Tonight’s Bible study continued looking at the ‘moral test’ John gives for discerning if we are true disciples: in 1 John 2:3-6 we read how our obedience to keeping God’s commands really reflects our love for Him. We can be sure (‘knowing‘ is mentioned in 1 John 2:3 & 5), but there is always a link between our beliefs and our lifestyle (see also John 14:15, 23-24, John 15:10, 15).

John’s bold statement is that ‘Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.’ We looked at how Jesus lived:

1. in fellowship with the Father, always seeking to do His will (see John 4:34, John 5:16-18, John 14:31)
2. living with a secure sense of His identity and purpose and destiny (see John 5:36, John 13:3, John 14:6)
3. following a life of love (see John 15:9-17)
4. forgiving others (see Luke 7:48, Luke 23:34)
5. serving others and God (see John 13:1-17, Matt 20:28)
6. in the power of the Holy Spirit (see Luke 3:21, Luke 4:14, Acts 10:38)
7. in freedom and simplicity (see Luke 4:17-19, Matt 8:20)

If we are to live like Jesus, then, we have to be secure in our God-given identity as ‘dear children’, not having to strive for acceptance or earn that identity but receiving it freely from God as a gift. We show our love for God through our obedience and service and demonstrate His nature by loving, forgiving and serving willingly, living in the power of the Holy Spirit (not by our own strength, intelligence or manipulative control.)  When we do this, love for God is ‘made complete’ in us, in the sense that we receive God’s love and then that love is lived out in us through our obedience to keeping God’s command. As the Message version of Matt 5:48 (which uses the same word, ‘complete’ or ‘perfect’) says, “Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously towards others, the way God lives towards you.”   

‘This Is How We Know’, Matt Redman   

Casting Crowns’ new album ‘Thrive’ was released this week. As with so many of my favourite groups, this is a much anticipated event: many of their songs dig deep into God’s Word and they are not afraid to tackle issues that are often not spoken about much, which I find refreshing. The title song reminds me strongly of Psalm 1 which talks about the blessing of those who delight in God’s law: ‘That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers.’ (Ps 1:3) Thriving in God will only comes as we abide in Him (John 15:1-17) and allow His living water to flow through us (John 7:37-38), but certainly the promise Jesus makes is for us never to run dry.

‘Here in this worn and weary land
Where many a dream has died,
Like a tree planted by the water,
We never will run dry,

So living water flowing through,
God, we thirst for more of You.
Fill our hearts and flood our souls
With one desire.

Just to know You and
To make You known,
We lift Your name on high
Shine like the sun, make darkness run and hide.
We know we were made for so much more
Than ordinary lives.
It’s time for us to more than just survive.
We were made to thrive.

Into Your word we’re digging deep
To know our Father’s heart.
Into the world we’re reaching out
To show them who You are.

Joy Unspeakable, Faith Unsinkable, Love Unstoppable, Anything is possible.
Joy Unspeakable, Faith Unsinkable, Love Unstoppable, Anything is possible.
Joy Unspeakable, Faith Unsinkable, Love Unstoppable, Anything is possible.
Joy Unspeakable, Faith Unsinkable, Love Unstoppable, Anything is possible.’ (Casting Crowns, ‘Thrive’)

We continue to believe that prayer fuels every activity of the church and that without God’s Spirit breathing life into every activity, nothing of lasting value will be achieved. Throughout February, we will be praying in particular for outreach: the outreaches in which the church is directly involved and our own personal outreach.

Our church is involved in children’s and youth work (with the Parent & Toddler group meeting on Friday mornings and the children’s/ youth meeting on a Monday evening) and we also host badminton on Friday evenings and a coffee morning on Saturday mornings. These are ways to connect with different parts of the community and get to know people in informal settings. Pray that God will bless all these outreaches, protecting all who help and attend and that He will pour out His Spirit, giving us words to speak to people and share the good news of God’s love. Our prayer is that we might be people who reflect God: ambassadors who represent His heart to the people of Goldthorpe.

Outreach is never simply an organised church activity, however. We are Christ’s ambassadors; we are the light of the world; we are salt in this world. God makes His appeal to the world through us! (2 Cor 5:20) That is a mind-blowing thought. Every day, God will bring people across our paths who do not yet know Him and our task is to be sensitive enough to the voice of His Spirit to know how He wants to make that appeal through us. Pray for our personal witness to friends, family, neighbours, work colleagues and even to the casual acquaintances who may cross our paths! Outreach and ‘mission’ are not things that are restricted to church buildings, set times or organised events. Rather, let’s pray that each one of us will be given words to speak and actions to match so that many, many people’s lives are touched by God and they are drawn into His family. Paul’s request for prayer should be ours also: ‘Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.’ (Eph 6:19) ( or ‘Pray that I’ll know what to say and have the courage to say it at the right time, telling the mystery to one and all,’ as the Message version puts it.)

My favourite animal is the hippopotamus. After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third-largest type of land mammal, and I suspect my love of this animal has much to do with its ungainliness on land compared to its grace in water.

I think I probably identify with the hippo because most of the time I feel slow, ungainly, unwieldy, inelegant and (for most of my life) downright fat. But just as this is a fair description of a hippo on land, when I watch hippos swim, there is a completely different picture presented for me: not for nothing does its name come from the Greek for ‘river horse’!

In water, the hippo is transformed, swimming elegantly (despite its size) and apparently effortlessly, frolicking at times with other hippos, completely at ease in water whereas on land, it looks uncomfortable, lumbering and totally lazy!

For me, this is a parable of grace. Our lives are spent mainly on terra firma, where we learn to work, to strive, to make every effort to live well. That kind of living – by self-effort and sheer work – places huge responsibilities on our shoulders and becomes wearisome and burdensome. Everything depends on us and we walk around like Atlas, carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders. We are the ones who have to fix the world’s problems, care for the needy, sort out the mess we find ourselves in. It’s an impossible situation.

God did not intend us to live like that. He operates in an entirely different medium, that of grace. Unmerited favour. Undeserved blessing. Love lavished on us simply because that is His nature. He is the One working all things together for good, weaving His plans into our history and our history into His plans. Anyone who has ever learnt to swim knows there are moments of abject terror when self-preservation reasons that this liquid cannot possibly support our weight or keep us buoyant. But while we fight the medium, we splutter and cough and sink; it’s only when we learn to trust the water that we float and swim. And the feelings we get when we are carried along by the water are (in my opinion) far better than when we are trudging through land! In water, we feel weightless, free, carried along by something greater than ourselves, just as the hippo seems to be in its element in water compared to on dry land.

People were meant to live in the medium of God’s grace. That means abdicating our own efforts and trusting in His. When put as baldly as that, the choice seems ridiculously simple. And it is. But ‘grace is an insubstantial, invisible reality that permeates all that we are, think, speak, and do. But we are not used to living by invisibles.’ (Eugene Peterson, ‘Practise Resurrection’, P 94) Just as it requires courage to trust that the water will be miraculously buoyant when learning to swim, it takes courage and great faith to live by grace, rather than by our own efforts. ‘Faith in Christ is a plunge into grace,’ Eugene Peterson continues. It’s a plunge I recommend.

Mark’s sermon last night on prayer faced the fact that there are times, of course, when the promises in Luke 11:9-13 do not seem to be very real to us. Obviously, if we are demanding things from God, we may well be disappointed with His answers, for He is able to refuse our requests when He knows these will not serve to further our spiritual growth. Just as every parent knows it is unwise to give a child everything it asks for, so too God may well withhold things from us which we think are perfectly desirable and needful! Mark looked at other obstacles to receiving answers to prayer, however, looking at 1 John 3:21-22 and how our hearts condemn us when there is sin in our lives which separates us from God and prevents us from entering His presence confidently and freely.

When there is sin in our lives, our prayer life is inevitably affected, for we feel guilty. We know that God knows our sin, even if we manage to deceive other people. As a result, we lose our confidence before God and we feel awkward in His presence, with the result that we tend to spend less time with Him. God wants us, though, to ‘come anyway. Confess your sin and I will remove it from you. Let me forgive you and renew the relationship we have.’ When this happens, we are able to approach the throne of grace again with confidence and can ask, seek and knock with full assurance of faith.

The chief obstacles to prayer, therefore, are:

1) Are we asking for the right things? (see James 4:3)

2) Is there something in our lives stopping God’s blessing?

If we can be sure that these obstacles have been overcome, we can be confident in God’s goodness as a loving Father in answering prayer.

Mark spoke on the subject of prayer last night from Luke 11:9-13. He started by talking about the X Factor, saying that many of us feel you need to have a certain level of goodness before you can come to God, just like the contestants on the X Factor need to have a certain level of talent to succeed (though many, sadly, don’t, as this Mitch Benn song indicates!)

God sees the X factor in all of us, however. If God were on the judging panel, we would all get through because it does not depend on our talent or our virtue, but on His mercy and grace. He delights in giving us all a chance. We have all fallen short of His glory and all need salvation (Rom 3:23), but we do not have to reach a state of sinless perfection before we come to God in prayer! He loves us just as much now as He did before we knew Him and asks us to come to Him in prayer, seeking His help and being confident that we can approach Him boldly (Heb 4:16) because in Him we will find mercy and grace.

This awareness that we approach God boldly (with confidence and candour and cheerful courage) means we do not have to come cowering and in fear. God’s promises are to answer us and tell us great and unsearchable things (Jer 33:3), for He is our Provider. However, the promises in these verses from Luke 11:9-13 are not a blanket promise to give us all our selfish desires, as the Janis Joplin song would like! We ask God, not demand from Him, and the promise is that God will give us the Holy Spirit, not necessarily all the belongings we would like to acquire! Spiritual gifts are what we really need in this life and as we see God for His direction for our lives, He will open doors of opportunity for us and lead and direct us.