Sunday 26th Sept

Many blessings today (which to be honest isn't unusual). Simon led communion this morning and Laurence led the morning service - that I was preaching at. We had a few visitors as well, some new, some returning. We ran out of chairs at communion and had over 40 for the main service. That included James, from Canada. He has just started at LTS and is placed with us during his studies. It was great to welcome him amongst us.

I was preaching from 1Cor 4v1 "So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God." It was a warning sermon encouraging us to keep the right people in the right place.

The "us" is the apostles. They are not our masters, but fellow servants of Christ. In the same way our teachers and church leaders today are not the ones we are to follow. They are fellow servants of Christ who lead us to Christ. We are only to follow them to the extent that they lead us to Christ.

The apostles however had a very specific ministry that was theirs alone. They were the stewards of the secret things of God. In a Roman household the steward was the chief servant. The master of the house would entrust his property to their care and they were to take care of it and distribute it to the other servants. In the same way the Lord Jesus entrusted the gospel (the secret hidden for ages past but now revealed in the message of the cross) to his apostles. They were to be faithful in passing on what they were entrusted with. All the servants that come after therefore receive the gospel via the apostles. The church at Corinth was beginning to listen to people who were not listening to their apostle Paul. All the problems at Corinth stem from this sad reality. They had become arrogant and were acting as if they didn't need Paul and his teaching anymore, as if they had new revelation from God.

It is vital for spiritual health that we do not divorce God's word from God's stewards, the apostles. Then, the Corinthians needed to remember that they needed God's word passed on to them via those whom God entrusted it to. Now, we need to be sure that we do not "go beyond what is written." The Scripture is where the apostles have passed on what they were entrusted with, as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. We must not wander away from the Scripture or go beyond what it says, distorting it's meaning or claiming new revelation. Otherwise we too, at best, will be worldly, mere infants in Christ. Only as we hang on to the secret wisdom of God, the message of Christ crucified, (who is for us wisdom from God - that is our righteousness, holiness and redemtpion,) will we be more like Christ and begin to bring and give him the glory that is all his.

There was more but that's a fair summary!

This afternoon we cut our cafe short and went to the Oasis Church grand relocation service (see picture). Abbey Road Baptist Church has recently been refurbished, and the Arabic church plant (Oasis) has taken up residence in the afternoons. It was a blessing to be there and even more to have some really good support from our church.

All in all many blessings today. Thanks be to God who gives us every good thing.