Core Value: Loving

Over the last few Sundays at CBC we have been recapping and reviewing our Vision. For the next seven Sundays we're going to be looking at our seven Core Values. The Core Values are:

Loving, Welcoming, Missional, Servant-hearted, Biblical, Spirit-led and Prayerful

Whereas a Vision is about a destination - this is what God is calling us to - our Values are about who we are. And so in terms of decision making our Vision helps us by forcing us to ask the question, 'is doing X going to help us in our journey to become ...?' But our Values help us in our decision making process because they force us to reflect on who we are - and it is this knowledge that shapes how we act and respond.

Although these values are not listed in any kind of order of priority it is appropriate that we start with love. Jesus taught his disciples that the whole of the law hangs on two commands - to love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind; and to love your neighbour as yourself (e.g. Luke 10:25-37).

Later in the New Testament, Paul teaches that no matter how gifted we are, or what we are able to achieve, unless we are acting in love it is all of no more value than the noise of a clanging cymbal (1 Corinthians 13:1-13).

There are many people in today's world who have a very mixed up view of what love looks like. Fortunately, as we read through the gospels we discover what love looks like - in the person of Jesus. God is not just loving - God is love (1 John 4:16).

But this picture of love that we discover in the gospels is both comforting and challenging. It is comforting to know that even though God knows everything there is to know about us Jesus still loved us so much that he was prepared to die on the cross (Romans 5:8).

But it is challenging to know that we are called to love in this totally giving, self-sacrificial way. Demonstrating our love to our enemies as well as our friends.

But this is only possible when we know that we are loved by God. We are only able to love because God has loved us first (1 John 4:19). Everything that we do has to be motivated out of love. Our actions are our response to the love of God that we have already experienced.

So everything that we do and everything that we say is shaped by our knowledge and experience of God's love for us, our love for God and a genuine love for others.

Love is...

Seeking to be an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God, alongside each other and seeing lives transformed

Over the last eight Fridays we have been exploring our Vision. If you missed any of these posts use the links above to catch up, or the Vision label at the bottom of the page.

The purpose of our Vision Statement is to give us an idea of where we are headed.

As well as a new Vision we also set out our Core Values - these values help us to understand who we are. All that we do and all that we say should be shaped by our Core Values.

Our Core Values are:

Loving, Welcoming, Missional, Servant-hearted, Biblical, Spirit-led and Prayerful

Although these values are not listed in any kind of order of priority it is appropriate that we start with love. Jesus taught his disciples that the whole of the law hangs on two commands - to love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind; and to love your neighbour as yourself (e.g. Luke 10:25-37).

Later in the New Testament, Paul teaches that no matter how gifted we are, or what we are able to achieve, unless we are acting in love it is all of no more value than the noise of a clanging cymbal (1 Corinthians 13:1-13).

There are many people in today's world who have a very mixed up view of what love looks like. Fortunately as we read through the gospels we discover what love looks like - in the person of Jesus. God is not just loving - God is love (1 John 4:16).

But this picture of love that we discover in the gospels is both comforting and challenging. It is comforting to know that even though God knows everything there is to know about us  Jesus still loved us so much that he was prepared to die on the cross (Romans 5:8).

But it is challenging to know that we are called to love in this totally giving, self-sacrificial way. Demonstrating our love to our enemies as well as our friends.

But this is only possible when we know that we are loved by God. We are only able to love because God has loved us first (1 John 4:19). Everything that we do has to be motivated out of love. Our actions are our response to the love of God that we have already experienced.

So everything that we do and everything that we say is shaped by our knowledge and experience of God's love for us, our love for God and a genuine love for others.

Adultery, Murder and the Forgiveness of God

I guess there are lots of big questions that people ask about God, and if everyone who read this page was to post a question or two I'm sure we'd have an interesting and varied selection. But among those questions, 'Is there a god?', 'What's this god like?' and 'How do I make sure I'm on the right side of this god?' are questions that have challenged and shaped people and societies throughout history.

Left to our own devices our experience often shapes the way we think about god. This is true for those who have been brought up with an understanding of the God that we read about in the Bible. Because of the language of the Bible and the culture of the church our understanding of God and our relationship with God is often shaped by our relationship to key male characters - our father, a head master etc. These earthly relationships can then have a very positive or negative impact on the way we see God.

Am I acceptable to God? What about when I mess up? How far can I go before God will give up on me? Have I already gone too far? Surely God can't love me after all I have done?

Over the last two Sundays we have been looking at the story of King David and how he seriously messed up. He committed adultery with a woman called Bathsheba, abusing his position and authority as king - and then in an attempt to keep things quiet he had her husband Uriah murdered. The story is told in 2 Samuel 11 and 12. But God saw it all and did not like what he saw - and he sent the prophet Nathan to challenge David.

David's immediate response was to acknowledge his wrong doing and to confess his sin. Unlike king Saul before him he did not try to justify his actions or make excuses or deny it was him. And it was in the light of this experience that David wrote Psalm 51.

David messed up big time, but he also experienced the forgiveness of God. We can know that too.

David relied on God's love, mercy, and compassion - not on his own ability, worthiness or goodness. The Bible is full of statements about the character of God and the promises of God. Have a look at Lamentations 3:22-23, Ephesians 2:4-9 and 1 John 1:9 as a starter.

David confessed his sin and asked for forgiveness. Jesus' death on the cross means that we can know our sin forgiven and a new start.

David's response to the love and mercy of God was a desire to live God's way - create in me a pure heart. Our motivation to do things God's way is not a sense of duty, it is not fear of punishment, it is love for all that God has done for us.

A Bucket full of Love

Given the option of knowing exactly when you were going to die would you want to, or not? According to Morgan Freeman in The Bucket List, 96% of people would say 'no'.



But often when we are confronted with our own mortality things come into a sharper focus than before. Suddenly there are things that we want to do with the time we have left.

In 1 Peter 4:7-11 Peter passes on some instructions to his readers about what their priorities should be given that the end is near. None of us can be sure when the end will be. We may think we have another 20, 30, 40 years or more, but we don't know what is just around the corner. The Bible also tells us that time will come to an end - but it doesn't tell us when that will be.

But Peter wants us to live as if it could be today. And the most important thing, he says, above all else, no matter what else you think you need to do, is to love each other deeply. And this is only possible when we have already accepted the love that God has for us. We have been forgiven so much - and therefore we love each other, and allow that love to cover a multitude of sins.

See the best in people this week, rather than suspect the worst. Put the needs of others before your own needs. Be generous and big hearted. Do something kind and unexpected for someone.

The Shack

There are some topics/themes/subjects that are best dealt with through stories - because we need to be involved at the level of our emotions and feelings. Looking at academic arguments carefully laid out in essays, or even picking verses from the Bible, doesn't help us find answers to our deepest questions, because somewhere along the line the theory has to meet the experience - and the answers begin to come out of the wreckage of that collision!

Questions such as 'why does God allow suffering?', 'how can I forgive ...?', 'where is God in my pain?' can be relatively easy to answer in the classroom of a Bible college (especially if you have a background in philosophy as well as theology), but how do those answers prepare us to come face to face with the reality in our own lives and in the lives of those we love?

This is a book that begins to tackle some of these questions - but it does so in a way that won't leave you with answers in your head that you could put in an essay, but in a way that could potentially change your life.

I am aware that I do not want to give too much away - as it will spoil your enjoyment when you come to read the book, as I hope you will. So as far as outline I will give you no more than is written on the back cover. This book is about a father, Mack, whose youngest daughter, Missy, is abducted during a family holiday and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later, and still struggling to come to terms with what happened, Mack receives a note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend.

Against his better judgement he arrives at the shack and walks back into his nightmare. What he finds there will change his world forever. And as you read about Mack's experience and what he found there in the Shack it may change your world forever too.

I found this a fascinating work of fiction, that raises questions, answers others, and has the potential to radically alter the way we think about God and ourselves. From a quick read on different Internet sites it is clearly a book that polarises opinion - from 'this book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress did for his. It's that good' to 'Heresy'.

I know there are some pastors who have told their congregations not to read this book and it won't take long to find online reviews that pull it to pieces, making the case that it undermines the Bible etc.

But I want to encourage you to read it, to enjoy it, to cry and be moved by it, to wrestle with the questions it raises, to disagree with some bits if you want, to skip over bits that blow your mind if you want, to read it again, to talk about it with your housegroup, to leave a comment below... and you never know - maybe you'll be a different person as a result.

Let me know what you think.

Hard things to accept

There are somethings that we find really hard to believe. There a God, it will be sunny this summer, Exeter City may get promotion again this year... But one of the hardest things many people find hard to believe is that God loves me as I am, and there is nothing that I can do that will make Him love me less.

This Sunday, we meet a woman (Luke 7:36-50), who met Jesus and accepted that everything in her past could be dealt with, and that God's love and forgiveness was for her. But where do we fit in this story? Do we identify with the Pharisee and because of our good deeds and self denial think that we're actually ok, and in no need of God's forgiveness? Do we identify with this un-named woman and joyfully accept God's love and forgiveness?

Or do we look on at this woman, and wish that that could be us, but when push comes to shove we do not believe that God can love and forgive us, because what we've done is just too bad. The good news is that there is nothing we can do that will make God love us less. There is nothing that we can ever do that alters the fact that God loved us so much that Jesus died for us so that we can know God's forgiveness. Rather than doubt God's love, let's embrace it and be totally overwhelmed by it - like the woman in this story.

Click here to listen to this message.

What really happened at Jericho

Not many military commanders would come up with the campaign strategy that we read of in Joshua 6. The approach to taking the city of Jericho was: 1) circumcise the whole army, 2) march around the city blowing trumpets and 3) after doing this for a week everyone was to shout. We are told that parts of the city wall were 20 feet thick and 25 feet high. Trumpets and shouting don't sound the best approach.

We thought we'd try it at church this morning on a smaller scale.



As you can see - nothing happened. Maybe we didn't march long enough or shout loud enough. Or maybe that was the whole point. God told Joshua in verse 2 that He was going to give them the city - they just had to be obedient to all of God's instructions. For this battle belonged to God.

What battles are you in at the moment? Are these battles that you should be in? 5:13-15 reminds us that God is not the sort of god who can be summoned on demand to give us success. Instead we should be getting involved in the struggles He is already involved in. And then we need to check that we're fighting our battles with God's weapons rather than the world's weapons. Ephesians 6:12 and 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 remind us that we are in a spiritual battle. And as disciples of Jesus we use the weapons of love rather than hatred and revenge, we look to be last rather than first, we seek first His kingdom rather than our own agenda... It might seem crazy at the time, but no more crazy than shouting at a wall and expecting it to fall down.

For Better, or Worse

As we continue our journey through Ephesians we come to a passage that has been misunderstood, misused and abused over the years. It can be very easy to make the Bible say what you want it to say - sometimes this is deliberate, other times it is unintentional. [This is why we have been working through our 'Using the Bible' course - to help us understand and apply the Bible better].

Ephesians 5:22-24 have been used to justify various kinds of abuse against women: physical, emotional, spiritual, psychological... At other times they have been used to encourage an attitude of silence towards such abuses - whereas the verses we read last week could have been used to encourage the exposing of such sin. Instead the prevailing attitude was that what goes on in the home should stay in the home.

But a reading of these verses that allows any room for any kind of abuse against anyone is quite wrong. Although these verses talk about a woman submitting to her husband in everything because he is the head of the wife we must read the immediate and wider context.

The immediate context (building again on the 'theory' of chapters 1-3) is that we are to submit to one another. This is mutual submission. Everyone to everyone else - whether male or female, Jew or Gentile, black or white, slave or free, rich or poor, in work or out of work...

And the command to the husband is to love his wife with the love that Jesus had for the church - that is the love that took Jesus to the cross even while we were still enemies of God. This is a totally self-sacrificial love that will put the interests of a wife ahead of its own.

So what does it mean for the husband to be the head of the wife? I believe that we are submit to each other. We are commanded to love each other. But God has given the husband the responsibility for his family - and he will be accountable to God for this. Decisions generally will be made through discussion and agreement - but when a stalemate is reached the husband makes the final decision - having lovingly put the interests of his wife before his own. When there has been an argument and bed time is approaching it is the husband's responsibility to make the first move to put things right (as instructed in 4:26).

A final word to overbearing parents. Verse 31 reminds us that when your children get married they enter into a new relationship and a new chapter in their lives. It is not your place to interfere. Some parents just can't help themselves and without trying they come between their son/daughter and their new wife/husband. They expect that they'll be around every Sunday for lunch and every year on Christmas day - just as before. They expect to be consulted about every decision. When your children get married, you have to let go. This doesn't mean you don't love them or they don't love you or that you won't be there when they need you. It just means that things are different now - because they are.

Copy Cat

Children learn by copying. My youngest daughter copies her older sister and I often catch the older one, who's three, deliberately copying me - whether it be the way I'm standing, maybe I'm tapping my foot, or something that I say. When we're growing up we learn by immitating what those around us do.

This week we've looked at Ephesians 5:1-20. Paul is in the middle of giving instructions on how to live as a follower of Jesus. And into the middle he commands that we should follow God's example. The immediate context is forgiveness and love. The underlying principle of Christian behaviour is love. We immitate a God who is not just loving (although He is) - rather God is love. It is not possible to properly understand or define love without reference to God. 1 John 3:16 says, 'This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for one another.'

When God is talking about love it is something that gives, something that puts others first, something that is self-sacrificial. Children learn by copying those they spend time with. As a follower of Jesus, I should be learning what it means to live a life characterised by love - by immitating the character of Jesus, which I read about in the Bible, and as I spend time with other disciples who are also walking this path.

Do you want the Good News or Bad News First?

Given the option of good news or bad news I would always go for the bad news first - get that over and done with, and then end up with the good news. In Ephesians 2:1-10 Paul starts with the bad news and then moves on to the good news. Paul is writing to encourage Christians who were living at a time when declaring allegiance to Jesus was considered treason against Caesar (who at the time was Nero). Being a Christian was enough to potentially bring all the power of the Empire against you and lead to your death, maybe even by crucifixion.

The contrast between the bad news and the good news is dramatic. The bad news is a description of where they were spiritually before the became followers of Jesus. The good news is a description of where they are now spiritually, now that they are following Jesus. Before they became followers of Jesus they followed the ways of this world - they fitted in with how things were, they kept their heads down, they did what they wanted - they certainly did little that would have resulted in execution or prison at the hands of the Roman authorities (remember that Paul is writing from prison in Rome in about AD 60). I imagine that life was certainly less of a struggle before. So why on earth would people decide to follow Jesus in that particular context?

It is because of the reality of what Paul refers to in Ephesians as the 'heavenly realms'. The spiritual dimension that exists. The fact that this life is not just about what you can see, touch, measure, buy, sell... And so whilst what goes on in this world is important we must not lose sight of what goes on in the spiritual dimension. And so from prison, Paul is able to encourage these people who believe in Jesus. And he encourages them that the God they are following is love. That this God won't treat them like they deserve to be treated, but rather has made them spiritually alive, where once they were spiritually dead.

And this amazing contrast is only possible because of God. There is nothing we can do that will make God love us more and there is nothing we can do that will make God love us less. This transformation from death to life is a gift from God, paid for by Jesus' death on the cross. Whatever we are facing this week let us be encouraged by this wonderful truth.

To listen to this message click here.

Guess who's coming to dinner

In Luke 15 Jesus tells three parables - the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son - in response to the mutterings of the religious leaders, 'This man welcomes sinners and eats with them'. These are the men who were supposed to be leading the people to God, and yet it is the tax collectors and sinners who are behaving like good disciples - by gathering and listening to Jesus. And so Jesus tells them three parables to try and communicate God's love for those who are 'lost' - those who are on the outside of the kingdom.

God loves those who are on the outside and wants nothing more than for them to be drawn to the inside. And so Jesus spent time with and welcomed those who were traditionally thought to be so far out that there was no hope of them ever getting in! He even went as far as to openly eat with them - threatening ritual impurity and even jeopardising his own position as one of those understood to be 'in'. Jesus came to seek and to save those who were lost (Luke 19:10).

But for those who see themselves on the inside it can be hard to accept that outsiders have become insiders. The free gift of God's love, His mercy (not treating us as we deserve to be treated) and His grace (treating us as we don't deserve to be treated) are available to all who repent - but sometimes we add all kinds of other requirements. Whilst there may be a party in heaven when one sinner repents, that 'sinner' can be met with suspicion and a cold shoulder. Acceptance can be slow in coming and even then it is only after all kinds of other things have had to change first - so that the outsider now looks and sounds and behaves like an insider!

The younger son had done some bad stuff and let his whole family down in a big way. Yet his father still loved him and was ready to forgive and welcome him back as a true son. When we 'come to our senses' we recognise just how much God loves us and how much He has forgiven us. And part of our response, part of our worship, should be an overflow of the loving welcome God gave us. And so we become those who welcome others and eat with them.

The older brother was also his father's son. And yet he never really lived that way. Did he ever ask his father for a goat? For surely the father that said 'yes' to the younger boys request would not have denied his older boy a goat roast. Sometimes we lose sight of the love of God and the joy goes out of our relationship with Him. We do what we do out of a sense of duty, somehow earning God's favour, trying to repay our debt... Yet God wants us to love Him. We obey Him because we love Him, not because we're scared of Him. And because we love God, and know that God loves us, we're able to love and welcome and eat with others - both those on the inside and those on the outside.

The tragedy for the self-appointed insiders in this story is that by the end they find themselves with the elder brother on the outside, while the party goes on inside.

How would the church be different if we made seeking the lost a priority and were serious about welcoming the outsider?

Click here to listen to this message from Pastor Keith. 24 February 2008. Camrose Baptist Church.

The Good Samaritan - an Oxymoron

For most of the people listening to Jesus (Luke 10:25-37) there was no such thing as a Good Samaritan. There were plenty of Samaritans, but 'good' was not a suitable adjective to describe any of them.

Jesus has been involved in a discussion about eternal life, loving God, loving your neighbour, and 'just who is my neighbour?' And to help us get it he tells that well known story of the Good Samaritan. The man who helps a fellow human being who is in need, simply because he is in need and he can help - irrespective of what it will cost him, irrespective of the inconvenience, irrespective of the cultural or religious barriers that potentially could get in the way. Jesus is showing us, by painting this picture, that our love for God is demonstrated in the way we love others - even those who we may consider to be our enemies. The two (loving God - loving others) can't be separated from each other.

There are (at least) four levels of response we can make to any parable. 1) Nice story. 2) Nice story - but I wonder what the point is? 3) If that's the point - what does it mean for me? 4) Actually making a life-style change in the light of the point of the parable.

One of the dangers with a parable like this is that we easily answer levels 1-3, but when it comes to level 4 we generalise - so we talk about terrorists, rapists, murderers... But I don't believe that is the point Jesus is making. Jesus is saying that your neighbour is that person in need who you are going to come across tomorrow. They might be your best friend. They might be that person who really winds you up. They might be the atheist who is always having a go at your faith. They may even be a Man. Utd. fan. Who they are is irrelevant. What is important is that you demonstrate your love for God by the way you meet their need. Or do you cross over the road and leave it to someone else?

What difference would it make to the point of the story if the Samaritan got robbed and was helped by an ordinary Jew? The main point, I believe, would be the same. But, with the story as Jesus told it, we are alerted to the danger of painting whole groups of people with the same brush. We live, here in London, in a very multicultural, multi faith environment. And it can be very easy to adopt stereotypes. But that's wrong. Within every community there are individuals who will demonstrate compassion and love toward those who are in need. Young people, for example, generally get a really bad press - whenever they're in the news it's to do with drugs, drink, knives, guns, stealing, threatening behaviour, antisocial behaviour... But that is only a small fraction of the whole picture.

To listen to this message from Keith click here. This message included the Nooma DVD 009 Bullhorn by Rob Bell. For copyright reasons this has been removed from the audio. To see an extract from this short video click here.