CCK Blog

15th January 2012

1 Samuel 6:14-23

• There can be confusion about the main character of 1 Samuel – which is David – as he doesn’t turn up until quite far into the book.
• David here is back still as a shepherd – a huge lesson for us about God’s process for preparing people.
• The more significant the calling of God on our lives, the more time and possibly pain it will take for preparation.
• God will prepare you for anything He wants to accomplish through you.
• Sometimes we have a sense of amazing destiny – called to a great task. But great things come about through long process – so that they are done right.
• We want instant results and we can get addicted to the “sudden” and “crisis” moments, where essentially God bails you out.
• God sometimes closes your “lazy eye” – i.e. the sudden moments of life – so you can grow and become strong and balanced. When this happens we often assume we were wrong about the destiny – but it might actually be proof that it is right.
• David gets on with the humdrum, everyday work even though he has great destiny on him.
• We often view the workplace as unspiritual and meaningless. Huge mistake – God means for us to work; He Himself is a worker! He views it as very spiritual. We are made in His likeness. We are to work and bring order where there is chaos.
• Psalm 8:5-8 – what are humans here for? Dominion over earth.
• The Bible condemns selfish ambition, but it is wicked not to be ambitious! Your life is an opportunity to achieve great things!
• Some people struggle with doors not opening to them – but God is in control over all the doors. His plans are for good for you.
• V.18 – amazing how God can reverse circumstances in one move. BUT it’s never just about the “one move” (the crisis moment) – just like chess, it is about a series of moves.
• In hindsight you usually see how and why the process worked out the way it did.
• Don’t make too many assumptions about the season you’re in.
• It is Christ that you’re serving through everything, whatever season.
• Don’t assume that what you’re doing now is pointless.
• God is training you to reign! We are called to be kings and queens, to reign with Christ. Revelation 5:9-10 – our destiny.
• Be free from trying to “be someone” as our culture defines. Jesus sets you free

Matthew 6: 19-24

• It’s easy to slip into the mind-set of thinking God needs our money. But you can’t pay God for favours and He doesn’t need our money!
•  We tend to think that good works and kindness to people will get us on his good side but if this was the case, we’d never be able to pay back the debt we owe God because it is so vast.
• We have given ourselves so much to those things that displease him – even from birth we are living for ourselves and not him and this is what sin is.
• We’re laying up this debt all our lives and one day we will stand before him and face up to this debt and give account for every moment of our lives.
• Thinking that we can settle our debt by putting a few quid in the offering shows how blind we can be spiritually. We owe him every breath – it’s all a gift from Him.
• When we understand how needy we are, it’s a shock to think that he’s continued to let us live and chosen to forgive us and pay our debt for us.
• He’s forgiven us so much but the only way he could do this was for someone else to pay the price of our sin.  Jesus suffered and was crucified so that we would be utterly forgiven and given a fresh life and fresh hope. All that was against us is placed on him and all of his perfection is placed on us.
• Romans 8:32 God has given us his son, the thing he most cherished on an eternal level.  He gave him up for us so that He could treat us as His sons and daughters.
• When we understand what God has done for us and how generous He has been,  it changes everything
• One of the ways you can tell someone’s a Christian is that they give away their money – you cannot be a worshipper of both God and money.
• Christians know that our money is not really ours. When we know that we are safe and eternally secure in God, we see money differently.
• We are stewards of money. We look after it and hold it lightly and are entrusted with responsibility to use it wisely.
• If God blesses you with wealth, don’t just divide your money up (a portion for God and the rest is yours). What would Jesus do with it? All of it is His.
• How are you stewarding your wealth and what does this mean? It doesn’t mean living in total prosperity, nor does it mean living in total poverty.
• What are God’s priorities? He’s passionate about Jesus becoming famous and having a global church that populates the world.
• What does your bank balance say?  Are you passionate about Jesus being glorified?  People who have met Him will give freely to Jesus’ mission.
• In the Old Testament, there’s a lot about tithing which is giving 10% of your income to the Church. The first tenth is devoted to God, making Him the first priority.
• It’s not that different in the NT, although Jesus mocks those who tithe when their hearts are far away from God. It is made legalistic.
• Tithing is taught at CCK but it’s a starter’s amount.  We’re on an adventure – the more we talk and pray to God, the more excited we get about investing our finances into something that’s going to last forever! The church is God’s eternal plan.
• Were planting sites and will plant sites and churches in the future. God’s vision is big. We’re going to bring God to a continent that has decided that He doesn’t exist. God wants us to be a David that takes down Goliath.
• Some of us are good at Gift day giving, which Jesus loves, but weekly giving is just as important. We need to be both hearers and doers of the Word and step out in faith.
• Know that God’s got your back. Giving 10% is a good place to start and being faithful with little will make you faithful with much.
• If money is a subject that causes anxiety and guilt, God is a father who carries the heavy load and fills us with hope and peace.
• For those in debt, Jesus was crucified for our shame to take it away from us.  Say sorry for foolish decisions and God will remove that shame.
• God puts you with people you can talk to, wise people who will not accuse or judge and will pray through it with you. This is what  Small Groups are for.
• Be ambitious each year and you’ll never regret it. You can never out give him and he can be trusted to look after you.

• Saul was a tragic figure – he did not fulfil his potential. Let that not be our story.
• We may ask, how can we shape our destiny when God is sovereign and in control of everything? The simple answer is – don’t try to be too clever. We are responsible for our own decisions. We must hold these two truths together, even though we can’t fully understand it. God comes down to our level and relates to us like a parent does with a child.
• God is not thrown by our intelligence or cleverness.
• God is responsive to our actions. Those who honour God, God honours them.
• Saul’s heart grew farther and farther away from God – he didn’t fulfil God’s plan for his life.
• Two ways we can ruin the destiny of our lives:

1. Avoid Jesus

• Saul did encounter God in great ways – but he gradually turned away.
• You can resist God all your life. We are all born to resist, reject and avoid God.
• Luke 7 – the religious leaders avoided the baptism of John – and it said ‘they rejected the purpose of God for themselves’.
• In being too clever and proud we can be in real danger of missing out on God’s plan for us.
• The heart is the issue – we make up all kinds of excuses for avoiding God and we think our rejection of Him is all intellectual – but the real issue is our heart that is fundamentally against God.
• Left to ourselves we don’t truly want God – or even heaven, the place where Jesus lives and rules over absolutely everything.
• Sin is basically saying God is not important enough for us, is not as important as we are. Therefore we are all sinners.

1. Drifting

• Saul gradually lost his priority with God.
• We can so easily do this – it is incredibly easy. All we have to do is not keep God the focus.
• We can drift in very subtle ways.
• Let us fix our minds on Jesus.
• You can drift by letting distractions carry you away.
• It’s possible to be saved by to miss what God saved you for.
• The Saviour of the world who was the great son of David was supposed to be the son of Saul.
• God has signed you up for custom-made plans.
• Israel refused to trust God and they put Him to the test several times. Therefore they didn’t reach the destiny God had for them and they died in the desert.
• Don’t be presumptuous about the promises/plans/calling of God – both individually and us as a church.
• Desire to do something with your life.
• 1 Corinthians 11 – Paul talks about the people who were sick and dying as judgement for messing around with communion. God doesn’t want a ludicrous Church. He judges His Church and may bring some home early, like taking them off the pitch.
• If you’ve messed up for your life and have been resisting God, there is hope. Saul was told off so that he might change and repent.
• God is more long-suffering and merciful than we think. His ways are not our ways.
• King David messed up horrendously – but he repented and turned back to God and God took away his sin, and the plan for David’s life continued.

Jesus died on the cross so we could find grace and be able to turn back to Him.

1 Samuel 13

Challenges to faith:

Opposition

• No trial is unique but all are common to man.
• Saul faced terrible opposition from the Philistines.
• Jesus promised we would have trouble in life – you will face opposition as a Christian because you made a serious enemy when you became one.
• The devil will find ways to oppose you – the question is: how will we respond?
• Saul allows the opposition to be the final word on the situation.
• Our opposition is strong but our God is stronger. Jesus in the boat with his disciples in the storm – Jesus was asleep and it looked like they were all going down, but then Jesus gets up and commands it to stop. The disciples tremble more at the One who controls nature than the power of nature itself.
• We need to see the Man with the sword drawn (Joshua 5:13-14) when we face opposition. Jesus doesn’t join our side, we’ve joined His.

Betrayal

• 1 Samuel 13:6-7.
• A lot of people leave Saul and drop out.
• Betrayal will happen in some way if you really follow God.
• This is another reason Saul doesn’t trust God.
• God doesn’t need for everyone to like us in order to accomplish His work – in fact, we are to be concerned if everyone does like us.
• 1 Samuel 13:8.

Delay

• Saul is waiting for Samuel and he doesn’t arrive when he thinks he should.
• Waiting and finding yourself being delayed is hard to face.
• God has His own ideas about timing. ‘In a little while’ is a phrase used a lot in the Bible – not definitive. God doesn’t allow for Himself to be contained by our own idea of timing.

Escape

• Saul takes an escape route rather than waiting – he takes matters into his own hands.
• Do you still believe – will you still?
• It’s not easy to keep going faithfully – it’s easier to lunge for the quick and easy solutions and escape from waiting and trusting in God.
• Prayer is about humbling yourself under God.
• If you want to be mature, this is what you have to do.
• Samuel does eventually turn up – but Saul had already gone ahead and done the offering himself, and he has no sense of regret. In fact, he instead blames Samuel and defends his actions.
• This is right at the heart of the human condition – like Adam and Eve. Adam blamed Eve and God rather than owning responsibility for his sin and rebellion. We all still do this – we should be careful of our hearts’ natural inclination. It calls for humility.
• We often take ourselves too seriously and God not enough.
• You can ruin your life by not listening to anyone or any correction. You need to keep a soft heart.
• It might be admitting wrong just wasn’t attractive to Saul – he perhaps wasn’t attracted to his idea of what God was like: a hateful, impersonal force who can’t wait to punish those who do wrong.
• If you see God as revealed in Jesus, your whole perspective will change.
• Book of Hebrews – written for people going through trials who could think God doesn’t understand or sympathise. He DOES. Turn to Him and give up trying on your own.

1 Samuel 13:19-14:23

• This was the stage in Israel’s history where they had hit another war problem, decades later. The Philistines were intimidating and bullying them, who were God’s people.
• Jonathan was so different from the others and from his dad Saul. He stood out amongst a category of failing men in the book of 1 Samuel.
• People who become successful want to hold onto their success and the fruit of it. Success can be very bad for you – it can stop you from going forward and continuing what you set out to do for fear of risking what you’ve already accumulated.
• Israel were in this place – staying safe and simply holding onto what kingdom they had. Jonathan breaks the inertia.
• As we as a church break out and move forward and take risks, we need to be like Jonathan and freshly trust in God. We don’t want to sit safe and simple “manage”.
• Features of Jonathan that made him different:

1. Jonathan trusted in God’s favour

▪   1 Sam. 14:6 – circumcision was significant because it symbolised belonging to God, like a wedding ring symbolises being married to someone.

▪   Jonathan is looking beyond the superficial – he’s asking who is God really with?

▪   We should do the same with looking at the church in this country. On paper it seems that Christianity is failing and declining. In the same way, it appeared that the Philistines had everything and Israel was dwindling.

▪   Jonathan is persuaded that God is with them. It’s dangerous to think that God has given up on His people.

▪   It’s kind of in our genes as British people to be cynical and not believe that things will really work or succeed. But God wants to do extraordinary things through ordinary people.

▪   Matt. 25:24-25 – the servant who did not do anything or have faith for anything or risk anything was called wicked. To us it may sound humble and pious and wise just to do nothing and play it safe, but it isn’t. If you somehow believe God is a hard person and doesn’t want to use you and has got it in for you, then naturally you won’t do anything and you’ll hide your faith in the ground.

▪   Luke 12:32 – it’s the Father’s good pleasure – He wants to give us the Kingdom! The Kingdom is God doing amazing things, changing people’s lives and blessing the world.

▪   1 Sam. 14:7 – do what’s in your heart. Yes there is sin in there, but there are also many things from God. Don’t spend all your efforts continually evaluating your motives and not doing anything. A lot of desires are given from God – step out and see. You will it wrong from time to time but you can’t always wait until you’re absolutely certain something is the right thing before you act. You learn to hear God, making mistakes along the way.

▪   If we give up risking for God then we might as well give up altogether.

▪   Jonathan took the Philistine’s mocking as a sign that God was with him. We often see adversity as the opposite.

▪   We take the risks and God takes the field – we need to be prepared for both.

1. Jonathan shared the victory

▪   Some Israelites who joined Jonathan when he was winning were traitors who had been with the Philistines – and yet Jonathan shares the victory with all of Israel, and he points to God winning it.

▪   Jonathan points to another Son of a King. The primary purpose of these heroes in the Bible is not for us to merely try and copy their example. We should aspire to be like them of course, but the main aim is to point us to Jesus, the true Hero, who saved His people all alone without an armour-bearer.

▪   Jesus was mocked and took it all upon Himself because He was trusting His Father.

▪   Matt. 27:52-53 – the dead rose and shared in Jesus’ victory.

▪   Let us desire to live more in the favour of God – to recognise His favour on our lives more and more.

▪   Jesus won the victory over all that traps us and holds us down. He won the victory over fear.

It is Free

•  Jesus removes the social, cultural and moral barriers to offer her salvation. Culturally, men and women didn’t speak to each other and morally, she had five husbands so would have been shunned by society.
• If we want to see Brightonians saved, we need to leave barriers at the door – dress, career, intellect, education, sexual orientation…We can’t let them get in the way of the good news of Jesus that we have to share.
• It’s important that we don’t enter into conversations with non-Christians by taking the moral high ground or speaking out of compulsion or to ‘look good’ to others. People also don’t want to be treated as a ‘project’ to be completed.
• Sharing our faith with others should be sweet but challenging. Jesus’ salvation is a gift, but it also challenges our pride – we like to think that our efforts contribute towards our salvation.

It Satisfies

•  As we need water to survive, Jesus says we need living water to be satisfied as well.
• On the outside, people might look happy but often feel empty on the inside. People who have accepted Jesus into their lives will live with a well of living water inside and it will be like a flowing stream – no matter what you throw at it, it will keep on going.

It is a process

•  We cross a line of faith to become a Christian but it is also a process over a period of time.
• Nicodemus was morally incredible but Jesus is very direct with him in telling him that salvation is a free gift and that his morality counts for nothing but with the lady at the well, he knows she is already aware of her mistakes so he takes the opportunity to offer her salvation.
• When someone is at the top of their game in looks, wealth etc., they are least likely to think about the meaning of life but when things start to crumble, friends start to disappear and they will be ready to hear the good news of the gospel.
• We must look at ourselves as carriers of the good news of Jesus Christ. Are we amongst our neighbours and our community? We need to know them so that we can be there for them in crisis.
• We need to bring about conviction as well as tell them of good news. Jesus asked the woman at the well to fetch her husband, knowing that she had five previous husbands. He showed her that she was putting her meaning of life into her relationships to bring about her conviction. This then highlighted her need for salvation in Jesus Christ.
• John 4:14 – Only Jesus can quench our thirst
• Jesus offers so much more that forgiveness – he can be our essence of life and our all in all

 How is Salvation received?

•  Jesus says to us that He has seen us at our worst but He still loves us. He has died for us in our place so that we can be forgiven and have a relationship with God.
• He has cleared our debt for us –something that no man can do for us, and he does it joyfully.
• Salvation is only received when we respond. The woman at the well responded and her life was turned upside down. She went to tell people of Jesus, people that had hated and neglected her
• We must feel confident to meaningfully invite people to church – if friends see how important Jesus is to us, they will take our invitations seriously.
• John 4:13

Romans 15: 2-3, 5-7

The Biblical Principles.

• God is community – in the community of the Trinity, God is never lonely. God did not create us so as to fulfill any need in himself. We were created in his likeness to reflect his glory, which includes reflecting his community.
• It is not good for us to be alone (Genesis 2:18), we are created to be in community. Although this has been disrupted by the Fall, the gospel comes to us as a message of reconciliation.
• Our main problem is our disconnection from God which leads to a disconnection with others. Jean Paul Sartre illustrated this with his comments “God is solitude, God is absence” and “hell is other people” – in our fallen world, this would be true had not Christ come to reconcile us to God and to each other.

 Hospitality – an attitude of heart

• Although hospitality can be shown by anyone, even those who know nothing of Christ, we, of all people, should excel at welcoming others home.
• John Calvin argued that the existence of restaurants and hotels is proof of the depravity of man. People earn money by providing that which human beings should freely give to each other.
• Attitudes to hospitality vary across cultures. There is something very defensive about British culture, but, in Christ, we don’t need to be afraid but, instead, should reach out to the unloveable (Matthew 5:43-47)
• 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 – We are called to be ministers of reconciliation, called to the mission of God and the commission of Christ to make disciples. We should affirm other people as important.
• There is a danger of thinking that the current move to multi-site is, in itself, the answer. The answer is a church which genuinely loves people on mission and actively cares about the people in our communities.
• The church family which God is building is one for all kinds of people. Martin Luther argued that the kingdom of God must be among enemies or else we are simply blaspheming and betraying Christ, who lived among his enemies!
• We are not just to be receivers of hospitality or just givers of hospitality (spending all out time in the kitchen but barely talking to anyone).
• But what about people living in tiny bedsits or flats, how can they invite people into their homes? We can be grateful to God that Brighton is full of other places (cafes, pubs, parks etc) where we can invite people.
• When you do invite people in, care about them. Watch your language and the subjects that you talk about so as to include people.
• A word on boundaries – The question “Who is my neighbour?” is answered by the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37) where a man risks danger to help an enemy. However, note that the Samaritan is in danger from bandits not from the person he is helping. It is right to seek to protect our households when we invite people in. We should be both extravagent and wise in our hospitality. Christian leaders, in particular, are called to model hospitality (literally: “being fond of guests”)
• 1 Peter 4:9 – Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
• 1 Corinthians 9:22 – to the weak we make ourselves weak to lead them to Christ.
• Ephesians 4:28 – The point of not stealing but engaging in honest labour is to share with others.

Breathing life into small groups

• We should not merely have two or three front doors (with the new sites) but hundreds of front doors across the city to welcome people in.

Seven points for small groups:
(1) Ensure that you are on God’s mission (i.e. that mission is not a “bolt-on” activity but the spine of the small group).
(2) See yourselves as God’s immediate provision for one another (gathering around the gospel and showing Christ to each other).
(3) Build one another up for mission. (We also need to open and honest when inviting others).
(4) Transcend “small group night” (the small group is the people not the meeting).
(5) Pray for individuals and localities (we want the city to be blessed by our being here).
(6) Pray and strategise for the area (be proactive and seize opportunities).
(7) Preceive and receive (asking God to show you what he is doing and whom he is sending to you).
Is there a family who will welcome people in?

Graham Marsh

Luke 14:1-22

• Jesus was invited to the meal but it was set up – they invited a sick man to see if Jesus would heal him – which He did
• The Sabbath is a day for recreation – it is for our benefit

Phil Moore

Luke 2:41-47

• The context: in the Jewish culture of that day, boys were treated as men when they reached the age of 13. Until then they were seen as “nothing”.
• Jesus is always surprising in the gospels – he acts differently to what we expect. Here we would expect Him to boast about being the Son of God and preach at everyone, but instead He sits and listens.
• We can learn a lot from the 12 year old Jesus about how to share our faith.

1. Love like Jesus
• ‘sitting among the teachers’
• Jesus was simply spending time with others – not the obvious thing we think of when it comes to sharing our faith.
• We’re so consumed with communicating the message that we often forget to act like the messenger.
• Jesus told many parables about people leaving everything and going after the one seemingly insignificant thing (the lost sheep, the lost coin, etc). The parables Jesus told were not meant to be nice stories but were told to surprise us and make us question their seeming ridiculousness.
• We need to see people as each life that is precious to God. He treasures people – His love is for each person.
• Sometimes we don’t share Jesus because of fear – but most of the time it’s down to a lack of love.
• If you genuinely love people, even if you “fail”, God can still use you.
• Being a smart alec, a self-righteous know-it-all, won’t get you anywhere.
• Love people and help them.
2. Ask like Jesus
• ‘listening to them and asking them questions’
• Jesus was the last person who needed to ask questions! But questions are the best way to start a conversation about the gospel.
• Find out about the person you’re with – be quick to listen and slow to speak.
• We think sharing the gospel is about talking about ourselves.
• People want to be listened to.
• Asking questions keeps the conversation going.
• If you give too much too fast – ramming stuff down people’s throats – they won’t be able to take it; they’ll “vomit” it back up. Prov. 25:16.
• Questions help you to find out where people are coming from and realise what it is they need to hear.
• You can’t have a one-size-fits-all message.
• Ask questions about what people care about.
• Questions help people realise they need answers.
3. Share like Jesus
• ‘Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers’
• This is where people then start to ask you questions back.
• The more you ask people about what they believe, the more they’ll ask you about your beliefs.
• You don’t attack a person – you talk about their beliefs and suggest they may be wrong.
• People need tour guides not Bible bashers. You see God where other people don’t and you point Him out.

Revelation 19:6-9

The aim of this first sermon is to launch the “Welcome Home” series and to provide a theological background to the issue of hospitality.

Is there something in the nature and character of God which models hospitality?

A useful clarification to make is that hospitality does not only mean welcoming people into your homes. This series will be using the term
in a wider sense of welcoming people.

Four key words to remember:
• Invitation
• Acceptance
• Fellowship
• Celebration

(1) INVITATION

The marriage supper of the Lamb involves an invitation from God to his church. Of course, the church is united with Christ now, but the marriage supper takes this union a step further – it is a celebration of the church being caught up in the final victory of Christ and never being separated from him.

v. 9 Who is invited? The church. But the church is the bride, how then can the bride be invited? The church corporately is the bride
of Christ. The wedding invitation puts the emphasis on individual believers being welcomed.

God issues personal invitations to us (see James 4:8, Hebrews 4:15-16, Hebrews 10:19 and Matthew 11:28). It is in the nature of God to invite people to himself.

(2) ACCEPTANCE

With us, wedding invitations can be issued out of a sense of duty, but this is not so with God. His invitation to share the wedding supper of the Lamb shows his total acceptance of us. We can be accepted as those who have been justified (i.e. declared righteous) through the sacrificial death of Christ on our behalf. Justification is total acceptance.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 “… and such were some of you.” Whatever our background, whatever our past sin, God has accepted us in Christ.

The practical application if this for us is found in Romans 15:7 “Therefore accept one another as Christ has accepted you.”

Hospitality goes beyond duty and must involve acceptance. We should accept one another and associate with people who are not like us, even as Christ left heaven to associate with us. We should keep in good relationship with one another and put things right with one another when they go wrong.

(3) FELLOWSHIP

The world translated “fellowship” is the Greek word koinonia which is basically untranslatable. It speaks of sharing, of relationship and also can be used of marriage. At the marriage supper of the Lamb, we will have eternal fellowship with Christ.

We can offer hospitality out of position, as paying guests. We do indeed have a position as those who are “in Christ” but we have been given this status in order than we can know God and have fellowship with him every day.

Revelation 3:20 – Christ desires to have fellowship with the local church.

(4) CELEBRATION

The strongest element of the marriage supper of the Lamb as described in vv 6-9 is celebration. Jesus ate with sinners in celebration of their redemption. Just by sitting and eating together (even if it is just a cup of tea) we too can celebrate.

Celebration is in the very nature of God.

One practical application of this is the way in which we practice the Lord’s Supper. Communion should be a celebration, not a grim
ritual. Yes, we remember the death of Christ, but, through the bread and wine, we celebrate our redemption and look forward to that day when the Lord’s Supper will pass away and be replaced by the marriage supper of the Lamb, to which Christ has invited us, where we are accepted, where we will have fellowship with him and where we will celebrate his victory and our redemption.