Durng the First World War, there was a popular song with the lines ‘Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile!’ It tried to encourage people at a time of great anxiety and trepidation that there was no point worrying (‘what’s the use of worrying? It never was worth while!’) and that maintaining a positive attitude is a great benefit to us at all times.

As people, we often find ourselves worrying and doubting. Even after the Resurrection, when Jesus appeared to His disciples, “they were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.  He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.’” (Luke 24:37-39) Seeing Jesus in the flesh raised as many questions as it answered and there was confusion and anxiety for some time.

I find it encouraging to know that the disciples struggled with exactly the same temptations which face us all, and even more encouraging that Jesus reassured them of His reality and continues to do this. When we are troubled and have questions and doubts, He is there with us. He is real. He is not a figment of our imaginations or simply a nice story to make children feel better. He is the Risen Lord who has conquered death and holds the keys of death and hell. (Rev 1:18)

Garry’s provocative question ‘Are you wearing golden handcuffs?’ led to a very thought-provoking sermon tonight. In the past, farmers and hunters used monkey traps to capture monkeys, creating a hole in a gourd or coconut into which they would stuff nuts and sweets. The monkey would put its hand into the hole to get the goodies, but then would be unable to remove its hand from the trap and would be effectively ensnared because it didn’t want to let go of the good things inside. This was not a physical trap, but was an effective psychological trap, with the monkey not being willing to relinquish the ‘good’ things in order to maintain the better goal of freedom.

In business, a ‘golden handcuff’ is the term used to describe benefits, typically deferred payments or incentives like cars or health benefits, provided by an employer to discourage an employee from taking employment elsewhere. These benefits are not actual handcuffs, but they can cause people to feel trapped in situations because they do not wish to give up something good in order, perhaps, to achieve something better…

In Matt 16:24-28, Jesus describes how anyone can be a disciple or follower, walking in His footsteps. This path involves self-denial, but Jesus makes what to us seem unbelievable offers: the power to do the things He did, to do even greater things! (John 14:12-14) He speaks to the ‘anyone’, to the ‘whoever’; these promises are not for a select few, the special ones, the initiated, but to all who follow and who choose His ways over every other. In Acts 19:11-12, we see how this was fulfilled in Paul’s ministry (when people were healed after handkerchiefs had simply touched him!) This has continued through the ages: Smith Wigglesworth, for example, was used by God to do amazing miracles of healing in England, USA, Switzerland and Australia.

God has amazing things for us to do… but if we are wearing golden handcuffs, holding on to other things in our lives which may not be wrong in themselves but which prevent us from taking hold of God’s promises, we will never see and take hold of the miraculous. Like the monkey, we have to give something up that seems so desirable in order to walk in the freedom God offers us. As Jesus reminded us, the cost of discipleship is to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him. It’s our choice. The golden handcuffs are not real handcuffs. We are free to walk in the way Jesus walked… but only if we value Him more than anything else.

Eph 2:10 reminds us that we are God’s handiwork, His workmanship, His creation, His ‘poem’, His masterpiece.

We do not work to earn God’s favour, for He has lavished blessings of love, grace, mercy and kindness on us. But because He is a creative God, He has prepared good works for us to do – works which suit our personality, temperament, talents and skills. Like a children’s shape sorter, He does not force square pegs into round holes! He is a God who celebrates our individuality and even though the brushstrokes of our lives may be similar, even though we are all called to worship Him and witness to others of His amazing salvation, He gives us all individual good works to do.

We often feel there is so little we can do for God, but life is a journey where we can explore HIs purposes and delight in doing His will. We are all different and shouldn’t try to force ourselves to be like others. Instead, we can be content and blessed in serving God in those areas for which He equips us and revel in the diversity of His amazing creation. (Rom 12:4-8)

In our series on ‘Battles and Blessings’, we looked this morning at the blessings God has for us revealed in Eph 2:1-10. The picture looks bleak initially as Paul reminds us we were once ‘dead in transgressions and sins’ (Eph 2:1), but if we never fully appreciate the seriousness of sin, we will never marvel at the blessings which God’s grace, mercy and kindness bring us.

Sin is the root problem in our world. It is at the heart of every war, crime and injustice and we are all tainted by original sin. Because God is pure, holy and righteous, He cannot look on sin (see Ps 45:7) and therefore without God’s intervention through the sin-offering of Jesus, we are lost (see Rom 3:23, Rom 6:23). The good news of the gospel is that God has done something about this problem and in His mercy has transferred us from death to life. Eph 2:3-6 in the Message version says ‘It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.’ (Eph 2:3-6)

The blessings we focussed on today were:

1. God’s amazing grace (Eph 2:5, 8-9) which reminds us that it is not by our own righteousness that the sin problem is fixed, but is entirely His free gift to us
2. God’s mercy (Eph 2:4) which enables us to escape the punishment, wrath and just judgment we deserve, receiving instead God’s pardon and welcome, the forgiveness of sins and redemption and restoration and adoption into His family.
3. God’s loving kindness (Eph 2:7) which shows in the tender-hearted way He receives us into His family, righting the wrongs of sin and giving us a new position in Christ
4. our new spiritual position (Eph 2:6), which is to be seated in the heavenly realms with Christ Jesus (being seated indicating the completeness of the once-for-all sacrifice Christ has offered, see Heb 10:10-12, Col 3:1)

Our service for God needs to spring from hearts that overflow with appreciation and gratitude for these blessings He has poured out on us. We need to learn to wade in the lavish love of God, to splash in His grace, to dive into His mercy, to float on His kindness and then to swim into the good works He has planned for us to do, works unique to us, service that is tailor-made for us by a Father who created us and shaped us and continues to transform us into the image of His Son.

May looks set to be a busy month for local churches.

Fredrick & Reeba are with us from India on Sunday 6th May at both the morning and evening services. We are looking forward to hearing more about what has been happening there over the past year and to discussing future mission trips with them.

On Saturday 12th May, Thurnscoe Pentecostal Church is hosting another children’s event with crafts and a children’s magician, finishing with a pie & pea lunch. Please let us know if you are interested in that as numbers are needed for catering purposes.

The next ‘Churches Together’ prayer meeting is on Wednesday 16th May at 10.30 a.m. at the Salvation Army and gives us an opportunity to draw together with Christians from local churches to pray for our community. Later in the month on Wednesday 30th May we will be holding a ‘Pentecost Party’ during the half-term holidays at Houghton Road Centre in Thurnscoe (10 a.m. – 2 p.m.), another family fun day with Pentecost-themed crafts, crazy golf and a free lunch provided.

We’re pleased that Big Local Thurnscoe have re-arranged the Dinosaur Day for Sunday 20th May. After the morning service, we will be going to Phoenix Park in Thurnscoe to take part in dinosaur craft activties and this looks set to be a great event!

Please pray for all these events and support us where you can by coming along!

Stephen Fry said of his involvement in the BBC’s ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ programme that he received more mail and feedback from one programme on the Holocaust than from anything else he had ever done. One viewer even said, ‘I never knew what the Holocaust meant until I saw your programme.’ This demonstrates that many people cannot see the link betwe4en facts and historical narrative unless these facts are brought to life, mediated by personality. The slaughter of a nameless six million people is hard to fathom, but if we follow the story of one named and delineated family, we can be moved inexpressibly.[1]

Many find the long historical narratives in the Old Testament tedious and abstract. Yet the Bible gives us many personal stories of faith: Abraham, struggling through years of waiting for God’s promises to be fulfilled; Joseph’s ups and downs over thirty years; Moses dealing with fractious and rebellious followers; David’s life story from shepherd boy to old king. These personal stories help us to see the connections between history and life as we are living it – for the pilgrim way is not so different now, despite vast changes in our world. Human nature (the basis of history in many ways) does not change much, and we relate to these personal stories of faith as we allow ourselves to enter into them

God does not change (Mal 3:6), and therefore the historical psalms remind us of His faithfulness, love, compassion and forgiveness – all attributes of His nature which are constant. By rooting history in the wisdom genre of literature through these psalms, we see also that the connection between the abstract and the personal is meant to have a direct influence on how we live life now. If we want to live wisely, we will be careful to absorb the lessons history teaches us and learn to keep God’s commands. (Ps 78:1-7)

[1] [1] https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2006/jul/09/featuresreview.review