Garry spoke from Psalm 127 this morning on the subject of success. He warned us that he would ask more questions than he would give answers, but as Michael Card says, ‘Could it be that questions tell us more than answers ever do?’ Jesus used questions and parables as a teaching aid to stimulate His disciples to serious thought. You have been warned!

Some of the questions we had to think about were:
* How do we define success?
* What are our expectations?
* Why are we interested in success?
* Can we trust the world’s definition of success?
* How do we measure what we do?
* Do we try to justify what we do by the results we can see?
* Do we stop doing what we are doing if we can’t see visible results?
* Does blessing define success?
* If we fail, does that mean we have no guarantee of success?
* Is there such a thing as a guarantee of success?

Certainly the world has fixed ideas about success and applauds successful people (at least initially!) The world dismisses failure and views success in measurable terms such as getting results. In management, we are encouraged to set SMART goals – goals that are specific, measurable, agreed, realistic and timed. The problem in working with God is that He inhabits eternity, and not all these things are measured by Him in the way that we measure them! Garry’s Vernier caliper is useful for measuring length, but useless at measuring weights or as a timepiece. We have to be careful to use the right tools for measuring.

In the church, results are often like icebergs – four-fiths of them are not visible! God sees the whole picture: we don’t. So often, what we see seems murky or foggy. We have to learn to evaluate situations as God does: the man mentioned in Luke 12:16-21 would be deemed ‘successful’ by the world’s criteria but was termed a fool by God becasue he had placed his hope in earthly material wealth.

Ps 127 reminds us that God has to be involved in our work for it to succeed and reminds us that His presence with us makes all the difference. Jesus reminds us that even He did nothing without seeing His Father doing those things. As Jack Hyles said, “If I labour for God, I fail. If I labour with God, I succeed.”

Luke 9 reminds us that the successful Christian life involves self-denial, counting the cost and obedience. We have to judge our success not by what we can see, but by how well we are seeking to obey God and do His will. As Jesus reminded us in John 4:37-38, some have the job of sowing and some of reaping. Reaping is definitely the more glamorous job, but each job is important and crucial. Joshua 1:8 reminds us that if we meditate on God’s law and obey it, we will be prosperous and successful. To achieve success, we have to be aware of what God wants and then do it. As Mark said at the end, success can be defined in two words: ‘trust’ and ‘obey’.

Dave led the Bible study on Thursday, looking at James 1:26-27.

The end of chapter 1 talks about religion and the religious. It highlights the sin of rash speech (which James will develop further in chapter 3), urging us to keep a rein on our tongues (see Ps 34:13, Ps 39:1). Trials and pressures often force rash speech from us, so we need to take care not only with what we say, but how we say it.

When we think about religion, we often lay on it our traditions and patterns and ways of doing things. 1 Sam 15:1-22 reminds us that doing is not always correct; Saul was more concerned with doing what he thought was needed to be done rather than with obeying what was important. Religion is often more concerned with doing than being; it lays a lot of importance on the outward form, whereas God works ‘from the inside out.’ (See also Matt 5:18-19) The law is not the problem; the law is a guide, not the actual purpose (Matt 5:17).

Outward conformity to the law can actually lead us astray, as the Pharisees so often demonstrated. If people don’t do things our way, we often condemn them with our tongues.

Verse 27 defines what ‘pure religion’ is (see Deut 10:18, Is 1:16-17). God as ‘Father’ looks after people; the command is that we should be like God, and therefore we should do the same. Christianity has always been defined as a caring religion. Prov 14:31 reminds us that those who are kind to the needy honour God; Ps 113:7-9 gives us a glimpse into the tender heart of God which we should emulate. God enables us to live in freedom from the pollution of the world system and ideologies (2 Pet 1:4, 2 Pet 3:14, Titus 2:12). Peer pressure exists for us all (not just for teenagers, as Rom 12:2 makes clear), but we must resist the pressure to conform to the world’s systems (1 John 5:18-19). It is unfortunately too easy to compromise (1 John 2:15-17), but this kind of compromise inevitably leads to great harm.

If the whole world is in God’s hands, what are those hands like? This was the question that Mark tackled at the family service last night.

God’s hands created the universe. They made the deep places and the high places.

God’s hands created the sun, moon and stars. He not only created our complex universe, but sustains it exactly so that we can continue to live on this amazing planet.

God is King over all the universe. He sets kings in place and can topple kingdoms. Humans think they are in control of this planet, but God is the real King!

God’s hands hold us. Our very times are in His hands.

God’s hands bring salvation, revival and restoration, but we have to choose His ways over our own.

God is the ruler of all, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is working all things together for good in our lives.

We finished by listening to the J. J. Heller song ‘Your Hands’:
“When my world is shaking,
Heaven stands.
When my heart is breaking,
I never leave Your hands.” (J.J. Heller, ‘Your Hands’)
‘Your Hands’, J. J. Heller

The family service for the anniversary weekend had a quiz about traditional clothes from around the world. We had to identify the countries represented by the following photos:

There were ten photos in all to identify and the winning team scored six points, so we obviously didn’t find this quiz easy!

Answers?
1. Germany
2. Japan
3. Russia
4. Africa
5. India
6. Iceland
7. Argentina

The whole theme of the anniversary weekend has been ‘He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.’ Stephen’s sermon on Sunday morning had a startling take on this theme. He sat at the front and apparently went to sleep!

He then spoke from Mark 16:15-20, talking about how Jesus appeared to His disciples after the Resurrection.

If God is in charge of our world, in control of everything that happens to us and is looking after all of His creation, then there is no need for us to worry or fret or spend so much time trying to make things work out the way we want them to. Jesus told His disciples that worrying could not make them grow an inch or add a year to their lives. Worry is pointless and undermines the faith we profess to have in God. We need to learn to live out what we believe and rest in God’s sovereignty and control, for His unfailing love is reliable and steadfast and His power is unlimited. Being content in God’s sovereignty doesn’t absolve us from responsibility, however. These verses give us a command, to go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. We have a responsibility, as Adam did, to tend the wonderful world we live in and to spread the good news wherever we go. God is in control! He’s got everything in His hands.

Prizes were distributed to the winners of the globe competition (in reverse order):

Don’t forget today’s services at 10.30 a.m. and the family service at 6 p.m.