At the prayer meeting on Wednesday we were praying about yesterday’s Seminar and about revival in God’s church. During that time, I had a picture form in my mind about the present state of the Lord’s Church—undoubtedly inspired from Dr Paul Brand’s book, “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made”. If we are theBride of Christ, how must we look to Him now—wounded, downtrodden, sidelined, unclean? Why would He still care about us? Well, the truth is that God is faithful to His promise (haven’t I been saying that for the past few weeks!) and He does still care, and He still has an expectation for us to continue to be who we are meant to be. And the Church being relevant in our time is about how we do this—we are still the Body of Christ, Jesus still has expectations of us and at the core of those expectations are that we love God with all our heart and soul and spirit and that we love others (including our enemies!) as Jesus has loved us. We serve a faithful God who honours His promises, as His Bride we must be faithful to Him.

Speaking of brides and husbands, George and Val Tengvall will be celebrating 60 years of marriage on Tuesday—that’s a really good innings! Well done both of you. In an age where faithfulness in relationships is taken far too lightly, you have set an example for all of us. Thank you for doing that. Your faithfulness toGod, to your family, to your friends and to each other has been amazing. I (and no doubt others) have been privileged to glimpse into your life through photographs and personal observation. Yes, life has no always been easy and as the years pass so we do tend to overlook the troubled times, but you havepressed on regardless through your unwavering faith in God and trust in His provision for you. May the Lord continue to bless you and your family. (Here’s a tip … never stop telling your stories to your family. Only now am I beginning to appreciate the wonderful stories which my grandfather shared with me when I was still a very young boy. And I am beginning to really appreciate my heritage.)

There are a couple of new and exciting events on the “What’s Up” page of the newsletter. First the Merredin congregation BBQ and Bonfire at the Higgins’ on Sunday evening September 12th. We do sometimes tend to forget that Christians can also have fun (and lots of it!). Love to see you there! Next is the Merredin Congregation Garage Sale on October 9th at the church. The men are going to be running the Garage Sale and the ladies will be doing …. Well, whatever it is that ladies do. I’m sure that whatever it is, it will be beautiful and tasty. Margie and I are really excited about Tegan and Quinten joining us. They will arrive on October 1st and spend some time in Merredin before Tegan starts her Midwifery Bridging Course in Perth. Quinten already has one temporary volunteer job lined up to rewire a car in Merredin. Anyone else needing autoelectric work? He’s was trained at Mercedes Benz so he should be OK(and, of course, he was allowed to marry our daughter!!!)

Love you
David

The Barefoot Café is now open. If you are in town at lunchtime why not bring your lunch to the church enjoy an hour of fellowship & tea with your mates.

There will be “Table Tennis, Talking & Tucker”. It is a great chance for some fellowship, have a break from work and to have some fun!

Hope to see you there on weekdays!

God’s Richest Blessings

When God is with us, it changes our lives fairly dramatically. First, as we have seen in the case of the Philippian jailer, it creates the situation that people want to be with us. They want what we’ve got. They are attracted to who we are when God is with us.
Then we saw that His Presence with us is a covenant promise – a promise that God will never break. Moses held God to this promise when the Lord was angry with the people in the Exodus, after they had made the golden calf. Jesus also confirmed that promise by saying that He would never leave us nor forsake us. God’s Presence with us is the mark of our identity.
Last week, as we examined the meaning of “David’s fallen tent” first mentioned b y the prophet Amos and to which James referred in the Council of Jerusalem, we saw that God really wants to be with us. His heart is that there be no barriers, no walls, no special “holy places” – where ever we are, and He is, will be the holy place.

So today I want to ask the question.
Can we simply presume upon the presence of God with us?
No, we can’t.
Yes, it is true that God wants to be present with everybody but He is holy and He cannot entertain any unrighteousness in His Presence. And because of original sin – the sin of Adam; because of the invasion of sin into every aspect of life; because of the ongoing temptation of the devil (and our easy submission to that temptation) – we find ourselves separated from God.
God cannot be with us in this state of our being. The world, the flesh and the devil conspire to keep us separated from God.
But God Himself, made it possible for us to return to righteousness through the atoning death of Jesus. He paid the price for our sin, by His blood, we are forgiven and healed. We can contribute nothing to what Jesus has done other than acceptance of that redemption.
And herein lies a big problem.
We say: Jesus died for my sins, therefore I am saved, and then we go on to live our lives just as we please.

We cannot do that if we have accepted the atoning sacrifice of Christ. We have been bought at a price, we have been ransomed and my full and undiluted acceptance of my hard bought freedom is crucial to the Presence of God in my life.

Just listen to God’s response to Solomon’s prayer for the blessing of the Temple … it’s the second part of the response (the one we don’t read). The first part is really good – God says that if we pray then he will hear us and respond from heaven. Wonderful good news but now listen to the second part….
2 Chronicles 7:19-22
“But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 21 And though this temple is now so imposing, all who pass by will be appalled and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ 22 People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why he brought all this disaster on them.’”

Solomon had prayed only for blessings, he had not included in his prayer any consequences for when Israel failed to live up to God’s requirement.
But for God there is always a consequence for disobedience – and that consequence is separation. “I will uproot Israel from my land; I will reject the Temple” (and that, by the way, was the mark of God’s Presence).

There are conditions for God’s Presence with us. Its not a set of rules but a way of life. Or perhaps I should say, a new way of life.

Within all the Sunday School stories that we remember from our childhood; in our daily reading of God’s Word, this is the base line message. God wants to bring us to a new way of life – He wants us to begin again.
We can’t just change our lives, give up bad habits or follow New Year resolutions. We have to start all over – from a new beginning.
Jesus made that so clear to Nicodemus in John 3 and yet, even as a Bible Scholar, he struggled at first to understand it. We have to be born again, we have to have a fresh start.
Jesus spoke about being born of water and the Spirit – born of water is not baptism, it is birth into this world. We are all born of water (except I suppose, if you have a caesarian birth). The waters break and the baby is born into this world, but to enter into God’s Kingdom, into the place of God’s Presence we must be born again – of the Spirit.
John 3:5-7
Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’

Flesh gives birth to flesh – the first birth, the birth by water; but Spirit gives birth to spirit – born again of the Spirit of God.

Our struggle is, that after being born of water (into this world) we end up finding ourselves contaminated by the sin which is inherent in it. In order to find ourselves in God’s Presence we must be born again of the Spirit (as Jesus puts it) or filled with the Spirit (as Luke describes it) or we must receive the gift of the Spirit (as Peter says in his sermon on the day of Pentecost.)

After preaching that sermon, which simply told the story of God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ and which ended by saying that Jesus was both Lord and Christ, the people were cut to the heart and wanted to know what they should do.
Acts 2:37-47
37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Verse 38 – Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

At the heart of our response to God’s love must be repentance, and with it comes salvation and the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is the born-again life which Jesus spoke about to Nicodemus; it is the life in which we know the Presence of God with us because we are forgiven.

So what is repentance? I described it just a few weeks ago – it is a realization that I am on the wrong road: That the path which I am following is leading to destruction. I have to get back on the right road. I have to follow the way of Jesus. And its more than just a direction, it’s a way of life – its no wonder that the earliest followers of Jesus called themselves “the Way”. They were following a new way, they were headed in a new direction.

When I come to repentance, I must strip off my fancy clothes which are hiding my reality. Underneath my “Superman” outfit is the real me. I desperately need God in my life, I need Him to be near me, I need Him to give me life and purpose. I need Him to help me understand, I need His Presence, or I am lost.
And every time I kneel humbled before God in repentance
(for it needs to happen often), He puts His arms around me and hugs me. Like the father of the Prodigal Son, He already has a new robe for me, a ring for my finger and a fatted calf to celebrate.
And then He brings me into community of forgiven sinners and we break bread together and we share our stories and our blessings.

When the Spirit comes it is not only a spiritual and emotional high – this can happen: the Presence of God with us will bring what Martin Lloyd Jones called “An unspeakable joy”. We may even speak in tongues, because we need another language to express our praise, and we may be so overwhelmed by the Presence of God that we can no longer stand up. These experiences are all described in the Bible as associated with the infilling of the Spirit.
But something else also happens when the Presence of God comes upon us. And this is of more long lasting tenure. In the Old Testament, and even in the Gospels, we read of the Spirit coming only upon certain people and/or for a limited purpose, but from Pentecost on we have something entirely different. Each person coming to God in repentance is filled with the Spirit and the Presence of the Lord remains as long as they maintain the relationship and keep their lives pure.
The very first Christian believers called this “The Way” – they were living in the Way of Christ, following Him and trusting Him in every aspect of life and faith. And it was not kept up by following the ritual of the Jews – it really was a new way of living.

When the Spirit came they found themselves in community – a group of forgiven sinners – filled with awe at the Presence of God with them.
They met together and shared together, they broke bread together and they all had glad and sincere hearts. And they enjoyed the favor of the people.

Something dramatic happened!
Old grievances fell away, hurt feelings were mended, a new life began as they repented before the Lord and forgiveness was given by God and from each other.
Their lives began to bear the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

When the Spirit comes our lives are changed.
In the Presence of God we cannot harbor grievances and selfish ambition. Our attention is to the Lord and our love is for each other. Pettiness, strife and dissension falls away in the wake of this newfound purpose.

I believe that one of reasons why this sense of new life and new community seems to fail continuously is because we have tried to make it a once-off event in our life.
If I have been filled with the Spirit, how could I fall away?
The truth is that we are constantly bombarded by “the world, the flesh, and the devil” and our choices are sometimes not good. I am tempted by what the world has to offer, I give in to the desires of the flesh and the devil is forever at my heels.

But confession, repentance, renewal and the infilling of the Spirit are ongoing features of the Christian life. Peter was filled with the Spirit several times in the Book of Acts. These things are intended to be ongoing features of our walk with Jesus.

If sin has a foothold in your life, if you have a grievance, or are harbouring a hurt, if you are at odds with God or another person, confess it to God – ask for forgiveness and don’t walk that way again.

When the early church was faced with a problem, they met together to seek answers in the Scriptures, in discussion and in prayer.
Here in Acts 15 we have one of the early problems in the church. It’s the question about who can be saved.

Salvation, in those days, as it still is today, was much more than just the fact that you will be “saved” from judgment (by the atoning death of Jesus). Salvation means that you are saved from the inevitability of the direction of your life. Because of sin, inherited, imputed and real, each person born into his world is headed for destruction.
Although God initiated this destruction because of original sin, it has never been what He really wants. In 2 Peter 3:9 we read that “God does not want anyone to perish, but rather that everyone would come to repentance.”
Repentance is about “turning around”; it is about recognizing that the path ahead is fraught with danger. It is about finding Jesus as the Way of salvation.

So here at the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15, we are witnesses to a debate. There are those who think that the way of salvation is found only through God’s promise to Abraham and through the customs taught by Moses.
And then there are those who think that salvation is for those to whom God has given the Holy Spirit.
At this time, James, the brother of Jesus, is the leader of the Church. He listens to the various arguments and then he turns to the Scriptures and quotes a fairly obscure Scripture from the prophet Amos about God rebuilding David’s fallen tent and rules, on the basis of this, that God has decided to save the Gentiles too, and that would be wrong to force them to comply with all the rules and customs of Moses.

We so often read things in the Bible without thinking about what they mean – that’s why Bible Study is more important that Bible reading.

So what is David’s fallen tent and why do James and the Council of Jerusalem use this argument to justify God’s wider grace.

To understand we must go back to 2 Samuel 6.
2 Samuel 6:1-17
David again brought together out of Israel chosen men, thirty thousand in all. 2 He and all his men set out from Baalah of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on the ark. 3 They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart 4 with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. 5 David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals.
6 When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7 The LORD’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God.
8 Then David was angry because the LORD’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah.
9 David was afraid of the LORD that day and said, “How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?” 10 He was not willing to take the ark of the LORD to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it aside to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 11 The ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the LORD blessed him and his entire household.
12 Now King David was told, “The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went down and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. 13 When those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. 14 David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, 15 while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.
16 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.
17 They brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the LORD.

Saul, the first king of Israel is dead, David has conquered Jerusalem and his desire is to bring the Ark back to the city.
The Ark was the sign of God’s Presence – God had a place above the Mercy Seat (the lid of the Ark), between the Cherubim. It was God’s symbolic throne, even more than that. It was where the Moses and the High Priest met with God on the journey from Egypt in the Exodus.
After the arrival in the Promised Land, the Ark had been somewhat neglected during Joshua’s Campaign to occupy the land. Through the period of the Judges, it was not treated with much significance. It did however have a place at Shiloh, which was where the most senior of the Judges resided. The most notable of these was Samuel.
During this time, it seems that the enemies of Israel attached more significance to the Ark than did Israel itself. They captured it several times, convinced that it had some kind of magic which would give them victory. However, every time they captured it, that “magic” brought problems and the Ark would end up in Israel’s hands again.
Finally, the Ark found a home at Abinadab’s home. He became the keeper of the Ark and he prospered greatly – his fields were lush, his cattle were fat and his sheep were plentiful. Clearly the Presence of the Lord brought great blessing to Him.

And so David wanted to bring the Ark to Jerusalem, the new capital city of the Promised Land. He set out with thirty thousand chosen men to fetch it and a new cart to carry it. (2 Samuel 6:1)There were musicians aplenty and David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might – until they reached the threshing floor of Nacon.
The oxen stumbled, Uzzah reached out to steady the Ark and suddenly he was struck down dead. David was confused and angry and afraid – He left the Ark right there at the home of Obed-Edom and went home.
Then he heard that Obed-Edom was being blessed by the Presence of the Ark. And no doubt David did a bit of research about the Ark because when he went back to fetch it three months later he didn’t bring a new cart but the Levitical Priests, who were the only ones authorized to carry the Ark.
They heaved it onto their shoulders and set out – six steps and they stopped to make a sacrifice. David wanted to make sure that everything was right. The Bible doesn’t exactly say that they made more than one sacrifice but the implication is that they made a sacrifice after every six steps (2 Samuel 6:13 says “When those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf”) – if that’s the case it would have taken a long time to get to Jerusalem. David certainly wanted to do it right!

And then at last we get to Jerusalem and the Ark is placed inside the tent which David had pitched for it.
Aha! Here is David’s tent at last. The one which James referred to at the Council of Jerusalem which extended God’s grace to the Gentiles.
And its not like the Tabernacle at all. The Hebrew word for the Tabernacle is “mishkan” but this tent is an “a-el”. This kind of tent is simply a shelter – a roof whose walls were only lowered for protection. It was like a Bedouin tent.

David has read the Pentateuch – he knows how the Ark is to be treated. He knows who is to carry it and how it is to be treated. He has, perhaps gone a bit overboard in the number of sacrifices and extent of praise which he offers, but he’s done everything right – except for one thing, and its crucial. The Ark is to be kept in a special kind of tent – an enclosed tent, a “mishkan”.
Instead, he puts it into an “a-el”. David’s tent has no sides to it, no barriers – just a roof. Its open to the world, and the Ark is put there. God’s Presence is placed right in the midst of the people. There’s no walls like the Tabernacle would have had – no inner chamber, into which only the High Priest could enter. Its not like the Temple which David’s son, Solomon was to build – there’s only a roof over the Ark. Anyone who wants to come to God has complete freedom.

And that’s what James and the council at Jerusalem realized.
In Jesus and by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, God had come amongst His people. There were now no more barriers. God had started a new initiative – He had come to us. And anyone who turned to God would find Him.
There were no constraints, no barriers, no limitations. There was no particular door you had to pass through, no special title or privilege you needed in order to find yourself in the Presence of God.

God was now with us.
Acts 15:8 tells us that “God, who knows the heart, has given the Holy Spirit to everyone who turns to Him”.

As I have been saying through this series, it is the Presence of God with us which sets us apart – which makes us God’s own. And the Holy Spirit within us is the mark of that Presence.
On the day of Pentecost, after Peter had preached, the people cried out ,”What must we do?” And Peter responded, repent and be baptized and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

God has taken away the barriers – all He wants is for us to come to Him. In repentance we leave behind all the things which we have created as barriers – our sin, our pride, our self-centeredness – and we come to God “within the veil, into that Holy Place” of His Presence.

On Saturday the 28th of August Rev Dr Chris Walker will be conducting a seminar titled, “Relevant Church”.

Chris Walker is the National Consultant for Theology & Discipleship for The Uniting Church in Australia. Chris has served in a range of positions and places in the Uniting Church including local church ministry in three congregations in NSW, as a regional education and mission officer, and consultantfor evangelism and discipleship, in Queensland, as principal of Parkin-Wesley College in SA, and as a mission resource officer for Parramatta-Nepean Presbytery.

Chris has a passion for theology, mission and discipleship. His interest in writing has resulted in various publications including  five books, “Seeking Relevant Churches for the 21st Century” and most recently “Peace Like A Diamond: facets of peace” and “Living Life to the Full: Spirituality for today’s baby boomers.”

The seminar will commence at 9.00am at Merredin Uniting Church on Fifth Street, Merredin. For more information you can download the seminar brochure here.

There is no cost for this event, however an RSVP is required for catering purposes. You can RSVP by calling Rev David de Kock on 9041 1117 or 0435507606.

God’s Richest Blessings.

His Presence with us gives meaning to us and all of creation, it gives us purpose and direction, it determines our destiny. If God is not with us, then nothing has purpose, everything is just an accidental event. If God is not with us then the fact that the universe exists is a freak of nature, life is irrelevant and nothing actually matters.

The Bible makes it clear that God is not just out there somewhere— having made everything, and now just waiting to see what happens. No! He is intimately involved in His creation and especially with those made in His image—that, by the way, is you and me. There are those who don’t believe in God—for them everything is just an accident. There are those who do believe in God but think that He is just a creator God who, having made everything is not too interested in it anymore— for them, He is just the “guy upstairs”, the grand architect; He is significant but not actually interested in us. And then there are the believers—and what makes us different is our awareness of God’s Presence. We know that He is with us, we know that this makes us different, and we know that we have direction and purpose in Him.

To recap—we began with the account of Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail. We saw that the jailer was converted, not because they had been able to escape but because, they hadn’t escaped when the earthquake opened the doors. They were content to stay because God was with them in the jail and the jailers conversion came because He realised that God was with them. Last week we heard about Moses’ argument with God. Moses was not prepared to move on with God’s people unless the Lord went with them. Despite the sin of the people in worshipping the golden calf, Moses held God to His word of promise to Abraham. “God with us” changes other people’s hearts and our confidence in “God being with us” changes God’s heart.

Today we are going to be looking at God’s desire to be with us. He gave the Israelites the Ark and the Tabernacle while he was with them in their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. Once in the Promised Land, the Ark languored at Abinidab’s house through the era of the Judges. When David became king he wanted to move it to Jerusalem— it wasn’t as simple as he thought but it taught him a lot about God’s Presence. Later in the Book of Acts, the abode of the Ark in David’s Jerusalem becomes the sign of God’s desire to be with all people—Jew and Gentile. God does not want to inhabit just the “holy” places—He wants to make every place holy with His Presence.

I mentioned last week that Dr Chris Walker—National Consultant for Theology and Discipleship in the Uniting Church will be here to share with us over the weekend of August 27/28. The details of this are now to be found on the “What’s Up” page of this newsletter. He will also preach on the Sunday which is to be a special service of celebration to mark George & Val Tengvall’s 60th wedding anniversary.

If you are looking to step up your walk with Jesus, you might be interested in attending the next Walk to Emmaus weekends. The Men’s Walk takes place at Katanning over the first weekend of September and the Ladies Walk takes place the following weekend. The weekend runs from Thursday evening to Sunday afternoon and is basically a series of talks and events which combine to create an incredible introduction into what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. The cost is $205 for the weekend. Both Steve and I will be on the leadership team for the Men’s weekend and Sal is on the team for the Ladies weekend. Speak to any of us for further details.

Blessings
David

Here is the latest newsletter for this weekend – Newsletter 15th August 2010.

God Bless,

Dave Q

The format will be in one hour blocks (come for one hour or for all the time!) comprising singing, talk, prayer and a 10 minute break.

The focus in each hour is:

• 7pm Praise & Gratitude – David de Kock (UCA)
• 8pm Needs of farming communities outside our sphere – Clark Riggins (SDA)
• 9pm Repentance & Supplication – Wayne Manoni (CoC)
• 10pm Rain needed for …. – Ken Cooper
• 11pm Thanksgiving – Esther Robartson

Looking forward to seeing you.

Turn with me to Matthew 5:13….

This is part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. He says of those who follow Him – You are ‘the salt of the earth’ and you are ‘the light of the world’.

That means something ……. it is our identity as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In verse 16, Jesus says, ‘let you light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.’

Now ‘good deeds’ is not really a good translation here … it makes us think of acts of charity, or acts of kindness only. The words “kala erga” could be better translated as “ideal acts” – “that men may see your ideal acts and praise your Father.”

“Ideal acts” means not only our behaviour but the very ethos, or heart of our being, which identifies us for who we are.

We have an identity as followers of Christ – it is the way in which the world is able to separate us from all others.

How many of you have seen the movie “We are Marshall”?

I haven’t seen it myself but I was listening to a sermon by Louis Giglio recently and he mentioned the movie. I googled it and you can do that too when you get home from church.

It’s a true story about the football team from Marshall University who were all killed in a plane crash in the 1970’s. The campus and the town were devastated by the loss, it felt like their life and purpose had come to an end. The university wants to close down the football program but one young man believes that they can rise from the ashes. He starts training a new team and the town begins to rally around. At the end of the movie there is a hugely emotional moment when all the townspeople gather together and begin to chant, “We are Marshall, we are Marshall”. It’s a new beginning, they have rediscovered their identity.

I often feel that the church of Jesus Christ has lost its identity. We get caught up in the ordinary and the mundane. We begin to do things by rote, we dislike change because somehow we are clinging on to the few little things which seem to identify us as Christ followers.

But we have a much greater identity than that. We are not marked by the way our buildings are designed, the songs we sing, the clothes we wear, or by our charitable acts – though these are part of what we do.

We are actually marked by the fact that God is with us. This has been the mark of God’s people from the beginning and it will be the means by which we will be identified at the end when the Son of Man separates the sheep from the goats. (Matthew 25)

When God is with us we live in another dimension, on another plane – we are running with horses not with men. (see Jeremiah 12, and my comments in the newsletter).

As part of my devotional reading this week, I was meditating on Habakkuk. The prophet is questioning God about why He lets the guilty go unpunished and why He lets the wicked prosper. God answers by saying that they will be punished – the ruthless Babylonians are going to mete out God’s justice. Habakkuk is appalled … but, he says, the Babylonians are even worse culprits, how could God use them?

God responds with a whole chapter which lists the ways of the wicked but states clearly – in just six words the way that God-followers are to live in this world, – “the righteous shall live by faith” (Habakkuk 2:4).

Habukkuk is suddenly overwhelmed by a surge of understanding: God is with His people and “though the fig tree does not blossom and there be no fruit on the vine, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet, he will rejoice in the Lord, the God of his salvation.”

God is with us. We are His. We have an identity in Christ and the Lord knows each of us by name.

If He is not with us, then we are not different to anyone else. It is His Presence which creates our identity, marks us as holy and which guides us on our journey from bondage to the Promised Land. We have not yet arrived – we are still struggling through the desert but our goal is certain and our God knows how to lead us – a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire at night.

Now turn to Exodus 33:12-23

God is fed up with the people He has rescued from bondage in Egypt – he calls them “stiff-necked”. Their offence is that they are proud and haughty. They are self-satisfied. They believe that they don’t need God with them. They have created their own god of gold shaped into a calf – let their golden calf go with them.

He tells Moses that they can go on up to the land of milk and honey but He will not go with them. (Ex 33:3)

I love Moses’ response. (verse 12)

“You keep telling me to ‘lead these people’ but you have not told me who is going with me.

You said that you ‘know me by name and that I have found favour with you’ but you have not taught me your ways.

In other words …. “Lord, here are one million of Your people at the foot of this mountain that you want me to lead. I can’t do it on my own; you need to be with me and you need to be showing me how to do it because they are Your people and this journey is a fulfilment of a promise You made to Abraham. If you are not with us, then nothing will distinguish us from all the other people on the earth.”

Your Presence with us is our identity. Without You we are nothing, we have no name, we are just like all the rest.

Moses realised that God’s Presence is a crucial aspect of our identity as God’s people. Not that we do, or don’t do the things that we are supposed to do but that we are who we are meant to be. We are salt and light – if we lose our saltiness, or hide our light, it might as well be that God is not with us. He is the One who creates our identity. Without Him, we are ordinary; wandering aimlessly through the desert trying to find our way home.

Moses is holding God to His covenant promise – In Genesis 17 God had told Abraham, “I make an everlasting covenant with you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.” It was God’s promise to always be with His people and to always be their God. And even if they chose to go their own way, He would still mark them as His people by His Presence with them. The reminder to the Jewish people was to be circumcision and for us who have found our faith and salvation in Christ, it is baptism.

Our identity is marked by God’s Presence with us. It is ritualised in our baptism – I die to self and I rise in Christ. We forget that sometimes.

I am who I am in Christ because God is with me. I can face uncertain tomorrow’s because God is with me. I can face opposition, trouble and death because God is with me. But if God is not with me I cannot face anything – my identity is uncertain, my purpose is unclear and I fear what tomorrow holds.

Moses knew the significance of this and He knew also that it was significant for God because He is the One of certain promises. I suspect that God might not have left Israel in the lurch but He needed to be sure that Moses had crystallised in his own mind the significance of this aspect of the identity of the people of God – that God is with them.

Moses’ challenge proved that and so God says (v 17) “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”

I am pleased with you – Good answer, Moses!

I know you by name – I am with you, we are community!

And then look at this (v 18), Moses asks to see God’s glory. That’s a pretty audacious request.

The word “Glory” has changed its meaning over time and we often now take it to mean “honor” or “praise” but you can see that it could possibly mean that in this instance. The Hebrew word “kabod” means heavy, or laden with riches; Moses is asking to see a manifestation, or exhibition, of God’s divine attributes. He wants to see this God who will be with them.

God denies this to Moses, saying that no-one can see the face of God and live. Instead he must hide in a cleft in the rock and God will pass by and Moses will be able to see God’s back. (v 21,22)

The significance here is that Moses can see where God has been but not where He is going. In retrospect, Moses can look and see that God has been with Him – like the “Footprints” poem. In the everyday however, Moses must live by faith in God’s promise.

His identity is not found in the visible Presence of God but in the faith which believes that God is with him even though he does not see Him.

And this is true for us also today. We do not see God with us but by faith we believe that He is with us. The consequence of this is dramatic – it means, as I said last week, that we have peace in our situation and hope in our future. It means that people will seek to have that which we have, and it means, as Moses indicated, that we will be distinguished from all other people on the earth.

We do however have an advantage over Moses, for we live this side of the Cross. We are a people who have witnesses through the ages who can testify to seeing God’s glory. We might not “see” God but we can know God through their testimony.

Turn to John 1:14-18

Do you get it?

The Word who was in the beginning and who was with God and who is God, became flesh. People have seen His glory – face to face. Not just the trail of where He has been, but they were actually with Him when He was with them.

He has been made known.

He is our identity because He is Emmanuel – God with us!

The people of Marshall could shout “We are Marshall! to affirm their identity – but our cry is “God is with us!” “God is with us!” “God is with us!”

Amen

I used a concordance (digital is just so easy!) to look up the number of times in the Bible God says that He will be “with” someone—it was astounding. As I thought about this I came to realise that the most important thing that we need to know about God is that He is with us. And it is the most important thing that we can share with anyone full of questions about life and its meaning. Jeremiah was a prophet who was given a really hard job to do. God told him to tell the people that because of their sin they were going to be punished by God—specifically that they would be exiled in Babylon. The Lord also told him that the people would despise him and ignore him but that he was never to give up or be afraid because He (God) would always be with him and would rescue him. (Jer 1:8) Nonetheless Jeremiah did struggle with the constant rejection to his message and in Chapter 12 he complains bitterly to God about his situation. God says to him, “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses?” I have always been inspired by that verse—if the little things get you down, how do you expect to cope with the big issues?

Jeremiah is a great example of perseverance in the face of great difficulty. When you’ve been in the same job, or house, or situation, or even marriage, for a long time it feels that your world is diminishing around you. Jeremiah could have felt like that but God’s reminder was that there were much greater issues at stake and that He would be with him through them all. And so Jeremiah carried on carrying on—he ran with God. If you find yourself facing insurmountable odds, remember, God is with you in the race!

Today our focus on this subject of God being with us, takes us to Mount Sinai. Moses had been up the mountain to meet with God and was about to come down with the Ten Commandments when God told him that He was furious with the people who had created a golden calf and were worshipping it while Moses was away. The Lord said that He was no longer going to lead the people; they were going to have to find their own way to the Promised Land.

Moses pleads (argues?) with God. He holds the Lord to His Word (that’s why it is important for us to become familiar with the Bible). He reminds God of His promises—this is your nation; these are your people; you said you would
lead us; how can you rescue us and then just dump us; what about your promises on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? And God relents—He undertakes to continue to lead the people and to be with them. This is the wonder
of God’s grace, this is why God will always be “with” us—He promised, and we need to hold on to that promise as much as Moses and Jeremiah did. A significant aspect of Moses’ reasoning with God is that it is the Presence of the Lord which distinguishes His people from all other people. This can not however be a source of pride for us, or make us haughty over others. N0, that the whole point of the Gospel—it is not God’s desire that any should perish but rather that everyone should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Having found the joy of salvation in Jesus Christ, we can know that God is now with us, and it is our task then to share that with others who do not yet know the Presence of God with them.

If you feel that you are struggling to know the Presence of God with you then ask one of the elders to pray with you after the service today, or come to see me in the week. I am at the church Monday to Wednesday morning. By the
way, its okay to feel like that. That exactly how Jeremiah felt and how Moses felt. So if you are feeling weary after running with men, then ask God to run with you.

Next Saturday is the Great Eastern Gathering at the Kalgoorlie/Boulder Church. It starts at 9.30am and will include a tour around Kalgoorlie and the Super-pit in the afternoon. Everyone is invited, see the details on the What’s Up page. Margie & I (and Sal) will be driving up early on Saturday morning and will be returning in the late afternoon if you would like to attend (and not stay over).

On August 27/28 we will be privileged to have Rev Dr Chris Walker share with us (and surrounding churches) in a seminar. He is the National Consultant for Theology and Discipleship in the Uniting Church and is the author of
five books on spirituality and discipleship for today’s generation. We have specifically asked him to speak on one of his books, “Seeking relevant churches for the 21st century”. You don’t want to miss this!

Grace & Peace
David

Here is the latest newsletter for this weekend – Newsletter 8th August 2010.

God Bless,

Dave Q

The latest newsletter is now online. It is the one from 1st August 2010. You can click on the link below to download it.

Newsletter 1st August 2010

God Bless,

Dave Q

John introduces us here to an understanding of the intimacy of the Trinity …
In the beginning, when there was still nothing … even before the so-called “Big Bang”, or whatever you would like to call the official start of the universe … there was God.
We call Him “Father”.
And there was the Word, Logos – John’s rich description of God who came amongst us and who revealed Himself as “Son”.
We call Him “Jesus”.
And there was the Spirit of God hovering over the waters in the beginning at the time of primal chaos.
We call Him “Holy Spirit”.

They were together and they are one.
One God in three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit; they were in perfect unity. They are not three gods for there is only one God, but in a way that is a mystery to us, God, the Creator of all things, the Founder of all that is, has revealed Himself to us in three persons.
These three persons exist in the intimate unity of the one Godhead.

They are always “with” each other.

Today I want to explore the idea of us also being “with” God and God being “with” us.
The Bible is full of descriptions of this..
Gen 5:22 – (Before the Flood) Enoch walked “with” God.
Gen 39:21 – Joseph (of Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat fame) was in prison but the Lord was “with” him.
Ex 3:12 – Moses is at the burning bush. He asks questions about God and God says to him, “I will be “with” you.”
Ex 33:14 – Moses is again questioning God, and ends by asking God to teach him His ways. God says to him, “My Presence will go “with” you, and I will give you peace.”
Joshua 1:5 – When God calls Joshua to lead the people into the new land, He says, “No-one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was “with” Moses, so I will be “with” you. Be strong and courageous.”

A constant theme runs through this idea of God being “with” us. The promise of God’s presence brings confidence when we are unsure, it brings peace when we are in turmoil … and it gives us courage to undertake endeavours which are far beyond our human capability. It means that we are “safe” where we are – wherever we are – when God is with us.
And, in fact, it might even be foolish to want to be anywhere else.

I want us to ponder a story this morning … it’s the account of Paul and Silas in prison in the town of Philippi.
Let me give you some background first …
While Paul & Silas were visiting the town during their first venture into Europe, they were followed by a slave girl who was possessed by an evil spirit. By this spirit she was able to tell fortunes and she was shouting out that these men were “servants of the Most High God who are telling the way to be saved.”
All this was true but – I guess, Paul and Silas were still under cover, their mission to Europe was still in the exploratory stages. And the evil spirit was messing things up. They then spoke to the spirit and exorcised it. This meant that the spirit was cast out and she was no longer able to predict the future and her masters had thus lost a means of income.
And so they had Paul & Silas arrested and thrown into prison.

READING – Acts 16:22-40
The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.

Paul and Silas are in the inner cell of a dungeon. Its dark and damp. There’s no electricity, no beds, no toilets and no air-conditioning. But there are rats and spiders.
Their legs are fastened in the stocks.
They have been there since the time of prayer, which was about 3pm. Its now midnight and they are singing hymns and praying. The other prisoners are listening to them.
Suddenly there is an earthquake –the doors fly open and everybody’s chains come loose.

Now a normal person would say that this was a miracle, an answer to prayer – they can all escape.
The jailer, who is a normal person, wakes up. He rushes from his bed and he finds the doors open. Oh no! They’ve escaped. He doesn’t even look. He grabs his sword and is about to commit suicide.

But, hang on a minute. The prisoners haven’t escaped. They are all still inside.
As the jailer points the sword towards his heart, he hears a voice from inside the dungeon, “Don’t harm yourself! We’re all here.”
And the jailer calls for lights, he rushes in and falls before Paul & Silas … “What must I do to be saved?” he asks.

I’ve read this passage many times. I always figured that the jailer was converted because of the earthquake – you know, the power of God displayed and all that stuff.
But do you see this?
His conversion happened not because the earthquake opened the doors but because despite the fact that the doors were open and the chains had fallen off – the prisoners chose to stay inside!
Why?
What was it about them?
What did they have that the jailer did not have?

I say, that it was because God was “with” them in the jail.
Remember the story of Daniel and his two mates in the fiery furnace. When Nebuchadnessar looked he saw four people in the fire completely unharmed. And the fourth looked like the Son of God. God with “with” them in the fire, just as He was “with” Paul and Silas in the dungeon.

When God is with you then your circumstances are circumstantial – they are not very important.
We can be strong, secure, confident! As the psalmist says, “We can scale a wall, advance against a troop…”
And God is always with us. Jesus said, “I will always be with you, I will never leave you or forsake you.” He is with us in the ordinary things of life. And He is not just with the Christians – He is with everybody, for He is the God who created each one of us.

Brother Lawrence, a monk who lived in the Middle Ages wrote a series of letters about his life “with” God. They have been put together in a book called “Practicing the Presence of God”. He was not a great or important man – he worked his whole life in the kitchen of the monastery but he wrote of how he found deep fulfillment in what he was doing because God was “with” him.
He never got to the chapel with the other monks, there were no solemn rituals or sacred communions for him – he was always elbow deep in dough or dirty dishes, but he had God “with” him.
Its not the circumstances that matter but whether God is in the circumstances.

The jailer thought that in the circumstances of an open jail, his prisoners would have taken the opportunity to escape and so thought that he had failed his earthly masters and so he thought that his best option was suicide.
When he realized that his prisoners had not escaped their circumstances he wanted to know what it was that kept them there – because whatever it was, it was more than he had. They found joy in the dungeon, he had been looking at death.
His prisoners had been praying and singing hymns to Go – they were “with” God – and so they saw no need to escape. God was “with” them and they didn’t want to leave Him.

How many have there been who have found God “with” them in the crisis of cancer, in a life turned suddenly around, in the circumstances of chaos.
They knew or have come to know a peace, through the Presence of God with them.

And how many, like the jailer, who, without knowing that Hod was with them, wanted to end their life or run away from their circumstances.

When we know that we have God “with” us, something different happens in our life. We find a peace and a joy that is not at all dependent on our circumstances. And it is attractive for those who are still struggling to see God. They see the potential of an answer to the meaning of their life.
And it is far more compelling than standing on their doorstep with a big black Bible in your hand. It is through our peace with God and our situation that people begin to see that God does actually make a difference in your life.

READING – Philippians 1:27-2:5
Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have. If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

How do we know what God wants us as individuals to do in this world? The short answer to that is, I don’t know.  For some people it is easy there calling is obvious, but I would hazard to guess that for most of us our callings are not quite so easy.

For me I think it has taken 50 years for me to work out what it is God wants me to do with my life. I must be slow learner because it has taken that long for the penny to drop. But then again I’m a firm believer in that God uses all things in our lives to his glory if we just open the doors a little. I think Gods glory is shown not because of just what we do, but sometimes in spite of what we do.

This sermon is more in the shape of a testimony. As the start of Ride for life approaches I thought I’d take this opportunity to explain how I think God has worked in my life to get me to the point where we are now. Seeing as how this church, has given this project so much amazing support.

It was only a couple of years ago that I discovered that God had already moved in my life in huge ways before I was 4 months old, but that’s another story I’m not ready to tell yet. I will start with when I was 3 years old. Mum and Dad sent me to a riding school (2) near where we lived in the UK.  Between then and 15 I rode when I could until I was able to buy my own horse when we came to Merredin.

I will come back to that in a minute, we moved from the UK to Australia in 1967 when I was 9 (3) I had a pretty good time until I went to High school, where I was bullied quite badly it was then I started to learn Judo which I became fairly proficient at (4) in 1972 we moved to Merredin and as there wasn’t a Judo club here, I started one and started teaching (5) this was my first foray into teaching kids.

It was around this time that I started learning about Horses. Doing pony club in particular the prince Philip games, training and driving pacers, polocrosse, and about 20 something years as clerk of the course/catcher at the trots.(6)

Some where in amongst those years I taught swimming interm and vacation for a bit over 10 years. (7)

I also joined Rostrum later to become Speakers Forum where I learnt public speaking and chairmanship.(8)

As a Christian I have often wondered what it was that God wanted me to do? I have often felt that I should be doing something for God but had no idea what, I’m not a great singer(just ask those who sit in front of me) I am no theologian and therefore am quite fearful when preaching Gods word.

So what I have often asked myself does God want me to do, now this is where I’ll admit to being a bit of a slow learner. I did not take into account of how great God is and how much work he does in our lives without us realizing it.

It took quite a while for me to realize that all three of the jobs I have at the moment are working with kids or even that it was significant for what was to come.

A bit over a year ago Jeff Hughes joined us at DCP as the youth worker (9) and I was telling him some of the things I had done in the past working with kids. And he said why aren’t you doing anything now? That pulled me up quick smart because I didn’t know how to answer that. It was one of those times when you get an epiphany.

And so the first beginnings of Ride for Life were born. The more I thought about it the more convinced it was the answer I have unknowingly being looking forward to for 50+ years.

In the 12 months since the idea of RfL was first manifested I have been continuously amazed at how god has moved in people. Rarely have I heard a word against the idea. On the contrary people Christian and non Christian alike have been exceedingly generous with there time, money, equipment and horses. I won’t mention them all here but if you look up our website or Facebook page you will see who they are.

Around the same time Jeff came to Merredin and set me alight David also joined us as our minister,(10)who when I tentatively mentioned the idea was so encouraging which gave me the courage to string things together.

I gave myself 12 months to get it up and Running and then I called for people to help and join the committee  mainly to keep me on track and in line and not go off half cocked, because if I have learnt one thing in my life it is that I do tend to rush in where angels fear to tread.

But the way the committee has got behind RfL has been very humbling and I know that with out them RfL wouldn’t be starting in a week.

On searching the internet for similar programmes I came across one called Crystal peaks Ranch take a few minutes to see how God can work when his servants listen to him.

This is not to say how good I am but how great God is and if we open the doors to him a little, then great things can happen for his glory.

We are having our opening day this afternoon between 1-3 and you are invited to come and see for yourselves what it’s all about and why your prayers are needed.

AMEN

Margie and I are really looking forward to our visit back to South Africa and the opportunity to visit with our family and friends. We depart at midnight on Monday and after an 11 hour flight, arrive in Johannesburg at 5.25am their time. Our daughters will fetch us at the airport and we will spend a couple of days with them. On Friday the whole family (including our son Garth from Howick) will drive down to Manaba Beach on the Natal South Coast where we own a timeshare unit right on the beach. It’s the best place to be in the South African winter – the sea is warm and the sun is hot. We will return to Johannesburg via Howick where we will be staying with friends and visiting our former parishioners. I must also finalise my South African tax returns and wind up my financial affairs in South Africa. And then its back home to Merredin on July 20^th!

Some good news is that the processing of our children’s emigration has stepped up a pace. After being given wrong advice about their nursing assessments, they are now back on stream. Tegan has applied for a midwifery bridging course in August at King Edward Hospital in Perth and will initially come across on a student visa to be converted into a permanent residence visa once the course is completed. Linda will follow the same route but will make the move a bit later because she still needs to make arrangements regarding her midwifery practice in Johannesburg. Garth’s situation has been complicated by a change in the Australian Skills List which now excludes anything to do with computers –  apparently there is now no shortage in Australia. However he is pursuing a rural option (where these skills are still needed) and is looking around for job vacancies. He may come to visit with his wife Roxanne in time for my 60^th birthday in October.

By the time we get back, we will have been here for one year. It has truly been a blessed year. The radical change of a new country, new church and new people has been the best thing ever. I have had cause to rethink my worldview as well as my understanding of God and the Church. There is nothing like looking at things from a fresh perspective to give you new insight into that which you begin to take for granted. It is so easy to get into a rut, and, as someone once said, “the only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth of the hole.” From the    pressures of a leading large church, trying to deal with a cycle of poverty in a community, and the politics of separation at government level, I have found a new lease of life during the past year. Much of this has come from more time spent in God’s Word and in prayer. This has challenged my perspectives and enriched my understanding of God’s intention with us. We are not just passing through time – we are on a radical journey into a deep relationship with our Maker. On this journey He is constantly with us, to lead and to guide. On this journey we travel with others – we are to learn to love them, because in loving them, we will begin to understand how we are loved by our Father and how we are to love Him.

Thank you for your part in my journey and may God bless us as we continue this journey together.

This is the last sermon in our series on the Letter to the Philippians, and we deal primarily with the subject of generosity.

I don’t know about you but whenever the issue of money and giving in the church is raised I get the picture of the American TV evangelists who seem always to be asking for money.

I laugh at the story (probably not true!) of one such evangelist who had electric wires connected to every seat in the church.

“All those who are willing to give one hundred dollars to God,” he shouted, “stand up!”

And then he pressed the button which sent a shot of electricity through each seat. There was a tremendous response but after the service they found three dead Scotsmen still clinging to their seats.

Another story is told of the beautiful silver collection plates being passed around for the offering. Everyone desperately dug in their pockets for loose change and the plates were finally returned, almost empty, to the minister. He took one look at them and then raised them up to heaven and prayed, “Lord, we thank you for the safe return of these plates…”

The picture Paul paints in our text today is quite different however. He writes to thank the Christians at Philippi who have sent him money via Epaphroditus. And he gives them two of the most wonderful promises of Scripture:

¹³ I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

and

My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

He also outlines the threefold blessing of generous giving –

• It blesses others
• It blesses us, and
• It blesses God.

First then, the blessing to others

Paul responds to the gift that he has received by saying, “I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.”

He is exceedingly grateful for the gift.

Nonetheless he shows clearly that it is not so much about the money for which he is grateful but for the opportunity that they have taken to bless him.

Paul’s attitude to money is far exceeded by the completeness that he finds in his relationship with the Lord. He intimates that he has known what it is to be in need, though he might not be at this time. He has, he says, found the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether in plenty or in want. He has found, in his relationship with the Lord, that whatever the circumstances “he can do everything through Him who gives him strength.”

Yet he is blessed by the gift – “it was good of you to share in my troubles” and he thanks them for coming to his aid time and again in the past.

You see, it is not the gift so much that counts as the fact that the people at Philippi, more than the other churches, were concerned enough about him and his ministry in service of Jesus, to send the gift. Perhaps this is where we get the saying that “it’s the thought that counts” –though we often mean that when we would like to have given or received more than we did. For Paul, it really was the thought that counted –they were really thinking about him and his ministry and they really wanted to support him in a very practical way.

One gets the impression that even if they had sent no money, any other expression of their concern would have been a gift enough. The bottom line is that Paul had moved away from concern about money, he had found his contentment in the Lord –that wonderful promise: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

What is the secret of contentment?

Well, it is not to have everything you want. John D Rockefeller, a multi billionaire, was once asked how much money it takes to make a man happy. He replied, “Just a little more.” Contentment does not come from wealth, for this only creates a desire for more. Contentment finds its satisfaction in the transforming friendship of Jesus Christ.

Paul discovered this –he learned how to live not on outer resources but on the inner strength which comes from Jesus Christ. And so he writes to the Philippians that in some ways he did not need their gift.

However, in some ways he did need the money that they sent and he commends them for continually coming to his aid. They had shared his troubles and had sent him money again and again. He appreciated it immensely and it blessed him.

When we first went to Howick I set out to visit everyone in the congregation. In one home that I visited I found that the husband was a member of the congregation but his wife was not. The reason was that though she was a believer, she had not been baptized, and had been made to feel embarrassed about it. She never came to church because of that and so her husband had to retell the sermon to her each Sunday morning.

I spoke to her about it, and about the misconceptions she had received from the church. The following week I baptized her in her swimming pool. She only came to church once after that and then the family emigrated to England. After they had left, I received a letter from her with a substantial amount of money –the note on the card said simply, “I got some bonus and I want to share it with you.”

The word “share” is a word that Paul also uses in relation to the Philippian church’s gift to him. It is the word “koinonia” which means fellowship, communion or close relationship. The church were in close relationship with him in his ministry and they showed it by blessing him with gifts. The lady who shared her bonus with me, did so, she wrote later, because I had helped to bring her into a close relationship not only with Jesus, but also with her family, particularly her husband. They now worship regularly together in a church on the Isle of Man and are very involved with their fellowship as a family.

And I was blessed by the gift, not of the money, but by the thought that was expressed in the gift.

Generous giving also blesses the giver

I love to give gifts. And I especially love to give gifts anonymously and as surprises. This is often true also of God’s people everywhere. I have seen it in this congregation. In my previous congregation most preferred not to have their gifts to the church made public and so we had no credits to anyone for their giving to build and equip the church – no public thank you’s, no brass plaques, nothing. Even the Foundation Stone at the entrance to the church said “Not to us, not to us, but to Your Name be the glory.” – Ps 115:1. And yet there were many who gave sacrificially and some very substantially –how else did we pay out more than a million rand over our normal income in such a short period….

Why is this? Why the desire to have no accolades? I think it is because God’s people have found a blessing that is far more than the acknowledgement of men.

And Paul tells us this too by using technical banking and accounting terms throughout this passage as he details how the church at Philippi will be blessed for their gift.

In verse 15 he speaks of “giving and receiving” or more correctly translated, of debits and credits –the two sides of an accountant’s ledger.

In verse 17, he uses a word, translated as “credited”. He says, “Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account.” The word would normally be used to speak of growth in interest income on a capital amount invested.

And then in verse 18, he says “I have received full payment” –which is a commercial term meaning “to receive a sum in full and to give a receipt for it.”

In a sense, by the use of this commercial language, Paul is saying the giving is an investment of capital, and that there will be a return on the investment which will be worth far more than a name on a foundation stone or a silver plaque. In 2 Corinthians 9:6, he again stresses this point –“Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” Giving is like planting seed. A farmer is investing for the future and he knows that he will reap far more than he sows.

Hudson Taylor, the Founder of the China Inland Mission and who it is said laid the foundation for the present revival now taking place there, was preparing to go to China in 1853. He lived a very frugal life, eating only a bowl of porridge in the morning and a bowl of gruel on alternate nights. One day he was asked to go and pray for a very poor man and his wife. The only money he possessed was his week’s wages of half-a-crown. When he saw their poverty he thought that he should give them a shilling. When the five children came out he decided to give one and six. Then he spoke to them of the love of the heavenly Father and decided to give two shillings. Eventually, as he closed off with the Lord’s prayer he knew that he had to give them everything he had. Joy flooded his heart and he sang all the way home. As he ate his bowl of gruel that night he was reminded that “he that giveth to the poor, lendeth to the Lord” and so he asked the Lord that the loan not be a long one. He slept peacefully and the next morning he received an unexpected letter. Inside was a pair of gloves and half a sovereign. He had received back 400% in just 12 hours. The incident became a turning point in his life and he came back to it time and again as he faced even more serious trials in his life.

That spiritual principle applies to everything in life. Whatever we give to the Lord he multiplies, whether it is our time, home, gifts, ambitions or our money. Our return is not necessarily financial though, because we are investing in people. We see lives changed, the hungry fed, the naked clothed, addicts set free, marriages restored and the sick made well again.

The New Testament principle is that if we want treasure in heaven, we have to send it on ahead –we can’t take it behind the hearse in a trailer!

What will our reward be? I don’t know but I suspect that we will see those we have unknowingly helped –someone who says, “I am here partly because of your gift” or “my marriage was restored” or “I was healed”.

We get a foretaste of this now by giving generously –for it is not only the recipients who are blessed: we are also blessed through our giving.

But more than anything generous giving is blessing to God

From verse 18, Paul moves to the language of the Temple. He says that our giving is “a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.”

Our giving blesses God because we are fulfilling His desire for us. In Malachi 3, the prophet tells us that the withholding of our offering is like robbing God. The Lord wants us to support His mission in the world, bringing the good news about Jesus into the hearts and lives of people, making disciples of them and teaching them to obey all that He has commanded.

And throughout the New Testament we are encouraged to give generously –regularly (“on the first day of the week” it says in 1 Corinthians 16:2) and proportionately (“a sum of money in keeping with your income” it says in the same verse).

Some people believe we should give a tenth accordingly to the Old Testament guidelines, but the only New Testament rule is generosity. Jacob the swindler gave a tenth, but then he was Old Testament. Zaccheus, after meeting Jesus, gave half of all he owned.

If we give generously, Paul says, “My God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Ultimately then, we can never out-give God.

Our generosity must stem from the generosity of God’s grace to us.

Perhaps then it’s not surprising that this letter begins and ends with “Grace”. At the beginning Paul says, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” and he ends with “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” The central theme of the letter has been God’s love and generosity and indeed that’s the central theme of the New Testament and of the Bible as a whole.

Jesus taught that our highest duty is to love God with all our heart and soul and mind. After that our duty is to love our neighbour as ourselves and indeed, that’s how Paul closes the letter. “To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” And then “Greet all the saints in Christ Jesus.”

Then he closes by asking that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with them –for Jesus is the channel of all the good gifts which come to us. It is His love which enables us to love Him and His love which enables us to love others.

I think that if we had to ask Paul for a two-word answer to the question, “Why is this life worth living?” he would say simply, “Jesus Christ” and he would explain that He supplies all our needs and strengthens us to do everything.

To Him be glory in the Church for ever and ever. Amen

As we continue in this series on Paul’s letter to the Church in Philippi, we come today to reflect on the resources which we have which will enable us to stand firm in this life in Christ. We need a good foundation from which we can draw our steadfastness.

When I left school I was done with church. For 10 years I had been to church every day – twice on Wednesdays and Thursdays, three times on Sundays and sometimes twice on Saturdays. It was enough, so I didn’t go to church for a long time after that – for a further ten years in fact, except for the time when Margie and I were married.

When I came to the Lord in 1977, I looked back on those years of going to church and I realized just how important they were in building a Christian foundation in my life. I didn’t know it at the time – I thought I was just there for the money (as a choir boy and altar boy we were paid a tickey for going to church and two shillings for singing at weddings).

I also looked back on the ten years that I didn’t go to church and regretted that it took me so long to find my way back. I had been sidetracked by peer pressure, a life of trying to have fun and sheer laziness.

I realized the importance of laying a firm foundation as early as possible in life – if my foundation during my school years had been better, more focussed on Jesus, I possibly would not have even have wasted the subsequent ten years. I give thanks to God for the past thirty or so years and I had a little private celebration with God in 2004 when I crossed the line to become one who had followed of Jesus for more years than I had not.

Over the past couple of weeks the significance of laying a good and early Christian foundation in our lives, and the lives of our children has been strong in my mind. I shared a little of this with the elders on Thursday evening and I am going to devote a lot of my holiday to thinking out the relevance of this in our situation here in this Parish.

Back to our text. Paul tells us that we must “stand firm in the Lord”. And then he tells us how!

The word that he uses for “stand firm” is the same as that of a soldier in the middle of a battle, or of a gladiator in the Roman arena. Standing poised against the enemy, firm and resolute, pumped with adrenalin, positive of victory!

He shows how we can not only hold off the enemy but come through victorious, full of joy, peace and a sense of the presence of God. And this is so vitally important for us today.

The first thing is the need for us to watch our relationships with each other. “Standing firm”, as we have seen is used in the context of battle – it describes a phalanx, soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder. When they stood like that they were virtually invincible –provided they did not break rank. In a modern context we could use the term to describe a scrum in rugby union.

The enemy is always looking for cracks and divisions to exploit in the church. When the church breaks ranks, when the soldiers of Christ’s army are no longer shoulder to shoulder, the Evil One has a field day.

In our text we see a personality clash between two women, Euodia and Syntyche. In dealing with them, Paul does not take sides; rather he urges both of them to take the initiative in order to reach agreement and he appeals to others to help bring them together.

He doesn’t criticise them; rather he concentrates on their good points to build them up –they have contended by his side, and their names are written in the book of life.

Even trivial personality clashes can lead people away from the Lord. I once read a story of a woman who despite having been a faithful Christian and churchgoer stopped going to church for over 15 years. The reason –at a church fete she bought a cake at the cake stall. Seeing another cake she wanted, she said, “I’ll have that one as well”. The woman behind the stall said, “Oh no, you can’t have two”. Deeply offended by the remark, the woman concluded that the church was full of hypocrites and never went back.

It was silly, and we can laugh at it, but the example may not be far from us all. We must watch our relationships with other Christians. Disagreements, disunity, unnecessary remarks and unforgiveness can weaken then church and destroy our faith. One of the vital secrets of standing firm in the Lord is to work at our Christian friendships in the church.

From taking care about our relationships with each other, Paul now tells us that we can “stand firm in the Lord” by watching our relationship with the Lord, and he gives us three invaluable tips.

First, Enjoy the Lord

Sixteen times in Philippians, Paul tells us to “rejoice in the Lord”. However bad our circumstances, we need to find our joy in the Lord. The Westminster Confession tells us that “the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever”. John Piper, one of my favourite authors and pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, calls himself a Christian hedonist –almost a contradiction in terms if we look at many Christians today. He finds absolute pleasure and delight in the Lord –not one sermon is preached, not one word is written without calling people to enjoy God. He was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer –it has not changed his joyful outlook because he is standing firm in the Lord.

Second, Expect the Lord

Immediately following the call to “rejoice in the Lord”, Paul says, “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near”.

Because the Lord is near –near to those who walk with Him, and because it is near to the Day when He shall return –we can, and must be gentle people. We don’t need to be contentious, abrasive and driven by self-seeking desires. Retaliation is not part of our vocabulary because we are abiding in His presence.

We can “stand firm in the Lord” because it is the Lord who is near who will vindicate us. We have no need to stand up to fight for our own position –God has it all in the palm  of His hand.

Third, Entreat the Lord

He says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God”.

Prayer and worry are not easy bedfellows. And living a life weighed down with worries is not really living. Prayer takes care of worries –a sign outside a church read “Why pray, when you can worry and take tranquilizers?”

If we want to lift ourselves above the troubles which threaten to pull us down, then we need to be a people of prayer, bringing our prayers, petitions and requests to God. It helps us to keep a journal or prayer diary so that when prayers are answered we can pray with thanksgiving. This is another matter which has been on my mind and when we return from our holidays, I want to focus on prayer as the primary foundation of our relationship with God.

The extraordinary and wonderful promise is that when we pray out our worries and anxieties, “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.”

Peace for the Christian means far more than the absence of hostility –The word Paul uses is “shalom”: it means wholeness, soundness, well-being, oneness with God, every kind of blessing and good. It surpasses all our hopes and expectations and it transcends the understanding of others because they do not understand how we can be so peaceful in the face of major worries and anxieties.

Back to the focus on how we stand firm in the Lord. First, he said that we must watch our relationships with each other. Then he said that we must watch our relationship with the Lord. Paul now goes on to tell us that “standing firm in the Lord” needs us to be thinking right thoughts – He tells us to think about whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—the excellent and praiseworthy things.

It has been said that “a man is not what he thinks he is, but what he thinks, he is.”

And Jesus said that the things that enter our body through our mouth are not to be worried over because will eventually they leave our bodies. However that which comes out of our mouth is important because it comes from the heart and “out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony and slander. It is these things, Jesus says, which make a man unclean.

These are the thoughts of our mind and so we need to be careful about what we think about.

In today’s world its hard to do this because we are surrounded by images and words from television, newspapers, movies and so on which easily lead us in a wrong direction. Our thoughts are then not on true and pure things. We are angered by the politicians on the news, we are sidetracked by the easy sex in the movies, we are misled by false advertising claims.

But, while we may be tempted daily by wrong thoughts we don’t have to succumb to them. Martin Luther said that you can’t stop a bird from flying over your head but you can stop it nesting in your hair.

The way to get wrong thoughts out is to put right thoughts in –occupy your mind with good thoughts and the enemy will find no place to put any bad ones!

One way to do this is to start first thing in the morning with prayer and Bible reading. Memorising scripture verses is a great exercise, as does reading Christian books.

What we think about is not something which can be seen by others. It is part of our secret life but it is vital to standing firm in the Lord. Our unseen life is like the roots of a tree or the foundation of a building –our ability to withstand the storms of life depends on the strength of the unseen parts.

And then finally, Paul says, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice.” It’s a challenge for us to build our Christian stability by following the example of the lives of outstanding Christians.

Paul is not afraid to put himself forward as an example of the life to be followed – he has no fear of the “tall poppy” syndrome. He encourages his readers not only to follow his teaching but also his lifestyle –his words and his actions!

In Robert Anderson’s book, “The Effective Pastor” he makes the telling point that the pastor needs to be an outstanding example to the congregation of how to know Jesus, how to pray and how to live. He has little time for professional pastors and those who just want to be “one of the boys”.

And let me tell you that the world watches the Christians. They expect us to be above the things of the world, and we are, and we must be.

It is not so easy however to do all these things. Paul encourages his readers to put into practice what he has taught them –practice is the only way.

We must practice avoiding quarrels.

We must practice being united with other Christians.

We must practice avoiding worry and anxiety by bringing it to the Lord in prayer.

We must practice thinking about good things.

We must practice what we see in the lives of godly men and women.

And remember ….

Unforgiveness cuts us off from God.

Quarreling cuts us off from God.

Sinful thoughts cut us off from God.

Following bad examples cuts us off from God.

But forgiveness, unity, prayer, thankfulness, right thinking and following good examples keep us close to the God of peace.

And then we can stand firm in the Lord, not be sidetracked and so rejoice in living the life that is worthy.

This morning our focus is on “standing firm in the Lord” and particularly on how we are to do that. Our text sets out three simple rules – Be care-full of our relationships with each other, with the Lord and with ourselves. First, we must watch our relationships with each other – in the dispute between Euodia and Syntyche Paul pleads with them to make peace, and calls the community to help them. Disagreements, disunity, unnecessary remarks and unforgiveness can weaken the church and destroy our faith. The striving for good    relationships is a vital secret to standing firm in the Lord. Second, we must watch our relationship with the Lord – Paul gives us three tips for doing this: We must enjoy the Lord (rejoice in Him); we must expect the Lord (be gentle with each other for the Lord is near) and we must entreat the Lord (do not be anxious but pray). And then third, we must watch the things that fill our mind – we must think true, noble, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy thoughts. Someone once said, “A man is not what he thinks he is, but what he thinks – he is!”

As I prepared this sermon, it seemed to me that this focus on “standing firm in the Lord” could be pivotal in directing the future course of our ministry in the Wheatbelt. We need to set the foundation on which we stand as early as possible in our life and so we need to work really hard at creating a good, viable and fulfilling ministry to the children and young people. We need to set within ourselves a foundation of prayer and personal devotion to God. We need to develop good   approaches to reading and understanding Scripture and we need to build good relationships with each other and the community. My mind has already been filled with thoughts which I will share with the elders so that we can begin to develop the ideas. I also plan to devote a lot of time to “thinking on these things” while we are on leave in South Africa.

You might already have heard the news that Brett Guthrie, the Chaplain at the High School, is not well at the moment. He was flown to Perth last week and at the time of writing, the diagnosis was still not clear. Please pray for him, his wife Lyn, and their son, Jonathan. Pray also for the school community which he serves.

Another important item of news is that Rev Paul Cannon from the Anglican Church has been called to the Parish of Bridgetown/Boyup Brook with effect from the beginning of August. He and his wife have played a significant role in the community and they will be missed. A farewell service will be held at All Saints at 10am on July 18^th. Please pray for them as they prepare to enter into a new phase of ministry and pray also for the Anglican Parish as they face a time of uncertainty as they await the appointment of a new minister.

A little while back, Margie bought me an iPod Nano. They were at reduced prices at Target. I loaded up all my favourite music – real classic rock stuff, the blues and those songs which have been my personal “golds” through the years. I haven’t had much opportunity to listen to this music since we got married because Margie doesn’t really like it. It was great to listen to the driving beat of Ten Years After, Blind Faith and Eric Clapton’s early days with Cream. But after a little while I realized that my taste in   music, and the things I actually wanted to listen to, had changed. I dumped the rock music and refilled my iPod with Il Divo, Josh Groban, Andrea Bocelli, Chris Tomlin and Amy Grant. And I added a couple of sermon podcasts from iTunes, including, Bill Hybels, Louis Giglio and Rob Bell. And for those serene moments, I put on some  Gregorian chants.

I began to think about why we change our music tastes and life preferences. My parents hated my music when I was a kid and I thought their taste was pretty dull. And yet, if they were alive today, I think that they would really like the music I listen to. I don’t think that I’ve become dull as the years have piled onto my life. In fact, as I matured, I think that my listening tastes have become fuller and far more discerning.

As I thought about it, I began to discount all the usual answers – that I was “finally” maturing, that I was become more risk averse as I approached the end of my life, and so on. No. I think it is that I have come to appreciate the really good things in life, and, by the way, that still includes really good rock music – I still go crazy when I hear Alvin Lee’s guitar riffs in “I’m going home” and Ginger Baker’s drum solo in  “Do what you like” on the Blind Faith album. As a child, everything is just amazing, we have to try it, have to do it, even when it is really rubbish. For a child, the new and the novel is the attraction, but as maturity comes we become more discerning. We want the good things, the things of value and truth, rather than just the latest gimmick, or hot pop star.

I think that this has a whole lot to do with God. We might not always recognize His hand in our life, but He is constantly guiding and directing His creation back    towards Himself. And as we come into His view we begin to “throw off the things that so easily entangle” and we desire more to enjoy the good and pleasant things that God has blessed us with in this world. We look for quality, we appreciate the wonderful, and we see value in eternal things.

And, by the way, this has very little to do with age. It has, it seems to my way of thinking, much more to do with understanding life and what it is all about. Sometimes, perhaps mostly, it is about a new appreciation for God, who is the author of life and who has redeemed our lost life through the Cross. And, even though I have been a Christian for most of my life, I have, through this process of thinking about music,  realized that I am drawn closer to God and have, in the last few months, come to  appreciate more and more the wonder of God’s grace towards me and His creation.

I hope that this little reflection will give you cause to think about why you do things you do, and like the things you like. I really believe that God loves us much more than we can imagine and that His desire is for us to enjoy all things and to be at peace with everything that He made so well.

God bless.

Should Christians be ambitious –striving for success?

Some would say not, that we should rather go through life taking whatever comes as “God’s Will”.

This is a foolish thought –it makes this life irrelevant, a mere waiting room for that which is still to come. This life that God gave us has a purpose, otherwise we might just as well have been born straight into heaven instead of in a nursing home on this planet.

From the Book of Acts and from his letters we know that Paul was a fiercely ambitious man –he had an immense desire to succeed. Before he was a Christian this drive was directed at the persecution of the church which he saw as opposed to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. After his conversion, he remained just as ambitious but the direction was changed. Suddenly, on the road to Damascus, when he came face to face with the resurrected Jesus, he realised that Jesus was the One of whom the prophets had spoken. This was God made flesh and come to save the world. In a moment his ambition changed –now he was suddenly the most ardent supporter of the Christian faith. He realised that the Christian faith was not to be opposed but to be seen as the fulfilment of everything that God had promised.

John Stott said that, “ultimately there are only two controlling ambitions … one is our own glory, and the other is God’s”. Paul always sought God’s glory but on that desert road he realised that in opposing Christ, his ambition was misdirected.

We saw in the previous sermon in this series that Paul’s new confidence had come from knowing Christ and having His righteousness. Now, right in mid-sentence, he moves from the ground, or basis of his confidence to the focus of his ambitions.

He says that his ambition is “to know Christ”. This is much more than knowing about Christ –he wants to know Christ as a person. The new and central focus of his life is to have a personal relationship with Him -an exhilarating and intimate union with the Lord who had personally come to earth.

He gives three descriptions of how this ambition is to be realised – in the power of the resurrection, in the fellowship of Christ’s suffering and in his own expected resurrection from the dead.

First, he wants to know Christ in “the power of his resurrection.” He is not simply looking to acknowledge a historical event but to see this “power” as dynamically at work in his own life. In Romans 8 he says, “if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies, through His Spirit, who lives in you.”

The Spirit of God brings this resurrection power to our lives –yours and mine. By the power of His death and resurrection Jesus disarmed Satan, broke the hold of sin and defeated death. This power is available to all to enable us to live holy lives and to minister to others with resurrection power.

With all his heart, Paul wants to know this power in his own life.

If you want victory over sin and evil in your life and in your world, if you want to live a holy life, then you too must long to know Christ and the power of his resurrection with all your heart.

Second, Paul wants to know Christ and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings. He does not seek suffering, but he knows that it is inevitable –it is not a penalty but a privilege. We will never suffer in exactly the way that Jesus did but we will face sufferings as the practical result of our Christian life.

For some, this will mean severe persecution, but for most of us it will be the pain and struggle against sin. Ask a drug addict or an alcoholic or even a cigarette smoker if it is easy to kick the habit of the old life. You will then hear something of the kind of struggle and suffering that we have to endure in order to be rid of our sinful nature and so to know Christ more fully.

God does not take away our sin, we have to give it to Him in confession and repentance –our bad attitudes and habits, our hateful speech, our lack of love. Few of us are murderers or adulterers or blasphemers –if we were we would readily seek forgiveness. Our struggle is with the “little sins” that we don’t care to admit. And it is these that are likely to cause most suffering as we offer them to the God who came, suffered and died for us because they demand a radical lifestyle change if we are to truly know Christ.

It is in these moments of suffering that we experience “fellowship” with Christ, and it is that fellowship which Paul wants –no matter the cost.

Third, knowing Christ means sharing His destiny, “somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” When Paul says “somehow” he is not expressing doubt or uncertainty –he had no doubt about his eternal life. In Romans 8 he says, “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” He is telling us that while he is not there yet, it is his primary aim and ambition. In verse 13, he says “the one thing I do” –he is absolutely single-minded about his ambition to know Christ, and he will allow nothing in his life to conflict with that ambition.

This does not mean for us, that we should put aside any ambitions for our marriage, family life, career, work or ministry. Instead all of these things must be drawn into our central ambition –this is why we seek Christian marriage, and the strongest argument for baptising infants must be that we want to draw them into the centrality of our own faith and overriding ambition to know Christ. If we marry in church just for the atmosphere or bring our children just to have them “done” then we have utterly missed the point. The primary objective must be to have “knowing Christ” as the central ambition of our life and all that surrounds us in that life.

In the desire to fulfil this ambition, Paul paints a picture of himself as an athlete. Like a runner, he does not look back but strains for that which lies ahead. Like a man climbing a ladder, he looks up to his goal, concentrating on the next rung and forgetting those that he has left behind. In our desire to know Christ we cannot live on past successes or be bogged down by past failures, despair over past sins or bitterness over past wrongs done to us –instead we must “press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus”.

And Paul makes the point that this is not a solitary pursuit. In Christ we are not alone in our ambitions. He says, “Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.” There are very few who have come to really know Christ by being alone in their journey –we need the company of others who are going in the same direction. We need our church fellowship, we need our friends.

Today is the KEP Ultra-marathon – a 100km race from the Mundaring Weir to Northam. I can imagine that it would be much harder to run that route on any other day than today. There would be none of the camaraderie to spur each other on, none of the organization to keep the traffic out of your way, no support tables offering water, Mars bars and bananas and no-one to massage aching muscles. If our ambition is to know Christ, we need to join with others and follow the pattern of those who lead the way for us and who will support us on our journey.

Next, in verse 18, Paul turns to those who have rejected this ambition of knowing Christ and who live as enemies of the Cross of Christ. Does he reject them, make them his enemies? No! He weeps for them. He sheds tears of anguish and despair. He sees that they are missing out on “the resurrection of the dead”, and their terrible end is “destruction”.

No doubt they are unaware of where they are heading. The devil never tells us our destination as he leads us along his path.

Unlike Paul’s great and overriding ambition to know Christ, these have other ambitions –we could call them man-centred ambitions.

First, their appetites dictate their lives. Paul says, “their god is their stomach”. No doubt there are some who lives revolve around their eating and drinking habits but Paul has something more in mind. He is referring to those whose god is personal satisfaction and sensuality –literally the satisfaction of our senses: feel, touch, taste, smell and so on. Even a brief excursion through a lifestyle magazine will confirm this. Advertisements for clothes, perfume and alcohol dominate everything and they all offer sensual pleasures.

Many people are driven by the satisfaction of their bodily desires, for others it is in fame or money or power. But such ambitions always lead to dissatisfaction. Even when attained they still leave an emptiness, and often a despair. The lives of the rich and famous might well be filled with glitter and glam as we watch their exploits on the television or in the magazines but when their guard is down they are mostly unhappy and dissatisfied.

This leads us to the second thing about “the enemies of the cross”. They boast when they should blush –Paul says “their glory is in their shame”. They are like robbers who boast about their ill-gotten gains, or criminals who must always return to the scene of the crime. Or like the man who must talk about his sexual conquests or how much he drank the night before. The glory is in the event, the so-called success –but isn’t it strange that it is always the boasting that becomes their downfall. They have built their life out of a pack of cards –they must keep adding to it because what they have is not yet enough. And the more they add, the greater the danger of collapse and ruin. This is quite unlike the Christian ambition to know Christ, which builds one up, gives satisfaction and ensures success.

Thirdly, their minds are locked into this planet. Paul says that “their minds are on earthly things”. Elsewhere, Jesus says, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

The Christian is a citizen of heaven, not of this planet. This planet, like our earthly bodies is wearing out. The things of the earth that we seek for satisfaction only temporarily meet our needs. Our eyesight fails, we often experience humiliating illness, we must constantly battle to control our tongues and our appetites. It is absurd to make a god out of these things.

If however we seek God’s glory, Jesus will transform these bodies which are subject to decay and sin to be like His glorious body which will never age or decay or be subject to sinful desires.

In this passage Paul tells us that everyone is on one of two paths. There are two destinations: one is headed for heaven, the other is headed for destruction. There are two powers at work: the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit and the power of bodily appetites. There are two possible lifestyles: those who are willing to share in His sufferings and those who want a lifestyle of ease and comfort. There are two possible gods: our Lord Jesus Christ or our stomachs. There are two possible attitudes to Jesus: either friendship at the most intimate level or enemies of the cross. Ultimately there are only two ambitions: either His glory, Christ-centred ambition; or our own glory, self-centred ambition. Paul says in effect: “I have changed my ambitions. Now I am Christ-centred. Will you join me?”

So what is my ambition? Since becoming a Christ follower my ambition has changed radically. To that point my ambition was worldly success – to be rich and famous. I was the International Economist of a major banking group, travelling the world, speaking at conferences. I was comfortably well off with a string of degrees, including an MBA from a prestigious university and I was about to launch a unique concept for dealing in foreign currencies. When I met Jesus, my ambitions changed – since then and even more so now, my ambition is to help people by word and action to become joyful followers of Jesus in a life which is completely satisfied, having left behind their past and seeing clearly what God has promised for them. I don’t want to be any different to the person that I am now.

Let’s pray …

Lord God Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth and all that is in them. It is not my desire to worship created things nor to be caught up with the gods of this world. I do not want to be an enemy of the Cross. I want to live my life for Your glory. I want to know You and the power of the resurrection, I am prepared to share in the fellowship of Your sufferings and I want to attain the resurrection of the dead. By the power of Your Name I would count everything as loss for the sake of knowing You.

Grant to me the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit to have but one ambition for my life –to know You deeply and personally as my Lord and Saviour.

Amen

I jotted down some thoughts … (It took just ten minutes so don’t expect a brilliant theological treatise)
1. All that is came from the pre-existent God who is sovereign, holy and omnipotent.
2. Man has a special place in God’s creation, being made in His image (likeness) and has been given stewardship as God’s representative in the created realm. (Man includes every single human being of whatever race, tribe, language, nationality, gender or creed)
3. Man sinned – he desired to be like God (knowing good and evil and thus able to make choices that do not necessarily please God). NOTE – God’s heart breaks when we sin; which by definition is when we make choices which He does not want us to make.
4. Man’s sin has its origin in the temptation which came from, and still comes from Satan.
5. Satan is the ‘ancient serpent’ – a spiritual being (an angel according to Job) who was hurled to earth (with his angels) to lead the world astray (away from God).
6. Man’s journey throughout his existence has been, and is, accompanied by the Presence and guidance of God in which He constantly seeks to bring this special creature back into relationship with Him.
7. God, who is Love, has a passion to redeem man from his consuming desire to sin.
8. This passion became a reality in the incarnation of Jesus (YHWH is my salvation) and the great love of God was shown in the laying down of His life.
9. The incarnation itself is a sign of God’s great love – God, who is infinite, omnipresent and omnipotent, became flesh, containing Himself not only in Man’s image but also within time and space.
10. The laying down of this ‘taken-up’ life was a ‘sacrifice’ in the sense that God was prepared to give up everything for the sake of the redeeming of Man. (When we say ‘by His blood’ we are referring to the fact that in God’s total self-giving He has redeemed us utterly and completely – for He who is Alpha and Omega has stopped at nothing for the redemption of the body, mind and spirit of Man.)
11. But death could not hold, or limit, the Mighty One. He is risen! The victory is absolutely complete – all that was lost is restored, all that was dis-eased is made well, all that was wronged is made right, all that was separated is brought back.
12. Satan is defeated.
13. Jesus ascended to heaven and He has empowered His church by the Holy Spirit to be His body on the earth to declare the good news of His victory and to prepare His special creation for His return.
14. The good news is that it is not God’s desire that any should be lost but that everyone should be saved.
15. Every time we show God’s love we are declaring the good news. Every time that we do not show love – in either attitude or action, we sin.
16. If I am to live as God wants me to live in this world which He created, I need to know Him. I need to know His mind and His heart. I need to know what pleases Him and what displeases Him. And when my life is lived like that then I find the real joy of life and the peace which passes understanding.
17. When I choose to do this – He fills me with His Spirit to help me live the life which is God’s gift to me.
18. And why do I have this life? Because God wants me to be His friend! (This is not a flippant comment. Somewhere in being God’s friend is a very profound sense of being!)

“To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood.”

The whole basis for our salvation is identified in this one sentence, the most condensed outline of the process of salvation in all of Scripture. Peter also reveals here the complex and multi-faceted nature of God.

Peter is writing to scattered followers of Christ, believers who’ve been dispersed due to persecution under the Roman Emperor Nero. He writes to encourage the afflicted and he begins by announcing that all three Persons of the Godhead are responding to their suffering. Father, Son, and Spirit are involved in the reasons behind their hardship, and stand ready to provide relief and an everlasting inheritance.

Even today believers face misunderstanding, ridicule and harassment by unbelieving friends, employers, teachers, and family members. In some countries, converting to Christ is punishable by death. Peter shows us the attitude we should have when facing this kind of opposition. When people oppose us, we are reminded that we belong to the Triune God and not to this world. Our hope is found in our thrice-holy God. We may be mocked and looked down upon in the eyes of secular society, but our true status is that we’ve been chosen as God’s elect. God has initiated our calling, which means our real home, our true citizenship is in heaven and this makes us strangers in a hostile, foreign land.
According to Peter, all three members of the Trinity work to bring us new life and provide us assurance of our salvation. All Three are involved in our daily lives. Yet we do not worship three Gods. We are not polytheists. The Trinity is a complicated yet essential Christian teaching.

Defining “Trinity”

The doctrine of the Trinity is that we worship One God, Who is manifest in three distinct Persons. In the Tri-unity of the Godhead there are Three-in-One, of the same substance: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They are equally God in their being, power, holiness and eternality. God is one in essence and three in Person. Scripture affirms both the oneness of God and the deity of the Father, Son and Spirit. The Father is our Creator, the Son our Redeemer, and the Spirit our Sanctifier. The word “Trinity” comes from the Latin word “Tri-unitos”, which means “three in the unity of one.” They are distinct, yet not solitary. And while the word Trinity is not found in the Bible, it is a Biblical concept: One-in-Three; Three-in-One.

The Trinity is somewhat of a mystery—the teaching is difficult to grasp, because it is so unique. Theologians have tried to explain the nature of God, but God is beyond human comprehension. We understand part of Who God is, but not the whole.

He is Father – Our loving Father chose us before we chose Him (Eph 1:4). From eternity past, the Father planned our salvation, so there is no room to doubt our future in heaven. Nothing that happens can change the Father’s sovereign promises to us. We are His elect, chosen people, adopted into His family.

He is Son – Jesus, the Son died for us while we were sinners, purchasing our salvation through the shedding of His blood (Rom 5:6-10). The “sprinkling by His blood” refers back to the sacrifices in the Jewish Temple, where the blood of the animal sacrifice would be sprinkled on the altar and on the mercy seat above the Ark of the Covenant, to cover or atone for sin. Jesus has always been God and He became a man without ceasing to be God. He is 100% God and 100% man at the same time.

He is Spirit – The Spirit seals and applies Christ’s sacrifice to our lives, bringing us the benefits of salvation. The Spirit cleanses and prepares us for God’s use (II Thes 2:13). Peter says that the Spirit “sanctifies” us. This means He makes us holy and sets us apart. The Spirit begins a gradual process of growth within us. Our old way of life is passing away, and all things are being made new (II Cor 5:17). The Spirit also enables us to discern and understand Scripture. Paul writes that without enlightenment from the Spirit, the Bible appears to be foolishness. The Spirit inspired the writers of Scripture and for us makes understandable the word of God.

Their Roles – The Father is the Originator, the Son is the Agent, and the Holy Spirit is the Administrator. Jonathan Edwards described the Trinity as “sharing in divine love.” Self-giving love is our Triune God’s signature. God is not self-contained or self-absorbed; He reaches out to His Creation, revealing Himself to us. Gregory (of Zazianzus, a 4th Century Bishop), and early church leader said: “I cannot think of the One without immediately being surrounded by the radiance of the Three; nor can I discern the Three without being carried back to the One.”

The Baptismal formula – After Jesus died and rose from the grave, He appeared to His disciples and commissioned them to go into all the world, preaching the Gospel to every creature. They were to baptize new believers, “In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). Significantly, Jesus did not say “in the names” but “in the name”. The three “persons”, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, have one name – God – and one eternal Being.

It is important that we understand the Father, Son and Spirit are revealed as God in Scripture…and yet the Bible says that there is only “one” God. Confusion with this comes because we don’t grasp the meaning of the word “one”.
There are two Hebrew words for “one”: yachid, which means “absolute mathematical oneness;” and echad, meaning a “composite unity” or a “united one.” Here are some examples of echad–

In Genesis 1:5 we’re told, “…there was evening and there was morning, one (echad) day.” (It does not, in fact, say the “first” day). In Genesis 2:24 we read that, “a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one (echad) flesh.” Num. 13:23 in summarizing the account of the visit of the spies into the Promised Land describes one (echad) cluster of grapes. (^?When they reached the Valley of Eshcol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes).

And in Deut. 6:4 Jehovah our God is described as one (echad) God. (Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one).  A popular Hebrew Name of God, elohim, has a plural ending, because God is a unified plurality.

Because our Triune God is a composite unity, we can correctly say 1 + 1 + 1 = 1. This “Trinitarian arithmetic” may seem puzzling, but it’s accurate.

St Patrick, the missionary to Ireland, used a shamrock to explain the concept of the Trinity. This image has three parts but is one harmonious whole/entirety. The triangle is also used as a Trinitarian symbol because it has 3 sides, yet is one object.

A young woman reflected on her journey of faith. She stated: “I got to know God through the three Persons of the Trinity. I first encountered God as Father in church, where I learned that God is holy, deserving of my worship. Later, as a teenager, I became acquainted with Jesus, a man I wanted to follow for the rest of my life. And then—it was almost like a second conversion—I became aware of the power of the Spirit, of God living inside me.”

God the Father revealed Himself to the Jewish nation. Jesus revealed the completion of God’s plan for salvation, and then promised the Comforter to indwell and guide us. Our devotion to God includes all three Persons–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: The God above us, the God before us, and the God within us.

Today is Trinity Sunday – I was thinking about the reason for having a special day for this; after all, its not at all like Easter, or Christmas, or Pentecost in which we focus on an aspect of the faith story. But today is about a particular doctrine – a teaching which we believe is essential to our faith. I guess that the Church (long, long ago!) realized the complexity of this aspect of our faith in which we believe that there is only one God but who exists in three Persons, and so ordered its    ministers to teach on this doctrine at least once a year. It’s the same with baptism. We are required to teach on baptism, this essential step for the initiation of our faith journey, also once per annum. I suppose that it is so easy – and its our default mode – to neglect that which we do not fully understand. And the result is that  powerful concepts of our faith become dilute and wishy-washy.

Margie and I have been reading the Biblical account of Solomon this past week and we have seen the danger of this. Solomon, the son of David, was a wise king but he failed to keep God’s commands and his reign ended in disarray through the worship of false gods. If he had but only kept to the basics of God’s intention.

And so today we are going to have a brief look at the Tri-unity of God. It is a difficult concept but it is central to our faith. We worship One God. In the tri-unity of the Godhead there are three-in-one, of the same substance: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. They are equally God in their being, power, holiness and eternality. God is one in essence and three in person. Scripture affirms both the oneness of God, and the deity of the Father, Son and Spirit. The  Father is our Creator, the Son our Redeemer and the Spirit our Sanctifier. They are distinct and yet not solitary. We, in our limited human understanding, attempt to define the three persons by a role which seems dominant and yet all three Persons are  forever together. Father, Son and Spirit were present in creation; Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” and He promised to be with us always in the Person of the Comforter (Holy Spirit).

Today we also have Matthew with us. He is a student from Iran and will share the testimony of his faith journey with us. We all have a faith journey to share for God deals with each of us in a unique way and it is in the sharing of our testimony that we build each other up in faith. Thank you, Matthew for coming to share your story with us this weekend.

After the service today we will have our quarterly Congregation Meeting. I have had peep at the agenda and while there are some items dealing with past things (the journey), there are also some exciting things about the future. The greatest thing about following Jesus is that He is always leading us into the future. Our faith is about that which lies ahead and the certainty of our hope. I want to share a little of what I believe the Lord is saying to me and we will also hear something about Ride for Life, Internet broadcasting of services and propose membership of Pneuma. In a way these are all connected and are aspects of the journey which still lies before us. Kennon Callahan said, “Hope is stronger than memory. Memory is strong, hope is stronger. We are the Easter People, the People of the Empty Tomb, we are the People of Hope.” God bless you and may He be with you