Reviewed by Tony Cummings cross rhythms
An EP from an Aberdeen team who toured with Eden Burning on about half of their Vinegar And Brown Paper tour and despite the relative production crudity of this 4-song EP a band definitely to tip for the top. They possess in Kathy Gorden a distinctive lead vocalist while the band show a nice line in ringing some changes out of all those recycled indie riffs. Not sure if the band have truly settled on a distinctive style yet both "Home", a song about Kathy's homeland of Orkney, and "The Search", a song of righteous anger and conviction would be great with a big studio production. So the grassroots scene is still throwing up bags of talent. Encouraging, isn't it?
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
sermon for the week
Sermon notes
Prayers
Sentence
The grass may wither, the flower fade,
but the word of our God will endure for ever.
Isaiah 40 : 8 Collect (Common Order, page 678)
Almighty God, you have made us for yourself,
and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you. Give us peace in your service, and in the world to come the joy of seeing you face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Call to Worship
Come – you are invited to listen to God’s word that it may be a light on your path. Come – you are invited to bring your praises to God that you may acknowledge his greatness. Come – for this invitation is for you, however you may feel life is treating you. Come – because God created you, God loves you and God welcomes you.
we have come together to worship you, a mixed bunch of people, each with our own problems, concerns and joys, but all knowing that you are here with us, waiting to speak your word, ready to listen, to bless, to lead us. For our part, we bring you our hymns and our reading of your word, our thinking and our listening, our praying and our doubts.
We bring the fellowship we share, the discipleship we offer, the world of which we are part, and the lives you have given us. Receive all that we bring, Father, that we might receive all that you have for us.
And as part of what we bring, we bring you our confession of failings and failures: the times when our discipleship has been half-hearted; the times when we’ve sung Jesus’ praise but failed to follow in his footsteps;
the times when we’ve expected others to serve us but we’ve failed to serve them. And so, Lord, for all such times and for anything else that weighs heavily on our hearts and which we now confess to you in the silence we ask that you will forgive us. (silence)
In gratitude for your many gifts, we lay this offering before you, a token of our offering of our very selves, asking that we may serve you and others to the glory of your name.
Lord, hear our prayer and change our lives that we might be better disciples of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in whose name we ask it. Amen
Relating to others, Understanding grace Matt 22 :37-40 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
We are to love others as we love ourselves, how can we love the seemingly unlovable? Left to ourselves we can’t do it! But God would never ask us to do the impossible. In Christ we have the freedom to relate to others as God intended.
Just knowing who we are in Christ is the foundation for our Christian life and growth in maturity, it also forms the basis for the way we relate to others “we love because he first loved us” 1 John 4:19. We give freely because we have received freely (Matthew 10:8), We are merciful because he has been merciful to us, Luke 6:36, and we forgive in the same way that Jesus has forgiven us, Ephesians 4:32.
We cannot do this if we haven’t got a handle on what grace means for us. “Grace is giving people what they don’t deserve”, undeserved favour, it cannot be earned. Salvation is a free gift and we owe God nothing for it, but when we receive his grace, a strange thing happens. We discover that it really is more blessed to give than to receive (acts 20:35) We find we want to give it away to others
We are responsible for our own character and Other’s needs What are our responsibilities to others? And what rights do we have regarding others?
You ever listen to another couple’s argument? You know that they eventually start attacking people’s character, while looking out for their own needs, you’re selfish, you never help me, never and always! If there is a relationship with that orientation then there is trouble, because it is the exact opposite of how God says our relationships should be. Consider these two passages
Romans 14:4 Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. Someone else’s character is not your concern! It is for that person and God, we are not to judge, each person is responsible before God for their character
Phil 2:3-5 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus
Where we do have a responsibility towards others before God, it is to meet their needs. So we can clearly see that we are responsible for 2 things out own character and meeting the needs of others.
Imagine what life would be like if everyone assumed their responsibility to become like Christ in their character and committed themselves to meet the needs of everyone! That would be heaven on earth!
Being aware of our own sins no one would disagree with that. The big question is why we fail to live it out, too often we are very aware of the failures in other people’s characters, while being blind to our own. Much of this is to do with the condition of our relationship with God.
We look forward to seeing Jesus in his fullness some day, the bible teaches that after the fall no one has fully seen God, some have seen the back of God, or a vision of God, Isaiah ch 6 shows the prophets vision of God on his throne, with his robe filling the temple, and as he saw God, not even fully, he cries out woe is me, I am unclean with unclean lips, when confronted with God does he care what someone else is up to? No it is only his own sin he is worried about, same with us, when we meet with God it is our sin that is our concern not anybody else’s!
Luke ch 5, Jesus uses Peter’s boat to speak to the crowd, Peter had been fishing all night and got nothing, Jesus says to him, go out into the deep water, let your nets down for a catch, he then catches fish after fish, his response is not go away from me I am married to a sinful woman, no what he says is go away from me I am a sinful man.
When we see who God is we don’t care about the sins of others but of our own sin. However, when we are lukewarm in our relationship with God, we tend to overlook our sin and see the sins of others. When they don’t match up to our expectations, we have a tendency to say they are doing wrong and to want to point it out. Our responsibility however is not for their character but for our own character.
Focus on responsibilities rather than rights What right do we have to expect anything from anyone else? Or do we have a responsibility to love one another, care for one another, In every relationship we have both rights and responsibilities- but where should we put the emphasis? Satan will tempt us to focus on our rights rather our responsibilities.
A husband could get angry with his wife because he thinks he has a right to expect her to be submissive. A wife may nag her husband because she expects him to be the spiritual head of the household. Do husbands have a right to expect their wives to be submissive? Or do they have a responsibility to love their wives as Christ loved the Church. Do wives have a right to expect their husbands to love them? Or do they have a responsibility to love and respect their husbands who in turn have the responsibility of being the head of the home?
Husbands, having a submissive wife is not your right, but being a loving, caring husband is your responsibility, being head of the house is not a right to be demanded but an awesome responsibility to be fulfilled. Wife having a spiritual husband is not your right, but being a submissive and supportive wife is your responsibility, focus on your responsibilities, when we stand before Christ, he will not ask us whether we received everything we had coming to us, he will reward us for how well we fulfilled our responsibilities.
Do parents have a right to expect their children to be obedient? Or do they have a responsibility to bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord and discipline them when they are disobedient?
Does being a member of a local church give you the right to criticise others? Or does it give you a responsibility to submit to those in authority over you and relate to one another with the same love and acceptance we have received from Christ? Being a member of the church is an incredible privilege, this privilege comes with the awesome responsibility to behave as God’s children and love God and others.
Of course we all have rights, everybody has a right to be loved, accepted, no matter colour, creed, but we must not hold on to our rights and sacrifice our responsibilities, that is what the world wants, you to demand your rights, forget your responsibilities and sow the seeds of destruction.
What about when others do wrong well all well and good Keith, but what happens when they make a huge mistake? Can we not be their conscience? Can we not tell them exactly where they have gone wrong? All of us find it difficult to won up and say “yes I did it”, too often we see the issues in someone else’s life much more clearly than in our own! Should we try to be the conscience of another person and show them their sin? Nope that is the job of the Holy Spirit, playing the role of God in someone else’s oddly enough will not work! The moment we try and we do try, we take their struggle with God upon ourselves and we are not up to the task. The holy Spirit is the one who convicts us of our sins. The critic is tempted to protest “But I have the gift of condemnation!” actually God has given us the gift of reconciliation, but the critical spirit says, but doesn’t love expose a multitude of sins, no Peter tells us love covers a multitude of sins! (1 peter 4:8)
Discipline yes, judgement no! Well if I can’t condemn, what should I do to keep someone from sinning? Christians do sin, and this affects our relationship with God and others, should you just ignore it, are there ever occasions where I should confront another Christian? How do these verses go together? “do not judge or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others you will be judged” Matt 7:1 and “if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore them gently” Gal 6:1
How can we reconcile the fact that we are not to judge, but we are to carry out discipline? Judgment is not the same as discipline; judgement is related to character, whereas discipline is always related to behaviour, discipline is based on something we have seen or heard, if we see someone sinning against us we are to confront them alone, so we can win them back to God, if they don’t repent then we are to take along tow or three who have seen it too, if they still wont, listen then we bring it to the Church (matt 18) the purpose of this process is not to condemn, but to restore. If there are no witnesses, your word against theirs, leave it alone, God knows, he will deal with it in his wisdom.
We are so often tempted to judge character, however if you catch someone telling a lie and you confront them saying “you have told a lie” Have you judged them? They may think so, but you have simply called attention to sinful behaviour that you have seen.
However if you shout “you are a liar!” that is judgement! Because you have attacked his character, what you think is discipline is in fact character assassination, he is not a liar, he is a child of God who has told a lie, when you call someone stupid, clumsy, proud, evil, you attack their character and it leaves them nowhere to turn because you can’t change character instantly.
If on the other hand you point out their behaviour to them you are giving them something to work with, “ you are right what I said wasn’t true, I am sorry will you forgive me” Saying something like that puts an end to the matter and leaves no scars
If we could memorise and never go against Ephesians 4:29 most of the problems in our homes and churches would disappear! “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful and verse 30, do not grieve the holy spirit. It grieves God when we use words that tear another down instead of using words to build each other up. If you have taken hold of your freedom in Christ, you are free to make the right choice in any situation
Discipline and punishment are not the same punishment is related to the OT concept of an eye for an eye, punishment looks back to the past, whereas discipline looks to the future, Hebrews 12 tells us discipline is a sign of God’s love, if we are not being discipline by God then we are illegitimate children of God. In the same way if we feel we have to approach someone we do it with love, in order to equip them for the future! God does not punish us for our mistakes, our punishment has fallen on Christ, he disciplines us so we will not make the same mistakes again “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful, later on however it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” Hebrews 12:11 The point of discipline it to help someone become more like Jesus, not to punish them for behaving badly!
When we are attacked Ok what happens when the boot is on the other foot? When someone attacks our character? Should we be defensive? We are certainly tempted to, how did Jesus react? When insulted he did not retaliate, when he suffered he made not threats, instead he trusted himself to him who judges justly 1 peter 2:23. Now we are alive in Christ and forgiven, we do not need to defend ourselves, if you are wrong you don’t have a defence if you are right you don’t need one, Christ is our defence.
Woman/pastor/ good points/bad points about him 2 good ones, page of bad ones, he was tempted to defend himself, but said nothing, “it must have taken a lot of courage to share that with me, what do you suggest I do?” She then burst into tears, saying “not you it’s me” and a discussion ensued so she discovered her own ministry suited to her gifts. If the minister had defended himself, what then? The lady would have been convinced her calling was to convince him he was not yet qualified to be a member of the trinity!
If you can learn not to be defensive when someone attacks your character or performance, you may have a real opportunity to turn it around and minister to that person.
Student heard that story, he was doing supply work, got a call from an irate mother, tore him apart, worst teacher my daughter has ever had, he was desperate to get off the phone, but remembering the story kept quiet, then responded “took courage, what would you have me do?”, guess what, tears flowed, relationship restored. Mum was single mum, rebellious daughter had been saying all sorts about the teacher, they were both Christians, they committed themselves to pray for the daughter.
Nobody tears down another person from a position of strength, those who are critical of others are either hurting or immature, if we learn not to be defensive when they attack us, it can lead to an opportunity to minister to them.
Authority and accountability God has given us lines of authority to avoid anarchy in our society, we also have a great need for accountability, think of these 4 words and ask yourself in what way did God first come to you? Authority, accountability, affirmation, acceptance. How you answer this question reveals a lot about you, and how you understand ministry marriage and parenting Paul wrote while we were still sinners Christ died for us, acceptance came firstly, then affirmation “the spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children”
The world the devil are desperate to distort our image of God, to get things back to front, if you see God as a consuming fire first and foremost, as a holy God and you a sinner, you will never get close, but first of all if you see him as a loving father who loves and accepts you as you are, you can get close to him and grow in him.
If authority figures demand accountability, without affirmation and acceptance they will never get it, people may comply on the outside, but they will never share anything intimately, but people will submit to authority when it is first of all accepting and affirming.
Teenager home late, parent reads riot act, where have you been? Out! What were you doing? Nothing!
In the gospels Jesus never says anything like this “I am the Son of God get your act together! He is God but he came as the gentle shepherd, but they were amazed at his teaching as he taught with authority, it came not from a position but from his character, when we see people struggling with sin, we need to learn to be like God, come alongside with an attitude of acceptance rather than rejection without a shred of condemnation but filled with love.
Should we express our needs? Should we suffer in silence then? Or is it ok to express our needs? We all have needs and we are allowed to tell others if they are not meeting our needs, but we have to be careful how we express them, state it as a need not a judgement, “you don’t love me do you?” course I do” case closed, but if she says “I don’t feel loved just now” the husband now has a chance to meet that need, husband could also say “you make me feel useless” he could say “ I feel unimportant”, there is no accusation or blame and there is opportunity to help meet that need.
One of life’s little secrets everyone of us needs to be loved, accepted and affirmed, today after church go home and phone someone who wasn’t here, tell them they are a real encouragement to you, that they build you up and you love having their company. Maybe you are waiting for someone to do that to you, it may never happen, but that is one of life’s secrets, not very secret, “you reap what you sow”
Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive, when you help someone else you are helped too, if you want someone to love you, love them, if you want a friend be a friend, you get out of life what you put into it Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Luke 6:38, if we do enough to get by, we rob ourselves. Jesus talking about a bushel of wheat, you fill the basket, then you scrape off the top with a board, fair measure, Lord is saying we fill it until it over flows, and shake it so it settles done and what we measure out to others will come back to us. Meant to start work at 9? start at 8:45 do that with everything and you will be amazed what life has to offer.
Farmer baker, butter, bread, weigh it to the bread scales
"People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centred. Love them anyway. If you do good, people may accuse you of selfish motives. Do good anyway. If you are successful, you may win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. People who really want help may attack you if you help them. Help them anyway. Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt. Give the world your best anyway."
Be the person God created you to be, no matter what the world says
Prayers of dedication, thanksgiving and intercession Father, we have so much to thank you for: our lives, our talents, our families and friends; but especially your coming to us in Jesus Christ. As we bring you our thanks, we recall the wonders of this world of your creation, and your making us, male and female, in your image. We thank you, too, that through the centuries you have not only been patient with us, but even sent your Son to bring us back to you. In his living and dying, he showed us the greatness of service, the strength of weakness and the power of love. Even then, Lord, you have not left us alone for you have sent us your Holy Spirit to strengthen and inspire us to service. For all these acts of grace and love we offer you our heartfelt thanks.
Loving God, as we pray for your world, we thank you that you value all people, that all are important in your eyes, with none more or less so. And so we pray for all who have lost that sense of perspective. We think of those who have fallen into the error of pride, and ask that you will help them to recognize their weaknesses as well as their strengths. We think of those who feel themselves to be worthless, unimportant, unvalued, or unloved – victims of broken homes and broken relationships, the powerless and the poor, the homeless and refugees, the shy and depressed, the lonely and rejected. Grant them the assurance that, whatever their circumstances, they are precious to you. Give them all a proper sense of their own value, a true appreciation of the worth of others, and, above all, an understanding of your greatness, beside which we are nothing, and yet through which you count us as your children. Lord, we ask that you will hear this our prayer through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Benediction Go back out into God’s world strengthened by God’s word - that that word might be a light to your feet and a lamp to your path. And the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be with you this day and always. Amen
Prayers
Sentence
The grass may wither, the flower fade,
but the word of our God will endure for ever.
Isaiah 40 : 8 Collect (Common Order, page 678)
Almighty God, you have made us for yourself,
and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you. Give us peace in your service, and in the world to come the joy of seeing you face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Call to Worship
Come – you are invited to listen to God’s word that it may be a light on your path. Come – you are invited to bring your praises to God that you may acknowledge his greatness. Come – for this invitation is for you, however you may feel life is treating you. Come – because God created you, God loves you and God welcomes you.
we have come together to worship you, a mixed bunch of people, each with our own problems, concerns and joys, but all knowing that you are here with us, waiting to speak your word, ready to listen, to bless, to lead us. For our part, we bring you our hymns and our reading of your word, our thinking and our listening, our praying and our doubts.
We bring the fellowship we share, the discipleship we offer, the world of which we are part, and the lives you have given us. Receive all that we bring, Father, that we might receive all that you have for us.
And as part of what we bring, we bring you our confession of failings and failures: the times when our discipleship has been half-hearted; the times when we’ve sung Jesus’ praise but failed to follow in his footsteps;
the times when we’ve expected others to serve us but we’ve failed to serve them. And so, Lord, for all such times and for anything else that weighs heavily on our hearts and which we now confess to you in the silence we ask that you will forgive us. (silence)
In gratitude for your many gifts, we lay this offering before you, a token of our offering of our very selves, asking that we may serve you and others to the glory of your name.
Lord, hear our prayer and change our lives that we might be better disciples of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in whose name we ask it. Amen
Relating to others, Understanding grace Matt 22 :37-40 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
We are to love others as we love ourselves, how can we love the seemingly unlovable? Left to ourselves we can’t do it! But God would never ask us to do the impossible. In Christ we have the freedom to relate to others as God intended.
Just knowing who we are in Christ is the foundation for our Christian life and growth in maturity, it also forms the basis for the way we relate to others “we love because he first loved us” 1 John 4:19. We give freely because we have received freely (Matthew 10:8), We are merciful because he has been merciful to us, Luke 6:36, and we forgive in the same way that Jesus has forgiven us, Ephesians 4:32.
We cannot do this if we haven’t got a handle on what grace means for us. “Grace is giving people what they don’t deserve”, undeserved favour, it cannot be earned. Salvation is a free gift and we owe God nothing for it, but when we receive his grace, a strange thing happens. We discover that it really is more blessed to give than to receive (acts 20:35) We find we want to give it away to others
We are responsible for our own character and Other’s needs What are our responsibilities to others? And what rights do we have regarding others?
You ever listen to another couple’s argument? You know that they eventually start attacking people’s character, while looking out for their own needs, you’re selfish, you never help me, never and always! If there is a relationship with that orientation then there is trouble, because it is the exact opposite of how God says our relationships should be. Consider these two passages
Romans 14:4 Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. Someone else’s character is not your concern! It is for that person and God, we are not to judge, each person is responsible before God for their character
Phil 2:3-5 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus
Where we do have a responsibility towards others before God, it is to meet their needs. So we can clearly see that we are responsible for 2 things out own character and meeting the needs of others.
Imagine what life would be like if everyone assumed their responsibility to become like Christ in their character and committed themselves to meet the needs of everyone! That would be heaven on earth!
Being aware of our own sins no one would disagree with that. The big question is why we fail to live it out, too often we are very aware of the failures in other people’s characters, while being blind to our own. Much of this is to do with the condition of our relationship with God.
We look forward to seeing Jesus in his fullness some day, the bible teaches that after the fall no one has fully seen God, some have seen the back of God, or a vision of God, Isaiah ch 6 shows the prophets vision of God on his throne, with his robe filling the temple, and as he saw God, not even fully, he cries out woe is me, I am unclean with unclean lips, when confronted with God does he care what someone else is up to? No it is only his own sin he is worried about, same with us, when we meet with God it is our sin that is our concern not anybody else’s!
Luke ch 5, Jesus uses Peter’s boat to speak to the crowd, Peter had been fishing all night and got nothing, Jesus says to him, go out into the deep water, let your nets down for a catch, he then catches fish after fish, his response is not go away from me I am married to a sinful woman, no what he says is go away from me I am a sinful man.
When we see who God is we don’t care about the sins of others but of our own sin. However, when we are lukewarm in our relationship with God, we tend to overlook our sin and see the sins of others. When they don’t match up to our expectations, we have a tendency to say they are doing wrong and to want to point it out. Our responsibility however is not for their character but for our own character.
Focus on responsibilities rather than rights What right do we have to expect anything from anyone else? Or do we have a responsibility to love one another, care for one another, In every relationship we have both rights and responsibilities- but where should we put the emphasis? Satan will tempt us to focus on our rights rather our responsibilities.
A husband could get angry with his wife because he thinks he has a right to expect her to be submissive. A wife may nag her husband because she expects him to be the spiritual head of the household. Do husbands have a right to expect their wives to be submissive? Or do they have a responsibility to love their wives as Christ loved the Church. Do wives have a right to expect their husbands to love them? Or do they have a responsibility to love and respect their husbands who in turn have the responsibility of being the head of the home?
Husbands, having a submissive wife is not your right, but being a loving, caring husband is your responsibility, being head of the house is not a right to be demanded but an awesome responsibility to be fulfilled. Wife having a spiritual husband is not your right, but being a submissive and supportive wife is your responsibility, focus on your responsibilities, when we stand before Christ, he will not ask us whether we received everything we had coming to us, he will reward us for how well we fulfilled our responsibilities.
Do parents have a right to expect their children to be obedient? Or do they have a responsibility to bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord and discipline them when they are disobedient?
Does being a member of a local church give you the right to criticise others? Or does it give you a responsibility to submit to those in authority over you and relate to one another with the same love and acceptance we have received from Christ? Being a member of the church is an incredible privilege, this privilege comes with the awesome responsibility to behave as God’s children and love God and others.
Of course we all have rights, everybody has a right to be loved, accepted, no matter colour, creed, but we must not hold on to our rights and sacrifice our responsibilities, that is what the world wants, you to demand your rights, forget your responsibilities and sow the seeds of destruction.
What about when others do wrong well all well and good Keith, but what happens when they make a huge mistake? Can we not be their conscience? Can we not tell them exactly where they have gone wrong? All of us find it difficult to won up and say “yes I did it”, too often we see the issues in someone else’s life much more clearly than in our own! Should we try to be the conscience of another person and show them their sin? Nope that is the job of the Holy Spirit, playing the role of God in someone else’s oddly enough will not work! The moment we try and we do try, we take their struggle with God upon ourselves and we are not up to the task. The holy Spirit is the one who convicts us of our sins. The critic is tempted to protest “But I have the gift of condemnation!” actually God has given us the gift of reconciliation, but the critical spirit says, but doesn’t love expose a multitude of sins, no Peter tells us love covers a multitude of sins! (1 peter 4:8)
Discipline yes, judgement no! Well if I can’t condemn, what should I do to keep someone from sinning? Christians do sin, and this affects our relationship with God and others, should you just ignore it, are there ever occasions where I should confront another Christian? How do these verses go together? “do not judge or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others you will be judged” Matt 7:1 and “if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore them gently” Gal 6:1
How can we reconcile the fact that we are not to judge, but we are to carry out discipline? Judgment is not the same as discipline; judgement is related to character, whereas discipline is always related to behaviour, discipline is based on something we have seen or heard, if we see someone sinning against us we are to confront them alone, so we can win them back to God, if they don’t repent then we are to take along tow or three who have seen it too, if they still wont, listen then we bring it to the Church (matt 18) the purpose of this process is not to condemn, but to restore. If there are no witnesses, your word against theirs, leave it alone, God knows, he will deal with it in his wisdom.
We are so often tempted to judge character, however if you catch someone telling a lie and you confront them saying “you have told a lie” Have you judged them? They may think so, but you have simply called attention to sinful behaviour that you have seen.
However if you shout “you are a liar!” that is judgement! Because you have attacked his character, what you think is discipline is in fact character assassination, he is not a liar, he is a child of God who has told a lie, when you call someone stupid, clumsy, proud, evil, you attack their character and it leaves them nowhere to turn because you can’t change character instantly.
If on the other hand you point out their behaviour to them you are giving them something to work with, “ you are right what I said wasn’t true, I am sorry will you forgive me” Saying something like that puts an end to the matter and leaves no scars
If we could memorise and never go against Ephesians 4:29 most of the problems in our homes and churches would disappear! “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful and verse 30, do not grieve the holy spirit. It grieves God when we use words that tear another down instead of using words to build each other up. If you have taken hold of your freedom in Christ, you are free to make the right choice in any situation
Discipline and punishment are not the same punishment is related to the OT concept of an eye for an eye, punishment looks back to the past, whereas discipline looks to the future, Hebrews 12 tells us discipline is a sign of God’s love, if we are not being discipline by God then we are illegitimate children of God. In the same way if we feel we have to approach someone we do it with love, in order to equip them for the future! God does not punish us for our mistakes, our punishment has fallen on Christ, he disciplines us so we will not make the same mistakes again “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful, later on however it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” Hebrews 12:11 The point of discipline it to help someone become more like Jesus, not to punish them for behaving badly!
When we are attacked Ok what happens when the boot is on the other foot? When someone attacks our character? Should we be defensive? We are certainly tempted to, how did Jesus react? When insulted he did not retaliate, when he suffered he made not threats, instead he trusted himself to him who judges justly 1 peter 2:23. Now we are alive in Christ and forgiven, we do not need to defend ourselves, if you are wrong you don’t have a defence if you are right you don’t need one, Christ is our defence.
Woman/pastor/ good points/bad points about him 2 good ones, page of bad ones, he was tempted to defend himself, but said nothing, “it must have taken a lot of courage to share that with me, what do you suggest I do?” She then burst into tears, saying “not you it’s me” and a discussion ensued so she discovered her own ministry suited to her gifts. If the minister had defended himself, what then? The lady would have been convinced her calling was to convince him he was not yet qualified to be a member of the trinity!
If you can learn not to be defensive when someone attacks your character or performance, you may have a real opportunity to turn it around and minister to that person.
Student heard that story, he was doing supply work, got a call from an irate mother, tore him apart, worst teacher my daughter has ever had, he was desperate to get off the phone, but remembering the story kept quiet, then responded “took courage, what would you have me do?”, guess what, tears flowed, relationship restored. Mum was single mum, rebellious daughter had been saying all sorts about the teacher, they were both Christians, they committed themselves to pray for the daughter.
Nobody tears down another person from a position of strength, those who are critical of others are either hurting or immature, if we learn not to be defensive when they attack us, it can lead to an opportunity to minister to them.
Authority and accountability God has given us lines of authority to avoid anarchy in our society, we also have a great need for accountability, think of these 4 words and ask yourself in what way did God first come to you? Authority, accountability, affirmation, acceptance. How you answer this question reveals a lot about you, and how you understand ministry marriage and parenting Paul wrote while we were still sinners Christ died for us, acceptance came firstly, then affirmation “the spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children”
The world the devil are desperate to distort our image of God, to get things back to front, if you see God as a consuming fire first and foremost, as a holy God and you a sinner, you will never get close, but first of all if you see him as a loving father who loves and accepts you as you are, you can get close to him and grow in him.
If authority figures demand accountability, without affirmation and acceptance they will never get it, people may comply on the outside, but they will never share anything intimately, but people will submit to authority when it is first of all accepting and affirming.
Teenager home late, parent reads riot act, where have you been? Out! What were you doing? Nothing!
In the gospels Jesus never says anything like this “I am the Son of God get your act together! He is God but he came as the gentle shepherd, but they were amazed at his teaching as he taught with authority, it came not from a position but from his character, when we see people struggling with sin, we need to learn to be like God, come alongside with an attitude of acceptance rather than rejection without a shred of condemnation but filled with love.
Should we express our needs? Should we suffer in silence then? Or is it ok to express our needs? We all have needs and we are allowed to tell others if they are not meeting our needs, but we have to be careful how we express them, state it as a need not a judgement, “you don’t love me do you?” course I do” case closed, but if she says “I don’t feel loved just now” the husband now has a chance to meet that need, husband could also say “you make me feel useless” he could say “ I feel unimportant”, there is no accusation or blame and there is opportunity to help meet that need.
One of life’s little secrets everyone of us needs to be loved, accepted and affirmed, today after church go home and phone someone who wasn’t here, tell them they are a real encouragement to you, that they build you up and you love having their company. Maybe you are waiting for someone to do that to you, it may never happen, but that is one of life’s secrets, not very secret, “you reap what you sow”
Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive, when you help someone else you are helped too, if you want someone to love you, love them, if you want a friend be a friend, you get out of life what you put into it Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Luke 6:38, if we do enough to get by, we rob ourselves. Jesus talking about a bushel of wheat, you fill the basket, then you scrape off the top with a board, fair measure, Lord is saying we fill it until it over flows, and shake it so it settles done and what we measure out to others will come back to us. Meant to start work at 9? start at 8:45 do that with everything and you will be amazed what life has to offer.
Farmer baker, butter, bread, weigh it to the bread scales
"People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centred. Love them anyway. If you do good, people may accuse you of selfish motives. Do good anyway. If you are successful, you may win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. People who really want help may attack you if you help them. Help them anyway. Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt. Give the world your best anyway."
Be the person God created you to be, no matter what the world says
Prayers of dedication, thanksgiving and intercession Father, we have so much to thank you for: our lives, our talents, our families and friends; but especially your coming to us in Jesus Christ. As we bring you our thanks, we recall the wonders of this world of your creation, and your making us, male and female, in your image. We thank you, too, that through the centuries you have not only been patient with us, but even sent your Son to bring us back to you. In his living and dying, he showed us the greatness of service, the strength of weakness and the power of love. Even then, Lord, you have not left us alone for you have sent us your Holy Spirit to strengthen and inspire us to service. For all these acts of grace and love we offer you our heartfelt thanks.
Loving God, as we pray for your world, we thank you that you value all people, that all are important in your eyes, with none more or less so. And so we pray for all who have lost that sense of perspective. We think of those who have fallen into the error of pride, and ask that you will help them to recognize their weaknesses as well as their strengths. We think of those who feel themselves to be worthless, unimportant, unvalued, or unloved – victims of broken homes and broken relationships, the powerless and the poor, the homeless and refugees, the shy and depressed, the lonely and rejected. Grant them the assurance that, whatever their circumstances, they are precious to you. Give them all a proper sense of their own value, a true appreciation of the worth of others, and, above all, an understanding of your greatness, beside which we are nothing, and yet through which you count us as your children. Lord, we ask that you will hear this our prayer through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Benediction Go back out into God’s world strengthened by God’s word - that that word might be a light to your feet and a lamp to your path. And the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be with you this day and always. Amen
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
my ramblings for this week
Walking in freedom everyday, Hebrew 5 v 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant us have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Talking about maturity, so here is a couple of terribly immature jokes!
The Lone Ranger and Tonto walked into a bar and sat down to drink a beer. After a few minutes, a big tall cowboy walked in and said "Who owns the big white horse outside?" The Lone Ranger stood up, hitched his gun belt, and said, "I do...Why?" The cowboy looked at the Lone Ranger and said, "I just thought you'd like to know that your horse is about dead outside!" The Lone Ranger and Tonto rushed outside and sure enough Silver was ready to die from heat exhaustion. The Lone Ranger got the horse water and soon Silver was starting to feel a little better. The Lone Ranger turned to Tonto and said, "Tonto, I want you to run around Silver and see if you can create enough of a breeze to make him start to feel better." Tonto said, "Sure, Kemosabe" and took off running circles around Silver.Not able to do anything else but wait, the Lone Ranger returned to the bar to finish his drink.A few minutes later, another cowboy struts into the bar and asks, "Who owns that big white horse outside?"The Lone Ranger stands again, and claims, "I do, what's wrong with him this time?" The cowboy looks him in the eye and says, "Nothing, but you left your Injun runnin'."
A mechanic who worked out of his home had a dog named Mace. Mace had a bad habit of eating all the grass on the mechanic's lawn, so the mechanic had to keep Mace inside. The grass eventually became overgrown. One day the mechanic was working on a car in the backyard and dropped his wrench, losing it in the tall grass. He couldn't find it for the life of him, so he decided to call it a day.That night, Mace escaped from the house and ate all the grass in the backyard. The next morning the mechanic went outside and saw his wrench glinting in the sunlight. Realizing what had happened he looked toward the heavens and proclaimed, "A grazing Mace, how sweet the hound, that saved a wrench for me
Growing to maturity Growth should be our natural state, should never stop growing! we are not expected to be instantly mature, many do not progress beyond the baby state, a church of mature Christians is an asset to any town, but a church full of old Christians without maturing has trouble on his hands! 1 cor 3 :1-3 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not worldly? Still had a pattern of sin in their lives, jealousy and quarrelling, they still had a long way to go. New Christians are not expected to be instantly mature, just not able, the flesh is still at work in them, conflicts are still at work in them. These boys are not new Christians though, after a good length of time, still not ready for solid food, Paul is saying this is abnormal, at least it is supposed to be, in our churches today in the west it has become the norm.
Any Christian can become an old Christian it just takes time! Any Christian can become a mature Christian, but many do not! Babies are cute, but if they continue to act like babies as they grow up they become a lot less attractive! Wanting maturity is not enough, even if a wee one wants solid food, if the stomach is not ready, the swallowed food will come right back up! Today’s sermon is to help us understand what makes us unable to digest solid spiritual food so we can remove these barriers and actively grow with God in maturity.
Barriers to maturity not taking hold of our spiritual freedom, need to accept Christ! His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 2 Peter 1:3, you have all you need! When you confess, repent, walk with God, you are taking hold of the life and the Godliness God has give to you! As you grow you give those things in your life that hold you back to God, you give them to God and you are released from the slavery/bondage you find yourself in as you give your life to God! Freedom in Christ is not maturity, freedom can occur in a very short time, maturity takes a lifetime!
Maturity a process of growth that continues throughout our lives as we apply ourselves to knowing God and his word. However freedom is a position we take in response to Christ’s victory over sin and satan. We are either free or bound in any area of our lives; we grow in freedom when we take the authority we have in Christ and we realise where we have been deceived and bound.
Yet freedom and maturity are linked, if we don’t accept freedom we cannot mature, this is the Corinthian Church’s problem, they had not dealt with their jealousy and fighting, so they are unable to move on. No amount of wanting to mature or trying to mature could help with the footholds that the enemy had in their lives.
Not taking personal responsibility if you had to help a friend with a problem like the Corinthian church, you may say “I’ll pray for you in your problems” Paul didn’t, in fact he didn’t do anything directly, Why not? Because he couldn’t! What was required was confession, repentance, submission to Christ and resisting the devil, they had to do it themselves, all he could do was help them see the truth and it was up to them whether they chose to act or not. It would be lovely if all we had to do was ask for someone to pray for us and all our problems would be fixed. But faith and repentance are needed and no one else can repent and believe for you, no one can forgive for you, no one else can submit to God for you. Other people are great, they can encourage, love support us, but we are responsible for our relationship with God, no one else. Throughout NT, it is the individual who has to take action when there is a problem in their walk with God we have to choose for ourselves to take God at his word and stand firm It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Gal 5v 1 you have to decide to stand firm, no one else can do it for you, then you can grow in maturity. You have all you need to grow with God, half the battle is understanding that, we have everything we need in Christ. the only thing that can prevent you from growing in your faith is you! Ultimate question is, will you believe what God tells us is true or will you trust your own feelings? We won’t grow until we take God at his word, even when our feelings scream at us that it’s not true, it takes effort and commitment.
Not knowing the basic truths you are righteous! Writer to the Hebrews, another block in growing In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil., the result is the same, immaturity, they are not stuck in sin, they don’t seem to get the truth, that they are righteous, they are still going in the circles over old issues and never making progress. They needed to hear what we need to hear and believe, that in Christ we are completely righteous, we are saints, there is nothing more to do. “on what basis can you stand before God?” maybe give a good head answer…..but do you believe in your heart or do you think you need to do a good job before god accepts you, do you still feel dirty, useless? Do your own thoughts condemn you even though the truth is that God never condemns the believer? Romans 8:1 believe the truth!
Faulty thinking Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. How do we leave elementary teaching behind? By realising what makes us pleasing to God, you know what that is? Not what you do, not what you say, but what Jesus has done on the cross, that is it, God sees you as acceptable, more as a saint, because of what Jesus did for you on the cross. Nevertheless there are still barriers in us, strongholds we need to break down! We have weapons though
2 Cor 10:4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We have to fight, we are to wield the weapons God gives us, which takes application and effort, our main weapon is the truth, which is the bible, you are significant, accepted and restored, Your father God loves you, and in him we are saints.
Breaking faulty thinking takes time and effort, replace lies with the truth, let the word of God seep into you, the only way you do that is by regular watering with the word, think of that plant that you need to water everyday, when you don’t it shrivels and dies………………..
Not training ourselves to distinguish good and evil Heb 5:14 we grow in spiritual discernment by becoming intimately acquainted with the truth, we have to train ourselves to discern good from evil, so we sense when something is not right, identifying forged notes, the are not shown forgeries, they get to know the genuine ones so much better, they know the true notes so well they can spot a fake in a heartbeat, same for us, we become so familiar with the truth of God, we recognise the lies of the world and the enemy straight away.
How do we grow then? Uncovering lies this series of sermons or the house groups have shown the lies you have held to, when you forgive you find not defeat as the devil would try to tell you, but release, we fear that if the things we have held onto for so long are let go of, we will crumble, we need to banish those fears, we will be free to grow and mature as Christians. When you uncover the lies you have to deal with them
Stronghold busting determine the lie, seek out bible verses, write the truth down, write a prayer declaration “ I renounce the lie that……………, I announce the truth that…………………..” read the verses, say the prayer/declaration everyday for 40 days, coffee pot, next to water jug, word of God
Wrecking ball- 37, 38, 39, 40, but all the rest made a difference too!
A long term view Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Phil 3 v 13-14, take baby steps, then before you know it you will be walking your walk with God, you will be running with God! Have a long term plan! Deal with one area at a time, think about where you could be in a years time!
Practical steps read devotional, be accountable to someone.
Boy lifting stones, couldn’t manage the big one, Dad comes over did you use all your strength? Yes, no you didn’t you didn’t ask me! You are a product of Christ on the cross, use your father’s strength, find freedom, grow and mature in Jesus
Thursday, July 03, 2008
and some more
Sermon notes
The need to forgive, why? Hurt ourselves, give the devil a foothold, if you forgive you will not give the enemy a chance to outwits us, for we are not unaware of his schemes,2cor2
-mental torment
-nothing keeps you in chains more than unwillingness to forgive
Nothing stops a church growing more, than bitterness, unforgiveness, pride
Think of the worst thing anybody ever did to you, why should you forgive that? Required by God (Matt 6 v 9-15) This,then, is how you should pray:Our Father in heaven,hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts,as we forgive our debtors. Your relationship with God is bound to others
If you can’t forgive, you can’t have true freedom in Christ. relate to others as God relates to us. For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. God is judge and Father destiny secure, your daily victory is at stake
Essential for freedom (Matt 18 v 21-35) Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. Pocket calculator, 78, blow brains out. Rather continue to forgive for your own sake, God doesn’t want you in bondage and bitterness because of your past
The extent of our own debt (Luke 7:47)
Pharisee Simon, woman washes feet with tears, £500, £50, who would love more? Those who have been forgiven much love much, those forgiven little love little. Our best is like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) forgiven much affects our capacity to love others.repayment is impossible Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
Ten thousand talents, millions, Jesus saying repayment is not an option, another way has to be found. Your debt to God was far to large 2 repay
-Mercy is required The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.'
Understanding concepts
Justice- giving people what they deserve
Mercy- not giving people what they deserve, we are to be merciful, as God is merciful, in other words we are not to give others what they deserve
Grace- Giving people what they don’t deserve, we have to go further, begins with us and God
Freely you have received free you must give, we relate to others in the same way God relates to us.
So lets see what the servant does v 28 "But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded. 3 months wages, not trivial debt, but much less than his!
The need to forgive
His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?‘ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. TORTURE, spiritual torment
"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
So that no advantage be taken of us
(2 Cor 2 v 10-11) I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes. Do not let him get a foothold
What does it mean to forgive from the heart? Not being British, not quick and forgotten
I choose to forgive……………
For (what they specifically did to me) which made me feel……………
The crisis of forgiveness
-Forgiveness must be extended to others, Jesus said if we come to church, and remember, we need to leave our offering and be reconciled, by confessing we are in the wrong, asking forgiveness and making it right
If we have offended we go to make amends, but if someone offends us we go to God.
-the crisis of forgiveness is actually between God and us
-Why forgive? To stop the pain. You may say “you don’t know how much hurt has been caused” they are still hurting you!
_woman who has been left by her husband for another woman “I will never forgive” who does it hurt? Not him. Fisherman. Hook, leave it in?
When we forgive we may think we are letting them off the hook, but by not forgiving we are the ones on the hook in pain, never getting free!
What is forgiveness?
-Not forgetting, God forgets? No he says I will remember no more, I will put it far away, I will not dredge up the past against you! Husband/wife argument, I am not forgiving you, you can’t forgive simply by forgiving
-Not tolerating sin, wife/children suffering abuse, be submissive? Nope! Woman and abusive mother
Not seeking revenge, I want to have the satisfaction of hating that so and so, you lose, on the same level as the abuser. You say “I want revenge” what does God say Rom 12:19, “leave it to me”, let them off your hook, but they are not off God’s hook -Where is the justice? The cross, for all sins, either Christ will pay, or they will
God will settle all accounts, when you forgive you give it all to God to take it
What is forgiveness -Resolving to live with the consequences of another’s sin.
If you are to forgive like Christ how did he forgive? He took our sins upon himself, in a sense we have to do the same, forgiveness is to live with someone else’s sin “not fair” nope but we are to do it anyway, (Adam), our choice is to do it with bondage of bitterness or freedom of forgiveness
Forgiveness is to set a captive free, and then you realise that you are the captive!
-forgiveness is between you and God, he commands you to love because he has forgiven you! He knows bitterness ruins you and others, and miss out on the 10:10 life. Not about right and wrong, rather clearing the rubbish and walking away, for your sake, not the person who hurt you.
We can only do it with the power of God by the holy Spirit, can we just ask him to show us who we need to forgive and let him work through us to do so?
“Lord will you please show us if there is someone we need to forgive in order to walk in the freedom you have won for us, Lord in your power help us forgive and go before us in our walk with you, thank you Lord, Amen.
The need to forgive, why? Hurt ourselves, give the devil a foothold, if you forgive you will not give the enemy a chance to outwits us, for we are not unaware of his schemes,2cor2
-mental torment
-nothing keeps you in chains more than unwillingness to forgive
Nothing stops a church growing more, than bitterness, unforgiveness, pride
Think of the worst thing anybody ever did to you, why should you forgive that? Required by God (Matt 6 v 9-15) This,then, is how you should pray:Our Father in heaven,hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts,as we forgive our debtors. Your relationship with God is bound to others
If you can’t forgive, you can’t have true freedom in Christ. relate to others as God relates to us. For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. God is judge and Father destiny secure, your daily victory is at stake
Essential for freedom (Matt 18 v 21-35) Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. Pocket calculator, 78, blow brains out. Rather continue to forgive for your own sake, God doesn’t want you in bondage and bitterness because of your past
The extent of our own debt (Luke 7:47)
Pharisee Simon, woman washes feet with tears, £500, £50, who would love more? Those who have been forgiven much love much, those forgiven little love little. Our best is like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) forgiven much affects our capacity to love others.repayment is impossible Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
Ten thousand talents, millions, Jesus saying repayment is not an option, another way has to be found. Your debt to God was far to large 2 repay
-Mercy is required The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.'
Understanding concepts
Justice- giving people what they deserve
Mercy- not giving people what they deserve, we are to be merciful, as God is merciful, in other words we are not to give others what they deserve
Grace- Giving people what they don’t deserve, we have to go further, begins with us and God
Freely you have received free you must give, we relate to others in the same way God relates to us.
So lets see what the servant does v 28 "But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded. 3 months wages, not trivial debt, but much less than his!
The need to forgive
His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?‘ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. TORTURE, spiritual torment
"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
So that no advantage be taken of us
(2 Cor 2 v 10-11) I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes. Do not let him get a foothold
What does it mean to forgive from the heart? Not being British, not quick and forgotten
I choose to forgive……………
For (what they specifically did to me) which made me feel……………
The crisis of forgiveness
-Forgiveness must be extended to others, Jesus said if we come to church, and remember, we need to leave our offering and be reconciled, by confessing we are in the wrong, asking forgiveness and making it right
If we have offended we go to make amends, but if someone offends us we go to God.
-the crisis of forgiveness is actually between God and us
-Why forgive? To stop the pain. You may say “you don’t know how much hurt has been caused” they are still hurting you!
_woman who has been left by her husband for another woman “I will never forgive” who does it hurt? Not him. Fisherman. Hook, leave it in?
When we forgive we may think we are letting them off the hook, but by not forgiving we are the ones on the hook in pain, never getting free!
What is forgiveness?
-Not forgetting, God forgets? No he says I will remember no more, I will put it far away, I will not dredge up the past against you! Husband/wife argument, I am not forgiving you, you can’t forgive simply by forgiving
-Not tolerating sin, wife/children suffering abuse, be submissive? Nope! Woman and abusive mother
Not seeking revenge, I want to have the satisfaction of hating that so and so, you lose, on the same level as the abuser. You say “I want revenge” what does God say Rom 12:19, “leave it to me”, let them off your hook, but they are not off God’s hook -Where is the justice? The cross, for all sins, either Christ will pay, or they will
God will settle all accounts, when you forgive you give it all to God to take it
What is forgiveness -Resolving to live with the consequences of another’s sin.
If you are to forgive like Christ how did he forgive? He took our sins upon himself, in a sense we have to do the same, forgiveness is to live with someone else’s sin “not fair” nope but we are to do it anyway, (Adam), our choice is to do it with bondage of bitterness or freedom of forgiveness
Forgiveness is to set a captive free, and then you realise that you are the captive!
-forgiveness is between you and God, he commands you to love because he has forgiven you! He knows bitterness ruins you and others, and miss out on the 10:10 life. Not about right and wrong, rather clearing the rubbish and walking away, for your sake, not the person who hurt you.
We can only do it with the power of God by the holy Spirit, can we just ask him to show us who we need to forgive and let him work through us to do so?
“Lord will you please show us if there is someone we need to forgive in order to walk in the freedom you have won for us, Lord in your power help us forgive and go before us in our walk with you, thank you Lord, Amen.
been a wee while!
Sermon notes
One of my favourite programmes is grand designs, Kevin, started going back to houses they have visited, reminded me of ground force they started going back to the gardens after a year, to see how well the gardens which they transformed have fared after a year. This garden was in Milton Keynes, personally I thought the woman didn't deserve to have her garden done up in the first place, she was so ungrateful. Anyway Charlie Dimmock goes back after a year with the cameras and they look to see how everything is growing. They knock on the door and the woman comes
'O it's a bad time, she say's, you've caught me out, I haven't been doing the gardening.' 'We have come to see how you have been looking after that beautiful garden which we entrusted to you'
Inside the lovely gazebo that the Groundforce Team had built is a pile of sand dumped in a corner. The borders haven't been cultivated since the previous autumn and everywhere is a mess. Unlike the feigned surprise on the faces of people when they come home to discover their new garden, these return visits really are a surprise. We know this because if she had known that they were coming, she would surely have done her hair, let alone cut the grass in the garden which looked equally a mess. Caught out she was, surprised!
The resurrection of Jesus, we are told, was equally a surprise for his disciples. They were not expecting him to return. They were caught off their guard and instead of being prepared and ready for Jesus they had let everything go. Even worse when Thomas got the tip off to say that Jesus had risen and was alive, he still refused to believe. The reaction of Thomas when he was told about Jesus was not one of, 'Hang on, I had better get ready to meet him' Rather he is sceptical and unbelieving, an attitude characteristic of many people today. We could say that in many ways Thomas was born 2000 ahead of his time.
Doubting Thomas reflects a pervasive 21st century hesitation when it comes to matters of faith. Sometimes there is not a flat denial of truth but a mentality that is sceptical, suspicious, and demanding of hard evidence. This is not a closed mind really, but one open to the truth only after it has been fully proved and makes human sense. We might sympathise with Thomas and his demand for physical proof before he accepted anything of what had been said to him. Human report was not enough, he had to see it for himself. However for those who are sceptical, no amount of proof will ever be enough.
But Jesus had faith in his disciples, he didn’t have any other plan, but he left them with the Holy Spirit, not to be part of a holier than thou club, or enjoy lots of spiritual experiences, but rather that they can do in and for the world what Jesus did in Israel, show them who the messiah is, he has faith in us too.
Faith is undoubtedly a risk, a gamble. Yet in refusing to believe what was said about Jesus by those who had met him, to refuse to believe without the possibility of placing his fingers in the holes in Christ's body, Thomas was of course taking a risk. To believe or not to believe, both are risks and require faith.
· 1. To believe in Jesus as God incarnate, dead and then risen requires faith.
· 2. But equally, to say that Christ is dead, to dispute the personal testimony of history and the church and millions of believers, also requires faith.
As an example—Stephen Hawking, the Cambridge scientist, claims there is no God, but make no mistake, this is not an objective scientific assessment. He has so many unanswered questions himself, the most important questions he fails to even try to answer. He is not able to suggest where the carbons and gases and basic building blocks of life came from. Rather it is his statement of his personal belief when he says that there is no God. He is saying
'I believe that the creative processes of the world were accidental, that the world was made through cosmic accident, but whereas I don't know where the basic components came from I am sure it was not from a power bigger than I can understand. '
Important ! In actual fact this position runs contrary to the weight of evidence. The precise nature of the universe, the witness and testimony of Christians throughout the ages and across the world.
Our message is simple, it is this, Jesus is the messiah, the Son of God, everyone who believes in him will have eternal life, that was Jesus’ message, believe in him and have life, we need to accept that, we need to tell others too. It is not rocket science
Stephen Hawkings eminent scientist, did an advert for SpecSavers, Hawking takes a ride around the planets. He sees the wonder of the universe the colours of the galaxy and the size and beauty of it all and he expresses his delight at creation. And yet this is a man who claims that there is no God. Confronted by the most wonderful aspects of nature, Hawking speaks about how nice his new glasses are from SpecSavers—and yet he has no spiritual vision whatsoever. Sadly, you cannot go down to the local opticians and buy a pair of specs, which will open the spiritual blindness of those without faith. This is one of the mysteries of the universe. How can people look at the wonder of the world and attribute it all to accident? Even the chaotic parts of the world, the sickness, the times when nature goes out of control, even these bits seem to confirm the concept of a benevolent creator, because they seem to run contrary to the natural and expected pattern which is so full of the order designed and intrinsic to all that we see.
Faith cannot be bought. In one sense it is a great leveller even before death. If you haven't got it then nobody can give it to you. Your parents can't leave it in a will, you can't inherit or bequeath it. You can't buy it or give it away. Its not for the rich or the poor, you may have all the wealth in the world and yet still be unable to have the vision granted by faith. How sad, for it is this one thing—faith—and faith alone which transforms the created order in which we live from a giant cosmic meaningless accident, and makes sense of it all. Like Thomas we may be unprepared for the knock on the door. We may be unprepared to consider the existence of that which we cannot see or touch. Yet we know in our hearts that there is so much more to life than can be seen with the eye or proven with mathematical equations. Love for example cannot be weighed or measured, but it is the most powerful force in the universe and likely the most important need in our lives. Without faith we are restricted in what we can see, it is only with the vision of faith that all things are revealed.
Jesus praises those who see with faith and called them blessed.
So is faith something over which we have no control? Are we damned at birth never to be able to believe? No, the requirement for faith is a willingness to trust, Jesus said that we must become like children, children will trust. And if we are prepared to take that risk and open ourselves to the possibility of being surprised by God, then that faith will expand our vision. I remember wearing glasses for the first time, they weren't SpecSavers, but I walked out of the opticians and could see individual leaves on trees and the lines of mortar in brick walls. Faith is like putting on spectacles and seeing things clearly for the first time. Faith can open our live and allow Gods miracles to come true.
Conclusion
Thomas is the only one to declare that Jesus is God, he is the one, he is the messiah, there is no one after him he is it, so we have to make a choice, to trust no matter what, and enjoy what God has in store, or coast along, with our doubts gnawing our faith away to nothing, we shrivel and die and the hundreds and thousands that we could influence with the gospel go to hell happily not knowing what they have missed.
So today ask yourself if your vision is limited by the 'show me' culture of Thomas. We may have doubts, even Calvin allowed that Christians will have questions and doubts as a normal part of their belief, there is lots which we do not know or understand. But are we prepared to be surprised by God? And those of us who have accepted the presence of the risen Christ, then have we still the capacity to believe in miracles for others and ourselves. Are we prepared to trust in him who loves us? To trust and love no matter what?
There is the very real possibility that the risen Christ might turn up unexpectedly like a member of the Groundforce Team, even this day, asks to see how well we are tending to that which has been entrusted to us.
One of my favourite programmes is grand designs, Kevin, started going back to houses they have visited, reminded me of ground force they started going back to the gardens after a year, to see how well the gardens which they transformed have fared after a year. This garden was in Milton Keynes, personally I thought the woman didn't deserve to have her garden done up in the first place, she was so ungrateful. Anyway Charlie Dimmock goes back after a year with the cameras and they look to see how everything is growing. They knock on the door and the woman comes
'O it's a bad time, she say's, you've caught me out, I haven't been doing the gardening.' 'We have come to see how you have been looking after that beautiful garden which we entrusted to you'
Inside the lovely gazebo that the Groundforce Team had built is a pile of sand dumped in a corner. The borders haven't been cultivated since the previous autumn and everywhere is a mess. Unlike the feigned surprise on the faces of people when they come home to discover their new garden, these return visits really are a surprise. We know this because if she had known that they were coming, she would surely have done her hair, let alone cut the grass in the garden which looked equally a mess. Caught out she was, surprised!
The resurrection of Jesus, we are told, was equally a surprise for his disciples. They were not expecting him to return. They were caught off their guard and instead of being prepared and ready for Jesus they had let everything go. Even worse when Thomas got the tip off to say that Jesus had risen and was alive, he still refused to believe. The reaction of Thomas when he was told about Jesus was not one of, 'Hang on, I had better get ready to meet him' Rather he is sceptical and unbelieving, an attitude characteristic of many people today. We could say that in many ways Thomas was born 2000 ahead of his time.
Doubting Thomas reflects a pervasive 21st century hesitation when it comes to matters of faith. Sometimes there is not a flat denial of truth but a mentality that is sceptical, suspicious, and demanding of hard evidence. This is not a closed mind really, but one open to the truth only after it has been fully proved and makes human sense. We might sympathise with Thomas and his demand for physical proof before he accepted anything of what had been said to him. Human report was not enough, he had to see it for himself. However for those who are sceptical, no amount of proof will ever be enough.
But Jesus had faith in his disciples, he didn’t have any other plan, but he left them with the Holy Spirit, not to be part of a holier than thou club, or enjoy lots of spiritual experiences, but rather that they can do in and for the world what Jesus did in Israel, show them who the messiah is, he has faith in us too.
Faith is undoubtedly a risk, a gamble. Yet in refusing to believe what was said about Jesus by those who had met him, to refuse to believe without the possibility of placing his fingers in the holes in Christ's body, Thomas was of course taking a risk. To believe or not to believe, both are risks and require faith.
· 1. To believe in Jesus as God incarnate, dead and then risen requires faith.
· 2. But equally, to say that Christ is dead, to dispute the personal testimony of history and the church and millions of believers, also requires faith.
As an example—Stephen Hawking, the Cambridge scientist, claims there is no God, but make no mistake, this is not an objective scientific assessment. He has so many unanswered questions himself, the most important questions he fails to even try to answer. He is not able to suggest where the carbons and gases and basic building blocks of life came from. Rather it is his statement of his personal belief when he says that there is no God. He is saying
'I believe that the creative processes of the world were accidental, that the world was made through cosmic accident, but whereas I don't know where the basic components came from I am sure it was not from a power bigger than I can understand. '
Important ! In actual fact this position runs contrary to the weight of evidence. The precise nature of the universe, the witness and testimony of Christians throughout the ages and across the world.
Our message is simple, it is this, Jesus is the messiah, the Son of God, everyone who believes in him will have eternal life, that was Jesus’ message, believe in him and have life, we need to accept that, we need to tell others too. It is not rocket science
Stephen Hawkings eminent scientist, did an advert for SpecSavers, Hawking takes a ride around the planets. He sees the wonder of the universe the colours of the galaxy and the size and beauty of it all and he expresses his delight at creation. And yet this is a man who claims that there is no God. Confronted by the most wonderful aspects of nature, Hawking speaks about how nice his new glasses are from SpecSavers—and yet he has no spiritual vision whatsoever. Sadly, you cannot go down to the local opticians and buy a pair of specs, which will open the spiritual blindness of those without faith. This is one of the mysteries of the universe. How can people look at the wonder of the world and attribute it all to accident? Even the chaotic parts of the world, the sickness, the times when nature goes out of control, even these bits seem to confirm the concept of a benevolent creator, because they seem to run contrary to the natural and expected pattern which is so full of the order designed and intrinsic to all that we see.
Faith cannot be bought. In one sense it is a great leveller even before death. If you haven't got it then nobody can give it to you. Your parents can't leave it in a will, you can't inherit or bequeath it. You can't buy it or give it away. Its not for the rich or the poor, you may have all the wealth in the world and yet still be unable to have the vision granted by faith. How sad, for it is this one thing—faith—and faith alone which transforms the created order in which we live from a giant cosmic meaningless accident, and makes sense of it all. Like Thomas we may be unprepared for the knock on the door. We may be unprepared to consider the existence of that which we cannot see or touch. Yet we know in our hearts that there is so much more to life than can be seen with the eye or proven with mathematical equations. Love for example cannot be weighed or measured, but it is the most powerful force in the universe and likely the most important need in our lives. Without faith we are restricted in what we can see, it is only with the vision of faith that all things are revealed.
Jesus praises those who see with faith and called them blessed.
So is faith something over which we have no control? Are we damned at birth never to be able to believe? No, the requirement for faith is a willingness to trust, Jesus said that we must become like children, children will trust. And if we are prepared to take that risk and open ourselves to the possibility of being surprised by God, then that faith will expand our vision. I remember wearing glasses for the first time, they weren't SpecSavers, but I walked out of the opticians and could see individual leaves on trees and the lines of mortar in brick walls. Faith is like putting on spectacles and seeing things clearly for the first time. Faith can open our live and allow Gods miracles to come true.
Conclusion
Thomas is the only one to declare that Jesus is God, he is the one, he is the messiah, there is no one after him he is it, so we have to make a choice, to trust no matter what, and enjoy what God has in store, or coast along, with our doubts gnawing our faith away to nothing, we shrivel and die and the hundreds and thousands that we could influence with the gospel go to hell happily not knowing what they have missed.
So today ask yourself if your vision is limited by the 'show me' culture of Thomas. We may have doubts, even Calvin allowed that Christians will have questions and doubts as a normal part of their belief, there is lots which we do not know or understand. But are we prepared to be surprised by God? And those of us who have accepted the presence of the risen Christ, then have we still the capacity to believe in miracles for others and ourselves. Are we prepared to trust in him who loves us? To trust and love no matter what?
There is the very real possibility that the risen Christ might turn up unexpectedly like a member of the Groundforce Team, even this day, asks to see how well we are tending to that which has been entrusted to us.
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