Tawa Baptist

Jesus, Lamb of God

Scripture: John 1:29

Title: Jesus, Lamb of God

Structure:

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

Introduction:

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

–         [Wait for people to respond]

 

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

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

 

Jesus’ innocence:

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

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

–         By innocent we mean not guilty, without sin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Surely this was a righteous man.”

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

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

 

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

 

Jesus’ vulnerability:

To be vulnerable is to be open and unprotected, defenceless

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

–         A lamb has no way to defend itself

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

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

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

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

 

Vulnerability obviously comes with risk

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

 

Jesus’ sacrifice:

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

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

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

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

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

 

In the Bible lamb sacrifices were memorials of deliverance

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

–         That’s right – ‘Shark Bait’

–         Shark Bait is a nickname with foreboding overtones

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

–         We do this in faith, trusting Christ for redemption

 

Conclusion:

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

–         Why do you think this stood out to you?

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

–         In what ways is Jesus like a lamb?

–         In what ways is Jesus not like a lamb?

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

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

–         How do you respond to the powerful?

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

–         When is it not?

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

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

–         What is an appropriate response to Jesus’ sacrifice?

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

 

Tawa Baptist

Jesus – Son of Man

Scripture: Matthew 20:17-28

Title: Jesus – Son of Man

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Glorious King
  • Suffering Servant
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

I have here a New Zealand half penny

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

–         Two quite different images – one coin

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

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

 

Glory & suffering are two sides of the same coin.

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

–         It speaks of both the humanity and divinity of Jesus

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

 

Glorious King:

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

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

To understand these verses we need to look at the context

–         In Daniel 7 the prophet Daniel is describing a vision

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

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

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

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

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

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

–         The Son of Man is closely related to God Almighty

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

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

 

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

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

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

The allusion to Daniel 7 is pretty obvious here

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

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

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

Again, the connection with Daniel’s vision is unmistakable

 

Suffering Servant:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“We can,” they answered.

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

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

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

Jesus explains that things operate differently under his reign

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

 

Or to use another illustration:

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

–         Service to others is the true measure of greatness

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

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

 

Mother Teresa modelled the kind of service Jesus was talking about

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

The word ‘deacon’ means servant

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

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

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

 

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

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

 

Conclusion:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

–         Why do you think this stood out to you?

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

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

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

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

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

–         Why is that do you think?

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

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

–         How might we act as peacemakers in similar situations?

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

–         What does it mean to die to oneself?

Tawa Baptist

Son of God

Scripture: Matthew 3:13-4:11

 

Title: Jesus – Son of God

Key Idea: Jesus shows he is God’s Son through total commitment and trusting obedience to the Father

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Jesus’ baptism
  • Jesus’ testing
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

As most of you know by now the church lounge is under renovation at the moment. The purpose is to strengthen the room in case of an earthquake

–         One of the things the builder is doing (as David showed us last week) is attaching the brick work to the wooden frame using metal ties like this

–         Without the ties the brick wall would be independent of the frame and in an earthquake would be weaker without the frame to support it

–         The ties keep the bricks in the right position

–         Obviously just one tie isn’t going to be sufficient – we need the right number of ties

 

Here’s another picture – this one is of a ship’s mast and sail

–         Hopefully you can see that all the way up the mask there are ties keeping the sail attached to the mast

–         I guess without these ties the skipper would have no control of the sail    or the boat

–         As with the brick wall and framing, one tie isn’t going to be enough – you need a number of ties

 

This next picture is of a father and son walking hand in hand by the sea

–         In some ways the father is like the frame and the son is like the bricks

–         Or the father is like the mast and the son like the sail

–         The son is close to the father and gets strength from the father

–         They are connected not just by a single biological tie but by the bond of many shared experiences

–         This father and son are creating a bond simply by spending time together

 

Today we continue our sermon series on the titles ascribed to Jesus

–         So far we have looked at Jesus the Wonderful Counsellor, the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting Father, Mighty God, Jesus as Lord and Son of David

–         This morning we look at what it means to say that Jesus is the ‘Son of God’

 

The gospels of Matthew & Luke both make it clear that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, not by a man, so in a very unique sense Jesus is God’s Son

–         However, there is more to being someone’s son than mere conception

–         Conception is one tie between father and son but one tie isn’t enough

–         To be a son, in the full or whole sense, is to have a certain quality of relationship with the father – a relationship characterised by closeness & trust, with many ties or shared experiences

 

To help us explore what it means to say that Jesus is the ‘Son of God’ I’ve selected Matthew’s account of the baptism and testing of Jesus

–         From Matthew 3, verse 13, we read…

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness.” Then John consented.

16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ ”

7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ ”

11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

 

In this reading we see the quality of Jesus’ relationship with God

–         Jesus demonstrates he is God’s Son through total commitment and trusting obedience to the Father

 

Jesus’ baptism:

At Christmas time I was given the gift of a book written by the Frenchman Antoine De Saint-Exupery (my apologies for butchering the French language)

–         The book was called The Little Prince

–         It is wonderful and packed with many profound things including this…

 

One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.

 

This is very true – God is both essential to us and invisible to our eyes

–         Not just God though but also the many ties that are essential to our relationship with God

 

Once the wall lining goes up in the lounge we won’t see the ties anymore but they will be there, invisible, holding things together

 

Prayer is an essential tie in our relationship with God but you can’t really see prayer – it’s something done in faith

 

Likewise, the Word of God is invisible – sure, you can read words on a page in a Bible but that’s not the same as discerning the Word of God

–         You can only see the Word of God by faith with the heart

 

Communion is another invisible tie in our relationship with God

–         We might be able to physically see, touch and taste the symbols of bread & wine but the essence of communion is invisible

–         The bond we have with Jesus (and each other) through breaking bread and sharing the cup can only be seen with the heart

 

Same thing with baptism – baptism is a relational tie with God; Father, Son & Spirit – it’s an outward sign of an inward reality

–         People see you getting wet but they can’t see the internal bond God is creating between you and Him

 

Our reading from Matthew earlier begins with the baptism of Jesus but what Matthew focuses on is not the part people can see with their eyes but the part that can only be seen clearly with the heart

 

To everyone else Jesus was just another person in the crowd coming to be baptised by John – but John could see what was invisible to everyone else

–         John saw with his heart – he recognised who Jesus really was and said it’s me who should be baptised by you

 

But Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness.” Then John consented.

 

This tells us Jesus was getting baptised out of obedience to God

–         John’s baptism was for the repentance of sins and yet Jesus was sinless so he didn’t need John’s baptism – there was an element of humiliation in it for Jesus, like he was being tarred with the same brush as a thief or a liar even though he was not guilty of anything

–         God’s purpose was for Jesus to save the people from their sins

–         By being baptised Jesus was identifying with sinful humanity and publicly accepting God’s purpose for him, which was to go to the cross

–         Identifying with sinful humanity created a bond with us

–         Accepting God’s purpose created a bond with God

 

16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

 

Now we don’t know if the bystanders saw the Spirit descending on Jesus and heard the voice from heaven or whether only Jesus was aware

–         Either way it is a divine affirmation that Jesus is the Son of God

–         The Holy Spirit is the ultimate bond (or tie) between God the Father and Jesus the Son

 

Those who are familiar with the Old Testament will hear echoes from the past

–         In the Hebrew Scriptures God refers to the nation of Israel as his son who he brought out of Egypt

–         This means Jesus is like a new Israel and, through Jesus, God is bringing about a new exodus, setting his people free from sin & death

–         Likewise, in Psalm 2, the king of Israel is referred to as God’s son

–         Most (if not all) of the kings of Israel failed to live up to the title of God’s son through their disobedience to God

–         But Jesus succeeds through his trusting obedience to God the Father

 

There are many other allusions to the Old Testament in these verses but the main point is: God the Father validates Jesus as his Son and expresses his pleasure that Jesus has embraced God’s purpose for him

 

Jesus’ testing:

There is a wonderful scene in the book I was talking about earlier where the little prince meets a fox and asks if the fox will play with him

–         And the fox replies, ‘I can’t play with you. I’m not tame’

–         When the little prince asks what does ‘tame’ mean, the fox explains,

–         ‘It means “creating a bond”.’ (A tie)

 

The conversation goes back and forth for a bit and then the fox says…

–         “One only understands the things that one tames. Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me.”

–         “What must I do to tame you?” asked the little prince

–         “You must be very patient”, replied the fox. “First you will sit a little distance from me, like that, in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings.”

 

The author of the Little Prince lived in the desert for some years, he loved it there. The desert is a lonely place, a place without words, without misunderstandings

 

Straight after his baptism the Spirit leads Jesus into the desert, just as the nation of Israel were led into the desert after their exodus from Egypt

–         Why does the Spirit do this?

–         To test the strength of the bond between Jesus the Son and God the Father

–         God was confident in the quality of his relationship with Jesus – he trusted his son to choose the right path

 

The devil tries to break (or at least fracture) the father / son relationship between God & Jesus through three temptations – all of which have to do with power

 

The first temptation comes after Jesus has been alone and without food for 40 days – when he is at his weakest

–         The devil says, ‘If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread’

–         On the face of it the devil doesn’t appear to be asking Jesus to do anything obviously bad – it’s not like he’s suggesting Jesus steal the bread from orphans – and so we might be puzzled by Jesus’ response

 

Two reasons I think Jesus said ‘no’

–         Firstly, Jesus is at war here with the forces of evil – He is in combat against the devil

–         When you are at war you don’t do what the enemy says – you don’t let your opponent set the agenda

–         Jesus wasn’t going to start taking orders from the devil even if what Satan suggested seemed harmless enough

–         Jesus was only interested in doing what he saw God his Father doing – which brings us to Jesus’ second reason for saying ‘no’

 

God isn’t sitting on a cloud untouched by human suffering

–         God is present and involved with his creation

–         Human suffering, animal suffering, the poisoning of the air, land and sea affects God – he feels our pain

–         Jesus the Son only does what he sees God his Father doing – he sees God close to people and affected by our lives and so he knows that God wants him to enter into the human experience as well (like Father like Son)

–         Part of the human experience is hunger and powerlessness

–         If Jesus used his special power to satisfy his own hunger then he wouldn’t be entering into the human experience, he would be avoiding it

–         To avoid the human experience would be a denial of his baptism and a denial of God’s purpose for him and a denial of himself as God’s Son

–         It is God’s will to save humanity and that meant it was necessary for Jesus to enter into the experience of those he’d come to save

–         By fasting and experiencing hunger Jesus was creating a bond or a tie with those who have known hunger & powerlessness

 

As well as entering into the human experience generally, God wanted Jesus to enter into Israel’s experience particularly – and part of Israel’s experience was hunger & vulnerability in the wilderness

–         As Son of God, Jesus is doing for Israel what Israel failed to do

–         In all three temptations Jesus refutes the devil by quoting Scripture from Deuteronomy chapters 6 & 8

–         Deuteronomy 6-8 forms part of the instruction Moses gave to the people toward the end of their time in the wilderness

–         Moses was basically saying that God had been training Israel to trust and obey him – much like a Father teaches a son – and here’s some of the things they should have learned from their experience

 

Lesson number one: ‘Man cannot live by bread alone’ (and by man we mean humankind – men & women)

–         Eating food is essential to survival in this life

–         Likewise, obedience to God’s will is essential to this life and the next

–         Jesus’ refusal to break his fast until God said so proved the point that doing God’s will is even more life giving than eating bread

–         Fulfilling God’s purpose satisfies our souls in a way that food can’t

 

Having said all that Jesus didn’t always fast – in fact he had a reputation for eating well

–         On another occasion in the wilderness Jesus would use his power to miraculously multiply loaves and fishes to feed thousands

–         On that occasion Jesus was actually proving a similar point – that God is the source and sustain-er of life

–         Jesus had just been feeding the people with God’s word through his teaching – then, after he had fed their souls with his sermon, he fed their bodies with food – because we need both for life

 

So if you’re thinking I might do a fast for 40 days like Jesus – then don’t, it will kill you (you’re not Jesus)

–         If you want to give up something don’t give up food which is good for you – give up the things that are bad for you, like complaining or self-pity or gossip or resentment or worry or excess screen time

 

Jesus’ obedience in submitting to God’s will for him shows that Jesus trusted God to provide bread for him when God was ready

–         And this is exactly what God did – after the devil had left, angels came and took care of Jesus’ needs

 

The second temptation comes in the form of a vision

–         The devil transports Jesus to the highest point of the temple and invites him to jump off, saying…

–         “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ ”

–         The devil wants Jesus to act as though God is there to serve him

–         Leverage your relationship with God, get him to pull some strings for you

 

Notice how the devil uses the Bible to entice Jesus here – he makes it seem like a good idea, a holy idea even

–         The devil misuses holy Scripture by taking a verse out of context and applying a crude literalism to it – what we might call ‘proof texting’

–         Jesus isn’t fooled though – he finds the true meaning of Scripture by putting things in the right context

–         He understands Scripture because of his closeness to God the Father

 

Again Jesus quotes Scripture from Deuteronomy

–         “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

–         This is another lesson Israel should have learned in the wilderness

–         ‘Don’t put God to the test’ means don’t try and force God’s hand

–         Don’t put God in an awkward position

–         Don’t try to manipulate God

–         Don’t take advantage of your relationship with God for selfish ends

–         It’s the Father who teaches the Son, not the other way around

 

God wasn’t asking Jesus to jump off the temple roof

–         God was asking Jesus to hang on the cross

–         Jesus shows he is the Son of God by obeying the will of the Father

 

The third temptation also comes in the form of a vision

–         This time the devil isn’t so subtle – he shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour and says…

–         “All this I will give you, if you will bow down and worship me.”

–         The devil is offering Jesus a cosy alternative to his mission

–         Imagine the good you could do if all the kingdoms of the world were yours – this is an easier way than the way God has for you

 

But Jesus isn’t going to repeat the mistakes of the Israelites in the wilderness who bowed down to the statue of a gold bull and says…

–         “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ ”

–         Jesus loves God his Father and wouldn’t trade him for all the kingdoms of the world – that’s the quality of their relationship, that’s the strength of their bond

 

Conclusion:

Jesus shows he is God’s Son through his total commitment and trusting obedience to the Father

Most of Jesus’ contemporaries couldn’t see he was the Son of God because they were looking with their eyes and not with their hearts

–         It was only after his death and resurrection that it began to dawn on people who Jesus really is

The good news is: through faith in Jesus God tames us – through Jesus, God creates a bond making us his friends and family

 

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 (or who) ties Jesus to God?

–         What (or who) ties us to God?

3.)    Why did Jesus go to be baptised by John?

4.)    Who did the son of God refer to in the Old Testament?

5.)    The baptism of Jesus sounds many echoes of the Old Testament. What echoes can you hear?

6.)    Why did the Spirt lead Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil?

7.)    Discuss / reflect on Jesus’ response to the three temptations and their relationship to Israel’s experience in the wilderness

–         In what ways has your faith / relationship with God been tested over the years?

8.)    How might God tame us?

 

 

Tawa Baptist

Son of David

Scriptures: Matthew 1:1-17; 12:1-6 & 38-42; 21:1-17; 22:41-45 & Psalm 110

Title: Jesus, Son of David

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Greater than Solomon
  • Greater than the temple
  • Greater than David
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

One of the good things about being an adult is that your feet stop growing

–         And that’s a good thing because it means you can buy a pair of shoes that are the right size and they’ll keep being the right size

–         When you are a child your feet are always getting bigger, so when you buy a pair of shoes that fit it’s not long before they become too tight and you have to curl your toes up at the front

I have here a child’s chair from the Sparrow’s Sunday school

–         This chair is great if you are four but it’s not so wonderful if you’re 40

–         Most of us could probably sit in this chair if we had to but it would be too small – we might have our knees up around our ears or we might find it difficult to get up

 

Today we continue our sermon series on the titles ascribed to Jesus

–         So far we have looked at Jesus the Wonderful Counsellor, the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting Father, Mighty God and ‘Lord’.

–         This morning we consider the title, ‘Son of David’ – as in King David

–         Jesus didn’t go around calling himself the ‘Son of David’ but he accepted it when other people called him that

–         What we find though is the title ‘Son of David’ doesn’t really fit for Jesus

–         It’s too small, like a pair of shoes you’ve grown out of or a kindy chair

–         Jesus isn’t just the king of Israel, his realm is much larger than that

 

Greater than Solomon:

In the ancient way of thinking the life of a father is continued in his son

–         To the ancient mind a son fulfilled the purpose of a man’s life

–         We don’t necessarily think that way today but in the world in which the Bible was written they did think that way

Two of the gospels place Jesus’ family tree near the beginning

–         Matthew’s gospel in particular opens with the verse…

A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:

Matthew then goes on to list the line of male descendants from Abraham, through King David and all the way down to Joseph, the husband of Mary

–         In doing this Matthew is making it clear that Jesus is royalty – he is the Messiah, the king of Israel descended from David

–         As a son (or a descendant) of David, Jesus continues David’s reign and fulfils the purpose of David’s life

Now some of you may be thinking, ‘But wait a second, this is Joseph’s family tree and Jesus wasn’t Joseph’s biological son. Mary conceived Jesus by the Holy Spirit (not by Joseph) – so how does that make Jesus a son of David?’

–         Well, Jesus is Joseph’s son by adoption. The fact that Jesus is adopted by Joseph in no way undermines Jesus’ royal lineage

–         In Jewish thought a child became a man’s son not so much by physical procreation as by acknowledgement on the part of the man

–         So Jesus is a ‘Son of David’ by adoption into Joseph’s family

 

Looking at David’s sons more closely we see Matthew lists 14 kings from Solomon to the time of the exile, when Judah no longer had a king of their own and the nation became subject to foreign kings

–         Of all the sons of David listed there Solomon was probably the most famous and politically successful king

Most people remember Solomon for his wisdom

–         For a nation to have peace the leaders must act with justice and justice requires wisdom

–         Solomon was a clever politician – under his reign the nation of Israel reached its zenith, it’s pinnacle of glory & riches

–         This being said Solomon’s policies actually oppressed the people – he laid a heavy burden of taxation on the working class

–         Not only that but Solomon had hundreds of wives and consequently his loyalty to Yahweh was divided

–         So there were some serious blind spots in Solomon’s wisdom

–         Nevertheless people came to him from all over the world for advice

In Matthew 12 some Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign and Jesus refuses saying…

“A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign… The Queen of the South will rise at the judgement with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here.” 

Of all the sons of David to sit on the throne Solomon was the greatest and yet Jesus is greater than Solomon

–         Jesus is greater in wisdom and power and status – even if he lacked all the pomp & ceremony and material wealth of Solomon

–         Jesus isn’t just another son in a long list of sons – Jesus is the Son of David, promised by God through his prophets long ago

During the time of the Jewish exile, when the people were subject to foreign rulers, God said through his prophet Jeremiah…

‘The days are coming when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is right in the land…’

–         Jeremiah was talking about the Son of David in these verses – ‘Branch of David’ is just a poetic way of saying ‘Son of David’

–         Christians believe Jesus is the righteous branch – the King descended from David who will reign wisely and do what is right

 

Greater than the temple:

Let me tell you a story…

–         Once there was a man who was good with money

–         As a child he didn’t have much – in fact he didn’t always know where his next meal was coming from

–         Poverty lit a fire in him – he worked hard to put as much distance between himself and his past as he could

–         Working two or three jobs at a time he managed to scrape together enough for a loan to start his own business

–         The business grew and so did his portfolio until he was worth millions

Sadly, the man’s great wealth came at an even greater cost

–         Working long hours and carrying all that stress took its toll on his relationships

–         By the end of his career he found himself alone in an empty mansion, drinking too much and wondering what the point of it all was

–         He’d spent his whole life climbing the ladder of success only to reach the top and discover the ladder was leaning against the wrong wall

 

When the man died his entire estate went to his grandson

–         Everyone expected the young man to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and make even more money

–         But the boy was not like his grandfather – he had seen what the pursuit of money had done to his family, the loneliness & grief it caused

–         So the young man took some time to think how best to use his inheritance

–         He loved his grandfather but he couldn’t walk in the old man’s shoes – they just didn’t fit him

–         To repeat the mistakes of the past would be a betrayal of his grandad and of himself

After much thought the young man decided to use his grandfather’s wealth to help others

–         The empty mansion became a women’s refuge

–         The rental properties all got an uplift and the tenants got a rent decrease

–         The bach up north was built on Maori land so he gave it back – justice is better than charity

–         Most of the shares got liquidated and the cash he loaned interest free to people in developing countries or put towards educational scholarships

He didn’t give everything away though – he kept some for himself because having too little money is just as destructive as having too much

–         If his grandfather had taught him anything it was that poverty and excess are opposite sides of the same coin

Perhaps his grandad would have turned in his grave to know how he had spent his inheritance but really it was the most meaningful thing the young man could do – It gave his grandfather’s life work a greater purpose

–         Money is a wonderful servant when it is used to set people free

In some ways the young man in this story is like Jesus

–         Jesus inherited the title ‘Son of David’ and with it came an expectation that he would behave like David & Solomon

–         That he would defeat the Romans and make Israel glorious again

–         But Jesus couldn’t walk in their shoes – they didn’t fit

–         Israel’s expectations of the Messiah were too small, too narrow

–         To repeat the past would have been a betrayal of sorts

–         Jesus doesn’t copy David & Solomon verbatim – but neither does he disrespect what he has inherited

–         Instead Jesus uses what he has been given to set people free and in doing that he gives David’s life a greater purpose

 

For most of his ministry Jesus downplayed the idea that he was the Son of David, perhaps because it meant something quite different to him than it did in the minds of the people – the term ‘Son of David’ was politically loaded and Jesus’ Kingdom is not of this world

–         There was one occasion though when Jesus did walk in David’s shoes – he intentionally encouraged the people to think of him as their king by riding into Jerusalem on a donkey

–         David and his sons rode mules – not only that but the prophets to the exiles predicted the Messiah would come riding on a donkey:

–         Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’

–         When Jesus did that a week before Passover the crowds went wild and shouted, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David.’

Soon after that Jesus went into the temple in Jerusalem, saw the merchants in the court of the Gentiles and drove them out, quoting Scripture…

–         “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a den of robbers.”

 

King David had wanted to build a temple for the Lord but God said it wasn’t for David to do that – Solomon would be the one to build the temple

–         The temple of Jesus’ day was not the same as the temple of Solomon’s day – Solomon’s temple had been destroyed centuries earlier

–         Nevertheless in thinking about the title ‘Son of David’ we are reminded of the role of David’s son in restoring the temple to its proper purpose

From Matthew 21, verse 14 we read…

  • – The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.
  • – But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.

Most of the gospel references to Jesus as Son of David are in the context of Jesus healing people, which stands in contrast to King David who, as a soldier, maimed and killed people

–         The interesting thing here is that the blind and lame were not usually welcome in the temple, yet they do feel welcome with Jesus there

–         Jesus restores their sight and mobility so they are able to participate in prayer and worship with the rest of the community

 

The religious leaders don’t like the way children are ascribing the title ‘Son of David’ to Jesus, but Jesus defends the children

–         Ironically the kids have more spiritual insight than the chief priests

 

It has to be said though that Jesus was never as enamoured by the Jerusalem temple as David & Solomon were. He was critical of the temple system and foresaw its destruction

  • – In Matthew 12 Jesus’ disciples pick some heads of grain as they walk past a field on the Sabbath
  • – The Pharisees point out to Jesus that his disciples are breaking the law in doing this. (Actually they weren’t breaking God’s law, just the Pharisees’ man made rules). Jesus defends his disciples saying…

“Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.”

In these verses Jesus compares himself to David and his disciples to David’s companions

  • – The ‘something greater than the temple’ is Jesus and the community of his followers
  • – Jesus came to build something greater than a physical building
  • – Jesus came to build the church – a people united in love for him
  • – Those of you who were here for the all-age Christmas service last year may remember what Neville said about Jesus being the corner stone and each of us being living stones in God’s house

 

So far then we’ve heard how Jesus, the Son of David, is greater than Solomon and that he builds something greater than the temple – he builds the church

  • – But what about King David himself – how does Jesus compare to David?

 

Greater than David:

If I say, ‘Jim is a chip off the old block’, what do I mean? [Wait]

–         ­­That’s right, I mean that Jim is like his father. The old block being Jim’s father and the chip being Jim himself

–         And what would you say was greater in this analogy – the old block or the chip? [Wait] The old block is greater

–         But even greater still is the one swinging the axe

 

Okay, what do I mean if I say, ‘The apple didn’t fall far from the tree’? [Wait]

–         That’s right, I mean the child is similar to the parent

–         The parent being the tree, the apple being the child

–         And what is greater – the apple or the tree [Wait] The tree is greater

–         But even greater still is the gardener who planted and watered the tree

To say that Jesus is the Son of David is true in a sense but it doesn’t tell the full story – it suggests that Jesus is a chip off the old block or the apple that didn’t fall far from the tree – when in actual fact Jesus is greater than David

–         In Jesus we find something more than the old block or the tree

–         Jesus is the gardener

 

You all know the story of Cinderella – the girl who was treated cruelly by her step mother and step sisters, but with the help of a fairy god-mother gets to go to the ball

  • – She has a wonderful time and the prince falls in love with her
  • – But she must leave before the stroke of midnight when her carriage turns back into a pumpkin
  • – As she runs out of the palace she leaves behind a single glass slipper
  • – It is the only clue the prince has to her identity – he must find out who this beautiful and mysterious woman is
  • – In his quest to find her the prince goes from house to house through his kingdom getting ladies to try on the glass slipper – if it fits she is the one

In some ways Jesus was a little bit like Cinderella and the chief priests and Pharisees were like his step mother and step sisters; jealous of him, never giving him the respect he was due

  • – After Jesus had cleansed the temple he was peppered with questions from the religious establishment to try and trip him up
  • – They didn’t like Jesus and wanted an excuse to get rid of him
  • – But Jesus always had an answer for them
  • – When the Pharisees grew tired of questioning him, Jesus asked them…

“What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”

“The son of David,” they replied.

He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies under your feet.”’

If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?”

 

A couple of Sundays ago I said that Jesus was more interested in getting people to think about the who and why questions than he was the how

  • – Here we have a classic who question: Who is the Messiah?
  • – The Pharisees answer as expected, ‘The Son of David’
  • – But Jesus points out how this doesn’t quite fit with the glass slipper of Scripture. Jesus quotes King David from Psalm 110

It sounds a little confusing so I’ll try to make it as simple as possible

  • – David (speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) relays a conversation he overhears between his superiors
  • – Yahweh (or God) says to David’s Lord (the Messiah), ‘Sit at my right hand…’
  • – Now to the ancient Jews there was only one person above the king and that was God Almighty
  • – Yet David is saying there is someone else above me – someone equal to God – for he sits at God’s right hand
  • – Who is this mysterious Lord (this Cinderella) of whom David speaks?

The Pharisees don’t know how to answer Jesus and Jesus doesn’t spell it out for them either – he leaves the question in their minds like grit in an oyster shell which, with time, forms a pearl

 

The point is, ‘Son of David’ is not an adequate title for the Messiah

  • – David himself acknowledges that the promised Messiah is his Lord
  • – Jesus (the Messiah) is greater than David

 

Conclusion:

Jesus had a pretty high opinion of himself – it’s no wonder he was crucified

  • – Jesus basically said he was greater than Solomon
  • – That he (and his companions) were greater than the Jerusalem temple
  • – And that he was greater even than King David himself

As C.S. Lewis said, anyone who made those sorts of claims about himself was either a lunatic, a liar or the Son of God

No one likes a big noter and yet Jesus isn’t blowing his own trumpet

  • – If anything he is squeezing into a pair of shoes that are too small for him
  • – Or sitting on a child’s seat
  • – He’s making himself smaller to accommodate us
  • – The titles we have for Jesus are not adequate to define him
  • – Just as the categories we have for Jesus are not sufficient to contain him

 

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 does Matthew open his gospel with Jesus’ genealogy, tracing the line of David?

3.)    In what ways is Jesus similar to Solomon?

–         In what ways was Jesus different to Solomon?

4.)    What have you inherited from your forebears (either materially speaking or otherwise)?

–         How might you best use that?

5.)    Who (or what) is greater than the Jerusalem temple?

6.)    In what ways is Jesus similar to David?

–         In what ways is Jesus different to David?

7.)    Why is the title ‘Son of David’ inadequate for Jesus?

8.)    What expectations do you have of Jesus?

–         Do your expectations fit with the glass slipper of Scripture?

 

Tawa Baptist

Mighty God

Scripture: Mark 1:21-39

Title: Mighty God

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Jesus preaches with authority
  • Jesus heals with power
  • Jesus prays with perspective
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Lieutenant General, Lord, Freyberg served in the Dardanelles & Europe with the British Army during the first world war

–         Then he served in Italy & Africa with the New Zealand army during the second world war

–         As all the letters before and after his name suggest, Bernard Freyberg was awarded many titles and decorations for his bravery in combat, including the Victoria Cross, the Distinguished Service Order (with three bars) and the French Croix de Guerre

–         Winston Churchill called Freyberg the ‘Salamander’ due to his disregard for danger and always being in the thick of the action

–         Despite being wounded many times Freyberg survived and kept coming back for more

 

Today we continue our sermon series on the titles ascribed to Jesus

–         Like Bernard Freyberg, Jesus has earned many titles too

–         So far we have looked at Jesus the Wonderful Counsellor, the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting Father and what it means to call Jesus, ‘Lord’

–         This morning we consider the title of ‘Mighty God’ for Jesus

–         ‘Mighty God’ comes from Isaiah 9 verse 6 and in the context was a reference to the Messiah as a courageous warrior king, a general, empowered by God to defeat evil and deliver the people

 

Freyberg and Jesus were similar in that they were both courageous leaders who weren’t afraid to get in the thick of the action

–         But they were very different in the way they went about their combat and who they fought against

–         Jesus did not come to wage war against flesh & blood (as Freyberg did)

–         Jesus fought against principalities and powers in the spiritual realm

–         Jesus waged war against Satan, without guns or swords

 

To help us see Jesus in action against evil we will read a passage from Mark 1

–         This describes a day in the life of Jesus’ early ministry

–         From Mark 1, verses 21 to 39, in the NIV, we read…

21 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. 23 Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, 24 “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

25 “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” 26 The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. 27 The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.” 28 News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30 Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. 31 So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.

32 That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33 The whole town gathered at the door, 34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.

35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”

38 Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” 39 So he travelled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

 

In a war, one country invades another and takes their land by force

–         As a consequence the people of the country that is invaded lose their freedom

–         It’s similar when someone gets sick – it’s like the illness or the infection invades the person’s body so they lose their health & freedom

 

God created the world good but the world has been invaded by evil

–         As a consequence we (humanity) have lost our health & freedom

 

Jesus came to establish God’s Kingdom (God’s reign) on earth

–         In doing this Jesus was taking back what Satan had invaded & stolen

–         But, unlike other military commanders, Jesus didn’t come to take back God’s world by force, with tanks and guns or chariots and swords

–         Jesus simply offered himself

–         Jesus is a General like no other – he uses a quite different approach

 

In our reading from Mark 1 we note three strategies Jesus employs in the war against evil…

–         Jesus preaches with authority

–         He heals with power

–         And he prays with perspective

 

Jesus preaches with authority:

First let us consider Jesus’ preaching with authority

 

Last year the Nobel Prize for physiology & medicine was awarded to Dr James Allison, from The University of Texas, and Professor Tasuku Honjo, from Kyoto University

–         They were awarded the Nobel Prize for their discoveries in cancer treatment

–         Traditional cancer treatments, like chemotherapy, involve a bit of collateral damage, with the good cells getting killed along with the bad

–         But Allison & Tasuku have made advances in immunotherapy, using the body’s immune system to target cancer cells

–         So instead of nuking everything, they have worked out a way for the body to identify the real enemy (the cancer) and attack those cells only

–         I’m not sure I properly the understand the science of it all but it works on a molecular level – really clever stuff

 

The Israel of Jesus’ day had been invaded by the Romans and was occupied by them, so the Jews weren’t free

–         They naturally thought of the Romans as the enemy

–         But Jesus didn’t see it that way – Jesus could see that the real enemy was Satan and the forces of evil

–         Jesus knew the battle for people’s souls needed to be fought in people’s hearts & minds, at a molecular level (spiritually speaking)

–         So Jesus’ main strategy in bringing God’s Kingdom to earth was to preach & teach the ways of God

 

But he didn’t preach like anyone else. Verse 22 tells us…

–         The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.

 

The teachers of the law were the guardians of oral tradition

–         They passed on to others the man made rules and regulations that explained how to apply God’s law as contained in the first five books of what we call the Old Testament

–         Their teaching was essentially a list of rules – dos and don’ts for everyday life

–         For example, the Law of Moses says you can’t work on the Sabbath and so here’s what that means – you can’t heal someone on the Sabbath, if it can wait till tomorrow but you can pull your donkey out of a well if it falls in on the Sabbath

–         I imagine their teaching was quite focused on answering the questions of how and what?

–         How are we supposed to apply God’s law? What constitutes work? Etc.

 

Jesus’ preaching was different to this though – Jesus didn’t base his message on the authority of the scribes’ oral tradition or their man made regulations

–         For Jesus the more important questions were why and who?

–         Why do we keep the Sabbath? Who is God to us? That sort of thing

–         It’s not that the how & what questions are unimportant

–         It’s just that when we understand who God is (his character, his love) and why he has given various commandments, then we don’t need all the other man-made legislation, because we can discern the spirit of the law

 

The title ‘Mighty God’ applies to Jesus because his message was based on God given authority – on his personal knowledge & relationship with God the Father

–         He could talk about the Kingdom of Heaven from personal experience because he came from heaven – the scribes couldn’t do that

–         He had authority to break the scribes’ rules about healing on the Sabbath because he came to fulfil the purpose of the Sabbath – to restore people

 

I think Jesus’ approach in preaching & teaching was a bit like immunotherapy

–         His words worked at a spiritually molecular level, inside a person’s heart & mind

–         Jesus was sowing the seed of a thought to activate our spiritual immune system (our conscience) so that we could identify the true enemy inside and attack that

–         You see, the enemy wasn’t really the Romans or any other political / cultural people group that we might not like

–         Jesus preached forgiveness of people because people are not the enemy

–         The real enemy is things like fear and pride and greed and loneliness and cynicism, and the many lies we tell ourselves are true

–         They are the sorts of things that eat away at us and rob our peace

 

The other thing that helped to reinforce the authority of Jesus’ preaching was his deeds of power – his healings & exorcisms

 

Jesus heals with power:

Like Freyberg, Jesus wasn’t afraid to get in the thick of it

–         In fact we know Jesus’ preaching was on target and effective because of the reaction it got from the powers of darkness

–         When Jesus preached in the synagogue in Capernaum a man with an evil spirit reacted by saying…

–         “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

–         25 “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” 26 The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.

 

There was no contest really – Jesus set the man free from the forces of evil with just a few simple words. He didn’t even raise a sweat

–         This shows us who the real enemy is and at the same time it reveals that Jesus embodies the mighty power of God

–         But notice that the power of God is different from human power

–         God’s power (as embodied in Jesus) is not the power of violence but rather the power of holiness

–         Now when we talk about holiness we don’t mean being ‘holier than thou’

–         We mean holiness in the sense of wholeness or integrity

–         Holiness is really about being one thing – being true to who we really are as creatures made in the image of God

–         Jesus knew who he was and why he was – he was clear about his identity & purpose and that gave him strength and courage to stand against evil

 

U2 have a song called ‘There is a Light’. One of the verses reads…

 

I know the world is done, but you don’t have to be
I’ve got a question for the child in you before it leaves
Are you tough enough to be kind?
Do you know your heart has its own mind?
Darkness gathers around the light
Hold on, Hold on 

 

I don’t know what Bono meant by those words but to me he is saying something like…

–         Yes, there is evil and darkness in the world but it’s not too late for you

–         Don’t give in to cynicism, don’t give in to the darkness

–         It takes more courage, more strength, more toughness to be kind

–         And when your kindness (your light) is met with hostility and rejection, then remember that ‘darkness gathers around the light’

 

The toughness to be kind is the toughness that comes from holiness, from being one thing, from knowing who we are in Christ and why we are (our purpose)

–         Jesus said to his disciples, ‘You are the light of the world’

–         That tells us who we are why we are – we are the light and our purpose is to shine in the darkness

–         Jesus also said, ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake’

–         Goodness (light) is powerful in its own way and it usually gets a reaction from evil – the darkness gathers around the light

 

Following the exorcism in the synagogue Jesus goes to Simon & Andrew’s home where Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law of a fever

–         While sickness is not exactly the same as being possessed by an evil spirit, neither is it God’s will for us

–         Interestingly Jesus demonstrates his power & authority without saying a word – he simply takes Simon’s mother-in-law by the hand – he heals her with his touch and Simon’s mother-in-law serves them

–         As usual it is a woman who shows us the right response to Jesus

 

Once the sun goes down the Sabbath ends and people come to Jesus at Simon’s home for healing. Nothing is too difficult for him

–         Jesus isn’t a one trick pony – he can heal any sort of disease and cast out any demon

–         These powerful healings coupled with Jesus’ authorative preaching show that Jesus is worthy of the title, ‘Mighty God’

 

There is an irony here – despite all the miracles the people of Capernaum aren’t able to join the dots to work out who Jesus is – that he is the Messiah spoken of by the prophet Isaiah

–         They are amazed but uncomprehending

–         Miracles don’t necessarily produce faith or understanding

–         The demons know who Jesus is, but Jesus silences them – it is not for the forces of evil to set the agenda or reveal God’s plan

 

Jesus prays with perspective:

We’ve talked about how the title ‘Mighty God’ finds resonance with courageous and powerful leadership

–         One of the attributes of a good military leader is their ability to see the bigger picture and not become distracted from the main objective

–         Maintaining a healthy perspective is crucial for any leader

 

There is a scene in the second Hobbit movie, where Bilbo Baggins and the dwarves get lost in the Mirkwood forest

–         Mirkwood is a dark and disorienting place – evil lurks in the shadows

 

Bilbo senses they are going around in circles so he climbs to the top of the trees and looks out over the branches to get some perspective and find some direction

–         Above the trees it is sunny and bright and Bilbo can see for miles

 

Spiritually speaking, Capernaum was perhaps a bit like Mirkwood forest

–         Given the large number of demon possessed & sick, and given the obtuseness of the people, it appears the powers of darkness were at home there

 

Verse 35 of Mark 1 tells us that, very early in the morning, Jesus left the house and went off to a solitary place to pray

–         Jesus had just had a very busy and successful day

–         Both busy-ness and success have a way of causing us to lose perspective

–         Jesus and his disciples could have lost their way in Capernaum

–         They could have been tempted to stay and clean the place up

–         I’m sure the evil one would have been more than happy keeping them busy fighting fires, going round & round in circles performing miracles without achieving the greater purpose God had for them

–         By going to a solitary place to pray Jesus was climbing to the top of the trees and looking out over the branches of Capernaum to restore his perspective and find some direction from God

 

We don’t know exactly what Jesus said in his prayer on this occasion but it is apparent that his purpose was to listen to God and find out his next move – for when Peter found him and said, ‘Everyone is looking for you’

–         Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”

–         Jesus didn’t operate independently of God or in his own strength

–         Through prayer Jesus maintained his perspective and remembered why he had come (God’s larger purpose)

–         He did not allow himself to be distracted – there were others who needed the opportunity to hear his message and discover who & why they are

 

Conclusion:

This morning we’ve heard how Jesus fulfils the title of ‘Mighty God’

–         Jesus is our General in the battle against evil; courageous and powerful to defeat the forces of darkness

–         Jesus’ weapons in battle include preaching with authority, healing with power and praying with perspective

–         Jesus’ power is not the power of violence but the power of holiness, the power of being one with God, of knowing who and why he is

 

In a few moments we will share communion

–         Communion is a time when we remember Jesus’ victory over the forces of darkness

–         It’s a time when we lift our heads above the trees and regain our perspective by remembering who we are in Christ and why we are here; to love & enjoy 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.)    What does the title ‘Mighty God’ tell us about Jesus?

3.)    Who is the real enemy?

4.)    Why is Jesus’ approach to the war against evil different to that of a military leader?

–         Why does Jesus place so much importance on preaching & teaching?

5.)    What do we mean by the power of holiness?

6.)    Are you tough enough to be kind?

7.)    Why did Jesus make time to be alone in prayer?

–         Why do you pray?

8.)    Take some time this week to contemplate who you are in Christ and why you are here (i.e. God’s purpose for you).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tawa Baptist

Jesus is Lord

Scripture: Matthew 7:21-29

Title: Jesus is Lord

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Listen
  • Obey
  • Receive
  • Decide
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

In his poem, The Divided World, Owen Marshall makes the observation…

–         “The world is divided between those who say they adore the countryside and never go there, and those who say they hate the city and never leave it… between indecision and hypocrisy, between feeble vacillation and energetic error, between cup and lip.”

When we talk with someone over a cup of tea there is a gap between cup and lip – but once we stop talking and start drinking there is no gap

–         The point here, it seems to me, is there’s often a gap between what people say they value and how they behave

–         The truth is usually found in what one does, more than in what one says

–         If someone says they love the countryside but never leaves the city then, assuming they are not held hostage, they actually prefer the city

–         Those who genuinely love the countryside find a way to move there – they stop talking about it and do it, they close the gap and drink the tea

 

This morning we continue our series on the titles of Jesus, with a focus today on Jesus as ‘Lord’

–         Please turn with me to Matthew chapter 7, verse 21, page 11 toward the back of your pew Bibles

–         This passage concludes Jesus’ sermon on the Mount – it is essentially a call for Jesus’ disciples to actually apply the things he has said

–         If we really do believe that Jesus is Lord then we will follow his teaching

–         Those who genuinely love Jesus will find a way to obey him

–         From Matthew 7, verses 21-29, we read…

 

“Not everyone who calls me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only those who do what my Father in heaven wants them to do. 22 When the Judgment Day comes, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord! In your name we spoke God’s message, by your name we drove out many demons and performed many miracles!’ 23 Then I will say to them, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you wicked people!’

24 “So then, anyone who hears these words of mine and obeys them is like a wise man who built his house on rock. 25 The rain poured down, the rivers flooded over, and the wind blew hard against that house. But it did not fall, because it was built on rock.

26 “But anyone who hears these words of mine and does not obey them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain poured down, the rivers flooded over, the wind blew hard against that house, and it fell. And what a terrible fall that was!”

28 When Jesus finished saying these things, the crowd was amazed at the way he taught. 29 He wasn’t like the teachers of the Law; instead, he taught with authority.

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

 

The question before us today is: What does it mean to call Jesus, ‘LORD’?

–         I’ve come up with a little acronym to guide our thinking

–         To call Jesus, ‘LORD’, means to Listen, Obey, Receive & Decide

 

Listen:

The theologian, Paul Tillich, is quoted as saying…

–         “The first duty of love is to listen”

 

To truly listen we must stop talking and change our focus – take the attention off ourselves and give it to the one we are listening to

–         Listening is a kind of hospitality of the soul

–         When we listen we make room for someone else in our heart and mind

–         We also give them the gift of our time & attention

–         Listening shows respect and value for the other person

 

When we listen to Jesus we learn the will of God

–         No one reveals the will of God more clearly than Jesus

–         Knowledge is power – when we listen to Jesus we receive the power of knowing the way of salvation

 

The classic gospel story of listening is the story of Mary & Martha in Luke 10

–         You know how it goes – Jesus turns up at Mary & Martha’s house with his disciples and responsible Martha makes herself busy doing all the practical tasks of providing hospitality for her guests, while Mary sits at Jesus’ feet and listens

–         Martha gets upset with Mary and tells Jesus what he should do about it

–         “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to come and help me?”

–         Somehow Martha missed the obvious: to call Jesus, ‘Lord’, means he is the boss. We don’t tell him what to do, he tells us what to do

–         The first duty of love is to listen

–         Real hospitality starts with listening, not with busy chores

 

Hospitality is a big deal in the Middle East – it’s a matter of honour or shame

–         Perhaps Martha was feeling the weight of social pressure and was worried about upholding the honour of her village by providing top rate hospitality for Jesus

–         Jesus replies saying, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled over so many things, but just one is needed. Mary has chosen the right thing and it won’t be taken from her”

–         I don’t think this is a condemnation of Martha – it is perhaps more of an invitation for Martha to join Mary listening at Jesus’ feet

 

To call Jesus ‘Lord’ means not telling him what to do – not trying to make him serve our ends – but instead listening to him with the purpose of learning what God wants and serving God’s will

 

Obey:

But listening to Jesus in itself is not enough – listening needs to be accompanied by obeying Jesus

–         Listening fulfils its purpose in obedience – without obedience listening is a waste of time

 

As Jesus says in his parable: “So then, anyone who hears these words of mine and obeys them is like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain poured down, the rivers flooded over, and the wind blew hard against that house. But it did not fall, because it was built on rock…”

 

Take Noah for example. Noah listened to God and obeyed him in every detail

–         God said build an ark because a flood is coming and this is the wood you are to use and these are the dimensions and this is the method

–         Noah listened and followed God’s instructions to the letter – Noah was like the wise man who built his house on the rock of God’s word

 

In contrast, not obeying God’s word (as revealed in Jesus) is like building on sand

 

Imagine if Noah hadn’t obeyed God – imagine if Noah built a different kind of boat to the one God described

–         So instead of using the dimensions God had given him, Noah came up with his own measurements. Then the boat would have sank

–         You see it’s not enough to use the tools and the materials God provides – we also have to follow His instructions

 

The really disturbing thing about verses 21-23 of Matthew 7 is that some of those who call Jesus ‘Lord’ are deluded

–         They are not maliciously trying to deceive others – they think they are doing what God wants of them

–         In verse 22 Jesus says: ‘When Judgement Day comes, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord! In your name we spoke God’s message, by your name we drove out many demons and performed many miracles.’

–         Then I will say to them, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me you wicked people!’

 

One would think that if someone preaches in Jesus’ name and drives out demons and performs miracles that they are obeying God – that their life is built on a firm foundation – but apparently this is not necessarily so

–         Apparently it is possible to do all these wonderful things and yet somehow miss the main point

–         Given the immediate context of Matthew 7 we can say that the ability to preach, drive out demons and perform miracles is not the foundation

–         These are all good things and they may be provide useful material for building the walls & roof or for cleaning the house of our soul

–         But at the end of the day our gifts and abilities, no matter how good or spiritual, do not provide a firm and reliable foundation for eternal life

 

So what is the main point that these well-meaning people are missing – what does provide a firm foundation?

–         The test isn’t whether we can perform miracles – the test is whether Jesus knows us

–         What matters in the end is the quality of our relationship with Jesus

–         Have we truly received Jesus, personally?

–         Have we trusted Jesus enough to be honest with him, to take off our mask, drop our defences and let him in?

–         Have we shared in his earthly experience?

–         Have we suffered humiliation, rejection, loneliness and loss through our identification with him?

–         Jesus won’t recognise us by our achievements

–         He will recognise us by our scars

–         Do we bear the scars of love for him?

–         The foundation is friendship with Jesus – if we love Jesus then we will obey his commands, we will build our life on his teaching

 

Mother Teresa is quoted as saying…

–         “God has not called me to be successful. He has called me to be faithful.”

 

John the Baptist was faithful but by worldly standards we couldn’t really say he was successful

–         God asked John to prepare the way for the Messiah – for Jesus – and that’s what John did

–         He called people to repentance and to right living in preparation for Jesus’ coming

–         As far as we know John didn’t perform any miracles, he simply obeyed God’s instructions faithfully

–         And what did he get for doing this?

–         Many of his followers left him to become disciples of Jesus – to which John said, “I must become less and he must become more”

–         Then Herod had John thrown in prison and eventually beheaded

–         John suffered for his obedience to God, as Jesus did

–         Jesus understands suffering & pain – he knows us by our scars

 

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires; the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them.”

 

A little story to help make this point about faithful obedience…

 

Once there was a lighthouse keeper who had but one job – to keep the lamp burning at night so ships wouldn’t come aground on the rocks

–         This was in the days before electricity and automation

–         The lighthouse keeper was given an allowance of oil as fuel for the lamp

–         Each week he received a new batch of oil, just enough to keep the lamp of the lighthouse burning for 7 nights until a new batch came

–         He couldn’t afford to spare any oil or the lamp would go out

 

One day a travelling merchant came by and asked the lighthouse keeper to sell him some oil at a fair price

–         But the lighthouse keeper refused and the merchant went away complaining about how unreasonable the lighthouse keeper was

 

The next day a farmer came to him and asked to borrow some oil for fixing the wheels of his wagon

–         But the lighthouse keeper refused and the farmer went away grumbling about how mean spirited the lighthouse keeper was

 

Then on Saturday the pastor of the local church came by asking for oil for the evening service the next day

–         But the lighthouse keeper refused him too and the pastor went away to preach a vigorous sermon on the evils of greed

 

The following day a poor widow came and asked the lighthouse keeper for some oil for her stove, for her children were hungry and her house was cold

–         The lighthouse keeper made an exception for her but he didn’t touch the oil set aside for the lighthouse lamp

–         Instead he gave her oil from his own stove and went hungry himself that night. He only had one condition: that she didn’t tell anyone

 

Every day someone came wanting oil for some good reason or other and, except for the poor widow, the lighthouse keeper turned them all away empty handed

–         It wasn’t long before almost everyone in the district hated him and the weight of loneliness crept in

–         But still the lighthouse keeper was faithful to his calling, always keeping the lamp lit through the night so the ships could find safe passage

–         No ships came aground on his watch

 

We are each given oil in some form another – to call Jesus ‘Lord’ is to use what God has given us for his purpose

–         Listening with obedience, this is faithfulness and faithfulness to God is success, eternally speaking

 

Receive:

Of course we can’t listen to and obey God without receiving from Jesus

–         Jesus is not the kind of Lord who is always taking, always wanting more

–         Jesus is the kind of Lord who wants to give good things to his people

–         We receive many things from Jesus: forgiveness, joy, redemption, eternal life, resurrection, healing, peace and of course love

–         But we need to stay connected to receive

 

Desmond Tutu once said…

–         “We are only lightbulbs and our job is just to remain screwed in”

 

By itself the lightbulb can’t produce light

–         By itself the lightbulb is fragile and vulnerable

–         To be able to serve its purpose and provide light for people in the room the bulb needs to receive power

–         Jesus is the power source – we can’t listen and obey without Jesus

–         We can’t love others without God

 

In John 13, the night before his crucifixion and death, Jesus washes his disciples’ feet, but when he gets to Peter, Peter won’t let him

–         For whatever reason Peter is reluctant to receive from Jesus – there’s a wall there, an inner defence around his heart

–         But the Lord says to Peter: “If I do not wash your feet you will no longer be my disciple”

–         Calling Jesus, ‘Lord’, means having the humility and the trust to lower our guard, to let Jesus in and to receive from him

–         What is it that Jesus wants to give you?

 

Later that same evening, after Peter has submitted to Jesus washing his feet, the Lord talks about how he is the vine and we are the branches and the only way to be fruitful is to remain in him

–         Just as the lightbulb needs to stay screwed in to the power source to give light, so too the branches need to stay grafted into the vine to bear fruit

–         We receive the power to love others from Jesus – we can’t do anything to manufacture love on our own

 

It is possible to preach and do miracles in Jesus’ name without really loving those we serve – but if we do these things without love then they are empty.

–         As the apostle Paul says in Corinthians 13…

 

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

 

To do great things (miraculous things even) without love is to build our house (our life) on sand – it won’t last

 

Decide:

To call Jesus, ‘Lord’, means to listen, obey, receive and decide

–         Each significant life decision we make needs to be based on our relationship with Christ – we can’t sit on the fence

 

Soren Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher and theologian, born in 1813

–         Kierkegaard had a significant influence on 20th Century philosophy, particularly existentialism and post-modernism

 

Existentialism is a way of thinking, in which one draws one’s existence into their philosophical reflection

–         In other words, existentialism is not dreaming up some abstract idea behind a desk in an ivory tower

–         Existential thinking grows out of the soil of one’s real life experience – the things that really matter to you personally

–         Jesus’ parables are very existential – earthed as they are in people’s day to day existence

 

As an existential thinker Kierkegaard believed that it’s only when we make significant decisions and act on those decisions that we relate to our own existence

–         For example, if you fall into the sea you have no personal interest in the chemical composition of water

–         You don’t care that water is comprised of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom (H2O)

–         What matters to you at that point is the decision to live, to keep your head above water until help comes

–         You can’t be sure that help will reach you in time, but your belief (or your hope) that someone will save you, keeps you afloat and breathing

 

Kierkegaard believed that objective truths, things can be proven, things we can be absolutely certain about, like 2+2=4, are irrelevant

–         What matters is subjective truth, things that can’t be proved, things that require a decision of faith

 

You can never know for certain if a person will forgive you when you wrong them – therefore it is existentially important to you (it matters to your existence)

–         You can believe they will forgive you and, based on your faith in their good nature, decide to ask for forgiveness

–         But you can’t know for sure whether they will forgive until after you have asked and they have responded

 

When you are on your death bed you don’t ponder the objective fact that the sum of the angles of a triangle is always 180 degrees

–         No – you think about existential questions – questions of faith related to your existence, like whether the Bible is true

–         Whether God will forgive you and let you into heaven

–         And whether Jesus did actually rise from the dead and is in fact Lord

–         That ‘Jesus is Lord’ cannot be proven in a mathematical or scientific way in this life – we have to decide in faith whether this is true for us or not

–         And if we decide that it is true for us, personally, then that should affect the whole of our life (like the foundation of a house)

 

Most people didn’t like Kierkegaard during his lifetime – he was a bit of a lonely lighthouse keeper really

–         He criticised the masses for their non-committal talk

–         People in his society just went along with whatever idea was fashionable at the time without any true depth of commitment to the idea

–         Many church goers, in his view, didn’t walk the talk – they were what we might call Sunday Christians – Kierkegaard challenged that

 

When Jesus told his parable of the man who built his house on the rock and the man who built his house on the sand, he was challenging his audience (us) with an existential question

–         Jesus was saying, my word (my teaching) isn’t just an abstract theory

–         My teaching has a real consequence for your existence, personally

–         There is no middle ground with this – you have to decide

–         We can’t build our house half on the rock and half on the sand

–         We can’t make some life decisions based on our friendship with Jesus and leave Jesus out of other decisions – that’s not going to work

–         Nor is it any good to just pay lip service to Jesus – true faith finds expression through action, through obedience

 

Conclusion:

This morning we have talked about what it means to call Jesus, ‘Lord’

–         Calling Jesus, ‘Lord’ isn’t just a convention or a nicety

–         Calling Jesus, ‘Lord’ is an existential issue – it is a matter of faith which is vital to our existence

–         If we are truly committed to the belief that ‘Jesus is Lord’ then we will listen to him, we will obey him, we will let him in to receive from him and we will decide to build our whole life on him

 

What is it you believe about Jesus?

–         What is Jesus saying to you today?

–         What might obedience look like in your life personally?

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

2.)    What does it mean to call Jesus, ‘Lord’?

3.)    What is it you believe about Jesus, personally?

4.)    What does to mean to be known by Jesus?

5.)    How might we listen to God?

6.)    What is Jesus saying to you today?

7.)    What might obedience look like in your life personally?

8.)    What do you need to receive from Jesus to do God’s will?

9.)    What are you building your life on? (I.e. What do you base your decisions on?)

 

 

Tawa Baptist

Everlasting Father

Scriptures: John 1:1-5 & Luke 15:11-32

Title: Everlasting Father

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Jesus is the source
  • Jesus has all authority
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

On the wall here we have a picture of 3 men: George Washington, Mahatma Ghandi and Nelson Mandela

–         Can anyone tell me what these three men have in common? [Wait]

–         That’s right – they are all leaders and in fact are the Father’s of their Nation, respectively

 

‘Father of the Nation’ is an honorific title given to a man considered the driving force behind the establishment of his country

–         George Washington is the Father of the Nation of the United States of America – he was the first U.S. President

–         Nelson Mandela is the Father of the Nation of modern South Africa – he was the first black president

–         Mahatma Ghandi is considered by most people to be the Father of the Nation of India because of his role in campaigning for independence from British rule and advocating for the rights of the poor (although the Indian government doesn’t officially recognise the title)

 

I’m not sure if NZ has a Father of the Nation as such

–         In any case, the Father of the Nation is the person who established their country and way of life, albeit with the help of others

 

Today we continue our series on the royal titles ascribed to the Messiah in Isaiah 9, verse 6

–         Isaiah 9 is often read at Christmas time as Christians believe this prophecy is talking about Jesus – verse 6 is familiar to many of us…

–         For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

–         So far we have considered the titles Wonderful Counsellor and Prince of Peace. Today we consider how the title Everlasting Father fits for Jesus

 

In some ways it seems odd to ascribe the title of ‘Father’ to Jesus – we are more inclined to think of Jesus in the role of God’s Son or the Son of Man

–         But when we consider who a father is and what a father does we soon see how the title Everlasting Father fits hand in glove for Jesus

 

Among other things, Jesus came to establish God’s Kingdom (His country) on earth – Jesus is the Father of the Nation for us Christians

 

There are many characteristics or facets of fatherhood that we could explore in relation to Jesus but I only plan to touch on two this morning

–         Jesus is our Father in the sense that he is the source of our life and of God’s Kingdom

–         And Jesus is our Father in the sense that he has all authority in heaven and on earth

 

Jesus is the source:

First let’s consider Jesus as the source of life

–         Please turn with me to John chapter 1, page 118 toward the back of your pew Bibles

–         These are the opening verses to John’s gospel – they talk about Jesus the source, the Word at the beginning

–         From John 1, verses 1-5, we read…

 

In the beginning the Word already existed; the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 From the very beginning the Word was with God. 3 Through him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without him. 4 The Word was the source of life, and this life brought light to people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

 

The Greek language has two expressions for Word – Logos and Rhema

–         Rhema (as in Radio Rhema) refers to the spoken word

–         While logos (as in logic) is the unspoken word – the thought or the idea  inside someone’s mind before it is expressed

–         The logos comes before the rhema – we could say the logos is the father of the rhema (the thought is the source of the spoken word)

 

Jesus is the logos of God – Jesus embodies what God is thinking & feeling & willing

–         Jesus is the logos (or the logic) through whom God created the world – one with God before time began

–         If we want to know where we came from, and therefore what it means to be human, we look to Jesus – someone very good

–         He is the source of our life and the source of God’s kingdom on earth

 

If the Kingdom of God is compared to a forest then Jesus is the single seed from which the forest began – he was planted and died and raised to eternal life

–         Or if the Kingdom of God is compared to a river then Jesus is the spring or the lake which feeds the river

–         Or if the Kingdom of God is compared to a house then Jesus is the architect and builder of that house

–         Jesus is an Everlasting Father because he has conquered death and his Kingdom (his way of life) never comes to an end

–         His seed never perishes, his spring never runs dry, his foundation never erodes – he is the light which the darkness has never put out

 

I don’t need to labour this point – you get it – Jesus is the source of life and in that sense he is our Everlasting Father

–         Jesus is also our Everlasting Father in the sense that all authority in heaven and on earth rests with him

 

Jesus has all authority:

Please turn with me to Luke chapter 15, page 100 toward the back of your pew Bibles

–         This story is commonly known as the parable of the prodigal son

–         ‘Prodigal’ is a word that simply means wasteful or extravagant

–         This story might be better described as the parable of the loving father and the two lost sons

–         The father in this parable reminds us of Jesus – he shows extravagant love to both of his sons. From Luke 15, verses 11-32, we read…

 

11 Jesus went on to say, “There was once a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to him, ‘Father, give me my share of the property now.’ So the man divided his property between his two sons. 13 After a few days the younger son sold his part of the property and left home with the money. He went to a country far away, where he wasted his money in reckless living. 14 He spent everything he had. Then a severe famine spread over that country, and he was left without a thing. 15 So he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him out to his farm to take care of the pigs. 16 He wished he could fill himself with the bean pods the pigs ate, but no one gave him anything to eat. 17 At last he came to his senses and said, ‘All my father’s hired workers have more than they can eat, and here I am about to starve! 18 I will get up and go to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against God and against you. 19 I am no longer fit to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired workers.”’ 20 So he got up and started back to his father.

“He was still a long way from home when his father saw him; his heart was filled with pity, and he ran, threw his arms around his son, and kissed him. 21 ‘Father,’ the son said, ‘I have sinned against God and against you. I am no longer fit to be called your son.’ 22 But the father called to his servants. ‘Hurry!’ he said. ‘Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. 23 Then go and get the prize calf and kill it, and let us celebrate with a feast! 24 For this son of mine was dead, but now he is alive; he was lost, but now he has been found.’ And so the feasting began.

25 “In the meantime the older son was out in the field. On his way back, when he came close to the house, he heard the music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him, ‘What’s going on?’ 27 ‘Your brother has come back home,’ the servant answered, ‘and your father has killed the prize calf, because he got him back safe and sound.’ 28 The older brother was so angry that he would not go into the house; so his father came out and begged him to come in. 29 But he spoke back to his father, ‘Look, all these years I have worked for you like a slave, and I have never disobeyed your orders. What have you given me? Not even a goat for me to have a feast with my friends! 30 But this son of yours wasted all your property on prostitutes, and when he comes back home, you kill the prize calf for him!’ 31 ‘My son,’ the father answered, ‘you are always here with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be happy, because your brother was dead, but now he is alive; he was lost, but now he has been found.’”

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

 

Authority is the right to do something, as distinct from power which is the ability to do something

–         I might have the power (or ability) to drive a car but without a license or a warrant of fitness I don’t have the authority to drive

 

In the culture in which the Bible was written the father had authority over everyone in his household – it was simply given that he was the boss

–         The father’s word was practically law – he had the license to tell those under his roof what to do

–         It was considered a huge disgrace, a great shame, when someone in the household undermined the father’s authority

–         By the same token, how the father chose to exercise his authority revealed a great deal about his character

–         In the parable, in Luke 15, the father (who points to Jesus) uses his authority to protect and restore his sons

 

Jesus’ story starts with a dysfunctional family

–         The younger son dishonours his father by asking for his share of the estate while his father is still alive, which is like saying he wishes his father were dead

–         And the older son isn’t much better – he dishonours his father by doing nothing to stop his younger brother

–         If the older brother had cared about his family he would have intervened

 

The father has the authority (or the right) to say ‘no’ to his son and not give him an advance on his inheritance – in fact the father has a license to give his son a severe beating and send him away empty handed, but he doesn’t

–         The father uses his authority graciously – giving his younger son what he asks for

–         As the Everlasting Father Jesus has authority over us but he doesn’t use his authority to trap us or coerce us – we have considerable freedom with Christ

 

The prodigal son leaves town and squanders his inheritance – money he was supposed to use to care for his Dad in his old age

–         The younger son has basically wasted his father’s superannuation fund

–         When the money runs out the young man finds himself in a personal hell of his own making

–         He comes to his senses and decides to return home, not because he loves his father but because he is starving. His plan is to say…

–         ‘Father, I have sinned against God and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired workers’

 

The young man is repenting but on his own terms

–         His repentance comes with the idea that he might still save himself

 

Verse 20 says…

–         But while he was still a long way off his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

 

Here we have a picture of the father’s welcome – a welcome which ensures the son’s safety

–         Men in Middle Eastern culture never run in public – it is a very undignified thing to do

–         And yet the father humiliates himself in front of the whole village by running to his boy

–         Why does he do this?

 

Well – two reasons…

–         Firstly the father wanted to demonstrate his great love for his son, so the son would know beyond all doubt that he is valued and accepted

 

And secondly the father was protecting his son from the rest of the village

–         The neighbours would have looked at disgust on the younger son who had rejected his father and his home

–         They would most likely have mocked him and shouted abuse at him as he returned to the village

–         For in leaving the village the way he did the son not only rejected his father, he also offended his community

–         By running out to greet him the father saves his son from running the gauntlet

–         By throwing his arms around his boy and kissing him the father sends a clear message to the other villagers to accept his son & not mistreat him

 

This picture of the father leaving his house and running out to welcome his son is a picture of what God has done for us in Christ

–         By leaving heaven, by humiliating himself and going to the cross, Jesus has run the gauntlet to save us

–         Jesus, like the father in this parable, uses his authority to protect those in his household

 

After the father’s welcome the son begins his pre-prepared speech saying…

–         ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

–         But then he stops short of offering his own solution

–         Overwhelmed by the father’s extravagant grace the son cannot say, ‘make me like one of your hired men’ , because he realizes this would be to reject his father all over again

–         His father does not want another servant – he wants his son back

–         As unworthy as he knows he is the son confesses his wrong doing and abandons his plan to save himself

–         Instead he humbly receives what the father offers, for this is what the son needs and it is what the father wants [1]

–         It’s what Jesus, the logos of God, wants

 

One of the things we get from our fathers is a sense of identity

–         Identity is about knowing where we come from and who we are

–         With identity comes belonging & security

–         Other people can’t give us a sense of identity in quite the same way that our fathers can because other people don’t have the same kind of authority as our fathers

–         I’m not suggesting that we are all predestined to be just like our dads

–         Our identity is also shaped by the choices we make and the cultural milieu we are a part of

–         But at some deep level our father’s treatment of us has a profound influence on what we believe about ourselves

–         If your dad ignores you or treats you badly then that carries more weight somehow than when a stranger or a friend mistreats you

–         Likewise, if your dad treats you with respect and trusts you then that carries more weight because your father (implicitly) has more authority

 

 

To call Jesus, ‘Everlasting Father’ is to say, ‘Jesus, you are the father figure, or the authority figure, in my life. I get my identity from you’

–         When we consider what Jesus has done for us, giving his life for ours, that should have a profoundly positive effect on what we believe about ourselves – we matter, our lives are valuable, but not because of what we produce or achieve. The younger son was wasteful & unproductive and yet he was still accepted.

–         We are not hired hands, we are sons & daughters of God

 

By accepting the father’s costly grace the younger son is found – he is born again in a sense. And he now lives with the father (willingly) as a son and not as a hired hand

 

The father wants his son to experience welcome & care from the whole community so he exercises his authority, saying to his servants…

–         ‘Hurry, bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. Then go and get the prize calf and kill it, and let us celebrate with a feast…’

 

As Kenneth Bailey observes, the father does not say to his son, ‘Go and have a wash and get yourself changed’. He actually orders the servants to dress him

–         In this way the son is assured of proper respect & care from the servants

 

The best robe is probably one of the father’s own robes and is a sign to everyone that the son is accepted by the father

–         The ring is quite likely a symbol of authority – like a signet ring – which implies that the father trusts the son in an astonishing way

–         Jesus shares his authority with us

–         And the shoes are a sign that the son is a free man in the house – he is not a slave or a servant

–         So by dressing the younger son in this way the servants are demonstrating that they accept the son as their master has

 

The father’s final instruction to the servants is to kill the prize calf and prepare a party for the whole village, to celebrate the prodigal’s return

–         In sharing this meal the village would then be able to make their peace with the son

–         The father’s purpose is to help reconcile his son to those he will now be living with

–         The father (like Jesus) uses his authority to restore his son

 

But it’s not just the younger son who needs to be restored

–         The older son is also lost, even though he has never left home

–         The younger brother was outwardly estranged and rebellious

–         While the older brother was inwardly estranged and rebellious in his heart

–         Both of them were lost in their own way

 

When the older son learns that his father has killed the fattened calf to celebrate his younger brother’s return he becomes angry and refuses to go in

–         He turns a family disagreement into a public spectacle and brings shame on his father

 

For the second time in this parable the father (in a generous outpouring of love) humiliates himself by leaving the house and seeking one of his sons

–         He pleads with his first born to come in, but the older son says…

–         ‘Look! All these years I have worked for you like a slave and I have never disobeyed your orders. What have you given me? …’

–         Clearly the older son is alienated from his Dad

–         He sees himself as a slave and not as a son

 

Jesus’ Middle Eastern audience would expect the father to be furious at his eldest son but the father is gracious & truthful

–         Far from being angry the father appeals to his son to rejoice in his brother’s return

–         The older son represents the Pharisees and religious leaders

–         Jesus is like the father in the parable in that he is pleading with the religious leaders to come in and join the party – to celebrate the return of the lost sons & daughters of Israel

–         But Jesus doesn’t use his authority to strong arm or coerce the religious leaders – he doesn’t need another slave, he wants people to be free

 

The parable ends there. It is left hanging – the conclusion unresolved

–         The older son is still outside deciding whether he is going to be a son or a slave. What will he choose?

 

Conclusion:

Authority is something that many people in our society resist today

–         Some resist authority in openly aggressive ways, like the younger son

–         And others resist in more passive aggressive ways, like the older son

–         This anti-authority (down with the man) attitude could be because leaders sometimes abuse their authority and break trust with those around them

–         But it might also be that people have generally become more self-centred, by which I mean the centre of authority has shifted to the individual

–         So people are more inclined to think – I can do what I like

 

To say that Jesus is the Everlasting Father is to say that Jesus is the source of life and our ultimate authority

–         Jesus never abuses his authority – he uses his authority for the well-being of others, to protect and restore

–         But the distinctive thing about Jesus’ authority is that it’s everlasting

–         The governments and powers of this world will pass, but Jesus’ kingdom will never end – he is the Father of an Eternal Nation

 

Footnote:

[1] Refer Kenneth Bailey, ‘Poet & Peasant’

Tawa Baptist

Prince of Peace

Scriptures: Luke 8:42b-48 & Luke 19:41-48

Title: Prince of Peace

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Luke 8:42b-48
  • Luke 19:41-48
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

On the wall here we have a number of phrases…

–         Bitter sweet, old news, civil war, jumbo shrimp, lead balloon, working holiday, great depression, original copy

–         What do these phrases have in common? [Wait]

–         I’ll accept two answers for this – they are all examples of paradox or oxy-moron – putting together seemingly contradictory words or terms to create an innovative thought

 

Today we continue our series on the royal titles ascribed to the Messiah in Isaiah 9, verse 6

–         Isaiah 9 is often read at Christmas time as Christians believe this prophecy is talking about Jesus – verse 6 is familiar to many of us…

–         For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

–         Two weeks ago we considered the title Wonderful Counsellor

–         Jesus is the embodiment of God’s wisdom – he reveals the Lord’s wonderful plan of salvation

–         Today we think about the title Prince of Peace and how this fits for Jesus

In the original Hebrew Prince of Peace is sort of a paradox

–         The word translated as Prince suggests an army commander – like a General – only this army commander is one who brings peace [1]

–         So Jesus is an army general who makes peace and brings an end to war

 

The Biblical concept of peace (or shalom) is more positive than just the absence of conflict

–         Peace has to do with the wellbeing of the whole person – including health, prosperity, security, friendship, salvation and justice

–         Peace isn’t just about an individual’s inner tranquillity – it’s about the well-being of the whole community

 

Luke 8:42b-48

Please turn with me to Luke chapter 8, verse 43, page 88 toward the back of your pew Bibles [2]

–         To set the scene Jesus has just returned from the other side of Lake Galilee after calming a storm and delivering a man from a legion of demons

–         In other words he has used his power to restore peace

–         On arriving back he is welcomed by a crowd eager to see him

–         Jairus, an official of the local synagogue, is there and begs Jesus to come and heal his 12 year old daughter who is dying

–         We pick up the story from half way through verse 42…

As Jesus went along, the people were crowding him from every side. 43 Among them was a woman who had suffered from severe bleeding for twelve years; she had spent all she had on doctors, but no one had been able to cure her. 44 She came up in the crowd behind Jesus and touched the edge of his cloak, and her bleeding stopped at once. 45 Jesus asked, “Who touched me?”

Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, the people are all around you and crowding in on you.”

46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I knew it when power went out of me.” 47 The woman saw that she had been found out, so she came trembling and threw herself at Jesus’ feet. There in front of everybody, she told him why she had touched him and how she had been healed at once. 48 Jesus said to her, “My daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading

 

Generally speaking Christians in the east are more inclined to think collectively while Christians in the west are more inclined to think individually

–         We, in the west, often think of salvation as inviting Jesus into our heart, personally, so we can go to heaven when we die

–         But in the east Christians are more likely to think of themselves in relation to others – so salvation of the individual affects the community as a whole

–         Both the eastern & western perspectives have something valuable to offer and are needed but we (in the west) do well to remember, the Bible came from the east

 

In his book ‘The End of Suffering’, Scott Cairns tells a story which illustrates this difference between east and west

–         A western evangelist visited a Christian monk in the east and asked if Jesus Christ was his personal Saviour, and the smiling monk replied without hesitation saying, ‘No. I like to share him’ [3]

–         The point is, we are not saved in isolation from other people

–         The salvation of one individual affects the whole community

 

We, in the west, might think of salvation as inviting Jesus into our heart and while that is true in a sense, the Bible also thinks of it the other way around

–         It’s more like God is inviting us into his heart – that is into Christ

–         Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches” – so when we become a Christian we are like a branch that is grafted into the main trunk of Christ’s body, alongside a whole lot of other branches that have been grafted in

 

The woman with the bleeding complaint lived in an eastern culture

–         Her situation at the beginning of this story represents the opposite of peace

–         She is not physically healthy and hasn’t been for a long time – she is unwell

–         She is not prosperous – she is poor having spent all she owns on doctors

–         What’s more the woman’s bleeding made her ceremonially unclean so she couldn’t participate in religious rituals and couldn’t even touch other people because that would make them (temporarily) unclean as well

–         From an eastern perspective she is like a branch that is separated from the tree of the community – she lives in isolation from others

–         This woman’s situation is the opposite of peace because, in a Biblical understanding, you can’t have peace (or wholeness) without being in right relationship with those around you

–         Not only that but the community can’t be whole without her

 

Wishing herself invisible, the woman squeezed through the crowd behind Jesus, saying to herself, “If I just touch his clothes, I will get well”

–         By reaching out to touch Jesus the woman was breaking the Law of Moses, but at the same time she was seeking peace with God

–         Because if she was healed she could then participate in the community rituals of worshipping God

–         Her action was a form of prayer in so much as she was seeking a connection with God

–         And she is not disappointed – the moment she touched Jesus’ clothes her bleeding stopped and she knew inside herself that she was healed

Jesus also knew at that moment that power had gone out from him

–         The woman’s peace cost Jesus some of his power

–         Peace comes with sharing the power of Christ (his Spirit of grace & truth)

 

Lots of people were touching Jesus – the crowd were pressed in on every side – but only one person drew a current

–         Jesus turned round and asked, “Who touched me?”

–         The disciples don’t understand

–         But Jesus waits and watches – he is giving the woman a choice here

–         Jesus doesn’t force her to come forward – he invites her to respond

When the woman realised that Jesus knew she acted in faith again

–         Coming forward she knelt at Jesus’ feet and told him the whole truth

–         Not only was this embarrassing – sharing the intimate details of her life so publicly – it was also dangerous

–         What if the crowd turned on her for making them unclean – she must have touched dozens of people getting to Jesus

–         And what if Jesus was angry with her for stealing his power – what if he made the bleeding come back or something worse?

 

But Jesus is not angry – A bruised reed he will not break and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice [4]

–         You know there is a strong connection between justice and peace

–         We can’t have peace without justice

–         It was completely unfair that this woman suffered so much because of her medical condition those 12 years

–         The bleeding wasn’t a morally bad thing – it wasn’t her fault, she couldn’t control it and yet she was punished by being excluded

–         By healing the woman Jesus puts right what is wrong – he does justice for her so she can have peace

 

Then Jesus refers to her tenderly as his ‘daughter’

–         One of the titles ascribed to the Messiah is Everlasting Father

–         Jesus looks on this woman with the love of a father for his daughter

–         Leon Morris says, she is the only woman Jesus is recorded as having addressed in this way [5] – it is a special term of endearment

–         To call this woman ‘daughter’ is to say there is a strong bond between us – we are deeply and inseparably connected

–         What a beautiful thing to say to someone who has been disconnected for 12 long years – you can never stop being someone’s son or daughter

–         It’s like Jesus is saying, you’ll never be lonely again

“My daughter, your faith has made you well.

–         In other words, it wasn’t my clothes that made you better – my cloak is not magic – your courageous trust was the key

–         Faith is the conduit for salvation and peace

–         As far as Jesus is concerned the woman is not untouchable because of her bleeding – rather she is clean because of her faith

–         By making her healing public in this way Jesus has restored the woman to her community with honour – he is grafting her back into the tree

 

Jesus finishes his conversation with the woman by saying, “Go in peace.”

–         The woman came to Jesus for physical healing but there is so much more to peace than mere physical healing (as important as that is)

–         Jesus helps the woman to make the shift from shame to honour

–         From superstition to understanding

–         From isolation to inclusion

–         From secrecy to confession

–         From anonymity to intimacy

 

Jesus isn’t just bringing about peace for the woman though

–         He is also creating peace for the whole community through her healing

–         Personal salvation affects all of us collectively

–         As long as the woman was segregated the community wasn’t whole

–         It was like the body of the community was missing a hand or a kidney or something

–         By healing the woman and restoring her to her community Jesus had made the community more whole – he is the Prince of Peace

–         Whenever someone leaves the church I always feel sad because the congregation is less whole – our peace is being eroded

 

Luke 19:41-48

Please turn with me to Luke chapter 19, verse 41, page 107 toward the back of your pew Bibles

–         In Luke 19 Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey as the crowds shout ‘Hosanna, God bless the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory to God’ [6]

–         Riding a donkey (as opposed to a war horse) is a sign of peace

–         Clearly the crowds see Jesus as the Messiah – the Prince of Peace, even if they misunderstand what that means

–         We pick up the reading from verse 41 of Luke 19…

41 He came closer to the city, and when he saw it, he wept over it, 42 saying, “If you only knew today what is needed for peace! But now you cannot see it! 43 The time will come when your enemies will surround you with barricades, blockade you, and close in on you from every side. 44 They will completely destroy you and the people within your walls; not a single stone will they leave in its place, because you did not recognize the time when God came to save you!”

45 Then Jesus went into the Temple and began to drive out the merchants, 46 saying to them, “It is written in the Scriptures that God said, ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer.’ But you have turned it into a hideout for thieves!”

47 Every day Jesus taught in the Temple. The chief priests, the teachers of the Law, and the leaders of the people wanted to kill him, 48 but they could not find a way to do it, because all the people kept listening to him, not wanting to miss a single word.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

 

If you build a house you need a variety of tools and materials

–         Not just a hammer, but a saw and a spade and a measuring tape and a chisel and so on

–         Not just wood & nails but concrete & glass & gib & paint and so forth

–         Likewise if you are fixing an engine you need a diverse tool kit as well as a varied skill set – you need to know about carburettors and brakes

–         And if you are playing 18 holes of golf you don’t just carry one club – you have a range of different sized clubs, including a driver, a wedge and a putter to suit the changing conditions

–         Driving off the tee requires a different technique from putting on the green

 

Like building a house or fixing an engine or playing golf, making peace is a complicated business and requires a variety of tools and strategies

–         Jesus has more than one approach for creating shalom

–         In Luke 8 Jesus created peace by healing a woman and gently restoring her to her community

–         In Luke 19 Jesus takes a different approach, overturning the tables of the money changers and clearing the temple for prayer & teaching

 

Before getting to the temple though we read of Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem

–         Jerusalem means something like ‘city of peace’ – which is quite ironic when we consider the conflict surrounding Jerusalem over the centuries

–         As he came closer to the city Jesus wept over it – not just a quiet tear or two but huge gut wrenching sobs

–         Jesus sees into the near future when the Romans would besiege the city in AD 70 and then destroy it due to a Jewish uprising

–         The tragedy is, the loss was avoidable – it didn’t need to happen that way

–         God tried to prevent this violence by sending Jesus but the people missed the point. If only you knew today what is needed for peace

–         If only you recognised the time when God came to save you

 

So what is needed for peace?

–         Well, a number of tools are needed, for example: justice, mercy, forgiveness, confession of the truth, humility, faith and so on

–         We saw some of those things in the healing of the woman in Luke 8

–         The woman demonstrated courageous faith in reaching out to touch Jesus and in confessing the truth before everyone

–         Just as Jesus demonstrated mercy & justice in healing the woman and restoring wholeness to her and the community

–         But before we can have peace for ourselves and with others we first need to make peace with God – we need to pray

At the beginning of Luke 18 Jesus tells two parables about prayer

–         In the first parable a poor widow persistently asks a judge for justice

–         Eventually the judge gives her justice so they can both have some peace

–         In the second parable a tax collector humbles himself and makes a true confession, asking God for mercy, and he is given peace with God

–         Putting these two parables together, prayer is characterised as the persistent pursuit of justice[7] and humble openness to God’s mercy

–         Prayer is the pursuit of those things which lead to peace

The temple, in Jerusalem, was meant to be a place for people to pray and make peace with God but when Jesus arrived he found the court of the gentiles choked with merchants selling animals for sacrifice and changing money

–         They had made the temple a hideout for thieves – a place in which people of violence retreat to escape justice

–         Cleary this is the opposite of what God intended for the temple and so Jesus was rightly angry at the abuse

–         Jesus is having an emotional day – he goes from sobbing uncontrollably to angry outrage and indignation

–         Jesus clears the temple, reclaiming God’s house for its legitimate purpose: the pursuit of peace through prayer, healing and teaching

 

Joel Green observes that through his teaching Jesus was reforming Jewish conceptions of God’s salvation [8]

–         The Jews thought of God’s salvation in military / political terms

–         They thought peace would be achieved by overthrowing the Romans

–         They imagined the Messiah (the Prince of Peace) would be an army commander (a general) who would lead them to victory in battle

–         Jesus means to replace that fantasy with a more accurate picture of what peace-making looks like

–         Peace-making involves turning the other cheek, forgiving people who don’t deserve it and going the extra mile for your oppressors [9]

–         Paradoxically peace requires the peace-makers to suffer injustice, at least temporarily

–         It is painful, costly and vulnerable work – not attractive or easy at all

–         Sadly, the leaders of the people didn’t recognise what is needed for peace and plotted to murder Jesus, the very one sent to save them

 

Conclusion:

The temple building in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in AD70

–         Jesus replaces the temple – he is the new temple

–         Jesus is now the one we enter, to make our peace with God

–         Jesus is the one we enter, to pray in good faith – seeking God’s justice & mercy in a spirit of humility

–         Jesus is the one we enter, to receive healing and wisdom and wholeness, not just for our own benefit but for the sake of those around us as well.

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

2.)    In what sense is the title Prince of Peace paradoxical?

3.)    How is the Biblical understanding of peace (or shalom) different from our contemporary western concept of peace?

–         List some of the ways we see Jesus bringing peace (shalom) in the gospels

4.)    Discuss / reflect on the two ways of understanding salvation: i.e. us inviting Jesus into our heart personally and God inviting us into his heart (into Jesus)

–         What insights on salvation & peace does each perspective offer?

5.)    Why did Jesus pause to ask who touched him (in Luke 8:45)?

– How does Jesus bring a more holistic peace to the woman personally?

– In what sense does the woman’s healing bring peace to the wider community?

6.)    What are some of the tools and strategies needed for peace?

–         How is Jesus’ approach to peace different in Luke 8 & Luke 19?

7.)    What do the two parables at the beginning of Luke 18 show us about the nature of prayer?

8.)    Take some time this week to reflect on what it means that Jesus replaces the temple?

 

Footnotes:

[1] John Goldingay, NIBC Isaiah, page 71.

[2] Walter Brueggemann refers to the woman with the bleeding complaint, in relation to Jesus’ peace, in his book ‘Names for the Messiah’, and in an article on peace in the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels.

[3] Scott Cairns, ‘The End of Suffering’, page 75.

[4] Isaiah 42:3

[5] Leon Morris, Luke, page 160.

[6] Luke 19:38

[7] Joel Green, Luke, page 693.

[8] Joel Green, Luke, page 692.

[9] Refer Matthew 5:38-48

Tawa Baptist

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Tawa Baptist

Wonderful Counsellor

Scripture: Luke 13:10-21

Title: Wonderful Counsellor

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Yahweh the Wonderful Counsellor
  • Jesus the Wonderful Counsellor
  • God’s wonderful plan (Kingdom)
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Prince Charles has recently turned 70

–         Charles is of course next in line to take the throne

–         The Prince’s full title is: His Royal Highness Prince Charles Philip Arthur George, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland

–         That’s a lot of titles, but wait there’s more…

–         He also has a string of letters after his name: KG, KT, GCB, OM, AK, QSO, CC, PC and ADC, whatever all that means?

This morning we start a new sermon series

–         With Christmas only a month away we are going to spend some time exploring the royal titles ascribed to the Messiah in Isaiah 9, verse 6

Isaiah 9 is often read at Christmas time as Christians believe this prophecy is talking about Jesus – verse 6 is familiar to many of us…

–         For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

–         Today we think about how the title Wonderful Counsellor fits for Jesus

–         But first let us consider Yahweh (the Lord) as a Wonderful Counsellor

 

Yahweh the Wonderful Counsellor:

They say that in the game of drafts you only need to think 1 or 2 moves ahead, but in the game of chess you need to be thinking 4 or 5 moves ahead

–         One of the jobs of a king is to make good decisions – decisions which are wise and just and lead to good long term outcomes for people

–         A king needs to be like a good chess player, thinking 4 or 5 moves ahead, playing out all the various scenarios in his mind

–         The Hebrew for Wonderful Counsellor literally translates wonder planner

The term wonderful counsellor then refers to a king with the wisdom & foresight to develop extraordinary plans & policies for the ordering of the public life of his people [1]

–         As the word wonder suggests the vision and planning of this king are awe inspiring – the king’s wisdom leaves people gob smacked in amazement

 

Two quick examples from the Old Testament to give you the idea of how Yahweh (the Lord) is a wonderful counsellor

In Genesis 18, God visits Abraham & Sarah and says that Sarah will give birth to a son. Sarah laughs at this because she is well past child bearing age so God says…

–         Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? [Meaning, is anything too difficult for the Lord?] At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah will have a son.”

The Lord’s plan here is truly amazing in its scope and level of difficulty

–         Yahweh, the wonderful counsellor, is planning to redeem the entire creation through Abraham’s offspring and he is going to do this by making it possible for a 90 year old woman to give birth to a son

–         Isaac’s birth was a miracle of resurrection

–         Isaac’s birth demonstrates that nothing is too difficult for God – even when it seems like all hope is lost, God can make all things new

–         When we consider how Jesus makes good on God’s promise to Abraham we begin to marvel at the Lord’s planning

 

Another example of Yahweh the wonderful counsellor is seen in the story of Joseph, also in Genesis. Joseph was one of Abraham & Sarah’s great grandsons

–         Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and ended up serving an Egyptian named Potiphar

–         After being falsely accused of sexual misconduct Joseph was thrown into prison for about three years until he was called upon to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams

–         Joseph became a wonderful counsellor to the king of Egypt

–         He knew what the Pharaoh’s dreams meant and what planning the king needed to do to save the people from starvation

–         Store up the excess crops during the seven years of plenty to see you through the seven years of famine

–         Joseph’s wonderful planning saved thousands of lives including that of his own family

 

But the real wonderful counsellor, working behind the scenes, was Yahweh – the Lord Almighty

–         It was God who put Joseph in the right place at the right time with the right wisdom to save the people

–         At the end of Genesis, after Jacob has died, Joseph’s brothers go to him afraid for their lives and wanting forgiveness – to which Joseph replies…

“Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God? Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today…”

Joseph acknowledges the wonder planning of Yahweh the wonderful counsellor

 

Jesus the Wonderful Counsellor:

Joseph points to Jesus. Like Joseph, Jesus too is a wonderful counsellor working out God’s wise & just plans for creation

–         Please turn with me to Luke chapter 13, page 98 toward the back of your pew Bibles

–         Jesus’ teaching and parables are pregnant with the wisdom of God

–         In this passage, from Luke 13, we get a taste of Jesus the wonderful counsellor. From verse 10 we read…

10 One Sabbath Jesus was teaching in a synagogue. 11 A woman there had an evil spirit that had kept her sick for eighteen years; she was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called out to her, “Woman, you are free from your sickness!” 13 He placed his hands on her, and at once she straightened herself up and praised God.

14 The official of the synagogue was angry that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, so he spoke up and said to the people, “There are six days in which we should work; so come during those days and be healed, but not on the Sabbath!”

15 The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Any one of you would untie your ox or your donkey from the stall and take it out to give it water on the Sabbath. 16 Now here is this descendant of Abraham whom Satan has kept in bonds for eighteen years; should she not be released on the Sabbath?” 17 His answer made his enemies ashamed of themselves, while the people rejoiced over all the wonderful things that he did.

18 Jesus asked, “What is the Kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it with? 19 It is like this. A man takes a mustard seed and plants it in his field. The plant grows and becomes a tree, and the birds make their nests in its branches.”

20 Again Jesus asked, “What shall I compare the Kingdom of God with? 21 It is like this. A woman takes some yeast and mixes it with a bushel of flour until the whole batch of dough rises.”

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

 

Probably the most difficult shot in the game of 10 Pin Bowling is knocking over a split.

–         A ‘split’ is where the pins left standing, after your first bowl, are divided or split down the middle

–         In many ways this is a harder shot to pull off than getting a clean strike

–         How do you knock over both pins on either side with just one bowl?

–         I suppose you have to hit one of the pins at just the right angle & speed to create a ricochet which knocks the other pin down

One characteristic of being a wonderful counsellor is the ability to kill two birds with one stone – or rather, to achieve more than one positive result with a single action or decision

–         In our reading from Luke 13 Jesus does just that

–         By healing the woman on the Sabbath Jesus knocks over a split

–         He sets a chain of events in motion which not only set the woman free from her illness but also set the people free in their thinking and daily living

 

The word ‘Sabbath’ appears five times in our reading this morning so that tells us it is significant for understanding this passage

–         To some degree we have lost the meaning of Sabbath in our society today

–         Basically, the Sabbath is a day of rest when people stop working and think about God

–         When the Sabbath is observed as God intended all living things get a small taste of what heaven on earth would be like

 

To better understand the meaning of the Sabbath we have to go back to Genesis chap. 2

–         By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

 

In Genesis 1 creation is depicted poetically as God bringing order & function to the chaos

–         After God has done the work of creating order & function he rests

–         It’s not that God was tired and needed to take a break – God doesn’t get tired like we do

–         Divine rest doesn’t mean taking a nap – divine rest means all those forces of chaos that are opposed to God have been subdued and order has been restored – God is in control, he is on the throne ruling the universe

–         So the purpose of the Sabbath is to point to the Kingdom of God

–         The Sabbath reminds us that the Kingdom of heaven is coming to earth

–         When we observe the Sabbath, when we stop working and give our attention to God, we acknowledge that God is the supreme ruler of the universe and we are his loyal subjects

 

In the first century the Sabbath was very important to the Jews

–         They were an oppressed people (their land was occupied and controlled by the Romans) – so they had to be quite intentional about not being assimilated into Roman culture, they had to make a stand for the sake of maintaining their national identity

–         Holding to their traditions, like keeping the Sabbath holy, was one way they maintained their cultural identity and loyalty to Yahweh

–         Keeping the Sabbath was an act of solidarity – it was a way of saying, ‘ultimately God is in control, not Caesar.’

–         In this sense observing the Sabbath is sort of like going on strike

 

Given the importance of Sabbath observance there were lots of man-made rules around the special day – specifying what you could and couldn’t do

–         Those rules may have been well intentioned but really they missed the point and actually obscured God’s purpose for the Sabbath, which is to point to God’s kingdom & give people a small taste of heaven on earth

–         Our society (in NZ) today has gone to the other extreme – we have almost no rules around the Sabbath and so we have lost something valuable

 

Jesus is in the synagogue on the Sabbath teaching people – giving them his wise and wonderful counsel – when he sees a woman bent over due to an evil spirit which had made her ill. What is he to do?

–         He has the power to heal her but Jewish tradition says he isn’t authorised to heal on the Sabbath

–         Her illness isn’t life threatening – she’s had it for 18 years so her healing  could wait another day

–         However, he might not see her tomorrow – this could be his only opportunity to help her

–         What’s more, healing someone on the Sabbath provided an opportunity to demonstrate to everyone present the bigger picture of God’s wonderful plan to restore and redeem his creation

–         Healing this woman on the Sabbath shows people what the reign of God (or the Kingdom of Heaven) looks like

Jesus sees the opportunity here to achieve two good results with one action – so he heals her

–         How did Jesus do this? It is a wonder, a mystery to us, but at the same time it gives credibility to his message

 

The leader of the synagogue, the guy who was responsible for making sure things ran smoothly, is angry that Jesus has healed on the Sabbath because that goes against the tradition that he is responsible to protect

–         By breaking the rules in this way Jesus has undermined the wall that separates Jews from Gentiles – he has threatened their Jewish identity

–         Or to say it in another way, Jesus has taken a swipe at Jewish nationalism

–         What Jesus did was courageous, politically incorrect and counter cultural

–         In the official’s mind this must have seemed like a betrayal of sorts – like Jesus was being disloyal to God and disloyal to Israel

Now I can understand the official’s frustration all too well – I can easily imagine how irritating & disruptive & annoying someone like Jesus would be

–         The synagogue leader doesn’t have any special wisdom or power to heal like Jesus does

–         I expect he’s just a regular average bloke who has a job to do and he’s trying to be faithful in carrying out his responsibilities

–         He thinks he’s doing the right thing but he just can’t see the wood for the trees and ends up in a public argument with Jesus that he has no show of winning.

The official has no idea who Jesus is – I feel sorry for him

–         He’s the fall guy whose blindness & ignorance provides the opportunity for Jesus’ wonderful counsellor-ness to be revealed

–         Not unlike the woman’s 18 year illness provided the opportunity for Jesus’ power & compassion to be displayed

–         Can you see the wonderful way God used the woman’s illness and the official’s spiritual blindness for good?

–         Had the woman not been sick and had the official said nothing then no one would have heard the brilliance of Jesus’ argument…

–         Any one of you would untie his ox or his donkey from the stall [after just a few hours] and give it a drink. Now here is a descendant of Abraham [someone far more valuable than an ox or a donkey] whom Satan has kept bound up for 18 years [far longer than a few hours]. How much more should she be released on the Sabbath? [the Sabbath being a day which points to God’s creative work in bringing order & function to chaos]

Jesus argues from the lesser to the greater and his insight, his perspective, is brilliant – he hoists his opponents on their own petard

–         Not only does Jesus show everyone present what God’s bigger plan & purpose is (bringing release & restoration) he also undoes a bit of Jewish nationalism by pointing out that the real enemy here isn’t the Romans – the real enemy is Satan

–         The wonderful thing is that Jesus’ wisdom sets people free in their minds

–         Just as the woman has been released from her back problem and can now stand up straight, so too the people have been released from the burden of rules surrounding the Sabbath and can now begin to think straight

–         Everyone has been given a glimpse of what God’s kingdom looks like

–         Jesus knocks over a split and verse 17 tells us, the people rejoice over all the wonderful things he did.

 

God’s wonderful plan (Kingdom)

If you look in your pew Bibles on page 98 again – you will notice that the account of Jesus healing the woman on the Sabbath is separated from the parable of the Mustard Seed by a heading, in bold

–         This gives the false impression that the Sabbath healing miracle is somehow separate from the two parables that follow

–         What we need to remember is that the headings you see in your Bibles are not part of the original text – they’ve been added in by the translators

–         So there’s no separation between the healing miracle and the parables

Verse 18 (in the Greek) actually reads Therefore Jesus asked, ‘What is the Kingdom of God like…’

–         The Good News Version has left the ‘Therefore’ out

–         The ‘therefore’ means that Luke intended us to read the parables of the mustard seed and yeast in conjunction with the Sabbath healing story

–         Put it all together and its talking about the Kingdom of God

–         Luke arranges Jesus’ material like this to help the reader see the wonder of God’s plan

 

When we were kids we were taught to wash our hands after going to the toilet and before every meal – that was supposed to stop us from getting sick

–         Bacteria, we were told, are bad and we need to get rid of them

–         We still see that attitude today with the advent of hand sanitiser

–         There’s an advertisement on TV with a little boy buying an ice cream from Mr Whippy and getting his hand sanitiser out before eating

–         It makes me cringe

 

Science tells us not all bacteria are bad, in fact we need certain bacteria for good health

–         The right bacteria in our gut help to regulate bowel movement

–         They help in the formation of vitamins like folic acid, riboflavin and vitamin K

–         What’s more, friendly bacteria enhance our immune system by increasing the production of antibodies which fight bad bacteria

–         Bacteria also help to regulate hormone levels and cholesterol

–         So it seems that washing our hands obsessively may actually be bad for us in that it reduces our exposure to good bacteria

 

In some ways the Kingdom of God is like good bacteria – it is small, unseen at first and does its work silently, on the inside

–         What’s more the Kingdom of God is often found in unexpected places

 

During the Second World War soldiers in Northern Africa were getting sick with dysentery and washing their hands didn’t seem to help

–         So the soldiers kept a close eye on the local Arabs who seemed to recover a lot quicker

–         Whenever the locals got sick they followed behind a camel and ate the fresh camel dung while it was still warm – then they were right again by the next day, instead of spending weeks in bed

 

It was later proven there was a soil-based organism in the camel dung known as Bacillus Subtilis

–         Bacillus Subtilis is a bacterial organism with super-strength that eats any other bacteria or virus that gets in its way, particularly pathogens

–         This story comes with a warning though: I’m not sure it works with every kind of poo, so be careful what you put in your mouth

 

Mustard seeds and yeast are small (like bacteria) and yet they have such a powerful and lasting effect

–         The mustard seed grows into a large, resilient and pervasive plant that is populated with birds

–         And just a small amount of yeast permeates a large quantity of dough

–         40 litres of flour, in verse 21, makes a huge amount of bread

–         How the seed grows and how the yeast makes the bread rise was a wonder, a mystery, to the people of Jesus’ day

 

The main point seems to be, God’s wonderful plan for establishing his Kingdom on earth is to start small and work silently, gradually, from the inside out

–         As opposed to coming loudly and in force to bring about a quick revolution

 

The healing of the woman on the Sabbath is a case in point

–         Jesus didn’t go to someone really important, like the emperor of Rome or the high priest, to heal him

–         Instead he healed someone at the bottom of the social scale – a sick anonymous woman who could do nothing at all to repay Jesus

–         However, in that small but powerful act of healing on the Sabbath, Jesus sowed the seeds of God’s kingdom

–         He put yeast in the dough of the local community to cause people to rise and praise God

 

A couple of other things to note about the wisdom of these parables

–         Jesus thought about his audience – he used images from everyday life that would relate to both men and women

–         Mustard seeds and mustard plants were everywhere – they were common

–         But making bread was something that women did – so in using the yeast metaphor Jesus was specifically reaching out to his female listeners

–         And that was significant when we consider that most Jewish males at that time thought that women would be excluded from God’s kingdom

 

The other thing we note is that both mustard plants and yeast had a bad reputation, sort of like bacteria

–         Mustard plants in the Middle East are similar to gorse in NZ – a weed, unwanted and hard to get rid of

–         Having said that, gorse does provide a nursery for growing native trees, so it’s not as bad as it seems

–         Likewise yeast, in Jewish thought, is a symbol for sin

–         At Passover time people had to get rid of all the yeast in their home and make flat (unleavened) bread, without yeast

–         So by comparing the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed and to yeast it appears that Jesus is implying the Kingdom of God may be unrecognisable and despised by some, at least at first

–         Certainly the leader of the synagogue didn’t appreciate Jesus healing the woman on the Sabbath

–         Sometimes the Kingdom of God tastes like camel poo

 

The birds of the air, which nest in the mustard plant, is probably a poetic reference to the Gentile nations [2]

–         Jesus is saying there will be room for people like the Romans and Greeks and Barbarians and Kiwis in God’s Kingdom

–         Perhaps another swipe at the Jewish nationalism of his day which supposed that only Israelite men would get into God’s Kingdom

 

Conclusion:

We could spend a lot more time exploring the wonders of Jesus’ wisdom but that’s enough for today

–         Hopefully you can see that Jesus, like Yahweh, is a wonderful counsellor

–         In and through Jesus, God reveals his wise and wonderful plan of salvation

–         And because of Jesus we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 

As the busy-ness of Christmas approaches I encourage you to pause and consider how God is working all things for good in your life.

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

2.)    What do you think of when you hear the phrase Wonderful Counsellor?

–         What does the Bible mean by the phrase Wonderful Counsellor?

3.)     Can you think of some examples of God’s wonderful planning in the Bible?

–         Now share some examples of God’s wonderful planning in your own life.

4.)    Discuss the different ways Jesus’ wonderful counsel is displayed in Luke 13:10-21

5.)    What is the purpose of the Sabbath?

–         What is a good use of the Sabbath?

6.)    What is the significance of Jesus healing on the Sabbath?

7.)    How does God use the woman’s illness and the synagogue leader’s (spiritual) blindness for good?

8.)    What is the main point of the parables of the mustard seed and yeast?

–         How do these parables relate to the Sabbath healing miracle that precedes them?

–         What other things might these parables be saying? (E.g. about women & gentiles)

9.)    Can you see God working all things for good in your life?

–         How is he doing this?

 

 

 

 

[1] Walter Brueggemann, Names for the Messiah, page 7.

[2] Refer Ezekiel 17:22-24, for example.