The King's Church in Ilford
The following is the text of the talk given on 2nd August 2009 by Robin Hawkins
"No Other Name"
Reading: Acts 4:4-22
The last three months have been quite an adventure for Julie and I. I really think our being away has been of benefit to the church over this period - people have had to step up and fulfil jobs and ministries that they might not have done otherwise. Many of you have grown in faith and confidence, and that's great. But Julie and I have learned things that will help us move on from here, and grow and develop in the coming months and years. I'm not going to go into detail this morning. The Elders need to get to grips with these issues together, and so do the LG. leaders so that we're all on board together with where we're going. We have a Leader's Day scheduled in September, and a Family Meeting in early October. So the plan at the moment will be to do it then.
I asked the Lord to give me a word for today. It was one of those times when a verse jumps out of the page at me. I was surprised at first because it is a familiar theme, but then I realised everything we do together starts here, and we need to remind ourselves regularly of what we're doing and why. (Read v.12)
This is a delightfully UN-PC statement. It might even be possible to get arrested for saying it in this country these days! This pluralistic society we live in wants us to accept all religion and belief-systems as being of equal value. Pagans and Satanists are as entitled to practice their "religion" as much as we are. Even the Atheists want a public holiday marking their belief that there is no God. One atheist took his case to court in the US, only to have the judge tell him, "You've already got a day set aside for Atheists. The Bible says, "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God'. You've got April 1st - All Fools' Day!"
However, if we insist, as we do, that Jesus is the only way to God, that places a great responsibility on us as Christians. Your Moslem, Hindu, Buddhist, Jew - even, is not going to be reconciled to God unless they come via the cross of Jesus Christ and His saving sacrifice. And how will they hear the message unless we tell them? It's like Gordon Brown, for years wanting the job of Prime Minister, suddenly finds it in his lap, and is told, "Right, you wanted the job, you've got it! Now run the country!" - and finding it's not as easy as he'd thought.
We might find the responsibility of evangelising the world a little overwhelming until we remember we didn't actually choose the job. It chose us! The King of Kings called and chose us to work with Him in this mighty task. This doesn't half take the pressure off! This is His work. We don't do it in our own strength. He gives us the Holy Spirit, and with Him comes the power and the grace to do the stuff. This could actually be fun!
This is our starting point for moving forward from here. The gospel of grace. It's not just our message that salvation is an undeserved gift from God. The way we work it out once we've been saved is also by His power working within us. Grace! Undeserved kindness. He does it in us! All we have to do is to stay close to Him, and stay filled with the Holy Spirit.
There's actually no point in talking about the things we've learned over the past 3 mts that are going to help us grow in the future, until we're rock solid in our understanding and experience of God's grace in our lives. Otherwise you might be tempted to think, "I can't do this." "You're asking too much." My dear friends, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. The wonderful news is that we can do it, and it's going to be an adventure. I'm not saying that it will always be easy. Learning the guitar wasn't easy, but I really wanted to do it. And there is that in us that wants to be all that we can be for Jesus.
Yet this great salvation was never about what we can be or do to for God. It is only about what God has done to save us:
1. God the Father called a man, Abraham, promised to make from him a great nation. All the other nations would be blessed by that nation. God did it. All Abraham did was believe what God said. For that he is known as the Father of Faith
2. God the Son came to us through that nation.
Jesus, God in human form, shared love wherever He went; and gave Himself for our sins at the cross.
Nobody took His life from Him. Jesus gave it.
Our salvation has been accomplished. It's finished, complete.
3. God the Holy Spirit has been given to us by God the Father.
He produces godly character and Jesus-like responses in us.
He makes this message of Hope live in the hearts of unbelievers. We can't.
He convicts people of sin and their need of forgiveness. We can't!
He enables us to be co-workers with God, spreading this message of hope.
Do you know how you can make this yours this morning? Same as Abraham - Believe it and Receive it - by faith. God is only a prayer away. Tell Him: "Lord, I believe in you. I give my life to you. Change me. Use me. I'm yours - for Life!
It may be a simple prayer, but if you pray that and mean it, expect the Holy Spirit to start ringing in the changes. Respond in obedience to His promptings and keep trusting Him. You'll be amazed at what God will do in your life.
It is amazing grace indeed! But this was God's plan from the start. His vision. From before the beginning of time, He looked into the future, and foresaw a day when He would have a people of His own. Just as He could see the descendants of Abraham to be as numerous as the stars in the sky, so, "in love, He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ." (Eph 1:5). Without that vision of what He wanted, there could have been no plan of salvation. That was the "How to" of what God wanted to do.
Jesus had a vision also which sustained Him through His worst moments. Hebrews tells us it was "for the joy set before Him (that He) endured the cross, despising its shame". He saw what it was all for.
Paul had a vision for Corinth. Once again the local Jews were stirring up opposition, but the Lord spoke to Paul one night (Acts 18:9-10) telling him not to be afraid, and to keep speaking out because the Lord had many people in that city.
We need to have a vision for King's Church. It'll probably need to be different from the one that been on the back of your Newsheets for a year or two now. Much as I still aspire to those values I've realised they are more a statement of what we are rather than what we are going to do, and how we are going to do it. So I've been praying into this, and I'll be sharing with the other Elders in the next week or so how far I've got on it.
One thing I am quite sure of is that God wants us to be much bigger than we are at the moment. I am also sure that whatever this church grows to, it will be a work of God's grace among us. It'll be His doing. But He will still want to use usable people to do it. Usable people? They're the ones who are filled with the Spirit, and God-dependent. There's no other way for us.
