Water from the Rock (Numbers 20.1-13)

Introduction

We live in a changing world. You would agree with that statement I’m sure. The evangelist J. John sums it up very memorably: “If you were born before the war a ‘big mac’ was an oversized raincoat, ‘crumpet’ was what you had for tea, a ‘stud’ was something you fastened to your wrist, ‘going all the way’ meant staying on the bus until it reached the depot, smoking a ‘joint’ only meant burning the Sunday roast and ‘grass’ was something you cut with a lawnmower. Change is inevitable,” he concluded, “except from a vending machine.”

Change is not only inevitable – it is also healthy. Someone once said that politicians and nappies have one thing in common. They should both be changed regularly - and for the same reason.

We’re going to be looking together this morning at the changes that come about after 37 years, not 67, which is the time that has now elapsed since the end of World War II.

But first, I just want to set the teaching we’ve been doing in Numbers in the context of the whole book.

If you’ve read through Numbers as we’ve gone through our series you’ll have noticed that we have only focused on selected passages. Why is that?

Well, you can divide the book of Numbers into three main sections or headings if you like; census records, legislation and historical narrative.

We’ve only really looked the third of those three, the stories, so I want to say a little about the other two as we approach the end of our series.

The Censuses

The reason why the book of Numbers is called the book of Numbers is because it contains several censuses, in particular one at the beginning and one at the end. In each case, it is not an exhaustive population count; it is a military census, listing only men in their prime, able to fight.

You may have come across these long lists and wondered why on earth the Bible contains such, let’s be honest, monotonous data. Well, it’s the word of God too and there’s a reason for it.

It tells you that the stories in Numbers are authentic and describe what really happened to actual people. Surely no one inventing a story about a national exodus from Egypt would bother to make up pages and pages of names for all those people.

Interestingly, the sum total of men counted at the end is about 1,800 men fewer than at the beginning – that tells you something. It tells you that God wasn’t blessing them during those 40 years in the desert and we’ve been discovering why. Basically, in a word, it’s a matter of obedience.

By the same token, you can look around the world today and see where God is blessing his people - and where he isn’t. There is tremendous church growth in Africa, in parts of Asia (especially China, South Korea and more recently in Cambodia), and in South America (notably in Brazil and Argentina).

But, generally, we have to say that God is not blessing his people in Europe or North America where church growth has either plateaued or is now in decline.

Revivals and regressions are cycles that always accompany God’s people. They did in Old Testament times as well – with golden eras under good kings like David and dark ages under wicked kings like Manasseh.

In 18th Century Britain there was great decadence and godlessness. Churches were empty and nominalism was common. Then the Wesley revival transformed the spiritual landscape once again. Obedience is a key issue and one we’re going to look at in depth this morning.

Interestingly, a new book by David Goodhew at Cranmer Hall has noted that the church in the UK is in decline everywhere – except London, where the trends have been reversed and God is starting a new thing.

G. K. Chesterton once said “Five times the church went to the dogs and each time it was the dog who died.”

Let’s pray that God exports that blessing and growth in London wider afield in our nation. So that’s the statistics.

Legislation

The second main heading in Numbers is legislation; God’s laws, which you find interspersed between sections of narrative, or story.

They are commandments, not comments, from God. J. John (again) always says that “The Ten Commandments, God’s top ten, are not obsolete, there are absolute.” But there are not just 10 Commandments, there are 613, and many of them are found in the book of Numbers.

The question we have to ask is “Are these laws relevant to us? “Are all these laws relevant to our lives, under the New Covenant of grace?”

The answer to that question is yes… and no.

The laws tell you what God likes. And God does not change. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Many of the laws concern sacrifices. Because Jesus shed his blood on the cross he fulfilled all sacrifices forever. You don’t need to bring a lamb or a goat so it can be slain on an altar on a Sunday morning. Jesus’ offering of himself is perfect, sufficient and final.

But you do need to bring a sacrifice. “Through Jesus,” says Hebrews 13, “let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.”

You do need to come to this place with reverent fear. It’s in the New Testament, not the Old, that it says “let us… worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”

Many of the laws are about being careful to come into God’s presence, not casually, but cleansed and ready. They had to wear clean linen, they had to wash thoroughly and so on. Now, the precise stipulations are not important – but God does expect you to come to church prepared.

1 Corinthians 14 says “When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.”

Many of the laws were given so that God’s people would be distinctive from the pagan nations around them. Take, for example the commandment that says “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” That one law has given rise to centuries of meticulous kitchen arrangements in Jewish households.

There is a passionate debate about how long you must wait between consuming meat and dairy courses and what to do about meat stuck between the teeth that might not degrade for several hours and that could conceivably come into contact with dairy products later.

You have to admire their enthusiasm for the observance of God’s word in such minute detail, but it misses the point entirely.

That law was given to set God’s people apart from a known pagan superstition, in which young goats were cooked in their mothers’ milk because it was believed to increase the fertility of the herd.

God was saying “I don’t want superstition, I don’t want fertility rites, I don’t want you to be like them – you are to be different, you are to be holy.

Now, again, under the New Covenant we don’t need to fuss about with elaborate kitchen arrangements – but we do need to stand apart from superstition and not mix our faith in Christ with other religions.

So much then for the censuses and the legislation; we’ve concentrated mostly on the narrative so let’s get back to that now.

37 Years On – Still Grumbling

I’d like you to think back in time a little bit. The story in Numbers 20 finds God’s people 37 years on from where we found them last Sunday morning. 37 years.

I want you to think back 37 years ago. Some of you may not have been born. Just to remind you of what life was like then, Margaret Thatcher became Conservative Party leader that year. The Birmingham Six were wrongfully sentenced to life imprisonment for an IRA bombing.

Manchester United were playing in the second tier of English football after relegation from the top flight. Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody was at the top of the charts. And I was a teenager – just – in secondary school. It’s a long time ago isn’t it?

Well, that’s the length of time that has elapsed between the sending out of the 12 spies in chapter 14 and what we read this morning; the water from the rock. The Bible is virtually silent about those 37 years of aimless wandering.

But we know this: the generation that had lived as forced labour in Egypt had almost completely died off, Miriam was one of the very last, and the new generation, virtually all under 40 years old, would soon be ready to finally enter the land of promise.

Once again they camped at Kadesh, where they were last week, the site of the reconnaissance mission that had ended in such disaster.

Moses, I’m sure, was hoping that the people were at last ready for a fresh start as they prepared to enter the land.

In fact, I’m sorry to say that this new generation were little better than their parents and grandparents had been.

Verse 2-5: “Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. They quarrelled with Moses and said, ‘If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!’”

What’s wrong with this picture? Five things.

Party spirit. “They gathered in opposition to Moses.”

Negativity. “If only we had died.”

Faithlessness. “Why did you bring us into this wilderness?” (As if it was all Moses’ idea and God had nothing to do with it).

Finger pointing. “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place?”

And, once again, grumbling. “No grain, no figs, no grapes, no pomegranates, no water.”

I said it last week; every time we grumble we are basically saying that we think God is doing a rubbish job of running the universe.

A dentist’s patient had to have a tooth extracted. After it was over, he went to reception and got the bill; £166 + VAT. So he started grumbling and complaining about the charge. “£200 for pulling out a tooth! It’s only about a minute’s work.”
“Well,” said the receptionist, “if you prefer, I’ll ask Doctor White to pull it out slowly next time!”

I bet that’s what Moses felt like – pulling teeth slowly. 40 years of daily provision, now within touching distance of the Promised Land, and they’re still moaning.

After all that time wandering about in the wilderness, maybe the Israelites forgot that their wanderings were a direct consequence of their parents’ own sin.

They couldn’t accept the fact that they, as a community, brought their own problems upon themselves, so they blamed Moses.

It’s human nature to blame the leader when things go wrong – even when we know deep down that our difficulties are our own fault.

Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Sometimes the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper. But often our troubles and tribulations come from our own disobedience and lack of faith.

We can ask God why he allows what he allows (there’s plenty of that in the Psalms). But we cannot blame God or anyone else for our sins. And until we accept our own responsibilities we will have little peace and no spiritual growth.

The American author and Christian leader John Ortberg was once part of a survey on spiritual formation. Thousands of people were asked when they had grown most spiritually, and what contributed to their growth.

The response was humbling. The survey found that the main contributor to spiritual growth was not transformational teaching. It was not being part of a small group. It was not reading deep theological books. It was not energetic worship experiences, nor finding meaningful ways to serve.

The surprising conclusion was that suffering was the key to spiritual growth. Respondents noticed that they grew more during times of loss, pain and crisis than at any other time. And I would certainly have to agree with that from personal experience.

All right, the Israelites were wrong about all their complaining and unbelief.

But perhaps one of the reasons why God allow us to go through so much is that he wants to see depth and strength and maturity and spiritual growth in us.

Maybe at All Saints’ we need to work out how to create more pain per member for maximum spiritual growth! Or perhaps not…

40 Years On – No Water Again

We’re 37 years on from the spies’ mission, but we’re 40 years on from the first time God gave water from a rock. In Exodus 17 there’s a similar event.

In both accounts, the people grumble and dispute with Moses and in both accounts the place is renamed Meribah to commemorate that quarrel. So people have naturally concluded that the same story has been told twice.

But there are differences which show that they are in fact separate incidents. The first time the place in which the miracle occurred was called Rephidim; this time it was about 150 miles north-east of there, in a place called Kadesh.

The first time God said to Moses to strike the rock with is staff; this time (v8) he told Moses to speak to it.

“Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water.”

Verse 11 says “Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.”

But in v12 there’s a late and perhaps surprising twist. “The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not trust in me enough to honour me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.’”

Isn’t that a bit harsh? Isn’t that a bit like getting a red card and penalty for an accidental handball?!

All the way through Numbers it’s the people who have been like a nappy that needs changing while Moses has been an exemplary leader. Now he’s like a politician who is soon to be voted out of office.

There are four things wrong with it – and these four things are a danger for any leader.

First of all, it shows Moses’ lack of faith. That is the specific charge that God makes against it. “Because you did not trust in me enough…” Leaders in the church need to be men and women of faith who trust in the sufficiency of God’s word.

Lack of faith leads to disobedience. God tells Moses to do something that doesn’t sound reasonable to him; speak to the rock to get water out of it.

So he decides “no, that won’t work” so he does something instead that he thinks is much wiser, such as hitting the rock with his staff. Leaders in the church need to be men and women of obedience take God at his word and act consistently with it.

At the root of Moses’ action is laziness. He just mechanically expected God to act in the same way as he had before in Exodus 17. He’s become stale and is going through the motions.

He never noticed that God wanted to reveal his power in a new way. Leaders in the church need to be men and women of freshness who refuse to just trot out the same old methods that worked before.

Finally, Moses had developed an arrogant and self-important attitude. In v10 instead of saying “God will bring water out of this rock for you.” he says “Listen, you rebels, must we (Aaron and I) bring you water out of this rock?”

Moses had forgotten God and was taking control. He assumed the place of God and it was all about him. Leaders in the church need to be men and women of humility who inspire and give God the glory for success but don’t control.

Ending

That’s a tall order! But God sets high standards.

He wants a carefully prepared sacrifice of praise from his people, not a thoughtless going through the motions that costs us nothing.

He wants leadership with integrity and faith, not unbelief and self-importance.

So, as we begin this new academic year, those of us who are leaders (small group leaders, preachers, lunch club, children’s and youth leaders, PCC members…) let’s commit to being leaders of faith and integrity. Would you stand please if you are a leader.

And let’s commit to giving God the absolute best in worship. If you feel God has challenged you about that today I’m going to ask you to stand as well.


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 9th September 2012

The Wholehearted and the Fainthearted (Numbers 14.1-25)

Introduction

Three boy scouts are telling their Scoutmaster about their good deed for the day. “We helped an old lady across the street on our way here.”
The scoutmaster looks at them a bit suspiciously.
“And did it actually take all three of you to do that?”
“Yes, it did” they all reply. Then the smallest one adds, “To be honest, it wasn’t easy - she didn’t really want to go!”

The Israelites in Numbers 14, like that poor old lady, didn’t really want to go either.

Just to rewind the tape a bit, in case you’ve been away over the summer, we’ve been going through the Book of Numbers, which describes the journey of the Israelites from slavery and oppression in Egypt to freedom and blessing in he Promised Land. It should have taken them about three weeks. It took them 40 years - so if you think Virgin trains are unreliable…

Sometimes people think this is ancient history and it doesn’t really have much to say to us today.

But this particular episode of history is referred to in the New Testament, in 1 Corinthians 10, where it says “God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things occurred as examples [and warnings] to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.”

That’s why it’s so important to read and study history; if you don’t learn from it, you're condemned to repeat it.

Up until this point, basically God has been doing a lot of liberating and no small amount of providing – and the Israelites have been doing much moaning and copious complaining.

As they say in Yorkshire, “It was neither nowt nor sommat” - they were no longer in Egypt but they weren’t yet in the Promised Land.

A bit like an engagement really, you no longer quite have the independence of singleness but you don’t yet have the advantages of marriage either. Engagement is a testing time and, as I said to you last week, this time in the wilderness was a test – which most of them failed quite spectacularly.

So all the way up to chapter 14 they’ve been grumbling. They grumbled about their food, they grumbled about the lack of water, they grumbled about Moses’ leadership, they grumbled about their conditions. It says “they grumbled in their tents.” Now, if I’d been camping for as long as they had been I think I’d have been moaning and murmuring as well. I hate camping. I find it unfathomable that anyone actually spends money on camping holidays. You’d honestly have to pay me handsomely to even contemplate it.

But, even considering the Israelites haven’t been able to wash properly for two months and are having to eat off paper plates with disposable knives and forks, on a scale of 1-10, their whinging is off the scale.

Golda Meir, who, in 1969 became the fourth leader of the reborn state of Israel, once muttered that “Moses sent the children of Israel to the only piece of real estate in the Middle East that had no oil!” So even in the 20th Century there was still an echo of this complaining. Or perhaps she was smiling at the irony of it.

The truth is this: Our grumbling and moaning about our lot is really a comment on what we actually think of God. Listen, if you mutter about the weather, as I confess I did this week, you’re actually finding fault with the way God is running the universe.

And poor old Moses, all this time up to chapter 14, has been like an exasperated parent at the wheel with several hundred thousand noisy kids in the back squabbling among themselves and asking “Are we there yet?”

Last week, in chapter 13, twelve spies went on a reconnaissance mission into the Promised Land. All 12 reported back that it was a land flowing with milk and honey, just as God had promised.

But despite the fact that God also promised that they would definitely enter and take possession of it, 10 of the 12 felt that God must have got his facts wrong, that the land was unconquerable, and that entering it was, in fact, in their opinion not possible.

At the end of chapter 13 the fainthearted ten decide to share their market research with the whole community. Now, in chapter 14 (v1-4) the people give their considered response.

Rebellion against God (v1-4)

How do they take the news? Let’s say their response is… not as enthusiastic as it could have been. They raise their voices and weep aloud. They protest against their leaders. They express regret that God had ever miraculously saved them from Pharaoh’s onrushing army, when he opened up the Red Sea.

“If only we had died in Egypt!” they say. Then they say that if they try to get into the Promised Land, you know, that place that God has sworn to give them, if they try to get there they will be like lambs to the slaughter - so it would be better if they just die of thirst in the desert. And then they say they want to choose another leader and go back to Egypt and be enslaved by Pharaoh again.

I think it’s fair to say that the report was not quite everything they had hoped for!

Talk about pessimism. If there was an Olympic sport of pessimism they would imagine they would just miss out on the podium. I think they’d win the gold medal.

But I want to say that this is more than just pessimism about the future. It’s rebellion against God. The whole nation is turning its back on God and rejecting his ways.

Does that sound familiar? You can trace legislation and court rulings in the UK in my lifetime and see a similar pattern; the legalisation of abortion on demand, the promotion of Sunday trading, the repeal of the blasphemy law, the extension of licencing hours, the outlawing of wearing a cross at work, the prohibition of public prayers and soon no doubt, the introduction of so-called same-sex marriage.

However well-intentioned all this might be, it reflects a mood in our nation that wants to cut ties with our Christian heritage. “We want to go back to Egypt!” No matter that our rejection of God has coincided with a catastrophic disintegration of family life and prisons that are fuller than ever.

Now look what’s going on here in Numbers as the nation rebels against God –they listen to the ten fainthearted spies and they ignore the 2 wholehearted ones. The basic issue, the root cause if you like, is that they are giving more credit to the opinions of men than they are to the word of God.

The pressure on us to do the same is relentless. I’ve given you some examples from the statute book.

Here’s another example. We are subjected 24/7 by our media to a purely naturalistic explanation for the origins of the universe. We are told that the Big Bang must have just happened all by itself.

In an Oxford debate between two of their distinguished Professors, atheist biologist Richard Dawkins and Christian mathematician John Lennox, Dawkins admitted that he does not know what caused the origin of the universe, but that he believed that there will one day be a naturalistic explanation and that he did not need to resort to magic to explain it.

However, in the press conference after the debate Professor Dawkins responded to a question from journalist Melanie Phillips by saying that he believed that the universe could have just appeared from nothing. ‘Magic!’ she said.

So first there was nothing and then nothing caused everything that exists to come into being. That is what we are being told happened. Or alternatively, first there was nothing, and then someone caused everything to exist, as the Bible claims.

The question is, are we going to give more credit to the ideas of man than to the word of God?

Hebrews 11.3 says “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”

Every day we face the same choice – we either put our faith in human wisdom or we hold that God’s word is dependable and worthy of informing and guiding our thinking at every level.

Back in Numbers 14, the whole community is in open revolt against Moses and against God. In fact, they are on the point of abandoning the Lord altogether, rejecting his salvation, refusing his guidance, snubbing his promises and running back to Egypt.

We call that apostasy from the Greek “apo” meaning apart or away and “stasis” meaning to stand. You make the choice to stand apart from all that you held true, you step away from salvation. It was called shipwrecking your faith in New Testament times.

Obviously, a vessel only becomes shipwrecked when it sails too close to rocks or icebergs. Ships don’t sink in clear, deep water. When we delight in the wisdom of men whilst becoming lukewarm towards the word of God we’re navigating in shallow waters.

Standing Up in Faith (v5-9)

I said just now “the whole community was in open revolt against Moses” – in fact two men, Joshua and Caleb, who were among the 12 spies, stood out and said “No, this isn’t right.” Two positive voices against a national chorus of boos.

No wonder Winston Churchill once said, “The best argument against democracy is a five minute talk with the average voter.”

By majority vote, Caleb and Joshua were dismissed as if they were representing the Monster Raving Looney Party. But only they held on to God’s perspective and refused to be swayed by fine-sounding arguments.

“The land we passed through and explored” they say in v7-9 “is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”

Battling Unbelief (v10-19)

But I’m afraid the people didn’t listen to them or reconsider. In fact, in v10 we are told that the whole assembly seriously contemplated stoning them to death.

Can you credit it? After experiencing the extraordinary plagues on Egypt, the miraculous deliverance through the Red Sea, fearsome signs and wonders at Sinai, a column of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, daily manna from heaven and quail till it came out of their ears – why, after seeing so much of God’s amazing power, did the Israelites stop trusting God now?

God asked the same question in v11-12.

“How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them?”

Actually, don’t we sometimes do the same thing? We trust God to take care of the smaller issues but we doubt his ability or willingness to handle the big problems, the tough decisions, the frightening situations.

Don’t stop trusting God just as you are ready to reach your goal. Has he, or has he not, brought you this far? Are you, or are you not, still in one piece? Has he, or has he not, blessed you in your life?

Bottom line; you can trust God for the future because he has already shown you how good he is when you trusted him in the past.

Well, Moses goes off and pours all this out to God. Hearing the Lord say “I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them…” just pushes Moses to cry out for God’s mercy in one of his great intercessory prayers (v13-19).

“If you destroy this people the Egyptians will hear about it. Think of your reputation, think of your honour, your renown, the stain on your good name Lord! People are going to go around saying ‘The Lord was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath.’ So please forgive them.”

The Glory of the Lord (v10)

And the Bible says this; “The glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites.”

I was reading a book by Canon Andrew White this summer. Andrew is the vicar of Baghdad, a ministry he exercises with a price on his head - you may have seen him on TV. And he witnesses appalling suffering. He once baptized, in secret, a Muslim family who had come to faith in Christ. He said to them “You know the risks don’t you?” They said “Yes. But we cannot deny Jesus.” Within a week news of their conversion had leaked and all were shot and killed.

In one particularly bad year, most of Andrew White’s staff team were assassinated. But the people of Saint George’s Bagdad often see the cloud of the Lord’s glory. Here are a couple of pictures taken when it appeared; the first is at a large funeral when many Christians were killed in a suicide bomb in a nearby Catholic church.

Moses saw this often, Solomon saw it when he dedicated the temple, Ezekiel saw it, Isaiah saw it.

But even with the manifestation of the Lord’s glory among them, I’m afraid their hearts were hard.

In John’s gospel, in the chapter when Jesus walks on water and feeds the 5,000 he says to the people “You have seen me and still you do not believe.”

I’ve seen God do extraordinary things in my time as a believer – amazing guidance, astonishing answers to prayer, incredible healings, one case of protection of a small child that Kathie and I can only attribute to angels and several startlingly accurate prophecies that revealed detailed information that can only have been divinely inspired… many of you have similar testimonies – and yet we find ourselves doubting God’s power when it comes to the crunch.

The Outcome (v20-25)

Anyway, because of Moses’ prayer, the Lord doesn’t wipe them out there and then. For the sake of his honour he waits till all the contemporaries of that generation die off, 40 years, before he leads them into the Promised Land. Only Joshua and Caleb and the younger generation made it. Unbelief gets you nowhere – literally in this case.

Here’s what God said about Caleb; “Because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.”

The old limerick sums it up well:

Now Joshua, son of Nun
And Caleb, son of Jephunneh
Were the only two
Who ever got through
To the land of milk and honey.

Conclusion

As I sum up, let me try and bring this down to earth.

Here at All Saints’ we are facing a challenge of faith. We have a roof to repair. Just this Thursday we were reminded of the urgency of the situation. When heavy rain fell, there were drips falling on the piano. Which is the right project to opt for? If we go for project one, a like-for-like replacement, I hope it’s because we genuinely feel, under God, that it’s the right thing to do and not because we are fainthearted when we look at the cost. If project two is the right thing to do, as God provided manna and quail from heaven and water from the rock, he will provide for the insulation.

Again, Andrew White in Baghdad; when he first went there about a decade ago, it cost $2,000 a month to run that church. Now they have a medical clinic, they give out tons of food, they provide for widows and orphans and they have to pay for security - and it costs $165,000 a month, 80 times more than ten years ago. They live by faith and every month, God provides – just enough. Canon White says in his book, “God is never late - but he rarely takes the opportunity to be early!” The difference between project 1 and project 2 is half a month’s running costs at Saint George’s Baghdad – no big deal for God.

We want to employ someone, from January, to take hold of the Sunday children’s ministry, to develop a midweek club, to expand our school assembly team, to explore Messy Church (which is specifically aimed at unchurched families) with Jan, who has a real vision for it. We feel this is right under God. That’s a step of faith as well. Are we wholehearted or fainthearted?

This week I received a newsletter from my previous church in Paris. I quote from it word for word: “Last time I wrote to you I shared news about our Thanksgiving Day. I told you that we had received around 80,000€ of the total for which we were praying for 95,000€. But God honours his promises and hears our prayers and in the next few days in a most miraculous way the money continued to flow in so we ended up with over 97,000€!”

So as I close, are you fainthearted, like the Israelites in the desert who look at the challenges in your own life and as a church and say “We’re doomed!”?

Or are you wholehearted, like Caleb and Joshua who entered the land? Do you have faith to say “With God, whatever the challenge, we can certainly do it!”?


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 2nd September 2012

Grapes, Grasshoppers and God (Numbers 13.1-33)

Introduction

So we move on in our journey through the Book of Numbers – which, if you’re new to church and are not familiar with that term - the Book of Numbers - you’ll be glad to learn it does not mean the telephone directory.

It is of course the record in the Bible of how God got a stubborn and unbelieving group of people from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land and it explains why it took 40 years to complete an excursion that should have been over in a few weeks.

People often say that life is a journey and so much of this book of Numbers is similar to the business of how we get from (a) to (b) as we travel through our time here on earth.

People use other metaphors to describe human life – have you ever heard it said that life is a roller coaster? When people say that they mean it’s a series of exhilarating highs and depressing lows. Others say that life is like a game - with winners and losers - and when it’s all over, it all goes back in the box. Another famous life metaphor comes in the film Forrest Gump. Life is a… box of chocolates – you never know which one you’re going to get.

In his best-selling book The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren says that one of the most important biblical metaphors for life on earth is that it’s a test. In fact, he says, words like ‘trial’ and ‘testing’ occur over 200 times in the Bible.

Adam and Eve failed their test in the Garden of Eden when God said “You can enjoy all the trees in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” So that’s the one they went for.

Abraham passed his test when God told him to offer his son Isaac.

Noah passed his test when God said to build an ocean liner in a country with little rain, miles from the sea.

David failed his test when he saw Uriah’s wife bathing on an adjacent roof and decided he had to have her and then kill her husband to cover his tracks.

Think of Jacob, having to work ten years to win the hand of Rachel. He could have given up – but he kept going.

Think of Joseph, sold as a slave, falsely accused and unjustly imprisoned. He could have become embittered – but he never did.

Think of Ruth, think of Esther, think of Daniel, all of whom passed their tests with flying colours.

And, of course, think of Jesus, the pioneer of our faith, who supremely passed every test set before him.

· He went 40 days without food in a desert
· he turned down the devil’s offer of fame, fortune and a life of ease
· he never once buckled in three years of goading and provocation by the religious establishment
· he never once felt sorry for himself or wavered from his mission despite
· being deserted by his followers
· betrayed a friend
· falsely accused
· unjustly condemned
· cruelly beaten
· and savagely killed.

Well, the devil looked at Jesus’ lifeless corpse, smiled to himself and said “Get out of that one if you’re the Son of God!” But even then, Jesus walked out of the tomb alive and triumphant, risen and victorious. How good is that?

And so you too are always being tested – practically every day. Why? Because nothing reveals what you are made of like the way you handle the tests in your life and, in fact, all of life is a test.

God watches:
· how you deal with difficult people
· how you cope with problems
· how you manage disappointment
· how you tackle conflict
· how you face illness
· how you handle money
· and even how you bear up under the depressingly bad English weather!”

Praying Down the Promises

Now then, Numbers chapter 13 finds the people of God at a key point in their journey from Egypt to their Promised Land.

They’ve made it out of slavery, thanks to God’s dramatic deliverance.

They’ve received the Commandments, so they know what God likes and how he wants them to live.

They’ve also tasted God’s bounteous supply as we saw last week; bread from heaven every morning and enough quail in a week to never want to see it again. So they know that God provides.

Now it’s time to move on. So they organise a reconnaissance mission to run the rule over this land they are about to enter. Moses chooses one leader from each tribe and he sends them off to have a look.

In our reading, we skipped the names in v4-16 because they are not easy to pronounce, but I want to just press “pause” and look at v16 because it’s worth mentioning.

It says “These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua).”

Whenever there’s a change of name in the Bible it’s never because someone just thinks it sounds nicer; it usually means something more significant and this is no exception.

The name Hoshea signifies a prayer for salvation and deliverance; it means “Lord, save!” The name Joshua is the Hebrew form of the name Jesus, it’s the same name, and it signifies, not a prayer for salvation, but a promise of salvation; It means “He will save” in answer to that prayer. So this man went from being called “Lord, save!” to “He will save.”

The relationship between your prayers and God delivering on his promises is very close.

There are many promises in God’s word about your life;
· he promises to be with you,
· he promises to sustain you,
· he promises to guide you,
· he promises to protect you,
· he promises to keep you,
· he promises to bless you,
· he promises to provide for your needs…

but all those promises are triggered by prayer. You activate the promises of God in your experience by asking.

That’s why Jesus said “Seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33).

Can I just encourage you if you’re waiting on God’s promises – pray them down.

And take encouragement from the story of Robert and Mary Moffat. They worked for 10 years as missionaries in Botswana and in all that time were unable to report a single convert. People began to question the wisdom of continuing.

The thought of leaving their post, however, brought great grief to them. They felt sure that God had called them and they held on to 1 Thessalonians 5.24 which says “He who calls you is faithful and he will do it.” So they stayed on; and the oppressive spiritual darkness rooted in centuries of spiritism and ancestor worship continued to pervade that area.

Then one day a friend from Britain sent word to the Moffats that she wanted to send them a gift and asked them what they would like. Trusting that the Lord would bless their work, Mary Moffat replied, “Send us a communion set.”

The Holy Spirit moved upon the hearts of the villagers, and soon a little group of six converts was gathered to form the first Christian church in that land. The communion set from England was delayed in the mail; but on the day before the very first commemoration of the Lord's super in Botswana it arrived.

Today there are about 1.3 million Christians in Botswana, that is 70% of the population.

So be patient and pray God’s promises down. He who called you is faithful and he will do it. Remember what Smith Wigglesworth once said; “Great testimonies come from great tests, and great triumphs from great trials.”

Spying Out the Land

Back to Numbers 13. In v17-20 Moses tells the spies what to look for. The thing is, God had already told Moses when he met him in the burning bush back in Exodus 3 that it was “a good and spacious land flowing with milk and honey,” meaning it was fertile enough to support grazing cattle and settled enough to have productive beehives – offering an agricultural abundance of both staple food and luxuries.

So Moses knew it was going to be a great destination but he wanted the people to see it for themselves and sample some produce to show them what the future held in store.

But Moses didn’t know then what kind of opposition they would meet, if any. So he also says in v18 and “See… whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many… What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified?” In other words, is it going to be difficult for us to enter the land and take it – or relatively straightforward?

I want you to notice this; God expects you to use your mind, weigh things up and think things through. Moses didn’t just say “Come on you guys, God has told me we’re going to enter the Promised Land, let’s go! You just need faith.”

No, he saw the spiritual wisdom of assessing the situation intelligently. He saw the spiritual value of measuring the scale of the task and weighing up the resources available. There’s nothing worldly about that – it is the way God has wired us.

So the 12 spies go off for 40 days, which in the Bible is often a time of testing, and they take a good look around from the Desert of Zin to Rehob, (which is a bit like saying from Land’s End to John O’Groats – it’s a methodical and detailed scouting mission.

When they get round to going into the land and driving out the people who are already there what can they expect?

I think we just need to open a parenthesis here. Some people feel very uncomfortable about this. In fact, the conquest of Canaan with its battles and bloodshed recorded in the Book of Joshua is one of the things you hear about again and again from atheists in their rejection of the Bible as God’s word.

I confess it is, for me, one of the Bible’s take-a-deep-breath moments whenever I read it. We need to ask: “Why would a God of love command the Israelites to march in to Canaan, put its occupants to the sword and divide up the land so that they themselves could resettle in it?”

As I’ve wrestled with this question over the years, I have come to hold four convictions.

Firstly, while it’s true that the land did not belong to the Israelites - it didn’t belong to the Canaanites and Amorites either. Psalm 24 says “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” He made it, he sustains it and he holds the title deeds to it. Anyone living there is merely a tenant and, as in any tenancy agreement, the landlord has a right to evict in the case of bad behaviour.

Secondly, God is a God of love but he is also a God of justice to whom everyone will one day have to give an account. If God gave me what I really deserve the truth is he’d send me to straight to hell this morning without passing “Go” and without collecting £200. I am culpable for the shocking death of his blameless Son - and so are you. We are without excuse. It’s only because he is also a God of mercy that he stays his hand from giving sinners what they deserve. That’s what’s so amazing about grace.

Thirdly, God showed incredible patience by delaying his just punishment of the Canaanites and Amorites for four centuries. In Genesis 15, long before the Israelites were in Egypt, God said to Abraham “Know for certain that for 400 years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there… In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”

In other words, God waited 400 years until the wickedness and vice of the inhabitants of Canaan had got so bad that there was no way back.

What was it about the Amorites that justified their obliteration from the face of the earth? Archaeology has uncovered evidence of an evil and degrading society. Their worship cults were sadistic orgies where child sacrifice was widespread. Sexually transmitted diseases were so endemic that any intermarriage with them would have had catastrophic consequences for generations. But God waited for four centuries, giving them time to change. They didn’t. So at the end of that time, when the sin of the Amorites had reached its full measure, God said, “Enough.”

Fourthly, it needs to be said that any form of holy war is absolutely out of the question for followers of Christ. Jesus told Peter to put down his sword when he drew it in the Garden of Gethsemane, cutting off the ear of the High Priest’s servant. He told Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world and if it were, his servants would fight. Jesus is the Prince of Peace and inasmuch as people have fought crusades and killed in Jesus’ name, they have disobeyed Christ and denied the Gospel. “Our fight is not against flesh and blood” says the New Testament, “it is against the principalities and powers and against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places.”

I hope that just sets our minds at rest when we encounter violent passages in the Old Testament. Close parenthesis.

Anyway, the spies return with a substantial cluster of grapes, as well as figs and pomegranates – sounds like a pretty impressive fruit salad – and they bring with them a detailed report of what they had seen.

Faith – Sharing God’s Perspective on Your Life

The good news first (v27); “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit.”

So everything God said is true. Should they have been surprised?

Then (v28) one crucial word. “But.” So now the bad news. The people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak – giants.”

And then the disagreement; Caleb (v30) says “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

But the others disagree and spread a bad and exaggerated report. These are the naysaying pessimists you really don’t need too many of on the PCC! Moses has 10 out of 12 on his.

“The land devours those living in it” they say. Does it?

“All the people we saw there are of great size.” All of them? Really?

“We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” Grasshoppers eh? Did they actually say, “You people, we’ve never seen humans like you before. Has anyone ever told you look sort of… locusty, like grasshoppers? Because, to us, the resemblance is striking.”

It’s just exaggeration and scaremongering. But they spread it around. We’ll follow this story up next week and we’ll see just how infectious and toxic unbelief is to the morale of God’s people.

I mentioned David earlier – and the Bath Sheba test he famously failed. But what about the Goliath test? How did he do on that one? ‘A star’ with distinction, honours, Academy Award and blue ribbon!

When Goliath faced the Israelites most of them took one look and said something like “We’re grasshoppers compared to this giant.” Only David said “This man has insulted the living God. Big mistake.”

The Israelites said “Well, to be fair he got size on his side.” Only David said, “Yes, but we’ve got God on our side!”

The Israelites said “Wow, he’s enormous! It’s men against boys.” Only David said, “Wow, he’s enormous! With a target that big I can’t miss!”

Ending

So you see, faith is mostly about seeing God’s perspective on our life.

Six American shoe company executives were sent out to do some research into expanding into a country in the Far East. They looked around, conferred, and discussed the potential for overseas investment.

Five said; “There is no market here. Practically everyone goes barefoot.” But one said, “Practically everyone here needs shoes. We should open a factory immediately.”

How big are the challenges you face?

Wondering how you’re going to manage with tight finances? How does God, who owns all wealth and riches, look at your balance sheet?

Wondering how you are going to cope with a major new problem at work? How does God, who is supreme over the affairs of the nations, view your office?

What bad report are you hearing? Who or what are your giants in the land? What challenge are you facing this morning?

Mike Pilavachi of Soul Survivor says “Don’t just tell God how big the problem is; tell the problem how big God is.”


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 26th August 2012

Forgiveness in the Family (Hosea 3.1-5 and Ephesians 4.17-32)

Introduction

We are coming towards to the end of our little series about family life, marriage, singleness, teenagers, aging relatives, young children, grandchildren, Uncle Tom Cobley and all. I hope you’ve found it helpful, even when the subject matter does not directly apply to you and your current circumstances.

I think there is so much confusion and chaos in our society caused by the steady drift away from biblical values - and so often the world’s ideas get into the church - that I think it’s essential to try and set out a Christian vision for living. If we adopt the common sense approach that we find in God’s word we will save ourselves and others an awful lot of grief.

What I want to talk about this morning is forgiveness in the family.

Actually, this applies to all relationships, but it is in family life where the fallout, when things go wrong, is greatest. In in my experience (over 20 years of church leadership) I would have to say to you that the overwhelming number one cause of pastoral problems and relationship breakdowns and family unhappiness is unforgiveness.

Why Forgiveness is Important

Whoever you are, and whatever kind of family relationships you have, and I include the wider family here, you have to make a fundamental daily choice. It’s a choice that will determine more than any other how healthy your relationships will be.

Even in the most loving families there will be times when siblings, or spouses or parents or children or even uncles, aunts, nieces and nephews upset and offend each other. It’s barely avoidable and often quite accidental. It’s not a matter of “if”, it’s a matter of “when” we get hurt by others in our family.

Here is a little selection of the kind of thing I mean:

• Have you ever forgotten a birthday or anniversary?
• Have you ever promised a treat to the children, then forgotten all about it or got too tired?
• Have you ever failed to notice all the trouble someone else in the family took to treat you, only to have to have it pointed out?
• Or have you refrained from a hug from a family member because you were in the middle of doing something?
• Did you ever miss your child’s sports day or school play because of an emergency at work?
• Or were you that child eagerly waiting for mum or dad to come and watch you only to feel rejected because they didn’t turn up?
• Have you ever found yourself fighting and arguing in front of the children?
• Or, as a child, blocking your ears as your mum and dad quarrelled.

I can relate to most of the above.

When you do get upset and hurt by things like that, and you will, you’ll need to decide if:

a) you are going to allow the pain fester away and slowly poison your relationships, or
b) if you are going to deal with it.

This is so critical. Personal hurt and personal forgiveness is one of the key areas where we have to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.

Let me try and illustrate why dealing with stored up hurt is so important.

One of the worst household problems you can have is a blocked drain. Have you ever had a blocked drain in your home? We once had one when I was a boy. The toilets took ages to flush and whenever it rained there was a foul smell all around the house.

We got the plunger out and tried it on the sinks and toilets. Nothing happened.

So we poured an acid-based product down to try and dissolve whatever was blocking the drainage pipes. That didn’t work either.

So my dad took the drain cover off and tried to fish out anything obvious that shouldn’t be there; a dead cat or something - to no avail.

So finally, we called in a professional firm who turned up in a day-glow van. They spent quite some time… drinking tea if truth be told… but eventually they sent some long rods down into the main sewer and poked around until, all of a sudden, there was a satisfying slurp and glug, glug, glug – and all the raw sewage quickly drained away.

Unresolved emotional pain in your family is like that drain. If you don’t deal with daily hurt through forgiveness it’s like you’re pouring wax, cement, lard and such like down the wastepipe over many months.

Dealing with the Issues

In Ephesians 4.26-27 it says “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.”

In other words, whatever you do, don’t let a single day pass without dealing with whatever caused you hurt and resolving it before it becomes unmanageable.

The devil hates families. 1Peter 5.8 describes him as “a roaring lion, prowling about, looking to devour.” He wants to split families up and cause as much unhappiness as he can. Don’t let the devil get his foot in the door by lying awake all night with unresolved anger and festering grievances. Sort it out.

When it comes to dealing with anger in relationships, people sometimes talk about rhinos and hedgehogs. Have you heard that before? When they feel under threat, rhinos and hedgehogs do things differently. Rhinos charge and hedgehogs curl up into a ball.

Some people are like rhinos. When they are hurt by someone they want to talk about it immediately. They confront the issues.

Rhinos say things like, “I just need to say that I felt really humiliated when you were joking about me at the party.”

Some people are like hedgehogs, though. When they get hurt by someone, they tend to become withdrawn and a bit, well… prickly. Instead of dealing with the problem head on they go into a sulk. And when the person who has offended us asks “Is something wrong?” we say, “No, no everything’s fine.”

Let’s have a little show of hands. How many of you would say you tend to behave like rhinos? When someone upsets you, you let them know about it and clear the air...

And how many of you would say you tend to behave like hedgehogs? When someone upsets you, you prefer not to complain so you go quiet and stew...

They say that the population is divided roughly 50:50 on this one.

But I think there are more hedgehogs per head of population in Britain than anywhere else on earth. We don’t like to make a fuss. “Keep calm and carry on.” We love that don’t we?

Other countries have noticed this national trait as well. The Italians (who are 99% rhinos!) have a proverb that says “Step on an Englishman’s toes and he’ll apologise to you.” A German friend of mine once told me that German cafés serve their worst beer to the English because they know that they will never complain!

If you are a rhino, you’ll need to learn to express your frustrations graciously.

“I felt wound up when you turned up 20 minutes late after I specifically asked you to try to be on time.” That’s good.

“You’re always late, you never take me seriously do you?” That’s not so good.

If you’re a hedgehog, I’ll remind you of what you probably know already - suppressing your hurt emotions is not healthy because it usually leads to explosions later.

This is why Ephesians 4 goes on to say in v31 “Get rid of all bitterness… and every form of malice.” Get rid of it. Sort it out. Don’t let it fester.

And v32 says “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

In order to keep the family relationship drains unblocked there are three simple steps:

1. Talk about what has caused hurt
2. Be prepared to say sorry
3. Choose to forgive each other and forget about it

Forgiveness Keeps Trust Alive

That is God’s plan for good, healthy families and it builds the kind of trust the Lord intended for family life.

Nicky and Sila Lee in their excellent The Marriage Book (from whom I borrowed and adapted a lot of material for this) talk about trust in family relationships being like the glass in a window. What’s the glass for in these windows? The purpose of the glass is to let light in and keep the weather and noise out.

Window panes can be surprisingly tough; 4mm glass resists driving rain and howling winds and even footballs - but one hammer blow will shatter it instantly.

Trust between a husband and wife, or between a parent and a child, is equally fragile.

The trust that God designed for family life can be shattered in moments through devastating events like unfaithfulness, and angry outbursts or violence. Children are almost always scarred by marriage breakdown.

I’ve spoken to many couples who have no intention of ever getting married because of the heartache they suffered when their own parents’ marriage broke down. But it’s not marriage that is the problem. The Office of National Statistics reports that the problem is actually worse for cohabiting couples. They found that 8% of married couples split up within 5 years of the birth of their first child. The equivalent for cohabiting couples is over 40%.

The problem is a breakdown of trust due to a failure to resolve differences.

It’s challenging to forgive big traumas like emotional abuse, divorce and infidelity – as Hosea found out. God asked him to take his wife back after she had run off as a prostitute. I wonder how he felt. Well, he felt like God feels about us when we go after our idols, that’s the point of the book of Hosea.

Like a brick through a window pane, trust can be shattered through trauma. But most of the time that window just becomes gradually dimmed by a build-up of relationship dust and dirt.

We get our vicarage windows cleaned once a month. It’s amazing how quickly the dust and rain make them look filthy again. They usually need cleaning after a fortnight.

Family relationships also get messy through the accumulation of thoughtlessness.

Just as we need to regularly clean the windows, we need to make sure that little lies and small acts of unkindness and criticism and nagging don’t build up resentment.

If you never give your children an outlet to talk about what they resent, it can tick away like a time bomb and then explode in the teenage years. Children need to learn to give vent to what upsets them, learn to say sorry and to forgive.

Resentment build up in marriage can be lethal as well. The author John Taylor in his book “Falling” wrote this: “Our marriage wasn’t hellish, it was simply dispiriting. My wife and I didn’t hate each other; we simply got on each other's nerves. Over the years we each had accumulated a store of minor unresolved grievances. Our marriage was a mechanism so encrusted with small disappointments and petty grudges that its parts no longer closed.”

Once again,

1. Talk about what has caused hurt
2. Be prepared to say sorry
3. Choose to forgive each other and forget about it

If this three step process had been applied the grievances would have got resolved and the mechanism wouldn’t have rusted over.

Ending

So as I close, one more thought from Ephesians 4.17-18.

I started off by talking about the growing muddle in our society caused by the steady drift away from biblical values.

The Bible says this: “You must no longer live as the Gentiles do,” (he’s talking about people who don’t do God). You must no longer live as they do “in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.

Darkened understanding that separates you from the life of God, the Bible says, comes from a hardening of the heart; unforgiveness.

Are you letting the Holy Spirit soften your heart so that forgiveness and healing is flowing in your family?

Are you keeping the drains free from the blockages of unresolved hurt?

Are you regularly cleaning the windows of all that petty criticism and nagging and thoughtlessness?

If you want to ask God to give you grace to do this, ask someone on the prayer ministry to pray with you at the end of the service. Maybe you want to take a step and release forgiveness to someone who hurt you. The Holy Spirit wants to bring deliverance today.

Chains be broken! Lives be healed! Eyes be opened! Christ is revealed!

Let’s stand to pray…


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 15th July 2012

The Church Family (James 2.14-26 and Matthew 12.46-50)

A little girl asked her mother, “How did the human race appear?”

The mother answered, “Well, God made Adam and Eve and then they had children, and then they had their own children and so on.”

Two days later the girl asked her father the same question. “How did the human race appear?” He answered, “Well, many years ago there were monkeys from which the human race evolved.”

The little girl was very confused and returned to her mother and said, “Mum, you told me we were created by God, and dad said we evolved from monkeys.”

So the mother answered, “Well, dear, it is very simple. I told you about my side of the family and your father told you about his!”

We are coming towards to the end of our little series about family life, marriage, singleness, teenagers, aging relatives, children and grandchildren.

What about the church as a family? Is the church like a dysfunctional family unit?

Actually, someone might ask, is “family” even the right word to describe relationships in the local church? Some people don’t like the term “family services” because, either they live alone and feel excluded, or their experience of family is so bad they would just rather we find another word altogether.

The word “family” is used 17 times in the New Testament and perhaps only once is it used to describe the local church; it’s in Galatians 6.10 and it says this -

“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

That means the church. But it’s just one verse and some people might argue that the church isn’t really like a family at all. There are other metaphors in the Bible that are used much more often to express what church is like.

For example, the church is compared to a healthy body, a holy temple, a beautiful bride, a fertile field, a trained army, a royal priesthood and even a busy building site. (I have to admit I’ve met a few cowboy builders in my time in the church)!

But the Bible often uses family language to describe what happens to us when we come into a relationship with God through Jesus.

When you came to faith, God was no longer a remote and unfriendly being outside your experience. No, you experienced him as your heavenly Father. Christians are called children of God.

And relationships between Christians are given family-like words too. Paul called Timothy his true son in the faith. And in Romans 16, when he is saying “hello” to a list of acquaintances before signing off, Paul says “Greet Rufus… and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too.”

All through the epistles believers are addressed as “brother and sisters.”

God does not want us to be on formal terms, addressing one another as Rev. Lambert or Doctor Littlehailes or Mr. Wake, but on first name terms and with the genuine familiarity and affection that siblings have.

You remember Winston Churchill’s speech to Parliament on 4th June 1940: “Whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.” Well, that sounds exactly like the back of the car on the way to my family holidays when I was about 8.

Most of my childhood was spent being tormented by, my sister (who was bossy because she was the oldest) and tormenting my brother (who got away with murder because he was the youngest).

Siblings do argue from time to time and Christians have disagreements too.

Christians fall out because they are brothers and sisters. God understands that and this is why the Bible says that we need to work hard at maintaining the unity of the Spirit.

And so, in 1 John 4.19, we are given the vision of church being family.

This is how John puts it in that verse: “We love because God first loved us. If we say we love God yet hate a brother or sister (he is talking about fellow Christians), we are liars. For any of us who do not love a brother or sister whom we have seen, cannot love God whom we have not seen. And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love one another.”

It is a wonderful thing that, when we come to Christ, we are born into a family with brothers and sisters. The church throughout the world is family. It’s an amazing thing, you know, you can travel to any part of the world and there you will find believers in Jesus Christ and you have this filial relationship with them as soon as you meet them.

Two weeks ago, I was in Edinburgh for our daughter’s wedding in the Free Reformed Church where she and Iain met. The church was very different in feel to both All Saints’ and Saint Mary’s – but Kathie and I immediately felt completely at ease. We sing the same worship songs, we read and treasure the same scriptures, we love the same God. We share the same vocabulary and values. I found myself thinking “I hardly know a soul in Edinburgh but this is just like home.”

They say you choose your friends but can’t change your family. Take a look around you this morning. These are your brothers and your sisters!

If you’re not a Christian yet, they are your potential brothers and sisters! I don’t know whether that would make you want to be a Christian or not! I hope it would… But we are one family and our common language is love.

In the world, we talk of big families, small families, dysfunctional families, happy families, single-parent families, extended families, weird families, extended families, broken families, famous families, tragic families and so on. What should the family of God be like?

Our reading from James suggests that it should be a community that believes certain things and that behaves a certain way. James paints a vivid picture of what that should look like. Let’s look at James 2.14-18 again:

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if people claim to have faith but have no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or sister [note the family language] is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?

So in the church family, there is no favouritism. Love must be genuine and words must be matched by deeds.

Holy Trinity Brompton’s annual Leadership Conference took place in May. Our own Kathryn Belmont was one of 4,000 people representing over 900 churches from over 50 countries who gathered at the Royal Albert Hall, which was full to bursting.

Such was the pressure for space, the Queen had even granted permission for the Royal Box to be used, which is quite something. Who do you think the organisers arranged to be seated in the Royal Box?

Well, Tony Blair was at the conference as a speaker but it wasn’t him. Rick Warren was there too (this is the man who led in prayer at Barak Obama’s investiture as US President and whose book, The Purpose Driven Life, has sold 30 million copies) but it wasn’t him either. Several prominent bishops and politicians and ambassadors were there but none was seated in the Royal Box.

Who then? The organisers used it to seat homeless people and ex-offenders. Isn’t that just genius? I cannot imagine any other organisation on earth who would even think of doing that. But, you see, everyone is a VIP in the family of God - including you.

They say there’s no place like home. Home is where the heart is. But one of the most painful things in Jesus’ life was that members of his family misunderstood him and even opposed him. So he said “The Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

John’s gospel reveals that, up until the resurrection, his brothers did not believe in him. Mark’s gospel says that they thought he was mad.

The incident in our Gospel reading tellingly finds Jesus’ family ‘outside’ while Jesus is ‘inside’. They weren’t interested in Jesus’ ministry. They wanted him to follow them – and if you’ve got family who aren’t believers you’ll probably know how that feels.

Jesus used this awkward situation to talk about who he thinks his real family is.

“Pointing to his disciples, [Mary Magdalene, Peter, James, John, Joanna, Susanna, Matthew…] he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother’” (Matthew 12.49-50). What did his family make of that, I wonder?

They say that blood is thicker than water (meaning that family bonds are closer than any other and that allegiance should always be to family first).

But Jesus says otherwise here. When the family you are born into comes between you and the will God, as it did for Jesus, it has to be challenged.

I hope you have acknowledged who Jesus is and made a settled decision to follow him as Lord and Saviour. That alone is what brings someone into a relationship with Christ - and a friendship that, the Bible says, is closer than that of a brother. That alone is what makes you a member of the best family on earth - God’s family.


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 15th July 2012

Bride's Father Speech

On the Occasion of the Marriage of Anna Lambert and Iain Hamill - 30th June 2012

Well, I’d like to thank you all for coming from various parts of the country (and indeed from abroad, even from as far as New Zealand) to be with us here in Edinburgh on Anna and Iain’s wedding day.

It shows how much you love and appreciate the bride and groom. Either that or you just can’t resist a free meal! But even that comes at a price, because now you have to listen to me.

Thank you too for all those who have helped plan and prepare this magnificent occasion.

Anna was born on Good Friday in 1985.

I remember vividly the trip to the hospital, the feeling of terror when the monitor showed that Anna had a slow heartbeat as Kathie went into labour, the birth itself around 10:00pm and the trip home in a taxi across London just feeling dazed and elated. I didn’t sleep a wink that night.

As soon as the sun rose the next day I dashed over to the hospital to see my wife and baby girl and this is what I saw.

Our eyes met and she looked at me as if to say… who’s this idiot?

But ever since that day, I have loved her and prayed for her, dreamed dreams for her and enjoyed watching her grow into the beautiful woman and radiant bride you behold and admire today.

Some say that fathers can be a little one sided about their daughters but I have objective photographic evidence here that Anna was destined to be so talented it would be a major headache deciding which glittering career path she would choose and which she would spurn.

Would she be the ribbon-twirling gymnast effortlessly bringing home Olympic gold?

Or, as she giggled excitedly taking her first steps at an improbably young age, would she be the intrepid explorer boldly going where no man had gone before?

Would she transport with emotion the entire Royal Albert Hall as she interpreted the great works of classical piano with a finesse never heard before…

…and win, by several furlongs, every Grand National, Epsom Derby and Cheltenham Gold Cup for three decades?

Or would she perhaps singlehandedly transform a half-witted Sunday driver with a glass eye and wooden leg into a Formula One champion…

…while singing Verdi’s La Traviata?

Or would she become a Structural Engineer to make Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Gustave Eiffel seem like complete morons...

…whilst appearing on the cover of every fashion magazine?

Would she perhaps singlehandedly save every child on the planet…

…and still cross the Tour de France finish line on the Champs Elysees while the peloton was still sweating away somewhere in the Alps?

She would surely be all of the above, as well as an internationally acclaimed artist…

…able to effortlessly find the perfect balance between work and leisure...

...not forgetting family, for whom she would be the perfect mother.

Kathie and I want to say today that we are hugely proud of our daughter and that she has surpassed all our expectations and wildest dreams.

At the risk of this becoming a short sermon, it says in Psalm 145 “One generation will commend your works to another” and I think that goes two ways; not just from elder to younger but from younger to older too.

One damp, misty morning when Anna was about 3 she was strapped into the back of our 2CV (this picture was taken one evening on the way home). I tried turning the engine but it was hopeless. For about quarter of an hour it just wouldn’t start. I was getting more and more annoyed when from the back seat Anna cheerfully shouted “Come on Jesus, start the car!” I put the key back in the ignition, turned it again and it started like a dream. It’s one of our most precious memories of Anna’s childhood and still inspires us today when we pray about wretched situations.

They say that a father’s relationship with his daughter is special and that is true.

A baby, before you know it, is a toddler, is at school, is playing musical instruments and taking exams.

But, in my experience it doesn’t happen gradually. The journey through childhood into adulthood seems to come in sudden leaps.

I remember several occasions when I looked at Anna and my heart seemed to skip a beat. There in front of me was no longer an infant, with all the spontaneity and simplicity that children have.

There before me was a young woman with an emerging elegance, grace and charm.

The thing is that, for a parent, the days pass slowly but the years pass quickly.

When we learned that Anna was courting Iain we immediately went on a scouting mission on Facebook to find out more about him. Was he ever going to be good enough for our daughter?

We discovered he was a Christian. That ticked the most important box.

He was intelligent and studying economics. That ticked the box entitled “I hope he won’t come scrounging the rent having blown it on the horses.”

He was into rugby and mountaineering and was a handsome, strapping lad. That ticked the “good bet for future grandchildren” box.

What was not to like about this young man? And even though we only ever really understood one word in three that he spoke, we unreservedly approved.

So when Iain formally asked me for Anna’s hand last year, I don’t know what came over me when I found myself saying “What would you do if I said no?”

The poor young man looked genuinely distressed! Needless to say, I reassured him that we have prayed all Anna’s life that the Lord would show her the kindness of providing her with a godly man who would love her deeply – and that we believe he is a wonderful answer to all our prayers.

Iain, we are so thrilled to be welcoming you into our family. We so loved staying with your delightful family last year in Northern Ireland and I want to pay tribute to Andrew and Anne for raising such a fine son.

Watching Anna, by the grace of God, getting from (A) to (B) has been one of my life’s greatest privileges.

And when I walked Anna down the aisle and placed her hand in Iain’s today, it was one of the most significant and emotional moments of my life. It was also one of the happiest.

Iain, you have won my daughter’s heart and you can make her happier now than I, or anyone else, ever can - and, for that, Kathie and I are overjoyed.

We wish you both every blessing and happiness together in married life.

Ladies and gentlemen can I ask you to stand, raise your glasses and join me in a toast for the health and happiness of the new Mr. and Mrs. Hamill.

To Iain and Anna!