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.

Tonight’s Bible study looked at just one verse: “Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.” (James 5:13)

Trouble can come in many shapes and forms: health worries, financial concerns, problems with work (or the lack of it), relationship problems, and many other issues. We may also face trouble and persecution because of our faith. James has already taught us much about the way we should respond to troubles, however: with gladness and rejoicing, because we know that the testing of our faith develops perseverance (see James 1:3-5). James shows us that prayer needs to be our response to trouble. It’s all too easy for us to be overwhelmed by troubles and to feel alone and forsaken during times of testing. Prayer enables us to draw close to God and to see things in perspective: God is always with us and is much greater than any trouble we may face. As we pray, we receive His wisdom in our situations and learn to see things from a different perspective (see also 2 Cor 12:7-10).

It’s easy when we are happy to forget about God, but James is keen for us to involve God in every situation in life. When we are happy, we need to show a thankful heart and involve God in our joys as well as our woes (many of us are better at complaining to God than thanking Him!) Whatever our lot in life, God is with us at all times and loves to bless us. As we pray and sing songs of praise, we align ourselves with God and learn to live with a keen awareness of His presence and purpose in our lives. There is something very powerful about singing: as Eugene Peterson has said, “When there is more in us than we can contain, we sing.” The psalms show us both aspects of prayer: many psalms are psalms of lament (eg Ps 44:9-16, Ps 86:5-6), but there are also psalms of great rejoicing as the psalmist meditates on God’s nature (eg Ps 44:26, Ps 33:1-3, Ps 149:3). However we pray, there is something powerful in God’s word and in singing this, for we then see God as He really is and are aware of His workings in our everyday lives.

As Matt Redman sings in ‘Blessed Be Your Name’, our response to God, whether in good times or bad, should be the same: we are called, by faith, to bless God and to praise Him.
“Every blessing You pour out I’ll turn back to praise
And when the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say,
‘Blessed be the name of the Lord.’ ” (‘Blessed Be Your Name’, Matt Redman)
‘Blessed Be Your Name’, Matt Redman

After preaching on the unchanging nature of God on Sunday, it’s not surprising that I am still meditating on that great attribute of God’s nature. Two songs I’ve been listening to recently also focus on the immutability of God. One looks at the fact that God is constant and faithful and never changes (see Malachi 3:6); another looks at the unchanging love of God.

‘From the darkest night to the brightest day
Constant You remain
Every single breath to my dying day…
Constant and faithful, You never change…’ (‘The Constant’, Al Gordon & Ben Cantelon)
‘The Constant’, Al Gordon & Ben Cantelon

“My God, You are the unchanging love.
My God, Your heart sends hope from above,
The great Creator, beautiful Saviour,
I’ve been redeemed.
There is life now from Your victory.
You are my God.
You are my God.”(‘My God’, Jeremy Camp)
‘My God’, Jeremy Camp

The Westminster Shorter Catechism says, ’God is a spirit, whose being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth are infinite, eternal, and unchangeable.” As we discussed on Sunday, God has no beginning and no end, unlike His creation:
“In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.” (Ps 102:25-27)

The fact that God is unchangeable offers us one of the greatest insights into the differences between mankind and God: “He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.” (1 Sam 15:29) We are often changing our minds (especially women, apparently!), but God’s plans and purposes are fixed: “People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” (Heb 6:16-19)

God’s immutability defines all His other attributes: He is immutably wise, He cannot help but be merciful, good, and gracious. “The same may be said about His knowledge: God does not need to gain knowledge; He knows all things, eternally and immutably so. Infiniteness and immutability in God are mutually supportive and imply each other. An infinite and changing God is inconceivable; indeed it is a contradiction in definition.” (quoted from article on Immutability)

Plenty for us to think about!