REACH Month - Week 2 (The Tension)

Keep the target in view

REACH Month accentuates what the church already believes: missions, church planting and discipleship belong to our life throughout the year, not only to a sermon series.

The target is the picture in Revelation 7: people from every nation, tribe and tongue together, worshipping God. The call is to realign ourselves with God's ultimate purpose.

“Where am I aiming at?”

Name the tension

Becoming a Christian does not mean every trouble disappears. We are made new in Christ, but this life is not heaven yet.

In Revelation 6:9–11, those slain for God's word and their witness ask how long they must wait for judgment. They receive white robes and are told to rest a little longer. The sermon describes the tension between God's righteousness and judgment, and his mercy and grace.

“It is a healthy biblical tension.”

Tension can hold beauty

A guitar string needs tension to make its sound. The sermon uses this picture to describe a life and calling held under tension.

The cross speaks of both suffering and the gospel. Good Friday and the empty grave belong together; the sermon calls the space between suffering and God's call a holy tension.

“Without the tension on the string, you can't have the sound.”

Christ is the rock in the storm

Christian life is not about acquiring and spending our way to the grave. The sermon asks what happens when someone gains the whole world but loses their soul.

Loss, hardship and suffering still happen. Having Jesus gives us a rock on which to stand when the storm comes; it does not promise that the storm will never come.

“Having Jesus does not graduate you from all suffering.”

Sacrifice, suffering and strength

A bow's power comes under tension. Running and lifting weights involve repeated effort and discomfort. The preacher connects these pictures with perseverance and becoming stronger.

Sacrifice means choosing Jesus and what he offers. The rugby example is not a rule against watching sport: the question is whether we are willing to sacrifice when God puts it before us. God does not call everyone to become a missionary, but he calls us to be holy where we are.

Jesus calls his disciples to deny themselves, take up their cross and follow him. Sacrifice, suffering and strength are held together in perseverance.

“Can I be holy where I am?”

Rejoice and respond freely

The sermon connects faith tested through trials with praise, glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Its call is to rejoice, persevere and live for God's purpose here and now.

The closing communion response is personal surrender to Jesus, even in the face of persecution. The preacher explicitly says this is not under compulsion and is not calling death over ourselves; it is submitting, committing and offering our lives as a living sacrifice.

“God doesn't want that vow under compulsion.”