”O child, Creator of all! How humbly you lie in the manger. You who rule powerfully in heaven! There the heaven of heavens cannot contain you; here, however, you are held in the narrowest manger. There, in the beginning of the world, you decorated the earth with green grasses that produced seed, with fruit-bearing trees that produced fruit, you ornamented the heavens with the sun, the moon, and the stars, the sky with winged birds, the waters with fish, you filled the land with reptiles, draft animals, and beasts; here, however, in the end of the world, you are wrapped in swaddling clothes! O majesty! O lowness! O sublimity! O humility! O immense, eternal, and Ancient of Days! O small, temporal infant whose life is not yet one day upon the earth!” Adam of Dryburgh
”Christ’s true greatness is that he is coming. Without this final future the whole of Christian faith would really be nothing. If only our hearts were completely gripped by this! Surely, in light of what is wrong in today’s world, we should all stretch out our hands toward that which is to come, so that at last the world may be redeemed from all its horrors and the dawn of the new day may break. We are placed on this earth in order to proclaim, in the midst of darkness, this message: The Morning Star has risen in my heart, in our hearts, and soon will rise over the whole of the darkened world. Repent! Believe in the gospel! He who is coming is near!” Eberhard Arnold.
Over the next few days I am going to share a number of Advent/Christmas quotes. Here is the first
”We are called to prove in our own lives that Christ is born, that God is with us. But we are constantly in danger of going about our business without Christ. We keep to our old ways of life and do not allow God to enter our daily affairs.…We will always have to struggle to make sure that Jesus enters our lives, and that he lives on earth, not only in heaven. This is the fight of the church in the world. We are placed in the restlessness and the anxiety of a world fraught with evil, but we have a battle cry and the joyful news: “To us a child is born!” (Isaiah 9:6)” Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt
1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,
To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker— 2 also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier—and to the church that meets in your home:
I can’t help but feel that when somebody walks into a church there should be a sense of ‘coming home’ and a feeling of family.
For the first several hundreds of years of its existence the church met in homes. There were no formal church buildings. When Jesus spoke about building His church, He was referring to a people, not a physical edifice of some kind.
As we saw yesterday, Philemon was probably a wealthy believer who had a house large enough for the church to meet in. He gave ‘hospitality’ to the church, and to individuals (22).
Always remember that the church is not the building of brick or stone in which you may meet; the church is that community of believing people who gather inside.
But it all started in homes in the the first century.
PRAYER: Lord God, show me, please, how you might want to use my home for Kingdom purposes.
1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,
To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker— 2 also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier—and to the church that meets in your home:
3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus.
As Paul open this letter – his shortest recorded epistle – he does so with words of affirmation, appreciation and blessing.
The blessing comes in the form of a short, simple (yet profound) prayer (3).
The words of affirmation are for certain personal characteristics (1b, 2a) and qualities (4,5).
I often think of the story of the Scottish minister who was told, as a boy, by the local sweet shop lady, ‘Flattery is like perfume sonny. It’s okay to sniff the bottle, but don’t swallow the contents.’
The same goes even for sincere compliments. There are good and godly ways to encourage people, and it seems to me Paul repeatedly got the balance right. He found a way to let them get a good sniff of the bottle while always giving the glory to God.
(By the way, Philemon was not, as far as we know, a major leader in the church, but he was probably a wealthy man who had a house big enough for the church to meet in. Nevertheless Paul called him a ”fellow worker.”)
PRAYER: Lord, please give me words to encourage, lips to bless in prayer, and a heart that always seeks to honour and glorify you above all.
Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,
To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker— 2 also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier—and to the church that meets in your home:
3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
People matter.
Names matter. We tend to like it when people remember and use our names and affirm and appreciate our personal characteristics.
Team matters.
As far as I can calculate, in his New Testament letters Paul mentions over 55 people by name. Some were foes but most were friends. The lists, as here, include both men and women. Paul was not a ‘lone ranger’ leader – trying to do everything by himself. He recognised the importance of fellowship in the gospel.
Recently I read a quote from Henri Nouwen, in which he was saying that we are all gifted, and if we bring our own contribution to the table we needn’t be envious of anyone else, nor threatened by them. We can co-operate and collaborate rather than compete.
‘We do not have to think alike to think together.’ Rick Rigsby.
‘Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.’ Helen Keller
1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,
To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker— 2 also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier—and to the church that meets in your home:
3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving and Prayer
4 I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. 6 I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. 7 Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.
Paul’s Plea for Onesimus
8 Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9 yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. It is as none other than Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus— 10 that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. 11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.
12 I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you. 13 I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. 14 But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do would not seem forced but would be voluntary. 15 Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever— 16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.
17 So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. 18 If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back—not to mention that you owe me your very self. 20 I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. 21 Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.
22 And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers.
23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. 24 And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers.
25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
He was a young man from Tehran, and he came to England to study the English language at a small school, within a theological college, situated just outside a leafy Surrey village. In his first year he found himself sharing a tiny dormitory with a ‘radiant’ Christian man. About eighteen months after meeting this man he was to say to him one day, ”Anthony, many times you talked to me about Jesus. But one day I saw Jesus in your face, and now I want to become a Christian too!’
This was a ‘divine appointment.’
”Not only in the words you say,
Not only in your deeds confessed.
But in the most unconscious way
Is Christ expressed.
Is it a beatific smile?
A holy light upon your brow?
Oh no, I saw His presence when
You laughed just now.
To me twas not the truth you taught,
To you so clear to me so dim.
But when you came to me
You brought a sense of Him.
And from your life He beckons me,
And from your lips His love is shed.
Til I lose sight of you and see the Christ instead.”
Paul was a prisoner when he met Onesimus, the runaway slave, but it was a ‘divine appointment.’ Paul saw himself as Christ’s prisoner (1,9). He knew that all of his life was under Christ’s sovereign control, and if he was a jailbird the Lord had His reasons. Certainly one of them was so that he would encounter Onesimus, who formerly had been ”useless”, but once he was converted began to live up to his name (which actually means ‘useful’; see v.11).
You never know who you might run into whose life may change because of the meeting. Or it might be you who will be changed. Possibly both of you!
“We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.”
(Proverbs 16:9, NLT).
Someone prayed this great prayer:
”Father, thank You for ordering my steps. Thank You for divine appointments that keep me on the right path. Help me to discern the opportunities You have placed in front of me and see clearly Your hand guiding me in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
14 Now they grope through the streets
as if they were blind.
They are so defiled with blood
that no one dares to touch their garments.
15 “Go away! You are unclean!” people cry to them.
“Away! Away! Don’t touch us!”
When they flee and wander about,
people among the nations say,
“They can stay here no longer.”
16 The Lord himself has scattered them;
he no longer watches over them.
The priests are shown no honor,
the elders no favor.
17 Moreover, our eyes failed,
looking in vain for help;
from our towers we watched
for a nation that could not save us.
18 People stalked us at every step,
so we could not walk in our streets.
Our end was near, our days were numbered,
for our end had come.
19 Our pursuers were swifter
than eagles in the sky;
they chased us over the mountains
and lay in wait for us in the desert.
20 The Lord’s anointed, our very life breath,
was caught in their traps.
We thought that under his shadow
we would live among the nations.
21 Rejoice and be glad, Daughter Edom,
you who live in the land of Uz.
But to you also the cup will be passed;
you will be drunk and stripped naked.
22 Your punishment will end, Daughter Zion;
he will not prolong your exile.
But he will punish your sin, Daughter Edom,
and expose your wickedness.
If we compare verse 17 with Habakkuk 2:1, we see that Habakkuk was looking for his answers from the living and true God, and he got them, even though he had to wait. But the people of Judah were focussed on foreign ‘gods’ – in this case, hoping for help from some other nation. Here was part of the grave sin of the false prophets, that they encouraged the people to believe that such ‘foreign aid’ would come. But it didn’t – not in any lasting way.
It is a constant danger for the church – and I think especially so in the generally affluent and comfortable west – that we are far too self-reliant. We are too clever by far; too trusting of our own resources. This regularly shows itself in a form of ‘practical atheism’, where we say we believe in God, but it doesn’t translate into committed, corporate prayerfulness.
Are we looking in the wrong direction for our help?
How the gold has lost its luster,
the fine gold become dull!
The sacred gems are scattered
at every street corner.
2 How the precious children of Zion,
once worth their weight in gold,
are now considered as pots of clay,
the work of a potter’s hands!
3 Even jackals offer their breasts
to nurse their young,
but my people have become heartless
like ostriches in the desert.
4 Because of thirst the infant’s tongue
sticks to the roof of its mouth;
the children beg for bread,
but no one gives it to them.
5 Those who once ate delicacies
are destitute in the streets.
Those brought up in royal purple
now lie on ash heaps.
6 The punishment of my people
is greater than that of Sodom,
which was overthrown in a moment
without a hand turned to help her.
7 Their princes were brighter than snow
and whiter than milk,
their bodies more ruddy than rubies,
their appearance like lapis lazuli.
8 But now they are blacker than soot;
they are not recognized in the streets.
Their skin has shriveled on their bones;
it has become as dry as a stick.
9 Those killed by the sword are better off
than those who die of famine;
racked with hunger, they waste away
for lack of food from the field.
10 With their own hands compassionate women
have cooked their own children,
who became their food
when my people were destroyed.
11 The Lord has given full vent to his wrath;
he has poured out his fierce anger.
He kindled a fire in Zion
that consumed her foundations.
12 The kings of the earth did not believe,
nor did any of the peoples of the world,
that enemies and foes could enter
the gates of Jerusalem.
13 But it happened because of the sins of her prophets
and the iniquities of her priests,
who shed within her
the blood of the righteous.
”Bad will be the day, for every man when he becomes absolutely contented with the life that he is living, with the thoughts that he is thinking, with the deeds that he is doing, when there is not forever beating at the doors of his soul some great desire to do something larger, which he knows that he was meant and made to do because he is still, in spite of all, the child of God.” Philips Brooks
”After forty-five years in ministry, here is what I have seen to be true: Jesus Christ came to comfort the troubled and trouble the comfortable.” Francis Frangipane
Complacency is spiritually dangerous, both for the individual, and for the collective soul of the church.
So is apathy.
Yesterday I read that ‘Christianity Today’s’ book of the year has been announced, and it is Uche Anizor’s Overcoming Apathy: Gospel Hope for Those Who Struggle to Care. I have made a mental note to have a look at it. Apathy is not the same as complacency, but they are surely related? First cousins I would say. Both share a similar numbness towards things which matter.
One thing leaders must not lose sight of is the fact that they set the ‘tone’ for church life. They cannot afford to be complacent or apathetic. The ‘atmosphere’ of the shepherd’s own heart will prove infectious – for good or ill. But in the case of Judah’s leaders, their failures went way beyond complacency and apathy. They were in outright rebellion towards God’s Word, and responsibility for the terrible judgment that fell upon the people is laid squarely at their door.
It is a serious sin indeed to lead people into error. Peter writes about those who ”distort” the Scriptures ”to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16).
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