Phil Wickham’s new album ‘Children of God’ was released on Friday and arrived at our house today, much to my joy. The title track revels in our identity in Christ: ‘we are believers – all our hope in the Risen One; we are soldiers – fighting with faith and love; we are pilgrims – on the journey to reach our home. We are standing together; we are the children of God.’

Mike Bickle, in his comprehensive commentary on the book of Song of Songs, says ‘Jesus cherishes the church in order to take the stain of sin out of her soul’ and goes on to say ‘nourishing and cherishing is God’s method to change people… All of the Lord’s discipline occurs as He nourishes and cherishes us.’ (‘The Ravished Heart of God’, Vol 1, Session 11)

It’s very easy for us to use other methods of disciplining: naming and shaming, humiliation, fear, manipulation and dread, for example. But if we are honest, we know that we respond best to discipline and challenge when we are secure that we are loved. People who truly love us earn the right to speak words which challenge and discipline us in ways that others whom we only fear can never have.

In the NKJV of Song of Songs 4:9-10, we read ‘you have ravished my heart.’ These are strong words. Moreover, this isn’t the only chapter when the Bridegroom sings the Bride’s praises; it may come as a surprise to us to realise that the Bride’s eulogy of the Bridegroom is a relatively small part of the book in comparison to how many times the Bridegroom reassures the Bride of his desire and her beauty. In Song of Songs 6:9, he says ‘my dove, my perfect one, is unique.’ He says ‘Turn your eyes from me; they overwhelm me.’ (Song of Songs 6:4) Nine times in this book, the Bridegroom affirms the beauty of his bride (Song of Songs 1:15a; 1:15b, 2:10, 13; 4:1a; 4:7, 6:4, 7:7) He’s in love and he’s not afraid to express that love through words. He uses words to build up, not to tear down.

That’s an object lesson for us in the power of encouragement (see Rom 15:4-5). It’s often said that in a relationship, we need to hear ten positive things to combat the impact of one negative thing. Only when we are secure in love can be lavish in love towards others. John 13:3 says ‘Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God.’ Because of the security of his relationship with his heavenly Father, Jesus was able to minister to the disciples in humility and love them to the end and show them the full extent of his love. (Jn 13:1). As we revel in the love God has for us, we are given access to his love to lavish on others, the ability to nourish and cherish others, and in so doing, faith and hope are built into people’s souls. Let’s learn to be like Barnabas, the ‘son of encouragement’, and allow God’s love to fill our hearts to overflowing.

Tonight’s sermon continued the alphabet series (The A-Z of Christian Faith) and looked at the subject ‘D is for Desire.’ We can rightly talk about the need for us to hunger and thirst for God and develop a spiritual desire, but ultimately, we love because God first loved us (1 John 4:19). Our love and desire for God are the direct result of God’s love and desire for us. God’s desire is for us to be His people, a desire that is manifested in the love of God the Father (see Luke 15:11-32, 1 John 3:1-3) and in the love of Jesus the Bridegroom (see Eph 5:25-27, Song of Songs 7:10).

The Father-heart of God

The fact that God loves us is so familiar to many of us that this profound truth can seem like water off a duck’s back to us. Ducks’ feathers are waterproof; they have a gland at the base of their tails which produces an oil that spreads and covers the birds’ outer coat so that water forms droplets on the feathers, but doesn’t permeate them. Water doesn’t wet them in the way that it wets other things!

And this life-changing truth that God’s desire is for us, that God loves us, can seem so familiar to us that we fail to let it transform us and change us and shape us in the way that God wants it to. God’s Father-heart of love means He will never turn us away; He is always ready to lavish love on us (see Eph 3:17-19), wanting us to live in the identity we have as children of God. He is a ‘good, good Father’ to us; we are not defined by the lies of the enemy but by our identity as God’s children: ‘my name is child of the one true King,’ as Matthew West puts it. Human fathers may not have always demonstrated love to us, but God’s Father-heart can melt our hearts of stone and give us the security and self-worth which all need.

The Bridegroom’s Heart of God

God desires our fellowship and company as a bridegroom longs for his bride (see Is 62:3-5, Song of Songs 4:7, 9). The image of the church as bride of Christ with Christ as bridegroom is given in many parts of Scripture (see Matt 25, Luke 5:34-36, John 3:27-29, Rev 21:2-3), but we often feel uncomfortable with the notion of talking of God desiring us. We need to acknowledge, however, that human romance and love is actually a reflection of divine romance and divine love, not the other way around. When we are secure in the love and desire God has for us, we can love our neighbours as ourselves, for we understand the depth of God’s love for us. Ezek 16 and the book of Hosea give us glimpses into the passionate love God has for His people: the ‘reckless raging fury that they call the love of God.’ (‘The Love of God’, Rich Mullins) We all have this deep yearning to be fully known and fully loved (see 1 Cor 13:12), unconditionally accepted and cherished; this deep longing can only be satisfied in God.

D is for Desire: God’s desire for us, God’s love for us, igniting desire and love within us. How can it be that God loves us so? We’ll never fathom it; we’ll never be able to explain it. But we can experience it; we can revel in His love; we can delight in the fact ‘I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for me.’ (Song of Songs 7:10)

Dave spoke this morning on the goodness of God as he looked at goodness as a fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23).  Most of us like to think of ourselves as fundamentally good people, but God’s word reminds us that only God is good and that the fruit of the Spirit are grown within us as God’s Spirit dwells within us. A good God (Ps 119:68) made a good creation (Gen 1), but in our sinful nature, nothing good dwells (Rom 7) and we need God to grow goodness within us, so that it glows from within, rather like a glow worm’s luminescence glows all the time:

Jesus was baptised in water and anointed to do good things by the Holy Spirit. Goodness is more than undeserved generosity; it describe a disposition to do good (doing good because it’s in your nature.) The Holy Spirit changes our nature so that we reflect God’s nature.

The Bible gives us examples of those whose goodness is only seen on the surface and those whose goodness emanates from the changes God is bringing about from within. Ananias and Sapphira are examples of the former. They sold property and brought only some of the proceeds to the church; they did not give wholeheartedly and in effect lied to the church leaders and to God. God wants us to worship in spirit and in truth (Jn 4:24); there must be goodness coming forth from our inner beings.

Barnabas, on the other hand, demonstrates goodness in all he did: in his support of the poor, in his encouragement of individuals and in his prayer life (see Acts 19:24). He was generous to the church, generous in his encouragement to both Paul and later to John Mark at times when others were wary and doubtful of them and was not jealous or envious of the talents of the other leaders.

The Holy Spirit produces goodness in us for everyone to see; what is required from us is a willingness to let God’s character be manifested in us and in a humility of lifestyle that doesn’t care who gets the credit:

Garry concluded his mini-series on spiritual gifts (1 Cor 12:1-11), looking at the diversity of the gifts and the fact that these are used in proportion to our faith (see Rom 12:6-8). There is, perhaps, a difference between speaking in tongues at the baptism of the Spirit and exercising this ministry in a church context (the end of 1 Cor 12 implies that not everyone has the same gifts); the public use of spiritual gifts will vary. At times it seems that people can give a prophecy or a message in tongues or pray for healing without having that ministry on a regular basis, but Paul reminds the Corinthians that spiritual gifts are given by the Spirit as He determines and that the way we experience these gifts will be as varied as the personalities being used! What counts is God’s grace and our faith, and we need to encourage each other to seek God for these gifts (1 Cor 12:30) whilst acknowledging that we cannot actually ‘manufacture’ the gifts ourselves. Just as a dam can control the flow of water but cannot produce the water held in a reservoir, so we can choose whether we use the gifts God gives us or not, but cannot actually ‘produce’ the gifts in our strength.

2 Pet 1:20-21 reminds us that all prophecy comes about through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; it is not something people make up. Jer 20:7-18 speaks of how Jeremiah tried to hold in the words God gave him but could not (‘But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.’ Jer 20:9) There is often that sense of being ‘about to burst’, a sense of feeling totally constrained, when exercising these gifts which can be frightening at first, but, armed with the confidence that God gives good gifts to those who ask, seek and knock (Matt 7:7-11), we can approach God with hungry hearts that reach out for all He has for us. These gifts, along with the other ministries listed in 1 Cor 12:28-31, Rom 12:6-8 and Eph 4:11-13, are given to build up the church and show unbelievers the power of God, as Paul goes on to explain in 1 Cor 14.

Mark spoke tonight on the subject of the nails which held Jesus to the cross, sporting a T-short which proclaims ‘My Saviour is tougher than nails.’

Nails come in all shapes and sizes and are very useful, but in each of the Gospel narratives of the crucifixion, there is actually no mention of nails (see Matt 27:35, Mk 15:24, Luke 23:33, Jn 19:18). It is not until after the resurrection, when Jesus appears to the disciples, that we hear about the nails which held Him to the cross, for Thomas needs to see the evidence of those nail marks before he will believe (see John 20:19-29). Jesus showed them the marks of the nails, proving that He really had been crucified and was alive for evermore.

It was not the physical nails themselves, however, which held Jesus to the cross. As Son of God, He could have come down from the cross and demonstrated His deity in that way; despite the pain, agony and suffering of death by crucifixion, He knew that God’s salvation could only be won if He suffered in that way and His love kept Him on the cross. He chose to die in that way to finish God’s great plan of salvation.

Jesus knew that sin had to be paid for and that the cross was the only way reconciliation between man and God could be made. He took our sins and nailed them to the cross (Col 2:14), paying the ultimate price so that our sins can be removed forever. Jesus destroyed the law of sin and death on the cross and became our atoning sacrifice (propitiation). He refused the pain relief offered (wine vinegar mixed with myrrh) because He needed to be fully aware of all that was happening and bear the weight of our sins with full consciousness. God’s grace poured out from the cross.

All sins are paid for at the cross: sins of our past and any sins we may commit in the future. We have a responsibility to pin our sins, as it were, to the cross as we repent, confess them and ask for God’s forgiveness. We need to let go of our former lifestyles (including wrong behaviour and wrong patterns of thinking) and embrace the reality of the forgiveness purchased for us through Christ’s death on the cross.