Roger Aubrey

No New Year resolutions for me

I'm not making any New Year resolutions for 2006; but then again, I never do anyway. Today's papers and TV are full of celebs and other 'important' people who dispense their wisdom and insight on the matter. It's the same every new year's eve; just change the names and the faces, the jokes and hopes stay the same..

So, if you're expecting any pearls of wisdom about what I'm giving up/taking up/starting/stopping/beginning/ending at the stroke of midnight, I'm sorry to disappoint you! It's not that I've got life all down and dusted; neither is it that I just can't be fussed. Life is a constant process of changing, adapting, moving on, laying things down and taking things up. And 2006 will be no exception. That's what makes it so interesting. I don't think I've ever made a major life changing decision on December 31 - it's only a date on the calendar. And a chance to stay up late!

So, do I have any resolutions? Yes, loads. They are resolutions that I live in and live for all the time. They are Life Resolutions. And they keep me going all year, every year. Maybe we'll look at some in the new year.

One of us

What if God was one of us / Just a slob like one of us / just a stranger on the bus trying to make his way home? (Joan Osborne: One of Us)

The Word became flesh and lived among us. (John 1:14)

'If God had a name what would it be and would you call it to his face if you were faced with him in all his glory?...If God had a face what would it look like?' I really like that song by Joan Osborne, it has some perceptive lines in it, like these for example. I know some Christians don't like it; and I know God is not a slob! But the song asks some very good questions, coming from a non Christian, especially that chorus - what if God was one of us?....

Adam, you were a fool

Altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and then he died. (Genesis 5:5)

This morning was my last 'officlal' engagement before Christmas; and it was something I wasn't designed to do. I conducted a funeral. Praise God it was a lovely Christian lady, the mother of close friends. It really is incredibly powerful to read Jesus' declaration of himself at these events: 'I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies' (John 11:25). Even so, every time I stand in front of the coffin or say the words of the commital, I think, 'God never intended this; we were not born to die'. It's just so unnatural.

Even though Adam lived such a long time he was meant to live forever. If he had never sinned he would have lived on and on, fulfilling the purpose for which he had been made. But he was such a fool, choosing instead to live forever outside of obedient fellowship with his Creator. He paid the ultimate price for his folly: he died spiritually in the moment he sinned and then years later he died physically. Death got him.That body, wonderfully created by God and breathed into by the creative Spirit, intended to fill the earth with the glory of God, ended up a rotting corpse, worm food. What a fool.

Praise God for the Obedient Son who set us free from the law of sin and death!

Speak in Tongues

Anyone who speaks in a tongue...speaks to God. (1Corinthians 14:2)

Over the past couple of months one of the things that I have become more appreciative of is speaking in tongues. Those of you who know me will agree that it's always been a very important part of me ever since I was baptised in the Holy Spirit 25 years ago. But its vitality and power came home to me afresh in the summer.

One day I was sitting in my chair and just began to speak in tongues. Suddenly the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, 'What are you doing'? I replied, 'I was speaking in tongues'. He said, 'No you weren't; you were just babbling, going through the motions'. I began to think and realised he was right (yes I know he's always right: he's God). I wasn't concentrating on what I was doing or who I was speaking to; it was just a habit. Then I thought about how I speak to Dianne; I don't just start off in a stream or torrent of words aimed into the air while thinking about something else entirely. I speak to her. In fact, every conversation I have with somebody means proper communication: I am speaking to another person.

That made me grasp again what I am doing when I am speaking in tongues: I am speaking in another language to a Person - to God. I am having spiritual conversations with my Father. Tongues became alive to me again.

As I have shared this in different conferences and churches in recent months and people have begun to speak to God in tongues, I have literally lost count of the numbers who have testifed that they have experienced what I have: the power that the Holy Spirit has given us in this ability to converse with our heavenly Father in other languages.

Every day is Thanksgiving Day

A very happy and blessed Thanksgiving Day to all our American friends. Tonight Dianne and I will be joining with the School of the Word students to celebrate (one of the perks of having Americans at the school).

It's good to have such a day; to remember God's provision and goodness to the early settlers when when they survived that first harsh winter and to give him thanks for that same provision and goodness every day of our lives. Giving thanks is a fundamental characteristic of Christians - we give God thanks in all our circumstances (1Thessalonians 5:18). These are not just the big things in life, but the everyday things that happen to us - just waking up in the morning is a circumstance.

Giving thanks is different from just saying thanks. You can say thanks with gritted teeth and a bad attitude; but giving thanks demands something from you - an attitude of gratitude. So, on this Thanksgiving Day, think of one practical thing you can give God thanks for - and then thank him.

Remember me

This is my body which is for you; do this in remembrance of me...whenever you drink this cup, do it in remembrance of me. (1Corinthians 11:24-25)

Today is Armistice/Remembrance Day. At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, we remember and pay tribute to those British servicemen and women who fell in two world wars, as well as those who have died in more recent conflicts. Like many millions of people in this country I wore my poppy with pride; and I stopped work at 11 o'clock to stand in silence and pay my respects. We do it to remember.

For many the moments are spent remembering friends and comrades, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, who are gone forever and will never return. They are poignant moments, ones we should respect.

Each time Christians break bread together we also remember somebody. But this remembrance is different. The person we remember is not dead; he is not even absent. Therefore we don't eat and drink with sadness nor nostagia; we don't reminisce about former days - recalling the 'good old days'. We don't raise a glass to an absent friend. Our remembering is actually done in fellowship with the one we have come together to celebrate. Our eating and drinking together in the Lord's Supper is a celebration. Jesus is alive!

The Impossibility of God

Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us us may be greatly encouraged. (Hebrews 6:17-18)

The omnipotence of God (he is all powerful) does not mean that God can do just anything, nor that he is just the sum of all power. There are things that are impossible for God to be and do; yet he remains omnipotent. In fact he is omnipotent because of these impossibilities. God is incapable of lying; he is incapable of sinning; it is impossible for him to deny himself or act contrary to his nature as God. It will never happen.

It's not even as if God weighs up the possibilities of doing such things and then decides against such acts. If we think this is the way he exists, that he mulls over his moral choices before making the right one, then we don't understand his nature of goodness. Such thoughts never enter God's mind; he is morally incapable of even thinking such things. It is just impossible for him.

The writer of Hebrews says there are two unchangeable things which make it impossible for God to lie. These two things are his nature and his word. The nature of God is such that he will think and do good and only good. His word is totally, utterly and completely true and faithful. Only truth comes from his mouth; whatever he tells us about himself and ourselves is true. God's word is his integrity. That is the basis upon which our hope and faith are founded. If we have fled to One who might turn against us, or who is not all he seems, like the goodie who is really the baddie, then we have no ground of encouragement or trust. But as Hebrews 6:19 goes on to say:

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and certain.

This hope is anchored in the Person of Jesus Christ, who right now is our Great High Priest in the presence of God, interceding and representing us before the throne of God. God says that is sufficient for him; therefore it is sufficient for me.

Will the real Roger Aubrey please stand up?

God...appointed [Jesus] to be head over everything for the church, which is his body. (Ephesians 1:22-23)

Let me explain this photo; it's not that I love myself so much I think everybody should look like me. This week was my birthday; the other day as I entered the class of School of the Word the students suddenly jumped to their feet, whipped these masks of me on and sang Happy Birthday to me. It was a surreal few minutes: watching twenty me's singing Happy Birthday to me. Wierd. What made it even more incongruous was seeing my face on other people's bodies, especially the ladies. Could not get my head around that one. It was great fun and just a little scary.

Of course, it made me think...

Joyful Generosity

We want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity...They gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability...They pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. (2Corinthians 8:1-4)

I love the way Paul commends these believers in Macedonia. They were a real example of abundant life, even though at this particular time they were in extreme financial poverty. Their joy in the Holy Spirit ruled over their poverty; their poverty did not control their joy. They were not poor Christians; they were rich in grace, rich in faith, and rich in joy. They just didn't have much money. These believers were so full of the life of the Spirit that they could not help but be rich in generosity to their fellow brothers and sisters who were in need. They didn't hunker down and adopt a poverty mentality that just receives but never gives. They were not more concerned about their own lack than the needs of others. They pleaded with the apostle that he would give them the privilege and joy of blessing their fellow saints. So out of their extreme poverty they sowed generously to the Lord. They gave out of a large measure (Luke 6:38), even though the actual amount might have been small in comparison with other churches (it's not the amount, it's the measure). And because we always reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7), they would have reaped back from the Lord. These were the richest of believers.

Belonging

Let us not give up meeting together. (Hebrews 10:25)

Chris Hamer-Hodges has written very movingly and powerfully about his recent experiences in which he and his dear wife Jacqueline lost their baby. As part of that recovery process Chris has described how he and Jacqueline decided to attend the Sunday meetings of the church, even though it was difficult for them.

During the summer Dianne and I were absent from Sunday meetings for eight weeks as I recuperated; the longest period in my life without being in such meetings. I was not allowed to attend, so I had no choice. And I really could not have physically coped with being there.

Naturally, it made me think of what I missed about meeting together with the saints...