We also had a birthday to celebrate tonight!

Dave spoke from Phil 3:7-16 tonight, focussing on the need to press on in God, not being satisfied with all we have experienced so far, but understanding that there is so much more to be explored and experienced in God. God gives us the baptism and gifts of the Holy Spirit to enable us to grow and to be His witnesses, but so often, we fail to shine even brighter in our journey with God (see Prov 4:18), stalling in our progress through a variety of reasons. The word ‘mediocre’ comes from two words meaning halfway to the peak, and so often we settle for mediocrity in life, having moved on from the valley but not progressing up to the mountain top.

The reasons for this are various. Sometimes we are not willing to count the cost for God, drawing back when we hear His voice and challenge. Jesus made it plain (Luke 9:23) that there is a daily cost of self-denial and surrender required of discipleship, but often we draw back from this. Salvation is a beginning, a gateway into the fulness of God; even though we know Christ, we need to press on into knowing Him more. Our independent streak which leads to disobedience must be tamed if we are to press on.

Sometimes we are sidetracked by chronic discouragement, always applying God’s word to someone else, believing they may prosper and flourish, but being resigned to never progressing personally. We need to understand that this fulness of life (John 10:10) is on offer to every single one of us and must rise about discouragement to press on to receiving this fulness.

Sometimes we draw back because we are afraid of looking strange or being seen as too ‘extreme’. We have to be totally ‘sold out’ for God, however, recognising that radical surrender will always look strange to others, but what matters is a heart panting after God. (Ps 42 & 43). Just as a canny barman places salted peanuts on the bar to encourage people to eat and become thirsty (thereby buying more drinks), without a thirst for God, we will not press on. This thirst cannot be created by others, however, but must be present for us to move on in God.

Phil 3:15-16 reminds us that all of us who are mature need to be pressing on even further. There is no room for a lack of progress; however long we have walked with God, there is still more to explore, more to understand, more to experience. Let’s not settle for mediocre Christianity, for being ‘average’, but let’s seek to press onwards and upwards in Him, reaching for that heavenly prize.

Stephen spoke from 1 Pet 2:4-5 this morning at Cherry Tree Court, commenting on the fact that Jesus is the cornerstone, chosen by God, and we are living stones being built into God’s house. Each one of us has a talent and are able to build in God, from the oldest to the youngest. As we serve God in love, we lay down stones, and we can use our gifts to love and encourage one another (see Rom 15:2, 1 Thess 5:11.)

Eph 4:16 reminds us that the whole body is joined together and grows and builds itself up as each member does its part. What matters in this work of building is that we are building on the rock (see Matt 7:24), secure in our foundations, but hearing the word of God and putting it into practice. We are rooted and built up in Christ, strengthened in faith and overflowing with thankfulness (Col 2:7) and we all have a responsibility to build ourselves up in the most holy faith by praying in the Spirit (Jude 1:20). As we use our skills to show love, encourage each other and pray, we can set our stones upon the solid rock and allow the Master Builder to build His house.

I have spent most of the week without any connection to the Internet, sadly not because I was in some remote but exotic location, but because of unresolved and apparently inexplicable problems with my Internet connection at home. This is an ongoing problem, but also intermittent: sometimes the connection is fine and I can go weeks without hitches; on other occasions, the connection drops for a couple of hours; on other occasions, I can lose connection lots of times within a day or even go days (as this week) without any connection. BT Broadband engineers are such frequent visitors at the house these days that one of them (who has now been three times) joked that he was going to book his Christmas dinner with us, because he was sure to be back… We have changed filters, routers, re-wired the system and even had something changed at the exchange. Each time the engineer leaves with a cheery ‘That’s solved the problem, then!’, only for us to see the little green lights on the router fail almost as soon as he walks out of the door… The problem appears to be worse in wet weather, which is bad news if you live in the UK; friends have joked that maybe it’s like incy-wincy spider; one suggested a Mac may be the solution if rain is the problem…

Apart from being irritating and annoying, making it difficult to work at times, losing this connection reminds me how dependent we have become on the Internet for information and contact with the outside world. People regularly communicate with me by email, but if I can’t receive the email, I don’t know what they’re saying. Bible studies are made easier by the variety of Bible versions and commentaries available at the click of a button; this week, I’ve had to dig out my paper copy of Cruden’s Concordance and Nave’s Topical Bible, much loved, but nowhere near as fast as their online versions! It’s also very difficult to compile an online photo book if you’ve no online connection!

Sometimes our relationship with God feels as intermittent as my Internet connection. There are days when He seems incredibly close and His voice so clear and speedy; I pray and the answer is there instantaneously (see Is 65:24). But on other occasions, He seems like a God playing hide-and-seek (see Is 45:15), and the heavens seem silent (see Ps 83:1). The Bible reassures us that God will never leave us or forsake us (Heb 13:5). His presence with us is constant and faithful, even when we cannot feel or see Him. As Rend Collective sing,

‘You are my shepherd
Faithful forever
Your hand is strong when my faith is weak
Close as my heartbeat
You won’t forsake me
You are the love that will carry me.

And I won’t be afraid
I will trust Your heart and say,

I will never, ever, ever walk alone
You are with us, for us
Always holding on
Though I wander, Your love goes further.
You are my hope and future
I will never walk alone
I will never walk alone.’ (‘Never Walk Alone’, Rend Collective)

1 Cor 6:1-11 is peppered with Paul’s questions to the Corinthians, with eight questions asked in eight verses. Questions can be a valuable way of making us look at situations differently, forcing us to think about our attitudes and actions. They are a powerful teaching aid, helping to create a conversation between the teacher and learner, often making the learner focus on what he is learning, rather than simply passively sitting and absorbing what he is being told. We learn much better when we have to think through answers ourselves than simply being told what to do (though many of us, being fundamentally lazy, quite like the idea of having answers dished out to us in the same way that food is placed before us in a restaurant!)

Jesus frequently used questions when he was teaching people. Mark 8:1-23 shows us many different types of questions (some simply gathering information, open-ended questions, personal questions, rhetorical questions.) Rhetorical questions often do not require an answer because the answer is apparently obvious (eg ‘Who would not hope to stay healthy in old age?’) but by asking ‘obvious’ questions, however, we are provoked into looking for answers which are not necessarily ‘obvious.’ When Paul asks ‘Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?’ (1 Cor 6:7), we can, in the natural, think of many reasons why not! (It’s not fair; we don’t like to be cheated! We don’t want to be doormats!) But by asking these pivotal questions, Paul helps us to look at things from a different perspective; by using emotive language, he helps us to see his passion for change. He focuses on puncturing the pride of the Corinthians and on redirecting their sense of honour towards mutual service in the community, using powerful questions to help them to see the urgent need for change. We know from various passages in 2 Corinthians that they heeded the rebukes and did indeed listen to his advice; by shaking them from their arrogant complacency and misplaced sense of superiority, the questions achieved their purpose of reformed behaviour.

In 1 Cor 6:5, Paul talks about shaming the Corinthians, clearly being astounded at their immaturity and lack of Biblical wisdom. Earlier (1 Cor 4:14), he has written not to shame but to warn them, but now he wants them to be ashamed and to change their ways as a result. Shame (a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behaviour) can be a powerful motivator to godliness, but the point of shaming someone in a way that is approved by God is to make them see the error of their ways and offer them the opportunity to repent and change. It is not an end in itself. Just as Paul’s intention behind expelling the immoral brother in 1 Cor 5 was ultimately salvation and restoration (1 Cor 5:5, ‘so his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord’ and 2 Cor 2:7, ‘you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow’), his intention in this passage is to get the Corinthians to change how they are settling disputes amongst themselves.

Shame can be, in Robert Douglas-Fairhurst’s words, ‘a powerful social corrective.’ (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/11376490/Is-Shame-Necessary-New-Uses-for-an-Old-Tool-by-Jennifer-Jacquet.html) Nonetheless, we do well to realise that some people are over-sensitive to sin and guilt and can become very easily condemned by others, feeling ashamed when there may well be no legitimate reason to be ashamed. The experience of shame can help to reinforce social norms within an organisation and so help social cohesion, but the reason the Corinthians needed to change was to live out their identity as children of God. A desire to live as God wants because we long to please Him seems to me to be better reason for holiness than simply wishing to avoid other people’s condemnation or value-judgments.