Speaker: Rev Phil Campbell

Jonah the runaway prophet isn’t keen to take the message of God’s providence to a faraway nation of Israel’s enemies. But God, as always, has the upper hand. As the story unfolds into a full scale marine disaster, we catch a glimpse of a future messenger of good news for all the nations – and you’re included!

What does Jesus mean when he prays “Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven?” Is it a call to political power? To domination? To rule the world with the iron fist of Christendom? When you follow the story through to the first Good Friday, you’ll find a surprising sting in the tail – because Jesus, as he goes to the Cross is the prime example of God’s will unfolding here on planet earth.

If you seek meaning in your career, what’s left if there’s an economic downturn… or when you retire? Or, in the end, when you die? In the universal quest for meaning and purpose, what work is really worth doing? That’s the question Paul addresses as he brings his letter to Corinth to a close, and describes some very practical ways we can join in doing ‘the work of the Lord.’

Some think science will be the key to living forever, and others claim that faith can make you well. But Paul says, there’s only one way forward… and that’s to die, and then be raised, like Jesus. The painful cross-shaped consequence is that there’s no free-ticket to avoid suffering.

Earnestly desire the ‘greater gifts’, said Paul back in chapter 12, before launching into his famous description of ‘love.’ But in a world both then and now fixated with the spiritually spectacular, what do the ‘greater gifts’ look like? The answer might surprise you!

Like everyone else, Christians love to appear smart and sophisticated. But as followers of a crucified leader, maybe we need to change our expectations? In a city that loved eloquence and displays of public wisdom, Paul says he came preaching nothing but “Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” And that changes everything.

Many Christians are keen to ‘hear God’s voice’ directly, with special guidance and insight from His Spirit. And yet Paul, as he travels to Jerusalem seems to face conflicting words of prophecy – and relentlessly presses on to his goal. What can we learn about what we should decide to do, and how we seek God’s guidance and wisdom?

As Paul concludes his third missionary tour and turns his mind back to Jerusalem, he’s very aware that things won’t end well. As he gathers his team of ‘disciples’ in an Upper Room on the Day of Unleavened Bread, there are clear echoes of a famous earlier occasion. And as one of the disciples demonstrates, even when things seem to go all the way down, there’s still hope in the resurrecting Jesus.

Some Christians suggest we should always expect ‘the extraordinary’ – if only you have enough faith, they say, you’ll be healthy and prosperous. But when the Apostle Paul does extraordinary stuff, it’s a mark of his extraordinary authority. For us, maybe the name of Jesus is better honoured by our ordinary faithfulness?