Tawa Baptist

Transformation

Scripture: Isaiah 65:17-25

Video Link: https://youtu.be/Spt3lNxBec0

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • God’s new creation
    • From grief to joy
    • From death to life
    • From frustration to fulfilment
    • From harm to harmony
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Miracles of transformation are all around us. Perhaps the most common and yet unnoticed transformation is the miracle of photosynthesis.

Plants are able to absorb water, carbon dioxide and sunlight then transform it into glucose energy. As part of this process, plants release oxygen into the atmosphere as a by-product. We human beings benefit from this miracle of transformation. Plants form the basis of the food chain and they give us air we can breathe.

I wish I could explain to you the miracle of cows transforming grass into milk,

or acorns transforming into oaks or caterpillars transforming into butterflies or salmon transforming from saltwater fish into freshwater fish, but that’s a whole other level of complicated. Miracles of transformation are happening around us all the time.

Today, Easter Sunday, is a day when we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus is more than mere resuscitation, it is a miracle of transformation.

One of the classic Old Testament readings for Easter Sunday is Isaiah 65. In this passage we hear how God intends to transform the whole cosmos. From Isaiah 65, verse 17 we read…

17 “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. 19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. 20 “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reacha hundred will be considered accursed. 21 They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They will not labour in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them. 24 Before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.

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

God’s new creation:

You’ve probably heard of anagrams. An anagram is a word, or a phrase, created by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase. For example, you can rearrange the letters of the name Andrew to spell Warden.

The names Andrew and Warden are quite close in meaning. Andrew means manly or strong, while Warden means guardian or watchman. Not all anagrams are similar in meaning though.

Those anagrams which are opposite or contradictory in meaning are called antigrams. For example, you can rearrange the letters of the phrase entails sin to create the word saintliness. The antigram of the phrase ill fed is filled. On the sly becomes honestly and antagonist transforms into not against.

Fluster is actually restful in a muddle. Violence converts to its opposite, nice love. Ailed becomes ideal. And adultery changes to true lady. Just as we can transform the meaning of a word by rearranging its letters, so too God can transform our quality of life by rearranging our values and circumstances.

In verse 17 of Isaiah 65 the Lord God (Yahweh) says he will create new heavens and a new earth. This does not mean God plans to throw out the existing heavens and earth. Rather it means God is going to transform this world into something far better.

In the Genesis accounts of creation, God rearranges the elements of chaos to create order so that life can flourish. In doing this, God did not destroy what was there, he transformed it into something functional and beautiful, into a paradise.    

Likewise, when God raised Jesus from the dead, he didn’t destroy Jesus’ earthly body. Rather he transformed Jesus’ corpse into a spiritual body, a body that would not get sick or age but would be fit for eternity. A body made new with the stuff of heaven and yet still bearing the scars of his earthly experience.  

In verse 17 the Lord God goes on to say, the former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.

This indicates God’s renewed creation will be fully realized in the age to come. The current age we are living in now is drawing to a close and when it does the things we have suffered in this life will be forgotten, like a bad dream.

Indeed, the start of the next age (when God makes all things new) will be like waking up to the reality of what God originally intended for his creation.

From grief to joy:

In verses 18-19 we read of the first transformation, from grief to joy.

From weeping and crying to rejoicing and delight. From funeral to real fun.

(That’s right, if you rearrange the letters of the word funeral you get real fun, it’s an antigram.)

Verse 19 highlights the transformation of Jerusalem, the holy city.

In Matthew 23, Jesus lamented over Jerusalem saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”

In the age to come, the new Jerusalem will be transformed from a source of grief to a source of joy and a delight to the Lord. The thing that strikes us here is that God suffers with people. When bombs rain down on homes, when parents lose their children, when families are torn apart, God is grieved.

By the same token, when human beings treat each other with justice and compassion, when we exercise self-restraint for the well-being of others,

when we turn away from violence and greed, then perhaps we put a smile on God’s face and a warm glow in his heart.

From death to life:

The next picture of transformation is from death to life, or more accurately from an untimely death to long life. 20 “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years…

The average life expectancy in New Zealand these days is 82 years and 9 months. A little less for men, a little more for women. In 1960 the average life expectancy was a touch over 70 years.

The oldest human being, in recent history, was a French woman who lived to be 122 years old. The oldest living land animal is a giant tortoise (named Jonathon) who is thought to be at least 192 years old.

But these ages are nothing compared to some varieties of trees. The largest living kauri tree (Tāne Mahuta) is estimated to be roughly 2000 years old, give or take.

In verse 22 of Isaiah 65, the Lord says, ‘For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people’. This is a proverbial way of saying, that in the age to come (in God’s new creation) people will live much longer than the 70-80 years we are used to. People will live for hundreds of years.

Now for those who are feeling the aches and pains of getting older, that might sound like a terrible thought. But it’s not, for these extra years will be good ones, filled with health and vitality. As verse 20 says, one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child.

In the book of Job chapter 14, Job laments the brevity of human life and the finality of death saying…

7 “At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. 8 Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, 9 yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant. 10 But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.

There’s a Norwegian spruce tree growing in Sweden which (according to carbon dating) is over nine and half thousand years old. However, it is not the original tree. When the trunk and branches die, the roots remain alive and grow a new trunk and branches. Some trees can do this.

But human beings are not like that. When a person dies, we don’t sprout a new body and limbs. There is a finality to death which mocks life’s meaning and cuts hope short.

Many centuries after the time of Job, Jesus conquered sin and death on the cross. God raised Jesus to eternal life on the third day and now humanity has hope of another life, a more abundant life, after death.

From frustration to fulfilment:

Returning to God’s vision for his creation in Isaiah 65, so far we have observed the transformation from grief to joy and from death to life. Now we note a third transformation, from frustration to fulfilment.

I’m working on a little building project on my days off at the moment, making a small retaining wall in one part of the garden where there is risk of erosion. This has involved digging some holes for the posts.

Unfortunately, the ground is hard and compacted with lots of tree roots in the way. While the tree roots help to provide stability for the soil, they also make digging quite frustrating. Rather than breaking my spade and my back, I decided to buy a manual post hole borer.

It worked like a dream, peeling through the dirt and slicing up the tree roots. The right tool for the job, transforming frustration into fulfilment.

Anyway, the next morning after digging the holes, I was woken by a heavy downpour. The first thing I thought, on hearing the rain on the roof was, what’s happened to my holes. Hope the rain hasn’t washed away my hard work, because that would be really frustrating. 

By God’s grace (and the shelter provided by a camelia tree) the holes survived and frustration was avoided.

In verses 21-23 of Isaiah 65, the Lord says to his people…

21 They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat… my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They will not labour in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;

Note the three crippling frustrations in these verses. The loss of houses, the loss of income, and the even more devastating loss of seeing your children suffer misfortune. Home, work and family. These are things we can identify with.

Many people in this world work hard to establish some form of security, they labour to have something to hold on to and something that will hold them, only to have it ripped away by forces beyond their control. Sometimes the things we hoped would be fulfilling turn out to be frustrating.   

But this is not what God wants for humanity. The Lord’s vision for the age to come is one of fulfilment, not frustration. A future in which his people enjoy the fruits of their labours and get to see their children doing well.

Previously, in Isaiah 64, the prophet had cried out to the Lord in frustration…

1 Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down… 10 Oh, look on us, we pray, for we are all your people. Your sacred cities have become a wasteland… 12 After all this, Lord, will you hold yourself back? Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?

This shows the great chasm the people felt between themselves and God.

The Lord seemed distant and indifferent to their suffering.

We all have times like that don’t we. Times of desolation when we feel like God has forsaken us, that he doesn’t care. Times of frustration in prayer when we desperately desire God to intervene and come to our aid, but we get no response.

In verse 24 of Isaiah 65, the Lord answers the prophet’s prayer of frustration, saying:Before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear.

In the age to come, the frustration of unanswered prayer will be forgotten.

The Lord will be so close to his people that we will know the fulfilment of God’s presence in real time.

To be heard and understood is a precious thing. It makes us feel less alone, more connected. This kind of intimacy with God is what eternal life is like.

From harm to harmony:

We are talking about the transformation God envisions for his creation. It is a transformation from grief to joy, from death to life, from frustration to fulfilment and from harm to harmony. 

In verse 25 we read…

25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.

This verse may sound familiar; it is found in Isaiah 11 as well.

In this world, the age in which we live, the wolf is the proverbial enemy of the lamb. Wolves are ferocious predators and lambs are defenseless creatures. Wolves (as we know them) do harm to lambs. But, in the next age, the wolf will do no harm to the lamb. To the contrary, wolves and lambs will live in harmony.

In this world, lions eat meat and they pose a threat. They are to be feared.

But in the age to come (in God’s perfect world) lions will be vegetarians and pose no threat. This is a parable. Wolves and lions represent the strong and powerful, while lambs represent the weak and vulnerable.

The Old Testament scholar, John Goldingay, explains…

Harmony in the animal world is a metaphor for harmony in the human world. The strong and the powerful (the wolves and lions) will live together with the weak and the powerless (the lambs) because the weak and the powerless can believe the strong and powerful are no longer seeking to devour them. [1] 

The mention of the serpent eating dust is a reminder of Genesis 3, where the snake tempted Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. In God’s vision for the future, sin and temptation will be under our feet. Sin and temptation will have no power over us.

The harm we experience in this world will be transformed into harmony. All of God’s creatures living in peace and respectful relationship with one another.

Conclusion:

Isaiah 65 is a picture of paradise. It is life as God intended it. It is the kingdom of heaven on earth. It is creation raised from the dead. Sadly, the world we live in is like a desert in comparison. It may seem to us that Isaiah 65 is just pie in the sky, a mere pipe dream that will never be realised.

Well, if it was up to human beings to realise the vision of Isaiah 65, then we would have to agree, just pie in the sky, opium for the masses. But it does not depend on us. It depends on God Almighty, and all things are possible with God.

God’s sovereignty sets the tone for the vision of Isaiah 65. In verse 17 the Lord says that he will create new heavens and a new earth. We could no more bring about our own transformation than we could raise ourselves from the dead.         

The renewing of God’s creation is God’s work. The resurrection of Jesus is the first fruits, the down payment guaranteeing God’s commitment to make all things new. Knowing God plans to transform and renew his creation gives us real hope for the future.

When we are overwhelmed by grief, we recover some joy and strength from knowing that grief will not have the last word.

When death cuts life short or we feel like our life is going too fast, we remember that this life is not all there is. The best is yet to come for those who are in Christ Jesus.

When our prayers, our work and our plans for our family are frustrated by forces beyond our control, we find consolation in trusting that God works all things for good in fulfilment of his redemptive purpose.

And when the wolves of this world devour the lambs, when the strong crush the weak, when harm is done to people and the planet, we live in the light of the age to come (the age of harmony). We take responsibility to care for others and protect the environment, to the extent we can.

Let us pray…

Sovereign God, we thank you for the hope that is ours through faith in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. May your vision for the transformation of the cosmos be real in our minds. Keep our feet on the ground as we walk through this world with you. Through Jesus we pray. Amen. 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
  2. What miracles of transformation do you observe in the natural world? What miracles of transformation do you observe in history? What miracles of transformation do you observe in your own life?
  3. What does it mean for God to ‘create’ in Isaiah 65? What does Isaiah 65 show us about God’s intention for his creation?
  4. How does Jesus’ resurrection relate to the vision of Isaiah 65?
  5. Discuss / reflect on the four main transformations envisioned in Isaiah 65. That is: from grief to joy, from death to life, from frustration to fulfilment and from harm to harmony.
  6. What frustrations have you experienced in your life? How might we deal with our frustrations? What fulfilments can you give God thanks for?
  7. What difference does the vision of Isaiah 65 make for us now, today?  

[1] Refer John Goldingay’s commentary on Isaiah, page 85.

Tawa Baptist

A New Filter

Scripture: Luke 24:36-49

Title: A New Filter

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • From fear to joy
  • From doubt to understanding
  • From disbelief to witness
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

I’m thinking of a word ending in ‘R’ – six letters. Can anyone tell me what it is?

  • – You find these everywhere: in sunglasses, in car engines, in coffee machines, swimming pools, fish tanks and cigarette butts.
  • – You even have one in your brain. Any guesses?
  • – I’ll give you some more clues: purify, refine, sieve, sift, strain, winnow
  • – That’s right, the word I’m thinking of is ‘filter’

The purpose of a filter is to remove or separate that which is not wanted

  • – Ideally a filter lets the good things through and keeps the bad things out

We might not be aware of it but each of us has a filter, in our mind, which automatically accepts some things and excludes others

  • – Having a filter is not a bad thing – we need a filter, we can’t let everything in all the time
  • – When we are young we tend to have less of a filter – we accept most things without question
  • – But as we get older our filter gets blocked or dirty, with bad experiences, and we become a bit fussy about what we accept – more things are automatically excluded. When that happens we need a new filter

 

Our Scripture reading this morning comes from Luke 24, verses 36-49

  • – This passage describes what happened when the risen Jesus appeared to his disciples the evening of the first Easter Sunday
  • – Already it has been a long day for the disciples – Earlier that morning the women had gone to Jesus’ tomb and found it empty
  • – Two angels appeared to them and explained that Jesus had risen from the dead – the women reported this to the other disciples
  • – Later, the same day, the risen Jesus himself appeared to two of his followers on the road to Emmaus
  • – These two disciples didn’t recognise Jesus at first – they had seen Jesus die just three days before and so their filter excluded the possibility of talking with Jesus now
  • – It wasn’t until Jesus broke bread with them that they suddenly accepted that Jesus was alive
  • – Then Jesus disappeared and the two disciples returned to Jerusalem to tell the eleven. It’s at this point we pick up the story…

While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence. He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture.

In this reading the risen Jesus gives his disciples a new filter

  • – He helps them to move from fear to joy
  • – From doubt to understanding
  • – And from disbelief to witness

 

From fear to joy:

Some of you may be into Snap Chat – I’m not but each to their own

  • – With Snap Chat you are able to put different filters on your photo to change your appearance – give yourself glasses, make yourself look like a dog or a gangster or a cartoon character, or whatever
  • – Normally a filter takes things out – it excludes things – but Snap Chat filters seem to add things in and distort the true picture
  • – The unconscious mental filters we have in our mind are bit like Snap Chat – as well as taking things out, they add things in.
  • – We call that stereotyping or prejudice
  • – For many years women were excluded from voting because men had a filter which said women were not competent to vote
  • – Most of us don’t cope well with the unknown and so, to prevent the vacuum from being filled with fear, we add in our own assumptions and beliefs which are often untrue.

Sometimes I wonder what kind of filter people apply to us when they learn we are Christian

  • – Do they see us as a person of light with angel eyes and a halo of golden butterflies fluttering over our head
  • – Or do they see us as a bit scary, judgemental and angry
  • – Neither of these pictures are fair or true

 

Verse 37 (of Luke 24) tells us, the disciples’ initial reaction to seeing Jesus in the room with them was one of shock & fear – they thought they were seeing a ghost, a spirit without a body

  • – They had seen Jesus killed and so their mental filter excluded the possibility that he could be alive and blindly adopted the prevailing cultural belief of the day – that the human soul is released from the body when a person dies and floats around in a disembodied state
  • – Their assumption was false but they lacked an alternative.

Jesus deals with their fear by engaging the disciples’ senses

  • – He speaks so they can hear him and recognise his voice
  • – He identifies himself by his scars – showing them his hands and his feet where the nails had been
  • – He offers his body for the disciples to touch if they want to
  • – And Jesus eats some fish in their presence so they can see he has an actual body – that he isn’t a phantom
  • – In doing this Jesus is giving his disciples physical evidence that he is alive and well.

Jesus is also doing some very practical things to calm his disciples’ fear

  • – When someone is having a panic attack you can help them by speaking calmly to them, pointing out something in the environment that is real, gently touching their arm, and offering them something to eat or drink
  • – Anything really that engages their physical senses and puts them in touch with the reality around them so they stop focusing on the fear inside.

Jesus’ strategy works – he manages to calm the disciples down so their fear gives way to ‘joy & amazement’ – but their unconscious filter is strong and they struggle to accept the fact of Jesus’ resurrection – ‘doubts rise in their minds’

 

From doubt to understanding:

Now doubt sometimes gets a bad rap in Christian circles and while doubt certainly has its downside, it also serves an important purpose

  • – If our filter becomes blocked – if it excludes too many possibilities – then we run the risk of going through life convinced we are right only to learn, at some point, we were wrong
  • – Doubt is a good thing when our filter is too narrow – doubt causes us to question and test our assumptions.

The fact the disciples can’t believe Jesus is alive, at first, proves they were convinced of his death in the first place

  • – The prerequisite to believing in Jesus’ resurrection is believing in his death
  • – So the strength of the disciples’ doubt proves Jesus’ death, which paves the way for believing in his resurrection

Doubt clears a path for faith – doubt actually makes room for understanding

  • – If we are too firmly fixed in our ideas & beliefs then those ideas & beliefs have no room to grow
  • – Robyn bought me a kowhai plant as a present one year
  • – It came in a small plastic container about 15cm’s in diameter
  • – That little pot was fine for a while but it didn’t allow the roots to spread or the plant to grow
  • – So I transplanted the kowhai to a barrel about a metre wide and it took off, until that became too small and now it’s planted in the backyard.

If we think of our understanding of God as a growing tree then, inevitably, our faith’s understanding will get to a point when the little pot it was planted in is too small and needs more room to put out roots and grow

  • – Doubt is what tells us the pot is too small – doubt challenges (perhaps even breaks) the little pot of our fixed ideas and beliefs
  • – Sometimes we mistakenly think the little pot in which our faith was first planted is all there is and we ignore the voice of doubt which is prompting us to transplant into a more spacious understanding of God.

Having said that, not all doubt is good – when doubt is intentional or leads to worry or paralysis of faith then it becomes a cruel master

  • – But when doubt challenges our presuppositions about what is possible
  • – When doubt dismantles our filter, removing the blockages to belief and enlarging our perspective on the truth, then it is our servant
  • – Perhaps this is why Jesus asks, ‘Why do doubts arise in your minds?’
  • – By acknowledging the presence of doubt and bringing it out into the open Jesus puts doubt in its proper place – he makes it serve his disciples

Verse 41 tells us the disciples still did not believe (even after seeing Jesus) because of ‘joy and amazement’

  • – In other words, they liked the thought that Jesus was alive and wanted to accept this but were being cautious because the idea seemed ‘too good to be true’
  • – This implies the disciples’ doubt was not cynical or sinister
  • – Their doubt was simply a form of self-preservation – they didn’t want to get their hopes up too quickly and have those hopes disappointed again
  • – After all their hope had just recently been crushed by Jesus’ crucifixion

It’s strange isn’t it how we often find loss & pain more convincing than joy – bad news is easier to believe than good news

  • – When we drill down into it we discover that trusting ourselves is actually more difficult than trusting God
  • – It was in the disciples’ interest to believe that God had raised Jesus from the dead, which is precisely why they struggled with it
  • – How can they trust themselves?
  • – How can they know their belief is not based on wishful thinking or self-interest?

Well, Jesus seems to understand this and so he points to the Bible as an objective independent verifier of the truth

  • – If the disciples can’t trust their own judgment then they can at least trust the testimony of Scripture – in verse 44 we read…

“This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

  • – Which is another way of saying, ‘This was God’s plan all along’

If we think of the Bible as a map book or a Satellite Navigation System or GPS, then Jesus is the destination

  • – The purpose of the Bible is to point to Jesus – to help people find Jesus
  • – Jesus’ coming into the world fulfils the purpose of the Bible, just like reaching your destination fulfils the purpose of a map or a Sat Nav device

 

Verse 45 tells how Jesus then opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. In other words, Jesus gave his disciples a new filter

–         He transplanted the kowhai plant of their faith into a much bigger pot

–         He showed them a larger portion of the map so they could see how all roads of Scripture lead to him

He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem…”

Before Jesus died the disciples’ filter excluded the possibility that he would be crucified, then after he had died their filter excluded the possibility he would be raised from the dead to eternal life – theirs was a kind of ‘either / or’ thinking

–         If he is crucified then he can’t be the Messiah

–         If he dies then he can’t live again

–         But Jesus helps his disciples to think in terms of ‘both / and’

–         Jesus can be the Messiah and be crucified

–         Jesus can die and be raised to life

–         It’s not ‘either / or’ – it’s ‘both /and’

–         Both repentance and forgiveness will be preached in Jesus’ name,

–         Both Israel and all the other nations will hear the good news preached

 

So what does this mean for us?

–         Well, we are faced with essentially the same sorts of questions

For example, ‘How can God be love when there is so much suffering in the world?’

–         Or to make it more personal. ‘How can God love me when I’m suffering?’ It’s not either / or – it’s both / and

–         God loves us and allows us to suffer

–         The Bible doesn’t offer any explanation as to why a God of love allows suffering – it simply maintains that both are true

–         So if we are suffering in some way it does not mean that God doesn’t love us anymore – but it could mean we are entering into a greater intimacy with God, we are getting closer to Him

–         When we consider how much God suffers it is little wonder that we would suffer too as we draw closer to Him

 

Repentance & forgiveness also go together

–         Forgiveness is about letting go – it’s about being set free from something

–         And repentance is a change of attitude which leads to a change of behaviour

–         We can’t have forgiveness (or freedom) without repentance

–         If nothing changes, then nothing changes

Some people want forgiveness without repentance but it doesn’t work like that

–         I can’t expect to be free from a hangover if I keep drinking too much, just like I can’t expect to get fit by lying on the couch

–         Once I repent though, I can expect the release of forgiveness

In contrast to those who want forgiveness without repentance there are some who do the repentance but then don’t forgive themselves

–         Sometimes we are slow to let ourselves off the hook

–         How long are you going to carry your guilt around?

–         Jesus died so we wouldn’t have to do that

 

From disbelief to witness:

In verses 48 & 49 Jesus says to his disciples…

–         You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Just as Scripture is fulfilled by Jesus, so too the purpose of the disciples’ lives is fulfilled by Jesus

–         They have heard Jesus’ message of repentance & forgiveness, they have witnessed Jesus’ ministry, his suffering, death and resurrection – now it is their job to tell others what they’ve seen and heard

–         But before they bear witness they need to wait for power from on high – they need to wait for the Holy Spirit in other words

–         Here we have another ‘both / and’

–         Our witness for Jesus and the Holy Spirit go together – without the power of God’s Spirit our witness falls flat

For a number of years I thought my job as a Christian was to convert people – to get people to believe in Jesus and become like him

–         What I learned is that by myself I can’t change a hair of my own head let alone anyone else’s heart

–         It is not our job to convert people – the most we can do is bear witness to the love & truth of Christ

–         It’s the Holy Spirit who converts people – it’s the Holy Spirit who brings repentance and change, and who convinces people they are forgiven

 

Let me tell you a true story, from New Zealand’s history [1]

–         In the 1820’s the Nga Puhi tribe (from Northland) came down to the East Cape (near Gisborne) and raided the Ngati Porou

–         During the raid they captured a young man called Piripi Taumata-a-Kura

–         The Nga Puhi took Piripi back to Northland and made him a slave

–         While he was there Piripi met the English missionary Henry Williams, who taught Piripi how to read and introduced him to the stories of Jesus

–         At the time no one really thought much about Piripi – he was a slave, which meant he was on the bottom rung, so people filtered him out.

About ten years passed during which time the Spirit of Jesus was opening Piripi’s mind to understand the Scriptures

–         Then one day, in 1833, a vicious storm off the East Cape blew a ship from Piripi’s hometown all the way up to Nga Puhi territory in Northland.

–         The ship came ashore near where Piripi was held captive

–         The Nga Puhi captured the Ngati Porou leaders, intending to make them slaves, but Henry Williams talked the chiefs out of that idea

–         Instead they were allowed to receive instruction from the Waimate mission station, just as Piripi had

–         The influence of the gospel softened the hearts of the Nga Puhi captors and after eight months the Ngati Porou leaders were released

–         Piripi sailed home with the leaders from his tribe

When their ship arrived back at Rangitukia (on the East Cape) the people were completely stunned – after 10 years they had assumed Piripi was dead (their filter had excluded his survival)

–         Getting all the men back alive was like a miracle of resurrection

On the first evening of his return Piripi Taumata-a-Kura held a prayer service and sent word throughout the area, inviting people to come and hear his story

–         The very next day Piripi preached the first sermon on the East Coast, sharing the good news of Jesus with his tribe

–         Piripi and those who had returned with him preached the gospel up and down the East Cape years before any Pakeha missionaries arrived

When the English missionary William Williams came to the East Coast in 1838 he saw the effects of Piripi’s witness and wrote:

–         A great work has been accomplished in which the hand of the Lord has been… manifest. It has not been through the labour of your missionaries; for the word has only been preached by Native teachers. We had literally stood still to see the salvation of God.

Piripi is someone who wouldn’t make it through most people’s filters

–         He was someone no one would expect and therefore perfect for dismantling filters

–         Piripi suffered like Jesus suffered

–         Piripi’s story is one of slavery and redemption, suffering and new life

–         He bore witness to the truth he had received and the power of God’s Spirit did the rest

 

Conclusion:

Easter Sunday is the day we remember anew the miracle of Jesus’ resurrection

–         It is a day to change our filter – to reset our assumptions about what is possible and let God open our minds to the largeness of his purpose

 

Let us pray: Loving Father, move us by your Spirit from fear to joy, from doubt to understanding and from disbelief to witness. In the powerful name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

–         Why do you think this stood out to you?

2.)    Why do we need a (mental) filter – how does this help us?

–         When does a filter become detrimental and need replacing?

3.)    How did Jesus move his disciples from a state of shock & fear to joy & amazement?

–         What are some practical things we can do to help someone who is having a panic attack?

4.)    When is doubt a good thing?

–         When is doubt not a good thing?

5.)    Has God ever transplanted your faith’s understanding into a larger pot?

–         What happened? How did God do this? What change took place in you?

6.)     Discuss (or reflect on) the relationship between repentance and forgiveness

7.)    What does the story of Piripi Taumata-a-Kura teach us?

–         How might God give us a new filter?

 

[1] From Jay Ruka’s book, ‘Huia Come Home’, pages 47-49.