Does God Love Bradford? (talk)
It has been a privilege to share faith with many people here in Bradford and BD7. Here is one of the talks shared with people who gathered to find out more about God and Jesus
Does God Love Bradford / BD7?
Part One: Ellie:
One day Ellie, a young, wide-eyed, Iranian woman came into our church when the toddler group was on. She told the lady downstairs I want to become a Christian, so I told her story of a man with two sons, one of whom was a religious boy, a hard worker, an oldest son. The other was a bit of a dosser, who wanted to do his own thing. The only thing he could see in between him and happiness was his father. If his dad was dead he’d be in the money. And that’s exactly what he told his old man.
“Dad I wish you were dead - then I’d be happy.”
His father was a wise old soul who loved his boy. He hated to see the dishonour and disdain, but knew the boy needed to go his own way if there was ever to be a chance of him coming back to him. So he took out a mortgage on his business, and gave that younger son his inheritance upfront. Without as much as a look back the boy took off and disappeared into the night. But the father kept a candle lit for him and, as each day went by, he kept a watch hoping his boy would come home.
Ellie looked shocked that anyone could treat a dad like that. She came from a culture where you treated elders with deference and respect.
The boy went wild. Party, party, party… friends, friends, friends, drunk, drugs and disorder, until the money ran out and then everything hit the fan. He ended up begging for a job feeding animals and so hungry he wanted to eat their swill.
And then it hit him… what if I went back to Father’s house. I could get a job on his farm. I’d be better off than this. I’ll just have to tell him I’m sorry I wanted him out of my life and dead. I’ll have to apologise. So he rehearsed his speech and started out the long, slow walk home.
But when he were still a long way off he glimpsed a sight for sore eyes. Could it be, could it possible be, could it really be? A man running. An old man running… calling, shouting so that everyone on the street turned their heads his way… An old man, running towards him and calling him by name… “my son, my son, you’re home, you’re alive… my son, my son… welcome home, welcome home, welcome home…”
Ellie, was listening to this story eyes wide open, she’d never heard it before. So I carried on and told her about the elder brother…
He was working out in a field when he heard the commotion… what’s going on? He asked his friends who came running towards him… ‘it’s your brother… that crazy younger brother of yours… he’d come home, and your Dad is announcing a huge feast tonight and inviting all the town to come to it…it’s going to be the biggest party around here of the year.”
But the brother was so annoyed that he younger brother was being allowed home and not being punished for wasting the family wealth and ruining the family name. He went and had it out with his dad as soon as he could. “Why are you wasting a party on this loser brother of mine… I’ve been good all my life, working hard for you all my life and you’ve never even given me the cash to have a party with my friends…
Ellie was entranced by the story… what would the father say? Would he see the error of his ways and honour the older son higher… would he finally tell the rebellious boy how much he’d let him down, how hurt he’d been when the boy said he wanted him dead, how angry he must have been to be shamed like that in public?
So I finished the story the way Jesus finished it 2000 years ago, with the father talking to the oldest son, the good son…
“My son, you are always with me and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found.”
Ellie was still gripped by the story, she’d never heard it before and to be honest I was kind of shocked by how much of an impact it could make hearing it for the first time… so I explained it a bit further…
In the Injil - the Gospels - the Bible, Jesus tells us God is our Father.
That’s why he wants us to pray ‘our Father in heaven…’
But he is a Father whose name is love.
Not everyone knows that.
That God is love.
The older brother didn’t get that. He wanted a father, wanted a God, who was just, but not a father or a God who was merciful. He had no idea what love could look like… that it could run towards a sinner, towards a wayward son and welcome him home.
Ellie, was amazed at the idea that God could be a good Father, full of love. So I told her we had a course on that evening where she could come and learn more. To be honest I didn’t know if I’d see her again, but she came that night. On the Alpha course that night, she had food, heard a talk, met some great people and eventually came to live with my wife and I and our young kids for a few weeks as she escaped an abusive landlord and got herself sorted. A year later she was baptised on Easter Day and served the whole church beautiful Iranian rice and food.
You can find the story of the two sons and their dad in page 50-51 [Luke 15] of these Luke’s gospels in front of you.
Part Two: Six people who encountered Jesus
So does Jesus love Bradford and specifically the BD7 area of Bradford? That’s want all these teeshirts we’re wearing have been claiming. Is it true?
When Ellie walked into that church that day her life was a mess. She had immigration issues and had ended up living with an older man just to have a roof over her head while she worked slave labour for him. Three years later my wife, who is a priest, took her wedding to a wonderful man and we got to see her transformed as someone wearing a beautiful white wedding gown.
The bible story is that God loves us as we are, but doesn’t want us to stay as we are. He wants to make us new. In my story above Ellie was transformed from being a mess to being a bride. Many people think they can change a partner, a child or a parent, but find they can’t even change themselves. But with God all things are possible and his love really can change us.
Does God love Bradford just the way it is, and does he love Bradford enough to change it as well?
The simple answer is yes… he loves all of you here enough to die for, and he loves all of you here enough to give you new hope and direction as well, just like he did for Ellie. And that’s true for everyone in this area.
When we get changed by Him it is true that we find we are still who we were… we still have the same abilities, gifts and passions. But the more we walk with Jesus the more these abilities, gifts and passions get surrendered to him and we get transformed as well. It’s a beautiful process, but it happens different ways for different people. Sometimes with a sudden encounter, and sometimes after a long walk up a hill or along a long winding road!
Let me tell you quickly about six people who met with Jesus so you can make up your mind for yourself. They all feature in the Luke book on your tables tonight.
The first one was a young business man… impetuous, wilful, a strong leader, impulsive, newly married, trying to start a family, but angry at everything going wrong in his country. He was religious but had never done that well at school, so never had the chance to learn from the leaders of his day. Then one day Jesus came to him and wanted to borrow his boat for a day as a stage to preach from. He stopped and listened because he had been working all night. Then after the sermon was over he humoured Jesus by fishing again in the middle of the day when fishermen know that fish are hiding. But because Jesus asked him to he threw his nets over the boat side and immediately found his nets filled up with fish - so many the boat began to sink, until his friends came to help and their boat overflowed as well. When he got back to shore he fell on his knees and said, ‘go away from me Lord I am a sinful man.’
He was called Simon Peter and his story is on page 15 [Luke 5]
The next one was a rich man, a short man who had given up on his faith and his community to become rich. Unwanted by his community he climbed up a tree to see Jesus as he passed by. But Jesus spotted him, knew he was there, called him by name (‘how did he know my name?’ Zacheaus thought, and then invited himself to Zach’s home.Zach was so overwhelmed that a holy man would make himself unclean by coming to his house he threw a massive party and ended up giving away a huge amount of wealth to the poor as he embraced Jesus’ message.
Jesus told him ‘today salvation has come to your house’, but that can be translated ‘today health as come to your house.’ You can read that on page 60. [Luke 19]
Simon Peter blown out of the water and realised he was a sinner and Zach called out of a tree and forgiven.
The next character is a woman who had lost all her money on bad doctors. She had been bleeding for 12 years and had nowhere to go and no-one to turn to. She had an inkling that if she just touched Jesus’ robe she could get well. But when she touched him he stopped in his tracks. ‘Who touched me?’ he asked, looking around for who it was. “Power came out of me” he said… When she summoned up the courage she came forward. Jesus stopped to talk to her and made sure everyone else knew she was well. He put her back into a community before he carried on his way.
The bleeding woman was healed and restored. You can read her story on p.29 [Luke 8:40]
The fourth person is a girl aged 12 who died while Jesus was looking around for that bleeding woman. Her dad had come to get Jesus but he was detained by trying to help that woman who had been ill for all the time that little girl had been alive. Why did Jesus have to stop for her today? He must have thought… my little girl is dying right now… can’t he come back for her tomorrow… But stop Jesus did, and the first she saw of him was when he spoke over her dead body. Jesus / Isa said to her ‘little girl, I say to you get up’ and she couldn’t stay dead anymore. Up she rose and the next thing she knew was Jesus telling her mum she might want to get her something to eat as she hugged and smothered her daughter with tears and kisses.
The girl was raised to life and fed. Her story is on p.29 as well.
So far we’ve seen
Self-reliant businessman Simon Peter burst out of a boat and realise he was a sinner
Rich Zaccheus repent and repay a community he’d stolen from.
An ostracised woman restored to health and relationship after 12 poverty enduing years
A twelve year old girl raised to life and fed.
The fifth person was an African immigrant. He was walking up a hill one day when a Roman guard grabbed him and made him carry a cross for a bloody, beaten up man, who could barely walk. Women cried out around him cried out that the man was innocent, a healer who had raised others to life and had healed many. But Jewish officials shouted ‘crucify him’ and blood crazed Roman guards kept whipping him. Broken, this man with a cruel crown shoved on his head that made his forehead bleed as it was made of two inch thorns, looked around and found the grace to comfort the women wailing for him. Simon staggered up the hill besides the man, and as he was raised up from the earth heard him say ‘father forgive them for they know not what they were doing.’ He then watched the man they called Jesus tell a criminal on the cross he would be in Paradise with him that day, and the world grow dark for 3 hours in the middle of the day. His final breath was a prayer and made even the Roman chief soldier praise God.
The African immigrant’s name was Simon, from Cyrene. He was never the same again. His story was on p.75 [Luke 23]
The final character met Jesus in perhaps the strangest way of all. She met him three days after Simon of Cyrene. Three days after his crucified body had been laid in a tomb. Three days after his body had been run through with a spear to check he was really dead by expert executioners and sealed in a tomb with a massive stone blocking the entrance. Three days after Jesus was dead.
She was walking along a road to a place called Emmaus with her husband Cleopas. It was a seven mile journey and would take a while. They were discussing all that had happened in the past three years since they met Jesus and especially the past three days. That morning two of the women had come to them and said they had seen angels who said Jesus was alive again, and that other companions had found the tomb empty and his body gone. As they talked they were joined by a stranger who listened to all they had to say and then explained the Scripture to them. But when they invited him into their home at Emmaus he did something and really familiar. He broke bread and as he did so their eyes were opened and they realised this was Jesus. He then disappeared from their sight and they realised their hearts had been burning within them for the whole time he had been talking to them.
His story became her story, and he appeared to 500 others over the next 40 days, eating with people and letting people touch his scars and wounds that came from the cross.
Six people who encountered Jesus… the rich and the poor, old and young, disciples and strangers… all whose lives are changed by Jesus.
Jesus loves us enough to not leave us the way we are… to bring a change… to make a difference. However you seenyourself tonight, rich/poor; old/young; a stranger to God or someone who has been trying your best to follow him, Jesus loves you enough to draw you in and remake a world around about you. Jesus loves BD7 and he loves you too!
Part Three: Your Response
Tonight why not make a decision to have an encounter with God in Jesus…. He rose again from a cross that he hung on for your sake, and he still transforms lives today as he did for all those people in the book… tonight why not get yourself written into his book of life… and if you’re up for it pray this prayer with me…
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“Lord Jesus Christ, I am sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life (take a few moments to ask his forgiveness for anything particular that is on your conscience). Please forgive me. I now turn from everything that I know is wrong.
Thank you that you died on the cross for me, so that I could be forgiven and set free. Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and the gift of your Spirit.
I now receive that gift. Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with me forever. Thank you Lord Jesus, Amen.”
