During the summer I was able to watch some of the Olympics on television and I joined with many other Brits in cheering Mo Farah to gold in the 5,000 m and 10,000 m. I am fascinated by long-distance runners. They look so thin and under-nourished that I often wonder how they ever manage to last one lap of the track! “Exceptional levels of aerobic endurance” are required to win these races and it was amazing to watch these athletes.

Two things have made me ponder on longevity this week. The Christian life is more like a marathon than a sprint, I feel. Hebrews 12:1 tells us to ‘run with perseverance the race that is marked out for us.’ Running is an image Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 9 to talk about our race of life, but I don’t think he’s talking about sprinting. In all the verses on running, there is an emphasis on perseverance and endurance and the sheer agony of it at times. Any athlete will know all about pushing themselves to the limits and beyond. The Olympics have given us visible evidence of what that looks like.

Thw two things that have made me reflect on long distances this week are wedding anniversaries and a concert I attended last night.

Marriage is a lifelong commitment. It’s not about short-term thrills or a quick fix. This year I have had the privilege of sharing in the joy of a golden wedding anniversary and, last weekend, a ruby wedding anniversary. Today is my own silver wedding anniversary. I am immensely grateful to know people who have been loyal to their marriage vows and who have seen God help them through the pleasures and agonies of married life. God is interested in our perseverance and commitment. To have perseverance, commitment and love modelled in front of you is the easiest way to understand why God likens His relationship to the church to that of marriage. In today’s society we desperately need good role models for marriage and I salute those around me who have seen Christ’s love in their own everyday, practical lives.

Last night I attended a Michael Card concert in Maltby. Michael Card has been involved in Christian ministry in song and through Bible teaching for 32 years. I first encountered his music when I was a university student. His writing on the ‘scandal of the Cross’ and on paradox have shaped my life and helped me to understand some of the great mysteries of faith. Last night we listened to 23 of his 393 songs and I was touched by this sense that when we persevere with God, when we listen attentively to His Spirit over a number of years, when we give everything to Him, we can achieve so much that is beyond our wildest dreams.

For those of you who are interested, the 23 songs were:
* Soul Anchor
* El Shaddai
* God’s Own Fool
* Come Lift Up Your Sorrows
* At His Feet
* A King In A Cattle Trough
* A Better Freedom
* How Much More a Servant Could He Be?
* My Old Man
* How Can I Answer No?
* In Memory of Her Love
* The Things We Leave Behind
* Sea of Souls
* I Have Decided
* Why?
* Jubilee
* Immanuel
* Come to the Table
* The Paradigm
* I Will Not Walk Away From You
* All That Was Lost
* And Can It Be?
* Benediction

What I love so much about Michael Card (apart from his sheer ordinariness and lack of glamour!) is the fact that each song becomes an incentive to study the Bible more, to seep yourself in God’s Word and investigate for yourself these amazing stories and truths. Imagination and an amazing facility with lyrics (I can’t imagine any other writer entitling a song on blind Bartimaeus ‘the paradigm’!) open up a wider world of mystery for me. I feel immensely privileged to be able to listen in to these conversations.

So today, I would urge you all to persevere. Long-distance running is (if I’m brutally honest) quite often pretty boring. There must be stretches of the race when you feel that there’s little point in pounding your body so much and if it ever can be worth the pain just to reach the finish line. But as Paul says, “I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” (1 Cor 9:27) The prize is worth it. Honestly. Keep running.

To summarise all we learned about spiritual vision last night:

1. There is more to life than meets the eye. ’Life is so much more than what your eyes are seeing.’ (Kutless, ‘What Faith Can Do’) If we limit ourselves to our five senses, we will miss out on so much that God is doing.
2. Spiritual vision starts with seeing God. God is the start, middle and end of everything. The world does not believe this, and it requires courage and faith to stand against the tide. ‘You will find a way if you keep believing.’
3. Seeing God causes us to worship Him. Worship pulls together everything in heaven and earth, in creation and Cross, in history and salvation. It prevents us from being distracted by all we see around us. It puts things in the proper perspective and helps us to have integrated lives. Moreover, we are given the assurance of forgiveness and acceptance as we worship so that when we fail, we can pick ourselves up and start again, knowing that the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin: ‘Even if you fall sometimes, you will have the strength to rise.’
4. Seeing God causes us to serve Him. Both Isaiah and John responded to their vision by serving God in humble obedience. We need to do the same. Our primary task is to believe in the One God has sent. Faith then leads us to live out what God has called us to do.
5. Spiritual vision is long-term vision. It will mean ‘looking ahead’, looking beyond our circumstances, seeing a reality that is by faith and not by sight. We may not ‘possess’ all we long for in this life. If we don’t, we‘re in good company! But that does not mean it will not come to pass. “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)

We also had a belated birthday to celebrate!

If we live life relying simply on our five senses, we will miss out on the invisible spiritual world which surrounds us but which can only be accessed by faith. Our senses are not to be despised (we are not Gnostics who think that the material world is sinful and we need secret knowledge to attain sinless perfection), but we cannot agree with the prevalent Western worldview that “this life is the only life we have, that the universe is a natural phenomenon with no supernatural side and that there is an absence of an afterlife and any discernible purpose to the universe.” (Humanist website)

When we read the Bible, we find a whole variety of teaching, from the historical through to the instructional, including poetry and laws. Some of what we read seems boring; some parts (the prophetic and apocalyptic) seem baffling and bewildering. But all Scripture is God-breathed and therefore vital to our understanding. We need the bizarre pictures of the prophets to expand our vision and help us to see the invisible world inhabited by God.

Elisha’s prayer for his servant at a time of great conflict and terror was “Open his eyes, LORD, so that he may see.” (2 Kings 6: 17) That has to be our prayer too, so that we can gain a better vision of all that God is and all He is doing.

Spiritual vision starts with seeing God as He is. Isaiah had a vision of God’s majesty and holiness (Is 6:1-3) which transformed his ministry and helped him to see beyond his circumstances (this all happened ‘in the year that King Uzziah died’, but Isaiah was not defined by his circumstances, any more than we have to be!) In the same way, John, exiled on the island of Patmos, received a vision of Christ which was more than enough to compensate for his circumstances! (Rev 1:10-19). Our vision of God determines how we live. We need to have that big picture of who God is and what He is like if we are to see beyond the visible world around us.

Spiritual vision involves faith and faith has to be forward-looking. When we read Hebrews 11, we gain an insight into how to please God and what faith looks like in the lives of ordinary people. Noah, when warned about ‘things not yet seen’, responded in obedient faith and built an ark. Moses could deal with the disgrace of the world because he was ‘looking ahead to his reward.’ The heroes of faith were still ‘looking ahead’ by faith at the end of their lives. Faith involves adopting God’s evaluation of a situation and understanding that His timescales are not the same as ours. Joseph could proclaim confidently ‘You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good’ (Gen 50:20) precisely because he had learned to see with God’s eyes. God has 50:20 vision that is better than foresight or hindsight!

This long-term perspective helps us to “fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Cor 4:18) Outwardly we may be wasting away, but inwardly we are being renewed (2 Cor 4:16). God is working in our everyday lives, giving them purpose and meaning. He is sovereign over all, working all things together for good. We need spiritual vision to see these truths and then can live by faith in obedience to Him.

Mark spoke from Jonah 3:1-10 this morning on the subject of the mercy of God. Jonah reluctantly gave God’s message to Nineveh (a succinct message of repentance or the city would be overthrown) and witnessed God’s mercy as the people (even the king) repented. He knew God well enough to know that mercy was what would happen (hence his previous reluctance to obey God) and he did not really want God to be merciful to this heathen people. Quite often, we like God’s mercy when it relates to us (Jonah’s rescue from the fish) but aren’t so keen on it being shown to others!

God loves to pour out mercy. He hears our cries for mercy (Ps 28:6) and is abundant in His mercy and pardon (Is 55:7). He wants us to be merciful in the same way that He is merciful (Luke 6:36), and we need to learn, therefore, to forgive others as God has forgiven us.

God desires mercy, not sacrifice (Hos 6:6). A relationship with God is more important than the legalism of sacrifice. He delights in mercy (Micah 7:18-19) and we cannot fathom it (see Rom 9:15-16), for it does not depend on our desires or efforts but on the sheer grace and mercy of God! God is rich in mercy (Eph 2:4-5) and we need to learn to come to the throne of mercy (Heb 4:14-16), where we find forgiveness. Like Jonah, we need to be willing to show that same forgiveness and mercy to others.

Mark concluded with Jude’s prayer: “Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.” (vs 2)

I always find it interesting when God starts speaking on the same topic through a variety of people. My interest and attention are aroused when I hear similar themes coming from different sources.

I wasn’t in Goldthorpe to hear Mark’s sermon on angels yesterday, but I’ve been thinking about them a fair bit lately (you’ll have to wait for my sermon on Sunday night to find out more about that!), so it piqued my interest to hear what he had to say on that topic.

Then today I heard that Chris Tomlin is releasing his new single called ‘Whom Shall I Fear?’ and listened to him describing the origins of the song (based on 2 Kings 6, again a passage we’ll look at in more detail on Sunday, though if you’re interested, you can read it ahead of time!) The subtitle of the song is ‘God of angel armies’.

So, on that basis, let’s remember that the ‘God of angel armies is always by my side’and rejoice that nothing formed against us can stand; no weapon forged against us will prevail (Is 54:17)

You hear me when I call
You are my morning song
Though darkness fills the night
It cannot hide the light
Whom shall I fear?

And nothing formed against me shall stand
You hold the whole world in Your hands
I’m holding on to Your promises
You are faithful
You are faithful (Chris Tomlin, ‘Whom Shall I Fear?’)

You can listen to the song live here:
‘Whom Shall I Fear?’, Chris Tomlin

Continuing his series on what it looks like to be God’s heroes, Garry spoke from Matthew 5:1-12 last night, focussing on verse 4 (“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”)

Mourning signifies loss and is most often associated with death. In our modern society, with technological and medical advances, we have often been lulled into a sense of false security regarding the fragility and frailty of life. In mediaeval times, people lived with a daily awareness of death; nowadays, death often comes as a shocking surprise. We can react to loss and grief in different ways, trying to deaden the pain or become impervious to loss. That kind of British stoicism is not God’s answer, however. He wants us to engage with Him in our grief, which cannot be avoided.

We mourn not only death, but the loss of perfection, the loss of Eden. We crave the new world where there are ‘no more tears or broken dreams’ and ‘everything as it was meant to be’ (Matt Redman, ‘Endless Hallelujah’). We mourn for the lost relationship with God, for the loss of innocence, for the brokenness of our everyday, fallen world (as Phil Wickham writes about in the song ‘Eden’.)

We need to understand that mourning is not something that can be avoided. Jesus Himself wept over Jerusalem and at the grave of Lazarus. Creation itself groans at the pain of sin (see Romans 8). But there is comfort to be found in our mourning, comfort from God which can then enable us to ‘mourn with those who mourn’ and ‘comfort those who mourn’ (Is 61:1-2) God’s comfort is such that it becomes the springboard to our helping others (2 Cor 1:3-4).

We do not live in a permanent state of sorrow. God’s comfort brings joy and hope. There is a time for everything, as Ecclesiastes 3 points out. As we receive God’s comfort, our lament is turned into dancing (Ps 30:10-11) and we are filled with joy. God pours in comfort and our task then is to spread His comfort and joy to all around us.