John Brackenbury spoke this morning about recognising God from inside our bubbles, specifically mentioning several ‘bubbles’ which can leave us feeling confused and unable to recognise God because of particular circumstances which are disconnecting us from Him.

1. The Bubble of Hopelessness

The man who had been paralysed for 38 years (John 5:1-15) was in a bubble of hopelessness, unable – even when asked by Jesus if he wanted to get well – to see beyond his inability to get into the pool for healing. He hadn’t heard about Jesus (despite His fame) and was locked into a sense that nothing would ever change. So often, that can be how we are, but this bubble was burst by Jesus’s words to him and by his trust and obedience. Hopelessness doesn’t have to have the last word.

     2. The Bubble of Adversity

In Matt 14:24-33 we see the disciples in the boat facing a storm. Jesus was elsewhere, praying, and the boisterous waves and winds soon left the disciples, experienced sailors though they were, in a panic. They did not recognise Jesus initially when He came to them, thinking He was a ghost, but Peter responded to Jesus’s words of reassurance by getting out of the boat and walking towards Him. He only started to sink when he took his eyes off Jesus. Peter’s willingness to surrender to Jesus led to new adventures – and ultimately to the cessation of the storm.

     3. The Bubble of Sorrow

In John 20:11-18, we see Mary Magdalene so dazed by sorrow that she did not recognise Jesus when she met Him at the tomb. Peter and John had already been to the tomb, but had returned home. Mary was so overwhelmed by sorrow that she could not do that; she kept looking into the tomb in despair. Her sorrow was so intense that she did not recognise Jesus until He spoke her name – and then this sorrowful, sobbing servant was changed to one who went back to the others to proclaim the news of the resurrection with joy and confidence. The bubble of sorrow can be burst by listening to the Shepherd’s voice (see John 10:3-5).

      4. The Bubble of Disappointment

The two disciples who met with Jesus on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35) did not recognise Jesus, even though they later acknowledged the power of His words as they had walked and talked. They had had high hopes of what God would do through Jesus, but were locked in the disappointment of the crucifixion and could not imagine how God could turn their disappointment into hope. We too can often be confused and hurt by life, unable to understand God’s ways, only able to evaluate situations with fallible minds that see an incomplete picture, but as we ponder Jesus’s sacrifice for us, we are reminded that God knows everything and is in control of every situation. The bubble of disappointment is burst by remembering Jesus’s sacrifice for us.

     5. The Bubble of Regret

Peter was so traumatised by his denial of Jesus that even after the resurrection, his only solution was to return to fishing and to the familiar. (John 21:1-22) Here, he discovered he could no longer even catch fish. The disciples, worn out after a long night’s fruitless labour, were hailed by Jesus from the shore, but they did not fully recognise Him. When they did, Peter the impetuous went running to Him, but still needed reassurance that his failure was not the end of the story.

Satan says that when we fail, our love has failed and we are doomed to rejection. Jesus, in asking Peter three times about his love for Himself, reinstated Peter and reminded him that all that really mattered was Peter’s return to his calling to follow Jesus. The bubble of regret can be burst by accepting the restoration of Jesus.

Jesus wants to burst these bubbles and help us to recognise Him in every situation – whether we feel life is hopeless, whether we are facing adverse circumstances, whether we are full of sorrow, whether disappointment is dogging us or whether we are living as failures, consumed by regret. There is no bubble Jesus cannot burst and bring us into glorious fellowship with Him.

In Britain, we are generally suspicious of good news, it seems. I don’t know if cynicism is ingrained in us, but there does seem to be a cultural predisposition to be wary about good news. ‘If it sounds too good to be true, that’s because it probably is!’ is the underlying philosophy we grow up believing.

Such training means that when we read a psalm like Ps 128 – a psalm which promises blessing to all who fear the Lord and walk in His ways and which then goes on to illustrate this with promises of an idyllic marriage and lots of happy children and grandchildren – we tend to read it through this filter of suspicion and wariness. Other psalms full of God’s promises provoke a similar reaction (e.g. Ps 91:5-8, Ps 121). We know that Christians suffer illness, succumb to divorce and face heartache and troubles just like non-believers (and sometimes more so, it seems!) How, then, can Ps 128 be so blithe and confident in its talk of blessings? Sandy Grant asks the questions we perhaps would like to be brave enough to ask: ‘But what about the diligent Christian who ends up unemployed for a prolonged period? What about the couple who seem unable to have children? And what about the life cut short by cancer or car accident? Did they not fear the Lord? Could we who are employed and have children and live longer be so bold and blind and callous to claim we are somehow better than them at walking in God’s ways? How is this psalm not the prosperity gospel?’[1]

We do need to understand that wisdom literature often makes wise generalisations rather than reading the Bible inflexibly as a list of infallible promises. However, the Bible is also clear about God’s desire to bless people. His natural inclination is to bless (see Ps 67:6). We find this hard to believe, being more inclined to think that God is (in the words of Bruce Nolan in the film ‘Bruce Almighty’) ‘a mean kid sitting on an anthill with a magnifying glass, and I’m the ant. He could fix my life in five minutes if He wanted to, but he’d rather burn off my feelers and watch me squirm.’  This view of God is as far from the revelation of God in the Bible as could possibly be, yet most of us accept it unquestioningly when adversity hits us.

Ps 128 reorients us in a right view of God as One who loves to bless. He blesses the individual who fears Him and walks in His ways; He blesses wives and families; He blesses whole nations. Ultimately, this psalm promises us blessing in the two main ways we define ourselves: what we do and who we’re connected to (exactly what Genesis 1-2 says we were made for: for work, to till the soil, and for family, where two become one and be fruitful and multiply). We can afford to believe in the benevolence of God and to relax into His blessings because we belong to a loving God who longs to bless us (see Matt 7:11). It’s time to dare to believe that the God we worship is a God of blessing and to understand that our part is to revere Him and follow Him in obedience (see also Ps 111:10, Prov 1:7). The gospel is good news. It’s ultimately too good not to be true

[1] http://gotherefor.com/offer.php?intid=29607&changestore=true

Psalm 127 is a psalm which reminds us that successful building – in any and every sphere of life – depends on solid foundations and trust in God (see Prov 3:5-6). Jesus Himself reminded us of this when He told His disciples, ‘Apart from me you can do nothing.’ (John 15:5) These statements may seem to us to be flagrantly untrue, for there are clearly many things that man can achieve without God. Nonetheless, the Bible affirms that for things to last, we need the spiritual element as well as any other skills that are required.

The building references in this psalm obviously remind us of the temple building (in both Solomon’s time and after the exile, when building restoration was overseen by Nehemiah), but they also remind us that God needs to be involved in our everyday lives as well, whether that’s referring to actual building of houses or our family life (in Hebrew, ‘banim’ refers to builders and ‘bonim’ to sons, so there is a poetic connection between the two themes in this psalm.) Jesus told us that God is interested in the everyday aspects of living (clothes, food, houses and so on) (Matt 6:25-34) and gave us the key to success in reminding us that if we seek God’s kingdom and righteousness first, all the other things will fall into place! (Matt 6:33) Restful reliance on God may seem idealistic, but this psalm warns against our frantic lifestyles and self-sufficient culture. God grants sleep to those he loves (Ps 127:2); rest is commanded in Scripture (Ex 20:10) not only because we need it physically, but because we also need to acknowledge that the end of our capabilities is actually only the start of God’s. This psalm deals with very concrete, practical situations and affirms God’s presence and activity at the heart of everyday life.

Joy and disappointment seem to be polar opposites. Joy is exuberance, happiness bubbling over, the excitement we feel particularly when something delightful has happened to us (think of the joy at weddings or a baby’s birth or after a celebration victory, for example.) Psalm 126:1-3, another in the Psalms of Ascent we are studying, captures that sense of joy when God’s deliverance is all so real (‘our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.’ Ps 126:2) It probably refers to the Israelites’ return to their native land after years in exile in Babylon, and there is a sense of giddy celebration which is wonderful to behold. Joy is infectious. Even onlookers notice it!

Disappointment, on the other hand, is the dejection we feel when things aren’t going our way, that aching, searing sense of loss, that heaviness which leaves us feeling demotivated and unable to move. Dashed hopes, the pain of things not turning out the way we had expected and a sense of bewilderment, are common causes of disappointment.

It seems, however, that both joy and disappointment are part of life. Ps 126 starts with heady joy as God’s deliverance is remembered with wonder and awe, but it seems there is now aridity and frustration which cause the psalmist to ask God to restore Israel’s fortunes yet again. (Ps 126:4, see also the books of Ezra and Nehemiah for how the return to Israel was not always plain sailing.) Timothy Keller reminds us that ‘communities of faith often have ‘Negev’ times of great spiritual dryness’ as well as times of overflowing joy. He goes on to say, ‘Sometimes a flood of God’s Spirit comes down powerfully and suddenly, like the streams from distant mountain rainstorms, and the community is restored dramatically. But there is also a slower path to renewal. Those who ‘sow with tears’ are those who have painstakingly prayed and wept over their own sins and also over people without faith. As in actual farming, sowing does not show immediate fruit. But faithful prayer and service will eventually bear fruit. The desert will become a garden. (Is 35:1-2)’ (‘The Songs of Jesus’, P 332)

If you’re in a time of disappointment right now, when the deliverance and miracles of God are simply memories, this psalm reminds us that we need to sow with tears. Paul takes the harvest analogy and reminds the Galatians, ‘Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.’ (Gal 6:10) The call to persevere runs throughout Scripture (see Heb 6:12, Heb 6:15, Heb 10:36); salvation has a past, present and future element, and as Alec Motyer says, ‘while we await final salvation, we are still in the uncongenial far country – but are called to sow and reap.’ (‘Psalms Day By Day’, P 376) Joy may not always seem to be bubbling over, but it will have the last word. (Rom 15:13)

The funeral of Ralph Fletcher will be at GPCC on Tuesday 7th August. The service here will start at 1.30 p.m., followed by interment at Barnby Dun cemetery at 3 p.m. Refreshments will be served at the church after the interment.

The family has requested that donations be given to the Ankylosing Spondolitis charity in lieu of flowers.

As usual, church members will be providing and serving the refreshments, so if you can help with this, please see Julie.

Ralph was a member of our church for many years and was an elder of the church until fairly recently. Please continue to pray for his two sons and their families and for Letitia and her family as they adjust to life without Ralph. His promotion to glory leaves a big hole in our lives, but we rejoice in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection which enables us to grieve with hope and with confidence.

We had more birthdays to celebrate tonight, though Ironically Esther (who features in both photographs) does not actually have a birthday in July!