Had a good discussion on politics last night at blokes group.

There is a lot of discussion on politics, particularly amongst American Christians, at the moment. Some will vehemently say that a Christian should not vote for Obama. Others, in smaller numbers, will give reasons why a Christian should vote against Romney.

But it is the dogmatic assertions of these Christians that concerns me. There is something unsettling about a minister, someone who preaches the word of God, in the next breathe give his view on who you should vote for. Because who you should vote for is not the gospel. It may be a considered view taken after prayer, reading the bible and checking out the candidates views….but it is not the gospel.

Equally prayerful and reflective people may find compelling reasons why they are voting for the alternative candidate….and who is anyone to say they are wrong?

A Minister must preach the word, in season and out. When he uses the same platform to espouse political views, it is dangerous ground….in my view.

That’s why we have a clear policy at my Church, no politicians in the pulpit, no endorsement of any candidate publicly.

Pastor Dale Stephenson from Crossway Baptist Church spoke at our Annual Baptist Celebration Service on Friday.

The message he gave was a challenging one enriched with real life stories. The main idea was that we need to be open to ‘hearing the voice of God’. It was a message that we need to hear. As Baptists we can be accused of being proud of our Biblical heritage. One very interesting point Dale brought our was that the original Baptists refused to sign up to any creeds because they believed that God can continue to reveal things from the Word, and so no creed should be said to be final and authoritative. This quote from Wikipedia is informative, ” The Baptists have been non-creedal “in that they have not sought to establish binding authoritative confessions of faith on one another”.^[9]:p.111 While many Baptists are not opposed to the ancient creeds, they regard them as “not so final that they cannot be revised and re-expressed. At best, creeds have a penultimacy about them and, of themselves, could never be the basis of Christian fellowship”.^[9]:p.112″

In other words, its in our Baptist DNA to be open to what God is saying today, which may differ in application to what He said yesterday.

I wonder what God is saying to me…and to you….today. Or has it been some time since you heard anything fresh from God?

Karl Faase came to our Pastors Conference two years ago and he gave us some great tips. One of them was the 2 minute rule. If someone has a task for you that they want doing, and need doing, and it is only a 2-5 minute task….then do it straight away. Making someone wait for something which may hold them up, and is only going to take a few moments of your time….

Its a great principle, especially applicable for me in Pastoral Ministry. There are many ‘big’ projects that need doing that it can be easy to dismiss the small task. But the small task may not be small to someone you are frustrating….

Here is a news flash for you….not everyone who comes to Church is an agreeable person. In fact some of them are painful and difficult to deal with.

This morning in my Pastoral Team meeting I shared this scripture….

2 Corinthians 5

¹⁶ So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! ¹⁷ This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

What this says to me is that we should others as Christ sees them, new creations, people made in the Image of God. What this says to us as Pastors is that God has blessed us with all sorts of people to minister to. He has given us the honour of ministering to them, and it is a privilege. This helps me keep things in perspective.

Starting a new series this month at Inglewood, on Joy. We are looking at the Church in Philippi. Born in Acts 16 when Paul and Silas travel to Philippi and meet with Lydia near a river. She trusts in Jesus, and the rest is history.

Interestingly though that if it had not been for the conflict over Judaizers, and then the issue between Paul and Barnabas over John Mark, the missionary thrust towards Europe may not have happened. Then as Paul writes the book of Philippians, a book about joy in all circumstances, he has to address serious conflict within the Church.

As an aside, this is a passage that we should all take note of…..

“⁵ It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. ¹⁶ They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. ¹⁷ Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. ¹⁸ But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice. ¹⁹ For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance.”

Yes…there are plenty who appear to be in the Church ‘business’ for less than good reasons. But what of it. Focus on the gospel, be glad that God will work, despite the frailty of us Christians.