A Cord of Three Strands (Ecclesiastes 4.9-12)

On the happy occasion of Megan and Jonathan' marriage

At every wedding I officiate at, I like to do a general knowledge quiz. And the quiz is basically about how much you generally know one another. Like Mr and Mrs.

So here’s what we’re going to do. You each have two shoes, your own shoe and one of your fiancés. I want you to face away from each other and hold up the shoe of the person you think I am talking about.

For example if I ask “who buys the best presents?” if Jonathan thinks he does, he has to lift up his own shoe. If he thinks Megan does, he has to lift up her shoe – and likewise for Megan.

And we’ll all see how well you think you know each other. This should be good for a laugh for everyone else. So are you ready?

Who is the best cook?

Who’s the better driver?

Who’s the first one to get up in the morning?

Who spends the most time in front of the mirror?

Who’s in charge of the TV remote?

Who talks the most?

Who’s the most likely to get lost?

Who’s the most likely to ask for directions?

Who is on their mobile phone the most?

Who was the first to say “I love you”?

Who’s the first to make up after an argument?

Who started the argument in the first place?

And finally, who do you love the most in the whole wide world?

OK, very good… No you can turn round. Jonathan and Megan; I’ll be honest with you, that’s not bad. I’ve seen worse. Two weeks ago, they agreed on about 90% which was a record.

But I’ve got some bad news for you. Even if you had perfect agreement on 1,000 different questions it would not be a 100% guarantee that your marriage will be a success.

I’ve learned over the years that success in marriage does not depend on finding the right person as much as it depends on being the right person.

There’s a story about a husband who was hinting about what he wanted for an upcoming milestone anniversary. He said to his wife, “I have always dreamt of owning something shiny that goes from 0 to 100 in about 4 seconds.” She bought him a set of weighing scales. That didn’t go down very well.

The good news is that God wants to give you everything you need to be the right person and for your marriage to be a happy one. All you have to do is ask him. Seriously. If you ask, God will give you all the patience, all the forgiveness, all the kindness, all the love you need.

That’s why the reading you chose says “a cord of three strands is not easily broken.” When you look at a braid or a plat it appears to contain only two strands. But you won’t find rope in the shops with only two strands. If you did it would quickly unravel and be useless. You need a third strand to hold the other two together. In a marriage, the third strand that keeps husband and wife together is Jesus Christ.

Someone once said that marriage is the art of two incompatible people learning to live compatibly. I can confirm after 33 years of married life that that’s absolutely true. Kathie and I have virtually nothing in common but Jesus keeps us together and we are actually happier now than we were on our wedding day.

You are both wonderful individuals and you each have many gifts and qualities - but in getting married you become greater than a sum of your parts.

Your reading says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labour.” In another version it says, “Two are better than one, because together they can work more effectively.” It’s a bit like a pair of scissors. One blade can cut things but scissor blades are so much more effective when the two cutting edges work together in perfect synergy. As husband and wife you make a team.

Then it says, “If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.” Very few mountaineers are foolish enough to climb alone. They know that if they lose their footing they risk plummeting to their death which is why they are always attached to a partner. Marriage is designed to give you all the support you need when one of you is down.

Then it says, “Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?” It’s a bit of a struggle when you can’t have a snuggle.

There’s a story about an elderly couple who were lying in bed one bitterly cold night and the wife says, "Do you remember when we were first married, you used to snuggle up to me and keep me warm on nights like this?" He says, "Yes." And he slowly turns over and snuggles up close. "And do you remember” she says, “how you used to nibble my ear and whisper sweet nothings?" "I do," he says – and he sighs and gets up out of bed. She sits up in bed. "Where are you going?" "To get my teeth, dear."

In married life, all the masks can come down. Wives and husbands see each other unwrapped and unadorned –physically which is beautiful and pleasurable, but also emotionally and in our real personality.

Kathie and I know things about one another that nobody else does. We both know all about each other’s insecurities and fears and pain from the past too. I pray your marriage will be a safe place to reveal the real you to one another.

And then it says, “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.” Marriage should be a place of security. Jonathan, when you’re in bed and you hear a strange noise downstairs, you can comfort yourself in the knowledge that you investigated last time and it’s Megan’s turn…

Some people get married believing a myth that marriage is like a beautiful box full of all the things they have always longed for like companionship, intimacy, friendship, security, romance… But in fact every marriage, at the start, is an empty box; and you have to put something in before you can take anything out.

The shocking truth is this; there is no love in marriage; love is only in people, and people put love into marriage.There is no romance in marriage; romance is only in people, and people have to put romance into marriage. Every couple has to learn the art, and form the habit, of keeping the box full.

The love God has for you is the love he wants to keep giving you for each other - and he will keep pouring it in - if you ask him for it.

That’s the one thing I promise you today. I can’t guarantee you happiness, or true love, or prosperity, or good health, or perfect children, or that you’ll agree on everything (or even anything). But I promise you now that if you ask God to give you the love he has for you for each other, he will deliver.

I want to end with the words of a song written for another wedding – but it’s my prayer for you both.

On this day of happiness we have gathered here to bless

The union of two lives in holy love

Love's blossoming is now expressed in solemn vows and promises

With flowers and golden rings, a wedding dress

We look around with joy to see the smiles of friends and family

As witness to this day

But, best of all, a Guest unseen is here with us and, once again

Water turns to wine

On Jon and Megan’s wedding day we ask you Lord to stay

And by your Spirit join these hearts together

And from this moment on teach them your love song

That all the world may hear a three-part harmony

Address given at Saint John's Egglescliffe, 23 July 2016

The Father's Compassion (Psalm 103.1-22)

Introduction

The Father’s compassion. Funny that, most people associate compassion as a mother’s speciality. I’ll come back to that a bit later, but I think we all suspect that men don’t always do compassion quite as well as women.

Men are sometimes a bit awkward in times of emotional stress. Men don’t tend to read the signals so well. Everyone’s knows about agony aunts, but how many agony uncles have you heard of?

Actually, I did hear about one agony uncle column called “Dear Phil.” Here’s an example of how it went: “Dear Phil. I left home for work last week and after less than a mile my car stalled and wouldn't start. I walked back to my house and found my wife passionately kissing the postman. Can you help me? I'm desperate.”

“Dear Reader. The most common cause of vehicles breaking down in the first mile is dirt in the fuel lines. Hope this helps.”

Sadly, as I said a few weeks ago, not all of us have a good mental image of God as Father because for some of us our experience of human fatherhood is so bad. If your dad was absent, or hot-tempered or frosty, or lazy, or self-centred, or unreliable, or immature, or moody, or unaffectionate, or unfaithful you have quite an obstacle to overcome when you say the words “heavenly Father.”

The Holy Spirit wants to bring healing there – and that’s one of the strengths of Sozo by the way; Sozo has been designed to bring our vision and experience of God’s fatherhood into line with truth - and the truth sets you free.

When you see a good father, you are looking at an artist’s impression of God because God has designed human fatherhood to be a pale picture of what he is like. Good fathers are strong, they protect and they provide. They discipline, they affirm, they have tender hearts full of love and their children bring them pleasure.

Like every dad, I have made mistakes as a father with all four of my children. To be honest, it’s a miracle that my four haven’t all grown up with a complex. No parent gets it right with all their kids all the time. If you have had kids you know what I mean. So no one’s picture of God as Father is perfectly true or precise.

A recent survey in the USA revealed that only 4.1% of American teenage girls felt they could talk to their father about a serious problem. The most popular source of help in a crisis was music, followed by peers and, thirdly, the Internet. Dads were 48^th on the list and even mums came in at 31^st.

Something has gone wrong, but it was not that way at the beginning and God wants to bring restoration where there is brokenness.

Psalm 103 is like a photo gallery with a line of pictures showing aspects of God’s father heart. This is one of the ways, probably the most important one of all, that God has chosen to reveal himself.

Psalms are prayers, but there is not one request in Psalm 103. Psalms are prayers, but in this one David is mostly talking not to God but to his inner self, to his soul.

Count Your Blessings

Psalm 103, when you look at it closely, is actually a list of all the things this one man thought of to thank God for in his life. It’s a great thing to do at any time but perhaps especially after a bad week. If you took a sheet of A4 and started to write down, one by one, the blessings of God in your life I think you could fill it in no time.

Let’s have a quick look at a few of the things on David’s list.

First of all, forgiveness (v3). However irreparably bad the mess you’ve made of your life, God has forgiven you all of it if you are truly sorry. The blood of Jesus makes even the foulest, filthiest, lousiest, rottenest life clean. Jesus is the friend of sinners. He turns wretchedness into righteousness and rags into riches. The more you see your own flaws, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God’s forgiveness appears to you.

Then healing (v3). Have you ever wondered how many illnesses the auto-immune system God made you with stops you getting sick? Without it we would all die within days. Have you ever worked out how many more days in your life you’ve enjoyed good health compared to days of ill health? Have you ever counted the number of times you got better again after being ill?

The gospels tell us that when Jesus saw the crowds, they brought many sick people, and he was moved with compassion and healed all who came to him.

Then the times he gets you out of the fine mess you’ve got yourself into (v4). It says “he redeems your life from the pit.” That means when you feel you’re at rock bottom, he lifts you out of that deep darkness and brings you up, out into the light. He brings cheer to the despairing. He breaks the power of depression.

He satisfies your desires with good things (v5). It doesn’t say he’ll give you expensive things, or extravagant things; in fact the pleasure you get from them won’t satisfy you because the enjoyment of luxury doesn’t last long and just leaves you wanting more.

It says he satisfies your desires with good things. Air to breathe, food to eat, love to share, friendships, family, time to rest, a home to live in, music to enjoy…

The preacher and writer Geoff Lucas, was talking recently about the anointing that comes from the Father heart of God. Can you think of the best church experience you have ever had? Maybe a baptism, a testimony, the presence of God in worship, an extraordinary miracle… whatever it might be. Well, Lucas said this;

“Out of all the thousands of services I have attended, there is one that stands out as the most remarkable. Decades later, I still meet people who say to me whimsically ‘I was there that night’…”

Geoff Lucas was the speaker that night and he says, “I had planned to begin my talk with a simple illustration of fatherhood… My then two-year old son would toddle out onto the platform and I would hold him in my arms for a minute or two, while talking about how secure he was with me as his dad… When the moment came, my little boy suddenly threw his arms back, and for a moment, it looked like he was going to punch me, which would have been awkward. But instead, he wrapped his arms around me and buried his head in my neck… People suddenly fell to the ground, instantly succumbing to the wave of the Holy Spirit that filled that place. Others cried out, a response to the unfathomable awe that pervaded… Within minutes… a queue of people formed, folks who had been instantly healed in that moment. I tried to preach – without success.”

Michael did something a bit like that with his little girl Evie a few years ago. People still remember it and talk about it. See, we are hard-wired to respond to a demonstration of the Father’s compassion. Something inside us years for it.

Here’s another blessing: He renews your youth like the eagle (v5). Eagles regularly molt their feathers so they always have a lustre about them making them look healthy and youthful. The Bible says “even though we are getting old and wrinkly on the outside, on the inside we’re getting younger and younger.”

Compassion

Then these lovely words; v13; “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.”

Compassion is an overused word. The word compassion comes from the Latin cumpassus and it’s composed of two parts; com - passion. ‘Com’ means ‘coming together’ and gives us words like ‘communication’ and ‘community.’

We know what ‘Passion’ means. The Passion of the Christ is a film about extreme suffering. Our word ‘patient’ comes from this root and means literally ‘one who suffers.’ Then again, people talk about being passionately in love or having a passion for a cause. Passion describes both the overwhelming feelings and deep experiences of loss and love in our lives.

Whatever we’re going through, God is with us in it. That’s compassion. His Father heart shares it; he weeps with those who weep. He laughs with those who laugh. God’s compassion isn’t just a bit of tea and sympathy; its’ a full bloodied entering into our brightest joys and darkest sorrows.

Think of your happiest moments on earth - when your joy just bubbled over. When you had to push your cheeks in because they ached from laughing so much.

That is a faint echo of the Father’s pleasure in creation, surveying all he had made and saying with complete satisfaction, “Ah, this is very good!” Your times of greatest bliss and elation are just a vague hint of the Father’s delight in his Messiah; “This is my Son whom I love, with him I am well pleased.” And he delights in you as his son or daughter too.

Now think of the most wretched moments in your life – when you had no more tears to cry. When everything looked as depressingly bleak as anything can, when you despaired of life itself, when pain felt like it was ripping you in two. 

That is just a tip-on-the-tongue taste of the searing, unbearable, excruciating agony in the Father’s tearing heart as it all gets too much and he turns his face away from his Son’s broken body; the most beautiful life ever lived, going through hell on the cross.

A guy called Tim White once wrote about his experience as a father when his son was young. This is what he said:

“In the first 15 years of his life, our son Ryan had over 30 surgeries. When he was about eight years old, he was in the hospital for another operation. The medical staff had already given him the ‘barney juice’ a purple liquid with something like morphine in it.

The medical staff began to roll him to the operating room. As usual, we accompanied him to the two big doors that led to the theatre. That is where we stopped, and told him all would be OK for the last time before the op.

This day, as we got to the doors and they opened, he sat up in the bed, looked at me in the eyes and pleaded, ‘Dad, don’t let them take me!’

At that moment my heart was broken. I would have done anything to take him off that bed except for the fact that he had to have the surgery. That knowledge didn’t ease the pain in my heart at all. I just stood shaking inside as the doors closed, and he disappeared. That is when I broke down in tears.

Shortly after, when I was asking God how such a good love could hurt so much, I realised that he had gone through the same thing. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed: ‘Father, if there is any other way, let this cup pass from me.’ Translated into the language of a child, ‘Daddy, don’t let them take me.’

I allowed the surgeons to take my son for his own good. God allowed the crucifiers to take his Son for our good. That is how much God loves us. It has been said that something is worth what someone else is willing to pay. Christ’s willingness to give his life shows the value he placed on me.”

“As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.”

I said I’d come back to compassion being a mother’s speciality rather than a father’s. Well, God is neither male, nor female; God is God and he made us – male and female – both in his image.

I’ve just explained the etymology of the word ‘compassion’ in English but in Hebrew the word for compassion in v8 is connected to the word meaning ‘womb’.

There is no force in human nature stronger than the overwhelming love from a mother for the child she carries in her womb and brings to birth. That bond is instinctive and indestructible and it’s what God feels about you.

“Compassion” in Psalm 103 comes four times and it’s a heart word that literally means God is moved by what moves you.

When our son Nathan was about 9 or 10 he was besotted with basketball. We bought him a really nice Wilson Evolution ball for his birthday and he would love to play with this thing. There was a park with a basketball hoop about 3 or 4 minutes’ walk away from our house and he’d often go there and practice, shooting a few baskets, dribbling with the ball and all that.

Well, we didn’t live in the prettiest of neighbourhoods and sometimes there would be a gang of a dozen or so teenagers in hoodies, hanging around looking for a bit of trouble. One day Nathan came home in tears because they had stolen his ball and pushed him around a bit and told him to get lost.

Seeing him broken-hearted, something snapped in me. All my adrenaline started to pump. I was fearless. As I walked down to that park, mad as a bear with a sore head, it occurred to me that they might beat me up and leave me for dead, but somehow I didn’t care. All my compassion was stirred up. I could see Nathan wide-eyed, not quite believing that I was going – unarmed – to confront these youths but I was an unstoppable force.

As I walked into the park, there they were with my son’s ball. I was so emotional and provoked, I could probably have slain them all instantly. But, being English, I politely asked them for my son’s ball back and explained that he was very upset. They looked a bit sheepish gave it back. And I said thank you very much and went home for a nice cup of tea.

Here, ‘compassion’ means that God accepts you and loves you as his child, that he involves himself deeply and emotionally with your pain.

The Fear of the Lord

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

Some years ago, I led an Alpha discussion group and this expression “fearing God” came up in the conversation. One person in my group, very wary, really anti-church, instantly folded her arms and became angry.

She absolutely would not accept this idea of fearing God. So we asked her why she found it so repulsive and she started to talk about a man she had been married to and became scared of, because he was a violent alcoholic. He was controlling, coercive, unpredictable, and aggressive and she lived in constant fear that he would assault her.

And now we were talking about how God is compassionate to those who fear him. It’s understandable that she reacted like she did.

She had unhealthy fear – it led to panic attacks, anxiety, feeling vulnerable and scared for her safety. But there’s another kind of fear that is healthy. Unhealthy fear of a father is being terrified that he’s going to come home drunk and start shouting, swearing and throwing furniture around. Of course the Bible never means that kind of fear. God is niot like that. He is the very opposite of quick tempered. It says in v8, look at it, that he is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

I think I grew up with a healthy fear of my father. I never once felt unsafe with him but my heart would be in my mouth whenever I deliberately did something he had specifically told me not to do. I respected his authority even though I quietly spent my entire childhood inventing new ways of defying it. Now I’m older I can see why he grounded me for playing near the railway line – though it seemed excessively fascist of him at the time. It’s good for us to have a healthy fear. And this is what the Bible means by fearing God.

And those who fear God (in the healthy way) experience the Father’s compassion, his presence in our highs and lows.

Ending

Let’s end with v17: “From everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him.”

God’s heart of compassion for you is from everlasting to everlasting. Long before you were conceived or born, God’s heart for you and his commitment towards you were absolute and unwavering.

And long after you’ve died and are forgotten no more his commitment towards you will still be total and unending.

Let’s stand to pray…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 10 July 2016

That Referendum... (Psalm 46)

Introduction

When the acting Area Dean asked me to lead Synod in a biblical response to the outcome to referendum on Britain’s future relationship with the European Union, I have to be honest; my heart sank. 

I feel real trepidation doing this. In fact, I would prefer to address you tonight on almost any other possible subject – computer programming, Korean hairdressing, the sexual behaviour of squid, beekeeping in Kazakhstan, advanced trigonometry, architecture in Inverness, the history of the paperclip…

I am not really excited by politics and I have never once sought to bring party politics into the pulpit. I always try to remain absolutely neutral during election campaigns because, frankly, my calling and commission is to preach the gospel, proclaim Jesus Christ, build community and look after the health of the church, not politicise it.

But with the referendum 10 days behind us now, let me put my cards on table. I felt that there were good arguments and bad arguments on both sides of the debate. It was not one of those black and white issues that I felt I could publicly take sides on.

Speaking as a Christian, two of the most persuasive arguments for ‘leave’ were 1) the unease I felt about millions of euros spent feathering the luxurious lifestyles of a governing elite in Brussels while youth unemployment in Spain and Greece approaches 50%.  And 2) the effects of the Common Agricultural Policy which shells out vast subsidies to EU farmers for leaving fields idle whilst undermining Africans who live off the land, keeping them in permanent poverty. What does the God of the poor think of such protectionism for the rich?

And two of the best arguments for ‘remain’ were 1) that the single market has delivered shared prosperity and peaceful partnerships between formerly bitterly hostile nations, and 2) a large zone with relaxed borders is the best possible environment for the spread of the gospel. The pax romana which afforded free movement all over Europe and the Middle East in the first century was the context in which the gospel first advanced so rapidly and successfully. And God wants all people to be saved.

I finally made up my mind where I was going to put my cross only a few days before voting.

Where to start?

The biggest problem I had when asked to speak from the Bible tonight on our response to the vote was which passage to choose.

I am sure there are ‘leave’ voters who would find great edification in studying the early chapters of Exodus, where God’s disenfranchised people heroically leave an oppressive and undemocratic regime for a new future in the Promised Land. 

On the other hand, ‘remain’ voters might point to remarkable parallels between the EU project and Isaiah’s vision of a golden era brought in by God’s anointed one: “They will rebuild on the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated… Strangers will shepherd your flocks, foreigners will work your fields and vineyards, you will feed on the wealth of nations and in their riches you will boast” (Isaiah 61.4-5).

Where Are We?

Let's survey the landscape in the aftermath of the vote. There is no doubt that we are now facing a much less clear future, at least in the short term, than would have been the case had the vote produced a different outcome.

• There has been early volatility in the markets; the pound immediately fell precipitously against all other currencies and shares took a battering. This means prices are going to rise for us all pretty soon.

• There is turbulence in political leadership; the governing party are electing a new Prime Minister amidst talk of treachery, and the largest opposition party is in disarray, unable to cobble together enough MPs willing to serve in a shadow cabinet, over a crisis of confidence in its leader.

• There are big unanswered questions over our future relationship with the EU and the wider world; no one knows what kind of trade deal will be negotiated between the UK and the EU, or when it will happen. President Obama has said that the UK will be at the back of the queue in trade talks with the USA. It is impossible to predict how all this will pan out and how long it will take.

• There are new concerns about inward investment and jobs; some companies have threatened to relocate their operations to other EU states and it is as yet unclear what effect this will have on employment and economic growth going forward.

• There is new uncertainty about the integrity of the United Kingdom with voices in Scotland and Northern Ireland (whose people voted by a majority to remain) raising the prospect of new votes on their relationship with the rest of the UK.

• There have been many other divisions highlighted by the referendum; divisions between younger and older, more educated and ordinary working people, cosmopolitan city dwellers and provincial middle England.

• The result has provoked instability in some neighbouring countries; there is now talk of calls for referenda in the Netherlands (‘nexit’), Denmark (‘dexit’) and Greece (‘grexit’). One wit wondered if San Marino would secede from the EU, but only because it allowed him to call it ‘sexit mexit’!

• There has been an alarming spike in hateful, racist incidents; the Police have reported a fivefold increase in the first ten days since the referendum and they are worried that this may be but the tip of the iceberg. 

Amidst some of my friends, most of whom seem to have voted to remain, there is a mood of shock, dismay, anger and fear. Some seem to be in denial, campaigning for a second vote.

On a personal level, we have two sons, both British nationals, living in France and we have always imagined retiring there. Those plans may now have to change. There are about a dozen different nationalities represented in one of my two churches; what will this mean for them and their families?

Unquestionably, this is a political, economic, financial and societal shakeup of seismic proportions and its aftershocks may well be felt for years to come. 

What has the church got to say?

I am a bit uneasy about Christians making a big noise about this. On an individual level, I have some Christian friends on Facebook who, over the last few months, have posted messages about nothing else but the referendum. Nothing about Jesus at all.  Of course we are entitled to express opinions on politics like everyone else, but hang on a minute! Is this really all we have to say to the world?

Look, our message to the world is not some kind of political utopia, it's the gospel of grace, and our focus has surely got to be Jesus. Yes, we may hold UK passports but are we not also strangers and misfits in the world with no abiding city on earth? Is not our citizenship first of all of the kingdom of God? 

On an official level, the church does not swell with expertise on politics, and when church leaders make statements on political issues they are often made to look naïve and out of their depth. 

In any case, with the current anti-establishment mood in which all the main party leaders, the IMF, the IFS, the OECD, the President of the USA, the Bank of England, most business leaders, the majority of academia and - wait for it - David Beckham all urged a ‘remain’ vote - and were all cheerfully ignored - let’s not kid ourselves. Who is listening to anyone anyway? Is anyone seriously going to want to hear what the clergy think?

Hebrews 12.26-29 speaks of God shaking the earth, whilst the kingdom of God is unshakeable. Let's just wind back the tape a moment and listen to that bit again… God shakes the earth, but the kingdom of God is unshakeable. The British electorate did not shake the earth on 26^th June 2016. Almighty God did. And his kingdom, his reign, his sovereignty, his rule, his authority, his purposes are unshakeable. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.

So when I looked for a Bible reading to hang my thoughts on, I went to Psalm 46 because it's a song that contrasts geopolitical turmoil with the accompanying assurance and peace of God's people. It's like the spiritual equivalent of Rudyard Kipling's "If."

¹ God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.

It begins in v1 with a statement about God as a refuge. We do well to start, not by yelling out our emotional reactions to the vote, but by reaffirming our vision of him; sovereign, mighty, immoveable, a source of strength, never taken by surprise.

² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

⁶ Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

In v2-3 and 6 there is a description of some kind of international cataclysm. This is Old Testament language for what we would call 'an earth shattering event'. Projectile faeces is arriving at speed on the rotary air ventilator. There is uproar, there is volatility. But, it says, we will not fear. We are not fazed at all. We have no business running around like headless chickens. No worries, God has got this.

⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
⁵ God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.

Then in v4-5 there is a reference to the river whose streams make glad the city of God. There was, and still is, a hidden underground source under Jerusalem that supplies the city with the stuff of life even when surrounding armies are laying the city to siege. That's what the verse is referring to. But so often what is physically true in the Old Testament is spiritually true in the New. Jesus is the source of living water; “if anyone is thirsty, let them come to me and drink” he said. His presence in our midst gives life and health and peace to the church. It makes us glad. It helps us say “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

⁸ Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
⁹ He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.

Verses 8-9 affirm once again God's unchallengeable sovereignty. In a referendum so notable for talk of ‘taking control’ and ‘asserting national sovereignty’, we want to say, “Hang on a minute! The Lord reigns. God is king. Jesus is Lord!” In fact, if we believe that Jesus is indeed on the throne of world history and that he rules the nations, then we must affirm that he has the casting vote in this, and every, election. (This does not necessarily mean that the result is an expression of his favour designed to bring us blessing; it could just as well be an expression of his justice, disciplining us as a nation so that we turn back to him). The Bible teaches that he does both.

¹⁰ He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.’

Verse 10 is all about the poise and peace we find only in God's presence. It is the peace that the world cannot give. It is the peace that passes understanding. While the world is all at sea in a frenzy of reaction, we must choose to settle down and centre our trust in his good and wise supervision of history.

^{7,  11} The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Finally, v7 and 11 are repeated, because they express the most important truth of all. Emmanuel - God is with us. This is the God who loved and showed grace to a scheming rascal who made some shockingly bad decisions in his life, and some inspired ones too (Jacob). He is the God of Jacob. Wheteher our nation has chosen wisely or foolishly in this referendum, this God will be our mighty fortress too if we look to him and not just to human wisdom for strength and a secure future.

Based on a talk given at Stockton Deanery Synod, Long Newton, 4 July 2016 

Spreading the Word (Acts 10.9-23)

Introduction

The Apollo 11 mission was one of the greatest ever human achievements. Neil Armstrong, when he became the first man to walk on the surface of the moon on July 11, 1969 said - as we all know - "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

But the tenth chapter of Acts is even more significant that the moon landings in eternal terms. It describes one small encounter between two men, Peter and Cornelius, but it was a giant leap forward for the kingdom of God. It is a pivotal episode in the history of the relationship between God and the human race.

This was the day that the good news of God's love and salvation through Jesus, penetrated the non-Jewish world for the first time. From this day forward, God, who had until then been revered only by a small Semitic people in the Middle East, would become worshipped and loved worldwide.

1) God reveals himself to those who seek him

One of the things that Acts 10 shows is that God reveals himself to people who truly seek him. God loves to be found by tenaciously curious people.

Speaking of Cornelius, an officer of the Roman army, the Bible says (in v2-4) "He was devout and God-fearing, and all his household with him. He was generous to the poor and prayed every day.”

One day, about three in the afternoon, he has a vision where he sees an angel of God saying, 'Cornelius.' Cornelius nervously asks: ‘What is it, Lord?' The angel answers, 'your prayers and generosity towards the poor have been received by God.'"

The big surprise to many is that despite his glowing righteousness, despite all his good works, despite all his prayers, Cornelius was not a child of God.

He was sincere, but not saved. He was charitable on the outside but not changed on the inside. He was a believer, but not born again. He had no personal experience of God. He approached a God he did not know. He had not received the Holy Spirit. 

There are many people like Cornelius. Even in churches. The good news is that God reveals Himself to those who seek him with their whole heart as he did.

Jonathan Aitken, the disgraced politician was appointed to the Cabinet in the 1990s but his life was empty and he, like Cornelius, started to seek God. He says in his autobiography Pride and Perjury, “Gnawing away inside me was a problem I could not describe, except by giving it… labels such as ‘lack of inner peace’, ‘emptiness of feeling’, ‘hollowness of spirit’, or more simply ‘something missing’. It was as though, after spending a lifetime wanting to climb a particular mountain, I had unexpectedly reached the final approach to its summit only to discover that there was nothing there worth the effort of the ascent.” Well, he sought God, was found by him, and is now a lay preacher.

CS Lewis once said, “Look for Christ and you will find him. And with him everything else.” This is why we spread the word.

2) Jesus takes people out of sterile religion

The second thing that Acts 10 shows us is that religious adherence is not enough. Teresa of Avila once prayed, “From silly devotions and sour-faced saints, spare us O Lord.”

This is the meaning of this strange vision Peter has in v9-16. For Peter, until he met Jesus, belonging to God was little more than an obsession about what he could and could not eat. 

Mechanical religion is one of the biggest obstacles, if not the greatest, between us and God. Religion stirs strong emotions and tends to make us stubborn, even stubborn against the Lord.

The proof is that in v14, having had a fantastic spiritual experience and heard the audible voice of God, Peter says "Oh, no! Lord. I've always lived this way, I do not intend to change for anyone, even You.”

I love the (probably made-up) story of the vicar who wanted to move a chair in his church on one side of the sanctuary to another. But the choir master didn’t agree. The chair was always located in the south transept and moving against the wall was out of the question. For 3 years they fought about it in church council. The choir master wrote letters to the bishop. Fifty faithful parishioners organized a petition. And the priest eventually moved the chair... an inch per week! It took 3 years to move it to the other side!

Aren’t you glad that Jesus gets us out of useless religion? Jesus sets us free from all that. This is why we spread the word.

3) God destroys barriers between people

The third thing here is how the gospel removes the barriers not just between us and God, bu between each other. In Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither man nor woman, neither black nor white, socialist or capitalist, neither Anglican or Protestant or Catholic, neither young nor old, 'remain' or 'leave'. All racial, national, sociological, political, stereotypical, physiological and ecclesiastical barriers come down through Jesus Christ.

Before the events of Acts 10, Peter had never entered a gentile home, even for shelter from a storm, and had never had any gentile under his roof either, but in v23 he invites them in and offers them hospitality for the night. The gospel brings down the barriers between people.

This is why we spread the word. It’s good news that sets people free and transforms our relationships.

Ending

There’s a rock singer from the band Flyleaf called Lacy Sturm. She talks on YouTube about her tormented years. She says “I couldn’t get away from my own depression.” She tried a lot of religions and philosophies. She said “There were all these great ideas but I never found any tangible healing.” She said “I remember thinking I am tired of the pain in my heart. I am tired of going to bed and feeling this burden. Who am I? Why am I alive?”

One day Lacy woke up and resolved to end her life at the end of that day. Well, that evening, by the grace of God, her grandmother whom she lived with, said, “You are coming to church with me now.”

Lacy said, “I didn’t want to go to church, I despised it, I never went – but look, I’m going to commit suicide later, it can’t get worse, so I might as well go to church.”

So she went. She said, “I hated it - especially the preacher.” [I just thought I’d include that bit in case any of you can relate to it].

Anyway, the preacher, as he was speaking had a word from the Lord and so he said, “There’s someone here with a suicidal spirit.” That got her attention. But she couldn’t stand what he was saying, so she got up and went to walk out. As she got to the back of the church a man with a white goatee beard came over to her and said, “I think the Lord wants me to say something to you.”

She thought, here we go again. Then he said this; “He wants you to know that even if you’ve never known your earthly father, [which she hadn’t] he knows your pain and will be a better father to you than any man could have been. He knows your pain. He knows what’s in your heart. He’s seen you cry yourself to sleep. He wants to come and deal with it. He is called The Comforter.”

She says, “It was as if the God of the universe showed up right in front of me. I realised that God is holy and good. And that I am not. And that he loves me and he knows I am tired of the way I have been living and that he wants to make me new - if I would let him. And I said YES! I want that please. And I woke up the next day with such peace and such joy.”

This is why we spread the word. We have good news of grace to share.

Let’s pray...

Sermon preached at Saint Mary's Long Newton, 3 July 2016

The Father's Discipline (Hebrews 12.4-13)

Introduction

Have you noticed if you’ve been watching the Euro 2016 football tournament how often the words “superior” and “better” are used? Belgium’s bench is superior. Italy have the better pedigree but Ireland’s desire was superior. Northern Ireland have a “superior” goal difference to Albania. Wales have played “better” than Russia since the first minute. Germany have better technique. And the entirely predictable; England have got to do “better” than this!

If you have ever read the letter to the Hebrews end to end, you’ll have noticed that these two words “superior” and “better” appear all the time there as well. Those two words are, in fact, the key to unlock what the letter is about and how it can change our lives – even save our lives for it deals with the weighty matters of eternal life and death.

Interestingly – and significantly – the author of Hebrews never says that Jesus is the best – even though he indisputably is supreme above all things. But he keeps saying Jesus is better.

The reason is simple. The whole point of the letter to the Hebrews is not to show that Jesus is beyond parallel – even though he is. The point is to measure Jesus against something, or someone, else and then contend that Jesus is greater, grander, and more glorious by comparison with every person, every leader, every angel, every religion, everyone end everything.

Background

If we’re going to get the most out of today’s talk, we’re going to have to drill down a bit and get to grips with the background. That might sound a bit boring, but I assure you it will pay big dividends, so try and stay with me for a few minutes if you can.

Here’s the back story; the people this letter was written to had been drifting away from Jesus for quite some time and they were now a hair’s breadth away from abandoning their living faith in him altogether.

Have you been drifting a bit in your faith recently? It’s surprisingly common. Well listen! In Hebrews, alarms are going off, bells are ringing and warning lights are flashing. Drifting away from Jesus, if it is not checked and stopped, puts your eternal spiritual health at serious risk.

These Hebrews were in fact Christians with a Jewish background and they were being actively recruited at this time to return to the synagogue. They were hanging on to Jesus by their fingertips – and looking over their shoulder for a way out of Christianity. Why? Here’s why.

At the time this letter was written, the Emperor Nero Caesar had just recently placed a blanket ban on Christianity. “No more Christianity! I won’t allow it in my empire.” You can read about Nero. He was insane. And power-mad. And bloodthirsty. And volatile.

It was now illegal to be a practicing Christian because he said so. If you got caught, you were in real trouble. But here’s the thing: although Christianity was outlawed, Judaism was accepted, it was tolerated, it was allowed.

Imagine for a minute that you are one of these Christians living at that time. People are beginning to suspect that you are part of this new Christian movement.

Your friends are afraid to associate with you. Thugs are starting to throw stones at your windows. Your children come home saying that they are getting bullied at school because people know they are Christians. Someone paints graffiti on your front door: “Christian scum.” Your job starts to look under serious threat. Some of your church leaders have strangely gone missing. How do you feel?

Imagine now that there’s a knock at your door. Your heart is in your mouth. You open it… It’s OK. It’s only that nice rabbi from the local synagogue. He comes in and sits down. You have a coffee together. And then he leans forward and makes you an offer. He will guarantee your family’s safety, on one simple condition; that you deny Jesus, leave the church and go back to the synagogue.

Well why not? It’s the same God after all - isn’t it? He puts a piece of paper in front of you and he presses you to sign it. It says, “I the undersigned hereby abandon definitively my membership of the church and allegiance to Jesus.” Your family’s safety is at stake. Would you sign it?

This is why Hebrews was written and, all through the letter, the author pleads with his readers; “come on, hold fast, keep the faith, fix your eyes on Jesus, don’t turn back now, don’t stop meeting together as some already have.” Jesus is better than anything you could replace him with. He is superior. Don’t throw your salvation away!

Oh, how tempting it is, how appealing, when everything is going badly wrong, when God seems far away, to withdraw from the action and sit on the bench. But listen; only those out on the pitch can win the game.

I once worked in a church that refurbished its kitchen. The old one had been an environmental health hazard. It was badly lit, too small, its equipment barely worked, grime and grease were worn into all the surfaces and, worst of all, it was home to an intrusion of cockroaches. They got in the oven, the fridge, the utensil drawers, the kettle, between the plates… no anti-pest product had any effect. These insects were indestructible.

The church held a gift day to overhaul the whole kitchen and I’ve never seen money move so fast! The new, extended, professionally designed kitchen was fitted out with all the latest gear. It was state of the art. It was clean and shiny. It was bright and spacious. It had no cockroaches – or any insects of any kind.

Who, even in a moment of lunacy, would go back to the way things were before the refit? In your life, whatever nostalgia you might have for the past, life with Jesus is better – don’t go back!

You who know and love the Lord Jesus, remember who he is:

•    the supreme fulfilment of all prophetic longing

•    the bread from heaven that satisfies all spiritual hunger

•    the spring of living water that quenches eternal thirst

•    the Light of the World that illuminates every man, every woman

•    the Lamb of God who takes away all your sin and mine

Were you better off before?

No? So don’t drift away now! Keep looking ahead!

Encouragement

That’s the background to Hebrews, and when we get to chapter 12, verse 4, it says, “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.”

So no one had actually died yet. Things were bad, but not as bad as they might be. But it was getting stressful. Nero was turning up the heat. We know from Hebrews 10:34 that some had been arrested and imprisoned. Some had had their homes raided and their belongings confiscated. How do you sleep at night when being a Christian carries that kind of personal risk?

And then we get these words in v5-13 about the Father’s discipline, the Father’s correction. He calls it a word of encouragement. Discipline doesn’t sound that encouraging does it? I mean how many of us when we really need a bit of encouragement, a bit of cheer, a bit of a boost are actually craving for a nice programme of correction from God?

We like to hear about the Father’s joy, the Father’s love, the Father’s singing over us, the Father’s heart, the Father’s smile, the Father’s embrace and all these things are true of God the Father.

The Bible teaches the Father’s loving tenderness but it also speaks of his loving toughness and here’s why that is encouraging:

It’s because good fathers correct their children. Good fathers set healthy boundaries. Good fathers model and teach their children right and wrong. Good fathers know that if they indulge or ignore their children, they will pay the price later. So it says in v6 “the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his child.” It’s proof that he loves you.

Notice here it doesn’t say “punishment.” God does not punish what he has already forgiven in Christ. Jesus has taken the full penalty for sin on the cross. So the Father’s correction is not some kind of payback for the mistakes of the past.

Fatherless Generation

We live in a fatherless generation.

Here are some startling stats I found recently*

•    85% of children exhibiting behavioural disorders are from fatherless homes

•    90% of homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes

•    80% of rapists motivated by displaced anger are from fatherless homes

•    70% of all juveniles in detention centres come from fatherless homes

•    85% of youths sitting in prison grew up in fatherless homes

The article in which these statistics are listed ends with this devastating conclusion: “Pick a social ill at random; suicide, dropping out of school, teenage pregnancy, drug abuse… and you will find that the correlation with fatherlessness is clear and direct.”

Fatherless children are, the report says:

•    5 times more likely to commit suicide

•    9 times more likely to drop out of school

•    9 times more likely to end up in a mental institution

•    10 times more likely to take drugs

•    14 times more likely to commit rape

•    20 times more likely to have behavioural disorders

•    20 times more likely to end up in prison

•    32 times more likely to run away from home

In one British study it was claimed that fatherless children were over 30 times more likely to be abused.

The Office for National Statistics said in 2012 that there were almost 2 million one-parent families in Britain, 92 per cent of which were lone-mother family units. In the thirty years between the 1974 and 2004 single parent families rose from one in fourteen to one in four.

We live in a fatherless, orphan society. The social and moral mess arising from the ‘anything goes’ culture of the post-1960s has been a disaster both for the many children born into it and for society as a whole.

No wonder so many people are deeply uncomfortable with hearing about our heavenly Father’s discipline. It adds insult to injury – absent fathers and now harsh fathers. In fact, it is the opposite; it shows he cares, it shows he wants to father us, it shows he’s involved, it shows he wants the best for us.

The foundation of discipline is love, a love that cares too much to let someone learn self-destructive patterns.

This is why parents discipline their children, to keep them from developing characteristics and qualities that ultimately will be destructive to a healthy and happy life.

How does Father correct us?

In what ways does God bring discipline to our lives? There’s one word in v7 that sums it up and it’s the word “hardship.” It includes troubles, problems, hassles, adversity, misfortune, conflicts, inconveniences, nuisance and personal rejection.

It doesn’t say here that God unfeelingly visits tragedy on us. He is not the author of evil. It just says when it happens endure it. God, in his wisdom and sovereignty, permits hardship in our lives. He does not always stop it.

Smith Wigglesworth was a spiritual giant who saw extraordinary signs and wonders including several attested resurrections. What was his secret? He said this; “Great faith comes only from great fights, great testimonies from great tests, and great triumphs only from great trials.”

Why does Father correct us?

Why does our Father correct us? I was reading John Piper on this chapter and he said that some Christians simply do not believe what it teaches. This is not a feel-good passage about how to make the most of our troubles. It is a statement about the gracious sovereignty of God over the adversity and stresses of our lives.

And the big question is: do we believe this? Will we accept the mystery of God's wise use of the painful experiences of our life, and be trained by it (as verse 11 says) for our good and for our peace and our holiness?

God’s mission is not to give us a cushy life. His objective is to produce in us a holy life.

Feelin’ Down

There are many passages in the Bible when godly people go through great stress and hardship.

The Psalmist, despondent and weary, says “Why are you downcast, my soul, why so troubled within me?”

Elijah, tired and burned out says, “Take my life, Lord, I’ve had enough!”

Maybe a good question to ask in times of hardship and misfortune is “Loving Father, what are you trying to teach me here?”

Someone did a survey a few years ago on spiritual formation. Thousands of people were asked when they had grown most spiritually, and what contributed to their growth. The response was humbling - at least for someone who works at a church.

The main contributor to spiritual growth was not transformational teaching. It was not being part of a home 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 they had at any other time.

It just occurred to me that we have not put anyone in charge of pain distribution, so now I are working out how to create more pain per church member for maximum spiritual growth!

Ending

One more thing to end.

Ravi Zacharias tells the story of a young, keen Christian interpreter, Hien Pham, who assisted him on a preaching tour if Vietnam in the early 1970s before its takeover by the communists.

Ravi often wondered what became of him, until 17 years later he received a phone call. It was Hien. His story was incredible, both terrible and wonderful. When Vietnam fell to the Vietcong, Hien was imprisoned in a slave labour camp, accused of helping the Americans.

They forcibly brainwashed him with Marxist indoctrination against Western democratic ideals and Christian faith. After some years, Hien began to doubt his faith. “Maybe” he thought, “I have been lied to. Maybe God does not exist.  Maybe the West has deceived me.”

In the end Hien resolved that, when he awoke the next day, he would not pray any more or think of God ever again. The communist programming had done its wicked work.

The next morning Hien awoke, and for the first time he chose not to turn his heart and mind to God. He was assigned the filthy job of cleaning the prison latrines. As he emptied the oil can that was used as a toilet, there in the excrement, on a filthy bit of toilet paper, he noticed some English print. He picked it out, put it in his pocket, later washed it and, once his fellow prisoners were asleep, began to read it.

It was a fragment of Romans 8: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. For I am convinced… nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God.”

And as he read those words, Hien broke down and began to sob. He knew his Bible well enough. He knew there was no more relevant verse for a man on the verge of abandoning his faith as this.

On the very day Hien decided to give up on God, God showed that he had not given up on him, and in the squalid filth broke through and spoke to him of his faithfulness.

As an officer in the camp was apparently using an old Bible as toilet paper, Hien asked the commander if he could have the permanent job of cleaning the latrines. Each day he picked out sheets of scripture, cleaned them, and collected them into a book for night-time reading.

And God’s word sustained him. Later, remarkably, Hien was freed and escaped the country on a self-made boat.

“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children… No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

Let’s pray…

* Source: Simon Ponsonby’s book God Is For Us.

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 26th June 2016