Bob Pounder – Minister’s Message

Minister’s Message

June 2023

Dear Friends,

At a church meeting, many years ago, I remember hearing one of the invited speakers say, ‘only the best is good enough’ – or perhaps he said ‘only your best is good enough.’ I’m sure that the latter, to us boys as we were then, was the intended message. Why indeed, in any endeavour we choose, why would we wish not to give our best? After all, as the saying goes, ‘If anything is worth doing, it’s worth doing well.’

Shoddy workmanship reveals itself in so many ways. Does he turn up on time? Does he bother to turn up at all? Does he do a professional job? Does he clean up afterwards? Does he charge a fair price? Is he polite and considerate? I could go on, but I’m sure you’ve got the gist of it. We all want to receive value for money, we all want to be well-served; in a shop in a restaurant, and by others providing the services that we want and services that we rely on. Do we in our service give in the same way that we expect to receive?

‘Only the best is good enough. ’Only your best is good enough,’ it’s an interchangeable sort of statement, because if we want to ‘walk the talk’, doing one’s best, should mean being the best we can become; it can become a deep personal commitment. Beyond the mundane it can become a spiritual endeavour. The question is where does this commitment start? The answer is found in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:48)

Be ye therefore perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Be under no illusion that this is what we are all called to. Liberals deny the literal meaning of this command, but it means what it says; it really does. God who is perfectly holy, want us to be holy too. Surely, there is a logic to that.

Paul, whose life was transformed by his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, discovered that it was only through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ that he could become acceptable in the sight of God. Through the grace of God. And how often on occasion has each of us said when considering those less fortunate than ourselves, ‘there but for the grace of God go I’? God is truly omnipotent and we give expression and acknowledgement to his absolute power as we pray the Lord’s Prayer: ‘Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’

Therefore, we are saved by God’s grace only, we all know that none of us is perfect and we cannot make ourselves so, we cannot make ourselves acceptable in the eyes of God. If that were so, we could make Him accountable to us rather than us being accountable to Him. You will remember that Job tried to do this. All glory is given to God and not the other way round. It is all at the pleasure of God.

God has shown his love for us through the sacrifice, on the cross, of his only Son; bearing our sins he died for us on that cross. After Paul preached this message at Antioch, we are told that he persuaded his listeners to ‘continue in the grace of God’ (Acts 13;48). To continue in the grace of God is an act of faith. Prayer is an act of faith and faith seeks God in prayer. The quest for perfection clearly goes beyond our ‘being the best we can,’ laudable though this may be in the eyes of the world, but (again) perfection is by God’s grace alone.

My best wishes as always,

Bob.