REACH-SA COVID-19 Statement
In the light of recent restrictions imposed by the National State of Disaster, REACH-South Africa has issued the following directives to all her churches.
- Special events are postponed till further notice. (Easter Conventions, Seminars, Conferences etc.) We are urging all our local churches to lean toward an abundance of caution and postpone all public meetings and gatherings.
- Sunday Services are (at the very least) to be restricted to below the required 100 mark and all members encouraged to meet together at home or in small groups during Sunday service times. Those who are in high risk categories (overseas travel; seniors; children) are advised to refrain from church attendance over this time. Churches with large congregations have suspended or limited their public gatherings and moved to live-streaming.
- George Whitefield College has moved classes to online streaming. Please contact GWC for further information.
- BUT the church is NOT closed in this time of crisis and we invite you to contact us or talk to your local church pastor if you are concerned or in need of help and guidance over this time. The Word of God gives us assurance and hope in this time of uncertainty and anxiety and we will always hold out this hope to the world, even if we are restricted from physical contact.
- Our motive in restricting contact is not out of fear for our lives, but out of loving concern for yours. Therefore, we would like to be in contact with you online and provide pastoral and prayer support as much as we possibly can. Please will you get in touch with us if you need any assistance or guidance over this time of crisis. info@reachsa.org.za
Perspective: Our Father
"Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven…" (Matthew 6:9)
The words quoted above introduce the most famous of all Christian prayers, the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples as a model prayer, a prayer not simply to be prayed but also to be used as a guideline to shape our prayers.
As with all Scripture, the Lord’s Prayer, as it has come to be known, should be read in context and that context is very striking indeed. Jesus’ begins his teaching about prayer by telling his disciples how not to pray. First, we should avoid the hypocrisy that sees prayer more as a display of our own piety than a humble conversation with God. We must never pray in order to be seen and praised by others! (Matthew 6:5-6) Second, we should avoid the superstition that imagines that we can somehow control or manipulate God through our words or techniques. To pray in that way is to be no better than a pagan (Matthew 6:7-8). Third, we should avoid a mystical view of prayer in which prayer becomes listening to God rather than speaking to God. God’s speaks to us not in our prayer but by His Word the Bible. It is of course good to listen to the Word with a humble, receptive heart and to turn God’s Word in the Bible into prayer. As with the Lord’s Prayer, our prayers should be shaped by all that the Bible says. But we should never confuse our speaking to God (prayer) with listening to God (reading the Bible).
How then should we pray? And it here that the opening words of the Lord’s prayer are so revolutionary and encouraging. Firstly, we should pray in the full confidence that if we have put our trust in Jesus Christ, God is indeed not simply a Father, but our Father! In Christ we are kept in a true and deep relationship with God. Hostilities and estrangement caused by our sin are now at an end since Christ has made peace between us and God (Ephesians 2:11-18). Thus, whenever we pray, we come to God as our Father knowing that, because of Jesus, He always hears us and, in Christ, He will grant everything good that is in accordance with His will (1 John 5:14-15). Secondly, we should pray in the full confidence that the God to whom we pray is our Father in heaven. The phrase ‘in heaven’ reminds us of the wisdom, sovereignty and power of God. It reminds us that God knows what is best for us since He created us. It reminds us that God knows what is best for us since He knows all things, including the future. More than that it reminds us that God not only knows all things, but that He controls all things, even the smallest details of our lives. Thus, as our Father in heaven, God works for our eternal good in all things, even in the midst of human evil and the trials of a fallen world (Romans 8:26-30).
By teaching us that our Heavenly Father is both able and willing to answer our prayers, the Lord’s Prayer teaches us how to pray. But more than that, it teaches us that we can and must pray! So often the evil one reminds us of our sins and failures and our hearts condemn us. But God in Christ is greater than our hearts! (1 John 3:20). We need to remember that because Jesus has paid the full price for our sins and now intercedes for us at the Father’s right hand, we may indeed approach God’s throne of grace with confidence to find mercy and help in our time of need (Hebrews 4:14-16). No matter how often or how much we have failed or fallen, we should always keep coming back to our Heavenly Father in prayer. This is not to be a hypocrite, but to believe the gospel. Satan the accuser wants to keep us away from God. Jesus our Lord and Saviour wants to lead us back to God our Father. Like the prodigal son, we need to remember that the best place to be is in our Father’s house, not as unworthy servants, but as blood bought children. Thanks be to God for the indescribable gift of His Son and the gift of prayer.
The Church and The Kingdom of God
The task of the church is to make the invisible kingdom visible through faithful Christian living and witness-bearing. The Gospel of Christ is still the gospel of the kingdom, the good news of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit through entering a disciple’s relationship to the living Lord. The church must make its message credible by manifesting the reality of the kingdom. - J.I. Packer
Perspective: For the Children
“….do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord” Ephesians 6:4
The words listed above were originally addressed by Paul to fathers in the Ephesian Church. As such, they are of course important words for fathers to take to heart today. However, these words also give every parent or guardian the opportunity to think more carefully about how to respond to the children we love and care about, especially when their understanding of, or commitment to, God’s good design for their lives become unsure or unclear. To frame it in terms of a question: How should we respond when the children we love and care for begin to question important things like their faith or their identity or their sexual orientation?
That such confusion or questions will arise is I think a given, especially as our children are exposed to opinions which challenge Christian beliefs as well as the Christian world-view and ethical framework. Such anti-Christian opinions may come from more formal channels such as comments by teachers or in prescribed texts or, perhaps more frequently, simply from the prevailing culture as it is expressed in casual conversations at school or on the University campus. But confusion or questions can also arise as our children ‘come of age’ and grapple with their own emotions and thoughts.
Either way the question remains “How should we respond?” I trust that the following answers will prove helpful and encouraging though I recognize that they by no means cover everything that can or should be said.
Firstly and in many ways most importantly, we need to ensure that our children have the freedom and confidence to bring their questions or doubts to us without fear. Nothing angers or frustrates or discourages a child or young person more than the sense that their opinions don’t matter or are not worth hearing. We may not agree with their views and may be right in disagreeing, but we must make time and create a safe space in which these views can be expressed. Here we need to keep in mind that children often have a high sense of loyalty and will be concerned that their views, especially if different from those we hold, will let us down or disappoint us. So their natural tendency will be to keep their doubts about faith or their confusion about moral or ethical things to themselves. It is important therefore that we treat their doubts and their confusion for what they are and that we don’t see them as rebellion or disloyalty.
To put it in a different way: Doubt and confusion is not the same thing as decision and therefore should never be punished. This is especially important when it comes to issues of faith or sexual identity. Confusion during adolescence is not a decision that will necessarily be carried into adulthood and there are many adults (ourselves included) who could testify to the truth of this. Thus a safe space to talk and a listening ear is one of the most important things we can offer our children. Failure to provide this will frustrate and anger them and in the end drive them to have these vital conversations with others, some at least of whom will exploit rather than help them.
Secondly, the whole point of a safe space and a listening ear is to build a relationship of trust and love in which God’s truth on these matters can be spoken. And God’s truth must indeed be taught, firmly, wisely and carefully. This is precisely what it means to bring children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Sometimes within secular culture the flip side of not angering or frustrating our children becomes allowing them to live out their confusion or doubt without wanting to be prescriptive. But this is surely to forsake the teaching role that God has given to parents in relation to their children. For we are to remember that children belong to God as well as to their parents and that we are accountable to God to teach them His truth.
God is good and His Way truly is best and so we need never fear that in teaching our children God’s truth or God’s standards regarding lifestyle choices we will be robbing them of freedom or what is good. And here as parents we need courage to believe that God’s ways truly are the best ways and we need character to follow them ourselves, long before we expect them of our children. The alternative to this is plain hypocrisy and children are very, very good at seeing through that.
So then, for the sake of the children, may God grant that we listen well, speak truth and since they are in His Hands, pray much. Speaking to our children about God and speaking to God about our children have always been to sides of the same coin.
Use Your Good Anger for Good
Anger is a whistle-blower emotion.
Whistle-blowers spill the beans on what’s really going on in the company or organization.
In South Africa, former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi, dropped bombshells at the State Capture Commission of how our ex-President allegedly accepted bribes – although still unproven in a court of law. Apparently, Bosasa also supplied friends of Jacob Zuma with frozen chickens, braai packs, expensive whisky and Louis Vuitton handbags!
Angelo Agrizzi was a whistle-blower.
Anger is a whistle-blower: it shows us and others what’s really going on in our heart.
The thing that makes you angry tells what defines your reality, what you treasure and what you consider important.
More often than not we treasure and value the wrong things. When our access to or enjoyment of these things is impeded or hindered in some way, we get angry.
We get angry at the motorist who cuts in front of us because we treasure our right to be first.
We get angry at our baby waking up at night because we treasure a good night’s sleep.
We get angry at our spouse because we treasure our opinion and hate being wrong.
We get angry at our internet going down because we treasure social media or Netflix.
Most of our anger is sinful. Note Jesus’ profound words in Matthew 5:21-22. Murder and the motive for murder brings us under God’s judgement.
However, some anger is good.
The Bible tells us that God gets angry. He is slow to anger, but he still gets angry.
It’s good to get angry about the things God gets angry about. In other words, it’s good to treasure the things God treasures and define reality as God defines reality.
It’s good to get angry, like God, at sin and injustice.
We should get angry about abortion, racism, corruption, the exploitation of the poor and our own sin. And more.
However, this anger should not cause us to sin, but rather to use our anger for good.
In about 450 BC, Nehemiah 5:6 tells us that Nehemiah was angry at the rich people in Jerusalem for exploiting the poor – and he implemented a plan to fix it.
In the 1500’s, Martin Luther’s anger at the Roman Catholic Church’s abuses, led to the church’s rediscovery of the gospel in the Protestant Reformation.
In the 1800’s, George Muller’s anger at the way orphaned children were mistreated in England, lead to the establishment of orphanages and schools.
A few years ago, Brendan Botha’s anger at pornography caused him to start the organization www.break-free.co.za.
What good anger do you have? What will you do about it?
Are you angry at abortion? How about adopting or fostering a child?
Are you angry at child neglect? How about volunteering at a homework centre? Or sign up to be a temporary safe-house?
Are you angry at crime? If you are young enough, why not study law and instead of working in a private law firm work as a State Prosecutor?
What good anger do you have?
Don’t let it cause you to sin; but let it drive and compel you to do something really good for Christ and his world.
“Be angry and do not sin.” (Ephesians 4:26)
Reverence for Life
Eternal Father, source of life and light,
whose love extends to all people, all creatures, all things:
grant us that reverence for life which becomes those who believe in you,
lest we despise it, degrade it, or come callously to destroy it.
Rather let us save it, secure it, and sanctify it,
after the example of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Perspective - Bloodshed, Forgiveness and Christianity
“Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” Hebrews 9:22
In a world full of violence and bloodshed it is hardly surprising when people balk at claims such as the one made in Hebrews 9:22 above. In its immediate context the verse is of course referring to the Old Testament sacrificial system described in particular in the early chapters of Leviticus, a religious system which to modern ears smacks of barbarism and superstition.
However, the wider context of the chapter as a whole, together with the writer’s use of the present tense ‘…is no forgiveness’ makes it clear that the writer is not relegating his claim to the Old Testament alone, but is in fact referring to the death of Jesus Christ who “ has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Hebrews 9:26). Such a claim, even for Jews who countenanced animal sacrifice as an appropriate part of worship, seems to go too far. Surely God does not permit, let alone demand, human sacrifice as the means by which forgiveness may be obtained?
Three things need to be borne in mind when one ponders the words of Hebrews 9:22 and seeks to understand the link between bloodshed, forgiveness and Christianity. First, we must bear in mind the true nature of God. Second, we must come to understand the reality and severity of our human sinfulness. Third we need to understand the meaning of blood in the Bible. Let us look briefly at each of these points.
The popular understanding of God may be summed up by the idiom: To err is human to forgive is divine. Whatever the original intention of the saying, its popular application expresses the notion that it is God’s duty to forgive, and to do so easily and automatically. The reason we think like this about God and forgiveness is because we tend to think of God only in terms of goodness and love and not in terms of holiness and justice. Such a view is however completely untenable. If we as sinful human beings are offended by evil and injustice, how can we expect God not to be offended. Surely we are not better than God?
And yet people continue to talk as if God has no right to moral standards and no sense of right and wrong. In doing so we not only misrepresent God but also undermine the very basis of morality. Furthermore this view of God goes completely against what the Bible teaches. For whereas the Bible clearly teaches about the goodness and love of God it also teaches about His holiness and justice. The prophet Isaiah was just one of many who came to see this in the vision described in Isaiah 6:1-5. Given a vision of the LORD of hosts, he came face to face with the fact that this LORD was and is thrice holy i.e. perfectly holy and that he as a sinner was undone in the presence of such a Holy LORD.
This brings us to the second point and the other side of the idiom. For in saying ‘to err is human’ are we not downplaying the seriousness of our sin, treating it almost as something ordinary? Thus we so easily describe our sins as errors or as mistakes (note the phrase ‘to err is human’) and we convince ourselves that God will view them with the same benevolent tolerance that we do. But the Bible takes a much more serious view of our sins and this is very clear in the letter to the Hebrews as even a cursory reading of Hebrews chapter 3 and 4 makes clear.
In these chapters the writer reminds us of God’s wrath against human unbelief and rebellion and warns against taking one’s own unbelieving heart or ungodly behaviour lightly. Indeed as Hebrews as a whole makes clear and as Hebrews 9 in particular affirms, human sin is very serious indeed, leading to both death and judgement (Hebrews 9:27). And it is in this connection, the link between sin, death and judgement, that the link between bloodshed and forgiveness is ultimately seen.
Thirdly then let us think about what the writer means when he links forgiveness with shedding of blood. The key thing to see here is that our writer is talking not about blood per sé but about bloodshed i.e. death. At no point in the Old or the New Testament are we ever taught that blood has any magical religious power. In the Old Testament sacrificial system which as we have seen underlies Hebrews 9, blood was always poured out as a symbol of death. Death was the consequence of sin in Genesis 3 and remains the consequence of sin to this day (see e.g. Romans 6:23).
Thus the remedy for sin foreshadowed in the Old Testament and fulfilled in Jesus is not the blood of Jesus but the death of Jesus. What Hebrews 9:22 thus assets is that without substitutionary death there can be no forgiveness. And what the rest of the chapter and the book as a whole asserts is that such a death has in fact happened and that such forgiveness is now available to all for whom Jesus died. Rather than balk at the message of Hebrews 9:22, we should turn in humility, faith and gratitude to the One who because of His love, was “offered once to bear the sins of many and who will appear a second time…to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him” (Hebrews 9:28)
A Prayer for Learning
We thank you, Heavenly Father, for all that we have gained through education.
We thank you for new knowledge, new skills, new experiences, new pleasures, and new insights.
Help us we pray, to continue to learn all through our lives.
Give us the determination never to be content with less than the best.
Above all, grant that we may find in Jesus the more abundant life which he came to give, and which he promises to all who put their trust in him; for his name's sake. Amen.
Just Christmas
Advent is a valuable time for Christians to celebrate as we remember the birth of the Christ child.
“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him’.” (Matthew 2:1-2 NIB)
He is the one we worship, He is both Lord and Saviour, He is The King.
If the king has come, it means his kingdom has come (Mark 1:15), and yet He taught his disciples to pray “Your kingdom come” (Matthew 5:10). This can be a little confusing and raises the question of whether God’s kingdom has or is God’s kingdom still coming? The answer is both!
At Christmas we are reminded that Christ has come, was crucified, died and on the third day rose again. He now reigns over all at the Father’s right hand. This means that God’s kingdom has been inaugurated – and that is indeed good news for the whole world. We encounter the expression, “the kingdom of God”, for the first time in late Old Testament writings. It signifies God’s royal rule over Old Testament Israel, but increasingly also his reign over all the nations and all of creation. The kingdom of God was at the very centre of Jesus’ preaching. He announced a new and unique breaking-in of the royal rule of God. And the rule of God is one of love, righteousness (justice), and compassion. Furthermore, Jesus emphasised the nearness of the kingdom for it had arrived in his person and ministry. That is what we are celebrating at Christmas time! Christ The King has come! Hallelujah!
But God’s inaugurated kingdom presents us with significant challenges. To pray “your kingdom come” is to unsettle the well-ordered proprieties of society. For example, it is not the rich and the powerful to whom the kingdom of God is promised, as one would expect, but “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20 cf. Matthew 5:3). And again, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10 NIB).
The kingdom of God, then, does not come when the privileged become more privileged when the authorities become more powerful. No, it comes when the underprivileged also become privileged, when the weak are blessed. So Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things will be given to you as well”. The opposite is equally true: if we disregard justice, we bypass the kingdom of God, for justice is an essential consequence of God’s righteousness and our relationship with him in Christ – “Not everyone who says to me,`Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father …” (Matthew 7:21, NIB).
The petition “your kingdom come” is also a prayer for the final and complete manifestation of God’s kingdom. As we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we are therefore reminded that the ultimate and glorious kingdom is still to come at the return of our ascended Lord. On that day, the kingdom of God will be consummated. But as we pray for that day and look forward to that day, we also commit ourselves to establish, here and now, approximations and anticipations of the kingdom. We live under Christ’s rule. God’s kingdom is both private and public, personal and collective, individual and societal, worship and fellowship. It means that we who celebrate Christmas should be at the forefront of the struggle against racism and gender abuse, which are such a present evil in our society.
I grew up in Zululand (as it was called then) and speak conversational Zulu. The Zulu have a proverb which says ‘Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu’ meaning “A person is a person through other persons.” We are not made to live alone as individuals; God has called us to live in love and relationship with each other. This is precisely what the apostle Paul teaches (e.g. Romans 12:15, Galatians 6:2). We dare not reduce Christmas and the Christmas message to an exclusively personal and individual level. It is not merely about Jesus and me. No, it’s about loving our neighbour too.
So this Christmas season, as we who call ourselves the disciples of Christ celebrate a Saviour who came to free us from sin by his death on the cross, we also remember that “gentle Jesus meek and mild” is King of kings and Lord of lords! The season of Advent reminds us not only that Christ came into the world, but that he will come again. May God help us to live out the implications of his Lordship in our beloved land South Africa in our relationships with one another. May God help us to live as children of his kingdom: to love the poor, the underprivileged, the weak and the vulnerable.
Most of us will go to church and engage in religious activity on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day. There will be much singing of our favourite Christmas carols and Bible readings and preaching. And this is wonderful and as it should be. But let’s be sure to examine ourselves before the King of God’s Kingdom first. Let us remember the words of the Lord through his prophet:
“I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! (Amos 5:21-24 NIB).
We should remember too the words of James, our Lord’s brother,
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (Jam 1:27-1 NIB).
Then, as we gather in our local churches this Christmas, the Psalmist’s desire will be our answered prayer: “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14 NIB).
Ross Anderson, GWC lecturer, Biblical Studies
B.Th (Unisa); Dip Th (BISA); M.Th (UWC).
A Prayer for the Fainthearted
O Lord,
raise up your power and come among us,
and with great might succour us,
that whereas through our sins and wickedness
we are sore let and hindered
in running the race that is set before us,
your bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us;
through your Son our Lord,
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit
be honour and glory, now and for ever. Amen.