I’m back pondering the mysteries of nature and the amazing gifts God has given us in the great variety of flowers we can find all around. There is so much that this single sunflower is teaching me! (Thanks to David Trelawny-Ross for sharing the photos with us.)

Before it blossoms, the petals are curled up on itself and the dominant colour is the green supporting the flower. Gradually, the petals begin to unfurl, and this flower reaches out towards the sun; its French name (‘le tournesol’) literally means to turn towards the sun. When I was a child, Greek singer Nana Mouskouri sang a song called ‘Le Tournesol’ with the lyrics,

‘Le tournesol, le tournesol

N’a pas besoin d’une boussole,

Ni d’arc-en-ciel, ni d’arc-en-ciel,

Pour se tourner vers le soleil.’

At the time, I was too young to understand the song’s lyrics, but now I know that she was singing that the sunflower has no need of a compass or a rainbow to turn itself towards the sun; this is something built into the flower. God’s amazing creation has its own built-in homing device; as the petals unfold, they do so with the flower turning, stretching, reaching out towards the sunshine. In the same way, we can be like that flower: initially curled up tightly, marred by sin, crippled by life’s misfortunes, hiding ourselves away. It’s only as the light of the gospel touches our lives that we begin to uncurl, opening up in exactly the same way that the sunflower does.  ^‘For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.’ (2 Cor 4:6)

Turning towards the sun (and towards the Son) enables us to blossom, to flourish, to become like the fully-opened sunflower, whose yellow petals (ray florets) and inner part (disk florets) now dominate, hiding the green that was previously the dominant colour. When God’s light shines in our hearts, the past is dealt with; we become new creations (2 Cor 5:17). We are set free from condemnation, sin, shame and guilt. (Rom 8:1) We can now live our lives unfurled, faces reflecting God’s glory: ‘whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.’ (2 Cor 3:16-18)

From the example of Joseph we can see how God keeps His word.

First, He does this by not throwing up our past. We all have things of which we are ashamed, times when we did things we shouldn’t have, or we didn’t do things we should have. When Jesus died upon the Cross, He took our sin and His promise is that “He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them.” (Hebrews 7:25) He will wash our sins away by the blood of His Son, “as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12) Pharaoh never knew about the awful past of the brothers because the love of Joseph buried their past and kept it from him. God does not keep reminding us of our past; we can have a fresh start in Him.

Secondly, Joseph demonstrates how God keeps His promises in the way that he continued to care for his brothers after their arrival in Egypt. Pharaoh said, “the land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen.” (Genesis 47:6) Goshen was a fertile section of Egypt, a much favoured place, excellent for grazing and certain types of agriculture. As a result of Joseph’s care, they would have the very best. They would live in the midst of plenty while the world around was in famine. They also had the ear of the king. They could go to Pharaoh any time they wanted, because they could do it through Joseph their brother.

We too have this promise as God’s children. We can go to God any time we want, because we can do it through Jesus, our brother: “And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:19) We have tremendous privileges because we are God’s children. Just as God had sent Joseph to Egypt where he could gain the ear of Pharaoh and be in a position to speak for his family, so God has provided Jesus to speak for us to God, to intercede for us and allow us access to the riches of God.

During the recent pandemic, many people have asked, ‘Where is God in this situation?’ – a question that has been asked throughout history when people face suffering. Dave spoke tonight about Jacob’s family, a godly family that suffered over 20 years of guilt and despair as they came to terms with the absence of their brother. The disappearance of this young man created a vacuum in the family from which they never really recovered.

Usually when we think of this family, our attention is focussed on Joseph, but tonight we looked at the eleven brothers – ‘trophies of God’s grace – examples of what God can do, even with those who have greatly sinned.’ These brothers were angered by Joseph and his dreams and therefore felt justified in selling him into slavery and pretending to their father that he had been killed, but they lived with the guilt of what they had done. Yet when famine came upon their land, they went to Egypt and found out that Joseph was still alive and ultimately agreed to return to live there. They didn’t rebel against Jacob even though they knew that Jacob still felt the same way about Joseph, his favourite son, as he had always done. Neither did they divide, with some staying and the others going. They all went to Egypt, the whole family, because they realised God’s hand was in this. (Gen 45:5)

Joseph freely forgave his brothers, but they had to learn to accept that they had been forgiven by the one that they had tried to harm and that meant they had to swallow their pride. They also showed that they had changed, that their lives and their attitudes were different. Instead of being resentful of Joseph’s success, they were willing to go and to live under his authority and protection.

In this whole episode we have a picture of how the Lord Jesus Christ feels about His brothers. “Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.” (Hebrews 2:11) Just as Joseph was not ashamed to let everyone know about his brothers and show his true feelings, so Jesus was not ashamed to weep over the death of his friend or over the city of Jerusalem. Just as Joseph was not afraid to present his brothers to Pharaoh, so Jesus is not ashamed to present us to the Father, faultless and without blame. We have been accepted into God’s family and are welcomed before God; Jesus lives to intercede for us (Heb 7:25) even as Joseph asked Pharaoh for good land for his family to live on. The privileges we have as God’s children are so great!

As a child, I grew up with a sports-mad Dad and an aversion to doing sport myself. I went along with my Dad to football and cricket matches and learnt English and world geography through accompanying him to football grounds watching Barnsley F. C. and following England tours abroad. I watched golf, horse-riding, rugby league and rugby union on television and followed the more obscure sports in the Olympics as well as winter sports with him. I loved learning the different rules of sport and loved the camaraderie of being a supporter. Wimbledon was one of my favourite tournaments; I enjoyed watching tennis in the 1980s in particular and was a huge Borg fan.

But as far as participating in sport was concerned, I hated that. My poor eyesight, left-handedness and lack of spatial awareness meant I was never going to be in anyone’s top-11 for team sports, and I was no better at individual sports. At school I had to play hockey, rounders, tennis and take part in gymnastics and athletics, all of which became the most dreaded hour of the week for me. I knew the rules. I knew what I was supposed to do. But actually doing what I was supposed to do just never seemed to happen. And the shame and humiliation of that haunted me for many years. I was gifted academically, but when it came to sport – which I loved to watch, admiring the skill, tactics, physical and mental strength required – I was at the bottom of the class, and my pride was badly dented.

There’s a huge difference between participating in something and being a spectator. It was years before as an adult I took part in any physical activity, finally taking to swimming to help my health, and I still can’t say I enjoy sport or exercise in any shape or form, even though I have got used to the benefits of them and realise the need to participate. But I know full well there’s an involvement from participation which can’t fully be explored through the act of being a spectator, however fanatical a fan you are (and believe me, I have been that fanatical fan…)

Many people, it seems to me, have the same tension between participator and spectator when it comes to ‘Team Church.’ We teach and preach all the time about every individual being a vital team member, but many people would rather be a spectator when it comes to church than a participator. There can be all kinds of reasons behind this, including my familiar feeling that ‘I’m-no-good-at-this-so-I’d-better-not-even-try’ and a sense of shame and humiliation (‘what if I get it wrong?’) I can remember the first time I attended a Church of England service – I had no idea how to follow a service sheet or what was meant by ‘responses’ –  feeling terrified that I would be standing when I was supposed to sit or sitting when I was supposed to stand. All these things make it difficult for us to learn what it means to find our place in the body of Christ.

Online meetings have been a great blessing to us during the pandemic, but they are fuel for the idea that church is a spectator sport. It really isn’t. Church isn’t about passively sitting in a meeting and letting others do everything. Paul tells the Corinthians, ‘When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.’ (1 Cor 14:26) To the Ephesians, he said, ‘speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.’ (Eph 5:19) That sounds to me like involvement, participation, not passive spectating!

So when we gather together in person next week, what will you be? A participator or a spectator? There’ll be opportunities to pray and to tell other people something of what God has been doing in your life over these past four months. There’ll be opportunities to talk to each other and build each other up, perhaps bringing verses of Scripture or hymns and songs which have blessed you recently. The challenge for us all is to move from being people who know the rules, know how to spectate and keep God and other people at arm’s length… and become participators, sharing from our hearts and seeking to bless God and build people up. Which will you choose to be?

In the Message version, Phil 2:14-16 says, ‘Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I’ll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You’ll be living proof that I didn’t go to all this work for nothing.’ I think this is a really good way of getting the meaning across to us:

• Do everything readily and cheerfully – a cheerful heart is good medicine, after all! (Prov 15:13) Having this positive attitude really makes a difference to our own lives and the lives of those we meet. We all instinctively feel better when we are around cheerful people, and we feel better when we ourselves determine to be positive. Being cheerful is a choice. It’s determined by where we put our focus and how we choose to be. Grumbling and complaining happen because that’s what we choose to focus on and how we choose to respond. Circumstances don’t have to be the deciding factor in how we live.

• Don’t spend all your time bickering and arguing or even second-guessing people’s motives. Be open, honest and forgiving with people. Life is really too short to hold grudges. Bickering, arguing, grumbling and complaining eat us up from the inside and make us miserable, resentful, bitter people. Give people the benefit of the doubt. Learn to see from someone else’s perspective. We serve a God of ‘countless second chances’ (‘Second Chance’, Rend Collective) and need to embrace those for ourselves and offer them to others.

• Understand that when we live as God wants us to, we are like a breath of fresh air in our world, for we live in a squalid and polluted society. We live in a world that is negative and selfish. When we live God’s way, putting each other first, being unselfish, acting out of love, then we give people snapshots of what God is like; we give people ‘a glimpse of good living and of the living God.’ That’s a powerful witness to the world.

• Recognise your God-given identity as ‘light of the world.’ (Matt 5:14) We may not feel like light, but this is what Jesus, Himself the Light of the World, said to His followers. Paul wants us to ‘carry the light-giving Message into the night.’ Again, it’s not about our light per se; it’s about letting God’s light shine from us so that others can see God’s light. The Message version says, ‘By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.’ (Matt 5:14-16) As we work together and live out God’s light, we can be part of God’s winning partnership and see others come to faith in Him.

In this partnership between us, God and ‘Team Church’, each person has a vital role to play.

God’s role is great: without Him, we can’t be saved, and He is the One who both begins and completes the good work in each one of us! (Phil 1:6) The Message version translates Phil 2:13 as ‘that energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.’ (Phil 2:13, The Message) We rely ultimately on God’s love for us and strength in us as the Holy Spirit dwells in us.

Our part as individuals is to understand what God has done and who we are in God (accepted, chosen, and unconditionally loved) and to let these truths influence, shape and affect how we live. Just as footballers and cricketers can’t just rest on their laurels or reputations but have to train and work hard to be good team players, so we have to follow God with passion and effort, making every effort (as Peter says) to ‘add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.’ (2 Pet 1:5-7) Paul’s advice to individuals spills over into our relationships with others: to ‘do everything without grumbling or arguing.’ (Phil 2:14) Grumbling and arguing were particular problems for the people of Israel in the wilderness wanderings and they are very human characteristics. All of us can easily fall into grumbling or arguing, and most of the time, we don’t even really see these things as a problem. But if a team is to be effective, it has to work together: ‘united we stand, divided we fall.’

God’s plan is that the church acts as a witness to the world, showing people what God is like. No sports fan enjoys watching a team that looks disjointed and at odds with itself. Similarly, Team Church is not much use to our communities if we are disjointed and at odds with each other. Bickering, party strife, holding grudges and arguing for the sake of it are no recommendations for God. There is enough of that in the world. We can’t expect people to believe what we say about God if we are not loving each other and living together in harmony. John said, ‘Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.’ (1 John 2:9-10) Loving each other is the biggest witness we have.

Paul says to the Galatian church, ‘If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.’ (Gal 5:15) It’s a striking image. We have to let go of disagreements and division and let what we believe shape us and mould us so that we can become blameless and pure, so that we can become who we are called to be: ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation, shining like stars, holding firmly to the world of life.’ (Phil 2:15-16) We have to forgive and learn to bear with each other: ‘Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.’ (Eph 4:31-32) Again, this is something we have to do. God won’t get rid of these things for us; there has to be a co-operation with Him that this old way of life has to go. But if we are living in Him, we will want to get rid of all bitterness, range and anger, brawling, malice and slander. We will want to forgive.  Forgiveness is the outworking of a forgiven heart.