We had three special birthdays to celebrate tonight, with all three special people reaching ‘significant’ milestones tomorrow and Tuesday. Our very best wishes to all three!

Thanks to Alan for these photos from Scarborough.

On the coach…

Sights from Scarborough…

Ice-cream is a common theme…

Fun and games on the beach…

One photographer posing for another…

Victor Frankl, a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps, concluded that people can endure great suffering if there is meaning in the suffering for them, that life perceived as meaningless is one of the hardest things for the human spirit to bear. The good news is that God has created us all for a purpose; our lives are not meaningless. He has good works for us to do (Eph 2:10); He wants us to be involved in His great work of salvation.

This is astonishing, for God has no intrinsic need of us and yet longs for us to be His hands and feet, His shining face to a world desperately in need of significance and purpose. Matt 25:40 demonstrates that we can show God to others through our actions. God’s plan is that we are all involved in the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20), that we all serve as His ambassadors (see 2 Cor 5:17-21). We may wonder how we can do this, but every gift and talent we have, when surrendered to God, can be used by Him (after all, even Ehud’s left-handedness served God’s purposes, as we read in Judges 3:13-20!) Jesus said, ‘if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.’ (Matt 10:42) Our service will inevitably come in different shapes and sizes, for God loves diversity, but we can all serve Him in ways that will reflect His nature and allow others to see Him (see Matt 5:13-16).

One of the devil’s favourite lies is that life is pointless and we can’t make a difference. History tells us otherwise; it’s littered with the names of people whose actions had huge impact on families, societies and even the whole world. As we live in our true identity in Christ and fulfil His purpose for our lives, we will find that we all matter enormously. We can all make a difference.

Many of us struggle to believe we have value and worth. We feel insignificant and worthless and often other people contribute to this low self-esteem, which can be at the root of many mental health issues faced today. We need to be secure in our identity in God, living by God’s evaluation of who we are rather than our own ideas, other people’s judgments or the enemy’s lies.

God says we are…

1. children of God (John 1:12, 1 Jn 3:1)
2. heirs of God (Rom 8:17)
3. friends of God (Jn 15:14)
4. accepted by God and free from condemnation (Rom 15:7, Rom 8:1)
5. forgiven and redeemed (Col 1:13-14)
6. temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19)
7. new creations (2 Cor 5:17)
8. priests before God (1 Pet 2:9, Rev 5:10)
9. chosen by God (Eph 1:4)
10. people who belong to God (1 Pet 2:9)
11. freed by God (Gal 5:1)
12. no longer slaves to sin (Rom 6:14)
13. holy and blameless in God’s sigh (Eph 1:3-4)
14. seated with Christ in heavenly places (Eph 2:6)
15. sealed with God’s Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13)
16. the light of the world (Matt 5:14)
17. secure in God’s love (Rom 8:38-39)
18. more than conquerors through Christ (Rom 8:37)
19. safe with God (Col 3:3)
20. part of the body of Christ (Rom 12:5)

Eph 1:11 in the Message version says ‘it’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for.’ Only Christ can give us a purposeful identity.

In our alphabet series of things essential to Christian faith, we’ve reached the letter Y… and whilst there are many useful things beginning with Y (yoke, yeast… not to mention the holy name of God ‘Yahweh’), the ingredient we looked at tonight is YOU! Y is for You.

Most of life is spent understanding that we are not the centre of the universe and that our lives need to be God-centred and God-oriented. It’s true, however, that we are an essential ingredient in this faith journey as far as God is concerned, because He made us for a relationship with Himself. We are made in God’s image (Gen 1:27) and the creation of humanity was described by God as ‘very good’ (Gen 1:31). We may often feel unimportant, insignificant and useless, but God tells us a very different story about our identity and our purpose.

Far from being a faceless number, God knows us by name (see Ex 33:12, Is 43:1) and names are hugely important in the Bible. We often get bored by the genealogies, but they are testimony to the importance and value of individuals.People are listed by name (Numbers 1:20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36,38, 40, 42). Priests are listed by name (1 Chron 23:24). Musicians are listed by name (1 Chron 25). Paul frequently mentions people by name – Phoebe, Epenetus, Adronicus, Junia, Ampliatus, Urbanus, Appelles, Herodian, Tryphena, Tryphosa, Persis, Rufus, Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and so on (Romans 16). We often know nothing whatsoever about these people or their role in God’s story, but the fact that their names are recorded for us shows us how much God values each individual and so we can be sure that He values each one of us just the same. We may never be famous; our names may never be known widely even within our own communities, but God knows each one of us by name and has good works for us to do which are tailor-made for us. (Eph 2:10) Jesus constantly teaches us the value of individuals (see Matt 6:25-34, Matt 10:29-31) and the parables found in Luke 15 demonstrate the fact that God cares for the one – the lost coin, the lost sheep, the lost son. Never underestimate your value and worth. Jesus died for you. He thinks you’re worth it.

Despite our beach games at Scarborough yesterday, most of us were rather surprised when Stephen told us we were all bursting with energy and passion, were athletic, strong and courageous at this morning’s meeting at Cherry Tree Court! Was he looking at the same congregation we could see?! Was he blind?!

In talking from 1 Cor 9:24-27, Stephen ultimately was talking about spiritual fitness: how life is compared to a race which must be run by us all. We need focus and determination in this race of life, a single-minded pursuit of the crown of life which God has reserved for those who love Him (James 1:12). Spiritual disciplines are necessary – we have to learn to pray and seek God and to throw off everything that hinders us (see Heb 12:1-3). In an ordinary race, there can be many competitors but only one winner, but in this race of life, what matters is completion, finishing well (2 Tim 4:7). We don’t have to run in isolation or in competition with others, for each of us has a purpose, a route, a course to run and we can all receive a crown of glory which will never perish or fade like the laurel crowns awarded to runners in Paul’s time. (1 Pet 1:4) Let’s get running!