repairerofwalls

Yesterday was Bible Sunday, and I was so excited- I got to preach. I didn’t preach from a script, so I don’t have the exact words, but I’ll summarise the key points below. Or you can listen to it here.

We started by exploring different reasons why we struggle to read the Bible. I didn’t mention time, because, in my experience when we (including myself) really want to do something, we tend to make time for it, even if it’s just 5 or 10 mins. Some of the reasons we named were

• It’s a bit of a hefty tome – we’re not really sure where to start!
• We’ve heard it read, or read it, in a group setting, but we find it hard to read alone
• We feel like we “should” love the Bible, but privately we dread picking it up, because reading is difficult or because of what we expect to find in it
• Bits of it are great, but we find other bits harsh, and difficult to read
• We wonder why anyone would bother reading a 2000 year old book!

I explained but many of these are as true for me as for everyone else, but I still LOVE the Bible. So the question is WHY??? Why do I love the Bible?

I gave 3 reasons, from our passages for the service 2 Tim 3:14-4:5 and John 5:36b-end. Here they are!

1. The Bible testifies to a person – Jesus

In the gospel passage Jesus challenges the Jewish leaders, because they search their Scriptures for eternal life, but fail to recognise the One that the Scriptures point to, despite the signs and miracles that Jesus did backing this up.

The key thing is that the Bible and the study of it do not give eternal life. Instead, the Bible points to the One who does – Jesus Christ.

I explained that both Jews and Christians regard the same collection of writings as Scripture. The Jewish people are still waiting for the One to whom these writings point, the Messiah. Christians call these writings the Old Testament because they believe that Jesus is the One to whom they point, the Messiah.

2. The Bible is inspired by God – all of it!

As well as the writings which Christians call the Old Testament, the Bible contains the collection of writings that we call the New Testament, which include the 4 gospels, the book of Acts, the letters from Paul, the letters from other apostles and the book of Revelation. Whilst this collection was formally recognised later, it had been accepted as “inspired by God” by the early Church a long time before. Our other reading this week was from one of Paul’s letters.

The letter of 2 Peter was probably written in the latter part of the 1st Century AD, but even at this point, the author writes about Paul’s letters and equates them with thd rest of Scripture (2 Peter 3:15-16).

So the it is reasonable to take the words in 2 Tim 3, that “all Scripture is inspired by God” as referring to both the Old and New Testaments – the whole of the Bible. But what do we mean by the phrase “inspired by God”?

In the NIV translation this verse uses the words “all Scripture is God-breathed”, which is a helpful way to think about it. All Scripture is brought into existence by the breath or Spirit of God.

This doesn’t mean that there isn’t an individuality or active cooperation of the human writers, but neither is the existence of individual human writers a reason for rejecting that the Bible, or part of it, is God-breathed. John Stott phrased it helpfully:

“It originated in God’s mind and was communicated by God’s Spirit”. I would then add ‘written down by individual human writers’, because I like to be precise!

This means that we cannot discount any part of the Bible just because we don’t like it!

3. The Bible is useful!

The Bible is God-breathed, inspired by God, and so this means it is useful and beneficial for us to use it! In his letter to Timothy, the passage which we read, Paul says that Scripture is useful for:

• Teaching
• Reproof/ rebuke
• Correction
• Training in righteousness

So that… “everyone who belongs to God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (NIV)

We cannot save ourselves through reading Scripture, but, having been saved, God calls us to live life His way in response to His gift of salvation. We cannot live as God calls us to without knowing what it is He asks of us – and we only know that through Scripture, through the Bible!

Some say that God continues to speak to us prophetically, through dreams and visions, pictures and words of knowledge, and much more. I whole-heartedly believe this to be true. But we can only know what God is saying, and be sure that it is God speaking, when we test it against the litmus test of the Bible.

So those are 3 reasons I love the Bible, and why I am passionate about reading it. But… if you wanted to read it how might you go about doing so?

At the beginning we looked at reasons why we might find it hard to read the Bible. I’ve grouped them into 3, which I will respond to in turn.

Hefty tome

Don’t try to read it all at once – it wasn’t meant to be read like that. It is a collection of 66 books, or scrolls. In the gospels we find the story of Jesus entering a synagogue and reading from the scroll of Isaiah. He only read 4 or 5 verses. Isaish is a very long scroll, and Jesus did not read it all at once! Some people do find it helpful to read the whole Bible in one year, because it can be helpful for seeing how it relates together, but you do not have to do that!

You might also find it helpful to use some study notes, these give you some thoughts to reflect on and some questions to ask. Study notes can also help you to get in the habit of reading the Bible regularly.

You find it hard to read/read alone

Firstly, it’s OK to listen to the Bible being read to you, instead of reading it yourself, if that works better for you! Nowadays there are lots of ways to do this. 2 helpful ones are the Bible Gateway website and the Bible app, which you can download onto a smartphone.

Secondly, if you find reading difficult for any reason, but want to read a physical Bible, there are lots of different translations which you might get on with better, but which keep the meaning and message the same. I particularly recommend the NIrV which is printed on off-white paper and at larger print, because we have learnt that some people find it harder to read on white paper.

Thirdly, you don’t have to read it completely alone! You could read the Bible with a partner, or you could read it separately and thrm discuss it together, in person or over the phone, for example.

Bits that are difficult, or seem harsh

This is the hardest to address, because the bits that we struggle with, and the reasons we struggle with them will be different depending on who we are and what our circumstances are. I’m not going to give you a glib answer, because that won’t be helpful.

There are lots of different reasons why we find bits difficult – some personal, some principles, some cultural, and many more. I find it helpful to try and work out why I find it difficult. It can be tempting to try to explain it away, or even to change the message, but these approaches don’t deal with why we find them difficult. Instead I encourage you to wrestle with them and allow yourself to be challenged and changed. I encourage to seek pastoral support from a Christian leader you trust.

This week

What is the next step for you? That will depend on how confident you feel and what circumstances you are facing, but I’m going to offer you 3 things you could try. Even if you are already in the habit of reading your Bible regularly, it can be helpful to try a different approach from time to time!

1. Try to read/listen to a verse to think about this week (the same verse for the whole week). It can be helpful to come back to it throughout the day, so perhaps write it down and carry it with you, or use a Bible app on your phone to listen to it during the day.
2. Use some study notes to try to develop a habit of reflecting on a passage and asking questions.
3. Spend time with the passage. You might find it helpful to use “lectio divina” (divine reading) where you read the passage through slowly and ask God to speak to you, reflecting and asking questions of the bit that stands out to you. Wrestle with the hard bits! Ask God “is there something you’re asking me to do, or to change?”

This sermon was first shared at St Denys Evington on 20th June 2021. An audio recording is available here

“Who, then, is this, that even the wind and the waves obey him?” A question of awe, of fear, of wonder.

I invite you today to journey with me in your imagination as we explore this story from Mark’s gospel, and look for the answer to this question for ourselves. You might find it helpful to close your eyes as we take ourselves back to the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

After a day of teaching, Jesus suggested we cross the Sea, and at that point the weather seemed good and the water looked calm. He wasn’t wearing sea-clothes, and for some reason he was carrying a cushion, but it didn’t seem like that would be a problem, so we took him along, just as He was. But winds and storm clouds roll off the hills of Galilee without warning, and the sea turns into a monster. This one was the worst I’d ever seen, we all thought we were going to die, the waves broke over the sides of the boat, knocking us over so we could hardly stand, spray stung our faces, and we were soaked through. The boat was overwhelmed, we were sure we would drown!

But somehow, Jesus slept through, in the storm. It was as if he didn’t care, he certainly wasn’t afraid! In desperation we shook him awake, and cried out to him in fear, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

Jesus got up, and said just three words, directly to the wind and the waves, “Peace! Be still!” In an instant, the wind died down, and the sea was immediately completely calm. He turned to us and asked “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”, but we could give him no answer. As silence surrounded us we simply stood and stared at Jesus, in terrified awe. We’d seen him do miracles that even the prophets of old, like Moses and Elijah hadn’t done, casting out impure spirits, healing someone with leprosy and a paralysed man, even healing on the Sabbath, but this was different. Creation and the powers of the evil sea had bowed down at the sound of His voice. Who has that authority, and that power? From somewhere behind me, I heard one of us whisper the question on all of our lips, “Who is this, that even the winds and the waves obey him?”

For those of us who are mostly land-lubbers, we rarely experience the full power and danger of literal storms, except perhaps if we are regular hill walkers, ramblers or golfers, and so it can be easy to just read this symbolically. Whilst there is certainly symbolism and metaphor for our storms of life, which I will return to, to start here can mean we miss the power and the importance of the historical story of this miracle. ‘Historical’, because Mark has given us such details as could only come from eye-witnesses. Notice the details of the timing, the other boats, Jesus asleep on a cushion, the intense fear of the disciples and the abruptness of Jesus’ question which do not leave the apostles in the light they would be likely to choose if they were making up the story! This is important, because if this story really happened, we have to ask the question that the disciples asked… “Who, then, is this, that even the wind and the waves obey him?”

I wonder if you have ever tried to influence the weather, nature, or the workings of Creation? This might sound like an odd question, for deep down we all know that we can’t! And yet, that fact hasn’t stopped humans from trying, throughout the centuries – from the legend of King Canute commanding the sea to stop coming in to prove that he did not have that power, to our modern day flood barriers, to trying to prevent coastal erosion, hail cannons, so-called ‘anti-hurricane technology’ such as lasers or even trying to change the air temperature of storm systems, it seems to be a constant feature of human society! All this, despite our weather forecasts being often far from perfect. No wonder, then, that the disciples asked… “Who, then, is this, that even the wind and the waves obey him?”

Culturally, socially and in religious belief, the Jewish people were not a seafaring nation. Their enemies and neighbours, the Phoenicians, ruled the seas. Despite the disciples being mostly Galileans, living on the shores of, or near the Sea of Galilee, they would have held to the common beliefs of the time, that the sea symbolized the dark power of evil, threatening God’s good creation, God’s people and God’s purposes. We see this throughout the Jewish Scriptures found in the Old Testament – psalms repeatedly refer to sea monsters and the threat of the deep, and in the book of Daniel, monsters opposed to God come from the sea. In the very beginning, before Creation, there was a dark primal sea, and Jewish history tells the story of a prophet who was thrown overboard into the sea as punishment for running away from God! And the ultimate story of God’s redemption in Jewish history has God blowing back the fierce waves of the Red Sea to allow Israel to cross before those same waves consumed their enemies.

After calming the wind and the waves, Jesus turns to the disciples and asks two questions,

Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”

I think this can sound like, and be received as, they “shouldn’t have been afraid”, there was no reason to be afraid and how silly the disciples were for being afraid. The problem with this is that we end up applying this to our own life-storms and fears, and the storms and fears that others face. I know for myself what impact that has – for a long time I had a significant fear of watching films, and it still sounds silly for me to say it. I’m also very wary of fireworks and lightning. Whilst I can’t necessarily explain these fears adequately to someone else, and I trust in God, it doesn’t mean that these fears are ‘irrational’ or without reason. In the case of films,  some of it comes from not wanting to see people hurt and empathising with others too much, with the narrative often being very vivid, and all this amplified by watching a film on a very large screen in a cinema as a very small 6 year old! With fireworks and lightning, it seems to be to do with my ability to track things above my head and process where things are in relation to me – whilst I know that it is very unlikely to hit me, it is a possibility and, if you can’t track it visually, it’s much harder to avoid! As a child golfer, I was also told that if there was thunder and lightning on the golf course, you must leave the course immediately. My fears are a combination of reasoning, perception and learnt danger. Likewise, the disciples’ fear of the sea was cultural, learnt and experiential, as fishermen on Lake Galilee – the surrounding hills cause violent storm systems to appear without warning. Many of your fears, too, will have reasons, be they learnt from family, friends or society, or from your previous experiences.

Despite all this, Jesus asks these questions! Why, and how, could he ask them? It again comes back to the question the disciples asked. “Who, then, is this, that even the wind and the waves obey him?”

Trust is founded upon relationship. Relationships are based on identity. How we answer the disciples’ question changes whether we think Jesus can ask His questions, and it changes whether we can trust Him in the literal storms of Creation and, in turn, our life-storms and fears.

In our other passage for today, Paul urges the Corinthians to “not accept the grace of God in vain”, saying “now is the acceptable time, … now is the day of salvation”, and sets out the storms of life that He and his fellow letter writers have faced in their ministry – from beatings and imprisonments, to sleepless nights and hunger. Paul and his fellow apostles could endure all that they endured only because they knew the One who calmed the wind and the waves.

Today remains the acceptable time, today remains the day of salvation! We can always return to the One who has power over Creation, the One who conquers the forces of evil, even as He slumbers on the cross and in the grave, the One who rises to say “Peace! Be still!”

Do you know him?

What is your answer to the disciples’ question, “Who, then, is this, that even the wind and the waves obey him?”

This sermon was first shared for St Denys Evington zoom service on 9th May 2021. An audio recording is available here:

I know we have some cross-stitchers in our congregation, and our gospel passage this morning reminds me of the process of creating a needlework image, be that cross-stitch or tapestry. In both, you have lots of different threads that, as they are combined together, form a whole image. In tapestry weaving, the design is created as the threads are woven together. In cross-stitch, you can remove some of the threads and there will likely still be a coherent picture, but to give it its full colour, expression and meaning, you need all the threads.

The beginning of John 15 reminds me of a cross-stitch. Last week, we read the first part of the passage, and there are some threads woven together – the vine, ‘abiding’, ‘fruitfulness’. Our passage today adds additional threads, additional meaning, clarity and colour to this powerful image of a vine.

In the previous verses, Jesus says “abide in me”. In the following verses we learn that this means abiding in Jesus’s love, the love that He loves us with is paralleled with the love with which the Father loves Him. This love isn’t a vague, warm, fluffy feeling or emotion. It is the foundation of our relationship with Jesus.

Abiding in Jesus means abiding in His love.

By abiding in Jesus’ love we experience the love that Jesus receives from His Father.

Jesus shares with us what He receives from His Father, and Jesus parallels His relationship with His Father with our relationship with Him. And “just as” Jesus kept His Father’s commandments and so abided in His love, so must we keep Jesus’ commandments to abide in Jesus’ love – we are called to “obedient abiding”.

So what does this obedient abiding in Jesus’ love look like, and what consequences does it have, both for us and for the world around us?

There are differences between the love that Jesus and His Father share and our relationship with Jesus, but the love that we experience in our relationship with Jesus is borne out of the love of the Father and the Son for both the disciples and the world. This means that, just as the love of the Son cannot be separated from His obedience to the Father, our enjoyment of God’s love cannot ever be separated from our obedience to Jesus.

When we read this passage on its own, we might wonder what commandments Jesus is talking about, and then we come to v12, which in our English translations suggests that there is only one commandment we need to keep – “to love one another”. But the literal translation of the Greek reads “These things I command you, so that you love one another” – so the command to love one another is summary of all that Jesus taught. When we read a passage, it can be easy to forget that the passage comes from bigger blocks of teaching which were taught at the same time, and that all of those blocks hold together. The love we are called to abide in is what all the commands of Jesus point to, over every area of our lives, communal, personal, social, relational, practical, and emotional, and so on. We may well find that we stray from His commands, for keeping all of Jesus’s commands is a big ask, and I think this is where the first part of the passage comes in – we seek the Father’s pruning. Pruning serves two purposes, one to remove the dead branches, but it also makea the branches that are seeking to abide in the vine to be more fruitful.

It feels like a big ask, a big command. So why bother? What impact would that have on us and those around us?

In verse 11 Jesus says “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete”.

Before we go any further, I want to be clear, “joy” is not the same as happiness, it is not an emotion that comes and goes as our situations and circumstances change. We can have the joy that Jesus’ talks about here, and still experience grief and anger, sadness and frustration. Those things are part of life, and part of the complexity of human emotions, which God created.  At various times in the gospel stories, we find that Jesus wept, Jesus was angry, Jesus was sad, Jesus was frustrated. Depression and mental health difficulties are also a common part of life for many people, faith or no faith. In the Bible “joy” appears both in the Old Testament, the other gospels and other parts of the New Testament. On every occasion, it’s to do with fullness or ‘being complete’, and with the ultimate deliverance or salvation of God’s people. In John’s gospel, there is a vision that the things promised ‘in the age to come’, that completeness, fullness, ultimate salvation and deliverance, are granted to Jesus’s disciples here and now as we “abide in Christ’s love”. And this hope isn’t just for us alone. It is for the world around us – for Creation, for those who don’t yet know Jesus and the society around us. Jesus chose us. He chose you, each of you, with a purpose to bear fruit in the world, fruit that lasts. This fruit is all-encompassing. Yes, it is the fruit of the Spirit that Paul talks about in Galatians. It’s also responding to injustice through Loving Service with the World, and it is sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, the invitation to abiding in Christ’s love, the invitation to friendship with Jesus, the invitation to have this joy complete in them, as Peter shared in our Acts passage. The invitation is all of these things, and is for all.

It’s important to notice that Jesus links not only ‘the abiding in His love’ but also this joy, with obedience to His commands. When we abide in Christ’s love, obeying His commands, then His joy is in us, and our joy may be complete. Obedience to Christ is not grim or forbidding, despite our understanding of ‘obedience’ in this world. Jesus is a good Lord, He calls us His friends, He let’s us know what He is doing. He let’s us in on His secrets, if you like. This obedience, whole-hearted obedience, brings freedom as we follow Christ. Our obedience makes space for the joy of Christ’s constant, abiding love to be present in our hearts, and it is this that is attractive to others – as they see the joy of Christ’s constant abiding presence in our hearts, and it’s outcome, people will want to know where that comes from – so let’s not hide it!

This week Thy Kingdom Come 2021 begins. I really want to encourage you to take the opportunities to abide all the more in the vine, Jesus, through the 24-7 prayer chain, through the prayer trail and through the other opportunities we will be sharing with you later in the week.

A final thought. Over the next few months, we will be preparing to return properly to our building, having had well over 12 months away from it due to the pandemic. I want to encourage you, particularly over the 3 months that Anthony is on sabbatical, to go deeper in your relationship with Christ. Explore what obedience to Christ looks like in every area of your life, and discover afresh the joy of the abiding presence of Christ’s love as you abide in Him. Out of that will overflow the joy and the fruit of the vine. A vine doesn’t need to strive to produce fruit. It’s what a vine naturally does when it’s branches remain in it, and when the vinedresser prunes it. We are called, not to strive to produce fruit, but to seek to abide in the vine, and when we do that, the fruit will follow.

 

Amen.

 

The content of this blog post was given as a sermon for St Denys Church, Evington for the Zoom service on Sunday 21st March 2021. A link to the audio service can be found here.

The heart of the gospel, the good news, is an invitation to all humanity, an invitation to YOU. An invitation to see and know, believe and trust, obey and follow God, who became human and dwelt amongst us.

YOU are invited to see and know, believe and trust, obey and follow the Miracle Worker, the One who healed the sick, raised the dead and set people free from the power of evil, and still does.

YOU are invited to see and know, believe and trust, obey and follow the One who gave up His position, gave up His life and suffered the most excruciating death, in order to bear much fruit – in order to reconcile the whole world, including you, to Himself.

At the start of our gospel passage, we are told that some Greeks wanted to see Jesus. As they are in Jerusalem for a Jewish festival, we can presume that they are God-fearing, even if they haven’t formally converted to Judaism. In John’s gospel to “see” is to seek, to desire, to know, to understand, to follow Jesus. Jesus doesn’t actually appear to grant their request, or even respond to them directly. Instead, their request becomes a symbol of the request of those of any background who seek to see and know Jesus.  Jesus’ answer is rather cryptic, even bizarre.

Jesus states that “his hour” has come, and offers 3 distinct sayings expanding on this:

1) That a seed/grain cannot produce fruit without falling to the ground and dying. This appears to refer directly to Jesus – it is implied that he will die, in order to be fruitful.

2) Those who love their life will lose it, those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

3) Any servant/disciple of Christ “must follow [Jesus], and where [Jesus is] , there will [the servant/disciple] be also.”

Jesus then returns to talking about ‘his hour’, and in response to His prayer to glorify the Father, a voice comes from heaven – a significant moment for the Jewish leaders, who can’t quite agree on what it is they are hearing – for it to be the voice of God means that this is the Messiah, for God’s voice hasn’t been heard since the last recognised prophets died. The passage concludes with Jesus declaring that the time for the judgement of the world, the time for the ruler of the world to be driven out, the time for Jesus to prepare for death, is near.

As theologian Ian Paul said about this passage, If Jesus will lose His life in order to gain it and be fruitful, and if being a disciple means following Him and going where he goes, then every disciple of Jesus will lose their life, and, by losing it will keep it.

So, is it worth it? That’s for you to decide. This is the God of the Universe who gave His life so that you can have life, and have it to the full. Jesus isn’t a harsh task master unwilling to go where He calls us to go. He is a rabbi, and we are called to be His disciples – we are called to follow so closely to Him that we go where He has already gone. We are gifted, by His grace, a relationship with Him by which we gain eternal life with Him.

If we want to accept the invitation to see and know, believe and trust, obey and follow this Jesus, how do we do this? How do we, as the psalmist asks, ‘stay on the path of purity’? Psalm 119 is the longest psalm, and it is an ode to, a celebration of, God’s Law. As I noted in the bulletin questions, many folk today describe Christianity as a ‘relationship’ rather than following a bunch of rules. If that’s true, how does God’s Law fit in with our faith, and how is it relevant?

Both the Old and New Testaments are clear that obedience to God’s Law is not the ‘key’ that unlocks a relationship with God – which is at the heart of both the Jewish and Christian faiths. This relationship with God is only available as a gift of God’s grace. What God’s law does is reveal who God is, what God’s character is, who it is that we have a relationship with and worship. It reveals to us his will for how we should lead our lives.

The invitation to a relationship with God is available to all without restriction or limit, but to accept the invitation is to accept the cost of being a disciple of Christ. It is to accept that it is not our way that matters, but God’s way. It is to die to self and to give up our lives to God and to others. In consequence, we receive eternal life, just as a seed planted in the ground must die so that it can bear fruit.

The second stanza of Psalm 119 uses 7 of the 8 different Hebrew words for the ‘law’, and highlights 3 key choices that a follower of God needs to make in relation to God’s law:

1) Guard your heart

As fallen human beings, we have a tendency to ‘wander off’, to stray from God’s commands and to live life the way we think we should live. In Hebrew, the heart is where human thoughts occur, the decisions we take about our life, both small and big. There needs to be an intentionality about following God’s ways, actively choosing to know God’s laws, His ways and His will, so that we can actively choose to follow Him. Discipleship doesn’t come naturally. In Luke 9:23, we find another saying of Jesus that sums this up:

“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”

This isn’t a one-off decision, it is a repeated, daily, decision to guard your heart, and choosing to follow Jesus whether we know the precise cost or not.

2) Treasure God’s word

God’s word, God’s law, shows us the character of God. Therefore, the psalmist realises that this is to be treasured in his heart, so that he does not sin against God. The NIV puts this as “having hidden” God’s word in his heart. These descriptions together remind me of a precious memory that we might keep, and internalise. Think about the most precious, treasured object or memory that you have. We know it so well that we can draw on it at every moment of every day, and we never want to let go of it, ever, because it is so precious to us. The Hebrew word used in v11 to refer to God’s word can also be translated as “promise”. Memorise God’s promises. They will sustain you when everything else falls away. Our feelings towards our self, our motivation for reading or listening to God’s written word, and even our feelings towards God may wax and wane as our emotions and experiences change, but when we hide and treasure God’s promises in our hearts, we will know God’s character, know who God is and what He is like, and those are like a candle in a darkened room.

If you are struggling with this at the moment, perhaps ask a trusted Christian friend to remind you of God’s promises.

Start with the promises made to the whole of humanity throughout the Bible. They remain true. Some of you will also have specific, very personal memories of promises made to you by God at particular moments and occasions in your life, directly or through prayer ministry. Hold onto those, too.

3) Delight in God’s ways

In a similar vein, the psalmist twice says that he will ‘delight’ in God’s law – specifically, God’s decrees and statutes. Interestingly, these are two of the words for ‘law’ which most have the sense of a ‘bunch of rules’ – statutes refer to written legislation, decrees are an official order that has legal force. Particularly given that no human being manages to remain sinless, manages not to break God’s law, it might seem strange to delight in them! What is it about these decrees and statutes that might be delight-full? Just as God’s promises show us God’s character, God’s statutes and decrees show us His will, His ways. They express how this God, whose character we have come to know and love and trust wants, us to live. As we know God’s character and His love for us, we can delight in the ways God calls us to live, even though they will require us to die to ourselves and the ways we want to live, because when we know the God who knows us, when we know the God who died for us, we know that we can trust that the way God calls us to live is the best way for us to live. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, not at all. But it is the most fruitful way. It is the way in which our seeds fall to the ground, are buried in soil, die, and grow as seeds of God’s Kingdom to bear much fruit.

Today, YOU are invited to see and know, believe and trust, obey and follow Jesus. You are called to guard your heart, treasure God’s word and delight in God’s ways.

Are you in? Will you “say yes”?

We used the following song as a response. It is a song of surrender. Before you play it, I invite you to spend as much time as you need to consider carefully your answer to this question.

It is not a decision to be taken lightly. It is a decision to die to self, deny yourself and take up your cross, daily. Jesus promises that such a decision will produce much fruit. The choice is yours.

This morning’s psalm, psalm 50, repeatedly calls for God’s people to offer to Him a “sacrifice of thanksgiving”. Today we don’t offer physical sacrifices of animals on an altar, but we can, and should offer all kinds of sacrifices in our hearts. A sacrifice of thanksgiving is just that – offering thanksgiving to God when it is a sacrifice to do so. But for so long, this concept has been used to perpetuate bad theology and unhealthy attitudes to disabilities of all kinds.

The number of times I have had a well-meaning Christian tell me what I should be giving thanks for in my personal, and painful circumstances, are more than I can remember. I just hope that the two fellow students at theological college who gave such a suggestion remember my reaction to it, and that that dissuades them from offering such patronising suggestions to parishioners now under their care!

The other main way the idea of a sacrifice of thanksgiving is used to harm disabled people in the church is by equating an apparent failure to offer such a sacrifice (in the way that the person making the claim thinks a disabled person *should* offer it) with not being miraculously healed. Let’s be clear, this us spiritual abuse, and needs to stop.

However, the ways in which the idea of a sacrifice of thanksgiving have been misused and directed abuse towards disabled people do not mean that God does not require all of His disciples to give thanks at a time when, and in circumstances in which, that would be a sacrifice, including in the midst of our own physical, emotional, mental and spiritual pain associated with our disabilities. All Christians are called to give thanks continually, regardless of circumstances, feelings or thoughts. That does not mean we do not lament, in fact, many psalms of lament give thanks to God.

I will not use this blog post to tell you how you should offer your sacrifice of thanksgiving. I will simply reflect on some of my recent experiences and what they are showing me about the challenge of offering such a sacrifice.

When I read Psalm 50 this morning, to be honest, I felt quite pleased with myself, due to the first experience I will reflect on.

I was born with bilateral talipes, a fairly common form of joint contracture, known as clubfoot. As a baby, this was corrected with extensive soft-tissue surgery – the splitting and lengthening of the tendons in my lower legs and feet. In older childhood/early teenage years, it seems I began to relapse significantly, but due to the way I compensate, this wasn’t fully identified until last summer.

Like many born with clubfoot, I am quite self-conscious about my feet and lower legs. “Clubbie” feet are generally smaller than non-clubbed feet, and “clubbie” calves and legs are usually shorter and thinner than non-clubbed feet. In addition I have poor circulation in my feet, and my relapse means that neither inside edge and bigger toes touch the floor, unless I’m weight-bearing when I compensate by twisting heels, knees and hips to ground them. So often I find myself sat in the shower before bed, running lukewarm/gradually warming water over my feet to bring them back to a temperature where I won’t wake myself up with my cold feet.

Last night as I warmed my feet up, I looked sadly at my feet (now an interesting shade of mauve-blue) and wished they were different. I then found myself actively looking for things to thank God for in relation to my feet, the treatment I have had and am still having, and so on. In my head I know that I am “fearfully and wonderfully made”, “woven together within my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139), but that is much harder to accept in practice when I see my feet and legs that, however much people try to tell me otherwise, look different to my peers, and do not function as “normal feet and legs should”, with all the baggage that comes with living with limited mobility.

I chose to thank God for:

• That I was born with bilateral talipes, so leg length, foot size and calf muscle mass difference are not particularly noticeable
• That the visible nature of my disability makes me vulnerable, and in turn, gives permission for others to be vulnerable in my presence
• That I am fearfully and wonderfully made, with love, by the Creator of heaven and earth
• That I had surgery from the best surgeon in the country, at a specialist hospital which I happened to live less than 5 miles from, as a baby
• For healing me from an undiagnosed neurological condition as a teenager
• That I am now receiving good physio treatment, from a physio that listened to me
• That I have been re-referred to orthotics to get aids that will support my mobility, and that that appointment has come around much quicker than expected, especially in a global pandemic
• That, despite the pandemic, I have seen one consultant and am waiting to see a second, to explore what further treatment (if any) to pursue at present

So I went to bed worshipping God, with thanksgiving in my heart, despite the limitations, pain and poor circulation. Reading Psalm 50, I was close to congratulating myself in this achievement of faith. And then. And then…

And then, I asked the wrong question, at the wrong time, in the wrong context, in the wrong way, hurting someone I love, and, at first not properly registering the non-verbal signals that tell you to back off, so I just kept on digging. *facepalm*. I was devastated. I hate causing people hurt and pain, and yet I seem to do it alarmingly often.

You see, I have dyspraxia. Dyspraxia is part of a family of neuro-diverse conditions, which affect the way that we process the outside world. It’s related to the better known dyslexia. Those that have heard of it think that it’s only to do with gross motor coordination. Whilst that is certainly part of it (which really doesn’t help my already limited mobility), for me it’s the least challenging part of dyspraxia.

For me, one big part of my dyspraxia is that I struggle to pick up non-verbal signals, struggle to moderate the tone and volume of my voice, and find social situations difficult, draining and tiring. In the pandemic, that’s only been amplified by having to communicate via phone and video call, which takes away the few obvious non-verbal signs I have learnt to notice.

As the person I hurt this morning left the call this morning, I crumpled into a dyspraxic ‘melt down’ as emotions of guilt, remorse and frustration flooded over me. As those grew, I realised it was a dyspraxic meltdown, but contrary to helping me process, that realisation just amplified my frustration. You see, we expect children to “grow out of” this kind of reaction at a fairly young age, and many people regard this kind of response as immature and self-centred. So as well as the frustration at my mistake, and my failure to pick it up at first, I was then frustrated by the fact that I had, yet again, ‘given in’ to this kind of response. To be honest I’m still feeling quite fragile now.

I find dyspraxia much harder to offer “a sacrifice of thanksgiving” in the midst of than my clubbed feet. Partly, that’s because, like this morning, people I know and love are hurt as a consequence. I am not one to shy away from necessary conflict, but I hate situations like this morning where the conversation should have been calm and painless, and yet, because of my apparent social and pastoral ineptitude, I’ve caused pain completely unnecessarily. There are other reasons too, like society’s expectations and attitude, but this is probably the main one, and is the main social effect of dyspraxia that still triggers a dyspraxic meltdown.

As I tried to turn my attention to Christ in the midst of my meltdown, I found myself groping and grasping for something to give Him thanks for. I could, of course, have given thanks for who Christ is, His death and resurrection, and our reconciliation with God. I could have given thanks for the majesty of God, for His Creation and His character. These are all very important things to thank God for. But, there are times when we can offer these, less as a sacrifice, and more as a mask to cover up our hatred and loathing- of others or ourselves – rather than thanking God for the things that leave us feeling that way.

In the end, I thanked God for:

• My tender-heartedness which hates to cause pain to others, and so is torn up by a relatively minor incident.
• That, for all my failings, my dyspraxia means that I tend to make those mistakes innocently, rather than maliciously
• That I am reminded, even when I think I’ve “nailed it”, that I always, like every other Christian, daily rely on the grace of God.

This blog post was first shared as a sermon for St Denys Church Evington’s online service on the 1st Sunday of Lent 2021. A shortened recording of the service, including the sermon, will be linked to once it is available.

In the questions in the bulletin, I asked you to think about “what makes something sinful?”

I wonder what answers came to mind?

Some would say that something is sinful when it hurts someone else, or it’s not loving of others, or something that is ‘intrinsically wrong’ in that it offends against our human reasoning. Others might say something is sinful if it is specifically ‘outlawed’ in the Bible.

Very often, we think of sins as specific acts that are wrong
because of the harm and pain they cause. That is certainly true for some of the sins that perhaps first come to mind – wmurder, adultery and lying for example. But when Jesus was in the wilderness, some of the things he was tempted by were not things we would necessarily think of as intrinsicallybwrong – for example, Matthew and Luke tell us that he was tempted by the devil to turn stone into bread, because he had the power to do so, and because he was hungry. It
wouldn’t have hurt anyone to do that, so why would it have been a sin?

“Teach me your ways, O LORD”, pleads the psalmist, in desperation as he faces enemies trying to ‘put him to shame’. Does that sound like a strange thing to be desperate for? To many people today, whether they go to church or not, it is. Our society actively encourages us to live life our way, not the way anyone else would have us live it! I’ve found it helpful to think about sin not in specific acts or thoughts that I should or shouldn’t do or think, but in terms of whose way I choose to live by. Sometimes, we may find that the things we want to do line up with how God is calling us to live, and hopefully, as we grow in faith, that becomes true more often. But I have to be honest, that very often there are things that I want to do which probably don’t line up with God’s ways!

This is really difficult, especially when we can’t see for ourselves why something isn’t the way God wants us to live. Ultimately, this is where our journey with God has to be founded not on ourselves and our own efforts to do right, but on the character of God. In v6-7 The psalmist seems to try to remind God of God’s character, God’s mercy and
steadfast love. I wonder how much this was actually trying to
remind God, or trying to remind himself that that is God’s character! We also get an insight into God’s character from our gospel reading this morning. It’s light on detail, and covers 5 key marker points from early in Jesus’ earthly ministry in just 6 verses, but it is full of allusions and echoes to the Old Testament, which the early Christians would
recognise easily, and which we can recognise too, by digging
deeper into the Old Testament – here are just a few of them:

The dove and Spirit hovering over the water reminds us of
the beginnings of Creation, and offers us a hint that Jesus is the one who brings the new, or renewed, Creation. The dove also points to the account of Noah and the flood, and the promise of a rescue from judgement, and true rest. The whole story has echoes of Ezekiel’s vision, by a river, where he sees heaven opened, and is commissioned for a prophetic ministry promising the return of God’s people from exile – again another hint that Jesus is the one who will bring His people home from exile, not just geographically, but spiritually. Signs of a fulfilment of God’s promises, signs of God’s faithfulness and goodness, hints of God’s mercy and steadfast love to His people, a promise of hope and salvation.

In v8-10 the psalmist shows us another reason why we can trust the LORD. He says:

“Good and upright is the LORD:
Therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
He leads the humble in what is right,
And teaches the humble his way.
All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness,
For those who keep his covenant and his decrees.”

A friend of mine recently shared on social media how one of their toddlers used to get upset at God because the grass was green, rather than blue, which was his favourite colour. It seems quite cute, but it’s a small example of how we often, even when we are too young to do so consciously, want the ways of the world, and of God, to revolve around our wantsband desires. When we try to decide that we know what is
‘right’ better than God, the Creator of the universe, then we
have a problem! True humility makes a person open to listening to God – it acknowledges that the God who created the heavens and the earth and everything in them, including ourselves, knows more than we do, and knows what is best.

A covenant is a partnership in which 2 partners make binding
promises to work together to reach a common goal, a bit like
a contract, but more personal. In ancient Israel, which was an
honour-shame society, to break a covenant would have been a huge cause of shame. The most important and personal covenants were agreed through blood, often of lambs and oxen – such as in Exodus 24.

When we know the God who demands that we live life His
way, when we discover God’s character, of faithfulness, mercy and steadfast love, then living life His way becomes a wholly different suggestion. The grace of God is best revealed in Jesus Christ, but we also see it throughout the Old Testament, the invitation to friendship, and His forgiveness of Israel despite all their failings. Living life God’s way is a response to the God we know, and are known by, the God
who loves us and calls us to love Him too.

In the events of the crucifixion and resurrection, we discover in Jesus a God who loves this world in such a way that he gave His one and only Son, so that the whole world – each of us and the whole of Creation – could be reconciled to Him, through the new covenant Jesus bought with His blood. This new covenant invites us into a relationship with God – corporately, collectively and individually. This covenant is about living life God’s way. The psalmist of psalm 25 is facingbenemies who are seeking to put him to shame, but because of God’s forgiveness, he knows that there is no grounds for putting him to shame. That doesn’t mean that the psalmist is
perfect, far from it – he recognises that he is a sinner(!) – but rather, he knows that he has repented of his sins, is seeking
to live life in God’s paths, rather than his own, and he is forgiven by God so he can do this without being trapped in his past.

Knowing God’s character means that the psalmist can trust God to lead him in the right ways. When we know God’s character, we can trust Him that He will lead us in the right paths.

Discovering God’s character and ways is something all of us can seek to do more of. I encourage you, during this Lent, to spend some time reading, and digging deeper into, the Old Testament. If you’re not sure where to start, or would like someone to help you find some resources to help you make it a habit, talk to a Christian leader you trust.

Some of you will probably know more of God’s character than others. I encourage you to journey together and discover God’s character together, encourage one another and hold each other accountable to living life God’s way. If there is something specific that you know you need someone to journey with you on, to help you live life God’s way, I encourage you to write it down, and call a
trusted friend and ask them to check in with you regularly, and encourage you to live life the way God is calling you to – I will be doing this myself.

Finally, today you might be feeling quite anxious about the
idea of living life God’s way. I invite you, during the next
song, to spend some time bringing your thoughts and
feelings to God, and allowing Him to speak to you and show you who He is, what His character is and draw you deeper into relationship with Him.

This sermon was first shared for St Denys Evington’s Morning zoom service on 17/01/2021. A link to the podcast recording is available here

We are known by a knowable God!

Our gospel reading features two relatively obscure characters. Philip is one of the Twelve, but most of what we know about Him comes from a few specific passages in this gospel, which generally focuses more on Jesus’ actions, rather than those of His disciples.

Philip is a character that is often in the background, and as an introvert myself, I like to think that Philip was, too, and I find the way Jesus directly calls to Philip and extends the invitation to him personally, reassuring. Jesus knows Philip, knows exactly what he needs and what his personal gifts were.

Nathanael is traditionally equated with Bartholomew, listed in the other gospels as one of the Twelve, but not mentioned in John’s gospel, whilst Nathanael is only mentioned here and in John 21, by the Sea of Galilee, after Jesus’ resurrection. Either way, Nathanael, too, is known deeply by Jesus, so deeply that Nathanael declares that Jesus is the Son of God and the king of Israel. Let’s look closer at their exchange.

Having dismissed ‘Nazareth’, perhaps as a place of insignificance, or perhaps because of social prejudice, Nathanael is invited by Philip to “come and see” Jesus for himself. As he approaches, Jesus declares “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!”, to which Nathanael responds “Where did you come to know me?”. To us in a society which is fairly reticent about our personal qualities, such a response can feel rather self-righteous and arrogant, but it is simply that Nathanael has found his character to be recognised, named and affirmed – he is known. To be recognised, named and affirmed by someone can bring much joy, but it’s usually by a good friend or someone that we have a relationship with. Jesus is a stranger to Nathanael, and yet he knows Nathanael, not just by sight, but in the depths of his heart. Naturally, Nathanael wants to know where/how Jesus knew who he was so deeply.

Jesus’ answer seems enigmatic, because John doesn’t tell us about Nathanael until the point at which Philip calls to him. None of us would be able to tell Nathanael what he was doing before Philip called him, and neither Nathanael nor ourselves expect Jesus to be able to either… but he can. John doesn’t tell us what Nathanael was thinking as he was under the fig tree, but he doesn’t need to. What Nathanael was thinking at that point isn’t as important as the fact that Jesus saw him and knew him in a particular geographical place at a particular temporal time. Nathanael knew from this statement that Jesus had divine knowledge of him, and probably, what he was dreaming of, hoping of or thinking about. And just as Jesus knew Nathanael in a way that only God can know, Jesus knows each of us too. This supernatural knowledge of something that no one else knows is something that Christians still discover to be true of God today, and yes, sometimes, it can be a bit freaky!

I was once at a Christian talk where a trustworthy story was shared of a man who received prayer ministry, and in that time, one of the people ministering to him described, in detail, down to the contents of the desk draws, his private home office. Understandably, he said “you have really freaked me out, no-one, no-one, sees inside my office, not even my wife, but I now know that God sees inside my office, because you have just described in perfectly!” We are deeply, personally, intimately known by God. You are deeply, personally and intimately known by God.

I wonder, can you think of a time when have you found yourself to be known by God?

It might have been through someone else’s ministry, it might have been an encounter in Creation, it might have been something quiet, or dramatic. It could have been in a worship service, in a private time of prayer, or simply as you went about your day.

The story of Samuel’s call has always been a particular personal favourite of mine – a child called by name, by God, in the night. I first knew I was known by God when, age 6, I had a vision of Jesus at the end of my bed one night. He had brown skin, with brown hair and beard, was wearing a purple robe and sandals, with light shining all around him. He came to me when I was afraid, having recurring nightmares, and having called my name, spoke words that brought peace despite me not understanding them, and held me close, as a father holds a frightened child.

The even more amazing news is that not only does God know us deeply, personally and intimately, He wants a relationship with us, both as His Body the church, and as individuals, a relationship that is deep, personal and intimate. Through dreams and visions, words of knowledge and pictures and even particular smells, touch or tastes, He reveals to His disciples His heart and His longings for the world He created, and each person created by Him to be known by Him and to know Him.

You might feel that the stories I’ve shared earlier, of my own early encounter with Christ, and the man who found his private study known in detail by God, to be rare occasions. For us in the UK, we certainly hear of these stories much less that we would in other parts of the world. But that doesn’t mean that God cannot or does not speak to people in the UK, and certainly doesn’t mean that he does not or will not speak to you. Samuel’s story is introduced by the statement that, in Israel, God’s chosen people, “The word of the LORD was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.” We know from the previous chapter, that God did speak through ‘men of God’, and Eli eventually recognises that it is God calling Samuel, so it is reasonable to think that this wasn’t completely beyond Eli’s experiences. What is sad is that, of anyone, Eli, a descendent of Aaron, entrusted with the priesthood, should have been one of the first to recognise God’s voice, and should have known and honoured God’s character, and he failed to do so, because of his continued and repeated sin, even after he had received the word from the man of God in chapter 2. Because of Eli and his sons’ sins, God was now removing the power and authority given to his family, and calling Samuel to lead His people. Samuel is invited to know God and recognise God’s voice.

The passage doesn’t tell us how old Samuel was, but historical Jewish scholars, such as Josephus, suggested he was around 11 years old. Samuel is called by God, God already knows him, but we are told that “Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.” The only ways in which Eli comes out positively in this story is how he responds once he realises that it is God calling Samuel. He teaches Samuel not to withhold any of what God gives him to speak, even though it is a serious, almost ultimate judegment on Eli and his household – the word of God should not be ignored, dismissed or devalued. Eli also teaches Samuel, however belatedly, to know God and recognise God’s voice.

In the Old Testament, there are specific individuals chosen and called by God to know Him, walk with Him and know His character, desires and plans for His people. The relationship between God and His people was mediated through particular individuals, such as Moses, Samuel, Elijah and the prophets. The good news of the gospel is that in Jesus Christ, God became flesh, dying on the cross and being raised to life to reconcile us to God, so that the relationship between us, God’s people, and God no longer needs another mediator.

At Pentecost, the promise made through the prophet Joel was fulfilled:

“Then afterwards

I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;

Your sons and daughters shall prophesy

Your old men will dream dreams

And your young men will see visions.”

How God speaks to us, calls us and makes known to us His character, desires and plans for His people, collectively and individually, in different ways, because we are known by God. This God we are known by is a know-able God.  He calls us to know Him, and he invites us to know Him more, and more and more. We can’t comprehend or understand God’s ways or how they work, but we can know God’s character and desires, and, at the right time, He reveals His plans for us and to us.

We are known by a knowable God. You are known by a know-able God.

At the beginning of the service, we asked you to get some paper or a notebook, and a pen or pencil. Journalling is something that can help us listen to God, and remember what God has shown us about who He is, and what He has done. We’re going to spend 5min now using this to help us to respond to what God is showing us today, with a couple of questions:

Do you know yourself to be known by God? What would mean that you know you are known by God today or in this coming week? Be specific, this will help you to notice God making Himself known to you!

Do you feel or think that you know God? If you are not sure that you have ever known God and His character, ask Him to make Himself known to you. If you know that you know God, ask Him to reveal more of His character, desires and plans to you.

You might notice God speaking to you in different ways – through a song, through music, through an object in front of you or something around you, through words of knowledge, through the Bible or through pictures, and lots of other ways – we are all different!

The psalms provide a wealth of ways in which to express the whole of ourselves to God- praise, lament, joy and repentance, even rage, are expressed in the psalms that we see in the Bible. Some are directed to God, some are directed to oneself (often as a call to trust in God, or turn back to God), some are even addressed to or a response to enemies that seem to be gloating at the suffering of the writer.

Something that I have found helpful, particularly in times where I feel lost and without a rudder, as I have done during the Covid pandemic, is to write my own psalm to God, expressing the complexity of my thoughts and emotions. Here is mine. Why not give it a go yourself?

How long, O LORD?

How long will this virus reek havoc in our world?

How long until we can sing your praise together again?

How long until we see death defeated and loneliness and isolation are no more?

How long until we can hug each other once more?

How long until I can know the touch of love and care?

How long until I can feel your presence again?

How long will you hide your face from me?

How long, O LORD?

I recall your goodness, your mighty deeds,

I remember your power, how you moved mountains, healed the sick, raised the dead, provided food in the wilderness and water in the desert.

Your ways, O God, are holy.

What god is as great as our God?

You are the God who performs miracles.

You display your power among the peoples,

With your mighty power and outstretched arm,

You rescued your people.

The waters saw you, God,

The waters saw you and writhed;

The very depths were convulsed.

Your wind blew back the waves,

Your path led through the sea,

Your way through the mighty waters,

Though your footprints were not seen.

By your Spirit, O LORD, drive back the waves of this virus, make a way through this fearsome terror. Lead you people to share the hope of Christ, and to rejoice in your goodness. AMEN.

I’ve had a few requests to share my sermon from this morning on Exodus 14:19-end and Matthew 18:21-end. The audio is available via the link. The sermon starts at approx. 5:50min in. Audio of sermon here

It was a huge storm. A ferocious wind was blowing so hard that the water in front of us was driven back. Waves were roaring, the sound drowned out any other noise. A wall of blazing fire, blocking the way of the army bearing down behind. Terrifying. An almighty show of power from the almighty and sovereign God. The Israelites may have been God’s people, and God was fighting for them, but I
have no doubt that this unfathomable experience terrified them as much as the Egyptians on the other side of the cloud, which to them looked like an impenetrable wall of darkness.

Equally unfathomable, and almost unimaginable was the debt that the first slave owed in the parable we’ve just heard. 10000 talents was a debt equal to 1000x the then annual revenue of Galilee, Judea, Samaria and neighbouring Idumea combined. Barely comprehensible as a sum of money, impossible to repay, literally a lifetime of debt.

Very often when we read this parable, the focus turns to the incredibly difficult and costly demand asked of each disciple – that we forgive our brother or sister from our heart, or not receive the forgiveness of God.

Compared with accepted rabbinical thought, Peter is being astoundingly gracious and generously merciful to suggest offering forgiveness 7 times – the recommended number was 3 times!
Contemporary and modern practical human wisdom, would probably agree with the rabbis, or at least, with the idea of putting a limit on forgiveness, and we know in ourselves that when we are wronged we want what we call ‘justice’, which can so often grow into vengeance and exaggerated retribution. And yet Jesus, astonishingly, demands of us unlimited forgiveness. To our minds, it seems foolish, unjust and unnatural. Intentionally using the same phrase as the dubious character of Lamech from Genesis 4, Jesus contrasts the extravagance of forgiveness required of the disciple to the extravagance of Lamech’s desire. Jesus’ teaching here is so astoundingly difficult, that it feels almost impossible for one disciple to repeat it to another here, today, let alone to expect ourselves and others to somehow manage to fulfil it.

Despite us always being drawn to what is demanded of us, the focus of the parable is rather on the costly mercy of the king. This king gives up a debt so huge that it would take the slave multiple
lifetimes to repay even a small portion of it. In comparison, the debt anyone owed to the first slave was microscopic. In the contemporary culture, as it was in England and many other countries for a long time, it was entirely acceptable to imprison someone who could not pay a debt and this slave could have been imprisoned for life. The king is willing to give up his rightful recompense, vengeance
and retribution, because the slave pleads for mercy. Costly forgiveness changes lives, it brings a freedom that once received cannot leave us the same as before. That is why the merciful king is so furious at the first slave’s lack of mercy towards his fellow slave.

Forgiveness is costly. It requires us to give up our desire for vengeance, and instead trust God to bring justice. It requires us not to ‘forget’ the pain that was caused to us, but rather to choose not to recall, dwell on or seek the repayment of that pain upon the one who caused us pain. It requires us to relinquish bitterness, resentment and our desire to control the future to protect ourselves and those we love.

The events at the Red Sea show us the awesome power of the God we worship. Just before God
intervenes, the Israelites, in great fear cry out that it “would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness”. Note that it isn’t the fear of attack from the Egyptians,
there and then, that they are afraid of, it is the fear of the unknown, the fear of crossing into a freedom which they have never seen and cannot imagine. Remaining in a known oppression felt safer than stepping into an unknown freedom.

Holding onto pain and hurt from others’ sin against us grows and becomes resentment that
oppresses us, but so often, like the Israelites, the fear of the unknown, of not knowing how justice will be delivered with a future is beyond our control and fear for what that means for us and our loved ones makes us reluctant to step into the freedom open to us in Christ if we receive forgiveness and offer that to those who have hurt us. Resentment imprisons us, and stops us from receiving the gift of freedom and life that God wants to give us. It can stop us making decisions for our future, it can affect us physically, as well as emotionally. Most serious of all, it stops us from receiving the
forgiveness of God, hardening our heart so that we cannot see how great a mercy God has shown us in Jesus Christ.

All forgiveness is costly. On our own, it would indeed be not only impossible to do, but impossible to think we could do. The only way anyone can is in response to the abundant mercy and forgiveness offered to each of us by a sovereign and almighty God. The cross isn’t mentioned in Matthew 18, but even as Jesus shares this parable with his disciples, He knows just how costly the forgiveness that He
models will be for Him. The debt each of us owes God through our sin is far larger than even the
largest possible financial debt, even in our age of billionaires.

The good news that faith in Jesus offers is that the sovereign and almighty God is a life-giving and
freedom-giving God.

The king in the parable writes off the debt. King Jesus pays the debt we owe Him for us, so that we
can be reconciled to Him, and the only right response to the mercy and forgiveness we have
received is to make a conscious choice to forgive those who have hurt us.

Forgiveness is very costly, but the one who requires us to forgive others paid a price for our forgiveness far greater than any price we could afford.

There are many ways we could respond to this parable. But I simply want to leave us with a couple of questions:

1) Have you received the forgiveness of God that changes your life?

It is only out of the forgiveness of God that we have received that we can find the reason to forgive
others. Without having received forgiveness from God, we will not be able to forgive those who have hurt us. In His Son, Jesus, The God who blew back the sea to bring freedom to the Israelites bought our freedom paying a price bigger than any financial value, to buy it, by dying on the cross to redeem ourselves to Him.

Come to the cross, and consider what you see. Jesus paying our debt for us through His blood. It
sounds gruesome, but the debt we owe to God is our lives, so Jesus paid it for us with the only life that can fully pay it – His own.

You may have come to the cross before, or this may be the first time. Either way, spend time
receiving the grace and mercy that Jesus pours out to you, so that you can give it out to others and carry to them the gift of life and freedom.

2) Are there people you need to forgive so that you can receive freedom and life from God? Is
resentment stopping you from receiving the forgiveness that is available for you in Jesus
Christ?

Forgiveness is not a one-time thing. It is not even a limited time thing. Just as Jesus still bears the scars of the wounds of the cross after His resurrection, the scars of the wounds you have suffered will likely remain, reminding you of the pain you have experienced. But our God is a redeeming God, a God who buys freedom with His own blood. Bring your pain to Him, and seeing His scars and pain,
a conscious choice can be made to trust the One who knows, more than anyone else, the true cost of forgiveness. The unknown future is scary, but it is in the hands of the sovereign and almighty God who will ensure that justice is done. The invitation of life and freedom is offered, will you choose to
receive it?

A recording of this sermon is available here:

As a twin, the story of Esau and Jacob, or, as it is better known, “Jacob and Esau”, has always intrigued me. I am extremely thankful for my precious relationship with my twin sister.

Sadly, Esau and Jacob’s relationship was defined from the moment of their birth, when Jacob emerged clutching at Esau’s heel – an image that echoes a Hebrew idiom for deceit and dishonesty. From the moment they were born, Esau and Jacob were rivals, rivals for their parents’ favour and for God’s blessing.

Imagine being so desperate for God’s blessing that you are prepared to do anything to get it – including dressing up as your brother and deceiving your blind and ailing father.

Imagine too, being the other twin, the older twin, cheated out of the birth-right and blessing that is rightfully yours, by your lazy brother who didn’t even bother to go out and hunt to provide the special food to your father! Are you angry?

Esau is so angry that he threatens to kill Jacob in revenge.

We enter the story as he sets out on his journey.

You may want to close your eyes. Imagine what it would be like to have the dream that Jacob has.

As you sleep, a stairway, ladder, or perhaps a slope or hill appears, reaching heaven. On it, you see angels moving up and down towards and away from heaven. At the top is the LORD, the God that your father and grandfather had spoken about, but that you never really knew, but had longed to do so, speaking to you, and giving you a three-fold promise:

God promises you:

• the land on which you lie to you and your descendants. You recognise this as the family promise, given also to your father and grandfather.
• that through you and your offspring, all nations on earth will be blessed.
• to be with you, watch over you in all your journeys and bring you back to the land of the promise

It’s pretty amazing and awesome – as Jacob himself says in response. How would you respond?

Jacob set up a sacred place there, a place to which he would later return and build an altar to the LORD. But this promise, in this dream, is not for you! This promise and this dream were a continuation of the history of the promise made to the patriarchs, and the story of how God chooses a people for Himself. A select family, from which many were excluded – Esau, Ishmael and Lot, and their descendants.

Jacob was striving to obtain a blessing from a God he did not know and did not have experience of – his experience of the LORD was so limited that he did not recognise until this manifest encounter that he was in God’s presence. Sometimes, we, like Esau, wonder how God can choose so arbitrarily, but the whole point about God’s blessing is that it is something we cannot earn or obtain for ourselves.

Jacob discovered this the hard way through a broken relationship with his twin brother, separation from his father and mother and an exile from the land of the promise, all consequences of him trying to obtain the blessing he so craved in his own strength. Yet, as he fled from his brother, he discovered that God gives His blessing out of grace. It involved NO effort on his part – he didn’t even realise he was in God’s house and at the gateway to heaven.

Before Christ, God’s relationship with humanity was concentrated through a particular family, chosen by God’s grace, in spite of their own failings, it left many excluded from God’s grace. Before Christ, the chosen people of God are a selected family. But…

Through Christ you can receive a grace so much greater than the blessing that Jacob received. Through the Spirit, we are adopted as children of God. As children of God, we are co-heirs with Christ, and so we get to freely experience all the benefits that Christ won on the cross.

All history turns on the events of Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension. In Christ we can receive the gracious gift of the Spirit of Life.

This LIFE is an alternative existence only experienced by those who have believed in Jesus Christ. Someone living the new life of the Spirit is:

• Freed from the law and so lives beyond the reach of the Law’s penalty
• Living according to a new system or principle. Now, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is what governs their existence – their direction has turned towards God and the LIFE that He gives in the Spirit

The Life that the Spirit gives is both the new quality existence already enjoyed here and now, and our future, eternal existence with God.

Paul seems to suggest that, with the Holy Spirit, we can do what our sinful bodies cannot do – live according to God’s law. How?

1. The Spirit dwells IN believers & empowers them to fulfil ‘the just requirements of the law’ – that is the spirit of the law, the ways that God desires, rather than their own desires, which Paul calls ‘the deeds of the body’ which are in contradiction to God’s ways. The Spirit gives the desires of God to them, so that they share in those desires and want to live God’s way.
2. The Spirit:
   1. Leads believers
   2. Witnesses to them that they are God’s children
   3. Intercedes for them with sighs too deep for words

Unlike the blessing given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, this LIFE in the Spirit is open to all, open to everyone who believes in Jesus Christ. When we believe in Jesus Christ, the Spirit lives in us, and enables us to live in accordance with God’s desires, so, as children of God, adopted with an inheritance,

• We are not slaves, so we have no reason to fear
• By the Spirit we are able to have an intimate relationship with God – we call Him “Abba” which is an intimate Aramaic term that children would use with their own fathers – like ‘Dad’ or ‘Daddy’.

 

Take a moment to let that sink in.//

 

It is the EVIDENCE of the Spirit living in us – through the fruits and gifts of the Spirit being demonstrated in our lives – which shows that we belong to Christ, that we are children of God.

Some of you listening here today may be unsure whether you are a child of God, and you may feel uncomfortable with the idea of calling God something so intimate as “Dad” or “Daddy”. You may have always thought you needed to have a ‘formal’ relationship with God as ‘Lord’ and ‘King’. God is indeed ‘Lord’ and ‘King’, He longs for an intimate relationship with you as well. If this resonates with you, I invite you to use the time of response that follows to ask the Spirit to testify to your spirit that you are a child of God, and to help you to cry out to God ‘Abba, Father’.

It is also a sad reality that sometimes our relationships with our earthly fathers are broken, and so that can make it hard to see God as an intimate, loving, Father. If you find yourself in this situation, I encourage you to use the time of response to ask the Spirit to bring healing to your pain and hurt and enable you to understand something more of the Good father-heart of God, as God intended fathers to be.

 

If, as you have listened to this, you have realised that you have never consciously chosen to live according to the ways of the Spirit, I invite you to make that choice now, by praying this simple prayer with me:

“Lord Jesus, I thank you that through your death on the cross, I can be set free from the law of sin and death. Please forgive me for living life ‘my way’ rather than your way. I choose today to live life as you want me to live. Please fill me with your Holy Spirit, so that I may have the desire and power to live according to your ways, and know myself to be a child of God, calling you ‘Abba, Father’.” Amen.

If you have prayed this prayer, I invite you to contact me, a Christian you know, or a church local to you so that you can be supported and encouraged you as you take this step.

Finally, if you know with confidence that you are a child of God, I invite you to draw closer to God during our response time and discover more of what it means to be a co-heir with Christ, participating fully in the benefits won by Christ in His death and resurrection.

 

Amen.