Tawa Baptist

Jesus’ Trial – Good Friday

Readings & Reflections on Jesus’ Trial from Luke 22:66-23:25

Good Friday is about the suffering & death of Jesus

–         It is the day Jesus’ suffering comes to a head

–         Jesus’ suffering was undeserved and yet he accepted it with humility & grace

 

Following Jesus’ agony and arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane he was taken away for a series of trials

–         After a night in the courtyard of the high priest, where he was mocked & beaten by the temple guards, Jesus was brought before the Jewish elders

–         We pick up the story from Luke chapter 22, verse 66

 

66 When day came, the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law met together, and Jesus was brought before the Council. 67 “Tell us,” they said, “are you the Messiah?”

He answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me; 68 and if I ask you a question, you will not answer. 69 But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right side of Almighty God.”

70 They all said, “Are you, then, the Son of God?”

He answered them, “You say that I am.”

71 And they said, “We don’t need any witnesses! We ourselves have heard what he said!”

 

Luke’s account places an emphasis on Jesus’ innocence

–         Despite all the miracles Jesus has performed and despite all the reasoning Jesus has provided, the Jewish Council refuse to believe that Jesus is God’s Messiah, their King

–         They have already made up their mind to kill Jesus and are simply gathering ammunition to use against him

 

Jesus knows this but he doesn’t deny his true identity to save himself

–         To the contrary he takes it a few steps further and essentially says he is a lot closer to the Almighty in heaven than they realise – at God’s right side no less

–         Jesus has intentionally played into their hands – he is embracing the suffering of the cross in obedience to God the Father

 

The Jewish Council can’t believe their luck, they think they have all the ammunition they need for a conviction of blasphemy

–         Blasphemy is when someone says or does something which shows contempt or disrespect for God – it was a really big deal to ancient Jews

–         Of course it’s only blasphemy if it’s not true & Jesus has spoken the truth

–         The irony is, the Jewish Council are the ones who are guilty of blasphemy – they have insulted God by rejecting His Son

 

The Jewish Council don’t have freedom to kill Jesus on their own terms, they have to get permission from Pilate, the Roman governor

–         Blasphemy is not a crime under Roman law but sedition is

–         If they can convince Pilate that Jesus is a rival king stirring up trouble then Pilate might agree to execute Jesus

–         But Pilate isn’t buying it – after questioning Jesus he concludes…

–         “I find no reason to condemn this man”

–         In Pilate’s estimation Jesus is innocent – but the Jewish Council insisted even more strongly so, to avoid responsibility, Pilate sent Jesus to Herod.

8 Herod was very pleased when he saw Jesus, because he had heard about him and had been wanting to see him for a long time. He was hoping to see Jesus perform some miracle. 9 So Herod asked Jesus many questions, but Jesus made no answer.

10 The chief priests and the teachers of the Law stepped forward and made strong accusations against Jesus. 11 Herod and his soldiers made fun of Jesus and treated him with contempt; then they put a fine robe on him and sent him back to Pilate.

 

Herod wanted to be entertained by Jesus

  • – He wanted Jesus to perform some miracle, like a party trick, but Jesus does not respond – in fact Jesus remains completely silent
  • – In the end Herod makes his own fun by dressing Jesus up in royal robes and mocking him
  • – Clearly Herod does not believe Jesus is a threat
  • – As far as Herod is concerned the Jewish Council’s charges of sedition are a joke and Jesus is innocent

 

Pilate is different to Herod – Pilate is more professional, more respectful. Pilate has a conscience. From verse 13 read…

13 Pilate called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, 14 and said to them, “You brought this man to me and said that he was misleading the people. Now, I have examined him here in your presence, and I have not found him guilty of any of the crimes you accuse him of. 15 Nor did Herod find him guilty, for he sent him back to us. There is nothing this man has done to deserve death. 16 So I will have him whipped and let him go.”

18 The whole crowd cried out, “Kill him! Set Barabbas free for us!” (19 Barabbas had been put in prison for a riot that had taken place in the city, and for murder.)

20 Pilate wanted to set Jesus free, so he appealed to the crowd again. 21 But they shouted back, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

22 Pilate said to them the third time, “But what crime has he committed? I cannot find anything he has done to deserve death! I will have him whipped and set him free.”

23 But they kept on shouting at the top of their voices that Jesus should be crucified, and finally their shouting succeeded. 24 So Pilate passed the sentence on Jesus that they were asking for.

 

Clearly Jesus was innocent – consequently Pilate did his best to see justice was done by releasing Jesus, but he failed (despite multiple attempts)

  • – Although Jesus could have defended himself he didn’t – Jesus chose instead to embrace the cross in obedience to God

The Jewish Council treated Jesus with open hostility

  • – Herod didn’t take Jesus seriously
  • – And Pilate tried to save Jesus
  • – But Jesus accepted his suffering with humility & grace

 

Let us pray…

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, when taken away you did not resist

When mocked and falsely accused you remained silent

When questioned as to your identity you responded with truth

When condemned you did not justify yourself

When we face injustice grant us wisdom to know when to speak and when to be silent

And when we collude with injustice grant us the conscience to repent

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God have mercy on us. Amen.

 

Questions for discussion or reflection

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

2.)    What does Luke emphasise in his account of Jesus’ trial?

–         How does Luke do this?

3.)    What temptations do you think Jesus may have faced during his trial(s) on Good Friday?

4.)    Jesus did not deny his true identity to save himself. Why do you think Jesus gave the Jewish Council the ammunition they needed to condemn him?

5.)    What is blasphemy?

–         How did the Jewish Council (and Herod) unwittingly commit blasphemy?

–         What are some of the ways that blasphemy might express itself today?

6.)    Why do you think Jesus had nothing to say to Herod?

–         When is it right for us to speak up and when is it right to remain silent?

7.)    Jesus embraced the suffering of the cross because it was God’s will for him. How might we know when suffering is God’s will for us and when it isn’t?

8.)   The Jewish Council treated Jesus with open hostility, Herod didn’t take Jesus seriously and Pilate tried to save Jesus. None of these are ideal responses to Jesus. Can you think of some other better responses?

 

Tawa Baptist

A New Generation

Scripture: Luke 9:1-10

Title: A New Generation

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Jesus creates a new generation
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Over the past couple of weeks we have been working through a sermon series for the Tranzsend Self Denial campaign called Made New

–         Jesus came to make all things new and that newness begins with the initiative of the Holy Spirit

–         Last week we heard how Jesus gives us a new perspective

–         Today we conclude the Self Denial series by looking at how Jesus creates a new generation  

Please turn with me to Luke chapter 9, verse 1 – page 89 toward the back of your pew Bibles

–         In today’s reading we hear how Jesus empowers the new generation of his disciples to heal the sick and preach the gospel

–         From Luke 9, verses 1-10 we read…

Jesus called the twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases. 2 Then he sent them out to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick, 3 after saying to them, “Take nothing with you for the trip: no walking stick, no beggar’s bag, no food, no money, not even an extra shirt. 4 Wherever you are welcomed, stay in the same house until you leave that town; 5 wherever people don’t welcome you, leave that town and shake the dust off your feet as a warning to them.” 6 The disciples left and traveled through all the villages, preaching the Good News and healing people everywhere.

7 When Herod, the ruler of Galilee, heard about all the things that were happening, he was very confused, because some people were saying that John the Baptist had come back to life. 8 Others were saying that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago had come back to life. 9 Herod said, “I had John’s head cut off; but who is this man I hear these things about?” And he kept trying to see Jesus.

10 The apostles came back and told Jesus everything they had done. He took them with him, and they went off by themselves to a town named Bethsaida.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

Jesus creates a new generation:

We are talking this morning about how Jesus creates a new generation, but what do we mean by the word generation

–         Well, as a verb (a doing word) generation means producing something or bringing something into being

–         As in generating power or producing a crop or getting a project underway

 

But as a noun (a naming word) generation refers to a group or cohort of people born about the same time

–         As in generation X or baby boomers or millennials

 

We see both senses of this word generation in our reading from Luke 9 this morning

–         By empowering the disciples and sending them out to heal & preach Jesus is generating something new, he is creating a new movement

–         Also the disciples represent a new generation of God’s people

–         Just as there were twelve tribes of Israel, so too there are twelve disciples representing a new generation of leadership

 

Jesus does a number of things to create this new generation

–         Firstly he calls the disciples – inviting them to leave their old lives and follow him, learn from him, become his apprentices

–         We read how Jesus called his first disciples in Luke 5

 

Then, once Jesus has called the new generation, he shows them what to do by his own example – Jesus gives the disciples a model of how to do ministry

–         When we think of education we might think of sitting in a class room but the disciples learned by being with Jesus 24-7

–         Prior to Luke 9 the disciples have been following Jesus around everywhere, looking & listening, soaking up his way of doing things

–         I call this the tea bag approach to learning – Jesus’ example is like a tea bag and the disciples are like the water

–         As the disciples spend time with Jesus his way of doing things is infused into them, like tea is infused into water

–         This kind of learning happens without us necessarily being aware of it

–         The next generation (the children in our midst) are having our example infused into them, so we need to be careful of the model we provide

 

In Luke 9 Jesus takes the next step in creating this new generation of leadership

–         At this point the disciples have a clear picture in their mind of what preaching & healing the Jesus’ way looks like but they haven’t actually done it themselves

–         They know it in their head but they don’t yet know it in their hands

 

Last Tuesday night 14 of us gathered in the church lounge to learn how to operate the defibrillator

–         Amy from the Wellington Free Ambulance explained some procedures to us and then demonstrated on a manikin what to do if someone has a cardiac arrest (if their heart stops)

–         After showing us by her example, Amy then got each of us to practice on a manikin as well

–         It’s one thing to watch someone demonstrate a certain technique

–         It’s quite another to actually do 100 chest compressions a minute for over 2 minutes – watching and doing are quite different

 

Having shown his disciples what to do Jesus then gives them the opportunity to have a go themselves

–         But before sending them out Jesus first sets them up to succeed by giving them power & authority over demons & disease

–         No point in taking a knife to a gun fight – I imagine Jesus wants his disciples to have some wins, to get some runs on the board, because that will help generate confidence

 

Power & authority aren’t exactly the same thing although they often go together

–         Power is the ability to do something while authority is the permission or license to do it

–         I might have the power to drive a bus because I have the key but I don’t have authority to drive unless I have a license

–         I might have the power to cut down a tree because I have a chainsaw but I don’t have authority to cut it down unless it’s on my property

–         Jesus deputises his disciples with both the ability to drive out demons & heal disease as well as the license to do it

 

Demons are a manifestation of spiritual evil (the minions of Satan if you like) and disease is a manifestation of physical evil

–         What we observe here is that Jesus has jurisdiction over both the spiritual realm and the physical realm – there is nothing beyond Jesus’ reach

 

We also observe that Jesus shares his power & authority with those he trusts

–         Jesus doesn’t do it all himself, he uses a team approach

–         At the defibrillator training the other night Amy underlined the importance of using a team approach

–         You don’t try to do everything yourself – you get someone to ring 111 while you do chest compressions and you line up one or two others to help you do the chest compressions like a tag team

–         Later in Luke’s gospel we read how Jesus sends out the 72 in pairs

–         By using a team approach Jesus creates a new culture of cooperation & partnership, in contrast to the old culture of competition & one-up-man-ship – the new generation has a new culture

 

Another thing we notice is that Jesus gives the new generation a new focus and a new purpose

–         The old generation had been focused on things like politics and money and military might, because those things enable one to control people

–         But Jesus doesn’t give his disciples power & authority to control people

–         Rather he gives them power & authority to drive out demons & disease

–         Therefore Jesus’ focus, and the focus of the new generation, is to set people free from the forces of evil – both physical & spiritual

 

Most people have no difficulty understanding what is meant by physical disease – science has provided helpful insights into physical illness

–         Unfortunately we don’t understand as much about spiritual dis-ease

–         Demons are beyond the reach of science – in fact a lot people today would want to deny the existence of spiritual forces

–         However, just because we can’t look at it under a microscope doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist

 

When I was about 15 I was asked to sit in on an exorcism and provide prayer support (because you don’t do an exorcism on your own).

–         I was a relatively new Christian at that stage

–         The woman was having the exorcism because she had been a witch, part of a coven and all that goes with that

–         Witchcraft is the opposite of setting people free – witchcraft is about controlling or manipulating people

–         The sad reality is that when we seek to control or manipulate others we open the door to forces of evil that end up controlling us

–         At first this woman appeared quite normal – you wouldn’t know she was any different from anyone else

–         But as we started praying her behaviour changed – strange stuff happened to her, stuff she wasn’t in control of, stuff I can’t explain

 

I went away from that experience realising that demons are real – there are forces at work which we don’t understand and often aren’t even aware of

–         But we do not need to be afraid – Jesus has defeated Satan

–         If we have trusted our lives to Christ, if we have placed ourselves under his Lordship, then we are under his protection

 

We talked a couple of weeks ago about the human spirit being like a cup and the Spirit of God being like communion wine or fresh clean water

–         If the cup of our human spirit was designed to hold the water or wine of God’s Holy Spirit then we could say that demons (or evil spirits) are like dirty water or poison in the cup of our human spirit

–         To caste out a demon then is to clean out the cup of our spirit – to remove the dirty water, extract the poison, sort of like vomiting removes a stomach bug

–         Science can find cures for many physical diseases but only Jesus has the cure for what ails us spiritually

 

Now in talking about the spiritual realm and the physical realm, demons & disease, I don’t mean to imply a false dichotomy

–         While the spiritual & the physical are different by definition, they are not separate or mutually exclusive

–         There is some kind of inter-relationship between the spirit and the body

–         I’m not going to say much more about that relationship because I’m not sure I really understand it – for me it is in the realm of mystery

 

The other thing I want to say is that medical science doesn’t stand in opposition to Jesus, nor in isolation from him

–         Historically speaking science owes its existence to Jesus and the church

–         As I see it medical research to cure disease can be as much a part of God’s work of healing as the laying on of hands in prayer

–         Jesus takes a team approach – he often uses both doctors and our prayers to heal people

 

Take cataract operations for example

–         If left untreated cataracts can make a person go blind

–         They didn’t have cataract operations in Jesus’ day (that we know of) so Jesus simply healed by saying a word

–         Later in history God gave us the knowledge we needed to safely remove cataracts and restore people’s sight – that’s the sort of thing we would expect to happen under the reign of God.

–         These days thousands of cataract operations are performed every year, so it doesn’t seem miraculous to us anymore – it seems routine & mundane

–         We still pray for someone when they have a cataract operation though because we are depending on God, not just the surgeon

–         We acknowledge that healing comes from God and God is free to heal however he wants, whether that’s through science & doctors or in some other way – nothing is beyond Jesus’ reach

 

We also acknowledge that God is free not to heal

–         So if we pray with sincerity and in good faith for God to heal and nothing happens, it is no reflection on us or our prayers

–         It just means God has said ‘no’ on this occasion

–         God said ‘no’ to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus prayed to avoid suffering

–         God had a far bigger purpose in mind – the redemption of creation

 

In Luke 9, Jesus empowers his disciples to heal disease and exorcise demons because it served the immediate purpose of setting people free, as well as the bigger purpose of showing people that the Kingdom of God was near and had in fact arrived in the person of Jesus

 

I think it was C.S. Lewis who said, ‘Miracles are for beginners’

–         When we are just starting out, when we don’t yet know Jesus, miracles can serve the purpose of making us aware that Jesus is the real deal, he’s not fake or an imposter – miracles can ignite faith, get it started

–         But once we accept Jesus by faith the miracles are no longer necessary – just as sign posts are no longer necessary once you have reached your destination, or matches are no longer necessary once you have lit the fire

–         Yes, miracles are nice to have and God still does miracles today, even if we might take them for granted, but they are not the main thing

–         Jesus is the main thing, the Kingdom of God is the main thing

–         God doesn’t want us to rely on miracles, he wants us to rely on Christ

 

So if Jesus and the Kingdom of God are the main thing what does it mean then to preach the Kingdom of God, as the disciples are instructed in verse 2?

 

Well, the Kingdom of God refers to the reign of God, as in the government of God. The kingdom of God is what life is like when God is in charge

–      When God is in charge we have justice & mercy, we have truth & grace, we have healing & deliverance, we have peace & joy, we have freedom – not freedom to do what we want, but freedom to do God’s will, freedom with righteousness and we have abundant life

 

In verses 7-9 of Luke 9 we read about Herod, the ruler of Galilee

–         The reign of Herod stands in stark contrast to the reign of God

–         Under Herod, righteous men like John the Baptist were beheaded

–         Herod would later involve himself in the plot to kill Jesus

–         But under God’s reign there is justice so that Jesus (& those who belong to him) are resurrected to eternal life while Herod reaps what he has sown

–         In Acts 12, verse 3 we read how an angel of the Lord struck Herod down and he was eaten by worms

 

The disciples were sent to preach the Kingdom of God – to tell people that God’s reign was beginning – and that was good news for those who were oppressed by evil

 

One of the things we notice here is that Jesus sent his disciples throughout the villages of Galilee

–         Villages indicates smaller settlements, as opposed to the more populated cities – we might imagine villages to be the sorts of places most people pass through on their way to somewhere else

–         And the region of Galilee was considered a bit inferior, at least by those in Judea & Jerusalem

–         The poor in the villages of Galilee are visited by Jesus and his disciples, while Herod the ruler misses out

–         So this is a case of the last being first and the first being last

–         On this occasion Jesus sent his disciples to the least on the margins, before sending them to the greatest at the centre

 

Last Thursday Sarah Harris, a lecturer from Carey College, came to Wellington to speak to a group of Baptist pastors, and over lunch she told us a true story

–         A couple of years ago Sarah arranged a trip to Israel and on this trip there was a woman who was hearing impaired, practically deaf

–         The woman wasn’t sure about going, she was anxious about whether she would fit in – being deaf you tend to miss out on a lot of the conversation

–         Anyway one day on the trip they paused at a certain holy place for a while before moving on

–         Later that evening the woman said to Sarah, wasn’t that beautiful music we heard earlier today (presumably the woman had some hearing)

–         And Sarah replied, what do you mean? There was no music.

–         Yes there was – it was like nothing I had ever heard before

–         Sarah said again, we didn’t hear any music

–         Then the woman said, so you’re saying that I was the only one in the group who heard music and yet I’m deaf?

–         At that moment they both realised God had done something quite special just for her. She was deeply touched and her anxiety was relieved

 

God didn’t permanently heal the woman’s deafness, she was still hearing impaired, but he did let her hear a small sample of his Kingdom

–         It was like God was saying to her, my Kingdom is coming and this is what it sounds like

–         I expect no one appreciates the sound of heaven more than someone who is deaf

–         The disciples’ short term mission trip was giving people a taste, a glimpse, of the reign of God (this is what’s like when God is in charge)

 

One of the striking things in Luke 9 is the paradox of power & vulnerability

–         On the one hand the disciples are given incredible power, to cast out demons and cure disease, but at the same time Jesus says to them,

–         “Take nothing with you for the journey: no stick, no beggar’s bag, no food, no money, not even an extra shirt. Wherever you are welcomed, stay in the same house until you leave that town; wherever people don’t welcome you, leave that town and shake the dust off your feet as a warning to them.”

 

Jesus has called his disciples

–         He has given them an example to follow,

–         And he’s given them power & authority to do the job – to set people free

–         Now he gives the new generation wise advice specific to this situation

 

By telling the disciples to travel light Jesus is saying, go in weakness, make yourselves vulnerable

–         To be vulnerable is to be exposed to the possibility of harm – to be in need of protection, care or support. The disciples went without a staff to protect themselves and with no money to pay for lodgings or food. They were are the mercy of strangers. They were vulnerable.

Vulnerability protects against the corrupting influence of power

–         They say, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”

–         But when we find ourselves in a position of needing others’ help we are less inclined to abuse our power or misuse it for selfish ends

–         Yes, the disciples have power to deliver and heal but the people to whom they come also have power – power to welcome & provide, or not

–         The disciples go to help people in need, having needs of their own

–         This sort of power with vulnerability fosters interdependence (or reliance on each other) and interdependence has a way of distributing power

 

It’s like Jesus is saying:

–         Don’t abuse the power I’m giving you by shopping around for the best accommodation in town, honour your host by staying in the first home that welcomes you

–         Don’t abuse your power by retaliating against those who reject you – don’t make a big fuss, just quietly dust your feet off as a warning against them and leave judgement in God’s hands

 

Jesus is the very picture of vulnerability both at Christmas and at Easter

–         Born in a stable to poor parents during a time of violence

–         Becoming a refugee to escape the sword of Herod

–         Growing up under Roman occupation

–         Coming from Nazareth where it was presumed nothing good was found

–         Being misunderstood by those he came to save

–         Then being nailed to a cross, naked & bleeding, for all the world to see

–         The vulnerability of Christ has the power to open the human heart

 

It should be noted that Jesus’ advice to travel light was for a particular short term mission situation and doesn’t necessarily apply for all time

–         Later in Luke chapter 22, Jesus says to his disciples…

–         When I sent you without purse bag or sandals, did you lack anything?

–         “Nothing” they answered

–         He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one…”

–         Travelling light is not always the right approach – different situations call for different strategies

 

In verse 10 we read how Jesus cares for his disciples by taking them away by themselves to debrief and refresh – a sort of spiritual retreat I suppose

–         Jesus is teaching the disciples to care for themselves

–         Alongside self-denial we also need self-care

–         We can’t be on the job all the time, we need to have a break every now & then so we don’t burn out

–         The new generation is not a disposable object to be thrashed & thrown away – Jesus wants his disciples to go the distance

 

Conclusion:

This morning we have heard how Jesus went about creating a new generation to lead God’s people

–         This new generation of disciples wasn’t just a carbon copy of the old one

–         The new generation has a new culture, a new approach and a new purpose

–         The culture is one of team work and cooperation

–         The approach involves power with vulnerability

–         And the purpose is setting people free to enter God’s kingdom

 

Questions for discussion or reflection

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

2.)    What do we mean by the word generation?

3.)    How does Jesus go about creating a new generation to lead God’s people?

4.)    What example are we setting for the next generation?

5.)    Jesus gave his disciples power & authority to drive out all demons and to cure disease

–         What do we observe from this? (What does this tell us?)

6.)    Why do you think Jesus told his disciples to take nothing with them (to travel light) on their journey?

7.)    Has God ever showed you a glimpse of his Kingdom? What happened?

8.)    In what ways is Jesus’ new generation different?

–         (Think culture, approach & purpose)

9.)    How is the balance in your life between self-denial & self-care?

–         What strategies do you have for looking after yourself?

10.)       Take some time this week to reflect on the vulnerability of Christ

 

https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/18-march-2018-a-new-generation

 

Tawa Baptist

God’s Justice

Scripture: Genesis 18:16-33

Title: God’s Justice

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • God’s friend
  • God’s justice
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

This morning we continue our series on Abraham by focusing on Genesis chapter 18, verses 16-33

  • – Last week we heard how Abraham provided hospitality to the Lord and two of his angels – Abraham was fully present to the Lord
  • – This week God engages his friend Abraham in a conversation about justice. From Genesis 18, verse 16 we read…

When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.

For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”

The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?” “If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”

Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?”

He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”

Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?” He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?”

He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”

Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”

He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”

When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

 

It’s interesting that the writer of Genesis chose to explore the idea of God’s justice within the context of a conversation with God’s friend, Abraham

 

God’s Friend:

This weekend we’ve been looking after a dog

–         They say a dog is man’s best friend and it is generally true

–         In many ways dogs embody the essential elements of friendship

–         Once a dog gets to know you they like being with you, they give you affection and they remain loyal to you

 

According to the Collins Concise Dictionary a friend ‘is a person known well to another and regarded with liking, affection and loyalty’ [1]

–         This definition tells us there are 4 elements to friendship

–         Knowing, liking, affection and loyalty

–         You really need all four elements for it to be true friendship

 

The kind of knowing that is in view here is not just knowing facts about the other person but the deep knowing that comes with sharing life together

–         Knowing someone intimately, understanding how they think, experiencing both good times and bad with them

–         But simply knowing someone well, isn’t enough for friendship – you also need to like that person

 

Liking is about enjoying or appreciating the other person, spending time with them because you want to, not because you have to

–         We don’t always understand why we like someone, we just do

 

Affection has to do with feelings and it comes from the value we place on that person

–         If we really care about someone we will be affected by what’s happening for them

–         If they are happy it will cheer us up & if they are hurting it will trouble us

 

Loyalty is about what we do – it’s our actions that reveal our true loyalty

–         A friend sticks by you through thick & thin

–         A friend has your back in a fight, they align themselves with your cause

–         Unless of course you are off track and then they will speak the truth to you and get (gently) get you back on track

 

So a true friend (not just the Facebook kind) is someone who knows you well

–         Someone who likes being with you

–         Someone who is affected by you so they feel stuff you’re going through

–         And someone who is loyal – they are there for you when it counts

 

By that definition most of us wouldn’t have a lot of friends but that’s okay because you only need one or two

 

Our reading today begins with Abraham walking along with the Lord God and two angels, in the form of men

–         Abraham doesn’t have to do this but he apparently wants to

–         He likes being with God and wants to spend time with him

 

As they are walking along enjoying each other’s company God says (as if thinking aloud), “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?”

–         (After all friends confide in each other)

–         Then the Lord goes on to say of Abraham, “For I have chosen him…”

 

This is a paraphrase – the original Hebrew actually says, “I have known him…” meaning ‘I have made him my friend’ [2] or ‘I have chosen him to be my friend’

–         The Lord is saying here that Abraham is his friend – he knows Abraham well (or intimately) from years of experience with him and it’s because they are friends that God lets Abraham know what he’s planning

 

In John 15 Jesus talks about friendship in a similar way with his disciples…

–         I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love one another.

 

Friends know each other and trust each other enough to share what they know

 

The story is told of a wealthy businessman who was driven to Wall Street every morning in a shiny black limousine by a chauffer

–         The chauffer was an intelligent man – he loved to read and had in fact taken the job as a driver so that he would have more time to read

–         There was a sound proof window inside the car to give the passengers privacy from the driver but this particular businessman always left the window down – he knew his driver from way back and he liked him

–         In this way the chauffer could hear his master’s business – what his boss was buying and selling on the stock exchange

–         Although he didn’t have a great deal of money to start with he used what he had to buy what his boss was buying

–         And when he heard his boss selling shares, he sold them too

–         Over time the chauffer became a millionaire all because his boss treated him like a friend and not an employee

 

Returning to Genesis 18, the Lord says…

–         “I have known him (or chosen him to be my friend) so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just…”

–         That sounds like loyalty to me

–         When we do what is right & just then we align ourselves with God’s cause, we prove ourselves his loyal friends

 

Righteousness & justice are closely related but they are not exactly the same thing

–         A righteous person lives in a way that promotes the life or well-being of everyone in the community

–         While a just person restores broken community, especially by punishing the oppressor and delivering the oppressed [3]

–         Righteousness is an on-going pattern or rhythm of living

–         Whereas justice is more of a singular action to right a wrong

 

Righteousness is like eating healthy & not smoking to reduce the risk of heart disease

–         Justice is like bypass surgery on the heart

 

Righteousness is not drinking and driving

–         Justice is taking the keys and license away from a drunk driver

 

Righteousness is buying fair trade goods

–         Justice is locking up slave traders

 

Righteousness is recycling and being careful with water use

–         Justice is killing opossums and fining water polluters

 

God’s true friends are loyal to him

–         God knows us (as friends) by whether we do what is right & just

–         We are God’s friends if we love one another

 

Abraham was God’s friend and as God’s friend he shared God’s concern for righteousness and justice

–         Just as God was affected by injustice, so too Abraham was affected

 

God’s Justice:

There is something in us as human beings that needs justice

–         I suspect it is the residue or imprint of God’s image in us

–         Injustice creates a hunger that must be satisfied

–         There are so many crime & murder mystery TV shows

–         I think we watch these not because we like violence but because we like to see justice done – the resolution satisfies something in our soul

 

From verse 20 we read…

–         Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.” The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.

 

We notice at least three aspects of God’s justice in this verse

–         Firstly, when something is wrong God takes action to fix it

–         God doesn’t ignore the outcry of those who are suffering – he has compassion and cares enough to do something about it

–         Secondly, God goes down to see the situation for himself, first hand

–         God’s justice is evidence based – he doesn’t act on gossip or hearsay

–         Thirdly, God sends two objective witnesses (angels) to verify the facts

 

These verses don’t specify the nature of the sin of Sodom & Gomorrah

–         They simply say that the outcry against them was great and their sin grievous

–         This probably means they oppressed others and were guilty of a host of injustices – their sin wasn’t just one thing

–         The prophet Ezekiel confirms this view when he writes…

 

This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them when I saw it.

 

It appears the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were violent consumerists

–         They were rich at the expense of others, not for the benefit of others

–         They took what they wanted when they wanted, without regard to God or the well-being of the community – the opposite of righteousness

 

After the two men (or angels) had left to check out the situation in Sodom, Abraham stands before the Lord, or (as the original text reads) the Lord stands before Abraham

–         ­Abraham is God’s friend and God wants to talk about this decision with his friend, because that’s what friends do

 

Now at this point God hasn’t actually talked about destroying Sodom & Gomorrah – he’s told Abraham that he’s heard bad things and is going to check it out for himself

 

Abraham is the one who raises the possibility of destruction saying…

  • – “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? … Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike…

 

This little dialogue continues to explore the nature of God’s justice

  • – Abraham is probing God to understand God’s justice better
  • – One of Abraham’s concerns is, will the righteous be treated the same way as the wicked? Will the righteous be collateral damage?
  • – And God’s answer is ‘no’
  • – The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

 

While we were on holiday a few weeks ago we went for a walk through the Mamaku Forest near Rotorua – beautiful native bush

  • – What we noticed on our walk were these little devices for killing rats and possums and other pests and predators
  • – The really cool thing about these devices is that they target the culprits without doing harm to the innocent
  • – There is no collateral damage with these, unlike poisons which can end up killing the good with the bad
  • – God’s justice is like this trap – it only targets the guilty

 

Abraham’s questioning of God is also trying to discover whether there is room for mercy & redemption in God’s justice?

  • – Can the fate of the wicked be determined by the behaviour of the righteous?
  • – Would God spare the city for a time to see if a righteous minority could turn things around?
  • – And God’s answer is ‘Yes, there is room for mercy & redemption’

 

The rest of the chapter has Abraham pursuing the question of how small the minority of righteous people can be before God would destroy the city

  • – 45? 30? 20? 10?
  • – “This is an important issue for Abraham to explore because his family is to be that righteous minority among the nations” [4]
  • – And God answers, ‘For the sake of 10 I will not destroy it’
  • – God’s justice is very merciful indeed

 

As we shall see in the coming weeks not even 10 righteous people could be found, but God in his grace remembered his friend Abraham and rescued Lot.

 

Conclusion:

This morning we heard about God’s friendship with Abraham and we’ve explored some of the dimensions of God’s justice

The destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah serves as a paradigm for God’s justice

  • – The Lord does not ignore injustice – he is affected by the cries of the oppressed and has compassion on them
  • – God investigates the situation himself and ensures at least two objective witnesses to establish the facts
  • – He doesn’t act unilaterally or in isolation – the Lord involves his faithful ones (like Abraham) in making his judgement
  • – God’s justice differentiates between the righteous and the wicked – the fate of the righteous is not determined by the wicked
  • – To the contrary, God in his grace allows time for the righteous minority to have a redeeming effect on the world around them

 

Jesus said to disciples, ‘You are the salt of the earth’ – meaning (among other things) you are the redeeming minority if you do what is right & just.

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

2.)    Why do you think the writer of Genesis chose to explore the idea of God’s justice within the context of a conversation with God’s friend, Abraham?

3.)    Discuss the four elements of friendship: knowing, liking, affection & loyalty

–         What other elements might we find in true friendship?

4.)    What proves our loyalty to (or friendship with) Jesus? (Hint, read John 15:12-17)

5.)    What is the difference between righteousness and justice?

6.)    What was the sin of Sodom & Gomorrah?

7.)    Discuss the different facets of God’s justice as revealed in Abraham’s conversation with the Lord. (See the conclusion for a summary of these facets)

8.)    Take some time this week to consider what it means to be a redeeming minority

 

[1] Collins Concise English Dictionary, page 509

[2] Derek Kidner, Genesis, page 132

[3] Bruce Waltke, Genesis, page 269

[4] John Walton, NIVAC Genesis, page 483.

Tawa Baptist

Something old, something new…

Christmas Day Message – 25th December 2017

There is an old rhyme often quoted in reference to a bride on her wedding day

–         The tradition is to give the bride…

–         Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue

Something old represents continuity with the past

–         Something new speaks of change and making a fresh start

–         Something borrowed represents the joy or energy we borrow from hope

–         And something blue stands for purity, love, and fidelity

This saying: Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, seems to sum up the Christmas story

 

Now when we talk about something old we mean something valuable that lasts, something with history, like a family heirloom

–         For example, a bride on her wedding day may receive a piece of jewellery from her mother which has been handed down through the generations

–         To receive something old is to be trusted with something priceless

–         It is not old in the sense of being broken down or obsolete

–         It’s old in the sense of being original and resilient

Something old is seen in the opening verses of John’s gospel, where John writes: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

Jesus is the Word of God

–         He has always been with God even before time existed

–         So Jesus, the Word of God, is very old indeed

–         But not old in a broken down or out of date kind of way

–         Old in the best sense of that word

–         Jesus is the original word of God, he has history from the beginning

–         He is timeless, classic, tried & true – his oldness speaks of his resilience and priceless value

John’s gospel was written in Greek and the Greeks have at least two ways of expressing the term Word

–         Rhema (as in Radio Rhema) which refers to the spoken word

–         And Logos (from which we get the term logic) which refers to the unspoken word, the thought in one’s mind before it is spoken

John uses the term Logos to describe Jesus

–         Jesus is the logic of God – the inner word of God

–         Or to put it another way, Jesus shows us how God thinks – with grace & truth

 

As well as being something old, Jesus also brings something new   

–         In fact, Jesus came to make all things new

Most of you would have received something new for Christmas

–         Perhaps a new cell phone or a bicycle or a new dress or a pair of socks, which is fine, we need to replace stuff like that from time to time

–         But those kinds of new commodities soon wear out, they lose their shine, become obsolete and have to be replaced by something else new

–         The kind of newness that Jesus brings is a lasting newness – it’s not a newness that loses its gloss or has to be replaced again next Christmas

John 1, verse 4 reads…

–         In him was life and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.

Light and life go together

–         Light is the foundation of life – light sustains life, it keeps things alive

–         John is saying that Jesus is the source of life & light – Jesus has the power to sustain eternal life

–         So the newness Jesus brings does not wear out or become obsolete

If light & life go together then it follows that darkness relates to death

–         There is a shadow side to Christmas and the shadow is cast by death

–         For some reason (at this time of year) we are often more aware of what we don’t have

–         We feel more sharply the loss of those we love who have died and so Christmas is tinged with sadness

–         The light of Jesus’ life is stronger than the darkness of death

–         The newness that Jesus brings is a lasting newness, it won’t die

–         When God’s kingdom is realised in its fullness there will be no more tears, no more sorrow, no more death

 

Something old, something new, something borrowed…

–         The something borrowed, for a bride, is happiness or joy

–         Joy is an energy, a power, a force which comes from hope

–         Hope is like the wind – you can’t own the wind but you can borrow its energy

Or to use another analogy, hope is like a wave on the ocean – you can’t own a wave but you can borrow its energy to ride the wave, like a surfer

–         Joy is that positive energy borrowed from the wave of hope

–         We can’t own hope but we can ride it

–         Newlyweds borrow joy & happiness from their hope for the future, riding that hope like a surfer rides a wave

Like any powerful force hope can be dangerous

–         If we get hope wrong – if we misplace our hope (put all our hope in the wrong things) then it can crush us and leave us in the pit of despair

In Luke chapter 2 an angel appears to some shepherds as they watch their flocks by night. The angel says to the shepherds…

–         Do not be afraid. [Don’t be anxious.] I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. 

Jesus embodies the hope of salvation for all people and the shepherds rode the wave of that hope – they couldn’t contain their joy, spreading the good news that the Saviour of the world was born

There is so much anxiety and depression in our society today

–         Most of us don’t really want stuff for Christmas

–         We just want to be free of worry – to be happy, to enjoy life

–         We want to know that our kids are going to be okay

–         We want to know that our parents are going to be okay

–         We want to know that we are going to be okay

–         What we really want are those things that can’t be bought with money, things like peace & joy

–         In Jesus we find a hope that can be relied on – and from that hope we borrow the positive energy of joy to carry us through

 

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue

–         Blue stands for purity, love and fidelity

–         Fidelity is a word that means faithfulness or loyalty

–         You give a bride something blue as a symbol of the pure and faithful love between a husband & wife

 

The Christmas story is a story of purity, love and fidelity

–         Mary, the mother of Jesus was the picture of purity – she was a virgin and she conceived Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit

–         Joseph, the fiancé of Mary (and a step father to Jesus) was the picture of fidelity – when he discovered that Mary was pregnant he decided to break off the engagement quietly so as not to embarrass her

–         But when an angel appeared to him in a dream explaining the situation he stuck by Mary and married her, such was his loyal love for Mary & God

 

Mary & Joseph bring something blue – a pure and faithful love

–         The quality of Mary & Joseph’s relationship points to the faithfulness & purity of God’s love for us in Christ

 

Christmas is a time to celebrate the gift of God’s Son, Jesus

–         With the gift of Jesus comes something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue

 

Let us pray

–         I will pray the words in the plain type and I invite you to respond with the words in bold italics…

Jesus, you are the logic of God, older than time itself. You are the most worthy, the most valuable, the most priceless gift of all…

–         Help us to receive and honour you

Jesus, you came to make all things new. In you is the light of life, more powerful than the darkness of death…

–         Fill us with the life of your Spirit

Jesus, you are our hope of salvation. Forgive us for the times when we misplace our hope. Save us from anxiety and despair…

–         Carry us in your peace & joy 

Jesus, you embody the love of God, faithful & pure. You are committed to the well-being of all creation with a goodness beyond compare…

–          Make us loyal to you Jesus. Amen.

Tawa Baptist

Good News

Scripture: Isaiah 61:1-4 & 8-11

Title: Good news

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Messiah – jubilee
  • Yahweh – justice
  • Redeemed – joy
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

This morning’s sermon is based on the lectionary reading for today, Isaiah 61, verses 1-4 and verses 8-11. In today’s reading we hear three voices:

–         The voice of the Messiah, proclaiming jubilee, in verses 1-4

–         The voice of Yahweh, affirming his justice, in verses 8-9

–         And the voice of the redeemed, expressing their joy, in verses 10-11

–         Jubilee, justice and joy. From Isaiah 61 we read…

 

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendour. 4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.

8 “For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and wrongdoing. In my faithfulness I will reward my people and make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the Lord has blessed.” 10 I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

 

Good news is a relative term – what passes as good news for one person can be bad news for someone else

–         It depends on your perspective and on where your loyalties lie

 

The Black Caps’ recent test series win over West Indies was good news if you are a Black Caps supporter, but not good news if you support the West Indies

–         If house prices go down then that’s good news if you are a first home buyer but bad news if you’ve only just bought a new home

–         We could go on but you get the point, generally in our society today, one person’s good news is another person’s bad news

 

The other thing to say here is that sometimes what appears to be bad news at first, actually turns out to be good news in the long run

–         Maybe you miss out on a promotion at work and it feels like bad news at the time

–         But then 6 months later the organisation gets a new CEO and she restructures everything so the job you missed out on gets disestablished – had you got the job you’d be out of work now

–         Or maybe you have an overseas holiday planned but for some reason you are prevented from going

–         It seems like bad news at the time until a few days later you learn that the resort you had booked to stay in was flattened by a Tsunami

–         Sometimes what seems like bad news at first, turns out to be good news

 

The message of Isaiah 61 is good news for the righteous poor – but is it good news for anyone else? We’ll have to see

 

Messiah – jubilee:

Verses 1-4 are the voice of the Messiah proclaiming jubilee

 

Messiah is a Hebrew word which literally means ‘anointed one’

–         Priests in Old Testament times would be anointed with oil as a sign of their consecration and commissioning as priests

–         Likewise when a king was chosen to lead the nation God would send his prophet to pour oil on the king’s head as a sign that the one being anointed was God’s choice to lead Israel

–         (The prophet Samuel anointed Saul to be king and then later David)

 

We know it is the voice of the Messiah speaking in the opening verses of Isaiah 61 because he says…

–         The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor… to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour

 

The ‘year of the Lord’s favour’ is most likely a reference to the year of Jubilee

–         Under Jewish Law every 50 years was a special anniversary when everyone returned to their ancestral land

–         It was a sabbatical year – which means the people didn’t sow or reap crops, they simply ate what grew by itself in the fields and had a holiday for 12 months – sounds fantastic doesn’t it

–         Slaves were set free, debts were forgiven and land was redistributed so that any gap between the rich and poor was eliminated – everyone went back to an even footing

 

The year of Jubilee was good news if you were poor because it meant redemption and restoration – you got the family farm back with a fresh start and a clean slate

–         Obviously if you were rich it meant giving back some of the wealth you had accumulated during the past 50 years

–         It’s not that the rich became poor – they just went back to being like everyone else again

 

Now that might seem unfair to us, because we are immersed in a capitalist society where price is driven by demand & supply

–         House prices have gone up in NZ because the demand for houses is greater than the supply

–         But in ancient Israel the value of land wasn’t driven by demand

–         In ancient Israel the value of land was determined by the number of years remaining to Jubilee, when the land would return to its original owner

–         So, if there were 5 years left to Jubilee you only paid half as much as you would 10 years out from Jubilee

–         In effect this means you weren’t buying land to own forever, you were leasing it for a fixed period of time

–         Price was determined by time (not demand) – a much fairer system

 

So was the year of Jubilee bad news then if you were rich?

–         Well, it depends on your perspective and where your loyalty lies

–         If you were the kind of rich person who loved God (more than money) and was generous toward your neighbour, then it was good news for you too, because you would be happy for your neighbour

–         But, if you were the kind of rich person who was greedy and loved accumulating wealth then the year of Jubilee would still be good news, only it would have felt like bad news at the time

 

You see, losing wealth might feel unpleasant at the time but is actually a form of redemption in the long run

–         Giving back to the community sets us free from slavery to greed

–         The year of the Lord’s favour (Jubilee) is good news for everyone because it’s about putting everything back in the right place

–         It’s about putting God in charge of our life (not money) and it’s about putting our neighbour beside us, not above us or below us

 

The Messiah of Isaiah 61 is speaking this message of good news to Jews who were returning to their homeland after being held captive in exile for 70 years

–         The Jewish refugees are the broken hearted receiving healing

–         They are the captives being redeemed (or set free) from exile

–         They are the poor and dispossessed being restored to their ancestral lands      

 

The year of the Lord’s favour is also the day of God’s vengeance

–         God’s favour and vengeance are two sides of the same coin

–         We don’t normally like thinking about God’s vengeance

–         We like God to be friendly & indulgent toward us like Santa Claus or a dotting grandparent, but vengeance belongs to the Lord

–         God is the only one who can be trusted with vengeance

–         He does not over punish as we are inclined to do

 

Jesus read these opening verses of Isaiah 61 in the synagogue at Nazareth near the beginning of his public ministry and he added that today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing [1]

–         In other words, I’m the Messiah that Isaiah talked about and I’ve come to bring Jubilee, to set the captives free and so forth

–         That’s a pretty big claim to make

–         For some reason though he left out the part about the day of vengeance

–         I don’t think that’s because there is no vengeance with God

–         I think God wanted to postpone the day vengeance in order to give Israel’s enemies the chance to be redeemed as well

–         Any way the people of Nazareth didn’t like that and they tried to throw Jesus over a cliff, but he escaped – it wasn’t his time to die

 

From verse 3 the Messiah continues his proclamation of good news saying he will comfort all who mourn in Zion

–         Zion is another name for Jerusalem

–         When the exiles returned to find their beloved Jerusalem in ruins and occupied by foreigners they were devastated

–         Put yourself in their shoes for a moment

–         They had been living in Mesopotamia (Babylonia) for 70 years.

–         Most of them would have only heard about Jerusalem from parents or grandparents

–         They finally get royal permission to return to their homeland and are filled with a great sense of anticipation & hope

–         But on arriving to the holy city they find the place is a mess

–         They’re tired, the kids are grumpy, there’s no McDonalds and there’s so much work to do

–         To make matters worse the people who moved in while they were away aren’t that welcoming or friendly – in fact they are a thorn in the returnees’ side.

–         What a huge disappointment – feels like bad news at first but actually they will discover the good news in the long run

 

Putting ashes on the head was a sign of grief and shame

–         The Messiah will bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes

–         The oil of gladness instead of mourning

–         And a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair

–         In other words he will reverse their circumstances & give them something to smile about

 

They will be called oaks of righteousness

–         Righteousness means right relationship – relating to others in a right way

–         Loving your neighbour as you love yourself – that sort of thing

–         An oak tree speaks of strength and being established, firmly rooted

–         It is oaks (plural) as in a forest of oak trees

–         The refugees may feel vulnerable and misplaced on first returning to their homeland but they will be called oaks of righteousness, meaning they will become an established long standing community, where people love their neighbour

–         Of course, it takes time for an oak tree to grow – this won’t happen overnight

 

Verse 4 says the people will rebuild, restore and renew ruined cities

–         Jerusalem had been laid waste but God will give his people the strength to rebuild

–         Their present may look bleak but their future is strong and hopeful

 

Yahweh – justice:

Okay, so that’s the voice of the Messiah proclaiming jubilee

 

The second voice we hear is that of the Lord God (Yahweh) affirming his justice, in verse 8…

–         “For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and wrongdoing. …”

 

This is a statement about the character of God – the Lord is just & fair

 

From our point of view in history it is easy to take the justice of God for granted

–         As Christians we worship God because he is good – he is just & merciful

–         But people in the ancient world (500 years before Christ) did not automatically associate the gods with justice

–         For most pagans in the ancient world the gods had little or no moral compass – so for Yahweh (the God of Israel) to say “I love justice” was a significant and shocking thing

–         ‘What? A God who loves justice. That’s unheard of”

 

This Jewish/Christian belief that God is just poses a problem for some people – because this life is not always fair

–         Sometimes bad things happen to good people

–         We might not always get what we deserve – we may suffer loss at the hands of others – but God has a way of compensating us for those losses

–         He has a way of evening things up – restoring our losses and making things right

–         The year of Jubilee was one of the ways God evened things up

 

Of course, some losses can’t be easily restored in our lifetime (even with Jubilee) – in those cases we trust God to make things right in eternity

–         We can count on God’s justice because it is fundamental to who he is

–         God can’t be unfair

 

In the second part of verse 8 the Lord (Yahweh) says…

–         In my faithfulness I will reward my people and make an everlasting covenant with them…

 

The ancestors of the returning exiles had broken God’s covenant – that’s why they were sent into exile in the first place (kind of a massive time out)

–         But God will make a new covenant with the descendants of these refugees

–         This covenant is based on God’s faithfulness to his people, not on the people’s worthiness

–         Once again we see that what God does, flows out of who he is

–         The Lord is making a covenant because he’s faithful and that’s what the refugees need – security & commitment from a higher power

 

People generally change countries to improve their lot

–         But coming to a new country and starting again can be challenging

–         Parents will put up with the hard ship though if they think it will ultimately mean a better quality of life for their kids

–         Yahweh’s words give the returning refugees the assurance they need

–         The Lord is basically saying, I know it is tough for you now but it will get better (easier) for your descendants

 

The band Imagine Dragons have a song called ‘Not Today’

–         The chorus reads…

–         “It’s gotta get easier and easier somehow but not today, not today”

–         The returning exiles had the hope of knowing God would make things easier somehow, but not today

–         It would be their descendants who would be called blessed

 

Jesus is the one through whom God established this everlasting covenant

–         Jesus is the Messiah through whom the blessing of God comes

 

We’ve heard the voice of Messiah proclaiming Jubilee

–         And we’ve heard the voice of Yahweh affirming his justice

–         Now let’s listen to the voice of the redeemed, expressing their joy in verses 10 & 11

 

Redeemed – joy:

I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God… as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

 

Delight, rejoicing, bride & groom on their wedding day – these are words and images of joy

–         And the reason for the joy is that the Lord (my God) has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness

–         God has covered our shame (our nakedness) and made us look good

–         He has made us publicly acceptable once more

 

There’s a movie called Central Intelligence, starring Dwayne Johnson, the Rock

–         It’s nothing too heavy – just feel good entertainment

–         In this film Dwayne Johnson plays a character named Bob Stone

–         Bob gets picked on and bullied in high school

–         As a prank some guys steal his clothes while he’s in the shower and when he chases them to get his clothes back they lead him into an assembly hall where the whole school sees him in his birthday suit

–         They don’t actually show you anything (thankfully) – they just leave it to your imagination

 

Anyway, everyone is laughing at Bob except for the most popular guy in school who takes off his jacket and gives it to Bob to cover himself

–         The jacket was Bob’s salvation – covering his embarrassment & shame

–         That simple act of kindness changes Bob’s life

–         Bob studies hard and goes to the gym and undergoes a remarkable renewal, becoming a buff undercover agent for the CIA

 

The refugees are a bit like Bob Stone in the movie – they have been publicly humiliated, shamed for all the world to see

–         But God has covered their shame – he has clothed them with his own jacket (his own righteousness) and this saves them, precipitating a renewal of their life

 

In verse 11 the redeemed of the Lord sound a note of hope…

–         For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.

 

There’s that word righteousness again, keeps coming up doesn’t it

–         This image of the soil making the sprout come up and seeds grow reminds us of the oaks of righteousness in verse 3

–         Righteousness and praise are compared to a sprout and seeds – living things that start out small but contain incredible potency

–         The sprouts and seeds then are an image of spiritual renewal

–         God is the one who grows righteousness & praise

–         The Lord is the one who brings renewal

 

The sprout and seeds of righteousness & praise are not like Jack’s bean stalk – they don’t grow to the sky overnight

–         They take time to grow – in due course it will get easier to do right and easier to praise God, even if it doesn’t feel like it today

 

So often we approach Christmas with this expectation that it will be perfect or complete – that it will be the fruit fully formed, ripe and ready to eat

–         But that kind of expectation usually leads to disappointment

–         We are better to think of Christmas as a seed or a sprout – the beginning of renewal, not it’s end

 

In the meantime, if we truly believe things will get better in the future, if we know Jubilee is coming, it gives us joy & strength to cope in the present

 

Conclusion:

Isaiah 61 is a message of good news

–         The Messiah proclaims that a time of Jubilee is coming

–         The Lord (Yahweh) affirms his justice (his commitment) to the people

–         And those overdue for redemption are filled with hope & the joy it gives

 

https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/17-dec-2017-good-news

[1] Luke 4: 21

Tawa Baptist

God’s comfort

Scripture: Isaiah 40:1-11

Title: God’s comfort

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • God’s comfort
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

This morning we follow the lectionary reading for the second Sunday in Advent

–         In case you’re wondering what a lectionary is, it’s simply a list of prescribed Bible readings for each day

–         And the Old Testament reading prescribed for today (the 10th December 2017) is Isaiah 40:1-11

–         As I keep saying the word Advent means ‘coming’

–         Isaiah 40 is about the advent (or the coming) of the Lord.

–         From verse 1 we read…

 

Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak to Jerusalem’s heart, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

3 A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

6 A voice says, “Cry out.”

And I said, “What shall I cry? All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. 7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”

9 You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!” 10 See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. 11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

 

God’s comfort:

By the rivers of Babylon, where we sat down

There we wept, as we remembered Zion…

 

Can anyone tell me the name of the 1970’s pop group who sang that song?

–         [Wait for people to reply…]

–         Yes, that’s right, it was Boney M.

 

Now can anyone tell me where they got the idea and words for that song?

–         [Wait for people to reply…]

–         ‘By the rivers of Babylon’ comes from Psalm 137, a song of lament, written by the Jews living in exile in Mesopotamia

 

In 586 BC King Nebucadnezzar destroyed the city of Jerusalem, killed thousands and forced many of the survivors to leave their homeland

–         This all happened because the people of Judah had broken faith with God

–         They had betrayed the Lord and dragged his name through the mud

–         So God left the temple and let his people suffer the consequences of their own injustice

–         The surviving Jews were held captive as exiles in Mesopotamia for about 70 years. Isaiah chapters 40-55 are words of comfort & hope for the exiles

 

Probably, for most of us here, the word comfort is a soft word

–         When I hear the word ‘comfort’ I tend to think of a pillow for my head or comfort food, like ice-cream, or a soft toy for comforting a small child

–         But I don’t think this is what God has in mind when he says, ‘Comfort my people’

 

If you are lost in the bush then having a compass is far more comforting than having a pillow

–         Or if you are trapped in a deep hole, then being thrown a rope is far more comforting than being thrown a tub of ice-cream

–         Or if you fall overboard at sea, then wearing a lifejacket is more comforting than holding a teddy bear

–         The comfort God offers gives real, tangible meaning & hope in the most bitter and hopeless of circumstances

–         It’s the comfort of a compass and a rope and a life jacket, not the comfort of pillows and ice-cream and soft toys

 

The people are hurting, they have suffered much and so the Lord says: speak comfort to Jerusalem’s heart

–         The heart of Jerusalem is not it’s buildings or its sacred sites

–         The heart of Jerusalem is its people

–         So when God says speak to Jerusalem’s heart he is really saying, speak to the people of Jerusalem

–         And in the context of Isaiah 40, written hundreds of years before Christ, most of the people of Jerusalem are living in exile, they are not actually living in the city itself – so this message of comfort is meant for the exiles

 

We’ve heard a bit about Jerusalem in the news this past week

–         Donald Trump’s words were comforting to the Israelis but very discomforting to the Palestinians

–         I wonder what it would mean to speak words of comfort to Jerusalem’s heart today (roughly 2,500 years later)

–         If the heart of Jerusalem is it’s people then we would have to say Jerusalem’s heart is divided today

–         Ethnically speaking the people of Jerusalem aren’t just Jewish, they are also Palestinian

–         And from a religious perspective they’re not just orthodox Jews, they are also Muslim and Christian and other things besides.

 

I don’t think Jesus would get involved in a political argument over who Jerusalem belongs to

–         Jesus died for the Israelis and the Palestinians – he loves them both

–         Donald Trump is trying answer the wrong question

–         The question is not: Who owns Jerusalem?

–         The question is: Will you be ready when Jesus returns?

 

Verse 2 continues …proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed

–         In Hebrew, the term hard service is the same term used for compulsory military service

–         So it is like saying to the exiles that their tour of duty is over

–         No more war for them, no more destruction and chaos – they have done their time

 

The last part of verse 2 reads…

–         Proclaim… that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

–         Now when I first read this, I thought to myself, it sounds like Israel has paid for her own sins by suffering punishment from God

–         And that God has punished her twice over – more than she deserved

–         But that can’t be right – God is just & merciful – with God the punishment is never greater than the crime

 

Israel’s injustice toward God and their neighbours was like an infected wound that had to be cleansed, quarterised and dressed

–         Their hard service wasn’t so much payment for their sin as it was painful but necessary surgery to heal a wound

 

I was sitting in WINZ the other day (as you do) and they had this advertisement playing on their TV, with three guys in the pub betting on the races

–         One of the guys spent his wife’s hard earned money on a horse to win but he lost it all and ‘Guilty Feeling’ won instead

–         As a consequence the power bill didn’t get paid

–         Worse than this though the man had to live with the consequences of having abused his wife’s trust

 

Israel were like the guy in the ad with the gambling problem

–         They had bet on idolatry and broken trust with the Lord

–         God allowed Israel to suffer the consequences of their sin and disobedience so the nation would be humbled and learn their lesson

–         It was a kind of tough love approach by God, in much the same way that we might have to show tough love to someone with a gambling addiction

 

When the text says, She has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins, it doesn’t mean that God has punished Israel twice over for her wrong

–         It means that God himself has paid for Israel’s mistakes in full

–         You see, the word double does not mean twice over, in this context

–         The Hebrew word for double here means two sided (or double sided)

–         The same word is used in Job 11:6, which reads …for true wisdom has two sides. Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin.

–         So to receive from God ‘double’ actually means that God has paid for (or forgiven) all of Israel’s sins

–         Not just the ones that Israel knows about but also the sins they are not conscious of – the sins on the flipside

 

Have you ever wondered about the sins you have committed without being aware of it? I have.

–         On the rare occasions that I buy an item of clothing I wonder whether it was made with slave labour

–         I don’t break into people’s homes and steal stuff but I do participate in a global economic system that transfers wealth from the poor to the rich in unjust ways – we are all part of that system whether we like it or not

–         Unless we were to live in the desert making our own clothes, eating locusts and wild honey I don’t see how we can avoid being complicit

–         The good news is that God’s forgiveness for us is double sided

–         Christ has paid for our all our sins – both the ones we know of and the ones we don’t.

–         I’m not suggesting that means we can turn a blind eye to injustice

–         The point is: God’s grace is often far greater than we imagine

 

In verses 3-5 of Isaiah 40 we hear a voice calling…

–         “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God…”

 

With these verses the Jewish exiles are being told that the Lord God, Yahweh, is coming and they are to build a highway for him

 

Construction of Transmission Gully is well underway – a 27 kilometre four-lane motorway which will run from Mackays Crossing to Linden, through Transmission Gully.

–         The new motorway is scheduled to be open for traffic in 2020.

 

Developing the Transmission Gully Motorway was controversial, and was a topic of considerable debate in Wellington politics for some time.

–         There are anecdotal accounts that the American Marines were keen to build a road inland through Transmission Gully in World War II, but the government did not have the material (the concrete) to spare.

 

Building a literal highway for regular motorists in the 21st Century is a significant and costly undertaking

–         Building a metaphorical highway for the Lord is also a significant task – it means personal & corporate change, repentance basically

–         Straightening out our lifestyle so we are ready when Jesus returns

 

It is significant that the Lord makes his way through the desert wilderness

–         In the ancient world the wilderness was generally a metaphor for chaos and a place where God was thought to be absent

–         To say the Lord will come to his people through the wilderness is like saying that God will restore order out of the chaos

–         God will make his presence most real in the places he was thought to be most absent

 

As a family, we found God in the desert

–         I don’t mean that we literally drove out to the central plateau to meet God

–         I mean that we became Christians when my grandmother died

–         She had cancer but by the time they discovered it the cancer had spread to her liver and there wasn’t much they could do for her

–         Nan came to live in our house for the last few months of her life before she died. I was about 10 or 11 at the time

–         Now you would think that nothing good could come out of that but actually God came to us through that desert experience

–         He didn’t heal my nan but she did place her trust in Jesus before she passed and as a consequence we began following Jesus too

 

It’s funny how God is often most real for us when we are in a place of deep suffering and disorientation – a desert place

–         It’s our need that makes us open to receive God

–         And it’s the desert that makes us aware of our need

 

Verse 5 says…

–         And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together.

–         What does this mean?

–         Well, the word glory can mean a number things depending on the context

–         In Isaiah 40 the glory of the Lord refers to the manifestation of God’s presence. God’s glory is the sign or the indicator that God is present

 

It’s easy to tell when a human being is present – you know that I’m here because I have a physical body that you can see and hear and touch (hopefully you can’t smell me from where you are)

–         In a sense our bodies are our glory – they are a physical manifestation of our presence

–         But God is not like us – he isn’t made of flesh & bones – He is Spirit and so how do we know when God is present?

 

Well, it’s a little bit like knowing whether someone is home or not, without actually going into the house

–         You can usually tell someone is home because their car is in the driveway

–         Or, if it’s night time the lights are on and, if its dinner time, you might smell food cooking

–         We could say the car, the lights and the cooking smells are the glory of the house, in the sense that they are signs of the homeowner’s presence

 

God’s glory, his presence, can be seen in a whole variety of ways

–         We might see God’s glory (or presence) manifest in a sunrise or when our prayers are answered or when someone makes a decision to follow Jesus

 

For me personally, one sign of God’s glory (or presence) in my day is synchronicity – being in the right place at the right time

–         For example, last Thursday someone from water services came to fix the leaky water toby behind the hall

–         Just as I was hopping into my car to leave for an offsite appointment I noticed the plumber coming round the back of the church

–         He was having trouble finding the leaky toby – and to be fair it is hard to find, being half way up the bank hidden in the bushes behind the hall

–         So I showed him where the leak was and he fixed it

–         Had I been a minute earlier or later I would have missed him and he probably would have left without fixing the leak

 

Now that might seem to you like a mere coincidence or a minor detail

–         But for me it was a manifestation of God’s glory, a small sign of His presence in my day

–         Had I missed the plumber it would have created more work for me because then I’d have to ring the Council back and get them to send someone again – which would be a bit of a wind up

–         By making sure I was in the right place at the right time God saved both me and the plumber time & frustration

–         Little things like that are a great comfort to me because they demonstrate in a very real and practical way that God is present – I’m not alone

 

When the people of Israel left their slavery in Egypt the Lord led them by a pillar of fire & cloud – this pillar was another form of the glory of God

–         People could look at the pillar and see that God was present with them, sort of like seeing the lights on at night and knowing the owner of the house was at home – it was a tremendous comfort to the people

–         In ancient Israel the Tabernacle and then later the temple in Jerusalem were also manifestations of God’s glory (signs of his presence)

 

Obviously when the temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC that was a sign that the lights were off, that God’s glory had departed and the Lord’s presence had left the building

–         So when it says in verse 5 the glory of the Lord will be revealed, the exiles can draw strength & comfort in the certain knowledge that God’s presence is returning to them – they are not alone

–         Verse 5 doesn’t tell us specifically how God’s glory will be revealed

–         Initially, we could say it was revealed in the return of the exiles and the rebuilding of the temple

–         But looking beyond that we know (from our vantage point in history) that God’s glory is perfectly revealed in the person of Jesus Christ

 

Over 500 years later the gospel writers would use these words from Isaiah 40 in reference to John the Baptist and Jesus

–         They would identify John as the voice of one calling in the wilderness

–         And they would name Jesus as the glory of the Lord revealed to all humankind

–         For it is through the humanity of Jesus that God chose to make visible his presence with his people

–         And it is through the suffering of Jesus that God chose to reveal his glory

 

In verses 3-5 we heard the voice of someone calling in the wilderness

–         Then in verses 6-8 we hear a different voice, or rather two voices:

–         A heavenly voice and human voice [1]

–         The heavenly voice says, “Cry out”

–         And the human voice responds, “What shall I cry? All people are like grass, & all their glory is like the flowers of the field. 7 The grass withers & the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them…”

 

Last year we went to the West Coast of the South Island for a bit of a look around – we’d never been there before

–         We stopped at Franz Joseph for a night or two

–         I remember walking up the valley toward the glacier with these massive stone cliffs either side of us

–         The valley had been carved out of solid rock over many thousands of years as the glacier ice moved backwards and forwards through the valley

–         We are here for 70 or 80 years maybe, if we’re lucky but this valley, the mountains and the glacier, had been there for millennia upon millennia

–         It gives you a sense of the fleeting nature of human life

 

Being in a place as old as that begs the question: What is the meaning of our lives when our lives are so short?

–         In a paradoxical sort of way though, being close to something so ancient actually comforted me

–         It quieted my soul, putting all my worries & anxieties into perspective

 

The human voice (in verses 6 & 7) sounds a note of despair, which is what we would expect from someone who has lost so much and was living in exile

–         It’s like this person is saying: What’s the point in telling people that God is coming? By the time he arrives we’ll probably be dead anyway

–         What’s the point in comforting people, we are like flowers, here today and gone tomorrow – human life is so fragile, so fleeting and God’s advent (His coming) is so slow (like a glacier)

–         But despair eventually gives way to hope for the word of our God endures forever 

–         It is the enduring nature of God’s word that puts our worries into perspective and gives meaning to the transitory nature of human life

–         God’s word is super food for our soul when we are starved for meaning

 

We hear the content of the message of comfort in verses 10 & 11…

–         See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.

 

The image we have of God here is that of a mighty warrior king

–         If you are a weak, vulnerable, defenceless nation then it is a comfort knowing you are under the protection of the most powerful force on earth

–         Or, to use another analogy, if you are being held hostage it is a comfort knowing the Navy Seals are on their way to your rescue

 

The reward accompanying God (the warrior King) is most likely a poetic reference to the Jewish exiles – the people are the treasure, the recompense

–         God is about to set his captive people free and lead them back from exile to their homeland in Judea and Jerusalem

 

But God is not one dimensional – there are many facets and layers to God’s character

–         As well as being a warrior King the Lord is also a shepherd gathering the lambs in his arms and carrying them close to his heart, gently leading those with young

 

Not only is God powerful & strong like a warrior King (so that no enemy can resist), he is also tender & gentle like a shepherd (so the weak won’t be left behind) [2]

–         These twin images offer real practical comfort to the people

 

Conclusion:

When we put it all together the message is…

–         God is on the move and the exiles’ sense of God’s absence will soon be replaced by a sense of God’s presence

–         This is good news – a message of real comfort

–         Not the soft superficial comfort of pillows, ice-cream and teddy bears

–         But the real life saving comfort of a compass when we are lost in the bush, or a rope from above when we are at the bottom of a pit, or a life jacket when we fall overboard

 

In John 14, the night before he died, Jesus spoke words of comfort to his disciples – He promised them the gift of His Holy Spirit

–         God’s Spirit is intimately connected with God’s glory

–         It is by God’s Spirit that we become aware of God’s presence both in the ordinary things of our lives as well as the extra-ordinary

 

Questions for reflection or discussion:

 

1.)  What sort of comfort is meant in Isaiah 40?

–         What comforts you?

2.)  Reflect / discuss the double sided forgiveness of God

3.)  How do we prepare a highway for the Lord?

4.)  What is the significance of God coming through the desert wilderness?

–         Think of a time when God has met you in (or through) a desert experience

5.)  What is the glory of the Lord?

–         How do you know God is present with you?

6.)  How does Jesus reveal the glory of God?

7.)  Ask God to make you aware of presence this Advent season and make a note of how he answers your prayer

 

https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/10-dec-2017-gods-comfort

 

[1] These speech marks follow the NIV translation.  The original Hebrew doesn’t have speech marks.

[2] Refer Barry Webb’s commentary on Isaiah, page 163.

Tawa Baptist

Interceding for the exiles

Scripture: Isaiah 64

Title: Interceding for the exiles

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The prophet prays for God to intervene
  • Because of who God is (not because of anything Judah has done)
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Over the past couple of months we have been working through a series on the life of Abraham, in Genesis

–         This morning we take a break from Abraham to follow the Anglican lectionary readings for the first three Sundays in Advent

–         In case you’re wondering what a lectionary is, it’s simply a list of prescribed Bible readings for each day

–         And the Old Testament reading that is prescribed for today (the 3rd December 2017 – the first Sunday in Advent) is Isaiah 64

 

Isaiah was a prophet who lived around 700 years before Christ

–         In chapter 64 the prophet prays to God, on behalf of the people, saying…

 

Oh, that you would tear the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! 2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you! 3 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. 4 Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. 5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin, you were angry. How then can we be saved? 6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. 7 No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and made us waste away because of our sins.

8 Yet, O Lord, you are our Father.     We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. 9 Do not be angry beyond measure, O Lord; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray, for we are all your people. 10 Your sacred cities have become a desert; even Zion is a desert, Jerusalem a desolation. 11 Our holy and glorious temple, where our ancestors praised you, has been burned with fire, and all that we treasured lies in ruins. 12 After all this, O Lord, will you hold yourself back?     Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

 

Isaiah 64 is a prayer of intercession – it is one of the great prayers of the Bible

–         In this prayer the prophet asks God to intervene for the sake of his people, not because of anything the people have done, but because of who God is

 

The prophet prays for God to intervene:

In 1957 Dr Seuss wrote a book titled: The Grinch Who Stole Christmas

–         It was later made into a film by Ron Howard, in the year 2000

 

The Grinch is a grumpy sort of character who hates Christmas – can’t stand it (sort of like Charles Dickens’ Ebenezer Scrooge)

–         The Grinch lives in a self-imposed exile, in a cave, above the town of Whoville

–         The residents of Whoville simply love Christmas – can’t get enough of it

–         Consequently most of them don’t like the Grinch, they’re afraid of him

–         All except for Cindy Lou, a little girl who has compassion on the Grinch

–         Cindy is not afraid and actually shares some of the Grinch’s feelings that Christmas has become too commercialised

 

Cindy intercedes for the Grinch and manages to get him invited to their Christmas celebrations as the Cheermiester, or the special guest of honour

–         The Grinch hasn’t done anything to deserve this honour – but Cindy and the townsfolk aren’t doing it because of anything the Grinch has done.

–         They are helping the badly behaved Grinch because that is what he needs and that’s who they are

 

Intercession is a verb – it’s a doing word

–         To intercede means to intervene on behalf of another

–         Cindy Lou interceded for the exiled Grinch

–         She intervened on his behalf, asking the people of Whoville to help the Grinch because he couldn’t help himself

 

Isaiah 64 is a prayer of intercession

–         The prophet asks God to intervene to help the Jewish exiles because they can’t help themselves

 

Now in saying that Isaiah 64 is a prayer of intercession you need to know that it’s not the whole prayer – the prayer actually begins at chapter 63, verse 7

–         So Isaiah 64 is the second half of the prayer

–         The prophet starts his prayer by saying: I will tell of the kindness of the Lord…  His intercession begins with adoration and praise

 

The impassioned cry, O that you would tear the heavens and come down that mountains would tremble before you… comes somewhere near the centre of the prayer. We could say it is the heart of the prayer

 

The fact that the prophet is asking God to come down from heaven is significant

–         It reflects what the people are thinking – they don’t feel like God is with them. They feel like God is absent and ignoring them

 

This intercessory prayer is poetic. The mountains are a metaphor for imposing and oppressive obstacles [1]

–         The prophet wants God to come down from heaven in power to deal with all the challenges the people on earth face

–         He wants God to put heat on Israel’s enemies, As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil

 

So what are these mountains (or challenges) they face?

–         Well, there is the challenge of their present circumstances but there is also the challenge of their past sins

 

A large portion of the book of Isaiah hinges on the destruction of Jerusalem and the resulting Jewish exile

–         We could think of Isaiah in three parts, broadly speaking…

 

Chapters 1-39, deal with events before the exile in 586 BC

–         Prior to the exile the nation of Judah became increasingly corrupt to the point where God could no longer associate his name with Israel

–         As punishment for Judah’s sins God arranged for king Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem

–         Thousands were killed and many of the survivors were carried into exile

 

The second section of the book of Isaiah is chapters 40-55, which are mostly words of comfort & hope to the Jews during their exile in Babylonia

–         The conditions in exile weren’t too bad – the Jewish refugees were able to trade and do business and live relatively comfortable lives

–         But without their temple, without a centre of worship, the exiles were at risk of losing their identity and being assimilated into the cultural soup around them

–         They needed to be told that God still cared about them and that their exile wasn’t permanent – they would be able to return to Jerusalem one day

 

The third section of Isaiah, chapters 56-66, deals with the time after the exile when the Jews were allowed to return to their homeland

 

With this framework in mind Isaiah 64 is a prayer for the returning exiles

–         The Jewish exile lasted for 70 years – so the people of Judah were returning to a homeland they had never seen before and only heard about

–         Filled with hope at a fresh start the exiles returned to Jerusalem only to find their temple in ruins and their land occupied by others

 

The prophet describes this destruction in verses 10-11 where he says…

–         Your sacred cities have become a desert… Jerusalem a desolation.

–         Our holy and glorious temple… has been burned with fire and all that we treasured lies in ruins.

–         After all they had been through the survivors were now facing the challenge of starting again and rebuilding from scratch with many mountains (or obstacles) to overcome and nothing left in the tank

 

To make matters worse they face the even larger challenge of the burden of their sins. From verses 5 & 6 we read…

–         When we continued to sin you were angry. How then can we be saved? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags…

 

To be unclean is to be labelled a Grinch by the community

–         You see, in Jewish religion there are certain things that can make you ceremonially unclean, like touching a dead body, for example, or eating the wrong foods or having a skin disease

–         These things in themselves are not sinful but they do exclude the person (temporarily) from participating in worship

 

The prophet is saying we’ve become like the Grinch, like someone who is unclean, someone excluded from the worshiping community

–         And there’s nothing we can do to get back in

–         All our righteous acts are like dirty rags

 

You may have seen that ad on TV where the mum is wiping the kitchen bench with a piece of raw chicken – not very hygienic

–         The point of the ad is that using an old dish cloth to wipe down the bench just spreads the germs around – it makes things worse

–         What you need is a fresh new cloth (Dettol wipes or whatever it is they’re selling)

 

The prophet is saying, we’ve become like someone trying to keep the kitchen clean with a dirty cloth

–         We may as well be wiping the bench with a piece of raw chicken

–         Our righteous acts, our best intentions, are just spreading the sin around and making things worse

 

No wonder the people feel like God is absent and ignoring them

–         How could a holy God get near to an unclean (salmonella) people?

 

The breakdown in communication between God and his people finds expression in verse 7 where the prophet says…

–         No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and made us waste away because of our sins

 

‘To call on the name of the Lord’ means to pray

–         The prophet is praying on behalf of the people because the people themselves have given up trying to pray

–         They don’t believe God will listen to them because of their sins

 

It’s a Catch 22 situation

–         The only way we’re going to get through this is with God’s help (with Him coming down to save us)

–         But God isn’t going to help us because we’ve broken faith with Him – so what’s the point in praying. We’d just be wasting our breath. (That’s Grinch like thinking)

 

When I was training for ministry I spent three months one summer working as a chaplain in Greenlane Hospital

–         There was one ward I visited that specialised in caring for patients with throat and speech problems

–         Most of the people on that ward had difficulty talking, if they could talk at all – either they had lost their voice box because of cancer or they had been affected by a stroke

–         It was a challenging ward to visit – I had been trained to listen and understand but when the patients can’t talk it’s hard to do either

–         I felt powerless – like I had nothing to offer (which is probably something close to what the patients felt as well)

–         I guess God sometimes puts us in situations where we feel like we have nothing to offer because it makes us rely on Him, rather than our own competence

 

Anyway, I remember this one guy – an older gentleman who, in very broken English, managed to tell me that he had been in the war

–         He struggled with guilt over the people he had killed

–         For 60 years he had carried that guilt and now, when he finally gets a chance to make his confession to a padre, he can’t speak properly

–         I don’t think he had much longer to live

–         He needed me to be his intercessor, saying the words he couldn’t

–         In the end his tears made a truer confession than any words could have

–         I believe God understood his heart, even if I couldn’t grasp every word

 

Perhaps the Jewish exiles were a bit like the patients in that ward who couldn’t talk – they wanted to pray but were powerless to do so

–         They needed someone to intercede for them

–         That’s what intercessory prayer is – praying on behalf of those who can’t pray for themselves

 

Who do you know that needs God’s help but can’t pray for themselves?

–         Perhaps someone who used to be a believer but has now left the church in a kind of self-imposed exile

–         Perhaps someone who doesn’t know that God is gracious – they’ve done wrong and don’t feel like God will listen because of their sins

–         Perhaps an innocent unborn child or a baby

–         Perhaps someone who is so sick or depressed that they can’t find the energy or the hope to pray

–         Will you be their intercessor? Will you speak to God on their behalf?

 

Because of who God is:

The prophet asks God to help because of who God is, not because of anything Judah has done

In verses 4 & 5 the prophet describes something of God’s character when he says…

–         No ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways.

 

This speaks of the goodness of God’s character, the justice of God

–         And it also suggests the problem for Judah – it is precisely because the people have not done right and have forgotten God’s ways that they feel like God won’t listen when they pray     

–         If Yahweh were a pagan god like Marduk or Baal the people might think they could bribe him or manipulate him with sacrifices

–         But the Lord God Almighty isn’t like the gods of other nations – he is free – he won’t be bribed or manipulated

–         God does good because He is good

 

Verse 8 holds more promise though…

–         We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.

 

I remember when I was kid, maybe 6 or 7 years old, watching a potter form a bowl out of clay

–         There was this alley way off Ward street in Hamilton which (in the 1970’s) was home to a collection of artisans

–         It’s probably a mall or a carpark building now but back then you could actually watch people doing their art, making their crafts

–         I think my mother must have been shopping for shoes, or something else that held no interest for me, but that didn’t matter – I was transfixed, happy to simply watch the potter expertly shape the clay on his wheel

–         Every now and then he would look up at me and smile

–         He was completely silent – didn’t say a word, just let his hands do the talking. I remember wishing I could be as clever and skilful as him

 

We are the clay, you are the potter

–         This is an image of creation where God is the creator and the people of God are his handiwork

–         For the Jewish exiles, returning to Jerusalem was an act of creation

–         The exiles are like a lump of clay – they are in a state of chaos

–         They have no form or shape or function – no useful purpose in Babylon

–         And like a lump of clay they are completely helpless

–         There is nothing they can do to shape themselves – they are entirely dependent on God, the potter, to remake them as a nation

 

Why does a potter work with clay to create something?

–         Because he is a potter and that’s what potters do

–         Why should God reform and remake the exiles into a new nation?

–         Because he is the creator and that’s what the creator does

 

Verse 8 contains another image of God…

–         Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. 

 

To say that God is a Father to the people of Judah means that God is the one who brought the Jewish people into existence

–         The nation of Israel exists because God created them

–         But there is more to being a Father than simply conceiving

–         God has been a Father to Israel in the sense that he has raised them and protected them and provided for them and taught them and cared for them

–         All the positive things a father does for their children

 

The prophet is essentially saying to God: ‘as a Father how can you bear to turn your back on us?’ Or as he puts it in verse 12…

After all this, O Lord, will you hold yourself back?     Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?

That’s how the prayer ends, left hanging with an unanswered question…

 

In thinking of the image of God as a Father, I’m reminded of the parable of the Prodigal Son

–         What did the father do when he saw his wayward son returning home in the distance?

–         Did he hold himself back? Did he keep silent and turn a cold shoulder?

–         No – of course not. The loving Father (a picture of God) ran out to meet his son. He showered love and honour and acceptance on his boy saying,

‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’  [2]

God’s judgment (his punishment) is not beyond measure – it is limited

–         The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases

–         His mercies are new every morning

 

Conclusion:

We’ve heard how Isaiah 64 is a prayer of intercession – a prayer for God to intervene

–         The people are powerless to save themselves

–         Their behaviour has been so bad that they have given up praying – they can’t believe that God, in his justice, would listen to them

–         But the prophet knows God’s grace, as well as his justice, and he intercedes for the people

–         The prophet asks God to help because of who God is, not because of anything the people have done

You may be wondering, why did the Anglicans prescribe Isaiah 64 as a reading for Advent – what on earth has any of this got to do with Christmas?

–         Good question

Isaiah 64 is a prayer that is answered in the person of Jesus

–         The prophet had asked for God to tear open the heavens and come down to help them

–         500 years or so later, in Mark chapter 1, at Jesus’ baptism, we read…

–         And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending on him like a dove

–         Jesus is the divine intervention that the prophet had asked for

–         He came to conquer the mountains of sin & death – to restore the relationship between humanity and God

–         Jesus became an intercessor for us

Isaiah 64 is an Advent reading because the coming of Jesus answers the prophet’s prayer

 

Questions for discussion & reflection:

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

2.)    What is the prophet doing in Isaiah 64?

–         What does it mean to intercede?

3.)    What are the ‘mountains’ of verses 1 & 3 a metaphor of?

–         What mountains are you facing at present?

4.)    Who was Isaiah 64 originally written for?

–         Who might it apply to today?

5.)    Why did the people not lay hold of God in prayer?

–         How is your prayer life at the moment? Do you feel able to talk to God freely?

–         Who do you know that is not able to pray for themselves?

6.)    On what basis does the prophet ask God to help the people?

7.)    Discuss the image of the potter and the clay.

–         What light does this image shed on the situation of the returning exiles?

–         What light does it shed on your situation?

8.)    What does it mean that God is a Father?

9.)    How does Jesus answer the prophet’s prayer?

Take some time this week to pray (intercede) for those who are not able to pray for themselves

 

https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/3-dec-2017-interceding-for-the-exiles

[1] Refer John Watts, Word Commentary on Isaiah, page 335.

[2] Luke 15:22-23

Tawa Baptist

Confirming the covenant

Scripture: Genesis 17

 

Title: Confirming the Covenant

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Confirming the covenant (1-16)

o   Naming

o   Committing

o   Circumcising

  • Abraham’s response (17-27)
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

This morning we continue our series on Abram by looking at Genesis 17

–         Last week, in chapter 16, we heard how Abram had a son (Ishmael) through Sarai’s maid servant Hagar

–         By the beginning of Genesis 17 it has been 13 years since Ishmael was born even longer since God first cut a covenant with Abram in chapter 15

–         Now, in chapter 17, God confirms his covenant

–         With the covenant encounter in Genesis 15 Abram wasn’t required to do anything, but in Genesis 17 God does require a response from Abraham

 

Genesis 17 is relatively long so I’m going to handle it in two parts

–         First we’ll read verses 1-16 which deal with confirming the covenant

–         And then we’ll read the rest of the chapter later which describes Abraham’s response. From verses 1-16 of Genesis 17 we read…

 

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. 2 I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”

3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”

9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. 10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.

11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring.

13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

15 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

 

Confirming the covenant:

In this reading God confirms his covenant with Abram and this confirmation involves three things: naming, committing and circumcising

–         First let us consider naming…

 

Naming:

In the state of Andhra Pradesh in southern India, there is an indigenous mission organisation called India Rural Evangelical Fellowship

–         It was begun in 1947 when Prasada Rao began training evangelists to go out into rural villages to preach the gospel

–         Prasada also took orphans into his home to show them the love of Christ

–         By the late 1990’s there were over 120 itinerant evangelists reaching 360 villages bringing many to Christ and planting churches

–         When these Indian believers were baptised they were often also given a new name – a Christian name

–         Many of the given names in India have a history that link the individual to the gods of their culture

–         So adopting a new name is a way of severing ties to the old life [1]

–         It’s a way of saying you are a new creation, on a new path with a new future

 

In verse 5 God changes Abram’s name to Abraham and in verse 15 the Lord changes Sarai’s name to Sarah

–         ‘Abram’ means ‘exalted father’ and ‘Abraham’ means ‘father of many nations’

–         ‘Sarai’ and ‘Sarah’ mean the same thing: ‘princess’

–         Perhaps the name Sarai looks back at her royal ancestry, while Sarah looks forward to her royal descendants – kings will come from her [2]

–         But the meaning of Sarah’s name isn’t as important as the fact that she is now included in the covenant – previously her role was unknown

 

God is renaming Sarah & Abraham because he is bringing about a new creation through them and (you will remember from Genesis 1 that) naming is one of the things God does in the act of creating

–         Their new names then are a reminder that God has severed the ties of past barrenness and given them a new future that is fruitful and blessed

 

Committing:

Naming is one aspect of confirming the covenant

–         Articulating the commitment is another aspect

 

In medieval times soldiers were sworn to allegiance by being dubbed a knight [3]

–         So becoming a knight wasn’t just a reward for service rendered it was a way of confirming loyal commitment to the king

–         The knight would get down on bended knee as a sign of his submission to the monarch

–         There were certain perks or privileges to being a knight I suppose – like enjoying a higher social status

–         But there were also responsibilities – like being obedient to your king

 

When God appears to Abram, in chapter 17, he begins by saying…

–         “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless…”

–         ‘God Almighty’ means ‘God above all else’ or ‘God of nations’ (as our national anthem affirms)

–         Von Rad says the Hebrew word translated as ‘blameless’ here signifies wholeness of relationship and integrity rather than no sin [4]

–         I guess it’s another way of saying, “Do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God”

–         ‘To walk before God…’ means to orient one’s entire life toward God

–         Like when we sing ‘Jesus, be the centre…’ we are really saying we want our lives to revolve around Christ

–         God is commanding Abraham to live his life in such a way that every single step is made with reference to God

–         It’s sort of like God (the King of kings) is dubbing Abraham a loyal knight of his realm

–         And Abraham’s response is to fall facedown as a sign of his submission

 

For his part God commits to giving Abraham the land of Canaan and many descendants but that is more of a reiteration of things God has said on other occasions

–         At the heart of the covenant is the Lord’s commitment: I will be your God

 

If we think of God’s covenant like a set of Russian dolls, then the inner most doll is the Lord’s commitment to be Abraham’s God

–         I will be your God speaks of loyal relationship

–         Some of the other inner dolls include God’s promise of blessing, land and descendants but at its core God’s covenant is a relationship…

–         By saying, I will be your God the Lord is offering Himself to Abraham

–         Sort of like when a couple adopt a child – they aren’t just offering to feed and house the child, they are offering themselves to that child

–         ‘I will be your father’ – ‘I will be your mother’

–         Or when a man & woman get married – they aren’t just offering a ring or a house or an income, they are offering themselves to each other

–         ‘I will be your husband’, or ‘I will be your wife’

–         I feel sad when I hear people in de-facto relationships say, ‘Oh we’re waiting until we can afford to buy a house before we get married’

–         As if financial security is an adequate foundation for marriage

–         Somewhere along the line our society has lost the idea that marriage is about giving yourself, not getting stuff

 

At its heart then God’s covenant is a relationship in which God offers Himself

–         God offers Himself to us most clearly in giving His Son Jesus

–         For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life 

–         You see, we don’t put our faith in Jesus just so we can avoid hell and get into heaven – Heaven is a perk, it’s a privilege, but it’s not the main point

–         We put our trust in Jesus so we can receive God Himself as our Father

–         Without the inner most doll of being in a loyal loving relationship with God, heaven becomes a kind of hell anyway

–         (Like being married to someone you don’t love for financial reasons)

 

 So confirming God’s covenant involves naming, committing & circumcising  

–         Naming – that’s about a new identity

–         Committing – that’s about loyal relationship

–         And circumcising – that’s about initiation and therefore belonging

 

Now we’re only talking about male circumcision here

–         Israel didn’t practice female circumcision (thankfully)

–         Male circumcision is when the foreskin of the penis is cut off

–         I don’t believe it is as harmful as female circumcision

 

Returning to our Russian dolls…

–         If being in relationship with God is the core of the covenant (the inner most doll), then circumcision is the sign of the covenant (the outer doll)

–         As a sign of the covenant it points to what’s inside

 

We might also compare circumcision to a passport

–         A passport identifies you personally and is a sign of your citizenship, it verifies where you come (or where you belong) and it gets you places

–         Without a passport you can’t get into another country

–         Without circumcision Abraham and his descendants couldn’t participate in God’s covenant

 

Circumcision wasn’t invented by God – it was already common practice in the ancient near east when God asked Abraham to do it

–         There were two main occasions why men might be circumcised

–         Perhaps when they got married, as a sign of entry into a new family

–         Or at puberty, as a rite of passage in becoming man

–         Both those occasions represented initiation or belonging to a new group

–         God borrowed the practice of circumcision and transformed it – giving it theological significance for Abraham and Israel so that circumcision became the sign of initiation (or entry) into God’s covenant [5]

–         Circumcision is how Israelites ‘opt-in’ to God’s covenant, in other words

 

God stipulated that males in Abraham’s household should be circumcised at 8 days old

–         Again we see a connection with the account of creation in Genesis 1

–         If the first seven days represent the creation of the cosmos then day eight represents the first day of a new week of creation – the creation of Israel

–         So circumcision was a ‘let there be light’ moment

 

The other thing we notice here is that circumcision involves cutting

–         You may remember from a couple of weeks ago, when we looked at Genesis 15, that a covenant is cut – it involves the shedding of blood

–         And in this case it is the most vulnerable part of a man that is cut

–         Having children, reproducing the next generation, has been such a big deal to Abraham and now God wants a piece of his reproductive organ

–         Wow – the symbolism is rich

 

As Christians we don’t need to participate in God’s covenant with Abraham

–         So guys, if you’re still in one piece down there, don’t panic – you don’t need to go cutting anything off

 

Jesus came to establish a new covenant for all people

–         And the sign of initiation into the new covenant is baptism (being immersed in water)

–         So our equivalent of circumcision is baptism [6]

–         Baptism is like a passport into God’s kingdom

–         In being baptised we transfer our citizenship as it were – we become aliens in this world and citizens of heaven

–         We break from the past and take on a new identity

 

When you are baptised as a conscious believer (or, if you come from an infant baptism tradition, when you confirm your baptism) you are essentially saying…

–         ‘Jesus I submit to you as King. No longer am I going to live my life to suit myself. I’m going to live my life to suit you.’

–         Being baptised or confirmed as a Christian is like being made a loyal knight (or dame) of Christ

 

Now here’s the thing…

–         These external signs of the covenant (whether it’s circumcision or baptism or confirmation) they don’t mean a thing if there’s no inner doll (no loyal relationship with God)

–         Baptism is an external ritual that is supposed to reflect an internal reality

–         If we’re only getting baptised out of conformity (because that’s what people do) then the sign is meaningless

–         Or if we get baptised just for what we can get out of it, with no intention of changing our life to suit Christ, then the passport is counterfeit

–         Whether we’ve been baptised as a baby or later in life as a believer the thing that makes our baptism effective and meaningful is having a committed loyal relationship with God (with Jesus), on the inside

 

To recap what we’ve covered so far, confirming God’s covenant involves naming, committing & circumcising  

–         Naming is about a new identity

–         Committing is about loyal relationship (the inner doll)

–         And circumcising – is a sign of initiation & belonging (like a passport)

 

Abraham’s response:

How then did Abraham respond to what God said?

–         Well, we pick up the story from verse 17 of Genesis 17…

 

17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”

19 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers.

He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” 22 When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him. 23 On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, 25 and his son Ishmael was thirteen;

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

 

One of the wonderful things about the Bible is its honesty

–         The Bible doesn’t paint an unrealistic picture of humanity

–         It tells it how it is, revealing human beings in all our complexity and imperfection

 

When we ask the question: how did Abraham respond to God? Genesis 17 gives us a wonderfully honest answer

–         Abraham’s response was a bit of a mixed bag

–         First he threw himself face-down in submission to God, a good start

–         But then he laughed in disbelief and suggested Ishmael as an alternative to what God had planned (not such a good follow up)

 

We have to remember that for the past 13 years Abraham probably thought that his son Ishmael (born to Hagar) would inherit God’s promise

–         If that’s the case it must have been a bit of shock for Abraham to hear that his hope had been misplaced all this time

 

Our human imperfection draws out the beauty of God’s grace

–         God doesn’t rebuke Abraham – he doesn’t withdraw his covenant because Abraham laughed in a moment of doubt

 

Instead God says a son will be born to Sarah and you will name him Isaac

–         The name ‘Isaac’ means ‘laughter’ – Isaac will be a source of joy to Abraham & Sarah

–         But God won’t forget Ishmael – Ishmael will be blessed too and will be fruitful, only he won’t inherit God’s covenant promises as Isaac will

–         God did in fact greatly increase Ishmael’s numbers – millions of Arabs today are descended from Ishmael

 

Despite an initial flicker of doubt Abraham finishes strongly, not wasting any time in obeying God

–         Abraham performs the rite of circumcision that very day on every male in his household, just as the Lord had told him

–         God is big enough to handle our doubts – what counts in the end is obedience

 

Conclusion:

We’ve heard today how God confirmed his covenant with Abraham and how Abraham responded to what God said

–         Confirming the covenant involves naming, committing and circumcising

–         Naming is about identity

–         Committing is about loyal relationship

–         And circumcising is about initiation, or opting into the covenant

 

Through Jesus, God has established a new covenant, not limited to ethnic Israel but available to anyone who is willing to receive Christ by faith

–         We opt in to this new covenant, not through circumcision, but through baptism

 

To those who have been baptised the question remains:

–         Is a loyal relationship with Jesus still at the centre of your life?

 

And to those who are yet to be baptised…

–         Are you willing to submit and commit to Jesus?

 

Questions for reflection or discussion:

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

2.)    What is the significance of God renaming Abraham & Sarah?

–         What does your name mean?

3.)    What did God mean when he said to Abram, “I am God Almighty, walk before me and be blameless.”?

4.)    At the core of the covenant is God’s commitment, “I will be your God.” What does this mean? What is God offering in saying this?

–         How does God offer Himself to us today?

5.)    In what sense is circumcision (for Israel) and baptism (for us), like a passport?

6.)    What might be the symbolic significance for Israel in circumcising boys at 8 days old?

7.)    What gives circumcision (for Israel) and baptism (for us) it’s meaning?

–         What sorts of things empty circumcision and baptism of meaning?

8.)    How did Abraham respond to what God said? (vv. 17-27)

–         How does God handle Abraham’s moment of doubt?

9.)    Have you been baptised?

–         If you have, is a loyal relationship with Jesus at the centre of your life?

–         If you haven’t, are you willing to submit and commit to Christ?

 

https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/26-nov-2017-confirming-the-covenant

[1] This illustration was found in John Walton’s NIVAC Genesis, page 468

[2] Bruce Waltke, Genesis, page 262

[3] This illustration was also found in John Walton’s NIVAC Genesis, page 468

[4] Bruce Waltke, Genesis, page 259.

[5] Incidentally, keeping the Sabbath was a sign to show continued allegiance to the covenant. So you can see why the Pharisees got a bit touchy when Jesus challenged their rules around the Sabbath. From their perspective it may have seemed like Jesus was being disloyal to the covenant, when in fact Jesus had come to establish a new covenant

 

[6] And our equivalent of keeping the Sabbath (refer above footnote) is sharing communion

Tawa Baptist

Hagar & Sarai

Scripture: Genesis 16

 

Title: Sarai & Hagar

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Hagar and Sarai
  • Hagar and the angel
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

Over the past few weeks we have been working our way through the story of Abram, in Genesis

–         Near the beginning of this series I talked about Abram’s journey of faith (and ours) being characterised as two steps forward, one step back

–         Our journey of faith isn’t always linear or straight forward – sometimes we get side tracked or go in circles

–         Other times we seem to be making good progress in the right direction only to become stalled in our faith or even to regress

–         Faith is a journey – two steps forward, one step back

 

When Abram followed God’s call to leave his homeland and trust the Lord with an unknown future that was a step forward

–         Then when Abram faced famine in the land he took a step back by going to Egypt and deceiving Pharaoh

–         Since returning from Egypt Abram has been moving forward in his faith, with his amicable separation from Lot and then his rescue of Lot

–         Last week we heard how God made a covenant with Abram – another positive step

–         Today though Abram & Sarai take a step backward as they try to provide a son and heir in their own strength

–         From Genesis 16 the story of Abram’s journey of faith continues…

 

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maid servant named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maid servant; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said.

3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.

When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”

6 “Your servant is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.

7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.

9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”

11 The angel of the Lord also said to her:

“You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son.

You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery. 12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”

13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

 

Today’s chapter focuses largely on Hagar. It falls naturally into two parts:

–         Verses 1-6, which deal with Hagar & Sarai’s relationship, and

–         Verses 7-14, which describe Hagar’s encounter with the angel of the Lord

–         First let us consider Hagar’s relationship with Sarai, in verses 1-6

 

Hagar & Sarai:

The famous mathematician and philosopher, Blaise Pascal once said…

–         “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”

 

This quote is a bit tongue in cheek, but there is truth in it

–         It is our inability to sit still that gets us into trouble – we interfere where we should stay out of it, as countless land wars in Asia have proven

–         Sadly, Sarai interferes where she shouldn’t and the consequences for hostility are far reaching

 

Let me tell you a story…

 

Once there was a boy whose father died when he was 12

–         The boy had a brother and a sister, both younger than him

–         As the eldest child he was inclined to feel the weight of responsibility more heavily than most

 

His mum was pretty distraught for a number of years after his dad’s passing (she kind of checked out for a while) and so the boy took charge

–         Strangely he didn’t cry at the funeral or even in private afterwards

–         Everyone else was a mess so he had to be strong

–         Naturally, as the eldest son, he tried to fill his dad’s shoes, mowing the lawns, putting out the rubbish, washing the car, locking the house up at night and being a sort of surrogate father to his younger siblings

–         Finances were tight but they got by – he worked part time after school to supplement the family’s income

–         And as soon as he was old enough to leave school he found a fulltime job – after all, supporting a teenage family isn’t cheap

 

The years went by and the 12 year old boy was soon 19

–         All the adults around him thought he was wonderful the way he helped his mum

–         They wished their sons could be more like him and wanted their daughters to go out with him

–         But the way things appear on the outside is not always how they are on the inside

–         You see, in his rush to take care of everyone else the boy had forgotten to take care of himself

 

Grief is a debt that must be paid – the longer you leave it the more the interest accumulates

–         Sadly, in the 7 years since his father had died, the boy had ignored his grief and now the repo man was calling

–         The wound in his soul had grown hard, like a boil ready to burst

–         He had become so sensitive that no one could get near him

–         He was anxious all the time and couldn’t relax, couldn’t sit still in a room by himself – busy-ness was his sanctuary, rescuing others his comfort

 

While it appeared to everyone else like he was pure in heart, helping his family selflessly, his virtue was really a cry for someone to save him

 

Everything came to a head one day when his sister, the youngest of the three, broke curfew

–         It was a Saturday night and his little sister (who was now 14) had gone to the movies with her friends – or at least that’s what she had told him

–         They had an agreement that she would be home by 11pm – the movie finished at 10

–         It was now after midnight and the boy’s sister still hadn’t come home

 

It’s funny how it’s the little things that undo us in the end

–         An off-hand remark here or there

–         The hint of contempt in someone’s eyes

–         Not getting a reply to the email we sent two weeks ago

–         Not being acknowledged by someone in the supermarket

–         Being defriended on Facebook

–         Or, as was the case with the boy, not getting a single reply to any of the 15 text messages he’d sent his sister since 11pm

 

In hindsight he should have remained calm and simply trusted his sister but when you are in as much pain as he was, you can’t sit quietly in your room

–         The sense that he was personally responsible for the decisions his sister made was as overwhelming as it was irrational

–         As soon as she walked through the front door he started yelling at her

–         His ranting about how much trouble she was in and how ungrateful she was for all he had done for her, lasted a full 30 minutes

–         Not once did he stop to listen to her – it was a monologue of judgment and condemnation (hostility conceived in his pain)

 

At the time he felt totally justified in his tirade – after all, he had sacrificed so much for her (for them all really) – but his righteous indignation was short lived

–         Like many teenagers his sister was both sensitive and obstinate at the same time

–         Normally she would have given back as good as she got but this time her response was to run away

 

The responsible older brother was a complete wreck

–         His already high level of anxiety went into overdrive and after 36 hours with no sleep, not knowing where she was, he finally broke down

–         The boil in his soul burst and seven years of pent up grief came flooding out – the tears kept coming and he was powerless to stop them

 

The difficult truth he now faced was that all this time he thought he had been helping his family when in reality he was simply avoiding his pain and his grief

–         Worse than that, his pain was hurting those closest to him

 

Sarai was sort of like the boy in the story except her wound was not being able to have children

–         There are no words that can do justice to the pain of not being able to have kids when that’s the only thing in the world you want

–         On top of her personal grief Sarai also had to deal with the public shame that barren women suffered in her culture

–         In our culture it is not a shameful thing if you can’t have children

–         It might be a sad thing but no one blames the infertile couple – it’s just considered bad luck

–         But in the ancient near east people did apportion blame

–         In Sarai’s culture not being able to have children made people wonder what you had done wrong to offend the gods

–         This sort of prejudice only rubbed salt in Sarai’s wound and created a feeling of alienation and loneliness for Sarai

 

Not able to sit quietly in her room Sarai conceives a solution herself, out of her own hurt

–         Sarai tells her husband, Abram, to take her maid-servant, Hagar, as a second wife (or a concubine) and try to have children through her

–         God had promised Abram a son from his own body but he hadn’t, as yet, said whether that son will come through Sarai or someone else

 

Sarai’s solution probably seems wrong to us, on a number of levels

–         Obviously there’s the polygamy aspect but there’s also the question of whether Hagar had any choice in the matter (the text doesn’t say)

–         But 4000 years ago, in the ancient world, this was acceptable practice

–         In fact, one could argue that Sarai would have been considered by many, in her culture, to be doing the right & noble thing by Abram

–         She can’t give Abram children herself so she provides another woman who can. Abram passively goes along with it

 

Now just because people in ancient times did something it doesn’t automatically follow that it’s a good idea and we should do it too

–         Genesis 16 is not a license for polygamy

–         Nor is it making an ethical judgement on surrogacy arrangements

–         Much of the Bible is simply description, not all of it is prescription

–         Genesis 16 doesn’t make an explicit statement about the right or wrong of Sarai’s solution – the text simply presents the story and leaves the reader to draw their own conclusions

–         This is what they did and this was the consequence

–         Abram agreed to Sarai’s suggestion, he slept with Hagar and hostility was born

 

As soon as Hagar knew she was pregnant she despised Sarai

–         Funny how it’s the little things that undo us in the end

–         An off-hand remark here or there

–         The hint of contempt in Hagar’s eyes

–         Pretending not to hear when Sarai called her

–         Rubbing her belly in front of Sarai

–         It all gets too much for Sarai – her dream has become a nightmare

–         She blames Abram for this as many a wife is inclined to do

 

And Abram abdicates responsibility, as many a husband is inclined to do, saying, “Do with her whatever you think best.’

–         Previously Abram had stepped in when he should have stayed well clear of Hagar – now he stays well clear when he should have stepped in

–         The result is that Sarai (who is in a great deal of pain), mistreats Hagar and Hagar runs away, with the hoped for son in utero

 

Based on Sarai & Hagar’s experience we would have to conclude that polygamy is not a good idea and surrogacy comes with a pretty big emotional cost

 

In Genesis 12, Abram chose the fertility of Egypt because of the barrenness (or famine) in the land of Canaan

–         Now here in Genesis 16, Abram chooses the fertility of the Egyptian maid-servant because of the barrenness of Sarai

–         This is one step back for Abram

–         God’s promised son will come through divine miracle, not human engineering

 

Okay, so that’s verses 1-6, Hagar & Sarai’s very difficult relationship

–         Now let’s consider Hagar’s encounter with the angel of the Lord

–         How does God handle Hagar?

 

Hagar and the angel:

Well, before we get into that, let me finish the story I was telling you before, of the boy and his sister – the one who ran away

 

As you’ve probably worked out the girl was 7 when her dad died

–         At seven she idealised her father and this ideal was forever preserved with his passing

–         No man could ever live up to the photo shopped memory of him in her mind – not even her older brother

–         While her brother had an over developed sense of responsibility she was the opposite – dreamy and care free

–         Always leaving things lying around the house, never on time, always losing things

–         She just couldn’t understand why her brother was so intense all the time

 

After he had yelled at her that night she snuck out of the house and went to hide at a friend’s place

–         No way was she going to spend another minute under the same roof as her stupid family – they just didn’t understand her, they didn’t get her

–         She felt like the only one who understood was her dad and he was dead

 

Hiding at her friend’s house was never going to be a long term solution

–         After a couple of days she bought a bus ticket and headed for Auckland

–         It was a long drive from Wellington and, as she was sitting at the front of the bus, she got talking to the driver

–         Although she didn’t mean to she ended up telling him her life’s story

–         Funny how you can say things to a complete stranger that you would never say to your family

 

As the driver listened to the girl he guessed she was running away, although she didn’t say as much

 

The bus stopped in Taihape to give people a chance to stretch their legs and get something to eat

–         The driver shouted the girl some lunch since she had used all her money on the bus ticket. Then he told her straight…

–         ‘You’re a bright kid and you’ve got spunk, I can see that. It’s a tough deal losing your dad so young. But I wonder what he would think about you breaking up the family by running away like you are.’

–         The girl blushed a little – how did he know she was running away?

–         ‘This guy understands me’, she thought to herself

 

‘If you ask me’, the driver said, ‘you’re better off back at home with your family, even if your brother is a bit intense.

–         Family isn’t perfect, life isn’t perfect, and kid, you might not want to hear this but I bet your dad wasn’t perfect either.

–         Now I can take you all the way to Auckland if you like but there’s another bus heading for Wellington – it’s due to stop here in about 10 minutes. If you want I can talk to the driver and you can get on board that one, no extra charge. You decide.’

 

The girl thought for a moment

–         The driver’s words were strong but the truth of what he was saying resonated with her – she knew he was right

–         It wasn’t what she wanted to hear but it was what she needed to hear

–         He wasn’t giving her a sales pitch and he wasn’t tip toeing around her feelings either – he was showing her the respect of being honest and trusting her decision, something her brother never did

–         ‘Okay’, she said, ‘I’ll catch the next bus back to Wellington’

–         ‘Smart move kid, smart move. You have a bright future. No sense in throwing it away over wounded pride’

 

Later that evening, when she walked into the living room at home, she found her brother curled up on the couch

–         It had been 3 days since their argument – he looked terrible

–         She could see he had been crying – he never cried

–         There was no reprisal this time, no accusation, no emotional blackmail.

–         He simply said, ‘I’m pleased you’re home. Sorry for yelling at you. I can get a bit intense sometimes’

–         She smiled and said, ‘Yea, you can. But no one’s perfect. I’m sorry too.’

 

Things were different after that – better than they had been

 

When Hagar ran away, she didn’t get on a bus – she probably made her way on foot

–         If Abram’s camp was still in Hebron then Hagar had travelled about 70 miles through inhospitable territory by the time she encountered the angel

–         This means she had been on the road for at least a week [1]

 

When the angel finds Hagar he asks two open ended questions:

–         Where have you come from and where are you going?

–         By doing this the angel is giving Hagar the opportunity talk about her past and her future – like the bus driver the angel starts by listening

–         Hagar gives an honest answer to where she has come from but can’t say where she is going – she doesn’t see a future for herself

 

Then the angel of the Lord gives it to Hagar straight…

–         “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.”

–         Submitting to Sarai is the opposite of despising her

–         This isn’t what Hagar wanted to hear but it is what she needed to hear

–         The angel wasn’t giving her a sales pitch and he wasn’t tip toeing around her feelings either – he was showing her the respect of being honest and trusting her decision. Hagar knew he was right

 

The angel then goes on to say he will increase Hagar’s descendants so that they will be too numerous to count

–         This is essentially the same as what God said to Abram in chapter 15

 

The angel tells Hagar to name her son ‘Ishmael’

–         Ishmael means ‘God hears’ – so every time she calls her son by name Hagar will be reminded of how the Lord heard her misery and put her back on the right track, like the good shepherd restoring the lost sheep

 

When the angel had finished Hagar gave the Lord the name…

–         “You are the God who sees me.”

–         To be seen by God means to be understood and valued by the Lord

–         Not only had God seen Hagar’s misery, he had also seen a future for her and her son

 

That God would even notice her, let alone go out of his way to restore her hope (by revealing her future) was a profound realisation for Hagar of her worth

–         Everyone, including Hagar, would have thought that God would send his angel to comfort and encourage Sarai – after all, Sarai is the first wife of Abram and she is clearly in a lot of pain because she can’t have kids

–         But the Lord plans to speak to Sarai later – on this occasion God attends to Hagar, the outsider

 

All this takes place by a well

–         In this way the angel of the Lord reminds us of Jesus who, 2000 years later, would talk to another outsider by a well, the Samaritan woman [2]

–         That woman would also come away from her conversation with Jesus knowing that God had seen her misery – that she was understood and valued by the Lord

 

Conclusion:

Who is it that you identify with most in this story?

 

Are you in pain like Sarai (unable to sit quietly in a room alone), unwittingly hurting others, even as you try to solve the problem in your own strength?

 

Or are you like Abram, abdicating your responsibility when you should be manning up and giving your family Godly leadership?

 

Or are you like Hagar, despising those in authority and running away when the going gets tough?

 

Or are you like the angel of the Lord, listening to the runaways and putting them back on the right path with words of truth & hope?

 

Questions for discussion / reflection:

 

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

 

2.)    Discuss Blaise Pascal’s statement…

–         “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”

–         What do you think Pascal meant?

–         Why was Sarai unable to sit quietly in a room?

 

3.)    What ‘little things’ threaten to undo you (or at least irritate you the most)?

 

4.)    What does Abram, Sarai & Hagar’s experience, in Genesis 16, show us about polygamy and surrogacy?

 

5.)    How did the angel of the Lord approach Hagar initially?

–         What difference does listening first make?

 

6.)    In what sense does God “see” Hagar?

–         (What does it mean to be seen by God?)

 

7.)    How does the angel of the Lord remind us of Jesus?

 

8.)    Who do you identify with most?

–         Sarai (in pain)

–         Abram (who abdicates)

–         Hagar (who runs)

–         The angel (who listens and guides)

 

 

[1] John Walton, NIVAC Genesis, page 448.

[2] John 4

Tawa Baptist

God’s covenant with Abram

Scripture: Genesis 15

Title: God’s covenant with Abram

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Conversation 1 – counting stars (vv. 1-6)
  • Conversation 2 – cutting a covenant (vv. 7-21)
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Today we continue our series on the life of Abram by focusing on Genesis 15

–         Last week we heard how Abram went to war to rescue his nephew Lot

–         This week we listen in to two conversations God has with Abram

–         To make it easier to follow we’ll deal with these two conversations separately – firstly from Genesis 15, verses 1-6 we read…

After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:

“Do not be afraid, Abram.     I am your shield,     your reward will be very great.”

2 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

Conversation 1 – counting stars (vv. 1-6)

Let me tell you a story…

 

One day a young acorn was growing on a tree

–         As he hung there he wondered to himself…

–         ‘Why am I here? What is the point of being an acorn?’

 

So he asked the leaves beside him if they knew why he was there

–         They never stopped whispering to each other, except on a still day

–         The leaves looked at the little acorn with contempt and said,

–         ‘We are here to clothe the tree and make her look beautiful. But we can’t think what you are here for, you ugly little nut.’

–         Then they went back whispering to each other like they always did, except on a still day

 

The young acorn was hurt by their tone and fell silently into his own thoughts

–         It was true that they were delicate and thin while he was round and fat

–         But he couldn’t help the way he looked – it was just the way he was

–         Still he wondered, if I’m not here to look beautiful then why am I here?

 

By and by a finch landed on the branch beside him tickling the leaves with her quick jerky movements

–         The young acorn asked the finch, ‘Why am I here?’

–         And the finch looked at the acorn with pity saying, ‘I am here to fly through the whole forest. I can travel wherever I please’, said the finch. ‘But you are stuck where you are – you are going nowhere’

–         Then, as if to prove her point, the finch flew away

 

The acorn thought hard about what the finch had said

–         It was true that the finch could fly and that he was going nowhere. But that didn’t answer his question, not really. He couldn’t help not having wings – it was just the way he was

–         Still he wondered, if I’m not here to fly through the forest then why am I here?

 

By and by a squirrel came along the branch he was hanging on, stopping every few seconds to rub his whole head in his hands

–         The little acorn wondered why he did that but thought it too rude to ask so ventured another question instead, ‘Why am I here, Mr Squirrel?’

–         The squirrel smiled at him but not in a warm friendly way, like the sun when it rises in the morning

–         The squirrel’s smile was more sinister, like he was holding back a secret

–         ‘I am here to store up food to eat and you are here to become my dinner. But not just yet, you’re too green right now. I’ll come back for you later.’

–         Then the squirrel rubbed his whole head in his hands one more time before disappearing along the branch

 

The young acorn was so scared he forgot to breathe for a moment

–         All his thoughts had run into hiding and it took him the rest of the afternoon to coax them out again

–         It was true that some of the older brown acorns went missing sometimes but life didn’t seem fair if his only purpose was to feed a greedy squirrel

–         He couldn’t help the way he tasted – it was just the way he was

–         Still he wondered, I must be more than lunch for a squirrel

 

By and by the little acorn asked everyone he could think of, ‘Why am I here?’

–         But no one could give him a proper answer

–         After a while the acorn gave up asking and tried to distract himself by thinking about other more trivial things

 

Then one night there was a big storm

 

The wind blew so hard that the acorn, who wasn’t so young and green anymore, fell off the branch and landed on the ground

 

A few days later, after the storm had passed, a little girl came by and picked up the thoughtful acorn

–         Her hands were soft like nothing the acorn had ever felt before

–         And her eyes were kind like nothing the acorn had ever seen before

–         And her voice was sweet like nothing the acorn had ever heard before

 

She showed the acorn to her grandad and asked him, ‘What is this here for?’

–         The old man looked at the acorn and then at the little girl

–         ‘You see that big tree there? This acorn is here to become like that oak’

–         The girl looked in awe at the acorn then carefully placed it back on the ground where she had found it

 

The acorn heard what the old man had said and even though he didn’t know how it would happen he still believed it was true

–         Now he knew at last why he was here

 

Genesis 15 is not the first time God has spoken to Abram, but it is the first time he has spoken to Abram in a vision

–         This vision happens at night, when the stars are out

–         We are told that ‘the word of the Lord came to Abram’

–         Prophetic messages are often introduced in the Bible with this phrase which signals to us that Abram is a prophet

–         Last week we heard how Abram acted in a kingly manner, even though he didn’t have the title of king

–         This week he acts in a prophetic manner

 

The Lord says three things to Abram…

–         Do not be afraid

–         I am your shield, and

–         Your reward will be very great

 

God often introduces himself by saying, ‘Don’t be afraid’

–         Fear is a natural response to the presence of God

–         After all God is the most powerful being there is

 

Then God says to Abram, ‘I am your shield’

–         A shield is something you hold close by your side to protect you

–         Given that Abram has just recently defeated the most powerful military alliance in the area he might very well be worried about reprisals

–         He needn’t worry though for God is his shield – right there beside him to protect him

 

The third thing God says is, ‘Your reward will be very great’

–         You may remember from last week (in Genesis 14) that Abram refused the reward of the spoils of war – he wanted nothing to do with the loot of Sodom, preferring instead to trust in God for his reward

–         Now here, in chapter 15, God is saying Abram will receive a great reward

–         What that reward looks like though is still somewhat ambiguous

 

Abram responds to God by saying…

–         What can you give me since I remain childless?

 

It’s not that Abram doubts God’s ability to deliver

–         It’s really more a question of meaning or purpose

–         Like the acorn Abram is wondering why am I here?

–         If the answer is to receive a great reward or to become rich then I don’t get it – there’s no meaning in that because when I die the reward goes to my servant Eliezer

–         Wealth is only a means to an end, not an end in itself

 

Then the word of the Lord came to him

–         Remember, that phrase means that what follows is a prophetic message

–         And the message is: Abram, you will father a son

–         Then God takes Abram outside (in his pyjamas) and shows him the stars saying, in effect, you will have so many descendants you won’t be able to count them

–         This is Abram’s oak tree moment – this is when the acorn gets a clear picture of why he is here and what he will become

 

At this point Abram doesn’t know how God will accomplish this

–         He simply believes God – he takes God at his word

 

I say ‘simply’ but as we know, simple isn’t the same as easy

–         Sarai was barren (she couldn’t have kids) and Abram wasn’t getting any younger

–         Believing that God would give him a son from his own body was equivalent to the acorn believing he would become a mighty oak one day

–         It’s equivalent to believing that God can raise people from the dead

–         That he can transform our mortal bodies into the immortal

–         It is such a leap that we must go beyond our own logic and exercise our imagination – which is what Abram does

–         Abram believes God’s word to him and God credits it to him as righteousness

 

Righteousness is a word that means ‘right relationship’

–         So a righteous person is someone who relates to others in a right way

–         They do justice and love mercy

–         Abram was not morally perfect – he didn’t always relate to others with justice & mercy – but by believing in God, by taking the Lord at his word, Abram did relate to God in a right way

 

Verse 6 is famously used by the apostle Paul in the New Testament [1]

–         “Abraham is the model for our faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, faith God will credit to us as righteousness” [2]

 

Conversation 2 – cutting a covenant (vv. 7-21)

Okay, so that’s the first conversation between God & Abram in Genesis 15

–         Now let’s hear their second conversation in this chapter

 

From verses 7-21 we read…

 

7 He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”

8 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”

9 So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”

10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. 12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.

13 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.

15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”

17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the Lord cut a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

 

On the wall here is a diagram, to scale, of the sun & planets in our solar system

–         As you can see the sun is enormous relative to any other planet

–         God designed it this way I believe

–         Not only does the sun provide light, which is the foundation of life on earth, the mass of the sun also provides the gravity needed to give order and stability to the solar system

–         Who knows what would happen without the gravity of the sun

–         Maybe the planets would float all over the place and bump into each – it would be chaos

–         God created the sun to give order and life and stability to our planet

 

In the first 6 verses of Genesis 15 God talks to Abram about children

–         Now, in the last 15 verses (which we just read), God talks about land

–         This second conversation takes place during the day and then at dusk

 

The Lord begins by reminding Abram that he brought him out of Ur to take possession of the land of Canaan

–         As I understand it God is saying, ‘Abram, we have history and a future. I’ve got plans and a purpose for you’

–         One gets the feeling there was more that God was going to say before Abram interrupts the Lord with another question…

–         How can I know that I’ll gain possession of it?

–         And the question is jarring, isn’t it, because it sounds like Abram doesn’t believe God – he wants some kind of guarantee or solid commitment

–         When Zechariah (the father of John the baptist) asked a similar question he was struck dumb and couldn’t talk for 9 months [3]

 

Some experts reckon that Abram’s questioning of God comes out of faith, not unbelief

–         They reason it takes more faith to speak up before God with a compliant than it does to despair in silence [4]

–         Maybe, but the fact is Abram is asking for a guarantee and asking for guarantees is a long way from taking God at his word

–         Abram believed God’s word that he would become a father

–         So why doesn’t he take God at his word about the Promised Land? [5]

 

Well, I can’t pretend to know the heart and mind of Abram

–         What I am in touch with (through my own experience) is that faith needs commitment to survive, in much the same way that a plant needs sunlight

–         Or in much the same way that the earth needs the gravity of the sun to give it stability, so that it doesn’t float all over the place

–         We are not big enough to sustain the commitment that faith requires

–         We don’t have the mass & gravity to give order and stability to faith

–         So we look to God to provide the commitment (the light and the gravity) that our faith needs to thrive

–         Our faith commitment depends on God’s much larger commitment to us

 

God had promised to give Abram possession of the land but the problem was there were already at least 10 other people groups living in the land

–         Add to that the complication of foreign invaders, which Abram had recently been fighting with, and we can see that, without a firm commitment or guarantee from God, Abram’s belief in God’s promises was at risk of becoming destabilised

–         Like our earth would be destabilised without the gravity of the sun

 

God, in his grace, understands that for our faith to survive, over the long haul, he needs to provide the guarantee of a stable commitment

–         So the Lord God gives Abram the guarantee he asked for

–         The Lord tells Abram to bring him some livestock and birds

–         Abram does this, cutting the livestock in two and laying the pieces on the ground opposite each other

–         This was a messy and smelly business – there would have been a lot of blood and flies

 

Abram has to wait till the end of the day, shooing away the carrion, until God speaks again

 

12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.

 

This thick and dreadful darkness signals to Abram (and to us) that what is about to take place carries huge gravity

 

The Lord goes on to explain the future to Abram – how his descendants will be enslaved in a country not their own for 400 years

–         God is talking about the Israelites in Egypt

–         But the Lord God will punish the nation that mistreats Israel and bring Abram’s descendants out of slavery

–         The implication here is that possession of the land is a slow train coming – it won’t happen overnight

–         There will be a lot of waiting and suffering before the promise is fulfilled

–         I guess if we are going to ask God for guarantees we need to be ready to hear what he wants to tell us – we may not like it

 

Verse 16 explains the reason for the delay…

–         16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”

 

God is patient and just – he is slow to anger and rich in love

–         He intends to give the inhabitants of the land more than 400 years to change their wicked ways

–         Only when they’ve gone past the point of no return will the Amorites be dispossessed of the land

–         The reference to God’s patience in waiting for the sin of the Amorites to reach its fullness indicates that Joshua’s invasion was an act of justice, not aggression [6]

 

Verse 17 describes God cutting a covenant with Abram

 

17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking fire-pot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the Lord cut a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land…

 

In the ancient culture, of Abram’s time, this is how people made an irrevocable agreement

–         It was called cutting a covenant because you cut the animals in half and walked between them as a way of saying, ‘If I break this promise then what has been done to the animals will be done to me’ [7]

 

It was serious, heavy weight, stuff

–         In our culture we don’t really have anything that comes close to this level of commitment

–         Our culture is relatively low on commitment but high on inclusion,

–         The prevailing thought is pretty much anything goes, so long as you don’t hurt anyone else – we’re more easy come, easy go

–         Our society, as a whole, tends to value convenience over commitment

 

The smoking fire-pot and blazing torch are symbols of God’s presence

–         The Lord walks between the animals that Abram has cut in two to demonstrate his solemn commitment to do what he has promised

–         What we notice is that God is the only one who walks between the severed animals – Abram doesn’t walk between them

–         So this is a one sided covenant – God is binding himself

–         It’s not that God requires nothing of Abram – as we’ll see when we get to chapter 17, God does ask some things of Abram and his descendants

–         The point here is that Abram can have 100% confidence in God’s oath

 

God’s covenant with Abram had the mass & gravity of the sun providing the light and stability Abram’s faith needed

–         But not just stability for Abram’s faith – also stability for the faith of his descendants

–         Isaac and Jacob and all the Israelites could look to this covenant and it would give light and order to their life, even through the hardest times

 

Conclusion:

Now God didn’t just cut a covenant with Abram

–         He has also cut a covenant with us

 

When Jesus went to the cross God was cutting a covenant with humanity

–         He was making an irrevocable commitment that anyone who accepts Jesus by faith will have their sins forgiven and be gifted eternal life in the kingdom of heaven

–         God’s commitment to us, as demonstrated through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, has the mass & gravity & light to give stability and life to our faith

 

So the question is: do you believe in Jesus?

–         His death & resurrection

 

https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/12-nov-2017-gods-covenant-with-abram

 

Questions for discussion / reflection:

 

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

 

2.)    In what sense is Abram like the acorn in the story?

–         Why are you here? (What is the purpose or meaning of your life?)

 

3.)    How was Abram’s belief that God could make him a father equivalent to believing in resurrection from the dead?

–         What do you believe about the resurrection?

 

4.)     What is righteousness?

 

5.)    Why do you think Abram asks God for a guarantee in verse 8?

–         What does our faith depend on for stability and survival?

 

6.)    Why must Abram’s descendants wait over 400 years before God’s promise of them possessing the land is realised?

 

7.)    What does it mean to cut a covenant?

 

8.)    What covenant has God cut with us?

 

Footnotes

[1] Romans 4

[2][2] Bruce Waltke, Genesis, page 247.

[3] Luke 1:18

[4] Bruce Waltke, Genesis, page 241.

[5] Part of me wants to come to Abram’s rescue and put a positive spin on his words by saying that Abram was asking the question in pursuit of the promise. So, ‘How can I know I’ll gain possession of it?’ means something like, ‘Great I believe you God. When can I start kicking people out?’ But I suspect that would stretching the text too far

[6] Bruce Waltke, Genesis, page 244.

[7] Refer to Jeremiah 34:18-19