Garry continued his series on ‘Being & Doing’ tonight, looking at the family of God and how the Holy Spirit helps us. Col 1:1-2 reminds us that we are God’s holy people, ‘brothers and sisters’, and Rom 8:9-17 talks about how the Spirit of God confirms our identity as God’s children, enabling us to cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ We have been adopted into God’s family and are now heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.

Most of us have little expereince of adoption. Marriage is the closest relationship we know where we acquire not only a spouse but a welcome into a new family, who will undoubtedly have different ways of doing things. But when a child is adopted into a family, there is a transference from one family to another, and the old family has no legal claim on the child anymore. Our adoption into God’s family means we are transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light; the Holy Spirit takes up residence in us and opens up a whole new spiritual realm to us. He guides us, guards us, protects us and leads us (as Paul experienced when the Holy Spirit stopped him going to some areas and drew him to Macedonia, Acts 16.) He also reminds us of what God says to us and lights our lives and paths (Ps 119:105).

The Holy Spirit’s words are powerful (like dynamite) and creative, encouraging and helping us. He reminds us that we are no longer slaves to sin, ruled by the evil one and destined for destruction but are now children of God, cherished and given access to all that belongs to God. The Holy Spirit confirms or corroborates our identity, but we see that there is sacrifice involved. Paul was warned of this (Acts 9:15-16) and we too need to understand the need to give up some things in order to gain what God has for us. Sacrifice may not always be seen or rewarded in this life, but we can trust that God sees all we do and will reward us. As Rom 8:22-25 reminds us, there is so much more to be revealed. The Holy Spirit acts as a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance (Eph 1:13-14). He is a pledge like an engagement ring that there is a wedding to come, that if God is for us, no one can be against us. Can we trust the Giver of Good Gifts with our lives?

Stephen spoke this morning on ‘the awkard silence.’ All of us have experienced that kind of silence, perhaps when meeting people for the first time and conversation dries up or when facing unfamiliar situations where questions are asked but not necessarily anticipated and therefore met with silence rather than answers. Silence can sometimes be comfortable (e.g. between old friends), but more often that not, it is awkard and leaves us feeling uncertain and unsure what to do.

God’s silence can be even harder for us to fathom. What do we do when we have cried out to Him in desperation and are met with no answer? Are we tempted to find our own solutions and answers? Job faced difficult silences at time. In Job 1:13-19 and Job 2, we see how his life was turned upside down by catastrophe after catastrophe, how his wealth, prosperity, health and family were all taken from him, leaving him with more questions than answers. Job’s friends tried to provide him with answers (mostly focussing on his imagined wrongdoing), but for many chapters, we see people talking and postulating answers and hear nothing from God. Only in Job 38 do we begin to hear God’s answers: and even then, they are not answers, but further questions for Job, showing something of the magnificence and power of God.

In the awkward silence between our pleading and questions and God’s voice speaking to us, we need to trust Him. Rend Collective remind us that  (‘in the silence, You won’t let go’ (‘My Lighthouse’)), and the truth is that God is with us, even in those awkward silences. We need to put our trust in God, in His word and in His voice. At the end of the book, we see Job’s prosperity, wealth and restored and he has seven more sons and three daughters (Job 42:10ff). We see how God has used the suffering and difficult silences to bring good into Job’s life. Because of this, we have hope in every situation. Silence may be difficult, but if we turn to God in trust, rather than trusting in our own solutions and ideas, we will find that He is still with us and has every answer we need.

As we start a New Year (2021), we tend to reflect on what has gone before (and 2020 was such an unusual year, this may take longer than normal!) as well as look ahead, making plans and resolutions. The end of one year and the beginning of another – actually nothing more than an exercise in dating – still holds significance for many people, even though for different cultures this happens at different points in time.

One of the things people tend to do in January is to make plans for the coming year. It is true, however, that ‘many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.’ (Prov 19:21) One of the things we must constantly do is allow God to search our hearts and to direct our paths (see Prov 3:5-6), for if 2020 taught us anything, it was that plans can change in a moment and we are definitely not in control of our lives and of life itself in the way we often like to pretend we are.

Paul, when giving his testimony before hostile crowds in Jerusalem (Acts 21:37-22:21), spoke of how God intervened in his life, giving him an encounter with the risen Jesus which he had never expected or anticipated. That encounter changed him completely, for until that point, he had been zealous for God, but his zeal had led him to persecute followers of Jesus and thus Jesus Himself. Being a Jew himself, it seems logical that God would use him to reach other Jews with the Gospel, but in fact, God called him to be an apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15, Acts 22:21). Paul found this surprising (see Acts 22:19-20), but he faithfully followed this call and so many of the churches in the Gentile world were founded as a result of his obedience.

Paul’s life as an apostle was far from comfortable (see 2 Cor 11:23-29). His commissioning by God and his deep sense of calling (which he would later tell the Romans was irrevocable, Rom 11:29) were the hallmarks of how he lived. We too can live comfortable lives – or we can choose to hear God’s commission and live for something greater than our own pleasures and comfort. As we start 2021, may our ears hear once again that ‘Great Commission’ to ‘go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.’ (Matt 28:19-20) This needs to be the hallmark which defines all we do and how we live.

What happens when you make assumptions? ‘Assume makes an ass of U and Me’, the saying goes, and this can be so true. In Acts 21 and 22, we see the dangers that are inherent in assumptions. The Jewish crowd assumed, without taking the trouble to check, that Paul had brought Trophimus into the inner court of the temple (Acts 21:29); Claudius Lysias assumed that Paul was an Egyptian terrorist (Acts 22:38), described by Josephus as ‘an Egyptian false prophet’ who, about three years previously, had assembled 30,000 men, led them to the Mount of Olives, and promised that, when the walls of Jerusalem fell flat at his command, they would be able to break into the city and overpower the Romans. The procurator Felix and his troops intervened, and these fanatical nationalist assassins were killed, captured or scattered. (Josephus, ‘Antiquities’, XX, 8.6; Wars, II 13, 5, quoted in John Stott’s commentary on Acts, P 347). This assumption was shattered when Paul spoke to him in educated Greek; he had to revise his opinions.

We often make assumptions based on appearances or preconceived ideas. This can work in different ways, assuming someone who is well dressed and articulate to be a person of substance or that someone who looks dishevelled and speaks with an accent to be less educated, or judging people according to their apparent wealth (or lack of it.) James speaks against this kind of prejudice in his letter (James 2:1-13), and there are enough stories of people dying in apparent poverty being revealed later to have vast fortunes to remind us that appearances can indeed be deceptive. God had to remind Samuel the prophet that His ways go beyond the surface appearance: ‘When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”’ (1 Sam 16:6-7)

Paul was not who the Roman commander had thought he was. So often, people are not who we think they are; we fail to see God’s image in them and judge by the world’s standards. Jesus Himself said, ‘Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.’ (John 7:24) Let’s do our best to avoid assumptions, check facts and be prepared to get to know people and situations before we wade in with our conclusions!

In the latter part of the book of Acts, Paul has to defend himself from accusations of sedition and rebellion before a variety of people (crowds, Felix, Festus, Agrippa) and as a result we hear the story of his conversion at least three times. The Greek word for defence (apologia) is where the word ‘apologetics’ comes from. This has nothing to do with apologising (saying sorry), but means ‘reasoned arguments or writings in justification of something, typically a theory or religious doctrine.’ We find it in several places:

• “Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defence.” (Acts 22:1)

• (to Felix) ‘When the governor motioned for him to speak, Paul replied: “I know that for a number of years you have been a judge over this nation; so I gladly make my defence.”’ (Acts 24:10)

• (to Festus) ‘Then Paul made his defence.’ (Acts 25:8)

• (to Agrippa) ‘So Paul motioned with his hand and began his defence.’ (Acts 26:1)

Apologetics is a vital part of faith, for our faith is not simply ‘pie-in-the-sky’, but is based on the historical fact of Jesus’s birth, life, death and resurrection and all believers should strive to be able to ‘give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.’ (1 Pet 3:15) This is not as terrifying as it may sound, for Jesus taught that ‘when you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” (Luke 12:11-12) God is able to help us, through the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Paul’s defence was mainly to bear witness to his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus; we too are called to bear witness to what God has done in our lives. Whether people believe us or not is beyond the scope of our responsibility; what God wants from us is our honest testimony and we can be assured that the reality of our faith will stand the scrutiny of any probing or questioning because it is based on the solid foundation of God’s word.

Acts 22:1-21 is Paul’s testimony to the crowds in Jerusalem and we see once again how conversion gives us a clear ‘before and after’ story. Paul’s life before his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus was exemplary from a Jewish point of view. His Jewish credentials were second to none, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, brought up in Jerusalem, a student of Gamaliel, an eminent Jewish teacher at the time, a ‘Hebrew of Hebrews’ as he puts it in Philippians 3:5. His zeal for God could not be faulted, as he arrested both men and women who followed ‘the Way’ and threw them into prison. (Acts 22:3-5) Yet everything changed when he met with Jesus and was chosen by ‘the God of our ancestors’ (i.e. the God of the Jews) to know His will, to see the Righteous One and to be His witness. (Acts 22:14-15)

The truth of the gospel is that Jesus changes us. Paul outlines the changes in Ephesians 2:1-9, talking of how we used to be dead in transgressions and sins, by nature deserving of wrath, but have now been brought near to God through His mercy, love and grace. The gospel is not a story of our effort or trying to be good to earn God’s favour; it is the story of God’s redemption and how He has done everything required to change us and bring us into relationship with Himself.

We may feel our conversion story is not as dramatic as Paul’s; a friend of mine, brought up in a Christian family, used to say wryly, ‘Mine was no road to Damascus story.’ She often felt that her testimony was less impressive than Paul’s or than the testimony of people who had done many visibly wrong things before encountering Christ. But all of us have a testimony if we have met with God, and all of us who are born again have been changed in the way Ephesians 2:1-9 describes. We are not what we used to be, and although all of us are still works in progress and are not yet what we will be in glory, we can give thanks that God has met with us, changed us and is continuing to transform us into the image of His Son. (2 Cor 3:17-18)