Marks of a True Believer

Sermon notes from a series by Rev Tom Jeffries, based on John's gospel

- True faith involves dynamic interaction- receiving Christ into every aspect of life. It is not enough to just believe in Christ, we must receive Him too and make Him our personal Saviour.
- A true believer will keep on following Jesus, even when they don't understand everything (look at Andrew and Peter when Jesus first called them).
- A true believer follows Jesus whatever the cost.
- A true believer feeds on Christ. They read His Word, pray to Him, and depend on Him for everything.
- A true believer accepts the hard sayings of Jesus.
-A true believer worships Christ. This is expressed in praise and thanksgiving, and deeds and acts of service (not to buy God's favour, but in response to His grace shown towards us).
- A true believer obeys Christ.

The secret of success in the Christian life is to focus on Christ.

Commitment at the highest level is seen in Christ Himself. He loved us till the end, till we were redeemed. Our commitment to Him pales into insignificance when we look at what He did for us on the cross.

Challenges:
What areas of your life are not surrendered to God?
Are there things you treasure more than following Christ?
What is your commitment to Christ like?

The death of the rom-com

Have you noticed recently that the traditional rom-com has gone completely out of fashion? In the last few months there has been an arid desert of no 'You've Got Mail's or 'Ever After's in the cinema. Instead there have been 'chick flicks' focusing upon women getting what they want. Example: 'Bride Wars'. Ostensibly a film about marriage (another unusual concept in modern films), this comedy is actually about two women who come to an age where they want to get married, and set about the business of planning their weddings to fulfil their life-long dream of a reception at the Plaza. The men have a very small part to play in the film, and I was pleasantly surprised at how the plot subtly questions the idea of women reaching a certain age where marriage seems like the next step to take... regardless of who you happen to be dating at the time.

The elements of romance in a film -even for a target female audience- have been sidelined as our culture has moved away from seeking total fulfilment in relationships. Now we idolise career instead. At the youth club we run for 11-13 year olds, I was really surprised when we held a DVD night and a boy brought 'Step Up 2'. I thought this was a really girly film (having seen it in the cinema), but actually the guys loved the cool dancing, and as we watched it I realised that the romantic storyline really takes a backseat to the tough-girl-turns-into-fantastic-dancer scenario.

As a teacher, it seems to me that young people often have totally unrealistic expectations for how their lives will turn out and what career they will pursue, and films like 'Step Up 2' are a classic example of why this is the case. Films often show success stories without much hard graft. In this dance film, you watch a few clips of rehearsals and then suddenly a group are performing an amazingly polished routine. Kids often don't make the link between working hard at school, and getting good jobs, because this is simply too boring for films to make a good story from.

As a Christian then, how do I respond to the messages of these films? I think it's good that we're moving away from the idea that marriage is THE only ultimate goal for a woman in life, but I don't think the answer is to suggest that women need to relentlessly pursue a career in order to be a success. Nor is it healthy to suggest that you can land the job of your dreams with little effort.

But the crux of the matter is this: where do you find meaning for your life? Whether it's in relationships, or your job, or your hobby, you can never find full satisfaction. Only through knowing God can your soul find rest, and then all these other things fall into place.

'But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all [the things you need] will be given to you as well.' Matthew 6:33

Image

Two articles in the papers this week caught my attention: one was about Cerrie Burnell, the CBeebies presenter with no right forearm; the other was about Gail Trimble, the cleverest contestant on University Challenge. Both articles highlighted that these two women have been the object of the most outrageous comments, simply because their 'image' isn't what people want to see.

Parents complained about Burnell saying their children would be 'scared' by her, rather than seeing it as an opportunity to explain disability. Trimble was offered a makeover and photo shoot from 'Nuts' and was tarnished a 'horse-toothed snob' just because she didn't want to expose herself to a men's magazine. Both these incidents highlight how shallow our society is. Not only do we see a perfect, ideal image of women and men portrayed in films, billboard posters and all kinds of media, we see less than ideal people torn to shreds in the same public medium.

It is so easy to judge people on their appearance. It's a great thing that God doesn't- He judges on the heart (1 Sam 16:7). So often we become obsessed with how we look, as a means of winning love and attention from others as well as success in our profession. But we can't 'win' love from God. He gives His love as a gift of grace- it's not something anyone can earn.

As Christians, we need to find our assurance in this, and stop worrying about the way we look. It's more important to cultivate love and kindness than to spend our time cultivating our image. (See 1 Peter 3:3-4) Let's remember Jesus: He was born in an obscure village, never wrote a book or became President, but His impact upon the world is unequalled and unparalleled. If we truly want to make an impact upon our society, we need to stand out by the way we live, not the way we look.

Going the extra mile

Lessons from David- 1 Samuel 23

What do you do when you see someone in trouble? Do you deliberately ignore them? Do you actively help them? Or are you too obsessed with your own problems to even notice?

In this chapter, we see two very different responses to a troubled situation. Keilah, evidently a walled city and a vulnerable population, is being looted by the Philistines. David's reaction is to ask God what to do. Saul's reaction is to make a plan to besiege David at Keilah.

God gives victory to David, as He promised, and answers David's prayers concerning Saul's plans. It is in a sense a hollow victory, because God tells David that the people he saved would give him up to Saul.

From the highpoint of victory, David is forced into the desert hills to hide from his pursuer. Saul is so obsessed with finding David and killing him that he ignores everything else- at the end of the chapter he is forced to face a Philistine attack. Saul is so deluded he even thinks he can bless people in God's Name for giving him the information he wants. He has followed his obsession and become so far steeped into his sin, that he has lost the ability to see what's plainly in front of him: he is being a rubbish king and a rubbish believer.

It's only when we depend on God for victory that we can be truly successful. And successful in Bible terms does not always mean luxury comforts (David wasn't getting any of those), but a close intimacy with God. That's what we should all crave and aspire to.

Avoiding the spiritual barometer (Review of Terry Virgo's 'God's Lavish Grace')

Ever had a week like this:
Sunday- go to church, sing joyful songs of praise, hear an encouraging and challenging sermon about fighting sin, leave with renewed resolution to obey God and beat temptation.
Monday- make time to read the Bible and pray, fight with sin going well, feel close to God.
Tuesday- managed to scan over a Bible passage before running for the bus, feel flustered but still trying to live whole-heartedly for God.
Wednesday- busy day, no time to pray, feeling weak.
Thursday- give in to temptation, feel like a rubbish Christian.

And so it goes on.

In this commentary, the person constantly measures their spiritual success by their own achievements or failures. If they made time to pray, they feel good about where they stand with God. If they mess up, they feel ashamed. To them, the way God sees them fluctuates like a spiritual barometer. When they're doing well, He's smiling. When they're not, He's angry.

Terry Virgo's book 'God's Lavish Grace' is a fantastic smash-down to this way of thinking, which ensnares so many Christians today.

Virgo's main point is that Jesus has obtained a place for us to stand in grace, a place of total acceptance and security. He goes through the book of Romans to demonstrate that
'they which receive abundance of grace... shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.' Rom 5:17

Therefore your daily walk with God is not about your spirituality or performance, but about your position in Christ.

Christ's unchanging righteousness is yours every day and is not in the least dependent on your feelings or your performance!

God has not called us to a life of slavery but one of overcoming. We need to KNOW that the blood of Christ is sufficient to cleanse us from every sin (past, present and future); the cross is ENOUGH for us to be forgiven. We can't earn God's approval by our 'good deeds'. On the cross, Jesus said, 'It is finished.' (John 19:30) He dealt with our sin completely. All that is left for us to do is to rejoice in the fact that we are totally accepted by God through Jesus, and then live a life liberated to serve Him, with the empowering help of the Spirit to fight sin.

Virgo's conversational style is engaging and uplifting as he opens up the life-changing truth of God's Word in this book. He shows us how susceptible we are to rely on our own amazingness rather than God's amazingness. He calls us to stop making excuses about human nature and start beating sin out of our lives, because Jesus has given us the freedom NOT to sin. As Christians, we have to believe in that freedom. We can't be fatalistic. We need to sort out sin so that we can properly live up to our status as God's children, and get out there to spread the message of God's lavish grace to a world that desperately needs to hear it.