There are some books I have read that though they are not scripture, they have seemed to me to be the nearest thing to it. One such book is C.S. Lewis’ “The Horse and His Boy”. It tells the story of an orphan boy called Shasta who has been brought up by a wicked step-father, and who after many adventures meets the Christ figure in the book, Aslan, the Great Lion. After some encouragement, Shasta pours out his story before Aslan, who listens and then explains that He is the One who has protected him and guided him through all his wanderings. It is very early in the morning and still dark, so Shasta fearfully questions if he is encountering a ghost. But after being reassured that Aslan is not a ghost, we’re told that “…a new and different sort of trembling came over him.”[i] Finally as dawn breaks, Shasta sees the Great Lion pacing beside him, and we are told, “…No one ever saw anything more terrible or beautiful.”[ii]

I appreciate so much how C. S. Lewis in his writings presented God in a biblical way: infinitely loving, yet wonderfully fearful. The Apostle Paul expressed this in Romans 11:22 in the phrase, “The Kindness and the Severity of God”. I think it is fair to say that most of us would be happy with God’s kindness, but not too thrilled at His severity. We have been weaned on images of God portrayed by the “hollywood theologians” and celebrities such as George Burns some years ago, and Morgan Freeman today. A God who inspires any kind of fear is just a little too hot to handle, and a public relations nightmare. So since God made us in His image and likeness, we returned the compliment and refashioned Him in our image: a safe, avuncular, Santa Claus god.

Paul knew well the history of his own people. They were the first to experience God’s wonderful election and kindness to them. But when they had wandered away from God and worshiped demi-deities strange and weird, they soon became very familiar with God’s severity. They had even been warned against this in Deuteronomy 28, about the curses that would follow such activity, yet they decided nonetheless to put it to the test. Ouch! The Book of Judges is the best place to start for a study of the consequences of rebellion. Each of the chapters seem to follow the same pattern: people falling into idolatry, then experiencing oppression by their enemies, turning back to God in desperation, and God in His kindness answering their prayers by sending a deliverer.

As I explained in my first post, I named this blog, “godscollie” because I liked the image of a pastor being the Shepherd’s dog. The sheepdog guards, protects and directs the sheep. But it is imperative that the sheepdog stays close to the Shepherd. I say this because this collie in “godscollie” wandered from the Shepherd a long time ago and tangled with the wolf. He got mauled and mangled and almost destroyed, if the Shepherd hadn’t turned up and bonked the wolf on the head with His crook. So the collie learned a lesson: if you wander from the Shepherd, He may allow you to experience severe consequences.

Our God is not a “take-it-or-leave-it” god, folks; you just don’t mess with Him. There is a general opinion today that hell doesn’t exist and that all we need to do to get to heaven is to die. Heaven is the fullness of God’s Kingdom. In order to experience it we need to submit to God in the obedience of faith. It’s either that or the trapdoor opens. Sorry for the bluntness, but the scriptures are even more blunt. Whether believers or unbelievers, our society has lost its sense of the fear of God. We are like the unjust judge in Luke 18:2 who neither fears God nor respects man. Both the church and society (perhaps for different reasons) need to recover the kindness and the severity of God. These qualities on the one hand stand together in dynamic tension, yet also confront us as possible destinies: when the night falls we will either embrace His kindness and mercy, or endure His severity. The choice is ours; God is Ultimate Accountability.

[i] C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia, Book Three, “The Horse and His Boy”, (New York: Harper Trophy, A Division of HarperCollins, 1954) p. 165.

[ii] Ibid p. 166

You might wonder: why all the fuss about Christmas? After all, nothing has changed, has it? Take a look at Matthew’s Gospel where Herod slaughters the innocents of Bethlehem. Now, two thousand years later, we still see tyrants in different areas of our globe: Asia, Africa and Europe; and in addition, innocents being slaughtered, like the 133 Pakistani school kids a week ago. So, what really has changed?

In order to answer this, we do need to go back to Matthew’s Gospel, chapter one in fact. It’s the first chapter of the first book of what we call the “New Testament.” There is a reason for calling it “New”, for something very different happened. Joseph has just heard that his betrothed is with child and is considering divorcing her privately. An angel speaks to him in his sleep commanding him to take Mary as his wife because the Child is of the Holy Spirit. At verse 21, Joseph is also told to name the Child,

 “…Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

In the next verse Matthew tells us that this is a fulfilment of Isaiah 7:14,

 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a Son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which is translated, ‘God with us’.”

This is good news. These two scriptures give us the beginnings of two great doctrines of the Christian faith: the Incarnation of the Son of God, and His saving death on the cross for all the sins of humanity. Up until this time, sin had dominion over the human race. In Genesis 6:5, we read that God saw,

“…the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

And Paul says in Romans 3:23,

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

But now God has changed everything. He sent His Son in human flesh to die for us so that we would no longer be under the power of sin and death.

You might respond that this is all fine and dandy; but what does it have to do with me today? What does this game-changer look like in our own daily lives? It sounds just like theory. What does it mean in the nuts and bolts of practical living?

Part of my work has been to give spiritual counselling to young men coming off drugs and alcohol abuse. Two such young men in the past few years seemed beyond change. One of them surprised me at a banquet and informed me that he had been “clean” for over a year and was active in a church. The other contacted me and told me he was getting baptized. Even today, I have been mentoring another young man who has been struggling valiantly against alcohol abuse and an illegal substance known on the street as “crystal meth”. He has been free barely a month, yet he lives in a stable situation with a group of supportive men in similar circumstances. He is being trained up in the scriptures and his whole attitude has changed. I have known him for seven years and there have been many set backs. But the words that come from his mouth today clearly show that the Holy Spirit is working in him. In his actions he has become less self-absorbed and has even begun to minister to others on the street.

My friend, Jesus Christ is a life-changing Saviour! At Christmas time we celebrate His entry into our broken world. As you honestly look at yourself, do you see that you need to change? Turn to Jesus and cling to Him! He is God’s ultimate game changer!

“May it never be that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ through whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.” Galatians 6:14

Last weekend I heard of a term that I had not been familiar with: “Chrislam”. It is a philosophical goulash of Christianity and Islam that originated in Nigeria in the 1980’s. If you “google” the term you will see that some have described it as a syncretistic blend of the two world religions, a term that implies an attempt to merge incompatible beliefs. Another way of putting this is to say that Christianity and Islam are oil and water; it would be foolhardy to try and combine them. But, as I‘m sure you have heard, nothing is foolproof to the sufficiently enterprising fool! It’s what I call, “Man’s Plans”: messing with God’s salvation so that we can take some credit for it. Though there are similarities between Islam and Christianity, at the core their teachings are mutually contradictory. For example, the Q’uran teaches that Jesus is a prophet and did not die on the cross. Whereas, the Bible teaches clearly that Jesus is the Only Son of God (John 1:1-4,14), who died on the cross for the salvation of the world (Matt 1:21; 20:17-19), who rose again on the third day (Luke 24:36-43) and commanded His followers to proclaim His Gospel (Mark 16:15-18) that all who believe in Him would inherit eternal life (John 3:16).

As we look at the New Testament it’s clear that the first Apostles were proclaiming a revealed faith; that is, it was God’s idea, not humanity’s. The only part that we played was our neediness. Genesis 6:5 contains a triple declaration of the depravity of man just prior to the Flood. As Paul said at Romans 3:23, “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” It’s the bad news that made necessary the Good News. The name, Jesus means “The Lord’s Salvation”. Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection was God’s salvation of humankind. That’s why Paul could talk of boasting in the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It was something that God has done, God’s salvation. The only way to possess it was to submit to it, and every day stand under the cross so that the old life of the world is crucified to us and we to the world.

A word/picture of this would be the popular Christmas Carol, “In the Bleak Mid Winter” by Christina Rossetti. The first stanza states the problem of humanity:

“In the bleak mid winter, frosty wind made moan

Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone

Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow.

In the bleak mid winter, long ago.”

The hardness of the bleak mid winter reflects the hardness of the human heart, wasted by layers of sin and self destruction. Into this sad world comes Jesus Christ. Not just a prophet this time or some holy man, but the Only Son of God. The second stanza continues:

“Our God, heav’n cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain

Heav’n and earth shall flee away, when He comes to reign

In the bleak mid winter, a stable place suffic’d

The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.”

What should our response be to God’s salvation? In the last stanza it is beautifully and simply told.

“What can I give Him, poor as I am

If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb

If I were a wise man, I would do my part.

What can I give Him; give my heart.”

This is the true meaning of Christmas: God’s Son coming into a lost, sinful world and bringing God’s salvation, the cross of Jesus Christ. And surely the only worthy response to God’s amazing love is to give Him our hearts.

I’ve been re-reading the book, “The Body” by Chuck Colson. In the last chapter, entitled “Coram Deo” (face to face with God), Chuck tells the story of two men who became friends but whose lives could not have been more divergent. Rusty Woomer was a convicted murderer and rapist on death row whose crimes had shocked his community. Bob McAlister was a gifted communications expert who had developed a career in broadcasting which led him to the position of deputy chief of staff in the Statehouse of the Governor of South Carolina.  Rusty was born into the family of an alcoholic father and an abused mother who were struggling in poverty. He soon discovered drugs and alcohol as a way of dulling his pain and found his way into juvenile court and later correctional centres for petty crime. In his mid twenties and drugged out, he went on a rampage of multiple murders and rape until cornered and captured by police in a seaside motel. Bob had been brought up in a middle class family where hard work, Little League baseball, fishing and Sunday worship were common place.

But if these men had led different lives, they had at least one thing in common: they both had an encounter with God. Bob’s meeting with God was not a grand theophany. He had already experienced one failed marriage due to overwork. His new wife challenged him to change and he returned to his spiritual roots; studying the Bible and seeking God’s purpose for his life. This led him to volunteer at a South Carolina penitentiary. One late Friday afternoon he was getting ready to go home when he decided to do one more visit. He walked up to one cell and was almost physically sick. There was a stench coming from the cell due to refuse and left over food. The inhabitant of the cell, Rusty Woomer stank too. He seemed to be in a trance as he lay there with cockroaches crawling over him. Bob prayed the name of Jesus over the cell and began to call out to Rusty, saying, “Rusty, call on Jesus! Just say the name of Jesus!”  Nothing happened at first, then Rusty’s lips began to move, “Jesus,” he whispered. “Jesus!” Rusty seemed to come to his senses and a few seconds later, at Bob’s appeal, he turned his life over to the Lord. When Bob returned on Monday, he was greeted with the smell of disinfectant, a spotless cell and a smiling, peaceful, Rusty Woomer. How did a man so messed up become so transformed?

In Romans 10:13, Paul quotes the Prophet Joel in proclaiming, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Both Rusty and Bob called on His Name in different ways. But they both had a saving encounter with the Mercy of God: a self-absorbed professional became a preacher of the Good News; a convicted killer and rapist became a repentant lover of Jesus. How wonderful is the Mercy of God, so definitively expressed in the Blood of the Only Son of God shed for humanity!

Rusty’s story was bitter sweet; after many appeals he was sent to the electric chair. But before he died he said this: “I claim Jesus Christ as my Saviour. My only wish is that everyone in the world could feel the love I have felt from him.”  Christmas is such a special time when we think of God sending His Only Son so that we would not perish but enjoy eternal life. Do you know the love of Jesus Christ? Have you experienced the Mercy of God? My prayer this Christmas is that you would turn from sin and accept the love of a merciful God.

Psalm 146:5-9

“Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

Whose hope is in the Lord his God,

…the Maker of heaven and earth…

The Lord who remains faithful for ever.

He upholds the cause of the oppressed

And gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets prisoners free…watches over the alien,

And sustains the fatherless and the widow.”

Have you ever noticed how practical God’s love is? There is indeed a lot of “theory” in the Bible; principles to live by, questions of doctrine and theology. But God goes beyond the theory to the practical. He’s a God of the details as well as the general picture. The cause of the oppressed, the hungry and those in captivity are of great concern to Him. In Exodus 3:7-9, God sees the plight of His people in slavery and is concerned about their suffering. In the next verse, He sends Moses to rescue them, the very thing that they needed. Of course, Moses baulks at this, but God “persuades” him to respond in obedience to his call. As we would say today, this wasn’t his first choice, but he submits to God and takes steps that eventually lead to the freedom of his people in a new land.

Likewise, if the Church is truly caught up in the love of Christ, it will be driven beyond the theory. I have the sense that the vast majority of North American Christians are locked into a purely theoretical understanding of Christianity. They themselves seem to be at the mercy of greedy careers, family demands, and overall busy lifestyles that sap them of energy and reduce their spirituality to a Sunday experience of sacred space. Some clear intentionality will be needed here to look outside of ourselves and, like the God that we worship, will to be concerned at the suffering of our neighbours. The Scriptures teach us that WE carry the sacred space within us. Though we walk in broken flesh, the Spirit of Christ is in us prompting us to be the Good News as well as speaking it, and so let our hands catch up with our mouths.

I love Alistair Sim’s version of “Scrooge” in the BBC’s rendering of Dickens’ “Christmas Carol”. As soon as Scrooge repents after the visit of the last of the spirits of Christmas, he becomes a new person, hardly recognizable from what he was before. After his dance for joy, he procures a turkey for the Cratchit family and gives a very generous Christmas gift to his impoverished housekeeper. His genuine conversion had to somehow take flight out of himself.

I believe the same is true of us. Our faith and hope are driven to become visible in practical love. Some have called this, “sacramental”: being the concrete sign of the Risen Christ in our generation. Is not this what we are called to be? And it begins with the proclamation of Jesus Christ, Crucified and Risen for us. By focussing on Him who was poured out for us, we are filled with His Spirit, and in turn sent to be poured out for our generation.

“For Christ is the fulfilment of law to righteousness

For all who believe.” (ie in Him)

I don’t know if you’ve ever asked anyone for directions and they’ve responded, “You can’t get there from here!” If we’re ever on a journey, we seem to take our starting point for granted. Even if we use a GPS to get directions to somewhere, it first needs to know where we’re at. Paul had a similar experience in his day. He was trying to tell the Jews and Gentiles of his world that we cannot arrive at the righteousness of God from the righteousness of man. It’s simply the wrong starting point. Put another way, we cannot ultimately please God by our efforts to do good and avoid evil. Why? Because we consistently fail at His bar. Earlier in Romans 7:18, Paul said, “…For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.”   Paul’s starting point was clear. Human beings just can’t keep law. We have a track record of failure.

Well, how then will God save us, you might ask? Ah, that’s where Romans 10:3 comes in. Since we cannot achieve God’s righteousness ourselves, we need someone else to do it for us: Jesus Christ. He did this by His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. When we truly believe in Him as our Lord and Saviour, we have immediate access to the righteousness of the Only Son of God. It’s the deal of all time: we get to swap our sinfulness for His righteousness. Put another way, by the act of faith in Him (which is really surrender), the holiness of God’s Son is accredited to us. It is an outrageous act of God’s grace.

The alternative, of course is to remain stuck in our own self-righteousness. We see a lot of this in the media. Have you ever noticed how those who are self-righteous are quick to judge another? Judging another is a dead giveaway that we’re really into our own righteousness. Examples abound of politicians or T.V. personalities who have been denounced for perceived crimes and character flaws. It’s amazing how public opinion now seems to consider itself to be the sole arbiter of a person’s guilt or innocence. Judging others has become a national pastime. When we participate in this, we promote our own righteousness before the world. We become by definition, self-righteous. However like Paul, we must say that there is “nothing good in our flesh.” For in acknowledging the truth about ourselves we turn to our Saviour who alone is righteous. And when we believe in Him, we find our true starting point. The only starting point for God’s righteousness is God’s righteousness!

I remember listening to a pastor explaining that he was not a shepherd. He stated that Jesus was the True Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, the Only Shepherd. He then went on to say that he considered himself to be the Shepherd’s dog. The Shepherd Dog watches over the sheep, protects them and guides them in the way of the Shepherd. This image has always stayed with me. Back in Scotland where I grew up, shepherd dogs were called collies. For the past fifty odd years, I’ve either been preparing to be a pastor or actually being one. So I thought it appropriate to name this blog, “godscollie”. I don’t know if you have ever watched a border collie herding the sheep. The shepherd communicates with the dog by different types of whistles or commands. The dog really has to watch and listen to the shepherd very carefully. So this first blog is as much to my self as anyone else, be they pastor or not. I must watch and listen to the Master very carefully; because the sheep belong to Him and to no one else. The Shepherd gives the commands; the shepherd dog carries them out with devotion.