A New Way of Life, A New Way of Living

Garry spoke this morning from Genesis 45:8-20, looking again at the life of Joseph (who, so often, is a ‘type’ of Christ.) Joseph was made lord of Pharaoh’s entire household and ruler of all Egypt; he was ideally placed by God in a position to help those suffering from famine (including his own family.) Jesus too has been raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of God (Eph 1:18-22); Jesus came as a servant but now has been raised to the heights where He rules over all and is an exalted great High Priest (Heb 7:24-8:1)

Jesus truly meets our need; He is the perfect fit, the perfect fulfilment of all we need. He understands us, provides for us and leads us into new life. Joseph’s family were given the best land in Egypt (Gen 45:18); we have been given great things in God (see 1 Cor 2:9); we are fellow heirs with Christ (Rom 8:17). We were deserving of God’s wrath, but instead have become heirs of the kingdom of God in Christ, something we could not earn or deserve but which is given freely to us from God’s grace. All the hard work necessary for our salvation was done by Christ; we just need to accept His free gift of life. Joseph’s family had to leave their home and live in a new place. It must have seemed daunting at first, but they were blessed greatly in their new lives. We too have the guarantee of the Holy Spirit in our lives (Eph 1:13-14) but must leave our past behind. All the guilt and condemnation that belonged to our old lives has to go; we are called not just to leave things behind but to leave the old way of life behind. Rom 12:2 reminds us that this requires the transformation of our minds as the Spirit of truth guides us into all truth. (John 16:13)

To get to the freedom of new life in Jesus, there is a beginning (salvation) and there is an ongoing journey. To arrive we have to leave things and our old life behind, sure that what lies ahead in God is far greater. (‘Things We Leave Behind’, Michael Card)

Musings On Chromatography

This week I took my grandchildren to a session on space at Goldthorpe Library. (Fantastic free workshop!) They learnt to make a rocket (using paper, a straw and pipette) and made their own colourful ‘universe’ in a glass jar with coloured water and cotton wool. Their last activity was to create a space picture using filter paper, felt pens and water, learning in the process about chromatography and the separation of colours.

It was rather magical to watch narrow bands of colour spread throughout the filter paper creating new patterns as just the tiniest droplets of water were added.

As I watched this process, I was reminded that our lives are rather like the colours of those felt pens. We can make beautiful pictures with our lives, but the patterns when water was added became even more beautiful. When God is added to our lives, the colours become even more beautiful; the picture becomes more interesting and certainly spreads much further.

The analogy is far from perfect, but I was reminded of the pervasive nature of the kingdom of God, how that small mustard seed can grow into a large flowering tree, how a small amount of yeast can affect a whole batch of dough, how something small can lead to something big. (Matt 13:31-33) God’s kingdom may not initially look impressive, but it can become something vast and beautiful as God works in ordinary lives to spread His love and kindness to all.

February Family Fun Day

Dearne Churches Together held their February family fun day this week, looking at the Parable of the Good Samaritan and the general theme of kindness and loving people regardless of who they are.

It was fantastic to see 103 people in the building and to see the different crafts made:

There was plenty for younger children to do:

Karen told the story of the Good Samaritan:

Our thanks to all who helped, including the Salvation Army who provided lunch for us all.

 

Object Permanence

Piaget’s theory of object permanence describes a child’s ability to recognise that objects continue to exist even when they are not in sight. Babies do not initially understand that what they cannot see still exists: for them, seeing really is believing, and therefore in the minds of young babies, the world only consists of what they can see in front of them at any given moment. It’s why a baby can seem in distress if he cannot see a person or toy.

Most babies move to the recognition that something or someone is still there even if they cannot see the object at around nine months. That’s when the game of hiding an object and playing ‘peek-a-boo!‘ can become so popular, eliciting giggles and anticipation rather than distress.

Sadly, it takes adults much longer usually to apply this concept to the spiritual realm. So often, if we do not see or feel God’s presence, we fret that He has abandoned or forsaken us. If He is not answering our prayers favourably and immediately, we assume He is no longer there. If life is difficult and full of trials, we believe that God has walked out on us.

When we play the game of ‘Hide And Seek’ with children, they are notoriously bad at hiding, often hiding in plain view (‘my eyes are closed, so you can’t see where I am, Grandma!’) Isaiah 45:15 talks of the God who hides Himself, and He can do this far better than a child! There are periods in life when God is not in plain view. Do we, at those times, assume He has walked out on us, abandoned us, forsaken us, left us alone and defenceless? Are we like babies who have no concept of object permanence? Or do we learn to trust He is there, even when we cannot see Him, even when our feelings tell us one thing but the facts tell us another?

Psalm 22 starts with feelings of forsakenness. God seems a long way away to David. But he balances these feelings with the truth he knows from Israel’s history and learns to both pour out his feelings to God and walk in trust adn faith, ultimately moving to a place of confidence in God’s future deliverance because of what He has done in the past.

‘Believing is seeing’ is the order of life in the spiritual realm. Growing up means understanding an object doesn’t vanish just because we can’t see it at this precise moment. Neither does God.

Learning To See

John’s sixth sign was the healing of a blind man which led to confrontation, teaching and insights about spiritual vision (John 9:1-41). Jesus healed many blind people throughout His ministry (see Matthew 9, Matthew 15:30, Luke 7:21, Luke 18:35-42, Mark 8:22-26 and Mark 10:46-62), but this account in John’s gospel shows us much more than the miraculous healing of one man.

The chapter starts with Jesus and His disciples encountering a man who was born blind, which prompts the disciples to ask the question “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2) This question reflects our deep-seated belief that something has gone wrong with the world, that it is not how it was originally meant to be, and reflects our understnding that sin and misfortune must be connected. Whilst it is true that personal sin can be connected to suffering, Jesus shows us that the correlation between the two is not so simple. He says that this happened so that the works of God may be displayed, reminding us that God can bring good out of all our suffering.

The healing itself reminds us that Jesus uses the ordinary (mud, spit, saliva) to do the miraculous and points not only to physical healing but how this can lead to testimony. The man repeatedly tells his story of what Jesus has done for him, first of all to the crowds and then to the religious leaders and Pharisees. We are called to do the same: to tell the story of what God has done for us. (Ps 107:2) Personal testimony is hugely important. We may not have all the answers, just as this man could not answer all the questions, but we know what God has done for us!

The Pharisees are frustrated that this miracle happened on the Sabbath and call Jesus a sinner and the man ‘steeped in sin.‘ Yet the man’s spiritual eyes have been opened, for he knows that a mere man could not have done this healing. Jesus seeks him out again and this time asks if he believes in the Son of Man. On learning that Jesus is the Son of Man, the man’s spiritual eyes acknowledge Jesus as Lord and his faith journey can really start.

John shows us the hostility and opposition that this miracle arouses as religious people refuse persistently to believe the evidence of the works Jesus is doing. We do not simply need our physical sight restoring; we need to see and understand who Jesus is and what He does. When this happens, then we can receive eternal life and become a disciple of Jesus.

A Growing Church

Dave spoke this morning from Matt 15:30, which tells us ‘Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. Time and time again during the lifetime of Jesus, we see great numbers being drawn to Him; He was hugely popular because He loved people (Matt 9:36), met their needs and taught them. (Matt 13:34) We do well to learn from His example so that we can see the church grow as people are drawn to Jesus.

Jesus associated more with ordinary people than with the rich or religious leaders. He truly loved people. We as a church need to be loving others more than we love ourselves. Heb 13:2 reminds us that we must show hospitality to all and must welccome all. People need to feel love and acceptance before they will open up to us. Even if we do not approve of people’s actions, we can still accept them as they are, because this is how God treats everyone.

All needs were met by Jesus, regardless of whether the people then chose to follow Him or not. He met needs without expecting anything in return, and we too need to be prepared to give selflessly to other people.

Jesus taught profound truths in simple ways. We must be prepared to do the same, answering people’s questions as they raise them and letting others set the pace with what they ask. We need to be able to explain the gospel in simple, straightforward words, not hiding behind religious vocabulary, but explaning things simply to help people grow in an understanding of the things of God. We have to be be prepared to be available to God to use to reach out to others. Each of us has a part to play in a growing church.