WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:11.500 A company is often caught on their logos, established in 1892 or since 1921. 00:00:11.500 --> 00:00:18.179 ! Why do they do that? More clearly it's to show their longevity, to see that they have stood 00:00:18.179 --> 00:00:24.000 ! the test of time, they are reliable, they are trustworthy. When I was researching for 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:29.980 this I did find a few restaurants and a barber shop and a running club that all proudly proudly 00:00:29.980 --> 00:00:35.380 presented the fact that they were established in 2019. I think they are playing the long 00:00:35.380 --> 00:00:42.380 game. But you get the point, when you have been around a while there is something to take 00:00:42.380 --> 00:00:51.380 note of. And so today, here we are, Ealing IPC established in 1969. And you are in good company. 00:00:51.380 --> 00:00:58.480 Gap were also established in 1969, as were the Australian florist chain Pearsons, Null steam 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:07.280 cleaners and everyone's favourite Townsend tractors. So, you find yourselves in a rich company today. 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:13.379 And yet of course there is a great difference, isn't there? Because for a business, you want 00:01:13.379 --> 00:01:17.879 to know that you have been around for a long time to say, this we are a solid company, you 00:01:17.879 --> 00:01:24.879 can trust in us. And it is pretty easy for them to evaluate their success. For a business, 00:01:24.879 --> 00:01:29.280 they will point to their market share, or to their profit margins, or to their expansion, 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:35.280 or to their global reach. And of course those things inform their business strategies going 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:45.280 forward. But what about for a church? What about for a church? How do we evaluate what's 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:53.680 gone before and plan for what's coming in the future? That's really one of us to be thinking 00:01:53.680 --> 00:02:00.780 about as we turn now to look at Colossians and just these opening verses. And the first 00:02:00.780 --> 00:02:08.080 point is that we look for gospel fruit. We look for gospel fruit. Paul is sitting down to write 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:12.800 to write to this church in Colossae, a church he's probably never visited, but he's heard 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:18.439 good things about them. And so when he sits down to write, what is it that he's interested 00:02:18.439 --> 00:02:26.400 in? What is it he remarks on? Well, it's not primarily their size, their quality of their 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:31.080 music, the quality of their coffee, the new building that they've just built, the fact 00:02:31.080 --> 00:02:36.640 they've been in the local press. He's not interested in any of those things. What is it he's interested 00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:42.839 in? It comes up in verse 4. He says, we've heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, the love 00:02:42.839 --> 00:02:51.079 you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. That's what 00:02:51.079 --> 00:02:56.779 I've heard about and that's what I'm interested in. Your faith, your love and your hope. You're 00:02:56.779 --> 00:03:04.919 an ordinary bunch of people who have been drawn together. And so he says in verse 6, you heard 00:03:04.919 --> 00:03:10.099 and understood the grace of God in truth. That is what has united you. You were going 00:03:10.099 --> 00:03:16.000 about your business in all sorts of different walks of life, but now you have heard and believed 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:21.679 the gospel. You have been brought together into a form, this one faithful congregation. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:28.399 You're displaying faith, love and hope. Isn't this what we would love to be known for as 00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:35.400 Christians, as churches? We'd love to be known as people, oh yeah I've heard of that church. 00:03:36.099 --> 00:03:46.099 They really believe in the Lord Jesus. They really love one another. So I fear for us down 00:03:46.099 --> 00:03:53.620 in the list. We are the second oldest IPC congregation, but we've got the oldest building. And I fear 00:03:53.620 --> 00:03:58.460 that in our little village there in Hampshire, that we're known really more for our lovely 00:03:58.460 --> 00:04:03.300 old building. And there's a danger for you as a current congregation here that you could 00:04:03.300 --> 00:04:09.680 become known as, oh that church has got the lovely new building. But isn't this what we 00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:15.719 want to be known for? For what goes on inside our buildings? For what goes on inside our fellowships? 00:04:15.719 --> 00:04:22.660 That we are those marked by faith, love and hope. And so Paul describes this as gospel fruit. 00:04:23.620 --> 00:04:29.120 It's a great image of fruit. The gospel is bearing fruit. I'm not a great gardener, but you 00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:36.540 don't need to be to know. Apple trees produce apples. Pear trees produce pears. Strawberry plants 00:04:36.540 --> 00:04:52.180 produce strawberries. Gospel produces gospel fruit. We see in verse 5, he says, you've heard 00:04:52.180 --> 00:04:59.800 before in the word of truth. The gospel. The word of truth, that takes us back to Schaeffer, 00:04:59.879 --> 00:05:04.579 doesn't it? Schaeffer was one who kept emphasising that Christianity is truth with a capital T. 00:05:04.660 --> 00:05:11.480 It is true. Truth. And so the gospel, that word that means good news, is the word of truth 00:05:11.480 --> 00:05:19.860 about the Lord Jesus. And this then is a true message. It is an objective message that does 00:05:19.860 --> 00:05:32.720 something that produces gospel fruit. So what's the gospel fruit here in Ealing over these last 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:38.480 50 years? Well, it's not simply in terms of numbers and growth, although those are good 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:46.920 things. It's not just the public things that we might point to. The fact that you here are 00:05:46.920 --> 00:05:51.880 part of this denomination, which is still small, but is growing. It's not exciting projects you've 00:05:51.880 --> 00:05:59.100 been involved in, such as the building or the planting of Emmanuel Brentford. But it's also 00:05:59.100 --> 00:06:04.340 the more low-key things. It's the everyday things that are signs of the gospel fruit. 00:06:06.460 --> 00:06:11.080 It's wonderful hearing those interviews earlier and thinking back over the years, and I'm sure 00:06:11.080 --> 00:06:19.080 people here have got your own stories of how Ealing IPC has been involved in your life and 00:06:19.080 --> 00:06:28.200 in your Christian life. But every person who's understood the grace of God through walking 00:06:28.199 --> 00:06:33.399 through these doors, every person who's had their faith strengthened, even when they've 00:06:33.399 --> 00:06:39.479 been walking through the darkest of times, every display of love in the Spirit. Did you notice 00:06:39.479 --> 00:06:43.199 that in verse 8, when he's describing their love again, he says, we've made known to us your 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:50.060 love in the Spirit. This is a God-given love that is being shown amongst you. Every display 00:06:50.060 --> 00:06:56.180 of that love in your church family. As a family you gather together, rejoicing with those who 00:06:56.180 --> 00:07:07.040 rejoice and weeping with those who weep. Every quiet, hopeful confidence in the face of death, 00:07:08.180 --> 00:07:17.139 knowing that there is a hope of heaven laid up for you. Every life decision you have made 00:07:17.139 --> 00:07:26.899 that has been shaped by the Lord Jesus. You see, all these little ways that we see the gospel 00:07:26.899 --> 00:07:33.139 bearing fruit in our lives, the ways that the gospel is bearing fruit through the life of 00:07:33.139 --> 00:07:41.620 this church. So whatever your connection to Ealing IPC, past or present, long-term or short-term, 00:07:41.620 --> 00:07:48.519 I hope that today you are encouraged by seeing what God has done. Speak about it later. When 00:07:48.519 --> 00:07:53.840 we're at the barbecue, let's be sharing those good news stories about how the fruit was born 00:07:53.840 --> 00:08:01.519 in our lives and in the lives of those we knew. So firstly, we look for gospel fruit, but secondly, 00:08:01.819 --> 00:08:09.860 we thank God for gospel fruit. Because as Paul sees this little outcrop of gospel fruit, they're 00:08:09.860 --> 00:08:16.699 springing up in this pagan soil. He writes to them. But you notice he writes to them not 00:08:16.699 --> 00:08:24.160 in congratulations, but in thanksgiving. It's so important. Verse 3, we always thank God, 00:08:24.540 --> 00:08:29.540 the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we've heard of your faith 00:08:29.540 --> 00:08:38.620 and your love and your hope. Now a business might well congratulate itself in its 50 years 00:08:38.620 --> 00:08:45.600 of ingenuity, of marketing, of its hard work, of its breakthroughs into the marketplace and 00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:54.419 its great success. But as I'm sure you know, that's not what we're doing today. We're not 00:08:54.419 --> 00:09:04.580 here to congratulate the church or to congratulate one another. Because we know that a gospel church 00:09:04.580 --> 00:09:10.980 doesn't act like that. A gospel church knows that unless the Lord builds a house, the builders 00:09:10.980 --> 00:09:20.840 labour in vain. We owe everything to him. And so Paul says, we've heard about your faith 00:09:20.840 --> 00:09:27.560 and you know that makes us thank God for it. Epaphras preached the gospel. You responded in repentance 00:09:27.559 --> 00:09:33.439 and faith. We know that. But it was God at work all the time. That doesn't demean your efforts. 00:09:33.579 --> 00:09:42.159 That doesn't put you down, Colossians. No. But rather it recognises that deeper than that 00:09:42.159 --> 00:09:51.059 surface level that you experienced, something else was going on. Behind all of those good things 00:09:51.059 --> 00:09:56.459 that we've heard about in your lives and in your church is a good God. 00:10:00.039 --> 00:10:05.059 There's a subtle danger for us, isn't there? There's a subtle danger for us. Just in terms 00:10:05.059 --> 00:10:13.219 of salvation, we have a natural tendency to want to rely on our own efforts and works rather 00:10:13.219 --> 00:10:17.739 than rely on the grace of God as it's described in verse 6. 00:10:17.740 --> 00:10:25.759 We want to rely on ourselves because we think we want to earn something from God so that in 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:33.980 some way we can congratulate ourselves. But of course the gospel is all of grace, a completely 00:10:33.980 --> 00:10:39.440 undeserved gift. And perhaps you're here today as somebody who doesn't know that grace, who 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:43.000 you've been invited along or you've had contact with the church, but perhaps you wouldn't call 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:48.139 yourself a Christian. Well just indulge me for a moment and glance to a few verses later 00:10:48.139 --> 00:10:53.200 on in this chapter. This is what it means to be a Christian from chapter 1 and verse 13. 00:10:54.460 --> 00:10:59.980 Talking about that the Father has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred 00:10:59.980 --> 00:11:06.720 us into the kingdom of his beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:14.680 God who takes the initiative in drawing us to himself. It's God, the one who delivers us, 00:11:14.759 --> 00:11:21.759 who transfers us, who redeems us and who forgives us. And because it's all of God, that means 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:28.379 it's open to everyone. There are no qualifications, there are no hurdles that you must get over. 00:11:28.860 --> 00:11:34.360 This is open to each one of us and it's open to you today if you've never turned to him. 00:11:34.360 --> 00:11:42.279 But you see, just as it's that subtle danger in our lives to start relying on our own efforts, 00:11:42.440 --> 00:11:48.840 so there's a subtle danger for our churches, and even when we see good things going on in 00:11:48.840 --> 00:11:57.500 our Christian lives, to have that tendency to pat ourselves on the back, to think we deserve 00:11:57.500 --> 00:12:05.019 a little bit of praise here. Now of course, there's a right sense of celebrating what has 00:12:05.019 --> 00:12:10.679 gone on. There is a right sense of encouraging each other when you see people doing acts of 00:12:10.679 --> 00:12:16.419 service in the gospel. It's right to encourage one another and thank people for what they've 00:12:16.419 --> 00:12:21.080 done. But as we do that, we must remember all the time that the credit goes to God. 00:12:21.080 --> 00:12:33.200 The credit always goes to God. And so this today is a thanksgiving service and not a congratulations 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:44.740 one. So we thank God for gospel fruit. Thirdly, and finally, we trust God for gospel fruit. 00:12:44.740 --> 00:12:57.139 50 years is both a long time and a short time, isn't it? 50 years is a long time and a short 00:12:57.139 --> 00:13:03.539 time. It is tremendous to think about this congregation starting there in that living room 00:13:03.539 --> 00:13:08.639 in Cleveland Road and hearing about it today and there's others in our congregation at least 00:13:08.639 --> 00:13:14.220 who've told me a lot about those early days. It's tremendous to think 50 years later, 00:13:14.220 --> 00:13:21.740 we're still here. Particularly as this church and this denomination has remained faithful 00:13:21.740 --> 00:13:28.940 in a time when churches are increasingly giving in to liberalism and the culture in which we 00:13:28.940 --> 00:13:35.960 live in has moved further and further away from even a nominal Christianity that we find ourselves 00:13:35.960 --> 00:13:42.940 now in a very secular culture. So 50 years is worth noting. 00:13:44.220 --> 00:13:53.639 And yet 50 years is also a very short time, isn't it? It might seem just yesterday for 00:13:53.639 --> 00:14:00.680 those of you who were back there in Cleveland Road. And we want to be here for the 100th anniversary 00:14:00.680 --> 00:14:06.460 of Ealing IPC, don't we? Might be pushing it for some of us. But we want the church to be 00:14:06.460 --> 00:14:14.220 here to celebrate its 200th anniversary, 500th anniversary if Jesus hasn't yet returned. 00:14:15.920 --> 00:14:22.580 So 50 years is a long time but it's also not a long time. So how then do we look to the future? 00:14:22.700 --> 00:14:27.759 How do we look to the future of this church and of the church wider? 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:37.600 Well if again we return to the idea of a business. Businesses have very clear strategies, don't 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:43.740 they? This is what we want to achieve in the next 5 years, 10 years, 50 years. And we put 00:14:43.740 --> 00:14:47.600 everything in place to make it happen, at least if you want to be a successful business. 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:55.980 You've got your targets, you've got your strategies, you've got everything geared to maximise your 00:14:55.980 --> 00:15:03.740 profits at some future point. Now as a gospel church we want to do that as well, don't we? 00:15:03.740 --> 00:15:10.659 As gospel churches we want to be those who plan and who strategise and who think about the 00:15:10.659 --> 00:15:15.940 future and try and do everything that we can to put things in place so that our church and 00:15:15.940 --> 00:15:26.820 our denomination are still here and are growing in 10, 20, 50, 100 years time. And yet as we 00:15:26.820 --> 00:15:34.920 do that with all the God given wisdom that we can muster, we gladly accept that our profits 00:15:34.920 --> 00:15:44.740 are in God's hands. There's no magic formula for making your church grow and be successful 00:15:44.740 --> 00:15:56.320 and be long lasting. The profits are in God's hands. Have a look in verse 5 again in this 00:15:56.320 --> 00:16:03.600 passage. He's given thanks for their faith and their love and their hope. And then halfway 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:09.240 through verse 5 he says, of this you have heard before in the word of truth the gospel which 00:16:09.240 --> 00:16:19.379 has come to you as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing as it also 00:16:19.379 --> 00:16:24.740 does among you since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth. 00:16:27.740 --> 00:16:33.019 He's heard about this church and he's writing to them saying the gospel is bearing fruit in 00:16:33.019 --> 00:16:39.439 your little insignificant town. You're always in the shadow of Ephesus, we know that. That's 00:16:39.439 --> 00:16:43.620 where everyone wants to go, isn't it, on business. You're kind of tucked in. But in your little 00:16:43.620 --> 00:16:50.019 town of Colossae the gospel is bearing fruit. In your individual lives the gospel is bearing 00:16:50.019 --> 00:16:56.500 fruit. And you know it's not just that, it's all around the world. Imagine if Epaphras could 00:16:56.500 --> 00:17:01.259 have just jumped into a time machine and brought himself here today. What would he have thought? 00:17:03.539 --> 00:17:08.319 He could have told us about how the gospel bore fruit in Colossae and we could have said 00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:16.000 what Epaphras, you don't know the half of it. Because the gospel has just kept bearing fruit. 00:17:18.059 --> 00:17:24.640 In those early centuries despite the fiercest persecution and martyrdom of many Christians 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:31.320 the gospel kept bearing fruit. When the empire collapsed and we entered the dark ages it seemed 00:17:31.320 --> 00:17:37.720 like even civilization itself was collapsing and yet the gospel bore fruit and continued 00:17:37.720 --> 00:17:46.900 to grow and spread. Different rival ideologies have grown up to try and take on the church, haven't 00:17:46.900 --> 00:17:59.019 they? The rise of Islam and of secularism, of modernism, post-modernism. All of these things have risen 00:17:59.019 --> 00:18:04.500 up against the church and each of them have found that the church keeps bearing fruit because the gospel 00:18:04.500 --> 00:18:06.380 is a powerful thing. 00:18:06.380 --> 00:18:19.620 And so from Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria it has reached to the ends of the earth. It has even 00:18:19.620 --> 00:18:29.120 reached our own green and pleasant land. But more personally than that it has reached our own 00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:39.439 dark and unpleasant heart. Isn't that the wonder of the gospel? That it comes into my heart and bears 00:18:39.439 --> 00:18:48.419 fruit in my life? It's the nature of the gospel to bear gospel fruit. And it will continue to do so. 00:18:48.479 --> 00:18:53.419 Isaiah says, the grass withers and the flowers fall but the word of our God will stand forever. 00:18:53.420 --> 00:19:00.680 Okay, so how does this help us as we think about the future? As you think about the future for yourselves 00:19:00.680 --> 00:19:11.640 as a congregation? Well there is no guarantee that Ealing IPC will last another 50 years. There's no guarantee 00:19:11.640 --> 00:19:20.460 is there? But Christ's church will last. And it is exactly that that gives us the confidence to pray that he 00:19:20.460 --> 00:19:31.740 would continue to use Ealing IPC and the IPC more widely. But it's God who gives that growth. So we trust 00:19:31.740 --> 00:19:43.920 him for the gospel fruit. Our part is simply to remain faithful. John Owen has been described as the 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:50.880 greatest the greatest theologian England has ever produced. I'm not sure if anyone's ever agreed on the 00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:58.039 greatest theologian Wales has ever produced. Answers on a postcard as they say. But John Owen, you might 00:19:58.039 --> 00:20:04.039 have heard of him, he lived in the 17th century. Through that time of the English Civil War, he was dean of 00:20:04.039 --> 00:20:12.920 Oxford College, he was a chaplain in Cromwell's army. He wrote huge books and books which are still studied and 00:20:12.920 --> 00:20:22.240 influential in churches in the church today. If ever there was a big hitter, if ever there was an A-lister 00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:32.800 in the history of the church in this country, then John Owen was it. Was he late dying in 1683? He wrote a letter. 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:41.180 It's his last known letter. And in that letter he considers his own death and he says this. 00:20:41.180 --> 00:20:52.320 I'm leaving the ship of the church in a storm, but while the great pilot is in it, the loss of a poor 00:20:52.320 --> 00:21:01.519 under rower will be inconsiderable. I'm leaving the ship of the church in a storm, but while the great pilot 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:07.560 is in it, the loss of a poor under rower will be inconsiderable. Humanly speaking, Owen's death would 00:21:07.559 --> 00:21:15.419 be a huge blow to the church. But he knew it wasn't about him. And why I use this story is because in the nicest 00:21:15.419 --> 00:21:19.559 possible way, Ealing IPC, I want you to know that it is not about you. 00:21:22.759 --> 00:21:31.759 Owen viewed himself as just a rower in the bowels of the ship. The great pilot, the Lord Jesus, is the one steering it. 00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:42.180 Isn't that our hope for the church? If it was us at the helm, it would only lead to catastrophe and disaster. 00:21:42.680 --> 00:21:49.400 But because Christ is at the helm, then we can rejoice in whatever it is he calls us to do, whatever he calls you to do. 00:21:49.400 --> 00:22:02.500 Whichever oar he tells you to pull, whichever job he assigns you on deck. Because he is in charge. And so we trust him for gospel fruit. 00:22:02.500 --> 00:22:12.900 So as we draw these things together this afternoon, what I wanted to speak to you about was gospel fruit. 00:22:14.039 --> 00:22:19.440 That we look for the gospel fruit that we've seen, that we thank God for it and we trust him for more. 00:22:19.559 --> 00:22:26.180 But something else happened 50 years ago, didn't it? 50 years ago was the moon landings, which we've heard so much about. 00:22:29.819 --> 00:22:32.019 Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, stepping on the moon. 00:22:32.500 --> 00:22:36.960 Ealing IPC meeting in the living room of Cleveland Road. 00:22:38.859 --> 00:22:40.099 Which was more significant? 00:22:41.900 --> 00:22:44.119 Which was more significant, friends? 00:22:46.220 --> 00:22:54.440 Can I put it to you that there is no giant leap greater than somebody understanding the gospel. 00:22:54.440 --> 00:23:05.140 Than somebody then living a new life in service of Christ and being joined into a faithful congregation of his people to live for him and to serve him. 00:23:05.539 --> 00:23:11.860 And through our churches we have the joy and privilege of seeing him do just that. 00:23:11.859 --> 00:23:16.159 50 years old. 00:23:19.159 --> 00:23:19.879 Congratulations. 00:23:22.259 --> 00:23:22.979 Thanksgiving. 00:23:24.259 --> 00:23:26.559 Praise God for all his mercies. 00:23:27.500 --> 00:23:28.000 Let's pray. 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:28.579