Different shades of poverty

Poverty - surely one of the great blights of this world we inhabit. Millions upon millions living on our below invisible but very real poverty lines. I hate it but can't help noticing the incredible dignity I witness amongst 'the poorer' people of this world. On a few occasions in Dublin I have witnessed rude and arrogant behaviour by a section of Irish people toward people working at McDonalds or in shops that originate in other contexts, mostly 'poorer' than our own. The thing that angers me is the apparent superiority that is assumed in such situations. On several occasions I have been left amazed at the patience and respect shown to people who at that moment frankly do not deserve it...Grace.

Poverty is most obvious in its material sense. I am humbled by the generosity of the Irish people. Any charitable fund-raising I have done here has always been met with incredible enthusiasm and support from neighbours and even strangers in our community. Amazing! Thank God for the Irish!

Having lived 5 years of my life in India I have witnessed poverty, real poverty, right up close. Since returning to Dublin life has not always been easy for us either, but this is a relative thing given the laptop, car, clothes, equipment and so on we own. We are blessed, we just don't always recognise it!

Poverty though is not only 'material' in nature (money, possessions etc)There are other types of poverty....

Motivational poverty is evident amongst many in our time. Take the true meaning out of why you are alive and you have to replace it with something else, right? After a while those substitutes become 'hollow' in our chests. Others find that the spirit of the age - that its all about 'us' isn't all it was cracked up to be. Those who give themselves away learn 'its more blessed to give than receive'

Others experience poverty in relationships or a lack of any sense of community that means that we could live in a mansion in Beverly Hills but be lonely, have had multiple marriages and surrounded by shallow people who love them for what they can get rather than who they are. That friends is a disease.

Finally there is spiritual poverty.

People in the West are starting to wake up to the fact that if you ignore this or try to bury it you bury yourself alive.

Many are looking here and there to the latest new age philosophy to fill the gap. Jesus Christ proclaimed Himself as the answer and this was attested by signs, wonders, miracles and the deep witness of the Holy Spirit amongst many. This continues worldwide today. His death can become to us new life.

Let me conclude by nailing this straight between the eyes. I believe in the Gospel - literally meaning 'good news' (!) - in Jesus Christ. Believing in Him opens the door to a God who loves us and as we trust in Him, even the poor become 'rich' in faith! He is also the God of the break-through, while the Gospel firstly deals with my sinful heart of independence from God and all those consequences, He has told us to expect the love of a Father who gives good gifts to His children! There are no orphans in God's family, all are fully adopted as 'sons'. Expect breakthrough if not a pain-free ride!

Read the following and be encouraged today in our God who has come to meet this world in its 'total state of poverty',

1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,[a]
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.
4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations
Isaiah 61v1-4

Is there such a thing as a Christless Christianity?

What seems like a bizarre question needs a little clarification in what I mean here!

I have spoken to many in Ireland who refer to Christianity as the 'religion' that they adhere to, with the noteably inference being the church denomination or style that they are most comfortable with ie. 'my religion is Catholic or Church of this or that... or Pentecostal' and so on.

In writing this blog I am aware of many in our nation whose 'Christianity' is more about a cultural association or a style preference than about Christ. Nor is simply knowing there IS a God surely what Jesus came to achieve, even the demons know that a God exists, and tremble at His name!

If any of this is true of you, then don't hang up the phone just yet!

Jesus hated 'religion'! 'Religion' is what we might refer to as 'man's efforts to reach out to God' without the 'key to knowledge', that is Jesus Christ Himself! (see verse below)

"Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering' Luke 11v52

In Luke 16v16 we have a record of Jesus saying...

"The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it"

This means that Christ (whom John the Baptist was preparing people for)
was the end and the fulfilment of the Law and the Prophet's message. Put simply everything that had come before was pointing to the coming of 'the Christ', God's promised One,

"Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes" Romans 10v4

The Key to Knoweledge, that is lacking in so many lives,even those who may refer to themselves as 'Christian' by association, is JESUS CHRIST and HIS GOSPEL (Good News)

- without this we have no true knowledge (literally intimacy) with God!

Christianity is not a set of moral standards or a mid-life improvement scheme! Christianity is not just some kind of association to a religious code or denomination. No, Christianity is about Jesus - the Saviour and the new life we find in Him.

He died and rose again from death not so that we could 'improve' morally but rather so that we could 'die' to our fallen/sinful nature and be 'raised' with a brand new 'heart' (or spirit) and then walk with personal intimacy with God in and through the indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit. All this happens only as and when Christ's sacrifice is credited to us too through faith. Otherwise the cross is meaningless to us....

Any other Christianity is surely a Christ-less Christianity. We can learn moral lessons from Jesus' life and teaching and still remain 'Christless' by failing to accept His gift of Grace in faith. Nothing else will make us His 'child'. Everything else will leave us with a 'Christless Christianity'...

What about you?

Please contact me at jjshiels@gmail.com if you would like to learn more about how to make a true and deep connection with God - through Jesus!

JS

Be specific in your prayers

“Time can talk you out of your dreams. Routine can weaken your propensity towards audacity” Steven Furtick

Without faith it is impossible to please God.
Listen to my preach at south city church, dublin 8/1/12 'Audacious Faith-filled living', may it bless you.
Click here!

“The bottom line is this: If you’re going to ask God to do something impossible in your life, you’ve got to have some clarity about what you’re asking for”

Steven Furtick

Broad praying and, for leaders, only 'general' vision casting is a very safe but often back-footed and weak way to lead - At least this way we won’t ‘appear as failures’ if nothing happens, we muse. This is not audacious leading or living. I have been guilty of playing it safe like this sometimes when limited expectations of God answering prayer is at work in my life.

It’s time to hear God for specifics. To pray specific prayers. To have clarity for specific things.

May 2012 be a year where we become more like children as far as our believing God is concerned. To have a 'sanctified naivety', will deliver us from tired and faithless living and cause us to trust God for amazing things

Just one final thing. This can only happen as you look to Christ. It is only as we see and behold Him and hear His Word that we will grow in faith. Look to Christ and the message of Good News otherwise who can believe God for such great, even impossible things? No one.

Imagine.....

Imagine...

Imagine starting a new year like it was your first day as a Christian

Imagine starting a new year like it was your last day on this earth

Imagine starting a new year like it was not going to be circumscribed by past disappointments

Imagine starting a new year like it was an awesome adventure with Jesus

Imagine starting a new year like it was time to walk on your own personal lake of destiny

Imagine starting a new year like it was a chance to believe God like it was your first opportunity to do so

Imagine starting a new year like it was time to dump any excess 'load' or 'baggage' for the road ahead

Imagine starting a new year like it was a moment by moment chance to get to know Jesus better and deeper than ever before!

Imagine starting a new year like it was the Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom (He says it is!)

Imagine starting a new year like it was an epic new time to walk deliberately by the Spirit

Imagine starting a new year like it was time to fly in all that he has called you to

Imagine starting a new year like it was time to stop thinking, breathing and speaking the negative report

Imagine starting a new year like it was already predestined for you with good works prepared in advance, with plans to prosper you (and not to harm you!)

Imagine starting a new year like it was time to simply believe whether you see it or not as yet

Imagine starting a new year like you are a child

No ordinary child, God's child!

Is having a system of Bible reading legalistic?

I believe that the answer to this is NO!

That is of course, unless you apply it legalistically! ;-)

I think there is way to much confusion these days between Godly order (or having a disciplined life that releases us into blessing)and legalism. It seems that anything with a degree of systematisation to it is automatically seen as being legalistic by many. This is absurd and unhelpful.

Legalism is that which seeks to displace the Gospel of Grace with a Law based, moralistic approach to EARN God's favour and approval and our subsequent identity. The book of Galatians is the most helpful study in the dangers of legalism. You cannot and do not earn God's love and position as a son - this is the gift of God through the death and resurrection of Jesus. We receive Him and this gift by faith as an act of mercy and grace.

Back to Bible study/reading.

Having some method to reading is not a bad thing, it is a good thing. I do believe though that we should allow such methods or tools to be our servant and not our master. Many of us are less disciplined these days and probably need a certain degree of planning and structure in our lives though in order to stay 'full of the Word'

If you have any thoughts on this issue do leave a comment. I am leaving you though with a link to a suggested Bible reading program for 2012 and some advise form Bible teacher Michael Eaton
BIBLE READING SUGGESTED FORMAT

Happy New Year!

Jason

Mary revisited

Thank God for Mary, the mother to Jesus, who conceived Him by the Spirit and carried Him to birth, brought Him up, fed Him, clothed Him and no doubt performed so many normal motherly functions for Him...God chose to incarnate the Son of God as a man and to have Him born in the normal way, conceived in no ordinary way...So today, I want to honour Mary, to remember her and to thank God for her and for how she endured scorn, shame and the loss of a son on the cross...all for the Kingdom of God, quite a load to carry and from what we know she carried it well!

What a pity though that myths about Mary have been allowed to develop through church tradition that elevate her to a superhuman level and actually rob her and us of the true story of this humble servant - somehow in this there has been a sad loss of 'proper focus'. Mary is not God nor a deity of any form, nor can Mary answer prayers - according to Scripture. The Bible teaches that 'there is one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ' (1 Timothy 2v5) Mary should be respected but the Bible gives us NO indication that we should ever pray to her or put our trust in her to help us out through interventions while we are alive. Repetition of 'Hail Marys', according to the Bible, are a waste of time and would surely cause Mary great distress if she were not enjoying the perfection of Heaven too much at this time!
Another myth about Mary, apart from her supposed ability to 'answer prayer' is the proposition regarding her 'perpetual virginity', even as a married woman! This is surely a complete myth developed on the back of dogmas developed under Plato's influence centuries ago by 'theologians'. The notion of Mary ever having had sexual relations with her husband has been rejected by a sector of the church because of philosophical reasons. This is the same logic and dogma that has left priests unable to marry in one major denomination and see what effect that illogical and unnatural imposition of philosophical belief upon God's divine order has brought about! Enough said. Mary was a normal woman, a normal wife, who went on to have other children. She was created as a sexual being and was a normal married woman no doubt in this regard. There is NO need to believe otherwise! Just because Jesus was immaculately conceived should not in any way presuppose that Mary had a restraining order from above imposed upon her to make her chaste. Oh what unnecessary foolishness. The final part of the 'dirty lens' that needs wiping regarding Mary is the dogma regarding her own immaculate conception. No! The very point Jesus chose to belong to a family of no great social standing or means, and to a teenage unmarried virgin - was that He is a God of GRACE! He chooses the weak and ignoble things of this world and kisses us with His favour inspite of these traits! One of Jesus' ancestors was a harlot called Rahab, David was complicit in murder, Abraham had betrayed his wife on fear of his life...should I go on? It is WRONG to think that Jesus had to belong to a 'perfect' mother, who is some super-sanitised otherworldly demi-God. The whole point of God's redemptive plan was to visit a guilty world in love. To visit the poor with the riches of His glory, and Mary was an ordinary young lady who was chosen, in no small measure for her 'ordinariness' I believe. She was chosen because she was chosen not because she was 'worthy' of being chosen.

Why pick a fight on this you may be asking? Well, this folks is important on a few levels. Twisting Scripture is never clever, creating your own dogmas and church tradition as authoritative on a par with Scripture is toxic and warned against by Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament. My main point here though is simply this. Mary was chosen by God to carry the Lord of Glory in her womb because she was chosen, and because she was a normal 'imperfect' sinner. Yes, Mary too was a sinner. This only elevates my admiration of her. Imperfection rather than perfection seemed to qualify her to carry the Lord of Glory!
Lets see Mary through the lens of what is historically accurate and theologically sound. Lets admire her for her ordinariness and yet outstanding qualities of character. Lets resist the faulty premise that Mary needs to be 'elevated' to some other-worldly status and assigned the qualities of a deity type figure. She does not. Grace means we get what we DON'T DESERVE not what we do deserve, Mary must be longing for this to be revealed in relation to her own story.

The same is true for you and I. Resist the false teaching that claims you have to 'clean up your own life' in order to be saved by God. Resist the lie that you have to 'prove yourself' in order for God to accept you. No, the cross of Christ is the proving ground! Even our righteous acts are like 'filty rags' before God, in light of His holiness and glory. No. Accept your ordinariness. Accept your ignoble lineage. Accept your sinfulness and need of a Saviour. When you have done this, you are ready to believe upon Jesus in a new way, in a way that makes you desperate for His Grace, His blood for your sin, His life for your death, His eternity for your lostness.

Thank God for Mary, today I celebrate and honour her - mother to Jesus, and am so grateful for her life and example and thank God that He uses and accepts the weak and ordinary people of this world for His extraordinary and powerful purposes!
JS

posting comments

In this all new era of learning how to use technology, I have amended this site to allow easy application of comments

JS

The lady of my dreams

Just a small tribute to my best friend and the love of my life Ali. This photo was taken to celebrate our 10th Anniversary as a church here in Dublin, since we began back in 2001

Ali has been an unbelievable support and encouragement to me and many others, a pioneer with a worshippers heart, great tenacity and the best story-teller I know....!

Thank you Ali, xoxxo

Jason

A JOYFUL noise!

South City Church making a JOYFUL noise at our local Stillorgan Shopping centre....

for Christmas....

connecting with our community...

and having great FUN in the process...

Releasing JOY!

JS