Song of Songs 3:6-11 speaks of wedding preparations. I spent from July 2014 to September 2015 involved in the wedding preparations of my son and his fiancée. On the agenda included venues and menus, table decorations, reception room decorations, photographs, music boards, seating plans, flowers, outfits, backdrops, table covers, party favours, party games, music, registrars, hen & stag events and service preparation. It was a hectic time with minute attention to detail which culminated in a fantastic day!

Song of Songs 3:6-11 shows us Solomon’s preparations for his wedding and acts in some ways as a prophetic description of the preparations for another wedding still to come, that of Christ to the church. Solomon’s wedding preparations focus attention on the groom; we do well to gaze daily on Christ, to inhale His aroma and to allow our eyes to dwell on His majesty (that crown of thorns has been replaced by another one of gold, see Rev 14:14). Solomon’s carriage was made of the cedars of Lebanon; we do well to ponder that heavy beam carried by Christ on which He hung in order to save us from our sins.

Solomon comes out of the desert, and for many of us, we have to acknowledge the barrenness of our own lives and of our culture and society before any spiritual progress can be made. Solomon was accompanied by ‘sixty mighty men armed against the terrors of the night‘, and we too have to be prepared to engage in spiritual warfare, relying on the Word of God as the sword of the Spirit (see Eph 6:10-20, Ps 149:6, 2 Cor 10:4-5). Prayer involves the Word of God; we need to be soaked in this word and ready to use this vital weapon, for one reason the marriage celebration has not taken place is because there are still people to be saved. Only as we take our part in this battle for souls through prayer and witness can we help to speed the coming of the day of the Lord (see 2 Pet 3:12).

Charlie Cleverly says of this passage ‘May we leave the wilderness having been thoroughly trained through it. May we come out of it leaning on the Beloved, perfumed with Christ-like character. May we be armed in prayer – may we play our full role in the wedding!’ (‘The Song of Songs’, P 132)

My involvement in my son’s wedding was a once-in-a-lifetime privilege. I long to be as involved in the preparations for the wedding of the Lamb as I was in those other preparations. I long to see the Church, Christ’s beautiful bride, meeting her Groom face to face (see Rev 21:2-4), all shame and guilt and sin removed by the sacrifice of Christ. We were chosen in Christ before the creation of the world ‘to be holy and blameless in His sight’ (Eph 1:4). May all our preparations have this goal in sight.

Our society values competence. It’s an essential requirement of every job description. It’s what makes life function. Without competence we’re ignorant buffoons, bumbling around Laurel-and-Hardy style, and while slapstick may be a valid comedy form, it’s not a good prescription for life. Incompetent doctors kill patients. Incompetent teachers lead to disengaged learners. Incompetent police lead to increases in crime. Incompetence is the ultimate sin.

But in the Christian life, competence is not the bottom line, nor incompetence the worst sin. Competence is not the be-all and end-all of faith. In fact, it barely registers on God’s list of requirements. This is not because God is a bumbling buffoon, but because He operates on a different set of principles.

Competence depends on our abilities, skills and actions and as such very easily leads to a reliance on these abilities, skills and actions as the way to live. Faith asks us to surrender all we have and are to God, recognising that our competence will never be enough to lead us to God. Our righteousness will never be pure enough, clean enough, good enough to bring us to God’s standards. There has to be a repudiation of our skillset and a complete dependence on God for us to be counted righteous before God. Only when we have acknowledged our own spiritual bankruptcy can we become rich in God. Only when we have tasted our utter powerlessness can we receive the power of God. Only when we have understood our own emptiness can we receive God’s fulness. Only when we have acknowledge that our competence is never going to get the seal of God’s approval can we bask in the approval He freely bestows on His children.

There is no shortcut to God, no ‘surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practised in your spare time.’ (Matt 7:13-14, The Message) The way to God is narrow. It’s the way of the cross, which, to the eyes of the world, looks like the most incompetent method ever for saving people, but which God says is ‘the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.’ (Rom 1:16)

On the other hand, this way leads to God-competence, which is far more effective. Paul says, ‘not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.’ (2 Cor 3:5-6) The only validation we need is God’s. The only way we receive this is by denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following Jesus. (Mk 8:34)

Turn your back on the cult of competence and cultivate God-confidence. E. M. Bounds writes challengingly: ‘Self-esteem, self-ability in some pernicious shape, has defamed and violated the temple, which should be held sacred for God.’ (‘E. M. Bounds onf Prayer’, P 468) Only death to self and crucifixion to the world can lead to spiritual life. Competence, if it robs us of our dependency on God, is no gain. Only God can satisfy.

There is a consultation meeting on Saturday 30th January from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the Salvation Army. This meeting is entitled ‘Dreams For Goldthorpe’ and is organised by a group of architecture students from Sheffield University who have been learning about Goldthorpe and coming up with ideas for its future. Everyone is invited to look at their plans and share their own ideas and hopes for the future of the place over a cup of tea and piece of cake.

Goldthorpe is in need of regeneration and there is funding available from some sources for work to be carried out. Such work is often a slow process (the plans for the redevelopment of Beever Street have been on the table for years and these are by no means complete), but it’s worth being involved in the consultation process and helping to shape the future of the place where we worship. Drop in on Saturday if you have the chance and have a look at what’s going on! – above all, pray that God will bring new life, new employment, new business to our area.

Don’t forget also the ‘Churches Together’ meeting on Saturday 20th February at 6 p.m. which will also be at the Salvation Army. Join with other Christians from local churches to pray, worship and have fellowship together.

On Friday 4th March there will be the Women’s World Day of Prayer meeting; further details to follow shortly.

We also had a birthday to celebrate yesterday.

Mark spoke this evening about how we are praying for and expecting 2016 to be a ‘yield year.’ There is a two-fold meaning to this word, meaning to give way or surrender  and also to gather in a harvest.

Surrender

1 Chron 29:7-8 talks about yielding to God and how we should let God lead and mould us all the time. Jesus sets the example for us in this regard, praying for God’s will to be done above His own.

Harvest

Lev 26:3-5 talks of the land yielding a harvest and in Matt 13, Jesus tells His disciples the parable of the sower, talking of four seeds planted in different kinds of soil. Even in shallow, rocky soil, the seed yields a huge increase in proportion to the seed sowed, and in other soils, the increase is even greater (30-fold, 60-fold or 100-fold.) We need to be looking for that same kind of yield from our lives.

God can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine (see Eph 3:20-21), but we need to pray in faith, believing that He will save our family and friends. Our part is to pray and to tell; the Holy Spirit is the one who will give the increase, who convicts and saves. John 15:1-17 reminds us of the need to abide in Christ if we are to bear fruit and to ask in faith (see especially Jn 15:7, 16). Let’s continue to believe and expect God to do great things this year.

Garry spoke this morning from John 1:9-11, verses which show us despite being the Creator of the universe, Jesus was not recognised as God when He came to earth. God’s fingerprints are etched into the universe and Paul tells us that God’s handiwork is visible to all, but many refuse to recognise God (see Rom 1:21-28), choosing other theories and explanations for how the world came into being.

Some do not recognise God because they have an erroneous view of God, culled from a ‘mish-mash’ of religious education or spiritual ideas. Others have a view of God which is clearly contrary to that found in Scripture (for example, many blame God for natural disasters and human actions; personal experiences can also influence our view of God.) Even the Jews, however, who had the Scriptures did not recognise Jesus.

Part of the problem in recognising God is that we operate on an either/ or understanding, not comprehending how God’s righteousness and love can co-exist. Jer 31:20 tells us how God yearns for His people and delights in them; his heart is bursting with longing even for those who seem to have no desire to know Him, but we fail to understand both the heights of His holiness and the depths of His love. When we look at the law, we feel that God must be mean to set the standards so high; when we see His acceptance of even the unrighteous, we are offended by His grace and mercy!

Once our eyes have been opened to who God is, He asks us to testify to others so that they too may know Him (John 14:26, John 15:26-27, John 16:12-15, Matt 18:12-14). That testimony comes from a personal, intimate relationship with God. We are asked to go beyond the ‘headlines’ (people’s superficial knowledge of God) and reveal God to others so that He is no longer unrecognised!