The Japanese art of kintsugi is the art of fixing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, treating breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.

This kind of repair makes the piece unique and quite often the repaired pot is actually more valuable and beautiful than it was before it got broken. I was reminded of Jeremiah 18:1-6 when I learned about this art form. In that passage, Jeremiah is taken to watch a master potter at work, seeing how he moulds marred clay into another pot, forming beautiful objects from apparently flawed clay, and was reminded that God is indeed the Master Potter, shaping and forming our lives as He sees fit.

Aaron Shust sings ‘You assemble all our broken, shattered pieces/ More beautiful than I have ever known.’ (‘Long Live The King’) Life is fraught with trials and difficulties and at times the scars and cracks in our lives are very visible. Nonetheless, God is able to work those tragedies into the pot of our life to make something valuable and unique. He knows all about kuntsugi art forms, choosing to repair and transform our broken lives into something magnificent that reflects His glory. We are mended not with powdered gold, silver, or platinum but with the precious blood of Christ (1 Pet 1:17-19), receiving His healing and strengthening by His wounds (see Is 53:5, 1 Pet 2:24). Our Saviour’s scars are still visible in His glorious resurrected body; they are ‘the marks of death God chose never to erase.’ (‘Known By the Scars’, Michael Card) We cannot expect our transformation to be any different.

As you know, we have been planting things in our house lately and enjoying the fruits of our labours. The chilli plants are abundantly providing chillies; we have been flavouring food with basil too! As a result of this, Paul’s comments in 1 Cor 3:8-9 (‘the one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labour. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building’) have seemed particularly relevant to us!

The image of the people of God as God’s planting has many biblical echoes (see Ex 15:17, Num 24:5-7, Amos 9:15, Is 61:3, for example.) The church in Corinth may well have had problems and needed correction in many areas, but Paul is confident in their growth (see 1 Cor 1:8-9, comparing with Phil 1:6), because He knows God is faithful. There will always be fallow times in fields, times when nothing seems to be growing, but we can be confident that God is always working, even when we cannot see what He is doing. Paul reminds the Galatians ‘let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.’ (Gal 6:9) Patience and perseverance are required to see visible evidence of growth, but don’t give up – God’s not finished with us yet!

The Bible is described as food for our spirits. In 1 Cor 3:2 and 1 Pet 2:2, it is likened to milk, the staple food for the baby. But just as a baby does not remain on milk forever, so too we need to progress in our understanding of the Word. Paul talks about ‘solid food’ (1 Cor 3:2) and this image is also mentioned in Heb 5:11-14. In other places, the Bible is said to be even more indispensable than bread (see Matt 4:4) and is likened to honey (see Ps 119:103).

Having a balanced diet is considered one of the key ingredients of a healthy lifestyle.

We too need to grow in our appetite for the Word of God, meditating on it night and day (Ps 119:97). It provides all the nutrients we need for spiritual growth and gives us guidance, leading us in the way everlasting and helping us to know spiritual success (see Josh 1:8). Without a growing hunger for the Word of God, we will never grow up spiritually. Each of us needs to be thoroughly soaked in the Word of God, drawing from its waters and chewing on its meats on a daily basis.

It is not enough, however, to simply absorb the Bible theoretically, acquiring a sound knowledge of it but failing to apply its teaching to our own lives. Knowledge is valuable, but what God is looking for is obedience; He longs for us to respond to His Word and to do what it says (see James 1:22-25). Just as a baby cannot survive on milk alone forever, so we too must move on to the ‘solid food‘ in the Word, but we also need the balance of prayer, fellowship and witnessing; we need to take in, but we also need to give out.

What’s our diet like? How’s our obedience? The Word of God is living and active (Heb 4:12), able to cut through our self-deception and provide us with the hope and perseverance we need to walk with God (see Rom 15:4). In order to grow, however, we need to eat and drink. Let’s be prepared to dig deep into the Bible and discover its delights for ourselves and then let’s be prepared to put into action all that it says!

In the Bible study on 1 Cor 3:1-9 we looked again at the topic of spiritual maturity or growing up in God. Paul’s discussions contrasting human wisdom with God’s wisdom were firmly rooted in the problems experienced in the Corinthian church, touched on in 1 Cor 1:10-17 and now expanded in more detail. The Corinthians were described as ‘worldly’, demonstrating the folly of immature thinking, because their attitudes were full of jealousy and quarrelling and they had a tendency to place leaders on pedestals, not understanding that the nature of growth lies with God (we may plant and water the seed, but it is God who makes it grow!) They had completely misunderstood the whole question of servanthood, so ably demonstrated by Jesus (see Mark 10:42-45, John 13:1-13, Phil 2:1-11). Paul was at pains to remind the Corinthians that we all have different functions in the church (see 1 Cor 12:12-31 and Romans 12:4-8), but growth comes about through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We have to leave behind our worldly way of thinking and reasoning if we are to grow to maturity, thus fulfilling God’s purpose for our lives (see Eph 4:14-16).

There are indeed rewards for our labours (see 1 Cor 3:8) and we should indeed respect those who work hard amongst us for the Lord, but the petty childishness of favouring Apollos over Paul or Peter over Apollos had no place in the church and we need to reflect on the fact that only Christ must have the pre-eminence in our churches (see Col 1:18). Service and servanthood have to be the heart attitudes of all who are maturing. ‘A mature Christian uses his gifts as tools to build with, while an immature believer uses gifts as toys to play with or trophies to boast about.’

Jesus said, ‘… you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ (Acts 1: 8) As we have been praying for the Holy Spirit’s power in May, this month let’s pray for the purpose of the filling of the Holy Spirit to be fulfilled in our lives: witness.

• Pray for the witness of the whole Church in Goldthorpe (our church, Salvation Army and the parish church), as well as churches in Thurnscoe and Bolton-on-Dearne and other Dearne towns

• Pray for us as we ‘prayer walk’ the streets during June, asking God to lead us and direct us to those He is preparing for salvation and to guide us in our prayer for our locality. Join with us if you can on 11^th & 25^th June at 7:30 p.m. (or pray in the church building if you are not able to walk far.)

• Pray for our individual witness, where ever we are: at home with family and friends, with our neighbours, in our locality, or at work.

‘Being salt and light demands two things: we practise purity in the midst of a fallen world and yet we live in proximity to this fallen world.’ (David Kinnaman) Let’s continue to pray for love and holiness to be seen in our lives, for these are powerful aspects of our witness. As Garry reminded us on Sunday, witness is about more than the words we speak. We earn the right to speak through our obedient, holy living, and we can only do this as we abide in Christ and yet remain in the world: ‘May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.‘ (John 17:21)

Col 3:16 urges us to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly and indicates that this can be done through a variety of means, including teaching and admonishing one another and singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. Singing is a very powerful way of getting God’s word into our hearts (the psalms were intended to be sung and many modern songs are actually simply words from the Psalms set to music) and also of declaring God’s word aloud. Songs can also be powerful prayers, for we need to open our hearts to God and ask Him to reveal more of Himself to us and to mould us and use us as He sees fit. ‘Here I Am’ by Jeremy Camp (echoing Isaiah’s words in Is 6:8) is a song which articulates for me many of the prayers I find in my heart at this present time. Never think that Christian songs are simply time-fillers, ways to make a service last longer, or that they are of no importance in our daily living. In the truths they proclaim and in the prayers they articulate, they are powerful words which can help us to grow in Christ and help us to be rooted and grounded in the word of God.

‘You are waiting for us to move.
There is so much more
Deeper than I’ve ever known and known before.
When we draw near
I see the mysteries of who You are.
Reveal my heart to be renewed
Until nothing’s left but You,
Only You.

Here I am.
Falling to my knees I’m crying out again.
Jesus, take me deeper than I’ve ever been.
Lord, here I am:
All of me reaching to the places that I cannot see;
Desperately, I need You to know me
Here I am.

You are waiting for me to see
All of who You are.
God, You are so patient with me
Day after day.
Come. living water, let me drink from Your amazing grace.
Reveal my heart to be renewed
Until nothing’s left but You,
Only You.

Let the things of earth lose their hold on me.
Let Your river flow, You are breaking me free
I will lift my hands in Your presence, God,
Make me like You are.

Here I am,
Everything surrendered.
I am Yours
Nothing else that matters,
Laying down every one of my fears ,
God, won’t You
God, won’t You move me?
Here I am ‘ (‘Here I Am’, Jeremy Camp)