God Comes Where He’s Wanted

Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me.

Matthew 26:10

God is on the move…

By now I imagine that you’ve heard something of the moves of God, particularly among young people, that are sparking off each other across North America. We have easy access to these stories and testimonies, but of course there is much gospel outbreak across the whole globe, not just in University towns in Kentucky!

There has been something special going on in Asbury however, a deeply sincere move of God, void of pomp and ceremony, not a smoke machine or strobe light in sight…just genuine heartfelt confession, repentance, salvation, and healing.

…the aroma of revival.

Watching and reading from afar, there is something that is evident:

God comes where He’s wanted

There seems to have been such a sustained, earnest, seeking after God. A yearning for nothing less that His glory, and nothing more than Himself. And revival is in the hearts of many of us, myself included, but if I’m honest (which I should be!) it hasn’t come quite with the ‘packaging’ I would have expected.

And I can imagine this is often the case…our mouths ask for revival, but our hearts are actually pursuing something less.

AW Tozer once said:

“Our mistake is that we want God to send revival on our terms. We want to get the power of God into our hands, to call it to us that it may work for us in promoting and furthering our kind of Christianity. We want still to be in charge, guiding the chariot through the religious sky in the direction we want it to go, shouting "Glory to God," but modestly accepting a share of the glory for ourselves in a nice inoffensive sort of way. We are calling on God to send fire on our altars, completely ignoring the fact that they are OUR altars and not God’s.”

…but revival is so often a response of God to a heart cry of devotion.

There’s a beautiful and confronting story in the gospels, when Mary breaks an incredibly expensive jar of perfume, pouring it over Jesus. It’s a moment of pure devotion, an extravagant outpouring…and many criticised her for it.

“Have your beliefs, but don’t take it too seriously”

“I know you have a faith, but don’t go overboard”

…there are always critics of extravagant and pure devotion.

Jesus defended her however, and said “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me … wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."

You see, much like Asbury, whenever Jesus meets someone whose passion matches His, word gets out.

Because as extravagant as Mary’s act of worship was, Jesus didn’t just break a jar, He broke His body for us. He didn’t just pour out perfume, He poured out His blood.

As we gather to pray on Sunday night, I’m confident that there’ll be many things that God stirs us to ask Him for…but let’s not ask Him for more stuff, without asking Him for more of Himself.

Let’s let our lives be an extravagant, pure outpouring of devotion…and maybe, just maybe, revival might come to us too.

Delight is Incomplete Until it is Expressed

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Philippians 4:4

I remember the feeling of relief…

Heather was pregnant with Emi and I was bursting at the seams to shout it from the rooftops! It was early days, however, so we just shared the news with our parents, which was a necessary release of joy! What I hadn’t anticipated was how challenging it would be for them to hold that secret…we had got to share the news with them, but they weren’t allowed to share it with anyone else!

I once heard a somewhat cynical definition, that ‘a secret is something you just tell one person’. It can be so hard to hold news in, especially when it’s news of great joy!

That reminds me, have I shown you any photos of my surf trip to PNG yet?!

CS Lewis wrote a supremely helpful booklet called ‘Reflections on the Psalms’…in it he talked about his struggle with God’s commands in scripture to praise Him.

“We all despise the man who demands continued assurance of his own virtue, intelligence or delightfulness; we despise still more the crowd of people round every dictator, every millionaire, every celebrity, who gratify that demand.”

…and so Lewis wrestled with worship - both a God who demanded it, and worshippers who offered it.

Then the penny dropped.

"The world rings with praise — lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favourite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favourite game — praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars…

...I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: “Isn’t she lovely? Wasn’t it glorious? Don’t you think that magnificent?” The Psalmists in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about...what indeed we can’t help doing, about everything else we value."

And then he lands the point:

"I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.”

God does not command worship for Himself because of neediness...He's providing us with a means toward our own great joy in Him. He’s not an egomaniac demanding worship, He's commanding me to bring my pleasure in Him to its fullest delight! My pleasure in God is not complete unless it overflows in praise.

Why was it so hard for my parents to hold the secret of their soon-to-be grandchild, why do I want to show you photos of a PNG, why does one person tell another to watch the new HBO show they’ve just found, or to listen to a band they’ve just discovered, or to try the new restaurant they just ate at? Because it’s frustrating to have discovered something praiseworthy and not be able to tell everyone about it!

We worship God in song, because it blesses His heart, but also because it does our soul tremendous good…

Isn’t He wonderful...

Hasn’t he been so good...

Don’t you just love His compassion...

Aren’t you flawed by His grace...

Everyone could go home happy!

The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. But the Jewish leaders ... stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region.

Acts 13:49-50

As Gretel said on Sunday, "at Church for the City we do love a sports analogy!"

One of my favourite stories in recent times was when 2 brothers, Travis and Jason Kelce, lined up to play against each other in Super Bowl LVII earlier this week. It was the first time in NFL history where a pair of brothers both played in the same Super Bowl, Travis for the Kansas City Chiefs (coming away with the chocolates), while Jason played for Philadelphia Eagles.

Their mother, Donna Kelce had divided loyalties — and she made a jersey to prove it (see image above). The first mother to have two sons play against each other at the Super Bowl said "Obviously, there's going to be somebody that's going to go home heartbroken. They won't have the bragging rights at the Thanksgiving table, but this is going to be an awesome event....”

At the end of the day half the crowd are happy and the other half are disappointed. Only one team walks away with the Vince Lombardi trophy and their Super Bowl rings, whilst the other teams return home forlorn and heartbroken.

In Acts 13:42-52 we read of tremendous gospel progress, in the face of tremendous opposition.

Almost the whole city had gathered on the Sabbath, not for a game, but to heard the word of the Lord (Acts 14:44)…there was much excitement, buildup, anticipation. But different to the Super Bowl, the Good News that Jesus brought didn’t exclude half the crowd, but gave hope and grace to anyone who would received it. Everyone could go home happy!

Sadly though, in spite of the beautiful invitation of Jesus, not everyone wants to be on His team. For some it may be hurt or trauma that keeps them out, or a false version of Christianity they imagine or have experienced, or their love of sin, or pressure to conform (John 12:43), or even demonic attack (Luke 22:31-33). But the good news of the gospel is that wherever you were born, whatever team you support, whatever jersey you’re wearing, if you’re ‘in Christ’ then ‘you will also appear with him in glory’ on that final day (Col 3:1-4).

I feel for Donna...part of her will rejoice with one son, whilst the other part will mourn with the other…that’s the nature of sport. But with Jesus, everyone can be a winner…Jesus tasted defeat for us so that we didn’t have to, we don’t have to live with anxious uncertainty of what will happen when the final whistle blows. We’re on His team, draped in robes of victory, adorned with rings of triumph, and there’s plenty of space on the winner’s bus.

This Sunday we’ll have a guest with us to share her heart, and the heart of the organisation she represents. Narelle Hand is the Manager of a Women’s Shelter, a role which she took up in large part as a response to God’s call, and what she read of Jesus’ ministry on earth. You’ll be inspired as you hear her share, so don’t miss out!