Tag: forgiveness

After death – what?

Imagine asking an auditorium of 1,000 people to say where they expect to spend eternity – heaven or hell. (Of course, a number would refuse either option, preferring to think they will be annihilated). But I would imagine, out of the 1,000, maybe one person would admit they deserved hell. In other words, basically no-one ever seriously believes they will end up in hell. How about you?

Most religions have beliefs about life after death; it seems our human psyche requires some sense of justice being done in an ultimate divine assessment of our lives. The problem, of course, is to get anywhere further than a vague unfounded hope.

Some think that the idea of hell comes from the Old Testament with its God of fiery fury and righteous wrath. Interestingly, the Old Testament has only sparse allusions to anything like hell; for the most part its notion of the afterlife is hazy. Daniel 12.2 refers to the end-time possibilities of “everlasting life” and “shame and everlasting contempt”.

It was Jesus who spoke a lot about “eternal life” and the alternative that he called hell. He warns of being “cast into hell” (Mark 9.47), and in the Sermon on the Mount of those “in danger of hell fire” (Matthew 5.22). He describes it as a place of torment – “a fiery furnace – in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13.42). The lost, he says, “will go away into eternal punishment” (Matthew 25.46). While some of the dead will be received into God’s presence along with Abraham the father of the faithful, Jesus describes others as being “in torment”, and “in anguish” (Luke 16.23-25).

This is so often overlooked because we consider Jesus as being essentially kind and ready to forgive: but for Jesus it was an act of kindness to warn us that there is a hell to avoid and yet an eternal life that can be ours after death.

How can we know truth in this hidden domain? God only knows, ultimately. But Jesus affirmed that he, the incarnation of God, had “come down from heaven” to “bear witness to the truth” and to say “whatever the Father told him to say” (John 6.38, 18.36, 12.49-50). 

Ultimately God alone knows what will happen to us after death. But in Jesus, he came down to tell us. More, he came to warn us – for hell is not merely for those guilty of committing the most horrific crimes. Hell will be the righteous punishment meted out to all sinners, “according to their works” (Matthew 16.27). And since the Bible clearly teaches that we have “all sinned” (Romans 3.23), it invites us all to be saved from hell by finding forgiveness and receiving the gift of eternal life, which Jesus promised to those who repent and believe in him.

Jesus came out of heaven not just to warn us of hell: he gave his life on the cross to make salvation possible. On that basis he promises eternal life to those who entrust themselves to him as Lord and Saviour. “To him all the prophets give witness, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10.43). This is how to avoid hell. Jesus said, “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life; he does not come into condemnation but is passed from death to life” (John 5.24). “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish [in hell] but have eternal life” (John 3.16).

Clive Every-Clayton

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Sin can be forgiven

This perceptive word was written in the Gospels: “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Luke 5.21). It’s great news to know that God is in the business of forgiving sin.

This is especially the case when considering sexual sin. Most people are aware of the Ten Commandments, one of which prohibits adultery. Adultery is remarkably common, as is fornication (sex outside of marriage) and various other forms of sexual activity condemned by Jesus under the general term “sexual immorality” which he listed among various other sins (Matthew 15.19). These sins arouse a particularly deep feeling of guilt which is hard to shake off. 

The “Good News” that the Gospel of Christ brings, is that “All the prophets bear witness to Jesus, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10.39). Forgiveness of sins can be received! It can be yours because of the Lord Jesus Christ: he “bore our sins in his body” on the cross, so that we sinners might be forgiven. The early Christian preachers declared: “Through this man, Jesus, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is justified [i.e. declared legally righteous] from everything from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13.38-39). God’s forgiveness clears our slate, makes us acceptable at the great Day of Judgment, and opens the way to heaven. 

This is the promise of the Word of God himself. The very first Christian proclamation, given by the apostle Peter seven weeks after Jesus had died and risen again, ends with these words: “Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”. To be forgiven there are three essential conditions: to repent, which means to turn away from all sin, and the Holy Spirit is given to make that possible. The second condition was mentioned in the previous verses, to “believe in the Lord Jesus”, which means to receive him as your Lord, Master, Saviour and Friend, and to become one of his followers. The third condition was to be baptised in the name of Jesus, which means to make a public stand as a Christian, committed to obey Jesus as Lord.

In other words, you can’t expect to get God’s forgiveness with your right hand while continuing to sin with your left! You have to be honest with God. Forgiveness is free – you don’t have to earn it by any special pilgrimage or fasting or deeds of mercy. You do, however, have to decide with God’s help, to change your life around, to repent and give up your sins – which is not easy, but God’s Holy Spirit will help you if you pray sincerely in Jesus’ name for God to forgive you. He will be glad to answer that prayer!

Then, however heinous may have been the sins you have on your conscience, they are all wiped away by God’s grace. God promises: “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be whiter than snow” (Isaiah 1.18), and “Your sins and your iniquities I will remember no more” (Hebrews 8.12). God’s forgiveness is mediated through his word of promise written in the Bible. He is a God who “forgives iniquity and transgression and sin” (Exodus 34.7). If we fulfil the conditions, he will fulfil his promise.

Maybe you will want to turn to him in prayer right now? He is right there close to you: open your heart to him.

Clive Every-Clayton

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Reforming the church

Some parts of the modern-day church are called “Reformed.” One may wonder why. Should the church need reforming? May she have gone off course? Is she infallibly held in the truth or may she become corrupted? If so, what authority is competent to reform her? Is it even thinkable that anyone may be able to reform the church? The church is a global phenomenon of believers in Jesus, divided into innumerable groups, some large, some small. It is so huge that no-one can grasp the whole with a view to reforming it, not even the Pope.

So while some want a progressive or reforming Pope and others insist on a traditional Pope, there are already two dividing tendencies within the Roman Church, quite apart from the many other kinds of churches. And if one wants to “reform” the church, by what criteria might it be reformed?

The 16th century saw what came to be called “the Reformation”. The moral quality of the church and its leadership had suffered a sad decline over the previous century. Even Roman Catholic historians admit the immoral behaviour of some Popes left a lot to be desired. Their conduct was unworthy of the Lord Jesus Christ whom they professed to serve.

Apart from that moral decline, the reformers discerned theological errors that had been adopted in the church’s teaching and practice. How did they know there were errors? By a return to studying the Bible.

Martin Luther was a monk whose task was to teach theology. He therefore studied the Scriptures that he had to teach. As he did so, he struggled to understand some key concepts that were fundamental to the Gospel message, notably those of righteousness and justification. He had his own personal struggle to become righteous, being very conscious of his inner faults, spending a lot of time in confession. He was at the same time puzzling over St Paul’s teaching on the theme of justification, notably in the epistle to the Romans chapters 1-5.

After a lot of soul-searching and Bible study, he finally found the key that he had never grasped before: how God “justified” (i.e. declared legally just and acceptable in the judgment) those who believe in Jesus, the Saviour who died and rose again for their salvation. None of his confessors or colleagues at university had been able to share this good news with him, for they neither taught it nor understood it themselves. But there it was in the New Testament!

It was this rediscovery of the Bible’s message of “justification by faith in Christ” that led to the reformation and birthed the “reformed church”. While official church leaders condemned Luther, many were glad to receive the message of salvation by faith in Christ. They studied the Bible to find the truth of God, and by that truth they sought to reform the church’s moral laxity and its inadequate teaching on justification.

When challenged as to why they held their doctrines, their answer was simply, “Because the Bible says so.” The Bible was henceforth to be the sole authority to which Christians should absolutely adhere. In any dispute, the way to resolve it was always by a return to studying what the Bible actually says. This remains the principle of the reformed church.

Unfortunately, the temptation to allow passing philosophical trends to influence theologians has led parts of the church to drift from biblical faithfulness. Wisely did the Reformers insist that the church should be “semper reformanda” – continuously reforming itself by Holy Scripture, maintaining the purity of both its holiness and its biblical doctrine.

Clive Every-Clayton

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What’s so special about Easter?

From the beginning of the church, the first preachers proclaimed as an actual fact that Jesus, having been crucified, dead, and buried, rose to life and was seen by a number of his disciples over a period of about two months. They told how he had eaten and talked with them, showing them the wounds of his crucifixion to demonstrate that it was really himself. The preaching by these disciples in Jerusalem enraged the religious leaders who had brought about his crucifixion, and they did all they could to stamp out this new sect. They had the leading speakers imprisoned, beaten, and ordered them to stop preaching about this risen Jesus. The eyewitnesses of the risen Christ could not, however, be stopped, whatever they might suffer for proclaiming truth – they would neither lie nor be silent.

The religious authorities would have just loved to find the corpse of Jesus and put a stop to this new religion, but there was no corpse; his grave was empty.

As the first Christians proclaimed that their Master had risen from the dead, they quoted texts from the earlier Scriptures that had predicted that the Messiah would return from death. They remembered that Jesus himself had actually foretold several times that he would be crucified and then rise again “after three days” (Mark 8.31, 9.31, 10.33-34 – passages paralleled in Matthew and Luke). Because of that claim, the Jewish leaders set a guard to watch over the tomb where he was buried, lest anyone came and tampered with the corpse. But when an earthquake occurred, the guards were overcome with fear, seeing a shining angelic vision and could do nothing to prevent Jesus’ resurrection. 

The new faith grew rapidly; no-one could counter the fact of Jesus’ resurrection, attested by those witnesses who had seen Jesus alive after his death. The Christian church was thus founded on the proclamation that Christ died for our sins and rose victorious over death. The Jesus who during his lifetime had healed the sick and even three times raised the dead, was himself conqueror of death: and the most astonishing thing of all is that he had predicted he would rise from death after three days. His prediction was fulfilled! This is the most astounding prophecy and the most mind-boggling fulfilment in all human history! 

By this unique resurrection of Jesus the Son of God, his almighty Father demonstrated with power his approval, authenticating his life, teaching, and atoning work by raising him from death, subsequently taking him up to heaven at his ascension. Christianity was born by the events of Easter to which the apostles of Jesus testified in the town where he was killed. They boldly proclaimed that they had seen the risen Christ, and thousands believed and were baptised. 

A further aspect of the message which Jesus’ apostles proclaimed was that the Spirit of the risen Christ could enter people’s lives and transform them from sinners into saints. The many who were converted in those early weeks experienced that saving transformation as they heard the preaching of the Gospel, repented, and believed in Jesus. The biblical definition of the Gospel message is that “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to…” various people (1 Corinthians 15.1-6). The Christian faith is therefore based on historic events recorded in the early biblical documents which we now possess in the Bible, which give evidence for believing that Jesus was God incarnate. 

Clive Every-Clayton

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Easter: the bizarre death of Jesus

This April 2025 Christians will celebrate Easter. This feast is a celebration and commemoration of what took place in history, almost exactly 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem. It can be considered as the pivot of world history, bringing in a change that reverberates still around the world today.

In this blog post and the next I want to explore the deep meaning first of Jesus’ death, and then of his resurrection from the dead, for these are the events we commemorate each Easter.

Jesus’ death was, in one sense, a grave miscarriage of justice: the Roman governor, pressured by self-righteous jealous religious leaders who stirred up the crowd against Jesus, condemned the innocent holy prophet to die. But there is much more to it than this. Jesus himself, the night before his crucifixion, said that his blood would be shed “for the forgiveness of sins”.

It is a little-known fact that on three occasions the Gospels relate how Jesus predicted not only his death but also his resurrection! Referring to his death he said he would “give his life as a ransom for many”, and as the “Good Shepherd” he would “lay down his life for his sheep”. In other words, in Jesus’ understanding, his death was for the benefit of others, indeed for their salvation, for he came, he said, “to seek and to save the lost”.

The reason why Christians celebrate the death of Christ and make an instrument of torture – the Cross – a symbol of their faith, is that they see it as having accomplished a work of atonement for their sins. Most religions see that sins have to be punished or “paid for”, and our conscience admits that as guilty offenders we deserve God’s righteous punishment. But while other religions propose that we can obtain salvation by the good works that we are able to do to “pay for” our sins, Christianity gives us a vitally different message. We need to realise that we cannot ever “pay for” our sins however much good we seek to do, because we ought to do those good things anyway. Instead it is Jesus who came to “pay for our sins”, to make atonement, and he did that by dying “for us”.

This is why the Christian message is called “Good News”. This is why the death of Jesus is celebrated in churches throughout the world. It was the accomplishing of our salvation, as Jesus’ work of atonement makes possible the forgiveness of our sins. It is the only objective grounds upon which a holy and just God can offer free forgiveness while fully respecting the demands of justice: the just penalty we deserve was taken by Jesus. Why? Because he loves us! His death for our salvation is the supreme demonstration of God’s love and mercy towards us. 

On the cross Jesus cried out, “It is finished!” He was telling us that he has finally accomplished his atoning work. In anticipation he had said in prayer to God his Father the night before he died: “I have finished the work you gave me to do”.

This does not mean that everyone is thereby automatically forgiven; every one of us needs to ask our Saviour to forgive us personally, on the basis of his death for us. We need to turn from our sins and turn to Jesus in prayer; we need to thank him for his sacrifice which makes forgiveness possible. Then we must receive him as our Saviour and commit ourselves personally to follow him as the new Lord of our lives.

Clive Every-Clayton

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You are loved

One of our most fundamental needs is to be loved. Oh the joy of knowing you are loved! You can put up with anything if you know you are truly loved. How our heart hungers and longs for love! “Love is (almost) all you need”. But a plaintive song in “Half a Sixpence” laments, “Where is love?” How many hearts are burdened by lovelessness! We appreciate any kindness shown to us, but oh! the deep personal longing to love and to be loved! And what anguish when relationships break up and love is lost!

One of the huge blessings of the Christian faith is to know that God loves us, and it is uniquely satisfying because his love is eternal, faithful, strong, forgiving, never-ending. God’s love starts in eternity past – before the creation of the world: “I have loved you with an everlasting love” he says. What comfort that gives the believer! “Underneath are the everlasting arms”: his love enfolds us in a warm eternal embrace.

How do we know? Jesus came from “the bosom of the Father” to tell us, and even to show us how great is his love. The Bible tells us, “God is love” (1 John 4.8) and love radiates unceasingly from God as the warmth radiates from the sun. As the children’s song says, “You can’t stop God from loving you”!

Most people think that God would love them if they were really, really good people, but they know they aren’t so they’re afraid God is against them. But Jesus teaches us that God even loves people who he calls sinners. Jesus’ self-giving on the Cross, for us unworthy sinners, is the great demonstration of how much he loves us. “God proves his love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5.8). “Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15.13). “I am the Good Shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10.11). God has shown how much he loves you by sending his Son to die on the Cross, so that through his sacrifice your sins may be forgiven, and you may be welcomed into a loving relationship with him forever.

The amazing thing about God’s love is that you do not have to earn it. You just have to believe it and turn to him, opening your heart to receive him as your Lord, your Saviour, and your Friend.

This is how Jesus stated it: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3.16). God’s love is a giving love: he gave his Son up for us; the Son gave up his life for us; on that basis, God is eager to give you eternal life as a “free gift” (Romans 6.23) if you will come to the risen Christ and receive him. “He who has the Son, has eternal life” (1 John 5.12).

How do you receive Christ? You do that by praying to God, right where you are; he hears you as you tell him you are sorry for your sins, you are turning away from them, and you want him to come into your heart to make you a true child of God. He will answer, because he loves you and desires to save and forgive you. If you are sincere, you will see how he answers that prayer, changing your life profoundly as you become a follower of Jesus.

Clive Every-Clayton

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What we need

What do humans need to find fulfilment?

The basics are food and drink, shelter and warmth and caring companionship. 

Beyond that, however, there are existential needs that must be met. There are at least three: our minds need understanding; our hearts need love; and our wills need purpose. That summarises the needs of our personal nature, whose three components are our intellect, emotion, and will. To that we may add our conscience which has complex needs of its own as we shall see.

Let’s begin with our minds: we need understanding of the basics of our human existence, and if we are misled, if we think something is true when it is wrong, we are in trouble. So we need education, and that education needs to be correct. This is already a serious difficulty, since fake news and unsound philosophies seem to be everywhere; even our own personal ideas are not necessarily wise and true. It would be great if we had an all-wise teacher to guide us.

Then our hearts need to feel loved. Some are blessed with loving parents or partners; but many are those who suffer from neglect, rejection, even hatred from those who ought to give them loving care. A lot of psychological pain is due to lack of love, and it is not at all easy to find the love that we all need. It would be great if there was someone who always really loved us. 

Thirdly, we need to have something to do which will give us stimulation and satisfaction – some purpose to which we can give ourselves and spend our energies. Boredom is a killer; it brings its own lot of psychological hang-ups. We need to know that what we do is not only something we like, but something of value. Our talents vary, but something worth living for is what our soul really needs. All the better if it fits into some overarching great purpose. It would be great if we knew what that purpose was.

Faced with imperfect solutions to our deep personal needs, we suffer – some more than others. If we fall short in any of these areas, or if we fail in some way, our conscience multiplies feelings of shame or guilt which compound our psychological disarray. Is there a way forward? 

Do we have to yield to the despair of a meaningless and frustrating existence? Is this what God has made us for? Isn’t there anything better? Could God provide what our soul needs and longs for?

What did Jesus say? “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14.6); “I have come that people may have life abundant”. “The one who believes in me”, he says, will as it were experience “streams of living water” flowing through him (John 7.37-38). Let’s consider this.

Our understanding needs essential truth: truth about who we are, where we come from, why we are here and where we are going. Our Creator God alone can give us that essential truth, and it comes through the One who said, “I am the truth”! God renders us this extraordinary and vital service! We do well to study Jesus’ teaching and commit to following him.

He is not only “the truth”, but he is “the way” to God: he leads us to know God, coming into relationship with him, discovering his purpose for us. Our Creator’s purpose essentially comes down to knowing that he loves us and forgives all our sins and failures; he will help us to live what is true “abundant life” (John 10.10).

The next blog post will develop that.

Clive Every-Clayton

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The wisdom of Jesus

Nine centuries after Solomon, and 400 years after Plato, Jesus came on the scene in Palestine. He was teaching crowds of people there and healing all kinds of sicknesses almost exactly 2,000 years ago. In his teaching he alluded more than once to king Solomon, one of his ancestors (Matthew 1.7).

He spoke of Solomon’s grandeur in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6.29). In Matthew 12.42, he reminds his listeners of the time when “the Queen of the South… came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom”, but then Jesus adds this astounding claim: “now one greater than Solomon is here”! Jesus is saying that the wisdom that he brings is wiser than that of the greatest wise man of old!

The New Testament says that “in Jesus are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2.3). It even calls Jesus “the wisdom of God”: in the divine incarnate Son of God, we have access to the infinite wisdom of God himself. By his revelation, we can learn what wisdom is: how to live a life that is both totally fulfilling and at the same time pleasing to God. This is the key to what human life is all about! God has revealed his wisdom, which is a worldview that no human being could have discovered unaided. Jesus’teaching is essential for us to grasp. 

Jesus re-emphasised the “fear of God”, but he also spoke of the love of God. He faithfully warned us of some bad news. “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul,” he said; “Rather fear him [God] who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10.28). By this allusion to the “fear of God”, Jesus means that we must realise that one day we will have to stand before the ultimate Judge of all the earth and give account of our lives. And he forewarns us that there will be a potential terrible penalty if our sins are not forgiven – hell. This is the ultimate eternal loss. 

But Jesus in his wisdom tells us we can avoid that by understanding that God is also loving: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish [in hell] but have eternal life” (John 3.16). Jesus calls us all to a fulfilling lifestyle when he gives what he called the two most important commandments: “To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and secondly, to love your neighbour as yourself” (Matthew 22.37-39). To commit to obeying these two divine commandments means a radical change of life for us who love ourselves more than anyone else! But how to love God? It can only come when we realise how much God has loved us. “God demonstrates his own love for us,” writes the apostle Paul, “in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5.8). God loved us despite our unworthiness as sinners; he sent his Son to die for us, bearing our punishment in our place, guiltless though he was, so that through faith in him we may receive forgiveness and a new life, eternal life. This is the Good News of the Gospel.

He forgives us as we respond in grateful faith, so we no longer fear his judgment.  We begin to love God as the Holy Spirit of God “sheds abroad in our hearts the love of God” (Romans 5.5). This is the true way to happiness.

Clive Every-Clayton

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Gentle Jesus

If it was up to you to envisage how the Almighty Creator were to visit his creation, this planet, how would you set it up? How do you think people would expect such a divine intervention to take place?

Would he arrive as twice the size of a human, descending in a kind of parachute into Rome to slay the Emperor and take his place? Or zooming in on the Areopagus in Athens to confront and confound the leading philosophers like Plato and Socrates? Or again, shining in blinding glory while zooming over a war zone calling for conflict immediately to cease? Or would he be wandering in the mountains and coming to the grotto of a “holy man” to quietly introduce himself without overwhelming him?

Well, you could think of several scenarios which could have a degree of plausibility about them. But not many outside the reach of Christianity would come up with the idea that the Almighty would show up in a new-born baby, fragile and vulnerable, utterly dependent on the care of his parents. The God revealed in Scripture could have come in his power and glory (as the Lord Jesus is predicted to return at the end of the age); but instead, he chose the humble way: the baby grew up to say “I am gentle and humble of heart”. A strange divine visitation indeed!

What message does this Gospel record seek to communicate? Surely not that God is weak and feeble. No, rather that he comes not to pour down his wrath on a wicked world – even though that would be perfectly justified – but to “seek and to save the lost” (as Jesus put it in Luke 19.10). What does that imply? Well, first of all, humankind is “lost”. What does that mean? It means we have erred and strayed from the right path, we have forsaken the way of righteousness, and have embarked on a dangerous “broad road that leads,” according to Jesus’ warning, “to destruction” (Matthew 7.13). Here came a divine guide to stand in our way, to turn us back from our errors and sins, and to offer us forgiveness and moral renewal that will clean us up and set us on the right road. 

When Jesus was travelling and preaching, he would at times express his compassion for lost humanity in tears and lamentation – longing for people to get wise and turn from their evil ways. “How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings”, he mourned (Matthew 23.37), grieving over the hardness of people’s hearts who obstinately refused to hear his loving warnings. His coming into the world was an act of mercy, offering pardon and grace – at the cost of his life.

This extraordinarily gentle approach opened the era of grace – when rebels against the Almighty who lay down their arms and surrender to his will are guaranteed pardon and eternal life. That era still endures; anyone may turn to Christ and receive him and his saving work which will grant them a new abundant life that he promises to give. But the offer ends either when Jesus returns in power and glory to judge the nations of the world, or at “death, after which comes the judgment” (Hebrews 9.27). In that day, the gentle Jesus, meek and mild will be revealed as the all-powerful Creator he is, and he will fulfil his role as righteous Judge and upholder of justice in the universe. It is in our highest interests to get ready for that judgment day.

Clive Every-Clayton

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New Year resolution

Some atheists may react when I say that they miss out on the most important reality in the universe – God. Yet if God is really there, an objective all-powerful Creator, it stands to reason that wisdom would require us to take that fact on board. That, of course, presupposes the “if”.

I don’t want to rehash the evidence for God’s existence this time. I’d rather encourage people to think, at the beginning of this New Year, whether they need to make some adjustments to their way of life.

I don’t know if it has every occurred to you (as it did to me only a short time ago) that at the beginning of the Gospel record written by Mark, he quotes two extraordinary statements which deserve a moment’s reflection. He quotes in the first 15 verses of his first chapter, two challenging calls, made first by John the Baptist and then by Jesus.

The Baptiser came “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1.4). A few verses further on, we read, “Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time is fulfilled’, he said. ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news’” (Mark 1.14,15).

These two pioneer revivalists proclaimed the same requirement, laying on their listeners the same obligation: “Repent!” To repent means two things: change your mind, and change your way of life. In other words, both Jesus and John the Baptist proclaimed as their first message, that their listeners (probably quite ordinary Jewish people living in Palestine) had to change their ideas and adjust their way of living.

This was a message given to normal good-living religious people. But the presupposition of both preachers was that their audience had “got it wrong” both intellectually and morally; and they needed to change.

It may surprise you to know that this is still the first emphasis of Christian preaching today. It assumes that all people – all listeners – have got it wrong and need to be corrected, reformed, changed by divine truth. This change must take place on two levels – first one’s thinking, and then one’s living. In other words, Christian proclamation, following Jesus’ lead, insists that all people must change: their opinions are wrong and their lives are not blameless.

Now this is quite humbling. To be told you’ve got it all wrong and need to rethink your philosophy of life is a challenge to our pride. Maybe that’s why the Gospel message is not more eagerly received. We don’t like being told we are wrong. We hold to our religious ideas even though we may not have spent much thought acquiring them. But Christianity comes with a messenger out of heaven saying our human ideas are inadequate and need correction.

Christ brings fresh news – Good News – about our relationship with God: he loves us and wants to embrace us in a permanent harmonious relationship which will be a great blessing to us. But to get there we must take on board our need to rethink our ideas of God: Jesus brings unique truth about God that we would never know without his coming. We do well to listen, to read what he says in the Gospels.

And as we do, we will hear him say, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5.32). We are called to stop any unkind, selfish, evil, disobedient behaviour, and start a new life opening our hearts to Christ. This is Jesus’ call for you at the beginning of this New Year.

Clive Every-Clayton

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