Sunday 17 February 2024 – Being Christ’s Ambassadors – our credentials and example

Readings: 2 Corinthians 5:17- 6:2; Matthew 6: 1-6,16-21;

MESSAGE

We had a wonderful service to give thanks to God for the life of one of our church family on Thursday. She really did live a full life. It was an interesting service for me. At the beginning a neighbour’s cat came wandering in and meaowed as if to greet me. And when I got to speak, a dog came charging in and barked like crazy. All I could do is say “welcome” to the dog. There’s a first time for everything.

I’ve had interesting experiences at funerals. Some years ago I conducted the funeral of a retired ambassador. It was a dignified occasion and things were done appropriately well with care to the detals and some formality. There was only one typing mistake really in the funeral director’s brochure (In the days before I used to proofread them.) It had a rather formal statement of introduction on the inside page which was quite common in those days: “For as much as it has pleased Almighty God to take into his eternal care the soul of our dearly beloved brother John Brown…” and on it went basically saying we were there because he had died, and we were saying farewell. It was only one letter wrong, but it did create some looks. It read like this: “For as much as it has pleased Almighty God to take into his eternal cave the soul of our dearly beloved brother John Brown…” Fortunately I didn’t get the blame for that, however.

We are ambassadors for Christ, says Paul. We have a message of reconciliation to proclaim – that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself” (1 Cor 5:19).

In verse 20 we read: “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God.”

Ambassadors are sent into another country with some authority as they represent and speak on behalf of the government or president of a country. They present their credentials at a formal acceptance ceremony and they are accorded status and respect.

Our credentials are a bit different, though. We do have the authority to speak in his name, But it’s not about us. Yes, we are a new creation, but not because of our abilities or status anything we have achieved on our own. The key verse is verse 21 – “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

And so to reflect on our lifestyles and example, we turn to Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 (Ash Wednesday’s’s reading) and Jesus’ teaching on spiritual disciplines. Jesus lists giving, fasting and praying in this gospel reading today as the things which when we do them, should never draw attention to ourselves. LENT in some branches of the Christian church involves fasting – giving up something as a spiritual discipline to help strengthen our faith. It is for many people a meaningful discipline.

The point is that fasting is not something you show off about. And in giving for that matter, whether to church, charity, or poverty-stricken families or countries, the left hand should not know what the right is doing. In other words, don’t make a show of it.

That includes works of service. It’s to God. It doesn’t matter about anyone else, whether you think they are giving or doing enough, it’s done unto the Lord and for God’s glory. (Paul makes this clear iin Colossians 3:23.)

Jesus had an issue with hypocrites who did things for show – like in a play taking on another persona or character while the real person underneath is quite different. He used a number of illustrations for this, including “whitewashed tombs” as description for religious people of the day like the teachers of the law. White and shining on the outside, but full of dead peoples’ bones on the inside. I this passage he warns his disciples not to be like the hypocrites of the day who made a show of things in all three disciplines of giving, fasting and praying.

That’s why when it comes to prayer, Jesus’ teaching matters most in my view – just because it makes sense. “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen…” (Matt 6:6).

I’ve always wondered about getting into a closet – like a broom cupboard, a storeroom or a washroom (the word is tameion, a storage chamber, storeroom or closet). The point is that it had no doors or windows onto the street. It did not mean suffocate yourself in the process, just don’t advertise.

These spiritual disciplines may seem for us like credentials, but no, they are for our private spiritual journey, and no one but the Father needs to know. When we speak on his behalf – be reconciled to God – we have solid credentials anyway. They’re in the Corinthian passage, and one verse is the key:

2 Cor 5:21 – God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

That’s why we used to sing: “He is all my righteousness, I stand complete in Him and worship him.” It’s the great exchange. He takes our sin and we receive his righteousness.

The spiritual disciplines of giving, fasting and praying all stem from that basic point and truth – that “anyone in Christ is a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come.”

Giving comes from our growing faith that the God who saves us provides and guides. They go hand in hand, give as you pray, pray as you give. Give in thanksgiving and gratitude and pray for the right recipient of your generosity.

Fasting helps you focus on God and God’s spirit guiding you through prayer and the reading of His word. Giving up food is symbolic of giving up our perceived needs and wants, and dependence on what feels good bring instant gratification. It teaches us to walk close to God in deprivation, and perhaps to make us more aware of the joyful lives that people of little means often have, while we who often have much too much or at least more than we need are often less satisfied. Depression and anxiety are much more prevalent in the wealthier parts of the world.

In the process we crucify the stuff that is a stumbling block all too often – what the bible calls “flesh” which is often translated as the sinful nature. Paul talks about putting off the “old man” and putting on the “new man” (Ephesians 4:22-24).

At the communion table today, we can surrender some of the stuff that hinders us, or that we hold on to too tightly. It could be some of our personal concerns, or our hopes and dreams, our work, our projects and hobbies we become a little too proud of, or even our children and grandchildren – any or all of these we can give over to the Father’s love and good purpose.

Or we may need to surrender our health if it’s a challenge. Whether that means seeking healing and wholeness from the broken physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual things we live with, or perhaps our need is to not be quite so adventurous and slow down a bit, learning to receive help and support and not only to give it.

What is certain is that there is nothing we can do to be loved more by God. What we can learn is to trust God more in the heaviness of the load as we hand things over to him, and perhaps trust God in the breadth of our human hurts and buried grief, sorrow, disappointment, fears, bitterness, or anger

This Lent season may be an opportunity for us to open ourselves up more to the reconciling and healing love of God shown in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Sunday 31 December 2023 @BBP Church Auckland – it’s still Christmas!

SHINE JESUS, SHINE    

Readings: Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:22-40              

Yes, it’s still Christmas. The church celebrates Christmas for two weeks. If only the retail world understood that. O wait, they do. They’re always selling stuff on special. What a deal. The deal we have in Christ’s mass is a big deal and a better deal.

Finally, at the right time (literally “in the fulness of time – an idiom for the exact correct time), says Paul, in Galatians 4:4  “God sent his Son, born of a woman.” (Our translation today puts it well – “But when the set time had fully come”.)

• Yes, Paul’s not big on Christmas. In fact, this is Paul’s Christmas story – “God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law…” It’s about as Christmassy as Paul gets. He’s much more interested in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
• Yes, Paul’s not big on Christmas. Mind you, neither are Mark or John. If we’d only had their gospels, we may have saved a lot of money and not done Christmas in the way we do.
• Matthew gives us Jesus’ lineage. And the basis for our next season in the Church – Epiphany – the revelation to the gentile magi from the east. But he’s very economical too. He emphasises David’s line, and the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies.

Luke is the best – he gives a wonderful account and much more detail, in line with his stated objective outlined at the beginning of the gospel: With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. (Luke 1:3-4)

Luke chapters 1 and 2 are quite detailed.

• Someone said recently that if he could only have two chapters of the entire bible, these would be it. They are two of the most beautiful chapters in the whole NT. Luke gives the story of Elizabeth and Zechariah, John’s family, Mary’s magnificat and especially Zechariah’s beautiful prophecy – we’ll come to that later. And of course, angels, shepherds and the manger.
• It’s in Luke that we find flickers of longing, hope, life and possibility. There are faithful people shining their light, fasting, praying, waiting, believing. Expecting God to act. A Messiah to come.

Christmas in the first week is often focused on the children.

•  Presents, nativity plays, carols and songs. Decorations, colour, lights and candles.
• In today’s story – well this is more for the older ones. I was going to say oldies, then I realised that when we get together, the average age might be a little on the higher side than the age of the kids in a nativity play.
• We’ve heard the Christmas story every year. Sometimes we miss the faithful oldies in the story. Maybe there’s something for us there.

ZECHARIAH AND ELIZABETH

Luke goes straight into his orderly account in verse 5 of chapter one:

5 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6 Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. 7 But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.

Zechariah and Elizabeth – barren yet faithful and prayerful.

Zechariah

The story continues in verse 8: Luk 1:8 One day Zechariah was serving God in the Temple, for his order was on duty that week. Like so many in our churches, the priest is on a roster. Terrible word. Well, it’s true – his whole division was on duty when this all starts.

It’s worth reading Luke chapters 1 and 2 this week. The light was still flickering there when the majority of people were still walking in darkness (to quote Isaiah 9).

Zechariah is still there doing his duty. And an angel of the Lord appears standing at the right side of the altar of incense. He’s startled and gripped with fear. The angel also speaks! ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.’

Yes, he is a bit too dubious – and he is silenced by a rather miffed angel – ahem. Excuse me. I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God.   20 And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.’

“At their appointed time.” Exactly the same idiomatic phrase Paul uses in his Galatians Christmas line. It’s in the fulness of time.

Then there’s Elizabeth.

Elizabeth is a key person in the angel’s message of her pregnancy to the very young Mary.

• The angel, after explaining that the power of the Holy Spirit would make this possible, adds this helpful line: Luk 1:36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her six month. Luk 1:37 For no word from God will ever fail.” (Nothing is impossible with God)
• Even Elizabeth. Mary’s response is a kind of “well okay then, all good.” Okay it’s a bit more formal: “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
• I’m sure that the relationship between this young teen and the older woman is key – the conversations they had must have made all the difference.

SIMEON AND ANNA

• Then there’s Simeon and Anna. Finally, we get to Luke 2!
• I think they are a great inspiration for us today.
• Faithful. Obedient. Their lights of faith and hope are still burning in a season of great darkness.

The application to us today?

I wrote in the newsletter today about little candles in the dark conflicted places of the world – “little candles of hope burning – people who serve without counting the cost, who shine the light of Christ in dark places.“

Sadly, it’s not just in war zones that we find a sense of gloom. Sometimes our churches get like that. Sometimes we expect too much from ourselves, or others place expectations on us.

As the new year approaches, perhaps this will help.

• God notices the faithful ones serving in these congregations.
• Like Simeon and Anna, we should not give up hope.

Okay it’s true that they were there at a particular point in history, the “fullness of time.” A specific season if you like.

Do we have seasons in our church and faith life?

Yes, I think we do. But there are some key things that enable this to happen. We see it in the Luke’s Christmas account.

• When Zechariah gets it right – it’s the Holy Spirit who moves in him. He is filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophecies giving us one of the most beautiful verses in Luke 1:78 – “through the tender mercy of our God; by which the Dayspring from on high has visited us…” This rising sun, dayspring, new dawn in the east, is the new day Jesus brings, and it incorporates forgiveness and mercy.(MKJV)
• In Simeon’s contribution – it’s all the Holy Spirit’s doing: Luke writes of Simeon, “who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts.”

Anna is lovely too.

• You have to do some calculations to figure out her actual age. 7 years married 84 years widowed. If she was married at 14 which would not have been unusual then, what dress that add you to? 105. Reasonable age really. She’s the night and day lady.
• ³⁶ There was also a prophet, Anna. She never left the temple but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying. ³⁸ Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

• She’s there and she’s connected. She may be a prophet, but there is no prophetic word – just thanksgiving.
• She gives thanks for Jesus, and then gets onto her prayer chain or pastoral list. Those other little candles of hope waiting for God to come and do it. Get things back on track.  She’s like the shepherds telling the story. Not out there but in the temple community. Her night and day job. ”She spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.”

Simeon and Anna in today’s reading didn’t give up and walk away, but led by the Spirit, stayed faithful as little candles flickering – always faithful – until they saw Jesus the light, the hope of nations.

• We know this Jesus – “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4-5).
• We are to be his light too. It’s the Holy Spirit who makes the light and life become a reality in our church communities.
• Even in Paul’s limited Christmas reference, it’s the Hoy Spirit in their hearts who enables them to call out “Abba, Father.”

You only find the term “Abba Father” three times in the NT. Here, and in the very similar passage in Romans 8, both talking about the Holy Spirit at work affirming our status as redeemed adopted children of God.

The third place is in Mar 14:36  “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Jesus praying in the agony of the garden of Gethsemane.

• If there is to be a new season of hope, the local church has to be a hopeful place too.

Our season of growth will always be the work of the Holy Spirit too..

• Where we have a clear identity as God’s children (by the Holy Spirit ), and a clear purpose to let our light shine in witness to the world we live in.
• We are always a witness together. In unity – because according to Jesus’ prayer in John 17 – when we’re one the world will see that Jesus was sent to save us all. And then individually.
• Remember who you are and pray to the Father, Abba, that you may be a beacon of hope.
• Let’s be His light and hope in 2024.

Shine, Jesus, Shine – in us and in every other way you choose.

Amen

3 April 2020: Reflections on Day 9 of lock down – resilience and endurance. How are you coping?

Reading for reflection: Romans 15:1-7

The story is told of a learner policeman who was writing his final exam before graduation. The last question in the paper described a horrific incident after a major fire caused by a road accident. A tanker had crashed into a house, and the whole thing had exploded. A crowd had gathered, and injured people were lying all over the place. While that was happening, some looters were smashing windows and burning couches in the street. There were bleeding people all over the place. The question read – “you are the only policeman on duty at the time. What do you do?” The man’s answer went like this: “you take off your uniform and mingle with the crowd”.

It’s day 9. Day 7 was the worst for some of us. I have no idea why. I do remind you of that kiwi bloke who survived the Wuhan lock down. Remember? The guy who said the thing he regretted the most was not getting a haircut before it started? He said – the first two weeks are the worst.

Like the policeman recruit in that story, sometimes you just want to take off your uniform and mingle with the crowd. You don’t have energy left and things are simply overwhelming.

Nine days nutty. Then you consider Terry Waite who was held hostage 1763 days. His first four years were in solitary confinement. He’ll be 81 next month.

Resilience. “Resiliens” in Latin means to rebound or recoil. I think its sometimes an unhelpful thing to teach children. Resilience is okay – its just that you don’t always bounce back that quickly. It’s more of Peterson’s “long obedience in the same direction”. Or to share the quote I saw on a colleague’s page today which I have had on my “about you” page for many years:

Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I’ll try again tomorrow.” (Mary Anne Radmacher)

Resilience – yes, but add endurance.- the capacity to withstand wear and tear or unpleasant and difficult situations. We have the blessing of our relationship with God – prayer – the Scriptures, especially the Psalms which are well supplied with impossible and overwhelming situations in which people cry out “how long?” In those hymns the writers don’t always bounce back – they sometimes crawl back. Or a crack of light breaks through in their darkness. Often they are reminded of God’s faithfulness in the past – or they remember a better day, and a spark reignites hope, faith, and confidence.

Paul’s prayer in Colossians 1 is a good way to end this reflection: “And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.” (Col 1:10-12)

Be at peace. We are not alone.

Grace and Peace,

 

Message 16 June 2019 – Trinity, grace and peace

Readings: John 14:23-29; Romans 5:1-5

MESSAGE

If you were to ask St Paul about the Trinity, I’m not sure if he would have an answer for you.

At our service on Tuesday when I introduced the hymn “Holy Holy Holy” as a hymn for Trinity Sunday which is today, a dear man asked me “But Robin, what is Trinity”?
“That’s a very good question” I replied, and others in the service nodded earnestly.
No-one actually offered an answer. I said defensively: “it’s the word we use to describe God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit”. Well that settled the debate. It’s a mystery.

If there are three terms that Paul fancied describing God, they’re unlikely to be the trinity as an idea. It’s a Greek thing – this fascination with ideas and philosophy. They are an interesting bunch the Greeks. We were in Athens last year – and I’m keen to take a group back on a vision tour one of these days to see the mission work being done there.
Paul was fluent in Greek and wrote in the language, but he was Hebrew and thought like a Hebrew. They were much more concrete in their thinking and still are.

His three top ideas or concepts are probably those well know trilogy at the end of 1 Corinthians 13:

1Co 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 1Co 13:2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

You know the last line well I am sure: 1Co 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

But what if you were to ask Paul what the top two are? The most important words describing God and God’s work in our lives.
If Paul had been in the Sallies – it would have been “blood and fire” of course. The cross and the purifying fire of the Holy Spirit. I’m taking a chance of course as I only wear the band uniform and not the proper thing.

The overwhelming evidence for me of Paul’s top two words are found in his writings – consistently.

Of his 13 letters, ten have these two words near the beginning of the letter. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Now either this was just the way people wrote letters back in the day, or he really meant it.

What are the chances of those words being a formality – like “Dear John, and yours faithfully – or yours sincerely. Or I remain, sir, your most humble and obedient servant.
(These days letters have been reduced to emails and even the “Dear’ is left off. You get a conversational “Robin, comma,” and that’s it. Off it goes. Not even “I hope you are well” from some people.)

Here’s Paul’s greetings in these letters – after the initial address “To A B and C in D, E and F..” which was the custom. you get what I call the second verse greeting:

Rom_1:7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
1Co_1:3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2Co_1:2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Gal_1:3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
Eph_1:2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Php_1:2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Col_1:2 To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
1Th_1:1 Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you.
2Th_1:2 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Tit_1:4 To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

It’s only Timothy who doesn’t get a “grace and peace” to you.
Listen to what he gets: To Timothy my true son in the faith, (and to Timothy my dear son,) Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Both readings today confirm this in their emphasis on grace and peace.

Romans 5 tells us: Rom 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Rom 5:2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

John 14: Joh 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. So why are they so illusive? Grace and mercy belong together like a hand in a glove.

• But there is little mercy out there. And grace is like that missing ingredient so that the finest of recipes still turns out dry and tasteless.

• And peace – when when it exists in our countries and communities – is all too often absent in our hearts and minds when we toss and turn at night.

Perhaps Paul used it so often in his letters because it was so needed in the world.
Except that he is writing to Christians, and not the unsaved. And note that it is grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Getting back to the Trinity where we starred, it seems to me that the key is in the relationship itself we have with this triune God.

Verse 23 of John 14 – the first verse we read this morning– actually has the key.
The passage is about to introduce the role of the Holy Spirit. But when you read verse 23, you see that it’s like the three musketeers – all for one and one for all – and all in all:
So Jesus says: Joh 14:23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
And two verses later: Joh 14:26 But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

The promise that this God makes his home with us – with a personal teacher – it’s a fascinating and encouraging all at once.

In our family tree my wife discovered the truth that my English granny didn’t in fact go to school with the village kids – which is the story we were told – because she had her own governess at home.

• So do we. The Holy Spirit. He’s our teacher.
• But he’s not the only teacher.
• Jesus is the greatest teacher.
• But he’s not the only one.

He only tells us what the Father teaches.

In verse 24 he tells us:
These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

There’s more than one teacher in this family.
When I did my teacher training they were very much against the old “chalk and talk” method.

But the trinity as teacher is all word.

They speak – Father to Son, Father and son to Spirit, and Father and son through the Spirit to us. Just as the world was created through God speaking it into existence, and the Word of God – Jesus – being part of that creative process (because nothing was made without him) – just as God uses the foolishness of preaching to save people (Paul’s words) – He still speaks life to us.

The great commission in Matthew 28 is part of the whole design here: Mat 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Mat 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Mat 28:20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

We are to teach people too.
Teach them to obey – to hear and apply – the teaching of Jesus.
Not because he is just a good teacher.
But because his words are life.
Because he is the life.

• He makes grace a reality through his death.
• He makes peace a reality through reconciling us to God.

Paul uses the greeting “grace and peace” to you so often because they are not just words but gifts. Almost trading commodities he passes on to his readers – and we are to extend grace and peace to others too.

When there is a debate, a difference of opinion – a political viewpoint – like these so called “panels” of people they interview on morning TV “on the panel today we have so and so from somewhere” they then ask for that persons option on some current affairs issue – and at the same time the results of the question for the day comes up on the screen – the percentages of people voting on E-scooters being banned or whatever the issue is.

And we are going to get it in the referendums – on assisted dying, on cannabis decriminalisation – they’re all coming.

What is it they want to know from the panel – or the voters – or us?

They want to know this: “where do you stand on this matter?”

If you were to ask Paul “where do you stand on grace and peace? You probably wouldn’t get a Greek philosophical theory on the words grace (XARIS) and peace (EIRENE).

He’s already clarified the one:

It’s not a matter of where I stand on grace – Bonhoeffer’s cheap grace or costly grace, or amazing grace.

No. he says in Romans 5:
Rom 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Rom 5:2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.

We have gained access BY FAITH into this grace in which we now stand.

This is an experience – a certainty – a secure place.

It’s not access denied – but access granted – with no password with upper and lower case letters and so many numbers – but through the name and work of Jesus – blood and fire – in faith, hope and love.

This word “access” here also means the act of introducing or bringing someone into the presence of another. If we introduce people to someone important – they area likely to hang around.

Figures really. I read of a young boy who liked to be at family friends with adults because Billy Graham was often there. It must have been a place of grace.

Why is it that people liked being with Jesus? Crowds. Kids. Sinners.

Access into grace.

And as they did – they discovered the Father’s heart. Remember Philip earlier in John 14:
“Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Joh 14:9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Joh 14:10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.

We stand in grace – we live in grace.

He leaves us his peace. Joh 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.

Jump in. Boots and all. Access this grace through faith in Christ who died and was raised again to conquer our worst enemies and our worst fears.

Take the peace. The giving of peace in some traditions in the church is not meant to be another fun way of getting people to be friendly.

Its more than that. It’s a statement about what we have to give.

Freely you have received. Freely give.

The grace we stand in and the peace we live in are not meant to be for us to wallow in like animals wallowing in a mud bath.

They are meant for others.

As people come into our sphere of influence, they should find grace and peace in us – from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
• Greek knowledge is the theory of grace and peace.

• Hebrew knowledge is the concrete experience of it.

So – when it comes to the Trinity – the influence of Greek thinking got them to describe the Godhead as three equals rather than have anyone suggest Jesus was a created being. He was always the son of God – and was therefore of the same stuff as the Father. Otherwise you end up with the heresy of Jehovah’s witnesses today. Jesus is less than God. And if he is less than God, he can’t be a perfect sacrifice and his blood does not avail for you and me.

For me – that’s good. We need our thinking squared away.

But John 14:23 is the Hebrew and Jesus-type trinitarian thing:
“If anyone loves me, they will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

How: through his Holy Spirit – who is in fact God present and powerful in our lives.
Open your home to others – they should taste and see that God’s grace and peace is real – and that you have company.

We grew up in a city – in an apartment. And we had nosy neighbours. A dear neighbour always needed sugar or some eggs when we had visitors – and she would say with feigned shock and amazement: “O you’ve got company”.

People coming into your sphere of influence should get virtually stuck in the mud of your grace in which you stand – and the fog of the peace in which you exist, so that it doesn’t matter if you can’t go anywhere – it’s a nice place to be – because Jesus, his Father – and the Spirit of truth are permanent residents in your world.

And then you can tell your stories.

Share the words of your permanent residents.
• Talk about Jesus and what he did and said.
• Share about the love of the Father.
• Pray in the power of the Spirit.

Share his grace and peace. Help people find access through faith.

And if that grace and mercy and peace feels illusive – don’t overthink it.

• Get out your access card. Talk to him. Listen to him.
• Speak to your heart. Talk to your self.
• Remind yourself of what he’s done. Of who you are as a child of God. Of his faithfulness.

And speak truth to your soul. One of the best ways is through worship. Music – songs of praise – play them in your place because they are a declaration of who God is and a declaration of truth to the enemy.

As musicians we are very privileged. You may not be able to worship God on your own playing a very mediocre second horn part. You need to play together with these instruments.

But you can sing – and you don’t need much musical ability to play a CD player – if they still exist. Use Spotify or U-tube and you can create a playlist.

Get back to reading good Christian truth and memorise scripture – to help you remember in the face of the fiery darts of the evil one that our truth remains words and the reality of having God resident in our lives.

Joh 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (ESV I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.)

Forget cheap or costly grace as a theory. Live in – wallow in – thick grace.

Deep peace. The Irish didn’t invent the idea of a blessing of Deep peace.

It’s life in the trinity – in God who is to us Father Son and Spirit.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.

Sunday message 7 July 2019 – Good Good Father

Readings: Ephesians 1:15-23; Matthew 6:5-15

SERMON

Do you remember a time when you didn’t believe?

• You may not have a been an outright atheist – denying the possibility of God existing.
• You may have been an agnostic – just didn’t know or think that you could know if there is a God.
• Perhaps you had no idea because no one told you. You hadn’t heard.

How then did you come to believe?

Or are you still on the bottom left of the Engel scale:

Not everyone travels along a straight line in these journeys.

Here’s a version that’s more interesting, It shows misconceptions people have, and their criticisms which are often a way of avoiding truth:

 

It sounds more complicated than I thought, you may say.

I suppose many of us have taken it all for granted. We just believe. But are we growing in faith?  Or frozen – stuck in a rut somewhere along the line – marking time. As someone once said the difference between a rut and a grave is a matter of depth.

John Wimber had a more interesting version which helps us think about our own growth on the journey:

 

So where would you start if you were explaining faith to people?

I’d probably start with this bible passage:

Heb 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

For many of us growing up in churches with creeds, we would recite the creed as a declaration about what we believe ABOUT God.

So – the Apostles creed is a good example. It’s printed in your newsletter this week with bible references like the Nicene Creed you’ve had for a couple of weeks. Apparently, some of you were disappointed that Mike didn’t test you on it last week.

The creeds were a way of guarding the truth – when people made Jesus to be less than he was or is. The Nicene Creed as an example says things about Jesus that we wouldn’t have thought about unless someone had made up a really wacky or wrong theory – so bits had to be added to correct or clarify.

The Apostles creed starts at a good place for those exploring God.

• I believe in God the Father – is a great place to start.
• For me none of this is possible without Jesus.
• Jesus – a human being – the son of God – shows us what his father is like.

You see it in human families – the kids are described as “the spitting image of the dad”. Strange language English – noone can agree what “spitting” means here.

Hebrews 1:3 says something similar:

Heb 1:3  The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being

My view is that if people are atheists or agnostics – or just haven’t heard about God – start with Jesus. Remember what we talked about recently when we looked at the Trinity – and how we relate to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. John 14:8-9 reminds us;

Joh 14:8  Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Joh 14:9  Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

So Jesus – if he is the exact representation of his being – more literally the exact imprint of his being or substance (the word you get in the Nicene Creed – being of ‘one substance” with the Father) – it’s the picture of a mould and what it produces – or a die and a coin. Or a stamp and what it prints.

That’s word representation or imprint is the word “character” which was an instrument used for engraving or carving.

That’s why character development is often painful.

If Jesus reveals a facsimile – an exact copy of God – it makes sense that he talks about God like he does.

He emphasizes God as Father – the prayer he teaches begins with OUR FATHER because he models the relationship and reveals God as Father.

SOME KEY POINTS

1. Father involves family and children

Jesus is the only begotten son – and always was.

We are adopted in term of status

We are born again in terms of our new identity and life.

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— (Ephesians 1:4-5)

He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (John 1:12-13)

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (2 Peter 1:3-4)

My favourite and probably the most important passage on this is from Romans 8:

Rom 8:15  For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

Rom 8:16  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

ABBA – is not just a blonde Swedish pop band singing “Waterloo”.

It’s the key term for the Father.

It’s intimate and special – deeper than daddy.

2. Father means relationship and trust for provision

There’s always this discussion about the long journey from the mind to the heart. We can believe in theory that God is Father – but how do we relate to fatherhood? Many people struggle because of human experiences of absent or failed Fathers.

We should not impose human view of fatherhood on God. Paul reverses this in Ephesians:

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. (Ephesians 3:14-15)

Why do people struggle so much these days with fatherhood?

With the idea. You mention God as Father and someone immediately will remind you that for some people it’s too painful – because their human fathers were a failure. A right flop.

In my conversations with men as a prison chaplain – its most unusual to hear someone talk about a dad that got it right. The men in their lives vary from violent to absent.

So when you tell them to trust God as Father – well that’s not so easy.

I’m planning a service there on Thursday – and I want to talk about this theme – God the Father. I’m looking forward to their response.

MY STORY

My dad died when I was 12. I’ve sometimes wondered about what that really did to me. I’ve probably told you before – but never mind. My cousin and I had a conversation that week when walking down the road – he asked me: “Your dad is dead. What are you going to do now?” My reply: “God will have to be my father”.

It helped that I’d seen the movie “The student prince” where the bereaved prince at his father’s coffin sings (with Mario Lanza’s amazing voice dubbed over) “I’ll walk with God, from this day on – his helping hand I’ll lead upon…’

SO WHAT WAS HE LIKE THEN? You could ask me about my human Father and I could tell you something of what I remembered.

But what about the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ – Our Father – what’s he life?

  Here are some great attributes of this Father:

• God gives good gifts to the children in the family.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. (James 1:17-18)

The most obvious lesson from Jesus is the one about human Fathers giving their children unhelpful things to eat. It’s found in Luke 11 after Luke’s record of the Lord’s Prayer:

Here it is:

Luk 11:9  “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Luk 11:10  For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Luk 11:11  “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Luk 11:12  Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? Luk 11:13  If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Or in Matthew’s record:

Mat 7:7  “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Mat 7:8  For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Mat 7:9  “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Mat 7:10  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? Mat 7:11  If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

There’s a shift that has to happen here – that long distance from the head to the heart again.

• It’s one thing to believe in theory in God as Father.
• It’s another thing to trust him – especially if you had an absent or unhelpful human father.

Father means provider. A good, good Father -is the title of Chris Tomlin’s song. We’ve not succeeded in singing it right – but here are the words:

I’ve heard a thousand stories of what they think you’re like
But I’ve heard the tender whisper of love in the dead of night
And you tell me that you’re pleased
And that I’m never alone

You’re a good good father
It’s who you are, it’s who you are, it’s who you are
And I’m loved by you
It’s who I am, it’s who I am, it’s who I am

I’ve seen many searching for answers far and wide
But I know we’re all searching
For answers only you provide
‘Cause you know just what we need
Before we say a word

You’re a good good father
It’s who you are, it’s who you are, it’s who you are
And I’m loved by you
It’s who I am, it’s who I am, it’s who I am

Because you are perfect in all of your ways
You are perfect in all of your ways
You are perfect in all of your ways to us

You are perfect in all of your ways
You are perfect in all of your ways
You are perfect in all of your ways to us

Oh, it’s love so undeniable
I, I can hardly speak
Peace so unexplainable
I, I can hardly think
As you call me deeper still
As you call me deeper still
As you call me deeper still
Into love, love, love

You’re a good good father
It’s who you are, it’s who you are, it’s who you are
And I’m loved by you
It’s who I am, it’s who I am, it’s who I am

You’re a good good father
It’s who you are, it’s who you are, it’s who you are
And I’m loved by you
It’s who I am, it’s who I am, it’s who I am
You’re a good good father

It’s who you are, it’s who you are, it’s who you are
And I’m loved by you
It’s who I am, it’s who I am, it’s who I am
You’re a good good father

You are perfect in all of your ways
It’s who you are, it’s who you are, it’s who you are
And I’m loved by you
You are perfect in all of your ways
It’s who I am, it’s who I am, it’s who I am

WHEN ITS TOO HARD

There’s a deep struggle for many – when life doesn’t work out the way they wanted or hoped – through disappointments, sickness, grief – they really struggle to accept hat He is perfect in all of his ways.

It’s the journey from the head to the heart that gets us.

• The one whose father has failed – will find it hard to trust another person like a step father.
• The one whose father was absent – will still have a vacuum – but if they would just let God the Father fill that void.
• The one whose Father was harsh – won’t believe in a Good Good Father.
• And you can’t persuade them.
• What they need is to discover that reality and power.

That’s why Paul prays as he does in Ephesians 1 which Carol read for us:

Eph 1:15  For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, Eph 1:16  I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. Eph 1:17  I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

 THE WAY FORWARD

• Do you want that?
• To know him better?
• Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the fullness of who the glorious father really is to you.
• Ask the Father to reveal himself to you.

If that song “Good Good father” doesn’t work for you, try an older one. In the early hours of Saturday morning I had these words running through my head:

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one

Ask God to be your best thought by day or by night. Waking or sleeping.

Ask God the Father o be your wisdom – your true word (bring knowledge of the truth) – your great Father- as you become certain that you are his true son – his child.

Is God your treasure? The hymn goes on:

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

Amen.

24 February 2019 – Sunday Message: My Peace I give you.

Readings: Psalm 139:1-12; 23-4; Phil 4:4-8; John 14:15-27

SERMON

Once of my favourite movies is “Keeping the Faith” – where a rabbi and a priest fall in love with the same girl. The rabbi is fired for doing different and unusual things in his attempt to modernize. This scene is his farewell sermon:

I often think about that sermon.

How much of yourself do you share with your congregation? It’s a great challenge if you are a minister.

After all, preaching is about the Word of God – and should always lead people to Jesus, and not to the preacher.

That’s one of the reasons why Presbyterian ministers wore black – it was meant to not draw attention to themselves. I think these days if you wore black all the time people might think you’re an alien who was supposed to land in Wellington. After all they wear black there. A lot.

Sometimes I’m probably a bit too transparent. But today I don’t have a choice.

If we’re talking about anxiety and peace – they are very personal things.

Anxiety by definition is individual first. Human beings get anxious. We worry. And we don’t have peace of mind in a personal sense.

Peace on the other hand could be looked at from a broader worldwide point of view – peace between nations, tribes, families, gangs and so on.

God’s SHALOM is a social and personal idea – we area meant to find peace together. We make peace with each other. We pray for peace between nations and rightly so. And we seek and have internal peace.

Did you notice the rabbi’s first word in his sermon? SHALOM. Peace.

They didn’t respond. I’m not sure if they were supposed to, like churches passing the peace. It reminds me of the minister who was trying to get his laptop working at the beginning of the service and forgot that his radio mike was on. He muttered to himself “there’s something wrong with this mouse” – to which the congregation replied without thinking: “and also with you!”

Peace can be contrasted with anxiety therefore.Let’s look at anxiety first. The verse I want us to look at from the readings today is this one: Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  (Psalm 139:23)

It’s found a famous song by J Edwin Orr written to the well known Maori tune after a mission at Ngaruawahia in 1936 – Search me oh God – when young Maori girls sang farewell to him. We know it as “now is the hour”

Pö atarau
E moea iho nei
E haere ana
Koe ki pämamao

Haere rä
Ka hoki mai anö
Ki i te tau
E tangi atu nei

(On a moonlit night
I see in a dream
You going away
To a distant land

Farewell,
But return again
To your loved one,
Weeping here)

I love the Hebrew language. It’s so rich.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 

“Anxious thoughts” is one word in Hebrew. Some translations just say: “test me and know my thoughts”. Thoughts here is not just a little bit of thinking about something.

The mind is a mine field isn’t it. Our thought life. Worry worry. Sleepless nights thinking thinking thinking.

Rene Descartes in his “Discourse on method” introduced us to that famous line:

COGITO ERGO SUM – I think, therefor I am – a philosophical statement which led him ultimately to postulate a view of humanity or human beings.

I think it was the Moody Blues in the song “In the beginning – lovely to see you” who used the line and added some doubt to it: “I think am, therefore I am… I think.”. It’s a creation image with a crescendo – and then these thoughts:

I think, I think I am, therefore I am, I think.

The song includes the words about people who: Face piles – And piles –  Of trials – With smiles.

“Anxious thoughts” could also translated be as “cogitations” from that same Latin word Cogito.

Cogitate means: think deeply about something; meditate or reflect. Synonyms include: think (about), contemplate, consider, give thought to, give consideration to, mull over, meditate (on), muse (on), ponder (on/over), reflect (on), deliberate (about/on), ruminate (about/on/over), dwell on, brood (on/over), agonize (over), worry (about), chew over, puzzle (over), speculate about, weigh up, revolve, turn over in one’s mind

Ruminate, dwell on, brood over, chew over – is only one small step to grinding your teeth and being restless and anxious. Mr. worry pot.

The new translation of Psalm 139:23  in Afrikaans captures it beautifully:

“… ondersoek my, sien tog my onrus raak.” – examine me, see my unease.

Onrus – unrest – back in the day, meant political upheaval with violence. Really disturbing things.

Like the rabbi in that Yom Kippur sermon, its hard for me to know where to start when it comes to sharing my life with people in the area of anxiety and stress. I’ve suffered from some post-traumatic stress symptoms including anxiety attacks. Panic attacks. They still lurk when I hear an ambulance siren.

Many times these verses have applied to me: Psa 139:23  Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Psa 139:24  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Sometimes my anxious thoughts are linked to some offensive way in me. I am sometimes feeling off because I need to sort myself out. The problem can be with me.

But many times serious anxiety is beyond our control due to outside circumstances and events that are traumatic or challenging.

I can’t tell you the whole story in my journey today. But I can testify to the peace of God that passes all understanding. It’s as real as the chair you’re sitting on.

Paul in our second reading in Phil 4:7 speaks of this “peace of God, which transcends all understanding”, which will “guard (y)our hearts and (y)our minds in Christ Jesus”

It’s worth memorizing this verse 7 – seven is a perfect number – you may remember it as it rhymes with heaven. What leads us to this “seven – heaven” state of peace?

Why verse 6 of course: Php 4:6  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Don’t be anxious about “anything”.

Easier said than done of course. Post-traumatic stress disorder is an automatic response from the  brain designed to protect you from danger.

What I had to do was to pray through the anxiety and after some years it eased – together with the transformation of my thinking to realize after some years that it could have been much worse.

So when someone close to me experienced real anxiety this this week I said  the same thing that the counsellor said at the time – which I didn’t receive easily. It was too early. The counsellor said this to me – you’re going to be okay and nobody died.

I don’t agonize over a lot of things any more. No more serious cogitating.

Paul tells us not be anxious about stuff and events – anything. Writing from jail (he wasn’t a prison chaplain but an inmate) he says: Php 4:6  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

“with thanksgiving” means that thanksgiving is a foundational attitude in prayer.

Some people battle to pray out loud initially. You can. Say thank you for something and you will have the foundation for other prayers – petitions and requests.

Yes, there are times for silence.

But when we pray together we need to really pray.

Prayer and petition. “gebed en smeking” again using the Afrikaans; “prayer and supplication”. There is as begging almost, a pleading, and a passion that seems to be involved.

It’s captured in some of the Psalms. These two are good ones from David and the sons of Korah:

Psalm 61:1 Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. Psa 61:2  From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Psa 61:3  For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. Psa 61:4  I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings. Psa 84:1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty!

Psa 84:2  My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. (Psa 84:3  Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young— a place near your altar, O LORD Almighty, my King and my God. Psa 84:4  Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.)

My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

You can see the parallels with passages that talk about thirst.

This is a longing for his presence. We shared last week about living water welling up from within the depths of our being – that he is with us and in us.

Listen again to verses 16 and 17 of our final reading in John 14: Joh 14:16  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever— Joh 14:17  the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

The gospel reading goes on to say that the peace is linked again to the presence of God through His Holy Spirit:

Joh 14:26  But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Joh 14:27  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

We need to focus and listen and not be distracted as we pray and plead, bringing our prayers and petitions to our Father. He is here.

At Presbytery we had some workshops yesterday. I went to one about expecting more from God.…

The teaching was brilliant. It was really a series of bible passages reminding us of his presence with stories about God being in situations and really working in people’s lives in power – that’s when the peace he offers becomes tangible.

The neat thing is that the presenter spoke last year at the New Wine retreat I went to in August up at Coatesville. As she shared yesterday, you could sense something happening in the room – as people’s faith began to increase. At the end she asked people individually what they were expecting from God. It was good to hear. And inspiring.

You have to know this peace to be effective in any kind of ministry.

You can’t give what you don’t have really effectively.

I believe he wants you to have his peace today

Jesus’ peace is not as the world gives.

• Not total tranquility, or the absence of troubles or challenges… – but peace in the storms
• Not a perfect life or complete healing (though some are fully healed)… but courage to face what comes our way (I’m happy to talk to you on another occasion about my health – for now be at peace about it as I am doing very well.)
• Not an exemption from thinking through issues – remember “I think, therefore I am” – but at least peace of heart AND MIND. Remember the heaven in verse seven of Phil 4: Php 4:7  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
• Not a life where everything is for free or without cost. Have a look at this sign: “I pay, therefore I am…” The notice said: PLEASE PAY YOUR PARKING FEE BEFORE EXISTING. Jesus’ peace involves knowing he provides as well.
• Not a life dominated by trauma and anxiety – post traumatic recovery is possible. He really can heal us from damaging experiences.

In conclusion remember Jesus words about anxiety in Matthew:

Mat 6:34  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (NIV)

Or in another good translation: “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (ESV)

Amen

Sunday 27 April 2014 – Doubting and believing

Text: John 20:19‑31

Sermon

Children aren’t afraid to ask questions or even to express some doubts.

David Heller in his little book, DEAR GOD: CHILDREN’S LETTERS TO GOD, has some questions children have asked…

 Dear God, What do you think about all those movies made about you around Easter time? I think they’re kind of corny, myself. Your buddy, Charles (age 9)

 Dear God, When Jonah was in the whale, was it a he whale or a she whale? Mike (age 7)

 Dear God, What do you do with families that don’t have much faith? There’s a family on the next block like that. I don’t want to get them in trouble, so I can’t so who. See you in church, Alexis (age 10)

 Dear God, When I grow up will I have to fight in the army? Will there be a war? I’m not chicken or anything. I just want to know in advance. Terry (age 10)

 Dear God, I have doubts about you sometimes. Sometimes I really believe. Like when I was four and I hurt my arm and you healed it up fast. But my question is ‑ if you could do this why don’t you stop all the bad in the world? Like war. Like diseases. Like famine. Like drugs. And there are problems in other people’s neighborhoods too. I’ll try to believe more, Ian (age 10)

 Dear God, Want to hear a joke? What is red, very long, and you hear it right before you go to sleep? Give up? A sermon. Your friend, Frank (age 11)

Today’s Gospel reading  is about a man who was like a child when it came to questions. If he had one, he asked it. If he had a doubt, he expressed it. His name was Thomas. Most of us know him as “Thomas ‑ the Doubter” or “Doubting Thomas.”

I want us to take a little closer look at Thomas, for I think he’s not always been treated fairly. In fact, I think we who live in an age that questions everything can learn something from Thomas about how to handle our questions and doubts. And we have them. It’s not always easy for us to believe. We are more like Thomas than we know or care to admit. And I suggest to you that that’s not so bad. For if we can use our doubts and questions like Thomas did ‑ to help strengthen our faith ‑ then we will be better disciples of Jesus Christ.

If we had only the first three Gospels, the only thing we would know about Thomas is his name ‑ for that’s all they tell us.  Thomas is often paired with Matthew as one of the twelve disciples Jesus chose. “Thomas” is the Hebrew word for “twin.” He is also called “Didymus,” which is the Greek word for “twin.” Obviously Thomas had a twin brother or sister who is never named. (One tradition says his twin was Lydia of Philippi, the seller of purple cloth who was converted by Paul).

So we have to look at the Gospel of John to get real insights into just who Thomas was.

Turn with me to John 11. This is the first time Thomas is mentioned and we get some real insight into the kind of person he was.

This is the story of the raising of Lazarus. Mary and Martha had sent Jesus word that their brother Lazarus was close to death. They lived in the small village of Bethany very close to Jerusalem. Look at verse 7. Jesus tells his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

Look at what the disciples think of this idea in verse 8. “Teacher,” the disciples answered, “just a short time ago the people there wanted to stone you and are you planning to go back?” (We can read about these stoning attempts in chapter 8 and 10 of John).

They thought he was crazy to even consider going back there. Perhaps they were on the verge of deserting Jesus. But then Thomas speaks out in verse 16:

Thomas (called the Twin) said to his fellow disciples, “Let us go along with the Teacher, so that we may die  with him!”

Thomas rallied the wavering disciples here, convincing them to go with Jesus to Jerusalem.

Whatever else we may say about Thomas, he was not a coward. He was willing to go with Jesus to Jerusalem knowing full well that it just might cost him his own life. Thomas loved Jesus and was ferociously loyal to him. How many of us have been willing to follow Jesus, to let it be known that we are one of his disciples even if it might cost us greatly?

We also see here that Thomas leaned toward pessimism. “Let us go along with him, so that we can die too!” Thomas tended to expect the worst.

Someone said: pessimist is someone “who can look at the land of milk and honey and see only calories and cholesterol.”

Thomas instructs us even in this. It was difficult for him to follow Jesus for he was a natural born pessimist. It’s easier for an optimist for he always expects the best. But for Thomas, certain as he was that disaster awaited them, this was a tremendous act of faith and loyalty. Just because he was

pessimistic, that was no reason to stop following where Jesus led. We, too, must not let a pessimistic attitude keep us from following Christ’s lead, even if we have grave doubts about just where we’re gonna end up.

Now turn to John 14.

Jesus tells his disciples that he’s going away to prepare them a room in the Father’s house. “You know the way that leads to the place where I am going,” he says. But notice what Thomas says in verse 5: “Lord, we do not know where you are going; so how can we know the way to get there?”

Thomas  wasn’t afraid to ask questions, even to Jesus, when he didn’t understand something. And I’ll tell you this, Jesus never put him down for it or anyone who came to him with an honest doubt or question. For such a person is seeking to believe. The honest doubters and questioners did not bother Jesus as much as the know‑it‑alls, those like the Pharisees who would not open their hearts and minds to the truth he taught.

Thomas had questions. He asked them because he wanted to understand. I can identify with that. All my life I have been full of questions and even some doubts from time to time..

Doubts, questions does not have to be the enemies of faith, but can be an allies. And I tell you something else, if someone has never had any doubts or questions, I wonder if they have ever really thought about their faith or know what they believe. Often we do not really understand what we believe until some question, some doubt arises that makes us pray, study, talk, search for answers.

And I’ll tell you something else. A person who asks questions and even doubts doesn’t mean he or she has no faith. To the contrary, I think it shows that they take their faith seriously, so seriously that they want to understand and grow ‑ just like Thomas.

Now turn with me to John 20.

It’s the first Easter evening. The disciples had gathered behind locked doors out of fear of the authorities. Suddenly, Jesus is with them in the room. They see his hands and side. And they are filled with unspeakable joy. But look at verse 24. It reads,

One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (called the Twin),  was not with them when Jesus came.

I think Thomas wasn’t with them because his heart was broken. He was in deep pain. Just as he thought ‑ it had ended in a disaster even worse than he had imagined. Jesus had been arrest, tried, crucified and been dead three days. It was over. The man he had followed for three years, the man who he loved more than his own life, was dead. To gather with the others was just too painful a reminder of all this. So Thomas chose to withdraw and suffer alone.

Seems to me, my friends, that when we are hurt or in deep distress like Thomas, we have a tendency to do one of two things ‑ withdraw and suffer in silence, cut ourselves off from others, or reach out and embrace our family, friends.

Thomas chose to withdraw. And because he did, he missed out on the one thing that would have turned his sorrow into joy ‑ the presence of the Risen Christ!

In Matthew 18:20, Jesus says, “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

To withdraw from the fellowship of the Christian family is to miss out on that special sense of the presence of Christ that gives us tremendous peace and joy. And, I think, as Thomas discovered, it is only within that fellowship that we begin to have our questions and doubts resolved.

The disciples, so excited, rush out and find Thomas. They use the very same words that Mary and the other women had used, “We have seen the Lord!” And Thomas makes that reply for which he has become famous or infamous, “Unless I see the scars of the nails in his hands and put my finger on those scars and my hand in his side, I will not believe” (verse 25).

Thomas gets a bad rap because we think he’s the only one who felt this way. Wrong! Luke 24:11 says that when the women came to them and said, “We have seen the Lord!” that no one one believed them. The disciples thought it was nonsense! And here in John 20 we see that they did not believe until they had seen the Risen Lord, his hands and his side. THEN they believed. Thomas was acting no differently than they had. In fact, he’s just more upfront and honest about his doubts.

A week later the disciples gather again and this time Thomas is with them. Like before, Jesus appears to them, “Peace be with you,” he says. Then Jesus turns to Thomas and offers to allow him to touch his hands and his side. We’re not told if Thomas did this. I personally do not think he did. He fell on his knees and said, “My Lord and my God!” Thomas openly admitted his doubts, he faced them, and worked through them to the greatest confession of faith in Christ in the whole New Testament!

Tradition says that after the ascension of Jesus, the disciples divided up the world for evangelism. Thomas got India. There is a church in India that traces its roots back to Thomas. And I understand there’s a Saint Thomas Mount where, I believe, tradition says Thomas was killed while praying. We don’t know if any of this is true, but such faith, loyalty, courage and love for Christ would certainly be in keeping with what we know about Thomas.

So don’t let anyone tell you to stop asking questions or to suppress all your doubts. Ask them. Talk about them with those you trust. Don’t let them drive you away from the Christian fellowship but to it, for chances are the Risen Lord will help answers your doubts and questions as you gather with his people to worship, share, pray and serve. Make your questions and doubts lead you, like Thomas, to a greater faith.

Amen.

 

 

Sunday sermon 2 March 2014 – Don’t worry be happy

Readings: Isaiah 49;8-16  1 Corinthians 4:1-5; Matthew 6:24-34

New International Version – UK (NIVUK) – Matthew 6:24-34

²⁴ ‘No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

Do not worry

²⁵ ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

²⁸ ‘And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

So how are you doing when it comes to getting rid of worry?

In the last two weeks I have asked you about getting rid of anger! There are ways to change your response to situations that make you mad. If you develop the right frame of mind (or mindfulness) where you are not allowing things to get to you – but rather when you step back and reflect on what is happening (being led by the Spirit) – things can be different.

Worry is a tricky one. It’s a word similar to anxiety.

I’m not sure that we should start with worry though!

We need to start with God.

All three readings today are interesting as we look at this theme.

THE OLD TESTAMENT READING – a lovely reminder from the OT

Isaiah 49 is a beautiful passage about restoration and comfort.

The word that is repeated three times (vss 10,13 & 15) is compassion.

It reaches a crescendo with these moving  words:

15 ‘Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!
¹⁶ See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

(your walls are ever before me.)

If you are worry-pot – God is being described as having compassion – “can a mother forget the baby at her breast? Of course we instinctively say “Nooooooo!”.

The prophet is more down to earth:

Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!

I love that assurance and it goes on to this most precious statement of God the mother’s brag book:

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands (v16).

This is not a picture drawn on the hand – it is more like a tattoo cut into the flesh.

So the character of God is the point! Trust Him. Don’t worry.

THE GOSPEL READING – a stronger reminder from the Gospel reading today

The Gospel reading reinforces this of course. These comforting and familiar words:

²⁵ ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

We used to sing a song from scripture ( in the day that we only really sang from scripture):

Jehovah Jireh, my provider, his grace is sufficient for me, for me, for me (eek a repetition!!)

My God shall provide all my need, according to his riches in glory, he will give his angels charge over thee,

Jehovah Jireh cares for me….

Can you guess the scriptures? (for a pat on the back – no more chocolates during church!)

Php 4:19  And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Providence! God provides!

Of course the context in Philippians is that they provided Paul’s needs! They were generous in giving. Just a few verses before this he says.

Php 4:12  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

Php 4:13  I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

And then the other verse about the angels?

Psa 91:11  For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

Never mind if you didn’t know that one. It’s about protection.

The key concept is providence!

I love watching sparrows. Any birds. But especially sparrows – because of Jesus’ attention given to them:

Mat 10:29  Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.

Mat 10:30  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Mat 10:31  So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

No comments please about the numbered hairs on my head!

The sparrows are provided for. The birds don’t have to shop at Countdown (they would boycott it anyway as they are kiwi sparrows!).

So again:

²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

Of course it’s not that easy when you’re unemployed or homeless.

The funny old thing is that he calls us who are provided for to provide for those in need!

“Chip off the old block” is an English idiom that applies when God’s children share his compassion and provision!

Or “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”.

So worry and anxiety are not the characteristics that we should be manifesting.

And yet we do! A lot! We frantically scramble for quick solutions to all kinds of things!

The solution is usually in the stockpile we have. We have enough to help those in need – who need not be afraid of asking!

Are you going to have an answer at the judgement? Listen to the words Jesus uses when he describes that judgement:

Mat 25:35  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,

Mat 25:36  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

You know how it goes? They say “when Jesus?” And he says – whatever you did not for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did not do for me (verse 45).

Sheep and Goats  are separated in this judgement scene. Sheep and goats featured in our children’s song today – ” I just want to be a sheep” which has the line  “I don’t want to be a goat, no no no no”.  (Will the parents every forgive me for teaching them this??)

Out of the nature of God’s providence, we are called to provide for others.

Hospitality and generousity are key qualities of the Christian.

I don’t have to say more about the gospel reading today. Just read it!

²⁸ ‘And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

And of course the first verse of the reading – don’t forget the first verse:

²⁴ ‘No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

Speaks volumes.

Seeking first the Kingdom of God involves the dollar. No way around that one friends!

It’s a funny old thing how he provides even more creatively when you are generous to those in need – and faithful in tithes and offerings.

THE EPISTLE READING – Paul and the Corinthians

It would be easy to overlook the reading from Corinthians. We’ve looked at this book over the past couple of weeks.

How they were divided and partisan – one lot following Paul, the other Apollos. And Paul tells them – the only thing that counts is God causing the growth. And how our work will be judged – the building of our lives. Remember?

Did you read the verses left out last week? Here they are JUST IN CASE you forgot:

1Co 3:11  For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

1Co 3:12  If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw,

1Co 3:13  his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work.

1Co 3:14  If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.

1Co 3:15  If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

Good stuff. What’s your life built on?

What’s the quality of your work like – Kingdom of God wise?

Now that’s got you worried.

Don’t worry!

Look at how Paul handles this. It’s just another angle on things. These verses from 1 Corinthians 4 are usually ignored – but they are quite profound:

1Co 4:1  So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God.

1Co 4:2  Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

1Co 4:3  I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself.

1Co 4:4  My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.

1Co 4:5  Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.

So let’s have a look at these in more detail. There are treasures here. Last’s week’s passage (the end of chapter 3) ended like this:

1Co 3:21  So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours,

1Co 3:22  whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours,

1Co 3:23  and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.

There is this great provision for us in the Kingdom of God – we live in another place in terms of what we value.

Today’s passage goes on in chapter 4:

1Co 4:1  So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God.

Who is he talking about? In Matthew 13 we read this –  a good reminder and support of 1 Corinthians 4”1

Mat 13:52  He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

Ministers – church (apostles in those days, Paul, Apollos and Cephas) are to be regarded not as treasures themselves (that’s how cults begin) but as stewards of God’s word.

Paul elsewhere says to Timothy:

2Ti 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (KJV)

(ESV)  Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

Rightly handling the treasures – like custodians at a museum – or people discovering who they are on TV – they put on white gloves before handling special things.

1Co 4:1  So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God.

1Co 4:1  Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

So this is a freeing thing. It fits well with the concept of Provision and not worrying in all kinds of fascinating ways.

He provides His word of truth. We are stewards – especially those ordained to preach and teach. The secret things of God – the mysteries of God – are entrusted to me. And countless others. I take it very seriously.

And by the way the steward is the oikonomos – from which we get economics. Oeconomia – Latin.

Good hey! The real economics is not battling the dollar books but the spiritual books in the kingdom! These are the treasures of truth we are custodians of.

But the word before is more important. We are to be regarded as servants

And this is nice. This is not your average word for servant – diakonos – from which we get deacons. Our Board members biblically are deacons. They serve by ministering in the practical ministries of property and finance, and also care for the poor. Read Acts on deacons.

This isn’t even that well-known word.

1Co 4:1  So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ

This word is good!  ὑπηρέτης Huperetes.

Listen to this description:

The word translated “servants” came from the description of a particular Roman slave. On the great galley ships there were slaves whose work was to row the ship. Those slaves who were on the lower bank of oarsmen were called “under-rowers.” They labored only as the master directed. Paul felt that he and the other apostles did only as God directed them as His servants. In a sense, every Christian needs to see himself or herself in this relationship with God, whatever our position in the work.

We – as preachers especially – are accountable to God. Just as we will all give account for any careless word spoken (remember last week from Matthew 12?) – those who teach from God’s word are under scrutiny.

This is the liberating thing for me – when it comes to worry. There’s worry about food, drink and clothes (don’t!). Then there’s the worry of public speaking! And what to preach every week! That’s a lovely challenge.

James understood the responsibility. In chapter 3 he soberly says:

1  Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. (NRSV).

The liberating thing for Paul (and for me) is that while people get all caught up in their heroes (following Paul, Apollos or Cephas) they – we are only servants.

Under-rowers in a boat. Labouring as the master directs as we sail the kingdom journey together.

The rest of the passage makes sense now. Listen again:

1Co 4:2  Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.

1Co 4:3  But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself.

1Co 4:4  For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord.

1Co 4:5  Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.

Don’t judge me – says Paul. I don’t even judge myself! The Lord judges me!

Verse 5 is challenging:

1Co 4:5  Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.

That’s a liberating thing!

• Know God’s character – his motherly compassion and brag book – tattoo on his/her palm
• What is required is gratitude for his provision!
• Being like Him in sharing what he gives us! Hospitable and generous people he wants!
• Acknowledging this provision for all the world! That makes it all a treasure which needs to be looked after (since Adam and Eve who were given dominion over creation). So some need to join Greenpeace! Caring for the world and the environment does matter!
• Realising that the Kingdom that we seek first is the real treasure (you can’t love two masters!) . The gospel of Jesus is the treasure!
• Coming to terms with the fact that if Paul – amazing as he was and still is today – was okay with being subject to God’s judgment – so should we! We are His stewards and His servants – the under-rowers. He guides the boat as the captain or pilot.

No good worrying about it. About all these things. We have to trust him for physical and spiritual provision!

And we have the spiritual one anyway: All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God. (1 Corinthians 3:21-23)

And we are stewards of the secret things of God – the mysteries that have in fact been revealed to us as the Church. Paul speaks in Colossians about this:

Col 1:24  I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,

Col 1:25  of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,

Col 1:26  the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.

Col 1:27  To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Col 1:28  Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.

Col 1:29  To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.

This treasure – ultimately – is Christ in us – the hope of Glory!

What amazing provision.

What a great reason not to be a worry-pot.

Amen!

Sunday Sermon 27 October – Always and only by grace, through faith, in love… (Reformation Sunday)

Luke 18:9-14

New International Version – UK (NIVUK)

The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector

⁹ To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: ¹⁰ ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.”

¹³ ‘But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

¹⁴ ‘I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’

Reformation Sunday!

It’s Reformation Sunday! By all rights I should be speaking about FAITH ALONE, THE BIBLE ALONE, AND GRACE ALONE! The text could be Romans 3 – how all have sinned. And how we are saved by faith.

Instead we’re back to prayer!

In a sense prayer is everything – the outcome of all the issues that the reformers fought over – add up to this one thing. You and I have direct access to God.

And the conflict of Luther with the Catholic church of his day is neatly portrayed in these two characters:

• The Pharisee
• The Publican (or tax collector).

The one basis his relationship with God on his achievements. The other has nothing to offer – except to plead for mercy. The first is about salvation by works – the second salvation by faith, through grace.

Over the past couple of weeks we have looked at the loving kindness of God – his mercies that are new every morning. And we have looked at that persistent widow knock, knock, knocking on heaven’s door.

Today’s parable takes this further. We loved the story of the widow – because we like supporting the outsider, the underdog. Kiwis love this – they don’t like people who are too full of themselves – like the judge who didn’t care too hoots about God or people.

But we are stretched today.

Because the guy who walks away from the prayer time justified is a pretty bad guy really.

A publican. A tax collector. In a modern version of the story it would be like some terrible occupying army from Australia or the old Soviet Russia controlling our lives from day to day and taking our money. And one of our own working for the occupiers – and people from your own side would come knocking at your door to take your money – and extra for themselves.

This is a recipe for valid resentment, rejection, revolt, revision of your values – I mean why should you give these kinds of people time of day?

Think of other teachings of Jesus – like walking the extra mile. The contrast is equally radical! A Roman soldier had every right to make you carry his heavy pack for a mile. No more. And you would hate that – that sense of powerlessness and being trapped by other peoples’ rules.

Jesus says – carry the pack two miles! This is extending grace to an enemy and an occupier – one who threatened all you stand for and believe!

So the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican praying is also radical.

It’s a church goer who shows up and does the stuff – paying their 10 percent (we could do with more faithful people paying their ten percent here! ) and a rotten deceptive sneaky embezzler coming into church – like one of those guys who sold you a great investment – only for you to see your retirement money gone in a flash.

Everything in us wants to punish those horrible people.

REFORMATION SUNDAY

Lucky for us this is Reformation Sunday! All have sinned (Romans 3:23) – that’s the point. Romans 6:23 talks about the gift of God. Romans 8:1 declares those in Christ to be free from condemnation.

It’s actually about grace! Unmerited favour and lots of forgiveness.

How good to see our mayor in the local paper this week – saying that he has received real compassion from Christians in Auckland.

Oh we should be careful not to judge!

THE DETAILS OF THE CONTRAST

Look at Luke again:

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable

Well that’s a good warning – as self-righteousness is a serious problem. So too looking down on everyone else. I guess that’s pride or arrogance.

The prayer itself needs examination:

God, I thank you that I am not like other people – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.”

We may think – gosh these Pharisees were bad – what a bad attitude?

And yet we are equally dismissive of the three categories

• Robbers – creative bunch. We’ve opened our home to homeless people – and they’ve wandered off with our things! (Tell the story of the Smiths in Witbank – or the thief that came back after being prayed for… )
• Evildoers – nice broad category really. We tut tut and the terrible things people do these days – forgetting that this is nothing new. Sometimes you read these historical quotes about bad people and you think it’s something written yesterday – only to find it came of some Pharaoh’s tomb or the writing was found on the wall of a cave dating back thousands of years!
• Adulterers – gosh Auckland has been really in a tailspin about this one and our mayor.  Trouble is Jesus again – look at what he said:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’  But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:27-28).

Tricky one isn’t it?

And of course the Pharisee lists his strengths! And they show discipline and generosity don’t they.

But it’s this line that gives away the arrogance: God, I thank you that I am not like other people…

And that’s exactly how Luke introduces this story: To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable.

What we need to really examine is verse 13:

¹³ ‘But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

The heart of the matter is humility. I have real issues with this. Humility is the virtue, the attitude that enables people to follow leadership, to trust others’ judgement, and to be teachable.

Being teachable – just by the way – is the thing that I look for in people – especially leaders. You may remember the acronym FAT – I’m looking for Fat people. Faithful, available and teachable!

What can we say about humility?

Lack of humility – its antithesis – is probably pride. Its part of every marriage argument, every case of broken relationships. And its there in the hearts of people who can’t for the life of anyone see the need to have God in their lives.

Because they are self-sufficient!

The longer I serve Him – the more inadequate I feel in myself.

Sin is there because we are sinners by nature.

And the inner battle goes on until the day Jesus takes us home.

So how is your prayer life going?

Persistence (last week – from the story of the unjust judge who got a black eye from a  little old widow).

Be careful that persistence doesn’t come from a sense of entitlement and pride – that you think you actual deserve your prayers to be answered.

Luke 18:14  “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Too many of us get the words of the song confused – the one that goes like this…  I’m thinking of the Michael Smith Song – It’s all about you Jesus. It’s called “The heart of worship”. The chorus goes like this:

I’m coming back to the heart of worship
And it’s all about You,
It’s all about You, Jesus
I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it
And it’s all about You,
It’s all about You, Jesus

Too many of us change the words and sing” And it’s all about me, it’s all about me Jesus…”

You get the point. Bruce Larson gives us this formula to help us get the humility thing right. We’ll end with this:

Being a new being in Christ means reversing our natural tendencies. Someone once said to me, “Larson, do you know what’s wrong with you? You judge other people by their actions and yourself by your intentions. If you could reverse that, it would change your life.” Since then I’ve been trying to judge others not by what they do, but by what they meant to do. Try judging yourself not by what you meant, but by what you did—which is how people perceive you. That’s a giant step on the way to humility.

And on this Reformation Sunday there is one extra thing – central concept – that is here:

The humble man “went home justified before God”. (v14)

Justification is at the heart of Paul’s teaching in his letters, especially His letter to the Roman church.

He was made righteous because his sin was blotted out! Pardoned.

That’s the heart of it.

It’s a dangerous parable. I last preached on it on the Sunday I came here with a view to a call. I did a pretty bad job of the sermon. And some of the people rated me badly and voted against me coming!

You see you rated me and decide whether I was okay or not. Clearly that is the grace of God (if it was based on the rating of that sermon!) Most – almost all -voted to have me as pastor here! 🙂

We’re always rating each other.

And on that Sunday I preached I warned of the danger here.

That all too easily we might say – “I thank God that I am a repentant sinner and not like that arrogant Pharisee!”

Justification by faith – the heart of the reformation – is what it is. We don’t deserve God’s love – and it is bounteous. I once tried to quantify it in a children’s chapel. We had glasses, then buckets, then wheely bins to answer the question – how much love is there?

The answer is – it reaches to the heavens – and to the end of the universe – to the multiverses out there – and beyond – way beyond where the Star Ship Enterprise and Captain Kirk will ever go.

What a relief! Enjoy this love today and always!

God bless you as you seek Him.

Sunday sermon 6 October – matters of faith

October 8, 2013

Readings: Lamentations 3:19-26; Luke 17: 1-10; 2 Timothy 1:1-14

SERMON

I read this weekend that I should  – well let me read it for you. This pastor wrote: I think the single most important thing a pastor can do is wake up each day and focus his energy on enjoying Jesus and having as much fun as possible. This is the only thing I know of that will protect you from the burnout most pastors experience from the relentless strain of preaching and leading a church. I don’t think there’s much power in preaching grace if you yourself are not revelling in grace. (30 September 2013 by Justin Buzzard)

But I thought today’s reading was about faith – you say.

Actually no. Both really!

All the readings today are also about God’s grace!

From the depressing state of Jeremiah lamenting over a destroyed city of Jerusalem – to the perplexed disciples who are told not to be a stumbling block to other Christians – and to keep forgiving others (together with all the other things Jesus told them to give up or hate as they learn to love him) to the young Timothy who learned like some of us about the love of God from His granny – all the characters, the speakers in these passages and those listening to Jesus’ words or hearing Paul’s letters – none of them – NOT ONE – could save themselves or work up enough faith to qualify for a Nobel Peace prize or the meekest of human trophies.

For Jeremiah – deep in the depths of despair and depression – listen to him again:

Lam 3:19  I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.

Lam 3:20  I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.

There is a word of Hope:

Lam 3:21  Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:

Lam 3:22  Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

Lam 3:23  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

And the key word here? Chesed – meaning mercy or loving kindness. The LORD’s “great love” is the one to look out for in the NIV.

The loving kindness of God is at the heart of it all. Mercy is right there.

With that the endless forgiveness that Jesus talks about in Luke 17:

Luk 17:3  So watch yourselves. “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.

Luk 17:4  If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

Of course the Lord’s prayer backs this up. There is only one line in the Lord’s prayer about what we do:

Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us!

It’s the heart of it all – it’s built into the loving kindness and mercy of God!

By the way – what do you think of the disciples response to this challenge? It follows hard on the heels of the warning against causing others t sin in verse 1: “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come.”

Their response is simple: Luk 17:5  The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”  

He replies: “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

Jesus’ response has been interpreted in a couple of ways:

1.       A rebuke – chiding them for not having enough faith. Can you think of other times when he did this?

(In the context of worry) (O Ye of little faith?)  Mat_6:30  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

(In the context – a storm) Mat_8:26  And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

(In the context of Peter walking on the water) Mat_14:31  Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

(When they were discussing bread) Mat_16:8  But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread?

(In the context of a demon they could not cast out – although in an extra verse (textural variant) he adds prayer and fasting as a requirement for recalcitrant demons). Mat_17:20  He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

So he says on this occasion: (In Luke 17:6) “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. This could be a rebuke – if you had just a tiny particle of faith – if you only had that tiny speck of faith like a mustard seed).

2. Humorous – there is an amusing angle – in the piucture of this mulberry tree

Luke 17:6  He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. There is an amusing angle to this too. The particular mulberry tree was known to have a very complex root system. It was a sycamine tree -a kind of mulberry, with a root system so intricate that it would take six hundred years to untangle it, according to the rabbis. The idea of it being planted in the sea is odd – almost a joke. It would look a bit strange.

3. The main focus is on the faithfulness of God in impossible situations!

In Matthew we read the mountain version of this.  Mat_17:20  He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” 

Some of our problems are like mountains. We say things are insurmountable. Basically that means impossible. Overwhelming.

Something like the destruction of Jerusalem – the wasted city of Lamentations. Think of any bombed-out city in the world. Everything gone. Think of hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes and the mess that you land with.

How do you find hope in that situation?

In your relationship with God, there are some key responses – prayer (pray the Bible) and worship (sing the Bible) especially – both of which build faith!

As an example we used to sing years back: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases – his mercies never come to an end –  they are new every morning, new every morning, Great is they faithfulness Oh Lord! Great is Thy faithfulness!”

It is hard to find hope, though – especially in the face of wholesale destruction as Jeremiah had faced with the people of God. Those of you who have seen terribly traumatic things – or even have lost a loved on under less horrible situations – or those who battle with depression – understand how hard it is to find hope.

Consider this picture – a sculpture from 1894 by William Wetmore Story – carved for his wife’s tombstone and ultimately his. It is called the “Angel of Grief”. Have  a look:

It’s the angel mourning on the tomb! It’s a picture for many of the darkest day of the year – linked by Christians to Holy Saturday – Easter Saturday – where Jesus himself is remembered as dead.

The gloomy mood of all of Lamentations captures these terrible feelings of loss. And yet there is hope in this passage!

The truth is we often have to grieve first – as did Jeremiah. His poetry is gloomy and sad. That must happen in bereavement and loss of all kinds.

There’s a great moment in the movie “Four weddings and a Funeral” – not at the weddings but at the funeral where the dead man’s friend recites W H Auden’s poem “Funeral Blues”.  It will resonate with those of you who are grieving. It certainly does for me. It goes like this:

W. H. Auden  (Wystan Hugh 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973)                       Funeral Blues

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Brilliant and real. And  that kind of grieving is normal and important – as it shows the extent of love and loss in a powerful way.

Depressed people can get stuck in the desperation of hopelessness and persistent loss. People can get a kind of frozen grief. I have encountered that with the losses of immigration – you find it with refugees too.

In that kind of desperation another drum begins to beat out a different song:

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases…”

Or if you like:

“ Great is thy faithfulness oh God my father, there is no shadow of turning with thee….”

Morning by morning new mercies I see!

The morning prayer time seems significant as we tackle the day. Think of the beauty in the KJV of Psalm 5: Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation.  Psa 5:2  Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.  Psa 5:3  My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

It is important to start the day well like that – recognizing his mercies and looking up, because

“All I have needed they hand hath provided!”

The point is – the bottom line is – you can’t work up your faith.

You only need a tiny bit – like the size of a mustard seed – to move that mountain or cast the tree into the sea!

It’s about the greatness and faithfulness of God.

Let’s close by listening to this song – sing along as we declare these truths.

Song: Who alone could save themselves?

Have a listen and as you do ask God to birth new hope in your heart: we all need faith and grace!

Click on the link and listen:

You alone can save (Matt Redman)