Church at Home – 28 February 2021

JAM Kids’ focus: The Virtual Sunday School

JAM young adults have a separate programme 11:30am-12:30pm looking at the character of David in the Old Testament.  Please contact Gary Torbet on garytorbet@btinternet.com for more details of today’s programme.

Scottish Bible Society Wonder Walks – You don’t need to prepare anything in advance, just download your map and head off for your weekly Wonder Walk. On each map you will find something to read from the Gospel of Mark, questions to think about, games to play, and ideas to pray about.  We have created a walk for each Sunday in Lent, concluding with a Good Friday and Easter Walk, but you can go use these walks anytime you go out!

Baptist Union of Scotland National Prayer Livestream – The monthly prayer livestream takes place next on Sunday 7 March, 2021 7.00–7.30pm. 

Call to worship

Keep me safe, my God,
for in You I take refuge.

I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord;
apart from You I have no good thing.’
I say of the holy people who are in the land,
‘They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight… 

5Lord, You alone are my portion and my cup;
You make my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.


I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With Him at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because You will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will You let your faithful one see decay.

11 You make known to me the path of life;
You will fill me with joy in Your presence,
with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.

Psalm 16 selection

Our opening song of praise and worship is: ‘Everlasting God’

Opening prayer

Our Father in heaven we come before You today as Your children, with joy in our hearts assured of Your presence with us by the Holy Spirit. We come from our struggles and our successes of the past week; we may have come from our tears of frustration or sadness, but also some of us come able to testify of our triumphs over adversity; and now, once more, as a new week begins we come humbly before You once again. Purify our hearts from our sins of thought and word and deed, and fill us again with the Holy Spirit’s power so that we might enter the days before us with confidence in You. Speak into our lives today as we sing Your praises, pray, and hear Your Word read and expounded. We bring our prayers in the all-powerful name of Jesus, Amen.    

Let us say together the words Jesus taught His disciples when He said:

All-Age Talk – Moraig Piggot

So today Brian is going to be speaking to us about ‘Living in the light of our future’. When you become as Christian and invite Jesus into your life, you are promised forgiveness for all the wrong things you do and also promised that you will live with HIM for eternity even after you die. That means we will life forever in heaven with God. Eternity means never ending, an endless life after death.

Sometimes in life we can use this word eternity in a different way. You may have heard that my sister and I were raising money for Cancer Research by taking part in a challenge where you had to cover 56 miles in February by either walking or running. Now I am not going to lie, this month as a result as felt like an eternity! Every time I went out to run it felt like it was never ending and when all the snow came, I just didn’t know how we would complete all these miles!

When I give the young people I teach work to do they sigh and moan “this is going to take forever!” Maybe you feel the same when you look at all the work that is uploaded onto Teams or Google Classroom for you to complete!

I am sure we can all sympathize with each other about the endless boredom we are feeling from being in yet another lockdown and the announcement of the easing of restrictions plan feels like it will be a really long time before we ever see ‘normal’ again.

These examples of eternity, things in our life that feel like they are never ending are not very positive experiences unfortunately.

The eternity that we will read about in today’s bible verse however will bring a different meaning of the word. Listen to these words from 2 Corinthians 4:16-18:

You see what we read here explains to us that when we are fed up, worried, ill or unsure about things, these feelings and situations will not last for forever, in the big picture of our lives these days, months and maybe even years of difficult times are just a small section of the bigger plan that God has for us.

The verses I read remind us, especially when we feel discouraged, to think about those invisible things that are powerful and last forever. Love is an important thing that cannot be seen, but is very powerful. When you feel discouraged think of all the people in your life who love you.

Another powerful thing that cannot be seen is hope. Hope comes from God’s love that goes on and on forever.

Always remember that you are loved. Do not lose heart. Do not give up.

I want you to try something today that will demonstrate the true loving and hope filled meaning of the eternity God gives us:

Get a measuring tape or a big ball of wool/string. Go to the start of your driveway and ask someone to hold the start of the tape/wool/string then you walk pulling it out until you reach the end of your back garden.

Leave the tape/wool/string there and walk back to the start. Use a ruler to measure 10cm. That 10cm is your life here on earth regardless of your age right now. Then walk or look at the rest of the tape/wool/string still in front of you. This is to remind you and let you see what an eternity with God will be like, our lives here on earth are just a tiny part of what is still to come.

I hope and pray this thought of eternity with God brings you joy, a feeling of hope and fills you with lots of love. You could actually keep walking and walking with all the tape/wool/string that we have in this world and it would never be enough to demonstrate the eternal life we have to come! Now that’s an amazing thought!!

Our next song is ‘Bless the Lord O my soul (10 Thousand reasons)’

Prayers for others

Heavenly Father,

We come with thankfulness that we can see the first signs of spring; as the snow has melted and the first flowers in our gardens return to view, in particular the carpets of snowdrops and the first crocuses and daffodils beginning to reveal their vibrant colours. We are encouraged that the continued success of the vaccination programme gives further hopes of an easing of the lockdown restrictions in the coming months  

We continue to pray for wisdom for hospital administrators and medical staff as they seek to reduce the lengthy waiting lists for operations at the present time. We pray for Your strength for all those working in our NHS and Social Care sectors that they may be enabled to continue to carry out their duties effectively, especially when there are staff shortages or other resources are limited.

We remember those especially who in serving others caught the Covid-19 virus and who are suffering the effects of ‘long-covid’ and finding it so difficult to return to work. For them and others in the same position as a result of ‘long-covid’, we pray that medical treatments made be found to alleviate their symptoms.

We pray for our governments in Edinburgh and Westminster as they grapple with increasingly difficult decisions that have such serious implications for so many people’s lives. As they wrestle with the options open to them over what sectors of the country to open up first in the coming weeks, they will be well aware that there are social as well as economic costs to the choices made.

We pray that they will come to wise decisions. However we pray that the people who have lost their employment or who are struggling with the continuance of the furlough scheme may not lose the hope of returning to their work or of gaining new forms of employment in the coming months.  

We pray for the following individuals and churches:

Philip Craven (RAF Chaplain) – We give thanks for our chaplains who continue to serve in various capacities across Scotland and the UK. We pray specifically for Philip as he serves as an RAF Chaplain at the Defence Academy in Shrivenham. We pray that Philip will know God’s leading and blessing in all he does this year.  

Broxburn BC – We give thanks for the fellowship in Broxburn and pray for them as they continue to worship and meet together over Zoom at this time. We pray that they will be uplifted and encouraged as they meet together week by week.  

Buckhaven BC – We give thanks to God that from lockdown (March 2020) they have been able to continue their food bag support for local families and individuals; we are pleased that they have also been able to refurbish the kitchen for their Friday Café reopening post-lockdown. We pray for the congregation as they seek a new Pastor. They are thankful to meet weekly online for worship and are ready to meet occasionally in person as lockdown lifts.

Buckie BC – We pray for the ongoing youth work and for the settling in of Graham Mair the new pastor. We pray that God would give them wisdom in how best to communicate the good news of Jesus to the people in their community.

We come to pray for the needs in our own congregation:

Heavenly Father,

We come with deep thankfulness for the success of Helen S’s operation last week. We pray that You would strengthen her as she recuperates from surgery at this time. We also remember Shona H’s niece Lynne after her time in hospital as well. We also remember Sheila B who has been unwell recently and pray for the restoration of her health.

We bring before You Jeanne P in Ninewells Hospital and pray for Your peace and strength for her at this time.

We continue to remember the Gray, Steer and Torbet families as they grieve the loss of loved ones

For people with on-going health issues – Betty R, Fiona K, Dorothy G, Fiona McC, Mary D, Nicola L’s Dad Lawrie and Margaret – Ann W’s sister, for Fergus R,  – may you grant them all your comfort, your peace and a special sense of your presence during these difficult times

We continue to pray for a restoration of health for other members of our congregation or members of their families…    

We continue to pray for anyone else with ongoing health conditions and bring them before You now…

We pray for the people whom we cannot visit in residential care, and others who are at home on their own, together with others in our church family who are feeling the effects of increasing age and infirmity…

We pray for other people who have been bereaved and ask Your comfort for them …

We now pray silently for anyone else known to us who is in need of our prayers at this time…..

We pray also for our own needs…

We bring all these prayers before you in Jesus’ name,

Amen.

Bible Reading

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due to us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

II Corinthians 4:16-5:10

Before we come to listen to God’s Word let us sing: ‘By faith we see the hand of God’

The Message

II Corinthians 4:16 to 5:10 Living in the light of our future

Introduction

In the midst of the current virus pandemic very little seems certain. So much of what is stated as the rules for this week may be quite different next week or next month as circumstances change. However, the painful truth is that some things like death do not change. All of us are confronted with this unsought reality time and again when we say farewell to people we love and now deeply miss.

One day the funeral arrangements will be for you and for me, the only question to answer is this: are you ready to enter eternity should your time come soon? Our answer to this question leads naturally to ask ourselves and each other: how should I be living in the light of our future beyond this life? Have you ever stopped to answer this question? None of us are guaranteed tomorrow only the present day.

In funeral services of various kinds an overwhelming majority will affirm some form of belief in life after the grave, apart from the conviction humanists and atheists. One of the early Christian statements of faith, recited in church is The Apostles Creed, which includes these lines:

In the funeral of a believer it is common for the officiating minister to state words like these, which originated in the 1662 version of the Book of Common Prayer, though based on various biblical texts. For as much as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed, we therefore commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.

This is a clear description of the distinctive Judaeo-Christian emphasis on life beyond the grave. Jesus was the first to be raised, never to die again; but we as His followers will one day experience that same transformation as Paul told the Corinthians in I Corinthians 15:20-22: But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

Yet what happens when we die – between then and the return of Jesus Christ? We have all sat around in bus stations or airport lounges and it has felt like ‘forever’! Most importantly, how do we view the present circumstances we are experiencing in the light of the future God has prepared for us? These are some of the issues Paul will address in the next section of his letter to the church in Corinth.

1. Our Goal –Eternal Glory (II Corinthians 4:16-18)

Paul has been speaking about the wonderful message we have to proclaim and the need to proclaim it with integrity, like a light shining in a dark place. Yet we do so in human weakness, totally dependent on His strength and resources. After all if God the Father has the power to raise Jesus from the dead then He can handle all the issues I am likely to face. In the final section of chapter four the apostle provides his and our motivation for serving the Lord and making the best use of our time here on earth. He speaks first about:

(a) Perseverance (v16a) Therefore we do not lose heart. The apostle has made the same point in II Corinthians 4:1 Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.

However, there he was looking back to the previous chapter and the glorious truths we have to proclaim about our amazing God, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Here he is looking forward to what lies ahead of us beyond the grave. There is a constant tension between the ‘now’ and ‘not yet’ of our inheritance in Christ. Paul explained something of this in his own experience in his letter to the Philippians:

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labour for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me (Philippians 1:21-26). 

Our time here is short so we must continue focussed on the calling to which He has entrusted us, maintaining that fire in our hearts, that passion for His glory, that determination to see His name honoured throughout the earth. God is at work in our lives! God has used you and me to influence and indeed to reach other people for Him. Collectively the Christian Church is experiencing amazing growth, despite the horrific opposition and suffering being endured in many countries today. 

Thank God for the encouragements we hear from the Middle East and even from parts of Africa where God is working in people’s lives. We will not give up. Brother ——— was a convert to the Christian faith in Mogadishu in 1986, through hearing the gospel by radio. In 1992 for the first time he met a fellow believer in that same city. Together they founded an underground church of fourteen members. Sadly Islamist extremists found out and hunted them down killing twelve of the fourteen believers. His co-founder Liibaan, a nurse, was the first martyr. Then Ahmed Gobe, a leading doctor, was shot dead on the way home from a clinic. Another martyr was Mohammed Haji, a former University professor in Canada, who was rebuilding the education system for the children in that city. All the murderers were apparently well known and walked freely afterwards in the streets of Mogadishu.  Brother ——— left the country, but returns periodically to encourage the underground churches [Evangelical Times February 2011].

However, a Christian will only have the priorities this believer has if he or she shares the convictions of the apostle Paul quoted from Philippians 1:21. If Christians can persevere in Somalia then we have no excuse in Scotland. Does Jesus come first in your life? Are you living now in a way you will be comfortable with when we meet Jesus?

(b) Transformation (v16b) Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. Old age does not come alone. The aches and pains and loss of strength can be depressing and frustrating when we cannot do the things we once enjoyed. Yet even in an age when the cult of youth is king in our secular culture and those older, especially women, are banished from the TV screen, to be replaced with younger models, the perspective of the people of God should be different.

We do not live in denial and pretend that we can vanquish the ageing process. Expensive face lifts, botox injections and innumerable creams only delay the inevitable! At each stage of life there are blessings and challenges, both are a part of the tapestry of life with its many inter-connected threads.

One of the most powerful forms of witness through our church has been the partnership of younger and older people serving the parents and their children through the parent and toddler ministries. This kind of inter-generational activity is increasingly rare in our society and is something we might sometimes take for granted. We may not have the energy we once had but it should not be a reason to diminish our prayer life.

On the contrary time pressures might be less without the requirements of formal employment – even though many people have remarked in my hearing that they cannot imagine in the past how they found time to go to work! In the inner person, in our character and relationship with the Lord we can grow more like Him. Our goals and ambitions will of necessity, in terms of things of this life, be different to when we were younger, but our focus on Jesus and our passion for His glory should remain the same. In more general terms, it was the Christian approach to human life that led to the value of and care for the very young and the elderly in society.

In a world where the denial of the sanctity of life for the very youngest (in abortion legislation) and the lack of adequate care for the elderly is increasingly common, Christians (and not just Christians to be fair) will wish to honour older people and treat them with the dignity they deserve. We cannot stop the physical ageing process, but we can actively promote and encourage growth in grace and Christ-likeness in our inner person, because one day we will be like Him.     

(c) Glorification (vs17-18) 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Perseverance and transformation are accompanied by glorification. Are there times when things get too much for us? Yes! Work issues, health concerns, family matters, things in society, our neighbourhood and even at times in our church there are issues that cause us to be despondent and even sometimes distressed. In such a context Paul says remember what is temporary and what is eternal; how apt his words are; how often I need to be reminded of this fact, and I suspect many others of us here as well.

A lot of people around us behave the way they do because they think that this life is all there is, which leads to short-term thinking and not building for the future. As Christians we know that we are part of something much bigger; of universal and eternal significance, even if our part in that is perceived as small and in the world’s eyes insignificant. This is a point that Paul repeated in a number of letters, including to the church in Rome.

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope. 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.  24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently (Romans 8:18-25).

Ira Sankey, the famous singer who accompanied D.L. Moody in his evangelistic campaigns in Scotland in the late nineteenth century, tells a story about Robert Annan of Dundee:

Having carried in my pock­et for sev­er­al months the words of the hymn “Eter­ni­ty,” which the au­thor, El­len M. H. Gates, had sent me, I hand­ed them, one day in Chi­ca­go [Il­li­nois] in 1876, to my friend P. P. Bliss, ask­ing him to write mu­sic for them. Three days lat­er he had com­posed the tune.

The hymn was much used at our meet­ings both in Great Bri­tain and the Unit­ed States. Be­fore sing­ing it, I used to tell the sto­ry of Rob­ert An­nan, of Dun­dee, Scot­land. He was one of the worst men who ev­er lived in that town, but af­ter hav­ing been con­vert­ed be­came one of the most use­ful mis­sion­ar­ies of the place. On leav­ing his lit­tle cot­tage home one morn­ing to go to his mis­sion work, he took a piece of chalk from his pock­et and wrote on the flag­stone of the walk which led to his house the single word “Eter­ni­ty.”

A few min­utes lat­er he saw a child fall from one of the ves­sels in the har­bour. Be­ing a bold, strong swim­mer, he threw off his coat and shoes, and plunged in­to the bay. He saved the child, but at the cost of his own life. His bo­dy was car­ried home over the word “Eternity,” which he had writ­ten a few hours be­fore. On my last vi­sit to Scot­land, about five years ago, I went to see his wi­dow, and found that the writ­ing had been cut in­to the stone by di­rect­ion of the Honourable James Gor­don, the Earl of Ab­er­deen. Thou­sands go to see it ev­ery year. Mr. An­nan’s min­is­ter took me to the beau­ti­ful cem­e­te­ry at the place, where a fine mon­u­ment ten feet high, marks the last rest­ing-place of the he­ro.

That street was later demolished, but the paving stone in question was rescued and is now located at the entrance to St Peter’s Free Church of Scotland in Dundee. This man’s life and the word imposed on the memories of many citizens of Dundee as a result of his witness, is a word that we too would do well to keep at the forefront of our own memories, as it keeps everything else in perspective.

2. Our Future – Eternal Life (II Corinthians 5:1-8)

 1Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 We live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

David, in Psalm 16:10-11 is conscious that there will be some extraordinary events taking place in the future life of the coming Messiah, such as His violent death (Psalm 22) and resurrection (Psalm 16:10), but for David who would die before that time there will still be something to look forward to prior to the bodily resurrection. Why was he so happy?:

because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Jesus, in Matthew 8:11-12, spoke of life after death in these terms: I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

However we understand these verses it is clear that the people described are conscious and active participants in what is going on in heaven. Jesus, in His high priestly prayer recorded in John 17, makes this request in verse 24: Father I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, and to see My glory… The saved believers in heaven currently praising the Lamb that was slain do so with real joy as they experience His glorious presence in person.

There are various Bible references that draw attention to what they are doing there. For example, Revelation 7:9-10: After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no-one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.

There are people who have been martyrs for their faith on earth, described in Rev.6:9-10: I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?)

They cry out for justice on the earth prior to the end of the age. There are other believers pictured as serving the Lord day and night (Rev.7:15). In the light of the cumulative evidence of the Scriptures, not just II Corinthians 5:7-8: We live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

We need not fear death because it is not the end. We are liberated to live life to the full in the here and now, knowing that the best is always still to come for the people of God.  In the life to come we enter eternity and time is no more. We cannot be late or early for anything; a fact that will be a big encouragement for those of us who struggle with time-keeping!

We will look forward to our resurrection bodies, but the joys of the age to come will more than compensate prior to Christ’s second coming. The Greek cultures of the Roman world looked forward to immortality free from a physical body and saw such a position as a future liberation. Paul stresses here this is not our hope. We look forward one day to a glorious resurrection body, when Jesus returns with His saints who have already died, to collect those who remain on the earth. Although followers of Jesus shared with these Greek secular scholars the conviction that this life was not the end and that the best is yet to come; in contrast to their views, we believe it will be in a physical world in fulfilment of God’s original plans for His creation.        

3. Our Accountability –Eternal Reward (II Corinthians 5:9-10)

(a) Our Goal (II Cor.5:9-10a) 9So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. In Roman cities the governor sat on the judgement seat to hear court cases, as Paul knew well from his time before Gallio’s court in Corinth (Acts 18:12). This was a serious matter as the most serious penalties could in principle be given to guilty defendants. However, Paul is much more concerned by a much higher court and a greater judge, before whom we shall all one day appear, the Lord Himself.

In the light of this reality it is no wonder that Paul says in II Cor.5:9: So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. Is that what you do?

Much of our lives other people in our church family, and even our human family, know little about, unless we care to tell them.  But, there is one person who knows and sees everything and it is before such a One that we will stand on that day.  It is not your husband or wife, mother or father, son or daughter, brother or sister who makes that call but the Lord of glory.

It is not the mocking person in the street, the cynical colleague in the workplace or the caustic critic on the TV, but the One who hung on a cross and said: Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34). It is not the helpless victim of injustice or oppression or one of the starving multitudes in parts of Asia or Africa who will judge you and me, rather the One who rebuked Peter for chopping off Malchus’ ear in the Garden of Gethsemane and said in Matthew 26:33-34: Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?

Without exception, every man, woman, boy or girl, who has walked this earth will stand before King Jesus –the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:16). What is your number one goal? Is it the same as that of Paul? It needs to be, as that is why you and I were placed on this earth in the first place.      

(b) Our Reward (II Corinthians 5:10b) that each one may receive what is due to him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. Our salvation is eternally secure because Jesus obtained it on the cross. However, our judgement as believers covers rewards for service rendered; and all our works will be tested to discern their quality. In I Corinthians 3:10-15 Paul explains this point in more detail:

For no-one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw,  13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

Are you / am I as Christians on course for a pleasant surprise or an awful shock or a bit of both when we stand before Him? May our goal be to put Him first throughout our lives and on that day be delighted to hear Him say:

Well done good and faithful servant…come and share your master’s happiness (Matthew 25:23), Amen. 

Our song before we come to communion is: ‘When I survey the wondrous cross’

The Lord’s Supper

Jesus invites all Christian who have committed their lives to follow Him to participate in this act of worship. The apostle Paul wrote these words of Scripture in I Corinthians 11:23-26 to guide our observance of Communion.

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: the Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ 25 In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. 

Prayer: Choose your own words of prayer to give thanks for the bread and wine that represent the costly gift of His body and blood for us.

Take the bread: Jesus said: ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.

Take the wine: Jesus said: This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’

Our closing song is: ‘Amazing Grace’

Closing Prayer:

Thank you Lord for the incredible privilege You have entrusted to us to live in the light of the future You have prepared for us. We are assured that the work You have begun in us and in others who know and love You, together with all the members of Your Church down the ages, will one day be brought to completion. We recognise that along the way we will have our struggles and our fears, yes even our tears, but through it all Your Holy Spirit will enable us to be victorious and one day stand before You in heaven rejoicing that what was prophesied in the Bible has finally come true.  We bring our praises and our prayers to You this day, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Benediction:  The Grace

Church at Home – 21 February 2021

Intimations

JAM Kids’ focus: The Virtual Sunday School

JAM young adults have a separate programme which today is Breakthru 7:00-8:00pm Please contact Gary Torbet on garytorbet@btinternet.com for more details of today’s programme.

Scottish Bible Society Wonder Walks – You don’t need to prepare anything in advance, just download your map and head off for your weekly Wonder Walk.On each map you will find something to read from the Gospel of Mark, questions to think about, games to play, and ideas to pray about.  We have created a walk for each Sunday in Lent, concluding with a Good Friday and Easter Walk, but you can go use these walks anytime you go out! Visit the website for further information.

Prayer for Scotland “Cry for Mercy” – a call to 40 days of prayer for Scotland.

Baptist Union of Scotland National Prayer Livestream The monthly prayer livestream takes place next on Sunday 7 March, 2021 7.00–7.30pm.

Call to worship

A word from Jesus on Discipleship;

“A large crowd was following Jesus.  He turned to them and said to them “If you want be my disciple you must hate everyone else by comparison, your father & mother, wife and children, brothers & sisters – ye even your own life.  Otherwise you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.”  Luke 14: 25 – 27

As Edwards the scholar comments “Jesus is talking to the crowds – to all contemplating a relationship with Jesus lest they imagine that familiarity with Jesus even proximity to him are substitutes for costly discipleship with him”

For it says in Galatians 2:20

“For I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” Amen!

The treasure is in jars of clay – and let us now reflect on this in our first song of praise “Yet not I but through Christ in me”

Opening prayer

Let us commit our time to God in prayer, let us pray.

Loving heavenly Father, we come to you as the God of creation the Sustainer of the universe, and yet a Holy perfect God.

Help us afresh today to stand in awe of you – that you are Holy and that we would have the privilege, of coming into your presence God!

Help us wonder at that privilege, that Jesus, whose hands flung stars into space – to cruel nails surrendered!

That we might receive salvation, to receive your forgiveness, to receive your treasure – into us as earthen vessels;

Father as we worship you today, take us deeper into you, enable us to see what we need to repent of, that we might more fully represent you in costly discipleship.  That we might share you Jesus in our needy world and communities;

In all that we do today – in praise in prayer, in testimony, in hearing and listening to your voice through your word.

May our lives be touched, infused, challenged by the work of your Holy Spirit – Lord, shake us today and may you the God of heaven be glorified.  For it is in the name of Jesus we pray.  Amen.

Let us say together the words Jesus taught His disciples when He said:


All-Age Talk Rev Gary Torbet

Later, Brian is reflecting on our need to be faithful in witnessing for Jesus and in this passage is says in 2 Corinthians 4:7:

“We now have this light shining in our hearts (that is the amazing truth of the Gospel) BUT WE OURSELVES ARE LIKE FRAGILE CLAY JARS CONTAINING THIS GREAT TREASURE”

In Jesus times these were jars of Clay, and yes they don’t look like something you would put something precious in, and we are like the jars of clay – with all our failings, weaknesses, things we do wrong – yet still seen as precious for the purposes of God.

The knowledge of the Gospel has shone light into their hearts, unveiling them to God’s glory. This knowledge is through Christ, and it is their treasure. Paul recognizes their worthlessness before God, but He has chosen to give them this valuable truth, to free them from their sins and bring them to Him in order to show His surpassing greatness. As His servants, He has chosen them, jars of clay, to spread this truth.

This treasure is for us if we accept Christ Jesus as our Saviour and Lord. When we become followers of Christ, the veil in our hearts is torn and our darkened hearts are filled with light. This light is the knowledge of the glory of God that we have heard about through God’s Word and that we begin to experience as believers through our worship and prayers.

Jars of clay were valueless containers, readily discarded, being cheap and always available to people in Paul’s day. The difference between these worthless jars and the treasure of Christ is huge! Paul’s main purpose in calling himself and the apostles’ jars of clay is to reveal that human weakness presents no barrier to the purpose of God. The worthlessness of the vessels is evidence that the magnificent power which occurs when the Gospel is preached, the change that takes place in human lives, is God’s and not the apostles.

And they can be used to place beautiful flowers in;

Boys and girls – why not draw a picture of a clay jar and place inside it a some beautiful flowers or a precious gem or treasure and with the verse “BUT WE OURSELVES ARE LIKE FRAGILE CLAY JARS CONTAINING THIS GREAT TREASURE” 2 Corinthians 4; 7

Worship Song 

Let us now sing about the light of the gospel and how it is something God calls us to do – to spread the Good News of His wonderful Gospel of grace and salvation.  “Light of the World”

Prayers for others

Loving heavenly Father,

We thank you are the light of the world Jesus – that you came to us, to show how much you loved us “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life”

Your Gospel of truth, love and grace are so amazing, and how the world we live in, so needs this just now, so needs your peace, your healing just now.

Help us realise afresh today Lord that we may not always have the freedoms we have to share your gospel – help us not to take this for granted and especially now as we remember our brothers and sisters around the world that

have the real threat of being imprisoned, taken away from family, being tortured for the sake of “picking up their cross” and daring to follow you in some of these lands that we pray for now – from the Open Doors Watch list of the 10  most dangerous countries

to be a Christian – we pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters in:

  • North Korea
  • Afghanistan
  • Somalia
  • Libya
  • Pakistan
  • Eritrea
  • Yemen
  • Iran
  • Nigeria
  • And India, where we remember our brother Nilapu and his colleagues preaching the Gospel there.

Father, as we think of our nation, we pray for continuing wisdom for our leaders – Boris Johnson, Nicola Sturgeon as they continue to battle the pandemic.  And also that as a wider world we would not create, yet another injustice, by withholding vaccines from much poorer countries that will heap further suffering and death upon their people – May you raise up leaders and in the church – who will speak out for the voiceless.

We pray especially for all the Doctors, Nurses, Physios, OT and Care Workers in the NHS and care homes as they care for the sick and dying – protect them, give them daily courage. We pray for all those who have lost loved ones through COVID – each a personal tragedy – would they know your comfort Lord.

Father we pray especially for those who are currently unwell or suffering from long-term conditions;

For Helen S and for a successful hip replacement tomorrow.

For the T and G families as they grieve the loss of loved ones

For people with on-going health issues – Betty R, Fiona K, Dorothy G, Fiona Mc, Mary D, Nicola L’s Dad (L) and Margaret – Ann W’s sister, for Fergus R,  – may you grant them all your comfort, your peace and a special sense of your presence during these difficult times.  We pray for supernatural breakthroughs and for your healing Lord – grant medical people involved with them renewed insight for their well-being.

We pray now silently for those known to us now; …

We continue to pray for;

Hamish R for recovery from COVID,  in his ongoing ministry in France, his ongoing witness to Frank (the 69 year old skateboarder) and for Hamish’s future direction next year.

The Christianity Explored and Discipleship Explored participants that they will grow in their knowledge, understanding and application of God’s Word particularly the 5 people on these courses who are yet to be saved.

The church of Broughty Baptist -may each one of usl grow into a mature relationship with Jesus and be devoted to one another in prayer, learning God’s Word together, sharing the gospel and in fellowship with one another.

For the deacons and pastor as they meet at the end of March for the deacons ‘away day’. May they discern God’s will for leadership direction.

For the church’s youth and children and families provision. That young people will grow in their relationship with Christ through the Holy Spirit working through the Word, leaders and young people. For the children and parents/carers who take part in Boogie Babies and Messy Church that relationships with Moraig and Claire will mature and through the Word and these relationships the Holy Spirit will lead children and adults to a growing knowledge and understanding of Jesus leading them to an understanding of their need for Christ.

We bring all these prayers to you, our loving Lord Jesus and it is in your name we pray. Amen.

Bible Reading

Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. 

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 

For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 

10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

13 It is written: ‘I believed; therefore I have spoken.’[b] Since we have that same spirit of[c] faith, we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. 15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

II Corinithians 4: 1-15

Before we come to listen to God’s Word let us sing: 

The Message

II Corinthians 4:1-15 Are we faithful witnesses for Jesus?

Introduction

Why should anyone listen to people from the churches? What are the churches contributing to our communities in this time of a virus pandemic? These are questions someone put to me this week and are questions put to others in churches where enquiries are made about our place in society at this time.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Bishop of York Stephen Cottrell gave this response to an enquiry about what the ‘Church of England is doing’ at this time: “‘Where is the C of E?’” the pair asked. “Let us offer an answer. We have been burying the dead, comforting the bereaved, feeding the hungry and praying for our nation. We have been doing this not as superheroes, but as human beings living through the same crisis as everyone else: grieving, home-schooling, worrying, getting sick, shielding, isolating, weeping.” [Premier Christian News Thursday 11 Feb 2021]

This is of course alongside zoom or livestreamed services; or the multiple ways in which churches distribute services to make them accessible to others, by email, cds or dvds, or by hard copies printed off and posted or hand delivered to people’s doors. We thank God for our online Baptist Union Assembly ‘Canopy’ last autumn and other Christian conferences and media that have been a blessing through these difficult times.

In a culture where celebrities post a stream of social media messages to keep a high profile about their activities, and the news media is attempting to offer a twenty-four hour version of the main news stories of the day, what we are doing will never fit neatly into that kind of packaged presentation. The question of what it means to be a faithful witness for the Lord is both a personal and a collective one.

What have I or you been doing during this virus pandemic is inevitably a mixture of the ordinary everyday things of life that are part of regular routines of running a home; these may include supporting family members with school work or assisting others with needs, especially those older people in our church family or community.

We are very limited in what we can do, when visiting people’s homes is greatly restricted or meeting others for a coffee in a café is not possible. I thank God for those in this congregation who have written letters or cards to encourage other people. I thank God for the number of people who have made phone calls or other forms of messages to others to enquire about their wellbeing. We have had different phases of activities over the last ten months.

Initially there was a great scramble to ensure everyone shielding or vulnerable in some way could access the necessary groceries or other items needed; we have participated in the provision of parcels to encourage NHS and Social Care workers. Others of us have sent or spoken messages of appreciation to supermarket employees or other essential workers in the course of ordinary contacts with them.

There is no limit on who we might seek to encourage or how we might express appreciation for faithful dedication to serving our local community. However, Paul in this passage in I Corinthians 4 is focussed on how as the people of God we engage in worship, witness and social ministries. The ‘how’ is as important as the ‘what’. Let us take a short time to reflect on what Paul has written in these verses.   

1. Our commitment (II Corinthians 4:1-6)

Christian liberty is not a freedom to do what we like, but an opportunity to serve wholeheartedly the God who has done so much for us in Christ. This is why Paul begins chapter four with the word ‘therefore’. On the basis of such a wonderful blessing it will be natural that we want to please Him in the way we live. But what does Paul have in mind? It requires that:                 

(a)We Persevere (4:1) 1Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. The ‘super-apostles’ who boasted about their spiritual greatness, and whom Paul will address in II Corinthians 10-12, by contrast, criticised Paul for his inadequacy. He’s a boring speaker. He’s not a charismatic personality. His ministries are too short. He moves on because he quickly becomes demoralised and cannot continue in ministry at a particular church for too long. This is why he left Corinth.

Nonsense, says Paul, when we recognise how great is our God and how wonderful is the message we proclaim we will never quit. We will not surrender our calling, not today, not tomorrow, and not ever! Nothing will make me cease to do the work God has entrusted to me. In II Corinthians 11 the apostle compares his battle scars for the sake of Christ with theirs and shows how much more he has endured than they. His list included these items:

I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27 I have laboured and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches (II Corinthians 11:23b-28).

There are many Christians who can offer magnificent service for God over a year or two, but He desires men and women who will keep on year after year living for Jesus and using their gifts in His service; touching the lives of others around them with a passionate and prayerful desire that they also will come to know and love Jesus too.  I trust this is your desire this year, even during a virus pandemic!

Can you and I promise: ‘God, while I have breath in my body and strength in my limbs I’m available to live for you.’ When we are wholly available to the Lord, don’t be surprised if He wants to use you to influence the people with whom you come into contact in the coming weeks. God’s work is like running a marathon and He calls each one of us to finish well the race we have begun.

In his letter to the Churches in the region of Galatia (part of modern day Turkey), Paul wrote: Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers (Galatians 6:9-10).

(b) We maintain our integrity (character) (4:2a) 2Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; In our secular society one of the few ‘unforgivable’ sins is hypocrisy, saying we will do something, while all the time intending to engage in another course of action.  Our character is the most important thing we have and its maintenance of the utmost importance.

In Britain today personal integrity seems increasingly to be absent in so many social contexts. In business how many people could be trusted to deliver on a promise sealed with a handshake, even if it turned out to their financial disadvantage, without the signed paperwork to accompany it? How many sportspeople are there who would rather lose a game or competition rather than win by engaging in some form of cheating? We could go on across the whole of society asking these questions.

The bottom line is this: you and I ultimately are responsible before God for one person – ourselves- for whom we will give an account to God one day (II Corinthians 5:10). No other person on earth may know what is going on in your heart and mind, but He does, and that is what is important. May He help us to live in a manner that allows us to maintain a clear conscience before Him and in the sight of other people. Some people may say we are stupid to our face sometimes for being so honest, but deep down they will envy the kind of courage we possess to be willing to do the right thing, even if it is to our short-term disadvantage.  

(c) We serve with integrity (conduct) (4:2b) we do not use deception, It is not just words but actions. The battle in the mind and heart is the hardest, and if we win there, inappropriate words and actions will be avoided. However, all of us know that there are times when wrong thoughts get through the barrier; in fact, we may secretly welcome them and take pleasure in them.

The danger then is that we might actually engage in actions which bring dishonour on the name of Jesus. Paul had been accused of declining financial support from the wealthy Corinthians in order to have some kind of moral bargaining power over them (see II Corinthians 12:11-18). This was nonsense. He had asked them to make collections for mission work in other places (I Corinthians 16:1-4), but he was concerned that this might not happen in his absence, because they were possibly the least generous of the churches he had founded, despite their wealth.

May God help us in our work careers; in our family relationships and in our church ministries and roles to be people of integrity who live in a way that honours Him.  

(d) We proclaim the gospel accurately (4:2c-6)

The Gospel Paul proclaimed told the truth about heaven and hell; included the unpalatable truths about sin, righteousness and judgement. He was fearless about proclaiming the truth, albeit doing so with gentleness and respect (I Peter 3:15). When on trial before Roman Governor Festus and Jewish king Agrippa (Acts 26) Paul could have said ingratiating words in the hope of securing his release. Instead he reminded them that God had commissioned him to go to Gentiles, like Festus, to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Me [Jesus] (Acts 26:18). 

These words would have been as welcome to Festus, as to secular sceptical people in your laboratory, office or staffroom today! The Gospel is good news to those that receive it, but by implication are the very opposite to the people who refuse to accept it. The offence of the Gospel has not changed.

2. Our condition (II Corinthians 4:7-15)

Paul has responded forcefully to the critics of his gospel whose simplistic creed has nothing to say about suffering, death and judgement; whose goals and ambitions concern this life not focussed on the eternal priorities of King Jesus. A gospel that does not meet people in their hours of deepest need is no gospel at all. However, the glorious message that Paul has given his life to proclaim does address these fundamental concerns and issues of daily life.

(a)Our weakness and His power (II Corinthians 4:7) 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all- surpassing power is from God and not from us. The finest diamonds kept in a ceramic pot from the value range of a local supermarket!

The Holy Spirit is at work in human bodies subject to decay, disease, injury and certain death; why? It is to show that the victory of the gospel and its ultimate triumph is of God not of us; or as Paul puts it in II Corinthians 1:9: that we might not rely on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead.

You and I are the messengers proclaiming good news in a world that so desperately needs it. We are the means God has chosen to make known the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).

On my way home from the Grammar School I attended in England, age sixteen, I was met one day by a small boy of seven or eight who challenged me to a fight. He was only half my height and I played rugby for the second team in my school year. No contest! However, near to our school was a rough area where the boy lived, I knew that he would have an older brother, and a whole gang of mates, who would appear in minutes, or at least the next day, should I lay a finger on him! His boldness (or foolishness!) was not about him, but the resources that he believed was available to him should he need them.

What point is Paul making here? There is a call for humility and self-awareness. Yet it is equally a request to look up and see the divine resources available to us. We remember these extraordinary words in Ephesians 3:20-21 at the end of Paul’s prayer for this congregation in Western Turkey. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us21 to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. When we grasp the truth of this point we will be able to say with Paul: I can do everything through Him who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13). Praise the Lord!

(b) Our problems and His grace (II Corinthians 4:8-9) 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

Advocates of cheap grace and the prosperity gospel proclaim: ‘have faith’ ‘come to Jesus and your problems will be over –you can rise above them’. As we read the New Testament and follow the path that leads through Church history it is the very opposite that is true. It has been among the poor and marginalised of the world that the gospel has spread, only rarely has it appeared to triumph amongst the rich and powerful. Following a crucified Messiah appears to be foolish to the powerbrokers of the world.

Yet we have a gospel that can meet every need. Abraham Kuyper, the great Christian thinker and Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1901-1905, believed that God continually influenced the life of believers, and daily events could show his workings. Kuyper famously said, “Oh, no single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!'[James D. Bratt,  Abraham Kuyper, A Centennial Reader, p. 488]. 

The final triumph of Jesus  and His imminent return keeps us focussed on living for Him. Paul expresses so clearly the wonderful paradox of our calling in Philippians 2:12-13 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed— not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence— continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.

(c) Our dying and His life (II Corinthians 4:10-12) 10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that His life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

There is a cost to Christian living. In much of the world physical violence even martyrdom can be the lot of followers of Jesus. In secular countries like our own, discrimination in an increasing number of workplaces as a result of hostile legislation put in place by the Edinburgh or Westminster Governments which has resulted in a loss of careers for some people and a loss of promotion for others. Now we need to pray for courage, but also for wisdom in the choices we make.

Very few Christians in Western countries are at risk of physical violence or facing death threats simply for following Jesus. However, we must remember that we have our freedoms today because others had to fight very hard, or in a few cases gave their lives, in earlier centuries, to obtain them. There can also be other less obvious costs to following our vocation. Some individuals who had served as missionaries overseas, for example, on returning back to the United Kingdom to retire have lost a proportion of their state pension rights and consequently have only limited financial resources to provide for anything other than a very basic lifestyle in retirement.

We have to be ready and willing to pay whatever price is the cost of faithfulness to Jesus Christ. Our testimony should be in line with that of Paul who declared in Galatians 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

(d) Our faith and His plan (II Corinthians 4:13-15) 13It is written: I believed; therefore I have spoken. With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak 14 because we know that the One who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in His presence. 15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

This is our hope and vindication. The God who raised Jesus bodily from the dead will one day raise His people in like manner at the end of the age. Paul would have said a big ‘Amen’ to John’s vision of heaven recorded in his vision in Revelation 7:9-10:

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.  10 And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’

No wonder Paul could say in Romans 1:18: I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

But it took him many years of Christian service to say these words with conviction and truly mean them. Our faith is anchored in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Because He triumphed then so shall we with Him on His return to reign as the King of Kings. I hope as we read and reflect on Paul’s words in Romans 1:18, that we can identify with Him and commit ourselves, like him, to be a faithful witness for Jesus, Amen.

Our song before we come to communion is:

The Lord’s Supper 

Jesus invites all Christian who have committed their lives to follow Him to participate in this act of worship. The apostle Paul wrote these words of Scripture in I Corinthians 11:23-26 to guide our observance of Communion.

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: the Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ 25 In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.  

Prayer: Choose your own words of prayer to give thanks for the bread and wine that represent the costly gift of His body and blood for us.

Take the bread: Jesus said: ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.

Take the wine: Jesus said: This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’

Our closing song is: 

Closing Prayer: 

Thank You Lord Jesus for the way You lived Your life here on earth as a faithful witness to God the Father, modelling for us a way of living that You called Your first disciples to seek to follow. Help us as Your present-day followers to demonstrate through the choices we make this week that we are seeking to be faithful witnesses for You in this generation. Please give us wisdom and guidance to make the right choices in all we do this week, in Jesus’ name Amen.

Benediction:  The Grace 

Messy Church – 20 February 11.30am

Join us on Saturday 20th February, 11.30 am for a mini Messy Church on Zoom. Last month we made paper weaving mats to remind us of a Bible story about a man and his friends, who did all they possibly could to help him to meet Jesus. This month we’ll hear what the Bible has to say about fruit!

Please sign up by EMAIL to familyworker@outlook.com with the number of children in your household taking part and your address. An envelope with the items for the craft activity will be made up well in advance and either popped through your door during exercise or essential trips out or posted to you.

We’ll have a short Zoom session lasting less than half an hour, including a video on our Bible theme, a talk from Moraig, we’ll do the craft together and we’ll finish with an action song. Zoom invites will be sent out by another member of our team and so by signing up, you consent to your email being shared with them for this purpose only. Any questions, then please get in touch! We’d love to see you then 🙂

Church at Home – 14 February 2021

Intimations

JAM Kids’ focus: The Virtual Sunday School – ‘Abraham & Sarah’

JAM young adults have a separate programme 11:30am-12:30pm looking at the character of David in the Old Testament.  Please contact Gary Torbet on garytorbet@btinternet.com for more details.

Call to worship

Praise the Lord.
How good it is to sing praises to our God,
how pleasant and fitting to praise Him!

The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
He gathers the exiles of Israel.
He heals the broken-hearted
and binds up their wounds.
He determines the number of the stars
and calls them each by name.


Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
His understanding has no limit.
The Lord sustains the humble
but casts the wicked to the ground.

Sing to the Lord with grateful praise;
make music to our God on the harp.

Psalm 147:1-6:

Our opening song of praise and worship is: ‘This is Amazing Grace’​

Opening prayer

Heavenly Father,

We thank You once more for the privilege of gathering together on Your day to praise and worship You. We are so conscious that we have so many blessings for which we are deeply grateful.

The blessing of family and friends and church families; the blessing of food on the table each day, a roof over our heads and warm homes here in winter; the clothes we need along with many other ordinary things of life that we can so easy take for granted.

Thank You God for the provision of our daily needs. Thank You too for the opportunity we have to encourage other people by our assistance with their needs as well. Most of all today, we come with gratitude that we can come directly into Your presence through the aid of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name to bring before You our praises and petitions.  Once more we ask afresh for the forgiveness of our sins and a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit to empower us for the week that lies before us. We bring our prayers in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Let us say together the words Jesus taught His disciples when He said:


All-Age Talk Helen R

What is Love?

Today is the 14th February which is Valentine’s day. A day which has traditionally been a day to celebrate Love and affection. You might have received or given a card today or you might see it all as a bit commercial … But what is Love??

I’ve enjoyed the weather this week because I LOVE snow and I LOVE sledging and we’ve had great fun as a family. In society we say things like..” I love chocolate” or “I love football” and we say to our family and special friends, “I love you”. 

But if I asked you to tell me what love is, what would your answer be? 

In 1 John 4 verse 19 it says this, “We love because God first loved us.”

So I think if we really want to know what love is, the best place to find the answer is in the Bible. God not only told us what love is, he showed us. Here’s a short video with some verses from the bible telling us about Love and God’s love for us.  

Let us pray – Dear Father, we thank you for loving us even when we did not deserve it. Help us to love others in the same way. Amen.

Can I encourage you this week to think how you can share God’s love? It might be making and sending a card or a picture or helping someone or giving someone a phone call or a message to let them know you care and that you are thinking of them. 

Worship Song – God’s Love is Big

Prayers for others

Heavenly Father, 

Once more we come to thank You for the blessings in our lives that we enjoy day by day. On this day in the calendar when many in our midst focus on ‘Valentines’ Day’, and the enrichment to their lives that loving relationships can bring, we give thanks for the gift of love and those special individuals in our families and circles of friends that are so precious to us. 

We are particularly aware just now that so many people are unable to spend time with others who have been a major part of our lives. We ask that You would encourage and strengthen those who are feeling so alone or are who are struggling with their emotional and mental health.  

We continue to pray for the many people putting in extra hours in their places of work or online at home to ensure that essential services in our communities are provided for those who need them. We ask that You would give them the strength that they need to continue week by week in providing these services for us. In particular, we pray for those handling paperwork in businesses involved in the movement of goods across borders, especially to and from Europe and the same to and from Northern Ireland with the rest of the United Kingdom; that a way may be found to address the difficulties that have arisen following the Brexit agreement. 

We pray for the following churches:

Bridge of Don BC, Aberdeen – We give thanks as the church continues to serve the community and witness for Jesus in the midst of the challenges of Covid-19. We pray for those in the community of Bridge of Don who might be asking big questions about life just now that they will come to know Jesus. 

Bristo BC, Edinburgh – We give thanks to God that theyhave held together fairly well during this pandemic and have had a few new people join them. We would ask that God gives them wisdom to know how to keep connecting and witnessing effectively to the community around them at this difficult time and that their current Alpha course is fruitful.

We come to pray for the needs in our own congregation:

Heavenly Father, 

We are pleased that Helen S has now got a date fixed for her operation in hospital. We pray that all may go well as she undergoes surgery next week. We pray for Henry and Sheena G and other members of their family as they attend the funeral service for Henry’s mother in Castle Douglas next Thursday. We also continue to remember Ali T and other members of the T family at this time.

We are conscious of so many people with ongoing health needs and remember particularly the R family, Fiona and Frank K, Alva and Hamid D, Dorothy and Jim G, and Mary D with ongoing problems with her left hand.

We continue to pray for a restoration of health for other members of our congregation or members of their families…

We continue to pray for anyone else with ongoing health conditions and bring them before You now…

We pray for the people whom we cannot visit in residential care, and others who are at home on their own, together with others in our church family who are feeling the effects of increasing age and infirmity…

We pray for those who have been bereaved and ask Your comfort for them …

We now pray silently for anyone else known to us who is in need of our prayers at this time…..

We pray also for our own needs…

We bring all these prayers before you in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Bible Reading

Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?

 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 

15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

II Corinthians 3:7-18

Before we come to listen to God’s Word let us sing: ‘All I once held dear’

The Message

II Corinthians 3:7-18 Becoming what we are in Christ

Introduction

What did you as a child dream of being when you grew up?  What hopes or aspirations motivated you in your studies at school or in some other area of your lives? Almost all of us have our hopes for the future of our lives. Is the thing that came to mind something that became a reality for you? Or was it an aspiration you decided not to pursue as you entered adulthood? Or did you hope to do it but the opportunity never arose. Some of us struggle to articulate what is in our hearts and minds, while a few people can vocalise their hopes so clearly.

One of the greatest speeches in modern American history was that of Martin Luther King on 28 August 1963. One hundred years earlier President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the African American slaves. Now a different young man climbed the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington to proclaim his vision for the future of America. A large crowd of people had marched to demand equal rights for black people in America. They heard an incredibly powerful call for justice and equality, a dream they were happy to own as their own.

The ‘I have a dream’ speech included these words:  

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.

I have a dream that one day out in the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; that one day right down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be engulfed, every hill shall be exalted and every mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plains and the crooked places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together… [many sources online]

I come back to asking the question: what is your dream? What are your aspirations for yourself, your children and your family, your community, your country and for your church family in 2021 and on into this decade? What is it that motivates you and me to get up in the morning and get through the day, especially in those really tough days that come to us all at times, and for some people, sadly, for much for their lives? 

Paul’s dream or hope was articulated in the last verse of II Corinthians 3 when he declares what God is doing in the lives of His children and what we shall be like one day beyond this life. One day, young and old and those in-between; boys and girls, men and women of every racial and social background who have put their faith and trust in Him will be transformed to be perfect like their Lord and Saviour. It is a work that God has begun in your life and will bring it to completion of the on the day of Jesus Christ when He returns in glory as the King of Kings. Let us look briefly at what he has to say in this section of his letter to the church in Corinth. 

1. The glory of Paul’s ministry (II Corinthians 3:7-11)

Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

The background to Paul’s letter is of course the self-promoting Jewish apostles who had come from Jerusalem to encourage the churches Paul had planted to refocus their lives so as to follow many Jewish religious and cultural practices. They were not denying that Jesus was the Messiah or Lord and that all were called to follow Him. However, they did want these non-Jewish followers of Jesus to live effectively as good Jewish followers of Jesus. These individuals were ignoring the decision of the Council of Jerusalem in AD48 that had unanimously decided not to make such demands upon them.

Luke in Acts 15 records the proceedings from that Council and his report included these words in Acts 15:28-29: It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. 

There was clarity that the coming of Jesus had opened a new chapter in God’s relationship with us as His people. They could not go back to the old ways when Jesus had brought in the New Covenant through His sacrifice in our place on the cross. It was a resetting of our relationship with God, and His with us. Paul’s ministry as the apostle to the Gentiles (non-Jews) was to explain what this meant as He proclaimed the good news of the gospel in the synagogues and marketplaces of the Roman world. Paul needed to remind them what in God’s purposes was temporary about how His people worship Him and live for Him and what is permanent. He will move on to reference two times of major transition amongst Jewish believers with respect to their relationship with God. 

Paul’s message in II Corinthians 3:7-18 is effectively a commentary on Exodus 32-34, the account of God’s response to Israel breaking its commitment to keep God’s law, an agreement made when God gave to them the Ten Commandments. Paul is defending his ministry in the new covenant, and thus makes a comparison to the experience of Moses. See Exodus 34:29-35: 

29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. 

31 But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. 32 Afterwards all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai. 33 When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. 

34 But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with Him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord. 

What is Paul communicating to us here? First of all, that the Israelites could not handle being in the unmediated presence of the glory of God, even when it was merely reflected in the face of Moses! 

Secondly, II Corinthians 3:7 states that this glory was fading or diminishing: …Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was… [or fading

The Old Testament ways of worshipping were good and proper in their day, but God has something so much better for us in Christ, II Corinthians 3:8-11 states: …will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! 

If we truly grasp this says Paul, then we will not be looking back at the past, instead looking forward to the greater glory, the greater blessings God has in store for us as His people. What God has in store for us is of eternal duration. It is so easy to be fixated on the lesser things (which sometimes can seem enormous!) and lose sight of what is more important.
However, he wants to remind them and us that in the purposes of God for His people in history there are times of transition and change.

For them, it was an end to the constant repetition of animal sacrifices in the Temple. Jesus’ once for all time sacrifice paid in full for our sins, past, present and future. Instead of entering God’s presence exclusively through a priest, now we can enter directly into His presence in prayer and call God ‘Our Father’.

The opponents of Paul who had gone to Corinth would have rejected this last point. But they had forgotten why Jesus came. Remember what happened in the Jerusalem Temple when God the Father accepted Jesus sacrifice in our place.

In Matthew 27:50-51 it states: And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He gave up His spirit. 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 

The presence of that huge curtain was to symbolise that God could not be approached directly by the people. It was the High Priest, alone who went into the Holy of Holies behind it. But now all had changed. There was no going back. The gift of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament was a temporary blessing for selective believers and at particular times.

After the Day of Pentecost the gift of the Holy Spirit within us is the gift of all God’s children, who trust their heavenly Father through faith in Jesus. In addition, praise and worship using the Book of Psalms was supplemented with hymns or songs in praise of Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. Now replacing the ceremony of circumcision exclusively for baby boys, baby boys and girls could be welcomed in a service of infant presentation or dedication to God (see Luke 2:21-24).  

The baptism of believers, formerly for Gentile converts to Judaism, was now for all believers, Jews as well as Gentiles (Acts 2:38, 41: Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…Those who accepted his message were baptised, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.)

Although Jewish followers of Jesus continued to celebrate the Passover Festival, all followers of Jesus now partook of the new ordinance or sacrament to signal the commencement of the New Covenant by Jesus (Luke 22:17-20).

Some churches, like our own celebrate Communion, sharing the symbols of bread and wine, each week, though other families of churches practice it less frequently. What is most important is that we honour Jesus’ command: Do this, in remembrance of Me’ (I Corinthians 11:24b);      

We look back and see the glory of Paul’s ministry, and that of other followers of Jesus, as the new patterns for worship and witness were put in place two thousand years ago. Undoubtedly, in the times of Moses and the giving of the Old Covenant at Sinai there had also been major changes then in the worship practices of God’s people.

By comparison, our change to [currently] mostly online zoom services is a minor change. It feels so big. However, we have had blessings as well as challenges through this time. For example, new people participate in one of the forms of our Sunday service in many geographical locations. Our introduction to Christianity courses are accessible anywhere in the world, and are much easier to attend on zoom. We must recognise that God will bring good out of this situation that none of us had sought.

These times of change can be difficult to negotiate as we are removed from our comfort zones and are likely to be unclear as to how things will work out for the future. At the heart of the matter is to answer this question: How much do I trust God to help me, and to help us, navigate through these times of major changes?

The two examples cited here from Moses’ day and the start of the Christian Church at Pentecost were the biggest times of change in their history. The super apostles now living in Corinth and seeking to influence the local Christians to turn away from the approach to Christian were advocates of the old way of worshipping and witnessing to their faith represented by Moses.

By contrast the way of the Holy Spirit that transformed the Jewish people of God on the Day of Pentecost was God’s new way forward. In this smaller time of change, with what am I most struggling at this time? How might I in prayer ask God to help me focus on the positive things that have happened in the last year, rather than primarily on the setbacks or difficulties I have gone through?

2. The challenge of Paul’s message (II Corinthians 3:12-18)

12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (II Corinthians 3:12-18)

(a)What to avoid There are two things Paul raises for us to avoid:

(i)  Be careful that you do not maintain ‘a veil’ so you cannot clearly see what is really important by focussing on things that are not as important. This will differ from person to person; so what may be something to lessen as a priority for you or me may be different to another Christian, because God deals with us personally. Anything in our lives that diminishes our love for Jesus or our time for Him needs to be looked at. What am I most passionate about? Take time to reflect on that personally this week

(ii) Recognize the personal presence and ministry of the Lord in your own life through His Spirit which leads to genuine glory which is not fading, but is ever-increasing. Remember we are all a work in progress. No-one has arrived! We are all on a faith journey and growth in holiness and maturity in Christian character are progressive not instantaneous.  

(b) What to remember

(i)We have a hope which emboldens. When one sees clearly, without a veil, our hope is clarified. Dull minds become sharp, blurred vision becomes clear. This clarity of vision, this foundation of hope, is possible only in Christ, for only in Christ is the veil removed. What is your perspective on your own life? Does it correspond with what Paul has in mind here for His own life and that of the people of that day? Is Jesus Lord of your life? Paul wrote these words to the church at Rome in Romans 12:1-2: 

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will. 

The fundamental issues are not about our commitment in terms of what we do, but a heart issue of what we care most about. We sing the song ‘Jesus, All for Jesus ….’ by Robin Mark, but it is so much easier to sing than live in daily life. The challenge to us all day by day till we leave this life is this: Where is your heart? Where is your loyalty, allegiance, commitment, priority? This boldness Paul proclaims comes from hope. Perhaps one explanation of the decreased level of evangelism by many churches in this land is that too many Christians are less certain of the message of Scripture and the power of God to transform lives than in some previous generations.

Hope generates boldness. Clarity of vision and message emboldens. We see the possible. We have, hopefully, a growing desire to share with other people the salvation which is only in Christ. It is too easy to become distracted with all manner of other things or the relativism that is riddled throughout our cultural context: ‘that may be your truth, but this is my truth’. We are individuals who need to make choices for ourselves, but ‘the good news is Jesus’ is objective truth that gives us the foundation we need to become more of what we are by faith in Jesus Christ. 

For example, now that our introduction to Christianity courses are online, the range of people we can pray about inviting to attend will be greater. We will have more running after the present ones finish. Maybe in 2021 you will invite someone to attend for the first time and consider coming on the course with them? We also organise home group Bible studies and when possible times of prayer and fellowship together. Why not be open to joining a home group in the church when the lockdown restrictions are over. 

(ii) In the Lord, we have the Spirit which liberates us. This is an essential second truth. We must not only see the possibilities clearly, we must claim the power. We are freed from the power of sin so that with God’s help we may become more clearly the person He created us to be.

It is true that some may not understand why we behave as we do. Some people may question our motives, others may question our methods. Some may question our message. But Paul’s point is clear. We have freedom in Christ to live a life wholly dedicated to Him.

In John 8:31-32 Jesus said these words to a Jewish audience in Jerusalem: To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ 

What are we liberated from or to? There is obviously a calling to liberation from sinful attitudes, speech and actions. Under the enabling power of the Spirit we can be overcomers of things that previously might have enslaved us, for example, bad habits of whatever kind. But there is also a freedom to be the person God created us to be as children of God.

We are loved and precious to God, of infinite worth. Therefore, my life is of great value and purpose. My existence on this planet is really significant, not so I can walk around with a sign saying: ‘I’m special’, but so I can point beyond myself to the One who is truly special who wants to give us all life in its fullness. It is a freedom to live for God, not liberty to do our own thing. Are we willing to live this way this week? Our freedom also points us forward to the purpose of our freedom.

(iii) God is working in us a glorious transformation. We are being changed. We are becoming who God created us to be.  II Corinthians 3:18 states: And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 

This is not: You have been changed and we sit back and let God ‘do everything’. This message is to Christians who need to be reminded that living the Christian life is an ongoing relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to experience the process of inner transformation that starts when we put our faith and trust in Jesus.

When we have ‘unveiled faces’ we begin to see more clearly the Lord’s glory, that is we grasp more of how He wants us to live; we walk boldly in imitation of the way Jesus lived, in His attitudes and priorities, in our own social and cultural context, either beholding or reflecting the Lord’s glory. The reference is either to the clear vision which the absence of the veil permits, or is a transition to the next phrase which affirms our continuously changing lives. We do not have the luxury of staying as we are in Christ.

We do not have the possibility of satisfaction, of sitting idly as spectators. On the other hand, we do not bring about the transformation. In seeing the Lord’s glory, we are transformed to become more and more like Him, by the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us. We are reflecting Him, and His glory in our life is something that increases as we grow in our faith. This increasing glory is not from us, but is from the Lord, through the Holy Spirit who works in us moulding and shaping us to become more like Jesus.

Our calling is to recognise that we are becoming what we will be in God’s new creation. May we rejoice in it; may we participate in it with anticipation of what the Holy Spirit will do in us personally, in our families and in our church family in the coming weeks, months and years, for God and for His glory, Amen. 

Our song before we come to communion is: ‘Jesus all for Jesus’ 

Our song before we come to communion is: ‘Jesus all for Jesus’ 

The Lord’s Supper 

Jesus invites all Christian who have committed their lives to follow Him to participate in this act of worship. The apostle Paul wrote these words of Scripture in I Corinthians 11:23-26 to guide our observance of Communion.

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: the Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ 25 In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.  

Prayer: Choose your own words of prayer to give thanks for the bread and wine that represent the costly gift of His body and blood for us.

Take the bread: Jesus said: ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.

Take the wine: Jesus said: This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’

Our closing song is: Happy Day (The Greatest Day in History) 

Closing Prayer: 

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for what You have called me to be. One day I will be changed to be perfectly like You. However, in the years left to me here on earth, help me to make the choices that help me to reflect more clearly Your likeness in me. Help me in my attitudes, priorities and aspirations to be increasingly in line with Your plan for my life. Guide me by Your Holy Spirit to honour and glorify You in each area of my life, for Jesus’ sake, Amen.  

Benediction:  The Grace 

Church at Home – 7 February 2021

Intimations

Eagles Wings Trust- Today in our Zoom Service we heard from Mike Cordiner about the incredible work that this amazing charity is doing in Dundee, helping those who are homeless, in the midst of or recovering from addiction, and share the love of God. Click here to view their facebook page.

JAM Kids’ focus: The Virtual Sunday School. Here is the link for Sunday 7 February 21 Virtual Sunday School: Bible Quiz.

JAM young adults Ignite Live have a separate programme at 7pm tonight.  Please contact Gary Torbet on garytorbet@btinternet.com for more details of today’s programme.

Baptist Union of Scotland National Prayer Livestream The monthly prayer livestream takes place next on Sunday 7 February, 2021 7.00–7.30pm. Click here to watch.

Call to worship

24 Lord, You have made so many things!
    How wisely You made them all!
    The earth is filled with Your creatures.

27 All of them depend on You
    to give them food when they need it.
28 You give it to them, and they eat it;
   You provide food, and they are satisfied.

Psalm 104.24, 27-28

Our opening song of praise and worship is God of Immeasurable Might:

Opening prayer

Heavenly Father, 

Psalm 8:1 declares O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! Thank You that You are the Lord of heaven and earth. We so easily can be overwhelmed with the challenges before us and the difficulties that cross out path at the present time, but You are from eternity to eternity the same, our amazing God. We thank You for all that we have received for our daily needs in the past week.

It is so easy at times like this to become despondent or frustrated by the difficulties small or greater that come our way, however, we want to bring them all to You today.  Our blessings and our problems and to acknowledge that we come as we are to worship You today. We ask that You would speak into our lives from Your Holy Word and minister to us in accordance with our needs. Please forgive us our sins once more and fill us with Your Holy Spirit for the new week that lies before us, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Let us say together the words Jesus taught His disciples when He said:

All-Age Talk – Isdale Anderson

Thursday 4 February was celebrated as Rosa Parks Day.

Who was Rosa Parks?

Rosa Parks was a black lady who in 1955 lived in the city of Montgomery in Alabama which is in the south of the USA. At that time black people were treated very differently from white people. One of the ways that they were treated differently was on the buses.

Montgomery had single decker buses with a door at the front and another door at the back. If you were a black person getting on a bus, you had to go up to the front door, pay your fare to the driver, then get off again and walk round to the back door and get on and find a seat in the back half of the bus which was where black people had to sit. On a bus the front half was for white people and the back half for black people. Sometimes the bus drivers used to drive away after a black person had paid their fare but before the black person had got back on the bus.

 At the On December 1, 1955, Rosa was travelling home on the bus after a long day’s work at a Montgomery department store. She took a seat in the first row of seats set apart for black passengers. It was a busy time of day with a lot of people going home from their work and soon all the seats in the bus were taken up. As there were no more seats in the section for white passengers, some white passengers were standing in the aisle. So the driver of the bus stopped the bus and told Rosa and three other black passengers to stand up and to give their seats to one of the standing white passengers. The three other Black passengers did as they were told, but Rosa said no. She’d paid her fare. She didn’t see why she had to give up her seat just because she was a black person. That wasn’t fair.

Because Rosa wouldn’t give up her seat, the driver called for the police who arrested her. She was taken to police headquarters. She was treated like a criminal and had her finger prints taken, and her photograph taken. She was released later that evening after being told that she would have to go to court. She was found guilty of disobeying a city rule and had to pay a fine.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

However that wasn’t the end of the story. Because Rosa had been brave enough to say NO to an unfair rule, she had encouraged other black people in the city get the unfair rule changed. Some of the leading black leaders in the city got together. They were led by the minister of one of the Baptist Churches in Montgomery. Anyone know his name? Martin Luther King! They decided that they needed to do something to show that the rule on the buses was unfair. So they decided to do what? Not ride on the buses! This meant that all the members of the black community were asked not to use the buses until the bus company changed its rules. Now this was not an easy thing to ask. A lot of the black people did not have cars and they couldn’t afford taxis so it meant that they had to walk everywhere. That meant for some people a walk of up to 20 miles every day to and from work. But they stuck to it. Do you know how long for? Over a whole year! (381 days!)

Eventually the most important court in the United States – the Supreme Court – made the decision that to make people sit in different seats on the buses as against the laws of the United States and would have to be stopped. So the rule was changed and black people were allowed to sit wherever they liked on the buses. All because one ordinary lady said no. This is law is unfair. It’s unjust and I’m not going to stand (excuse the pun!) for it anymore.

What gave Rosa the courage to do what was right? She was the only black passenger who refused to give up her seat.  Rosa was a very devoted Christian. She said about that day on the bus “I instantly felt God give me the strength to endure whatever would happen next. God’s peace flooded my soul and my fear melted away. All people were equal in the eyes of God and I was going to live like a free person.”

There’s a great verse in the Old Testament book of Micah Chapter 6 v 8

There are still lots of unfair situations in the world – eg people of different skin colours can still be treated unfairly, so with poor people, homeless people as Mike has reminded us. At school children can get picked on because they are different or simply very shy and quiet. It’s not easy to speak up for them as you might get picked on as well. It’s not always easy to do the right thing and to take a stand for what’s fair – or in Rosa’s case – take a seat. But God calls us to be people who want what is fair and wants us to treat people with kindness. Let’s take inspiration from the example of Rosa Parks and do just that. 

Slides used for Talk:

Our next song is ‘Great is the darkness’

Prayers for others

Heavenly Father,

We come before you once again at this the start of another week conscious that so many of us are quite weary of the ongoing challenges of daily life that seem to be ongoing without an obvious end date. We are so grateful for the progress in the last week of the rollout of the vaccines in our country, thankful that we can see in the future an end to the restrictions that we have all had to live with in most of the last year. We give thanks for the many scientists and health service personnel whose work has contributed to this positive development. We do pray for the wider issue across the world of how vaccines can be shared fairly across the nations and are grateful for the work of the Red Cross and the World Health Organisation in taking a lead on this subject.  

We continue to remember in our prayers those individuals and families directly affected by this pandemic and pray for your comfort for those families who have been bereaved by the loss of loved ones for whatever reason in the recent past. We pray for strength for health service and social care workers as they assist those who have most serious health problems together with the most vulnerable members of society in the later years of their lives. We remember too other people struggling to keep their businesses afloat or who are finding it incredibly difficult to carry out the day to day tasks that under normal circumstances they would manage without too much difficulty. We pray that individuals struggling with loneliness would be able to find Your peace and assurance at this time.  

We also pray for parents, teachers and children who continue to embrace the challenges of online home learning and teaching. We pray for patience, creativity and a sense of calm to surround this unusual learning environment. We give thanks that in November 2021, the World Climate Change summit, CoP26, meets in Glasgow. We pray for Martin Hodson, the General Director of the Baptist Union of Scotland as he meets online this week with other Church Leaders in Scotland to consider how best churches can contribute to this important summit and the importance of creation care.

We give thanks for the many churches that are providing online Alpha and Christianity Explored courses available to help enquirers find out more about the Christian faith. We pray that many people across Scotland would come to a saving faith in Jesus and put their trust in Him.

We pray for the following chaplain and churches:

John Craib (Chaplain, HMP Low Moss) – We give thanks that Low Moss has been affected only modestly by the C19 virus. Most of what has occurred has been among staff. The prisoners have mostly been accepting of the modified regime with fewer visits, less work and slower progression to release and have handled the pandemic with remarkable calm. We give thanks that many prisoners have responded positively to the chaplaincy services – currently shown by video on their cell TVs and the one to one meetings in their halls. We pray for an ongoing atmosphere of calm in the jail, but like wider society, a gradual return to ‘normal’ as the external lockdown lifts.

Brae BC – We pray for the church fellowship at Brae in Shetland in the far north of our country.  We pray for opportunities this week for the church members to hold conversations with people on the island who don’t know Jesus yet.

We come to pray for the needs in our own congregation:

Heavenly Father,

We are pleased to hear of the encouraging medical report this last week for Margaret, Ann W’s sister. We thank You that she has come through a very difficult time. We pray that she may continue to make further progress in her health and strength.

We also continue to pray today for Henry and Sheena G and their family after his mother’s death yesterday. We are conscious of so many people with ongoing health needs and remember particularly the Rice family, Fiona and Frank K, Dorothy and Jim G at this time.

We continue to pray for a restoration of health for other members of our congregation or members of their families…

We continue to pray for anyone else with ongoing health conditions and bring them before You now…

We pray for the people whom we cannot visit in residential care, and others who are at home on their own…

We pray for those who have been bereaved and ask Your comfort for them …

We now pray silently for anyone else known to us who is in need of our prayers at this time…..

We pray also for our own needs…

We bring all these prayers before you in Jesus’ name,

Amen.

Bible Reading II Corinthians 2:14 – 3:6

14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? 17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Before we come to listen to God’s Word let us sing: ‘Will your anchor hold in the storms of life’

The Message

II Corinthians 2:14 – 3:6 In what or in whom is your security?

Introduction

Many of us as children over the last century had a teddy bear or dolly; some of us though had a piece of material as a ‘comfort blanket’ or reassurance to take with us when we went to bed or in some cases even took with us when we went out. Of course by the time we went to school we chose to leave it at home, though it might be surprising to learn how many of these ‘friends’ were taken with students starting their first year at university.

Of course we all understand why we choose to do this and many of us as adults will still somewhere in the house have our old friend that probably looks a bit worse for wear after all the attention it received in our childhood. However, as we grew up our relationship with out teddy changed. There came a point in our childhood when we knew that no matter how much we loved it, our security and hopes for the future had to be grounded in something or more accurately someone else.

For the vast majority of children brought up in loving homes their parents or parent provided this anchor for their lives. We thank the Lord for the blessing of good parents as this is not something that can be taken for granted.  It is only when you hear the stories of other people who did not have that love and care we took for granted that we begin to appreciate how fortunate we were. The world in which we live can be a lonely place. It can often be experienced as a place where many people love to criticise and diminish the value of their peers, rather than seeking to encourage and build them up. As a result, many of us at times can feel battered and bruised by our treatment at the hands of other people.

Therefore, this question:  In what or in who is your security is particularly important to address. If we are simply drifting through life then we will heed the voices that shout loudest; we will yield easily to social pressures to conform to whatever are the latest fashions, values or opinions. A person in this place might feel quite insecure inside themselves, not wanting to express the wrong opinion or behave in an inappropriate way, without being sure why they ought to stand for this or that cause.   

In the first two centuries of the existence and growth of the Christian Church the majority of its members were enslaved men, women and children, or other individuals who lived a precarious existence with very little material security over employment or the means to feed themselves or their families. Of course there were a small number of relatively wealthy Christians in whose homes the local congregations met in the towns and cities where churches had been planted throughout the Roman Empire. But they were very much the exception. In the twenty-first century, in the places where the Christian Church is growing, it is most often amongst the poor and marginalised communities that the good news of the gospel is received with real joy.

Our question, based on Paul’s statements in these verses in II Corinthians 2:14-3:6, is deeply challenging. In the Western world many of us are fortunate to own a home or have a secure rental agreement so we have a guaranteed place of shelter. Likewise, a majority of us have a relatively secure form of employment and therefore a regular income, or a guaranteed pension income in retirement.

In addition, although it can be a struggle to access some services at the present time in the virus pandemic, we are incredibly fortunate to have a National Health Service where the costs of the vast majority of treatments are paid out of collective funds raised through taxation. Yet even with these and other blessings most people deep down are seeking something more to bring significance and purpose to their lives. There is an implicit recognition deep inside ourselves that we work to live, rather than live to work – even if the opposite seems to be true for many in employment under the heavy work pressures of the last ten months! What does Paul have to say to us from this passage of the Bible?

1. Maintaining a sense of perspective (II Corinthians 2:14-17)

(a)Triumphal or triumphalist? (II Corinthians 2:14a)But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession… We live in a culture where our image can be so important. The pressure, for example, on our national politicians, and many other people, to dress appropriately for their work can be very high, especially when journalists are making regular comments about what is being worn, especially for women.

Social media ‘influencers’, a mysterious category of people that appear to have significant influence over the choices of their many ‘followers’ are paid salaries or given free samples of clothes or other accessories by well-known companies to promote particular brands. I don’t expect that this is a major issue or challenge for readers or hearers of this message. However, Paul does raise an important point for followers of Jesus, then and now about the way we live our lives.

Paul wants to address the way a group of Jewish followers of Jesus were presenting themselves to this congregation in sharp contrast to himself. They made a dramatic entrance boasting of the success of their work and wanted to lead them in a very different direction to the one Paul had been advocating through his preaching in their midst and his letters when based elsewhere.

They had apparently been saying that Paul must have been a failure in ministry having to leave so many communities in a hurry. There had to be something wrong with a man who attracted so much opposition, even apart from the beatings and terms of imprisonment he had endured. He was also rather short in stature and to be blunt unattractive in physical appearance and in his preaching his tone was monotonous and his content rather unexciting, compared to what they had to offer (II Corinthians 10:10). In II Corinthians chapters ten and eleven Paul will address this problem in more detail, but here he points out the principle that is at stake.     

Paul paints the picture of the triumphal procession of a Roman General through Rome at the end of war bring the captured objects seized from the conquered country, followed by many of its soldiers and citizens in chains, with the captured leader or a leading figure from that country to bring up the rear in humiliation. These events were rare but incredibly memorable for those who witnessed them. Apparently the most spectacular one in the first century AD came in AD71 when the Roman Emperor Vespasian and his son Titus rode through the streets of Rome in the presence of vast crowds of citizens who turned out to watch the spectacle. This conquest celebrated the victory in the war against the Jews in Judea that resulted in vast numbers of deaths and the majority of the remaining Jews seized for sale as slaves. It was not until 14 May 1948, two thousand years later, that a Jewish state was once again proclaimed in that land.

The question that stands out here is this: In view of Paul’s statement in II Corinthians 2:14a, where in this heavenly procession does Paul view himself and other Christians? Is he viewing himself, like these other religious teachers who have come to Corinth as a person to be honoured and celebrated or does he view himself as one of the people following submissively behind Christ in His triumphal procession? Our answer to this question will have a major bearing on how we view ourselves and how we understand our calling as witnesses to Christ as a congregation in the world today.

The other ‘apostles’ who had been visiting Corinth and comparing Paul most unfavourably with themselves undoubtedly would have used triumphalist language speaking of their powerful ministries and boasted about the miraculous impact of their prayer ministries. In the modern day a glossy business card pointing to an impressive social media profile would have been added to enhance their credentials. They would have seen themselves as walking with Christ in the victory parade and being acknowledged to a lesser extent for the great work they were doing.

There are Christian leaders in each generation who go down this route seeking to be high profile in the media, at conferences, or in sales of books and other merchandise. I don’t want to mention any names here, but it is profoundly sad that some incredibly talented preachers of the gospel are no longer exercising the ministry they started so well. We need to pray for those so prominently in the spotlight, as the pressures and temptations they face may be much greater behind the scenes than we ever imagine. But we all need to pray for one another that the Lord will keep us on track in His service.   

By contrast, Paul sees himself and his ministry team members as your servants for Jesus’ sake (II Corinthians 4:5); as one who is weak (II Corinthians 11:29); he goes further and declares in II Corinthians 12:11: I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it. I ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the least inferior to the ‘super-apostles’, even though I am nothing. When writing this message my mind turned to think of some of the most gifted Christian leaders I have had the privilege of meeting over the years.

Those who by any human reckoning had accomplished great things never needed to boast about it. Their humility and Christ-centeredness stood out so clearly. Like Paul here, they too would have seen themselves as willing ‘captives’ of the Lord Jesus Christ who had yielded their lives to serve Him. In Paul’s case this surrender came on the road to Damascus when he had a personal encounter with Jesus (Acts 9:1-19). Jesus expressed it this way in Mark 8:34b: Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me.

In secular terms it seems quite odd to live this way! Many people will argue that if you are not willing to promote yourself no-one else will! Yet, by contrast, Paul would write these remarkable words in II Corinthians 12: 9b-10: Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

How could he do this? Because His security was in Christ; it was his primary desire to please the Lord Jesus in the way he lived. He wanted other people to say after he had preached or laid hands on someone for healing – what a great God and Saviour Paul served, how wonderful He is, rather than how amazing was the intermediary. A servant’s calling is to represent his master. It is extremely difficult to live this way. We must be honest about that. How do you present yourself at interview for a work position when you know many other candidates will oversell their credentials? I am well aware that this has happened time and again in Christian organisations where someone far better qualified who spoke modestly about what they brought to offer was overlooked in favour of an eloquent candidate who magnified their limited experience on the day.

We might want to argue that an interviewing panel should see through that, and of course many properly prepared will do so, but it was not just at Corinth that this kind of difficulty has arisen. However, a Christian man or woman who is genuinely Christ-centred and who has their security in Him will be enabled by God’s grace to navigate these difficult situations with the help of the Holy Spirit.  

(b) A pleasant or unpleasant fragrance? (II Corinthians 2:14b-16) … and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of Him everywhere. 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?

We have to admit that some scents or perfumes are appealing or repelling depending on your point of view. Here the events of the Roman victory parade are in view where the burning of a particular incense along the victory route would be appealing to the victorious army but nauseating to the defeated foes plodding along in their chains. What is it that Paul is implying by the use of this imagery here? As the smell of the victory incense was all pervasive in the vicinity of the parades so he desires that Christians will share the good news of the gospel ‘everywhere’ so that it cannot be missed. He wants every person as far as possible to hear about Jesus and the gift of eternal life.

This will not happen by accident. We have to use all appropriate means to accomplish this goal. In our contemporary context, we don’t when permitted simply share the gospel in Sunday services or age-specific meetings in church premises as only a small proportion of our local community in pre-pandemic times attended services or events in churches. We have to be creative in sharing the good news through personal witness and invitations; we do that through literature distribution; we use the increasing opportunities online. However, Paul reminds us that some people will be attracted to find out more about the gospel, but others will be repelled. They are very happy with their lives as they are and don’t want God in them. They certainly don’t want Jesus to be Lord over their lives.     

(c)The nature of our calling (II Corinthians 2:17)Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.

As people called to live Christ-centred lives, looking to Christ, growing in Christ and sharing Christ, we remind ourselves why we are doing what we do for Him. It is not about me. We will rejoice when someone else leads someone to Christ or another Bible-believing church sees people coming to faith in Him. It is not just about us personally or our local church, but it is all about giving glory to Jesus. We want to honour Him in everything we do. What we do and how we do it matters. If Jesus is glorified and honoured then we cannot be more joyful. We can never pretend this will ever be easy to live. On the contrary, living a God-honouring life can at times be incredibly hard. But through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit we can exercise the calling entrusted to us.  

2. Who gives you a reference? (II Corinthians 3:1-6)

(a)Our sources of commendation (II Corinthians 3:1-3)

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Have you ever needed a reference from someone or written one for another person? Some of us may say ‘no’ I have never written one or needed one produced on my behalf. However, many of us will say ‘yes’, that we needed them to accompany job applications or to act as a guarantee for us as to our character or our competence. A smaller number of us will have written them for other people. It is very difficult, with respect to job references, to know what weight, if any, is given to the submissions from referees. I suspect too often it is a box-ticking exercise, but there may be some occasions where a reference can make a crucial difference.

In the Early Church, and in the ancient world until fairly recently, people often carried with them letters of reference to authenticate who they are and the credentials they claim to hold. Here in Corinth where there is a clear difference of theological convictions and practices between Paul and these other unnamed ‘apostles’, it is a real problem for the new Christians in that congregation as to who they listen to the most.

The new guest preachers bring with them impressive letters of commendation as to their giftedness and calling to Christian ministry, almost certainly from some brothers in Judea, possibly even from Jerusalem. These so-called referees are unknown to the local Christians in Corinth, but should the letters of reference be taken at face value? But where does that leave Paul? He didn’t bring letters of commendation when he came to Corinth. After all a pioneer church-planter has no-one to give the letters to in the first place! It is possible that someone in the church had the cheek to ask Paul if, by chance, he also had letters of reference commending him so they could be compared with these other guests!

Paul in any case has a brilliant comeback to any such request. God used him and his mission team to evangelise and plant the first Christian Church in Corinth and the people now in that church were converted through their witness. This is an excellent reference for a church-planter. In that context two thousand years ago Paul’s actions more than backed up his preaching. The other claimants who opposed him could make brilliant speeches and have amazing references provided by their friends, but they had nothing to show in practice to demonstrate what they had done in Christian service.

The Bible reminds us clearly that as well as spiritual gifts for various ministries, there is the challenge of showing the evidence through our lives of the fruit of the Spirit (See Galatians 5:22-23). The person who is ‘walking the walk’ of faith will inevitably show evidence of these character qualities in their lives. Paul’s evidence of his calling as the apostle to the Gentiles was demonstrated in the lives of the people who came to faith through his witness and the churches planted in those remarkable three decades.

Many years’ later people were talking about what he had accomplished. Polycarp, the pastor or bishop of the church in Smyrna (modern day Izmir in Turkey) who died in 156AD, made this reference to Paul in a letter to the members of the church at Philippi: as those ‘among whom the blessed Paul laboured, who were his letters in the beginning.’ [Polycarp, Epistle to the Philippians, 11] Paul was not against Christian leaders in the Early Church providing letters of commendation.

It was a standard practice to attempt to safeguard churches against welcoming false prophets and teachers in their midst. In his letters to the church at Corinth, for example, Paul had recommended they welcome Timothy his colleague to work amongst them (I Corinthians 16:10); in II Corinthians 8:16-19 another colleague Titus and his unnamed colleague are commended to them. In 451AD, at the famous Christian Council of Chalcedon (modern day Kadikoy in Turkey), number thirteen of thirty rules or canons issued to all the churches, made it mandatory that itinerant preachers of God’s word must carry with them a letter of commendation as a preacher from their city provided by their own bishop.

It is important to be clear that Paul was strongly in favour of accountability to the churches by those set apart to positions of leadership, especially those set apart to wider ministries outside the context of their local church. However, most important of all was our accountability to God that was demonstrated by the evidence of our commitment to effective Christian service. We are all different in our gifting and opportunities for ministries. Our security in who we are is in seeking with a sincere heart to live for the Lord in the location He has placed us. An effective local church needs everyone in its ranks to play their part in its mission and ministries. He knows us better than we know ourselves. May each one of us be regular in attendance at worship services where possible, committed to reading and reflecting on the Bible and in prayer, faithful in Christian service and seeking to share our faith with others who have yet to come to faith in Jesus.                     

(b) Sufficient for ministry? (II Corinthians 3:4-6) Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

However, the apostle does not want anyone to misunderstand what he has written so he qualifies his remarks in these verses. Our confidence or security is in Jesus Christ. We are saved through His amazing grace and mercy. We are sustained and empowered for Christian service through the gift of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. It is ultimately not our sheer hard work that makes the difference, though it does help! But it is God working in and through ordinary people for our good and for His glory. Down the centuries it is a familiar pattern of God’s servants citing their inadequacy to accept the call God has given to them. In the Old Testament this list includes Moses in Exodus 4:10-17; Gideon in Judges 6:15; Isaiah in Isaiah 6:5 and Jeremiah in Jeremiah1:6.

You are in good company if you feel inadequate as a witness in sharing your faith. There will always be individuals who will criticise and suggest our inadequacy for the task. In August 1955, a certain Anglican Canon H.K. Luce of Durham wrote a letter to the Times newspaper on the unsuitability of an American Baptist preacher called Billy Graham for the task of preaching some evangelistic messages to students at Cambridge University that year. [Timothy Dudley-Smith, John Stott: The Making of a Leader, p. 358]

He was not alone in criticising Graham’s suitability as a preacher. However, with the encouragement of supporting Christian clergy and lay leaders in Cambridge, God overruled the critics and a good number of students professed faith in Jesus. God delights to use ordinary people in His service who are available to Him. Oswald Chambers, a well-known Bible teacher of a century ago once stated: ‘All through history God has chosen and used nobodies, because their unusual dependence on Him made possible the unique display of His power and grace. He chose and used somebody’s only when they renounced dependence on their natural abilities and resources.’ [Many online citations, original source unknown] 

In what or in whom is your security today? I hope and pray it is in Jesus Christ. Through Him and by the work of the Holy Spirit within us we can accomplish all that God wants us to do in His service. Each of us is unique. God works in us and through us personally. We come by faith to Him for salvation. In exactly the same way by faith we seek to live for God each day of our lives in whatever sphere of service is open to us. I close with some other words of Paul from his letter to the church at Philippi. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me (Phil.4:13) Amen.  

Our song before we come to communion is: ‘Blessed be Your name’

The Lord’s Supper

Jesus invites all Christian who have committed their lives to follow Him to participate in this act of worship. The apostle Paul wrote these words of Scripture in I Corinthians 11:23-26 to guide our observance of Communion.

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: the Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ 25 In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. 

Prayer: Choose your own words of prayer to give thanks for the bread and wine that represent the costly gift of His body and blood for us.

Take the bread: Jesus said: ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.

Take the wine: Jesus said: This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’

Our closing song is: Be thou my vision

Closing Prayer:

Thank you Lord that our security is found in You. We are dependent on You for all we need to live through these difficult times. We thank you that in the good times and the tough You never leave nor forsake us. We enter this new week with confidence because You will go with us each step of the way, in Jesus’ name Amen.

Benediction:  The Grace