Taming The Lion (1 Peter 5.6-11)

Introduction

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up: it knows it must run quicker than the fastest lion or it will be breakfast. Every morning, a lion wakes up: It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve. Satan is a roaring lion looking for someone to devour: when the sun comes up, we’d better be ready to run.

We’re been thinking about spiritual warfare since early September and we’re going to keep doing that until the end of November – so we’re about half way through. What ground have we covered so far? Let’s rerun the tape a bit and remind ourselves what we’ve learned. We’ve seen, as if we didn’t know it already through personal experience, that the spiritual battle is absolutely real. Spiritual warfare is as real as physical warfare.

We don’t really know the origin of the devil because we aren’t given lots of detail in the Bible where he came from. There’s a hint that he is an angel who, with many other angels, rebelled against God and are to this day, living in open revolt against him. There are a few mentions in the Old Testament of the work of the devil, but in the New Testament, as the radiance and the glory of Jesus Christ shine brightly, Satan’s activity and personality are brought into the light and are exposed, so it becomes much clearer that there is this personal force of evil that we have to contend with in the power of the Holy Spirit and under the authority of Jesus Christ.

And people say, “Oh well, of course, this is just medieval superstition. It’s like belief in fairies and goblins.” Jesus believed in the devil; he faced him, he drove out demons and he talked about Satan being thrown out of heaven like lightning.” Some people say, “Well Jesus only believed in the devil because that was just the 1st Century worldview. Everybody at that time believed in the devil.” No they didn’t. The Sadducees, who were amongst Jesus’ opponents, didn’t believe in the devil, the resurrection or anything supernatural at all, and Jesus opposed them publically.

Satan is real and he is a liar, an accuser, a deceiver, a destroyer and a tempter. The Hebrew word for Satan means “Accuser” or “Slanderer” because he slanders God’s name and reputation. That’s why people outside of the church often have such a negative view of God. They say, “Why is he so down on people enjoying themselves?” It’s a false view of God because Satan is a liar, he slanders God before people. He also accuses Christians before God. Day and night he is shouting to God about all your sins and mine. But, thank God, Jesus is our Advocate in heaven and, as Counsel for the Defence, he pleads our case and because he has paid in full the penalty for our sin, he always gets all the charges dropped.

We’re told in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 8 that when the Lord Jesus returns he “will overthrow Satan with the breath of his mouth, by the splendour of this coming.” When Christ returns he will throw the devil into a lake of fire; a hellish inferno that will never be extinguished.

The Bible talks about war in heaven. The kingdom of God clashes and collides violently with the kingdom of darkness. One of the consequences of that for us is that, sometimes, we get caught up in it - and most of us indicated a few weeks ago that we have gone through seasons of spiritual affliction. That’s what the theatre of spiritual battle looks like.

But Satan looks also to gain subtle footholds in our attitudes and establish strongholds in our thinking through devious means. That’s what we saw last week. It’s a holy discipline for us to take authority and take our thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ. But that is what separates spiritual giants from spiritual dwarfs. The moment that thoughts that are contrary to God’s revealed truth begin to appear spiritual giants say, “Get out of my head” and they bring their thinking back into line with God’s revelation.

Our Default Stance

What we’re going to do tonight is two things. Firstly we’re going to consider what our basic stance should look like most of the time. I’m not talking about times of particular spiritual assault - and God knows we have had some of that here in the last 18 months or so - I’m not talking about seasons of affliction or temptation or attack. I mean every day. Spiritually speaking, what should my default mode be? And secondly, we’re going to see what a lion attack looks like and learn how we ought to respond when the devil springs an ambush.

In our reading from 1 Peter 5 it says that “the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” But in the verses surrounding this statement Peter draws up a list of four qualities that God wants us to cultivate at all times. This is what our basic default stance in the Christian life should look like. He says,

1) humble yourselves, 2) cast your anxieties on God, 3) be self-controlled and 4) be alert.

What I am saying is that these are not actions to take when you come under attack, I don’t think that’s what it means. Peter goes on later to talk about how we should respond the moment the devil strikes. And we’ll come to that later.

But these four; humble yourselves, cast your anxieties on God, be self-controlled and be alert are actions to take all the time so you are ready and prepared - just in case.

Here’s a question; we know the devil opposes us at all times and all places. What do you need to do to get God to oppose you? The answer is “be proud.” Just walk around arrogantly, looking down on people - especially older people - as if you have nothing to learn, criticising what everyone else does but offering no alternative and God will resist you. He has said he will and he will. So if anyone wants to go through life opposed by God, resisted by heaven, hardly growing at all, bearing no fruit, making no impact on the world around, spiritually impotent - then the key is to cultivate a proud, haughty, arrogant attitude.

1 Peter 5.5-6 says, “You who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but shows favour to the humble and oppressed.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” God says the same thing in Proverbs 3.34 and James 4.6 where it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Pride says “Be superior, promote yourself.” Humility says “Be unselfish, humble yourself.”

So firstly, humble yourselves. Secondly, cast your anxieties on God. Because he cares for you. This is about everyday worries; where am I going to find love, how am I going to pay off my debts and cover the bills, where am I going to get a job, how am I going to deal with an impossible colleague… or whatever. It’s hard to throw your worries and cares on God isn’t it? But consider the alternative; sleepless nights, loss of appetite, bad moods, prescription tranquilizers, comfort eating, counselling and even hair loss.

Thirdly, be of sober mind. This is all about appetites. Having a sober mind means that, by the grace of God, I’m going to think straight. I’m not going to spend money I don’t have, I’m not going to eat food I can’t burn, I’m not going to drink alcohol I can’t manage, I’m not going to visit web sites that I know will take me out of God’s will for my life and I’m not going to pass on gossip I’ve just heard. By the grace of God. As a friend of mine once said to me, “If you haven’t run into the devil lately, maybe you’re travelling in the same direction.”

And fourthly, be alert. Imagine you are on safari, your land rover has broken down in the middle of the savannah, and you’re walking through the bush, knowing there is a pride of lions on the loose somewhere in the area what would you feel like? We’ll, that’s what “be alert” means. Have your wits about you.

Satan as a Lion

The devil is a formidable and impressive adversary. The Bible presents him as an intelligent being. He is associated with tactical slyness and subtle deception. Jesus called him the father of lies (John 8.44). Satan employs several strategies. If one of them fails, he goes on to the next. He looks for weaknesses to exploit. In Matthew’s gospel Jesus says he dresses in sheep’s clothing but underneath the fancy dress he’s a hungry wolf looking to visit carnage on unsuspecting prey.

Here, in 1 Peter he is compared to a ferocious, roaring lion, on the prowl, with the stated ambition of picking off a victim to ambush, kill and sink its fangs into. So how do we fight the lions in our lives – like “lion around in bed?”

I once read a book about the lion’s hunting behaviour. They stalk their prey for hours and hours, observing the pack of buffalo or antelopes or zebras, waiting to see if one will get distracted and become slightly separated from the rest. Once a lion selects its victim it approaches silently, patiently, inch by inch, until suddenly it springs, runs, jumps, pulls its victim down and goes for jugular artery, to suffocate it as quickly as it can and stop it thrashing around in self defence. It tears off flesh and feasts on the still-warm meat. Let’s not get romantic about spiritual warfare. That ferocious, bloodthirsty, man-eating hunter is what God says our enemy is like.

Gus Mills from the African Lion Working Group studies the behaviour of these animals for a living. He notes that, like all cats, lions are strong on acceleration, but weak on stamina. They can burst into a sprint with fantastic power but they are not built to keep it up for long.

That’s why the devil will never pursue you on one particular strategy for a prolonged period. He tends to strike occasionally and with the element of surprise, but he will not persist if he sees you’re a match for him in the chase. In the reading from Luke 4, he lasted with Jesus a few minutes and then, when he saw he was no match for Jesus, the Bible says “he left him until an opportune time.”

Because lions have little staying power they have to get as close to their prey as possible before they charge and pounce. Therefore, they have to conceal themselves when they stalk their prey, and approach for a kill. They hide in long grass; they crouch and crawl low against the ground. They hunt mostly under cover of darkness at night – and especially when there is no moon or plenty of cloud cover. They have excellent eyes that see much better in the dark than we do (in fact, their vision is about eight times better than ours). They always stay upwind of the animals they stalk. They are awesome stealth machines.

That’s how Satan works. As he is a spiritual being, a fallen angel, he operates in the spiritual realm and, as such, sees a lot more than we can. There are spiritual realities all around us that we do not perceive except by a gift of discernment – but he does. He likes darkness and obscurity where things are ambiguous and vague; and he likes to conceal himself. 2 Corinthians 11.14 says he even disguises himself as an angel of light.

To catch their prey, lions have to be quick and clever. If their intended victim is some distance away at first the lions move towards them fairly rapidly. But as they get closer they slow down, hold their heads and bodies as low as they can and focus intently. If the prey looks up in their direction, the lions freeze, then inch forward as soon as the prey bends down to continue feeding or looks away. Eventually, if it is patient enough, a lion will manage to get within striking distance, which is 20-30 metres from the prey.

According to Gus Mills, when a lion runs out and begins the chase, statistically the prey actually has a better than even chance of escaping. It’s only if a particular individual fails to detect the lions in time, or if it stumbles or runs into an obstacle that the odds begin to favour the lion. So, given the odds, lions look to select a victim that is either sick or young or who has become isolated from the herd.

That is what the devil does. He is stalking even now. He is looking for sick ones. They are Christians who are undernourished from not getting enough of the milk and meat of God’s word, who are not getting stronger year on year – they’re suffering from truth decay. That’s easy pickings for a hungry lion.

He picks out the young ones. These are new Christians who aren’t yet experienced in fighting sin. I’ve known so many people who have asked Christ into their heart in a moment of excitement but who have slipped away soon afterwards. They come under pressure from their friends and families. They don’t count the cost and they don’t go the distance – their young faith devoured by Satan, the roaring lion. It’s tragic.

And then Satan goes for the ones who become isolated from the herd. These are solitary Christians, loners, who think they’re alright on their own and don’t get to church very often. They opt out or they just drift towards the edge. Satan notices and draws close to pounce.

Ending - Resist and Stand Firm

All right. Lions stalk zebras and antelopes and buffalo - and God says here that that is how Satan behaves towards us. Because he is always on the prowl we have a default stance and we know what that should look like – that is to say we know from these scriptures how we should be, as Christians, all the time.

But when the devil actually attacks God says to do two things; resist him and stand firm in the faith. What do we actually mean by attacks from the devil? Peter talks about fellow believers throughout the world going through the same kind of sufferings. This letter was written from Rome shortly after the outbreak of persecution under the Emperor Nero. Christians were already being singled out for physical maltreatment, they were being picked on in society, they were being falsely accused of cannibalism (because of the Lord’s Supper) they were having their jobs taken away, their children were being harassed at school, they were losing privileges, they were having the windows of their homes broken.

This kind of persecution is very common today right across the Communist world and certainly in the Muslim world. Some forms of discrimination have crept into legislation in the West now too – people are being disciplined for wearing crosses and being ostracised for having objections in conscience to new working practices that are contrary to God’s Law. We should be under no illusion here; the devil is behind this and he is looking for someone to devour.

Satan attacks in other ways too; false teaching in the Church, fallacious gossip and slurs, acts of vandalism, threats of legal proceedings, assaults on health and seasons of acute temptation are just some examples. And we’ve had to deal with most of the items on that list in the last 18 months. Make no mistake, we have been in a tough battle and we’re not finished yet.

This is a time to stand firm and resist the devil. This is what Jesus did when he did battle with Satan in the wilderness where he was tested. He’d just been filled with the Holy Spirit and he’d been fasting so he was spiritually prepared, but he just stood his ground and spoke out the truth of God’s word - and the devil moved on.

Resist him, standing firm in the faith. If we do, we will emerge stronger from every spiritual conflict and we will be victorious for the battle is the Lord’s. As Moses said in Exodus 14, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today… The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 18th October 2009

Your Kingdom Come (Luke 10.8-16 and 11.1-4)

Introduction

One day, a vicar was mowing the lawn in his garden when he saw a kitten climbing an apple tree and getting stuck. The poor little thing was very frightened stuck up high on a branch and it was desperate to get down, so it started to meow.

Rather that bother the Fire Brigade with a call out for such a frivolity, he decided to drive his car up to the tree and attach a rope between the branch and his bumper. By backing the car up very gently away from the tree the aim was to lower the branch sufficiently to be able to reach up and rescue the little kitten. So he fixed the rope, started his engine and began to back away from the tree, lowering the branch, when suddenly the rope snapped. It all happened so quickly. When he looked up the kitten was nowhere to be seen.

A week later he goes to visit a parishioner a few doors down the road. Just imagine his surprise when he sees the same kitten curled up on the sofa. So the vicar says, “I’m just curious, but where did you get the kitten from?” “Oh,” says the parishioner, “you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Last week my little girl was begging me for a kitten. I didn’t really want one but I hated to disappoint her. So I said, let’s pray about it and if God wants you to have one he will answer your prayer. No sooner had we said ‘Amen’ than this little fella flies in through the window! Two miracles vicar! Firstly the answered prayer and secondly a kitten that flies!”

God does answer prayer. Sometimes in remarkable ways…

I’ve got a book of Christian cartoons at home and there’s one with a pastor praying in his office. His secretary comes in, finds him on his knees and says, “Oh good, I thought you were busy working!” In reality, most of us find prayer quite hard. If you do, don’t worry about it, it’s not you. It really is quite difficult. A former bishop of mine, Geoffrey Rowell, once said, “In the contest between prayer and work, work always wins because it’s easier.” That sounds about right to me. Prayer is much harder than work.

You know the Mission that Mother Teresa founded in Calcutta? Well apparently there was a time when the sisters and volunteers were becoming totally overrun by the demands placed on them. There were simply far more helpless mothers, half-dead old men, abandoned orphans, and sick babies than they could keep pace with. They had to turn people back. Open wounds had to be left untended until the next day, leaving them exposed to infection. Desperate children had no option but to go away and sleep in the streets.

So one day one of the novices approached Mother Teresa and said, “What are we going to do? We can no longer cope. We are sending people away. We simply do not have the resources we need. Some of the sisters are discouraged and exhausted.” Do you know how Mother Teresa replied? She said, “Then we shall have to get up in the morning one hour earlier. And we shall spend that extra hour in prayer.”

I’m glad they had Mother Teresa running that place and not me. I would have said, “Then we shall have to get up in the morning one hour earlier to fit more people in.” Because, you see, Geoffrey Rowell is right, in the contest between prayer and work, work always wins, because it’s easier.

So it’s good that when Jesus talks about praying in Matthew 6 he doesn’t say, “Oh just get on with it, it’s not rocket science.” No, he explains how to go about it. “Don’t show off using fancy words,” he says in v5, “it’s not a performance. Be yourself.” “Don’t overcomplicate it,” he says in v6. “You really need to find a private space where you can be alone with God.” “And don’t waffle on and on with long, repetitive lists,” he says in v7, “God knows what you want to say.”

We’re looking at the Lord’s Prayer over this autumn term. The Bible tells us that Jesus gave this prayer in response to the specific question by the disciples. “Lord, teach us to pray.” It’s quite a good question to ask, that. If somebody came up to you and said, “You’re a Christian aren’t you? Oh good. I was wondering, tell me, I have wanted to learn to pray for years; where do think I should start?” What would you say in reply? Would you offer a technique? Would you recommend a book? Would you be lost for words? Do you think you’d mention this prayer?

Jesus gave it to us as a model and it’s perfect. We call it the Lord’s Prayer, but actually it’s ours. “This then is how you should pray”, he said (in Matthew 6.9). And it’s really simple.

“If you want to pray, well here is the sort of thing you can pray about. You can start by praising your heavenly Father; “hallowed be your name.” You can pray that God’s rule of law will be established over the world. “Your will be done on the earth just like it is in heaven.” ‘Your will be done’ doesn’t mean, ‘You know, whatever, Lord.’ Quite the reverse. Margaret Sentamu, wife of the Archbishop of York once said, “As Christians in Uganda, during the Idi Amin regime, we continued to pray the Lord’s Prayer. But… when we prayed ‘thy will be done’ we were praying that God would intervene in this dreadful situation we found ourselves in, which lasted nearly ten years.” “Your will be done” means “let heaven invade earth.”

Then you can ask him about the things you need. There’s no need to grovel or cringe. Just ask - he’s your heavenly Father who loves you. “Give us today our daily bread.” You can pray about relationships, especially for short accounts and for a forgiving heart. “Forgive us our sins, as we also have forgiven those who have sinned against us.” Oh, and pray to resist falling into sin. “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Or, as one child remembered it, “lead us not into Thames station but deliver us some e-mail!”

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name… But what about the third line of the prayer, the line which says, “Your kingdom come?”

The Kingdom

What does Jesus mean when he talks about the kingdom of God? When we talk about kingdoms, we normally think of a geographical entity, a political state with territory, a flag and national anthem, like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or the United Kingdom. (Actually, the United Kingdom is not really united at all. Ask a Scot, for example, how happy he will be cheering for England during next year’s World Cup! So the U.K. is not united and it's not a kingdom either; other than that, it's quite a good name. Our nation is, in fact, a devolved and increasingly fragmented constitutional monarchy. But the United Kingdom sounds a bit more snappy doesn’t it?

If the U.K. were a kingdom, in the strict sense of the word, it would be governed by an all-powerful monarch, and not by four elected parliaments or assemblies. Queen Elizabeth’s power is symbolic; she reigns but she doesn't rule. But in a kingdom, the sovereign has position – and power as well. The king decides. Full stop. And his people submit, never questioning. There are no elections. There is no parliament. There is no democratic debate. There is little in the way of free speech.

How would you like to live in a country like that? Not so sure? But would you change your mind if the king was always wise and fair, who made sure that no one had to beg, that the sick were given good care and that the old were given a decent life, a king who ensured, that in his kingdom, children could play safely in the streets, a king who loved his subjects so much that was willing, if necessary, to lay down his own life for them? Would you like to live in a kingdom like that?

Everything about the kingdom you live in, is dependent on the character of the king who governs it. With a good king, you have a happy kingdom and loyal subjects. When Jesus came, he said that a kingdom like that was within touching distance. You could get into it. It's not far away now. That’s why the Bible says he preached the good news of the kingdom of God. You can see why it's good news, can't you?
This kingdom, rather than being a geopolitical nation state, I define purely and simply as “wherever God’s reign and rule is exercised and embraced.”

The Kingdom that Comes

The kingdom of God happens to be what Jesus chose to speak about more than any other thing. It as his favourite subject. According to the last verse of the Acts of the Apostles, it was the main emphasis of Paul’s teaching too. “Boldly and without hindrance Paul preached the kingdom of God,” it says.

And Jesus said, that when we pray, we should say, “Your kingdom come.” What exactly do you think that means? I looked up all the references in the New Testament when the words “kingdom” and “come” occur in the same sentence (which, with a computer is fairly easy to do) and I discovered that there are three distinct meanings to that phrase.

1) Within

The first meaning is internal and personal and it comes, for example, in Luke 17.20-21. “Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘the coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, “Here it is”, or “There it is”, because the kingdom of God is within you.’”

He said it to the Pharisees, these churchy, religious, pious men who loved dogma and ritual. “God’s rule has got to be within you,” he said. It means, “I want God’s rule of law to be the decisive factor that guides my heart.” Happy are you if Christ’s authority rules your relationships, your finances, your values, your time. It is a wonderful thing to live under God's government. It is the key to a life of blessing.

Jesus never preached the church; he preached the kingdom. You can go to church all your life and still live independently of God’s rule. Is the kingdom of God just a nebulous concept or does God reign in your heart? This is what was going on when we sang earlier, “Reign in me, sovereign Lord, reign in me. Captivate my heart, establish there your throne.” Did you mean it when you sang it?

2) Around

The second meaning of “your kingdom come” is “Let it break in all around.” This is where the powers of heaven suddenly break in confronting the darkness, with blessing and healing and deliverance from evil spirits and release from oppression and rebirth into new life. Jesus said in Matthew 12.28, “If it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

If I’m honest, when I pray “Your kingdom come” that is the guiding, overarching image in my mind. And this is what our second reading in Luke 10 was about, wasn’t it? “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’”
This is why we say, “Your kingdom come” when we pray for healing on the streets. Since July the team has prayed for nearly 350 people and we have seen numerous people healed, several lives transformed and a small number of people becoming followers of Jesus. The kingdom is coming in Stockton. May it come more!

Say, “Your kingdom come” when you pray for your friends and family who haven’t yet tasted and seen how good the Lord is. They say that the American preacher D.L. Moody made a list of 100 people, and prayed for them each day, that they would be converted. By the day he died, ninety-six had become Christians. The other four were converted at his funeral. “Your kingdom come.”

3) Everywhere

So the kingdom comes within and around. Every time we say, “Lord, your kingdom come” we mean, “have more of my heart, let your ways be my ways, bring me to a deeper repentance, have your way in my life.” We also mean, “God, do great and mighty works of power in our town and nation; heal the sick, deliver the oppressed, bring a revival of signs and wonders that the world may believe.”

The final sense of “Your kingdom come” is what Jesus meant when he said this at the last supper; “I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” In this sense it’s the future event when God’s supreme reign and rule will finally be established everywhere. One day a voice will proclaim, “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.” Until then, we pray for the hastening of that day.

In his book The Pleasures of God, John Piper makes a list of all the blessings of that day. “In the kingdom” he says, “we will inherit the earth and the world, but this is secondary. In the kingdom we will judge angels, but this too is secondary.

“In the kingdom we will reign on earth with Christ and possess power over the nations; we will eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God; the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the lion will eat straw like an ox; the little child shall play over the hole of the cobra and put his hand in the adder's den; we will beat our swords into ploughshares and our spears into pruning hooks, nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore; justice shall roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream; our bodies will be made new, and God will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death shall be no more, neither will there be crying or pain or guilt or fear anymore; and we will sit on the very throne of the King of kings - but all these are secondary privileges of the kingdom.

“The main reward of the kingdom, the reward above all others and in all others, is that in the kingdom we will behold the glory of God and enjoy that glory with the very pleasure of God. …The great hope of all the holiest people is not only that they might see the glory of God, but that they might somehow be given a new strength to savour it with infinite satisfaction - not the partial delights of this world, but if possible, with the very infinite delight of God himself.

“Surely this is the river of delights. This is the water of life that wells up to eternal life and satisfies forever.”

O God, let your kingdom come…

Ending

I’d better close - or we shall be here till kingdom come. I think I want to end by leading you all in a prayer that covers each of the three senses of this cry from the heart, “your kingdom come.”


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 4th October 2009

Our Father in Heaven (Psalm 103.13-22 and Matthew 7.7-11)

Introduction

When I sat down last June and started to ask the Lord about what might be on his heart for this autumn term I felt acutely that we should focus on prayer. And as I have pondered that over the summer I have became more and more persuaded of it. Completely independently, Alan Farish at Stockton was struck by the same conviction over the summer. We both read books about prayer on holiday and we both committed ourselves to pray better. God is calling us, I think, to a deeper commitment to, and a more real experience of, prayer.

All of which is a little daunting because, if we’re honest, few of us find praying easy. In fact, 90% of Christians interviewed say they find prayer difficult (and the other 10% have been known to lie). I don’t find praying easy either. I cannot usually sit down and pray much longer than 10-15 minutes before my mind wanders off down a side track. Actually, I find I can pray most productively when I’m out jogging, so if you’ve ever seen me early in the morning running round Preston Park in a world of my own that’s probably why I didn’t notice you. You thought I was just being rude. In fact, I was communing with the Lord of Hosts!

But I want to say this. Prayer is the key that unlocks so many doors. Just as you’re never going to get a harvest without first ploughing the earth, sowing seeds and watering the ground, you’ll never see God move significantly in your life without an investment of prayer. You just won’t. In James 4.2 God calls a spade a spade when he says, “You do not have because you do not ask.” That’s it, that’s why. Prayer is the connection between what we want God to do and what God actually does. So however hard we find prayer, and practically all of us do, we’ve got to find a way through the fog and make progress.

Praying Christians are positive Christians. Why is that? Because spending time in the presence of God lifts the soul. Praying that the kingdom will come lifts the eyes of faith to see bright new possibilities. That’s why praying Christians are positive Christians. Do you see that? If I am only ever thinking about the sad realities around me, my mind will be full of sad reality and my mood will reflect that and so will my face. If my mind spends time contemplating the potential and promise of God changing my sad realities, my mood will lift and my face will show it. That’s also why my most negative and pessimistic moods in my 30 years of being a Christian have coincided with the lowest ebbs in my experience of prayer.

And just as praying Christians tend to be positive Christians, praying churches tend to be prevailing churches. We have a notice attached to the doorpost of this church that says, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” I have to be honest with you, since coming here just over a year ago, I have only experienced that God-breathed atmosphere of passionate, believing prayer occasionally. I don’t think we’re there yet. I don’t yet see a faith-propelled rising tide of passion for the coming kingdom in prayer. May God give us this grace in fuller measure.

Because when a church gets it together, and seeks God’s face, and prays heaven down, things happen; people come to Christ one after another, people get filled with the Holy Spirit, remarkable miracles and ‘God incidences’ occur more frequently, ministries get raised up and the church moves forward. I’ve seen this kind of virtuous circle time and again in my ministry – the key is consistent, fervent, believing, prayer. “My house shall be called a house of prayer” says God.

The Lord’s Prayer

So why a series on the Lord's Prayer? Don’t we need to be getting away from saying formal, repetitive, recited prayers? “Our Father which art in heaven… hallowed by thy name… forgive us our trespasses.” It’s a bit of a pity that the Lord’s Prayer has been allowed to become a liturgical drone. The habitual, conventional recital of it has dulled some people’s awareness of the power of this prayer.

The Lord’s prayer is a great yearning, a magnificent calling out to our loving, heavenly Father, whose name is holy, for the coming his majestic reign and rule on earth. “Your kingdom come” means, “Oh God, let the mighty powers of the age to come break into our routine lives and establish your good plan on all over the earth, from pole to pole and from east to west.” I believe that this is a time when we need urgently as a church to strategically pray for the coming of the kingdom here.

But, because the Lord’s Prayer has so much in it, we’re going to take it line by line so we can really savour its truths and engage with its challenges. So this morning we’re just taking the first line, “Our Father in Heaven.” Next week, Terry will speak on “Hallowed be your name” and so on until we get to the end of it sometime in November. That’s the plan.

The Strengths of Fatherhood

My mission impossible this morning is to try to tune our ears to the wonderful sound of the beating of the father heart of God. Jesus said when you pray, say “Our Father in heaven.” Sometimes people say Jesus was doing something radical and new when he called God Father. But he wasn’t, really. In our Old Testament psalm, and many other times in the Old Testament God reveals himself as Father. He was Father even before he was Creator. God has always been a Father because he’s always had a Son he loves. The father heart of God is absolutely central to his character and nature.

They say a father is a man who has replaced the money in his wallet with snapshots of his family. I can confirm that this observation has more than a grain of truth in it. The 5th April 1985 was Good Friday that year – and it was also one of the most significant days in my life, and always will remain so. Just after 10 o' clock that night, our first child Anna was born. A few hours later, I took a taxi home across north London, just overcome. And, in all the emotion, which was just welling up inside me, I sat staring at the streets thinking to myself that my life will never be the same again. My life had been tipped upside down forever by a little person wrapped up in a pale blue sheet weighing 7lb, 4oz.

This new person was no longer an ungainly lump on my wife’s abdomen, but my treasure, my delight, my joy. From nowhere, an army of macho hormones burst into my bloodstream. If anybody laid so much as a finger on my daughter I'd rip them apart with my bare hands! I know that I would unquestioningly stand between her and a mad man with a knife. And, yes, her photo found its way into my wallet replacing good money, which disappeared on cots and nappies and prams and mittens and fluffy rabbits.

Sadly, not all of us have a great mental image of God because our experience of fatherhood is bad. But when you see a good father, you are looking at a portrait of God because God has designed human fatherhood to be a pale picture of himself. Good fathers are strong, they protect and they provide. I have made mistakes as a father with all four of my kids as all dads have. To be honest, it’s a miracle that mine haven’t all grown up with a complex, but in Psalm 103 God gives us some snapshots of what his father heart is like.

Let’s have a quick look at it. Verse 13; “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.” Compassion is an overused word. These days, even politicians say they are compassionate. Here, it doesn’t mean that God probably ought to be doing a bit more about the poor. It means that he really loves you as his child, that he cares strongly about you and involves himself with what’s going on in your life. “Compassion” in Psalm 103.13 is a heart word that carries emotion; it literally means God really feels for you.

Verse 14: “He knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.” God the Father understands our funny ways, he knows all about our flaws as well as the public face we project. I remember when I first started going out with Kathie. I was petrified because I thought to myself, “Sooner or later I’m not going to be able to pretend anymore - she’s going to see the real me. I bet she’ll dump me when she sees I’m not all I crack myself up to be. But my heavenly Father already knows the absolute scum worst about me, he has seen the dregs of John Lambert, and still loves me to death. What a blessing to be the object of the Father’s acceptance.

Verse 17: “From everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him.” Isn’t this saying the same thing as v13? Yes, it is repeating it to emphasize its significance but it’s saying a bit more besides. God’s heart of love and compassion for you is from everlasting to everlasting. That means long before you were born or conceived, and long after you’ve died, God’s affection for you and his commitment towards you is steadfast, immoveable, unwavering and enduring.

This is the Father we come to in prayer. When we begin the Lord’s Prayer saying together “Our Father,” we’re saying you are such a loving God, you are a compassionate God; I am treasured by you. You are such an accepting God, such a dependable God; I am secure in you. You are strong, you protect and you provide.

And God is not just our Father, he is our Father in heaven. That is to say he is enthroned, surrounded by throngs of adoring worshippers and mighty angels. He is crowned with glory and honour, he reigns on high with all wisdom and authority.

He is unique. He stands alone. “In heaven” means that God the Father is above all. His supremacy has no equal, his love has no limit, his authority has no rival, his mercy has no bounds, his wisdom has no peer, his power knows no match and his kingdom will have no end.

Fearing God

And notice who he is compassionate towards. “The Lord’s love is with those who fear him.”

I once led an Alpha discussion group and it was this expression “fearing God” that one person found incredibly difficult - well, impossible - to accept. She had been married to a man she became scared of, because he was a violent alcoholic. He was a controlling, unpredictable, aggressive man and she was petrified that he would assault her. There’s unhealthy fear and there’s healthy fear. Unhealthy fear of a father is being terrified that he’s going to come home drunk and start shouting, swearing and hitting out. Of course the Bible never means that.

What does it mean for each of us to fear God? John Piper says, “I think fearing God means that God is so powerful and so holy and so awesome to us that we would not dare to run away from him, but only run to him for all that he promises to be for us.”

I think I grew up with a healthy fear of my father. I never felt unsafe with him but I did think twice of doing something he had specifically told me not to do. Healthy fear of a father is a deep respect for his authority and a glad inclination to accept his leadership. It’s good to have a healthy fear. And that’s what the Bible means by it.

So when we say “Our Father in heaven,” we come gladly and we come reverently. We come without the vain presumption that God owes us anything.

Coming to God the Father in Prayer

Which brings us to our Gospel reading. Jesus said, “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; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 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 good gifts to those who ask him!

These words from Jesus are specifically about approaching our Father in heaven in prayer - and the obstacles that prevent us from receiving what he actually wants to give us. It’s one of the most encouraging passages about prayer in the whole of the Bible.

Supposing you say, “I’d love to be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Or “I want to have a greater experience of the love of God.” Or “I need to know I’m truly forgiven.” Or whatever… How do I get through, how do I receive from God in prayer?” What is getting in the way of that prayer being answered?

The first issue is that we wonder if God is going to answer at all. We doubt. And Jesus knows that. He knows that so many people are going to say, “I’m just not sure that my prayer will work. I’m not all that good at praying really. I don’t honestly know what to say.” Well, “Ask and you will receive.” “I’m not sure Lord.” “Look, just seek and you will find.” “Well, I don’t know.” “Go on, all you have to do is knock and the door will be opened.” “But what if prayer is only for people with super faith, and not for the likes of me?” “Everyone,” Jesus says, “who asks, receives; those who seek find; and to all those who knock, the door will be opened.” He ends up saying it six times.

If we come to prayer riddled with doubts, we also struggle with fear. “Lord, what if something bad happens? What if he says I have to give all my money away? What if he calls me to be a nun? So Jesus says, “Look: Supposing one of you is a father and it’s tea time and you say to your kids, “what would you like for tea?” And they all say, “Dad, can we have fish fingers? So you say, “Okay I’ll go and get some” - Jesus doesn’t actually mention the exact form of the fish by the way!

So you go down to your local exotic pet shop and say, “Do you sell snakes?” And they say, “Yes, £150 a pair.” And so you buy them and take them back and say, “Look what Cap’n Birds Eye brought you today you ‘orrible kids.” And you throw a couple of rattlesnakes on the table to terrify them.

Supposing the next day you say to them, “Now then, what would you like for lunch?” And with quite a lot more hesitation than yesterday they say, “Well, maybe just a sandwich this time dad.” So you say, “Well, how would a cheese roll sound to you?” “Great,” they say. So you take a couple of large stones and paint them to look just like wholemeal bread rolls. Then, when your kids break their teeth on the stones, you fall down laughing.

Jesus says, “Now come on, when your children ask for sandwich, who honestly is going to give them a brick? Or if they ask for fish and chips, what kind of weirdo would give them a snake?

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 good gifts to those who ask him!

Ending

I think I’ve said enough, so I’ll draw to a close now. “Our Father in heaven” is the perfect way to address the God who loves us, who feels for us, who knows us inside out – and who is all powerful, altogether wise, who reigns on high and who can do all things.

I believe that God is wanting, at this time, to teach us at All Saints’ how to pray because praying Christians are positive Christians and praying churches are prevailing churches.

Do you feel God is calling you to pray more like Jesus did? I want to give you an opportunity this morning to say “yes” and to respond…


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

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