This is going to be a bit odd, because I am now talking about being within the general stream of faith. Belonging to a church that preaches the gospel. All week I have kept my eyes on the press because today I am praying in church for others, and the direction is to pray for the troubles in this world. And while the world is distracted by various sporting events and there are a pile of human tragedies occurring, the bigger issues relate to the destruction of our morals and the elite encouraging the death of the West.
Now in the end, within the church we need to be one. That will not stop us arguing — and as someone who enjoys disputation, I thank God for his mercy for a good theological argument is one of the pleasures of life. With a believer. When I can pull out by Greek NT and my crib (the Vatican makes the best one) and struggling with the text.
But although we argue and are feckless, we are one. And we need to, even when correcting or discussing errors, remember this.
29The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ 31I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
11Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 12Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.
13The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
16Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
I have said before that doubt is not a sin: being concerned that one is irretrievable is not shameful: this is normal We are not in any way able to redeem ourselves. We require the work of the Spirit, and we require the Church. Without the cross we would Perish. Some have used an analogy of a ferry across the North Sea, or Tasman here. I prefer to think of a Bridge. One we cannot build: the Tasman is 1000 km of storm — it is a challenge to sail it. Or, if you want a greater challenge, a Bridge from 47 south, where I took these photos, to McMurdo base at 70 degrees south, through the southern ocean.
What I am saying is that our Salvation is impossible by any human method. It only comes through the work of Christ. We can no more save ourselves than we can bridge the Southern Ocean. An Ocean that routinely destroys ships: which destroys the best designed racing yachts that human ingenuity can make, and where no sane company will run a ferry.
(The way we supply Antarctica (about half of the NZ land mass is in Ross dependency, which by treaty we do not exploit) is by icebreaker in summer, and by plane: there are times when no one can get in our out of the base).
So when I pray today I will be praying for guidance for the leaders of our churches. They are under pressure to accede to the stupidities of this age. And that they should not do.
