June is a busy month for birthdays at our church! On Sunday, we celebrated another birthday:

I learnt a new word at the weekend, and as always was very excited about this fact! That word was ‘bokeh‘, and relates in particular to photography, apparently meaning ‘the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens.‘ Bokeh has been defined as “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light” and is often used for effect by photographers, rendering parts of a photograph blurry while keeping other parts sharply in focus:

Photographers often use this effect with lights:

It struck me on having this crash course in photography that life is rather like this effect: much of it seems blurry from our limited perspective, but is crystal clear to God. Often, our confusion in life stems from our inability to see the ‘whole picture’ at once. Fortunately, God has no such problem!

‘From where I’m standing,
Lord, it’s so hard for me to see
Where this is going
And where You’re leading me.
I wish I knew how
All my fears and all my questions
Are gonna play out
In a world I can’t control.

When I’m lost in the mystery,
To You my future is a memory,
Cause You’re already there,
You’re already there;
Standing at the end of my life
Waiting on the other side
And You’re already there
You’re already there.’ (‘Already There’, Casting Crowns)

Dave spoke last night from 1 Cor 14, continuing our focus on the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Often, there are two extremes we feel concerning spiritual gifts, either believing we are deficient because we do not speak in tongues, for example, or believing that such gifts are unnecessary because we have seen them misused. Paul urged the Corinthians to ‘eagerly desire’ these gifts (with passion and fervour), but stressed that they must be used in love.

Jesus reminded His disciples that the supernatural and miraculous are not of themselves proof of God’s favour (see Matt 7:21-23) and clearly God gives these gifts as He determines (1 Cor 12:11), even to those we may not consider mature (see Acts 10:44-48.) Nonetheless, the fruit of the Spirit in our lives demonstrates the work He carries out and our reasons for desiring spiritual gifts is important. Their purpose is to build up the church. They are not something we earn, but are freely given by God to empower the church to do His will.

The gifts mentioned by Paul include:

• words of wisdom (specific words or empowerment when needed)
• words of knowledge (when we know something that normally we would not know and cannot necessarily explain ‘how’ we know)
• gifts of faith (something considered impossible that we can believe for and receive)
• working of miracles (when God intervenes in ways beyond the ‘normal’)
• prophecy (God’s direction and correction, sometimes involving ‘foretelling’ as well as ‘forthtelling’, though it should be noted that prophecy will never add or subtract from God’s word and needs to be tested)
• discerning of spirits (releasing of understanding which spirit is at work)
• speaking in tongues (a gift which has caused much controversy but which builds up an individual, and, when interpreted, builds up the whole church)

We are called to continue the work Jesus did on earth. He worked through the power of the Holy Spirit and we must too. God wants to give us good gifts and we need to be continually filled with the Spirit so that we can do the works of God.

Our series on the Songs of Ascent looked at Ps 124 this morning, a psalm which looks hazards squarely in the face and declares ‘our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.’ (Ps 124:8) It’s unequivocal in listing some of the hostilities faced by pilgrims on their lifelong journey to God, but it is also unequivocal in stating that God is on our side and provides the help we need. God is the invisible source of help who is available to all who will call on His name. Ps 46:1 begins confidently ‘God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble’; Ps 124 ends with the same kind of confidence.

One of the key themes of the Bible is that God is for us. He’s on our side. He loves us and wants to help us. These are basic, fundamental, foundational truths about God which are under attack from the enemy every single day. In the Garden of Eden, Satan tempted Eve by sowing doubt into her mind about the nature of God’s word, the authority of God’s word and the motivation behind God’s word and he continues to want to sow doubt about these things into our minds. It takes courage to believe that God is on our side, when all seems to be going against us. It takes great faith to declare that God is working all things together for the good of those who have been called according to His purposes (Rom 8:28) when we are facing illness or adversity or death. It is not easy to believe that what the enemy means for evil, God can turn to good (Gen 50:20), as Joseph had to learn. But just as Ps 124 focuses on people attacking, floods engulfing, raging waters that swept away, it also reminds us that God is a God who delivers: ‘the snare has been broken and we have escaped.’ (Ps 124:7)

Countless times in history, God’s people have had their backs against the wall and faced certain doom (think of the Israelites facing the Red Sea in front and Pharaoh’s armies behind or David facing Goliath, for example.) Countless times, God has stepped in and rescued where no rescue seemed possible. Our help comes from the mighty, awesome God of creation whose ‘majestic greatness becomes revealed in the minuteness of a personal history.’ (Eugene Peterson, ‘The Journey’, P 64)

The person of faith is someone who leans on the promises of God and who trusts in a God who brings dead things to life (‘Dead Things to Life’, Worship Central) and who calls into being things that didn’t previously exist. (Rom 4:17) The person of faith is someone who holds onto the breaking of the dawn for God’s light to shine through, who refuses to live by sight alone. This requires tenacity and courage, persistence and determination. But our confidence is not in ourselves, or in our own ability to solve things; it’s in God. Only God can help us. Only God can deliver us. But He can do these things and He will. As we journey through life, we acquire songs of joy from all the things God has already done for us and these songs sustain us in the night as we wait again for His deliverance. Nothing can separate us from His love and nothing can change the fact that He is good and what He does is good (see Rom 8:31-39, Ps 119:68.)

‘If God is on our side
Who can be against us?
If God is on our side
We won’t be afraid
Though the mountains may fall
And the sky will crumble
There ain’t nothin’ gonna stand in our way.’ (‘On Our Side’, Chris Tomlin)

Tonight’s Bible study looked at 1 Cor 3:10-15, where Paul talks about laying a foundation as a master builder. Everything he does is by the grace God has given him (see 1 Cor 15:9-11, Rom 12:5-7); we too need to realise that everything we have and are comes from God and that who we are and all we do is through grace. God’s grace worked powerfully among the first apostles (see Acts 4:32-34) and continues to work today; we need to remember that anything we achieve is by grace.

So often, we compare ourselves to other people and covet their gifts and achievements, but we need to remember that whether God has given us many gifts or only a few (we may feel we are a ‘one-trick pony’ like the character played by Sigourney Weaver in the science-fiction spoof ‘Galaxy Quest’, whose one role on the spaceship was to talk to the computer), what He is looking for is our faithfulness in using those gifts to His glory.

Paul was a master builder, having the knowledge, skill and experience to lay foundations. All building, he declared, must be on the foundation of Jesus Christ. Others (such as church leaders like Apollos) may build on this foundation, but we too have a responsibility to build ourselves up (see Phil 2:12-13, fashioning our lives into the mould of Christ.) Teachers and leaders are important, but there needs to be a ‘body ministry’ in the church (see Eph 4:11-15) where we are becoming mature and growing in faith and love (see 1 Pet 2:2, 2 Thess 1:3-4). We have to learn to control our own bodies (see 1 Thess 4:3-8) and work towards eternal goals, being prepared to build our lives as God wants us to, recognising the durability of some things (likened to building with gold, silver and precious stones) and rejecting things which have no eternal value (likened to wood, hay and straw.) God promises rewards to us for our faithful service (even though this is entirely down to His grace in the first place!), but we need to remember that He is interested in our building ourselves up in the most holy faith, developing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, not just in doing ‘good works’ to earn His favour. We build on the foundation of Christ, living by faith even as we received Christ by faith (see Gal 3:1-14 for how easy it is to start by faith and fall back into reliance on works.) All building needs to be on the firm foundation of Christ, for the goal is to become conformed to the image of Christ. (Rom 8:29)

The Salvation Army are celebrating their 150 years’ anniversary this year, remembering how William and Catherine Booth started the movement in the East End of London in 1865. Locally, Goldthorpe Salvation Army will be having a celebration day on Saturday 4th July from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at their building on Straight Lane. The newly decorated prayer room will be opened and there will be an opportunity to have food from their new cafe menu as well as a range of activities for families, so if you can drop in on that day, do call in and see what God is doing through the Salvation Army in Goldthorpe!

During the school holidays, we will be embarking on our usual time of building maintenance. We are looking to decorate the community room and need capable volunteers who are not afraid of heights to tackle this mammoth painting job! We will be trying to organise a variety of dates (daytime & evenings to suit) over the next few weeks, so if you can help at all, do join us for this. We are very privileged to have such a wonderful building on Market Street, but we do need to look after it well!