Tag Archives: Matthew 18

I was glad….

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The Lord spoke to Moses: “Tell the Israelites to take an offering for me. You are to take my offering from everyone who is willing to give. This is the offering you are to receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet yarn; fine linen and goat hair; ram skins dyed red and fine leather; acacia wood; oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; and onyx along with other gemstones for mounting on the ephod and breastpiece. They are to make a sanctuary for me so that I may dwell among them.

(Ex 25.1-8)

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”

(Ps 122)

“Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern he had seen…. But Solomon built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands, as the prophet says, ‘Heaven is my throne and the earth is the footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is my resting place? Did my hand not make all these things?.’

(Ac 7.44,47-50)

“For where two or three are gathered together in my name I am there among them.”

(Matt 18.20)

What is it that makes the psalmist glad, when he is invited to join the procession to God’s house? When we read in Exodus of the precious materials used to create the tabernacle, and in 1 Kings of the extraordinary wealth which was poured into the temple constructed by Solomon, it is easy to imagine that the gladness stemmed, at least in part, from experiencing so much beauty at close quarters. And perhaps in part that was intended – that the materials used, and the skill exercised by the gifted craftspeople should all tend to glorify God and to demonstrate the honour and majesty of his Name among his people. After all, God commanded that these things be done, and gave detailed instructions to Moses about everything! It is hard for us to imagine the impact which these two structures would have upon the people who lived around them, the contrast with their own circumstances was so great.

The tabernacle and the temple were visible signposts to the glory of the unseen God, to his majesty and to the worship which is due to him – there is nothing too precious to be devoted to his service. They would humble and awe the worshipper, lifting them out of ordinary concerns to concentrate on God and take part in the celebrations and corporate praise. But what part do buildings play for the people of God today? We are God’s chosen, redeemed and adopted into his family through our Lord Jesus, who came to fulfil the Law and the Prophets, to move out of the temple and set aside the need for ongoing sacrifice, and to usher us into God’s glorious presence without any other intermediary than himself. We no longer need a special building in order to meet with God, or to worship him in acceptable ways. We no longer have to go to a particular place in the world in order to meet with his people.

Our buildings are simply a means to an end – creating shelter for a community of believers where they may meet in order to worship together. Yes, it is good to make them seemly, comfortable enough, and above all useful as tools in the work of the gospel. But I think that the centuries of institutional power and wealth which the church has enjoyed in Western Europe has led to a serious preoccupation with externals, with buildings and display, which take our energies, and our resources away from the business of following Jesus in our broken world and making disciples in his name. When a group of people meet in a tin-roofed hut in rural Uganda, they are the body of Christ in that place and he is present in power. When a group of people meet secretly in a disused car-park in a country where Christians are persecuted, they are the body of Christ in that place and he is present in power. Our gladness in going to the house of God is in meeting with his people, and sharing with them in his presence – the building does not matter…

When our church buildings become more like art galleries, museums and ancient monuments – soaking up money and time and distracting God’s people from loving him by loving his world – then something has gone badly wrong. We were not called to be custodians of historical relics, those who keep looking back, but people who look to a new creation and new beauties of which this world carries only a faint echo. How do we work this out in our own local context? May God give his children wisdom and courage to let go of things, and lay hold of our hope in what He is doing!

When the heart yearns..

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You don’t want to hear Him – but He is calling your name.

You don’t want to follow Him – but your life is in His hands.

Your choices are taking you further and further from the fold – but His love is as strong as ever, and you are precious in His sight.

May you be gifted with restlessness; with hunger for more; with the ability to respond and to recognise your emptiness without Him.

May you be brought home before it is too late.

May you be confronted by Christ, even as you turn away from Him, and have no peace until you make peace with Him.

O, child of my heart, come home!

Who is it that you know for whom this blessing is your prayer? A sibling, a parent, a spouse? A friend, or a beloved child? This grief, borne by so many in the world, is a small echo of the heart of our Father, who yearns over all his children, and desires that none should perish apart from His love. It is a grief which we shy away from, preferring to think about other things, praying about other issues, but actually, the salvation of each and every person is God’s desire – and therefore should also matter to us, should touch us deeply. But how much pain lies in this – as yet- unanswered prayer..

The gift of salvation is one which cannot be inherited from our parents, nor caught by proximity and long exposure to other believers. Each person must come to a living and direct relationship with God, by faith in Jesus, if they are to be assured of eternal life and hope. There is no other way, and so this one greatest gift, which we long to see all our dear ones share, remains one which we cannot give them. 

The bible teaches how God offers his love and grace to all who will respond in repentance and faith; and time and again through the Old Testament, the prophets give voice to God’s lament over the stubborn hearts of his people. Beloved children, who turn away from him and who – knowing the truth – seem immune to the love and saving power of the God who woos them so passionately. Did God fail in his love and care? Is that why the people drifted away from him? Merely writing those words jolts me into recognising that the problem does not lie with God, but with the heart of humankind, which so readily settles for less than God’s best for us, and chooses to believe that in some way we can benefit from God’s care without actually caring about him.

As human parents, friends and family members, we have all had opportunities to share the good news with our dear ones; and we know that we have also failed many times to do so – whether in word or deed. To berate ourselves over lost opportunities is fruitless, and also denies God’s grace and forgiveness. But where does that leave us, as believers grieving over lost sheep? Are we responsible for their absence from the fold? In the parable of the lost sheep, Jesus makes no mention of why one animal had gone so far astray, focussing instead on the loving determination of the shepherd to find and rescue it. That comforts me, because it puts the onus on the rescuer, the divine shepherd, to do for the sheep what only he can do, and what he has done in dying to save them. I am only one of the sheep, not the shepherd! 

I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep.

(Jn 10.14&15)

What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.

(Matt 18.12-14)

I have no ready answers to the question of why those raised in the faith should stray from it, hardening their hearts and seeming deaf to the loving call of their shepherd and saviour. I have no glib assurance that our prayers for their salvation will be readily answered. But I do know that my grief over the straying lamb is something that God wants me to feel fully, to carry willingly and prayerfully day by day. This grief – like other pains which we are called to bear – is a spur to prayerful dependence on my Father, for the fulfilment of his will and the display of his glory. 

Dear Father, your heart knows the grief which comes from watching beloved children straying and living without you at the centre of their lives. Thank you that this grief which I am called to carry is not strange to you, and that even as I ache, your love for me is strong and sure, and you call me to bring this burden too and lay it at your feet. Let me love, and pray and trust you for my straying sheep, for my Lord Jesus died for them, and in his name, I pray for them, Amen.