Mark spoke from Hab 3:17-19 tonight, verses which remind us that praising God does not always take place in circumstances which, at first glance, are conducive to praise! It’s easy for us to associate praise with feelings, but as this passage reminds us, even when there is no prospect of harvest or food, even when Habakkuk could find plenty of reasons NOT to praise God, still he chose to praise.

When disasters occur – job losses, crashed cars, ill health and so on – our natural reaction is not to praise God, but often we question Him. Habakkuk shows us that whatever the natural response, there can be a spiritual response whereby we choose to rejoice. As we choose to focus our gaze on the Lord, we are transformed for we realise He is singing over us (Zeph 3:17) and we should sing as much in the dark times as when all is going well. Ps 149:1-6 shows us the power of praise; God takes pleasure in His people and beautifies us. As we commit to praising God, our joy and rejoicing actually release blessing from God. God is sufficient for us in all circumstances and we have a duty to praise Him, no matter what.

Dave reminded us this morning that love is an action, not a feeling; a verb, not a noun. We choose to love. Recently, we’ve celebrated a wedding at church and it’s easy to focus on the ‘in love’ feelings associated with a wedding, but we have been at pains to remind all involved that a wedding is great, but what makes a marriage last is the daily choice to love. When the feelings fade (or at least lose their fervour, which C. S. Lewis reminds us is normal and to be expected), that doesn’t mean love is lost; it simply means that it has the opportunity to grow through our daily choices to demonstrate love in action.

Choosing to obey God is crucial to our spiritual growth. It’s easy to love God in the first flush of our salvation, but that love has to mature in the wilderness and in the furnace. It’s the same with all aspects of our growth. It’s easy to praise God and celebrate when all is going well and we are seeing answers to prayer beyond our wildest dreams. But we are called to praise and celebrate even when it’s a sacrifice: ‘Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.‘ (Heb 13:15)

Rend Collective’s new album ‘As Family We Go’ has two extremely catchy songs of worship and celebration. The first, the opening track, is simply called ‘Celebrate‘. It’s easy to be caught up in the exuberance and bounce of the melody, but it’s worth pondering the lyrics as they, in Psalm 150 style, urge us to praise the Lord at all times:

‘Praise Him in the morning, praise Him in the evening.
Praise Him when you’re smiling, praise Him when you’re breaking.
Praise Him in the sun and praise Him in the starlight.
Praise Him every season, praise Him through the dark times.

Celebrate, celebrate
Shout it from the mountaintops
Celebrate, celebrate
Even with a broken heart
Till dawn awakes, we’ll sing Your praise, dancing in the dark,
For all our days our song will say, “Lord how great You are!”‘ (‘Celebrate’, Rend Collective)

The other song is entitled ‘Joy of the Lord’ (taken from Neh 8:10) and again, its lyrics echo the fact that some of the greatest praise arises through tears and uncertainty:

‘Though the tears may fall, my song will rise,
My song will rise to You.
Though my heart may fail, my song will rise,
My song will rise to You.
While there’s breath in my lungs,
I will praise you Lord

In the dead of night, I’ll lift my eyes,
I’ll lift my eyes to You.
Though the waters rise, I’ll lift my eyes,
I’ll lift my eyes to You.
While there’s hope in this heart,
I will praise You, Lord.

The joy of the Lord is my strength;
The joy of the Lord is my strength;
In the darkness I’ll dance;
In the shadows I’ll sing;
The joy of the Lord is my strength.

When I cannot see You with my eyes,
Let faith arise to You.
When I cannot feel Your hand in mine,
Let faith arise to You.
God of mercy and love,
I will praise You, Lord.’ (‘Joy Of The Lord’, Rend Collective)

Whatever our circumstances, we can choose how we respond; choosing to praise God acknowledges His love and sovereignty, no matter how we may feel at the time.

Dave continued his series on the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23) this morning, looking at the subject of love. Love is of utmost importance to the Christian life, unsurprisingly since the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Rom 8:15 reminds us that our adoption as children of God leaves us with a heartfelt longing for God; New Testament Christianity speaks of vigour, exuberance and passion, not a dry and dead faith. If we understand the primary importance of love, then all the other spiritual gifts fall into place (see 1 Cor 13.)

John 13:34-35 reminds us that Jesus issued us with a new commandment, to love one another as He has loved us. All the law and commandments rest on the commandment to love (Rom 13:8 reminds us that if we love, we have fulfilled the law), and the command to love (which John echoes repeatedly in his letters) is not an optional extra. Everything God does arises from love, for He is love (1 John 4:7-8); thus, He creates, rules and judges from this motive.

Our love has to be modelled on the love Jesus showed His disciples, a love which is based on actions, not on feelings. John 3:16 reminds us that God’s love mobilised Him to action; Rom 5:8 shows us how God’s love was demonstrated through Christ’s death for us. Our love needs, therefore, to be seen in our actions.

Jesus’s love was also inclusive, not selective. He loves the whole world (see John 3:16, 2 Pet 3:9), even though He is open-eyed about our sin (His love is definitely not blind!) There is no favouritism in God (see Rom 2:11), but His love includes us all, no matter what our mistakes or sins. His love is also sacrificial and selfless, demonstrated in His sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:10)

Our world is desperate for love: hate is so rife and so easy, but we need God’s love to set an example. We cannot love like God in our own strength (2 Cor 3:3) and therefore need to be filled with God’s Spirit, so His love can dwell in us.

Yesterday was the Macmillan Coffee morning at church, which, thanks to the hard work from a small group of church members and the generosity of community members who baked and donated prizes, raised almost £300 for this cancer charity.

We had a range of helpers organising tombolas and selling books and cakes:

One of our helpers, known as ‘the Queen’, became the ‘Icing Queen’ for the day, thanks to a Macmillan sticker!

Our thanks go to all who helped and to all who attended and raised so much money:

Don’t forget the Macmillan Coffee Morning which will be on Saturday 26th September from 10 a.m. until 12 noon at church. Apart from the usual hot and cold drinks, there will be buns and cakes to eat and a variety of competitions and things to buy to help raise money for this worthwhile charity. Come along on Saturday to support this event – all money will be sent to Macmillan.

The ‘Churches Together’ meeting scheduled for 10th October has unfortunately had to be postponed. The next ‘Churches Together’ will now be the carol/ Christmas service on Friday 11th December at 7 p.m. at the Salvation Army. Please note this is on a Friday, not the usual Saturday meeting day for these events. Come along to celebrate Jesus with other churches!

The ‘baby shower’ will now be on Saturday 17th October from 12 noon until 3 p.m. at church, so we hope to see people there to prepare for new births! We’ll be decorating baby clothes and other activities; all welcome.

If we understand the Bible simply as a rule book, we’ve missed the heart of what God wants to communicate to us through this amazing book, all of which is God-breathed (see Heb 4:12, 2 Tim 3:16-17). Rules are not there as  an ABC ladder to climb, with God as the Z of our destination. We will never, by our own strength, be able to reach God, to live a righteous life in our own strength. In the book of Romans, Paul explains how the law was given so that people would be aware of sin and would be able to recognise the difference between their way of living and God’s. He says ‘I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law.’ (Rom 7:7) Rules act as boundary fences, showing us the way God wants us to live, demonstrating His absolute purity and ‘otherness’, showing us that we cannot simply approach Him in any haphazard fashion, but must come to Him on His terms. They also highlight our inability to live holy lives by ourselves. ‘The law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.’ (Gal 3:24) The laws and rules of the Old Testament point out to us, in case we thought otherwise, that we cannot reach God on our own, but that we need to receive His salvation by faith. Paul tells the Romans ‘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.’ (Rom 3:20) God has given us rules not only to guide us, but also to awaken our consciences, to reveal to us the inadequacy of our own strategies and methods for reaching Him.

We tend to either feel utterly condemned by our inability to keep rules perfectly or smug because we think we are doing very well in regard to rule keeping. The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14) shows us that self-righteousness will never lead us to God’s forgiveness and justification. The Bible reminds us that God’s way of working is completely contrary to our expectations and desires; those who humble themselves will be exalted, but those who exalt themselves will be humbled. (Luke 18:14) Let’s not ignore God’s rules, but let’s also realise we need to come humbly before Him in penitence and receive all He has for us by faith.