Dave spoke this morning from Philippians 1:3-6 about confidence. As we enter November, having put the clocks back last week, we are aware of the approach of winter and this, coupled with the ongoing concerns about the pandemic and the impending second lockdown, have caused confusion and frustration among many people. Church services are far from ‘normal’ and things seem unlikely to improve in the near future, so the idea of confidence in anyone or anything seems remote. Nonetheless, Paul’s letter to the Philippians reminds us that we can, and need to, retain confidence in God.

Confidence is a quiet, assured awareness that God is in control. Paul reminds us that God always completes what He starts and that He is trustworthy. Gladys Aylward, missionary to China, was once facing an apparently impossible situation and felt desperate because ‘I am not Moses.’ She was reminded, ‘No, but God is still God.’ There are universal truths about God which mean we can still be a confident people, no matter what our circumstances.

Confidence in God’s People

Paul thanks God for the Philippians; he is grateful for their ongoing support and fellowship and partnership in the Gospel. (Phil 1:3) We too can be thankful for each member of our church, for God has drawn us all together and has things for us to do. Each one of us is valuable and important.

Confidence in God’s Plans

God begins and completes all His plans and purposes. He has not finished with any one of us yet, and we can be assured that whilst we are all still works in progress, God will not abandon us; He doesn’t leave any job unfinished. In the words of Magnus Magnusson on ‘Mastermind’, God says, ‘I’ve started, so I’ll finish!’

Confidence in the Provision of God

Paul prays for the Philippians (Phil 1:9-11) and reminds us that God will supply all we need. (Phil 4:19) Jeremiah reminds us that there is nothing too hard for the Lord. So often, we may ask God for wrong things or ask with wrong motives, but there are things which God will always be pleased to answer, such as our prayers for unity, spiritual growth and the salvation of people. We need to pray, seek God’s face and obey what He tells us to do, and if we do that, then His provision for us is assured.

Jesus assured Peter that He would build His church (Matt 16:18), and He is still doing this. We can, because of this, still be confident and joyful, no matter what.

We will be meeting this morning at 10.30 a.m. and 6.00 p.m. and also llvestreaming these services on Facebook Live. Because of the Government’s announcement yesterday, however, it will not be possible to meet in the church building from Thursday 5th November until Thursday 3rd December at the earliest, and so all services between those dates will be available only via Zoom and Facebook live.

This is obviously not what we want at all, and we are very aware of the different pressures on people (both church members and the wider community) because of the current situation. As a church, we want to continue to support our local community (as we did this week through our ‘Light Into Our Lives’ event) and the wider community (as we hope to do through the Samaritan’s Purse Christmas appeal.) Please pray as we work through how we can continue to bless others in practical ways even while we are not able to meet together. We also want to be able to provide pastoral support and encouragement and would encourage all of us to pray for each other and reach out as much as possible (phone calls, texts, video calls and so on.) The regulations allow us to meet one person from another household outdoors (in parks, playgrounds, public gardens, the countryside or beaches) and if anyone would like to meet Julie in this way, please just let her know.

Online services (via Zoom and Facebook Live) will be held on Sundays at 10.30 a.m. and 6.00 p.m. and our midweek meeting is on Thursdays. This will be at 7 p.m. (not 7.30 p.m.) while it is online. Julie will also continue to sing nursery rhymes and read stories for our toddlers on Fridays at 10.45 a.m. (on Facebook live only.)

It’s crucial that we remain rooted and grounded in Christ and rest in the knowledge that no matter how bleak the situation may look to human eyes, God is still in control and we are called to be a people of faith and not fear. I love the encouragement provided in Ps 94:18-19. When we cry out to God in desperation, He hears and answers!

One of the things we have found difficult about lockdown and the present situation is the restrictions on our movements, including the freedom to travel wherever and whenever we want. Holidays and exploration have been taken for granted for many years, and the human desire to explore the world is ancient (captured in epics such as Homer’s ‘Odyssey’ and Virgil’s ‘Iliad’ as well as more modern epics, such as Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of The Rings.’) Life itself can be likened to a journey (where memories of ‘where we’ve been’ are related to ‘what has happened to us’, as Tom Wright puts it), and certainly journeys feature in the Old Testament narratives of God’s people, from Abraham’s journey from Harran through the wilderness wanderings as the people of God went from Egypt to the Promised Land to the people’s exile and return home seventy years later.

Luke’s account in Acts homes in on real people in real places and we see once again in Acts 20 the importance of geography. As a student of A Level history many years ago, one topic involved the Renaissance explorers (men such as Vasco da Gama, Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh and Christopher Columbus) who discovered worlds and made their countries rich as a result (a subject I will not explore here!) I hated the topic because it involved geography and I could never fathom who was sailing where and why they ended up where they did (which was often not where they thought they were going!) I had chosen to study history; why did I have to learn all this geography?! However, as I have grown older, I see the value in geography and agree with Eugene Peterson’s comment that ‘all theology is rooted in geography.’ (‘Under the Unpredictable Plant’) The gospel spread through Paul’s missionary journeys (some of which were planned and some which really weren’t, such as landing in Malta after being shipwrecked!), and it’s perhaps no surprise that at this point in Luke’s narrative, we find Paul in Troas (ancient Troy), about to set off for Rome, just as Virgil’s hero travelled from Troy to Rome.

Heroes don’t always look the way we expect them to, and it’s interesting that the modern superheroes in comics (and subsequently films) are usually angst-ridden in some way (think of Bruce Wayne’s orphaned state, the emotional trauma of Ben (The Thing) or the guilt felt by Matt Murdock (DareDevil)). Life is a journey; heroes are actually ordinary people. The book of Acts taps into all these things, showing us ultimately that these miraculous ‘acts’ are actually fuelled by God working through ordinary people in ordinary places – and if God’s in on the act, then anything can happen!

Acts 20:7-12 gives us a sneak peek into the life of Paul in a place called Troas, where he stayed for a week. It was an eventful week (how could we expect anything less of Paul?!) which resulted in the miracle of a young man called Eutychus being raised from the dead after falling from a third storey window during a Sunday service. The context of this incident is the regular worship life of the early church, and it becomes clear as we read these verses that this consisted mainly of two elements: a celebration of the Lord’s Supper and teaching from God’s word (which obviously went on for a long time, since Eutychus, sitting on the window ledge, fell asleep and then literally fell from the window.)

John Stott makes the observation that, “What builds up the church more than anything else is the ministry of God’s word as it comes to us through Scripture and Sacrament (that is the right coupling), audibly and visibly, in declaration and drama.” (John Stott, ‘Acts’, P 321) Sacrament and Scripture were thus combined in the early church’s services, and the universal church “has followed suit ever since.” (ibid.) God speaks to His people through His Word, both as it is read and expounded from Scripture and as it is dramatised in the two gospel sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s Supper.) These sacraments are symbolic, demonstrating to us the newness of life Jesus has purchased for us and the ongoing life we experience as we feed on Him. It’s worth remembering the importance of these aspects of church life, even as we include other things such as sung worship and prayer in our services, for nothing quite focuses our attention on God as these two things.

Gary Glitter and Mike Leander wrote the song ‘I’m The Leader Of The Gang’ which rose to Number 1 in the pop charts in July 1973. It was a glam rock anthem based on a simple mid-tempo rhythm (the so-called “Glitter Stomp”) and loud chanted backing vocals such as “Hey!” and “Come on, come on!” If ever we needed reminding of the herd instinct with people (the need to belong!), this song clearly demonstrated this.

Gangs can, of course, lead us astray or become violent; they are often associated with criminal behaviour and activity. But the need to belong, to be part of something, is a very human instinct, and in some ways, the church could be described as ‘God’s Gang’. He is our leader and we are His followers. The New Testament does not really talk about lone Christians, but assumes God’s people will be part of a local gathering (the church, or ‘called-out ones’).

Paul is often seen as the great apostle, travelling all over the world, but as Luke makes clear in the book of Acts, he did not do this alone. On his first missionary journey, he was accompanied by Barnabas and John Mark; on his second, by Silas and later Timothy and Luke. In Acts 20:4, we see another list of people travelling with Paul, including Sopater, Secundus, Gaius, Aristarchus, Timothy, Tychicus and Trophimus. We know very little about these people, although their home towns reflect the success of Paul’s missionary journeys since they represent Berea, Thessalonica, Philippi, Derbe, Lystra and Ephesus, and the fact they were travelling with Paul indicates both the growth and the unity of the early church. It’s encouraging to see, as John Stott points out, that the fruits of mission had now become the agents of mission: this reflects how growth begets growth. It’s notable also that Paul was no lone ranger. He needed and valued the help and companionship of other people and frequently wrote of this. We all need to belong; we all need people. Ultimately, this is one of the ways that God helps us to grow.

In Acts 20, we see Paul engaged on further travels, and wherever he went, it seems that one of his goals was to encourage believers. He encouraged the believers in Ephesus before leaving them (Acts 20:1) and then travelled through Macedonia, ‘speaking many words of encouragement to the people.’ (Acts 20:2) We have already seen that encouragement was one of the most important ministries mentioned in Acts (see Acts 11:23, Acts 15:32, Acts 16:40) and have already commented on Barnabas’s role as a ‘son of encouragement’ (see Acts 4:36).

Encouragement is defined as the action of giving someone support, confidence, or hope. Synonyms include support, help, uplifting, refreshing and consolation. The word used in Greek is ‘parakaleo’ and has a range of meaning from appeal and entreaty through exhortation and encouragement to comfort and consolation, and the related noun is the name of the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Helper, Comforter and Supporter, the One who ‘comes alongside us’ to lead and guide us.

John Stott comments that ‘encouragement is a vital ministry in establishing Christian disciples and is done primarily through the word of God. Nothing encourages and strengthens the people of God like the Word of God.’ (John Stott, ‘Acts’, P 316) Paul defines encouragement as a ministry gift (see Rom 12:8) and frequently talks of the need for us to encourage each other (see 1 Thess 4:18; 1 Thess 5:11, 14; 2 Thess 2:16-17). It is interesting that he tells the Romans: ‘through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope’ (Rom 15:4), indicating that God’s word is ultimately the reliable fuel of our encouragement. God gives endurance and encouragement (Rom 15:5) and the writer to the Hebrews urges us to remember God’s words of encouragement (Heb 12:5), reminding us of the need to encourage each other daily so that we are not hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. (Heb 3:13)

Encouragement can come in different forms – a phone-call, text, email or visit, perhaps, or a gift or offer of practical help – but it is inevitably personal and needs to be rooted in God’s word if it is to have a lasting impact. The effects of encouragement are many. Disconsolate and disheartened people can be refreshed and uplifted; those who are feeling weary and on the point of giving up can be given fresh courage and strength. We need God’s encouragement and should remember that this is one of the chief ways we can help others. May our ‘many words of encouragement’ be the source of hope and strength for others as Paul’s were to the churches he had founded.