Psalm 105:1-6, 37-end; Isaiah 51:1-11; Galatians 3:1-9, 23-end
All of our readings today encourage us to have faith! They talk to us about the benefits of faith in Jesus over being part of the world.
Today’s sermon could be summed up in the opening words of our Psalm:
“Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.”
My work here is done! No, let us dig a little deeper…
The people of Israel were exiled, they had lost everything – just as many of you have been displaced and have lost everything. When things change unexpectedly, when promises we’ve heard appear to be broken, we can become discouraged. When those promises were made by God we can lose faith. This is where – it is thought – the Israelites were at the time the Psalm was written. It raised questions for them, just as our situations today raise questions for us, here, today. Where is God? Why has He let this happen? Has He forgotten us?
In verses 8-11, which we’ve not read this morning, David gives a summary of the history – the things which God has done, the promises He has made. When we remind ourselves of what God has done our faith rises, it is rekindled, we are strengthened.
As we move to the later verses from our reading David continues with what God has done, verse 44 tells us “he gave them the lands of the nations, and they fell heir to what others had toiled for – that they might keep his precepts and observe his laws.”
God gives us so much, in return He simply asks us to obey Him.
If we have faltered, if we have taken our own path and not the one that God has planned for us, then there is always a way for us to come back. God will pursue us – as the father did the prodigal son – but He will never force us.
In Isaiah God calls the people to “listen to me” – the world is a busy and noisy place. As I’ve been in Juba this week preparing to go on mission tomorrow I’ve been conscious of how noisy it is at the guest house. Cars come and go, the water tanker seems to take longer to fill the tank, people call across the compound to each other, the fan hums louder and louder – I have struggled to find somewhere quiet to sit and listen to God. As Christians who seek after God we need to make an effort to listen to Him.
The people Isaiah was speaking to at the time were discouraged and feeling defeated. There is a call to “look back” to remember the works that God has done in the past – either in our own lives, in the lives of our families, or even looking back to what we read in the Bible.
Satan’s main activity is to discourage the children of God – to make us forget what He has done, to lead us to be discouraged and feel alone. We need to remember – what God has done, how we have got to where we are and thank Him. No one has ever said that following Jesus is easy – it isn’t. We will be asked to go to places we don’t know, places we may not like, we will need to spend time with people who are different to us, they may be from a different tribe, from a different nation, everything within us may be telling us to be wary of them, but Jesus tells us to love them, to “love your neighbour as yourself”. In Galatians we heard that there is no Jew and Gentile, no slave or free, in the same way there is no Nuer and Dinka, no kawaja and black, as children of God we are all equal, we are all loved by Him. We will all stand in front of His judgement throne and account for the works we have done while here on earth. Are we doing works because the law tells us to, or because God asks us? Are we walking in faith or are we doing our own thing?
There may be times that we feel in the minority yet God is reminding the people through Isaiah that Abraham was one man and God made a promise to him to increase his family. God cares about us as individuals and as a body of believers. God can use each one of us individually, as well as together, to expand. We can look back and see how much has come from Abraham. In the same way God can use us – whether our number is small or large – to bring about His kingdom here on earth.
As we look back and see how God has worked in us and in others throughout history our faith is stirred and strengthened and we have hope to push on into the promises He has for us.
In verses 4-6 of Isaiah 51 we are reminded that when we are saved, when we have fully committed ourselves to following Jesus, to putting our trust in God then we have salvation that lasts forever. Our justification is through faith; faith is believing.
God will always be righteous, He does not change; and our salvation is forever. When we repent, turn around and commit ourselves to follow God, when we invite Him to be Lord in our lives and are saved, that is forever. We may be tempted and turn away from Him but He will never turn away from us. From the moment we invite Him to be Lord of our lives we are forgiven, we are cleansed, we are righteous – forever. Our salvation is permanent. Our names are written in the book of life.
It is for us to stand firm in our faith; to be a witness to those around us of how to live as Jesus showed us, to understand that difficulties, trials, temptations, mocking from others, all these things will pass in time, but God’s love, His protection, His Spirit will never leave us.
One way we can stand firm is to know our Bibles. Bentiu’s Bishop John shared something during the week about learning chapters and verses by heart. I have always been impressed with the ability of so many of my friends here in South Sudan to do so. I have never needed to memorise verses – I’ve always been able to look up online or in my bible but when Satan is attacking us it’s a great resource to have to be able to respond immediately with a verse – not to fumble and go and look it up! As Christians we are in a battle, the word of God is part of our armour.
As we pray and ask God to act on our behalf – for a new job, for reconciliation with a family member, for the way to return home- whatever we are asking Him, we do so as Jesus taught us – asking ‘your will be done’. We have to trust that He will work out His purposes for our lives in His way and in His time. And we need to be listening to Him as He tells us what that way is – as we do that our prayers become aligned with His will and we will see more answered the way we have asked.
So, what about us, here and now. Have you opened your heart to Jesus? Have you really repented and accepted His gift of forgiveness?
If so then you are saved. You can call upon God and be confident that He will hear. If you haven’t maybe today is the day to do so?
Paul, writing to the Galatians, begins by asking the people if they are foolish! I don’t think you’d like it if I asked you that, so I expect they were a little upset!
Paul is talking to them about their faith – because they have faith they, just like us, have received the Holy Spirit. Yet Paul here is helping them to understand – it’s because of faith that they have the Holy Spirit – through believing what they have heard (faith), not through works of the law.
Again we are taken back to Abraham – Abraham was a man of faith, he believed God and because of that it was credited to him as righteousness.
As people of faith we are descendants of Abraham. We need to rely on our faith – not start trying to live in our own strength.
Until we have believed in Jesus – until we have faith in Him and trust Him – we are slaves to the law. We have freedom when we come under the Kingship of Jesus.
As Christians we are to seek God; there is no point seeking anyone if we are not going to listen to them. So when we pray, when we seek God’s face, it is not a one way conversation – we need to be open to hear and to receive what He has to say to us. Perhaps He is asking you to reconcile with a brother or sister; perhaps He is asking you to offer someone a place to stay; perhaps He is asking you to pray with or for someone. Whatever He is asking of you, of me, are we ready to act?
How is your faith today? Is it stirred because of something that God has done for you this week? Or are you struggling? Is Satan trying to steal what you know to be true of God? Who will you share Jesus with this week?
Let us come back to where we began –
“Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.