Christ Church Moreton Hall

For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.       Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry." We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did--and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test the Lord, as some of them did--and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did--and were killed by the destroying angel.        These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfilment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. Today we continue with our series on the Royal robes.Our Father God has told us that we are now his special children and this is what he wants us to wear to show that we are his.Because he ensures that we are chosen, we are holy and we are dearly loved and because that is true he want us to dress in a certain way so every one can see it and we start behaving as people who are chosen holy and dearly loved. So far he has commanded us to put on:“Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”
Now Paul changes gear (if you will excuse the pun) for he now says

“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 

What Paul is saying is you have to bear with people situations and circumstances.

There are three things we have to forbear

 1. Going without what the world has. You may have to forebear you own rights and demands and let other things prevail over you or even come before you.

2. Putting up with people we do not like or approve of. 

3. Bearing up when we face illness hardship or disappointment. 

This teaching is very hard for us to take on board because we live in an age where we think that we can fix anything and that no one should suffer.

That expectation is unique to our age. In fact it is unique to the last 40 years of western culture only.

The truth is everyone will face trial and difficulty some time in our lives.

It is not the goal of life to avoid all pain to prove you worth by how you cope with it. 

1. Going with out what the world has. The reason why I read you the passage for Corinthians was because here were a group of people the Israelites who had seen the greatest miracles that God had ever done.

·        The ten Plagues.

·        The crossing of the read sea

·        The destruction of Pharaoh’s Army

·        They had food and water provided

·        They had a column of smoke and Pillar of fire to guide them.

Yet it says   Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 

There were four things that made them miss out on the final prize that could have been theirs.

·        They worshipped idols

·        They indulged in sexual immorality

·        The Tested God

·        They grumbled. 

Now that may seem a little hard particularly if you are British.

1. For we like a good grumble and think it our right. G=ingratitude to God.

2. We turn a blind eye to all sorts of sexual immorality.

3. But worse we don’t see that we can idolise a certain life style and spend all our lives trying to get it with out realising we are making an idol out they way we live. Some time we have an idealised view of the church we want to be without ever asking what Jesus might want for his church here. 

4.And sometimes we test God by trying to black mail him with our faith.

How do we do that? By saying “God I am asking you in Faith therefore you must do as I say.

Whereas the Lord’s Prayer only asks for daily bread, the power to forgive and be forgiven to avoid temptation and be delivered from evil. 

For some reason it was not enough for Israel to be on its way.

It was not enough for Israel to have God’s leaders leading.

Or to have the smoke and the fire

Or to have food every day

They wanted more and they could not bear not having it.

That why it says: These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfilment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. Whatever you find hard to bear, Father God is in charge, and you will never face a challenge that is to big for you and he will help you to escape it.  And that is true when we have to have people around us we would not choose to be with. This was the problem the Roman church was facing when Paul said: “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbour for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: "The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me." 

We have to face this because if we are going to take evangelism seriously then, the people who God will send may well be difficult to love because they will probably be needy people. 

Second we will always have a problem because there will always be people who like to think of themselves as mature Christians but whose behaviour and attitude leave a lot to be desired. 

Now what we normally do when such a person hurts us is we keep it to ourselves but we don’t forget it, we let is eat away at us.

Then we tell a friend which is gossip.

Then we start keeping a record of wrongs.

Then we tell other friends. And the person concerns never knows. Worse the rest of the church has to choose to be you friend or their friend and they never really know why. It is this gossip that kills the church and destroys its effective witness. 

What we are really supposed to do is take it to Jesus. There are three ways to do that.

1.Usualy if you tell Jesus of another’s fault, he will tell you of your faults, which are worse, and point out to you that either you used to do that, or you were even worse.

But then he takes the pain of it all away and show you a better way.

2. Some times if it is a real problem, Jesus will tell you not to tell a friend but to tell, either your Home group leader or Nigel or me.

In that case you will usually find out that there is either a bigger picture or you may be asked to bear with it.

Or if it is really serious Nigel and I will deal with it.

This is not gossip; this is the church dealing with things in a godly way. 

3. Jesus may lead you to approach the person directly if so there are 10 things to do. If you are going to do that:

1.     Pray first

2.     Ask God to show you 5 things that are good about the person.

3.     Approach them at a good time for them and for you.

4.     Invite them out for coffee or something good

5.     Ask them how they are and if life is hard at the moment. Usually that answers all you questions long before you get to your point.

6.     Tell them at least five things you like about them.

7.     Then ask why they do the thing you don’t like. Not “You do this and you are wrong and it is upsetting me and all the church”

8.     Give them way of dealing with it in their own way and offer to help.

9.     Let the criticise you with out being nice if necessary

10. Prayer together 

Above all keep them as a friend and do not shun them after ward

In fact if some one does irk you, go out of you way to befriend them

Long before you do any of this. That is why it says:

“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” 

But the hardest thing to bear is not people, but illness and disappointment.

I find that the people who face these things find it easier to get over that those of us who have to observe them. But this is the real gold standard of forbearance. And Paul gives us the answer here when he writes: “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

The Bible is full of great promises that if you learn and trust in will enable to face any trial. More that that he is the God of Hope the God of Encouragement and above all the God of endurance. That is why it says in Acts 13:17-19:

17 The God of the people of Israel chose our fathers; he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt, with mighty power he led them out of that country,18 he endured their conduct for about forty years in the desert,19 he overthrew seven nations in Canaan and gave their land to his people as their inheritance. And in Heb 12:1-4:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. We show how much God has done for us not by the songs we sing or the praise we give. Nor by the prayers we pray or the sermons we preach. We show the greatness of God not by the good deeds we do or the miracles we are a part of. No we show the supernatural power of God by our ability to endure. And to endure with joy endure with praise endure with Good deeds endure with miracle and yet not to see our prayer answered just yet.For me it is both humbling and encouraging to see the way people in this church bear so many hard things.I will not mention name indeed I must not, but just pause and think for a moment, of all the hardships some f of members have endured for months if not years. The disappointments they overcome come daily.We are we have in our midst some very great saints who are facing up to great trials.They are daily putting on their royal robes and they are enabled to bear all things.So often when things are bad we think Jesus has abandoned us.The sentimental part of religious publishing will tell you when things are tough Jesus is carrying on the beach. (I don’t believe it actually)I think when things are tough really tough,We are learning to become more and more like Jesus himself. Of course there is a point when Jesus takes us away from a situation when it has gone beyond a certain point. He can and will change all situations for good. Praise God when he does. But up and till then.We can face these challenges not by are own determinationBut because we are holy we are chosen and we are dearly loved.We have a golden future, which extends to beyond the grave.We have the greatest of promises made sure by the Holy Spirit in us.And we have Jesus along side us guiding us ever step of the wayAs we grow in stature as we walk with him. We need to learn how to bear all thingsPeople, situations and personal loss or hardship,And as we do we will show the miracle of what God has done in us more clearly than any speech. And which is more we will be transformed into his likeness more thoroughly than we can even imagine or understand. Let us finish with those verses we don’t often read that come after the royal ribs for they tell us what happens when we obey and put on daily those things he commands. For they bring us the peace w all need and crave.    13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.