It’s an often alarming fact that we will spend more time at work than at almost any other activity! Work is a necessary part of our lives for economic and practical reasons, but last night we looked at the fact that our work is also part of the offering of our whole lives which we make to God.

Work can mean paid employment, voluntary work, the things we do at home or simply the way we occupy our time. The Bible urges us to ‘Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.’ (Eph 5:15-16) The Message version says ‘Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness,’ going on to say ‘Make the most of every chance you get.’ Everyday work, if it’s happening every day and is occupying such a large proportion of our time, deserves to be considered well.

God works. God is a creative God (Gen 1:1), involved every day in saving, redeeming, restoring, renewing, healing and delivering. He shows us the value and significance of work, and the Genesis account gives us the Biblical order: six days of work and one day of rest (see Ex 20:10-11). God does not need to rest as we do, for He never gets tired (Ps 121:4), but He ordains a cycle of work and rest we do well to heed.

Work is not of itself sinful. The command for us to work came before the Fall. (Gen 2:15) As with all things, sin has corrupted work (see Gen 3:17-19), but life is never going to be one long paradise of sitting around in the Caribbean sipping cocktails, however much we may wistfully think this is the ideal life!

Work is more than a means to economic development or individual self-fulfilment. It is part of God’s plan for mankind, though it was never intended to be a substitute for God. Our worth does not depend on our work; we are loved and accepted by God freely, regardless of our work. Nonetheless, He has prepared good works for us to do (Eph 2:10) and our work has significance and importance not only in providing money for us but in enabling us to contribute to society and to interact with people in a helpful and creative way.

Clearly March is a popular month for birthdays!

Today is Mothers’ Day in the UK. Mothers generally hold a special place in our hearts and there is much we can learn from godly women.

Dave spoke this morning from Is 66:13, which tells us ‘as a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you, and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.’

A mother’s love is seen as being very special and Jesus Himself remembered His mother even as He hung on the cross. (John 19:25-27). God promises to comfort His people as mothers comfort their children; Jesus promised His disciples the comfort of the Holy Spirit after He had left earth. (John 14:16) God is not remote and aloof, a cosmic killjoy or cold judge or old-fashioned bearded grandparent; He loves us compassionately and caringly, comparing His love to a mother’s.

1 Kings 3 reminds us that a true mother loves her child. In this famous test of Solomon’s wisdom, Solomon discerned the true mother of the baby through her love; the real mother was willing to allow someone else to have the child rather than seeing her child harmed. God cherishes us in exactly the same way, rejoicing over us and singing over us (see Zeph 3:17).

Mothers comfort their children (even when they have to chastise them!) God does not treat us as our sins deserve, but disciplines us as a wise parent who nonetheless is always present to comfort and forgive. His promise of comfort to us in Is 66:13 is very real; He is the God of all comfort. (2 Cor 1:3)

Mothers sacrifice for their children. The child who was asked to give a fraction of the pie he would receive if there were two parents and five children replied ‘1/6.’ This may not have been the mathematical answer expected, but was a reflection, he said, of his mother’s sacrifice: she would willingly forego her piece of the pie for her child! Just as mothers give sacrificially, so too God gave His only Son (John 3:16) in order to save us. Mothers give us natural life; God gives us eternal life, at the cost of His own Son.

Mothers encourage relentlessly and continually. Against the odds, they continue to support and motivate their children. In the same way, God repeatedly speaks words of encouragement to us, reminding us to ‘Hang in there! Keep going!’ Faithfulness, perseverance and love are all characteristics of mothers and God; He seeks to develop these characteristics in each one of us and encourages the disheartened. (1 Thess 5:14)

Crisis (a charity working with those who have housing issues or who are homeless) are running a series of sessions teaching people basic sewing skills or helping them to use textiles in a creative and therapeutic way. Decorating shopping bags and making cushion covers were the first projects tackled:

There are another four taster sessions to go, each session being on Wednesdays from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m.

Paul, having expressed his confidence in God’s faithfulness to keep the Corinthians blameless and steadfast, is not afraid to tackle a question of misplaced loyalties (1 Cor 1:10-17). He has been informed by some members of the church of divisions, behaviour which reflects immaturity and a focus on the external rather than the eternal. Factions, people preferring one leader above another, have arisen and he is appalled, pleading with the church to agree and be ‘perfectly united in mind and thought.’

“Division has always been a problem among God’s people, and almost every New Testament epistle deals with this topic or mentions it in one way or another. Even the twelve apostles did not always get on with each other.” (Warren Wiersbe ‘Be Wise’, P 22) The blessedness of unity is described in Ps 133:1-3; Jesus prayed for unity in the church (see John 17:20-21). It is largely because of the unity in the Godhead that unity in Christ’s body is seen as so essential. Paul tackles this topic in a number of letters (see Eph 4:3, Col 2:2, 2 Cor 13:11). The fact that unity is our goal is not in dispute, but the ‘how’ of achieving unity is sometimes harder to define.

Paul clearly points out that unity is essential, for Christ is not divided. It’s pointless to follow human leaders slavishly, for they were neither baptised for us nor crucified for us. Only Christ can be our Saviour and He must be the focus of our message (a fact he goes on to emphasise in the rest of the chapter.)  Our eyes can be on messengers for a variety of reasons (including the fact that we understand some better than others, like some better than others, and are more comfortable with the message of some more than others), but our focus must be on the message, not the messenger. For us to learn to take others into consideration and live harmoniously alongside those who can be very different to ourselves requires maturity. We must study Christ (see Phil 2:1-11) in order to learn to put aside our selfish ambition and belief that only our way of doing things is correct, striving to allow love to be the motivation for all we do and working together with a common purpose and aim. Unity is not the same as uniformity. There will be times when we have to learn to agree to disagree; not everything has to be done in the same way, for example. But there is only one gospel (Gal 1:6-9) and only one Saviour (1 Tim 2:5), only one way to the Father through Jesus (John 14:6), and we must learn to be restored to that position of harmony and fellowship which is possible in Christ.

Prayer involves ‘an attentive listening and speaking relation to the God who listens and speaks’ (Eugene Peteson, ‘The Word Made Flesh’, P 138) and is essential to life itself. It is a ‘universal venture into intimacy with God’ (ibid., P 135), but so often, we are content to stay on the periphery, not really plunging into intimacy. Religion is easier to deal with than intimacy. The very forms that encourage us to delve deeper can become empty, redolent of meaning. The rich interior maturity of prayer can easily deteriorate ‘into a kitchen midden of pious clichés.’ (ibid., P 136)

I was unfamiliar with that term ‘kitchen midden.’ (One reason I love reading Eugene Peterson’s writings so much is that he introduces new vocabulary to me, something I relish!)  A kitchen midden was a prehistoric refuse heap which marked an ancient settlement, chiefly containing bones, shells, and stone implements. Basically, it was a dump for domestic waste, of interest to archeologists because it reveals facts about how people used to live, but of no real beauty or use to anyone else.

If prayer is reduced to ‘pious clichés‘, it may sound impressive to ourselves or to others, but it is of no real beauty or value. It is easy to deceive ourselves and others, easy to cling to externals and be unaware of the state of our hearts. Prov 4:23 urges us to ‘guard our hearts’, for everything we do flows from it. Prayer has to involve desire and discipline; it requires attentiveness and a quiet listening to the voice of our hearts and the voice of God’s Spirit. If we are not careful, hypocrisy grows like the weeds among the flowers, hypocrisy which is ‘the lazy replacement of a strenuous interior life with God with religious makeup and gossipy god-chatter.’ (ibid., P 140) Prayer has to involve fresh perceptions of grace, new understanding of mercy, thankfulness and gratitude so that we do not simply rely on empty words. It has to involve actively engaging with God, not simply ‘going through the motions.’ As such, it requires time, commitment and effort, but the benefits of persistently, faithfully and trustingly coming before God, submitting ourselves to His sovereignty, confident in His benevolence and actions, are enormous.  Prayer that ‘is not personal and ordinary… not embedded in the immediate and personal relationships and language of everyday life’ (ibid., P 144) is going to be of no long-term benefit, even to an archeologist!