With Revd. David Burrow
Video Service
Watch Directly on youtube here.
Part 1
Hymns & Songs:
MP 393 'Joy to the world'
MP 1 'A new commandment'
Part 2
Hymns & Songs:
MP 1003 'My Jesus, my Saviour'
MP 162 'Servant King'
Part 3
Hymns & Songs:
MP 501 'O Jesus I have promised'
or for Ascension Day on Thursday
MP 207 'Hallelujah! Sing to Jesus'
Other Links
Our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuzuzxmGWU4e_xRupJilppg
Our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/rossendalemethodistcircuit
Our Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/rossendalecircuit/
Our Website: https://www.rossendalemethodistcircuit.co.uk/
Our Email Address: rossendalemethodistcircuit@gmail.com
Transcript
*Not always exact to the videos
Welcome:
Call to worship:
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord.
Psalm 98:4-6
Prayers:
Lord, we thank you for your presence with us. Your love astounds and inspires us. We thank you for the amazing ways in which you work through us. May we see you with fresh eyes of wonder each day.
Reading: 1 John 5:1-6
Forgive us Lord, for the times when we have not loved others and ourselves as you love us.
Forgive us Lord, for the times when we have not seen the way you are trying to guide us.
Forgive us Lord, for the times we have doubted you when we have forgotten that the spirit is the truth.
Lord, we know and are assured that you forgive all sins. May we know that assurance this day and always. Fill us with your Holy Spirit to empower us to abide in you and to work with you.
Amen
Lord’s Prayer
MP 393 'Joy to the world'
MP 1 'A new commandment'
Photo by Todd Quackenbush via Unsplash
Reading: John 15:9-17
Let’s get straight into this passage. Jesus loves you just like the Father loves Him!
It’s an indescribable love, an outpouring of love so great that nothing can contain it.
You might ask, and I know some people who do, ‘I know what I see in God, but what on earth does God see in me?’
Well, God looks at you and sees a person worth dying for – that’s love! All you have to do is accept His love and remain in it, abide in it!
‘Remain in his love’ - What does Jesus mean?
Move in it, breathe in it, live in it, be at home in it. John, the writer uses the same Greek word here for abide that he uses for ‘to stay’ in chapter one when Andrew and another disciple ask where Jesus is staying. And they follow him and stay at the home where Jesus is staying. They are at home with him.
God’s love surrounds you, upholds you, lives in you. And when you are aware of God’s love you will keep his commands and, says Jesus, ‘If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love’.
Which may sound a bit like a condition, if you keep my commands, I’ll carry on loving you’.
But that’s not what Jesus means; when you mix red and blue paint you get purple – it’s the way life is.
Likewise, keeping Jesus’ commands means you will remain in his love – it’s the way life is. It’s not a command it’s a promise that millions of people have proved to be true! Jesus is trustworthy!
To keep Jesus’ commands won’t be a burden, it will be a natural result of remaining in his love. Just as it is for Jesus as he abides in the Father’s love.
So, what are Jesus’ commands?
Well Jesus gives us just one here, but that one sums up the rest: My commandment is this: love one another, just as I love you.
Loving others in the way Jesus loves you means you will remain in his love and it will also mean that Jesus calls you friend, ‘And you are my friends if you do what I command you’. 15:14
Jesus declares before the whole world: “I, Jesus, love you and I’m your friend!”
Thankfully ‘Friend’ is an easy title to understand. After all we know about friendship, we have friends, friends are people we trust, people we share our deepest secrets and concerns with. Someone once said, ‘Friends are God’s apology for relatives!’
Obviously, whoever said it didn’t think much of their relatives!
Still, as Christians we can say, ‘I believe in Jesus who loves me. He is my friend and makes God my friend.’
You say Jesus is your friend, but how do you know? Two reasons for now.
1. We know Jesus is our friend because Jesus loves us
Dr Karl Barth (a world-renowned theologian) was once asked, ‘What is the most profound thought that ever entered your mind?’
“The most profound thought I have ever known is the simple truth: Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so”.
Look at verse 13 of our reading: “The greatest love a person can have for their friends is to lay down their life for them”. Jesus loves you so much he died for you. Sin separates us from God who is Holy and perfect but when Jesus died on the cross, he took the punishment for our sins and opened the way for God to forgive us and end our separation.
Through Jesus’ death we are reconciled to God, brought in to a wonderful intimate relationship with him and so each one of us can say, ‘Jesus loves me’.
We know Jesus is our friend because he loves us and he died for us, which proves it. We just have to look at the cross.
2. We know Jesus is our friend because he tells us everything He has heard from God
“I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing, but I have calledl you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father.”
Who do you share your deepest needs and secrets with?
Your very close friends of course – who else?
Jesus shares with us all the truth about God, God’s love, God’s character and God’s will.
Jesus your Friend has chosen you and appointed you to bear much fruit.
Take note – Jesus chose you – not the other way round. ‘You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit that will last. (verse 16)
When two people get married they have chosen one another because of their love for each other, they’ve responded to the love of the other, but when Jesus chooses you it’s different. Jesus chooses you because he loves you unconditionally even before you respond, but when the truth of his love dawns on you . . . well it’s an amazing thing, it’s hard to believe he really has chosen you.
Now, how on earth do you respond to Jesus who loves you, comes to you as Friend, chooses you and appoints you?
By giving your life and all you have to him, to serve him, except of course, Jesus doesn’t call you a servant he calls you, his friend.
Amazingly and wonderfully, Jesus trusts us to do his will, to continue his ministry and bear fruit.
Which leaves us with one final question: What is this fruit?
One person sees it this way:
Jesus calls us to show His love and kindness, to seek justice for the poor and oppressed, to care for and heal the sick, to feed the hungry, to help people to come to faith in God and to worship God.
In India less than 3% of the population are Christian but nearly 20% of all the medical work is done by Christian doctors and nurses many of whom were trained in the Christian hospital at Vellore.
In their medical vans they call at the villages once a month and provide free, personal care.
They treat tropical infections, set bones, perform minor surgery and it’s often all done outdoors under a tamarind tree and today all this includes doing all they can to fight coronavirus.
They serve Hindus, Moslems, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis & Communists; everyone! It makes no difference – they know God loves them, they know they have been chosen and so they are busy loving others as Jesus loves them – they are bearing fruit. Fruit that endures.
Dwight L. Moody once said, “Of one hundred men, one will read the Bible; 99 will read the Christian.” And that’s so true. The majority of people never go to church but will carefully watch someone who claims to be a Christian.
All your gifts, skills, talents, even the ones you don’t know about, are God given, and given to produce fruit in a world which is starving for the fruit of love, joy, peace and justice.
Use your God given gifts to bear fruit, fruit that will last, to love others in all you do in caring for them and helping them to discover Jesus as their Saviour and Friend.
Jesus loves you, he has chosen you as his Friend and appointed you to bear fruit that will last.
So, abide in him – be at home with him, be filled with the Holy Spirit, speak his truth, show it in your life and bear much fruit – fruit that will endure for eternity! Amen
MP 1003 'My Jesus, my Saviour'
MP 162 'Servant King'
Prayers of Intercession
Lord, may we shout for joy.
Remind us that we have the greatest joy in the world to shout about, may we burst into jubilant song that praises your name. Let every noise on earth and heaven be in praise of you.
May we hear your song woven through the fabric of life.
Bless us as we sing your song this week and we pray, that more will hear it.
Lord, we pray for those who need to hear God’s song this week.
In the stillness we name them before you.
Merciful God, you teach us to love as you first loved us and so we pray for those who are unloved.
We pray for the homeless, the dispossessed, the refugee, the asylum seeker.
Lord you love each one. Show us how we can love them too, teach us to reach out a hand of friendship to them so that they may know they are loved by you all the days of their lives.
In the stillness add your prayers for people you know.
Continue to pray all suffering from coronavirus and all who grieve. We pray in particular for the people of India, Nepal and Papua New Guinea
Finally, we pray for ourselves and the churches we serve. May we know the joy of your love as we share it with others; and may your kingdom come and you name be glorified. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Blessing
May God bless us as we commit again to a life of worship, reflected in our actions, our thoughts, our relationships, our ambitions. We will worship you, God of justice, this and every day. Amen
MP 501 'O Jesus I have promised'
or for Ascension Day on Thursday
MP 207 'Hallelujah! Sing to Jesus'