Our Missionary God

The whole concept of holding a mission like 'The God Delusion' is pretty offensive to modern sensibilities. The idea that we should be persuade people to become followers of Jesus Christ is, at best unpopular, and at worst, obnoxious. That’s what our opponents think. And there are quite a few of them.

Our opponents may accuse us of intolerance. They think that we should just let people believe what they want to believe. It’s not our job to try and correct them. But we want to create a culture where we're free to discuss those issues openly. The accusation that we're being intolerant is ridiculous. We’re not the ones campaigning to quash the freedom of religious expression through legal means. We don't want to make it illegal to hold religious views different from ours. We want to treat other people with respect regardless of their views. But because God has revealed himself and his way of salvation in his Son, Jesus Christ, there is right and there is wrong. Therefore there are religious views that are profoundly wrong, which if believed are eternally dangerous. It's not intolerant to discuss these.

And our opponents may accuse us of arrogance. They think that we’re being arrogant because we think we’re right and we think that they’re wrong. Presumably our opponents think that they're right and we're wrong otherwise they would react as they do. But somehow we're the bad guys! Now, of course we want to repent of any proud or patronising behaviour that we may have been guilty of. But it would be arrogant to know what we know about Christ and withhold it from others. For us to have understood God’s truth and think that we’re the only ones who should have it is really arrogant. It's worse than that, it's discriminatory.

Nevertheless, our opponents may accuse us of being intrusive. Like the Coalition forces in Iraq, some think that churches are sticking their noses into places where they’ve not been invited. The complaint is that we’re invading private territory and doing so aggressively. Where the gospel is not welcome we have a biblical precedent for shaking the dust from our feet and moving elsewhere with the good news. But our motives are pure, our method is not deceptive and our message is love. That's the kind of intrusion most of us would welcome!

But given this opposition why do we do it? Why is evangelism such a priority at CCB?

It’s because mission runs through the Bible. As I hope to show, all the big events in salvation history are accompanied by an impetus to mission. That shouldn’t surprise us given what we know about God. He is merciful and forgiving. He has accomplished a great work of salvation in his Son. And he has sent His Spirit so that His church can share the gospel with the nations.

Here are six events in salvation history.

1. The nations were created to know God
Genesis 1:27 says,

‘God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and
female he created them’

God is therefore the creator of all humanity, both male and female. All the people of the world owe God their allegiance because they belong to him. He made us and we’re His. Acts 17:26 records Paul’s speech to the Greek Philosophers of Athens in which he said this,

‘God made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way towards him and find him’.

Therefore, the reason why God created the people of the world was so that they might know Him. If we were to consult an atlas of the world we’d normally find different areas of the world in different colours according to the majority religious convictions within that geographical region. This is misleading since it suggests that the peoples of the world are apportioned to Allah, Buddha or Krishna. But the whole world and its entire people belong to God and He has claim over it all. Therefore when we’re involved in mission we’re not going anywhere where we shouldn’t be going. God has the right to send his people wherever he wants in his world, even into the multi ethnic melting pot that is south London! But it’s not only right to go to the peoples of the world, it’s loving. We’re giving people the opportunity to be introduced to their creator.

2. The nations were promised God’s blessing
It would be fair to say that the early history of mankind was not promising. Adam and Eve rebelled and Cain was a murderer. The people of Noah’s world were described by God as continually evil. And the nations of the world co-operated in a grand building project to assert their independence from God. God acted in judgement in every case. But in Genesis 12 God made it clear that judgement would not be his last word. Blessing would be. Listen to these words from Genesis 12:1-3,

‘Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred to the land I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed’.

In the first place God’s promise to Abraham focussed on his immediate descendants and the nation God would create from them. God promised that Abraham’s descendants would receive the blessing of a place in His Kingdom. However, this promise wasn’t only intended for Israel. God intended that He would extend the offer of this blessing to the nations. The New Testament makes it clear that the descendants to whom the promise of a place in the kingdom applied were not Abraham’s physical descendants but his spiritual descendants. People from every nation who shared Abraham’s trust in the gospel would receive God’s blessing. Therefore when we’re involved in mission we’re simply letting people know that they have an inheritance of which they have previously been ignorant.

Imagine being approached by someone with the news that someone had died but their death had meant that we stood to receive an absolute fortune. Without wishing to be insensitive we'd be delighted to receive that news wouldn't we? We'd be pretty cheesed off if they decided to keep that news to themselves. I know we'd be devastated if the person was well known to us, but that's not the point of the illustration! The inheritance is. Focus on that if you can!

If people hear what we have to say but then subsequently decide to reject it then we can’t coerce them. Nor should we attempt to. But Christians feel that the offer, like the inheritance, sells itself!

3. The nations were included in God’s people
There are three major players in the Old Testament; God, Israel and the nations. When God entered into a unique relationship with one tiny nation He always had the other nations in view. At Mount Sinai Israel became a unique nation. But God constituted them with a definite role in mind. Listen to these words from Exodus 19.

‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

Israel had a priestly function in which they were to act as a mediator between God and the nations. With a few exceptions, like Jonah who was hardly an enthusiastic evangelist, Israel failed. But there were glimpses of what God had in mind because people like Rahab and her family, Ruth the Moabitess, the inhabitants of Nineveh and Naaman the Aramite all joined the people of God. In the prophets the writers take up this theme and look forward to a time when the nations will stream into the future kingdom. So listen to these words from Isaiah 2,

‘it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: ‘come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’’

Therefore when we’re involved in mission we’re not doing anything novel. Mission isn’t a new innovation, which is hard to establish from the Bible. God has been joining the nations to his people since He first called Israel to himself.

4. The nations were sent God’s saviour king
At the incarnation God sent his promised saviour king into the world. However, Jesus did not embark immediately on a mission to the nations. It’s striking that the gospel accounts are dominated by Jesus’ priority to reach Israel. However, Jesus’ own people rejected him and his response to this was to offer the Kingdom to the nations. None of this came as a surprise to Jesus. The prophets clearly anticipated the worldwide spread of the gospel and he foreshadowed it in his own ministry. It’s as though God did that in sending his Son to the nations. He made it clear where the nations featured in his plan to save people. Therefore when we’re involved in mission we’re not doing anything that Jesus didn’t do. In other words he gives us divine precedent for crossing racial and territorial boundaries to reach people with the gospel of the Kingdom. It’s part of following Jesus.

5. The nations will be reached by Christians
Matthew 28:16-20 records the Lord Jesus’ mission statement to his church. It’s sometimes called the Great Commission.

‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Since the risen Lord Jesus possesses all authority he requires obedience to him from all nations. Therefore his followers are required to make disciples from all people. As we go out to the nations the Lord Jesus promises us that he will be with us for all time. And so the plan of the risen ruler of this world is that Christians should reach it with his gospel. Therefore when we’re involved in mission we’re simply doing what we’re told. The Lord Jesus has authority over everything and his instructions are pretty clear. I’m not aware that he has rescinded this command and so it remains binding on us today.

6. The nations will be gathered in the new creation
In Revelation John is given a glimpse of the future kingdom. There is a distinct international flavour to things. Listen to these words from Revelation 7,

‘I looked and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation
belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb!’’

No one will be worshipping Allah, Brahma, Buddha or Krishna in heaven. Jesus Christ is the only person who can readmit us to the paradise that our representative was thrown out of.
Therefore when we engage in mission we’re offering people the opportunity to be part of an international peace gathering. It'll be the world’s largest international rock concert as we sing our praises to the Lord who sits centre stage. It’ll make Live Aid look like the Bedford Bandstand. And if you hadn’t realised, just as there was no evangelistic work to be done in the Garden neither will we have to worry about that in eternity. That’s when we stop, and not before!

Conclusion

As we’ve seen each of the main sections of the Bible is dominated by this missionary theme. In fact we could put it like this.
· The God of the Old Testament is a missionary God, who called one family in order to bless all families.
· The Christ of the gospels is a missionary Christ who commissioned his church to make disciples of all nations.
· The Spirit of Acts is a missionary Spirit who empowered the church and drove them out to witness.
· The church in the epistles is a church that supported missionary activity and undertook it themselves.
· The population of the new creation is a missionary population who has been gathered from every nation.

Where does all this leave us?
We all need to pray for our evangelistic work in our meetings, in our congregational prayer meetings, in our small groups and also privately. Are you praying about your evangelism and for those you're longing to become Christians?

We all need to take every opportunity we can to say something about the gospel even if we make a complete hash of it. Are you someone who goes quiet and says nothing for fear of looking an idiot or are you someone who says something in the hope that the Lord will use it for His glory? Some of us need to rid ourselves of our fear of man. We need to think less about what our peers think of us and more about what the Lord makes of our excuses!

We all need to orientate our lives and our priorities to incorporate God's missionary plans for the world into our working week. Of course that will look different for different people. The life of the city worker is different from the life of the student. The challenges of the stay at home Mum are different from those of the working Mother. The point is not to compare ourselves with others and think that they ought to be doing more. The point is that we ought to be trying to do something as best as we're able with the abilities and opportunities that God has given us.

But as we do so we can trust that our God is a missionary God whose passion and ability in evangelism far outweigh ours! But we can also rejoice that He has invited us to share with Him in the task for which He has delayed His Son’s return.

Christmas Day

We're not the first believers to have struggled to find a venue for Christmas Day! But you'll be pleased to hear that it's not a stable. It's a scout hut. Our Christmas Day meeting can now go ahead. Many may not have been aware that behind the scenes there's been much wringing of hands and scratching of heads. We've chased up every possible lead for a venue that's been willing to open up on Christmas Day. We're now well acquainted with most of the establishments in the SW12 area!
The scout hut in question is to be found on Lyford Road, Wandsworth Common. The address is the Romany Scout Hut, 22a Lyford Road, SW18 3LG. Put that into google and it'll pin point it on a map for you. We start at 10.30 am. We'll sing a few carols, pray and have an extended kid's slot. If you have a collapsible chair you may want to bring it!

The Bedford Carols

Sunday evening's 'Bedford Carols' was a great success. We had lots of guests who enjoyed singing and listening to an explanation of the first Christmas events. The music was especially fantastic. Thank you to all who played and sang for us. Tom Clarke's new arrangements worked brilliantly. I'm sure he'd want to single out Simeon Lumgair and Colin Hall for their help. Well done to everyone involved in transforming the room and creating a festive atmosphere. Our thanks to Claudia Demuth and her team. Thanks also to Phil Craig and his group of 'techies' who lifted and shifted loads of kit and set it all up to make sure that we could be heard. It was a terrific event and we're very grateful to God for everyone who volunteered, invited, attended and prayed.

Nativity Tableau

The Nativity Tableau passed without incident on Sunday, though Mary was perhaps a little aggressive in the way she placed Jesus in the Manger! In our interpretation of the events of the first century we had two kings, two shepherds and more angels than you could shake a crook at! We need some boys to be born otherwsie we're going to have casting difficulties in the future! Well done to Jenni Prosser and Polly MacLachlan who co-ordinated the nativity with a deft touch. The whole thing was filmed and should be available to those who'd like a copy at some stage in the New Year.
We must extend our thanks to Helen Fielder & Zoe Isaacs and their team of 'decorators'. The stage area looked wonderful and not at all like a school dance studio. Thanks also to Lee Taylor who oversaw the refreshments and provided us with festive fair at the close of play.

Christ Church Kids' Christmas Party

The Christ Church Kids' Christmas party was a great success. We had over 30 children who came along after school and nursery for some games, singing, craft activities and tea. Polly did a terrific job in teaching the kids that the most important thing about Christmas is Jesus Christ. To do so she recruited the help of the church administrator, one of the elders and the vicar! The sight of three of these three dressed as Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, a Christmas Tree and a Christmas pudding will long in the memory. Some of the adults seemed visibly traumatised by the experience! Thank you to all who helped and to all who invited friends. We're especially indebted to members of the evening congregation who left work early and 'tweaked' their schedules to help set up and clear up after the event. These events continue to be a terrific success and a wonderful way of being involved in the local community.

Nativity Tableau

CCB's annual Nativity Tableau happens this Sunday morning, 16th December at 10.30 am. We meet in Chestnut Grove School. You can find further details on the Church web site http://www.christchurchbalham.org.uk/.
We've encouraged the children of Christ Church Kids to invite their friends to come along and actually take part. The brilliance of a nativity tableau is that there are no words to learn! The narrator does it all. The genius of this nativity is that there's all the fun of dressing up without the stress of learning any lines! The kids can just turn up, get dressed and walk on to adoring sighs of appreciation from doting parents! They'll be fine as long as they can handle the flash of digital cameras. All of our kids are 0-7 so it's ideal for that age range. It's probably worth saying that having more than one Mary, Joseph and Jesus might get confusing. But there's room for an unlimited number of animals, shepherds, kings and angels. Come along and join in our Christmas celebrations. You'd be very welcome.

Bedford Carols

Our annual Christmas carol event is back at the Bedford this year http://www.thebedford.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=InfoPages. It's this Sunday, the 16th December. It starts at 8 pm and we're downstairs in the Shakespearean Globe, home of the Banana Cabaret. We can't promise that the gags will be as good but if you're at a loose end and fancy adding a 'spiritual' dimension to your Christmas celebrations you'd be very welcome. We'll sing many of the old favourites, hear a few familiar reading, listen to a short Christmas talk and all in the familiar setting of one of South London's best public houses. Come and join the regulars and a large number of visitors.
For more information about Christ Church Balham see our website http://www.christchurchbalham.org.uk/.

Bob the Builder at CCB

We love having visitors at CCB. But no one expected a visit from Bob the Builder!
As part of her ongoing desire to help the children understand the importance of Jesus Christ Pollyanna MacLachlan, the CCB Children's Work Apprentice, recruited the assistance of the C-Beebies tradesman. She explained that the only way we'll ever get to know someone is if we can meet them. Bob entered from stage left to whoops of delight from parents and children alike. The lone dissenting voice declared, 'I hate Bob the Builder'. What can I say? We allow all views to be aired but not shared at CCB!
But, Polly went on to explain, as exciting as it is to meet Bob the Builder it's so much more exciting to meet God through the birth of His Son, Jesus. You can expect more of the same engaging teaching at the forthcoming Christ Church Kids Christmas party on Wednesday 12th December from 3.30-5.30 pm in the library hall.

CCB Carol Singing

Come and warm the hearts of exhausted and depressed commuters as they step off the train at Balham and have an invitation to our carol services thrust into their hands! We've got musicians, we've got singers and we've got more enthusiasm than's good for us. But there's room for more. Come and swell the happy throng and spread the seasonal spirit. Sign up on the CCB Facebook group or contact Richard if you're keen.

Christmas Party

A message from Deanna Holmes, organiser of 'London Christians: Parties and Social Events'

Hi there - I would just like to ask if you would consider flagging up the London Christians Christmas Party at Corks Wine Bar (nearest tube: Bond Street) on Saturday 15th December, to those in your congregation that are single. There will be music, dancing, ice-breakers and a generally merry time to be had by all! All the details can be found at: http://www.londonchristians.co.uk/.
Thanks very much,

Deanna

Healthcare Forum

Tuesday February 12th, 8pm at the Factory, 577 Kingston Road, Raynes Park. An opportunity for those working in the healthcare sector to discuss work-issues with other Christians. Brief interviews with those from across the healthcare sector on their perspectives of working life as Christians, followed by plenty of time for discussion and prayer. Contact Michael Perkin at m.perkin@sgul.ac.uk to book your place.

Business Forum

Wednesday January 30th, 7pm at The Bible Talks, Down Street (near Green Park tube). Brief interviews with a lawyer, a banker and a property developer on their perspectives on working life as a Christian. Then an opportunity to break into industry-specific groups to discuss the issues you face in the office with other Christians. Contact Paul Dawson at paul.dawson@dundonald.org to book your place, with details of which industry sector you work in.

Financial Update

The financial situation at CCB was outlined in both meetings yesterday. Anyone interested in reading the full text should e-mail Richard on richardperkins@btinternet.com.

Mission Action Group

As I’m sure that you’re aware our mission statement is 'growing disciples of Christ in London for the world'. As part of our disciple growing ministry let me tell you about our plans for the February Mission. We have a mission planned for the week beginning 10th February. It’s on the fridge posters, but you knew that already didn't you?! It’s a great opportunity to make the good news of Jesus Christ known in Balham.

Wonderfully, we’ll be joined by a group of eager enthusiastic volunteers from the Cornhill Training Course who will form part of a mission team. Cornhill students are typically young adults who spend one or two years learning how to teach the Bible in different contexts. They're coming to us to help out and to learn how a local church does mission.

In previous years the mission has been quite ‘top down’ in terms of ideas. In consultation with the apprentices and staff we’ve thought of ideas that might work and then tried to sell them to the congregation. There’s been a mixed response to this approach! Lots of the events have worked really well but that's not always been the case. Therefore I think we ought to take the risk of seeking a more ‘bottom up’ approach.

Integral to this approach is the convening of a ‘Mission Action Group’. It's not a committee. Committees never get anything done. This is an action group! They're different! The purpose of teh group is threefold

1. to confer and consult with the ‘troops on the ground’,
2. to generate ideas for mission events that will receive widespread support and then
3. to promote those ideas and events in the congregations.

The advantage of this approach is that this ought to engender and encourage ownership and participation of the mission. After advice from the management consultants amongst us we've sought to bring together a blend of the ‘ideas’ people who think out of the box, the ‘completer finishers’ who make things happen and the 'black hat wearers' who bring a touch of realism to our discussion. You can work out who fits which role within the group! We’ve got people from both all age church and evening church. We’ve also got people who already have key specific responsibilities within the congregation. Whilst some of us will be those who make things happen it’s not anticipated that we’ll be the only ones doing the work!

The group will be chaired by me and consist of
Gordon Reid
Phil Craig
Lucy Dalby
Lynda Davies
David Mayland
Liz Barnard
John Lumgair [audio visual]
Anna Hartridge [administator]
Polly MacLachlan [children's work]
Peter Judkins [music]

I’m still awaiting answers from one or two others who've been asked onto the group.

You can participate in three ways

Please pray for us as a group. We’re meeting for the first time on Monday 26th December and we'll meet a handful of times next term. Pray for the group dynamics and a real passion for mission.

Please provide us with ideas. We need suggestions. You know what your friends might come to better than we do and so let us know. You could e-mail any of the people above.

Please prepare for the mission. This will be an unusual time for us during which the spiritual needs of our friends, colleagues and neighbours will be uppermost in our hearts and minds. Though every Sunday is a terrific time to invite someone to church these events out to be especially useful in helping us reach out to Balham with the gospel.

Dear Friends - December

Dear Friends

The Christmas period presents us with unparalleled opportunities for the gospel. That could be our church run events like our Carol Events on the 16th December, our Christ Church Kids party on 12th or the Christmas Quiz night on the 6th. It could also be the informal conversations with colleagues or friends over lunch or at the school gate. This is a time of year when spiritual realities are allowed on the agenda. Whilst it can sometimes feel that the secular media is largely antagonistic towards the Christian faith it’s not always the same with our secular friends. Many of our non-Christian family, neighbours and colleagues, though they don’t share our religious convictions, are nevertheless willing to engage on a personal level with some of the deeper spiritual issues. That’s perhaps especially true at Christmas. The big questions are not always permitted to be front and centre but people seem to soften under the influence of ‘twinkly’ lights, presents and mulled wine! We’re committed to helping people to hear and understand the message of Christmas.

Of course, we’re all pulled in one direction or another. It can feel as though everyone wants a piece of us. There are work, family and church commitments that compete for our attention and loyalty. But I’m eager that we don’t look back on these years and regret the opportunities we wasted. We need to be doing all we can, accepting our limitations, for God and His glorious gospel. The writer of the book of Hebrews encourages church members to ‘consider how to stir up one another to love and good works’ [Hebrews 10:25]. With that encouragement to think about how to incite, provoke and agitate one another ringing in our ears can I ask you to do three things this year?

1. Would you pray?
God will not share His glory with another. When we pray we recognise that we are dependent on the Lord to give us the success for which we hope. If we don’t pray we’re exercising independence from Him and we have no reason to expect His blessing. We need people who will pray that God will bring people to hear and understand the salvation that He provides in His Son.

2. Would you invite?
Every year I sit in the Carol events and regret that friends aren’t there. The reason they’re not there is sometimes because they’ve said ‘no’. But often it’s because I failed to ask them. That’s just foolish. And it’s my fault. We need people who will invite their friends.

3. Would you attend?
Events sometimes fail because they lack a critical mass of people. Social dynamics mean that we’re put at ease when there’s a bit of a crowd around us. Is it overstating it to say that no one should miss these events? Whatever you’ve got in your diaries, cancel it! We need everyone there.

With grateful thanks for your partnership in the gospel. To God be the glory this Christmas.

perks

Welcoming our new Administrator

Dear Everyone

Let me take a moment to introduce our new administrator, Anna Hartridge. Anna has joined us from her home town of Southend having heard of our need through a friend on the Cornhill Training Course. She’s a real answer to prayer. And we’re very grateful to God for the way He provides what we need to resource the ministry at CCB.
Anna comes to us following time as a UCCF Relay Worker and more recently as a Research Technician at Queen Mary College. She’s working part time initially and hoping to supplement her CCB ministry with finances from teaching foreign language students.
It’s my intention to allow a period for Anna to ease her way into the job and into the church. She’s new to our church and our established ways of doing things. She needs our help to settle in and grow familiar with my idiosyncratic ways of doing things! To do this can I ask therefore that you direct e-mails and requests through me and I’ll better be able to monitor what needs to be done, by whom and by when!
I’ll let you know when I’ve lifted the administration embargo!
Thanks
Richard

Operation Christmas Child useful information!

The following is an update from Polly

This is a little video showing what Operation Christmas is all about
http://www.samaritanspurse.uk.com/occ/_video_2007.asp

You'll also find the following link useful http://www.samaritanspurse.uk.com/occ/filling-a-box.asp

What to Pack- Gift ideas
All items should be new. Please include items from each category. Remember to make your box both FUN and EDUCATIONAL!

TOYS - something to love

Bear, soft toy, tennis ball, fi nger puppet, jigsaw, yo-yo, building blocks, small musical instrument, (for boys – trucks and cars, for girls – doll, clip-on earrings, make-up or hair accessories) etc.

EDUCATIONAL SUPPLIES – something to do

Felt pens, pens, pencils, pencil sharpener, rubber, colouring book,notepad, picture/puzzle book, chalk, pencil case, stickers etc.

HYGIENE ITEMS – something to use

Toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, comb, hair clips, bar of wrapped soap, flannel etc.

OTHER ITEMS – something to eat or wear

Sweets (sell-by date to be at least March of following year), gloves, scarf. sunglasses, cap, hat, bangles, necklaces etc.

DO NOT INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:

• FOOD Chocolate, crisps, biscuits, tinned food or cakes (or any other food)
• MEDICINE Medicines or vitamins of any kind
• WAR RELATED ITEMS toy guns, soldiers or knives
• CLOTHING (other than listed above)
• FRAGILE ITEMS Glass containers; mirrors
• LIQUIDS of any kind including blow bubbles, shampoo, bubble bath, toiletry sets or aerosols
• DANGEROUS ITEMS Marbles or sharp objects – scissors or razors
• NOVELS ANYTHING OF A POLITICAL OR RACIAL NATURE

Packing Parties

Lee Taylor is involved with a project based in Kibera, Nairobi. It's reputably the largest slum in the world and was the location where John Le Carre's novel and the film 'The Constant Gardener' was based. The local banks in Nairobi provide the project with shredded waste paper and women from the slums, often with their children in tow, create their own paper and then make greetings cards to sell in the UK. The project is Christian based and the women are encouraged to get involved in bible study. Lee writes,

'The cards are sent to us in large batches and we then tart them up a bit for the UK market (nice envelopes/wrapped in cellophane) and sell them to various trade and retail customers. This is a very busy time of year for us as we sell a range of Christmas cards and we have several thousand cards that still need packaged'.

The plan is to host an evening or two known as 'Packing Parties' where people are welcome would meet up of an evening, sip some wine and nibble some pizza whilst packing up the cards.

If you're keen to help Lee contact her on taylor@post.harvard.edu

Operation Christmas Child

A message from Polly, our Children's Work Apprentice

'Operation Christmas Child is the world's largest children's Christmas project, run by the a Christian relief and development charity Samaritan's Purse International. Every year they send Christmas presents and goodies in a shoe box, to desperately needy children all over the world. Last year 1.247 million children in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and Africa received shoe boxes and for many, it was the only Christmas present they received.

This year, the Co-mission is taking part and it would be brilliant if we at CCB pulled out all the stops to bless as many little ones as possible. Simply take an empty shoe box, wrap it in gift paper (lid and box separately) and fill it with toys, educational supplies, hats and scarves and other items that will bring joy to a child's life. Stick on a label indicating whether it's suitable for a boy or a girl, and then bring it to church on Nov 18th along with £2 to cover transport etc.

If you have any questions, then do contact Pollyanna on pollyannmac@yahoo.co.uk or 07779 60318, and do feel free to fill more than 1 shoe box!'

Education Forum

Education Forum – the first of our new Faithworks forums, for those working in the education sector, will take place on Thurs 29th November from 8.00pm-10.00pm at Dundonald School, Dundonald Road SW19 3QH. Alistair Harper, a former teacher and Kingston Schools Trust worker will speak on how to maintain Christian integrity in a multi-faith education environment. A great opportunity to meet other Christians involved in education, with plenty of time for discussion, feedback and prayer. Contact Paul Dawson (020 8432 4036) paul.dawson@dundonald.org to book your place. Forums for those in healthcare and business coming soon!

Hallowe'en

Halloween is just round the corner. I thought I’d give you some of my thoughts on this event. They’re offered as a starting point in an ongoing discussion.

1. Halloween is commercially significant

In the US it’s the 2nd most popular holiday and it generates 4-6 Billion Dollars in revenue. In the UK it’s the 3rd behind Christmas and Easter. Father Christmas and the Easter Bunny are holding Freddy Krueger at bay for the moment. But it’s changing.

2. Halloween is historically significant

The origins of Halloween date back over 2000 years to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain [sow-in], a word that means the end of summer. This festival celebrated the end of harvest and the beginning of the Celtic New Year on November 1st.

By 43AD the Roman Empire had conquered most of the Celtic regions and in the following 400 years the Roman festival of Feralia was incorporated into it. This was day in late October when the Romans commemorated the passing of the dead.

By the 800s Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the 8th century Pope Boniface IV designated November 1st All Saints' Day to honour those saints that didn't have a special day of their own. You wouldn’t want anyone to feel left out!
The Pope hoped to put a Christian spin on the pagan Celtic festival with a church-sponsored holiday [after all it had worked with Christmas]. Over the years the festival became known as All Hallows and the night before was known as All Hallows Eve or Halloween.

3. Halloween is spiritually significant
I have no wish to be reactionary but I’ve got issues with Halloween. I’m not about to mount a campaign. I’m aware that Christians have a reputation for the ‘spot it and stop it’ routine and I have no desire to strengthen that conviction. But to use an old Naval saying let me run these up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes them!
I’ve got issues with Halloween because

1. Halloween has become a time when wickedness is domesticated

Evil is portrayed as innocent. I think the Bible allows a place for imagination, pretence and fantasy but Halloween allows elements from the dark side of spirituality to be accepted in mainstream culture. It’s become a holiday of cultural fascination with evil and the demonic. Evil is portrayed as innocent and fun. And it’s neither. We need to remember the wickedness of evil. The devil and his demons are real. We have a real spiritual adversary who seeks our destruction. Of course through our identification with Christ we have nothing to fear from an enemy that he’s already defeated. But nevertheless wickedness and evil ought to be exposed, opposed and loathed. But our approach may actually be encouraging fascination with something that’s ultimately damaging.

2. Halloween has become a time when we celebrate what scares us

Out of love for the vulnerable, particularly children we ought to protect them from things that frighten them. Walking into Woolworths to be confronted by hairy spiders, a witch’s mask and a giant bat is not most young children’s idea of fun. At least our films have classification guidelines that allow parents the freedom to make a decision but no such restraint is exercised at this time of the year. We may be strong enough to cope with the associations with evil without being tainted and we may be brave enough to cope with the frightening images but not everyone is and as Christians we should therefore limit our freedom in love for others.

3. Halloween has become a time when we teach our children that extortion is acceptable

What else is trick or treat? We give people in our neighbourhood a choice between a rock and a hard place. It’s either ‘give me a treat’ or ‘I give you a trick’. Isn’t that what organised crime does?!

So, what could you do on thenight when the local children come to your door escorted by their elder siblings or their parents?
The following advice needs to be adapted to our personality and the age of the child on our doorstep!

1. Comment on their outfits and say something positive about how much time and trouble they went to.
2. Ask, ‘who do you think is the most powerful spiritual being in the world?’ and say no to all of their answers. Then ask them, ‘who do you think the devil is really scared of?’
3. Tell them that God once sent a baby from heaven to earth and when he grew up he scared the living daylights out of every evil spirit that he met. He even engaged in face to face combat with the devil and won. The devil thought he must have won when he was killed on a cross but it turned out that this was the killer blow that led to his complete and utter defeat and will lead to his future destruction.
4. Give them a sweet, hand out a tract like the one entitled ‘Halloween … What a Scream’ from the Good Book Company and tell them to come to church if they want to find out more!

Sources

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/halloween.shtml
‘Halloween … It’s A Scream’ The Good Book Company
‘Matters of Opinion: Hallowing Halloween: Why Christians should embrace the devilish holiday with gusto – and laughter’ A. M. Rearick III, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/october2/29.79.html
R. Mouw, ‘Making Real Decisions About Halloween’, http://www.beliefnet.com/story/47/story_4761_2.html

The Book of the Term: Autumn 2007

'Prayer and the Voice of God' Phillip D. Jensen & Tony Payne, Matthias Media

I am not someone who instinctively prays. I’m someone who acts not someone who prays! There have been times when I’ve attributed this to temperament and training. But really, it’s unbelief. That’s why I need to keep reading books like this one from Tony Payne and Phillip Jensen. For all of my Christian life I’ve been a fan of their work. I can’t think of a single resource of theirs that I’ve used that hasn’t benefited my Christian life. The same could be said for their book on prayer.

One of the great strengths of their books is that they’re clear and simple. This one is cast from the same die. In one sense it’s is nothing special. It simply collates and rehearses much of the useful biblical teaching that we’ve heard on prayer over the years. But that’s its value. What it offers is not new techniques but a convincing biblical presentation of what prayer is and why we should do it.

The book consists of ten Chapters spread over a little less than 200 pages. It costs £7. The chapters are short enough to be read on a tube trip up to town or accompanying a mocha latte!

In chapter 1 entitled, ‘Prayer and God’s Voice’ the authors argue that prayers is the most naturally unnatural thing for us to do. It’s natural because anyone can do it and often everyone does. It’s unnatural because it’s seeking an intervention from the supernatural. And so they define prayer as essentially 'asking God for something'.
The central premise of chapter two, ‘The God of Prayer’, is that prayer is determined by who God is. Given that God the able, willing, personal, holy and merciful God is also our Father we should have massive confidence to approach Him and ask Him for things.
The topic of why we should pray at all is tackled in chapter three, ‘Why Pray?’ We should pray because it’s very great privilege, it expresses the relationship of faith we enjoy with Him, it’s not an optional extra in the Christian life and because God has promised to hear and to act.
Why we don’t pray begins to scratch at the reasons why prayer is not the feature that it ought to be in our Christian lives. Jensen and Payne suggest that the reasons can be traced to a faulty view of God, a wrong understanding of our relationship with God and the presence of a real spiritual enemy.
The fifth chapter tells us ‘How to Pray’. The authors argue that prayer is not a time to hear God’s voice, it’s a time to respond to God’ voice. They speak to the essence of prayer and do not present a step-by-step technique, emphasizing the importance of both novelty and regularity in this task. They say rightly that prayer is not a matter of technique but of relationship.
Chapter six, ‘The Desires of God’ and chapter seven, ‘the Anxieties of Life’ deal with what ought to occupy the content of our prayers. Chapter six is a longer chapter but it includes a helpful summary of the Lord ’s Prayer. There’s some overlap with Don Carson’s brilliant book on prayer entitled, ‘A Call to Spiritual Reformation’. But this is the place to begin. Chapter seven touches on what to pray and what to expect when we pray in the midst of situations where we have no idea what to pray.
‘What Happens When We Pray?’ is the title of chapter eight. It explains the mechanics of prayer. The authors answer two questions. The first is ‘does God actually listen?’ The second is ‘does anything actually change?’
The brief chapter entitled, ‘Fellowship of Prayer’ is an encouragement to meet up with others in order to stimulate one another as we struggle in prayer. Any of us who've been in a prayer triplet ought to be nodding in agreement throughout this chapter!
The ‘Seven Common Questions’ of chapter ten are the standard queries raised by an audience. The answers are gentle, clear and explain the biblical text. Whether they’re our questions or not they’ll be right on the money for someone in our small group.
The book then concludes with a brief summary chapter and a chapter by chapter discussion guide with questions.

Why not buy a copy and read it this term? If you’re part of a triplet you could arrange to read a couple of chapters before you meet each week, answer the discussion questions and chat about what you’ve learnt. You could team up with someone, perhaps someone in your KG group and agree to work through the book and e-mail each other with some surprising observations, a few implications and a couple of resolutions. To get a copy of this book e-mail John Lumgair on john@quirkymotion.com.

The real value of this book is that it improved my praying. It was a real shot in the arm. I think it’ll help everyone else whether we’re frequent prayers or whether it’s been quite some time since what we had might be described as a routine. If that's a description that you recognise, can I suggest that it’s been long enough? Don’t waste any more time in prayerlessness. Get a copy, get reading and get your Christian life back on the rails.

Free Audio Bible

Listen to the Bible being read by David Field, Tutor in Systematic Theology at Oak Hill Theological College here
http://www.davidpfield.com/audio-bible/AudioBible.htm

School of Prayer IV

Why don’t we pray?
This is an article stimulated by and borrowing heavily from D.A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation, ‘Excuses for Not Praying’, chapter 7, pp 111-122. It’s intended to expose our excuses for not praying. What follows are the six most common excuses Don Carson believes we give to justify our prayerlessness. In places there’s a bit of expansion from me!

1. I’m too busy to pray
London life is frenetic. Our lives are filled with activity. Some of that activity is unavoidable. But not all of it is, surely? In reflecting on the hectic nature of our lives Don Carson writes,
‘We are not living in a contemplative age. When we stop rushing and performing and doing, many of us park ourselves in front of a television, possibly a television attached to a video recorder, and simply absorb what is dished out. The result is that we seldom take time to think, to meditate, to wonder, to analyze; we seldom take time to pray’.
I wonder whether we’re already feeling the intense heat of the spotlight? God’s response to our busyness is found in the account of Jesus’ time with Martha and Mary. Martha chose activism over pietism. She ended up indignant that her kingdom activity wasn’t being noticed and supported by the king. Jesus told her in no uncertain terms that Mary’s decision to sit and learn at her Lord’s feet was the better choice. I’ve written on this elsewhere http://richardperkins.blogsome.com/2007/06/08/cultivating-our-relationship-with-christ/ and I’d encourage you to chase that up. Consequently Carson says what we might struggle to say to one another,
‘It matters little whether you are the mother of active children who drain away your energy, an important executive in a major multinational corporation, a graduate student cramming for impending comprehensives, a plumber working overtime to put your children through college, or a pastor of a large church putting in ninety hours a week: at the end of the day, if you are too busy to pray, you are too busy. Cut something out’.
Cut something out. There’s an idea! Why not write down what you think you could cut from your week to make time for prayer.

2. I feel too spiritually dry to pray
It’s hard to do things when we don’t feel like doing them. That could be a tax return, an essay or the washing up. If we don’t feel like doing it we lack the impetus to do it. And in all likelihood we won’t. We’ll put it off. Sometimes, it’s like that with prayer. Some of us may already have experienced those times when discouragement, unbelief, emptiness and dryness strangle our prayer to within an inch of their lives. What triggers these feelings may be any number of things. If we’re tired we tend to see the dark clouds and not the silver lining! If we’ve been on the receiving end of some critical flak then our spirits may be a little low. If we’re anxious and stressed that takes its emotional toll. But whatever the cause, the challenge to pray just seems like one mountain climb too many. Carson suggests that there could be one of two presuppositions that lurk behind the excuse of feeling too spiritually dry to pray. The first presupposition is that we feel we can pray only when we feel good. But when we remember that Christ’s death is the sole basis of our acceptance before God we’ll recognise that we’re not thinking straight. True, we may not feel like praying. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t. The second presupposition is that we feel we should pray only when we feel good. The obligation to pray is not diminished because we don’t feel like it. This is a profoundly self centred way of thinking. How I feel is not the determinant of what I ought to do.

3. I feel no need to pray
Few of us would ever be so blatant. If we were, others might see the arrogance of our logic. Because at its root the logic runs ‘I am too important to pray. I am too self confident to pray. I am too independent to pray’. But we’d never be so obvious would we? But, as Carson observes, what happens is this,
‘Although abstractly I may affirm the importance of prayer, in reality I may treat prayer as important only in the lives of other people, especially those whom I judge to be weaker in character, more needy, less competent, less productive. Thus, while affirming the importance of prayer, I may not feel deep need for prayer in my own life’.
When we have a high opinion of our own capabilities, prayer seems a little beneath us. It’s for emergencies and is a terrific contingency when all else fails but it’s not the first port of call. In response Carson writes,
‘If Christians who shelter beneath such self assurance do not learn better ways by listening to the scriptures, God may address them in the terrible language of tragedy. We serve a God who delights to disclose to disclose himself to the contrite, to the lowly of heart, to the meek. When God finds us so puffed up that we do not feel our need of him, it is an act of kindness on his part to take us down a peg or two; it would be an act of judgement to leave us in our vaulting self-esteem’.
It’s very easy for us to come to critical points in life, career and family and precisely because our judgement has led to success in the past we repeat the error and plough on without inquiring of the Lord. We love our independence and as a result we may repeatedly stumble and fall because we’ve exercised our intellectual ability but have not sought God’s opinion and his wisdom on the matter.

4. I’m too bitter to pray
Perhaps some of us feel that life has left us with the short stick. When we compare our existence with those around us the decisions that God has made can feel chronically unfair. We feel like the victims of injustice. We may respond with disappointment, bitterness and resentment. This is hardly conducive to a healthy prayer life, especially when we’re meant to be praying for others. Carson observes,
‘Life itself is consumed by the petty assessment of how well you are perceived by those around you. In the morass of self-pity and resentment, real prayer is squeezed out. In other words, many of us do not want to pray because we know that disciplined, biblical prayer would force us to eliminate sin that we rather cherish. It is very hard to pray with compassion and zeal for someone we much prefer to resent’.
On the other hand, Jesus taught that forgiveness ought to characterise our attitude to others. In both Matthew 6 and Mark 11 he explained that those who want to experience his Father’s forgiveness will be those who extend forgiveness to others. It’s this approach that reveals that our repentance is authentic.

5. I’m too ashamed to pray
We’ve all been there. Our sin shames us. We feel so guilty. And proximity to the Lord makes our failure feel so much more acute. Carson puts it this way,
‘shame encourages us to hide from the presence of God; shame squirrels behind a masking foliage of pleasantries while refusing to be honest; shame fosters flight and escapism; shame engenders prayerlessness’.
We’re fools to run from a God who is determined to seek us out and bring us home. The perverseness of our decision to run away and seek exile is the very thing that Christ died to prevent. The place of exile is the place of misery. The place of absolution, freedom, acceptance and forgiveness is to be found in his presence.

6. I’m content with mediocrity
Would anyone in our constituency ever be so bold as to state this publicly? I suspect not. But, this is what we settle for when we spurn the offer of fellowship with the Lord. We may want to own the name Christian but we’re not interested in the increasing spiritual maturity that ought to come with the territory.

Conclusion
No doubt there are other excuses that we could muster for not praying. But most of these nail me!

School of Prayer III

Why should we pray?

The following is a summary of chapter three ‘Why Pray?’ in their excellent book on prayer by Phillip Jensen and Tony Payne. It’s a terrific chapter because it provides us with motivation for speaking to our Father and making our requests known.

1. we should pray because we can
Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on our behalf we can talk to God as Father. As Philip Jensen and Tony Payne put it,
‘this almighty, all-powerful God, who by rights should destroy us as his enemies, has instead reached out to us in love, wiped away our sins and adopted us as his own children. He has become our Father, and He allows us to approach Him and pour out our requests to Him at any time, promising that He will hear us and give us every good gift’.
The first reason that we should pray is that we can. We have the immense privilege of being able to walk into the throne room of heaven and speak directly with the King. Familiarity with this truth must not be allowed to develop into contempt for this truth.

2. we should pray because we must
Prayer is not an optional extra in the Christian life. It expresses the essence of our Christian life. To be a Christian is to be a dependent child of God. To not speak with our Father in heaven makes suspect our profession to know Him and trust Him. Listen to Jensen and Payne on the reality of our faith,
‘We are no longer rebels who snatch the Father’s gifts but refuse to honour or thank Him. We are no longer pagans who run after food and drink and clothes; as if our lives were entirely in our hands, or as if these things were all that mattered in life. We are now the grateful recipients of His incredible grace and forgiveness who have come crawling back to Him in repentance, and we now look to him to provide us with all that we need. We want to give Him honour and glory in all that we do, and God is never more honoured and glorified than when we humbly ask Him for things, when He grants them in His mighty power and generosity, and when we pour out our thanks to Him for His kindness’.
We pray because we are children who speak to our generous father. This is the relationship that we have with the Lord. And so we should pray because we must!

3. we should pray because we’re commanded to
Prayerlessness may be bizarre, perverse and wrong but we’re very capable of such folly. As Jensen and Payne acknowledge,
‘We find ourselves lapsing back into the self-centred, self-sufficient mindset of our neighbours who think they don’t need God, and who neither ask him for anything, nor thank him for the many blessings he showers upon them anyway’.
What is God to do with us? In His kindness, He helps our prayerlessness, and He commands us to pray. This is a repeated exhortation in scripture. Like an encouraging Father He urges us and directs us to do what we sometimes don’t want to do but is in our best interests. There is a less sympathetic side to this. God commands us to pray and if we don’t pray then we’re guilty of sin. It’s not therefore something that we can shrug our shoulders and say ‘hey whatever’ about. We all fall into sin throughout our Christian lives. As with all sin, it is not to be entertained but to be confessed and repented of. God is a God who permits and encourages new beginnings. It may be that some of us here need to repent of our disobedient, rebellion demonstrated in our prayerlessness and provide some substance to our profession to trust God as our Father.

4. we should pray because of God’s promise
We pray because God has spoken and promised to hear our prayers and answer them. This is a powerful motivation. Not only does the death of Christ grant us access to God as Father but our Father promises that He will listen to us and grant us every good thing. We respond to those promises in trust and demonstrating that trust by praying to Him. Jensen and Payne put it this way,
‘Every time we open our mouths in prayer, we are saying, ‘I know you are able, I know you are willing, I know you are my creator and Father through the Lord Jesus Christ, and I know that you have promised to hear me when I call to you in prayer’.
We pray because of God’s promise.

Conclusion
Why do we pray? Because there’s the opportunity to do so, because there’s a necessity to do so, because there’s an obligation to do so, because there’s every good reason to do so. These four reasons to pray are worth remembering, pondering and above all else believing.

School of Prayer II

Prayer is speaking to God and asking Him for things. There are three main Greek words that are used and they all include refer to the act of asking, requesting or seeking for something from God.

In his 1662 book entitled simply, ‘Prayer’ John Bunyan, the author of ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ defined prayer in the following way,

‘Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as God has promised, or according to His word, for the good of the church, with submission in faith to the will of God’.[1]

As definitions go, I think that’s a pretty good one. Bunyan identifies seven key components in his definition. Let’s look at those in turn.

1. Prayer is a sincere pouring out of the soul to God

Prayer that is sincere is honest and genuine. When we pray sincerely we simply open our heart to God and to talk with Him plainly about the issues at hand. We need to be warned that the Lord will not be taken in by pretence. He won’t listen to the prayers of hypocrites. So we need to beware of praying to be seen, to be admired and to be applauded by others. Bunyan writes,

‘Sincerity is the same in a corner alone, as it is before the face of all the world. It knows not how to wear two masks, one for appearance before men, and another for private use. It must have God, and be with Him in the duty of prayer. It is not lip labour that it regards, for sincerity, like God, looks at the heart, and that is where prayer comes from, if it be true prayer’.[2]

Sincerity matters in prayer because it’s what we really are and it’s not something that can be manufactured. It comes from the heart.

2. Prayer is a sensible pouring out of the soul to God

Authentic prayer Bunyan writes, ‘is not, as many take it to be, a few babbling, prating, complimentary expressions, but a sensible feeling in the heart’.[3] His point is that prayer is a sane, level headed and rational response that comes from the heart. It’s caused by a deep conviction of sin, the wonderful experience of God’s mercy or excitement at the anticipation of what God has promised for us in the future. We don’t need to worry about working ourselves into a frenzied and heightened emotional state. We just sensibly respond to what we’ve heard in God’s word, what He’s laid on our heart or what we’ve found ourselves pondering.

3. Prayer is an affectionate pouring out of the soul to God

But lest we think that the affections are to be emotionally disengaged Bunyan continues. He writes, ‘when the affections are indeed engaged in prayer, then the whole man is engaged, and that in such a way that the soul will spend itself, as it were, rather than go without that good desired, even [namely] communion and solace with Christ’.[4] In other words, unless we’re emotionally involved in the activity of praying, we won’t pray. And so, in his view, ‘There is in prayer an unbosoming of a man’s self, an opening of the heart to God, an affectionate pouring out of the soul in requests, sighs, and groans’.[5]

4. Prayer is through Christ in the strength and assistance of the Spirit

We can only pray to God through the cross work of Christ and the work of His Spirit in applying spiritual life to us. Bunyan writes, ‘Christ is the way through whom the soul has admittance to God, and without whom it is impossible that so much as one desire should come into the ears of the Lord of the Sabbath’.[6]

5. Prayer is for those things that God has promised

Bunyan is clear that when we pray, the content of our prayers is to be guided by our knowledge of the scriptures. He writes, ‘Prayer is only true when it is within the compass of God’s word; it is blasphemy, or at best, vain babbling, when the petition is unrelated to the book’.[7] But before we panic we must be reassured that unrelated to the word allows a bit of leeway.

6. Prayer is for the good of the church

According to Bunyan we’re to pray for, ‘whatsoever tends to the honour of God, Christ’s advancement, or to His people’s benefit’.[8] Therefore we ‘must pray for the abundance of grace for the church, for help against all its temptations; that God would let nothing be too hard for it; that all things might work together for its good; that God would keep His children blameless and harmless, the sons of God, to His glory, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation’.[9]

7. Prayer is in submission to the will of God

‘The people of the Lord in all humility are to lay themselves and their prayers, and all that they have, at the foot of the their God, to be disposed of by Him as He in His heavenly wisdom sees best. Yet not doubting but God will answer the desire of His people that way that shall be most for their advantage and His glory’.[10]

Conclusion
Prayer is in essence speaking to God and making requests of Him.

[1] ‘What True Prayer Is’, Prayer, Banner of Truth Trust, pp 13-22
[2] Prayer, p14
[3] Prayer, p14
[4] Prayer, p16
[5] Prayer, p17
[6] Prayer, p18
[7] Prayer, p20
[8] Prayer, p21
[9] Prayer, p21
[10] Prayer, p22

School of Prayer I

Preliminary Bible work

5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

This is one of those two point parables from which we’re expected to learn something from the man in bed and something from the man in need.

The man in need represents us, and we’ll come to him in a moment. The man in bed represents God.

Jesus is not trying to teach us that God goes to bed, shuts the door, can’t easily rouse himself from sleep and doesn’t want to be bothered. The point if comparison is that like the sleeping man God will give to those who ask him whatever they genuinely need. The reluctant attitude of the man in bed contrasts with the eagerness of God to give good gifts to his children. No one would turn down a friend in these circumstances even despite substantial initial inconvenience. Therefore God will provide for the needs of his people even more generously and willingly. God is not a distant monarch who can’t be bothered with his subjects and their concerns. He’s interested in even the most trivial and insignificant needs of his people.

From the man in need we learn that we should practice unabashed, shameless forthrightness in prayer which does not hesitate to request the good gifts which God has promised to his people, if they ask him.