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Month: July 2019

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A Culture Of Happiness

Welcome to the second instalment of this series on kingdom culture. Today we address ‘the pursuit of happiness’. Everybody wants to be happy. Not only do we want to be happy but we believe that we deserve to be happy. Happiness… it means many things to many people. A dream job? Travelling the world? A husband? Children? All of the above? None of the above? The butterfly of happiness comes in a myriad of patterns and colours and shapes.

Look at the picture above. Linger on it for a while. This is one vision of happiness; the perfect family. The happy couple with their adorable children. Now juxtapose this vision against these words from Jesus (Mat 10:37-39):

37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

What is Jesus saying? Surely, we should love our father and mother and children? Of course! God is love! The message of love for all humanity is an immovable pillar of Christianity. But what Jesus is taking aim at here is a different kind of love; a love that worships the object of its desire. The love that says, “You are the centre of my world. You are my heart. I love you more than anything else!” Jesus is taking aim at what is your highest joy in life. Anything that you love more than Jesus is something you love too much.

Happiness is like a butterfly that rests only on the shoulder of Jesus. If you seek it, it will fly away from your grasping hands but if you forsake all and go after Jesus with all your heart, there you will find it resting peacefully. If you pursue happiness, even through your closest relationships, it will evade you.

Let’s go back to the photo. Think about how many advertisements incorporate this idea of happiness. The advertising agencies know what our deepest desires are and use them to sell their products. How many ads for milk, cereal, cleaning products, are set in the scene of the happy family? This is the apex of many of our hearts. Including Christian hearts. So many silent prayers and tears are said and shed for that perfect husband or wife that would make us happy? How many grandparents’ happiness rise and fall on the events of their grandchildren’s lives? How many are in anguish because they cannot have children? My hearts go out to these people not only because they are in pain but because the cure is not in the place they seek.

We need to stop selling a God who will make us happy with anything else but Himself. There must to be a place in our hearts reserved for God alone. A joy that is not moved by anything or anyone external. A spouse cannot make us happy but when God is at the centre of a marriage it is full of joy throughout the storms of life! Children or grandchildren cannot make us happy but a parent whose joy is in Christ is the most effective and happy parent of all! We are not pursuing God so that He would give us the things and relationships that would make us happy. We are pursuing Christ because He is our highest joy and most satisfying pleasure! The culture of the kingdom is not the pursuit of happiness but the pursuit of Christ!

Copyright Matik Nicholls, 2019. All rights reserved.
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Introduction To Kingdom Culture

It was Peter Drucker who said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” I have found this statement to be profoundly true. You can have the best strategy and be executing planned activities diligently but if the culture does not support your strategy the results will not follow. Conversely, a mediocre strategy with activities that don’t quite hit the mark executed in the context of a culture that supports the organization’s highest ideals will bring surprising rewards.

Truth is truth and applies equally in secular and religious spheres. Therefore, it behoves us to ask, “What is kingdom culture?” What are the ideals that should shape the culture in our local churches to ensure that what we are building is truly founded on the cornerstone of Christ? The question of culture in our churches is more important than issues of evangelism strategies, worship format or youth programmes for example. Culture is what will colour everything in our church and ultimately determine whether we are truly light and salt to the earth or just a religious part of the world culture.

Let’s start with the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-14):

1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The first point I wish to make is that all of the things that are called ‘blessed’ here are not things that are generally highly esteemed by the world culture. Jesus esteems poverty, the world values riches. Jesus esteems mourning, the world is looking for happiness. Jesus esteems meekness, the world values status. Jesus esteems hunger and thirst, the world values excess. Jesus esteems mercy, the world says, “Make them pay!”, Jesus esteems purity, the world glorifies sin. Jesus esteems the peacemaker, the world glorifies the soldier. Jesus esteems the persecuted, the world glorifies the strong. Heaven’s culture is diametrically opposed to the world culture. The core ethos of all of the ‘blessed’ statements is that in the kingdom you lose your life to save it, the greatest is the servant of all and the last will be first. This is the kingdom economy. The saint lives in a constant awareness of his lack and weakness so that his riches, righteousness and strength comes from and is attributed solely to the presence of Christ in his life. It is a glorious calling!

Sadly, the church in general is severely contaminated with the world culture. In many instances we have the same values just different jargon. We run after riches and call it blessings. We cry vengeance for our persecutors and call them heathens and demons. We walk around puffed up because we are ‘Christians’ (or belong to a particular subdivision or have a particular title) and make war in the name of God and truth and doctrine. We heap up titles like apostle and pastor and reverend, building our own religious hierarchy and fawning over the higher ups like corporate sycophants.

We need to expunge these world values from the church. We need to be clear on the tenets of the culture of the kingdom and be intentional about the culture that we are crafting. In future blogs I will go into more details. To conclude for this introduction, it is no coincidence that after the beatitudes, Jesus makes this statement (Matthew 5:13-16):

13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Copyright 2019, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.
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Love Is Invincible

I recently attended a wedding where a Catholic bride was wedded to a non-denominational Evangelical groom 😊. Before the nuptials his pastors had hoped that she would get ‘saved’ and baptized and her priest had impressed upon him that the Catholic Church was the only true church. They each listened politely but were unfazed. Their love for each other and respect that they had for their equally fervent but slightly unique faiths in God had been cemented in Christ by the Holy Spirit beyond the reach of doctrinal dogma.

The wedding started with the Latin song Veni Creator Spiritus, inviting the Holy Spirit. And He came. The church filled with joy, peace and love, mirroring the natural ambience created by the sunlight that filtered through the stained-glass windows and a light breeze that wafted through the sanctuary.

I suppose men will be arguing points of doctrine until Christ returns but you know what you can’t argue with? Love. God IS love.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Love is the greatest! There is no higher law. Everything else will fade, everything else will give way under the sheer force of love. In the midst of our dark ignorance, constant failures and stumbling faith, God will still show up… for love.

In the midst of that church, a bridge of love was forged in the Spirit. Pastor and priest joined hands with bride and groom and God smiled. Two families united and the Holy Spirit danced. A multitude of sins were covered over and Jesus was glorified.

Copyright 2019, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.