Tawa Baptist

Abide with me

Scriptures: Luke 24:29, Matthew 9:10-13, Malachi 4:1-2, 1st Corinthians 15:55, John 14:1-4

Introduction:

Good morning everyone

From midnight last Wednesday we have all been in our self-isolation bubbles. But even before that we have been washing our hands more than usual. When you wash your hands you inevitably make lots of tiny bubbles with the water and soap.

Soap bubbles are wonderful really – although fragile and fleeting they are also beautiful, each one containing its own little rainbow. 

A single bubble naturally forms the shape of a sphere (as opposed to a square or a triangle) because that’s the smallest stable structure it can take.

While the life of a bubble is short the joy they inspire lasts a lot longer. Children never get tired of blowing bubbles.

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

In some ways singing songs of worship is a bit like blowing bubbles. While the singing doesn’t last very long, the beauty and joy of it linger after the music has popped and we find ourselves coming back again and again to sing the same songs, like a child blowing bubbles over and over.

Origins:

The song we are looking at this morning is called Abide with me.

Abide with me is actually a prayer for Jesus to be close to us personally and yet it is one of those songs that people, who don’t usually go to church, keep coming back to

Those of you who are football fans will know that the crowd sing a couple of verses of Abide with me before the start of the FA Cup final. They have done this every year since 1927 as a matter of tradition. It was a favourite of King George the fifth who was present at the FA Cup final that year.

Abide with me was also sung by British soldiers in the trenches during World War 1 and it is often sung at ANZAC services in NZ & Australia.

On Sept 21, 2001 it was played at Ground Zero by a Salvation Army band during the commemoration of the September 11 attacks.

It also features on the soundtracks of several movies, like The Full Monty, 28 Days Later and A Bridge Too Far.

Abide with me was written by Henry Lyte. Henry was born in Scotland in 1793, educated in Ireland and then served as an Anglican priest for a number of years in England.

For much of his life Henry Lyte did not enjoy good health but he didn’t let that stop him serving the Lord. On more than one occasion he was heard to say rather jokingly, ‘it is better to wear out than to rust out’. These are the words of a man who knows his days are numbered and wants to make the most of them. They are not good advice for most of us though. The journey of faith is a marathon, not a sprint and we need to pace ourselves.

Henry Lyte died at the relatively young age of 54, from TB

It is uncertain when Henry Lyte wrote Abide with me. Some say it was around 1820, after visiting a friend on his death bed. Others say Henry wrote the song in 1847, just weeks before his own death. Whatever the case, Erik Routley was surely right when he said Abide with me is a hymn which, “looks death itself in the face”. It is a song which expresses our human desire for companionship when we are in extreme circumstances, which may be one reason why it is so popular outside of church walls.    

While Henry Lyte did write music to accompany his lyrics, the tune we sing it to these days was written by William Monk following the death of his daughter, Florence. William had been standing, hand in hand with his wife, at the window of their cottage, ‘silently watching the glory of the setting sun until the golden hue faded’, when suddenly the words of the hymn Abide with me came to his mind. He wasted no time in composing the music he called Eventide

Death and resurrection:

The opening verse of the hymn reads…

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide;
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.

The word abide, in this context, means to ‘stay with’, to ‘reside’ or to ‘hang out’ together – for example, we abide with those in our bubble.

Abide can also mean to tolerate or put up with or obey, but that’s not the meaning here. In this song abide is about spending time together, enjoying each other’s presence, connecting with one another on the inside.

Eventide means the end of the day when the sun sets and night falls. It is a metaphor for the end of this life, when the sun sets on our mortal body and we are facing death. It could be our own mortality we are facing or the death of a loved one    

That phrase, the darkness deepens, is a poetic way of talking about the sadness, the loneliness and the powerlessness we feel in the face of death. When you are grieving, the things that once comforted you and helped you no longer hold any enjoyment. You might go off your food, for example, or you might find it hard to sleep. In that situation Jesus is the help of the helpless. Jesus comes to the aid of those who are powerless to help themselves.

Now some of you may be thinking, why is Will preaching on a song that reminds us about death and mortality – especially when the world is threatened by an epidemic?

Well, it’s not my job to distract people from reality. We have Netflix for that.

Part of my job involves helping people to face reality and the reality is, everyone dies eventually. But that is only a small part of our reality. The bigger part, the good news, is that Jesus has conquered death and so death does not have the last word. You see, facing our own mortality opens the door to thinking about resurrection.

Henry Lyte, who lived in the constant shadow of death, was very conscious of resurrection.  

The inspiration for verse 1 of Henry’s song comes from Luke 24:29. In Luke 24 two people are facing the deepening darkness of death. Just a couple of days before they had witnessed the murder of someone they loved dearly – they saw Jesus crucified. The bottom has fallen out of their world and the sun is setting on hope. As Cleopas and the other disciple are walking away from Jerusalem toward Emmaus, Jesus himself comes alongside them. They don’t recognise him at first. At that point their minds are closed to the possibility of resurrection. They can’t comprehend that Jesus has been raised to new life.

Jesus asks them what they are talking about and they are shocked that he hasn’t heard all that has happened over the weekend. It would be like someone not knowing we are at level 4 alert for Corona virus. After listening to them Jesus says…

26 “Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. 28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going further. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us [abide with us], for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him…

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

What we notice here, in this eye witness account from Luke’s gospel, is that it is the risen Jesus who abides with his bewildered and grieving disciples. And somehow his presence is enough. Although he disappears from their sight, soon after their eyes were opened, he continues to abide in their hearts and minds. Because of his resurrection, they don’t feel alone or sad anymore. To the contrary, they feel connected and joyful – they run back to Jerusalem to tell the others the good news. 

The next verse of Henry Lyte’s song starts with the words…

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;

These lines are talking about how short life is.  

I remember sitting with my grandfather as he was dying. He said about his life, ‘It all went by so quickly’. He was 72. I was 24 and, at that age, you feel like you’ve got all the time in the world. But really, in the light of eternity, this life is like a soap bubble. It is fragile and fleeting but also quite beautiful in its own short way   

The second half of verse 2 finds a note of hope  

Change and decay in all around I see—
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

In other words: Yes, life is short and constantly changing (how quickly things have changed in the last couple of weeks) but God does not change. God is stable and secure, faithful and reliable. The Lord is our rock, a firm foundation.

As we read in Hebrews 13:8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Or as Yahweh says through the prophet Malachi, “I the Lord do not change. So you… are not destroyed.” (3:6)     

Or as we read in the Psalms, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end.

Fear not:

There are actually eight verses to the original version of Abide with me, but we normally only sing four. We don’t have time to examine every verse in detail but I would like to touch on one of the less well known verses, where we say to Jesus…

Come not in terror, as the King of kings,
But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings;

This line of the song recalls Malachi chapter 4 where we read about the day of the Lord’s return – the day of judgment…

“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.  

The day of God’s judgement is frightening. Even though Malachi is using poetic language, the image of being burned up in a furnace is terrifying, especially when you consider that none of us are perfect. All of us have participated in some evil in our life.

But it’s not all bad news. Those who revere God’s name receive healing and are set free to frolic like well-fed calves. Clearly, we want to be on the side of those who revere God’s name. But what does that mean, to revere God’s name? Well, the next line in the song gives us a few clues…

Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea.
Come, Friend of sinners, thus abide with me.

Jesus is the picture of God’s compassion – he feels our pain and weeps with us for our woes. He has a heart that listens to and understands the cry of our heart. What’s more, Jesus is a friend of sinners, which comes as a great relief in light of Malachi’s furnace metaphor.

In singing the words, Come, Friend of sinners, thus abide with me, we are identifying ourselves as sinners, humbly calling on the compassion and mercy of Jesus, our friend.

In Matthew 9 the Pharisees saw Jesus abiding with disreputable people, people they considered to be evil doers, so they said to Jesus’ disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ To which Jesus replied…

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

You see, God doesn’t want to destroy people – he loves people and wants to save us – that’s why Jesus came, so that we might have abundant life. Those who revere God’s name are not perfect but they are not arrogant either – they are humble. True humility is about being honest with ourselves. Those who ‘revere the name of the Lord’ are under no illusion – they rely on Jesus’ mercy, not their own power.

The risk with living in a bubble is that people may become fearful and anxious. Consequently, there has been a lot of talk in the media about taking care of our mental health while we are in self-isolation. The pen-ultimate verse of Henry Lyte’s song addresses this very thing…

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness;
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

This verse implies that having Jesus abide with us does not mean nothing bad will ever happen to us. Jesus’ presence is not a bullet proof vest or Personal Protective Equipment. We may still suffer illness but the ills have no weight – they are lighter somehow when Jesus abides with us. Likewise, we may still suffer injustice & grief but our tears hold no bitterness – if anything the presence of Christ brings release. How is this possible? It is possible because when Jesus abides with us we know we are loved by God

I am mindful of several verses from the Bible which hold together the paradox of suffering with joy (and without fear). In particular…

Psalm 126:5, Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.

And the beatitudes where Jesus says, Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted (Matthew 5:4)

Also Paul’s letter to the Romans (5:3-5), We rejoice in sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.  

And that’s the key right there isn’t it. When we have faith in Christ we are not afraid of illness and calamity because we know God loves us. Therefore, we know our suffering is not a punishment from God. We may get sick, we may even die, but we are not destined for the furnace. As the poet Robert Browning said, ‘The best is yet to be’.  

Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory? This is a quote from 1st Corinthians 15:55, where Paul is talking about the resurrection of Christ. When Paul wrote this he was making reference to the Old Testament prophet Hosea (13:14) where God says to the nation of Israel…

I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where O death are your plagues? Where, O grave is your destruction?    

Henry Lyte could say, with a chuckle, ‘it is better to wear out than to rust out’, because (despite having TB) he believed God loved him and would raise him to new life. Henry was not afraid of dying. His last words were, “Peace! Joy!” He was looking forward to heaven

We don’t need to be afraid of this plague we are in either. We do need to be careful, but we don’t need to be anxious, for our God is greater than illness and death – we have resurrection to look forward to.

Conclusion:

Abide with me starts with the sun going down and the darkness of night deepening. In the final verse the darkness of night has past and we have the picture of light breaking at the dawn of a new day… 

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies;
Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

The last verse looks beyond this life to the next. For those who trust in Christ, death is not the final reality. Yes, we all die but Jesus has transformed death from an ending to an open door. When the brief bubble of this life pops those who are in Christ are released from their self-isolation into a wonderfully spacious intimacy with God. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.  

In John 14, the night before he died, Jesus said to his disciples…

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

That’s a verse about abiding with Jesus forever in the house of God  

The song Abide with me is a prayer for Jesus to stay close with us through life and death and resurrection. It is a prayer God is happy to answer.

Let’s sing now, in our bubbles, Abide with me. Make this your heartfelt prayer.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

Listen to the song, ‘Abide with me’.  What are you in touch with as you listen to this song? (What connections, memories or feelings does the song evoke for you?) 

How are things going for you in your bubble? What rainbow moments have you had this past week?

Why do we need to face the reality of our own mortality? What is the bigger part of reality (the good news)?

What difference did it make to the disciples on the Road to Emmaus to learn that Jesus was alive? What difference does Jesus’ resurrection make for you, personally?

Why do we not need to be afraid? What basis do we have for facing suffering with joy?

What does it mean to revere God’s name?

How might you abide with Jesus while in self-isolation? Take some time this week to be with Jesus.    

Tawa Baptist

Seek Ye First

Scriptures: Matthew 6:25-34, Matthew 7:7-11, Matthew 4:1-4

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Seek ye first the kingdom of God
  • Ask and it shall be given unto you
  • We cannot live by bread alone
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

The order in which we do things matters

  • When you are packing your car to go away on holiday it’s a good idea to put the larger suitcases in first and then pack the smaller things around them
  • If you have a leak in your roof, then your priority is to fix the roof before you start painting and decorating inside the house
  • When you buy a flat pack of furniture, the first thing to do is read the instructions before you start assembling the product
  • Likewise, when you prepare a sermon or a Bible study you start by praying and reading the Scriptures, then you write down your thoughts
  • And, if your wife or husband or child is telling you something important, your priority is to listen to them, before attending to the dinner or your emails.  

Today we continue our ‘Anthems’ series

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

The song we are looking at this morning is called Seek Ye First

  • The words for Seek Ye First come from the mouth of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew
  • Verse 1 of the song is a quote from Matthew 6:33, where Jesus is talking about the futility of worry
  • Verse 2 of the song comes from Matthew 4:4, where Jesus is responding to one of the temptations of Satan in the wilderness
  • And verse 3 is from Matthew 7:7, where Jesus is helping his listeners to understand that God is a loving Father who knows how to give good things to his children 
  • All three verses are about giving God priority – putting God first   

Seek ye first the kingdom of God

The music for Seek Ye First was written by a woman called Karen Lafferty in 1971. Karen was a worship leader for Calvary Chapel in California at the time

  • She was 23 years old, had graduated University with a degree in music and recently returned to the Lord and to church after some time away  
  • In an interview Karen Lafferty says this about the origin of Seek Ye First,

“I had quit my entertainment job and was trying to support myself with teaching guitar lessons. I had three students! When my savings were all gone and I had no money to make my car payments, I became very discouraged and confused.” One evening I went to a Bible study at church, and we talked about Matthew 6:33. [Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.]I was tremendously encouraged and challenged by the words about Christ’s kingdom. So I went home, wrote the tune, recorded it on a tape recorder, and then sang this little descant part.”

  • Karen taught the song in church the next week, and it caught on right away.

So what is Jesus saying in this verse from Matthew 6?

  • Well, to understand the meaning, we need to hear the verse in its context.
  • From Matthew 6:25-34 (in the NIV) we read…

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.   

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

The word ‘worry’ appears six times in this passage. Worry (or anxiety) is part of the human condition.

  • It doesn’t seem to matter what culture you come from or what time in history you live, we all have to deal with worry at some point in our lives

Jesus says we are not to worry and then he gives a number of reasons why we don’t need to worry. He effectively uses reason and logic to disarm worry.

  • Reason is to worry what waking up is to a bad dream – reason puts us back in touch with reality and restores our perspective
  • Reason is to worry what sunlight is to mould – reason dries out the dampness in our mind to prevent the mould of worry
  • Reason is to worry what companionship is to loneliness – reason is a friend who brings understanding and makes us feel connected

The first reason (or logical argument) Jesus gives for not worrying about food and clothes is that there is more to life than food and more to the body than clothes

  • While food and clothes are basic to human survival and we need to attend to them they are not the only needs we have in life and they are not the most important needs either – we must keep things in proportion
  • For example, other things needed to support human life include:
  • Right relationships and community,
  • Hope and a sense of purpose,
  • A rhythm of worshiping God, which gives us something positive to occupy our minds, something greater than ourselves.

Another reason Jesus gives for not worrying is that worry is pointless – like running on a treadmill it wears you out, it gets you nowhere.

Jesus also gives evidence from nature for not worrying

  • God feeds the birds of the air and we human beings are far more valuable to God than birds, so how much more will God feed us
  • And, following the same logic, God clothes the grass of the field with beautiful wild flowers which are here today and gone tomorrow, so how much more will he clothe us, for we last a lot longer than grass.

Now, at this point some of you may be thinking, ‘Okay, if it’s true that God feeds the birds, why are some species of birds going extinct? And more to the point, why do so many people in the world starve or walk around in rags?’

  • Well, some of the responsibility lies with human beings. While God provides what the world needs humanity doesn’t always manage God’s resources in a way that is fair or equitable
  • Having said that, humanity can’t bear the full responsibility – some things are not in our power to do anything about
  • The world we live in is not perfect or fair or safe – God’s will is not always done on earth as it is in heaven
  • Jesus’ teaching here seems to picture the world as it should be rather than as it is [1]     

This is not to imply that Jesus’ teaching is out of touch with our reality. Quite the opposite – Jesus’ teaching is very down to earth  

  • In verse 34 of Matthew 6, Jesus says, Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.  
  • Jesus acknowledges that the world isn’t perfect – each day has enough trouble of its own – it simply does no good to worry about what we can’t control and what might never happen in the first place.

The other thing we need to be aware of is that Jesus is not saying we shouldn’t make provision for the future – he’s simply saying don’t worry about the future

  • Making provision for the future is not the same thing as worrying about it
  • Jesus’ point is not that we should throw all caution to the wind, when it comes to financial matters
  • Jesus’ point is that we should not let fear and worry tie us up in knots or impede us in the present

Returning to verse 33 of Matthew 6, the focus of the opening verse of the song; Jesus gives us an alternative to worry – something far more meaningful and fruitful to spend our time and energy on

  • Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

God’s kingdom and righteousness means God’s way of doing life

  • So, instead of worrying, we need to give top priority to living under God’s direction and governance – we need to obey God in faith that he will provide for our needs.  

Karen Lafferty, the author of Seek Ye First, went on to work for Youth with a Mission (YWAM). She said,

  • “The Lord really paved the way for me with that song. “Seek Ye First” has opened doors for me all over the world. And because it’s in so many hymnbooks, about 40 percent of my mission support comes from that song!”
  • As I mentioned earlier, Karen had been worrying about making ends meet and paying her bills
  • But when she went to the Bible study and spent time seeking God, the Lord sorted out her priorities, dispelled her fears and provided her with an income stream by giving her a tune to put to the words of Jesus.
  • And all these things shall be added unto you.

Sometimes the priority is not clear to us. Sometimes what we think is most important is actually not as important in hindsight

  • You may be in a hurry to get out the door for work or school drop off but you’ve lost your keys and you are starting to feel stressed
  • In the heat of the moment you might think, ‘okay I just have to look harder to find my keys’
  • But the faster you look the more flustered you become
  • In that moment the priority is not finding your keys but finding your calm
  • The best thing to do is stop, be still, let your brain stem settle and then retrace your steps to find your keys 
  • In the long run it won’t matter if you are a few minutes late
  • In fact, being still for a few moments may help you to find your keys quicker and it will also help you to drive safer.  

It is similar with seeking first the kingdom of God. Sometimes the priority (finding what God wants us to do) is not clear at first

  • Sometimes we can be in such a hurry doing the work of ministry or serving God that we miss the spirit in which God wants us to serve
  • In that moment the priority is not doing the work of ministry but finding God’s heartbeat, getting back in step with the Lord again.   

We cannot live by bread alone

Verse two of the song reads: We cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Again, these are the words of Jesus, this time from Matthew 4. To understand the meaning we need to read the verse in its context. From Matthew 4, verse 1, in the NIV…

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be temptedby the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

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

Satan then went on to try and tempt Jesus in other ways and each time Jesus resisted the devil with Scripture

The phrase, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’, is a quote from Deuteronomy 8:3 where Moses is addressing the Israelites at the end of their 40 years in the wilderness

  • Moses is essentially saying to the people, ‘As a father disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.’
  • That’s why you’ve spent all this time wandering around in the wilderness facing various deprivations – so you can learn to trust and obey God
  • Among the lessons you should have learned during these past 40 years is not to depend on bread alone but on God’s word
  • Not to put God to the test
  • And not to worship any other god – but rather to make the Lord God the exclusive object of your worship and obedience [2]

Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness recalls Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness

  • Israel (the nation) was known as God’s son
  • So too Jesus is God’s son – he embodies the new Israel
  • Where the ancient Israelites failed, Jesus passes the test, doing for Israel what they were not able to do for themselves

For a long-time I was puzzled by the temptation to change stones into bread

  • I mean, what’s wrong with that? Everyone has to eat.
  • What’s more there were other occasions when Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes in the wilderness to feed thousands – so what’s the problem?
  • Why was not okay on this occasion (for Jesus to use his power to make bread) but it was okay on a different occasion?  
  • Well, as Richard France explains, it is a question of obedience to God’s will in this particular situation…

Obedience to God’s will takes priority… Jesus understood his experience of hunger as God’s will for him at the time and therefore not to be evaded by a self-indulgent use of his power as the Son of God. To [turn the stones into bread] would be [to disobey God] to call into question God’s priorities and set himself at odds with his Father’s plan. [3]

Although Jesus understood his hunger to be God’s will for him at the time, this doesn’t mean that every occasion of hunger or deprivation is God’s will, but sometimes it is and when it is we must trust God to provide for us in his way and his time.

  • In Matthew 4, God sent angels to minister to Jesus’ needs after Satan had left him – Jesus passed the test where Israel had failed

You know, sometimes we go without things and we don’t like it

  • Perhaps we don’t go without food for 40 days like Jesus did but maybe we go without something else important, for a significant period of time
  • We might, for example, go without work for several months,
  • Or without our health for several weeks
  • Or without joy for several years,
  • Or without an answer to prayer, or something else
  • Those wilderness times of testing don’t necessarily mean God is angry with us or against us
  • To the contrary they show that we are God’s children because he is taking the time to teach us to rely on him – to trust and obey.
  • God disciplines those he loves

We are in the season of Lent at the moment – that 40 days (or so) before Easter

  • Traditionally many Christians give up something during Lent (maybe chocolate or swearing or justifying yourself or whatever)
  • The point of this self-imposed fast is to draw close in solidarity with Jesus – to remember his time of testing and to embrace our identity as children of God who rely on our heavenly father, not on ourselves    

Jesus’ words in Matthew 4, verse 4, about needing the word of God as much as we need bread, connect with his words in Matthew 6:33 about seeking first God’s kingdom

  • The word of God is actually more important than food, just as seeking the kingdom of God is more important than seeking money
  • Food and money are useful for this life but the word of God and the kingdom of God have value for eternal life.  

Ask and it shall be given to you

A couple of weeks ago Lotto jack potted to $50 million. When it gets that big someone has to win. Apparently the key is getting the Powerball

  • So even if you were to win first division, you don’t get the $50 million unless you also have the Powerball number
  • Of course it was a popular draw. At one point they were selling 2,000 tickets a minute
  • When you don’t have much and life is difficult winning Lotto seems like a silver bullet, something that will fix all your problems
  • But excess can be just as harmful as poverty – there is wisdom in moderation. Better a regular sized portion with peace, than a double portion with worry.
  • I imagine thousands of people prayed, asking to win the $50 million but, as it turned out, the grand prize was shared by only two families.

In Matthew 7 Jesus says…

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 10“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

In the movie Bruce Almighty (starring Jim Carrey and Morgan Freeman), God gives Bruce the power to answer people’s prayers and so Bruce just says ‘yes’ to every request, with the result that almost everyone wins the lottery

  • Of course when $50 million is split equally between 2 million people the winners end up with only $25 each. People took to the streets in riot

When Jesus says, Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you, he doesn’t mean God is obligated to answer ‘yes’ to every prayer we pray

  • In the context he means God will give you what you need and what is good for you, which may not necessarily be what you want
  • As the little parable in verse 10 indicates, the son isn’t asking for a luxury, he’s asking for his basic needs; bread and fish (carbs & protein) 
  • So praying to win Lotto won’t help your chances but praying, give us this day our daily bread will help you.

Jesus’ point is that God is a loving Father who knows how to give good things to his children    

  • God Almighty is not like the pagan gods of the Greeks and Romans. We don’t have to sacrifice things to try and persuade God to provide for us
  • God is ready & willing to help us with genuine needs, we just have to ask
  • And even if we ask God for the wrong things he will still give us the right thing.
  • God won’t give us something useless (like a stone), nor will he give us something harmful (like a snake). God wants to do us good.

Jesus’ words about asking, seeking and knocking are supposed to cast out worry and inspire trust in God.

  • They invite us to explore the scope of God’s generosity

Having said that, Ask and it will be given to you; also needs to be understood in the context of God’s freedom

  • Sometimes our requests may be entirely reasonable and unselfish; maybe we are praying for healing for someone we care about or perhaps we are asking to be spared from some injustice and yet God is silent
  • The will of God is inscrutable at times.
  • Inscrutable simply means we can’t always understand God’s will and purpose. We can’t put God’s will under a microscope and scrutinize it

Oswald Chambers once said: “Whenever the insistence is on the point that God answers prayer, we are off the track. The meaning of prayer is that we get hold of God, not of the answer.”

God will always do his best for us but sometimes it’s not about us and sometimes the options available to God are limited

  • Jesus wrestled in anguish, as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, asking God to spare him the ordeal of the cross
  • (Jesus didn’t want to be separated from his heavenly Father)
  • But, for whatever reason, God did not change his mind
  • While Jesus did not get the answer he wanted to his prayer, he did get hold of God and submitted himself in obedience to God’s will.    
  • For Jesus, seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness took priority.

Conclusion:

Each of the verses of the song Seek Ye First ends with the descant or chorus, Allelujah, which is a shortened form of the Hebrew word, Hallelujah

  • Allelujah simply means ‘praise the Lord’
  • The message is clear; giving priority to what God wants is the truest act of worship and praise we can offer the Lord.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. Listen to the song, ‘Seek Ye First’.  What are you in touch with as you listen to this song? (What connections, memories or feelings does the song evoke for you?) 
  2. How do you begin each day? What’s the first thing you do?
  3. What sorts of things worry you? What reasons does Jesus give for not worrying? How do you deal with your worry?
  4. Why does Jesus tell his disciples to seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness? How might we do this? (What does this look like specifically for you?)
  5. Discuss / reflect on the parallels between Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness and the Israelites’ 40 years in the wilderness.
  6. Why did Jesus refuse to turn the stones into loaves of bread? (in Matthew 4) What have you had to go without for a significant period of time? What have you learned through this experience of deprivation?
  7. Take some time this week to reflect on how God has responded to your prayer requests over the years. For example, what things has God said ‘yes’ to? What things has he said ‘no’ to? And what prayers has he answered in a way you weren’t expecting?    

[1] R.T. France, NICNT, Matthew, page 266.

[2] Ibid, page 128.

[3] Ibid, page 131.

Tawa Baptist

Greater Than I

Scriptures: Matthew 20:20-28, Luke 4:18, Philippians 2:5-8, John 4, John 21:5

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The origin
  • The content
  • Conclusion

Following are lyrics to the song:

You set the world into motion
Slavery unbound in each corner of the earth
A way of life to live by
That we won’t forget

You humbled yourself for us,
Status no longer important,
You’ve showed us how to live
Oh we’re grateful, oh we’re grateful

The woman at the well,
You showed her mercy,
You showed us how to love the broken
The blind man on the street,
You showed him kindness, you showed forgiveness
To make us see

Jesus, you’re more than we know,
So teach us how to be, in this broken world
Jesus, you’re a whisper in the wind, you’re the roar of lions
You’re our Prince of Peace

Introduction:

On the wall here is a picture of a mosaic

  • A mosaic artist takes pieces of broken ceramics and arranges them in a pattern to make a meaningful image
  • There is a certain poetry of redemption in putting together broken tiles and making something beautiful out of them

Today we continue our ‘Anthems’ series

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

The song we are looking at this morning is called “Greater Than I”, written by our very own Peter Sim

  • The lyrics of Greater Than I are like a mosaic – they draw together a variety of fragments of Scripture to form a meaningful picture of Christ
  • Before we look at the song though let’s consider its author

The origin:

For those who don’t know, this is Peter Sim

  • Peter was born in October 1995, which means he is now 24
  • He grew up in Tawa, attending Redwood Primary school, then Tawa Intermediate and Tawa College
  • After College, Peter studied at Victoria University gaining a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Education before completing his Masters of Teaching. Peter is now in his third year teaching at Churton Park School

As a child Peter attended The Tawa New Life church and the Tawa Anglican church with his family

  • Then, as a teenager, Peter started coming to the Tawa Baptist youth group and became involved in the music team here
  • Peter describes his coming to faith in Jesus as a gradual process, with him taking more ownership in his teenage years
  • Peter was baptised here in this church on the 17th June 2012, nearly eight years ago now

Peter wrote the song Greater Than I in 2016 and we started singing it as part of our Sunday worship the same year. So Peter was around 20 or 21 at the time    

  • Peter used to be in a band called ‘Until Autumn’ and has written other pieces of music too – the song Author of my soul is one of Peter’s

A couple of weeks ago when I was talking with Peter about this he said,

  • ‘Music transcends language and other barriers. [Even if you don’t speak Spanish] you can listen to a Spanish song and still enjoy it. But you probably won’t enjoy listening to a Spanish audio book’.    
  • The idea that music transcends language and other barriers resonates with me. I think that music has a spiritual aspect to it which touches our soul, whether the music is religious or not.

Peter tells me he penned the words for his song after reading a book by John Ortberg called ‘Who is this man?’

  • John Ortberg is the Senior Pastor of a Presbyterian church in California
  • His book, ‘Who is this man?’, sets out some key principles of who Jesus is in easy to read English with real world application. 

After reading ‘Who is this man?’ it only took Peter four minutes to write the lyrics to his song, while the music came in just two hours the following day

  • The song writing process doesn’t normally happen that rapidly
  • The quickness of the song’s composition suggests a connection with the wisdom of the subconscious
  • It is also an example of how we find the meaning in the rear vision mirror, by looking back and reflecting on our experience
  • Often in life meaning comes after the fact
  • We have an experience, we react to that experience and then later we glean meaning from the experience by reflecting on our reaction to it     
  • This, it seems, was the case for Peter in writing this particular song
  • He read a book, reacted to it by writing a song and then found meaning in the song by reflecting on the words later.

The title, Greater Than I, doesn’t appear in the body of the lyrics.

  • When I asked Peter about the title he said it came after hearing someone say, ‘modern worship songs always seem to be about I and me.’ Worship songs should be about lifting up God and focusing on who Jesus is   

The content:

With this in view the song begins (and is punctuated throughout) with second person pronouns for God and Jesus

  • You humbled yourself for us
  • You showed her mercy
  • You showed forgiveness, and so on

Verse 1 reads…

You set the world into motion
Slavery unbound in each corner of the earth
A way of life to live by that we won’t forget.

This verse, like the others that follow, is a mosaic of Biblical ideas

  • Each line opens a different door on Scripture and faith’s experience 
  • ‘You set the world into motion’ is a reference to God’s creation of the cosmos in the opening chapters of Genesis
  • Now it is important not to misunderstand this line
  • There is a belief among some people in history that God created the world but then stepped back and no longer intervenes
  • Sort of like a divine clock maker – he made the world, wound it up and walked away to let it tick by on its own
  • This belief is called ‘deism’ – it is not a Christian belief
  • Peter is not saying God set the world in motion and then walked away
  • As the rest of the song makes clear, God set the world in motion and has stayed present and involved in his world ever since.
  • God loves his creation and has not turned his back on it.

‘You set the world into motion’ is an affirmation that we are not here by accident. We are here because God intended us to be here so there is meaning and purpose in our existence  

  • Interestingly the phrase ‘world in motion’ suggests a dynamic view of creation – a world which is not settled or complete but still evolving, still changing, still being brought to its full purpose by God
  • This view fits with the meta-narrative of the Bible and our experience.

Slavery unbound in each corner of the earth is another piece of the mosaic, not the same as the reference to creation but still connected to it

  • I asked Peter if this line about slavery referred to institutional slavery and people trafficking, which is still very much alive in each corner of the earth and he said, ‘No. It’s about the things that bind us personally’
  • In Luke 4, Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah saying,

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

There are lots of things that may enslave us personally; our fears, our sins, our past, our prejudices, and so on. Jesus came to set people free from these things

Each corner of the earth speaks of the universal reach of the gospel

  • Jesus isn’t just for the Jews, he is for all the peoples of the earth
  • In the Book of Acts, the risen Jesus says to his disciples…

“…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Returning to Peter’s song, the line ‘A way of life to live by that we won’t forget’ reminds us that the Christian faith isn’t just a nice idea or an interesting philosophy. It’s not an academic thing in our head – Christianity is a lifestyle

  • Following Jesus should touch and shape every part of our life
  • In John 14 Jesus says: ‘I am the way the truth and the life’.
  • The church of the first Century understood this. Because of their distinctive way of living, early Christians were known as ‘people of the way’

The way of Christ is meek and gentle, not rough or violent

  • The way of Christ is gracious and truthful, it does not shame or manipulate
  • The way of Christ embraces weakness and vulnerability, but turns away from proud thoughts and puts no confidence in human achievement
  • The way of Christ turns the other cheek and forgives
  • The way of Christ is the way of the cross
  • There is a part of us that doesn’t like the way of Christ – that resists it
  • The way of Christ can be difficult and painful, inconvenient and frustrating, confusing and humiliating
  • And yet we stick to it because, in the long run, we believe it leads to peace

In his book ‘Who is this man?’ John Ortberg writes about the way of Jesus…

  • “His life and teaching simply drew people to follow him. He made history by starting in a humble place, in a spirit of love and acceptance, and allowing each person space to respond.”

Verse two of the song…

You humbled yourself for us, status no longer important,
You’ve showed us how to live. Oh we’re grateful, oh we’re grateful

The origin of this verse is found in Paul’s hymn in Philippians 2…

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very natureGod, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very natureof a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross!

Verse 2 of the song talks about ‘status no longer [being] important’

  • In Matthew 20, after Jesus has just predicted his death for the third time, the mother of James and John came to Jesus and asked him for a favour
  • She said, “Promise me that these two sons of mine will sit at your right and your left when you are King.”
  • This request is about status and it strikes us as a bit insensitive in light of Jesus having just said that he will soon be crucified
  • Jesus replied to James and John, “You don’t know what you are asking”
  • When the other ten disciples heard about this they became angry with the two brothers. So Jesus called them all together and said…
  • “You know that the rulers of the heathen have power over them, and the leaders have complete authority. This, however, is not the way it shall be among you. If one of you wants to be great, he must be the servant of the rest; and if one of you wants to be first, he must be your slave – like the Son of Man, who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life to redeem many people.”
  • As the Mandalorian would say, ‘this is the way’.

Jesus undoes our notions of social value and status    

  • Our status, in the sense of our place on the greasy pole, doesn’t matter because we get our identity from God, or more specifically from Christ
  • So, for example, when the apostle Paul was thrown into prison for preaching the gospel it didn’t matter (he could be joyful) because his identity, his status, his worth was secure in Jesus.         

On the wall here is a picture of a painting by Claude Monet

  • Monet painted this in the 1870’s – it is called ‘Sunrise’
  • Monet is famous as one of the founders of the French Impressionist movement
  • Impressionism is characterized by a concern with depicting the visual impression of the moment, especially in terms of the shifting effect of light and colour.
  • Or said another way, impressionism is a literary or artistic style that seeks to capture a feeling or experience rather than to achieve accurate depiction. (Impressionism is more subjective than objective)
  • So this painting by Monet is not necessarily an accurate depiction of the sunrise over a harbour in France
  • Rather it is a depiction of how Monet experienced or perceived that particular sunrise on that particular day
  • If he painted the same scene on a different day, it would look slightly different because the light would be different and his perception also.

The lyrics of many of the more contemporary worship songs we sing in church these days are written in the style of impressionism

  • So what we get is an expression of how the writer of that song saw the light of Christ (or perceived God) at the time they wrote it
  • Sometimes their impression of God resonates with our experience and other times it doesn’t
  • If the words don’t happen to harmonize with our own subjective impression of God, then it doesn’t make the song any less true
  • It just means we see God and the world differently from the author because our experience in life has been different from theirs.
  • None of us have a monopoly on God.
  • Much of Peter’s song needs to be understood as impressionism
  • I don’t think Peter sat down with the intention of writing in the style of impressionism, it just happened to turn out that way.

For example…

The woman at the well, you showed her mercy,
You showed us how to love the broken.

‘The woman at the well’ clearly refers to Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman in John 4

  • And, back in 2016, it gave Peter the impression of Jesus being someone who shows mercy and love to broken people
  • If Peter were to revisit this gospel story in 2036 he might get a slightly different impression of Jesus because by that stage he would have had another 20 years’ experience to reshape his perception and feelings
  • Our impression of God is not usually static – it is dynamic, changing 

For those not familiar with the story in John 4, Jesus is travelling by foot through the land of Samaria

  • It is around noon and he is tired and thirsty after walking all morning
  • His disciples have gone into town to buy some food while Jesus rests beside the well
  • As he is sitting there a Samaritan woman comes to the well to draw water
  • This is strange. Normally women came in the morning to draw water, when it was cooler, to avoid the heat of the day  
  • It appears this woman is not on good terms with her neighbours because she comes to the well at a time which avoids the other women

Jesus doesn’t have the means to draw water out of the well and because he is thirsty he asks the woman for a drink which, in that culture, is weird

  • Firstly, men didn’t speak to women in public – it just wasn’t proper
  • Secondly, Jesus was a Jew and, historically, Jews and Samaritans hated each other

The Samaritan woman can see that Jesus is a Jew by the clothes he is wearing and she says to Jesus, ‘How can you ask me for a drink?’

  • (You Jews won’t even use the same cups and bowls as us Samaritans)
  • But Jesus doesn’t let the conversation end there – he keeps it going, telling the woman the truth about himself, about herself and about God 
  • The truth about Jesus is that he is the spring of eternal life – he offers the life-giving water of the Holy Spirit
  • The truth about the woman is that her life and relationships are a mess – she has been married five times and the man she lives with now is not her husband
  • And the truth about God is that he is Spirit and can only be worshipped by the power of his Spirit.

All this truth telling made such a good impression on this woman that she went back to her village telling people about Jesus

  • The people begged Jesus to stay and Jesus graciously received their hospitality for two days, something other Jews would never do

Jesus shows us how to love the broken (like the Samaritan woman)

  • Jesus did not come in a show of strength, he came in weakness and need, feeling thirsty and tired
  • Jesus loved people (he built trust) by speaking the truth, giving people space to respond and receiving their help in the form of hospitality

The next couple of lines of the song give us Peter’s impression of Jesus after Jesus healed… The blind man on the street, you showed him kindness, You showed forgiveness to make us see.

There are a number of accounts, in the gospels, of Jesus healing the blind – for example, Bartimaeus in Mark 10 or the man born blind in John 9

  • Whichever version you look at, those who are physically blind appear to have more spiritual sight than the religious leaders
  • The punch line seems to be: Jesus helps us see God and he helps us to see how to be human, for we human beings are made in the image of God 
  • Kindness and forgiveness are divine attributes. When we show kindness and forgiveness we reflect the image of God.

And so we come to the bridge of the song…

Jesus, you’re more than we know,
So teach us how to be, in this broken world
Jesus, you’re a whisper in the wind, you’re the roar of lions
You’re our Prince of Peace

These words are essentially an expression of heart felt adoration to God

  • There is more to Jesus than we know
  • The apostle John finishes his gospel by saying this…
  • Now there are many other things that Jesus did. If they were all written down one by one, I suppose that the whole world could not hold the books that would be written.
  • I like the fact that Jesus cannot be contained by the human mind
  • I like that there is still more to discover about God
  • I like the mystery (the cloud of unknowing) that shrouds God
  • As the title of the song says, [God is] Greater Than I, which means he is more than we know

So teach us how to be, in this broken world

  • Jesus is our teacher; we are his disciples (his students)
  • We are learning how to ‘be’
  • As disciples of Christ we are not learning how to do – we are not learning a skill – we are learning how to be
  • Being is about the whole person and it’s about our character
  • As disciples of Jesus we are learning how to be like Jesus – to have his character        

And we are learning these things in this broken world, a world that God loves.

  • Now, it’s not that the world is completely broken beyond repair
  • It’s not broken like a glass shattered on the floor
  • There is still much beauty and goodness in the world; but at the same time there is something not right with the system or the way we live
  • History is scarred with war and oppression and misery
  • Even today it seems we can’t participate in society without colluding with injustice
  • We buy food or clothes and we don’t know where they come from or who may have suffered in making them cheap for us
  • Then there is the harm we do to the environment – all the plastic we dump and all the glaciers we melt
  • We are not willing participants with this injustice (often times we are not even aware of it) but still the way we organise or manage ourselves in this world is broken   
  • We need Jesus to teach us how to be in the world in a way that glorifies God, blesses other people and takes care of the environment.

The song finishes with three images of Jesus…

Jesus, you’re a whisper in the wind, you’re the roar of lions,
You’re our Prince of Peace.

When I asked Peter about this he said: small voice, big voice, sense of peace

  • Sometimes we hear Jesus (like Elijah heard Yahweh) as a still small voice
  • Other times Jesus roars loudly, like the lion of Judah
  • Always we are guided by his peace

It occurs to me the three things each of these images share in common is power

  • The wind is a powerful force of nature, just as a lion is powerful in the animal kingdom and a prince holds royal power in the human realm
  • Jesus isn’t just Lord of humanity – he is Lord over all of God’s creation.

Conclusion:

There’s more I could say about the words of this song – it is so rich – but that’s enough for today.

  • Peter, thank-you for sharing your song with us and for letting me preach on it this morning
  • Some of the things I’ve said are my impression of the meaning and not necessarily what you were thinking of when you wrote it
  • But that’s the beauty of poetry – it has a life of its own and speaks to each person’s heart as their experience allows and as the Spirit leads.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. Listen to the song, ‘Greater Than I’.  (See the link at the top of these sermon notes.) What are you in touch with as you listen to this song? (What connections, memories or feelings does it evoke for you?) 
  2. What is deism and how does it differ from Christian belief?
  3. What sorts of things bind you personally? Can you think of a time when Jesus set you free in some way? What happened?
  4. What are some of the things that characterise the way of Christ? How do you experience walking in the way of Christ?
  5. What impression do you get from reading the story of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman in John 4? What does Jesus’ example (in John 4) show us about loving the broken?  
  6. In what sense is the world broken?
  7. Discuss / reflect on the three images of Jesus at the end of the song: ‘a whisper in the wind, the roar of lions and our Prince of peace’. Which of these images resonates best with your experience? What other images would you suggest for Jesus?