A Disposition of Grace
Is banter really the best way to connect? Can we be more gracious in our conversations?
Welcome to our newest post about Sharing Your Faith! In his regular posts, Ryan Bentley will be stirring us to share our faith with others, by looking at passages of scripture and giving practical tips. We hope you enjoy the blog below!
This week I flubbed up pretty bad. Just a flub and not a full blown mishap, possibly could be a hiccup. When it was revealed to me by someone close to me it was done with typical banter, just giving me a hard time about my flub. What they weren’t aware of, was that I was in a more sensitive emotional state. As a result, I felt ashamed.
The Banter Formula
Banter is a normal part of our human interactions, I’d say, one of the major connecting forces in British culture. It carries quite a few benefits; it breeds familiarity where both people can choose the pace, it allows us to laugh at ourselves while showing that we don’t take ourselves too seriously (a cornerstone of British Humour) and helps us discover boundaries. From my observation the formula for interactions goes a little like this:
Nice
Banter
Empathy and Understanding
Banter
Banter
Banter
Depth of Conversation & Relationship
Hidden Consequences
Unfortunately, Banter often has the unintended (or subconsciously intended) result of bringing shame and embarrassment.
I don’t think shame has a place in the Kingdom of God. In the past I have memorised 2 Corinthians 7:10 - Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. But I made a mistake in my memorisation, replacing the word sorrow with shame. But then I started writing this blog, and I couldn’t find that translation anywhere. Godly Sorrow brings about repentance, while worldly sorrow brings death. I don’t think Sorrow and Shame are interchangeable here.
As followers of Jesus, we’re called to be salt and light. Salt substantially changes the make up of things due to it’s interactions with the substance it’s added to. Salt the earth, it won’t grow. Salt some meat, it begins to break down. Salt your coffee…go get some more sleep, because you meant to use sugar. My point being that grace brings brings transformation, not shame, and I’m questioning whether my banter leads to grace.
Where’s the grace in banter?
After all that’s what we’re trying to bring people into isn’t it? Grace? We bringing people from death to life!
Grace is a transformational power in the kingdom of God, not shame or guilt. Grace is the key to the door of the kingdom. It’s the waterfall we all must walk through to get into the kingdom. We are bathed in it. It’s soaked into every fiber of our being when we put Jesus on the throne of our lives.
When we share our faith with others and we’re developing a relationship with them, it begins and must have its roots in grace, not banter. We are made to be different. We are made to substantially change the make up of the things that we come into contact with. This is a challenge to myself as much as it is to you. (Actually, probably more-so!)
Having a disposition of grace will open doors, start conversations and ultimately bring the transformational change Jesus is calling us to work in. Imagine being so full, that your love, grace and joy is affecting others to the point they want to join in?!
That! Is the kingdom. Isaiah 2:1-5 will help us see that.
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
3 and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,[a]
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore.
5 O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord.
Isaiah 2:1-5
Ryan Bentley
Ryan moved from Birmingham in 2020 to be part of Redeemer along with his wife Sarah (our families worker) and his two kids, Rhys and Torah! He serves the church full time and his aim is to equip each of us to share the gospel with those around us on a daily basis. Look out for his Faith Sharing Meetup next term, or find more of his wisdom on Instagram.
#RedeemerRecommends - God's Lavish Grace
In her first post on the Blog, Anna shares with us what she’s been reading recently for this week’s #RedeemerRecommends!
This week on #RedeemerRecommends, Anna shares with us what she’s been reading this month as part of her internship year with the church!
I’m not a massive reader. I do try, but I’ll often give up half way through. It has to be a pretty special book for me to make it from cover to cover. Well Gods Lavish Grace made the cut, I made it to the end and I’m ready to go back to the start and read it again.
Terry Virgo was a prominent leader in the house church movement in the UK and in 1979 he founded Newfrontiers, which is the family of churches that Redeemer London belongs to. Newfrontiers has expanded so quickly in that time and now has over 1500 churches in over 70 nations across the world! When I first heard about this, I was expecting Virgo to be some sort of huge, powerful, superhero type, maybe like Chris Evans in Captain America, but he is in fact quite the opposite. A very mild, humble man, but powerful all the same and in this book he talks about a fundamental truth that we need to grasp if we are going to live in the true freedom and wonder that God has called us to.
Virgo begins his book describing a pretty familiar story, his own story, of a christian who describes his experience of ‘zealous but rather condemnation driven christianity’. Setting unrealistic resolutions about bible reading or serving more and then feeling guilty when those goals and plans fail. I’m sure I’m not the only person who relates to this story. In the first chapter Virgo describes ‘clouds of condemnation that trouble you even when you are trying to pray.’ Addressing the fact that ‘Reading the bible may have become a chore rather than a pleasure’. He highlights the vicious cycle of trying harder, followed by disappointment and despondence. The good news is that Virgo also explains how we are able to get out of this cycle and really, truly be free!
Have you ever hear a statement that sounds somewhat like this one?
“Only grace can save you BUT the law is required to shape you up and make you holy”.
Virgo addresses this statement in the opening chapter of his book, saying
’The reality. Of course, is totally the opposite. The law does not impart life, it does not produce righteousness.”
What a statement! Gods lavish Grace uses the truth of the bible to free us not only from sin but also from the bondage of law-keeping religion into a life where we can walk freely with Jesus.
Virgo goes on to describe that the grace of God is a free gift. We do not have to do anything to earn it. We must understand that our works, will not change how much God loves us, no matter what we do, his grace has saved us. After hearing that, you might ask, so why don’t we just carry on sinning? Luckily for us, Virgo covers that question too! He talks about how Gods grace to us should change the way we live completely! The way we think, the way we behave, the way we give will all be transformed when we fully grasp the grace of God. When we understand that our bondage to the law is broken, when we realise that Gods grace is the only thing that can save us, we will live that life to the full that John talks about in the bible (John 10:10).
Looking for words to describe this book I would have said it is radical, extreme, kind of crazy! But the reality is that this book just speaks truth. Yes its radical, its extraordinary and quite hard to get our heads around but it is biblical truth! God's grace is a fundamental wonder of Christianity and this book explains that extraordinary grace in such a simple and relatable way. It has unearthed some issues in my own faith I didn’t even recognise myself. Understanding grace more has helped me know God more so I would highly recommend this book to any christian who wants to step into the fullness of life and relationship with God.
Redeemer reads Ephesians 4
As we read Ephesians this morning, Toby challenges us to raise our expectations for when we meet together on a Sunday, even online!
Welcome! Here at Redeemer we believe that the Bible is the word of God, that it’s alive, and that its words can and should shape every aspect of our lives as Christians. But we also know it’s not easy to get into the habit of reading it every day! So we are following the CBR Bible Reading plan - which can be found below - to help us read the bible together.
We are currently reading the book of Ephesians, and every week day we will be releasing a video on our social media & YouTube accounts, with a member of our Redeemer family explaining what they feel God is saying to them through the passage!
Today we hear from Toby as he shares with us from Ephesians 4
If you have time, and a desire to know more, you’ll find ideas for further study of todays passage below.
Further Study
In this episode of the Word of the week podcast, entitled Gift Wrapped Grace, K. Edward Copeland, of New Zion Baptist Church, Illinois, preaches on Ephesians 4:7–16.
“Most people think a church calls a pastor to do the work. The Bible says God calls a pastor to equip the people to do the work.” — K. Edward Copeland
Redeemer reads Galatians 6
This morning as we finish Galatians together, Pete prays that we might be defined by the love that we show to one another.
Welcome! We’re currently reading through the book of Galatians together as a church! We’ll be reading a chapter each week day, beginning on Friday the 15th of May, and concluding on Friday the 22nd. We’re following the reading plan in the CBR Journal, which can also be found HERE.
Each day a member of the Redeemer family will be sharing with us some thoughts in video form, which can be seen above, previous days videos can be found on our Youtube channel. We’ll also be publishing blogs with more thoughts on the passages we’ve read, along with some ideas for those who want to study the passage further. We’re really looking forward to seeing God bear fruit in and through us as a church as we read his word, even during this challenging time.
Today Pete will be sharing with us his thoughts on Galatians 6.
All through his letter to the Galatians, Paul has been alluding to a division between members of the church, in this, the final chapter of the book, he directly confronts the division, and brings his emphasis on freedom into a specific context.
In this situation, the freedom that the Holy Spirit brings is a freedom to love! When we are filled with the Holy Spirit it increases our capacity to love others, it compels us to humble ourselves and carry the burdens of others, and it causes us to seek to do good to others, especially others who believe.
There will always be temptation to live to please ourselves, to ‘sow to please the flesh’ as it says in verse 8. Especially during this time the easiest thing to do is often to focus on ourselves, and what we’re going through, but in the opening verses of this final chapter Paul is calling on us to look to others, and to see where they may need our love and our compassion. But I also want to encourage you today, if you are carrying burdens of your own, to seek out others in the Redeemer family! We are all called to carry each others burdens, which is especially important in this time. None of us need to go through anything alone.
In the second half of this chapter Paul goes on to conclude his argument against the false teachers. Throughout the letter he has been emphasising, again and again, through his own experience and the experience of the Galatians, that freedom and adoption into God’s family comes by faith, and not by works. Now he presents the Galatians with the choice, between him and the other teachers, he tells them how the false teachers are focused on the flesh, whereas he himself is focused on what we should all be focused on - the cross of Jesus Christ.
False teaching will always look appealing, because it will always try to obscure the cross, the most scandalous act of grace in all of history. But in doing this, it lacks any sort of real weight when held up against the true gospel. When we choose to follow the true gospel, we choose to come to the cross, we join with Christ in his rejection and suffering, we choose not to put our trust in this world, but in the everlasting new creation which has begun with the resurrection of Jesus.
In this time of confusion, frustration and despair for many of us, we can still choose to look back at the cross and the empty grave, the turning point of history, and know that because of Jesus, and only Jesus, we are free, and living with an eternal hope.
Further Study
Tim Keller is a world renowned Christian author and teacher, and he delivered the message below on Galatians 6, at the Gospel Coalition conference in April 2017.
Redeemer reads Galatians 5
This morning as we read Galatians 5 together, Matt takes us through just what true freedom looks like for us as Christians.
Welcome! Over the next week we will be reading through the book of Galatians together as a church! We’ll be reading a chapter each week day, beginning on Friday the 15th of May, and concluding on Friday the 22nd. We’re following the reading plan in the CBR Journal, which can also be found HERE.
Each day a member of the Redeemer family will be sharing with us some thoughts in video form, which can be seen above, previous days videos can be found on our Youtube channel. We’ll also be publishing blogs with more thoughts on the passages we’ve read, along with some ideas for those who want to study the passage further. We’re really looking forward to seeing God bear fruit in and through us as a church as we read his word, even during this challenging time.
Today Matt will be sharing with us his thoughts on Galatians 5.
In the first section of today’s passage, Paul continues to talk about what freedom looks like for those who are followers of Jesus, and defined by the fact they are children of God. However rather than just talking generally, he focuses specifically on the issue which the Galatians were struggling with. False teachers had arrived in Galatia after Paul had left, and had begun to successfully convince some of the Christians there that to really become “proper Christians”, they must be circumcised! Paul is aiming to change their perspective on these teachings.
The reality is that though the specific issue may have changed for us, we can still fall prey to the same false teachings that the Galatians did. We can choose to believe that it is something which we accomplish which gains us the right to be children of God, that is not only untrue, but it separates us from being able to truly understand, and partly reject the grace and love shown through Jesus’ death on a cross for us! That’s a dangerous place to be!
It is so important, especially in times like this, when we can feel so powerless to achieve anything for ourselves, that we remember Galatians 5:1
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1
The second half of the chapter, from verse 13-25, is a continuation of Paul’s explaining just how to live by that very first verse. Focusing on how slavery can also look like a lack of religion, and falling back into being servants of our own desires.
Doing whatever we want is not true freedom, when whatever we want is to satisfy the desires of our old self. True freedom as a follower of Jesus comes from divine sonship, from submitting to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and serving others above ourselves, out of love.
My prayer for you today is that you choose to live by the very first verse in today’s passage, and that God would pour out his Holy Spirit on you today, that you might not be burdened again by a yoke of slavery, but instead walk in true freedom!
Further Study
T. J. Tims is lead pastor of Immanuel Nashville. He earned a BA from Southeastern Bible College, an MA from King’s College London in 2010, and is a PhD candidate at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland.
In this podcast, Tims walks us through Galatians 5:5-6 and reminds us why we need to hear the gospel again and again.
Redeemer reads Galatians 2
This morning as we read Galatians 2 together Naomi encourages us to focus on Jesus and our faith in him, rather than our own works…
Welcome! Over the next week we will be reading through the book of Galatians together as a church! We’ll be reading a chapter each week day, beginning on Friday the 15th of May, and concluding on Friday the 22nd. We’re following the reading plan in the CBR Journal, which can also be found HERE.
Each day a member of the Redeemer family will be sharing with us some thoughts in video form, which can be seen above, previous days videos can be found on our Youtube channel. We’ll also be publishing blogs with more thoughts on the passages we’ve read, along with some ideas for those who want to study the passage further. We’re really looking forward to seeing God bear fruit in and through us as a church as we read his word, even during this challenging time.
Today Naomi will be sharing with us her thoughts on Galatians 2 in the video above.
On Friday Noble helped us to focus on Paul’s opening point in his letter to the Galatians - the fact that the gospel is so important because it hasn’t come from any man, but from God himself! There has clearly been some false teaching going on and we hear about it again today in verse 4 - This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves.
Today we read as Paul goes deeper into the gospel, and establishes just how it opposes these false teachings we’ve been hearing about. This is the cornerstone of Galatians, and it’s a fantastic passage!
One thing that I am challenged by in this passage is the actions of Peter, because it reminds me how important it is to understand the radical nature of God’s grace! It can be so easy as Christians to fall into the trap of thinking that Gods acceptance of us is dependent on our level of effort or achievement. When we truly understand grace we know that our ability to come before God is totally a work of Jesus, and not at all down to us! We are justified because we are IN Christ! We can never be more accepted by God than we are right now. This is a great encouragement for me, and I hope it is for you too, whatever kind of weekend you’ve had. Know that you can come before God right now and be met with his amazing grace!
Finally, as Naomi has highlighted in her video above, this passage is one that reminds me of God’s love! It is quite easy to imagine a God who loves those who follow him in a general, one size fits all kind of way, but the moment that the love of God really transforms you is when you realise it’s a personal love. At the end of this chapter Paul reveals this incredible truth in verse 20, which I hope brings you great joy as you start your week today.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:20
Redeemer reads 2 Corinthians 9
In 2 Corinthians 9 we continue to read about what real generosity looks like, in today’s video Vince challenges us as to how we can be generous today.
Welcome! Over the next few weeks we are going to be reading 2 Corinthians together as a church, 1 chapter every week day. We’re encouraging everyone to read the passage, pray, and share with a few others what they felt God was pointing out to them in his word. Every day we’re going to be hearing from someone at Redeemer about what they felt God pointed out to them as they read the passage.
This morning Vince is sharing with us, you can watch his video above. Read on to hear some more thoughts on the passage, and to get some ideas for further study.
This morning as we read 2 Corinthians 9 we continue to hear about the source of genuine generosity, which is the grace that we have been shown by God through his son Jesus.
In the first 5 verses of Chapter 9 we get a glimpse into Paul’s strategy for motivating the Corinthian church to be generous givers. He uses their readiness and eagerness as a central theme, the fact that they have prepared themselves to give way in advance of the gift needing to be given. There is a valuable lesson that we can learn here, that in order to give generously, we need to prepare ourselves to be able to give generously! It is no use consistently finding ourselves with opportunities to be generous, but having nothing to give, we must be preparing ourselves so that when God stirs us to be generous, we have the means to do so. What could you do today to make yourself ready, so that you can be generous at the next opportunity?
Verse 6 is a challenging one, as it lets us know that those who are generous are those who are often the recipients of generosity (be that from others or from God). It also brings to mind Jesus’ words in John 12:24 - Very truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. - We see this in nature and throughout scripture, that in order to grow, we must sacrifice something. It is not that Paul is saying that to get rich all we need to do is give away all of our money, but instead that as we give generously, we provide ourselves with more opportunities to grow. This may be that giving causes us to be humble, it may be that it means we give our time and learn to find joy in the success of others, it may be that we give our knowledge and see it passed on to others and transform situations. Whatever it looks like, as we plant more seeds in the soil of God’s great plan for our lives we can expect the fruit to be exciting and bountiful!
And let’s not forget the main theme running through 2 Corinthians 8-9, which Paul reminds us of in verse 8.
And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
The source of our good works, the reason that we are able to be generous, and to see that generosity bear fruit, is because we have been so blessed by God. The ESV translation uses the phrase - And God is able to make all grace abound to you… - which wonderfully sums up the fact that anything we do as Christians today is in light of the grace we receive daily as we come before our heavenly Father. He is the source of all our good works.
And that’s how Paul finishes the chapter in verses 14-15. As we seek to follow God today, as we read his word and are stirred to be generous with our money, our time, our resources, we are reminded of the only reason that we are all here this morning.
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Have a blessed weekend, and see you on Monday.
Am I a parent? Am I a teacher? Do I need to be Superman?
We hear from parents at Redeemer about their experiences during the Covid-19 outbreak, as well as some tips for Home schooling!
It is a challenging and confusing time for all of us, but especially for parents! Below we hear from a few parents at Redeemer about the experience of raising kids in this season, but first, some tips on homeschooling…
Home Schooling!
One of the biggest challenges faced by many families since the lockdown, is the task of working from home whilst also home schooling their children!
First a massive shout out and well done to the schools and teachers for the outstanding job that they do day after day!
But now for some tips. Don’t worry, this blog will be brief - as you are busy!
Tips from a home schooling parent:
Get up before your children wake up. Give yourself plenty of time to get your own mind, body and spirit ready for the day.
Put your child's well being first. Character development is way more important than academic achievement. Some days it's best to throw the workbook out the window (or walk away from the screen).
Read aloud to your children (no matter how old they are). Good books will take you on great family adventures even in quarantine!
BONUS TIP: Above all, give lots of grace - especially to yourself.
Podcasts
There are a massive selection of podcasts that you can listen to….
Follow the link below to find some great podcasts about the Charlotte Mason philosophy followed by the parent who gave the tips above!
More ideas
The following two websites are also packed full of home schooling ideas!
Community
Follow the link below to find a Facebook group set up by a veteran of home schooling
Parenting through Covid-19
As well as home schooling, there is still the permanent 24/7 job of being a parent to deal with too! Below are some thoughts and experiences from parents at Redeemer, we hope they encourage and reassure you during this trying time as parents.
The human theme park ride
We’ve been stuck in for 5 weeks, ‘someone’ in the family getting a cough which put us out before the schools even closed! In some other time and space this would be the perfect little sabbatical, as you ‘work’ from home, playing board games with the kids and go on bike rides. But in truth it's hard to do that when you're considering the world imploding, seeing corona stats rise, and you morbidly attach yourself to the news, both wanting to look away, but partly being transfixed by the drama. Part of me wants to retire away to the world of netflix and bury my head in the sand, but that just won't do! lIfe goes on, children need us, God wants us to step up, and fight the good fight.
I can take heart, my kids are, despite the turmoil around us, bonding in a wonderful, beautiful way, spending hours playing together. Don’t get me wrong, we are no ‘vitamin’ ad family and there have been squabbles, plus we picked up thread worm (How did we do that? stuck at home?) but we are trying to find new ways to do life, news things to interest us. I for one have extended my role as the human theme park, setting up a mat I got last year in the garden. I am helping the kids learn to front somersault, and they are using me as a ‘gym horse’ to jump off of. Coupled with this I take them on ‘fake’ theme parks rides as they sit on my lap pretending to go up and down on a roller coaster. Who says we can’t visit thorpe park from your own living room?
I can't go to a theme park, snakes and ladders or even visit the local playground but we can darn well fling ourselves off each other. (Disclaimer, whilst it’s fun for the kids, you will be shattered!). We all want to look back at this time to see the great things we've achieved. My contribution will be front flips and theme parks rides, and a deep devotion to building connection with the family and God. And a continued faith that this will be a footnote in history very soon! Plus, I can't wait to go for a curry again!
Craft your way to bliss (or into armageddon)
I set out with great intentions, endless amazing websites to educate my kids with, zoos to visit, exercise programmes to follow, theatre shows to watch, audible for kids for free, Disney for a week, social interactions to continue on FaceTime and Zoom.... The world is our oyster.
Couple with all this the endless craft which my daughter has set her eyes upon! In order to pass another 20 minutes we have panicked, bought card, felt, contact lens solution (for slime - sorry if this item is in shortage!) Normally I will craft away.... But right now...what a mess that I have to spend the day looking at. Well yes, I’ve realised I need to lose any pride I had in what my house might look like, no-one will be seeing it anyway! I’ve let go and allowed a build up of toilet rolls and egg cartons in order to allow the kids to make toilet roll pipes stuck to the kitchen cabinets as it is so fun.
What of the endless websites to keep our life looking outward and moving forward? Very minimal. Don't get me wrong there are some lovely gestures going on with all the free access but I’m finding it all a bit much, that so much has to go through the screen. I’ve tried to find a balance between a bit of structure and a great deal of relaxing and free play- lots of mess in the house. The mess however has also brought about some better habits, the kids have to tidy up more now, for years we’d been just tidying up for them and I really don't know why! We are having more meals together as a family, and as I’m not desperate to have the most flavoursome meal at every sit down, we can save a lot of time eating the same meal!
It’s amazing to see how the kids' imagination is growing, they’ve travelled to many places in the last 5 weeks, my favourite being the beauticians!
Matt’s never had better pedicured feet!
Thanks to Matt & Sarah Bateman and Leslie Mailloux for their contributions to this blog!
#RedeemerRecommends - Vintage Worship
#RedeemerRecommends a new worship album borne out of a time of dependence on God’s goodness….
This week on #RedeemerRecommends we are focusing on a new worship album, released this month by Vintage Worship, the worship team from Vintage Church in Los Angeles.
The album was recorded in August 2018, as the church came together for two nights of worship, in the wake of two devastating events locally which had profound effects on the church community; The California wildfires, and the Thousand Oaks shooting.
The songs on the latest album ‘Heaven All Around Us’ reflect on God’s kindness and his grace, while encouraging us to hold onto his love and declare truth about him over ourselves as a form of restoration, even in times of tragedy and heartbreak.