Facing the Cannon: Jackie Pullinger

J.John is doing a series for UCB (channel 586 on Sky) called Facing the Cannon.  Warner found this event and got the tickets so on St. Valentines day we travelled to St Andrews Chorleywood.  J.John is a very entertaining and Godly speaker.  We have recently run his 'Just 10' series at Christ Church and it was very well supported.  This series interviews a number of well known Christians.  Today it was Jackie Pullinger.   Wikipedia has an outline article.  To get a better idea of why she's famous read her book Chasing the Dragon.  It was one of the first books I read as a young Christian.  Jo and I have seen Jackie once before, and looked forward to hearing from her again.

She told some her story, mainly the beginning.   At the age of five she had already decided to be a missionary, not that she had any idea what a missionary did.  She was advised by a vicar to get on a boat and see where God told her to get off.  That was Hong Kong, which she'd seen in a dream.  She started work among the poor and eventually among the drug addicts in the Walled City.  She has seen many addicts freed of their addiction.  They pray and are prayed for and do not suffer withdrawal.  She tells of her early attempts at speaking in tongues saying she just felt silly and didn't feel any different afterwards.  It helps you to get more in tune with God and you don't really notice that happening. She speaks constantly about God's kindness.  After loosing her husband of seven years she speaks of Gods kindness to them both, and to her for allowing her to have seven years with him.  By God's kindness she has been shown that this is not a lost generation of Christians. There are young people out there quietly doing mission away from the spotlight and the Christian press.  That is the tone of her conversation.

I'm naturally a sceptic, I struggle to believe in the hype, the latest greatest invention or discovery, miracles that people say have happened.  I'm always looking for the alternative explanation.  It's hard to remain sceptical when there's a lady sitting talking about it in a matter-of-fact way.  There's no hype with Jackie, seemingly no agenda, although she does love telling people about Jesus by her own admission.  She just sits there and talks about her experiences like I talk about my bus journeys.  Except with Jackie God's kindness shows.   In Sunday's sermon I asked "if God is bigger than us and inside us does he show through?"  (see the previous blog entry).  I had no idea that I would be given such a clear demonstration of just how God shows through.

If, like me, you've ever thought there must be more to the Christian life than you're experiencing right now, here is a superb example of what that more may look like.  There is more - lots more, always lots more.  I know that because it's in scripture - the reading I've just preached on (Ephesians 3:14-21).  I have seen it too because I have seen Jackie and listened to her story.  Of course, I'm not five and I've never felt called to be a missionary.  In my life it will look different - but not that different.

After the show was recorded there was a word in tongues, and an interpretation.  Somewhere in that I heard the words "Its not too late".  It's never too late - that's the exiting news for me as I prepare to pass five for the eleventh time.

Ephesians 3:14-21

Introduction

The passage this week starts with 'For this reason …'. Just like last weeks reading, but this time Paul has nothing else to distract him. So we have to look back to two weeks ago when Warner spoke to us on chapter 2:11-22. In that section of the letter Paul is describing his amazement that He can see God bringing together the former enemies – Jews and Gentiles. The fact that it happening in Ephesus, the centre of the cult of Diana is even more amazing.

Paul knows that this is all part of Gods plan. The fact that he can see it happening he finds humbling, so rather than pray as he normally would, standing and looking up to God, he is on his knees.

We've heard a lot recently about the pressure on and persecution of the Coptic church. I wonder if we are seeing God's plan for strengthening them as we witness the amazing scenes in Egypt this week.

Living for Christ

Paul did not found the Ephesian church but he has spent a couple of years building it up, so he knows it well. He knows that it is not all goodness and light and is encouraging the Christians there to think about what it means to follow Christ. He wants them to think about what Christ has done for them, who Christ is and how they should live in response to that.

In our reading today he prays specifically for two things for them.

I'm going to look at the two parts of Paul's prayer separately, although there are significant overlaps.

1^st Prayer

.^{Eph 3:16} I pray that out of his glorious riches ^e he may strengthen you with power ^f through his Spirit in your inner being, ^g

^{Eph 3:17} so that Christ may dwell in your hearts ^h through faith.

Paul has already spoken of the riches of Christ in verses 8, 9. In Romans he explains a little more of what he means:

^{Ro 2:4} Do you show contempt for the riches ⁿ of his kindness, ^o tolerance ^p and patience, ^q not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance? ^r

So Paul is talking about God's grace and asking that the Ephesians may receive power through the holy spirit that is in them.

What is the power for? - “So that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith”.

After Jesus had cursed the fig tree and the disciples had seen it die, Jesus said in Mark 11:22-24

“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered.

“I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

If Christ is to dwell in our hearts then, it is something that we must be continually praying for – then we will get the power of God.

Connected to the Power?

Sometimes I get up in the morning and wander bleary eyed down stairs to get a cup of tea. The kettle is filled with water, the cups are taken from the cupboard and have tea bags put in them. I let the dog out and watch him stretch and smell the fresh morning air. I go back into the kitchen and all is quiet, the kettle is still cold. Then I realise – it's not plugged in. It's not connected to the power, so it will never heat up.

Continue to Pray

If we do not continue to pray we will not stay connected to God and the power to have Jesus dwell in our hearts will not be there. We must stay connected – not by a cord but by prayer.

My Heart Christ’s Home

What does Paul mean by Dwell?

In his book “My Heart Christ’s Home”, Robert Munger pictures the Christian life as a house.

(http://www.gtpres.org/My%20Heart%20Christ%27s%20home.pdf) Jesus comes into the house and goes from room to room. He goes into the library of the mind and begins to clean up the trash found there. He replaces it with His Word. He enters the dining room of the appetite and finds many sinful desires listed on a worldly menu. He replaces things like materialism, pride, envy and lust with humility, love and purity. When he finally comes to the closet, the owner of the house hesitates to open the door to all his dark and secret sins. He can’t bear to have Jesus look inside. But Jesus does come inside, but only after He’s invited, and cleans it up. Jesus then settles down and feels at home.

Do you have some rooms in your life that you haven’t allowed Jesus into? Let Him come into every area of your life and do some cleaning with his penetrating holiness and matchless grace.

Jesus dwells in our hearts through faith. Our faith in Him means that we invite Him to do some housecleaning. We put our faith in Him so that He can do the needed renovations in our life.

So Christ is in us, but Paul normally talks about us being 'in Christ'. There are about 90 references to 'in Christ' in Paul's letters.

Does God show through - Story

A little girl turned to her mother after church and said, “Mummy, the sermon was confusing today.”

The mother asked, “Why is that?”

The little girl answered, “Well, he said that God is bigger than we are. Is that true?”

“Yes, that’s true,” the mother replied.

“He also said that God lives within us. Is that true, too?”

Again the mother replied, “Yes, that’s true.”

“Well,” said the little girl, “If God is bigger than us and He lives in us, wouldn’t He show through?”

Does God show through your life?

It's a good question, one that I will leave you with as I move to looking at the second part of Paul's prayer for the Ephesians.

2^nd Prayer

Carrying on in verse 17: And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,

Eph 3:18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,

Eph 3:19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now the Ephesians are firmly rooted in the love of Christ, Paul goes on to pray that they may know just how big the love of Christ is. We sang 'God is so Big' at the start of the service this morning. God is big, strong and mighty, and so much so that we need his power within us just to be able to get a sense of how big, strong and mighty God is. I'm not talking about the size of the universe -awesome though it may be, it can be seen 'easily' with a few telescopes and a bit of technology. I'm talking about the love of Christ – you can't see it, you can only see its effects.

I loved those boys

In his book Chicken Soup for the Soul, Eric Butterworth tells of a college sociology class that was sent into the Baltimore slums to take case histories of 200 young boys. The students were required to write an evaluation of each boy's projected future, and in virtually every case, they wrote, "He hasn't got a chance."

Some twenty-five years later, another professor came across the earlier study and decided to do a follow-up study. With the exception of twenty boys who had died or moved, the study revealed that 176 of the remaining 180 boys had gone on to surprising success, with many becoming lawyers, doctors, and leading businessmen.

When the men were asked for the reasons that contributed to their successes, they all pointed to one particular teacher who had influenced them. The teacher was still alive, so the professor went to visit her to ask how she had influenced boys seemingly destined for poverty and crime to become such success stories.

"It's really very simple," she responded. "I loved those boys."

That's the effect of the love of a teacher.

Love is ...

Paul says

Love is patient, ^v love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ^w

^{1Co 13:5} It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, ^x it is not easily angered, ^y it keeps no record of wrongs. ^z

^{1Co 13:6} Love does not delight in evil ^a but rejoices with the truth. ^b

^{1Co 13:7} It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ^c

^{1Co 13:8} Love never fails.

This is the love that has a long term effect on people. You can know about this love, you can listen to my words and hear the stories. But you will never really know it until you experience it. That's what Paul means when he say that the love of Christ surpasses knowledge. Christ's love can be understood, but only by receiving it, by being rooted and established in it, not by reading case studies.

Full measure of God

Only then can we be filled to the full measure of God.

[Fullness demonstration fill a jarv with stones, get people to agree its full (it isn't).  Top up with water, and add a little too much]

In Psalm 23 we read: You prepare a table ^g before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; ^h my cup ⁱ overflows.

Jesus says in John 10:10 that we should have 'life to the full'. Life, of course that can only be had by following him.

Does the fullness of God in your life overflow?

Benediction

The prayer ends with a benediction

Eph 3:20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, Eph 3:21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

What would you ask of God? What situation would you ask him to resolve?

In Acts 3 a lame man asked Peter & John for money as they went to pray in the temple. They didn't have money, so they said, “In the name of Christ – WALK” and he did.

What he got was beyond his dreams or his imagination.

The words translated in the NIV as Immeasurably more are more literally translated Super abundance. God's riches, His grace, His power, His willingness to love us are all given to us in super abundance, more than we could ever dream of or imagine.

Conclusion

I started this morning by saying Paul wanted the Ephesians to think about what Christ has done for them, who Christ is and how they should live in response to that. That is also something we should think about. So as I finish this morning I will remind you of the questions I have asked.

If God is bigger than ua and inside of us does he show through?

Does the fullness of God in your life overflow into the people around you?

With all of Christ's riches available to us, what are we going to imagine that He could do, so that He can surpass our dreams?

[repeat questions]

Let's finish by saying the words of verses 20 and 21 together.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.