January is a month for new beginnings and in true ‘Sound of Music’ style, we began tonight’s sermon starting at the very beginning, singing ‘Do Re Mi’! Our new sermon series is on ‘The A-Z of Christian Faith’, looking at essential ingredients of our faith. The beginning is always a good place to start and God is, after all, the Beginning of everything; He is ‘the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.’ (Rev 22:13) God actually has no beginning; He always was, always is and always will be (as Aaron Shust’s song ‘Always Will Be’ says!) Ps 90:2 says ‘Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God’, and although it’s difficult for us to conceive of God having no beginning or ending, His eternal nature is just one aspect that makes Him wholly different to us! God is eternal; He exists outside of time, and the Bible simply tells us that at the beginning of time, there God was, creating: ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’ (Gen 1:1) ‘In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.’ (Ps 102:25) 

We may not be able to fully understand this truth, but it’s a crucial one to grasp, because it’s fundamental to our understanding that God is far above mankind; He is transcendent; He is completely different to us in so many respects. The fact of the eternal nature of God means He is unrestricted by time; He does not face the restrictions of time or place that affect us and constrain us in so many ways.To Moses, He revealed Himself as ‘I AM’, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (see Ex 3:11-15), and we see, as Job did, that ‘the number of His years is unsearchable’ (Job 36:26)

If we’re to start at the very beginning, we will always encounter God; Jesus is described as the ‘author and finisher’, the ‘pioneer and perfecter’ of our faith (see Heb 12:1-2). He is also the One who will bring all things to completion (see Phil 1:6). Jesus really is both the A and the Z of our faith!

Armed with a ‘Relentless’ energy drink (such as he uses to keep alert during the long night-drive to Cornwall) as a visual aid, Stephen spoke this morning on the subject of perseverance from James 1:2-12.

Life can be tough at times and is not all plain sailing, but James urges us to ‘consider it pure joy’ whenever we face trials and difficulties. When something comes against us, our response needs to be to choose joy, rather than simply grumble or complain or lose hope. We must not let anger, frustration or pain govern our response to trials and temptations. Instead, we must respond with the joy of the Lord which becomes our strength.

Faith is like an energy drink; it becomes the means of sustenance through difficulties and feeds us, allowing us to persevere through these. As we learn to ask God for what we need (including wisdom during those times when we don’t know what to do), He supplies all we need; the alternative is to give up, which means we lose direction and focus and stability and joy will disappear.

God wants our daily lives to reflect His glory. Trials and temptations are inevitable, but joy and thankfulness are the way to deal with them. Our reward for perseverance, James tells us, is a crown of life (Js 1:12), therefore we need to be ‘joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer.’ (Rom 12:12) Heb 12:2-3 reminds us to fix our eyes on Jesus, who Himself knew joy even as He faced the trials of the cross, because He could see God’s eternal purposes being worked out.

Prayer is warfare. Paul makes this explicitly clear in Eph 6:10-20, but so often, we pray halfheartedly, not fully realising the power of prayer. A recent film from America called ‘War Room’ shows very clearly that prayer is a battle. The film focuses on the problems faced by one couple who, despite apparently having all they could wish for, are in a marriage which has become more like a war zone than a place of harmony and love. It takes the wisdom of an older prayer warrior, Miss Clara, to reveal to them the transformative power of prayer.

As we continue to pray for salvation to come, longing for Acts 2:47 to be repeated in our day (‘And the Lord added daily to their number those who were being saved’), let’s understand that our intercession for people to be saved is crucial and cannot be done halfheartedly or with no commitment. We are called to be like Solomon’s mighty warriors, ‘experienced in battle, each with our sword at our sides, prepared for the terrors of the night.’ (Song of Songs 3:7-8) We are called to pray for the Holy Spirit to convict people of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8), to open blind eyes (2 Cor 4:4-6), to confirm the proclamation of the Gospel with signs and wonders. (Rom 15:18-19) We are called to pray using the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, to pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests, to be alert and keep on praying for all God’s people so that there can be a fearless proclamation of the Gospel in our country. (Eph 6:18-19).

Let’s pray this month especially for:

• the outreach ministries our church is involved in to yield spiritual fruit (Monday night youth group, Friday morning Parent & Toddler group, Friday night badminton, Saturday coffee morning)
• opportunities to share the gospel with people who come to these outreaches and with people who hire the building (Slimming World, autism group, Dearne Stay Fit and other occasional hire)
• people to ‘cross the corridor’ from the community hall to the worship room, to come to meetings on Sundays and be saved
• opportunities to ‘gossip the Gospel’ with our family, friends, neighbours, work colleagues and all our acquaintances

There are lots of voluntary groups in the Dearne area doing good things. If you can spare any time on Thursday 4th February between 10 a.m. and 12 noon, you could join the Dearne Area Clean and Tidy team in their clean-up of the footpaths from Nicholas Lane to Goldthorpe (part of the ‘Love Where You Live’ campaign):

Don’t forget the ‘Churches Together’ meeting on Saturday 20th February at 6 p.m. at the Salvation Army. This is an opportunity to meet with Christians from other local churches to pray, share testimonies, worship and learn from God’s word. It’s good to see that God is working in all our local churches and great to have the opportunity to learn from others.

On Friday 4th March at 2 p.m. the Women’s World Day of Prayer will take place at the Roman Catholic church in Goldthorpe (situated at the bottom of Lockwood Road, just beyond the parish church.) This year, the service of prayer has been written by women from Cuba on the theme ‘Receive Children, Receive Me’. Women’s World Day of Prayer is an inter-denominational organisation supporting the work of prayer for God’s world, and donations received at this service are given to many different charities around the world, including Bible Society, Torch Trust for the Blind (which provides resources in Braille and audio recordings for the blind), The Leprosy Mission, Open Doors and Toybox, a charity which works with children who have largely been abandoned and often abused at the hands of adults they trusted.  They plan to use their money to carry out kitchen improvements at two of their partner children’s homes in Guatemala.

In 1 Cor 10:1-13, Paul reports on the facts of what God did during the wilderness wanderings, citing His miraculous deliverance, His miraculous provision and His miraculous presence. Nonetheless (a strong word!), this did not result in ongoing faithfulness on the part of the Israelites.

The faithfulness of God is one of the common threads throughout all Scripture. At the end of this section, Paul reminds us that no temptation can ever come against us that is insurmountable; God always provides a way out for His people (1 Cor 10:13). Temptation will always be present in this life (as Warren Wiersbe says, ‘We never come to the place in our Christian walk where we are free from temptation and potential failure.’ ‘Be Wise’, P 102) However, temptation or testing can be used by God to strengthen our dependence on Him and to develop perseverance and character (see James 1:3-5, 13-15). There is no temptation which is unique; all of us have to go through these trials, but God controls the context of our temptation and ‘personally and providentially provides a specific way of escape.’ (Keith Krell)

Despite the trials and temptations we face, we have the confirmation that God is faithful to uphold us and sustain us at all times. Let’s meditate on His faithfulness and hold fast to these promises:

• Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. (Deut 7:9)
• He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. (Deut 32:4)
• All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant. (Ps 25:4)

• For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. (Ps 33:4)
• Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. (Ps 36:5)

• For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. (Ps 57:10)
• Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. (Ps 86:11)
• But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithful (Ps 86:15/ Ps 108:4)
• Your faithfulness continues through all generations; you established the earth, and it endures. (Ps 119:90)
• Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does. (Ps 145:13)

• Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. (Is 11:5)

• Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago. (Is 25:1)
• God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Cor 1:9)
• But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” (2 Cor 1:18)
• The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. (1 Thess 5:24)
• But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. (2 Thess 3:3)
• But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory. (Heb 3:3)
• Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. (Heb 10:23)
• These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. (Rev 3:14)

‘Now unto the king who reigns over all, and never changes or turns
Unfailing justice, unfading grace,
Whose promises remain,
Yes, Your promises remain.

The heavens ring, the saints all sing,
Great is your faithfulness
From age to age we will proclaim
Great is your faithfulness,
How great is your faithfulness.

Everything changes, but You stay the same;
Your word and kingdom endure
We lean on the promise of all that you are, and trust forevermore.
We will trust forevermore

From generation to generation
You never fail us, oh God.
Yesterday and today and tomorrow
Until the day You return.

How great is your faithfulness.’ (‘How Great Is Your Faithfulness’, Matt Redman)

The Bible has a lot to say about grumbling, complaining or ‘murmuring’. In 1 Cor 10:1-13, Paul looks at some examples from the Old Testament, most of which revolved around the Israelites complaining about Moses’ leadership, believing he had only led them out of Egypt to allow them to die in the desert (see Num 21:5, Num 16:1-4, Ps 78:17-64). The New Testament is equally explicit in warning of the dangers of this sin and urging us to be careful what we say (see Phil 2:14, Eph 4:29, 1 Pet 4:9, 1 Cor 10:10).

To understand the dangers of grumbling (which often seems to us relatively innocuous), we have to understand the heart behind it. So often, what lies behind grumbling is ingratitude, discontent and a failure to trust. It is because of these bitter roots that we must beware of grumbling, for the mouth simply speaks what is in the heart, and ingratitude, discontent and a lack of trust are roots which destroy faith.

How, then, do we avoid grumbling? We must tackle the roots ruthlessly:

Cultivate contentment

Instead of focussing on all that is wrong with our lives and the things we lack, we need to focus on the many blessings God pours out on us daily (Eph 1:3) and allow godliness with contentment to be our greatest gain (1 Tim 6:6). If we’re struggling to do this, we need to meditate on both the warning and promise of Heb 13:5: ‘Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”’

Be thankful

As with so many aspects of the Christian life, we’re urged to do something long before we feel like doing it! 1 Thess 5:18 urges us to give thanks in all circumstances; Phil 4:4 urges us to ‘rejoice always.’ Thankfulness and gratitude soon dispel discontent and ingratitude. Gratitude is from the same root word as ‘grace’. People who’ve received grace know they don’t deserve God’s favour or blessings; they don’t, therefore, need to grumble because they know they have been blessed beyond belief!

Be unselfish

The Israelites are a prime example of selfishness and shortsightedness. Phil 2:3-4 urges us to consider other people before ourselves and to live lives of unselfishness that are modelled on Christ.

Speak positive words or shut up!

If we can’t find anything good to say, don’t say anything. Negative words are poison that go deep into our souls; they also taint other people. James 3:1-12 warns of the dangers of an untamed tongue; 1 Pet 2:1 says ‘rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.’ Bear in mind that we don’t know everything about other people’s situations and hearts and hold off the judgment that seems to come to us so easily. Look for the plank in your own eye before reaching for the speck in someone else’s. (Matt 7:4-5)

Allow faith to grow in your heart

The Israelites constantly doubted God’s goodness and purposes. They lived by sight, rather than by faith. Despite the miracles they saw, they still found it easier to live in the flesh than they did to walk by faith. We need to meditate on all we know of God’s character so that when the heartache hits like a hurricane, we can still trust in who God is (‘Even If’, Kutless), rather than believing Him to be a killjoy who aims to hurt us. The Israelites’ constant tendency to doubt and put God to the test reflected their lack of trust in His goodness and love; we need to feed on the word of God so that faith grows in our heart.