3. Lost and Found - receiving the blessings of the Father.

The story of the LOST son (Luke 15:11-32) becomes a story of a FOUND son. The moment of the embrace of the father is a wonderfully powerful one, as the father it could be said 'fell upon his neck' and that he 'kisses him many times'. The son that was lost is now found in the presence of his father. Oh how we need to find ourselves in the embrace of the Father, this is wonderful in itself, the father as our Father in heavens mercy is not just embrace, but forgiveness, and His forgiveness is complete, it involves restoration through relationship.

After the embrace and repentance of the son, what the father does is shocking to our often religious and cautious selves. I want to focus for this article on Luke 15:22, "But, the father said to his servant, 'Quick! Bring the robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.'" This is outrageous, has the father gone mad, he is obviously not thinking properly and overcome with emotion...No...this is our Fathers way, this is grace, not based in what we have done for Him, but in His love and forgiveness as we give ourselves broken and repentant before Him, humbled by our own immorality ad selfishness. He calls for the BEST robe. The Lord wants the best for those who are His children, should we settle for anything else, we are in Christ, then, let us receive His blessings into our hearts. The servants were to bring the robe and put it on the son, an act of receiving and accepting honour that wasn't deserved, we need to be humbled to receive it from the Lord, an obvious sign of our sonship in Christ. It is a position given to us, based in our humanity, confirmed by repentance.

What of the ring for his hand and sandals for his feet, what a blessing! The ring is a sign of authority from the Father, we are His, and we have access to Him through Christ Jesus our Lord. The sandals speak of blessing and freedom, the son that had become a slave, who returned to be just a paid worker, now is given another visible sign that he is a SON. New sandals for his tired and worn feet; now he could go about his fathers business with a new sense of belonging, refreshed to serve. Again the son had to allow the servants to put them on him, he had to surrender all his thoughts that he lacked self-worth and let his father give him a sense of worth. It is the same with our Father in heaven. The greatest servant of them all is Christ, He came to serve and save the lost. Will we let Jesus do the work of the Father in and upon us, will we receive the blessings of the Father that allow us to live in Christ with authority to be that is by grace, and freedom by love. We can not earn this in Christ, it is always given, it is part of the truly being found.

Matthew Armstrong
Blantyre,
January 24th 2010.

'Mango stage' - a lesson in waiting.

The place where the church is presently meeting is next to a mini-bus stage on the main road, this stage has been known as 'mango stage' due to the numbers of mango trees which had lined the road by the mini-bus stage. However a few years ago those trees were cut down to make way for new electricity power lines to pass over head. This presently means the mango trees in our property are now the closest to the stage. We have four trees and each has produced fruit each year more often than not.

In the streets the mango trees are stripped of mango's in weeks - well before the fruit is ripe and enlarged. I have often seen children throwing stones to get the smallest of green mangos off the trees. The act of waiting for fruit to be ready to pick is a act of patience, not always easy - especially if you think someone else will get it instead of you. This ultimately means we don't wait, rather we think of ourselves before the quality of the fruit which is to be eaten, leaving the trees empty of fruit; and what we have consumed either bitter and certainly not as big as it could have been. We don't want to leave the fruit to long else it becomes too ripe and can often be eaten by the bird, or some large fruit bats which we have in our area. We have had mango poachers in the past, and those who have seen the fruit and banged on our gate and asked to get some. As a church recently, families have been able to take bag full's or chitenji full's of mangos home to enjoy.

As Christians we need to live fruitful lives, but we need real fruit, fruit that is sweet and not bitter, from what I understand 'Namiwawa' is rooted in the meaning 'bitter-waters', the deep bitterness in the society and in peoples lives due to sin and the darkness that blinds people from the light of Jesus Christ is often evident; this bitterness needs a transforming work so that it can be made sweet - this is the power of the work of the cross. As Christians we need to wait for real fruit in our lives, the church needs to grow in patient waiting upon the Lord to experience the sweetness of the work of the Holy Spirit, so that others may see and begin to taste the goodness of the Lord Jesus. the world needs to see Christians living lives that display goodness and not sourness, the people of God must be patient and learn to produce fruit faithfully year by year. The bible tells us we will be known by our fruit (Matthew 7:16)...bad fruit...bad tree...good fruit...good tree, its so simple.

Matthew Armstrong
Blantyre.
Issue 15 10th Jan 2010

2. Lost and Found - moving towards the Fathers house

We continue to consider the story of the lost son (Luke 15:11-32), the story is very clear that the younger son made a definite choice to go in the direction away from his fathers house. He asked for his inheritance and took it; remarkably the father gave it to him. To the father this was a great cost. The sons should have been working in the fathers house and by living and prospering together the fathers' wealth and therefore their own would have increased. The younger son shows signs of impatience, he wanted it now and he could not wait - the world today is much like this, and in the process others are trampled on, just like the father and the older son in the story, they are disregarded, they are the unwanted family. How often do we prefer something or others rather than God and His family - the Church. God is treated as unnecessary for living.

In our lives today we often make small choices that are in the direction away from the Fathers house, away from the true way of inheriting Christ. We might not consider ourselves as 'prodigals' but in the depths of our hearts we find ourselves along way from home, emotionally tired, spiritually hungry, without comfort or help and sometimes desperate - in need of turning back to the Father in heaven, least we begin to destroy ourselves. It seems at times that there are many who have been in such situations for a long time...we must decide in our minds and hearts to move towards God, and as we do so wonderfully He draws closer to us (See James 4:8). No matter how far we have gone away from God, we can turn, repent of our sin, and move towards the Fathers house.

In this spiritual journey which we live, breathe and move, we need to constantly be aware of the direction we are travelling. As the lost son drew closer to his father's house, the father was watching and waiting and moved closer to his son, so it is with our Heavenly Father, He has chosen to move towards us by His precious Son Jesus Christ. He has left His house, breaking the rules...shocking the world...moving towards us in grace. Let nothing hinder us from moving in this direction, the way of grace; of acceptance; of love and mercy; of forgiveness and restoration. How many people are half hearted in this spiritual direction, they will repent but will not move towards God physically, emotionally and spiritually - it is in the Father's arms, in His house, in eating His food and wearing His clothes where we find ourselves His children again. His house is the house which restores, feeds, and loves with all mercy.

Matthew Armstrong
Blantyre
Issue 17: 18th Jan 2010

1. Lost and Found - the embrace of the Father

The story of the prodigal son or the lost son is one of the most moving stories in the New Testament. We find this story in Luke's Gospel only in Chapter 15:11-32. There is however more to the story than just a lost son and in this series we will explore a few different angles of looking at this story as we also explore it as a congregation together.

I want to briefly consider one of the changes in the lost sons' attitdue which can be observed from before and after the embrace with his father on his return home. This change is in his plan and motive for returning - revealing what he thought about his father. In Malawi this motive is clearly a problem and is often unspoken about or not dealt with in many churches. There are many "pastors" and church attendees who have made the Fathers' house a business venture, and many attend churches with the hope they will become the hired help. For as much as many people have the need for work and employment and may be part of the initial reason for some church attendance, an experience like that of the son who returned home and had his father run to greet him, breaking the cultural expectations of his day. A compassionate embrace and kiss put an end to such primary aspirations and expectations that were based in his heart, mind and stomach (See Luke 15:18-22), the phrase 'make me like one of your hired help' has been removed by a real experience of God's confirming love, we are His children. We might not be expecting the embrace of love by God, but He will give it as we return /repent and move towards Him, even if our full intentions are not at first 100% for God. God's perfect love drives away our fears and allows us to be His Children, forgiving us and fully embracing us.

The loving embrace of the Father is by grace...it is about the restoration of relationship and not the approval of a business plan. Such a real experience of God is what we should be concerned with; it should be a God like this that we declare to others, a confirming love based on our sonship in Christ, rather than our performance and ability to serve. The returning son probably smelt bad, he had worked in the pig pens and had travelled along way without money to buy new clothes or to polish his appearance - he came as he was. We need to come to God as we are, without pretending to be better, the Almighty Father accepts those who come to Him through Christ despite our faults and sins, but as we experience His embrace - all is changed...our hearts are stirred with having recieved compassion when we did not deserve it. We are given the wonderful right to be children of God.

Matthew Armstrong
Blantyre.
Issue 16: 10th Jan 2010

God Speaks: are we listening?

Reading the first three chapters of the Book of Hebrews it is evident that not only has God spoken in the past, but God has spoken clearly to us by His son Jesus today, one by one each member of the Godhead speaks:

Father speaks; (Hebrews 1:5-13)

Son speaks; (Hebrews 2:12-13)

Spirit speaks. (Hebrews 3:7-11)

The Godhead is not silent, all the members speak to each other and of each other. They also speak to us, the title of this article is God Speaks: are we listening? Have we listened to the voice of God. I trust that as you read you might take time to quiet your hearts and begin to hear more of that still small voice of the Spirit; hear more about Jesus and what He has done for us all on the cross and how both the Spirit and the Son declare the Father to us; and hear more of the Fathers voice so that we can enter a true dialogue with the Lord - we need to know His presence, give chance for our hearts to hear and to get past all our emotions.

He has spoken, have we heard? Have we responded in faith? Are our hearts open to the resonating wonder of the Person of God, the Saviour of us all? Who He is speaks, what He has done speaks, what He requires of us has been SPOKEN. Have we heard the cry of the cross to our hearts, the desire of Gods love towards us for salvation?

The Book of Revelation ends with the wonderful combination of the voice of the Spirit and the Bride -the Church, the Spirit first determining what is being said, the cry of

"Come!" And let him who hears say "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; whoever wishes, let him take of the free gift of the water of Life. (Revelation 22:17 - NIV)

The Spirit and the Bride echo the reality of what Jesus has spoken (Revelation 22:7, 12), and the Lord Jesus confirms this (Revelation 22:20). The apostle John is left to join in and confirm by faith that this is true, that he and the Bride have heard the voice of the Saviour and joined with the work of the Spirit. This work of the Spirit wants recognition in the lives of ordinary human beings that love the Lord. May we learn to hear His voice.
Matthew Armstrong,
Blantyre December 2009

The indestructible life of our Priest - Jesus

When Jesus was born, even conceived the intention of His mission and life was a priestly one. We shouldn't see His priesthood as just determined by how He lived and died, and what He had to offer, although these are important and wonderful, it is also based in who He is, the eternal Lord. When He came into the world as a baby - a heavenly man had arrived in the flesh to offer a perfect sacrifice as our High Priest before the Throne of God to save people from their sins. The sacrifice was not one that could be learned from the religious traditions of the day, it was completely different, perfect and sinless. A once and for all sacrifice, something we cannot attempt to repeat, that religious traditions will never get close to it or be able to save us - only Jesus as we put our trust in Him and His life that He offers to us, both as a sacrifice for forgiveness, but also as a gift to us so that we might be able to live, grow and develop as men and women of God.

This is seen as it was into the tribe of Judah that Jesus was born, but this was not the priestly tribe, this was not the way it was supposed to happen. So then He was born without the possibility of being a Levitical priest according to the Law. He was born however beyond the Law as Christ is the origin of the Law itself in eternity - based in the LIFE of God (Hebrews 7:11-28). His priestly ministry is based in this indestructible life, from eternity to birth; from birth to death; and from death to physical bodily resurrection and ascension into eternity again. This life sinless and unsoiled by the world, what power, what purity, what passion, what a High Priest!

Someone mentioned to me that they were thinking of entering the priesthood, I asked him "Which type of priesthood?" This question was unexpected and surprised him, there is truly only one priesthood in the Christian sense that is legitim

ate before God and that is the priesthood that is found in Christ, we cannot be priests in any other form and still think it truly Christian. In Christ Jesus is found the only place of real priestly ministry, no matter the form and religious manner of others, Christ's High Priestly ministry is the only acceptable one now. Considering His birth, His priesthood came out of a very real human experience; He was made vulnerable and dependent; He needed food and sustenance; He required physical and spiritual growth as a man; He grew, asked and answered questions; He made friends and enjoyed their friendship; He even obeyed His parents - our ministry is so often missing the reality of these very human tendencies, are we so much more sophisticated and more intelligent?

Matthew Armstrong
Blantyre, December 2009.