When is a joke not a joke........when its about a female linesman apparently

There has been much furore in recent days surrounding Andy Gray, his views on feminism and a throw away remark about a female assistant being able to understand the offside law. Gray's comments were seen by some as sexist, others as funny and others as just stupid.

The final nail in Gray's coffin at Sky came a few hours later when it later emerged that he had made inappropriate sexual remarks to a female co-host.

But why? Why has there been such an outcry against Andy Gray and his comments? Well largely it has been down to the feminist revolution of the 1960's and 70's and the advance of what i would call Germaine Greer feminism, which at its core states that women are equal with men, that they should have the same jobs and same opportunities open to them because we are all equal.

Now working for an evangelical church, an institution not noted for its positive attitude towards the feminist movement, I would agree to a certain extent with the feminist movement. We read in the book of Genesis,

"So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female He created them."

The view many people have about evangelical Christianity is that we view women as worthless, as nothing more than people who should be in the kitchen and looking after the children. But this is simply not true. Women have intrinsic value because they are created in the image of God just as men are, women are image bearers of God, just like men. Men and women are equal in the eyes of God, they are both God's creation and God's image bearers.

But this equality does not mean that we have the same roles, men have been called to be the leaders of churches and leaders of their families, this is not to demean the role of women. Women have many qualities that men do not, as a general rule women are far more caring, far more compassionate and empathetic than men.

Men and women are equal but not the same, and this is something that the feminist movement fails to take into account, today we have very much a blurring of the sexes, where the difference between the sexes is becoming less and less obvious. And this is where I have the real difficulty, men and women are image bearers of God, but we don't have the same roles. Let us celebrate these differences, celebrate what it truly means to be a feminist in the eyes of the bible, rather than confusing the issue by saying that men and women are the same in all respects.

What is our biggest problem?

My wife and I had some guests round for Sunday lunch and over the course of lunch a wide range of subjects was discussed everything from Agape F.C. to the state of the England cricket team.

But one of the most interesting things that we discussed was what is the biggest problem facing the church today? Most of this discussion was prompted by a sermon that we had heard at the start of the year. Obviously all the normal answers where discussed, there was the problem of sin, the problem of increasing liberalism, but the discussion then turned to our biggest problem being that we are not taking the Word of God seriously, we are not allowing the Word of God to change and affect the way that we live.

But why? Why are we not allowing the word of God to change and shape us? Well I think it all comes down to what we view the Bible as, is it just a handy guide that has some nice advice when we are in times of trouble? Is it just an irrelevance to us? What does the bible say about itself? 2 Timothy 3:

"All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in rigtheousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

So the Bible is the word of God, the Bible is how God communicates to us today, God tells us how He expects us how to live, what His standards are for our lives and how we can relate to a Holy God. So knowing this about the Bible, which any of us who are in any way reformed will know, the question we come back to is why are we not allowing the bible to change us and shape us?

I don't know the answer to that question but the only thing i can guess is that when people hear the word of God preached, they hear a nice sermon, a nice talk but they don't think that what is said applies to them. That what is said from the pulpit is something that applies to someone else but not to me. I want to encourage us to listen to the bible being taught, listen as it is applied to our lives and more than that actually live out what the bible says. Take what James says seriously:

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."

What means most to you in the world?

It's funny how adverts can have a lasting effect on you some for good reasons and others for more annoying reasons, I only need to say the word "simples" and you all know instantly what advert I'm talking about, its the compare the meerkat adverts. Or "go Harvey go" and you know that its Harvey Norman.

There is an advert on T.V. at the minute for security alarms, the premise of the advert is very simple, there are a number of people who are asked what means most to you in the world? There are the range of answers you would expect. For some people it may be their family, their wife, others choose things that are perhaps not as worthy such as their lap-top or their sound system is another one.

But the basic idea of the advert is that whatever the most important thing in the world is to you, you should protect it by purchasing one of these home alarms to give you peace of mind that its protected even when you are not there.

In His great sermon, Jesus asked people what means most to them in the world, we read in Matthew 6:

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Contrary to what many people think Jesus here is not telling people not to have stuff, but rather putting their faith in their things, in their things that they own. Jesus points out to his hearers that if you just collect things people will break in and steal or eventually it will wear out. Jesus tells his hearers that where your treasure is, that's where you will put all your faith and trust. The only thing that will never disappoint you is Jesus Christ and heavenly treasure that he can offer us.

So what means the most to you in the world? Is it your family, your job, your money or your social status? The thing which should mean the most to us and the thing that will never disappoint us, that will never break and that no one can ever steal is heavenly treasure and storing that up for ourselves.

Rude Awakenings

This morning my wife and I woke up to the dulcet tones of William Crawley and his Sunday Sequence programme on BBC Radio Ulster, nothing new or unusual about this as this is always the radio station that we wake up. First up this morning was a very famous preacher from Northern Ireland, and a very fine public speaker he is as well. Much of what the contributor had to say was good and worthy and encouraged the soul. His desire to reach out into the Catholic community in West Belfast, was particularly praiseworthy initiative, and his recognition that the Holy Spirits working was what was required for true conversion also drew a loud AMEN.

But it would be wrong for me to suggest to you that everything he said was perfect, that everything he said was useful and I have two points in particular where I diverge from what was said on this mornings programme.

Firstly for me there was a little too much of the praise of man in the interview and not enough of the praise of God. Two statements for me highlight this fact:

"I established a work in Dublin."

"I lost 350(from the church), but i got 350 back " Italics mine.

It's all him, there is no mention of God, in speaking of the split from his church, he said that he lost 350, not that the church lost 350 but he personally lost 350. I could cope with that to a degree but the next statement really galled me, I got 350 back, not Jesus Christ, not God, not the gospel but he himself. I think this man is in danger of worshipping at the shrine of self, its all about him, there is no sense in which God was at work it was him.

But so what why did this annoy me so much at such an early hour of the morning? Well it annoyed me because the church where we praise/serve/minister is not our church, well it is in some senses but ultimately the church where we praise/serve/minister is part of the body of Christ and ultimately belongs to Him because He paid the price for it. It also annoyed me because not one of us is able to bring people to know God, and in fairness he did mention that the Holy Spirit had to convict people but this was not carried through with the later message he brought about the success of his ministry. We read in 1 Corinthians 3:

"What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the LORD assigned to each.I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants or he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth."

Its always God who gives the growth, never our snazzy programmes, our catchy sermon headings, never the buzz around our youth group, we plant the seed and God is the one who makes it grow, and none of us really matter but only God who makes the seed grow.

I suppose the second thing where I disagreed with the contributor was his definition of success in terms of sharing the gospel, talking about his upcoming event in West Belfast William Crawley asked him "What is your test of whether this mission in west Belfast succeeds for you?" To which he replied "I know by the response of the people I know by the sincerity of the people." Basically success boiled down to the number of people who responded in a positive fashion to his message. Success in ministry is never about numbers, its never about the number of people that we convert, success in ministry should always be about being faithful to God's word, faithful to the gospel that we find in there. Again we read in 1 Corinthians 4:

"Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful."

The test of true success in ministry is being a steward of the mysteries of God, is that one be found faithful, not that one be found with massive numbers, not that one be found with ultra tight doctrine but rather that one be found faithful to God's word and the message contained within it.

I don't want this post to come across as negative and bringing the man down, much of what was said was good and excellent and praiseworthy but for me these two issues are not ones that can be overlooked, i pray that his ministry in west Belfast will bring many to know our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ...

Worshipping at The Shrine Of Ministry

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/the-son-of-man-must-suffer-many-things


Whilst at the gym this morning i was listening to this sermon by John Piper, it was one of the sermons that he preached regarding his leave of absence from Bethlehem Baptist, and one of the things that struck me from it was when he talked about ministry becoming an idol to us. It just got me thinking about how easy this is for it to happen to us. I think one of the reasons for this is because essentially we are doing a good work, the bible tells us that he who desires the task of an overseer desires a noble task.


Its easy for us to take pride in our work for the kingdom, to think that because we are working so hard, or seeing growth in our ministry that its because of something good in us, and before we know it, our ministry is actually the thing that we are trusting for our right relationship with God rather than Jesus Christ and our ministry has become our idol.


I only flag this up because it is something that can slip in so easily so unnoticed to our lives. Anyway if you are in some position of ministry then i encourage you to listen to this sermon and check your own life, i know that it certainly has caused me to think about my ministry and my life and make sure that i am following only Jesus Christ.

Patience

I believe it was the great sooth-Sayer Gary Barlow who penned the words:

"Just have a little patience, I'm still hurting from a love I lost."

In our modern day society and culture patience is not a thing that we are used to is it? We live in a society of instant gratification, a society that says I want it and I want it now, we are not used to waiting for things. From T.V. dinners to buy now pay later furniture we are used to having the every desire of our heart satisfied when we want it satisfied.

But how different things are for those of us who are Christians, who love the Lord Jesus Christ, we are still the same people who want our desires to be satisfied instantly, but sometimes for us what God requires of us is a little patience. In my bible reading recently I have been reading the story of Joseph, and in particular the story of Joseph in prison for a crime that he didn't commit. Joseph had interpreted a dream for the cup bearer and the baker, and asked them to remember him when they where released from prison. But they didn't, they promptly forgot about him and left him languishing in prison for two whole years.

During those two years there must have been times when Joseph's mind began to wonder, when Joseph felt as if God had abandoned him, had left him alone. But really Joseph just had to wait in patience for the Lord to act. As Christians we need to remember that, that sometimes all God is telling us to do is to go on in faith, go on trusting Him and His word and carry on until He reveals his plans to us. As Gary said all we need is a little patience. The world around us is used to always getting what it wants when it wants it, but that's not the Christian life, we get what we need when God decides that we need it.

It may be that there is a situation in your life at the minute were you feel that there is nothing happening, when heaven is silent, but perhaps heaven is not really silent at all and maybe God is telling you that you need to have a little patience and keep going forward in faith trusting Him...

Ashes to Ashes

So the Ashes is over for another while, and it has been quite a good series spoiled only somewhat by the fact that England (Commonwealth XI) managed to win and we now have to listen to them gloat about how they are the greatest team in the world. Don't get me wrong we would have had to listen to the Aussies gloat as well but at least they would have done it from 30,000 miles away.

One of the inescapable facts of the series was the fact that the Australian cricket team are in a very real slump, they just aren't good enough. For someone who grew up watching the Australians in their hay day with the likes of McGrath and Warne taking wickets for fun and Ponting scoring runs for fun, this is very hard to watch and believe. I just never thought that it would come to this. And so evidently neither did the Australian newspapers, who are now calling for heads to roll and a root and branch review of how to take Australian cricket forward. To me it seems like the whole of Australia has been shaken by this Ashes thumping, it was just something that no one in Australia could ever see happening, and now it has. Now the Australians who had put all their faith in their cricketing ability have been shaken everything they thought they knew about life and beating the English at cricket has been shaken. But why? Why are the Australians so shaken?

Because they have put their faith in all the wrong things, put all their trust and hope in the wrong things, they have gotten their identity from being the best at the world in cricket, and now that has been shaken and they cant cope with that. Because the only thing that offers us true identity and true hope in this world is a right relationship with Jesus Christ. When we have a right relationship with Jesus Christ it puts everything else into context, it shows us how tiny and insignificant losing a game of cricket really is, how tiny and insignificant whether our football team loses or not because it gives us our true identity, we no longer have to search for it in other places and other ways.

Are the Australian cricket team in terminal decline, is Punter finished I don't know. But if this is where you are placing your identity , where you are placing your hope, in sports teams, in music bands, in academic circles, in going out with friends then you will always be disappointed because only Jesus Christ can give us true hope, only Jesus Christ can give us our true identity and show us who we really are...

Water Water Everywhere So Let's all have a drink...but no showers just incase

Everyone in Northern Ireland now has a water story, so what is yours? It may be that you were in the shower when the water went off, it may be that you had to queue for hours just to get some water to drink. But whatever it is everyone in Northern Ireland now has a water story, so here is mine...

I got an email the other day from a student in Finland, who told me that in the news in Finland it was reported that Northern Ireland was suffering from a drought and she was very concerned for our safety. Now i don't know how the news in Finland is being reported but i think the term drought was perhaps a little over the top, but I'm still proud that our wee country made the news in Finland, even if it was for being completely incompetent and unable to manage a crisis.

The Bible also tells a story about a woman who was looking for the living water, water that would satisfy her forever, and we can read about this woman in John chapter 4. Jesus is at a well and a woman comes to the well about mid-day, Jesus was tired and thirsty from a long walk and he asks the woman for a drink, the woman initally refuses but Jesus continues talking to her, and assures her that only He can offer her the living water, but she doesnt understand, she asks Jesus how he intends to get that water out seeing the well was deep and he had nothing to draw with.

Jesus then shares with her the great news, he tells her that everyone who drinks from the water of the well will be thirsty again but he who drinks of the water Jesus gives them will never thirst again, now we think we have moved on so much as cultures and nations, and to an extent we have, but the truth today is still the same, if we go to a tap and are lucky enough to get some water, eventually we will be thirsty again, we will need to keep coming back to this tap and be satisfied once again, but the truth is Jesus is the only thing that will satisy us forever. Now obviously we are not talking about physical thirst here, but spiritual thirst, our spiritual thirst to know God. Now maybe you are reading this and thinking well i have no spiritual thirst, no thirst to know God, but i can assure you, you do, you are maybe just looking in the wrong places.

So as you are going to your tap tonight, going for your shower doing whatever it is that you do with water think about your true thirst, the thirst that can never be satisfied with water and can only be satisfied by God.