Have you ever re-visited somewhere you went as a child and looked at it with an adult’s perspective? Thought ‘this doesn’t seem as big as I remember it’. Or ‘that person doesn’t seem as tall as I remember them?’ All that has really happened is that your perspective has changed. The person or room or place may not have changed at all, but you have. In the intervening years, you’ve grown and so things look different.

Last night we resumed our Bible studies in Romans 8, looking particularly at verse 18:
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

The topic of suffering is one that has occupied minds for centuries, with countless books written on the topic. It will always remain a mystery. We don’t fully understand why God allowed sin into the world; we don’t understand how He can bring good from situations which are so awful; we stand silent as we see suffering all around us, and especially suffering that is a direct result of an allegiance to Christ. We remember Christ’s words “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:20) and we try to fathom Paul’s teaching about ‘sharing in Christ’s sufferings’ (Rom 8:17, Phil 3:10), but so often, we are left confused, dazed and hurt from suffering.

Paul does not attempt to explain suffering. He does, however, tell us that our present suffering is not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us (see also 2 Cor 4:17-18). He does assure us that God is able to bring good from every single thing that happens to us in our lives (Rom 8:28). He assures us that God has a great purpose for our lives – making us into the image of His Son (Rom 8:29) – and that the future is far greater than our finite minds can imagine.

It’s all a question of perspective. It’s the 1p compared to £20 analogy again. It’s like trying to imagine what we would do if we actually won the Lottery (difficult to imagine when you don’t even play it!) Paul talks about hope a lot in this passage and basically there is always that sense of ‘not yet’ with hope: “For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” (Rom 8:24-25)

We need an adult’s perspective on suffering. We don’t need to feel overwhelmed by it, like the child in the room that seems so big. Instead, we need to understand that in the grand scheme of God’s plans, our suffering will one day fade into insignificance and we will fall in awe and wonder before our Lord and Saviour. As Jeremy Camp sings, “And the beauty that’s in store outweighs the hurts of life’s stings” (‘There Will Be A Day’).

In the light of this, let’s hold on and keep our perspective, looking to Jesus who for the joy that was before Him endured the cross (Heb 12:2).

The Psalms are realistically honest prayers, sharing people’s experiences and showing us how to integrate God into every aspect of our lives. Dave looked at Psalm 73 last night, which details Asaph’s struggles and how he came through a time of great despair.

The psalms begins with a declaration of triumphant truth: “Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.” (Ps 73:1) God never varies. He is good and His love endures for ever. But Asaph has been in a place where he doubted that truth. He was living a godly life, avoiding sin, meditating upon the things of God and spending his time in prayer. Yet he was plagued and afflicted (vs 14), troubled because as he looked around at those who were ungodly, he saw them living a carefree, easy life. In verses 4-12, he gives a description of their arrogance, violence, disregard for God and disregard for righteousness. In comparison, his life seems full of trouble and woe.

This has been a problem faced by God’s people throughout the ages. The ways God deals with people, the question of fairness, the apparent inconsistency of God can baffle us at times. We need to understand that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts; His ways are not our ways (Is 55:8-9). The ways of the Lord are inscrutable (Romans 11:33); His mind is infinite and eternal; His purposes are so great that they are beyond our understanding.

Being puzzled is not sinful. It can lead to sin, for temptation is always crouching at our door, but how we deal with our puzzlement is crucial to our spiritual walk. We should not underestimate the power of the devil, but we should also look at Jesus overcame temptation. The key to overcoming temptation is found in the truth declared in the first two verses of the psalm. We need to stand on the truth and be sure of that when we are faced with other things that we do not understand. Even Jesus, at Gethsemane, wrestled with God’s ways and wanted an alternative scenario, but He submitted to God’s will and so must we, so that we make the Sovereign Lord our refuge and tell of His deeds to others.

We also had another birthday to celebrate:

Mark preached from James 1:12-25 this morning, looking at three sections:

(1) James 1: 12-18
Everyone faces temptation in their lives and sometimes we give in to it. It’s important to recognise that God does not tempt us, as v13-14 make clear. We are tempted by our own sinful natures and by the enemy and can either give in to it (which leads to sin and ultimately death) or resist. The enemy seeks to deceive us and it’s important also that we recognise that our own desires are not necessarily God’s desires for our lives. God is the source of every good thing (v17) and can be trusted to give us the good things we require (which may not be the same as saying He gives us everything we want!) God chose us and shapes our lives.

(2) James 1:19-21
Mark summarised these verses by telling us “Shut up and listen! Don’t get angry!” Sometimes we spend so much time talking (even to God) that we don’t leave any time to listen for His voice. Sometimes we respond to others and to God with anger. We need to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. Waiting before God is the way that we can fulfil this command.

(3) James 1:22-25
We need to receive God’s word with meekness and then do something about what we hear. The NKJV talks about the ‘implanted word’. God’s word is faithful to minister to us, but again, we need to be listening and then we need to acknowledge that we have to do something about what we hear. Sometimes that is a word which will require immediate action from us; at other times, it’s a more gradual process, but if we fail to act on what we hear, we are like a man who looks in a mirror, moves away and then forgets what he looks like. The promise of these verses is that if we hear God’s word and do it, we will be blessed by God.

God is a listening and a doing God. We, therefore, if we are to be imitators of God, have to be a listening and a doing people.

Except for God (who is without beginning or end), everyone has a birthday. We might all have different ideas of what the best age is or debate what ‘age’ we think we might have in heaven, but birthdays are common experiences to us all and the date of our births is recorded in all manner of official documents (passports, driving licences, on job applications and in NHS documents, to name but a few.)

Mark preached not so much on the importance of our earthly birthdays, however, but on the importance of us all having a second birthday which will determine whether we have everlasting life with God or not. John 3:1-7 is the famous passage where Jesus talks to Nicodemus about being born not only of water (which represents our natural birth) but also of the Spirit (which represents our spiritual birth). Nicodemus struggled to understand this teaching, but Jesus explained that the Holy Spirit must be involved in new spiritual birth and that without being born again, no one will enter the kingdom of God.

Our second birth is even more important than our first, for here we receive God’s gift of eternal life. For some, that birth was gradual and a specific date can’t be remembered. For others, the date is vividly edged on our memories as we recall when we finally surrendered to Jesus (for me, that second birthday was 27th October 1983, and I remember that ordinary Thursday afternoon when I asked Jesus to be my Lord and Saviour with immense gratitude and joy all these years later.) We may have very little to do with our first birth, but our second birth only comes as we receive God’s gift of life by faith and accept Christ as our Saviour; we are active participants with God in this birth!

Do you have a second birthday to celebrate? If not, today could be the date you will always remember: 12th June 2011. Mark it well, for there are those who will enter the kingdom of God on this date, thanks to His amazing grace!

The family service tonight took as its theme ‘Birthdays’ and the quiz asked us to match up a set of birthdays to famous people who were pictured. How would you do? Do you know when these people were born?
(1) Joan of Arc

(2) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

(3) Galileo Galilei

(4) Alexander Graham Bell

(5) Albert Einstein

(6) Johnny Depp

(7) Angelina Jolie

(8) Tom Cruise

(9) Kylie Minogue

(10) Eden Taylor-Draper

Answers below:
(1) Joan of Arc, born 6th January 1412
(2) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born 27th January 1756
(3) Galileo Galilei, born 15th February 1564
(4) Alexander Graham Bell, born 3rd March 1847
(5) Albert Einstein, born 14th March 1879
(6) Johnny Depp, born 9th June 1963
(7) Angelina Jolie, born 4th June 1975
(8) Tom Cruise, born 3rd July 1962
(9) Kylie Minogue, born 28th May 1968
(10) Eden Taylor-Draper, born 27th October 1997

Another tough quiz from Tony Burgin!

Stephen preached from Psalm 31:14-15 this morning, timely verses for us all.

But I trust in You, O Lord.
Where do we put our trust? It’s so easy to trust in things (relying on the alarm clock to get us up, relying on that cup of tea to get us going in the morning, needing that shower to get us clean…) and even to trust in our own righteousness and ability to get us through each day (as the Pharisee did in Luke 18:9-14). Nonetheless, we need to trust daily in the Lord.

You are my God
The psalmist declares this truth and we must too. Only God is constant and certain. He is our Father. This relationship needs to be personal.

My times are in Your hands
This was not just true for David, but is also true for each one of us. We can rest in the security of knowing that our times are in God’s hands: He has a timetable for each one of us and that includes good plans (Jer 29:11).

Deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me
As in the Lord’s Prayer, where we ask God to deliver us from evil and not to lead us into temptation, so we acknowledge that life is not always easy but understand that the Lord is the only One who is able to deliver us.