I think Casting Crowns’ ‘East To West’ is a timely reminder both of the struggle we sometimes have with sin and of the provision God has made for us. We don’t have to be what we used to be; we can become ‘new creations in Christ Jesus’ (2 Cor 5:17).

“Here I am, Lord, and I’m drowning in Your sea of forgetfulness;
The chains of yesterday surround me;
I yearn for peace and rest.
I don’t want to end up where You found me
And it echoes in my mind, keeps me awake tonight.
I know You’ve cast my sin as far as the east is from the west
And I stand before You now as though I’ve never sinned,
But today I feel like I’m just one mistake away from You leaving me this way.

Jesus, You know just how far the east is from the west.
I don’t have to see the man I’ve been come rising up in me again.
In the arms of Your mercy I find rest
’cause You know just how far the east is from the west
From one scarred hand to the other
One scarred hand to the other
From one scarred hand to the other.” (‘East To West’, Casting Crowns)
‘East To West’, Casting Crowns

Addiction is the topic for prayer for April and this is such a far-reaching and wide-ranging topic that it can make us feel very helpless when we are praying for people we know and situations that come to our attention. Becaues of the media focus on, and obvious visible consequences of, some addictions such as gambling, pornography, alcohol dependency or drug use, it is easy to focus on these addictions alone, but I think it behoves us to dig a little deeper into the motivations behind addictions as we pray and seek to help those who appear, at times, to be incapable of breaking free from such destructive patterns of behaviour.

The classic hallmarks of addiction include impaired control over substances or behaviour, preoccupation with the substance or behaviour, continued use despite consequences, and denial. Habits and patterns associated with addiction are typically characterised by immediate gratification (short-term reward), coupled with delayed deleterious effects (long-term costs). In other words, the short-term high or good feeling engendered by the substance or behaviour outweighs the known long-term damage. A person may well know that what they are doing is harmful to themselves and to their loved ones, but they cannot help themselves.

At the heart of all addictions is our sinful tendency to want to please ourselves more than others and more than God. We put ourselves first. We do what feels good to us at the moment and prefer to ignore the consequences. Proverbs 14:12 says “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” This is true of all life lived in our own strength and wisdom rather than God’s, not just true of ‘addicts’.

Christian teaching shows us that sin is the deeply-rooted problem at the heart of all the other visible problems in the world today, whether those problems are violence, war, hatred, addiction, poverty or disease. Sin has marred and spoiled God’s perfect creation. At the heart of sin lies man’s desire to be independent of God and to be like God. Any time we put something else in the place of God (idolatry), we move away from the relationship between God and man for which we were created.

The hope God holds out to us is that He has done something about this sin problem which opens the door to a new way of living. Paul expounds this theme in Romans 6, when he talks about us having died to sin and being raised to new life in Christ and no longer being slaves to sin: “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.” (Rom 6:11-14)

When we pray for those battling addiction, we pray for this transforming, explosive power to be revealed to them. We also know, however, that God requires us then to daily take up our cross, deny ourselves and choose to follow Him. Life is made up of daily choices, choices that are actually made minute-by-minute. Will we choose God’s way of doing things or will we take the short-cut? Will we learn to deny ourselves or will we seek the ‘quick fix’? Will we learn to humble ourselves before God, relying on His grace and power, or will we think we can go it alone and solve our problems with our own strategies and in our own strength? Paul talks about the struggle between the sin-life and the Spirit-life in Romans 7, eloquent words with which we all identify: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.” (Rom 7:15-19)

As we pray about this topic, our own tendencies to put other things in God’s place are highlighted and we realise we all need God to help us to overcome temptation and to walk in grace. After all, it is not necessarily the thing itself which is harmful or sinful – alcohol in moderation is not wrong; exercise in its rightful place is helpful to healthy living; sex is God’s gift to us when channelled as He has directed. What is harmful is our tendency to sin, our bias towards corrupting the good and perfect gifts God gives us and our inability to obey His commands.

No one is without sin and we all need to receive God’s grace and walk by faith. As we pray, let’s recognise God’s deliverance and power (Paul goes on to say ‘Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!’ Rom 7:24-25), but let’s also recognise the need for daily discipleship, for accountability, for taking responsibility for every single choice we make. Does it honour God or does it satisfy the sinful nature? Dig deep into your own heart and know that there is grace enough for every one of us to live in freedom, not slavery to sin.

It has been a long, cold winter and the recent snow at the end of March did nothing to make us feel like we were now in spring. However, yesterday the weather was considerably milder, but you wouldn’t have known it inside church, as people seemed more interested in this headgear than in savouring the spring moments!

‘Lost’ was an American TV series containing elements of science fiction and the supernatural that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island somewhere in the South Pacific Ocean. Over six series, the storyline was developed and this was a huge commercial success.

Last night, John looked at three ‘lost’ stories in Luke’s Gospel, looking at the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son (Luke 15:1-24). The idea of a ‘series’ is highly popular with films (think of the Lord of the Rings trilogy or the Harry Potter series), but in Luke’s gospel, each of the lost stories teaches us something new about God.

The lost sheep looks at the dangers of wandering away; the sheep wandered away from safety, with little understanding or regard of danger. It was only because of the care of the shepherd in risking his life (as David did, for example) that the sheep was rescued. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who gave his life for the lost sheep.

The lost coin was lost accidentally; it was not its fault that it went missing! The story focuses on the diligence of the woman in searching for the coin. In one sense, all people are under the curse of Adam; Romans 5:18 tells us that mankind is all subject to condemnation and judgment because of Adam’s sin. Thankfully, God made provision for us in sending His Son to redeem us from the curse; the plan and purpose of salvation was engineered by God before the foundation of the world.

The lost son was directly responsible for his plight. In his impatience and desire for independence, he ended up losing his inheritance, his home and his relationship with his family. But the story focuses on his repentance, how he had a ‘reality check’ and realised he had been a fool, changed his behaviour and returned to his father. His father had been looking and waiting for this moment, but even though he welcomed his son back with open arms, the son still offered to become a servant. The change in him was profound.

These three stories show us we need a Shepherd’s sacrifice, we need God to make provision for the lost to be found and there needs to be repentance on our part if we are to find forgiveness and restoration.

The value of an individual to God is great. One sheep out of a hundred was important to the shepherd. One coin out of ten was important to the woman. One of two sons was important to the father. We are all valuable and important to God who makes the difference – it’s ‘the touch of the Master’s hand’ which gives us our value and significance. We can’t believe in Jesus and be saved by accident; it has to be a conscious choice, like the son’s choice to return home. Will you make that choice?
‘The Touch of the Master’s Hand’

You will be used to my love of words by now, but this lovely word came from Garry’s engineering background, referenced in today’s sermon on mutual affection. Tribology (a branch of mechanical engineering) is the science and engineering of interacting surfaces in relative motion. It includes the study and application of the principles of friction (the word itself is derived from the Greek word ‘tribo’, ‘I rub’), lubrication and wear, and the reason it came up in today’s sermon was as Garry discussed ‘bearing with one another’ (Eph 4:2).

Twenty-nine years ago Garry produced ‘a literary survey of rolling and journal bearings’ as his B.Sc. dissertation, a beautifully bound dissertation full of incomprehensible (to me) diagrams and equations that lives on our bookshelf gathering dust for the most part.


Today it came back into its rightful glory, as Garry talked about how a study of bearings discovered that to make a totally smooth surface for bearings is not actually helpful, since bearings need some roughness to bed together properly.

[Still with me? I wasn’t! I was busy contemplating North-North-East and that kind of bearing, but apparently ‘a bearing is a machine element that constrains relative motion between moving parts to only the desired motion. The design of the bearing may, for example, provide for free linear movement of the moving part or for free rotation around a fixed axis; or, it may prevent a motion by controlling the vectors of normal forces that bear on the moving parts. Bearings are classified broadly according to the type of operation, the motions allowed, or to the directions of the loads (forces) applied to the parts.’ Now that we’ve got that clear, we can perhaps move on!]

Friction, it seems, is actually necessary for a bearing to mesh together properly. You might also expect similar materials to work well together in this engineering marvel, but apparently two different materials work better together, since it is good if one material has the capacity to absorb roughness. The spiritual application we can draw from this is quite clear. We are all different people, with different personalities. We often think church would be wonderful if everyone else were just like us, but that is not the case at all. God has designed us all differently for a purpose! Moreover, friction between people is inevitable at times and we have to learn to bear with each other. We literally have to learn to ‘grin and bear it’, absorbing the hurt from our brothers and sisters at times, if we are to grow spiritually, since no man is an island and we are called to live in community with each other.

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Eph 4:1-6)

Garry continued his series on 2 Peter 1:3-8 this morning, looking at ‘mutual affection’ or ‘brotherly kindness’. There is a tendency to pass over this when reading the list because we think ‘love’ (agape) is more important, but this kind of love (philadelphia, love of brothers) is vital to Christian development.

The church is a called-out body, but one of the main ways it is described in the New Testament is as a family. When we become Christians, we not only become a child of God, we are born into a family. We have no choice in our natural family members and no choice in our spiritual family members; we are to develop love and affection for people we might otherwise not choose to be with!

Sometimes we view family suspiciously, shaped by negative life experiences, but our attitudes need to be shaped by the Word, rather than by our own experiences. In Western society, the idea of family has often been reduced to the nuclear family and we have become very independent and isolated. The Christian idea of family is one of interdependence rather than independence. We need to join with others in Christ and be joined to them through the love of God.

1 Cor 10:23-24 reminds us that we should seek to serve other people, not pleasing ourselves but considering others’ needs. The purpose of spiritual gifts is for the common good (1 Corinthians 12) and we are taught to encourage one another and build each other up (1 Thess 5:11). Encouragement is doing the work of the Holy Spirit (the encourager, the Parakletos) and we are called be ‘housebuilders’, constructing and confirming others and edifying and emboldening them. Sometimes we need to ‘push’ people in the right direction; at other times, they will need gentle encouragements. We are, after all, our brother’s keeper (or protector, guardian and shield.) We need to be prepared to receive encouragement as well as to give it, for we all need the opportunity to respond to God’s promptings to serve.

Hebrews 10:24-25 tells us we should make every effort to spur each other on to love and good deeds. We are to ‘provoke’ or to ‘incite’ others to do good! There is ample Biblical evidence that this involve great effort and requires determination and diligence (see Rom 14:19-21, Eph 4:1-6). If we are to defeat the disappointment and discouragement which are so prevalent, we need to persevere in coming alongside our brothers and sisters and finding creative ways to bear with each other and keep the unity of the Spirit. There will be friction at times as we are all different people, but a study of bearings has shown that too much smoothness and using similar materials actually doesn’t help bearings to work well together! God knows that we are all different and will often ‘rub each other up’, but this is actually necessary for our mutual growth.

We should value the family of God: 1 John 3:16 reminds us we should lay down our lives for each other, which is often harder to do on a daily basis than as a one-off sacrifice! We have to be prepared to receive help as well as to give it. Love is the yardstick by which we will be measured: John 13:33-35 reminds us that Jesus gave us a new commandment to love each other as He loved us and that this is the way others will see that we are His disciples. Brotherly kindness and mutual affection are, therefore, a powerful witness to the world and a growing testimony to God’s grace and power in our lives.