Ralph preached last night on 1 Cor 1:18, looking at the word of the cross. The cross, now a symbol of Christianity and used in ornate jewellery, was not originally something beautiful but the place of execution. Nonetheless, the cross reveals to us the heart of God, for there we see:

(1) God’s word concerning holiness and sin
The cross reveals the vileness of sin (see John 8:34) and the holiness of God. It reveals the cosmic battle between good and evil, where Satan thought to triumph over Christ (see Acts 2:23), but where in fact God’s purposes for salvation were worked out.

(2) God’s word concerning love and sacrifice
There is a difference between contribution and sacrifice (the hen contributes an egg, the pig gives his life to provide bacon!) God knew that the death of Christ was the only way to save mankind (see Acts 4:12) and the cross shows us God’s love for man (John 3:16, Eph 5:2)

(3) God’s word concerning righteousness and peace
The sacrifice Christ made was to God, a sacrifice which destroyed the dividing wall between man and God and brought reconciliation (see Eph 2). Righteousness and peace kiss each other at the cross (see Ps 85:10).

(4) God’s word concerning salvation and peace
The cross is the power of God for salvation. Just as the blood of lambs was necessary for the Israelites to know escape from the bondage of Egypt, so we too need the blood of Christ to cleanse us from sin and to bring us salvation.

Last week we had a birthday to celebrate:

We also caught up with a birthday girl who was on holiday on the actual date of her birthday (there’s no escape!)

Then we had two birthdays to anticipate in the week to come:

We wish everybody a very happy birthday!

Having told you about the gold postbox in Onchan (painted to celebrate Peter Kennaugh’s gold medal in the cycling pursuit BBC News of Peter Kennaugh), it’s time to update you on Igor’s adventures in the Isle of Man.

Igor, you remember, is the (plastic) iguana bought by Mark for Garry’s birthday. (‘Joy?’) He was very surprised to see a red postbox change colour and wondered how this could possibly be camouflage…so he went to investigate:

He also had fun investigating the greenery right at the south of the island:

There was plenty of greenery in Laxey too:

Mind you, there was also an intriguing piece of Victorian engineering in Laxey to explore as well:

All in all, an interesting holiday…!

As the Olympics draw to a close, Garry looked at the lessons we can learn from these Games! Preaching from 2 Timothy 2:1-7, he looked at three lessons we can learn:

(1) Suffering is inevitable in this life, but can teach us many things. Many Olympians testified to the pain and trials they had had to go through to get to that place of winning a gold medal. Rowers who trained in the rain on dark, wet mornings in Britain were perhaps, not surprisingly, not put off to be rowing in the rain during the finals! We may at times feel that God is giving us more than we can bear, but He never gives us more than we can take. If we are to overcome the suffering and trials of life, we have to keep the end view in sight. That requires visualisation, a triumph of the battle for the mind (Bradley Wiggins and other medallists have been using the help of psychiatrists to harness their minds’ power as much as training their bodies.) The vision God has given us is achievable. We have to confront the problems we face (rather like long jumper Greg Rutherford had to change his run-up in order to avoid a recurrence of the hamstring injuries which were threatening his career) in order to achieve what God has for us. Luke 22:41-42 and Hebrews 12:3-4 remind us that this is done by the choices we make. We have to count everything else a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ (Phil 3:7-8).

(2) Support is necessary in this life. All the Olympians needed support and encouragement – from friends, from family, from fellow sportsmen and from the crowd. We are surrounded by a great crowd of witnesses and Hebrews 3 reminds us to encourage each other daily. The Holy Spirit comes alongside us to encourage, counsel, comfort and support us and we too are required to be like Him in coming alongside our fellow believers and urging them to continue with their walk of faith.

(3) God promises rewards for all who finish. Rowers Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase narrowly missed gold in the double sculls and were completely exhausted and devastated not to have won. They felt that they had let the whole nation down and were tearfully apologetic after the race. But even those who did win and who have such marvellous memories to sustain them will find that the memories will fade…

On the Isle of Man, the winning cyclist Peter Kennaugh was honoured by having a postbox in Onchan painted gold. That will remain gold for a limited period of time, however.

Jessica Ennis, the Sheffield athlete who won the heptathlon, was interviewed last Sunday and was desperate to ‘soak in the atmosphere… to remember the culmination of a dream’. At some point, though, the memories will fade.

God has promised for all of us who finish the race a crown that will never perish, fade or spoil. We have an eternal reward ahead that is far greater than any Olympic medal. He promises to give great rewards to all who overcome. We may never win a race in this life, but if we finish well in life, faithfully serving God with all we have, then we will hear His ‘Well done, good and faithful servant’ and receive rewards that are eternal and will never perish.

Back to Goldthorpe now, and Dave preached on Sunday night on ‘the pleasure of God’.

The Westminster Catechism was compiled by an Assembly of Church Fathers from England and Scotland in 1648. It was intended to teach the basic beliefs of the Christian faith and it has stood the passage of time and become one of the authoritative Creeds of the Christian church. It starts by asking the question ‘What is the chief and highest end of man?’ and answers this with ‘Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy Him forever.’

Job is one Bible character who really understood that it’s not all about us, but is all about God. Job was a God-fearing man who really did want to give his all for God’s service. In Job 1, we are given a glimpse into a conversation between God and Satan in which God asks Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant, Job?’ God took pleasure in Job’s life.

There are some things in which God takes no pleasure at all. Is 1:11 reminds us that God does not need our burnt offerings and sacrifices. We can be zealous in doing stuff for God, but outward obedience with no inner change of heart brings Him no pleasure at all. Ezek 33:11 also reminds us that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He wants everyone to come to repentance (2 Pet 3:9).

God delights, rather, in those who fear Him (Ps 147:10-11). God delights when the prodigal returns home, when the lost is found (Luke 15). Eph 1:4-6 also shows us that God chose us to be His before the creation of the world ‘in accordance with His pleasure.’ We have been set completely free from the power of Satan; we are no longer slaves to sin and to the attractiveness of the world. We have chosen to turn from trying to live on our own resources and have decided to serve God and to live to please Him. Because we have done that, God has welcomed us into His presence. He has clothed us with the finest robe – the robe of righteousness.
He has prepared the most incredible banquet for us – the wedding Feast of His Son Jesus Christ. He has restored us into His family as His sons and daughters. We are, incredibly, through His mercy and grace, pleasing in His sight.

One thing I love about God is how He says the same things to us in different ways and it doesn’t matter where we go, we can never outrun His messages! Last week we had the pleasure of being away on holiday on the Isle of Man, a truly wonderful place. As is our custom, we looked around for a church to attend on Sunday and found an Elim church in Onchan, a few miles from where we were staying, thanks to the wonders of the Internet, which directed us to the front doors with no problems! We had a wonderful time there, savouring God’s presence and enjoying meeting new family we didn’t even know we had!

The pastor there (John Powell) preached from Luke 5, the story where Peter and James and John are mending their nets after a hard night’s fruitless labour, and Jesus comes into Peter’s boat to preach and ends up commanding them to fish again. This time, the catch is so huge that the boat begins to sink and the nets begin to break and Peter and the disciples begin to understand something of their new destiny as fishers of men.

It’s a familiar story and one that seemed even more relevant on an island where fishing is still an important part of everyday life. Everywhere we went, we saw boats and nets! (We even saw the oldest yacht in the world, the Peggy, at Castletown’s Nautical Musuem.)

But what struck us most of all was the reminder, as so many sermons here have done recently, that God is with us in all circumstances. He actually gets into our boat, into the messy, stinky circumstances of our everyday lives, and helps us. He is the one who can direct our lives anew and give us fresh purpose and hope. After the death and resurrection of Christ, Peter and his friends went back to fishing. Then they were met by Jesus on the shore, cooking a fish breakfast for them. They may have thought that their lives would just carry on as before, but Jesus had other ideas for them! And He has plenty of ideas for our lives too…