Tonight’s Bible study looked at James 5:7-12. In the first section, James looks at the need for patience as we wait for the Lord’s coming and likens this to a harvest, warning us against grumbling against each other; in the second section, he looks at the example of patience set by the prophets and concludes by warning us that our speech should be full of integrity and character.

Perseverance has been a recurring theme throughout the letter, with James 1:1-5 in particular looking at counting ourselves blessed even when we suffer because we know that the testing of our faith develops character. James has also looked at the importance of speech (James 3:1-12, James 4:11-12). We need to be careful how we speak about and to each other, because God is listening to every conversation. As the old plaque says:

God is the only rightful Judge and we need to be careful not to let criticism and grumbling poison our conversations and mar our witness (see also Ps 73). He is at the door, always close (just as sin is always crouching at the door: see Gen 4.)

Suffering in this life is inevitable and James gives us further advice on how to deal with it. There are numerous examples in the Bible of those who suffered and persevered. The life of faith is not always easy! The prophets suffered, but their example helps us to see that perseverance is necessary if we are to receive God’s promises (see Heb 10:36). James then talks about the example of Job, surely the greatest example of faith in adversity in the Old Testament. Despite great suffering and opposition, he clung on to God and was rewarded by God. All these things were written as examples to us (see 1 Cor 10:6-13), with the promise that God will never give us more to carry than we can bear and the knowledge of His character (He is full of mercy and compassion) to sustain us through difficulties.

This section concludes with a reminder that we do not need to swear oaths in order to be trustworthy. James quotes Jesus’s own words in Matt 5:33-37 here, a reminder that we should be people whose word can be trusted. As Paul reminded the Corinthians, our plans should not be made in a worldly manner, but we should think carefully before we speak or make promises (2 Cor 1:15-22). It seems ironic that in today’s law courts, oaths are sworn on the Bible by those who do not even believe in God, when many Christians believe there should be no need for them to swear on anything because their word should be honest and upright all the time!

In all of this, James is keen for us to see the connection between our current situations (difficult though these may be) and the presence and character of God. It is easy to doubt God’s goodness, mercy, provision and kindness when we are going through trials, but James reminds us of the facts. “The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” (James 5:11) As Kutless sing,

“Sometimes all we have to hold on to
Is what we know is true of who You are…

Lord, we know Your ways are not our ways
So we set our faith in who You are.
Even though You reign high above us
You tenderly love us
We know Your heart
And we rest in who You are.” (‘Even If’, Kutless)

One of the most encouraging verses in the Bible for me is 1 Thessalonians 5:18 which says “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” I often feel I struggle to know what God’s will is and so I take hold of this verse and think ‘at least I can do this thing and know that in doing so, I am doing God’s will!’ Thankfulness and thanksgiving are things we can cultivate and make a daily habit.

No wonder, then, that I love this song ‘Thank You, God, for saving me’! Not only does it feature two of my favourite Christian songwriters (Chris Tomlin and Phil Wickham), it captures perfectly the gratitude I feel towards God for all He has done for me.

“What can I give to you?
What can I offer to the King?
For all the love you’ve shown,
For all Your mercy over me,

You gave your life upon the cross
You suffered once for all
You made a way
Jesus in victory you rose
You made us all your own
Now we are saved.” (‘Thank You, God, for saving me’, Chris Tomlin & Phil Wickham)
‘Thank You, God, for saving me’, Chris Tomlin & Phil Wickham

I find it exciting when I realise that God is saying the same things to different people in different places, when there is a sense of the amazing foreknowledge of God! Dave spoke to us yesterday about how the topic of prayer has also been burning in one of the local churches where he preaches, just as it is becoming a recurring feature of our church life! Similarly, the topic of ‘dry bones’ in the family service has not only been high on the agenda of our church for some time now, it is clearly a topic that God is stirring in others, if the number of songs on this theme are anything to go by!

We sang a ‘golden oldie’ on this theme at the family service (‘Dem Dry Bones’ by Delta Rhythm Boys), but there are many more recent songs:

‘Awake My Soul’, Chris Tomlin
This song features the rapper Lecrae and combines the very simple idea (‘Breathe on me, breath of God, breathe on me. Speak to me, Word of God, speak to me. I come alive, I’m alive when You breathe on me… when You speak to me’) with a reading from Ezekiel 37 itself and the rapper’s interpretation of this (‘I realise You breathe out, I come alive; Your word gives life to my dry bones; Your breath tells death it can ride on!’) The chorus goes:

“Awake, awake, awake, my soul.
God, resurrect these bones.
From death to life,
For You alone,
Awake, my soul.”

Sometimes, it just takes one idea to stir the imagination; for me, it was the connection of the word ‘resurrect’ in the chorus with the resurrection of Christ and a firm belief as I walked the streest of Goldthorpe in January that God will bring new life to these desolate places.

Another song on this theme which was written in 2011 is ‘Fires’ by Matt Redman. I preached on the theme of God keeping our fires burning last April. The song starts with the image of the valley of dry bones:

“We’re standing in the desert of dry bones
But still we see Your life
Walking through the valley of shadows
But holding onto light.”

A very pertinent song on this theme, connecting the historical narrative of Ezekiel 37 with a modern-day parallel of how our churches need God’s life in them today, is Casting Crowns’ song ‘Spirit Wind’.

“A pastor stands before his congregation
Once a mighty army for the Lord
But now he stares into the lifeless eyes
Believers leading carnal lives
He wonders what they’re fighting for
But driven by a calling on his life
He spoke God’s word like he’d done a hundred times before
But this time he comes broken and weeping
With tears of a broken heart
And he cries out to the Lord.

Oh Lord, send Your wind into this valley
And breathe the breath of life into their souls
And raise them again a mighty army
For soon these arisen warriors will battle again
For they have been filled with the Spirit Wind.”

The last song I’d like to mention is Nikki Fletcher’s ‘Dry Bones’ (due to be released on the Worship Central Album ‘Let It Be Known‘ on March 11). This again takes the theme of God changing us and transforming us as He breathes on us:

“We are here
Longing to be changed
Breathe into our lives again
Don’t let us leave the same.”

What other songs do you know on this theme?!

Mark spoke from Ezekiel 37:1-14 at the family service last night – an unusual theme for March, perhaps (if you were expecting a Mother’s Day service, you were disappointed!), but definitely a theme that has been recurring in our church life this year. This is the famous passage about the valley of dry bones and he showed us some dry bones initially.

The Israelites were in captivity in Babylon and seemed helpless. Psalm 137 captures their sorrow and despondency. Nonetheless, God has not abandoned or forsaken His people. When He moves, He does so sovereignly and in power. Ezekiel is moved by the power of God’s Spirit and taken to a place where he sees a valley of unburied, dry bones that represent the death of the people:

The passage abounds with the promises of what God will do:‘I am going to open your graves’; ‘I will bring you back’; ‘I will put my Spirit in you’; ‘I will settle you in your own land’. These ‘I wills’ come from the great ‘I AM’.

God asks Ezekiel if the dry bones can live and his answer is ‘O Sovereign Lord, You alone know’. Nonetheless, he is obedient to the command to prophesy (see vs 7 and vs 10) and God’s breath of life changed the situation around, with the bones gaining flesh and tendon and sinew and God’s breath coming into them to give them life so that ‘they came to life and stood up on their feet – a vast army.’ (vs 10)

We need the prophetic, the specific word of God, in our churches, for we need God’s word and God’s breath to bring new life. Ezekiel brought a message of hope to a despondent people living as slaves and reminded them that God had a future for them beyond Babylon. God has good plans for us too.

What kind of listeners are we? Are we like the deaf, dry bones, oblivious to God’s voice? Or are we those who don’t listen because we think we have heard it all before and know it all? Have we become over-familiar with God and therefore complacent? Or are we the people of God who are muscly and alive, ready to be living bones to people in need?

After the service we prayed that God would breathe on us and complete the unfinished plans in our lives and in our communities.

We also had a birthday to celebrate:

The theme of the family service last night was ‘Bones’. We had a quiz about bones:

The answers to those questions?
1. Cranium
2. The official name is the ‘humerus’, which sounds like ‘humorous’ or funny.
3. Leg
4. Hand
5. B 206
6. D 270
7. Brittle bones
8. Bone marrow
9. Ball and socket joint
10. Calcium

Karen’s team won the quiz:

Later in the service, we had a game where we had to pin the skeleton bones together to make a proper skeleton!

Garry continued his series from 2 Peter 1 this morning, looking at godliness (or holiness: to give dutiful regard, respect or reverence, piety.) Essentially, becoming holy or godly is to become like God. Historically, there are two extremes people have gone to in their desire to pursue godliness: firstly, to believe that the body is evil (hence, the self-flagellation of the monks in mediaevel times) or, on the other hand, to believe that because only the spiritual counts, it doesn’t matter what we do with the body (a view Paul corrected in 1 Corinthians – see 1 Cor 6:19, for example, when he reminded the church that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit). The ‘Holiness movement’ of the 19th century also took the view that we no longer have to sin to extremes, believing in ‘sinless perfection’ in this life. The fact remains that we do still sin, but God has made provision for us when we sin (see 1 John 1:9)

Jesus remains, as always, our perfect example of godliness. He appeared in the flesh (1 Tim 3:16) and yet lived a perfect life. He showed us how life should be lived, even though he lived among sinners. He even drank wine! He showed us that life is not just about keeping rules, but about that relationship with God which motivates us from within. In the Sermon on the Mount, He went beyond the outward letter of the law to show that heart attitudes are what count (see Matt 5:21-28). Rules are actually the easy way, but they can never cover every eventuality and can never be the definitive last word. Paul shows us that we have to go beyond rules when he discusses meat sacrificed to idols in 1 Cor 8. It is not a question always of who is right, but of letting love be our motivator and being determined not to put any stumbling-block in another brother’s path.

How do we become godly, then? 1 Tim 4:7-8 tells us “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” We have to train ourselves to be godly – the word in Greek being the root of our word ‘gymnast’, and we all know how hard gymnasts have to train! A godly life takes time to develop and needs commitment; ultimately, it arises out of our desire to please God and is based on relationship. As Augustine said, ‘Love God and do whatever you want.’ If we truly love God, we will want to please Him (just as in a good marriage, we are motivated to want to please and help our spouse.) Augustine’s words can obviously be distorted (as can the Bible – see 2 Pet 3:14-16), but the key to godliness is loving God whole-heartedly so that we aim to please Him in all we do.