To Infinity & Beyond

CS Lewis, who I’ll be quoting a number of times tonight, was great Christian apologetics author and the writer of the chronicles of Narnia series. He says this:

We have been created for something more – when I first heard about PAD or Post Avatar Depression I laughed!  I thought it was the most ridiculous notion out – I mean really? You’re depressed because you want to live in a world with blue naked people who run in trees. But I did love the movie – and there was definitely something inside of me that longed for that kind of simple, beautiful, adventurous life – I mean who wouldn’t want to ride a dragon? 

But then it struck me that these longings, these desires for beauty and purity and simplicity and harmony were natural – we’ve been created to desire these things because there is something that will fulfil them. Just as we have been given a stomach with hunger signals so that we feed it , so too we’ve been given souls with perfection signals, because we were created for Eden… not earth. 

 So those struggling with post avatar depression are simply seeing the truth that sometimes we are blind to. The full quote of the guy who they spoke of on CNN was

“When I woke up this morning after watching Avatar for the first time yesterday, the world seemed … gray. It was like my whole life, everything I’ve done and worked for, lost its meaning. It just seems so … meaningless. I still don’t really see any reason to keep … doing things at all. I live in a dying world.”


Sounds a lot like an ancient wise man who said, “Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind…” Eccl 2:11

Maybe these guys have actually got it right, maybe they’ve seen some truth which we’ve failed to notice. The fact is that we have been tricked into thinking that this is all there is… that what you can see and taste and touch and experience here – this is it. 

And so we chase after each new experience hoping that this will be the one thing that will satisfy. If only I were married – then my life would be great. If only I could make the first team. If only my family was together. If only we had enough money to buy a car. If only I could get a better more satisfying job. If only my partner treated me better. If only my parents gave me more freedom. If only I could feel God more – or I could sort out my quiet times. If only God would speak to me… and we chase after experiences expecting them to satisfy, but when we get there we find we that not only are we not satisfied, but we’re even more disillusioned than before. Many people spend their whole lives in this place but the reality is – nothing in this world is going to satisfy you. Everything here is simply a foretaste, a glimpse of the real thing. They’re all very good things – but they were never meant to satisfy.
Paul writes in 1 Cor 13:12  “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
Just a foretaste.

As a child, I used to go with my father who ran the comrades and numerous other marathons. We would often man water and sponge stations along the route and wave him by. It’s a little bit like that, in the race of life there are all these wonderful places along the way, watering-stations if you like… but if my dad were to stop and stay at one of the stations, what would be the point? Well I don’t need to press on he says, everything I need is here. But ultimately he’ll find himself completely dissatisfied – he has been training to finish the race, and that’s where the satisfaction comes, not at points along the way.  I mean what runner endures the punishment of training to settle for a lesser prize than finishing the race? Who runs the race for the cups of water along the way?

“Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…”

I think so often we chase after cup bearers who promise sips of refreshing water when the finish line waits unclaimed. It’s not that we deny ourselves this water… it’s the end though that must hold our focus.

Another way of looking at it that might resonate more with the ladies would be a bride-to-be… preparing for her wedding day. I remember when Tim proposed how immensely happy I was, and that I didn’t want to wait any longer than we absolutely had to in order to be married. My happiness was evident to everyone who knew me. The hours of preparation it took, for one afternoon event amazed me. Cakes to be baked, dresses to be made, dances and speeches to be practised… and there were times when you ask yourself – why not just tie the knot at a court and be done with it?

The reason is Hope. As a bride there is this inexpressible hope for her marriage and the ceremony is a celebration of that hope and dream. I spent all that time dreaming and hoping and working towards a marriage. But not everyone does – many people especially today miss this end goal and simply continue to date and miss out on the beauty of a committed life together… in the case of Tim and I we were waiting for everything, to live together to have the promise of a commitment of forever-ness – and on that day two years ago, everything changed. Everything that was dreamt of and planned came to pass. 

CS Lewis again writes

“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

And thus we spend our lives looking down and playing in the mud, settling for what we have here and now and desperately hoping that the dating, that the cups of water, that the mud pies will satisfy when we have been made for finish lines, for marriages, for the seaside. We have been made for heaven.

 Randy Alcorn an American author, who has published a number of books on heaven, summed it up by saying:
“Nothing is more often misdiagnosed than our homesickness for Heaven. We think that what we want is sex, drugs, alcohol, a new job, a raise, a doctorate, a spouse, a large-screen television, a new car, a cabin in the woods, a condo in Hawaii. What we really want is the person we were made for, Jesus, and the place we were made for, Heaven. Nothing less can satisfy.”

I have to admit that until recently Heaven was not so big on my Agenda of things to consider and think about. If you had asked me about Heaven I would easily have told you how it starts here and how our job was to simply start building the Kingdom here, and start spreading God’s love and truth and justice around us. All of which is good and true and I still firmly believe it…

But then Kingsley, our minister died.

And I literally fell to pieces. I felt as though my world had stopped whilst everyone else’s continued to turn. And this baffled me. I mean if I truly believed in where he was going why was I so devastated? I found myself amazed by the concept that if Kingsley had left to some far off place, to a better church where he could minister but somewhere where I couldn’t contact him or see him again – I would have been sad, but nowhere near to this grief that ripped through my heart. What was the difference? In both cases I would never see my beloved minister again, but in the case of him moving away, he would have been going to a reality that was concrete and defined and tangible. Through his death however, he was entering a reality that was largely uninformed. Yes there is heaven and glory and all that Christian talk, but nothing tangible. Heaven was simply a word on a page or spoken at the funeral. Happiness is so easily defeated by death because death is far more real to us that the bliss that follows. 

So what have we been told about Heaven then?

Firstly Phil 3:20 tells us that we are citizens of heaven – that it is our Home! It will be the place where we feel at ease and most ourselves – it was what we were made for. Jesus also tells us that not only is it our home, but he’s actually created a special place just for you. It is where we will have rewards and treasures stored up for us, treasures that do not fade or rust or get stolen. An inheritance awaits us, you are written into God’s will, and when you die you step into that inheritance. 

Isaiah paints a beautiful picture in chapter 11,

“The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him and his place of rest will be glorious.”

Perhaps Avatar is not too far off on this one – a place of peace and harmony with nature. This is where many believe that we will be returning to a form of Eden once again.

Revelation 14 actually tells us how blessed it is to die,

“Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on…”

But my favourite passage on this would have to be Rev 21

 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Heaven is a place of relationship. It is a place where the most beautiful and important things of this life are taken to their utmost. Now we can pray to God and feel his presence – there we shall speak to him face to face. Here we can speak of Jesus and worship him, there we will be able to hug him and feel his arm thrown over our shoulders as we walk and talk together. Here we have relationships with people that are wonderful, yet tainted with our selfishness and pride, there we shall worship and walk side by side in love with no other agenda and no ulterior motive. It will be a place of no evil, no pain, the only tears will be those of joy and we will never have to say goodbye to anyone ever again. 

The beauty of that is astounding – it is beyond imagining. In fact the Bible even says that too –

“No eye has seen, nor ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”

This is why we should focus on heaven. For here not only do pleasures here not satisfy and never will, but here we have pain and death and sorrow. Here, life is hard, it’s a struggle, and there are times where we face confusion and doubt and difficulty. Sadly many times even Christianity has gotten this wrong – we spend our time trying to make life less painful and spend all our focus here despairing over situations never taking time to look up and say, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death you are with me. The writers of the New Testament had a different view of suffering all together – In Romans 8 it reads

“We also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us” Rom 8:3-5

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Rom 8:18

Saint Theresa said that the most horrible, suffering-filled life on Earth, looked at from Heaven will seem no more than a night in an inconvenient hotel.

This is not in any way to minimise the pain and struggles we face on a day to day basis. What it does do is give us a meaning and a purpose in them – firstly that we know that the suffering will not last forever, that there is a time in this world or the next when it will end. I have a dear friend, who is in some senses my god mother, named Penny – she has been in a wheelchair for all 60 years of her life, and has undergone many painful surgeries and lives with constant pain. She is also one of the strongest Christians I know, and when speaking to her about healing she says she believes that God heals… if not during her life here then definitely in heaven when she can’t wait to dance with Jesus.

Secondly, suffering is a part of the process to prepare us for heaven. One of the key verses that came up in this topic was Phil 1:21

“For me to live is Christ and to die is gain”

What Paul is basically saying is that living is suffering. It’s taking up your cross daily and struggling along. Jesus doesn’t make it any easier – he told his disciples “In this world you will have trouble” but then goes on to say, but I have overcome the world. Don’t worry… you will have trouble now – but you have a glorious hope that one day… there will be no more. This world has been defeated – the war is won, we are simply seeing out the final battles.

Some people believe that to think about Heaven and set our minds there is escapism, but only if Heaven is a lie would it be that – a pregnant mother dreaming about the life of her child once he’s born is not practising escapism, she planning for a reality. A child dreaming of his holiday after school, or an accountant dreaming of his evening at home with his family after work are planning for real and tangible things. Heaven is as real and tangible as that – and so we should be dreaming and planning and thinking of it.

The Bible tells us to set our mind on things above, not on earthly things – it tells us to meditate on all that is good and true and lovely and pure and righteous. We do not long for Heaven because we haven’t set our minds there – we haven’t allowed ourselves to plan and dream and imagine a life of glory with our Jesus. 

Are you desperate for heaven? No? May I suggest it’s because you have no living hope because you imagine heaven to be far less interesting than the earthly vacation you have your eyes on, or the man you would like to marry. Your imagination in regard to the vacation or the man is fully fleshed out. You’ve already picked out the destination for the vacation and the tuxedo for the man but your imagination of heaven might be flat, lifeless and boring.

Ted Dekker – and I see my friends roll their eyes when I say his name because he is my all time favourite author… has written a book called the slumber of Christianity – his only non-fiction book to date, where he talks of the power of focusing on heaven. He encourages the use of our imaginations and meditations to form in our minds what we long for in heaven. Without vision, people perish – and vision is at its base imagination. It’s envisioning, or imagining an outcome.

I pray that you will leave here encouraged and with a hope that cannot be taken away from you. I pray that you will throw off the sin that so easily entangles and you’ll fix your eyes on an unconventional, relentless pursuit of beauty, truth and love in that place where we will come face-to-face with our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

I pray that you will not shun the gifts the Creator has showered on you, but that you’ll embrace them as the first-fruits of all that is to come. And that you’ll let these gifts awaken your desire for the day when the pleasures will flood us like unstoppable waves crashing on the shore.

And I pray that you will learn to set your mind firmly on things above. That you will know the truth of heaven the truth that this life will quickly pass and the staggering reality of the life to come will be upon us. The truth that you were created for that life more than for this life… and that thinking on these things will change everything.

Grow Up Sermon

You know how in life you go through different phases? I think it starts with 21^st’s… and suddenly you’re attending 5 twenty first parties in a year… then suddenly it becomes engagement parties and then weddings… in fact the year we got married Tim and I attended I think  it was 11 weddings… and then it’s the baby phase. And this is where Tim and I find ourselves… all around us our friends are starting to have babies. We’ve suddenly have a nephew, and a god son and are honouree aunty and uncle to any number of gorgeous children. 

This passage speaks specifically of babies… 

Hebrews 5:11-6:20

New International Version (NIV)

Warning Against Falling Away

¹¹ We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. ¹² In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! ¹³ Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

6 Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, ² instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. ³ And God permitting, we will do so.

⁴ It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, ⁵ who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age ⁶ and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. ⁷ Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. ⁸ But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

⁹ Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation. ¹⁰ God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. ¹¹ We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized. ¹² We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

The Certainty of God’s Promise

¹³ When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, ¹⁴ saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” ¹⁵ And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.

¹⁶ People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. ¹⁷ Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. ¹⁸ God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. ¹⁹ We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, ²⁰ where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

This is an interesting tangent for the author of Hebrews to have. He’s busy speaking about some of the mysteries of the faith, the Sabbath rest, the High Priesthood of Christ and then he stops – almost in frustration – and goes off on a tangent saying I’d like to tell you more but you are still babies! You’re not getting it. 

As cute as babies are – you can’t reason with them. Our little nephew Caleb is a very generous soul… and his favourite thing to do at the dinner table is to share his food… with the dogs specifically. So the meal goes something like this piece goes in my mouth, this piece I throw on the floor. Now while my doggies love him to bits for this – it really isn’t appropriate behaviour… especially when he gets confused and starts throwing the food at Grampa instead!

But you can’t reason with him! He’s only 18months and to sit him down and explain would be a waste of time. Taking the plate away is a much simpler course of action. A while this happens at family functions, it’s understandable and acceptable because after all he is a baby – but if our 20 year old brother-in-law suddenly started behaving like that it would be a massive concern! 

And this is what the writer is saying – Spiritually you’re beyond this stuff. You should be fully grown, you should be eating meat, behaving right, knowing right from wrong and teaching others rather than being taught.

And I don’t think the church today is much different. There’s been a dramatic shift in society where people have gone from a sense of duty and responsibility to a demand for services and entertainment. The emphasis is now on “How do you feel?” as being more important than “what should we do?” We’ve turned inward rather than outward… which is a sign of self-absorption and immaturity – just as a baby cannot see beyond themselves and their needs.

It is tragic, but the Church can at times reflect society all too much. Probably one of the weaknesses of the Church today is that we fail to challenge those Christians in the congregation to move on to maturity. If we are not careful we will strive to make people HAPPY rather than make them HOLY, that we will make them FEEL GOOD rather than make them FAITHFUL and GODLY. We can become consumers of the Gospel, rather than being consumed by Christ.

John Ortberg speaks of an elderly well known man in his church named Denny who’d been attending services for well over 40 years. And Denny was cranky and miserable and intolerant and had been for as long as anyone knew him. He complained about almost everything that went on at the church to the point where the complaints were so common and at times so reidculous that you could do nothing but laugh.

But actually, Denny’s attitude is no laughing matter. Listen to John Ortberg’s observation as he looked back on this situation:
“Denny is not changing. He is a cranky guy. He has been cranky his whole life. Not just about church - he does not effectively know how to love his wife; his children cannot tolerate him; and he has no joy. He’s been going to church his whole life, sixty years. And nobody in the church is surprised that he stays cranky year after year. It is as if we expect a bad attitude - that’s just Denny. Nobody is expecting him to be more like Jesus year after year." (John Ortbert, The Life You’ve always Wanted.)

Is this not maybe the trap we’ve fallen into – we actually stop expecting people to change? The Bible clearly tells us that we should be becoming more and more like Jesus – being transformed into his likeness… That’s true discipleship… that’s growth… that’s healthy and should be the norm!

Hebrews 6:1 tells us to “move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity” 

The passage goes on to tell us what those teachings are: Conversion (Repentance), conviction (faith), Confession (baptism) confirmation (laying on of hands) and consummation (Resurrection of the dead). These are basic teachings of the faith – it is these things that that are required to become a Christian in the first place – if you know these things it’s time to move on – you’ve left the baby stage behind and should be on a path of growth. A path where you are responsible for your own faith, where you are teaching others through your words and actions what it means to be a follower of Christ… a path where everyday is one step closer to knowing God more intimately and sharing his love and truth passionately.

But how? How do we grow?

We don’t. God grows us. He is doing the work inside us to transform us into the people he has created us to be. The promise is that he who began a good work in us – at salvation… he will bring it to completion.

But where then does our responsibility lie? Well it’s the same with babies – we can’t make a child grow. You can’t put them on a stretching device and hope it makes them mature!!!

But in order that they do mature we need to provide them with the environment that they would thrive in.

Firstly they need

1.    Daily Food. Jesus says while be tempted in the desert – man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from God’s mouth. He also says later, “I am the bread of life – he who comes to me will never be hungry…” Our daily food needs to be the Word of God. We cannot get fed once a week at church, or even just twice a week is we attend a Bible study and expect to grow – we need food every day. 

I work with Deaf kids, introducing them to the gospel for the first time… and when we started we bought ten Bibles and put them in the library – they were Bibles in a simpler English so that the kids could understand. These Bibles never touched the shelves – as soon as one child brought it back the next would take it out… We even had kids fighting over these Bibles – they were that hungry for the word of God. Do you have a healthy appetite?

Secondly they need
2. Fresh Air. Pray often or you will faint. Prayer is the oxygen of the soul. In honour of the Olympic games I had to bring London in somewhere in my sermon and there is a Mother Goose nursery rhyme which goes:

PUSSY CAT, PUSSY CAT, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?

I'VE BEEN TO LONDON TO VISIT THE QUEEN.

PUSSY CAT, PUSSY CAT, WHAT DID YOU THERE?

I FRIGHTENED A LITTLE MOUSE UNDER THE CHAIR.

Like that cat, Christians sometimes settle for petty involvements, trivial pursuits--chasing mice--when we have the opportunity to spend time with royalty, with the King! Instead of remaining content with minimum daily requirements, we should be deepening our relationship with God through prayer.

Thirdly we need:
3. Regular Exercise.

This is putting God’s word into practise… exercising our faith. What is the point of faith if you never use it. Or reading the word and not doing what it says. The Bible tells us time and time again that being a Christian is not about us – it’s loving Him and loving others. How are you loving others? Where are you practising this faith? Or more simply – where are you serving. The writer of the Hebrews is saying – you should be teachers!!! But instead you choose the lazy route of being taught. We expect our young people to be involved in some form of service so that they can be confirmed – this is simply so that service becomes a part of their lifestyle. So most of our youngsters are involved in children’s ministry, sound duties, leadership duties at U-Night, etc… If we expect that of our teens – how can we not expect it of ourselves?

Next and very importantly – we need
4. Adequate Rest.

This is the training to follow the pattern that we see God set up from the beginning of creation. Daily he walks with his people in the garden, daily we should be having a quiet time with him. We also see him setting aside one day a week where we remember that we are not simply a result of our work of our actions – we are free not slaves. We take a Sabbath day weekly to remind ourselves of our priorities, to worship God, to refresh our souls to do our work well. This rest includes being able to trust God with our burdens – to learn the art of taking up Jesus yoke, and giving them over to God in simple faith. A child is not worried about the home finances – he trusts that the parents will provide.

Fifth – we need
5. Clean Surroundings. It is so unhealthy for a child to grow up surrounded by garbage and toxins and danger. It’s the same for us – we need to avoid whatever those things are that weaken us spiritually. Paul says to Timothy, “But you, man of God, must flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.”

The writer to the Hebrews says earlier that we should “Thrown off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.”

This is the garbage we need to clean out of our lives – the things we watch on TV or on the internet, the things we read, the greedy decisions we make, the gossip we pass on, the un-forgiveness we carry. Get rid of it so that you can grow.

Sixth -

6. Loving Care. Being part of a church where you will benefit from a teaching and Christian fellowship. This is the purpose of our services, our courses and our Bible Studies.

In preparing for this course I was looking back since I’ve been St Mungo's at the different courses and series we have done there. Alphas, Walk across the room, 40 days of purpose, 40 days of community, The Faith, most recently the Easter Experience…

We should all be spiritual giants!!!

We have been given everything we need…

Understand me when I say this… Most of you don’t need more teaching… don’t need to have better leadership… don’t need to read more books…
None of these things are going to help you to grow in the Lord…you know what to do!
-We need to start doing what we know we should be doing!!!
While the courses are fantastic – if we don’t put into practise what we have learnt in these courses they aren’t worth very much.

Our passage read in verse twelve “In fact, by this time you ought to be teachers,”

 We shouldn’t need someone to teach us the elementary truths of God’s word all over again.”

The last thing that any health care professional will tell you about raising a child is that you’ll need

7. Periodic Checkups. It is important to regularly examine your spiritual health. In a leadership training course we run with our youth, we give them a spiritual check list with the following questions:

1.     What was the last thing God said to you and what have you done about it?

2.    What did you learn in God’s Word this week?

3.    Does your heart break for the things that break the heart of God?

4.    Has your love for God & people increased or decreased in the last year?

5.    Do others comment that they can clearly see evidence of God’s work in your life?

May I challenge you to take those questions home and honestly ask them of yourself.

We are all growing. We all need daily food, air, exercise, rest, cleanliness, loving care and check-ups.

Some of you may be new to the faith – that such an exciting time – may I recommend you do the Alpha course as it is such a fantastic introduction to the Gospel and what it means to follow Christ. Some of you might have been following God for years – when is the last time you grew?

When Pablo Casals reached 95, a young reported threw him a question: "Mr. Casals, you are 95 and the greatest cellist that ever lived. Why do you still practice six hours a day?" And Mr. Casals answered, 

"Because I think I'm making progress."