Firm Foundation

Firm Foundation

by | Apr 25, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

Blind faith is not mature faith.

“Christ is my firm foundation
The rock on which I stand
When everything around me is shaken
I’ve never been more glad”

Firm Foundation, Maverick City Worship

“And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.”

Luke 6:48b, NKJV

During His Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells the story of two builders. We see, in the story, that the foolish man built his house on the sand, and it was soon washed away by the rains and the floods. The wise man built it upon the rock, and it stood firm!

Jesus says the following: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

It is easy for us to take this story and make it about the situations we face in life, our trials and tribulations: “when financial storms come, when the floods of family drama and illness come, as long as your house is built on the rock you will be fine…”

And while this is true – Jesus offers us peace, shelter and refuge in times of trouble – that is not what Jesus is saying here.

It is important to note that this story is not a standalone vignette but part of a larger message. In the preceding verses Jesus is imparting a vision of Kingdom life to His followers and disciples. He is imparting the basics of a Christian worldview to His believers.

Immediately preceding the story of the builders Jesus talks about true and false disciples.

“Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven…”

“Building on the rock” then is not just about confessing your faith in Jesus – but about making a concerted effort to live your faith in a tangible and practical way – it is essentially about making a concerted effort to live out the vision and worldview of Christ and His Kingdom.

And once again we come back to the question of what we believe.

Too often we are functioning by faith alone – and there is nothing wrong with that – but the mature Christian should learn to employ reason as well. Reason shaped by faith and the faithful study of the Word.

God does not desire a relationship built on only ‘what feels right’. He desires a relationship in which we give Him our all – all of our power, all of our faculties engaged and employed in the love, the adoration and the worship of Him. This includes our minds – not just our hearts.

The building is our concerted effort – and the ‘rock’ in the context of this passage is our worldview – a worldview formed by the teachings and the life of Christ.

This cannot exist without a measure of reason. Reason is our wrestling with the Word, our working out our faith with fear and trembling – our faith shapes the faculties of reason and this then further shapes our faith towards maturity.

Blind faith is not mature faith. Mature faith is faith that has seen. Faith that has wrestled. Faith that has weathered the storm. Mature faith is not blind – rather it is a situation where the believers eyes are wide open and set upon Jesus.

We should strive for understanding. We should strive to go deeper. We should strive to be theologically equipped – and not just as pastors and teachers – but as everyday believers with a mission and the ministry of reconciliation.

Theology – or rather – God-Logic (Theos, God) (Logos, logic) – is for everyone.

We all deserve and should strive to know God better, to understand Him better, to go deeper in our relationship with Him.

A good way to start is to have a look at the courses at https://ailbeseminary.org/ or our online training page at https://ailbe.org.

Start getting equipped – it is not enough to just believe anymore, it is time we learn to understand.

Prayer: Lord, it is so easy for us to come to faith and stagnate. It is easy for us to come to faith and never outgrow our need to be bottle-fed the milk of Your Word. Open the eyes of my heart Lord to discern the call to action in Your Word. Help me become a person who takes action. Not complacent or complicit in the deterioration of our world, but actively working to grow in understanding and my knowledge of You and Your Kingdom. Help me embrace my calling as a minister of reconciliation. Give me a fire that will not be quenched – a hunger for more of You. A hunger and a need to do more for You. To know You better and help others do the same. In Jesus Name. Amen.

I Believe: What Do You Believe?

I Believe: What Do You Believe?

by | Apr 25, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

“I believe there is one salvation
One doorway that leads to life
One redemption, one confession
I believe in the name of Jesus Christ,”

I Believe, Phil Wickham

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

Acts 2:42, NIV

I grew up in well established churches with properly and clearly expressed statements of faith.

These churches focused on equipping their congregants theologically.

Being in worship ministry, over the years, I have found myself all over the place. From reformed churches to charismatic churches and all the grey areas in between.

In studying the New Testament it becomes clear to me that there was an established and approved understanding of the Gospel – even if it was perhaps haphazardly and informally compiled – which we can refer to as the Apostles’ teaching. In the centuries that followed the church, through various councils and committees, would attempt to organise this into more formal categories and confessions.

One of the biggest pushbacks I have experienced, especially in the charismatic movement, is the idea that an emphasis on good theology is pharisaical and puts unnecessary restrictions upon the working of the Holy Spirit and the life of the believer.

It seems to me that many believers would rather ‘live by the spirit’ – but by which spirit?

The Bible makes it clear that Jesus did not come to do away with the law and the prophets, but to fulfil it. Living by the Spirit of God leads to a deeper understanding, greater appreciation and better application of the Law and the Prophets in our own faith journey.

One of the things most disconcerting about those involved in certain ‘moves of God’ is the idea that there is no set confession or statement of belief. One of the most troubling revelations is the fact that even leaders in the Body – preachers and teachers – have little or even no understanding of even basic concepts like the Godhead, the divinity of Jesus and the personage of the Holy Spirit and are tossed to and fro by every new wind of ‘revelation’.

And it is because of a lack of proper theological exposition and meditation in the church.

The legendary physicist Richard Feynman is quoted as saying that if you can’t explain an idea to an 8 year old, chances are you don’t understand it yourself.

C.S. Lewis said: “If you cannot translate your own thoughts into uneducated language, then your thoughts are confused. The power to translate is the test of having understood one’s own meaning.”

And that is exactly what the creeds and confessions of old attempted to do: to take vast amounts of theological exposition and condense it into easy to read, easy to understand – almost viral – statements of what we as Christians believe.

The fact is this – the Bible is actually really easy to understand. So is theology.

And yes, good theology can be a great source of unity in the church but it is also divisive. It is divisive because it makes clear the separation between the sheep and the goats, the wheat and the chaff, of our own minds.

It is easy for the Gospel and our understanding of spiritual things to become complicated and tangled up like a pair of earphones in a junk-drawer – but with just a little effort on our side we can keep it simple, clear and concise.

I want to challenge you today to clarify your own understanding of your faith.

What is your confession?

What do you believe?

And would you be able to translate even the more complex aspects of your faith into language that an 8 year old could understand?

A good place to start is by looking at the creeds and confessions of those who have come before. As a starting point I would recommend that you take a look at the Nicene Creed. Read it. Memorise it if possible. Commit it to mind and take it to heart.

If you are up to a challenge I would urge you to start a journal and put your thoughts down on paper – this way you will have a record of your own growth in understanding, and hopefully a map you can use to explain and describe the landscape of your faith to those in your personal mission field.

This is the first step in embracing proper, healthy theology in the church. This is the first step towards growing in your own understanding of the faith (the application of the Bible as the source of what we believe) and in helping others grow as well.

Good theology does not put restrictions on the life of the believer, but rather creates the space in which to grow.

These statements guard the purity of our faith. They guard our minds and hearts by establishing us in truth and keeping us away from controversy.

What do you believe?

And how will you share these simple, unadulterated truths with others?

Prayer: Lord, help me to have a clearer vision of what I believe. As I read Your Word, as I listen to the preaching of Your Word, and as I strive to share and live Your Word – help me to stay true to Your Word. Give me understanding. Help me express truth boldly and concisely. Help me bring across the Gospel of Your Kingdom clearly. Let me never wander or stray, but let me stay faithful to Your Word in everything I do and say. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Behold: The Light of the World

Behold: The Light of the World

by | Apr 25, 2024 | Devotionals, Worship Reflections

Behold the King has come, divinity incarnate
Creator of the world, breathing our air
Behold what light has come, and the dark cannot contain it
The Savior of the world is finally here”

Behold, Travis Cottrell

“4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

John 1:4-5, NKJV

There is a famous C.S. Lewis quote where he compares the rising of the sun to Christianity.

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

The Psalmist says: Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to guide my path…” (Psalm 119:105:)

Jesus, as the Word made Flesh, is the Light of the World (John 1, Isaiah 42:6) – comes to illuminate – to demonstrate The Way to us as believers. To SHOW us The Way as a lamp unto our feet and a light to guide our path.

John says the following: “In Him was life and this life was the light of men. The darkness could not comprehend it.”

‘Comprehend’ here, in the New King James version, is translated in many other translations as ‘overcome’, ‘overwhelm’, ‘overpower’ and some other variations – which seems to be a more accurate translation of the Greek word ‘katalambanó’.

Yes, the darkness – the ignorance and arrogance of the world – could not understand the light that was in Christ, but it also could not overpower and overwhelm it.

This is important for us as believers in this current age to understand.

Where many are being brainwashed by the culture of our day – where even basic definitions such as ‘man’ or ‘woman’ – basic biological, scientific terms – are being blurred by wilful ignorance, we need to stand up for truth.

Where definitions of ‘justice’ are being twisted, where ‘good’ and ‘evil’ have become nothing more than arbitrary grey areas – we need to understand that truth is not subjective. Truth is found in Christ.

As Christians it is easy for us who know the Truth to get discouraged by the state of affairs around us.

I look at the younger generations and my heart breaks. There is so much confusion…

There are often talks about taking Christianity out of schools, keeping it away from and out of Government with a ten-foot pole and barring it from the workplace.

In these trying times we must stand strong and know that those who came before us in the faith faced

St. Patrick, in the spirit of the Gospel of John, draws the following comparison between Jesus and the sun:

“The sun which we see rising for us each day at his command, that sun will never reign nor will its splendour continue forever; and all those who adore that sun will come to a bad, miserable penalty. We, however, believe in and adore the true sun, that is, Christ, who will never perish.” (Conf., 60)

The World does not ‘recognize’, ‘comprehend’ or ‘understand’ the Light that is in Jesus, turning instead to the sun of their own intellect. This however will lead them, as Patrick said, to a bad and miserable penalty as they find even their truth being folded up and perishing in the greater scheme of eternity.

We however, believe in and adore the True Sun, the Risen Son, Jesus Christ – the one who will never perish – and most importantly will never be overwhelmed by the shadows cast by an inferior source.

So, keep true to the faith – even when darkness tries to overwhelm. Even when the arrogance and ignorance of this world tries to silence us. We will stay true to Jesus and The Way He came to demonstrate.

Let us endeavour to keep our lights shining – let the moon of our lives reflect the light from the Sun of His Righteousness – the confusion of this world will eventually pass away, but in Him we have our eternal reward.

Prayer: Lord, help me today to know where the line is drawn and to not cross it – let there be no compromise in my life when it comes to the truth. I am called to be in the world, but not like it. If I have, in my thinking or believing strayed from Your path, right my course dear Lord. And let me hold fast to the promises of Your Word, let me hold fast to the Truth, even when a multitude of voices around me sow confusion. Let me find refuge in You and what You have ordained. Jesus, be my center. Be the light that guides my path so that I might have life eternal with You. In Jesus Name. Amen.