Best viewed at minimum 600px screen width (Rotate your device to landscape orientation)
Featured Advertiser
Visit our
Christian Business Directory
A New Year, or Another Year
Church in the Community - Media Release in the Herald: 23 January 2023
Source: TCN / Mike Smith
Date Added: 2023-01-23
Category: General News, TCN News, Issues - General, Issues - Moral Regeneration, Issues - Social upliftment,
Date Added: 2023-01-23
Category: General News, TCN News, Issues - General, Issues - Moral Regeneration, Issues - Social upliftment,
In last week’s column, I suggested an alternative approach to the year ahead.
The church can, and should, be taking the lead in social transformation as the political system has clearly failed us.
Displaying many similarities to today, the early church was surrounded by social evils.
Slavery, debauchery, drunkenness, political oppression, and dishonesty were all rampant in society.
But hope came from the “prophetic preaching” of the apostles about Christ the Saviour.
They pointed people to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of those who believe in him.
They affirmed the historical accuracy and divine inspiration of the Old Testament writers and showed that the coming of Christ was foretold by the prophets of old.
The teachings also tell us how to run our lives – and are as relevant today as they were then.
We never read of Jesus or any of the writers of the New Testament judging the world around them.
Christian morality can never successfully be imposed on the world.
While the Church judges and guides those inside the fellowship, God will judge the world. Justice will not be denied forever.
It does not mean we should be silent about injustice. Jesus was forthright about condemning wrongdoing, and hence we are bound to point out the wrongs in the society around us.
The Church in this “prophetic mode” addresses social issues with great clarity and urgency, demanding action and situating itself as a community in contrast to the “other” established institutions of society.
What Christ’s teachings forbid is censoriousness, the spirit of fault finding that overlooks one’s own shortcomings while assuming the role of supreme judge regarding the sins of others.
In this world, where so many people are lost, many will point to the sins of others, especially those who call themselves believers, as an excuse to continue their own sinful ways.
Interestingly, the well-known parable of the Sower does not say explicitly that all of the seed falling among weeds, on rocky ground, or on the path, failed to grow to maturity.
We all have seen plants growing in the most unlikely places.
Concentrating on sharing the gospel with those who we think are ready to hear it may seem to be the sensible option.
But let’s not pre-judge those we meet every day who do not seem ready.
To connect with them may simply require us to tell the gospel using concepts and language with which they are familiar.
To throw seed onto seemingly unpromising ground.
To touch hard, rocky, weedy hearts that may actually be bedded in good soil.
That may very well include those in positions of power who we are often tempted to point fingers at.
Remember the story of the tax collector: “As Jesus left to go with Zacchaeus, many in the crowd complained, “Look at this! Of all the people to have dinner with, he’s going to eat in the house of a crook.”
Zacchaeus was amazed over his gracious visit to his home and joyously welcomed Jesus. Zacchaeus stood in front of the Lord and said, “Half of all that I own I will give to the poor.
“And Lord, if I have cheated anyone, I promise to pay them back four times as much as I stole.”
Jesus said to him, “your repentance shows that today life has come to you and your household, and that you are a true son of Abraham. The Son of Man has come to seek out and to give life to those who are lost.” Luke 19:7-10 TPT
There is a further aspect to our lives because it begs an important question: My Bishop, Eddie Daniels, in an earlier column asked: "do Christians have a spiritual responsibility towards the environment?"
The definitive answer is a resounding "Yes!" God entrusted creation to humanity and the Bible teaches that one day God will recreate it when he makes “the new heaven and the new earth”.
John Stott puts it rather aptly in his book “Issues Facing Christians Today”: "These two doctrines, regarding the beginning and end of history, the creation and the consummation, have a profound effect on our perspective.
“They give us a respect for the earth, indeed for the whole material creation, since God both made and will remake it."
For Christians there is always hope.
In Luke 21:9-11 Jesus says: “But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately.”
Then, He said to them; “nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.”
It is at this moment when I fully grasp the statement that “we are in this world but not of it”.
For whilst we experience everything that happens in the world around us as everyone else, we have an eternal perspective.
But God has done more than merely save us from our former worldly pursuits.
He has also saved us to good works that He has prepared for us to live out in His name.
You and I are invited into the mission of God’s redemptive work throughout the world.
Because of that, you and I have a divine calling wherever we find ourselves today.
Let that truth motivate all that you do for the rest of 2023.
By God’s grace, He is always at work in you and through you.
Mike Smith
Workplace Minister
The church can, and should, be taking the lead in social transformation as the political system has clearly failed us.
Displaying many similarities to today, the early church was surrounded by social evils.
Slavery, debauchery, drunkenness, political oppression, and dishonesty were all rampant in society.
But hope came from the “prophetic preaching” of the apostles about Christ the Saviour.
They pointed people to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of those who believe in him.
They affirmed the historical accuracy and divine inspiration of the Old Testament writers and showed that the coming of Christ was foretold by the prophets of old.
The teachings also tell us how to run our lives – and are as relevant today as they were then.
We never read of Jesus or any of the writers of the New Testament judging the world around them.
Christian morality can never successfully be imposed on the world.
While the Church judges and guides those inside the fellowship, God will judge the world. Justice will not be denied forever.
It does not mean we should be silent about injustice. Jesus was forthright about condemning wrongdoing, and hence we are bound to point out the wrongs in the society around us.
The Church in this “prophetic mode” addresses social issues with great clarity and urgency, demanding action and situating itself as a community in contrast to the “other” established institutions of society.
What Christ’s teachings forbid is censoriousness, the spirit of fault finding that overlooks one’s own shortcomings while assuming the role of supreme judge regarding the sins of others.
In this world, where so many people are lost, many will point to the sins of others, especially those who call themselves believers, as an excuse to continue their own sinful ways.
Interestingly, the well-known parable of the Sower does not say explicitly that all of the seed falling among weeds, on rocky ground, or on the path, failed to grow to maturity.
We all have seen plants growing in the most unlikely places.
Concentrating on sharing the gospel with those who we think are ready to hear it may seem to be the sensible option.
But let’s not pre-judge those we meet every day who do not seem ready.
To connect with them may simply require us to tell the gospel using concepts and language with which they are familiar.
To throw seed onto seemingly unpromising ground.
To touch hard, rocky, weedy hearts that may actually be bedded in good soil.
That may very well include those in positions of power who we are often tempted to point fingers at.
Remember the story of the tax collector: “As Jesus left to go with Zacchaeus, many in the crowd complained, “Look at this! Of all the people to have dinner with, he’s going to eat in the house of a crook.”
Zacchaeus was amazed over his gracious visit to his home and joyously welcomed Jesus. Zacchaeus stood in front of the Lord and said, “Half of all that I own I will give to the poor.
“And Lord, if I have cheated anyone, I promise to pay them back four times as much as I stole.”
Jesus said to him, “your repentance shows that today life has come to you and your household, and that you are a true son of Abraham. The Son of Man has come to seek out and to give life to those who are lost.” Luke 19:7-10 TPT
There is a further aspect to our lives because it begs an important question: My Bishop, Eddie Daniels, in an earlier column asked: "do Christians have a spiritual responsibility towards the environment?"
The definitive answer is a resounding "Yes!" God entrusted creation to humanity and the Bible teaches that one day God will recreate it when he makes “the new heaven and the new earth”.
John Stott puts it rather aptly in his book “Issues Facing Christians Today”: "These two doctrines, regarding the beginning and end of history, the creation and the consummation, have a profound effect on our perspective.
“They give us a respect for the earth, indeed for the whole material creation, since God both made and will remake it."
For Christians there is always hope.
In Luke 21:9-11 Jesus says: “But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately.”
Then, He said to them; “nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.”
It is at this moment when I fully grasp the statement that “we are in this world but not of it”.
For whilst we experience everything that happens in the world around us as everyone else, we have an eternal perspective.
But God has done more than merely save us from our former worldly pursuits.
He has also saved us to good works that He has prepared for us to live out in His name.
You and I are invited into the mission of God’s redemptive work throughout the world.
Because of that, you and I have a divine calling wherever we find ourselves today.
Let that truth motivate all that you do for the rest of 2023.
By God’s grace, He is always at work in you and through you.
Mike Smith
Workplace Minister
Source: TCN / Mike Smith
Date Added: 2023-01-23
Category: General News, TCN News, Issues - General, Issues - Moral Regeneration, Issues - Social upliftment,
Back to News IndexDate Added: 2023-01-23
Category: General News, TCN News, Issues - General, Issues - Moral Regeneration, Issues - Social upliftment,
_______________________________________________
Please read our disclaimer
This section of our site aims to keep you informed about news in the local church, and worldwide.
Please email us any items of interest.
Please email us any items of interest.
 |
| Christian News to strengthen God's people at www.gatewaynews.co.za News that is fresh, relevant, edifying and which glorifies Jesus! |
Worthy News is a website with a good selection of news articles from around the world in a number of categories, both Christian and secular. They also offer a free subsciption service to deliver daily news headlines to your email box. Click here to pay them a visit.