The Word of God

Dave spoke from John 8:48-59 on the deity and pre-incarnate nature of Christ. The difference between orthodox faith and cults or between Christianity and other religions has always been focussed on the person of Jesus Christ. Other monotheistic religions do not understand how Christians believe in one God in Three Persons: Father, Son and Spirit. Clearly, the Jews of Jesus’s time also struggled to understand this and He was crucified because they asserted that He claimed to be God (which was blasphemous in their eyes.)

Jesus often engaged in debate with the Pharisees who were astounded at His words. By referring to the divine name ‘I am’ (the name by which God revealed Himself to Moses in Exodus 3), Jesus showed that His existence did not begin with His birth at Bethlehem. Rather, He knew glory with the Father before the world began (John 17:5) and was loved by God before the creation of the world. (John 17:24) John 1:1-3 makes it clear that Jesus is the creator of the world and the Word of God, co-eternal with the Father, without beginning or ending of days. 2 Cor 8:9 reminds us that He exchanged all the riches of heaven for poverty on earth: He knew the riches of love, fellowship, harmony and immeasurable resources, but chose to take on human flesh so that He could save us from our sins. He did not cease to be God when He took on flesh, but the Incarnation was the only way that man could be saved:

‘He laid aside; and here with us to be,
Forsook the Courts of everlasting Day,
And chose with us a darksom House of mortal Clay.’ (John Milton)

Christ appeared in theophanies in the Old Testament (eg at the burning bush) and there seems to be some reference to this in the passage in John 8, for God’s promises to Abraham found their fulfilment in Jesus. Heb 2:14-15 shows us why angels could not bring our salvation. Instead, Jesus shared in our humanity in order to bring salvation to us, being both God and Man, truly the means of our salvation!

Thankfulness

This morning’s service at Cherry Tree Court  looked at the theme of thankfulness (see 1 Thess 5:18 and Eph 5:20). The book Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter tackles this topic, showing how Pollyanna learnt to play the ‘glad game‘ from her father, looking at reasons for thankfulness in all circumstances. Often, we find it easy to be thankful when circumstances are favourable and we feel happy, but because God is working all things together for good and is in complete control of our lives, we can give thanks even when circumstances are not so good.

The Israelites were faced with challenging circumstances at times, such as when their land was invaded by the Babylonians and they were taken away into exile. They kept hoping they could soon go home. They didn’t want to be in Babylon. They were homesick. They were so upset that they said ‘By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion’ (Ps 137:1) and they cried ‘How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?  If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill.’ (Ps 137:4-5) For them, their whole lives were defined by this one event: how could they be God’s people when they were no longer living in God’s land? How could they be glad when there was nothing to be glad about?

Jeremiah’s message of hope (Jer 29:4-14) didn’t initially seem particularly encouraging, for, contrary to what they wanted, he urged them to settled down in Babylon, build houses and gardens, get married and carry on as normal, telling them that this exile would last seventy years. These were hard facts to face, but God deals with reality and does not sugar coat truth. ‘The aim of the person of faith is not to be as comfortable as possible but to live as deeply and thoroughly as possible – to deal with the reality of life, discover truth, create beauty, act out love.’ (Eugene Peterson, ‘Run With The Horses’ P 150) Reality might well be facing we are ill and aren’t going to get better; it might mean facing that the person we love no longer loves us or has died and therefore isn’t there to love us anymore; it might mean facing we don’t have as much money as we used to have or we can’t live where we used to live. When God tells us to give thanks in all circumstances and for everything, He’s not saying the circumstances are always rosy or the situations are always good.

What God does want us to do is to live for today with grateful hearts. Jeremiah urged the people to live for today, accepting that God was there in the everyday and the mundane, in the ordinary, accepting that even though things hadn’t worked out the way they wanted them to work out, that wasn’t the end of the story. Our circumstances are not the end of the story; they’re only part of the story. Every day, we are faced with a choice as to how we will live. ‘Will I focus my attention on what is wrong with the world and feel sorry for myself? Or will I focus my energies on how I can live at my best in this place I find myself?’ (ibid. P 150)

Jeremiah reminded the people that that God had good plans for them: ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ (Jer 29:11) He told them that if they would seek God with all their hearts, they would find Him. (Jer 29:12-14)  We can give thanks in all circumstances and rejoice like Pollyanna did, not just because we have a sunny disposition or are optimists by nature, but because we have a good God who never leaves us or forsakes us and who is actively working all things together for good in our lives. Let’s choose to live for today with thankfulness and grateful hearts because we are never alone, even in exile, and we’re never without hope, for we have a God of hope who fills us with joy and peace as we trust in Him so that we can overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

Thin Places

The term ‘thin place’ occurs in Celtic writings and refers to a ‘sacred place’ where the presence of God is felt keenly, a place where ‘the boundary between heaven and earth seems especially thin’, where we sense God’s presence more easily. There is a Celtic saying that heaven and earth are only three feet apart, but in thin places the distance is even smaller! The poet Sharlands Sledge writes:

‘“Thin places,” the Celts call this space,
Both seen and unseen,
Where the door between the world
And the next is cracked open for a moment
And the light is not all on the other side.
God shaped space. Holy.’ (quoted here)

We have probably all experienced places we have visited where we have sensed God’s presence: the grandeur of a mountain scene, the beauty of the sea lapping in to shore, the stillness of a forest glade. In the Bible, there are plenty of holy places where God’s presence transformed the ordinary: Mount Sinai where God appeared to Moses and  Bethel where God appeared to Jacob in a dream and Jacob woke saying Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.‘ (Gen 28:16), for example. The New York times ran a feature about these kinds of places, calling them ‘places that beguile and inspire, sedate and stir, places where, for a few blissful moments I loosen my death grip on life, and can breathe again.’ Phil Wickham’s song ‘Heaven and Earth’ touches on this theme, saying:

This is the line we’re choosing now to cross
Between heaven and earth, heaven and earth’ (Phil Wickham, ‘Heaven and Earth’)

In his song ‘The Ascension‘, which looks at the pilgrims’ journey to Jerusalem as they sang the Psalms of Ascent (Ps 120-134), he sings ‘This is the start of something amazing, a moment when heaven touches earth.’ All of us need those moments, when heaven touches earth and our eyes are opened afresh to the wonder and grace of God.

Gabriella Llewellyn, in a series of blog posts entitled ‘The Thin Places’, says that ‘Thinness is breathable and transparent. It’s vulnerable and weak. Like dough overstretched, Thin Places are areas of defenselessness. And then sometimes, they’re places of sheer and breezy beauty.’ She goes on to identify moments of thinness when we feel vulnerable, weak, ill-equipped but acutely aware of God’s presence: moments of failure, of forgiveness, of service, of misunderstanding, of struggle. As Paul remarked, when I am weak, then I am strong.‘ (2 Cor 12:10) Thin places remind us of paradox and breathtaking, unearned, undeserved mercy and grace. They are places filled with awe and a sense of the holiness of God.

‘Churches Together’ coming soon!

Next Saturday (20th September) will be the next ‘Churches Together’ meeting, starting at 7 p.m. at GPCC. We have really enjoyed getting together with other local churches on several occasions throughout 2014 and are sure that God will bless this time again, so do come along if you can. We will be exploring the theme of ‘whole-life discipleship’ and there will be time for prayer, worship, teaching and fellowship, as well as refreshments and other fun activities. God is interested in every part of our lives and wants us to be a transforming influence on our world, so come along to find out more.

whole life circle

A mixed menagerie…

As we studied 1 John 4:1-6 last night, we looked at the sometimes difficult question of how we can be ‘shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.’ In Matt 10:16, Jesus uses a variety of images of animals which seem (in His usual style!) somewhat paradoxical. He sends out His disciples as sheep among wolves. We know that in the natural, wolves are predators who will quickly destroy sheep, so it seems bizarre to think that we are sent as sheep among wolves. What chance do we stand of survival in that hostile environment? How can we preach the gospel in those circumstances?

Matt 10.16sheepwolf

Jesus then goes on to say that we have to be as shrewd as serpents (a symbol of all that is cunning, sly and devious in our understanding) and as innocent (or wise or harmless as doves.) Again, we wonder how you can have this combination of characteristics, but clearly He wants us to be shrewd (not sly or devious), familiar with the world’s ways of working, not gullible or naive at the same time as being genuine, devoid of cynicism and wise with spiritual wisdom. His followers are not called to be gullible fools, believing everything they hear, but we are called to operate in hostile territory, empowered by God’s Spirit. Sometimes, wolves penetrate the church, dressed in sheep’s clothing (Matt 7:15), and both Jesus and John warn us against false prophets.

As a Pentecostal church, we long for God to move by His Spirit and for the gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor 12:1-11) to be manifested in our meetings. We eagerly desire spiritual gifts, including the gift of prophecy (1 Cor 14:1), which we understand as being a speaking out of God’s heart (prophecy is not necessarily the same as being a prophet, but we also recognise that God still appoints prophets, along with apostles, evangelists, pastors and teachers to lead His people.) Nonetheless, we recognise that many false prophets have gone out into the world (1 John 4:2) and that these can be seen even within churches. It is important, therefore, that we learn to rely on God’s Spirit to lead us and direct us and that we come back to the Word to find our direction and guidance. It should also be noted that prophets are generally people who can bring words of chastisement and rebuke as well as encouragement. Just because prophecy may make us uncomfortable or challenge us does not make it false! In all things, we need God’s wisdom and help, being confident in His goodness and mercy and sure that He will not give us anything that is not intended to build us up and draw us closer to Him.

True and false

Last night’s Bible study looked at 1 John 4:1-6, where John gives us further advice on how to discern between what is true and false. Once again, there is an inextricable link between the Spirit of God and the person and work of Jesus Christ, for the test of truth will always focus on Christ’s identity as the Son of God and on His mission of salvation. Both of these are fiercely contested in the world, from those who deny God to those whose ‘paths’ to God ultimately lead away from Him because they do not recognise the deity of Jesus or that salvation is only found in His name. (Acts 4:12, John 14:6)

John urges us to be discerning and to ‘test the spirits’ (1 John 4:1), for we can be led astray not only by Satan but by our own spirits. The world’s way of doing things will never be the same as God’s, but it will always appeal to our own natures. We need to test prophecy against the Word and understand that false prophets exist, but we do not need to be fearful and anxious. God is a loving Father who longs to give the Holy Spirit to His children (see Luke 11:9-13). When we yield to His Spirit, we must expect the spiritual to be in control and for unusual things to happen as God moves in power, which can be unnerving to say the least! Nonetheless, He is a God of peace and order and has given us freely of His Spirit so that we may understand what God has freely given us. (1 Cor 2:12)

False teachings arise and can lead us astray if we are not discerning. The plethora of religions and cults in the world today reveal this all too clearly. Nonetheless, God’s Spirit within us is more powerful than he that is in the world and we have been given spiritual tools to discern truth from falsehood. We can live confidently because of this, knowing that love for God and obedience to Him count for more than fine-sounding words which are not true to God.

true or false