Sermon: Titus 2: 1-15 Fruitful - Self-Control

Which of the following would you prefer - you could have one marshmallow now, or, if you waited a wee while, you could have two? Here’s a video where young children were given that choice...

[Play video]

The marshmallow test was first conducted in the 1960s, to see if nursery age children had any self-control. And the idea is simple - you can either have a small reward now, or a greater reward after a bit of a wait. Some had no self-control, immediately grabbing whatever was on offer there and then. But others reckoned that the ‘later’ reward was better - delayed gratification to use big words - and used a variety of strategies to try to keep them from the temptation of the one marshmallow.

So how would you get on with the marshmallow test? And how is your self-control? When we think about our daily life, there are lots of opportunities to exercise self-control (or not). There’s the whole realm of money - when payday comes, do you splash out, treat yourself, not thinking that you’ve got a whole week or month for the money to last. I used to work in a corner shop when I was growing up, and one of our colleagues would nearly have blown his week’s wages on sweets and crisps before he’d even left the shop on payday!

Perhaps you struggle with self-control when it comes to food, or drink, or some other substance. And so, perhaps you’ve given up something for Lent, and now two and a half weeks in, you’re either managing fine without it, or else you’re having withdrawal struggles. I heard recently of the Catholic Bishop of Cork in the 1950s, Cornelius Lucey. He decreed that during Lent, his people should only eat one biscuit with a cup of tea. So fairly quickly afterwards, a bakery in Cork produced what they called ‘Connie Dodgers’ - enormous biscuits, so that you were still only eating one biscuit!

Perhaps your self-control is lacking in other ways, and there’s a particular temptation or two that you always fall for; a particular sin that you indulge in, and then feel awful about afterwards. Perhaps you think like Oscar Wilde, who famously said, ‘I can resist everything except temptation.’

This morning we’ve come to the last of the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit. We’ve covered love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and now we’re looking at self-control.

Like so many of the others, self-control is a quality that some people have, and that everyone can work on. The researcher from the Marshmallow Test tracked the lives of the original group of children, and could trace the patterns of their life based on how they reacted to one marshmallow or two. And it might be that in some areas of life, you’re very self-controlled and in other areas of your life you’re not as self-controlled. And you could, quite possible, try really, really hard to be more self-controlled, just by your own effort.

But that’s not what we’re thinking about, and it’s not what I’m recommending. You see, the self-control that we’re thinking about today is part of the fruit of the Spirit - it’s something that the Holy Spirit is growing in us as he helps us to live for Jesus and become more like Jesus.

We see this spiritual self-control as Jesus determined to live a perfect life of obedience to God’s law - Jesus was so self-controlled that he never did anything wrong in what he said, or thought, or did. Can you imagine that? But on top of that, Jesus determined to go to the cross. He controlled himself to fully obey. As Hebrews says: ‘Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God.’ (Heb 12:2)

You remember the one marshmallow or two? The great reward for Jesus was fulfilling the Father’s plan, and bringing us to share in his salvation. That’s why Jesus endured the pain and agony of the cross. That’s how self-controlled he was.

And that’s what the Holy Spirit wants to grow in us. It’s the image of the athletes who are currently preparing for the Olympics - if they go ahead this summer. As they get up at 5am and run or row or life weights; as they spend hours in the gym doing all their training; as they eat very carefully designed meals that will give them all the things they need to perform to the best of their abilities; they have their eyes on the end goal - standing on the podium and receiving the gold medal.

Imagine how much they might rather stay in bed when their alarm goes off. Or how much they might like to finish at the gym early and just watch a boxset on the sofa. Or how much they would want to have a big bar of chocolate or a big fry-up. But they control themselves, they discipline themselves, with an eye on the future glory.

And that’s what the Spirit is doing in us. It’s why, when Titus is on the island of Crete, helping to establish the new churches, he is to teach the people to live in the way that matches up to the gospel. Now, you can decide yourselves whether you’re in the older or younger categories, but older men, younger women and young men are all explicitly urged to be self-controlled. And (in case you think the older women don’t have to be), they are to do things that would be the same as self-controlled.

At another of these Family Services we looked at Titus 2:11-15, when we thought about goodness. But look again at verse 12 to see how self-control fits into God’s purposes. We all naturally live for ungodliness and worldly passions. But God’s grace helps us to say no to them, and instead to say yes to self-controlled, upright and godly lives.

Grace helps us in two ways - first, because our past has been dealt with. All those times when we didn’t have self-control, all those sins we’ve committed - Jesus gave himself to redeem us from all our wickedness.

But grace also helps us by pointing us forward. What is the reward that we’re looking forward to? What will be better than whatever we’re tempted to do here and now? we’re waiting for our ‘blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.’

That’s what we’re looking forward to; that’s what drives us in our choices, and helps to keep us from temptations - one day I will see Jesus, face to face. And in the meantime, every day from this day until that day, we have the Holy Spirit living in us, producing his fruit in our lives as he takes control of us, and we gain control over ourselves.

Perhaps there are things you want to say to the Lord - things you want to say sorry for; struggles that you need his help with; so let’s take a moment or two to do that before I pray.

This sermon was preached at the Family Service in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 15th March 2020.

Sermon: Luke 2: 8-20 Good News

You almost cannot escape the news these days. On the radio, there are news updates every hour on the hour on most stations. On TV there are the news bulletins, as well as the 24-hour news channels, constantly broadcasting the latest news. News is shared on Facebook and Twitter and all sorts of social media. And the good old newspapers are sitting when you walk into the shop. News is everywhere.

Now, if you happen to have avoided all the news in the last week or so, then you might not have heard that we had a General Election on Thursday, and Boris is back as Prime Minister, with a huge majority in the House of Commons. And as you can imagine, the news has been full of him over the past few days. He’s on nearly every broadcast, and on nearly every front page.

The people in power quite often make the news. We’re used to seeing their face and hearing their voice, as the news tells us what they’ve been up to. And, had there been newspapers about 2000 years ago, then it would have been exactly the same. The front pages would have been packed with photos and news about the main man in the Roman Empire - Caesar Augustus. He ruled the roost, and set the news agenda. And the big news was that a census was getting underway.

Everyone had to go back to their own town to register. Augustus said ‘go’ and everyone had to go, whether they liked it or not. No doubt the radio programmes and newspapers would be full of discussion and debate about the news of the census.

Now, I don’t know what you think about Boris - whether you think his victory is terrific or terrible - but have you noticed that so much of the news that we see or read is all bad? Whether it’s the volcano in New Zealand, the earthquake in Albania, break ins, stabbings, drugs and more - the news seems to be all bad news.

But out of sight of Caesar Augustus; and unnoticed by the Israel newspapers; there was something happening in Bethlehem that was totally amazing; something that was truly good news. But to tell you about it, I’ll need some newspapers.

You see, out in the fields near Bethlehem, there were some shepherds, keeping watching over their sheep. It was getting dark, and they were getting drowsy. Suddenly, there was something bright in the sky - brighter than a STAR or the SUN (now, I didn’t bring a copy of either paper with me, maybe for obvious reasons!). And what was it? An angel, a HERALD, bringing some good news for them - and not just for them, but for everybody.

So what was this good news? ‘Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.’ (11)

You see, we all need a Saviour. No matter who we are; how young or old; how tall or short; whoever we are, we need a Saviour. That’s because we all have become INDEPENDENT of God - we tell him that we don’t need him; we don’t want him to be in charge of our lives; and we go our own way, doing what we want to do - independent of God.

But when we go our own way, we get trapped in sin. It doesn’t work out when we do our own thing. We get lost. We can’t change by ourselves. We need God’s help - and we need the Saviour God has sent.

The good news is that the Saviour has been born in Bethlehem. He is Christ the Lord. That word Christ means king (anointed one) - and so Jesus is our GUARDIAN. He saves us from our sins; he comes to be with us; and he comes to help us every day.

But the shepherds didn’t just hear about Jesus, the angel told them to go and see him. ‘This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’ (12)

Before they started off on their journey, though, even more angels appeared in the sky, praising God, and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests.’

Having heard the angel choir, and remembering their instructions, they set off into Bethlehem, like an EXPRESS - they weren’t going to stop until they found this special baby. Having followed their instructions to the (NEWS) LETTER, they found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger just as they had been told. They took a while to GAZETTE (gaze at) Jesus, before sharing what they had seen and heard.

The shepherds wanted to TELegraph the good news about Jesus to everyone they met. And everyone they told was amazed at what they heard.

In this world there is lots of bad news. We don’t need to look very far to find it. We know only too well about the bad things that happen. But the TIMES are changing, and there is some really good news, because Jesus has been born - born to be our Saviour; born to be our King.

So when you get up tomorrow morning, and when you look in the bathroom MIRROR, remind yourself that Jesus came to this world because he loves you. And he wants you to be his friend, and to follow him, to make him your Saviour and your King. And that really is the best news we could hear this Christmas - good news of great joy for all the people.

This sermon was preached at the Family Carol Service in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 15th December 2019.

Sermon: James 5: 7-11 Fruitful - Patience

This morning we’re thinking about patience. Now, when I was growing up, my granny had a saying that went like this: ‘Patience is a virtue, possess it if you can. Seldom in a woman, and never in a man.’ Do you think that’s true?

So let’s do a little test. On a scale of 1-5, with 1 very patient and 5 not very patient, how are you...

when you’re counting down the days to your birthday
when you’re stuck in traffic
when you’re sitting in waiting for a delivery
when you’re in a queue
when you’re in the dentist’s waiting room
when you’re looking forward to half-term holidays

Now, if you’ve kept a note of your scores, then I’ll tell you later on what your score means... And if you couldn’t wait to hear what your score meant, then you’re probably impatient!

So how patient are you? If granny’s rhyme was true, then we all have some work to do. We’re not as patient as we should be. But why should we be patient? Why are we even thinking about growing in patience?

We’re looking at patience today because it is one of the fruit of the Spirit. We’ve already sung about the full fruit of the Spirit in our service - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And we’ve been looking at each of them in turn at our Church Family services to see what it is God the Holy Spirit wants to grow in us.

Some of us might be more patient, because of our natural personality, and some of us might be less patient, because that’s the way we are. But all of us can grow in the patience that the Holy Spirit wants to grow in us - because he is at work in us when we belong to Jesus.

So to help us think about growing in patience, I’ve brought along some things to help us. I need someone to help me - someone who is good at gardening and growing things. So I’ve got a planter, some soil, some seeds, and we’re going to plant these lovely flowers. We can see what it’s going to look like, we see the pattern and example here on the packet.

And for the fruit of the Spirit, the Lord Jesus is our pattern, and our example. When we want to see what the fruit of the Spirit look like in real life - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, we can look at Jesus, and see how he demonstrated all the fruit of the Spirit.

And when we read the gospels, we find how patient Jesus was. He always had time for people, he spent hours and days caring for people and healing people, he was never in a hurry, in a word, he was always patient.

And in our first reading, we see just how patient the Lord still is. You see, Jesus lived, and then died on the cross as our Saviour to take away our sins. He was raised to new life on the first Easter Sunday, and he ascended back to heaven, promising his disciples that he would come again. Peter says that, as time goes on, and Jesus hasn’t yet returned, people are going to be asking, so, where is he?What about this return that he promised? And some will even think that Jesus isn’t going to come back at all.

But in verse 9, Peter tells us what’s going on. ‘The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.’ The reason that Jesus hasn’t come back to this earth yet isn’t because he’s slow at keeping his promises. No, he is being patient, giving us more time to turn to him, to repent and trust him. If Jesus had returned fifty years ago, then many of us wouldn’t have been in his kingdom. Or thirty years ago, or ten years ago. Some of us here in Richhill have become Christians, followers of Jesus, in the last year - that’s why Jesus hadn’t already come back this time last year. He was being patient. And maybe the reason he hasn’t already come back is so that you repent today - as we’ll see in the Baptism questions a little later on, to repent is to turn away from sin, and to turn towards God.

The Lord is patient towards us, not wanting us to perish, but wanting us to turn to him, before he finally returns. And because Jesus is patient, we who follow him, we want to be patient too, to be like Jesus in every way. That’s what our other reading is about. Being patient.

Do you remember what we planted earlier on? I’m just wondering to myself, have those seeds done anything yet? Have they started to grow and sprout? So I’ve got my little trowel here. Boys and girls, do you think it would be a good idea to dig them up to see if they’ve started to grow?

It would be a bad idea! I need to be patient, to wait for the seeds to sprout and grow in their own good time. It wouldn’t help the seeds if I was digging them up every five minutes to see if they’re doing anything. I need to be patient. And that’s what James, the brother of Jesus tells us in his letter. He says: ‘Be patient, then brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.’

The farmer doesn’t harvest his crops until they’re ready. He has to wait for the rains in the autumn and in the spring before his harvest is ready. And we need to be patient as we wait for Jesus to return. But that’s not always easy. We see all the bad things happening in the world, and we know that Jesus will put all things right when he comes, and so we have to wait patiently.

And we need to be patient with other people - just like Jesus was. We need to see people the way Jesus sees them - as the people we are to love and care for and help and talk to about Jesus.

Many of us will know Psalm 139. It’s a Psalm about how amazing and wonderful God is, that he knows everything about us, wherever we go, whatever we’re about to say - God knows everything about us. And no matter where we could go, God is always with us. And, as we come to the Baptism of little Rachel, the Psalm also talks about how God ‘created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.’ And then it says this: ‘All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.’

So often we’re always looking forward, always rushing on to the next thing. So maybe you were eagerly waiting for Rachel’s birth - we can’t wait to meet her! And maybe you’re eagerly waiting for her to start walking and talking - we can’t wait for her first steps! But all of us can get caught up in this - we can’t wait to finish school. We can’t wait to start our first job. We can’t wait to get married. We can’t wait to get a bigger house. We can’t wait to have children. We can’t wait to retire. We’re always looking forward, wanting the next big milestone to come. Always rushing on, a microwave society always in a rush.

But every one of our days has already been written down. God knows how long we’ve got. And so we don’t need to rush on. We can be patient, taking each day at a time. Seeing what God has prepared for us to do today - in the people we meet, the opportunities we have, the places we find ourselves. It doesn’t come naturally, and it may not come easily. But God is calling us to be patient, and to grow in patience, to become more like the Lord Jesus. And God gives us the Holy Spirit to help us to grow his fruit of patience in us. So let’s pray, as we seek to follow Jesus in this way.

This sermon was preached at the Church Family Service with Baptism in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 17th February 2019.

Family Carol Service Talk: Matthew 1: 18-25 The Christmas Cracker

This morning I’ve brought along something to do with Christmas. It’s going to help us understand what Christmas is all about. But I wonder if you can guess what it might be. It’s something that is normally found on the table at Christmas dinner, but you can’t eat it. Anyone know? It’s a Christmas cracker.

Here’s a question for you: what do you normally find in a Christmas cracker? You normally get a joke, a hat, and a toy. This is a special Christmas cracker, all about the first Christmas.

So let’s see what’s inside it. What do we need to do to find what’s inside? We need to pull it. So can I have two helpers to pull the cracker?

Now, normally you get a joke inside a Christmas cracker. There are no jokes inside this one, but don’t worry - by now you might know that I like a good Christmas cracker joke. So here are a few for you!

How does good king Wenceslas like his pizza? Deep pan, crisp and even.

What did one snowman say to the other snowman? ‘Can you smell carrots?’

What do you get if you eat Christmas decorations? Tinsellitis.

What did Adam say the day before Christmas? It’s Christmas, Eve.

Which side of a turkey has the most feathers? The outside.

What kind of motorbike does Santa ride? A holly Davidson.

Why was Cinderella no good at football? Her coach was a pumpkin and she kept running away from the ball.

--

So, there’s no joke in this special Christmas cracker, but there is a bit of paper. And it gives us our Bible reading for this morning - Matthew 1: 18-25.

In that Bible reading, there are three names for the Christmas baby. And in our cracker, there are three special items to help us see what those names mean.

The first one is a crown. We normally find a crown in a cracker, and people think that it’s because of the three kings who came to see Jesus. but this crown in this cracker is telling us that Jesus is the King.

In verse 18 it says: ‘This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.’ That word Christ is the Greek version of the Hebrew word Messiah. Both mean the anointed one - the one who has been set apart as God’s king.

Christ isn’t Jesus’ surname, in the way that mine is McMurray, and you have your surname. No, this is a title, a job description. He is Jesus the Christ, the King.

And last week we saw how Jesus is the son of David, who was a great king in Israel. God had promised that one of David’s sons would reign as king forever. And that’s exactly what Jesus does. So the crown tells us that Jesus is the King.

Next up, we have a cross. Now, why would we find a cross in this special Christmas cracker? Have I got a bit mixed up in my seasons and special services? Surely the cross is for Good Friday and Easter. What is it doing in this Christmas cracker?

It’s because right from the very beginning, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, he was already on his way to die on the cross. It’s the reason that Jesus came into the world. The wooden manger leads to the wooden cross.

And we know this because of what the angel says in verse 21. ‘She (Mary) will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’

I wonder do you know what your name means? My name means ‘strength’ or ‘battle spear.’ But Jesus is given the name Jesus ‘because he will save his people from their sins.’ Jesus is the Greek version of the Hebrew name Joshua, and it simply means ‘God saves.’

So Jesus is called Jesus because he is our Saviour - the one who saves his people from their sins. And he does that by going to the cross, and dying to take away our sins. So Christmas leads to Good Friday and Easter. It’s why Jesus is called Jesus, and why Jesus came. The cross tells us that Jesus is the Saviour.

Now we’ve got one more item left in the cracker, and one more name to consider. And the item is... some sticky tape! This is a Christmas essential, when you’re wrapping up presents, to be able to stick the wrapping paper, and keep things together.

And we have sticky tape because the third and final name we have in the reading is in verse 22=23. ‘All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call his name Immanuel - which means God with us.’

Another name for the baby Jesus is Immanuel. And Immanuel means God with us. Whenever we look into the manger in Bethlehem, we see the face of God. God the Son, has become one of us, and God is with us. In Jesus, God is always with us - experiencing what it is to be human; sharing our joys and sorrows; and forever he shares our humanity.

The sticky tape holds things together - and in Colossians 1 we read that in Jesus, all things hold together. He is the sticky tape at the centre of the universe. And he has stuck himself to us, to be with us, forever. Jesus our Immanuel.

Our Christmas cracker shows us why we can have a cracking Christmas - because it shows us who the baby in the manger is:

The crown tells us that Jesus is the King, the Christ.

The cross tells us that Jesus is the Saviour, who came to save us from our sins.

The sticky tape tells us that Jesus is Immanuel, God with us.

Normally you only get jokes and novelty items in a cracker - but our cracker this morning tells us the good news of Christmas, the good news of Jesus Christ, our Immanuel. Let’s pray.

This sermon was preached at the Family Carol Service in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 16th December 2018.

Sermon: 1 Peter 1: 1-9 Fruitful - Joy

What do you look like whenever you’re happy? You’ll have a big smile on your face, to show that you’re happy. And what sorts of things make you happy?

There are lots of things that might make you happy:
Not having to go to school tomorrow
ice cream
time with friends
having your favourite dinner
going on holiday
and lots and lots of other things.

So then, what do you look like when you’re unhappy (or sad)? You’ll have a big frown on your face. The smile has turned upside down into a frown. And everyone who looks at you knows that you’re not happy. So what sort of things make you unhappy?

There are lots of things that might make you unhappy:
having to go to school tomorrow
not getting ice cream
having to get a filling in your tooth at the dentist’s
being on your own
and lots and lots of things.

This morning we’re continuing to think about the fruit of the Spirit - the character and qualities that the Holy Spirit is wanting to grow in us. Can you remember which one we looked at last month? It was love.

Today, we’re focusing on joy - not someone you know who’s called Joy - but the character of joy that the Holy Spirit grows in us. Now, when we start to think about joy, we might just think that it’s the same as happiness. Sometimes we use the words in the same way so that you wouldn’t know the difference. But there’s a big difference in the way the Bible thinks about joy.

Have you ever been on a roller coaster? I don’t really like roller coasters, so whenever we went to Alton Towers with BB camp, I used to watch everyone’s cameras and bags and phones and wallets! What happens when you’re on a roller coaster? You go up and down and up and down. And our happiness, our feelings and emotions can go up and down, based on what is going on. You see, happiness depends on what is happening.

So if something good happens, then we’re happy. And if something bad happens, then we’re unhappy. Every day can be like being on a roller coaster. Up and down, happy or unhappy, depending on what happens - what the weather is like, and so on. Have you ever seen people being like that? Changing mood depending on what happens?

The Bible says that joy is different to happiness. Happiness comes and goes, but joy is something that we can have, even when things aren’t going well. So even if bad things happen, and we couldn’t possibly be happy, we can still be joyful.

That’s what we see in our Bible reading this morning. Peter is writing his letter to Christians who are described as strangers in the world - they don’t really fit in, they’re different to everyone else. And that’s what we are like as well.

Yet the mark of being a Christian is to have joy. Why are we joyful? Because of all that God has done for us:

We have been born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus. Because Jesus died for us and rose again to new life, we have the hope of heaven and living for ever with God and Jesus in the new heavens and the new earth. So no matter what might happen in life, we have this hope of eternal life!

We have been given an inheritance - does anyone know what an inheritance is? It’s something that you’re given, that you inherit from a family member. And the inheritance we’ve been given can never perish, spoil or fade. It’s always going to be as good as new! It will never rust away or fade away.

We have been given protection - God shields us by his power in all that we do.

Hope, inheritance, protection - it’s no wonder that Peter says that ‘in this you greatly rejoice.’ (6) We are filled with joy, when we realise everything that God has done for us and given to us.

But Peter says that we can still rejoice, ‘though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.’ (6). Suffering grief, undergoing trials - those sound like the things that would make us unhappy, and you’d be right! But through them, we can still know and experience God’s joy - because even when we go through bad things, God is still with us, and God is still for us.

We are looking forward to the day when we will see Jesus face to face. One day, Jesus will return, and we’ll see him, meet him, and worship him. But we have never seen Jesus. Peter had seen Jesus, and knew him, and spent lots of time with Jesus. But the people who first got this letter, they were in the same boat as us. They hadn’t seen Jesus either.

Yet Peter says something amazing: ‘Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.’ (8-9)

None of us have ever seen Jesus face to face. Yet when we love him, and believe in him, we will be filled with this joy: inexpressible - you can’t really explain it, but it’s real, and really inside you, bubbling up out of you, no matter what is going on; and glorious - filled with God’s glory.

You might be the sort of person who feels as if they’re living on a roller coaster; you’re up and down depending on what happens. But God offers us his joy - a constant character of contentment in God, because of all that he has done for us, is doing in us, and will do for us.

You can be happy, and be joyful, but you can still be joyful even if you’re unhappy. Because joy is different to happiness. And joy is what God is wanting to grow in us by his Spirit - as we receive his blessings and promises, and grow in trusting him whatever happens.

This sermon was preached at the Church Family Service in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 21st October 2018.

Harvest Sermon: Matthew 20: 1-16 Grapes, Gripes and Grace

Boys, and girls, I’ve got a question for you this morning. What would you like to work at when you grow up?

In the time of Jesus, some people had permanent jobs, but lots and lots of people were day labourers. They didn’t have a regular place of work. They just turned up in the town square in the morning, and someone who had some work for them would give them a job for the day.

And that’s what’s happening in our Bible reading today. It’s a great reading for a Harvest service, because it’s all about bringing in a harvest. Jesus tells the story of a man who has a harvest to bring in from his vineyards. So what was he going to gather? Grapes!

The story is all about grapes, and harvesting the grapes. So very early, the man went to the square to hire some workers. It was 6am, and he agreed to their wages for the day. 1 denarius. In today’s money, we’ll say £100, for the twelve hours work. [volunteer] So off the workers go, into the vineyard.

But as the day went on, he realised that he had so many grapes, he needed more people to help with the harvest. So he went again at 9am, saw some other people standing about looking for work, so he hired them as well. ‘I will pay you whatever is right.’ [volunteer]

The day went on, and he hired more workers at 12 noon, and again at 3pm. Whatever is right, I’ll pay you at the end of the day. [volunteers...]

Now, at 5pm, the eleventh hour, when there was just one hour of work left in the day, he went out into the square, and found some people still standing around. They hadn’t done any work all day, no one had hired them. So the man told them to go and work in his vineyard as well - for the last hour. [volunteer].

At 6pm the working day was over. The grapes had been gathered. It was time to gather up, and get ready to go home. But first, the workers had to be paid for their work.

So, the workers who had only been hired at 5pm, and had only worked for one hour came forward. They were given a denarius. They were given £100. And then the other workers came forward. They had worked for longer than these ones, and so they expected to get even more money! But for each group of workers - the three hours, six hours, nine hours and twelve hours, they all got... what? Exactly the same A denarius, or £100.

Now, how would you feel if you were one of those long working people? Would you be happy that you’d received the same as someone else, who hadn’t done as much work? No! You’d be shouting about it. You might even say ‘That’s not fair!’ There were grapes, and now there are gripes - complaints, and grumbling. That’s not fair!

We can sometimes feel the same way. You might think to yourself - I’ve been working hard at something for ages and ages, and then someone else comes in at the last minute and gets the same amount of credit and praise.

But Jesus is teaching us something about what God is like here. he starts the story by saying that ‘the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner...’ This is a story about God and his vineyard, the church. Are there times when we might grumble against God and say, that’s not fair! That we’ve been used in the Lord’s service for a long time, and then new people come in and we think that’s not fair! Or that God gives people the same promise of eternal life if they only trust in him on their deathbed?

Could we be the people who have worked hard, and yet feel that God isn’t fair? If so, let’s see how Jesus ends the story. What’s the answer of the landowner to these gripes about the grapes?

‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

Remember away back at the start of the story, the all-day workers agreed to a denarius. That was what a day of work was worth. They got what they agreed to, and what they deserved.

But the landowner decides to give the other workers the same. Because a denarius was what was needed to survive, to pay for food for the family for the day. And what word does the landowner use to describe himself? It’s the punchline to his speech - ‘Are you envious because I am... GENEROUS?’

This is what God is like. He’s more than fair, he is generous. He gives us far more than we really deserve. And there’s another word for generous, a word that we use to describe this in relation to God - it’s the word grace. It’s when God gives us what we don’t deserve.

You see, whether you’ve been a Christian for a long, long time; or if you’ve only been a Christian for a few weeks; or even if you only decide to become a Christian today - God is gracious to us, and gives you the very same gifts of eternal life, and forgiveness of sins, and peace with him, and the hope of heaven, and so much more!

In our reading today we see grapes bring harvested; we hear gripes about unfairness; and we rejoice in the grace of our God, who gives us far more than we deserve.

That grace is seen all around us - in the flowers and fruit and vegetables and foods that we enjoy; in the beauty of the creation seen in mountains and seas and fields and sky and sunrises and sunsets. But that grace is seen especially in the Lord Jesus, who gave his life so that we might live with him. God offers you his grace today, as he calls you to serve him and follow him. It’s far better than being fair - it’s God’s generous, free offer of grace. So will you praise him today for his grace? Will you rejoice in all that he has given you, and will give you?

This sermon was preached at the Family Harvest Service in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 7th October 2018.

Sermon: 2 Kings 5: 1-19 Naaman's New Skin

For this Family Service talk, the first part is an interactive re-telling of the story, with key words. When the congregation hear the key words, they respond with the sound and the actions.

Leprosy - ‘aaaagh’
Wash - ‘scrub, scrub’
Clean - ‘hurray’
River - splish splash
Fight - ‘fight, fight’
Sad - ‘boo hoo’
Soldier - ‘yes, sir!’

Naaman was a soldier. In fact, he was the top soldier for the king of Aram. Naaman would lead the army to fight other armies, and he was very good at fighting. This one time, Naaman led his soldiers to fight against the people of Israel. His soldiers took people away from their homes to become slaves in Aram. Naaman took a young girl, probably not much older than some of the GFS girls, and she served in Naaman’s house.

The girl noticed that, even though Naaman was a good soldier, and very important, he was also very sad. This was because Naaman had leprosy. His skin was diseased, and other people were afraid of catching it.

The little girl knew that God was able to heal Naaman of his leprosy. She said to his wife: ‘If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.’

So the king of Aram sent Naaman to the king of Israel. But the king of Israel was very sad when Naaman came to him. He thought the king of Aram was trying to pick a fight with him. ‘How can I cure him of his leprosy?’ he asked.

Elisha the prophet heard of what had happened, and he told the king to send Naaman to him. So Naaman arrived at Elisha’s house. He rang the doorbell, but Elisha didn’t come out. Instead, he sent a message, telling Elisha to go to the Jordan river, and wash himself seven times.

But Naaman was sad. He expected the prophet to come out to him, and say some words, and touch the spot, and heal his leprosy. And as for telling him to go to the Jordan river? Yuck. It wasn’t as nice as the Abana river, or the Pharpar river, the rivers of Damascus. He was sad, and about to go home.

But then his servants spoke up. If he had told you to do something really difficult, you would have done it. If you had to climb a really high mountain you would have tried it. If you have to swim across an ocean, you would give it a go. If you had to complete the Ninja Warrior obstacle course, we would have seen you on TV last night. So why not something as simple as going to wash in the river?

So Namaan went to the river Jordan. He went in for a wash. And then another wash. And another wash. And a fourth wash. Then another wash. He washed again. And then went in for his seventh and final wash.

As he came up out of the river, his leprosy had gone, his skin was like new, and he was clean. Naaman knew right then that there is no God in all the world apart from our God. He used to worship the god Rimmon, but Rimmon couldn’t do what God had just done.

So, having heard the story - tell me this: how did Naaman get cleansed from his leprosy? He dipped in the river Jordan 7 times. But how did he know to do that? Elisha the prophet told him. But how did he get to Elisha? The young girl from Israel told him about the prophet in Israel who could heal him - because of the God of Israel.

That little girl had been taken away from her home. She was far away from her family. She was in a strange place, with people she didn’t know. Yet she didn’t forget about home. She didn’t forget about her God. She still trusted God. And she told people about her God.

Naaman was cleansed from his leprosy because one little girl told him about her great big God. In a few moments the GFS girls and leaders are going to make some promises - to love and serve our Lord Jesus Christ, and to help other people.

We can help other people as we tell them about our God - how great he is, how good he is, and what he has done for us. He sent Jesus to come to die on the cross for us. We don’t need to do something really impossible to be cleansed from our sins - we just need to trust in Jesus, to believe what he says, to be saved by him.

This children's talk . all-age talk was preached at the Church Family Service and Girls' Friendly Society Enrolment Service in Aghavea Parish Church on Sunday 15th January 2017. It could also be used as a primary school assembly.

Pentecost Sermon: John 14: 15-21 Who is the Holy Spirit?

Saying goodbye is never easy, and yet it comes all the time. Whether it's P7s preparing to change schools, saying goodbye to teachers and dinner ladies, or friends who are going to different schools; or if your best friend moves away to another country. It's not easy to say goodbye.

The Bible reading today is from the night before Jesus was crucified. He has told his disciples that he is going away - back to the Father, back to heaven - and he's not going to be on the earth with his disciples any more. The disciples are sad. They've had three years with Jesus, seeing the miracles he has done; hearing the teaching he has given; all those amazing things. But they've also just been with Jesus - eating, joking, spending time talking as they walk along.

All that was coming to an end. Saying goodbye. The disciples are sad. And we would be too - imagine if we got to be with Jesus here, in person, here and now, and then he says that he is leaving. We wouldn't like it either.

But Jesus gives them a promise: the disciples won't be on their own. Jesus says: 'I will ask the Father and he will give you...' the AA. Now, does anyone know what the AA is? Well, if you are out in the car, and it stops, it won't go any more, then you might need to ring the AA, the Automobile Association. They'll come and help. They'll come and do what they can. And Jesus promises the AA - but not the car breakdown service.

Jesus promises this AA: Another Advocate. Now what do those words mean?

Another - it's a second, just like the first. If you have one bike, and you get another bike, then you'll have two bikes. That's another.

Advocate - now imagine you're in court. You are facing the judge and the jury. But you don't stand alone. You have someone standing with you - your barrister / solicitor, who is beside you, speaking for you, arguing your case.

Another Advocate is someone who is just like Jesus - up to now, Jesus had been the Advocate of the disciples. He was with them, he was their helper, their advisor, their counsellor. But now another advocate is coming: the Spirit of truth, also known as the Holy Spirit.

So what does the Holy Spirit do? Jesus says 'he will be in you.' So here's a glove. A nice leather glove. I'll set it on the lectern. Now, can that glove do anything? Can it lift a glass of water? Can it wave? Can it open the door? No, no, no. The glove just sits there. No matter how much we ask it, or tell it, it can't do anything by itself. But with my hand in it, the glove can do lots of things. It can lift things, wave, open things. The Holy Spirit is like that - he comes into us to help us to live for Jesus, to do the things we can't do by ourselves. He is the Spirit of Jesus - Jesus living in us.

I've got a question for you. Who is the best footballer in the world? Messi? Now I'm not great at football. Anyone who plays on a Thursday evening will tell you that. Now imagine that Messi could control me. If he could control my legs to run to the right place each time, or my feet to kick the ball and score goals, or control my brain, my thinking. I'd be brilliant! I could play like him. Well, Jesus comes into our life by his Holy Spirit, not to make us better footballers, but to help us to live like him.

And a big part of living like Jesus is to love him and keep his commands, to do what he wants us to do. But it's not just demands and commands - Jesus gives us the help, power, and desire to do what he wants.

Saying goodbye isn't easy. Over in John 16, later on this same evening, Jesus says that it's better that he's going away. How could that be? Well, think how the disciples met with Jesus. He could only be in one place at a time. If Jesus was in Jerusalem, then you had to be in Jerusalem to be with Jesus. If you were anywhere else, you weren't with him. But now that Jesus has gone back to heaven, and has sent his Spirit to be with us and in us - now we can have Jesus with us where we are!

Whenever the car breaks down and won't go any further, then you call the AA. You only need them when something goes wrong. But every Christian always has their AA with them. Another Advocate, the one who is like Jesus, who stands with us, and is in us, to help us, and guide us. Let's pray.

This sermon was preached at the Family Service on Pentecost Sunday 15th May 2016 in Aghavea Parish Church.

Children's Talk: Ireland's Call

There's something happening in England at the minute, with lots of countries involved. Does anyone know what it is? It's the rugby world cup. I've brought along a rugby ball. So which team are you supporting? England? Wales? Scotland? Ireland?

Lots of support for Ireland - I've brought along my Ireland shirt to show who I'm supporting. Now does anyone know the song that they sing before they play their matches? It's Ireland's Call. Can anyone sing it?

Here's how the chorus goes:

Ireland, Ireland, together standing tall;
shoulder to shoulder we'll answer Ireland's call.

And here's the video of them singing is before the match against Canada:


There's a line in it that sounds a little bit strange. Shoulder to shoulder? When the cameraman pans along the team, their shoulders aren't all beside each other. Some are big and tall, others are lean and short. They're beside each other, but their shoulders aren't all at the same level. Now why is that?

It's because a rugby team needs different sorts of players. You need hefty, strong players to go into the scrum, to push forward and beat the other team's scrum. But if everyone was the same size as your front row, they might not be very good at playing in the backs. In the same way, you need small, fast runners to play at the back. But if everyone was like that, your scrum wouldn't be very strong.

Each position needs something different. Each player is different, but they all work together to make a good rugby team. It's the same in your school teams, whether it's hockey or netball or football - everyone works together with different roles. It's also the same as your body - you have eyes, ears, hands, toes, heart, lungs and lots more besides. They're all different, but they all work together to give you life.

In the Bible we see the same thing: 'Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.' (Romans 12:4-6)

You might be different to other people in your class or in church, but God has made you for a special job, something that only you can do, as you join with people who are different to make up the one team, the one body. We can be shoulder to shoulder as we answer God's call.

This Children's Talk was shared at a School Assembly in Maguiresbridge Primary School last week.

Sermon Notes: Acts 1: 1-11 Stop, Wait, Go!

This morning I’ve got a question for you. It’s a big question, an important question. Where is Jesus now?

Jesus is in heaven - today we’re thinking about why that’s important, and what it means for us as well.

We’re thinking today about something important - a special day that we read about in our Bible reading. A special day known as samtsirhc day... Does anyone know what that is?

Samtsirhc Day is the reverse of Christmas Day! At Christmas, Jesus came down from heaven. He was born as a baby, and grew up and became a man. He gathered his disciples and taught them for three years. He was crucified, died and was buried. He rose again from the dead, alive, and taught the disciples for forty days. Showed he was alive, prepared them for the work to come.

He was lifted up to heaven, seated at God’s right hand. Jesus is in heaven. He’s not here in person. Wouldn’t it be good to have Jesus with us in person? Listen to him speaking rather than me?

But Jesus is in heaven. How can we do the work he has called us to do? How could the disciples start that same work?

What are these? What do they tell us to do?

Traffic lights tell us to: Stop; Wait / Get Ready; Go!

Stop: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem’ (4) - disciples were to stop, stay where they were.

Wait: ‘but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.’ (4-5) - weren’t ready just yet... needed someone to help them - Holy Spirit. Comes to be with us, live in us, to be like Jesus with us - Jesus is in heaven, but gives us the Holy Spirit to be with us.

Go: ‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ - Spirit gives us power to work, power to speak.

Power to move out - Jerusalem; Judea; Samaria; ends of the earth.

First disciples had to go through all the traffic lights. Red - stop. Red/amber - wait. Ten days later, at Pentecost: green - go.

Which traffic light do we have? It’s not red, because we’re not in Jerusalem. It’s not red/amber, because if we have trusted in Jesus, we already have the Holy Spirit, we don’t need to wait. We now have the green traffic light - the disciples have moved from Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth. We’re part of the ends of the earth.

The Sunday School project, little lights, is helping us think about how we can be little lights here; and people in DR Congo are little lights there. We have the power promised. We have a green light. We can tell people about Jesus.

These sermon notes formed the basis for the All-Age Bible Talk at the Family Service in Aghavea Parish Church on the Sunday after the Ascension, 17th May 2015.

Sermon: Luke 10: 25-37 Who is my Neighbour?

Have you ever asked the question: 'What do I have to do?' Where might you have asked that question? Perhaps when you're given homework - what do I need to do to get it done? How many pages of French or Science do I need to finish? How many questions or how many words is the target? Or maybe when you're in exam season you're wondering how much you have to study to get a good grade. How much work do I have to do to pass or come top of the class? For your sports teams, football, hockey, rugby, netball, you might wonder, how much do I need to practice? How many times a week do I have to turn up? How good do I need to be?

What must I do is a question that Jesus was asked. It wasn't about exam results or sports teams. It was about life, eternal life. 'What must I do to inherit eternal life?' (25). This man was wanting eternal life. He was wanting the reward of heaven. He wanted to know what he had to do. Or, in other words, how good do I need to be to make it to heaven?

When you come along to church, you might ask the very same question. How good do I have to be? How much do I have to do so I can be right with God? So let's see how Jesus answers. Let's see how good is good enough.

The man is an expert in the Law, he knows his Old Testament, he studies it, so Jesus asks how he reads it. 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and Love your neighbour as yourself.' (27).

That's it. Love God with all you have and all you are, perfectly, totally, in every moment with every fibre of your being; and love your neighbour as you love yourself. That's all we have to do. The question is, do we do it? Can we really say that we have loved God with everything even this morning before we came to church? Have we loved our neighbour?

The man seems to think that he has done the first bit. He reckons that he's fine with the loving God stuff. (But is he really? We simply don't love God with everything). He wants to make sure of himself on the second bit. You see, he thinks that he might have a chance of doing it as well.

He quoted from Leviticus 19:18 - 'You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself.'

The verse in its original context seems to say that your neighbour is your own people; the people who are like you, and who you like. Just the people of your own tribe, or people or nation. So if loving your neighbour means just being nice to the people who live next door, or just my friends, or just the people I like (and who like me) then I might be able to do it. You can see the wheels turning in the man's brain - I will be able to love God and love my neighbour.

All the more so because of why he asked the question. Look at the start of verse 29. 'But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbour?"' Who do I have to love like that? He wanted to justify himself. He wanted to make sure that he was in the right. Have you ever discovered at the back of the cupboard a packet of buns or biscuits that were out of date? You eat them all, and then your mum or dad or wife gives off to you. But you try to justify yourself, you try to make yourself be in the right. So you say, "I only ate those buns so that you wouldn't get a sore tummy eating out of date stuff!" You're really doing a good thing, making yourself be in the right.

Jesus answers his question by telling a story. And like some of our stories today, there were three main characters, two of whom you loved and respected and thought were great; and one who you looked down on. A bit like our Paddy Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman stories. So Paddy Englishman, Paddy Irishman and Paddy Scotsman were being chased by the police. They ran into a warehouse, and found three empty sacks lying on the floor. They jumped into one each, and pulled the top closed. The policeman nudged the sack Paddy Englishman was in, and he said "woof, woof!" so the policeman thought it was a dog and left it alone. The policeman nudged the second sack with Paddy Scotsman inside, and he said "meow, meow!" so the policeman thought it was a cat and moved on. The policeman got to the third sack, nudged it with his toe, and Paddy Irishman shouted out "potatoes, potatoes!"

In the story Jesus tells (and we'll need help with each of these), there are three characters. A priest, a religious person who works in the temple and everyone respects. Whenever we use the word 'priest' I want you to shout out 'Amen!'. Next up is a Levite. He's also religious, well respected, and also good. When I say the word 'Levite' I want you to shout out 'Praise the Lord!' And finally, there's a Samaritan. We don't like Samaritans around here. They don't worship God properly, at the temple. They're a bit shifty. So when I say the word 'Samaritan' I want you to 'boo!' So there are the three. Who do you think are going to be helpful? The priest and the Levite.

A man (our churchwwarden) was on a journey from Jerusalem to Jericho. He walks along, up the aisle, always in danger with the scary people lurking near the road. And then he's robbed - his coat and jacket are removed, his tie is loosened, he's bedraggled, and lies down, left for dead. But it's ok, there's a priest (Amen!) coming along. He stops, sees the man lying, and... walks quickly past. The priest (Amen!) didn't help at all. Maybe he was late for a service.

But it's ok, the Levite (Praise the Lord!) is coming. He stops, sees the man lying, and... walks quickly past. The Levite (Praise the Lord!) didn't help either. Well, if those two couldn't help, then there's not much chance of the third one helping. Huh.

The Samaritan (boo!) comes along. Stops. Takes pity. Bandages wounds (with a first aid kit). Pours on oil and wine. Takes him to an inn. Helps him. Pays for his care.

The priest (Amen!) didn't deserve an Amen. The Levite (Praise the Lord!) didn't deserve a Praise the Lord. They are the ones who should be booed. Religious, but no help to anyone. No care, no pity.

The Samaritan (boo!) shouldn't be booed. We don't expect it, yet this was the only one to have mercy. To help. To care. To love his neighbour, whoever he was. Jesus says to go and do likewise.

So we see the standard for eternal life under the law. Perfection. Perfectly loving God, and perfectly loving our neighbour. Every neighbour, no matter who they are or where they come from. We fail to do that. But the good news is that Jesus came to do exactly that. He saw our need. He took pity on us. He came with love and mercy, to obey the law and give himself for sinners.

As we follow Jesus, we can do as he says. We can become more like him, so that we love more, and obey more. So go and do likewise - show your love for God in the way you love your neighbour, whoever they may be.

This sermon was preached at the Family Service in Aghavea Parish Church on Sunday 18th January 2015.

An Easter Assembly: Luke 24:5

We're still in the season of Easter, so if you're looking for an Easter school assembly or a children's talk, here's an idea to work from. I had all the items I talked about so the kids could guess and shout out what they expected to find inside.

When you come along to school, what do you being with you? I've got my school bag here. What would you expect to find in it? Homework: books, and such like.

Now inside, I've also got my pencil case. What would you expect to find in it? Pencils and pens and rubbers.

I've also brought along my lunch box. What would you expect to find in it? My lunch! Some sandwiches and an apple.

You expect to find what would normally be in all those different things. Books in a school bag; pencils in a pencil case; sandwiches in a lunch box.

So when the women go to the tomb of Jesus, what do they expect to find inside? They expected to find the body of Jesus. Jesus had been crucified on Good Friday. He was dead. His body was in the tomb, a cave cut out of rock.

But when the women got there, what did they find? Nothing! The body wasn't there. The tomb was empty!

Jesus wasn't in the tomb because Jesus wasn't dead. He's alive! That is the message of Easter. Jesus died, but he didn't stay dead. That's why the angel says, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?" (Luke 24:5)

So even though we can be sad whenever someone we love dies, we know that Jesus will give life to everyone who trusts him.


Photo credit: Donut_Diva on Flickr

Sermon: Luke 6: 27-49 Following Jesus

Last week in the children's talk I brought along something. Does anyone remember what it was? It was a football shirt. We thought about how Jesus wants us on his team. Well today, we're looking at the next passage in Luke's gospel. Who is it a football team need to listen to? It's the manager, isn't it? Manchester United aren't doing very well at the minute, but we're not sure if it's the players or the manager. But before the team go out onto the pitch, the manager will give a team talk. He'll tell the players how he wants them to play. In our reading today, Jesus is giving the team talk - how we should live, because we are on his team.

There's a question we need to answer first of all, though, and it's this: Why do we need to listen to Jesus? I need a volunteer. When I put this blindfold on you, you'll have a problem. What is it? He won't be able to see. He would be blind. He doesn't know where he is going. He couldn't make it back to his seat. He might fall over. What does he need? He needs a guide. Another volunteer. Except, there's a problem. His guide is also blind. Another blindfolded person. How do you think this would work? He is blind, he needs a guide. But so is she! Would they be able to make it to the seat? No, they would be in bigger danger than before. Jesus says that the blind leading the blind will fall into a pit, a hole in the ground. If you follow someone who can't see, it won't help you. And there are people who try to tell us what to do, how to live, but they are blind themselves. They don't know what life is all about. They can't see where they should go. It would be silly to listen to them.

Other people can't help us. Imagine that you were helping your dad cut some wood when suddenly you got a little tiny bit in your eye. Just a tiny little speck, a splinter. It's really sore, you can't see very well. You would need to go to the hospital, to A&E. Now imagine that you go into the doctor and they're getting ready to take out the little speck and they turn around and look - they have a big bit of log in their eye. They have half a tree blocking their vision! Would you be happy for them to try to take out the speck? Would they be able to find it as they went poking around in your eye? No! It would be dangerous. So we don't want to follow the people who can't see, who have something big wrong with them, trying to correct a little something. Can we be like this at times as well? We miss our own big problem while trying to diagnose and fix someone else with a minor issue? [For this I had a couple of volunteers again, one holding a speck, the other a log]

The problem with listening to people is that we can't see what they're really like. People on the outside look nice and good. But look at these two tubes. They look the same. They both have shiny Christmas paper on them. But when we squeeze them, we see that what's on the inside comes out. One is nice - toothpaste. The other is nasty - garlic puree. We couldn't tell until we see what came out. That's like our words and our deeds. They show what's on the inside. And we discover that all of us are bad. We're all in need of God's mercy. We need help to change.

So, then, what does Jesus say when we listen to him? Have you ever had someone say that you get on a bit like your mum or dad? That the way you say something, or the way you look, or your expression is just like your parents? Well here, in the passage, Jesus tells us to be like our dad: our heavenly dad:

you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:35-36)

God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. We were these things. Imagine that you did something nice for someone - maybe made them a cake or weeded their garden or looked after their dog or whatever it might be. You did something nice for them, and they never said thank you. How would you feel? That wouldn't be very nice! Yet that is what we have done with God. He has given us life, and breath, and health and everything else, yet we refuse to say thank you. We are instead wicked. Yet God in his kindness sent Jesus to take away our sins, to bring us to God. God is still kind, even when people are ungrateful - he sends sunshine and rain and everything good.

We are to be kind like God our Father is kind. I give a volunteer five little tiny chocolate bars. They don't deserve them, they didn't do anything for them. I ask them do they want to give one away, after all, they've got five. It continues until they have one. Are they going to hold on to that chocolate bar for themselves? After all, they didn't deserve it, they got it for nothing. And when they give it away, they receive a massive bar of chocolate - the point is that God gives us much more mercy than we ever will show to anyone else around us.

This is the team talk for Jesus' team. We're to be merciful to those around us because God has been merciful to us. Even to those people who don't like us; those who hate us; those who have done bad things to us. God has shown us mercy. We must do the same to others.

At the very end, Jesus says that anyone who hears his words and does them is like a man who builds a house on the rock. It has strong foundations. It won't fall when the floods come. But to hear as we have done today and to not do what he says is to be foolish. To build without foundations. The house will fall.

Let's pray that as we have heard, so we will do what Jesus says, as we follow him on his team. Amen.

This sermon was preached at the Church Family Service in Aghavea Parish Church on Sunday 19th January 2014.

Family Service Sermon: Daniel 3:1-30 The Fiery Furnace

This morning I asked you to bring along some musical instruments - whether a drum or a didgeridoo. You might have been wondering why I asked you to bring it along. In the Bible, musical instruments are used to call us to worship God. Psalm 98 talks about using the harp, the sound of singing, trumpets, ram’s horns. Psalm 150 adds the lyre, tambourine, strings, flute and cymbals. Musical instruments are a call to worship God.

If you have one with you, and even if you haven’t, I want you to listen carefully. Every time I say ‘musical instruments’ I want you to play yours for five seconds! If you’ve no instrument, God has still given you one - your voice. You can play an imaginary trumpet; or whistle. But just for five seconds, so listen carefully!

Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah lived in Jerusalem. When they went to the temple, they heard all the musical instruments as they called people to praise the God of Israel. But that was a long time ago now. King Nebuchadnezzar had attacked the city, took away the cups from the temple, and took Daniel and his friends back to Babylon. They couldn’t hear the musical instruments of Jerusalem any more.

But Daniel and his friends were given jobs serving the king. They went to school and learnt lots about the Babylonian culture and religion. They were helped by God to do their job well. (And last week we heard how) Daniel even helped the king by revealing a bad dream he had, and what it meant.

The dream was about a statue, and about lots of different kingdoms that would come and go after Neb. It had been made of gold, silver, bronze, iron and clay. Neb had an idea. He would build a golden statue of himself. It would be 90 feet tall - about the height of our tower.

The day came for the statue to be unveiled. Neb was excited. He invited all the people who worked for him from across the world. Everyone was given the command: When you hear all the musical instruments, bow down and worship the statue. If anyone heard the musical instruments but didn’t bow down, they would be thrown into a fiery furnace.

And so all the musical instruments began to play. The noise was really loud because all the musical instruments were playing. And everyone bowed down and worshiped the statue. Well, nearly everyone.

You know the way you can be driving along and see a tower standing tall against the backdrop of the fields? Or when you’re coming towards Belfast the city hospital tower stands out? When as everyone was bowed low, three people continued to stand out, because they were still standing up.

Their enemies, the astrologers went to the king. They reminded him of the command - when the musical instruments are played, everyone bows down. But, they said, when the musical instruments were played, just now, these three stayed standing.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Daniel’s friends who had been given new names) were brought before the king. He reminded them of the command - the musical instruments play, you bow down, everyone is happy. So here we go, let’s have the musical instruments, and you can bow down and worship my statue. But before the musical instruments could play their tune, these three said no.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego said that they would not worship the statue, because they could only worship God, the living God, the God of Israel. They knew that God could rescue them from the fiery furnace. They knew all about how God had saved their people before them. But even if God did not rescue them from the fiery furnace, even then, they would not worship anyone but God.

Neb had them bound up in their robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes. They were wrapped up as if they were going out for a walk on a really cold day with the snow up to the knees. But they were thrown into the furnace, all tied up.

Suddenly Neb got a shock. He thought he had forgotten how to count. How many men were thrown into the furnace? Count with me: Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. One, two, three. But when Neb looked in, he saw four! They were walking around as if they were in a park on a summers day. Not tied up. And the fourth looked like a son of the gods.

Even though this was five hundred years before he was born, this is Jesus, the Son of God, who is with them in this difficult time. God is with them in the furnace, because they did not bow to worship anyone else. God, their God, was able to save them.

Neb orders the doors to be opened and the three to be brought out. They stood before him, just as they had before they were thrown in. God had saved them. God had helped them. Neb knew that his gods could not do that. His statue was just a statue, a lump of gold, and couldn’t rescue anyone. ‘No other god can save in this way.’ But God, the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego - this God can save.

And that’s a good reason for us to hear the musical instruments - as they call us to worship our God. This is the same God who sent Jesus to rescue us from the danger we were in; the same Jesus who is with us now every day, no matter what we are going through. So even if there are musical instruments calling us to worship anyone else or anything else - football players, pop stars, or whatever - the musical instruments should remind us that God is with us; that God alone is able to save, so for his glory, play your musical instruments!

This sermon was preached at the Family Service in Aghavea Parish Church on Sunday 15th September 2013.

Sermon: 1 Peter 2:4-10 Living Stones

Now, I wonder if anyone can tell me why we’re meeting in the church hall today? Why is it we’re here and not across the road? We’ve got a bit of a building project going on. There was a problem with the paint and plaster peeling off the walls, so while we’re getting that fixed, we’re here in the church hall.

Here are a few pictures of the progress - the plaster has been chipped away, and we can now see the stones in the wall - the big ones, the small ones, all together in the wall.

Now last week if you were with us, we saw that the church is a bit like a garden, where the imperishable seed of the word is sown, with it giving us new birth and bringing the fruit of love. But now Peter moves from the garden to the building site. You might have heard ... mention the stones and builders in the reading.

You might be wondering if Peter was giving some advice to people doing building projects. Was it like a builder’s magazine with some hints and tips for building your house or building a new church? Well, no, because he talks about ‘the living stone’ and other ‘living stones’. Go on to a building site, ask any builder, but you won’t find any living stones. The stones aren’t alive. They’re just stones.

So what is Peter talking about? Or rather, who is Peter talking about? Here’s the description: ‘As you come to him, the living Stone - rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him-’

This living Stone is a person, a man. Someone rejected by men - who men didn’t want to listen to; whom men wanted to get rid of; but was chosen by God and precious to God. Who is it? It’s the Lord Jesus, of course.

Jesus was crucified - the ultimate rejection; but God showed that he was chosen and precious, because God raised him up to new life.

Jesus is the living Stone. And Peter goes back into his Bible and finds something written hundreds of years before Jesus was born, a promise, a prophecy of who Jesus would be: ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’

Jesus is this stone, this chosen and precious cornerstone. Now what is a cornerstone? It’s the most important in the whole building. It’s the one which all the rest is built upon; it’s the one that keeps the whole building straight. It’s like a foundation stone.

So what do you do on a foundation stone? You build on it, of course! But it’s not with bricks and mortar. It’s not with stones. Rather, what is the building Peter is talking about? Let’s see what he says: ‘As you come to him... you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house...’

Peter is talking about building the church - a spiritual house, a place for God to dwell - but it’s not a church building; it’s not a parish church; it’s not the place across the road. We used to sing a song in Dundonald, but I couldn’t find the words or music to it: ‘Church is not a building, it’s the people there inside; people who love Jesus ...’

You see, it’s us - we are the building; we are the church. We’re each like a stone being fitted together and being built up to be the temple where God lives, inside us. In the mountains of Mourne there are the famous dry stone walls, where the stones are placed together to build the wall. It’s like that with us. We are being joined together.

I’ve brought along a visual aid to help us see this. We’ve got the foundation stone - Jesus. But we also need the individual stones. Here they are. We’re going to write our names on these, and then we’re going to see them being built up together - on the foundation of Jesus, built up.

One more picture - this time not on the wall, but as we join together. Stand up, join hands, end of row join up with people in front - we are the people of God, we are being built together.

As we come to Jesus, we’re added to his church, we’re built into this spiritual house. But verse 7 reminds us that not everyone comes to Jesus. Peter tells us that we who believe know that the stone, Jesus, is precious. But some do not believe. Some people reject Jesus.

What about them? What will they do with Jesus the living Stone? Rather than building on it, instead they stumble over it. The stone is sitting, and they trip over it.

One of my interests is history. I love to explore ruins and castles. But when you’re visiting castles you have to be careful. Look at this picture and see if you can notice something odd about it?

The castle stairs were carefully built to help the defenders and make it difficult for the attackers. There’s a trip step. In your house if you’ve got stairs, they’re probably all the same height. They’re regular. But in a castle, there would sometimes be a trip-step, one of a different height. The defenders knew the stairs, how they were arranged, but the attackers wouldn’t, they would get so far and then trip; they wouldn’t be as quick on the stairs.

For those who don’t believe, Jesus is the stone that makes them stumble. You may not really believe that Jesus rose again from the dead; you might think it impossible that there is anything after death; you might not think that Jesus is the only way to God. You can’t accept what Jesus says about himself - the way, the truth, the life. Please think carefully - to reject Jesus is to stumble over him and to finally fall.

But the focus isn’t on those who fall. Rather, the focus is on Jesus, the living stone. Some may reject him, but ‘the stone the builders rejected has become the capstone’ - the most important in the whole building.

Peter reminds his readers and us as well of the change that comes about as we come to Jesus, as we’re built together in him. He uses some more pictures from the Old Testament.

We are a chosen people; a royal priesthood; a holy nation. We have been changed from being in darkness to being in light. We have been brought from not being a people, being on the outside, to now being on the inside, the people of God. Once we had not received mercy, now we have received mercy.

It’s what happens as we come into the church - the people of God, as we believe in Jesus and are built up together. And what is our purpose? It’s to ‘declare the praise’ ; to offer spiritual sacrifices of praise - not just on Sundays, but on every day, wherever we are!

I’ve got a stone for everyone to take away, to be reminded of Jesus the living stone, and of our part in his body.

This sermon was preached at the Family Service in Aghavea Parish Church on Sunday 19th May 2013.

Sermon: Psalm 24 Guess Who?

Has anyone ever played the game ‘Guess Who?’

I tried to find my really old game at my mum and dad’s house, but couldn’t find it... but instead I’ve borrowed my niece’s game - it’s now Guess Who extra, with sounds and lights! Wasn’t like this in my day!

So how does Guess Who work? You have to try to work out which person the other player has picked; asking questions to help you decide - are they a man or a woman; with the people falling if they’re not the right one.

We could have a go at this version of Guess Who, but I’ve a better idea. We’ll do a real life game of Guess Who. I need a contestant... I’ve got the picture of someone from church on my phone, and need you to work out who it is - by asking the questions.

So if everyone would get on their feet (if you’re able) and ___ will ask yes / no questions to try to work out who the person is... [Hilarious opportunity to play guess who in real life...]

Now why did we play some Guess Who this morning? Who is the big word in our reading today. In the Psalm, David is asking: Who?

He starts off by answering the question - who does the earth belong to? And how does he answer it? ‘The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it.’

You know the way if you were to paint a picture, or make a model, or build something out of lego - that is yours. You’ve made it; it’s the same with this earth - God made it, so it is his.

But then from verse 3 we get to the even bigger game of Guess Who than we played this morning - the question is this: ‘Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place?’

In the Old Testament, God owns all the earth, but he chose a special place, the hill of the Lord, the holy place, where the temple would be built. But now, for us, it points us to heaven. The question is, who can go and stand before God in that holy, pure, clean place? Guess Who.

But rather than asking the usual questions male/female; wearing glasses or blond hair; David provides the answers: ‘He who has clean hands and a pure heart.’

First answer: The one who has clean hands. Now, quick inspection, are your hands clean? Did you wash them after you visited the bathroom? In hospital when you’re visiting you have to use the handwash gel to make sure you’re clean; I’ve brought along some hand wash gel... are your hands clean?

Except, he’s not just asking if our hands are clean in this way - he’s also asking if we have done good and right things; if our hands are spotless, or if we have got them dirty by doing bad things...

Now some people might already have ‘sat down’ with the first bit, but what about the second bit? ‘The one who has... a pure heart.’

He’s not asking about how our blood-pumping organ is - rather he is asking about the centre of our being; the person we are - our thoughts and motives... are we always pure in doing what we do?

Here’s a test for a pure heart: if your brother or sister...


Just as in Guess Who, David has made us fall - Guess Who is good enough to climb God’s hill and stand in his holy place? Who can go to heaven because they are good enough? None of us... not you, not me; not anyone.

Yet the Psalm isn’t over; David goes on to talk about receiving blessing from God; of being accepted by God - that those who seek God will find blessing and vindication...

How can this be possible? If we’re all out, if we’re all bad; how can we receive blessing? How can we be accepted?

Suddenly there’s another game of Guess Who which starts in the closing verses. It’s so good it happens twice!

Imagine a city with big gates. Maybe you’ve been in Londonderry at some point and have seen the gates of the city... the cry goes up: ‘Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.’

The question comes from within: ‘Who is this King of glory?’ Twice, they ask the same question, who is this King of glory?

These are the gates of heaven, opening up for the return of the king, the answer to the ‘who’ question:

‘The LORD strong and mighty; the LORD mighty in battle... the LORD Almighty, he is the King of glory.’

The Lord Jesus came down from heaven; down from that holy place, into this world that he made, the world that we have messed up by our sins, and Jesus did what we could not do. For every day of his 33 years, Jesus had clean hands and a pure heart. He committed no sin.

Jesus has received the blessing from God, and shares it with us. It is in and because of Jesus that we can stand with him; that we can be with Jesus in heaven. Now, the answer to the Guess Who: Who will be in heaven? Anyone who trusts in Jesus.

This sermon was preached at the Family Service in Aghavea Parish Church on Sunday 21st April 2013.

Sermon: Luke 5: 27-39 Follow Me

I wonder can anyone remember the name of the man we were introduced to at the start of our Bible reading today? Levi - but he's not the guy who makes the denim jeans. What was his occupation? He was a tax collector. [Get a volunteer to be Levi, sitting on a chair at his tax booth]. Levi was very unpopular. No one liked him, because he was working for the Romans, he took their money, and kept some for himself. He was rich because he cheated. [Get all the children to walk past the tax booth paying their taxes].

One day, though, Jesus came past and said two words to Levi. Do you know what they were? 'Follow me.' Levi got up from his booth and left it all behind, and followed Jesus. We're going to think about why Levi did that. Why would Levi (and why would we) want to follow Jesus? The reading gives us three reasons:

1. Jesus is the doctor for sin-sickness

Levi was so excited about following Jesus that he threw a big party at his house. He invited all his friends along - but who were his friends? They were other tax collectors. You see, if no one else likes the tax collectors, then they were friendly with each other. Levi has met Jesus, and now he wants his friends to meet Jesus too. They're having a great time, but not everyone is happy.

In the reading we heard of the Pharisees. They were the very religious people who thought they were better than everyone else. They especially didn't like tax collectors. They looked down on them. They were upset that Jesus was spending time with the taxmen rather than with them. So they complained to the disciples.

Now, I've brought something along, I want to see if you can guess what it is. [Produce a stethoscope slowly] It's a stethoscope. Now who uses something like this? It's a doctor, isn't it? Now when do you go to see the doctor? Do you go when you're feeling fit and healthy and on top of the world? No, of course not. You go to the doctor when you're sick. You need to be made better, so you go and get the doctor to fix you.

Here's what Jesus says: 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.' (31-32) The Pharisees thought that they were perfectly good by themselves. The tax collectors knew they were bad and needed fixed, healed. Jesus has come like a doctor to fix our sin-sickness and save us.

That's good news for us - as we know that we're sinners and need a Saviour, Jesus is the doctor who heals our sin-sickness.

2. Jesus is the bridegroom who brings joy

The Pharisees still weren't happy. They took their religiousness very serious and fasted - they went without food. Yet here is Jesus having fun at a party, eating and drinking. They don't like it, and complain about it as well.

Have you ever been to a wedding? What happens at it? After the service, and the photos, there comes the party, with the food. Have you ever been to a wedding that has been really sad? A wedding without food and partying? Of course not! Weddings are happy occasions, full of joy.

Jesus says that he is like the bridegroom - where he is there is a party; how could you be sad and glum when you're at a wedding? The Christian life isn't sadness and gloom - it's not a funeral, but a wedding. We're not the frozen chosen; we're happy, joyful, excited, because we are with Jesus.

3. Jesus is bringing something entirely new

But that's still not all. We've already seen that Jesus is the doctor who heals our sin-sickness and the bridegroom who brings joy. We come to the final reason for following Jesus, but first I've brought something to show you.

Here's my lovely red t-shirt. I've had it for ages, it's really nice. Shall I show you the front? It's great, apart from this big hole in the front. It might have been the washing machine chewed it up; maybe our dogs got a hold of it. Either way, do you think I could wear this t-shirt now? No, it wouldn't be right. Shall I show you what I'm going to do to fix it?

I've got a brand new, still in the box, grey shirt. And what I'm going to do is to cut a big patch out of the new shirt and sew it onto the t-shirt to fill the hole. Isn't that a great idea? Do you think that would work?

No? Of course it wouldn't work. The new patch wouldn't match the old t-shirt - different colour and material. Would I be able to wear my new shirt? No, because it would also have a hole in it then... I would need to buy another shirt to patch the new one! What should I do? I need to get rid of the old t-shirt and instead to wear the new one. I can't patch up the old - I need to put it away and instead put on the new.

Jesus says that if you've got a tear in an old garment, you don't patch it up by cutting up a new garment. Jesus isn't just a patch to apply to the hole in your old way of living, rather he is the new garment, a new way of living, a whole new way of doing things that we accept or reject. Think of Levi - he left behind his old way of life and started to follow Jesus, a completely new way of life.

Jesus makes the same point as he talks about old wine and new wine. Now, I must confess, I don't know much about wine, but I was thinking about how to explain it. Here's what I came up with. Has anyone ever tasted flat coke? You know old, unfizzy, yucky coke? I've heard of some people drinking that if they've got a sore tummy - it will either kill you or cure you... Now imagine that you like flat coke. It's all you drink, you make sure the fizz is out of it. Now imagine that you pour that flat coke into a glass. It won't fizz up, so you can pour the whole amount straight in.

Now what would happen if you did the same with fresh, fizzy coke? What would the result be with fizzy coke going straight into a glass? It would fizz up, it would go all over the place, it couldn't be contained! This is Jesus' point - he is this something new, that can't be contained by the old religious ways. He brings a fresh start, something entirely and completely new.

You can't keep going on the way you always have, with Jesus patched on. He demands a new way of life, following him. Yet, as Jesus says, some people won't like it. They'll claim to prefer the old wine - the way they know, the religious life, and so they reject Jesus.

Jesus called Levi to follow him. Jesus calls us to follow him, because he is the doctor to cure our sin-sickness; he is the bridegroom who brings joy; he is the new garment bringing a new way of life. Will you follow him today?

This sermon was preached at the Family Service in Aghavea Parish Church on Sunday 17th March 2013.