Praying Always - Faith (1 Kings 17.1-6, 18.41-46 and James 5.13-18)

Introduction

Back in March, we agreed at All Saints’ to commit ourselves to moving in a clear direction as a church. This is it; “praying always and serving together, sharing Jesus’ love in our communities.” That’s our vision.

The last thing we want to do is stick that vision statement on our stationery and on website, and then carry on as before. Here is what we’re not going to do: “Pray occasionally or not at all, serve alone or expect to be waited on, keeping Jesus’ love to ourselves, staying detached and aloof in our own cosy community.”

I’ll say this as lovingly as I can; if prayerlessness, disservice, self-interest and isolation are what you want from church, All Saints’ Preston on Tees is not for you. There are dozens of churches in the Stockton area and you might want to have a look to see if you can find what you want there but we are going to be praying always and serving together, sharing Jesus’ love in our communities.

And what we are going to do over the next few months is try to explore what all that is going to mean for us as a church.

The next four Sundays are going to get to grips with what it means to pray always and we’re going to see that biblical prayer involves faith, perseverance, desperation and unity.

Prayer is hard work

In reality, most of us find prayer quite hard work. If you do, that’s all right, it’s not just you. It really is difficult. A former bishop of mine Geoffrey Rowell, once said, “In the contest between prayer and work, work always wins because it’s easier.” That is so true. Speaking personally, prayer, especially on my own, is much harder than work.

A friend of mine called Dan Jéquier was talking to me once about the Mission that Mother Teresa founded in Calcutta. There was a time in the early days of that amazing work when the sisters and volunteers were becoming overrun by the demands placed on them.

There were more desperate people on their doorstep than they could cope with. They had to keep turning people away. Open wounds were being left untended and exposed to infection until the next day. Desperate children were going away disappointed to sleep in the streets.

So one day one of the novices approached Mother Teresa and said, “What are we going to do? We are sending people away. We do not have the resources we need. The sisters are discouraged and exhausted.” Do you know what Mother Teresa said? She thought for a moment and said, “Then we shall get up in the morning one hour earlier. And we shall spend that extra hour together on our knees before God.”

It sounds completely mad. But it isn’t. It’s faith! “Praying always” calls for faith. Thank God they had Mother Teresa running that place and not me. I think I would have said, “Do you know what? We’ll have to get up an hour earlier to fit everyone in.” Bishop Geoffrey was right; in the contest between prayer and work, work always wins, because it’s so much easier.

I have often sat where you’re sitting and listened to stories like that one and felt completely defeated before I start. You’ve all heard preachers quoting John Wesley saying unless he spent four hours every morning in prayer he couldn’t get anything done. I’m sure it’s meant to be inspirational but it the effect that sort of quote has on me is just to make me think that my prayer life is pants.

But in the Bible, the greatest warriors in prayer, the most anointed intercessors, the most inspirational men and women of faith were ordinary people like we are. That’s what it says in James 5 about Elijah. Resist the temptation to put him on a pedestal; it says in v17 that he was a human being, even as we are.

He wasn’t Superman. He wasn’t an otherworldly saint. He was a regular bloke who just prayed that it would be dry for three and a half years - and it was. Then he prayed for rain - and it poured down to end the drought.

He was an absolute legend in prayer. He was a giant in faith. He marched into the king’s palace and gave him what for. He raised a boy from the dead. He called down fire from heaven. But the Bible says, he was just like us. He doubted. He got distracted and drifted off when he was praying. He said to people “I’ll pray for you” then forgot to do it. Yes, he was just like us.

How to…

How do you pray? What works for you? I had to fill in a form once for someone in the Diocese in preparation for my appraisal. One of the questions was, “What resources are you using in your personal devotions?” I don’t know what they were looking for as an acceptable reply; maybe the Bible, a cross, candles, prayer books, worship CDs... I think I probably put down some of those things but I also put down ‘running shoes’. I don’t know what they made of that. But I find it easiest of all to pray when I’m out running early in the morning in Preston Park. That is just the way the Lord made me.

I listen to worship songs on my mp3 player and I lift up praise to God. I usually pray for my family one by one, for people I know who are having a tough time, for the church, for stuff in the world, for God’s direction in my life… Those moments for me are the times when I pray best. And, I’ve mentioned this before to you, those times are when I most clearly hear from God.

It’s probably different for you. Here are some differences.

-Location: Some people like to take time out in churches, monasteries or chapels. Others pray by their bed side. Still others pray best in the open air.

- Resources: Some people like prayer guides or books of prayers. Others keep a prayer diary. Others just pray with no agenda, as the Holy Spirit leads.

- Time: Some people prefer to spend the first moments of each day in prayer, before getting up. For others, the best moment is at the end of the day on the sofa with a cup of cocoa. Still others, take time out in their lunch hour.

- Personnel: Some like to pray alone. Others much prefer to pray in a triplet or in a larger group.

- Habits. Some people get into habits. One of the suggestions in the TryPraying booklet is every time you use a key to pray “Lord, unlock my life to your influence.” I know a guy who lives in a 5^th floor flat. He has worked out that the time it takes to go up and down five floors is exactly the time he needs to pray the Lord’s Prayer. So each time he goes out or comes home that’s what he does.

The point is that everyone’s experience of prayer is different. It doesn’t matter how or when you pray, as long as you find out what works for you and do it.

In the letter of James the focus is more on praying together.

Prayer - what you do when you’re in trouble (v13)

The first thing it says in v13 is that prayer is what you should do when you’re in danger, or anxious, or disturbed, or in a mess. It is God’s gift to you in times of bother and hassle. “Is anyone among you in trouble?” it says. “Let them pray.”

J. John sometimes talks about where Jesus is in the car journey of your life.

Is he in the back seat? – Basically a passenger in your life without any real influence.

Is he in the boot? – Only taken out for religious happy hour on Sunday mornings but the rest of the time out of sight, out of mind.

Is he in the front passenger seat? – A companion in your life but still a passenger and not the one in control.

You’ve guessed where this is going, haven’t you? That’s right, is he in the driving seat? – Leading the way, steering in his chosen direction. But if he is, are you the backseat driver, saying, “Stop! No, turn left, not right! Mind that bus! Slow down! Ah, change gear! Make a U-turn!”

The Bible says “Don’t be anxious about anything. In everything present your requests to God.” But it’s amazing how much easier it is to worry and fret and agonize and lose sleep and take tranquilisers than simply pray and leave things with the Lord.

But God promises this: (this is the Message paraphrase). Present your requests to God “and before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ dissolves worry at the centre of your life.”

Can I encourage you, if you are carrying heavy burdens today, and you haven’t yet come to God and laid your anxieties down at his feet? It usually helps to pray with someone else – that’s why we do prayer ministry here.

You can listen to a talk on prayer and go away informed. Or you can listen to a talk on prayer and then let someone pray over you and go away transformed. Don’t suffer alone. The Lord is near.

Prayer - what you ask for when you’re sick (v14)

The next thing it says here about prayer (v14-15) is that it’s what you should ask for when you’re unwell. “Is any one of you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up.”

Well, that’s nice and easy then isn’t it? Of course, we all know -or most of us can point to- occurrences of healing from God when we have prayed for it, sometimes dramatically and remarkably.

Probably the most extraordinary example I have come across in my life is when a friend of mine called Guy Sancerres asked me to pray with him for a friend. He had had seen him earlier that day and found he had been diagnosed with cancer spreading from the liver and he had been given just a few months to live. Two or three of us prayed for that man there and then. Six months later, he went back and was given a clean bill of health by his incredulous doctors. He was still alive 8 years later. I could talk about similar signs and wonders that I have witnessed. Our God is a great and mighty, awesome God and he heals today.

Why does James mention anointing with oil? It seems to be a thing that God honours in Spirit-led ministry. We know that God’s power is uniquely present when we break bread and drink wine together in repentance and faith. In the same way, our faith in God’s power to deliver often increases when we anoint with oil and ask God to heal in Jesus’ name.

We have anointing oil here and we sometimes use it when praying for the sick. A few weeks ago at The Source I had a word from God about anointing people to be freshly empowered by the Holy Spirit. So people came forward. And the Spirit of God came in power. Three people fell down in the power of the Spirit, one after another. Others were touched in different ways.

But - here’s the important thing - it’s not because of the oil. It’s not because of the elders of the church. It’s not because of their faith or even their prayer that the sick are healed; v15 says it’s the Lord who raises them up.

This week TearFund were asking people about their favourite worship songs and hymns and why they particularly liked them. They made a Top Ten and at number 2 was the song 10,000 Reasons – Bless the Lord O My Soul by Matt Redman.

Here’s one testimony from someone who chose that song. “Three years ago, my daughter Alison who had been disabled with 3 debilitating illnesses for over 20 years … got married. To say "Thank you" for the wedding... they took us on holiday to the Isle of Wight. Every day one of us would break into this song and then we would all join in wherever we were! We got some strange looks! But towards the end of the holiday our great God completely healed our daughter.”

Some are healed when we pray for them with our best prayer in the name of Jesus but, of course, not all are. We are broken-hearted as a church because we prayed for baby Sophia; Kevin’s granddaughter. And she died. And we need to take great care to reassure people who are not healed, and their loved ones, that it’s not their fault and that God loves them just as much.

John Wimber, who had a powerful and fruitful healing ministry, was once asked about this. This is how he replied: he said, “Before, we never used to pray for anybody and nobody was ever healed. Now, we try to take more seriously Christ’s command to heal in his name. So we pray for everybody. And some get healed. Not everybody, but many do. So which is better; to pray for nobody and see no healing at all or to pray for everybody and see some healing?” That’s why we keep going.

Prayer - what you do when you’re in a bad place (v15b, 16)

The next thing it says here about prayer, in v15b, 16, is that it’s what you should do when you’re in a bad place. “If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”

There is sometimes a link between sickness and personal sin. Not always by any means. “If they have sinned” says James. Sometimes you get a tummy bug because you ate an out-of-date lasagne. Full-stop. But sometimes there is a relationship between sickness and sin.

I have sometimes noticed that people who are unwilling to forgive become embittered and sick. Unforgiveness poisons the soul. That’s why Jesus said, “When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them.”

I was praying with a woman once, I can’t remember what she asked for prayer for. As I was praying, I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me to ask her if she had a sister and if she had a difficult relationship with her. So I plucked up the courage to ask her. I should add that sometimes I think God is saying something and I share it only to find that it’s just my imagination. That’s why I never say “God told me” or “God is saying…” We prophesy in part and what we think might be prophetic words have to be weighed and tested.

Anyway, in this case, as soon as I mentioned this woman’s sister, she immediately stiffened up and folded her arms. After a while, I asked her if she would be prepared to forgive. I told her that real freedom can only come when we leave behind our hurts and resentments that are toxic to the soul. She said to me, “No, I won’t forgive. I want you to pray anyway.” I had to tell her, “I’m afraid there’s no point.” Oh, how hard the way of the cross is sometimes! You’ve got to forgive those who sin against you! You’ve got to let go. As far as I know she never moved on.

Conclusion

Our vision is to pray always, to be ordinary people like Elijah who pray with the faith we have.

The disciples said to Jesus “Lord, teach us how to pray.” On another occasion, they said to him “Lord, increase our faith.” I hope you are determined to grow in prayer and grow in faith as we commit together to this vision; to be praying always, serving together and sharing Jesus’ love in our communities.

Let’s stand to pray…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 31st May 2015

The Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5.16-26)

There’s a story about an R. E. teacher in a church school who says to his class, “Now then, how many people here believe in God the Father?” and practically every hand goes up. Then he asks, “How many people here believe in God the Son?” and again, practically every hand goes up. Then he says, “And, who here believes in God the Holy Spirit?” and not one hand goes up. Eventually one girl raises her hand, and says, “Please sir, the boy who believes in the Holy Spirit isn’t here today.”

But as the Christian stand-up comedian Milton Jones says, “The Holy Spirit is a real person you can invite in. But watch out - in time he will go over to the fridge, pull it from the wall and say 'What's all this mess under here?' But at least he helps clear up.”

That’s actually a good summary of what the Holy Spirit does – firstly, he lives inside us; secondly, he shows us where we sin; and thirdly, he makes us more like Jesus. And this third aspect of his work is called the fruit of the Spirit.

In Galatians 5 it says that when the Holy Spirit lives within us, he begins to change us from the inside. 

Sometimes people say, “Oh, that sounds very worrying. Does that mean I’m going to go all weird?”

But no one should worry; all the changes the Holy Spirit brings about in our lives are designed to make us more like Jesus. The Bible says that as we spend time in the presence of Jesus Christ, we become transformed into his likeness. 

That is what you might expect when you think about it. When we spend time with people we often become more like them. You see that of course with parents and children. You see it with husbands and wives. In a good marriage husband and wife often become more alike character wise. Physically they don’t always come to look exactly like each other. 

But certainly dogs and their owners do! Take a look at these images..:

The Apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 5 precisely what changes we can expect to occur in our lives. He writes: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”  This is the moral fibre that will begin to emerge.

So you can expect as a Christian to become more loving, more joyful, more peaceful, more patient, more faithful, kinder, gentler, more full of goodness, and more in control of yourself. 

It is actually a picture of Jesus. No one exhibits all those characteristics more than he does.

John Newton, the man who wrote Amazing Grace, was an atheist slave trader before he was converted. He described himself as an infidel and libertine. He once contemplated murdering a ship’s captain and committing suicide by throwing himself overboard. Sometime after his conversion, long after he abandoned the slave trade, he said “I am still not what I ought to be. I am not what I want to be. I am not what I hope to be. But thank God I am not what I used to be.”

You see, bringing forth the fruit of the Spirit is a lifetime’s programme; it doesn’t happen overnight, just as fruit doesn’t appear overnight.

I heard about a man who planted a pear tree in his garden. Every day he looked out the window to see if there were any pears on it. One evening, his wife played a practical joke on him. She went out at night and tied a big green apple on the tree with a cotton thread. When he looked out of the window the next day there was this enormous apple right in the middle of his pear tree! But of course he wasn’t fooled. Everyone knows that it takes time for a tree to produce fruit - and that a pear tree produces pears, not apples, or £50 notes.

Love is the first fruit of the Spirit.  If you want to sum up what Christianity is about, apart from the word “Jesus”, the word “love” is the best word to sum it up.  The Christian faith is all about God’s love for us being poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

Most people understand love as a great feeling; but Christian love is not first of all an emotion you feel; it is a choice you make – that’s why Jesus could say “Love your enemies.” Jesus taught us to love those who wish us harm. Because only by loving them is there any chance that their hearts can change. It’s a very powerful force. Love transforms the whole of our lives. And without love everything else, the Bible says, counts for nothing. It’s the first evidence that the Holy Spirit is living in us.

Secondly joy. Joy is different to happiness. Happiness depends on what happens to you. Joy is much deeper. We can be joyful even if we are having a difficult time. Even when things are going badly wrong in our lives, we can still have the joy of the Lord in our hearts.

Richard Wurmbrand was a Romanian church leader who was in prison for many years and frequently tortured. He wrote an account of his time in a prison cell. He wrote this: “Alone in my cell, cold, hungry and in rags, I danced for joy every night... Sometimes I was so filled with joy that I felt I would burst if I did not give it expression.”  That is the fruit of the Spirit. That is not normal; it comes only from the Holy Spirit living within us.

Thirdly, peace. Again, it’s not what we might think. Jesus said “My peace I give you, not as the world gives.” It doesn’t mean being calm because everything is fine; it means peace in the midst of anxiety and trouble.  The Bible describes as “peace that passes understanding”.  It’s not plausible that somebody can be absolutely at peace when everything is going wrong, but that’s the peace that the Holy Spirit brings.

And so on with all these things. I’m not going to go through them all. These are the qualities that begin to grow; patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control - that’s what Christians who are filled with the Holy Spirit become like.

There is one more I want to mention in closing though, and it is faithfulness.

On March 3rd 1972, NASA launched a space probe called Pioneer 10. Its mission was to reach Jupiter, to photograph that planet and its moons, and beam data back to us about its magnetic field, radiation belts, and atmosphere.

It was a bold plan, because it was thought the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter would probably destroy Pioneer 10 before it could get there. But it made it. In November 1973 it was hurled like a slingshot by Jupiter’s colossal gravitational force toward the edge of our solar system.

At one billion miles distance from the Sun, it reached Saturn, photographed it up close and sent back data.

At some two billion miles, it whizzed past Uranus and sent back data about that planet.

A billion miles later it passed Neptune and beamed back pictures of that as well. At almost four billion miles from the Sun, it then hurtled past Pluto.

By 1997, twenty-five years after its launch, Pioneer 10 was more than six billion miles from the Sun and was still sending back radio signals to scientists on Earth. Those signals come from an 8-watt transmitter, (that's about as much power as a bedroom night light). Engineers designed Pioneer 10 with a useful life of just three years. But it just kept going and going.

Faithfulness – the strength and character to just keep on going – is the fruit of the Spirit too.

Make sure you’re a child of God the Father, stay close to Jesus, be filled with the Holy Spirit - and you will become increasingly Christ-like to infinity and beyond.

Sermon preached at Saint Mary's Long Newton, 17th May 2015

Heaven (Revelation 5.1-14)

How would you describe colour to someone who was born blind? How would you teach a goldfish computer programming? How might anyone explain to my wife the football offside rule? And could a mere mortal ever contemplate the infinite splendour of heaven’s perfections without being totally out of our depth?

We do get a bit of a glimpse of heaven though in Revelation 5.

Many Christians don’t read Revelation, because it seems too advanced, too complicated or just too weird. That’s understandable. But the basic message of Revelation, in five words, is this: In the end, Jesus wins.

The message of Revelation 5 in five words is this: “Jesus is in charge, having all heavenly authority, and holding the keys to history.” Well, that’s 14 words.

But Revelation 5, when we read it, leaves us with a lot of questions. Scrolls, seals, numbers, a lion of Judah, and a deformed lamb.

Let’s see if we can break it down.

In v1 there’s a scroll. It is written on the inside and outside, which means that it is complete. There is nothing else to say that isn’t on this scroll. Unfortunately, it is sealed up with seven seals. Just as a week is incomplete without seven whole days, 7 is the number that represents perfection, totality.

So if a scroll is sealed with seven seals, that means it is completely inaccessible and totally impossible to open.

In actual fact, the contents are later revealed in chapters 6 and 7, and it’s about the future of the world and God's plan throughout history. So this sealed scroll, this closed book, contains the meaning of life, the universe and everything.

In v2, it says that no one is worthy to open the scroll and therefore no one is competent to explain the meaning of life or the purpose of existence. Verse 3 confirms this; absolutely no one is qualified for the job!

In v4 John says, "I wept and wept.” What hope do people have if no one has the key to open the riddle of why we’re here and where we’re going?

If there is no divine purpose, everything is absurd.

Friedrich Nietzsche was a German atheist philosopher who wrote one of the most powerful pieces of literature ever written to show that life without God would be chaotic and violent.

Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market place, and cried incessantly: "I seek God! I seek God!" As many of those who did not believe in God were standing around just then, he provoked much laughter. Has he got lost? asked one. Did he lose his way like a child? asked another. Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone on a voyage? Emigrated? Thus they shouted and laughed.

The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes. "Where is God?" he cried; "I will tell you. We have killed him - you and I. All of us are his murderers. But how did we do this? How could we drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? Where is it moving now? Where are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually, backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down? Are we not straying, as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us? Do we not need to light lanterns in the morning? Do we hear nothing as yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we smell nothing as yet of the divine decomposition? Gods, too, decompose you know. And God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.”

Nietzsche, though he was a fanatical atheist and hated Christianity, wrote that to say that widespread abandonment of faith in Christ would lead to universal madness. He said that the 20th Century would be the bloodiest of all time - and he was right. Nietzsche foretold the century of Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, apartheid, the spread of terrorism, two World Wars, the atomic bomb and I could go on.

The very idea of a world where God is dead to us weighed heavily on Nietzsche’s mind and he spent the last eleven years of his life locked away in an asylum, where he died in 1900. Without God, there’s nothing left," said Nietzsche. No wonder John wept bitterly.

But in v5 we look up and see that all is not lost. Someone called the Lion of Judah has the authority to break the seals. It’s a description of Jesus; one of the 250 different titles attributed to him, that’s more than for anyone else in human history. He is from the Jewish tribe of Judah, strong as a lion.

But in v6 when John turns his head to look at this ferocious beast with teeth that can tear you apart, to his surprise, he sees a young lamb ... (apparently mortally wounded, though living).

A lamb with the strength of a lion. A lion with the meekness of a lamb. How like Jesus! We admire Jesus for his justice - but even more so because it is full of mercy. We praise him for his might and dominion - but even more so because he learned obedience to his parents. We love him because he confounded the great and the good with his wisdom - but even more so because he valued little children as most special of all.

John sees a lamb with seven horns (that means he has perfect strength) and seven eyes (that means he has perfect knowledge and wisdom).

Do not be confused by the seven spirits of God in v6; it is a reference to Isaiah 11.2 where the prophet speaks of the Spirit of the Lord, Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord. There is only one Holy Spirit, whose perfections are endless, hence the number 7.

From v7 onwards, there are three songs; each one full of superlatives.

The first is sung by a small circle of elders and living creatures; they probably stand for God’s people in all ages.

In v9 they sing a new song: “Yes, you are worthy to take the scroll and to break its seals for you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your shed blood, people of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation. You made them a nation of kings and priests to serve our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

The second comes from the lips of countless angels.

In v12: they shout in a loud voice: He is worthy, the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and praise.

The third is thundered out by an even bigger choir; this is the song of all creation – trees, birds, land animals, underground creatures, fish and sea monsters – everything together!

Our galaxy measures a hundred thousand light-years in diameter. It is only one among a billion galaxies seen by our most powerful telescopes. In our Milky Way, there are about 100 billion stars, including our little sun that burns at 6,000°C at the surface, and rotates at a speed of 200 kilometres per second. All creation, the vast array of stars, all speak of our Creator’s worth.

It’s a picture of praise upon adoration upon worship.

In v13 All creatures in heaven and on earth and under the earth and the sea, all the beings that populate the universe, proclaim “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honour and glory and power forever and ever.”

Do you see the passion? Do you feel the emotion?

In May 1985 Eugene Ormandy was conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra. His energy and his love for the music were so great that he dislocated his shoulder as he put his heart, body and soul into waving his baton. That is as nothing compared to the passion of unfettered praise in heaven.

CS Lewis closed his Chronicles of Narnia with this vision of the age to come:

For us, this the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”

Heaven is where the meaning of life and the purpose of existence are perfectly clear. Heaven is where praise and worship never stop but never become dull. Heaven is where the mighty and strong Lion of Judah, the humble and gentle Lamb of God reigns. Heaven is unimaginable: “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no one has ever imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”

And heaven is where Jesus is now.

Sermon preached at Saint Mary's Long Newton, Ascension Day, 2015 

Overcoming Discouragement (Acts 18.1-23)

Introduction

There’s an old story about the devil, who decides to have a clear out of his shed in hell and get rid of some of his tools. So he puts them up for sale at a public auction. The day arrives and all the prospective buyers turn up. It’s a proper auction. There is a catalogue with all the guide prices. All the tools are on display so people come and have a good look at all these bits of equipment.

But there is one oddly shaped tool, which is labelled “not for sale.” Someone asks Satan about it. “Excuse me, but why is that one there not for sale? What’s so special about it?” The devil answers, “Oh, I can spare my other tools, but I cannot do without this one. It is the most useful implement that I have. It is called ‘discouragement’, and with this tool I can work my way into hearts that would otherwise be inaccessible. When this tool gets me access into a believer’s heart, I can plant anything there I want to.”

I share that little story this morning because I had the feeling as I prepared this talk earlier in the week that some of us are coming here today weighed down with discouragement. I was going to talk about raising up a new generation. That was the set theme. I was going to talk about Paul investing in people like Aquilla, Priscilla and Apollos and raising up new leadership as the gospel expanded deeper into Europe. But my heart wouldn’t let me. And I felt drawn to take a whole different angle on today’s chapter.

Acts chapter 18, after all the incredible ups and downs of the last 17 chapters, feels a little bit flat. It’s less dramatic than what’s come before. Let’s start with v1. “After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.” Paul Clayton preached on the short stay in Athens this morning at 9am and if you’re interested in that you can listen in on the website after tomorrow lunchtime. Basically, what happens is this: Paul, all alone in the city of Aristotle, Plato and Socrates, addresses a group of sophisticated thinkers, all into the latest philosophies and fashionable ideas. It goes OK but, to be perfectly frank, the whole thing is pretty underwhelming.

So it says that he moves on to Corinth – which is about 30 miles to the west. What it doesn’t say is that, after months on the road, and a series of personal attacks, often physical, a couple of near escapes and an imprisonment or two, now on his own in a strange place with a fearsome reputation, suddenly it all gets too much for Paul and, without warning, he has a bit of a meltdown. There is no more wind in his sails.

We know this is true because he says so later in 1 Corinthians 2. He talks candidly about his state of mind when he first arrived in Corinth. “I came to you” he says, “in weakness, fear and great trembling.”

You see, here he is, yet again exposed. He feels inadequate. We know from elsewhere in the New Testament that his antagonists were saying, "His bodily presence is weak and his speech is of no account." It seems that Paul did not look tough. He appears to have had some chronic physical disability that made him look unimpressive, even unattractive. Let’s say he was more Woody Allen than George Clooney. Not only that, surprisingly perhaps, Paul was not considered to be much of a communicator. People rubbished him for being an uninspiring and unsophisticated public speaker.

And so with all this emotional baggage on his shoulders, all the stress of constant rejection, all the fatigue from travel, the loneliness of being away from home, the huge strain on him physically, all the effort of having to communicate whilst not being naturally gifted as a speaker, as Paul approaches the notorious city of Corinth, he’s plummeting down a slippery spiral of discouragement.

It doesn’t matter who you are; after a while, that kind of constant unpopularity, physical frailty and relentless criticism takes its toll. It’s dispiriting – and discouragement is the devil’s favourite tool.

What is the source of your discouragement today? It could be, like Paul, just a lot of bad stuff happening around you. We all know what that feels like don’t we, seasons when everything that can go wrong does go wrong.

In the early 1980s the heavyweight boxer James (Quick) Tillis moved from rural Oklahoma to the big city. He still remembers his first day in the bright lights. “I got off the bus” he said, “with two cardboard suitcases under by arms in downtown Chicago and stopped in front of the Sears Tower [which was then the tallest tower in the world]. I put my suitcases down, and I looked up at the tower and I said to myself, 'I'm going to conquer Chicago.' "When I looked down, the suitcases were gone." 

A run of bad fortune like that can be really discouraging, can’t it? I find, at times like that, when you just need a bit of friendship, that nothing in the world is friendlier than a wet dog. Do you know what I mean?

The American church leader Rick Warren says he feels like resigning as pastor of his successful mega-church every Monday morning! And he identifies four common causes of discouragement:

- Fatigue. When you’re physically or emotionally exhausted, your defences are lowered and things can seem bleaker than they really are.

- Frustration. When unfinished tasks pile up, and when trivial matters or unexpected things interrupt you.

- Failure. When your plans fall apart; a project collapses, a deal falls through, no one turns up to your event.

- Fear. This is behind more discouragement than we admit. The fear of criticism (What will they think?); the fear of responsibility (What if I can't do it?); and the fear of failure (What if I blow it?)

Fatigue, frustration, failure and fear – that sums up Paul's state of mind when he arrived in Corinth.

I went through a patch of discouragement a couple of weeks ago. I made three mistakes in a short space of time and each one was pointed out to me. When I analysed it, I put it down to a lack of focus that led to people being understandably disappointed in me. I took a long, hard look at myself and got discouraged because I want to be the best I can be all the time for the glory of God. It wasn’t the criticism that got me down. That was fair enough. It was my own poor form.

Robert Murray MacCheyne was a preacher, a pastor, and a poet. He died at the age of 29 and knew a lot about discouragement.But he used to say “For every one look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ.”

That’s a great strategy to employ against losing heart. Look to him. Remind yourself that you are in him, that he is for you, that he is the perfecter of your faith and has a mission to make you complete in Christ.

Anyway, I want to look at how God brought Paul out of that cycle of discouragement. In v1 he walks to Corinth “in weakness, fear and great trembling.” By v23, he’s buzzing around again, travelling throughout the region of Galatia strengthening the churches.

He’s got his vim and vigour back. His energy levels are replenished. He’s got something again worth giving out to others. He’s spiritually back on track. He’s back on an upward spiral of encouragement. How did that happen? If we can work that out, can we find a way out of discouragement in our own lives too?

1. Friendship (v1-5)

The first thing is that Paul found friendship. He discovers a couple called Aquila and Priscilla with whom he has a lot in common. All three are Jewish believers in Jesus. All three are tentmakers by trade. All three have been driven out of town. All three are complete strangers in this large commercial city of Corinth.

We know a bit about Priscilla and Aquila from some of the letters in the New Testament. We know they welcomed a church in their home so they must have been hospitable. We know they had a good grasp of the scriptures and took Apollos under their wing to help him grow in his faith, so they were mature, solid people. They were – literally – a Godsend for Paul. They became great friends.

In v5 Silas and Timothy arrive. Peter called Silas “a faithful brother”. He was the one who sang out songs of praise with Paul at midnight when they were thrown into jail. Paul called Timothy “my true son in the faith.” Being surrounded by friends, old and new, Paul got back on track.

Bishop Jackson Olesape once said “If you want to go quickly, you travel alone, but if you want to go far, then you must travel together.”

My mum used to take me to church when I was growing up and we used to go in, say the mass, and then go home again. That was it. Nothing more was expected. There was no concept at all of welcome, or fellowship, or community or togetherness.

But Jesus built his ministry on friendship and community. He ate and drank with people with a glad heart. He said to his disciples “I no longer call you servants; I have called you friends.” Even Judas, when he was about to betray him, Jesus looked at him and said “What you are about to do, do it quickly friend.”

Friendship is key to building strong and healthy churches. Rick Warren once said, “People aren’t looking for a friendly church. They are looking for a church where they can make friends.”

And true, deep, real friendships are a fantastic defence against discouragement.

2. Favour (v5-8)

The second thing that brings encouragement is favour. In v5-8, despite the usual opposition from some hard-liners, it says Paul was able to continue preaching in the building right next door to the synagogue and many of the Corinthians believed and were baptized. At long last, for once, he wasn’t beaten up, thrown in a cell or chased out of town. People were coming to faith in good numbers. He must have been thinking, “At last, I’ve got a break.” This was a season where God’s favour was clearly on him.

But of course, none of us can control the times when God’ favour falls on us any more than we can manage the weather. God is sovereign. 

A professional animal trainer noticed that her own dog developed a bad habit. Every time she hung the washing out, the dog would yank it down. So one day she put kitchen paper on the line and waited. Each time he pulled it off, she corrected him.

After two weeks, the dog left the kitchen roll alone. Then she hung out a large batch of washing and left to do some errands. When she came home, the clean laundry was scattered all over the garden. On the line was the white kitchen towel. Do you have days like that?

Sometimes God calls us to suffer, to walk the way of the cross, and to glorify him through joyful perseverance, to be patient in affliction. Other times his will is to prosper us and bless us with peace.

We can’t turn God’s favour on like a tap. But we can ask for it. In 1 Chronicles 4.10 there's a man called Jabez. His name means “pain” because his mother suffered greatly in bringing him to birth. All his life he had this discouraging stigma of being a pain, of causing grief. So he asked for favour.

“Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” That was his prayer. And the Bible says that “God granted his request.”

Ask for favour.

3. Foresight (v9-11)

The third thing that lifts Paul out of discouragement comes in v9-11 where he has a vision from God with a reassuring word and a promise attached.

“Do not be afraid, keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, for I have many people in this city.”

It is so uplifting to hear from God prophetically, to receive a promise from him. In this instance, it happened directly. Other times in the New Testament, prophecy comes as a word from someone else. 1 Corinthians 14 says, “Those who prophesy speak to people for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort.”

I was at the Saint Michael le Belfry House of Prayer in York this week and I was chatting to the vicar there, Matthew Porter, about how the House f Prayer came about. He told me he was called out on a hospital visit one day. He entered the ward and found a dying man with an oxygen mask on.

The man was barely able to speak but, between gasps for air through the oxygen mask, he said “I have a word for you from Genesis 26.” * “The Philistines had blocked up all the wells in the land.” * “But by faith, Isaac reopened them again.” * “When he unblocked the wells, he discovered fresh water.” * “The promise of God was if they reopened the wells, they would flourish in the land.” * “God is giving you a ministry of unblocking the wells that contain living water, through prayer.” And that was it. He died two weeks later.

Several other prophetic words were given about the same time with a very similar message from different people who did not know each other. How encouraging to know that people are hearing from God and speaking his truths into your life!

A few years ago they opened this House of Prayer and they have seen God do some beautiful things and answer prayer in amazing ways.

I have a burden in my heart for a strong ministry of prophetic revelation here. Because when God speaks, faith is released. When faith is released, prayer rises. When prayer rises, God moves.

4. Freedom (v12-17)

The fourth and final thing that can pull you out of discouragement is reminding yourself of your freedom.

In v12-17 Paul is subject to yet another attack on his free speech. Another town, another lawsuit. Once again, his liberty to talk openly about Jesus is under threat. But on this occasion, for the first time in the Acts of the Apostles, the magistrate throws the case out and refuses to hear it. After all he had gone through; being silenced, being locked up, being chased out of town, it must have so encouraged Paul to move about freely, speak out publicly, assured that he was safe from attack.

I think Paul knew this was going to happen. Because the prophetic word in v10 said so. “I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you.”

Thank God for the freedom we have in our country to live out our faith. Make no mistake, it is under threat and being subtly eroded, but in some countries today, none of the baptisms we celebrated last week could have taken place. In some countries today it is strictly forbidden to talk to anyone about Jesus.

While we have freedom here, thank God for it, pray for the authorities that allow it, be encouraged by it, and make the most of it.

Ending

And so, Paul settled a good few months in Corinth and the church grew. He travelled widely again, as I said earlier, newly encouraged and spiritually replenished. The light at the end of the tunnel that had been turned off due to budget cuts was back on again.

In your discouragement today, share your burdens with Christian friends. That is one of the reasons that the church exists – so we can carry one another’s burdens.

In your discouragement today, ask for God’s favour. Pray that prayer that Jabez prayed; that God will bless you, enlarge your territory, that his hand will be on you and keep you from harm so that you will not cause pain.

In your discouragement today, seek a word from God and when you hear one, receive it. We often have prophetic words for people when they come for prayer ministry – bring your discouragement to God there. Maybe he will speak into that this morning.

And in your discouragement today, remember how blessed you are to be free; free to worship, free to witness, free from condemnation, free from the threat of violence, free from the penalty of sin.

Let’s stand to pray…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 10th May 2015

Take It Or Leave It (Acts 17.1-13)

Introduction

Well, congratulations to Honor and Gary and Danny on your baptism. And Esme, congratulations to you too on the renewal of your baptismal vows.

It’s on occasions like this that I need to tell you the one little story that I never dared to tell when I lived in France. It’s about this Frenchman, we’ll call him Marcel, who has been living in Britain for a few years and, after a while, he decides to apply for British nationality. The thing is, Marcel still drinks red wine, still eats runny cheese, snails and frog legs (by the way, they taste like chicken). He still gestures with his hands when he talks to you. He still wears a beret and striped t-shirt. ‘e stiill speak wizz ze French accent, non? And so people say to him “Look, Marcel, you're no different now to what you were before you moved here. What is the point in changing your nationality?” And Marcel says, “Yes, I am stiill ze same, but now I ‘ave won ze Battle of Waterloo.”

The truth about becoming a Christian is that you’re still you. You have the same features, the same weaknesses, the same strengths… but now, you’re on Jesus’ side and he is invincible. He has defeated sin and death – and, therefore, so have you. Because you are in him, everything that’s true about Jesus becomes true of you.

Including the way people see you. Some people loved Jesus. Some people couldn’t stand him. Some people ignored him. Some people thought he was mad – including, at one point, his own family. A lot of people totally misunderstood him.

I became a Christian in my teenage years. I was 17. In my experience as a follower of Jesus (and obviously, that stretches to nearly fifteen years now) whenever the subject of Jesus or the Christian faith comes up, people react in one of three ways. And these three reactions begin with the first three letters of the alphabet - ABC.

Anger

First of all, Christians and what they believe makes some people angry. Stephen Fry was interviewed on Irish TV recently and was asked what he would say to God if he met him. And he started a rant that went viral when it was posted on YouTube.

He, like many other intelligent, educated, law-abiding people, get angry about Christianity.

All over the world, and since the beginning, any talk about Jesus is been resisted, smeared, misrepresented, ridiculed, driven out, despised and even outlawed. It always has been and it always will be. Jesus warned us it would be like this when he said “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.”

Even in Britain, where we are always saying how fair and tolerant we are, the only four events in Christian history that are ever mentioned in some circles are the Crusades, the witch hunts, the Spanish Inquisition and the Klu Klux Klan…

The only thing some people have heard about Christians is that we indoctrinate children in our schools, we oppress women, we abuse children, we rip off the sick, we victimise gays, we suppress science, and we frighten the elderly.

But of course every one of those things is the exact opposite of what Jesus said people should do; love the Lord with all your mind, soul, heart and strength and love your neighbour as yourself.

Boredom

So there’s plenty of anger out there. I’d say there’s more of that than there was when I became a Christian in 1979. It’s certainly louder than it was before. But it’s still a small minority really who get a lot of air time in the media who talk like that.

Most people though are just bored by the whole subject. They’re apathetic. They say things like, “That’s great for you but I haven’t got time.” Or “I’m just not interested.”

So many people think, without ever really taking the trouble to check, that Christianity is dull. It’s lame. It’s a turn-off. They think that to actually become a Christian you would need to be pretty desperate. And the losers who end up in the clergy, well, it’s because they probably have no chance at all of ever getting a proper job! It is so obviously uninteresting that it’s not worth even bothering to take a look to have all your suspicions confirmed.

To be fair, sometimes that is our fault. The way some Christians talk about what they believe is a bit weird.

An old Methodist preacher called W. E. Sangster used to talk about a very earnest woman evangelist who used to go round the air raid shelters in the Second World War and try and talk to people in Jesus. One day, she found a tramp sitting on a bench in an underground station. She looked at this poor chap and said the same thing to him that she said to everyone. “Now, you do realise that we are living a different dispensation? And if we are to be justified and sanctified we need the right propitiation.” That was her favourite chat up line! Anyway, she went rabbiting on in this vein for a few minutes. And at last when she finally stopped talking and paused for breath, the tramp took a swig on his bottle and said “Okeydoky.”

Disinterest and boredom about the Christian faith can be due to us making it weird and incomprehensible.

Curiosity

But a third group of people are neither angry, nor bored; they’re curious. They can’t help but notice that many Christians have something unusual about them. I have heard this said on too many occasions to count; “There is something about you Christians that makes you different.”

I met someone just last week who came here for the first time from a few miles away and said, “I want to know more about the Christian faith. I feel drawn to come to this church. How can I find out more?”

So I said, “Do you realise that we are living a different dispensation? And if we are to be justified and sanctified we need the right propitiation.” (No, not really).

Amphipolis, Apollonia Thessalonica and Berea

Well, these three responses, angry, bored and curious, are exactly what we find in our reading from Acts 17.

In v1, Paul and Silas go through two towns called Amphipolis and Apollonia - and there is no recorded response at all. Nothing. We’ve been following them since chapter 13 and they never miss an opportunity to tell others about who they are and why they are travelling. There is no way they would just walk through a town and say nothing to anyone about Jesus. But no one takes any interest in the gospel whatsoever, so it seems.

I’m speculating a bit but it appears from what we have here that in these two places everybody just yawns and says, “Yeah, whatever.” So Paul and his companions don’t waste any more time there, and go on to the next place.

Then they reach Thessalonica and it says this: “They reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead.”

In v2-9 the main response to this talk about the resurrection is anger. Some people join them but the rest form an angry mob, start a riot, single out a guy called Jason, drag him out on the streets, make up false accusations and drive the rest of them out of town, running for their lives.

I think it’s sad that that anger is their basic response to hearing about the resurrection. I mean, if they had looked into it a little bit they might have spared their town all that aggro and public disorder.

Because the thing is, when people do look into the resurrection, when they take the time to do a bit of research, when they bother to study the evidence, they usually get a bit of a shock.

In the 18^th Century, there was a man called Gilbert West who didn’t like it that a lot of his friends were becoming Christians. So he decided that he would write a book to rubbish the resurrection because if you do that you destroy, in one go, the whole foundation Christianity is built on.

So he started his work and he began to write his book. It was so well researched and so painstakingly exhaustive that Oxford University awarded him an honorary doctorate for his work. Half way through writing the book, Gilbert West realised he had been completely wrong, met Jesus, and ended up writing something totally different to what he had first planned. His book is called Observations on the History and Evidence of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In the 19^th Century, there was a famous atheist in the USA called Robert Ingersoll. He didn’t like it that Christianity was growing in America at that time. One day, quite by chance, on a train to Indianapolis, he met an Army General and writer called Lew Wallace.

Ingersoll wanted to strike a blow to Christianity, and damage the Church, so he said to Wallace, “Why don’t you write a book to discredit Christianity and discredit the resurrection?” So Wallace, who had never really given any serious thought to Christianity beforehand, began to write his book. But he had a wife who was a Christian who was praying all the time he was researching and writing his book. When he got to chapter 4, he met Jesus so he too ended up writing something completely different to what he had first planned. His book is called Ben Hur.

In the 20^th Century there was a lawyer and a journalist called Albert Henry Ross. His pen name was Frank Morison. He hated Christianity as well so he decided that he would attack it and show it to be nothing more than a silly superstition. He too started to write a book to show the resurrection was fiction. As a journalist he knew exactly how to research a story. As a lawyer he knew how to play around with the material. But he got so engrossed in the evidence that half way through writing his book, he met Jesus so he ended up writing something completely different to what he had first planned. His book is called Who Moved the Stone?

So, if you’re in a hurry to meet Jesus, just write a book to attack the resurrection! If those people in Thessalonica had done that it would stopped a whole lot of people getting angry and saved a whole lot of grief.

In v10, Paul and Silas, under the cover of darkness, head for the next town which is called Berea. And in Berea, what you mostly get is the third response – curiosity.

It says in v11 “They received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. And many of them believed.”

They looked into it. And they found that when they took the time to check it out, it made sense and was worth believing in.

Some people look into Christianity and come to faith because they find that it is true. The three authors I mentioned earlier were like that. Some people become Christians because when they investigate it carefully, they find that Christianity turns out to be true. The conversion happens mostly in the mind.

But most people come to faith because they are intrigued and attracted by what they see and what they feel when they get near it. The conversion happens mostly in the heart.

I learned last week at the 9.00am service that the word ‘mind is found in the Bible 120 times. The word ‘heart is found 1,000 times.

This is how it all started for me at the age of 17. It was a conversion of the heart. I saw the difference Jesus makes to peoples’ lives. I saw answers to prayer. I saw something real that I always wanted. I found that one good look at Jesus was enough to make you dissatisfied with anyone ad anything else.

And when I took a step of faith and said “Yes”, I had a feeling inside of complete elation and relief – like I had been lost for years and then finally found my way home.

Ending

I want to end with a word especially for the four of you who stood up this morning and stepped into that baptistery.

You will have days when you doubt. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. There will be weeks when you wobble. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. There will be seasons when you slide back, when you feel that you are running on empty. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.

The joy you have today won’t stay with you every day. At times like that, the devil will do all he can to lead you off the path you have chosen today for good. But remember, whenever the devil says, “Just look at your sin!” God says, “Just look at my Son!”

Let’s pray…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 3rd May 2015