Tawa Baptist

Paul in Rome

Scripture: Acts 28:16-31

Video Link: https://youtu.be/VwbRDZnsO7g

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Paul’s perseverance
  • Israel’s denial
  • Jesus’ sovereignty
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

You may have heard of the phrase, “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.”

This comes from William Shakespeare’s play, Henry V, in a scene where the king rallies his troops to attack through a gap in the city walls of Harfleur. It is a call to action in the face of overwhelming odds. It means, ‘let us try one more time’. “Once more unto the breach…” is about perseverance and not giving up.   

In Shakespeare’s play, the king ends up defeating his enemies despite being greatly outnumbered.

Today we conclude our three week series in the book of Acts in support of the Arotahi Renew Together campaign. Arotahi is the missions arm of New Zealand Baptists. Once a year we renew our commitment to pray for and support the work of spreading the gospel in New Zealand and overseas. 

Two weeks ago we heard about Paul in Athens. Then last week we learned about Paul’s mission in Ephesus. This week’s sermon focuses on Acts chapter 28, where we find the apostle Paul in the capital city of Rome, under house arrest.

After the better part of 30 years, Paul is still persevering in proclaiming the gospel. Time and time again he faces opposition, but every time he obeys the call of King Jesus, once more unto the breach dear friend, once more.

From Acts 28, verse 16, we read

16 When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier to guard him. 17 Three days later he called together the local Jewish leaders. When they had assembled, Paul said to them: “My brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or against the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. 18 They examined me and wanted to release me, because I was not guilty of any crime deserving death. 19 The Jews objected, so I was compelled to make an appeal to Caesar. 

I certainly did not intend to bring any charge against my own people. 20 For this reason I have asked to see you and talk with you. It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain.” 21 They replied, “We have not received any letters from Judea concerning you, and none of our people who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you. 22 But we want to hear what your views are, for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect.” 23 They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. He witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God, and from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets he tried to persuade them about Jesus. 24 Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. 25 They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: “The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet: 26 “‘Go to this people and say, “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.” 27 For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’ 28 “Therefore I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!” 29 After he said this, the Jews left, arguing vigorously among themselves. 30 For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. 31 He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!

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

This morning I want to highlight three things from these closing words in the book of Acts: Paul’s perseverance, Israel’s denial and Jesus’ sovereignty.

Let us begin with Paul’s perseverance.

Paul’s perseverance:

One day a farmer’s donkey fell down an unused well. The farmer could not think of any way to get his donkey out and did not care much for the donkey anyway, so he decided to bury the poor animal where it had fallen.

As he started shovelling dirt into the well, the donkey cried in distress, but before long the crying stopped. After about 20 minutes of backfilling the farmer took a break and looked into the hole to see his progress. To his amazement the farmer saw the donkey had not been buried.

With every shovelful of dirt that hit his back the donkey would shake it off and take a step up. The farmer kept shovelling and soon the donkey was able to step out and walk away. [1]

Paul was a bit like the donkey. He was in a hole so to speak, chained to a Roman guard under house arrest. The Jewish religious leaders of Jerusalem had kept throwing dirt on him. They wanted to bury him. But with each shovelful Paul shook it off and took a step up. Paul did not give in, he persevered.

You may be wondering how Paul came to be in Rome under house arrest.

Well, after a fruitful time in Ephesus, Paul made his way to Jerusalem. The Jews there plotted against him and he was arrested. Paul stood trial in Jerusalem and then later in Caesarea.

The Jewish leaders were trying to use the Romans to execute Paul, much like they used Pilate to execute Jesus. But none of the charges against Paul would stick. The Romans found Paul innocent

Due to a corrupt governor, however, Paul remained in prison in Caesarea for two years, after which he stood trial before the Romans yet again. To avoid being handed over to the Jews, Paul was forced to appeal to the Emperor. That meant being transported to Rome by ship.

The journey from Caesarea to Rome was fraught with difficulty. Paul’s ship was wreaked in a storm and the passengers and crew were forced to swim ashore on the island of Malta. They were stranded on Malta for three months before boarding another ship to Italy.

When Paul eventually did arrive in Rome, he was allowed to stay in a rented house, chained by the wrist to a Roman soldier 24-7. The guards took it in shifts to mind Paul. Paul had a captive audience. I’m sure every one of those guards heard the gospel about Jesus.     

Just three days after arriving in Rome, Paul called together the local Jews to explain why he was there. Paul wanted to reassure them that he did not mean them any harm. He was there because he was compelled to appeal to Caesar to save his own life.

The Jews were probably relieved to hear this. Some years earlier the Emperor Claudius had temporarily banned all Jews from living in Rome because of disputes between the Jews and Christians. Paul wants the Jews to know he is not there to make trouble for them.  

Paul is also keen to talk with people about the hope of Israel. The hope of Israel is code for the Messiah. Paul wants to share the good news about Jesus the Messiah.

Now when you think about all that Paul has suffered because of the Jews,

all the dirt they had thrown on him, all the floggings he endured, all the false accusations and trials, not to mention all those years in prison, it is a wonder that Paul would risk even more rejection by setting up a meeting with the Jews of Rome. Who knows what people had been saying about him behind his back.

Jesus teaches us to turn the other cheek and forgive others as often as they need it. The Jews had not sought Paul’s forgiveness and yet he shakes off their condemnation and continues to face them with grace and courage. Paul perseveres in his love for those who mean him harm. He keeps on trying to reach his fellow Israelites with the truth about Jesus.

In reply, the Jewish leaders said they had not heard any bad reports about Paul. This seems unlikely. Some commentators think the Jews here were pretending to be ignorant about Paul because it was politically expedient. If the Jews started throwing more dirt on Paul and Paul gained a favourable hearing from Caesar, they might be expelled from Rome again or worse.

The Jews arranged to meet with Paul on a certain day to hear what he had to say. Even more people turned up the second time. Paul talked with them all day about the kingdom of God. He tried to persuade them that Jesus is the Messiah using the common ground of the Hebrew Scriptures.    

Some were convinced by Paul, others would not believe. As usual the gospel about Jesus confronts people with the truth; it compels people to choose. Will we accept the reality of our situation or will we live in denial of the problem.

Israel’s denial

In 1915 the Mexican boll weevil came to Alabama and destroyed 60% of the cotton crop. In desperation the farmers turned to planting peanuts and then diversified into other crops. The diversification saved the local economy.

Had it not been for the boll weevil, the farmers may not have stumbled across a better crop. In gratitude, the people of the town put up a statue of the boll weevil together with a plaque which reads: “In profound appreciation of the boll weevil and what it has done as the herald of prosperity.”

Personally, I think the boll weevil got too much credit. It was really the people’s willingness to face the reality of their situation that saved them. Had the farmers denied there was a weevil problem and refused to change from planting cotton to growing peanuts, the people would have been ruined.

To those Jews who rejected his message about Jesus, Paul quoted the prophet Isaiah…

26 “‘Go to this people and say, “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.” 27 For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’    

These verses from Isaiah are talking about Israel’s refusal to believe.

The prophet is saying the people are living in denial of reality. They have closed their hearts and minds to the truth of the situation.

Unlike the cotton farmers of Alabama, they don’t want to admit they have a problem. But if they did, God would heal them.

So what exactly is the problem Paul’s compatriots are denying? The problem is this: they killed Jesus, God’s Messiah. To admit that Jesus is the Messiah is to admit they got it terribly wrong when they crucified Jesus.

As painful as the Jews’ rejection of Jesus is, Paul sees an opportunity for those outside of Israel. Pauls says: “God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!”  

When Paul tells his fellow Jews they are living in denial of the Messiah, they leave arguing vigorously among themselves. Clearly, Paul’s words have hit a raw nerve. They know Paul is right, but they don’t want to admit it.   

Now at this point I need to say that Israel do not have the monopoly on denial. We are all prone to denial in our own way, regardless of our cultural heritage.

Indeed, when we find ourselves protesting too much, that is often a sign that we are denying an inconvenient truth about ourselves.

So what is the cure for the blindness of denial? Well, for the cotton farmers it came in the form of the boll weevil which destroyed their crops. Sometimes God’s cure for stubborn denial is suffering and loss. The kind of suffering that wakes us up to the reality of our situation. The kind of loss that makes us aware of our need for God.

Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The poor in spirit are those who are at the end of their rope. They have suffered loss and humiliation. They are under no illusions about the reality of their situation. They have been cured of their denial and they know their need for God’s grace.  

You see, to be able to enjoy a meal, you must first become hungry. To be able to receive the salvation God offers, your hands must first be empty. To be able to experience the good news of Jesus, you must first face the bad news about yourself and the world. I wish there was an easier way, but there isn’t.   

The other thing we note here is that there are limits to Paul’s perseverance.

As much as Paul valiantly attempts to reach his own people time and time again with the gospel, if the Jews in a particular place refuse to believe, if they persist in their denial, Paul shakes it off and moves on to those who will listen.

Okay, so we have heard about Paul’s perseverance in reaching people with the gospel. And we have heard about Israel’s denial of Jesus the Messiah. What about Jesus’ sovereignty. How does that fit with today’s reading.

Jesus’ sovereignty:   

A sovereign is a king, a ruler. Someone with power and authority to reign.

One of the undercurrents running throughout the book of Acts is the idea that Jesus is sovereign; he is in control of the events that transpire. Nothing hinders Jesus’ purpose of salvation.

This idea of Jesus’ sovereignty may be lost in translation for us. For us a sovereign is someone like Queen Elizabeth or King Charles. A figure head, a wealthy monarch with no real power. But Jesus is not a King like that. Jesus is more than a figure head. Jesus has real power. Power over life and death. Power to heal, deliver and redeem.  

Again, we should not confuse Jesus’ power with the kind of political power we are familiar with. Political leaders in our world tend to use a carrot and stick approach to get what they want. Carrots represent rewards and the stick represents punishments; things like tariffs and tanks.     

Jesus does not exercise his power in the same way earthly rulers do. Jesus does not coerce or manipulate people. Jesus’ power often flies under the radar; it operates at a deeper level. Jesus, the King in heaven, exercises his power on earth through the Holy Spirit at work in and among human beings.

In the freezing waters around Greenland there are countless icebergs. Some are small, others large. If you watch them carefully, you notice that the smaller ice floes often move in one direction, while the big ones flow in another direction.

Surface winds drive the little ones, whereas the larger icebergs are carried along by deep ocean currents.

When we consider all that Paul suffered and indeed when we consider our own trials and tragedies, it may be helpful to see our lives as being subject to two forces: surface winds and deeper ocean currents.

The surface winds represent that which is changeable, unpredictable and distressing. The manipulations of men and the wielding of political power for example. Or the slings and arrows of personal misfortune and poor health.

But operating simultaneously, with the gusts and gales, is another more powerful force. The sure movement of God’s wise and sovereign purpose.

The deep flow of his unchanging love. [2]     

In the book of Acts we see both the surface winds of human opposition and the deeper movement of God’s Spirit.

Right at the beginning of Acts, the risen Jesus made plain the sovereign movement of God’s plan of salvation, when he said to his apostles…

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

The book of Acts starts in Jersualem and finishes in Rome, the capital of the empire. And from Rome the gospel moves outward to all corners of the earth.

The deeper current of God’s love and Spirit carries the gospel message to the whole world.

Paul had no control over how people responded to his preaching about Jesus. Some believed, others did not. Some reacted violently, with the result that Paul found himself standing trial before the authorities.

These negative reactions were surface winds, which the Spirit of God was able to use in service to Jesus’ sovereign purpose. Every time Paul stood trial, whether before a Roman official or the Jewish leadership, he gave his testimony about Christ. Paul spoke gospel truth to those in power.

Paul’s two years under house arrest in Rome was not wasted time. During those years Paul wrote letters to the Philippians, the Ephesians, the Colossians and to Philemon. These letters are still with us today and contain some of our richest insights about Jesus and his purpose. In Philippians Paul writes…

I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.

The fickle surface winds of human opposition do not alter the deep movement of Jesus’ sovereign purpose.

Conclusion:

The book of Acts finishes on a note of triumph: 30 For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. 31 He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!

Paul may have been a prisoner, but the sovereign purpose of Jesus remained free and prospered.

Let us pray…

Gracious God, give us strength to persevere in your purpose for us. Give us grace to face the truth without denial. And when we feel buffeted by the surface winds of trial and opposition, keep us mindful of your deeper sovereign purpose. 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. Why did Paul persevere is the face of opposition and hardship? When did Paul stop persevering and move on to tell others about Jesus? How might we know when to keep persevering and when to shake it off and move on? 
  3. How did God use Paul’s trials and suffering to forward the work of the gospel?
  4. Why did the Jews have such a difficult time accepting Paul’s message that Jesus is the Messiah?
  5. What is denial? How might we know we are in denial about something? Have there been times in your life when you struggled with denial? What happened? How did God deliver you?
  6. Discuss / reflect on Jesus’ sovereignty. How is Jesus’ power different from earthly rulers’ power?
  7. What surface winds of difficulty and opposition have you experienced lately? Can you discern Jesus’ deeper sovereign purpose at work in your life? If so, how? 

[1] Adapted from a story in J. John and Mark Stibbe’s book, ‘A Barrel of Fun’, page 116.

[2] Adapted from an excerpt in J. John and Mark Stibbe’s book, ‘A Barrel of Fun’, page 194.

Tawa Baptist

Jesus’ Commission

Scripture: Matthew 28:16-20

Video Link: https://youtu.be/BsRMobff4y8

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Make disciples
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Today we continue our Renew Together mini-series in support of Arotahi.

Arotahi is the new name for the New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society.

Arotahi means to focus in one direction, concentrating on one thing together.

Renew Together is about remembering God’s mission of gospel renewal and our part in that mission. Over the three weeks of this year’s Renew Together campaign we are using the sermon time to focus on Matthew 28, verses 16-20.

Although this passage is called ‘the great commission’, there’s actually more going on here. Last Sunday we heard about Jesus’ great authority and next week we will hear about Jesus’ great presence.

Today though our focus is the commission part of ‘the great commission’. Jesus’ great commission is to make disciples. Let’s remind ourselves of what Jesus says in Matthew 28…

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

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

If we think of the great commission as a house, then Jesus’ authority is the foundation on which the house is built. ‘Making disciples’ is like the structure of the house. While the Spirit filled people of God, who live in the house, provide the presence. Our focus this morning is on Jesus’ commission to make disciples.

Make disciples

Perhaps the first question to ask then is, what does Jesus mean by a disciple?

Well, the Greek word used in the New Testament for ‘disciple’ is mathetes, from which we get the word mathematics. 

A mathetes (or a disciple) is a learner, a student, an apprentice. Someone, in the context of the gospels, who is learning to be like Jesus by following his example. The heart and soul of Christian discipleship is learning to love and obey God, like Jesus did.

Being a Christian is like being a tradesperson; a builder or a plumber or a boiler maker (if they still have those). In the same way you don’t become a qualified tradie overnight, so too you don’t become proficient at loving and obeying God instantaneously. It’s a process.

Jesus is the master tradesman and we are his apprentices. We learn how to love and obey God by listening to what Jesus tells us and by watching and following Jesus’ example.

Jesus commissions his eleven disciples to go and make more disciples, after training them. For three years the disciples accompanied Jesus wherever he went. They spent many hours in conversation with Jesus. They listened to his preaching. They watched how Jesus cared for people and they experienced his power and love for themselves, firsthand.

Not only that but they cut their teeth on some short term mission trips of their own. They put into practice what they saw Jesus doing by having go at preaching and healing for themselves.

The point here is that before the eleven could make disciples, they had to do their apprenticeship as a disciple. But even after they had done their apprenticeship and got their commission, they were still learning. Christian discipleship is a lifelong process.    

It’s the same with us. Before we can make disciples, we have to be a disciple. And, in this life, we never stop being a disciple. We never stop learning to love and obey God.   

There is a real freedom in being a disciple. If you think of yourself as a learner, and not as an expert, then you don’t have to have all the answers. A disciple is not a guru. A disciple is not perfect or elite. A disciple is curious. Sometimes disciples make mistakes but they learn from those mistakes. A disciple is on a journey to becoming more like Jesus. 

In verses 19 & 20 of Matthew 28, Jesus outlines the two main things involved with ‘making disciples’: baptizing people and teaching people.

Baptism is the sign of Christian conversion. Or to put it another way, baptism is how we enroll to become a disciple of Jesus. To be baptized is to surrender your life to Christ. Baptism says, I am making a commitment to learn to love and obey God, with Jesus as my teacher.

While baptism is important and is something to celebrate, it is not an end in itself. Baptism is a beginning. Jesus did not say, ‘Go and make converts’. No. He said, ‘Go and make disciples’. 

The bigger part of making disciples is teaching them to obey everything Jesus has commanded. 

Now, when we hear the word ‘teach’, we might think of a classroom setting with a teacher at the front and pupils sitting in desks. Chalk and talk. Part of discipleship does involve sitting and listening to people talk about Jesus.

But learning happens in other ways too, especially in the example we set. Discipleship is caught more than taught.

Teaching people to obey Jesus isn’t just about stuffing knowledge into people’s heads. Christian knowledge is primarily relational. So the point is not to know lots of facts about God and Jesus. The point is to help people grow in their experience of God’s love and truth.

The disciple, Simon Peter, learned something of God’s grace by listening to Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son and by watching the way Jesus forgave other people. But Peter’s most profound lesson on grace and forgiveness happened when he denied the Lord and was then later restored by Jesus.

In John 13, Jesus gave his disciples the command to love one another, as I have loved you… By this everyone will know you are my disciples.

Learning to love other Christians only happens when you spend time with them. And spending time with Christians (who may be quite different from you, or perhaps too similar in all the wrong ways) is more difficult than you might think. But we can’t expect to learn how to love one another without some form of church involvement.

As important as church life is, discipleship happens mostly in the ordinary, mundane routines of life.

If you are married, then marriage is the primary context for your discipleship. For example, you learn patience, grace and humility by listening to your partner, by doing the dishes and the vacuuming, by forgiving each other’s mistakes and so on.

Likewise, if you are single, then discipleship happens in the context of your singleness. Without a husband or wife, you might, for example, learn to rely more fully on God in faith and become good at companionship as you share your time and talents with the church and community.  

The workplace is another important context for discipleship. In most work situations you will have to get along with people who hold different beliefs from you. There may be times when you are tempted to do something morally wrong. As someone learning to love and obey God, how do you choose the Jesus’ way?

We learn by doing. We learn to love and obey God through the life situation we find ourselves in. Christian discipleship is a full emersion process.

In the 1970’s James Engel, of Wheaton College in the United States, developed what is known today as the Engel scale. The Engel scale describes the process of Christian conversion and discipleship.   

James Engel came up with 16 steps in this process. Most of those steps are taken before someone makes the conscious decision to become a disciple of Jesus.

Generally speaking, we start out in life having no awareness of God, that’s step one. Then, at some point, we become aware that other people believe in a higher power that we call ‘God’. Step two.

Having some contact with Christians is another important step in the process. You might, for example, grow up in a Christian home or you might know Christians at school or in your work place.

Hopefully, this contact with Christians is positive so you become interested in finding out more about Jesus, because Jesus is the heart of the Christian faith. 

As you learn more about Jesus you are faced with some decisions. Do I believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Do I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead? Do I believe God’s grace is sufficient for me? And, if I do accept these things as true, am I willing to surrender my life to Jesus and become his disciple?

The Alpha Course is helpful when working through these questions of faith.  

Once you have decided to become an apprentice of Jesus, by God’s grace you gain confidence in your decision and you make changes to your lifestyle in obedience to Christ. Those changes might include giving up drugs or alcohol or becoming kinder and more generous, or some other change depending on what God’s Spirit is doing in your life.

Part of your discipleship journey will include practicing spiritual disciplines like a daily quiet time for prayer and Bible study, attending Sunday worship regularly, giving to the poor and to the church, observing a Sabbath, volunteering your time in service to others and so on.

Eventually, you will learn to share your faith authentically, in a way that fits the shape of your soul. And, in the process of sharing your faith and discipling others, you yourself continue to grow in your relationship with Jesus.       

The Engel scale isn’t just about growing in our head knowledge of Jesus. More importantly it has to do with our attitude toward God. Are we cultivating a greater openness to God’s Spirit? Are we learning to love and obey the Lord more and more in faith?

The steps that James Engel developed provide a rough map of the discipleship process for some people. But the thing about maps is they don’t always match the reality on the ground. Discipleship is not necessarily a linear step by step process.

Sometimes we do the steps in a different order. Sometimes it’s three steps forward, one step back. Sometimes we have to repeat certain steps. And your particular discipleship journey may involve other steps that James Engel didn’t think of. That’s okay.

The point is, discipleship is a process and, like any learning process, you have to give yourself to it. We have to submit to our teacher, Jesus.

One of the helpful things about the Engel scale is that it reminds us to be sensitive to where other people are at in their journey toward Christ likeness. The Engel scale prompts us to listen and seek to understand others first.

If someone is in the early stages, just beginning to make contact with Christians, then you want their first contact to be positive. Do your best to ensure their experience with you is warm and real, not weird or scary.

You don’t need to dump a whole lot of Christian doctrine on people in the early stages. A theological framework can come later. Just be honest and kind. Listen with empathy and understanding. Let people experience the love and truth of Jesus through you.  

A couple of weeks ago we had the filters in our home ventilation system changed. The guy who came to our house to do this was from India. Jesus said ‘go to the nations’ but in many ways the nations have come to us here in New Zealand.

When I was paying the bill this guy asked me what I did for work and so I told him I was a minister at the local Baptist church.

He was curious about the different denominations, like Catholic and Protestant, so I said the various church traditions are like different flavours of the Christian faith. What really matters though is Jesus. Jesus is the one we share in common. Jesus is the heart of the Christian faith.

Now, most of the time when you mention the name Jesus, people change the subject. But this guy wanted to keep the conversation going. Fine by me.

He told me how he had been working in a woman’s house recently and she had given him a coin with ten rules on it. I guess it was the ten commandments.

While I admire this woman’s boldness, I’m not sure she was paying attention to where this guy was at or what he needed.

Yes, Christian discipleship does involve learning to obey the commandments, but knowing Jesus needs to come first. Because if we don’t know that Jesus loves us, then we won’t be able to obey.

Sadly, she gave him another rule, telling him not to get vaccinated against Covid. On the rare occasion someone wants to know about your faith, please talk about Jesus. Do not go off on a tangent. Do not take them down a rabbit hole. Keep the main thing the main thing. Jesus is the main thing.

This guy had been vaccinated so where does that leave him? Probably feeling judged, if not condemned. What would Jesus do in that situation?

Well, I believe Jesus would stand in solidarity with the man.

So, as Jesus’ representative in this situation, that’s what I did. I told the man I had been vaccinated too and that I believe God gives us science for our health and wellbeing. In other words, you don’t need to feel condemned for being vaccinated. Vaccination is not a barrier to becoming a Christian. Science is not the enemy of faith.

He looked at me and communicated his understanding with one word, ‘Freedom’. This guy was intelligent. He made the connection that Jesus and the Christian faith are about setting people free to love God, to love their neighbour and to love themselves. (Keep the main thing the main thing.)

Of course, there is much more you could say about Jesus and the gospel but you don’t have to cover everything all at once. Making disciples is a process and you may be just one of the many people God uses in that process. I believe there is still more God wants to do in this man’s life.

For the first eleven disciples, being commissioned by Jesus to go and make disciples of all nations meant actually travelling out from Jerusalem to other countries with the gospel. Does it mean the same for us as well? It might do, but not necessarily.

Obviously, God does still call people to become overseas missionaries. That’s what Arotahi is about. But he is more likely to call you to make disciples in your own neighbourhood; your school, your home, your church or your workplace.

If you are a parent or grandparent, then regularly reading stories about Jesus to your children and grandchildren is the obvious place to start. If you are married to someone who is not yet a disciple of Jesus, then showing your partner in marriage what a follower of Jesus looks like is surely a priority.

If you have the time and skill and desire to work with children or young people, then serving in Kids’ Church or Youth Group is a sensible way to make disciples. Likewise, if you love the Bible and people, then leading a small group Bible study might be one way you carry out Jesus’ great commission.

Or, if you work with someone who is interested in knowing more about Jesus, then embrace the opportunity the Lord has provided. Walk humbly with that person and share the grace and truth God’s Spirit has given you.

Conclusion:

Where are you at in the process of learning to love and obey God?

What are the next steps for you?

May the Lord bless you with wisdom and courage as you go and make disciples. 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?

  • What is a disciple? What is the goal of Christian discipleship?
  • Where are you at in the process of learning to love and obey God? What are the next steps, for you, in that process?
  • Think of those who have been instrumental in discipling you? What did they do that helped you to love and obey God?
  • What are some of the ways we might make disciples? How do you, personally, work out Jesus’ commission to make disciples?
  • Discuss / reflect on the Engel scale. To what extent do these steps align with your own experience? How is it different? How might the Engel scale help in the process of making disciples? 
  • If you had one minute to talk about your faith with someone who had some awareness of God but little or no experience of Christian faith, what would you say? 
Tawa Baptist

Grace

Scripture: Various (see below)

Title: G.R.A.C.E.

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • God                   (Romans 5:6-10 & Luke 10:30-36)
  • Realisation        (Luke 18:9-14 & Luke 15:11-24)
  • Acceptance        (John 13:6-10 & 2nd Corinthians 12:7-9)
  • Change              (Luke 3:7-14 & Matthew 18:23-35)
  • Evangelism       (Luke 8:26-39)
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Hi everyone

  • This morning we are taking a break from our series in Ephesians for a one off sermon on grace. The word grace simply means gift.
  • We can’t earn grace; we can only receive it, like soil receives a seed or like a baby receives her mother’s milk.
  • Grace is a good gift, a beautiful gift, a valuable gift, a treasure.
  • God’s grace is also a process, but it’s not an entirely easy process.  

God:

Not surprisingly God’s grace starts with God Himself.

  • Grace is always God’s initiative and God’s grace is often at work long before we are even aware of it. In Romans 5 Paul writes,

You see, at the just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us…

For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life.  

These verses are saying; God’s grace was at work to save us when we were still enemies of God, long before we were even aware of our need for God’s help.

  • God does this because that’s who God is. He saves us out of his goodness and love. When God shows grace He is simply being true to himself.  

Many of you will be familiar with the parable of the Good Samaritan.

  • You know the one; where some poor bloke got mugged and left for dead on the side of the road.
  • Most people of that time were easily identifiable by what they wore.
  • You could tell who was Jewish and who was Roman and who was Samaritan and who was Greek by their clothes.
  • But the man who had been beaten up wasn’t wearing anything because the robbers had taken his clothes.
  • The Samaritan had no way of knowing whether the stranger was a friend or foe.
  • Maybe the wounded man was Jewish, a sworn enemy to the Samaritans.
  • But that didn’t matter, his need trumped everything else.
  • The Good Samaritan showed grace and mercy to that man, even though he didn’t know the guy.

Jesus is like the Good Samaritan and we are like the stranger, unconscious and bleeding out in the gutter.

  • Jesus shows us mercy and grace while we are helpless to save ourselves and indeed, while we are still concussed and unaware of how vulnerable we really are.
  • So often we can only see God’s grace in the rear-vision mirror.

Realisation:

The next step in the process of grace is realising our need.

Have you ever had the experience of losing your keys, needing to find them in a hurry and frantically searching everywhere for them?

  • Robyn has and I’ve been the mug frantically looking with her.
  • After about a minute or two, when it becomes obvious the keys are not in any of the usual places, we realise our desperate need and start praying, asking God to help us find the keys.     
  • Then, when they finally turn up, we are very relieved and thankful. 

Of course, looking for lost keys is a frivolous example, at least in hindsight.

  • Realising our need can be far more painful and difficult, but it’s necessary if we are to become aware of God’s grace
  • Without realising our need, we can’t really accept, let alone appreciate, God’s grace.

They say, ‘You can’t trust someone who has never lost anything’ and its true.

  • In Luke 18 Jesus tells a story of two very different men, a Pharisee and a tax collector.
  • The Pharisee, who is at the top of the pecking order in his society, has never lost anything – he isn’t aware of his need for God and consequently he looks down on others.
  • He thinks he is better than everyone else and reminds God of all the good things he does.
  • The tax collector, on the other hand, knows loss all too well – he is somewhere near the bottom of the social ladder and is acutely aware of his need.
  • He stands at a distance, not daring to look up to heaven, beating his chest saying, “God, have mercy on me a sinner”. 
  • Jesus concluded his story by saying it was the tax collector who went home justified by God.

Before God’s grace can find its home in our heart, we have to realise our need for it.

  • When life is tickety boo and everything is going along fine we usually aren’t aware of our need for God – we tend to think we can manage on our own, without God.
  • It’s not until we are faced with our need that we cry out for help
  • We come to a realisation of our need for God by having our heart broken.
  • To paraphrase Richard Baxter, ‘God breaks every person’s heart in a different way.’
  • Perhaps through illness, maybe through the loss of a loved one, sometimes through betrayal or our own failure or in some other way.
  • But having our heart broken isn’t enough in itself – we also need to reflect on our situation.
  • Reflection (thinking time) helps us to join the dots. Reflection allows the penny to drop.

The problem is, many of us don’t take the time to reflect – we don’t sit with our pain long enough.

  • We find some way to distract ourselves or we numb the pain with alcohol or by keeping busy.
  • Not all pain is good, but sometimes pain is God’s messenger if we would only listen to it.   
  • Having said that, we need to find the right balance between reflection and action.
  • We don’t want to spend so long sitting with our pain that we become stuck, feeling sorry for ourselves.    

The prodigal son, in Luke 15, didn’t come to his senses (he didn’t realise his need) until he hit rock bottom and became so hungry he would have eaten the food he was feeding to the pigs.

  • But it wasn’t just being hungry that made him realise his need – it was also honest reflection.
  • As the younger son thought about how well his father’s servants were treated he realised his best bet was to return home and ask for help.

If God’s grace is a sapling plant and our heart is the soil, then realising our need is the spade which opens our heart to receive God’s grace.

  • Or if God’s grace is a wholesome meal, then realising our need is the hunger which opens our mouths to dine on God’s grace.
  • The same God who breaks our heart also heals our heart.

Jesus said, Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

  • The poor in spirit know their need for God’s grace and they’re not too proud to ask for help.

Acceptance:

After we have realised our need, the next step in the process of grace, is accepting God’s help.

  • This might seem obvious and it might seem like the easy part but it is neither obvious nor easy. Accepting God’s help can be humiliating.
  • The problem is we often want to stay in control. We want to accept God’s grace on our terms. But that’s not how grace works.

The night before he died Jesus washed his disciples’ feet and when he got to Simon Peter, Peter refused because he thought it was beneath Jesus to do this. [1]

  • Perhaps Peter meant well but it’s not for us to set the terms of grace.
  • Jesus said, if you don’t let me wash your feet (if you don’t accept my grace on my terms) you have no part in me
  • Peter couldn’t argue with that and neither can we.

We don’t dictate the terms of God’s grace. All we can do is accept or reject what God decides to give or withhold. 

  • In 2nd Corinthians 12 Paul talks about two of God’s graces given to him.
  • Paul was given a wonderful vision or revelation but then, to stop him becoming conceited, he was also given a thorn in the flesh.
  • Paul writes; Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
  • The vision and the thorn were both forms of God’s grace.
  • The vision was pleasant and the thorn wasn’t.
  • Paul would rather not have had the thorn, but we don’t decide the terms of God’s grace.
  • We are not God. We are his creatures and our part is to come to terms with God’s grace for us – to learn to accept what God gives, as Paul did.

When it comes to God’s grace we may also have a hard time accepting what God does for others.

  • Returning to the parable of the prodigal son, in Luke 15, the older brother certainly had a hard time accepting his father’s grace for the younger son.
  • We see his resentment at the father welcoming the prodigal home with a party.

The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him.    

God’s grace for others requires us to be gracious too and that can be difficult.

The process of GRACE starts with God. Next comes the realisation of our need, followed by acceptance and then change.

Change:              

Sometimes we long for change don’t we. Other times we prefer to keep things as they are.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously said…

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy, for which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.

Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow… Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us.”

Those were Bonhoeffer’s words.

  • Grace requires change. The technical words for the change grace requires are repentance and sanctification.
  • Repentance means a change of mind and a change of behaviour.
  • And sanctification is the process of becoming more like Christ.
  • Repentance goes hand in hand with forgiveness and sanctification should follow justification.
  • We can’t expect God’s grace to leave us unchanged or untouched.
  • We can’t say, ‘Thank you God for your forgiveness. I’ll be on my way now to live as I please.’

In preparing the way for Jesus (the Messiah) John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He didn’t mince his words.

  • Here’s a sample of John’s preaching from Luke 3…

“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance…9 The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”10 “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.11 John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”13 “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”

John preached costly grace and so did the apostle Paul. In Romans 6 Paul says,

  • What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

I said before that we were taking a break from Ephesians but actually today’s sermon, about the process of grace, follows the pattern of Ephesians.

  • In the first part of Ephesians Paul talks about what God has done for us in Christ (all the good gifts that are ours because of Jesus).
  • And in the second part of Ephesians Paul talks about the change God’s grace should effect in us.

Now in saying that grace requires us to change we need to know that God is not asking us to be something we are not.

  • The change is from our false self to our true self.
  • It also needs to be said that God is willing to help us change.
  • Sometimes we want to change but we can’t, at least not on our own – we are stuck, frozen like statues. We need the help of God’s Spirit.
  • God’s grace comes with truth to set us free from the lies that trap us.   

The ultimate test that God’s grace has changed us (made us more true on the inside) is our willingness to forgive others. As we say in the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.’

Jesus told some chilling tales – real horror stories. One of his scariest parables, in Matthew 18, was told as a warning against cheap grace.

  • The story goes that a servant racked up an incredible debt with the king. We might say a billion dollars in today’s currency.
  • I don’t know how this man did it. Maybe he had a gambling problem or maybe he just liked fast cars and expensive parties.
  • Anyway, when he was brought before the king and asked to give account the servant fell to his knees begging for more time to repay the debt.
  • The servant thought he could set the terms of grace and buy his way out.
  • The King (and everyone else) knew the servant had no hope of repaying the money and yet the King did more than the servant asked for – he forgave the entire debt outright.

Now, you would expect the King’s generosity to change the servant.

  • Sadly, the servant went out, found someone who owed him about $50, grabbed the man by the neck and demanded payment.
  • When the man begged for more time the first servant refused and had him thrown into debtors’ prison.
  • The other servants were extremely upset and told the King.
  • The King, who was a just man, became angry saying, ‘I forgave you the whole amount, you should have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had mercy on you’.
  • Then the King sent that servant to jail to be punished until he should pay back every penny.
  • And Jesus concluded: ‘That is how my Father in heaven will treat every one of you unless you forgive your brother from the heart’.

God’s grace may be free but it’s not cheap. We need to be careful not to forfeit it. The real proof that grace has done its work in changing us is our willingness to forgive others.  

God, Realisation, Acceptance, Change and Evangelism – spells GRACE.

Evangelism:

Evangelism simply means, passing on good news.

  • Evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.
  • True evangelism is the fruit of a thankful heart – a heart that has been touched and changed by God’s goodness.

I remember as a kid my grandparents had a Newton’s Cradle, like this one, only bigger. [Hold up Newton’s Cradle and set it going]

  • When you lift one metal ball and let it fall, the energy passes all the way through the row causing the metal ball on the end to swing up.
  • The device is named after Isaac Newton because it demonstrates one of the laws of physics; the conservation of momentum and energy.

God’s grace is an energy – it must find release or expression somehow, somewhere. Evangelism and praise are two natural ways in which the energy of God’s grace is released.   

  • If the process of God’s grace is like a Newton’s Cradle, then God’s goodness is the metal ball on one end and evangelism is the ball on the far end. [Set the Newton’s Cradle going again]

Often when Jesus healed or forgave or delivered someone, that person would then tell others what Jesus had done for them.

  • Even when Jesus warned them to be quiet they couldn’t help themselves; the positive energy of his grace needed to find release and expression.
  • Sometimes though Jesus did instruct people to pass on the good news.

In Luke 8, Jesus crossed over to the other side of the lake with his disciples to Gentile territory.

  • No sooner had they stepped off the boat and they were confronted with a man who was possessed by a legion of demons.
  • This man was so troubled, his life in such chaos, that he used to live among the tombs.
  • People tried to restrain him, for his own safety and their own, but he broke the shackles and lived like a wild animal. 

Jesus commanded the demons to leave the man. The demons were afraid of Jesus and begged him not to send them into the abyss.

  • So Jesus showed them grace and let them enter a herd of pigs, which promptly ran off the side of a steep bank and into the lake. 

When the villagers saw the man sitting with Jesus, clothed and in his right mind – his dignity (and humanity) restored, they were frightened.

  • The grace of God is a powerful energy and divine power can be terrifying.
  • Because of their fear the people of that region asked Jesus to leave.
  • Jesus is meek (strong & gentle at the same time) so he did what they asked of him.
  • As Jesus was leaving the man who had been delivered begged to go with him, but Jesus said; Return home and tell how much God has done for you.

Here we see the wisdom of God’s grace.

  • The man had been estranged and alienated and lonely for a long time.
  • He needed to belong again – to be restored to his community.
  • The man was a Gentile. If he went with Jesus, back to Jewish territory, he would be excluded all over again.
  • The man also needed to find expression for the energy God’s grace had created within him.
  • By sending the man back home with the task of telling his story of grace, Jesus was releasing the man.
  • So the man went away and told everyone in town how much Jesus had done for him.   

Conclusion:

This morning we’ve heard about the process of God’s grace.

  • Grace begins with God’s goodness, before we are even aware of it.
  • But for grace to do its work we must realise our need for God.
  • Once we have realised our need we must accept grace on God’s terms.
  • Then comes change for good; personal repentance, proven in the crucible of forgiveness.   
  • Eventually though, the energy of grace must find release in evangelism, and praise; telling others the good things God has done for us.

This process of God’s grace isn’t just a one off thing though – it is a cycle which repeats itself, going deeper and deeper into our soul each time, until we reach maturity in Christ-likeness.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. What stands out for you in reading these Scriptures and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
  2. Thinking back over your life, can you recall a time when God’s grace was at work before you were aware of it? (When have you seen God’s grace in the rear-vision mirror?)
  3. Can you recall a time in your life when you realised your need for God? What happened?
  4. Why is it important for us to reflect on our situation when things go wrong?
  5. What has been your experience of accepting God’s grace? Is it similar to that of the prodigal son, or of Peter having his feet washed or of Paul’s thorn in the flesh? Or is it different to that?
  6. What is the difference between cheap grace and costly grace?
  7. What change has God’s grace brought in your life?
  8. How can we release the energy of God’s grace?
  9. Is there someone who would benefit from hearing about the good things God has done in your life?
  10. Take some time this week to reflect on the different times God has led you through His cycle of grace. Where are you at in the cycle of grace right now? What are the next steps for you?    

[1] John 13:6-10

Tawa Baptist

Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch

Scripture: Acts 8:26-40

 

Title: The Gospel as Treasure

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

Recently Robyn & I were fortunate enough to spend a week in Taupo

–         While we were there we came across a pamphlet detailing the top 10 walking tracks around the Taupo area

–         One of these walks was up Mount Tauhara, which is the mountain you can see tucked behind the Taupo township

–         I was quite keen to climb this mountain so Robyn and I came to a mutual agreement that she would go shopping for a mothers’ day present for my mum while I went climbing (climbing is less exhausting than shopping)

 

Anyway, Mt Tauhara isn’t that tall – the summit is only 1,088 meters and the track begins half way up anyway – but it is pretty steep all the way

–         I smashed it – got the top in 1 hour – which isn’t bad for an old guy

 

At the top a woman, with her three kids, laid down a painted rock

–         She explained to the rest of us there what she was doing

–         The idea is to paint a rock and then write on the back # the name of your town Rocks

–         For example, we might write #TawaRocks or if you come from Dunedin you would write #DunedinRocks

 

You hide the rock somewhere that people are likely to find it and then the finder snaps a photo holding it, uploads the photo onto social media, and re-hides it for someone else to find

  • – It’s sort of like a treasure hunt – except you don’t keep the treasure for yourself, you pass it on for others
  • – Apparently one rock which started in NZ has ended up in Italy

 

Today is the first of three Sundays when we promote Tranzsend’s prayer and self-denial campaign

–         Tranzsend supports and resources NZ Baptist missionaries serving overseas

–         The theme for this year’s self-denial campaign is treasures handed down

–         Jesus is the greatest treasure God gave the world and one of the main ways that Jesus is handed down to us is through the gospel

 

The word gospel simply means ‘good news’

–         In particular it refers to the good news that, through faith in Jesus, God accepts us

 

The gospel also refers to the four accounts of Jesus’ life and work, which we read about in the New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

–         In many ways though the whole Bible points to Jesus – both the Old Testament and the New Testament – it’s all about Christ

–         In fact, Jesus is the key to understanding the Bible

 

Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch:

Please turn with me to Acts chapter 8, verse 26

–         You can find Acts 8 on page 161 toward the back of your pew Bibles

–         The Scripture reading I’ve chosen to go with this theme, that the gospel of Christ is treasure, is the account of Philip’s conversation with the Ethiopian eunuch

–         This is sort of a painted rocks story in that the treasure of the gospel is passed on to a distant land

–         From Acts chapter 8, verses 26-40 we read…

 

26 An angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get ready and go south to the road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This road is not used nowadays.) 27-28 So Philip got ready and went. Now an Ethiopian eunuch, who was an important official in charge of the treasury of the queen of Ethiopia, was on his way home. He had been to Jerusalem to worship God and was going back home in his carriage. As he rode along, he was reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah. 29 The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to that carriage and stay close to it.” 30 Philip ran over and heard him reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah. He asked him, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

31 The official replied, “How can I understand unless someone explains it to me?” And he invited Philip to climb up and sit in the carriage with him. 32 The passage of scripture which he was reading was this:

“He was like a sheep that is taken to be slaughtered,     like a lamb that makes no sound when its wool is cut off.     He did not say a word. 33 He was humiliated, and justice was denied him.     No one will be able to tell about his descendants,     because his life on earth has come to an end.”

34 The official asked Philip, “Tell me, of whom is the prophet saying this? Of himself or of someone else?” 35 Then Philip began to speak; starting from this passage of scripture, he told him the Good News about Jesus. 36 As they travelled down the road, they came to a place where there was some water, and the official said, “Here is some water. What is to keep me from being baptized?” 37

38 The official ordered the carriage to stop, and both Philip and the official went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away. The official did not see him again, but continued on his way, full of joy. 40 Philip found himself in Azotus; he went on to Caesarea, and on the way he preached the Good News in every town.

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

 

In my 20’s I got a job working for a Non-Government Organisation which supports people with disabilities to live in the community

–         Part of my role was to accompany people, who experienced disability, as they led awareness training

–         This involved visiting schools and workplaces so people could talk about their lives and their disability as a way of breaking down barriers and helping mainstream society to accept individual difference

 

One guy I worked with lived with cerebral palsy

–         Cerebral palsy can affect people in different ways but in his case his movement and speech was disrupted, which meant he used a wheelchair to get around and other people found his speech difficult to understand

–         Every other part of his anatomy was in good working order

 

Although he was quite intelligent and capable the sound of his voice created a barrier in other people’s minds so that he was often prejudged as inferior or people simply lost patience with him and wrote him off

–         Part of my job was acting as his interpreter

–         He would say something and I would repeat it so that those in the room who weren’t used to his voice could get his meaning

–         My job then wasn’t so much to help him – he didn’t need my help

–         My job was to help others to understand him

 

One thing I learned quite quickly was that disability is a social construct

–         By which I mean it wasn’t cerebral palsy that disabled this guy so much as the society in which he lived

–         Other people’s prejudice was more disabling to him than cerebral palsy

–         It was not being given a fair go that disabled him

 

Our passage from Acts today begins with an angel of the Lord telling Philip to go out into the wilderness to a lonely road

 

An angel of the Lord is basically a messenger sent by God

–         That’s what angel means, ‘messenger’

–         Receiving a visitation from an angel made it abundantly clear that God was in this

 

Philip was one of Jesus’ 12 disciples

–         When Jesus called Philip to follow him, the first thing Philip did was to introduce one of his friends (Nathanael) to Jesus [1]

–         Nathanael also became a disciple of Jesus

–         Some people are like Philip – they are the glue connecting people

 

Philip was known as an evangelist

–         Evangelism has almost become a swear word these days, which is quite sad because evangelism is actually a good thing

–         It is a word closely related to ‘gospel’ or good news

–         An evangelist is essentially someone who spreads good news

–         Or to put it another way: evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread

–         Philip is called an ‘evangelist’ because he was one man telling others in need they could find acceptance with God through faith in Jesus

 

Prior to being visited by an angel of the Lord, Philip had a very successful time telling the Samaritans the good news about Jesus

–         Crowds of people believed Philip’s message and became Christians by being baptised

 

It seems quite strange then that, after such a successful ministry in Samaria’s principal city, God would then send his star evangelist into the middle of nowhere

–         But Philip didn’t question God’s strategy – he simply trusted that God knows best and went where the Lord directed him

 

Travelling down this deserted road (at the same time as Philip) was an Ethiopian eunuch. What are the chances?

–         It’s a bit like finding a painted rock from Africa on the top of Mt Tauhara

 

Now when we hear the word Ethiopia we tend to think of famine and poverty and starving children

–         But in the ancient world Ethiopia was different to that – more wealthy

–         On today’s map it is located in North Sudan

–         So the Ethiopian eunuch was most likely a black African man

 

A eunuch is a man who has had his equipment (his tackle, his junk) removed or damaged so he can’t have children or even relate with a woman sexually

–         To a certain extent he has been disabled by the society he lives in

–         On the one hand a eunuch (if he was skilled enough) could rise to great power in government

–         This particular Ethiopian eunuch was something like the minister of finance in a very wealthy nation – so he was no slouch

–         But on the other hand eunuchs were also the subject of much derision and scorn – people made fun of them or despised them

 

I imagine it was a very isolated and lonely life being a eunuch

–         You could fall in love but you couldn’t marry or have children

–         You could rise to great power but only in the service of others

–         You could be very good at what you do but still have to endure sniggers and smirks behind your back from people far less capable than you

–         You could serve a very important purpose but never actually belong or be remembered. There was a certain injustice that came with being a eunuch

 

The Ethiopian eunuch had travelled a long way to Jerusalem to worship God

–         Somehow he had heard about the God of Israel and liked what he heard

–         Assuming he had been castrated though, under the Law of Moses, he could never belong to the congregation of God’s people [2]

–         He couldn’t even be circumcised and yet he did what he could to draw near to the Lord

–         He travelled to Jerusalem to worship God, he obtained a copy of the scroll of Isaiah the prophet (no doubt at great expense) and he read these holy Scriptures to know God better

 

It appears the eunuch’s visit to Jerusalem was somewhat disappointing

–         As Jesus had demonstrated, when he cleared the temple, the whole Jewish religious system was set up to exclude foreigners like this eunuch

–         No doubt his experience in Jerusalem had made it more difficult for the eunuch to understand the Hebrew Bible (our Old Testament)

–         How might he relate with this wonderful, powerful, creative, redeeming, faithful God?

 

The Bible is difficult to understand

–         What is meant as good news often comes across as bad news or, even worse, as nonsense

–         Because the Bible is hard to understand many people these days lose patience with it and write it off as a myth or untrue

–         In this way they seek to disable the Scriptures

–         This is quite unfair to God (a denial of justice)

 

Part of our role as Christians is to interpret the meaning of Scripture for those (like the eunuch) who do genuinely want to understand what the Bible is saying

–         That’s one reason why we have Bible study groups – not just to improve our own knowledge but also to help others interpret the Scriptures

 

The guy I worked with, who had cerebral palsy, struggled with understanding the Bible and the Old Testament in particular

–         There are verses in the Old Testament which seem to us today to be quite unfair to those who live with disability.

–         For example, Leviticus 21 where it says…

 

No man with any physical defect may make the offering: no one who is blind, lame, disfigured or deformed; no one with a crippled hand or foot; no one who is a hunchback or a dwarf; no one with an eye or skin disease; and no eunuch. 

 

If you live with a disability and you don’t understand the broader context of the Bible then words like these can very unhelpful – they sound like rejection

 

What we need to understand is that the Law of Moses is not the ideal and it was not meant to be permanent

–         God gave the Law to Israel as a provisional step towards restoring His ideal for creation [3]

–         There are a number of things the Law of Moses appears to condone which are far from ideal – like slavery for instance

–         Is slavery God’s ideal? No – of course not. But God couldn’t change everything all at once, it would be too much for people.

–         So God, in His grace and wisdom, meets people where they were at and regulates certain contemptible practices (like slavery) to protect the vulnerable

–         The Law of Moses was actually a huge moral advance for people living at that time in history but it was never the end goal – it was merely a stepping stone to the ideal

 

The prophets who came after Moses (like Isaiah & Jeremiah and all those guys) also provided a stepping stone, but ultimately we find God’s ideal in Christ

–         Jesus didn’t come to do away with the Law & prophets – he came to fulfil the Law – that is to restore God’s ideal for humanity

–         If the Law and the prophets were given to help transition us to God’s ideal then Jesus came to complete that transition

 

Jesus is the one who shows us what God’s ideal looks like

–         And when we look at Jesus’ attitude towards people who lived with disability we find it was one of acceptance and respect and empowerment

 

Returning to our friend the Ethiopian eunuch

–         God, who sees everything, is aware of the eunuch’s struggle with the Old Testament and acts to help him understand the full picture

–         The Holy Spirit says to Philip, Go over to that carriage and stay close it

–         Philip runs over beside the carriage – it would have been moving quite slowly so would not be hard to keep up with

–         And Philip hears the eunuch reading from the book of Isaiah (it was customary to read aloud in those times) so he asks the eunuch…

–         “Do you understand what you are reading?”

 

Socially speaking Philip and the eunuch were poles apart

–         The eunuch was high ranking and Philip was low ranking

–         They were also likely from a different cultural background

–         But that is often the way of Christ – he comes to us in weakness, when we least expect it and in the presence of someone quite different from us

–         Despite the social distance between them the eunuch is humble enough to admit he doesn’t understand and invites Philip to sit with him

–         By inviting Philip to sit beside him the eunuch closes the gap between them

 

The passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading was this…

 

“Like a sheep that is taken to be slaughtered, like a lamb that makes no sound when its wool is cut off, he did not say a word. He was humiliated and justice was denied him. No one will be able to tell about his descendants because his life on earth has come to an end.”   

 

Interestingly the eunuch doesn’t ask Philip, what does this mean?

–         He already knows what it means from his own personal experience

–         The eunuch knows what it is to have parts of himself cut off

–         He understands humiliation and injustice

–         He is well aware that he can’t have descendants and that his life is coming to an end

–         He knows well enough what it is to be near the top and still feel like you don’t belong, still wonder what the meaning of your life is

–         He can identify with the one being written about in a very real way

–         So he asks Philip,

–         “…of whom is the prophet saying this? Of himself or of someone else?”

–         Because whoever it is, the eunuch can relate to that person profoundly

 

Philip starts where the eunuch is at by explaining that the passage he is reading is talking about Jesus – Jesus is the key to understanding the Scriptures

–         Philip then goes on to explain the good news about Jesus – that through faith in Christ we can find acceptance with God

 

We can’t be sure of all that Philip talked about but given that the eunuch had a copy of Isaiah’s scroll on his lap it’s tempting to think that Philip pointed him to chapter 56 where Isaiah says…

 

A man who has been castrated [a eunuch] should never think that because he cannot have children, he can never be part of God’s people. The Lord says to such a man, “If you honour me… and if you do what pleases me and faithfully keep my covenant, then your name will be remembered… among my people longer than if you had sons and daughters. You will never be forgotten.”

 

Do you see here how Isaiah moves beyond the Law of Moses?

–         The Law said a eunuch could not be part of God’s people but by the time of Isaiah God is saying the eunuch is able to belong

 

I can imagine Philip saying to the eunuch: the way we honour God, the way we please him, the way we keep his covenant is through faith in Christ. Put your trust in Jesus, believe in him, and you will find acceptance with God

–         You see, Jesus has fulfilled the law on our behalf and so being a foreigner and a eunuch is no longer a barrier

–         This was incredibly good news to the eunuch

 

As they travelled down the road, they came to a place where there was some water and the official said, “…What is to keep me from being baptised?”

–         In other words, I believe in Jesus and I’m willing to demonstrate my faith in Christ through baptism

–         God had clearly set this encounter up – he had clearly woven Philip’s and the eunuch’s lives together at just the right moment

–         So Philip baptised him

 

After the eunuch’s baptism the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away to preach the good news about Jesus in other places while the eunuch went on his way rejoicing because he had found acceptance with God through Jesus

 

We don’t hear any more about the Ethiopian eunuch (in the New Testament at least) but early Christian tradition, dating from Irenaeus in the second century, says that he went on to proclaim the good news about Jesus in Africa

–         The eunuch shared the treasure of the gospel he had been given

 

Conclusion:

Part of the work of our Tranzsend missionaries involves being a Philip to those around them – helping others to understand the good news about Jesus found in the Bible

[1] John 1:43-45

[2] Deuteronomy 23:1

[3] Refer to Paul Copan’s book, ‘Is God a Moral Monster’, pages 57-62.

Tawa Baptist

Sharing Christ

Scripture: John 7:37-39

Title: Sharing Christ

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Open wells
  • We are the cup
  • Grace & truth
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Today, because we have welcomed people into church membership, we take a break from our series on Moses to focus on one of our members’ pledges:

 

To share with other people the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

To some people sharing their faith comes naturally, but not to all of us

  • For many of us sharing the gospel of Christ feels anything but natural
  • It feels awkward or difficult or scary
  • And while there is risk involved in sharing our faith we need not be afraid

Looking more closely at that statement on the wall, the word ‘gospel’ simply means good news

  • We Christians are not being asked to share bad news
  • We have something positive to share, something life-giving

And the good news we have to share is about a person, ‘Jesus Christ’

  • Sharing the gospel isn’t primarily about passing on ideas or rules or doctrines (although it does include those things)
  • Sharing the gospel is first & foremost about sharing a relationship – introducing others to Jesus, our friend

Open wells:

One of the best illustrations of what it means to share Christ with others is found in John chapter 7 – page 128 toward the back of your pew Bibles

To put you in the picture, Jesus is in Jerusalem for the festival of shelters

  • This is an 8 day festival held at the end of autumn
  • Autumn, in the Middle East, is usually a dry time of year and the people are looking to God to provide rain
  • On each of the first seven days of the festival the priest draws water from the pool of Siloam, then leads a procession to the Temple, where he pours the water onto the altar
  • The people are reminded of God’s provision for Israel in the wilderness after leaving Egypt – particularly the way God made water pour out of a rock in the desert
  • Words from Isaiah may be read as part of the water pouring ceremony
  • “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” [1]
  • Or, “You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” [2]

It is against this background that Jesus makes His statement

  • From John 7, verse 37, we read…

[Read John 7:37-39]

 

May the Spirit of Jesus refresh us today

On the wall here is a picture of the fresh water springs at Petone

  • Most of you would have been to this spring I’m sure
  • Water bubbles up through the ground naturally – and as it passes through the sand and gravel the water is purified
  • Even though people could easily get water by turning a tap on at home they still come to the spring to fill up bottles to drink

 

In John 7, Jesus uses the water symbolism of the feast of shelters to talk about the living water He will bestow

  • The land is dry and the people are thinking of rain and of their own physical thirst [3]
  • Jesus turns their attention to the deep need of the soul and to the way he would meet that need – with the gift of Himself, the gift of His Spirit
  • Jesus is like a fresh water spring (or a well) – and the water He offers is God’s Holy Spirit

With this in mind, sharing the gospel of Christ is best understood as introducing others to Jesus – the one person who can satisfy the thirst of the soul

  • In sharing the gospel, therefore, we are showing thirsty people where they can get a drink
  • More than this though we actually become the means through which Jesus delivers His water

 

Jesus says…

  • “Whoever believes in me, streams of life-giving water will pour from his [or her] heart”

In other words, those who believe in Jesus (those who trust Him and are committed to Him) will become a vessel for God’s Holy Spirit

  • Wow – that’s pretty incredible

A fresh water spring or a well works by being accessible and open

  • People are drawn to a well and they draw from a well

One of the keys to sharing our faith is simply being open & honest with people

  • Listening carefully to what people are saying & letting them enquire of us
  • We don’t need to try and make something happen
  • God will create the opportunities naturally – we don’t need to force anything – but we do need to be open and available

If you look at our organ pipes here you will see they have holes in them

  • Holes in either end and a hole in the front
  • The pipes make a sound precisely because they are open
  • If we were to block up the holes so the air couldn’t pass through then there would be no music
  • Each of us is like one of those organ pipes – we must stay open to strike the right note
  • But as organ pipes we don’t provide the air
  • God is the organist and the wind of His Spirit passes through us

Christian believers are like organ pipes and water wells – we work best when we are open – open to God and open to others

Openness to God and to others could mean accepting an invitation to dinner

  • Or, if someone asks you what you did on the weekend you include the fact that you went to church
  • Being open might mean being interruptible enough to listen to someone or help them with something
  • Those who volunteer to help support a refugee family to relocate in our area (if that is needed) are showing an openness to God & to others

Other times openness means allowing people to draw the water of grace & truth out of us by answering the questions they ask, openly and honestly

Not that we must always wait to be asked what we believe – sometimes it is appropriate for us to take the initiative

  • If you can see someone is thirsty, then why not put a cup of water directly into their hands

We are the cup:

Okay, time for a practical demonstration

  • I need a volunteer to come up the front on the stage with me
  • This would especially suit someone who doesn’t like me that much
  • [Wait for volunteer]

On the table over here we have a bowl of water and a cup

  • I want you [the volunteer] to fill the cup with water from the bowl and stand ten steps away from me
  • Now I’m going to open my mouth and I want you to try and throw as much water as you can from the cup into my mouth, without moving from the spot

[Volunteer throws water, I get wet and dry myself]

 

[To the congregation] what would be a better way to get the water into me? [Wait for people to respond]

  • That’s right, pass the cup to me and let me drink from it myself
  • [Get the volunteer to do that – then ask them to sit down]

For the purposes of this illustration I want you to imagine…

  • The bowl is Christ
  • The water is the gospel – the good news of salvation
  • And you are the cup

As the cup you have no ability to manufacture the water by yourself

  • The most you can do is be filled with the good news about Jesus so that others can drink from you

Sharing Christ, sharing the gospel, doesn’t really work from a distance

  • It doesn’t work to throw the gospel at someone
  • You have to get close to people to share your faith
  • Introducing others to Jesus is an intimate thing
  • It will inevitably require us to make ourselves vulnerable

Making yourself vulnerable means demonstrating trust in others

  • In Luke 10, when Jesus sent out 72 of his followers to share the gospel, He said to them, “Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals… When you enter a house… stay in that house eating and drinking whatever they give you…”
  • In other words, don’t go in strength, go in weakness
  • In that situation, Jesus wanted his disciples to trust themselves to the mercy and hospitality of strangers
  • Talk about making yourself vulnerable

If you go up to someone cold, on the street, and say to them…

  • ‘You’re going to hell unless you repent and accept Jesus’
  • Then that’s not making yourself vulnerable
  • That’s like throwing water in their face
  • I guess God could use that as a wake-up call for some people
  • But I expect most people would be turned away from Jesus by that sort of approach – it would just make them feel angry and like you’re trying to manipulate them

We need to be careful with the way we represent Christ and His gospel

  • Yes, there is a judgment which we must all face one day
  • And yes, there is a hell which we want to avoid
  • And yes again, Jesus is our hope of salvation
  • But trust needs to come first – faith is the foundation
  • And it’s a far stronger foundation than fear and guilt

We are the cup, we are the container – we don’t manufacture the water, we simply hold it for others to drink

  • But people quite often need to trust the cup before they will drink its contents
  • If the cup is dirty then people will be less inclined to drink from it
  • We need to keep the cup of our soul clean

So what does it mean then to keep the cup clean?

  • Well, in a word, integrity

What we do needs to match what we say

  • It’s no good speaking about faith in Jesus and then ignoring those in need
  • As James says, ‘What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.’ [4] 

We need to share Christ with our words and our deeds

Integrity (or keeping the cup clean) also means keeping our motives pure

  • Our motivation for sharing Christ with others needs to be love
  • Love for God and love for our neighbour
  • If your motivation is fear or guilt or self-interest then people are less likely to trust you
  • They won’t want to drink from your cup
  • Even if you what you have to say happens to be true

Grace & truth:

There’s a wonderful movie which came out a few years ago called ‘The Bucket List’, starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson

  • Carter, the character played by Freeman, is a believer
  • But Edward Cole, played by Nicholson, is not
  • Carter is always trying to put the cup in Edward’s hand, but Edward is reluctant to drink

 

You can put the cup of water into someone’s hand but you can’t make them drink – people need to be thirsty before they will drink

One of the things I like about Freeman’s character in this movie is that he is honest – there is truth in his conversation with Edward – truth with grace

  • Freeman’s character (Carter) does not deny his faith in any way – he accepts Edward without bending to accommodate him too much
  • Carter is honest about who he is and what he believes – and through that honesty trust grows between the two men
  • Then, as the trust grows, Carter begins to challenge Edward
  • Because Edward is actually very thirsty – he just doesn’t know how to satisfy that thirst

Although Nicholson’s character (Edward) is closed to God at first, Carter helps Edward to find the joy in his life

  • In the end Edward’s heart is opened – opened by truth and grace

As we have already noted, the living water Jesus talked about in John 7 is the Holy Spirit of God

  • The key characteristics of the Spirit are truth & grace
  • When the Spirit of Jesus is in us, our words and actions will communicate grace and truth

In John chapter 4 Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman at a well

  • He does the culturally inappropriate thing of asking the woman for a drink of water
  • The woman answers, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan – so how can you ask me for a drink?” (Jews won’t use the same cups as Samaritans)
  • The woman is taken aback by the grace Jesus shows here – the grace of acceptance

And Jesus replies with truth, “If only you knew what God gives and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would ask him and he would give you life-giving water… ”

As the conversation progresses Jesus asks the woman to go and get her husband

  • But she says, “I haven’t got a husband”
  • And Jesus agrees, “You are right when you say you haven’t got a husband. [The truth is] you have been married to five men and the man you live with now is not really your husband.”

By saying this Jesus reveals that He is a prophet

  • And as a prophet Jesus has put His finger on an inconvenient truth – the woman has a chequered past and is currently living in sin
  • But the woman stays in the conversation with Jesus, even if she does change the subject to talk about where God should be worshipped
  • In the end though Jesus reveals that He is more than just a prophet – He is the Messiah
  • The woman believes in Jesus and tells those in her town about him – many of whom believe also, because of her testimony
  • She has become the first missionary to the Samaritans

 

Conclusion:

To share with other people the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord.

  • This is one of the most important reasons for us being here

The good news is about a person, ‘Jesus Christ’

  • Sharing the gospel is first & foremost about sharing a relationship – introducing others to Jesus, our friend

In sharing Christ we are not selling anything – we are giving something away, by keeping ourselves open and accessible to God and the world

  • We are not trying to prove something
  • We are putting the cup of the gospel (a cup of grace & truth) into people’s hands and letting them decide for themselves

Let’s pray…

[1] Isaiah 12:3

[2] Isaiah 58:11

[3] Leon Morris, NICNT ‘John’, page 373.

[4] James 2:14-17