Greetings church! I’d love to say it’s great to be back from holiday, but I’ll be honest, holiday was great, a wonderful break - camping in the Lakes and Cornwall - and I’d be more excited to be back if we knew this Covid thing was on its way out and could start planning with some certainty. However, the last 24 hours have proven we can plan nothing with certainty, and I bet we have all experienced some sense of frustration, upset or sadness that some of the small freedoms we had got back have now been taken away again. More grace Lord! More patience needed for all us and more resilience! Praise God that he’s got plenty of all that for us, we just need help receiving it, don’t we?
I’ve nothing to report in terms of changes, but I did think it would be helpful to report back on the survey responses we had a few weeks ago. This Tuesday evening we will be meeting as a leadership team, to prayerfully reflect and consider how we move forward after the summer holidays. Please keep us in your prayers.
Anyway, here is what you told us in the survey:
HEADLINE: Lockdown has not had a negative impact on the faith of most people! (yay!)
Jesus never taught people to tithe - so why is it then that so many committed Christians do tithe, normally tithing into their local church?
When Jesus came He said that He had not come to do away with the law, but to ‘fulfill’ it. (Matt 5:17) i.e. take it to its fullest level. So, it was no longer good enough to not hate your enemies, you had to love them! No longer good enough simply to fulfill a set of religious laws, more than that He wanted us to love God with our whole being.
Interestingly Jesus never taught people to tithe, in a sense that was taken as a given, it was the law and people knew it. You couldn’t be a first century Jew without the words of Malachi ringing in their ears that to not tithe was to “rob God” (Mal 3:8). The one time that Jesus did mention tithing was when he was railing against the religious people who were being so fastidious in their tithing the spices, but ignoring justice! What he did say though was ‘don’t neglect the former (i.e. tithing)’ but do both – so you could argue from that one mention that he did teach tithing! Whilst never really teaching or even mentioning tithing, Jesus did talk about money all the time, in fact he spoke more about money than any other subject. But he didn’t come to do away with the law, no, but to fulfill it, or take it to its fullness. Thus, he called his disciples to go way beyond tithing and have a much more radical approach to finances, that they’d be prepared to give and give and give.
I love this great quote from an article by John Ortberg on tithing, he said “A tithe makes a great floor but a poor ceiling.” I even preached on that very concept back in January 2015. Ortberg also said that the tithe is like stabilisers on a bike that it’s to get you going in your giving, but God always intended for us to move on from it into so much more.
So, what about you? What sits right for you? I’m hoping you’re someone who is convinced that a tithe is worth giving into your local church, and either have been doing for some time, or you’re ready to start – brilliant! Thank you, and thank you God, for it is him moving in our hearts whenever we choose to be generous.
Maybe you’ve decided that the Light church is going to be your church. If that’s the case, then you really should be doing something around giving. If you’re struggling then don’t feel pressure, but I’d still encourage you to try and give something – the blessing of giving should be available to everyone, not just those with loads of cash.
Maybe you’ve been giving, but not giving a tithe. If you have studied the scriptures and reached the conclusion that your tithe can be shared beyond the local church, and that’s what you want to do – follow your conscience. I know that, for me, I would believe God would be fine for me giving some of my tithe outside of the church, as I do with other money. But I love this church, have always loved it, despite its faults, so am keen to see it well resourced so we can achieve all he has for us, so have always brought my whole tithe into the local church.
As we regularly mention, follow the advice of Paul in 2 Corinthians 7, ‘Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.’
Whatever happens, let’s not get legalistic, but let’s remember that Jesus consistently taught that grace went beyond the law it didn’t stop short of it. He called us to radical living, so let’s start with some radical giving.
Nearly five weeks ago, I had to dash home from my work with a temperature. I was convinced it was Covid and despite a negative test, am still convinced. I am only just fully better, but want to praise God for my healing. Yes, even though it took nearly 5 weeks, I still want to praise him, and here is why…. in fact I wrote this whilst in the midst of feeling terrible, nearly five weeks ago.
The challenge of being a rational thinker
Before I get into this, I need to confess at times I can be a very rational thinker and rational communicator.
I simply can’t say ‘wow that’s my absolute favourite’ about something…..unless it truly is. When my kids would tell me 'you're the best dad in the world!' (that was before they were teenagers), my response would be: ‘aww thanks.’ But on the inside I’d have this internal monologue thinking... ‘I’m the only Dad you’ve ever experienced so it’s not much of a competition’ or ‘It's highly unlikely that I'm actually the best in the world, but thanks, I appreciate the sentiment.’ That’s what goes on in the head of a very rational thinker - can some of you out there relate to it? Whilst the rest of the world feels sorry for us literalists!
So when it comes to healing, I’ll be honest that, at times, when someone has been healed in a seemingly non-supernatural way and someone else says ‘Praise God’ I used to struggle with that. I used to struggle that people would attribute to God and prayer what just happened through science, medicine or natural causes.
But then it was last year, as I was walking along a beach on holiday, I was praying and talking to God and listening to what he had to say to me, when I just got a sense…. ‘It’s all a miracle’ and ‘Praise God’ is exactly the right response for every healing that every happens. Every healing, however it comes about, deserves a 'Praise God!' Here's why I think this.
The miracle of the human immune system
It’s a miracle that the way he has created our bodies is such that our bodies are constantly fighting off infection. I wish I was a scientist and could explain it better, but the way that our bodies fight back against colds, viruses, yes there might be a few days of feeling rubbish, but most things get beaten off simply because we’ve been wired and created to fight back. As I lay in bed with a fever fighting off Covid - I thanked God that this fever was a sign of my body’s immune system fighting back. This is a miracle!!! It’s stunning, absolutely stunning. Praise God for my healing!
The miracle of science
As I continued my walk along the beach, I got to thinking about science and medicine and the role it played. Before I knew it I was bursting out in praise to my God. God created us and gave us brains so amazing and so advanced that, especially in this day and age, we truly understand the workings of the human body. Have you ever stopped to wonder at how amazing that is? That we understand, to the tiniest detail, of how the body works. That when a new virus like Covid comes along, we can seek to understand this tiniest of things and then work a way for some form of medicine to fight back against it, or even protect against it? Praise God for amazing brains that work that out - because he made those brains! Who gave these scientists and medics that ability? Him alone. So the next time someone is fully healed purely as a result of medical intervention, I’m going to say ‘Praise God’, sure I’ll be grateful for the medics and scientists, but praise our amazing God for giving them the ability and knowledge.
The miracle of the mind
I realise this might be a new thought, but have you ever thought about how ‘faith’ in its generic sense heals people? I know Jesus said ‘Your faith has made you well,’ but a year or two back I read a fascinating science book on how people got well if they believed they were being made well. You’ll have heard of it before, it’s called the placebo effect. This is where a new drug is tested and some people are given a fake drug whilst others are given the real thing. If the success of the placebo is less than the real thing, it’s generally considered a success (please, I’m no scientist, but that was my understanding.) Not uncommon at all for a new drug to hit 80% success rate and the placebo 60%. Isn’t that incredible, that 60% of people would ‘heal themselves’ simply because they think they’ve taken something that has healed them?? I think as Christians we’ve maybe reacted against this, but once again why shouldn’t we shout ‘Praise God’ that he has made our minds so incredible that by thinking the right things we can, sometimes, release healing into our bodies, remove pain by the power of the mind etc. Talk about the renewing of the mind, that is truly stunning and when we pray for people there may be times when that is exactly what is happening. It might make it feel less amazing, but maybe that’s because we are not amazed enough at our how amazing God has made us?
The supernatural
I don’t know about you, but having considered all of the above, I almost feel like saying, surely that is all supernatural??? Well yes, in that it’s truly amazing, remarkable and wonderful, but no… dictionary definition of supernatural is this - attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature. Well our scientific understanding is off the charts isn’t it - Praise God for that! Our understanding of the laws of nature is off the charts isn’t it? Praise God for that too!
However, on top of having the most amazing immune systems, the most incredible science and medicine, minds that work to heal us - there are moments when our God, having done all of that, and let’s be real here - that would be enough - steps in and does something totally unexplainable.
Like Kelly who had a hematoma in her womb that was going to kill her unborn baby. Josie prayed for her, the next hospital scan, it had totally disappeared.
Like Anne, a CAP client, who went totally blind, yet got prayed for and her eyesight was perfectly restored.
Like Carrie who couldn’t read because of her dyslexia yet came out of the baptism pool able to read fine.
(All people I’ve met and can verify first hand)
None of that is the immune system, nor science, nor the mind - this is God breaking in in an extra special way.
Now if we’re being honest those don’t happen very often do they? Certainly not in the ‘western’ church? I know it’s not a very faith filled thing to say, remember I’m a rational thinker, I’m just being honest. It tends to be a combination of the more natural healing processes and God working through those at times to speed up our healing. That is why, when I pray, one of the ways I pray for healing is that God’s spirit would accelerate the brilliant healing he has already programmed into the body. Just like adrenalin does the same in a natural way, so God’s spirit can do it in a spiritual way.
But when it does happen - wow - it’s amazing isn’t it? We can really let ourselves go in praise to God. But I guess my point in writing this is to let ourselves go in praise to God when it happens through natural/scientific means too, because he’s responsible for every single one of those as well!
The mystery of faith and healing
Let’s face it the whole area of healing and faith is a real mystery. When I think of those in our church suffering with long term illness, with Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, Josie with her thyroid condition, Eye conditions - people who are waiting for a miracle - each of these beautiful people need us to have both a gift of faith for them, and a sensitivity that we must acknowledge that not everything gets healed in our timing, or even, at times, this side of the grave. There are times when it’s right to declare full healing and be rammed full of expectation and faith and times when its right to simply journey with love and compassion.
For those of you full of faith all, or most, of the time, I hope I’ve not dampened it at all - we all need you! You inspire us and challenge us to believe for more.
For those who struggle at times with being too rational, like me, I hope this helps you to join in with the ‘Praise Gods’ next time someone has successful surgery, gets over a cold, or has a top drawer supernatural miracle that simply can’t be explained, but for the goodness of God.