The Danger of Assumptions
A Place Prepared
Sponsored Toddle
We are blessed with a great Parent & Toddler group at GPCC which meets twice weekly in term-time on Wednesdays and Fridays (9-11 a.m.) Last year, we had our first summer outing to Gulliver’s Valley, and this year we are aiming to go to Flamingo Land on 28th July.
The cost of tickets for children aged 4 or above is very high and so we have been fund-raising for some time (and have currently raised £1,147 towards the cost of the trip through coffee mornings, an Easter raffle and a sponsored walk done by Beverley Wassell to Barnsley!) Yesterday, a number of parents, grandparents and children walked from Goldthorpe Park on Doncaster Road to Barnburgh Park in Barnburgh on a ‘Sponsored Toddle’ to raise money for the trip.
Once at the park, they had a good time playing!
Even the adults joined in the fun!
They all got certificates and medals for taking part.
Some of them had a picnic as a reward for all that walking.
Our thanks to Hayley who organised the Sponsored Toddle and to Bev for buying medals for the children. Thanks to all who took part and to all who have sponsored the toddlers. Please note that all sponsor monies need to be handed in by Friday 26th May at the latest so that we can bank money and pay for the Flamingo Land tickets.
Singing A Song
Revelation is a book with many songs of praise to God for who He is and what He has done. Rev 15:2-4 has another such song (this time accompanied by harps) called ‘the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb.’
The songs associated with Moses (Exodus 15 & Deuteronomy 32) focus on God’s power in delivering His people from Egyptian slavery and His faithfulness to His people. The song of the Lamb focuses on what Jesus has accomplished for us through His sacrificial death (Rev 5:9-10). Both songs acknowledge who God is (the Rock, the Lord) and this song does too, acknowledging God as ‘King of the nations’, ‘Lord God Almighty’ and the One who is holy before pondering how His deeds are great and marvellous, His ways are just and true and His righteous acts have now been revealed.
All our songs of praise should reflect this dual emphasis on who God is and what He has done, because we are so prone to forget these truths. This is the yardstick for what we sing in our services and what we sing in our personal praise times with the Lord. It matters what we sing; it matters that we sing truth. There is a place for our ‘response’ in songs, but we can only respond rightly when we know who God is and what He has done for us.
The Wrath of God
The wrath of God is not an easy topic to tackle, but any study of the book of Revelation must do so, because it is here that the most frequent references to God’s wrath are found. We are uncomfortable with the idea of God’s wrath, often feeling that the New Testament message of love and forgiveness act as a negation of any idea of wrath. Some see the God of the Old Testament as a wrathful deity appeased by Jesus in the New Testament, but the unity and immutability of God remain at the heart of both Testaments. God’s love is evident in the Old Testament; His wrath is found in the New Testament as well as the Old. We cannot divide God and hope to remain true to the Biblical account of who He is.
Another reason we are uncomfortable with the subject of God’s wrath is that we know only too well the fickleness of our own human anger. Wrath is defined as “the emotional response to perceived wrong and injustice,” often translated as “anger,” “indignation,” “vexation,” or “irritation”, and we know only too well how our anger is often unjustified and leads to further problems. We have to differentiate between human anger (which James reminds us does not produce the righteousness God desires (James 1:20)) and God’s anger or wrath, which is always holy and always justified.
The wrath of God is a divine response to human sin and disobedience, which cannot be condoned for justice to be done. There must be consequences to sin and disobedience, and God’s wrath ensures that these consequences are fulfilled. He is patient and has made a way for all people to avoid the consequences of wrath (separation from God and hell) (2 Peter 3:9-10), but Revelation 15-16 make it plain that the wrath of God will come on those who persistently refuse to listen to God. The one who believes in the Son will not suffer God’s wrath for his sin, because the Son took God’s wrath upon Himself when He died in our place on the cross (Romans 5:6–11). Those who do not believe in the Son, who do not receive Him as Saviour, will be judged on the day of wrath (Romans 2:5–6).
King of Kings and Lord of Lords
At our special service on Sunday we looked at the fact that Jesus is the ‘King of Kings and Lord of Lords’ (Rev 19:13). There, we read that on His head were many crowns – crowns even more splendid than the St Edward’s Crown, Imperial State Crown and Queen Mary’s Crown used in the Coronation service on 6th May.
Yet we see from the description in Revelation 19 that Jesus is not a king like any earthly king. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood (Rev 19:13) – not blood from having killed many, which is what kings of old were famous for: how many battles they had won, how many enemies they had killed. His robe is dipped in blood and His name is the Word of God because Jesus is our King through His sacrifice on the cross for us. One of the greatest crowns He ever wore was the crown of thorns which was rammed onto His head by Roman soldiers just before His crucifixion. (John 19:2-3) There, He was called the ‘king of the Jews’ somewhat scornfully and the crown He was given was really a badge of shame, but in actual fact, we still remember this crown today because we understand that it is through what happened at the cross that we are saved.
The armies with Jesus in Revelation 19 wear white linen – they are white and clean because His blood was shed. Paul reminds us that ‘For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.’ (Col 119-20) Christ did not come to be served but to serve. Amazingly, He will give us crowns too:
- A crown that will last for ever (1 Cor 9:24-25)
- A crown of rejoicing (1 Thess 2:19)
- A crown of righteousness (2 Tim 4:8)
- A crown of glory (1 Pet 5:4)
- The crown of life (Rev 2:10)
Yet when we see the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, we will find that those crowns will mean nothing compared to the greatness of being with Him forever. Rev 4:10-11 tells us, ‘They lay their crowns before the throne and say: “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”’ Only the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is worthy of our worship, worthy of our crowns.