The ‘Kick’ We Need

Oct 13, 2024

In Luke 1 we read about two miraculous pregnancies and how the women involved (Elizabeth and Mary) responded. Mary visits her relative Elizabeth after being told by an angel that she will conceive a baby by the Holy Spirit and that her relative ‘who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.’ (Luke 1:36) When Mary arrives, the baby ‘leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.’ (Luke 1:41) Science has demonstrated to us that babies in the womb can hear and respond to voices, but it seems there was a spiritual connection at this point, with Elizabeth’s baby recognising the miracle of the unborn Messiah even from Mary’s voice!
Sarah Davey, in her book ‘Women who met Jesus’, talks about this as a ‘kick.’ Pregnant women down the ages wait to feel the signs of life growing within, the fluttering, the movements, the kicks that are our only signs of life. Nowadays, scans and tests for heartbeats are a routine part of antenatal care, and we are in a privileged position to realise much more of what happens in the gestational period. Still, though, the baby’s movements within are a positive sign that all is going well.
Human gestation takes approximately 40 weeks (9 months), which can feel a very long time! This period for animals varies greatly. A dog’s pregnancy is 64 days on average (about 3 months.) An alpaca’s pregnancy lasts 345 days, almost a year. An African elephant’s pregnancy lasts 655 days, nearly 22 months (almost two years!)
Pregnancy is a time of waiting. The physical changes it brings are visible, but until we hold that baby in our arms, our dreams and hopes are just that: dreams and hopes. It takes birth to have our dreams and hopes fulfilled.
In the spiritual realm, God breathes life into us, giving us dreams, ideas, visions, plans. Faith is ignited within us rather like the meeting of the ovum and the sperm which results in conception. Our spirit and God’s Spirit meet, and we are filled with hope.
But thern comes the gestational period, and this varies. There is no set time between God speaking and fulfilling His promise. Even a cursory reading of the Bible confirms that! Abraham is promised a son and heir, but has to wait 25 years before he holds Isaac in his arms. Joseph is given a vision of greatness at 17, but must face years of desperation before the dream comes to pass. David is anointed king over Israel as a young man, but has many wilderness years to face before he is crowned. Even Jesus did not start His earthly ministry until the age of thirty, despite the miraculous nature of His conception.
Sarah asks, ‘Do you need a “kick”?! A kick to remind you of God’s promises to you? It may be that once upon a time, someone gave a prophetic word to you and you absolutely knew it was from God. Yet time has gone on and nothing seems to have happened, and even though the word is firmly planted in you, there is no evidence of its fulfilment. You can’t even feel the “baby” kick.’
The waiting period, the gestational period, between conception and birth, can be long, but those ‘kicks’ are encouragements to us to keep going. Some promises need more ‘knitting together’ than others. ‘When they are ready to face the world, they will tell you! They will get into position and the flood waters will break!’ (Sarah Davey, ‘Women who met Jesus’)
God’s plans will not be thwarted. You may be giving birth to an elephant of an idea! Hold on and wait for the kick!

The Armour of God

Oct 8, 2024

At my recent visit to the Royal Armouries in Leeds, I looked at a variety of body armour, from traditional chainmail and suits of armour to armour for animals (horses and elephants) to more modern protection like bullet-proof vests. All the armour reminded me of Paul’s words in Eph 6:10-20 about the need to put on the full armour of God.
Putting on armour is a cumbersome task. It takes time and preparation. If we want to stand against the devil’s schemes, we have to be prepared. We have to be ready. Paul makes clear the nature of the spiritual battle that is ongoing. (Eph 6:12) We cannot hope to remain standing if we are not prepared.
The armour Paul lists starts with the belt of truth buckled around our waists. (Eph 6:14) Truth is absolutely essential. It holds us together. It provides a firm foundation for us. Truth is under fierce attack in our relativistic society. We are drip-fed lies every day – lies about the meaninglessness of life, the lack of sanctity to human life, lies about identity, government, war, everything. We need the truth of God’s word if we are to stand firm.
Then we have the breastplate of righteousness in place, protecting our hearts. (Eph 6:14) Prov 4:23 tells us to guard our hearts above all else; life flows from it. We need to be people who love God and other people with all our hearts.
Our feet need adequate footwear so we can run with the message of peace and reconciliation with God. (Eph 6:15) There’s no room for ill-fitting shoes. I bought some glittery, sparkly shoes to wear at the arts’ festival recently, and they were a disaster because they were so uncomfortable, blistering my heels and squashing my toes until I could barely walk, let alone run. We need to let our feet take us on God’s missions, so we need the right shoes!
The shield of faith protects us from the flaming arrows of the evil one (Eph 6:16), but it can only do this as we take it up. Faith will always be our best defence. When the devil lies to us, he speaks his native language (John 8:44). We can ony defeat his lies through truth and faith in what God has said. The word of God is our sword, able to defeat the enemy as Jesus did in the wilderness. (Matt 4:1-11)
Put on the armour of God. You’re going to need it if you want to stand firm today!

The Prince – and Price – of Peace

Oct 6, 2024

Tonight at our Little Big Church service, Garry told the story of Jed and Roy McCoy, shepherd brothers whose enmity left them glowering at each other and taking revenge for imagined slights. Their lives were changed when an angel appeared to them telling them to go to Bethlehem to see a baby who would bring peace to the world… making them realise that life is too short for enmity and peace can be achieved because of Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
Not only is Jesus the Prince of Peace, though; He is also the price of peace. There is no such thing as a free lunch, as the saying goes: somewhere, someone has to pay for the lunch. Jesus paid the price for our peace with God (and consequently our peace with other people) through His death on the cross.
As a result, we are urged to be peacemakers and to live at peace with everyone as far as possible (see Rom 12:17-19). We are called to imitate God (Eph 5:1), to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. (Matt 5:48) We are urged to seek peace and pursue it (Ps 34:14), to embrace it and not let it get away. When we see, as the shepherds in the story by Andrew McDonough saw, that Jesus came to bring us peace, our lives are transformed.

Ambassadors For Christ

Oct 6, 2024

This morning we looked at 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 and at our identity as ambassadors for Christ. An ambassador is a diplomat or representative of a country working abroad, often to strengthen economic and cultural ties and to promote the home country’s foreign policy. In our time, it is a highly privileged position, with ambassadors having ‘diplomatic immunity’ (exemption from prosecution in certain instances). When Paul talks about being an ambassador for Christ, there is no such privilege, for an ambassador must learn from Jesus and be a servant (see John 13:1-13), coming to serve and not to be served. (Mark 10:45)
Paul’s words in this chapter give us a new identity (as new creations), a new motivation (Christ’s love), a new reason for living (God), and a new message (the gospel, God’s message of reconciliation.)
Our identity as new creations (2 Cor 5:17) means we have to leave our old ways behind and put on the new self. (Eph 4:22-24) Now it is Christ’s love which compels us, love being the greatest virtue of all and the motivating force behind all we do (as it was for God, John 3:16). Paul says we now live not to please ourselves but to please God: as the Message version puts it, “Cheerfully pleasing God is the main thing, and that’s what we aim to do, regardless of our conditions.” (2 Cor 5:9, The Message) As such, our eyes must be opened to the needs of others (Phil 2;4) and we understand that our primary reason for living is to fulfil Christ’s Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20), seeking to pass on the message of the gospel, that we can be reconciled to God through Christ’s death and resurrection. There is no plan B: we are God’s ambassadors. This is our new identity, and our purpose is to embrace this new identity as new creations, accept Christ’s love as our motivation, live to please God and go with the gospel, God’s message of reconciliation into the whole world.
The children looked at this theme as well, making megaphones to help them spread the message of reconciliation (not that we really think they need help with volume!)

The Return of the Ark

Oct 3, 2024

With Jerusalem established as the capital and David’s city, David’s next act as king is to bring the Ark of the Covenant to the capital as a way of establishing the spiritual rule he intends to bring to Israel. Unfortunately, he learned the hard way that God’s will has to be done in God’s way. When he followed the way of the Philistines in trying to transport the ark on a cart, rather than being carried by the Levites on poles as described in Exodus 25:10-22, Uzzah was struck down by the Lord and David was both angry and afraid of God.

The story of the return of the ark to Israel – ultimately, a cause for great celebration since the ark and the Tabernacle were symbols of God’s holy presence with His people – is told in both 2 Samuel 6 and 1 Chronicles 15 in some detail. We learn that it’s not enough to have good ideas and good motives; we have to do things God’s way and approach Him with due reverence and awe. There is no place for mere pragmatism and ‘sensible’ ideas; we must do things in the way God has prescribed.

David shows us, however, that it is possible to repent and be restored, for when he does bring the ark back in the right manner, there is great rejoicing and celebration. David dances before the Lord with complete abandon, something which his wife, Michal, sees and despises. She represents religion over relationship, decorum and duty over desire and heartfelt worship, and David reminds her of his debt to God and subsequent desire to celebrate (even if this means being undignified or humiliated in his own eyes.) He celebrated before the Lord (2 Sam 6:21) and understood that just because he was king did not give him greater merit in God’s eyes than anyone else. We are all sinners saved by grace alone through faith. We all have the same reasons to celebrate that David had, and are in an even more privileged position than he was, since we know more of God’s great salvation plan. God now dwells in us (1 Cor 6:19-20); His presence with us a miracle we do well to celebrate every day.

 

We Are Children of God

Sep 29, 2024

Tonight, as we continued exploring our identity as God’s people, we looked at 1 John 3:1-3, which is insistent that our primary identity is as God’s dearly loved children. The Message version says, ‘That’s who we really are’ (1 John 3:1, The Message), and J. B. Phillips says, ‘that is not just what we are called, but what we are.’ We may not feel loved (our past experiences and childhood may have left us with a fear of God as Father or a mistrust that is the result of broken promises to us), but the truth is that now we have an identity as beloved children which supersedes all other family ties and which enables us to be part of God’s worldwide family. We have an identity that is shaped and moulded by love and can stand firm even in storms and adversity (see Rom 8:37-39). To know we are loved is one of the greatest gifts we can ever possess.

To be called a child of God, to become a child of God, we must be born again (John 1:12, John 3:7), and then, as in the natural world, we must grow. (1 Pet 2:2, Eph 4:14) That means putting aside our old nature and rivalries (see Eph 4:23-24, 1 Cor 3:1-3); it involves a daily dying to self. (Mark 8:34) Toddler tantrums have to cease as we put aside our childish ways without losing our childlike faith. We must learn that being a child of God will involve God saying ‘no’ to us at times and disciplining us, but just as in the natural world this is for our good, so too God’s discipline arises from love and not from vindictiveness (see Heb 12:7-11). It’s a sign of spiritual growth when we can learn to wait on God and trust His goodness, even when things don’t seem to go our way.

Growth is not simply personal, but involves ‘iron sharpening iron’ as we grow together. (Prov 27:17, Eph 4:15-16). This means sharing each other’s burdens (Gal 6:2) and working together through our differences to a place of unity (see Phil 4:2-3) and maturity (‘fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.’ (Eph 4:13, The Message) Peter tells us, ‘Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.’ (1 Pet 4:10) Just as in a family no two children are alike, so in God’s family we each have different gifts; we each are stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. Diversity becomes in this way a blessing for each one of us.

We are children of God, a people who have experienced the love of God and who are therefore called to love one another deeply, from the heart, for love covers over a multitude of sins. (1 Pet 4:8) God wants us to absorb how loved we are and then move on to love deeply, growing up as God wants us to, so that we become conformed to the image of Christ, our co-heir, as we are led by the Spirit of God. We are His children, able to call Him ‘Abba, Father’ (Rom 8:15), a privilege that shapes our identity every day of our lives.