Dear Friends,
It is September once again! Many will want to ask, “Where has the year gone?” and may be moaning over the incomplete plans that been made for the summer or the earlier part of the year. It is so easy to waste time and effort trying to recoup ‘lost’ time. The sad fact is that once time has gone; it has gone. We can never get it back, so what should our priorities be at this time.
For the poet, John Keats, in his Ode To Autumn it was a time of thanksgiving for the benefits of summer, a “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,” So let’s take time to thank God for all that has happened and been achieved.
For the younger members of our congregation it is a time of getting back to school and the discipline of preparing for exams that might need to be attempted next summer. For us as a church it is a time of restarting the ministries that have been in recess during the summer months. In each of these situations the need is for focussing on the priorities.
We have been praying for and considering the work amongst the children and youth of our congregation. We have lost a number of our key workers. In such a situation it is easy to ask the question, “Can the work continue?” I am not going to attempt to answer that question, instead I want us to consider 2 passages of Scripture.
And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel. (Judges 2:10)
You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (2 Tim 2:1,2)
Both of these passages show that every generation has a responsibility to prepare the rising generation. The first describes a tragic situation. A generation that had known the immediate care of God allowed another generation to grow up and yet live without the conscious presence of God. In the second Paul has learnt the lessons of the earlier generation and is calling on his ‘spiritual child’ Timothy to make sure that he equips people to pass on the message to the rising generations.
To be fair to the OT generation, we must give them the benefit of the doubt. The Book of Joshua shows how public worship was given priority by the people entering the Promised Land. I would imagine that they consciously observed the annual feasts as well as carrying out the responsibilities of Dt. 6:7-9
You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. …
The facts are, however, that we can do and say the right thing, but with the wrong attitude and with the wrong spirit. Earlier verses show the spirit in which this should have been done,
that you may fear the LORD your God,(v.2) … and You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.(v.5).
As we consider the needs within the church, do we fear and love the Lord, because that will motivate and shape our responses.
Before Paul challenged Timothy with his responsibilities he had reminded him of his position in Christ, and the resources that are ours as believers, … “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control”. (2 Tim. 1:7) Again we see this emphasis on love, but also a huge confidence in God and all that He provides.
It is important that we know the facts of God’s dealings with His people. If we try to build our Christian lives isolated from those who have gone before us then we will produce a lop-sided form of Christianity. If we are satisfied with being able to relate the facts of Christianity, then our faith is simply in the mind. It is vital that we experience the facts of Christianity and the God of Christianity. We cannot be content with an experience of God that dates back to the 60’s or 70’s, we need to ask God for a fresh experience of Himself daily. Paul wrote about Timothy’s fear and we can only deal with fear when we are filled with God’s sustaining grace.
The challenges that we face are great, but Paul wrote “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Phil 4:13) and that has to be the confidence that drives each of us to face the challenges of our day and as we set the priorities for another term of service.
Your Pastor and Fellow-worker,
Bernard Lewis September 2011
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