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Sermon: Sunday, 17th August, 2025
Speaker: John Johnstone
Scripture: Acts 16:11-40

This is a thrilling part of the Bible. It describes the first three people who were converted in Europe. We find them all in a place called Philippi, which today is in the north east of Greece. You could not find three people with less in common: a wealthy business woman from Asia called Lydia; a slave girl who is a double-slave, both to her owners and an evil spirit; and a tough, cruel jailer. However, by the end of the chapter, none of those differences matter because they all become followers of Jesus, and end up in the same church together. In verse 40, we find them all gathering in Lydia’s house for a house church. And they are now called ‘brothers and sisters’. Jesus transforms the lives of all these characters. He forgives their sins and gives them the certain hope of eternal life. He brings them into the same family. So, you have men and women, slaves and free, Asians and Europeans, lower class, middle class and upper class. None of these differences matter any more. The good news of Jesus is for everyone. It doesn’t matter what country you were born in, who your people are, what gender you are, how much education or money you have, we all need Jesus to save us. And when he does, we become a church family and the differences no longer matter.

This morning, I’d like us to focus on the jailer. I hope you are all prayerfully thinking about who you can invite along to our next ‘Meal with a message’. If you had known this jailer, you probably would not have invited him. We don’t know too much of his background, but it’s likely that he is a retired Roman soldier, as many Roman soldiers retired to Philippi where they received money, land and Roman citizenship. If so, he would have been a hard man, used to bloodshed and death. We can see that he is cruel as, even though Paul and Silas had been severely flogged, he does nothing to relieve their pain. In fact, he makes their situation worse by putting them in the inner cell, the worst and darkest place to be, and then putting them in stocks, which in Roman times were also designed to inflict pain and misery. Then the jailer went off to bed to sleep. But God is going to work a miracle in his life and bring him to a place where he sees his need of Jesus.

This should be a reminder to all of us that we have no idea who God is going to save next. He saves the slave girl. Today, he might next save an addict or a religious person or someone who seems so materialistic and more interested in cars and holidays and houses than God. What does this mean for us? It means we should invite all kinds of people along to church and to church events and to our homes. It means we should get to know all kinds of different people, whoever the Lord places in our paths. And it means that God specialises in converting the most unlikely people at the most unlikely times. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. If you are here this morning and are not yet a follower of Jesus, God is able to save you too, just as he saves the jailer here.

1. God alone saves, but he uses the witness of Christians

The witness of Paul and Silas is remarkable here. They have been unlawfully arrested on false charges and severely flogged even though this was illegal as Paul is a Roman citizen. You might have expected them to be cursing and swearing at the jailer, or that they would suffer in silence, wondering why God had abandoned them in such an awful place. What we actually hear is a sound probably never heard in this inner cell before – it’s the sound of men singing praises to God. Now let’s be clear – these men do not know what is round the corner. Perhaps they will be executed. They don’t know deliverance is coming. And yet, even in these dark circumstances, they continue to trust that God is in control and that God knows what he is doing even if they do not know. These are Christian men who rejoice in knowing Jesus no matter what kind of circumstances they are in, good or bad.

Keddie: ‘To the outward view their situation was grim – flogged and imprisoned, they perhaps faced even death on the morrow. But God was in all their thoughts and as they poured out their deepest petitions before the Lord, their sense of being in his everlasting arms evoked lively singing of his praises. They had been beaten up, but they were not beaten down.’

We read in verse 25 that the other prisoners were listening to them. I think it more than likely the jailer was also listening. This is a picture of what we saw last Sunday morning, that those who hope in the Lord shall renew their strength and mount up with wings like eagles. This is supernatural strength in a time of great vulnerability.

Next, the jailer is about to commit suicide, probably because he will be put to death for allowing his prisoners to escape. We see this earlier in Acts after Peter’s miraculous escape from prison: ‘After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed.’   (Acts 12:19) How do Paul and Silas respond to the jailer in this extreme situation? Paul shouts: ‘Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!’   (Acts 16:28) Sometimes we come across people who are suicidal or engaging in self-harm, and we ought to lovingly say to them ‘Don’t harm yourself’. There is hope in Jesus Christ. Who knows what situations we will come across in the coming months.

What Paul is doing for this man is a powerful witness. Paul is saying kind and loving words to the very man who had hurt him and had hurt Silas and had showed no compassion to them whatsoever. Here is a picture of loving your enemies. The prisoners make no attempt to escape. And please notice this – who does the jailer turn to when he wants to know how to be saved? Paul and Silas.

Here’s a challenge for all of us today – we are always being watched by those who know us. They notice how we react to circumstances, especially when things go wrong for us. But if we make an effort to get to know people and to show kindness to all people, even those who wrong us, then when God is at work they might well just come to us and ask us why we can be calm in the face of sickness and tragedy and even death. How we treat one another in our church and how we treat those at work and in our communities matters a great deal. God uses our witness. We are called to let our lights shine before others. Paul and Silas are not aloof from others but are among the people. They are not bitter and angry in their reactions but full of hope and love. May God help us to be the same. What a powerful witness it is when we live like that.

2. God alone saves, but he uses the words of Christians

Don’t listen to people who say: Preach the gospel at all times ad, if necessary, use words’. Christians are called to witness both with their actions and their words. You need both. You could be an amazingly kind neighbour or colleague but if you never point people to Jesus then your witness will be truncated. We need actions and words. How can someone be saved unless we tell them how?

In verse 30, we see that the jailer is beginning to think about God and his great need to get right with him. He genuinely does not know how to do this and so earnestly asks Paul and Silas the most important question in all the world: ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ The jailer might have seemed an unlikely candidate for conversion, but God is pursuing him. God sends Paul and Silas to the jail in order to witness to him and to explain the way of salvation. And God even sends an earthquake in order to bring this man to his senses. God moves heaven and earth as he goes after his lost sheep. What an encouraging fact this is. God is orchestrating events in order save the jailer from his sins.

He asks such a great question. He knows for the first time that he needs to be saved as he is lost, without God and without hope in the world. If you are not yet a Christian, do you appreciate that? Does it trouble you that you are lost and without eternal hope? Suicide was not the answer for this man. He might have escaped the judgement of his bosses but he would not and could not escape the appointment which we all have with almighty God. When we die, each one of us must stand before God and give an account for our lives. And because each one of us has broken God’s good and holy rules so many times, we urgently need to be saved.

I think Paul and Silas’ answer to his question would have greatly surprised the jailer. Notice that he asks, ‘What must I do’ to be saved. Perhaps he expected to have to make a huge financial or animal sacrifice to Jesus. Or perhaps he thought he might have to go on a long journey to a holy place or turn his life around by trying much harder to be a kind man. But none of this can save us. The answer given is much simpler: ‘They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household.’   (Acts 16:31) It’s crucial that we understand this- this man could not save himself. However, there is something God wants him to do. There is a step he needs to take. And it’s the same thing he wants from each one of us in this room today. He wants us to believe in Jesus. He wants our faith. There is no other way to Heaven. God wants us to receive salvation as a free gift – we cannot earn it. Faith is that receiving of the gift – accepting that Jesus died in our place on the cross.

Becoming a Christian is marked by simplicity. All that is needed is believing in Jesus. However, we must understand what it means to believe in Jesus. It is much more than just believing that he was a historical figure – that he existed. Even the Devil believes in Jesus in that sense. Faith in Jesus means accepting that there is nothing you can do to make up for breaking God’s rules. There is no programme of doing good deeds that can undo our sin. However, although we cannot make up for our wrongdoing, Jesus can. That’s why he died. And that is what we come to believe in – that Jesus, the Son of God, lived the perfect life we could never live and then died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin. Salvation is not about what we can do for God to make up for things, but the other way round, what God in Christ has done on the cross so that we can be forgiven. Through his death on the cross, Jesus accomplished salvation for all who would trust in him.

So, as we speak to people about Jesus, we must explain to them that salvation comes through believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. However, we need to unpack that by explaining who Jesus is and why he needed to die on the cross. We cannot just give people one sentence sound-bites. And that’s exactly what Paul and Silas do – they unpack the gospel: ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household.’  Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.’   (Acts 16:31-32)

3. When God saves, we always see the good fruit of a changed life

What evidence is there that the jailor was truly a changed man. ‘At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds…’   (Acts 16:33) Isn’t that such a clear and practical evidence of change? It’s not that the jailer suddenly had an amazing grasp of deep theology. Nor would all of his wrong living and wrong thinking have disappeared in an instant. That would take a lifetime of work. But he had love for other followers of Jesus. The test of a living faith is faithful living, and we see that here. We also see the reality of his change in his hospitality and in the newly found joy which fills his heart.

4. When God saves, it has an impact on a whole family

‘At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptised.’   (Acts 16:33-34) Why baptise all the members of his family? The covenant sign being placed on our households goes back to the book of Genesis: ‘I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.’   (Genesis 17 v 7) God tells Abraham to place the sign of the covenant on all the males in the household. Because in conversion God embraces households. This is no guarantee that everyone will be saved all of the time in the family, but it does mean the household is now a special one. This principle is repeated on the Day of Pentecost: ‘The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.’   (Acts 2:39)

Let’s consider these verses again and listen out for the way in which the jailer’s conversion impact his whole house: ‘They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household.’ Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.  At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptised. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God – he and his whole household.’   (Acts 16:31-34) Today, as we say goodbye to a number in our church family (the Youngs and Daniel), I doubt that God has finished working in their families. What an encouragement it is to know our God cares for the spiritual well-being of our families.

Sermon: Sunday, 10th August, 2025
Speaker: John Johnstone
Scripture: Isaiah 40:27-31

1. Feeling forgotten by God

Do you ever feel like God has forgotten about you? Do you ever feel that he doesn’t care? If he did, surely he would have answered your prayers by now and changed things. Can true Christians become disillusioned with God? Can people with genuine faith in Christ feel that God has abandoned them? Can they become angry with God. Yes, they can. Sometimes for a long time. Yes, Christians are those with trust in Jesus, but our trust is far from perfect. Sometimes it’s a wobbly faith. Always, it’s mixed with some measure of doubt and fear and darkness and questions. Perhaps this morning, on the outside it seems your faith is fine, but the truth is, if people could see into your heart they would see that you feel far away from God and you feel that he has let you down.

In Isaiah 40, God acknowledges that his people are feeling this way: ‘Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God’?’   (Isaiah 40:27) They feel disregarded by God. They feel ignored. They feel like they don’t matter to God. They feel neglected. Why? It’s likely because God’s people are going through a difficult season of suffering. It is possible that they are in captivity in Babylon surrounded by enemies and feeling hopeless. God’s covenant promise to be their God and the God of their children seems hollow. Often in times of difficult circumstances, our faith begins to waver. Remember what the disciples to say to Jesus in the boat during the storm: ‘Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?’   (Mark 4:38)

Psalm 13 opens with David’s cry: ‘How long, Lord? Will you forget me for ever? How long will you hide your face from me?’ David feels forgotten by God. Doubtless he has been praying, but God does not seem to be answering quickly enough for him. That’s why four times in the first two verses he asks, ‘How long?’ Can you relate to David? You have questions for God that he is not answering. You are in circumstances that you have prayed about again and again and nothing ever seems to change. Perhaps even years and years have gone by. And through our suffering and disappointment, it is easy to arrive at a place where we feel life has ripped the stuffing out of us and God has sat back and watched it all happen from a distance, even though we trusted in him to help, at first anyway. You pray and pray and it seems like only delay and delay from God. ‘My way is hidden from the Lord.’   (Isaiah 40:27) All Christians remain sinners, and we can begin to harden our hearts towards God and think of him in the wrong way. And Christians remain sufferers; the things we have gone through and are going through take their toll on us. We ask: ‘How can God be allowing this to happen to me?’.

Here’s some good news. God understands. He’s not fazed by our cries of disappointment. He’s not going to abandon us. I love the words in Isaiah 42 v3 which outline God’s attitude towards the weak of faith and the vulnerable: ‘A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out.’   (Isaiah 42:3) Our God is a compassionate God. However, he does not want his people to remain in a place of such fragile faith. He wants our trust in him to grow once again. He wants us to be able to keep going in spite of our tough circumstances. How does the LORD do this? By reminding us of who he is and by promising strength to those who trust in him. So, if you are feeling like God has forgotten you, let’s take our eyes away from our circumstances, and back to where they ought to be – on God himself.

2. The antidote: ‘Behold your God.’

We all need to be reminded again and again of the basic truths about who God is. We need to relearn them. We forget them so quickly and then we go off the rails. ‘The Lord is the everlasting God.’   (Isaiah 40:28) He is infinite. There never was a time when God was not there and there never will be. He is the one who was, and is, and is to come. He never grows old. He is outside of time. We are all so time-bound and often feel pressurised by time. There’s so much to do and so little time. God never feels that way. We need to remember this when we pray and nothing seems to change. God is not acting on our timescale but on his own. This means we need to be patient.

His name is the LORD, which reminds us that he is the covenant God, who always keeps his promises to us, even if that takes longer than we would like. He is committed to us. He loves us.

He is the Creator of the ends of the earth. There is no part of our world where God is not in control. He is not only the infinite God but he is also the God who is everywhere, even at the ‘ends of the earth’. He is omnipresent. Maybe the Israelites felt abandoned by God in exile in Babylon. But God was right there with them. And maybe you feel abandoned by God here in Fife, in the circumstances of your own home and your own work, but God sees you and he knows what you are going through and he cares.

He will not ‘grow tired or weary’. We grow tired and weary quite easily. If we don’t get enough food or enough sleep we can quickly become jaded. Our strength is so limited. There is only so much we can do. If we are doing housework, which never seems to end, we will need to take a break. We need to rest. In so many jobs in the modern world the workload seems to increase and the number of people helping us seems to decrease. We get stressed and exhausted and burnt out. God never grows tired or weary. Isn’t that amazing? He can make the world in six days and not even break sweat. He never sleeps. He never needs to recharge his batteries. Like the burning bush in Exodus 3, he burns with energy all the time but his resources never diminish. Isaiah is saying to us all this morning: ‘behold your God’. He is eternal and everywhere and all-powerful. And there is more.

‘His understanding no one can fathom.’   (Isaiah 40:28) God is the all-knowing God. He is infinite in his wisdom. I believe this is one of God’s attributes which we need to keep particularly in mind today. When things go wrong for us, we are so quick to put God in the dock and to judge God and find him guilty, as if we are the ones who have infinite understanding.

JL Mackay: ‘…our complaints against his ways of acting are misguided because they are based on incomplete information.’

Often the LORD allows things to happen to us and we simply don’t know why. We cannot see the purpose. But does that mean there is no purpose? Does that mean it is just all meaningless? No! God, and God alone, has all the information. He alone sees the end from the beginning. And he is working all things for our good. When the going gets tough for us, we need to return to the fact that God is wiser than we are. We need to learn to be comfortable in a place where we don’t understand what God is doing, but we understand that he knows what he is doing. We need to let God be God. We need to trust him. We need to trust in his infinite wisdom. I myself have many questions God has never answered. Many things have happened to me that I really don’t understand. What will I do with all of these things? Will I put God in the dock and judge him? Or will I humbly accept that he has infinite wisdom and trust that he knows what he is doing?

During the times of our suffering, Satan wants us to doubt God’s love and wisdom. He attacks our faith and wants to extinguish it. He wants us to think of God as harsh and uncaring. We need to fight these temptations with truth. We need to be reminded about who God is, the one infinite in greatness, strength and power and wisdom.

But we also need to hear the truth about God’s graciousness. What do I mean? We need to know that God is a God who shares his power with those who are weak. ‘He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.’   (Isaiah 40:29) This is wonderful news. God is the one who sustains us in our weakness. He gives supernatural power to the faint. This might be a word for you here this morning.

3. The antidote continued: ‘Wait on the LORD.’

Verse 30 reminds us that even youths grow tired and weary. Sometimes we look at young people in the prime of life and we think ‘I wish I had half of their energy’. But even they grow tired. Our puppy Jura is 7 months old, just a bairn, and out on walks she seems to have boundless energy. But even she crashes when we get home. ‘Young men stumble and fall.’   (Isaiah 40:30) These young men are those specially chosen for the army because they are so fit. Perhaps for an elite army group. Even they eventually collapse in a heap. If even youths and young men are eventually ground down by life and cannot survive on their own resources, how much more are we going to come to an end of our own resources.

But here’s the thing: it’s good when we come to the place where we realise we cannot cope on our own. It’s good when we stop relying on our own limited strength. Because only then will come to God in prayer and wait upon him for strength from above. We don’t have the spiritual energy to continue following Jesus but the good news is that God has a surplus of energy. So, if you are here and you are disappointed with God, rather than becoming angry with him, why not find a quiet place and ask him for strength instead? ‘… those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.’   (Isaiah 40:31)

Do you want this supernatural strength from God? Then, we need to understand what it means to ‘wait upon’ the LORD. Because only those who wait upon him shall receive such strength. Perhaps the first step in waiting on the LORD is coming to the end of our own resources. Someone once said, all we need to receive God’s power is to be weak enough. Have you given up on trying to live life on your own strength yet? Then you are actually in a good place to be.

Waiting on God means to adopt a posture of trust, trusting that the LORD will come through for us in his time and in his way. He might not give us what we want but he will give us what we need and what is best. Waiting on God is a patient anticipation that he will help us. We hope on him. We can be content in hard circumstances because we know he will not let us down. It might take time. It might take a very long time from our limited point of view. Waiting on God means crying out to him in prayer for strength each day and then trusting that our heavenly Father will give us our ‘daily bread’. We spread the matter before him in prayer and then leave it in his capable hands.

Waiting on God is not something passive. We don’t just pray and do nothing. Yes, we pray, but we also read our Bibles, reminding ourselves of the character of God. We read his promises to us in the Bible and we trust in them. We wait with patient expectation. ‘The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.’   (Psalm 34:10) Do you believe that? We trust that God will act in the right time and in the right way, and in the meantime and this is crucial, we get on with the task of following Jesus in all the areas of our lives. We want his will to be done in our lives as we wait on him.

Then something wonderful happens. We are able to do things we once thought would be impossible. We are able to continue on the path of following Jesus. We are able to keep going in those hard circumstances: ‘They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.’   (Isaiah 40:31) Have you ever watched an eagle flying? Have you seen how effortlessly they seem to soar on the air currents with their huge wings. We might think we could never do that. But God can give such strength to us. He can help us to keep on running when we get a stitch and want to stop and he can help us to keep on walking to our destination when it seems like we cannot go on. He is the God who gives strength to those who ask and wait.

Sermon: Sunday, 3rd August, 2025
Speaker: Neil MacDonald
Scripture: John 3:1-21

For years now chat shows have been a popular type of TV programme. Chat show hosts aim to get their guests talking freely so that they reveal something of themselves and let the audience see what makes them tick. Something that makes the Gospel of John different from the other Gospels is the extended discourses, or conversations, it records for us. John wants us to hear Jesus talking. He doesn’t tell us everything he knows about Jesus. Instead he selects just a handful of events and records them in great detail. There are several conversations which reveal to us the heart of Jesus and how he understood himself.

A curious individual

Here in chapter 3 we have the first of these conversations, Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus. In the opening verses we’re introduced to a curious individual. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council. He was an ultra-orthodox Jew. He belonged to the party which stood for strict adherence to God’s law. He was a rabbi and a man of influence and standing in the community.

Nicodemus had witnessed Jesus’ ministry and was impressed. He realised Jesus was no ordinary Jewish rabbi. He’d come to the conclusion that he was ‘a teacher who has come from God’: no one could perform the miracles he did unless God was with him. Jesus clearly aroused Nicodemus’ interest, and he wanted to find out more. And so he came to see Jesus at night.

Nicodemus may have come by night because he didn’t want people to know he was interested in Jesus. Perhaps coming at night was the only way to get Jesus on his own for the kind of serious and unhurried conversation he wanted to have with him. But I suspect the main reason John mentions when the meeting took place is that he sees a symbolic significance in it. In his writings John speaks again and again about light and darkness. Darkness stands for sin and wickedness; light speaks of purity and righteousness. In his Gospel, John tells us how Judas left the gathering in the upper room to betray Jesus to the authorities; he writes, ‘As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out, and it was night.’   (John 13:30) It was dark when Judas left the company of Jesus and the other disciples, but the physical darkness which surrounded him was as nothing compared with the spiritual and moral darkness which engulfed his soul.

Nicodemus wasn’t in the desperate situation Judas found himself in, but when he came to see Jesus he was still in darkness, spiritually speaking. Although he was a rabbi and no doubt kept the law of God to the best of his ability, he was still in spiritual darkness; he was still a sinner cut off from God. It’s possible to be very religious and yet in spiritual darkness. But Nicodemus was curious. He was prepared to acknowledge Jesus was a teacher come from God: he could see that God was with him. But he needed to see that Jesus was even more than that. And so Jesus spoke to him.

A vital experience

Jesus’ response to Nicodemus’ initial comments is uncompromising: ‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.’ (John 3:3) The Jews of Jesus’ day were looking for what they called ‘the kingdom of God’. Some of them understood the kingdom in a political sense: they looked forward to a day when they would be delivered from bondage to Rome and would have their national independence restored under the rule of God’s Messiah. Others put more stress on the personal, religious side of things. For them the kingdom of God meant the achievement of moral perfection through obedience to God’s law. As a Pharisee, Nicodemus probably understood the kingdom of God in both ways. The Pharisees sought to prepare the way for a political kingdom by their personal dedication to a religious kingdom. By obeying the law they tried to be the true people of God preparing the way for the Messiah.

We might have expected Jesus to congratulate Nicodemus on his theological credentials and upright way of life. But that’s not what he does. Instead, gently but firmly, he says, ‘No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.’ He tells Nicodemus that, without the experience of rebirth, he cannot hope to see the kingdom of God. That would have come as a shock to a devout Jew like Nicodemus. He would have presumed his place in the coming kingdom was assured by virtue of his race and law-keeping. In the eyes of other people he had impressive credentials as far as God was concerned. But however ‘good’ Nicodemus appeared, Jesus clearly did not think he was good enough to share in the kingdom of God. For that he needed to be born again. He needed a new nature. He needed radical transformation from the inside out.

Nicodemus is taken aback. He asks: ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born?’   (John 1:4) He seems to understand Jesus’ words literally as if he were speaking about a second physical birth. And the very idea strikes him as absurd, as indeed it is. Jesus has to explain that what he is speaking about is a spiritual rebirth which can only be achieved supernaturally. ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.’   (John 3:5-6)

The reference to water and the Spirit probably echoes the words of the prophet Ezekiel. While we may not readily pick up on that, Nicodemus would have done, for he was thoroughly versed in the Old Testament scriptures! In his prophecy Ezekiel refers to water and the Spirit. The Lord promises: ‘I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean… I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.bAnd I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees…’   (Ezekiel 36)

The prophecy speaks of the coming Messianic age, when there will be a new experience of cleansing and a new experience of the Spirit. Men and women will be given new hearts and new spirits. Jesus is telling Nicodemus that the day of cleansing and power which Ezekiel anticipated has now come. That’s because the long-awaited Messiah has come in the person of Jesus himself. Spiritual renewal is now possible by the power of God’s Holy Spirit. This spiritual renewal is supernatural from first to last. It’s nothing short of miraculous. Human nature cannot evolve naturally into the life of the kingdom of God. There is discontinuity between sinful human nature and the new nature required for entry into the kingdom of God. But God’s Spirit has the creative power to enable an individual to make that quantum leap into a new world.

The new birth is supernatural. It’s beyond human control and beyond human knowledge. But it’s not impossible. To illustrate this, Jesus points Nicodemus to the wind. He says, ‘The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.’   (John 3:8) In Greek and Hebrew the word for ‘wind’ is the same as the word for ‘Spirit’. There’s a kind of elaborate pun here. Jesus is in effect saying, ‘Nicodemus, you cannot control the wind, you can’t even see it, but that doesn’t stop you experiencing its effects at first hand. In the same way, you can’t control or fully understand the work of the Holy Spirit, but that doesn’t mean you can’t experience its effects. You can see the effects of his intervention in people’s lives.’

A little boy once asked a sailor the question, ‘What is the wind?’ ‘The wind?’ replied the sailor, ‘I don’t rightly know what the wind is; but I can hoist a sail.’ That’s pretty much what Jesus is saying to Nicodemus.You don’t have to know how the Holy Spirit creates new life in people. It’s miraculous and mysterious. But you can experience it. You can enjoy the benefit of it. You can hoist a sail. And so Jesus says to Nicodemus, ‘You shouldn’t be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’   (John 3:7) Notice that word ‘must’. Jesus doesn’t say ‘may’; he says ‘must’. ‘You must be born again.’ Being born again isn’t a spiritual extra for the super-keen. It’s a spiritual necessity.

The 18th Century evangelist George Whitefield was once asked by his sponsor why he was always preaching on the words, ‘You must be born again.’ Whitefield’s reply was simple: ‘Madam, because you must.’ In the most literal sense of the word, this is a vital experience, because it’s a matter of life or death.

You may have a lot in common with Nicodemus. You’re religious. You’re educated. You’re a pillar of the community. Even so, Jesus says to you, ‘You must be born again!’ Or you may be as different from
Nicodemus as chalk from cheese. You’re no scholar. You wouldn’t claim to be a particularly good person. Jesus says the same thing to you: ‘You must be born again.’ For, as he says to Nicodemus, ‘… no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.’   (John 3:3) It’s a vital experience.

A unique person

‘How can this be?’ Nicodemus asks. To this Jesus replies, ‘You are Israel’s teacher, and do you not understand these things? I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.’   (John 3:10-11) Nicodemus thinks his problem is that he can’t understand Jesus’ teaching. What Jesus is bringing him round to realise is that that isn’t his real problem. His real problem is that he has an inadequate view of who Jesus is. That has been his problem right from the beginning of the conversation. Remember what he said: ‘Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God.’ That was a flattering enough comment in its own way; but it was also rather patronising. ‘We know…’ Presumably Nicodemus was referring to himself and at least some of his fellow Pharisees. Jesus now echoes the plural with which Nicodemus had introduced himself. ‘We speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen.’   (John 3:11) In other words; ‘Your problem, Nicodemus, is not that you can’t understand what I am saying, but that you don’t think highly enough of me to believe that I know what I’m talking about.’

When Jesus speaks about the things of God, he offers first-hand knowledge. It’s divine revelation of a quite unique kind. ‘We testify to what we have seen.’ That being so, what matters most is not our ability to understand, but our willingness to believe. ‘I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak to you of heavenly things?’   (John 3:12) Jesus has used the analogy of the wind to explain the work of the Spirit to Nicodemus and he has struggled. But there are many aspects of the revelation Jesus brought for which there’s no earthly analogy. There are heavenly realities which defy comparison to anything Nicodemus has ever experienced. If Nicodemus can’t trust Jesus when he tells him about the way of the wind, how will he trust him when he tells him about the way of salvation?

And so Jesus discloses to Nicodemus who he is and why he has come. He describes himself in verse 13 as ‘the one who came from heaven – the Son of Man’. He has come down from heaven and is also the Son of Man, the one the prophet Daniel speaks about who will win final victory and rule for ever. In verse 16 Jesus goes on to call himself ‘the one and only Son’, the unique Son of God. Nicodemus needs to realise the greatness of his person. He needs to see just who he is.

Jesus also tells Nicodemus why he came. He says, ‘God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.’   (John 3:17) He is God in human form, God’s Son come on a rescue mission. And then there are the well-known words: ‘God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’   (John 3:16) In these words Jesus roots his mission in the love of God the Father. Out of love for a lost humanity he sent his Son into the world to become its Saviour. We see how great God’s love is from the fact he loved the unlovely. He loved a world which had rebelled against him and was organised in opposition to him. We also see how great God’s love is from what it led him to do. He was moved to extravagant action: he gave his one and only Son. He had only one Son but he freely gave him up for sinners like us.

Claims such as Jesus makes here are ‘heavenly things’. They can be known only by revelation and appropriated only by faith. Is faith really such a difficult thing? Nicodemus initially seems to have found it so. But perhaps he needn’t have done. Consider these words; ‘Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.’   (John 3:14-15)

Jesus is referring here to an incident which took place while the people of Israel were making their way between Egypt and the promised land of Canaan. The people had rebelled against God and he had sent a plague of poisonous snakes into their camp to chasten them. In their desperation they confessed their sin and cried out to Moses to provide some remedy for the venom. The Lord told Moses to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole: any Israelite who looked at that snake would be healed. And that’s what happened. The Israelites couldn’t have understood how a bronze replica of a snake could take the bite of the real thing away. All they could do was take Moses at his word and believe: they had no other choice. But it was enough.

Jesus is, in effect, saying that it’s the same for Nicodemus, and indeed for each of us. ‘One day soon, Nicodemus, you will see me lifted up on a cross, just like that snake in the desert. You will not be able to understand it, at least not fully. But all you have to do is to trust me enough to believe that I know what I’m doing. For I tell you that every man and woman who looks to me on that cross conscious of their sin and failure, aware of their need of salvation, knowing they need the mercy of God to deliver them, will find rescue in that look, rescue in that faith. More than that, they will find the life of the age to come – the new life of the kingdom of God that we have been talking about.’

Nicodemus’ question had been, ‘How can this be?’ The question he should have been asking was, rather, ‘Who can this be?’ For, in Jesus, he had come face to face with a unique person.

A critical verdict

Jesus says of himself; ‘Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.’   (John 3:18) Jesus is saying that a person’s destiny is determined by whether he or she believes in him. The new birth is the work of the Spirit, but we have the responsibility to believe in God’s one and only Son.

Forgiveness and eternal life are freely offered to us if we do. For those who do not, there is condemnation. Jesus says: ‘This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.’   (John 3:19-20) The appearance of the light in the person of Jesus forces everyone to make a choice. Tragically, in an astonishing act of self-destruction, multitudes refuse the light and continue to embrace the darkness. That’s because they don’t want to have their sin exposed. They would rather stay in the dark than move into the light and admit what they’re really like. And so, by refusing the light they compound the condemnation which already hangs over them because of their sin.

Spiritual blindness, says Jesus, is a culpable blindness. It’s not that we can’t see the light, but that we will not see it. ‘This is the verdict: Light has come into the world but men love darkness.’ That’s a critical verdict.

Nicodemus was a curious individual, but his curiosity wasn’t enough. Jesus told him about a vital experience he needed to have: he needed to be born again, he needed a radical transformation from the inside out. Jesus then pointed to his own uniqueness: ‘God sent his Son into the world to save the world.’   (John 3:17) And finally Jesus made Nicodemus aware of the critical verdict: condemnation for those who don’t believe and forgiveness for those who come to the light and believe in God’s one and only Son. Nicodemus came to see Jesus by night. I wonder if he left him with light dawning in his heart.

And what about us? As we have eavesdropped on this private conversation, have we seen our need of being born again, have we seen the uniqueness of Jesus’ person and work, and have we come to the light and believed in God’s one and only Son?

‘God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’   (John 3:16)

Sermon: Sunday, 27th July, 2025
Speaker: Alistair Donald
Scripture: Mark 4:1-20

And so we come to one of the best-known parables that Jesus told – usually called the Parable of the Sower, although maybe the Parable of the Seed and the Soils would be a better guide to its meaning – we’ll come back to that later. The fact it’s one of the best-known parables means we may think, ‘Oh I know that already.’ We must guard against being complacent!

Parables; simple stories from everyday farming and fishing life in rural Galilee that have a neat way of making us think. What do they make us think about? Mainly they make us think, in language that everyone can understand – whatever education they may or may not have had, whatever age we happen to be – about what the ‘Kingdom of God’ actually means; how we can be sure we are indeed citizens of that Kingdom; and how we can truly have the close relationship with the living God that he wants for us all.

Sometimes Jesus’ parables make us downright uncomfortable. Usually, they make us take a good, hard look at ourselves. So these parables work as a kind of spiritual searchlight so that we have no hiding place from God’s gaze on our souls. Any shadows we might wish to lurk in are blown away by that searchlight. We see ourselves very much in a new light. We see our total dependence on God, and our need for him, in a new way.

Now, every word in the Bible is there for a reason, and you’ll note that the first word in Mark chapter 4 is the word ‘again’; ‘Again Jesus began to preach by the lake (Sea of Galilee).’   (Mark 4:1) Earlier in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus had called the tax collector Levi (Matthew) to follow him, and a crowd gathered. This time the crowd was so large that Jesus got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore. How come so many people gathering? Because crowds attract a crowd but also there were great expectations because; ‘The kingdom of God has come near.’   (Mark 1:15)

This is the first of the parables of Jesus recorded in Mark’s Gospel. Maybe that’s why we get some clues later in the passage as to its meaning. In the later parables we’re just left to work it out for ourselves! So we read that Jesus taught them many things by parables. But after he had told the story of the seed and the soils, his disciples came up to him when he was alone, and asked him about the parables, why he spoke in that form. And the reply that Jesus gives is very interesting. He says this: ‘The secret of the Kingdom has been given to you (his disciples).’   (Mark 4:11a)

A ‘secret’ – there’s that expectation of a king with a crown in the here and now, with a visible kingdom in the here and now. Jesus has been sharing with his disciples the ‘secret’ that he’s not that kind of king, and his kingdom is not that kind of kingdom. As Jesus later explains, ‘The kingdom of God is within you.’   (Luke 17:21) Only faith could recognise the Son of God in the lowly figure of Jesus of Nazareth. The secret of the Kingdom of God is the secret of the person of Jesus.

So the secret of the Kingdom is given to his disciples. But then there’s this: ‘But to those on the outside, everything is said in parables.’   (Mark 4:11b) For the reason for this, Jesus quotes a verse from Isaiah so that; ‘…they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’   (Isaiah 6:9) Now this is surely quite a difficult verse! It sounds like Jesus doesn’t want people to be forgiven! Can that in fact be right? But really, it’s because Jesus has been facing the same problem that Isaiah faced hundreds of years earlier: Many people just don’t want to know because their hearts are hardened.

Jesus describes why this is. ‘Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.’   (Mark 4:9) Indeed, he said on other occasions. It’s the same point Isaiah made about being ‘ever hearing but never understanding’. After all, don’t we sometimes say: ‘It goes in one ear and out the other’? Especially when asking kids to do something they don’t want to do! That’s what we need to guard against when we’re listening to God’s word. It’s very easy for the message just to drift over us when our hearts are hardened.

So the parables work as a king of sieve. In the same way, the parables work to separate out people who really want to be in the Kingdom of God from those who’re just kind of hanging around listening, who harden their hearts against ‘getting’ what Jesus is on about. And that’s exactly the same point that we see when we look at the first type of soil that the seed fell on, in the story Jesus told.

The farmer sows the word. Who’s the farmer? In the first instance, it’s Jesus himself speaking to the crowds. But by extension, the farmer is also any faithful preacher of the Bible today. The farmer spreads the seed in an apparently wasteful manner. Only some of the seed falls on good soil and produces a crop. The same seed gets sown, the same message gets preached but the outcome is not the same in each case.

Think of the original hearers of Jesus as he was preaching from that boat. They all heard the same story. Some people may have said: ‘Well I was quite disappointed really. I went along to see if this was the Messiah who would give us back our independence. But it was just some guy telling some stories.’ Others may have said: ‘I was there beside the lake. And the story this guy Jesus told really hit home. I could see that what he said made every difference in the world, about me, about God. About how I need to turn my life around.’ Same message heard – very different outcomes.

The first fellow thought that Jesus was there to fulfil his expectations. The second one saw that his expectations were all wrong, and that the story searched him to the core of his being. Jesus didn’t come to fulfil all our expectations, or to be a kind of genie to sort out all our problems. But when we do open our lives to him and bow down before him, we find that he turns everything upside down: what we thought was most important becomes not important at all, and what we thought wasn’t worth bothering with becomes the most important thing of all.

So, mixed responses to the message of Jesus even back then and it’s the same today. What, then, is your response going to be? What’s my response to be? Let’s have a closer look at the story Jesus told to find out. The farmer sowed the seed and, as he was scattering the seed, it fell on four different types of soil:

Along the path…

Verse 3 and verse 14: The farmer sows the word and some people are like the seed sown along the path (by the wayside) where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. So these folks hear the word alright but it doesn’t penetrate at all. The evil one might right now be whispering a little voice in your ear: ‘Well, I enjoy the company at church, the people here seem really nice. But I don’t think all this stuff really applies to me. It’s quite interesting, but I don’t really need to accept Jesus as Saviour and Lord. I quite like to hear the stories in the preaching, but the application makes me feel a bit uncomfortable. I’m okay as I am. I believe in God and I try my best.’ The seed that falls on the path and the birds came and ate it up before it could take root.

Rocky places…

Verses 5-6 and verse 16: Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. Well, this sounds more promising! But hang on, since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. This is someone who responds to the Gospel very positively, and very promptly: ‘Yes, I’m in!’ It might have started at big church rally with warm music. There’s a call to go to the front, and down you go. That’s it! Count me in as a Christian!’ But then it doesn’t really work out. It’s flash-in-the-pan faith, flaring up brightly, then fading to nothing. It’s like someone who sees an exercise bike advertised. Great, I’ll have one of those. Their enthusiasm lasts a whole week, or maybe 2 – then it just lies there.

Why does faith sometimes fade in this same way? Jesus tells us: ‘When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.’ &nbsp: (Mark 4:17) Owning up to being a Christian among friends or family or at work just comes at too great a price. They begin to freeze you out, they maybe even begin to give you a hard time. And that’s just too big a price to pay. And so you begin to hold back from going to church. Maybe even a spouse will say: ‘That’s enough of this Jesus stuff: you’re going to have to choose: it’s Jesus or me!’ And you make your choice.

Among thorns…

Verse 7 and verses 28-29: Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. And this is surely the most subtle response of all.

It all starts so well. A life is turned round by the Gospel. Someone finds a new family in the church family. The Bible teaching is lapped up – can’t get enough! Fruitful service is given to the local church. But then something changes, very gradually at first, almost imperceptibly. You think, ‘Well, you don’t absolutely have to go to church every Sunday, do you? Aren’t we saved by our faith in Jesus? So then the odd Sunday is missed, and before you know it, it’s a few more. Next there’s a loss of appetite for the Bible. It becomes a closed book to you. Literally.

What’s gone wrong? Jesus puts his finger right on the problem, (or problems): ‘The worries of this life; the deceitfulness of wealth; and the desires for other things…’   (Mark 4:17b) These come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. The worries of this life; life certainly has its worries. I don’t suppose any of us here today are immune from worries – financial worries, worries about the family, worries about health. But rather than worries being an excuse to drive us away from Jesus, worries should cause us to cling more closely to him!

As Jesus said in Sermon on the Mount: ‘Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. So do not worry about these things. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things (that you worry about) will be given to you as well.’ Do you believe the words of Jesus here? Don’t let ‘the worries of this’ life crowd round you like thorns choking your faith in him!

What other kinds of thorn might there be? There’s the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things. If a little wealth comes our way, there’s no doubt at all that it can dampen our Christian faith. Yes, material things can indeed be a blessing from the Lord: a decent house or car – but beware! – material blessings can so easily become a snare.

The deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things – in following Jesus, we cannot have divided loyalties. No wonder he said, ‘No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.’   (Matthew 6:24)

I wonder what Jesus means by ‘other things’? It may just be the things we mentioned under ‘worry’: what we eat or drink or what we’re going to wear. And Jesus says, seek first God’s Kingdom and his righteousness and these things will take care of themselves. But in our consumer society, it’s usually more than just the basics. We want ‘other things’. We want stuff. The whole economy is based on buying stuff we don’t really need. And if we’re trying to follow Jesus but have our heads turned by wanting a new this, a new that when what we have is perfectly fine, then the thorns choke our faith, dampen our zeal for the Lord, little by little, bit by bit.

Perhaps it’s someone who was a joyful vibrant Christian in her teens, but now she’s nowhere spiritually. What happened? The thorns got in and choked her faith. If it’s a choice between church and sport, which do you choose? Maybe there’s even someone here today who’s thinking back to earlier times, when the flame of faith shone really brightly but it’s not shining brightly now. And you’re thinking, ‘How did it come to this?’

Now here’s the thing: with all 3 types of ground that the seed has fallen on so far – the path, the rocky places and the thorny ground, there is a way to be on the good soil after all.

The good soil…

The good soil with its spiritual crop of thirty, sixty or one hundred-fold isn’t because of something good in us, it’s because of something done for us, namely Jesus dying on our behalf to cleanse us from our sins. But the point of this story that Jesus told is that we listen, not just hear. Those who have ears, let them hear! Let them take it on board! You’ll never get to grips with the message of the Christian faith by sitting on the sidelines, as you might sit in an audience looking at a play or a gig on a stage. You need to be in the play yourself! Up there on the stage yourself!

If you just let the message go in one ear and out the other…
If you listen to that little voice that says, ‘This doesn’t really apply to me…’
If you treat faith as just a harmless hobby for those who like that sort of thing…
If you let the thorns choke out any glimmerings of faith you may have, then I have to tell you: you’re not in a good place!

You see, listening to God’s word week by week, you’ll either be helped or you’ll be hardened. You’ll be helped if you respond to God’s voice speaking to you, calling you deeper into a relationship with him, despite your sinfulness, despite your failings. But if you listen without responding, if your pride makes you think, ‘I’m fine I don’t need a Saviour!’ Then hearing God’s word will just harden your heart, more and more. Until it’s too late.

‘If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.’   (Matthew 4:23)

Sermon: Sunday, 20th July, 2025
Speaker: Geoff Murray
Scripture: John 15:18-27 and 1 Peter 4:12-19

Peter, is writing to Christians who have lost pretty much everything. They’ve had to leave their homes and their livelihoods behind and are on the run because of their faith in Jesus. So what do they do now?What now? How do they move forward?

1. A reality check

‘Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.’ &nbsp (1 Peter 4;12)

Why is this not a surprise? Well, these things should not a surprise, Peter’s whole point is that it’s to be expected. ‘… it’s not something strange that’s happening to you.’

‘If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.’   (John 15:20)

‘In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted…’   (2 Timothy 3:12)

There’s been a pattern, really since the beginning of time that God’s people will be persecuted. You see it early on in the Bible, in the Exodus story as God’s people are in slavery to the Egyptians to Daniel as he and his mates stick out like a sore thumb not getting sucked into the cultural and religious practices of Babylon, sent to a blazing furnace, sent to a den of lions.

In the New Testament, it continues from Jesus to his Apostles. And those to whom Peter is writing to are in the same boat. They are Christians who have been displaced due to persecution they’re facing because of their Christian faith. They’ve lost homes, possessions, livelihoods and they are now scattered. (See 1 Peter 1:1)

You can’t even imagine what that is like for them to have undergone that experience, to now be homeless, rootless, on the run all because of your Christian faith.

And Peter’s words are a helpful reality check for these believers on the run. ‘… don’t be surprised that this is happening as though something strange is happening to you.’  Peter’s words are not intended to be glib, nor are they intended to be the silver bullet. Like all you need to realise is you shouldn’t be surprised when it happens: So, is it all right then? No the suffering is still as painful and awful to experience, yet, there is a comfort in knowing this is normal.

• It removes the question of;   ‘Am I doing something wrong? Am I getting it wrong?’   because this is par for the course.
• It removes the self-pity of;   ‘Woe is me, I have it so hard, nobody knows what its like to be me.’   because as much as you have suffered, you haven’t gone to the cross to bear the sins of the world have you?
• It removes the triumphalist false piety:   ‘I’m the real deal cause I’m suffering for Jesus.’   because any have suffered before you and many will suffer after you.

What the reality check does do is remind Peter’s readers; ‘No, what I’m experiencing now, this is normal, it is to be expected.’ And as they (and us) are called to deny self, take up cross and follow Jesus, this is very much a part of that. The reality check Peter is bringing is that there is no following Jesus without also suffering for Jesus.

‘I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings…’   (Philippians 3:10) Both go together.

And we have to admit the words that Peter write feel a bit foreign to us. We have been incredibly fortunate for a long time in the UK to be more or less free from persecution. Imprisonment, execution, the loss of property and possessions for being a Christian is incredibly foreign to us. So it’s easy to look at a passage like this and think that it doesn’t apply to us.

• Just because we do not suffer to the same extent, doesn’t mean we don’t suffer
• Just because we do not suffer to the same extent today, doesn’t mean we never will.

‘Since Jesus suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking…’   (1 Peter 4:1)

2. A reason to rejoice

So having heard this first part you might not want to rejoice, but Peter continues: ‘But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.’   (1 Peter 4:13-14)

And you might think Peter is living in some kind of fairy tale, perhaps he is also naïve to say we are to rejoice in our suffering. But Peter himself has walked this road, as he is writing this letter he is probably walking this road. He isn’t an ivory tower theologian who is distant and removed from the experience of ordinary Christians. Peter is in the trenches, he has suffered for Jesus up until this point, he probably is suffering for Jesus as he is writing this letter and he will suffer for Jesus right up to and including his death.

As he writes this ‘rejoice in your sufferings’, he isn’t asking something of his readers that he himself hasn’t or isn’t doing. Peter writes to them as he and his readers are in the thick of it and calls them to rejoice.

There are two reasons to rejoice in our sufferings which Peter gives:
• Because of what is to come
• Because your sufferings are prove you belong to God.

3. A reminder

Finally, we have a reminder of how we are to live our lives in our suffering: we are to live our lives for Jesus.

‘If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God in that name.’   (1 Peter 4:15-16)

Peter is saying here, ‘If you’re going to suffer, don’t let it be because of your own stupidity and sin.’ He gives the example of murderers, thieves and evildoers or meddlers but it could literally be anything. Gossips, slanderers, adulterers, liars and so on we could go. If you gossip, or slander, or lie, or are unfaithful to your spouse, you’ll find people won’t like you very much or want to spend that much time with you. And Peter says that if you’re going to suffer, don’t let it be because of those reasons. If people are going to hate you, don’t let it be because you’ve lied to them.

• Don’t let it be because you’re the town gossip.
• Don’t let it be because you’re interfering with people’s lives and trying to tell them how to run it.
• Don’t let it be because you’ve had an affair and ruined your family and the family of the person you slept with.

If you’re going to suffer, don’t let it be because of your own sin, rather let it be because you’re living for Jesus.

I think this is particularly helpful in regards to evangelism. In certain personality types there is a tendency to be quite combative, aggressive and ultimately unhelpful in our discourse.

If you’ve ever seen these videos online in America of some guys going round university campuses in order to debate others and usually the debates themselves are handled quite well however the admin or whoever posts the videos up and gives the videos their titles do not handle it well. It’s usually titled ‘Based conservative destroys college liberal’ or after Prime Minister’s Questions both sides, Conservatives and Labour put up videos of PMQ’s with titles claiming that their side destroyed the other side.

And it can be tempting, especially against anyone who causes our suffering, to proclaim the message of Jesus using the world’s methods. We are not out to win souls to Christ so much as we are to win arguments, we’re not out to convince people of the beauty of Jesus so much as we are out to wash the floor with our opponents.

Ultimately, if people are going away hating us, we want it to be because of our love for Jesus, we don’t want it to be because we’re cantankerous, argumentative, harsh so and so.

• God forbid that we stand in the way of anyone wanting to become followers of Jesus,
• God forbid that we put anyone off Jesus,
• God forbid that instead of painting Jesus being as winsome and attractive as he is we paint him to be a grumpy miserable git because that’s how we are.

Friends, how is your heart when engaging in dialogue, discussion and debate around the Christian faith? Are you there to win the argument or win the person? If you suffer, don’t let it be because you’re being a tool, let it be because of your love for Jesus. If you’re going to have a target on your back, make sure it’s not a target which you have drawn or encouraged others to strike.

Now to turn to the fearful and timid, Peter says ‘… if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God in that name.’   (1 Peter 4:16)

If and when you suffer for being a Christian, Peter says don’t shrink back, don’t hide away, but glorify God in the midst of your suffering for him because; ‘…it’s time for judgement to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?’   (1 Peter 4:17)

The judgement for the believer spoken of by Peter is not judgement for sin, but is the refining process, the process of being made like Jesus whereas for the unbeliever, it is one of judgement for sin.

And herein lies the reason we are not to be ashamed as followers of Jesus, not to shrink back because those who mock us and mistreat us will ultimately be judged by God for their sin against us and their rejection of him meanwhile you and I will be vindicated for our faith.

And so the call for the fearful and timid is; ‘… entrust your souls to a faithful creator while doing good.’   (1 Peter 4:19)

Keep on keeping on, press on, fight the good fight all the while entrusting your soul to him that Jesus may be made known throughout Scotland and beyond.

And really, that is where we ought to end for all of us regardless of our personality type: entrust yourself to your creator while doing good because you know that as you walk the narrow path in obedience to Jesus what awaits you eternal pleasures in God’s presence forever.

Sermon: Sunday, 13th July, 2025
Speaker: John Johnstone
Scripture: Psalm 46

Sometimes our lives plunge into chaos and darkness. Perhaps you are fit and healthy, hardly ever seeing a doctor, but then you receive a life-changing diagnosis and you know nothing will ever be the same again. Perhaps you lose of job you have had and enjoyed for many years, and you don’t know what way to turn. Death brings chaos in its wake. Perhaps your relationship with your spouse or child is really good, but then through death, you find yourself all alone. When the poet W H Auden lost a loved one he wrote the poem ‘Stop all the clocks’. He felt as if the whole world was now meaningless and that there was no hope: ‘The stars are not wanted now; put out every one, Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun, Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood; For nothing now can ever come to any good.’ There is no light for the poet in the darkness of death. These are circumstances he cannot cope with and he has no where to turn. Proverbs 27: ‘Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.’   (Proverbs 27:1) What if tomorrow brings you an extremely tough circumstance? What if you are in such a time right now and are struggling to cope? How should we respond to these things as Christians? At such times, one place we can turn is to Psalm 46. The Sons of Korah have gone through experiences that have tested their faith. How did they respond?

1. Faith in life’s chaos

This Psalm opens with an amazing confidence in God (verse 1): ‘God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.’ Actually the Hebrew says ‘troubles’ (plural). In other words, our lives are full of troubles, but time and time again, God proves to be there with us to help and support us.

‘The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.’   (Psalm 34:19)

Such confidence in God is not glib, but borne out of experience. We go through a crisis, and somehow in the darkness, God sends his light and supports us and gets us through it. We know he has carried us. And that experience of God’s grace allows us to look ahead with confidence. This was David’s logic before he went to fight Goliath; ‘The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.’   (1 Samuel 17:37) David remembers God’s faithfulness in the past and that allows him to look to the future trials with great faith. For us here this morning, we need to actively remember the ways the Lord has been with us in crises, so that when the next one comes (and it will) we will instinctively know what to do. We will take shelter in our God. We will pray to him for help and grace.

In verses 2-3, the Psalmist thinks the unthinkable and imagines that the most stables things in life, the earth and the mountains, give way and collapse into the sea. Even if that happens, we will still trust in the Lord. Let me be clear, sometimes there are things in our lives that we thought of as permanent and stable and immovable and yet they can be taken away suddenly. Things that are not supposed to happen happen. Those campers at a Christian camp in Texas swept away by a freak storm. The many Christians thrown into jail just because they follow Jesus. You are struck by physical or mental illness. A pandemic hits the country and we find ourselves staying at home for months at a time. What if something happens this year which feels like the mountains themselves are falling into the sea? What if we we have to face our worst fears?

One writer helpfully put it this way: ‘In this Psalm our what-ifs become even-ifs. Rather that focusing on the fearful circumstances, we focus on the God who has promised to be our refuge and strength.’

I remember walking out to Cramond island, a tidal island in the Firth of Forth. Suddenly, a huge storm blew up and we desperately wanted somewhere to take refuge. Fortunately, there was a WW2 structure where we could shelter and keep the driving rain and powerful winds at bay. It was a huge relief. After 30 minutes the storm subsided. The thing is, most of life’s storms last for far longer than 30 minutes. Some will remain with us our whole lives. And it is our belief that the only secure shelter for us is not the relief which money brings or even other people, but ultimately in the Lord himself.

Daniel’s three friends faced being thrown into the fiery furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar, they shelter in the right place. They place their trust in the right person. They did not despair amidst the chaos: ‘If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.’   (Daniel 3:17-18) Do you know what it is to shelter in the Lord? He is our refuge, protecting us from the attacks of the evil one. And he is our strength, pouring out his grace into our hearts in supernatural ways.

Why is the Lord the only true refuge? And what makes him so special? The refrain in verses 7 and 11 answers that question for us: ‘The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.’   The Lord ‘Almighty’ also means the Lord of hosts. This means that God has all the resources of the universe at his disposal for us! He is able to command the hosts of angels to do his bidding. Remember the words of Jesus: ‘Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?’   (Matthew 26:53)

The ‘Lord’ is God’s special covenant name, reminding us that he has promised to always be our God and the one supplying the help we need. Sometimes we wonder if God would really presence himself with us in our troubles. Why would he help someone like me. Well, he is the God of Jacob, that twisted deceiving character. God takes people like that and becomes a refuge for them!

2. The reason for our faith (vs 4-5)

The city of God mentioned in verse 4 is Jerusalem. What river runs through the city of Jerusalem? There is no such literal river. The river symbolises God’s grace. Because God is with his people in a special way, there flows from him an endless supply of life-giving water for all of his subjects. This is a wonderful picture of blessing. This river supplies the waters of God’s grace, not to a few, but to all the homes in this city. As New Testament Christians, this river speaks to us of the Holy Spirit, who comes to dwell within every single Christian, giving life-giving power and strength. Perhaps this river looks back to the beautiful river in Eden. And perhaps it looks forward to that river in Heaven, when Eden is restored: ‘Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse.’   (Revelation 22:1-3)

In verse 6 we are told that the kingdoms of the earth will fall. This will never happen to the Kingdom of God. ‘God is within her, she will not fall.’   (Psalm 46:5) Martin Luther was great friend’s with the Greek scholar Philip Melanchthon. Melanchthon was a more anxious character than Luther, and would often worry about the cause of Christ, especially in times when they faced great opposition. Often Luther would say to Philip: ‘Come now Philip, let us sing the forty-sixth Psalm’. One day when Melanchthon was concerned whether the church would even survive, Luther said to him: ‘If we perish, Christ must fall too; he is in the midst of us’. In other words, because God is within his church, she will not topple. We do not need to be afraid. Luther was rubbing the logic of Psalm 46:5 into his own situation.

I love the image in the second half of verse 5: ‘God will help her at break of day.’ So often in the Bible, there is darkness, but then the Lord bursts through in the dawn, changing everything and bringing in shafts of light to the situation.

Think of the amazing Old Testament picture of salvation in Exodus: ‘Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.’ Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea.’   (Exodus 14:26-27) Salvation comes at daybreak.

Think of Mary Magdalene going to the tomb ‘while it was still dark…’   (John 20:1) But then the light comes as she meets the risen Saviour at the break of day.’

Think of Psalm 30: ‘…weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.’   (Psalm 30:5) For those of us in dark times right now, know this: we usually do not feel God is early bringing his help, but he is never late. When the time is right, at the breaking of the dawn, the darkness will give way to light, and the Lord will prove himself faithful once again.

3. Our faith in God will be vindicated when he is exalted on the earth

When we read in verse 6 that ‘the nations are in uproar’ it has a contemporary feel to it. Jesus reminds us: ‘You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth-pains.’   (Matthew 24:6-8) However, God is the one ultimately in control of all of history. The wars which seems totally chaotic will be stopped by the voice of God: ‘He lifts his voice, the earth melts.’ (Psalm 46:6) While now humanity seems to endlessly enter into wars, the day will come when the Lord will enforce peace by coming again to the earth, and destroying these weapons of war: ‘He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.’   (Psalm 46:9) The truth is, all wars will never cease on earth because of wise international diplomacy. Wars will cease when Christ returns, destroying the weapons of his enemies once and for all, and ensures the eternal safety of his people.

Verse 10 is the most famous verse in this Psalm: ‘Be still, and know that I am God…’ But the question is, who is the Lord speaking to here? Is he calling us to go off to a quiet place in a forest and to take our Bibles out? I don’t think so, though that is a great thing to do! In verse 10, God seems to be speaking to his enemies, the warring nations that have been in uproar. He commands them to be still, in other words, to stop their futile attempts to harm God’s people and to pretend they can live in rebellion against God without consequences. Be still. Lay down your arms. Know that it is the Lord who is in control of history and no one else.

Our Psalm moves to a conclusion with the magnificent prophecy in verse 10: ‘I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.’ Surely, the New Testament equivalent of this verse is found in Philippians: ‘…at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’   (Philippians 2:10-11)

That is where history is going. We can take shelter in the God of all history.

Sermon: Sunday, 6th July, 2025
Speaker: John Johnstone
Scripture: Psalm 119:9-16

Psalm 119 is, of course, the longest Psalm with 176 verses. In a nutshell, it’s a Psalm about the Bible by a person who loves the Bible. Every single verse except for one mentions God’s Word. We have to return to the theme of living according to God’s Word again and again, because it’s the only way to live in order to please God and because it is the only way for us to know lasting peace and joy in life.

Donald Whitney: ‘No spiritual discipline is more important than the intake of God’s Word. Nothing can substitute for it. There simply is no healthy Christian life apart from a diet of the milk and meat of Scripture. The reasons for this are obvious. In the Bible God tells us about Himself, and especially about Jesus Christ, the incarnation of God. The Bible unfolds the Law of God to us and shows us how we’ve broken it. There we learn about how Christ died as a sinless, willing Substitute for breakers of God’s Law and how we must repent and believe in Him to be right with God. In the Bible we learn the will and ways of the Lord. We find in Scripture how to live in a way that is pleasing to God as well as best and most fulfilling for ourselves. None of this eternally essential information can be found anywhere else except the Bible. Therefore if we want to know God and be godly, we must know the Word of God – intimately.’

So, if reading the Bible and living out what it says is so important, we need to keep on reminding ourselves of what this looks like in plain and practical ways.

The section of this Psalm begins (verse 9) with a wonderful question: ‘How can a young person stay on the path of purity?’   In other words, how can we live more like Jesus? What do we need to do to live a God-pleasing life? The God-pleasing life is also the most fulfilling and enriching and peaceful way for us to live, because by following our Maker’s instructions, our lives will work far better than if we go our own way instead, ignoring his instructions.

Although the focus might be on a young person, seeking to get on the path of godliness early in his life, of course, this Psalm applies to all of us today, young, middle-aged and older in years. The answer to this crucial question of how to be godly comes immediately: ‘By living according to your word.’   The key to being like Jesus is to read, meditate and practice what we find in the pages of Scripture.

‘You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.’   (John 15:3)

‘Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.’   (John 17:17)

The rest of this section (vs 10-16) gives us a diagram of what it means to live according to God’s Word. However, before we look at those verses, let’s be clear about what the Psalmist is claiming here. He is claiming that the Bible is truly God’s Word and is the absolute truth. We are not left by God to grope around in the darkness not knowing why he made us or how to live. He communicates to us in love.

In Scotland in 2025, most people reject the idea that the Bible as absolute truth. Most of us know that to be true. Even the hundreds of supernaturally fulfilled prophecies point to that. But most people don’t like being told what to do, not even by their Maker. They want their own moral autonomy. But it’s really important to ask, what takes the place of God’s truth in their lives? They just choose any way they want to live. And because everyone has different ideas about how they want to live, we now live in a relativistic age. People do what is right in their own eyes, and not according to the wisdom of the all-knowing God. Satan wants to delude us into thinking living this way is true freedom. He’s being doing that since he met Eve at the tree.

The thing is, God has already decided the best way for his creatures to live and by kicking against that we do damage to ourselves and others. The opposite is also true. Living a life which truly tries to follow Jesus is a life of blessing. Please don’t miss out on that life. Jesus says, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’   (John 8:12)

Friends, listen to this – it is only as we actively follow Jesus’ commands and principles that we experience the light of life. Doesn’t that sound wonderful? It’s not easy following Jesus in all areas of life but not doing so logically leads to darkness, as we break the Maker’s instructions, and doing so floods your hearts with his life-giving light.

1. True holiness is found when God’s word leads you to prayer

‘I seek you with all my heart…’   (Psalm 119:10) This might seem like a basic point, but it is crucial. We don’t read the Bible just for knowledge; we read the Bible as it leads us to God himself. Since we cannot see God, we can only know him through his Word. The Pharisees had much head-knowledge of the Bible, but they did not know God. So, as we read the Bible, pray beforehand, asking for God’s help. Then we read and meditate on the Bible. And then we move from reading to worship and heartfelt prayer. We do this because holiness or Christ-likeness is found through a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father. We listen to him as we read and live out the Bible and talk to him in prayer.

So, although this is a Psalm about reading the Bible, it welds that reading to speaking with God in prayer. Seek him in prayer each day. And what does the Lord promise about seeking him? ‘You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.’   (Jeremiah 29:13) Christianity is not just some moral code or philosophy; it is actively pursuing a relationship with God through Bible reading and prayer. Discovering a closeness with God is the greatest human experience imaginable.

I love the balance we find in verse 10. On the one hand, the Psalmist knows he is responsible for getting his Bible out and reading over it carefully and seriously. However, on the other hand he is also humble enough to know that he is weak and can easily be moulded by a godless culture, so he pleads with God for help: ‘…do not let me stray from your commands.’   This Psalm is honest about how easily we wander far from God, like sheep. Usually, the first wandering steps happen when we stop listening to God, when we stop reading his Word. Have you ever stopped listening to God. I have! Friends, each day may the Bible lead you to talking-time with God – relationship with God.

2. True holiness is greatly helped by memorising God’s Word

‘I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.’   (Psalm 119:11) I had stored up piles and piles of old sermon notes on passages which I used to help prepare my sermons. There were thousands of pages. The truth is, I wasn’t going to use them again. They needed to be binned! Storing up God’s Word, however, is different. It means storing up many objects of great value so that they can be used again and again in the future.

Wyn recently shared on our facebook page a fun way of memorising Bible verses – the ‘mumble card method’. It still involves hard work as everything of value does. But it really works. And what happens when we commit Bible verses to memory. For example, in Genesis 39, Joseph is being tempted by Potiphar’s wife. Joseph says to her: ‘How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?’   (Genesis 39:9) What would happen to you if you memorised this and many other verses? The Bible is so powerful (a living Word) that this verse would start to change the way you think and even feel about temptation. And as this verse travels through your head and into your heart this results in a change of behaviour. It really changes you. Now, when temptation comes, you are more likely to feel a repulsion to it. You feel differently about it because of the actual power of this verse. And over time, your behaviour changes and you fall less frequently into sin, by God’s grace. ‘Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.’   Ephesians 6:17) Doubts about God’s wisdom come into your mind, but the verse from Job 38 comes to your mind like a sword, slaying the doubt: ‘Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.’   (Job 38:4)

3. True holiness asks God for help to understand his Word

‘Praise be to you, Lord; teach me your decrees.’   (Psalm 119:12) Yes, we need to get stuck into our Bibles. However, before we start reading, the best possible think we can do it ask God to help us to understand and to believe and to help us apply it to our everyday lives. Otherwise, we can read the Bible at it just does not resonate. Be humble enough to ask for help. ‘But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.’   (John 14:26)

I love Psalm 43:3 as rendered in the Scottish Psalter: ‘O send thy light forth and thy truth; let them be guides to me.’ This is a great prayer to make before we read the Bible and before we listen to a sermon. God, supernaturally enlighten me. Show me what you want me to see in the Bible.

4. True holiness involves telling others the Word of God

‘With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth.’   (Psalm 119:13) Let’s keep this point short and simple: when God’s word seeps into our minds and enlarges our hearts and leads us to a real communion with God in prayer, we cannot help but pass his Word on to others. God’s love floods our hearts and it just comes gushing out.

5. True holiness brings joy to our hearts

Again Satan wants us to think that holiness is boring and starched and a kill-joy and will lead to us missing the best things in life. Listen to verse 14: ‘I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.’   (Psalm 119:14) Possessions usually end up possessing us; they do not bring lasting joy. Wealth certainly counts for nothing from an eternal perceptive. For example, last Sunday evening we looked at the theme of adoption. We are taken into God’s family and made heirs with Christ. We are more loved than we realise by God himself. This brings a deep joy which cannot be taken from us and which no amount of extra thousands in our bank accounts can come close to. Do you want deep joy?

6. True holiness is cultivated by meditation

‘I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.’   (Psalm 119:15) We always remind ourselves that Christian meditation contrasts with new age meditation in that rather than emptying our minds, we fill our minds with Scripture. This takes time. Just as meat needs time to marinade in a sauce, so we must let God’s Word marinade in our hearts. You cannot rush meditation.

Consider this verse: ‘I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.’   (Psalm 16:8) You might write this verse out on paper. You ask questions of it. What does it mean to keep my eyes on the Lord practically speaking? Why will doing this keep me from being shaken? What is it God really wants me to do? Can I turn this verse into a prayer? For example: “Lord, help me to consider the words and actions of Jesus each day so I can keep you before me”.

My old flatmate used to eat roast chicken slowly. He’d take his time and then suck the marrow out of the bones. I don’t really follow this practice. However, that’s how we should dine on God’s Word. Suck all the goodness we can out of it. Take your time. Meditate.

7. True holiness delights in God’s decrees because we delight in God himself

‘I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.’   (Psalm 119:16) Why should we delight in God’s laws? Satan wants us to cringe at them. We delight in the command ‘Do not lie’ because God is a God of truth. Truth is light in the universe stemming from God. So delight in the law to tell the truth.

We delight in the command ‘Do not commit adultery’ because God is a God of total faithfulness in his relationship with his. He is fully committed. His love will not let us go. Faithfulness is light in our universe stemming from God himself. So delight in it.

Let’s go back to the question in verse 9. Do you want to live a pure life? Here’s how not to do it. ‘Stop listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge.’   (Proverbs 19:27) Just stop reading God’s Word. That’s enough. But if you do want to live a life knowing Jesus’ light flooding into you, then treasure up, memorise, apply, and pray over his Word. Ask God for the light of understanding and the ability to obey it. And you shall know the power and fellowship of God himself in an enriched life.

Sermon: Sunday, 29th June, 2025
Speaker: John Johnstone
Scripture: Luke 18:15-17

2. To help establish a new church in Leven through prayer, finance, and other support. Video 2

Jesus really does love babies and toddlers and children of all ages. Boys and girls here this morning – Jesus thinks you are very special and important and always has time for you when you pray to him. How do we know that? Well, this story of Jesus spending time with wee ones and blessing them teaches us that this is true.

D R Davis: ‘There must have been something about Jesus that indicated he was ‘approachable’… the parents assumed Jesus would welcome their little on… What a grand assumption and what a superb Saviour’.

In Jesus’ day, it was customary to take your children to a Rabbi in order to receive a blessing from the Lord. This goes all the way back to Genesis 48, where Jacob places his hands on the sons of Jospeh and blesses them.

Sinclair Ferguson: ‘Jesus seems to be moved by the fact that these parents wanted him to receive and pray for their children. It was an expression of their recognition of his grace and their trust in him.’

Picture the scene: many cheerful families are gathered around Jesus, waiting for their turn to spend some time with him. Mothers carried their babies; toddlers would be wandering around and other children would no doubt be laughing and playing. Probably some were even crying about something or other! Imagine you were there with your children and were nearing the front of the queue and were getting excited! Suddenly, Jesus’ own disciples stride over to you scowling and try to break up the expectant crowd. You’re so disappointed. You may think, ‘My children will never receive Jesus’ blessing now.’

But happily, you are proved wrong. Jesus himself comes over and gives his own disciples into trouble. It is a bit embarrassing! And you hear what he says: ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.’   (Luke 18:16) You smile at Jesus’ wonderful words. Jesus says the kingdom of God belongs to my children. Jesus really does love and care for our children.

1. Don’t be like the disciples and block people from Jesus

The disciples really get it wrong here. They rebuke the parents for bringing their children to Jesus but they themselves end up being rebuked by Jesus. It’s hard to know exactly why the disciples want to get rid of all the children. At best, perhaps they wanted to try and protect Jesus from burning out, and getting shot of the children seems like a no-brainer. After all, in those days, young children had no standing in society. They seem to assume that Jesus should not give quality time to children. Or, maybe the disciples feel that they themselves are too busy doing ministry and that the children are just getting in the way. How wrong they are. This wrongness is itself a reminder to us that we can think we are doing the Lord’s work, but actually we are not. We must make sure we are doing the Lord’s work in the Lord’s way. We can be busy in the church but can do more harm than good, because our thinking is not right.

This is a really sad picture, as the disciples were meant to be those bringing people to Jesus, as Andrew often did. But here, they are so wrong-headed and actually try to prevent people from coming to Jesus. They behave like bouncers, not disciples. They might not have had time for children, but Jesus did! And so, Jesus rebukes them: ‘Do not hinder them!’

Before we all get too comfortable at how stupid the disciples are being here (and it is stupid) we have to realise that we can be more like them than we’d like to admit. There are many ways in which Christian parents, as well as those who don’t have children, can act as barriers preventing children from coming to Jesus. This is a most serious thing. You don’t want to be that person.

In what ways can we be like the disciples here? We could neglect the children in our church by failing to take an interest in them, not really even ‘seeing’ them, except as a nuisance. As parents we could be so focused on our work or hobbies that we fail to give our children the time and love they need. We can both overvalue our children, which is idolatry, or undervalue them which is neglect.

Another easy way we can block our children from Jesus is simply by our own silence. We fail to teach them the core Bible stories and fail to teach them to pray. We don’t bring them to church regularly and we don’t have family worship in the home, so our children are not hearing the voice of Jesus much at all. This is our silence. On in conversation at home, the time comes when we need to speak up about something happening in current affairs but we say nothing.

When we read Deuteronomy, God specifically tells us to speak to our children constantly about him. This is a long way from silence: ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.’   (Deuteronomy 6:4-7)

All of us are guilty of closing the road to Jesus by our hypocrisy. When our children see us acting winsomely at church but then being short-tempered and unkind or disengaged at home then they can see right through us. If our children don’t see us walking the walk as well as talking the talk then we are in danger of putting them off the faith. This too is a serious business. There are many times when I have failed my children in this way, and acted as a barrier to Jesus. What about you? If money, our appearance and success and having a good time and being happy are the most important things to us, then our children will soak this in. If serving Jesus and loving him is what makes us tick then our children will soak this in like sponges. They have eyes! What are they seeing?

2. Be like the parents and bring people to Jesus

In these parents we have a beautiful picture of faith and godly parenting. The parents truly believe Jesus could bless their children. They do the very best thing possible for their children – they bring them to Jesus. There were obstacles – no doubt – there always are. The disapproving disciples. They had to take the time to stand and wait their turn. There is a cost involved.

But there is nothing better for a parent to do than bring their children to Jesus. Never say that you are too busy to bring children to church. There are always obstacles in bringing our children to church. But I’d encourage you to do that every week. This is what Christ wants. Sure, sometimes you have to miss out on social opportunities for your children – there are lots of other things on in our society on Sundays and you can’t be in two places at once. What are you going to choose? Our society has very little interest in Jesus so expect many things to compete with the preciousness of bringing our children to Jesus at church.

Bring your children to Jesus at home with family worship. Bring your children to Jesus at Sunday School and church. Will they be able to come to the 5:30 pm service to get used to that? Let’s keep being like these parents and keep on bringing our children to Jesus. One of my good friends lived in a remote part of Scotland and there were very few other Christians his age around. As an adult, he now looks back with massive appreciation at the efforts his parents made to run him to Christian clubs and youth groups. His parents made great efforts to bring him to Jesus. At the time, he did not appreciate just how valuable this spiritual investment was. Now he does.

3. Parents who trust in Jesus have covenant children

‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.’   (Luke 18:16)

Jesus is telling us here than when parents trust in Jesus and look to him for blessing, their children are special – they are covenant children. The blessing Jesus gave the children that day does not automatically mean they will all be saved; however, these children are brought up in a privileged way, hearing about the love of God. Why does the Kingdom of God belong to such children? Remember the promise the Lord made to Abraham. ‘I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.’   (Genesis 17:7)

We see from this verse that in the Old Testament, children were part of the covenant community. Did this stop in the New Testament. ‘Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.’   (Ephesians 6:1) In the New Testament also, Jesus is viewed as the covenant Lord of these children. And that is exactly why we baptise our children, because the Kingdom of God belongs to them. We Christian parents belong to Christ and our children also belong to Christ, and we pray that one day they will repent and believe in the gospel for themselves.

S Ferguson: ‘The inheritance of believing parents belongs to our children – they still have to come to faith – but they have this great inheritance on offer to them.’

4. A picture of becoming a Christian

If you are not yet a Christian, what does God want from you? How does he want you to come to him? God gives us a really helpful picture of how he wants us to come. ‘Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’   (Luke 18:17) So, the logical question is this, how do children receive things from their parents?

When they need some food, do they try and pay their parents for it, or do they need to earn it? No! Do they need to convince their parents that they deserve their food? No! They simply come to their parents with empty hands, expecting to receive the food as a gift.

Young children are marked by a helpless dependence on others in order to survive. They have nothing to offer. That’s exactly the way God wants us to come to him. He wants us to come as beggars, with empty hands, asking for his forgiveness and love, even though we don’t deserve it. Children are good at receiving gifts without trying to earn them. We must come to God like them.

The 3rd verse of the hymn ‘Rock of ages’ goes like this:
Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling;
naked, come to thee for dress, helpless, look to thee for grace:
foul, I to the fountain fly, wash me, saviour, or I die.

Kent Hughes: ‘The soul that receives the kingdom is grace-oriented – it is open to the unmerited favour of God.’

Some people do not like to receive charity. But when it comes to God, we need to. Imagine you have run out of money and food. You decide to go to the foodbank. You arrive with an empty bag, that’s all. You are given food to tide you over for a few days. That’s how we should come to God spiritually. We come in prayer and say to God, ‘I am empty; please fill me. I am a sinner; please forgive me. I don’t deserve your love; but please love me on account of your grace and mercy.’

Have you come to Jesus like this? You won’t get to Heaven any other way!

Sermon: Sunday, 22nd June, 2025
Speaker: John Johnstone
Scripture: Zechariah 4

Something significant is about to happen in the life of our church. From August, Leven Free Church will commence their own morning services. We will no longer be meeting together here. Around 20 people will move on and will be greatly missed but will do so in the best of circumstances – to plant a new church. It would be easy for some from both sides to become discouraged. Sometimes we say that there is safety in numbers. Should we not stay together and plan for a megachurch in the Gallatown, Kirkcaldy’s finest suburb? Will Leven Free Church be able to kick on and grow and develop? Will Kirkcaldy Free Church grow once again, having been pruned back? Will either church have enough resources to even survive in the secular environment of modern-day Scotland, with churches closing left, right and centre? We all might have our own thoughts on this matter. But we’re gathered around God’s Word this morning to try and find a Biblical way to think about this new venture. Perhaps a strange vision 2,500 years ago seems like a strange place to turn to. I hope we will see together that it is not. In fact, this vision will instruct and inspire both church planters and church revitalisers alike.

This is the 5th of 8 visions which the prophet Zechariah receives from the LORD. We need a little background in order to understand the vision properly. In 586 BC, Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians. The city was burned, the temple destroyed and thousands were carted off 1000 miles east to Babylon. The Lord used the Babylonians to judge his own people for their spiritual adultery. Around 70 years later the Babylonian empire gave way to the Medo-Persian empire. Their king, Cyrus, allows the Jews to return to their homeland and around 50,000 did so. These people make a good start laying the foundation for a new temple. However, they face outside opposition and become more focused on their own homes and forget about the importance of the temple. The work grinds to a halt. So, what does the Lord do? He sends two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, to stir the people to action once again. But the task of rebuilding the temple and the walls of the city seem enormous. It just looks too difficult. The task seems to loom over them, like an ominous mountain.

1. A magnificent vision

Zechariah sees: ‘… a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven channels to the lamps. Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.’   (Zechariah 42-3) Oil pours from the olive trees into the bowl, allowing the lamps to burn continuously. What is the lampstand? It is the community of God’s people. It stands for the church. We see this both in the Old and New Testaments.

‘The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.’ &nbsp: (Revelation 1:20) The lampstand is made of gold to indicate how valuable and precious the church is to God. The function of a lampstand is to give light to the world.

‘Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.’ Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.’   (Philippians 2:14-16)

‘You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.’   (Matthew 5:14-16)

What is God saying to the people in Zechariah’s day? He is reminding them that although the task of rebuilding the temple and the city might seem daunting and even impossible, they will be able to do it because of the divine resources they have. By his Spirit, represented by the oil, God enables us to do his work. God will supply the power needed for the temple to be rebuilt. Nothing is impossible with him. In fact, verse 9 says: ‘The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it.’ In other words, God is promising that in Zerubbabel’s own day, the temple shall be completed. It is as if God is saying: ‘I will build my temple.’

And what was true for God’s people then is also true for God’s people now in 2025. Jesus says ‘And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.’   (in Matthew 16:18) If Jesus promises to build his church, will he not supply the power for it to be built? Can we not step out in faith to plant and revitalise? There is really not too much difference between church planting and church revitalisation. In both situations, we are sowing seed, and depending on the Spirit of God to work.

There will be times in the next few months and years when we see obstacles to our gospel work piling up into a mountain. We might wonder if there’s any point to the prayer meetings and witnessing and worship services. We will wonder about our own resources. Where can we get the strength to continue in the work? Some of our people might have low morale. At such times, let’s return to this vision; the resources which really matter, which really change lives, all come directly from the Spirit of God.

2. Do not trust in human strength

Verse 6 is the key verse in this passage: ‘So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.’

Maybe some of the Israelites looked at the foundations of the temple and started to play the ‘if only’ game. If only we had the resources Solomon had when he built the first temple. Israel was so wealthy and powerful back then. If only we had access to the great forests and skilled craftsmen. Verse 10 indicates to us that some doubted the temple project: ‘Who dares despise the day of small things…’ Today, maybe some of us will be tempted to say, if only we had £1,000,000 to buy our own church and manse in Leven. If only we had purpose-built café and large group of musicians to make our worship services more attractive. In KFC, we might think, if only we had more elders at this end of Fife. If only we could see more people coming to faith. If only people in Scotland were more interested in speaking about spiritual things. If only I wasn’t so busy. If only I wasn’t more gifted and better at speaking to people.

What does God say? He says that it’s not really about the human resources in Leven or in Kirkcaldy. ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.’   (Zechariah 4:6) We might seem weak in the eyes of the world. Our gatherings might even seem pathetic to some. We might not have millions in the bank or influence and power in our society. But the wonderful truth is this: building the Kingdom of God in the Kingdom of Fife is not about our own resources. It is not about our strength or might. It is, rather, about God’s Spirit being at work. We sang from Psalm 146: ‘Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God.’   (Pslam 146:3-5)

In Scotland, our oil is running out. There is not an endless supply of oil in the north sea. Humanity is always stressing about how we can find new sources of the energy we need. However, when it comes to the energy the church needs, we actually do have an endless supply of power. Isn’t that remarkable? Do you believe that? In the vision, the oil from the trees gives a constant supply. We need not fret about the future.

The success of Leven Free Church does not depend on the Murrays, or even the Brooks or Donalds. They are all dispensable, in the best possible way. And Kirkcaldy Free Church certainly doesn’t need me and or anyone else in the church family. We need the Spirit of God to work. Many of us know this already. And yet, if we are honest, we can slip into worldly thinking. Once we do this or that, then the church will really take off, we start to think. It is not true. I love the fact that you are who are leaving are doing something which is actually beyond your ability to succeed. Because that means that you are utterly dependent on God to work, if things are to progress. And that’s the best place to be. We need a vision statement that allows for the power of God. That means we can legitimately step out in faith and trust in God to supply all that we need, and all that we currently don’t have!

3. Trust alone in the Spirit of God

If Leven Free Church is to grow numerically, see conversions and see saints discipled in the faith then they will need to depend on God’s Spirit for everything. Only the Holy Spirit can breathe life into those dry bones of Ezekiel chapter 37, making them into a vast army. Only the Holy Spirit can remove the veil of unbelief which covers the eyes of the people of Leven and its surrounding towns and villages. To change even a single person in Leven necessitates a divine miracle of God. God’s Spirit must bring light into the darkness even as he did on the 1st day of creation. ‘The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.’   (2 Corinthians 4:4-6)

How will be able to tell if Leven Free Church and Kirkcaldy Free Church are trusting in the power of God the Holy Spirit? That is a good question. The short answer is just one word: prayer. Prayer is the barometer of how much we are trusting in God’s Spirit. Prayerlessness, not praying, means that we think we can get on fine in the church without God’s supernatural help. We become self-dependent. That’s why it’s a really concerning sign if a church’s prayer meeting is small and if people lack enthusiasm to gather to pray. Each and every day, as individuals, as families and as churches, let’s do all we can to be a praying people. Remember Exodus chapter 17 and the scene with Joshua and his men fighting in the valley against the Amalekites; it was when Moses’ arms were help up in prayer that the battle was won. It is the same today.

Let’s end by considering the 2 olive trees with their branches found on either side of the lampstand. What do they represent? ‘These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth.’ (Zechariah 4:14) One stands for Zerubbbel the governor, who was anointed for his task and was in the family tree of Israel’s kings. The other stands for Joshua the High Priest, who was also anointed for the task. The priest and the governor are the divinely appointed channels for conveying the blessing of the Holy Spirit to the people of God. Together, they point forward to the true priest-king, the Lord Jesus Christ. They foreshadow Christ, through whom the Holy Spirit came to the church on the day of Pentecost. ‘Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.’   (Acts 2:33)

Whenever a church tries to use its own oil for its work it always ends in unfaithfulness, pride and disaster. So, let’s pray that in this new chapter for both of our churches, we will so depend on God in prayer that there would be a continuous supply of God’s oil in order that we can shed light into this dark world, share the gospel with those around us, maintain the unity of the church and understand the will of God through the Word of God. This is the Word of the Lord all of us here this morning: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.’ (Zechariah 4:6)

Sermon: Sunday, 15th June, 2025
Speaker: John MacPherson
Scripture: 1 Peter 1:13-21

What does it mean to live as a Christian in a world that doesn’t share your convictions? A world where Christian beliefs can feel alien, maybe even unwelcome. A world where faith in Jesus doesn’t get you applause but raises eyebrows.

That’s exactly the kind of world Peter was writing to. Scattered across the Roman Empire, these early Christians were beginning to feel the pinch of living as strangers in their own towns — misunderstood, maligned, and tempted to shrink back. But Peter writes to remind them who they really are, and how to live in light of that. And Peter tells us exactly why he wrote this letter. He says: ‘I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it.’   (1 Peter 5:12)

In other words, the whole letter is a call to see the gospel clearly and to stand firm in it — to keep living in light of who God says you are, even when it’s hard.

The first 12 verses of 1 Peter are like a soaring hymn of praise. Peter lifts their eyes to the breathtaking realities of what God has done for them in Christ. God has chosen them, caused them to be born again into a living hope, secured for them an imperishable inheritance, and is guarding them by His power until that final day. Even their sufferings, Peter says, are not meaningless but refining their faith. And though they haven’t seen Jesus, they love Him. These are truths so profound that even the angels long to look into them!

Now, in verse 13, Peter says, ‘Therefore’ — because all this is true, here’s how you must live. It’s the classic New Testament pattern: the indicative comes before the imperative. Gospel identity before gospel lifestyle. You ARE different — so BE different. That’s the heart of this whole letter, and it’s how we’ll structure our time this morning. If you remember nothing else, remember this: You are different, so be different, to make a difference.

If you belong to Christ, you are an elect exile. You don’t fit in here anymore. So don’t try to. Instead, live in a way that shows the world what God is like. That’s the flow of this whole passage. And in the verses before us today (1 Peter:13–21), Peter gives us three clear commands — three ways to live differently as God’s people in the world.

1. Set your hope fully on future grace

Peter begins: ‘Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.’   (1 Peter 1:13)

In other words: focus on your future. Set your hope – not vaguely, not partly – but fully on the grace that will be ours when Christ returns. No backup plans. No half measures. All our eggs in this basket. It’s a challenging instruction that makes us ask, ‘What am I setting my hope on for the future?’ Are we pinning our hopes on career success, finding ‘the one’ true love, getting a dream home, raising the perfect family, or finally going on that once-in-a-lifetime holiday? It’s so easy for us as Christians to get caught up hoping in the same things the world hopes in. The world hopes in them – but Peter says Christians are different. Don’t settle your heart on what won’t last. Lift your eyes to eternity.

So how do we do that? Peter gives us two means: alert minds and sober thinking. The ESV (English Standard Version) helpfully renders it ‘preparing your minds for action’ – literally, ‘girding up the loins of your mind.’ It’s a funny picture. Imagine people in ancient times wearing long, flowing robes – great for keeping you cool in the Middle Eastern heat, but terrible for running or fighting because you’d trip over them. To ‘gird up your loins’ meant to bunch up that long robe and tie it up around your waist, so your legs are free to run. Peter applies that imagery to our minds: roll up your mental sleeves, tuck in any loose, trailing thoughts – be ready for action. This is deliberate. Intentional. Don’t let your thoughts drift into daydreams or distractions. Fix your attention on God’s truth. Keep reminding yourself: ‘Jesus is coming. My future is with Him.’ That’s something we do together, too – at church, in small groups, at the prayer meeting, over coffee. Keep pointing one another to what is unseen, to what is eternal, to what is coming.

And then Peter says: be sober-minded. Not just free of alcohol – but spiritually clear-headed. Because just as literal drink dulls our senses, the world’s values can numb our spiritual reflexes. We can easily grow drowsy toward the things of God – especially in seasons of pressure or pain. Have you felt that? When life gets hard, and you’re tempted to retreat into comfort – or when stress drives you to put your hope in money, affirmation, or control. That’s the subtle pull of spiritual intoxication. Peter is saying, ‘Don’t get drunk on cheap dreams that can’t last, don’t get drunk on temporary comforts, don’t get drunk on Netflix, nostalgia, or the next best thing…’

Let me give one example. Many Christians long for marriage – and rightly so. But it’s easy to believe the world’s message that romantic love is ultimate. I’ve watched friends – strong believers – drift. They began by hoping for a godly spouse. But when that didn’t happen in their preferred timing, they gave their hearts to whoever paid attention. Some ended up in relationships that took them away from Christ. What happened? A good desire became a ruling one. A lesser hope displaced a greater one. Slowly, they started sipping from the world’s cup — absorbing its message that romance is ultimate, that fulfilment lies in finding ‘the one.’ But that message dulled their judgment and pulled them off course.

Peter’s saying: be careful what you’re drinking. What are you taking in, day after day? The world offers an endless cocktail of false hopes — ‘You’ll be complete if only you have this.’ But sip long enough, and you’ll find yourself spiritually drowsy, drifting from the true hope. Instead, fill your heart with God’s promises, and especially His Future Grace. That word ‘grace’ reminds us that what’s ahead is not earned, but freely given. It’s guaranteed because of Jesus – His resurrection secures it. Every other future is uncertain. Only one is certain.

Let me ask: what dream has captured your heart for the future? Is it something less than Christ? If so, why? Whatever it is, I can guarantee it’s far less wonderful and far less secure than the hope of heaven. Friends, let’s do what Peter says – lift our eyes from the here and now, and fix them on that glorious day when Jesus is revealed. When your mind starts to wander toward lesser hopes, catch yourself and refocus. He’s coming back. Keep that reality in the forefront of your thinking. The more we set our minds on that grace-filled future, the more strength and joy we’ll have to persevere in the present.

2. Be holy like your Father

Peter’s second exhortation flows naturally from the first: ‘As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do.’   (1 Peter 1:15)

If the first command focused on our hope, this one focuses on our conduct. Before we knew Christ, we were in spiritual ignorance – we didn’t know better, so we just chased our desires. But NOW, by God’s mercy, that’s not who we are anymore! We’ve been given a new life and identity. Peter says: ‘Don’t let your new life be shaped by old desires.’ Now, that’s not easy. Wouldn’t it be great if, once you became a Christian, sin just disappeared? But the truth is, our old habits cling on. Daily, we face a choice: indulge or resist?

As someone once said, ‘Kill sin, or it will kill you.’ It might sound intense, but it’s true – unchecked sin can wreak havoc in our lives. So we can’t afford to be tame or casual about it, we have to take it seriously. Sometimes that means real repentance: naming the sin, asking God for help, and making changes – even drastic ones. Maybe you need accountability. Maybe you need to confess to someone. Don’t hide it – sin thrives in the dark, but it weakens in the light. Remember: Jesus died to redeem you from that old life. It no longer owns you.

But holiness is more than just saying ‘No’ to sin – it’s saying ‘Yes’ to God. Peter puts it simply: be holy in all you do, just as your Father is holy. To be holy is to be distinct, morally pure, set apart for God. Peter’s quoting Leviticus here – God’s call to Israel after saving them from Egypt: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’   (Leviticus 11:45) They were to live differently because they belonged to Him. And so do we. We’re God’s children now, and the family likeness should be growing in us. So don’t just avoid sin – actively pursue Christlikeness. Let God’s character shape your life.

Think about God’s attributes that we can imitate in daily life – His kindness, His honesty, His patience, His generosity, His compassion. To be holy is to let those qualities be evident in us. Holiness is not about ticking boxes or rule-keeping – it’s about becoming more like the most beautiful person in the universe.

That might feel overwhelming – holy in all you do? Every moment of every day? But here’s the key: think about today. Don’t stress about the next forty years of resisting sin. Just ask: How can I honour God today? ‘Lord, help me obey You today.’ And then do the same tomorrow. One faithful step at a time. Holiness isn’t about being dry or joyless. Holiness is becoming more like our Father. Think of someone whose character inspires you – whose humility or gentleness or generosity makes you think, ‘I want to be more like that.’

Now imagine becoming like the One who is the source of all that is good – God Himself! That’s what holiness is. It’s not about rule-following – it’s about relationship. When God says, ‘Be holy,’ He’s inviting us to share in His goodness. He’s saying, ‘Come close. Live like Me.’ And by His Spirit, we actually can. Now of course, we’ll stumble. There’ll be moments this week when we don’t reflect our Father. But that’s when we come back to Him in repentance. The same grace that saved us also trains us to live holy lives.

Maybe even now, the Spirit is bringing something to mind – some way in which you’ve been conforming to the world. Don’t ignore it. Don’t brush it off. Bring it to the cross. Confess it and ask for God’s help to change. You might even need to take a sledgehammer to a specific sin – removing the sources of temptation, setting up accountability, whatever it takes. Yes, sin is serious – but God’s grace is greater. He’s given us everything we need for a life of growing godliness. So, remember who you are. You belong to a holy God. You are different. So be different. Day by day, choose to be like your Father in Heaven.

3. Fear God until you finish

Peter’s third command is; ‘Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.’   (1 Peter 3:17)

Now let’s be honest — that phrase ‘fear God’ can feel confusing or off-putting. What does it mean to ‘fear’ someone we’re also meant to trust and love? Some Christians ignore the idea completely, picturing God more like a comforting grandfather or gentle therapist. But that can breed flippancy — a God who never says ‘No’ who never gets taken seriously. Others emphasise God’s holiness so heavily that they picture Him as cold or stern — someone to keep your distance from. But the Bible paints a richer picture. ‘Let us worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.’   (Hebrews 12;29)

Reverence. Awe. Yes, He is our loving Father. But He is also the holy Judge — utterly pure, infinitely glorious. We must hold both truths together. Think of a teenager slouched on the couch, eyes on his phone, barely grunting one-word answers to his dad.’
Hey, how was your day?’ – ‘Eh.’
‘Anything interesting happen? – Dunno.
‘Can we talk?’ – [Big shrug].
That indifference shows a lack of proper respect for the father. And sometimes, don’t we treat God like that? A brief prayer, a hurried song, but no real reverence or weight to His words.

So, what is the right kind of fear? There is, in the Bible, both ungodly fear and godly fear. Ungodly fear is what Adam and Eve felt when they hid — fear of punishment, wanting to run away. If you’re outside of Christ, that fear is appropriate. But if you belong to Jesus, there is no condemnation. That fear is gone.

Godly fear, however, is something entirely different. Rather than driving us away from God, it draws us toward Him in worship. This fear is not dread but reverence, being deeply moved by who God is: His holiness, power, justice, and astonishing love. It’s trembling not because you’re terrified, but because you’re amazed. One helpful definition I’ve heard is that the fear of the Lord is a mixture of awe, veneration, honour, and yes, a healthy sense of trembling before His greatness. It means we take God with utmost seriousness.

Godly fear doesn’t say, ‘God might crush me.’ It says, ‘God is so glorious, how could I take Him lightly?!’ It leads not to distance but to worship. It’s a love-soaked awe that shapes how we live. That’s Peter’s point. You call on God as Father — and He is your Father! But don’t forget: this Father is also Judge. He watches how we live, impartially. So live the whole of your life, in every setting, in reverent fear. Not just in church. In your studies, your friendships, your home, your work, your marriage, your retirement. Ask: ‘Is there anywhere I’ve been living as if God isn’t watching? Anywhere I’ve treated His word as optional?’ Reverent fear won’t let us compartmentalise obedience. It won’t let us say, ‘God can have Sundays, but not my relationships… not my finances… not my online habits.’ Godly fear means no corner of our lives is off-limits to Him — not
because we’re scared of punishment, but because we love and honour Him too much to treat His commands lightly.

Peter gives us two powerful reasons to live in godly fear… First, he reminds us of the price God paid to rescue us. ‘For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.’   (1 Peter 1:18-19)

The Son of God — sinless, spotless — gave His life to free us. That’s the value God places on you. That’s the cost of your forgiveness. Think about that. When we’re tempted to take sin lightly, Peter says: ‘Remember the cross. Remember what it cost God to save you.’ When we remember that our forgiveness and new life cost Jesus everything, it makes you pause, doesn’t it? How could I shrug at sins that Jesus suffered to rescue me from? Knowing the price of our redemption should deepen our reverence for God. It wasn’t cheap; it was infinitely costly. God must be immeasurably holy and just if sin required such a sacrifice – and immeasurably loving and merciful to provide that sacrifice Himself.

Godly fear flourishes when we keep the cross in view. We realise, ‘Wow, Lord, you did this for me… I owe you everything. Let me never insult your grace by living as though sin is no big deal.’

Second, Peter points us to the plan of God and our secure hope in Him. ‘He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.’   (1 Peter3:20)

The redemption accomplished through Jesus was no accident or plan B. Jesus came at just the right moment, and He came for you. We don’t fear circumstances, or rejection, or death — we fear the God who raised Jesus and rules eternity. And what a beautiful fear that is. The One who will judge us is the same One who gave His Son to save us. That truth humbles us without crushing us, gives us confidence, but not complacency, assurance but not arrogance. The fear of the Lord is what keeps us walking humbly and gratefully with Him until the end. That’s why Peter says we should fear God ‘as long as we live as foreigners here.’ Until the day we get home, this reverent awe should shape our steps. In heaven, fear will give way to face-to-face delight. But for now, it keeps us grounded, obedient, and thankful.

So, living in reverent fear means to live with a profound awareness: God is my Father, God is my Judge, God is my Redeemer, God is my hope. He’s always present, always holy, always loving – how could I not honour Him with my life?

If you hear all this and think, ‘I want more of that fear — I need more of that reverence in my heart,’ you’re not alone. That’s a good desire. Ask God for it. Pray, ‘Lord, teach me to fear You rightly. Not to shrink from You, but to honour You. Not to live in guilt, but in grateful worship.’ God loves to answer prayers like that.

Let’s live each day, not afraid of God — but in awe of Him. Not terrified, but transformed. Not flippant, but faithful. You are different. So be different — until the day you see Him face to face.

Peter has shown us three areas in which our ‘different-ness’ must shine: our hope (set fully on God’s grace, not on earthly dreams), our conduct (holy like our Father, not conforming to the world), and our attitude toward God (reverent fear, not casual or rebellious). This is the response to the great salvation we have received. And as we live this out, it will make a difference.

A church full of people who hope in their future with Christ, who strive to be holy, and who deeply reverence God – that kind of church stands out in a world of despair, indulgence, and irreverence. People around will notice that difference. Some may hate it, as in Peter’s day; but others may be drawn by it. Our distinct lives can become a beacon that points people to Jesus. So, don’t hide who you are. You are different because of God’s grace – so be different, to make a gospel difference in the lives of others.