Tawa Baptist

Passing the Baton

Scripture: John 17:9-19

 

Title: Passing the baton

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Sent into the world
  • Protected by the name
  • Sanctified by the truth
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

In some ways Christian history is like a relay where the baton is passed on from one person to the next, one generation to the next

–         No one runs the whole race by themselves, not even Jesus, but each of us has our stage to complete

Today we continue our mini-series on Jesus’ prayer in John 17

–         Jesus prayed this prayer the night before his crucifixion and death

–         Last week we looked at the first 8 verses of John 17, where Jesus asked for glory for himself and for God the Father

–         This morning we focus on verses 9-19, where Jesus prays for his disciples

–         Jesus is about to finish his stage of the relay and is at the point of passing on the baton to his disciples

–         Jesus is leaving the field but he wants his disciples to stay on track and run with his message to pass on to others

–         From John 17, verse 9 (in the NIV) we read…

I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

There is a lot going on in these verses and I’m not sure it’s possible to fully understand it all – but here are three handles to help us grasp some of the main points at least:

–         Jesus sends his disciples into the world

–         The disciples are protected by the name of God

–         And they are sanctified by the truth

–         First let’s consider the disciples in the world

 

Sent into the world:

If you go scuba diving in the ocean you need to put on the right gear – a wet suit, a weight belt, a mask, flippers and oxygen tanks

–         This is because we human beings don’t belong underwater – we need special protection & equipment to survive in that environment

–         It’s the same principle with space travel – we don’t belong in space and so we would need a special suit and a space craft to exist outside the earth’s atmosphere

–         Or, coming back down to earth again, we don’t belong underground

–         If we go caving we need ropes and a helmet and a torch

–         Even with all this gear though we can’t stay underwater or in space or in a dark cave for very long – it’s not our natural environment

 

Jesus has quite a bit to say about the world in relation to the disciples in John 17

–         The ‘world’ is on the lips of Jesus 11 times in this morning’s reading

–         Now when we hear the term ‘world’ we tend to think of planet earth, our natural environment, a place where we belong

–         But in the gospel of John the ‘world’ is not the natural environment for Christian believers

–         In John 17 the ‘world’ refers to a spiritual domain, an atmosphere of darkness and unbelief where the light of truth and the oxygen of faith is in short supply

–         Or as William Barclay puts it, the world in John stands for ‘human society organising itself without God’

–         The ‘world’ then stands in contrast to the ‘Kingdom of God’

–         The world, as Jesus describes it here, is unsupportive of Christian faith, much like being underwater or out in space or in a cave is not conducive to human life

In verse 11 Jesus says to God…

  • – I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you.
  • – Then in verse 14 he says…
  • – I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.
  • – And in verse 18 Jesus says…
  • – As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

It is from these verses that we get the old adage: ‘Christians are to be in the world but not of it’

–         Elsewhere in the gospels Jesus uses the image of salt & light to get this idea across – In Matthew 5 Jesus says to his disciples…

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

 

Sometimes, in my role as a pastor, I’ve visited people in prison and every time I go inside I feel uneasy – I’m very conscious that I don’t belong

–         It feels like a different world in prison, although it’s not entirely different

Sometimes, as Christians, we might feel uneasy in this world, like we don’t belong, like we are visiting a prison

–         It is natural we might feel this way because this world is not our home

–         We are citizens of God’s kingdom

–         Like Abraham and Jesus, we are sojourners, pilgrims passing through this world

Christ sends his disciples into the world – that is, into an environment which is not supportive of Christian faith, an atmosphere of darkness and unbelief where the light of truth and the oxygen of faith is in short supply

–         With this in mind our Lord prays for protection for his disciples

 

Protected by the name:

If you are a hockey goalie then you need to wear quite a bit of protective gear

–         And if you are a bomb disposal expert you wear a special suit for protection, or when you go boating you wear a life jacket

–         This equipment is designed to keep people physically safe – it doesn’t provide any guarantees but it certainly helps

 

In verse 11 Jesus prays for disciples saying…

–         Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name…

At first this sounds a bit odd – how exactly does a name offer any sort of protection?

–         Well, I’m not sure a name can be relied upon to give us physical protection, in the same way a life jacket or hockey pads or a bullet proof vest might

–         The kind of protection Jesus has in mind here is of a spiritual nature

God’s name is basically his revealed character – his integrity, his identity

–         Proverbs 18, verse 10, says: ‘The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.’

–         There is strength in knowing who God is, knowing his character

For example, if we know deep in our core that God is just, then this protects us from seeking revenge when we are wronged

–         We may be less inclined to try and get even because we know God will ensure that right prevails in the end

–         Likewise, if we know deep down that God is merciful then this protects us from being too harsh with ourselves (or others)

–         We may be less inclined to give up when we fail (or someone fails us) because we know God’s character, he is patient & wants to restore

Looking at the whole of verse 11 in its context we see the sort of protection Jesus has in mind…

  • – Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. …

Jesus is saying here, the name of God has the power to protect us from losing our oneness

–         To be one can mean a number of things including having integrity

–         We (in Western culture) tend to think of integrity in individual or personal terms. For example we might think, if I ‘walk the talk’ or ‘practice what I preach’ then I have integrity, I am at one with myself

–         But I expect Jesus’ disciples would have thought of integrity in more collective or community terms.

–         For example, if all 11 players of a football team are on the field and in the right position then the team is playing as one – it has integrity

  • – But if a player gets sent off or out of position then the team is not playing as one – it loses its integrity
  • – Jesus, the Captain, brought his team of disciples together as one
  • – Now he is leaving the field and he wants them to keep their integrity, to continue playing as one – he doesn’t want any to be lost
  • – Or, returning to our relay metaphor, he doesn’t want the chain to be broken – everyone needs to finish their stage of the race

But in saying this Jesus is quick to acknowledge the reality that one (namely Judas) has been lost

  • – None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled
  • – This almost sounds like Judas was predestined to be lost – that he had no choice in the matter; that God needed Judas to betray Jesus, or the whole plan of salvation would have failed
  • – Well, God doesn’t need anyone – He could have easily arranged for Jesus’ crucifixion without Judas’ betrayal
  • – Judas was not a robot – he was a responsible person and acted freely
  • – We don’t know what Judas’ motivation was in betraying Jesus
  • – Perhaps it was greed, or maybe he was feeling disappointed & resentful that Jesus wasn’t the kind of Messiah he had hoped for
  • – Maybe Judas was trying to manipulate the circumstances so that Jesus was put in a position where he was forced to act to protect himself
  • – Whatever his motivation Judas made a poor choice, as we all do from time to time. Sadly, for Judas, this was a choice with massive consequences

If we think of God’s name as an umbrella, protecting us from the rain, then Judas stepped out from under the umbrella during a downpour

  • – Or if we think of God’s name as a school bus, getting us to school safely, then Judas got off the bus at the wrong stop – he left his classmates, ventured out on his own and got lost
  • – If we try and do it on our own we make ourselves more vulnerable to the evil one – to Satan
  • – But if we remember that God is one, like a team is one – Father, Son & Spirit all working together in harmony – then we are less inclined to go it alone and more inclined to take our position on the field with our team mates

 

In verse 15 Jesus asks God to protect his disciples from the evil one

  • – (The evil one being Satan or the Devil)
  • – This indicates quite clearly that Jesus and his disciples are engaged in a spiritual battle, where Satan is the General of the enemy army

Before I became a minister I was dismissive of talk of spiritual warfare

  • – It seemed to me a bit flaky or at least extremely subjective and therefore unreliable
  • – But since becoming a minister I’ve had my eyes opened to evil
  • – This world, as the gospel of John understands it, is a battle ground
  • – There are malicious spiritual forces at work in this world
  • – I still don’t think we can blame every bad thing on the Devil
  • – A lot of hurt & pain in the world can be put down to the choices we human beings make – we have to take responsibility for our actions
  • – By the same token we would be naïve to pretend the Devil doesn’t exist
  • – I’m not saying this to scare you – I say it because it is part of reality which we can’t necessarily see

Now when Jesus prays that God would protect his disciples from the evil one, that doesn’t mean the disciples would never face any opposition

  • – God’s protection (in this context) doesn’t mean, nothing bad would ever happen to the disciples
  • – All of Jesus’ remaining 11 disciples encountered opposition – some were thrown in prison, some were killed and others exiled
  • – They all suffered in this world for their witness for Christ, but none of them was lost from God’s kingdom
  • – God allows Satan to make life difficult for Jesus’ disciples, and for us
  • – (At times it does my head in to think that God allows Satan to mess with people – but at the end of the day I have to acknowledge the limits of my understanding and trust that God knows what he’s doing. God won’t allow us to be tested beyond what we can handle)

I think Jesus, in his prayer, was asking God to protect his disciples’ faith, to keep them safe for eternal life, to deliver them from apostasy

  • – God’s protection allows us to complete our leg of the relay, to remain faithful to Christ (and each other) through whatever the enemy throws at us

 

There’s a TV drama series ‘On Demand’ at the moment called ‘Broken’

  • – It’s not easy to watch in places (it’s a bit gritty & real) but it’s also the best series I’ve seen in a long time
  • – Broken is a fictional story but it contains so much (gospel) truth
  • – The main character of the show is a Catholic priest by the name of Michael Kerrigan
  • – Michael is a good priest – he ministers to broken people out of his own vulnerability
  • – He is, to borrow Henri Nouwen’s phrase, a ‘wounded healer’

Every time Michael gives the Mass, he is confronted in his mind, by the bad things he has done to others and the bad things that have been done to him

  • – Ironically the most sacred thing in his life has become a hellish torment
  • – Although the show doesn’t directly talk about spiritual warfare, using something sacred (like communion) to torment a good priest is exactly the sort of thing the evil one does
  • – It is plain to see that Michael (a disciple of Christ) is in a very real battle against evil – it is a battle which rages both inside him and in the wider community in which he works, a battle in which we can’t see the enemy

The Devil wants to mislead people, to put them on a path that leads to destruction, by whispering half-truths (if not full blown lies) in our ear

  • – He wants to undo our oneness by turning us against God and against each other – that’s why Jesus prays that the disciples would be one, that they wouldn’t turn against each other

There’s this wonderful scene towards the end of the Broken series when Michael has given up on prayer, so a fellow priest intercedes for him saying:

  • – ‘Lord, I bring before you Michael Kerrigan. He’s a good priest, quick to forgive others but slow to forgive himself. Give him peace.’
  • – This prayer is offered in a spirit of oneness, with Michael present to hear it – the prayer shows Michael that he isn’t alone, that he has a friend in the faith who understands
  • – It also reminds Michael of God’s name, God’s character – that the Lord is gracious & compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love
  • – Do you have a friend in the faith like that?
  • – We can’t complete our leg of the relay alone

 

Sanctified by the truth:

Our defence against the lies of the evil one is truth

  • – So Jesus prays that his disciples would be sanctified by the truth

What then does it mean to be sanctified by the truth?

  • – Well, the word sanctified means holy, as in set apart for a special purpose
  • – A surgical theatre is sanctified in the sense that it is set apart for the special purpose of performing operations on people
  • – One doesn’t use a surgical theatre as a butchery for carving up animals, nor as a kitchen for preparing meals, much less a workshop for fixing cars
  • – A surgical theatre has to be kept clean & hygienic, and it needs to be available in case of emergency, so it isn’t used for any other purpose

 

The disciples were set apart for the special purpose of being witnesses for Christ

  • – This means they were to tell others the truth of their experience of Jesus – that he lived, died and was raised to eternal life
  • – More than just telling the facts of Jesus’ life though, the disciples were to bear witness to the love of God they experienced through Jesus

We, like the disciples, are made holy by a divine revelation of the truth

  • – Jesus is the word of God – he is the truth – and the disciples were sanctified, or made holy, by being in his presence and hearing him speak

 

If you get a tomato sauce stain on your favourite white t-shirt then it won’t come out by simply putting it through a normal wash cycle, even if you do use a special stain remover

  • – Once your shirt has been through the wash you need to hang it on the line in direct sunlight – it’s the sunlight that sanctifies the shirt and makes the stain disappear
  • – It’s similar with sanctifying (or purifying) water – E-coli, Rotavirus, Giardia, Salmonella, Cholera, Campylobacter are all eradicated by 6 hours exposure to sunlight

The light of the truth about Jesus is what sanctifies (or purifies) us

  • – But we have to be exposed to the truth in our inner being
  • – The light has to penetrate our darkness and that’s not usually a pleasant experience

Peter was sanctified by the truth

  • – At the last supper he told the Lord he was ready to lay down his life for Jesus, but the Lord predicted Peter would deny him three times and it happened as Jesus said it would
  • – At cock crow Peter remembered Jesus’ words and was confronted by the bitter truth about himself, as he went away weeping bitterly
  • – But that wasn’t the whole truth – what happened at cock crow was simply Peter’s realisation of his failure
  • – After Jesus’ resurrection the Lord took Peter aside to restore him
  • – Three times Jesus asked Peter, ‘Do you love me?’ and each time Peter said, ‘Yes Lord’, and Jesus responded, ‘Feed my lambs’
  • – Jesus saying, ‘It’s ok Peter. I trust you’.
  • – It was in the light of Jesus’ forgiveness & restoration that Peter was sanctified and the tomato sauce stain of his denial removed

In a way Peter’s failure actually made it possible for him to be a more credible witness to Jesus’ grace and forgiveness

  • – Peter could now talk about God’s forgiveness first hand, from his own experience

 

Jesus also sanctifies himself for the sake of his disciples

  • – As a priest would sanctify (or set apart) an animal to be sacrificed to God, so too Jesus (who is both high priest and sacrifice) sanctifies himself before he goes to the cross
  • – Somehow, in a way that we can’t fully comprehend, our sins are atoned for and we are made holy through Jesus’s sacrificial death

 

Conclusion:

As Jesus finishes his stage of the relay he hands the baton onto his disciples, sending them into a world which is hostile to them, praying that God will protect them and sanctify them, so that they too may finish their part and pass the baton of God’s love & truth to others

 

Let us pray. Lord God, help us as we journey through this world

  • – Protect us from the evil one by the power of your name – help us not to turn on one another but to remain faithful to you
  • – And sanctify us by the truth – both the truth about ourselves and the truth about you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

1.)    What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon?

–         Why do you think this stood out to you?

2.)    Have you ever felt out of place in this world?

–         What does the term ‘world’ mean in the context of John 17?

3.)    What is meant by “God’s name”?

–         How does God’s name protect us?

4.)    What do you think Jesus had in mind when he asked God to protect his disciples from the evil one?

–         What sort of protection can we expect?

5.)    Are you aware of any spiritual opposition in your own life?

–         Can you describe what this is like?

–         Where / when does this usually happen?

6.)    Do you have a friend in the faith, someone trustworthy you can talk with and who can pray for you?

–         Do you know someone who is battling at the moment, who you could listen to and pray for in a spirit of oneness?

7.)    What does it mean to be sanctified by the truth?

–         Can you think of a particular experience, in your own life, when you were sanctified by the truth? What happened?

 

Tawa Baptist

Glory

Scripture: John 17:1-8

Title: Glory

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Glorifying God (Jesus is the glory of God)
  • Enjoying God forever (Jesus gives eternal life)
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

There are moments in our lives when someone older and wiser tells us something meaningful, but at the time we don’t fully appreciate what they mean – it’s not until sometime later that their words sink in with the help of the spade of experience

–         I remember sitting by my grandfather’s bed as he was dying – his kidneys had failed and he was slowly drowning from the inside

–         He said to me, ‘Son, life goes by so fast. It seems like just yesterday I was young and starting out. It all went so quickly.’

–         At the time I was 24 and didn’t think too much of it

–         ‘Life goes by so fast’ sounds like a cliché – it’s something older people often say to parents with young children, ‘It goes so quickly. Make the most of it while you’ve still got them’

–         When I was a parent of young children it felt to me like time was slowing down – I welcomed the thought of the kids growing up so I could get a decent night’s sleep and not have to change nappies

–         But looking back now the last 20 years has gone quickly

‘Life goes by so fast’. At the time I didn’t fully appreciate what my grandfather was trying to say

–         There he was dying slowly and uncomfortably and yet he wasn’t thinking about that – his perspective was on the whole of life, not just the end

–         He was considering the bigger purpose & meaning of life

–         If 72 years seems short to a man whose days dragged long then that begs the question: Why are we here and what is the best way to use our time?

–         When you get to the end you don’t want to be thinking, ‘I wasted it’

 

Today is the third Sunday in Lent

–         Lent is traditionally a time when Christians prepare for Easter by remembering Jesus’ obedience to God the Father in going to the cross

–         This remembering isn’t just a casual recall of the Easter story though

–         Lent is an opportunity to get back in touch with the bigger purpose and meaning of life: Why am I here? Is it just for me and my own temporary concerns or is it for something bigger?

–         Is it for Christ and things of an eternal nature?

 

The night before his crucifixion and death Jesus took his disciples aside and spoke with them to help them with what was coming

–         The gospel of John chapters 13-17, also known as Jesus’ farewell discourse, capture much of that (death bed) conversation

–         Probably the disciples didn’t fully appreciate all that Jesus was saying at the time but they would appreciate it in the days, weeks and years ahead

Please turn with me to John 17, page 140 toward the back of your pew Bibles

–         John 17 is the longest recorded prayer of Jesus we have

–         In this prayer Jesus takes a look at the bigger purpose and meaning of his life and how he has used his time on earth

–         There is a lot going on in this prayer but in broad terms we could say that Jesus prays for three things: He prays for glory; He prays for his disciples; and he prays for us

–         Today the message focuses on the first 8 verses of John 17, where Jesus prays for glory – both for himself and for God the Father

–         From John 17, verses 1-8, we read…

After Jesus finished saying this, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your Son, so that the Son may give glory to you. 2 For you gave him authority over all people, so that he might give eternal life to all those you gave him. 3 And eternal life means to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, whom you sent. 4 I have shown your glory on earth; I have finished the work you gave me to do. 5 Father! Give me glory in your presence now, the same glory I had with you before the world was made.

6 “I have made you known to those you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me. They have obeyed your word, 7 and now they know that everything you gave me comes from you. 8 I gave them the message that you gave me, and they received it; they know that it is true that I came from you, and they believe that you sent me.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

 

Glorifying God:

The Westminster Shorter Catechism tells us (and I paraphrase here)…

–         The chief purpose of humankind is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever

–         It is difficult to improve on that really

–         This statement seems to capture in a nutshell what Jesus is talking about in the opening verses of his prayer in John 17

–         There is certainly a lot of talk of glory on Jesus’ lips here

–         What then does it mean to glorify God?

The word glory has to do with honour, distinction, esteem, beauty, splendour, magnificence, mana and the like

–         Glory isn’t a word we New Zealanders are comfortable with – we tend to shy away from glory a bit – but to people in the ancient world the concept of glory was highly important

 

Now when we talk about ‘glorifying God’ we don’t mean adding to God’s honour and splendour and mana – God already has glory and there is nothing we can do to add to it (or take away from it)

–         From a human perspective, ‘glorifying God’ means revealing something of God’s glory – so in glorifying God we’re not adding something to him we are simply showing others what is already there

If we think of God’s glory as a bank account – then in glorifying God we’re not depositing any more money to his account, it’s more like we are showing others his bank balance

 

We glorify God like a lightbulb glorifies a beautiful person

–         If it is dark and the light is off you can’t see the person’s face let alone admire their beauty

–         But when the light is switched on the person’s beauty is revealed

–         The lightbulb doesn’t add anything to the person’s beauty – it simply helps others to see that beauty better

–         Of course, as lightbulbs we don’t have any power in ourselves to give light – God is the one who gives us the electricity to shine

 

Or take this apple as another example: While it’s in the bowl you can’t see it, the glory of the apple is hidden from you

–         For me to glorify this apple, I need to take it out of the bowl and hold it up for everyone to see

–         But seeing an apple from a distance doesn’t really reveal the apple in all its glory – to properly glorify this apple I need to bring it close so you can smell it and taste it – because the glory of the apple is in its taste

–         Obviously there is nothing I can do to make this apple taste better

–         The most I can do is reveal its glory by giving you a piece to eat

It’s similar with glorifying God – I can’t improve on God’s glory

–         The most I can do is offer you a piece of his glory to taste

–         When we love one another, forgive one another, show patience with one another, share good things with one another, and so on, then we let others experience a small taste of God’s glory

–         The thing is we can only really reveal God’s glory to the extent we have experienced (or tasted) it for ourselves

–         It’s only when I eat God’s apples and enjoy them that I’m impelled to share some with you

 

Glory is a weighty thing – if something is glorious it has substance, it affects us, it moves us

–         Consider the moon in the night sky for example

–         On the face of it the glory of the moon is in its radiance

–         Some nights the moon is more glorious than other nights

–         The moon is perhaps at its most glorious (or most radiant) on a clear night when it is full and close to the horizon

–         But it’s not just the sight of the moon that is glorious

–         The moon’s glory is a weighty thing – whether we can see the moon or not it’s gravity is moving the oceans of the world, drawing the tide in and out twice a day

–         There is nothing I can do to change the tide – all I can do is stand on the beach feel its power

It is similar with God – we can’t see God but we can feel the weight of his glory and power drawing whole nations here and there in accordance with his purpose

As the creator of all things – God is the one who gives the apple the glory of its taste and the moon the beauty of its radiance and the power of its gravity

 

In John 17 Jesus begins his prayer by saying…

–         Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your Son, so that the Son may give glory to you…

The context of Jesus’ request is a Father / Son relationship, one in which Jesus the Son depends on God the Father for everything – his identity, his existence, his message, his everything

‘The hour has come’, refers to the hour of Jesus’ trial, suffering and death on the cross – so when Jesus talks about glory here it is with the cross in view

Jesus asks God to glorify him (the Son)

–         At first glance this might seem a bit ego centric or selfish but it’s not – Jesus is asking an entirely reasonable and good thing

–         Jesus is saying, make my suffering count – give it weight, reveal your love for the world (and our love for each other) through my death

–         Because if I’m going through all this I want the tides of history to be moved by it – I want people’s hearts to be changed

God the Father and Jesus the Son are one – they are so closely connected that in asking for glory for himself Jesus is really asking glory for God too

–         When a sports team wins against a difficult opponent, that reflects well on the coach

–         When a river is clean, that reflects well on the people who live near that river

–         When a plane lands safely on just one engine (or in a howling southerly in Wellington), that reflects well on the pilot

–         When a 71 year old man at prayer greets a gunman with ‘hello bother’, that reflects well on his courage and humanity

–         When a Prime Minister (and her people) respond with compassion & justice to a mass shooting, that reflects well on the whole country

–         When God’s Son endures the suffering of the cross with dignity & grace, that reflects well on God the Father

 

In verse 4 Jesus has some more to say about glory…

–         I have shown your glory on earth; I have finished the work you gave me to do.      

What does it mean that Jesus has shown God’s glory on earth? How did Jesus do this? What is the work God gave Jesus to do?

 

The first thing Jesus did to reveal God’s glory was to become human – we call that the incarnation, when God became human in the birth of Christ

–         This means that Jesus is, in fact, the glory of God in human form

–         Jesus doesn’t just shine a light on God’s beauty, he is God’s beauty

–         Jesus doesn’t just share the apple of God’s glory, so others can taste God’s goodness, Jesus is the apple

 

Returning to our apple in the bowl – when Jesus was born God’s glory was plucked from the tree of heaven and put in a bowl on earth

–         Jesus, the very glory of God, stayed in the bowl hidden from sight for 30 years, until John the baptist lifted Jesus out of the bowl and said…

–         ‘This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’

–         This is the glory of God in human form

–         Throughout his ministry Jesus taught the people and healed the people and forgave the people and delivered the people from all sorts of evil

–         And each time he did that he cut off a little piece of himself so that those who believed in him could taste something of the glory of God

 

Now, at the hour of his death, Jesus had got down to the core of God’s glory – suffering out of love to save others – giving himself completely to redeem creation

 

In verse 5 Jesus asks God again saying…

–         Father, give me glory in your presence now, the same glory I had with you before the world was made.

 

The obvious implication in these verses is that Jesus (the Son) was pre-existent with God the Father

–         John has already said this at the beginning of his gospel when he wrote:

–         Before the world was created, the Word already existed; he was with God and he was the same as God. 

–         Jesus, the glory of God and the apple of God’s eye, is looking forward to returning to the tree of heaven

–         Here on earth God’s glory is veiled – we can’t see God, although with the eyes of faith we can see where he has been, much like we can see where the rain has been because the grass is green and not brown

–         In heaven though God’s glory is plain to see – there is no drought

 

There are two parts to the Westminster’s statement on the chief purpose of human beings:

–         We’ve talked about the first part, of glorifying God

–         The second part is enjoying God forever – which is rather a nice way of describing ‘eternal life’

 

Enjoying God forever:

In verse 3 Jesus says: And eternal life means knowing you, the only true God, and knowing Jesus Christ, whom you sent.

 

We have to pay close attention here because this definition of eternal life goes beyond our normal categories

–         For many years I thought eternal life simply meant time without end, so that one was immortal and never died

–         And while living forever may be one by-product of eternal life it isn’t the star of the show

–         Eternal life isn’t just quantity of life, it is more importantly quality of life

–         And that quality of life comes from knowing God & Jesus

 

Now when Jesus talks about ‘knowing’ in this verse, he doesn’t just mean knowing something in your head – he means knowing it in your experience, knowing it, intimately, in the core of your being

–         I might be able to learn some facts about someone by stalking them on Facebook – I might be able to find out when they were born, what their favourite colour is, how they spend their time, where they went on holiday, that sort of thing, but that doesn’t mean I know them

–         To know someone I’ve actually got to meet them and spend time with them, listen to them, hang out with their friends, do life with them

–         Then, after building a relationship with them, I can say I know them

–         Eternal life is essentially a wonderful relationship in which we know God in our experience, as a friend, and enjoy Him forever

This means that eternal life isn’t just something a way off in the future after we die – if eternal life is a relationship with God then eternal life is something we can experience now, through Christ

 

Once again we note the close relationship between God and Jesus – they go together – we can’t know God the Father without knowing Jesus

–         Jesus (the glory of God) shows us what God the Father is like

–         Trying to have a relationship with God the Father without Jesus is like trying to use a computer without a keyboard or a screen – Jesus is the interface between God and humanity

–         Trying to have a relationship with God the Father without Jesus is like trying to cross the ocean without a boat – God is infinite. Being ‘in Christ’ is what supports us and keeps us afloat in the sea of God’s love

–         Trying to have a relationship with God the Father without Jesus is like trying to have a conversation without sharing a common language – Jesus is the Word of God (a language we can understand) by which we comprehend something of the mystery of God

 

In verses 6-8 Jesus gives us a few more clues about what it means to know God

I have made you known to those you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me. They have obeyed your word, and now they know everything you gave me comes from you. I gave them the message that you gave me and they received it; they know that it is true that I came from you, and they believe that you sent me.

Jesus is talking about imparting eternal life to his disciples by making God known to them

–         Of course a relationship is a two way thing – the disciples have to receive that knowledge, the penny has to drop for them, they have to get it

–         And the key to getting it – the key to knowing God – is obeying Jesus

–         It is with obedience that understanding and relationship forms

–         This means that we have to obey in faith or in trust – we have to do what God asks without knowing for certain what the outcome is going to be

 

The disciples obeyed Jesus in faith – they left their work, their families and their homes to follow Jesus without knowing where it would lead

–         But through that act of obedience they came to know God – they formed a friendship with God and with one another, through Jesus

–         The kind of knowing that is in view here is not a scientific, evidence based knowing – it’s the kind of knowing which comes through obedience & belief

 

The classic Biblical story of knowing God through obedience and belief is the Exodus story

–         When God instructed Moses to approach Pharaoh and ask for the Israelites’ freedom, Moses wasn’t that keen at first – he could see it was big ask

–         It wasn’t until Moses obeyed God, and God delivered the people, that he knew God’s character

 

It was similar with the nation of Israel themselves

–         Before the exodus from Egypt, Israel’s experience was one of suffering &  oppression – the evidence for God’s care & concern for them was a fairy tale from the past – it wasn’t part of their present reality

–         Before they could know that God cared for them – that he was a God of justice & compassion – they had to take a step of obedience in leaving Egypt

–         Their obedience (like ours) was a faltering obedience and so they were 40 years in the wilderness learning to trust & obey God

–         When it was time to leave the wilderness and enter the Promised Land, they had to take another step of obedience in crossing the Jordan River

–         It wasn’t until they literally took that first step into the waters of the Jordan that the river stopped and they were able to cross

–         But through that obedience the people knew that God was powerful and was with them as they entered Canaan

 

Eternal life is knowing (and enjoying) God in our personal experience

–         We come to know God through believing in and obeying Jesus

–         I expect many of you have your own stories of knowing God’s goodness and provision through faith & obedience

 

Conclusion:

The purpose of humankind is to glorify God and enjoy him forever

 

Let us pray…

–         Father God, glorify yourself we pray, especially through our suffering

–         May Christ be lifted up in our life in both the ordinary & extraordinary

–         May people taste & see that the Lord is good through their interaction us

–         And may our relationship with you be a source of delight & enjoyment

–         Through Jesus we pray. Amen.

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

1.)    What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon?

–         Why do you think this stood out to you?

2.)    What do you think of when you hear the word ‘glory’?

3.)    What does it mean to glorify God?

–         How might we glorify God in practical terms?

4.)    Why does Jesus ask for glory for himself?

5.)    How did Jesus glorify God?

–         How is this different to how we might glorify God?

6.)    What is eternal life?

–         What does it mean to know God?

7.)    What is the key to knowing God?

–         Can you recall a time in your life when you obeyed God in faith and came to know him better? What happened?

8.)    Take some time this week to enjoy God

 

 

 

Tawa Baptist

Jesus, Lamb of God

Scripture: John 1:29

Title: Jesus, Lamb of God

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Jesus’ innocence
  • Jesus’ vulnerability
  • Jesus’ sacrifice
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Today is Ram’s day – when rams all over New Zealand are put in paddocks with ewes for breeding purposes – it seems quite appropriate then to be talking about the Lamb of God today

In 1982 there were over 70 million sheep in New Zealand and about 3 million people – which equates to about 22 sheep per person

–         In recent years though this ratio has dropped – now there are more like 29½ million sheep and closer to 4.9 million people, which equates to about 6 sheep per person

–         Any way you look at it that’s a lot of sheep and lambs

 

Today we conclude our sermon series on the titles of Jesus by taking a closer look at the term Lamb of God

–         It’s strange in a way; Jesus’ favourite way of referring to himself was Son of Man and despite the fact that title is used numerous times in the gospels, it never really caught on in Christian tradition

–         By contrast the title, Lamb of God, only appears twice in the Bible and yet somehow it has become popular in Christian culture

–         Not sure if it’s just a New Zealand thing or if Christians all over the world prefer to think of Jesus as a lamb

 

The title, Lamb of God, is heard on the lips of John the baptist as he points out who Jesus is

In the gospel of John chapter 1, verse 29, John sees Jesus approaching and says:

–         Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.  

–         Then, the very next day, John sees Jesus walking by again and says to his disciples: Look, the Lamb of God

In addition to the gospel of John the Book of Revelation uses the term Lamb a number of times as a kind of code word for ‘Jesus’, but stops short of the full title Lamb of God

 

Now before we get into what the Bible has to say about the Lamb of God, I’m interested to find out what you think…

When you see the image of a lamb what comes to mind – what do you associate a lamb with?

–         [Wait for people to respond]

 

Jesus is like a lamb in some ways, but not in every way. Three ways in particular we can say Jesus is like a lamb…

–         Jesus is innocent, Jesus makes himself vulnerable, and Jesus offers himself as a sacrifice. First let us consider Jesus’ innocence

 

Jesus’ innocence:

One of the things the gospel writers make clear is that Jesus was condemned to die as an innocent man

–         And when we say ‘innocent’, we don’t mean naïve or gullible – Jesus was no green horn

–         By innocent we mean not guilty, without sin

–         We would of course expect Jesus’ friends to say he was innocent and so the real test is what someone impartial says about Jesus

–         When Jesus was brought before Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor, Pilate questioned Jesus repeatedly and found no reason to charge him

–         Not only that but in Matthew’s account of Jesus’ trial, we read…

While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him a message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.” 

Both Pilate and his wife (independently of each other) could plainly see that Jesus had done nothing wrong

–         Several times Pilate tried to have Jesus released but in the end, to appease the crowd and prevent a riot, Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified

–         But it wasn’t just Pilate and his wife who thought Jesus was innocent

Jesus was crucified between two criminals. One of the criminals hurled insults at Jesus but the other criminal responded by saying…

–         “Don’t you fear God, since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what we deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”  

Later that same day when Jesus had breathed his last the Roman Centurion who witnessed Jesus’ death said…

“Surely this was a righteous man.”

–         When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away.

Beating of the breast is a sign of protest & outrage – people could clearly see it had been a set-up, a terrible injustice. Jesus, an innocent man, had been killed

 

Jesus was as innocent as a lamb, and as vulnerable too

 

Jesus’ vulnerability:

To be vulnerable is to be open and unprotected, defenceless

 

On the wall here are a couple of pictures from our garden at home

–         The first is of a caterpillar eating the leaves of a swan plant

–         And the second is of a swan plant that has been stripped bare of its leaves

–         A swan plant is vulnerable to caterpillars – it has no defence against them

–         Caterpillars are in turn vulnerable to birds and those caterpillars who manage to become butterflies are vulnerable to wasps

–         Wasps, as far as I know, aren’t vulnerable to anything much and consequently no one really likes wasps

 

At one point, after I’d left home, my Dad owned a small lifestyle block

–         To keep the grass under control he had a couple of sheep – it was a steep section and not really suitable for mowing

–         One day I went to visit and while my brother and I were out in the paddock we noticed one of the sheep on its back

–         At first I thought the sheep had died but when I got closer I could see it was still breathing, it just couldn’t move – it was stuck on its back with its legs in the air

–         When we pulled it back onto its feet it ran off

–         There was nothing wrong with the animal – it had simply got caste

Reflecting on that afterwards it occurred to me just how vulnerable sheep are

–         A lamb has no way to defend itself

–         A dog has teeth, a cat has claws, a horse can run fast, a bird can fly away but a lamb has no natural defence

–         If a sheep loses its balance and winds up on its back it can’t even find its feet again – a sheep is dependent on the shepherd

Jesus’ vulnerability is not exactly like the vulnerability of a sheep or a swan plant or a caterpillar

–         A lamb, a swan plant and a caterpillar are all vulnerable by their very nature, whereas Jesus chooses to make himself vulnerable – Jesus chooses to put aside his divine force field and remain open to others

 

Vulnerability obviously comes with risk

–         Vulnerability tends to evoke one of two responses: either violence or love

–         If someone is defenceless then certain individuals will take advantage of that vulnerability for their own ends, as we saw (tragically) on Friday with the shootings in Christchurch

–         Most people though will act to care for and protect the vulnerable, as we have seen since, with the outpouring of support for those affected by the shootings

–         Jesus tended to have quite a polarising effect on others – people either loved him or hated him

–         Jesus’ disciples and those he healed and forgave tended to love him, not just because of what he did for them but because of the way he did it, with kindness and humility

 

By sending his Son to earth God was making himself vulnerable, opening his heart toward humanity in love

–         Jesus’ vulnerability was an invitation to love God – because we usually find it easier to love a lamb than a wasp

–         Sadly many of the religious leaders misunderstood God’s invitation and took advantage of Jesus’ vulnerability for their own ends – they plotted to murder Jesus

By choosing not to defend himself Jesus made it possible for the authorities to crucify him

–         In Matthew’s account of Jesus’ arrest, in the Garden of Gethsemane, one of the disciples struck the high priest’s slave with a sword, cutting off his ear, but Jesus responded with vulnerability saying…

“Put your sword back in its place. All who take the sword will die by the sword. Don’t you know that I could call on my Father for help, and at once he would send me more than twelve armies of angels? But in that case, how could the Scriptures come true…?”

Jesus had the power to smash his opponents but he chose not to defend himself

 

We should remember though that when Jesus returns it won’t be in vulnerability, it will be in glory and with power.

In Revelation chapter 6 the Lamb (aka: Jesus) breaks a number of seals

–         With the sixth seal there was an earthquake, the sun became black and the moon turned red…

Then the kings of the earth, the rulers and the military chiefs, the rich and powerful, and all other men, slave and free, hid themselves in caves and under rocks on the mountains. They called out to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the eyes of the one who sits on the throne and from the anger of the Lamb. The terrible day of their anger is here, and who can stand against it.” 

We may feel a little disturbed by this picture of the future. Certainly anger is not normally something we would associate with a lamb

–         The anger of the lamb is a righteous anger though – an anger at injustice

–         Many of the original first century audience of the book of Revelation were persecuted, living in fear, if not in hiding from the authorities

–         Being told the tables would be turned, and their oppressors would one day be the ones in hiding, was actually a great comfort and gave the early Christians hope in the face of their suffering

John’s vision of the power of the Lamb reminds us there is more than one side to Jesus’ character, as we have seen throughout this series.

–         With this in mind it isn’t always appropriate for us to make ourselves vulnerable – we need to be discerning about who we open our heart to

–         Jesus instructed his disciples to be as wise as serpents but as innocent as doves

 

So far we’ve heard how Jesus is innocent and makes himself as vulnerable as a lamb

–         What is perhaps less obvious to us today, but which would have been most obvious to the people of Jesus’ day, is that lambs were often used as a sacrifice

 

Jesus’ sacrifice:

Sacrifice is the act of giving up (or surrendering) something of value

–         If it’s not worth much to us then it doesn’t really count as a sacrifice

–         Usually we make a sacrifice in order to save or gain something else we value even more

–         For example, in a game of chess you might sacrifice a pawn to save your king, because without the king its game over

–         Or if you have a loved one who needs an organ transplant, you might sacrifice a kidney or part of your liver to save their life, because your liver will grow back and you can survive on one kidney

 

In the Bible lamb sacrifices were memorials of deliverance

–         When Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac on the altar, God provided a lamb as a substitute, thus delivering Isaac and his descendants from certain death

–         When the people of Israel were about to leave their slavery in Egypt, God instituted the Passover festival – where each family was to sacrifice a lamb and paint the blood over the door frame, so the angel of death would Passover that house

–         And, on a daily basis, lambs were sacrificed in the Jewish temple as a way of atoning for sin

–         Lamb sacrifices were reminders of God’s deliverance, his redemption

–         So when John the Baptist said of Jesus, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” his Jewish listeners would likely have thought in terms of a sacrifice that delivers them from sin & death

At this point I’m reminded of the movie Finding Nemo

–         Quick quiz – what nickname is Nemo given, by the other fish, in the dentist’s fish tank? [Wait]

–         That’s right – ‘Shark Bait’

–         Shark Bait is a nickname with foreboding overtones

Although John wasn’t using Lamb of God as a nickname for Jesus (he meant it as a term of respect), there is still a sense of foreboding in the title

–         Lamb of God is code for ‘sacrifice of God’ and imagines a future in which Jesus is destined to give his life to save others

–         The imagery wasn’t lost on the disciples. As the apostle Peter writes in one of his letters…

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

For a sacrifice to be truly worthy of the name it needs to be something of value

–         Therefore, under Old Testament law, it wasn’t good enough to offer a second rate lamb, that would be convenient to get rid of anyway

–         The sacrifice had to be valuable, a lamb without defect, one you would rather have kept for breeding purposes

–         Jesus is the perfect lamb, the innocent lamb, the best on offer, the most valuable in the whole flock

–         Clearly God loves his creation a great deal if he is willing to sacrifice his Son to redeem us

 

This is not to imply that we are more valuable than Christ

–         Using the chess analogy, Jesus the King became a pawn (like us) and sacrificed himself to save the game

–         Through his sacrifice Jesus not only saves the game, he changes the rules

–         Jesus, the sacrificial pawn, is resurrected to eternal life and restored to the throne as King, which means no one can ever remove him from the board

–         What’s more, by his Spirit, Jesus transforms the other pawns (that’s us) into knights and bishops and rooks

 

As followers of Jesus we are called to offer ourselves as living sacrifices

–         We give up things we value to make ourselves available to God’s purpose, to obey God in other words

–         We do this in faith, trusting Christ for redemption

 

Conclusion:

Let me finish with a reading from Isaiah 53 – this sums up the innocence, vulnerability and sacrifice of Jesus the Lamb of God

“But he endured the suffering that should have been ours, the pain that we should have borne. All the while we thought that his suffering was punishment sent by God. 5 But because of our sins he was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did. We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he received.
6 All of us were like sheep that were lost, each of us going his own way. But the Lord made the punishment fall on him, the punishment all of us deserved.

7 “He was treated harshly, but endured it humbly; he never said a word. Like a lamb about to be slaughtered, like a sheep about to be sheared, he never said a word.

8 He was arrested and sentenced and led off to die, and no one cared about his fate. He was put to death for the sins of our people. 9 He was placed in a grave with those who are evil, he was buried with the rich, even though he had never committed a crime or ever told a lie.”

10 The Lord says, “It was my will that he should suffer; his death was a sacrifice to bring forgiveness. And so he will see his descendants; he will live a long life, and through him my purpose will succeed.
11 After a life of suffering, he will again have joy; he will know that he did not suffer in vain. My devoted servant, with whom I am pleased, will bear the punishment of many and for his sake I will forgive them.
12 And so I will give him a place of honour, a place among the great and powerful. He willingly gave his life and shared the fate of evil men. He took the place of many sinners and prayed that they might be forgiven.”

 

Let’s stand and sing our closing hymn – this is really a prayer of intercession for our country – ‘God defend New Zealand’…

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

1.)    What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon?

–         Why do you think this stood out to you?

2.)    What comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘Lamb’?

–         In what ways is Jesus like a lamb?

–         In what ways is Jesus not like a lamb?

3.)    How do we know that Jesus was innocent?

4.)    How do you respond to someone who is vulnerable?

–         How do you respond to the powerful?

5.)    When is it appropriate to make ourselves vulnerable?

–         When is it not?

6.)    Can you think of a time when you made a sacrifice? What happened?

7.)    What does Jesus’ sacrifice reveal about God’s attitude to us?

–         What is an appropriate response to Jesus’ sacrifice?

8.)    Read Isaiah 53 and take some time to reflect on (or discuss) Jesus’ innocence, vulnerability and sacrifice in those verses.

 

Tawa Baptist

Jesus – Son of Man

Scripture: Matthew 20:17-28

Title: Jesus – Son of Man

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Glorious King
  • Suffering Servant
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

I have here a New Zealand half penny

–         On one side is the image of a tiki and on the other side the image of a young Queen Elizabeth the Second

–         Two quite different images – one coin

–         ‘Two sides of the same coin’, is an expression which means two things are related even though they seem quite different

–         The tiki and the queen are both icons of New Zealand

 

Glory & suffering are two sides of the same coin.

–         Although they are quite different experiences they are closely related – we can’t have glory without suffering

–         Just like we can’t have reward without sacrifice,

–         Or light without shadows, or love without pain, or hope without loss, or privilege without responsibility

All these are examples of what we mean by two sides of the same coin – things that are so closely related they can’t be separated and yet they seem quite different

 

Today we continue our series on the Titles of Jesus, this morning focusing on the Son of Man, Jesus’ favourite way of referring to himself

–         The Greek word translated as ‘man’ is a gender inclusive word, so it is more accurately ‘son of humankind’, but we will stick with the term son of man because that’s familiar

–         Son of Man is like the proverbial coin with two sides

–         It speaks of both the humanity and divinity of Jesus

–         It implies both sacrifice and reward, service and authority, the cross and the crown, glorious king and suffering servant

 

Glorious King:

To get an idea of what one side of the Son of Man coin looks like we need to go back to the time of the Jewish exile, when the prophet Daniel was serving in Babylon. From Daniel 7, verses 13-14 we read…

13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

To understand these verses we need to look at the context

–         In Daniel 7 the prophet Daniel is describing a vision

–         First Daniel sees four beasts or four monsters – which are representative of successive kingdoms of the ancient world, each one more frightening and inhumane than the one before

–         These monsters, or kingdoms, stand in opposition to the Kingdom of God

–         In verses 13 & 14 Daniel sees, not a monster, but one like a son of man

–         A human being – someone made in the image of God – someone who behaves, not as a monster, but as God intended

–         This son of man figure is representative of Israel – the people of God

The Ancient of Days is a poetic way of referring to God Almighty

–         The Son of Man is closely related to God Almighty

–         The Lord God gives the son of man authority, glory and sovereign power over all the nations of the earth

This then is one side of the Son of Man coin – the glory side

 

The Book of Daniel comes from the Hebrew Bible, what we call the Old Testament, so when Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man his Jewish disciples naturally think in terms of the figure described in Daniel 7 – someone powerful and glorious, with God given authority

–         And this certainly is one side of the coin as Jesus affirms in various parts of the gospel, like Matthew 19:28, for example where he says…

28 …“Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

The allusion to Daniel 7 is pretty obvious here

–         By calling himself the Son of Man, and saying his disciples will rule over the twelve tribes, Jesus is implying that he is representative of the new Israel – that he embodies the Kingdom of God

Jesus also talks about his glory as the Son of Man in Matthew 24 where he speaks about his second coming at the end of the age…

“Soon after the trouble of those days, the sun will grow dark, the moon will no longer shine, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers in space will be driven from their courses. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky; and all the peoples of earth will weep as they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. The great trumpet will sound, and he will send out his angels to the four corners of the earth, and they will gather his chosen people from one end of the world to the other.

Again, the connection with Daniel’s vision is unmistakable

 

Suffering Servant:

Jesus, the glorious king, is only one side of the Son of Man coin – the other side is Jesus the suffering servant

–         Please turn with me to Matthew chapter 20, verse 17 – page 29 toward the back of your pew Bibles

–         Before Jesus comes with the clouds and is crowned with honour and glory, he must first eat dirt and suffer the cross

–         I suppose if Jesus did have a coin in his kingdom (and I don’t think he does but if he did) it might have the picture of an empty tomb on one side and a cross on the other. From Matthew 20, verses 17 to 28 we read…

17 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and spoke to them privately, as they walked along. 18 “Listen,” he told them, “we are going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. They will condemn him to death 19 and then hand him over to the Gentiles, who will make fun of him, whip him, and crucify him; but three days later he will be raised to life.”

20 Then the wife of Zebedee came to Jesus with her two sons, bowed before him, and asked him for a favour.

21 “What do you want?” Jesus asked her.

She answered, “Promise me that these two sons of mine will sit at your right and your left when you are King.”

22 “You don’t know what you are asking for,” Jesus answered the sons. “Can you drink the cup of suffering that I am about to drink?”

“We can,” they answered.

23 “You will indeed drink from my cup,” Jesus told them, “but I do not have the right to choose who will sit at my right and my left. These places belong to those for whom my Father has prepared them.”

24 When the other ten disciples heard about this, they became angry with the two brothers. 25 So Jesus called them all together and said, “You know that the rulers of the heathen have power over them, and the leaders have complete authority. 26 This, however, is not the way it shall be among you. If one of you wants to be great, you must be the servant of the rest; 27 and if one of you wants to be first, you must be the slave of the others— 28 like the Son of Man, who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life to redeem many people.”

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

 

At Christmas time, and sometimes birthdays, a box of Roses chocolates normally appear

–         Roses chocolates come in an assortment of flavours – they are not all the same. Yes, they are made in the same factory with the same chocolate, but they have different centres

–         We all have our favourite flavours and also the flavours we won’t touch

–         It seems none of the women in our family like the mint Roses, because they always get left. Sometimes I open the box to find four mint chocolates and nothing else, which suits me because I quite enjoy mint

–         Robyn likes the coffee flavour whereas coffee chocolates make me gag

In NZ the mint flavoured Roses come in a green wrapper – which makes perfect sense. But in the UK the coffee flavoured Roses come in a green wrapper, which is just a cruel joke if you ask me – first world problems

 

In Matthew 20, the Scripture passage we just read, Jesus shows his disciples the other side of the Son of Man coin

–         They know all about the glorious king who will come riding on the clouds and they love that flavour of the Son of Man

–         But they don’t seem to want to know anything about the suffering servant, that’s a flavour that gets left in the box

Verses 17-19 are the third time, in Matthew, that Jesus has predicted his own death and with this third prediction comes the most detail

–         Jesus is going to Jerusalem knowing he will be betrayed, condemned to death and handed over to the Gentiles, who will mock him, whip him and crucify him

–         This is basically the opposite of what Daniel had described – in Daniel’s vision the Gentiles worship the Son of Man, they don’t mock and kill him

–         Saying the Son of Man would suffer in this way was completely foreign to the disciples, like a green wrapper on a coffee flavoured chocolate, it just doesn’t make sense

–         But it’s not all doom and gloom – after the suffering comes the glory, after death comes resurrection – Jesus rises on the third day

 

The disciples aren’t ready yet to face what Jesus is saying about sacrifice – they are still thinking about the reward Jesus had mentioned in Matthew 19, of sitting on thrones to rule the 12 tribes of Israel

–         Straight after Jesus’ passion prediction the mother of James & John approaches Jesus with great reverence for a favour…

–         ‘Promise me that these two sons of mine will sit at your right and your left when you are King’     

–         On the one hand this shows strong faith in who Jesus is – the disciples, of whom the wife of Zebedee appears to be one, are fully committed to the belief that Jesus is the Son of Man spoken of by the prophet Daniel

–         But on the other hand the request reveals misplaced ambition and an ignorance of the other side of the coin

–         Jesus is a suffering servant as well as a glorious king and somehow his suffering redeems people, so his sacrifice is not in vain, it has purpose

 

When we think of the brothers’ request in light of Jesus’ crucifixion we remember the places to Jesus’ right and left were occupied by criminals, condemned to die – James & John don’t know what they are asking

Jesus says to James & John, “Can you drink the cup of suffering that I am about to drink?”

–         “We can”, they answer – and indeed they would

–         The book of Acts tells us James was killed by king Herod, while tradition tells us John was exiled to the island of Patmos

–         Both brothers sacrificed and suffered in quite different ways for Jesus

 

The other disciples are not happy with the brothers so Jesus acts as a peace maker – he gets them together to prevent any bad feeling from turning septic

–         Interesting how Jesus has the wisdom and grace to transform something that could have been quite destructive into a teachable moment

–         Conflict often drives people apart but Jesus is able to use conflict to bring people together – amazing

Jesus explains that things operate differently under his reign

–         In the kingdoms of this world (as represented by the monsters in Daniel’s vision) greatness is characterised by pushing people around

–         But in God’s Kingdom, as represented by the Son of Man, greatness is characterised by service to others

–         The values of God’s kingdom are, in many respects, the opposite of the values of this world

–         For this reason God’s kingdom is sometimes called the ‘upside down kingdom’

Now for those familiar with the Netflix series, Stranger Things, ‘the upside down’ is a dark and toxic place, filled with horror and monsters (Poor Barb)

–         It would be more accurate to think of the world we live in as ‘the upside down’ and the kingdom of heaven as the way things are supposed to be

–         We only think this world is normal because we don’t know anything else

 

Jesus’ idea that greatness is measured in service to others is a complete paradigm shift – it requires us to retrain our minds & change our behaviour

 

Last week, Elissa & Hannah spoke about their trip to Nepal and the work of the Leprosy Mission there

–         They told us about a leading edge surgery where the doctors take the tendon attached to the middle finger and splice it, connecting it to the other fingers. This surgery restores movement to the whole hand

–         Surgery by itself isn’t enough though – people who have had the surgery need to retrain their brain to move their fingers, because the tendon of the middle finger is now connected to the thumb and ring finger

 

Or to use another illustration:

–         Backing a trailer requires the driver to move the steering wheel in the opposite direction than they would backing without a trailer

–         Backing a trailer is counter intuitive – you have to do everything the other way around

Jesus’ idea that greatness is measured in service to others is counter intuitive at first, requiring us to retrain our minds & change our behaviour

 

Now when we talk about service to others we mean service without ulterior motives

–         If someone gives a lot of money away to charity with the intention of getting a knighthood then that’s not really service to others, that’s service to oneself

–         But if someone gives money away out of love for people, in a way that doesn’t make themselves look big or others look small, then that’s true service

 

True service requires us to die to ourselves and what we want – it often involves the crucifixion of things like our ego, our reputation and our ambition

–         Jesus suffered massive indignity and humiliation in going to the cross

–         He didn’t do it for the glory – he did it out of love for God the Father and love for us – glory was simply the consequence of suffering love

 

Contemporary New Zealand culture is different, in some ways, from the ancient Middle Eastern culture of Jesus’ day

–         It would have been quite shocking for Jesus’ disciples to hear that the slave (the person on the lowest rung of society) was the greatest in God’s kingdom – but that’s not shocking to us

–         Despite the growing gap between rich & poor in this country we still like to think of ourselves as egalitarian

–         Generally speaking we like the underdog (at least in our imagination)

–         And we are quite ready to criticise and dishonour those in positions of power and leadership – it’s the New Zealand way

–         But focusing on someone’s social position misses the point

–         It’s not about position or status, it’s about service, and one can serve the interests of others from any social position, high or low

–         Jesus is not saying, ‘Down with the man’

–         He is not saying politicians and those in authority are bad

–         We still need leaders, and good ones, but leadership is just a function

–         Service to others is the true measure of greatness

Jesus is a leader – a very powerful leader, with God given authority, and yet he doesn’t abuse his power for his own advantage

–         Jesus uses his power to save others, at great cost to himself

 

Mother Teresa modelled the kind of service Jesus was talking about

–         Although she didn’t hold any political office or command any military power, she had a certain authority or mana or influence which came from her service to the poor

Father Damien De Veuster also modelled the greatness of service to others

–         During the 19th Century, Father Damien served as a priest to the people of Molokai Island – a medical quarantine for people with leprosy

–         Father Damien taught the Christian faith to the people and also cared for the patients himself

–         He established leadership within the community to build houses, schools, roads, hospitals, and churches.

–         He dressed residents’ ulcers, built a reservoir, made coffins, dug graves and shared food, providing both medical and emotional support.

–         If you want to be great become the servant of all

 

Most of us are unlikely to do the sorts of things Mother Teresa and Father Damien did but we can still serve others where we are, with what we have

The word ‘deacon’ means servant

–         To be a deacon of Tawa Baptist is to serve this congregation and that’s what each of our deacons do – they serve Christ by serving you

–         There’s a tremendous amount of work in being a deacon these days – it’s not just a pretty title

–         And in addition to their deacons’ responsibilities each one is involved in hands on service to the church, whether that’s painting or fundraising for 24-7 or helping in Club Intermed or leading all-age services and so on

 

It’s not just the deacons though – we have some very able musicians in this church who could easily play to a larger audience if they chose to but they don’t, because it’s not about them. They are committed to serving God and serving you, here in this place

In many ways I’m preaching to the choir – because I know that pretty much all of you here are serving others, either in the life of this church or through your work, in the community or at home, so I don’t need to labour the point

 

Conclusion:

Today is the first Sunday in Lent. Lent is a time when we prepare for Easter

–         It is a time of self-examination – a time for realigning ourselves with the values of God’s kingdom and the attitude of Christ

–         We need to do that because we live in the upside down, we live in relative darkness, with monsters, and so it is easy to lose sight of God’s kingdom

–         We need to remember there are two sides to the coin

Jesus Christ is the Son of Man – He is both glorious king and suffering servant

–         We don’t want to be so focused on the glory to come that we forget others and start serving our own ambition

–         But nor do we want to become so immersed in our service to others that we despair of this life and forget the glory of heaven

–         We need to keep both sides of the coin in view

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

1.)    What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon?

–         Why do you think this stood out to you?

2.)    What comes to your mind when you hear the term ‘Son of Man’?

–         How is this similar to or different from the disciples’ understanding?

3.)    Reflect on / discuss the continuity between Daniel’s vision of the Son of Man and Jesus’ use of the term (e.g. Daniel 7:13-14, Matthew 19:28 & 24:29-31)

4.)    What is your favourite Roses chocolate? Is there any flavour you won’t eat?

–         Which side of the Son of Man coin do you prefer – glorious king or suffering servant?

–         Why is that do you think?

–         How might we keep both sides of the coin in view?

5.)    How does Jesus act as a peacemaker in Matthew 20:24-28?

–         How might we act as peacemakers in similar situations?

6.)    What might ‘service to others’ look like for you?

–         What does it mean to die to oneself?