Author: Penuel Baptist Roch

Sunday afternoon August 7th 2022: 200th Anniversary Service: Jonathan Thomas

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To watch this service click on the link to our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/D01LcP8ZoGk

Song of Songs Chapter 2

If you’re a Christian, I want to ask you some questions. They may seem strange and you may not be sure of the answer. You might not even agree that my questions are appropriate. If you are a Christian today, you know you are saved, but do you know you are special? You know that God has chosen you, but do you know He cherishes you? You know that you are redeemed, but do you know that Jesus relishes time with you? You know that God loves you, but do you believe He likes you? I wonder what you think of those questions? I’ll be honest, I struggle with them. It’s as if the gospel is good but I struggle to believe it’s great.

This morning we looked at the barrier to spiritual intimacy of knowing Christ; we just can’t believe that God would love a sinner like me. It is something that we all struggle with. But then there’s a time that comes when we realise that that’s exactly the gospel – I’m not loveable but He loves me. He has made me lovely and now I can rejoice because everything I have is His and it all depends on Him. We see that the answer to how we view ourselves is this great exchange – that He takes my sin and gives me His righteousness. So now everything I have is Christ’s.

But then, as we come into the Christian faith, even though we understand that we are in Christ, and even though we cherish Him, it’s possible to hide from true intimacy with God. There’s a barrier. Let me show you what I mean. Songs of Songs 2, verse 1, she says, “I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.” He replies, “As a lily among brambles, so is my love among the young women.” (Song of Songs 2:2) I feel for this young woman. What we have here is a continuation of the conversation in chapter 1. She is making a bold statement which we misunderstand today. We think she is quite confident! Actually, at this time and in this location, the rose and the lily were the commonest of flowers. They just sprung up everywhere. It’s like saying, ‘I am a daffodil.’ She is saying ‘I’m pretty – pretty common.’

I think the reason we struggle with the opening questions are because we feel, ‘I am loved because the church is loved.’ We struggle with individual language. We are happy with corporate language. We are happy to have the church be the bride of Christ, but we struggle to bring that to us. There is a danger here; we must remember that we are united to Christ, but by being united to Christ we are united with all other believers. You have to remember that you are part of the church. Galatians 2:20 says, “I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” One of the wisdoms of the Christian life is learning both – Christ loves the church and vice versa. It’s so important to try not to think of ourselves as a common Christian but a special saint – but no more special than any other saint. We are all equally priced because everything we have is based on Christ. What we tend to do is, because we all have the same, we lower it. I’ve got three boys so whenever I give them the same, they don’t want it. One of them wants to have more than the other. Having the same thing as everybody else makes it seem not special. We need to understand that all of us having the same Christ does not make it not special. It’s still special.

One of the implications of this thinking is that we can become Christians who don’t believe that God is interested in us. Think of Jesus as a doctor who gives us life-saving surgery. Sometimes, you see people doing an ultra-marathon because they had a car accident, and a surgeon saved their life and saved their leg. They then want to raise money. You also see it with the RNLI – someone was going to drown, and these men and women go out and save their lives. You see photos or television programmes of them being reunited and saying, ‘Thank you so much.’ Often, we can think of Jesus like that. He’s done an amazing thing but then it’s over.

The point of conversion is not the end of the story, it’s the start of the story. That’s the complication of the fairy tale ending. When we come to Christ, that’s not the ending. Fairy tales end with the wedding and then they all lived happily ever after. But I want to know what happened then. That’s the problem; we create a society where everybody thinks the happy ever after is the boring part that we’re not interested in. But actually, that’s the bit I’m fascinated by.

What does it mean to know Christ now that you are united with Him? Because of this view of ourselves being quite common, as she has in verse 1, we can end up not wanting to spend time with Jesus because we  think He doesn’t want to spend time with us. We’ve got this transaction of salvation and we leave it there. Because of this, she comes to the point where she actually hides from him. In verse 14 he says to her, “O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the crannies of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.” She is hiding from him.

I think, as Christians, sometimes we can hide from Jesus. You have a problem so big that deep down in your heart you’re thinking, ‘I’m in this problem because of me. I’ve created this.’ We don’t pray about it, we don’t go to Jesus about it.

I want to talk about the relationship between union and communion. So far this weekend, I have been teaching union with Christ. It’s the biggest doctrine in the New Testament and it is the most important. That’s why Paul keeps saying, ‘In Christ.’ You are united to Christ. Jesus has done everything and now we are in Jesus. We are united to Him. If you are united in Christ and in Him, you are as sure of heaven now as you will be when you get there. He has us and we are His.

But within our union with Christ, which is unchanging, unmovable and utterly secure -nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus – there is communion with Christ. Within the union there is experience of communion in Christ, of spiritual health and vitality. This covers a whole host of things: you can feel it, it can be peace in the midst of confusion, it can be balm to the soul in the midst of hurt and pain. We need to grasp that within the union we have with Christ, He wants us to have communion with Him.

The Lord Jesus invites us to abide in Him, to draw near to Him, to come to Him. What we tend to do as Christians, which causes us lots of heartache, is judge our union with Christ on our communion with Christ. For example, if I feel Christ, I must be secure in my faith. But it’s like being on a spiritual roller coaster all the time. You can be high on a Sunday morning, feeling the Lord loves you and you are going to heaven. Other times, on Saturday nights, you can be in the depths of despair, feeling Jesus doesn’t love you and you don’t know if you’re going to heaven or hell. When you base the judgement of your union with Christ on your communion and experiences of Him, it is up and down, up and down. Never do that.

Our communion with Christ and enjoyment of Him comes from our union: I can know Christ because I am united with Him. Because I am united with Him, even if I can’t feel Him, I am secure. Isn’t that wonderful! Even if I don’t feel the Lord Jesus, He still loves me. I am His. If we get our union with Christ right, we can go for this invitation of intimacy, of communion with Christ, knowing Him in our weakness and in our sorrows, in our joys and in our difficulties. We can ponder, spend time with the Lord, meditate on scripture, allowing our minds to wonder. We have this communion that we are invited to. This communion is based on how amazing Jesus is.

She sees herself as lowly, common, but he responds in verse 2 by saying she is “a lily among brambles.” He is saying, ‘My darling, among the young women, you are special to me.’ We need to see Jesus. If we see Jesus, we will know our union more and we will enjoy our communion more. This is something that open to all Christians. It looks different for so many Christians. Sometimes, Christians talk about it in two stages; there’s a time when they were a Christian but they weren’t enjoying God, and then something happened and they enjoyed God. For most Christians though, I think it’s just steps, experiences, different seasons of life and experiencing the Lord in those different seasons. And that looks different for everybody. The wonderful thing is the Lord meets us where we are.

There are three things we see about Jesus in this passage. Firstly, when she looks at the king, she sees him as her protector. Jesus is our protector (verses 3 & 6). She sits in his shade. He protects her. It’s a lovely picture of protection and embracing. It’s a picture that is repeated in scripture in lots of different ways, particularly with the church. One of my favourites is in Revelation 1. John, as a persecuted Christian, is given a vision of heaven. The curtains of heaven are rent so he can look in. Although he’s being persecuted, he can see a great throne, a higher throne. Everything is going to be OK. You get this amazing vision where the church is there, represented as lampstands and Jesus stands among them. Wonderful! All the churches in Pembrokeshire, Jesus stands among them. Then we see Jesus holds the churches in His hands. Is He standing there or holding the churches? Both! Then, whilst He is standing among the churches and holding them in His hands, John is falling down on the floor as if dead, so Jesus places His hands on John’s shoulders and says, ‘Don’t worry. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last.’

The Lord Jesus is our protector and He is amongst us.  We remember the words of the Lord Jesus, ‘I give them eternal life and they shall never perish, no one will snatch them out of My hands.’ Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. If you know Christ is your protector, and you are safe and secure in Him, in your union, you can enjoy communion.

In verse 6 we read, “His left arm is under my head and his right arm embraces me.” Wonderful protection and embrace. Does that mean we will never get sick? No, you’ll get sick. Does it mean you’ll never get persecuted? In all probability you might get persecuted and have problems for being a Christian. You might get into difficult conversations. But it does mean that Jesus will never leave you and He will keep you forever. Even if we don’t trust Jesus in difficult times, He still has us. He is our protector.

Jesus is not just our protector, He is also our provider. “Let him lead me to the banquet hall and let his banner over me be love. Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.” (Song of Songs 2:4-5). “My beloved is mine and I am his.” (Song of Songs 2:16a). He is the provider. Everything that is his is hers. He brought her to a banquet, to a public feast. He is giving her food and recognition. Food is a time of celebration. Here he is celebrating her, providing for her. We pray for the Lord to provide, but we also remember the Lord Jesus is the bread of life. He provides Himself. We should want Him.

When it comes to this kind of union, we must make sure we do not get it wrong. When we think of relationships, we can think of a symmetrical, equal, mutual relationship. That is not the case. We haven’t all brought something equal to this relationship. Jesus has brought His righteousness, His love, His eternity, His beauty, His holiness, His sovereignty. What have I brought? My sin and my need. We don’t come symmetrically, but in our union we are one and all that is His is mine. It’s phenomenal, isn’t it?

Thirdly, we see that Jesus is our pursuer. In verses 8-15 we see the king comes leaping across the mountains and hills. He’s really excited. But then in verse 14 he says, ‘My dove is in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside.’ It seems to me she is hiding. She really wants the Lord but there’s something stopping that. She’s building a wall, this cleft of rock around her. She knows he bounds towards her, she knows that he loves, but yet she’s in the cleft of the rock.

This is the great struggle of the Christian life; I know the Lord loves me, I know the Lord will forgive me, I know the Lord is gracious, yet will I confess that sin? No. Why? Because deep down, I’m not sure He will forgive me. I know the Lord is calling me to do something, to step out in faith, to trust Him, to follow Him, to give my all to Him in that certain area of my life, but will I do it? No. Why? Because I’m not really sure He is the provider.

Here, she remembers what the Lord is like, and she see that he is a pursuer. She has built this wall, but he comes. See how he comes to her – this is really important. We hide from the Lord and when we don’t believe we can come to Him, listen to how He comes, “My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show me your face. Let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely.” (Song of Songs 2:14). Do you believe that your voice to the Lord Jesus is sweet and that your face is lovely?

When we build walls between us and God, He doesn’t come and bulldoze them down. He doesn’t come and say, ‘How dare you build a wall, don’t be so silly.’ He comes and wants her to being the walls down, he wants her to see him. Hosea is so similar because there’s this marriage picture being used when Israel has gone away from the Lord completely. Yet the Lord says these wonderful words, “I will allure her.” (Hosea 2:14). He is the one who comes and says, ‘Speak to me. I want to hear your voice. Come before me. I want to see your face.’

In verse 11 we see what she remembers about him, “See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the seasons of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.” What we call experience in our communion with Christ of going away, backsliding, a wilderness period, which there can be so many reasons for, in Revelation it is talked of as ‘being cold.’ A winter has come in our relationship with the Lord. The wonderful thing is, if we call to Him, the winter is over. The flowers come out. The wall can be brought down. We can stand face to face. “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him and he with me.”

Friends, is the Lord calling you to open the door? Is the Lord calling you to speak to Him again? Have you grown cold? Have you built a wall and you’re willing to go this far but no more? The Lord says, ‘Come to me. All that is mine is yours and you are mine. I love you. I want you to enjoy me and to know me.’ The Lord will meet you in the way that you need Him.

Sunday Morning 7th Augut 2022: Jonathan Thomas 200th Anniversary Service.

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To watch this service click on the link to our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/xBaB0uI-L04

Song of Songs 1: 5-17

I believe in fairy tales. At least, I genuinely believe in fairy tale endings. Before you think I have completely lost the plot, let me explain what I mean. I believe that all fairy tales we were told as children have something in them that, deep down, is incredibly true. All fairy tales have a similar plot, a similar ending. Why has everyone written these stories? Why do we love the stories? Why do generation after generation of children, myself included, enjoy stories about the ugly sisters or the prince coming to save the day or the ultimate wedding feast with all the dancing? It’s because these fairy tales are aches to a long, lost echo; deep down, we all want to be loved. That’s what all fairy tales are about. Deep down, we all want to be loved by the king.

We don’t just want love, we want love with someone who can sort everything out. We all long for it in different ways. Some people long for it in romantic relationships. When I was growing up, I had a friend who had a file book and she had already chosen her wedding dress, she knew what the wedding was going to be, she had it all in a file. For other people it could be football. You fill your walls with posters of football players in the hope that you will be spotted, in the hope that one day you’ll be given that chance. Some hope in rugby, that one day people will realise that you are the answer to the needs of the Welsh rugby team, that one day you will get that call, ‘Let’s go, I want you to play.’ Wouldn’t that be amazing. It could be wanting success, a promotion. Some people look for success in sacrificing for others, in philanthropy, doing good. Sometimes, we want people to need us. We need people to need us, and we want people to see us. Deep down, it’s not that any of these things are wrong, but there is an ache for something. Because we have this ache, it drives us.

So often we look for happiness, success and significance in all the wrong places. Oscar Wilde famously said, “There are two tragedies in life: not getting what you want and getting it.” There is an ache within us. There is an ache that, so often, can be fulfilled in life for a season, when life is good. I live in an area in Abergavenny that is very affluent. When we think of evangelism outreach to people who have got money, family, a nice house and a nice life, people who are very happy, it is hard. When I say to people, ‘If you’re not very happy, come to Jesus.’ Their response is, ‘No. I’m happy. I’m happier than you.’ But when we realise that these things may fulfil for a while, there is something more.

In the Song of Songs there is a love that is fairy tale. It is so amazing that it will seem like fiction. But this isn’t a fairy tale. It is the ultimate thing that God has put in our hearts. God has placed eternity in our heart. He has put a longing in our heart for something that seems so crazy we put it in the category of fairy tale. But it’s even greater than a fairy tale and it is true.

The first thing we see in verse 5 is undeniable fear of ugliness. I wonder, does anyone here fear that you’re ugly? I don’t just mean physically. Does any one here fear if someone actually got to know you, they wouldn’t like what they see? In verses 5-7 the woman is speaking. We know that she loves the king and wants to marry the king. We know that he has come to her and she can come to him and speak to him because he has initiated this. All the friends are rejoicing, ‘Wow! What a great relationship.’

Everyone is excited and celebrating. Then, something happens in our hearts – this undeniable fear of ugliness. She says, “Dark am I, yet lovely, daughters of Jerusalem, dark like the tents of Kedar.” (Song of Songs 1:5). Here is a barrier to intimacy. She has a moment where her self-image and self-worth is rock bottom. How you view yourself affects everything.

The woman starts talking about the complexion of her skin. She keeps going on about the colour of her skin, that it is dark. She says, ‘Don’t stare at me because I’m dark, because I am darkened by the sun.’ The darkness is, in effect, a suntan. The question is why? Because she’s been to Newgale Beach on holiday and had a wonderful time, got a lovely tan and shared it on Instagram? No! She says, “My mother’s sons were angry with me and made me take care of the vineyards.” (Song of Songs 1:6b).

Here is Cinderella. She has brothers who have told her to work in the vineyards. Here is someone who has been forced to do labour that she shouldn’t do. She has been forced into a situation where she has been forced to do something that she shouldn’t. She says, ‘If I’m looking after your physical vineyard, “my own vineyard I had to neglect.” (Song of Songs 1:6c) because her brothers have forced her into this situation because they are angry with her.

She is having this moment of doubt because of what has been happening in her family. It’s amazing how much of our childhood and family affects our relationships. In verse 6 she thinks everyone is staring at her. She doesn’t want people to stare at her because she is dark. How often do we think that people are looking at us? She is out there because her brothers have put her out there. She is struggling.

“Tell me, you whom I love, where you rest your sheep at midday.” (Song of Song 1:7a). She has literally been calling to him in verses 2-4, and now she feels that she has lost him. She doesn’t know where he is. Her upbringing, her experiences, her hurt, have all become a barrier to experiencing his love. If you are involved in any kind of psychology, counselling or social services, you’ll know about ACEs – Adverse Childhood Experiences – all the childhood experiences which affect them in later life. If you go into fostering or adoption, you’ll learn all about attachment disorder and how the experiences of childhood can make you struggle to attach to others. How many of us will sometimes remember things from our childhood come back to haunt us? The wonderful thing is all those things can be changed. Lives can be changed with a loving environment.

What we are seeing in this book is a life being transformed by the love of the king. But the first thing we have to see is there is an undeniable fear of ugliness. Do you have a fear of ugliness? How do you view yourself? I think deep down we all fear that we are so ugly that God can’t love us. Sometimes, when bad things happen, we say, ‘What have I done to deserve this?’ because, deep down, we think we do deserve it.

The woman has this fear, so she doesn’t know where the king has gone. She says, “Why should I be like a veiled woman?” A veiled woman in that culture is a prostitute. She has really gone down to the depths. Her friends listen to her and say, “If you do not know, most beautiful of women, follow the tracks of the sheep and graze your young goats by the tents of the shepherds.” (Song of Songs 1:8). Don’t we need friends like that, friends who come along side and say, ‘Hold on. He hasn’t gone, you haven’t lost him. This is the way to go.’ Very often in life we need people to come along and say these things. In a sense, I feel that is my burden for this weekend, to come in God’s word and say, ‘Here is the way to Jesus. Here is the way to know love. Here is the way to find eternal life.’ It is wonderful when people come alongside.

She’s been having a complete meltdown. Her friends point her in the right way and in verse 9 he speaks. I love this. He says, “I liken you, my darling, to a mare.” Today, that doesn’t sound like a lovely thing. But in this poetry, he is speaking to her in response to what she has said. It shows us he has heard her. When I read the Bible, I see when God’s people cry out to Him and think He’s nowhere, He’s always there. When God’s people were in Egypt in slavery, they thought God had forgotten them and had left them. Things went from bad to worse. They knew they were there by their own deliberate fault, trusting in other gods rather than Yahweh. What did they do? They cried out and God heard them and came to them. Remember how Elijah had a massive victory and then straight afterwards had post-mission blues? He lost all his trust in the Lord. He’s completely destitute and God comes to him, feeds him, listens to him, talks to him, and tells him to rest. When we cry out to the Lord, even when we share that undeniable fear of ugliness, the Lord hears us, then He speaks to us.

Firstly, we had the undeniable fear of ugliness. Secondly, we have the unbelievable fact of undeserved love.

“I liken you, my darling, to a mare among Pharoah’s chariot horses. Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels” and so on. In those days, a horse was a thing of beauty and was the animal of power. He is telling her she is a powerful, beautiful woman, adorned in natural beauty. She isn’t beautiful because of the jewels; they enhance her beauty. They often say, ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.’ The king is clearly besotted with her. He is in love. He sees beauty. He is looking beyond what Julian Hardyman calls, ‘socially determined stereotypes.’ Within God’s creation beauty is not socially constructed. There’s a pressure today for us to conform to what the world says is beautiful.

The king tells her how beautiful she is, and she responds by getting incredibly excited. What does this mean for us today? Is it, we have an undeniable fear of ugliness and God says, ‘You’re actually amazing.’ Is that the gospel? No. There is something different going on. Deep down, we all know that that isn’t sufficient. C.S. Lewis says, “He loves us not because we are loveable but because He is love.” Whatever God’s love is for us, it is based on His love, not on us. We know we are not perfect; we know that we sin. We know that there are problems. We know about Genesis and the Fall, we know about Romans 1-3. We are able to say with Paul that we are the chief of sinners.

Why does the king say she is beautiful? Because in His eyes she is. Luther, the great Reformer says, “God does not love us because of our worth. We are worth because God loves us.” Your worth is in the price purchased. God paid for us with His only Son. For the believer, it is not just what Jesus was willing to pay for you, but it’s now that you are His. That is the love than transforms us, that makes us beautiful. This is a truth that, as Christians, we need to grasp.

We believe we are sinners. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves. We believe that Jesus came and lived for us the perfect life that we could never live. He always did what the Father wanted Him to do. He always followed the Commandments. He did this on our behalf. We believe that Jesus died to pay the price for our sins. It is a wonderful exchange. Jesus takes my sins. ‘He who knew no sin becomes sin.’ If you think of it like a debt, we are in debt to God, Jesus has come, He has lived the perfect life and has died on the cross and paid our debt. That’s amazing! But we often stop there, but the gospel is so much more. When Jesus lived and died for us, then rose again on the third day, went to heaven and is now preparing a place for us, He didn’t just pay off our debt, but He filled our account to the max. He did not just take us from being an enemy to a non-enemy, He took us from being an enemy to a son, to a friend, to the beloved. So, He just didn’t die for us, He lived for us. This divine exchange isn’t just Christ taking our sin, but it is Christ giving us His righteousness. There is a complete exchange. It’s wonderful!

On the cross, when the Father looked at Jesus, if you have trusted in Christ, He saw you. It was your sin that held Him there. Here is the wonderful thing – if you have trusted in Christ, your sins were nailed to that cross in Christ. Now, when the Father looks at you, you can call Him Father because now He sees Christ. ‘I am clothed in robes of righteousness.’ It’s not just that the old self has gone, but there is a new creation. It is not just that your sin has been taken away, you have had righteousness imputed to you. That is why we can always know that God loves us and delights in us. I love the ways we go from being slaves to sons, from being lost to being loved. Jesus has done it all.

Some of us have got a limited view of Jesus. Deep down, this undeniable fear of ugliness keeps coming out. I often think of Jesus as a barrister. Barristers are wonderful people. If you get a good barrister, he can get you off pretty much anything. When a barrister stands in a court he speaks on your behalf. They do everything for you. I think there are barristers who have defended people they don’t like. Do we sometimes view Jesus like that? Legally He has died for me and I’m so thankful. But we leave it there. The gospel is far, far greater. He wants to draw us near. He wants to love us and embrace us. He wants us now to be with Him.

I think we’re all slightly living ‘My Fair Lady.’ We feel like we’ve come to the Kingdom, we’ve come to the church, and we’ve been taught to speak and sound like someone who is ‘in’ – but we’re all waiting for that Cockney accent moment to happen, when people don’t think we deserve to be here. But Jesus has done it all. I believe that when we read the Song of Songs there is poetry here that is showing us how God delights in us. It is undeserved.

Friends, do you suffer from imposter syndrome? There is no place for imposter syndrome in the Christian life. There are no imposters in the Kingdom. If you have trusted in Christ, all that is His is yours and the Father loves you. He sings over you. He says, ‘Come under my wing.’ He says, ‘Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.’ It’s a wonderful, wonderful truth.

I love the way that God’s love makes us lovely. We have this amazing love. The king talks about it in how He sees her. She responds with excitement (v12-14). Then you get this lovely mutual exchange, “How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes are doves.” Can you get to a point where you believe that is true of you and Christ? If all your worth is based in Christ, then to the Lord you are beautiful.

How does she respond? “How handsome you are, my beloved! Oh, how charming!” When we see who we are in Christ, that makes us worship Him all the more. It is a wonderful thing.

Saturday 6th August 2022: Jonathan Thomas 200th Anniversary Service

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Song of Songs 1:1-4

I remember coming to Pembrokeshire as a boy with my father, who loved to walk sections of the coastal path. I remember being excited, wondering what treasure I would find, having heard stories of smugglers and pirates around the coves of the Pembrokeshire coast. Can you imagine if, one day, you were going out and you saw a glimpse of a treasure chest in a cove? You realised you couldn’t get into it. You needed a key.

Within life there are a lot of treasures, things that we would love to have, but we’re never sure of the key, how to get into it. How do we make relationships work? What is the key? How do we find the meaning of life? What is the key? How do I know I am loved? What’s the key? How can I be truly happy? What is the key? Often, we can see that there’s a treasure of delights, but we don’t have the key. A ‘treasure of delights’ is actually how one rabbi in the 9th century described the Song of Songs.

This weekend we are going to spend our time in the opening chapters of the Song of Songs and try to find a key to unlock it, to a treasure of delights that is available to all of us. When was the last time you sat through a sermon on the Song of Songs? If you have, when was the last time you sat through a series of sermons on the Song of Songs? It’s one of those books that is neglected in the Bible. At points, it’s rather embarrassing. It’s also one of the most debated books in the Bible. Maybe you’re here and you’ve never read it, or maybe you started to read it and stopped. My hope is that by Monday morning, you’ll want to read the Song of Songs, and you’ll have a key to understand it.

I believe that within this book there’s teaching that can revolutionise our relationships with each other, but more so with God.

Firstly, this is a song. That’s the genre, the style of writing. It is a poem set to music. If you like music, it creates emotion. You feel music. Sometimes, even before the words start, or even if there are no words, you feel something. When a classical piece comes on, you may feel longing. When a country piece comes on you may feel a broken heart. When the blues start, you might get to feel depressed. Music creates emotions.

This is a song, which means it conveys feelings. It’s a poem set to music. Poetry can work on multiple meanings and levels. Something that’s quite simple, can be making deeper points. When it comes to poetry, you must always remember that what we are looking for is the author’s intent and meaning. When they wrote, what did they intend us to feel? What do they want us to understand? If you read the Song of Songs, on first read it comes about like a song about romance, about relationships. In many senses, it’s about marriage and its consummation. That’s why the book can be a little bit embarrassing.

The second thing to know about Song of Songs is that it is not smutty. It is an ethical book all about a poem about Solomon and the Shulamite. They are about to get married. They want two to become one (v4). She wants to go into the chamber, the King’s chamber. It is talking about marriage. This is not just poetry. The style of writing comes within wisdom. This is about more than just romance. This is a song of Solomon. It comes within Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Psalms and Job.

If you know your Bible, you’re already saying, ‘You said this book was about one man and one woman. Now you’ve said it’s Solomon. How many wives did he have? One, two, five, twenty, two hundred, 400?’ It was 700. Not just 700 wives but also 300 concubines. What’s going on? That doesn’t seem very ethical. Solomon was the Hugh Hefner of his day. But interestingly, when he writes this book it’s all about one man and one woman. The man who had experienced everything, tried everything, ultimately, when he wrote the manual on relationships, writes it about one man and one woman. What’s going on?

I think that when Solomon was writing this, he was an old man who had learnt a thing or two. He has now realised that God’s design is monogamy – one man and one woman. Everybody in the Bible, outside of Jesus, is flawed. Everybody in the Bible, outside of Jesus, makes mistakes. Solomon has realised that. If you read Ecclesiastes, you know Solomon had experienced everything. He was like a rock star, a YouTuber, an Instagram influencer. But in the end, he comes down to the Song of Songs.

Whilst Song of Songs is not shy about relationships, this weekend I am not going to give you any relationship advice. I think you can read the book on two levels: you can read it spiritually about Christ and you can read it about relationships. I think there’s lots to learn there, but in the weighting, there’s more towards Christ. What we need to realise here is the answer to life is not human relationships but something far greater. Solomon hasn’t come to the point where he has realised monogamy is the ultimate key to life, He has come to realise that monogamy is the right way for relationships.

I was at a wedding earlier today and I gave a talk. I was at pains to say to the couple, ‘You are not the answer to your marriage. Your marriage is not the answer.’ You see, what happens when people get together and they think the relationship is the answer, that the other person is the answer, this is what happens: we put the person up on a pedestal and say, ‘You will save me, you will be everything I need, you will always be there for me.’ What happens when we put someone up on a pedestal? We quickly pull them off. That is so cruel to the person; they can’t be everything. No-one can be everything.

We have to make sure, as we come to the Song of Songs, that we don’t say human relationships are the answer. Otherwise, what about single people? What about widows? What about people caring for a partner, but due to ill health can’t love them or help them in return? What about Jesus? He was never married, yet He was the perfect man. So, there is something more going on in this Song. It is a song, it is not smutty, it is a song of Solomon.

Here is the last thing to note: it is the Song of Songs. It reminds me of ‘the Holy of Holies.’ This is Solomon’s greatest song and I believe it is the Bible’s greatest song. The greatest song in the Bible cannot be about human relationships because that would make human relationships an idol. It is about far more than that. I believe this is ultimately about Jesus. For the first 1600 years of church history, that is pretty much how everybody taught it. Everybody was happy to read this and see Jesus. Even though, if you read some of the old books, it does get rather fanciful and does go a bit too far. But you can read this book looking at Jesus, square on. Some of you might still be not sure. Let me give you a reason why you can. Firstly, allegory, seeing these things out of representation, happens throughout the Bible. The New Testament does it to the Old Testament. In Galatians chapter 4, we read these things are taken figuratively – the woman represents two covenants; one covenant from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be saved, this is Hagar. Hagar stands for Mount Sinai and the Arabia corresponds to the presence of Jerusalem.  Basically, the New Testament author is looking at the Old Testament saying, ‘There’s a history but actually there’s something symbolic happening there.

The main character in the Song of Songs isn’t a random but he is the King of Israel, a son of David, in the line of the Messiah – Jesus. The New Testament picks up on marriage and says, ‘When you see marriage, it is a picture of something greater.’

So, the New Testament teaches that when you see a marriage, you are meant to think of something else. This comes out in a number of different places. One place is Ephesians chapter 5. Here, Paul is teaching about marriage, where husbands and wives should submit and sacrifice for one another and should love one another. When he is going through that he then says, ‘Just as Christ does for the Church, for we are members of His body.’ Then he quotes Genesis saying, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” He goes further and says, “This is a profound mystery – but I am talking about Christ and the church.”

So, the New Testament teaches us when you think of marriage, remember to think of a better, greater, ultimate marriage. It’s always important not to get that confused. Sometimes we get this the wrong way round. We say, ‘I want to know what the relationship between the church and God is like, so I look at human marriage.’ That’s not the best way to do it because sometimes marriages are weak and there are problems. Rather, Ephesians switches this on its head and says, ‘If you want to know what marriage is like, look at the relationship between Christ and the Church.’ When you get the way Christ loves the Church, you will understand how you should love one another.

What is the big story of the Bible? Have you ever thought that in the opening chapters of Genesis we have a marriage. Imagine Adam seeing Eve and just singing, overwhelmed by the beauty. There they are, two as one. They are married together. How does the Bible end? The big climax of Revelation is a wedding in heaven. The big theme of the Bible is marriage, the ultimate wedding. So, when we read Song of Songs we can look at it as a way of understanding our relationship with God.

What can we learn from Song of Songs, chapter 1:2-4? These are lovely verses. I have to be honest, when I was sixteen, I laughed at these verses. It was the joke in our youth group. If we wanted to embarrass our youth leader, we used to say, ‘My favourite text is, “Let him kiss me with kisses of his mouth.”’ But I’ve learnt over the years, to love this. Even if it does feel awkward and embarrassing, if you pause to read it and read the next line each time, you start to realise, ‘This isn’t talking about what I think it’s talking about. It is about something far more profound.’ Here we have intimacy and invitation, love and longing.

Intimacy and invitation.

The woman is talking. She is passionate. In verse 2 she is inviting him to intimacy; she wants to be kissed. Solomon wants to make sure we don’t misunderstand here, so he repeats himself. She says, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.” She said it twice, there’s no ambiguity here. He doesn’t have to wonder, ‘Shall I make a move or not?’ She is very clear, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.” She says, “of his mouth.” This is not kissing on the cheek, this is intimate. But it is more than that. Look at verse 4. She wants to go away with him, “Take me away with you – let us hurry!” She wants them to go away together. This is an invitation to intimacy. That is what we see first.

Love and longing.

Whilst I joke about the kissing, it’s not really about the kissing. Look closely. Why does she want to be kissed? Why does she want to be close to him? You see in verse 2 the linking word, ‘for.’ “For your love is more delightful than wine.” She is not really interested in the kiss, she is interested in the love. It is not the kissing that is intoxicating, it is the love. The love is “more delightful than wine.” That’s amazing. You see, his love is like fine wine. That’s why she wants to draw close. She then says it’s like a fragrance, “Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes.” Whatever this perfume is, it’s not Linx Africa! There is something better going on here.

Smells bring associations. Sometimes, you can smell certain perfumes and remember your mother. Certain smells bring something to mind. The smells of the seasons, for example when rain is coming, or when the hedges and flowers are in bloom, can bring to your mind remembrances. The smell here is amazing. But it’s not just a smell. Just like it wasn’t about the kisses, it was about love, so it’s not about the smell. “Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes; your name is like perfume poured out.” The perfume is his name. That is what gets her excited.

In the Bible names represent things. It doesn’t happen so much now. Often people get names, for example, from a Disney film. But people still get given names with a meaning. Our youngest boy is called Seth Joshua. He is called Seth Joshua because there is an amazing man in Welsh history called Seth Joshua. When someone comes up to him and says, ‘What’s your name?’ He can say proudly, ‘Seth Joshua.’ I love his name because every time I hear it, I think of him but I also think of Seth Joshua. There’s a reason in the name.

In the Bible, names are often linked to character and will describe the character of the person. There is a name here that is like perfume. There is name here that is love. There is a name here that when you hear it, you want to draw closer. When people come and visit in the house, or when people come into the workplace, you hear a name and you either want to go and hide in the kitchen or you can’t wait to meet them, to sit, to listen, to see them. Certain names get us excited.

There is a name here that gets her excited. Who is he? He is the king. “Take me away with you – let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers.” (Song of Songs 1:4). This is why she is so excited. She wants to draw near because she is loved, loved by the king. What we have in the Song of Songs is the ultimate fairy tale – being loved by the king. From Sleeping Beauty to the frog, from one of the Bridgeton girls to Meghan Merkle, there is a story that is deep in all of us, in all of culture, that we desire – to be loved. The Bible says it is an ache in all of us for something more, someone more – the king. So, she wants him to come and ultimately go into the chamber. She wants them to become an ‘us,’ to be married, to be together forever.

We have said the Bible starts with a wedding and it ends with a wedding. Have you ever thought about the centre of the Bible? The centre of the Bible, when we go from the Old Testament to the New Testament, is the arrival of the Bridegroom. In Matthew 9 and John 3, for example, Jesus refers to Himself as the Bridegroom. When you look at Matthew 22 and 25, Jesus says that the great day is going to be the wedding banquet in heaven. It’s all about this great romance and this great wedding. The King wants to be married to the church. We see in Revelation 19 wonderful words, “Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: ‘Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Revelation 19:6-8).

The Bible is all about consummation, all about this wedding feast. It’s amazing. It should affect us. Julian Hardyman, a minister, has written a wonderful book on Song of Songs (Jesus lover of my soul) and he says, “Christ is so infinitely sweet and beautiful and satisfying as to evoke a deep longing and a wild, mad desire. He wants us to love him with all the madness our souls are capable of.” If you ever met Julian Hardyman, he is not an over-the-top guy. He is very refrained. But yet, having read Song of Songs, reflecting on Christ’s love, he is able to write about a madness our souls are capable of. In Psalm 2 we are commanded to kiss the son. Hebrews invites us to draw near. Repeatedly in Scriptures we are encouraged to come under the shadow of His wings, to find rest in Christ, to let God sing over you and quiet you with His love.

Sometimes, we sing a hymn, ‘Jesus Lover of my soul.’ Is this your view of Jesus? That Jesus is the lover of our soul, who calls us to draw near, to know His name, and to desire to know him more. It’s wonderful.

We are all different. I know the singing was superb this evening. After two years of Covid, of singing out of tune on Zoom, to be amongst God’s people again and to sing and to hear singing is wonderful. Whilst we were singing, I was looking at the projected words on the wall. I didn’t turn around and seeing you singing, but I am sure some of you would have looked miserable. However, if I was able to see inside your heart, you would be jumping for joy. Some people get really excited, but they haven’t told their face. That’s fine. Other people might seem as if they need to calm down as they raise their hands exuberantly in worship. That’s fine. We are all different. We don’t have to show things in the same way. Very often, you find the true heart of someone in a prayer meeting.

The Lord has created you the way He has created you. You express yourself in the way you express yourself. Praise God. Don’t feel pressure to give a show or look like someone else. You are who God has made you to be. You can see that in marriages. Sometimes, you look at couples and think, ‘He’s not very happy.’ But he’s delighted. He just wouldn’t know how to show it. There’s a story about an old couple who went on holiday who heard a young couple talking on the table next to them. The young wife was telling her husband how much she loved him. The older wife turned to her husband and said, ‘You never tell me how much you love me. Why not?’ He replied, ‘Well, my dear, I told you that I loved you on the day that I married you. If it changes, I’ll let you know.’ It shows we’re all different.

The wonderful news for us is the King has come to us. The King is the one who initiates. She can only go to the King because the King has come to her. She can only ask the King to come to her because He has gone to her. This is so important to understand. We can love God because He first loved us. It’s always the best news of the gospel. It starts with this wedding, enjoying the Lord in the garden. It’s wonderful. But soon, we go our own way. The fall is horrendous.

Everything in the garden is perfect. God has given Adam everything he needed. Adam and Eve were there with the Lord, forever to enjoy. But yet, they wanted to put something else up on the pedestal. They didn’t want to get something by the Lord’s name, they wanted to get something of their own names, about each other, other things. Very quickly, the world goes from beauty to death. You get this beat of death: wars, killings, hatred, brothers falling out. All these terrible things. The world goes from bad to worse.

If you read the Bible for the first time, not knowing the whole story of the Bible, when you get to Noah and the flood, you kind of want to go, ‘That’s the end.’ But all through the Bible God keeps going, ‘Hold on.’ One of my favourite verses in the Bible is in Genesis, when you read, ‘And the Lord walked in the garden in the cool of the day.’ It’s a lovely verse. For years I thought, ‘Wasn’t life amazing before the Fall.’ Then you read the verse and you realise it’s after the Fall. Even after Adam and Eve had rebelled, the Lord walks and He comes to them. He talks with them, and He gives them clothes. He covers their shame. He makes them a promise. He talks about the serpent being crushed one day. Even after the flood there’s a rainbow, reminding us of His promise. All the way through the Bible, every time you go away from God He always comes up with ‘But.’ Even in the darkest passages of the Old Testament there is always hope.

There is fine print in the Old Testament. When you get a contract when you take out a mortgage, there is always the fine print. In the big words they tell you everything they are going to give you. But in the fine print they say, ‘But this is how we’re going to take your house.’ When I read the Old Testament, I find it completely the other way round. The big text is ‘You’ve gone away. You’re wayward.’ Look at Hosea, a classic passage where marriage is used as an illustration of Yahweh and Israel. You get all of this judgement. Then comes the fine print, ‘But yet I will take you out of the wilderness. But yet, I will come to you.’ The fine print of the gospel is grace.

The wonderful news, the story of the Bible is even though we reject God, in the New Testament the Bridegroom comes. The Lord Jesus comes into our mess, into all of our rebellion, to show us His love. Christ gave Himself for us because He loves us. It is the ultimate romance.

Friends, as you celebrate 200 years of faithful witness here, remember Jesus. Remember that He is the great lover of our souls, that He has given all for us. If we trust in Him, we can draw near to Him. If we trust in Him, we will know His name. John Newton wrote, ‘How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer’s ear.’ Why? Because when we hear His name we should want to draw near. We should, in the words of Psalm 2, want to kiss the son. We should want to know His love, hear His name, come close to Him.

For what is 200 years here? It’s 200 years of God’s faithfulness, the One who has given everything for you.

July 31st 2022: James Gleave

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Philippians 3:4b-21

This is a tremendously encouraging passage. We are going to look at the idea of pressing on, at the reasons why we can and should press on, both as an individual Christian in your own life and also as a group of Christians, as a church.

Paul has numerous reasons for writing this letter to the church in Philippi. Some of those are quite practical, some are a little bit concerning, as this young church begins to show signs of being vulnerable to this unity and to legalism. The reason I like for Paul’s writing of this letter the most, and that fits best with this morning’s message, is this: Paul’s writing was also an opportunity to encourage Christians to suffer bravely, to live in single-mindedness and to trust their lives to the Lord in all things and under all circumstances.

Before we jump into this passage, I want to share with you the reason for my desire to bring you a message of encouragement. I have been coming here, to Penuel, close to two decades, for many times. I have seen many changes. I have got to know you and share fellowship here with you in this historic building, on the beach and in some homes. It’s been limited to the times of year that we’ve come down as a family for a holiday. But over the last few years, through the wonders of technology, I have had new opportunity to see more of the work God is doing in this church. I want to share with you how much it uplifts my spirit, how much it encourages and inspires me to see what God is doing with you guys here in Roch: the youth work, Sunday ministry and other times of fellowship that you share together.  It is really amazing. Firstly, this morning, I want to give glory to God for what He is doing with you guys. I hope that you can join me as you reflect for a moment on the vitally important work that God has given you to do here, in Pembrokeshire.

God has even more to do with this church, in your community and in the wider area of Wales that you are connected to through your partnerships, and the groups of other churches that you have connections with. God has so much more that He wants to do – so many more people that He wants to reach with the gospel, and so many more opportunities for you to take.

Your opportunity, as Christians here in this community, is even bigger than the wonderful things God is already using you to accomplish. I want to encourage you to press on.

  1. The cost associated with pressing on.
  2. The crown. The reward we will receive as we do so.
  3. The command Paul gave the church in Philippi, and that he gives to you and I today.
  1. The cost.

The first thing Pauls tells us of the cost associated with pressing on is pursuing an increasingly Godly standard of living. It cost Paul his prestige (v4). Paul gives his credentials as a Jew, his resumé. Paul is a Jew if ever there was one: he was circumcised on the eighth day of his life, he was from the tribe of Benjamin. He calls himself a ‘Hebrew of Hebrews.’ He includes ‘Pharisee’ in the recent occupation section of this resumé. In his culture and in his circle of influence, Paul has that pure bred pedigree. As a result, he occupies a prestigious position within the Jewish community.

Some of you may well occupy prestigious positions, professionally or socially. Like Paul was able to do in his days as a Jew, you might be able to sit here this morning quite content with where you have found yourself in the world’s hierarchy or in the hierarchy of your friendship groups in your company or places that you find yourself.

Remember, Paul wrote about his desire to see the church at Philippi live in single-mindedness. What Paul is telling us about the prestige that he’s given up is that not only does he no longer derive confidence in his own resumé and in his pedigree and history, that whole way of life and thinking which sought self-promotion and prestige, is actually detrimental to his ability to live that single-minded life that he wants to see the church in Philippi live. It is in direct opposition to his calling and to our calling to live with 100% focus on Jesus Christ. We have to be ready to throw away the pursuit of worldly prestige and throw away the confidence which we often fall into deriving from it.

The second cost Paul outlines for us, that he has given up in order to press on and pursue Godly living, is his power. Paul’s role as a Pharisee will have come with the ability to influence and control the lives of those around him in his community, to direct the lives of the Jewish people. Even more than that, he has the power to negatively impact the lives of others, as he reminds us of his time spent persecuting the church (v6). But Paul gives up this power. This is not to be glossed over. We see in the world today the negative consequences that we can experience when people gain power and are unwilling to give it up, using it for the wrong purposes.

Power is addictive and intoxicating. It becomes very difficult to give up on. A fundamental fact of our relationship with God is that His omnipotence leaves no room for our potence. For us to press on successfully as Christians we must lay down our power in order to benefit fully from God’s. This is something that Paul has realised during his journey towards his faith. He wishes to encourage the church in Philippi, as well as you and I, today. Don’t fall into the trap of believing that your ability to make decisions, or to control and influence, is a demonstration of strength. When it comes at the expense of your reliance on God’s power and strength, it becomes a weakness and a drag on our ability to press on.

Finally, Paul gives up his self-righteousness. That is something we all do when we become a Christian, we give up our self-righteousness. We accept our inability to chase down our own righteousness. This can be extremely liberating. But for some people it’s a huge challenge and a big stumbling block to overcome. Something to keep in mind when we are seeking to reach out to people is that not everyone is going to see this relinquishment of their ability to try and control their own destiny as a positive thing. Some people want that in their own hands. Let’s be sympathetic to others who struggle to let go of their self-righteousness.  

The other aspect of giving up our self-righteousness is that it makes it very difficult to be self-righteous. Yet, how many times do we find ourselves guilty of thinking, ‘We’re not as bad as that guy,’ or ‘This sin isn’t as bad as that sin.’ As easy as giving up our self-righteousness to make way for the righteousness of our sacrificial Saviour sounds, we find it quite difficult to fully implement in practice. But in order to press on we must forfeit our right to be judgemental and critical of others because we have to fully acknowledge our own shortcomings.

As we press on and seek to make ourselves increasingly available to God, we must completely surrender self-righteousness and all the behaviours it can give birth to in our lives. Paul sums up the cost of pressing on in chapter 3 verse 8, when he explains that he has lost all things for Jesus. Everything Paul has written down on his resumé he has had to discard and let go of in order to benefit from the resumé of Christ, our perfect and eternal Saviour.

As a result of Paul experiencing both the cost and the crown, we can learn that he isn’t really sentimental of all that he has had to give up. Instead, he describes his former way of life, and all it contained, to be garbage. He also says, in v12, that he is forgetting what is behind. In other words, his former way of life might as well not exist anymore. The lesson for us is that we cannot afford to hold onto our old way of living, not even a little bit. We must throw it all away.

  • The crown.

As humans we need motivation. We are often very used to comfort, and we have ample opportunity to default to the path of least resistance in many aspects of our lives. That’s a path where the concept of pressing on is totally alien.

The reward of a new righteousness. For many this morning, this is hopefully going to be a simple reminder of something which is an unending source of joy in your life. For some of you, this might still be a foreign concept. You might be wondering what having a righteousness really means. It is a gift from God (v9) and it is yours through faith. It is a ticket, a pass to an eternity with Jesus. As you shed your imperfect, flawed self-righteousness, you are given the benefits of Christ’s perfect righteousness, making you acceptable in the sight of a holy and just God.

We also have a new goal. Some speculate that some members of the Philippian church that Paul was writing to, had already begun to believe that they had achieved the goal of Christian perfection. They thought they had completely surrendered to God. This really is the crux of this morning’s message: never be satisfied with where you have arrived at as a Christian or as a church. In Matthew 5:48 Jesus encourages people to ‘be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ That is just one aspect of this new goal that we receive as Christians. It is something that requires a lifetime of pursuit. It is something we will never attain but something which gives our life new meaning.

There is work to do, there is more life to be lived, more goals to be obtained, more opportunities to rise to, more Godly missions to accept. I encourage you to accept the reward of having this new goal. It is your reason to get out of bed in the morning, your reason to move forward in life with incredible drive and focus, your reason to press on. God has called you and me heavenwards to receive the prize of His grace and mercy, His forgiveness and eternal life.

Whilst we are journeying through this life, let’s leave no stone unturned when it comes to pressing on towards this goal of Godly living, and the goal of people reached, and souls saved. What a privilege God gives you and me, such a glorious objective to strive for together. Along the way we pray that we become fully reliant on Him, on His righteousness and on His power.

In verse 20 Paul reminds the Philippian church and us today, that we are promised a new home. Our forever home, our citizenship, is in heaven. Something far greater is waiting for us. In John 14 Jesus says, “In My Father’s house there are many mansions.”

Paul encourages us to press on beyond this life to our true, forever home where we will be with Jesus. When we get there the job will be done. The outreach programmes and the kids’ clubs will cease and we will praise and worship our God together, free from pain, tiredness, stress and busyness. Until then, brothers and sisters, we must press on, knowing this gift of a true, forever home is waiting for you and for me.

Finally, on the crown, Paul says we will have a new body. Yet another reason for us to press on. We must look after our earthly bodies. The weariness we feel now will all pass away. One day we will shed these bodies for good. We will have the blessing of a transformed, imperishable body in heaven.

Press on towards God’s promised gifts of new righteousness, the new goal, the new home and the new body.

  • The command.

The command Paul gives to the church in Philippi, in verse 17, is the command that we can take on ourselves. Paul appears to undo some of the humility that he’s demonstrated earlier in the passage. He says, ‘join together in following my example.’ We need to understand the context that Paul gives this command in. Paul’s whole message, in all of his writings, is that he is pressing on towards Christ. In verse 10 he says he wants to know Christ and the power of His Resurrection and to participate in His sufferings, even becoming like Christ in his death. When Paul says to the church in Philippi, ‘Do what I do,’ he is simply saying, ‘Do what Jesus did.’

This idea of pressing on in this life doesn’t have an end in this life. The end of our pressing on comes when we arrive in heaven. It’s a relatively foreign concept in the context of our society and to many people. In our country we have a retirement age which we work towards. We plan for it and when it arrives, for some people that’s the cue for winding down and putting your feet up. There seems to be a desire to make progress and press on for a season in life. During this season we live with a certain intensity. The temptation for some people is they let go of the intensity. Paul’s command reminds us as Christians, that not only do we need to press on, continually pursuing God’s standards in the way that we live and in the way that we serve, but on top of that, as we grow and learn and get ever closer to the goal, our responsibility to live as an example to those around us also grows.

In summary, let us follow Paul’s example of paying the full cost associated with Godly living, shedding everything that hinders us from pressing on. Let us strive to become increasingly open, ready to be used by God, and ultimately to become the signpost for those around us, both non-Christians and Christians.

Here, at Penuel, God is using you. I believe He wants to do even more. I believe He wants you to press on for your own benefit and for the benefit of those you seek to serve. If you’ve been used by God in these past few years to drive this work in Penuel forward, please press on. If you’re maybe getting worn down by it, and there are days when you wonder if the work is still worth it, please press on. If you’re feeling encouraged by what God is doing in the way that I am, and rejoicing in the Lord, as Paul commands us to do in verse 1, that’s great. Use that as fuel and continue to press on.

If you’re someone who, perhaps, has been a bit more on the fringes, for whatever reason, (maybe Covid knocked you out of a rhythm and routine of service, maybe personal circumstances have overcome you, perhaps the costs associated with a greater pursuit of God’s desires in your life), please consider all that God has for you – that crown that is waiting for you – and press on. On the days when it seems that the plan might fail, take it to God in prayer. When necessary, tweak the approach but never change the goal. Continue to press on towards it.

I promise you today, through every up and down, through all the moments that the outreach feels a bit like trench warfare, when it becomes a battle of inches, it will be worth it, when in glory we’re all rejoicing together with new righteousness received, our new goal complete, our new home occupied, a new body to enjoy, surrounded by those God was able to reach through our faithful decision to press on. Praise God for all that He is using you to accomplish. Never forget that it is through Him and Him alone, that all you are involved with is possible.

July 12th 2022: John Funnel

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Jonah 1:1-3

Who here has heard of the story of Jonah? After Adam and Eve, David and Goliath, Christmas and Easter, Jonah is probably the most well-known story in the Bible – the man swallowed by a whale. That’s the popular narrative. The story is a really important one. Because it is so popular, we gloss over the beauty of it. The story of Jonah gives us a lens through which we can all see all of redemptive history. That’s why it is such a beautiful book. In the story of Jonah we meet the character of God. The story is not necessarily about Jonah, but God. We see God is beautiful. We also come to learn something of ourselves in His beauty too.

Despite the notoriety of Jonah’s story, we know very little about this man. He was the son of Amittai. I 2 Kings chapter 14 we are told he was from a place called Gath-hepher, meaning ‘the wine press’ or ‘well.’ This is also believed to be the place where Jonah is buried. Gath-hepher is significant; it is a very small village on a rocky hill, just a few miles walk from Nazareth. So, it is a place where Jesus probably went to regularly as a boy and was taught about the story of Jonah and remembered it in His ministry. We know the story of Jonah clearly made an impact on Jesus because He mentions him.

The book of Jonah is very different; it is about the prophet rather than what the prophet said. The message actually comes in the life of the person, not necessarily his words. Jonah is also unique in that he is a prophet called to get up and go out. There is no option to work from home. He was told to get up and go – go out to work. The place where he was told to go was an absolute dump, a godless place – Nineveh. The prophet Nahum kindly writes a travel guide for us. He describes Nineveh as a bloody city, full of deceit, full of war, robberies, witchcraft, drunkenness, and oppression. It is essentially a society that exists without God. Would you want to go to that place? No.

Sometimes we are too harsh on Jonah. Imagine if you were called to the crack dens of Swansea, Bridgend, Cardiff or Newport, or even the Lord calling you this morning to go to the Donbas, to witness on the front line against Russian military. Would you be in a rush to get going, to leave your comfortable beds in your lovely homes in Pembrokeshire? Would you be prepared to get up and go, to risk your life, to be with people you don’t know, who you don’t agree with, who do not like you. People who will no doubt be hostile, even violent towards you for bringing a message of truth to them. Would you get up and go? It’s tough.

Let me give a less extreme example. Imagine you have had an argument this week. You are in the right, they are in the wrong. You are angry. They are still being nasty to you. Would you go up and say sorry? Would you be the first to apologise for your part in the argument? We don’t like doing that, do we? The point I’m making is that we are all a bit like Jonah.

We all struggle to put self to death for the furthering of God’s kingdom. It’s hard. We all like to do what we like to do, what is easiest for us. We do not like to do what God tells us to do. Nobody here likes to love our enemies, do we? Every one of us is guilty of what Jonah is guilty of here. Lesson 1 pf Jonah – don’t be too harsh on Jonah. We’re all Jonah’s. Let’s get some acknowledgement of that shall we? Get your hands up if you think you’ve been a Jonah?

“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil[a] has come up before me.” (Jonah 1:2). God speaks to Jonah with clear, specific instruction. He essentially says, ‘Leave your lovely, comfortable village. Leave your home, leave your friends, leave your family and go to the great city of Nineveh – the treacherous, hateful, godless town.

Jonah essentially says ‘no, absolutely not.’ Not only does he say no, he actually, proactively goes against God and goes in a different direction. In verse 3 we see he went to Joppa, 60 miles away. That’s like us getting up and walking to Aberystywth. He went to Joppa to get a ship to go to Tarshish, over 2,000 miles away! It’s like going to Birmingham Airport, then flying to Moscow, to get away.

Jonah really did not want to go to Nineveh. The length he went to, to get away from God’s calling on his life, is significant. It’s telling. That’s why it’s in the Bible. Jonah did not have to travel all that way to reject God’s call. He could have said ‘no’ from home. He didn’t have to travel. Jonah travelled all that way to get away from God altogether. That was his hope.

Tarshish, at this time, was very significant. It was the end of the known world at the time, you couldn’t go any further. As an old covenant Jew, Jonah’s relationship was built on blood and land. Jonah believed the further he got away from Israel, the further he got away from his land, the further he got away from God Himself and the further he could get away from the burden, the call to preach truth in Nineveh.

Jonah is running away from God, from the call of God’s grace. As Christians, we’ve all done that. We run from our burdens that God places on our hearts. We run from the people that cause us difficulties, who we should love and help all the more. We run away from our responsibilities to do what we want to do instead, so we can have an easy life. We run so far at times we think we have got away with it, that we have escaped God Himself. Do you know what always happens when we do that? We fall into sin. We fall into sin when we do a Jonah. When we sin, we think we have escaped God’s presence.

Sin – when we do something that we would never dream of doing before the throne room of God Himself. Sin is when we do something that we would never dream of doing sat here in the pews at church. Sin comes when we hide ourselves away, when we’re locked behind closed doors, where nobody can see us. We fulfil our lusts and desires, thinking we have got away with it. We think we have successfully hidden from God. But the reality is He is always watching.

He is always there. He is always with you by your side. He is watching, He is remembering everything you do and He is mourning over it. He grieves as you sin. That’s terrifying. Sin enters our life when we forget God is with us wherever we go. Sin comes when we think we are not in God’s presence. Sin comes when we think we’ve run to Tarshish. Sin comes when, as Christians, we forget that God lives in us. The scriptures say we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. God is not going anywhere. We are Christians. Everywhere we go and everything we do in this life is theological. We are God’s love in action. You can run to Tarshish but He is still with you.  

What Jonah reminds us of here is that God is everywhere. He is all-powerful and all-knowing. He is Creator God. In Christ, He came in person. He entered into the fabric of time and space that He created, to become historic fact. He came to live in our brokenness, in the brokeness of places like Nineveh, in the brokenness of our hearts. He came to live in our fear. He came to live to experience heartache and pain, and loneliness. He came for you. He came to save your soul. He came to put your sin to death on the cross and then bury it. On the third day He rose again, giving us a fresh start in His Resurrection power. New life! Hallelujah! Liberty.  Freedom. Redemption from the pressures of this world, so we never have to run anywhere.

We have been liberated to walk with our God and answer His call. We have been freed to meet with Him daily, to know Him as a brother and a friend, as a King and as a Saviour. He is all of those things. Gracious, precious, God, Messiah. I love Him. Do you? He is with you wherever you go.  He is here, right now, rejoicing as His people gather in His name. Jesus is present. Hallelujah!

If you do not know Him and you want to know the joy that passes all understanding, to be part of His redemption plan, to hear His voice and be called and sent, then I pray that you will dive into the reality of His grace for you. Trust that on that cross, the historical event of the Crucifixion, He died for you. Receive Jesus as your Lord today and you can swim in His love. He is sovereign. He wants you. You can run away from all you want, but He is here calling you. He is here in Spirit, and He is here just for you. Amen.

July 10th 2022: Paul Daniel

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Colossians 1:1-23

Whilst on holiday, my family and I recently visited a cathedral. My children were shocked, especially when a chap started playing the organ. They had never seen or heard anything like it. The grand piano didn’t look special, but its volume and grandness made my children stand in awe. When we walked into the cathedral, the place was very different to going to church on a Sunday, where they run in, listen, go to Sunday School and have squash afterwards. Their experience was very different as they stood in awe, never having seen anything like this before.

Are you glad that you are here – because you stand in awe of the God who wants to speak to you, the God whose hands flung stars into space, the God who knows each and every one, who wants to meet with us? Is that your prayer this morning, your expectation? Are you really glad to be here because you want to meet with God?

Can you imagine the church at Colosse receiving this letter? What was it going to say? It starts off like this, “To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae,” (Colossians 1:2a There’s a church there being born because Epaphras has taken the gospel to them and they’ve come to put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, Paul writes this letter to the church and addresses them and says, “To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae,” (Colossians 1:2a). This tells us they are Christians, faithful brothers and sisters in Christ, and they’re in Colosse.

Here is a group of Christians, they’ve been saved by God, they’ve heard the gospel. They are in Christ, and they’re also in Colosse. They are in Christ but are also in Colosse, in the world, a fallen world. There is a great tension in the Christian life; we are in Christ but also in the world, a place we’re called to live. This great rescue brings across many challenges. The Christian life is not a walk in the park. You’ve got to go through the week but after all the battles done, you get to church on Sunday, to meet with God. It’s almost as if you’re being re-armed, fed, ready to go on. The tension of living in the ‘now and not yet.’ So, this morning, are you glad to be here? Do you want to meet with God? Do you want to stand in awe of what God’s word says? Will you be changed by it? God wants to prepare you for this week ahead.

We have been rescued from darkness, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,” (Colossians 1:13). What a profound verse. He has rescued us from the domain of darkness. Only God can do that. He has rescued you, brought you into the light, into the Kingdom, through the Lord Jesus Christ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Consider the cross. Consider what Jesus Christ has done. He came, was put on a cross. Darkness came over the land and He bore our sins so that we can be redeemed,  so that we could be saved. He’s done that because we can’t do that ourselves. Sinners can’t save themselves. That’s why Jesus Christ came into this world. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). Darkness leads to death, to judgement. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23). The Bible reminds us that you are loved, that I am loved. We stand before a God who has loved us with an everlasting love. He has chosen us before the foundation of the world. He set His love upon you. He knows you. He has called you out of darkness. Wonderful! You didn’t want to be rescued. You didn’t want to choose Him. But He showed you mercy and compassion. You didn’t deserve to be rescued, but God doesn’t want anyone to perish.  He wants everyone to come to repentance.

People would rather say there’s no problem with the dominion of darkness because it means they’re in charge and can do whatever they want, when they want. The world says, ‘My freedom is what matters.’ The gospel is here because God wants us to reason with people. It’s not that we can pluck them out of darkness, but God wants us to reason with people. When we start reasoning with people, we see what it actually means to live in the dominion of darkness.

When you go and do things you think will make you happy, following your own rules, it doesn’t satisfy. Because it’s darkness, it’s difficult to know what’s right and what’s wrong. We need to pray for people, to pray for our world, to pray for our communities. When they’re stuck in the dominion of darkness they don’t know God. We need to pray for mercy. We need to pray for the work of God’s Spirit. We need to pray that the Holy Spirit would come and illuminate their hearts and their minds, so they begin to see God’s ways are His best ways.

My friends, do you find it comfortable talking to people about the gospel? Are you comfortable telling people about your experiences, about how you became a Christian, about the things you thought would satisfy you but they really didn’t? Are you willing to speak up? Are you willing to confront? Are you willing to have a gentle word, so that they really would be rescued from the dominion of darkness, brought into the kingdom of the Son He loves?

It’s a rescue. There’ a destination to the darkness. There is a darkness forever. We are reminded that there’s an eternity. Heaven is real. Hell is real. We have this wonderful opportunity to keep on going, witnessing to our friends and family, inviting them, reasoning with them about the hope that they too can have, coming out of the darkness into the kingdom of the Son.

On the front page of most of the newspapers this morning you’ll see an article. You’ll see a lovely picture and it says something like this, ‘The star of Centre Court.’ The star of centre court is Elena Rybakina. Born in Russia, then changed nationality to Kazakhstan. However, her picture is not on the cover of any newspaper. It’s not a picture of the winner of Wimbledon women’s final. It’s a picture of Kate Middleton. It’s political. The politics of what goes on the front page of the newspapers. It’s almost as if they’re trying to avoid the truth. Are we going to do that as God’s people or will we love people and do the most we can, in the power of the Spirit?

In prayer and petition, will we speak the truth? We know what it’s like to be plucked out of the dominion of darkness by God’s mercy and grace. We know the joy of being brought into the light, standing in awe of God, who wants to know us. We’ve been rescued from the dominion of darkness. Don’t we want others to be rescued from the dominion of darkness? Let’s pray for them. Let’s pray for God’s Spirit to come in power. Let’s plead with God, as maybe others too pleaded for our hearts, that God would do a work and He would bring that work to completion.

Reconciliation from God. “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,” (Colossians 1:21-22). Amazing! ‘Once you were’ – that’s the gospel. You were nowhere near God – alienated from God. Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian, it doesn’t make you any more special. But look what He has done: He has reconciled you, by Christ’s physical body, through death, to present you holy. Now, because of what He’s done, you’re seen as holy. You have the joy of having your sins cleansed, to have the guilt removed. You know that you stand right with God. God doesn’t count your sin against you. You now have a new position before God. You are seen as His child. You belong to Him. You begin to come to know God.

Once you’ve experienced His grace, everything changes. You want to open your Bibles, you want to know more about it. You want to search, to ask questions that you’ve never asked before because you belong to Him. You want to know what His purposes are, what His plans are. Then you come under His care, the author of creation.

Knowing all of this, do you love God’s rescue plan? Do you hate the darkness, knowing that is where you’ve been plucked from? You know sin is lethal, bringing death and destruction. Do you hate the darkness? As a child of God, nothing will separate you from the love of God. As you hear God’s word, you pray God’s Spirit will make you more like Him each day.

There is something profound in Paul’s letter to the Colossians. Think about this rescue and reconciliation; how God in His wisdom, planned before the foundation of the world to send His Son into the world, planned for you to be chosen, sitting here listening to the gospel, planned for you to one day be with God in glory.

Think of this grand master plan of rescue and reconciliation, of being God’s people. Paul, with all the letters he wrote, and with all the doctrinal elements, with all the grand statements, what does he say about this great rescue plan? Just three words, “And be thankful.” (Colossians 3:15b). Isn’t that staggering! It’s almost an understatement. ‘And be thankful.’

Are you truly glad to be here? That you have been rescued from darkness? You were not looking for a rescue, were it not for the grace and the mercy of God. He chose you. He saved you. He’s cleansed your sin. He’s removed your sin as far as the east is from the west. Are you ready today, despite all the scars of last week, to get going again? Are you ready this week to listen to God’s word and see your need to be more like Jesus? God loves you and wants the best for you. This week, will you go out in God’s strength and witness to others, praying for the work of the Spirit and their lives too, that they too will be rescued, that they too will find a relationship with God?

July 3rd 2022: Alan Davison

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Luke 6: 20-38

The Bible has several inconvenient truths, some notable in declaration of Jesus Christ Himself. We often talk of potential persecution for proclaiming the Word of God. For example, people are forced out of jobs for insisting on Biblical truths. This is passage of scripture we find difficult. It is challenging and so we tend to skip over it.

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” (Luke 6:27). This short little phrase causes us to baulk. ‘Love you enemies.’ This can cause us to hesitate. The rest of the sentence goes on to say what Jesus means.

Who is my enemy?

I’m a nice person who gets on well with others.  “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” (Romans 12:18). Jesus’ statement is emphatic. We will have enemies, but Jesus expects us to love them. Verses 27-28 gives us some characteristics of those who will be enemies, “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” (Luke 6:27-28).

Jesus Himself told His disciples, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (John 15:18-19). So, if we’re not hated to some degree, we need to ask ourselves, why?

“Bless those who curse you.” To curse, in this context, is ‘to doom someone by dragging them down.’ It is an ancient version of gaslighting, speaking ill of them behind their backs. Such a situation can bring the gospel into disrepute. Jesus says, ‘Love your enemies.’

No-one interrupts Jesus to ask Him, ‘Who is my enemy?’ We are not to make someone our enemy but behave in a neighbourly fashion towards them (Parable of the Good Samaritan). Jesus doesn’t talk about us being offended, wounded. Jesus tells us to deal with them in love.

Why should I love my enemies?

Jesus says so. Jesus really means this because He lived out this principle in His own life (the injustice of Gethsemane). Ultimately, this was for the sake of the Father. Jesus never compromised justice or truth. We also see Jesus standing up for others (e.g., the adulterous woman).

The apostle Paul writes about our responsibility, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1). There is no arrogance or pride. Paul points to Jesus.

“Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:36). As children of God, we are to show mercy to others. We should want to imitate Him. Jesus says that’s what we ought to do and Jesus Himself lived out this principle.

How do I show love?

“But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” (Luke 6:27-28). When someone hates us we are to do good to them. The ‘Golden Rule’ states, “And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.” (Luke 6:31). Other cultures at the time also stated this in the negative – ‘Don’t do something to someone else you wouldn’t want done to you.’ It’s a worldly view.

Jesus goes much further. He instructs us to actively seek the good in others. We are to be motivated by a desire to please our heavenly Father. When someone harms us or tries to taint our reputation, we are to bless them, to seek their good, to witness God’s love to them. When people spitefully use us, we are to pray for them – that God would work in their hearts, and they would become a true witness of the love of God.

“To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.” (Luke 6:29-30). To strike is to smite. The word is nuanced with striking to offend. The intention is to humiliate.

“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:35-36). Jesus did not think in terms of the moment. His primary focus was on the heavenly eternity. The focus is on God Himself, on how He acts. We are joint heirs with Christ, despite us once being His enemies. This fallen life means we will have enemies, those who oppose us in some way. But if we’re firm in standing on God’s truth, doing good to those who hate us, we do all these things by looking to Jesus. The world seeks to remove enemies by destroying them. God seeks to adopt us and treat others in the way He has treated us, in love and mercy.

June 26th 2022: Ian Middlemist

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The Reasoning of our Hearts.

An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. 47 But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side 48 and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.”

49 John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.” 50 But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.”

Luke 9: 46-50:

We’re not engaging in a dialogue here. I’m speaking to you. Yet you have many thoughts, many tensions in you, pulling you this way and that, all the time. There are times when we dialogue, when we discuss. It is a great way of working through our problems. This is such an important discipline. God has created human beings with dialogue as a means of growth. The Holy Spirit ministers to us through His Word, the scriptures. He does not minister to us through our feelings, but through the powerful application of the truth of His Word in our lives. Does your thinking align with the scriptures?

There is this dialogue that is going on between Jesus and His disciples – two dialogues are taking place: between the disciples, as an argument arose (v.46) and a dialogue within themselves, within each of them. Jesus may not have actually heard what the disciples say to each other. In Matthew’s account they come to Him and ask, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”  (Matthew 18:1)

In Mark’s account, Jesus asks them the question, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.” (Mark 9: 33b-34). He is drawing out what is in their mind. What is implicit in Matthew and Mark is made explicit in Luke’s account. Jesus knew the reason of their hearts. He knew what was going on inside their minds and inside their hearts. Jesus knows what’s going on inside your thoughts and minds today, also. What is going on in your heart today?

Whilst the disciples had their open dialogue, there’s an internal dialogue and it led them to think firstly, that they were great. Secondly, to ignore children. Thirdly, to reject the outsider doing good.

Who is the greatest?

Luke clearly highlights the disciples’ worldly attitude in contrast to Jesus’ just previous prediction of His own death. The disciples were ignorant of what Jesus meant. Jesus knew their jealous thoughts. The question in verse 46 has to do with rank. How on earth did they get themselves into this position? Perhaps we’re not that far from it? The disciples arguing becomes an ugly position. How were they great in Jesus’ eyes? In chapter 6:12-16, Jesus chose them. They were in His presence whilst the Lord Jesus did amazing things. In chapter 9 the disciples are now being used by God’s hand to do amazing things. In chapter 6, only after an entire night of prayer, Jesus names these twelve.

We are not like other people; we are the people of God. Amazing! In chapters 6-8, the twelve have been eye-witnesses to His majesty in the most powerful teaching that came directly from heaven. At the start of chapter 9 the disciples are commissioned by Jesus to go out and do acts of power. All of this might have gone to their heads. As we know, when someone gets a status in society, it so often goes to their heads.

Are you a dog person or a cat person? Or neither? The master pets the dog, makes a fuss of the dog, gives him treats. The dog wags his tail and says, ‘My master must be god’ and worships the owner and is loyal to him. The master pets and cuddles the cat. The cat purrs and enjoys receiving gifts. The cat says, ‘I must be god.’  That seems to be the way cats respond to being made a fuss of, of being chosen. The cat responds by thinking he must be god, the dog responds by thinking the owner must be god.

How perverse our human nature is. God gives us the attention and love. He showers blessings on us all the time and we start to think, ‘I must be god because He loves me so much’ We must be good because He loves me so much.’ How wrong we are. The Christian must never say, ‘God loves me because I’m deserving of it.’ We must never allow our thoughts to go there. God loves our sinful selves. Our satisfaction is not found in the fact that we are chosen, or special in any such way. Our satisfaction is found in the love of God, in Him, not in our status or position.

Children – the company you keep.

Who do I not want to keep company with? The culture of the time was different to ours. In our day, children are very important. Scripture Union have a campaign – 95% of under 18s don’t go to church. We should be concerned, praying, and reaching out. On the other hand, our society has great care for children. We see great carelessness about parenting. It is very different to the way children were treated in the disciples’ day. Children were seen as a waste of time back then. We see in Luke 18, the disciples sending the children away from Jesus because they thought Jesus was too important to talk to children.

The disciples thought greatness was something to do with the company you kept. The child was loved, I’m sure, but powerless and unimportant in that society. So, why spend any time with a child? Jesus says, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.” (Matthew 18:5)

Peter, James and John thought that being on the mountain top meant that they were now greater. They were completely wrong. Jesus wasn’t saying you find greatness in being kind to children, but how they relate to God the Father. You can’t think highly of yourself and highly of Jesus. Greatness is a gift. Those who’ve received this gift will think lowly of themselves and will think highly of the lowly. They’ll lift them in their thoughts. This isn’t to say that the lowly and children are to be thought of as sinless, or to be mimicked. God has gifted you and all the people here today with experience. That’s important. We adults have responsibilities, God-given responsibilities. You cannot think highly of yourself and highly of Jesus. These disciples thought highly of themselves because of who they spent time with: Moses, Jesus and Elijah. We are to be humble before the Lord.

Verses 49-50: Here we see another man casting out demons. How the disciples react to him has a bearing on how they see themselves and how they see the Saviour as great. Their reaction to this outsider has a bearing on how their hearts were doing. It exposes the reasoning of their hearts.

John and co have known encouragement and the power of God through their own fingertips. John and co have gone on the mountain top and they have witnessed the Saviour’s transfiguration. John and co were chosen. Now someone else is doing similar work, doing work John and co. have been doing. How dare he! He wasn’t one of the elite, the twelve squad. The man is claiming to have the same power. He clearly wasn’t from within their camp. We might have the same thoughts.

These disciples thought exorcism was their exclusive ministry, only for the 12 squad. How do you feel when others succeed? This comes up in the church quite a lot. How do we feel when others are promoted, and we don’t get the acknowledgement we deserve? How do we feel when someone has been around less than we have, and they’ve been promoted? This can happen in the workplace and the church. Not only within ourselves but as we consider the outsider church. What statements do we make about the outsider when they are demoted, when they’re humbled? Do we rejoice a little bit?

I really don’t think John was expecting Jesus to respond like this. When John approaches Jesus saying, ‘This guy is casting out demons,’ perhaps he thought Jesus would tell him off. Jesus responds completely opposite, ‘This guy isn’t in the 12 squad but he’s doing a good thing. Don’t stop him.’ His rule is simple – whoever is not against you is for you. Have an open heart. Let them be blessed. Be thankful for that blessing if it is from God. The fact that they don’t come from our camp doesn’t make a difference. If they are doing God’s work, do not stop him. How many experienced Christians have tried to stop others from making progress, simply because they are not from our camp? See the danger of this. Take it seriously. If the gospel is being preached, we must say, ‘Hallelujah,’ especially in these days It may not be from our tradition but thank God the gospel is being preached. (Numbers 11).

Paul says, “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.” (Philippians 1:18). Paul is not being careless. He’s seeking a desire for the gospel to be preached. Let’s pray for the gospel to be promoted from wherever.

In these three instances, the reasoning of the disciples’ hearts was exposed. He who is least among you, he is the greatest. The disciple who is prepared to identify with the lowly, to receive them, to minister the kindness of the gospel to them, that’s what the Christ-like mind says. Because Christ directs his heart to the lowest place of all. He directs His gaze, his vision to the cross. That’s how willing He was to be humbled.  

In Luke chapter 2, in the infant account we read, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”(Luke 2:34-35).

This is the ministry of the Lord Jesus. He is revealing our hearts. Are you someone who keeps company with children? You understand, when I speak about children now, that I’m not just talking about children, I’m talking about anyone who society thinks, ‘that person’s a waste of time.’ Are you someone who’s told the outsider to stop? Let’s seek to turn away from such reasoning in our own hearts. Let’s be humble before the Lord. Let’s exalt the name of Jesus Christ in our midst.

June 19th 2022: Andy Christofides

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“And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ (Luke 13:23-25)

The book ‘Practical Religion,’ by J.C. Ryle won my heart and challenged me, as it looks at the practical side of being a Christian. One of the first chapters brings us to Luke chapter 13. Jesus was heading towards Jerusalem. There was a lovely turning point in Luke’s gospel where, at last, the disciples have understood who Jesus is. That great declaration has been made, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16). Jesus told them that His Father in heaven had revealed that to them. If you understand who Jesus is, it’s a miracle. You might say, ‘He’s a great man, a great teacher,’ but it is only the Spirit of God can convince you He’s the Creator of the universe. It was a shock to me, it came suddenly to me at the age of 19.

His disciples had got the point that He is the Son of God. Jesus Christ is the second person of the one Triune God, one being but mysteriously three persons, distinct in their persons, yet one in their essential essence. It’s the Father who sent the Son and the Son who came in the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s the Son who died on the cross, not the Father. It’s the Spirit who oversees it all. It’s the Son who rose from the dead. It’s the Lord Jesus Christ who is reigning and will return one day. Are we ready for that day?

Why did Jesus ever come to this planet? From the point where the disciples understand who He is, He starts to teach them why He has come; He is going to die. Jesus set His face like a flint towards Jerusalem.

As He is on His way to Jerusalem with the disciples, there is a crowd around them. Someone asks a theological question of interest then melts back into the crowd. We don’t know who he was or what he was about. ‘Lord,’ he says, ‘are there few who will be saved?’ We hear nothing more about this man.

Many people want to speak about points of theology. On many occasions they are a smokescreen, a distraction from the one thing that’s necessary. There are different points of view, for example on dress codes, of what the preacher should wear to church. Is it a key issue? The question here is a good one, ‘Are there few who will be saved?’ But Jesus takes the opportunity to address the whole crowd, not just the one man. The punch line is this, whether there are few or many who will be saved, you make sure you are saved.

‘Strive to enter through the narrow door.’ Strive! There is a time coming when many will try but will not be able to.

In these three verses there is a door, a command and a prophecy.

A door. Jesus says, “Strive to enter.” There is a door. Here is the door which we can go through and enter eternal life. Is there a time when you went through the door of life eternal? Once I’ve gone through that door it guarantees I’m going to enter a glorious place called heaven. I’ll have eternal life, I have peace with God, my sins that are many have been forgiven. Why have I done the things I’ve done? We’ve all got a problem. We sin because we are sinners. Some say babies are born neutral. But they are born with a bias, wanting their way. This leads to sin. We have to teach children to do the right thing. It’s a wonderful thing for fathers and mothers to train children in the way of the Lord. When we go through this particular door, sin, which is such a burden, is rolled away.

It’s a narrow gate that leads to heaven. Sin is a problem. It’s a deep chasm, a vast gulf. But the good news from Jesus isthere is a door! What an amazing thing in such a world as this, with war, economic chaos and where anything goes, there is a way back to God. Sin is the barrier. God is holy beyond our imagination, heaven is pure. There is no way we can get there ourselves, but thank God there is a door and Jesus is the door:

“I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:9)

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5).

This morning, you’ve come into the chapel. How did you come in? I came in through the front door. Straight forward. What’s the way to heaven? There’s a door. Jesus says there’s a difficulty with the door. It’s narrow and you couldn’t take a bag through it. You have to go one by one. To get to heaven you have to renounce sin. When you trust in Jesus and go through Him, He counts you as righteous because He sees His Son covering you. In actual fact you are still a sinner – a saved sinner. Because you have new life, you desire new things, to please God. Little by little, He transforms us. You leave your desires to sin at the gate. You can’t go through that gate with your sin, your own agenda, what you want – what university you want to go to, what kind of job you want, what husband or wife you want, what house you would like to have. You leave that at the gate. You go through alone and Jesus meets you. You put everything in His hands and ask, ‘Lord, who do you want me to marry? What university do you want me to go to? What job do you want me to have? Where do you want me to live? You put everything into His hands. You walk with Him.

It’s a narrow door. You go through one by one, leaving self and sin, the worldliness of my agenda. Through that door is Jesus. We should commend Jesus to people. The early church was a beacon. See how they loved one another. After all Paul says about the gospel to the Corinthians and the gifts of the Spirit, he says he will now show the most excellent way – love. ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’ Notice this, it’s only attached to this – ‘by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you love one another.’ The world needs to see that Christianity actually works. Love is the outwards expression of the reality of truth. Despite our differences, it’s a command of the Lord Jesus to love one another.

Jesus is the only door. There is no other way. He is the only way to heaven. It’s Jesus or not at all. It’s not religion that gets you there. It’s not church-going that gets you there. It’s not morality. It’s not doing good – life by human standards. Why? Because God’s standards are perfection, purity. His righteousness is beyond our imagination. Human morality is like stinking rags. What gets us to heaven? Is it my repentance? Is it my turning from sin to God? No. Is it my faith that gets me there? No. It’s not my faith. It’s not my works that gets me to heaven. It’s Jesus. Jesus. Jesus only. He died that we might be forgiven. There was no other good enough to pay the price of my sin. Have you gone through the door, trusting His redeeming blood? Don’t think your works get you through.

Zechariah 13:1 is a lovely prophecy, “On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.” Zechariah is looking forwards to Calvary. We’re looking back on Calvary. That fountain was opened up. Same Old Testament. It certainly saved us who go back to it. The door is wide open now. At some point it will be closed. We are all encouraged to come.

Many of the most unlikely candidates have gone through that gate. A man called Manasseh, in the Old Testament, was a wicked, wicked man. Totally amoral. He even offered his own children as living sacrifices to the false god Molech. What a dastardly, evil, wicked man. But late in life he saw the door and he went through it. Saul of Tarsus, a wicked man who persecuted the church, approving of people being stoned to death, went through the door. It’s amazing.

Here’s a question, not ‘Lord, Lord, are there few who will be saved’? but ‘Lord, what must I do to be saved?’ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.’ Open the door and you shall be saved. Not ‘Are there few or many?’ but ‘What about me?’

What a privilege it is to have a door at all. For the angels who fell and were cast down to Earth, including the prince of demons, the arch angel, glorious in beauty, there is no door. But for us there is a door.

Are you saved? Have you been trough the door? If you are saved and have been through the door, be thankful. Thankful has ‘full’ on the end. Be full of thanks. Does my life express that I’ve been through the door? Am I full of thanks to Him? Does my love overflow to my fellow believer and to the world around about me? Focus on the door. Go forward in confidence in Him. Be thankful.

If you’re not a Christian, don’t hang around. Jesus says, ‘Strive to enter.’ Don’t say, ‘I tried’ and it didn’t work. If you knew there was a million pound behind a certain door, you wouldn’t try and give up, you’d try again. Jesus says, ‘Strive.’

Jesus expands on this. The time is coming and many will try and won’t be able to because that door will be shut. It’s not shut now. It’s open. Strive to enter through the narrow gate.

June 12th 2022: Adrian Brake

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Philippians 1: 12-14

Nowhere, in all its 66 books, does the Bible ever say that when someone becomes a Christian all their problems disappear. Quite the opposite.  The apostle Paul warns that it is through many tribulations that we must enter the Kingdom of God. Jesus said to the disciples, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33b). Jesus Christ was a ‘man of sorrows.’ If we are His disciples and follow Him and walk in His footsteps, we too will be people of sorrows. Paul says Christ suffered and was glorified. He says we shall reign with Christ and be glorified with Him if we also suffer with Him.

We live in a fallen world, a world that groans under the curse. On day, God will remove all that but for now we are impacted by the effect of the Fall. But, whilst also giving us a helpful does of reality saying there is suffering for the people of God in this world, the suffering anyone of God experiences, the Bible also gives us things to help to anchor us. Our troubles have a shelf-life; they are the troubles of this world and will not follow us into the world to come.

The Bible assures us God is in control, even of His people’s sufferings. God will not abandon us to our sufferings. He is present with us. He has purposes in people’s sufferings. God redeems the suffering of His people for a glorious purpose. God, through suffering, works to bring about great and precious fruits.

You have a painful experience of one kind or another, in ways which we cannot understand at the time. But we live by faith in God’s promises and God brings out of that painful experience something that is for the individual’s own benefit.

But I want to bring to you something perhaps we don’t often think about – God uses an individual believer’s painful experiences to benefit somebody else. He uses suffering and the anguish that we go through, to bless and to profit another person, to bring them to faith in our Saviour. Our suffering in this world can create gospel opportunities that wouldn’t be there otherwise. Our painful experiences can actually be used and be instrumental, in God’s hands, in people’s conversions. Do you want to be an evangelist? Perhaps, even a difficult experience may make you one.

Philippians chapter 1 is an example of a trial with an evangelistic purpose.

“I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.” (Philippians 1:12-14).

Paul says, ‘I want you to know brother, the things which have happened to me, happened for the furtherance of the gospel. What happened to Paul? He is speaking of the opposition he had encountered in his ministry, and the suffering that that had brought upon him.

Interestingly, in 2 Corinthians 12, Paul catalogues for the believers there, everything he had suffered, simply for being a servant of Christ. One thing he mentions here, and in Philippians, he was imprisoned, in confinement. When Paul wrote this letter he was under house arrest, confined, unable to leave because of his preaching the gospel. He refused to deviate from his task of declaring Jesus to be the Messiah, the Saviour of sinners.

Paul was confined, in a home. He would have been guarded 24/7 by Roman soldiers. Not just any Roman soldiers, the palace guard, who were amongst Caesar’s premier soldiers, the elite. This gives an indication of how much of a threat Paul was regarded in the world of his day. He had the top men guarding him, really tough men. It is possible he was actually chained to them, or that may be a metaphor to speak of his confinement.

The Philippians have heard of this. Paul had a good relationship with this church. He was involved in planting that church (Acts 16). He had maintained a good relationship with them. That comes out in the opening verses of the chapter (verses 3, 4 & 7).

He evokes God as a witness, “For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:8). Paul had a close relationship with this church, “Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved.” (Philippians 4:1). He loved them deeply. Why? He had fellowship with them in the gospel, “for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now,” (Philippians 1:5). He saw in the Philippians a passion for Jesus Christ. He was drawn to them. Don’t you feel that when you see people with a passion Christ? You want fellowship with them. These were people who had come to know, love and serve Jesus Christ.

He speaks in verse 7 that they themselves may have suffered for the gospel. They were dear to him, and he was dear to them. They had supported his itinerant ministry. When most other churches had left him to his own devices, the Philippian church had invested in Paul, showing how serious they were about the gospel. Despite being poor believers materially, they supported and provided for him.

They had head Paul was in a serious condition, confined whilst he awaits a verdict about his future, will he live of will he die, will he be executed or set free? He is in a very difficult position. The Philippians have sent to Paul a man to help, Epaphroditus, later mentioned in the book, “Yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need,” (Philippians 2:25). He has a gift from the Philippians. No doubt, Epaphroditus came not only with a gift and prayer, but also to find out more to give news back to the Philippians, to inform their prayer, “But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel,” (Philippians 1:12).

Paul says it has been a major step forward for the work of God. They might have thought it was a disaster; the gospel had benefitted immensely from Paul’s travels. Having seen Paul’s fruitfulness in planting churches and encouraging people, all of a sudden Paul can’t get out to preach in the market place and the synagogue. He is stuck in this accommodation, under house arrest. Surely, the work of the gospel was being curtailed. Were the enemies of the gospel succeeding? But Paul says, ‘If only you knew! In ways which you couldn’t have anticipated, God has turned the table on His enemies.’

In verses 13 and 14 Paul explains two ways in which his confinement under house arrest has been beneficial to the gospel, how it has created opportunities for people to hear and know Christ, which would not have happened otherwise.

Firstly, “So that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ,” (Philippians 1:13). The people guarding Paul, and others, have come to hear that he is there because of his testimony to Jesus Christ. There were 6 hour shift patterns for the guards, so Paul saw many soldiers in a 24 hour period. As they were with him, he talked to them of Jesus Christ. He preached the gospel to the palace guard and to all the rest. It seemed these soldiers had spoken to other people. The soldiers were passing the message on. “All the saints greet you, but especially those who are of Caesar’s household.” (Philippians 4:22).  Paul gives greetings to the Christians in Philippi, but especially to those of Caesar’s household. It would seem people in Caesar’s household had come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It would appear that it was Paul’s confinement that was instrumental in this.

Caesar’s household would never turn up at the synagogue or the market place to hear Paul preach. So, what does God do? He takes Paul and puts him in their midst. He puts Paul in Caesar’s household – in confinement with access to those prison guards. Paul had a ‘captive audience!’ Comically really. They thought he was captive, but they were captive because they had to be there and they had to listen to what Paul way saying. Paul had a captive audience in the Roman army, in the palace guard, who then spreads it. If Paul was going to get the gospel message to Caesar’s household, it would only happen by him becoming their prisoner. Paul would never have had the opportunity to witness to them, to declare Christ, in any other way. Paul’s confinement was by God’s sovereign appointment. By God’s sovereign appointing, Paul gets this opportunity to witness into the heart of the enemy. It would have been a difficult experience, but it was a trial with an evangelistic purpose.

This was one way in which Paul had a difficult experience which turned out to benefit others and to create gospel opportunities. It gave him access to places he wouldn’t have had access to otherwise.

Secondly, Paul writes, “And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.” (Philippians 1:14). Paul was in Rome, under house arrest. There was already a church in Rome, but it seems there was much timidity, and they were intimidated into silence. But Paul says, through his confinement, something wonderful has happened; they have become confident by his chains. His imprisonment had made them much more confident and much more bold to speak the word of God without fear. How would that have happened? They would have seen the way God was upholding the apostle Paul. Under house arrest, Paul couldn’t leave, but he could have people coming to him. Some of these brethren, no doubt, would have come in to speak to Paul and pray with him. They would have seen in Paul, Jesus Christ upholding him, Paul knowing the peace of God that passes all understanding, guarding his heart and mind. They would have seen it was not easy serving Christ, but they would have seen in Paul, God’s protecting hand. They knew that if God was going to be with them like He was with Paul, then they too could speak the word boldly, without fear. Through Paul’s suffering, people would have seen in him the power of God – not for great miracles but through him being sustained. Previously, the church was not doing its job because of fear. Now, the church was emboldened and empowered. The gospel is now being spread in Rome.

They could have thought, how is the gospel going to get in greater power to Rome? Many might have thought the answer would have been to invite Paul to speak in the synagogue and in the market place, invite him to address people there. But no. God sits Paul in one room, for people to find him there. How is the gospel going to get out that way? Well, Paul will get access to people in that place he wouldn’t get access to otherwise, and the emboldened church, though seeing what has happened, will get the gospel out. Through Paul’s difficult experience, gospel opportunities were created.

There’s a very important statement Paul makes, “And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there,” (Acts 20:22). Paul’s final words to Ephesus. At a later date, the Spirit has told Paul he will suffer. He then says, “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” (Acts 20:24). Paul was single-minded. He had a ministry given to him by the Lord – to tell others the good news of sins forgiven by Jesus Christ. He is prepared to lay down his life for that. He knew there was trouble ahead. But he knew he had a commission. He didn’t cling to his life. Paul would literally be a living sacrifice. He offered himself a living sacrifice to God.

Being fruitful in our witness to the Lord will inevitably bring pain and heartache. Sometimes, God leads us into difficult experiences to create gospel opportunities. For example, in one sense it’s sobering and in another sense it’s thrilling, to think that God is at work through everything. Could it be that, perhaps, at some point the Lord will take us into hospital with a serious illness? It would be very painful and difficult. Or it could be a loved one in hospital with a serious illness, which would be very painful and difficult. But in that hospital are other patients and medical staff, who would never think of darkening the doors of the church. Patients and medical staff who, if a tract came through their door, would throw it straight in the bin. But God has a magnificent purpose, to take a person and bring them into the Kingdom. But how on earth are they going to come under the gospel if they will not come to a church? Or they will not receive literature, or come to a church fun day or anything like that? How are they to get the gospel? Could it be through a believer going into the same ward as them? Or a believer being one of their patients? Or through a believer going in visiting and having opportunity with other patients and medical staff? A difficult experience, creating a gospel opportunity. The Lord, in redeeming that painful experience, brings about the birth of a brother and sister into the family of God.

The story of Romanian evangelical priest Richard Wurmbrand is a stirring one. Boy, did he suffer. But boy, was he fruitful! Who knows, in time to come, the way things are going in our nation, we might find ourselves in prison for the cause of Christ, and gain access in that way, into places we wouldn’t have had otherwise?

Through the difficult experiences of Paul, and of us, people see the truth of God displayed. They see a reality, not just words spoken on a Sunday. They see the reality of God in a person’s life, in a believer’s life, as they suffer. They see not just sorrow and pain, but peace, anchored and sustained by the keeping power of God. People say, ‘I don’t understand it. I see other people suffering with the same condition, but there’s something different about you, in the way that you are able to go through this.’ It can make people sit up and think. Perhaps the Lord will use it. A gospel opportunity.

In the first three centuries there was great persecution brought upon the church of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Roman Empire. Many believers were martyred in horrendous ways. But there are documented examples of people who attended the executions, the burnings and giving to the lions, who were utterly amazed at the grace God gave believers as they went through that. And some of those watching, actually came to faith in Christ because of it, who were then themselves executed.

Who knows that God may use our lives in that way, sending difficult experiences so that we become a stage for God to demonstrate His power, even in people’s suffering, that it may turn other people’s hearts? Our challenge is this – and it is very much something we work towards – can we really say, to any measure with Paul, ‘Take my life.’ Or are we, ‘No, Lord. I’d love to be a witness for you, I’d love to be involved in evangelism, telling others about Jesus, but not through a difficult experience that will be a gospel opportunity, out of which will come a new brother and sister in the family of God.’

Are we willing, in light of what God has done for us, to offer ourselves to Him in that way? Did not Jesus give His life so that we might come to know Him? Christ suffered incredibly for our salvation. We are to practice Christ-like selflessness and sacrifice for the good of one another. Difficult experiences are part and parcel. We can’t escape them. But isn’t it good to think how the Lord can redeem them?

May God help us in these days and give us our Christ-like perspective. We are here for Him, for the work of the gospel. May we give our lives, whatever happens, in His service.