Tawa Baptist

Moses Returns

Scripture: Exodus 4:18-31

 

Title: Moses Returns

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Assurance
  • Briefing
  • Correction
  • Deployment
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

Make peace with your past so it won’t mess up your present

 

Please turn with me to Exodus chapter 4, verse 18 – page 63 toward the front of your pew Bibles

  • Today we continue our series on Moses
  • A couple of weeks ago we heard how God spoke to Moses through a flame in a bush, calling him to confront Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of slavery
  • This morning Moses returns to Egypt in obedience to God
  • By returning to Egypt Moses is facing his past

 

From verse 18 of Exodus 4 we read…

 

[Read Exodus 4:18-31]

 

May the Lord meet us in this reading

 

Please turn with me to the back of your newsletter

  • We could think of Moses’ return to Egypt in four parts – A B C D
  • Assurance, briefing, correction & deployment
  • First let us consider how God gives Moses assurance in verses 18-20…

 

Assurance:

When Robyn and I were in our last year at Carey College training for ministry Tawa Baptist called us

  • Robyn & I are not from Wellington – most of our family live in the Waikato & Bay of Plenty
  • We were leaning toward coming to Tawa but hadn’t fully decided – there was still a significant element of faith involved both for us and the church
  • I remember driving along the southern motorway into Auckland around that time and the car in front of us had a personalised number plate which read, ‘2tawa’
  • What are the chances of seeing that on the Auckland motorway?
  • Now we didn’t base our decision to come to Tawa solely on that number plate but it was one thing that gave us assurance to proceed
  • God does things like that at certain crossroads in our lives
  • We might feel like we’ve heard from him but we doubt ourselves a bit and so he (in his grace) gives us assurance – he guides us in the direction we should go

Assurance is different from insurance

  • Assurance is something we can rely on – it will definitely happen
  • By contrast, insurance covers something that may or may not happen
  • So we have car insurance just in case we have an accident and need to replace the car
  • But we have life assurance, because it is certain that we will die one day and when we do our loved ones will get a pay out

 

In verse 18, after Moses has talked with God, he goes back to Jethro, his father-in-law, & asks permission to return to Egypt to see if his relatives are still alive

  • Jethro is Moses’ insurance
  • God is asking Moses to do a big thing here and Moses doesn’t know how the future will pan out
  • He needs to keep his relationship with Jethro good because if everything turns to custard Moses will need a home base to return to
  • So Moses takes care of the relationship by asking Jethro’s permission
  • Moses doesn’t burn his bridges

 

In verse 19, while Moses was still in Midian, the Lord spoke to him again saying: Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead

  • God gives Moses assurance
  • You will remember how Moses had left Egypt in a hurry, after killing an Egyptian slave driver
  • God knew that Moses was a bit anxious about returning to Egypt because of this – Moses was concerned his past might catch up with him
  • So God effectively says to Moses, ‘Now is a good time to return to Egypt, you are no longer an outlaw – no longer a wanted man’

 

Sometimes making peace with our past is simply a matter of time

  • Sometimes we just have to be patient and wait – time has a way of washing away ill feeling

 

With God’s assurance, Moses packs up his family and returns to Egypt on a donkey

  • This reminds us of another holy family travelling by donkey in the opposite direction, from Egypt back to Israel (Jesus, Joseph and Mary)
  • In that story God gave Joseph assurance by sending an angel in a dream to say Herod was dead and it was okay to go back home.

 

Returning to Exodus 4. At the end of verse 20 we are told Moses was carrying the stick God had told him to take

  • This stick is a tangible reminder of God’s assurance to Moses
  • It’s an assurance that Moses can literally hold on to
  • We also have these little tokens of assurance, don’t we
  • Perhaps a favourite Bible that we take with us everywhere
  • Or a cross on a necklace, or prayer beads, or some other physical reminder that we don’t travel alone – God goes with us

 

Briefing:

Every day around the world 11 or 12 people are either killed or injured because of land mines or other explosives left behind after war [1]

  • There are literally hundreds of millions of unexploded mines and bombs, in the world, left over after past wars, just waiting to be disturbed
  • The work of de-miners is a very practical way of making peace with the past so it doesn’t mess up the present

 

Sometimes making peace with our past is simply a matter of time

  • Time heals some wounds but not all wounds
  • There are some things which need special attention
  • Some things which don’t go away with time but in fact become more dangerous – like unexploded bombs
  • Part of the problem is that people don’t always remember where these ordnances are buried
  • If we forget our past then we may find ourselves walking through a mine field in the present
  • Pharaoh forgot Egypt’s past and consequently he led his people into danger

 

After giving Moses assurance to return to Egypt, God then briefs Moses, in verses 21-23

  • In this briefing God tells Moses the plan and what to expect
  • Unfortunately the briefing doesn’t make a lot of sense

 

God says to Moses, you do all the miracles

  • And I will make Pharaoh stubborn so that he won’t let the people go

 

Now, I imagine Moses scratching his head at this point thinking

  • Isn’t the whole idea to get Israel out of Egypt safely?
  • Why is God going to make Pharaoh stubborn so that he won’t let the people go? Hmmmm?

 

Well, it’s like St. Augustine said in the fifth century:

  • “If you understand it, then it is not God”

 

We will explore what it means for God to make Pharaoh stubborn when that comes up again in a few weeks

  • For now it is enough to know that God is giving Moses a heads up that things are not going to flow smoothly
  • He is in for a trying time with Pharaoh
  • God is giving Moses fair warning so he doesn’t become discouraged at the first hurdle

 

God goes on to say to Moses…

  • When the Pharaoh digs his toes in and refuses to let my people go I want you to say from me, ‘Israel is my first born son. I told you to let my son go, so that he might worship me, but you refused. Now I am going to kill your first born son.’

 

That doesn’t sound very nice – why does God want to kill Egypt’s first born?

  • Well, I don’t think God wants to kill anyone
  • The problem is Pharaoh has made some decisions which have limited God’s options

 

Pharaoh isn’t able to make peace with his past because he has forgotten the past

  • He has forgotten how Joseph (a Hebrew) saved Egypt from starvation and made the country rich during a famine
  • For Pharaoh to make peace with his past he would have to admit the injustices of his regime and make reparation
  • Pharaoh’s injustices lie scattered over the land like unexploded mines
  • But Pharaoh doesn’t want to face his own failure as a leader which means God doesn’t have much choice
  • God’s only option is to remind Pharaoh of Egypt’s injustice by visiting on Pharaoh the same treatment he has dealt out to Israel
  • The only way that Pharaoh is going to get the message is if God explodes some of the mines

To make peace with the past we must first remember the past – not as we would have liked it to have been, but as it actually was

 

Two aspects of good news we shouldn’t lose sight of here…

 

Firstly, Israel is God’s son – not Pharaoh’s son

  • Israel belongs to God – not to Pharaoh
  • Pharaoh has no right to hold Israel prisoner

 

Secondly, Israel is not an only child

  • Israel is God’s first born
  • Other nations will (and actually have) become God’s children too, through Christ

 

So the question for us is, ‘whose son, whose daughter, are we?’

  • Do we belong to Pharaoh or do we belong to God?
  • I believe we belong to God – although not everyone realises it
  • You are not the property of the bank or the company or the government
  • You are not a slave to market forces or technology or the opinion of others
  • You belong to God, as his child, and God wants you to be free of Pharaoh
  • (Whatever form Pharaoh may take)

 

Having given Moses assurance to proceed to Egypt

  • And having briefed Moses on what to do and what to expect in Egypt
  • God then corrects Moses in quite an alarming way

 

Correction:

What do you reckon – is one person by themselves better at remembering or are all of us together better at remembering?

 

[Wait for people to respond]

 

Yes – I agree with you – all of us together are better at remembering

  • We remember better together

 

In verse 24 of Exodus 4 we read how the Lord met Moses [on his way to Egypt] and tried to kill him

  • Whaaat? God tried to kill Moses?
  • Why would God do that when he has gone to so much trouble in sending Moses to Egypt to set Israel free?

 

 

Well, Moses’ wife Zipporah seemed to understand

  • Before Moses can face the future he must first make peace with his past
  • Moses needs to get his own house in order before he tries to sort out Pharaoh’s house because it seems Moses has forgotten his past too
  • Fortunately for Moses, Zipporah remembers

 

In Genesis 17 God made some promises to Abraham saying…

  • “You also must agree to keep the covenant with me, both you and your descendants in future generations. You and your descendants must all agree to circumcise every male among you. From now on you must circumcise every baby boy when he is eight days old…”

 

Apparently Moses had not circumcised his own sons as God had instructed the descendants of Abraham

  • Circumcision was the sign of the covenant
  • A covenant is a sacred agreement – it is more than a contract
  • You put your signature on a contract but you cut a covenant
  • Hence the cutting of the foreskin as a sign of the covenant

 

Perhaps another reason God chose circumcision as a sign of the covenant is that the men at least would be regularly reminded of the covenant – every time they went to the toilet or had a bath

  • Perhaps the women didn’t need such regular reminders

 

In any case, God’s covenant with Abraham was incredibly important

  • And, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, God doesn’t like it when we mistreat or ignore or forget what he considers sacred and important
  • By not circumcising his sons Moses had forgotten God’s covenant and God was not pleased – he tried to kill Moses

 

We don’t know exactly what this means – perhaps Moses became really sick and was close to dying

  • The fact that God didn’t kill Moses instantly shows us God’s grace
  • “God leaves room for mediation, [he] allows time for Zipporah to act,” [2] to save Moses – which she does
  • Zipporah cut off the foreskin of her son and touched Moses’ feet with it
  • In this way Zipporah made peace with the past by keeping the covenant
  • And so the Lord spared Moses’ life
  • This is not the first time Moses has been saved by the quick witted courage of a woman

 

Terence Fretheim makes the following observation of Moses’ near death experience…

  • This is a divine demonstration of the seriousness of the matter upon which God & Moses are about to embark: a life-and-death struggle in which Israel’s very life will be imperilled. That Israel or Moses will emerge unscathed is not a foregone conclusion. Israel will be dependent upon God’s decision and action on its behalf, yet Moses’ own obedience is integral to the divine mission. [3]

 

In other words our salvation is a serious matter and we can’t afford to take God for granted

  • Yes, he loves us, but that doesn’t mean anything goes
  • We are dependent on God to save us but at the same time the choices we make matter

 

As Christians we are under a different covenant

  • Ours is not the covenant of Abraham, so we don’t have to be circumcised
  • Ours is the new covenant established by Jesus
  • Later in the service we will share communion and you will hear me talk about the cup of the new covenant
  • We take communion to remember the new covenant with God made possible by Christ’s sacrifice
  • Or said another way, communion reminds us how Jesus enables us to make peace with our past and peace with God – so that we can have hope for the future

 

One of the cool things about communion is that we take it together, or more accurately we remember together – memory is more reliable that way

 

We don’t take communion lightly – it is a serious matter and God is not pleased if we misuse it. As the apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians…

  • It follows that if anyone eats the Lord’s bread or drinks from his cup in a way that dishonours him, he is guilty of sin against the Lord’s body & blood. So then, everyone should examine himself first, and then eat the bread and drink from the cup. For if he does not recognise the meaning of the Lord’s body when he eats the bread and drinks from the cup, he brings judgement on himself as he eats and drinks. [4]

 

God has assured Moses it is okay to return to Egypt

  • God has briefed Moses on what to expect when he confronts Pharaoh
  • And God has corrected Moses on his way to Egypt
  • Now God deploys Aaron to go with Moses to Egypt
  • A B C D

 

Deployment:

Verse 27 of Exodus 4 reads…

  • Meanwhile the Lord had said to Aaron, “Go into the desert to meet Moses.” So he went to meet him at the holy mountain; and when he met him he kissed him.

 

Sometimes making peace with our past is a difficult thing – like defusing an unexploded bomb or some other life & death struggle

  • Other times it is a joyful thing – as it was when Aaron and Moses were finally reunited after probably about 40 years apart

 

Making peace with your past can also mean re-doing things again – only this time properly

  • The first time Moses had tried to save his people he had acted alone – without God and without the people themselves
  • This time though Moses goes with the Lord and with Aaron
  • And he involves all the leaders of Israel – he takes the people with him

 

Aaron does the talking and Moses performs the miracles

  • The people believe and bow down in worship to the Lord for he has come to them and seen how cruelly they are being treated
  • It’ a beautiful thing when God lets us know that he understands our pain
  • Knowing that God understands goes a long way in helping us to make peace with our past

 

 

Conclusion:

This morning we’ve heard that making peace with our past can mean different things

 

Sometimes it means simply letting go – not chasing after the past but allowing time to do the work of healing

  • Waiting for the enemies of bitterness and revenge to die

 

But time won’t fix everything

  • There are some things which need special attention
  • Some things which don’t go away with time but in fact become more dangerous – like unexploded bombs
  • In those cases, to make peace with the past we must first remember the past – not as we would have liked it to have been, but as it actually was
  • If we forget our past (as Pharaoh did) then we may find ourselves walking through a mine field

 

The other thing to keep in mind when it comes to making peace with our past is, we don’t have to do it alone

  • Moses had help to face his past
  • Zipporah helped him to remember the covenant and put things right with God
  • And Aaron helped Moses to approach the task in a proper way, involving the leaders of Israel
  • Moses & Aaron & the Lord worked together to restore hope to the people

 

 

 

 

[1] http://www.maginternational.org/the-problems/landmines-and-unexploded-ordnance/#.VZcQ3xHAKM8

[2] Terence Fretheim, ‘Exodus’, page 79.

[3] Fretheim, page 81.

[4] 1 Corinthians 11:27-29

Tawa Baptist

Reluctant Moses

Scripture: Exodus 3:1-14 & 4:1-17

Title: Reluctant Moses

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Back-bone
  • The dialogue
  • Conclusion

 

 

Introduction:

True perfection is the ability to include imperfection [1]

 

The teacher who perseveres with a difficult student

  • The wife who goes on loving her husband even though he doesn’t trim his nose hairs and keeps leaving the toilet seat up
  • The father who welcomes home the prodigal son or daughter
  • The mother who patiently stays up all night nursing her sick child
  • The humble who can laugh at their own mistakes
  • The leader who allows criticism even when it is unfair
  • Anyone really who is able to forgive others and most especially able to forgive themselves

 

Please turn with me to Exodus 3, verse 10, page 61 in your pew Bibles

  • Today we continue our series on Moses
  • Last week we heard how God spoke to Moses as a flame in a bush, calling him to confront Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of slavery
  • This week we hear how a very reluctant Moses tries to evade God’s call
  • Moses is all too aware of his own inadequacy
  • But God, who is true perfection, wants to include Moses in all his glorious imperfection

 

Our reading is in two parts this morning – the first part from the middle of chapter 3 and the second part from the first half of chapter 4

  • From verse 10 of chapter 3, God says to Moses…

 

[Read Exodus 3:10-14]

 

Now we will skip to the beginning of chapter 4 on page 62 of your pew Bibles

  • From verse 1 we read…

 

[Read Exodus 4:1-17]

 

May the Spirit of Jesus help us to accept the imperfection in ourselves

 

Back-bone:

Most of you would have heard of the three classic parenting styles…

  • Brick wall
  • Jellyfish, and
  • Back-bone

 

The brick wall parent doesn’t give an inch

  • It’s my way or the highway
  • There is no flexibility, no grace, no understanding with the brick wall parent – they come off as hard and unloving
  • The demanding (sometimes brutal) discipline of the brick wall style often leaves the child angry, resentful and alienated
  • Brick wall relationships are brittle – they don’t cope well with earthquakes or other crises because they have no give

 

Jellyfish parents are the opposite to this

  • They don’t know how to say ‘No’ to their kids – they are too soft and give in all the time
  • Jellyfish relationships tend to lack integrity or substance
  • You can’t really trust a jellyfish – they won’t support you when the chips are down and they may even sting you

 

Then we have the back-bone parenting style

  • As the name suggests, backbone parents combine strength & support with flexibility
  • A back-bone relationship is one you can rely on – it has integrity and substance, but it also has grace & understanding
  • Therefore you can trust the other person

 

Now when I first heard this brick wall, jellyfish, backbone thing, like most parents, I felt guilty for not always being a backbone parent

  • In reality though there are no perfect parents – we are all a bit of a mixture of the three
  • And that’s okay – the world is not a perfect place and so children need imperfect parents in order to prepare them for an imperfect world
  • True perfection is the ability to include imperfection

 

 

If you turn to the back page of your newsletter you will see a table there

  • This table basically summarises God’s dialogue with Moses
  • On one side of the table we have Moses’ objections to God’s call
  • And on the other side we have God’s response

 

Verses Moses’ objections God’s response Verses
3:11 Who am I? (I am nobody)  I will be with you 3:12
3:13 Who are you?(What’s your name) “I am who I am” Or,“I will be who I will be” 3:14
4:1 What if Israel doesn’t believe me? Here are 3 signs to help them believe you 4:2-9
4:10 I’m not a good speaker  I will help you to speak 4:11-12
4:13 Send someone else(or – send whoever you want) I will give you Aaron as your spokesman 4:14-17

 

When God calls Moses to confront Pharaoh and lead the people of Israel out of Egypt, Moses tries to talk God out of it

  • Five times he resists God’s call on his life

 

Moses comes across as a bit insecure

  • He appears full of self-doubt and lacking confidence
  • But in a paradoxical kind of way Moses’ questions and objections are actually a good thing
  • It is helpful and necessary to deal with our doubts in God’s presence before going out to face the enemy

 

Not only that but Moses’ questioning of God allows a meaningful dialogue to take place

  • If Moses had simply said ‘yes’ to God without offering any resistance then the conversation would have ended
  • Moses might not have heard God’s name nor been properly equipped to face Israel and Pharaoh – he would have no answer for his doubts

 

The other good thing here, about Moses’ resistance, is that it reveals back-bone

  • The fact that Moses is able to stand up to God bodes well for when he will have to stand up to Pharaoh
  • Leaders need a certain amount of stubbornness
  • Pharaoh was a brick wall, against which a jellyfish would make no impression
  • If you want to shift a brick wall you need backbone – strength combined with flexibility

 

God responds to Moses’ reluctance with some backbone of his own

  • He doesn’t give Moses what he wants or let him off the hook
  • God could have done the job himself but he doesn’t
  • God is resolute in his plan to work with the imperfect Moses
  • By the same token he doesn’t bulldoze Moses either
  • God gives Moses support with flexibility
  • He dialogues with Moses

 

The Dialogue:

A dialogue is a two way conversation, sort of like tennis – one player hits the ball over the net and the other player responds by hitting it back

 

God serves a rip snorter to Moses saying, ‘I am sending you to the king of Egypt so that you can lead my people out of his country’

  • And Moses sends God’s serve right back over the net with, ‘I am nobody’
  • Or more literally, ‘Who am I to go the king of Egypt?’

 

Interestingly, God takes Moses’ concerns seriously

  • God doesn’t deny what Moses is feeling
  • And he doesn’t disagree with Moses’ assessment of himself
  • God simply says, ‘I will be with you’
  • Which is sort of like saying, ‘Yea, I agree with you Moses. You’re not adequate by yourself. But I’m more than adequate, so don’t worry’
  • God is inviting Moses to trust him

 

Moses isn’t entirely sure if he is ready to trust the Lord just yet, so he fires the ball back over the net to God with another question

  • ‘In case someone asks me, what’s your name?’
  • First Moses had asked, ‘Who am I?’
  • Now he asks, ‘Who are you?’

 

Names in Biblical times were significant

  • The Lord’s name is his story
  • It sums up who he is and what he wants to make known about himself [2]

 

In verse 14 of Exodus 3, God famously replies, “I am who I am” which can also be translated, “I will be who I will be”

 

God’s name doesn’t reveal everything about him but it does show us some things

  • Firstly, that we don’t define God – he defines himself
  • There is a certain divine freedom in this

 

‘I am who I am’ is quite open ended

  • It means, if we are going to be in relationship with God, then we must be prepared to cope with mystery
  • with not knowing
  • with loose ends and unresolved questions,
  • For God won’t be tied down or dissected

 

‘I will be who I will be’ indicates that God’s story is being told in human history and so it is unfolding even as history continues to unfold

 

In Tolkien’s book, The Lord of the Rings, the character Treebeard speaks of his name in this way…

  • “My name is growing all the time and I’ve lived a very long, long time; so my name is like a story. Real names tell you the story of the things they belong to” [3]

 

The people of Israel would come to know the meaning of God’s name through the history of his presence with them and salvation of them

  • We come to know the meaning of God’s name through Christ

 

Reluctant Moses tries to get the ball out of his court a third time by saying, in verse 1 of Exodus 4, ‘But suppose the Israelites do not believe me and will not listen to what I say…?’

  • At which point God gives Moses power to perform three signs
  • Turning a stick into a snake and back into a stick again
  • Turning a hand leprous and back into a healthy hand again
  • And turning water into blood

 

These might seem like pretty random things but I suspect they were freighted with meaning

 

The Pharaohs wore a crown on their head and on the front of that crown was a cobra snake, raised and ready to strike as a threat to Egypt’s enemies

  • By giving Moses the power to change his stick into a snake and back again I reckon God was saying, ‘Egypt is no threat to me, so you don’t need to feel threatened by them either’
  • Interestingly God told Moses to pick up the snake by the tail
  • This is the most dangerous way to pick up a snake for it can whip it’s head around and bite you
  • Just as God protected Moses from the snake, so too he would protect Moses (and Israel) from Pharaoh

 

With the second sign God tells Moses to put his hand inside his robe and when Moses does it turns leprous

  • Then when Moses repeats the movement his hand is made healthy again
  • This sign is different from the other two in that it was a sign which was done to Moses’ person – his own body

 

Lepers were considered unclean and were excluded from society

  • Moses had lived like a leper for a long time, in the sense that he had been excluded from Hebrew & Egyptian society
  • Moses also felt unfit or unworthy for the task God was calling him to
  • But God has the power to declare things clean
  • He has the power to open doors so those standing on the outside looking in may be included
  • God, who is true perfection, is able to include Moses’ imperfection – to declare Moses clean

 

The third sign, turning the water of the river Nile into blood, shows us that God has power over life and death and he is putting that power into Moses’ hands

  • Water & blood are both symbols of life and potentially death
  • Egypt relied on the Nile for its livelihood
  • Turning the river into blood would destroy the economy

 

These three signs prefigure the 10 plagues that will come on Egypt

 

Moses is becoming a bit desperate now – God just doesn’t seem to be getting the hint, so he says…

  • Lord… I have never been a good speaker and I haven’t become one since you began speaking to me. I am a poor speaker, slow and hesitant.

 

Perhaps Moses thinks he’s got God here, because a leader needs to be able to communicate effectively

 

There was a king who lived during the Second World War who struggled with a speech impediment – can anyone tell me his name? [Wait]

  • Yes, that’s right, King George the sixth, also known as Bertie
  • He was the father of our current Monarch, Queen Elizabeth the second

 

A movie came out recently called the King’s Speech, which tells King George’s story

  • After his brother abdicated, Bertie reluctantly assumes the throne
  • He doesn’t want to be king because that requires public speaking – the one thing he can’t do well
  • Every time he opens his mouth in public he is vulnerable – for his greatest weakness is exposed for the whole world to see
  • Bertie engages the help of an unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue who helps him find his voice and lead the country through the war

 

Hitler was articulate and charismatic, some might say a gifted speaker – kind of the opposite of King George and yet, who won the war?

  • God does not call perfect individuals to leadership – he chooses what is weak in the eyes of the world to shame the strong
  • God did not miraculously heal Moses’ slowness of speech and he didn’t heal King George’s stammer either
  • But he does help Moses, as he helped King George
  • God works in and through real human impediments to further his purpose
  • True perfection is the ability to include imperfection

 

 

In verse 13 of Exodus 4, Moses says, No Lord, send someone else

  • This translation is something of a paraphrase
  • The original Hebrew is far more vague – it literally reads…
  • Send by whose hand you will send– which could mean…
  • Have it your own way [God] – do what you want – send whoever [4]

 

Either way it is clear that Moses is not happy to be chosen for the task

 

Verse 14 tells us God became angry with Moses at this

 

I don’t think God’s anger here is the anger of impatience

  • God is eternal – he literally has all the time in the world – he is the very definition of patience and long suffering
  • So why is God angry?

 

Well, it seems to me that often when God gets angry in the Bible it is because someone has mistreated what God values

  • For example, God values the poor & the oppressed – so if we mistreat them God will be angry with us
  • Likewise if God gives us something sacred or holy and we treat his gift cheaply or in an unholy way, then he is not happy

 

God has just given Moses a sacred call – a special job to do – and that job involves helping the poor & oppressed

  • But Moses has turned his back on the poor by rejecting God’s call – he has treated them cheaply as though they were nothing
  • So we can understand why God is angry – Moses has been careless with people God cares about

 

And yet God still has the strength and the flexibility to accommodate Moses

  • He says, ‘Okay then, I’ll send Aaron with you as your spokesman’
  • As it turns out Moses ends up doing most of the talking anyway

 

Conclusion:

True perfection is the ability to include imperfection

 

When we look at the ministry of Jesus we see quite clearly that he included imperfection

  • Jesus called very ordinary people to be his witnesses and disciples
  • Not only that but he had a reputation for hanging out with imperfect people – lepers, tax collectors, prostitutes and so on

 

In Matthew 5 Jesus says to his disciples…

  • Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…
  • You must be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect
  • And what does it mean to love your enemy?
  • It means to include them – include them in your prayers, include them in sharing good things – even though they are not perfect

 

The ones Jesus had the biggest problem with were the Pharisees. Why?

  • Because they had no tolerance for imperfection
  • They wouldn’t admit the imperfection in themselves and consequently they gave everybody else a hard time for being imperfect

 

It is one thing to include other people’s imperfection but it is another thing entirely to accept our own imperfection

  • Somehow imperfection is more tolerable in other people
  • In fact someone else’s imperfection can make us feel positively wonderful about ourselves – unless of course their failings remind us of our own, and then we are likely to give them a hard time

 

We do such violence to our own soul when we judge and condemn those parts of ourselves that we find unacceptable

  • We can be that brick wall parent to the child in us

 

  • We can be so hard on ourselves – so unforgiving of our own weaknesses and mistakes
  • We do well to remember that we are sacred to God
  • You are sacred to God – so be careful with yourself
  • The things you detest may be the very things God values the most

 

True perfection is the ability to include imperfection

 

[1] From Richard Rohr’s daily meditation for Tuesday 16 June 2015

[2] Motyer, BST Exodus, page 68

[3] J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, page 454.

[4] Alec Motyer, BST Exodus, page 81

Tawa Baptist

Close Encounters

Scripture: Exodus 3:1-12

Title: Close Encounters

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • God’s humility – vv. 1-6
  • God’s love – vv. 7-10
  • Moses’ honesty – vv. 11-12
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

The Franciscan scholar Ilia Delio observes…

  • ‘Before encounter, God is perceived as omnipotent power; after encounter, God is perceived as humble love.’

Omnipotent power is unlimited power, supreme power, power which cannot be trumped by any other

  • Omnipotent power is overwhelming and fills us with fear
  • In contrast, humble love is down to earth, accessible love, love which empties us of all pretence and invites an honest response

Please turn with me to Exodus chapter 3, page 61 near the beginning of your pew Bibles

  • In this reading we see God’s humility in the very down to earth way he speaks to Moses out of a bush.
  • And we see God’s love through his attention and concern for Israel, his oppressed people
  • We also see Moses’ honesty in objecting to God’s call

From verse 1 of Exodus 3 we read…

[Read Exodus 3:1-12]

 

May we encounter the Spirit of Jesus in this Scripture reading

God’s humility:

Aslan is the Lion in CS Lewis’ Narnia series

  • Aslan represents God

I suppose Lewis chose a Lion to represent God because of the particular images lions raise in the human imagination

  • We associate lions with power, strength & royalty (they are considered the king of the jungle)
  • Lions are also normally thought of as wild or untameable – something we can’t control and therefore something to be feared

Lucy may have been afraid of Aslan at first (before actually meeting him) – as we are all afraid of omnipotent power, but after actually encountering Aslan Lucy came to know this lion as humble love

  • The movement from perceiving God as omnipotent power to perceiving him as humble love is a movement from fear to faith – from terror to trust
  • It is a movement from hiding from God to being honest with God
  • This appears to be Moses’ experience in our reading this morning

Exodus 3 begins by telling us how Moses was going about his regular job – shepherding sheep & goats

  • Moses is quite a bit older by this stage – it has been many years since he ran away from Egypt
  • He arrives at Mt Sinai in the Horeb wilderness
  • Horeb basically means ‘wasteland’
  • This is a lonely place

Verse 2 tells us that, there (at Sinai) the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses as a flame coming from the middle of a bush

  • Moses saw that the bush was on fire but that it was not burning up
  • So he went closer to investigate
  • He doesn’t yet realise that the angel of the Lord is in the bush

Many Christians believe the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament is a cloaked reference to Jesus – before he became human

  • An angel is basically a heavenly messenger and Jesus is the Word of God
  • Hence the angel of the Lord is God’s Word – Jesus in a different form

I’m not sure we should try to tie it down too much for there is a certain mystery here which we can’t explain

  • The point seems to be, God presents himself to Moses, on this occasion, as a talking flame inside a bush

There is significant symbolism in this

  • Fire is powerful and dangerous – it is not safe to get too close to fire but, at just the right distance, fire can warm us, comfort us and give us light

Furthermore, as Alec Motyer points out, the fact that the fire does not consume the bush shows us that Yahweh is ‘a self-maintaining, self-sufficient reality [who] does not need to draw vitality from the outside’ [1]

  • In other words, God is not like fire in every respect
  • Fire needs oxygen and fuel to survive – but God doesn’t need anything to survive – he is entirely independent and without needs
  • Creation depends on God but God does not depend on creation

It’s also interesting that God should be found in a bush

  • You can’t get more down to earth, more grounded, more humble, more non-threatening than a bush

God (who is bigger than we can imagine) is basically making himself small so that Moses can cope with the conversation

  • If God were to reveal himself to Moses (or any of us) in all his glory we couldn’t handle it – we would be completely overwhelmed
  • So God very graciously speaks out of a bush – he dresses down and makes himself small so that Moses won’t feel so threatened

Having said that, Moses is still pretty frightened by the whole experience

  • When he realises God is in the bush he covers his face because he is afraid to look at God
  • Before encounter, God is perceived to be omnipotent power – and therefore terrifying
  • Moses won’t always be so afraid though – and nor will God always seem so small
  • Moses’ perception of God is like Lucy’s perception of Aslan
  • Returning to Narnia for a moment, in the book Prince Caspian Lucy says…

 “Aslan”, you’re bigger”.

  • “That’s because you are older little one…
  • every year you grow, you will find me bigger”

God starts small with Moses, but as Moses grows in faith he finds that God gets bigger too, until eventually the Lord is represented as a pillar of fire by night and pillar of cloud by day

  • The beauty of it is we can never out-grow God nor be too small for him

Interestingly God introduces himself by saying…

  • I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
  • To me this says that God is known through relationship
  • It also indicates a continuity or connection between Moses and his forebears – it’s sort of a way of establishing common ground
  • A way of saying – I know your roots Moses, I understand where you come from – your family and me have got history, we go way back

But the part that is most interesting to me is God’s humility in identifying with Abraham, Isaac & Jacob

  • God could have introduced himself in a quite a big deal kind of way
  • He could have said, ‘I am the God of the universe – the God of the Milky Way, the God of infinite might, the God of eternity and time, bow before me mortal’ – but he doesn’t
  • God doesn’t give a list of his achievements
  • Instead in a rather humble and far more personal way he identifies himself with three imperfect human beings
  • That’s quite cool really

 

God’s love:

The Hunger Games movies have been quite popular the past 2 or 3 years

  • The Hunger Games is a variation on the ‘Exodus story with the ‘Capital’ parallel to Egypt and the oppressed ‘Districts’ parallel to Israel
  • President ‘Snow’ is like Pharaoh and Katniss is sort of like Moses
  • The story line and characters in the Hunger Games don’t match the Exodus account exactly but certainly they share similar themes

Returning to Exodus 3…

  • You might be thinking, ‘I get what you’re saying about God being humble, but where does the love part come in?’

Well, God reveals his love in verses 7-10, where he says…

I have seen how cruelly my people are being treated…

  • I have heard them cry out to be rescued…
  • I know all about their sufferings…
  • I have come down to rescue them…
  • I have indeed heard the cry of my people…
  • I see how the Egyptians are oppressing them…
  • Now I am sending you [Moses] to lead my people out of Egypt

I have seen

I have heard

I know

I have come down

I have heard

I see

I am sending you

Here we have seven statements of God’s love

  • The key to understanding is found in the middle of the list where the Lord says, I have come down

God’s seeing isn’t from a distance – up on a cloud somewhere

  • His seeing is up close and personal, for he has come down
  • Nor is his hearing detached or unfeeling, for God hears the cry of his people like a parent hears the unique cry of their child in distress
  • It tears at his heart
  • Likewise, God’s knowing isn’t just an intellectual head knowledge
  • God’s knowing is the understanding which comes from first-hand experience – for God has been present amongst his people throughout their suffering and has in fact suffered with them

Although God sees, hears and knows (first hand) the sufferings of his people in Egypt, Moses doesn’t – at least not to the same extent

  • Moses has been living away from his people for a long time and even when he did live in Egypt he was in the sheltered environment of the palace – so why does God want to send Moses to lead the people out?

Well, Moses may not have suffered in exactly the same way as his fellow Israelites, but he had suffered – exile is no picnic

  • Perhaps Moses’ exile was one of the things that qualified him for this particular task. As Richard Rohr says…

“It seems until you are excluded from any system, you are not able to recognise the idolatries, lies or shadow side of that system… There seems to be a ‘structural blindness’ for people who are content and satisfied on the inside…

It is always the forgotten one… who understands things more deeply and breaks through to enlightenment.”  [2]

Perhaps it was necessary for Moses to be excluded and forgotten for a time in order for him to recognise what was wrong with the Egyptian system

  • That way he wouldn’t make the same mistakes with Israel

Moses’ honesty:

‘Before encounter, God is perceived as omnipotent power; after encounter, God is perceived as humble love.’

  • The movement from perceiving God as omnipotent power to perceiving him as humble love is a movement from fear to faith – from terror to trust
  • It is a movement from hiding from God to being honest with God

Moses has gone from being too afraid to look at God, to feeling comfortable enough to talk back to God

  • This is what an encounter with the God of humble love does – it makes honest dialogue possible
  • Moses responds to God’s request by saying, “I am nobody. How can I go to the king and bring the Israelites out of Egypt”
  • To us this might appear like humility – but actually it’s not

 

As our friend C.S. Lewis reminds us…

  • Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less
  • In other words, humility is not the same thing as poor self-esteem
  • It’s not the same as doubting your value

God is humble in the sense of thinking of himself less

  • When we look at God’s words to Moses so far, we notice they are largely about other people – God says hardly anything about himself
  • Moses on the other hand is quite self-focused at this point
  • Thinking less of yourself (as Moses does here) is still thinking of yourself

God answers Moses, “I will be with you…”

  • In other words, think of yourself less and think of me more – you’re not alone

God also gives Moses a sign or a proof

  • “When you bring the people out of Egypt you will worship me on this mountain”

I think God is saying more than one thing at once here

  • At a surface level God is saying…
  • ‘The proof that I have sent you is that you will be successful – you will bring the people out of Egypt and worship me on this mountain’

The flip side (or the unspoken part of this) is…

  • ‘You won’t argue with me (as you are now Moses) you will praise me’

Going a little deeper – God is inviting Moses to trust him, for the sign requires faith, it won’t be fulfilled until after Moses has done what God asks

 

But at an even deeper level I think God is also saying to Moses…

  • ‘You doubt your value, don’t run from who you are’ [3]

In other words,

  • ‘I believe in you Moses – you are a leader – you were born to do this’

Conclusion:

Before encounter, God is perceived as omnipotent power; after encounter, God is perceived as humble love.

 

Soren Kierkegaard tells a parable of a king and a maiden which helps to illustrate the humble love of God. [4]

Once there was a rich and powerful king who fell in love with a beautiful woman

  • This king was no ordinary king
  • Every statesman trembled before his power and might
  • World leaders brought him tributes and showered him with the best of everything their lands had to offer
  • People were so afraid of him that no one dared breath a word against himOne day, while out walking, this most mighty of men was stopped in his tracks by the sight of a beautiful woman
  • The king had his intelligence service investigate the woman
  • And they found that she was not rich and powerful like him
  • She was simply a regular person with an ordinary job, paying her bills like everyone elseAt first the king tried to ignore his feelings but unexpressed love turns into pain
  • The more he tried to ignore what he felt the more he couldn’t help thinking about her until eventually the king could stand it no more
  • There was nothing for it but to declare his love for the beautiful maiden
  • And to find out if she held love in her heart for him
  • Perhaps that way he might find some peaceBut the king was no sooner on his way to her house than he realized something
  • How would he know whether she really loved him or not – whether she would be truly happy at his side?The king knew he could impress the woman with his power and wealth
  • He could visit her in his helicopter with all his body guards
  • He could fly her to Paris for dinner and shower her with jewellery, but grand gestures like that might only deceive them both
  • For then the maiden would never truly know whether she loved the giver or just his gifts
  • Elevating the maiden would only alienate her from him further In an ironic kind of way the king’s very power and wealth made it difficult for people to get close to him
  • The king didn’t want a cringing fearful subject for a wife
  • He wanted someone who would be honest with him
  • He wanted someone he could trust
  • He wanted a friend and a loverFor this is the nature of love, that it desires genuine equality with the beloved So, motivated by love for the maiden, the king humbled himself
  • Putting aside his claim to the throne he took on a new identity to win her hand
  • He rented a place in her neighbourhood, became a carpenter and suffered much – for this was the only way she could know him and relate with him on equal terms Humble love you see
  • God doesn’t want to force or manipulate or control people
  • God wants people to relate with him freely, willingly, because we trust him and because we love him

The goal with God is not following orders

  • The goal is mutual friendship
  • The goal is not grudging service
  • The goal is joyful worship
  • Not duty – but delight
  • With the goal of right relationship in mind God does not overwhelm us with his power – He descends to us in humble love

It’s shocking really that God Almighty would seek equality of relationship with humanity

  • But that is exactly what he did with Moses
  • And what he has done with each one of us through Christ

[1] Alec Motyer, BST Commentary on Exodus, page 56

[2] Richard Rohr, ‘Things Hidden’, pages 92-93.

[3] I think Aslan may have said this to Edmund in one of the Narnia books

[4] This is not Kierkegaard’s original parable, just a paraphrase of it

Tawa Baptist

Just Moses

Scripture: Exodus 2:11-22

Title: Just Moses

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Punitive justice
  • Restorative justice
  • Social justice
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

“Peace without justice is tyranny”  [1]

Please turn with me to Exodus chapter 2, verse 11, page 60, near the beginning of your pew Bibles

  • Today we continue our series on Moses in the book of Exodus
  • I’ve given this morning’s sermon the title ‘Just Moses’
  • Partly because we see Moses on his own quite a bit in this reading
  • But also because, in this passage, Moses realises that the peace Egypt enjoys is a false peace – it is in fact tyranny for it is peace without justice
  • From verse 11 of chapter 2 we read…

 Read Exodus 2:11-22

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

In this reading Moses demonstrates three kinds of justice…

  • Punitive justice, restorative justice and social justice

Punitive justice:

Scales of Justice

On the wall here is a picture of a woman (a virgin actually) holding a sword in one hand and set of scales in the other

  • Who can tell me what this symbolises? [Wait]
  • Yes, that’s right – it is a symbol of justice

The virgin woman represents purity and innocence

  • While the scales represent even handedness or fairness – the idea of weighing the evidence equitably so that justice is served
  • But also the idea of making sure the punishment measured out is in balance with the crime committed
  • The sword represents not only the power to punish but also the precision to clearly separate the issues in dispute

 

This image finds resonance with the Bible in a number of respects…

Quite often in the Bible wisdom is personified as a woman

  • And wisdom is what is needed for rulers to exercise justice
  • Hence it is a woman (the symbol of wisdom) holding the scales of justice

The Bible also talks about the importance of using honest scales and in not going overboard with punishment

  • In Matthew’s gospel Jesus indicated that God’s justice fits the crime, when he said…
  • The measure you use for others is the measure God will use for you  [2]

Likewise, in the book of Hebrews, God’s word is described as a double edged sword separating the thoughts and attitudes of the heart, [3] so an accurate and fair judgment can be made

  • And of course, the sword is also a metaphor of punishment
  • In his letter to the Romans, Paul talks about the government having a God given role in executing punitive justice…
  • For he does not bear the sword for nothing. He [the government] is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrong doer.

In Exodus 2 we read how an adult Moses went out to visit his people

  • Moses you will remember had been raised with the royal Egyptian family after Pharaoh’s daughter took him under her wing to protect him
  • Moses’ upbringing had been a relatively privileged one
  • He received the best education available and never wanted for a thing
  • So he wasn’t treated like a slave as his Hebrew kin were
  • And this was probably necessary for God’s purpose
  • To be effective in leading Israel out of slavery Moses needed to think like a freeman – not like a slave

It is quite significant really that Moses sent himself

  • He could have stayed in the comfort of the palace
  • He could have sent a servant to check things out and bring back a report
  • He could have given money
  • But he didn’t – Moses gave himself and that takes courage

This reminds us of Jesus who left heaven and came to earth to give himself

When Moses saw the suffering of his own people

  • And when he saw an Egyptian kill a Hebrew he felt compelled to act
  • In quite a deliberate & premeditated way Moses looked around to see no one was watching & then killed the offender, hiding his body in the sand

Some people are a bit hard on Moses at this point – they say he was an angry young man or that he was impetuous and lacked self-control

  • I don’t think we should be too quick to judge Moses though
  • The text doesn’t actually say Moses was angry – although it is reasonable to infer that he was
  • It takes a lot to kill a man and it is hard to imagine Moses not feeling anything here
  • Whatever he may have felt I don’t think Moses had a problem with anger
  • I think he had a problem with injustice – he had no tolerance for it
  • And that is actually a good thing. As Benjamin Franklin said…

Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”

Many of us were brought up with this idea that anger is always bad and we must never get angry because that suggests we are bad

  • And to be fair, anger is bad when it’s misplaced – when we take our rage out on some innocent third party
  • But outrage is not wrong in itself – it can be an appropriate response to injustice
  • If you cut yourself you bleed, if you see injustice you feel angry
  • I think God made us like himself, to be disturbed by injustice
  • So that we will be motivated to do something about it

It appears Moses was affected by the injustice he saw

  • He wanted to restore some balance to the scales of justice
  • So he killed the Egyptian as a punishment
  • We might call this punitive justice – justice which makes things even by taking something away

The Law of Moses would later include elements of punitive justice

  • An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth
  • The idea here is not so much to enforce a punishment as it is to limit the extent of the punishment
  • To ensure that people don’t go overboard in carry out their vengeance

Punitive justice is not ideal in that it takes something away

  • It’s a lose / lose scenario – no one wins
  • ‘An eye for eye will make the whole world blind’ [4] – as they say

Having said that, punitive justice will probably always be necessary, at least until Christ returns

  • It can be a deterrent for many people
  • And it may placate people’s anger for a time
  • But it doesn’t have the power to transform people
  • Punitive justice, by its very nature, influences people by external force
  • Genuine transformation comes from the inside, not from the outside

By killing the Egyptian Moses didn’t really achieve much – there would be plenty more task masters just as brutal to replace the one Moses eliminated

  • And the result for Moses was a loss of freedom
  • Moses was forced into exile and obscurity by his actions

Restorative justice:

Earlier we showed a classic image of justice – a woman carrying balanced scales in one hand and a sword in the other

  • Here’s another image of justice…

Or a couple of images actually

  • One of two people shaking hands
  • And the other of a group of people sitting in a circle talking
  • These are images of restorative justice

The image of a woman carrying scales and a sword is quite impersonal

  • Justice isn’t merely a mechanism – like scales or a sword
  • Nor is it an end in itself
  • Justice is an inter-personal relationship – justice must serve relationship

The next day, after killing the Egyptian, Moses returned and saw two Hebrew men fighting

  • Once again Moses is confronted with an injustice and finds himself unable to resist getting involved – he says to the one in the wrong,
  • “Why are you beating up a fellow Hebrew?”

What we notice here is that Moses takes a different approach from the day before – Moses doesn’t resort to violence, instead he uses his words

  • He tries to restore the relationship by talking about it

Punitive justice takes something away – Restorative justice puts it back

So for example, if someone steals your car and crashes it, then punitive justice takes something away from the offender without giving anything to the victim

  • Neither the offender nor the victim get a say in the matter – it’s lose / lose
  • Restorative justice though, gives the victim a voice and the offender the opportunity to make it right – it’s potentially win / win

On the wall here is a table comparing & contrasting punitive justice & restorative justice…

 

Punitive Justice Restorative Justice [5]

What rule has been broken?

What happened?

Who is to blame?

Who has been affected and how?

What will the punishment be?

What needs to be done to put things right?

There is no redemption in punitive justice but there is opportunity for redemption with restorative justice

The Law of Moses would later include elements of restorative justice

  • Leviticus 6, for example: If anyone cheats his neighbour out of his stuff then he must return what was lost or stolen and add 20% to it

Later Jesus would give strong emphasis to a restorative approach

  • When Peter came to him and asked, ‘Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother? Seven times?’
  • Jesus replied, ‘No, not seven times, but seventy times seven’ – meaning as often as it takes

Moses may have had the right idea in acting as a peace-maker and trying to restore the relationship between the two Hebrew men, but his input wasn’t appreciated

  • The man in the wrong answered, “Who made you our ruler and judge? Are you going to kill me just as you killed that Egyptian?”
  • Moses was only trying to help but he was rejected by his own people
  • I think this would have hurt Moses – it would have left its mark on him

This was Jesus’ experience too

  • When Jesus challenged the religious leaders by asking…
  • Why are you laying heavy burdens on your own people,
  • Why are you beating them up with unnecessary shame & guilt,
  • Why are you making their lives harder?
  • They crucified him

After Moses learned that Pharaoh was trying to have him killed, he fled for his life to the land of Midian

Social justice:

So far we have looked at two different kinds of justice: punitive & restorative

  • God is interested in a third kind also – what we might call social justice

Justice

‘Equality does not mean justice’

  • Giving everyone the same box to stand on doesn’t make it fair because not everyone is the same height
  • The tall guy doesn’t need a box to see over the fence
  • The short guy needs two boxes
  • Distributing resources & opportunities so everyone has what they need to see over the fence is social justice

One day, after running away from Egypt, Moses finds himself sitting by a well when seven young women come along to draw water for their flocks

  • As they do this some other (male) shepherds drive the women away
  • Once again Moses is confronted with an injustice

You’ve probably heard the saying,

  • ‘Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime’
  • Well that’s okay but what if the man doesn’t have fair access to fishing equipment or to the fish pond itself?
  • Then we have a social justice issue

Driving the women away from the well so they couldn’t water their flocks was a social justice issue

  • And as one who can’t stand to see people abusing power Moses takes action to help correct the imbalance
  • This time though he doesn’t use violence or diplomacy
  • He doesn’t try to punish the shepherds nor does he try to restore the broken relationship
  • This time Moses simply waters the flocks for the women

Now there may be some who would say, ‘That’s a poor solution because it doesn’t empower the women to do it themselves – and it reinforces unhelpful stereotypes about women not being able to cope without men’

Well, that’s not how I see it

  • If the goal is to bring about social change, so that women shepherds are allowed fair access to the well for watering their flocks, then the change needs to come from inside the male shepherds
  • I’m talking about changing attitudes and values and mind-sets
  • Internal change comes about by being with someone who embodies that change – experiencing someone who is a living example of the change

Just outside the Wellington railway station there is a statue of Mahatma Ghandi with the quote, “Be the change you want to see in the world”

  • I wonder if this is what Moses was aiming for when he watered the women’s flock
  • Yea he was doing it for them – but perhaps he was also making a statement to the other male shepherds
  • Perhaps his act of chivalry would have made them stop and think about their actions so they felt a little ashamed for how they had behaved
  • Maybe next time they would remember Moses’ example and allow the women access to the well – who knows?

What we do know is that Moses found acceptance and a family for his efforts

Whether Moses was able to change attitudes by his example or not the Law of Moses would later include elements of social justice

  • In the book of Numbers (chapter 27) the five daughters of Zelophehad asked for an inheritance in the Promised Land because their father had no sons and Moses granted it to them
  • Social justice you see – giving everyone fair access to the fish pond, giving everyone the means to see over the fence.

Conclusion:

This morning we’ve considered three different kinds of justice…

  • Punitive justice – where people are punished by having something taken away from them
  • Restorative justice – where the loss (and hopefully the relationship) are restored
  • And social justice – where everyone gets fair access to the fish pond, or the watering well

There is a true story which illustrates all of these kinds of justice at once

  • Many of you would have heard it already but it’s worth retelling

Fiorello LaGuardia was mayor of New York City during the worst days of the Great Depression and all of WWII

  • He was a colourful character who used to ride the New York City fire trucks, take entire orphanages to baseball games, and whenever the New York newspapers were on strike, he would go on the radio and read the Sunday funnies to the kids.

One bitterly cold evening in January of 1935, the mayor turned up at a night court that served the poorest ward of the city

  • LaGuardia dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench himself
  • Within a few minutes, a tattered old woman was brought before him, charged with stealing a loaf of bread
  • She told LaGuardia that her daughter’s husband had deserted her, her daughter was sick, and her two grandchildren were starving

But the shopkeeper, from whom the bread was stolen, refused to drop the charges

  • “It’s a real bad neighbourhood, your Honour.” the man told the mayor. “She’s got to be punished to teach other people around here a lesson.”

LaGuardia sighed. He turned to the woman and said “I’ve got to punish you. The law makes no exceptions—ten dollars or ten days in jail.”

  • But even as he pronounced sentence, the mayor was already reaching into his pocket. He extracted a bill and tossed it into his famous sombrero saying: “Here is the ten dollar fine which I now remit; and furthermore I am going to fine everyone in this courtroom fifty cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat. Mr. Baliff, collect the fines and give them to the defendant.”

Everyone in the court room gave the mayor a standing ovation [6]

Mayor LaGuardia made sure the requirements of punitive justice were met and at the same time attempted some social justice

  • The woman was also restored in that she now had money in her pocket with which to pay the grocer for the bread she had stolen

There was someone else of course who managed to satisfy the requirements of punitive, restorative and social justice all at once & that was Jesus, on the cross

  • He took our punishment
  • He made it possible for us to be restored to right relationship with God
  • And he provided access for everyone to drink from the well of life
  • For [in Christ] there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ [7]  

[1] Attributed to William Allen White

[2] Matthew 7:1-2

[3] Hebrews 4:12

[4] This is often attributed to Mahatma Ghandi although it is unclear if he actually said it

[5] http://www.restorativeschools.org.nz/restorative-practice

[6] Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel, pages 91-2

[7] Romans 10:12

Tawa Baptist

Miniature Moses

Scripture: Exodus 1:22 – 2:10

Title: Miniature Moses

 

Structure:

  • Introduction – Exodus means leaving
  • Moses infancy tells the story of Israel’s deliverance
  • When God is silent we wait in hope
  • Conclusion – Moses points to Jesus

Introduction:

On the wall here is a picture of an Exit sign

  • It’s one of the new ones with a stylised person running out of a door
  • I guess many of our signs are in picture format now to overcome any language barriers in our increasingly global environment

Please turn with me to Exodus chapter 2, page 60 near the beginning of your pew Bibles

  • Today we begin a new sermon series on Moses in the book of Exodus
  • Exodus basically means to leave or to exit
  • Moses is sort of like Israel’s exit sign
  • He is the one God chose to lead Israel out of Egypt

 

We will begin our reading from verse 22 of Exodus chapter 1 and continue to verse 10 of Exodus chapter 2…

Read Exodus 1:22 – 2:10

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

 

Moses’ infancy tells the story of Israel’s deliverance:

On the wall here is a picture of a Russian doll – also known as a nested doll, because the little dolls nest inside the larger dolls

  • There is a technique sometimes used in story telling where the writer nests a smaller story inside a larger story as a way of reinforcing or explaining the larger story
  • If people aren’t able to grasp the bigger picture then the same story on a smaller scale helps them to access the meaning of the larger story
  • Exodus 2 is a nested story – a smaller story inside a larger history
  • In this passage three daughters deliver one son who, in turn, grows up to deliver a whole nation

 

The King of Egypt (also known as Pharaoh) was afraid of the Israelites

  • They had grown in number and he was concerned they might take over the country so he oppressed them with slave labour
  • This strategy didn’t really work so he ordered the Jewish midwives to kill the male babies when they were born
  • The midwives managed to avoid doing this so Pharaoh issued a command to throw every new born  Hebrew boy into the River Nile
  • Pharaoh was basically instigating a policy of genocide or ‘ethnic cleansing’ against the Israelites

It is in this context that Moses’ mum took a basket made of reeds, covered it with tar to make it watertight and set it out on the waters of the Nile with her baby in it

  • She was obeying the letter of Pharaoh’s law, but not the spirit
  • She couldn’t hide her baby any longer – his growing and his crying would soon give him away and some Egyptian soldier might kill the boy
  • But nor could she simply throw her precious child into the river to drown
  • So she found a way to keep hope alive
  • She gave her son a chance to live and she gave God an opportunity to act
  • This is what faith does – it leaves room for God

It’s interesting that the Hebrew word used for basket in verse 3 is the same as the word used for Noah’s ark

  • Moses is parallel to Noah [1]
  • A little story nested within a larger story
  • Just as God used Noah to save a remnant of creation from drowning in the chaos of the great flood
  • So too God would use Moses to save the people of Israel from being overwhelmed by the chaos of Pharaoh
  • Moses is the new Noah
  • And baby Moses is also a miniature Israel

 

On the wall here we have three pictures

  • One of a model train set
  • Another of a dolls house
  • And a third of a miniature dentist’s surgery made out of a shoe box

What seven letter word could we use to describe all of these things?

  • Wait for people to respond
  • Do you need a clue? It begins with ‘D’ – Wait
  • Yes – that’s right, ‘Diorama’

A diorama is a miniature (or a model) of something

  • Like a smaller story nested inside a bigger story

 

Moses’ life is a diorama of Israel

The name ‘Moses’ is actually an Egyptian name probably meaning ‘son’

  • But it sounds like the Hebrew word, ‘to draw out’
  • Just as Pharaoh’s daughter drew Moses out of the Nile, so too God will draw Israel out of Egypt
  • The smaller story of Moses helps people to grasp the bigger story of God

It’s interesting that in the story of baby Moses, God is parallel to Pharaoh’s daughter – an Egyptian princess

  • Now I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t naturally associate God Almighty with a princess – much less a princess who’s Dad is a homicidal maniac
  • And yet this is exactly what the book of Exodus does

Verse 6 tells us that when the princess opened the basket (or the miniature ark) and saw the baby crying, she felt sorry for him

  • This ‘feeling sorry for him’ goes deeper than superficial sentimentality
  • There is a depth to this princess’ feelings
  • Her feelings are actually grounded in compassion, justice and courage
  • For she takes the risk of going against her father’s command and makes a long term commitment to care for Moses
  • Not all the Egyptians were as bad as Pharaoh

At the end of Exodus 2 we read how the Israelites cried out to God under their slavery and the Lord heard their cry and was concerned for them

  • Just as the princess was moved with compassion by the cry of the Hebrew baby so too God is moved with compassion by the cry of his people
  • And just as Pharaoh’s daughter was faithful in protecting & providing for Moses as he grew up, so too God will protect and provide for Israel
  • Baby Moses’ deliverance by the hand of Pharaoh’s daughter is nested in the larger history of Israel’s deliverance by the hand of Yahweh

Of course, it isn’t just Pharaoh’s daughter who delivers Moses – his mother and his sister also had a hand in saving him

  • And so we actually have two women and a girl standing in parallel with God Almighty

So often in history ‘The courage of women is the beginning of liberation’ [2]

On the wall here is a picture of Harriet Tubman

  • Born a slave in the 19th Century in the southern states of America, she endured the harsh existence of a field hand, including brutal beatings.
  • In 1849 she fled slavery, leaving her husband and family behind in order to escape.
  • Despite a bounty on her head, she returned to the South at least 19 times to lead her family and hundreds of other slaves to freedom via the Underground Railroad.
  • People nicknamed her ‘Moses’  [3]

The courage of women is the beginning of liberation

Who can tell me the name of this first lady?      [Wait]

  • Yes – that’s right. Eleanor Roosevelt – wife of U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt
  • Eleanor was vocal in her support of the African-American civil rights movement
  • She opposed her husband on this issue by becoming one of the only voices in the Roosevelt administration insisting that benefits be equally extended to Americans of all races.
  • She also broke with precedent by inviting hundreds of African American guests to the White House.

 

God’s deliverance often comes from unexpected quarters

  • And, from a human perspective at least, God’s deliverance is often a slow train coming

 

When God is silent, we wait in hope:

There are times when God is silent

  • Evil seems to have the upper hand and God appears to be doing nothing
  • This was Israel’s experience in ancient Egypt
  • We can’t be sure how many baby boys were killed but whatever the number it is awful stuff – Pharaoh’s policy was genocide
  • But it wasn’t quick and clean – it is was slow and agonising

By killing the sons, Pharaoh was crushing the people’s hope

  • With no Hebrew boys to marry, the Hebrew daughters would be assimilated into Egyptian culture
  • Pharaoh was taking away Israel’s ability to imagine any future for themselves
  • He was making their lives so miserable they would prefer death to life

We might ask, ‘why did God allow this to happen in the first place?’

  • Wouldn’t it have been easier if God had arranged for someone to throw Pharaoh in the Nile as a baby?

Well, Yahweh doesn’t give the Israelites any explanation for their suffering

  • Like Job they suffer without knowing why
  • As Alex Motyer puts it, “Experience without explanation, adversity without purpose, hostility without protection – that is how life will always appear for the earthly people of God” [4]     

After the death of his wife, C.S. Lewis wrote a book called, ‘A Grief Observed’ in which he says…

 

“Talk to me about the truth of religion and I’ll listen gladly. Talk to me about the duty of religion and I’ll listen submissively. But don’t come talking to me about the consolations of religion or I shall suspect that you don’t understand.”

When it feels like God is absent – when we really want to hear from God but all we get is silence, our faith is not a consolation – it is a burden (something we feel we must prop up – something we feel obliged to carry)

  • It is extremely difficult to maintain a belief in the goodness of God when bad things are happening to you and God doesn’t appear to be doing anything about it

This feeling that God is absent or has abandoned us is actually common for most Christians

  • It won’t happen all the time but it will probably happen at some point
  • We need to accept (without blame or guilt) that a feeling of God’s absence is part of the journey

As Eugene Peterson puts it…

  • …this seemingly unending stretch of the experience of the absence of God is reproduced in most of our lives, and most of us don’t know what to make of it. We need this ‘Exodus’ validation – that a sense of the absence of God is part of the story, and that it is neither exceptional nor preventable nor a judgment on the way we are living our lives.  [5]

In other words, if you feel like God is absent or silent then it’s not necessarily a reflection on you

  • God doesn’t give people the silent treatment as a punishment

Sometimes we suffer without explanation

  • Not everything in this life gets resolved
  • Not everything has an answer
  • God is not obligated to explain himself
  • Sometimes we must simply wait in hope – without answers

To wait in hope means to remain faithful to God – not to give up on Him, even if it feels like he has given up on us

  • When he was on the cross Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”
  • In doing this he was not only describing his own personal experience but also giving voice to the collective experience of God’s people through the ages

Waiting in hope is not the same as sitting in depressed silence

  • Waiting in hope may well involve crying out to God in anger
  • Letting God know how we feel – showing him our anguish
  • That’s what many of the psalms are about
  • If God is not speaking then he must be listening
  • And if God is listening then we should pour out our heart to Him – even if the contents of our heart aren’t all that pretty

Quite often God’s deliverance is only recognisable in hindsight

  • This was Israel’s experience
  • Although they had not heard from God, Yahweh was actually very present and very active, quietly sowing the seeds of their salvation
  • Seeds which (in Israel’s case) grew and bore fruit at just the right time

Many wild plants have seeds that can remain dormant for years before birthing a plant

  • For example a 2000 year old date palm seed, found in Israel, actually sprouted when it was planted back in 2005  [6]

 

As for why some seeds can lie dormant before sprouting, scientists reckon it’s mainly a survival technique

  • If a plant’s seeds sprout as soon as there is a little rain and warm weather, then a late frost or subsequent lack of rain will kill it
  • You sometimes hear farmers complaining about this – they get a bit of rain (enough to germinate the grass seed) but then there is no follow up rain so the grass dies before it gets established
  • Plants whose seeds lie in wait until conditions are more stable have a better chance of surviving and of colonizing new territory

Perhaps this is what God was doing with Israel – waiting for the time to be right before drawing his people out of Egypt and planting them in the Promised Land

  • Perhaps this is also what God is doing in your life when He seems absent

The Lord begins his work of redemption quietly, unobtrusively, under the radar, often through the courage of those we least expect

  • In Israel’s case, God sowed his seeds of salvation through women
  • I guess this proves God has a sense of humour for there is considerable irony in Pharaoh’s policy of killing the sons and preserving the daughters
  • As it turned out the daughters were more dangerous than the sons

For those who can’t see, this is a picture of irony – a crocodile eating a pair of crocs (the shoes)

What about this one – a picture of people using an elevator (and not the stairs) to go to the gym

 

And then we have the ultimate irony – a fire hydrant on fire

There is quite a bit of cosmic irony in the book of Exodus, the seeds of which are sown in chapter 2

  • Cosmic irony feeds on the notion that people cannot see the effects of their actions, and sometimes the outcome of a person’s actions may be out of their control

A classic example of cosmic irony is the Titanic, which was promoted as being 100% unsinkable; but, in 1912 the ship sank on its maiden voyage.

  • Or at a ceremony celebrating the rehabilitation of seals after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, two seals were released back into the wild only to be eaten within a minute by an orca whale

Pharaoh is the butt of cosmic irony in Exodus

  • As Terence Fretheim points out, although Pharaoh had ordered the Hebrew sons to be thrown into the Nile, “the river provides the very setting for the rescue of the baby Moses. Again Pharaoh provides for the defeat of his own policy in its formulation. He ends up becoming an instrument for God’s saving purposes [when he didn’t intend to]…
  • The policy is ironic in that it [predicts] the way in which Pharaoh’s successor and his armies will meet their end, namely by drowning
  • Pharaoh’s own decree sets a chain of events in motion that, in effect, have him signing his own family’s death warrant.” [7]

It’s like Jesus said, ‘The measure you use for others is the measure God will use for you’

  • Cosmic irony, a smaller story nested inside the bigger story of God’s justice

Conclusion:

This morning we have heard how Moses’ story of deliverance anticipates Israel’s deliverance

  • Moses’ story also anticipates the Jesus story – the biggest story of all
  • Like Moses, Jesus was born to save God’s people
  • And just as Pharaoh tried to destroy all the Hebrew sons
  • So too Herod slaughtered Hebrew babies in a vain attempt to kill the Christ
  • But neither Pharaoh nor Herod succeeded – you can’t win in a fight against God

After Jesus’ death and resurrection he ascended to heaven with the promise of returning in glory one day

  • Like the Israelites, we Christians sometimes suffer without explanation
  • And when God is silent, we wait in hope for Christ to return, at just the right moment, to complete our deliverance

Let us pray…

[1] Refer Terence Fretheim, Interpretation Commentary on Exodus, page 38.

[2] Refer J.C. Exum, “You Shall Let Every Daughter Live: A Study f Ex. 1:8-2:10” Semeia 28:63-82 (1983).

[3] http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/harriet-tubman

[4] Alex Motyer, BST Exodus, page 28.

[5] From Eugene Peterson’s book, ‘Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places’, page 153.

[6] http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/dormant-seeds/

[7] Quoted in Fretheim’s Interpretation commentary on Exodus, page 35.

Tawa Baptist

Spread the Nets

Scripture: Acts 11:1-18

Title: Spread the Nets

Key Idea: Spread your nets to receive from God

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Receiving the vision
  • Receiving the Word & Spirit of God
  • Receiving the other
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

The headline for this year’s Tranzsend Prayer and Self Denial campaign is: ‘til the nets are full’

  • We have certainly known about the fullness of water this past week
  • Anyway, ‘til the nets are full’ is a reference to the story in Luke 5, where Jesus said to Peter…
  • ‘Now go out where it is deeper and let down your nets to catch some fish’
  • When Peter did this they caught so many fish their boats were on the verge of sinking. Afterwards Jesus says to Peter…
  • “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will be a fisher of men.”
  • In other words, ‘Peter, I’m calling you to catch people for me – to bring men & women into the kingdom of God’

This story from Luke forms the back drop of Tranzsend’s Prayer & Self Denial campaign this year

  • Today’s sub heading is “Spread the Nets”

Please turn with me to Acts 11 – page 164 toward the back of your pew Bibles

  • 2000 years ago, when the Christian church first began it was comprised pretty much entirely of Jews
  • Over the past 2 weeks we have heard how the Spirit of God led Peter to spread the net of the gospel wider, among the Gentiles
  • On hearing this some of the Jewish Christians criticised Peter
  • Acts 11 describes how Peter responds to this criticism.
  • From verse 1 we read…

Read Acts 11:1-18

 

May the Spirit of Jesus help us to receive God’s Word

On the wall here we have a picture of four things…

  • A TV aerial, an ear, a net and a softball glove
  • Who can tell me what these four things have in common?
  • [Wait for people to respond]
  • Yes, that’s right. They are all used for catching or receiving things
  • A TV aerial receives a signal
  • An ear receives sound
  • A net receives fish
  • And a softball glove receives the ball

 

When we think of mission (and Christian service generally) we tend to think about giving and making sacrifices and going out into the world

  • And while giving & going out is certainly integral to the work of mission
  • Receiving is just as important
  • In fact, without first receiving, we find we have nothing to give

After being criticised by his own for spreading the net of the gospel wider (to include the Gentiles) Peter responds by retelling the facts of what happened

  • And what we notice in Peter’s retelling is there is lots of receiving going on in this mission
  • Peter receives a vision from God
  • The Gentiles receive the Word & Spirit of God
  • And the Jewish believers back in Jerusalem are faced with the challenge of receiving the other – that is, those different from them, the Gentiles

Receiving the vision:

From Peter’s perspective it started with receiving a vision from God

  • The vision was of a sheet containing all sorts of animals, both clean and unclean, both kosher for eating and not kosher
  • Some commentators reckon the sheet represents the church which will contain all races and classes without distinction [1]

This vision of an inclusive church is not entirely new

  • It actually goes back to the time of Noah

Richard Rohr observes how God tells Noah to bring into the ark all the opposites: the wild and the domestic, the crawling and the flying, the clean and the unclean, the male and the female of each animal…[2]

  • God puts all the opposites together and holds them together in one place
  • The ark is kind of a metaphor for the church where God brings opposites together: male & female, sinners & saints, conservatives & liberals, Jews & Gentiles, the socially acceptable & the outcastes
  • Perhaps God wants us to learn to live with dirt & difference

So Peter’s mission to the Gentiles begins with him (personally) receiving a vision from God

  • Interestingly none of the other believers receive this vision – just Peter
  • And Peter acts on this vision without consulting the wider Jewish church in Jerusalem
  • Yes, he takes six Jewish believers along with him as witnesses and helpers but essentially Peter doesn’t involve the church congregation or even the church leaders in the decision

This is quite different from the traditional Baptist way of doing things

  • We are highly consultative in our decision making process
  • We regularly find ways to listen to the congregation

And we do this for a number of reasons

  • Firstly, we believe God speaks through the congregation
  • We figure if God wants something to happen he won’t just speak to one individual – he will speak to many
  • Secondly, we are keen to bring the congregation along with us
  • We don’t want to alienate people if we can help it and so we discuss things (sometimes at length)
  • It is probably also fair to say we are influenced by our social & political environment and therefore we favour a democratic approach

But, if Peter had asked his congregation to vote on whether he should visit Cornelius they would have said ‘no’

  • God’s ways are not always our ways
  • God does not always speak through the congregation
  • God isn’t always democratic
  • Sometimes the majority are wrong
  • Sometimes God speaks in ways we may not be expecting

Peter certainly wasn’t expecting to receive the vision God gave him

  • Going to the home of a Roman Centurion was probably furthest from his mind – I imagine it made Peter feel really uncomfortable
  • But Peter obeyed God, in faith, and was criticised for his efforts by people from his own church
  • After hearing Peter’s minority report though, the Jerusalem Church recognised God’s hand at work
  • The Gentiles had received God’s Word & His Spirit so they were legit

Receiving the Word & Spirit of God:

On the wall here we have three pictures

  • One of a rain gauge attached to a post
  • Another of a man opening a door from the inside
  • And a third of a man hugging a tiger

The rain gauge receives water passively – as it falls from the sky

  • The rain gauge does not make a conscious decision to receive water
  • That just happens without the rain gauge’s awareness or consent

By contrast the man opening the door is actively receiving someone

  • Likewise the other man actively receives the tiger by hugging him

To receive the Word of God is an active thing, not a passive thing

  • For Cornelius, receiving the Word of God meant believing the message Peter was preaching – putting his faith in Jesus

Likewise to receive the Spirit is an active thing – like opening the door to let someone into your home, or like hugging a tiger

  • When Cornelius believed the gospel message he opened the door of his heart to the Spirit and the Spirit came on him
  • God’s Word and God’s Spirit go together

You may be wondering why I used a picture of a tiger hugging a man when talking about receiving the Spirit

  • Well, the Spirit is like a wild tiger in the sense that he is more powerful than us and we can’t tame him – he is free to roam where he pleases
  • However, the Spirit is not like a tiger in every respect – the Spirit would never force himself on a person much less maul them

The point is, receiving God’s Word and his Spirit is an active thing, not a passive thing

If we read the Bible passively, without really letting it in – so the words roll off our soul like water off a ducks back – then we aren’t really receiving God’s Word in any meaningful sense

  • Or if we study the Bible as if it was just another historical artefact or an interesting piece of literature, without connecting the words to our own experience or situation – then we are missing the point

God’s word and God’s Spirit go together

  • The door of our heart may be closed when reading the Bible or listening to a sermon but the Spirit can still knock on the door

Receiving the other:

In verse 18 we read how, after hearing Peter’s account of what had happened in Caesarea, the Jewish believers stopped their criticism and praised God saying…

  • ‘God has given the Gentiles also the opportunity to repent and live”

This strikes me as a little ironic really

  • Repentance is about transformation and conversion
  • It means a change of mind and a change of behaviour
  • The first Jewish Christians would not associate with Gentiles – now the Spirit was knocking on the door of their heart with an invitation to receive the other – which in their case meant the Gentiles
  • It seems the Spirit was also giving the Jewish believers the opportunity to repent and live (even if they weren’t quite ready to admit it)

Emmanuel Levinas (a 20th Century Jewish philosopher) notes how the Biblical tradition says that truth is not found in abstract concepts, but in an encounter with otherness

  • According to Levinas it is “the face of the other” that transforms us, converts us and gives us our deepest identity [3]

For example, Moses’ life was changed through an encounter with Yahweh

  • As was David’s through an encounter with Goliath
  • Jonah was confronted with the truth about himself through an encounter with the people of Nineveh (his enemies)
  • Jesus’ deepest identity (as God’s Son) was revealed through his encounter with Satan in the wilderness
  • Peter (a Jew) realised the broader more universal truth of the gospel through his encounter with Cornelius (a Gentile)
  • And the apostle Paul experienced conversion through his encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus

We are not changed by being in a room with people who are the same as us

  • We are transformed and come to know our true selves through encounter with others who are different from us
  • What this means is that true religion isn’t really about arguing over ideas and abstract concepts
  • Nor is evangelism & Christian mission simply about communicating four spiritual laws which people must know (in their head) to be saved
  • True religion, real evangelism (the kind that brings authentic change for the better) is about encounter and presence and relationship

When I look around this room I don’t see everyone being the same

  • This is a room full of people who are different from each other
  • God designed the church that way
  • Christianity isn’t just a good idea
  • Christianity is face to face encounter, it is felt presence – it is relationship
  • That is why we gather – that is why coming to church on a Sunday and meeting each other during the week is important

Perhaps the best way to get this across is by telling a story

  • Oscar Wilde wrote a piece of short fiction called the ‘Selfish Giant’
  • I’m not sure what meaning Oscar Wilde intended but to me this is a salvation story
  • It’s about being transformed and coming to know our true self in the face of the other
  • We don’t have the time to read the whole story this morning so I’ll give you an edited version…

Every afternoon, as they were coming from school, the children used to go and play in the Giant’s garden.

     It was a large lovely garden, with soft green grass. Here and there over the grass stood beautiful flowers like stars, and there were twelve peach-trees that in the spring-time broke out into delicate blossoms of pink and pearl, and in the autumn bore rich fruit…

     One day the Giant came back. He had been to visit his friend the Cornish ogre, and had stayed with him for seven years. When he arrived [home] he saw the children playing in the garden.

     ‘What are you doing here?’ he cried in a very gruff voice, and the children ran away.

     ‘My own garden is my own garden,’ said the Giant; ‘any one can understand that, and I will allow nobody to play in it but myself.’ So he built a high wall all round it, and put up a notice-board.

 

TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED

 

He was a very selfish Giant. The poor children now had nowhere to play…

 

     Then the Spring came, and all over the country there were little blossoms and little birds. Only, in the garden of the Selfish Giant, it was still Winter. The birds did not care to sing in it as there were no children, and the trees forgot to blossom.

The only people who were pleased were the Snow and the Frost. ‘Spring has forgotten this garden,’ they cried, ‘so we will live here all the year round.’…

.

     ‘I cannot understand why the Spring is so late in coming,’ said the Selfish Giant, as he sat at the window and looked out at his cold white garden; ‘I hope there will be a change in the weather.’

     But the Spring never came, nor the Summer. The Autumn gave golden fruit to every garden, but to the Giant’s garden she gave none. ‘He is too selfish,’ she said. So it was always Winter there…

 

     One morning the Giant was lying awake in bed when he heard some lovely music… It was only a little linnet singing outside his window, but it was so long since he had heard a bird sing in his garden that it seemed to him to be the most beautiful music in the world. Then… a delicious perfume came to him through the open casement.

‘I believe the Spring has come at last,’ said the Giant; and he jumped out of bed and looked out.

          What did he see? He saw a most wonderful sight. Through a little hole in the wall the children had crept in, and they were sitting in the branches of the trees. In every tree that he could see there was a little child. And the trees were so glad to have the children back again that they had covered themselves with blossoms, and were waving their arms gently above the children’s heads…

 

It was a lovely scene, [except] in one corner it was still Winter. It was the farthest corner of the garden, and in it was standing a little boy. He was so small that he could not reach up to the branches of the tree, and he was wandering all round it, crying bitterly…

     The Giant’s heart melted as he looked out. ‘How selfish I have been!’ he said; ‘now I know why the Spring would not come here. I will put that poor little boy in the tree, and then I will knock down the wall, and my garden shall be the children’s playground for ever and ever.’ He was really very sorry for what he had done.

     So he crept downstairs and opened the front door quite softly, and went out into the garden. But when the children saw him they were so frightened that they all ran away, and the garden became Winter again.

 

The little boy did not run [though], for his eyes were so full of tears that he did not see the Giant coming. The Giant stole up behind him and took him gently in his hand, and put him up into the tree. And the tree broke at once into blossom, and the birds came and sang in it, and the little boy stretched out his two arms and flung them round the Giant’s neck, and kissed him.

 

When the other children saw that the Giant was not wicked any longer, they came running back, and with them came the Spring.

‘It is your garden now, little children,’ said the Giant, and he took a great axe and knocked down the wall…

     All day long the [children] played, and in the evening they came to the Giant to bid him good-bye.

     ‘But where is your little companion?’ he said: ‘the boy I put into the tree.’…

     ‘We don’t know,’ answered the children; ‘he has gone away.’ …

     The Giant was kind to all the children, yet he longed for his first little friend, and often spoke of him…

 

     Years went over, and the Giant grew very old and feeble. He could not play about any more, so he sat in a huge armchair, and watched the children at their games, and admired his garden.

‘I have many beautiful flowers,’ he said; ‘but the children are the most beautiful flowers of all.’

    

One winter morning he looked out of his window as he was dressing. He did not hate the Winter now, for he knew that it was merely the Spring asleep, and that the flowers were resting.

     Suddenly he rubbed his eyes in wonder, and looked and looked. It certainly was a marvellous sight. In the farthest corner of the garden was a tree covered with lovely white blossoms. Its branches were all golden, and silver fruit hung down from them, and underneath it stood the little boy he had loved.

    

Downstairs ran the Giant in great joy, and out into the garden. He hastened across the grass… [toward] the child. But when he came close his face grew red with anger… For on the palms of the child’s hands were the prints of two nails, and the prints of two nails were on the little feet also.

     ‘Who hath dared to wound thee?’ cried the Giant; ‘tell me, that I may take my big sword and slay him.’

     ‘Nay!’ answered the child; ‘but these are the wounds of Love.’

     ‘Who art thou?’ said the Giant, and a strange awe fell on him, and he knelt before the little child.

     The child smiled on the Giant, and said to him, ‘You let me play once in your garden, to-day you shall come with me to my garden, which is Paradise.’

     And when the children ran in that afternoon, they found the Giant lying dead under the tree, all covered with white blossoms.

We are changed and come to be our true selves through encounter with Christ

  • Funny thing is, Christ is often present to us in the face of the other

[1] Rackman, cited in John Stott’s commentary on Acts, page 194.

[2] Richard Rohr, ‘Things Hidden’, page 36.

[3] Refer Richard Rohr, ‘Things Hidden’, page 61.

Tawa Baptist

Into the Deep

Scripture: Acts 23b-48

Title: Into the Deep

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Peter approaches Cornelius as an equal
  • Conclusion

Watch the Week 2 Self Denial ‘Into the Deep’ DVD clip…

https://www.tranzsend.org.nz/week-2-video-prayer-and-self-denial

Introduction:

The headline for this year’s Tranzsend Prayer and Self Denial campaign is: ‘til the nets are full’

  • This is a reference to the story in Luke 5, where Jesus taught the crowds from Simon Peter’s fishing boat
  • When Jesus had finished speaking to the people he said to Simon Peter…
  • ‘Now go out where it is deeper and let down your nets to catch some fish’
  • When Peter did this they caught so many fish their boats were on the verge of sinking. Afterwards Jesus says to Peter…
  • “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will be a fisher of men.”
  • In other words, ‘Peter, I’m calling you to catch people for me – to bring men & women into the kingdom of God’

This story from Luke forms the back drop of Tranzsend’s Prayer & Self Denial campaign this year

Today’s sub heading is “Into the Deep”

  • Please turn with me to Acts 10 verse 23 – page 164 toward the back of your pew Bibles
  • In this passage we read how Peter ventures into the deep to preach the gospel among the Gentiles
  • This was a fishing spot Peter hadn’t imagined God would use – but one which would become very fruitful

You may remember from last week how Cornelius had sent 3 of his men to invite Peter to his home in Caesarea, after receiving a vision from God

  • God gave Peter a vision as well, assuring Peter he should go with them
  • We pick up the story from the second half of verse 23 – top of page 164

Read Acts 10:23b-48

 

May the Spirit of Jesus give us understanding

Peter approaches Cornelius as an equal

There was a Scottish farmer who did not believe the gospel story

  • The idea that God would become a man seemed absurd to him
  • His wife however was a devout believer and raised their children in the Christian faith
  • The farmer sometimes gave her a hard time, mocking her faith and belief
  • “It’s all nonsense”, he said. “Why would God lower himself to become a human like us?”

One snowy Sunday evening his wife took the children to church while the farmer stayed home to relax

  • After they had left the weather deteriorated into a blinding snow storm
  • Then he heard a loud thump against the window
  • Then another thump and another
  • He ventured outside to see what was happening
  • There in the field was the strangest sight: a flock of geese
  • They’d been migrating south & had become disorientated by the storm

The farmer had compassion on them

  • Wanting to help he opened the doors of his barn and stood back, hoping they would find their way in for warmth & shelter – but they didn’t
  • So he tried to shoo the geese in but they scattered in all directions
  • Perplexed, he got some bread and made a trail into the barn but they didn’t catch on
  • Nothing he did got them into the warmth and shelter of the barn

Feeling totally frustrated he exclaimed…

  • “Why won’t they follow me? Can’t they see this is the only place where they can survive the storm? How can I possibly get them to safety?”

He thought for moment and then realised they wouldn’t follow a man – the only way would be for him to become a goose

  • If he were like them he could speak to them in their own language and they would trust him and follow him anywhere

At that moment the farmer realised the implication

  • “If only I could become like one of them, then I could save them”
  • At last he understood God’s heart towards humankind [1]
  • God became a man (in the person of Jesus) in order to save us

In the Tranzsend DVD clip we saw earlier, Richard & Sally told us about Nondita – a young woman who had graduated from their Bible school and made the decision to work in a garment factory, from the bottom up

  • Nondita did this to understand the way the garment workers think, to fully appreciate where they are coming from
  • This is very much the incarnational model of Christ

That word ‘incarnation’ essentially means that God became a human being in Jesus

  • In other words, God approaches us on equal terms or on an even footing
  • He puts himself in our shoes, not talking down to us in a language we can’t understand, but walking & talking with us (alongside us) as one who has entered into our experience and shared our suffering and knows the joys and pains of being human

As a Bible College graduate I imagine Nondita had options, but (like Jesus) she laid her options aside and chose to approach garment workers on an even footing, on equal terms, as one alongside

We see Peter take a similar approach in Acts 10 with Cornelius

  • From verse 25 of Acts 10 we read…
  • As Peter was about to go in, Cornelius met him, fell at his feet, and bowed down before him. But Peter made him rise. “Stand up”, he said; “I myself am only a man.”

John Stott observes here that…

  • Peter refused to be treated by Cornelius as if he were a God
  • And he refused to treat Cornelius as if he were a dog. [2]

In other words, Peter approaches Cornelius on equal terms

  • Peter does not look down on Cornelius and he does not allow Cornelius to think of himself as inferior
  • Peter makes it clear that the ground is level at the foot of the cross
  • Evangelism (telling others good news) is simply one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread
  • Peter has the humility to understand that they are both beggars and God is the baker
  • Just because Peter knows where the bakery is doesn’t make him superior to Cornelius
  • To the contrary, it makes Peter responsible to pass on the good news

As Richard Rohr points out, Jesus referred to his followers as salt and light

  • Salt is not the whole meal and light illuminates something else [3]
  • Peter knows he’s not the whole meal – he is simply there to illuminate the way for Cornelius

Peter says, “You yourselves know very well that a Jew is not allowed by his religion to visit or associate with Gentiles. But God has shown me that I must not consider any person ritually unclean of defiled.”

  • Now, from a Gentile point of view, that might seem offensive to us
  • It kind of comes across like Peter is saying, “I’m better than you”
  • But I don’t think Peter means it like that – he’s not being offensive
  • Actually he’s taking responsibility for one of the excesses of his own people, the Jews
  • He’s basically admitting that the Judaism of his day had got it wrong by becoming too exclusive

Now let me be clear – a certain amount of exclusiveness is necessary to maintain cultural identity and purity of worship

  • If we become too inclusive we end up losing our distinctiveness and blending in with everyone else
  • The Jewish exiles needed to work very hard at being distinctive from the nations around them in order to stay faithful to Yahweh
  • They just took it too far
  • The Jews were meant to use the light they had been given to illuminate the way for the Gentiles, but instead they hid their light under a bushel
  • We hide our light under a bushel when we don’t associate with people who are different from us – when we don’t let others see our light

Of course it’s not just the Jews who have made the mistake of becoming too exclusive

  • Different branches of the Christian church have done the same thing at various times over the past 2000 years – including the Baptist movement

A little exclusiveness is necessary then, to maintain our distinctiveness from the world

  • But inclusiveness is also needed for people to taste the salt & see the light

After Cornelius has explained his reason for inviting Peter, Peter then goes on to give his sermon and he begins by saying…

  • “I now realise that it is true that God treats everyone on the same basis. Whoever worships him and does what is right is acceptable to him, no matter what race he belongs to…”

The implication here is that Cornelius’ Gentile nationality is acceptable to God and so Cornelius has no need to become a Jew [4]

  • This does not mean that Cornelius’ own righteousness was adequate for salvation – if it was then Cornelius would have no need to listen to Peter

Peter continues his sermon in this affirming tone, acknowledging what Cornelius and his household already know

  • Verse 36: ‘You know the message… of peace through Jesus’
  • Verse 37: ‘You know of the great event that took place…’
  • Verse 38: ‘You know about Jesus of Nazareth…’

This is quite lovely of Peter really

  • It’s like Peter is saying to Cornelius, you’re not starting from scratch here mate, you already know much of the background
  • It’s a way of acknowledging what Cornelius brings to the conversation
  • In doing this Peter is finding common ground
  • And the beautiful thing is Jesus is the common ground

Having acknowledged what Cornelius already knows about Jesus, Peter then goes on to talk about what Cornelius doesn’t know – in particular…

  • Jesus’ healing ministry
  • Jesus’ death and resurrection
  • Jesus as judge of the living and the dead
  • And Jesus as the means of salvation
  • For as the prophets (of the Old Testament) said…
  • …everyone who believes in him will have his [or her] sins forgiven.  

As Peter spoke the Holy Spirit came down on all who were listening and they started speaking in strange tongues, praising God’s greatness

To receive the gift of the Holy Spirit is to receive something of God himself

  • The gift of the Spirit is proof of God’s acceptance of us personally
  • It’s sort of like God’s authenticating signature on the portrait of our lives
  • Or His water mark on the currency of our soul
  • Or, to use a more 21st Century analogy, His electronic identification chip in the passport of our heart

There is more to the person of the Spirit than that of course, but you get the point – the gift of the Spirit seals the deal. Nothing trumps the Spirit.

Speaking in strange tongues in this context means speaking another language (one you don’t know)

  • Like being a native English speaker and then suddenly being able to speak fluent Cantonese or German or Afrikaans or whatever

Speaking in strange tongues is not the only sign of the Spirit

  • God’s Spirit can express Himself through us in any number of ways
  • But on this particular occasion God’s Spirit expressed Himself through tongues, most likely for the benefit of the Jewish believers who were witnessing it
  • You may remember in Acts 2 how God poured out His Spirit on the Jewish believers and they started speaking in strange tongues too
  •  Acts 10 is sort of a repeat of the Pentecost of Acts 2, only it is the Gentiles’ Pentecost this time

Peter had already said Cornelius and his household were on an even footing with him – now God confirms it with the gift of the very same Spirit & tongues

  • God couldn’t be more clear – He accepts people of all nations
  • Peter recognises this and orders the Gentiles to be baptised with water in the name of Jesus

Throughout the book of Acts Christian conversion normally involves 6 things…

  • The gospel about Jesus is preached, in particular his death & resurrection
  • The listener is convicted of their sin
  • And they put their faith in Jesus to save them
  • There is baptism with water (in the name of Jesus)
  • And the Holy Spirit is given to seal the deal
  • The new believer also starts sharing life with other Christians – they become part of the church in other words

These things don’t always happen in the same order and they don’t necessarily happen on the same day – they may happen over weeks, months or even years

The text of Acts 10 implies that Cornelius’ conversion happened over the course of a number of years

  • It appears that Cornelius felt a conviction of sin well before he met Peter
  • Cornelius lived a very pious life, praying and performing acts of charity, which suggests to me he was conscious of his wrong doing and wanting peace with God
  • Cornelius’ faith is seen by his obedience to God in asking Peter to come to his home and in listening to Peter’s message
  • That Peter preaches the good news about Jesus to Cornelius is quite clear in today’s reading
  • Next comes the gift of the Holy Spirit
  • Closely followed by baptism in water
  • And then they share life together as Cornelius invites Peter and the other Jewish believers to stay a few days
  • Eventually (as we shall hear next Sunday) the Jewish church in Jerusalem also accepted the Gentile believers as part of the wider Church universal

That’s the way it happened for Cornelius

  • Maybe it happened a different way for you?

Perhaps you were baptised as an infant but didn’t really begin to live out that baptism until much later in life when God made Jesus real for you by His Spirit

Or maybe your conversion is still a work in progress

  • Maybe you have prayed the sinner’s prayer and asked Jesus into your heart but have never got around to being baptised in water
  • Maybe that’s something to think & pray about?

Or perhaps, like Cornelius, you have lived with a feeling of guilt (the conviction of sin) for many years and you long for peace with God

  • As Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied
  • Maybe God wants you to lay down your burden, to stop doing your penance and put your trust in Jesus
  • If that’s you then there will be someone to pray with you at the front by the water cooler after the service this morning     

 

Conclusion:

Today we have heard how Peter ventures into the deep by approaching Cornelius on equal terms

  • Peter won’t allow Cornelius to feel inferior
  • Instead Peter makes it all about Jesus
  • And God confirms the Gentile believers’ equality with the Jewish believers through the gift of the Holy Spirit

One thing in all of this (which is pretty obvious but still needs to be said) is that the initiative with conversion is always with God

  • God got Cornelius to invite Peter to his home
  • And God changed Peter’s point of view so that Peter could see it was a good idea to go to the home of a Gentile
  • Peter preached, but God interrupted Peter’s sermon with a message of His own – the gift of the Spirit
  • The initiative was always with God – Peter was just doing his best to keep up

The application for us is we need to wait for God

  • If we go out into the deep of mission work without God we are courting disaster
  • If we try to rush people into making a decision for Christ before they are ready we can do more harm than good

By the same token we don’t want to lag too far behind God either

  • When God calls us out into the deep then we must act
  • What we learn in the process is that God owns the deep
  • When someone is ready to receive Christ (as Cornelius was) simply sharing our story of Jesus will probably be enough

The question for us is: what is God doing and how can we work in harmony with Him?

Let us pray…

[1] This story comes from J. John & Mark Stibbe’s book, ‘A Bundle of Laughs’, page 39.

[2] Refer John Stott’s commentary on Acts, page 189.

[3] Refer Richard Rohr’s book, ‘Things Hidden’, page 44.

[4] Refer John Stott’s commentary on Acts, page 190.

Tawa Baptist

At the Water’s Edge

Scripture: Acts 10:1-23a

Title: At the Water’s Edge

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Jesus prepares Peter (to catch people)
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

 

Watch the Tranzsend intro to Self Denial video clip…

 

https://www.tranzsend.org.nz/media-video/1453-introduction-til-the-nets-are-full

 

Then watch the Tranzsend week 1 ‘at the water’s edge’ video clip…

 

https://www.tranzsend.org.nz/media-video/1454-at-the-waters-edge-week-1

 

Please turn with me to Luke chapter 5, page 81, toward the back of your pew Bibles

  • The headline for this year’s Tranzsend Prayer and Self Denial campaign is: ‘til the nets are full’
  • This is a reference to the story in Luke 5, where Jesus calls some of his first disciples, 4 fishermen from Galilee
  • From Luke 5, verse 1 we read…

Read Luke 5:1-11

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+5%3A1-11&version=GNT

May the Spirit of Christ give us understanding

This reading from Luke forms the back drop of Tranzsend’s Self Denial campaign this year

  • Today’s sub heading is “at the water’s edge”
  • At the water’s edge is where fishermen wash, mend and prepare their nets before heading out into the deep to catch fish
  • Without this careful preparation the effort of letting down and pulling up the nets can be wasted

In the DVD clip we saw earlier, Lynley spoke about the work they do at the water’s edge in Thailand to support and prepare the local Christians for mission

  • For example, they facilitated the installation of a water well in a village which gave the Christians in that place a passport to share the gospel
  • Lynley is also involved in creating Bible study resources for new Christians to help them get started in the faith
  • These, and other things, help prepare the way for Jesus

These activities are valuable and worthwhile but perhaps the most important work done at the water’s edge is the preparation and re-formation of ourselves (that is, our inner lives) so the nets of our hearts and minds are prepared for the work God has planned for us

In verse 10 of Luke 5 Jesus says to Peter…

  • “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will be a fisher of men.”
  • In other words, ‘Peter, I’m calling you to catch people for me – to bring men & women into the kingdom of God’

Jesus prepares Peter (to catch people)

Peter’s preparation (at the water’s edge) involved 3 years learning directly from Jesus, like an apprentice

  • Then, in the book of Acts, we see Jesus’ prediction come true as Peter indeed catches people for God, through preaching the gospel

Please turn with me to Acts chapter 10 – page 163 toward the back of your pew Bibles

  • In this passage we read how God sends Peter fishing among the Gentiles
  • But before heading out into the deep, the Spirit of Jesus first prepares Peter at the water’s edge
  • From Acts 10, verse 1 we read…

Read Acts 10:1-23a

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+10%3A1-23a&version=GNT

May the Spirit of Jesus wash and mend the nets of our hearts and minds

‘Networking’

  • It’s a word these days which, in business circles, means meeting other people who can help you in your work, creating relationships with people which are mutually beneficial

When we were at Baptist College training for ministry our New Testament lecturer, George Weiland, gave us a picture of how relationships work when God is involved

[Pull out white board and draw vertical lines at either end of the board]

Imagine, if you will, that this line here represents you

  • And this other line over here represents someone else
  • Perhaps you are connected to this person through work
  • [Draw a horizontal line connecting the two vertical lines]
  • So long as you share the same workplace and get along then you have a connection
  • But if you (or they) leave the job, or you have a falling out, then the connection is severed [wipe out a hole in the horizontal line]

How do you keep the connection – how do you mend the relationship?

  • Well, it’s a lot harder if your only point of contact is work
  • But if you have made other connections with them…
  • [Draw more horizontal lines as you give examples]
  • Like for example, playing squash or baby-sitting their kids or inviting them over to your house for a meal or regularly praying for them, or whatever, then you have a lot more points of connection
  • And so the relationship is more robust and you are better able to fix the breakdown which happened at work [reconnect the broken line]

But wait there’s more – because if it is a relationship that God condones then God (by His Spirit) will strengthen those points of connection as we make them

  • [Draw vertical lines]
  • And now what do we have?
  • Yes, that’s right, a net. Far more robust than a single strand
  • Networking, in this sense, involves God

So how does this relate to Peter & Cornelius?

  • [Rub out what is on the board]
  • Well, imagine this line here [draw a vertical line to one side labelling it ‘C’ for Cornelius] represents Cornelius
  • And this line over here [draw another vertical line on the other side labelling it ‘J’ for the Jews] represents the Jews

Acts 10 starts with Cornelius

  • As a Centurion Cornelius was in charge of 100 men in the Roman army
  • This meant he was a Gentile – he wasn’t Jewish
  • We know this because the Jews at that time in history were exempt from military service

Somewhat surprisingly, despite being a Roman Centurion, Cornelius reaches out in acts of friendship to the Jewish people

  • His whole family worships Yahweh – the one true God [Draw a horizontal line]
  • Which means he probably attended the local synagogue [Draw another horizontal line]
  • Not only this but Cornelius helps the poor [Draw another horizontal line]
  • And he prays for people [Draw another horizontal line]

Cornelius is a top bloke, both by Roman standards and Jewish standards

  • And, he is at the edge of the water in the sense that he is ready to accept Jesus, only he needs someone to tell him about Jesus first
  • So God takes the initiative and sends an angel with very specific instructions for Cornelius to fetch Simon Peter
  • [Draw a vertical line on the white board]
  • And Cornelius obeys God as quickly as he can [Draw a horizontal line]

Although Cornelius is ready to receive Jesus, Peter isn’t yet ready to tell Cornelius about Jesus

  • Acts 10 is often described as the conversion of Cornelius but in many ways it is as much about the conversion of Peter
  • Peter needs the net of his heart & mind enlarged to accommodate the Gentiles

While Cornelius’ servants are on the way, Peter has a vision which basically makes it clear that all kinds of reptiles, birds and animals are now kosher to eat

  • [Draw a vertical line] – this is God doing some more to help Peter & Cornelius’ relationship

Peter, the ‘rock’, is aptly named for he disagrees with the voice saying

  • “Certainly not, Lord! I have never eaten anything ritually unclean or defiled”
  • Peter is complicated – on the one hand he says he never eats unclean foods but on the other hand he is boarding with a tanner whose trade (of working with dead animals) made him unclean [1]
  • But the voice spoke to Peter again, “Do not consider anything unclean that God has declared clean”. This happened three times
  • [Draw two more vertical lines]

While Peter was still trying to understand what the vision meant, the Spirit of Jesus said to him…

  • “Listen! Three men are here looking for you. So get ready and go down and do not hesitate to go with them”
  • [Draw another vertical line] – once again God is strengthening Peter & Cornelius’ relationship

Peter welcomes the Gentile messengers and shows them hospitality for the night [Draw a horizontal line] – then he leaves with them the next morning for Cornelius’ place – [Draw another horizontal line]

  • Peter has put it all together and realised God is saying, Gentiles are fit to be included in the sharing of the gospel – fit to receive Christ
  • This reconstruction of Peter’s net happens at the water’s edge, before Peter even meets Cornelius

We may think little of this from our perspective in history, but from Peter’s perspective (from a Jewish perspective) it was revolutionary, it was huge

  • Peter was going against literally 1000’s of years tradition, in faith that God was doing something new
  • It took great courage for Peter to embrace the change

In his book, ‘Things Hidden’, the Catholic priest Richard Rohr talks about… [2]

  • “My story”
  • “Our story”
  • And “The story”

My story is just that – it is my own personal life story, or your own personal life story – it is the story of the individual

Our story is about ‘us’ or ‘we’ – it is the collective story of the group we identify with

  • For example, we kiwis, or we Generation X’s or we Baptists or we teachers or whatever the group happens to be

And The Story is those things (or patterns) which always hold true, irrespective of My story or Our story

  • For example, ‘forgiveness always heals’ – that is true whether you are Christian, Hindu or Buddhist. The story describes ‘what is’

Let me illustrate further…

Peter’s my story is that he was a fisherman called to follow Jesus

  • He often put his foot in it and on one occasion he even denied Jesus
  • But Jesus restored him, so that Peter became the rock on which Christ built the church

Peter’s our story is that he was Jewish and we Jews don’t eat certain foods and we don’t associate with certain people – like Roman Centurions for example

  • We Jews stick to ourselves because we are God’s chosen people don’t you know

But the story (of which God is the author) is that God loves all nations, whether they are Jewish or not

  • Jesus died and was raised for all people. The gospel is for everyone and so Peter must not consider any person unclean

This is what happens for Peter in Acts 10 – this is what his conversion is about

  • God had to gently burst the bubble of Peter’s our story to show him the story (the bigger picture)
  • Or to put it another way, the story (of God) redeems both my story and our story
  • The story is the truth which gives meaning to our own private pain and sets us free from the failings of our own little culture or group

Sometimes in the history of inter-cultural mission one ethnic group has said our story is the story – or in other words, you must adopt our cultural practices if you want to be a Christian

  • We shouldn’t do that
  • We must have the humility (as Peter did) to tell the story of God without imposing our culture on others

When it comes to Cornelius’ ‘my story’ (his own personal story) little is known

  • He was a soldier in charge of 100 men and he was searching for God – that much is certain
  • Did he have blood on his hands? As a soldier, quite likely
  • Did he carry the burden of surviving when others around him had died?
  • Maybe – guilt might explain why he is trying so hard to be good
  • Then again it could be that he is simply an honourable man

As a functionary of the Roman army – part of the fist of Caesar – Cornelius’ our story was one of violence in pursuit of peace.

  • The Romans considered themselves great stewards of justice, but that is not necessarily how the people they had conquered saw it

The story is that God is in control more than the Romans and His way is one of vulnerability in pursuit of peace

  • Through the cross Jesus takes responsibility for any blood on Cornelius’ hands

In receiving the story of the gospel we must have the humility (as Cornelius did) to face the injustice of our story

  • To admit where the group we belong to has gone wrong
  • And to admit where we personally have gone wrong

Conclusion:

Don’t you love the way God uses Cornelius to evangelise Peter as well as using Peter to evangelise Cornelius

  • There is a mutuality to mission here which is quite beautiful
  • Peter is changed as much as Cornelius is

Peter, the missionary, doesn’t come with all the answers

  • He doesn’t have the whole story
  • But he is listening to God who does know the whole story
  • And so God speaks through Peter to Cornelius

Likewise Cornelius, the God fearing Centurion, does not sit in complete darkness – he is not entirely ignorant

  • He too is listening to God and so God uses Cornelius to reach Peter

Let me finish now with two questions…

  • What is your story?
  • And how is God enlarging your net with the story?

 

[1] Refer van Thanh Nguyen, in ‘Peter and Cornelius: A Story of Conversion and Mission’, page 118.

[2] Richard Rohr, ‘Things Hidden’, pages 21-24

Tawa Baptist

Brothers

Scripture: Genesis 4:1-16

Title: Brothers

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • God’s grace for Cain
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Yesterday was ANZAC Day – NZ’s national day of remembrance for war veterans

  • 2015 also marks 100 years since Australian and NZ troops landed at Gallipoli during the First World War
  • Gallipoli is something of a sacred memory in the hearts & minds of New Zealanders and Australians
  • Some say it is where we forged our identity
  • In reality though Gallipoli was a military disaster for both sides, with over 100,000 men killed in total and many more wounded

A lot is made of Gallipoli, in NZ & Australia at least, but we don’t hear much about the Armenian genocide which happened around the same time

The Armenian Genocide was the Ottoman Empire’s systematic extermination of its minority Armenian subjects from their historic homeland within the territory of present-day Turkey.

  • The starting date of the genocide is conventionally held to be the 24th of April 1915, the day before the ANZAC’s landed at Gallipoli
  • Other indigenous and Christian ethnic groups such as the Assyrians and Ottoman Greeks were also targeted for extermination [1]
  • It is thought that more than 3.5 million people (Armenians, Assyrians & Greeks) were killed over a 30 year period. [2]  That is a lot of death
  • One can’t help wondering if the genocide might have been less extensive had the ANZAC troops succeeded at Gallipoli

Why am I telling you this?

  • Well this morning, in view of the ANZAC’s and the Armenians, our message looks back to the first known murder in Genesis 4
  • On the surface this story appears to be about Cain killing his brother Abel
  • But looking a little deeper we see it also has something to say about God’s grace. From Genesis chapter 4, verse 1 we read…

4 Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, ‘With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.’ 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favour on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favour. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. 6 Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.’ 8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let’s go out to the field.’ And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ ‘I don’t know,’ he replied. ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ 10 The Lord said, ‘What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.’ 13 Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.’ 15 But the Lord said to him, ‘Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.’ Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

God’s grace for Cain

About 17 or 18 years ago now, when we lived in Tauranga, I was at the hair dressers getting my hair cut

  • In the course of the conversation it came out that I was a Christian – at which point the hairdresser went very quiet for a few moments before telling me she couldn’t believe in God because so many wars had been caused by religion
  • Perhaps she really believed what she was saying or perhaps it was just an excuse to avoid the inconvenience God creates – I don’t know
  • But there is a perception among many people that religion is responsible for war

To my mind this is not a very accurate way to think about it

  • Saying that ‘religion is responsible for war’ is like saying ‘wood is responsible for forest fires’
  • Yes, the wood of religion can fuel the fire of war but it isn’t the tree which strikes the match
  • Sadly some people hijack religion for evil ends

Although Cain doesn’t exactly hijack religion in Genesis 4, the context of his murder of Abel is religious

  • Abel kept flocks and Cain grew crops
  • Cain brought some of his crops as an offering to the Lord
  • And Abel brought fat portions from some of the first born of his flock
  • These offerings were not for the forgiveness of sins
  • They were an act of worship – an acknowledgement that God was their boss, the one in charge, the one responsible for their crops and flocks

Verses 4 & 5 tell us that the Lord looked with favour on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favour.

It is unclear what the text means exactly by “God’s favour”

  • What is clear is that Cain was upset to miss out on it
  • As most people know, if you have a group of children and you don’t treat them all the same then there will be protest…
  • “That’s not fair – why did he get two scoops of ice-cream when I only got one?”

So why did God show favour to Abel and not to Cain?

  • Was it because there was something wrong with Cain’s offering?
  • Some people over the centuries have suggested that God favoured Abel’s sacrifice because it involved the shedding of blood, while Cain’s didn’t
  • But that idea doesn’t really wash – later in the Bible God condones and even prescribes grain offerings, so it can’t have anything to do with blood
  • Others point out that Abel’s sacrifice included the fat portions of some of the first born of the flock while Cain’s offering gets no special mention, which might suggest that Cain’s grain was substandard
  • Possibly, but the text of Genesis 4 doesn’t actually criticise Cain’s offering

It seems to me a mistake to make God’s favour dependent on Cain’s (or Abel’s) sacrifice – after all, God’s favour is not earned, it is given

  • Neither Cain’s (nor Abel’s) offerings were adequate in themselves to earn God’s favour
  • As the song goes, were the whole realm of nature mine, would be an offering far too small [3]

 

Jesus told a parable about some workers who were hired by a land owner at different stages of the day

  • When it came to the end of the day the land owner paid everyone the same amount, whether they had worked all day or just the last hour
  • When those who had worked all day realised this they grumbled against the land owner, but he answered them…

‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for what I paid you? Take your wages and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’    [4]

God is free to show favour to whoever he wants

  • That doesn’t make God unfair – it just makes him generous
  • And if Cain is to become angry & envious due to God’s generosity then that tells us pretty clearly, the problem is with Cain, not with God

 

The writer to the Hebrews (in the New Testament) says…

  • By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did… [5]
  • This indicates that faith is the key issue, more than the offering itself
  • Abel made his offering in good faith (trusting God) and God credited his faith as righteousness
  • Whereas Cain made his offering in a way that somehow lacked faith

In verses 6 & 7 the Lord says to Cain…

  • ‘Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.’

God’s message to Cain seems to be…

  • You have a choice between reconciliation and alienation
  • Between peace and anger – choose reconciliation, choose peace
  • Face the problem and put things right before it is too late
  • We often think of God’s grace as the ambulance at the bottom of a cliff (fixing us up after we have crashed)
  • But here God’s grace (for Cain) is a warning sign at the top of the cliff

We are reminded of Jesus’ words in Matthew 5…

  • Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. 

Sadly Cain ‘yields to the waiting rage’ [6]

  • As Derek Kidner points out, ‘…while Eve had been talked into her sin [by the serpent], Cain will not have even God talk him out of it…’ [7]

Verse 8 tells us how Cain responded to God – by inviting his brother (Abel) out into the field and killing him

  • There is no wrestling with his conscience – just cold blooded, premeditated murder
  • Cain is angry because God has not accepted his offering so he destroys one made in God’s image
  • This murder reveals Cain’s lack of faith

Fortunately the way of Cain is not the only option available to us when it seems that God has rejected our offering

  • Let me tell you the true story of a man who offered himself for missionary service only to be turned down, twice

Paul Brand was the son of a missionary couple

  • Like his parents he also aspired to mission work and trained as a carpenter in the hope of travelling overseas to build schools and hospitals in the name of Jesus (as his father had done before him)
  • After completing his apprenticeship Paul approached J.B. Collin, the president of the mission council, and asked to be accepted for service in India
  • But despite being a ‘missionary kid’ and despite having carpentry skills Paul was judged unready for the kind of work the mission required
  • He was told he needed more preparation
  • Paul Brand writes, “I was crushed. God’s will had seemed so clear to me and now this key person was standing in my way.” [8]

Cain would have killed the mission director but not Paul Brand

  • After a short period of figuring things out he enrolled in medical school, counting his four years in the building industry a waste of time
  • Then, on completing his general medical training, Dr Paul Brand presented himself once again to the mission board
  • And once again he was turned down
  • This time the interference came from the Central Medical War Committee of Great Britain
  • They rejected his application to work in a mission hospital on the border of Nepal and instead ordered him into the bomb casualty clearing services in London (this was during the Blitz of World War 2)
  • Dr Brand continues his own story…

“Impatiently biding my time during the forced delay, I studied for higher qualifications in the field of surgery. Twice my good plans had been stymied, once by a wise and godly mission administrator and once by a secular committee of bureaucrats. Each time I had felt shaken and confused. Had I somehow misread God’s will for my life?”  [9]

As it turned out, those rejections and set backs were God’s hand directing Dr Brand’s life

  • Eventually Dr Bob Cochrane in India convinced the Central Medical War Committee to assign Paul Brand to a new medical college in Vellore, India, where Dr Brand received a call from God to work with leprosy patients
  • His carpentry skills became invaluable both as an orthopaedic surgeon and in setting up a carpentry workshop for his patients
  • God doesn’t waste anything

Just because God doesn’t accept your offering the first time, doesn’t mean he is finished with you

  • If Cain had had the faith to keep trusting God, when his offering had not been accepted, imagine the good God might have brought from it

It’s striking, isn’t it, that God doesn’t stop Cain

  • While God does warn Cain, he doesn’t control Cain
  • God does not interfere with human free will, even when the choices we make are destructive
  • By the same token God also holds us to account for the choices we make
  • Freedom always comes with responsibility

As Walter Brueggemann writes…

  • “The story would have Cain discover that life with the brother is not lived in a void but in relation to God…
  • …whoever violates the brother must face God”  [10]

9 Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’

  • ‘I don’t know,’ he replied. ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’

 

Cain lies to God – denying any responsibility – he is without remorse

  • God’s response, from verse 10, makes it clear that, yes, we are supposed to be our brother’s (and sister’s) keeper
  • Looking out for each other is part of what it means to be human

 

10 The Lord said, ‘What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.’

 

Abel’s death affects God – it moves Him

  • God is concerned for justice for Abel, so there is a consequence for Cain
  • But the punishment is not ‘an eye for an eye’ or ‘a life for a life’
  • God does not kill Cain here
  • The punishment is somewhat less than the crime deserves
  • The Sensible Sentencing Trust would not be pleased
  • God shows mercy to Cain as well as to Adam & Eve who would have lost two sons if God had chosen to kill Cain

In a word the punishment is exile

  • This was a punishment the Jewish people were all too familiar with
  • To be exiled is to lose almost everything
  • In exile a person loses their family, their home, their land, their work, their routines and consequently their security
  • The prospect of exile is frightening

From verse 13 Cain’s words reveal what is in his heart

  •  ‘My punishment is more than I can bear…’
  • “Cain responds with self-pity instead of repentance…” [11]
  • He talks about God driving him from the land when in fact it is Cain’s own actions which alienate him

Cain has lost touch with the truth and so he adds to what God has said…

  • ‘…whoever finds me will kill me’
  • This  reveals Cain’s fear
  • He is more afraid of other people than he is of God
  • To fear the Lord is to have an accurate perception of reality – to know in your heart of hearts that God is more powerful than anything else
  • To fear the Lord is to be more concerned with what God thinks than with what other people think
  • ‘Faith in God’ and ‘fear of the Lord’ are two sides of the same coin
  • To fear the Lord is to know Him and to trust Him

Despite the fact that Cain shows no remorse for what he has done and no ‘fear of the Lord’, God (in his remarkable grace) still promises to take care of him

  • God puts a mark on Cain so that no one would kill him
  • We don’t know what that mark was, much less whether some people still carry that mark today, but that’s beside the point
  • The point is: God’s concern for justice (for the innocent) is matched by his grace for sinners

We see God’s grace for Cain throughout Genesis 4

  • Firstly, God tried to persuade Cain to reconcile
  • And when Cain ignored God’s warning and murdered Abel, God showed mercy to Cain
  • God did not take Cain’s life but instead protected him and gave him descendants of his own who made all sorts of advancements in technology and industry

When we reflect on the Bible as a whole we notice that Cain is not the only killer that God extended his grace to

  • Moses, Samson, David and the apostle Paul, to name a few
  • All killers at some point in their life and yet used by God, but not without  being broken, humbled and purified in the process
  • God is gracious in a way that fills us with wonder if we pause long enough to think about it

 

Conclusion:

There is so much violence in our world today – the spirit of Cain seems alive and well

  • But it won’t always be that way
  • Listen to what the prophet Isaiah says about the future
  • A note of hope to finish with…

In the last days…

  • The Lord will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
  • Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord.  [12]

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Genocide

[2] Barnabasaid magazine for March/April 2015, page 8.

[3] Line from the hymn ‘When I Survey the Wondrous Cross’

[4] Matthew 20:13-15

[5] Hebrews 11:4

[6] Refer Walter Brueggemann’s commentary on Genesis, page 62.

[7] From Derek Kidner’s commentary on Genesis, page 74.

[8] From Philip Yancey’s book, ‘Stories for the Soul’, pages 69-73.

[9] Ibid

[10] From Walter Brueggemann’s commentary on Genesis, page 61.

[11] Refer Bruce Waltke’s commentary on Genesis, page 98.

[12] Isaiah 2:4-5

Tawa Baptist

Pain

Scripture: Psalm 38

Title: Pain

Structure:

  • Introduction – handle the jandle
  • Pain
  • Conclusion

Introduction – handle the jandle:

Good morning everyone

  • So this is different – at least I’m wearing the same shirt

There is a saying in kiwi culture: ‘handle the jandle’

  • It basically means something like, ‘man up and take your medicine’
  • Take the suffering and the pain and the punishment that is coming your way whether it is fair or not

For those who don’t know, a jandle is a piece of footwear worn in summer – sometimes called flip flops or thongs, depending on where you come from

  • They are like a cut down version of a sandle and, because they are made out of rubber, were sometimes used by parents for hitting their children across the back of the legs, if the child had done something wrong
  • These days of course it is illegal to hit children but the saying has stuck and now handle the jandle is kiwi idiom for facing something unpleasant

Last Sunday we celebrated Easter, remembering Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross, as well as his resurrection from the dead

  • One of the things that Jesus said to his disciples before he suffered and died was, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it…”   [1]

Jesus is basically saying here – if you want to follow me, then you have to handle the jandle

  • You’ve got to be prepared for some pain, discomfort & misunderstanding

Please turn with me to the back of your newsletter where you will find Psalm 38

  • Psalm 38 is the prayer of a man in a great deal of pain – a man who is having to handle the jandle. From verse 1 we read…

Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. 2 Your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down on me. 3 Because of your wrath there is no health in my body;     there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin. 4 My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.

5 My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly. 6 I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning. 7 My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body. 8 I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.

9 All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you. 10 My heart pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes. 11 My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds;

my neighbours stay far away. 12 Those who want to kill me set their traps, those who would harm me talk of my ruin; all day long they scheme and lie.

13 I am like the deaf, who cannot hear, like the mute, who cannot speak; 14 I have become like one who does not hear, whose mouth can offer no reply. 15 Lord, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God. 16 For I said, “Do not let them gloat or exalt themselves over me when my feet slip.”

17 For I am about to fall, and my pain is ever with me. 18 I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin. 19 Many have become my enemies without cause;     those who hate me without reason are numerous. 20 Those who repay my good with evil lodge accusations against me,     though I seek only to do what is good.

21 Lord, do not forsake me; do not be far from me, my God. 22 Come quickly to help me, my Lord and my Saviour

May the Lord bless the reading of his word

Pain:

Over the summer holidays I injured my leg – ripped my calf muscles apart by 14 cm’s

  • It was quite painful – not the worst pain I’ve experienced but bad enough to stop me moving freely for about 3 weeks or so

Although my injury wasn’t all that terrible (compared to what some people go through) I had lots of time to think and consider the effects of pain

  • Pain is a universal human experience
  • In Psalm 38, David has quite a bit to say about the subject

Firstly, pain tells us the truth – that something is wrong

  • If we are hurting, whether it is physical or emotional we need to know why
  • Although the doctor couldn’t do anything much to take my pain away it still helped having a diagnosis

In Psalm 38 David’s conscience diagnosed the cause of his pain as punishment from God for something he had done wrong. In verses 2 – 5 we read…

  • Your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down on me. Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin. 4 My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. 5 My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly.

If we experience the physical pain of illness or injury, and also happen to believe in God, then it is natural to ask ourselves, is this some sort of punishment or correction from God?

  • After all, pain demands an explanation

In my own situation I certainly asked myself what God’s purpose may have been in lessening my enjoyment on holiday

  • I wasn’t aware of any sins that God might be punishing me for
  • So either I had become blind to my sin and God was wanting to get my attention – to show me there was something wrong in my life
  • Or my injury had nothing to do with God – it was simply the consequence of getting older
  • Then again it could be one of those unpleasant experiences which we don’t necessarily deserve (or understand) but which God uses for good

The point is, whenever we suffer loss or pain we look for some kind of meaning to redeem (or at least explain) the situation

  • It was a busy year last year and I was becoming a bit hurried on the inside
  • Perhaps God used the enforced rest to slow me down a bit – perhaps that’s the positive I take from it?
  • I’m not sure, we don’t know what we don’t know

In David’s case though, he certainly was aware of some moral or spiritual failing and considered his illness a punishment from God

  • In verse 18 David says he is troubled by his sin
  • We may not always be as troubled by our sin as we should be
  • We may excuse ourselves by saying, “Everyone else does it so it’s not that bad”, or we might say, “I was just having a bad day” when in fact our ‘bad days’ have become the norm, rather than the exception

Guilt and shame are often dismissed in our time and culture as unhelpful residues of a by-gone era – something from the dark ages

  • But actually the pain of guilt and shame (when these are appropriately placed) is a good thing

Shame is like a concrete median barrier on a highway – it prevents us from crossing over into the wrong lane and causing an accident

  • Society needs people to feel ashamed about crossing certain lines where those things are wrong – like stealing or bullying or whatever

In a similar vein, guilt can also be a good thing, when it is appropriately placed

  • Guilt is like a stone in the shoe of our conscience – it creates the discomfort needed to move us to repentance
  • David handles the jandle of his guilt by confessing his sin to God and changing his ways

Obviously shame & guilt can be misplaced

  • Nothing is gained by making people feel ashamed simply for being alive
  • That would be like putting the median barrier across the road so the traffic smashed into it
  • Likewise once the stone of guilt has been removed from the shoe of our conscience we throw the stone away – no need to hold on to it
  • Much less reason to look for larger stones of guilt to carry around with us

As I’ve already alluded to, not all pain can be explained as punishment from God

  • Job suffered a great deal of pain although he had done nothing to deserve it – and in his pain he demanded an explanation from God but God did not give him one – although he did restore Job in the end
  • Sometimes we don’t know why it hurts – it just does
  • Even though Job didn’t get an explanation he was changed through the experience – he received a new orientation
  • His faith became better able to cope with the mystery of God

Returning to Psalm 38, as well as the mental pain of guilt and the physical pain of ill health David is also conscious of the social pain of isolation

  • Verse 11: My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds; my neighbours stay far away.
  • People don’t know how to be around pain – it hurts too much to watch others suffer

Pain is a prison – it separates us from the ones we love and it limits our freedom, but it can also protect us

  • In the case of my leg, pain stopped me from moving and forced me to stay still
  • But this staying still protected me – it prevented me from causing any further damage to myself and gave my muscles time to heal

It was interesting to hear Bernie speak a couple of weeks’ ago about her trip to Nepal with the Leprosy Mission

  • I imagine for people with leprosy the prison of pain is different
  • Because they don’t always have feeling in certain parts of their body they don’t have the sensation of physical pain to protect them
  • And because they are often excluded from main stream society they also experience the social pain of isolation
  • It seems they miss out on the upside of pain   Now in saying that ‘pain is a prison’ there comes a point when you need to break out of the prison
  • Rest is helpful to the healing process, at least initially, but eventually we need some physio to get moving again
  • In my situation physio meant stretching & strengthening exercises which were painful at first but which did bring freedom  We might think of Jesus’ words about picking up our cross and following him as a kind of spiritual physio which leads us to freedom
  • We live in a time and place in history when we are anxious to eliminate all pain – we have a prejudice (or a mind set) against suffering
  • But actually the right kind of pain, at the right time and in the right dose is good for the soul
  • Pain purifies our thinking – it keeps us honest, stripping away all illusion
  • Pain wipes the slate of our mind clean
  • If we look at Psalm 38 as a whole we realise that David is totally absorbed with his pain – he can’t think of anything else
  • When you are in deep pain for a long time your mind finds it difficult to entertain any other thoughts

According to legend, St Benedict of Nursia cast himself into a thorn bush while naked, to escape the wily temptation of a woman.

  • Benedict seemed to understand that the pain of picking out thorns for days on end would occupy his thoughts and thus prevent his mind from going down a path he didn’t want it to go

Now I’m not suggesting you throw yourself into a gorse bush every time you get the hot’s for someone

  • I don’t think it is healthy to inflict pain on ourselves
  • But nor is it healthy to numb all our pain – sometimes we need to feel uncomfortable
  • Taking pain is like eating vegetables – we may not enjoy it but, in the right measure, it can be good for us

So far, in looking at Psalm 38, we have explored…

  • The physical pain of ill health
  • The mental pain of guilt
  • And the social pain of isolation
  • Hand in hand with the physical, mental and social, comes emotional pain
  • In verse 8 David writes …I groan in anguish of heart.
  • And in verse 10 …my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes (sounds to me like David is describing the symptoms of grief – that emotional heart ache combined with a loss of energy and enjoyment)
  • Pain is a thief – it robs us of motivation and pleasure

So how does David handle the jandle of emotional pain?

  • Well, by giving expression to it – Pain requires expression
  • In verse 9 David says, All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you.
  • In other words, David gives voice to his hurt in prayer to God
  • He lets God know what he is feeling and what he wants
  • Jesus did this in the Garden of Gethsemane – the night before his crucifixion and death
  • In that situation Jesus found it necessary to deal with the mental & emotional aspects of his pain before confronting the physical & social
  • He made sure the inside of the cup was clean (in private) before facing the public

We must give voice to our pain – if we don’t it will build up inside us creating a pressure which is impossible to contain – like napalm

  • We might play the glad game in public for the sake of others (so we don’t burden them) but we still need to do our groaning and sighing in private
  • Otherwise some poor unsuspecting soul will wear it
  • Hurt people hurt people

It needs to be said that while giving voice to our pain offers some relief – it is not the whole remedy – God is our healer

  • We need God to make things new again
  • Sometimes God heals quickly but more often than not his healing takes time
  • Even after we have healed though pain leaves a scar on our memory
  • Pain increases our sensitivity so we are more careful in future

If the physical, mental, emotional and social pain is not bad enough, to top it all off, David is also in touch with the pain of being misunderstood and having no response for his enemies – we might call this the pain of injustice

  • ­Whatever sins David may have committed against God he has done nothing against those who are out to get him. From verse 12 David says,
  • Those who want to kill me set their traps, those who would harm me talk of my ruin; all day long they scheme and lie.
  • 13 I am like the deaf, who cannot hear, like the mute, who cannot speak;
  • And in verses 19 & 20: Many are those who… hate me without reason… who slander me when I pursue good.

Here David is the picture of vulnerability

  • David is like the deaf, in the sense that people are saying all sorts of nasty things about him behind his back
  • And because he is not part of the conversation he is like the mute – he has no opportunity to defend himself – he can offer no reply
  • But even if he could, what good would it do?
  • The more we try to defend ourselves the more guilty we seem to others

Conclusion:

I’m not sure what pain you have experienced in your life

  • The physical pain of illness or injury no doubt
  • The emotional pain of loss
  • The mental pain of guilt & regret
  • Or perhaps the social pain of rejection
  • In some ways we develop a higher tolerance for pain as we get older
  • But in other ways it takes us longer to recover
  • Whatever form our pain may take I believe God feels it with us
  • Our pain leaves a scar on God’s memory too

We don’t ‘handle the jandle’ on our own – we handle it in the knowledge that Christ has gone before us

  • In some mysterious way (which words can’t explain) our suffering connects us to Christ and his suffering connects us to God
  • In fact Jesus suffered our pain in our place
  • As the prophet Isaiah writes…

 

He was despised and rejected by mankind,     a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces     he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

 

 

Let us pray…

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, thank you for the gift of pain in right measure

  • By your grace use our suffering to bring us closer to you
  • And when we have suffered enough heal our hurt that we would be free of bitterness and fit for heaven. Amen.

[1] Matthew 16:24-25