Garry spoke this morning from 2 Pet 1:3-7, looking at how we are to add to our faith and goodness knowledge. Making God’s character our character is His aim for us and knowledge is needful. Sincerity in and of itself is not enough. There is a progression in our understanding; we do not yet have ‘full knowledge’. God is above and beyond our understanding, but we should be growing in grace and in a knowledge of Him.

Comparing ourselves to others is a mistake; we need to develop our own understanding and knowledge. Similarly, experience cannot simply be measured in years; we have to be growing in knowledge.

The kind of knowledge that needs to grow includes:

(1) our knowledge of God
Ex 5:1-2 shows us Pharaoh asking the question ‘Who is the Lord?’ We need to have a knowledge of who God is and be able to explain this to us. Knowing God is closely linked to salvation and God wants us to know Him personally (see Jer 31:34). We need to know what God’s ways are like and how He works.

(3) knowing what we believe
What we believe determines how we live; we must not live a life where we believe one thing but act in ways that are contrary to thatbelief. We are hypocrites if we don’t live what we believe and we need to know what we believe so that we can live out our faith.

(3) knowing why we believe
The word of God is our authority and we need to be of more noble character like the Bereans, who searched the Scriptures to make sure that what Paul was teaching them had basis in the Word. If our lives cannot withstand crises, then we are just playing at faith. The Word of God is the arbiter in our lives, not emotion. We cannot rely on emotions alone, but need direction from the Word to show us why we believe what we believe.

(4) knowledge about others
Jesus said that we could know people by their fruit. He sent out His disciples to be ‘as sheep among wolves’ and urged them to be ‘shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves’ (Matt 10:16). We need to know what motivates people and to see beyond the surface actions, where sometimes smooth talkers can be deceitful and those who appear unfriendly or brittle may be hurting individuals in need of love and compassion.

(5) knowledge about the times and the seasons
God wants us to be spiritually aware and to know what is happening around us (see 1 Thess 5:1-6). We need to be salt and light accordingly in our environment, not being fooled by every wind of doctrine.

(6) knowing the truth
Jesus said that the truth sets us free (John 8:32). However difficult it may be for us to acquire knowledge of the truth, we should not avoid it but understand that the truth is the path to freedom.

(7) knowledge about ourselves
The heart is deceitful and wicked. We need to know our weaknesses (and refuse to put ourselves in situations where we are vulnerable) and our strengths (understanding that God has given gifts to each one of us.)

There are, however, areas where we should not pursue knowledge. Jesus clearly taught that we will never know the precise time of His second coming. It’s not wise to want to pry too much into how God will work in someone else’s life (see John 21:20-22). Our own futures may not be made clear to us. God wants us to walk by faith and not by sight. Pursuing some knowledge (eg through mediums and clairvoyants) is clearly prohibited in Scripture (Lev 19:26,31). Moreover, we must acknowledge that however great our knowledge of God becomes, we will never totally fathom Him! Nonetheless, we should make every effort to add knowledge to the goodness and faith He has given us.

Guest speaker Yan Handley was at church last night, speaking on how to keep calm in a crisis. Crises come to us all at different times in life: they may be financial, connected with work or health or family or even with church and we need to learn how to keep calm in such situations. Jesus was calm enough in a storm to go to sleep and even when faced with the agony of the Crucifixion remained calm and without need to vindicate Himself. In the Bible, we read of many others whose faith enabled them to cope with tragedy and crises: Job, who worshipped God despite sickness and family bereavement; Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who faced the fiery furnace with calm; Paul who faced shipwrecks, beatings and imprisonment with a song in his heart and John who, even when exiled on the island of Patmos, was ‘in the Spirit on the Lord’s day’.

Yan looked at the life of Stephen as narrated in Acts 6 and 7 and gave us four principles by which we can become the victor even in a crisis.

(1) Stephen was full of faith.
We can be full of all kinds of things such as fear, doubt and self-pity, but we need to be known, as Stephen was, as ‘full of faith’. Faith has be there long before the crises come! It needs to be developed in the ordinary. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world (1 Jn 5:4). Each one of us has been given faith by God (Rom 12:3), but that faith can be dormant, divided, diverted or developing. We need to ensure that our faith is not simply sleeping and that we are not torn by spiritual schizophrenia. Instead, we need to grow in faith as Abraham did, not wavering but believing God has power to do all He has promised (see Romans 4).

(2) Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit.
We can have the Holy Spirit in us but not necessarily be filled with the Holy Spirit (see how Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit on His disciples but still told them to wait in the upper room for Pentecost.) We know Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit because of the evidence of his life, how he spoke with boldness and witnessed to the gospel. Speaking in tongues is not the only evidence of the Holy Spirit! Acts 7:54 tells us that people recognised that the strength Stephen received came only from the Holy Spirit. God’s strength is available to us too (Eph 3:6).

(3) Stephen was focussed on Christ
Acts 7:55 tells us that Stephen gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He gazed and didn’t just glimpse. Our minds need to be fixed on God (Is 26:3) for us to know His perfect peace in a crisis. When we gave into heaven, we see the glory of God. Jesus is here depicted as standing at God’s right hand (rather than sitting.) Stephen was not overwhelmed by fear. He was not focussing on the size of the problem but on the size of His God. He was not looking for a way out of the trouble (John 16:33 reminds us that we will always face trouble!), but for a way through. Grace and strength are available from God, but we are not always given a miracle way out of every crisis. Instead, we find strength and grace as we may not know what to do but we turn our eyes to God (see 2 Chron 20:12).

Faith focussed on Christ creates a fascination in other people too. Acts 6:15 tells us that those who sat on the Council saw that Stephen had ‘the face of an angel’. Saul’s conversion had seeds in the martyrdom of Stephen, for he saw his reaction and God worked in his heart. Our faith can create fascination in others and God works on their hearts.

(4) Stephen freely forgave
We cannot keep calm in a crisis if we are angry or resentful or agitated. We have to freely forgive or our focus becomes blurred and we quench the Holy Spirit. Forgiveness is not a feeling, but a choice and an act of the will. Stephen prayed for his persecutors, even as Jesus had done on the Cross. We forgive because we recognise how much we have been forgiven. Eph 4:32 reminds us that our forgiveness is inextricably bound to Christ’s forgiveness of us. He forgave us unilaterally, sacrificially and unreservedly and that becomes the model for our forgiveness. Unforgiveness is a divisive pollutant that spreads and contaminates. Mark 11:22-24 reminds us that if we have anything against anyone we need to let it go and forgive if we are to know God’s peace and forgiveness in our own lives.

To benefit from fearing God seems a contradiction in terms, for fear is often perceived negatively. In the Bible, however, fearing God (showing reverence and awe towards God) is seen as something positive which can be extremely beneficial to us.

We can fear God in a number of different ways:
(1) through praise (Ps 22:22-23)
(2) through our service (Ps 2:11)
(3) in obedience (Eccl 12:13)
(4) by avoiding evil (Prov 16:6) – again fear and evil are often perceived as negatives, but don’t forget that in maths, two negatives can make a positive, and avoiding evil through the fear of God has to be a positive thing!

Fearing God brings different benefits:
(1) wisdom (Ps 111:10 tells us that ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and all who follow His precepts have a good understanding.’)
(2) long life (Prov 10:27 tells us that the fear of the Lord adds length to our lives!)
(3) love (Ps 103:11 tells us that the Lord’s love is with those who fear Him)
(4) salvation (Ps 85:9 tells us that the Lord’s salvation is near those who fear Him)
(5) protection (Ps 60:4 tells us that for those who fear God, He has raised an unfurled banner against the bow.)
(6) blessing (Ps 115:13 promises that God will bless those who fear Him)
(7) we will lack nothing (Ps 34:9). So often, natural fear protects us from danger and reveals to us that we are lacking in some way (perhaps lacking in strength or courage or boldness, for example). When we fear God, our inadequacies are met by His total sufficiency.

Proverbs 17:17 says “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.” The Bible has a lot to say about friends and friendship. Right from the beginning when God said ‘It is not good for man to be alone’, there has been strength, comfort, solace and love from friendships. Proverbs in particular has a lot to say about friends: how some friends are only attracted to easy times and wealth (Proverbs 14:20 19:4), how friendship requires love and forgiveness rather than hot temper and rash words (see Proverbs 22:24), how betrayal from a friend goes deep but even a friend’s wounds can help us (Proverbs 27:6).

This past week, I have seen the kindness of friends manifested in so many ways as they actively sought us out to give us anniversary gifts and ways to bless us. Their gifts reflected their knowledge of us, as they sought ways to express their love that would be meaningful to us. We are grateful beyond word for these acts of kindness.

One present was a book of proverbs about ‘Soul Mates’. Here are some of its words of wisdom on the subject of love:

* “Love, like a river, cuts a new path when it meets an obstacle.”
* “There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.”
* “Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.”
* “Love works in ways that are wondrous and strange.”
* “Love is a willingness to give with no expectation of receiving anything in return.”
* “You like someone when you learn what makes them laugh. You love someone when you learn what makes them cry.”
* “Don’t waste time looking for the perfect lover… spend time creating the perfect love.”
* “We can only learn to love by loving.”
* “Love is a glimpse of eternity.”

One of the last sayings in the book is “The moments we really live for are those when we have done things in the spirit of love.” To all those who helped us celebrate our silver wedding anniversary – with cards, presents, quizzes, texts, emails, photographs and time spent with us – we thank you for the things done in the spirit of love and are immensely grateful for the God-given gifts of friendship which add immeasurably to life’s wealth.

One of our lovely gifts

Today was the Macmillan Coffee morning at church, where all proceeds were donated to the cancer charity. We raised £137.26 from the event, so many, many thanks to all who contributed to this great success!

The poster says ‘We like a cuppa’ and that’s definitely true of Goldthorpe people!

We worked hard to decorate the outside with bunting and balloons:

Other people worked hard at baking buns and cakes:

… whilst others worked hard at eating them!

Some worked hard at making cards to sell:

… whilst others worked hard at buying them!

We had willing helpers in the kitchen:

… and people willing to have a cuppa in aid of a good cause:

Even the youngsters joined in the fun:

Once more, this was an object lesson in working together in love. We can all contribute something to God’s work and can all help others. So often, we feel daunted by the needs we see all around us, but as the Macmillan charity have proved through their ‘World’s Biggest Coffee Morning’, by joining together in raising money we can all do so much more than we could individually. Our coffee morning was just one of many held throughout the world in aid of Macmillan, but we are sure that every little really does help!

We started tonight’s Bible study by looking at James 2:13, where mercy is said to triumph over judgment. Mercy is getting what we don’t deserve! We deserve punishment, judgment and wrath, but find instead that God, who is rich in mercy, offers us forgiveness, love and salvation. Because we know what it is to receive mercy, we should be liberal in showing mercy to others.

We then moved on to look at what has, historically, been perhaps the most contentious passage in James (James 2:14-26). Here, James talks about the relationship between faith and works. Some have said that these verses paint a picture of a religion that is all about doing good works; Martin Luther, for example, believed that these verses contradicted Paul’s teaching on justification by faith in the book of Romans. The key to the connection between faith and works is in verse 22 where we see that faith and actions work together, with works completing faith. Really, the two things are indivisible. It is possible to have works without faith, but true faith will always manifest itself in good works; as Garry said, ‘faith is the seed and works are the fruit of that seed.’ Obviously, a person can be saved without having to do works (think about the thief on the cross), but the normal outworking of a life of faith will be seen in good deeds. James is, again, eminently practical. Faith is seen in practical ways, just as John talks about love being demonstrated through practical deeds in his first epistle. This is simply the fulfilment of Jesus’s commands that whatever we do for the least of these we do for Him (see Matt 25).

It is possible to have ‘dead’ faith: to attend church meetings, to say we believe in God, but for that to have no real impact on how we live. Real faith has to be the motivator and the springboard for our everyday living. A church’s ministries need to include ways of reaching out to its local community in practical ways. These may not look particularly ‘spiritual’, but are the bridge to relationships that ultimately can lead people to ask about the motivation behind such actions. As St Francis of Assisi used to say, ‘preach the Gospel and if necessary, use words’. They say that actions speak louder than words. Certainly we need to ensure that our actions and our words match up – faith and works inextricably bound together.