Sunday Gathering - John 7 : 1-9 - Nick Lugg - Sermon Only

do i have to do oh let's come on i was going to say do i have to do anything to the microphone

but no obviously not good morning um i'm thankful for what erica read about god being with us in

every circumstance because the notices are going to be so slick this morning and i spent most of

friday evening editing a video putting information on subtitle all sorts of stuff and then obviously

uploaded the wrong video but there we are at least you got to see our beautiful faces

but the new one will go out right let me start that we are in john's gospel continuing in john's

gospel there's a busy summer coming up and so we're going to have quite a bit of a break from

john's gospel as uh uh weeks go on but uh we're still there for now we've arrived at john chapter

7 and my passage is the first nine verses john chapter 7 from verse 1 after this jesus traveled

around galilee he wanted to stay out of judea where the jewish leaders were plotting his death

but soon it was time for the jewish festival of shelters chris told me this morning in his

version it's the festival of booths or tents and jesus brothers said to him leave here and go to

Judea, where your followers can see your miracles. You can't become famous if you hide like this.

If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world, for even his brothers didn't believe

in him. Jesus replied, now is not the right time for me to go, but you can go anytime. The world

can't hate you, but it does hate me, because I accuse it of doing evil. You go on. I'm not going

to this festival, because my time has not yet come. After saying these things, Jesus remained

in galilee i've got two titles for what i want to say this morning first one is the courage of

conviction and the second when the call of god on our lives is greater than the pressure we face

when you read these verses and you think about what was really going on you can see the kind of

pressure that jesus was under every day of his life he was somebody who uh who had who enjoyed

life. He had fun with people. He spent time eating. He was accused of eating and drinking

with sinners. He was somebody who was a live wire in terms of society. But at the same time,

he carried a lot of pressure. John says quite casually, the Jewish leaders were plotting his

death. Think about that. The Jewish leaders were plotting his death. Can you imagine what it's like

to live a life that just by virtue of who you are causes people to want to kill you to plot

to kill you that if you go to the wrong place at the wrong time they will kill you that's that's

out of my experience and we know what it's like to have people argue with us or disagree with us

or criticize us but to have people actively plan to wipe you out is something else some people will

know what it's like to face opposition for being a Christian, but this is another level. Jesus was

facing it. Many people have faced it. Many people still continue to face it in the world that we

live in. But fortunately, by the grace of God, at the moment, in our experience, it's very rare.

But in reading the passage, and you see how Jesus dealt with it, he was carrying this burden. He knew

that people hated him so much that they wanted him dead. And yet there was no panic or sense of

crisis, just a calm adjustment. He wanted to stay out of Judea because if he went there,

they'd probably kill him. So he decided to stay back, to stay somewhere else so that his mission

and ministry wasn't disrupted. He used calm wisdom. He wasn't intimidated. Brutal opposition

didn't make him question, am I doing things? Am I on the right track? Surely if I was doing the

right thing, nobody would want to kill me. They'd all want to be my friend. But he didn't question.

he didn't second guess he didn't self-doubt the pressure was real but it wasn't enough for him to

change anything it wasn't enough for him to change course or change his emphasis or change his or try

and pretend to be something that he wasn't pressure only damages something when the pressure inside

is less than the pressure outside saw you know like a balloon popping i saw that it was that

tragedy of the people that went down to the view of the Titanic where their thing imploded under

the pressure of the sea and saw a video about it the other day. Just the power of pressure

because what was inside wasn't strong enough to withstand the pressure outside. What pressure do

you face? How does it make you feel? Does it create anxiety, fear, doubt, uncertainty? Does it cause you

to question yourself or your motivation for living for Jesus when you set your values and you set

your direction and you set your vision and people take it the wrong way or they misunderstand or

they criticize or whatever and you think maybe I'm on the wrong track could be financial pressure

could be emotional pressure could be relational pressure could be anything but pressure has the

capacity to change us to to cause us to go in on ourselves to cause us to change direction

to cause us to doubt the stance that we've taken and we live in a hostile environment to genuine

faith the fact that we face pressure doesn't invalidate our faith it actually proves that our

faith is genuine you shine a light in dark places and you discover all sorts of nasty things

speak words that challenge the status quo and pushback is immediate the pressure to conform

the pressure to fit in the pressure not to stick your head up not to not to speak out not to be

noticed is huge in our society if you stand out you face pressure and you face pushback

in our families in our workplaces in our communities and yet as the people of God we

have the word of life and so we hold out the word of life that means we stand out that means we're

different that means we can't afford just to mold into the background can't just pretend to be

a nice group of people that that sing together on a Sunday morning and you know we will never do

anybody any harm we're not going to do anybody any harm but you know what I mean we've got nothing to

nothing to threaten anybody at all and yet if we hold out the word of life people will have an

opinion it's a word that calls us to change calls us to align our will with the purposes of God

causes us to sacrifice ourselves to lay down our ego to to put everything else aside and to and

to truly follow Jesus and that's not popular Christianity but it's genuine and it's powerful

just coming to terms with it ourselves shows us how difficult and life-changing the process is

now you apply that to a whole community and imagine our vision one of our values transforming

communities what does it take to transform a community it actually takes a group of people

that will stand up and stand out and will speak out people that will actually hold out the word

of life and say this is the way to life this is what we're this is this is who God is this is what

he wants from us this is this is how we come to know him and that creates pressure we're not just

solving a few problems or trying to to add value to life but we're trying to turn everything or

where God wants to turn everything on its head he wants to dethrone the powers and principalities

that have controlled people's lives and have controlled communities have controlled families

and controlled streets for generations and the gospel threatens all of that and brings all that

into the light and that's what Jesus was doing he wasn't just by being who he was they didn't want

him around they wanted him out of the way because he was messing with the status quo he faced

pressure from those who hated him but there was a different kind of pressure as well that he faced

and he faced pressure from not just from his enemies but from his brothers and those closest

to him they didn't get him said the jewish leaders were plotting his death but his brothers said to

him leave here and go to judea where your followers can see your miracles you can't become famous if

you hide like this if you can do such wonderful things show yourself to the world for even his

brothers didn't believe in him and so the pressure came from his brothers as well pressure to dance

to their tune john says they didn't believe him but they believed enough to have an idea of the

kind of things he could do the idea for the potential impact he could have and they had

their own strategy and they had their own agenda and they thought oh i know if we manage this well

we can really see something happen they had no understanding no sympathy no time for his vision

and agenda they had no idea they could see they've seen some miracles i thought oh well we could

create some sort of miracle circus and and and everybody could come and they could get their

healing and they could get their whatever and you know he could make a name for himself we could

make a name for ourselves and then you know the world is going to be changed jesus and that's not

how it's going to work that's not how i changed the world that's not how my father has it has

has instructed me that's not the the mission and the vision i carry and so i'm not going to do it

but the pressure to be something uh according to the will of other people was big and was huge so

he was facing on the one hand people who wanted to kill him on the other hand people who wanted

him to do something that wasn't according to his core vision and his core plan that God had given

him. So they said, leave here and go to Judea where your followers can see your miracles. You

can't become famous if you hide like this. If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the

world. Have you ever wondered why Jesus came 2,000 years ago and didn't come now when we've got

internet and tv networks and you know he could he could he could go around the world in a heartbeat

but he was just in a small community hiding away like you don't become famous by doing this but

but god in his wisdom sent jesus at a time when there was no internet and there were no airplanes

and there was no none of the stuff that we would think you would need in order to take on a world

transformation ministry but jesus had his own plans and he had his own agenda and we learned

from him how the the pressure of the world the pressure of the culture the pressure of of what

we feel would be a good and effective ministry isn't always what's on the heart of God and so

they wanted to make him famous because that way he would reach more people and do more good

and they all had an opinion about what he was doing but he didn't take his direction from

anyone any of them there was a timetable his father had given him and that was it

he was sticking to it. My time has not yet come. No apology, no explanation. He just knew he had

that conviction of his calling. He wasn't making things up as he went along. He wasn't seeing how

things worked out and adjusting his policy depending on the opinion polls. You're seeing

which way things are going. This is where following Jesus really begins to bite because

we have to be of the same mind and the same caliber. Because we all know what pressure is

like, don't we? Pressure to become something, pressure to achieve something, pressure of people's

expectations on us, pressure of people's disappointment in us, pressure to prove

ourselves, pressure to keep everyone happy. And one of the most powerful gifts God gives us

is conviction, not energy or enthusiasm or stubbornness, but conviction that carries us

through against the pressure. Focus on what is right, what should be done, regardless of the

outside pressure. Remember teachers at school saying, have the courage of your convictions.

I didn't know what they meant, but I think now that I do. Conviction needs courage.

The two are inseparable. They go together.

If we have conviction, we need to have courage.

We need to have determination.

We can't have a conviction

and then just change with the wind

and say, oh, well, sorry, I think I might have made a mistake.

We have to have a conviction that says

whatever happens, we have to have a conviction

that says, okay, they're plotting my death.

I'm not letting go of my conviction.

I'm just going to adjust

the way I handle this situation.

Or people are telling me, you've got real power.

You've got real ability. You've got real potential.

you could do a lot, you could become famous

you could become rich

but my conviction says

this is what I'm doing, this is the way I should go

and I'm not moving regardless

of the pressure that you put

on me

because without conviction and the courage we need to have

with it we just get blown about

from one thing to the next

you can see it in politics can't you, policy and decisions

are driven by the greatest pressure

lobby groups, if you've got a voice

around people that

are political leaders. You can get stuff done.

Doesn't matter what they say. If they come up

with a plan, if you've got a loud enough

voice that says, actually, we want it done differently,

they'll do it differently. There's a man,

I don't even know how to say his name properly,

French people among us will correct me,

Alexandre

Auguste Ledru

Roland. He was a leader in the

French Revolution. I mean, I'm not an

expert on the French Revolution, it's just a

benefit of Wikipedia.

But he said, this is a quote that

I've carried around for many, many years,

he said, there go the people, I must follow them, for I am their leader. We simply cannot live like

that. There go the people, I must follow them, for I am their leader. But we're not like that

as followers of Jesus. We need to quietly, calmly, humbly focus on what God is showing us,

follow him with absolute determination, whatever is happening around us. Because this gospel message

that we have is the hope of the world. It is the answer. It always has been the answer,

always will be the answer the way we understand it the way we interpret it we were going through

a training yesterday we're thinking about you know how we communicate in our in our culture

in our modern world with all the different uh types of people that we encounter and the types

of people that we are ourselves you know what how does the gospel make sense and all of that is fine

but the gospel itself remains the power to change lives and transform situations it's the hope of

the world and it can't do anything if we allow it to be changed every time the pressure changes

or we just decide to give people what you know do an opinion poll and say what would you like

the church to be jesus said to those these people they had a plan for his popularity they said if

you go to judea you can become famous you can do the miracles you can do whatever and he said

the world hates me because i accuse it of doing evil you imagine his pr team scratching their

head saying you can't say that jesus it's not it's insensitive people loved the miracles they

loved being fed turns out they weren't so keen on the confrontation that came from jesus words

really challenging and difficult to hold out the the message that god has for us and so we have to

confront the call to transformation in our own lives and hold out that same to others without

fear without compromise not talking about being unpleasant not talking about being argument not

talking about being you know like like the church can sometimes get a bit of a bad thing but just

with that conviction this is the word of God this is the word of life this is the opportunity that

we have come and meet Jesus and so the church community is the engine room of transformation

not enough just to come and be you know just enjoy the services we have to think about what it means

to be a follower of Jesus and do it without compromise Jesus had said elsewhere if anyone

wants to follow me they must take up their cross and follow me you ever thought about that if you

take up your cross and follow jesus there's only one place you're going there's only one destination

to be crucified it's like that it's the end there's no you don't get to sort of go on you know

take up your cross and follow me and go off on a on a side road for a bit of a jolly

there's only one direction that you're going in plenty of time to reconsider your life choices

as you're dragging your cross up a hill.

What am I doing?

But the Bible says that Jesus did it for the joy set before him.

He endured the cross for the conviction in his heart

of what he was doing, for the reality.

When he said, Father, if it's possible, may this be taken from me,

but nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.

Everything.

He was sweating drops of blood through the stress and the pain

and the confusion that he was in.

And he was saying, if there's any other way, let me take it.

But he knew, nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.

that conviction courage of his own convictions that kept him on track no matter what the pressure

was i was thinking about our corporate vision and 146 and all that lies ahead of us and a sensible

question that people ask often is what is your vision what's the vision and sometimes i think

we answer in the wrong way because 146 the whole broader vision of the church is not our idea

we're not trying to get as exciting a plan as possible hoping to draw the attention of God

and you say oh that looks really good I'll come in on that like dragon's den we pitch it to the

Lord here's our vision says yeah I mean I'll give you 10 grand it's not like that it's his to start

with he's the one who pitches it to us this is what I'm doing and so we're coming in on something

so so you know before as we've said before before any of us were here before the estates were

built before the pub was built when the pub was built god already had a plan for this place and

if we have and we need to have the humility to say it's not about our vision or our faith or

our energy or our fundraising but it's about that god has a plan and we need to get in on it

and we need to be the ones saying thank you lord yeah we're in because often we look at it and say

i'm not sure it's going to work i'm out like the dragons yeah i like i like the idea but not for me

we need to say no we're in we're getting in on this and there's been many pressure points along

the way times when we could have doubted or been tempted to give up things that would have caused

us to give up said many times we've joked haven't we how phil france said when he looked at it said

no it's going to cost a million pounds we said oh no don't be silly well add it up and uh he was

right and we might have backed off if we'd have known that but because we've stepped into an

unfolding purpose of God, he's shown us what is possible.

And through miraculous provision, even recently,

you know, we were saying, well, we've been very practical and pragmatic, maybe we'll just do the ground

floor. God has made it possible for us to do the upstairs as well.

And we thank God for that. And that place is,

I mean, it was there the other day, the place is, it looks like, somebody said, you know,

maybe knock it down and rebuild it. It looks like we have done. I mean, there's

got no roof on it and whatever there's but it but it's coming together and this year by the grace

of god it will be done gives us enormous confidence for the future even against the pressure of the

unanswered questions last week at wilmslow i was telling uh we had a great time at wilmslow robin

marion white's church in wilmslow parish hall we had a great time with a small church there

and i was telling the story of erica's mum and dad my parents-in-law and you may have heard it

I've probably told it because I talk about them quite a bit.

But I think it's relevant to what I want to say today.

And they were both lined up to go to Zimbabwe.

In 1964, they were Elim missionaries,

selected as Elim missionaries,

and they were part of a team that were going to Zimbabwe.

The actual team that was later massacred in 1978.

And their tickets were bought and they were paid for

and all the logistics were in place.

And then one day at their church conference,

the mission board people took them aside and said,

actually, David and Margaret,

we want you to go to Ghana instead they said oh that's a bit of a change

you know how long have we got to think about it and they said well 20 minutes

and Erica's mum Margaret said that as she prayed and lifted her heart to God she

said she heard God say so clearly Margaret I'm going to Ghana would you like to come with me

he didn't say you're my people for the task I'm going to give you a great ministry in Africa you

know this is you know you're the people that have got everything that I just said I'm going

Do you want to come and see what's going on?

And so she said yes.

And the thinker dad agreed as well.

Of course he did.

And they decided to go and they met and they went.

And so they had, you know, they were young.

They had all that energy and that enthusiasm.

You think, oh, we're going to Africa, you know, to be missionaries.

And they arrived at the airport and they stepped out of the plane

and they got there and there was an elderly missionary

who they were going to sort of get the handover from.

And he was there in the airport and his first words to them,

Instead of welcome or let me show you around,

he just said, I don't know why you've come,

because there's nothing to do here.

And I think, well, that's pressure.

You've given up everything,

and you've travelled to West Africa in the 1960s

with a different place then,

and there's nothing for you to do.

And it could have crushed anybody's hopes

or anybody's dreams.

But the pressure inside them of the call of God

to keep going was greater than the pressure

that was telling them to stop and go home and so they stepped into a into an environment where

they were told the word over their life was there is nothing to do and they got on with stuff that

they found to do and god opened up doors and unfolded things and and created relationships

connections and things and in the 1970s when they moved to a place called quadraso which was quite

a rural place in that time at that time there was a welcome service for uh them as where erica's dad

was the district pastor and there were 60 people present at the welcome service and about eight

years later when they left that place there were 6 000 people at the farewell that's how much it

had grown and if you go there now it's not a rural place it's like a concrete jungle flyovers and all

sorts of stuff go on but it's an enormous as far as the church of pentecost is concerned it's an

enormous uh not just a district it's an area it's an area with many many districts with tens of

thousands of people there and planted from that moment where they stepped into a place where there

were 60 people to say welcome you know come to the ministry and erica's mum was the founder of

the or co-founder of the children's movement in ghana sunday school movement she wrote the

curriculum uh that what they still continue to teach and everything else there and so they

started something called the children's movement so for for teaching and raising up children in

the faith and on the day of her funeral in 2015 uh there was a whole delegation came from the

church in ghana and they gave a report an up-to-date report on that day that the number

of children registered in the children's movement was 750 000 but if you if you met them you would

never know you'd never know because of that humility that says oh i'm going to ghana do you

want to see what I'm, you know, do you want to come with me? They never claimed, oh, we've got

a ministry. Probably didn't even know there were 750,000 in the ministry she started. Because she

was just doing, just aligning herself with what God was already doing. Never claimed it for

themselves. And that's what discipleship is. Not persuading God to bless our lives or our plans,

but to find out what he's doing and getting involved, regardless of the pressure. What is

God doing here? What is God doing in your life? What is God doing? What is he leading you into?

Erica said, you know, we never step into a situation where God is not present. Emmanuel,

God with us. What is it that you're doing, Lord? Remember though, is it Paul Yonggi Cho? You know,

good morning, Holy Spirit. What are you doing today? Show me what you're doing. Let me be part

of it. The builders on Thursday were telling us all about, you know, the roof, you know, might have

a 20-year warranty and this and that. And the thought crossed my mind. I thought, well, if it

last 20 years it probably i probably won't have to be worrying about it so you know like but that

doesn't matter this is not it's not the nick lug memorial hall it's it's the minute it's a ministry

that god is that he's called us into at this time so let's see what he's doing let's see how far he'll

take us natalie spoke last week about how she tried to give every reason an excuse not to be

appointed CEO of Jubilee Plus until she was asked are you called and she said yes and that settled

it. When I was first appointed as a pastor in 1994, not here in another place, a number of people

didn't like it. Can't imagine that can you? I didn't have the experience, I was too young etc

and the same Erica's dad that I've been talking about said to me well they're actually right

aren't they? He said, you haven't got any

experience and you are very young

but

are you called? I said, yeah.

He said, well that settles it then.

What are we called to? We might look

at ourselves and think, well we're only

Jordan Thorpe and Batemore, we're only Sheffield,

we're only, you know, we haven't got, we're not

like, go on YouTube

and see the type of churches

you know, that are really going for it.

We're not like that. We don't have the smoke machines

and all the rest of it.

But are we called?

What are we called?

We're the only people here today.

We're the only community.

We're the only people where we are worshipping

and praising the living God

and we're praying, God, come down to this place.

We're representing the Lord here in this place,

now, at this time.

This is our opportunity.

Like it was said to Esther,

that God will do it from somewhere else.

He'll raise up deliverance for the Jews from somewhere else.

But who knows that you were brought to royal position

for such a time as this.

So will you do it?

will you step in and that's the question that God has for us will we do it he'll do it he'll he'll do

whatever he's planned to do one way or the other he'll do it with somebody else if we don't want

to do it but what about the opportunity that he invites us into the conviction that he invites

us into to step into regardless of the pressure because it's not it's not pressure on us it's his

work it's what he's doing we don't have to make it happen we don't have to you know I can't believe

when somebody could say a building project will cost a million pounds we would our hearts will say

it's impossible but here we are and we're doing it because God is able to do he's able to help us

he's as we step in he's able to cause us to withstand the pressure and to see impossible

things done so what are you called to have you got every reason why it can't be done every reason why

you can't be part of it.

Every reason why our weakness

is the thing that's going to stop God from doing

what he wants. It's not really relevant,

is it? It's true, like

it was said to me. We are weak.

We haven't got much money. We haven't got much

power. We haven't got much talent. I'm

not being rude. I'm just being

realistic.

We could look at

ourselves as we're a motley bunch,

but what are we called to?

What is God doing?

Are we going to get alongside him?

Are we going to step by step with him?

Are we going to seek him?

We can't put a vision together that would wow the dragons in Dragon's Den.

But we don't need to.

Because God is working his purposes out amongst us.

So maybe the musicians could come and help me.

Sing something, yeah.

Think about it.

Because there's pressure.

There's pressure on your life today.

however many people are here

50, 60, 70, I don't know how many people are here

but there's different set of circumstances

for each one of us and different pressure

that's working on our hearts and in our minds

lots of things that are making us

distracting us from the call

and the purposes of God

but we need to recenter ourselves again

this morning and focus again

on him, what is it Lord that you're

calling us to, what is it that you're doing, show us Lord

what it is you're doing because I want

to be part of it, if you want to be part of it

respond in your hearts this morning respond and if you want me to pray for you or anybody to pray

for you come here down the front and we'll pray if you want to settle it there if that helps

but we're going to worship the lord and think about his word in our hearts thanks chris