The Blessing of Body-Building
In our series ‘Battles & Blessings’, we looked this morning at ‘the Blessing of Body-Building’ – not, as some of you may think, the kind of body-building done by people like Arnold Schwarzenegger, but the kind Paul describes in Eph 4:7-16, where the body of Christ builds itself up to become mature and stable. This body-building involves every part of the body of Christ as it grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Eph 4:16) It’s a body-building where God has given gifts to the church, ministry gifts to help build up the body of Christ – gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers – to prepare each one of us for works of service. (Eph 4: 11-12) It’s a body-building that isn’t dependent on steroid drugs or weight-lifting or healthy diets for growth, but is dependent on the grace God gives out as He decides. (Eph 4:7) Most of all, it’s a body-building which leads to maturity so that we can all grow up in Christ and not be tossed around by every wind of teaching or led astray by people’s scheming. (Eph 4:14) It’s the kind of body-building which Paul says we should pursue for the sake of ‘mutual edification.’ (Rom 14:19) This kind of body-building helps the church to grow and people to mature, with love as the lubricating oil which helps us all to work together. If we want to see our church grow and flourish, we need this blessing so that we can see the body of Christ built up.
We need always to be very aware that Christ is the head of the church and that He gives grace-gifts as He sees fit through His Spirit (Eph 4:7, see also 1 Cor 12:11, Rom 12:6, 1 Pet 4:10) Christ is qualified to give these gifts to His church because of His death, resurrection and ascension to heaven, as Paul’s reference to Psalm 68 in this passage makes clear. He is in total control and has made it clear that He will build His church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. (Matt 16:18) This gives us confidence, because Jesus is Lord over all (see Eph 1:19-23, Eph 4:6). Our part is to be involved in works of service as we are built up by the ministry gifts God gives to the church, so that ‘the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work’ (Eph 4:16)
God’s aim for each one of us that we grow up and become like Christ. This is done as we speak the truth in love, rejecting lies and falsehoods, not being taken in by people’s scheming. It’s done as we allow Christ to be the Head of the church, directing us, leading us and guiding us. It’s done as we all take responsibility for our part in the body, not assuming others will do everything, not thinking we have nothing to give. We all have a responsibility for our own spiritual development, but we also have a responsibility for each other, to some extent. Paul tells us to ‘carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.’ (Gal 6:2) That means getting alongside each other and sharing our loads: our joys, our sorrows, our anxieties, our griefs, our hopes and our dreams, and looking how we can build each other up. It means being prepared to get involved.
Summer Fun feedback
Local church leaders had a meeting with the Dearne Area team this week to review the Summer Fun days held in July and August. We are profoundly grateful to them for their collation of statistics and all the hard work they put into getting funding for these fun days and into organising the days with us.
There is far more to such events than mere statistics, but it is still wonderful to know that a total of 427 children attended these 6 events, with a total number of attendances at 593.(Some enjoyed the days so much they came to more than one event!) 58% of all school-age children who attended receive free school meals, which was one of the funding criteria from organisations such as Feeding Britain. A total of 994 meals were provided at these 6 Summer Fun events.
Part of the aim of such fun days is to give people an opportunity to volunteer (to ‘do something’ in their communities), and the ‘social return on investment’ (worked out by how many volunteer hours were used and giving this a commercial value) equated to a staggering £4,215.12. Put another way, this is how much it would have cost to PAY people to do the amount of work church members and other members of the community gave voluntarily to their communities. You are all amazing!
Other organisations attended the fun days to let people know about the services they provide in our local area; it was a great opportunity for networking. Dearne and Thurnscoe Family Centres received over 45 new registrations from the Summer Fun events, for example.
The events also gave the Dearne Area team the opportunity to ask local people what they like about their area and what they would like to see introduced, information from which is used to plan future events and target future funding. Not surprisingly, children want outdoor spaces and parks to be improved and looked after and are keen to see a variety of youth provision in the area. All of this information will be used to inform future planning.
In the meantime, we look forward to helping with other fun days in the new year and to showing God’s love to our community through such events. Truly, we love where we live and are with God in the community, with God for the community!
Do Something!
At the services on Sunday 4th November, we will be looking at how God wants us all to be involved in His great plan of salvation and how we can all ‘do something’ for the kingdom of God. We might not be able to do everything, but that shouldn’t stop us from doing something! Come along and find out how you can serve God in our community… and ask God to give us new dreams and visions to live out our purpose and destiny in this generation. God has good plans for each one of us and has made the local church His plan for reaching the world with the good news of Jesus Christ!
One of the things we will be doing on that Sunday in particular is supporting the Salvation Army foodbank. Instead of a harvest festival of fresh produce, we are asking people to bring items to the services which will be passed on to the Salvation Army, In particular, we are looking for the following items to make up Christmas hampers for local families:
- Tea or Coffee
- Tins of ham and corned beef
- Jars of jam and lemon curd
- Bags of sugar
- Long life Milk
- Long life fruit juice
- Selection boxes
- Boxes of sweets
- Tubes of crisps/ packs of crisps
- Christmas pudding
- Box of savoury/ sweet biscuits
- Mince pies
- Instant gravy mix
- Stuffing mix
- Yorkshire pudding mix
- Pickled onions
- Chocolate Log
- Custard
Please make sure the items you bring have dates that are at least until the end of 2018 since these hampers will be given out at Christmas time.
In addition, the Salvation Army is involved in a ‘winter warmer’ project for local families, so if you can bring any of the following items to church on 4th November, that would be greatly appreciated!
- Hot Water Bottles
- Thermos Flasks
- Foil Blankets
- Warm Blankets
- Hat
- Winter Coats
- Gloves and Scarf sets
We may not be able to eradicate poverty totally… we may not be able to bring all of these items… but we can all do something, and as we do something, we help others to see the love of God in action.
Spiritual Fitness
Many of us are rightly concerned with our physical health, believing that a change to our diet and healthy eating and more physical exercise are beneficial to us. This is commendable and requires discipline and commitment. Rome wasn’t built in a day, as they say, and for us to effect changes in our lifestyles requires determination and perseverance.
Paul is aware that physical training has some value, but reminds us that ‘godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.’ (1 Tim 4:8) The Message version says, ‘Exercise daily in God – no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever.’
Just as a healthy life is helped by rest, good diet, exercises and saying ‘no’ to all that is unhealthy (such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption and drugs), there are basic spiritual disciplines we must pursue to increase our spiritual fitness:
- prayer
- reading, studying and memorising the Bible
- fellowship with other Christians
- witness – telling other people about God
Without these disciplines, our lives will lack the nutrients we need, the exercise we require (stepping out in faith is great for getting an increased heart rate!) and the good practices of listening to and responding to God which provide the sustenance and direction we need.
Do Something!
At last night’s prayer meeting we were challenged by Matthew West’s song to ‘Do Something.’ (You can listen to the song here.) So often, we pray, ‘God, do something!‘ and there are many things only God can do, but at the same time, He has created us to do something too: to be salt and light in our communities, to be a city on a hill (Matt 5:13-16).
There is so much individuals and churches can do. We need to ask God to fan into flame the gifts He has given us and help us to know how we can serve Him best. That might be through existing church ministries: serving drinks at the coffee morning on Saturdays, helping with the youth club on Monday evenings, helping at the Parent & Todder group on Friday mornings or teaching children at Sunday School on Sundays. But it may well mean stepping out of our comfort zones to do something new: helping at one of the ‘Churches Together’ events, perhaps, or starting something new because God is calling you to ‘do something’. Many, many people are helped because individuals responded to God’s call to get involved, to do something for the poor, the homeless, the sick, the marginalised. Let’s pray and seek God for what He wants each one of us to do, for He created us to be His hands and feet that are actively working to show His love. God’s primary tool for helping the world is the church. What can YOU do?
Believing in Tomorrow
The sign at the door of the Grove Nursing Home in Thurnscoe says ‘to plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.’ This is a place which cares for the sick and elderly, including those suffering from dementia. It is a challenging place to visit, for it is a place where people often seem to be just existing, rather than living, a place where life can seem very pointless. Yet the love, care and hope which radiate from that place are inspirational.
It can be difficult to believe in tomorrow at times when today is ‘cumbered with a load of care.’ It requires faith to believe God can change situations and give us a bright future when adversity, pain, suffering and old age frame today.
Just as to plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow – for when first planted, the garden looks barren and insignificant, nothing like the flurry of colour and fruitfulness which will later emerge – so too Jeremiah acted out a parable of faith when he bought the field at Anathoth from his cousin Hanamel before the exile of Israel (Jer 32:1-25). Jeremiah knew the exile was coming and would last a whole generation (seventy years), but he also trusted in a God whose purposes were great and whose deeds were mighty. (Jer 32:19) He was secure in the past miracles of God and knew these continued in the present. (Jer 32:20-21) He knw that despite the message of judgment he brought to God’s people, God’s plans were still positive (Jer 29:11) and that the new covenant relationships was one where ‘they will be my people and I will be their God.’ (Jer 32:38) In essence, Jeremiah believed in tomorrow because he knew God’s heart. He knew that fields would once again be bought (Jer 32:43-44) and that God would restore HIs people’s fortunes. (Jer 32:44)
The simple act of buying a field spoke volumes. There is always hope in God.