Be Still And Know

1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honour— not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways. Life in Thessalonica in the 1st century would have been massively different from our life today. And yet I have no doubt that if the apostle Paul were to write a letter to our churches he would address precisely this same issue – sexual purity. The Greeks were famous for their free attitude to sexual matters. Paul was concerned that the people in this church should not be damaged by the widespread sexual promiscuity that surrounded them. They needed to live holy lives. The word holy means set apart. God wants us to live life to the full without being damaged and cheapened by sin. Holy life is life as God intended. Life at its best. This teaching is often mocked by our critics, who would suggest that Christian sexual teaching is given to us by a kill-joy God who seeks to

1 Thessalonians 3:7-8 We have been greatly encouraged in the midst of our troubles and suffering, dear brothers and sisters, because you have remained strong in your faith. It gives us new life to know that you are standing firm in the Lord. Paul knew that it was going to be really tough for the Thessalonian church. He had warned them that there would be great difficulties to come and had clearly been deeply concerned for them. He even stated that he wondered whether his time in Thessalonica might prove to have been a complete waste of time. So, he was absolutely delighted to hear the news from Timothy that the church was going well. They had not only stood firm in the face of persecution but were actually thriving. Living for Christ in the 21st century presents us with very different challenges from 1st-century Greece. However, what we have in common is that we are living in societies that are fundamentally opposed to our Christian values and objectives. This means that we need to find ways of creativel

1 Thessalonians 2:4-5 For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts. Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you well know. Paul often faced accusations. He was accused of acting out of self-interest, of being deceitful and all manner of other things. He knew that the whole of his ministry and the progress of the Christian mission depended on his integrity and so he was always eager to rebut these accusations. But in facing up to his critics, Paul made it very clear in this passage that he had never aimed to please people. His absolute priority was to do what God wanted. It is very tempting for anyone in leadership to make pleasing people their goal. We all want to be liked and so we are naturally inclined to do those things that win people’s approval. This was a classic mark of the Pharisees, who so often focused their energies on impressing the people around them. In their p

1 Thessalonians 2:1 You yourselves know, dear brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not a failure. The church in Thessalonica certainly knew that Paul’s visit to their city had not been a failure. But on the face of it, it hadn’t gone very well. It ended up with Paul and Silas being bundled out of the city in a hurry because of the threat from the mob. It must have left them feeling very anxious about the future of that infant church. But, as this letter reveals, in point of fact the church there had thrived and developed considerable strength very quickly and had become an example to many other churches. This teaches us a valuable lesson. Things aren’t always the way they seem. We would all love to live our lives walking from one success to another. But life isn’t like that. Sometimes the moments of failure turn out to be a glittering success, and the times of apparent victory turn out to be an abject failure. Through the ups and downs of life, what matters before anything else is that we main

1 Thessalonians 1:10 And they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven—Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment. When I was preparing for the eleven-plus English exam I came up with a really impressive expression that I made use of, whatever the essay title. It was “with eager anticipation”. Whether we were asked to write an essay about Christmas, going to the zoo or our summer holidays I was always able to find a place for it and on the day of the exam it soon found a place in my story! The expression is a wonderful description of the church in Thessalonica. They were excited to know that one day Jesus was going to return to the earth, and they looked forward to it with eager anticipation. Our understanding of the future shapes the way in which we live today and so it is crucial that we understand it properly. There is no doubt that the future of our world is full of threat. Whether we are looking at

1 Thessalonians 1:8 And now the word of the Lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere, even beyond Macedonia and Achaia, for wherever we go we find people telling us about your faith in God. Paul’s first visit to Thessalonica began well and a number of people decided to follow Jesus (see Acts 17:1-8). But, as was so often the case, his success caused jealousy among the local Jews who were losing some of their adherents. They recruited a group of troublemakers from the marketplace and formed a mob in order to attack Paul and Silas. The mob didn’t find them and so picked on some of the other believers and hauled them before the city council. The situation was clearly getting dangerous and so the believers encouraged Paul and Silas to leave the city that night. Given that difficult background, it must have been a massive encouragement to Paul that the church in Thessalonica was doing so well. How wonderful that they had not merely survived but grown so strongly that the word of the Lord was spreadin

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 We always thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly. As we pray to our God and Father about you, we think of your faithful work, your loving deeds, and the enduring hope you have because of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul had great affection for the Christians in what we would now call northern Greece. He had spent time with them and knew them well. He therefore knew that they weren’t perfect and, in this letter, went on to spell out some very specific concerns that he had about the way in which they were living. However, what I love about these opening verses is that he came up with a beautiful list of the ways in which his life was blessed by them. It’s so easy to focus on the problems of life. We can probably all identify people who wind us up, and who are a pain to us. We can think of their annoying habits and the way in which they make our life so much harder than it needs to be. I suspect that Paul could have come up with such a list about the people in Thessalonica, b

Psalm 37:16-17 It is better to be godly and have little than to be evil and rich. For the strength of the wicked will be shattered, but the LORD takes care of the godly. The Old Testament has no problem with wealth; many of its stars were incredibly rich – think of Abraham, Job, David and Solomon. Indeed, wealth is seen as a sign of God’s blessing. But if you’ve got to choose between having wealth and a life focused on God, then the best choice is God, whether or not you happen to be wealthy. When our relationship with God is right, every other consideration pales into insignificance. Jesus pointed out that you have to choose between gods. You cannot serve both God and money (Matthew 6:24). Only one of them can be in the driving seat. This is a vital message for our society, where the chasing after money is largely unquestioned. Many of the things that money can buy are excellent in themselves and can rightly be admired, but they have a limited shelf life. How very different from living a life that is del

Psalm 37:1-3 Don’t worry about the wicked or envy those who do wrong. For like grass, they soon fade away. Like spring flowers, they soon wither. Trust in the LORD and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart’s desires. I have worn glasses since I was a little boy. Without them life is just a blurry jumble of images and makes little sense. I am so grateful for the skill of opticians over the years who have ensured that I can see clearly. In this psalm, David encourages us to see our lives from God’s clear perspective – not from our blurry, short-term human point of view but with the sharp clarity of eternity. David was surrounded by people who were committed to making life difficult for him. In his early years he lived with the explosive and often violent temper of King Saul. And then as king he faced the challenge of not only a constant supply of military opponents but also many of his fellow countrymen who were eager to trip hi

Psalm 36:5-7 Your unfailing love, O LORD, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the ocean depths. You care for people and animals alike, O LORD. How precious is your unfailing love, O God! Do you remember the first time you heard someone tell you that they loved you? Perhaps it was your parents or a friend or a partner. It’s an inexpressibly wonderful experience. It changes everything. You are special, and the whole world looks different. In his psalms, David says many wonderful things about God but most incredible of all is that God, the Creator of the universe, actually loves us. It’s always precious when you see a child and their parent expressing love for one another and the expression “I love you to the moon and back” is often heard. Here, thousands of years ago, David was looking for similar language to express the unfailing love of God and concluded that his love is as vast as the heavens, and his f

Psalm 35:17-18 How long, O Lord, will you look on and do nothing? Rescue me from their fierce attacks. Protect my life from these lions! Then I will thank you in front of the great assembly. I will praise you before all the people. Have you ever felt that the Lord has completely forgotten about you? Perhaps you have seen God blessing all the people around you, and you are wondering when it’s going to be your turn. If you’ve ever had those thoughts then you will understand where David was coming from. He had a succession of crushing experiences and was desperate for God to step in and sort things out. Waiting is never easy, but when things are going so painfully badly it is much, much worse. Time and again in this psalm, David cried out to God to fix the situation. But what impresses me is that as he waited for God he didn’t lose confidence that God would, at some point, step in and answer his prayer. He was sure that he would be praising God for his deliverance before long. Samuel Becket’s famous and d

Psalm 35:1-2 O LORD, oppose those who oppose me. Fight those who fight against me. Put on your armour and take up your shield. Prepare for battle and come to my aid. This is an agonising psalm, written when David was in a deep hole. He had been the victim of cruel injustice and appealed to God to help him. We feel his deep anguish and pain not least because, sadly, injustice happens in every generation. Every newspaper and news report gives us evidence of the injustice that is happening in our world today. You may not feel that is not your own personal experience, but you don’t need to look far to hear stories that resonate with David’s. David was sure that God could help. He knew that God is a God of justice, and that he would be deeply concerned about the injustice that David was experiencing. I spent two years living in India and had the incredible privilege of living in a village with an outcaste family (Dalit). There are more than 200 million Dalits living in India, about 16 per cent of the populati

Matthew 14:29-30 So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted. It was about 3am when this event took place. The disciples were in a boat on the Sea of Galilee and had been battling with a major storm. Then suddenly a stranger appeared to them walking on the water and they shouted out in terror: “It’s a ghost!” Jesus then revealed that it was him and that they had no need to be afraid. It was typical of Peter that he should be the first to respond and he suggested that Jesus should invite him to come to him. Jesus duly invited him and Peter attempted to walk on the water, but with disastrous results. Within seconds he was crying out to the Lord to save him. In one way Peter’s attempt to walk on the lake was really impressive. Although his faith was clearly not as strong as it needed to be, he did at least make the attempt – which is more than any of the other

Matthew 14:23 After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone. Finally, at the end of an exhausting day that had seen more than 5,000 people miraculously fed, Jesus had time to be alone with his Father. There’s no doubt that he had planned for this to have happened some hours earlier but now, at last, the time had come. It’s interesting to see how important such times were for Jesus. Because he was the perfect Son of God one might have thought that he didn’t need such times, but clearly these moments of intimacy were crucial for him. If Jesus needed to spend time alone with his Father, clearly we do as well. It’s good to be busy doing God’s work, and enriching to spend time in fellowship with his people, but we all need to have time when we are alone with God. That relationship will only develop if we spend time with him. It’s a principle that is true of all relationships. There is no way in which a relationship can be strong and resilient unl

Matthew 14:17 “But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish!” [the disciples] answered. Jesus had just told his disciples to feed the vast crowd. They were understandably overwhelmed by the challenge. How on earth were they going to do it? They pointed out the absurdity of the situation. Anyone could see that they couldn’t possibly feed the thousands of hungry people with such meagre resources. The problem with the disciples was they hadn’t counted on Jesus. They looked at the little packed lunch that they had available to them and concluded that the situation was completely hopeless. We all know the end of the story. Jesus blessed the loaves and fishes and there was not only enough food to feed the crowd, but plenty left over. What the disciples had to learn was that however apparently inadequate their resources, they needed to put them into Jesus’ hands for him to bless. I am quite sure that, in later life, they often reflected on that amazing day. The disciples faced massive challenges as the

Matthew 14:15-16 That evening the disciples came to Jesus and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said, “That isn’t necessary—you feed them.” You can’t blame the disciples. They were probably exhausted trying to keep up with Jesus, who always seemed to have energy to minister to people. When they went to Jesus at the end of this busy day, they felt he ought to tell the crowds to go back to their homes. They used the sensible argument that they were in a remote place, it was getting late and so it would be good to encourage the people to go and get some food. But Jesus turned the tables on the disciples. Rather than agreeing with them, he told them to feed the people. They needed to take responsibility for sorting out the situation. When we see situations of need it’s always a relief when we can see someone else who is willing to respond. But that isn’t always the case. Sometimes the Lo

Matthew 14:13-14 As soon as Jesus heard the news, he left in a boat to a remote area to be alone. But the crowds heard where he was headed and followed on foot from many towns. Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. The background to this story is the gruesome murder of John the Baptist. Herod Antipas was the ruler of Galilee at the time. He is not to be confused with his father, Herod the Great, who was king at the time of Jesus’ birth. Herod Antipas had married his half-brother’s wife and John the Baptist had bravely spoken out against the marriage. This had greatly angered Herod, but he was fearful of taking any action against John because everyone spoke so well of him. One day Herod had a birthday party at which his daughter, Herodias, danced so beautifully that he promised – unwisely - to give her whatever she asked for. Herod’s new wife knew exactly what she wanted and prompted Herodias to ask for the head of John the Baptist on a

Matthew 13:54-55 [Jesus] returned to Nazareth, his hometown. When he taught there in the synagogue, everyone was amazed and said, “Where does he get this wisdom and the power to do miracles?” Then they scoffed, “He’s just the carpenter’s son.” I suspect that we have all known the hurt of being put down by somebody. People’s cruel words often disfigure a person’s life. This may not have been the intention of the person who spoke them, but the words live on and continue to do damage. This is especially true if the words were spoken by parents, siblings or partners. Jesus had to withstand many put downs. In our reading today people were so amazed by his teaching and miracles that they couldn’t believe that he was a local boy. If he had been the son of an important religious leader in Jerusalem it would have made much more sense. But a carpenter’s son from Nazareth sounded ridiculous. They knew the whole family and it just didn’t seem to fit. If you are still living with put-downs, the most important

Matthew 13:52 Then [Jesus] added, “Every teacher of religious law who becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a homeowner who brings from his storeroom new gems of truth as well as old.” When I was nine or ten years old, one of the great delights of my life was to visit my grandmother’s house. She lived quite close to our family home and I was allowed to go and see her whenever I liked. Her house was like an Aladdin’s cave for me! It was full of generations of treasures and, whenever I found something that appealed to me, I would take it to my grandmother and almost always she would ask: “Would you like to have it dear?” Many of the things she gave me sparked my interest in history and geography and gave me a much bigger appreciation of life, particularly her postcard collection from before the first world war. I thank God for her generosity. In this parable, Jesus spoke about how teachers of the law had great knowledge of Old Testament teaching. Their knowledge was like a house filled wit

Matthew 13:45-46 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!” In the ancient world, pearls were prized as highly as gold. Even today the most valuable pearls can be worth millions of pounds. Their beauty has always attracted interest. In Jesus’ time, pearls were mainly found in the Red Sea or Persian Gulf. Pearls were also found in far-off Britain; indeed, that was one of the things that attracted Julius Caesar to these islands. The point of the story is clear. The merchant was always on the lookout for the very best pearls. They all had a charm and a beauty but, like any expert, he could easily spot the best and, when he found it, he was determined to own it. Nothing would get in the way. He gladly sold up everything he owned in order to buy this one precious pearl. Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is just the same. It is so precious that anyone who understands how amazing