Garry preached from Hebrews 10:14 this morning: “by one sacrifice He has made perfect for ever those who are being made holy.”

There is a difference between the once-and-for-all sacrifice of Christ (a completed action in the past) and the ongoing work of sanctification by which we are made holy (in the present continuous.)

Christ’s sacrifice was necessary because there was absolutely nothing we could do to rescue ourselves or redeem ourselves from sin. His sacrifice put an end to the sacrificial system (which was a shadow of His perfect sacrifice) and now God sees us as being perfect; when He looks at us, He sees us wearing ‘the righteousness of Christ.’ There is nothing we can do to add to this work of God – it’s like the bridge which has the keystone in it and which is firmly secure as a result of this.

God works in partnership with us, however, in making us holy (separate from what is profane, cleansed, purified, consecrated to God.) This is an ongoing work of cleansing: we are the workmanship of God and yet we are also team players with God in sanctification. God wants to work with us to purify us (Eph 4:11-16), providing teachers and others to help us to grow, carrying on this great work until the day of completion (see Phil 1:6, 1 John 3:1).

We need, therefore, to rest in what Christ has done for us whilst at the same time being vigorously involved with Him as He works to make us like Christ. We must both rest in the completed sacrifice of Christ and labour towards our sanctification, the goal of which is ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory’ (Col 1:27)

While we were in Whitby last weekend, we went to the Lifeboat Museum and read so many stories of the amazing rescues carried out by the RNLI on that coast. It was truly inspiring. The general field of search and rescue includes many speciality sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations. These include Mountain rescue; ground search and rescue, including the use of search and rescue dogs; urban search and rescue in cities; combat search and rescue on the battlefield and air-sea rescue over water.

Last year the world witnessed one of the great rescue plans when 33 Chilean miners, trapped down a mine, were successfully brought to safety. Many of us watched on the news or online as each man had to be rescued individually in a rescue plan that involved technology and international aid, not to mention lots of prayer. It was a truly inspiring moment.

Matt Redman’s song ‘Where Would We Be?’ arose from that rescue, but points to a greater rescue:
“You came to search and rescue
In love, the Father sent You
Broke through the darkest night
You came to seek and save us
You came to liberate us
Jesus, You heard our cry
Jesus, You heard our cry”

As we studied in Romans 9, the truth is that without God’s rescue plan, we would all still be lost:
“Where would we be without Your love?
We’d still be lost in darkness
Where would we be without Your cross?
You made a way to save us
Oh, Your love, oh, Your love.”

Moreoever, our studies in Romans have pointed out inexorably that there was nothing we could do to save ourselves; we desperately needed rescue from a God who would take the initiative:
“We couldn’t escape the sin and the shame
That kept us bound
We couldn’t break through, we couldn’t reach You
So You reached down”

The next time we feel we are struggling to accept God’s sovereignty, we need to focus on our desperate plight without God and respond with grateful thanks to the fact that His plan of salvation was such a thorough and comprehensive search and rescue plan! “The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10). Hallelujah!

http://www.myspace.com/mattredmanmusic/videos/story-behind-the-song-where-would-we-be/108021704

Last night we finished looking at Romans 9, a chapter that talks about God’s sovereignty and man’s submission. These are not easy concepts for us to grasp – or, if we are honest, to like. As the end verses remind us, “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall,and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.” (Rom 9:33, quoting Isaiah 28:16).

God’s ways are higher than our ways and we have to learn to submit to our Creator. As Paul says, “who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?” (Rom 9:20-21) So often, we think we know best, wanting to be like someone else, wanting to be somewhere else, not content with who God has made us to be or where He has placed us in life. But ultimately, ‘godliness with contentment is great gain’ (1 Tim 6:6) and there is great peace in accepting ourselves and in submitting to God’s sovereignty.

Man is fiercely independent and likes to think he can make it on his own. Jesus came to remind us forcibly that that is not true: we are helpless to save ourselves and need His help. As Michael Card piercingly writes in his song ‘Scandalon’,

“The seers and the prophets had foretold it long ago
That the long awaited one would make men stumble
But they were looking for a king to conquer and to kill
Who’d have ever thought He’d be so meek and humble?

To some He is a barrier, to others He’s the way
For all should know the scandal of believing.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S2odJT8wb8

May we all know the ‘scandal of believing’ and all realise He is the only way to God.

Some of you may remember that I did a sponsored swim (for Marie Curie Cancer Care) back in April, when I swam 5 km (200 lengths of a 25 metre pool). That was a first for me and initially I doubted that I could last that distance. Egged on by some good friends who goaded me into increasing my original aim from 2.5 km to 5 km, I learned the value of aiming high.

Inspired by that, I decided to do another Sponsored Swim, reasoning that since I was swimming anyway, I might as well have an aim to keep me focussed and raise money for a worthy cause at the same time. So I looked around and discovered a charity called Aspire http://www.aspire.org.uk/home.aspx, which helps people with spinal cord injuries and which runs a ‘Channel Swim’ event (http://www.aspire.org.uk/aspire-channel-swim.aspx) whereby you swim the distance of the English Channel (22 miles) in the safety (!) of your own pool. There is no set time period for you to complete the swim, but again, looking at aims and being inspired by the charity’s name (aspire means ‘to have a great ambition or ultimate goal; desire strongly; to strive towards an end’), I decided to complete this challenge within 12 days (11 swimming day, 1 day of rest). So far, I’m on 564 lengths in 4 days.

Yesterday (27 July) was the yearly countdown to the London Olympics. There was plenty of publicity about this, with some of the venues being ‘showcased’. Whatever your views about the Olympics, there’s no doubt that a lot of people have aimed high in getting to this stage and for a lot of competitors, many goals and aims revolve around the competition next year. It takes commitment and effort to win!

It’s good to have goals. It’s good to aim for things – the old adage ‘if you aim for nothing, you’ll definitely hit it’ is, sadly, true. Our beliefs and world view will undoubtedly shape our goals and aspirations. Matt Redman captures this idea in his song ‘We Could Change The World’:
“Could we live like Your grace is stronger than all our faults and failures?
Could we live like Your love is deeper than our hearts could fathom?
Could we live like this?
Could we live like Your name is higher than every other power?
Could we live like Your ways are wiser than our understanding?
Could we live like this?”

When we live with a right view of God and then of ourselves, the possibilities are endless:
“Yes, our God is
All He says
All He says He is
Jesus, in Your name we could change the world
We stand in Your love
In Your power
All You say we are
Jesus, in Your name we could change the world.”

Let’s all continue to aspire to great things, for in His name, we could change the world.

For someone who loves words so much, sometimes I run out of words. Sometimes I just can’t articulate the yearning and longing in my heart. Jaded from the daily struggle with sin, wearied from seeing my own sinfulness, battered down by life’s labour, I wonder how to renew faith and live with hope. The ‘now and the not yet’ of life is hard to deal with at times. There’s ‘so much more to be revealed’, so much more that waits for the children of God, and yet all we see around us are suffering and pain.

It’s at times like that that I lean on others to provide the words I find so hard to articulate, when there is a sense of wonder in discovering that others really do capture your heart and can capture the truth of God’s Word in ways that break through the pain and sorrow of this world, providing hope and vision.

Children’s stories often end with the words ‘and they all lived happily ever after.’ As an adult, I often question that phrase. But the truth remains that God has promised not only a happy ending, but a victorious ending that fuels us in our daily struggles with sin. We need not only to look back in remembrance but to look forward with hope.

C.S. Lewis captures this sense of anticipation in his book ‘The Last Battle’:
‘It is as hard to explain how this sunlit land was different from the old Narnia as it would be to tell you how the fruits of that country taste. Perhaps you will get some idea of it if you think like this. You may have been in a room in which there was a window that looked out on a lovely bay of the sea or a green valley that wound away among mountains. And in the wall of that room opposite to the window there may have been a looking-glass. And as you turned away from the window you suddenly caught sight of that sea or that valley, all over again, in the looking glass. And the sea in the mirror, or the valley in the mirror, were in one sense just the same as the real ones: yet at the same time there were somehow different — deeper, more wonderful, more like places in a story: in a story you have never heard but very much want to know.

The difference between the old Narnia and the new Narnia was like that. The new one was a deeper country: every rock and flower and blade of grass looked as if it meant more. I can’t describe it any better than that: if ever you get there you will know what I mean.

It was the Unicorn who summed up what everyone was feeling. He stamped his right fore-hoof on the ground and neighed, and then he cried:

“I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that is sometimes looked a little like this. Bree-hee-hee! Come further up, come further in!” ‘

And Matt Redman expresses it beautifully in his song ‘Endless Hallelujah’, where he talks about ‘sowing the hope of eternity into people’s hearts’. That’s what we need on a daily basis, that sense of eternity even as we live in time…

When I stand before Your throne
Dressed in glory not my own
What a joy I’ll sing of on that day
No more tears or broken dreams
Forgotten is the minor key
Everything as it was meant to be

And we will worship
Worship
Forever in Your presence we will sing
We will worship
Worship You
An endless hallelujah to the King

I will see You as You are
Love You with unsinning heart
And see how much You paid to bring me home
Not ‘til then, Lord, shall I know
Not ‘til then how much I owe
Everything I am before Your throne

No more tears
No more shame
No more sin and sorrow
Ever known again
No more fears
No more pain
We will see You face to face
See You face to face
(‘Endless Hallelujah’, Matt Redman, Tim Wanstall, Chris Tomlin, Jonas Myrin)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0XIbaIdf_8

Communication is often one of the topics preachers focus on. Last night, I got an insight into a different kind of communication in a lesson on using an iPhone.

Yes, we really did have two men talking into their phones to communicate with each other when they were within normal talking distance… I’m not sure what this proves about communication, except:
1) you’re never too old to learn new things
2) men love gadgets
3) it’s not just women who love to talk…