Acts 4:1-22 tells the story of the repercussions which Peter and John faced following the healing of the crippled man at the gates of the temple. The response of the crowds to this miraculous healing was positive and favourable; another two thousand men believed as a result of this miracle and Peter’s preaching (Acts 4:4). Unfortunately, the response of the religious ruling classes (the priests, captain of the temple guard, Sadducees and Sanhedrin) was not as favourable. They were greatly disturbed by the idea of lay people (‘non-professionals’) teaching in the temple courts, especially since they were ‘proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.’ (Acts 4:2) The Sadducees in particular did not believe in the resurrection (see Matt 22:23-33) and thus they saw ‘the apostles as both agitators and heretics, both disturbers of the peace and enemies of the truth.’ (John Stott)

It is a sobering fact that opposition to the Christian message often comes from within the church as much as from without, that religious rulers can be the greatest barrier to change. Jesus reserved his most scathing rebukes for the religious rulers (see Matt 23:13-39, Matt 16:1-6). He faced great opposition from religious leaders (see John 8:58-59, John 10:31-33) and indeed, it was this opposition which had led to his trial and execution (Matt 26:57-66). The popular people loved Jesus and he was often attacked because he ate with tax collectors and sinners. (Luke 15:1)

Why should this be so? These people were those who knew the law, who studied the law, who were trained in God’s ways. Why should they be so hostile to the Son of God and to his followers?

It’s a frightening fact that religion is not the same as a relationship with God. The dictionary defines religion as ‘the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods’, but so often, this becomes a ‘particular system of faith and worship’, where forms and rituals hold more sway than listening to God and responding to Him. It’s very easy for ‘religious’ people to become self-righteous and to place more weight on rituals than on relationships. Jesus reminded the Pharisees that they needed to understand mercy not sacrifice (see Matt 12:1-14), something that is always at the heart of our walk with God.

The religious rulers thought they were obeying God by opposing the apostles, and we see this most clearly in the person of Saul of Tarsus, who would go from house to house, searching for Christians to imprison (Acts 8:1-2), before being confronted by Jesus on the road to Damascus. (Acts 9:1-19) We need to be on our guard constantly against hypocrisy, pride, self-righteousness and inflexible rigidity, because these are the characteristics which led the religious rulers to oppose the truth of the gospel.

Peter’s challenge to the opposition was that they were opposing an act of kindness shown to a lame man, something they grudgingly had to accept (Acts 4:9, 16). It’s very easy for us reading this account to identify with the lame man or the apostles or even the admiring crowd, but the fact remains that much opposition to the gospel comes from within churches. When we resist change because we can’t handle it, oppose new things because they disturb the status quo, look down on people because we think they’re not ‘nice’ enough to be saved, we are acting more like the Pharisees and Sadducees than followers of Jesus. We need sensitivity to the Holy Spirit to the wind of change He breathes on us and an ability to bend with Him as we seek to preach the gospel to a world desperately in need of the power and presence of God – not the empty form of religion (see 2 Tim 3:5).

I’ve been continuing to take mosaic workshops this week with a kids’ club in Thurnscoe and in two primary schools. As always, making a mosaic is a messy process. The grout seems to get everywhere and even at the end of a session, the finished product is in desperate need of cleaning and polishing. We’ve also done collage mosaics this week, and those have involved lots of bits of material which seem to get everywhere!

Despite the mess, every mosaic we do acts as a parable of life to me. Life so often looks to us messy and it’s hard to see the picture! We don’t always understand what God is doing or see how His plans can be worked out in the chaos and mess of illness, bereavement, unhappiness and misery. Yet God promises us His plans are to prosper us (Jer 29:11) and that He is working for our good in all situations (Rom 8:28). I have every confidence that our artist and designer, Ruth Waterworth, will be able to polish up our mosaics and turn them into something beautiful to behold when we get to the arts’ festival on 28th September. We need the same confidence in our heavenly Father’s ability to turn the mess of our lives into something beautiful in its time.

Dearne Kids

Carrfield Primary School

Sacred Heart Primary School

If you want to be involved in the ‘Churches Together’ mosaic, we’ll be doing this at the Salvation Army on Friday 21st June at 11.30 a.m. All welcome; no previous experience necessary.

Sometimes when I’m typing quickly, letters are transposed. This often renders a word unintelligible (e.g. hte), which the spellchecker instantly picks up. Sometimes, however, transposition of certain letters creates a valid word which is not what is meant in those circumstances.’Goal’ and ‘gaol‘ is one such example.

A goal is often a laudable ambition, something to aim for in life. We all need goals; they give purpose to our lives. An aimless, purposeless life will leave us frustrated and drifting.

A gaol is the old-fashioned spelling for a place of imprisonment (the more usual spelling these days is ‘jail’.) This is hardly something sensible people should aspire to. Yet if we are not careful, our goals can very easily become gaols. We can become prisoners of our own success as much as of our failures, allowing our aims and ambitions to become things which drive us beyond that which is healthy or prudent.

Oxford castle & gaol

Paul warned us that Christ died to set us free, but that we should not let anyone put a harness (or yoke) of slavery back on us. (Gal 5:1) Every time we become driven people, motivated by pride or envy or fear or anxiety, we are living in the gaol of our old lives instead of in the freedom Christ purchased for us.

May our goal always be to please God and to live a life of love, a life controlled by His Spirit and not to live imprisoned in our old ways of living (see Gal 5.) Freedom means pursuing right aims and goals, chiefly to follow the way of life where we seek to please God and serve Him through that life of love.

What’s your goal today?

What has become your gaol?

Christ holds the keys to set us free from all gaols and opens the door to freedom in Him.

Yan’s words about attitudes reminded me of our visit to Ramsey Elim Community Church last week while we were on holiday. Part of the service involved a prayer walk around the town, stopping at different locations to pray for various needs. Unfamiliar with the area, we were pleased to be in a group which visited a local park and children’s play area!

As we talked and prayed, I felt drawn to two parts of the park. One looked like a well with a vane on top of it. The well was actually a shelter for young people, but its form reminded me of all we have been learning about the water of life and the vane reminded me of God’s promises to bring people to us from the east, west, north and south. (Is 43:5-6)

The other item of play equipment which seemed to me to be profoundly prophetic was an obstacle course:

Children loved this obstacle course and approached it with enthusiasm and vigour. As an adult, I looked at it with very different eyes, seeing challenges and obstacles which looked daunting and induced fear. There, in a nutshell, was the challenge before each one of us. Do we view life as an obstacle course, with insurmountable hurdles and challenges which will always defeat us? Or do we view life as a series of opportunities placed before us by a God who knows us and loves us?

In reminding us of the need to change our attitudes towards God, ourselves and our circumstances, Yan essentially challenged us to understand that the obstacles we face – like Paul’s ‘thorn in the flesh’ – are actually opportunities for growth. Our attitude really does determine our altitude. I want to soar on eagles’ wings with God. I want to thrive on the opportunities God gives, even if they come clothed in the garb of obstacles. I want to be like those children who were as eager to complete this obstacle course as they were to climb up slides or enjoy the swings in the park. We can do this because God’s grace is indeed sufficient for us.

Yan’s third point in his sermon ‘Weakness Is Our Greatest Strength’ asked the question ‘How do we turn our weakness into strength?‘ We do this as we live by spiritual principles rather than rational understanding. In order to see weakness turned to strength, we must:

1. realise the need of spiritual awakening in our lives, churches and country. Isaiah 52:1 urges Zion to ‘awake!’ and to ‘clothe yourself with strength’. Apathy and indifference must be banished; distraction must be put aside.

2. recognise the need to change our attitudes. Our attitudes determine our altitude. We are actually seated with Christ in heavenly places (Eph 2:6), but so often we live with our eyes to the ground, shuffling along (see Col 3:1-2, The Message). We need to reject unbelief and low expectations and develop ‘great expectations‘ instead! We have to examine our attitudes to God (Eph 3:20 reminds us that God can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine), to ourselves (Joel 3:10 reminds us that the weak can say ‘I am strong’; we need to understand what God says about us instead of wallowing in self-pity or low self-esteem) and to our circumstances (rejecting grumbling and complaining in favour of thankfulness, as 1 Thess 5:18 urges.)

3. re-establish the importance of God having first place in our lives. Jesus taught us to seek the kingdom of God above everything else (Matt 6:33) and we need to consider what is our ‘one thing’ or prime motivator (see Ps 27:4). Ps 84:5-7 reminds us that even when we are in the valley of Baka, pools and springs can arise.

God gives power to the weak and enables strength to come as we wait on Him. (Is 40:29-31). Instead of being defeated and discouraged, we can be encouraged as we take to heart God’s call to awake and clothe ourselves with God’s strength, not ours.

Yan Hadley’s provocative title ‘Weakness is our greatest strength’ cuts across our preconceived ideas of success. God’s word frequently speaks of paradoxes, however: how we must lose our lives in order to gain them, how the first will be last and so on. In 2 Cor 12:7-10, Paul identifies another of these paradoxes, how weakness can be our greatest strength. We can only really understand this as we appreciate God’s thoughts and ways are so vastly different to ours (Is 55:8), something best revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, who was born in a lowly stable in a small town in a relatively insignificant country and who ultimately achieved our salvation through the unlikely means of dying on a cross.

So often, we view ourselves as insignificant or unworthy, but God calls those who may well seem to have little going for them (1 Cor 1:26) in order that He may get the glory! We should not despise the little things; Terry Waite (envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury who was kidnapped and imprisoned for five years in the Middle East) spoke of how a postcard sent from a lady in Bedford encouraged his faith while he was in captivity. God’s power is made perfect in weakness. (2 Cor 12:9)

What Do We Mean By Weakness?

Here, we are not talking of sin or lack of self-control or weaknesses which are harmful, but rather of an awareness of human frailty which leaves us dependent on God. Instead of seeing our weaknesses as obstacles or barriers, we see that God is able to turn these into opportunities (as Jesus did with the meagre lunch offering of that boy!) Many examples of human frailty abound (e.g. Kathryn Kuhlman, used greatly by God in miraculous healings, declared God could use her because she had nothing; Gladys Aylward was rejected by every missionary society yet still went to China and saw God move in power there; Smith Wigglesworth was an uneducated plumber used powerfully by God, as was William Seymour, a key figure in the Azusa Street revival which saw the beginnings of the Pentecostal movement in the 20th century.) The truth is that when we are weak, we can be strong in God’s strength.

Why Is Weakness Our Greatest Strength?

Weakness is our greatest strength if it allows us to cultivate our dependence on God. Apart from Him, we can do nothing (Jn 15:5). Paul was overwhelmed by weakness at times, but this developed his trust in God (see 2 Cor 1:8-9). As a result of weakness, our prayer lives are developed and we learn to live by God’s wrod (Matt 4:4). Weakness develops our faith muscles as we become desperate enough to seek God (like Bartimeaus, Hannah and the woman who suffered from constant bleeding for years.) Ultimately, weakness is our greatrest strength because then God gets all the glory (1 Cor 1:29)

Weakness is our greatest strength also because it keps us from exalting ourselves; it is God’s practical aid to humility! (2 Cor 12:7) God used Moses with just a stick and a stammer; David defeated Goliath with a sling and some pebbles. Gideon’s army was whittled down from 32,000 to 300… all so that God could ensure that victory was attributed to no one else but Himself!