Malcolm Cox

Today I share about some changes we've made to our plans to meet together. Sometimes you have to go backwards to go forwards.

What lessons has God taught us in the online church COVID era? He is doing something new.

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43,19 NIV11)

This new podcast series is my attempt to think through what we have learned, what we might retain and what we might do differently now that we are moving into meeting together physically again.

Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. 

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). 

If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://[www.malcolmcox.org](http://www.malcolmcox.org/). 

Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review. 

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11) 

God bless, Malcolm

The story of Christianity is the story of the underdog. It is the story of that which was despised becoming that which delighted. An obscure sect spread in an impossibly short time across the world. 

Messiah was predicted to come without fanfare:

"He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him." Isaiah 53,2

Indeed, when he arrived, scepticism surrounded his origins:

““Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.” (John 1,46)

I was reminded that great things come from unprepossessing origins by something that happened this week. I spent three nights away in the depths of Hampshire on a personal spiritual retreat. On one of those days I found myself near Portsmouth, the city where both my parents grew up. I decided to track down the house in which my father lived. It's a place I visited as a child at Christmas to see Granny Cox. She died when I was 12, and although I've been back to the house a few times since, I never been there alone.

I found the address, number seven Tranmere Road in Portsmouth, parked the car and walked up and down the street outside - hoping not to look like too much of a criminal staking out the area! In prayer I spent some time thanking God for my grandmother, and my father who grew up here. I found myself unexpectedly moved. I realised it was because my grandmother raised my father through many challenges and in very modest circumstances, never knowing the extraordinary impact her sacrifices would have in the future. Let me explain.

My grandmother raised my father as a single mum during the war. They were bombed out of the house for a period of time. My father's father died when my father was only three. Government assistance was very limited in those days. My father's mother had no profession. My father is a very gifted person with an IQ in the Mensa range. For his mother, with very limited education, to bring him up and find ways in which his intellect could flourish was an extraordinary achievement. He went on to complete a double first class honours degree at Cambridge, and live a life of service to society as a headteacher and an Anglican priest. The impact of his life on more than one generation of pupils as well as people needing God's comfort is highly significant. Not only that, but of course his servant attitude and ambition to make the world a better place for the sake of Christ had a huge impact on myself. I doubt I would be doing what I do where it not for my father, and of course that goes back to his mother.

As I stood outside this very modest ordinary home, it moved me to think that my grandmother was doing something extraordinary without ever knowing or seeing that which her influence would produce.

How like the way we live as Christians! We do the ordinary, we do the unseen, we do the boring, and wait to see what God will do. We live by faith and not by sight. Which means, that we do what we believe is right by God, remembering that “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5,6) - even when it is hard, unrewarded, unfashionable and dull.

Is God calling you do something ordinary this week? Don't despise it. That which you see as ordinary might well be the way in which God will bring about the extraordinary.

 

“Unity to all things” | Class 3 | What is the Lord’s Supper for?

“A New Thing” | Post-COVID church | Episode 4

“A new thing” | Post-COVID church | Episode 5

“A new thing” | Post-COVID church | Episode 6

“A new thing” | Post-COVID church | Episode 7

God bless, Malcolm

The third in our class series as we rethink why we gather on Sundays. Today we look at the significance of the Lord's supper.

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Mealtime-Habits-Messiah-Encounters-Jesus/dp/0310257174/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1626709439&sr=8-1 

Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. 

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). 

Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review. 

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11) 

God bless, Malcolm

Isn't it wonderful to go to the home of an outstanding host? We feel secure, valued and refreshed. We want to go back again.

This is also how we feel when hosted by Jesus. Fellowshipping at table with him was a life-changing experience. Just have a quick glance through one of the gospels. In what way does taking the Lord's supper help us to remember that Jesus is our host? And what does that mean?

In the accounts of the Last Supper Jesus is acting as a host - a radical host. He not only prepares the event, but washes the feet of the disciples, leads the meal, prays, teaches, comforts the fearful and confused, speaks of the future and more.

Many of the actions of Jesus teach us about what it means to be a host. But perhaps one aspect of his hosting stands out above all others. And that's connected with the person we might least expect to be there. He had a most surprising guest. I think you know who I mean. Judas, of course.

Why invite your betrayer? Surely at this final meal with your best friends, hosting Judas would sour of the atmosphere.

And yet, when we consider the ministry of Jesus, the inclusion of Judas is less surprising. All through his ministry years Jesus ate with the 'wrong' people. Women, Gentiles, sinners. Why stop now?

Perhaps his most famous saying connected to the last supper was, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22,19 NIV11) What does "do this" mean? Certainly there is something around the taking of bread and wine. But I wonder if he is also alluding to the inclusion of the unworthy. In his excellent book about the Lord's supper, John Mark Hicks writes,

"Who sits at the table says something about the community as well as the host."

If Jesus welcomed Judas and hosted him, who are we to reject anyone from our table? Whether that table is in our home, or at our church gatherings. If Jesus can host a betrayer, then we can host someone with different values, background or views. We could even host people we don't like!

What difference does it make to you knowing that Jesus hosts you alongside Judas, and that he loves you and the betrayer equally? How might that change the way you view other people this week?

The Host and the Guest - the Lord's Supper

“A New Thing” | Post-COVID church | Episode 1

“A New Thing” | Post-COVID church | Episode 2

“A New Thing” | Post-COVID church | Episode 3

God bless, Malcolm

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Jn 13 last supper Jesus is:

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Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. 

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). 

If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://[www.malcolmcox.org](http://www.malcolmcox.org/). 

Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review. 

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11) 

God bless, Malcolm

This week's newsletter.

Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. 

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). 

If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://[www.malcolmcox.org](http://www.malcolmcox.org/). 

Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review. 

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11) 

God bless, Malcolm

At the outdoor service of the Watford church of Christ we contemplated the difference, the continuity and the connection between the altar and the table.

Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. 

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). 

If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://[www.malcolmcox.org](http://www.malcolmcox.org/). 

Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review. 

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11) 

God bless, Malcolm

The second of the four part series helping us reboot our thinking about why we gather on Sundays.

More resources here: https://www.malcolmcox.org/unity-to-all-things/  

Scripture references:

Genesis 1,3–5; Luke 24,1, 13; Acts 20,7; 1 Corinthians 16,2; Revelation 1,10; 1 Timothy 4,13; Hebrews 10,24–25; 1 Peter 1,22; 1 Corinthians 10,16, 17; Acts 4,24; 1 Corinthians 11:4-5; Colossians 3:16; 

"All judges, city people, and craftsman shall rest on the venerable day of the Sun. But countrymen may without hindrance attend to agriculture." Emperor Constantine, 321

"Concerning the observance of the eighth day in the Jewish circumcision of the flesh, a sacrament was given beforehand in shadow and in usage. But when Christ came, it was fulfilled in truth. For the eighth day (that is, the first day after the sabbath) was to be that day on which the Lord would rise again, enliven us, and give us the circumcision of the Spirit. The eight today (that is, the first day after the sabbath), the Lord's day, was foreshadowed." Cyprian, c.250

"And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read… But Sunday is the day on which we all hold a common assembly, because it is the first day on which God… Made the world. And Jesus Christ our saviour rose from the dead on that same day." Justin Martyr circa 160

"We consider fasting or kneeling in worship on the Lord's day to be unlawful." Tertullian c. 211

"During the rest of the week the church was dispersed and hidden, as its individual members went about their life and work in different places. But on Sunday the church came together and revealed itself in the celebration of the Eucharist, with each member occupying his or her place in the assembly..." Paul Bradshaw; Early Christian worship; 78

Questions:

1. What method of teaching works best for you when we gather together? How can you make the most of the teaching we receive from one another?

2. What helps you to make the most of our gathered fellowship? 

3. What helps you to make the most of the breaking of bread when we are together?

4. Which one of these (prayer and singing) is most meaningful to you and why? Which is least meaningful and why?

Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. 

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). 

Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review. 

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11) 

God bless, Malcolm

The first of the four part series helping us reboot our thinking about why we gather on Sundays.

More resources here: https://www.malcolmcox.org/unity-to-all-things/ 

Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. 

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). 

Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review. 

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11) 

God bless, Malcolm

In this second class on Christianity and racism, I interview my friends Jack and Sarah. 

These interviews are designed to stimulate continued conversations around the Christianity and racism. It's not that these classes contain all the answers, but at the very least I hope they will be a catalyst for discussion.

Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. 

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). 

Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review. 

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11) 

God bless, Malcolm