Stephen talked tonight about how we know when a job is well done. Do we define that as something difficult we did not want to do but can look back on with satisfaction when we have completed it? Or is a job well done something we have taken pleasure in? Do we feel that our belief in Christ constitutes a ‘job well done’ or are we are aware of the ongoing nature of this life in Him?

Acts 3:19 shows us the importance of repentance in our life with Christ. Repentance – turning back to God – is the start of our spiritual journey, but it’s easy to then sit back and rest on our laurels, thinking that once our sins are wiped out, there’s nothing more to be done. Repentance is not just a one-off event, however; it is an ongoing process. Luke 17:1-4 reminds us also of the key place that forgiveness places in our journey: we need to receive God’s forgiveness and then forgive others freely.

The fact that repentance is ongoing is seen through Jesus’ words to the church in Rev 3:3. We have to continually hold on to God, understanding that reluctant obedience is better ultimately than compliant disobedience (see Matt 21:28-31). God knows our hearts, so that nothing is hidden from His sight. We may think we can fool people as to how spiritual we are, but God sees everything and knows our thoughts and motivation.

Ultimately, we are all works in progress. This ‘work’, this job, will not be completed until God calls us home, but as we stand firm in Christ, offering our lives to Him as living sacrifices (Rom 12:1-2), we look forward to the completion of this work by God Himself (see Phil 1:6).

We had a birthday to celebrate this morning at Cherry Tree Court:

In the words of Max Bygraves, Garry wanted to tell us a story this morning! The story (found in Luke 15:11-31) shows us the difficulties in a father-son relationship. Sometimes younger sons find it hard to find their place in a family, perhaps always feeling compared to the older children; this son wanted to spend his inheritance even before his father had died! The father agreed to this request – which was at best thoughtless and rude, and in some ways was positively disrespectful and insulting – because of his powerful love for his son, understanding that love cannot be forced.

The son didn’t take long to spend the money; it’s alarming how quickly those who win lots of money can lose vast amounts! He ended up far from home, doing an awful job and being hungry and sorrowful. Only then did he consider how much he had left behind, and so he resolved to go back home – not as a son (for he had squandered that relationship), but hoping for work as a servant.

Turning back (repentance) always seems a risk to us, for we worry about the reception we will receive – will we get a long lecture? Dare we run the risk of rejection? The son was amazed to be welcomed back by his father, not grudgingly or with strings attached, but lavishly and with unstinting generosity. God gives us life in the first place as a father (see Job 33:4, Acts 17:4); we have all gone astray like sheep but are welcomed back into the family of God. We expect hard-heartedness, judgment, condemnation and rebuke; instead, we find grace, mercy, love and forgiveness. We may well return with fear and trembling, hesitating and in trepidation, but God’s love is overwhelming. We find we are greeted in a warm embrace and given a celebratory party. Let’s join the celebrations!

Dearne Stay Fit is a gentle exercise class held at GPCC on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. until 11 a.m. Following that (11 a.m. until 12 noon), the Be Well group in Barnsley runs a ‘Choose To Lose’ class to encourage people to lose weight and eat healthily. There will be no meeting for this group on 16th and 30th August, but the Stay Fit class will be on every week.

As part of the Be Well Barnsley campaign, there is a Guiness Book of Records attempt in Locke Park, Barnsley, this afternoon!

This Wednesday (17th August) will see the ‘Bounce Into Summer’ event organised by the Goldthorpe Development Group on the Welfare Field on Furlong Road from 12 noon until 4 p.m. Lots of fun for all the family!

On Tuesday 23rd August Mistatwister is coming to Goldthorpe Library, so if you have young children, you might want to book in for this event!

There are some great events going on throughout the Barnsley area and a special mention (and thanks) must go to all those who were involved in tidying and painting the Phoenix Park underpass (which links Goldthorpe and Thurnscoe). Painting the mural to brighten up the underpass will continue all this week (15-19 August), so if you have time to spare, why not go along to help out? More details can be found here.

I’m in the midst of decorating and DIY again, jobs I loathe with a passion (but since I cannot afford others to do these things, they are jobs that must be done.) It never ceases to amaze me how much I can spend at DIY shops and how little I seem to have to show for such spending: paint that is soon used up and the tins thrown away, wood or plastic which seem to cost far more than the things for which they’re used, and so on.

Once more, I am relieved to remember that “in the Christian life, nothing, nothing at all, can be purchased at the do-it-yourself shop.” (Harry Blamires). Grace is a free gift. I don’t have to trawl the aisles at B & Q, wondering what exactly what I need is called and where it will be situated. Salvation is not found in an aisle at B & Q; grace is not found on any website for online purchase. Eternal life isn’t something I have to put together like flat-pack furniture; peace and rest aren’t things I have to cut to size. God is able to make all grace abound to me (see Rom 5:20), and that’s not just a one-off situation! (see James 4:6)

We often seem to approach life rather like we approach DIY, doing our best with imperfect tools (I still don’t see why paint tins are so difficult to open) and ‘bodging’ it when we run out of materials at crucial moments.

That’s not the way God wants us to live. Instead, Paul reminds us that ‘God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.’ (2 Cor 9:8) We’re urged to talk with God about our everyday needs (Matt 6:9-13) and trust our heavenly Father to provide for every situation. It’s a relief to know that in the situations which really matter, I’m not on my own.

One thing I love about reading through the Bible in one year, about the discipline of reading through each part methodically, is that it forces me to read the parts of the Bible I would otherwise be tempted to shun. All of us like some parts of the Bible more than others, but regular reading ensures we do not feast on favourites and seek instead a balanced diet.

Today I’ve reached the book of Ecclesiastes, a book of pessimism which, as a pessimist, I would rather avoid (I don’t need other people’s pessimism: I have enough of my own!) Ecclesiastes, one of the ‘Wisdom writings’, talks of the futility of life without God: ‘everything is meaningless’ (Eccl 1:2). I had enough of existential French writers at university to last a lifetime: what’s the point of dwelling on this?!

Life ‘under the sun’ (a phrase mentioned 28 times in the book) is often frustrating, boring, confusing and painful. Eugene Peterson calls the book ‘a John the Baptist kind of book. It functions not as a meal, but as a bath. It is not nourishment; it is cleansing. It is repentance. It is purging.’ (‘Five Smooth Pastoral Stones,’ P 155)

We are conditioned, I think, to look for the positive and to ‘chase after the wind’. (Eccl 1:17) But we live in a post-Eden world, a world which is ‘not like it was before’. (‘Ever After’, Aaron Shust) Ecclesiastes is a sharp reminder of the fallen nature of the world, where intellectualism, hedonism and materialism are exposed as lacking. Ecclesiastes scrubs us clean from illusion and sentiment; it is ‘an exposé and rejection of every pretentious and presumptuous expectation aimed at God.’ (ibid., P 155/6) It reminds us that life without God can never satisfy us long-term; the ‘yes of the gospel is not spoken under the pretence that sin is not as bad as it appears to be nor while avoiding pain nor while sidestepping suffering.’ (ibid., P 160)

Ultimately, all the negativity, pessimism and despair of Ecclesiastes has to be read ‘in the context of God’s affirmation.’ (ibid., P 165) Meaning is found, Nicky Gumbel reminds us, not ‘under the sun’, but in the Son – life in the Son indeed.