Be Still And Know

Revelation 1:12-14 John wrote: “When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lampstands. And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow.” In order to understand these amazing verses, we need to appreciate that the Church at the time was very small and facing the brutal and powerful opposition of the Roman Empire. This must have been incredibly scary. It looked as if they were going to be crushed. So, it was vital for them to understand exactly who Jesus was and the reasons why they could be confident in him. This whole book told them that Jesus had won the final victory, so, even though there might be tough times ahead, they could be confident in him. The picture of Jesus that John gives us here sounds very strange to our modern ears, but what he was doing was bringing together lots of language from the Old Testament which showed that Jes

Revelation 1:10-11 It was the Lord’s Day, and I was worshipping in the Spirit. Suddenly, I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet blast. It said: “Write in a book everything you see, and send it to the seven churches in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.” For many years after Jesus’ earthly ministry, his followers continued to meet on Saturday, and those from a Jewish background maintained their attendance at the temple or their local synagogue. However, by the beginning of the second century, the special day for Christians had become Sunday, the first day of the week, the day of resurrection. John’s reference here to the Lord’s Day is the only time this expression is used in the Bible and almost certainly refers to his practice of worshipping on a Sunday. The first manual of Christian worship and instruction was called the Didache, and it observed: “On the Lord’s Day we meet and break bread.” Ignatius of Antioch described Christians as “no longer l

Revelation 1:9 I, John, am your brother and your partner in suffering and in God’s Kingdom and in the patient endurance to which Jesus calls us. I was exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching the word of God and for my testimony about Jesus. Unfortunately, we cannot be sure who this John was. Some people have thought of him as the disciple who wrote the fourth gospel, but that is unlikely. The writing style in Revelation is very different from that of the gospel. However, what we do know is that he was clearly a significant Christian leader and, as a result of his ministry, he had been forced into exile in Patmos, a Greek island that lies off the coast of Turkey. He had probably been sentenced to work in the quarries on the island. John revealed himself both as a brother to his readers and also as a partner in their suffering. He was not writing this book from an ivory tower but standing among them, recognising that they were part of the same family and going through similar trials. In short, he unders

Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega – the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come – the Almighty One.” Everybody is interested in the future, and the book of Revelation is designed to help us as we prepare ourselves for it. If you were looking for a map or a timetable of events, you will be sadly disappointed. What the book gives us is a vision of God, who is so powerful that however great and fierce the opposition, he will be victorious. The book of Revelation is intended not to scare us or tantalise us but to give us confidence in our God, who has the whole of history in his hands. Our verse today beautifully describes how history is embraced by God. Using the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, God is described as being the Alpha and the Omega. He was there before the dawn of creation, and he will have the final word. He is described here as the Almighty, a description that is used nine times in this book, and only once

Romans 16:3-5 Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus. In fact, they once risked their lives for me. I am thankful to them, and so are all the Gentile churches. Also give my greetings to the church that meets in their home. This final chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans contains greetings to a number of specific people. It gives us a fascinating window into the early Church. We find that the Roman church was incredibly diverse in terms of race, social rank and gender. We can see in the following verses that it was composed of people from both Jewish and Gentile backgrounds. Some of the people have names that were common among slaves, but alongside them we meet people like Aristobulus who, many scholars suggest, was the grandson of Herod the Great and friend of the Emperor Claudius. Particularly notable is the fact that of the 26 people named, nine of them were women. It’s also interesting to note that six of these women are described in terms of their mi

Romans 15:30 Dear brothers and sisters, I urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to join in my struggle by praying to God for me. Do this because of your love for me, given to you by the Holy Spirit. It is an incredible privilege to belong to the Christian family. As soon as you become a Christian, you have brothers and sisters who are part of your new worldwide and eternal family. I treasure that moment recorded in Acts 9:17 when Ananias went to meet Saul after his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus. Ananias knew of Saul’s violent reputation and he was clearly surprised at the news that he had met the Lord, but we read that Ananias went into the house where Saul was staying, placed his hands on him and said: “Brother Saul.” What a miracle! In today’s verse, Paul speaks of how his brothers and sisters could join him in his struggle. There is no doubt of their love and respect for Paul, and I am sure that they were eager to do whatever they could to support him. Paul told them that the

Romans 15:23-24 But now I have finished my work in these regions, and after all these long years of waiting, I am eager to visit you. I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome. And after I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little while, you can provide for my journey. Paul’s love for the church in Rome is very clear, and he couldn’t wait to visit them. I love how he sets out his strategy so clearly. He was always looking to develop the mission of the Church, so, having paid them a visit, he then aimed to go to Spain to preach the gospel. In order to enable that mission to succeed, he would be looking to the Roman church to support him. These few verses give us an insight into Paul’s heart and his plans, but, as we all know, it didn’t work out in the way that he had hoped. His first task was to go to Jerusalem to take the money he had collected for the relief of the famine victims. He knew that it would be a potentially dangerous journey. His presence in Jerusalem was never goi

Romans 15:13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Hope is a slippery word, so we need to be quite clear what Paul means by it. When we use the word ‘hope’, there is normally a ‘maybe’ in our voice – we are not confident. When I say “I hope it will be sunny tomorrow”, you know that I mean well and would love to think that it might be sunny, but I also realise that it might not be. Or if I say I hope the train will arrive on time, once again you know that I’m not absolutely sure it will. In order to understand Paul’s use of the word ‘hope’, we need to get rid of any suggestion of doubt, because he was absolutely confident that the future was secure in God’s hands. His future hope was built on the solid rock of Jesus’ death and resurrection. He didn’t have any trace of doubt that what God has promised would come true. The language of confident hope was so imp

Romans 15:5-6 May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You don’t need to be a genius to work out why Paul so often spoke about the issue of unity! He knew how hard it was to achieve. If the early Church had always enjoyed harmonious relationships, he could have kept quiet on the subject. His continual reiteration of the message of unity was because he knew that it was the demanding daily work of the Church – and it still is! It is often very small issues which cause huge disputes in churches. It’s just the same in marriage. When I’ve had the privilege of walking with couples who have encountered difficulties, almost always when I ask them to trace back to the original dispute, they fall about laughing at the absurd triviality of the issue. If a small disagreement is not resolved, it

Romans 14:1 Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong. In every generation, there are issues on which Christians disagree. This will always be the case – the question is what to do with those disputes, particularly in relation to young Christians. Paul offers very strong and practical advice. He is desperately concerned that such issues shouldn’t be a stumbling block to those who are younger and weaker in the faith. He encourages his readers to respect one another’s different opinions and not to make a big issue of it. The two areas of tension in the Roman Church concerned food and the celebration of special days. Those from a Jewish background had some very strict rules about their food and the Sabbath. They were absolutely convinced that they were right, and clearly had no willingness to negotiate. Paul said that what mattered was doing what they believed was right before the Lord. If someone ate a particular food and another person

Romans 13:11-12 You know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armour of right living. In this life, everything is limited by time. You might want to have another day to complete your revision, but when the examination day comes, there is no more time. You might have lots of worthy things to do, but the aeroplane won’t wait for you. You may be a great athlete and keen to do some more training, but when the starting pistol is fired, there is no more time. Paul wanted his readers to have a clear understanding that their time was fast running out, so they needed to be on their toes, ready to serve God here and now, and not put it off. It would seem that Paul, in common with most of the early Christians, was expecting Jesus to return at any moment. However, whether we die or the Lord returns before our dea

Romans 13:1 Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. Our society has a high level of cynicism towards those in authority, and the media takes every opportunity to shoot politicians down in flames whenever they slip up. However, the apostle Paul would encourage us to look at our politicians with spiritual eyes and to remember that all authority on this earth ultimately comes from God. Therefore, it is vital that we pray for those in authority and play our part as good citizens, obeying the laws of the land and showing our willingness to support the community. I can hear you asking a very big question: “What should we do if the governing authorities command us to do something that is contrary to God’s law?” Paul doesn’t address this issue and it might well be because, at this stage, he hadn’t encountered any particular difficulties. The Jews had a special status of protection within the Roman Empire and

Romans 12:17-18 Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honourable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. The Christian life involves a complete rewiring of the way we think and live. It involves a total revolution in our lives because when someone does something evil to us, the natural reaction is to retaliate. Everything in us makes us want to hit back. We want justice and we don’t want our attacker to think that they can get away with it. Jesus’ way is different. He calls us never to take revenge but to leave that to God. Our job is to feed our enemies when they are hungry and to give them a drink when they are thirsty. We are to go out of our way to bless them and help them, and that is tough. That’s not the way we are naturally inclined to act, but it is the way of Christ and it is the way of peace. Paul wasn’t unrealistic. His life brought him into conflict with many people and he had no illusions that his teaching would be easy to live

Romans 12:9-10 Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honouring each other. Napoleon once said: “Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I founded empires; but upon what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ alone founded his empire upon love.” It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of love. Without love there can be no Church, no blessing, no joy, no future worth having. Everything depends upon love, and here, Paul was concerned that the Christians in Rome didn’t make do with a phoney love. He recognised that it is possible to pretend to love other people. We can do it by being superficial and merely polite with others, glancing over the surface of their lives without really engaging with them and their needs. What Paul longed for was for deep, compassionate, sacrificial love which would totally transform their lives together. It is interesting that Paul

Romans 12:7-8 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. In three of his letters, Paul talks about the gifts that God has given to Christians, and each list is very different. Here and in Ephesians 4 and 1 Corinthians 12, he makes it clear that every follower of Christ has been given a unique gift from God which is vital for the Church, the body of Christ. God gives his gifts according to the needs of the Church, and I am quite sure that if Paul were writing today, he would be keen to add the gift of helping with public address systems and digital technology. The Holy Spirit gives just the right gifts to his Church to enable it to be effective. The point that Paul is making here is that once you have found your gift, you need to get on and

Romans 12:3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. It is vital for all of us to have a true understanding of ourselves. If we go around with an inflated view of our own importance, the whole of life will look distorted. Relationships will be damaged, and we will add layers of difficulty to everyday life. It is just as damaging to have too low a view of ourselves. If we go into the day feeling that we are unimportant and don’t count, we are liable to be steamrollered by the smallest of difficulties. What we need is an accurate understanding of who we are, and that’s what we gain by faith. As we place our trust in God, we learn that we are made in his image and are of infinite worth. Nothing we do is unimportant when we know that the Holy Spirit is filling us and directing our actions. The apostle Paul is clearly ver

Romans 12:2 Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Every day, our thinking is being shaped by our society. Most of the time, we are totally unaware that this is happening, but there is no way that we can avoid being influenced by the expectations and standards of the people around us, by the information and views that we receive through the media and by ingenious and attractive advertising. We won’t swallow all of it whole, but we cannot be immune from those many powerful influences. As J B Phillips put it in his famous Bible translation, we need to resist the world’s attempts to squeeze us “into its own mould”. The apostle Paul said we need God to transform us by changing the way we think. This is incredibly radical, but without it we will continue to be the same as we have always been. When Jesus met Nicodemus, a respected Jewish r

Romans 12:1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice – the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. We use the word worship in a wide variety of ways. Sometimes we use it to refer to a church service, and at other times we use it for a part of the service which is called “a time of worship”, normally consisting of prayers and singing. Here, Paul is using the word in a much bigger way. He is talking about us giving our whole lives to God as an act of worship, and he suggests that this is the only fitting response to a God who has done everything for us. Paul has absolutely no thought that we could worship God for a while and then get on with our own life, as if we could divide up life into different compartments. Our whole life needs to be focused on worshipping God. Paul invited the Christians in Rome to offer their worship to God as a living and holy sacrifice. Wi

Psalm 88:1-3 O LORD, God of my salvation, I cry out to you by day. I come to you at night. Now hear my prayer; listen to my cry. For my life is full of troubles, and death draws near. This is possibly the saddest of all the psalms. The psalmist cried out to God in a state of total despair. Many of the psalms are referred to as psalms of lament, but this one goes even further and is full of absolute desperation. It is painful to read because it is so bleak, but I am so glad that it is part of the Bible. It reminds us that God is there for us, whatever the circumstances. His love reaches out to us even in the darkest of places. It reminds me of Psalm 139 where the psalmist declared that it is impossible to escape from God’s Spirit: “I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there” (vv7-8). We are all different and you might not have been through such desperate times, and perhaps never will, but we will all meet people who are struggling

Psalm 86:11 Teach me your ways, O LORD, that I may live according to your truth! I wonder what your school teachers were like. I suspect that we all had a wide range of experiences. Some of my teachers were strict, others were encouraging, a few were inspiring. Some seemed to be in the wrong job, others were funny - and some just thought they were funny! Teachers vary enormously, but when it comes to learning about life itself, we need the very best teacher. Here, David recognises that God is that person. God is often spoken of as Israel’s teacher. In Isaiah 2:3, the prophet identified Jerusalem as the centre of education for the world when he wrote: “People from many nations will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.’ For the LORD’s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem.” Sadly, God’s teaching was often rejected. In Jeremiah’s prophecy we hear God saying: