I’ve been mulling over some thoughts recently about what to write during the season of Lent.

Tonight I found myself with a simple question: Where’s the Line?

We need to embrace Holiness to draw close to God. As John Eldredge points out in his book”The Utter Relief of Holiness”, it’s a place we need to seek to find relief. But this destination means drawing a line between the Holy and the unholy in our lives.

I have a dear friend I care a great deal about – probably more than she realises in fact. She’s a good 15 years my junior, and I was delighted a while ago to hear she’d been baptised and committed her life to Jesus.

My question, however, concerns a part of a career choice.

She is a very attractive girl, and has some tattoos on her arms and body. I don’t have a problem with that as we live under Grace not Law, and she has excellent taste in graphics (what I’ve seen on her arms, anyway).

My problem is more where the line gets drawn.

She’s a model, and has a bright future ahead of her in that field if she chooses to pursue it, however having stumbled on some pictures of her online from a recent shoot I find myself questioning where the line is between displaying “art” and “titillation”.

The old adage sprung to my mind about knowing pornography when you see it. It alarmed me.

I don’t know if she follows my page, I don’t know if she reads this blog. The issue – although it has been brought home to me by the pictures of her – is not actually about her.

And I can’t stress that enough.

The issue is where we draw the line. Knowing her, I am certain her heart is not to cause someone else to fall into a sinful pattern. She’s an honest and sincere person. She sees the good in people and forgives past wrongs.

But there is a line.

Like I said, I have no problem with tattoos. If my wife didn’t object, I’d probably have one or two myself. That’s not the issue.

My thought is what Paul wrote about causing our brothers and sisters to stumble. An innocent action can still cause a stumbling-block to others. This article may turn into one of them.

I’ll try to move to more general issues.

I attended a church very briefly where the minister – his only income being the church’s pay packet apparently – arrived to the Sunday service in a brand new Mercedes “C” class. Beautiful car. Had it been a gift I would have rejoiced with him. A teacher I respect immensely, Dave Duell, was given a brand new Cadillac by a dealership that God inspired. Affluence is not inherently sinful. But the congregation had an average income of about $200 per month. To buy that car was insensitive at the very least.

Contrast that with my old pastor in the UK who drives (last time I saw him) a Porsche and has a large motorcycle (not sure, but may have been a Harley). Before he was a pastor he was a financial advisor – and an extremely good one. He didn’t use the income from the gifts to the “ministry” to line his pockets.

Like I said, a very different situation.

Affluence is not a sin. Modelling is not a sin.

But where does affluence become greed? Where does a shoot to show off body-art cease to be about the art and become about the body?

The pastor with the Mercedes lined his pockets. The church was evicted for not paying its rent. It was a good thing it ceased to exist. The pastor with the Porsche lives a humble existence. He only portrays himself as how God created him, and does what God has anointed him to do – nothing more, nothing less. After some time off, I recently heard he’s now leading worship in a new church, and I’m delighted. His gift for worship and his heart for Jesus are unmissable in conversation with him – even when he’s talking about his car!

I’ve met models and actors who struggle with the pressure the job puts on them to provide a photo-set that will sell. And these days “sell” often means “sexually arouse”.

So where’s the line?

For each of us it’s different.

I love bacon, but I don’t eat it around my Jewish (or muslim for that matter) friends. Oddly, one of them encouraged me to have a bacon sandwich last time we met up for breakfast as it’s not something he has an issue with. But where’s the line?

The line is where our behaviour causes – or may cause – another person to fall into sin, to impede their walk with God.

Ouch.

How many times today have I done that?

How many times in this article?

But I must be true to what my Spirit in my Heart tells me God is saying. I don’t “follow” the professional page of my friend the model as it is a stumbling block to me. I hate summertime in Africa – I simply don’t know where to look! “Women’s Right’s” groups regularly lambast men and use the argument that women should be able to dress and behave however they wish. I agree, but just as there are consequences to wearing nothing but a bathing suit when it’s -5 degrees outside, there are consequences to provocative clothing and images in the media. In a newsagent today I could not find a single magazine that didn’t have a set of photos on the cover of the “ideal” body (male or female), and why your “natural” shape wasn’t good enough.

Garbage.

I don’t have a visible six-pack. I was a dancer for 16 years, so my legs are well developed but I have a bit of a tummy above them, and more chins than I should have that I hide with a goatee. But I have muscle strength. It just doesn’t look like it.

I have beautiful friends who don’t fit the “fashionable” appearance (thankfully).

But where’s the line between healthy and “sexy”? Look at images in paintings from the renaissance. The women in the pictures had curves! Today they’d be considered “plus-size” models.

Where’s the line?

We cross it too easily. We envy, lust and covet, and the World disguises it as aspiration, attractiveness and desirability.

But the line is crossed. And we never saw it.

So have the tattoo. Buy the sports car. Or the luxury motorcycle.

Heck, I rode a Harley myself for three years. The look of horror on the salesman’s face when I traded it in, telling him that at the end of the day it was just a lump of steel with a wheel at each end was priceless!

It’s about the heart. I bought the Harley because they’re strong, hard-wearing and reliable. Yes, I like the style, but it wasn’t my primary reason. I wasn’t part of a club. I wasn’t looking to join a group. I just wanted a bike that was good quality. I’d actually seen a Yamaha for the same price and the salesman showed me the Harley as well, pointing out the practical benefits.

My friend the model may have the heart to show the artwork of her tattoos, but I’m uessing from the photos and poses that most of the viewers haven’t even noticed the tattoos.

My old pastor doesn’t make a big deal about his car other than to be grateful that God has provided it for him.

The heart will tell you where the line is for your own motives.

But we need to be mindful of what our actions will bring for others.

Will we make them stumble?

Will we cause them to cross the line in their heart?

If there’s even a possibility, perhaps we should consider other people’s lines and struggles before we act. I for one don’t want to inadvertantly push someone away from God.

Attitudes have alienated people from acceptance as individuals because they have a particular issue that is the current “fashionable” issue. Now it’s often homosexuality. Forty years ago it was divorce. Being rich, being poor, skin clour (as in tan, not ethnicity – that’s a different issue) have all been used to push people away.

Sex is a big one. Mental illness is another, but I’ll look at that later in Lent.

Find the line – but find where your line becomes a trip-wire for others. That’s the line to avoid.

I don’t want to offend people, but I’ll let my “yes” be “Yes” and my “no”, “No!” from here on.

Draw the line.

Ok, the topic is hardly original writing for Ash Wednesday. But I’ve been thinking on it for a while.

I don’t know where the tradition started. Maybe it was an “homage” to Christ’s 40 days in the Wilderness. Maybe it was just an arbitrary decision made by the Nicean council. I don’t know – and frankly I don’t care.

Wait a second… “I don’t care“?

Yep. Doesn’t matter to me where or why it began.

The Spirit of it is what matters.

It’s a build up to the celebration of the most significant event of the Christian Year, a time when Jesus went out and his chocolate eggs all over Israel for the children to find…

Erm, no.

Ah yes: The time when Jesus commissioned a small rabbit to go… nope.

Oh yes, I remember.

The Son of God handed Himself over to be executed in our place to allow us to have relationship with God once more.

No eggs. No bunnies. A brutal and savage execution of an innocent man.

Aslan goes to the Stone Table. Jesus goes to the Cross. Narnia is released from Winter and death. Our Hearts are freed from captivity, death and torment.

40 days build-up to the biggest Victory of Christianity.

So we have pancakes. We give up sugar, or chocolate, or whatever we give up.

But Lent should be something in our heart.

So what if I give up chocolate but keep fighting with my neighbour? It’s returning to the letter of the event, not the Spirit of it.

Jesus was all about the Spirit of the Law. He declared He hadn’t come to abolish the Law, but to fulfil it. His mission was to reconcile man and God, and the Law could only bring Death. He needed something radical – perfection in God’s sight, and sacrifice in our stead.

So that’s what He did.

I read a book recently called “The Year of Living Biblically”. It’s an exceptional book as the author actually did try to fulfil the letter of the Law as set out in the Bible. It’s supposed – I think – to be satirical, but it shows the futility of even trying to be righteous by following the letter of the law. He didn’t shave for a year. Wore only natural cloth with no mixed fibres and ate only what the Bible (Old Testament) said was acceptable. The result is a hilarious book which completely missed the point Jesus tried to make, but at the same time emphasised the point the author had missed completely.

I gave up trying to follow the Letter of the law years ago. Long before any teacher told me the difference between letter and spirit. It was a relief when I was finally taught that obeying the spirit of the law is what gives relationship.

Yes, I still try not to shoot my neighbour for shouting at my dogs. But I’ve learned to appreciate he may be going through a rough time like I am, and so if they make a noise I try (mostly) to bring them in or shut their barking up so they don’t disturb him. (But I’ve not met him face-to-face and have no immediate desire to). For now that is as far as my carnal nature will allow my Spirit to work.

I’m a work in progress.

My Grandfather was 80 when he died, having been a Christian for 64 (ish) years. Just a week or two before he went Home he called me and we spoke for over an hour about God, and the changes he was experiencing as he walked the path Jesus set before him. It was an amazing conversation with my Brother in the Faith, talking as equals not as Grandfather to Grandson, but one Brother in Christ to another, encouraging each other and learning from one another. The Spirit led our conversation – the last one I would have with him – and it is one of my most precious memories.

We spoke about “head knowledge” and “heart knowledge”. That’s the difference. Grandad didn’t care about intellectual knowledge. He was all about relationship. His Love for Jesus beamed out of him (as long as he was smiling due to an “unfortunate” cast of features) and he was as at home talking to children as he was talking to pensioners. He identified with them where they were, never tried to tell them a list of “do’s” and “don’ts” to get right with God, simply “Look to Jesus and let Him make you right”

So a short thought for the beginning of Lent.

Over the next 40 days, forget quitting sugar or chocolate. Quit relying on your own effort instead, and let Jesus carry the load. Quit trying to be seen to be perfect – you aren’t.

It’s my challenge to myself.

Your move.

If a conference were to be organised, would you come? What would you want to hear? How would you want it to be arranged? Tents and Big-Tops in a camp-site or Hotels near a brick-venue?

Would you come if there were a cover charge? Would you bring your friends – Christian or not?

It’s something EWM would like to be able to arrange in the future. But in partnership with our friends and followers, to meet the needs they have.

We have followers in Africa and Europe. Would you travel? Would you travel to the other end of the world to hear the Truth in an uncompromising way?

Please let us know. This kind of event is something we’d like to arrange, and we need input to get it right.

What teachers would you want to hear? What subjects?

Talk to us. Let us make this grow in God’s way.

There’s a growing movement in what puts itself forward a a kind of “new and improved” christianity towards adjusting core beliefs and teachings held for thousands of years that men and women have been martyred for being deemed “irrelevant” to 21st century society.

Science bombards us with facts daily. Miracles of restored sight, replaced hearts, cures for ailments that just a generation ago were killers.

But what is the cost?

We breed a watered down, luke-warm church. I find it repugnant that any Christian can consider reversing the scriptural concept of sexual immorality – and please not, not limited to homosexuality issues here – as irrelevant, or at best of “lesser importance” than the slaughter of dolphins by Japan. Social equality is the latest buzz-word, and over-liberal people who bear a resemblenace more to Rehoboam than to Jesus become vocal.

Like “free love” in decades past, and the latest LBGT “pride” parades here in Cape Town, the people making the most noise are largely a minority. The majority stay silent, embarrassed to speak up for the black-&-white of the bile. It gets watered down and becomes grey.

Somewhere along the line, Jesus as the sole route to God and restoration becomes a side-line instead of the crux – literally – of the matter, replaced with socially acceptable whitewashed tombs.

Sin is a dirty word. It drives people away apparently.

But Jesus sought out sinners and made no attempt to hide it. He came for them. He came for us.

Paul writes that we have All fallen short of God’s standards. The nature of the sin is not the point. Every single human being on the face of the earth falls short of God’s standards.

So how can we have confidence, boldness and clarity in our walk?

It’s actually far simpler than we are led to believe.

Jesus.

Simple faith as a child has. Accept His promises at face value. He doesn’t hide what is on offer to any who genuinely seek.

Like a vinyard, it’s hard to hide what’s on option. Hundreds of vines can only mean grapes. In the same way, a Faith truly rooted and grafted to Christ can only produce His fruit. We cannot produce anything else. If we do, we need to check our root-stock.

Jesus spoke with a cold clarity. He backed up John the Baptist’s message and added hope to it. Yes, John taught baptism for the forgiveness of Sin – again, no differation. Baptised into Christ is a rebirth. We get a second try.

But habits, and exposure lend us to the point where we believe certin things are simply “how we’re made” rather than an external influence.

DNA can only show so much. Hypothetically it would be possible to clone Hitler and Ghandi, and through exposure to certain formulative experiences reverse their personality traits. They both wanted the same thing.

What if Ghandi, or Nelson Mandela had advocated a blood-bath? A billion people will likely not stay silent as they die in poverty which our lifestyle underscores. The delivery method of the message is the core issue.

The IRA wanted independant representation in the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s. Their solution made the British Government more and more hard-line. Terrorist force was met with highly trained elite soldiers who fought fire with fire – with deadly results.

The ANC fought for freedom from the white minority in South Africa with a cry of freedom for all. It was achieved, like the IRA objectives, when violence behan to be withdrawn from the table. Ironically, the organisation has not managed to change from a party of revoloution to a party of Government. The potential for great loss is right there. Racist policies abound under the guise of “redressing” the past imbalances, but with few previously oppressed people having access to the level of education required to manage business or govern the country, the result is a steady decline into chaos.

Am I off topic? No, although it could easily be seen tbat way.

Jesus was a man with a single focus: Save mankind.

He spoke simple truth boldly. He didn’t regard the inconvenience of His own arrest, show-trial and execution to be a bother in the long run. With His eyes fixed, He entered Jerusalem with a solid message: God Loves you – no matter what. I’m dying in your place. Walk my path – it’s not easy, but it’s the only way.

Simple. Bold. Confident.

The certainty in His message gets watered down today. We hear Jesus described as a single well point drawing water from the same aquifer by “progressive” leaders. Translation? One size fits all, and your comfort is what matters.

Christianity is not a comfortable Faith.

The Salvation Army, so loved for their wonderful music at Christmas and Easter, were at first assaulted, beaten and sometimes left for dead when they began. The taught against the acceptable climate of the day and the society tried to shut them down and slaughter them.

The Methodist movement was thrown out of the Anglican church for much the same reason – unwavering belief that doctrine – what we believe – is more important than works. The works will flow naturally from a right belief.

Every major denomination has had it’s radical leaders who have pushed against conforming to the pattern of the society of the day. The result is a rich diversity of angles focussed on by Luther, Wesley, Whitfield, Newton, St Paul. On a contemporary level parallels can be drawn with some of the leaders of New Frontiers, who stuck to their understanding and founded a growing family of churches.

Boldness raises Lazarus from the dead. Confidence walks towards the people ready to kill you on the spot and pass through unharmed. Certainty allows the storms of this world and pressure from society to run off like nothing.

Compromise leads to death. Half a story leads to death. Uncertainty leads to death. Spiritually.

We become the rich man from the parable who dies and goes to hell. Our fate is to watch our loved ones heading down the same path and being unable to stop them.

We must stop watering down the Gospel. A return to teaching Black is Black, however you cut it. Sin is Sin. Jesus didn’t practice situational ethics. He simply Loved from a place of Love.

Uncompromising, unwavering Love.

He didn’t judge the woman caught in adultery. They both knew she was guilty. It was irrelevant because she repented. But He warned her to leave the life of Sin.

Somewhere we’ve lost the certainty, and hesitancy has become a virtue.

Luke-warm theology. Inducing vomit in Christ for 2000 years.

I’d rather lose friends and maybe by demonstrating a solid resolute stand recover them through loving them in spite of our differences as they see that what they do is not the sum of who they are to God. Their behaviours, like mine, are not necessarily their own.

I often hear the statement “I can’t believe in a god who makes me this way and then condemns me for it”. I heard it today from a friend of over 30 years. A man I respect and would entrust my physical life to without a second thought. A man of principle and integrity in his ways. A man I pray for to see the Love of Christ available to him in the same way it is to me. Different issues, the same result – separated from God because of it, but reconciled by the Blood of Jesus.

But first he needs to find someone who can gently show him that God isn’t a transcendental Shylock demanding his pound of flesh, but a loving Father who longs to have His Family in relationship primarily – and we can deal with our shortfalls later because of Jesus.

I hope this will reach some ears that have been closed.

Christians should not be beating people down with a big stick. The opposite is true.

We should be building a pen for the lost sheep to find shelter, safety and comfort in.

And all the walls are cross shaped. Clear, Bold and certain.

CS Lewis said it best. Jesus was one of three things: insane, the devil himself or exactly what He claimed to be – God in the flesh.

I spend a lot of time thinking about the possibilities.

It’s a simple concept. Which was He?

Lewis spent some time debating the question with himself before he came to his conclusion.

So what is Jesus to you?

It’s straighforward to a Christian – or it should be.

There’s a growing “inclusive” movement – in addition to the so-called “Progressives” I’ve mentioned before, there’s a growing “liberal” move that sees  Jesus as “a” way to God, not “The” way to God. It’s alarming. Jesus is presented by many people claiming “Christian” as their belief that He was nothing more than a moral teacher. Guidelines to holiness, not a single path.

A “moral” teacher? Seriously?

Jesus was constantly in trouble with the authorities. He didn’t toe the line the society of His day put as “acceptable”. He stood His ground – and they killed Him for it. He lambasted the leaders who were trying to trip Him up. His “Woe to you” messages about the cities were aimed at both the people and the leaders of the religious wing. They hit out at Him with everything they had. They struck Him with anger, hate and envy. He responded by clearing out the Temple, taking time to braid a whip and turn over tables, but pausing to gently free the doves. He caused constant upset.

He was concerned with social injustice. He did speak out for the poor and oppressed.

But He didn’t accept their hypocrisy. He didn’t capitulate to their insistence on the letter of the Law any more than we should accept the situational ethics of today’s society.

So what IS Jesus to you?

He can’t simply be a “good man” with a “moral” message. So what is He to you?

Is He a madman? No sane person could seriously claim what He claimed. But would an insane person have been so influential? Would the leaders of the day have been so intimidated by Him?

A former goalkeeper, David Icke, went off the rails while I was in my late teens. He went around wearing a turquoise tracksuit and declaring he was the incarnation of god. Nobody was threatened by him, and not many took him seriously. He had been a celebrity before, which is probably the only reason anyone ever heard about him.

Was Jesus like that? Was He a madman?

Clearly not. He was a threat to the institutes of the time because He backed up His words with actions. He cemented  His words with action. His speeches were not self-serving and did not make Him central other than as the hub of the wheel. He had no airs and graces that needed Him to be the centre of attention. He sent out the disciples to do the work He began even before His resurrection.

Charlatans and madmen generally seek the attention for themselves. They desire the acclamation of the masses.

So what was He?

Was He the devil incarnate? Did He work miracles and speak out under a demonic influence? Did He undermine the devil’s kingdom with the devil’s power?

Of course not.

He said Himself no divided kingdom would stand. Satan’s power would no more be used by Satan to drive himself out than anything else. His teachings were divisve and stunning. He undermined the power of the Spirit of Death that had the people in it’s grip. He released people from bondage that was clearly dragging them away from God. He pointed to God with everything He did. That doesn’t track with the devil incarnate.

So what was he?

If He was who He said He was, then He is a truly Dangerous person to know. He was a danger to the establishment. He was a danger to anyone who was wilfully trying to separate His family from His Father. He was radically honest, openly forgiving and welcoming to all. He never once turned someone who came to Him away to “learn more” or “it’s not the right time”. Nobody was rejected because of their past. Nobody rejected because of their gender, colour or any other reason except their rejection of Him.

That danger is one that we need to embrace. It’s something we long for – a dangerous companion who will fight for us, guide us and, yes, lovingly correct us. He will challenge us to pursue Holiness. He will invite us to become dangerous as He is dangerous.

But it’s a choice we need to make. Accept Him for who He said He was, or disregard Him as insane or demonic.

But we can’t just accept Him as a “moral” leader.

Mad, Bad or Dangerous.