Devotional Materials. Week Commencing Sunday 21st November 2021
Call to worship
“I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: you disciplined me like an unruly calf, and I have been disciplined. Restore me, and I will return, because you are the Lord my God.” Jeremiah 31: 18
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” 1 Peter 5:10
Opening Hymn
‘Amazing Grace’ (MP 31)
John Newton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG0vH4WYChQ
Reading. John 5: 1-15
5 1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie-the blind, the lame, the paralysed 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" 7 "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." 8 Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat." 11 But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' " 12 So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?" 13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. 14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
Opening prayer
Eddie Askew has written a prayer based on the healing of that man. Let’s use it for ourselves:
Lord,
You came into the desert of his life
like sunlight through a lense,
your energy bright- focussed
on the desiccated tinder of his pain.
You came
to set his life on fire with love.
To raise him
from his bed of loneliness
and invite him to reach out
and take the healing only you could offer.
“No-one to help,” he said
I know the feeling, Lord.
The times when life looks dark and bleak
and when I reach for you I find no touch,
no point of contact,
merely an empty space
which you once occupied.
Yet you are near,
My life’s experience says it’s so,
and I just need to wait
for clouds to lift
and let the sunshine through.
The waiting’s hard,
however long or short the time,
but when I think my strength has gone
and I am ready to give up,
I glimpse you walking
through the crowd
of my preoccupations
to stand,
a presence by my side.
And then I know
The healing can begin.
The Lord Jesus went to where that once paralysed man lay. He went quietly, unobtrusively and unrecognised. Christ stands unseen, among the disadvantaged, and comes to those at the back of the queue. That sheep gate and pool was the last-hope place, full of last-hope people. But Christ restored that man.
Hymn
‘His Name is wonderful’ (MP 234)
Audrey Mieir
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN59Yaz0nMA
Sermon. ‘He Restores my Soul’
If the Lord is our Shepherd we shall not want. Without Him there is a continual restlessness. If your happiness comes from something you deposit, drive, drink or digest, then you are in a prison, the prison of want. Always wanting more. But if we do look to the shepherd and rely on him we will gain that sense of security and contentment that can only be found in relationship with Him. The security Paul had discovered when he says: “I have learnt to be satisfied with the things I have…I know how to live when I am poor, and I know how to live when I have plenty” (Phil.4:11,12).
If Jesus is our Shepherd and we follow his leading, then He will cause us to lay down in green pastures- the cure for weariness. Without Him we become physically exhausted in our quest for more stuff and we are spiritually exhausted. Questions like “why am I here?” “What’s the point?” “What is right and wrong?” “Who can I rely on?”, “is there life after death?” All these steal away our rest. Our sinful nature also drains us spiritually: “What I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (Rom.7:15). But- as we saw last time- God gives us rest; physically, the Sabbath rest principle- a day a week, and yet spiritually we are always in a state of rest before Him. We have ceased from striving to be accepted through our own works and instead rely on the grace shown to us at the cross.
And if Jesus is our Shepherd then we will follow him beside the still waters. This is the anti-dote to worry. We receive His help- His grace in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16). God promised to supply the people of Israel. He promised to supply them with manna every day. But He told them to collect only one day’s supply at a time. So too God will provide for us at the right time. Matthew 6:34 says: “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes” (The Message). The key phrase there is “when the time comes” Instead of fearing what may happen in the future, we believe He will give us what we need when the time comes.
“I don’t know what I’ll do if my wife dies” You will when the time comes He will give you His comfort and grace.
“I don’t know what I’ll do if I face opposition for being a Christian” You will be given strength when the time comes.
“I could never lead a church. There’s too much that can go wrong” You will be given the wisdom needed when the time comes.
So the Lord is restoring our souls. If the Lord is our shepherd and He is dealing with greed and weariness and worry in our lives- as we have seen previously- then He is restoring our souls. That phrase naturally results:
“The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul”
He restores my soul because he has made me lie down in green pastures and led me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul because He is causing me to rest in Him and trust in Him rather than be eaten up with worry, weariness and self-reliance.
But this phrase can be understood in another way. Why does the soul need to be restored? It is because the soul is lost, hopeless. The soul has lost it’s way, and needs the Shepherd’s direction.
I had just started as Minister of Hope Baptist Church in Bridgend. I left early to get to a meeting at another church in the town- a Christian Aid meeting. I knew the postcode for the rectory and I knew it was Merthyr Maw Road North, as opposed to Merthyr Maw Road. So I drove following my Sat Nav’s directions and got to the road about 5 mins before the meeting was due to start. I saw a couple of buildings that looked like they might be churches, and got out to have a look but they weren’t the Church. I was supposed to go up a drive by the church and find a space to park around the church hall, the rectory being the other side of the hall. Well I drove up the road to its other end and came across a major road, so I came back around for another look. Unfortunately I didn’t have the phone number of the rectory with me. Time was going by, and I had that sinking feeling accompanied by a mild sense of hopelessness! I was worried because I thought this wasn’t exactly a great start for an initial contact with the other church representatives and ministers and I was angry with myself for not bringing the phone number with me. The more I looked the more these feelings increased because I couldn’t understand how the Sat Nav hadn’t directed me to the rectory itself. It was dark. So after about 40 mins of driving up and down and then walking up and down I decided to give it up and go and buy a Cappuccino at the local McDonalds. After that I managed to find my way home and went to the computer and gave my apologies to all concerned. They were very understanding about it- but my guess is they were a little mystified! A couple of days later I was in the area, and there was a spire rising high into the air- Norton Church for all to see. Merthyr Maw road is in 2 parts. I was searching the residential part, while the part I needed to be in was the other side of the dual carriageway. I didn’t realise Merthyr Maw Road North was a different bit of road- and neither did my Sat Nav make any such distinction.
But for our purposes I want us to focus on that feeling of hopelessness. No idea where to turn. No hunch as what to do. Out of ideas, out of energy. Regrets and rising feelings of embarrassment, anger at myself, feeling foolish, regrets. Just for a little while it had all the feelings of hopelessness!
For many people life itself is like that on an ongoing basis. People feel hopeless. Perhaps it’s because of failing health. Perhaps because of a broken relationship. Perhaps it’s because of financial debt. It could be a general sense of emptiness that many feel. It’s like an empty sports bag- you unzip it and look inside its various compartments. You turn it inside out, upside down and you shake it all about, but there’s nothing inside. Hopelessness is like that- emptiness.
But if you’re lost you need a person. Not just any person. I call my Sat Nav ‘Jane’ I call it Jane because a lady’s voice gives the directions out of the machine. I think the voice sounds a bit like my sister’s voice. My sister’s name is Jane. Now Jane has managed to get me to many places that I did not know previously. The satellite information is received by the machine and Jane directs me in a firm but polite way. However, Jane doesn’t always get it right. Sometimes there have been recent changes made to roads and if I haven’t got the latest map down loads from my computer then Jane will protest that I am in the middle of a field or a river, when actually I’m on a new bit of road or a new bridge. Jane isn’t a real person- at least Jane the Sat Nav isn’t!!
What would be better is if I had someone in the car with me. Someone who had made the journey before. Someone who knew where Norton Church was because they had driven there and taken a tried and tested route many times before.
I needed someone to get in my car and say to me “This isn’t the end. Don’t give up. There is a better place than this and it’s on the other side of the carriageway!!!! I’ll lead you there. If you’re lost you need someone who can impart vision and lift your spirits, so you know you’re making progress and really getting somewhere. You need someone who knows the way. One who can take you from this place to the right place.
Then your soul is restored.
.The circumstances are the same. But when there’s a rescuer then everything changes. You know you are not on your own. You lose those feelings of fear and anger, because you now have vision. The confusion is now lifting because you have direction. Your rescuer is with you
You’re still in a place you do not personally recognise. It hasn’t changed, but you have. You have changed because you now have hope. You know someone who can lead you out. Your shepherd knows better than you do and He has come to guide you.
Now there is encouragement in the phrase “He restores my soul”, because it presupposes that we have times when even as believers we have a tendency to fall or lose our way, perhaps for a little while, and we have to be brought back again. Both Christian and Hopeful have such times in Pilgrim’s Progress.
What is it that can make us lose our way even as Christians?
One factor is the neglect of the Word of God and private devotion. It’s as we read the Bible for ourselves and we hear it preached that we start to get our guidance right in life. Col.3:2. “You have been raised with Christ…Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things” and “Your word is a light for our path”. When we read the Bible it’s like we now see things from the perspective of God’s kingdom. What Jesus thinks. We start seeing what life is really about and His word directs our lives differently:
Dr J N Darby preached the gospel to poor farming communities for many years. A well known unbeliever challenged his faithful preaching and said “You claim all scripture is profitable. But what value is a verse like 2 Tim 4:13? “When you come, bring the cloak I left with Carpus at troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments”. Darby replied “Did you know that when I left my previous work to come and live here it was this particular verse that kept me from selling all my theological books? Make no mistake, all scripture is inspired by God and it is all profitable”
Another factor that can make us lose direction is Wordliness. When we only mix with people who are not Christians we will start copying them and fitting in with them. We will become like chameleons and lose our distinctive colours. Perhaps we will become focused on the pursuit of wealth, rather than the advance of God’s kingdom. We live for pleasures. We think of security as economic well-being rather than faith in the Good Shepherd and while He gives us many material blessings, we lose our way when we do not use our worldly wealth to lay up eternal treasure. Then Money starts getting a grip on us. Tozer: “The possessive clinging to things…must be torn from our souls in violence as Christ expelled the money changers from the temple”
Sin and worldliness all contribute to the soul being sick and lost. Christ our guide brings us out of these, directs us according to His Word. He also directs us and gives us vision by reminding us of our destination. Our eternal home. All we experience here should be responded to in the light of our heavenly home.
When catastrophe comes into our lives it’s then we feel most lost and vulnerable. But the Shepherd then impresses our ultimate destination on our hearts and minds. This life is not all there is. We are moving towards a heavenly home. It’s this ultimate hope that gets us through and even enriches otherwise hopeless circumstances in this life.
.Best example. Hymnist Horatio Spafford. He wrote the hymn “It is well with my soul”
Spafford experienced several traumatic events. The first was the death of his only son in 1871 at the age of 4, shortly followed by the great Chicago fire that ruined him financially (he had been a successful lawyer) Then in 1873 he planned to travel to Europe with his family on the SS Ville du Havre, but sent the family ahead while he was delayed with business matters. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sailing ship, the Loch Earn, and all of Spafford’s 4 daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram “Saved alone”. Shortly after Spafford travelled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write the words of his famous hymn as his ship passed near where his daughters had died:
“When peace like a river, attendeth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul”
Three of the six verses are about life after death.
The Good Shepherd has the right vision for us, an eternal homeland in view,
But ultimately Christ gives us himself. He is the Way. He himself travels with us. It doesn’t mean that we won’t meet unfamiliar, even hazardous, dangerous terrain as Spafford’s life shows us. Sometimes we will see things that disappoint us or hurt us. But the Lord has promised to stay with us until the very end. He is the Way.
The fourth verse of Spafford’s hymn expresses both that faith in life after death, but also a sense of Christ being with Him, being his very life:
“For me, be it Christ hence to live/If Jordan above me shall roll/ No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life/Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul” (verse 4)
Christ gives us Himself. Ultimately it’s by laying his life down for us that the Good Shepherd restores our souls:
In Pilgrim’s Progress Christian sets down his burden at the cross: “Now I saw in my dream that the highway up which Christian was to go, was fenced on either side with a wall, and that wall was called “salvation”….He ran thus till he came at a place somewhat ascending; and upon that place stood a cross, and a little below in the bottom, a sepulchre. So I saw in my dream that, just as Christian came up with the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from his back…till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in and I saw it no more. Then Christian said “He hath given me rest by his sorrow, and life by his death” and Christian rejoices.
Spafford’s hymn also celebrates Christ’s death for him. Two verses are about the cross. Verse 2 “Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, Let this blest assurance control, That Christ has regarded my helpless estate, and hath shed His own blood for my soul”
Christ is the Way, He is with us and He gives Himself for us. He leads us out of hopelessness and into life.
Conclusion
The shepherd goes looking for the lost sheep, it’s got itself into some precarious state. Perhaps it’s on a high craggy ledge. The Shepherd restores the lost sheep.
It’s the same restoration that lies behind the Father receiving his prodigal son.
It’s the same grace that touched and restored Peter- even though Peter had denied Him terribly-and further the Lord entrusted Peter with feeding his flock. Great generosity in his restoration of Peter’s soul.
Restoring grace
Do not wait for days, weeks, months or even years to pass before asking Him for His restoring grace in your life. Claim his forgiveness first. The Cross is the great promise of the assurance of sins forgiven. There is another verse in the Bible that says “I will restore the years the locusts have eaten” (Joel 2:25) claim that promise- ask, seek and knock, and like Peter he will give you opportunities and privileges that you may feel you had lost forever.
He restores my soul.
………………………………………………………..
Song. ‘Moving In’.
Cliff Richard. Song writer and singer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjNy6FQ0hpc
Prayers
Lord Jesus Christ, tirelessly you seek out those who are looking for you, and who think they are far away; teach us at every moment, to place our spirits in your hands. While we are still looking for you, already you have found us. However poor our prayer, you hear us far more than we can imagine or believe.
Lord Jesus, by the loneliness of your suffering on the cross, be near to all who are desolate, in pain and in sorrow. (Quiet praying for individuals). Let your presence transform their sorrow into comfort and their loneliness into fellowship with you.
We bring before you, O Lord
the troubles and perils of people and nations,
the frustration of prisoners and captives
the anguish of the bereaved
the needs of refugees
the helplessness of the weak,
the despondency of the weary,
the failing powers of the aged
and the hopelessness of the starving
O Lord draw near to each
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord
(Anselm 1033-1109)
Hymn.
‘When Peace like a River’ (MP 757)
Horatio Gates Spafford
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmTPPpvy2QI
Blessing
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us.
David Barnes 17/11/21