Sunday 5th October 2015 Boys and Girls Brigade Dedication Service

by David Clarkson

Sunday 5th October 2015 Boys and Girls Brigade Dedication Service

It’s really good to have members of the Boys and Girls Brigades here today, although you have been meeting for a few weeks now.

Would the Captains and officers please stand

I want to thank you for the commitment you have shown to the Boys and Girls Brigades, for the work you do and the time you give.  As a congregation we are delighted to have you, and the boys and girls, as part of this fellowship. 

You have the privilege and responsibility of presenting the claims of Jesus to the Boys and Girls in your care during the most formative years of their lives.  I have no doubt that there will be times when it will be very rewarding, and others when it will be very frustrating, nevertheless, we know that when God calls us to work for Him he also equips and empowers us for the task. 

Now I have a question for you.

Realising the responsibilities involved in your leadership as officers and recognising your dependence upon God’s strength, do you promise to seek by word and example to advance Christ’s kingdom among the boys and girls in your care, and to promote the habits of obedience, reverence, discipline, self-respect and all that tends towards a true Christian lifestyle.

I do

May God give you grace to be faithful to him and wisdom as you work for him.

Please sit down.

Would the Boys and Girls please stand

Jesus said that he came to give us the best kind of life it is possible to have.  The Girls and Boys Brigades try to teach you what that means and how to live in a way that honours God.   We expect you to be loyal and enthusiastic in your support for the work of your Companies, and we look forward to hearing about your exploits in competitions, camps and activities during the year.

Now I have a question for you.

As members of the Boys Brigade and Girls Brigade you are part of the worldwide family of the Church.  Do you promise to be a loyal member of the Boys or Girls Brigade and to support all the activities of your company?

I do

Please sit down.

Finally,I have a question to put to the congregation. 

Do you promise to support the work being done by the Girls and Boys Brigades in this church, and to pray for all those involved that God would guide and protect them as they grow spiritually, physically and emotionally.

We do

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Our words are important – people used to say a little rhyme: sticks and stoned might break my bones, but names will never hurt me.  I don’t believe that because words can cause hurt and pain.  I want to talk very briefly about words that don’t do that – these words can save you and bring freedom and blessing.  I’m talking about the bible because I believe that although it was written by people, they wrote what God wanted us to know and although some of it is hard to understand it is really important that we read it and do our best to understand it.

First thing then: God’s word (the bible) is a planted word that saves. (V21)  How does it get planted?  There are different stories in the bible that compare what God says to seeds.  When we hear some of God’s words that is like a seed being planted in our lives and as we hear more and believe it the seed begins to grow. 

It’s also planted when we see people setting an example of Godly living.  The officers have just promised to seek by word and example to advance Christ’s kingdom among the boys and girls in their care.  That means that they should always do the three things James says we all need to learn to do:

  1. Be quick to listen
  2. Be slow to speak
  3. Be slow to get angry

How many of us prefer listening to speaking?  How many of us listen to what someone is saying and then, before they have finished, have butted in to tell them what to do or to change the subject?  How many of us get angry too quickly?  We blame other people or things for making us angry – and maybe even take out our anger on that person or thing – but each of us can choose how we respond.  If you feel yourself getting angry about something you could choose to leave and if that’s not possible you can choose to take a deep breath and hold it to give you time to think about what you’re going to say.

You see words are like the toothpaste – once they’re out it’s almost impossible to take them back.  You might apologise and you might do something nice to make up for something you said – but it was still said and the words were still heard and although they might be forgiven they are not always forgotten. 

Sometimes people hear the word of God (in church or at BB/GB) and the seed is planted but they don’t do anything to help it grow.  I have tomato plants in the house and they have died because I didn’t water them – I was told to water them every day and put a bit of feed in the water occasionally and I didn’t.  Without that the plant can’t survive and without taking time, even just a few minutes each day, the word that is planted in our lives won’t grow – it doesn’t grow if you feed it hours of tv, sport or computer; it needs bible stories and talking with God

This word that is planted in us saves us because we get to know God through it.

Secondly: Gods word brings freedom and blessing.

Sometimes people who come to church look ok and seem to know what Gods word says but they are really miserable.  That’s why James says we must not just listen to Gods word – we need to do what it says.  We need to live it out in our lives no matter what age we are.

I would have got on much better if I had actually listened to what I was being told when we were using the bricks.  I heard the words but I ignored them – either doing nothing or whatever I wanted: and that’s what people do to God.

James uses the illustration of a mirror.  Don’t know how many mirrors you have in your house or if you ever look in one to check that you look ok before going out.  But James has in mind someone looking in a mirror, and they see perhaps that there is a line of snot from the babies nose on the shoulder of their fleece, or they see that there is chocolate ice cream on their chin. And they think, I have baby snot on my fleece or “ I have chocy ice cream on my chin” and then they walk away from the mirror and get on with their day! They don’t change their fleece, they don’t wash their face. They have looked in the mirror, and it has made absolutely no difference to what they do.

They have seen the mess they are in, the issues they have to deal with, but they have done nothing about it.  We can all be like that when it comes to God’s word.  We are good at listening – at Church or GB/BB but it makes no difference to our lives.  Sometimes God’s word shows up our pride or arrogance, an area of bitterness towards a brother or sister, a grumpy or sulky spirit… but we walk away unchanged.

Perhaps there is a challenge to share our faith in obedience to the command of Jesus and we hear it… but we don’t do it.

You see the flow of what he says: don’t be like that, but be like this. Don’t be like that person who walks away from the mirror without changing, but be like the person who looks intently and is changed. What are they looking at?  The perfect law, or the perfect word that brings freedom.

What is that?  In the book of Jeremiah in the OT, in chapter 31, Jeremiah talks about God giving a new and wonderful promise to his people, when he would write His law on their hearts.  They would be given new soft hearts that would receive Gods law. No more would the law be something that was externally enforced but it would be a law that His people would want to keep, a law that they would love to keep.  Psalm 19 talks of this perfect law as something sweet and precious that brings joy to the heart.

But how does it free us?

I think in two ways: firstly, it is Gods law for the people He has made.  And as such we will be living according to the makers instructions.  We will be living as God intended us to live.  We will be enjoying the fullness of life that God has created for us and there is freedom in that.

But James talks about deceiving yourself.  In fact he says it twice. And he seems to be saying, that if we listen, but don’t follow that up with action then we are in serious danger of thinking we are something that we are not. We might think we are good and living well but actually we are not. Our lives are not consistent with what we hear and with what we say.

We hear God’s word, but it makes no difference to our lives. And I think that there is no freedom in that. There is no joy in that sort of life because we are constantly hearing one thing and doing another.  I actually think living like that makes us feel sad, maybe even a bit guilty – it’s just not a good way to live.  God’s promise is that if we hear his word and do it we WILL be blessed and that’s the best way to live.







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