The kingdom ain’t for quitters?
Wow… strange day. Had a really lazy morning – didn’t actually get out of bed until about 1, although I did still get some work down whilst I was in bed. Then this afternoon was in St Paul’s setting up everything for tomorrow’s Harvest Inspire service – the first of Justin’s new informal non-eucharistic (shock horror!) services. Then got a call from Micah inviting me to Newport City Church for their "Saturday Night Church", and on the way randomly some Lab guys on the way to the Welsh Open BBoy Championships who had a spare ticket and so headed up to meet them there afterwards. Phew…
Anyway, so at NCC, Rob the Pastor preached around these verses in Luke, which got me thinking a lot – mainly because I couldn’t help but disagree with what he was saying. Anyway, here’s the main verse:
"Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." – Luke 9:62 (NIV)
Rob said that this meant that in order to "be fit for the kingdom" we needed to three things (held together by the acronym QET):
- Qualification – the only way into the kingdom is Jesus (Amen to that by the way),
- Equipped – so if we are qualified but we don’t use the equipment God has given us (mainly the bible) everyday then we aren’t fit for the kingdom (here’s where I begin to disagree), and
- Trained – so we need to keep training ourselves by praying and reading the bible to be fit.
Something about that whole thing just didn’t seem to ring true to the passage – to me one of the main points of the gospel is that Jesus came for the broken, the sinners, those who, by His own definition wouldn’t seem to be fit for the kingdom. I didn’t think God was interested in checking our eternal CVs before putting us on the service team?
Anyway, I really need to stop there I think – I really need to explore that passage and some of the others Rob used; it would be far more useful to present a re-construction rather than continue the de-construction of his thoughts. Oh, and I think that there was a really good point in what he said – and that’s that the gospel is not only about salvation (what?), Jesus talks a lot about what we do once we’ve got the "qualification" sorted.
We aren’t supposed to just sit around and wait for the second coming. There’s work to be done!
So, the breakdancing comp (that’s what this whole BBoy thing is about apparently lol) was pretty incredible. Felt a bit out of place being not really an urban guy but the crazy dance moves those guys were pulling off were insane – and I saw some of the guys and some other guys who were there already and Jon, who I met on the first uni weekend, who was busy getting paid to do cool camera stuff.
Had a long quiet walk home then afterwards, which is probably why this blog (seem to be posting loads recently, not sure it’s sustainable though). Had lots of time to think stuff through. Was also remembering last year and the International Careforce Volunteers – hope they’re all doing okay. Remembered how inspiring their passion and jus their total reliance on God was – one of the psalms they wouldn’t stop raving about was Psalm 121. I so often just let these words go over my head, but if you let them really sink into your mind then they’re incredible:
I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
PS. Just had a read through this and realised it could come across quite harsh. So I just really want to say that I think that Newport City Church are great, and that they are really passionate about doing good stuff for Newport in the name of Jesus – and that Rob is a fantastic guy who is totally on fire for Jesus. Just because I didn’t agree with some of what he said doesn’t mean that I don’t totally support what he, and they, do. And I will continue to converse with them and to support their church by going to their events as much as I can. :-)
