Called to Maturity

Preached on: Sunday 16th August 2020
The sermon text is given below or can be download by clicking on the “PDF” button above. Additionally, you can download the PowerPoint PDF by clicking here 20-08-16-Message-PPT-slides.
Bible references: Matthew 15:10-20
Location: Brightons Parish Church

Text: Matthew 15:10-20 (NIV)
Sunday 16th August 2020
Brightons Parish ChurchLet us take a moment to pray before we think about God’s Word. May the words of my mouth, and the meditation of all our hearts, be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

A few weeks ago, we began this new series where we are turning to a few moments in the book of Matthew where Jesus called people to Himself. Specifically, we were looking to see what these encounters might teach us about being church together, that we might then have clarity about the why, the what and the how of church life, both in this time of lockdown and when we start back with some of our more normal activities. So, what ideas or teaching or values of Jesus might guide us in this time and in the future?
Well, we’ve seen that Jesus invites us into relationship with Himself, He invites us also into His purpose, and Jesus invites us into family, His family, the family of God.
With regard to purpose, we turned to the Church Without Walls Report, which said that the core purpose of the church is ‘to invite, encourage and enable people to be disciples of Jesus Christ.’ Today I want to explore one idea for how we may enable people to be disciples of Jesus.

Boys and girls, you’ve had a big week this week – schools and nurseries have started back, and it was lovely to see so many of your pictures. I’m sure your folks have even got pictures of last year, and so they can see how much you’ve grown and matured. Today is also our Moving Up Service, which is a time of year where we mark your development, your maturing, within the church family.
I wonder, adults in our congregations, as we see our young people mature, moving up the school years, moving up the Sunday School groups, how do we hope to see them mature? What hopes do we have for them?
Let’s take a minute to think or talk about that at home.
(PAUSE)

I wonder what you came up with, feel free to put it in the Live Chat. Do we hope for our young people to achieve a path towards work and fulfilment? Maybe we also hope for them to find love, or stay active in our church family? On the issue of faith, do our hopes for our young people include more than Sunday attendance, or even more than diligence in reading the Bible or prayer? Our passage today speaks to these hopes, but it will also ask some tough questions about our own faith.
Jesus is with the disciples, surrounded by a crowd, and surrounded also by the religious leaders and teachers of His time. They’ve asked some thorny, difficult questions, and after answering them Jesus calls the crowd to Himself. He says, ‘What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.’ (v11) Now, it may sound odd to us, or if we’ve grown up in the church, it may sound a bit obvious. But to the folks of the day, this was radical teaching, because they put so much focus on external things, on the rules and regulations of their religion, such that they forgot the issues of the heart.

A little later on the disciples ask Jesus for an explanation of His teaching and Jesus says, ‘…the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts…’ (v18-19) This echoed His earlier teaching, where He said, ‘For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.’ (Matt. 12:34) I’m sure many of us can think of people whose words reveal the condition of their heart; words of comfort and encouragement from a heart of love; yet in another, words of criticism or judgment from a heart that is wounded or bitter.

In all of this, Jesus wants to help His disciples realise that following Him includes having their hearts changed, maturing in His likeness. Jesus had also earlier said, ‘Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ (Matt. 5:48) Not that He expects us to reach perfection, but that we would grow in the likeness of our heavenly Father.
This would have shocked the people around Jesus – to them, maturity was about being religious, about duty, about stringent keeping of the rules. They had forgotten, or not been taught, that God is concerned with who we are on the inside, in our heart, and that until the heart is changed, external acts which seem good or tick the religious box, will never suffice. Jesus wanted to help the people see that following Him, being His disciple, is much more than superficial, outward displays of religion – instead Jesus had come to show that the outward acts are meant to flow from a changed heart.

So, let’s go back to those hopes we have for our young people. Did you mention this? Did you mention the idea of them having a relationship with Jesus, and through that relationship the character of Jesus being matured in them? Or did we simply list ideas such as going to church, reading their bible, praying, serving other people? These things are not bad things of course, and in the doing of them we hope that young people will connect with Jesus. Yet the danger is that we simply pass onto them a list of traditions, expectations, religious acts, such that they think this is all that makes up Christianity. Is this what we are passing on to the next generation?

If we are, if this is what we tend towards, could it suggest that this is all we think it means to be a disciple of Jesus?
Have we reduced our faith to a list of things to be done? Or is there more to our faith? Can we speak of a relationship with Jesus which changes our hearts, and so our lives?

I’ve thoroughly valued the Testimony Tuesday evenings we’ve had so far, and if you’ve not watched them yet, then you can do so on our YouTube Channel or listen to the latest recording via our phone line. In every one, there have been stories about how God has changed people’s lives and we’ll be having another Testimony Tuesday on the 8th of September. If you would be willing to share something of your faith story, then please let me know. Specifically, it would be helpful to hear about recent things God has been doing – maybe something He has spoken to you about from the Bible, maybe an idea He has given you, or something He has prompted you to do. Now I’m willing to accept any story, but if there were any recent examples, I’d love to hear them – because if following Jesus is more than just a list of rules, if it’s more than turning on YouTube on a Sunday morning, then every one of us who calls our self a “Christian” should have something to share. We should be able to share how God is changing us now, from the inside out, how Jesus is helping us mature as His disciples, children who are growing up in the family likeness. I could name 2 or 3 areas just now where God working on my heart, leading me, maturing me. The areas of justice are particularly at the forefront of my thinking these past weeks, both for the poor and with regard to racial relations.

Now, I wouldn’t be surprised, if some of you said that this is not part of your faith; that you don’t know how God is wanting you to mature, or even how He might do that. This takes me back to the word ‘enable’ – that part of the core purpose of the church: ‘to enable people to be disciple of Jesus’. Sadly, for generations, the church has
not done well at this, the church has often focused on ticking the external religious acts, but has not shown people a way of living in relationship with Jesus such that our hearts change. We need to do better at this. We need to find ways, as a group of churches, to enable people to follow Jesus, beyond simple religious observance, and into a way of life which matures the heart. Our young people today are not interested in ticking religious boxes. And there are many generations in our society, who write off the church, because of hypocrisy, or of an air of religious superiority, since they do not see the character of Jesus maturing and being evident in our lives.

Friends, in this time of restriction, in this season of change, with our hopes of our children, with our hopes for the future of our churches, I hope, I pray, that we never return to a faith which is focused on a list of things to be done. Rather, may we invest now, may we pursue now, and in the future, a following after Jesus, which changes our hearts, maturing us in His likeness.

May it be so. Amen.

I will not neglect the Word (Psalm 116)

Preached on: Sunday 7th June 2020
The sermon text is given below or can be download by clicking on the “PDF” button above. Additionally, you can download the PowerPoint PDF by clicking here 20-06-07-Message-PowerPoint.
Bible references: Psalm 116:1-16; Psalm 1
Location: Brightons Parish Church

Text: Psalm 119:1-16 (International Children’s Bible)
Sunday 7th June 2020
Brightons Parish Church

Let us pray. May the words of my mouth, and the meditation of all our hearts, be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

SCENE 1 – In the kitchen
(MUSIC IS LOUD AND MIXER IS ON IN BACKGROUND)
(GILL ENTERS FILMING)
(SCOTT CAN’T HEAR INSTRUCTIONS FROM HOPE/GILL)
(GILL TURNS MUSIC AND MIXER OFF)

Gill – What are you two doing?
Scott & Hope – We can’t hear you!
G – What are you two doing?
S&H – We can’t hear you!
S – Let me turn down the music. Then we can hear Mumma.
G – What are you two doing?

S – Oh, what are we doing?

H – We’re just making some bread.

S – We’re making some bread. So, what do we have? We have some…

H – cake mix!

S – we have some bread mix, that’s right, and some water to put in. So, we’re making some bread, aren’t we? Have you made bread with Mumma before?

H – Yes!
S – Yeah. You like baking, don’t you?

H – I like making chocolate cake, it’s my favourite.

S – that’s your favourite! Why don’t you pour that in just now and I’ll talk to the boys and girls at church.

Hi everyone, welcome to our kitchen – and yup, Hope and I are making some bread and we couldn’t hear Gill because the music was too loud. I’m going to turn it down just a little bit more so that you can hear me.

So, that reminds me a lot of what it’s like in life. Every day there are lots of noises all around us trying to get our attention. It might be our friends, what’s on TV, it might be our favourite celebrity or social media influencer,…
it might be TV programmes or announcements from government or science or health professionals – lots of voices shouting for our attention and it can be hard to hear God’s voice.

Just like we had to turn down the so that we could hear Gill, sometimes we need to turn down those other voices so that we can hear God’s voice through His Word, the Bible.

In our Psalm today, the man who wrote it was also surrounded by many voices – the voices of the arrogant and the rulers, the wicked and the oppressors. But the psalmist didn’t choose to listen to those voices, instead he chose to listen to God’s voice; he dials down the other noises and tunes in to God.
So, here’s a question to think about at home for 1 minute: what are some of the voices that we need to dial down, and how can we better tune in to God, listen to God’s voice? Over to you for one minute!
(PAUSE)

Welcome back everyone – I’ve started to make my sandwich, but I’m not really sure I’ve got it right, what do you think I’ve done wrong? I’ve got here my turkey and salad to put in the middle, and I really like brown sauce, so I’ve got HP here, no messing around with anything less. And I’ve got the two parts of the recipe, one for the top and one for the bottom!

Do you think this will taste any good? Give me a thumbs up for yes and a thumbs down for no! (WIGGLE THUMB)
I reckon, actually, that it’s going to have to be a thumbs down – I cannot imagine eating some paper is going to taste any good, can you? No! What do I need in here? Shout it out! That’s right – I need bread! The recipe is of course important, but the goal is to make bread and have a great sandwich! The goal is not only to have the recipe.

And that reminds me about another lesson from our psalm today. Again and again the psalmist talks about ‘your orders’, ‘your commands’, ‘your word’, to ‘obey you’, ‘not sin against you’, ‘you have spoken’. Now, who is this ‘you’ that the psalmist is talking about? Who is it? It’s God! God has given us His Word, the Bible, which is full of information about how to live and what God is like; it is full of God’s commands and also revelation of Him.

But God didn’t give us this just so we could have a list of instructions and become really knowledgeable about the
Bible, nor is the Bible to be the thing we love the most. What did Jesus say was the greatest commandment? It was: ‘“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment.’ (Matthew 22:37-38) We are to love God, love Him above everything – even above His Word – and that’s because the goal is not simply to read and know God’s Word, the goal is to know God Himself. Not just to know about Him in our heads, but to know Him as a person, to know Him in our hearts.

The Psalmist says in verse 2: ‘Blessed are those who…seek him [God] with all their heart.’ The goal is not just to have the recipe, the goal is to have the bread, the bread of life, as Jesus was called.
So, here’s another question for you to think about: as you read the Bible, are you seeking God, or are you seeking to know and follow His rules? I’ll give you thirty seconds to think or talk about that just now.
(PAUSE)

Well, here I am, at the dining table with my sandwich. We’ve baked the bread; we’ve put it all together as it should be, I’ve even remembered to replace the recipe with slices of bread. But is it enough to leave the sandwich sitting on the table? Am I going to be fed by it sitting there? No! Of course not! If I want to be fed, I have to eat the bread, the sandwich has to become part of me. Because the sandwich goes into my mouth, down my throat, into my tummy and there my tummy does things with the food that give my body strength and energy… But to get that strength and energy, I need to eat the bread.

And that’s our final lesson today, from this psalm: it’s not enough just to have God’s Word, it’s not enough to know God’s Word and even to know God through His Word. Quite clearly this psalm tells us that we need to put God’s Word into practice in our lives. Verse 9 says: ‘How can a young person [any person] stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word.’

It verse 11 it also says: ‘I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.’ What we learn about God and His ways is meant to become part of our lives, it is meant to change our hearts, the place of our will, and so that we will the things of God.

Many of us will have seen this picture online or in the paper or news this past week: of Donald Trump holding up a Bible in front of a church. The Bible Society wrote a very powerful article about this event and they quoted the bishop, whose church was used for this event, she said: ‘Let me be clear, the President just used a Bible, the most sacred text of [Christians], and one of the churches of my diocese without permission, as a backdrop for a message [opposite] to the teachings of Jesus.’

And she said that because the Bible was used as a prop, that church was used as a PR location, and violence was used to make it possible.

It’s not enough to have a Bible, it’s not enough to know some things from it, to even know something of…
God based upon the writings in the Bible, and that’s because God counts as His children, the Lord Jesus counts as His disciples, those who seek for His Word to become part of who they are, to shape their hearts and lives.

There is a place for Christians to call out the President for his behaviour, that day and so many more besides. But let’s remember, that when we point a finger, three point back at us. A man called C.K. Chesterton, once replied to a newspaper which ran the question: ‘What is wrong with our world?’ He replied: ‘Dear Sir, I am. Yours sincerely, C.K. Chesterton.’

These past weeks, as we have rightly championed Black Lives Matter, and responded to the injustice faced by
George Floyd and many others, I have had to take…
a hard look in the mirror, on my own life and ask the tough questions, because this psalm excludes a faith which idolises the Bible, for we are to worship God alone, but equally, it also reminds us, that God says a faith which takes little heed of God’s Word, a faith where our heart and will do not seek His ways, is a faith which in the words of the book of James, is worthless.

So, friends, let’s stand with Black Lives Matter, let’s be actively anti-racist, but let us also eat the sandwich, let us heed God’s Word and allow it to shape us. For as I read in an email this week: ‘World change usually starts with my change.’

Let us tune in to God’s voice, seeking Him as our first love, and allow Him to change us from the inside out.
May it be so. Amen.

King of kings (Passion Wk.4 Tuesday evening)

Preached on: Tuesday 7th April 2020
The sermon text is given below or can be download by clicking on the “PDF” button above. Additionally, you can download the PowerPoint PDF by clicking here 20-04-07-Brightons-Powerpoint-Scott-Tuesday-evening-sermon.
Bible references: Luke 19:28-48
Location: Brightons Parish Church

Text: Luke 19:28-48
Tuesday 7th April 2020
Brightons Parish Church
 
Let us pray. May the words of my mouth, and the meditation of all our hearts, be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

Three weeks’ ago, we began our journey towards Easter, with Jesus resolutely setting out for Jerusalem. Along the way, we specifically looked at those parts of Luke’s gospel where Jesus met with, or spoke about, Samaritans – those people who were outcasts, despised, usually forgotten or ignored by their Jewish neighbours.

But tonight, Jesus reaches Jerusalem, the journey is at an end, yet it has not been easy. He has walked mile after mile, up from Jericho, which is the lowest town on the face of the earth, up through the winding, sandy hills and now He reaches the heights of Jerusalem…
Jesus has crossed through Judean desert, climbing steadily uphill, up what feels like a mountain. It’s been dusty, because it’s hot and it seldom rains.

But we know that Jesus has chosen this journey because Luke reminds us that ‘After Jesus had [finished teaching], he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.’ (v28) Jesus leads the way. This is to be the climax of His story, of His public ministry, and He knows well what lies ahead, yet He sets His face to go and meet it head on.

About two miles from Jerusalem, Jesus comes to Bethany and Bethphage, a place He has been before, and He sends two disciples ahead to acquire a donkey for the final portion of the journey. Likely this has been arranged ahead of time…
And with it all going according to how Jesus says it would, He can now enter Jerusalem.

As He does so, the people start to lay down their cloaks on the ground for Jesus to walk on, for His donkey to walk on. It seems a bit strange to us, but there’s a story in the Old Testament, 2nd Kings chapter 9, where the new king, Jehu, is welcomed into Jerusalem by people doing the very same thing.

And as the crowds lay their cloaks before Jesus, we start to hear a chant, a song, rise up upon their lips – we start to hear the crowd say things like, ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ‘Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’ (v38)
They clearly think Jesus is the King that God had promised to send, the King who would make the world a better place. So, they sing an old song, Psalm 118, it’s a song of victory, a hymn of praise to the God who establishes His kingdom upon the earth.

As I said on Sunday, in all of this, Luke is trying to help us see something about Jesus; we’re meant to see that Jesus is the King, the Messiah, that God promised, and that this King has certain characteristics.

He is a King who has power and authority; that comes across in a number of ways. In v31, the reason to give for the request of the donkey, is that ‘The Lord needs it.’ God needs it, and that Lord, that God, is Jesus.
What is more, we know from v30, that this animal has never been ridden before, you would think it would just throw off a backwater carpenter and rabbi. But low and behold, no such thing is recorded, we’re meant to see that Jesus is King of all creation, including what might be otherwise wild and untameable.

On top of this, the particular reason given for the crowds believing Jesus to be the promised King is spelled out for us in v37: ‘the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen.’ Countless miracles, things beyond explanation, things only the promised Messiah, the promised King, could do, because He came in the name and power of God.
It’s because Jesus is such a King, that even though some of the Pharisees object in v39, even then, Jesus says the praise of the disciples is fitting because otherwise the stones would cry out in praise themselves! Jesus is due praise even from the inanimate parts of creation, such is His right and claim. I think we’re meant to see in Jesus a King who has power and authority.

But, as I said on Sunday, that’s not all we see of Jesus, for we see Him entering Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Not the grand animal chosen by other kings. Yet as the words from Zechariah remind us:
‘Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’ (Zech. 9:9)

Here Jesus comes, riding on a donkey, for He is humble and lowly – He is the King who comes in humility to serve.

Jesus does so, because He cares. We’ve seen that along the way in the particular stories we’ve focused on: scandalous grace shown to the undeserving; mercy shown to the neighbour whom we might otherwise overlook; abundant generosity for the least, the last and the lost. This is King Jesus, this is the King of kings that Luke has been trying to help us see.

Brothers and sisters, in our time, with what we face, doesn’t this sound like a King whom we all need to know?
And even a King we all need to emulate? In Jesus we see a King who cares for people, for people who think they are outcasts and to them He shows scandalous grace. Where do we need to show grace in these days? Who has fallen? Who has not met expectations or seen things as we have? There is grace awaiting from Jesus for them, but is there grace from us?

We’ve also seen that Jesus cares for people who think they are forgotten or insignificant. I wonder if that’s you friends? I wonder, as you sit at home, slowly bouncing off the walls, wondering if someone will call today, because they didn’t call yesterday, maybe not even called for the last week, and the thought begins to go around your head – am I forgotten? Am I insignificant? Well, not to Jesus, not Him, because He came to earth for you, for love of you; to Him you are worth dying for.

And in a world, shaken to its knees by coronavirus, does that world not need to know that Jesus cares for all the nations? That not one is favoured more than another, that there is love and care and concern in His heart for every one, and so none is rejected, all are welcome.

Friends, do you need to know the King of grace, mercy and generosity, whom despite His power and authority, comes close in humility to serve, because He cares for you, for me and for this world? I know I need that King.

Nevertheless, in every age, in every decade, indeed in every life, events arise that question this. In fact, at the time, people questioned this.

We read tonight of some Pharisees in the crowd, who just could not see this of Jesus and so they call out to Jesus to rebuke His disciples for what they say of Him. To these Pharisees it sounds irrational, it sounds dangerous in fact, because it sounds like the kind of thing which will disturb the peace, for it might catch the attention of the Romans and get the Jewish nation in trouble. These Pharisees would rather hush up Jesus and keep the peace, than see Him for who He truly is. They question the claims of Jesus.

But other people also questioned, even rejected Jesus, at the time. At the end of our reading tonight, the chief priests, teachers of the law and leaders want to kill Jesus. The time has come; He’s gone too far, they’re thinking to themselves: “who does this upstart, backwater rabbi think He is? The stories about Him cannot be true; it’s just a placebo for the masses; folk tales and wild fantasy. We know the truth,” they say, “we know how the world works, and Jesus does not feature in it.” These folks also questioned the claims of Jesus.

In our day, understandably I might add, people question the claims of Jesus. Amid coronavirus, we might all question the claims of Jesus. Is He really King? Really?

The claim of Christianity that Jesus is King is as confounding as a King who rides on a donkey. But Jesus did it then, He does it now; He does things that just don’t make sense to us, and in the midst of it, He asks us: who do you say I am? And will you follow me?

You see, in the account we read tonight, it’s all about Jesus and what our response to Him is. Some question and reject, as we’ve seen. Others appear to welcome Jesus, there’s the great crowd who gather round and join the celebrations. But in reality, these folks have simply got caught up in the moment; they’re going along for the trip, hoping Jesus will fulfil some of their hopes and desires. They’re happy to sing the songs of praise, but only as long as Jesus retains the potential of doing what they want of Him. Because, these same folks, will in a few days’ time be shouting: “Crucify! Crucify!”

Nevertheless, there are some who genuinely follow Jesus, they trust Him to be King, to be Messiah, and though the coming week will put them to flight momentarily,…
They still have faith in Him, it’s just that their faith needs to mature in substance.

So, I wonder friends, where do we sit? Who are you most like? Is it the Pharisees? Those who can’t quite make sense of Jesus. Does the claim that Jesus is King make you feel a bit unsettled and you’d rather keep Him at arms length and not disturb the peace?

Or is it, the religious and political leaders you most feel akin to? Do you know how the world works and Jesus isn’t part of the picture, so He is not welcome?

Could you be a member of the crowd? Ready to follow Jesus, but only if He meets your expectations?

Or, are you a disciple? Have you come to that point, where you know, deep down, that Jesus is this King? You can’t explain Him fully; you don’t have all the T’s crossed and the I’s dotted; because He’s the King who rides a donkey. But there’s enough faith, because it’s not size that matters after all, there’s enough substance to your faith, that you know Jesus is King. You’re a disciple, you’re a follower of Jesus, through and through, come what may. Friends, which are you?

I suspect that many of us might have had experiences with a number of these groups. I don’t think I’ve ever been amongst the religious and political leaders, certainly not as far as God is concerned, though maybe a little with Jesus Himself. Because, after all, I didn’t really understand anything about Jesus for a long time…
I knew His name, but not anything of Him, I had no real understanding of the significance of Easter, for example, and so I didn’t doubt God, but this Jesus guy didn’t figure in my understanding of the world.

And then, one day, He did. Because one day, I came to see my need of Jesus. I’d messed up. I came face to face with my own brokenness, my own humanity, and I found in Jesus scandalous grace, a mercy wide and free, which I knew I now needed, and it changed my life forever.

But along the way, I’ve had my wobbles. There have been those moments when Jesus has just not matched up to my earlier expectations. And there have been those times when I’ve come to the point of asking: what do I really believe of Jesus? What do I really even know, of Jesus?
Back in mid-March, I was speaking at the Breathing In event at Brightons Church, and we were speaking a little about Christian apologetics, about the defence of the faith. I recalled for the folks there a time when I really questioned what I knew of Jesus, and all I was sure of was this: I knew I could trust the Bible, so I knew Jesus lived, that He died, that He rose again, so He was who He claimed to be, and I knew by putting faith in Him, I was a child of God. I think that’s about all I was sure of, but it got me through, and in time, faith was restored, relationship rebuilt, pain healed but with scars that were there below the surface.

So now, today, I would say I’m quite firmly in the disciple group. I’m not saying I don’t question or doubt. But I’ve come to a place where I can live with mystery, with the unknown and unanswered. I know Jesus to be King. I know Him to love me and love this world. After all, this week of all weeks, is the one which proves these things.

Friends, what’s your response to Jesus? Does He feature in your picture of the world? Is He more, than simply, your “genie in a bottle”? Have you come to know Jesus as King of all creation, but the King who comes riding on a donkey? Is He to you the King of kings, even though He does stuff, or things happen, which just don’t make sense?

Friends, I hope we can all reach that place, but even if we can, faith is not easy. There are still questions, there are still unknowns, there is still mystery. And there will be those times, still, where the best, maybe the only, response is to weep, to wail, to lament. But as we saw on Sunday, we’re in good company, for in v41, we read, ‘As [Jesus] approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it…’

Jesus weeps over Jerusalem and He weeps because it was the place of deepest rebellion against God, its people are blind to the One in whom true peace lies and in whom fullness of life could be found. For they have and will set their own interests and agenda before those of God, they will resort to murder to do so. Jesus can see where Israel is heading, and He knows that their infidelity to God and obstinacy towards His reign will only lead to ruin.

But, as you hear those words of judgment and see His actions of rebuke in the temple, as you see both prophet and priest in Jesus, speaking truth to power one moment then cleansing what is defiled the next, remember His tears, remember His tears of lament. What He says, what He does, issues forth not from a stern and cold justice, but from a heart of love, a heart that wants the best for, and from, His people, and so now must oppose their rebellion, even though it breaks His heart.

It’s the mystery of the gospel friends: that God is love, but His love will not overlook, cannot overlook, evil, and so there will be judgment of sin. But it breaks the heart of God. God was grieved to His heart, Genesis declares, over the violent wickedness of His human creatures. He was devastated when His own people, described as His bride, turned away from His love to give their love to another.

Some Christians like to think of God as above all that, knowing everything, in charge of everything, calm and unaffected by the troubles in His world. But that’s not the picture we get in the Bible, and lament is not just an outlet for frail, little humanity. Here is King Jesus, full of power and authority, yet vulnerable, honest and caring enough that He cries, He laments.

Lament is the cry of a heart that is shattered, raw, gazing into suffering, bruised by its ragged edges and crying out for justice. Lament resists shallow, packaged, simplistic answers. It demands fierce authenticity and is unafraid of unanswerable questions. Lament is not the antithesis of faith; it is what faith looks like when it draws near to grief. The more passionately we believe in the goodness of God, the more passionately we protest when His goodness is obscured, and so we lament.

Friends, we don’t have to have all the answers, ever, and not even in or for our present time. Yet not having the answers, doesn’t mean we must give up on Jesus being King of kings or truly caring for the nations. For He welcomes us to cry with those who cry, and mourn with those who mourn, and in the midst of pain and brokenness, find the God who laments with us and for us.

May this be the Jesus we know and whom we follow, not only this week, but until we see Him face to face.

May it be so. Amen.

Spiritual Maturity (James 5:10-20)

Preached on: Sunday 8th March 2020
The sermon text is given below or can be download by clicking on the “PDF” button above. Additionally, you can download the PowerPoint PDF by clicking here 20-03-08-Brightons-Powerpoint-Scott-sermon-morning.
Bible references: James 5:10-20
Location: Brightons Parish Church

Let us pray. May the words of my mouth, and the
meditation of all our hearts, be acceptable in Your sight,
O LORD, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

Parenthood is a funny thing. My daughter Hope’s
favourite TV programme is Peter Rabbit, and there’s only
so much of that which any sane adult can watch, so I
thought this past week that I might expand her horizons
and put on a kids Bible TV programme, which I found on
Amazon Prime. Hope has watched a few episodes now
and is thankfully asking for it not just Peter Rabbit, so at
least there’s a bit variety! I guess there’s a bit of me that
also thought a Bible programme might be a little
educational as it might help her learn more about God, so
after each episode I’ve tried to chat with her about the
content, to see what she has gleaned.

But I guess I keep forgetting that Hope is only three years
old and so she misses things or doesn’t understand much
of what is said – instead she often focuses upon
something else completely or some little detail that isn’t
really part of the lesson being taught.

That experience with Hope, this past week, has reminded
me that when we are young we can easily miss the
deeper things. It is as we mature that we begin to
understand things on a deeper level, whether it be a TV
programme, or a story or even what is being taught about
God in church. It’s with maturity that we begin to have
the ability to see beyond the surface of things and see
past the distracting things.

So, what does this look like in the spiritual side of life?
What does it mean to be spiritually mature? There could
be several answers to that question but in relation to our
passage today, and the letter of James as a whole, I think
John chapter 5, has something for us to be mindful of in
relation to spiritual maturity: ‘Jesus [said]: ‘Very truly I
tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only
what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the
Father does the Son also does.’’ (John 5:19)

It’s a startling and somewhat bewildering line from Jesus
– after all, He is God in the flesh, so what does He mean?
Likely, there are multiple ways of correctly understanding
these words from Jesus, and one such idea is this: that the
Father defined Jesus’ reality. The Father’s works,…
the Father’s purposes, the Father’s very existence
defined and guided Jesus’ life and ministry. It was the
love of the Father who said, ‘This is my son, whom I love;
with Him I am well pleased’ (Mark 3:17) – it was such love
that saw Jesus through the temptations. It was the
purpose of the Father that allowed Jesus to say in the
Garden of Gethsemane, ‘Father, if you are willing, take this
cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.’ (Luke 22:42)
The Father defined Jesus’ reality. Jesus lived in such close
relationship with the Father that He could say: ‘…[the
Son] can do only what he sees his Father doing, because
whatever the Father does the Son also does.’

Now, let’s remember that Jesus is our example, He is our
teacher, our Lord, so He is the one we model ourselves
upon, we should seek to become more like Jesus…

So, if Jesus allows His life to be defined by the Father, if it
is the Father who defines reality for Jesus, then that
should be the case for us as well. This means that spiritual
maturity is equal to the degree that we allow Father God
to define our lives; defining how we see the world, how
we respond to issues, and what choices we make.
Spiritual maturity is the degree to which God defines our
reality.

And it’s this idea of spiritual maturity that seems to
underpin the letter of James as a whole. James began his
letter this way: ‘James, a servant of God and of the Lord
Jesus Christ…’ (James 1:1) For James, his whole life is
wrapped up with Jesus; it is God who defines his identity
and what James is about.

Then later in the letter, he writes: ‘My brothers and
sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must
not show favouritism.’ (James 2:1) Here he wants them
to understand who they are in Christ and live that out.
Again, James sees spiritual maturity as the degree to
which God defines our lives: defining our choices, our
priories, the things we give our time to, defining how we
understand ourselves and understand the world.

Again and again, James has to take them back to this core
understanding, because it’s all too easy to make God
abstract and distant; it’s all too easy to forget God, as easy
as forgetting the air we breath – we forget His priorities, we
forget His ways, and when we do that we focus on the
wrongs things or see things the wrong way.

It’s like with Hope – because of her immaturity she
focuses on the thing which gets her attention, rather than
what the programme is trying to tell her about God.
Likewise, spiritual maturity is the degree to which God
defines our reality so that we are aware of Him and
partner with Him, focusing on what truly matters.

One way of gauging this is to ask ourselves: do I really
believe the Scriptures? Do I really believe this stuff about
Jesus? Am I confident about the Christian faith? If you’re
not, then one idea be might for you to come along to the
Breathing In event this Saturday. You can sign up today
on the sheets at either door. The focus of input at the
event is how we can be confident in our faith, and coming
along to that event might give us some ideas. So, sign up!

But coming back to James, throughout this letter he has
been taking this principle, modelled by Jesus, taught by
the Scriptures, that part of spiritual maturity is the degree
to which God defines our reality. This maturity is not
dependent on age, it is not dependent on how long
you’ve been a church member or even the length of time
as a Christian, and to finish off his letter, James now gives
a final flurry of input on what this would look like in
practice. He touches on suffering, on honouring God, on
prayer and on sin, and we’ll briefly look at each of these,
though they all could do with a sermon each.

So, first off, patience in suffering and James exhorts us to
this, referencing the prophets and Job as examples. He
draws on these personal, often difficult, stories because
they all showed patience and perseverance because God
defined their reality.

The prophets knew they were called by God, often with a
difficult message, and so even when hard times came and
opposition rose against them, they persevered in their
task; God defined their reality.

The story of Job is a bit different, it’s about personal
suffering, about suffering when we don’t know why, and
not because of our choices or the task God has called us
to. What we see in the account of Job is a man whose life
is defined by the reality of God and when tragedy strikes
his picture of God is shaken, he’s faced with questions he
never asked before. On the surface, it can look like Job’s
faith withers and dies, but in actual fact, his complaint to
God was a complaint born out of faith – God defined his
reality and to that God he called out…

Job never gets the answers that he wishes for, but he
reaches a place where he can still hold on to faith. God is
still defining his reality at the end of Job’s story.

James raises the issue of suffering because he is well
aware that life, including for the Christian, is one in which
we experience trouble – and in such a way that we may
feel tempted to call into question the goodness of God.
James is asking, even in the midst of suffering, will we
allow God to define reality? Will we hold on to Him and
what the Scriptures teach of Him? Or will we allow the
difficult times to drive a wedge between us and God? Will
we allow the whispers of the enemy to sow lies about God
into our hearts and minds, such that we push God away to
the periphery of our lives? James wants us to be mature,
such that God defines reality even in the midst of suffering.

James then, in verse 12, seems to shift topic abruptly
once more. But as we’ve seen, speech is very important
to James, because our speech reveals what we hold in our
hearts, including about the reality of God. James here
may be referencing rash or unrealistic vows that were
most likely going to be broken and so to make an oath
with God’s name would be to involve God in falsehood,
and as such it would discredit rather than honour the
person of God, because a name was symbolic of the
person.

I suspect that few of us are making any vows, particularly
involving God or heaven, so what relevance is this verse for
us today? Well, how about that underlying principle, that if
God is defining our reality, then we should seek to honour
the person and name of God in all we do. The application of
this principle is so very broad, but for a moment, let us stick with speech. Are any of us ever
using God’s name in vain? Are we using O.M.G. even
accidentally? Or, let’s remember that the Scriptures
forbid any swearing or course language – are such words
heard from our tongues? Because if God is truly defining
our reality and we are taking onboard what He says in the
Scriptures, then we are not honouring the person of God
when we take His name in vain or when we swear. We
are choosing at those times to use language that
dishonours Him, because He has said not to do so.

We could take examples beyond speech: do we get drunk?
Do we dishonour God by not honouring Him enough to have
devotional time in the Bible and in prayer during our week?
If God defines our reality, it is seen in how we honour the
person of God, both in speech and in action.

The third and largest issue in this final portion of the
letter is with regard to prayer, and prayer in all
circumstances. I wonder if any of our elders got a bit
twitchy as we read through these verses because
obviously elders are meant to have a particular task
based upon the words of James. But we’ll come to that in
a moment as we work through these verses line by line.

Verse 13 read: ‘Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them
pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.’
(James 5:13) This verse is directed to anyone, to
everyone – we are meant to be a people of prayer, and
prayer in all the circumstances of life, the bad times but
also the good. Because if God defines our reality then when
times are hard we turn to Him, and when we are thankful
for something, we are quick to give Him the honour,
because as James reminded us earlier: ‘Every good and
perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father
of the heavenly lights…’ (James 1:17)

In my preparation this week, I came across a really
striking line from one commentator: ‘We should view
prayer as [a] revolutionary tactic, not a passive
resignation to a situation. In prayer, we enlist the aid and
ear of “the Lord of Hosts” [“the Lord Almighty”] (if we
recall James 5:4)…’ (Craig Blomberg, James)
What is your view of prayer? Is it like this? Or, do you see
it as something ineffectual? Do you see it as simply
speaking to the four walls, or only a moment of quiet
inner reflection? Because James, along with the rest of
Scripture, calls us to understand God as revealed
in His Word, and His Word reveals Him to be the Lord of
Hosts, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the Lord Almighty. To
engage in prayer, is not passive resignation, but
approaching the throne of Almighty God.

So, are we allowing God to define our reality such that we
approach Him in prayer? Are we a praying people? Now,
if you would like to grow in your prayer life, then why not
come along to one of our many opportunities for prayer:
Thursday evening or Sunday morning prayer times; the
monthly evening service which has a focus on prayer; or
join a Fellowship Group where you can pray for one
another and hopefully the life of the church as well; or for
elders and deacons, come along to the prayer times
before our monthly meetings. We should all be praying
and in all circumstances.

James then raises the issue of praying for those who are
ill. He says such persons should call the elders and they
will come to ‘…pray over them and anoint them with oil
in the name of the Lord.’ (James 5:14)

The anointing of oil is symbolic in the Scriptures of a
person being set apart for God’s special attention and
care, as well as a symbol of God’s presence with that
individual.

Should we always pray with anointing? Not necessarily –
the overall teaching in the New Testament does not
consistently pair healing prayer with anointing, and so we
should not see this one verse as mandating oil to
accompany all prayers for the sick. A number of
commentators highlight that the words…
‘…the Lord will raise them up’ (James 5:15) could signify
people who are lying down, restricted to bed because
they are so ill, maybe with a chronic or life-threatening
illness.

And that matches reality, does it not, because a number
of us here do have stories about God healing where no oil
was involved. Just last year, one of our congregation
members shared with me after the service that they had
considerable pain in their shoulder, so I offered to pray
with them. I laid a hand on their shoulder and prayed
quite simply and succinctly.

At the time I wasn’t really aware that anything had
happened, because I forgot to ask what I would usually
ask, “has there been any change?”

So, it wasn’t until some months later, when I was
speaking with this individual at the Alpha Course that
they shared with me of the warmth they felt, not just of
my hand but in a much stronger manner, a warmth
working through their shoulder and of their shoulder
then becoming better.

Now, I can also share the other end of the spectrum,
because in this past year I have also prayed for another
individual’s shoulder and nothing seemed to happen on
that occasion. But too often, too often, we let the
negative define reality – and so somehow, we need to
need to find a balance within our prayers: of never
expecting God to heal and on the flip side, requiring God
to heal on demand, rather than remembering He chooses
how and when He heals….

Because complete healing never occurs in this life; any
healing is only temporary, our bodies will fail us, and it is
only in the new heaven and new earth that we will have
a fully perfect body.

But still, will we allow God to define reality? He is the God
who says that He heals, and that all healing – natural,
supernatural, medical, physical, psychological or spiritual
– is of His hand.

Now, I’m not saying we implement this straight away –
healing prayer is something we grow into, but we should
grow into it with intentionality, rather than putting if off
or giving excuses.

One idea might be for you to go through the Alpha Course
after the summer break, where one of the weeks is on
healing and it is an excellent week in particular. But
equally, I am willing to pray for healing and pray with the
anointing of oil – all you have to do is ask.

Often we do not think we can pray such a prayer,
probably because we do not feel up to the task. But as the
passage reminds us, it is ‘in the name of the Lord’ (James
5:14) that healing comes, it is not upon our own merit or
the eloquence of our words which achieve such an
outcome. As such, James reminds us that ‘the prayer of a
righteous person is powerful and effective…’ (James
5:16) and then he goes on to speak of Elijah, who James
says was ‘…a human being, even as we are.’ (James 5:17)
Elijah was that Old Testament prophet who could rise to
the heights of faith, and then fall into the depths of
despair. He could be brave and resolute sometimes, and
then fly for his life at the whiff of danger. He was an
ordinary person, but what set him apart for James, is that
Elijah was right with God.

Elijah was in right relationship with God, he was a
righteous person, because of his faith. For us, we come
into a right relationship with God by putting our faith in
Jesus, it is by Him we are made righteous. And so, if you
have done that, if you are in right standing with God then
James says your prayer is powerful and effective, because
your prayer is coming before the throne of God in the
name of Jesus, because You are in Jesus, Jesus is in You,
and through Jesus you stand rightly before Almighty God.

So, let’s not make excuses, that we can’t pray or that our
prayers aren’t good enough. Instead let us allow the
reality of what God has done for us in Jesus to define our
lives, because if we do we will then be a praying people,
praying in all the circumstances of life, both the bad and
the good.

The final example of spiritual maturity that James
highlights is the peril of sin. James actually mentions sin
in verses 15 to 16, with regard to prayer and healing, and
the reference there is not suggesting all illness is related
to sin, because Jesus debunked that theory Himself.
Instead, in verse 15, there is that simple assurance that
any known sin can be forgiven and then in verse 16
the encouragement to own up to our faults and failings
by practicing vulnerability with one another. By engaging
in vulnerability through confession and prayer, James
again seeks to help us live in the reality of God.
In my own life, I have a friend that I meet up with once a
month, and we’ll not only talk about how things are
going, we’ll also ask the hard questions: how’s your walk
with God, how’s your purity? I also know I can message
him if I’m struggling with something and often reaching
out to him, being vulnerable, is enough to break the
power of temptation and enable me to keep living in the
reality of God by honouring God with my choices.

James also points out the peril of sin in the final two
verses, where a person is wandering away from the truth.

Now, truth for James is more than just right beliefs, it also
includes right practice, because as he’s shown again and
again, the truths of the faith should impact our living. So,
to wander here could include both wrong belief and
wrong practice and for such individuals, James exhorts us
to get alongside them, to enter that place of vulnerability
and seek to draw them away from the peril of sin.

Friends, I think the letter of James has brought a timely
message for us, for along the way his writing has given us
principles, ideas and concrete actions to take onboard
both individually and collectively so that we might have a
faith which is more than mere words.

Key to this is the degree to which we model ourselves
upon Jesus, particularly the degree to which
we live in the reality of God, and perceive the deeper
things of God. This will be seen in the type of wisdom we
exercise, in the way we treat one another and speak to
one another, it will be seen in both our actions and in our
prayers.

My prayer is that this timely word from God might help
us all to mature in faith and in character.
To God be the glory, now and forever, amen.

The perfected Kingdom

Preached on: Sunday 13th October 2019
The sermon text is given below or can be download by clicking on the “PDF” button above. Additionally, you can download the PowerPoint PDF by clicking here 19-10-13-Brightons-Powerpoint-Scott-sermon.
Bible references: Revelation 21:1-22:5
Location: Brightons Parish Church

Texts: Revelation 21:1-22:5
Sunday 13th October 2019
Brightons Parish ChurchLet us pray. May the words of my mouth, and the meditation of all our hearts, be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

This is the last week of our sermon series about ‘the kingdom of God’, which we began back in late August. At that point I introduced the series by asking whether ‘the kingdom of God’ was of much importance to us, because often we do not talk about, or even use the words, ‘the kingdom of God’ very much. In particular, I highlighted the need to make decisions with a ‘kingdom of God’ mentality, that a kingdom-focused analysis and discussion might help us discern what is the best way forward, even if it doesn’t suit everyone. At that time, I was talking about the summer services, but isn’t it really interesting that on the final week of our series, we get the news about future Presbytery plans …
and the realities that we have to work within going forward? I’m going to come back to the insert you found in your news sheet today about the reduction in ministers in the Braes area, later in the sermon – so, hold onto that thought for a bit.

But when I introduced the series, I also said it was my hope that our kingdom-focus would sharpen, like putting on a pair of glasses to see better, and also that we might see the kingdom of God as a binding theme throughout the Scriptures, from beginning to end, with each part adding a distinctive contribution to our understanding. And so, from Genesis, through the history of Israel, with Abraham, Moses, David, the prophets, and then into the New Testament, with the coming of Jesus and then the age of the Spirit and the work of the church.
Last week, we reminded ourselves that the Kingdom of God is still growing, Jesus is still extending His kingdom by the Spirit of God, through the Church of God. And that period runs through much of the New Testament: from Acts to the book of Jude.

And so, on our journey through the Scriptures, we come at last to the final book, the book of Revelation. Most likely this book was written by the apostle John, for his name is used a number of times, and we are told in the first chapter that it was written on the island of Patmos, where John was likely imprisoned. We cannot be exactly sure when John wrote this book, but the content suggests a time of great trial, maybe a time of persecution.

It’s style of writing is that of ‘apocalyptic’ literature, which uses symbolism to convey its message. We often think of ‘apocalyptic’ meaning destruction or disaster, but actually, ‘apocalypse’ means ‘revelation’ or ‘unveiling’ in the original Greek language. Within the book of Revelation, then, God gives John a series of visions in which the Lord pulls back the curtain to reveal what is going on behind the scenes of human history. These visions were given to strengthen believers in their trials, particularly trials of persecution and suffering.

One word of caution with interpreting the book of Revelation, is that it is not really written as a timeline, even though we would really that, because we humans like to know what is happening and so gain a greater sense of control.
But instead, Revelation invites us to lift our eyes to Jesus, to His Kingdom, both present and future, and in doing so find peace and hope, even amidst times of uncertainty.

I clearly do not have time to go through the whole of Revelation today, which you’ll be glad to hear, but the portion we read today summarises much at the heart of the book. And like with our other weeks we’ll take our four headings of: God’s people, living in God’s place, under God’s rule and enjoying God’s blessing – and we’ll going to see what Revelation says about these. Because much of our reading today spoke of a future place, that’s where we’re going to begin, with God’s place.

This vision in chapter 21 begins with John seeing ‘‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling-place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.’
(Rev. 21:1-3)

God’s place, quite clearly, is now among the people, in a new and fuller way, and we are given pictures to try and help us grasp something of what this means for God’s people. In verse one, we are told that John sees ‘a new heaven and a new earth’, which echoes the prophecies of Isaiah, where God said He would make a new heaven and a new earth, and so what we read here is an affirmation that those great promises will be fulfilled.
In this new heaven and new earth, there are echoes of the Garden of Eden, for we read:
‘Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal…On each side of the river stood the tree of life.’ (Rev. 22:1-2)

The deliberate inclusion of some features from Genesis chapter 2, highlights Eden will be restored: what once was, and has now been lost, will be once more.

But this future place is not only a new heaven and a new earth, a restoration of the Garden of Eden, it is also described as ‘the Holy City, the new Jerusalem’ (Rev. 21:2). Yet this is no ordinary city, for it is on a scale that we can barely imagine, and it needs no light. And both these features point to something special about this city.
We are told that: ‘The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length [1,400 miles], and as wide and high as it is long.’ (Rev. 21:16)

So, the new Jerusalem is a perfect cube, with its height being the most dramatic feature since the top of Mount Everest is less than 5.5 miles above sea level. But by being a cube, the new Jerusalem echoes the shape of the Most Holy Place in the first temple, the temple built by King Solomon. And that was the place where God’s presence was focused; it was a small place and only one person, once a year could enter.

But here, in the new Jerusalem, the whole city is the Most
Holy Place, and the point we are meant to see…
is that there will be no special place where God’s presence is concentrated, for God will be everywhere, indeed, as we read: ‘God’s dwelling-place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.’ (Rev. 21:3)

We won’t have to go to a holy building to meet with God, the whole of the new creation is His place, and so that’s why we read in verse 22: ‘I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.’ There will be no distance between God’s people and Himself any more; they shall know Him perfectly and in His light they will live, and so the city needs neither sun nor moon, for the glory of God gives it light.

But who will live in this new creation, this new
Jerusalem? Well, Revelation shows…

that the people of God will come from all nations (Rev. 21:24), indeed in an earlier vision within the book, John shares that ‘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.’ (Rev. 7:9)

Earlier in the chapter we are told that the number is 144,000 but this isn’t meant to be a literal number, simply as verse 9 says, it is a number beyond reckoning, full of people from all ages and countries, from all cultures and all races, a perfect community, united in worship of Jesus.

And it is Jesus who truly takes centre stage here and throughout Revelation. A number of times we read of the
‘throne’, that ‘throne of God and of the Lamb’,…
the Lamb being Jesus, the one who was slain, the one who was given as sacrifice for our sins – He sits on the throne – and so, Jesus rules perfectly, and all submit to His rule, giving Him full worship.

The outworking of this complete and total rule of Jesus within the new creation is that all God’s people will know God’s blessing. As such, we read today that:
‘“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death” or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ (Rev. 21:4)

The cycle of life followed by death will be broken. There will be none of the things that spoil life currently here on earth, which is good, because our future there will be a physical one. What is more, we read that ‘no longer will there be any curse’ (Rev. 22:3) – that curse, beginning in Genesis 3, which was God’s judgment on human sin, is completely removed, we will return to knowing life eternal, with none of the hardship or pain that we yearn to be free of now.

What we have here in Revelation is the perfected Kingdom of God, a picture of what will be, a picture of hope to give strength and perspective in the present time.

But we might ask: when will we get to enjoy this perfected Kingdom? The answer to that depends on a number of factors. If we die before the new creation comes then the Westminster Confession, which is affirmed by the Church of Scotland, summarises the biblical teaching this way:
‘The souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies.’ (Q. 57)

And that picks up on words of Jesus, such as:
‘I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.’ (John 14:3) or…
‘Jesus [said], ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.’ (Luke 23:43) Or the words of Paul:
‘I…would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.’ (2 Cor. 5:8)

What it means to be at home with the Lord, what it means to be in paradise, is not fully revealed to us. At our annual Bereavement Service in May this year, I read a portion of a book written by one pastor, who wrote of a conversation he had with his father, and I’d like to read that again just now.

A few years before my father died, he asked to see me. I went into his study and we sat together. He was not well at all and his thoughts were much concerned with dying and death. I remember so vividly the questions he asked me.

‘Son, is there time as we know it in heaven?’

I remember replying that I doubted it. It seemed to me then, and it seems to me now, that heaven is a dimension beyond space and time. Therefore, the measurement of time, with which we are concerned, does not concern those in the heavenly realms.

This provoked a second question.

‘If there is no time in heaven, there must be no consciousness of time passing, and that means there can be no sense of waiting for something future to come to pass.’

I remember replying that this seemed logical, though heaven’s mysteries may not be unlocked by the key of logic alone.

Then Dad asked me his final question.

‘If there is no time in heaven, and there is not consciousness of waiting, won’t that mean that when I die, I won’t have to wait for you in heaven, even though you are still living here on earth?’

That was some question.
(Mark Stibbe, ‘The Father You’ve Been Waiting For’, pages 39-40)

A little food for thought, but as the Westminster Confession said, we may be in glory, yet we still are not in the full new creation. For that new creation, our new home with our new bodies, will not be realised until Jesus returns. We are told repeatedly in Scripture that we live in the last days, the days between the first coming of Jesus and His second coming, His return.

We have been waiting 2000 years for the return of Jesus, but the delay will not go on for ever…
The Scriptures affirm that this world is heading for a conclusion, and that just as God fulfilled His promises in the first coming of Jesus, so He will also fulfil His promises about the return of Jesus.

The apostle Peter predicted that sceptics would arise and wonder whether Jesus will ever return, and so Peter writes to fellow Christians in his time about such matters: ‘…in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this “coming” he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’’ (2 Peter 3:3-4)

But Peter goes on to give encouragement by saying:
‘But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.’ (2 Peter 3:8-9)

Two thousand years is not long from God’s perspective, and He is deliberately delaying the return of Jesus so that as many people as possible find salvation in Jesus. For not everyone gets into heaven. Our reading today affirmed that: ‘Nothing impure will ever enter it [the new Jerusalem], nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.’ (Rev. 21:27)
Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. It’s a stark reminder: only those whom Jesus knows, only those who have relationship with Him, are allowed to enter the new creation, the new Jerusalem.

And in our day we don’t like the sound of that – we want the good bit, the new creation, but we would rather leave to the side the bit about a final judgment, and that some, indeed maybe many, will not enter God’s new creation.
We wonder: can’t we have one and just leave the other?

Well the Scriptures don’t allow us – we have to gloss over or cut out so much of what is there to do away with the claim of Scripture that there will be a separation. What is more, do you really want a God who overlooks impurity, who overlooks sin?
When it comes to terrible acts of evil, we all want that judged, but when it comes to ourselves, to our loved ones, we want a different set of rules. We want to make a religion, and a God, of our liking; we want to make it possible to earn a place in heaven.

But we all know we’re a mixed bag, that each of us is a mixture of good and something less than good, and as we read, nothing that is impure, nothing that is less than perfection can enter the new Jerusalem. And so, God must exclude it, but it does not make Him lacking in love. Indeed, as the apostle Paul reminds us, ‘love…does not rejoice in evil’ (1 Cor.13:6) – it is because God is pure love, and completely holy, that He must judge and bar anything impure from entrance to the new creation.

We don’t like this, but to some degree, neither does God – He disliked it enough to come in the person of His Son and give His life, in our place, to face our judgment, our eternal separation from Him, so that we would never have to face that reality, and could be sure of having our name written in the book of life, if only we trust in the Lamb who was slain, the Lord Jesus.

Friends, one day the perfected kingdom will come, when Jesus returns, and on that day, there will be a final judgment, and a separating of all peoples. Are we sure that our own names are in the book of life? Have we placed our trust in the salvation offered to us by Jesus? Have we recognised Him as our King, and bent the knee to Him? For that is the mark of all who will be with Him.

And when we bend the knee to Jesus, brothers and sisters, all fear can go, peace and joy can come, hope of that new creation, of that new home, can come as well – and we can have reassurance of our place in that perfected kingdom of the Lord Jesus.

And if that is our destiny, if that is the destiny to which God has called us, to belong to the perfected kingdom of Jesus, then it should make an impact now, and we should live accordingly now.

Remember, the apostle John was given these visions to encourage his fellow Christians and help them orientate themselves amidst a time of great trial and uncertainty.
Our time may not be as terrible, but I’d be surprised if anyone who read the insert in today’s newssheet about the future Presbytery Plan was not taken aback.

For the Braes Churches are being asked to consider what ministry and life as a group of churches might look like if, and likely when, the number of ministers is reduced from 4 to only 2. And Brightons will be affected by this, we won’t forever be able to be on our own and have one minister for one congregation. And so, we need to engage in the conversation, and work with our brothers and sisters from the Braes area to imagine and to dream what church might be like, and what opportunities might arise, with fewer numbers of ministers.

I’m not saying I like it – because, if anything, it is going to increase my workload, which is already busy; it is going to take me away from some things I would rather do; it is going to change what ministry looks like for me and for you; it is going to mean I have less time among you and less time to journey with you.

Our challenges are not like that of the first century Christians, but Revelation is just as helpful, I think, because it reorientates us to what is truly important, and what is upon the heart of God. Revelation reminds us of the fundamentals: of Jesus, the kingdom and salvation. As such, it also challenges us to hold lightly to more temporal things, to the ways we have liked things, to the way things have been but which, one day, will also pass away.
I wonder, as we go into uncharted territory as a congregation, can we be a people who make decisions and have conversations with a kingdom of God mentality and heart? We’ll only be able to do so, if we know that our own names are written in the book of life and as such, that our true home is with Jesus in His perfected Kingdom. I pray we may be such a people. Amen.