Verity Christian Fellowship

If we consider how other people would describe us as Christians we would expect them to use words like boring, judgemental and hypocrite. These are the stereotypes that people have of us. If we try to describe ourselves we use words like faithful, true, and caring. This is the stereotype we have of ourselves. If we are really honest, the reality of who we are actually lies somewhere in between.

Now if we consider the Bible as a guide as to how we should live our lives then I do not really see this as a problem. For the truth is that people who are portrayed in the Bible are not perfect and in fact are all too human. Take Simon Peter for example.

In Matthew 16:16 Peter is at his peak when he declares that Jesus is the Christ. For Jesus praises him in front of the other disciples and says ‘on this rock I will build my church’. You can imagine the pride that Peter must have felt at this acknowledgement. But unfortunately pride comes before a fall and it is all downhill for Simon Peter after this.

As Jesus goes on to tell the disciples how he will suffer and die at the hands of the chief priests, Peter tries to use what he believes to be his new found influence. He takes Jesus to one side and says ‘don’t dishearten the lads, we wont let this happen to you’. Jesus then rounds on him and tells him that he has no idea what he is talking about and that he is not following Gods plan but mans.

Some days later Jesus takes Simon Peter, James and John up a mountain. Before their eyes, Jesus is transformed and revealed in his true glory. He is then joined by Moses and Elijah, the most renowned figures in Jewish history. What is Simon Peter’s response? He wants to build them a shelter! He is so overwhelmed he just comes out with a ridiculous response which everyone politely ignores.

He goes on to almost start a blood bath when Jesus is arrested, by attacking the High Priests servant and most notoriously to deny Jesus after he is arrested. This from the man who said they would never harm Jesus whilst he was around.

However, despite all this, Jesus knows what is in his heart and at a BBQ fish breakfast asks him what he ultimately asks all of us ‘do you love me?’ Simon Peter’s response is ‘Lord you know all things; you know that I love you’. That is all Jesus wanted to hear.

In John 8: 32 Jesus says ‘then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Also in Matthew 11:28 he says ‘come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden light’.

The truth is Jesus does not want super-heroes, he wants human beings. Humans by definition make mistakes and stuff up. We are also allowed to have fun. If we were perhaps a little more honest about who we are we may begin to break down the stereotype image that others have of us.

Just remember that there is nothing you can do to make God love you more, but also nothing you can do to make God love you less. Just remember Simon Peter and don’t worry about letting your humanity show.

Matthew, Mark and Luke’s Gospels all give an account of Jesus and his disciples crossing the Sea of Galilee and finding a man afflicted with many demons (Matthew’s gospel mentions two men, but the account is otherwise the same). Jesus frees the man from his torment and casts out the demons into a herd of two thousand pigs, who promptly run into the lake and are drowned. When the locals turn up to see what has happened, the account says they were afraid and asked Jesus and his followers to leave.

Now I looked up the price of a pig on the internet and found that the cost is approximately £100 each. This means that Jesus sacrificed a herd of animals worth around £200,000 in today’s money to free one man. Now you can imagine that this would have been a serious blow to the local economy. No wonder the locals were afraid, they were not sure what else this stranger might do to wreck their comfortable lives.

On the other side of the lake, in Capernaum, Jesus had been performing miracles and changing lives by healing people from all sorts of diseases and afflictions, even bringing the dead to life. Having crossed the lake and performed one miracle, Jesus could doubtless have gone on to perform many others and bless the people. But because of their fear of how much it would cost them they sent him away and so lost the chance of a lifetime.

Jesus warned his disciples that the cost of following him would be high. He did not promise them big houses, good jobs, flash cars. He said they would be rejected, have conflict in their families and that it may even cost them their lives. But he did say they would be blessed when they suffered persecution for his name’s sake.

Jesus thinks you are worth it. For you he will give even more than £200,000. He has already given his life. But how much do you think Jesus is worth? He asks only one thing, time. Time to make a relationship, time to get to know you, time to give your heart.

You can see wonderful miracles happen in your life if you are prepared to give Jesus some time. If however your life is too busy to make that sacrifice you can send him away, he will not complain or protest. But you will miss out on the chance for great things to happen in your life.

Yes its that time of year again when we have a session of collective reflection as to were we are and were we want to go, otherwise known as the AGM.

As usual the men will be providing the breakfast so need to be at the hall by 8.30. The women and children should come about 9.00 to be waited upon hand and foot and be given a sumptious breakfast.

This will all be followed by a general discussion of how last year went and ideas for this year. The meeting should be finished about 12.00.

This is your chance to put forward any ideas or comments you may have in how we operate as a church or perhaps just to hear others viewpoints in an open forum. So please try and make it and be prepared to contribute. I will be preparing an agenda so if there is anything specific you would like discussed please let me know.

Ian

Matthew 20:1-16

In the parable of the workers in the vineyard, Jesus tells of an estate owner who goes out to hire workers for his vineyard. He offers them the standard days pay for the full days work. As the day goes on he continues to hire more workers until the last ones are hired just before work finishes for the day. However, when it comes to paying them, he gives all the workers a full days pay no matter how long they worked for. Now this causes some comment amongst those who have worked all day, but the vineyard owner asks them why are they complaining? They received exactly what they were told they would receive, no one was cheated, so why should they begrudge him if he wishes to be generous to those who have only worked a short time?

In worldly terms we perhaps have some sympathy with the workers who had been there all day. We like to believe that the size of the reward is related to the amount of work done. However in reality we know that this is rarely the case. Many people in this world have to work hard and long for very little return whilst others live a life of relative ease for little effort. The world treats people in a very unfair way.

However in spiritual terms this is never the case and God is always fair. As with many of Jesus’ parables, this one tries to explain to us the mystery of how Heaven operates. God of course is the estate owner, and we are the workers. The days pay referred to in the parable is our spiritual salvation and the point is this was earned the moment we agreed to work for the estate owner. God never short changes us and always ensures we get what we deserve.

This is good news because it means it is never too late to be accepted by God. Also God never rejects anyone because they cannot do much or gives extra rewards only to high achievers and the gifted. In Gods eyes he loves us all and wants to reward us equally.

He does warn however that there are some people who may act as though they are working in the vineyard but they are in reality working for themselves. We must however remember that whilst man looks at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart. He knows those who are truly working for him and will ensure that all receive their just reward. After all, fair’s fair.

Happy New Year from Verity Christian Fellowship
You’ll find a lot of dates posted in the diary section so please do take a look at what we’ve planned so far for 2007.

We’ll be adding more events as the year goes by so be sure to stop by regularly.