Well, good evening everyone. It's good to be back with you.
Second week in succession. I usually go to most churches twice.
Once to apologise.
Really it's a privilege to be here with you.
Trying to jiggle all my bits of things on here.
Get this right.
And over 30 years ago, our family moved to Nigeria
to live among a community of people, some 60,000 strong,
known locally as the Jarawa.
They're particularly famous for their skills in dancing.
We lived in a village about 18 miles from the city of Joss,
in a mud-walled house without electricity and running water,
with our children who were then aged three and one.
Our purpose in living there was to write down the language
these people spoke.
It's a language called Izeri.
We were writing it down for the first time.
And that involves spending time with the speakers of the language,
transcribing the language,
and then launching a reading programme
in preparation for the translation of the New Testament
in this particular language.
When you learn a language like this
without any books or any grammars or anything like this,
you begin usually with important phrases.
So the most important phrase is,
how do you greet people?
And in this particular language,
if you greet someone,
it's a long, complicated process,
a bit like a table tennis match
when you go backwards and forwards.
You can't just say hello and nod your head.
You know, you...
So the first thing you say normally is,
Ikoza cháange?
Which means literally,
did you sleep cold?
Because that's a good thing,
sleeping cold in a hot clavet.
And the answer is,
ee chang, ee yokyo.
You then learn other things, useful things.
So here's one from the reading book.
Aniene means, who are you?
And this boy says,
na'ama.
I'm ama.
But often, as you begin to explore a new language,
you discover under the surface,
there are lots of much more complex things
going on below the surface.
And as you understand the culture,
some interesting things come out.
So we discovered after a time
that people,
if you ask them what your name is,
they would give you their name,
but they also had other names,
or I suppose we call them nicknames,
which were given to people
to describe their names and their character.
And after we'd been living there for some time,
we discovered that I had been given a name.
Now, sometimes this is not the kind of thing
you want to know,
because you ask in trepidation,
so what is the name that you've chosen for me?
And I discovered that the name
they'd chosen for me was Itzer.
And Itzer is the word for a flying termite.
Now, I was asking my wife,
why did they call me Itzer?
And she said, well, I think it's because
you're always buzzing around doing things manically
and activity-wise.
Maybe so.
Maybe, though, I fondly imagined
it was because it also reflected
my creative skills,
as flying termites are the ones
that build those incredible termite mounds
up to five meters high,
in which they live in a colony.
However, termites are also known
for something less appealing,
their ability to eat through
and destroy almost anything.
Here's a fine commentary
on Colossians and Philemon
by a well-known professor from of old,
H.C.G.
Mould.
David will tell you about it
if you want to know any more details.
There's a picture of it there.
And the termites just love this book.
So I thought you might like to see
what it looks like
when a termite's been through a book.
They devoured almost every word
of this learned and godly book.
So was I really happy with my new name?
It's Sam.
I kind of got mixed feelings about it,
to be honest.
You may wonder where this is going.
All right.
Today I want to focus on the person
in the Bible that we're going to be studying.
We began last week in the book of Ruth.
We're going to,
if you want to title for this a summary,
what the opening chapter of Ruth is about.
It's about a change of name.
And it's the story of Naomi
from the book of Ruth.
And so what we need to do first of all
is turn in the Bible to Ruth chapter 1.
We're going to read the opening chapter.
And then we're going to talk about
this great theme about name changing.
Okay.
Here we go.
We looked at the opening verses last week,
but I think for the context
it will help to read them again.
Okay.
If you have a Bible.
In the days when the judges ruled,
there was a famine in the land.
So a man from Bethlehem in Judah,
together with his wife and two sons,
went to live for a while in the country of Moab.
The man's name was Elimelech.
His wife's name was Naomi.
The name of his two sons were Marlon and Kilion.
They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem Judah.
And they went to Moab and lived there.
Now Elimelech,
Naomi's husband, died,
and she was left with her two sons.
They married Moabite women,
one named Orpah,
the other Ruth.
After they'd lived there about 10 years,
both Marlon and Kilion also died,
and Naomi was left without her two sons
and her husband.
When Naomi heard in Moab
that the Lord had come to the aid of his people
by providing food for them,
she and her daughters-in-law
prepared to return home from there.
With her two daughters-in-law,
she left the place where she'd been living
and set out on the road
that would take them back to the land of Judah.
Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law,
Go back, each of you,
to your mother's house.
May the Lord show you kindness,
as you have shown kindness,
to your dead husbands and to me.
May the Lord grant,
each of you will find rest
in the home of another husband.
Then she kissed them goodbye,
and they wept aloud and said to her,
We'll go back with you to your people.
But Naomi said,
Return home, my daughters.
Why should you come with me?
Would you come with me?
Am I going to have more sons
who would become your husbands?
Return home, my daughters.
I'm too old to have another husband.
Even if I thought there was still hope for me,
even if I had a husband tonight
and then gave birth to sons,
would you wait until they grew up?
Would you remain unmarried for them?
No, my daughters.
It's more bitter for me than for you,
because the Lord's hand has turned against me.
At this they wept aloud again.
Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye,
but Ruth clung to her.
Look, said Naomi,
your sister-in-law is going back to her people
and her gods.
Go back with her.
But Ruth replied,
Don't urge me to leave you
or to turn back from you.
Where you go, I will go.
Where you stay, I will stay.
Your people will be my people.
Your God will be my God.
Where you die, I will die.
And there I will be buried.
May the Lord deal with me,
be it ever so severely,
if even death separates you and me.
When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined
to go with her,
she stopped urging her.
So the two women went on
until they came to Bethlehem.
When they arrived in Bethlehem,
the whole town was stirred because of them.
And the women exclaimed,
Can this be Naomi?
Don't call me Naomi, she told them.
Call me Mara,
because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.
I went away full,
but the Lord has brought me back empty.
Why call me Naomi?
The Lord has afflicted me.
The Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.
So Naomi returned from Moab,
accompanied by Ruth the Moabite,
her daughter-in-law,
arriving in Bethlehem
as the barley harvest was beginning.
This is God's word.
As we saw last week,
there are some things in time and culture
that you need to understand.
The background bit,
this story can be echoed
in many other parts of the world today.
It's a story of economic migration.
It's a story of family tragedy,
as we saw last week.
3,000 years ago,
a bit of a review for those
who weren't here last week,
3,000 years ago,
the people of Israel
were living in hard times.
They were hard times politically.
The opening verse tells us
the story happened
when the judges ruled.
It's a time of political instability
with a succession of rulers,
of up and down cycles,
of straying from God,
crying out to God for help,
being oppressed by enemies.
God answers in,
and then the same thing happens
again and again.
And we saw last week
that the last book
of the preceding,
the book preceding Ruth,
the book of Judges in our Bibles,
ends with these words.
In those days,
Israel had no king.
Everyone did as he saw fit.
Literally, everyone did
what was right in his own eyes.
I think of somewhere like Libya
or Yemen today,
and you probably get
a pretty good idea
of the kind of things
that were going on.
Allied with this,
there were also hard times
economically.
There was a famine
in the land.
And so a man named Elimelech
from the little town
of Bethlehem
in southern Israel
took his wife Naomi
and their two sons,
Marlon and Kilion,
crossed the border
into the neighboring country
of Moab.
A man from Bethlehem
and Judah together
with his wife and two sons
went to live for a while
in the country of Moab.
We saw last week
it was intended
to be just for a while,
a period of sojourning,
until things got better
but they became settled there.
The little while
became a long while
and for three of the party
there was no return.
So Naomi discovered
these were hard times
not only politically,
economically,
these were hard times
personally.
Look what it says.
Now Elimelech,
Naomi's husband died
and she was left
with her two sons.
They married Moab women,
one named Oprah,
the other named Ruth.
After they'd lived there
about ten years,
both Marlon and Kilion died
also and Naomi was left
without her two sons
and her husband
along with her two
Moabite daughters-in-law
who had married her two sons
and were also now widowed.
And then news came
from over the border
that the famine was over,
food was now plentiful,
so Naomi sets off.
It's a beautiful picture,
is it not?
Naomi sets off on the road
going back across the border
back to Bethlehem
with her two daughters,
one called Orpah,
the other one called Ruth.
The name Orpah
has not really been a popular name.
Other than the case,
you may know this,
just a piece of trite information,
other than a teenage mother
in America
who decided to call her daughter Orpah
and everyone mispronounced it
as Oprah
and that is the origin of that name.
I don't know if you knew that,
but it doesn't help you in any way,
but it's just interesting.
The other name, of course,
is much better known,
the name of Ruth
who insisted on staying
with her mother-in-law
and returning back to Judah
and to Bethlehem.
And so, ten years later,
Naomi returns to Bethlehem,
a very different person
to the one who had left
with her husband and sons.
So much so,
the whole town asks,
can this be Naomi?
So, notice Naomi's answer
and the change of name,
our theme.
Naomi answered,
trying to read the thing here,
I should go in a little bit,
sorry.
Naomi answered,
don't call me Naomi,
she told them,
call me Mara
because the Almighty
has made my life very bitter.
I went away full,
but the Lord has brought me back empty.
Why call me Naomi?
The Lord has afflicted me,
the Almighty has brought
misfortune upon me.
So, notice here
the change of name.
From Naomi,
a word which means
in Hebrew pleasant,
something like that,
to Mara,
a word which means bitter.
She now asks
that people call her
not Naomi,
but Mara.
Like my book,
her life,
it's a good illustration really,
like my book,
her life has been consumed
by bitterness.
Eaten away with bitterness
at what has happened to me.
So much so,
that even the cover,
her face,
and her appearance
is affected as well.
She's almost unrecognizable.
The people in the town,
probably not a big town,
well-known family maybe,
everyone is asking,
have you seen her?
Can this really be Naomi?
Naomi?
So, let's look first of all then
at this change of name
from Naomi to Mara.
What I want to do this evening
is to focus on two things.
First of all,
on the root of bitterness
as we look at Naomi's story.
Because it is a story
that is sadly mirrored
in the experience of many people
and maybe even the experience
of some of us here
this evening.
Let me try and give a definition
of what bitterness is.
Bitterness is a negative
emotional response
to unpleasant circumstances
expressed in feelings
such as resentment,
disappointment,
anger,
and even envy.
No wonder Naomi's bitter,
you may say.
No wonder she says,
call me Mara.
She's lost everything.
She held dear.
She's lost her husband.
She's lost her two sins.
She says,
I went away full.
I've come back empty.
Now,
let's move forward
3,000 years
and think about ourselves.
All of us,
if you've lived
any length of time,
experience unpleasant
circumstances
in our lives.
Some of us have lost children.
Others have lost a spouse.
Not only through death,
but even worse,
through desertion.
Some of us have lost
our health,
our homes,
our jobs,
our happiness,
or a whole host
of adverse circumstances
which affect us deeply.
And not surprisingly,
many people
in these circumstances
become embittered
by what they've experienced.
bitterness is a problem
for many people.
But I want to say this evening
that bitterness
is or can be
a particular problem
for many believers.
You see,
faced with adversity
or difficulty
or tragedy,
the unbeliever
can only blame
bad luck
or fate.
Though,
is it not surprising
how many
self-proclaimed
atheists
blame the God
they don't believe in
when things go wrong?
But for the believer,
for the person
who believes in God,
such things create
a theological difficulty
as we see
in the story of Naomi.
Naomi's
bitterness
is caused
by unpleasant
circumstances
which she acknowledges
are brought about
by the Lord.
In theological terms,
Naomi acknowledges
that in the circumstance
of her life
that God is sovereign.
God is in control.
Notice her words
to her daughters-in-law
showing that she recognises
not only the Lord
can bring blessing,
can bring prosperity.
She says to him,
go back each of you
to your mother's home,
maybe a little change.
No, she didn't say that
if you look at the text.
May the Lord
show you kindness
as you've shown kindness
to your dead husbands
and to me.
May the Lord
grant that each of you
will find rest
in the home
of another husband.
She also acknowledges
in her contrasting circumstances
that the Lord
is sovereign
than adversity.
She says,
it is more bitter
for me than for you.
Why?
Because
my luck has turned.
Things are really bad.
No, she says,
it is more bitter
for me than for you.
Because the Lord's hand
has turned against me.
And notice carefully
when the people in Bethlehem
ask what's happened,
she doesn't say,
well,
just things
just turned out badly.
No, she says,
not what she says.
Call me Mara.
Notice the words highlighted.
Because the Almighty
has made my life
very bitter.
I went away full,
but the Lord
has brought me back empty.
Why call me near me?
The Lord has afflicted me.
The Almighty
has brought misfortune
upon me.
She doesn't blame
bad luck,
blind fate.
No,
she has issues,
issues addressed to God.
She says,
why is the Almighty,
the word there
is El Shaddai.
It's a word that first,
I think,
occurs in Genesis 17
when God appears to Abraham
who's childless
and says,
I am the Lord,
El Shaddai.
It probably means
the God of all power.
Why is the God of all power,
the Lord,
who has entered
into a special relationship
with his covenant people Israel,
of which Ruth,
Naomi is a part,
why has he brought
such terrible circumstances
into the lives
of one of his people,
one of his children?
You see,
it's a problem
which is the problem
of suffering,
but I simply want to say
the problem of suffering
is a far more acute problem
for the believer
than for the unbeliever.
It's a particular dilemma.
If you know the Bible,
the Psalms are full
of the question,
why?
And the book of Job,
a long book
with lots of chapters,
is full of questions.
It's an extended treatise
on the subject of suffering.
As a man called Job,
who is described,
notice,
as blameless,
upright,
who fears God
and shuns evil,
wrestles with terrible adversity
and the platitudes
of his so-called comforters,
three times in Job 7,
11,
10,
1,
27,
2,
we are told
that he cries out to God
in bitterness
of soul.
So bitterness
can be a problem
for the believer
and for any Christian.
Now you might say,
oh, you don't know
Brentsville Evangelical Church,
we're all Christians here.
But bitterness
is a problem
for Christians.
Why else would the Apostle Paul
write as he does
to the Christians in Ephesus
and say,
get rid of all bitterness,
rage and anger,
brawling and slander
along with every form of malice
if it were not possible
for such things
to be part of a church?
Why does the writer
of the letter
to the Hebrews
warn Christians,
see to it,
he says,
that no one falls short
of the grace of God
and that no bitter root
grows up
to cause trouble
and to defile many?
You see,
the bitter person,
and I speak from experience,
of many years
of pastoral experience,
the bitter person
is a problem
in any church.
For bitterness
is infectious.
The word defile there
is a word use
of coloured dye,
which if you touch it,
it stains.
And you will find
that a bitter person
infects other people
with their bitterness.
So my experiences,
and maybe here,
within God's family
and our churches
are Christians
who wrestle with
unresolved bitterness.
Now,
it may be hidden
behind a smile
or even a song,
but open the cover
and you will discover
a bitter person.
And eventually,
it even begins to show
on the colour
on the cover
and the outward appearance
of the bitter person.
You discover a person
consumed
by bitterness.
It's a strange experience,
isn't it?
And sometimes,
it just erupts.
You talk to someone
and suddenly,
something bursts out
and you think,
so Naomi,
Mrs. Pleasant,
has become
Mara,
Mrs. Bitter.
That is her change
of name.
And the root
of her bitterness,
the root of bitterness
lies in her relationship
with the Lord.
And I simply want
to say to you,
and stay with me
because we don't end here,
thankfully,
I simply want to stay
with you
that if you are
a bitter person,
if you have resentment
within your heart
about things
that have happened
in the past year,
your problem
is with the Lord.
For thankfully,
chapter 1 is not
the final chapter
of the book of Ruth.
Now,
I'm not going to do
too many spoilers
for those who are
following me
and doing the rest
of the series,
but I do need
to say something
following on from this.
As we read on
in the story of Ruth,
and I'm just going
to touch on it
in outline
and the basic principles,
we discover,
as the story unfolds,
there is a change
of name from Mara,
Bitter,
back to Naomi.
If you know the Bible,
you may recall
that there is a story
in the Bible
about when the people
of Israel are passing,
leaving Egypt,
across the Red Sea,
three days later,
they're desperately thirsty
and they come
to a place
where they find
some water,
but when they taste
the water,
it is bitter.
Some people think
it's part of the
bitter lakes
in that region.
The water tastes bitter
and they're desperately
disappointed.
They cry out
to the Lord
and Moses,
the man of God,
the leader,
throws some wood
into the water
and the water
turns sweet
and they're able
to drink it.
So,
is there a balm
for bitterness?
Can a bitter believer
be made sweet again?
Thankfully,
yes.
Just as the root
of bitterness
lies in our relationship
with the Lord,
so does the remedy
for bitterness.
So,
let me suggest
from the story,
chapter one
and then a little bit
further on,
but in broad principle,
let me suggest
what the remedy
for bitterness is.
Let me mention
three things.
Three important steps
we need to take
from the example
and story of Nemi.
Okay,
here's the first one.
You need to return
to the right place.
You need to return
to the right place.
Now,
we talked last week,
the writer of Ruth
passes no judgment
on the decision
of Elimelech
to take his family
to Moab
and I suggested
that it wasn't
a very good move,
really.
Moab had a pretty
dubious reputation
not a good place
for anyone
to take his family
and whether
Nemi was complicit
in the decision
to go to Moab
we don't know.
Suggested that
in a patriarchal society
the husband
probably took the lead
and the wife
had to go along
with it
as happens
even today
in many situations.
But what Nemi
did decide
was to return home.
When she heard
in Moab
that the Lord
had come to the aid
of his people
by providing food
for them
Naomi and her
daughters-in-law
prepared to return
home from there.
Here's the first step
to return home.
See,
the road home
is the road of repentance
and he's turning
right about
and heading home.
We looked at
the lovely story
last week
of the prodigal son
and think about
the prodigal son
in the parable.
Probably in rags.
Been living in a pigsty,
probably didn't smell great
and he's stumbling
along the road home
but he determines
that he will return home.
He reasons within himself
how many of my father's men
have hired hands,
have bread enough to eat.
Here I am starving.
I'd be better off there
even if I go back
as a servant,
as a slave.
And so he sets out
on that road.
He doesn't just sit there
commiserating
about
his bad circumstances.
And whatever circumstance
you're in,
the first thing
you need to do
is to return home
to the road home.
You need to set up home
because only there
will you be
in the right place
to receive
the bread of life.
Maybe, I don't know,
a few of you here,
maybe God has brought you here
even this evening
that you might
return in this place
to God.
You don't literally
need to walk in
through the door
of the church
but you need spiritually
to turn,
to repent,
to turn back
and to return.
So,
Naomi returns
and notice the words,
it's a lovely story
or beautifully told.
So Naomi returned
from Moab
accompanied by Ruth
the Moabite,
her daughter-in-law,
arriving in Bethlehem
as the barley harvest
was beginning.
She returns home
to Bethlehem,
the house of bread
and the barley harvest
was beginning.
That's the first thing.
Here's the second thing
return to the right place.
Secondly,
talk to the right person.
You see,
bitterness bottled up
will often explode
and erupt
in an unprovoked way
so that the injured victim,
as I said before,
wonders,
where did that come from?
And it may be helpful
to talk to someone
about your bitterness
and experience,
pastor,
a wise counselor.
But there is one
wonderful counselor
to whom you can express
your deepest feelings
and pain.
You see,
the worst thing
you can do
in your bitterness
is to decide,
I remember someone
trying to help someone
in a situation like this
as a pastor,
and the person said,
I'm not talking to God
at the moment.
And I understood why,
but I tried to say
gently and kindly,
that's the worst thing
you can do.
You need to speak
to the right person.
There is a wonderful counselor
to whom you can express
your deepest feelings
and pain.
I don't think
Nehemiah's given up on God.
She recognizes
we saw his sovereignty
and so must we.
And as Job did,
you need to pour out
your bitterness to him.
And more than
Job or Nehemi,
you can come to him
through his son Jesus.
You may say,
what does Jesus know
of my grief and suffering?
And I say,
he's a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief.
You may say,
I didn't deserve this
to happen to me.
And I say,
he was pierced
for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities.
The punishment
that brought us peace
was upon him
and by his wounds
we are healed.
You may have
unanswered questions,
but here is a question
which puts all of them
and all our suffering
into perspective.
My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?
As the old spiritual puts it,
nobody knows the trouble
I see.
Nobody knows
but Jesus.
And that same Jesus
who died
and rose again
is now ascended.
The Bible says
he ever lives
to make intercession
for us.
We can come to him.
We can approach
God's throne,
the throne of grace,
not merit,
not what we deserve.
So here's these wonderful words
from the book of Hebrews.
Therefore,
since we have
a great high priest
who has ascended
into heaven,
Jesus,
the Son of God,
let us hold firmly
to the faith we profess.
For we do not have
a high priest
who is unable
to feel sympathy
for our weaknesses,
but we have one
who has been tempted
in every way
just as we are,
yet he did not sin.
Let us then approach
God's throne of grace
with confidence
so that we may
receive mercy
and find grace
to help us
in our time of need.
If you have a need,
return to the right place.
Talk to the right person.
And finally,
just in that line,
you need to,
thirdly,
wait for the right time.
Wait for the right time.
You see,
Nemi comes home
to the right place
and she begins
to prove God's provision
as her daughter-in-law,
Ruth,
gleans in the fields
of a man named Boaz.
The tradition was
that the law of the Lord
said you weren't to go,
when you gleaned your crops,
you weren't supposed
to go back for a second time
and pick up the leftovers,
you were to leave them
for the poor
and the widowed
and people like Nemi and Ruth.
And so,
she just happens
to choose this field
of a man named Boaz
who is a close relative.
What some would see
as a coincidence,
I read a lovely definition
of coincidence.
Coincidence is
God acting anonymously.
Well,
think about that.
She recognizes
God's providence
and slowly,
Nemi,
her spiritual senses
begin to awaken
and she discerns
that the Lord
is at work
in all this
as it unfolds
in ways
that she,
Nemi,
or Ruth
would never
have dreamt.
We're not going
to read it all
because you're going
to be hearing
on it the next few weeks
but maybe you're not
going to be here then
so let me give you
a spoiler
and tell you
at the end of it.
The end of it
is that Mrs. Bitter
becomes Mrs. Pleasant again.
It's chapter 4.
So Boaz took Ruth
and she became his wife.
When he went to her
the Lord enabled her
to conceive
and she gave birth
to a son.
The women said to Nemi,
Praise be to the Lord
who this day
has not left you
without a kinsman
redeemer.
May you become famous
throughout Israel.
He will renew
your life
and sustain you
in your old age
for your daughter-in-law
who loves you
and who is better to you
than seven sons
has given him birth.
And they all lived
happily ever after.
So the question
is this.
Is this what
we are all promised
in our adverse circumstances?
Are we promised
a happy ending?
Well,
for the answer
you need to read on a bit
first in the book of Ruth
and then further on
in the Bible
to get the whole story.
Notice the continuation
of the story.
Then Nemi took the child
in her arms
and cared for him.
The women living there
said Nemi has a son
and they named him Obed.
He was the father of Jesse,
the father of David,
Israel's greatest king.
Then we need to read on
beyond the book of Ruth,
beyond the Old Testament,
the old covenant
that God made
with his people Israel,
to a better covenant,
the New Testament,
which begins
a thousand years later.
Here are the opening words
of the New Testament,
which introduced
the culmination
of the story.
This is the genealogy
of Jesus the Messiah,
the son of David,
the son of Abraham.
And as you read down
this list of names,
suddenly as you get down,
it's a bit like
a television program,
who do you think you are?
You suddenly get
some unexpected people there.
And there you find,
of all things,
a Moabite woman.
Boaz, the father of Obed,
whose mother was Ruth.
Said last week,
the people of Moab
were banned
from worship of the Lord
to the tenth generation.
But here's God's grace
intervening,
setting aside the principle.
Boaz, the father of Obed,
whose mother was Ruth.
Obed, the father of Jesse.
Jesse, the father of King David.
And the genealogy
goes on and on.
And finally,
and Jacob,
the father of Joseph,
the husband of Mary.
And Mary was the mother
of Jesus,
who is called the Messiah.
Isn't it a wonderful thing
how God unfolds
the storyline
to bring to fulfillment
his amazing plan
through an embittered woman
who proves God's grace?
and the Moabite daughter-in-law.
And Jesus,
the promised Messiah,
our Redeemer,
who lived the perfect life,
who died for our sins,
was raised to give us life,
who finally ascended
into heaven,
and those who saw him leave
were promised.
Here is the conclusion
of the story.
This same Jesus,
said the two men,
the angels,
this same Jesus
who has been taken
from you into heaven
will come back
in the same way
you've seen him
go into heaven.
Now, friends,
this is the happy ending.
And here is the final timetable.
For the Lord himself
will come down from heaven
with a loud command,
with the voice of the archangel,
with the trumpet call of God,
the dead in Christ
will rise first.
After that,
we who are still alive
and are left
will be caught up together
with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air,
and so we will be
with the Lord forever.
Therefore,
comfort one another
with these words.
To the gravesite
in Edinburgh
two or three weeks ago.
One of my eldest wives,
a godly lady.
And we read these verses
as we committed
our body to the ground,
in sure and certain hope
of the resurrection
to eternal life.
So let me ask you,
are you looking forward
to that?
Is that your story?
Are you part of this story?
If someone was to do
your genealogy,
would it reflect
that you're part
of the family of God?
Wonderful thing
is you can be included
in the genealogy of Jesus,
a member of God's family
as you receive him
as your Lord and Savior.
So maybe if you're not
a Christian here this evening,
maybe things have happened
in your life,
maybe you're bitter,
maybe you've got
unanswered questions.
Here's what the Gospel
of John says.
Yet to all who did receive him,
to those who believed
in his name,
he gave the right
to become children of God,
children born not
of natural descent
nor of human decision
or a husband's will,
but born of God.
Nemi's story ended happily
in this life.
Now, we are not all promised
that in a fallen world.
But I'm almost finished.
Let me say this
as strongly as I can.
Though we may have to live
with our circumstances,
we do not have to live
with our bitterness.
Though we may have to live
with our circumstances,
we do not have to live
with our bitterness.
See, I began with my
termite-eaten book.
You see,
that termite-eaten book
can actually be replaced
with a perfect copy.
We discovered one of the
same editions
with the same cover
that the termites
hadn't got to.
I wonder,
if we were to open
the cover
of your life
and open the book,
what kind of person
would we find in
what your name is?
God,
help you help us.
Let's just pray.
And in the quietness,
let's just take a few moments
to reflect on what God
has said to us.
Maybe you have unresolved
hurts in your life.
maybe even bitterness
about things
that have happened.
Here in this place,
speak to the one
who alone can help you
and pour
the balm of his grace
into your bitterness.
His transforming grace.
Maybe you're not a Christian
and you don't have that hope.
Again, speak to him
and admit your need.
Turn from going
your own way
and put your trust
in the one who can save.
Our Father in heaven,
thank you for your Son,
our Saviour,
Jesus Christ,
who entered into our world
with all its pain
and anguish,
a fallen,
desperate world,
to reach us people
who were living
without hope
and without God
in the world.
For those of us
who know that,
help us again
to appreciate it
and that this life
is not the end
of the story
that we're looking
forward,
the best is yet to be.
We're looking forward
to that day
when Christ
shall return.
And so with your people
down the generations,
we cry,
Maranatha,
even so.
Come quickly,
Lord Jesus.
May we be found
longing for his appearing,
waiting for him,
because you're the one
who's able to keep us
from falling
and to present us
before your glorious presence
without fault
and with great joy.
So to you,
the only wise God,
be glory
and honour.
ko joining
where he and
from the
father
words