Revelation 1:1-8
(Notes from a sermon I preached at St John's, Tunbridge Wells on Sunday 31 May).
I wonder what you think about this book, Revelation?
It does contain some weird stuff – just look across to 1:12ff...
People seem to have two main reactions:
The first is to become completely obsessed with it – trying to find dates & historical events that match up with every tiny detail; getting bogged down in pre-tribulational pre-millennialism; post millennialism; pre-tribulational dispensationalism; a-millennianism andn every other ...tional ...ism you can imagine.
I'm so old that I remember when bar codes were first introduced, and some people thought they were the mark of the beast in chapter 16.
I'm not so old as to remember the Reformation, but Luther & his mates thought the beast was the Pope & the Catholics. Of course the Catholics thought that the beast was Luther!
But if some people get obsessed with Revelation, others ignore it.
After all, as someone has said, 'if a strange book produces strange Xns, perhaps it's best to leave it to them!'
But it's an important book – it's the longest letter in the NT – in fact only Mt; Lk & Acts have more chapters.
More important than it's sheer length is the urgency of the message: before John even greets the churches he emphasis the urgency of his message in v1, 'this is the revelation of J.C. which God gave him to show his servants the things that must soon take place' and in v3, 'blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near'.
But before we delve into what it is that's going to take place so soon, we need to understand what sort of book this is.
When you read in Ps 17, 'hide me in the shadow of your wings' you don't say that God therefore is a giant pigeon – you know the Psalms are poetry and you read them as such.
But how should we read Revelation? When we read of a woman with clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of 12 stars, what are we to make of it?
How we understand that will depend on the sort of book Revelation is.
And, John tells us exactly what it is in vv1-3.
First, and not surprisingly, it's revelation – v1 – the revelation of J.C. which God gave him
A 'revelation' is a disclosure of things that otherwise could not be known.
So, over recent months, we've got used to 'revelations' about MPs expenses – the disclosure of things we otherwise could not have known.
If we look at v1, we see that in this book, the Revelation is made by God himself, through Jesus, and then via an angel-messenger to John.
And it discloses what's happening in the unseen, spiritual realms, where God rules and Satan rebels.
Then, second, this book contains the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw v2
One of the biggest themes in John's gospel is that Jesus has been sent from God into the world to reveal God to the world.
Because Jesus was with the Father in the beginning, he knows the Father – he knows what happens in heaven because he'd lived there for all eternity.
And now, Jesus tells John what he saw in heaven.
Third, this book is prophecy, v3
Now people often think that prophecy is all about the future. But it's not.
Read Isaiah, Jeremiah & the other prophets, and you'll find an awful lot about the past – the way God called and cared for his people;
about the present - how the people are rejecting & rebelling against God;
and only then about the future – a warning of impending judgment and promises of salvation.
And in Revelation, there's a lot about the past – the victory of the cross.
And there's a lot about the present and the immediate future facing the 7 churches John is writing to.
They're facing persecution and trouble from the evil power of the Roman empire. That raises questions in their minds, 'Is it worth persevering?', 'Does God have ultimate power over evil, or is there a chance that he will lose and the devil win?'
And then there's some stuff – though not as much as people think - about the long-term future – the return of Christ, the new heavens and the new earth.
So when John talks about things happening soon, he's not necessarily talking about the return of Jesus, but about what will be going on in heaven when the church faces persecution.
When he does talk about the return of Jesus, the urgency is because we don't know when he will come – and in this John echoes Jesus' own words – “be ready because you do not know when the master will return.”
So, v3, you will be 'blessed' if you read, hear and keep these words – if you understand who God is, what he has done, what he is doing, what he will do, and how the devil is trying to thwart him but won't succeed – then you will be blessed – because you will be able to live in this troubled world at peace with God.
So this book is revelation, testimony & prophecy. But, v4, it's also a letter – John is writing to 7 churches in what is now western Turkey.
And so he greets them just as Paul does in his letters, read vv4b-5
The world has always, and will always, be fundamentally opposed to Christ, to Xns, to the church and to Xy.
So to pray that the church will enjoy the grace and peace of God-the-Ttrinity is more than a mere greeting – it's a real plea to God to supply these churches with the gifts, the unity and the confidence that he alone can give.
And immediately, John is reminding these Xns of the greatness of the God who will give them grace & peace: he is, he was, and he is to come.
This God is always present, always at work. There's no parliamentary recess in heaven, no six week summer holiday.
And before the throne of the eternal God are 7 spirits. This may refer to 7 separate spirits or angels, but for three reasons, I think John's referring to the HS:
First, 7 is the complete number – on the 7th day, creation is complete and God rests to enjoy the perfection of creation.
Second, reference to the Spirit is sandwiched between references to the Father and the Son.
And third, the Spirit is the source of grace and peace to the church every bit as much as the Father and the Son.
And the Son, v5, Jesus Christ is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings on earth.
Once again, John refers to Jesus as the faithful witness – the one uniquely placed to reveal God.
But he doesn't only reveal – he also rescues and rules.
He is the first-born from the dead – the guarantee of the resurrection, and he is the ruler of the kings on earth.
This is really important for persecuted Xns – imagine trying to live as a Xn in N. Korea with Kim Jong-il as your president. Or in China under Hu Jintao.
To be reminded that Jesus rules over-above your evil king is really important. But it also raises questions – if Jesus rules, why doesn't he do something for his oppressed people?
That's a question this book will return to again and again, and we'll do well to listen carefully because tho' none of us really knows what it is to be persecuted, there's no doubt that life will continue to get harder & harder for Xns in Britain over the next few years.
University Student Unions will continue trying to impose their beliefs on Christian Unions; schools & government departments will insist that the only acceptable belief is atheism, and atheists will insist that their morality is the only acceptable morality.
So listen up – this book will reveal why you need not despair and why you must not give up when you are denounced as evil-doers.
So what is the reality for the Christian?
Where do we stand in relation to God and this world?
vv 5-7 give us a glorious overview of the eternal privileges of God's people – and notice how we benefit and at the same time God is glorified:
READ
The Xn privilege begins with Christ's love for us – a love which is demonstrated by Jesus buying us freedom from our sins with his blood.
The Bible is clear that every non-Xn is a slave to sin – they have no choice but to serve themselves and the devil.
But Jesus bought our freedom when he died on the cross, and we became his slaves – a slavery of perfect freedom because he is the perfect master who only desires that we fulfil our created potential.
And that potential was to be a kingdom – a kingdom of priests to God.
As priests, our lives are dedicated to serving and glorifying God – we do not exist for our nation, for our political masters or for our employers.
We are a kingdom of priests to God.
We are all in full-time priestly ministry – the glorious ministry of worshipping God.
Whether we spend our time at school, at work, at home, in retirement – we're all in full time ministry. There's not a moment of the day or night when we cease to be priests of God.
As John writes about God's astonishing act of love in redeeming people from slavery to sin and transforming them into holy priests, he bursts into praise: to him be glory and dominion for ever & ever. Amen
And as he remembers Christ reigning over all things, he remembers that one day he will return, Behold, he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
Christ is returning – in unimaginable, brilliant glory.
There's no point in searching this book for details of when – we don't know when. Even Jesus himself said this was the one thing the Father had not told him – so how can we possibly know?
And when he comes, every eye will see him – there will be no escaping or hiding from his majesty – and everyone – from those who nailed him to the cross to the farthest tribe on earth – will wail – they will mourn because of their sins which nailed this glorious Christ to the cross.
And so we conclude with the reminder that God is the Alpha and the Omega.
He was there in the beginning and he will be there at the completion of all things.
He created this world and he will recreate this world.
Which raises the most fundamental question of this book and the most important question we will ever ask ourselves, 'Who will you be worshipping when Christ returns or when you die?'
Tuesday, 1 June 2010
Luke 4:13-30
Last week, we saw how Jesus was tempted:
tempted to serve his own needs
tempted to do gain the power, splendour & prestige of this world
tempted to test God.
But, despite weakness & hunger, Jesus resisted each temptation.
And we were also reminded that while Jesus resisted, we so often do not:
we serve ourselves.
we look for power & prestige from things like education, employment, beauty & possessions.
we test God – demanding that he proves himself.
Then we went to the cross, to Luke 23, and we saw how even there Jesus resisted temptation & did nothing wrong. He died a perfect man, taking on himself the just punishment that should be ours for our weakness & failure.
As the hymn says,
There was no other good enough
To pay the price of sin;
He only could unlock the gate
Of heaven, and let us in.
Now, in Luke 4:14, Jesus returns to Galilee & he's welcomed with open arms, 'Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.'
Then he went on to Nazareth, his home town. He went to the synagogue where he was clearly well-known because they asked him to do the reading. He was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah – a large scroll probably about 1' high & 24' long - and he unrolled it until he found Isaiah 61 verses 1 & 2.
Then, standing in front of all the people, he read, 'The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.'
And, says Luke in v20, 'The eyes of everyone were fastened on him – everyone is staring at Jesus – looking to him. And he rolls up the scroll, gives it back to the attendant and sits down. 'Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing', he says. In other words, 'The great prophet Isaiah was writing about me. I am that Spirit-filled man, and I've come to establish the new Kingom of God.'
Jesus is saying something about himself, and something about his mission.
First, Jesus says something about himself:
'The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me.'
In the OT, the HS was given by God to just a few special people – prophets & kings.
The prophets spoke for God, and the kings ruled for God. And that's just what Jesus has been sent by God to do. He's not come on his own, he's been sent by God with a message for the people.
So Jesus is God's anointed King, his Spirit-filled prophet, sent by God to fulfil the mission promised through Isaiah.
And having told everyone who he is, Jesus then says something about what he's come to do - he tells us his mission statement:
'The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.'
At first glance, it seems as if Jesus will be setting up a whole series of charities:
Christian Aid to relieve poverty
Amnesty International to release prisoners
the RNIB for the blind and
Liberty for human rights and civil liberties.
And it's true that, throughout his ministry, Jesus certainly does heal people and free people from the oppression of demons. But these are simply the outward signs of a far deeper reality.
So we need to take a wide-angle lens & look at the big picture if we're going to understand Jesus' mission.
And we need to go back to Isaiah.
Isaiah is the tale of two cities: First, the earthly Jerusalem. Isaiah 1:2-4 & 7
God's people have turned their backs on God, and he's turned his back on them.
Soon, they'll be sent into exile in Babylon – oppressed & imprisoned.
This is not the Lord's people enjoying the Lord's favour.
But then there's the heavenly Jerusalem – the new capital city of God's new kingdom:
Isaiah 60:14-17
And the chapter goes on to paint a wonderful picture of a city renewed and blessed by the presence of God, enjoying peace and plenty, joy and light.
And then comes chapter 61 – the chapter Jesus turned to in the synagogue: 'The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.'
Jesus has come to bring God's people into a whole new kingdom – the kingdom where Jesus rules – the eternal kingdom of God.
And back in the synagogue, back in Luke 4, as Jesus preaches, Luke tells us that everyone spoke well of Jesus, amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.
You can imagine the scene: as Jesus preaches, the congregation begin to nod approvingly. They turn to each other & whisper, 'He really does preach very well, doesn't he?'
And then some of them say something seemingly insignificant, 'Isn't this Joseph's son?'
But as we read, the alarm bells ring. We remember what God had said about Jesus, 'This is my Son'We remember that the devil taunted Jesus, 'If you are the Son of God...'
But these people – oh, they know who he is – he's Joseph's son – “How extraordinary that a carpenter's son should preach so well!”
And Jesus senses what's going on – v23, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me:`Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your home town what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'"
Jesus knows that when they understand what he's claiming; that he is the Son of God, not the son of Joseph; when they begin to understand that he's claiming to be God's anointed king, then they'll turn on him – 'You're mad – you need a doctor. Don't preach to us, preach a bit of humility to yourself!'
And then they'll say, 'Go on then, if you're the Son of God, prove it. Do some miracles for us, like they say you did in Capernaum!'
Jesus knows what's going on in their hearts. He knows that, just as they rejected the prophets before him, now they'll reject him.
“No prophet is accepted in his home town”, Jesus says - his family & friends know him - how can he possibly be God's chosen one?!
And Jesus illustrates this rejection from the OT:
There was once a prophet called Elijah – you can read about him in 1 Kings 17.
At that time, Israel worshipped idols and provoked God to real anger, so there was a famine in the land. During the famine, Elijah needed to eat, so God sent him to a foreign widow in Zarephath. She welcomed God's prophet Elijah and God gave this foreign woman and her son all the food they needed, while Israel starved.
Another time, there were lots of people in Israel with leprosy. But God only healed a foreigner, Naaman, the Syrian.
Do you see what Jesus is saying?
He's telling these people that because they won't accept him, God will bring the blessings of his kingdom to foreigners, not to them. Because they won't acknowledge themselves as the poor, the imprisoned, the blind, the oppressed, he can't help them. So if they don't want to receive the year of the Lord's favour, he'll take it to the pagan Gentiles.
And the people are furious!
So they drive him out of town and take him to the brow of a hill to throw him off the cliff. But somehow Jesus just walks right through them and goes on his way.
We're not told how Jesus does this, but clearly it's a miracle – so the people got their miracle after all!
If Jesus is the Son of God – if the Spirit of the Lord has anointed him to preach good news, to proclaim freedom for prisoners, sight for the blind and release for the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour, then the question is, 'Do we recognise ourselves as being poor and needing good news?#
Do we recognise that we're prisoners of our own making – trapped by our selfishness and narrow-mindedness that rejects the gospel?
Do we acknowledge our blindness & ignorance? Do we realise that if we want to know God, we have to depend on his word to reveal God to us?
Do we realise that we're oppressed and enslaved by sin, incapable of doing what is right, incapable of glorifying and honouring God?
If not, then we're like the villagers of Nazareth who thought Jesus was just Joseph's son, and we'll reject him and even try to rid the world of him. Not that our puny resistance will stop him – he will just walk on through.
But when we acknowledge our need – when we recognise our pathetic, sinful, blind, oppressed lives, and turn to Jesus as God's son, then we begin to discover true freedom and begin to see God as he is.
We're freed from the idolatry of the kingdom of this world and enter the glorious kingdom of the freedom of God's sons.
Last week, we saw how Jesus was tempted:
tempted to serve his own needs
tempted to do gain the power, splendour & prestige of this world
tempted to test God.
But, despite weakness & hunger, Jesus resisted each temptation.
And we were also reminded that while Jesus resisted, we so often do not:
we serve ourselves.
we look for power & prestige from things like education, employment, beauty & possessions.
we test God – demanding that he proves himself.
Then we went to the cross, to Luke 23, and we saw how even there Jesus resisted temptation & did nothing wrong. He died a perfect man, taking on himself the just punishment that should be ours for our weakness & failure.
As the hymn says,
There was no other good enough
To pay the price of sin;
He only could unlock the gate
Of heaven, and let us in.
Now, in Luke 4:14, Jesus returns to Galilee & he's welcomed with open arms, 'Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.'
Then he went on to Nazareth, his home town. He went to the synagogue where he was clearly well-known because they asked him to do the reading. He was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah – a large scroll probably about 1' high & 24' long - and he unrolled it until he found Isaiah 61 verses 1 & 2.
Then, standing in front of all the people, he read, 'The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.'
And, says Luke in v20, 'The eyes of everyone were fastened on him – everyone is staring at Jesus – looking to him. And he rolls up the scroll, gives it back to the attendant and sits down. 'Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing', he says. In other words, 'The great prophet Isaiah was writing about me. I am that Spirit-filled man, and I've come to establish the new Kingom of God.'
Jesus is saying something about himself, and something about his mission.
First, Jesus says something about himself:
'The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me.'
In the OT, the HS was given by God to just a few special people – prophets & kings.
The prophets spoke for God, and the kings ruled for God. And that's just what Jesus has been sent by God to do. He's not come on his own, he's been sent by God with a message for the people.
So Jesus is God's anointed King, his Spirit-filled prophet, sent by God to fulfil the mission promised through Isaiah.
And having told everyone who he is, Jesus then says something about what he's come to do - he tells us his mission statement:
'The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.'
At first glance, it seems as if Jesus will be setting up a whole series of charities:
Christian Aid to relieve poverty
Amnesty International to release prisoners
the RNIB for the blind and
Liberty for human rights and civil liberties.
And it's true that, throughout his ministry, Jesus certainly does heal people and free people from the oppression of demons. But these are simply the outward signs of a far deeper reality.
So we need to take a wide-angle lens & look at the big picture if we're going to understand Jesus' mission.
And we need to go back to Isaiah.
Isaiah is the tale of two cities: First, the earthly Jerusalem. Isaiah 1:2-4 & 7
God's people have turned their backs on God, and he's turned his back on them.
Soon, they'll be sent into exile in Babylon – oppressed & imprisoned.
This is not the Lord's people enjoying the Lord's favour.
But then there's the heavenly Jerusalem – the new capital city of God's new kingdom:
Isaiah 60:14-17
And the chapter goes on to paint a wonderful picture of a city renewed and blessed by the presence of God, enjoying peace and plenty, joy and light.
And then comes chapter 61 – the chapter Jesus turned to in the synagogue: 'The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.'
Jesus has come to bring God's people into a whole new kingdom – the kingdom where Jesus rules – the eternal kingdom of God.
And back in the synagogue, back in Luke 4, as Jesus preaches, Luke tells us that everyone spoke well of Jesus, amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.
You can imagine the scene: as Jesus preaches, the congregation begin to nod approvingly. They turn to each other & whisper, 'He really does preach very well, doesn't he?'
And then some of them say something seemingly insignificant, 'Isn't this Joseph's son?'
But as we read, the alarm bells ring. We remember what God had said about Jesus, 'This is my Son'We remember that the devil taunted Jesus, 'If you are the Son of God...'
But these people – oh, they know who he is – he's Joseph's son – “How extraordinary that a carpenter's son should preach so well!”
And Jesus senses what's going on – v23, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me:`Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your home town what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'"
Jesus knows that when they understand what he's claiming; that he is the Son of God, not the son of Joseph; when they begin to understand that he's claiming to be God's anointed king, then they'll turn on him – 'You're mad – you need a doctor. Don't preach to us, preach a bit of humility to yourself!'
And then they'll say, 'Go on then, if you're the Son of God, prove it. Do some miracles for us, like they say you did in Capernaum!'
Jesus knows what's going on in their hearts. He knows that, just as they rejected the prophets before him, now they'll reject him.
“No prophet is accepted in his home town”, Jesus says - his family & friends know him - how can he possibly be God's chosen one?!
And Jesus illustrates this rejection from the OT:
There was once a prophet called Elijah – you can read about him in 1 Kings 17.
At that time, Israel worshipped idols and provoked God to real anger, so there was a famine in the land. During the famine, Elijah needed to eat, so God sent him to a foreign widow in Zarephath. She welcomed God's prophet Elijah and God gave this foreign woman and her son all the food they needed, while Israel starved.
Another time, there were lots of people in Israel with leprosy. But God only healed a foreigner, Naaman, the Syrian.
Do you see what Jesus is saying?
He's telling these people that because they won't accept him, God will bring the blessings of his kingdom to foreigners, not to them. Because they won't acknowledge themselves as the poor, the imprisoned, the blind, the oppressed, he can't help them. So if they don't want to receive the year of the Lord's favour, he'll take it to the pagan Gentiles.
And the people are furious!
So they drive him out of town and take him to the brow of a hill to throw him off the cliff. But somehow Jesus just walks right through them and goes on his way.
We're not told how Jesus does this, but clearly it's a miracle – so the people got their miracle after all!
If Jesus is the Son of God – if the Spirit of the Lord has anointed him to preach good news, to proclaim freedom for prisoners, sight for the blind and release for the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour, then the question is, 'Do we recognise ourselves as being poor and needing good news?#
Do we recognise that we're prisoners of our own making – trapped by our selfishness and narrow-mindedness that rejects the gospel?
Do we acknowledge our blindness & ignorance? Do we realise that if we want to know God, we have to depend on his word to reveal God to us?
Do we realise that we're oppressed and enslaved by sin, incapable of doing what is right, incapable of glorifying and honouring God?
If not, then we're like the villagers of Nazareth who thought Jesus was just Joseph's son, and we'll reject him and even try to rid the world of him. Not that our puny resistance will stop him – he will just walk on through.
But when we acknowledge our need – when we recognise our pathetic, sinful, blind, oppressed lives, and turn to Jesus as God's son, then we begin to discover true freedom and begin to see God as he is.
We're freed from the idolatry of the kingdom of this world and enter the glorious kingdom of the freedom of God's sons.
Monday, 24 May 2010
The temptations Jesus faced
Luke 4:1-13
This was a family service talk, and we began with lots of questions (and rewards!) to see what actually happened to Jesus in Luke 4. Answers are in italics after each question:
Q: So who does God say Jesus is? Jesus is God's Son – God loves his Son, Jesus, and is pleased with him.
Q: What happened to Jesus just before God spoke? Filled with HS
Q: Where did the Spirit lead Jesus in Luke 4? Desert
Q: How long was Jesus there? 40 days
Q: What happened while he was in the desert? Devil tempted him.
Q: How did Jesus feel? Starving hungry!!
Q: What did the devil say to tempt Jesus? “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread”
This is a tough test – Jesus is starving hungry – he hasn't eaten for days & days.
“Look”, says the devil, “see this rock – imagine it's a fresh, warm, crusty, tasty loaf of bread. You're the Son of God – just say the word and you've got lunch.”
Remember, we've just been told that Jesus is the Son of God. That means he has the power of God. Whatever God does, the Son can do - he could turn that stone into bread with just a word.
But the Son must obey his Father.
And Father God has sent his Son into the world to save the world, not to serve himself.
The devil is tempting Jesus to serve himself – to look after his own needs – instead of obeying God and serving others.
Q: What does J say to the devil? “It is written, 'Man doesn't live on bread alone'”
Q: Who can finish the quote? “but from every word that comes from the mouth of God”.
Jesus is saying that there are more important things in life than eating, drinking and shopping.
Knowing God, living for God, worshipping God – this is what life's really all about.
Q: What happened next? vv5-7 "The devil took Jesus up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world."
And the devil tempts Jesus with all the power and glory that the world offer:
> the power to boss other people around.
> the glory of fame and fortune.
But that will only come if he worships the devil.
Q: What does Jesus say? 'It is written, 'worship the Lord your God and serve him only.''
If Jesus serves & worships the devil he'll get the temporary authority & splendour – the authority & splendour of this world.
But Jesus serves & worships God, so he'll get God's eternal authority & splendour – the authority & splendour of heaven.
Q: What was Jesus' final temptation? verses 9 – 11: "The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here.”
For it is written: "`He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"
No-one likes to suffer. And the devil is tempting Jesus to test God – if Jesus throws himself off the temple, will God stop him from suffering?
But Jesus won't test God like that. Jesus knows that his Father loves him. And even if he has to suffer, that won't change. God will still love him.
So Jesus is very different from us: when we're tempted, we often give in. We think that food and drink and shopping and sport and leisure will make us happier than worshipping God. We serve and worship the gods of education & employment looking for the authority and glory that they will bring.
As soon as we suffer, we turn our backs on God, and question his love for us. We are ungrateful sons and daughters of our Father God.
But Jesus is the true Son of God. He keeps on trusting and worshipping his Father God.
And when the devil had finished all this tempting he left Jesus alone – until an opportune time – until the time was right for him to have another go.
We'll find out when that was in a minute. First, sing about Jesus' perfect innocence and obedience to God. [Sing: Meekness & Majesty]
Turn to Luke 23:35
Jesus has been hung on the cross. He's in agony. He's dying. This looks like a good time for the devil to tempt Jesus again – only this time he does it through people.
So, as I read vv 35-43, see if you can spot the 3 temptations that Jesus faces.
1st – v35 - "the people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One."
2nd – v36f "The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself."
3rd – v39 "One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
Jesus is tempted to use his power to save himself. But even as he suffers the agony of crucifixion, Jesus does not give in to temptation.
And as Jesus resists the temptation to save himself, one of the criminals hurls insults at him and treats him like his slave, 'Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!'
But the other criminal admits his guilt and treats Jesus as his king, 'Don't you fear God? We're punished justly – we're getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom'.
This criminal knows he's guilty. He's given in to the temptations of the devil – he'd lived for this life only; he'd looked out for himself, and claimed that God didn't care. But now, as he sees Jesus dying, he knows he was wrong, he knows he's a sinner, and deserves to die. And he realises that Jesus is different. Jesus has done nothing wrong.
And he turns to Jesus as his king, and says, 'Please, remember me when you're crowned as the one true king of creation.'
And Jesus replies, 'I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise. Today, you will be with me in my kingdom of heaven.'
Surely we have to acknowledge that we too have given in to temptation. We've lived for ourselves, we've worshipped possessions and wealth, we've questioned God's love for us.
So we need to come to Jesus in humility, admit our guilt and ask him to welcome us into his kingdom.
Let's do that now...
This was a family service talk, and we began with lots of questions (and rewards!) to see what actually happened to Jesus in Luke 4. Answers are in italics after each question:
Q: So who does God say Jesus is? Jesus is God's Son – God loves his Son, Jesus, and is pleased with him.
Q: What happened to Jesus just before God spoke? Filled with HS
Q: Where did the Spirit lead Jesus in Luke 4? Desert
Q: How long was Jesus there? 40 days
Q: What happened while he was in the desert? Devil tempted him.
Q: How did Jesus feel? Starving hungry!!
Q: What did the devil say to tempt Jesus? “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread”
This is a tough test – Jesus is starving hungry – he hasn't eaten for days & days.
“Look”, says the devil, “see this rock – imagine it's a fresh, warm, crusty, tasty loaf of bread. You're the Son of God – just say the word and you've got lunch.”
Remember, we've just been told that Jesus is the Son of God. That means he has the power of God. Whatever God does, the Son can do - he could turn that stone into bread with just a word.
But the Son must obey his Father.
And Father God has sent his Son into the world to save the world, not to serve himself.
The devil is tempting Jesus to serve himself – to look after his own needs – instead of obeying God and serving others.
Q: What does J say to the devil? “It is written, 'Man doesn't live on bread alone'”
Q: Who can finish the quote? “but from every word that comes from the mouth of God”.
Jesus is saying that there are more important things in life than eating, drinking and shopping.
Knowing God, living for God, worshipping God – this is what life's really all about.
Q: What happened next? vv5-7 "The devil took Jesus up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world."
And the devil tempts Jesus with all the power and glory that the world offer:
> the power to boss other people around.
> the glory of fame and fortune.
But that will only come if he worships the devil.
Q: What does Jesus say? 'It is written, 'worship the Lord your God and serve him only.''
If Jesus serves & worships the devil he'll get the temporary authority & splendour – the authority & splendour of this world.
But Jesus serves & worships God, so he'll get God's eternal authority & splendour – the authority & splendour of heaven.
Q: What was Jesus' final temptation? verses 9 – 11: "The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here.”
For it is written: "`He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"
No-one likes to suffer. And the devil is tempting Jesus to test God – if Jesus throws himself off the temple, will God stop him from suffering?
But Jesus won't test God like that. Jesus knows that his Father loves him. And even if he has to suffer, that won't change. God will still love him.
So Jesus is very different from us: when we're tempted, we often give in. We think that food and drink and shopping and sport and leisure will make us happier than worshipping God. We serve and worship the gods of education & employment looking for the authority and glory that they will bring.
As soon as we suffer, we turn our backs on God, and question his love for us. We are ungrateful sons and daughters of our Father God.
But Jesus is the true Son of God. He keeps on trusting and worshipping his Father God.
And when the devil had finished all this tempting he left Jesus alone – until an opportune time – until the time was right for him to have another go.
We'll find out when that was in a minute. First, sing about Jesus' perfect innocence and obedience to God. [Sing: Meekness & Majesty]
Turn to Luke 23:35
Jesus has been hung on the cross. He's in agony. He's dying. This looks like a good time for the devil to tempt Jesus again – only this time he does it through people.
So, as I read vv 35-43, see if you can spot the 3 temptations that Jesus faces.
1st – v35 - "the people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One."
2nd – v36f "The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself."
3rd – v39 "One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
Jesus is tempted to use his power to save himself. But even as he suffers the agony of crucifixion, Jesus does not give in to temptation.
And as Jesus resists the temptation to save himself, one of the criminals hurls insults at him and treats him like his slave, 'Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!'
But the other criminal admits his guilt and treats Jesus as his king, 'Don't you fear God? We're punished justly – we're getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom'.
This criminal knows he's guilty. He's given in to the temptations of the devil – he'd lived for this life only; he'd looked out for himself, and claimed that God didn't care. But now, as he sees Jesus dying, he knows he was wrong, he knows he's a sinner, and deserves to die. And he realises that Jesus is different. Jesus has done nothing wrong.
And he turns to Jesus as his king, and says, 'Please, remember me when you're crowned as the one true king of creation.'
And Jesus replies, 'I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise. Today, you will be with me in my kingdom of heaven.'
Surely we have to acknowledge that we too have given in to temptation. We've lived for ourselves, we've worshipped possessions and wealth, we've questioned God's love for us.
So we need to come to Jesus in humility, admit our guilt and ask him to welcome us into his kingdom.
Let's do that now...
Monday, 17 May 2010
Financial Responsibility
Notes from Gordon's sermon on Sunday (these are my notes, not Gordon's, and I've added a few comments of my own):
There are many great collections of letters - Churchill, Darwin, Kipling - but the greatest letters of all time are in the New Testament.
At the end of many of his letters, Paul makes personal comments about particular people or events. We're tempted to ignore these, but they do contain important & relevant things for us today. For example, in vv1-4, Paul gives instructions for the Corinthians to give money for the Jerusalem church because they have a personal and financial responsibility for that church. The principles Paul outlines will help us have a proper attitude to money.
1 Tim 6:10 tells us, 'the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.' And Prov 30:8f says, 'give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say,`Who is the LORD?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonour the name of my God.'
Money isn't in itself evil, but we must give great care & thought to its management, and this is where 1 Cor 16 helps us.
3 headings:
1. Acquisition of money: we need to be honest and careful about how we acquire our wealth & possessions.
2. Attitude to money: some people in the Bible are very wealthy, and are not condemned for this. Wealth in itself isn't wrong, but when we find our security in money then it has become our god. Ecclesiastes 5:10f reminds us, 'Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with
his income. This too is meaningless. As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them?'
3. Administration of money: With money comes responsibility. Jesus illustrated this in the parable of the 'talents' in Matt 25. Talents are to be used wisely, to build and serve the kingdom of God, and not selfishly to build and serve our own little kingdoms, as the parable of the rich man in Luke 12:13ff reminds us.
And in v48, Jesus reminds us that, 'From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.'
It's not just active misuse that's condemned by Jesus, but also our passive, lazy, selfish neglect. We will be judged on how we acquire money, on our attitudes to it and our administration of it.
Paul expemplifies this in his own ministry: he devotes his whole life to the Lord Jesus and the proclamation of his gospel. He was eager to use all he had for God. As he made his plans, he worked out how he could serve others.
Paul exemplified Jesus' teaching about money. How about us?
There are many great collections of letters - Churchill, Darwin, Kipling - but the greatest letters of all time are in the New Testament.
At the end of many of his letters, Paul makes personal comments about particular people or events. We're tempted to ignore these, but they do contain important & relevant things for us today. For example, in vv1-4, Paul gives instructions for the Corinthians to give money for the Jerusalem church because they have a personal and financial responsibility for that church. The principles Paul outlines will help us have a proper attitude to money.
1 Tim 6:10 tells us, 'the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.' And Prov 30:8f says, 'give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say,`Who is the LORD?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonour the name of my God.'
Money isn't in itself evil, but we must give great care & thought to its management, and this is where 1 Cor 16 helps us.
3 headings:
1. Acquisition of money: we need to be honest and careful about how we acquire our wealth & possessions.
2. Attitude to money: some people in the Bible are very wealthy, and are not condemned for this. Wealth in itself isn't wrong, but when we find our security in money then it has become our god. Ecclesiastes 5:10f reminds us, 'Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with
his income. This too is meaningless. As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them?'
3. Administration of money: With money comes responsibility. Jesus illustrated this in the parable of the 'talents' in Matt 25. Talents are to be used wisely, to build and serve the kingdom of God, and not selfishly to build and serve our own little kingdoms, as the parable of the rich man in Luke 12:13ff reminds us.
And in v48, Jesus reminds us that, 'From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.'
It's not just active misuse that's condemned by Jesus, but also our passive, lazy, selfish neglect. We will be judged on how we acquire money, on our attitudes to it and our administration of it.
Paul expemplifies this in his own ministry: he devotes his whole life to the Lord Jesus and the proclamation of his gospel. He was eager to use all he had for God. As he made his plans, he worked out how he could serve others.
Paul exemplified Jesus' teaching about money. How about us?
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Victory over death
It was a delight to welcome Peter Head to St Peter's on Sunday.
When I was an undergraduate, he really helped me to get to grips with Matthew's gospel, Hebrews and 2 Peter. Though he's just a few months older than me, he's also been a great role model, combining sound Bible interpretation with godliness and practical application.
Peter also introduced me to papyrus. He took a group of us from Oak Hill College to Kew Gardens to meet Nigel Hepper (right), then an Assistant Keeper of the Herbarium at Kew and an expert in Bible plants. In one of the huge glasshouses, we chopped down papyrus plants, cut them into strips and bashed them into sheets of papyrus (left). I've still got mine, and it's still in good condition 18 years later - though I doubt it'll last 2000+ years like the NT manuscripts!
Since then, I've gone on to study a couple of manuscripts in some detail, and Pete wrote one of those studies up and it was published as, 'Re-inking the Pen: Evidence from P.Oxy657 (P13) Concerning Unintentional Scribal Errors', in New Testament Studies (43.3 1997). I'm hoping that my latest study on punctuation in P66 will be published sometime soon (with some help from one of Peter's colleagues). Now I know all this sounds really geeky, but I've had some great convesations with both Christians and non-Christians about the reliability of the NT and the resurrection as a result. It's also increased my own confidence in the trustworthiness of the NT, and so helped my preaching.
Anyway, back to 1 Corinthians 15 & Peter's sermon on Sunday morning. He reminded us that we will be transformed when Jesus returns and gives us resurrection bodies. These weak and perishable bodies will become glorious and imperishable.
On that day, when Jesus returns, death will be finally defeated, in fulfilment of Isaiah 25:8, 'Death has been swallowed up in victory'. Then there will be, 'no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the old order [will have] passed away' (Rev 21:4). Everything will be always new (Rev 21:5).
In a sense that victory is future - for the time-being, we do still die - but we do enjoy freedom from the fear of death now because we know that the victory over death as the punishment for our sin is assured by the resurrection of Jesus. So Paul says, 'Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ'.
But this great hope must, if it's real, result in present transformation. If we're standing firm in the hope of the resurrection, then we're bound to give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord. And yet... and yet it's true that so many who profess to believe in the resurrection really don't give themselves fully to His work. Why not? Surely it's because they don't believe the final part of v58 - they don't know that our labour in the Lord is not in vain. They think that giving time, effort & money to gospel ministry is time, effort & money wasted. They think that they'd be better off spending their resources on the perishable things of this world.
Please God, give us all a real understanding of what it means to labour fully for you, the confidence to release our resources for the gospel, and to know that this labour is not in vain.
When I was an undergraduate, he really helped me to get to grips with Matthew's gospel, Hebrews and 2 Peter. Though he's just a few months older than me, he's also been a great role model, combining sound Bible interpretation with godliness and practical application.
Peter also introduced me to papyrus. He took a group of us from Oak Hill College to Kew Gardens to meet Nigel Hepper (right), then an Assistant Keeper of the Herbarium at Kew and an expert in Bible plants. In one of the huge glasshouses, we chopped down papyrus plants, cut them into strips and bashed them into sheets of papyrus (left). I've still got mine, and it's still in good condition 18 years later - though I doubt it'll last 2000+ years like the NT manuscripts!Since then, I've gone on to study a couple of manuscripts in some detail, and Pete wrote one of those studies up and it was published as, 'Re-inking the Pen: Evidence from P.Oxy657 (P13) Concerning Unintentional Scribal Errors', in New Testament Studies (43.3 1997). I'm hoping that my latest study on punctuation in P66 will be published sometime soon (with some help from one of Peter's colleagues). Now I know all this sounds really geeky, but I've had some great convesations with both Christians and non-Christians about the reliability of the NT and the resurrection as a result. It's also increased my own confidence in the trustworthiness of the NT, and so helped my preaching.
Anyway, back to 1 Corinthians 15 & Peter's sermon on Sunday morning. He reminded us that we will be transformed when Jesus returns and gives us resurrection bodies. These weak and perishable bodies will become glorious and imperishable.
On that day, when Jesus returns, death will be finally defeated, in fulfilment of Isaiah 25:8, 'Death has been swallowed up in victory'. Then there will be, 'no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the old order [will have] passed away' (Rev 21:4). Everything will be always new (Rev 21:5).
In a sense that victory is future - for the time-being, we do still die - but we do enjoy freedom from the fear of death now because we know that the victory over death as the punishment for our sin is assured by the resurrection of Jesus. So Paul says, 'Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ'.
But this great hope must, if it's real, result in present transformation. If we're standing firm in the hope of the resurrection, then we're bound to give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord. And yet... and yet it's true that so many who profess to believe in the resurrection really don't give themselves fully to His work. Why not? Surely it's because they don't believe the final part of v58 - they don't know that our labour in the Lord is not in vain. They think that giving time, effort & money to gospel ministry is time, effort & money wasted. They think that they'd be better off spending their resources on the perishable things of this world.
Please God, give us all a real understanding of what it means to labour fully for you, the confidence to release our resources for the gospel, and to know that this labour is not in vain.
Friday, 30 April 2010
The resurrection body
This is an outline text of a family service talk
When Christians die, they go to be with Jesus.
We know that because Jesus said so and because the apostle Paul tells us so.
And at the moment, Xns who have died & are with Jesus don't have bodies – they don't need them now.
But when Jesus comes back to earth to make the world new and to get rid of all evil and sin, how will he raise the dead? What sort of body will they have?
Those are the questions the Christians in Corinth were asking – will these Xns who don't have bodies now, go back into their old bodies?
If so, how? And will they just be skeletons?
“Don't be silly”, says Paul, in v36 “What died isn't the same as what comes to life.”
And he answers each question in turn, with illustrations from plants and animals.
So first question: How are the dead raised?
Here's a seed.
It's quite big for a seed. It's dull and it's cream-coloured.
A few days ago, I buried one of them.
And it here it is now – very much alive.
God has given the seed a beautiful new body.
So the answer to our first question, 'how are the dead raised?' is: God gives them a new body.
But what about the second question? What kind of Body will we get when we're raised from the dead?
The simple answer is: a body that's just right for life in heaven.
So in v39, Paul reminds people that not all creatures have the same bodies:
So, we have a human body, and a stick insect body, and a gecko, and a hamster (children had brought in their pets, and we showed them via video-link on the screen).
Each body is just right for that particular animal's situation – the human body is not good for living in small twigs and leaves.
The gecko hates sand, but loves hard dry rocks – and his feet are specially designed for climbing up walls and rocks.
But hamsters love sand, and they love to burrow – so their feet are perfect for digging.
Animals are perfectly suited to where they live.
In the same way, God will give us a body just right for heaven – so it won't be the same as this body – this body is just right for life here & now. The new body will be different.
Then Paul illustrates his point by looking at the planets, sun, moon, & stars.
The earth has one kind of greatness, and the heavenly bodies – the sun, moon & stars – have another kind of greatness.
In fact, even the heavenly bodies are all different – the sun … the moon... and the stars.
God is able to create all kinds of different bodies – each one suitable for its job – the sun to give warmth & light; the moon to control the tides; the stars to guide the travellers of old.
And so it will be at the resurrection, says Paul, in vv42-43.
And he lists how this body is different from the body we'll have in heaven:
This body is sown perishable, in dishonour, in weakness, a natural body.
The resurrection body will be raised imperishable, in glory, in power, a spiritual body.
This body is perfectly suited to this temporary life – to a life which, sooner or later, ends in death.
But the Christian will be given a new body suitable for heaven – a life which will never end.
And in the following paragraph, Paul goes on to explain that this body, this life, is just like Adam's – affected by sin and under God's wrath, it gets old, wears out and dies.
But our resurrection body & life will be just like Jesus – the man from heaven. In heaven, we won't sin and God won't ever be angry with us. And our bodies will be full of the power of the Spirit and the glory of Jesus.
So if you've ever wondered what your body will be like in heaven, the answer is... well, your body will be... different, like Jesus, and so perfectly suited for living in the new heavens and the new earth.
When Christians die, they go to be with Jesus.
We know that because Jesus said so and because the apostle Paul tells us so.
And at the moment, Xns who have died & are with Jesus don't have bodies – they don't need them now.
But when Jesus comes back to earth to make the world new and to get rid of all evil and sin, how will he raise the dead? What sort of body will they have?
Those are the questions the Christians in Corinth were asking – will these Xns who don't have bodies now, go back into their old bodies?
If so, how? And will they just be skeletons?
“Don't be silly”, says Paul, in v36 “What died isn't the same as what comes to life.”
And he answers each question in turn, with illustrations from plants and animals.
So first question: How are the dead raised?
Here's a seed.
It's quite big for a seed. It's dull and it's cream-coloured.
A few days ago, I buried one of them.
And it here it is now – very much alive.
God has given the seed a beautiful new body.
So the answer to our first question, 'how are the dead raised?' is: God gives them a new body.
But what about the second question? What kind of Body will we get when we're raised from the dead?
The simple answer is: a body that's just right for life in heaven.
So in v39, Paul reminds people that not all creatures have the same bodies:
So, we have a human body, and a stick insect body, and a gecko, and a hamster (children had brought in their pets, and we showed them via video-link on the screen).
Each body is just right for that particular animal's situation – the human body is not good for living in small twigs and leaves.
The gecko hates sand, but loves hard dry rocks – and his feet are specially designed for climbing up walls and rocks.
But hamsters love sand, and they love to burrow – so their feet are perfect for digging.
Animals are perfectly suited to where they live.
In the same way, God will give us a body just right for heaven – so it won't be the same as this body – this body is just right for life here & now. The new body will be different.
Then Paul illustrates his point by looking at the planets, sun, moon, & stars.
The earth has one kind of greatness, and the heavenly bodies – the sun, moon & stars – have another kind of greatness.
In fact, even the heavenly bodies are all different – the sun … the moon... and the stars.
God is able to create all kinds of different bodies – each one suitable for its job – the sun to give warmth & light; the moon to control the tides; the stars to guide the travellers of old.
And so it will be at the resurrection, says Paul, in vv42-43.
And he lists how this body is different from the body we'll have in heaven:
This body is sown perishable, in dishonour, in weakness, a natural body.
The resurrection body will be raised imperishable, in glory, in power, a spiritual body.
This body is perfectly suited to this temporary life – to a life which, sooner or later, ends in death.
But the Christian will be given a new body suitable for heaven – a life which will never end.
And in the following paragraph, Paul goes on to explain that this body, this life, is just like Adam's – affected by sin and under God's wrath, it gets old, wears out and dies.
But our resurrection body & life will be just like Jesus – the man from heaven. In heaven, we won't sin and God won't ever be angry with us. And our bodies will be full of the power of the Spirit and the glory of Jesus.
So if you've ever wondered what your body will be like in heaven, the answer is... well, your body will be... different, like Jesus, and so perfectly suited for living in the new heavens and the new earth.
Friday, 23 April 2010
Who to vote for?
As a Christian committed to working out Biblical values in every area of life deciding how to vote is very difficult. Here are some principles, but no one party fulfils them all, so there has to be an element of compromise.
First, as Christians, we are called to love God with heart, soul and mind. So our freedom to worship and obey God is crucial. Which party will best uphold this freedom?
Second, we're called to love our neighbour as ourself. So we shouldn't be choosing where to put our cross on the basis of which party will make me richest. Rather, since God has a bias to the poor, we should vote for the party which best supports those who, for no fault of their own, find themselves at the bottom of the heap. This may mean voting for the party that gives most by way of tax credits and the like, or the party that taxes the poor least, or the party which encourages enterprise so that the poor are employed. This is a tough choice!
Third, Jesus commands us to make disciples of all nations. Which party will best defend our freedom to proclaim Christ as the only way to God? Do any of the parties want to close church schools? Will churches be allowed to continue as charities?
Fourth, though we must always remember that Christianity is not primarily about morality but about relationship with Christ, it's also true that we need to work for what's best for individuals and for society. Upholding God's moral standards will improve society, so questions of abortion and embryo research, euthanasia and assisted suicide, sexual morality and marriage are very important. Which party will be best in this arena?
Fifth, I think we should place special emphasis on children. The scientific evidence is quite clear that children who are brought up by married parents do better in nearly every sphere of life than those who are not. All three main parties deny or ignore this evidence. Their mantra is, 'stable families of all sorts'. But families where the parents are not married are not as stable as when they're married (see Cohabitation in the 21st Century). So which party will encourage marriage? Which party will encourage mothers not to rush back to employment, but to do the most important work and to fulfil the most valuable role of bringing up children? Who will dare to say that parenting is more important than earning money? Sadly, on this point, I doubt that anyone will. (Please note, this does not mean that children of single parents are "stigmatised", any more than children of smokers are stigmatised. Smoking harms children. So does family breakdown. We need to face the truth and work for children, not unfounded political dogma).
Finally, we must exclude any party that is racist, and the fact that the BNP only changed its 'whites only' membership rule because it was forced to by the courts means that this party is ruled out for Christians.
For further information about biblical principles and about the parties go to the Christian Institute or Be Thinking websites. Both have excellent articles.
First, as Christians, we are called to love God with heart, soul and mind. So our freedom to worship and obey God is crucial. Which party will best uphold this freedom?
Second, we're called to love our neighbour as ourself. So we shouldn't be choosing where to put our cross on the basis of which party will make me richest. Rather, since God has a bias to the poor, we should vote for the party which best supports those who, for no fault of their own, find themselves at the bottom of the heap. This may mean voting for the party that gives most by way of tax credits and the like, or the party that taxes the poor least, or the party which encourages enterprise so that the poor are employed. This is a tough choice!
Third, Jesus commands us to make disciples of all nations. Which party will best defend our freedom to proclaim Christ as the only way to God? Do any of the parties want to close church schools? Will churches be allowed to continue as charities?
Fourth, though we must always remember that Christianity is not primarily about morality but about relationship with Christ, it's also true that we need to work for what's best for individuals and for society. Upholding God's moral standards will improve society, so questions of abortion and embryo research, euthanasia and assisted suicide, sexual morality and marriage are very important. Which party will be best in this arena?
Fifth, I think we should place special emphasis on children. The scientific evidence is quite clear that children who are brought up by married parents do better in nearly every sphere of life than those who are not. All three main parties deny or ignore this evidence. Their mantra is, 'stable families of all sorts'. But families where the parents are not married are not as stable as when they're married (see Cohabitation in the 21st Century). So which party will encourage marriage? Which party will encourage mothers not to rush back to employment, but to do the most important work and to fulfil the most valuable role of bringing up children? Who will dare to say that parenting is more important than earning money? Sadly, on this point, I doubt that anyone will. (Please note, this does not mean that children of single parents are "stigmatised", any more than children of smokers are stigmatised. Smoking harms children. So does family breakdown. We need to face the truth and work for children, not unfounded political dogma).
Finally, we must exclude any party that is racist, and the fact that the BNP only changed its 'whites only' membership rule because it was forced to by the courts means that this party is ruled out for Christians.
For further information about biblical principles and about the parties go to the Christian Institute or Be Thinking websites. Both have excellent articles.
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
The resurrection makes a difference now
1 Corinthians 15:12-34
You know, I'm always amazed how few people are prepared to check out the claims of Christianity – especially the resurrection of Jesus.
Having been ordained now almost 16 years, I've met with hundreds and hundreds of people to plan a relative's funeral.
For most of them, there's some vague assumption that, because Auntie Joan never did anyone any harm, or because Uncle Fred never had a bad word to say about anyone (except the referee and the groundsman in the Spurs – Portsmouth game last week) – because they were basically nice people – they deserve to be in a better place after death.
But this belief has no foundation – not a shred of evidence to support it. It's simply wishful thinking.
And yet, if only they'd look, they'd find that the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus is rock solid.
As Paul writes at the beginning of this chapter – Jesus died for our sins, was buried and was raised on the 3rd day. All this was foretold in the OT.
And Jesus appeared to many people – to Peter, to the rest of the apostles, to over 500 people at one time, most of whom were still living when Paul wrote this letter.
And Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, and turned him round from being a murderer of Christians to a preacher of Christ.
And, of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to evidence – an iceberg of evidence which is not melting as time goes by, but rather growing as knowledge about ancient manuscripts and archaeology increases.
But there have always been people who are unwilling to accept the resurrection of Jesus.
Why is that?
It's because of the consequences of Jesus' resurrection how we live now, and what happens when we die. Consequences which most people don't want to face up to.
But we'll come to that in a while. First, Paul shows us that there are consequences if Jesus did not rise from the dead.
Denying the resurrection is no new thing. There have always been people who tried to deny that Jesus rose again:
Within days of his resurrection, the chief priests and elders of the Jewish community bribed the Roman guards to say that the disciples had stolen Jesus' body.
20 years later, as Paul writes to the Corinthian Church, some of them are claiming there's no resurrection. 15:12f.
In the 1980's it was David Jenkins, the Bishop of Durham, who caused a storm by denying that Jesus had physically risen.
But, says Paul, there are 5 consequences if Jesus was not raised:
1.Our preaching is useless and witness is false vv14-15
“If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless”, Paul writes in v14, and then in v15, he goes on, “More than that, we are found to be false witnesses about God.”
So if Jesus wasn't raised from the dead, my preaching is useless i.e. powerless. It won't change anyone's life, it won't bring life or forgiveness or true hope.
In fact, it's worse than that, v15, it's a pack of lies. Peter & Paul, James & John were liars. I'm a liar. And Jesus was a liar, because he himself said that he would die and after 3 days be raised.
2.Your faith in Christ is futile v17
“If Christ has not been raised your faith is futile” - worthless. In fact, it's worse than useless because faith in Jesus brings you all kinds of trouble and difficulty as we'll see in a moment.
3.You are still in your sins v17
“If Christ has not been raised from the dead... you are still in your sins.”
The resurrection proved that Jesus death was acceptable to God as full payment for our sin and guilt.
If Jesus did not rise, his death was not accepted by God – in fact if Jesus stayed dead, then he must have been punished for his own sin – he was no different from the rest of us, and wasn't the 'full, perfect and sufficient' sacrifice for our sins.
And if Jesus did not take the just punishment for our sins, then we remain unforgiven. When we die, we will face the just punishment for our sin – hell.
4.Dead Christians are lost v18
If Jesus did not rise, “then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.” - they have perished – they died unforgiven and are therefore in hell.
5.We are to be pitied more than anyone else v19
“If only for this life we have hope in Christ we are to be pitied more than all men.”
Paul has given his whole life for Christ – if Christ wasn't raised, if there is no resurrection, then he's wasted his whole life.
The same's true for Sarah and me. If Christ wasn't raised and we're not going to be raised when we die, then we sold our house in Norwich losing £10k for nothing.
We gave up careers as Physiotherapists for nothing.
We work for St Peter's for nothing.
And if Christ wasn't raised from the dead, we all waste our money when we give to the church or mission agencies.
We waste our time when we work on the church building.
We waste our emotional energy when we encourage and love each other.
If Christ did not rise from the dead, we're pathetic. To be pitied by all those “sensible” people who have found “evidence” that Jesus did not rise again.
But, says Paul in v20, 'But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, [and he is] the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also from a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”
I once asked a farmer how he knew when the wheat was ready to be harvested.
He showed me how a handful of grain is crushed in a tiny press, and placed in a moisture meter. When the moisture level was just right, harvesting began.
That handful of grain was his firstfruits – the guarantee that the rest of the harvest would be gathered in.
And so Jesus' resurrection is the guarantee of bodily resurrection for all who are united to him by faith.
In vv23-28, Paul explains that Jesus' resurrection was proof that he had power & authority over everything – even over death itself.
But Jesus' resurrection isn't just some past event that guarantees us a happy future when we die.
I remember leading a Lent Bible study in the Old Vicarage in Heydon, the conversation turned to heaven, and one lady said, 'It's all very well talking about heaven, but some people become so heavenly minded they're of no earthly use'.
Karl Marx, the founder of communism, said that 'religion was the opiate of the people'. What he meant was that because religion gave people hope of a better life after death, their sense were dulled and they couldn't be bothered to change this life.
This idea that confidence in the resurrection could lead people to apathy in this life is unthinkable to Paul.
In fact, the hope of heaven lead Paul to a life of risk-taking and danger for the sake of those he met, and he explains this in vv29-34.
But he begins with one of the most opaque verses in the whole of the NT: v29
What is this all about? We don't really know for sure!
The best guess is that there was a group of people who would be baptised on behalf of people who had died, in the hope that it would benefit them in some way.
It's not that Paul agrees with this practice, he just notes that it happens, and says, 'This is what some people do because they believe in the resurrection of the dead.'
He then goes on, in vv30-34, to show what he does as a result of his belief in the resurrection.
And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I die every day--I mean that, brothers--just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained?
If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God--I say this to your shame.
And so belief in the resurrection leads us to do two things:
1.Take risks for the sake of others
2.Stop sinning
And it's these consequences that stop people from investigating the claims of Christ.
People don't want to stop sinning. They don't want to stop being immoral.
And they don't want to have to love others if that means putting their own lifestyle at risk.
And, because they have no real hope of the resurrection, this is not surprising – their philosophy is 'Let us eat & drink, for tomorrow we die'.
Since they have no real hope of eternal life, they just have to make the most of this life because this is all there is.
So for the non-Christian, life doesn't get any better than this. And he's not prepared to risk this life's pleasures.
But for the Christian, who knows he will be raised to eternity with Christ, life doesn't get any worse than this.
Do you remember the song that was played following Tony Blair's 1997 election victory? 'Things can only get better'.
Now, whether Britain is better now than it was 13 years ago may be debatable, but there's no question at all that, because Christ was raised from the dead, we know that everything can only get better for us as Christians.
And that's why Paul is prepared to put himself in danger for the sake of others, and why he does everything he can to live a godly life.
And this is what the Corinthians needed to hear.
They were living for today – as if this life was all there was:
in Chapters 1-3, we hear about them boasting & quarrelling about which church leader was the most powerful & impressive speaker.
in ch 4, they were boasting about their wealth and power.
in ch 5, they were proud of their sexual freedoms which meant they were more immoral than the world around them.
in ch 6, we read about them suing each other in court.
in ch 11, the rich Christians are getting drunk and eating all the food, leaving their poor brothers & sisters with nothing.
And so on and on.
These Corinthian Christians had stopped believing in the resurrection. The inevitable result is that they were living entirely for the pleasures of this life – sleeping around, getting drunk, boasting, quarrelling, spending on themselves.
And they laughed at Paul because he suffered as he gave his life to bring the hope of eternal life to others.
But Paul knows that this life is not all there is. So he's prepared to take risks in loving others and sharing the great news of Jesus' death & resurrection.
So, in 2 Corinthians, he says, “Five times I received from the Jews 39 lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have laboured and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.” “Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!”
Knowledge of the resurrection leads us to a life of risk-taking, danger and sacrificial love.
It leads us to fulfil the great commandments – to love God with all that we are, and to love others as ourselves – whatever the cost in this life.
It leads us to fulfil the great commission – to make disciples of all nations – whatever the cost in this life.
This is the effect of believing in the resurrection: we have such certainty about the future, and such joy in our present hope, that we're able to make real sacrifices for the sake of others.
We're able to go without so that gospel work can grow and prosper.
We're willing to risk losing our job if it means honouring and obeying Christ.
We'll sacrifice our immediate lusts and passions, and stop sinning because we know there are far greater pleasures to come.
We'll do all this now because we know that there is no greater joy than seeing Christ face-to-face, living with him and being like him forever.
And we won't want to lose him for the sake of momentary pleasure now.
You know, I'm always amazed how few people are prepared to check out the claims of Christianity – especially the resurrection of Jesus.
Having been ordained now almost 16 years, I've met with hundreds and hundreds of people to plan a relative's funeral.
For most of them, there's some vague assumption that, because Auntie Joan never did anyone any harm, or because Uncle Fred never had a bad word to say about anyone (except the referee and the groundsman in the Spurs – Portsmouth game last week) – because they were basically nice people – they deserve to be in a better place after death.
But this belief has no foundation – not a shred of evidence to support it. It's simply wishful thinking.
And yet, if only they'd look, they'd find that the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus is rock solid.
As Paul writes at the beginning of this chapter – Jesus died for our sins, was buried and was raised on the 3rd day. All this was foretold in the OT.
And Jesus appeared to many people – to Peter, to the rest of the apostles, to over 500 people at one time, most of whom were still living when Paul wrote this letter.
And Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, and turned him round from being a murderer of Christians to a preacher of Christ.
And, of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to evidence – an iceberg of evidence which is not melting as time goes by, but rather growing as knowledge about ancient manuscripts and archaeology increases.
But there have always been people who are unwilling to accept the resurrection of Jesus.
Why is that?
It's because of the consequences of Jesus' resurrection how we live now, and what happens when we die. Consequences which most people don't want to face up to.
But we'll come to that in a while. First, Paul shows us that there are consequences if Jesus did not rise from the dead.
Denying the resurrection is no new thing. There have always been people who tried to deny that Jesus rose again:
Within days of his resurrection, the chief priests and elders of the Jewish community bribed the Roman guards to say that the disciples had stolen Jesus' body.
20 years later, as Paul writes to the Corinthian Church, some of them are claiming there's no resurrection. 15:12f.
In the 1980's it was David Jenkins, the Bishop of Durham, who caused a storm by denying that Jesus had physically risen.
But, says Paul, there are 5 consequences if Jesus was not raised:
1.Our preaching is useless and witness is false vv14-15
“If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless”, Paul writes in v14, and then in v15, he goes on, “More than that, we are found to be false witnesses about God.”
So if Jesus wasn't raised from the dead, my preaching is useless i.e. powerless. It won't change anyone's life, it won't bring life or forgiveness or true hope.
In fact, it's worse than that, v15, it's a pack of lies. Peter & Paul, James & John were liars. I'm a liar. And Jesus was a liar, because he himself said that he would die and after 3 days be raised.
2.Your faith in Christ is futile v17
“If Christ has not been raised your faith is futile” - worthless. In fact, it's worse than useless because faith in Jesus brings you all kinds of trouble and difficulty as we'll see in a moment.
3.You are still in your sins v17
“If Christ has not been raised from the dead... you are still in your sins.”
The resurrection proved that Jesus death was acceptable to God as full payment for our sin and guilt.
If Jesus did not rise, his death was not accepted by God – in fact if Jesus stayed dead, then he must have been punished for his own sin – he was no different from the rest of us, and wasn't the 'full, perfect and sufficient' sacrifice for our sins.
And if Jesus did not take the just punishment for our sins, then we remain unforgiven. When we die, we will face the just punishment for our sin – hell.
4.Dead Christians are lost v18
If Jesus did not rise, “then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.” - they have perished – they died unforgiven and are therefore in hell.
5.We are to be pitied more than anyone else v19
“If only for this life we have hope in Christ we are to be pitied more than all men.”
Paul has given his whole life for Christ – if Christ wasn't raised, if there is no resurrection, then he's wasted his whole life.
The same's true for Sarah and me. If Christ wasn't raised and we're not going to be raised when we die, then we sold our house in Norwich losing £10k for nothing.
We gave up careers as Physiotherapists for nothing.
We work for St Peter's for nothing.
And if Christ wasn't raised from the dead, we all waste our money when we give to the church or mission agencies.
We waste our time when we work on the church building.
We waste our emotional energy when we encourage and love each other.
If Christ did not rise from the dead, we're pathetic. To be pitied by all those “sensible” people who have found “evidence” that Jesus did not rise again.
But, says Paul in v20, 'But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, [and he is] the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also from a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”
I once asked a farmer how he knew when the wheat was ready to be harvested.
He showed me how a handful of grain is crushed in a tiny press, and placed in a moisture meter. When the moisture level was just right, harvesting began.
That handful of grain was his firstfruits – the guarantee that the rest of the harvest would be gathered in.
And so Jesus' resurrection is the guarantee of bodily resurrection for all who are united to him by faith.
In vv23-28, Paul explains that Jesus' resurrection was proof that he had power & authority over everything – even over death itself.
But Jesus' resurrection isn't just some past event that guarantees us a happy future when we die.
I remember leading a Lent Bible study in the Old Vicarage in Heydon, the conversation turned to heaven, and one lady said, 'It's all very well talking about heaven, but some people become so heavenly minded they're of no earthly use'.
Karl Marx, the founder of communism, said that 'religion was the opiate of the people'. What he meant was that because religion gave people hope of a better life after death, their sense were dulled and they couldn't be bothered to change this life.
This idea that confidence in the resurrection could lead people to apathy in this life is unthinkable to Paul.
In fact, the hope of heaven lead Paul to a life of risk-taking and danger for the sake of those he met, and he explains this in vv29-34.
But he begins with one of the most opaque verses in the whole of the NT: v29
What is this all about? We don't really know for sure!
The best guess is that there was a group of people who would be baptised on behalf of people who had died, in the hope that it would benefit them in some way.
It's not that Paul agrees with this practice, he just notes that it happens, and says, 'This is what some people do because they believe in the resurrection of the dead.'
He then goes on, in vv30-34, to show what he does as a result of his belief in the resurrection.
And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I die every day--I mean that, brothers--just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained?
If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God--I say this to your shame.
And so belief in the resurrection leads us to do two things:
1.Take risks for the sake of others
2.Stop sinning
And it's these consequences that stop people from investigating the claims of Christ.
People don't want to stop sinning. They don't want to stop being immoral.
And they don't want to have to love others if that means putting their own lifestyle at risk.
And, because they have no real hope of the resurrection, this is not surprising – their philosophy is 'Let us eat & drink, for tomorrow we die'.
Since they have no real hope of eternal life, they just have to make the most of this life because this is all there is.
So for the non-Christian, life doesn't get any better than this. And he's not prepared to risk this life's pleasures.
But for the Christian, who knows he will be raised to eternity with Christ, life doesn't get any worse than this.
Do you remember the song that was played following Tony Blair's 1997 election victory? 'Things can only get better'.
Now, whether Britain is better now than it was 13 years ago may be debatable, but there's no question at all that, because Christ was raised from the dead, we know that everything can only get better for us as Christians.
And that's why Paul is prepared to put himself in danger for the sake of others, and why he does everything he can to live a godly life.
And this is what the Corinthians needed to hear.
They were living for today – as if this life was all there was:
in Chapters 1-3, we hear about them boasting & quarrelling about which church leader was the most powerful & impressive speaker.
in ch 4, they were boasting about their wealth and power.
in ch 5, they were proud of their sexual freedoms which meant they were more immoral than the world around them.
in ch 6, we read about them suing each other in court.
in ch 11, the rich Christians are getting drunk and eating all the food, leaving their poor brothers & sisters with nothing.
And so on and on.
These Corinthian Christians had stopped believing in the resurrection. The inevitable result is that they were living entirely for the pleasures of this life – sleeping around, getting drunk, boasting, quarrelling, spending on themselves.
And they laughed at Paul because he suffered as he gave his life to bring the hope of eternal life to others.
But Paul knows that this life is not all there is. So he's prepared to take risks in loving others and sharing the great news of Jesus' death & resurrection.
So, in 2 Corinthians, he says, “Five times I received from the Jews 39 lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have laboured and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.” “Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!”
Knowledge of the resurrection leads us to a life of risk-taking, danger and sacrificial love.
It leads us to fulfil the great commandments – to love God with all that we are, and to love others as ourselves – whatever the cost in this life.
It leads us to fulfil the great commission – to make disciples of all nations – whatever the cost in this life.
This is the effect of believing in the resurrection: we have such certainty about the future, and such joy in our present hope, that we're able to make real sacrifices for the sake of others.
We're able to go without so that gospel work can grow and prosper.
We're willing to risk losing our job if it means honouring and obeying Christ.
We'll sacrifice our immediate lusts and passions, and stop sinning because we know there are far greater pleasures to come.
We'll do all this now because we know that there is no greater joy than seeing Christ face-to-face, living with him and being like him forever.
And we won't want to lose him for the sake of momentary pleasure now.
Sunday, 11 April 2010
Can we know the truth about Jesus?
Since Christianity stands or falls with the historical person and works of Jesus, we need to know the truth about him. People like Dan Brown (DaVinci Code) and Philip Pullman are trying their best to undermine any historical basis for believing in Jesus by writing fictional accounts of Jesus and the early church.
So whether you're unsure about the real Jesus, or want to be able to answer those who challenge you, this day conference is for you:
The Bible And Church Conference on Saturday 12 June at St Helen's, Bishopsgate
10am - 4.15pm
"The Evidence of Eyewitnesses" Dr Peter Williams
"The Evidence of Manuscripts" Dr Dirk Jonkind
"The Evidence of History" Dr Simon Gathercole
See the website for bookings:
http://www.bibleandchurch.com/
So whether you're unsure about the real Jesus, or want to be able to answer those who challenge you, this day conference is for you:
The Bible And Church Conference on Saturday 12 June at St Helen's, Bishopsgate
10am - 4.15pm
"The Evidence of Eyewitnesses" Dr Peter Williams
"The Evidence of Manuscripts" Dr Dirk Jonkind
"The Evidence of History" Dr Simon Gathercole
See the website for bookings:
http://www.bibleandchurch.com/
Friday, 9 April 2010
Neil R's sermon
A number of people have asked for a transcript of Neil R's sermon from our Passion for Life guest service. Neil has kindly agreed, so here it is:
Bible stories often come in pairs:
Two creation narratives
Joseph and Potiphar’s wife: Judah and Tamar.
Dry ground in the Red Sea: water gushing from a rock in the desert.
David and Absalom: David and Ittai.
Paired parables, sometimes parables and miracles together
Herod’s banquet, Jesus feeding the 5,000.
In our readings today we have a couplet of stories in which two conversations are recorded side by side.
A Pharisee and a Samaritan Woman:
The Pharisees get a bad press as an elite of hypocritical, self-righteous bigots. They were certainly in constant conflict with Jesus and before St Paul got converted, he was a Pharisee busy stoning Stephen and breathing threats and murder against the believers. But in their culture they were well respected as devout, pious and godly men. Nicodemas, a member of the ruling elite, a man of power (although subject to Rome), influence and reputation comes to Jesus in the middle of the night, doubtless to protect his reputation.
The nameless woman, a Samaritan woman, meets him at mid-day. She has no reputation to protect; on husband number 5, her name was already shredded. She is an outcast among a despised caste of society. The exact origin of the Samaritans is obscure, but it seems that after the Assyrians conquered the northern tribes in about 720BC and took them captive, that other subjugated people were brought in. They felt the need to placate what they thought were the gods of their new land and mixed Judaism with a variety of other pagan practices and produced a hybrid religion. This was then a half-caste people with a half baked religion.
If you were to try and see the two ends of near-eastern society these would be it. The hostility between Jews and Samaritans had been going on for centuries; pure bred and half-cast, orthodox and heterodox. Just a few years before these conversations the relations between Jews and Samaritans had been further soured by the destruction of the Samaritan Temple on Mount Gerazim by John Hyrcanus and the desecration of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem by Samaritans spreading human bones.
The Jews and the Samaritans really hated each other and their spite was legendary. When the Jewish authorities wanted to insult Jesus they called him demon possessed, a Samaritan. When Jesus told the story of the good Samaritan, His audience could not even bring themselves to use the word. These two stories form a pair; Jesus in conversation with the devout and the down and out, at the Garrick and at a Greasy Spoon, Harrods and Mencap, the Ritz and a Night Shelter, Mother Teresa and Paris Hilton, Norman Tebbit and Arthur Scargill.
A man at mid-night and a woman at mid-day
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night
He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
No street lights, Roman curfews, robbers at large and Jesus meets up with a senior politician who does not want to be seen with Him. Jesus is not offended, by the implicit insult. Jesus does not say, “So, you chicken, afraid to come and see me in day light eh? You would not want to find your picture in the Jerusalem Post with me now, would you?” No, Jesus enters into a deep discussion about the nature of identity, life and birth. A midnight encounter with His political opponent and He seeks no humiliating political capital, but treats him fairly and squarely.
No shade and the noon-day sun is beating down at the town well. Why does this woman come at such a crazy time? Her domestic disarray means she would not dare show her face at the well when respectable women would be there in the cool of the morning or the evening. She is the easy girl of Sychar and by the well stands a Jewish rabbi. Don’t miss the cultural innuendo here; Moses met his wife at a well, Isaac’s wife Rebecca was courted and found at the well. Let me read you P53 from Essad Bey:
Jesus is putting Himself in a very compromised situation here, open to all kinds of misinterpretation, but He does not send her away with any insults, nor does He abuse her in any way, but rather speaks to her with the deepest respect. This catches her quite off balance. The Mishnah says; “Engage not in too much conversation with women. They said this with regard to one's own wife, how much more [does the rule apply] with regard to another man's wife. Hence have the sages said: As long as a man engages in too much conversation with women, he causes evil to Himself, [for] he goes idle from [the study of] the words of the torah, so that his end will be that he will inherit gehinnom.”
Just observe His careful respect for the politician and the party girl. There is no side to this Saviour, just a deep longing for people of all parts of the social spectrum to come to salvation. Both desire it, both are deeply in need of this saviour.
Both recognised Jesus was someone special
Nicodemas said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
“Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.”
Somewhere, deep down inside they both perceived that this Jesus was someone special. They had observed His actions and His words and recognised at least something divine about Him. When you look at the Gospel records, it is very hard to escape CS Lewis’s conclusion that He was either a lunatic, a liar or really was the Lord He claimed to be. You may have a sneaking admiration for Jesus, but do not damn Him with faint praise. Look at the evidence.
A lunatic might claim to be God, but does not generally win the deep affection and devotion of personal friends and large crowds. A lunatic might claim to be immortal, but cannot convince his family of his psychosis. A fraudster and a liar may trick a few people into allegiance, but not those who have been his daily companions for three years and who have seen him in all the situations life can throw up, including death. No-one is willing to die for a con artist. No man is a hero to his valet.
No, this Pharisee and this floozy both knew they had met someone very special.
New life within
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
He talks to one of new birth and to the other of a new source of life. He is not contradicting Himself, simply presenting the same truth in different ways. What you call life now, for one power for the other promiscuity, needs to be replaced with something new and eternal. When we seek meaning in the passing things of this life, prestige and passion, we find out so very quickly how they turn to dust and ashes in our hands, smoke in our eyes and to grit in our teeth. We need new birth, because we are all too well aware of the transience of this life. We need fresh water, because we all know how stagnant and bitter is the ditch we are drinking from.
In these conversations, Jesus only makes an oblique reference to His impending death; “like Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness”. But from this side of the cross we see that it is by His death and in His resurrection that God’s justice is satisfied, God’s love is declared, our sins are removed, our debt is cancelled, our slavery is abolished, death is broken, Satan is defeated and we find eternal life, new birth in the One that death could not hold. It is by His Holy Spirit that springs of living water bubble up from inside us. No more lowering the bucket of our soul into some stagnant well, but rather an insuppressible soul spring, fed by eternal currents of holiness, spills over into eternal life that starts now.
Literalist misunderstanding
Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?”
“Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
Was it just an obtuse misunderstanding, or were they doing what we all do when we hear something we do not want to engage with, find some fault with the apparent logic and take a detour. I can’t follow a Messiah who demands I pluck out my eye or cut off my hand. I can’t believe in a Saviour who tells me to hate my parents. I can’t put my trust in a God-man who says I must pick up my cross. And we hide behind deliberate misunderstandings and literalist readings so that we do not allow the truth to penetrate our defences.
What obstacles we pick up and place in front of the gate of heaven to trip us up and bar our way in. Jesus, cuts right to the chase with both of them.
Jesus points out their ignorance
Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?
You worship what you do not know;
You might be a banker and He says, “Can’t you figure this out?” You might be a doctor and He says, “Wrong diagnosis, sir!” You might be the life and soul of every party and He says, “Are you really enjoying this?” You might have won the lottery and He asks, “Where have you left your soul?” You might have written the Kama Sutra and He says, “The position of true love is washing the feet of those who will betray you.”
Spiritual worship
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth”
When I got married to Lucy, I said “with my body, I thee worship”. I was giving up my claim to physical, financial, emotional and every other form of autonomy. I was giving up my rights, I was being willingly captured and putting myself at the disposal of this person whom I adore. I was saying that I wanted there to be no veils of decency or deception behind which to hide. I was inviting her to mutual, covenanted disclosure.
Worship is the total giving of one person to another. When we come into a relationship with God, He sees everything, there are no secrets. We pray this prayer; “Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known and from whom no secrets are hidden”
Psalms 139
O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
Proverbs 15:11
Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD;
how much more the hearts of the children of man!
Hebrews 4:13
And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
He sees everything. God wants the worship of our hearts and He wants it to be true devotion; objectively and subjectively true. What do I mean by that?
Objective truth means that He wants accurate, right and verifiable truth to be the source of our worship. Aaron made a golden calf and said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” It was worship, but the object of their worship was not based in truth. How easy it is for us to exchange the God who made heaven and earth, the eternal Spirit, with some material counterfeit. He says to this woman at the well, “you worship what you do not know” and the common substitutes are people, prosperity, pleasure and power. How easy it is to exchange the truth for a lie.
Subjective truth means a right and accurate self-appraisal. Jesus told the story of a Pharisee and a tax-collector going up to the temple to pray. The Pharisee full of self-addicted conceit praised God that He was not like other men. The tax-collector would not lift his eyes to heaven, but rather groaned out that the Lord would have mercy on him a sinner. The taxman’s worship arose out of truth, an accurate self-assessment; the Pharisee’s out of a lie.
Our worship must come out of a true perception of God and a true assessment of ourselves, but it must also be in spirit. It is difficult to know whether this is spirit with a capital S or a small s. But probably both are true. God is deeply concerned about the orientation of our hearts, not the orientation of our prayer mat. God is deeply concerned about the purity of your soul, not the cut of your suit, the state of your heart, not the length of your skirt, your spiritual account rather than your bank account. He wants to infuse our spirits with His Holy Spirit so that our worship can be pure and holy and acceptable and what He wants it to be.
When God created humankind, He made them in His own likeness and breathed His Spirit into them. When God recreates us, He turns us ever more into the likeness of the Lord Jesus and breathes His Spirit into us
This Saviour meets people at all points of the social spectrum with respect
This Saviour offers new birth, He offers living water.
This Saviour confronts our ignorance and confusion
This Saviour sees right into the deep recesses of our beings
This Saviour offers eternal life
This Saviour demands true and spiritual worship
I don’t know where you are between these two stories, between midnight and mid-day, between the Pharisee and the floozy, between respectability and disgrace. But Jesus knows, Jesus sees right through your disguises, Jesus meets you with respect and with devastating and penetrating truth, Jesus invites you to new life and to receive from Him inner spring of eternal life, Jesus wants you to worship the Father in Spirit and truth.
There is a beautiful old prayer of David and it goes like this:
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my anxious thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
If you want this new birth, this spring of eternal life, then pray it after me and come and see Mike or me and tell us what you have done. If you are not yet ready to pray this prayer, then sign up for Simply Christianity and dig deeper. If you know the Lord, but have been hiding behind a few fig-leaves of late, then let Him back in; you haven’t fooled Him one bit.
Thank you for inviting us to be with you this weekend. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as we have.
Bible stories often come in pairs:
Two creation narratives
Joseph and Potiphar’s wife: Judah and Tamar.
Dry ground in the Red Sea: water gushing from a rock in the desert.
David and Absalom: David and Ittai.
Paired parables, sometimes parables and miracles together
Herod’s banquet, Jesus feeding the 5,000.
In our readings today we have a couplet of stories in which two conversations are recorded side by side.
A Pharisee and a Samaritan Woman:
The Pharisees get a bad press as an elite of hypocritical, self-righteous bigots. They were certainly in constant conflict with Jesus and before St Paul got converted, he was a Pharisee busy stoning Stephen and breathing threats and murder against the believers. But in their culture they were well respected as devout, pious and godly men. Nicodemas, a member of the ruling elite, a man of power (although subject to Rome), influence and reputation comes to Jesus in the middle of the night, doubtless to protect his reputation.
The nameless woman, a Samaritan woman, meets him at mid-day. She has no reputation to protect; on husband number 5, her name was already shredded. She is an outcast among a despised caste of society. The exact origin of the Samaritans is obscure, but it seems that after the Assyrians conquered the northern tribes in about 720BC and took them captive, that other subjugated people were brought in. They felt the need to placate what they thought were the gods of their new land and mixed Judaism with a variety of other pagan practices and produced a hybrid religion. This was then a half-caste people with a half baked religion.
If you were to try and see the two ends of near-eastern society these would be it. The hostility between Jews and Samaritans had been going on for centuries; pure bred and half-cast, orthodox and heterodox. Just a few years before these conversations the relations between Jews and Samaritans had been further soured by the destruction of the Samaritan Temple on Mount Gerazim by John Hyrcanus and the desecration of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem by Samaritans spreading human bones.
The Jews and the Samaritans really hated each other and their spite was legendary. When the Jewish authorities wanted to insult Jesus they called him demon possessed, a Samaritan. When Jesus told the story of the good Samaritan, His audience could not even bring themselves to use the word. These two stories form a pair; Jesus in conversation with the devout and the down and out, at the Garrick and at a Greasy Spoon, Harrods and Mencap, the Ritz and a Night Shelter, Mother Teresa and Paris Hilton, Norman Tebbit and Arthur Scargill.
A man at mid-night and a woman at mid-day
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night
He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
No street lights, Roman curfews, robbers at large and Jesus meets up with a senior politician who does not want to be seen with Him. Jesus is not offended, by the implicit insult. Jesus does not say, “So, you chicken, afraid to come and see me in day light eh? You would not want to find your picture in the Jerusalem Post with me now, would you?” No, Jesus enters into a deep discussion about the nature of identity, life and birth. A midnight encounter with His political opponent and He seeks no humiliating political capital, but treats him fairly and squarely.
No shade and the noon-day sun is beating down at the town well. Why does this woman come at such a crazy time? Her domestic disarray means she would not dare show her face at the well when respectable women would be there in the cool of the morning or the evening. She is the easy girl of Sychar and by the well stands a Jewish rabbi. Don’t miss the cultural innuendo here; Moses met his wife at a well, Isaac’s wife Rebecca was courted and found at the well. Let me read you P53 from Essad Bey:
Jesus is putting Himself in a very compromised situation here, open to all kinds of misinterpretation, but He does not send her away with any insults, nor does He abuse her in any way, but rather speaks to her with the deepest respect. This catches her quite off balance. The Mishnah says; “Engage not in too much conversation with women. They said this with regard to one's own wife, how much more [does the rule apply] with regard to another man's wife. Hence have the sages said: As long as a man engages in too much conversation with women, he causes evil to Himself, [for] he goes idle from [the study of] the words of the torah, so that his end will be that he will inherit gehinnom.”
Just observe His careful respect for the politician and the party girl. There is no side to this Saviour, just a deep longing for people of all parts of the social spectrum to come to salvation. Both desire it, both are deeply in need of this saviour.
Both recognised Jesus was someone special
Nicodemas said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
“Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.”
Somewhere, deep down inside they both perceived that this Jesus was someone special. They had observed His actions and His words and recognised at least something divine about Him. When you look at the Gospel records, it is very hard to escape CS Lewis’s conclusion that He was either a lunatic, a liar or really was the Lord He claimed to be. You may have a sneaking admiration for Jesus, but do not damn Him with faint praise. Look at the evidence.
A lunatic might claim to be God, but does not generally win the deep affection and devotion of personal friends and large crowds. A lunatic might claim to be immortal, but cannot convince his family of his psychosis. A fraudster and a liar may trick a few people into allegiance, but not those who have been his daily companions for three years and who have seen him in all the situations life can throw up, including death. No-one is willing to die for a con artist. No man is a hero to his valet.
No, this Pharisee and this floozy both knew they had met someone very special.
New life within
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
He talks to one of new birth and to the other of a new source of life. He is not contradicting Himself, simply presenting the same truth in different ways. What you call life now, for one power for the other promiscuity, needs to be replaced with something new and eternal. When we seek meaning in the passing things of this life, prestige and passion, we find out so very quickly how they turn to dust and ashes in our hands, smoke in our eyes and to grit in our teeth. We need new birth, because we are all too well aware of the transience of this life. We need fresh water, because we all know how stagnant and bitter is the ditch we are drinking from.
In these conversations, Jesus only makes an oblique reference to His impending death; “like Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness”. But from this side of the cross we see that it is by His death and in His resurrection that God’s justice is satisfied, God’s love is declared, our sins are removed, our debt is cancelled, our slavery is abolished, death is broken, Satan is defeated and we find eternal life, new birth in the One that death could not hold. It is by His Holy Spirit that springs of living water bubble up from inside us. No more lowering the bucket of our soul into some stagnant well, but rather an insuppressible soul spring, fed by eternal currents of holiness, spills over into eternal life that starts now.
Literalist misunderstanding
Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?”
“Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
Was it just an obtuse misunderstanding, or were they doing what we all do when we hear something we do not want to engage with, find some fault with the apparent logic and take a detour. I can’t follow a Messiah who demands I pluck out my eye or cut off my hand. I can’t believe in a Saviour who tells me to hate my parents. I can’t put my trust in a God-man who says I must pick up my cross. And we hide behind deliberate misunderstandings and literalist readings so that we do not allow the truth to penetrate our defences.
What obstacles we pick up and place in front of the gate of heaven to trip us up and bar our way in. Jesus, cuts right to the chase with both of them.
Jesus points out their ignorance
Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?
You worship what you do not know;
You might be a banker and He says, “Can’t you figure this out?” You might be a doctor and He says, “Wrong diagnosis, sir!” You might be the life and soul of every party and He says, “Are you really enjoying this?” You might have won the lottery and He asks, “Where have you left your soul?” You might have written the Kama Sutra and He says, “The position of true love is washing the feet of those who will betray you.”
Spiritual worship
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth”
When I got married to Lucy, I said “with my body, I thee worship”. I was giving up my claim to physical, financial, emotional and every other form of autonomy. I was giving up my rights, I was being willingly captured and putting myself at the disposal of this person whom I adore. I was saying that I wanted there to be no veils of decency or deception behind which to hide. I was inviting her to mutual, covenanted disclosure.
Worship is the total giving of one person to another. When we come into a relationship with God, He sees everything, there are no secrets. We pray this prayer; “Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known and from whom no secrets are hidden”
Psalms 139
O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
Proverbs 15:11
Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD;
how much more the hearts of the children of man!
Hebrews 4:13
And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
He sees everything. God wants the worship of our hearts and He wants it to be true devotion; objectively and subjectively true. What do I mean by that?
Objective truth means that He wants accurate, right and verifiable truth to be the source of our worship. Aaron made a golden calf and said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” It was worship, but the object of their worship was not based in truth. How easy it is for us to exchange the God who made heaven and earth, the eternal Spirit, with some material counterfeit. He says to this woman at the well, “you worship what you do not know” and the common substitutes are people, prosperity, pleasure and power. How easy it is to exchange the truth for a lie.
Subjective truth means a right and accurate self-appraisal. Jesus told the story of a Pharisee and a tax-collector going up to the temple to pray. The Pharisee full of self-addicted conceit praised God that He was not like other men. The tax-collector would not lift his eyes to heaven, but rather groaned out that the Lord would have mercy on him a sinner. The taxman’s worship arose out of truth, an accurate self-assessment; the Pharisee’s out of a lie.
Our worship must come out of a true perception of God and a true assessment of ourselves, but it must also be in spirit. It is difficult to know whether this is spirit with a capital S or a small s. But probably both are true. God is deeply concerned about the orientation of our hearts, not the orientation of our prayer mat. God is deeply concerned about the purity of your soul, not the cut of your suit, the state of your heart, not the length of your skirt, your spiritual account rather than your bank account. He wants to infuse our spirits with His Holy Spirit so that our worship can be pure and holy and acceptable and what He wants it to be.
When God created humankind, He made them in His own likeness and breathed His Spirit into them. When God recreates us, He turns us ever more into the likeness of the Lord Jesus and breathes His Spirit into us
This Saviour meets people at all points of the social spectrum with respect
This Saviour offers new birth, He offers living water.
This Saviour confronts our ignorance and confusion
This Saviour sees right into the deep recesses of our beings
This Saviour offers eternal life
This Saviour demands true and spiritual worship
I don’t know where you are between these two stories, between midnight and mid-day, between the Pharisee and the floozy, between respectability and disgrace. But Jesus knows, Jesus sees right through your disguises, Jesus meets you with respect and with devastating and penetrating truth, Jesus invites you to new life and to receive from Him inner spring of eternal life, Jesus wants you to worship the Father in Spirit and truth.
There is a beautiful old prayer of David and it goes like this:
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my anxious thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
If you want this new birth, this spring of eternal life, then pray it after me and come and see Mike or me and tell us what you have done. If you are not yet ready to pray this prayer, then sign up for Simply Christianity and dig deeper. If you know the Lord, but have been hiding behind a few fig-leaves of late, then let Him back in; you haven’t fooled Him one bit.
Thank you for inviting us to be with you this weekend. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as we have.
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