Be Still And Know

1 John 4:11-12 'Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.' You cannot see the wind, but you can easily see the effects that it has. Equally, you cannot see electricity but we have no doubt that it exists because of all that it does. No one has ever seen God, but we know that he exists because we see his love reflected in the people around us. And so the more we love people, the more they will have the opportunity to see the living God. Tertullian, one of the Early Church Fathers, wrote of the way in which the pagan Romans were struck by way of life of Christians: “See how they love one another,” was their response. I would love to think that would be the response to each of our churches, and I believe it often is. People see churches setting up food banks, debt advice services, parent and toddler groups, listening services and many other activities.

1 John 4:10 'This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.' Most of the love that we experience in our lives is reciprocal. We love other people and they love us. Sometimes we have taken the initiative and, on other occasions, they do so. But with God it is very different. There is nothing that we could ever do to win his love. However hard we might try, we could never force God to love us. So the fact that he has chosen to love us is entirely down to his own initiative. This is an incredibly important truth because the whole of our Christian life needs to flow from it. In his letters, Paul often used the word ‘grace’ to describe God’s relationship with us. That is to say, forgiveness and salvation are a matter of sheer gift. There is nothing we could ever do to contribute towards them. When we take the step of faith and accept Jesus into our life, we are simply responding to his incredible generosity to us. In writing to the Ephesians,

1 John 4:1 'Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world.' There have always been false teachers, but they must have been particularly difficult to identify in the early Church. Many of the Christians would have come from completely different religious and philosophical backgrounds, and few church leaders would have had much education. It would have been extremely easy for articulate people to creep in and lead people astray. Anyone can claim to speak by the Spirit, and it is not surprising that many young impressionable Christians simply accepted what they were saying. In these verses, John was encouraging every Christian to test what they were hearing. Jesus himself was well aware of the challenge from false teachers. In the sermon on the mount he said: “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify the

1 John 3:16 'We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.' Probably the most famous verse in the whole bible is John 3.16: “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” It’s a wonderful verse and takes us to heart of the good news. But we need to read it alongside today’s verse, 1 John 3:16, its natural twin. This verse reminds us that it is not only about God loving us and sending Jesus for our salvation, but also about us, in turn, offering up our lives for our Christian brothers and sisters. I thank God for the amazing Christians that I have known over the years who have poured out their lives for others. I think of children’s and youth workers, deacons and elders, ministers and carers who, because of their love for God, have gladly given everything to support other people. They have thought little of their personal sa

1 John 3:1 'See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!' My wife and I have had the privilege of being foster parents for the past six years. Those years have helped me to understand in a way that I never knew before how important our relationship is with our parents. To be honest, I think I took for granted the love, security, affirmation and warmth of my own parents. But those amazing gifts should be treasured. Here, John reflects on the even more important relationship that we can have with our father God. He burst out in wonder as he reflected on the fact that God loves us so much that he chose to call us his children. And he did so not as a mere formality but because we really are his children. Just as the relationship between children and their parents will have life-long implications so, too, should our relationship with God our Father colour and shape our lives. We have the privilege of being able to walk into every new day with the certain kno

1 John 2:26-27 'I am writing these things to warn you about those who want to lead you astray. But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie.' Our world today is very different from the one that John knew, but I suspect that if he was addressing us, he wouldn’t have changed his message at all. The Christians he was speaking to were under constant attack from false teachers and he was eager that they should be strong in their faith and able to stand up to every challenge. These days, anyone with access to the internet can have instant connection to an unlimited number of religions and philosophies. It could all be very bewildering and confusing. John would want to offer us the same encouragement that he brought 1,900 years ago. The Holy Spirit is still our completely reliable teacher. He teaches us everything that we need to know. Towards

1 John 2:15 'Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.' John’s concern here was very similar to that of Jesus when, in the sermon on the mount, he said that it was impossible to serve both God and money (Matthew 6:24). As believers, we have a choice to make: do we allow our energy to be expended on worldly interests or on God’s kingdom. We cannot possibly do both. So John encourages us to focus our attention on loving God and not on the temporary pleasures of the world. Does that mean we should all leave our jobs and homes and sit on a park bench reading the Bible? No, far from it! We are called to enjoy God’s world, to serve him in our jobs and homes and to live alongside those who know nothing of him but, as we do so, we need to keep our focus on the things that last. Pleasures, possessions and achievements have a very short shelf life. John writes in sharp language to encourage us to sort out our priorities. When our

1 John 2:9-10 If anyone claims, “I am living in the light,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is still living in darkness. Anyone who loves a fellow believer is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble. The letters in the New Testament give us a great insight into the life of the early Church. These were exciting years, but it is clear that enormous struggles were going on. There were people teaching heresy and making great claims about themselves, yet their lives showed that they were a sham. There were the Gnostics, who claimed to have discovered deep mysteries and to have encountered the light. But their lives told a completely different story. So John set out some very clear guidelines to help the believers understand who was truly living for God, and who wasn’t. The key test was love. If someone showed true love for their fellow believers, you could be sure that they were living in the light. But those who were showing hatred towards others were walking in the darkness. Let’s be

1 John 1:8-9 'If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to God, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.' John couldn’t have been more blunt. If we claim to be sinless then we’re lying. Presumably there were people in John’s day who were saying precisely that and he knew it was such a dangerous point of view that he had to be decisive in his language. We can’t be exactly sure who these people were but, in every age, there have been people who have claimed to be perfect. We certainly know that there were gnostic groups around in John’s time who believed that they had special knowledge and were not touched by sin. The fact is, we are all sinners, and we all need to own this fact. We might like to blame our parents, our upbringing, our education, the government or the weather but, at the end of the day, we must take responsibility and acknowledge that we have sinned. We have deliberately gon

1 John 1:3-4 'We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.' As a teenager, I developed a great interest in the law, and often visited the local Magistrates’ and Crown Courts. I was gripped by them. To describe these as eye-opening experiences would be a considerable understatement. Having been brought up in a very loving Christian home, I was learning about a world of which I knew nothing at all. I soon learnt the way in which the courts worked, and I recall the way in which the magistrate or judge would insist that witnesses stuck to their own personal memory. The moment they strayed into talking about what they had heard from other people they were quickly told to get back to their own experiences. John knew the importance of sticking to his own personal witness. He had had the immense privilege of listening t

1 John 1:1 'We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life.' Most of the letters in the New Testament start with a greeting in which the author identifies himself. The only exceptions to this are the letter to the Hebrews and this first letter of John. It seems to me that John was so eager to share his message that he hadn’t got time for such pleasantries! He wanted everyone to know that Jesus really was the Son of God and that he came and lived a fully human life here on earth. John wrote this letter about 100 years, or two generations, after the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Some people had come up with the theory that Jesus wasn’t really human at all but merely appeared to be human. But John would have none of it. He knew for certain that Jesus really did come to this earth because he had seen him with his own eyes – and even touched him. Throughout the centuries, there has

Psalm 106:6-7 'Like our ancestors, we have sinned. We have done wrong! We have acted wickedly! Our ancestors in Egypt were not impressed by the Lord’s miraculous deeds. They soon forgot his many acts of kindness to them. Instead, they rebelled against him at the Red Sea.' I strongly recommend that you read through this psalm and the previous one because they are twins. In Psalm 105 we hear about all the amazing things that God did to guide and strengthen his people from their earliest days until their entry into the promised land. Now, in Psalm 106, the psalmist takes another tour through the history of God’s people and concludes that, humanly speaking, it was a complete disaster. Just as God was consistently faithful and loving, his people were repeatedly faithless and disobedient. But the psalmist didn’t simply point the finger at people in the past. He recognised that his own generation was also guilty of disobeying God and forgetting to walk in his ways. As we look back through human history, there is

Psalm 105:1-2 'Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. Sing to him; yes, sing his praises. Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds.' In this beautiful psalm, the writer rooted his praise in the way in which God had acted in history. He looked back to the way in which God had led Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and Moses. Through the years God had been consistently faithful to his people and they had every reason to rejoice. This psalm was written for a very specific moment in Israel’s history when David brought the ark to the place of meeting in Jerusalem. In 1 Chronicles 16:7 we are told that David gave Asaph and his fellow Levites this psalm as a song of thanksgiving to the Lord. It wasn’t a general song of worship but one which specifically charted the way in which God had been at work amongst his people. We need to remember our history. A birthday is a brilliant moment for looking back, and every church is wise to have a specific moment in its year whe

Psalm 104:24-25 'O Lord, what a variety of things you have made! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your creatures. Here is the ocean, vast and wide, teeming with life of every kind, both large and small.' Many of the psalmists use the wonder of creation as a springboard for their worship. This particular psalm does so by reminding us of the six days of creation. The poetic language is beautiful. Take for example day one when God made light. He writes: “You are dressed in a robe of light. You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens; you lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds. You make the clouds your chariot; you ride upon the wings of the wind. The winds are your messengers; flames of fire are your servants” (Psalm 104:2-4). As he looks through the days of creation it becomes clear that God didn’t create the world and then disappear, but continues to have an active involvement in his creation. It is good for us to spend time reflecting on creation because, as we do s

Psalm 103:2-4 'Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies.' This psalm begins with King David talking to himself! He called to mind the fact that his life had been wonderfully blessed by God and concluded that his whole being needed to be involved in giving thanks for God’s generosity to him. In the words of the famous hymn ‘Praise my soul, the King of heaven’ he had been “ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven”. Perhaps, as he wrote this psalm, he had in mind his adulterous affair with Bathsheba. He had foolishly strayed from God’s way and one disaster followed another until he repented and received God’s healing and forgiveness. As he reflected on the way that God had dealt with him, he not only praised the Lord but also urged the whole world to join him. In the final verse, he proclaims: “Praise the Lord, everything he has created, everything in

Psalm 102:11-12 'My life passes as swiftly as the evening shadows. I am withering away like grass. But you, O Lord, will sit on your throne forever. Your fame will endure to every generation.' We are often reminded of the fragility and brevity of life. A couple of days ago, a cyclist was knocked over and killed by a lorry on a roundabout which I often use. Death is never far away, and the psalmists often reflect on that. In this particular psalm, the writer was in a dreadful state. He had lost his appetite and was reduced to skin and bones. He couldn’t sleep and was surrounded by people who mocked and cursed him. Nothing seemed to be going right. He lashed out at God, whom he accused of picking him up and throwing him out. But amid his groaning, he recognised that God would live for ever, and he looked forward to the fact that future generations would praise God and thrive in his presence (v.28). The brevity and fragility of life shouldn’t depress us, but encourage us to see our lives within the bigger co

John 12:3 'Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.' The anointing of Jesus by Mary was a beautiful act of devotion, but it is hard not to have at least some sympathy for Judas, who pointed out that the precious perfume would have cost the equivalent of one year’s wages. That’s a great deal of money. We know that Judas was a thief and that his motives were entirely bad, but anyone might question the wisdom of spending such a huge amount of money in that way. However, incredible generosity is the natural language of love. She was devoted to Jesus and I am sure that, so far as she was concerned, no gift could have been too lavish or generous for her Lord. I love the fact that the fragrance of the perfume filled the house. I’m sure it did, and probably for many days afterwards. And 2,000 years later her lavish generosity still gives us a beautiful insight into the

John 11:33-36 When Jesus saw Mary weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. “Where have you put him?” he asked them. They told him, “Lord, come and see.” Then Jesus wept. The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!” Very soon after this, Lazarus was brought back to life. But we shouldn’t rush past this moment of intense emotion and anger. Jesus was up against the great enemy of death, and he is clearly overwhelmed by the sense of tragedy. He had the power to overcome death but, in this moment, he fully entered into the sheer sadness of the situation. His dear friends Mary and Martha were clearly grief stricken and, as he went to see the body of Lazarus, nothing could hold him back from weeping. Those who looked on immediately saw this as a clear sign of his love for Lazarus. Even though Jesus was the resurrection and the life, he entered fully into the emotional turmoil of this sad situation. The writer to

John 11:25-26 Jesus told Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die.” Jesus had known for some days that Martha’s brother Lazarus was seriously ill, but he had decided not to visit. So when he finally arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had already been dead for four days. Martha clearly regretted the fact that Jesus had taken so long. She immediately blurted out: “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21). Nevertheless, Martha had confidence in Jesus and, shortly afterwards, this was fully justified as Jesus raised Lazarus from death. We can’t be sure why Jesus decided to delay his visit to see his friends in Bethany but, arriving four days after his death, no one could possibly question the fact that Lazarus was indeed dead. So, when he was brought back to life, there was no question that what had happened was completely miraculous. Jesus had already spoken

John 10:19-21 NLT The people were again divided in their opinions about him. Some said, “He’s demon possessed and out of his mind. Why listen to a man like that?” Others said, “This doesn’t sound like a man possessed by a demon! Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” I am so grateful for the complete honesty of the Gospel writers. They were clearly deeply committed followers of Jesus and it would surely have been tempting for them to have chosen to ignore the opposition that Jesus faced. But they didn’t! They are astonishingly honest about the way in which Jesus brought division between people throughout his ministry. And it wasn’t simply a case of people liking or not liking his teaching. Some people believed that he was mad and demon possessed. The fact is, of course, that Jesus has always divided opinion and still does. Richard Dawkins, the well-known atheist, recently conceded that, on the balance of probabilities, Jesus did exist. Although he also once stated that: “Somebody as intelligent as Jesus wou