Birthday celebrations all feel a bit strange still, but it was good to celebrate Jade’s birthday tonight.

Dave spoke this evening from 1 John 3:1-3, verses which remind us of our identity as Christians – we are children of God. Dr Martin Lloyd-Jones once said that we are unhappy because we fail to realise what a Christian is; we need to understand that those who believe in Jesus are born of Him (1 John 2:29) and that to be His children is a truly amazing fact which affects our lives right here and right now. So often, we assume that things will only happen in the future (when we see Jesus), and it’s true that until that day, we will not be totally like Jesus, but we are right now children of God and can enter into eternal life now and not just in the future.

Paul prayed for the Ephesians to have their spiritual eyes opened (Eph 1:17-19), and we need our eyes opening to understand that being born again is not just a fashionable or popular term but an experience whereby God’s Spirit leads us into God’s family. (John 3:3-6) Being a child of God is not just a label; it is a description of who we are and that description leads to changes in our lifestyle. The world may not understand us or recognise us, but we know who we are and that knowledge is meant to lead us on a quest towards personal holiness. We no longer desire the things of the world (see 1 John 2:15-17) and as we fix our eyes on Jesus, we realise that we are undergoing a personal transformation now that will be completed when we see Him (see 2 Cor 3:18). We have the hope of one day being just like Jesus and this journey should motivate us towards change right here and right now.

God describes His word as a fire, a hammer and as a sword:

Both these descriptions show us that God’s word is powerful and active. Fire purges. Nothing looks the same again after fire. A hammer seems a small tool, but it has the strength and power to break hardened rock into pieces. A sword can pierce materials, even skin; it can wound and even kill. God’s word is powerful. It cuts into our lives; it challenges our thoughts and lifestyles and behaviour; it challenges us. If it doesn’t do this, perhaps it’s because our ears are blocked or our hearts are hardened.

Ps 40:6 says, ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire— but my ears you have opened.’ In the Hebrew, that literally reads ‘ears you have dug for me.’ We need God to open our ears so we can hear what He is saying to us (see Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 29; Rev 3:6, 13, 22) – even the quietest whisper (‘I hear this most gentle whisper from One I never guessed would speak to me.’ (Ps 81:5, The Message)

As we hear God’s voice (that Shepherd’s voice described in John 10), our attention is captured, our hearts are captivated and our behaviour is then changed. Eugene Peterson says, “Christians feed on Scripture. Holy Scripture nurtures the holy community as food nurtures the human body. Christians don’t simply learn or study or use Scripture: we assimilate it, take it into our lives in such a way that it gets metabolised into acts of love; cups of cold water; missions into all the world; healing and evangelism and justice in the name of Jesus; hands raised in adoration of the Father; feet washed in company with the Son.” (‘Eat This Book’, Eugene Peterson) As truth is assimilated into our lives and outworked in our behaviour, God’s word will not return empty.

This morning we looked back at all we have learned from studying Paul’s letter to the Philippians, a series we started in April during lockdown. This short letter has so much to teach us, especially about rejoicing when circumstances seem far from ideal, but it’s not enough simply to hear sermons or read the Bible: we need to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest, until truth becomes assimilated into our lives, capturing our attention, captivating our hearts and changing our behaviour.

Chapter 1

In this chapter, we learned that God is in control, no matter what the circumstances, and can use everything for good. We also learned about praying for others with depth – so that faith, hope and love are developed in each one of us. Key verses here remind us that God starts what He begins (Phil 1:6) and that we live ultimately in a win-win situation: ‘for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.’ (Phil 1:21)

Chapter 2

Here, we learn to follow the example of Jesus, who showed us that ‘down is the new up!’ – humility coming before exaltation.) If we want to follow Him, it will mean learning to value others above ourselves in humility and looking to the interests of others rather than to our own. (Phil 2:3-4) It’s a challenge for us at present when there’s so much emphasis on isolation and separation to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but the Christian life can’t successfully be lived in isolation. We are part of the body of Christ, and God wants us to live out our faith alongside other people. He wants us to learn to serve each other in love and to care for each other, but this happens only as we look to the example of Jesus and learn from Him.

Life ultimately is a partnership with God and ‘Team Church’, where there is a combination of our work and God’s (Phil 2:13-14) and every individual matters.

Chapter 3

Here, we learned about rejoicing always and how this comes about as we pursue Jesus, letting go of the past and straining towards the prize to which He has called us. (Phil 3:4-14) Knowing Jesus is at the heart of faith: ‘I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.’ (Phil 3:8) This means taking God as He is, knowing both the suffering and the glory.

Paul goes on to urge the Philippians to ‘join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.’ (Phil 3:17) This is a challenge for us all, but people need role models and God calls us to grow to become more like Him.

Chapter 4

This is a chapter like an expanding suitcases full of advice and promises that can change our attitudes completely. We are called to stand firm in Christ (Phil 4:1) and shown how to do this:

• Rejoice in the Lord always (Phil 4:4) – because He never changes and is working for good in our lives. Rejoicing is the source of our strength and builds us up spiritually more quickly than anything else.

• Know God’s nearness to us always (Phil 4:5) – God’s presence being the anchor for our souls and the source of our spiritual life.

• Know freedom from anxiety and fear as we bring everything to God in prayer and petition with thanksgiving (Phil 4:6-7)

• Know the peace of God which transcends all understanding (Phil 4:7) – guarding our hearts and our minds so that we will not fear as the world fears. Isaiah said, ‘do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it.’ (Is 8:12) How much do we as believers need to take that verse and hold on to it by faith! We must not dread coronavirus; we must not live in fear, for Jesus said, ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27) God is the only One we have to fear, and if we fear Him, we need not fear anything else.

• Get control of your thought life, because if you do that, you will see life from God’s perspective and will never again be adversely influenced by what other people say and do. (Phil 4:8)

• Live in contentment, no matter what the external circumstances (Phil 4:12).

• Live in Christ’s strength and not your own: ‘I can do all this through Christ who gives me strength.’ (Phil 4:13)

• Live in the vast, unlimited provision of God: ‘my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.’ (Phil 4:19)

Do you sleep well? How easily do you wake up in a morning? Are you one of those people who are awake before the alarm goes off? Or are you one who has to have three alarms set before you even stir?

Waking up is a daily experience for us all. Some of us bounce out of bed like Tigger, instantly awake and alert.

Some of us seem more like zombies in a morning, rousing gradually, needing copious amounts of caffeine to even begin to function.

The Bible says that God wakens us ‘morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.’ (Is 50:4) We are urged repeatedly in Scripture to ‘wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.’ (Rom 13:11) Paul says, ‘Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’ (Eph 5:14) The Holy Spirit spoke to one church, saying, ‘Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God.’ (Rev 3:2)

Now is not the time to sleep. It’s not night-time. We are children of the day and we should be awake and sober. (1 Thess 5:6) We belong to the day and need to be fully dressed in the armour of God for the battle ahead. (Eph 6:10-18)

“Since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” (1 Thess 5:8)

We need to wake up, to rise from our slumber and engage in spiritual warfare, interceding for our world before the throne of God, pleading with God for mercy. The ancient message to Israel still applies: “Awake, awake, Zion, clothe yourself with strength! Put on your garments of splendour, Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again. Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, Daughter Zion, now a captive.” (Is 52:1-2)

Deliverance is defined as ‘the action of being rescued or set free’, and in spiritual terms, it often refers to God’s intervention in human situations which would otherwise result in distress or death. We think of how God delivered His people from Egypt, when His people were facing the prospect of being drowned in the Red Sea or killed by Pharaoh’s chariots, but God stepped in to part the Red Sea, giving them a way through and an escape from slavery. (Ex 14-15) We think of Ruth and Naomi, bereaved and bereft, finding salvation in the generosity and kindness of Boaz. (Ruth 1-4) We think of the Jewish people, under threat from the plots of Haman, rescued thanks to the intervention of Mordecai and Esther’s appeal to the king (Esther). Deliverance, whether personal or for a whole nation, is what happens when God steps into the situation and does the impossible. The psalmists frequently spoke of this kind of rescue:

• ‘I will exalt you, Lord,

  for you lifted me out of the depths

      and did not let my enemies gloat over me.

  Lord my God, I called to you for help,

      and you healed me.

  You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead;

      you spared me from going down to the pit.’ (Ps 30:1-3)

• ‘He reached down from on high and took hold of me;

  he drew me out of deep waters.

  He rescued me from my powerful enemy,

      from my foes, who were too strong for me.’ (Ps 18:16-17)

• ‘In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them.’ (Ps 22:4)

• ‘I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.’ (Ps 34:4)

• ‘For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.’ (Ps 56:13)

In Ephesus, deliverance came in an unlikely form: the town clerk (who is not even given a name in the text!) spoke to the silversmiths and other rioters and effectively quashed the complaints against Paul and his companions. (Acts 19:35-41) It’s worth pondering from this that God can use anyone He likes to do His will (even those who may not know Him or acknowledge Him, as we see when Cyrus, a foreign king, allowed God’s people to return from exile, thus fulfilling God’s plans) and that deliverance may or may not look supernatural or spectacular. I’m sure this ‘ordinary’ conversation, which saw the malcontents drift away disconsolately without causing any more trouble, could have been easily dismissed as human intervention, but Paul saw it as God’s deliverance: ‘He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again.’ (2 Cor 1:10) We should not despise the ordinary, for God can use the everyday and the ordinary to work for our deliverance and protection.