Tawa Baptist

Wonder – by Murray Lucas

Scripture: Psalm 8                                                         

Audio Link: https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/sermon-10-jul-2022-murray-lucas

Message by: Murray Lucas

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Past
  • Present
  • Future
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

The book of Psalms speaks of a wide range of human emotions and many of you will have a favourite Psalm which you identify with and helps you to work with God through life’s circumstances, both its challenges and its moments of joy.

The Psalm that I have found to be a huge help is Psalm 8.  Let us read it from the New International Version…

Psalm 8

 1 Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
    in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
    you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
    to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?

5 You have made them a little lower than the angels
    and crowned themwith glory and honour.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
    you put everything under theirfeet:
7 all flocks and herds,
    and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
    and the fish in the sea,
    all that swim the paths of the seas.

9 Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8 is unique for two reasons.

Firstly, it is the first hymn one encounters when reading the Psalms straight through. The psalms that immediately precede it are prayers spoken by people who are suffering or persecuted (Psalms 3-7).

Secondly, this Psalm is the only hymn in the Psalter spoken entirely to God. The focus of the psalm on the great and special privilege given to humanity occurs within the overarching focus on the sovereignty and majesty of God.

I would like to look at 3 parts of the Psalm that have helped me. I have related these passages to our Past, Present and Future.

Past:

One of the most dramatic shifts in the psalm happens between verses 1 and 2. We move from ‘You have set your glory in the heavens’ to ‘through the praises of children and infants God has established a stronghold against God’s enemies to silence the foe and the avenger’. We are moving here from God’s glory in the heavens to God’s glory in children and infants.

Jesus put a huge value on infants and children and rebuked his disciples for ignoring them and not valuing them enough. It is worth noting that Jesus himself cited this psalm on the day of his triumphant entry into Jerusalem when the children cried out, “Hosanna to the Son of David”.

A key aspect I want to bring out is that young children can teach us the value of wonder.

What is so special about wonder and children? 

Children inhabit a world rich in beauty and full of wonder. As an example, it is children who find their way to the wonderful world of Narnia, from CS Lewis’ classic book series, “Chronicles of Narnia”.

A healthy and happy childhood is filled with wonder for the simple reason that, through the eyes of a child, beauty is abundant and mystery is everywhere. A Monarch butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, a puddle in the street or the moon in the sky at night have more than enough beauty and mystery to evoke wonder. For a child his own backyard and some imagination are sufficient for hours of wonder … until he or she grows up.

I am grateful to my three year old grandson, Micah, for rekindling in me a sense of wonder. His joy and delight at watching diggers in action or watching a ladybug on a leaf is contagious and it has reignited the joy of wonder in me.

I acknowledge the author, Brian Zahnd, for his insights into wonder.

One of the tragedies of growing up is that we lose this capacity for childlike wonder. The loss of wonder is what we experience as boredom and boredom is a real problem.

Let us look at boredom more closely. Boredom is dangerous and deadly. Wonder is a feeling. Boredom is the loss of such feeling.  Sometimes we are led to believe that feelings are unimportant and I suppose that’s true for a machine, but we are not machines.

People devoid of human sensation and passionate feeling will often engage in dangerous and destructive actions in a desperate bid to feel something. Behind the evils of addiction and many other forms of self-destructive behaviour lies the culprit of boredom.

One of my favourite singing groups is Pink Floyd and not because they sang ‘We don’t need no education’. One of their other songs is ‘Comfortably Numb”. Its words have this theme – we grow up, lose wonder, and settle for being comfortably numb, but it really is a kind of death.

Wonder is a feeling. The loss of wonder is a loss of feeling. And when we lose the feeling of wonder, life just gets hard. The simple act of growing up and leaving childhood behind should not be such a catastrophe for our ability to wonder and be enchanted by mystery and beauty, but it seems that it is. 

God-given wonder is an essential ingredient if life is to be made liveable. God-given wonder is the cure – the cure for life-killing boredom. God-given wonder is the natural drug without which people may turn to alcohol or narcotics.

Sure, most people bravely soldier on without wonder, and even do so without drug addictions and self-destructive behaviour but is that the point of life?  That’s not life, that’s life with all the wonder crushed out of it and compressed to mere existence.

Wonder is what we’ve lost. Wonder is what we miss. Wonder is what we want. God-given wonder is our hidden Narnia into which we long to step and explore.

Joy Cowley captures this beautifully in her poem entitled ‘Bless Us, Lord’

Lord, when you blessed little children

You blessed every adult,

For childhood is not in our past but the pure state we carry with us,

Still connected to you our Source.

And so, Lord we ask you to bless us.

Bless the vision of the lovely heart 

That sees the world as fresh and beautiful.

Bless the trust that neither judges nor condemns.

Bless the quick sense of awe and wonder

That opens up wider than wide

Bless the lack of fear that makes space for love.

Bless the lightness of foot, rhythm of dance

And music of every present moment.

Bless the laughter that rings in us like birdsong.

Above all bless our childlike curiosity.

The challenge to me, and to all of us, is to reclaim a child-like wonder that adds to the thrill of living.

Present:

The second part of the Psalm that has impacted me greatly is: ‘What is mankind that he is mindful of them. Human beings that he cares for us’.

After considering the cosmic nature of God who sets in place the moon and the stars, we have this verse which states that God cares for us. I believe that means all human beings, irrespective of their background or opportunities. In fact, other Psalms will clarify that God has a special heart for the oppressed.

This is a dignity given by grace, a dignity given to every person, and constantly renewed as each person is the object of God’s particular care and concern. Among all the creatures, only humanity is crowned with glory and humanity.

Let us briefly consider the largeness of God in terms of the heavens. With the naked eye, one can see about 5,000 stars. With a four-inch telescope, one can see about 2 million stars. With a 200-inch mirror of a great observatory, one can see more than a billion stars. The universe is so big that if one were to travel at the speed of light, it would take 40 billion years to reach the edge of the universe. Considering the heavens makes us see the greatness of God.

It is a source of wonder that God who created all this values and cares for us. The Psalm goes on and states that God created us a little lower than the angels. Biblical scholars argue about the translation of the word ‘angels’. I prefer the interpretation that the word translated ‘angels’ is Elohim, and most often refers to God Himself. There are some Biblical scholars who believe that David said that man is a little lower than God, stressing the idea that man is made in God’s image. 

I want to return to the word ‘mindful’. Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed. Just as God is mindful of us, I believe that God or Jesus can be at the centre of our mindfulness.

It means abandoning technology and just being fully present to God. One simple exercise I have been introduced to is saying the statement ‘God is Love’ and sitting with it for a period of time, turning it over in your mind. Then saying, ‘God is’ and sitting with that for a period of time and then simply saying the word ‘God’ and doing likewise.

Firstly, the challenge of Psalm 8 is to recapture the wonder of the past.

Secondly, the challenge of Psalm 8 is to be fully present, embracing God-centred mindfulness and to value all people irrespective of their background or opportunities.

Future:

The latter verses of Psalm 8 steer us to the future. It outlines our responsibility as stewards for creation. In the Psalm it states we have a duty of care for domestic animals, wild animals, birds and fish and these creatures can only first survive and then thrive if we have a healthy ecosystem.

I want to honour those in Tawa who are working tirelessly to improve our local ecosystem: groups such as Friends of Redwood Bush, Friends of the Willowbank Reserve and those that work in the local community gardens at Tawa and Linden.

This year the Tawa schools have been part of a programme entitled KETE- kids enhancing Tawa Ecosystems. They will be involved in tree planting, monitoring water quality and pest control. One of our own young people, Delta, is a student leader in this worthwhile initiative.

Psalm 8 asks us to seek to protect, sustain, and restore creation. As part of this authority, mankind has the responsibility to wisely manage the creatures and resources of this earth in a way that gives God glory and is good for man.

This means that it is wrong to see man as merely part of the ecosystem (thus denying his God-ordained dominion). It is also wrong for man to abuse the ecosystem, thus making him a bad manager of that which ultimately belongs to God (Psalm 24:1). The mandate of dominion asks man to use the creatures and resources of the earth, but to use them wisely and responsibly.

Recently I was loaned a book entitled ‘The Good Ancestor’. It challenges us all to be good ancestors and to have empathy and love for those that will be living in 100 years’ time and even longer, way beyond our lifetimes.

The author correctly states that we live in an age dominated by the tyranny of short-term thinking but the reality is future generations of all living creatures, including humans, are going to be profoundly influenced by how we act to-day.

We have some excellent examples of people who have planned for the future. An example is the polder water management system in Netherlands.  Its aim was to protect land from flooding by dikes. The oldest existing polder dates from 1533.

Another is the London’s sewers. This was built following the great stink of 1858 and the deadly cholera outbreaks. Chief Engineer Bazalgette took 18 years with 22,000 workers and 318 million bricks. The scale of his planning showed that he was thinking beyond the present to the future. The system is still in use to-day. In fact, to this day the Thames is the cleanest metropolitan river in the world.

How can we be good stewards of the natural world that God created? Biologist Janine Benyus says that we should draw our lessons for long-term survival from the 3.8 billion years of research and development that nature has to offer.

“The secrets to a sustainable world, are literally all around us. If we choose to truly mimic life’s genius, the future I see would be beauty and abundance and certainly fewer regrets. In the natural world the definition of success is the continuity of life. You keep yourself alive and you keep your offspring alive. Success is keeping your offspring alive for ten thousand generations and more, so what organisms have learned to do is take care of the place that is going to take care of their offspring.”

What does that mean with regards to caring for place? It means caring for the rivers, the soil, the trees, the pollinators and the very air we breathe. It means respecting the intricate relationships that sustain the web of life. If we overshoot nature’s bio capacity, we are failing in the task of taking care of the place that will take care of our offspring. If we want to be a ‘good ancestor’, we don’t foul the nest.

It is interesting to note that the Psalmist, in Psalm 1, talks about the life of a man who delights in the law of the Lord. In verse 3 he uses the metaphor of a tree to describe this person. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Note the value the Psalmist places on planted trees and water quality and the importance of predictable seasons.

We need to think long-term and particularly in the area of care and stewardship for our ecosystem. I would like to conclude by reading a statement by a leading Christian Climate Scientist, Katherine Hayhoe:

‘I believe in God. I believe he created this amazing platform to live in, and gave us responsibility, stewardship and dominion over it. I believe God delights in his creation and wants us to delight in it as well. And I believe we are here to love others, especially the poor, the vulnerable and those most in need- just as Christ loved us.’

Conclusion:

Firstly, let us recover the God-centred wonder of our past childhood.

Secondly, let us be fully present, embracing God-centred mindfulness. Let us celebrate that God cares for each one of us.

Thirdly, let us think long-term and strive to be good ancestors, particularly in the area of stewardship of our ecosystem.

‘Lord, our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth.’

This is the message of Psalm chapter 8.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
  • What is wonder and why is it important? How can children teach us about wonder? What can you do to foster or renew your sense of God-centred wonder?
  • Why is boredom dangerous? How can we guard against boredom?
  • Slowly re-read Joy Cowley’s poem, ‘Bless us Lord’. What are you in touch with? E.g. a memory, a feeling, a challenge, an inspirational thought, or something else?
  • Reflect on / discuss the ‘dignity’ of being human. How do you feel when you consider the place God has given human beings in his created order?
  • What does it mean to be a good ancestor? What practical things can you do to be a good steward of the natural world God has made?
  • Make some time this week to be fully present to God by trying the exercise Murray suggests. That is: Say the statement, ‘God is Love’ and sit with it for a period of time, turning it over in your mind. Then say, ‘God is’ and sit with that for a period of time and then simply saying the word ‘God’, sitting with that.
Tawa Baptist

Light

Scriptures: John 8:12-20; 9:1-39 and 12:44-46

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Jesus guides
  • Jesus creates
  • Jesus reveals
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Today we continue our sermon series on the I am sayings of Jesus in the gospel of John. Jesus uses a number of I am statements to describe himself. These sayings tell us about Jesus’ being, his identity. What we notice is how closely Jesus identifies himself with God the Father.

Please turn with me to John chapter 8, verse 12, page 129 toward the back of your pew Bibles. This morning we hear how Jesus says: I am the light of the world. From John 8:12-20, we read… 

12 Jesus spoke to the Pharisees again. “I am the light of the world,” he said. “Whoever follows me will have the light of life and will never walk in darkness.”

13 The Pharisees said to him, “Now you are testifying on your own behalf; what you say proves nothing.”

14 “No,” Jesus answered, “even though I do testify on my own behalf, what I say is true, because I know where I came from and where I am going. You do not know where I came from or where I am going. 15 You make judgments in a purely human way; I pass judgment on no one. 16 But if I were to do so, my judgment would be true, because I am not alone in this; the Father who sent me is with me. 17 It is written in your Law that when two witnesses agree, what they say is true. 18 I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me also testifies on my behalf.”

19 “Where is your father?” they asked him.

“You know neither me nor my Father,” Jesus answered. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

20 Jesus said all this as he taught in the Temple, in the room where the offering boxes were placed. And no one arrested him, because his hour had not come.

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

There are many things we could say about light in relation to Jesus. This morning we will focus on just three things: As the light of the world Jesus guides, Jesus creates and Jesus reveals. First let us consider how Jesus guides.

Jesus guides:

A lighthouse guides ships to keep them off the rocks.

Traffic lights guide cars to prevent crashes.

Runway lights guide aeroplanes as they land.

A torch light guides your steps in the dark.

Ancient mariners guided their craft by the light of the stars.

Illuminated exit signs in a picture theatre guide you to the nearest exit.

The light of the sun (with the constant cycle of day and night) is our guide for measuring time. 

And when one of the lights on the dashboard of your car starts flashing, that’s usually a sign to indicate something needs attention. 

Light guides us.  

In the context of John 8, Jesus is sitting in the temple in Jerusalem. More specifically he is in the Court of the Women, which got a great deal of foot traffic. It was the Feast of Tabernacles (also known as the Feast of Shelters).

A ‘tabernacle’ is a tent or temporary shelter such as was used by the Israelites when they journeyed through the wilderness after their exodus from Egypt. God commanded the people of Israel to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles as a way of remembering the nation’s deliverance from slavery.

One of the traditions associated with the festival of Tabernacles was the lighting of four giant lamps. These lamps burned through the night, illuminating the city. The lamps were a reminder to the people of how God had guided his people through the wilderness with a pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night.

By saying, “I am the light of the world”, during the festival of Tabernacles, Jesus was making an incredible claim. He was essentially saying, I am the physical representation of God’s presence with you on earth.

The motif of guidance is brought out more clearly when Jesus says: “Whoever follows me will have the light of life and will never walk in darkness.”

In other words, look to me and follow me to find freedom from the things that enslave you. I will be your security in the darkness. I will guide you through the wilderness to the Promised Land of God’s kingdom.

That was a huge claim to make in itself but Jesus takes it even further. Jesus says, I am the light of the world. Not just the light of Israel, but the light of the other nations of the world as well.

No wonder the Pharisees reacted against Jesus. To them Jesus was a tall poppy that just had to be cut down. So they said to Jesus:

“Now you are testifying on your own behalf; what you say proves nothing.”

The Pharisees are appealing to a technicality in the law of Moses which required that at least two witnesses needed to agree for their testimony to be substantiated. Basically the Pharisees were saying to Jesus, ‘We don’t believe you are the light of the world. Prove it.’ 

In actual fact Jesus’ claim to be the light of the world was evidenced based. The evidence included, for example, the testimony of John the Baptist, the wisdom of Jesus’ own teaching and the miracles that accompanied Jesus’ teaching, as well as Jesus’ alignment with the things predicted about the Messiah by the prophets of the Old Testament. Jesus’ claim to be light was even seen in the stars, at his birth, by wise men who travelled from the East with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The proof was there for those who were willing to open their eyes to see it.    

Interestingly, Jesus does not appeal to any of this evidence to support his claim. Instead he points to God the Father as his witness. From verse 17 Jesus says:

“It is written in your Law that when two witnesses agree, what they say is true. 18 I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me also testifies on my behalf.”

It is fitting the way Jesus testifies on his own behalf. You see, light is unique in that it bears witness to itself. Everything else requires light to be seen but light does not require illumination. Light is illumination. The light of the sun in the sky is self-evident. It is its own witness. [1]

God the Father also testifies on Jesus’ behalf. God does this by vindicating Jesus. That is by upholding Jesus’ words so they come true, by enabling Jesus to perform miracles that only God could do and, most significantly, by raising Jesus from the dead. Perhaps too, Jesus is referring to the day of judgement when God the Father will bear witness to Christ His Son.    

In Tolkien’s book, The Fellowship of the Ring, Lady Galadriel gives Frodo a phial of starlight and says to the Hobbit, “a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out”. Frodo uses this light in the darkness of Mordor as he faces the giant spider.

The opposite of light is darkness. Darkness comes in many forms. For example, there is the darkness of confusion. The darkness of grief. The darkness of despair and depression. The darkness of anger and violence. The darkness of ignorance and fear as well as the darkness of deceit and evil. Not to mention the darkness of loneliness and alienation.

All these forms of darkness have one thing in common. They make us blind. They rob of us of our ability to see. And when we can’t see we lose our way.

What darkness are you facing at the moment? Jesus is the light when all other lights go out. He shows us the way through the darkness, both the darkness out there and the darkness inside of us.

Jesus guides and Jesus creates.

Jesus creates:

In many ways light is the foundation of life. Without sunlight there would be no life on planet earth. Light causes plants to grow which feeds the animals and us.

Earlier in the service we heard a reading from John chapter 9, where Jesus healed a man born blind. In verse 5 of John 9 Jesus says, While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

Then Jesus spat on the ground and made some mud with the spittle; he rubbed the mud on the man’s eyes and said, ‘Go and wash your face in the Pool of Siloam’. So the man went, washed his face, and came back seeing.

This is a miracle of creation.

You may remember that when God created the cosmos, the first thing he said was, ‘Let there be light.’ Later he created humankind out of mud. By calling himself the light of the world and healing the man’s blindness with mud, Jesus is making a clear connection with God at creation. It’s like Jesus is creating new eyes for the man, so he can see.  

One curious detail in this miracle is that Jesus tells the man to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam. Jesus gives the man something to do. He invites the man to participate in his own creation of sight.

Perhaps Jesus involves the man in this way to give him a choice in the matter. If the man doesn’t wish to see he doesn’t need to do as Jesus instructed.

Perhaps also we are meant to recognise the connection between faith and seeing. For the man to receive his sight he needed to trust and obey Jesus. That’s what faith is, trust which leads to obedience.

Yes, Jesus is the light of the world but we also have some light to bring. Our faith is the conduit of divine light. Through faith we participate in God’s creative action in the world.       

If we were to read on, in John 9, we would see how the man who was healed was interrogated by the Pharisees. Ironically the Pharisees lacked the faith to see that God was at work in and through Jesus.

The man who received new sight must have been a pretty nuggetty character. He stood up to the establishment saying, I don’t know if he [Jesus] is a sinner or not. One thing I do know: I was blind and now I see.

To the Pharisees this man was an was inconvenient truth. He represented that second witness they had asked for in John 8. Rather than accept the evidence before them, the religious leaders cast the man out of the synagogue.

It was quite sad really. The man’s healing was not meant to aggravate the Pharisees or anyone else. It was actually an invitation to believe in Jesus. But the Pharisees refused the invitation.       

Jesus is the light of the world. Jesus guides, Jesus creates and Jesus reveals.

Jesus reveals:

Plato was a Greek philosopher who lived around 400 years before Christ. One of his many gifts to humanity was the allegory of the cave.

In this allegory Plato asks us to imagine prisoners chained together in a cave. They cannot see out of the cave but are forced to look at the back wall.

Behind the prisoners (and out of sight) is a fire and between the fire and the prisoners are people carrying various objects. In the light of the fire these objects cast shadows on the back wall of the cave. The prisoners see the shadow puppets on the wall and think this is reality. They don’t know anything else.

I suppose in today’s terms it would be like someone whose entire perception of the world was formed through watching TV and playing video games.

One day one of the prisoners is set free. He makes his way out of the cave to broad daylight. Although it takes some time for his eyes to adjust to the brightness of the outside world, he eventually sees that the shadows on the cave wall were not reality at all. In fact, the outside world is far more beautiful and life giving than his miserable existence in the cave.

The free-man decides to go back to the cave to release the other prisoners but when he returns the prisoners kill him. They cannot believe the testimony of the free-man. They think leaving the cave will be harmful to them.

Contemporary movie makers have picked up on Plato’s allegory of the cave with films like The Truman Show, The Village and The Matrix. In each of these movies the main characters find their way out of the darkness of false belief into the light of reality. Light reveals the truth of their situation.    

In some ways, Plato’s allegory of the cave fits with the story in John 9. People generally, at that time, held the false belief that blindness and other disabilities or calamities were a punishment from God for sin. But this belief was just a shadow puppet on the cave wall. It wasn’t real.

Jesus is the light of the world. Jesus is not the fire inside the cave. He is not putting on a shadowy puppet show. No. Jesus is the light of the world outside the cave. The light of Jesus reveals the true situation. The light of Jesus reveals the beauty of God’s kingdom.

The man who received his sight was like a prisoner set free from the cave. Sadly, the Pharisees were like the prisoners inside the cave who could not accept any other reality than the shadows on the wall.

From John 9, verse 28 we read…

The [Pharisees] insulted [the man who had received his sight] and said, “You are that fellow’s disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples. 29 We know that God spoke to Moses; as for that fellow [Jesus], however, we do not even know where he comes from!”

30 The man answered, “What a strange thing that is! You do not know where he comes from, but he cured me of my blindness! 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners; he does listen to people who respect him and do what he wants them to do. 32 Since the beginning of the world nobody has ever heard of anyone giving sight to a person born blind. 33 Unless this man came from God, he would not be able to do a thing.”

34 They answered, “You were born and brought up in sin—and you are trying to teach us?” And they expelled him from the synagogue.

35 When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

36 The man answered, “Tell me who he is, sir, so that I can believe in him!”

37 Jesus said to him, “You have already seen him, and he is the one who is talking with you now.”

38 “I believe, Lord!” the man said, and knelt down before Jesus.

39 Jesus said, “I came to this world to judge, so that the blind should see and those who see should become blind.”

When Jesus says, ‘I came to this world to judge’, he does not mean judge in the sense of pass a sentence in condemnation. Jesus is not wagging his finger pronouncing people guilty. He means judge in the sense of reveal the truth. As the light of the world Jesus reveals the contents of a person’s heart. 

Jesus’ presence certainly revealed the truth of the situation in John 9. As it turned out the man who was born physically blind actually had faith and therefore the spiritual sight to see that Jesus is from God. While the Pharisees, who had physical sight, were actually spiritually blind. They did not have the faith to imagine any other reality than the shadows on the wall of their cave.

It may be tempting to look down on the Pharisees or to condemn them for their lack of faith. While many of them got it wrong about Jesus, and we cannot condone their behavior, we need to remember they were like prisoners chained in a cave with only shadows to look at.

We also do well to remember that each of us has a little bit of Pharisee in us. Hopefully we are more disciple than Pharisee but, ultimately, we are all limited in our understanding. We don’t know what we don’t know. We tend to accept the reality we are presented with.

Conclusion:

In John chapter 12 Jesus said to the people in a loud voice…

“Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in him who sent me. 45 Whoever sees me sees also him who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness.

Jesus was sent by God and therefore Jesus reveals God. Jesus shows us what it means to be truly human. To be human is to be made in the image of God. By shining a light on what the image of God looks like, Jesus reveals God.

If the world we live in (and the reality we accept) is like a cave, then we are all (at some point at least) like prisoners accepting the shadow puppets as real. The good news is, the cave of this world is not all there is. Outside the cave is the wide open expanse and breath taking beauty of God’s eternal kingdom.

Jesus is the light of the world. Jesus enters the cave not to condemn us but rather to invite us out, into the light. Not the man-made light of the fire in the cave. But the divine light of God’s kingdom, outside the narrow cave of our perception.

Our part is to trust Jesus, to follow him as we make our exodus out of the cave.  Ultimately we pass judgement on ourselves, by the way we respond to Jesus. If we follow Jesus in trust, we are saved. But if we reject Jesus in disbelief and cling instead to our chains and shadows, we condemn ourselves.

Let us pray…

Lord Jesus Christ. You are the light of the world. You guide, you create and you reveal. Shine your light on our way. Set us free from blind unbelief. Guide us in the way of truth. Lead us out of our narrow perception into the light of God’s spacious kingdom. Give us courage and faith to follow you, even though we have never seen and cannot imagine what God has prepared for those who love him. We commit ourselves to you Lord Jesus, in trust. Amen.   

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • Why do you think Jesus waited for the festival of Tabernacles before saying, ‘I am the light of the world.’? What meaning (or significance) did the festival of Tabernacles lend to Jesus’ words in John 8:12?
  • What evidence (or witnesses) do we have to substantiate Jesus’ claim to be the light of the world?  
  • Can you think of a time in your own life when Jesus guided you through a dark place? What happened? How did Jesus shed light on your way?
  • Why did Jesus tell the man (in John 9:7) to go and wash in the pool of Siloam? What is the relationship between faith and seeing Jesus?
  • In what ways does Plato’s allegory of the cave connect with John 9? What (and/or who) does Jesus reveal?

[1] Refer Leon Morris, NICT John, page 390.

Tawa Baptist

Balance

Scripture: Psalm 8

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Security
  • Love
  • Responsibility
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Yippee, Wha-hoo, Go you good thing, On ya mate, Well done, Tu Meke, You are awesome, That was amazing

  • These words and phrases are different ways in which we express praise
  • Some of these words and expressions you won’t find in a dictionary but that doesn’t matter – the words themselves are not the main thing
  • It’s more the feeling we give to those words, the positive intention and energy behind them

This morning we take a break from our sermon series in Ephesians to focus on Psalm 8 – a psalm of David

    • In this song David pours out his praise for God’s creative activity – in particular for the security, love and responsibility God gives, which makes our lives functional and meaningful
  • From verse 1 we read…

O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 2Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. 3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have established, 4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?  5 Yet you have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honour. 6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet: 7 all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, 8 the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.   9 O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

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

[Listen to a recording of children laughing and playing]

Security:

That was a recording of children laughing and playing and having fun

  • Let’s listen to it again
  • [Replay the recording of children laughing and playing]
  • This is what praise sounds like out of the mouth of babes
  • Children make those sorts of happy sounds when they feel safe and secure – security is the foundation really

Psalm 8 begins and ends with the words…

  • O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

In the original – the word LORD (all in capitals) – actually translates as Yahweh

  • Yahweh is God’s personal name
  • It means something like, I am who I am, or I am with you and for you

The LORD is our Sovereign

    • A Sovereign is a King or a Queen – the ruler of the realm
    • God’s name is God’s reputation & integrity; His greatness and goodness
    • David is saying that Yahweh is King of the whole earth – second to none
  • This is basically a statement of adoration and allegiance

One of the main jobs of the King is security – keeping his people safe

  • The subject of security is pretty big in the psalms
  • Whenever you hear a word like ‘strong hold’ or ‘high tower’ or ‘shepherd’ or ‘bulwark’ or similar the psalmist is talking about security
  • Verse 2 reads…

2Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.

It’s interesting that Psalm 8 (a hymn of praise) comes after 5 other psalms where David calls out for help and deliverance from his foes

  • David’s praise for the security God gives wasn’t just a theoretical thing
  • David knew God’s security first hand as someone who lived in a dangerous world and had actual enemies who wanted him dead

The praise of children and infants is pure because children possess a certain innocence

  • In Matthew 21, after Jesus had cleared the temple of the merchants, we read how the blind and lame came to Jesus and he healed them
  • Children witnessed this and shouted praise to God because of Jesus, saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David”
  • When the religious leaders heard the children’s praise they were indignant, so Jesus quoted this verse from Psalm 8 to them
  • The Pharisees were the foe; they wanted to kill Jesus but the praise of children was Jesus’ defence, his stronghold
  • God silenced the religious leaders, not through brute force
  • Not through an overwhelming demonstration of his power and strength
  • But through the praise of children and infants; through what appears weak and of little account

Just a few days after that the religious leaders conspired to murder Jesus

  • There was no defence for Jesus on Good Friday, but that was God’s plan
  • To defeat strength with weakness
  • Jesus silenced the foe (sin) and the avenger (death) not with overwhelming force – but through his own suffering and humiliation
  • What looked like Christ’s defeat (on the cross) was actually God’s victory

From 1st Corinthians chapter 1 we read…

  • For the message about Christ’s death on the cross is nonsense to those who are being lost; but for us who are being saved it is God’s power…
  • For what seems to be God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom and what seems to be God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Now here’s the thing; when what we thought was strong is defeated by what we thought was weak, it has the power to completely change the way we think, so that what we fear most no longer has a hold on us

One of the things children need from parents is security – they need to feel safe

  • Parents give security to children in a number of ways
  • In the first two years of life children learn security by the presence of at least one adult who is consistently there for them to care for their needs
  • In the normal course of events a baby will cry for one of four reasons:
  • Either they are hungry or they have a dirty nappy or wind or they’re tired
  • You take care of those four things in a timely way and they will feel safe and secure and learn trust (as opposed to fear)

As kids gets older they still need to be fed but they also need boundaries to make them feel safe and secure; rules and routines that are kind and fair

  • And if they cross the line then they need to know that it’s not the end of the relationship, that there is a way back
  • For every mistake there is a remedy

God gives us security and we reveal to our children what God is like by giving them security and love

Love:

Some years ago now our family went to Opito Bay in the Coromandel for a summer holiday (Robyn’s aunty & uncle let us stay in their bach up there)

  • I have this enduring memory of lying on the concrete at night, with one of our daughters, looking up at the stars
  • The concrete was still warm, having baked in the sun all day, and the stars were bright because there isn’t much light pollution in Opito Bay
  • The star light we saw may have been billions of years old and who knows, perhaps some of the stars we were looking at had burnt out thousands of years before we were born
  • When you think about the vastness of time and space it makes your problems seem very small; it takes your focus off yourself and puts things in proper perspective
  • The person who looks up to God seldom looks down on other people

In verses 3 & 4 David describes feeling both small and cared for as he gazes up at the stars…

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have established, 4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?

This is poetry – it’s not science. We are not to conclude that God literally made the moon and stars with his fingers

  • It’s a metaphor in which God is portrayed as an artist carefully arranging the heavens
  • Fingers are for fine work – they are for taking care of details
  • Fingers are gentle and skilled
  • The fact that God handles the moon and stars with His fingers shows us how big and strong God really is
  • It also speaks of God’s control over the heavenly bodies
  • Our lives are not controlled by the moon and stars or the horoscope
  • God is in control of the constellations, and this should help us to feel secure despite our smallness

The Lord is mindful of us and cares for us

  • When you love someone they populate your every thought (whether that’s your husband or your wife, your son or your daughter, your friend your sister, brother or whoever); you are mindful of them
  • You remember them in your prayers, you remember what they asked you to get at the supermarket, you remember their birthday and you send them text messages when you’re not with them
  • Likewise, when you love someone you care for them – you are affected by what happens to them so that if they cut their finger you feel their pain
  • Care isn’t just a feeling though – care is something practical that we do to help make those we love more comfortable

Children need love – they need people in their lives who are mindful of them and who care for them in practical ways

  • When a child is very young they aren’t able to separate themselves from their mother – they have just spent 9 months in the womb and haven’t developed a sense of their own identity yet
  • This means that they are very sensitive to the way dad treats their mum
  • If dad is kind to mum and treats her with thoughtfulness and care, then they will feel loved by dad
  • But if dad mistreats mum then they will feel hurt and not worth much
  • So the first way for parents to love their children is to love one another

As the child gets older, and is able to differentiate themselves from their mother a bit more, love is given in other ways – mainly through time spent together

  • I don’t remember many of the toys I was given as a child; but I do remember the quality time my parents spent with me
  • We want to give our kids as many good memories as we can

Responsibility:

God provides us with security, God loves us and God trusts us with real responsibility

Some years ago now I read Bill Bryson’s book, ‘A short history of everything’ in which Bryson describes the ‘Goldilocks Effect’

  • The goldilocks effect is a metaphor for how everything is ‘just right’ for sustaining life on earth
  • The earth is just the right distance from the sun, just the right distance from the moon, just the right size and therefore the right gravity
  • With just the right amount of oxygen in our atmosphere, just the right amount of salt in our oceans and so on
  • This planet is held in a wonderfully intricate balance – if any one of thousands of different factors was even a little bit out, planet earth wouldn’t be habitable.
  • Some people say the Goldilocks Effect is just random luck; but there is no hope (or truth) in thinking like that
  • The Bible teaches that God took great care in making this world just right for sustaining life
  • When we think of it like that, we begin to realise there is meaning and purpose to life on earth; our lives are not random, they matter

Not long after I first started at Tawa Baptist I conducted a survey. It was a way of getting to know the congregation

  • One of the questions at the end of the survey had to do with how we contribute to the well-being of others especially in the wider world
  • And I remember R answered in a way that no one else did
  • R said, “I ride my bike to work” and in brackets he wrote ‘pollute-less’
  • R was doing his bit to keep the balance in our world – he was taking care of the environment
  • But I think also that R really likes riding his bike
  • Given R’s love of cycling I had to include a bicycle illustration in the sermon – so please wait for a moment. I’ll be back…

[Go back stage and return with a bicycle]

How long do you think I can keep my balance on this bike? [Wait]

  • Okay, let’s test my balance – let’s see how long I can stay upright

[Try to balance on my bike while not moving]

That wasn’t very long was it. Why couldn’t I keep my balance for more than a few seconds? [Wait]

  • That’s right, because I wasn’t moving. To keep my balance, I need forward momentum, I need positive purpose

Returning to Psalm 8. In verse 5 David talks about the dignity God has given humanity, saying…

5 Yet you have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honour. 6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet: 7 all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, 8 the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.   

Verses 5-8 of Psalm 8 come from Genesis chapter 1

  • There (in the first chapter of Genesis) it tells how God created order out of the chaos and how God made us human beings in His own image

To be crowned with glory and honour is a privilege

  • To have dominion (or stewardship) over the animals, the birds and the fish, is a responsibility
  • As God’s vice regents, as His representatives, His deputies, it is our job to help maintain the balance

The position we have in creation is a position of trust

  • And it’s not a position or a trust that we have earned – it has simply been given to us
  • God shared his glory & honour with us before we had a chance to do anything at all
  • This means that we did not become the dominant species on planet earth by natural selection
  • Our place in the natural order is not the consequence of survival of the fittest. We have dominion over other creatures by divine selection

This means our royal status and authority over creation is subject to God

  • We don’t have free reign to do whatever we want
  • We are to use our authority and power in ways that serve God’s own purposes and reflect God’s own practices
  • God is mindful of us and cares for us, therefore we need to be mindful of the rest of God’s creation and care for it, both human and non-human
  • We are dependent on God to help us keep the balance – we can’t do it without Him
  • Trying fulfil our responsibility as human beings, without God, is like trying to ride a bike without forward momentum; God gives us the positive purpose we need to stay upright

So how are we doing with our responsibility?

  • Not so great. There is a huge disparity between the vision of humanity in this psalm and the reality of human history
  • Our dominion has become domination
  • Our stewardship has become slavery
  • Our rule has become ruin
  • We have dragged God’s reputation through the mud
  • We have become the foe and the avenger
  • And all creation groans as it waits for its salvation

One of the tasks of parenting is to teach our children responsibility

  • We want our kids to grow up to be responsible adults
  • As human beings, made in the image of God, we have a responsibility to care for our neighbour, to care for the environment and to care for ourselves

Responsibility is like riding a bike – it requires balance

  • If our sense of responsibility is too great, then this creates problems:
  • Like we might feel guilty when we don’t need to
  • Or we might keep coming to the rescue when others don’t need rescuing
  • Or we might feel like we are carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders and life loses its joy
  • Or we find ourselves becoming resentful because we always seem to be the one who does the work while others keep letting us down

On the other hand, if our sense of responsibility is too light or missing altogether, then that creates a different set of problems:

  • Like we make a mess that others have to clean up
  • Or we throw away our plastic so sea birds eat it and die horribly
  • Or we indulge ourselves at the expense of others, causing them trauma and pain

The prodigal son didn’t feel enough responsibility – he was reckless

  • Whereas his older brother carried too much responsibility and he became resentful
  • Responsibility is a balancing act and we teach children to manage the balance by living a balanced lifestyle ourselves
  • By avoiding extremes and excesses
  • Having a time for doing chores, a time for rest and a time for play
  • Having a consequence for misbehaviour that is fair and not too heavy handed
  • By balancing involvement in church with involvement in the community
  • Having time alone and time to socialise
  • Being good to others without neglecting our own needs
  • Being mindful of the products we buy and how we dispose of our waste
  • I could go on but you get the point: being responsible means keeping a healthy balance and the key to keeping our balance is letting God be the boss of our lives because God is the one who gives us the forward momentum of a positive purpose

Conclusion:

While we have failed in our responsibility, Jesus is our Saviour (He has taken responsibility)

    • Jesus is the one who fulfils Psalm 8’s vision of humanity
    • Jesus shows us what God originally intended
    • In Christ we find security.
    • In Christ we experience God’s love
    • And in Christ we learn to balance responsibility

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon?
  • Why do you think this stood out to you?

2. How do you feel when you hear children laughing and playing happily? (What memory does this evoke for you?)

3. What is your experience of the security God gives?

  • How might we give a sense of security to those close to us (especially children)?

4. Have you looked up at the stars at night and contemplated like David did? What happened within you as a consequence of doing this?

5. Who do you love? (That is, who are you mindful of, who affects you, who do you show care for?)

  • How might we show love to those around us (especially children)?

6. What does it mean to have dominion over the animals, birds and fish? (What does it mean to live responsibly?)

7. What do we need to keep our balance?

  • What are some of the symptoms of having an over developed sense of responsibility?
  • What are some of the symptoms of having an under developed sense of responsibility?
  • Thinking about these symptoms is there anything you need to do to restore the balance of responsibility?

 

Tawa Baptist

Life Goes On

Scripture: Genesis 25:1-11

Title: Life Goes On

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Creation in Genesis 1-11
  • Creation in Genesis 12-24
  • Creation in Genesis 25
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

This morning we are going to begin with a little bit of Scrabble

–         Most of you will know that with Scrabble each player gets to select 7 unknown letters from the pile and then has to do their best to use those random letters to spell a meaningful word

–         You are of course allowed to piggy back off the words on the board

On the wall here we have a word already on the board: ORDER

–         And the letters you have to work with are below that: A E O I T C N

–         I’m going to give you about 30 seconds to come up with the best word you can, see if you can use all the letters

–         You can work with those around you if you like or you can work on your own if you prefer

–         At the end of the 30 seconds I’ll invite you to share the words you’ve made with the rest of the congregation [Wait 30 seconds]

Okay, who would like to share with us the words you came up?

–         [Listen to people’s answers]

One combination that uses all the letters could look like this…

CREATION, using one of the R’s from ORDER

Over the past several months we have been working our way through a series on the life and faith of Abraham. This morning we conclude our series.

–         From Genesis chapter 25, verses 1-11, in the NIV we read…

Abraham had taken another wife, whose name was Keturah. She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan; the descendants of Dedan were the Ashurites, the Letushites and the Leummites. The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanok, Abida and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah.

Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east.

Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading

 

The story of Abraham isn’t just the story of one man who lived 4000 years ago in Middle East

–         Thinking more broadly than that it is the story of the genesis or beginning of the nation of Israel – it’s a creation story in other words

 

Creation in Genesis 1-11:

To gain a better understanding of the significance of this creation story we need to look at the bigger picture

–         Firstly, what do we mean by creation?

–         Well, in the book of Genesis, which reflects the thinking of people who lived in the ancient world (a very different way of thinking to us), creation was about bringing order, function and purpose to the elements

–         Sort of like Scrabble where one takes the letters they are given and arranges them in an order which makes a sensible word

Genesis 1, therefore, does not start at the material beginning of the universe when God brought the first atom into being out of nothing

–         Rather, Genesis 1 picks up the story at a point when the earth already exists in a material sense but is in chaos

–         It is formless, empty, dysfunctional and, if left to its own devices, incapable of supporting life or serving any meaningful purpose

–         At that point it is just a bunch of random letters waiting to be arranged on the Scrabble board

Genesis 1 describes how God brings order to the chaos

–         How he takes what is dysfunctional and makes it functional

–         How he takes what is empty and fills it with life

–         How he takes what is random and gives it meaning & purpose

 

In Genesis 1 the Lord’s acts of creation include separating things, naming things, assigning function & purpose to things, as well as blessing & filling things with life

For example, when it comes to separating & naming things, God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day’, and the darkness he called ‘night’.”

–         This pattern of God separating things and naming them carries on during other days of creation as well

–         Separating & naming is how God brought order to creation

 God also assigned function & purpose to things, for example…

–         The function or purpose of day & night (sun & moon) is to mark time

In addition God also blessed his creation and filled it with life

–         Let the waters teem with fish…

–         Let the land produce living creatures…

–         Be fruitful and multiply…

After God has brought order to the chaos everything functions well – it is paradise

–         God blesses Adam & Eve and gives them the function or purpose of being his image bearers and tells them to take care of his creation

–         Unfortunately Adam & Eve get it into their heads that they want to be like God and they choose independence from him by eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge

–         As a consequence the order of God’s good creation starts to unravel

–         Things go from bad to worse and eventually God’s order returns to chaos

In Genesis 6 we read…

–         The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth and his heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind… from the face of the earth… for I am grieved that I have made them. But Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord.

Basically humankind had returned God’s order, his good creation, back to chaos & so God decided to restore the order by wiping the slate clean & starting again

–         There was a great flood and everything with breath was destroyed, except for Noah and his family and the animals he preserved on the ark

–         The story of the flood is an account of judgement & death

–         But at the same time it is also an account of re-creation & new life

–         God restores order by separating Noah and his family and animals out from the chaos – preserving their lives in an ark

–         Then after the storm has passed the Lord blesses the survivors and tells them to be fruitful & multiply and fill the earth (much like he did in Genesis 1)

Unfortunately it doesn’t take long for things to get out of hand again and we end up with the Tower of Babel – another attempt by humankind to be like God, to reach the heavens and to make a name for themselves

–         God’s next move though is not to wipe everyone off the face of the earth with a flood (as he did in Noah’s day) but rather to redeem & transform his creation – to bring order to the chaos of the human heart

–         In the case of Babel, God initially restores order by separating people – he disperses the crowd, as it were, by confusing the languages

 

Creation in Genesis 12-24:

But then he calls Abraham with a view to making this one man into a great nation – a nation who will serve the Lord’s redemptive purpose by acting as priests of God to the other nations of the world

Like the creation story in Genesis 1, God creates the nation of Israel by separating, naming, assigning function & purpose as well as blessing and making fruitful

–         God separated Abraham out by calling him to leave his family and homeland to establish a new life in the Promised Land of Canaan

–         God also gave Abraham a new name – you may remember Abraham used to be called Abram

–         Previously Abraham & Sarah’s life had been defined by barrenness – by not having any children

–         But the Lord redefined their life with a promise that Abraham & Sarah would become the parents of a great nation

–         God blessed Abraham and filled Sarah with new life

–         He took the random letters of their circumstances and rearranged them in a meaningful way

–         God’s promise to bless the nations through Abraham and his descendants gave Abraham & Sarah’s lives a purpose greater than themselves

Separating, naming, assigning function & purpose, blessing and filling with life – all acts of creation

–         These acts of creation can be seen in our own lives too

–         Times when God has taken us out of a bad situation – creative separation

–         Or when we were baptised and took on the name of Christ

–         Or when we discovered a certain gift or resource we have and found a way to use that to bless others – finding our function & purpose in life

–         Or times of blessing & filling when we simply receive good things from God – like a friendship, or the birth of a child, or healing, or a holiday, or a job, or a home, or just a good night’s sleep

–         All acts of God’s good creation

 

Creation in Genesis 25:

Okay, so how does all that talk about creation relate to this morning’s reading from Genesis 25 – after all, Abraham dies?

–         Well, Abraham’s death is immersed in the language of creation

In the verses leading up to Abraham’s death notice the sons of his second wife (Keturah) are named, along with some of his grandsons too

–         And, if we were to keep reading after his death notice we would hear the naming of Abraham’s descendants through Ishmael and Isaac

–         All this naming implies a strong theme of being fruitful & multiplying

–         Abraham’s death is not tragic – by God’s grace he leaves a lasting legacy

–         Life goes on

 

Another creation motif noticeable in Genesis 25 is the action of separating

–         Separating things is often necessary for creating order

–  Cells reproduce or multiply by separating or dividing

– Separating plastics out from your general rubbish, for recycling, is a creative thing to do – it’s good for the environment

–         Or on the football field the ref restores order to the game by giving out yellow or red cards to separate players who are misbehaving

–         Or when we have dinner we generally keep the different elements of the meal separate on our plate

–         If we were to put the potatoes, green veg and meat in a blender to mix it all up, the meal wouldn’t taste so good

– {Obviously not all separation is creative or good – and union is also often necessary in the process of creation.}

Verses 5 & 6 tell us that Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east.

–         These verses talk about the separation (or division) of Abraham’s estate and the separation of Isaac from his brothers

–         Abraham had at least 8 sons that we know of – but only one of them (Isaac) could inherit God’s promise

–         For the creation of the nation of Israel it was necessary for Isaac to be separated from his brothers & become the sole heir to the Promised Land

–         But the other sons didn’t miss out altogether – they received gifts from Abraham as a gesture of goodwill

Verse 11 picks up the theme of creative blessing where it says that, After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac…

–         Isaac was blessed by God (as Abraham had been blessed) not for his own benefit but for the sake of others

–         God’s purpose in blessing Abraham & Isaac was to create the nation of Israel through which the Lord would establish his order, his Kingdom on earth

 

Separating, naming, blessing & filling with life (or making fruitful) – all themes of creation, all seen in miniature in Genesis 25

–         By immersing the account of Abraham’s death in the motifs of creation the narrator of Genesis is making it clear that death is no obstacle to God’s redemptive purpose

 

Verse 7 says: Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years.

This tells us a number of things

–         We know from Genesis 12 that Abraham was 75 when God called him to leave home and embark on a journey of faith

–         Which means that by the time of his death Abraham had been following God for 100 years

–         Isaac was born when Abraham was 100, so that means Isaac was 75 when his father died

–         We know too that Isaac married Rebekah when he was 40 and that 20 years later Jacob & Esau were born

–         Therefore Jacob & Esau were 15 when their grandfather Abraham died

–         God would later change Jacob’s name to ‘Israel’ – as in the nation of Israel – once more we have the theme of naming as an act of creation

–         The point is: although Abraham didn’t see all of God’s promises fully realised in his lifetime, he did live long enough to see the nation of Israel embodied in his grandson Jacob

Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people.

As Ecclesiastes tells us there is a time for everything – a time to be born and a time to die

–         Abraham died at the right time – at the end of a long and full life

Verse 9 tells us that Isaac & Ishmael buried Abraham with Sarah in the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre

–         In other words, Abraham was buried in the Promised Land – a sign to future generations that God would one day give Israel the land of Canaan

–         At the end of Genesis, as Jacob lay on his death bed in Egypt, he gave instructions to be buried in Canaan with his grandparents Abraham & Sarah – such was his faith in God’s promises

 

Conclusion:

God’s purpose in redeeming creation is fulfilled in Christ

–         Jesus, that great descendant of Abraham, came to establish God’s Kingdom on earth

 

It is difficult to be a Christian in this life – we live with a tension

–         On the one hand Christ has come and in Christ we have a picture of what God’s kingdom (his new creation) looks like

–         But on the other hand God’s Kingdom is not yet fully realised on earth as it is in heaven

–         So we have this expectation or this hope of what life should be like when everything is ordered by God

–         And yet at the same time we live with the reality which often falls a long way short of the heaven on earth that God has promised us in Christ

–         Consequently we might not feel at home in this world – we might feel like exiles in our own country

In speaking of Abraham & Sarah and others like them the writer of the book of Hebrews says…

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth… Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

 Abraham died the same way he lived – in faith.

–         Abraham didn’t see the fulfilment of all of God’s promises in his life time but he did receive the deposit

–         In this way we, who believe in Christ, are like Abraham

–         We live by faith in the ‘now but not yet’ of history

–         We look forward in bitter sweet hope to Jesus’ return, when God’s Kingdom on earth will be realised in its fullness.

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

2.)    What is meant by creation in Genesis 1?

–         How is this different from a modern understanding of creation?

3.)    What does the account of creation in Genesis 1 share in common with Abraham’s story and the account of the creation of Israel?

4.)    In what sense is separating things an act of creation?

–         Can you think of examples of creative separation?

–         Why was it necessary for Isaac to be separated from his brothers?

5.)    Why do you think the narrator of Genesis frames the account of Abraham’s death in the context of creation language/motifs?

6.)    In what sense could Abraham’s death be considered a good death?

7.)    Do you feel a tension in being a Christian in this world?

–         Why (or why not)?

8.)    Take some time this week to reflect on God’s acts of creation in your own life (I.e. separating, naming, assigning function & purpose, blessing & filling)

 

 

Tawa Baptist

God calls Abram

Scripture: Genesis 11:27-12:9

 

Title: God calls Abram

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • God’s creative call
  • Abram’s faith journey
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

X-men first class,

The Hobbit,

Monsters University,

Rise of the Planet of the Apes,

Batman begins,

Revenge of the Sith

The God Father, Part 2…

 

These are all examples of origin stories or prequels

–         An origin story or a prequel gives the back story on a character

–         It tells us how their story began – how they gained their powers and became a hero or a villain

–         We love origin stories

 

This morning we begin a new sermon series on the life of Abram in the book of Genesis

–         Genesis is essentially a collection of origin stories

–         The account of Abram is basically the origin story for the nation of Israel and the prequel for the Christian church – Abram is our father in the faith

 

From Genesis chapter 11, verse 27, we read Abram’s origin story…

 

27 This is the account of Terah’s family line. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 28 While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. 29 Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milkah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milkah and Iskah. 30 Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive.

31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there.

32 Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Harran.

12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.

2 “I will make you into a great nation,     and I will bless you; I will make your name great,     and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you,     and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth     will be blessed through you.”

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.6 Abram travelled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. 9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

 

May the Spirit of Jesus help us to understand our spiritual roots

 

There’s a lot happening in this origins story – broadly speaking though it’s about God’s creative call and Abram’s faith journey

–         First let’s consider God’s creative call for this is where Abram’s story begins

 

God’s creative call:

Separation – it’s one of the key factors in any creative process

–         In Genesis 1, when God created the cosmos, he did so by separating light from darkness, land from sea and earth from sky

–         Cells reproduce by separating or dividing themselves

–         During the birthing process a child is separated from its mother’s womb

–         Then later in life the young person goes through the process of establishing their own identity by separating from their parents and eventually leaving home

–         We could go on but you get the point, separation is an essential, albeit sometimes painful, part of the creative process

 

While he was still living, in the city of Ur, the Lord God had said to Abram,

–         “Leave your country, your people and father’s household and go to the land I will show you.”

 

The Hebrew word which is translated as leave here means to determinedly dissociate one self, or literally to ‘leave by yourself’ [1]

–         God’s creative call to Abram is basically a call to separate himself from his homeland, his culture and his family’s way of life

 

This was a big call – a difficult thing

–         God was asking Abram to let go of his security, to say goodbye to everything he was familiar with and step out into the unknown

–         God didn’t tell Abram where the land was he was going to – just that he needed to leave and he would show Abram when he got there

 

It’s easy enough to understand why God required Abram to separate himself from his home land

–         For a ship to make a journey across the ocean it must leave the dock

–         For an aeroplane to fly to another country it must leave the runway

 

But why did God require Abram to leave his people and his father’s house – basically his close kin and his way of life or his culture?

 

Well, it was God’s plan to create a new nation (a redemptive community) through Abram which would be different from the other nations

–         A nation of priests who would show the rest of the world God’s ways

 

Abram’s father, Terah, was a pagan – an idol worshipper (we know this from Joshua 24, verse 2)

–         Terah most likely worshipped the moon god Sin

 

For an alcoholic to recover they must separate themselves from the booze (they must stay away from the pub and other drinkers in other words)

–         Likewise, for someone in an abusive relationship to survive they must separate themselves from the one abusing them

–         For God to create a new & redemptive community through Abram he needed to get Abram out of his old, destructive religion and that meant getting him out of his close knit pagan family

–         Basically Abram couldn’t become the father of a nation of Godly priests if he continued doing things the way his family had always done them

To give you an idea of just how close knit Abram’s family were here’s their family tree

–         Terah had at least three sons that we know of: Abram, Nahor & Haran

–         I’ve got a line through Haran’s name because he died, but not before fathering two daughters, Milkah & Iskar and a son called Lot

–         Nahor married his niece Milkah

 

By today’s standards we would say that Abram’s family were too close

–         But to be fair Abram lived about 4,000 years ago (give or take a century or two) at a time before marrying close family was outlawed or even frowned upon

–         The point is, in Abram’s case, a bit of separation from family and pagan culture was actually a good thing – a creative thing

–         You can’t make a Pavlova without first separating the egg whites from the yokes

 

Although God seems to ask a lot of Abram, the Lord does so with a series of really big promises…

 

2 “I will make you into a great nation,     and I will bless you; I will make your name great,     and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you,     and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth     will be blessed through you.”

 

We’ve been told that Abram’s wife, Sarai, was barren – she couldn’t have kids

–         So the Lord’s first promise is to give Abram so many descendants that he will become the father of a great nation

–         Again we hear echoes of the creation account in Genesis 1 where Yahweh tells the creatures he has made to be fruitful and multiply

 

God then promises to bless Abram

–         God’s blessing brings power for life, enhancement of life and the increase of life [2]  (God’s blessing makes life abundant – worth living)

–         God is promising Abram everything he could want – prosperity, fertility and victory.

 

“I will make your name great”

–         This means more than simply being famous

–         In the Ancient Near East a person’s name revealed their inner character so to have a great name meant to have a great character

–         God is promising to improve Abram’s character from the inside out – theologians might call this sanctification

 

God’s promise to make Abram a better person is instructive

–         We tend to have an idealised picture of Abram, because he is one of the heroes of the faith

–         We often think of him as a paragon of virtue from the beginning and while he did some good things at times there were other occasions when his behaviour was pretty average from a moral/ethical point of view

–         There were other people, who lived around the same time as Abram, who were more righteous or deserving of God’s favour than Abram

–         People like the high priest Melchizedek and Job – yet the Lord didn’t call them or make a great nation out of them as he did with Abram

 

It appears God chose Abram out of pure grace

–         As the apostle Paul says, God’s grace is made perfect in our weakness

–         And Abram had weakness in spades – he had heaps of it

–         From a pagan idol worshipping family, with a wife who couldn’t have children – Abram clearly wasn’t the best option available to God

 

The other thing to mention about God’s promises to Abram here is that they are not all about Abram

–         God plans to bless all people’s on earth through Abram

–         So Abram is blessed to be a blessing – he is to become a channel or a means of blessing for others

 

Also, God’s promise of blessing is inter-generational

–         The Lord’s blessing doesn’t end with Abram – it is passed on from one generation to the next

–         In fact, Abram won’t get to realise all of God’s blessings and promises in his own life time

 

In a way we are like Abram – Abram’s story is our origins story

–         Through our faith in Christ we inherit the promise of God’s kingdom

–         We might not get to realise God’s kingdom in our life time but we pass on the promise to the next generation

–         Likewise, through the work of the Holy Spirit, the Lord is making our names great – not in the modern sense of being famous but in the ancient sense of making our inner character better, sanctifying us

–         And like Abram we are not blessed just for our own sake but for the sake of others – we are blessed to be a blessing to the world God loves

–         That’s the mission statement for our church really – to glorify God and be a blessing to his world

 

Okay – so that’s God’s creative call to Abram – it’s a call that separates him out from his people and his family

–         It’s a call to bless Abram and others through him

–         And it’s a call made out of pure grace, not because of anything Abram has done nor because of any potential in Abram

 

How then does Abram respond?

–         Well, it would be fair to say Abram’s response is a gradual journey of faith

 

Abram’s faith journey:

You are no doubt aware of the fable of the hare and the tortoise

–         How the tortoise won in the end, despite being slower than the hare

–         The hare, who had far more natural ability than the tortoise, was over confident and took the race for granted

–         The tortoise on the other hand knew the odds were against him but never gave up believing he could get there in the end

–         Slow and steady wins the race

 

Abram was the tortoise – he wasn’t all that fast out of the blocks and he had a few set-backs along the way but he never gave up his belief in God’s promises

–         He kept plodding on in faith and hope that God would get him and his descendants over the line in time

 

In Genesis 12 it sounds to us like God spoke to Abram while he was in Harran and then Abram left for Canaan immediately

 

But in his speech to the Jewish leaders (in Acts 7) Steven says…

–         The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’

–         So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father [Terah], God sent Abraham to this land where you are now living…

On the wall here is a map of what most people today imagine Abram’s journey looked like 4000 years ago

 

–         Although the exact location of Ur is disputed the archaeological evidence available to us suggests it is in modern day southern Iraq

–         The red line traces Abram’s journey from Ur in the south west, following the Euphrates river to Harran

–         Harran is thought to be close to the present day border between Syria and Turkey

 

God’s instruction to Abram was leave your country, your people and your father’s household

–         It appears Abram didn’t do this all at once – he did it in stages

–         First he left his country – but not his father’s household

–         He took his father’s household (or some of it at least) with him part of the way to the Promised Land – as far as Harran

–         Steven tells us it wasn’t until after Terah had died that Abram completed the journey from Harran to Canaan

 

That’s often how it is with us as well

–         Faith is a journey – our trust & obedience of God grows in stages

–         I say trust & obedience because the two go hand in hand – trust & obedience are the two main factors of faith in God

–         The degree to which we obey God reveals the degree to which we actually trust Him

–         Abram obeyed some of what God asked him to do straight away but not all of it

–         He trusted God enough at first to leave his country but it took him a bit more time to trust God enough to leave his extended family

 

To become a Christian is to start a journey of learning to trust & obey Jesus

–         It’s a journey of learning to make Jesus Christ ‘Lord’ of our whole life

–         To call Jesus ‘Lord’ is to say, “Jesus – you are the boss of my life. What you say is what I will do”

 

While the end goal is to give all of our life to Jesus – what we often do in reality is give Jesus parts of our life, in stages

–         If we are honest with ourselves we say, “Okay Jesus, you’re in charge of this part of my life and I’m in charge of the rest”

–         “You can have Sunday mornings and 10 minutes each day, while I do my devotions, but the rest of the time I don’t want to be interrupted.”

–         Or we say, “You can change these parts of my life Jesus – you can take away my grief, my pain, my anger, my sickness and my guilt but I don’t want you to change my bad habits or my bad attitudes. There are some sins I still quite enjoy and want to hold on to”

–         Or we say, “Jesus, I know you said ‘Pick up your cross and follow me’ but that would ruin my reputation and I’m not quite ready to sacrifice my reputation just yet.”

–         Or we say, “Jesus, I know you said, ‘Love God, love your neighbour and love your enemies’, and I can do some of that. I can love those people who make me feel good, but the rest of humanity I can’t stand.”

 

What I’m trying to say here is that most of us don’t give our whole life to Jesus all at once – we tend to give it to him in stages or bits and pieces

–         Christian faith is a journey – we don’t start at the destination

–         We don’t start with 100% trust & obedience in Christ, we might only start with 2% or ½ a percent – that’s okay, God can work with ½ a percent, nothing is impossible for him

 

One of the areas of my life that I have yet to surrender to Jesus is sleep

–         I love sleep – I get a bit grumpy without it

–         I work hard during the day and so I expect as my reward to be able to rest well at night and most nights I do sleep well

–         But there are times when I don’t

–         Sometimes that’s my own fault because I’ve eaten too much desert before going to bed

–         Other times though it feels like God is keeping me up to spend some time with Him, to pray, and when that happens I’m usually not very happy

 

You see, sleep is a part of my life that I’m still learning to trust Jesus with

–         If I don’t sleep well I get anxious that I’m not going to perform well the next day – which indicates that I’m trusting more in my own ability than I am in the grace of God

–         For Jesus, prayer was more valuable than sleep – as we see in the Garden of Gethsemane for example

–         But for me, at this stage in my journey of faith, sleep is usually more important than prayer – I’m not proud of it, I’m just being honest

–         I know (in my head) that the night belongs to God as much as the day, so I am without excuse

–         If Jesus wants to keep me up in the middle of the night to say something to me or to have me pray for someone then he can, because he is Lord, and no part of my life should be off limits to him

 

Now let me be clear – sleep is good, we need our sleep

–         And it is good and right and necessary for us to have boundaries in our relationships with other people

–         But in our relationship with Jesus the aim is to have no boundaries – to put up no walls or obstacles

–         The goal is to let him be in charge of every area of our lives – to trust him with our work, our sleep, our family, our finances, our future, our reputation, everything

 

There’s a café in Porirua called ‘Kaizen’ (they do a fantastic Rueben sandwich)

–         Kaizen is a Japanese word which simply means improvement

–         Faith is a journey of improvement where we learn to trust God more and more each day, where we give more of the territory of our heart to Jesus

–         If our faith in Jesus is like a tree, then it takes time for the tree to grow and develop the fruit of loving our enemies

–         It takes time to trust Jesus with our reputation

–         It takes time to value prayer over sleep

 

Abram’s faith & obedience grew in stages

–         It wasn’t there perfectly all at once, from the beginning

–         Fortunately the Lord is patient & understanding with Abram and with us

–         He waits for Abram and gives him time just as he gives us time

–         Of course, we never know when the time is going to run out

 

As I mentioned before, when Abram set out he didn’t know that Canaan was the destination

–         God didn’t tell Abram where he was supposed to be going

–         He simply said, leave and I’ll tell you when you get there

–         Abram only knew he had arrived when God appeared to him at Shechem

–         Shechem is pretty much in the centre of the Promised Land

 

When Abram finally arrived in Canaan he found it was already occupied – so he couldn’t take possession of the land straight away, he had to wait

–         In fact he couldn’t take possession of it during his lifetime – it would be Abram’s descendants who would enjoy the land

–         Now this could have been a bit of a disappointment to Abram

–         He had left his country and travelled all this way only to be told, ‘you can look but you can’t take hold’

–         Abram’s response is not disappointment though – his response is worship

–         He builds an altar in that place

–         Building an altar is sort of like planting a flag – it’s a way of saying this land belongs to the Lord

–         Building an altar is also an act of faith – it’s a very practical way of Abram saying, “I believe you Lord”

–         The altar would stand as a reminder to Abram of God’s promise

 

Conclusion:

The song that Matt chose to conclude our service this morning is Thine be the glory, risen conquering Son

–         The songs we sing in church are sort like mini altars

–         They provide a focal point for worshipping God

–         They are like a flag we plant in the ground by which we proclaim our faith in the Lord and they remind us of God’s promises to us in Christ

 

This particular song, Thine be the glory, reminds us of Jesus’ resurrection and also of God’s promise of resurrection for all those who have heard God’s call to leave their old way of life behind and embark on a journey of faith with Jesus

–         Let’s stand and sing…

 

Reflection / discussion questions:

 

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

 

2.)    What is your origins story?

–         In what ways can you identify with Abram’s back story?

 

3.)    What new creation is God bringing about in calling Abram?

–         Why does Abram need to leave (separate from) his country, his people and his father’s house?

 

4.)    What does the Lord promise to do for Abram?

 

5.)    Why did God choose (or elect) Abram?

 

6.)    Abram obeyed / trusted God in stages and that’s often how it is with us as well

–         Are there parts of your life that are off limits to Jesus? (That is: parts you still want to be in control of)

 

7.)    What was significant about Abram building an altar at Shechem?

–         In what sense are the songs we sing in church a bit like mini altars?

–         You might want to take some time to worship God in song, perhaps by singing along to a Christian worship CD (either as a group or on your own at home)

 

https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/15-oct-2017-god-calls-abram

 

 

[1] Bruce Waltke, Genesis, page 205.

[2] Horst quoted in Waltke’s Genesis, page 205