the world was speaking to the same audience three times. I reckon that I've preached around a thousand Sunday sermons to the Gunnersbury congregation, and have opened the Bible on numerous other occasions in midweek meetings, weddings, funerals, evangelistic events and so on. That the church still listens to me is NOT to do with any gifts or godliness on my part - that's why I was choked on Saturday night - but all to do with the Holy Spirit's work in their lives.
And throughout the weekend I saw the Holy Spirit at work, bringing hearts together and sharing joy as we spent those days in each other's company. There's nothing like a church cricket match, or a big bunch of young and old taking over the local open-air swimming pool as we did; or two people, from different backgrounds, at different ages and stages, sitting down over a coffee and sharing their lives; or seeing newer arrivals at the church being so welcomed and put at their ease by seasoned members. God's family is a very special place.

And last, the Gospel is amazing. You can't separate the Gospel from the preached Word or the church, of course. But it's in each that the Gospel shines so brightly. One life was lived, offered up to death for us, and then raised from the dead and exalted for our salvation. We have a vibrant, solid hope in Jesus Christ. We have a message to live and die for, to share with all and to sing of for all of our days.

So, treasure your church. She's imperfect, and sometimes she will hurt you through imperfect, sinful people. But she is precious to God, and must be precious to you, too.

"How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the Presence of our God because of you?" 1 Thessalonians 3.9

The Reason for the Reason for God

Hurray, it's done! I've finally been able to sign off and send off my translation of the Strasbourg Reformer Martin Cellarius's work 'De Operibus Dei'. It's been a great exercise to wrestle with Latin again, though I don't think it's a really spectacular work - Cellarius's, I mean, the jury's out on how well I've translated it!

Now it's a totally different task. I'm writing on Tim Keller's The Reason for God. It's a publishing phenomenon. I've read it twice, and have lent it to others to read, Christian and non-Christian. And yet I think that in many places it's a rather strange book, and that it really could be better.

So I'm taking the opportunity of studying it. In particular, I'm looking at how it matches up to the methodology of Cornelius Van Til, long-time Professor of Apologetics at Westminster Seminary, Philadelphia. What would he have made of it, and would he approve of Keller's method?

Van Til is (in)famously difficult to follow, but even a passing acquaintance with him convinces you just how important his voice is in the discussion of how to present the truth of Christianity to an unbelieving world.

Please pray that I might find the time to think clearly, study well, and deliver a piece of work which will help my thinking, and maybe that of others, in this area.

Preaching for Life

'Like newborn babes, crave pure spiritual milk, so that you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.' (1 Peter 2.2-3)

'God begets and multiplies His church only by means of His Word. It is by the preaching of the grace of God alone that the church is kept from perishing.' John Calvin, comment on Psalm 1

As my church is off for our church away weekend both the Apostle's and the Reformer's words strike me. Spiritually healthy people are hungry people. Sermons are not optional, they're essential for solid, Christian growth. Without the Word - preached, discussed, learned, prayed over and passed on - we will perish. But with the Word we have Christ, and to share Him together, as we'll be doing this weekend, will be precious indeed.

Please pray for a really fruitful time for all who attend, and for Wes McNabb as he preaches to us.