Back in November 2010 we had a family service on value and worth during which Stephen did a game called ‘Burgin’s Real Deal’, based on a popular TV programme. Prior to that, just after moving into the building on Market Street, I wrote about authentic living. The topic of being real or genuine or authentic is one that I constantly come back to. It’s so easy to ‘fake it’ in life, pretending that everything-in-the-garden-is-lovely (even if it isn’t) or just hiding behind defensive walls because we are worried that if others see the ‘real deal’ (what we are really like deep-down), they will shun us. As Kutless sing:

“It’s always easier to hide behind that
Camouflage that keeps our hearts so guarded.” (‘Identity’, Kutless)

Some of us even think that God would spurn us if He could really see our hearts and it takes a lot of persuading that actually, God does see our hearts, knows us inside out and still loves us!

“You see the depths of my heart and You love me the same.
You are amazing, God!” (‘Indescribable’, Laura Storey, Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves)

It’s always good when you find a slogan that sums up what you think. A picture may paint a thousand words, but to be honest, it’s better for our faulty memories if we can reduce that number somewhat to summarise what we believe! So here is the slogan I discovered this week. It’s in Latin, so it’s nice and pithy:

“Esse quam videri.”

Now I appreciate that not everyone understands Latin. The translation is almost as good as the original:

“To be rather than to seem to be.”

God doesn’t need us to hide behind camouflage or defences or to build walls to keep people away from seeing the real us. He encourages us to be true to who He has made us to be. He’s not the one who believes in ‘happy plastic people under shiny plastic steeples’ (‘Stained Glass Masquerade’, Casting Crowns). We don’t need ‘walls around our weakness and smiles to hide our pain.’ Christianity isn’t about pretending. It’s about reality: the reality of a God who loves people unconditionally, as they are, even when they are flawed and sinful and hurting and desperate, and the reality of becoming more like Christ on a daily basis. ‘This becoming is harder than it seems’ (‘Place In This World’, Michael W. Smith), but becoming is not about seeming. It’s about what really is.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:1-2)

Children of God, that is our identity. We are loved, forgiven, accepted and washed clean. We don’t have to ‘seem to be.’ Instead, we can just be.

Stephen spoke on the subject of sanctuary last night. Sanctuary is ‘a place of refuge from pursuit, persecution or other danger’ and is also thought of as ‘a holy place, a temple.’ The roots of the word are from the Latin ‘sanctus‘, meaning holy. Over the years, sanctuary has been associated with a holy place of refuge.

In the Old Testament, God’s presence was represented by the ark of the covenant kept in the Holy of Holies in the Tent of Meeting. During the wilderness journeys, God’s presence in the form of the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night hovered above the Tent as a symbol to the people of where they should be; only when the cloud or pillar of fire moved did the people move on to the next stage of their journey. Later, God’s presence became associated with other places (such as Mount Zion or the temple.)

God is the source of our refuge and help. Ps 20:2 says ‘May He send You help from the sanctuary.’ Psalm 15:1 says ‘Who may dwell in Your sanctuary?’ In Ps 114:2, we read that Judah became God’s sanctuary, Israel His dominion.

People still associate God’s presence with a place (often a church building). But God’s presence has never been restricted to four walls, to one particular building. He is not restricted by any geographical constraints. Ezekiel 11:16 reminds us that God as sanctuary was present even during the exile. God is here, with us, wherever we are and wherever we go. When we leave a church building, do we leave God’s presence? Do we believe He can only work in that place?

Jesus reminded the people of the greater temple that was His very body (see John 2:19-22). The way to Christ is through His death and resurrection. The curtain was torn in two because of His sacrifice for us and opened the way for us to approach the holy presence of God. God’s presence is with us all the time. It doesn’t matter where we are. We can live in the knowledge of God with us every moment of every day and know His presence with us to guide and to help, to offer refuge and sanctuary.

Kevin spoke this morning from 1 Chronicles 28:1-12 and 20 on the sound advice given to his son, Solomon, by King David as he drew towards the end of his earthly life. He had wanted to build a temple for God but had been told through the prophet Nathan that this was not part of God’s plan for his life (see 2 Samuel 7). Now, he passes on the duty to do this to his son, Solomon, and gives him also sound advice for wise living, in the presence of all his officials. This was an important gathering, a significant meeting where a large number of people would hear important advice for living God’s way.

1. Know God
In 1 Chron 28:9, David urges Solomon to know ‘the God of my father’. He needed to have a personal knowledge of God and be acquainted with Him. The Creator God, the Eternal One, is willing to enter into a personal relationship with us. Knowledge has to be more than just head-knowledge; it has to be a life-changing knowledge. In order to know God, we need to spend time with Him in prayer and in reading the word so that we can grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).

2. Serve God
We have to ‘serve God with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind.’ Solomon was the one chosen to build a dwelling-place for God. He had to learn to serve God with pure motives and with devotion (see also Ps 51:10-12). We have to be willing to do whatever God tells us; He loves a cheerful giver and a willing servant! God knows our hearts and motives; there is no way we can hide anything from Him, so our service needs to be pure and devoted.

3. Seek God
David reminds Solomon that those who seek God will find Him. Psalm 9:10 tells us ‘those who know Your name will trust in You, for You, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek You’. Ps 34:10 tells us that ‘those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.’ We need to give God the time He deserves; seeking Him involves time and effort (think of every courting couple who seeks to spend time with each other in order to deepen that knowledge of and relationship with the beloved. Our relationship with God requires the same level of time and commitment.)

This week I received training in different learning styles. The three main learning styles identified are:

1. visual (where the primary method of learning is through seeing and reading)
2. auditory (where the primary method of learning is through listening and speaking)
3. kinesthetic (where the primary method of learning is through touching and doing)

It’s quite interesting to think about the best methods with which we learn. In church settings, we’re expected to listen to sermons, yet the auditory method of learning is not necessarily the best for everyone. Combining methods – using audio-visual techniques or getting interactive with the congregation – often helps us to engage with more people.

Visual learners do best from things which involve pictures, diagrams, demonstrations, displays, handouts, films, or flip charts. So they like to read instructions, follow recipes, write things down, highlight written notes, follow a map. Their creative interests involve writing, drawing, designing things and taking photos.

Auditory learners do best from instructions which they can hear, often repeating back things to ensure they have understood what they have heard. They like to listen to explanations, explain things verbally or talk to people to find out how to do new things. They like to tell jokes and stories, discuss and debate things, sing and create music.

Kinesthetic learners like to ‘have a go’. They will follow their instincts, try new things and enjoy getting stuck in to new activities, even if they don’t always get it right first time. They are interested in making things, dance, drama, modelling and sports.

If you’re interested in discovering which method suits you best, there is a quiz here. Some people will have a mixture of learning styles; others will favour one (no prizes for guessing my main learning style…!)

There is, of course, no ‘right’ learning style. Just as we are all individuals with different personalities, so we learn differently and that’s fine. What I do find helpful is learning how other people tick! Learning to value and explore differences is as important as learning to value and understand myself. Philippians 2:3-4 urges us to “do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” When we think about how others differ from us and come to respect this, we begin to value others and can help them to learn more of God in the way that they relate to the best.

Imagination is defined as ‘the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses.’ I have been pondering this definition for some time now whilst meditating on Romans 4:17, where Abraham is said to have believed in ‘the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.’

Eugene Peterson, in his book ‘Subversive Spirituallity’, says ‘imagination is the capacity to make connections between the visible and the invisible, between heaven and earth, between present and past and future. For Christians, whose largest investment is in the invisible, the imagination is indispensable, for it is only by means of the imagination that we can see reality which is in context. What imagination does with reality is the reality we live by.’

(For further discussion of these thoughts, here is a conversation on the topic of story-telling and the role of imagination in this which Eugene Peterson held in 2007.)

Brennan Manning has said ‘Illusion is a denial of reality, while imagination creates and calls forth new reality that has not yet come to birth.’ (Brennan Manning, ‘A Glimpse of Jesus’) This is rather like the Biblical description of what God does in calling into being things that were not. We often acknowledge God as Creator, but man, made in God’s image, is also creative and the imagination is one thing which distinguishes man from the animals and perhaps one way in which man is linked to God.

Illusion often involves deception of some kind, a distortion of reality. Think of the way advertisers or magicians use illusion to make us believe something that is not necessarily true! Imagination is not the same thing at all. Imagination helps us to see the invisible and to put life into context. For, as Eugene Peterson also reminds us, “most of what makes up human existence is inacessible to our five sense: emotions, thoughts, dreams, love, hope, character, purpose, belief.” (‘Subversive Spirituality’) Imagination (and particularly the use of metaphor) helps us to connect what we see, hear, touch and experience with that invisible, intangible world we perceive only by faith. To be sure, our imaginations need to be sanctified (just as our whole lives need to be sanctified!), but imagination can also be a powerful tool to help us find new reality.

Garry’s rather grandiose alliterative title (for which I can, sadly, claim no credit…) summarised both the whole book of James (which we finally completed studying tonight, having started in April 2012!) and the last two verses in chapter 5 (the focus of tonight’s study.)

We started, however, by looking at the Parable of the Sower (Matt 13:1-23). Here, Jesus talks about the different kinds of soil, looking at the rocky ground and the thorny ground. Just as a lack of roots causes seeds not to grow and thorns (the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth) choke the word, so James has highlighted the problems in our lives which would cause us to stumble if left unchecked. Jesus says that ‘when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away’ (Matt 13:21). James has taught us to accept trouble and persecution, the trials and temptations of this life, with open arms since we learn perseverance and develop character through them. He has also taught us how to avoid the pitfalls of wealth: by shunning favouritism and by not putting our trust in material riches.

The whole book of James has been eminently practical, offering us solutions to the many problems we face on life’s journey. Now, James reminds us that we have a collective responsibility to each other as well as an individual responsibility to maintain our spiritual walk with God. We all have a sheep-like tendency to wander from the truth (the word ‘wander’ is the same used in Matt 18:12 in the parable of the lost sheep and is also found in Matt 22:29 – ‘you are in error’ – and Gal 6:7 – ‘do not be deceived.’) Israel’s history in the wilderness and the cycle of Judges shows us the tendency to wander from the truth which remains prevalent today (‘Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it/ Prone to leave the God I love!’) It is easy for us to forget all that God has said and done and to follow false gods. Anything that comes before God (however innocuous in itself) becomes an idol and we we need to be quick to understand the fragility and temptations which befall our hearts.

James reminds us that we have a ‘duty of care’ for each other. We are now in the family of God; we need each other and need to watch each other’s backs. In the parable of the lost sheep, the shepherd went looking for the one lost sheep. We too need to be vigilant and seek to help those who are struggling (see also Gal 6:1-9). This is not a task reserved only for the pastor; ‘whoever’ can be involved! We need to shun the individual isolationism of Western society and recognise the Biblical need for interdependence. That will inevitably mean getting to know people (how can we know they are wandering from the truth unless we know them?) and caring enough to respond in practical ways.

The debate about whether Christians can lose their salvation has been discussed for centuries. Whatever our views on the topic of apostasy, there is a need for the family of God to be like the trapeze artist’s safety net. We need to be willing to confront each other gently, holding out the word of life and being prepared to both love and challenge each other. It is not easy to do this, for we risk offending people and are often indifferent to each other’s needs. Nonetheless, James concludes his book with a reminder of the eternal significance of these actions and the collective responsibility of God’s people.