home > Pastor’s Desk > 2017 > July 07th > Hear To Help

HEAR TO HELP

How is our church known in our community? Whenever churches have taken the time to ask their community, they generally get feedback sounding like – irrelevant, out-dated, money-focussed, judgmental. Increasingly though, it seems they also get blank looks. That is, many people in their community aren’t even aware of the church in their community. Sometimes, we church-goers become so inward-focussed that we assume everyone (including those in our community) know who we are, what we do, how we fail, and at least where we are. But the sad reality is, they don’t. Bill Hybels recently had a reason to go down to the back of his Willow Creek Church campus (in Chicago). A neighbour to the church called him over and pointed at the church and asked, “Hey, what is this?” As I recall the story, Bill asked him if he was new to the area. “No, I’ve lived here for years.” Even 20,000 member churches (such as Willow Creek) can have difficulties connecting with their communities!

For our church to connect well with our community we have to let them know that we are hear to help. If we can do this then they will at least know that we are also here to help.

 

THE CHURCH THAT JESUS DESIGNED

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
James 1:27

The Church continues the earthly ministry of Christ. As we read the Gospels we note that Jesus taught people, healed people, fed people, and advocated for the poor and for foreigners. Hence, from the establishment of the Church, Christians developed social welfare delivery for the poor, education for the under-privileged, and health care for the sick, injured or dying. All the while, Christ commissioned His Church to proclaim God’s offer of salvation and forgiveness of sins for all those who would turn away from sins in repentance toward God. Thus, Christ’s design for His Church was for us to truly show love toward our neighbours by tending to both their temporal needs and their greatest and eternal need. 

And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as you love yourself
Matthew 22:39

Loving our neighbours surely involves caring about their welfare and doing what we can to help them. This begins with hearing them. Recently I heard a veteran Christian minister answer the question, “If you could spend time with a non-Christian for the final moments of their life, what would you say to them just before they died?” His answer surprised the questioner. “I would“, he began, “listen to them for most of that time, then after showing them that I cared enough to listen to their heart, I would ask if I could help them get to heaven, and if they gave me their permission, I would share the Gospel with them.”  Sometimes we have to hear to help.

 

HEAR, IF WE WANT PEOPLE TO LISTEN

Good FaithThrough the centuries, the Church has volunteered medical care, education, shelter, meals, leadership during times of adversity, relationship counselling, job training, and parenting coaching. God occasionally raises up people whom He gifts with talents and abilities to be able to meet these kinds of needs as they arise. Some Christians have made the mistake of thinking that the Church only exists to meet these temporal needs. Christ’s heart must break each time this mistake is made. Some Christians have made the mistake of thinking that the Church only exists to evangelise. Christ’s heart must break each time this mistake is made. Both mistakes admit a failure to truly hear Christ. If we want people to listen to us we need to hear Christ.

 

HEAR, HOW WE CAN HELP

Someone may look at the list above of how the Church has helped people down through the ages and claim that other groups can now equally or better meet these needs in society today. Thus, they might reason, the Church is now irrelevant. While we have already mentioned two grievous mistakes that Christians can make about the role of the Church, this mistake committed by an onlooker of the Church would be a heinous mistake. The world needs the Church now – more than ever!

Christ’s heart is for all people. His Church walks in step with Him. We share His heart with Him. Therefore, our heart is for all people. 

As Christ walked the shores of Galilee, the roads of Judea, and the streets of Jerusalem, He saw need. Many times He met these needs. People were fed. People were taught. People were healed. But most especially, people were forgiven and given a new start. Matthew, a despised tax collector for Herod Antipas on behalf of Rome, was transformed into a beloved apostle who eventually took the Gospel of God’s love and grace to Ethiopia. Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9) was a formerly mentally deranged woman whom Jesus cast, not one, but seven, demons out of. Space prevents us listing all such transformations narrated in the Gospel accounts. Whenever needy people encountered Jesus, transformation resulted. The same is true today and there is no other agency that can replicate or replace this vital ministry of the Church. Only Christ’s Church can meet the temporal needs of people while giving them a three-dimensional transformation. 

 

HEAR, A 3 DIMENSIONAL TRANSFORMATION

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
John 8:36

Jesus meets both our immediate needs and our deepest most urgent and most important need. While food, clothing, shelter, care, education, acceptance are important needs, they are not as important as being rescued from Satan’s bondage and set free from his spell. Miraculously, Jesus transforms a person’s past, present and future.   

¶ So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:31-32

Christ has commissioned and entrusted His Church to minister this miraculous grace to those who need it. This transforming grace is proclaimed by preaching and witness. This grace forgives a person for their sin-stained

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Second Corinthians 5:17

This grace transforms a person’s present by giving them hope for today and a new reason to endure this life’s temporal adversities.

So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him.
Second Corinthians 5:9

And this same grace helps people secure an eternally blessed future.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Second Corinthians 5:10

The need around us today is great: (i) marriage and family breakdown, (ii) hyper-loneliness, (iii) material idolatry, (iv) identity confusion, (v) suicidal despair. Only Christ’s grace mediated through His Church can possibly meet these needs. Sunday by Sunday we have people looking for the answer to their needs walking into our church services. Each day of the week, the transformed people of our church community bear witness to the transforming grace of Christ to those in need. These are the needy who have sought help from various sources but come away empty and still in bondage. This is not surprising because professional therapists, Government welfare workers, or hospital staff, rarely know how to meet the deepest, greatest, most important need within every human soul. This is why we, the church, are hear to help. Hopefully, as we continue to do this, more within and from around our community will hear that they too can have their needs met. Hear, hear.

Amen.

Your Pastor,

Andrew

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HE WAS A KIND AND CHARITABLE MAN

home > Pastor's Desk > 2024 > March 22ndr > He was a kind and charitable man.WHO WAS KENNETH TYNAN? You’ve probably never heard of Kenneth Tynan. I hadn’t. I was introduced to him while conducting some research for my current PhD program on C.S. Lewis. In...

FROM LITTLE THINGS

The first time I heard the song “From Little Things, Big Things Grow” was in early 2008. I was trying to get my head around superannuation funds. I never knew of its writers – Paul Kelly and Carmody. Neither did I know it was originally a protest song. In my opinion, the original lyrics and melody bears no semblance to what we may consider protest today. Many will agree with me that it is now synonymous with Industry Super Funds. But its principles remain true in nearly every aspect of life.

ADVICE WORTH MORE THAN GOLD OR A MOUNTAIN OF CASH ABOUT HOW TO USE REJECTION TO BECOME AN EVEN BETTER, WISER, STRONGER YOU!

For several reasons I am qualified to help people deal with acute and chronic pain. Some acute and chronic pain can be resolved medically. Some pains can go a long way to being resolved with the help of a psychologist. Some pains can be resolved with a hug from mum. But there is a pain that a doctor cannot cure, a psychologist cannot counsel, a mother’s hug cannot alleviate. It is a pain that goes deep – beyond the defences of our integumentary system, our neurological system (including our para-sympathetic nervous system), our muscular system, our skeletal system, our lymphatic system, our renal system, gastro-intestinal system, our respiratory system, our cardio-vascular system, our hormonal system, and our half-share of a reproductive system. It is a pain that wounds: our memory, our sense of self, our estimation of our worth, our confidence, and our ability to connect meaningfully with others (our ability to love and be loved). It is the pain of rejection. It not only effects who we are (our identity) but it also leaches symptomatically into each of these ten-and-a-half biological systems which every human being possesses. I am going to offer all those who have experienced the pain of rejection how they can be healed from its wound, and actually become stronger, wiser, more confident, as a result.

THE MYTHICAL PATHWAY TO HAPPINESS

I’ve accidentally found myself enrolled in a Ph.D. program. I kind of blame Associate Professor Stuart Piggin for this. A few years ago I was having some serious discussions with him about doing a Ph.D. in Historical Theology at Macquarie University focusing on the contribution of Dr. F.W. Boreham. But I found myself unable at that time to proceed. In my discussions with him about my health prognosis and what I wanted to be able to do in the remaining time that I have left, he suggested focusing instead on Philosophical-Theology and enquiring with Monash University. I took his sage advice and did as he said. This week, I formally commenced with Monash as a part-time extension (distance) student. The result is that after my first zoom meeting with my supervisor I am now having to delve into an arena that requires me to be able to convince a critical secular audience that my proposal about the Bible’s truth claims are reasonable. Oddly, in order to do this, I have to explain in some depth what C.S. Lewis meant by the word, myth. And to do this I have to draw even deeper on the writings of a now dead French philosopher who is regarded as the greatest exponent of what a myth is! Therefore, I am going to tell you something quite shocking. It might be advisable for you to go and get a strong cup of tea, then return to this screen, and read on while sipping your tea, to absorb some of what I am going to tell you. 

Follow Me AS I FOLLOW JESUS

We all walk a path in life that is set before us. We start with very little experience and knowledge about the purpose of our life and the world beyond us. All of humanity experiences joy, wisdom, strength, weakness, suffering and hardship, especially those who are “contending for the faith”. Knowing Jesus is a very special part of this life journey.

A CERTAIN GOD

We can be reasonably certain about many things. In fact, without this certainty about life, none of us could function. We can be certain that tonight the sun will ‘set’. Tomorrow the sun will ‘rise’. After the February 28th it will be February 29th. This year there will be international unrest and much political instability in many parts of the world. In the coming months global warming will be identified by politicians as the source of floods and wildfires. Several high profile international celebrities will die this year. Archaeologists will make a discovery that will require some aspects of history to be rewritten. And you will certainly have one of the most memorable moments in your life in the coming days. You see, there are clearly some things we can be quite certain about. However, there are some aspects about our future that we cannot be certain about, yet in those moments we can be certain about what we should do.

LOW COST LIVING

Turn on any TV or radio news lately and there’s bound to be a story about the current “cost of living crisis”. We all feel it. Initially most people accepted the widespread price-rises were caused by 2020-21 pandemic lockdowns. But whatever the reasons for the rapid price hikes over the past two years, every time we go to the supermarket we feel it again. While governments are striving to curb the impact of this cost of living crisis, there remains a way to enjoy low cost living. The key to this is recognising that the most valuable things in life are literally priceless. The path to enjoying low-cost living is to be found in Christ, and what He taught — and it begins with treasure.

How To Know Jesus Better

It’s a scary thought to realise that the Jesus we have been told about and worship may not really be known to us at all. We can ‘know’ about someone or something, but not really know them. In Christian circles it’s often referred to as head knowledge not heart knowledge.

Knowing Christ Better

As a church, this year’s theme is coming closer to Christ by getting to know Him better. I feel that I am “the least qualified person” to tell anyone how this is done — but someone else has already claimed this distinction – the apostle Paul. After decades of hearing directly from Christ, seeing extraordinary miracles, being taken to heaven temporarily, planting churches across the Roman Empire, he could still say I would give anything to really know Christ – even if it meant suffering like He did! (Phil. 3:7-10). Therefore, I could say: If you do this or that, you will then know Christ better – but in my view, it’s not as easy as that! How we develop our relationship with Christ is shaped by several factors including our personality, our life experiences, our physical health and fitness, and our relationships with others (especially our parents and particularly our father). In fact, I believe that there is a relationship between how we have learned to build relationships with others (and notably how we have learned to relate to those who are closest to us) and how we then proceed to have a relationship with God. Even though I have expressed my lack of qualifications in telling anyone how to have a closer relationship with Christ, I still can, like one hungry beggar to another hungry beggar, offer you a few of the morsels of food that I’ve been able to find.

SOME PEOPLE HAVE AMAZING BUTS

I know of several people with amazing buts. There’s Jo’, Mo’, Sam, Esther, Jerry, and others. Each of these people were gifted by God with an amazing but that changed there life and the course of human history. Sometimes these gifts came with a …then, or …God, or …the LORD. When it comes to the size of things, a but is a relatively small thing (in Greek it can be just two letters: de) but it can have huge implications and enormously great blessings for multitudes. I hope to show you how this was the case with each of the people I have chosen as samples, and then show you how God is your God of buts.