Stephen concluded his series on the Lord’s Prayer last night (Matt 6:9-15), having previously looked at God’s splendour and purpose and plans for our lives and His ability to provide for our every need. The final part of the Lord’s prayer (which is a template for each one of us not only for prayer but for living) looks at the debts we have been forgiven and how we need to forgive as we have been forgiven, as well as praying for protection and deliverance from temptation and from the evil one.

Change and redemption are possible for each one of us because of the work Christ accomplished on Calvary. Rom 8:1-2 reminds us that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The verses in the Lord’s prayer may seem repetitive, but sin is like a chain that binds and holds us back and so often, we fall and stumble at the same fences. God’s gift is not like the trespass, however. (Rom 5:15-19) He can deliver us and set us free from all sin. If we live under the law, we are required to fulfil all the law (James 2:10) and have to acknowledge our imperfections, the fact that we fall short of God’s intentions. If we rely on Christ, however, we see that He has made the impossible possible and has made a way for us to know freedom and acceptance.

This morning’s service was at Cherry Tree Court and Mark spoke about friendship. He started with some quotations about friendship: ‘a true friend thinks you are a good egg, even though he knows you are slightly cracked’ and ‘friends are God’s way of apologising for families!’

The Bible reminds us of the importance of friendship, with Prov 17:17 telling us that ‘a friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity’ and Prov 18:24 reminding us ‘A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.’ Jesus told us that a true friend is one who is willing to lay down their lives for their friends (John 15:12-17) and demonstrated that Himself in dying for our sins. He is always there for us – He never goes to sleep, goes on holiday or leaves us. (see Heb 13:5) He is our friend even if no one else wants to be friends with us and this gives us hope even in difficult circumstances.

Tonight’s Bible study took a slightly different form, involving litmus tests! Generally, a litmus test is understood as being a way of testing for an acid or an alkali in chemistry, so we did various experiments to find out if these liquids were acids or alkalis.

Such an approach might seem to have little to do with 1 John 2:18-27, but the second meaning of ‘litmus test’ is ‘a test that uses a single indicator to prompt a decision.’ John is giving us, in this portion of Scripture, a doctrinal test that enables us to distinguish between true and false. In a day and age when there are many antichrists (1 John 2:18), we need to be able to discern between the true and the false, and just as John has previously given us tests connected with obedience (1 John 2:3-6) and with love (1 John 2:7-11), now he enables us to see how right belief is necessary for right living, for we must be able to recognise who is the liar. (1 John 2:22) This is crucial, for what we claim to be true has to be evidenced in our lives; what we say we believe (and what we actually believe!) will determine the kind of fruit we bear (see James 2:14-26 and Matt 7:15-20).

John tells us it is our core beliefs about God, and specifically our understanding of the Fatherhood of God and the doctrine of Jesus Christ His Son, which will act as the litmus test for faith. (1 John 2:22-23). Whilst we may debate endlessly about who is the antichrist or what John means by ‘the last hour’, the key truth is that there are only two forces at work in today’s world:

1. Truth, working through the Church by the Holy Spirit
2. Evil, working in the world through the energy of Satan

We need not be afraid, even though lies may be spread by those in sheep’s clothing, for God has already overcome the world. (John 16:33) We have an anointing from the truth, the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us and leading us into all truth. (1 John 2:20-21, 25)

Further studies on these verses will look at 3 key questions. Think about these before the next Bible study!

1. How do we balance confidence with uncertainty?
2. How do we recognise truth from lies?
3. Why does it matter what we believe about God?

This Sunday (13th April) will see us take the morning service at Cherry Tree Court at Highgate again. The service there will start at 10:30 a.m. and so there will be no morning service at our building on Market Street. Please pray for the service there and for God to bless the residents of this housing complex. The evening service at church will be at 6 p.m. at our building as normal and as is usual for the 2nd Sunday of the month, will include taking Communion.

On Saturday 19th April, we are joining with other local churches for an Easter ‘March of Hope’ around Goldthorpe. We will be meeting at the Roman Catholic church on Lockwood Road at 10 a.m. and will be marching around Goldthorpe, finishing at our coffee morning at about 11 a.m. Please do join us if you are able and pray for this witness to our local community. We want local people to know that Jesus is alive and that He is working in all the local churches!

Rom 12:15 tells us to ‘rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.’ One of the joys of being part of Christ’s worldwide family is that we can pray for people wherever they are in the world and can share in both their joys and their sorrows.

As a church, we support two missionary families: Fredrick and Reeba in India and Steve & Katuska in Mozambique. We have heard from both families recently. Fredrick and Reeba tell us of many people coming to know the Lord in India as well as many personal difficulties with health for both Fredrick and his family. Today, we heard that Steve’s father, Charles Davies (pictured below), went to be with the Lord on Monday 7th April.

Those of us who have lost a parent know that this is a very difficult time, even if the parent was old and the death is not unexpected. A few years ago, when Steve and his family were visiting us, Steve was telling us of the birthday party he and his family had given his father for his 80th birthday. His eldest son, who was about six at the time, could not believe his ears. “80 years old?” he asked in amazement. “He must be dead!” To a child, such an age seemed an impossibility, but we thank God for a life well lived and surrendered to the Lord for so very many years. Please pray for Steve’s Mum (Mary) and for the rest of his family, but especially for Steve and Katuska and their three sons as they are so far away from home, serving the Lord as directors of the OMS Bible seminary in Maputo Bay, Mozambique. It is at such times that we need to pray for God’s comfort, strength and peace to guard hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

In preparing for the Bible study on 1 John 2:18-27, I am inevitably spending a good deal of time meditating on truth and lies. John tells us ‘all of you know the truth’ (1 John 2:20) and ‘no lie comes from the truth.’ (1 John 2:21) Quite often, I think of Pilate’s question (‘What is truth?’ John 18:38) and try to fathom how we can discern and know truth in a society which scorns the idea of absolute truth.

God’s Word reveals truth to us. It defines truth and offers a framework of truth. We need an objective standard which will not change or we will be ‘tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.’ (Eph 4:14) Truth once revealed corrects our thinking and challenges us. There is always, at some point, a battle between truths and lies, for we cannot (if we are to remain sane) hold truth and lies simultaneously: one has to have supremacy.

Truth is insistent and unchanging. Lies are like shapeshifters, assuming any shape possible to deceive (the devil can appear as a roaring lion or as an angel of light…) Truth remains obdurate and obstinate. It pierces us like a sword (Heb 4:12), cutting through defences, leaving us gasping for breath. (The Message version of this verse likens it to a surgeon’s scalpel, which cuts through layers of flesh to expose what must be removed or healed.) It is rather like a wonder cleaning agent, which can be left to work on the grimiest of surfaces and then we simply wipe them clean without all the elbow grease of scrubbing (which could be likened to our own self-righteousness.)

Truth has power of its own which is not always remarkable in form but which works quietly and unobtrusively in people’s lives. It is rather like the dissolving agents in detergents which have to be left for a period of time to do their work before any transformation becomes visible. We need to trust in the transforming power of truth to set us free and to do the work which God intends it to do. For ‘as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.’ (Is 55:10-11)