Co-Workers With God
Sermon
Between December 1998 and March 1999, a study was made at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (in the US) on the effects of prayer on women undergoing IVF treatment. There were 199 women in the study. All the women in the study and the medical staff responsible for them, were unaware that a prayer trial was going on. All prospective mothers during that period were assigned either to a prayer group or to a non-prayer group while they were having IVF.
The results were quite startling. The group of women who were prayed for had almost twice as many pregnancies as the group of women who were not prayed for. The group who were prayed for had a 50% rate of pregnancy, while those who were not prayed for had a 26% rate of pregnancy. (Published in the September issue of the Journal of Reproductive Medicine.) Even if there were other unknown factors which influenced the results, those results were still amazing.
But we shouldn't really be surprised at the results, for they simply reinforce other double-blind trials on the effects of prayer on illness. Similar double-blind studies on hospital patients have shown a faster rate of recovery and a lower mortality rate for patients who are prayed for than for patients who are not prayed for.
It seems that when God created the world and created human beings in his own image, he also created them as co-workers with him. Again and again throughout the Bible story God acts with human beings in different ways. We might even go so far as to say that perhaps God has tied his own hands so that he cannot work without the co-operation of human beings.
When God first created human beings, he gave them responsibility for the earth. They were to be stewards of the earth, caring for the earth and for all living things, both animal and plant, that were on the earth. God would send the seasons and all that was necessary for life, but he couldn't or wouldn't look after that life alone. He needed human beings to play their part.
And back at the emergence of what later became Judaism, God led the Ancient Israelites out of captivity in Egypt, across the Red Sea, and after years of a nomadic existence, eventually to settle in Palestine. But God didn't do that alone. God needed the co-operation of Moses and others for those plans to reach fruition.
It's a similar story throughout the Old Testament. Through the Judges and the Prophets and the Kings, God communicated with his people, but at no time did God appear on the earth to do what had to be done for human beings. He worked through human beings, speaking to and through those who were able and willing to hear him, suggesting, encouraging, helping, warning, reprimanding, punishing, teaching, healing, loving, but always leaving human beings to make the final decisions and to go whichever way they eventually chose. Human beings often got it wrong, sometimes deliberately, sometimes out of ignorance, and the results were usually disastrous. But that didn't seem to faze God, who simply helped them up again and continued faithfully to help, love, encourage and so on, as before.
And when God himself, in the person of Jesus, lived on the earth, it was a similar story. Jesus suggested, encouraged, helped, warned, taught, healed, but always left people to make up their own minds and to take their own decisions. Again, human beings often got it wrong. Jesus was constantly groaning over the inablity of the disciples to understand, and perhaps the ultimate in non-understanding and in getting it wrong was the action of Judas Isacriot in betraying Jesus.
Now that we have God always with us through the Holy Spirit, the God within, it's exactly the same. Now, through the Holy Spirit, God suggests, encourages, helps, warns, heals, teaches us. But he still can't do anything alone. He still needs the co-operation of human beings. And we often get it wrong, sometimes deliberately, sometimes out of ignorance because we haven't heard correctly or maybe haven't heard at all.
Clearly this creates problems both for God and for us. How can he work through us if we get it wrong? What if we forget to pray? What if we don't pray properly, i.e. we say the words, but our heart isn't in it? What if we don't quite hear God correctly and do the wrong thing? What if we don't hear God at all? What if we don't believe in God's existence and so ignore him altogether?
Any of these scenarios would mean that the results of God and human beings working together are at best imperfect, and at worse, downright dangerous. This is awful for hospital patients or any who are sick, but how much more awful for the whole world, especially in the present situation of strikes against the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden.
In today's epistle reading the writer of the second letter to Timothy acknowledges that all Scripture is inspired by God, or as he puts it, is "God-breathed". The writer goes on to say that Scripture is therefore useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that God's people may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. But he doesn't say that every sentence in the Bible is dictated by God, merely that it is useful in equipping God's people. The Bible was written down by human beings who, like us, perhaps sometimes got things wrong.
Those who wrote the Bible were people of their own time, so steeped in their own customs and way of life that any other custom or way of life would have been unthinkable. But social customs not only have changed but are constantly changing, and customs which are right for the East may not necessarily be right for the West, so we need to approach the Bible with some caution. We can't assume that every social custom in the Bible is right for every age simply because it's in the Bible. The food laws of Leviticus, for instance, may not necessarily apply today with modern methods of refrigeration and food processing.
On the other hand, as the writer to Timothy says, the Bible is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the people of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. As God's word, the scriptures share his divine authority, which is exercised by those who, like Timothy, are ministers of the word. The word of God must be preached truthfully so that Christian doctrine isn't watered down or corrupted, but remains sound, and so it must also be preached carefully after due study and thought, and especially after due prayer.
In the Bible God has given us an amazing tool box to help us on our Christian journey, but even an amazing tool box is no use without personal contact with God. If we are to work with him we need to hear him. And to hear him we need both to read our Bibles and to pray. God speaks to us in many different ways - through nature, through other peopel, through church services, through coincidences, and so on, but more than anything he speaks to us through the Bible and through our prayers. And so we really do need to pray regularly, both for our own needs and for the needs of our neighbours, and to give us an opportunity to listen to God.
At its best, the system of God and human beings working together, as seen through Moses and the great prophets and most of all through Jesus, is brilliant. Together with God we achieve more than we can ever dream possible. But at its worst, the system which requires God and human beings to work together is chaotic and frightening and awful. Apart from God we make a complete hash of life, as seen through wars and hatred and fear and starving people with no medical assistence. Without God we become full of our own self-importance and we fail in our tasks as stewards of the world.
It's a frightening responsibility to know that God relies on us in order to achieve what he wants to achieve in the world. But it's also exhilarating to know that our part in the divine plan is genuinely crucial. Only God would put that sort of faith in fallible and rebellious human beings. But God has put that sort of faith in us, and it's up to us to play our part.
So learn to pray. Learn not only to speak to God, but to spend time listening to him. And then have the courage to follow your instincts, because that's very often where God works within us. And then look out for a very exciting life.
The results were quite startling. The group of women who were prayed for had almost twice as many pregnancies as the group of women who were not prayed for. The group who were prayed for had a 50% rate of pregnancy, while those who were not prayed for had a 26% rate of pregnancy. (Published in the September issue of the Journal of Reproductive Medicine.) Even if there were other unknown factors which influenced the results, those results were still amazing.
But we shouldn't really be surprised at the results, for they simply reinforce other double-blind trials on the effects of prayer on illness. Similar double-blind studies on hospital patients have shown a faster rate of recovery and a lower mortality rate for patients who are prayed for than for patients who are not prayed for.
It seems that when God created the world and created human beings in his own image, he also created them as co-workers with him. Again and again throughout the Bible story God acts with human beings in different ways. We might even go so far as to say that perhaps God has tied his own hands so that he cannot work without the co-operation of human beings.
When God first created human beings, he gave them responsibility for the earth. They were to be stewards of the earth, caring for the earth and for all living things, both animal and plant, that were on the earth. God would send the seasons and all that was necessary for life, but he couldn't or wouldn't look after that life alone. He needed human beings to play their part.
And back at the emergence of what later became Judaism, God led the Ancient Israelites out of captivity in Egypt, across the Red Sea, and after years of a nomadic existence, eventually to settle in Palestine. But God didn't do that alone. God needed the co-operation of Moses and others for those plans to reach fruition.
It's a similar story throughout the Old Testament. Through the Judges and the Prophets and the Kings, God communicated with his people, but at no time did God appear on the earth to do what had to be done for human beings. He worked through human beings, speaking to and through those who were able and willing to hear him, suggesting, encouraging, helping, warning, reprimanding, punishing, teaching, healing, loving, but always leaving human beings to make the final decisions and to go whichever way they eventually chose. Human beings often got it wrong, sometimes deliberately, sometimes out of ignorance, and the results were usually disastrous. But that didn't seem to faze God, who simply helped them up again and continued faithfully to help, love, encourage and so on, as before.
And when God himself, in the person of Jesus, lived on the earth, it was a similar story. Jesus suggested, encouraged, helped, warned, taught, healed, but always left people to make up their own minds and to take their own decisions. Again, human beings often got it wrong. Jesus was constantly groaning over the inablity of the disciples to understand, and perhaps the ultimate in non-understanding and in getting it wrong was the action of Judas Isacriot in betraying Jesus.
Now that we have God always with us through the Holy Spirit, the God within, it's exactly the same. Now, through the Holy Spirit, God suggests, encourages, helps, warns, heals, teaches us. But he still can't do anything alone. He still needs the co-operation of human beings. And we often get it wrong, sometimes deliberately, sometimes out of ignorance because we haven't heard correctly or maybe haven't heard at all.
Clearly this creates problems both for God and for us. How can he work through us if we get it wrong? What if we forget to pray? What if we don't pray properly, i.e. we say the words, but our heart isn't in it? What if we don't quite hear God correctly and do the wrong thing? What if we don't hear God at all? What if we don't believe in God's existence and so ignore him altogether?
Any of these scenarios would mean that the results of God and human beings working together are at best imperfect, and at worse, downright dangerous. This is awful for hospital patients or any who are sick, but how much more awful for the whole world, especially in the present situation of strikes against the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden.
In today's epistle reading the writer of the second letter to Timothy acknowledges that all Scripture is inspired by God, or as he puts it, is "God-breathed". The writer goes on to say that Scripture is therefore useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that God's people may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. But he doesn't say that every sentence in the Bible is dictated by God, merely that it is useful in equipping God's people. The Bible was written down by human beings who, like us, perhaps sometimes got things wrong.
Those who wrote the Bible were people of their own time, so steeped in their own customs and way of life that any other custom or way of life would have been unthinkable. But social customs not only have changed but are constantly changing, and customs which are right for the East may not necessarily be right for the West, so we need to approach the Bible with some caution. We can't assume that every social custom in the Bible is right for every age simply because it's in the Bible. The food laws of Leviticus, for instance, may not necessarily apply today with modern methods of refrigeration and food processing.
On the other hand, as the writer to Timothy says, the Bible is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the people of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. As God's word, the scriptures share his divine authority, which is exercised by those who, like Timothy, are ministers of the word. The word of God must be preached truthfully so that Christian doctrine isn't watered down or corrupted, but remains sound, and so it must also be preached carefully after due study and thought, and especially after due prayer.
In the Bible God has given us an amazing tool box to help us on our Christian journey, but even an amazing tool box is no use without personal contact with God. If we are to work with him we need to hear him. And to hear him we need both to read our Bibles and to pray. God speaks to us in many different ways - through nature, through other peopel, through church services, through coincidences, and so on, but more than anything he speaks to us through the Bible and through our prayers. And so we really do need to pray regularly, both for our own needs and for the needs of our neighbours, and to give us an opportunity to listen to God.
At its best, the system of God and human beings working together, as seen through Moses and the great prophets and most of all through Jesus, is brilliant. Together with God we achieve more than we can ever dream possible. But at its worst, the system which requires God and human beings to work together is chaotic and frightening and awful. Apart from God we make a complete hash of life, as seen through wars and hatred and fear and starving people with no medical assistence. Without God we become full of our own self-importance and we fail in our tasks as stewards of the world.
It's a frightening responsibility to know that God relies on us in order to achieve what he wants to achieve in the world. But it's also exhilarating to know that our part in the divine plan is genuinely crucial. Only God would put that sort of faith in fallible and rebellious human beings. But God has put that sort of faith in us, and it's up to us to play our part.
So learn to pray. Learn not only to speak to God, but to spend time listening to him. And then have the courage to follow your instincts, because that's very often where God works within us. And then look out for a very exciting life.
