Last night we had two birthdays to celebrate for the week ahead, both in the same family!

When I was 40, I was diagnosed as diabetic. The maxim ‘Life begins at forty’ didn’t seem particularly true to me at that point: this was a painful wake-up call. One of the things I was forced to evaluate was my own lack of self-discipline and I had to make pretty radical changes to the way I was living, particularly in regard to diet and exercise.

As a child I had disliked participating in the majority of sports, mostly because I felt I was not very good at them and because I was very self-conscious about how I looked when I was doing them! The only thing I had enjoyed doing was swimming, because I loved the feel of the water. Reluctantly, therefore, I decided that if I had to do exercise to improve the state of my health, swimming was where I’d better start.

The first time I went swimming was on a Wednesday evening in December, not the most exciting time of year to be starting a new way of life. I managed 22 lengths in one go (550 metres), which was considerably more than I’d done in the past twenty years put together, so I was quite encouraged by that. I reckoned that if I could do a few more each time, in a few weeks I’d be doing quite well.

Maths was never my strong point, so I was quite surprised when, on announcing that I hoped to manage 30 lengths next time, my son casually said, “If you do 32, that’s half a mile.”

That was a carrot dangled in front of me. Half a mile sounded much more virtuous than 550 metres. And once I’d achieved that, he reminded me that 40 lengths was a kilometre, and that sounded even better. And then 50 lengths didn’t seem that much more. And then, just as casually, “Did you know 64 lengths is a mile?”

Within a few months I’d managed a mile and by then I’d discovered that there was a great deal of satisfaction in perseverance and that I could do much more than I’d ever imagined. These days I swim 80 lengths most mornings and can manage 2 miles in under 2 hours. I’ve done a sponsored swim of 5 km (200 lengths) and did a Channel Swim of 22 miles in 12 sessions. There’s a lot to be said for perseverance!

Perseverance is required if we are to finish the race God has marked out for us. Hebrews 12:1 TNIV says ‘let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.’ What I discovered with swimming was that if we just keep doing what is required, however boring it seems or however painful, the end result is virtue. Some days, swimming feels great. Other days, it feels like agony. But again, it doesn’t really matter what it feels like. Perseverance tells me I need to do this because it’s good for me and so I do it. Seeing the results – lower blood pressure and lower blood sugars – is reward for the effort.

Often, we give up because we don’t see results instantly or get rewards straightaway and because it’s hard work to persevere. ‘Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 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 6:7-9 TNIV)

Rick Bass uses the analogy of a glacier to emphasise that perseverance pays off. He writes “A glacier is the most powerful force the world has ever seen. Nothing, literally nothing, can stop a glacier. A glacier is formed by the falling of snow that accumulates over a period of time. As the snow deepens, the weight compresses. Ice is formed, and then more snow, which becomes more ice, year after year after year. Nothing happens for a long time, but when the glacier is sixty-four feet thick, it starts to move, and once it starts nothing can stop it…I believe that even if your heart leans just a few degrees to the left or the right of center [sic], that with enough resolve, which can substitute for mass, and enough time, a wobble will one day begin, and the ice will begin to form, where for a long time previous there might have been none.” (quoted in Eugene Peterson’s ‘Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places’ P 338) Eugene Peterson and others talk about ‘a long obedience in the same direction’ as being one of the hallmarks of being a Christian. Perseverance takes time but is necessary for finishing the race of life, so that we can say, like Paul, ‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.’ (2 Tim 4:7 TNIV)

If we don’t give up, we will be amazed at what God can achieve through even our own ordinary efforts.

Mark McKeown shared with us tonight an innovative way of raising money for the poor and needy in the run-up to Christmas. In addition to the usual tins and food items we are bringing to church, we can sponsor him from now until 14th December to raise money which will be used to buy even more items to help with the Salvation Army’s Christmas food project. He will be growing a beard and then shaving one half of this off… an unusual sponsored event, but one which is bound to attract comment and attention, which can then be used to explain his motivation for doing this! Hopefully, we can raise a substantial amount of money to buy food and items of clothing for the poor and needy of Goldthorpe. If you would like to sponsor Mark and pledge money for this cause, please email dave@gpcchurch.co.uk or sign up to the sponsor form at church!

We will be holding a celebration service on Saturday 4th January 2014 at 6 p.m. to thank Mark and Diane for their work leading the church over the past eight-and-a-half years and to welcome Garry and Julie to their new roles within the church. Further details will be available nearer the time, but since we know Christmas and the New Year are always busy times for people, we wanted to make sure the date goes in the diary now!

Last week we looked at the theme ‘Passing on the Baton’ in the family service, and this Sunday evening, we continued the theme by looking at the question ‘What are we passing on?’ In Psalm 78, Asaph writes about hearing truths from his ancestors and goes on to say, ’We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done.’ (Ps 78:4 TNIV) We have a duty to pass on all we know of God to the next generation ‘so that they would put their trust in God and would not forget His deeds but would keep His commands.’ (Ps 78:7 TNIV) Faith is not just about knowing interesting facts about God which have no relevance to how we live. Faith comes alive when we take the facts and apply them to our own individual lives and when we actually decide to live by these facts.

We looked at three things that we need to be passing on to others:
1. Truth
2. Passion
3. Experience

1. Truth
Absolute truth is not fashionable these days. Marcus Aurelius, a Roman philosopher, said ‘Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.’ But as Gandhi pointed out, ‘An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.’ The Bible teaches revelation about God that it claims is absolute truth. Jesus Himself said ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me’ (John 14:6 TNIV) and ‘Your Word is truth’ (John 17:17 TNIV) If we are to pass on truth, therefore, we need to study the Bible and find out what it teaches about God, about people, about the devil, about salvation, about how to live. It’s the lamp to our feet and the light to our path (Ps 119: 105 TNIV). We need to develop a love and respect for this Word that reflects the psalmist’s: ‘Oh, how I love Your law! I meditate on it all day long.’ (Ps 119:97 TNIV), ‘How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!’ (Ps 119:103 TNIV), ‘How I long for your precepts!’ (Ps 119:40 TNIV)

Sometimes we may find the Bible difficult to understand or dry or boring. It’s good to develop a reading plan (using Bible study notes can be helpful here) and to seek to understand the Bible fully. God’s truth is flexible enough to be relevant to every age and has principles for every time, yet it is also rigid enough to remain true to itself when everything else is changing. God’s Word is eternal (Ps 119:89 TNIV). His truths are eternal, but we have to be careful as we study God’s word to do so with integrity and to be careful not to strain at gnats and swallow camels (Matt 23:24 TNIV).

2. Passion
We can be orthodox in our beliefs and still fail to pass on truth to other people because our lives don’t seem to match up to our words. We can be hypocrites, like the Pharisees. Their beliefs were perfectly orthodox and yet they were condemned in the strongest possible terms by Jesus. Orthodoxy without passion quickly becomes pharisaical. The Pharisees allowed outward rules to replace relationship. They followed the letter of the law without understanding the spirit of the law. If we are going to pass on truth properly, we have to be people who are full of love and passion for God. There has to be a holy fire within us which burns. People can very easily spot a fake. British people don’t find it easy to talk about passion, especially passion for God, but God’s Word clearly talks about this (see Song of Songs and Hosea). Truth without love can be cold and forbidding; passion without truth can be mere emotion. We need both truth and passion.

3. Experience
Truth and passion combine to give us a personal experience of God. We need too to experience His miraculous power. The Israelites constantly sang of their miraculous deliverance from Egypt (see Ex 15:1, Deut 11:1-7 TNIV). We need to know the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives (see Acts 1:8 TNIV, Acts 2:43 TNIV, Acts 14:3 TNIV). We need to experience the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives because it is that power which will enable us to be witnesses (Acts 1:8 TNIV) and because we need God to confirm His word and His presence to validate what we say about Him.

So… what are we passing on?!
We pass on the truth of God’s Word which shows us all we need for life and which definitely shapes our understanding of who God is and what He is like. We do so with passion, not with sterile orthodoxy, but with love and fire in our hearts. And we do so in the power of the Holy Spirit, experiencing God not only in history but in our everyday lives. We have a testimony to share: ’Come and see what God has done, his awesome deeds for mankind!’ (Ps 66:5 TNIV) “LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.” (Is 25:1 TNIV)

What is your first thought when you read the title of this post, ‘front line ministry’? Did you think about those in ‘full-time Christian work’ (a phrase I loathe)? Did you think about missionaries, pastors, evangelists, apostles, people working for Christian charities and so on?

Or did you think about yourself?

The term ‘front line’ is defined in the dictionary as ‘The military line or part of an army that is closest to the enemy: “the front-line troops”.’ or ‘The most important or influential position in a debate or movement.’ As far as it goes, that definition is fine. But in church terms, if it has come to mean simply those with official roles or titles, it’s a very poor definition.

All of us who are called to be disciples of Christ are called into front line ministry. Graham Cray (Archbishops’ Missioner and Team Leader of Fresh Expressions) says ‘There is no way to re-evangelise this nation apart from the impact of the daily lives of ordinary, everyday Christians.’ (Foreword to ‘Imagine Church’ by Neil Hudson) I believe that. I believe we all have our ‘mission field’, that field of influence and work in which God has placed us. We all have family, friends, neighbours, colleagues and acquaintances who need to know more of Christ and for whom, perhaps, we are the only Christian they know. Our front lines may all look different and hopefully will be less physically dangerous than those faced by soldiers who are on the physical front line of war. But, as Stephen reminded us this morning, our struggle is not against flesh and blood and we are all engaged in God’s war. We need to see that no one is more ‘important’ than anyone else and that our front line requires as much prayer, determination and faith as anyone else’s. I am not denigrating those who serve overseas or who are paid to work for the cause of the gospel. But I do want us all to remember that discipleship is a lifelong process which involves obedience to Christ in our everyday contexts, wherever we are and whatever we are doing. Let’s pray for each other and seek to serve God in our own front lines.

This morning Stephen showed us a clip from the film ‘Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone’ where the three main protagonists (Harry, Ron & Hermione) take part in a game of chess.

Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone chess scene

We may sometimes feel that life is like a game of chess and may even feel that we are just pawns in this game of life. Sometimes we feel forced into situations we would not have chosen for ourselves; life can often seem arbitrary or unfair to us. At times, we have many unanswered questions about what happens in life, especially when illness or tragedy or disasters hit us. Often, we feel that we are going through difficulties whilst those who do not know God have it easy! (see Psalm 73). But there is more to life than we can see and whilst God may allow Satan to do certain things (see Job 1), He is always in control of life. God gives us the opportunity to cooperate with His plans and in doing so, we have the opportunity to participate in something far more significant than our own schemes and plans.

Job’s life seemed to go from bad to worse (see Job 1:13-19 TNIV). However, God was still in control, even during his suffering. Jesus knew that the devil (‘the prince of this world’) would cause him trouble, but he reminded His disciples ‘he has no hold over me.’ (John 14:30 TNIV) God is working in our lives at all times and has dealt Satan the fatal blow through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Rom 16:20 TNIV reminds us that the God of peace will soon crush Satan under our feet. There is an end to the chess game of life in sight and God’s victory is certain. It’s almost like two sides of a coin. On one side, there is earthly suffering and trouble, but on the other is heavenly joy and satisfaction. We need to place our total trust in God’s justice, mercy and love and understand that our struggle is not against flesh and blood EEph 6:12 TNIV). Our citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20 TNIV) and God is here with us through every struggle, trial and temptation to lead us into victory.