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Writing
    Not in Vain: 1 Corinthians Devotional
    Explore Lamentations
    eBook: Good News People
    eBook: Filtered Grace
    Gospel Coalition Articles
    Church Society Articles
    Threads Articles
    Explore Ecclesiastes
    Explore Galatians
    Evangelicals Now Articles
Book Reviews
Interviews
Join Us
  • Writing
    • Not in Vain: 1 Corinthians Devotional
    • Explore Lamentations
    • eBook: Good News People
    • eBook: Filtered Grace
    • Gospel Coalition Articles
    • Church Society Articles
    • Threads Articles
    • Explore Ecclesiastes
    • Explore Galatians
    • Evangelicals Now Articles
  • Book Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Join Us
That Happy Certainty - Gospel | Culture | Planting
Culture

Made for Celebration (Good News in the News)

This is a rough transcript from something I shared in the ‘Good News in the News’ slot on Cara Bentley’s Daytime show on Premier Radio.

–

Well, this week in the UK has of course been dominated by the Prime Minister’s announcement about lockdown being phased out – a ‘roadmap to normality’…

And I think generally there’s been a surprise at the pace of that, with the most notable aspect being the potential date of 21st June for all limits on social contact to be gone.

And one of the things that’s stood out in the last few days since Monday has been the mad rush to book summer holidays..

The company TUI said bookings for foreign trips increased by 500% , and Hoseasons had sold 10,000 UK breaks by Wednesday.

 But alongside the rush for holidays, has been the prospect of Festivals.

For example, on Wednesday, Reading and Leeds festival, tweeted, “We can’t wait to get back to the fields – let’s go!” – and they’ve now announced headlines acts and said, because of the progress with the vaccination programme, they believe we will be able to have festivals in late August.

Reading and Leeds 2021 📣 Following the government's recent announcement, we can't wait to get back to the fields this summer 🎉 LET'S GO 🍻 #RandL21https://t.co/se3B02oFyj pic.twitter.com/EzBLKr3S9T

— Reading & Leeds Fest (@OfficialRandL) February 24, 2021

I’ve got a mate who’s a DJ and he’s rushing to get his new tracks ready for spinning this summer…

And so some people are clearly absolutely buzzing, but others are going ‘Surely not! Can it be true?! Is it possibly safe?’

And so what’s the good news in the news…

I want to focus on that joy – there’s real joy here isn’t there, because it’s been so hard, so so hard…

And I think there are two things to say:

Made for Celebration

Firstly as Christians we want to yes, we are made for celebration, we are made for being with others, for the hope of the festival, the holiday, the party, the gathering. We are made for coming together and for rest and celebration.

Even those of us who’d say we don’t like a big crowd, actually if we’re with the right people, people we feel safe with – we know how good that is. And indeed how far the last 12 months have taken us from that.

And Christianity says that we’re not made to be on our own, we’re made to be part of something bigger. We’re made to be caught up in rejoicing in something outside of ourselves.

That desire absolutely flows out of what God made us for.

A Greater Party

But secondly, for me the flip-side of that is we don’t know whether it will all go to plan… we don’t know how many of those bookings will be able to fulfilled. Will the data do what the government hopes it will?

And even if the holidays and festivals happen – and it’ll be so good if they can happen safely – but even then, the parties fizzle and the festivals end. And of course people are already talking about being priced out of summer holidays this year, & of course then there’s the sad reality that there’ll be a lot of loved ones missing from the party this year…

But we have a hope beyond summer 2021. There’s a greater festival, a greater party, a greater rest.…

And I think often we don’t get excited about the prospect of heaven, because maybe we think of clouds and harps and not having much to do…

But in the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah talks about a feast of rich food, for all kinds of peoples, a banquet of vintage wine, best of meats – that’s a bbq and a half!

And the book of Revelation says the new heavens and a new earth will be like a wedding feast, where we’re caught up in praise, rejoicing together, not on our own, but with a vast number. We’ll be praising the God who is worthy, the Lamb who is slain, finding lasting rest in Jesus Christ.

One of our family favourite songs through lockdown has been by a ‘kids’ song’ by the Christian singer Michael Tinker, called ‘There’s party coming soon’:

There’s a party coming soon, and the entrance price is free,

There’s a party coming soon, Christ has paid for you and me,

There’s a party coming soon, satisfaction guaranteed,

There’s a party coming soon, it will meet your every need.

Christians are party people. We know we were made to be caught up in something bigger than ourselves, and the hope of the gospel, whatever this summer looks like, is that there’s a party coming soon.

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February 27, 2021by Robin Ham
Ministry, Culture, Devotional

Learning to Lean in 2021

If trials are how God transforms us, then telling each other ‘You Got This’ isn’t enough to get through the year ahead.

Life Goals

As we stumble through these early weeks of the new year, I wonder if you’ve had a chance to consider what would count as a successful 2021 for you?

As Christians, we’d probably recognise there’s a number of ‘unhealthy’ answers to that question: getting rich; winning the plaudits of my peers; sculpting my body to resemble the images that bombard me online.

Whilst we might find ourselves tempted by the allure of those answers now and again, we’re likely to agree that they’re not what a Christian should be setting their heart on.

But what if we put the question in more Christian terms: ‘What would it look like to end the year more spiritually mature?’

How would we answer that?

And this is where I’ve been pondering whether even our ‘Christian’ answers may still reveal somethings gone amiss. 

Welcome to the Real World

I’m quickly learning to love the book of James in these disorientating times. It’s a part of the Bible often praised for being delightfully practical, offering an everyday faith.

But more than that, it’s also a portion of Scripture that is absolutely realistic about life. Take how James begins:

‘Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.’ (James 1:2-3)

Right from his opening gambit, James doesn’t hold back that life is full of hard things. Many kinds of hard things in fact. There’s no Instagram filter or rose tinted glasses here.

But to speak of joy alongside trials might seem a bit of stretch to our ears. How does one even consider the idea of rejoicing in the midst of pain?

The Posture of Perseverance

And even when we consider James’ rationale, noting that joy lies in trials producing perseverance (1:3), we might still raise an eyebrow. 

After all, in the midst of hard things, perseverance can seem like a pipe dream. Surely times of suffering are when we feel least like keeping going? Maybe you feel that right now? You’re hanging on with your fingernails here!

But maybe that phrase reveals the crux of the matter: after all, who are we hanging onto in such times? 

What if spiritual perseverance is less about the internal ability to resolutely persist come what may, but rather about having such an awareness of our weakness that we have ‘come to the end of ourselves’ and have thrown ourselves on something external to ourselves: God. 

To put it another way, as we feel weak and cling to the Lord, this is actually what it means to be steadfast. This is the posture of perseverance.

We learn to lean.

The Surprising Shape of True Maturity

Often we act like growing as a Christian means having it all together. But James connects this perseverance to the greater work of how God is shaping us:

‘Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.’ (1:4)

In other words, true Christian maturity is not about having it all together, but rather realising that we don’t – but knowing where to turn in the midst of that.

Of course in many areas of life maturity looks like becoming more independent – think of the small child walking without a hand to hold, or the employee no longer needing to be spoon-fed their tasks. But I think James would say that actually Christian maturity means becoming more dependent.

Yes, we want disciples of Jesus to have their own renewed minds, reflecting on their own circumstances and desires and days through the lens of the gospel. But let’s not kid ourselves into thinking that the cry of our self-determined age – ‘You got this!’ – is a vaguely Christian exhortation. 

Leaning into the Future with God

So as we scan the horizon for what 2021 may hold – for ourselves, for our churches, for the Church in this disorientating season – know that there’s few greater things that God could do for us than teach us to lean on him through hard times. 

Christian growth does not work like a board game, where if we land on the right space we can skip ahead to the finish. As we say in the UK, we can’t avoid the ‘hard yards’. 

In other words, James is adamant that we can’t get to Christian maturity without perseverance. And we won’t discover perseverance without trial. Learning to lean is the Christian life.

The Best Place To Be

But if we under any doubts about whether it’s worth it, just a few sentences later James crystallises where such leaning will lead us to: ‘Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.’ (1:12)

Wherever this year takes us, leaning on the Lord is the best place to be, because ultimately it’ll get us to the best place we can ever be: receiving the crown of life from the God we love.

Yes, there will be things we’ll face this year that we’d never have chosen to face.

But despite how hard those times may be, we can be confident that God is forming us through them as we learn to lean upon him.

He got this. And we can consider that pure joy.

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January 22, 2021by Robin Ham
Culture

Jesus Saves on Capitol Hill?

It’s not my country, so he was never my president, but that’s the name of my God and Saviour unfurled on a banner in the middle of that mess, so pardon me a few words.

Yesterday was Epiphany, which basically means ‘appearing’. We remember that God has appeared in Jesus Christ, and the wise men travelled from afar to see him.

And despite the best intentions of a power-hungry ruler, when those dignitaries arrived to see the helpless Jesus (perhaps now just a couple of years old), they did something staggering. They bowed down and worshipped. They had seen the true king, and he was gentle and lowly.

I hope you can see it’s a world away from the sickening scene of crosses next to nooses on Capitol Hill. I hope you can see that, yes, ‘Jesus saves’, but he ain’t in the business of saving nationalistic empires. Or fuelling hatred and propping up ego. Or putting up with systemic racism in exchange for power.

In fact, he appeared to stoop and ‘save’ precisely because of all this – and more besides.

Because, if we’re honest, we can all be like Herod. We do that thing where we shape ‘god’ into our own image. Our own agendas and manifestos and wants. We cling onto power when really we should be on our knees before Him in worship.

So if we’re tempted to claim his name, first try following him. Follow him as he told his friend to put his sword away and then brought healing in its wake. Follow him as he showed dignity to each life that he created. Follow him as he climbed a hill to lay his power down.

As the Scripture says, ‘he came not to be served by to serve – and to give his life as a ransom for many’.

Yes, with a crown of thorns and a throne of grace, thank God that this Jesus saves.

–

You can click on the image below to find a shareable version on Facebook.

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January 7, 2021by Robin Ham
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Hello, my name is Robin. Welcome to That Happy Certainty, where I write and collate on Christianity, culture, and church-planting. I’m based in Barrow in South Cumbria, England, where my family & I are part of Grace Church Barrow.

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“If we could be fully persuaded that we are in the good grace of God, that our sins are forgiven, that we have the Spirit of Christ, that we are the beloved children of God, we would be ever so happy and grateful to God. But because we often fear and doubt we cannot come to that happy certainty.”
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