Our identity now is as children of God. We belong to God, and His life within us can do things no one else can do. This sense of belonging is incredibly precious to us. We belong to God and He belongs to us: ‘my Beloved is mine, and I am His.’ (Song of Songs 2:16) We also now belong to His wider family, the church.

‘These hands do nothing until You compel me.
These feet go nowhere until You propel me.
My heart is barren till Your Spirit rushes through.
This life is nothing without You.

I’ve reached the end of what my sight can show me.
I only wanna know the One who knows me
My heat was searching, now I’ve finally found the Truth
This life is nothing, without You

Let Your hope be my breath.
Let Your love be my song.
Let Your peace be my rest.
I was made to belong to You.
I belong to You!

You’re my begining, and You’re my forever.
You are my victory and my surrender
Oh, Hallelujah, by Your mercy I am new
This life is nothing, without You; ohh…

Take this flesh and bone; breathe Your life within.
Take this heart of stone; make it beat again.
Take this flesh and bone; breathe Your life within.
Take this heart of stone; make it beat again.’ (‘Belong’, Aaron Shust)

Yan Hadley also spoke of the Biblical principles which, if applied, can help us to be strengthened, rather than broken, by suffering.

1. Give the burden to God. The questions we have regarding suffering will weigh us down and break us. Ps 55:22 says ‘cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you. He will not permit the righteous to be moved.’ We have to acknowledge our limitations and lack of understanding and cast our burdens on God.
2. Look steadfastly to Jesus (Heb 12:2-3). We have to fix our minds on God (Is 26:3) in order to avoid the temptation to give up. Suffering often grinds us down; Jesus is the antidote to this erosion of faith.
3. Trust God’s sovereignty (Rom 8:28). Joseph suffered greatly throughout his life, but he had confidence in God’s ability to turn the plans others meant for evil to good. (Gen 50:20). Ps 30:5 reminds us that weeping will come, but joy will also follow the weeping. God is in control, even when we cannot see what He is doing.
4. Adjust your perspective. In 2 Cor 4:17-18, Paul talks of light and momentary troubles. He had suffering shipwreck, imprisonment and being stoned… but in the perspective of eternity, he could see that these were as ‘a flea on an elephant’s back.’
5. Maintain an attitude of joyful thankfulness. (1 Thess 5:18) Hab 3:17-18 reminds us that even when circumstances are dire, we can still rejoice in the Lord, and this joy gives us strength. Phil 4:4 reminds us to rejoice in the Lord.
6. Reach out to others for help. (Eccl 4:12) We are not meant to ‘go it alone’, but need the prayers and encouragement of other people. Prov 11:14 reminds us that counsel from others is helpful, and we are a family, the body of Christ.

Yan Hadley brought a very timely message tonight on ‘the mystery of suffering.’ Life is fragile and fleeting and suffering is inevitable in this world, but we have a God who is faithful and who can help us through suffering.

The causes of suffering are manifold:

1. Sometimes suffering is the result of our own wrong choices and the consequence of breaking laws.
2. Suffering can be the result of demonic attack (Job is an example of this.)
3. Suffering comes from the general polluting effect of living in a sin-stained world.
4. Suffering can come from natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes and hurricanes (themselves the result of the Fall).
5. Suffering can come because of accidents.

Whatever the cause of suffering, there is often a correlation in people’s minds between sin and suffering. Jesus told us this is too simplistic a view (see John 9), and we must remember that we will never have all the ‘answers’ to our questions about suffering in this life (see 1 Cor 13:12). Nonetheless, there are positive effects of suffering if we allow God to help us respond in a Biblical way:

1. Suffering increases our compassion and our ability to help others, softening our hearts and giving us empathy (see 2 Cor 1:3-4).
2. Suffering makes us depend on God and not on ourselves (2 Cor 1:8-9, 2 Cor 12:7-9)
3. Suffering shapes and strengthens our character (see Rom 5:3-4). The clay pot has to be strengthened in the furnace heat before it becomes porcelain (see Js 1:2-4).
4. Suffering purifies and refines our faith (see 1 Pet 1:6-7).
5. When we stand strong in times of suffering, our faith is demonstrated to Satan (Eph 3:10). God spoke of Job’s integrity to Satan (Job 1:8) and the saints overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. (Rev 12:11)
6. Suffering can be for the greater glory of God (see John 9:3, John 11:4). We have to keep in mind that God’s ways are not our ways and He often has greater purposes than we can see at the time.
7. Suffering keeps us in the place of obedience to God (Ps 119:67, 71).
8. Suffering changes our wrong attitudes and helps us to ponder our ways (Jonah 3:5-9)

Pat Midgley spoke this morning at Cherry Tree Court about listening, hearing and obeying God. Her own personal testimony of how she became a Christian involved God speaking to her, telling her to go to church twice, and subsequently she has learned both to listen to God and to respond to what He says. In Jn 2:1-10, we see Jesus performing His first miracle, turning the water into wine at a wedding. His mother urged the servants at the wedding to ‘do whatever He tells you’ (Jn 2:5), and that remains critical advice for us too. We are not sure what Mary really expected Him to do, but she knew that He could change the situation around. Christ and the six water jars became a testimony of God’s provision and love, reminding us that the best is yet to come.

So often, we associate listening to God with action, but sometimes, as with Martha and Mary, the first key is to actually take time out to listen to Jesus. We need to be willing to spend time in prayer, not simply presenting God with a ‘shopping list’ of requests, but really listening for His voice. Jesus only ever did what He saw His Father doing, so this first miracle was based on the Father’s instructions to Him. During the Transfiguration (Matt 17:1-8), God told the disciples more of Jesus’s identity as His beloved Son, and urged them to listen to Him. As we listen to God, we are reminded of His good and perfect plans for our lives (Jer 29:11) and can then move on to do whatever He says.

Nicky Gumbel says in today’s ‘Bible In One Year’ readings, looking at David’s kindness to Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 9), ‘kindness is love in work clothes.’

Work clothes can look very different, according to the job one has. Some work clothes are formal and smart (a business man in a suit and tie, for example); some involve uniforms (nurses and doctors.) But quite often, work clothes are just ordinary, and can even be somewhat dishevelled and dirty. They may well not look anything special.

Kindness is best seen in our ordinary, everyday lives. ‘Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly and most under-rated agent of human change,’ he goes on to say. ‘When kindness is expressed, healthy relationships are created, community connections are nourished and peoiple are inspired to pass on kindness.’

Kindness is possible because God is kind: the Hebrew word hesed describes his loving kindness, mercy and grace. Though He is exalted, He looks kindly on the lowly (Ps 138:6). It is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22) and evidence of God’s nature within us. It does not require great intelligence or money; it simply requires a heart willing to do good to others. As we put on God’s clothing today, let’s put on kindness and in our everyday actions show God’s kindness to others.

Don’t forget the cleaning and maintenance day on Saturday 10th June from 10 a.m. There is lots to do, so we need as many people as possible to come along to help!

Next Sunday morning (11th June) we are at Cherry Tree Court in the morning (10.30 a.m.) and there will be a Communion service at Market Street in the evening at 6 p.m.

The ‘Churches Together’ Prayer meeting will be on Tuesday 20th June at 10.30 a.m. at GPCC and the AGM will be on Saturday 24th June at 6 p.m.