All posts in Faith

Spiritual Gifts – Giving

by Hugh on September 24, 2011 in Faith, Talks with No comments

Don’t worry. I’m not starting a series of blog posts on Spiritual Gifts. Although that’s always a good way to increase blog traffic and provoke comments. No rather I just want to focus on one – giving.

We’re told to “eagerly desire” spiritual gifts. I for one didn’t have giving on my list of ones to desire. Of course it’s not mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12, although it is included in Romans 12:8.

We tend to view giving as a bit of a chore, just another bill to be paid each month, most of the time completely unaware as the direct debit kicks in. But it seems Giving really is a Spiritual Gift, in the same category as healing, tongues, prophecy etc. Here are some reasons why that’s true:

Giving appears as a Spiritual Gift in Romans 12:8
God has given grace to the churches in Macedonia, that causes them to give (2 Cor 8:1-2)
Paul urges the Corinthians to ‘excel’ in giving (2 Cor 8:7) – that’s the same language that Paul uses to describe Spiritual Gifts (1 Cor 14:12)
Giving encourages the church

So two challenges…

We need to see giving as a Spiritual Gift
We need to desire it and excel in it

That would be a bold prayer wouldn’t it? Please Lord, make me generous. Give me the Grace to give…

More thoughts on this in my recent sermon – Is Giving a Spiritual Gift?

++ Hugh

by Hugh on September 22, 2011 in Faith, Life with No comments

It’s ok, no need to bow, curtsey, kiss my ring, look up at my mitre, be touched by my crook or any of that kind of nonsense…

But you could show a little bit of Malawian style respect…

I think there was some confusion; visitors from the UK from ‘Bishop Hannington Church’… at some point turned into ‘UK Bishops’. They were very kind, and hid their disappointment well.

I find being the “distinguished guest” slightly awkward, I’m never really a good guest, and distinguished is not exactly the first thing that I put to answer the question ‘describe yourself in 3 words’.

Are you Good or Evil?

by Hugh on September 8, 2011 in Current Affairs, Faith with 1 Comment

Last night I watched an interesting episode of Horizon entitled “Are you Good or Evil?” – 9pm, BBC 2. It featured a number of researchers exploring what makes us pick ‘good’ over ‘evil’.

We saw that in an experiment 70% of toddlers picked ‘good’ over ‘bad’, at least how the researchers interpreted it anyway. They also looked at the military and how you can teach someone to kill, where human instinct is not to kill. Anyway it’s worth a watch.

The research of the scientists lead them to conclude that there was a “Psychopath Gene”. A gene which under the right (or more accurately wrong) conditions could lead to an individual being prone to ‘rage’.

The documentary then turned to the case of Bradley Waldroup, a man convicted of attacking his wife and killing her friend. It seemed likely that he would be convicted of first-degree murder. However, the fact that this gene was present in this man and the evidence of an abusive childhood meant he was only convicted of manslaughter. The scientist’s comment on Waldroup was that ”His freewill had been diminished”.

There were a number of points that stood out for me:

The idea that humans have an innate moral compass, right from a very young age, was accepted as a given.
Even under unhelpful genetic and social conditions no one denied that we are responsible for our actions.
How social factors and conditions can work for good or evil in the life of an individual.

The questions that it missed out, which is why the documentary needed a spiritual dimension were:

Who decides what’s ‘good’ and ‘evil’ anyway?
If some sense of morality seems to be innate in humans, then where does it come from?
What are the best social conditions for a human to flourish?

It’s clear that we are born with a “moral compass”, it’s what C.S. Lewis calls “The Law of Nature”, and how he begins his case for God in Mere Christianity. But it’s also clear that we are all born evil, evil in that we don’t choose to seek God who made us and loves us. David says – “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” – Psalm 51:5.

It was a good documentary, and worth a watch, but a shame they neglected the bigger, theological questions that lie behind their research.

The Grace of Law

by Hugh on September 7, 2011 in Faith, Talks with No comments

We kicked off the new term of Costa Tuesdays last night. As a whole church we’re looking at the book of Deuteronomy. We began by looking at Deuteronomy 5:1-33, the 10 Commandments.

We called the night ‘The Grace of Law’, a title pinched off Tim Keller, although unusually none of the content was. We didn’t have time to go through all the commandments, and think exactly how we apply them today. We just wanted to do one thing… to see the God’s Law is good!

Here’s three reasons that we looked at why God’s Law is good:

It’s Giver is good – the God who gives these laws is the God of covenant relationship (v.2), the God who speaks to his people (v.4), and the God who rescues his people (v.6) – God is presented as fundamentally good!
It’s Purpose is good – one of the refrains throughout the law given here is it’s purpose for good, so that “it may go well with you in the land” (v.16), and “so that you may live and prosper” (v.33).
It Protects what is good – the 10 Commandments acts like a fence, seeking to protect the good things that God gives – eg. the law against adultery is designed to protect the gift of marriage, and the law against idols is designed to protect the gift of God himself.

We concluded with a time of discussion, but not before one clarification… The Law can’t make us good!

We saw Moses as mediator (v.23-27), but Jesus as a better mediator… Moses who says “they will obey”… and Jesus who says “I will obey”. I love v.29 where we see God’s desires…

“Oh that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always.”

Strangers and Aliens

by Hugh on September 5, 2011 in Faith, Film & TV, Life with No comments

I was speaking to a group of Christian international students the other day… speaking from 1 Peter 2 about being strangers and aliens in the world.

I was trying to think of situations recently where I’d felt like an alien, completely out of place. What occured to me was a trip to Monaco on a recent holiday. Walking through the streets of Monaco, from the Palace, through the Marina, up around the shops, feeling a little intimidated by the security guard on the door of Louis Vuitton, and feeling my shorts and t-shirt not up to a bit of browsing in Armani.

Well… then we ended up outside the Casino. Bentley, Porsche, Mercedes, Rolls Royce, Ferrari… it’s at this point we’re thankful that our car is parked underground, out of sight… for all anyone else knows we could be about to get in to any one of these cars… sadly I think one look would have blown our cover.

However, I did feel slightly better about myself on the tour bus. The Americans behind us were trying to select the language of their tour commentary from the flags pictured… “Hey! There’s no American… There’s Japanese and British, but no American… Oh wait, British is English right…”. One can’t help but enjoy those moments, as much as the other American who tried to leave the bus with headphones still plugged in… is it rude to laugh out loud?

On the subject of aliens… we recently rented Paul… which was quite funny… not as good as Hot Fuzz / Shaun of the Dead… but well worth a watch.

Why I Love Pentecostals

by Hugh on September 3, 2011 in Faith, Life with No comments

There are a number of reasons for this. Since I came to Uni, back in 2005, and ever since I’ve met Pentecostal Christians. Some have challenged my prejudices and have taught me lots, others have confirmed my worst stereotypes. However, this is not a general comment, but rather the 2nd part of my reflections of being part of a church in Malawi.

The second church we experienced in Malawi was a more modern, independent church with a Pentecostal feel, where our hosts and a number of other ex-pats were members. Sadly we couldn’t join them on the Sunday, but were pleased to accept an invitation to a home group meeting.

In contrast to Area 50 Baptist Church, the ex-pat community have more than they need – so it was great to see the Christians being so generous with what they had. The South African family I stayed with were part of this church, they taught me 3 key lessons about the Christian faith:

Firstly, they live out their faith, their faith moves them to action, not just to principles for life, or a theory, what they believe they actually do, and really seek to put into practise. To me, the God Channel, which they often had on sounds just like “how to live the good life”… but if you actually live out some of these principles it is powerful!

Secondly, and this is an outworking of the first, they showed me what generosity and hospitality look like in practise. They put up 3 strangers for 10 days, they welcomed us into their home, they said “Don’t feel at home. Be at home.” The reason they welcomed us so well was because though they didn’t know the details, they knew it was gospel work that had brought us there. Their generosity could be seen in lots of practical ways: tithing, adoption, hospitality, offering employment, serving their church, taking in extended family, supporting their workers and those in need around. Theirs is a faith very practically lived out.

Thirdly, they have a strong sense of Spiritual Warfare. While I would be cautious about attributing events “to the devil” they very much embraced this idea, not in an unhelpful way, but in a way which sought to do good to others and to serve the gospel as a way of “fighting back”. While not all their beliefs I’d agree with, you couldn’t fault the way they actually put them into action!

Jesus in Malawi

by Hugh on September 2, 2011 in Faith, Life with No comments

I’m off to Malawi soon. Going back again with a colleague to support some Christian ministries there. Are work is largely focused on training and equipping Christians to handle the Bible.

Last time I went, I penned some thoughts about the Christian scene in Malawi, here they are:

In my time in Malawi I was able to experience 2 very different types of Christianity. Firstly was the Baptist Church of Area 50, the place where we had come to minister, what seemed like quite a traditional church by Malawian standards, made up from local people.

When we joined the Baptist church on Sunday morning there were some very unusual things I was not used to – for a start the service was in Chichewa, the local language. The time together began with Sunday school (for everyone), children’s groups, and Bible study for young adults and new Christians, alongside a teaching session for everyone else. As I sat and listened to one of the elders teach I realised that there was certainly some truth in the saying that Christianity in Africa is a mile wide, but only an inch deep – great passion to teach and be taught, but little understanding of how to teach and rightly handle the Bible.

There was a certain relaxedness about the meeting, people would arrive ‘late’, walk in and out to look after children. There was no printed service order, and apparently no structure. There seemed to be a slightly odd mix between old and new – the church would sing a few hymns from the Baptist hymn book, which seemed to be poorly translated and a little dirge-like. In contrast there were times of spontaneous worship, 2 or 3 would leap to the front and lead us in a song, the women’s choir would perform – no instruments, just voices singing and hands clapping were more than enough to raise the roof!

“Up, up Jesus… down, down Satan”

One of the key aspects of Malawian Christianity which was evident was their contentfulness. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, and the members of the Baptist church were not well off, their church building is basic, the homes in the area are pretty rustic, and the jobs of most are not well regarded. But there is a basic contentfulness. While the lure of money and power is a temptation in every culture, and clear also in Malawi, among the Christians there does seem to be a genuine feel of being content: the church building is basic, work is hard, in fact life generally in Malawi is very tough (just look at the mortality rates), but in spite of these things the Christians seem very content, even joyful. How Christians in the West could learn, as the ones with so little seem to have all they need!

The Urgency of Student Mission

by Hugh on August 18, 2011 in Faith, Life with No comments

I wrote a few days ago about the three types of student you’ll find on any campus. I suggested that the best way to be a Christian student is to redeem these categories for the glory of God. I hope to explain now what God says about students and why sharing the gospel with them is so vital.

The thing you have to know is that God’s wrath is being poured out against students (Rom 1:18). Woooh, hang on, I thought this was going to be a little pep talk about how fun evangelism is… Well, maybe, but first you’ve gotta see God’s wrath… It’s all there in Romans 1-2 where we meet our 3 types of student:

First we see the Idealists. They thought it better to ignore God, something in them cries out for God, their concern for justice betrays their Atheism. They suppress the truth of the goodness of God and exchange it for the lie of the goodness of community, the omnipotence of society. Look at Romans 1:18-23, Paul speaks of those who deep down know about God, but choose to replace him with their own ideals.

Second we meet the Hedonists. Look at Romans 1:24-32, we see God gave them over to all kinds of desires. People who do what they want, live for their own pleasure, be it greed, sex, lust, gossip… they seek after these things, because that’s what their depraved minds tell them to do!

Finally we meet the Legalists. Romans 2:1-11, Paul is speaking of those who pass judgement on others, who look to their own good and hard work for their justification. Their work will be marked, but not their degrees and career performance, no they will be judged on how they responded to God, how they responded to his work.

The truth is that God’s wrath is being poured out against all these kind of students. In fact against all kinds of people. God is giving students over to their desires of secular community, of life lived for self pleasure, of days worked for self glory. Yet, in the face of God’s Judgement, see Paul’s stand, Rom 1:16 “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation”.

So Christian student, in the face of students living for self, in the light of Gods judgement… Don’t be ashamed of the gospel! Don’t be ashamed to name yourself a Christian during those first meetings, don’t be ashamed to befriend the somewhat uncool Christian hallmate, don’t be ashamed to be known to be at the CU meeting and going to church, don’t be ashamed to standout from the Hedonists at the pub crawl, the Idealists at the SU and the Legalists in the library… be prepared to give an answer for your hope, live and speak for Jesus.

You may look around at your new hall mates, your class mates… perhaps with envy at the ‘fun’ they have… perhaps in disdain at their godlessness… rather look on them with compassion with the knowledge that only the Gospel, only the righteousness of God, revealed in Jesus Christ is the power for Salvation in their lives.

Blogs by Girls

by Hugh on August 17, 2011 in Faith, Random with 1 Comment

I like girls. Especially my wife.

They can be great because they think differently to men. Although this can, it’s fair to say be a little frustrating at times. However, there are some girls out there who blog, and blog well. If you’re a woman it’s good to read them, they probably speak your language. If you’re a man, it’s good to read them too, seeing things differently can be a good discipline to mindless masculinity that sometimes blinds us.

Here’s a few I’ve come across that are worth a second, and probably third look:

Emma Scrivener – lots of great stuff on image/identity

Anna Hopkins – now a photo blog, but great photos from a missionary in Paris

Kath Cunningham – where tea and faith meet

Liz & Laura – they haven’t blogged for a while so have to share a line, along with a house

The Vicar’s Wife – what it says on the tin

Ruthie Davies – “‘Just married’ to ‘just widowed’ in 5 months. Learning to walk again.”

Feel free to comment with some more suggestions… these are just ones that come to mind…

On the Riots

by Hugh on August 16, 2011 in Current Affairs, Faith with No comments

I’ve been in a temporary state of ex-pat-hood for the last 10 days. Sweating in the South of France, longing for the grey drizzle of Hove. From here, along with Lord Sugar (he never responded to my request for a ride on his boat) we’ve been watching the events in London and around the UK through the mediums of Twitter and BBC News Channel.

My initial response was to ask where the water canon was? Why the police didn’t get the batons out and release the hounds. Perhaps naive from my sweaty armchair.

I guess as the scenes have unfolded my thoughts of wanting the police to kick some butt have turned more to sadness. Sad at the stories that have emerged, sad at politics over people, sad at the state of our nation… and I look at the rioters and think “there go I, but for the Grace of God”…

Here’s some more well thought out and articulated thoughts… have a read/listen:

Mike Ovey – Looters: them or us?

Pete Woodcock – Gangs, Greed and God

Glen Scrivener – Jesus came not for the righteous, but the riotous

Russel Brand – Big Brother isn’t watching you