Week Commencing 24thOctober 2021

¹ Praise the Lord.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path

When I feel afraid,
And think I've lost my way
Still, you're there right beside me
Nothing will I fear
As long as you are near
Please be near me to the end

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path

I will not forget
Your love for me and yet
My heart forever is wandering
Jesus by my guide
And hold me to your side
And I will love you to the end

Nothing will I fear
As long as you are near
Please be near me to the end

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path
And a light unto my path
You're the light unto my path

Amy Grant, Michael W Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_3Ad3Q4Rrk

Prayers

Dear Lord, who caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning, help us so to hear them, to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them, that, through patience, and the comfort of your holy word, we may embrace and for ever hold fast the hope of eternal life, which you have given us in Jesus Christ.

We pray for preachers of the word, theologians and Bible translators, for all organisations that seek to provide people with the Scriptures.

We pray for all who work to bring in your kingdom, all who seek release for captives, to bring sight to the blind, to bind up the broken hearted and to restore the fallen. We ask your blessing on relief agencies and care workers, for the work of the Red Cross and the United Nations

We give thanks for all who share their wisdom and the Scriptures with us. We pray for friends and loved ones who have lost faith, for any who have become hard or cynical, for all who fail to see glimpses of glory, or hear your call. We pray for our witness to those among whom we live.

We ask your blessing on all who seek to serve you under difficulties, all who are persecuted for their faith, those who are mocked and ridiculed, all whose lives are in danger. We remember all ill and suffering peoples, all those who do not know or love you. We pray for friends and loved ones in their troubles or illness (Quiet where we pray for individuals). We give thanks for all who have heard and obeyed your word, all who have kept faith and witnessed to your saving power. We thank you for loved ones departed from our midst. Lord of the Scriptures we put our trust in you. (From ‘Glimpses of Glory’ David Adam).

Reading. John 15: 1-17

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

⁹ “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.

Hymns

“All I once held dear” MP 799 (piano)

Graham Kendrick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS93ZHJTr5E

“To be in your presence” MP 951 (guitar)

Noel Richards

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDyB08oNoV4

Sermon. ‘The Bible Is Vital’

Willow Creek church in America is famous for its mega size and seeker friendly emphasis. However it published a report which raised huge questions about the Church’s effectiveness at growing Christian disciples.

As far as seeing people become Christians was concerned the report did not deny the effectiveness of using creative methods in tune with today’s culture to reach out to unbelievers. But the Church admitted they had made a mistake in making culture friendliness all important with a corresponding neglect of the Bible. Their columnist Bob Burney writes: “preaching was out, relevance was in. Doctrine didn’t matter nearly as much as innovation. If it wasn’t cutting edge and consumer friendly it was doomed. The mention of sin, salvation and sanctification were taboo and replaced by Starbucks, strategy and sensitivity…How can you argue with the numbers? If you dared to challenge the experts you were immediately labelled a “traditionalist”.

Once people were believers the report concluded that the Church had relied too much on its own programmes. It had encouraged its members to attend lots of Church programmes in the hope spiritual growth would result, but this had not worked out as first thought. Willow Creek’s leader Bill Hybels now admits that much of the multimillion-dollar expenditure they thought would help people grow spiritually, had failed. He said “We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and became Christians, is started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become “self-feeders”. We should have taught people how to read their Bible between services, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own”

Now we should not misunderstand. Creative approaches have their place within evangelism, and every Church has programmes in place to aid discipleship: housegroups, prayer meetings and so on, but we must never forget that the Bible is essential, the Bible is vital if there is to be true conversion and true discipleship. “We should have taught people how to read their Bible between services” says Hybels.

When we turn to the Bible itself we see it attests to its own value as vital for true growth. If we look again at the Parable of the Vine and the Branches we see the key concept in this parable is that Christ is the Vine and his disciples are the branches. The image speaks powerfully of the intimate union between Christ and the believer. The branch draws its very life from the vine. It is intertwined with it and partakes its very nature from the vine. Knowledge about God- even biblical knowledge- is not knowing about Him or some vague awareness of Him, rather it is personal; God in relation to me, God in relation to us. “remain in me” Jesus says. And he calls us “friends”. If we are to “remain in” the Lord it is when we praise, worship, pray and devote ourselves to Him- not in a dead, ritualistic way- but rather as expressions of the Holy Spirit in us yearning for God: “We know that we live in Him and he in us because He has given us of His Spirit” says John in his first letter. There is an intensity about this relationship, Jesus says we are to eat of his flesh and drink of his blood. The book of Revelation says Christ should be our “first love”. Paul in his 13 epistles uses the phrase “in Christ”. He presupposes the believer is in intimate union with the Christ who is alive and can be known now. “Without me you can do nothing” says Jesus. Union with Jesus is vital for true spiritual growth.

But Jesus doesn’t leave it at that. There is another factor that influences this relationship which is equally vital if growth is to take place. Jesus says “Remain in me and my words remain in you”; Verse 7 “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you”. We must have his words remain in us too. We are reminded again of Bill Hybel’s regret “We should have taught people how to read their Bible between services” It is essential that all Christians become “self-feeders”- feeding on Christ in union with Him- yes- and having his words remain in them. To have his words remain in us we must read and absorb the Scriptures” The Bible is vital for growth.

We have already seen this year the accuracy of the Bible (see Angmering Baptist Church website 10/1/21, 17/1/21) the inspiration of the Bible -“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training.” (21/3/21, 28/3/21)- and the power of the Bible (18/7/21, 25/7/21) We have looked at good reasons why these statements are all true of the Bible. We may all assent to these statements. But you and I will never benefit from the spiritual inspiration and power of the Scriptures personally unless we learn to appropriate Scripture for ourselves.

I say “appropriate”, because I am not merely talking about the formal reading of a portion of Scripture as a religious exercise. To fully benefit and grow spiritually, the Scriptures must be appropriated to personal needs. Deuteronomy 8:3 “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”. Jesus used that Scripture to counter one of the devil’s temptations- that he should just live for material goals in life. But Money, Food, Sex, Power, Fame, Family- none of these can meet that spiritual hunger deep down in all of us.

Union with Christ brings us life, and Scripture is God’s ordained way of providing us with food for our soul. One writer puts it like this: “the deliveryman may handle a thousand loaves of bread a day, and yet go home empty and hungry at night; so the Bible reader may peruse large portions of the Word of God with little profit, unless he makes it his own by personal appropriation and feeds on it”

Within that relationship with the Lord we know that Scriptural principles can be used by the Holy Spirit to change our lives, and the lives of those we come into contact. We read the word praying “Lord open my eyes that I might behold wonderful things from your word” We are conscious of something to be thankful for, or we are aware of some trial or burden- perhaps a family problem, perhaps work related, maybe there is some conflict within the Church. We come to the Bible asking the Lord to illuminate the Scriptures for our situation.

This is one of the reasons why the Gideons (now called ‘Good News for Everyone.’) have been so useful. In the front of their New Testaments they have a section “Where to find help in times of trouble” They list references to read for those who feel afraid and many other quandaries such as when “failure comes” or “Unfairly treated or wrongfully accused”. Numerous people have become Christians through this approach, and many continue to grow in their faith:

Example 1. “Before I received my beautiful New Testament & Psalms book I didn’t take Christianity and God seriously. My guilty conscience never showed up. I was greedy, rude and unpleasant. All of a sudden two members of The Gideons came to my school. I was surprised to see that they cared so much about God and people like me and are prepared to give us such lovely books for free.

To get to the point, I am a changed person. I speak to God, I ask for help and forgiveness and I ask him to help the old, ill, dying, sad and others less fortunate than myself. I read the prayers from my new book and I am beginning to understand some of the Psalms.

As an example to show how much I’ve changed, I’ve been shovelling snow off people’s gardens and drives all day for free. I am a politer person and try to think of myself last. I always feel sad or let down after I’ve lied or upset someone” (Paul).

Example 2. “From my childhood, I had often wondered what would happen after my life was over. I had never experienced happiness and did not know what it really was. As a young man I felt I( had no reason to live. And my life was a total loss. When I committed a terrible crime I was thrown into prison.

One day the Gideons came to the prison and I received a copy of God’s word. Because it was the only reading material available. I began to read the Testament. Matthew 11:28- ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest’- spoke to me and I realised that Jesus Christ could give me rest as well as everlasting life. I repented of my sins and received Christ as my personal Saviour.” (Leonid).

So the Parable teaches us it is relationship and Word together; relationship with Christ and appropriating the Scriptures, (“Spirit and Truth”)

Some Christians just stress their relationship with Christ. But they can be easily deceived when the values of the World press in and they act on their emotions or easily rationalise whatever feels right to them- “God told me to commit adultery” or “there’s no need to join a local church’ This is to be in ignorance of the Bible’s teaching. The Bible must be vital in our experience if we are to avoid making decisions that would stunt our spiritual growth. Yes, there must be an intensity in our relationship with Christ, our emotions are involved, but knowing His word, having His word “remain in us” will shape our emotions appropriately. Guidance from God always begins with the mind- the mind is renewed/transformed by God’s word and this in turn is to influence our actions.

Some Christians just stress the word. There are equally problems with this. Without that remaining in Christ/ an openness to His Spirit they become blind to the Bible’s true meaning. Jesus charged the Pharisees with this neglect in John 5: 39, 40 “You diligently study the scriptures because you think that by them you possess Eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life”

The Parable of the Vine and Branches teaches us 2 things are vital; union with Christ and to have his words remain in us if we are to grow into mature Christian discipleship.

So how can we practically learn to appropriate Scripture? How do we go about feeding on God’s word?

Primarily we do this by learning to read the word devotionally.

By this I mean that during the regular time of quiet you spend with God each day, you can meditate prayerfully on a few verses of Scripture. We need to aim for each day because if the Bible is food for our souls then we need to read it devotionally each day just as we would partake of physical food on a daily basis. Otherwise we grow weak. The Christians at Berea examined the Scriptures every day. (Acts 17:11).

Devotional reading of Scripture reminds us of our union with Christ, we are prayerfully reading and mulling over the verses, asking Him to help us understand and apply them to our lives.

My own approach is based on that suggested by John White in his book “the Fight”. I keep a notebook. As I read a verse, something occurs to me and I jot it down. In the margin of my Bible I jot down the reference of my notebook next to the verse that had spoken to me. “N70” means that my comment on the verse can be found in notebook N, page 70

That particular reference describes how my family and I were staying with friends in Llantwit Major, a town by the sea in South Wales. I’d gone out one morning to pray. I’d read Psalm 27:4 which describes gazing on the beauty of the Lord. As I walked along the sea front I meditated on the beauty of Creation which spoke of God’s glory. However, as I walked along I prayed about some inner struggles, a sense of weakness, and my mind took a downward turn as I thought about the evils in the World and became gripped by the fear of persecution. I began to focus on problems within the Church where I was pastor at that time. No doubt this was a spiritual attack from the devil or one of his minions. I’d come up on to a cliff and could see all around me. I read the Psalm again, and verse 5 says “For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling, he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high on a rock” finding myself quite literally on a rock above all that lay below brought perspective on my fears and worries. God spoke to me through His word and reinforced it with the environment around me. If He was with me who could be against me? As I meditated on that verse that familiar sense of knowing I could trust Him returned, again I had the eyes of faith to see His power and goodness at work in the difficult situations I faced. I could trust Him for the future. Just as Jesus used Scripture to counter the devil’s attacks, and the devil had to go, so too my meditating on the word resulted in the gagging of his taunts. Thoughts of faith and renewed trust quietened those fears and brought proper perspective again.

To read the Bible devotionally like this is essentially Christian meditation. To meditate on Scripture is to ruminate on it, chewing it over in the presence of God. Jim Packer in his book “Knowing God” writes:

“We turn each biblical truth that we learn about God into a matter of meditation before God, leading to prayer and praise of God…and applying to oneself, the various things one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God.”

Because you are thinking of Scripture in devotional terms, your notebook becomes like a diary, you reflect about your living but because you’re gradually imbibing a biblical outlook, the way you look at your life- its events, how you feel, what you think- these all begin to change for the better as your mind is renewed by God’s word.

You may have prayer concerns that arise from your meditations and these can be listed in your notebook. You may have some critical questions that arise and you may need to set aside time to explore these on another occasion with the help of a commentary or other theological reference books like Bible Dictionaries or a reference tool I have called “Hard Sayings of the Bible” But during devotional reading it’s worth putting deductive, critical questions on hold, give them up to God for the time being, and instead ask those questions that will help you appropriate the meaning of the verses you are reading for your own life. Questions like:

Is there a warning for me here?

Is there a promise I can claim?

Is there an example for me to follow?

Are there commands I must obey?

Is there a sin I must avoid or confess?

Is there some encouragement I can take to heart?

Is there some new lesson about God I can thank him for?

Are there words of praise I can echo?

Is there an experience described here that has been true of me?

One aid to daily devotional reading are published daily notes. Scripture Union and Crusade for World Revival publish such notes. My wife and I use Our Daily Bread by RBC Ministries.

I’ve concentrated on devotional study this morning because we’ve thought about the word needing to be vital in our experience.

There are of course other ways to study the Bible. You could read the Bible from beginning to end. Published daily notes usually include other readings each day for those who want to read through the Bible in a year.

You may like to read through sections of a Bible Book systematically- perhaps a dozen verses or a chapter a day and read what a commentary has to say about that chapter. Smaller individual commentaries for each separate book of the Bible include the “Crossway Bible Guides” or Wiersbe’s commentaries. More detailed ones include “The Bible Speaks Today” series, published by IVP.

There are commentaries that cover all Bible books in one volume. Matthew Henry’s Commentary is full of wisdom and has stood the test of time. The New Bible Commentary is also worth exploring.

You could read the Bible by focusing on characters in the Bible or taking a thematic or topical approach. A good study Bible like the Thompson chain reference Bible can help you study characters or themes by linking appropriate references together.

If you are new to Bible study then I would suggest you start by reading through Mark’s Gospel. After that you may wish to turn to one of Paul’s letters. 1 Thessalonians or Philippians have a lot of advice for young Christians starting off as Christian disciples.

Of course the devotional approach can and should be built into all these forms of study.

Both the daily devotional approach which is the “milk of the Word” and the more detailed study approach - the “meat of the Word”- are required for a healthy diet. Sometimes it’s difficult to set aside the time for the more detailed study, and that’s one of the reasons why every Sunday we have teaching in two services.

As far as translations are concerned, pick one that you understand. Some love the King James Version, the 17^th Century English is beautiful. I use the New International Version which is accurate and in today’s English. There are paraphrases like Peterson’s “The Message”, paraphrases tend to sacrifice precision in translation in the interest of intelligibility. They are, however easy to read and therefore good for reading through whole books of the Bible in one go.

 

The Bible is vital. We must remain in Christ and his words must remain in us. When we are rooted in such a union with Christ and He speaks to us through His word, it’s then that we grow as his disciples. Day after day, year after year. Then we have purpose, we are appointed to bear fruit, we discover our mission and purpose for being here. The process includes some pain. The gardener trims back the branches. He trims clean. The vine was more extensively pruned than any other tree, sometimes back to the stump. But the greater the pruning, the more vigorous and fruitful the growth. The gardener strips away the deadness and props. The Lord refines us, He exposes and strips away the sin in our lives and instead builds in the fruit of His Spirit.

Remaining in Christ and having his word remain in us is a painful process at times because the fruit, the produce the Lord wants to develop in us as his followers is love. True love is sacrificial, it’s costly, it’s losing your life in order to find it. But He does this because He loves us; our lives are healthy and fruitful and those we come into contact with are also benefited as a result of this sanctifying work he does in us. So the sooner we submit to seeing the vital things are remaining in Christ and his words remain in us the better. The challenge is to take those practical steps by which we become “self-feeders” as Hybels puts it. Remember what he said: “We should have taught people how to read their Bible” or as…

Jesus says “If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples. My teaching will show you the truth and the truth will set you free”

Hymn

“May the mind of Christ my Saviour…” MP 463 (piano)

Kate Barclay Wilkinson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LklxiZnBiCM

Benediction

God the Father keep us in his tender care, the Lord Jesus Christ be our constant friend, and the Holy Spirit guide us in all we do, now and always. Amen

David Barnes 20/10/21