19th February 2023 Infill Service - Yasmin Chaffer - Love Matters, You Matter

Lowing our theme this month, love Matters. The title the Lord gave me

was you matter. You matter, And as we sang earlier, I am

his and he is mine. Bought by the precious blood of Christ. How

can we ever doubt that we matter? I came across this quote love and

do what you like. I think that says it all. In John fifteen,

verse twelve, Jesus says, my command is this, love each other

as I have loved you. In the Passion translation, it says, love

each other deeply as I have loved you. As that understanding of God's love

for us flows more and more freely from our heads to our hearts, we

will be able to love others more like Jesus has loved us. I believe

that receiving this love that God has for us, the value that He puts

on us, such that we value and love ourselves in a healthy, balanced

way, is what the Lord would like us to focus on today. Someone

recently recommended to me the book by Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel. I

took a quick look at it and read this. Over the years, the

growing consciousness of radical grace has brought profound changes in my self awareness. Justification

by grace through faith means that I know myself accepted by God as I am.

When my head is enlightened and my heart is pierced by this truth,

I can accept myself as I am. Genuine self acceptance is not derived from

the power of positive thinking, mind gains, or popular psychology. It's an

act of faith in the God of Grace. I don't know if you've ever

thought about self acceptance as an act of faith in the God of Grace,

but I think that's really helpful. It's about valuing yourself the way that God

does, valuing his opinion above whatever may be your own or those that others

have put on you or tried to. God made his opinion of you clear

when he decided it was worth sacrificing his only son, Jesus, so that

you don't have to be separated from him eternally. You don't have to go

to Hell, you can go to heaven. Jesus really is the son of

the one true living God who came to earth approximately two thousand years ago as

a baby. Jesus laid aside all the characteristics that made him God to live

as a man, but did not lay aside his identity. He was both

fully human and fully God. Jesus died a brutal, agonizing death, nailed

to a cross by his hands and feet, to take the punishment of sin,

all the wrong things we've ever done or will do. He took the

punishment of sin of all mankind, including yours and mine. He could do

that because he lived a sinless life. The wonderful news is that because Jesus

rose again, we can live. We can choose to accept what he did

for us. And, as it says in the Book of Romans in the

New Testament, chapter ten, verse nine, if you declare with your mouth

Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the

dead, you will be saved. God is God, the Father who is

in heaven, God the Son Jesus, who came to earth but is now

in Heaven. And God the Holy Spirit who lives in all believers who receive

Jesus as Lord and savior. He is three and one. If you have

never asked Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you can ask him

now. You don't have to wait. Not only will you receive the Holy

Spirit to help you live life with all its challenges on earth. But you

will go to Heaven when your time here on earth is over. As I

was saying, genuine self acceptance is an act of faith in the God of

Grace. Self acceptance cannot be separated from a healthy, balanced kind of self

love. In my opinion, when I say self love, I'm talking about

what Jesus said in Matthew twenty two, verses thirty seven to thirty nine,

after he was asked what the most important commandments were, he said, and

I'm reading from the Christian Standard Bible, so it's Matthew twenty two, thirty

seven to thirty nine. Love the Lord your God with all your heart,

with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest

and most important command. The second is like it, love your neighbor as

yourself. Let's start by looking out a couple of verses. In John chapter

four, Jesus was traveling with the disciples from Judea in the south of Israel,

to Galilee in the north, and was going through Samaria. In between

the two. They came to a town called Sikkhah, And as it says

in John four and verse six, and I'm reading from the classic amplified translation.

That's John, chapter four, verse six. Jacob's will was there.

So Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down to rest

by the wealth. It was then about the sixth hour about noon. As

I said before, Jesus was both fully man and fully God. Our God

in heaven does not sleep. As it says in Psalms one hundred and twenty

one, verses three to four, he who watches over you will not slumber.

Indeed, he who watches over Israel would neither slumber nor sleep. However,

Jesus did sleep. It's even recorded in Matthew eight that he slept in

a boat. And as we see in John four, verse six, Jesus

knew what it was like to get tired. What did Jesus do, our

role model for all aspects of life? When he got tired, he sat

down to rest. What do many of us do when we get tired?

Get another cup of coffee? If we're coffee drinkers, Maybe eat, not

because we're hungry, but to give us what I call false energy. In

other words, we're not hungry, but we want an energy boost. Or

we might eat to give ourselves a break. Because we've not thought how else

to give ourselves a five to ten minute break when we need one. Well,

actually, maybe what we need to do is what Jesus did here rest.

The greatest commandments according to Jesus, as I mentioned at the beginning,

are all to do with love, and one we've probably all treated as optional

at times is love yourself self. Love without God very easily degenerates into self

centeredness. However it may be dressed up. When we recognize our worth and

value ourselves as God sees us, we will recognize the importance of our needs

the way that God does, As per the commandment I mentioned earlier in Matthew

twenty two thirty nine, love your neighbor as yourself. That means that your

needs are neither more nor less important than other people's. My personal view is

that as we learn to love, value, and respect ourselves in a balanced

way, which includes recognition of our needs, it will help us to love,

value, and respect others too, and appropriately prioritize their needs. Of

course, there are times when it's right to prioritize other people's needs before your

own. An obvious example is, for example, parents commonly sacrifice sleep to

attend to the needs of a young baby or child, and rightly so,

even though it's exhausting. In Isaiah forty verse eleven, where it's describing the

Lord like a shepherd, it says he will gently lead those that have young

that's recognizing and providing for the needs of parents. He gently leads them.

But that's just one example of when it's right to prioritize other people's needs before

our own. It doesn't mean that our needs don't matter, or that we

don't don't matter. It's about the priority of the moment. Neither does it

mean that we'd dismiss our own needs as unimportant. I realized that the demands

on our time of different commitments can make that really challenging. But it's important

enough that Jesus set an example for us here. He was tired, so

he sat down and rested. What does that mean for you? For example,

when you get your cup of coffee or whatever you drink, is it

possible, even just once a day, to sit down with it for ten

minutes, even five if ten feels like too much, without looking at your

emails or your phone or multitasking somehow, But to meditate, for example,

on Psalm forty six and verse ten, be still and know that I am

God. You may be surprised how refreshing that is, how it restores yoursel

song. It may take practice to get your busy brain to be still,

but as you meditate on the words, it will John four, verse six.

Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down to rest.

It might be worth thinking about why we're so tired if we are Jesus

was tired from his journey. There are times when, for example, maybe

it's because we're over committed for whatever reason and just don't have enough time in

the day for what we need to do. But God Dave has given examples

of this which has been a real encourage encouragement to me over time. When,

for example, I remember Dave saying something which would he would normally allow

two hours to do. God inspired him and he did it in ten minutes,

and you know something was either canceled or postponed. And I've found that

such an encouragement. And I remember in my last job being over committed one

particular week, and not because of anything I'd done, but because of the

way meetings had worked out. And I prayed and then exactly that happened.

Something got canceled, something got postponed, not without my doing anything, and

suddenly my week became manageable. I want to emphasize the importance of committing our

days and our weeks to the Lord. Ultimately, we all work for him,

we're all here to serve him. So I asked him to help me

to manage my day and my week, to help me to follow the leading

of the Holy Spirit, so I don't get involved in what's not mine to

do either. It's worth regularly checking if we're committed to anything, but actually

we no longer need to be doing For whatever reason, are we spreading ourselves

too thinly. Something might be worth while but not asked to do anymore,

or maybe it's no longer fruitful. I know that Dave encouraged us to look

at our commitments in this light last month, but it's obviously not necessarily just

an annual exercise. At the beginning of the year, Jesus was tired and

he sat down to rest. Are there times when you're pushing three when actually

you need to do what Jesus did and sit down rest? Even what does

that look like for you? How do you rest one way I rest is

to read. I realized some people had a horrible time with COVID, and

I wouldn't want to make light of that in any way. But honestly,

when I got it last August, after a couple of days in bed,

it forced me to sit on our patio in the sunshine for a week with

a drink and a book. And given what I've been through the previous eighteen

months, it was perfect timing for an enforced rest and did so much to

store my sense of well being. Just to be clear, I do not

believe that God gave me COVID. The Bible is very clear that Jesus is

our healer. I do believe that God can bring good out of anything,

and that that's what happened here. So how do you rest? Some of

you may struggle to answer that because you're so used to pushing through and working

hard all the time. But it's important that you know the answers or to

that question so you know how to rest when you need to. Even if

you don't live life at one hundred miles per hour, you may still not

know how to rest. As in what feeds your soul, which is your

mind, your will, and your emotions. What is it that you enjoy

so much that you lose track of time while you're doing it? What recharges

you? It may be physically RESTful, or it may be physically active.

It may involve trying different new things in order to find out, and that's

fine. What matters is that we find out the answers to this and get

a good work life balance. If you've got this all figured out, do

you gently encourage those around you who you think might be overdoing it to prayerfully

consider how to get that healthy balance between work and rest. Everyone else,

I'd like to encourage you to ask the Lord to help you to get that

balance in life that you need, that we all need. It would be

easy to let this point about the importance of rest go in one ear and

out the other. But if you apply it. If you do this,

how would your days your weeks look different? What difference would it make to

your quality of life and your level of stress. You may think that I'm

laboring this point about the importance of rest, But when I I asked the

Lord whether I was overdoing it, he said, you'd be surprised how many

people need to hear this Matthew eleven verses twenty eight to thirty in the NIV

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 is light.

I like how the message by what paraphrases this. I think it's helpful.

These are just excerpts from it. I'll show you how to take a

real rest. Walk with me and work with me. Watch how I do

it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or

ill fitting on you. Keep company with me, and you'll learn to live

freely and lightly. Keeping company with Jesus can mean spending quality time with him,

reading the Bible, praying and listening, as well as talking and listening

to him throughout the day, either out loud or silently as appropriate. As

we do so we will learn to live freely and lightly. The word rest

in Greek has several meanings, including to cause or permit one to cease from

any movement or labor in order to recover and collect his strength. That's quite

word. I'll say that again. Rest means to cause or permit one to

cease from any movement or labor in order to recover and collect his strength.

Sometimes it's about giving ourselves permission to stop and choosing not to feel guilty.

Rest can be physical, but also of the soul, mind, the will,

and the emotions. When you look after yourself properly, it puts you

in a better position to look out for and as appropriate, look after others.

That's not the sole reason for it. The purpose of rest is not

purely to put you in a better position to look after others. But it

is a consequence. If rest didn't matter to God, it wouldn't be in

the Bible. But it is because it does. He really does love you.

You matter. Jesus said in John ten verse ten, and I'm reading

from the classic amplified translation, that's John ten verse ten. I came that

they may have an enjoy life and have it in abundance to the full till

it overflows. This was part of Jesus. The purpose of Jesus coming that

we may have an in joy life and have it in abundance to the full

till it overflows. I read this recently. For years, I felt that

everything in my life should be work, work, work. As long as

I was accomplishing something, as long as I was doing what everyone expected of

me, I believe that I was pleasing God. Unfortunately, I wasn't enjoying

my life. I'll never forget the day my kids wanted me to watch a

movie with them. They kept saying, Mum, come on, you don't

have to work all day and either read the Bible or pray the rest of

the time. We know you love God. Let's have some fun. I

finally decided to watch a movie with them, but found myself feeling guilty for

doing so. God had to teach me that there's nothing wrong with spending time

with family, taking a day off, or having fun. You can work

yourself to death and miss some of God's great blessings. Allow him to bring

balance to your life. It's so important that we get balance and don't burn

out. This brings me to the story of Elijah. Elijah was a prophet

in Israel who lived in approximately the ninth century BC. In the First Book

of Kings, Chapter eighteen, through him through his faith, this warm prophet

shows up four hundred and fifty prophets of bar Ball was a god worshiped in

ancient Canaan and Phoenicia, and as I understand, it was a god of

fertility and a storm god associated with bringing rain and dew in the Canaan area.

When Bal does not respond to the prayers of the prophets, but the

one true living God responds to Elijah, Baal is shown to be powerless,

as God's law required. In Juterary thirteen and eighteen, Elijah kills them all.

When the evil Ahab tells his equally evil wife Jezebel, what Elijah has

done, Jezebel threatens to kill him, and so he comes to One Kings

nineteen verses three to eight. One King's nineteen three to eight. Then Elijah

became afraid and immediately ran for his life when he came to Beersheba that belonged

to Judah, in other words, over eighty miles away and out of Jezebel's

realm. He left his servant there, but he went on the day's journey

into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree or a juniper tree,

and prayed that he might die. He said, I've had enough,

Lord take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors. Then

he laid down and slept under the broom tree. Suddenly an angel touched him.

The angel told him get up and eat. Then he looked, and

there at his head was a loaf of bread baked over hot stones, and

the jug of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again.

Then the angel of the Lord returned for a second time and touched him.

He said, get up and eat, or the journey will be too much

for you. So he got up, ate and drank. Then, on

the strength from that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to horaor

the Mountain of God. Joyce Mayer American Christian author, speaker, and says

in her classic Amplified Bible with her notes and articles in it, she makes

the following comment, why in the world would a man like Elijah, who

the previous day had made absolute fools of four hundred and fifty prophets of bar

and then personally killed every one of them, suddenly allowing himself to become so

intimidated by the threats of a solitary woman named Jezebel that he ran away in

fear. I doubt very much that Jezebel is so fearsome that Elijah had to

do that. I believe that he responded in such an unbalanced way because he

was exhausted. Many of the problems that we face in relationships come from being

out of balance, and often that in balance is the result of simply being

worn out. When we are totally exhausted, we respond emotionally and get our

feelings hurt easily. We are touchier, are more likely to get the get

upset over the slightest little thing that goes wrong. Like Elijah, we become

vulnerable to depression and discouragement. I know from personal experience that my faith is

affected when I am too tired. It's even difficult to want to pray at

those times. Rest is not a luxury. It's essential to live a balanced,

fruitful life. I think this is really helpful. Rest is not a

luxury. It is essential to live a balanced, fruitful life. Despite the

amazing miracles that Elijah had witnessed and in which he had participated just a few

days earlier, he was so exhausted he didn't recognize or make plans to attend

to his most basic needs. Of food and rest and got depressed and discouraged.

God recognized Elijah's needs and attended to them. I have to say,

I really like fresh bread, but made by an angel or supernaturally created somehow,

it must have been amazing. And it obviously was amazing because it sustained

Elijah for forty days. As Joyce goes on to say, remember saying spiritually

strong does include natural wid them. Take care of your body, exercise and

eat healthily so you will have the physical stamina and alertness necessary to complete God's

next assignment for you. The point is that we can be doing the will

of God, but if we don't attend to our basic physical needs, including

food unrest, things can go downhill quite quickly. On a final note,

interestingly, Elijah chose to self isolate. He left his servant in town in

Beersheba and went today's journey into the wilderness. Some people choose to withdraw when

they're feeling down. It's worth keeping eye out for them, or be mindful

what you're doing. If that's you to withdraw to recharge with the Lord and

not surrounded by people. Is one thing. If that's what you need to

do, do it, But If you're discouraged and down and you know that

isolating yourself exacerbates it, be wise maintain the contact with the social support and

people who you know will help you to regain balance in your life. Equally,

it's also important to be honest with yourself to ensure that you're not depending

on people instead of the Lord. Only God, by his Holy Spirit,

can be with you at all times and be all that you need. He

may choose to work through others at times, but it's the Holy Spirit who

is the strength, the support, the comfort and the wisdom that you need.

I've more or less describe the role of the Holy Spirit as Jesus said

in John fourteen and verse twenty six. In the classic amplified translation, it

says, but the comforter, counselor helper, intercessor advocate, strengtheners stand by

a Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name in my place

to represent me and act on my behalf. He will teach you all things

so to finish. Thank God, we can never truly be alone. That's

the promise that Jesus reiterated in Matthew twenty eight twenty when he said, and

remember I am with you always to the end of the age. Thank you,