This morning we continued our series exploring the big question of life, and looked at the question ‘How does God work?’ We saw that God’s ways and means are very different to ours and that He cares as much about how we do things as what we do. Key to understanding God’s ways is the passage from Isaiah 55:8-9 which tells us that His thoughts and ways are so much higher than ours. We cannot ever hope to fathom God’s ways if we only use human reasoning and understanding.

Life is a journey; Jesus told us He was ‘the Way, the Truth and the Life.’ (John 14:6) So often, we are more concerned with destinations rather than the journey, but God is as concerned with the process of transformation along the way as He is with our final destination (being conformed to the image of Christ, as Rom 8:29 says.) Transformation means a total renewing of our minds (Rom 12:1-2), starting with the U-turn of repentance (Mark 1:15) and continuing with our daily discipleship, believing and following Jesus and becoming ‘fishers of people.’ (Mark 1:17) We simply cannot carry on viewing life, people and God as the world does; God works through transformation and a reordering of reality, so that we see life as it really is, not as the world pretends it is.

You’ve probably all heard the story of the girl who rescued starfish, only to be told there was no point doing this because of the sheer need all around: “Little girl, why are you doing this? Look at this beach! You can’t save all these starfish. You can’t begin to make a difference!” Her reply was, “Well, I made a difference to that one!” In effect, we can feel overwhelmed by the needs all around us and feel that whatever we do doesn’t make much of a difference. But I believe that every act of kindness makes a profound difference to the person receiving it, and that’s why we are so thrilled to be involved with Dearne Churches Together in giving out gift bags and food bags to local families in the school holidays.

Today, we gave out 86 bags to families with over 200 children, giving them crafts to do, puzzles to solve and all the ingredients they needed to make pancakes, the traditional food for Shrove Tuesday. Judging from the photos we received already, there’s been some good pancake making going on!

Each bag contained craft activities:

Thank you to all the churches who contributed to the bags, to all the church volunteers who packed the bags and distributed them and to all the families who came along to collect them! Don’t miss out on the next gift bag – to celebrate Easter, we’ll be giving these out on Wednesday 31st March, so book in now!

The love of God is often talked about and preached about (especially on Valentine’s Day!) and it’s important that we do so, because as a rule, we find it immensely difficult to believe that God could possibly love us! We find it difficult to grasp His goodness and love, especially when we face difficulties and suffering, but Hebrews 12:4-13 reminds us of the important role of discipline in God’s love and in being a part of His family.

Most of us associate discipline simply with punishment, but discipline means sticking to the right paths. We speak of the discipline needed to succeed in sports or jobs such as the army, and discipline can certainly be a positive thing. Even when we are punished, we need to remember that God does this out of love, not to cast us out of His family or by withdrawing His love from us. God’s aim of discipline is to get us back on course, correcting us so that we learn the best way. (1 Cor 11:32) Discipline also has the aim of training us, educating us, developing and nurturing us (see Acts 7:22, Acts 22:23). God’s word is given to us to train and correct us. (2 Tim 3:16)

Our reactions to God’s discipline can vary. We can make light of it, treating it as inconsequential. We need to know that God is interested in the mundane and the everyday and that suffering for our faith is inevitable (John 15:18-19). Even Jesus learned obedience through what He suffered (Heb 5:8-9) and suffered temptation as we do (Heb 4:14-16). God can use everything He allows into our lives for good.

Our other reaction to God’s discipline is often to lose heart and to give up. God promises that trouble and suffering can refine us, knocking off our sharp edges and refining us like silver. (Ps 66:10-12) Whether we face the fire or the flood, God promises to be with us (Isaiah 43:1-2); we are shielded by God’s power, even as we suffer grief in all kinds of ways at present. (1 Pet 1:3-7) God is still in charge, no matter what we face, and His discipline has the goal of our wholeness, completeness and ultimately His glory!

Discipline is intended to help us grow and develop as God works with us and walks with us. It may not seem pleasant to us, but it’s a necessary part of being a child of God, and as such, we need to welcome it as a friend instead of treating it as an enemy.

Today is Valentine’s Day, the day when we celebrate love, especially romantic love. ‘Love’ can mean many different things in English, but the ultimate definition of love is found in 1 John 4:8,16 where we are told that ‘God is love.’

1 Cor 13:4-8 gives us a further explanation of what this love looks like:

It’s hard for us to comprehend the scope of these statements. We were created in God’s image (Gen 1:26-27) and because God is love, that means we were created in love and in order to love; we have the capacity to love as God does. Love became tainted through sin when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, but God, in His magnificence, did not forget us but chose to give His Son so that we can have everlasting life and not perish. (John 3:16) God cares for us so much that He wants us to enter into His total love, installing this perfect love in our lives and bearing this love as the fruit of His Spirit. (Gal 5:22-23)

Gal 2:20 reminds us that the life we now live is because the Son of God loved us and gave Himself for us. We are called to take hold of God’s love and let it be outworked in all our thoughts, words and deeds.

What is your raison d’être? The French phrase means ‘reason for being’ and could be said to summarise our purpose in life.

The book of Exodus is pivotal in understanding God’s purposes for His people. It’s the story of His intervention by miraculous means in the lives of His people, leading them out of slavery from Egypt. It’s a ‘type’ or ‘foreshadowing’ of the liberation from the slavery of sin which Jesus obtained for us on the cross, and the notion of freedom through sacrifice – in Exodus, through the sacrifice of the Passover lamb and in the New Testament, through the death of Jesus, our Passover Lamb, on the cross – is one of its main lessons.

Interestingly, however, the book of Exodus goes further than simply being the historical narrative of a nation’s escape from slavery. It points to our very raison d’être, to the whole purpose of life: worship of God. The whole thrust of Moses’s arguments to Pharaoh were based on the command from God, ‘Let my people go so that they may worship me in the wilderness.’ (Ex 7:16, see also Ex 8:1, 20; Ex 9:1, 13; Ex 10:3) Some have commented that the world may well understand our work for God, but they will never understand our worship. Letting a whole nation go to allow them to worship God seemed preposterous to Pharaoh. But worship of God is at the very core of our purpose and we need to ensure it is at the heart of all we do.

LIsten to ‘Made To Worship’ by Chris Tomlin here.

The debate between Paul and the Sanhedrin (Acts 23:1-11) does not go smoothly, with Paul effectively accused of blasphemy and further dispute between the Pharisees and Sadducees who made up the Sanhedrin over the issue of the resurrection (which Paul claims is at the heart of his arrest and which inevitably caused arguments because the Sadducees refused to believe in the possibility of resurrection.) The scene ends, as it did with the crowd, with chaos and the intervention of the Roman commanding officer. But, as Tom Wright comments, “the moment of crisis becomes the moment of vision” (‘Acts For Everyone Pt 2’, P 170), for the Lord appears to Paul in a vision and reassures him that as he has testified about Him in Jerusalem, so he must testify about Him in Rome. (Acts 23:11) This is reminiscent of his vision in Corinth (Acts 18:9-11) and is a feature of a life of faith. We may not talk about these visions much (perhaps because we fear other people’s reactions: after all, hearing voices that do not belong to people is a sign of madness, we are told), but God has always known how to encourage His people, and often, it is the direct word from God – which may come through Scripture, through other people, through visible signs in nature as well as through an audible voice or inescapable impression – which gives us the heart to continue through crises.

Paul might well have doubted that he was doing God’s will since his arrival in Jerusalem had done nothing but provoke opposition and persecution. This vision must have confirmed his sense of vocation, that he needed to go to Rome, that he was, in effect, ‘on the right track.’ Sometimes we doubt ourselves and we doubt that we have heard God properly; despite multiple evidence to the contrary, we still persist in the belief that if we are doing the will of God, this will mean an easy, comfortable ride with no problems or obstacles, and thus when those problems and obstacles occur, our hearts fail and niggling doubts arise (which the enemy is keen to fuel.) God knows that at such times we need His reassurance and encouragement, and so it is often at moments of crisis that God speaks clearly into our situations, lifting us up, giving us fresh vision and hope.

We can’t ‘manufacture’ these moments, but we can certainly be glad for the times when God steps in, reassures us and helps us to carry on by His grace.