Roger Aubrey

Real or replica?

I love watches, and am something of a collector. One of my favourites is the Patek Philippe Calatrava (pictured). It retails for about £12,000. Before you ask: no, I don't own one! But I could buy one online for a fraction of the price: excellent quality and looking exactly the same on the outside. The cost? About £200. That's because it's a replica, not the real thing. Unless you were an expert you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. But the moment someone who really knows about Calatravas looked at it and held it, he'd know I was wearing a fake.

It's easy to build something that looks like church without the aid of the Holy Spirit. A leader can have natural gifts and methods that make him attractive to natural people. Indeed, he can even have a large degree of success and build a supposedly marvelous ministry and church that can last a considerable period of time. What he builds looks exactly like the real thing. But when you look closely there's something missing. When you examine it closely it begins to be exposed for what it really is: a replica.

Many people are happy with replica church: it looks good and satisfies the natural person. But those of the Spirit are satisfied only with the genuine. Once you open up a real Calatrava you see what makes it so valuable: the quality of the mainspring, the gears and the levers; the number and quality of jewels, all testimony to the skill of the watchmaker. It's the same with the church: The spiritual person is looking for the genuiness and quality of the Spirit. It's only what is of the Spirit that makes church genuine.

Patek have a motto: 'You never actually own a Patek Philippe watch; you merely look after it for the next generation'. The genuine lasts and is handed from generation to generation. The replica doesn't; it's not built to last. Do you belong to the genuine or to the replica? Have you given your life for something that lasts for a moment or for eternity?

The Uprising

Every time I read Numbers 16 it chills me to the bone. It reveals an interesting but unsurprising fact: rebellious leaders are always in it for themselves. It may not be obvious at the beginning; but eventually the uncrucified heart will rise up against the rightful, God-appointed leadership. (It's significant that when Moses was challenged here by these men that he fell facedown: not in fear but in humility). That uprising may take many forms, often plausible to the natural person. But it is an uprising, nevertheless.

Korah, Dathan and Abiram were leaders of the people; but they were so only because they had been ordained by those over them in the Lord. That's what makes any church leader's authority authentic: who appointed him? Eldership is an entrustment from an apostle; and if an eldership is no longer willing to work under that apostle they should step down and hand the church back to the apostle. It's not the elders' church.

Sadly, that very rarely happens. In this instance in Numbers we see the heart of such 'leaders': they were not standing for a principle at all. They wanted what was not theirs to have. In my experience over many years I have never known a rebellious leader stand for a principle in which he was prepared to lose everything - the building, the money, his position. They have never just walked away with empty hands and humble hearts. There is no self-sacrifice in a rebellious leader. Only the crucified leader holds everything lightly, because he knows that nothing belongs to him. Moses was such a man; that's why he was faithful in God's house (Hebrews 3:2). That is a basic biblical principle:

If you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own? (Luke 16:12)

Another version says, 'If you've not been faithful in another's house...' It seems to me that today there are far too many cases of leaders violating this principle. They reap what they sow. Someone will take from them what they have taken from another. That's just the way it is.

Rocks into pools

Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool, and hard rock into springs of water. (Psalm 114:7-8)

The presence of the Lord is miraculous; it turns 'rocks' into 'pools'. First of all this is a reference to the water that gushed from the rock in the desert when Moses struck it with his staff (Exodus 17). That rock was Christ himself (1Corinthians 10:4). Living water gushed forth from him to satisfy the thirst of the people. Everything to do with Christ is miraculous; he specialises in the impossible. He can change the unchangeable.

The Holy Spirit within us is the Spirit of Christ; he is that personal presence of the God of Jacob in us. As such, he is able to change the 'rocks' that we face into 'pools': he has the same ability to do the miraculous in us, for us and through us. Whatever 'rock' you face, trust in the God of Jacob and he will make it a 'pool'.

Image of the day

The Northern Lights:

Beauty pageant turns ugly

Here's an interesting piece from an unlikely source. A contestant at the Miss USA beauty pageant - Carrie Prejean - caused uproar when answering a question about her views on homosexual 'marriage'. Ms Prejean, who is Miss California, replied that she is against it.

The judge who asked the question, Perez Hilton, is an outspoken homosexual. His response to her answer was rather unpleasant.

Read the story here.

Bring and give

It's important for us in our stewarding of finances that we always remember that there's a difference between bringing and giving. The Bible teaches that we should tithe to the Lord; we do so because it belongs to him. So, when I tithe I do not give God anything: I am only bringing him what already belongs to him. I haven't given God anything in my tithe. It's only when I consider what my offering will be that I move into the realm of giving to the Lord.

Now, because I love him and want to express that love in every area of my life, I am going to be a generous giver. I won't be stingy towards God because he is not stingy towards me. I won't give God my small change because he doesn't act towards me in a small change way. When I give to God in my offering I have to consider how good he has been to me. True: I could give him every penny and that would not express his generosity to me. And I have to live on my income and calculate out of my finances what I am able to give. Nevertheless, if I understand that my giving to the Lord begins only after I have brought him my tithe, then surely my giving will be generous. And I have discovered that in my bringing and giving God is so generous that he reaps back to me. That's the kind of God he is.

A touch of class

The intermezzo from Cavelleria Rusticana by Mascagni. Exquisite.

Sorry

Today I was going to write about the refusal of Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister, to apologise to certain people over the recent debacle of the obscene emails circulating between certain of his advisers. These emails were part of a proposed plan to discredit Conservative Party politicians.

I noticed that my son James has written an excellent piece on it today: so rather than repeat something already said, I recommend you get on over to James' site and read what he has to say.

Here's your link.

The tools of faith

Abraham...carried the fire and the knife. (Genesis 22:6)

Abraham needed two things in order to obey God's command concerning Isaac. God had told him to sacrifice his son and burn him. Abraham obeyed without question, because he knew that God would raise Isaac again from the dead. God had promised Abraham that through Isaac all the earth would be blessed; and a dead man could not fulfill that promise. In his hands Abraham carried the tools he would need to obey God in faith.

God always gives you the tools of faith: whatever you need to obey him he will give you. He doesn't hang you out to dry or leave you to your own devices. God equips you with exact things you need to do what he asks. If you need to sow finance, he will give you enough finance to sow. If you need to lay hands on a sick person, you will have all the measure of faith and anointing to see that person healed. God's toolbox of faith is packed with every kind of tool you'll ever need to move in faith.

Be my guest - not

Tomorrow Dianne and I travel to Bergen, Norway, to speak at the Easter Conference for Kristent Fellesskap. We will be home on Saturday.

We have been asked to minister on the Holy Spirit: good choice for Easter. How so? Well, it was the Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead and who is now living his life as God in you, if you're a believer (Romans 8:11).

That will be the the thrust of what we will share: The Spirit raised Jesus from the dead so that God might live his life as God in you. The resurrection of Jesus by the Spirit paved the way for the Spirit to come and live his life as God in you. The Spirit doesn't come into you as a guest, to help you live your life. He comes as God to live his own life in you. Christianity is not you living your life for Jesus; it's Jesus living his life in you. And he lives that life by the Holy Spirit.