(All our songs this morning are from Hymns & Psalms (H&P) numbers will be given where available)
Welcome to our Sunday Service, today shared on paper across our circuit and with the congregation at St Andrews Methodist Church led by John Darnbrook one of our Circuit Local Preachers.
Click on the blue links to follow them for bible readings and associated links
Theme: Temptation and Discipline
Call to worship
Happy are they who turn to the Lord for strength in times of trial and temptation. Happy are they who obey his instruction and live according to his will.
On this first Sunday in Lent, the theme I have chosen is “Temptation and Discipline”, and we will be looking later at just what it means to accept God’s discipline in our lives.
Shall I tell you what I love? I love chocolate. And I can’t wait for Easter Sunday so I can eat my Easter eggs. Not that I will be dropping any hints at home of course, but I do hope I get a white chocolate egg – white chocolate is my favourite. But I find it quite easy to eat milk chocolate too! But before Easter we are now in Lent, when many people give something up. And I am going to try and give up chocolate!
Giving something up during Lent helps us in our preparation for Easter and helps us to remember all that Jesus gave up for us when he died on the cross, so that we could have life in all its fullness. It also helps us learn and demonstrate discipline – I’m going to needs lots of discipline not to eat any chocolate between now and Easter! And it was discipline that Jesus showed when he was tempted by the Devil in the desert at the start of his earthly ministry, discipline that we celebrate where we are now in Lent and will hear about in our Gospel reading later.
So each time I crave chocolate during Lent, I will think of Jesus and what he gave up for me; and we can all do something similar, to help purify ourselves and prepare ourselves for the great celebration of Easter.
Prayers
Let us pray. Shout for joy for what the Lord has done. Praise him, everyone – young and old.
Lord God, we come to you in adoration – with our songs and our hymns we worship you; with our hearts and our minds we glorify your name. Your words are true O God, and we can depend on your promises.
You created the heavens by your command; you spoke and the sun, moon and stars appeared. You O Lord had the power to separate the water from the land and to set all the planets in their orbits. Your glory and power are just too wonderful for us to understand. You look down from heaven and see all your creation; you know all that goes on in the world that you made. You watch over those who obey you, who trust in your love and grace. We put our trust in you O God, for you are our protector and our help.
Father God, you allowed your Son Jesus to be tempted so that he could experience the full reality of what it means to be human. We thank you that he can help us in our times of temptation, to be strong and to overcome the desire to sin. We pray for that help now, in a moment of silence ….
We ask this Father, not because we can unmake the past, but because of the forgiveness, the healing and the victory which Jesus has released into your world and into our hearts.
We know that if we confess our sins to you, if we do not try to conceal our wrongdoing from you, then you will forgive us our sins. So we thankfully accept your forgiveness, and ask for your help to keep us from repeating our sin once again. We pray in the hope and strength that only Jesus can give. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Song – H&P 68 – Lead us Heavenly Father lead us
Reading
Sermon
Have you ever ended up being thankful that you did something you didn’t want to do? Probably all of us here this morning will know very well the feeling of not wanting to do something – “I don’t want to go to that meeting …. I haven’t got time, I’m too busy, I’ve got much better things to do.”
And yet, you will probably also know that if you make time, if you persuade yourself that you should do that which you felt you didn’t have time to do, then you’ll often end up being thankful that you did.
It’s often the case that when we least want to do something, and we are tempted to take the easy alternative, but we do it anyway and resist that temptation, that we get the most benefit from it.
There have been times when I’ve not wanted to go out on a cold winter’s evening from Baildon for a particular church or school meeting – but then come home from it, glad that I went, having been blessed by the fellowship of the people there.
I remember when, at this time of year four years ago, my wife Caroline and I and our then nearly 8 year old son Sam were doing lots of training to prepare ourselves for walking an extended version of the Dales Way, from home in Baildon, across the Yorkshire Dales and into the Lake District, finishing in Windermere. We needed to train hard for it, as the walk itself was 100 miles spread over 8 consecutive days. And when we’d finished our training and did the walk itself, Sam had just been 8 years old!
As a family, we wanted to enjoy the walk when we got to it, and so we did a LOT of training, in all weathers and over all types of terrain. We showed great discipline in walking through rain and training in snow, climbing steep hills and wading through boggy marshes. All to prepare ourselves for what was to come.
And the discipline we showed in our training paid off – and was essential – as during the walk itself we all three had to draw upon our training and dig very deep into our physical, emotional and mental reserves to get through some really tough days. Thankfully, the tough days were in the middle of our epic adventure, and we were able to start and finish the 100 miles in glorious sunshine and high spirits.
And we’ve just heard about Jesus showing discipline when he was being tempted in the wilderness by the Devil, before the start of his public ministry of telling people and showing people what the Kingdom of God is like and how his followers should live as part of it. That time in the wilderness was essential training for Jesus, to prepare him for what was to come. It enabled him to show strength in the face of temptation, which he then drew on time and time again over the next three years as he faced increasing opposition to his message of love and forgiveness. And knowing that Jesus has gone through temptation and shown great discipline can be a source of great help to us as we try to follow his way.
Satan was very cunning as he tried to get Jesus to use his divine powers for the wrong reasons – to obtain earthly power and set up an earthly kingdom. He even took quotes from Scripture and used them in the wrong way, out of their context, to try and convince Jesus that God’s way was not right and that Satan’s idea of a kingdom set up by force and ruled as a dictatorship was better. But Jesus was stronger than these temptations from Satan, and he chose God’s way of love in order to bring about God’s kingdom.
When times are tough, it is tempting to give up and think we can’t achieve something. When Family D faced the tough days on our 100 mile walk, we supported each other, and all of us – Sam especially – encouraged the others to keep going and carry on.
Remember all the events of the last week of Jesus’ earthly life: his journey to Jerusalem, the teaching he gave on the way and when he arrived there, and the attempts of the Scribes and Pharisees to trap him in order to come up with a charge against him that they could use to bring down the death penalty upon him.
It would have been possible for Jesus, even at that stage, in those tough days, to opt out of God’s will and succumb to the temptation to find an easier path in life, in order to avoid what he knew lay ahead of him.
But again, he was stronger than this temptation – and it is from Jesus’ prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane that we are given a very good insight into where he gained his strength from to overcome the temptations he was facing. His time in the wilderness before the start of his ministry, and his close, personal relationship with God, sustained through an active and honest prayer life, gave him the strength to keep going and achieve what he had set out to do.
So those who wish to fulfil God’s will, need to put their trust in God and learn to live his way. That is what Jesus did throughout his life, from his temptation in the wilderness to his crucifixion and resurrection. And that is what we must do too, if we are to resist temptation and receive all the blessings God has for us.
As we consider our theme of discipline in the face of temptation, we should remember that Jesus was able to demonstrate this due to his close and intimate relationship with God, nurtured and sustained through his constant prayer life. So if we are to resist the sin that temptation puts in our way, we should work at improving our prayer life, to help us develop our trust in God and our willingness to live his way.
Jesus’ prayer life was effective for three main reasons. Firstly, he knew who he was praying to. Jesus had walked his whole life in God’s presence, turning to him at all times for strength and direction. He made regular time to talk with God in prayer and had a relationship with him that made his prayers very personal and intimate. If we can develop such a relationship with God, then our prayer life will improve as it reflects this, as will our resistance to temptation.
The second reason that Jesus’ prayer life was effective was because he was honest in his prayers. In the Garden of Gethsemane he didn’t disguise the fact that he didn’t want to go through what he knew lay ahead of him. He was honest with God and told him of his preference that the cup of suffering be taken away from him. If our prayers are to mean anything, then we too must be honest with God. And this can be very difficult at times, for there are things that we may prefer to keep from him. But if we remember that he sees all that we do and knows all that we say and think, then we will realise there is no point in trying to deceive him. A prerequisite for a healthy prayer life is that it is an honest one.
And a third reason that Jesus’ prayer life was effective is because he was willing to obey God’s will. When he prayed, he knew he needed God’s strength to complete what lay ahead of him, and he was willing to accept the will of God, and so saw his prayers answered.
God will answer our prayers, but sometimes the answer will not be to our liking; but if our prayers are to mean anything and have any effect in our lives, then we should be prepared to accept God’s answer and follow the guidance for which we have asked. Otherwise our prayers will be no more than petitions – always asking God for things but never accepting his response.
So we can see that it was through having an effective prayer life that Jesus gained the strength he needed to show discipline in the face of temptation and fulfil the will of God. A prayer life based on knowing his Father and having a close relationship with him; being honest when he prayed; and accepting the will of God in the answers he received. That is the standard of prayer life that Jesus calls us to strive for, as we too seek to show such discipline, resist temptation, obey God and reap the rewards of a righteous life.
Let’s pause and sing the praises of Jesus – who knows every grief that we go through; who triumphed not only over temptation, but also over the grave, and rose victorious, to help us in our time of need.
Song – H&P 255 – Crown him with many crowns
Reading
Has the Lectionary really given us a harvest reading at the beginning of Lent? Isn’t Lent about cutting back, paring down, not over-indulging? Well yes. But then the reading isn’t only about harvest, at least not in the sense that we usually mean it. It is about how we should respond to everything that God has given us. And celebrating all that God has done for us. And sharing that – sharing the joy, sharing the fruit of the ground, sharing the fruit of our labours so that everyone, including family, friends and everyone else too, will have enough. And how does that fit with Lent? Well, Lent is a time to think about how we live, whether we are thankful and joyful and whether we are people who share what we have with others. At Sam’s school right now, they are thinking about giving, not giving up!
So those who wish to receive the blessings that only God can offer them, must put their trust in God and learn to live God’s way. As we’ve just heard, one of the first rituals that the book of Deuteronomy commands the people to do when they settle in the land, is to put some of the good things they have grown into a basket and offer them to God, thanking God for their ‘story so far’.
If you were to imagine having a basket like they had, what would you put into it? Maybe your ‘first fruits’ are not things that would fit in an actual basket. For most of us they will not be fruit in the agricultural sense. But maybe you can gather them together in your mind. What would you bring to God? What would you give thanks for? What would you say about your ‘story so far’?
The other aspect of self discipline I want to look at is that of giving things up for God. By this, we should not think just of Lent and the tradition of going without something – even something as wonderful for me as chocolate! If we are to truly exercise self discipline in this respect, it should involve giving to God, throughout all our lives. And this can be a very positive thing to do, as demonstrated in our reading from Deuteronomy just now.
Many people associate giving something to God as negative, like giving something up and doing without it as a sacrifice to God. This can have its place in the worshipful life; but a more positive way of looking at this is not to consider what we can give up but to think carefully about how we use what we have, and whether these gifts and possessions could be put to better use in the service of God.
Do you remember the rich young man that Jesus spoke to? His wealth was getting in the way of him having the relationship with God that he craved, and therefore Jesus told him to sell his possessions and give the money to the poor – to do something positive with his wealth rather than continue allowing it to be a negative influence upon him. It has been said that respectability consists in not doing things, but Christianity consists in doing things. It may be respectable never to steal, but it is Christian to give. So when we think of self discipline, remember that it involves putting what we have to the best possible use, and there is nothing better than to use our gifts, possessions, talents and abilities to fulfil God’s will.
Towards the end of the Second World War, there was a nurse in Hiroshima who was working in the most dreadful conditions, but who went about her work with dedication and always with a cheerful smile. A visitor who saw the conditions she was working in said that he would not have done her work for a million pounds. “Neither would I” she answered, “but I gladly do it for the love of God.” That nurse knew what it meant to exercise self discipline and use her gifts for God, and we should follow her example and see if we can better use what we have for the good of those around us, even if that takes a lot of self discipline.
So we have looked at discipline in the face of temptation, and seen that it is possible to show such discipline if we have an effective prayer life; and we have seen the discipline of giving things to God and using what we have in his service, for the benefit of others.
In conclusion, through our self discipline, through the strength of our relationship with God based on an effective prayer life; through the discipline of giving of what we have to God in his service; and through accepting God’s discipline in our lives, we will reap the rewards of a righteous life and have so much to give thanks to God for, as we face up to and resist temptation in all its forms. May God grant us the strength to achieve this, to the glory of his name. Amen!
Song – H&P 739 – May the mind of Christ my Saviour
Prayers of intercession: Let us pray.God our Father, we thank you so much for all that you have done for us in Jesus. We thank you that he knows what it is like to be tempted and, because he conquered temptation, he can help us to do so as well.
Help us always to remember that when we need your strength, you are right next to us and will help us through everything we are facing, by helping us to be disciplined and to stay true to you and your teaching.
We bring you O God, our prayers for the world and its people. Especially at this time, we pray for the people of Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Gaza and surrounding countries. Lord, we pray that those who are pursuing war may be abhorred by the disaster they are causing, and may have a change of heart and a change of mind, and cease their conflict. We pray that inclusive negotiation and discussion can replace destruction and devastation, and that a lasting peace can be sought and achieved.
We pray for all those suffering from natural disasters: earthquakes, landslides, hurricanes …. We pray for all those suffering from the disasters that mankind creates: war, terror, greed, poverty, crime, violence and environmental disasters such as famine, drought and flood …. We pray for the world’s political leaders, that they may govern justly and seek the best for those they serve and lead.
We thank you Lord God for hearing all our prayers. Help us to recognise and accept your answers. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
Song – H&P 437 – Guide me O thou great Jehovah
Blessing
As we go out in God’s strength, forgiven and ready to conquer temptation, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the power of the Holy Spirit go with us. Amen.
