Careful thinking

We started our series at Church yesterday on the Christian and conscience.  It's not an easy series to prepare or preach and I have a hunch that yesterday's first in the series will prove to be the easiest of the three.  It very much laid the foundations: Our Conscience is God given so that we have an ability to weigh up and determine right and wrong, we should always listen to our conscience, yet our plasticine, malleable, conscience is affected by the fall in a number of ways so that it does not line up with God's will.  Before finally we looked at the joy to be found in our conscience driving us to Calvary where as we confess and repent we find cleansing from guilt and the promise of the Spirit to change us.

This coming Sunday I'll be preaching on how as Christians we calibrate our conscience.  So here's the challenge that I've been increasingly aware of as I've been doing the background preparation on this for the last month of so.  We simply don't take the time to work God's word into our conscience in every area of life.  We also underestimate the influence of our culture, family, education, peers and media in shaping our conscience in those very same areas of life almost without our realising it.

As I've been preparing this series I've been aware of the challenge of doing that personally.  Have I allowed God's word to shape my conscience about; tattoo's?  Burial or cremation?  Sunday?  Clothing?  Relationships?  Family?  Care of ageing parents?  Bank Accounts?  The items in my shopping basket?  What I watch, listen to, read?  My friendships? and so on...

If I believe there is no square inch of my life over which Christ does not claim Lordship then I need to be giving myself over in community to working out what that Lordship means.  In forming my conscience, recalibrating it, realigning it by the Spirit through his word.

The coincidental conscience?

Imagine that you have a green card and a red card in your hands.  As I say the following raise the imaginary red card if you wouldn't and the green card if you would.  Ready...

1. eat meat
2. drink alcohol
3. drive over 70 on the motorway
4. take your child out of school for a holiday during term time
5. shop on a Sunday
6. go to a concert with explicit/sexual lyrical content
7. pick an apple from a neighbours tree and eat

Got your answers?  So having gotten you two do that let me be honest, I'm not really bothered by your answers.  The bigger question is why did you give those answers.  We all have a conscience, an awareness or sense of what is right or wrong and that will have informed the answers above.  Our conscience is the result of a wide range of influences throughout our lives.  The challenge for us as christians is to train and calibrate our conscience in light of God's word.  To hear what God says and train our conscience accordingly.  As well as to identify and erase those influences which numb our consciences, sear our consciences or just put them out of step with God's word.

But here's where it gets more complex both in church and in mission.  Different people are at different stages in terms of training and recalibrating their conscience.  And some of the calibration of our consciences is constantly being carried out by our society without our realising it via the media, arts, legal system, education, peer pressure and so on.  And some of that instinctive awareness of right and wrong varies from country to country, culture to culture, region to region and from class to class.  The church as a cross cultural and cross class community is therefore going to have lots of people with varying, and at time diverging, consciences all together.  That is why we need to exercise love in our dealings with one another in church.  It is also why we need to listen to others and not judge and why we need to be constantly examining ourselves searching for the planks that are wrongly informing our conscience.

The added difficulty is that so many of these things we are just unaware of, they operate at the level of assumptions and therefore remain unchallenged until we rub up against someone who thinks differently to us, whose conscience is more or less tender on that issue, or who doesn't even see it as an issue at all.  And the challenge then is to meet such differences with grace and humility as we look to help one another reform our consciences in light of grace.

Come the New Year we're going to take some time at Grace to think about The Christian and Conscience.  What it is, what the Bible has to say about it, how it is trained, how we retrain it in light of scripture and how as community of grace we engage with one another where our consciences differ.

Is the latest preaching series just a pastor's favourite?

Is that why we are studying that book this term?  Is it just that the pastor loves it, it's his favourite book?  Or that he has a good commentary or two on it?  Or that he's just spent months on it in his devotionals?  Or in some cases (not mine I'm grateful to say) that he has been asked to write a book on it?  How exactly does a pastor decide what you will be working through in terms of a series for Sundays?

I can't speak for everyone but here's some things I do and have found helpful.  Firstly even whilst I'm preaching the series for this term I am studying for, and planning, next term and devotionally working through another book of the Bible for the long term.

Every so often I'll read through the Bible quite quickly, 3-4 months, trying to soak in the biblical story and flow, but also looking for books I just don't understand yet.  That study led me last year to do more in depth study of Song of Solomon and Jeremiah so that I am not excluding those books as potential teaching material just because I am unfamiliar with them.  At the moment for the same reason I am working my way more slowly through Deuteronomy and will then move on to Zechariah.

The particular advantage with doing this is that there is no tyranny of the urgent.  I'm not studying it to teach just wanting to understand and hear what God has to say to me.  Sometimes that leads to a sermon series in the next year or two, sometimes it doesn't and is just good for me.  Jeremiah in particular was a real joy and help, and I am still working away on planning a sermon series on that brilliant but challenging prophet.  No doubt it will feature some time in the next five years, but I want to take time to think through how best to preach it, one long slog with breaks for Easter and Christmas?  Or a number of smaller series that take us through it over a number of years?  Though I fear that leads us to lose the melodic flow of a passage.  This longer term study provides the freedom to do just that without pressure.

Sometimes that methodology means I just have too many things I want to preach on.  This coming term I'd love to have preached on Jeremiah, but I'm not yet ready and I'm not sure the church is.  I'd love to have preached through Micah which I've also done some study of and 1 Peter, Jude and James.  We also have some series we are part way through in Acts and John which I am planning on finishing soon.  So what to preach this term and how to decide?

This coming term we will be preaching through Esther and the Ezra.  Why?  Well Esther has been on my mind and heart to preach for about 2 years now, but it has taken this long to study, meditate, prepare and plan so that I feel it will be a helpful series.  Esther helps us look at the struggle to live for God in a pagan culture that aggressively seeks to mould us and lead us to compromise our faith.  Esther and Mordecai are both prone to that but are used by God to save his people and build his kingdom because of God's grace.  It also encourages us to look of the providence of God.  Looking at our culture and the pressures we are facing this seems an apt study for us.  Especially that message that God by grace uses weak people who struggle to be distinctive for his glory.

Ezra focuses on the faithfulness of God to his promises and his beleaguered and discouraged people.  The returned exiles feel small, under pressure, opposed, and have compromised their faith.  And yet God graciously, sovereignly and miraculously works to restore worship and rebuild not just his temple but his praising people.  I can't wait to dive into all the encouragement and challenge we find in Ezra from October onwards.

Reaching the conclusion to preach on those two books has been the result of a number of things.  Looking at our church family and the pressures and circumstances we find ourselves in.  Looking at the prevailing culture and trying to discern how it seeks to shape us, challenge us and give us opportunities.  Praying for God's wisdom in what to preach as he knows both those in my care and our culture far better than I do.  And using some tools (see right) to see where our past preaching has left us short in terms of hearing the whole counsel of God.

I'd love to know how other's pick their series what tools they use and so on as I'm sure there is much still to learn.

Despising the ordinary

What could church do that would enable you to flourish spiritually?  That's the question we began with at Gospel Group last night as we studied Nehemiah 11-12.  It's a fascinating question isn't it because there are so many possible answers and so many of them are dictated by the trends in our society.  But it is a question worth thinking about not least for how it exposes our habit of despising the ordinary God instituted means of flourishing in our faith.  What could church do that would enable you to flourish in your faith?

In Nehemiah 11 and 12 the walls are rebuilt, the people have committed themselves to the covenant having repented of their sins.  And now they put structures in place in Jerusalem that will help them as God's people flourish in God's city.  Firstly 1 in 10 of the people from the surrounding villages and towns moves into the city.  We need others, something that is plainly obvious when you read the New Testament and pay any attention to the one another's.  They put leaders in place who will administer what needs to be administered, who will give direction and be the bridge between good intentions and actual action.  They put the priests in place to make the offerings and sacrifices which we know point to Jesus the great high priest who once for all offers himself for sin.  They recognise the Levites and put them in place, those who read, teach and apply God's word to the people.  They set people apart to be gatekeepers, to provide security from their enemies but also to facilitate purity by keeping Sabbath traders from other nations out.  And they recognise and put musicians in place who will lead the people in recognising, rejoicing in, and responding to the faithfulness and goodness of God.

In Nehemiah 12v44-47 we are told that the people ensure that these groups are provided for materially on an ongoing basis so they can keep on dedicating themselves to their given roles, so that God's people have the trellises (yes I know that's been used somewhere else) which facilitate spiritual flourishing.  Israel commit themselves to having structures and people in place that will enable them to flourish spiritually.  But it's worth noticing that these are the ordinary everyday things that God's people had done for centuries.  It is not a magic bullet, it doesn't guarantee spiritual flourishing (see chapter 13) but it does provide an opportunity for it to happen.

As you move into the New Testament we see similar structures put into place in the New Testament church.  Those who read, teach, and apply the bible to the people, those who guard them (see Acts 20 - elders watch over the flock), musicians to lead us in worship, leaders who help direct us as to where the rubber hits the road with a passage.  And yet because of the sheer ordinariness of it all we are tempted to despise such things, to take them for granted because of their everyday or every Sunday-ness.  Instead we ought to thank God for them and for providing them so that we have opportunity to spiritually flourish and we ought to dedicate ourselves to making the most of the opportunity they provide rather than looking off and wondering about or longing for the silver bullet that will provide instant flourishing.

Praying the parable of the sower as you approach God's word

The parable of the sower is one of the best known parable of Jesus.  But it is also a helpful parable for us to pray through both as we prepare to preach, prepare to listen to preaching or for ourselves and our church family in the hours and days after preaching.

In the parable Jesus identifies 4 different responses to the gospel as he explains the parable in Matthew 13:
“Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

What a challenge to pray through this as we prepare to preach God's word, not for others but for ourselves.  'Father, as I read and study your word do not let the evil one snatch it away from my heart by making me focus purely on others without going the hard yards with this passage and my own, prone to wandering, heart.  Speak to me and do your work in me so that I do not lightly treat its message but embed it in my heart so that it produces change and lasting fruit to your glory.  Father, you know the pressures and struggles I am facing, you know the things that battle in my heart and would rob me of my joy in your word and keep me from producing fruit.  Please help me understand your word and apply to myself so that I can teach it better to others and be an example of the fruit it can produce.  Amen'

Or alternatively what a great prayer to pray as we come to listen:  'Father, I recognise as I come to hear your word the battle that is raging right now.  A battle for me to dismiss your word lightly, to harden my heart, to apply it to others or to be too taken up with the pressures I am facing or the pleasures I am enjoying to really dwell on and work through what you want to say to me.  By your Spirit please produce fruit from your word, prepare my heart, make my conscience tender, engage my mind, and make me willing to respond and act as a result of yours Spirit's work through your word.  Amen'

Or in the days after hearing or studying God's word what a great thing to turn into prayer for our church family as well as for ourselves.  A prayer longing for God to produce specific fruit from his word, just praying that helps us to meditate on God's word in a way that causes us to dwell in it and sink our roots down deeply into it.  Obviously you want any such prayer to reflect on the specifics of the message preached and the word of God heard and brought home by the Spirit, but even in a more generic form there is something worth praying:  'Father, thank you for your word.  Please don't let Satan snatch it away from me I pray, don't let troubles or worries choke it to death, don't let them rob me of the joy of the fact I am your child whom you love, speak to and call to live as your ambassador.  Father, thank you that by your Spirit you spoke to us, may we, your church, produce fruit this week as we respond to your word to us by your grace and for your glory. Amen'

Pressures Christians face: Connected or Community

“The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy, it is being unwanted, unloved and uncared for… There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love.” Mother Teresa’s words are still true today aren’t they? She saw a deep longing for love, for friendship, for community, for welcome. I’d love to know what she’d make of today’s social media world.

Facebook was 11 in February, half of the world’s online population use it at least once a month, 65% of those access it daily. Why? Because it offers connection; a way to catch up with friends who live elsewhere, a way to touch and be touched by the lives of others, a safe controllable cost free connection. But, just like any other virtual relationship, it’s limited in what it can offer. I’m not knocking Facebook or any other social media app. They’re great tools provided we use them for what they were designed for, they make connections but they can’t create community. Partly because you filter how other people perceive you by offering only what you want to share, when you want to share it.

The rise of social media highlights the same need Mother Teresa identified. A longing for connection, for friendship, for community but it can’t meet that need. Here’s a facebook post from someone expressing that.

For all social medias language of friends, followers, circles, connections it can only go so far. It highlights a longing but can’t meet it. And it’s not just a problem for those who use technology. 20% of adults, in a UK survey, admitted to feeling lonely at any time, 20% also said they didn’t have a friend they could discuss a personal problem with. 1 in 5 adults. That shouldn’t surprise us because the Bible tells us we were made for community, for friendship rather than connectedness but also why we struggle with that same thing. We long for it but also fear it, but God provides hope for our longing.

The battle for Community not just Connectedness

Turn to Genesis 1, first chapter of the first book in the Bible. There we see that we’re made in God’s image(27). Part of that is being made to relate to others, to know and be known, that’s part of what makes us human. Just like God who is Trinity, Father, Son and Spirit knowing, loving, delighting in and enjoying one another, we’re made to be in community. Genesis 2 zooms in on Day 6 of creation and we see this even more clearly. The one “not good” in the whole of creation wasn’t slugs, spiders or rats, it was that man was alone. None of the animals can fulfil that desire for community. So God makes Eve because man is designed to be in community. And notice community is the focus because Adam and Eve are to reproduce, to fill the earth, to populate it, to grow community. This picture is much bigger than a couple, much bigger than marriage. Marriage is an important picture in the bible but it’s not the answer to loneliness. God’s vision is of a community that knows God and knows one another.

In Genesis 3 we see that twisted at the fall, what was a perfect society is now a broken ruin. When Adam and Eve rebel against God, when they question his character and love and reject his word as good sin enters creation. The catastrophic consequences of sin cascade down through every relationship. Man’s relationship with God is destroyed, his relationship with the world is damaged, and sin now makes community, friendship and intimacy hard. It makes relationships a minefield. (16)Now instead of unhindered intimacy, openness and trust there’s suspicion and competition, fear of rejection and a hiding of parts of self from others.

But God’s plan is still to gather people it’s still community. Sin scatters but God gathers. Even though sin means we both long for community and fear it God works to overcome that. God’s promises to Abraham of people, place, protection and plan see that expressed. God’s plan begins with an individual but it’s goal is community, a people gathered in right relationship with him and one another. But the story of the Old Testament is of gathering frustrated by sin. God’s law is designed to guard and protect his people gathered in community but sin continues to undermine that and to scatter.

If there was one person who could go it alone it was Jesus. Yet what’s one of the first things Jesus does? Gather a new community around himself, a new people who form the foundations of the church. And in Acts as the church is scattered, it is by God’s sovereign design, in order to create lots of little communities of God’s grace. As individuals and families carry the gospel to new towns and share it with others we see new communities of grace formed. The MO of the gospel is to create community. Overcoming sins scattering effects and gathering people as they trust Jesus. Community is woven into the DNA of the gospel, as man is reconciled to God he’s reconciled to his fellow man and community grows.

And God’s ultimate plan is community, people gathered together. It’s glimpsed in Revelation 7:4-10(p.1171). People from every ethnicity, tribe and language gathered and united by Jesus enjoying relationship with God and one another.

Our longing for community, for friendship, to know and be known is God given. We all share it in common. The loneliness in the world is a gospel opportunity for us to grasp as we help people make sense of their longing but also of their fear of rejection, of sins twisting of that desire. The Bible tells us loneliness is painful because it’s not what we were made for. And God in Jesus has and will do away with loneliness one day. He creates a new community with his new people who know Jesus now and will do for eternity.

But we also need to recognise the reality of sins impact on our desire for friendship and community. It means that, at times, we’ll find ourselves wanting to hide away parts of ourselves, only revealing what we think others will like or respect. It means we’ll want friendship to be easy and feel like giving up when it is hard.

I wonder if one of the unique ways sin has affected us as Christians has been for us to think of marriage wrongly. Marriage is not the antidote to loneliness, marriage doesn’t replace friendship. Our spouse should be our best friend, yes, but not our only friend. We mustn’t withdraw from friendship when we get married or have a family.

As those who have been redeemed by Jesus, we’re reconciled not just with God but with our church family. That’s the theological reality but we need to put it into practice. Community doesn’t just happen it requires deliberate investment of time, energy, and self. The church is a unique community in the world. The worlds version of community is based on clustering around shared interests, likes and dislikes; wealth, race, class, hobbies. God’s community is different it’s very different people gathered together in Jesus. Doing life together not just clustered when their interests meet, but even when they don’t. It isn’t a consumer connection but a committed community.

But how do we do that when we’re so very different? What stops it combusting?

Christ is our Peace (Ephesians 2v14-18)

The first century world was as divided as ours. Multiple faiths, races and languages, a huge wealth gap, class divides, gender stereotypes all alive and well and constantly dividing society. The danger was believers carrying those everyday divisions into the church. One of the biggest divides was between Jew and Gentile. This division was so extreme that if a Jewish man married a Gentile woman his family would hold a funeral for him. The Jews were a people of immense privilege when it came to God; temple, Torah, sacrifice, covenant, history. And the Gentiles weren’t. The danger as the gospel spread from Jerusalem through Samaria and Judea and to the ends of the earth was carrying that over into the church. Either by having a Gentile church and separate Jewish church or having a two tier church, where the Jew was smugly superior and the Gentile the late coming inferior with a chip on their shoulder. A church full of tensions over law, circumcision, food offered to idols, bacon and so on. The potential for friction was high.

In Ephesians Paul writes spelling out the unique call of the church to be a community of peace, totally different from the city around it. Notice that word “peace” appears 4 times in these verses. (11-12)This divide between Jew and Gentile is overcome “But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” But how? (14-18)explain.

Jesus is our peace because he’s deconstructed the things that divide and built something new in their place. (14)Christ has destroyed the barrier between Jew and Gentile. In the temple in Jerusalem there was an inscription on the outer courtyard wall of the temple warning Gentiles that they were responsible for their own death if they passed it into the inner courts where Jews alone could go. Paul may or may not have that wall in mind, but it serves as a good illustration of the change Jesus brings. He has taken the barrier down that separates Jew and Gentile in coming to God. He has “destroyed the barrier”.

The second thing Jesus deconstructs is the hostility the law created with its commands and regulation separating Israel from the nations around it. It led Jews to see Gentiles as unclean, and the Gentile to see the Jew as superior. It created hostility. But Jesus has set it aside, how? By fulfilling it. Neither Jew nor Gentile is reconciled to God by law, sacrifice, or access to the temple. The only way to be reconciled with God was by faith in Jesus fulfilment of the law and his sacrificial death in the believers place whether that believer was Jew or Gentile.

In it’s place Jesus creates a new humanity, the two have been made one(14, 15). The same gospel reconciles both to God by the cross, where he ended the hostility. Jesus brings and preaches that same peace to both(17), and both Jew and Gentile now enjoy access to the Father through the Spirit Jesus poured out on his people. Jesus deconstructs the barriers and constructs a new creation – the church saved by his death on the cross, reconciled to God and one another and full of the Spirit.

This is a total identity change. They aren’t Jewish Christians and Gentiles Christians in uneasy partnership, they’re a new people in Christ. When we trust Jesus every barrier is destroyed. We are in Christ. What unites the church, what creates this distinctive community is that the cross destroys the divisions and makes us one.

Think of the church as like an engine. What happens to your car if you forget to put oil in the engine? Friction, heat, damage and destruction as the different pieces rub against one another. It needs oil to lubricate the parts as they move against one another. In the church friction is a very real possibility if we forget the grace of God to us, grace is the oil that enables us to function. We must constantly remember that it’s at the cross by faith we’re reconciled to God and united to one another. Undeservedly forgiven and loved.

Turn to Ephesians 4v1-6. Sin means that there is the potential for old divisions to resurface in the church. We’re all in God’s sight made just-as-if-I’d never sinned, but we’re still being changed as we listen to the Spirit and fight sin so that we live out that reality. But there will be times when we see and cause friction in church. Paul exhorts the church practically that just as grace creates this new community so grace applied enables us to keep living as that gospel community. Divisions and hurts are a real possibility but we must apply grace, what will that look like? “Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bear with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.”

None of us is perfect, we all experience each others imperfections but grace enables us to love as we’ve been loved and forgive as we’re forgiven, and grace saves us from becoming puffed up and arrogant. Grace allows us to open up, to be authentically us, because we know we’ll be met by grace. Grace allows us to confess our sin because we know we’ll receive mercy and forgiveness. Grace allows us listen as people speak the truth in love to us because we trust they have prayed long and hard before speaking to us and have our best at heart, even if they express it clumsily. It means we don’t expect perfection in others but long for progress. We persevere, we work hard to listen then to understand, we invest in one another, we commit to one another. And when we get it wrong we ask for forgiveness from others.

We’re a church from different backgrounds, we make different assumptions, think about things differently. Grace means we won’t assume we know best, but we’ll listen and love and respect others point of view. It means we’ll want to commit to being with one another even if it’s doing something we don’t necessarily love doing. We’ll want to make the most of time together, be it Sunday morning, lunches, gospel group, or picnics at the park. It means we’ll be looking round and caring for one another and seeking ways to live out our oneness, being intentional about getting to those we don’t know already. It means we value and love everyone equally.

It means we’ll put people and community before technology and connectedness. Turn off the phone, get off Facebook or twitter when we’re with others, because we commit to real community not a shallow connectedness.

It means when we share the gospel we’ll want our friends to see the wonder of the church, what the gospel can do, the community it creates which we’re made for. Because whilst they won’t see a perfect community they will see a grace filled one.

Society pressures us time wise, it seek to shape us ideal wise. But for God’s people the call is to community, that must shape our priorities because we know it’s what we were made for and redeemed to enjoy.

Pressures Christian's face: distraction or deliberate

Distracted or deliberate

I’ve got a challenge for you. Here’s a vase and some rocks, pebbles and sand. Get things right and everything just fits below the brim of the pot. How would you get them all into the pot? But there’s a twist one of the rocks is so big it won’t fit past the pinch point of the vase.

You have to build everything around the big rock put the other rocks in below, then pebbles fit into the spaces and finally you pour the sand in to fill any remaining gaps.

Life’s like the jar. It’s finite, there’s only so much space to do things. There’s only 24 hours in a day, and 7 days in a week. But life often feels like that jar doesn’t it, it can feel as if it’s impossible to fit everything in. You start the day with your to do list and sometimes end the day with an even longer one.

Our lives are high pressured because they’re crammed full. Life is busy to bursting point, hectic and harried. There’s work, there’s taking so and so to drums or piano or football practice, there’s cooking, cleaning, DIY. There’s friends you really want to catch up with, there’s Sunday school to prepare, the MOT is due, there are insurance quotes to shop for, there’s family to speak to, exercise to fit in, uniform to buy and sleep to squeeze in somewhere.

And even as we do all those things we’re surrounded by other things which compete for our attention. Adverts shout at us, designed to capture and hold our attention and show us lifestyles to aspire to. Then there’s the R2D2 whistle as a text message arrives, then the ping of a Facebook notification. Did you know that a study has shown that just by doing this – puts phone down on table – our attention starts to wander. We start thinking about other things. We live in a world that’s full, busy but also distracting. A world that’s always giving us new things to pursue, new ways to do, new goals to have, a world with multiple distractions at any given moment.

Where it’s not just the good things that distract us from the best things, but a hundred and one other things. And in the midst of the chatter and clutter of busyness we feel like we’re drowning. Never achieving, never getting nearer the end of the to do list, missing out on the things we should do because of things we have to do.

This morning is an opportunity to stop and think. To stop and hear what Jesus has to say about busyness and distraction. To hear what he says the big rocks are that we should be putting in place in our lives and why it will change everything.

Jesus knew about busyness. Life was simpler in some ways but far harder in others. Imagine your week without any labour saving devices in your home, imagine the pressure of subsistence living. Imagine your week with only your feet as a mode of transportation. Jesus has been at Capernaum and now he’s in Bethany only two miles from Jerusalem, a walk of 83 miles. And Jesus maximises his journey time, ministering as he goes and his days are full. Just look at ch10; Jesus sends the 72 out on mission ahead of him before he visits every town(1-16), then he debriefs them(17-24), then he’s answering the crowds questions(25-37) calling them to love God with all their being and love their neighbour. In ch11 he’s casting out a demon and engaging in repeated clashes with the Pharisees. Life for Jesus and the disciples is full and busy.

It’s against that background, that maelstrom of ministry that Luke records this incident. In the midst of ministry Jesus teaches his disciples about the most important things – listening to him and prayer. Busyness is dangerous, ministry can be harmful because we can lose sight of what really matters.

The danger of distraction

(38)Begins with a seemingly peaceful homely scene. Martha has opened her home to Jesus and the disciples and is preparing a meal for 15, a great example of loving your neighbour. But as we listen we hear the noises of baking bread and chopping vegetables getting louder. Soon things are being banged down. And (40)you can picture Martha can’t you? Slightly dishevelled, flustered, red in the face, exasperation writ large on her features. “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me?”

It’s not unreasonable is it? There are 13 extra mouths to feed. We’ve felt like that haven’t we? Her concern is for a good thing – hospitality, loving and providing for others. But Luke clues us into the problem (40)“But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.” Martha is distracted, she’s drawn away from the most important thing by something of less importance. Her gaze and attention is deflected from Jesus by the preparations.

Distraction is dangerous for the disciple. Things will crowd or creep in and keep us from Jesus. For Martha it’s her kitchen to do list, what is it for us? What distracts me from spending time listening to Jesus?

It’s dangerous because long-term distraction chokes off fruitfulness. In the parable of the sower 3 soils appear to accept the word of God, but only one produces fruit. The third soil looks promising but its fruit is choked off by the worries, pleasures and riches of life. Other things distract it and gradually draw it away. Or Demas one of Paul’s fellow ministers who deserts the gospel because “he loved this world”, distracted and drawn away.

Distraction from Jesus is dangerous, potentially deadly. And notice here that it’s a good thing that distracts Martha. It’s not Facebook, twitter, a glossy magazine or Candy Crush Saga. It’s serving others. Ministry can be a dangerous distraction if it cuts us off from Jesus. In Acts 6 it’s what the Apostles face, the distraction of the need to wait on tables – a good thing. Distraction is a danger God’s people repeatedly face in the Bible. So we need to ask what distracts me from listening to Jesus? What good things are distracting me from Jesus?

A Disciples Decision

Distraction is a great parenting tool isn’t it? Your young child starts towards the DVD player at a friends house, and you know that unchecked all sorts of things will be inserted in the DVD slot – toffee, drool, plastic coins, Lego. So what do you do? You distract them with something else, a teddy, a toy, your already drooled on phone. You pick them up and move them, or show them something in the garden or the toys over here. But with some children that just doesn’t work. Some children are like a heat seeking missile locked on to that DVD player, ignoring all the chaff and flares you put in their way. They won’t be distracted, they know what they want, they’re deliberate, decided and determined.

Mary is a bit like that here. While Martha hustles and bustles in the kitchen Mary is where? (39)“sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.” It’s as if nothing else matters, everything else can wait this is what is needful. Mary isn’t unaware of the preparations that need doing, she’s not one of these hopelessly impractical people who don’t see a job needs doing unless you point it out to them. She has decided the preparations can wait, this matters more. She has deliberately adopted the posture of a disciple, she’s listening to her Lord. (42b)and Jesus commends her “Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Do you see the lesson for the disciples and us here? In the midst of ministry, of serving others, of living life for Jesus, we must set aside time to tune out the distractions of even good things and tune into Jesus. Do you remember the old wireless radio’s which had a knob you turned to find a radio station and you’d go through loads of just background noise as you did so until you tuned into the station, then you had to ever so carefully move it so you were perfectly attuned. And every so often you had to retune it slightly because it had just got slightly out of frequency. Mary is tuning out everything else and tuning into Jesus.

We need to ask ourselves are we doing that? Are we tuning out the distractions and taking time to listen to Jesus words and to pray? Mary doesn’t drift into this she deliberate decides, it’s a choice, she’s chosen this over that. Choosing the vital over the important, the better over the good. Think back to the jar, this is that big rock that everything else has to fit around.

Am I deliberately choosing or am I distracted? Notice that’s the issue. Martha wants to spend time with Jesus but this has to be done first. Are we deliberately choosing to listen to Jesus?

You might be saying but how do you do that? Every time we read the Bible God speaks to us. Read the Bible. Don’t try to read too much. It’s helpful to read the whole bible through but it’s better to take just a few verses and really think them through. Maybe even memorise a verse a week. Why not slowly work through a passage a week. This week I’m going to blog exactly that, take one passage and ask a question of it each day. Maybe it’ll help you to follow.

Maybe you find reading hard. Go to Biblegateway.com and it will read a passage to you. We’re not lone rangers as disciples either, studying the Bible with others is one of the best ways to do it, why not study something together, come to gospel group, or meet for coffee one day during the week.

Whenever we come to passage like this I’m sure you, like me, feel that you’ve got your priorities out of sync again. Again you’ve let other things distract you from what Jesus says matters. Or maybe you haven’t decided to follow Jesus yet and your thinking it’s just another to do, I’m busy enough already, how does that help me? As we finish I want us to see Jesus gracious invitation to new life,

Jesus invites us to know him

Jesus response to Martha’s frustration, anxiety and distraction isn’t a lecture. It’s not ‘I’m not angry I’m just disappointed.’ Jesus doesn’t use guilt, instead he offers a gracious invitation, (41)“Martha, Martha, the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but few are needed – or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Do you see Jesus gracious invitation? He shows Martha her distractedness and her real need and invites her to come sit with Mary. Jesus doesn’t belittle her concerns and service he calls her to something better. Martha put down the bread and plates and knives, come sit and know me. It won’t be taken from Mary but you can have it too.

As we think about where we’ve been distracted, by good things, by ministry, by less important things, Jesus extends that same invitation to us. He longs for us to know him and choose his presence. He isn’t aloof and distant, we don’t have to do certain things to earn his presence, he came looking for us, seeking us, so we know him. In Revelation Jesus writes to the church at Laodicea who’ve drifted and become distracted to such an extent that Jesus pictures himself outside the church. But what is he doing there?

Listen “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with them, and they with me.”

Do you see Jesus staggering grace? Jesus longs for his people to know him, when we drift or become distracted, in love he calls us back to repent and is waiting, ready and willing to know us and share himself with us.

That’s amazing. But what is more amazing is that as we listen to him, as we get to know him we find that our pressures change as our priorities are reshaped. Spending time with Jesus help us order life rightly. Right priorities in life flow out of time spent with Jesus, listening to his word. As we spend time with Jesus he reminds me that I won’t find satisfaction in my work thereby liberating me from workaholism, yet he also calls me to do whatever I do as serving him therefore giving great value to my work whether that’s being a mum, a bin man, a surgeon or crunching numbers. It reminds me that my day and my experience of it will mirror the brokenness of the world yet also give me glimpses of the glory of God in his creation, and cause me to live in hope as I long for his return. It will reorient me so that I prize people made in his image and am aware of opportunities to love rather than jobs to do. It will remind me that I am loved, forgiven, redeemed, and now am in Christ full of the Spirit seeking to plant my footsteps where he leads. It will lead me to serve others for God’s glory not man’s approval and yet ensure that it doesn’t distract me from listening to Jesus. It will do all that and more.

Do you see the danger? Do you see the choice? More importantly do you see the Saviour lovingly wanting and calling you to a better way? Why would you not want to know the freedom that is ours in him?

(41)“Martha, Martha, the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but few are needed – or indeed only one. Do you hear Jesus invitation to you this morning?

John 6v60-71 Jesus: belief that brings eternal life

Are there bits of the Bible you read and think ‘I wish that wasn’t in there’? Or things that Jesus said where as you read it you find yourself thinking; ‘I wish Jesus hadn’t said that’?

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Just think about what a challenge that is? It’s not a picture of something else, it’s an instruction. When was the last time I made a conscious costly decision to sacrifice something for my faith, to fight to say ‘NO!’ to something I wanted or society encouraged me to do because it doesn’t fit with following Jesus?

Or Jesus call for us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. To love at cost to self, to reputation, pride, honour. Or his call to forgive not 7 times but 77 times. Or Jesus teaching that “you cannot serve both God and money.” And it’s impact on our approach to work, stuff, education, parenting and so on.

Or maybe it’s the Bible’s teaching on giving, or sexuality, or marriage, or divorce, or suffering or something else where Jesus words clash with our dreams or wants or simply with what society has trained us to think is right. To live by Jesus words can be costly.

We’d never take a pair of scissors to the Bible and snip verses out, but do we live as if that’s exactly what we have done?

In John 6 we see two groups of disciples polarized by what they do with Jesus words, with his hard teaching. And that difference becomes the defining mark of a real disciple. Genuine disciples live by Jesus words not their or the world’s wisdom.

Deserting disciples? (60-66)

(60)”On hearing it, many of his disciples said, ‘This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?’” Jesus has just taught the crowd that he’s God the Son, uniquely revealing God to the world, that he must die to bring life to those who believe in him(53f), and that eternal life can’t be earned but is God’s gift by faith in Jesus. They don’t mean that Jesus teaching is hard to understand but that it’s offensive, hard to accept, it clashes societies expectations and their way of thinking.

(61)Jesus knows and tackles this offensiveness heads on, but not by backtracking or softening what he said. “Does this offend you? Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before?” Jesus confronts them with the same truths. He claims he has been with the Father in heaven for all eternity, and that he will return there again via arrest, suffering, death and resurrection. The doubting disciples are struggling with Jesus words because they’re doubting his identity. But Jesus says these are non-negotiables. Disciples must believe Jesus is Son of God and Messiah who gives life.

(63-65)Jesus raises the bar further, stressing that understanding isn’t purely a reasoning thing. It isn’t a work. It’s life given by God. The Spirit gives life by producing belief or faith. Jesus, God the Son, brings God’s words and those who are drawn by God the Spirit will believe and have life and live full of the Spirit.

Jesus always knew that some of those following didn’t believe. This doubting of his words is because they doubt his identity. It’s also a biblical pattern. Think back to Genesis 3, where does Satan strike? At God’s word by questioning God’s character and identity. Where does Satan strike at Israel in Egypt or in the desert? It’s at God’s words and his power to rescue and bring them out of Egypt into the Promised Land. It’s the same here. It will be the same for us. Deserting begins with doubting Jesus words because we question his identity, character and authority.

Where are we struggling with Jesus teaching, with his words? Where do you feel the battle is at it’s fiercest between the culture and Christ or between your will and his will, your kingdom and his kingdom? Where are we tempted to doubt Jesus words as old fashioned or out of date, or just too hard, or for others but not for me? Is it the call to carry a cross not pursue comfort? Is it when what we want clashes with what he wants? Is it his teaching over money, sexuality, greed, gossip? Where is it? Can you identify it? When we can, we need to stand back and realise that the question underlying it isn’t one of relevance but about the character of God – Father, Son and Spirit. As we struggle we need to see what that struggle is saying about who Jesus is?

Deliberate disciples?(67-69)

It’s hard to stand out against the crowd isn’t it? To be the one known for not engaging in office gossip, or who you have to watch your language around, or who simply won’t do that. Marching to a different drumbeat from our culture, our peers, our friend, family and neighbours is hard. Peer pressure isn’t at it’s worst when we’re teenagers that’s just when we feel it most keenly. I wonder if peer pressure gets a bit easier as we hit adulthood not because we feel the pressure any less or care any less what others think of us but because we’ve developed coping mechanisms; learnt ways to minimise the difference, to keep things quiet or hidden away. To live as chameleon Christians rather than distinctive disciples. It’s never easy to be different.

As the crowd react angrily to Jesus teaching following Jesus becomes more difficult. As (66)“many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” The peer pressure on the 12 grows. And Jesus turns and asks “You do not want to leave too, do you?” It’s a striking question isn’t it? Talk about being put on the spot.

But Peter speaks for them and again words and identity are key to why they will stay, just as they were key to why the deserting disciples left. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Do you see what Peter’s saying? Jesus, your words may be hard, they clash with our culture, others reject them and there’s much that we don’t understand, but in them, in you, we find what we’ve been looking for. That phrase eternal life is key in John, 17v3 “Now this is eternal life; that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” That’s what Jesus words have given Peter and the others, he makes known God to them, he satisfies their spiritual hunger, he reconnects them with God, with life as it should be.

It’s what the crowd and the deserters don’t get, it’s what they deny. But it’s what the woman at the well and the twelve have found to be true. In Jesus words we find eternal life. There’s an echo of Deuteronomy “people do not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the life of the LORD.” Jesus brings life because he reveals God to us, his words are God’s words.

That’s the conviction of a deliberate disciple. You don’t drift into that conviction you decide on it. For Peter and the others when Jesus words clash with cultures words they deliberately, at cost, choose Jesus words because nothing else satisfies. That’s their deepest conviction. The promises of society are empty Jesus words bring life. Is that a conviction we share? When Jesus words clash with our cultures or our own desires do we wrestle to the point of deliberate, determined, decided discipleship? Jesus words bring life! Jesus words - if we find in them satisfaction because they bring us to know the Father – will carry more weight that our own, than our desires, than our peers, than societies. Who do we believe has the words of eternal life?

But we’ll only choose Jesus words if we’re fully convinced of who he is and we see that connection here too. (69)“We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” Do you see the conviction? We’ve come to believe and know, this is a fixed point. We’ve seen you reveal your glory and believe you’re God the Son. It’s this seeing, knowing and deciding that lead to a belief that means they accept his hard words.

We’ll only give the right weight to Jesus words when we reach that same settled decided conviction that Jesus is God the Son come to save us. That means when I’m struggling to accept Jesus words as they clash with my will or societies norms I wrestle to believe them by wrestling with who Jesus is. Do I believe he is God the Son and Messiah? Do I believe he died and rose again, having born the punishment for my sin, because of his love? Do I believe his words bring eternal life and satisfaction now that nothing else can? Then I’ll live by his words.

Deliberate, determined disciples see who Jesus is and live by his words because they’re utterly convinced Jesus is for them and that in him they have satisfaction. Deliberate, determined disciples wrestle with their desires to bring them into submission to Jesus words.

But let me just give a health warning here. This isn’t calling us to add a gospel veneer to every decision we make. You know those tables you see that look like an oak table until you get close enough to realise it’s just a thin veneer of oak pattern on an MDF table. There’s a danger that we settle for doing that – after all it looks and sounds holy – Christian peer pressure. When was the last time we really said ‘not my will but your will be done’? It’s easy isn’t it to dress up our will in gospel veneer language. We see and want a bigger house, what gospel veneer might we add? ‘It’ll be great for ministry.’ We want our children to go to a certain school because of the quality of the education, what gospel veneer might we add? We’re moving to our new mission field.

We must be careful of baptising our will with gospel motives. We must be honest about what our motives are. Determined, deliberate discipleship calls us to live by Jesus hard words, words that clash with our desires, that lead us to deny self, shun the crowds, clash with society. But if we’re convinced that Jesus alone has the words of eternal life then we’ll make that choice.

Gracious Saviour

There’s a lot of challenge in these verses. How are you feeling? A bit guilty? Can you see lots of places where you’re struggling with peer pressure, where you’ve failed to stand for Christ, where you’ve said my will not yours be done? Where we’ve given into comfort rather than carry our cross? Maybe you’re thinking that you look more like a deserting disciple than a determined one. It’s right that we examine ourselves and ask these questions.

In fact that’s a key part of Jesus love for us. Jesus words of warning aren’t condemning they’re loving. He’s not prepared to have half-hearted disciples because a half-hearted disciple is no disciple. He won’t comfort people with hope that isn’t theirs. He won’t pretend following him is easy or socially acceptable. Jesus warns even Judas, in fact he perseveres in warning Judas even though he knows he will betray him. Do you see the love and pain, he knows here, a year before it happens, and yet he lovingly warns him. As he speaks to the 12 they’ll all betray, deny or desert yet he lovingly teaches them and goes to the cross for them and restores them.

Jesus also provides long-term comfort for them. They may flounder at times but their hope is not in their strength but God’s drawing them to believe(62-65), in his sending the spirit after his resurrection to enable them to stand. That’s our hope too.

As we examine our hearts this morning. As we ask these hard questions. As we ask: who do I live as if Jesus is? Do I live as if Jesus words alone bring eternal life? Am I standing against society or blending in to it? Where am I deliberately denying self and carrying my cross?

As we answer them, we must see again that Jesus is God the Son in all his glory come to die on the cross for us. That his words alone bring eternal life. As we come and confess, as we reaffirm our conviction as to who he is, the weight his words should carry, we do so knowing he has forgiven us, called us, our faith is a gift of God and we have the Spirit alive and at work in us.  And Jesus alone has the words of eternal life.

Legalism is alive and well in the heart of a pastor

One of my favourite analogies for preaching is that of an aeroplane taking off.  Sometimes when you step into a pulpit as you begin preaching something undefinable happens that means preaching feels like you have taken off.  The congregation are with you, there is an engagement that you can sense, you feel free of your notes and can sense the sermon building and leading people to better understand the scriptures.  Yet at other times the whole sermon feels like a plane taxiing on the runway.  You feel bound by your notes, as if everything is an effort, as if you and those listening are labouring hard just to stay with it.

And for me, it's in the afternoon and evening following that when legalism strikes, as I try to analyse what was different this week from last week, why did this weeks sermon left me taxiing whereas the previous week flew?  Was it something I did?  Or didn't do?  Did I not pray enough (probably not)?  Did I not do enough study (there doesn't seem to be a correlation here - though that's no excuse for not working hard)?  Did I not take enough time to be with and understand those I'm preaching to?

Now it's good to ask those questions and sometimes it can prove helpful in discerning unhealthy patterns and dependencies.  But at other times it can lead me to an unhealthy legalism and a doubting in the power of the word of God.  It's then that it is helpful to remind myself that I certainly have no control over what God is doing, or even always see what God is doing.  That sometimes God's work for his word is to produce a hardness and rejection of it.  Sometimes his work is a patient work which will bear fruit years down the line.

And that is humbling.  I see my tendency towards legalism, to want success, to be feted, and my tendency to depend on myself rather than on my loving Father.  And that is great news if it drives me back to my Father, to see again his love and grace to me his bumbling servant.

John 5v1-18 Jesus: the Father's Son?

If I had to ask you to use one word to sum up the emotional mood of Britain what would it be? What about of Doncaster? What about of this Hayfield area? Ipsos Mori’s research in more than 20 countries discovered that “most young adults in Europe, North America, Japan and Australia fear that their nations best days are behind them.” My hunch is if that poll was of young Christian adults it would produce similar findings about the church. We live in a world of negatives, where 24 hour news channels and the internet beam into our homes the destructive and the deadly. Where disease, disaster, death and despair dominate the headlines, where optimism is greeted with a cynical shrug or a world-weary sigh. We’re trained to be quick to critique, spot the negative, find the flaw, focus on the mistake.

It means that joyful people stand out. Positive, happy people are obvious against the morose masses. God’s people are called to be joyful, to find their joy in God not circumstance. But sometimes life can seem short of joy, sometimes circumstances in life can rob us of our joy. As we come to this passage in John 5 we meet two people who are joyless in life.  Both the man and the religious leaders are focused on the negatives. One has had his joy robbed by suffering and sin, the other by a stifling do and don’t religion. But Jesus shows that he comes to bring life and joy.

Jesus is the one the redeemed meet with joy

Jesus goes up to Jerusalem from Galilee for a feast. Whilst there he goes to Bethesda. Round the pool he finds loads of disabled people – the blind, lame and paralysed. Just lying there. Think of the worst pictures you’ve seen of overcrowded hospitals with patients lying on trolleys in the hallways and then take away the trolleys and that’s the scene. These people live a shadowy kind of half-life. No benefits, no blue badges, no mobility scooters, occupational health, or support. Cut off, cast aside, isolated, dependent and looked down upon. But, the people gathered round this pool aren’t without hope; their hope is healing. If only they can make it into the pool first they might receive a miraculous healing, they might be made whole, but only on a first come first served basis.

As Jesus looks around this sea of need he zeroes in on one man. Just as Jesus knew the woman at the well so Jesus supernaturally knows this man and his need. But it poses the question why him? Why only heal one man not everyone? This is the third of the seven signs in John. The purpose of the sign is to point to a greater reality beyond itself. And we’ve just seen the danger in signs, miracles themselves don’t automatically produce faith, just the longing for more miracles. This healing of the man is going to reveal something about who Jesus is, his glory.

Given what Jesus knows about the man his question is a strange one isn’t it? (6)“Do you want to get well?” The obvious answer is yes, but I wonder if Jesus is doing more, if he isn’t exposing the man’s hope for that becoming a reality. The man is hoping for a miraculous stirring of the water and to be first in to be healed. If only he had someone to help him get quickly(7), do you see his negative outlook. His hope is not in Jesus, he hasn’t been looking and longing for Jesus to come. He wants to be well, to be whole, to be healed, to have life, but he’s looking to the pool for that not to Jesus. But as Jesus asks the question the man’s attention is taken off the pool and fixed on Jesus.

(8)“Then Jesus said to him, ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.’ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.” Jesus doesn’t help the man into the pool he simply speaks and heals the man instantly and totally. In an instant this man goes from being a burden to carrying his burden. This isn’t a gradual improvement with months of physio. This is instanteous wholeness.

It’s a sign, but a sign of what? Turn to Isaiah 35(p683). Isaiah 35 gives Israel a picture of what it’ll be like when God in all his glory comes to redeem his people. When God comes (5)“the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then the lame will leap like deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.” Israel should be looking for signs like this so that they can see the Messiah and rejoice(10) that he’s come.  Seeing the Messiah brings joy for the redeemed.  But are they joyful?

Rejecting Jesus is rejecting rest (9b-13)

John like all great storytellers keeps a key detail back until now, a twist that changes everything. (9)“The day on which this took place was the Sabbath.” It was one of the ten commandments(Exodus 20), God commanded Israel to do no work on the Sabbath, they were to rest from their normal work just as God rested from his work of creating. But by Jesus time the religious leaders had added layer on layer of extra rules, all designed to ensure you didn’t break the law or go anywhere near doing so. Can and can’t do’s. As part of that they’d classified 39 types of forbidden work. What’s the man doing that they find offensive? He’s picked up and carries his mat(10,11,12). That was one of the 39 classes of work, carrying something from one domain to another.

But what have they missed? They’ve missed the miracle that enabled the man to carry his mat. Their rules and regulations haven’t opened their eyes they’ve blinded them and walled off their hearts. This isn’t his normal work, it’s the first time in 38 years he’s been able to carry his mat from one place to another. This isn’t work it’s a joy. They shouldn’t be asking who did it in order to find the person who incited this law breaking. They should be asking who healed him so that they can find the Messiah. They should be excitedly, joyfully searching for God’s rescuer and redeemer.

The action of healing an invalid and sending him home rejoicing doesn’t bear the fingerprints of a lawbreaker but of the Messiah. They not only miss the miracle but they refuse to rejoice with this man or at the sign and what it points to. They’re fixated on regulations regarding the day of rest rather than on the one it points to. The one who brings rest for all people. Rest was lost at the fall, the Sabbath was designed as a pointer to God and his work to bring all of creation into his rest again. The Sabbath spoke of the promise of rescue and redemption and an eternal rest enjoying relationship with God.

Jesus is like the master artist who strips away the layers of grime and paint that others have put over his masterpiece as he deals with the law, so that people can glimpse the beauty of the original painting. This healing shows us the nature of the promise Sabbath, not restriction and regulation but joy, wholeness, life and restoration.

Just as the man(13) has lost Jesus in the crowd so the religious leaders miss the signs – the one who brings rest, rejoicing and redemption is rejected. Duty and legalism has robbed them of the joy of knowing God, of finding God’s Messiah.

We need ask if there’s a similar danger for us? We’re creatures of habit, we like routines, we like things comfortable and familiar, to operate within a set of rules – this is how things work, this is what we do, this is what I’m comfortable with. But Jesus isn’t in the business of making us comfortable he’s in the business of making us holy. The laws and regulations of the Jews defined the parameters in which God worked. Jesus explodes those parameters; he has not changed! There is not a single inch of your and my life over which Jesus does not claim lordship. Jesus concern isn’t our comfort, it’s not working within our boundaries it’s our holiness.

I wonder how you think of that word holiness? We think of it negatively, in terms of the Pharisees do’s and don’ts – be honest primarily don’ts, we certainly don’t associate it with joy. These leaders have become fixated on the negative on obeying dutiful not responding joyfully, on not doing anything that would anger God. Have we fallen into the same trap? Are we joyless? To do so is to fatally misunderstand holiness. Holiness is growing in our ability and awareness and capacity to grasp the joy of knowing a holy God. Jesus shows us what holiness looks like and the joy of knowing the Father. These leaders are missing any sense of joy, they’re so bound by their rules that they cannot see past them to Jesus as Messiah and they cannot rejoice or have joy at his coming and what he comes to do.

Are we missing joy? Has our faith become about do’s and don’ts. Knowing Jesus is about joy, it’s as if joy and rejoicing are the fragrance that follows Jesus. The Samaritan woman joyfully running back to town, the Samaritan villagers joy in meeting the Saviour of the world. The royal official’s joy in the healing of his son, this man’s joy in his healing.

Jesus brings joy. Jesus comes to bring rest and rejoicing. But it’s possible to reject him, have we? Are we? Don’t snub Jesus for the joyless boundaries of rules.

Jesus secures rest and redemption by dealing with sin (14-15)

Later on Jesus seeks out the man, why? Because he wants the man to understand what has happened and the consequences of the healing. “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”

The Bible teaches that sin is a result of the fall, our rejection of God and determination to live life our way. We live in a world dislocated and broken. And God’s people aren’t immune from that brokenness, the pain, suffering, illness, death. But that isn’t the only thing the bible teaches about pain. Jesus isn’t saying to the man your illness is the result of living in a broken world. Jesus says that the man’s suffering is directly connected to his sin. His sin caused his suffering though we’re not told how.

It’s not an isolated incident in the Bible. Think of Jonah, Jonah suffers during the storm and as he drowns. Why? Because of his sin, he rejected God’s word and hates others in his heart. Or think of David. David’s suffering is a direct result of his sins of adultery and murder.

It’s the same today the alcoholic who has chronic liver disease through his drunkenness. The violent person who gets badly injured in a fight. Some sin has physical consequences.

It’s important that I say the Bible is clear that not every instance of suffering is the result of our sin. Some is the result of the sin of others, some is because of loss, some is because of persecution, and some is that mysterious result of living in a broken world.

Jesus says to this man that his suffering is a wake up call to make him aware of his sin. It’s an important call because there’s something worse than suffering and that is eternal separation from God. But notice the wonderful thing here, don’t let the issue of suffering cause you to miss the wonder of what Jesus says. If the man’s sin caused his invalidity then Jesus has to have dealt with his sin in order to heal him. Jesus hasn’t just healed the man of his suffering but of his sin.

Jesus brings life, wholeness, rest to this man by dealing with sin. This healing points us to the cross where Jesus will pay the price for forgiveness. He bears the punishment because this man couldn’t, we can’t. (24)When we trust Jesus we cross over from facing death to eternal life. How? Because Jesus bears the punishment for our sin. Sin robs us of joy but Jesus can forgive our sin and restore our joy.

Jesus has authority to forgive sin and give life if we believe in him. Having experienced that forgiveness Jesus call to us to go and sin no more. Jesus saves us so we stop sinning. That isn’t Jesus being a killjoy that’s the way to rest and life and joy, what it means to repent of our sin when we trust Jesus. Can I ask have you done that this morning?

Jesus is his Father’s Son (15-18)

The man goes and tells the Jewish leaders who Jesus was. How should the Jewish leaders react? Isaiah 35 tells us that the Messiah’s coming would be visible through healings and miracles, signs that he was here. Yet they react by persecuting Jesus for inciting breaking the Sabbath. But what does Jesus do? Jesus responds to their accusation by raising the bar. (17)“My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” That’s a staggering statement and the Jewish leaders get what Jesus means(18). Jesus isn’t saying God is his Father in a vague way, but he makes himself equal with God.

God doesn’t rest from everything on the seventh day, he rests from creating but still sustains everything. Have you ever thought about that? Every day God sustains the universe; orbits, water cycle, sun, and so on. Post fall God is also sovereignly working out his purpose and plan of redemption to restore and reconcile all things and deal once for all with sin. Jesus is just like the Father – he’s working in the same way and therefore his work on the Sabbath isn’t law breaking but law fulfilling. Jesus is dealing with sin, bringing rest and life to the full.

Jesus claims the right to work just like his Father because he is God the Son. He claims sovereignty and divinity and they understand that. Do we? How big is your Jesus? John is all about the glory of God seen in the glory of the Son. Jesus, God the Son made man. Jesus sovereign over the universe dying for us, and when we repent and believe becoming our Lord. Sovereign over us, not having to abide by the limits we place on him. And he is sovereignly working to fulfil the Father’s plan.

This miracle is a sign of who Jesus is and therefore of what he comes to do. We’ll see more next week in the following verses. Jesus comes to bring eternal life. Life for eternity with God. This miracle is a sign, a glimpse of the future in Jesus. Sin conquered and it’s effects undone. And us restored to right relationship with the Father and that’s where we will find joy.

Jesus comes to bring life and joy. When we believe in him we cross over from death to eternal life. Don’t miss out.  Don't let sin, suffering or legalism drain you of your joy.  Look and keep on looking to Jesus.

The hardest sermon I've ever written

This week I'm working on the last in our series which resulted from asking our family and friends this question; If you could ask God one question and knew he would answer it what would it be?  Unsurprisingly the most popular question was about why God allows suffering and pain in his world.  That in itself is a difficult question, but I've answered it a number of times in church and CU mission contexts.  But this week I'm finding it to be the hardest sermon I've ever written.  Even now when normally I have a first draft already to go I'm not sure about what's there, what I've left out and what I ought to edit and change.

That's not because I'm being indecisive or haven't prepared.  It's simply because the question feels very raw for us as a church.  Everywhere you look there is suffering, from the long term sick, to the terminally ill, to the broken marriages and families, from the teen with mental health issues to the elderly contemplating the gradual suffering that comes with old age.  Some of that suffering is acute some is more bearable but heralds a long slow decline.  All of it is a heartbreaking privilege to be part of pastoring people through.  But given that context, given the very raw emotions that this question touches upon for our church family it is really no surprise that this is proving a difficult sermon to write.

I'm aware that so much will be left unsaid that needs to be said.  I'm aware that so much will be touched upon and long to apply the healing balm of the gospel to those tender nerve endings and emotions.  It's a reminder again - as if we need it - that God needs to take and use his word in his way by his Spirit, because I simply can't.

Why we're studying Acts this term

This Sunday sees us start a series on Acts.  Up until Christmas we are going to be focusing on Acts 1-6v7, apart from communion Sundays when we're doing a short series on Communion and Baptism.  But why are we studying Acts?  Is it just that was what the leadership fancied?  Was it just because that was where one of the elders was up to in their reading plan?

I'm kind of hoping that you know the answer is 'No!'  That the preaching programme isn't arbitrary or the result of a whim.  This list isn't comprehensive, there are other reasons too, but it is a start.  So why are we studying Acts?

It is our history
I know history isn't particularly fashionable and I have a love for it (after all why else would you train to be a history teacher).  But Acts is a key part of our family tree as believers and the church.  It shows us our origins as a people gathered round Jesus, it focuses on those early formative years after Jesus resurrection and ascension.  We need to know our history as the church.

Our society is Acts-like
Our society mirrors the society in which the early church flourished in many ways: it was multicultural, it was polytheistic, it was tolerant so long as you held to one key mantra - in their day emperor worship in ours worship at the altar of 'no truth'.  It was a society of inequality with the very rich growing richer and the poor struggling to survive.  It was a time of persecution and opposition from both government and other religions.  It was against such a backdrop that the believers filled with the Spirit boldly proclaimed Jesus, witnessing that salvation was found in him alone.  We need that conviction!

The church was under pressure
As you read Acts you read of a church under pressure from within and without.  Not only was there external persecution but there were pressures from within. Sin within the church (5:1-11), doctrinal debates (Acts 11 and 15), and distraction and division (Acts 6:1-7) were all threats to the early church.  As a church we need to see how the Apostles identified and faced up to those issues because we will face them too.

God has not changed
Acts reminds us again and again of the sovereignty of God and his plan for the world.  It reminds us of the wonder of the salvation that is ours in Christ and the privilege it is to share it with a world in need.  And it reminds us that Jesus has poured out the Holy Spirit on his people to equip and empower his church to confront a lost world with its need and call it to salvation that is found in Christ alone.

Our community needs Jesus
Acts shows us people, communities, cities, and nations loved by God and in need of Jesus.  Our community, individuals within it and our world shares that same need.  My prayer is that as we study Acts God by his Spirit through his word will remind us of what he has done for us, how he has equipped us, and call us to go out on his mission, filled with his Spirit, for his glory to reach our needy community.

Enjoying Proverbs?

I don't think I've ever heard someone preach on Proverbs, well at least not in the way we preach on other books of the Bible.  I've heard preachers preach on certain (maybe their favourite) verses, or a thematic study on one idea like friendship or laziness or work, but never on the whole thing.  Now there are lots of reasons why this is the case, Proverbs is a daunting book in size and scale, and in the way it unpacks things.  But always one to love a challenge (or just plain naive) and convinced that we as a church have been the poorer for not having looked at much of the Old Testaments wisdom literature we are doing a series on Proverbs this term.  Initially we are looking at chapters 1-9 and then later in the year or more likely next year we will look at some more, before returning to it again periodically.

It was with great trepidation that I undertook this series, in fact I spent quite a long time trying to get away from it to any other series I possibly could.  But I kept on coming back to Proverbs, convinced and convicted that it was what we should look at as a church.  And doing so has been both a joy and a trial.  The joy has been in getting into the book, beginning to see its themes and structure, and the brilliant way it simply makes you think about everything, and yet always draws you back to fear of the LORD in all that that entails.  It has been a thrill to see Jesus so clearly within its pages and be able to point people to it.  It has been encouraging to see newcomers who are non-churched engaging with it and finding its descriptions of life without God resonating with their experience.

The trial bit has been in the preparation, no doubt increased because I don't know Hebrew and the language issues in it are quite complex.  It is not an easy book to read and think through, but it is a joy to have the privilege of doing so, to be able to set aside concentrated study time to grapple with this great jewel of scripture.  It has been a trial at times to preach, simply because I have really felt my inability to convey its timeless truths in a way that remotely do it justice.  Ultimately a third of the way through the series I find myself wondering why on earth I haven't studied it more and sooner, why I haven't preached it more often and drawn peoples attention to it more readily.  Because amid all the struggles of preparation and understanding and preaching is the simple joy of seeing who God is and his love and longing for a people of his own who he will guide and lead as they treasure and rely on him, listen and apply his word, and come to him reliant upon Christ and filled with his Spirit longing for his kingdom to come.

Painting pictures, telling stories, creating empathy and emotions

Writing a compelling and captivating novel is an art form which many aspire to but few achieve.  Crafting words in such a way that they paint pictures and create strong feelings and emotions in the minds of your readers is no easy task.  It is the same as we preach.

Preaching is not a clinical academic presentation of truth.  We've been studying Peter's Pentecost sermon over Easter and it is full of passion, challenge, and conviction, it creates emotional responses as you hear of Jesus death and resurrection, as he puts the crowd in the dock and us their with them.  Peter's words paint a picture of the suffering Messiah, drawing the crowd to look on him they pierced.  And it's not just Peter, each of the gospels paint pictures and stir your imagination as you read their retelling of events.  They evoke powerful emotional responses in us, creating empathy and anger in equal measure.

In our preaching we must not do any less.  Our job is to unchain scripture and allow it to do its Spirit crafted, Spirit filled work.  We must not present it as clinical truth, or as an rational academic paper.  Preachers we must preach to make people feel - not to manipulate them, not to whip up emotions so that a hyped up crowd respond in the moment - but we are to preach the passage so that people feel.

Work hard at crafting words that paint pictures, build paragraphs that capture the tension in a text, or the joy, or the gut wrenching sorrow.  Read the bible well - the bible itself does that as it is read, so read it well, quote it well in your preaching.  Help people feel the bible as they hear the bible and you proclaim its truth.

If we teach Easter, Christ's suffering, betrayal, isolation, rejection, trial, death and joyful universe transforming resurrection as a propositional truth devoid of feelings and emotion have we really preached it at all?

How much is false teaching a threat to our churches?

I was teaching recently and as part of the session asked the group I was with what dangers their churches faced.  There were lots of dangers listed but no-one mentioned false teaching, which struck me as odd because the New Testament seems to see false teaching as a very real threat.  It's dangers are commented on in Acts 20 in Paul's warning to the Ephesian elders.  False teaching features heavily in the letters to Galatia and Colossae.  Romans 6 suggests another potential source of false teaching, 1 and 2 Timothy, 1 John and Jude warn against false teaching and in Jesus' letters to the 7 churches in Revelation he warns a number of churches about it.  How have we come to assume, something the bible takes so seriously, will not be a problem for us?

It's worth saying that there is a difference between bad or inadequate preaching and false teaching, and between mistaken preaching and false teaching.  False teaching is in error about something central to the Christian faith (e.g. denying Jesus is the Messiah, or was a real flesh and blood man, or which redefines sin so that things the Bible says are abhorrent are called good).  False teaching holds on to that teaching even when it is shown to be unbiblical, they will not be corrected even by God's word.  False teaching actively teaches this error to the church.

Now I wanted to be exact about that because it matters that we are careful in our definition of false teaching.  It is not false teaching if someone disagrees with us about mode of baptism, or number of times the church should meet or the like.  It is false teaching if they deny Jesus died for our sins or anything else central to the gospel.  It is not false teaching if their mode of teaching is just different from ours.  One of the great problems in our day is tribalism, but just because someone is different doesn't make them a false teacher.  We need to carefully listen and discern using the above three criteria.

But back to the question how much of a threat is false teaching to our churches.  False teaching is as big a threat in our day as it was in the apostles.  It is real it is alive and it is hollowing out churches by drawing them away from the gospel and into Christ-less salvation-less religion.  That is why the Holy Spirit has preserved the bible for us so that we weigh what we hear in light of what God's inspired word reveals to us.  It is where the authority and truth lies.

So if false teaching is a real threat what should we do?

1. Pray for those who teach you.  Pray that God will speak to them as they work hard at his word to teach it faithfully and apply it to our lives.
2. Listen Carefully.  Listen with your brain switched on to what you are being taught, taking notes may help, discussing it afterwards may help, you can often listen to it again via mp3 or podcast.  Don't sit back and turn your brain off, listen actively.
3. Look at what you are being taught.  Have the bible open in front of you.  Unless you know the whole bible word for word you need to be checking with the written word that what you are being taught is what the passage says.  It's even better if you have also read the passage and jotted down some questions before you come, it helps your brain be engaged and you are already thinking through issues.
4. Engage with the preacher.  The preacher doesn't want a that was a nice sermon on the door.  He wants you to ask him questions about the passage, to straighten out anything he didn't explain well or you just didn't get.  He wants to help you apply it to your life in detail in ways you can only do one on one.
5. Look at lives don't just listen to words.  In the New Testament ungodliness is a mark of false teaching, this makes it vital that we examine peoples lives as we listen to their teaching.  Not in terms of judging or being critical but in terms of looking to see the gospel lived out, sin fought, good done, and sinners called to follow Jesus.  Pray for your bible teachers here too, that they would be changed and thank God when they are.

Can you imagine the difference doing those five things would make to your listening, and as a preacher let me tell you a secret, it would also encourage and probably improve the preacher and their preaching.  They should be the norm as we seek to avoid false teaching by loving and pursuing and encouraging good teaching of the word of God.

Feeding the Feeders

As a leadership team we are working through Marcus Honeysett's helpful book 'Fruitful Leaders' one of the questions it posed us as a leadership was how do those who feed us get fed?  How do we as a church ensure that our pastors are not drained and exhausted by feeding us every week?  It is a brilliant question.  Pastors are privileged to be set aside to devote themselves to studying the bible, praying and preaching but we also need to recognise that can be drained especially at certain times.

We concluded that actually it wasn't something we thought about very much as a church, or as pastors.  We all know that we can feel low and tired and a bit spiritually run down but we do little to address those needs in pastors who are expected to teach us and pastor us.  It is hard as a pastor, especially when you are ministering on your own in a small church to be fed, it is also hard not to cast envious glances (or lingering long looks) at those in team ministry or those working for organisations like UCCF who are brilliant at this sort of feeding, stretching and equipping of its leaders.

Here are some reflections on things that have helped keep me going and fed me as I look to feed others:

1. Gospel Partnership
There are various gospel partnerships which churches can join and which have benefits for pastors.  Last week we had the Yorkshire Evangelical Ministry Assembly which was brilliant.  (Talks are available as MP3's here: http://www.ygp.org.uk/audio.asp .  It is a chance for pastors to get taught, to stand back, to think, to encourage one another and get fresh perspectives and is vital.

But that is only once a year, a new innovation for us in YGP South is our twice yearly training.  Last summer we had a day looking at teaching Deuteronomy, next month we have a day with someone teaching us on 'Preaching to the Heart'.  These times of refreshing and fresh teaching on bible handling and pastoral ministry are vital and refreshing

2. Preaching Group
About every 6 weeks a group of us get together and preach our upcoming sermon and then help one another deconstruct and reconstruct our sermons.  Again we spend time sharing and praying and support one another.  A great reminder, support and chance to be taught God's word afresh.

3. Reading
I'm a voracious reader, I love it and it is vital for my ministry.  It is another opportunity to hear fresh ideas, be stimulated, be reminded, and sometimes when you read something heretical to engage in and sharpen your understanding of God's word.

4. Other Ministry Opportunities
One of the things I have valued most over the last few years has been the chance to preach in CU's.  It is brilliant to be among young keen Christians, especially from a church where our students leave us to go to uni.  It is refreshing to step out of my normal ministry context and see something else entirely, and often be ministered to by the students themselves.  The missions I have been involved in have been a particular blessing to me in refreshing spiritually even whilst tiring physically.

I am incredibly grateful to God for his graciousness in keeping me, in teaching me, in giving me the resources and loving people around me to sustain ministry.  But as I look long term and across the church in the UK I think this is question we need to ask ourselves and our elders and pastors, who is feeding the feeders?

Active preaching needs active listening

How is your listening?  How do you approach listening to the sermon or bible talk on Sunday morning or/and evening at church, or in CU, or at the conference?  What do you do to maximise the talk?  How have you trained yourself to make the most out of it?  Have you trained yourself to listen well?  Is your listening active or passive?  Have you recognised what stops you listening and how you can counter that?

I'm just toying with the idea one Sunday of preaching in the same style in which many people listen, rather than being active and passionate, imploring and explaining, I might be passive and inattentive to what I preach.  I might meander a bit, let my attention wander (that might be dangerous given some of the potential digressions that might lead to - it may even be more boring!), drift off.  Except I wouldn't because preaching is a serious thing, presenting the word or God, imploring God's people to hear and respond is a joyful task.  And I think I'd be out of a job pretty quickly.  So why if we wouldn't accept that from a preacher do we accept it in our own listening?

The Bible doesn't just say that those who preach will be held accountable but also those who listen, that is a sobering thought.  So how could you train yourself to listen better, here are a few ways:

- Read the passage before you come, note down questions and see if they get answered.
- Pray before you come asking God to make you expectant and open your eyes, ears and heart.
- Have your Bible open and keep on checking out what is being said.
- Follow cross references and look them up.
- Take notes - we do it for anything else we want to retain or reference again, why not for God's word which is the very word of eternal life!
- Agree with some friends or family that you will discuss the questions or talk over lunch afterwards.
- Create the expectation that you will revisit the talk with others at some point in the week.
- Be self controlled - stop yourself when distracted by the fly or the background or your week ahead.
- Pray afterwards asking God to help you weigh up what you have heard and respond to it.

Developing our listening

I want to post a few further thoughts this morning about how we can develop our listening so that we get the most out of hearing the bible taught. 

We need to move our listening into the foreground.  Many of us have grown up with music in the background of our lives.  We drive with a CD on or the radio on, we do the dishes or any other chores with the radio on as background noise, we may even work with background music.  But listening to the bible is so significant that we must not be content to let it remain in the background.  Rather we need to move it to the foreground we need to work hard to make everything we hear count.  We all expect pastors and preachers to be held accountable for what they preach and teach but the bible frequently warns us about our listening and how we will be held accountable for what we hear.  But how can we do that:

1. Follow cross references
Nothing wakes us up like a physical stimulus, now in most talks there isn't a moment when you are asked to get up stretch, touch your toes, turn around and sit down - (though maybe I should think of incorporating that!), but you can help stay focused, help keep listening in the foreground by turning the pages of your bible to follow the cross-references, by physically moving in your chair every so often (both of these also help the preacher by encouraging them that someone in the congregation is still alive and more than that they are following).

2. React to what you are hearing
Have you ever thought about your facial screen saver. Here are some light hearted suggestions so you can see which is your facial screen saver:

The Bulldog screen saver – They just look angry all the time, furrowed brow, bunched eye brows.
The Brick Counting screen saver– Looks round the room as if counting the number of bricks, chairs, carpet tiles etc... but never makes eye contact with the speaker.
The White Rabbit screen saver – Like the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland always looking at their watches or the clock.
The 'To Let' screen saver- 5 minutes in there are no signs of life, this person hasn’t blinked since the first minute and you find yourself wondering if you should dial 999 with one hand whilst you continue to teach.
The Nodder screen saver – Their head begins upright but gradually dips down towards their chest before bolting back up again.  (We once had a new variation on this - it was the nodder with additional denture loss - quite a shock for the person sat next to them who thought it was a pen or something and bent down to pick them up!)
And lastly the Eutychus screen saver – These people may not drop out of the window and die but they are asleep.

That’s a bit of fun but there is a serious side to it. We need to welcome and encourage people to speak God’s word to us, and we ought to think about how our face and body language encourages or discourages others from speaking God’s word to us, and how we can utilise it to help us listen.

For example it may help to make eye contact, follow the passage, smile occasionally, nod. Engaging with someone is welcoming and helps us listen.

3. Rerun the talk
Imagine its Sunday church finished 30minutes ago and a friend asks you what the preacher spoke on this morning, could you give an answer?  How about on Monday morning, or Wednesday afternoon, or Friday evening? Our instant knee jerk reaction is to blame the speaker 'Well he wasn't very good so I can't remember.'  Or blame the busyness of life or some other lame excuse.  But if that's you why not re-run the talk, why not as friends get together to discuss it point by point - not in a critical well it would have been better if, but in an applicational way - asking where this really impacts our lives.  Why not download the mp3 so that you can listen to it again?  You could even encourage someone who couldn't make it by meeting up and listening to it again over a cup of coffee, or if they aren't well enough give them a potted version of it with Bible in hand.

We live in a culture that produces so much noise that we have learnt to relegate much of what we hear to the background.  We take every promise with the advertisers pinch of salt, listen to ever definite as if its a possible, and hear every hope through a filter of cynicism.  But the bible is God's word and it is far to real, to precious and to significant for us to let ourselves do that!  We must work hard to develop our listening.

As a side note those who teach and preach are often the worst listeners, we need to learn to take of the 'I would have said' filters.  Not so that we don't give feedback but so that we don't short circuit God's word to us and our responsibility as hearers as well as preachers.