7th March 2024
Pray (ACts) Read (Ecclesiastes 7v1-8) Message (Scott Woodburn) There is a famous question that most of us have been asked, namely “what would you wish for with three wishes?” In response we allow our minds to wander as we think of an answer which usually consists of wishes deigned to make our lives better. We would wish for more money or to have good health or any number of other “betterments”. I love Ecclesiastes and how it constantly gives another perspective on life. It challenges opinions and forces a reassessment of priorities and this chapter in particular makes one question what a “better” life looks like. You might be surprised by Solomon’s wisdom in this regard. The wise King didn’t call us to imagine a better life with more money, instead he took his usual subverted approach to life’s questions. So what is better in this vain world? A good name is better than precious ointment (v1). The day of death is better than the day of birth (v1b). It is better to be in the house of mourning rather than the house of feasting (v2). It is better to know sorrow than laughter (v3). It is better to be rebuked by the wise than to hear the constant praise of fools (v5). It is better to end a thing rather than begin it (v8) and it is better to be patient than proud (v8b). Some of Solomon’s “betters” are hard to disagree with. Most of us would rather have a name that is respected than to have a house filled with fancy ointment and although a wise person’s rebuke is difficult to hear, it is to be preferred than a fool’s empty praise. But the day of death and the house of mourning? It’s a struggle to see the betterment in such circumstances. Ecclesiastes is nothing if not brutally honest and the Preacher never hides us from the fact that life is often short and incredibly difficult. On the day of your birth it is all in front of you, the good and the bad. It is therefore better to get to the final day when you are just a breath from seeing Jesus which is better by far. In the same manner constant laughter and feasting offers us a temporary and false respite from some of life’s biggest questions. It is better to wrestle with the reality of death and it is better to experience the bitterness of sorrow. At my father’s funeral I spoke about the practice of the Romans who in moments of great triumph would have a servant remind them “mento mori” or in our tongue “remember that you will have to die” It is good to remember death and our own frailty. Too many pretend that life will never be sore and death will never come. Indeed, life is full of distractions. Fools cackle and take nothing seriously (v6), tough days can cause even the wise to despair (v7a) and bribes can corrupt even a righteous heart (v7b). Therefore, it is better to reach the finish line and it is better to be patient along the road than to be filled with arrogant pride (v8). I don’t pretend that any of this “better” path is easy. We prefer to remain as children who spend their days pretending they are cops and robbers or doctors or nurses. But surely the extraordinary beauty of Ecclesiastes is that it doesn’t pretend. It shakes us from make believe and confronts us with all of life’s thorns. The better path is not to keep pretending but instead to see life in the extraordinary light of Christ. He counsels us that in this world we will have trouble but we are to take heart, for He has overcome the world. In Christ we are the “overcomers”, we are those who refuse to pretend, we know that all is fleeting but Jesus has prepared for us an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. Maybe someone will bump into you on a day that your faith is strong. Maybe they’ll ask you what you would do with just one wish. Maybe you’d answer “I wish to see Jesus.” Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q87 What is repentance unto life? Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience.
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6th March 2024
Pray (ACts) Read - (1 John 5:13) Message (Alan Burke) I looked at the weather forecast today before I left the house, no rain apparently so I wore an old coat the kind of one we all have, that’s warm, been around for years and when it finally falls apart we’ll be gutted. Maybe it’s just me that sees coats and jackets like that but I wore the old coat which is far from waterproof because the forecast toul me that it wusnae going to rain and it’s lashing out there. If I had known it was going to lash I’d have put on the waterproof and brought the umbrella. I’ve made similar points before but in effect what we believe impacts the choices we make, it impacts how we live and for the believer, believing in the name of the Son of God means that we will live obediently. What does that look like, well it means that we are going to be living or at least trying to live obediently. We’re going to try to keep his commandments, all of them. Ok we still sin on this side of glory, any of us who think otherwise deceives themselves as John has said (1:8), we still sin, it is a battle to obey, sometimes it is easier than others, but at the very heart of the matter is that we are trying to obey, we want to, when we fail we keep trying, we don’t just give into sin every time. Also that belief in the Son of God will lead to transformation. What happens in our lives is that we believe, again it impacts how we live and in the believer they do not want to keep on sinning, they want to turn from it, we know sin isn’t good, it is not pleasing to our heavenly Father. Faith is incompatible with wilful sinning, of continuing the pattern of sinful behaviour that is like that of an unbeliever. For the believer we want to live in obedience, we want to be transformed more into the likeness of our elder brother Jesus Christ, we want to bear a family likeness, we want to resemble our saviour so we obey, we long not to sin and we are transformed over time and to a greater or lesser degree we should see it in our lives. So we have obedience, transformation, in addition to those things belief in the Son of God will lead to living righteously. I need to clarify what I mean because in Romans Paul makes it clear that there is no one righteous not even one (Rom 3:10). But what happens is that when we have been believed in the Son of God it leads to acts that are righteous, they are good, pleasing to our Lord. Look back to chapter 2v29 “29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him” (1 Jn 2:29). When we come to believe then we do what is right, or we are trying to do what is right, we are wanting to do what is right because that reflects the very character of our God. Remember John is trying to give us assurance, when we fail, Jesus Christ pleads on our behalf, he stands before the Father pleading our case and the case is grounded in the work that he has done to secure a favourable verdict for us (Rom 8:1-4). Finally Love, believing in the Son of God leads to obedience, transformation, righteousness and love int eh life of the believer. We love because we have come to know the love of God that was so vividly displayed towards us, in how Jesus Christ laid down his life for us is not something simply that we acknowledge but do nothing with, no, it is rather a love that will lead us to live in a certain way. Just as our saviour Jesus Christ showed a self giving, sacrificial love we to are to show that love in our lives, it is a love that transforms us, from death to life, from hatred to love a love that means we give up our self will, our self interest, the times when it is costly, the countless little opportunities that we have. Are we living in this way? We should but if we are struggling to see it in our lives ask a fellow believer to give an honest evaluation of your progress if you cant, sometimes it is better to ask someone else, someone whom we trust. Asking them do they see those things in us, for what we struggle to see may be much clearer for others to see. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q86 What is faith in Jesus Christ? Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, (Heb. 10:39) whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation as he is offered to us in the gospel. (John 1:12, Isa. 26:3–4, Phil. 3:9, Gal. 2:16) 5th March 2024
Pray (ACts) Read (Ecclesiastes 6v10-12) Message (Scott Woodburn) I have a friend who believes in providence. Providence describes how our God preserves and governs all of His creatures (including us) and our actions. In other words God hasn’t set the universe in motion and then left it to its own devices. The Lord is involved in every second of every day and there is not a branch that falls from a tree in a storm that God doesn’t know about. Back to my friend who believes in providence. I have lost count of how many times he has reminded me about God’s decree and that everything is by the providential hand of God. I’m glad about my friend’s constant reminders. This world is not random but everything is working towards the return of Christ and all of it has been decreed by God. This is what Solomon alluded to in chapter six verse ten. Whatever has come to pass was named by God in the beginning (v10). The world doesn’t operate according to the agenda of humanity, instead the Lord has declared the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46v10). He knows what man is (v10b) or in other words the Lord “knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.” (Psalm 103v14). It’s therefore inconceivable that anyone would seek to argue with Almighty God (v10c). He knows everything whilst we know only a tiny percentage and so using many words against the Lord (v11) is vanity and of no advantage. Providence would be a horrendous thought if we believed in a malicious and hate filled God. Thankfully, God is good and whilst His ways are not our ways, He will never let His children fall. Who knows what is good for us while we live for such a short space of time (v12a)? Who knows what the future holds when we are dead and gone (v12b)? God knows and He can be trusted to do what is right (Genesis 18v25) when we walk this earth and when our place is remembered no more. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q85 What doth God require of us, that we may escape his wrath and curse, due to us for sin? To escape the wrath and curse of God, due to us for sin, God requireth of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption. 4th March 2024
Pray (ACts) Read - (1 John 5:13) Message (Alan Burke) How can I know? Am I really saved? Has God forgiven me? If you have asked those things to yourself or something like them or even asked someone else then you are not alone, doubts come to even the most mature in faith. We approach the end of this epistle John now makes it clear why he has written this letter to the church and it I soo that they may know they have eternal life. John wants his readers to know that they have eternal life, to know and not to question, he wants them to have assurance of their salvation. Assurance is one of those things that some churches will teach you that you can never have but the Lord through John is telling you that you can have assurance, you can know that you are a child of God, that you have eternal life. This week we are slowing down and we are taking one verse and working though it, you might think that we’ve been taking 1 John far too slowly but there is much packed into it and there is so much in this verse that can help us with our assurance of salvation, that we may know we have eternal life. Throughout this letter John’s pastoral heart is evident and all because he wanted to help them in the midst of what they faced to know the hope that they had because they believed in the Son of God. He wanted to dispel their doubts, he wanted them to know who they were in Christ and the hope that they had. Notice to whom John writes to here in v13 to you who believe. We have already touched on this, the importance of belief, of believing in Jesus Christ because belief in him directly impacts how we live. What we believe about God impacts how we live in response. If you have faith in Jesus Christ, then that faith will directly impact how you behave, it will be demonstrated in tangible ways, ways that are evident for others to see, it should be quantifiable for ourselves and others. And this is important for us to understand as we move on because if you want to flick back to Matthew’s gospel, Jesus in Matthew 7 in the sermon on the mount gave a warning in comes in verse 21-23, before it he tells us that we will recognise people from their fruit and in v21-23 Jesus says; 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Mt 7:21-23). There are some who might say that they are the Lord’s, that they are Christians and they are not and there are others who wrongly are filled with doubt to whether they are Christians, asking themselves am I really a Christian. So how do we know? Well John has given us signposts, yardsticks, ways that we know we are Christians. Those things John has repeatedly told us throughout this letter and they are; obedience, transformation, righteousness and love. For those who believe they should see in their lives a desire for obedience, there should have been a transformation in us, we should lead us to live righteously in a way that pleases God and we should be characterised by love. We will work our way through these things in the coming days. But for now I’ll leave you with this as John says so succinctly; …believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q 84 What doth every sin deserve? Every sin deserveth God’ s wrath and curse, both in this life, and that which is to come. (Eph. 5:6, Gal. 3:10, Lam. 3:39, Matt. 25:41) 2nd March 2024
Pray (ACts) Read (Ecclesiastes 6v7-9) Message (Scott Woodburn) Did you know that the average household spends 15% of their annual budget on food and drink? Imagine a home with the national average income of £38,600. This family would see £5,790 of their budget spent each year on food and drink alone. Solomon’s proverb still rings true “all the toil of man is for his mouth” (v7a). Nevertheless, your family and mine will be spending this kind of money for the rest of our lives. We need food each day and although we might feel satisfied after a big dinner, we wake in the morning to prepare breakfast - our appetite is never satisfied (v7b). It’s the same story in every walk of life, we’re rarely satisfied with what we have and the media convinces us each day that we simply cannot live without the latest “upgrade”. In this regard the wise man and the fool are united (v8). Both live to satisfy their various appetites and even the wise man struggles to rein in his desire for more. What about the poor man (v8)? He might conduct himself wisely in society but even if wisdom made him rich, he too would struggle to quench the endless desires of the human heart. What is to be done in the face of this vanity and striving after wind (v9b)? Solomon answered with a proverb stating that it is better to be delighted in what we see than to follow the wandering of the appetite (v9a). Perhaps your granny said this in another way when she told you “better a bird in the hand than two in the bush.” Your wee granny was right but let me put her wisdom in even more simple terms - rejoice in what you have. I said, rejoice in what you have. Again, rejoice in what you have. Your wandering appetite only produces discontentment and restlessness and so, rejoice in what you have. If Christ is our greatest treasure then may we realise that cannot add to the joy He gives us with an endless pursuit of earthly loot. May Jesus teach us to be more and more satisfied in the inexhaustible riches of the Gospel for He alone has met our greatness need. Brothers and sisters, rejoice in Christ and rejoice in what you have. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q83 Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous? Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others. 1st March 2024
Pray (ACts) Read - (1 John 5:6-12 focus v11-12) Message (Alan Burke) I was speaking to a retired minister a few weeks ago, he got challenged at the door about what he preached, he called people to faith and repentance, how trusting in Jesus is the only way to be saved. The person at the door said that it was obvious that the ministers view of faith was different than his, to him faith was about coming to the church that he’d been all his life, supporting it, trying to be a good person and when the retired minister asked him had he repented of his sin the man said that he’d nothing to repent of. The saddest part of it all is not only that the man is going to a lost eternity facing the pains of hell forever, the convenor that week phoned the retired minster to cancel all the future dates he had him preach in that vacant congregation. For every single person who has ever lived or will live, there is only one way to be saved from our sins. Not all roads lead to the same destination, all roads do not lead to Rome, the saying is a nonsense. It doesn’t matter what we were brought up to believe, it doesn’t matter where we grew up, it doesn’t matter who were connected to and it doesn’t matter how good we think we think we are, unless we know Jesus then we are lost, we don’t know God and the road that is traveled leads to death and you deserve judgment because you are rejecting the very testimony of God himself. As John begins to wrap up he does so by telling us of the testimony God has given us eternal life, and life is in his Son. Jesus himself said, I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the Father except through me (Jn 14:6). It may not be popular in this pluralistic society that rejects absolute truth and it may not sit easy with you here today but eternal life comes in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no other way, he is the only way, the way the truth and the life the only means that men and women and children may come to the Father; there is no other way. How do you know you have life in the son, well John has already made it clear how we have life in the Son, three things that he’s been like a broken record on, we know we are his when we confess Jesus as our Savour, when we obey and when we love. That doesn’t mean we won’t doubt, we wont struggle with obedience or to love but we desire to do these things and the very moment we believed in him we had eternal life, the Son was all that we needed. Notice that eternal life while it comes in fullness in the future it dose’t begin in some far of future it begins now, it is ours already, we have been given eternal life and it is guaranteed, it won’t be taken away from us. And what lies ahead for the believer is that when we die we immediately go to be with our God, we will be at home, home with our Triune God, where we will dwell permanently with our God and we as his children. Where we are now is not our home, for everything we have is temporal, the house that we live in we will leave behind, although we do not live in tents we are just like Abraham for we are sojourners, we just passing through, our stay is but a temporary one and we are awaiting that day when we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, when the eternal life that we have already received will reach its fulfilment in resurrected, perfected bodies. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q82 Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God? No mere man since the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God, (Eccles. 7:20, 1 John 1:8,10, Gal. 5:17) but doth daily break them in thought, word, and deed. (Gen. 6:5, Gen. 8:21, Rom. 3:9–21, James 3:2–13) |
Alan
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