8th January 2024
Pray (ACts) Read - (1 John 3:11-15, focus v11) Message (Alan Burke) Families can be fun to say the least. Many of us have experienced some kind of family fracture where the relationship in our families have broken down, where there is estrangement. We might even know those who live in the same house and live completely different lives because of what has happened. In the midst of this there is often pain and hurt and if you’re on the inside looking out you often think what have I done wrong and if your on the outside looking in you feel totally helpless to do anything about it. What about the family of the church, the local congregation where you worship, is it a place with fractured relationships, a place where there is pain and hurt because if it is then there is something very wrong. Yes I know we are fallen sinful people but for the believer even when we have been wronged by another believer there is a necessity to love. Now of course love does not ignore sin, it does not cover it up for the good name of the individual but in order to understand what John is saying let’s look at these verses before us. Here John tells us to love one another, that this is a message that we have heard from the beginning. This message, this command shouldn’t be anything new for the church that John writes this epistle and it definitely shouldn’t be anything new for us because as the church, as believes we love because we have been shown love by our saviour Jesus Christ, we know how to love because of him. Loving one another is something that all believers should do, we are to love. Whatever fellowship you are part of, you should in how you treat others, speak of others, act towards them show love, love should underpin all our interactions in the church. It is not enough to say that we love our brother or sister those sitting in the pews around us, we must show this love, show it in our relationships with one another, this love should be seen, it should be clear in us. Of we love one another it will be seen, it will be visible, we meet together as we are able, we take care of each other, how we avoid sinning against our brothers and sisters how we encourage each other how we take care so that they do not stumble. I’m not saying it’s easy but it is a necessity for the child of God to love, if you can’t, if it’s too hard then look to the Lord, look to what he has done for you, that our saviour Jesus Christ willingly condescended for us, lived and died in our stead, not because we were some how good, deserving of it, no because the opposite is true. As believers we are called to love our brothers and sisters, even if they are rude, obnoxious, even if they have been an idiot in the past and hurt us, our love isn’t conditional on them being polite and speaking with the kings English using their P’s and Q’s correctly, no we love our brother and sisters as God loves us. It is a necessity and we are to reflect the character of God. This isn't easy for us, but God forgives us who are sinners, who continue to sin, who struggle with sin and he continues to love us in spite of it all and we are to love as he loves us. If there is a relationship that we know needs sorted, an attitude within us that stinks, then we are not to ignore it. If this is something you’re struggling with, to love, seek God’s help in it, have you prayed about it, sought to talk to your brother or sister, have you talked to the elders seeking their help? If not why not? For we are the people of God and the same message that we have heard from the beginning, is that we are to love one another. There is a necessity to love as the believer, but at the same time that love will at times bring forth hatred Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q 36 What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification? The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, assurance of God’ s love, peace of conscience, (Rom. 5:1–2,5) joy in the Holy Ghost, (Rom. 14:17) increase of grace, (Prov. 4:18) and perseverance therein to the end. (1 John 5:13, 1 Pet. 1:5)
0 Comments
6th January 2024
Pray (ACts) Read (Ecclesiastes 1v2-11) Message (Scott Woodburn) Happy new year everyone - but now let me pop your balloon. What if I told you that 2024 will be exactly the same as 2023? What if I could say with relative certainty that for the vast majority of us, 2024 will see us doing the same things with the same people in the same jobs? Forgive me if I paint an overly bleak picture but famously Solomon began Ecclesiastes by declaring "Vanity of vanities...vanity of vanities! All if vanity." (v1) The Hebrew word behind vanity is "hebel" which means all is like a mist or vapour or breath. Do you catch that image? Breathe out on a cold winter morning and you will see your breath appear for a moment and then it is gone. On another morning you might be walking your dog in the midst of fog. You can't see very much, the fog can't be touched or captured and soon the sun's heat comes and the fog is quickly gone. According to Solomon the preacher, all is vanity and our lives are like a mist. It might seem like a depressing state of affairs but I suspect we all know it to be true. Have you ever wondered how you suddenly find yourself in your forties? Do you remember thinking that retirement was years away only to be weeks away from picking up your pension? Life is vanity, we are here for a little while and we soon fly away (Psalm 90v10). To make it even more personal, Solomon asked "What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?" (v3) How often do we hear "what do you do for a living?" but rarely are we asked to consider what we gain from our work. Obviously we work to gain our monthly pay packet and many will gain a satisfying sense of accomplishment within their chosen career. But one day you won't be teaching anymore, preaching anymore or building anymore. Your working life will end and what happens then? We see this never ending change in the world around us. The earth continues on even though an estimated one hundred billion people have lived and died since the beginning of time (v4). The sun rises and sets every single day (v5). The wind can seem so powerful and free but even the wind has its circuit and it keeps on blowing throughout history (v6). The rivers flow into the sea but the sea is never filled and the rivers continue to run (v7). Solomon described this ceaseless activity as "weariness" (v7) and while human senses are filled with stimuli each day, our lips can't say enough, our eyes can't see enough and our ears can't hear enough (v8). Indeed, the reality is that the world keeps on going and everything that is done has already been done (v9a), there is nothing new under the sun (v9b-10). If you weren't already depressed by all this, Solomon puts the icing on the cake by stating that eventually you and your deeds will not be remembered (v11). Even so, the Christian is not an nihilist which is someone who thinks life has no meaning. Brothers and sisters, as we are in Christ by faith so too our lives are given meaning by the Lord. The world may pay little or no regard to our faithfulness in work but the Lord sees and He remembers. You may think that there is no gain from the job you hate but we are to work for Christ nevertheless. Solomon's "all is vanity" is met by Paul's "whatever you do" as the Apostle reminds us "whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10v31) "whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Colossians 3v17) "whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men" (Colossians 3v23). Life is a mist and soon we are gone, but in all your days no matter what you do, live with meaning by giving all glory to God alone. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q35 What is sanctification? Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness. 5th January 2024
Pray (ACts) Read - 1 John 3:4-10 (focus v8-10) Message Alan Burke Are you desiring to please yourself today or are you desiring to live in a way that pleases your heavenly Father? We should be those who are desiring to live in a way that pleases our heavenly Father now that we are his children and adopted heirs with Christ. Think of it like when you were a wain, did you try to do things that pleased your parents or were you intent on doing what you wanted knowing fine well it would bring their destain? I’d suggest the former, we desired to live in a way, tried to live in a way that pleased our parents. We should be those who are trying to live in such a way that pleases our heavenly Father. Look to what John says because ultimately for those who are not trying to live in a way that pleases our heavenly Father and do what is sinful they are off the devil. John doesn’t beat about the bush, he calls it as it is, those who live lives that are continue without repentance are showing that they are of the devil. Now I know people who call themselves Christians, but their sin shows that they are of the devil, they can call themself a Christian but a christian is one who is seeking to die to their sin, to mortify it. For the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devils work, and what is the devils work, the devil work as been to hold sinners captive to sin, so that they may be lost, they may be filled with the fear of death and the condemnation that is due for their sin (Heb 2:14-15). Whereas the son came and paid the penalty that was due to sinners, that had been promised in the midst of the fall, (Gen 3:15) to destroy the work of the devil. Those who make claim of being a christian but who are not seeking to live in a way that is accordance with the revealed will of God is a nonsense because Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, if someone continues to live in a way, to sin without attempts to mortify it, maybe they see that sin as part of their identity, maybe it is a hidden sin known only to the individual, then they are showing that they are not Christs’. They are doing what the devil does, they are opposed to Jesus. For those of us who claim Christ as our own we should be able to look back and see a change in our behaviour over the years as we have been transformed from living as one of the devil to living as one who is in Christ. For those in Christ the power of sin has been broken, and this is displayed in our lives as we move from living one way to another. We should be as children of the living God becoming like our adoptive God, the familial likeness should be increasing because of learnt behaviour, the way we sound, the way they say things their mannerisms begin to micmic those things of God and not of the devil. Because God’s seed remains in us we cannot go on sinning, because we have been born of God. Sin will not define us, for those who claim Christ, claim the name christian and the reason is that for those ho have been born of God his seed remains in him, and what is meant by this is for those who have been born of God the Holy Spirit dwells in them, they have been given new life, and as Jesus has said "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out”. (Jn 6:37). We should not take sin lightly Our God doesn’t, our saviour had to bleed and die for our sin to redeem us, to make us his children, and it is only those who repent and believe are his children, the rest are the devils children who will be judged in their sin as his children. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q34 What is adoption? Adoption is an act of God’ s free grace, (1 John 3:1) whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God. (John 1:12, Rom. 8:17) 4th January 2024
Pray (ACts) Read (Ecclesiastes 1v1) Message (Scott Woodburn) The book of Ecclesiastes opens with the statement "The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem." (v1) and for generations this verse was enough to convince many that the author of Ecclesiastes was none other than David's son Solomon. Nevertheless, in more recent times there has been great discussion over who actually wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. Some still say Solomon, others have moved completely from that position, while still others think the book has multiple authors and an editor who put it altogether. To be clear, unlike Proverbs & the Song of Songs, there is no mention of Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes. The author calls himself "the Preacher" or in Hebrew the word "Qoheleth". You can pronounce "Qoheleth" by saying "co-hell-et" putting the emphasis on "hell" and keeping the "co" & "et" short. If you prefer Greek then the translation of "Qoheleth" gives us the name of the book which of course is Ecclesiastes. You many be aware that the church is sometimes referred to as the "ekklesia" or the gathered people of God. So "Qoheleth" or "the Preacher" is the one who gathers the people to hear the wisdom of God and although many disagree, I'll be referring to him as Solomon throughout these devotions. David's son was a man of great wisdom with the Lord declaring that he would be unrivalled in his knowledge (1 Kings 3v12). Solomon understood what it was to have all that he desired including money, servants, buildings and women with these subjects being evident throughout Ecclesiastes. Furthermore, we know that Solomon spoke three thousand proverbs and wrote one thousand and five songs (1 Kings 4v32). I'm thankful that although we don't have all of Solomon's writings, the Lord has given us the exact number that we require. Ecclesiastes is a wonderful book and one worth reading many times throughout the course of your life. It speaks to that ache that exists in many of us, namely what is this life all about? Is everything meaningless? Should I just eat and drink because tomorrow I die? So how did Solomon answer these questions? I think we'll quickly see that his common refrain was "fear God" This wisdom has stood the test of time and I trust will form a baseline for how you approach 2024. In days of sunshine and in days of rain, may you love and fear the Lord. If He is well pleased with Jesus then He is well pleased with those who have trusted Jesus. Life may often seem "in vain" but those who have trusted Christ have an inheritance that cannot perish, spoil or fade. Brothers and sisters, you can call the author of Ecclesiastes whatever you want. He might be Qoheleth or the Preacher or just plain old Solomon. Regardless, he is worth listening to for in the pages of Ecclesiastes, God has spoken. Buy wisdom from Him and don't sell it (Proverbs 23v23) and you will find that the Lord will make your path straight (Proverbs 3v6). Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q33 What is justification? Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone. 3rd January 2024
Pray (ACts) Read - 1 John 3:4-10 (focus v4-7) Message Alan Burke I was in doing a visit recently and heard how the husband after the Christmas dinner is all done, the dishes are washed and the family are sitting down says “and that’s it for another year”. In a sense yes but in a sense no. Yes because the festivities are over but no because of what took place in the incarnation all those years ago was hugely significant. For Christ came to take away sin, his appearance was to deal with our sins, he didn’t stay in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes, he came as one of us, true God and true man to die for our salvation. The incarnation is a wonderful truth that impacts everything the church does but without the reality of his death and resurrection there would be no atonement for sin, we would still be in our sin. While we are all law breakers, there is not one person who has ever kept the law bar Jesus, he appeared to that he might take away our sin and how did he do that, we went to the cross on Calvary’s hill and experienced the wrath of a holy God poured on upon him. Jesus on the cross took the sin of all the elect, his children, those who God choose since before the foundation of the world and paid the penalty for it. As a result, our response comes in verse 6 as we are told “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning, no one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.” Now is the implication of this that those who are in Christ do not sin? Is John saying that anyone who is in Christ, who is a child of God should not sin, in other words are they to be sinless? Is there some kind of sinless perfection that we are to be able to attain here in this life as believers? is that what we are being taught here? Well the simple answer is no, that is not what is beings said, if it were our experience would mean that we are all condemned and that none of us are his, none of us know salvation. Look back to what John has already said in Chapter 1 in verse 8, for John has already said something that directly impacts our understanding of this, 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 Jn 1:8). There John was making the point to those who were deceiving themselves that somehow they were sinless, they had not understood the divine reality of who they are before the Holy God. What this means for us is that although believers after being made the children of God still sin in this life we are not to allow that sin to define our lives, our sin should not control us, it should not be who we are. For Jesus came to take away sin, he came that we might be freed from guilt, free from it’s power and that when this life comes to an end that we would finally be free from sin power. What has happened is that when God called us to himself we were made holy, not because we are holy by nature but by the work of Jesus Christ, his holiness is imputed to us, it is given to us, but until we go to glory we are to live as children, we seek to honour our heavenly Father, we no longer live like we once were but want to become more like our elder brother Christ Jesus. What this mean for the believer, if we are in Christ Jesus, if we have been saved from our sin is that we are to live according. For the believer this is what should be happening as we try to mortify sin in our lives, as we try to put it to death. As we do this we are saying we no longer what to be what we once were, were are trying to rid ourselves of it, because we know that sin is lawlessness, we know that Jesus appeared to that he might take away our sins and as a response in our lives we desire not to sin. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q32 What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life? They that are effectually called do in this life partake of justification, (Rom. 8:30) adoption, (Eph. 1:5) and sanctification, and the several benefits which in this life do either accompany or flow from them. (1 Cor. 1:26,30) 2nd January 2024
Pray (ACts) Read (Philippians 1v3-11 & Proverbs 23v23) Message (Scott Woodburn) It was my pleasure to travel to Lissara on New Year's Eve known by some as Old Year's Night. While there I preached my final sermon of 2023 with Philippians 1v3-11 as my text. I wanted to remind the Crossgarians that Christ has begun the work in them, He continues the work and He will surely bring it to completion at the last day. With that stated I then assured the fellowship of my prayers in 2024. How will I be praying for Lissara and Edengrove in this new year? I'll be praying Philippians 1v9-11. Paul takes great delight in the Philippians (v3 & 8) for they partnered with him in the Gospel from the first day of his ministry (v3-5) and so he calls upon the Lord and seeks the good of his brothers and sisters in Philippi. How did Paul pray? Essentially he asked that the Philippians would grow in love, knowledge and discernment (v9). Paul hoped that his friends would grow in their love for the Lord, each other and that they would be wise as to know what is excellent in this fallen world (v10). Such a prayer is both timeless and increasingly relevant and I pray that we would see it answered in our fellowships in 2024. God willing our new series each Lord's day will be on the book of Ecclesiastes. Famously Ecclesiastes declares that all is vanity, all is meaningless! It is one of Solomon's three books full of God's wisdom and I trust that the Lord will use the ordinary means of preaching to grow us up in knowledge and discernment. We aren't looking for Bible facts to impress our friends at the next table quiz. Instead we desire the life changing wisdom of God. There are many who know all sorts of things about God without ever fearing Him but we know that is the path of the fool. Solomon once wrote "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." (Proverbs 1v7) To fear the Lord is to know Him and love Him and so from this place of fear, we seek wisdom and discernment. This world is dark indeed but the Lord has not left us rudderless. He has given us everything we need in His church to grow us up in Christ exalting wisdom. The church is the place where we can buy wisdom (Proverbs 23v23) and in our lives we refuse to sell such wisdom. This doesn't mean that we never pass on the truth of God's Word. We freely share Christ every single day but we must never sell God's wisdom replacing it with the world's fading glory. So brothers and sisters, may we hunger for such wisdom in 2024, may we pray Philippians 1v9-11 for ourselves and our fellowships and may we be found pure and blameless at the day of Christ (v10). To the glory and praise of God. Happy new year. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q31 What is effectual calling? Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel. 1st January 2024
Pray (ACts) Read - 1 John 3:4-10 Message Alan Burke There are times that I’ve been in conversation with people, heard talks and sermons and been left wondering not ‘are we on the same page’, or ‘singing of the same hymn sheet’ but left wondering do we have an entirely different bible before us. Is it that the bible I have before me just the specialised Alan Burke version and their bible has had a whole load of stuff removed because it seems that it’s not even close to what I have, how could it be when there is such a spectrum of views. These days people seem to pick and choose what bits they like, what they can believe in, they are like a horse with blinkers on not allowing themselves to see more than they want to. I begin in this way because I know fight rightly that as we return to 1 John there is going to be pushback because all people, men women and children are here grouped into one or two categories and I know many people who would reject this teaching, ignore it, pretend it isn’t there, try to come up with some hermeneutic to explain it away or dismiss the words of anyone except the words Jesus in the scriptures. The problem is that even the words of Jesus are hard for us to hear, they challenge our sin and call us to repentance, obedience and we didn’t like that last year and we’re not going to like that this year either. Ok I’ll get to the point, it’s a point that John makes here in this passage before us today and that is, ‘Either You Are A Child Of God Or A Child Of The Devil’. The division in people is not between Orange and Green, Unionist and Republican, Old and Young or any other worldly pointless division that we might make in the church, society or this world, no the only division that matters is whether you are a child of God or a child of the Devil. I’m going to make a presumption that if you’re reading this you likely fall into the former category rather than the later, that you are a child of God rather than a child of the Devil but how do we know, how can we confident, how can we have assurance that we are children of God? Well John makes it quite clear in these verses and we will think of them in two sections v4-7 and v8-10 as the week goes on but for now I want you to think of your family. Families are important aren’t they, but families resemble each other. You’ll have heard it said, ‘oh they have their mothers nose and their da’s eyes’ or something along those lines. We expect to see resemblances in families. Well for the children of God we should expect them to bear a family resemblance, a familial likeness to our elder brother the Lord Jesus Christ, if we don’t and we claim the name Christian then we need to give ourselves a shake and sort ourselves out for the children of God bear a familial resemblance. For through faith in Christ we are the children of God (v2) and as such we need to live accordingly, while Jesus will never cast us out it is not an excuse to live without regard for the law of God, for we are already told how we know that we have come to know him is if we obey his commands (2:3). Living as a child of God requires living in a certain way. These verses have throughout the years caused some to struggle, struggle with their walk with God because they make such a strong case for the holiness of the believer, how we are to live lives that are devoted to our God. They should instead of causing us to struggle doubt or fear, they should spur us on to live as the child of God that we are, living lives in accordance with the Word of God, all of it, not only the bits we like or the stuff that would be easier if they weren’t there but all of it. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q30 How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ? The Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, (Eph. 1:13–14, John 6:37–39, Eph. 2:8) and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling. (Eph. 3:17, 1 Cor. 1:9) |
Alan
|