God’s Grace

Guest speaker Yan Hadley spoke tonight on the subject of grace and its effects on believers, looking at Acts 11, where believers at Antioch were first called Christians. God’s grace in their lives meant they were no longer living for themselves but for Christ and therefore they had a powerful impact on their community. Despite opposition and persecution, despite living in a culture that was opposed to Christianity, God’s grace in their lives was visible to others.
Four characteristics of grace were seen here:
1) Irrepressible purpose – these believers were faithful and steadfast in their purpose which was to be ambassadors for Christ, speaking of Jesus at every opportunity.
2) Inextinguishable passion – living under the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit, able to continue in their witness despite opposition. We see this characteristic in the early church repeatedly (see Acts 4 & 5 when despite arrest and being forbidden to speak of Jesus, the apostles continued to preach passionately. Passion was allied to truth and Paul spoke fearlessly in Thessalonica and Athens, debating vigorously with people about Jesus.
3) Irreproachable purity – understanding  that our lifestyle must match our words, wiht God’s grace providing the ability to resist temptation (Titus 2:11) and purity leading us to gain favour with others as they respect our integrity.
4) Indisputable power – having confidence in the power of the gospel (Rom 1:16) and regularly seeing healings, miracles, deliverance and even the raising of the dead. Rom 15:17-19 reminds us that word, deed and the power of signs and wonders through the Holy Spirit need to be combined in our witness.
These characteristics must be seen in our lives too, showing the world that there is more to life than self-centredness, that zeal and passion must influence our actions, but our words and actions must also be married. Words, deeds and supernatural power must be the characteristics of all believers whose purpose in life must be to speak of Jesus. Only as we are radically different from the world can we hope to achieve the same kind of influence and favour of the early Christians at Antioch. God’s lavish grace can enable us to abound in every good work (2 Cor 9:8) and thus to be worthy of the name ‘Christian.’

The Father’s Lavish Love

Dave spoke this morning from 1 John 3:1, about the Father’s lavish love for us. Sin separated us from God, but His great love reached out to us. He could have rejected us and left it at that, but out of His great lov efor us, He brought us into His family.
God wants more than a truce, a cessation of hostilities. He wants to lavish His love on us, to treat us with abundant generosity. We are not only adopted into His family, we are also renewed. God’s very character is placed within us. Forgiveness is wonderful, but He does more than forgive us; He transforms us.
God’s Holy Spirit comes to us and lives within us, leading us and remaking us, renewing our minds and making us ambassadors for Christ. We are now heirs of God. God is Lord of everything, therefore our inheritance is truly vast!
On this Fathers’ Day, as we ponder earthly fathers and give thanks for them, we are reminded that there is no love like God’s love for us. This is a constant, faithful, unchanging love lavished freely on us by a generous and good God.

The Lows And Highs of Funding Applications

Yesterday (16th June) was a day of lows and highs concerning funding applications, which got me thinking, simply because of the timings lending a synchronicity to my day that made me smile wryly (after crying copiously). I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time on funding applications. I don’t have the privilege of rich patrons or willing wealthy benefactors (alas), and so in order to do the crazy ideas God puts into my heart to accomplish, I have to ask for money to fulfil those plans. (He often seems to give me wild ideas that cost a lot of money, much to my astonishment on a regular basis.)

 

I don’t enjoy asking funders for money. It comes across to me as begging, and I suppose my pride keeps raising its ugly head, making me feel slightly dirty as I try to fit my God-plans into the funding objectives of other organisations. Nonetheless, I have seen over a great many years how God is able to release monies from the most unlikely sources and that His ideas always do get the money they need, however much this astounds me on a regular basis. I suppose I would really like each idea to come with a cheque attached to it. That would make my life so much easier! I’ve reached the conclusion that He doesn’t work that way because then no faith would be required on my part, and one of His purposes in all this is, I suspect, to teach me to live by faith and not by sight. (2 Cor 5:7) Most people don’t see the sweat and tears that go into each project or event as I wrestle with the thoughts, ‘Is this really God or is it just me? If it’s God, He will provide, but if it’s just me, I’m going to end up with egg on my face…’ I feel I ought to have got better at trusting God over the many years of projects (after all, I’ve seen Him provide over £160,000 for the church building I have been using for the past thirteen years, seen Him sell a run-down ramshackle house with a garden that looked like a jungle for £100,000 during a national lockdown and am still running the Dearne Community Arts’ Festival seven years on when we have no discernible income other than fund-raising ideas…) Nonetheless, if I’m honest, each project brings with it heartache and questions, doubts and fears, the biggest one being ‘Have I heard correctly? Is this God or is this me?’

 

People often ask me, ‘How do you hear God? How do you discern God’s voice from all the other voices out there?’ I wish I could give a bullet-proof answer of serene faith (serenity being one of the qualities I very much admire.) The truth is that God’s voice is persistent, but rarely comfortable. He gives me ‘ideas’ and often it’s only as I talk these ideas over with others that I find an agreement that again astonishes me. What seems to me to be quite wacky (the current selfie board project I’m working on is definitely up there with ‘wacky’, especially coming from a person who would run a mile from a photographer given half a chance (and the physical stamina to run that distance) and who much prefers radio to TV because I don’t have to deal with the distraction of images but can concentrate on words that way) suddenly seems to be hugely popular with others, and a project is breathed into life.

 

Gideon being one of my favourite Biblical characters, I usually then go through his process of ‘fleeces’ (see Judges 6), asking God for confirmation and reassurance. Some people think this is putting God to the test, but I think there if there is a genuine need for signs, God is very, very gracious with us. He knows our hearts. Some people may well have more confidence at this stage, but for the Gideons among us, loaded with insecurity and doubt as a kind of default baggage we find it difficult to shift, God is well able to meet with us. He gives us exactly what we need: a random phone call, an email from someone who knew nothing about the situation, a Bible verse that lights up and glows like a rotating advertising sign. He is, above all, a good God of infinite kindness.

 

So…back to 16th June. I was in the church building sorting through the usual Friday cleaning and tidying, updating spreadsheets, checking emails. There it was in the inbox: the reply after months from the National Lottery application for this year’s arts’ festival. I looked at it warily. I wasn’t expecting positive news. I have a love-hate relationship with the National Lottery, having had festivals funded by them and having had festival applications rejected by them. I wasn’t brimful with confidence. And sure enough, it was a rejection. Nicely phrased with reasons set out that had more to do with their criteria than my project, but a rejection nonetheless. And even though I was expecting this rationally, it still had the power to suck the confidence out of me. It means I have to start again with funding for that project, and now it’s June and the festival is scheduled for September. I went through exactly the same thing last year and God provided for us at the 11th hour. I daresay He will do the same again, because He’s good at that kind of thing! But there is still that visceral reaction that kicks all the doubts and questions into my field of vision again. Disappointment. Dejection. Rejection. Frustration. Weariness, because if there’s one thing I don’t want to do, it’s to write another funding application.

 

I carried on with the jobs, vacuuming while crying and praying at the same time. Raw emotion brought straight to God, begging for answers, for help, as I felt overwhelmed by my utter inability to produce money from nowhere. Eventually, the tears subsided, and I moved on to tidying the children’s room. This was like Aladdin’s cave, filled with props for yet another event, the Christmas Churches Together project, ‘The Narnia Experience.’ Another crazy idea, re-creating the magical world of Narnia in our church building, re-telling those amazing allegorical stories and sharing how much God loves us through the theme of storytelling, which has been this year’s ‘Big Idea.’ I submitted a funding application for this project just this week, and as I began sorting and tidying, I wondered why God keeps giving me the responsibility for these community events if I don’t get the money I need to do them. Why does it have to be so hard!?!

I started listening to a podcast: anything, to distract me from the lurking fear that I was barking up the wrong tree and was doomed to failure. Then my phone rang. It was an unfamiliar number. I answered to hear the cheerful tones of a young woman working for Coalfields Regeneration Trust. You guessed it: another funder.

“How are you doing today?” she asked me cheerily. I answered with the same raw honesty I had been pouring out to God, unwilling to engage in chit-chat. “That depends on what you’re going to say to me,” I said with tactless bluntness. “I’ve just had a funding application turned down by the National Lottery, so it depends what you’re going to tell me as to how I’m doing!”

She laughed and told me that I had been successful with that application, an application for funding of £4050 towards the running costs of two community projects I run (the Parent & Toddler group and ‘Mindful Moments’ creative evening for adults at our church.) One application turned down; one application got the green light.

For me, the timing of these two answers within hours of one another was a definite answer to prayer. ‘Give me a sign!’ I’d blubbed to God just the hour before. Here it was: a green light to carry on with my weekly and monthly ministries. And perhaps more than that, the reassurance that He really does have it ALL in hand. Even rejection can be woven into His plans; disappointment and discouragement don’t have the last word. The journey by faith continues. I’ve yet to see how all the other ideas will be funded, but this week I have signed off on the monitoring report for the Phoenix Park Fun Day (project finished and paid for) and can keep going with my regular work, even though Scottish Power seem determined to scupper that through their ridiculously escalating bills. That gives me hope for all the other crazy ideas still to be completed. The lows and highs of funding applications will be more than balanced by the goodness and power of God.

All’s Well That Ends Well

All’s Well That Ends Well’ is a play by William Shakespeare, a comedy that reminds us that however many obstacles are faced in life, a happy ending pleases everyone. All too often in life, we are faced with the awkward truth that not everything does end well for us, but the Bible is adamant that the ending of the story of life is a happy one for those who trust Him. God is our Saviour and King; His plans cannot be thwarted, and so we are assured that we are on the winning team. We cannot guarantee the ‘happy ending’ on earth, but we are urged to live in the light of eternity, where the ending definitely is happy for those who love righteousness. (2 Cor 4:16-18)

Our Bible studies in the book of Revelation have shown us great suffering, persecution, plagues, judgments and death; one church member recently commented, ‘it’s all a bit heavy.’ I suspect many of us feel life is like that: rather too heavy at times! But even in the midst of bizarre symbolism of dragons and beasts and scarlet prostitutes, there is hope in the book of Revelation. We have found it in the worship of the Lamb and Lion of the tribe of Judah who has triumphed. (Rev 5:1-10) We have found it in the promise that God will lead His people to springs of living water and wipe away every tear. (Rev 7:17) We have found it in the assurance of triumph through the blood of the Lamb and the word of testimony. (Rev 12:11) Once again, in Revelation 17, we find hope: ‘The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to hand over to the beast their royal authority, until God’s words are fulfilled.’ (Rev 17:16-17)

God’s words will always be fulfilled. Therefore we have hope.

Biblical Allegory

Allegory is a literary device in which a story points to a hidden or symbolic parallel meaning. The story is enjoyable and complete in its own right, but it points to something else at the same time: Bunyan’s ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ and C. S. Lewis’s ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ are examples of this, with the pilgrim representing the Christian and the trials he goes through in life, and Aslan the lion representing Christ.

Stories are one of God’s main ways of communicating with us, perhaps because we all identify so strongly with characters in a story. Jesus often taught using stories (parables); the Parable of the Sower, for example, tells the simple story of a farmer sowing seed on different kinds of soil, but the underlying meaning is about the role of God’s word in our lives and how different our responses to that word can be.

Allegory takes the everyday and the familiar and shows us that life works on different levels. One of the strongest metaphors in the Bible is that of marriage. Marriage, a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman, is not only the foundation of family life, but points to the relationship between Christ and the church. (Eph 5:21-32) The relationship is founded on love, faithfulness, commitment and covenant. Adultery in the Bible is used not only to describe the breakdown of this relationship but to show us how anything less than whole-hearted devotion to Christ will not do. Hosea the prophet marries a prostitute on God’s orders to live out a parable of God’s unconditional love despite the waywardness of His people. Ezekiel and Jeremiah speak frequently on this topic (see Ezekiel 16 & 23, Jeremiah 2), using language that often shocks us. So it is not surprising to find the theme of prostitution and adultery featuring so heavily in Revelation 17. Perhaps what ought to shock us the most is how strange we find this in modern days, largely because we are so inured to sexual immorality – we live in a society which tells us repeatedly that ‘anything goes’ these days. Perhaps that is why God blasts us out of our complacency and indifference with chapters like Revelation 17, reminding us that honour, faithfulness and devotion matter even today.

Babylon, the city representing the godless way of the world, is called ‘the mother of prostitutes’, is clothed in purple and scarlet (symbols of power and immorality) and sits on the scarlet beast (already identified as Satan in earlier parts of Revelation.) Many have interpreted her power not only in terms of false religion but in terms of economic and political influence. Babylon is the antithesis of Jerusalem. The two cities represent all that is worst and best in the world: those who follow the prince of the air and who defy God, believing their own ideas and beliefs are the way to freedom and happiness, and those who follow Christ, living on earth with an awareness of eternity and understanding how different God’s ways and thoughts are from their own. (Is 55:8-9)

The Bible is explicit that ‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the great!’ (Rev 18:2, Rev 14:8) As we head towards the climax of Revelation and await the wedding supper of the Lamb, another allegory/ metaphor reminding us of the joyous banquets associated with weddings (Rev 19:7-9), we need to keep in mind that whilst evil may seem to flourish now, that will not be the case forever. (Rev 17:16-17) God’s plans and purposes are being worked out; He will triumph in the end.

Only The Brave

Garry spoke tonight on Christian bravery. Christians are often portrayed as wimps, followers of the ‘meek and mild’ Jesus who must always turn the other cheek, no matter what happens. Isaiah 43:1-2 reminds us, though, that God has promised to be with us in difficult times (symbolised by fire and flood) and in men like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who faced literal fire because of their faith in God, we see bravery beyond our wildest imagination.
Moses urged Joshua to be strong and couragous (Deut 31:1-6), a command reiterated after Moses’s death (see Josh 1). Courage is required of all Christians. It may not look like we expect it to; in 2 Chron 20, we see how God sent Israel into battle with musicians and singers leading the way! David, too, had to leave armour behind to defeat Goliath with a sling and a stone (1 Sam 17:32-40).
Bravery may well mean putting ourselves in harm’s way to protect others, as the Catholic pilgrim Henri Anselm did just last week in a playground in Annecy when a man went on the rampage, stabbing people, including children. The outcomes may not always look good for us, but we are led by a crucified Lord. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, paid the price for his courage as he was stoned to death (see Acts 7:51-58); others have faced jeers, flogging, chains and imprisonment (see Heb 11:36-38). Yet even if the outcome does not look positive to us, God has promised a reward to those who persevere under trial (James 1:12) and Rev 12:10-11 reminds us that we can still ultimately triumph by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony. We need to be brave people who will stand for God’s truth, protected and equipped by the armour of God. (Eph 6:13)