(All our songs this morning are from Singing the Faith (StF) numbers will be given where available)
Welcome to our Sunday Service, today shared on paper across our circuit and with the congregation at Baildon Methodist Church and led by Martin Bashforth one of our circuit Local Preachers.
Click on the blue links to follow them for bible readings and associated links
Call to worship Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the LORD is a mighty God, a mighty King over all gods. (Psalm 95)
Song – StF 110 – In the wonder of creation
Prayers
Creator God, we thank you for the beautiful world which you made at the beginning of time, and which you continue to make with every new day. You truly are a wonderful, omnipotent God. But you are also a loving Father. You made each one of us and you love each one of us, as if there were no-one else in the world to love. What a privilege! How wonderful to know that we matter so much to you. Thank you, heavenly Father.
Thank you for bringing us together today, so that we can worship you as your family. (Boys and girls, Mums and Dads, Grandmas and Grandads). We may not be related to each other, but as your children, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. How marvellous, and how enriching.
In our worship, may we be filled with wonder and uplifted in spirit. Give us ears to hear your truth, through the reading of scripture, through the words of the songs we sing, and through our times of reflection. Speak to us, Lord and draw us closer to each other and closer to you. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Song – StF 17 – With gladness we worship
Reading
Exodus 20: 1-17 The Ten Commandments
Well, there you have them: God’s rules for living. And if everyone in the world chose to abide by those rules, what a much better place the world would be. They cover our relationship with God; and also our relationships with each other. They lay down some things we should do, and other things which we definitely should not do.
If you would like the Ten Commandments expanded, to give you more detailed rules about day-to-day living, then you might refer to the Book of Leviticus in the Old Testament. It is full of regulations, governing the conduct of worship and of personal relationships. The Pharisees and teachers of the Law in Jesus’ day went overboard in trying to apply the Law to the minutiae of living; sometimes to ridiculous lengths. A particularly silly application was that you were not allowed to wear false teeth on the Sabbath, because that would amount to carrying a burden – and therefore to working – which was forbidden on the Sabbath. Whilst not going to such lengths, we would, as followers of Jesus, do well to keep in mind the ten commandments, and examine our behaviour daily, to see if we measure up to what God requires of us.
In the Church Calendar, today is designated as Bible Sunday. The theme of my service will not major on our use of the Bible, but I do wish to acknowledge that the Bible – God’s living Word – is one of God’s chosen ways of communicating His will and His call to His followers, and as such, it is to be valued, and revered, studied and referred to, as we seek to deepen our relationship with God, the Holy Trinity.
I will now offer a prayer of thanks to God for His Word, and for the help of the Holy Spirit, in learning its truths and speaking directly into our hearts. Let us pray together….
Creator God, we thank you that, through Your written word, You reveal to us the living Word, who holds all truths. The stories of Your faithful, and sometimes unfaithful, people in both Old and New Testaments inspire us, teach us and warn us, as we seek to know and follow Your will and Your ways. Grant us the help of Your Holy Spirit to make Your message clear to us. We thank You that it is a living Word, relevant and challenging in our generation, as it has been through all the generations before us. Thank you for the wisdom of the apostles, including Paul, whose letters and gospel accounts provide the foundation for our faith. Give us eyes to read, minds to understand, and hearts to embrace all that You wish to impart to us. In the name of Jesus. Amen
Our next hymn is a prayer for God to help to read his Word and accept it into our hearts, that our day-to-day living might bring glory to his name.
Song – StF 501 – Help us O Lord to learn
Reading
Matthew 22: 34-40 The Great Commandment
Sermon
The one thing which annoyed the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law about Jesus, was that he was so good at giving wise answers to their trick questions. As I mentioned earlier, they spent their entire life trying to fit new interpretations to the laws laid down in the Old Testament, and due to them, the lives of ordinary people were made miserable, because they could not keep track of all the details, with which they were assailed. To the Pharisees, keeping the laws was an exercise of the head, not of the heart.
The question: “Which is the greatest commandment of the Law?” was an attempt to catch Jesus out.
But Jesus’ answer was very straightforward. He said: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important commandment.” And he continued: “The second most important commandment is like it: “Love your neighbour as you love yourself. The whole Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Jesus was steeped in the Old Testament. He knew all the laws, as well as, and even better than, the Pharisees, but he also knew that God had given the laws, not to restrict people’s actions, but to improve people’s lives.
In his Sermon on the Mount, recorded in Matthew 5: 17, Jesus said: “Do not think that I have come to do away with the Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets. I have not come to do away with them, but to make their teachings come true.”
Put another way: The purpose of the commandments was to create a foundation on which a happy society could be built, where people respected, and helped, and supported their neighbours, to everyone’s benefit. Jesus’ mission was to demonstrate this principle in action.
The Bible passage we have just heard is the scripture appointed for today in the Lectionary, which is why we are considering it. I would like us reflect on it for a few moments:-
To begin with: “Love the Lord your God”. How do we love God? What does loving God involve? If it is to be “with all your heart”, then I would suggest that God will be pretty much front and centre of our minds, as we walk through life. At times, we will think of him as our Father, the Creator of the universe. At other times, we will call on the help of his Holy Spirit, who is the Enabler, the Revealer of truth, the power dwelling within us, to make it possible for God’s plans to be achieved through the service of our lives. But I guess mostly, we will approach the Holy Trinity through Jesus the Son. The human face of the three-in-one Godhead. What, it seems to me, is important, is that we should use all of these connections, to seek to learn more about the nature of God and his will and his ways.
Paul, writing to the Ephesians, in 3: 17-21 says: “I pray that Christ will make his home in your hearts through faith. I pray that you may have your roots and foundation in love, so that you, together with all God’s people, may have the power to understand how broad and long, how high and deep, is Christ’s love. Yes, may you come to know his love – although it can never be fully known – and so be completely filled with the very nature of God.”
The secret then, is to allow Jesus, in the Holy Spirit, to make his home in your heart. And you will fall in love with him, in a liberating and empowering and soul-fulfilling way. You will be filled, as Paul says, “with the very nature of God”.
John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, wrote three letters which are contained in the New Testament. His first letter, in chapter 4, has a wonderful exposition of the love of God. In the Good News translation, the passage is headed “God is love”. Here are some brief extracts from this chapter: “Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God. Whoever does not love, does not know God, for God is love.” And further down the chapter: “We love because God first loved us. If we say we love God, but hate our brothers and sisters, we are liars (strong language!). For people cannot love God, whom they have not seen, if they do not love their brothers and sisters, whom they have seen. The command that Christ has given us is this: all who love God must love their brother and sister also.” That is a restatement of today’s gospel passage.
I want to turn now to a parable of Jesus which we have not read today, but with which, I can guarantee, you will be very familiar. It is the parable of the Good Samaritan. Am I right? You are very familiar with it?
You will recall that in Chapter 10 of the Gospel according to Luke, a teacher of the Law came up to Jesus and tried to trap him – where have we heard that before? His question was “What must I do to receive eternal life?” “What do the scriptures say?” asked Jesus. And the man answered “Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind”. He was quoting the same commandment which we earlier heard Jesus quote, which incidentally originates in the Book of Deuteronomy 6: 5. And he adds (just like Jesus did): “And love your neighbour as you love yourself.” From Leviticus 19: 18.
Trying to be clever, the man then asked Jesus: “Who is my neighbour?” And the story of the Good Samaritan was Jesus’ very wise answer, which, ever since he spoke it on that day, has provided the standard to which all would be followers of Christ must aspire, if they wish to show their love for God. It answers secondary questions, such as: Does loving my neighbour mean I should like them? Can I choose which of my neighbours I should love? Do I need to even know the person, before I can love them as a neighbour?
The Samaritan had never met the man to whom he showed love. It was the first time he had ever come across him. He didn’t need to know him, in order to love him. He saw the man’s need, and he met it. And he didn’t limit the help he offered the man, by doing the bare essentials and no more. He went the second mile. And more. Having bandaged his wounds, he took him to an inn, and paid for his care. He even said he would come back and give more money to the innkeeper, to ensure that the injured man received the best treatment. I suspect that the Samaritan put himself in the shoes of the unfortunate victim of the attack, and did for the man what he would hope someone else would do for him, if he were attacked.
In contrast, Jesus then introduced into his story two so-called “respectable” men. A priest and a Levite. Men who you would expect to show compassion for a person in distress. As we know, they both passed by on the other side of the road and left the man for dead.
Jesus then asked the teacher of the Law: “Which one of these three acted like a neighbour to the man attacked by the robbers?” The teacher of the Law answered: “The one who was kind to him.” And Jesus said to him – and as we read the story, he also says to us – ”You go then and do the same.”
Mother Teresa of Calcutta was a modern-day equivalent of the Good Samaritan. As she picked up sad specimens of humanity from the gutters of Calcutta, she would tell herself “This is Jesus in the distressing disguise of the poor”. Another saying of Mother Teresa which inspires me is: “It is not how much you do for people in need, but how much love you put into it that matters.”
Have you been impressed by the dedication of Sir Kevin Sinfield, as he has run marathon after marathon to raise funds in support of the MND charity. He has been motivated by his love for his former team mate Rob Burrow. Rob was a neighbour who was known and loved by Kevin. But in loving that one neighbour, how many thousands more neighbours, unknown to him, has Kevin given hope to, by raising more than £11 million for research into MND and specialised care.
There are neighbours all around us, in need of help. How can we love them? What difference can we make to the situation of a hungry or homeless person in Bradford? The answer is: through agencies and charities which are devoted to the cause. The Immanuel Project in Bradford is a charity which provides food and clothing for the homeless. By giving pre-loved clothing or money to the charity, you can help to keep warm the rough sleepers. The foodbanks (of which there are numerous in Bradford) are helping families and individuals to get through crises, usually not of their own making. We may not personally know individuals or families who are hungry, but the foodbanks and other charities have contact with them. They are God-given organisations, which enable us to love our neighbours in this way. We should make use of them.
St Augustine had a famous saying: “Love God and do as you please.” I guess that sums up what I have been trying to explore today. If our heart is right with God; if he has accepted our invitation to come and dwell within us, then love from our hearts to our neighbours in need.
Can you imagine a world where every Christian is “filled with the very nature of God”?
Song – StF 404 – God’s Spirit is in my heart
Prayers of intercession
(These prayers are, necessarily, being prepared in advance of the service date. Please feel free to add your own prayers for current news events and any personal concerns you have for friends or family members.)
God of peace, we pray that you will bring peace to those areas of the world where innocent people are suffering from violence. Intervene, we pray, as you did in Old Testament times, to strengthen the weak and overthrow the aggressors. Please restore harmony between and within nations. May the light of Christ drive away the darkness of enmity. Let love have the victory.
We pray for the people of Venezuela, Colombia, Indonesia and Japan, still suffering as a result of the recent earthquakes. Please, Lord, comfort the bereaved, heal the wounded and help the nations to rebuild their destroyed cities.
We pray for refugees around the world, especially those risking their lives to escape from intolerable conditions in their homeland. Please keep them safe and help them to find safe havens, in which they can rebuild their lives. Help us, and the people of Bradford, to welcome those refugees who arrive in our city.
We pray for people around the world suffering from the effects of extreme weather, resulting from Climate Change. Guide the leaders of the nations to heed the scientific evidence and to take steps to reduce greenhouse gases, and so preserve the future of our planet.
And finally, Lord, as we bring to mind friends and family members who have needs at this time, we hold them before you now…….
Name the needs before God……
Lord, you know the situations and needs of all those for whom we pray. We ask that you will deal graciously with them. Comfort those who suffer and those who mourn, and bring your healing to the sick. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers. In the name and for the sake of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen
The Lord’s Prayer
“Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be your Name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours now and for forever. Amen.”
Song – StF 464 – God it was who said to Abraham
Benediction
Eternal God, the light of the minds that know you;
The joy of the hearts that love you
And the strength of the wills that serve you:
Grant us, so to know you, that we may truly love you
And so to love you that we may fully serve you,
Whose service is perfect freedom.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen
