Looking at God
Discipleship in Today’s World: A Balanced Church
SERMON NOTEBOOK: Malta
‘More than conquerors’ – the story of General William Booth
Baptised into worship
What are you built on?
Discipleship in Today’s World: A Balanced Church
In what ways do we want to see our church grow? Growth arises, just as with individual disciples, as we develop three key relationships: with God (UP), others (IN) and the world (OUT). The church in Antioch (Acts 11:19-30; 13:1-3) helps us to see what this looks like in practice. Here Jews and Gentiles shared fellowship together for the first time, as people of different background, race, sex, and culture came together. In Antioch the followers of Christ were first called ‘Christians’ (i.e. ‘those belonging to Christ’); no doubt because of the impact that Christ made in their lives.
UP: Dynamic Worship
In worship the church engaged with God (lit: ‘holding liturgy’, 13:2), allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to them. As a result of acting upon God’s word they sent out their key leaders in mission (13:3)! They also responded practically to Agabus’s prophesy regarding famine in Jerusalem (11:28).
Is our worship expectant and life changing?
IN: Genuine Community
The grace of God was evident in their acceptance of one another (11:23), and in the diversity of their leadership team, which included a landowner, black African, Arab, aristocrat and intellectual (13:1)!
How do we see the evidence of God’s grace in our church community?
OUT: Effective Outreach
The church was planted by Jewish Christians fleeing persecution and sharing the gospel with Greeks who spoke the same language and shared the same culture (11:20).
To what extent are we equipping people to gossip the gospel with others?
Obviously Antioch was an exciting place to be part of! We are told that ‘the Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord’ (11:21). Is this the kind of church we would like to belong to? Let’s pray that we too can be a 3 Dimensional community for the 21st Century!
SERMON NOTEBOOK: ‘Location, Location, Location’
Malta: Acts 28: 1-10
At the end of the book of Acts we find Paul sailing for Rome, following his trial before Festus, when he appealed to Caesar. As a result of a violent storm the prisoners and crew were shipwrecked on the island of Malta. This story is an object lesson in how God is alongside of us in our trials and difficulties.
The Shipwreck
There is no denying that the hardships we face as Christians often come from the way life is. Even Paul was not exempt from the violent storm and shipwreck. However, his confidence in God enabled him to take control, and save the lives of all those on the ship.
- In what circumstances has God used us to help others despite the difficulties?
The Snake
After being shipwrecked on the island of Malta, they immediately set up camp and built a fire. Paul’s practical side is shown in the way he gathered brushwood and dealt with the viper that fastened to his hand. Despite the difficulties, he was able to take the necessary practical action.
- In what practical ways are we able to express our faith?
The Sickness
Publius, a key man in the island of Malta, and one who had shown great kindness to Paul and the others, fell ill with fever and dysentery. Sickness stuck as suddenly as the shipwreck. However, Paul lay hands on him and prayed for him, resulting in his healing. We are also called to pray with expectancy to God in the face of disease and sickness.
- In what ways do we exercise a ministry of laying-on of hand for healing?
In this passage we can clearly see how God uses Christians when they respond to unforeseen disasters with prayerful initiative and practical helpfulness to others caught in the same situation.
‘More than conquerors’ – the story of General William Booth
He cared for the likes of us! These words were spoken by a former prostitute in tribute to the life and ministry of General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army.
Booth was born in Nottingham in 1829 and converted at the age of fifteen. He became a minister in the Methodist New Connexion Church and, together with his wife Catherine, had an outstanding pastorate in Gateshead in Co. Durham. When his denomination wanted to restrict his itinerant ministry, he left the New Connexion and founded the Christian Mission in London’ East End.
In 1878 this vigorous evangelistic movement was re-named the ‘Salvation Army.’ Its workers adopted uniforms, began to use popular music in their services and Booth was named ‘General.’ For the next thirty-four years Booth led the Salvation Army in aggressive evangelism and social work all over the world. Booth and his Salvation Army ‘soldiers,’ both men and women, not only preached the gospel of salvation in Christ but resisted social evils of every kind. They organised opposition against drink, gambling and child prostitution. They set up night shelters for the homeless, organised farm colonies, a legal aid service for the poor and a Missing Persons bureau.
All over the world the Salvationists’ uniform became the badge of those who faithfully preached the gospel and cared for the poor.
William Booth led this great crusade from its inception until his death. In his latter years he became a national figure respected by everyone. In June 1904 he was granted a private audience with King Edward VII. But no amount of fame and national acclaim could divert Booth from the work of God. He cared for the spiritually lost; he cared for children; he cared for the poor; he cared for those forgotten by society.
He died on August 21, 1912, and the nation mourned his loss. For three days his body lay in its coffin at Clapton’s Congress Hall in London and more than 150,000 filed past in silent respect. His funeral service was held at Olympia’s large exhibition hall and records show that 40,000 people attended.
Among the mourners was Britain’s Queen Mary, attending incognito the funeral of the man she admired so much. As the cortège passed up the aisle the Queen noticed a shabbily dressed woman place three red carnations on the coffin. Later she asked the woman why she had done this. Not knowing she was speaking to the Queen, the woman confessed she had been a prostitute until she found salvation in Jesus through the Salvation Army’s ministry. With tears in her eyes and choking back her emotions, the woman said, ‘You see, ma’am, he cared for the likes of us.’
Tributes to William Booth’s life and work poured in from all over the world. Heads of state, Church leaders, civic dignitaries and those involved in many kinds of social services all joined to pay their tributes to Booth’s life of service for others. But the words spoken to the Queen by the former prostitute were, in many ways, the most eloquent tribute of all. ‘He cared for the likes of us.’ William Booth believed, and practised, that Christianity is not only the love of God but the love of neighbour as well.
Dr Herbert McGonigle is Senior Lecturer in Historical Theology, Church History and Wesley Studies, Nazarene Theological College, Manchester.
Baptised into worship
In baptism we are united with Christ, and we take our first step into the dimension of eternity. Baptism marks us for life and prepares us for death; it also prepares us for rising to new life in Christ. As St. Paul so clearly saw it in Romans chapter 8, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ, no matter what we may have to endure. Baptism is not an insurance policy against all kinds of trouble, but it is an assurance that will carry us through whatever comes.
And so our worship, that is, those things to which we assign worth and value, must reflect all this, if we are with integrity to live the life of the baptised. Baptism is about change, and new directions. Ours can be the prayer of Dag Hammarskjold: "For all that has been, thanks! To all that shall be, yes!" Not that we shall uncritically accept everything around us, but we shall constantly search for the positive in everything we experience.
For baptism gives us the vision to look beyond immediate problems and fears to the wider perspective of God's purposes. Beyond terrorism to peace with all humankind, beyond climate change to a new and more focused lifestyle, beyond debt to God's freely-given gifts. Instead of pinning our hopes on short-term gains, through baptism we can see life in the stronger light of eternity.
So worship ceases to be just an activity in church on Sunday, and instead becomes an attitude to the whole of our being and our relations with one another at all times and in every place. In the words of the Christmas gospel, "the word was made flesh and dwelt among us". And God whom we worship is the fullness of grace and truth that underlies this.
What are you built on?
“Lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left…” Isaiah 54: 2, 3
How strong and flexible are you, as a person? Did you know that the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco can move up to 20 feet in either direction as its centre? It’s built to sway – to absorb and accommodate vast daily stresses and heat. But it always comes back to its true centre, because it is built on a vast system of steel and concrete that sinks down, down into a solid rock foundation far below in the Pacific.
Each of us needs to be anchored like that - onto a sure foundation. Without it, we will be at the mercy of the storms and strong tides of life. Burdens and flying debris from other people’s lives will knock us off balance. That foundation for us is Jesus. How is your relationship with him? Is it solid? Is it deep enough to hold you steady on your course as 2006 draws to a close?
Jesus urges us to ‘abide’ in him. It takes time to get to know him. The Bible is his message to us; prayer is our message back to him, and more: for if we draw close to him, he promises to draw close to us, too.