Spiritual Warfare (Psalm 68.1-35)

Introduction

When I sat down last June and started asking God about what we should be teaching into through the autumn I felt that God impressed on me two things – and they are related.

Firstly, prayer. I think God is calling us to a deeper commitment to prayer. I said this morning that praying Christians are positive Christians. Because their eyes look up every day to what God might do it changes the way they think and talk and even look. And just as praying Christians tend to be positive Christians, praying churches tend to be prevailing churches. When a church gets it together and seeks God’s face and prays heaven down things happen; people come to Christ, people get filled with the Holy Spirit, amazing miracles occur more frequently, ministries are raised up and the church moves forward. I’ve seen it time and again – the key is consistent, passionate, believing, prayer.

Many of you stood last week to commit yourselves to pray more like Jesus prayed. How are you doing one week on? My guess is that some of you got on well; it was a move in the right direction and God is already honouring your stand of obedience to him. Probably some of you found it really hard and now you are back to square one. It’s no wonder; we are in a ferocious unseen battle. Which brings me to the second thing that I believe God is speaking to us about with new intensity; spiritual warfare.

We were thrown into in pretty heavy fighting back in the spring. The troubles that came upon us at that time bore the unmistakable marks of spiritual warfare and I don’t think we’re finished yet. I think the Lord is opening our eyes to what is going on around us in the spiritual realm. Never forget, we have a spiritual enemy, Satan, who hates us, who is resilient, who is organised, who is committed to our destruction and who operates in subtle ways to divide us and distract us from our mission. And I want to say this: make no mistake, when the church wakes up and proclaims the Gospel and does the mighty works of the kingdom in Jesus’ name, the devil never sits back and says, “Oh, I just can’t be bothered with this.”

So expect trouble this term. Because this autumn, we are committed to proclaiming the kingdom and demonstrating its power; let me give you some examples of that. Healing on the streets is being extended into the autumn because people are being healed and we want to go with the momentum God has given us. The youth ministry is going to be opening its after-school drop-in this month. Back to Church Sunday on September 27th will give our morning congregations an opportunity to connect with people who have drifted away. Alpha begins in October and people are beginning to sign up. Town pastors are going to be on the streets of Stockton in early December. And there’s more. I hope you’re excited. I hope you’re motivated and up for it. The church is looking out, not in, and we are going to speak the words of the kingdom and do the works of the kingdom.

Battle Cry

The expression “Let God Arise” from our Psalm tonight is a battle cry of spiritual warfare. David, who wrote the psalm, got the whole of Israel to call it out. It’s a passionate shout of faith that God will suddenly manifest his power and put the enemy under his feet. “Let God Arise and let his enemies be scattered.”

But the battle cry “let God arise” did not originate with David. It was first spoken by Moses when he was leading his people out from Egypt into the Promised Land. So, in Numbers 10.35 Moses says, “Rise up, Lord! May your enemies be scattered; may your foes flee before you.” Whenever they broke camp and set out with the ark of God’s presence the whole nation roared those words. It’s the rallying call of a people on the move.

So for these Israelites, camping in the desert, waiting to enter the Promised Land, whenever they heard “Let God Arise" it signalled change. It was the signal of a new direction. It meant leaving familiar things behind, and moving forward into the unknown.

If human nature runs true to form (and it usually does), my guess is that not everyone in the camp of Israel was always anxious to move when the cloud of God’s glory moved. I bet when they heard the cry “Let God arise,” some thought “Oh no, here we go again, we were just getting comfortable here.” Most people like the security and sameness of routine in everyday life. But there comes a time to move on and make progress – and I believe we are in such a time here at All Saints’.

Praise and Testimony

In 2 Corinthians 6 Paul talks about “weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left” and, as I read this battle psalm this week I found two weapons of righteousness; praise and testimony.

Praise is powerful in spiritual warfare. Some of Israel’s physical battles were won through praise alone. They demolished the stronghold of Jericho by marching and praising. Gideon defeated the Midianites with a tiny army who raised a shout and sounded the trumpet. Jehoshaphat’s army defeated a coalition of kings because he sent the worship leaders out in front. They routed the enemy without even drawing a sword.

So v3, after the battle cry “Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered,” comes this mighty weapon of praise.   

"May the righteous be glad and rejoice before God;
may they be happy and joyful.
Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,
extol him who rides on the clouds;
rejoice before him - his name is the Lord.
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.
God sets the lonely in families,
he leads out the prisoners with singing…"

One of the first books I read as a Christian was “Prison to Praise” by Merlin Carothers. It opened my mind to see how easily we allow ourselves to be defeated by discouragements and disappointments and how, simply by praising God in all circumstances, even the worst, we see God can transform situations unrecognisably. This is what happened to Paul and Silas in Acts 16. Finding themselves beaten up, in prison, chained up, under lock and key and miles from home – they praised God together at the top of their voices – and they saw God mightily deliver them. Praise is a mighty weapon.

Verse 19:
“Praise be to the Lord, to God our Saviour, 
who daily bears our burdens.
Our God is a God who saves; 
from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.”

Verse 25 – this is talking about spiritual warfare when the enemies of God are scattered:
“In front are the singers, after them the musicians; 
with them are the young women playing the timbrels.
Praise God in the great congregation; 
praise the Lord in the assembly of Israel.”

And verse 32:
“Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth, sing praise to the Lord,
to him who rides the ancient skies above, who thunders with mighty voice.
Proclaim the power of God,
whose majesty is over Israel, whose power is in the skies.”

The second weapon of righteousness is testimony. The devil hates it when Christians speak up about what God has done. He hates it when God gets the glory because he wants it all himself. Every time we testify about God’s saving power, every time we stand up and give God the credit for his amazing works in our lives, it hits Satan below the belt. So, in the context of this great battle cry psalm, David speaks out the stories of God’s mighty acts.

So v7-11 say this:
“When you, God, went out before your people,
when you marched through the wilderness,
the earth shook, the heavens poured down rain,
before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.
You gave abundant showers, O God; you refreshed your weary inheritance.
Your people settled in it, and from your bounty, God, you provided for the poor.
The Lord announced the word,
and great was the company of those who proclaimed it.”

And then v12-24 tell the story about how God scattered the enemy nations who delight in war and came to the defence of his people by giving them a great victory.

Ending

I’m going to end there, because I want to leave plenty of room tonight for praise and for our testimony. Revelation 12.11 says, “[Our brothers and sisters] triumphed over [their accuser who accuses them… day and night] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.

So, before we worship again, I want to open up the floor for people to say what God has been doing in their lives over the summer. I believe each shout of praise, each testimony will be like a blow struck with the weapons of righteousness God has placed in our hands.

…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 6th September 2009

Grace to the End (Revelation 22.17-21 and John 7.37-39)

Introduction

If you’re just back from holiday, welcome back.

There’s a great deal of curiosity in the media about the last words people say, have you noticed? People attach great significance to the last utterances of famous men and women; Princess Diana, Michael Jackson or whoever. What did they say before they died? What great, profound pearls of wisdom did they bequeath as they left this world? Ever since a general in the American civil war called John Sedgwick looked over the valley at the enemy and said, “Hah! They couldn’t hit an elephant from this dist-” we call it famous last words. H.G. Wells, as his nurse, entered his room said “Go away, I’m all right” and then died. And Douglas Fairbanks Senior said “I’ve never felt better” moments before breathing his last.

If we think that the last words of the great and the good are worth listening to, how much more should we pay particular attention to the closing verses of God’s unique and inspired Word? What last gems of truth will God give us before closing the pages of his eternally inspired word? Well? When you get to the end of the book of Revelation, you’ll have just negotiated the final judgment and you’ll have finished with all those weird beasts and strange numbers – and when you get to the very last verses of the Bible you find that they are words of grace simple enough for a child to understand and get the message. And what you find are four things; an invitation, a warning, a reminder and a prayer.

An Invitation (v17)

Let’s start with the invitation (v17). We all like to get an invite to a wedding or a party don’t we? We feel special and privileged. It’s nice to be thought of and we look forward to the fun.

But no one is more special and privileged than the one who receives this invitation from God: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let those who hear say, ‘Come!’ Let those who are thirsty come; and let all who wish take the free gift of the water of life.” Happy are you! These are the words that God addresses to you this morning, calling for a response.

Right at the beginning of the Bible, we find God searching for a response to him, “Where are you Adam?” (Genesis 3.9) In the middle of the Bible God calls again saying, “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.” And here, right at the end he’s still looking. It’s as if God said to John, the apostle: “Before you seal the book, write down one last appeal just in case there’s still anyone left who still might just want to turn back to the living God and to be showered with grace and favour forever.

In fact, it’s not one invitation here, it’s actually five. Five reasons why men and women should turn to God.

The Spirit says, “Come!” Why should anyone pay any attention to the things of God? Because the Holy Spirit beckons us. The Holy Spirit imparts spiritual life. The Holy Spirit frees prisoners from the addiction to sin. The Holy Spirit breathes power into the Christian life. God the Holy Spirit is calling, calling, calling this morning. “Come!” Heaven’s door is wide open and there’s a place at the feast for you. But will everyone here accept his invitation?

Why should anyone here respond to God? Because the bride (which is Revelation language for the God’s people) is urging us also.

The groom and his bride; what an image of Christ and his church. Marriage these days gets a bit of a bad press. Actor and film director Clint Eastwood once said, “They say marriages are made in heaven. Yeah, so is thunder and lightning!” But the Bible never portrays Christ as an uncommunicative or henpecked husband. Nor is the church ever a nagging or unfulfilled wife.

This is no tired old relationship, going through the motions, with all the passion gone. Throughout Scripture, the love between Christ and his people is portrayed in terms of the excitement of the wedding and the zest of youth. It’s new. It’s fresh. It’s wonderful forever! So when it say “the bride says ‘come’” it is the picture of God’s people, satisfied in Christ, calling out, “Come in, this is great, you’re not too late, there’s plenty more room and there’s more to share.”

The third invitation comes from someone else again. “And let those who hear say, ‘Come!’” Who is this? Bible scholars can’t make up their minds and, to be honest, I don’t really know. But I think it’s probably talking about anyone else who happens to be listening. This is the Bible’s “Uncle Tom Cobley and all” if you like. If anyone else just standing around happens to overhear something about this fantastic invitation, well, you can come in too.

But the great invitation of v17 hasn’t finished yet. The prospect of unlimited abundance merits a wholehearted invitation. “Let those who are thirsty come...”

“Is anyone thirsty?” Asked Jesus. How do you know if you’re thirsty or not? If you’ve just run a couple of miles on a hot day you know that uncomfortable tightness in your throat that just cries out for a cold drink. How do you know if you’re spiritually thirsty? It’s the same. Spiritually, you want more. Just coming to church isn’t enough for you. You yearn for a deeper, more real, more less routine experience of God.

Malcolm Muggeridge was thirsty. Listen to what he said: “I may, I suppose, regard myself or pass for being a relatively successful man. People occasionally stare at me in the streets - that’s fame. I can fairly easily earn enough to qualify for admission to the higher slopes of the Inland Revenue - that’s success. Furnished with money and a little fame even the elderly, if they care to, may partake of trendy diversion - that’s pleasure. It might happen once in a while that something I said or wrote was sufficiently heeded for me to persuade myself that it represented a serious impact on our time - that’s fulfilment. Yet I say to you - and I beg you to believe me - multiply these triumphs by a million, add them all together, and they are nothing - less than nothing, a positive impediment - measured against one draught of that living water Christ offers to the spiritually thirsty, irrespective of who or what they are.”

Fame, success, pleasure, fulfilment - or the spring of the water of life.

“Let all who wish take the free gift of the water of life.” One last thing; there’s no cost. What could be simpler; an invitation to come for free.

When I lived in London, I used to go around the neighbourhood and offer people the church magazine, which was free. It was a simple way of keeping people living in the parish in touch with their local church and a nice way to show the neighbourhood that we were interested in them. It was really interesting to study people’s response to this. Most people said, “Oh, well, o.k., thank you. Goodbye.” Some said, “Christians? No thanks.” But a surprising number said, “Oh, here’s some money.” “Oh you don’t have to pay for it,” we said. “It’s free.” But we found that some people just don’t want to get anything for nothing and they wouldn’t take the parish magazine without making a contribution. (So we took the money and put it in the poor fund).

Now, as I think I said a few weeks ago, men and women sometimes have problems with grace, precisely because it’s God’s glorious offer of peace and life and joy and freedom - at no cost. Even if you win the lottery you have to shell out a few quid for a scratch card – but grace is entirely free. But there seems to be something in human nature that says, “I don’t want handouts, I want to make a little contribution. “Take it, says God.” And swallow your pride. It’s free, because I’ve already paid.”

Grace means two things. Firstly, it means your bad deeds need not keep you out of heaven. Nothing you or I have ever done is so wicked and monstrous that God has thrown in the towel and said, “Right, that’s it, you’re history - I am washing my hands of you.” God never says that to anyone while there is still breath in their body. Your bad deeds need not keep you out of heaven.

But secondly, grace also means that your good deeds cannot help you get into heaven either. You’ve got to accept God’s free water. You can’t take your own water supply with you instead. In other words, all your good deeds added together over a whole lifetime are not good enough.

Philip Yancey put it this way; “Grace is knowing that nothing you can do could make God love you any more and nothing you can do could make God love you any less.”

2) A Warning (v18-19)

So that’s the invitation. Take it - or leave it, you have to do one or the other. After the invitation, the warning. And you don’t need to be clever to get the message it. “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If any one of you adds anything to them, God will add to you the plagues described in this scroll. And if any one of you takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from you your share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.” It means, don’t mess around with God’s word. You can’t improve it by adding anything and you’ll only spoil it by cutting anything out. It’s a bit like the advert for bread I used to watch on TV as a kid. “Nothing added, nothing taken away.”

I once preached in a Japanese church in Paris. I can’t remember now if I preached in French or English – it wasn’t Japanese anyway. But I noticed that the translation was getting longer and longer as the sermon went on. I’d say something like, “Jesus is alive.” And the translation followed: “Ying tong, sushi, Toyota, ying tong, Yamaha, yang song, fuji, karate, tong mong, tokyo ying tong, yang yong, karaoke.” The translator seemed to be adding his own ideas to my sermon. You’re probably thinking “I could add a few of my own to this one come to think of it.”

But when it comes to God’s word, you can’t improve it by adding to it. Jesus plus is actually Jesus minus – because all you need is Jesus. I used to have a Bible with notes at the bottom. You know what? I ended up reading the notes more than the Bible and, having put the book down, couldn’t remember which was God’s word and which were man’s wisdom.

Other people take away from God’s word. They look at it and say, “Oh, we don’t like all this fighting in the Old Testament. And these prophecies are a bit doom and gloom aren’t they? And you can’t believe in miracles today so they’ll have to go too. And no one can understand half of what Paul says so let’s just get rid of that bit. Oh, and this morality is all out of date. And by the time they’ve finished you’re left with the cover, the index and the maps!

The Bible commentator Michael Wilcock’s thoughts on these verses are helpful. He says this; “If we believe that what God has said in his word is not sufficient for salvation, but that we need to make certain additions of our own if we are to be saved; or if we believe that some of the demands of God’s book are superfluous, and we can get by without observing them; then we are saying we know better than God.”

It’s important we have this warning here. Because grace doesn’t mean, do what you like, God is so nice he won’t mind. God is a good and loving Father who gives it to us straight, who tells us where the boundaries are, not an absent Father who lets us do anything we want.

3) A Reminder (v20)

Thirdly, and I’ll go a bit quicker now, as the canon of Scripture ends, as the whole of God’s revelation of himself comes to a close, one final look at Jesus, and a reminder that he is coming again soon. And the surprise is that it is the Lord himself who reminds us.

The very first words spoken to his disciples after Jesus ascended into heaven were, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand there looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go.” Now, the very last words Jesus addresses us from Scripture are on the same theme. “I am coming back.”

The earliest Christians used to say “Maranatha”, which is the Aramaic equivalent to what is written at the end of v20. Amen, come Lord Jesus. Every time we share Holy Communion together, as we will this morning, we proclaim his death - until he... comes. Every time we say the Nicene creed we declare our belief that, “he will… come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.”

Where is heaven? I don’t know. Billy Graham said, “It doesn’t matter where it is. It is where Jesus is.” C.S. Lewis said this: “Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave it with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.” I think that’s a good summary of what the Bible says about eternity, and it’s good enough for me.

But the surprising truth is this; it isn’t so much that we are going up there to be with him forever, as him coming down here to be with us forever. So what will eternity with God in the new heavens and the new earth be like? Is it a real place? The Bible certainly presents it to us as such. Jesus said: “I am going to prepare a place for you.” Paul wrote that we will have resurrection bodies. The New Testament speaks of streets, rivers, trees, eating and drinking, music... a real physical world.

A Prayer (v21)

And finally a prayer for blessing, appropriately because this prophecy was to be read out in the 7 churches of chapters 2 and 3.

Those churches were about to face terrible, heavy persecution which is what Revelation is all about; it was to show the church what must soon take place. It is by the grace of God that we can triumph over the challenging times of the future. Some of you, I know, are facing a very uncertain future healthwise, jobwise, familywise and so on. “Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life.” Surely God’s grace will be sufficient to the end.

May God renew your confidence today that the grace that saved you shall also sustain you and take you to a glorious eternity.

John opens the Revelation (1:4) with grace and now he closes it (22:21) with grace. God’s amazing favour on us, his sheer mercy that we just don’t deserve, his unfathomable decision to adopt us as heirs, his steadfast commitment to bless us to the end, for the rest of our days, that’s grace.

Now, may the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 30th August 2009

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12.1-11)

Introduction

This is the last in our series of talks on the Holy Spirit. Since the middle of May we’ve been looking at the ministry, the power, the anointing, the outpouring, the freedom, the fruit, the fullness – and now, finally, the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Do you know anyone, maybe someone in your family, (an Uncle Norman or an Auntie Edna perhaps) who seems to have a flair for choosing crass and tasteless presents? We have, in our extended family, (and she shall remain anonymous) an absolute legend for this. We love her for it. She is the source of the best Christmas entertainment in our home. So eccentrically useless are her offerings that we save them till last and then collapse - crying laughing. You could write a book about it.

On the other hand, we all know people who have a real talent for choosing the best presents imaginable. I’m useless at this. You might as well blindfold me and get me to a pin in an Argos catalogue. But some people just have a feel for whether you prefer practical presents or frivolous ones, something surprising and novel or something classic. They seem to have a 6th sense for maximising your happiness.

With the Holy Spirit it’s neither one nor the other. Because the gifts he gives you are not given for you to enjoy and say, “Oh, that’s what I’ve always wanted.” Verse 7 of our reading in 1 Corinthians says, “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” In other words, the gifts he gives to one are designed to be appreciated by all.

An old lady once said to her vicar, “Oh reverend, I believe I have been given just one gift; the gift of song.” She wanted to worm her way into the choir but the choirmaster had banned her because she had a voice like an alley cat on heat. So the vicar said, “Tell me, where in the Bible does it talk about multiplying the gifts given to us?” The lady thought for a moment and said, “That would be the parable of the talents, wouldn’t it?” “That’s right,” said the vicar, “Matthew 25. And, tell me,” he said, “what did the man who had just one talent do with his coin?” The lady knew her Bible really well. “He went and buried his talent in the ground.” “That’s right,” said the vicar, “Now go and do likewise!”

I’ve known people in my time with the gift of awkwardness, the gift of unreliability, the gift of gossip and the gift of unpleasant criticism and those ministries are rarely for the common good! Let’s give these “gifts” a good burial…

The Right Approach

Before we take a look at what some of these spiritual gifts are, I want us to consider together what God says our approach towards spiritual gifts should be. And I want to illustrate this by sharing with you the three attitudes I have come across most often in 30 or so years of being a Christian.

First of all, people sometimes say to me (or they imply it by their general ignorance about spiritual gifts), “Oh, I’m not really charismatic, I don’t really know much about it and, to be honest, it doesn’t really interest me anyway.” Sounds reasonable at first, doesn’t it? I mean, we can’t be experts on everything and if I’m just not all that enthusiastic about geology or botany, for example, why should I make myself study it?

But in 1 Corinthians 12.1 it says, “Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.” Therefore, it is not God’s will for us to be unaware or unacquainted with spiritual gifts. God wants us to learn about them and to know about them. It is important for us to understand what they are, how we receive them and what they are designed to do. It’s important to discover which gifts we have and how we should use them properly. So, first of all, learn about spiritual gifts. This is a biblical imperative.

Secondly, some people say, “Oh well, God gives us gifts according to his will and purpose, so I’ll just wait and see what he gives me, maybe I’ll have this particular gift, maybe not. It’s just up to him really. I’ll just sit back and see what happens.”

But in 1 Corinthians 14.1 it says, “eagerly desire spiritual gifts.” That means God expects us to actively and enthusiastically seek them. Spiritual gifts are never presented to us in God’s word as an optional extra for special interest groups. Look at the way kids get excited at Christmas time by all those colourful boxes under the tree! Are they eagerly desiring gifts? You bet! “Eagerly desire spiritual gifts.” Do you?

I’ve heard people say, “Oh, this gifts of the Holy Spirit thing – it’s all a bit hyper spiritual for me. Why isn’t it enough just to love the Lord with all my heart and love my neighbour as myself?” But this verse says, “Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.” It’s not either/or. God says here “do both.”

Thirdly, people sometimes say, “I once received a certain gift – but I haven’t used it for years.” “I used to pray for healing and God did some wonderful things, but I just haven’t got time these days.” Or “I once spoke in tongues, but I felt self conscious about it and haven’t done so for years.” Or tiredness; I often meet tired Christians and I have a theory that tiredness can sometimes be due to resisting what the Holy Spirit is doing and saying. Gifts can fall into disuse for all sorts of reasons.

But 1 Peter 4.10 says, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others.”

There was a programme on TV the other week about model railway enthusiasts who go to auctions and buy model trains in their display case that have never been opened. These things never actually get out of their boxes let alone go round a track. Now God says that that every one of us has been given gifts and they are designed for use, not for display.

On 27th May 1840 Niccolo Paganini, arguably the greatest violinist of all time, lay dying. He reached from his bed to hold just once more the instrument he loved. But as his fingers brushed over the strings he died. He was just 58. A few days later, his will was opened and read. It disposed of a fortune of about 2 million lire in cash, a large amount of property and securities across several European countries. After providing for his sisters, everything else was to go to his son, Achille.

However, the will stipulated that Paganini’s favourite violin would be kept in the Genoa municipal museum. His son fought hard to acquire it, because it was the last object his father touched. But the city fathers refused to waive the right given to them in the will. Achille offered them a valuable marble bust in exchange for the violin but the mayor refused. To this day, Paganini’s violin is never played; it stands lifeless in a glass case, surrounded by other artifacts.

A friend of mine told me recently that he had allowed his spiritual gift to fall into disuse for years. Like that violin, it was little more than a relic and its non use was a tragedy. He asked me to pray with him, and I did, and God fanned into flame that gift that had been dormant for years.

What’s your spiritual gift? Is it like a museum relic – or like a miniature Flying Scotsman shut away in its cardboard display box? Or are you using your gift to serve others and build up the church, in the power that the Holy Spirit gives you? Maybe you will want to pray with a member of the prayer ministry team about that a bit later on. I’d like to encourage you to do that.

Different Gifts

How many spiritual gifts do you think there are? In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul draws up a list of nine. There are other lists in Romans 12 and 1 Peter 4 as well that include things like leadership, hospitality, encouragement and giving. I’ve counted 25 different gifts in total but the Bible may not list them all.

Not only are there different gifts, they are really diverse in nature as well. In our short passage here there are four different category words to describe the variety and diversity there is; in v1 and 4 they are called “gifts”; but in v5 they are called “kinds of service”; in v6 they are called “workings”; and in v8 they are called “manifestations.” So let’s not imagine we are comparing like with like – prophecy is very different to administration and encouragement is not like the discerning of spirits. The prophetic ministry needs to be weighed and handled in a way that administration does not. Encouragement feeds the flock but the discernment of spirits protects the flock.

We could be here for hours defining what each spiritual gift is and what it does, but we just don’t have the time. We’re going to look at just three gifts this morning, the first three mentioned in our reading. But - I have made some copies of a Spiritual Gift Self Evaluation that I used with the Launch team this year so if you’re interested in learning about these gifts and identifying which ones you might have, this might be of help to you. There are copies here.

The first two gifts mentioned in v8 are the message of wisdom and the message of knowledge. (In some versions it is translated “the word of wisdom” and “the word of knowledge”). Notice that the Bible doesn’t say exactly here what these gifts are so we have to work it out by looking for clues here and elsewhere in Scripture.

We know that both these gifts involve speech; it’s a message of knowledge and a message of wisdom. We know that they are more than just natural good judgment or cleverness. Words of knowledge and wisdom are not a phenomenon you see on the Brain of Britain or Mastermind because Paul says in v8 that these gifts come “through the Spirit” not through good genes or disciplined learning. They are inspired and supernatural insights.

We know too that when these words are given the result will be that God’s people will be strengthened. Because, as we saw earlier, v8 says “the manifestation of the Spirit is for the common good.” These gifts build everyone up.

Bringing these threads together it is possible to arrive at some kind of understanding of what these gifts must be. Mark Stibbe in his book “Know Your Spiritual Gifts” defines the word of wisdom as “the gift of being able to understand and express something of God’s wisdom, in such a way that the church is built up and strengthened.”

Bill Subritsky in his book “Receiving the Gifts of the Holy Spirit” defines the word of knowledge as “a thought, or impression on the mind, or a vision or the direct audible voice of the Holy Spirit about a situation.”

I think those are good summaries of what these gifts are. And when you read the Bible you can find good examples of them. In one passage I think you see them both together.

If you remember the story in John 4 about the woman at the well, you could say that Jesus had a word of knowledge about her complicated love life. Out of nowhere he turns the conversation decisively by saying, “Go call your husband.” She says, “I don’t have one.” He says, “That’s right. You have already been married five times and now you are living with a man you are not married to.” How did he learn that? He didn’t. It was a message of knowledge that disarmed her, lowered her defenses and softened her resistance to God’s call on her life.

Once he had done that, he had a word of wisdom to redirect that conversation from her messy private life to her need to know God. “A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.”

She says, “I know that the Messiah is coming. When he does, he will explain everything to us.” Jesus says, “It’s me, right here.” And that’s all she needs. She is a disciple and goes off to tell everyone about Jesus.

So that’s the message of wisdom and knowledge. In v9 Paul adds the gift of faith to the list. Why is faith a special gift given only to some? Don’t all Christians have faith? I mean, can you actually be a Christian without faith? Of course, we are saved by grace, through faith. If God were not gracious towards us and if we did not have a response of faith we would not be children of God. But God gives a gift of faith to some Christians, and not to others. Therefore, saving faith and the gift of faith are not the same thing.

The gift of faith seems to be a surge of confidence in God’s ability to intervene. It’s faith that rises up and believes against all odds. When you have a gift of faith you just know that whatever challenge you’re faced with, however hard life is God can do it. Peter had it (briefly) when he stepped out of the boat to walk on water. It’s what those four men had, the ones who lowered their friend through a roof, so that Jesus might heal him, if you remember the story.

There are six other gifts here; gifts of healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, tongues and interpretation of tongues. I believe they are all available today, indeed I have seen each of these gifts over the last three decades and I am grateful to God for the way they strengthen the church.

The Body

But the purpose of this passage is not to define what each gift is and describe what it looks like. Paul doesn’t really do that. The main interest here is to explain who the gifts are given to and how they find expression in the church. You can often tell what a passage in the Bible is all about by identifying the word that is repeated most. In 1 Corinthians 12.1-11 it’s the word “another.” “To another is given faith, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy…” The point here is that everybody has different gifts and nobody has them all. That means everybody, without exception, has a significant part to play. It also means that nobody, least of all the vicar, has every gift. It’s why healthy churches develop shared leadership and create teams.

I thank God for the variety of spiritual gifts here but, like most churches, we probably illustrate the 30/70 law. That means 30% of the people are doing 70% of the work. That means a lot of spiritual gifts are probably unidentified and underused, while some people are ministering at full capacity – and approaching burnout.

I’m no laureate, but I wrote a poem on this theme this week and it goes like this.

Mary had a little lamb, ‘twas given her to keep,
But then it joined the local church and died for lack of sleep.
Mary’s lamb spent endless hours in meeting after meeting
And the sermons that it preached each week? Well, what a waste of bleating!
It preached and sang and cooked and typed and tidied for the Lord
Not seeing there were other lambs available and bored.
It wasn’t their bone idleness or apathy or sloth
No, some were shy and some were meek; for some a case of both.

So when the church is going wrong and splitting at the seams
Remember God gives gifts to all and churches are like teams.
Instead of all that stress and strain and everything amiss
If everyone had used their gifts it might have gone like this:
Mary had a little lamb, who served the local church
Helping sheep to find their gifts, so none was in the lurch
Everything went wonderfully; the whole flock did just fine
And Mary’s lamb lived to the ripe old age of eighty-nine.

Ending

I’m going to end there. But before I do, I have a bar of chocolate here. And it’s free for anyone who comes up here and asks me for it...

In James 4.2 it says, “You do not have because you do not… ask.”

This is how you receive spiritual gifts and you won’t receive any if you don’t ask. Jesus said “How much more will God give the Holy Spirit to those who ask.” May God pour out his gifts abundantly on us, as we eagerly desire them, that the church will be strengthened and he will be glorified.


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 12th July 2009

The Freedom of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3.12-18, John 8.34-36)

Introduction

I’d like to start by telling two little stories, both of which occur in churches and are, I am told, absolutely true.

Some years ago the Church of England, in its unfathomable wisdom decided to authorise a whole series of new liturgies. Many vicars, brought up on the Book of Common Prayer and the Alternative Service Book, had a bit of difficulty negotiating their way round the new prayer liturgy. For decades they had been saying “The Lord is here” and the unanimous response was always “His Spirit is with us.” But one day, one vicar began his Eucharistic Prayer saying, “The Lord is here,” only to be met with stone silence. He looked down at his prayer book, tapped the microphone, and said it again. “The Lord is here.” Still no response. And so he said it a third time. “The Lord… is here, is he?” And the curate said back, “Not in Prayer B, he’s not!”

The other incident occurred during a sermon in a Congregational church, where a visiting minister was waxing eloquently on his text for the day, Matthew 25 (the parable of the ten virgins). The problem is, he gravely underestimated the spirituality of his audience. So after having preached his heart out he ended his sermon with this ringing exhortation: “And you young men up there in the gallery, where would you rather be, in the light with the wise virgins or in the dark with the foolish ones?” And he got a unanimous and vocal reply. And it wasn’t the one he was expecting either!

Legalism or License?

Two little anecdotes which we may find amusing or entertaining – but there is a serious point. The first story is about legalism and the second story is about license.

Legalists say, “The most important thing of all is not Jesus but protocol and procedure.” For legalists Christianity is better than Christ. And when it comes to the church, they like to put the steeple before the people. No matter that the place is unwelcoming to any young children who might come along, this hard furniture and cold buildings are what we’ve always had.

Have you ever had the embarrassing experience of waiting at traffic lights and then stalling your car as soon as the lights turn green? It usually happens when you are in a hurry for something. What a joy it is, and how helpful, when the cars behind start bibbing at you… This is what happened to a young lady one evening. No matter how hard she tried, the car wouldn’t start again; so she gave it some choke and then the carburettor must have flooded. The man behind her could have simply drove round her bit, no, he decided that getting cross and leaning on his car horn would be much more helpful. Beeeeb… So she got out of her car, walked towards him, opened his car door and said, “I’ve got a better idea. How about you try and start my car and I sit in yours, hooting at you like a demented owl?

Like that man, some Christians are very fond of the rules and love to tell people what to do, but never help anyone to it. So you spend all your life trying to attain a standard and never manage.

Licentious people on the other hand say, “The church is too stiff and boring. The most important thing is not stuffy old Bible study and doing what Jesus says, but doing whatever you want.”

During the 1980’s a parish church I know in London put up posters on a notice board which was situated on a main road. Every four or five weeks there was a new poster with a new message. One month, there was a picture of a marathon runner looking absolutely exhausted; every muscle of his body was straining and his face was twisted in pain. The caption read, “Are you tired of sin? If so, come inside.” Quite effective... until some joker from the neighbourhood scribbled underneath, “If not tired of sin yet, call Debbie on 457 8141!”

What Freedom Looks Like

Our readings this morning extol neither stiff legalism nor sinful license; they commend spiritual liberty. 2 Corinthians 3.17 says: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

Freedom by Zenos Frudakis

In other words, the Christian life, the Church, its structures, its forms, its services of worship, its fellowship and all public presentation of faith in Jesus should normally be characterised by a sense of grace and liberty - and a noticeable absence of restrictive heaviness.

It’s actually quite difficult to express what the freedom of the Spirit is; it’s an elusive thing, but you know it when it’s there and you miss it when it’s gone. Wherever the Holy Spirit is at work, you notice an open mood of generous friendliness with an absence of judging or criticism – and no spirit of competition. Spiritually, you can discern a healthy unity; it is most agreeable.

But the Spirit’s freedom can be so easily lost, because every Christian runs the risk of falling into legalism on the one hand and into license on the other. Churches too often fall into these extremes. Paul wrote Galatians to fight legalism and 1 Corinthians to combat license. Which tendency do you lean towards the most if you’re honest? Licentiousness or legalism? Which of the two is the greatest threat to your freedom in the Spirit? Stifling the Holy Spirit or just doing your own thing?

“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” Question; how free? If you asked Jesus that question I think he’d reply, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” In other words, freer than this doesn’t exist. But freedom from what? And freedom into what? If I am really free indeed am I free to sin? Can I rebrand the Ten Commandments as the ten suggestions and be free to observe only those that are convenient?

It’s not that we are free to sin. But it’s not that we are not free to sin either. It’s a category error. The truth is we are free not to sin. The Holy Spirit sets us free from the minute by minute burden of remembering rules and laws about the minutiae of existence and frees us to please God in unfettered joy.

And v18 shows how this works: “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

That is a description of true liberty; it’s a personal transformation that reflects God’s splendour and glory. It’s a work of the Spirit. It results in radiant faces. Time and time again, I’ve seen people become more beautiful, more radiant, more youthful, as their lives are so touched by God’s grace that their faces shine with and the joy of the Lord.

That’s what freedom of the Holy Spirit looks like. So how do you get it? How do you live in the glorious liberty of the children of God? The key is in v18 – it is “contemplating the Lord’s glory.” This is the secret! We change and grow into the likeness of Christ by marvelling at the splendour of his countless perfections. We come to resemble what we attentively admire. We know this works on a human level, don’t we? We talk about those we love and esteem and think about as leaving their mark on us.

Ending

Are you free? Do you feel like you are? Do you want to be? Learn, as I too am learning, to contemplate the glory, the beauty, the radiance, the excellence, of Christ; his humility, his authority, his mercy, his words, his sufferings, his death, his resurrection – and we will be changed from glory to glory, in the freedom of the Holy Spirit.


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 5th July 2009

The Anointing of the Holy Spirit (Leviticus 25.8-22, Luke 4.1-22)

Introduction

Have you ever got stuck in a lift? Or been taken hostage? Or been arrested and put in a police cell? Or have you ever, in any way, had an overwhelming desire to get out of somewhere suffocating and claustrophobic? Let me tell you about what happened to Kathie about 11 years ago. When Benjamin was still a baby, Kathie was took him shopping with her to a local supermarket. And, all of a sudden, there was a commotion over by the checkouts. It was a hold up – a real, live armed robbery. Masked men with guns were shouting and telling everyone to get down with their faces to the ground. They threw tear gas which made it very difficult to breathe. You can imagine what Kathie must have been feeling. What would she give to be free - with her baby safe and well, breathing in fresh air again?

Freedom is a central value of the country we live in. We treasure and defend freedom of expression, freedom of movement, freedom of worship, freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of peaceful demonstration and so on. Ours is a land of hope and glory, the mother of the… free.

The reason Jesus came was to give us back our freedom. That might sound a bit of an overstatement, but it’s Jesus himself who said it. “The Spirit of the Lord has anointed me… to proclaim freedom for the prisoners…, to set the oppressed free.” That sounds to us like a kind of Robin Hood figure, storming the nation’s jails and letting all the inmates out under a kind of general amnesty. But in saying those words, everybody who heard him knew exactly what he was saying. They knew he was announcing to the world that, in him, the Year of Jubilee had finally arrived.

1) The Jubilee in the Old Testament

The word “Jubilee” might conjure up images of kitsch commemorative plates marking the 25 or 50 year reign of Queen Elizabeth. But the Year of Jubilee is very important in Jewish thinking. If you’re going to understand the Bible you have to understand, amongst other things, what the Jubilee is. And to find that out, you need to read Leviticus 25 and Isaiah 61. Let me see if I can sum it up in two or three minutes.

Just as the seventh day was a Sabbath day, every seventh year there was a sabbatical year. In that year, for twelve months, there was no sowing and no harvest; it was a year of rest for the earth. Question; how did the people survive for a year without food? Answer; God sent, every sixth year, a harvest so abundant that there were enough reserves to go round for two years.

So there was a special day of rest and a special year of rest. But in Leviticus 25 God says there’s going to be a year that is even more special; it will take place after seven sabbatical years – that is to say after every 49 years. The 50th year is called the Jubilee. In Leviticus 25.9-10 God says that at the sound of the trumpet on the Day of Atonement, freedom will be proclaimed throughout the land to everyone. There were, in theory, no freehold properties, only leaseholds. And in the year of Jubilee each house, without exception, had to go back to whoever owned it 49 years earlier.

Every 50 years, in theory, all the slaves went free. They were no longer anyone’s possession. They could go. The people also had to cancel all debts and banks had to write off all outstanding loans. Sounds good doesn’t it? How about God tears up your credit card bill and sets everything back to zero?

God was reminding his people that the earth belonged, not to them, but to him; they were just temporary custodians of it. With these Sabbaths and Jubilees no one had any reason to buy up huge parcels of land to get rich. There were no privileged fat cats on the one hand, and no family was caught in a perpetual cycle of poverty on the other. The Jubilee was everyone’s hope of a better life and a fairer future.

What do you think of that system? Ingenious? Utopian? Too good to be true? Unworkable? It seems that the Hebrews thought it was. In all the literary and archaeological research that has ever been done, nobody has found any trace whatsoever of even the most half-hearted or symbolic Jubilee; not even once. For the Hebrews, actually having a Year of Jubilee was living in La La land. No farm land was ever laid fallow. No debt was ever cancelled. No property was ever returned to its prior owner. And no slave was ever released as God had so plainly commanded.

What part of “all slaves must go free” didn’t they understand? Isn’t it funny how, whenever people come across a bit in the Bible they don’t like they say, “Oh, it shouldn’t be taken too literally, it must be figurative”? Watch those who tend to say that sort of thing too easily and too often.

Hang on with me just a minute or two longer; it’s important for us to understand this background if we’re going to appreciate where Jesus is coming from in Luke’s Gospel. From Leviticus 25 we’re going to wind the tape forward about 800 years to the Golden Age of prophecy. This is the time when Micah, Hosea, Amos and, most important of all, Isaiah heard from God and spoke out to their generation.

If you’ve ever read Isaiah through you must have been struck by the contrast between the beginning and end. Chapters 1-39 are a long and almost uninterrupted series of doom-and-gloom predictions of God’s coming judgement. It’s no page turner. It’s hard going.

But as soon as you reach chapter 40 the tone completely changes. Isaiah starts to talk about consolation and hope. He introduces a Servant who will be revealed and who will save his people by suffering, dying and rising again. Those Scriptures, Isaiah 40-66, were first written for a broken and humiliated nation in exile. In chapter 61 Isaiah speaks about deliverance for this people. God is going to send a liberator, a saviour, a rescuer.

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners, 
to proclaim (the Jubilee) the year of the Lord’s favour.”

This Saviour is going to release captives. His coming will be good news for the… poor. This is the Jubilee that had never been celebrated. It’s the cancelling of debts and the giving back of freedom to slaves. And this Jubilee will be centred, says Isaiah, not upon a calendar that everybody merrily ignores, but on the authority of a decisive leader whose kingdom will come and turn everything upside down and bring justice and equity to the earth at last.

2) Fulfilment in the New Testament

Now, let’s wind the tape forward again to Luke chapter 4. Here’s Jesus, right at the beginning of his ministry; freshly commissioned at his baptism, he spends 40 days being tested by the devil and he’s come out on top. Here he is now, back in his home town, walking in the power of the Spirit.

By the way, just a passing comment in v16, where Luke says Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up and went to the synagogue, on the Sabbath, as was his custom. It was a discipline he had been taught when he was young and he stuck to it. Of all the people who have ever lived on earth, Jesus is the one who least needed to go to church regularly. I bet he found the Rabbis’ teaching wearisome and beside the point. Remember he wrote this stuff! But the first thing that went into Jesus of Nazareth’s diary was public worship -every Saturday, without fail. Since the day I became a Christian at the age of 17 it’s been the first thing in my diary too. I reckon I need to worship God and find fellowship with fellow believers and hear the Word of God more than Jesus needed to and being in God’s house Sunday by Sunday is a basic investment into my spiritual health and strength.

Anyway, picture the scene here. Let’s imagine we are there in that Nazareth synagogue round about the year 28 A.D. It’s a Sabbath of course, the day of rest that is set apart for God. In this room, as you look around, are the village elders who have taken their usual seats and everyone else is there, everyone is ready to sing the psalms and read the sacred scriptures on rolled up manuscripts. It’s a Saturday like any other except this time someone says, “Oh look, Jesus Bar Joseph is here.” And since he has just begun an itinerant preaching ministry, the synagogue leader, as a courtesy, invites him to take the scroll and read it. Jesus covers his head with his prayer shall, opens the scroll and reads out Isaiah 61 – the verses we have just read. Then he rolls it up, gives it back to the man who looks after the parchments and sits down to speak. The eyes of the whole synagogue are on him.

What did they think when he said “Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”? In other words, the Jubilee is not just dates on a calendar. It’s the promise of a great liberator. Jesus is saying, “This is all about me.” Some said, “Wow! Amazing! What a speaker! He’s good isn’t he?” Others said, “Hang on! This is just the lad who makes furniture in his dad’s workshop. Everybody knows his brothers and sisters. We went to school with them. This is just the bloke from down the road.”

You know, everyone in the end has to have this debate with themselves and decide if Jesus is just an ordinary man who spoke well but who basically lived and died deluded that he was the Son of God – or if he really is the King of kings, alive today setting the oppressed free and opening the eyes of the blind.

Jesus was in no doubt about who he claimed to be:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.”

When you think about it, Jesus was really walking a tightrope by saying these things. He was setting himself up to be shot down. What if the people said back to him, “What good news for the poor? What is this some kind of lottery jackpot? What freedom for prisoners? Are you the Home Secretary or someone? How many blind people have you cured to date? Can you give us some documented evidence, independently corroborated, of oppressed people actually being delivered?”

And if Jesus had replied, “Err well, at the moment it’s still very much in the design stage. To be honest this is more about goals and aspirations than actual track record,” they would have told him to sit down and be quiet. Remember, this is right at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. He hasn’t gone anywhere. He hasn’t preached anything. He hasn’t healed anyone. But Jesus could say what he did and people would hang on his words because he was anointed – there was something about him, an authority in the Holy Spirit, that people recognised as being authentic. Judge for yourself; is this just spin?

First, Jesus says he is proclaiming good news to the poor. It’s good news. It’s for the poor – Jesus had a heart for the poor and he was poor himself. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” he said, “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” I’ve looked that word “poor” up and it means “having nothing at all.” In its verb form it has the sense “to crouch down and beg.” It’s being destitute. You put your hands in your last pocket and it’s empty - there’s nothing. You will never live the life of blessing God has for you unless you reckon yourself spiritually wretched and absolutely needing God’s daily mercy and sustaining grace to get through.

Secondly, Jesus said he came to bind up the broken hearted. That expression “broken hearted” in Isaiah is really strong – it means literally “to have all your strength crushed out of you.” These are people who are broken by endless pain, cheated, abused and abandoned. These are people who weep over a thousand unbearable memories, who are hopeless, who carry heavy burdens every day, and who are at the end of their rope. Jesus came to bind up the broken hearted.

Psalm 34 says, “The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Thirdly, Jesus says he has come to proclaim freedom for the prisoners. In this verse, the word “freedom” is wider in scope than being released from slavery. It’s the promise of a total deliverance from the worst form of servitude; Jesus is talking about being freed from the slavery to sin. “Everyone who sins,” he said, “is a slave to sin.” The Bible says you work hard for sin all your life and all you get for your pension is death.

Many people today are prisoners of alcohol, escapist drugs, pornography, gambling, food, fear and anger. They’re in a cycle of compulsive behaviour. They’re tied up. They’re not free because Satan has shut them up in a cell of addiction and indignity. But Jesus says I have come to smash down walls, throw iron gates to the floor, break your chains and get you out.”

Fourthly, Jesus opens the eyes of the blind (both physically and spiritually).

And fifthly, Jesus brings deliverance to the oppressed by proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favour. This Jubilee is our Jubilee! There is only one ultimate source of oppression; the enemy of your soul, Satan the accuser, who hates you, who never stops looking for a chance to discourage you and grind you down, who assaults your faith with doubts and anxieties, who wants to steal your inheritance and pour condemnation on you, leaving you feeling dejected, defeated and disheartened. He is an enemy to be taken seriously, because he never gives up, but he is so under the feet of Jesus Christ!

3) Our Own Mission

“Christ” means “The One who is anointed.” Jesus Christ; Jesus, the Anointed One. If that’s true then the word “Christian” means we share in his unique anointing, and we impart it to the world. Oh, that God would pour out in much greater measure that same anointing on us!

In less than three weeks Christians from churches all over Stockton on Tees will be gathering in Stockton parish gardens to pray for healing for anyone who asks. They’ve been doing something similar in many cities all over our land including Newcastle for months now and God has done some amazing things. Why not here? God has already given us occasional, small scale glimpses of what could be. There’s more!

Let me remind you what happened when Julia did an assembly last year. Sensing the Holy Spirit was there in power, she offered to pray for kids at the end of her assembly. Two children asked for prayer, and both were healed instantly; one from eczema and molluscum contagiosum (which are little pimple spots that bleed and take 3 - 5 years to go unless surgically removed). The other, who was disabled from birth (she had a shrivelled arm and hand and so couldn’t stretch out her arm) was suddenly freed to do so. It’s the anointing of the Holy Spirit – and it’s for us. Lord, give us more!

Let me remind you what happened when the team at Big Ted prayed for baby Thomas, who had a serious, life threatening illness. Thomas was healed – and such was the extraordinary nature of the healing that her mother (an experienced sick children’s nurse) came to Jesus and the Consultant paediatrician checked out the Alpha Course to find out more. It’s the anointing of the Holy Spirit – and it’s for us. Lord, pour it out in greater measure!

Let me remind you what happened when we prayed for the youth who smashed our Centre windows a couple of months ago. Sola led us in prayer in the power of the Holy Spirit. Two hours later he went and confessed to the police and we dropped the charges on condition that we could tell him the good news about Jesus. This is good news for the poor and freedom for prisoners - isn’t it?

We need to talk about what God is doing – not about what God is not doing.

Those are three stories from this church. Yes, Jesus does amazing things in China and Argentina and Korea – but Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever in Preston-on-Tees as well. And, yes, all this is just a trickle of Jesus’ anointing. O God, pour out upon us a spirit of prayer and expectation; release your anointing and authority to us like a sudden and overwhelming flood! We know there’s more!

Ending

“Today”, said Jesus “this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

I want to invite you to stand with me and welcome the Holy Spirit anew, that our tongues would speak out good news, that we will heal the sick, bind up the broken hearted and free the captives in Jesus’ name.


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 28th June 2009

Healing Broken Lives (2 Samuel 13.1-22)

Introduction

Sometimes you haven’t really got words to say what needs to be said and tonight’s reading from 2 Samuel 13 is a really good example of that. I’ve never been to Auschwitz but I know that many people who have been there come out unable to say anything. Just watching Schindler’s List had that effect on me and when I saw The Passion of the Christ at the cinema it was the same. You just come out speechless.

It is never fair to compare suffering with suffering because everyone’s pain is real and unique; but the distress for those who are crushed and broken in their sexual identity seems doubly cruel. People who are afflicted in this way are hurt not just by the offences themselves but by the fact that the pain that results often has to be endured alone. Victims of this kind of abuse often feel suffocated. They feel there is no possibility of speaking with anyone else about what they’re going through – because they are threatened with violent reprisals or because of taboos, or because of the shame they feel or the false guilt they carry.

And I wouldn’t be a Christian today if I did not believe that in Jesus Christ there is healing, there is freedom, there is salvation and there is hope. Jesus is the way out. He alone promises and delivers, to all those who call on him, a new morning and a better tomorrow. Listen to what God said to a beaten-up, humiliated, discouraged and uprooted people in Jeremiah 29.11-13: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Autopsy of Sexual Abuse

The passage of scripture that we read just now reminds us that the Word of God gives it to you straight. It doesn’t dress things up to look pretty when they’re not. The Bible isn’t, and never was, a nice anthology of feel-good fairy stories. It tells you the truth about the dark side of human nature. It doesn’t cover it all up. You have here in 2 Samuel 13 an autopsy of sexual abuse and it’s ugly.

This sad and shocking tale of the incestuous rape of Tamar has the merit at least of showing us that God never sweeps outrages like this under the carpet. Even though Tamar’s family tried to bury this degrading event God does not forget or make light of this young princess’s pain. He defends her honour down the ages in exposing in his word her half-brother’s treachery and cowardice. 2 Samuel 13 is an autopsy of sexual abuse. It is a devastating, four-stage study of incestuous lust.

As is usually the case with sin, it all begins in your head. That’s why you’ve got to fill your mind with praise, with truth, with the revelation of who you are in Christ – the Bible says “Be renewed in your mind” and “Set your minds on things that are above, not on earthly things” – why? Because sin always wants to plant itself in the fertile soil of your thoughts. Once there it’ll grow like bindweed and it’s a devil to get rid of.

For Amnon here everything begins with his thoughts. Like an unsuspecting novice trying to swim in unsafe tidal currents, he quickly gets dangerously out of control the moment he lets passing thoughts become obsessive. Notice how his behaviour becomes compulsive. He’s eaten inside, he drives himself mad, his untamed passions torment him. He allows himself to become a frustrated loner, a voyeur. Maybe he’s the kind of sad individual with no real friends who, in our day, would pass his time in and out of sex shops and erotic cinemas in the red light areas of our cities.

Because for him, for Amnon, women are little more than objects. Notice how haunted he is by the fact that the target of his desire is out of reach in v2. “Amnon became so obsessed with his sister Tamar that he made himself ill. She was a virgin, and it seemed impossible for him to do anything to her.” There she is, in all her youthful and innocent beauty. But she’s his half sister, so the law forbids him having a relationship with her, and that propels him towards the next step which I call guile. Guile; it’s the deviousness that plots in the background and hatches a plan.

For Amnon, Tamar is no longer a young girl he might love. She is, in his infatuated mind, a trophy he must win. Verse 2 says he was obsessive. In his mind he stalks her. He pursues her. He is a predatory hunter and she is in his sights. He starts to create and develop strategies to trap his prey. He actively seeks wily partners in crime. Like many compulsive offenders, this is true of many like paedophiles, who groom and charm their intended victims; Amnon too becomes increasingly manipulative until, at last, in v6, he lies in wait for her, ready to strike.

The next stage is the implementation. Having laid his trap he sends the servants out of the room, eliminating all risk of possible witnesses against him. It’s an ambush. Amnon locks all the exit doors and lunges like a hawk on his prey, who has no chance. She protests and dissents but he turns a deaf ear. There is no pleasure here for him, no tenderness, no love, no delight. It’s simply a raw, lustful conquest, nothing more.

Princess Tamar, for her part, gives five good reasons in these verses why he should not have sex with her.

1) She says to him loud and clear in v12 that she is withholding her consent. She doesn’t want it. “No, my brother! Do not force me!”

2) She protests that what is about to happen is just not right either socially or morally. “Such a thing should not be done in Israel. Don’t do this wicked thing.”

3) She cries out despairingly in v13 that the consequences for her will be irreparably tragic. “What about me? Where could I get rid of my disgrace?” In that cruel world, she’ll be seen as damaged goods, no one will go near her and her life will be ruined.

4) When that fails she tries to convince him that the fallout for him will be just as dire. “What about you? You would be like one of the wicked fools in Israel.” You’ll be a pariah, an outcast…

5) Finally, in her desperation, she tries to negotiate with him at the end of v13. “Look, please speak to the king; he will not keep me from being married to you.” You know, perhaps he will find a loophole somewhere and authorise a marriage between us.

In fact, it’s not sure at all that David would have given his blessing to a marriage between these two, but she says anything just to get him to change his mind. The law in Leviticus 18.9 is clear; “Do not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere” and David would have known that.

Anyway, v14 shows the grim outcome; “He refused to listen to her, and since he was stronger than she, he raped her.” Any of those five protestations should have been amply sufficient to dissuade Amnon from what he did – but he was inflamed with passion and didn’t hear a word.

The last stage is the fallout. And, when you think this was a real life, that it really happened, that Tamar really suffered disgrace and dishonour for the rest of her life, this is almost unbearable to read.

From v15 onwards Amnon completely rejects her, finds her disgusting to be with and wants nothing more to do with her. This is the same young woman he would have died coveting just a few minutes earlier. But now, having oh so ‘manfully’ conquered an unsuspecting and defenceless virgin girl, he now treats her like rubbish and throws her away.

Tamar was absolutely right. She could see that this was going to have consequences that magnified hugely the actual crime. “What about you? You will be like one of the wicked fools in Israel.” She’s talking to a prince. He’s 3rd or 4th in line to the throne. She’s saying your name will be dirt forever throughout the land. In fact, Amnon’s actions that day set off a ticking time bomb in his family. In just two years Amnon would be dead, killed by his half brother Absalom, in a revenge attack.

What about Tamar? Well, her life is spoiled and it is spoiled forever. In her culture and in her day she would be whispered about and treated as damaged goods. Her hopes of marriage will have vanished. The dust and ashes on her head in v19 are a symbol of mourning and grieving. She is sobbing uncontrollably. She tears her royal robe. This is self-loathing behaviour. She has lost everything that was dear to her; her innocence, her self-respect, her security, her trust in others, her hopes of a loving relationship.

This is an open wound. And to rub salt into it, in v20, Absalom dismisses her tragedy as if it were of no consequence. “Be quiet for now, my sister; he is your brother. Don’t take this to heart.” That’s cruel! “Don’t say anything” says Absalom. How many victims of sexual abuse have had to hear that from a family member? “Don’t talk about this to anyone.” Yes, do! Your suffering is too heavy to carry alone. “It’s your brother” says Absalom. “We are family. It’s just a little family secret, no one need know about it.”

That’s another classic lie told to victims of incest and it’s so false. As long as the truth stays locked up in shadowy cupboards the torment and humiliation never heal. The moment you expose your secret pain to God’s light and love is the moment healing can start. “Don’t take this to heart” says Absalom as if Tamar had only lost a glass bead from a cheap necklace. She has lost everything. We don’t know how old she was. 15? 16 maybe? All her life was before her and now it’s spoiled forever.

The French Charity TPMC who defend the rights of victims of domestic and sexual abuse say this: “When a child is a victim of sexual brokenness the effects are alarming. Threatened with reprisals if they tell anyone the truth, children bottle everything up and endure their maltreatment silently; physical violence, sexual assault, fear of beatings, rejection, abandonment, swearing and subtly destructive words. They are unable to inform on their parents out of family loyalty. The facts are therefore minimised or simply denied.

That is exactly what we find here in this horrible story. The author of the crime, Amnon, becomes inhuman - he can’t love like a normal person any more - he is actually repulsed by beauty and disgusted by intimacy. But the victim of the crime, Tamar, is sent off into a grief that she is condemned to endure alone. She is a prisoner both to her aggressor and to her own crushing sense of shame.

The Family

It is very significant that this sordid episode in 2 Samuel 13 takes place in the context of the family home. 80% of sexual abuse takes place at home and involves a close family member. Recent research suggests that 1 girl in 8 and I boy in 10 are victims of some kind of inappropriate advances before the age of 18. I girl in 25 and one boy in 33 are victims of rape or incest. For these children the risk of becoming involved in drugs is seven times greater and the suicide rate is ten times higher.

Incest is, of course, an extreme case. But someone’s sexual identity can be damaged and scarred by other means. A mother who dreams of having a little girl and who gives birth only to boys and dresses them up in pink to console herself may have no idea what psychological damage she is doing to her sons. The father who is desperate for a son, never has one, and who expresses that regret to his daughters will hurt them deeply.

The dominant mother who wears the trousers at home and who stifles her husband will deprive her sons with a positive, healthy model of masculinity to emulate – and is much more likely to drive them to seeking masculine intimacy in adulthood than would otherwise be the case.

Or what about the distant and austere father whose lack of affection and affirmation pushes his daughter into seeking intimacy with anyone – and who falls pregnant before finishing her GCSEs?

The family as God intended it should be the safe place; a refuge, a place of emotional security, full of good and healthy things to emulate. For many people you meet and know and work with it just the opposite. And that is almost certainly the case for some of you here too.

It’s Not fair!

A second thing that this story shows is that it’s not fair. It’s not just Tamar’s youthful beauty that is so tragic. It’s not just that she had an obsessive stalker for a half-brother. It’s not just that he raped her. It’s not just that he rejected her and hated her afterwards. But it’s so perversely unfair that it was she that ended up as the untouchable outcast and not him. It’s not fair that she had to bottle up her justified anger. She the innocent party is violated in a way that spoils her life forever and he gets off relatively lightly. And it’s not fair!

There is a cry from the heart that says, “Lord, why didn’t you stop this? Why didn’t you step in?” Were you deaf to Tamar’s cries for help? Were you deaf to mine? Why does God do nothing? It’s not fair…

No. For all those who are victims of domestic violence, sexual abuse, those who have had a poor parental model or who have a love deficit in their family it just isn’t fair - and if there is anyone here tonight who can relate to any of that I am so sorry that happened to you. It wasn’t your fault. It shouldn’t have happened and it is not fair on you that it did.

No one knows really why God does not always intervene to stop suffering and why sometimes he does a great miracle. I wish I could and I believe that one day, in eternity, we will know and understand. Or we’ll be so overcome by the power of God’s love and the depths of his wisdom that we won’t need to. All I can say here is that God did not intervene either when his loved and only Son was bruised and beaten and humiliated and insulted and slain by thugs.

Conclusion

Imagine you are an eye-witness of the passion of Jesus Christ. What do you see? Jesus is stripped of his clothes and chained to a whipping post. He is flogged again and again with leather whips. Each one has bits of bone or wood tied to the end which open up the flesh on impact. You see muscle and bone appear as Jesus’ arms, legs and back tear badly.

You see him led out to a courtyard where men jeer at him and press an ironic crown, with thorns like 6-inch nails, down on his head. They dress him up as a king. And then they stand in a circle pushing him back and forth to each other. They smack him in the mouth, they punch him in the ribs, they pull his beard, they draw phlegm and spit at him.

Then you watch as they load the horizontal section of the cross on his already butchered shoulders and back. His strength is failing and he can hardly walk straight. But he carries it until he drops to the ground, the heavy crossbeam falling on top of him.

Finally he arrives at the execution site. They strip him a second time. They stretch him out on a wooden cross and drive ten inch nails into his forearms. It tears his median nerve sending severe, burning pain like an electric shock up his arms and into his spinal nerve. After his arms they twist his knees and drive one spike through his two ankles between the tibia and the Achilles tendon. It is unspeakably bloody and almost unwatchable. The pain is excruciating. In fact, that’s the origin of the word ‘excruciating’; from the Latin ex (out of) and crucia (cross). Out of the cross comes unspeakable, unimaginable, unbearable agonies and Jesus took it all.

The cross is then lifted by ropes and the vertical beam drops into a hole dug in the ground. Hanging there in the stifling midday heat, thirsty, in shock, left for dead by his friends, exposed to the watching crowd, tormented by his gloating enemies he hangs there in indescribable pain and aloneness.

This is the biggest “it’s not fair” ever and somewhere at its heart is the key to all the others

Because it’s the spiritual pain – being torn away from the eternal affection of his Father and carrying the weight of all human sin – that sends Jesus to his death so quickly.

The Lord of glory has become the dustbin of the world; rejected, hated, deserted… Unwanted on earth, unwelcome in heaven – and unfit for either. And the Bible says a horrible, nauseating and absolutely disgusting thing about Jesus Christ. It says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5.21). He loves you – to death.

That’s where Jesus carried the sin of the world. That’s what we’re going to remember and walk in the power of tonight when we share Holy Communion. He died for all the wrongs we have done – and for the wrongs done to us. It’s there that he took the full blow of Tamar’s wretchedness – and all the injustices you’ve suffered. Jesus has died and is raised so that there is a future and a hope for you. And it’s by his wounds that we can be healed.


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 21st June 2009

The Fullness of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5.15-20)

Introduction

I want to start by thanking you for releasing me to be a guest speaker last week at a church weekend in France and I bring you greetings from Saint Mark’s Versailles who I was privileged to be with for four days. They are grateful to you all for letting me go to teach them from the Word of God, not least because they know that we are going through a challenging time here at All Saints.’ Of course, I had no idea just how stormy life would be here in May and June when I accepted the invitation back in January. But in fact, in the providence of God it was good for us to get away for a few days and to receive from God too.

And what better place to enjoy some scenery and good food than France? It struck me walking around Paris in particular how slim the French are and how much more they smoke compared to us here in Britain. And it got me thinking about diet and health in different countries.

The Japanese eat very little fat whilst the French and Germans eat fois gras, pâté, camembert and sausage and in shed loads - but both suffer much fewer heart attacks than the British and Americans. Saudi Arabians drink zero alcohol whilst the French and Italians drink red wine with every meal yet, once again, both have significantly lower rates of heart disease than we do. It’s baffling. It seems there is only one possible explanation: Eat and drink what you like. It's speaking English that kills you!

Do you remember your science lessons all those years ago - and how they were so much more interesting when the teacher got you to do an experiment? Well, to celebrate the memory I am going to begin this talk with some experimentation myself. Question: how can I remove the air from this glass? If I tried to suck it all out with a pump it would create a vacuum and the glass would break. If I took the glass to the moon the air would escape into space but that would not be a cost-effective way of removing the air. You could suggest other ways, I’m sure, but the best and easiest solution is this one…. as I fill the glass with water, which has a greater density than air, the liquid pushes the gas out. Problem solved.

In our reading today, Paul says to the Christians at Ephesus, “Do not be foolish, (like don’t go to the moon just to get air out a glass), but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”

The secret of a victorious Christian life is letting yourself be filled, and filled, and filled again with the Holy Spirit. If you’re a Christian who is not filled with the Holy Spirit you’re like a beautifully crafted but empty glass for a thirsty world, or a brand new gas boiler with only the pilot light lit, but which isn’t firing, or a smart, new, gleaming limousine with the fuel gauge on empty. They look lovely on the outside, but glasses are supposed to hold drinks, boilers are designed to generate heat, and cars are meant to move. In the same way, Christians who are no longer filled with the Holy Spirit don’t deliver.

1) What Does It Mean?

“Be filled with the Holy Spirit” says God. To find out what that means we’re going to look at the grammar in this sentence. You’ll never know how a watch works unless you take it to bits and it’s the same with the fullness of the Holy Spirit. To those of you who are experts in biblical languages, I would just like to put it on record that I know a little Greek myself – his name is Theo and he runs a kebab takeaway in Thornaby! Seriously, I am no expert in Greek but I’ve done my homework here and I think I can sound like I know what I’m talking about.

I want us to unpack these words, “Be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Firstly the verb ‘to fill’ is in the imperative mood. “Be filled…” is not a suggestion, or a recommendation; it is a command with all the authority of the Word of God behind it. If you are not filled with the Holy Spirit, you will be woefully short on the power you need to live the Christian life that you have signed up to. Without the fullness of the Spirit you do not have enough spiritual food to get you through the week. Following Jesus half empty with the Holy Spirit is not God’s will for your life or mine. That’s why this is a command.

Secondly, the verb is written in the present tense. When must we be filled with the Holy Spirit? Not last year, not next month; now - and all the time by the way! “Be filled all the time…” In the original, the verb is present continuous; a literal translation would read, “Be always being filled with the Spirit” which isn’t very good English, but that’s the closest you can get to what it actually says. “Be always being filled with the Spirit” It is vital to be filled day after day. What use are last year’s blessings or even yesterday’s? I need to be receiving God’s power and presence today!

This is so important. Some Christians say that getting filled with the Holy Spirit comes with conversion. It’s a unique experience, they say, at the beginning of our Christian lives. Others say, “No it isn’t! It’s a second experience which always comes after conversion.” So who’s right?

Well, reading through the Acts of the Apostles you find that, sometimes, it’s at the moment of conversion that there is an overwhelming experience of the Holy Spirit (for example the Gentiles at Cornelius’ house in Acts 10). But not always. For Paul it was several days after his conversion. For still others it occurred and reoccurred several times. The twelve apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 (at Pentecost) and again in chapter 4 (after they were threatened by the authorities) and a number of other times after that as well.

I think the Bible says that you and I need to be filled, then filled again, then filled again... That means immersed, overwhelmed, plunged into the Spirit’s life and power over and over.

Praise God if you had an overwhelming life-changing experience of the Spirit in the late sixties, or the mid-nineties, or last week! This yoghurt will taste OK if I eat it today. It says ‘best before 25th June.’ But I’m not going to be eating it in July. Last month’s blessings are out of date! Today’s fullness of the Holy Spirit is sufficient for today. “Give us this day our daily bread.” “Be being constantly filled with the Holy Spirit.” So it’s a command to be relentlessly filled, over and over and starting now.

The third thing about the grammar is that the verb is in the passive voice. That means that the filling with the Holy Spirit is not something that we do. We don’t turn on the tap. It is something that happens to us. We let it happen to us by hungering and thirsting after God. What God requires of you and me is to… ask. In fact, Acts 5.32 talks about “the Holy Spirit that God gives to those who obey him.” At my end the thing is to receive the Spirit by obedient faith. “Lord, I am coming to you again for more. As you have commanded me to do, I ask once again. Fill me again today to overflowing with your Holy Spirit.” It is up to me to come to God, hopefully, expectantly with empty hands. Like Oliver Twist, “Please Sir, I want some more.” But it’s God alone who fills us with His Spirit.

A few months ago one of my children was unwell. He had an upset stomach and he didn’t feel like eating. Being off your food is often a sign of illness, especially in young males... When you lose your spiritual appetite it’s the same; it shows that something is not right with your faith. So let me ask you a direct question this morning if I may. Are you thirsty for God? Are you seeking his presence and his refreshment today? Are you coming to him with empty hands, and a hungry soul saying, “Please Lord, I need more of you in my life, please fill me up again with your life-giving Spirit!”

2) What Actually Happens?

So - “Be filled constantly with the Spirit, and let it happen to you today” is what God says to us this morning. So what happens when God pours out his Spirit on his people? The Bible seems to indicate that each time someone is filled with the Holy Spirit there is a noticeable event followed by a greater consecration, by which I mean a deeper commitment to God and a fresh attraction to his holiness and righteousness.

There are nine occasions in the New Testament where the expression “filled with the Holy Spirit” is found. And in seven of them, there is a direct link to some kind of inspired speech - including Ephesians 5 here where it says in v19, “Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit.” That is one expected and normative outcome of being filled with the Spirit.

Reading through the gospels and Acts, whenever people are filled with the Holy Spirit they are given new boldness to talk to others about Jesus. Or they receive, and use, new spiritual gifts such as tongues and prophecy. Or they spontaneously overflow in praise and worship, singing a new song to the Lord. Or they are given renewed spiritual authority. Or they express overflowing, evident joy. Or they have other encounters with God which bring about a change of direction in their lives.

What happens to Saul of Tarsus’ in Acts 9 has to be one of the most sensational conversions of all time. Even today, people talk about having a Damascus Road experience, meaning a life shattering event that turned their inner world upside down. A cynical persecutor of Christians, Saul is travelling in the hope that he might round up and kill more. But several days later, there he is, telling the world that Jesus is alive! Everyone is dumbfounded, obviously. “Wasn’t this the man who caused carnage in Jerusalem? Wasn’t this the scourge of the Christian community?” What has he been taking in his tea? What has happened to make such a change in his life? Good question: and here is the answer - firstly he met Jesus on the way to Damascus. Then he was filled with the Holy Spirit a few days after he got there.

I remember hearing once of a man who went to speak about Christianity to a group of about 100 students in a university amphitheatre. When he got home his wife asked how it had gone. “Well,” he replied “there’s hope for two of them. Most of the audience were very polite and listened to what I said very courteously but two were really upset. They kept interrupting and insulting me, swearing and cursing. All the others just listened happily.” Guess what? Those two young men, who disrupted the evening, were both baptised six months later! But no one else was. It seems that sometimes it is those who are the most passionate enemies of Christ who experience the most dramatic change in their lives, becoming Christians and being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Spiritual gifts, joy, shameless, confident and successful evangelism, changed lives, spontaneous worship with great enthusiasm. Of course stage-managed, whipped-up emotionalism is horrible, and I’m not advocating that - but who amongst us here would say, arguing from Scripture, that our relationship with God should be cool and detached?

In all loving relationships, affection, heartfelt feelings and passion are natural. What would Kathie say if I greeted her whenever I return home by shaking her hand and saying “How do you do?” How would she like it if, on Valentine’s Day, I bought her a red rose and then went down the pub on my own for the evening? If I never expressed any emotion at all towards my wife people would say there is something not quite healthy between us. It’s the same in between us and God. John Stott is surely right when he says, “It is right in public worship to be dignified; it is unforgivable to be dull.”

If the brightness of God’s holiness, the lavishness of his grace, the splendour of his love and the excellence of his glory leave us unresponsive and impassive there is something wrong with us! “Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit.”

3) What’s the Result?

Have you ever opened a tap really quickly, been surprised by the strength of the water pressure and made water splash everywhere? It looks spectacular, but if you want a drink, it’s not very practical because hardly any water actually ends up in the glass. To fill a glass, the water needs to be run in a more measured way.

Power can be released wastefully, or it can be harnessed wisely. The energy bound up in 40 litres of unleaded, for example, can be unleashed in spectacular fashion by throwing a lit match onto it. Or its energy can be channelled by a motorbike engine, to be burnt slowly, and transport someone the length and breadth of the country. Explosions are impressive, and sometimes God does do mind blowing things. But that’s not the only way he works. He also wants to do things in our lives that are less sensational but longer lasting.

The remarkable signs of the Holy Spirit are works of God. I want to see more, not less, of them. But some Christians only want the short-term spark and are not interested in the long term walk.

The fullness of the Holy Spirit also brings maturity and wisdom that sees through the foolishness of sin and shows self-control. In fact, that’s what Paul insists upon most in this passage. “Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise, but as wise” he says in v15.

This is how people filled with the Spirit live; they’re careful about how they live. They show wisdom.

I want to commend a recent example of wise, Spirit-filled living. I was invited round to the house of one of our church members the other week. On the one hand he could accept a promotion with more money, more status, more kudos - he is a young, talented, ambitious man. But the appointment (described by his directors as an offer he couldn’t refuse) involved significant travel and therefore more time away from his wife and family and much reduced availability for serving God here at All Saints’. At the same time he had been offered another job much nearer home. It was a leap into the unknown, it was less prestigious, it paid less well and it might mean never reaching the directorship he had been offered elsewhere. But it would mean seeing much more of his family and being freed up to serve the Lord. He took the second option and I think, in this case, he did the right thing. I think that shows Spirit-filled maturity and he slept well on the decision and is at peace with God having made that decision.

Being filled with the Holy Spirit affects our life choices – it also affects our appetites and hungers. “Don’t get drunk on wine” says v18, “which leads to debauchery. It means reckless, wild living. The word is the same one that was used to describe the lost and wasted youth of the prodigal son when he blew everything he had on sex, drugs and rock and roll. Interestingly, the Bible consistently presents wine, in itself, as a good thing; it’s only drunkenness and excessive drinking that is improper.

The charity Drinkaware says that 1.7 million men and 600,000 women in the UK drink more than double the recommended limit.

The UK has one of the highest binge drinking rates in Europe; just behind Ireland and Finland according to a European survey in 2007. It found that excessive drinking leads to more domestic abuse, more unwanted pregnancies and more road traffic accidents, more antisocial behaviour. The damage done to our church centre last month was alcohol related.

Here are the numbers; alcohol abuse is responsible for 22,000 premature deaths each year. According to the BBC there are 1.2 million incidents of alcohol-related violence a year. 70% of night time A&E admissions are alcohol-related. Up to 1.3 million children are affected by parents with drink problems, and they are also more likely to have problems later in life themselves.

What about the cost? A study by the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit in 2003 showed that 17 million working days are lost to hangovers and drink-related illness in Britain each year. The annual cost to employers is conservatively estimated to be £6.4 billion while the cost to the NHS is in the region of £1.7billion. And about £13 billion more is spent clearing up alcohol-related crime and social problems.

Now, going back to the vandalism to the church centre, the young man who owned up to it said he gets drunk to get an emotional high. Binge drinkers are looking for the abundant life Jesus talks about; their life is obviously coming up short of that, otherwise they wouldn’t be so keen to escape from what their life is to something else. And, incidentally, alcohol is a depressant, not a stimulant, so drinking in excess is not a great strategy for getting a buzz anyway.

“Do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit…”

Ending

One day, Jesus was speaking to his disciples about the Holy Spirit and all heir fears, doubts and misunderstandings. It’s a conversation that you can find in Luke 11.9-13.

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 7th June 2009