When a person is born anew and experiences repentance, his attitude about Jesus changes. Jesus Himself becomes the central focus and supreme value of life. Before the new birth happens and repentance occurs, a hundred other things seem more important and more attractive: health, family, job, friends, sport, music, food, hobbies, retirement. But when God gives the radical change of new birth and repentance, Jesus Himself becomes our supreme treasure.
His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Therefore His demand that we come to Him is not burdensome. It means coming to the One who has become everything to us. Jesus did not come into the world mainly to bring a new religion or a new law. He came to offer Himself for our eternal enjoyment and to do whatever He had to do "including death" to remove every obstacle to this everlasting joy. "These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full" John 15:11. When Jesus demands that we do things like "Come to me", the essence of these demands is that we experience the life that most fully savours and spreads His supreme worth.
As Jesus looks out over the religions of the world "including the Judaism of His day" He sees people who are labouring under heavy loads to earn the favour of whatever deity they believe in. He did not come to replace that God-appeasing load with another one. He came to carry that load and call us to Himself for rest. "Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" Matthew 11:28-30. Make no mistake, there is a yoke and a burden when we come to Jesus (there would be no demands if this were not true), but the yoke is easy, and the burden is light.
There is a burden, but it’s not Jesus. But perhaps it’s not easy and light the way we think it is. Jesus also said, "The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life" Matthew 7:14. The reason it is hard is not because Jesus is a hard taskmaster. It’s hard because the world is a hard place to enjoy Jesus above all. Our own suicidal tendancy to enjoy other things more, must be crushed (Mtt 5:29-30). And besides our own sin, many people are angered that we do not love what they love. So Jesus warned, "Some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake" Luke 21:16-17.
But Jesus is not the burden. When we come to Him, He is the burden-lifter, the soul-satisfier, and the life-giver. "Jesus stood up and cried out ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink’" John 7:37. Coming to Jesus means coming to drink. And the water we drink in fellowship with Jesus gives eternal life. "Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" John 4:14. The demand that we come to Jesus is the demand to come to the fountain of life and drink.
Jesus is not satisfied to lure us into obedience with images of life-giving water. He will also draw us with promises of life-sustaining bread. "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger" John 6:35. Jesus Himself is the "bread of heaven" the source and essence of everlasting life. He will draw us with promises of deliverance from perishing (John 3:16). The demand that we come to Him is therefore like the demand of a father to his child in a burning window, "Jump to me!" Or like the demand of a rich, strong, tender, handsome husband to an unfaithful wife, "Come home!" Or like the demand of a rescue squad that finds you on the point of death, dehydrated after days in the desert, "Drink this!"
"You refuse to come to Me that you may have life". But the personal tragedy of sin and spiritual blindness is that people do not come. Jesus grieved over His people. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not" Mtt 23:37. "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they which bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to Me that you may have life" John 5:39-40.
Why don’t people come to Jesus? At one level the answer is because they "refuse to come." In other words, people do not want to come. Some call this the choice of free will. Jesus would say it is the choice of a will enslaved to sin. "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone that commits sin is a slave to sin" John 8:34. Jesus would say that people do not come to Him because they are enslaved to their supreme preference for other things. "The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light . . . . everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light" John 3:19-20.
How then has anyone ever come, since we are all enslaved to sin and spiritually dead? Jesus’ answer was that God, in His great mercy, overcomes our resistance and draws us: "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him " John 6:44. "No one can come to Me unless it is granted him by the Father" John 6:65. God grants the gift of new birth and repentance, which opens the eyes of the spiritually blind to the truth and beauty of Jesus. When that happens, all objections fall. We are finally free. And finally free from slavery, we come.
"Lazarus, come out!" Jesus came into the world to gather His flock from all the world, John 11:52. He lays down His life for them and demands that they come to Him. Though He weeps over those who do not come, He will not be frustrated in His design. He will succeed in gathering a people for Himself. He speaks with absolute sovereignty when He says, "I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice. So there will be one flock, one Shepherd" John 10:16. He must bring them. They will heed His voice. They will come.
When you hear the voice of Jesus saying, "Come to me," pray that God would give you eyes to see Jesus as irresistibly true and beautiful. Pray that you would hear this command the way Lazarus did when he was dead. "[Jesus] cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out.’ The man who had died came out" John 11:43-44. When you come to Jesus like this, you will never cease to praise and thank Him for His sovereign grace.
This month the missionary society we are learning about and seeking to support is the Slavic Gospel Association. Click for the SGA website
Purpose Statement. The aim of Slavic Gospel Association (UK) is to serve the Church among the Slavic nations of the world by assisting it to become fully equipped to fulfill the great commission of Jesus Christ, particularly among its own peoples
What is the SGA? SGA is a global, non denominational, conservative evangelical Missionary Agency, founded in 1934 by Peter Deyneka, a Russian emigrant to the USA, with a deep concern for the spiritual well-being of his compatriots wherever they were to be found.
How did they begin? 1950 saw the formation of the first British Council, with work centered among the Slavic peoples of Eastern Europe who found themselves as refugees in the displaced persons camps of Austria. At that time, SGA (UK) was mainly a relief organization and servicing Mission. From Austria, SGA's work moved into the former Communist controlled Eastern Bloc and was initially engaged in a ministry of encouraging and assisting Slavic believers and the delivery of Bibles.
How did the work develop? During the 1970's SGA (UK) began to develop a more focused ministry through responding to specific requests from Eastern European church leaders. The major change was to answer requests for Biblical leadership training and equipping of national believers who were working among their own peoples.
What is the core of the work? Following the dramatic fall of Communism in 1989, at the request of the national leaders, the Bible teaching ministry was enlarged and accelerated and today is the core of SGA's work from the UK. Autonomous International SGA Offices in Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, USA and UK work together in a unified strategy. Within this framework, SGA (UK) concentrates its Bible teaching and equipping ministry towards the Slavic nations of the world. The other five SGA International Offices work predominantly in the C.I.S. (the former Soviet Union).
The table below shows where SGA is working and the population of those lands.
| Bulgaria | 9,036,000 | Moldova | 4,544,000 | |
| Croatia | 4,850,000 | Poland | 39,365,000 | |
| Czech Republic | 10,391,000 | Romania | 23,861,000 | |
| Hungary | 10,546,000 | Slovak Republic | 5,334,000 | |
| Kazakstan | 17,350,000 | Yugoslavia | 10,560,000 | |
| Macedonia | 2,135,000 | |||
| Total all populations | 137,972,000 |
SGA’s Areas of Ministry
Biblical Leadership Training. Biblical Leadership Training is carried out through a number of lay training Mission Schools under the leadership of national Christians. This is the focal point of all of SGA(UK)'s activity.
Leadership Training. Leadership Support is provided for national Christians, who are called and equipped by God.
Bible Student Sponsorship. SGA's Bible Student Sponsorship programme seeks to fund nationals through specialised theological training.
Crisis Response. SGA responds to "one off" situations to meet needs and emergencies through which the love of Christ is ministered in practical ways.
Bible and Literature Projects. A range of Bible and literature projects are supported, with our main emphasis on "in-country" publications and printing
A church in Atlanta was honouring one of its senior pastors who had been retired many years. He was well up in years and I wondered why the church even bothered to ask him to preach at that age.
After a warm welcome, introduction of this speaker, and as the applause quieted down, he rose from his high back chair and walked slowly to the podium. Without a note or written paper of any kind he placed both hands on the pulpit to steady himself and then quietly and slowly he began to speak:
"When I was asked to come here today and talk to you, your pastor asked me to tell you what was the greatest lesson ever learned in my 50-odd years of preaching.
I thought about it for a few days and boiled it down to just one thing that made the most difference in my life and sustained me through all my trials... The one thing that I could always rely on when tears and heartbreak and pain and fear and sorrow paralysed me...the only thing that would comfort was this verse....
"Jesus loves me this I know.
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong,
we are weak but He is strong.....
Yes, Jesus loves me....
The Bible tells me so."
The retired pastor stated, "I always noticed that it was the adults who chose the children’s hymn 'Jesus Loves Me' (for the children of course) and it was the adults who sang the loudest because I could see they knew it the best."
"Here for you now is a Senior version of Jesus Loves Me":
JESUS LOVES ME
Jesus loves me, this I know,
Though my hair is white as snow
Though my sight is growing dim,
Still He bids me trust in Him.
(CHORUS)
Yes, Jesus lves me. Yes, Jesus lves me,
Yes, Jesus lves me, for the Bible tells me so.
Though my steps are oh, so slow,
With my hand in His I'll go
On through life, let come what may,
He'll be there to lead the way.
(CHORUS)
When the nights are dark and long,
In my heart He puts a song..
Telling me in words so clear,
"Have no fear, for I am near."
(CHORUS)
When my work on earth is done,
And life's victories have been won.
He will take me home above,
Then I'll understand His love.
(CHORUS)
I love Jesus, does He know?
Have I ever told Him so?
Jesus loves to hear me say,
That I love Him every day.
(CHORUS)
On 18th November Irene Robertson told us what it means to be a ‘Street Pastor’ in Glasgow. Street Pastors may be male or female, from varied backgrounds and faiths and ages, but all have a desire to help venerable people in the city centre at night. After extensive training in what to do and what not to do, they are allocated to a group made up of two men and two women. They wear their Street Pastor hats and take with them mobile phones and a supply of “flip-flops” to offer to women who may have difficulty walking in their high heels as they come out of clubs and pubs. The pastors keep their eyes open for anyone in trouble and offer help – such as finding a taxi or phoning family or friend. Sometimes people just want to talk or it may be more serious and police help is required. The Street Pastors objectives are caring, listening and helping and we were all impressed by the concern shown to those in need in the city centre between 11.0pm and 2.0am.
Mrs Mima Bell is Guild President at Barlanark Greyfriars Church and was chosen as one of a group representing the Church of Scotland on a fact finding visit to Israel and Palestine to see what is being done through the Guild Project - ‘Interfaith action in Israel and Palestine’-supporting three projects - one Christian, one Muslim and one Jewish.
She saw at first hand the terrible problems for some Jewish communities near the border areas and those Christians who are caught up in conflicts. There are many difficulties and Mima witnessed the efforts being made to help make life more bearable for some.
Bad weather meant that our meetings in December were cancelled, therefore our Allocation of Funds had to wait until 6th January and the following week we were glad to be snow and ice free for those attending our musical evening. What wonderful singers - seven young women who provided a varied programme of songs with splendid harmonies accompanied by an excellent pianist. Marvellous entertainment from 'Aria'.
We now look forward to a belated Christmas Dinner on 20th January!
Sheila Tuton
Guild Secretary.
On Saturday 6th November 2010 some members of the Causeway Prospects Group embarked on their annual sponsored walk round Drumpellier Park. Two of the group were so enthusiastic they completed the course twice. We raised the grand total of £350 and would like to thank everyone who sponsored us.
Unfortunately our Christmas party which was due to be held on Friday 10th December was cancelled due to the bad weather.
Over the festive season Jacqueline Feggans, who was one of the first members of the St Andrew’s Church, Causeway Prospects Group passed away. Her funeral service was held in St. Andrew’s Church, Baillieston on Monday, 10th January 2011. A donation was collected at the request of Jacqueline’s family and the proceeds were to go to the Baillieston Causeway Prospects Group. The total given to the group was £610.40p. A big thank you to all who donated. To Jean and her family our thoughts are with you at this time.
All team members who help in either the meetings, the café and the shop along with two of the group who work in the shop, met at the Black Bear on 10th January for a delicious dinner. This time together let us catch up with events over the festive season.
S. Barclay, Team Member
Causeway Prospects.
Marion Armitage would like to express her thanks to all those who have assisted throughout the year serving Tea/Coffee and biscuits after the morning services. She would also like to acknowledge those members who from time to time have donated tea, Biscuits and Cakes which helped to reduce the cost. Donations received exceeded the costs by over £500 in 2010 and the Special Fund benefited as a result. So many thanks to all who participated in a short time of Christian Fellowship after the morning service.
All articles for the March 2011 issue of the Church magazine should be handed to the Editor no later than the morning of Friday 18th February 2011.
Thank You
Joan Walmsley