Should Grace embrace law?

Being set free from the tyranny of the law is one of the best feelings a Christian can ever experience. No longer are we driven to perform. No longer are we accused by its unyielding standards and constantly found falling short of the mark. Justified by our faith in Christ alone! Does it get any better than that...I don't think so. That is the beauty of salvation.

But once saved- our inheritance (the King and His Kingdom) is to be enjoyed and needs to be enjoyed. When we enjoy God we bring glory to His name. Jesus told us He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfil it. He also told his disciples to remain in his love by obeying his commands. These commands did include the commandments given to Moses (Matt 19:18).

Jesus not only endorsed the law but he added to it a dynamic life that revealed the true heart of the commands. So why would we ever want to be found shunning the commands He lived as Old Covenant?

Hey it's Christmas...in case you didn't notice

Don't you just love the Christmas season. It's almost like someone throws a switch and we all get Christmassy. There is a sudden pressure to get things done before Christmas...presents to buy, dinners to arrange people to see. And then the big day comes and we all try to create a little Christmas magic...

Do we succeed? Well some do and some don't. In days gone by I can recall having some of our families biggest blues on Christmas Day...some special kind of magic we produced from maybe having too many jars. But we grew older and wiser and for me finding Christ ended the challenge to create Christmas magic by six pack. But is it still possible to create a little magic as a Christian? I think so.

Somehow religion always tries to claim Christmas as its own. A fruitless exercise if you do a serious study of the origins of the festival and Scripture itself. I gave up trying to Spiritualise what is essentially a market driven season long ago...

But Christmas is a season where so many non church goers darken the doors (so to speak) of their nearest church. It is an opportunity to demonstrate to them we have a joy and contentment from just knowing the hero of the gospel story. It is an opportunity to give thanks, to enjoy friends and family and bless those less fortunate.

We as a family refuse to be market driven and we refuse to be driven by religion demands. We just choose to have a good time at Christmas we laugh, live, love and enjoy Christ. Creating Christmas magic...its still possible. You just have to know how!

Steve G

Rudd vs Howard/Costello Election 07

On 23 November we are again asked to make a choice of who will lead Australia for at least the next four years. From time to time people will ask me which leader should a Christian choose? John Howard/Peter Costello or Kevin Rudd.

It is a difficult question for the leader of a church to answer. It is not as simple as claiming one or the other goes to church and so they should get my vote. I can recall watching a documentary on a notorious serial killer in the USA known to the police as "BTK". He operated for years before the police tracked him down, only to discover he was the president of the local church board! Being a church goer proves nothing.

Election campaigns are also not much help. They are targeted at people's weakness not their strength. They play on fear and greed and appeal to the self centred nature of man. Many will vote purely on the basis of "what's in it for me" with little regard to whether it is good for the country, or whether there is the slightest bit of truth in the fear campaign. Still others will vote on the leader's moral stands in a vain effort to legislate morality.

So what does the Christian do? While I might agree with some of the stances taken by those who campaign on moral grounds, I firmly believe it is the church's responsibility to change morality via the advancement of the Gospel not through legislation. Get the Gospel to enough people and they will sort out the legislators in time. So I never vote on moral grounds alone.

Jesus never got political! He just got on with the business of spreading the good news of the Kingdom of God. We however, are obliged to get political, at least once every four years. But our choice should be based on issues that were paramount in the heart of Jesus.

Ask yourself who has the best policy on Social Justice- Rudd or Howard. Who has the best record of integrity? Rudd or Howard. Who will benefit the poor- Rudd or Howard? Ask yourself not whether the economy is booming but whether families are booming with it?

Who is more humble? Rudd or Howard (or Costello who will succeed him).

If you don't know the answers to these questions find them out. Ask yourself more of the same kind for matters of faithfulness, integrity, justice, mercy for these are what matter to God. Not the current interest rate.

A Christian should think carefully about their vote, pray for wisdom and be free to vote as they see fit. No church should be owned by one party or the other; nor own one party and not the other.

On November 23rd- as a Christian, don't let others think for you, or be influenced by fear campaigns or smear campaigns or appeals to self. Use your greatest gift- the wisdom from above James 3:17 for it is far above such pettiness. Use it and bless the country with a considered choice.

Are children growing up too fast?

A survey conducted by the Australian Childhood Foundation concluded that both parents and children are concerned that they are indeed growing up too fast. Their report makes interesting reading and raises some interesting questions.

In my day I was told that children were to be seen and not heard. My class at school was also told repeatedly by various teachers that they were not here just for our benefit. In so many ways I thank God we have moved on from those dark ages.

As bad as those views on children were though, they did have one positive. Children were kept isolated from some of the more pressing concerns of the adult world. We had room to create and enjoy childhood. We were even protected from aggressive marketing by multi nationals that would have us believe that things really did go better with Coke simply by parents who made the decision for us...no they did not...if you were thirsty...you were to drink water.

Now children are encouraged to enter debates on world environment, world politics and the economy. As a result they now have increased fear they will have a future- how can you enjoy being a kid with that in the back of your mind? Aggressive marketing has them captive to fashion and technology. They have to worry about what they look like as children before they can actually enjoy being children. More tragic is that some of this "look" is encouraged by the parents both directly and indirectly. (Tweenies keep the designer fashion house share price high.)

What is being done in this enlightened era of children's rights to give them the right to space... just to be kids?

Frank Sinatra Christianity

To be honest I don't know whether the late Mr Sinatra was a Christian or not. But I have often heard his song "I did it my way" being sung at funerals as a final salute to the deceased. Personally, I have requested my family play "I feel good" by James Brown! Whether they will or not remains to be seen...and I am in no hurry to find out.

But to live life "their way" is the aim of many an unbeliever. And I guess if you are going to reject Christ and wear the consequences then you may as well. And you may as well do a good job of it because you only get that one chance!

What I do have difficulty understanding though, is why a Christian wants to do church their own way. Maybe someone can help me out here because I just don't get it. But before you answer too quickly I want to say I do understand people get hurt in churches...I have been hurt and no doubt will be hurt further. But to say we follow Christ means we follow him. We start by going down the path of Calvary. We encounter the cross which slew Jesus. A W Tozer spoke of the cross in these terms:

"The old cross is a symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of a human being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road had already said good-by to his friends. He was not coming back. He was going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromise, modified nothing, spared nothing; it slew all of the man, completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim. It struck cruel and hard, and when it had finished its work, the man was no more."

The cross is such a powerful symbol to the Christian because no one who went to the cross was singing "I am doing it my way". Even Jesus, who chose to do His Father's will not His own. And as those who are raised with Christ are we not supposed to be doing it His way?

What part of "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" gives us the right?

Steve G

church...to go or not to go

The longer I walk with God the more convinced I am that it is just not possible to be a Christian and not be part of a local church. True there are people who cannot attend because of physical reasons but more often than not these people ache in their hearts to attend church again.

But believers who call themselves followers of Christ but shun His body are in a world of their own creation. Isolating one or two Scriptures and building a doctrine on them is the stuff of fantasy and dreams and yet people out of fellowship do it all the time.

Where two or more are gathered there shall I be...not where two or more are scattered. Wake up church!

Global food and grain shortages

Mr John Anderson, a former federal leader of the Nationals, yesterday warned of possible global food and grain shortages. "This comes at a time of unprecedented concerns globally of very low grain stocks," he said.

Australia's current economic boom is fuelled by overseas demand for our commodity. The rise of India and particularly China's embrace of capitalism has proved invaluable to Australia's businesses. While some would like to think it has been all good management it is has been more good luck!

But while good luck has got us full employment bad luck will cause quite a bit of pain for us in the future. Our grain is traded on the world market and prices are shooting up daily because of world wide crop failures. Supermarket shortages are not something we have had to cope with in this country for years and for some they have never seen lack. It will be a shock to many.

However times change...Jesus said that famines in various places were all signs of the beginning of the end of time.

Doomsday prophets are not popular...and inevitably the crisis they predict passes...but with global warming and climate change with us for the long term perhaps this time they are right. What do you think?