Thursday 5th May 2011 - Standing in the Gap

I find it curious how a thread seems to form between things I read, sermons I listen to, and so on. Last week I was followed around by 1 Kings 18 in two books and a sermon. Today I listened to a CD I bought at Spring Harvest last month concerning the gap between God and injustice. The talk was actually from New Wine 2008 (the CD was cheap!), and the speaker referred to Ezekiel 22:30: “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.”

Then I went to John Griffiths’ funeral – a man who was always willing to stand in the gap – and that was the theme of the sermon. There’s something about Christian funerals which is so refreshing. People laugh, for one thing. In fact I sometimes wonder whether we forget that the next of kin might actually be feeling sad. But the story of John’s life is amazing, and we have a tendency to get very excited and encouraged when we see how God turns someone’s life round so completely and utterly. It proves that the whole thing is real! John was a 20^th century Paul both in the way his life changed so totally and in the way he served as an evangelist, preacher and church-planter.

I remember doing door-to-door with John in Penyrheol, and being astounded at his boldness and that nothing ever stopped him from talking about Jesus.

I started reading Terry Virgo’s Enjoying God’s Grace today, and found in interesting biblical fact for the day: At the announcement of the old covenant in Exodus 32: 28, 3000 people died. At the announcement of the new covenant in Acts 2: 41, 3000 people were saved. The law brings death, whereas God’s grace brings life. John Griffiths was a man who proved more than most the reality of the grace of God.