Garry continued his series on words associated with ‘Sabbath’ this morning, looking at two Hebrew words which are connected to expectation and hope and then to fulfilment and satisfaction, both crucial aspects of our gathering together when we keep the Sabbath.

‘Seber‘ means to put under close scrutiny and examine and from this leads to the idea of hope and expectation. We find this in Esther 9:1, when the officials who had plotted against the Jews were expecting or hoping for the king’s edict to be carried out. (It wasn’t, because of God’s intervention!) The idea of hoping and expecting is also closely connected to waiting (see Ps 119:166, when the psalmist talks of waiting for God’s salvation). When we gather together, we re-focus and put our hope in God, but so often, our expectations are not met because we have wrong ideas about God and the ways He works (as exemplified by Job’s comforters, who persistently said that his suffering was as a result of his sin, which was not the case at all.) Ps 34 reflects how we can taste and see that God is good, how our spiritual experience leads to spiritual knowledge and how we long for this to be shared by others. As we align ourselves with who God is and the ways He works (understanding the difference between ‘the God we want and the God who is’, as Casting Crowns put it), we find that He brings us satisfaction. Our gathering together, therefore, must involve anticipation, hope and expectation (see Ps 42:1-2), but these must be mingled with faith (Heb 11:6).

What can we expect, then, when we meet with God? We can expect:

1. God to speak to us (through preaching, praise, prophecy, tongues, interpretation, words of knowledge and wisdom)

2. God to move in power by His Spirit

3. God to convict, encourage and enlighten

We find satisfaction and fulfilment in God (the Hebrew word is ‘saba’ and means to be filled to overflowing, as the Israelites experienced in the wilderness in Ex 16:6-11.) The psalms often speak of this satisfaction (Ps 63:5, Ps 65:4) and Paul tells the Romans ‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’ (Rom 15:13) As we put our hope in God and understand who He is, we find He keeps His promises and is completely faithful, reliable and trustworthy. Our souls are satisfied and we find that in God, we can stand firm on His promises and know fulfilment in every area of life.

Christianity is concerned with the now. The now is all we have; as someone has once said, playing on the synonyms ‘gift’ and ‘present’ and on the dual use of the word ‘present’ in the English language (where it can mean both ‘gift’ and ‘the moment now’), ‘the present is God’s gift to us.’

We are urged not to worry about tomorrow but to live in the moment, rejoicing in all God does for us. Living in the past, haunted by past failures or clinging to past blessings, is not God’s plan for us. Living in the future, fearful of what might happen or dreaming contentedly of how we will shape our world, is also not helpful. The now is the only moment we truly have, a moment we are to seize joyfully and gladly. ‘Let us rejoice and be glad!’ (Ps 118:24)

But Christianity is not only concerned with the now. It acknowledges the need to remember the past (especially what God has done – see 1 Chron 16:12) and to anticipate the future with hope and joy. Christianity has a God who is eternal, who has no beginning and no end and He has made us with eternity in our hearts. (Eccl 3:11) We need to live with an awareness of eternity, not just time!

So Christians are called to live with our eyes fixed on Jesus and to take the long view.

Living in the ‘now’ only makes sense when you have the assurance of eternity. Injustice now is only bearable with the assurance of God’s righteousness at some point. Suffering now is only bearable with the assurance of God’s perfect eternal rest. Without this long-term perspective, the present can crush us and leave us in despair and hopeless.

God’s people have faced tremendous suffering in the past – slavery in Egypt, exile from the promised land, periods of darkness and silence. Hope is the medicine that keeps us going through our ‘light and momentary troubles’ to the ‘glory that far outweighs’ the suffering (2 Cor 4:17-18, Rom 8:18). Michael Card once wrote that we ‘belong to eternity, stranded in time.’ (‘Joy In The Journey’) That is a fair summary of the paradox to which we are called: to live in the now with faith and trust, but always to take the long view.

Jeremiah could face exile knowing there would be a return to the field he had just bought in faith (Jer 29-32). Amos could face exile knowing there would be a time of return. (Amos 9:13-15) Jesus could face the cross because He could look ahead to the joy of bringing salvation to all who would call on His name. (Heb 12:1-3)

If you’re struggling with your present – perhaps finding it difficult, lonely, bewildering and definitely not what you’d expected – remember to hold on in faith. Keep the long view. Don’t give up. The present may be all we have, but we belong to eternity and are still looking ahead to the eternal city promised by God. (Heb 11).

The book of Job has 42 chapters and tackles the universal question of why the innocent suffer. It debunks the notion that cause and effect are inevitably at the heart of suffering (‘we suffer because we sin’), and throughout the book we see different people struggling and wrestling as they try to process this question of human suffering and how a good God can allow so much misery and pain. Job and his friends think at times they have the answers, but working out the ‘mechanics’ of God will always be beyond us. We, the readers, have had a glimpse behind the scenes in Job 1, but even that does not fully answer all our questions.

It’s not until Job 38 that we find God appearing to Job, and even then, it’s not with neatly packaged answers, but with impossible questions. Confronted with God’s awesome power and omniscience and unable to answer His questions, Job can only bow before God in repentance and faith. He can only worship.

Michael Card said, ‘Could it be that questions tell us more than answers ever do?’ (‘Could It Be?‘) Answers are what we seek from God so often. But answers are sometimes beyond our understanding and leave us at a distance still. Questions invite us further into our relationship with God, into struggling and wrestling perhaps, but into a deeper intimacy and personal relationship.

The questions God ask Job remind us of the wonder and majesty of God. They look beyond our questions (which are usually bound up in our own lives and limited understanding) and remind us not only of the ‘bigger question’ but of the bigness of God Himself.

I find it interesting that the book of Job does not answer our questions, but instead introduces us to God’s. Life is about more than knowing all the answers. Life is about worship and wonder, about the transcendence of God and about our own insignificance in so many ways. Yet God loves us so much that He communicates with us and seeks to draw us further into this amazing relationship with Him. As Rend Collective sing,

“Jesus, One and only

Great and holy, we are Yours.

How our hearts race at Your glory;

Lord Almighty, we are Yours and Yours alone.’ (‘One And Only’, Rend Collective)

Questions and answers both pale into insignificance when we are confronted by the sheer awesomeness of God, when we glimpse His holiness and power. We’re only left with worship as our appropriate response.

In our ‘Churches Together‘ meeting today, we looked at developing a growth mindset. Developing a growth mindset means we commit ourselves to growing, which means:

• embracing new challenges (instead of running away from them)

• developing perseverance (instead of giving up easily)

• being kind to ourselves (rather than always being critical of ourselves)

• learning from criticism (instead of being crushed by it)

• seeing life as a journey that’s worth the effort (instead of believing life is pointless)

• being inspired by other people’s successes (rather than being put off by them)

• helping and nurturing other people (instead of always criticising or judging them)

• believing that with God, nothing is impossible (instead of always looking at limitations)

We believe that God wants to work in our lives to bring us to maturity in Christ (Eph 4:15-16, Rom 8:29) and that for us to become mature means being willing to change and to grow. Often, this involves challenging our wrong thinking and allowing our minds to be renewed and our thinking to be transformed. (Rom 12:1-2) It’s a process (rather than a one-off event) and takes our commitment and determination. We have to learn to ‘think outside the box’ and do things differently… which can be terrifying for cautious, risk-averse people, but ‘with God, nothing is impossible.’ (Luke 1:37)

The natural world around us shows us the importance of planting to growth. It’s true that weeds seem to sprout up anywhere and everywhere without any planting required, but if we want to have a beautiful garden, we must plan it and plant what we hope to grow. It may be flowers; it may be trees; it may be fruit and vegetables, but if we want to reap, we first have to sow.

All gardening, it seems to me, is an act of faith, for what we sow or plant looks nothing like what we reap or harvest. The seed bears little resemblance to the finished product, a principle we see replicated in the spiritual life (see 1 Cor 15:35-49, John 12:23-26). At the same time, it’s clear that we reap what we sow. (Gal 6:7-10) You don’t get figs from thistle trees. (Matt 7:16) We have to sow what we want to reap; it’s as simple as that.

Growth requires planting, watering, weeding and pruning and, of course, the right weather conditions. We have control over some of those things (which is why gardening and farming are hard work!), but we don’t have control over everything. In simple terms, it’s God who makes things grow. (1 Cor 3:6-7) We always need to remember God’s part in the process: He’s the One who does the miraculous work; we are co-workers with Him.

This month, we have sent out packets of flower seeds to many people to plant. It seems an odd thing to do in July (seeds are generally planted earlier in the year and come to flower in summer), but as we consider spiritual growth, the flower seeds are a reminder to us that sometimes things take longer than we want or expect and also that we must plant in faith. Faith is that invisible ingredient so necessary for spiritual growth. Heb 11:6 tells us that without faith it’s impossible to please God.

The flower seeds are a symbol of the spiritual growth we are praying for in our area. As people plant these when they can and see beautiful, colourful flowers grow, we believe that we can sow seeds of faith, love, kindness, joy and hope in our local communities which will grow into a beautiful harvest in God’s time. We believe that our actions and lives can have a positive impact on our community and that God will use us to bring in a harvest of people who want to know Him for themselves. We believe this by faith. We are called to live by faith and not by sight. (2 Cor 5:7) So as you plant in your gardens, we pray you’ll mix your planting and gardening with faith and look forward not only to seeing photos of beautiful flowers in the months to come but to a harvest of people coming to know God as their Saviour and Friend.

Most of us feel quite comfortable with the idea of effort and hard work resulting in rewards, whether that is higher pay, more holidays or other bonuses. We find a certain satisfaction in the idea that merit brings its own rewards, and conversely often find it difficult to accept salvation as God’s free gift. It would be easier if we could balance our goodness and moral acts and conclude that we deserve God’s grace and help.

Unfortunately, the gospel does not work like that. Paul makes it plain in Romans 1-3 that no amount of good works or righteousness can ever be enough to save us. We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. (Rom 3:23) Our only hope, therefore, is in the generosity and grace of God, meaning we are made righteous through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and not because of our own merit or righteousness.

When we think about spiritual growth, we may start by grace, but the old way of doing things often creeps back, something Paul had to contend with when he wrote to the Galatians. (Gal 3:1-9) We can very easily start to think that spiritual growth comes by doing good works and following the law. In natural terms, we may associate growth with the care and products used by the farmer, forgetting that so many things – the weather, for example – are beyond his control. It can be the same spiritually, with people associating good practices (prayer, reading the Word, witnessing and so on) with their actual growth and somehow rendering God obsolete in our thinking.

Jesus made it plain, however, that growth is absolutely dependent on our relationship with Him. He said, ‘Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.’ (John 15:4) He said, ‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing’ (John 15:5)

For the vine, growth is equated with fruitfulness. The same is true of us, for Paul urges us to allow the fruit of the Spirit to grow and flourish in our lives – fruit which can be seen in our behaviour and attitudes. (Gal 5:22-23) Living God’s way means allowing Him to bring gifts into our lives: ‘He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.’ (Gal 5:22-23, The Message) But fruit does not grow through the efforts of the grapes (as the story Basil the Branch illustrated!) In that story, Basil the branch desperately wanted to grow grapes through sheer effort alone. He had to learn that growth came through resting, remaining, abiding in the vine.

Jesus said, ‘if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.’ (John 15:7-8, The Message) Growth in the spiritual realm is as natural, organic and intimate as it is in the physical realm, and it all starts by abiding in Jesus and letting His words have free rein in our lives.