Tawa Baptist

O come, O come Immanuel

Scriptures: Matthew 1:22-23; Isaiah 11:1-10; Luke 1:78; Luke 19:1-10; Revelation 3:7-12

O come, O come Immanuel and ransom captive Israel,

That mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel, shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, O come Thou Lord of might, who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height

In ancient times didst give the law in cloud and majesty and awe.

O come, Thou rod of Jesse, free Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;

From depths of hell Thy people save, and give them victory o’er the grave.

O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer our spirits by Thy justice here;

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death’s dark shadows put to flight.

O come, Thou Key of David, come, and open wide our heavenly home.

The captives from their prison free, and conquer death’s deep misery.  

When we were training for ministry I remember one of our fellow students, who was Maori, explaining to us how Maori think:

  • Ka mura, Ka muri – we walk into the future backwards 
  • [Walk backwards across the stage]
  • He was saying that we can’t see the future – we don’t know what’s coming – but when we look back at our heritage we see the way to go
  • It’s by looking to trustworthy examples from the past that we find a way forward.

Today we continue our ‘Anthems’ series

  • In this series we are looking at the lyrics of one hymn or Christian worship song each week to see how that song informs our thinking about God and how it connects with Scripture and the heritage of our faith.
  • As we look back at these hymns we see where we have come from and it helps to show us the way forward.

With today being the first Sunday in Christmas Advent we will be taking a closer look at the hymn O come, O come Immanuel

  • This song is a hymn of hope centered around the advent (or coming) of Jesus
  • We can’t be sure who wrote the words for O come, O come Immanuel
  • It was originally a series of Latin chants prayed from around the seventh or eighth century AD/CE.

There were seven chants each containing a different Latin name for Christ:

  • Sapientia – which means Wisdom (Proverbs 8:22)
  • Adonai – which means Lord (Exodus 20:1)
  • Radix Jesse – the Root (or Rod) of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1)
  • Clavis David – Key of David (Rev. 3:7),
  • Oriens – which means Dayspring (Luke 1:78)
  • Rex Gentium – which means King of Nations (Hag. 2:7)
  • And Immanuel – God with us (Isaiah 7:14). 

These seven chants were sung in anticipation of Christ’s birth on the seven evenings preceding Christmas Eve. [1]

  • The version we sing today has five verses (not seven) as it omits the verses about Christ being Wisdom and King of the Nations

Various people have translated the Latin into English at different times but the version we are most familiar with was translated by John Mason Neale in 1861

  • Although John Neale did not write the song (he only translated it) I think his story is worth mentioning because his work of translation came at great personal cost
  • Born in London in 1818, Neale studied at Cambridge, and was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1842.
  • He was offered a parish but chronic ill health prevented him from taking it. So, in 1846, Neale was put in charge of Sackville College, which was an alms house, sort of like emergency housing for the poor
  • In 1854 Neale co-founded the Sisterhood of St. Margaret, an order of women in the Anglican Church dedicated to nursing the sick.

In addition to his social work, in helping the sick and the poor, John Neale also translated many old hymns from other traditions of the Christian faith, like the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches

  • He did this at a time when there was a great divide between Anglicans and Catholics
  • Neale walked into the future backwards – he believed it was by looking to the past that the church would find a way forward
  • Unfortunately, Neale was misunderstood by his fellow Anglicans
  • People thought he was an agent of the Vatican, assigned to destroy the Anglican Church by subverting it from within.
  • Once he was attacked at a funeral and, from time to time, unruly crowds threatened to stone him or burn his house to the ground.
  • It’s amazing how times have changed.
  • Because of the courage and vision of people like Neale we now sing from the same hymn sheet as it were and enjoy good relationships with other denominations.
  • (Speaking of which, I hope to see you at the combined Advent service at Our Lady of Fatima (Catholic) church here in Tawa this evening. 7pm.)    
  • John Neale persevered and his basic goodness eventually won the confidence of many who had fiercely opposed him.
  • The Sisterhood of St. Margaret survived and prospered, as did many of the hymns he translated. [2]
  • More than anyone else, John Mason Neale made English-speaking congregations aware of the centuries-old tradition of Latin, Greek, Russian, and Syrian hymns.

Each verse of O come, O come Immanuel begins with a request, a heartfelt prayer, for Christ to come to his people

  • O come Immanuel, O come Thou Lord of might, O come Thou rod of Jesse, O come Thou Key of David, come
  • And each verse is answered by the refrain: Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

Advent means coming – during Advent we remember Jesus’ first coming to earth 2000 years ago and we remember he will come again in glory

  • The Christian belief we find in these verses is that we don’t come to God – God comes to us
  • It is impossible for us to come to God in our own strength – we can’t get to heaven. Rather God brings heaven to earth, in the form of Jesus.

It may seem strange to us how the words rejoice, rejoice, are sung in such a sad way – but the music is entirely appropriate to the meaning of the song  

  • The tune for O come, O come Immanuel is called VENI EMMANUEL
  • This tune is thought to come from a 15th century funeral chant that had belonged to French Franciscan nuns
  • So the tune is sad because it was used in funeral processions
  • The people who sing this are grieving, downtrodden and oppressed
  • They feel like they are struggling under a heavy yoke and God is absent
  • That’s why they are calling, yearning, for God’s presence
  • Their circumstances are far from ideal – they want heaven on earth
  • The rejoicing that is called for in the refrain is a rejoicing in faith and hope that God is coming.
  • It is the sober rejoicing of a prisoner who, despite still being locked up, knows they will be released soon

For many people Christmas is a season of mixed feelings – it is supposed to be a time of celebration but often it is a time when we feel our losses most keenly

  • We need a song like O come, O come Immanuel, that enables us to face our grief

Immanuel is one of the names for Jesus

  • We find the title ‘Immanuel’ in the prophecies of Isaiah and then Matthew ascribes this title to Jesus in his gospel.
  • All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” – which means ‘God with us’. [3]   

Jesus is God with us

  • Have you ever notice how physical labour is so much easier when you are doing it with someone else, as opposed to doing it on your own
  • It’s not just that you get through the work quicker. There’s a kind of emotional support or buoyancy in working with someone else
  • Trimming the hedge, doing the housework, cutting a tree down, digging a trench, building a fence, whatever it is, it seems less onerous, less heavy when you have someone fit and skilled working with you
  • Some of my best memories as a kid were doing jobs on the weekend with my dad and grandad 
  • Jesus is God with us. He comes alongside us (so we are not alone) and he helps us with our work of trusting and obeying God

Verse 1 reads: O come, O come Immanuel and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.

We walk into the future backwards

  • It’s by looking to the past that we find a way forward.
  • Verse one looks back to Israel’s exile to Babylon
  • In 586 BC Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians
  • Many Israelis were killed and the survivors were taken captive and sent into exile in a strange land
  • It was a time of mourning, a time of feeling like God was absent, a time of waiting for God to ransom them, to set them free
  • It wasn’t until 70 years later the people were allowed to return and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and the temple 

We may feel at odds with the world we live in at times

  • We may feel like exiles – that we don’t belong and are not free
  • We may identify with Israel in feeling alienated and alone
  • We may wonder what the future holds
  • But as we look back to Israel’s experience we see how God did not forget His people – God set His people free and some centuries later He sent His Son Jesus, our Immanuel. Jesus will return in glory one day

Verse 2 reads: O come, O come, Thou Lord of might, who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height in ancient times didst give the law in cloud and majesty and awe.

Thou is an old English word for You and Thy equates to Your – so it’s like saying, ‘O come You Lord of might, who to Your tribes on Sinai’s height…’

This verse of the hymn looks back to the time of Moses and the people Israel in the wilderness after they were set free from slavery in Egypt  

  • God did many mighty things to inspire faith and awe…
  • He separated the Red Sea for the Israelites to cross,
  • He provided water out of a rock,
  • He gave manna and quail to feed the people in the wilderness,
  • He led the people by a pillar of cloud and fire
  • And, at Mount Sinai, God gave the Law, including the 10 commandments

The Law is like a set of clothes – it enabled Israel to stand before God

  • Without the Law we are naked before God
  • God gave the Israelites the Law so they could stand in right relationship with Him
  • When we are baptized we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ
  • Christ fulfills the Law – he gives us a new set of clothes so we can stand before God without shame

Jesus, whose name in Hebrew is Joshua, is Moses’ successor

  • Just as Moses was God’s representative leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, so too Jesus leads all who trust him out of the slavery of sin and death and into the promised land of God’s kingdom

There may be times when we feel like we are walking around in circles in the wilderness, like we are lost in our journey of faith, and we are not sure what comes next

  • We walk into the future backwards
  • We look at how God provided for His people in the wilderness of Sinai and we trust Him to lead us to the Promised Land, the kingdom of heaven

Verse 3 of the hymn says: O come, Thou rod of Jesse, free Thine own from Satan’s tyranny; from depths of hell Thy people save, and give them victory over the grave.  

Rod of Jesse (or root of Jesse) is a reference to Jesus, the Messiah

  • Jesse was the father of king David
  • The term Rod of Jesse comes from Isaiah 11 where the prophets says in verses 1 & 10…

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might…

10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.

Then, right at the end of the Bible in Revelation 22, Jesus says to John…

  • “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Off-spring of David…”

The point is, Jesus is a king in the line of David but he isn’t exactly like David – he’s better than David.

  • David did some good things for Israel but he wasn’t the most righteous king, as we heard about a couple of Sundays ago (with Bathsheba).
  • Jesus is righteous though.  

Verse 3 of the hymn talks about Jesus freeing people from Satan’s tyranny.

  • In his earthly ministry Jesus demonstrated time and time again his power to release people from sickness and demon possession with just a word
  • Verse 3 also talks about Jesus saving people from the depths of hell and giving us victory over the grave
  • This has to do with resurrection to eternal life
  • The message of Jesus’ resurrection was front and centre of the preaching of the early apostles
  • People in the middle ages, when these words were written, had a vivid imagination when it came to hell
  • Jesus certainly preached about hell using colourful metaphors, but whether his imagery was meant to be taken literally is debatable. 

One of my motivations in becoming a Christian (initially) was to avoid hell

  • If you accept Jesus as your saviour now, you get to go to heaven when you die – that was how it was pitched to me
  • While God is gracious enough to accept people on that basis, I have found it is not a particularly robust or adequate theology for this life
  • If your main reason for being a Christian is to avoid hell, then your life and relationship with God will be based on fear
  • God wants the basis of our relationship with Him to be one of faith expressing itself in love,[4] not fear expressing itself in resentment
  • If our only reason for being a Christian is to avoid hell, then we will end up resenting God. The aim is to love God. Perfect love drives out fear. 

There may be times when we fear what awaits us in the next life

  • I can’t tell you anything about hell – I’ve not been there and I can’t see beyond the grave
  • We walk into the future backwards
  • We find hope for our future beyond death by looking back to Jesus
  • God raised Jesus from the dead – the first of many. Jesus is our hope
  • As we read in Romans 10: If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord”, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  

Verse 4 reads: O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer our spirits by Thy justice here; disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Dayspring is a word we don’t hear very often these days – it means dawn of the morning, the first light of daybreak

  • Jesus is the dayspring – his advent (his coming) heralds the new day
  • In fact, Jesus is the light of the world – he is the dawn of a new age in human history where God’s kingdom comes to earth like a sunrise

We find a number references in the Scriptures to Jesus being the dayspring. For example, Isaiah 60, verse 1: Arise shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

  • Or Malachi 4, verse 2: But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings
  • And most famously, the words of Zechariah (the father of John Baptist) when his son was born,
  • You remember Zechariah couldn’t speak while Elizabeth was pregnant with John. But when John was born Zechariah’s tongue was loosed and this is what he said, from Luke 1, verse 78:
  • By the tender mercy of our God the dawn from on high will break upon us to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.   
  • These verses are talking about Jesus, the dayspring

Returning to verse 4 of the song: we notice that the human spirit is cheered up (given a lift) by the justice of Christ

  • The justice of Christ is medicine to our soul because it restores people, rather than destroying them.
  • The classic story of Jesus’ restorative justice is the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19
  • Jesus doesn’t approach Zacchaeus all guns blazing – he doesn’t shame or destroy Zacchaeus
  • Jesus shows honour to Zacchaeus by having dinner at his place 
  • In doing this Jesus gives Zacchaeus the opportunity to redeem himself and be restored to his community
  • And Zacchaeus takes the opportunity with both hands saying:
  • I will give half my belongings to the poor and if I have cheated anyone I will pay them back four times as much.
  • This is the wise and gentle justice of Jesus – it’s a justice that benefits everyone

There may be times when we harbour guilt for the unfair way we have treated others. Or, conversely, there may be times when we harbour anger for the unfair way other people have treated us

  • We walk into the future backwards
  • When we look back at the way Jesus restored people, the way he made things right, we see the way forward in our relationships

The last verse of our hymn today reads: O come Thou Key of David, come, and open wide our heavenly home. The captives from their prison free, and conquer death’s deep misery.

Jesus came to set the captives free. At the same time Jesus is the door or the key by which we enter the kingdom of heaven

The expression ‘Key of David’ first appears in Isaiah 22:22 and is then picked up again in Revelation. Please turn with me to Revelation chapter 3, page 309 toward the back of your pew Bibles

  • In Revelation 2 & 3 Jesus gives a message to each of the seven churches of the first Century
  • Some of the churches get a bit of a serve – Jesus is not happy with them
  • But to the church in Philadelphia Jesus has a word of encouragement
  • From Revelation chapter 3, verse 7, we read…

7 “To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:

“This is the message from the one who is holy and true. He has the key that belonged to David, and when he opens a door, no one can close it, and when he closes it, no one can open it. 8 I know what you do; I know that you have a little power; you have followed my teaching and have been faithful to me. I have opened a door in front of you, which no one can close. 9 Listen! As for that group that belongs to Satan, those liars who claim that they are Jews but are not, I will make them come and bow down at your feet. They will all know that I love you. 10 Because you have kept my command to endure, I will also keep you safe from the time of trouble which is coming upon the world to test all the people on earth. 11 I am coming soon. Keep safe what you have, so that no one will rob you of your victory prize.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us

Whoever wrote this last verse of O come, O come Immanuel identified with the church in Philadelphia

  • This was a church that was not powerful, not successful, not popular, but it was faithful
  • There may be times when we feel powerless or like we are trapped – forced to live a life not of our choosing
  • When you feel trapped and powerless to do anything about it, where do you go next?
  • We walk into the future backwards
  • When we look back at the way Jesus encouraged the church of Philadelphia we find hope and a way forward
  • Jesus is the Key of David – he’s the one who unlocks the door and opens a way for us to walk in freedom – but we need to be faithful, we need to endure.  

Do you feel like you are in exile, at odds with the world around you?

  • You are not alone. Jesus is Immanuel, God with us.

Do you feel like you are lost in the wilderness, naked before God?

  • You are found. Jesus is the Lord of might, able to provide for you.

Do you feel afraid – anxious of evil, anxious of death, anxious of hell?

  • Do not be afraid. Jesus is the rod of Jesse. He has conquered death. You belong to Christ.

Do you feel guilty for the injustice you have done? Or do you feel angry at the injustice done to you?

  • Peace is coming. Jesus is the Dayspring. The light of his justice makes all things new.

Do you feel trapped and powerless, weak and small?

  • You are blessed. Jesus is the Key of David. He comes to open the way for those who remain faithful to him.  

Let’s stand and sing O come, O come Immanuel as we prepare for communion  

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. Listen to (or sing) the song, ‘O come, O come Immanuel’.  What are you in touch with as you listen to this song? (What connections, memories or feelings does it evoke for you?) 
  2. What does the proverb, ‘we walk into the future backwards’ mean? How does this relate to our Christian faith?
  3. How do you feel about Christmas?
  4. What difference does it make knowing that Christ will return one day – that he will come to us?
  5. Discuss / reflect on the meaning of the five names/images used for Jesus in this hymn – i.e. Immanuel, Lord of might, Rod of Jesse, Dayspring and Key of David. Which name / image speaks most clearly to your current situation?
  6. Why did you become a Christian? (What is the basis of your relationship with God?) How might we move from a relationship with God based on ‘fear expressing itself in resentment’, to one based on ‘faith expressing itself in love’?
  7. What are some characteristics of Jesus’ justice?
  8. Which verse of the hymn do you identify with most? Verse 1, being in exile? Verse 2, being in the wilderness? Verse 3, being afraid? Verse 4, needing justice? Verse 5, feeling trapped?

[1] https://www.hymnologyarchive.com/o-come-o-come-emmanuel

[2] http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/220.html

[3] Matthew 1:22-23

[4] Galatians 5:6

Tawa Baptist

Be Thou my Vision

Scriptures: Revelation 7:14-17; Proverbs 3:5-8; Ephesians 6:12-17;

Philippians 3:10-11; Matthew 6:1-4 & 19-24, among others.

Be Thou my Vision:

Good things take time, whether that’s aging cheese or wine, cooking and resting meat, waiting a few years for a tree to fruit or developing friendship and trust

  • Good things take time    

Today we continue our ‘Anthems’ series

  • In this series we are looking at the lyrics of one hymn or Christian worship song each week to see how that song informs our thinking about God and how it connects with Scripture and the history of our faith.

Today’s song is Be Thou my Vision ­

  • Thou is an old English word which simply means you
  • So, Be Thou my Vision means ‘God, You be my vision’

‘Be Thou my Vision’ is a song that took a long time

  • It started as a poem, that lay dormant for many centuries, before the words were married to a tune and people started singing it in worship.
  • It is rich in history

At the church AGM last August, we presented Jason with a gavel for his many years’ service as chair of the Deacons board

  • The gavel was made by Bryan Hawkins, who turned the wood himself
  • The handle was made from a church pew, the head from a Tawa tree from Peterhouse Street and the stand was made from Rimu taken from the Tararua Ranges in 1992.
  • In some ways Be Thou my Vision is a bit like Jason’s gavel – it is a song recycled from some historically significant materials
  • Before we look at the lyrics though, let’s consider the history of the song and how it came into being.   

The tune for Be Thou my Vision is simply called ‘Slane’, after a village in Ireland called Slane.

  • The ‘Slane’ tune wasn’t originally church music – it was non-liturgical, meaning it wasn’t a Christian worship song. It was a tune people might sing in the pub or around an open fire at home.
  • There is a longstanding practice, in Irish worship music, of using traditional folk tunes to sing liturgical texts.
  • It would be akin taking a classic pop song (like Unchained Melody or Candle in the Wind or Let it be) and putting Christian words to it
  • Using mainstream music in worship was genius really – it meant everyone was familiar with the tune regardless of their background
  • It created a bridge, making it easier for non-Christians and new Christians to feel at home singing in church

Having said that, there is still a Christian connection with the Slane tune  

  • On the wall here is a picture of the ruins of Slane Abbey
    It was on Slane Hill in County Meath around 433 AD/CE that St. Patrick lit candles on Easter Eve, defying a decree by High King Logaire  
  • The king had said that no one could light a flame before he signaled the beginning of the pagan spring festival by lighting a fire on Tara Hill.
  • Like the prophet Daniel, Saint Patrick risked his life in going against the king’s orders
  • King Logaire was so impressed by Patrick’s courage and devotion that, despite his defiance, Patrick was permitted to continue his work as Ireland’s first Christian missionary.

The words for Be Thou my Vision are based on an old Irish poem

  • The experts are not agreed on who wrote the poem
  • Some attribute the poem to St Dallan who lived during the 6th century AD
  • Others say it was written later than that, around the 8th Century or even the 10th Century, by someone else who attached St Dallan’s name to it
  • Maybe they did this as a tribute to St Dallan or maybe they hoped to give the poem notoriety by associating it with a famous poet.
  • Whoever wrote it there seems to be a connection with St Dallan
  • So who was he?

Born in 530 AD, Saint Dallan’s given name was Eochaidh. He was given the nick name ‘Dallan’, meaning ‘little blind one’, because he lost his sight, apparently as a result of intensive study – such was his devotion to God

  • The words, ‘Be Thou my Vision’ take on a whole new meaning when one is blind and can’t see.  
  • Dallan had to rely on God – he knew first-hand what it meant to walk by faith and not by sight. We need the spiritual vision that faith provides. 

Saint Dallan’s poem, which is actually a prayer, was written in an old form of the Irish language, which meant it wasn’t accessible to many people in the modern English speaking world

  • It may have been lost to us except for the work of Mary Byrne who translated the Old Irish text into English in 1905
  • The English version was then versified by Eleanor Hull in 1912
  • But Eleanor’s version of the words of “Be Thou My Vision” wasn’t combined with the tune of Slane and sung in churches until 1919.
  • It could not have come at a more needed time

1919 was a difficult year in human history

  • People had suffered so much pointless loss as a consequence of the First World War (1914-1918).
  • Then, following hard on the heels of the Great War, came the flu epidemic which killed even more people than the war
  • The general population was blinded with grief and loss
  • In that historical context it was difficult to see God’s hand for good
  • As a consequence, there arose a movement known as ‘protest atheism’
  • Protest atheism is different from the lazy practical atheism of today
  • Protest atheism was the sort of atheism a Christian can have sympathy for
  • With protest atheism a person wants to believe that God is good and kind, just and merciful but their experience just can’t sustain that belief
  • How can God be loving when there is so much suffering in the world?
  • If one can’t see that God is good then one refuses to trust him, in protest
  • Like Owen Marshall said, ‘The world is divided between those who face the world with a religion, and those who wish to but have only irony in its place.’ [1]

During my twenties I went through a rough time. My experience caused me to question many of the things I had been taught to believe about God.

  • Part of that process of disorientation led me to toy with protest atheism. But I found it didn’t work.
  • Life loses all meaning when we try to take God out of the picture.
  • In the end I had to admit, some things are unknowable
  • Some things I just can’t see or understand
  • Some things I am blind to and I just have to trust that God will be my vision – that He can see and make sense of what I can’t.    

While it is true to say that this life is not always fair, we need to keep in mind that this life is not all there is. There is more to the picture than meets the eye

  • We need God to be our vision when we are blinded by our pain
  • We need to remember that Jesus will return one day to make all things new – to bring an end to war and sickness, death and suffering

In the book of Revelation, the apostle John records a vision he received from God. In chapter 7 we read of John’s vision for those who suffer and remain loyal to Christ…

“These are they who have come out of the great tribulation…

‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;
he will lead them to springs of living water.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”   

Be Thou my vision, has been sung in churches for the last 100 years. It still speaks to our generation today.

  • It is an acknowledgment of our blindness, for we are all blind in our own way. None of us sees the whole picture.
  • Each us needs to see God’s hand for good in the world and in our own lives personally
  • All of us need God to give us a picture of the future which inspires hope
  • And when we can’t see a good future – when we lose our hope – we need God to be our vision

The vision of hope and goodness that God gives is Jesus

  • O Lord of my heart; is a reference to Jesus.
  • I am reminded of Saul of Tarsus (the zealous Pharisee) who sincerely believed the followers of Jesus were wrong and needed to be stopped
  • Saul hunted Christians down and persecuted them, fully convinced he was doing the right thing by God. But Saul was spiritually blind
  • So God gave Saul a vision of the risen Jesus on the Road to Damascus
  • And Saul was physically blinded by the light of Christ (blinded by the light), but at the same time he had the eyes of his heart opened to see that Jesus is Lord and he had actually been persecuting the Messiah
  • Saul repented, his sight was restored, he was renamed Paul and went on to promote the gospel of Christ  
  • The vision we need, the vision this hymn is asking for, is a vision of Jesus

The vision statement of this church is ‘Christ in community’

  • We want to see Christ at work in our own faith community and the wider community outside the church
  • We need the vision (the eyes) to see where Jesus is active and work in harmony with him and his purpose.

Ed Sheeran has a song called ‘Photograph’. In it we find these lines…

  • You can fit me inside the necklace you got when you were sixteen
    Next to your heartbeat where I should be, keep it deep within your soul
  • I doubt that Ed was thinking of Jesus when he wrote that song but those lines come close to expressing the meaning of the opening verse of ‘Be Thou my Vision’

Some of you may have a locket that you wear around your neck, with a photograph of someone you love in it

  • The locket with the photo is always close to your heart
  • Others of you may keep a photo of your loved ones in your wallet or on your phone so whenever you go to pay for something you see your family 
  • Each of us needs a vision (a picture) of Jesus to sustain us
  • Jesus shows us what God is like and he shows us how to be human  

Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art is a difficult line to understand

  • I think it basically means, ‘Jesus, I want you to be number one in my life’
  • ‘Jesus, I want to give you my best and not divide my loyalty.’   

Thou my best thought, by day or by night, both waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

  • God’s presence is often associated with light in the Bible
  • Light is silent. Light reveals the truth. Light is a symbol of goodness
  • Light is security, it dispels fear. This line is a prayer for inner light – for the truth and goodness of Christ to illuminate our mind

In Psalm 139 David celebrates the light of God’s presence with him always…

  • If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.    
  • God’s presence is with us always, whether we are conscious of it or not

Verse 2: Be Thou my Wisdom, be Thou my true word; is an acknowledgment that wisdom and truth come from God, not from ourselves.

  • In Proverbs 3, verses 5-8 we read…

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. 8 This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.

Vision is connected to wisdom. Wisdom and truth help us to see the way to go.

Verse 2 of the song continues: I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, and I Thy true son;

  • These lines are talking about a close family relationship with God
  • The phrase, I Thy true son, may jar with us these days, but it is not meant to exclude women. The point is: a true child of God obeys God the Father
  • In Matthew 21 Jesus tells a parable of two sons.
  • The father asks the first son to go and work in the vineyard.
  • The first son says he will but then he doesn’t   
  • So the father asks the second son to go and work in the vineyard.
  • The second son refuses, but then he goes and does what his father asks
  • The true child of God is the one who obeys God.
  • We need wisdom to obey God.

Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one is talking about eternal life

  • Eternal life isn’t just living forever. Eternal life describes a certain quality of relationship with God – a relationship of closeness and intimacy, where God dwells in us by His Spirit and we dwell in Christ.  

Verse 3: Be Thou my breastplate, my sword for the fight; Thou my whole armour, Thou my true might; this is clearly a reference to the armour of God described in Ephesians 6

  • The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit
  • For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
  • We might not identify with the battle imagery we find in many of the older hymns but that’s only because most of us don’t know what it is to be in a war (for which we can thank God)
  • Ireland, at the time these verses were first written, was plagued with fighting.
  • And, as I mentioned earlier, the realities of war were still fresh in the minds of many in 1919 when this hymn was first being sung in churches

Verse 3 is essentially asking God to be our security    

  • Be Thou my soul’s shelter, be Thou my high tower, these words are straight out of the psalms. God is a sanctuary and fortress for us.
  • God is our security.  

 
O raise Thou me heavenward, great power of my power, is talking about resurrection. The power of God’s love is greater than the power of death

  • The same power that raised Christ from the dead is at work in us who believe. In Philippians 3, verse 10, Paul writes…
  • I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.   

In 598 Saint Dallan was visiting his friend Saint Conall at Inishskeel when pirates raided the island monastery.

  • Dallan turned the other cheek. He did not resist when attacked and was beheaded by the pirates.
  • A peaceful man come to a violent end, much like Christ  
  • Dallan shared in the sufferings of Christ, becoming like him in death and so he shares in Christ’s resurrection – he is raised heavenward.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, the first in my heart,
O Sovereign of heaven, my treasure Thou art.

This verse finds its inspiration from Matthew 6 where Jesus says…

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

In Matthew 6 Jesus makes a connection between our vision (our eyes) and what we value or treasure  

  • Money (or mammon – the god of wealth) can blind us to what is really important. If we give our lives to making money, we lose our way.
  • But when our eyes are fixed on a vision of Jesus (who is the light of the world) we can see the path we are to follow.

As much as possible we try to have a mixture of old and new songs in our Sunday liturgy

  • Some people think this is a strategy to try and keep everyone happy but that’s not my purpose.
  • One of the main reasons we include a variety of songs (old and new) is so that we get a good variety in our theological diet
  • How many new worship songs do you know that talk about money?
  • Not many, if any. And yet Jesus had quite a bit to say about money, particularly the way it competes for our loyalty with God
  • What’s more, financial giving is part of our worship
  • If we didn’t sing old hymns like Be Thou my Vision, then we might never think how money affects our relationship with God, except when the preacher does an occasional sermon on it 
  • This is not to say new songs don’t have their place. They do.
  • The new songs tend to fill in the theological gaps of the older hymns and vice versa   

Verse 4 of the hymn also has that line about not heeding man’s praise.

  • This relates to what Jesus says at the beginning of Matthew 6 …

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.   

As Oswald Chambers prayed: ‘Lord, save me from the praise and blame of others’.

  • In the same way that money can blind us to the things of God, so too the opinion of others can obscure our vision
  • The idea with worship is that God is the audience.
  • Whatever form our worship may take, whether that’s singing or giving to the poor or doing justice, our motivation needs to be self-giving love and devotion to God, not self-centered love or devotion to our ego

In 1972 Carly Simon wrote a song called ‘You’re so vain’ – it was allegedly about Warren Beatty. The chorus goes…

  • You’re so vain, you probably think this song is about you. You’re so vain, I bet you think this song is about you, don’t you?
  • When we sing the song Be Thou my Vision, we are praying, ‘Lord it’s not about me. It’s about you. Don’t let my life or my worship be vain.
  • Let my orientation, my perspective, my focus be you and not myself.’

The final verse of Be Thou my Vision, as we sing it, reads…

High King of Heaven, Thou heaven’s bright sun,
O grant me its joys, after victory is won.
Great heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be Thou my vision, O ruler of all.

A more literal translation, of the old Irish poem, reads like this…

O King of the seven heavens grant me this —
Thy love to be in my heart and in my soul.

With the King of all, with him after victory won by piety,
May I be in the kingdom of heaven O brightness of the son.

Beloved Father, hear, hear my lamentations.
Timely is the cry of woe of this miserable wretch.

O heart of my heart, whatever befall me,
O ruler of all, be Thou my vision.

This more literal version shows us the meaning between the lines

  • What really matters is not wealth or the opinion of others but whether we have the love of God in our heart and whether we are included in the kingdom of heaven
  • The author of this poem has suffered much and, like the psalmists of old, wants God the Father to hear his lamentations
  • A lamentation is a passionate expression of grief – it is a song of sorrow
  • For many years I thought of this as an inspirational song, almost a victory march. But it’s not.
  • It is actually the outpouring of the broken hearted – more like a country song. Timely is the cry of woe of this miserable wretch.

Life is difficult. God does not promise us a life free of suffering

  • What God does promise, when we place our trust in Jesus, is his presence, whatever may befall us in this life,
  • And heaven in the life to come.
  • What we need, to get us through, is a vision of Christ

Let’s stand and sing: Be Thou my Vision

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. Listen to (or sing) the song, ‘Be Thou my Vision’.  What are you in touch with as you listen to this song? (What connections, memories or feelings does it evoke for you?) 
  2. What significance (meaning) would Be Thou my Vision have held for people in 1919? In what ways does it speak to our generation in 2019? Which of the verses (or lines) are most relevant to you?   
  3. How does God answer our prayer for a vision? (Who does he give us?)
  4. How does money (and the opinion of others) blind us to the things of God? What is the remedy?
  5. Why does our liturgy (play list) need to have a variety of older & newer worship songs?
  6. What (secular) pop song would you like to give Christian worship lyrics to? Why not have a go writing your own lyrics?

[1] From Owen Marshall’s poem, ‘The Divided World’.

Tawa Baptist

Create in me a clean heart

Scriptures: Psalm 51 and 2nd Samuel 11 & 12

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Keith Green
  • King David
  • Psalm 51
  • Conclusion

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

And renew a right spirit within me;

Cast me not away from Your presence, O Lord

Take not Your Holy Spirit from me;

Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation,

And renew a right spirit within me.

Introduction:

Some of you may have seen the movie Rocketman recently

  • It’s a bio pic about the life of Elton John
  • Elton John is of course an incredibly talented musician, but he didn’t write all those hits songs on his own – many of his songs are a collaboration with Bernie Taupin
  • Bernie was the lyricist – he wrote the words and gave them to Elton who then put them to music.

Last week we began a new sermon series called ‘Anthems’

  • In this series we are looking at the lyrics of one hymn or Christian worship song each week to see how that song informs our thinking about God and how it connects with Scripture and the history of our faith.
  • The purpose is not to find fault with the words but to help us interpret the songs in the best possible light.

Today’s song is called, Create in me a clean heart

  • This song is a collaboration between king David, Keith Green and the Holy Spirit
  • The lyrics were written by David roughly 3,000 years ago, I’m not sure who wrote the tune we sing it to but it was covered by Keith Green about 40 years ago.
  • Before we get to king David though, let’s consider Keith Green’s life

Keith Green:

For Keith Green it was all about glorifying God. This is what Keith says…

The only music minister to whom the Lord will say, ‘Well done, thy good and faithful servant’, is the one whose life proves what their lyrics are saying, and to whom music is the least important part of their life. Glorifying the only worthy One has to be the minister’s most important goal.  

Keith Green was born in 1953 is New York, into a show biz family

  • Like king David, Keith was Jewish, although unlike David, Keith’s family didn’t practice the Jewish faith
  • Keith was genuinely gifted, a child star. At the age of 11 he landed a five-year contract with industry giant Decca Records
  • Time magazine hailed him as a ‘prepubescent dreamboat” who “croons in a voice trembling with conviction…”
  • Keith was poised to become the next teen heart throb until Donny Osmond beat him to it. Worldly success didn’t happen for Keith.

In the 1960’s, at the age of 15, Keith ran away from home in search of girls, drugs and the promise of universal love preached by the hippie movement

  • This was a time when the west was discovering the east and so Keith looked to eastern religions to try and find spiritual truth
  • As he devoured the writings of the religious ‘masters’ one thing struck him as odd: their teachings kept referring to Jesus Christ, but Jesus was at the bottom of Keith’s list.
  • Eventually, one day in 1973 after much trial and error, when he had exhausted every other option Keith bought a cross, put it on and alone, through tears prayed in desperation, “Jesus, if you’re there, show yourself to me.” And Jesus did. The love of Jesus broke through.

In the gospel Jesus says, those who have been forgiven much, love much.

  • Keith Green had been forgiven much and so his love for Jesus was very strong. Keith had a tremendous energy and passion to see others come to faith in Jesus and it showed in the songs he wrote 
  • Between 1977 and 1982 Keith released five gospel albums
  • But he wasn’t just a performer – Keith was the real deal.
  • He and his wife Melody opened their home in radical hospitality to people in need and they gave away most of the money they earned
  • They also wrote an evangelical magazine called Last Days  
  • Some people saw Keith Green as a prophet, because his songs called the church to repentance, but he was never comfortable with that label.

Sadly, in July 1982, just a few months before his 29th birthday, Keith died in a plane crash. It was around this time I became a Christian and was baptized.

King David:

Create in me a clean heart is a simple song based on verses 10-12 of Psalm 51

  • It is essentially a prayer for conversion from the inside out – a heartfelt request for real and lasting change to one’s self

The sub-title to psalm 51 reads: A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone into Bathsheba.

  • To put you in the picture, David has, by this stage, been king for a number of years and has enjoyed quite a bit of success
  • While his army is away fighting David stays home in his palace
  • One evening he looks out over his balcony and sees a beautiful woman bathing. Like the Bruce Springsteen song, David is on fire.
  • Maybe it is the loneliness of leadership?
  • Maybe it’s the corrupting influence of power?
  • Or maybe David has simply grown complacent in his prosperity?
  • Whatever the reason, David must have this woman and invites her to his room. Her name is Bathsheba.
  • One thing leads to another and Bathsheba gets pregnant.

This is not a good look for David. David wants to cover his tracks, to hide what he has done

  • Bathsheba is married to Uriah the Hittite. Uriah is a good guy. He is actually away fighting in David’s army    
  • David calls Uriah back from the front line, tries to get him drunk and then sends him home in the hope he will sleep with Bathsheba
  • That way no one will know what David has done – everyone will think the baby is Uriah’s.
  • Well not quite everyone. God knows. But David puts God out of his mind. David behaves as though God does not exist. Practical atheism.

Unfortunately for David, Uriah is a real boy scout and instead of going home to get reacquainted with his wife, Uriah sleeps on the doorstep of David’s palace.

  • He can’t stand the thought of taking any comfort for himself while his brothers in arms are sleeping rough in fox holes.
  • This means David has to resort to Plan B. He sends Uriah back to the front and a messenger follows.
  • The message is for Joab, the commander of David’s army. David wants Joab to put Uriah where the fighting is heaviest and then fall back so Uriah gets killed by the enemy.
  • Joab is a soldier. He follows orders and it is done. Uriah dies in battle and, after the time of mourning, Bathsheba becomes David’s wife.

David thinks he is in the clear. Yes, he’s having trouble sleeping and like Lady MacBeth he just can’t seem to get rid of that damn spot, but at least his reputation is intact. Then Nathan, the prophet, turns up

  • Nathan is wise in his approach. He doesn’t confront the issue head on. That would only make David angry and defensive.
  • Instead Nathan goes for the sucker punch. He tells David a parable [1]              

“There were two men who lived in the same town; one was rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had many cattle and sheep, 3 while the poor man had only one lamb, which he had bought. He took care of it, and it grew up in his home with his children. He would feed it some of his own food, let it drink from his cup, and hold it in his lap. The lamb was like a daughter to him. 4 One day a visitor arrived at the rich man’s home. The rich man didn’t want to kill one of his own animals to fix a meal for him; instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared a meal for his guest.”

5 David became very angry at the rich man and said, “I swear by the living Lord that the man who did this ought to die! 6 For having done such a cruel thing, he must pay back four times as much as he took.”

  • Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man”.

All at once David knew it saying, ‘I have sinned against the Lord’. Then he goes on to compose Psalm 51.

Psalm 51:

As I said before, the words we sung earlier are just a handful of lines from David’s original song.

  • They capture the essence of the psalm but to understand them properly we need to hear them in the context of the whole
  • From verse 1 we read…

1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

These opening verses summarise the psalm – David wants mercy from God. Previously he had wanted justice. Now that he sees himself as he is, he wants mercy.

  • David’s plea for mercy shows what he believes about God’s character – that God is gracious and good.
  • Someone once said that faith is believing that God accepts me even though I am unacceptable.
  • David knows he is unacceptable and yet he has the faith to believe that God is generous enough to forgive him and accept him.

David doesn’t rely on his own good works to save him – he doesn’t say to God, ‘I’ve done a lot of good things for you and Israel over the years Lord. Remember what I did with Goliath. How about you let this slide.’

  • Rather, David relies on God’s steadfast love and mercy, God’s hesed.

David describes his wrong doing with the words: iniquity, transgressions & sin

  • They are essentially three ways of saying the same thing, although each word has a different nuance.
  • Iniquity is any act of injustice
  • Transgressions refers to the ways David has crossed the line of God’s law (in this case coveting, adultery, murder and lying)
  • While sin is more a state of being in which we act independently of God, as though God did not exist.

The word wash, as in ‘wash me thoroughly’ is the same word that is used for washing clothes

  • In David’s day, people got stains out of clothes by rubbing the fabric together or by beating the clothes on a rock
  • For David to ask God to ‘wash me thoroughly’ then, is to invite some rough treatment for his sin – David does not expect cheap grace.
  • God’s forgiveness of David did not mean David got off scot free.
  • In 2nd Samuel 12 the prophet Nathan tells David that, while he is forgiven, his child to Bathsheba will die and the sword will never depart from David’s house. God is merciful but he’s also just.  

From verse 3 we continue…

3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. 5 Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.

These verses contain David’s confession. Often when we mess up in some way, our first instinct is to deny our wrong doing or make excuses or blame someone else. David does not do this. David admits he is wrong and God is right. No excuses.

At the beginning of verse 4 David says he has sinned against God alone, which jars with us a bit because clearly David’s iniquity has affected Uriah, Bathsheba, the nation of Israel, his family and himself as well.

  • I think David is using the word sinned in the sense of operating independently of God, behaving as though God did not exist.
  • The point is, sin is first and foremost an affront to God
  • So often we judge ourselves by the ethic of: “It’s okay as long as I don’t harm anyone else.”
  • But in saying that, we exclude God. We don’t consider God as a person
  • We forget how our actions affect the Lord. 
  • As offensive as David’s behaviour was to other human beings, it was even more offensive to God. 

Derek Kidner observes the change in David’s attitude here…[2]

  • Previously David’s only concern was, ‘How do I cover my tracks?’ How do I protect myself and my reputation?
  • Now David is more concerned with ‘How could I treat God like this?’      

David is not blaming his mother or his parents in verse 5, where he talks about being guilty even in the womb

  • No. David is saying the problem is with me. My character is deeply flawed. I have always been prone to sin. I am to blame.

From verse 6 we read…

  • 6 You desire truth in the inward being; therefore, teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
  • The problem is inside us. Sin starts with a lie, with stinking thinking.
  • We need God to teach us the wisdom of being honest with ourselves so we can think straight – then change will happen from the inside out.

Verse 7: 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

  • When a priest declared a leper clean and fit to re-join the community they would dip the branch of a hyssop tree in sacrificial blood and sprinkle the person seven times. David is comparing himself to a leper.
  • Jesus’ blood, sprinkled on us, makes us clean.
  • The word purge is equivalent to ‘de-sin’ [3] – in other words, ‘remove from me any desire to be independent of you God’.

Verse 8: 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

  • The weight of David’s guilt is crushing him deep inside and, like broken bones, it is extremely painful, not to mention paralysing
  • He can’t enjoy anything because of his guilt.

And so we get to the verses we sing in church…

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

The words create and renew go together. They refer to something only God can do. David is asking for a miracle of transformation, a deep conversion of himself from the inside out 

  • In the Genesis account of creation God brings order to the chaos, so that it becomes functional.
  • David wants God to bring order to the chaos of his heart – to renew the core of his being, as opposed to replacing it.

Over the past few months our car has been playing up. Not all the time, just randomly, sporadically. Sometimes, when we turned it on, it would start up for a few seconds and then the engine would die. Other times it ran fine.

  • I took it to the mechanic last week and he diagnosed that it was a faulty cam-belt sensor. The sensor thought there was a problem, when there wasn’t, and shut the engine down unnecessarily.
  • These days we fix a problem like a faulty sensor by throwing the old one away and putting a new one in, but this is not God’s preference.
  • Sometimes God replaces but more often He is inclined to use what is already there – to transform what is broken and make it functional again.
  • So create in me a clean heart does not mean throwing the old heart away and replacing it with a new one, like with the sensor in our car
  • Create in me a clean heart means transforming the old heart so that it functions in the way it should.

The words heart and spirit (as in the human spirit) go together

  • It’s difficult to tie these words down or define them exactly because they can be used in different ways depending on the context

Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard our heart because it is the well-spring of life

  • The heart is to our soul what a water bore is to a farm.
  • The heart is to our life what roots are to a tree.   

Spirit can mean the breath that animates the body and makes it alive, but it can also refer to something that is not physical or material and yet still very real.

Spirit normally has to do with relationship though – as in the bond between God and people and what characterises that bond 

  • For example, a ‘spirit of fear’ describes a relationship based on fear.
  • Or we might say, someone has a ‘gentle spirit’, meaning they relate with others in a gentle way, as opposed to a rough or violent way
  • A right spirit is a relationship characterised by treating others right
  • A right spirit can also be translated as a ‘steady spirit’ or a ‘loyal spirit’. David doesn’t want to be inconsistent in his relationship with God or others – he wants to be steady and loyal and faithful.

We express our self (who we are) through our heart & spirit

  • Our heart and spirit characterise the condition and direction of our life [4]   
  • In praying for a clean heart and a right spirit David is acknowledging that the direction and condition of his life have gone haywire
  • David’s heart & spirit have expressed adultery and murder and he doesn’t want that to happen again
  • David wants his life to be open to God and directed toward His purpose.

My lawn at home has quite a few daisies and butter cups in it. As much as I like mowing lawns I’m reluctant to cut the flower heads off.

  • During the day the daisies and buttercups open up to face the sun.
  • They direct themselves toward the light and in doing so they express the beauty of their heart and spirit. But then at night they close up again.
  • We human beings are a bit like flowers. In the same way a flower expresses its beauty by opening its petals to the sunlight, so too we express our beauty as we direct our lives toward God and open our heart to His light (the light of Christ).

Verse 11: 11 Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.

  • God’s presence and God’s Holy Spirit go together – God is present through His Spirit.
  • Today the children in the Flock Sunday school are learning how Samuel anointed David to be king of Israel
  • When king Saul disobeyed God, the Lord took His Spirit away from Saul and gave it to David
  • The anointing of God’s Spirit gave David both the power and authority to rule as king of Israel – God’s Spirit made David royalty. God’s Spirit makes us royalty too.
  • Perhaps David is worried that God will take away his kingly authority, like he did with Saul.
  • More likely though David doesn’t want to lose the intimacy he enjoys with God through the Holy Spirit. 
  • The application for us here is that we can’t presume upon God’s grace.
  • God’s Spirit is a gift, freely given. But God can and will take His Spirit back if we abuse our power or position without remorse.

God’s presence may also be a reference to the temple in Jerusalem – the temple being a symbol of God’s presence

  • This psalm would have been particularly poignant for the Israelites in exile in Babylon (a few hundred years after David).
  • They knew what it was to be cast away from God’s presence and longed to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.
  • The body of Christ, the church, is the new temple of God’s presence
  • When we sing this line we aren’t just asking for some personal mystical experience of God’s Spirit – we are asking to remain in Christ as part of His body the church. 
  • We are saying, ‘Don’t excommunicate me Lord. Let me enjoy communion with you and your people.’

Verse12: 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.

  • Joy is a positive energy – it sustains our spirit. David had no joy.
  • People may lack joy for a whole lot of reasons, often through no fault of their own. But, in David’s case, it was because of what he had done wrong, because of his guilt.
  • God’s salvation for David, in this situation, means God’s forgiveness
  • David has killed an innocent man and therefore he deserves to die
  • Salvation would mean having his life spared
  • Salvation would also mean a clear conscience.
  • David wants to be free of his guilt so he has the energy he needs to willingly do what God wants.
  • A willing spirit can also be translated a princely spirit, as in a noble spirit.

Verse 13: 13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.

  • I don’t think David is intending to preach to people here. I think he means his example will be a sermon to others.
  • When people see how God has saved David, they will repent. They will think, if God can forgive David’s sin, then he can forgive mine too.
  • Indeed, David’s example of honest (excuse free confession) and deep heart felt repentance has provided hope for forgiveness and a pathway to redemption for millions of people down the centuries.

The rest of the psalm then talks about worship…

14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance. 15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. 17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, 19 then you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

For our worship to be acceptable it must come from a broken spirit and a contrite heart – from the inside out

  • ‘God is looking for the heart that knows how little it deserves and how much it owes’ [5]
  • Our humility is beautiful to God, like an open daisy or a buttercup

Conclusion:

I’m not sure why Keith Green chose to do a cover of Create in me a clean heart

  • Perhaps it was because he identified with David in being a prodigal son who had returned to God his heavenly Father
  • Or maybe it was to irritate the church’s conscience – a kind of call for God’s people to live holy lives and not take God’s salvation for granted.
  • Keith longed for deep conversion for himself and others.

Like Keith Green, king David had been forgiven much and so he loved much

  • Worship is an expression of our love for God
  • Psalm 51 begins with confession and ends in worship
  • Before we can worship God properly we have to realise how much we have been forgiven
  • And before we can realise how much we have been forgiven we have to face the truth about ourselves, we have to feel the depth of our sin and make our confession.

Let us pray…  

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

And renew a right spirit within me;

Cast me not away from Your presence, O Lord

Take not Your Holy Spirit from me;

Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation,

And renew a right spirit within me.

Through Jesus we pray. Amen.    

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. Listen to (or sing) the song, ‘Create in me a clean heart’.  What are you in touch with as you listen to this song? (What connections, memories or feelings does it evoke for you?) 
  2. How did you come to faith in Christ? In what ways is your conversion story similar to Keith Green’s? In what ways is it different?
  3. How do you feel as you read the story of David & Bathsheba & Uriah? Who do you identify with most in this story? (David, Bathsheba, Uriah, Joab or Nathan.) Why?
  4. What is sin? How does David’s sin affect him? How does sin affect you?
  5. What do we notice about David’s confession and repentance?  How do we find forgiveness with God?
  6. How is your heart & spirit? Are you open to God’s light or are you closed off to God?
  7. What does God require from us in worship? 

[1] Refer 2 Samuel 12:1-7.

[2] Refer Derek Kidner’s commentary on Psalms 1-72, page 208.

[3] Ibid, page 209.

[4] Refer James Mays commentary on the Psalms, page 203.

[5] Derek Kidner, Psalms 1-72, page 211.

Tawa Baptist

Build My Life

Scriptures: Luke 6:46-49; Romans 12:1; Philippians 2:5-11; John 1:43-49

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • I will build my life
  • Worthy of every song
  • Holy, there is no one like you
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

When we were training for ministry our Greek lecturer, Brian Smith, told us how most people in churches learn their theology from the hymns and songs they sing in church each week

  • Theology sounds like an impressive word but really it just means thinking or talking about God.
  • Whenever you think or talk about God you are doing theology 
  • Brian’s point was that the songs we sing in church have a profound influence on the way we perceive God
  • When words are put to music they tend to stick in our memory better – they also make a connection with our heart
  • We find ourselves unconsciously singing worship songs in the car or in the shower – and the meaning we attach to the words shapes our relationship with God

With this in view, today we begin a new sermon series called ‘Anthems’

  • In this series I plan to look at the lyrics of one hymn or Christian worship song each week to see how that song informs our theology and how it connects with Scripture and the history of our faith.
  • The purpose is not to find fault with the words but to guide our thinking and help us to interpret the songs in the best possible light

I like what N.T. Wright says about worship…   

“Put it this way: if your idea of God, if your idea of the salvation offered in Christ, is vague or remote, your idea of worship will be fuzzy and ill-formed. The closer you get to the truth, the clearer becomes the beauty, and the more you will find worship welling up within you. That’s why theology and worship belong together. The one isn’t just a head-trip; the other isn’t just emotion.”

Some of the songs we will look at are old and others relatively new. Most you will be familiar with and others are less well known

  • Today’s song is Build My Life, written by Pat Barrett

Verse 1:

Worthy of every song we could ever sing.
Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring.
Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe, we live for you

Verse 2:

Jesus, a name above every other name.
Jesus, the only one that could ever save.
Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe, we live for you…

Chorus:

Holy, there is no one like you,
There is none beside you,
Open up my eyes in wonder.

Show me who you are
and fill me with your heart
And lead me in your love
to those around me.

Bridge:

I will build my life upon your love,
It is a firm foundation.
I will put my trust in you alone
And I will not be shaken.

I will build my life:

Build My Life was released in 2016, so it is a fairly new song, but it is based on some quite ancient ideas

  • Pat Barrett is a singer/songwriter and worship leader from Grace Midtown, a church in Atlanta, Georgia
  • He has written a number of Christian songs including “Good, Good Father”. Barrett is married with three young children.

Pat Barrett said the song, Build My Life, came to him over a number of years, at a time when he was looking for steadiness in his life, because he was going through quite a bit change and uncertainty.

The bridge is the heart of the song, and it also happens to be the first part of the song that Barrett wrote, so we will start with that…  

I will build my life upon your love, it is a firm foundation.
I will put my trust in you alone and I will not be shaken.

In an interview Barrett said, life rarely behaves with our plans. It is usually the uncertainty, the not knowing, the trials that reveal what we’ve been standing on the whole time (and by ‘standing on’ he means, what we’ve put our trust in)

  • Metaphorically, when you sing this song, you are looking up to worship God but at the same time you are also looking down to keep your footing
  • What am I standing on? Is it my career, my image (or persona), is it money? Those things aren’t steady – they don’t provide a firm foundation
  • The invitation from Jesus is to put your feet on the rock and find strength in him

Please turn with me to Luke chapter 6, verse 46, on page 85 toward the back of your pew Bibles

  • Barrett says he had this passage from Luke 6 in mind when he wrote the words of the bridge. This is what Jesus says from verses 46-49…

46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and yet don’t do what I tell you? 47 Anyone who comes to me and listens to my words and obeys them—I will show you what he is like. 48 He is like a man who, in building his house, dug deep and laid the foundation on rock. The river overflowed and hit that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 49 But anyone who hears my words and does not obey them is like a man who built his house without laying a foundation; when the flood hit that house it fell at once—and what a terrible crash that was!”

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s Word for us

In Jesus’ day building a house was a strenuous exercise. They didn’t have heavy machinery (like diggers) to excavate the foundations and so everything had to be done by hand. It required an enormous effort [1]

They couldn’t really build during winter because it was too wet so they had to build in summer

  • The problem was the high clay content in the soil combined with the heat made digging extremely hard going
  • It would have been tempting to simply build on top of the clay soil
  • The ground certainly seemed hard enough in the heat of summer
  • But when the winter rains came the soil went soft and washed away
  • So if the foundations didn’t go down deep enough (all the way to base rock) the house would fall.

The clay soil which seems hard in summer but washes away in winter represents the lies we sometimes believe and build our lives on

  • While the bed rock represents the teaching of Jesus – steadfast & true

Jesus says in this parable that those who hear his teaching and obey it are like the man who does the hard yards and digs down to lay his foundation on rock

  • The implication being that it is not enough simply to hear and agree with what Jesus says – we also need to do what Jesus says
  • And doing what Jesus says – loving our enemies, not judging others, being honest with ourselves, and forgiving – all of that is the hard part
  • Like digging down through baked clay it is difficult
  • Difficult yes – but also necessary if we don’t want to come to ruin.

One of the more obvious things to note in this parable is that there is a storm and it hits both houses

  • The implication is that when we follow Jesus and align our lives with his teaching, we still face storms, we still suffer in a whole variety of ways
  • The difference is that God brings us strong through the storm

But this is not all there is to the parable. Jesus’ Jewish listeners would have heard more…

In Isaiah 28 God says through the prophet…

  • I am placing in Zion a foundation that is firm and strong. In it I am putting a solid corner-stone on which are written the words, ‘Faith that is firm is also patient.’ Justice will be the measuring-line for the foundation, and honesty will be its plumb-line.

Zion is a reference to Jerusalem

  • In the temple in Jerusalem (in the holy of holies) there was a special foundation stone on which the Ark of the Covenant used to sit
  • When the ark was taken away the priests put a fire pan on the foundation
  • The fire pan burned incense – a symbol of the people’s prayers to God.

When Jesus told the parable of the two builders he was really saying…

  • I am the firm & strong foundation stone promised by Isaiah
  • Build on me and my words and you will not be shaken

Now this was an incredible thing to declare

  • Jesus was saying that the new temple, promised by God 700 hundred years earlier, was not going to be a building but a person and that he (Jesus) is that person 

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians the apostle writes…

You, too, are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, the cornerstone being Christ Jesus himself. He is the one who holds the whole building together and makes it grow into a sacred temple dedicated to the Lord. In union with him you too are being built together with all the others into a place where God lives through his Spirit.

When we build our lives on the firm foundation of Christ, we too become part of that new temple promised by God

Think about that for a moment – it is a profound idea

  • The temple is a place of reconciliation – a place where sacrifices are offered and peace is made  
  • The temple is also the place of God’s presence – a place where his Spirit dwells and people are close to God
  • When we build our lives on Christ we become God’s sacred and holy people.

Returning to Pat Barrett’s song. Some of you will have noticed that the words in Pat’s bridge don’t exactly mirror the words in Jesus’ parable in Luke 6

  • The foundation Jesus had in mind was his teaching or his ‘words’, whereas Pat Barrett describes the foundation as, ‘your love’, meaning God’s love for us in Christ
  • Although Barrett is using a bit of poetic license here, he gets it right – Jesus’ teaching is an expression of his love.
  • In fact, Jesus’ message (his word) was, love God and love your neighbour
  • Before we can do what Jesus teaches we must first know we are loved by God – love and grace come before obedience
  • Our obedience to God’s word (as embodied in Christ) needs to grow out of love for God, not out of fear or guilt

The idea of God’s love being a firm foundation on which to build our lives is found in Ephesians 3, where Paul talks about putting our roots down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love

  • So we can sing this bridge with confidence, knowing it is based in the wisdom of Scripture.

Worthy of every song:

What about the verses then – what meaning can we glean from them?

  • Well, if the bridge is about looking down to keep our footing then the verses are about looking up to worship God.

Verse 1 repeats the word worthy three times

  • The term ‘worship’ comes from an old English word meaning ‘worth-ship’. Worship is about ascribing worth
  • We make the effort to get out of bed on a Sunday morning and come to church to sing songs of praise to God because he is worth it
  • Francis Chan is quoted as saying…
  • His perfect holiness, by definition, assures us our words can’t contain Him. Isn’t it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate.
  • I love the last verse of the gospel of John, where the apostle says…
  • Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.   

Worthy of every song we could ever sing

Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring

  • That’s a way of saying, our words can’t contain God; our praise can never really do justice to God; even the whole world would not have enough room for all the books that could be written about the Lord’s deeds.

And for those who may be thinking, ‘Yea, but worship is more than singing’, Pat Barrett is way ahead of you, because his very next line is…

  • Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe, we live for you.
  • The idea here is that worship isn’t just something we do in church on a Sunday. Worship is like breathing – it is threaded through all of life.
  • Worship is primarily about how we live

We live for you, picks up Paul’s thought in Romans 12 where he says…

  • Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.
  • We try to live our lives in a way that pleases God because he is worth it
  • Living for God ties in with what Jesus was saying in Luke 6, about obedience to his teaching
  • ‘We live for you’ Lord is another way of saying, ‘I will build my life on your love’.

One of the things I like about this song is way it uses both plural and singular pronouns

  • The words, we live for you, reminds us that worship isn’t just an individual thing. It’s something we do in community with other believers
  • At the same time the words in the bridge, I will build my life, remind us that worship involves a personal commitment.
  • Worship is both we and I – it is both public and personal   
  • I’m not sure if Pat Barrett intended all this meaning but it’s what I glean from it.

Verse 2 begins…

  • Jesus a name above every other name.
  • Jesus’ name is both his reputation and his integrity
  • This is a direct quote from Philippians 2, verse 9, where the apostle Paul writes about imitating the humility of Christ…

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mind-set as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very natureof a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The thing that makes Jesus’ name great, the reason God gave Jesus a name that is above every other name, is that Jesus was obedient to God.

  • The foundation of Jesus’ life was loving obedience to God the Father
  • Once again this connects with the bridge of the song – the building of our life gets it integrity, it’s strength, from loving obedience to Christ.

The second line in verse 2; Jesus, the only one that could ever save, is a reference to the Christian doctrine that salvation from sin and death is found in Christ alone (Solo Christo)

  • This doctrine comes from Martin Luther, the great church reformer of the 16th Century, who got it from his understanding of the New Testament
  • For example, where Jesus says to his disciples…
  • “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
  • Salvation through Christ alone is an unpopular belief in our contemporary society – so verse 2 is quite a provocative line to sing

Holy, there is no one like you:

And so we come to the chorus

  • If the verses look up in worship of God and the bridge looks down at where we are standing, then the chorus looks both in to the heart and out to our neighbor.

Holy, there is no one like you, there is none beside you, open up my eyes in wonder…

The word holy means ‘set apart’. To be holy is to be different, special, sacred

  • Jesus is unique. He is beyond compare.
  • Holiness goes together with wonder
  • Wonder is a feeling of amazement and admiration, caused by something beautiful, remarkable, or unfamiliar – something holy in other words

The thing is, not everyone recognizes Jesus’ holiness

  • To many of the people of his day Jesus appeared to be like anyone else
  • Jesus’ holiness, his glory, is hidden at first – we need our eyes opened in wonder so we can appreciate just who he is.

In John chapter 1, Philip says to Nathanael, ‘Look, we’ve found the Messiah. Come and meet him. He is Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.’

  • And Nathanael replies, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
  • I imagine Nathanael was a bit like Mr Darcy, he despised anything false or pretentious. He had no patience for the games people play and wasn’t too bothered by who he offended, so long as he spoke the truth
  • People like Nathanael don’t make great diplomats – they may come across as a bit rude, a bit blunt, and are therefore often misunderstood
  • Nevertheless, Nathanael goes with Philip anyway.
  • When Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, he said about him, “Here is a real Israelite; there is nothing false in him!”
  • Jesus could see into Nathanael’s heart and that touches Nathanael – he says to Jesus, “How do you know me?”
  • Perhaps for the first time in his life Nathanael felt truly understood and accepted for who he was. Jesus gets me.
  • Jesus’ wise insight and acceptance opens Nathanael’s eyes in wonder
  • Nathanael declares, “Teacher,” you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

G.K. Chesterton once said, ‘We are perishing for lack of wonder, not for lack of wonders.’ 

  • I suppose Chesterton meant that God is doing wonderful things all the time, all around us, we just don’t have the sense of wonder that is needed to appreciate them 
  • The wonder of God, the beauty of his holiness, his goodness, is the inspiration for our worship

The second part of the chorus reads…

  • Show me who you are and fill me with your heart,
  • And lead me in your love to those around me.

‘Fill me with your heart’ is a significant thing to say

  • To be filled with God’s heart is to be filled with His love – while God’s love is a good thing, to be filled with it is also a painful thing. God’s love comes with suffering – so this is a brave line to sing
  • To be filled with God’s heart is also to be filled the Spirit of Jesus
  • These words are talking about intimacy with God, through Jesus
  • It is as we abide in Christ (the vine) that we bear the fruit of love for our neighbours
  • It is as we build our life on Christ that we find the strength to love those around us.

Conclusion:

  • Whatever storm you may be facing, whatever uncertainty you may be going through, Jesus provides a firm foundation.   

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. Listen to the song, ‘Build My Life’, by Pat Barrett.  What are you in touch with as you listen to this song? (What connections, memories or feelings does it evoke for you?) 
  2. Discuss / reflect on the significance of the parable of the two builders in Luke? For example; What does it mean to build your life on Jesus’ teaching? How might Jesus’ original Jewish audience have understood this parable? What foundation are you building your life on?
  3. How does the line in the song, “we live for you”, connect with Romans 12:1? What does it mean to be a living sacrifice?
  4. Why does God give Jesus the name that is above every other name? How does Jesus redefine greatness?  
  5. What does it mean to ask God to fill us with His heart?
  6. Do you still have a sense of wonder? Take some time this week to notice and appreciate the wonders of God all around you. Lose yourself in wonder, awe and praise of the what God has accomplished in Christ.

[1] Many of the insights on Luke 6:46-49 were gleaned from Kenneth Bailey’s book, ‘Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes’, pages 321-331.

Tawa Baptist

Body & Spirit

Scripture: Ephesians 6:18-24

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Praying in the Spirit
  • Praying in the body
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Cyril Bassett was New Zealand’s first Victoria Cross recipient

  • Cyril was a sapper in the NZ Engineers during World War 1
  • His job was to lay communication lines so the allies could talk to each other
  • Because of his short stature Bassett was initially rejected for military service but he persisted and they let him in, assigning him to Signals
  • Bassett served in Gallipoli and was noted for his bravery in laying telephone wires under heavy fire early in the campaign
  • Some months later, when the NZ Infantry was attacking Chunuk Bair, Corporal Bassett found himself in the heat of the battle once more laying communication lines on the exposed hill slopes
  • He braved continuous gunfire during broad daylight armed only with a revolver and a bayonet.
  • A bullet struck his boot and two more passed through the fabric of his tunic during the fighting, but he was not wounded
  • For his efforts he was awarded the Victoria Cross 
  • Afterwards Cyril Bassett had this to say…

“I reckon there must be some guardian angel looking after me, especially as one man was shot dead in front of me and another wounded just behind.”

This morning we conclude our series in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, focusing on chapter 6, verses 18-24

  • Last week we heard about the armour of God and the need to stand firm in the battle against evil  
  • In the same vein of thought Paul continues from verse 18 encouraging his readers to stay alert and to pray
  • Prayer is essentially about establishing and maintaining lines of communication with God and other believers
  • In praying we are doing the spiritual equivalent of what Cyril Bassett did
  • From Ephesians 6, verses 18-24 (in the NIV) we read…  

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

21 Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing. 22 I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you. 23 Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us

Paul started his letter to the Ephesians with a prayer and now he concludes it by encouraging the Ephesians to pray.

  • They are to pray in the Spirit and in the body.

Praying in the Spirit:

When you read a book you need to be in the light. If you are in the dark, it is very difficult to read

  • When you are sailing a boat you need to make sure your sail is trimmed to catch the wind. If your sail isn’t in the wind your boat won’t go far

In verse 18 of Ephesians 6, Paul says we are to pray in the Spirit.

  • That’s ‘Spirit’ with a capital ‘S’, as in God’s Spirit
  • Praying in the Spirit parallels what Paul says earlier in Ephesians about being in Christ
  • What then does Paul mean by praying in the Spirit?
  • We pray in the Spirit sort of like we read in the light
  • Just as we can’t really read all that well in the dark, so too we can’t really pray without the Spirit
  • Praying in the Spirit is also like hoisting a sail to catch the wind
  • Just as we can’t really get our boat moving without putting our sail in the wind, so too our prayers don’t provide any movement without the wind (or energy) of God’s Spirit

The Spirit of God communicates God to us. Through the Spirit we receive all the gifts and empowering we need from God [1]

  • True prayer in the Spirit isn’t about technique – it’s about relationship
  • True prayer in the Spirit involves engagement with God
  • If you want to cook a roast dinner, then you need to put the meat and veges in the oven 
  • Say you are having roast chicken. You might make a nice basting sauce and rub it all over the raw bird.
  • You might make a sage and onion stuffing just like your grandmother used to make
  • You might put potatoes and pumpkin all around the chook
  • Then you turn the oven on and let it warm up to the right temperature
  • But if you leave the chicken and veges on the bench – if you don’t put them in the oven – then you are going hungry that night 
  • Praying in the Spirit is like putting our prayers and requests in God’s oven. Without the Spirit of God our prayers are inedible
  • Praying in the Spirit nourishes us

Praying in the Spirit then is about praying in relationship with God

  • Simply reciting words without our heart being in it, or without directing those words to the person we call ‘God’, isn’t that effective
  • Praying in the Spirit is like pouring water into a cup – it requires focus and intention
  • I could throw handfuls of water around the room and some of it might, by chance, end up in the cup – but mostly it will just make everyone around me wet and annoyed
  • Praying in the Spirit fills the cup of our personal relationship with God

Praying in the Spirit is also like singing in a choir. It is prayer led by the Spirit and in harmony with God’s will.

  • Like choristers, we know the words & parts and we keep our eyes on the conductor, staying alert, listening as we sing (and by sing I mean pray).

Paul says to pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Praying in the Spirit is comprehensive prayer, diverse in form and woven throughout all the circumstances of our lives.

  • If you come from a charismatic background you might think praying in the Spirit means praying in tongues and while it can mean that it isn’t limited to that
  • Praying in the Spirit can include lament & tears as well as laughter & praise
  • Praying in the Spirit can include meaningful liturgy read from the heart as well as spontaneous conversation with Christ as our close friend
  • Praying in the Spirit can include sitting alone in silence as we meditate on Scripture, our hearts open in a posture of listening to God, but I can also include singing songs in worship with other believers
  • We can pray in our heart for the person sitting next to us on the train during the week or we can intercede out loud in church on a Sunday for the things in this world that grieve God’s heart and ours
  • I could go on but you get the point, praying in the Spirit is not an occasional act – it is more like breathing
  • The Spirit of God is the atmosphere in which we breathe (and by ‘breathe’ I mean pray).

Alongside Paul’s instruction to pray in the Spirit we also find his encouragement to pray in the body

Praying in the body:

A few weeks ago I was talking with a sports fan about the rugby. He was telling me how the top rugby teams are really good at off-loading the ball before the ball handler is tackled and goes to ground

  • The more often a team takes the ball down in the tackle the quicker that team runs out of steam
  • But if you can keep your momentum by passing the ball you tend to make more ground with less effort
  • The All Blacks are brilliant at the off load pass. You often see them passing the ball out the back door, without even looking
  • When they throw the ball back they trust their team mates to be alert and in position to catch it   
  • They don’t work as individuals – they work as a unit, supporting each other

Throughout Ephesians Paul has talked about the church in various ways

  • The church is the wisdom of God, the church is the temple of God and the church is the body of Christ
  • Paul wants to underline the connection believers have in Christ
  • He wants us to think of ourselves, not as a group of individuals (alone together), but as a unit, a single body made up of different parts
  • We need to remain alert, supporting each other spiritually, ready to receive the off load pass.

In the second part of verse 18 Paul says: With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

  • While it is okay to pray for yourself our prayers shouldn’t be self-centred
  • ‘Praying in the body’ means being mindful of other believers in the church – remaining alert to the joys and sorrows, successes and trials of others
  • Praying for others actually gives us a break from thinking about ourselves
  • Not only that but it helps us to feel more connected, less alone
  • If you pray for someone long enough you start to care about them  

In verse 19 Paul goes on to ask the Ephesians to pray for him also

  • Interesting here that Paul has the humility to ask for help from others. He doesn’t try to do the work on his own. He realises he needs prayer support. 
  • The other thing to note is that Paul doesn’t ask the Ephesians to pray for his freedom, even though he is chained to a Roman soldier night and day.
  • Instead Paul asks for the clarity and courage to make known the mystery of the gospel.

The word ‘mystery’ here doesn’t refer to a puzzle to be solved but rather to something that was not known before but has now been revealed by God  

  • ‘Mystery’ refers to the unfolding of God’s plan – new light shed on an old word
  • Before Christ came Paul read the Old Testament Scriptures in a certain way – much of the meaning was hidden from him
  • But since encountering Jesus, Paul now reads those same Old Testament Scriptures in a whole new light
  • Before he saw a stern and angry God who was out to destroy sinners; now he sees a loving God full of generous grace for all
  • Before he saw himself as better than others; now he realises the ground is level at the foot of the cross.

Paul wants the Spirit’s help to preach the gospel about Jesus with clarity and courage – he wants others to understand all of the gospel, the rough with the smooth

  • The word ‘gospel’ means good news. But when we read the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John) we find there is actually a fair amount of bad news as well
  • The gospel talks about suffering as a prerequisite to glory; it talks about forgiveness with repentance; salvation for some but judgement for others
  • It can be tempting as a preacher to leave out the unpopular parts of the gospel but the Spirit of Jesus is a Spirit of grace and truth
  • Most people are happy to hear the nice bits, the grace-full bits, but the truthful bits require some courage to say      
  • Paul doesn’t want to edit his message. Paul wants to be open and honest in his presentation of the gospel.

Those who proclaim the word of God need clarity and courage

  • This morning the children in the Flock Sunday school are learning how God spoke to the boy Samuel at the temple in Shiloh
  • Samuel slept in the temple near the ark of the covenant – the symbol of God’s presence with his people
  • One night Samuel hears a voice calling his name
  • At first he thinks it is the priest Eli calling him but every time he goes to Eli, the old man tells him to go back to bed
  • Eventually Eli realises that Samuel is hearing the Lord’s voice, so he instructs Samuel to respond by saying, ‘Speak Lord, your servant is listening’. Samuel does as he is told.

The next morning Samuel seems to be avoiding Eli, so Eli sits Samuel down and asks the boy to tell him what the Lord said, without leaving anything out

  • The message is one of judgement against Eli and his family
  • ‘The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’
  • That’s a heavy message for a child to give a grown man
  • To his credit Eli accepted the message saying, ‘He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.’   

The gospel message Paul preached wasn’t so harsh. Paul was able to say, ‘The good news is; your guilt is atoned for by Christ’s sacrifice, but you still need to change your ways and repent. God’s love is not a license to do what we want.

Eli may have been accepting of what Samuel said but not everyone was accepting of what Paul had to say and as a consequence he found himself under house arrest, chained to a Roman soldier day and night

  • Most people in the ancient near east would have been ashamed to be in chains, but not Paul. He is not an Instagram star, ‘showing the best and hiding the rest’. Paul doesn’t hide the reality.
  • By being open like this Paul owns his suffering. He doesn’t let it own him.

We are talking about praying in the body

  • Perhaps one of the reasons Paul was able to cope with being in chains is that he saw himself as part of the body of Christ, so it didn’t all depend on him
  • Sure, he couldn’t visit the Ephesians himself, but he could send Tychicus, his assistant
  • Tychicus was Paul’s hands and feet – he could deliver Paul’s letter
  • When Paul went down in the tackle of house arrest, he could off load the ball to Tychicus, so the momentum wasn’t lost.       

Tychicus wasn’t just a letter carrier though – he was someone who knew Paul and could pass on personal news of how Paul and the others were getting on

  • It is so easy in the culture I come from to think of prayer as a disembodied thing – a mental exercise – just words you say in your head
  • But true prayer is embodied and relational  
  • Prayer in the body isn’t just the communication of words and information
  • Prayer in the body involves being physically present
  • Prayer in the body conveys warmth and emotion
  • Prayer in the body communicates encouragement and comfort
  • Tychicus’ visit did this – his going to see the Ephesians in person was prayer in a bodily form.

When our youngest daughter was about two years old she caught rota virus and had to go to hospital. This was before I became a minister, when we were living in Tauranga

  • While we were in hospital the pastor of our church came to visit. He didn’t stay long, just popped in, spoke to us, said a short prayer and then went on his way again
  • I don’t remember the words he prayed but I do remember feeling comforted and encouraged by his presence
  • I had never been visited by a pastor before. Greg simply showed up embodying warmth and this made me feel cared for and connected to the rest of the church. That’s an example of prayer in the body (of Christ).

Now in talking about prayer in the body I don’t mean to convey the idea that this is somehow different from praying in the Spirit – body & Spirit go together

It must be over twelve years ago now our family went on holiday to Christchurch

  • On about the second day our youngest daughter had an accident and had to go to hospital
  • They put her is this tiny room with no windows, no view outside – it was an awful environment – we were supposed to be on holiday, having fun
  • To make matters worse the words I prayed to God didn’t appear to make any positive difference – our daughter just got worse
  • When you are in a strange city, with a sick child and God isn’t answering your prayers it makes you feel incredibly isolated and vulnerable – we were powerless really.

But in that situation God was still present, just not in the way we were expecting

  • Some friends we knew in Christchurch looked after our well daughter for us so she wasn’t stuck in hospital all week
  • When the church here in Tawa heard what was happening they arranged a gift basket for us and one of you asked his sister (who lives in Christchurch) to come and visit us in hospital. That meant a lot to us.  
  • Then, when we had to stay longer than our accommodation was booked for, the Ronald McDonald House gave us a room for a couple of nights

My prayers in that situation didn’t bring about a miraculous healing but we were very aware of God’s providence

  • On reflection I am conscious of the Spirit’s intercession for us 
  • In Romans 8 Paul writes, ‘…the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express…’ 
  • I had prayed for our daughter’s healing thinking that was what was needed, but at a deeper level (a level I wasn’t conscious of) what we really needed was to know that we were not alone – loneliness, isolation, alienation, these are the real sicknesses of our society today 
  • The Spirit of God knew what we really needed and interceded for us with groans that words cannot express and God answered the Spirit’s prayer to comfort us in the loneliness and isolation we felt with practical, embodied help through friends and strangers.
  • Prayer in the Spirit goes hand in hand with prayer in the body.

Conclusion:

Paul concludes his letter with a prayer of blessing for the Ephesians

  • Four key words we notice in his benediction. Paul wishes his readers…
  • Peace, love with faith, and grace.   

Praying in the Spirit and praying in the body are not meant to be separated – they go together

  • In a few moments we will share communion.
  • Communion holds together body and Spirit
  • It is a celebration of the peace, love, faith and grace that are ours in Christ

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 does it mean to ‘pray in the Spirit’? Can you think of a time in your life when the Spirit interceded for you with groans too deep for words?
  3. What are some of the ways you prefer to pray? Are there some new ways of praying you could try?
  4. What does it mean to ‘pray in the body’?
  5. Have you ever experienced prayer in body and Spirit? Perhaps share your experience with someone you trust or write it down in a journal. 
  6. What affect does praying for other believers have on us?  
  7. Why did Paul ask for clarity & courage in preaching the gospel?
  8. How does Paul own his suffering? How might we own our suffering?
  9. Take some time to slowly read Paul’s benediction in verses 23-24 of Ephesians 6. Receive this blessing into your soul.

[1] Klyne Snodgrass, Ephesians, page 344.

Tawa Baptist

Stand

Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-17

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Stand against evil
  • Put on God’s armour
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Theodore Roosevelt is considered by some to be one of the five best presidents of the United States

  • He is still to this day the youngest, becoming president at 42, serving from 1901 to 1909
  • One saying attributed to Roosevelt is: Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground.
  • I understand this to mean we need to keep looking up to that which is lasting and beautiful and true, without losing touch with reality
  • The stars are a reliable source for navigating our way through this world
  • And keeping our feet on the ground is about humility, having a right understanding of yourself in relation to God and His creation

Today we continue our series in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians

  • Ephesians is, in many ways, a letter that encourages us to keep our eyes on the stars and our feet on the ground.
  • It holds up some pretty lofty ideals but today’s passage has its feet firmly on the ground
  • From Ephesians 6, verses 10-17 (in the NIV), we read…

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us

Stand against evil:

Winston Churchill is another well-known and well respected leader

  • He didn’t always get it right and he struggled with his own personal demons, but he knew how to stand his ground
  • His stubbornness was just what Britain needed during the war
  • We all know his famous speech about never, ever giving in except to convictions of honour and good sense
  • In a similar vein he also said: “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”

Personally, I don’t like having enemies. Some people enjoy a fight. I don’t want anything to do with them. And yet, when one becomes a Christian, one picks a side in a very ancient conflict and when you pick a side you get some enemies.

In today’s reading Paul makes it very clear that our enemy is the devil and other evil spiritual beings

  • The ‘rulers and authorities’ Paul mentions in verse 12 don’t refer to the Roman government – Paul is not talking about flesh and blood authorities
  • He’s talking about spiritual authorities organized against God and his people.
  • We can’t see the enemy because it operates in the ‘heavenly realms’.
  • Right at the beginning of this series in Ephesians I explained how the expression heavenly realms doesn’t refer to heaven as such but rather to the spiritual realm
  • The spiritual realm is sort of like another dimension all around us that we don’t normally see

Dogs can’t see orange or green, like we do, but they can see blue and yellow, so if you throw a bright orange ball across a green lawn a dog will struggle to see it because the orange & green look the same greyish colour to them.  

  • When it comes to the spiritual realm we are a bit like dogs (no offence)
  • We don’t see all the colours – spiritual things are camouflaged to us
  • This means there is more to reality than meets the eye
  • Our enemy is not physical flesh and blood. It is spiritual evil, hard to see.

Now some of you may be struggling with this idea of a devil and demons and evil forces. I understand. For many years it seemed weird to me as well.

  • Not everything can be blamed on the devil – human selfishness, greed, fear and the choices people make do account for some evil, but not all.
  • We would be arrogant to discard the ancient wisdom handed down to us in the Bible. Jesus did not deny the existence of the devil
  • Nor did Paul or the Ephesians
  • Whatever we modern readers might think, for Paul and his first century readers, the devil was a personal being, an external centre of evil – not a myth or metaphor to be explained away psychologically [1]
  • Acts 19 tells us how some of the Ephesian Christians used to practice magic before their conversion and actually burned their spell books publicly when becoming followers of Christ – you wouldn’t do that if you thought the devil was just a metaphor.  

Speaking from my own experience in life and ministry I am of the view that the spiritual battle is real

  • When you become a Christian your life gets better in some ways, but in other ways it often becomes harder
  • If you are standing on the side lines watching the game you don’t have much to contend with
  • But if you are on the field, running with the ball, then you are likely to be tackled.   

This is not to say we need to be afraid. We don’t need to fear because Jesus has defeated the devil and the forces of evil

  • We just need to be aware that, despite their defeat, the forces of evil are still at large and refuse to surrender – so we need to stand, not in our own strength but in the strength of the Lord’s power (verse 10).

Now when we think of power we tend to think of a substance or a thing, like muscle or money or an engine or a long life battery or electricity

  • But this is not what Paul means by power. For Paul, power is relational. We stand in the strength of our relationship with God
  • So, in a Christian understanding, strength and power has to do with quality of connection  
  • For example, the branch of a tree is strong and fruitful when it remains fully connected to the main trunk
  • Likewise, the tree itself is strong when it is planted beside a stream, where it’s roots can be in close relationship with the water of the stream
  • Children and young people tend to be stronger (or more resilient) when they have a number of stable adults in their life.
  • We are strong, spiritually, when we are close to Jesus.

Verse 11 mentions the devil’s schemes

  • Our enemy, the devil, doesn’t usually disclose his evil upfront or straight away. Paul says, in 2nd Corinthians 11, that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
  • So we need deliverance from evil that doesn’t look like evil at first
  • When Satan tested Jesus in the wilderness, he quoted Scripture making his proposal sound like a harmless thing, even a good thing
  • ‘If you’re the Son of God turns these stones into bread’ – surely there’s nothing wrong in that
  • ‘If you’re the Son of God jump off the roof of the temple; God’s angels will catch you’ – could be good for your PR
  • But Jesus saw through the devil’s schemes and stood his ground
  • Jesus refused to give the devil an inch.

Our enemy is invisible and deceptive. That’s why we need to stay close to Jesus. We can’t handle the assault of the evil one on our own.

Four times in today’s reading Paul uses the verb ‘stand’

  • Verse 11: Take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
  • Verse 13: …so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
  • And verse 14: Stand firm then…

The emphasis here is with ‘holding our ground’ as opposed to attacking the enemy or doing a runner. I like the poetic way C.F. Moule puts it…

  • Stand suggests not a march or an assault, but the holding of the fortress of the soul and the church for the heavenly King [2]

You see, Jesus has won the ground for us.

  • That ground or territory is our soul and also our relationships together as participants in the church  
  • We need to occupy the ground Jesus sacrificed himself for and hold it.

When we do manage to hold our ground against evil God often does incredible things. “Today’s mighty oak is yesterday’s nut that held its ground.” 

In order to stand though we need the armour of God.  

The armour of God:

On the wall here is a picture of a platoon of Roman soldiers. Soldiers don’t normally fight alone. They usually function as a unit or a team.   

If you have grown up in an individualistic society, as I have, then you are probably more inclined to read these verses in Ephesians 6 as if they were addressed to individuals – so we tend to think things like…

  • ‘Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, personally’
  • Or, ‘I stand alone against the devil’
  • Or, ‘I need to put the armour of God on myself as an individual’
  • And while Paul’s instructions are certainly relevant for us as individuals the imperatives used here are plural, which means Paul is instructing the church collectively to stand and put on God’s armour.

Earlier in Ephesians Paul referred to the church as the body of Christ

  • Which means we don’t stand alone against the devil – we stand as a unit, like a platoon or a company of soldiers who have each other’s backs.
  • Likewise, it is the body of Christ (the church) who is to wear God’s armour together, collectively.
  • And when the devil attacks he doesn’t just attack our mind, he attacks our relationships and tries to drive a wedge between people in the church.
  • The evil one wants to destroy community as much as he does individuals.
  • When we read these verses as applying to us collectively, as the church, then we feel safer and more secure, less alone.

In verses 14-17 Paul lists six pieces of protective armour in the order they would ordinarily be put on by a soldier.

  • The use of a military metaphor like this is not meant to imply actual violence against people – our enemy is spiritual, not physical.
  • What’s more, the armour is mostly defensive
  • Paul may have been inspired to use this metaphor because he was literally chained to a Roman soldier while writing to the Ephesians.  
  • Besides this, the prophet Isaiah also talks about the armour of God. [3]

Can anyone tell me what this logo stands for? [Wait]

  • Yes, that’s right. This is the Under Armour logo
  • Under Armour is a brand of sports clothing

In verse 14 Paul says, to the church collectively, Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist…

  • The belt in a Roman soldier’s uniform was their under armour – that’s why it went on first. 
  • A belt gives you a sense of security. It holds everything together and enables you to be hands free.
  • Truth here could have two meanings. It could refer to Biblical or doctrinal truth, like ‘Jesus has risen from the dead’
  • But it could also refer to ‘truth in our inward parts’, meaning integrity
  • Integrity is our moral under armour

Some of you may have grown up with mothers who were very concerned that you always put on clean underwear

  • The belt of truth is like clean under wear. No one really sees it that much and yet without clean under wear we stink.
  • A truthful community is one in which people are genuine – they are the same on the inside as they are on the outside.   
  • A truthful community is more concerned with authenticity than image
  • When we don’t pretend to be something we are not – when we are honest with ourselves and sincere with others, we enjoy a certain freedom
  • The belt of truth gives us freedom of movement.

Next we have the breastplate of righteousness

  • A breastplate protects the body’s vital internal organs, like your heart and lungs and your liver and kidneys
  • One of the things about a breastplate is you usually need someone to help you put it on. Righteousness is not something we do alone
  • Righteousness is about relating to others in a right way – it includes being both just and merciful.
  • A righteous community is not one where anything goes.
  • A righteous community has clear boundaries, it has certain standards and values that it expects its members to live by.
  • This is not to say that a righteous community is a perfect community
  • When someone messes up and does something wrong the instinctive response of a righteous community is to encourage that person to clean up their mess so they can be restored to the community.  

Last week we heard about Onesimus, the runaway slave. Paul wrote to Philemon asking him to take Onesimus back.

  • Paul was acting in a righteous way, seeking to restore the Christian community, not just to the way it was before, but to better than before.
  • Paul wanted Philemon to receive Onesimus not as a slave but as a brother

In verse 15 Paul instructs the church (collectively) to fit our feet with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace

  • Another translation puts it this way: Let the shoes on your feet be the gospel of peace, to give you a firm footing. (NEB)

There are a number ideas held together in this verse:

  • Firstly, there is the idea of readiness or being prepared
  • We prepare ourselves (or we put on the shoes of peace) by making ourselves familiar with the gospel about Jesus
  • In our context this involves studying the Bible together and listening to sermons.
  • We need to know the content of our faith so we are ready to share it and apply it.

Also in this verse there is the idea of peace

  • The gospel is good news because it shows us how to have peace with God, through faith in Jesus.
  • Peace with God is the foundation really.
  • Peace with God gives us a firm footing
  • When we know (deep down) that God is our friend, fear and anxiety lose their hold on us. 

At their meeting last Thursday, the deacons spent 10 minutes listening to a podcast by the Barna Group (courtesy of Daryl)

  • The Barna group are a Christian organisation that do research on the church and society
  • In the podcast they interviewed an Australian pastor, Mark Sayers
  • Mark made the comment that people generally feel secure when they can see the pathways they are to walk on.
  • But all the cultural markers of our society, all the signs which tell us where the pathway is, are changing really quickly at the moment
  • This rapid change creates an ‘ambient anxiety’ because we don’t know where we stand anymore – we don’t know where the path is.
  • Freedom is good, up to a point, but too much freedom fosters anxiety.

When they asked Mark Sayers how the church is to respond to this, he said…  

  • Christians need to be people of peace.
  • The world today needs the church to be a non-anxious presence in society
  • Being hectic and manic and busy only makes things worse.
  • When the church has a firm footing in the peace of the gospel then we are ready to provide a steady place for people to stand.

Verse 16 reads: In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

The sort of shield we are talking about here is the big rectangular shield, as opposed to the smaller round shield

  • The Roman shield was made of wood and leather with metal edging on the top and bottom – it must have been pretty heavy to carry
  • You wouldn’t want to be without it in a fire fight but the rest of the time I expect it would have been an inconvenience.
  • Our faith isn’t always convenient, is it? But when the chips are down we are glad for it. Faith provides a refuge for us.    

Faith, in this context, could mean trust in God or it could mean ‘the faith’ in the sense of what we believe about God

  • So, for example, when the evil one shoots off a flaming arrow of false guilt, Christian believers protect themselves from that assault with the belief that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
  • Or when a fellow believer dies, we shield ourselves from the flaming arrow of despair with the belief that we will see them again at the resurrection to eternal life.
  • Or when we are doing our best but everything seems to be going wrong, we shield ourselves from the flaming arrow of discouragement with the belief that God is faithful and just – he works all things for good.
  • Or when we are tormented by some weakness or infirmity and feel inadequate to the task, we shield ourselves from the flaming arrow of self-reliance by recalling that God’s grace is sufficient for us.

The next item of armour is the helmet of salvation

  • The helmet of salvation is about hope – ‘keeping our eyes on the stars’.
  • Hope is the capacity to imagine a good future
  • Hope produces the positive energy of joy 
  • We, the church, put on the helmet of salvation by keeping in mind that, whatever conflict or hardship or loss we might face in the present, ultimately we are on the winning side.
  • We are justified by faith in Jesus and if we share in Christ’s sufferings we will also share in his glory.

Finally, Paul tells us to take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

  • The Roman soldier’s sword was a short blade used in close combat.
  • We don’t use God’s word to attack people, rather we use God’s word to defend ourselves when evil comes close, perhaps in the form of temptation or some other intense pressure.
  • Jesus used Scripture to protect himself when the devil tempted him in the wilderness.

The sword is a symbol of power

  • The word of God is mightier than the sword – it has an authority all of its own. God’s word is quietly powerful.
  • At the right moment, the moment of the Spirit’s prompting, we need to raise God’s word, without shouting and without anger.
  • As Rumi says, ‘It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder’.    

Conclusion:  

All of this armour: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, is given to us by God

  • We don’t create the armour, we simply put it on together and stand our ground in the strength of our relationship with Christ.

Let us pray…

  • Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, you are our General. Strengthen us to stand firm in the fray. 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. Why would we be unwise to explain the devil away psychologically? How does the devil tend to operate?
  3. What does Paul mean by power, in Ephesians 6?  What makes us spiritually strong?
  4. What does it mean to stand our ground against spiritual evil?
  5. What difference does it make (to our interpretation of these verses) knowing that Paul was giving instructions in the plural? 
  6. Discuss / reflect on each of the six pieces of the armour of God and their relevance for our spiritual life.
  7. How might we (the church) put each piece of armour on? (I.e. how might we apply Paul’s armour metaphor in our lives collectively and individually?)

[1] Refer Ernest Best, Ephesians, page 317.

[2] Refer Francis Foulkes’ commentary on Ephesians, page 171.

[3] For example, Isaiah 59:17.

Tawa Baptist

Roots of Freedom

Scripture: Ephesians 6:5-9

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Slavery then and now
  • Personhood, purpose and power
  • Onesimus and Philemon
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Last week someone gave me a book called, Church Signs Across America

  • As the title suggests it’s a book with photos of church signs, like this one
  • The sign reads: “To win in a relationship don’t keep score”

Today we continue our series in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians

  • We are at that point in Ephesians known as the household codes, where Paul talks about the various relationships in Christian homes
  • Last week we heard how wives and husbands are to relate
  • This week we focus on the relationship between slaves and masters
  • From Ephesians 6, verses 5-9 we read…

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favour when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. 9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favouritism with him.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us

Slavery then and now:

A few months ago we were on holiday in Taupo and went for a walk around the lake. In some places the tree roots had grown under the footpath and were lifting the cobbles – not quite as badly as in this picture but enough to be a trip hazard.

  • Today’s reading is like tree roots – over the centuries it has quietly lifted and broken our concrete thinking on slavery and employment relations

Now when we hear the word slavery we might think, ‘How is slavery relevant to us today? Wasn’t slavery abolished in the 19th Century?’

Well, laws were passed in the 19th Century to say that people can’t buy and sell other people anymore, but slavery still exists in the form of forced labour, child soldiers, sexual exploitation and forced marriage

  • There are estimated to be around 40,300,000 people in some form of modern slavery in the world today
  • And it’s not a problem confined to poorer countries either – there are thought to be about 15,000 people in Australia currently engaged under conditions defined as Modern Slavery, and approximately 3,000 people in New Zealand in the same situation. [1]

Although slavery still exists today, it should be noted there are a number of differences between slavery in the ancient world and slavery now

  • As many as one third of the population in Greece and Rome were slaves
  • Slaves did most of the work – without slaves nothing would get done
  • We are used to associating slaves with a particular race of people – like the African Americans of the 19th Century, picking cotton in the fields or harvesting sugar cane 
  • But slaves in the ancient world were all variety of races and served in all sorts of roles, both skilled and unskilled
  • A slave might be white or black, a doctor or a farmer or a business manager or a cook or even a prime minister
  • What’s more, many slaves in the ancient world gained their freedom after the age of 30 – so it wasn’t necessarily an all of life thing [2]
  • The treatment of slaves in the ancient world was mixed – some were treated with kindness but many were abused and mistreated

Ok, if slavery is a bad thing then why does the Bible seem to accommodate it?

  • I mean Paul doesn’t say to the masters, ‘set your slaves free’, nor does he call the slaves to revolt against their masters.
  • To the contrary Paul instructs slaves to do their best for their earthly masters and to have a good attitude about it    
  • This almost sounds like Paul is condoning slavery but actually, he’s not
  • Paul is, in fact, sowing seeds that would eventually grow into roots that would undermine slavery and set people free

The Bible makes it clear that slavery falls well short of God’s intention for humanity – it is not what the Lord wants for people

  • God is free and we are made in God’s image – slavery does not fit with being God’s image bearer  
  • Christ came to set the captives free and, as Paul says elsewhere, in Christ there is no longer slave nor free

While that sounds lovely, the reality is, we don’t live in a perfect world do we. We live in a fallen world and suffer the ill effects of sin

  • God understands this and so he meets us where we are at
  • He comes to us in the form of Jesus, a human being who we can relate with, and he says, ‘Follow me’
  • God’s word, in the Bible, addresses the realities of this world, like slavery, not to condone them but to lead us out of them
  • So when the Bible talks about slavery it’s not holding up an ideal to aspire to – rather it is providing some guidance on how to manage a less than ideal situation by providing restraint for masters and protection for slaves – sort of a first step in the right direction.

It’s remarkable how people’s attitudes change

  • For many years we accepted lead in petrol as normal and even necessary until we realised that lead is toxic and now we wouldn’t dream of using it
  • Same thing with plastic supermarket bags – for years we used plastic bags without a second thought to what happened to them when we threw them away, but now we’ve banned single use plastic bags

The ancient world, that Paul lived in, did not see slavery as an evil thing like we do today

  • For them slavery was simply accepted as a normal and necessary part of the economic system – sort of like we accept having a mortgage as normal and necessary to buying a house – or like we used to accept leaded petrol and plastic bags. 

It would have been foolish for Paul to advocate revolt against slavery

  • The early church was not politically powerful – they were in no position to dictate to the rest of society how people should live
  • The church needed to be moderate in its approach to show the Roman authorities they posed no threat to the peace of the empire
  • Consequently, slavery and other social issues were not Paul’s main focus – he and the other apostles were simply trying to get the message of the gospel out there and establish Christian faith communities 
  • Paul’s approach was wise – he sowed seeds of thought that would eventually grow to undermine and break up slavery
  • You see, slavery isn’t the underlying problem – slavery is just a symptom
  • Paul sought to address the deeper more fundamental issues – in particular: personhood, purpose and power.

Personhood, purpose and power:

On the wall here is a picture of a drill

  • A drill is a tool, it helps a tradie to do their job quicker and easier
  • A drill is a slave to the person operating it
  • It is in your interests to take care of your drill because if the drill breaks the job will be held up and you’ll have to buy another one
  • But you don’t treat your drill with same respect you would a person
  • Slaves tend to be treated like drills – they are not usually acknowledged as people in their own right
  • Slaves are seen as tools for getting things done, for making life easier or for making money

So the first seed Paul sows in these verses is the seed of personhood

  • Paul has just addressed wives & husbands and children & parents, now he addresses slaves, as people, alongside their masters.
  • Given the historical and cultural context in which slaves were thought of and treated as living tools (and not as human beings) it is remarkable that Paul addresses them at all
  • By including slaves in this way Paul is acknowledging their personhood and giving them dignity  
  • It indicates that slaves were accepted members of the Christian community and that Paul regards them as responsible people (like their masters) to whom he can make a moral appeal. [3]

Taking this thought further, Paul gave honour to the role of a slave by identifying himself as a slave of Christ.  

When we look at verses 5-8 of Ephesians 6 we notice that Paul keeps referring to Jesus

  • Verse 5, slaves obey your earthly masters… as you would obey Christ
  • Verse 6, obey them… like slaves of Christ
  • Verse 7, Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men
  • Paul is saying here a person is not defined by their job or their master
  • A person is defined by Christ
  • What’s more, our value and identity as persons do not derive from our social standing or our circumstances but from Christ.

Paul gives slaves the dignity of personhood – and when we see other people as persons (not as tools) we start to value them better.

Another underlying issue Paul addresses in these verses is that of purpose or motivation in a slave’s work and life  

Albert Camus, the famous existentialist writer once said, ‘Without work all life goes rotten. But when work is soulless life stifles and dies.’

  • Albert Camus was talking about purpose or motivation in working
  • For your work to have soul you need to have a good purpose, an intrinsic motivation in doing it
  • You need to feel your work fits with the values you carry in your heart
  • You need to have a sense that you are fulfilling a higher calling
  • Without a good purpose, without an intrinsic motivation, work becomes soulless and life stifles and dies

A few weeks ago I told you about my misspent youth studying business management. It wasn’t a total loss though. There was one case study, from the course on organisational behaviour, which I found meaningful…

  • In the 1920’s researchers carried out some tests on factory workers in America
  • The test involved changing the level of lighting in the factory to see if workers’ productivity was effected
  • As they gradually increased the lighting the workers produced more
  • The researchers thought they might be on to something until they dimmed the lights and found that workers’ productivity continued to increase – which was puzzling and counter intuitive
  • When the illumination studies finished and the researchers left the factory, workers’ productivity slumped
  • Apparently the level of lighting had nothing to do with the workers’ productivity – it was the presence of the researchers themselves that was effecting productivity. Why was that?
  • Some say the workers were more motivated because of the interest being shown in them by the researchers
  • Going a bit deeper though, I think there was more to it than simply being observed – I wonder if the presence of important people doing important stuff gave the workers a greater sense of purpose in what they were doing
  • I wonder if the researchers’ presence gave soul to the workers’ jobs
  • With the researchers there the factory workers weren’t just assembling radios on a production line – they were in fact serving a higher calling; they were part of something bigger and more lasting.
  • Whatever the reason, it became known as the Hawthorne Effect

In verse 6, of Ephesians 6, Paul addresses the deeper issue that we all face in our work, whether we are paid or volunteer, and that’s the issue of purpose

  • What is your ‘why’ for working?
  • What is it that gives your work soul so that life thrives?
  • Paul makes it clear that the purpose (or motivation) for obeying earthly masters is not just to win their favour, when their eye is on you, but to do the will of God from your heart
  • Paul is advocating for an intrinsic motivation
  • Your manager may not always show an interest in you
  • Your boss may not always appreciate your work but God does and his interest in your work, his appraisal of you, means more than your boss’

God sees the good we do in secret and he rewards us

  • But that reward is not necessarily measured in dollars
  • The reward God gives is that of a meaningful purpose
  • God makes our work serve a higher calling – he has the power to give our work soul, so that life thrives.

Personhood, purpose and power

  • The slave / master (employee / employer) relationship is traditionally a top down relationship – it involves the use of power

In verse 9 Paul says: And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favouritism with him.

  • This is a reminder to both slaves and masters that power ultimately rests with God
  • God may delegate his power to certain people for a time but that power is only ever on loan from God – it always returns to him

Do not threaten them, means don’t try to control people with fear – use encouragement – the carrot is usually better than the stick    

And the instruction for masters to treat their slaves in the same way, is a reminder of the mutual submission that Paul described in chapter 5, verse 21

  • If slaves are to serve their masters as if they were serving Christ and masters are to do the same for their slaves, then we have a relationship in which the master is using their power for the well-being of their slave
  • In fact, the master / slave relationship is transformed so that the slave becomes family

Paul was a wise man – he didn’t try to change the legislation or rebel against the authorities – he addressed the underlying issues of slavery by restoring to slaves (and masters) a sense of personhood, purpose and the right use of power.

Philemon & Onesimus:  

Reading Ephesians 6 I am reminded of Paul’s letter to Philemon

  • Philemon was a Christian, someone Paul had led to the Lord
  • Philemon owned a slave called Onesimus
  • It appears Onesimus may have stolen from Philemon and run away
  • This was pretty serious stuff back in the day – Philemon could’ve had Onesimus killed for that sort of behaviour
  • But, in God’s providence, Onesimus found his way to Paul who was a prisoner in Rome at the time
  • Paul led Onesimus to the Lord and then went about reconciling him to Philemon
  • Let me read to you some of Paul’s letter to Philemon
  • Notice how Paul presents Onesimus as a valued person (not as a tool)
  • And how he persuades Philemon to use his power to show mercy and forgiveness
  • Paul reminds Philemon that to win in a relationship we don’t keep score
  • From verse 8 of Philemon we read…

Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9 yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. It is as none other than Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus— 10 that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. 11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.

12 I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you. 13 I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. 14 But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favour you do would not seem forced but would be voluntary. 15 Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever— 16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.

17 So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. 18 If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back—not to mention that you owe me your very self. 20 I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. 21 Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.

We don’t know what the outcome was in this situation

  • We do know that if Paul had his way then Philemon would have taken Onesimus back, not as a slave, but as a brother.
  • The letter to Philemon shows us God’s intention to abolish slavery  

Conclusion:

Thankfully, most of us are unfamiliar with slavery, although in working for wages or a salary or having to pay off a mortgage we do have some idea of what it feels like to have someone own our time 

  • What Paul says in Ephesians about slaves and their masters can be applied to the employee / employer relationship  
  • Workers are not tools; they are persons of dignity to be valued
  • Likewise, employers are people too – so employees shouldn’t try to stick it to the man
  • Give your best – work for your boss as if you were working for Christ and God will reward you
  • Whatever our station in life, our purpose is to do God’s will
  • Any power we have is temporary and needs to be used in a way that pleases God.      

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. Why did Paul instruct slaves to obey their masters (rather than rebel)?
  3. In what ways was ancient slavery different from modern slavery? In what ways are they the same?
  4. What deeper underlying issues does Paul address in Ephesians 6:5-9?
  5. Where does your personal sense of identity (or personhood) and value come from?
  6. What is your ‘why’ for working? What gives soul to your work?
  7. How are masters/employers to use their power? 
  8. How might Paul’s instructions to slaves and masters be applied today in employee / employer relationships?
  9. Take some time to read and reflect on Paul’s letter to Philemon this week. What does this letter reveal to us?  

[1] https://www.onestaff.co.nz/blog/modern-slavery-in-new-zealand-addressing-a-widespread-issue/

[2] Klyne Snodgrass, NIVAC ‘Ephesians’, page 327

[3] John Stott, Ephesians, page 252. 

Tawa Baptist

Love & Marriage

Scripture: Ephesians 5:21-33

Sructure:

  • Introduction
  • Wives and husbands
  • Christ and the church
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Today we continue our series in Ephesians. From Chapter 5, verse 21 (in the NIV) we read…

21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Saviour. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us

On the wall here is a picture of a ‘four strand square sinnet’ – a type of braided rope. Many years ago (before wireless technology) they used to braid telephone cords in this way.

  • Today’s reading is like a cord of four strands. Paul weaves together the relationship of wives and husbands with that of Christ and church.
  • First let us consider what Paul has to say to wives and husbands.

Wives & husbands:

Last week I was reading a collection of short stories by James Runcie and I came across a word I had never seen before: Uxorious.

  • I asked Robyn to look up the meaning for me on her phone and she very kindly submitted to my request.

Uxorious means to have or show a great or excessive fondness for one’s wife.

I thought to myself, that describes me, but I didn’t say anything to Robyn at the time. She’s intelligent enough to figure it out for herself.

Uxorious can be taken positively or negatively, depending on the context in which it is used, but I’m using it today in the positive sense.  

Our reading starts with the verse, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. You may remember from three weeks ago that mutual submission is one of the behaviours of those who are filled with the Holy Spirit.

Verse 22 goes on to say: Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.  

  • Now some people hear that and it gets their heckles up – it’s not popular these days to talk about women submitting to men.
  • Submission has almost become a swear word and we can understand why. This verse has sometimes been misunderstood and misused to control or even oppress women – so an explanation is needed.

Firstly, the context is one of mutual submission (it goes both ways)

  • Paul gives three examples of mutual submission within Christian households in Ephesians: that is, between wives & husbands, between children & parents and between servants & masters.
  • So women are not being singled out here; mutual submission is an equal opportunity thing – all Spirit filled Christians are supposed to do it.

If anything, there seems to be a greater emphasis in this text on the husband’s responsibilities. For example…

  • Verse 25: Husband’s love your wives just as Christ loved the church…
  • Verse 28: Husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. And,
  • Verse 33: Each of you [husbands] must love his wife as he loves himself.
  • Love involves the submission of oneself for another.

With this in view Paul is describing the ideal in Christian marriage.

  • Wives submit to your husbands assumes a marriage in which husbands are uxorious (in the best possible sense) – they love their wives.
  • So wives are essentially being invited to submit to their husband’s love.
  • This is not like Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew, where Petruchio treats his wife (Kate) badly in order to make her obey him.
  • Wives are not expected to submit to a husband’s violence or meanness.
  • Nor are they expected to submit to a husband when he is asking them to do something ungodly. We are to submit to one another as to the Lord.
  • If the Lord Jesus wouldn’t ask you to do it then you don’t need to submit.

Another thing to keep in mind here is what Paul does not say

  • For example, Paul does not say wives must obey their husbands.
  • For years the traditional marriage vows included a line about wives promising to obey their husbands. I’m not sure where that came from?
  • Nowhere in the Bible does it say that wives are to obey their husbands.
  • It does say that children should obey their parents and servants should obey their masters, but wives are to submit to their husband’s love.

Furthermore, this passage does not say that all women everywhere must submit to any man they come across. Women and men have equal value in God’s sight.

  • Nor does it say anything about women in leadership.
  • This passage is talking about husbands & wives and Christ & the church.  

What about that line, in verse 23, about the husband being the head of the wife?

  • To a 21st Century mind that sounds just as offensive as submitting.
  • Well, before we take offense, we need to understand what is meant by ‘headship’.

In the English language being the ‘head’ of something is associated with authority or being the leader, the one in charge, the one responsible.

  • We talk about the heads of government, for example, or the head of a corporation.
  • Verse 23 says: For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Saviour.   
  • Now husbands are not the Saviour of their wives. Christ is our Saviour.
  • But husbands do have a leadership responsibility in the family.
  • However, that leadership, that headship is not defined by the standards of the world – it is defined by Christ.
  • As we know from the gospel, Jesus’ leadership was a servant leadership (it was not a dictatorship) – Jesus led in a way that served the interests of the people, he submitted his life to save us.
  • So that’s the kind of headship that husbands are supposed to demonstrate, sacrificial, self-giving leadership.  

The Bible’s idea of headship does not mean that wives just need to suck it up and accept whatever the husband says. Paul is saying husbands are the ‘head’.

  • So a good question to ask is: What does a head do?
  • I head looks, listens and thinks, then makes a decision which is in the interests of the body. The head is there to look after the body.
  • So guys, we have a responsibility to listen to our wives – listening is the first duty of love
  • And when I say ‘listen’, I don’t just mean listen to your wife’s words, I mean listen to her heart, get close to her, try to understand what she is feeling.  
  • Being the head means thinking about your wife’s wellbeing; and listening gives you a few clues as to what her well-being might look like.

A husband’s headship then is to be modelled off Christ who doesn’t boss people around but rather woos and wins people over with his love.

  • Just as Jesus lovingly thinks about our wellbeing, so too husbands are to lovingly think about how best to care for their wives.

Let me give you an example of what headship and submitting to a husband’s love might look like…

  • Ladies, imagine you are married with young children and you’ve had a really hard day – maybe the kids were grizzly or sick or maybe you had some difficult things to deal with at work.
  • Whatever it was, you are exhausted and at the end of your rope.
  • Your husband comes home and asks you how your day was.
  • ‘Hard’, you reply. You want to say more but it’s not the right time – your head is pounding, the kids are screaming and you need to think about what to cook for dinner.
  • Your husband is still for a moment, which tells you he’s thinking. He always looks a bit blank when he’s putting things together in his head.
  • Then he comes over to you, puts his arms around you and gently kisses you on the forehead. You hold each other for a moment, then he says…
  • ‘Why don’t you go and have a bath. I’ll sort the kids and the dinner.’
  • You are about to protest, to play the role of the martyr, and then you remember what the pastor said in his sermon last Sunday, ‘Wives, submit to your husbands’.
  • ‘Ok’, you say meekly and take yourself off for a soak in the tub.

As you are lying there in the bath you remember the way you and your husband have always been there for each other.

  • You care for one another in a hundred small ways but also in bigger more significant ways.
  • Like the time he agreed to shift cities for your job
  • And the time you supported him when he wanted to go back to university to finish his masters.
  • As you think about these things a profound sense of thankfulness fills you – you are thankful for your husband yes, but also thankful for Jesus, who has had such a good influence on your husband.

You emerge from the bathroom 40 minutes later, having washed the worries of the day off, feeling more relaxed.

  • The kids are doing their homework or colouring in and dinner is nearly ready – chicken parmigiana for you and him, chicken nuggets for the kids
  • You smile to yourself because that’s what he used to cook for you before you were married – it’s his specialty, his ‘I love you’ meal.
  • He hands you a glass of Sav (so thoughtful, he knows you well). You take a sip and feel it go down.

After dinner you both put the kids to bed, then you settle down together in the lounge and share the contents of your day.

  • After listening to your heart your husband goes still and quiet again – you know that look, he’s thinking.
  • ‘Why don’t we have a weekend away? Just the two of us. We can leave the kids with your parents’, he says.
  • And you reply, ‘I would like that. Let me organise it.’     

We are talking about mutual submission and headship – not living solely for ourselves but thinking about each other.   

You know, if you are married and a Christian, then the primary context for discipleship (the most important place for learning to be like Jesus) is your marriage.

  • It is as a husband and wife submit to and love one another that they learn the way of Christ.

Christ and the church:

Woven through his instruction on how wives and husbands are to relate to each other, Paul also talks about Christ’s relationship to the church, which is a bit like a loving marriage.

  • Two things in particular we note about Christ and the church:
  • Christ is one with the church,
  • And Christ loves the church, like an uxorious husband.

In verse 23 Paul says that Christ is the head of the church, his body and in verse 30 he says, we are members of Christ’s body.

  • The head and the body are not separate – they are one, a unity.
  • There is a mutuality between the head and the body.
  • In the same way there is a oneness between Christ and the church.

Paul alludes to this oneness again in verses 31 & 32 where he talks about the profound mystery of a husband and wife becoming one flesh.

  • The image here is of intimacy between Christ and the church, not sexual intimacy as such but an intimacy of spirit.   

I like what Eugene Peterson writes in his commentary on Ephesians…

  • Mystery is beyond our control. Paul named the relation between husband and wife [and between Christ and the church] a mystery. In order to enter a mystery we have to submit, to be humble before what is other and more than us. The precondition for apprehending mystery is letting go…
  • Spirit is the unseen ‘between’ where relationship is born and matures. [1]

Christ and his church are one – we are one with Christ like a head and a body are one, or like a husband & wife are one.

  • That sort of intimacy requires letting go.
  • Letting go is an act of trust – it takes courage and vulnerability.
  • We call that mysterious closeness (that unseen between) ‘spirit’
  • Spirit is like a wireless connection between people and between Christ and his church. Spirit is where relationship is born and grows.

Alongside this reality of Christ’s oneness with the church (and inseparable from it) is Christ’s love for the church.

  • Christ’s love for the church is greater than even the most uxorious husband’s love for his wife. Christ’s love has the power to transform.

Aretha Franklin, the queen of soul, sang a song called Natural Woman.

  • It was written by Carole King & Gerry Goffin, one night after they had put the kids to bed.
  • On the face of it Natural Woman is a song about a woman who feels valued and appreciated by her husband for who she is. Her husband makes her feel like she can be herself (a natural woman).
  • It’s got some great lyrics. We’d like to play it for you now…   

Looking out on the morning rain I used to feel so uninspired
And when I knew I had to face another day Lord, it made me feel so tired
Before the day I met you, life was so unkind. But you’re the key to my peace of mind.

‘Cause you make me feel, you make me feel, you make me feel like a natural woman (woman)

When my soul was in the lost and found you came along to claim it.
I didn’t know just what was wrong with me ‘til your kiss helped me name it.
Now I’m no longer doubtful, of what I’m living for. And if I make you happy I don’t need to do more.

‘Cause you make me feel, you make me feel, you make me feel like a natural woman (woman)

Oh, baby, what you’ve done to me (what you’ve done to me). You make me feel so good inside (good inside). And I just want to be, close to you (want to be)
You make me feel so alive.

You make me feel, you make me feel, you make me feel like a natural woman (woman)…

Aretha seems to be singing about the ideal husband, the perfect man.

  • …you’re the key to my peace of mind.
  • When my soul was in the lost and found you came along to claim it.
  • You make me feel so good inside
  • I’m pretty sure there’s only one man who could live up to this ideal.
  • (So ladies, you probably can’t expect this of your husbands all the time)
  • In Ephesians 5 Paul describes Christ as the perfect husband of the church.

From verse 25 we read…

  • Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

The image here is of Christ claiming the church’s soul from the lost and found

  • Restoring the church, making her beautiful again, but not beautiful in a superficial or artificial sense – beautiful in a natural sense – holy.
  • To be holy is to be set apart, to be special.
  • Holiness is also about wholeness and integrity.
  • Holiness does not require us to be something we are not.
  • Holiness sets us free to be who we truly are – to live in our soul and be our natural authentic self. Holiness is naturally beautiful, without trying. 

Jesus takes away our sin, our shame and our guilt so we can be who God created us to be.  

  • cleansing by the washing with water through the word could be a reference to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
  • Water is often associated with the Holy Spirit and the word of God can only be understood and applied with the help of the Holy Spirit.

When we look at ourselves and at the wider church in the world today we don’t always see the beauty of holiness – the church is less than perfect at times.

  • But Paul’s focus here isn’t so much on the earthly church as it is on the church in the heavenly realms.
  • We can’t see it yet but Jesus (by His Word & Spirit) is making us holy, naturally beautiful, as we submit to his love.

Conclusion:

This morning we’ve heard how husbands and wives are to relate with each other and, by analogy, how Christ relates to the church

  • Jesus is both the head of the church, which is his body
  • And he is the groom of the church, which is his bride. 
  • Unlike any ordinary groom though, Jesus’ love has the power to transform his bride and bring out her natural God given beauty. 

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. How are we to understand Paul’s instruction for wives to submit to their husbands? What might mutual submission (in marriage) look like? Do you have a story of mutual submission you could share?
  3. What does Paul mean when he says that the husband is the head of the wife? What does a head do?
  4. If you are married, when was the last time you really listened to your spouse?
  5. Discuss / reflect on the mystery of the oneness of Christ and the church. What images does Paul use for portraying Christ’s oneness with the church? What are the implications for us?
  6. How is Christ’s love for the church different from a husband’s love for his wife?
  7. What does it mean that Jesus makes the church holy?
  8. How might we submit to Jesus’ love?

[1] Eugene Peterson, ‘Practise Resurrection’, pages 248 & 249.

Tawa Baptist

Grace

Scripture: Various (see below)

Title: G.R.A.C.E.

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • God                   (Romans 5:6-10 & Luke 10:30-36)
  • Realisation        (Luke 18:9-14 & Luke 15:11-24)
  • Acceptance        (John 13:6-10 & 2nd Corinthians 12:7-9)
  • Change              (Luke 3:7-14 & Matthew 18:23-35)
  • Evangelism       (Luke 8:26-39)
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Hi everyone

  • This morning we are taking a break from our series in Ephesians for a one off sermon on grace. The word grace simply means gift.
  • We can’t earn grace; we can only receive it, like soil receives a seed or like a baby receives her mother’s milk.
  • Grace is a good gift, a beautiful gift, a valuable gift, a treasure.
  • God’s grace is also a process, but it’s not an entirely easy process.  

God:

Not surprisingly God’s grace starts with God Himself.

  • Grace is always God’s initiative and God’s grace is often at work long before we are even aware of it. In Romans 5 Paul writes,

You see, at the just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us…

For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life.  

These verses are saying; God’s grace was at work to save us when we were still enemies of God, long before we were even aware of our need for God’s help.

  • God does this because that’s who God is. He saves us out of his goodness and love. When God shows grace He is simply being true to himself.  

Many of you will be familiar with the parable of the Good Samaritan.

  • You know the one; where some poor bloke got mugged and left for dead on the side of the road.
  • Most people of that time were easily identifiable by what they wore.
  • You could tell who was Jewish and who was Roman and who was Samaritan and who was Greek by their clothes.
  • But the man who had been beaten up wasn’t wearing anything because the robbers had taken his clothes.
  • The Samaritan had no way of knowing whether the stranger was a friend or foe.
  • Maybe the wounded man was Jewish, a sworn enemy to the Samaritans.
  • But that didn’t matter, his need trumped everything else.
  • The Good Samaritan showed grace and mercy to that man, even though he didn’t know the guy.

Jesus is like the Good Samaritan and we are like the stranger, unconscious and bleeding out in the gutter.

  • Jesus shows us mercy and grace while we are helpless to save ourselves and indeed, while we are still concussed and unaware of how vulnerable we really are.
  • So often we can only see God’s grace in the rear-vision mirror.

Realisation:

The next step in the process of grace is realising our need.

Have you ever had the experience of losing your keys, needing to find them in a hurry and frantically searching everywhere for them?

  • Robyn has and I’ve been the mug frantically looking with her.
  • After about a minute or two, when it becomes obvious the keys are not in any of the usual places, we realise our desperate need and start praying, asking God to help us find the keys.     
  • Then, when they finally turn up, we are very relieved and thankful. 

Of course, looking for lost keys is a frivolous example, at least in hindsight.

  • Realising our need can be far more painful and difficult, but it’s necessary if we are to become aware of God’s grace
  • Without realising our need, we can’t really accept, let alone appreciate, God’s grace.

They say, ‘You can’t trust someone who has never lost anything’ and its true.

  • In Luke 18 Jesus tells a story of two very different men, a Pharisee and a tax collector.
  • The Pharisee, who is at the top of the pecking order in his society, has never lost anything – he isn’t aware of his need for God and consequently he looks down on others.
  • He thinks he is better than everyone else and reminds God of all the good things he does.
  • The tax collector, on the other hand, knows loss all too well – he is somewhere near the bottom of the social ladder and is acutely aware of his need.
  • He stands at a distance, not daring to look up to heaven, beating his chest saying, “God, have mercy on me a sinner”. 
  • Jesus concluded his story by saying it was the tax collector who went home justified by God.

Before God’s grace can find its home in our heart, we have to realise our need for it.

  • When life is tickety boo and everything is going along fine we usually aren’t aware of our need for God – we tend to think we can manage on our own, without God.
  • It’s not until we are faced with our need that we cry out for help
  • We come to a realisation of our need for God by having our heart broken.
  • To paraphrase Richard Baxter, ‘God breaks every person’s heart in a different way.’
  • Perhaps through illness, maybe through the loss of a loved one, sometimes through betrayal or our own failure or in some other way.
  • But having our heart broken isn’t enough in itself – we also need to reflect on our situation.
  • Reflection (thinking time) helps us to join the dots. Reflection allows the penny to drop.

The problem is, many of us don’t take the time to reflect – we don’t sit with our pain long enough.

  • We find some way to distract ourselves or we numb the pain with alcohol or by keeping busy.
  • Not all pain is good, but sometimes pain is God’s messenger if we would only listen to it.   
  • Having said that, we need to find the right balance between reflection and action.
  • We don’t want to spend so long sitting with our pain that we become stuck, feeling sorry for ourselves.    

The prodigal son, in Luke 15, didn’t come to his senses (he didn’t realise his need) until he hit rock bottom and became so hungry he would have eaten the food he was feeding to the pigs.

  • But it wasn’t just being hungry that made him realise his need – it was also honest reflection.
  • As the younger son thought about how well his father’s servants were treated he realised his best bet was to return home and ask for help.

If God’s grace is a sapling plant and our heart is the soil, then realising our need is the spade which opens our heart to receive God’s grace.

  • Or if God’s grace is a wholesome meal, then realising our need is the hunger which opens our mouths to dine on God’s grace.
  • The same God who breaks our heart also heals our heart.

Jesus said, Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

  • The poor in spirit know their need for God’s grace and they’re not too proud to ask for help.

Acceptance:

After we have realised our need, the next step in the process of grace, is accepting God’s help.

  • This might seem obvious and it might seem like the easy part but it is neither obvious nor easy. Accepting God’s help can be humiliating.
  • The problem is we often want to stay in control. We want to accept God’s grace on our terms. But that’s not how grace works.

The night before he died Jesus washed his disciples’ feet and when he got to Simon Peter, Peter refused because he thought it was beneath Jesus to do this. [1]

  • Perhaps Peter meant well but it’s not for us to set the terms of grace.
  • Jesus said, if you don’t let me wash your feet (if you don’t accept my grace on my terms) you have no part in me
  • Peter couldn’t argue with that and neither can we.

We don’t dictate the terms of God’s grace. All we can do is accept or reject what God decides to give or withhold. 

  • In 2nd Corinthians 12 Paul talks about two of God’s graces given to him.
  • Paul was given a wonderful vision or revelation but then, to stop him becoming conceited, he was also given a thorn in the flesh.
  • Paul writes; Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
  • The vision and the thorn were both forms of God’s grace.
  • The vision was pleasant and the thorn wasn’t.
  • Paul would rather not have had the thorn, but we don’t decide the terms of God’s grace.
  • We are not God. We are his creatures and our part is to come to terms with God’s grace for us – to learn to accept what God gives, as Paul did.

When it comes to God’s grace we may also have a hard time accepting what God does for others.

  • Returning to the parable of the prodigal son, in Luke 15, the older brother certainly had a hard time accepting his father’s grace for the younger son.
  • We see his resentment at the father welcoming the prodigal home with a party.

The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him.    

God’s grace for others requires us to be gracious too and that can be difficult.

The process of GRACE starts with God. Next comes the realisation of our need, followed by acceptance and then change.

Change:              

Sometimes we long for change don’t we. Other times we prefer to keep things as they are.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously said…

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy, for which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.

Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow… Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us.”

Those were Bonhoeffer’s words.

  • Grace requires change. The technical words for the change grace requires are repentance and sanctification.
  • Repentance means a change of mind and a change of behaviour.
  • And sanctification is the process of becoming more like Christ.
  • Repentance goes hand in hand with forgiveness and sanctification should follow justification.
  • We can’t expect God’s grace to leave us unchanged or untouched.
  • We can’t say, ‘Thank you God for your forgiveness. I’ll be on my way now to live as I please.’

In preparing the way for Jesus (the Messiah) John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He didn’t mince his words.

  • Here’s a sample of John’s preaching from Luke 3…

“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance…9 The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”10 “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.11 John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”13 “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”

John preached costly grace and so did the apostle Paul. In Romans 6 Paul says,

  • What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

I said before that we were taking a break from Ephesians but actually today’s sermon, about the process of grace, follows the pattern of Ephesians.

  • In the first part of Ephesians Paul talks about what God has done for us in Christ (all the good gifts that are ours because of Jesus).
  • And in the second part of Ephesians Paul talks about the change God’s grace should effect in us.

Now in saying that grace requires us to change we need to know that God is not asking us to be something we are not.

  • The change is from our false self to our true self.
  • It also needs to be said that God is willing to help us change.
  • Sometimes we want to change but we can’t, at least not on our own – we are stuck, frozen like statues. We need the help of God’s Spirit.
  • God’s grace comes with truth to set us free from the lies that trap us.   

The ultimate test that God’s grace has changed us (made us more true on the inside) is our willingness to forgive others. As we say in the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.’

Jesus told some chilling tales – real horror stories. One of his scariest parables, in Matthew 18, was told as a warning against cheap grace.

  • The story goes that a servant racked up an incredible debt with the king. We might say a billion dollars in today’s currency.
  • I don’t know how this man did it. Maybe he had a gambling problem or maybe he just liked fast cars and expensive parties.
  • Anyway, when he was brought before the king and asked to give account the servant fell to his knees begging for more time to repay the debt.
  • The servant thought he could set the terms of grace and buy his way out.
  • The King (and everyone else) knew the servant had no hope of repaying the money and yet the King did more than the servant asked for – he forgave the entire debt outright.

Now, you would expect the King’s generosity to change the servant.

  • Sadly, the servant went out, found someone who owed him about $50, grabbed the man by the neck and demanded payment.
  • When the man begged for more time the first servant refused and had him thrown into debtors’ prison.
  • The other servants were extremely upset and told the King.
  • The King, who was a just man, became angry saying, ‘I forgave you the whole amount, you should have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had mercy on you’.
  • Then the King sent that servant to jail to be punished until he should pay back every penny.
  • And Jesus concluded: ‘That is how my Father in heaven will treat every one of you unless you forgive your brother from the heart’.

God’s grace may be free but it’s not cheap. We need to be careful not to forfeit it. The real proof that grace has done its work in changing us is our willingness to forgive others.  

God, Realisation, Acceptance, Change and Evangelism – spells GRACE.

Evangelism:

Evangelism simply means, passing on good news.

  • Evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.
  • True evangelism is the fruit of a thankful heart – a heart that has been touched and changed by God’s goodness.

I remember as a kid my grandparents had a Newton’s Cradle, like this one, only bigger. [Hold up Newton’s Cradle and set it going]

  • When you lift one metal ball and let it fall, the energy passes all the way through the row causing the metal ball on the end to swing up.
  • The device is named after Isaac Newton because it demonstrates one of the laws of physics; the conservation of momentum and energy.

God’s grace is an energy – it must find release or expression somehow, somewhere. Evangelism and praise are two natural ways in which the energy of God’s grace is released.   

  • If the process of God’s grace is like a Newton’s Cradle, then God’s goodness is the metal ball on one end and evangelism is the ball on the far end. [Set the Newton’s Cradle going again]

Often when Jesus healed or forgave or delivered someone, that person would then tell others what Jesus had done for them.

  • Even when Jesus warned them to be quiet they couldn’t help themselves; the positive energy of his grace needed to find release and expression.
  • Sometimes though Jesus did instruct people to pass on the good news.

In Luke 8, Jesus crossed over to the other side of the lake with his disciples to Gentile territory.

  • No sooner had they stepped off the boat and they were confronted with a man who was possessed by a legion of demons.
  • This man was so troubled, his life in such chaos, that he used to live among the tombs.
  • People tried to restrain him, for his own safety and their own, but he broke the shackles and lived like a wild animal. 

Jesus commanded the demons to leave the man. The demons were afraid of Jesus and begged him not to send them into the abyss.

  • So Jesus showed them grace and let them enter a herd of pigs, which promptly ran off the side of a steep bank and into the lake. 

When the villagers saw the man sitting with Jesus, clothed and in his right mind – his dignity (and humanity) restored, they were frightened.

  • The grace of God is a powerful energy and divine power can be terrifying.
  • Because of their fear the people of that region asked Jesus to leave.
  • Jesus is meek (strong & gentle at the same time) so he did what they asked of him.
  • As Jesus was leaving the man who had been delivered begged to go with him, but Jesus said; Return home and tell how much God has done for you.

Here we see the wisdom of God’s grace.

  • The man had been estranged and alienated and lonely for a long time.
  • He needed to belong again – to be restored to his community.
  • The man was a Gentile. If he went with Jesus, back to Jewish territory, he would be excluded all over again.
  • The man also needed to find expression for the energy God’s grace had created within him.
  • By sending the man back home with the task of telling his story of grace, Jesus was releasing the man.
  • So the man went away and told everyone in town how much Jesus had done for him.   

Conclusion:

This morning we’ve heard about the process of God’s grace.

  • Grace begins with God’s goodness, before we are even aware of it.
  • But for grace to do its work we must realise our need for God.
  • Once we have realised our need we must accept grace on God’s terms.
  • Then comes change for good; personal repentance, proven in the crucible of forgiveness.   
  • Eventually though, the energy of grace must find release in evangelism, and praise; telling others the good things God has done for us.

This process of God’s grace isn’t just a one off thing though – it is a cycle which repeats itself, going deeper and deeper into our soul each time, until we reach maturity in Christ-likeness.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. What stands out for you in reading these Scriptures and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
  2. Thinking back over your life, can you recall a time when God’s grace was at work before you were aware of it? (When have you seen God’s grace in the rear-vision mirror?)
  3. Can you recall a time in your life when you realised your need for God? What happened?
  4. Why is it important for us to reflect on our situation when things go wrong?
  5. What has been your experience of accepting God’s grace? Is it similar to that of the prodigal son, or of Peter having his feet washed or of Paul’s thorn in the flesh? Or is it different to that?
  6. What is the difference between cheap grace and costly grace?
  7. What change has God’s grace brought in your life?
  8. How can we release the energy of God’s grace?
  9. Is there someone who would benefit from hearing about the good things God has done in your life?
  10. Take some time this week to reflect on the different times God has led you through His cycle of grace. Where are you at in the cycle of grace right now? What are the next steps for you?    

[1] John 13:6-10

Tawa Baptist

Wise Living

Scripture: Ephesians 5:15-21

Title: Wise Living

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Making the most of our time
  • Discerning the will of God
  • Being filled with the Spirit
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

The year before we started training for ministry at Carey Baptist we went to check the College out and meet some of the students

  • To make conversation I asked the students assigned to us what subjects they were majoring in and one of them said ‘moral & practical theology’
  • I didn’t know anything about theological education so I naively said, ‘Moral & practical theology aye. Is there any other kind?’
  • I thought, surely you wouldn’t want theology (the study of God) to be immoral or impractical. They graciously overlooked my ignorance.
  • The next year I learned that there is another branch of theology called ‘systematic theology’
  • Systematic theology is the theory, the big ideas, the framework and history of thinking about God
  • Whereas moral and practical theology is more the application of the theory to real life, things like ethics and pastoral care

Today we continue our series in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, focusing on chapter 5, verses 15-21

  • In the first half of Ephesians Paul provides his readers with some big picture thinking about God and Christ
  • Then, in the second half, Paul focuses more on moral and practical theology – the application of life in Christ
  • This morning’s passage forms part of the application.
  • From Ephesians 5, verse 15 we read…

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Singing and making music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us

In a nutshell, these verses are about wise living. Paul draws our attention to three things that wise people do

  • Wise people make the most of their time
  • Wise people discern the will of God
  • And wise people are filled with the Holy Spirit, not booze

 

Making the most of our time:

When we were young, my friends and I got involved with white water slalom kayaking. A slalom course normally includes about 18-25 gates which you have to manoeuvre your boat through

  • Green & white stripped gates you must pass through going downstream and red & white gates you go through paddling upstream
  • When we did it they also had gates you were required to go through backwards but they don’t do that anymore
  • If you touch a gate you get 5 seconds added to your time as a penalty
  • And if you miss a gate it’s a 50 second penalty
  • The competitor with the fastest time wins.

Slalom paddling requires quite a bit of practical skill and accuracy

  • You have to plan your approach to each gate carefully, putting yourself in the best position to pass through the gate quickly and cleanly

 

In Ephesians 5 Paul writes

  • Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise…

For Christians, living in this world is a bit like navigating a white water slalom course – it requires practical wisdom and close attention

  • We can’t afford to blunder our way through life without thinking about what we are doing – we need to think strategically and act carefully
  • Or as Jesus put it, ‘Be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.’

One of the things a wise person does is make the most of every opportunity

  • A wise person uses their time well
  • The Greek language has two words for time: chronos and kairos
  • Chronos is the word used for the time of day – as in chronological time
  • Whereas Kairos is the word used for describing the opportune moment
  • Returning to our slalom analogy – the chronos time is the total time it takes to get through the course
  • Chronos time is punctuated with Kairos moments. Each time you pass through a slalom gate, that’s a Kairos moment, a critical moment, when you are careful not to touch the gate.

The word that is used here, in verse 16, is Kairos

  • Literally this verse could be translated ‘redeem the time’
  • This doesn’t mean try and pack as much into every moment of the day that you can (because it’s not talking about chronological time)
  • It means, redeem every opportunity you can for good.

To be able to redeem the time (or make the most of every opportunity) we need to have our wits about us

  • We need to be alert, like a slalom kayaker, because the days are evil
  • We are not floating down a slow, lazy river
  • We are navigating our way through a fast moving, constantly changing and sometimes bumpy environment which could tip us over at any moment

Not all the water in a river flows the same way

  • Close to the river bank the water is usually relatively still or even flowing upstream
  • A wise kayaker reads the river – they look for eddy lines and use the current of the river to their advantage
  • They also avoid the back wash behind rocks so they don’t get sucked under or stuck in a hole
  • In the same way, a wise Christian reads the current of the society in which they live
  • We think strategically to make the most of the time and avoid getting sucked into holes

To put this idea of making the most of opportunities into more concrete terms let me give you some examples from the life of our church

  • A few years ago now we used to be involved in delivering CRE (or Bible in schools) to various Primary schools in Tawa
  • But then schools became less receptive to the work and so we considered what else we might do to connect with and serve our community
  • As it happened the principal of Tawa College attends Tawa Baptist and was wanting to start 24-7 youth work in his school
  • We had the personnel and the willingness to help so we entered into a partnership with Tawa College – it made sense, it was a good fit
  • Who knows, without the Principal in that role we may not have had the opportunity to get 24-7 started.

Or take another example. Several years ago there were some earthquakes in Christchurch which caused us to consider the seismic rating of our buildings

  • We have some very capable engineers in our congregation so it seemed wise (an opportune time) to draw on their expertise in guiding us through a process of strengthening our buildings.

Another example. About 3 or 4 years ago one of the Bible study leaders was considering what Bible study material to use with her small group

  • She didn’t want to infringe any copyright laws or have to reinvent the wheel herself, so she asked me if I would create some questions to go with my sermons each week that she could use in her Bible study
  • I was happy to do this – it made sense
  • It was a way of making the most of the opportunity and redeeming the time I put into sermon prep – getting more mileage out of the message.

We are talking about the wisdom of making the most of our time. An example from the Bible. This morning the kids in the Flock Sunday school are learning how Jesus called his first disciples, in Luke 5

  • When Jesus came to earth he didn’t bring anything with him from heaven, except the Holy Spirit
  • Jesus was more inclined to use what was available to him on earth
  • In Luke 5, a crowd gathered to hear Jesus speak
  • Jesus saw an opportunity and made the most of it by using Simon Peter’s fishing boat to preach from
  • Then he called Peter, James and John to be his disciples (his apprentices)
  • Jesus knew his time on earth was limited and wisely used the time to create a community of people to carry on the work after he had gone.

I could give other examples but you get the idea – wise people redeem the time.

  • They make the most of the opportunities they are given for promoting God’s purpose
  • This doesn’t mean trying to do everything yourself
  • It doesn’t mean being so busy you can’t think straight
  • It means stepping back and taking time to discern God’s will and then getting on with it

 

Discerning the will of God:

Which brings us to our second point: wise people discern God’s will

  • In verse 17 Paul writes…

 

  • Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

The word translated as ‘foolish’ in this verse relates specifically to moral folly –we make good moral choices by understanding or discerning the Lord’s will.

 

Some of you might be into cray fishing or at least eating crayfish. If you are then you will know that crays under a certain size must be thrown back

  • For males the minimum tail width is 54mm and for females it is 60mm
  • Taking under sized crayfish is not only illegal, it is also morally foolish because it puts future crayfish stocks at risk
  • When you measure a cray you don’t guess, you use a standard measure like this one
  • The Bible is the standard or the measuring stick for discerning God’s will.

Now, while the Bible is good in providing a general guide for God’s will, it won’t always provide us with the answers we might want

  • When it comes to specific situational things, like what career path to take or who to marry or whether to stay single or whether the church should support this cause or another; we need a number of tools in our tool kit for discerning God’s will.

Paul doesn’t explore how to discern God’s will in these verses but whenever I am faced with a particular decision (one the Scriptures don’t obviously prohibit) I usually try to follow a common sense process…

  • Common sense avoids rushing in. It is important to be able to make the decision while we are not under pressure.

Praying about it is also a wise thing to do.

  • Say to God this is what I’m presented with.
  • This is what I’m thinking and feeling about it.
  • What do you want in this situation? Guide me in your will.
  • Open the doors you want us to walk through and close the doors you don’t want us to walk through.

A common sense process also involves reflecting on the probable consequences of taking a particular course of action. For example…

  • How will this affect God’s Kingdom and His reputation?
  • How will this affect my family?
  • How will this affect the church?
  • Do I have the capacity (the time, energy and skill) to embrace this?
  • Just because something is intrinsically good doesn’t mean we should do it
  • If you give yourself to every good cause that comes along you end up spreading yourself a too thin.
  • So you have to ask, how does this fit with my personality and values?
  • Can I live with this decision long term? Can I fulfil my commitment?
  • Is there someone else better suited?
  • They are the sort of questions we ask ourselves.

In discerning God’s will we might look for signs or clues in our circumstances or in the things that people unwittingly say to us.

  • Sometimes God reveals his will to us in dreams, but not all dreams are necessarily God speaking to us.
  • Sometimes God may give us a very specific verse of Scripture which shines a light on the way to go.
  • But, with all these things, we need to be careful.
  • Sometimes we can read what we want into our circumstances or dreams or Scripture, but if we talk it through with someone who knows us well, they can help us see our blind spots.
  • There is wisdom in seeking the advice of two or three people you trust and not trying to solve it on your own.

There are times, aren’t there, when we wish that God would just send us an email or a text telling us clearly what to do, but He doesn’t operate like that

  • God is not always directive. He often gives us options with the freedom to choose. We don’t get to see the full plan in advance
  • Mostly it feels like we are walking through the bush in the dark with only a torch – the light is just enough to see one or two steps ahead, but not enough to see any further down the track.

 

When I was younger I didn’t always make good decisions but God is gracious and He often finds a way to redeem our mistakes, to make the most of our time

  • When I left school I made the mistake of studying business management and accounting – it seemed like the right thing at the time (and I’m sure it is right for a good many people) but it wasn’t ideal for me
  • Nevertheless, God used my mistake for good – I still draw on those skills even now in pastoral ministry.

Discerning God’s will can be time consuming but if your heart is to honour God and do right by Him, He will point you in the right direction and use the choices you make to serve His purpose.

 

Okay, so wise people make the most of the time and they seek to understand God’s will – both His general will and His specific will

  • Wise people are also filled with the Holy Spirit

 

Being filled with the Spirit:

From verse 18 of Ephesians 5 we read…

  • Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,

In the normal course of events there is nothing wrong with drinking alcohol in moderation – unless you are an alcoholic or unless your drinking would be unhelpful to someone else’s faith

  • The problem is with drinking to excess. Apparently alcohol abuse was a plague on society in the ancient world as it still is today
  • A wise person exercises self-control. Alcohol impairs our decision making function and robs us of our self-control.
  • Therefore, getting drunk is a foolish moral choice because it puts us on a bad path

Being filled with God’s Spirit, on the other hand, enhances our decision making function and helps us to better control ourselves – The Spirit makes us wiser.

  • Where it says, be filled with the Spirit, the tense of the verb is present continuous – which means we don’t just get filled once, we are to go being filled with the Holy Spirit
  • We need the Spirit regularly, like we need oxygen or water.

So how do we get these regular fillings of the Holy Spirit?

  • Well, Paul doesn’t say in these verses, but we know from elsewhere in Scripture that we can’t manipulate the Spirit
  • Being filled with the Spirit isn’t like filling up your car with petrol – we don’t fill ourselves up, we are dependent on the Spirit to fill us.
  • The Spirit fills us like wind fills a sail
  • We can’t make the wind blow or control which direction it blows from; but we can trim our sail to catch the wind
  • Of course, there’s nothing wrong with praying for God to send His wind and asking the Spirit to fill us,
  • Given that Paul has just talked about being in Christ, earlier in Ephesians, we could expect the Spirit to go on filling us as we remain in Christ; much like the branches of a tree continue to be nourished as they stay connected to the main trunk

 

Having instructed his readers to be filled with the Spirit, Paul then goes on to mention four behaviours that are consistent with the Spirit’s activity among us

  • …speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
  • Singing and making music in your heart to the Lord,
  • always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
  • And, Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

 

These are not the only signs of the Holy Spirit’s activity

  • In Galatians Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control
  • And in John’s gospel we read how the Spirit of Jesus is a Spirit of grace and truth

 

Returning to Ephesians though, the first Spirit inspired behaviour Paul mentions is speaking and the language we use to communicate with each other

  • A community that shares a common language has a strong sense of identity and a shared understanding
  • Our language is not to be peppered with obscenities and innuendo, it is to be full of the language of the psalms and of praise for God.

 

Singing has to do with gathered worship and making music in your heart has to do with integrity in worship

  • There needs to be a harmony between what we are saying about God with our mouths and the intention of our hearts – our hearts need to be in it.
  • Two things happen when we sing and make music in our hearts to the Lord:
    • Our attention is shifted off ourselves and onto God, so we become less self-centred
    • And, we learn theology – we learn how to think about God

 

Giving thanks for everything is qualified by in the name of Jesus

  • It’s easy enough to give thanks for the good things (the pleasant things) but what about the yucky stuff?
  • Well we don’t need to give thanks for evil
  • If we are speaking words from the psalms to each other then we are free to lament evil because the psalms are all about being honest with God
  • This means we don’t have to pretend to be thankful for something we are not – Paul isn’t suggesting we say, ‘thank you God for this headache’.
  • Giving thanks for everything, in the name of Jesus means giving thanks on the basis of who Jesus is and what he has done. [1]
  • So, when someone dies and we feel sad, we don’t have to pretend to be happy. We don’t have to give thanks for their death.
  • The wise thing is to feel our grief but, in our sadness, to give thanks that Jesus has conquered death – ‘where oh death is your sting’.

Jesus encouraged thankfulness with his beatitudes

  • Blessed (lucky) are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven
  • Blessed (lucky) are you when people insult you because of me. Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven.

 

The fourth sign that the Spirit is active in a community of faith is the willingness of people to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

  • The Greek word for submit literally means ‘arrange under’ [2]
  • We are to arrange our lives under Christ
  • We are to think of others as better than ourselves
  • We are to treat each other with reverence as we would Christ
  • (If you can recall the story I told a couple of weeks ago about the monks – the Messiah is among you)
  • At times we may be required to sacrifice what we want for others
  • Mutual submission requires a high level of trust
  • In submitting to others we are trusting they have our best interests at heart and will in turn submit to us
  • For mutual submission to work our lives need to be governed by the love of Christ – self-giving love – it requires us all to reach maturity in Christ.

 

Jesus washing his disciples’ feet (in John 13) is a picture of submission

  • Even though Peter is uncomfortable with it he still submits to what Jesus is doing. Mutual submission is not easy

Abraham giving his nephew Lot the choice of the land (in Genesis 13) is another example of what submitting to others might look like

  • Lot chose what appeared to be the best quality land and Abraham submitted to Lot’s choice
  • I’m not sure Lot understood what his uncle was doing – the submission may have been one way in that instance

 

What I notice as I reflect on Paul’s four signs of the Spirit, in Ephesians 5, is that each one is more challenging than the one before – they are like a progression or a staircase

  • Speaking to other believers with psalms and spiritual songs is relatively easy
  • Singing together, with integrity in our worship, that’s a bit harder
  • Always giving thanks for everything in the name of Jesus can be even harder still, especially when we are suffering in some way
  • And as for submitting to one another – that’s top shelf, its advanced stuff.

 

The other thing we notice in these verses is the presence of the Trinity – God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit

  • The community of the church is modelled off the community of the God head.

 

Conclusion:

This morning we’ve been talking about wise living

  • Wise people make the most of their time
  • Wise people make the effort to discern God’s will
  • And wise people are filled with the Spirit – it is the Spirit of God that makes moral and practical wisdom possible.

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 does it mean to make the most of our time?

  • How are you using (or redeeming) the time?

3. How do we discern the Lord’s will?

  • Think of a time in your life when you have gone through a process of discerning God’s will. What was your process? What was the outcome?

4. What is your attitude to and practice regarding alcohol?

5. What does Paul mean by being ‘filled with the Spirit’?

  • How might we trim our sail to better catch the wind of God’s Spirit?

6. Discuss / reflect on the four signs of the Spirit’s activity mentioned in Ephesians 5

  • To what extent is each of these part of your experience with other believers?
  • Which one(s) to do you find more difficult? Why?

7. Imagine Paul was in the room with you now. What would you ask him concerning Ephesians 5:15-21? What do you think he might say?

 

 

[1] Refer Klyne Snodgrass, NIVAC Ephesians, page 291.

[2] Ibid, page 292.