Be Still And Know

Proverbs 21.23 NLT 'Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble.' Speaking is such a huge part of our daily lives that we need all the wisdom we can find to guide us. The book of Proverbs comes back to the subject time and again precisely because it is so important. We need to be constantly learning how to use our tongues more effectively, and part of that is to learn when to speak and when to be silent. Benjamin Franklin once wrote, “Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.” Those are wise words. There are many tempting moments in life when we are lured into sharing some juicy gossip or joining in with damaging criticism and God looks to us to keep our mouths firmly shut. This isn’t remotely easy, but it is all part of learning to live life to the full and deliberately turning our back on those things that will cause damage and hurt. The trouble with speaking is tha

Proverbs 21.3 NLT 'The Lord is more pleased when we do what is right and just than when we offer him sacrifices.' The offering of sacrifices lay right at the heart of Old Testament worship. Strange as it may seem to us, it was the way that God expected people to approach him so that their relationship with him could be put right. This led many people to conclude that all they needed to do was to fulfil their responsibility to offer sacrifices, and they could then act in whatever way they wanted. Time and again God had to remind his people that the mere offering of sacrifices and worship was not enough. They needed to live lives that were in line with God’s will. God was looking for them to act justly and fairly in their business relationships and with their neighbours, and if he didn’t see it, he wasn’t interested in receiving their sacrifices. In any age it is possible for our worship to be merely an act. Almost anyone can sing hymns and songs, and even raise their hands in worship. Merely participating

Hebrews 13.20-21 NLT 'Now may the God of peace who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood, may he equip you with all you need for doing his will.' As this amazing letter comes towards an end, the writer prays a blessing upon his readers. He states that he has written the letter to bring them encouragement and this simple prayer oozes with just that. He reminds them that God is a God of peace. Reading between the lines, and sometimes on them, we sense that there was a good deal of tension and difficulty within this church. The believers had not progressed in the way that the writer would have hoped and there were people bringing in unhelpful teaching which was undermining the church and its leadership. The writer wants to remind them to keep their eyes fixed on God who is the source of peace. The writer also wants to remind his readers that, although there may be many challenges ahead, God will always equip his people perfec

Hebrews 13.17 NLT 'Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.' The letter to the Hebrews often refers to the importance of obedience to the word of God. The writer therefore urges his readers to obey their church leaders as they teach God’s word and watch over them. The responsibility of leaders is a huge one as they lead God’s people and it will only be a joyful experience if people take God’s word seriously and seek to obey it. He wasn’t encouraging a mindless obedience to church leaders but a thoughtful determination to be obedient to God’s will. Having been a bible teacher for many years I can assure you that I would be terrified if people ever did anything merely because I had said it! It is as leaders faithfully teach the word of God that people need to listen and obey. I welcome the fact that we live in days when the

Hebrews 13.15-16 NLT 'Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name. And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.' The letter to the Hebrews devotes a great deal of attention to the old sacrificial system, and celebrates the fact that in Christ it has completely come to an end. He sacrificed his life on the cross and made it unnecessary for any further sacrifices. However, the language of sacrifice is still important and the writer encourages his readers to continually offer up their sacrifices of praise through Jesus as a sign of their commitment to him. This reminds us of the language of the apostle Paul who frequently commanded his readers to give thanks continually. These New Testament writers thought of thanksgiving not as an occasional religious duty but as a joyful way of life. Living a life of thanksgiving is vital but there is another sacrifice that we are urged to make

Hebrews 13.8 NLT 'Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.' Yesterday we were encouraged to reflect on our former Christian leaders and to remember the example that they set. Much as we thank God for them the fact is that their life and ministry came to an end. The writer to the Hebrews contrasts them with Jesus whose ministry never comes to an end. Unlike them he is the same yesterday, today and forever. This means that Jesus is completely reliable. This is undoubtedly the most famous verse in this great letter and it is followed by the writer warning about people being carried away by false teaching. Jesus is the one who we need to focus our attention on knowing that he will never let us down. Every day gives us continual reminders of the temporary nature of our world. I travel about 35,000 miles by car every year, and have done so for many years, and I am incredibly grateful for my faithful vehicle. But I am continually reminded of the fact that it is just a temporary blessing! There is

Hebrews 13.7 NLT 'Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith.' Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the U.S.A., wrote “A good example is the best sermon.” He makes a good point and, as I think back to those preachers that I have heard over the years, it is undoubtedly their way of life that lives with me. I recall that some of them were very good preachers but their excellent exposition and brilliant sermon points have long since been forgotten. It’s all about example and the writer to the Hebrews encourages his readers to remember their leaders who have taught them from God’s word, and to follow the example that they have set. The Greek tense here is a command to keep on remembering them. That is to say there is something so precious about their example that it must not be forgotten. I would love to sit down with you now and hear about the Christian leaders that you have known. It would be

Hebrews 13.5 NLT Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” As a little boy it was a fantastic moment when I had enough money to buy a Mars Bar. I therefore assumed that the perfect world must be the one in which you could buy lots of Mars Bars. My mind then focused on a friend of ours who clearly had a lot of money and I worked out that he would be able to buy a Mars Bar every hour, and I thought that must be the very best life that could be imagined. Young as I was I had fallen for the materialist lie, that the objective of life is always to acquire more and more. But that is nothing other than a lie, because the way to peace and true contentment in life is to be satisfied with what you have. The advertising industry does everything it can to persuade us that that is not the case, and we need to be strong and resolute to stand up against the continual flood of images and words which encourage us to want more and more of everyth

Hebrews 13.4 NLT 'Give honour to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.' Faithfulness is crucial to every relationship. Without it, relationships suffer from insecurity and uncertainty and cannot possibly thrive. Supremely we see it at the heart of God’s relationship with us. He can be completely relied upon. There is no moment when you need to wonder whether he loves you or will stay by your side. The Bible is full of amazing reminders of the faithfulness of God. It never suggests that life will necessarily be free from challenges and difficulties, but continually affirms that God will be with us whatever happens. I love the way in which Isaiah celebrated God’s faithfulness. He wrote, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the

Hebrews 13.3 NLT 'Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.' I am so grateful that when I was at university I was encouraged to visit in the local prison once a week. We visited the young offenders’ wing and so I was meeting people of my own age and that was such a valuable experience. I had never met prisoners before and so I assumed that they would be completely different from me. They weren’t. They were intelligent, interesting and amusing and it was very easy to get alongside them and fascinating to hear the story of their lives. Ever since that time I have always been happy to have the opportunity to visit prisoners and have had some amazing conversations over the years. Prisons, in the days of the Early Church, would have been completely different from anything that I encountered. The Romans normally stripped prisoners naked and flogged them prior to their imprisonment. Their wounds would not have

Hebrews 13.2 NLT 'Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realising it!' In Genesis chapter 18 we read a remarkable account of hospitality when Abraham generously welcomed three mysterious visitors. It was the hottest part of the day and as soon as he saw them, Abraham ran to meet them and welcome them. He then encouraged them to rest in the shade of an oak tree whilst he brought water for them and then he went back to his tent to ask Sarah to prepare bread for them. Abraham had no idea who the visitors were but it soon became clear that God himself had sent them as they informed the couple of the miraculous news that they, old as they were, would have a son. They had welcomed angels without knowing it. In the early church, Christian travellers faced many challenges. Inns were notoriously filthy and expensive and were well known for being centres of immorality. In addition they had to face the hostility of the Jews. It was therefore essent

Hebrews 12.28-29 NLT 'Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a devouring fire.' It’s important that we never lose a sense of amazement that we are able to worship God at all. When Isaiah entered the Temple after the death of King Uzziah (recorded in Isaiah chapter 6) he was completely overwhelmed by the experience. As he saw the holiness of God he felt that he was in completely the wrong place, because he knew how unholy he was, and how unholy his society was. When we worship God, whether quietly by ourselves or in a church service, we should never rush into his presence or think that it is a small matter that we are worshipping the God of Creation. In our verses today the writer encourages his readers to worship God with holy fear and awe. Yes, God loves us more completely than we have ever been loved before, but he is also a devouring fire. He is absolutely holy and anything that is not holy is burnt

Hebrews 12.15 NLT 'Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.' Life can be incredibly hard, and many people experience terrible unkindness and injustice. It isn’t at all difficult to understand why this can lead to bitterness, but the fact is that that is the worst possible response. The only person who is damaged by bitterness is the bitter person. It does nothing to get back at the person who has caused the wrong and is incapable of bringing resolution to the situation. It just leads to more misery and suffering. Billy Graham wrote, “Bitterness is anger gone sour, an attitude of deep discontent that poisons our souls and destroys our peace.” But it’s even worse than that because bitterness grows roots and so it keeps on destroying the people and relationships in its path. Bitterness can therefore be incredibly destructive of the life of a church and the writer to the Hebrews is keen

Hebrews 12.14 NLT 'Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.' The United Kingdom is blessed with a huge number of amazing gardens. As we revel in the beauty of the flowers, shrubs and trees it is absolutely right for us to give thanks to God for the miracle of creation. But the fact is that, normally out of sight, there are large teams of gardeners who have worked incredibly hard to plant, cultivate, weed and water the gardens. The gardens are a partnership between God and the gardeners. Church life is exactly the same. Without God there would be no church but he looks to us to work hard to enable the church to flourish and here he points to two areas of hard work which are our own responsibility. We must work at living at peace and living holy lives. Living at peace is constantly demanding. When you look at a peaceful family or organisation it will give the impression that it all happened with ease and inevitability. But we al

Hebrews 12.1-2 NLT 'And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.' It is often and rightly observed that life is not a sprint but a marathon. If we are honest that is not what we want to hear because we would like life to have as few challenges and problems as possible, but the truth is that we all need to learn how to “hang in there” through thick and thin. Here the writer to the Hebrews reminds his readers that this is what the life of faith is all about. We have to endure and he clearly has in mind that the church to which he was writing was likely to experience considerable persecution and suffering. If they thought that living for Christ was going to be a leisurely walk in the park then they needed to change their thinking quickly. By itself that would be a rather bleak message. But the whole purpose of the writer is to bring encouragement and he knows that, as we focus our attention on Jesus,

Hebrews 12.1 NLT 'Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.' Over the years I have played lots of different sports with a great deal of enthusiasm and, truth to tell, not much success. However, I have had a number of friends and acquaintances who have been enormously successful in their chosen sport and they have all deeply impressed me. My main reflection is that they were all incredibly disciplined. Their diets were carefully designed and they gave a huge amount of time to ensuring that they were constantly practising and improving. They had a determination to give their absolute best. In our verse today the writer pictures Christians as athletes who are running a race infinitely more important than any sport, and makes the obvious point that we need to get rid of anything that slows us down. It’s almost too obvious to say. You clearly wouldn’t enter an elite

Hebrews 11.31 NLT 'It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God. For she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.' In this chapter the writer to the Hebrews introduces us to a number of Old Testament heroes of the faith. It isn’t anything like a complete list. Hundreds of important characters receive no mention at all. And so it is fascinating that he chooses to point the spotlight on the prostitute, Rahab. You might have thought that he would choose to skip over her in favour of people with a more respectable line of work. But no, Rahab is commended because of the hospitality that she gave to the Israelite spies when they went to explore the Promised Land. In fact she went further. She was also willing to lie to the King of Jericho’s messengers when they went looking for the spies. What impressed the writer was that Rahab was not swept along by the disobedience of the other residents of Jericho. She was willing to put herself in danger

Hebrews 11.17 -18 NLT It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.” This is a really tough passage. The idea of God apparently asking a parent to kill their child is tough enough, but it is infinitely more difficult when you consider that on this occasion he was asking Abraham to murder the son who was going to be the start of the great and mighty nation which he had promised. It’s all very perplexing. But we are invited to focus our attention on Abraham, the man of faith, because he was willing to do whatever God called him to do, knowing that it would all work out wonderfully. The writer observes that Abraham had worked out that if Isaac had actually been killed then God would have been able to raise him from the dead so that his plans could be fulfilled. That is to say, Abraham was abso

Hebrews 11.12 NLT 'And so a whole nation came from this one man who was as good as dead—a nation with so many people that, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, there is no way to count them.' The writer to the Hebrews doesn’t beat about the bush. He described Abraham as being as good as dead. That’s not flattering but he was describing a man of 99 years of age who was married to Sarah who was decades past child- bearing years. The whole situation looked hopeless. But God had promised that Sarah would have a baby and from whom a mighty nation would be born. In human terms this was laughable nonsense. It was completely ridiculous. But God was at work and so something which was humanly impossible was exactly what happened. Isaac was born and the nation came into being with descendants as uncountable as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore. We are continually tempted to domesticate God. That is to say, we try to make him fit into the world that we understand and make him l

Hebrews 11.8 NLT 'It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.' Everything about Abraham’s life is amazing but, for me, this is the most incredible moment. At the age of 75 he headed out from his home in Haran without having a clue where he was going! People, in my experience, just don’t do things like that. When they leave their house they have a clear idea where they are heading and if, as in Abraham’s case, they take their whole family and their cattle with them as well, it is unthinkable that they would head off without having some idea where the journey was taking them. But not Abraham. He was called by God and off he went. We have to conclude that Abraham was absolutely confident in God. In human terms he was taking the most enormous risk but in spiritual terms he was clearly completely convinced that he was doing the right thing. In our risk averse culture you can