International Welcome

Today is our international welcome day. So if you’re here from another country, to study or for a job, we’re very glad you’ve come.

And this may be the first time you’ve ever been to a Christian meeting or ‘church’ as it’s called. You may have come because you’ve met a Christian in the last few days who invited you. You may have come because there’s a free lunch. You may have come because you are a Christian and want to find a church. Or you may not be a Christian, but you know that Christian beliefs have had a big influence in our country and you want to find out more about the place you’ve come to live in.

Well, what I’m going to do is to explain what Christians believe, and why we want to share what we believe with as many other people as we can. But before I do that, let me say two things about Christianity:

• One thing is that Christianity is not a western religion. It’s something for all people of all colours from all countries – including you, whoever you are and wherever you’re from.

• The other thing to say is that not everyone in our country is a Christian. Sometimes people call Britain a ‘Christian country’ and think that if you’re born here that automatically makes you a Christian. But that isn’t true. No-one is born as a Christian. You have to make a decision to become a Christian. And in fact you’ll probably find that most of the people you meet here in Britain are not Christians.

Now I have said that I’m going to explain what Christians believe. But I wonder what idea of God you have in your mind. If you’re from China or Europe, you may believe there’s no God. If you’re a Muslim I assume you believe Allah is God. If you’re from India or Asia you may believe there are many gods. And the question is: how do you know if your idea of God is true? Your parents may believe it; many people in your home country may believe it. But that doesn’t make it true.

It’s a bit like the idea you had in your mind of British people. Eg, maybe before you came here someone told you that British people are not very friendly. So, before you came here, that was your idea of British people. Well, I hope that the people you meet show you that’s not true. But the point is: the way to find out if our idea of people is true is to meet them. So, eg, if a British person wants to find out if his idea of Kenyan people is true, he can fly out to Kenya to meet them. And if a Kenyan person wants to find out if his idea of British people is true, he can fly here to meet them.

The problem is that God is outside the world. So there’s nowhere we can fly to meet him to see what he’s like. So here’s my first question:


First, HOW CAN WE KNOW WHAT GOD IS REALLY LIKE?

Well, let me explain what Christians believe. Have a look at the picture below:

Imagine that the crown at the top of the picture stands for God, and that the box underneath stands for the universe where we live and that we are the stickmen. And I’ve used a crown to stand for God because God is the powerful Ruler of the whole universe. Well, the Bible – the book which says what Christians believe – begins like this:

In the beginning God... (Genesis 1.1)

So, before this universe existed, God was there. And the Bible says that God is not just one person on his own. It says he’s Father and Son and Spirit in relationship. Now you might say, ‘Doesn’t that mean you believe in three Gods?’ But the Bible says, ‘No, there’s one God, but he’s not just one person on his own. He’s Father and Son and Spirit in relationship.’ Now you might find that hard to understand – and can I say that Christians find it hard to understand, too. But let me say two things that I hope will help you:

• One thing is that we shouldn’t be surprised when our minds find it hard to understand God. After all, our minds are very small. And God is very great. We often don’t fully understand other human beings (like our husbands or wives or children), so it shouldn’t surprise us that we can’t fully understand God.

• The other thing to say is that we shouldn’t be surprised that God is not just one person on his own, but Father and Son and Spirit in relationship. After all, the most important things in our lives are relationships – what we need most is love and friendship – we’re very relational, social creatures. And it makes sense that the reason we are such relational, social creatures is that we were made by a relational, social God.

Now, the Bible goes on:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1.1)

So in my picture (above) the box stands for the universe we live in. And then the Bible says:

God created man in his own image...male and female he created them. (Genesis 1.27)

And God created us not just to enjoy relationships with one another, but above all to enjoy a relationship with him.

But the Bible says that we’ve broken relationship with God. And that is what my next picture is meant to show:

The Bible says that in our minds, we’ve crossed God out of our thinking: we’ve ignored him, rather than letting him tell us how we should live. So we’ve broken relationship with God. And because, without God, we don’t know how we should live, we also damage our relationships with one another. So we look at the world and ask, ‘Why are things so bad? Why are there wars and family arguments? Why are people hurt and unhappy and lonely? What’s gone wrong?’ And the Bible says that the answer is: we’ve broken relationship with God.

But the Bible also says that God has done something to mend that broken relationship. And if you look at my next picture, it shows what God has done:

The Bible says that God has sent his Son into this world to become a man, to mend our broken relationship with him. So just try to understand that. God’s Son has always been there, outside the universe. He was there before the universe was created. And then, 2,000 years ago he came into the universe, into our world as a man. That man was Jesus and he was born to a virgin woman called Mary. And no human father and nothing sexual was involved. It was a miracle which we can’t fully understand and I certainly can’t explain. But like I said, our minds are very small and God is very great.

So if you had lived 2,000 years ago in Israel, you could have seen and heard God’s Son just like you’re seeing and hearing me now. And the people who did see and hear him wrote it down in the Bible, and for the rest of my time I want to explain one small part of what they wrote. It’s from Matthew’s Gospel (one of the four accounts in the Bible of Jesus’ life, death and rising again from the dead). Matthew is describing one part of Jesus’ life:

25 At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.”

So the Bible says that Jesus was God’s Son who came into our world as a man. And in this part of the Bible he’s talking to his Father in heaven in prayer. And he says to his Father, ‘You have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children.’ And where Jesus says ‘these things’ he means the things he said and did while he was here on earth:

• What Jesus said was that he was God’s Son.

• And what Jesus did was a large number of miracles to show that he was not just an ordinary human being like you and me, but God’s Son. And if you read about Jesus in the Bible, you find that he did many things that ordinary human beings cannot do. Eg, he healed sick people – only not by medicine, but by miracles. Eg, one time, some people carried to him a man who couldn’t walk – he’d been paralysed, maybe from birth, maybe by a disease or an accident. And Jesus said to him, ‘Get up.’ And he did. He was healed instantly. (See Matthew 9.1-8)

Now look at what Jesus says in v25 of this part of the Bible. He says that for some people, the truth about him being God’s Son is ‘hidden’ – he says to his Father, ‘You have hidden these things from the wise and learned.’ And he’s talking about the kind of people who say, ‘I can’t believe God has a Son. I can’t believe he became a man. And I can’t believe in miracles. I’m too intelligent, too clever, to believe these things’ Ie, Jesus is talking about people with proud minds. And he says that God often leaves people like that in their pride and unbelief. God often doesn’t let people like that come to know him.

On the other hand, Jesus says to his Father in heaven, ‘You have revealed these things to little children [ie, ‘You have helped them to understand these things].’ And there he’s talking about people who are like little children – who are not proud in their thinking, and who say, ‘I don’t know if my own idea of God is really true. But if God really has revealed himself in Jesus, I want to find out.’ And Jesus says that God works in some people to make them willing to find out about Jesus, and then helps them to come to know him.

And if you’re willing to find out more about Jesus, we run groups to help people do that. Whether you’re international or not, we run groups called Christianity Explored. But the easiest way to find out more is to do what you’ve done today – to come along to this main church meeting. You’re always welcome, and you’re always welcome to bring other people along with you.

Now let’s look at the next thing Jesus says in this part of the Bible, reading from verse 27. Jesus says:

27All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

The question we’ve been asking is: ‘How can we know what God is really like?’ And in v27, Jesus says that job has been ‘committed to’ him by his Father. Because his Father sent him into the world to become a man, so that we could see and hear what God is really like. And look again at what Jesus says at the end of v27:

no one knows [God] the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

So Jesus is saying that he is the only way to know God. Now that is an unpopular thing to say and some people will be offended by it. But that’s what Jesus said. So, eg, Jesus is saying: no-one will come into relationship with God through Muhammud and the Qur’an. Jesus is saying: no-one will come into relationship with God through Buddhism or Hinduism. Jesus is saying: no-one will come into relationship with God through philosophy – through trying to work out what God is like with our minds. Jesus is saying that no-one will come into relationship with God through meditation or trances – through trying to ‘feel’ God through experiences like that.

Ie, Jesus is saying that he’s unique – that he is the only way to know God. Now I know that offends people. But can I say: if it offends you, then like Jesus has already said, will you be proud or will you be humble? The proud person says, ‘I don’t want to question what I already believe, and I’m not going to think any more about what Jesus says.’ But the humble person says, ‘Maybe Jesus is right. And maybe what I believe at the moment is wrong. And I need to find out more about Jesus.’

So that’s my first question: How can we know what God is really like?

But it’s one thing to know what a person is like; it’s another thing to know them personally. Eg, I guess that everyone here knows what the Queen is like. You’ve probably seen pictures of our Queen – so you know what she looks like. You’ve probably seen pictures of Buckingham Palace – so you know where she lives. You’ve probably heard her speaking on radio or television – so you know what she sounds like. I’ve even seen her with my own eyes when she came to my school. But I can’t say I know the Queen personally: I only waved at her from the back of the crowd. But imagine one day I got an invitation from Buckingham Palace and I opened it and it was from the Queen and it said, ‘Dear Ian, You are invited to come and spend the weekend with me.’ Well, if I accepted that invitation, I would come to know the Queen personally.

And the last thing in this part of the Bible is an invitation from Jesus, God’s Son, to come to know God personally. So my other question is:


Secondly, HOW CAN WE KNOW GOD PERSONALLY?

Look one last time at this part of the Bible, at verse 28. Here is Jesus’ invitation to you:

28“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

You remember I asked at the start what idea of God you have in your mind. Well Jesus knew that all our own ideas about God leave us feeling ‘weary and burdened’ – like when you’re tired out by trying to carry something that’s too heavy, or tired out by trying to write an essay that’s too difficult for you. And that’s because all the human religions of the world out there say that you have to do things to earn God’s favour and love. Eg, Allah says, ‘Keep my law and I might let you into paradise.’ The gods of Hinduism and parts of Buddhism say, ‘Sacrifice to us and we’ll make good things happen to you.’ But if they’re honest, people in all the other religions know that they can never do enough to earn God’s favour and love. You can never say, ‘I’ve been good enough or sacrificed enough, or prayed enough or fasted enough.’ And the idea that we can earn God’s favour and love is a terrible burden – because you can never do it.

And Jesus says that idea (that we can earn God’s favour and love) is wrong. He says that’s not the way to come to know God personally. So what is? Well, look at the invitation in v28 again. Jesus says:

28“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Whatever idea of God we have in our mind, we each have a conscience – a sense of right and wrong. And if we’re honest, we feel guilty or bad about things. Our consciences are burdened: they carry around all the things we’ve done wrong. And if we’re honest, we know that when we die and meet God as our Judge, he ought to punish us for those things. That’s the real burden we carry. And Jesus says:

28“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

And what he means is that if we come to him he will take away the burden on our consciences by forgiving us everything we’ve ever done wrong. And he can do that because he died on the cross to pay the price for our forgiveness.

And that’s the other thing that makes Jesus unique. All the human religions of the world say, ‘Do! You must do things for God, to earn God’s favour and love.’ But Jesus says, ‘Done!’ Jesus says, ‘I have done something for you to bring you into God’s favour and love. I have died on the cross so that you can be forgiven. So come to me, and I will forgive you, and you can then rest from trying to earn God’s favour and love. And instead you can simply receive it and enjoy it.’

And that is the most wonderful part of what Christians believe: the way to know God personally is not by trying to be good enough, but by coming to Jesus his Son and asking him to forgive you for all the ways you’ve not been good. And if you ask him, he will forgive you. And you can then start your life again with God in his rightful place. Let me read v28-29 one last time. Jesus says:

28“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

In Jesus’ culture you would often see servants carrying things for their Master. And they would use a yoke – a piece of wood across their shoulders with a bag on either side. And Jesus says that’s a picture of what it means to be a Christian. It means that Jesus has forgiven you. But it also means that you have a relationship with Jesus – like a servant to a Master. Because Jesus did not only die on the cross. He rose again from the dead and is alive and back in heaven with his Father. And he can now come into people’s lives by his Spirit – to be with us and to help us live for him.

So again, like Jesus has already said, will you be proud or will you be humble? The proud person says, ‘I can earn God’s favour and love. I’m good enough. I don’t need forgiveness.’ But the humble person says, ‘I have ignored God and done many wrong things. And I need Jesus to forgive me and to come into my life by his Spirit, to be my Master.’

Well, I’ve tried to answer two questions:

• Question 1: How can we know what God is really like? And the Christian answer is: by looking at Jesus - because he is God’s Son.

• Question 2: How can we come to know God personally? And the Christian answer is: by coming to Jesus and asking him to forgive you and accepting him as your Master.

So maybe you’re an international who’s already a Christian - you’ve already accepted Jesus’ invitation to come to him. If that’s you, can I encourage you to join our church, and to join a small group – eg, the Globe Christian Fellowship, which is specially for internationals.

But if you’re an international who’s not already a Christian, can I say thank you for coming this morning. Thank you for listening to what we believe. And please do come back again to find out more. Because, as I said at the start, we are convinced that what I’ve been saying about Jesus is true for everyone - for all people of all colours from all countries. We believe that everyone needs to hear about Jesus. And we believe that Jesus is the best news you’ll ever hear.