I love mountains. Below is a picture of the Mer de Glace in Chamonix, part of the Mont Blanc range of mountains.

Mark preached from Hebrews 12 on Sunday night, looking at the differences between Mount Sinai (where Moses received the Ten Commandments) and Mount Zion, a type of the place of communion with God.

Mount Sinai was a place of thunder and lightning, of darkness, fire and terrifying visions of God’s holiness. Mount Zion is a type of the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Ps 125 talks about those who trust the Lord being like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken. Hebrews 12 talks about God shaking everything which can be shaken. Coming into God’s presence is not something to be taken lightly; we should not refuse Him who calls us, for our God is a consuming fire. Nonetheless, He calls us to come into His presence and to rest there. He wants us to approach Him, not content with being on the edges. Let’s draw near to God and be in awe and reverence at His holiness and majesty.

It was also time for another person to be on the birthday box!

Stephen preached this morning from Lamentations, a book that deals very honestly with a dark period in Israel’s history.

It is easy for us sometimes to think that the God of the Old Testament is different to the God of the New Testament, or perhaps to focus on God’s anger in the Old Testament and on His love in the New Testament. However, we need to acknowledge the immutability of God – He doesn’t change – and the steadfastness of His character – where love, strength, compassion, justice and wrath don’t mean inconstancy.

Jeremiah wrote Lamentations at a time when Israel had sinned greatly and things were not going well for them. Lamentations 1 chronicles the deserted city, the grieving and tearfulness of the people and the lack of comfort. There are times when things don’t go well for us. Not all churches are currently flourishing; the number of church buildings being used for other purposes these days reflect the hard times many congregations have faced.

Difficult times are made worse when we feel deserted or punished by God. (Lam 2:1-5) We are not exempt from life’s difficulties, but those difficulties seem even harder to bear when we don’t see God’s presence with us, when we feel that He has withdrawn His love, compassion and strength from us.

Jeremiah knows what it feels like to feel alone, calling himself a ‘man who has seen affliction by the rod of the LORD’s wrath. He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light; indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long.’ (Lam 3:1-3). Nonetheless, the lament is not without hope, for in Lam 3:24-26, Jeremiah, reminding himself of God’s purposes, says, ‘I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.’

Talking to ourselves is not a sign of insanity; it can often be the thing we need to do to put things into perspective! God restores us even in the midst of difficult times. God is true and just. Even when we are guided by His rod, even when we face His disciplining hand, He can change our lives around; moreoever, as Hebrews reminds us, He only disciplines us for our good.

Lamentations is honest about the dark times in ways that perhaps we don’t like to admit, but it is also a book with hope, for even in the darkness, God’s light shines and the darkness has not overcome it.

Romans 3:9-31 shows us clearly and forcefully, with numerous references to the Old Testament, that no one is righteous, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. The world’s situation is summed up effectively by Paul: people don’t do what is right, they don’t fear God, they don’t seek God, they don’t follow God, their ways and words are evil and they don’t do good. This may well be at odds with society’s view of mankind (which seems to be that people are essentially good and that sociological reasons are the problem we must face, working on the reasoning that if these sociological issues can be ‘fixed’, man’s problems will ergo be fixed also.) Paul refutes this view emphatically in these verses, ending with the famous declaration in verse 23 that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

The law’s purpose is given in verse 20: “no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.” All people, whether Old Testament saints or those living after Christ’s death and resurrection, are essentially saved in the same way: “But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” (Rom 3:21-11) It is hard for us, bound in time, to grasp the eternal plans of God, who does not inhabit time, but the fact remains (as Paul goes on to demonstrate in Romans 4, but that’s jumping the gun!) that God’s means for salvation are the same, whether for those who lived before Christ or those who lived after. We are judged righteous by faith in God, not by the good works we do.

This teaching cuts right across human thinking which works primarily on a cause and effect basis, believing that if we are good enough, if we obey the law, we will earn favour with God and will therefore be good enough to be saved. Paul teaches that even the Old Testament backs up the view that salvation is not through works alone, that faith has to be present, that we cannot ever hope to achieve righteousness by our own merits. “There is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.” (Rom 3:30) It is that amazing truth which is the bedrock of our hope and which should fuel our service and way of life.

Tony Brown preached last night on Philippians, looking at ways in which we may live pure and blameless lives (Phil 1:10).

Purity is not about sinless perfection, as John makes clear in 1 John 1:8. Rather, the pure in heart will see God (Matt 5:8); purity here refers to complete sincerity, a heart that is not distracted from God, a heart that has no conflict of loyalties, no mixed motives. Being blameless involves obedience to God, having Him at the centre of our lives and relationships, keeping a hold of His Word so that we have knowledge and insight as well as passion to guide us into all truth.

Philippians 2 talks about us imitating Christ, being one in spirit and purpose. The unity of the church is meant to reflect the unity of the Godhead. The three persons of the Godhead may have different roles (the Father is the friend who made us, the Son the friend who saved us, the Spirit the friend who guides us) but they are one. In the same way, the church is made up of different people but in unity of purpose, we can be one. This involves not doing things out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but learning to serve each other and encourage each other.

One way in which we move towards the pure and blameless life which God intends is to have nothing to do with complaining, arguing and grumbling (Phil 2:14). The Israelites were characterised in the wilderness by their complaining spirit and this led them into disobedience. Such a negative spirit leads to doubt and depression, whereas being positive – despite our circumstances or feelings – is a sign of faith. Jesus is our example, as always, in this. Even when He was being crucified, He thought of others – praying for the repentant thief, praying for forgiveness for his enemies – rather than complaining about the difficulties He was facing.

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky.” (Phil 2:12-15)

Here, we see that who we are in private, behind closed doors, is what really counts. When no one else is watching us, God is. He wants us to be pure and blameless so that we shine like stars. We have a high priest in Jesus who is Himself blameless and pure (Heb 7:26) and we can be confident that He will give us strength and will help us in everything we do (Phil 4:13)

There are times when God’s presence seems especially close and this morning was one of those occasions. Times when His greatness and mercy overwhelm us. Times when all we can do is bow down in His presence because we realise how small we are in comparison and yet we are so grateful that we can be in the presence of a holy God at all.

Dave preached from Luke 11:1-13, a sermon about prayer that really looked at the importance of spending time with God, about the value of relationship over set words. Even though this passage contains the Lord’s prayer, it’s not that we can ever view prayer as a set formula, a series of words to be repeated without feeling or understanding, a magic incantation. Jesus taught His disciples how to pray primarily by focussing on the need for relationship.

Our feelings and thoughts can often get in the way of our prayers, however. Dave highlighted some of the problems we face:

1) We think we are not good enough to talk to God. Well, obviously in our own strength, we are not good enough. But Jesus’s sacrifice makes it possible for us to talk to God. God is seeking after the return of His children. He wants us to talk to Him.
2) We think God is too busy with other things to have time for us. This view may well be based on a respect for God, but reflects, nonetheless, a limited view of God. God is far bigger than we imagine – He can cope with so much more than we can and is not overwhelmed by the number of His children praying! There is nothing too big or too small to talk to God about.
3) We may feel it is wrong to ask God for things. We may feel that we are being selfish if we pray for ourselves and our own needs, but Jesus prayed for Himself and in this passage teaches us to pray for our own daily needs, for forgiveness, for help in overcoming temptation, for all that we need to live.
4) We often think that persistence in prayer reflects a lack of faith: “once should be enough.” God, however, encourages persistence in prayer and asks us to pray on an ongoing basis. Think of Jacob, wrestling with God all night until He had received His blessing. Prayer is not for the faint-hearted!
5) We don’t pray at times because we don’t know how to pray: “I might ask for the wrong thing.” We often feel confused and frightened by situations, unsure how to pray, uncertain what God wants us to pray for. In those times, the Holy Spirit helps us to pray (Romans 8) – sometimes, we don’t even need words. It’s not the words we use in themselves that matter; it’s the relationship we have with God and our heart attitudes that count.

Ultimately, what matters most is not the formal words we use in prayer, not the length of prayer we pray, not the outward signs at all, but the ongoing relationship we have with God, the desire we have to be in His presence and the time we spend with Him, seeking His face, enjoying His company, desiring to be with Him, even as Mary was commended in Luke 10 for spending quality time at Jesus’s feet. May we learn to do the same with God:

“To be in Your presence
To sit at Your feet,
Where Your love surrounds me,
And makes me complete.

This is my desire, O Lord,
This is my desire.
This is my desire, O Lord,
This is my desire.

To rest in Your presence,
Not rushing away;
To cherish each moment,
Here I would stay.”
(Noel Richards, (c) 1991 ThankYou Music)

I’m in training! I am taking part in the national Swimathon for charity (raising funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care) on 10th April (http://www.swimathon.org/) and will be swimming 5 kilometres (a staggering 200 lengths… if you don’t think that’s staggering, you are obviously a better swimmer than I am!!)

Why am I doing this? Well, swimming is something that is part of my everyday life, probably the only form of exercise I even remotely like (and that’s debatable at times!) Since I swim so often, it seemed natural that if I ever did do a sponsored sporting event, swimming would be the sport I’d choose.

Since I am swimming regularly anyway, having a goal to swim for also seemed like a good idea. Marie Curie provide nursing at home for those suffering from terminal cancer and I would like to be able to provide something towards that care. I would be swimming whether or not I had sponsors; hopefully, by swimming, I can contribute something positive to those who need help.

Having a goal in life is also important. I have been swimming regularly for 4 years now and it’s easy to become stale. I have gradually increased the distances I swim, since I’ve never been interested in (or remotely good at) speed. I can remember the feeling of first reaching the kilometre goal… then getting to a mile… then getting to 2 kilometres… then 2.5 kilometres and so on. I wouldn’t say I’m particularly ambitious or competitive, but there is something good about going further than you’ve gone before… about achieving more than you first thought you could.

Last autumn I was teaching sports vocabulary to 10 year olds and was staggered to find out one of my pupils could swim 2 miles (130 lengths). That spurred me on, and just before Christmas I managed that goal. Now I am fixing my eyes on 5km as a new goal and have until April to achieve it. I’m at 160 lengths so far, and keep adding lengths each Saturday…

The Bible doesn’t have much to say about swimming, but it does talk about running a lot! In a section headed ‘the need for self-discipline’ in the NIV, we read:
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” (1 Cor 9:24-27)

I’m swimming to raise money for a good cause (and if I raise enough money, I win a T-shirt!!), but mainly for my health’s sake and to keep fit – after all, my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, so I can’t abuse it. But we are all in the race of life and are running to get a crown that will last forever. May we all be in strict training and run (live) in such a way as to please the Lord.