Pontrhydyrun Baptist Church » Pastors Blog

May Letter

John Edmonds — Wed, 11 May 2011 19:34:02 +0000

Dear Friends,
Since my last letter there have been two headline grabbing events which have caught the attention of the nation and indeed the world. They could not be more different. There has been the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton; now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. And then there was the killing of Osama Bin Laden.
I was surprised by the size of the crowds who gathered to fill the streets of London for the wedding. I suspect there were a number of reasons for the massive interest.
In a time of recession there is no doubt that the festivities and celebrations created a short lived escape from the harsh realities of wages and jobs cutbacks, the increasing cost of petrol and weekly shopping, and the prospect of reduced pensions in the future. Some of the major retailers are reporting a significant rise in spending on food, drink and ‘party trivia’ in the weeks leading up to the wedding, bucking the trend of recent months.Human beings appear to have an inbuilt defense mechanism that seeks to escape uncomfortable reality in a world of leisure, pleasure and entertainment. We see a lot of this in our society. This is just one indication that we have moved away from a ‘Christian’ world view into what is often called a ‘post-christian’ or ‘post-modern’ way of thinking. It is a way of thinking more similar to the pagan ideas of ancient Rome and Greece than it is to the Christian world of post reformation Europe.
How should Christians respond to these trends?
We should certainly join in the celebration. Marriage is part of God’s design for life and we should join in the rejoicing over the wedding of William and Kate. That said, we do need to be careful not to be swept up with the modern way of thinking that escapes reality in a whirl of pleasure and leisure. Instead we should seek joy, security, pleasure and delight in our relationship with God through Jesus. From this position of security we can face life’s difficulties – it’s pain, hurt and fear – knowing that God is at work for our good and that all his power and presence is with us to help us to cope. As we face hard times with Jesus we can hold out hands of help and hope to those around us. Maybe as we do this, pouring our love selflessly into their lives, we may have the joy of leading them to find security peace and acceptance in God through faith in Jesus.
I was probably as surprised as most of you to here on the news that after many years Osama Bin Laden had been found and killed by US forces. I was unsure how to respond. There were many news headlines in the newspapers urging me to rejoice and even to gloat. There were other voices suggesting I should hang my had in shame. Finally when I heard the Archbishop of Canterbury saying Bin laden’s death left a bad taste in his mouth I felt the time had come to put some thoughts together. I have decided to share here a little bit of wisdom I found on the internet.
In 2002 Don Carson published a book Love in Hard Places (Wheaton: Crossway, 2002). Carson updated his notes after 9/11 to include a 37-page section entitled “Hard Case Two: Osama bin Laden” (pp. 108-44). Amongst other things he wrote:

Therefore, in the present struggle, even while we must try to prevent the terrorists from doing more violence, we must eschew a vendetta mentality. Love demands that we do not demonize Osama bin Laden. He is a human being made in the image of God. He is an evil man, and he must be stopped, but he is a man, and we should take no pleasure in destroying him. Vengeance is the Lord’s alone. Do not offer the alternative, “Should we weep for Osama bin Laden or hold him to account for his genocide and prevent him from carrying out his violent intentions?” The right answer is yes.

Carson is right to highlight the tension we should feel between a godly desire for justice through God ordained authority and our concern for individual human beings made in the image of God.
At the end of the day all human authority and action is tainted by sin. The ‘bottom line’ is that we will all stand before God the righteous judge who judges justly. Our only hope of acquittal is found in the Lord Jesus Christ who died for sinners. Apart from him we stand no hope. God’s justice will demand our punishment. This leads me to conclude that our only hope lies in the Gospel. I pray that in God’s good providence, the death of Bin laden will lead to greater peace, freedom and opportunity for Christians to proclaim Christ the hope of sinful people.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
John Edmonds

April Magazine Letter – Freedom of Speech

John Edmonds — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 14:41:41 +0000

Dear Friends,
While the media are rightly drawing our attention to events in Japan and Libya, little or no attention is being given to events of great significance in our own country.
Last week I met with two representatives from the Christian Institute, a nondenominational Christian charity committed to upholding the truths of the Bible, the furtherance and promotion of the Christian religion and the advancement of education in the United Kingdom. I discovered that one of the issues into which they are putting the greatest resources at the moment is that of freedom of speech.
Over the last 20/30 years there has been a significant shift in the way this subject has been handled in the UK, which has had a serious effect on Christians as well as other people with deeply held beliefs.
The current Government is looking again at this subject and the Christian Institute along with others are lobbying hard for change.
I think we have taken it for granted that freedom of speech was one of the proud principles of the UK. It is one of the blessings, and sometimes curses, of living in this land. People are free to say what they believe in public, to engage others in debate and persuade them to change their ways of thinking; not by using force or violence, simply by the power of ideas and the use of words in the rough and tumble of public discourse. True that means freedom to say things we may find offensive or upsetting but that is the cost of freedom (I remember 30 years ago being really upset by some things Enoch Powell said in a speech at my University. He held racist views which I found deeply offensive and was waxing eloquent about them. But I was glad he had the freedom to make that speech. It wasn’t long after that I was lapping up a speech by Tony Benn, aware that others were standing outside protesting! That’s fine, that is freedom to speak) . If we heard things that offended us the response was to get out there in the public sphere and with counter argument show the ugliness and error of those views. We have a great history of public demonstration, debate and protest.
Over the years Christians have seen this privilege as the opportunity to get out there among people, to preach and persuade with passion and power, and to chat freely in the public places without fear of arrest.
This freedom is under threat in our day. It’s not only Christians who have been targeted. Anyone who says anything that goes against the politically correct views of the dominant elite or the supposed views of the “moderate majority” risks being arrested or silenced. Hence Christians have been arrested simply for reading passages out of the Bible which someone in the crowd has found offensive or upsetting.
The reason for this is that Section 5 of the Public Order Act says that it is a criminal offence to use “insulting” words that are likely to “distress” another person. This law was introduced during the 1980s. It was originally presented as a way to help the police deal with public disorder situations such as football matches where fans shout deeply offensive words at each other for no reason other than to offend. The problem is that with the encouragement of certain law officers and politicians it is increasingly being used to seek to silence those whose views do not fit in.
The Institute pressing the Government to use it’s upcoming Freedom Bill to repeal the word insulting from Section 5 of the Public Order Act. This would allow the police to deal with genuine public disorder while not criminalising lawful debate or dissent.
Please pray that the current Government will make this change and turn the tide against freedom of speech. And if you feel able why not write to your MP and ask how they intend voting on this matter (if they are even planning to attend the debate that is!).
This is a current issue. It may not be headline news but for the future of Christian freedom in this country it is important.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
John Edmonds

March Newsletter – Worship Matters

John Edmonds — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 17:25:27 +0000

Dear Friends,
I have been thinking about that part of Christian worship which takes place when the church meets together on Sundays.
Of course worship is much bigger that that. The whole of our lives lived in relationship with Jesus should be lives of worship as we sacrificially serve one another and the community (Rom 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true worship”).
Nevertheless there is, surely, something special about those times when we meet together for praise, prayer, preaching and fellowship.
The bible teaches us that when we meet together as church Jesus is amongst us by his Spirit (1 Cor 5:4 “When you are assembled.. and the power of our Lord Jesus is present” ). The church is the fulfillment of the Old Testament Tabernacle and Temple (1 Cor 3:16,17 “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells among you … you together are that temple”). The glory of God in Jesus by the Spirit rests on his people as they meet together. The cloud of glory rests on each gathered church – whether there are three or three hundred present. When we sing “as we are gathered Jesus is here” we are singing truth not fairy tale.
We should come together to engage with God. He delights to engage with us. We are told that he rejoices over us with singing (Zeph 3:17 “The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”) And that he wants us to rejoice in him (eg “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: rejoice!” Phil 4:4). He calls us to come as thirsty people to drink our fill of his Spirit (compare Is 55:1 “Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters…” with John 7:38,39 “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. By this he meant the Spirit..” and 1 Cor 12:13 “we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”)
I have been looking in the Bible at what God’s people do when they join together to worship.
I have found much that I am comfortable with; the central place of the word of God read, proclaimed, shared. For me that is an immovable priority. It is in and through the Word of the Gospel that we can approach God. The need to be focussed on the cross as the only way of access to God – in type, symbol and story in the Old Testament and explicitly in the New.
And I have found things that are not so comfortable. The Psalms for example contain joy expressed in singing and shouting (Psalm 81, 95, 98), hands raised in praise (Psalm 134), bowing down (Psalm 95), there are all sorts of instruments including loud and clashing symbols and tambourines (see Psalms 149,150). During the days of King David I find singers and musicians leading the people in their singing (2 Chron 5:13). There is embarrassing exuberance and equally embarrassing weeping and confessing of sin. There is trembling with awe and trembling with joy.
There is so much variety and yet there is a common thread running through, there is reality. And at the heart of it all, there is God! God makes people excited, he is the one they are rejoicing in, he is the one who silences them in awe, he is the one before whom they fall.
I’m aware that some say all the forms and patterns of the Old Testament passed away with the coming of Jesus. Not only are there no more priests and sacrifices (which I think is stated clearly and in detail in the New Testament) but also all the passages about singers and musicians and hands raising and knees bowed and cymbals and shouting have been overshadowed as well. Some, arguing this way, have ended up with no singing and no music. Others with no instruments.
I’m not sure I’m convinced.
For a start I’m not persuaded that we should so easily reject principles and patterns found in the Old Testament unless, that is, the New Testament clearly teaches that they have been superseded, as for example with the food regulations (Mark 7:19 “In saying this , Jesus declared all food clean”) or the Mosaic legislation, priesthood and sacrifices (Heb 8:13 “In calling this covenant ‘new’ he has made the first one obsolete: and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear” Heb 9:10 “They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings – external regulations applying until the time of the new order”). For two thousand years the Christian church generally has embraced the book of Psalms as it’s God given hymnbook (as read through New Testament glasses that is).
And then it seems to me that these passages describe natural human responses to something exciting and thrilling. Watch the behaviour of human beings as they get good news (an exam passed, a baby born, a team scoring). Do we become something less than human when we worship God?
That said we mustn’t make the mistake of thinking it’s all about style. That’s the easy route to go down and it is an empty path. Arguments about style and preference achieve very little in terms of true worship.
The question I have come away with is this; Do I come together with others hungering and thirsting to meet with the living God? Do I come yearning for reality and engagement with God? It’s not that style and preference are totally unimportant, but put them first and we are in real danger of missing the reality and more and more I want reality. And I do not doubt that reality is what God wants.
This I know; once you have tasted of the Lord and found that he is good you want more and more. Not just on your own, but together with your brothers and sisters whom you love. And when our meetings are full of reality and engagement with God I can’t help thinking we we may begin to see what the church in Corinth saw:
“But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!” 1 Cor 14:14,25
Yours in Christ Jesus,
John Edmonds
All scripture quotations taken from Holy Bible Today’s New international Version (c) 2004 International Bible Society

Creation Calls

John Edmonds — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 10:03:07 +0000

A great youtube video using extracts from BBC’s Planet Earth series and a song by Brian Doerkson to show the glory of God in creation. Enjoy.

Getting back to normal!

John Edmonds — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 19:05:30 +0000

“Normal” I hear you say, you were never “normal”. Fair enough.

It’s been a joy to start back at work even if it is part time after almost two months off ill. Who could think that a urinary tract infection and a few too many paracetamol could cause such damage; but there you go.

At least I’ve been able to attend several services as a member of the congregation even if I wasn’t strong enough to prepare and preach. That’s been a joy. We’ve had some great worship and preaching at PBC over the last few weeks and it’s been a blessing to be able to join in praise of God and receive the ministry of the word.

It’s also given me time to read some books I had piled up on my I’d love to read but haven’t got time pile. I’ve devoured a couple of novels including the first on my new kindle. I was also able to finish ‘Pleasures Evermore’ by Sam Storms. This book was part of a project which has been going on for a year or two inspired by reading John Piper. This book and a few others along with my reading of the Bible has challenged me and changed me. Some of the results of this reading have come out in my preaching; especially the series on the church and spiritual gifts. Other things I am still working through. It’s thrilling to think that God is always changing us and revealing himself to us. We’ve never ‘arrived’ and shouldn’t be so arrogant as to think we have.

One truth that gripped my soul is that the best thing God could ever do for a human being is to give himself to them. And that is just what he has done in and through Jesus. God is the source of joy, pleasure, happiness and satisfaction and we find in him those ‘pleasures forever’ of which the Psalmist speaks and ‘joy unspeakable’ of which Peter speaks.

Everyday he delights to give us more of himself. That is why each new day for the Christian is a day filled with blessing upon blessing if we will seek him

October Letter

John Edmonds — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 13:10:47 +0000

Dear Friends,
I discovered this morning that one of my favourite songs by the band Phatfish is based on poem by John Bunyan (of Pilgrim’s Progress fame). Well they say there’s nothing new under the sun!
The song called ‘Castaway’ (on the album Heavenbound) was written by Lou and Nathan Fellingham. It raises the questions ‘how can I be right with God given that I am sinful?’ and ‘how can I live a life pleasing to God when my heart is so wayward?’. Questions we have been looking at on Sunday evenings in our series on Galatians. The song answers by pointing us away from the law of Moses which exposes our sin and failure yet does nothing to change us and towards the Gospel which provides forgiveness and power to change.
Here is the full text of the song
Castaway by Lou and Nathan Fellingham (c 2002 ThankYou Music)
Look at me I’m a castaway
I’m somewhere I shouldn’t belong
I was put here yesterday and there’s a man smiling at me
I said, “Why am I here? When You are so holy
I will never hit the mark”. He said, “Yes, this is true, but my friend, I’ve done it instead.”
Run, run run, the law it beckons me, but gives me no limbs
Fly, fly, fly. Your gospel bids to me
And lovingly, gives me some wings
So I will fly, held on the wind of grace
That teaches me when to say yes and say no
And I will rise on eagles’ wings
You’re helping me win the prize
But always with love in Your eyes
Love in Your eyes
Look at me on a journey now
The road looks narrow ahead
But each time I lift my eyes
I feel a hand steadying me
I said, “Teach me Lord, that I may be holy, with silver and gold I must build”
He said, “All that I’ve started in you, I’ll see to the end.”
The poem by John Bunyan runs like this:
Run, John, run, the law commands
But gives us neither feet nor hands,
Far better news the gospel brings:
It bids us fly and gives us wings.
Writing about this poem by John Bunyan John Piper comments
“In other words in the old covenant God gave commandments, but by and large did not give the divine enablement that overcomes the deadness and depravity and rebellion of the heart. But in the new covenant, which God set up at the cross of Christ, God gives even harder commands, but he also gives the power we need to fulfill them through faith.” (From a sermon on 1 Peter preaching in 1994)
This is a very important truth to understand. Jared Wilson writing on the Resurgence blog (8/10/2010) puts it like this:
Nearly every evangelical Christian would affirm, if they couldn’t express, that Christians are saved by God’s grace through their faith in Jesus Christ, apart from their own good works. But the place we most often see the muddling of grace and law is in the area of sanctification.
The implicit idea seems to be that the gospel is our entry ticket, but law keeps us in line for the ride. But this belief, Luther says, is “As though Christ were a workman who had begun a building and left it for Moses to finish.” With the authority of the God of the universe, Paul has this to say about such a concept in Galatians 3:3: “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”
No, what the Christian church needs today in its imperfect fumbling back to the beauty of gospel-centrality is a stubborn un-muddling of law and grace. We cannot continue to treat the gospel as if it is the power of God for a conversion experience and not for total life transformation. Sanctification and justification are “events” in the golden chain of salvation, sure, but both are equally powered by the gospel of grace.
Where are you looking for forgiveness and the power to live a life pleasing to God? Are you trying to do one, other or both in your own strength relying upon God’s laws to guide you? This is a path destined to failure. The law cannot make you right with God and it cannot empower you to live a life pleasing to God. The way in to the Christian life and the way on are the same.
Run, run run, the law it beckons me, but gives me no limbs
Fly, fly, fly. Your gospel bids to me
And lovingly, gives me some wings
So I will fly, held on the wind of grace
Yours in Christ Jesus,
John Edmonds

Your Father is God

John Edmonds — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 09:31:00 +0000

Some of you will know I have been reading through Kevin De Young’s exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism (“The Good News We Almost Forgot”). Today I read the Chapter on Q29 “What do you believe when you say, ‘I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth’? I was thrilled again by the answer the catechism gives. Kevin shows where this all comes from in the Bible and is worth reading, however I was gripped by the words of Heidelberg.

‘I mean that the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them, who still upholds and rules them by his eternal counsel and providence, is my God and Father because of Christ his Son. I trust him so much that I do not doubt he will provide whatever I need for body and soul, and he will turn to my good whatever adversity he sends me in this sad world. He is able to do this because he is almighty God; He desires to do this because he is a faithful Father’

This is rich soul food. Brilliant. What a faithful God have I!

When I next say the ‘Our Father’ this truth will explode in my head and my heart. My Father is God.

Josiah Gillespie – Say Anything

John Edmonds — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:20:05 +0000

Check out this music video from Josiah Gillespie. Josiah is originally from Grace Community Church, Looe where his dad John is the pastor and a friend of mine.

September Letter

John Edmonds — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:48:24 +0000

Dear Friends,
We have enjoyed a typical British summer. I learned on the radio today that it has been the coldest, cloudiest and wettest for fifteen years; not bad eh! For all that we had a lovely summer break taking in body surfing off the Cornish coast, a Christian house-party in Shropshire, watching a Shakespeare play in Stratford upon Avon and ended up with the holiday makers favourite; decorating back home!
Being at home during my holiday gave me the chance to attend a prayer meeting at PBC simply for the blessing of attending; and what a blessing it was. Ably led by one of the younger men in the church with another younger man giving an excellent Bible talk and a good number of praying people present. I believe that joining together with other Christians in prayer each week is one of the great privileges of the Christian life and for me it is a highlight. Over the last year numbers have crept up at our prayer meetings. Our annual call to prayer saw almost 40 of us gathered. I look forward to the day when we run out of chairs!
Looking back over the summer I was thrilled that some of our younger men were preaching in our pulpit. It is vital for us to nurture and train the next generation (and the ones after that). I am so pleased that we have taken this on board as a church and God has blessed by giving us some eager and godly younger men.
As we go forward into the Autumn we face some great opportunities to develop the life, ministry and outreach of our church. These will be in addition to our regular events reaching people of all ages from toddlers to seniors.
We hope to launch the new SOUL course, a video based presentation of the Gospel in an informal setting targeted at late teens and twenties.
There are plans in hand to start a new interactive Bible Study on Sunday afternoons. A bit like the Wednesday morning study this will be a chance to look in more depth at the Bible, discover what it means and how it applies to our lives
There will be a baptismal service giving people who have become Christians an opportunity to declare their faith and the chance for us to celebrate God’s gracious saving work in their lives and to invite our friends and contacts.
The 20s and 30s group is relaunching to provide a focus for the growing number of people of that age group in our church.
It is our heart desire to see two new full time staff/ministry appointments.
We want to take on an Assistant Pastor to “multiply word ministry, train existing members to utilise their gifts, and to encourage increased church participation in outreach”. Now that word is out that we are looking, we’ve heard from one or two young men who may be interested. The challenge for us is to ‘step up to the plate’ with commitments of funding and accommodation.
A similar challenge faces us in our desire to work together with churches in the Torfaen and District Gospel Partnership to appoint a schools worker for the Borough. Here we need to find someone with experience in schools work who can take the work on from where it has got to and build it up to the next level.
And on the bricks and mortar front this year (2010/11) should see the start and finish of the Kitchen and Toilets refurbishment bringing our facilities up to disability discrimination act standards and giving us an attractive and safe hall and kitchen environment. The challenge in 2011/12 will be to create attractive events using our new facilities for training and evangelism.
All this is why I began by writing about the prayer meeting. Prayer is vital to all our plans and goals. Unless God is at work we are wasting our time and God has chosen to draw us into his plans through prayer. So I close with an appeal. To those of you who already come to the prayer meeting, keep on coming and keep on praying. To those of you who don’t come regularly, please start coming, make the prayer meeting a priority in your diary.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
John Edmonds

The Bible is all about Jesus

John Edmonds — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:35:26 +0000

This video based on a short talk by Tim Keller is a great explanation of how the Bible is all about Jesus.