Follow me

This month we are celebrating seven baptisms among our young people for which we give praise and thanks to God. Seven young people who are committing their lives to follow Jesus and are making that public declaration through the waters of baptism. We are also fare-welling Riley and Naomi who are similarly committing to follow Jesus by responding to his call to go and serve his people down at Victor Harbor Baptist Church. Riley has invested much in those seven young people being baptised, but they are not being baptised to follow Riley. They are committing to follow Jesus who gave his life for them. Pondering all these events has reminded me that each of us, no matter how far along the journey of faith we are, have to choose each day to follow Jesus. Whether we have just been baptised, or like Laurel who is still following Jesus well into her 90’s, we must choose each day to live our lives for him. Relationships are never static and each day is a day of new engagement with Jesus just as it is with each of our friends or spouses or family.

Jesus call continues to be “follow me” whether we are young or old, new in the faith or seasoned travellers. To be a disciple means to be a follower and that is a lifelong calling. But every relationship can grow cold and even long term friendships and marriages can rely too much on the past rather than the present. Even as a Senior Pastor I have to choose to follow Jesus each day and to be present to him and make spending time with him a priority while working in a church! In fact, at times serving the church can get in the way of my relationship with Jesus in a weird sort of way. I can be a busy Christian and Pastor who is actually not daily following Jesus and listening to him.

“I can be a busy Christian and pastor who is actually not following Jesus daily and listening to him.”

So we celebrate and rejoice as our young people declare through the waters of baptism that they are committing their lives to follow Jesus. And we celebrate and rejoice (with some sadness) as Riley and Naomi follow Jesus call to Victor Harbor. But we also need to choose, each and every one of us, to daily say yes to following Jesus. Yes to following him whole heartedly. Yes to being available to him each and every day. Yes to being ready to share our story with those who are seeking. Yes to serving people around us and loving them as part of our love for God. The call of Jesus to the first disciples washing their nets on the sea of Galilee is exactly the same call he gives to you and I – Follow me!

Grace and peace - Garry

Spiritual posers

Andrea and I read about a woman in our daily devotion who really struggled to go to the gym because how bad she felt around all the fit and chiselled bodies working out. She felt so awkward and uncomfortable looking at her own body around the muscular and toned gym users. So the place that this woman needed to be and could really help her became a place that actually drove her away and was very unhelpful. Gyms should be places for people trying to lose weight and they should be places where they feel comfortable and welcomed and accepted. Just like hospitals should be places where sick people feel they will get the help they need rather than being embarrassed because their appendix burst.

“Jesus came for the sick, not the healthy...”

It got me thinking about our spiritual “fitness” and how church should not be a place where broken people or “unspiritual” people feel uncomfortable around “buff” super spiritual Christians who have everything together. Jesus said that he came for the sick not the healthy and he spent time with unpretentious sinners with messed up lives. That is not to say we don’t want people to become spiritually mature, but rather we want to be supporting and encouraging people who are seeking God to feel they belong and are welcome at Parkside Baptist Church. Being broken and a bit messed up is a very good reason to come to God among his people. Anyone who thinks they are spiritually together or superior and comes to do some “spiritual posing” is on dangerous ground. Jesus made that very clear to the religious leaders in his day. He also preached the sermon on the mount where he talked about how blessed those are who are struggling with life. So echoing that teaching we say:

Blessed are those who are stressed – find your rest in Jesus.

Blessed are those who are anxious – find your peace in Jesus.

Blessed are those who feel unworthy – you are deeply loved by God.

Blessed are those who barely make it to church – you are welcome and we are so glad you made it!

Blessed are those who feel fragmented – Jesus wants to gently restore you.

So if you feel “spiritually unfit” but you want to grow closer to God, then you are in exactly the right place and very welcome in the courts of our Saviour and King, who opens wide his nail scarred hands with a smile on his face.

Grace and Peace – Garry

Tithes and offerings

In the OT when God formed the nation of Israel and called his people out of Egypt, the significant event was the Passover. God destroyed the first born of Egypt yet “passed over” the houses of the Hebrews where they had blood over the door post. Following that event, the firstborn or first fruits of everything was always dedicated to God in remembrance of his salvation. Not only that, the first fruits or first born had to be the very best of their flocks and herds and fields. God stipulated that 10% of their produce along with the first born should be given to him as an act of worship and thanksgiving – a tithe from which we derive our practice of church offerings each week.

Ever since I started working and earning money I have tithed 10% to God, and Andrea and I continue to do that now as part of our weekly budgeting irrespective of other circumstances in our lives. Our church and I personally don’t dictate what you should give to God financially, but I think the Biblical principle is there and should be taken seriously. The principle at its heart is this; give to God your best not your leftovers because he has given his best for you. The first thing we should offer God is ourselves over and above our finances or time in service. Jesus said the most important commandment is to love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, and then to love your neighbour as yourself. But we should also give out of the abundance of wealth and provision that each of us has been entrusted with.

“Give to God your best, not your leftovers, because he has given his best for you.”

In this season of change at PBC we will be restructuring our staff and looking at new mission opportunities, and as such I encourage you to donate regularly as God moves your heart. Practically working out our church budget is no different to running our household budgets and we want to be good stewards of our resources. A great way to keep on top of this is to set up regular EFT transactions as your tithe. We now have a new church bank account. When you change your details if you give via EFT it is a great opportunity to assess your giving and set up a regular transaction so we can budget reliably and accordingly as a church. This is not a hard sell for you to increase your giving; that is between you and God. But we would like our offerings to be regular so that we can budget our staffing and mission and maintenance costs going forward. The details of the account are available in Signpost or the weekly email. If God moves you to give, then give cheerfully and not out of guilt!

Grace and Peace – Garry

All paths lead to God – or do they?

Tolerance and diversity are buzz words that are used a lot in our culture, especially when it comes to religious belief or otherwise. Pluralism says that we should accept all religions and live in harmony because all roads lead to the same God; we are all on the journey up the mountain but just on different paths. Agreed we must love each other, however, there are some fundamental problems with this nice sounding approach that need serious consideration before we all share a group hug. Firstly, the portraits of God, Jesus and ultimate reality offered in the different sacred writings of the various religions are so contradictory. Unless God is not altogether truthful, it is not possible to argue for pure pluralism. Secondly, pluralism claims to have discovered a higher truth than all other religions; that is that we are all a bit deluded and in fact all religions are the same. This claim of a higher reality or enlightenment assumes an intellectual high ground that exceeds any of the claims of the world religions. Yet if asked to define clearly what this higher reality actually is, pluralists are remarkably vague and incoherent in their description of this God or greater reality.

I think pluralism is attractive, not because it offers a clearer and new perspective of a personal universal God that is some combination of all world religions. But its foundation is that it cannot tolerate the claims of the different religions, especially Christianity and Islam. The idea of judgment and consequences for people’s actions and choices is not palatable. Neither is the idea that any one of the major religions might be right and hold the ultimate truth. So therefore there must be a different reality, but one that they cannot clearly define. They know what they don’t like but they struggle to articulate clearly the reality that they claim is the higher and superior knowledge. To put it another way, pluralists like some of what Jesus say but not all of what Jesus says.

Tolerance comes from the Latin word tolerare, meaning “to bear” something harmful or contrary. To gently bear another in love is truly tolerant, not to embrace all of their views into yours or agree on everything. True tolerance does not involve accepting every view point as true and valid; it involves treating with love and humility someone who holds to different opinions and values without being untrue to yourself.

“True tolerance does not involve accepting every view point as true and valid”

Pluralism I believe delivers much less than it promises. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life – no one comes to the father but through me”. Does that mean that people who have never heard of Jesus won’t be in heaven? No. But does that mean all paths lead to God? No. If God has revealed himself and Jesus is the Son of God, then we have to submit our will to his no matter how intolerant the world tells us we are. But we must do all things in love; love for God and love for others.

Grace and Peace – Garry

Growing up in our faith

A couple of weeks ago my two sisters and brother and I visited my parents for a special family catch up. As we sat around the living room we realised that this was the first time in 25 years that we had been together, just as a core family without spouses or grandkids or friends. It felt a bit odd with just us kids and mum and dad again after nearly a quarter of a century. However things were different now. We were adults who had lived a lot of life and no longer self-centred teenagers who treated home something like a free B&B. As we reflected and talked I realised that we all appreciated mum and dad a lot more and that our relationships with them and each other were much more mature and adult. It was different but in a good way.

As another year has passed and we reflect on our journey with God I hope that we can look back and see that we have also grown in our relationship with him as our heavenly Father. As each year passes and we grow in our faith and spiritual maturity, God wants us to move from being “infants” as Paul describes, to sons and daughters who have a deeper and more mature relationship with Him. I have been a Christian for about 30 years now and don’t treat God like I used to when I was younger. My relationship with him is deeper and more thankful, despite the struggles and trials of life that have come my way. Yes there are more “shades of grey”, but there are also more vibrant colours as I have learned to walk with Him. I no longer expect things of him that are motivated by my own selfish desires. I understand the value of suffering and know that God uses difficult times to grow me and bring me closer to himself if I will allow him.

“The longer and deeper the relationship, the greater the trust and love grows as we share experiences, both difficult and joyful.”

The longer and deeper the relationship, the greater the trust and love that grows as we share experiences, both difficult and joyful. We need to be “bigger on the inside” than we are on the outside. As we grow in our relationship with God then he can fill us more with his Spirit, and out of that flow to others around us who need his love. This year my prayer is that individually and as a community we will grow into a greater maturity of faith as we walk with Jesus. That we might grow bigger on the inside and be filled more and more with the Holy Spirit. Not only that we might be blessed but that God might overflow through us to a needy and hurting world.

Grace and Peace – Garry

Remember the 'dots'

A couple of years ago we put up a map of greater Adelaide on the wall of the church and got everyone to put a red dot on the map where they spent most of their time during the week. This highlighted the “reach” and “footprint” of PBC between our weekly Sunday gatherings – and the spread was huge. We also did a map of the world and looked at all the places PBC has people serving! Many of us don’t live near the church but it was encouraging to see how much of Adelaide (and the globe) had someone from PBC in it most days.  So although we are limited a bit in “local mission” we have this massive opportunity to be missional every week across our city and beyond. Starting more “programs” may not be the most effective thing we can do. Rather if each of us were open to God using us and actively praying for him to use us in the places we spend most of our time, I believe that would be extremely missional and dynamic. If Sunday is a time where we get “fed” or “grown” in our faith, then that surely should overflow and be worked out in the places we find ourselves each day.

“If Sunday is a time where we get ‘fed’ or ‘grown’ in our faith, then that surely should overflow and be worked out in the places we find ourselves each day.”

This doesn’t and shouldn’t be hard work! Rather it should be a natural thing where everything we do and all the relationships we have are a place and opportunity for God to be at work. Even in the most mundane and boring tasks of life. Our lives, our choices, and the way we go about our tasks should stand out in a culture that is often self-consumed and materialistic. We only have one life to live and our church mission statement exhorts us to live that life wholeheartedly for Jesus. That does not mean we have to be cheery and happy little Christians who never have problems. But even the way we deal with suffering and hardship can be an amazing testimony to those around us of Gods amazing grace and love. Our dependence on God to get us through can speak volumes.

I believe if we start the day offering a short prayer of availability to God and genuinely mean it, then he will take that and open up conversations with people in the most unexpected places. I think the Holy Spirit wants to partner with us where we are every day and all he needs is an invitation from us to say we are ready and willing to be used. So where is your “dot” and how can God be at work in and through PBC Monday to Saturday? Because the “dots” matter!

Grace and Peace – Garry