Sunday Worship - 25th April
Welcome to this morning's Worship service.
Worship today is led by Nigel Adams (also available via zoom)
Our Zoom services are every other week and if you are not currently on our mailing list please contact Rev Christine: christineamfox@gmail.com
Click below on the red play button to start the video. You can also find the service on YouTube here if it isn’t working on the blog.
God Bless x
Christopher Duffley: Open the eyes of my heart.
Here is the link to the video that Martin Jackaman refers to in our Caring and Sharing time.
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Rev Christine Fox: christineamfox@gmail.com
Thank you to all those who have been part of putting together this weeks service.
Below you can find this weeks Message. Click here to find the whole worship sheet.
Message
The cost of care - and the value of care
When we buy something, and we pay “market” value for something – sometimes that is based on what it might cost to produce that item – e.g., a bicycle or a sack of spuds.
But sometimes the price is based on whatever someone is prepared to pay for it – a work of art or a vintage bottle of wine… I’ve never quite figured out how it works to pay a massive amount for something that only retains its value if you never actually enjoy it...
How much someone is prepared to pay will depend on what that thing is worth to them –
So, the price Jesus paid for our care and salvation says something huge about how valuable we are to Him…
Jesus, through whom the whole universe has been created, made this choice to suffer and die – so that we can enjoy eternal life and fellowship with Him. This is how much Jesus values you.
But we can also think in terms of the value of what Christ has achieved for us…
Psalm 23 - If we look at this Psalm in the light of Christ’s death and resurrection, I think it gives a really different perspective. This would be several sermons in itself – or something to take away and meditate on, but…for example…
Psalm 23
A psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
Think about how Jesus has provided for us, through his death and resurrection - if we apply that to our everyday challenges and troubles – can you see that the final result achieved in Jesus – is that everything is taken care of, all our failures, our shortcomings – and our hopes and aspirations are met in Jesus. His death has paid every price and his resurrection has demonstrated that all will be well… all will be provided for
And that affects how we read the following verses…
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 He refreshes my soul.
Jesus has achieved resurrection – redemption for all our troubles… He has done this; we can’t do it ourselves. Because this is true: we can actually rest…
I wish I was better at this …when things make me anxious…to be able to see that the final outcome is the life and peace that Jesus promises with resurrection. The price that Jesus has paid means that all my shortcomings and failings are redeemed – all will be well because of what Jesus has done and is doing…so I can rest.
And then that last verse
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Jesus’ death and resurrection means that this is so much more than a lovely bit of poetry …. This is a promissory note. Jesus has paid for our sin, covered the entrance fee, handed us a gilt-edged invitation… pleaded for us with his own life… and this is the outcome…
Goodness and love will follow you…always.
But what is the cost to us… Isaiah 55 describes what the Lord offers in these terms… “Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters…come buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”
There is no cost – except to recognise our total dependency on Jesus. Philippians 3: 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ
The price of salvation can only be paid for by Jesus…. only when we submit to his mercy can we receive all the life and love he offers.
In that sense there is a cost – it is our pride, our sense that we have something to offer to God and to the world… this we have to give up and recognise that Jesus and only Jesus is able to pay the cost.
I think this is important to remember in terms of our own mission…in my own missionary work with Hope Nottingham… I hope what I’m doing is effectively redistributing the grace that I have received from God. I’m not offering anything of myself…. there’s nothing to offer. But I have found the more I give away what I received the more my hands and my heart are filled with God’s mercy….so its Jesus we receive and share, not ourselves…
John 10 helps us to see why Jesus is the only one who can help us…
John 10
1 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So, when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away.
Jesus, God the Son, is our creator – we are God’s children…. We belong to him; we are his responsibility. Most of us are not shepherds, this analogy might not relate to our experience… we might say instead. Jesus is the good parent…who lays down his life for his own children. The babysitter wouldn’t do this, they’re doing it mainly for the money and they’ll run away at the first sign of danger…. but not Jesus
17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.
Only Jesus has authority to lay down his life for us…and to take it up again…
And Jesus does so willingly.
I find it difficult to imagine how much Jesus’ death cost Him -he is in fact the author of life…and he gave up his life for us.
He is without sin, and yet seeing our sin, became sin for us.
Ultimately you and I are worth so much to Jesus – that he was willing to pay the price of his own life to win eternal life for you and for me.
That’s always been the clincher for me… I might have all sorts of questions about the Christian faith, things I don’t understand…but when I realise that Jesus looked at me …and you …and made a choice.
…his life for mine…he paid the highest price that could be paid…because his love is greater than anything else…his love would not be compromised.
Jesus paid the ultimate cost…but it was enough…what an understatement!!
Romans 5:10 if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
Jesus’ death paid the price so that we need not die, Jesus’ resurrection leads the way so that we too may share in his eternal life.
The price that Jesus paid was so high – so much. - that
We aren’t just saved from death – we are saved for life…life in all its fulness.