Lost?

We've seen a lot lately, in Luke especially, about people being lost. A few things have struck me about the way in which this impacts us.

If you've ever been lost, you'll know it's not great. Recently I foolishly trusted my brother's navigational skills around Blackburn town centre - it didn't go well. I was happy to let him drive on - up until the point he turned to me and asked "do you know where we are?". Ah. Oh dear.

It's only when we realised that neither of us knew what way we were heading that we got the map out and were able to navigate our way to where we were supposed to be going. With the aid of a map, there was no problem - we arrived at the right place, albeit at the wrong time.

It's a bit like that with the people we've looked at in Luke. Whilst Dan and I assumed we knew where we were going there was no need for the map. Various people Jesus encounters are showing all the signs of being lost, but plenty of them don't realise how much they need to be shown the way.

It's only when we realise we're lost that we look for help, and in Luke's gospel the people we've seen Jesus save are those who have recognised the error of their ways, and know they need someone to offer them a way out. It's only when we realise we're lost that we can be found - found by a God who "came to seek and save what was lost".

There's another beautiful aspect to this. The word "lost" implies that the thing which has gone missing belonged to someone in the first place. When we lose something, we go looking for it - because it's ours, and because we quite like having it in our lives. God seeks us for much the same reasons. Our amazing God dies for his runaway children at the time they are most lost, all because he longs to make them found, and bring them home. 

Lock-in

On Friday night, Wolves CU spent the night in a local church building - the Church on Broad Street, and what a great time we had! Our purpose was for "fun and fellowship", or, in more accessible terms, we played games, chatted, prayed, and thought about God. A fantastic balance.

Overall we spent 18 hours there - arriving at 6 on Friday evening armed with sleeping bags (some of which would be rendered redundant), teabags, nerf guns, and Bibles. The lock-in kicked off with what we could call a service, for want of a better word, led brilliantly by our friends Jake, Nathanael, and Catherine. We sang, listened to God's word, and reflected on what it meant to be truly "free".


The challenge of being "free" is what we make of it. What good is it to be set free from prison, but still hang around in your cell? Equally what good is it to be set free from prison, and spend time being indifferent about it, or moping about. Jesus saved us from certain death - celebrate! Where Christians gather there should always be smiles and laughter.

God certainly spoke to people through this time of listening to him - proved by chats with each other, tears, smiles, dances, and the fact that the pizza we'd ordered sat there for at least 45 minutes before we actually got around to eating it!

Through the rest of the night we further bonded friendships which are becoming more and more precious with every week. We played ridiculously childish games, ate sweets, and acted half our age. We then slept for about 3 hours each. The morning after, we sleepily slumped into sofas and chatted about things going on at the time which need prayer - spending more time chatting to God, and ear-bashing him with our requests. 


It struck me that not only was our lock-in great for fun and fellowship purposes, but it was practice for heaven! If heaven is anything like that, then I'm sure that will help us all get excited about what we've been freed for. Roll on the next lock-in!

A closer Luke

"Two men were in debt to a banker. One owed five hundred silver pieces, the other fifty. Neither of them could pay up, and so the banker canceled both debts. Which of the two would be more grateful?"


The above is taken from Luke 7, and the passage we studied last night. But what exactly is Jesus saying here? The obvious answer to his question is the man who owed more, but we can take more from this with a closer look.

Our Uncover notes say this:
"Jesus often taught in parables - stories cleverly designed to uncover a truth. In this parable, he is trying to help Simon see that the woman has been forgiven because she recognised her sin and received God's message of grace. But Simon's self-righteousness and spiritual pride makes him blind to his own sin. Simon doesn't grasp that God loves sinners (himself included!), and that forgiveness is offered to all who sincerely repent."


In the story, the difference between Simon and the sinful woman isn't that one is more sinful than the other - both have rejected God's rule, just as every other person who's ever lived has. The difference between the two is that only the sinful woman has grasped how serious her sin problem is.


Simon thinks he's sorted. As a Pharisee, he would have made use of rituals and practices which enabled God's people to become right with him. The problem with the Pharisees was that whilst their attention to detail was brilliant, they'd lost sight of the reason behind their religious practices - God, and his promise of deliverance. They'd replaced God's promise with their own practice.


The sinful woman? She throws herself on Jesus' mercy and gives him the most expensive thing she owns. What a picture! She is more grateful for Jesus' forgiveness because she knows what it means to have the slate wiped clean. Simon cannot be as grateful because he cannot see past his pride to see that his own sinful heart needs cleaning.


My living for Jesus needs to be motivated by what he's done, rather than by what I fail to do. Getting this wrong turns the gospel on its head - it becomes all about us working our way up. His sacrifice is of far greater significance than any sin we could ever commit - and thank God for that!


So the challenge to us is two-fold: Firstly we need to be aware of how sinful we are, and secondly we need to be aware of how far Jesus' forgiveness stretches. Once we grasp these two, the message of the cross looks all the more awesome.