Tawa Baptist

Leadership & Administration

Scripture: Romans 12:8 and 1 Corinthians 12:28

Video Link: https://youtu.be/8qs2bj1tBlg

Audio Link: Stream Sermon – 14 Dec 2025 – Leadership & Administration by tawabaptist | Listen online for free on SoundCloud

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Administration
  • Leadership
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Max Lucado once wrote: A person who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.

The conductor does not follow the crowd; they follow the music. They cannot afford to worry about what others think; they must stay focused on leading the orchestra, helping all the different musicians to play their part in harmony.  

Over the past two or three months we have been considering the spiritual gifts Paul mentions in Corinthians and Romans. Gifts like prophecy, teaching, helps, tongues, marriage, singleness, wisdom, knowledge and so on. Today we conclude our series on spiritual gifts by taking a closer look at the gifts of administration and leadership.

If we think of the church like an orchestra, then those with the gifts of administration and leadership are like the conductor of the orchestra, helping the various members of the church to use their gifts in harmony with each other. Let us begin then with the gift of administration. From First Corinthians 12 we read…

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. 

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

Most of you would remember the TV show MASH. MASH stands for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. MASH was a dramatic comedy set in the Korean war of the 1950’s. One of the lead characters in MASH was Corporal Radar O’Reilly.

Corporal O’Reilly got the nickname ‘Radar’ because he always sensed when the choppers were coming with wounded before anyone else did. Radar was not an officer or a doctor. He was the hospital’s administrator. He filled out forms and basically kept the organisation running smoothly.

We could say Radar was the ‘under the radar’ leader of the MASH unit. He was like the conductor of the orchestra except he wasn’t seen up front. Without Corporal O’Reilly the MASH unit would not be able to function. It was a running gag that a Corporal (and not a Colonel) was actually running the place.

In Corinthians 12, Paul talks about the church being like a body with many different parts. Each person in the church is a part of the body of Christ and just as each part of a body has a special function, so too each believer has a special gift. We need each other to be different or else the church will not function as it should.

One part of the body Paul mentions is those with the gifts of administration. We might not think of administration as that spectacular but, in any organisation, it is essential to have people who can organise things.

The alternative would be chaos.

A church without administrators would be like an orchestra without a conductor. It would be like a MASH unit without a Corporal O’Reilly, or an aircraft without a pilot.    

In fact, the Greek word translated as administration, in verse 28, literally means the work of a ship’s pilot. The ship’s pilot is the one who steers the ship through rocks and shoals to safe harbour. [1] Modern Greek uses the same word for an aircraft pilot. [2] 

The work of an administrator then is the work of steering the church in the right direction, keeping it on course, avoiding dangers, recognising the changing weather and adjusting accordingly.

Bible commentator, David Prior, observes (and I paraphrase here)…

The pilot / administrator knows the capabilities of their craft and crew.

They know who to call on at which moment. They do not panic nor relax their vigilance. They are focused on the goal of reaching journey’s end safe and sound.  

The gift of administration carries the idea of giving guidance. The guidance may be for an individual or for the church as a whole.

Joseph, the son of Jacob (in Genesis) was a gifted administrator. Joseph rose to the position of chief steward in Potiphar’s house. After being falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife, Joseph was sent to prison where he was put in charge of the other prisoners due to his administrative skills.

Then, after being released from prison, Joseph gave guidance to Pharoah (king of Egypt) and Pharoah put Joseph in charge of the administration of Egypt’s entire economy. Joseph, a man with a God given gift for administration, piloted Egypt through a severe famine, saving millions of lives from starvation.      

It is interesting that Jesus chose at least one tax collector (Matthew – aka Levi) among his disciples. Tax collectors are administrators. They are good at keeping records. Matthew’s gift with admin bore fruit in his recording of Jesus’ teaching, giving us the gospel of Matthew.

The infamous gangster Al Capone was, in the end, caught and put away by an accountant, someone good at administration. Through a meticulous investigation, forensic accountant Frank Wilson uncovered evidence of tax evasion and, in October 1931, Al Capone was convicted of tax fraud (through Frank Wilson’s guidance).

There is a lot of administration in running a church these days, way more than when I started. Much of the administration is driven by keeping up with statutory compliance. There are quite a few people in this church who provide guidance by assisting with administration behind the scenes.

We have the deacons board of course, but also the finance team and the health & safety committee, as well as Brodie, in the church office. Pastoral staff have a significant administrative element to their work too. Administrators provide information that is helpful in guiding our decisions.

Let me say thank you to the administrators among us. We need your skill and attention to help steer the church and keep us off the rocks. It is not glamourous work, but it is necessary for the right functioning of the body.

Let me also say, administration is no less ‘spiritual’ than some of the more dramatic (or supernatural) gifts. The same Spirit who empowers the prophet also empowers the administrator.

We come across an example of good administration in the early church in Acts chapter 6. From verse 1 we read…

In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jewsamong them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” 5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

Three things we note here. Firstly, the apostles did not try to do everything themselves. They recognised their gift was not administering food to widows, so they delegated this responsibility to others who did have the gift.

Secondly, the apostles empowered the congregation to choose their own administrators. And the congregation chose mostly Hellenistic Jews. That is, Greek speaking Jews. Jews who were born and raised outside of the land of Israel. Because these administrators were Hellenistic Jews, they had a better understanding of the needs of the Hellenistic widows who were missing out.

Thirdly, the apostles commissioned the seven administrators by laying hands on them and praying for them. In doing this the apostles were demonstrating that administration is spiritual. It is a function carried out with the help of the Holy Spirit.

As a consequence of this wise administrative move, the apostles were released to preach the gospel and the church continued to grow.   

Leadership:

Closely related to the gift of administration (or giving guidance) is the gift of leadership. In Romans 12, verse 8, Paul writes…

8 If [your gift] is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.  

The Greek word translated as lead (in verse 8) is proistēmi. It literally means ‘to stand before’ and thus to influence others. That is, to cause them to follow a recommended course of action. [3] To lead, in other words.

Leadership is more than administration. A leader doesn’t just provide guidance. A leader embodies the guidance. They stand before others. They go first, modelling by their actions the way people are to follow.

Seth Godin puts it this way…

‘The secret of leadership is simple: Do what you believe in. Paint a picture of the future. Go there. People will follow.’

There is quite a bit in this pithy statement. Firstly, a leader does what they believe in. This implies authenticity. The leader is not faking it. Nor are they just talking about an idea. They are deeply committed to what they believe in.

They live their beliefs.

Painting a picture of the future is about giving people hope. Someone once said, ‘leaders are dealers in hope’. If you are asking people to change, then they need to believe the change will be worth it. They need to be convinced the future will be better for having made the change.    

Going there, is about being the change you want to see in the world. Leadership involves influencing people by what you do. Deeds speak louder than words. Leadership means showing as well as telling.

To be convincing then, a leader needs to be authentic, they need to offer hope and they need to lead by example. Ultimately though, what makes a person a leader, is people who will follow. Without followers one cannot really call themselves a leader.      

Being the first one to do something, taking the lead, requires a certain courage.    The courage to turn your back on the crowd, to risk rejection and humiliation, to do things differently, to cut a new path for others to follow.

One of the greatest leaders of all time was king David, king of Israel. Before he took the throne, while he was still a callow youth, David showed Israel the leadership they needed at that time.

David acted on his belief that the God of Israel was stronger than the enemy. David painted a picture of the future by defeating Goliath with a stone and a slingshot. David was a dealer in hope. He had the courage of his convictions.

He led by example, and people followed him.

But one even greater than David has come. His name is Jesus. Jesus cut a new path; he redefined leadership in terms of service to others. Jesus did not come to conquer Israel’s political enemies. Rather, Jesus conquered humanity’s spiritual enemies by going to the cross. Jesus overcame sin and death.  

Jesus is our leader. He suffered rejection and humiliation, betrayal and loneliness. But God vindicated Jesus by raising him to eternal life on the third day. Jesus’ resurrection paints a picture of what the future looks like for those who follow him in faith.

Now the examples of David slaying Goliath and Jesus conquering sin and death may feel a bit out of reach for us. They might also give the false impression that leadership is an occasional, isolated act of heroism.

Leadership does require courage and going where others have not been before, but the day-to-day reality of church leadership is less dramatic than that.  

Returning to Romans 12. Paul says that those who lead should do so diligently.

The definition of diligence is ‘careful and persistent work or effort’.

David learned how to use a sling through diligent practice as a shepherd defending his sheep. Likewise, Jesus went to the cross after 33 years of careful and persistent obedience to God the Father.

Leadership requires the energy to give our best every day and in every situation for the wellbeing of the community. If you are in the habit of serving diligently by giving your best in the routine small things, then when a trial by fire comes you will be better equipped to deal with it.

One of my favourite jobs when I was younger was splitting firewood. It is incredibly satisfying to bring an axe down on a willow ring and feel the wood come apart. Not so satisfying when you get a knotty piece though.

The trick with splitting wood is not holding the axe handle too tight or too loose. If you hold the axe too loose, it will fly out of your hands. But if you hold it too tight, you will get blisters faster and you will feel the shock through your arms more sharply. You have to hold the axe handle with just the right amount of tension.  

Diligence is about holding the handle of leadership just right, not too loose, not too tight. If you are a bit slack in your approach to leadership, you risk losing a handle on what you are doing. Likewise, if you are too up-tight (too white knuckle obsessive in your approach) then you risk burning out and making everybody else’s life a misery.

The Pharisees were hyper diligent in their observance of the law of Moses and it got in the way of people loving God and loving their neighbour. We need to keep the main thing the main thing. Diligence is a fine balance.

One of the things that sets Christian leaders apart is that we are followers first.

The ancient Greek philosopher, Solon, is credited with saying…

‘He who has learned how to obey will know how to command.’

Before we can lead anyone in the Christian faith, we must first learn to obey Jesus. Our authority to lead others comes from our obedience to Christ. Christian leaders are disciples of Jesus first. Indeed, if we take on the mantle of leadership, we don’t stop being disciples. We continue to take our lead from Jesus himself.    

When we look at the leaders of the early church, they were actually following the Spirit of Jesus, not their own inclinations.

In Acts chapter 10, the apostle Peter received a vision from heaven with a sheet containing all sorts of unclean animals. Then he hears a voice telling him to eat the animals.

At first Peter was shocked and appalled, saying ‘I have never eaten anything impure or unclean’. And the voice spoke again saying, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean’.

Long story short, the Lord wanted Peter to take the gospel to the Gentiles and to the Roman Centurion, Cornelius, in particular. More than that, the Lord wanted Peter to lead the way in showing the mainly Jewish Christian church that it was time to welcome Gentiles (non-Jews) into the fold.

This might not seem like a big deal to us, but it was huge for Peter and others at the time. Peter was being asked to turn his back on the crowd and on Jewish tradition. But Peter found the courage to obey Jesus, to follow the Lord’s lead, and now the Christian church is made of people of all nations.   

The other thing we note about Christian leadership is that it is usually plural.

In the New Testament, Christian leaders don’t normally stand alone. They stand together and make decisions together.    

The famous baseball player Babe Ruth once said: ‘The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.’   

In Acts 15 we read how some Jewish Christians were insisting that Gentiles who wanted to become Christians must be circumcised and required to obey the Law of Moses. Then in verse 6 we read how the apostles and elders met to consider the question.

Peter did not try to handle this on his own. He got the other church leaders together to discuss the issue and together they found a way forward.

Conclusion:

This morning we have been talking about the spiritual gifts of administration and leadership. These gifts are no less spiritual for being down to earth and practical. Maybe you have one of these gifts. Maybe God has gifted you in some other way.

Charles Schultz (of Charlie Brown fame) once wrote: ‘Life is like a ten-speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.’

God doesn’t just give us one gift. He is generous. He normally gives a number of gifts. What gifts has God given you? How are you using these gifts?

Let us pray…

Gracious God, thank you for the gifts you have given your people. Help us to understand how you have equipped us and where you want us to serve. Glorify yourself through our strengths and our weaknesses we pray, in Jesus’ name. 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 does Paul mean by the gift of administration, in 1 Corinthians 12:28? What does a good administrator do for an organisation? Is this your gift?
  3. Discuss / reflect on Seth Godin’s comment: ‘The secret of leadership is simple: Do what you believe in. Paint a picture of the future. Go there. People will follow.’ By this definition, who has had a significant leadership role in your life?
  4. What qualities or characteristics does a leader need to possess to be convincing?
  5. What does it look like to lead with diligence? Why is diligence important in leadership?
  6. What are some of the distinctives of Christian leadership?
  7. What gifts has God given you? How are you using these gifts? 

[1] Refer William Barclay’s commentary on 1 Corinthians, page 129.

[2] Refer David Prior’s commentary on 1 Corinthians, page 221.

[3] Refer Marva Dawn’s book, ‘Truly the Community’, page 131.

Tawa Baptist

Teaching & Encouraging

 Scripture: Romans 12:7

Video Link: https://youtu.be/WFz64Wj_FKk

Audio Link: Stream Sermon – 7 Dec 2025 – Teaching & Encouraging by tawabaptist | Listen online for free on SoundCloud

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Teaching
  • Encouraging
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

We have had no shortage of rain lately but (according to the Wellington City Council) we could be in for a dry summer. Careful watering will be needed.

They reckon the best time to water your plants is in the morning. The soil is coolest then and the water has the best chance of seeping down to the roots.

They also say it is best to water your plants at the level of the soil, rather than pouring water all over the leaves. It’s the roots that take the water in not the leaves. Baptising the tree tends to waste the water.

When watering your plants take it slow, be gentle. You don’t want to knock the plant around or blast the soil away and expose the roots.

Of course, you don’t just water once and walk away. Watering is something we do on repeat. New plants generally need more frequent watering early on.

Watering then needs to be timely, focused, gentle and repeated.

Today we continue our series on spiritual gifts, this week focusing on the gifts of teaching and encouraging, in Romans 12. If we think of our faith as a plant, then teaching and encouraging are like watering the tree of our faith.

As a general rule, teaching and encouraging need to be timely, focused, gentle and repeated. To remind you of the context, let me read a few verses from Romans 12, starting at verse 6…

 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with yourfaith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

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

Teaching:

I invite you to take a moment now to think back to when you were at school. Some of you may need more time than others. Who was your best teacher? Who was the teacher who really got you and helped you more than any other?

I was fortunate to have many good teachers when I was at school. One in particular was Mrs Smith. She was my teacher in standard 1, the equivalent of year 3. I could not read or write. Had no clue with words or with numbers either for that matter. But I enjoyed eating my lunch.

Mrs Smith could see that and knew what I needed. For a whole year she gave me individual coaching and special homework. The extra work required some effort from me and I probably complained to my parents quite a bit at the time, but Mrs Smith taught me how to read and write.

Her teaching was timely. Had Mrs Smith not intervened when she did, I would have fallen further and further behind and my life may have taken a very different path.

Mrs Smith’s teaching was focused on what I needed. She taught me basic sight words and this gave me confidence to learn more. There was a lot of repetition. Pretty much every morning before school, day in, day out Mrs Smith introduced new words and reinforced what we had learned. Mrs Smith was firm but gentle in her approach.

There was no stick but there was a carrot. At the end of year prizegiving I was awarded the most improved student. This was an acknowledgement of my work and a reflection of Mrs Smith’s skill as a teacher.

We are talking about the gift of teaching. What then does the apostle Paul mean by teaching? Is it the same as a modern schoolteacher or is it different?

Well, the Greek word used in the Bible for teaching covers a wide spectrum of roles and functions. It could mean someone who teaches children to read and write but, in the context of Romans 12, it probably refers more specifically to those who teach others about Jesus and the Bible.

At its heart, teaching in a church context, is about communicating truth, the truth of what we believe about God and Jesus. If prophecy is the revelation of new truth from God, then teaching is conveying old truth from God.     

Teachers were vitally important in the early church. The Christians of the first century had the Hebrew Bible, what we know as the Old Testament, but they did not have the New Testament compiled in a book like we do.

People couldn’t just go to their bookshelf, pull out the gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John and read for themselves about Jesus. Early Christians were reliant on teachers to recount the historical events of Jesus’ death and resurrection and explain the meaning of this for them.

Teachers in the early church had a huge responsibility. Without people to accurately pass on Jesus’ teachings, the core message of God’s grace in Christ would be diluted or lost altogether.

These days we do have a New Testament and stacks of books we can pick up and read anytime. However, it has been 2000 years since the events described in the New Testament and, without good Bible teachers to explain the meaning, much of the Bible is lost in translation, misunderstood and misapplied.   

Someone who is good at maths once calculated that for every one degree you are off course, you will end up being 1 mile off course after traveling 60 miles.

For example, if you are flying from Wellington to Auckland and the plane is 1 degree off course you might end up in Indonesia or run out of fuel and crash into the Pacific Ocean. 

Teachers are like navigators. Just as a ship or a plane needs the navigator to keep the craft on course, so too the church needs teachers to keep it on course.  

The church’s teachers these days are not limited to people who offer sound Biblical preaching but extend to anyone who faithfully passes on the truths of the Christian faith. This might include, for example, Sunday school teachers, Bible study leaders, youth group leaders and parents.

Parents play an important role in watering the faith of their children. Parents might do this by reading Bible stories to their kids and praying with them so their children can see and hear how prayer is done. Children probably learn most from the model their parents give them.        

In some ways teaching is like an iceberg. The presentation people see or hear from the teacher is just the tip of the iceberg. The bigger part of the work of teaching is the preparation. The preparation lies beneath the surface and is not usually seen.  

Preparation is one of the key differences between prophecy and teaching.

A prophet may stand up in church on a Sunday and spontaneously speak the words given them by the Spirit.

A teacher, on the other hand, does not normally give an extemporaneous talk. Rather, they do their homework ahead of time. They carefully prepare their sermon through prayer, reading, research, reflection, and writing. The teacher is aiming to water the roots gently.

If you have a formal teaching role, whether in the pulpit or Kids’ Church or as a Bible study leader or a parent, then you cannot expect to pass on the truth of the gospel unless you have done the hard yards in learning the truth yourself.

Studying the Scriptures is not merely an intellectual exercise. Yes, it does involve using your brain, but the Bible asks more of you than that. The Scriptures contain the word of God. The Scriptures interpret us. They make claims on us, test us, discipline us, and ultimately put us to work.     

Every believer has a responsibility to learn what they can about the Christian faith. We need to love God with our mind as well as our heart and soul.

We never know when a teaching moment might present itself. Maybe when you are sitting beside someone on the train or tucking the kids in at night or lying in a hospital bed. If someone asked, why are you a Christian, what would you say?   

Some people have a special gift in teaching others. They understand their subject matter, they can see things from the perspective of the learner, and they know how to bridge the gap in understanding.

More than this, a good teacher possesses the patience to gently water the roots in a timely way, over and over again until the truth is firmly established.  

Jesus prioritised teaching in his ministry. After healing people, the Lord often instructed the person he had healed to tell no one. For Jesus, the miracles were not the main thing. In fact, the miracles risked becoming a side show which distracted people from the main thing. The main thing being Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom of God.    

In Matthew 11 Jesus says: 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

A yoke is a piece of equipment worn over the shoulders to make it easier to carry a load. Yokes could be worn by animals for pulling a plough or they could be worn by people for carrying water say.

In this little parable the yoke represents teaching. The Jews of Jesus’ day were weary and burdened by the yoke of the Pharisees’ teaching. The Pharisees insisted upon a whole lot of extra rules.  

By contrast, Jesus’ yoke is easy and his burden is light. The word translated as easy means fitting, as in not rubbing or chaffing. Part of Jesus’ work as a carpenter may have involved making and shaping wooden yokes so they fitted easily over the animal’s shoulders, without causing injury to the animal.

To take Jesus’ yoke upon ourselves is to listen and learn from his teaching. Jesus’ teaching shows us how to love God and our neighbour in a way that fits who God made us to be.    

Encouragement:

Closely related to the gift of teaching is the gift of encouragement. Now, when we hear the word ‘encouragement’, we tend to think of someone who says kind and affirming words to make another person feel better about themselves or their situation. Things like…

“That was really good. You are doing so well. Keep it up. You will get there.” 

And while this is partly what Paul means by encouragement, the Biblical understanding of encouragement is broader than that.

The Greek word translated in verse 8 as encouragement is ‘parakaleo’. Para means beside or near and kaleo means to call. So parakaleo is literally ‘to call beside’. To be an encourager in this Biblical sense then is to come alongside another person and speak good words to them, words that build up and strengthen them.     

Parakaleo has a range of meanings and is variously translated into English with words like encourage, exhort, urge, comfort and entreat. No one word in English does parakaleo justice, but in the context of Romans 12, Paul probably means those with the gift of encouraging Christians to live out the truth of the gospel.

Those with the gift of teaching give people an understanding of the truth of the gospel and those with the gift of encouraging come alongside to give people the courage to obey Jesus’ teaching in the gospel.

For example, the teacher might explain the way of Christ is to love our enemies and bless those who curse us. That is wonderful teaching but very difficult to put into action, especially by yourself. The encourager is the one who comes alongside you and by their presence and gentle words actually helps you to love your enemies.  

John Stott comments that encouragement can be exercised from the pulpit when the preacher gives an inspiring talk, but more often it is used behind the scenes as the gift of counselling or in offering friendship to the lonely or giving fresh courage to those who have lost heart. [1]         

Jesus sent his disciples out two by two so they would not be alone, so they could encourage one another. 

Part of the role of a spiritual director is to help people hear what God is saying and encourage them to do what God is asking. (Incidentally, Kim is embarking on spiritual director training. She is looking for someone to encourage. So, if you want some help in your spiritual journey, talk to Kim.)

Like watering, encouragement needs to be timely, focused, gentle and repeated. Those with the gift of encouragement don’t carelessly pour a deluge of words over you. No. They listen first. They don’t assume. They seek to understand and they show empathy. Then they focus the water of their words on the roots. They gently speak to your heart the refreshment you need to hear. They believe in you, giving you confidence and hope.

In Luke 5, we read how Jesus encouraged Peter. When Jesus was calling his first disciples, Peter fell at Jesus’ knees and said: “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” And Jesus replied, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

Jesus gave Peter the courage and the comfort to become his disciple.

If teaching is about communicating truth, then encouraging is about giving hope. The teacher says, this is the way of God, and the encourager says but you don’t have walk it alone. I am here to walk it with you.

One of the most winsome souls we come across in the Bible is a man named Barnabas. Actually, his real name was Joseph, but he was given the nickname of Barnabas which means ‘son of encouragement’. In the book of Acts chapter 11 we learn how the church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to the believers in Antioch. From verse 23 we read…

23 When he [Barnabas] arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

Iron in your blood is essential for carrying oxygen and producing energy. Without sufficient iron your physical strength and immunity is weakened.

The right encouragement at the right time is like an iron infusion, it boosts your energy and strengthens your immunity. Barnabas’ encouragement was like an iron infusion for the church in Antioch.

Barnabas came alongside the believers and watered their roots by speaking good words to them, words that brought refreshment and strength. Barnabas’ presence reassured the believers in Antioch they were not alone and gave them courage to share their faith.

But wait, there’s more. From verse 25 of Acts 11 we continue…  

25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people.

The apostle Paul was first known as Saul of Tarsus. Before his conversion, Saul persecuted Christians. After his conversion, Saul repented and changed his ways. He became one of the church’s greatest missionaries.

I imagine though it was not easy for Saul in those early days after his conversion. Many Christians had suffered because of Saul and people still viewed him with suspicion. I expect it was quite isolating for Saul at times.

Verse 25 tells us Barnabas went out of his way to look for Saul. Barnabas sensed somehow that Saul needed some comfort and companionship. Barnabas brought Saul to Antioch and encouraged him to teach.  

One wonders what might have happened to Saul / Paul had Barnabas not found him and encouraged him in his calling for the Lord. Barnabas put Saul on a good path in God’s purpose.

Conclusion:

Teaching and encouraging (like watering plants) needs to be timely, focused, gentle and repeated.

Two questions to ponder…

How are you watering your faith?        And..

What opportunities has God given you to water other people’s faith?

(Who can you be a Barnabas to?)

May the Spirit of Jesus continue to fill each one of us and all of us together. 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. Who was your best teacher and why?
  3. What does Paul mean by the gift of teaching? Why is good teaching important in the church? In what ways can someone be a teacher?
  4. If someone asked why you are a Christian, what would you say?     
  5. How is the gift of encouragement different from the gift of teaching? How do these two gifts complement each other?
  6. Why do teaching and encouragement need to be timely, focused, gentle and repeated? 
  7. How are you watering your faith? What opportunities has God given you to water other people’s faith? (Who can you be a Barnabas to?)

[1] Refer John Stott’s commentary on Romans, page 328.

Tawa Baptist

Practical Helps

Scripture: Romans 12:3-8

Video Link: https://youtu.be/u8-QxbcMRtI

Audio Link: Stream Sermon – 30 Nov 2025 – Practical Helps by tawabaptist | Listen online for free on SoundCloud

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Service
  • Giving
  • Mercy
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

It’s almost summer. Our trees and hedges are growing faster now. They will need a trim soon.

For many years I trimmed my hedges by hand, with a pair of manual shears.

It’s a bit of a workout and some of the branches are bit tougher to cut through. About a year ago I was given a petrol hedge trimmer. It is more powerful than my manual shears, and way quicker, like a hot knife through butter.

Both tools get the job done. One just requires a bit more time and effort that’s all. As much as I like my power tools, they are not suitable for every job. I still use my manual tools for certain tasks. Both are needed.  

Today we continue our series on spiritual gifts. Most of the gifts we have looked at so far (in Corinthians 12) have been like my petrol hedge trimmer, they are like power tools, enabling you to accomplish more than you could by hand. Things like prophecy and discernment, healing and miraculous powers, as well as tongues and their interpretation. However, Corinthians 12 is not the only list of spiritual gifts in the New Testament.

In Romans 12 Paul has another list of spiritual gifts, most of which are more like manual tools (like my hand shears), more basic, requiring time and effort from us. Let’s read then from Romans 12, verses 3-8…

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with yourfaith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

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

Some of you here may enjoy watching superhero movies. Films like Guardians of the Galaxy, Justice League, the Avengers and so on. One of the themes running through many of these movies is that no one person can do everything on their own. We are better together.

The individual superhero (whoever he or she is) inevitably comes to the realisation that, despite their special abilities, they cannot fight evil by themselves. They need to work together with others who have different abilities in order to save the world.

And this is Paul’s point in Romans 12. Each member of the church (the body of Christ) has a different gift. Some have a power gift and others have a manual gift. But all the gifts are needed for the body as a whole to function. No one individual can do everything on their own.

We (as the church) don’t need to save the world. Jesus has already done that. Rather we need to think of ourselves with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has given us. In other words, we should not try to do it all ourselves. We need to understand our gift and exercise it in a Christ like way.     

In Romans 12 Paul lists seven gifts: prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading and mercy. With the exception of prophesying, which is a power gift, the other six gifts are more like manual tools. They are what we might consider regular or everyday abilities. But that does not diminish their value. They are still spiritual gifts given by God.

Today we focus on the gifts of serving, giving and mercy. These three go together. They could be thought of as practical helping gifts. What then do we mean by serving?

Serving:

The gift of ‘serving’, mentioned in verse 7, originally meant ‘waiting at table’. Like someone who cooks your meal and brings it to you. The kind of service in view here is usually of a personal nature. It could mean mowing the lawns, making tea & coffee or looking after someone’s children. Any practical thing that helps other people.

Jesus described his own intention in terms of service and urged his followers to emulate him. For example, in Mark 10 we read: whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

As a demonstration of serving, Jesus washed his disciples’ feet at the last supper, the night before his crucifixion and death. Although serving others may seem quite menial and mundane, we never know how God might use our acts of service.

In John 2, Jesus instructed the servants at a wedding to fill six stone jars with water, each holding 20 to 30 gallons.

This was heavy time-consuming work. The servants had to get the water from the well. They couldn’t just turn on a tap. Backwards and forwards carrying water. Mundane manual labour. And yet these servants participated in Jesus’ first power miracle of turning water into wine.   

Now there is more than one way to understand the gift of serving. We might think of the gift of serving as an enhanced ability possessed by certain individuals. Some people are better wired for doing manual tasks. They think in a practical way. Working with their hands to solve practical problems just comes naturally to them. They enjoy it.   

We might also think of the gift of serving as an opportunity provided by God for a specific situation. Have you ever found yourself in the right place at the right time, with the right resources to help someone in need? Maybe a little thing like carrying their groceries or giving them a ride when they had been walking in the rain or fixing their car.

You might not always give them a ride or carry their groceries or fix their car, but on some specific occasion God gifted you with the opportunity to help someone and in helping them trust was strengthened and God’s love was shown.

As many of you know, Robyn and I recently took time off work to support our parents. For months I could see the day was coming when they would need our help and so I had been praying that God would allow us to honour our parents in their time of need.

God answered my prayer. Our time in Tauranga supporting parents was a gift of service to them. In between managing various crisis’s, we were cooking, cleaning, mowing, shopping and doing whatever practical tasks needed doing. It was a privilege. We got to be there for our parents and help them.

At the same time some of you helped us in practical ways also. Ewan led a couple of services for me. Brodie picked up some of the tasks I would normally do in the office. Angela mowed our lawns and Maddy weeded our vege garden. Others of you helped in different ways too. We received your practical help as a gift of service.

As followers of Christ, we are people of the way. It is not just the act of service that is important but also the way we serve. We are to serve in the way Jesus serves, with grace and humility.

Exercising the gift of serving requires more than simply having the time and skills to help others. It also takes a special understanding. The ability to sense what is helpful without needing to be told. Knowing when to serve and when to step back. Serving in a way that touches a person’s heart with God’s love.

In his paraphrase of Romans 12, verse 7, Eugene Peterson (author of the Message) says: ‘If you help, just help, don’t take over’.

The point is, whenever we exercise our gifts, we need to be careful not to overstep the mark. All the gifts have a potential shadow side. One danger with serving is that we might do too much for the other person. We might create a dependency or rob them of the joy and dignity of doing it themselves.

While it was a privilege to serve our parents, I would not still want to be there now. That would not be good for them or us. There is a time to serve and a time to let people do for themselves.      

Giving:

Giving is closely related to serving. Giving means contributing to the needs of others. Making donations of money or food or clothes or whatever is needed.

Giving may be of a personal nature, from one individual to another, or it could be giving to support an organisation or a worthy cause. Jesus gave his life for us.

Giving (like serving) is a responsibility everyone has. Some people feel freer in themselves to give than others though. Marva Dawn puts it this way…

“One who is gifted with liberality gives generously not because they have much to give, but because they have a freer understanding of possessions and their importance.” [1]

If we truly believe all that we have is a gift from God and is his in any case.

And if we believe this life is not all there is, then we come to value material possessions in right proportion. It’s not that money does not matter. Money and possessions serve a helpful purpose in this life. But you cannot take it with you when you die.   

In Matthew 6 Jesus says: 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Giving out of love for others has eternal value.

We are people of the way and as people of the way we are to exercise the gifts we have been given in a way that reveals something of the character of God. Generosity is a characteristic of God and so we are to give generously.

Again, in Matthew 6, Jesus says this…

2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Generosity is not only about the amount we give, but also about our intent.

To give generously is to give with simple kindness. Giving for the sheer pleasure of giving. Giving with pure motives, not for leverage or optics.

When the kids were young, we used to grow Dwarf beans over summer.

The remarkable thing about Dwarf beans is the more you pick them the more they grow. If we went away on holiday to the beach and stopped picking our beans for a couple of weeks, they would stop producing. 

If we wanted beans when we came back from holiday, then it paid to ask someone to keep harvesting them in our absence, then the plants would still be giving a crop for weeks after our return.

God is generous. He gives us more than we need. When we share our excess with others, he has a way of making our crop fruit for longer.

Every gift has its shadow side. Giving should never become a substitute for justice. Giving large sums away to strangers, at the expense of your family, is not being generous. It is neglect. Being generous includes taking care of those closest to you.

If you are an employer, then pay your workers and your creditors fairly and on time. Justice is better than charity.    

Mercy:

The last gift in Paul’s list in Romans 12 is mercy. Last but not least. Showing mercy is about helping people in distress. Lifting people out of a hole. Doing something for someone they cannot do for themselves. The good Samaritan (in Jesus’ parable) showed mercy to the wounded man on the side of the road.

Jesus showed mercy on the cross when he said “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”. Forgiveness is an act of mercy. Saving someone from shame or embarrassment is an act of mercy. Donating blood (or a kidney) is an act of mercy.  Doctors and nurses and home care workers are all agents of mercy.

Mercy includes acts of service and giving generously to those in need. There is considerable overlap with these three.

One of the reasons we went to Tauranga was to support Robyn’s dad who was having hip surgery. I took Malcolm to the hospital around 11am on a Friday. He was scheduled for his hip replacement at 1pm.

Malcolm went through all the pre-op checks with the nurse, then got changed into his (elegant) hospital gown and we waited… and waited… and waited… (like the Mainland cheese ad.) They say waiting is the hardest part, but that’s not true. Waiting is the second hardest part.

1pm came and went. 2pm came and went. Eventually, they took us through to the pre-op lounge, which is a room with lots of lazy boy chairs in it. The last room you wait in before being taken to the operating theatre.

Just before 3pm a different surgeon (not my father-in-law’s surgeon) came and told us a more urgent case had come in which meant Malcolm’s surgery had to be postponed. It was not the surgeon’s fault. The health system is under a great deal of pressure. You know the story.

My father-in-law was in a lot of pain. Bone grinding on bone. He had been on the waiting list for over a year. To get this close and be told you have to wait even longer, that was the hardest part.

This was out of our hands. We had no power, no agency in this situation.

We were at the mercy of strangers. They took us back to the waiting room we had been in before, the one without the lazy boy chairs. We sat in silence collecting our thoughts, nursing our disappointment, silently praying.  

Fifteen minutes later the surgeon who had given us the bad news came back and told us he had managed to pull together a team and, although Malcolm was not his patient, he would do the operation instead. This was the best part.

The surgeon and his team showed us mercy. They went the extra mile for us.  Who knows how many hours they had worked that week. We thanked the surgeon and Robyn’s dad had his hip replacement done, the last one that day.

I have no idea whether the doctor who operated on Robyn’s dad was a professing Christian or not, but he did show us mercy in a Christlike way.

He was willing to do the surgery. He cared about people and wanted good outcomes for his patients. He was not irritable or grumpy about it. He showed us kindness and compassion.  

Jesus said, blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.

Mercy is about the right use of power. To be able to show mercy you have to be in a position of power, relative to the person in need.

We are not all surgeons. We may not find ourselves in a position to help and heal like doctors and nurses can. As we get older, we may feel more and more like we are at the mercy of others.

Nevertheless, there will inevitably be times in our life when we are entrusted with power and have the opportunity to show mercy. In the same way the gift of service can be circumstantial, so too the gift of mercy can be circumstantial; an opportunity provided by God for a specific situation.

When it is in our power to help someone in distress, we are to recognise that opportunity as a gift from God and exercise mercy cheerfully. We need to keep our eyes open for the opportunities God provides to help others and be quick to respond.

Conclusion:

This morning we have heard about the gifts of practical helps, including serving, giving and mercy. These may be manual gifts, requiring some time, effort and sacrifice from us, but they are no less important and no less spiritual than the more spectacular power gifts.

What opportunities has God given you to serve, to give and to show mercy?

Let us pray…

God of love, we thank you for the different ways you have gifted each of us. Grant us eyes to see our neighbour in need, skilful hands to serve, generous hearts to give and a cheerful spirit to show mercy. 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. How are the spiritual gifts in Romans 12 different from the spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12? How are they similar?
  3. Discuss / reflect on the two ways of understanding the gift of serving mentioned in the sermon.
  4. Have you ever found yourself in the right place at the right time, with the right resources to help someone in need? What happened? How did you feel?   
  5. What does generous giving look like? How might you know if someone has the gift of giving?
  6. Can you think of some examples of showing mercy? Perhaps from the Bible or from your own experience.
  7. What gift has God given you? What opportunities to help others and glorify him?

[1] Marva Dawn, ‘Truly the Community’, page 126.

Tawa Baptist

Singleness & Marriage

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 7:1-7 and Matthew 19:10-12

Video Link: https://youtu.be/56rXw4c8vso

Audio Link: Stream Sermon – 23 Nov 2025 – Singleness & Marriage by tawabaptist | Listen online for free on SoundCloud

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Paul on singleness and marriage – 1 Corinthians 7:1-7
  • Jesus on singleness – Matthew 19:10-12
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

There was a documentary series on TV recently called, ‘Counting the Beat’.

The show explored some of New Zealand’s statistics. In the first episode they said 48% of kiwis are single. Which means 52% are in some kind of relationship, whether that be marriage or a de-facto relationship or simply going steady.

Looking at our church statistics, about one third of the adults who regularly attend Sunday services at Tawa Baptist are single. Which means the proportion of married couples in the church is higher than the general population.

People may be single for a variety of different reasons. Some choose to be single and prefer it that way. Others may wish to be in a relationship but for whatever reason have not been able to find the right person yet. And still others have been married before but are now divorced or widowed or abandoned by their spouse.   

Today we continue our series on spiritual gifts. We have had four Sundays off with video sermons while I was away. Prior to that, we heard about the gifts of knowledge and wisdom, prophecy and discernment, faith, healing, and miraculous powers, as well as tongues and their interpretation.

Paul on singleness and marriage – 1 Corinthians 7:1-7

This morning though, we focus on the gifts of singleness and marriage. Let us begin then with a reading from First Corinthians 7…

Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry.

2 But since there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfil his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife.

5 Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7 I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.

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

In this sermon series we are learning about the gifts God gives. When talking about gifts we need to be clear on the meaning of the word. A gift is something offered willingly, without duress or payment.

A gift is not the fulfilment of an obligation, nor is it an entitlement. Freedom and love are at the heart of true gift giving. A gift may come easily enough, but taking care of the gift often involves some effort on the part of the receiver.   

In Corinthians 7 Paul talks about singleness and marriage as good gifts from God. This means that marriage and singleness are not entitlements. They are not things we necessarily have a right to. They are gifts to be received, treasured and looked after.

Some are given the gift of marriage and with it the gift of sex with their partner in marriage. While others are given the gift of singleness and with it the gift of freedom to spend more time with and for the Lord.

We cannot be sure, but it appears from what Paul was writing that some in the Corinthian church were advocating celibacy within marriage. Celibacy is the state of abstaining from sexual relations. Perhaps these advocates of celibacy thought it was more ‘spiritual’ or ‘holy’ not to have sex.

But Paul warns against this, saying those who are married should not try to be celibate. Abstaining from sex with your partner in marriage makes you more vulnerable to temptation.

According to the documentary ‘Counting the Beat’, 1 in 4 kiwis cheat on their partner. This seems quite high to me. According to Paul, one of the best things you can do to prevent cheating is maintain a healthy sex life with your spouse.

Sex within marriage is God’s intention for humankind. Sex within marriage is something to be enjoyed, not just for the sake of having children but also for mutual pleasure and the wellbeing of the marriage relationship.

Before I got married, I thought sex was like the icing on the cake of marriage. But after I got married, I realised that sex is not the icing. You can eat cake without icing. Sex within marriage is more basic, more essential than icing.

Sex is like the egg in the mixture of the cake of marriage. Sex is a binding agent. It is not the only binding agent, but it is pretty important. At its best, sex within marriage is an expression of intimacy, it becomes a sacrament, something physical which creates a spiritual connection.

As important as sex is, in a marriage relationship, it is not everything. You need more than eggs to make a cake. There will inevitably be times in a marriage when you need to go without sex. And, as you grow older, sex will likely become less important.   

Keep in mind the four C’s of marriage: Commitment, Communication, Companionship and Christ. A married couple need to be 100% committed to each other’s wellbeing, through thick and thin.

They need to have good communication. That means listening well to each other and speaking kindly. Not sweeping problems under the carpet, but talking honestly and graciously, seeking understanding.

Companionship is about spending time together, enjoying each other’s company. Eating and working and resting together.

Including Christ in your marriage is vitally important. Love each other as Christ loves the church. Pray together. Think of your marriage as part of your discipleship. Marriage is one way we learn to be more like Jesus.

Okay, if marriage is a good gift from God, why does Paul say in verse 1 of First Corinthians 7, It is good for a man not to marry and then in verse 7, I wish that all of you were as I am, (that is: single and celibate)?

What Paul has in mind here is the kingdom of God. Paul was an apostle of Jesus. As an apostle for Christ he travelled a great deal, preaching the gospel. This often resulted in him being persecuted. If Paul was married, he would not be free to do the work of an apostle. He would be torn between his duty to his wife and his duty to Christ.

Being single and celibate gives one a certain freedom that being married does not allow. It would not be fair for Paul to take a wife and then essentially abandon her in the name of Jesus.

This is not to say that one must be single to engage in fulltime Christian ministry. Married couples can and do serve the Lord in a variety of ways.

But where someone is required to travel a lot or where they may be subject to persecution and abuse, it is less painful and more practical to be single.

As someone who is married and in fulltime Christian ministry I would say there are pros and cons. On the plus side, marriage enriches pastoral ministry. Marriage provides me with an understanding of what it is to a husband and a father. I walk in your shoes.

Robyn provides me with balance and perspective. Her kindness softens me. What’s more, I am a practical help to Robyn in her ministry as a teacher. There are things Robyn can do that I can’t and things I can do which she can’t. We support each other.

That said, pastoral ministry is no friend to marriage. I am not persecuted and I don’t have to travel much, but church ministry places a strain on marriage. Pastors and their spouses face pressures that most other people don’t. There are pros and cons with everything.  

For Paul to name singleness as a good gift of God was no small thing. In the Jewish culture of the first century, being single put you on the outer. The ideal for first century Jews was marriage. Embedded in the Jewish psyche was this idea that faithfulness to God included getting married and having kids. The more the merrier. Go forth and multiply.

Even today, in some quarters of 21st century New Zealand society, people who are single might feel like they are on the outer, like they don’t quite fit.

But Paul is not having any of that. Being single is not bad. In a Christian understanding being single is equal in status with marriage. Your value as a human being does not depend on whether or not you have a partner. You can still fulfil God’s purpose for your life as a single person, in fact you may have more freedom to fulfil God’s purpose if you are single.

The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah was called to singleness. In Jeremiah 16 we read how God told Jeremiah not to get married or have children because the city of Jerusalem (where Jeremiah lived) was soon to be destroyed and most of its inhabitants killed.

For Jeremiah to get married and start a family would be a contradiction of his message of impending doom. It would also create unnecessary suffering for himself and his would-be family.    

Jesus on singleness – Matthew 19:10-12

In many ways, Jeremiah points to Jesus, the Christ. Like Jeremiah, Jesus had a special calling on his life, a calling that required him to be single and celibate. Jesus was called by God to die on a cross as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.

In Matthew 19, Jesus talks about singleness. Paul’s words about singleness, in Corinthains 7, draw their inspiration from Jesus’ words in Matthew 19. From verse 10 we read…

10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”

11 Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”

In the context of Matthew 19, Jesus had been talking about marriage and divorce. This caused the disciples to make the wry comment that it is better not to marry. In other words, it is better to remain single.

In response, Jesus goes on to talk about the reality of singleness. In effect, Jesus is saying, ‘You joke, but being single is not easy. Singleness is not for everyone. But the one who can accept the gift of singleness should accept it.’      

In verse 12 Jesus uses the analogy of the eunuch as a way of addressing the topic of singleness. A literal eunuch is a man who has been castrated.

In ancient times some slaves were castrated and put to work guarding women’s living areas or serving in some other capacity in the royal court. Some of you heard about the Ethiopian eunuch last week.

Due to the loss of his genitals a eunuch had no choice but to be single.

He could not function sexually as a husband.

Jesus explains that some people are born eunuchs. In other words, some are born to be single. Through no fault or choice of their own they will never be able to marry. We might think of someone born with a disability that makes marriage untenable for them.

Then there are those who are made eunuchs by others. These are people who suffer some misfortune with the effect they are not able to marry. We might think of someone who sustains permanent injuries in a car accident or someone who was so badly abused as a child they cannot stand to be touched as an adult much less function in a marriage relationship.  

Like those who are born to singleness, there is no blame or shame attached. Tragedy, yes. Loneliness, most likely. But no guilt. Jesus is all compassion here.    

The Lord then introduces a third reason for being single, saying: and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.

Said another way, there are those who choose to be single for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. People like the apostle Paul, for example. People like the prophet Jeremiah. People like Jesus.

Paul, Jeremiah and Jesus did not literally castrate themselves, but they did make a conscious choice not to marry for the sake of God’s purpose. Please do not mutilate yourself. Jesus is not talking literally here.  

Jesus could have married anyone he wanted. He could have had a harem with a thousand women in it, like king Solomon. But he chose to be single, for our sake and for the sake of the kingdom of God.

Jesus stood in solidarity with eunuchs, with those who are single. Do you understand what that means?

It means if you are single, for whatever reason, then Jesus, the Son of God, stands with you. He identifies with you. You have dignity. You are not alone.        

In verses 11 and 12 of Matthew 19, Jesus frames his comments about singleness by saying: “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given.” And, “The one who can accept this should accept it.”

The point here is the same as the point Paul makes in Corinthians 7. Singleness is not for everyone. The ability to accept a single life is a gift of God. However, the gift of singleness does not automatically imply an easy celibacy.

In the same way that being married does not make one immune from developing feelings for someone else, so too the gift of being single does not make one immune from sexual temptation.

The famous 20 Century preacher, John Stott, never married. He had no children and remained celibate his whole life. Stott once wrote: “The gift of singleness is more a vocation than an empowerment, although to be sure God is faithful in supporting those he calls.”

In other words, like any of God’s gifts, singleness requires discipline and self-control. It involves some effort to take care of the gift God has given you.

Taking care of the gift of singleness will probably mean being intentional about developing healthy friendships with a variety of people. You cannot afford to be become too isolated. It will also usually involve avoiding situations that might strain the limits of your resolve to remain celibate.

Apparently, Stott wanted to be married, but the right person never came along. He almost got engaged once but came to feel that it was not God’s calling for them to get married.

Stott never idealized celibacy. He encouraged young people to marry if they found the right person and on at least one occasion discouraged a man from following his example of singleness.

In Genesis 2, God said, ‘It is not good for man to be alone’. In relation to this verse, we need to say that being single does not necessarily mean being alone. Jeremiah was single but he maintained some good friendships with people who supported him and got him out of a spot of bother on more than one occasion.

Jesus was single and he too developed friendships, with his twelve disciples yes, but also with others like Mary and Martha and Lazarus. Likewise, the apostle Paul was single, but he did not operate like a lone ranger. Paul relied greatly on his friends, people like Timothy and Titus and Silas.

Paul’s friendship with a married couple, Priscilla and Aquila, is instructive.

Like Paul, Priscilla and Aquila were tent makers by trade. They were among the Jews expelled from Rome by the Emperor Claudius around AD 49.

After their expulsion, Priscilla and Aquila went to live in Corinth where they met Paul. Paul stayed with Priscilla and Aquila for about a year and a half.

Later they accompanied Paul to Syria before stopping in Ephesus.       

Paul mentions Priscilla and Aquila in some of his letters to the churches. The three of them together provide a model of friendship and shared hospitality between those with the gift of marriage and those with the gift of singleness.

A rope of three strands is not easily broken.

Conclusion

So how might you know whether you have the gift of singleness or the gift of marriage? The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates famously said, ‘Know thyself’. Unfortunately, the way most of us come to know ourselves is the hard way, through trial and error. Perhaps there is no other way.

Fortunately, God is wise and gracious, able to work our choices for good.

Let us pray…

Gracious God, we thank you for the different ways you have gifted each of us. We ask your blessing on our relationships together. Whether we be married or single, make us fruitful for your glory. Through Jesus we pray. Amen.

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. What is your experience of singleness? What is your experience of marriage?
  3. Why is sex important in marriage? Why is celibacy important in singleness?
  4. Discuss / reflect on the four C’s of marriage: commitment, communication, companionship and Christ. How might a married couple apply these four C’s in their marriage relationship?
  5. Why does Paul say in verse 1 of First Corinthians 7, It is good for a man not to marry and then in verse 7, I wish that all of you were as I am, (that is: single and celibate)? What are the benefits of being single? What are the challenges? 
  6. Discuss / reflect on Jesus’ words about singleness in Matthew 19:10-12. What strikes you as significant or meaningful here? Who are the (metaphorical) eunuchs of today?
  7. How might those who are single guard against loneliness and sexual temptation? How might those who are married offer hospitality and friendship to those who are single?  
Tawa Baptist

Faith, Healing & Miracles

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:9-10a

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

Audio Link: Stream Sermon – 5 Oct 2025 – Faith, Healing & Miracles by tawabaptist | Listen online for free on SoundCloud

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The gift of faith
  • The power of faith
  • The obedience of faith
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Three weeks ago we began a new sermon series on spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts are like tools, given by God to help the church. We need a variety of different tools because not every job is the same. A hammer is good for driving in nails but you need a screwdriver to work with screws.

Steve, the clock maker, in the TV show The Repair Shop, sometimes uses tools handed down to him from his grandfather. More than once, I’ve heard him say how working with these tools is like holding his grandfather’s hand.

Working with the gifts of the Spirit is a bit like holding the hand of God our heavenly Father. It is not something to be afraid of. It is a warm connection.

In First Corinthians 12, Paul lists nine spiritual gifts. Paul’s list is not exhaustive; it is an ad hoc sample. There are any number of ways in which the Holy Spirit equips the church. Today we continue our series on spiritual gifts by focusing on the gifts of faith, healing and miraculous powers. From First Corinthians 12, verse 7 we read…

7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers…

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

Three weeks ago, we heard about the gifts of wisdom and words of knowledge. Our primary focus this morning is the gift of faith. However, it is difficult to talk about faith without also including the gifts of healing and miraculous powers. These three go together; they feed and nourish each other.

The gift of faith:

Let us begin then with the gift of faith. What is faith? Well, at its heart Christian faith is the capacity to trust in Jesus. For example, trust in Jesus’ righteousness. Trust in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Trust in Jesus to provide for our needs. Trust in Jesus to justify us.

Faith for Christians is like rope for a mountain climber. Just as a climber trusts their rope to hold them, so too we trust Jesus to keep us from falling.

Or faith is like an oxygen tank for a scuba diver. Faith in Jesus keeps us alive when we are overwhelmed and feel like we are going under.

Faith might also be compared to a key. Faith unlocks the door to peace and it locks the door against fear and anxiety.  

Okay, so that is faith in a basic sense, but is that what the apostle Paul means by the gift of faith? Most people agree Paul has something more in mind here than basic faith in Jesus. The gift of faith refers to industrial sized faith.

To paraphrase one commentator, the gift of faith is a heroic belief in the supernatural, an unshakeable inner assurance that God can overcome any difficulty. [1]

The faith to move mountains, not just climb them. The faith to part the sea, not just swim underwater. The faith to mend broken relationships and end wars, not just calm our personal angst.   

Or to put it in more poetic terms: ‘Faith is the bird that knows the dawn and sings while it is still dark’. [2] This is the kind of faith that steadfastly believes God can make good things happen, even when there is no evidence to support belief.  

In Luke 7 we read about the faith of a Roman Centurion. This army officer had a servant who was gravely ill and about to die, so the Centurion sent messengers asking for Jesus to come and heal his servant. From verse 6 we read…

Jesus was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” 10 Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

Apparently, the Centurion had the gift of faith. This Roman army officer had a heroic belief in the supernatural, an unshakeable inner assurance that Jesus can overcome any difficulty. The Centurion knew the dawn was coming with Jesus and his faith sang while it was still dark.

George Müller was another man who had the gift of faith. George lived in England during the 19th Century. He cared for more than 10,000 orphans throughout his lifetime and provided Christian education to more than 120,000.

According to Wikipedia, Müller never made requests for financial support, nor did he go into debt. Many times, he received unsolicited food donations only hours before they were needed to feed the children, further strengthening his faith in God.

If the orphans had a need, Müller prayed in faith that God would provide and God did provide. On one occasion, thanks was given for breakfast when the pantry was empty. As they finished praying, the baker knocked on the door with enough fresh bread to feed everyone, and the milkman gave them fresh milk because his cart had broken down in front of the orphanage.

In his diary entry for 12 February 1842, George Müller wrote: “A brother in the Lord came to me this morning and, gave me two thousand pounds for furnishing the new Orphan House … Now I am able to meet all of the expenses. The Lord not only gives as much as is absolutely necessary for his work, but he gives abundantly. This blessing filled me with inexplicable delight.”

George Müller had the gift of faith. What we notice here is that faith produces more faith, and delight. Faith is like a seed; even a little can bear far more fruit than one expects or imagines.

The power of faith:

Okay, so the gift of faith is something more than the basic faith needed for salvation. The gift of faith acts as a channel or a vessel for the power and provision of God.

If we think of the power of God like water, then the gift of faith is like a fire hose which carries and directs the water of God’s Spirit.

Or if we think of the power of God like wind, then the gift of faith is like the sail which catches the wind of God’s Spirit moving us where God wills.     

The gifts of healing and miraculous works are practical expressions of God’s power. What then does Paul mean by the gifts of healing and miracles?

Well, healing is just what it sounds like, the restoration of good health for body, mind, soul and spirit.

In the ancient world, people did not have the medical knowledge that we have. There were no anti-biotics, no immunotherapy and no ultra-sounds. They did not have much in the way of painkillers either. Therefore, the sort of healing in view in Corinthians 12 is most likely the kind that comes by divine intervention.  

That said, we would not want to exclude medical science. Advances in medical research are one of the ways God continues to heal people today. We don’t have to choose between faith and science.

We accept what medical science has to offer and we pray for God to heal at the same time. Sometimes God heals using science, sometimes he heals by supernatural means and often by a combination of both.  

Miraculous powers cover a broad variety of supernatural phenomena.

Like when Jesus walked on water or turned water into wine or cast out evil spirits or multiplied the loaves and fishes. Or when Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake on the Island of Malta and suffered no ill effects. Or when Elijah raised the widow’s son from the dead.

With each of these demonstrations of miraculous power, God is glorified. Indeed, that seems to be the point of miracles, to make people more acutely aware of the presence and goodness of God. Miracles have the power to inspire faith; to support people to believe in Jesus.       

When I was about 14, I started to experience problems with my back. There were times when I could not move without spasms of pain shooting through my body. We were living on the DPB (a social welfare benefit) at the time so no money for doctors or physios.

We had recently become Christians, so my mum asked for someone to come and pray for me. When the faith healer came, they found me lying still, flat on my back on the floor, the only position that gave any sort of relief.

As this person prayed for me, my surroundings faded out of focus and I felt like I was floating upwards into a different realm. I won’t try to explain what happened while I was out of my body. Some things are just between me and God.

After a while, I’m not sure how long, I became aware I was floating down again. I have never felt so relaxed, so at peace. When I came to my senses once more, the pain in my back was gone. I had been healed, supernaturally I believe.

I tell you about my experience for a number of reasons. Firstly, to show that God still works in miraculous ways today. But also to illustrate the faith connection. You see, it was not so much my faith which channelled the healing, it was the faith of others; in particular the faith of my mother and the person who prayed for me.

I was not against being prayed for, but by the same token, I was not in a position to get up and walk away either. I was like the paralysed man who was healed by Jesus after being lowered through the roof of a house by his friends. It was the friends’ faith which Jesus noticed.

Returning to the healing story in Luke 7; it was not the faith of the servant that channelled God’s healing power. It was the faith of the Centurion and the faith of Jesus.     

Now for the sake of perspective, it needs to be acknowledged that as painful and debilitating and frustrating as a sore back can be, there are worse things that can happen to you. Indeed, I have endured much worse.

So you might wonder, why did God heal my back? Why not tackle the bigger stuff? Why does the Lord of the universe not intervene in a miraculous way to end the suffering in Gaza or Ukraine or domestic violence in New Zealand?

Well, God has intervened to save the world in the person of his Son, Jesus.

The day is coming when Jesus will return in glory and God’s kingdom will be realised in its fullness on earth.

As we read in Revelation 21: He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

That is the Christian hope. In the meantime, we wait in the in-between. And as we wait, every now and then, by God’s grace, we catch a glimpse of heaven, as I did. The healing of my back may seem small and inconsequential, but we should not despise small things. We thank God for whatever grace we receive.  

Now in talking about the relationship between faith and miracles we need to be careful. Many of us here have ridden the roller coaster of praying earnestly for someone, believing wholeheartedly that God could and would heal them, only to feel disappointed when our prayers appeared to make no difference.  

I am not suggesting that all unanswered prayer is due to a lack of faith. Sometimes it might be, but not necessarily.

If the wind of God’s Spirit is not blowing, then raising the sail of faith is not going to make much difference. Or if the water tap of God’s Spirit is turned off, then the hose of faith cannot put out the fire.

C.S. Lewis once said, ‘Miracles are for beginners.’

A baby needs milk, but as the child grows the parent weans the child off breast milk and introduces solid food. It’s similar with the Lord. When we are young in the faith, God may give us special experiences of himself. But as we grow, God sometimes says ‘no’, to our requests. God wants us to learn to trust him, not the miracles.

There is a sequel to my back healing story. For 24 years my back was fine.

But then, around the age of 38, the trouble with my back returned. It started again when I was preparing a sermon series on the suffering of Job. 

This time I did not receive supernatural healing for my back. These days I manage my back pain through a combination of better posture, targeted exercises and going to the chiropractor.

I am thankful for God’s gift of miraculous healing when I was 14. The memory of that experience is precious to me. It nourishes my faith still. But I am also thankful that God says ‘no’ to me sometimes. God’s ‘no’ is still a gift, just in a different form. I have learned to take better care of my body, and I have gained a quantum of understanding for others who live with far worse pain.

We need to remember, God is free not to intervene in miraculous ways if he chooses. And God’s choice may have nothing to do with how good or bad we are or how much faith we have.

God is not a puppet with strings we can pull to get what we want. He is not a genie in a bottle that we can release by faith to get our three wishes. Yes, God cares for us, but ultimately, we are his servants, we live for him.

In many ways, it takes more faith to live with powerlessness and vulnerability, than it does to perform miracles.

Even the apostle Paul (who had far greater faith than most people) lived with unanswered prayer. In Second Corinthians 12, Paul talks about his ‘thorn in the flesh’. From verse 8 we read…

8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me… For when I am weak, then I am strong.

The point is: healing and miraculous powers are not the proof of faith. Obedience to Jesus is the proof of faith.

If faith is the root, then obedience is the fruit. Or if faith is the sail that catches the wind of God’s Spirit, then obedience is the rudder which steers the ship in the right direction. Or if faith is the hose that channels the water of God’s Spirit, then obedience is using the hose to fight the fire.

The obedience of faith:

Sometimes God gives people the faith to move mountains, and as thrilling as that might be, what really matters to the Lord is our obedience.

In Matthew 7 Jesus talks about the obedience of faith, saying:   

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

With Christian faith, the question is not: how many miracles can I perform?

The question is always: what does God want me to do? We know what God wants us to do. He wants us to love him, love our neighbour and love ourselves.

Maybe God wants you to show kindness to that irritating person at work or school. Maybe God wants you to listen more or learn patience. Maybe God wants you to forgive your neighbour for dumping their rubbish in your backyard. Maybe he wants you to do something quite ordinary but at the same time socially risky, like owning up to the fact that you go to church on Sundays.

Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly. Ordinary acts of obedience matter more to the Lord than performing spectacular miracles. 

When we think of about the obedience of faith, Noah comes to mind.

God asked Noah to build a huge boat because an unprecedented flood was coming. It took Noah and his sons literally decades to build it.

You can imagine what the neighbours thought. Sniggering behind Noah’s back, “There’s that crazy Noah again. Wish he would give the hammering a rest. Might have to call noise control, again.”       

It would have been much easier and less humiliating for Noah if God miraculously made the ark appear overnight. But God did not do that.

Noah had to build the boat himself by hand. Noah’s obedience of faith was the manual labour of a lifetime.

No one had more faith than Jesus. No one performed more miracles than Jesus. No one was more righteous than Jesus. No one had a closer relationship with God the Father than Jesus. And yet God did not always give Jesus what he asked for.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before his crucifixion and death, Jesus prayed: Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.

God did not take away the cup of suffering from Jesus, but Jesus still obeyed God in faith. Jesus had the faith to embrace the powerlessness of death on a cross. Through Jesus’ obedience of faith, we are made right with God.

And for his part, God did not abandon Jesus to the grave. God raised Jesus to eternal life on the third day.

Conclusion:

This morning we have talked about the gift of faith, the power of faith and the obedience of faith.

Faith in Jesus is how we relate with God. Faith in Jesus is how we channel the miraculous, healing power of God. And faith in Jesus is how we obey God.

May the Holy Spirit strengthen our faith as we wait for the dawn of the new day. 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 is Christian faith, at its heart? What does Paul mean by the gift of faith? How is the gift of faith different from basic faith? 
  3. Can you think of times in your own life when God has gifted you with faith? What happened?
  4. Discuss / reflect on the relationship between faith and miraculous powers. 
  5. Have you witnessed or experienced the gifts of healing and miraculous powers? If so, how? What happened?
  6. Discuss / reflect on the relationship between faith and obedience. Why is obedience necessary to faith?
  7. Has God ever said ‘no’ to you, even when you asked in faith? How did you feel at the time? Looking back, why do you think God said ‘no’ to you? 

[1] Refer Moffatt’s commentary on 1 Corinthians, page 181.

[2] Quoted in David Prior’s commentary on 1 Corinthians, page 204.

Tawa Baptist

An Inside Story – by Neville Gardner

A couple of years ago, in the rather isolated village of Hrastovlje, in western Slovenia, Nicky and I were shown a building that looks like a small castle with a tower. Close up, it looked a bit forbidding, but after we got through the gateway, we could see that the tower is actually attached to a very plain little Christian church. No-one’s sure when the church was built, but probably in the thirteen or fourteen hundreds. The tower was added later. The castle-like wall was built in 1581, to give villagers a refuge from Turkish invaders.

The church is nothing to look at on the outside, but as soon as we got inside, it was obvious why my sister-in-law, who grew up in the area, wanted us to see it. Just about every part of the interior is covered by colourful frescoes painted in 1490 – we know the date because the artist signed and dated them. The pictures are mostly scenes from the Bible, aimed at telling the stories to a mainly illiterate congregation.

These frescoes were once doubly hidden – not only inside a nondescript building, but at some time long ago they were completely hidden by a thick layer of white plaster. They were only rediscovered in 1949.

So my first impression of the church, from the outside, was one of disappointment. But this was a case of “appearances can be deceptive.” It was only on looking inside that a beautiful treasure was revealed.

The phrase “appearances can be deceptive” can apply to people too.

Relating to people, the term ‘appearance’ covers a wide range of things – the way a person is dressed, things they own or don’t own, things they say and the language they use, their apparent age or culture, their manner (such as being talkative or quiet, rude or polite, using facial expressions and hand gestures) and so on.

When we meet a person for the first time, we sometimes let their appearance either encourage us to get to know them, or put us off. Perhaps we try and get to know them whatever their appearance.

Imagine a conversation going on between two people next Sunday at church.

“Did you hear the sermon Neville gave last week?”

“No. I’m new here, which one’s Neville?”

“Oh, he’s tall, bald and wears glasses. Probably in his late 60s and has an English accent.”

“Thanks, I should be able to spot him.”

The facts of this description are probably quite accurate. ‘Tall, bald and glasses’ are obvious features about my external appearance. Late 60s and English accent – they are both part of my appearance too, but they could lead to questionable judgements about the inner person. Someone in their late 60s might be expected to have certain attitudes and prejudices associated with their age, which they may be judged on. An English accent might suggest a particular cultural background, and all that implies. You’d need to look past these appearances to get to know me and be able to judge my real character. That’s just an example, not a challenge!

The Bible has many examples of how God looks beyond external appearances to see the heart of the person beneath the skin. Obviously we can’t see as God sees, but we can learn from some of the things he looks for.

For example, in 1 Samuel 16: 6-7 we read of how God wanted to replace Saul as king of Israel, because of his disobedience. He sent Samuel to Bethlehem to search among the sons of Jesse. When he arrived in Bethlehem:

“Samuel noticed Eliab and said to himself, “Surely, here before the Lord stands his chosen king.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t be impressed by his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. God does not view things the way people do. People look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

After God had rejected seven of Jesse’s sons, his youngest son, David, was brought in from looking after the sheep. God looked into David’s heart and chose him to be anointed.

The Israelites hoped God would pick a strapping hero, a brilliant and successful person. But God chose ordinary David for the potential he saw in his heart. We know that David went on to do great things, and very bad things too. But God had chosen him for his nature – at heart, he was devoted, obedient and thankful to God.

Some key words from the passage are “God does not view things the way people do. People look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

People look at the outward appearance – it’s what they do.

God looks at the heart – it’s what He does.

So what are some of the things God looks for in our hearts?

Here are just a few to give us an idea.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Matthew 5:8

  • God looks for a pure heart, free from sin and devoted to Him.

In Acts 15:8-9 we read: “God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted the Gentiles by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.”

  • God looks for a genuine faith in Him, regardless of ethnic origins.

Romans 12:1-2 urges believers to “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

  • God looks for sincere worship.

John 7:24 says: “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with righteous judgment“.

  • God looks for discernment, through truth and righteousness.

That’s just a small selection. Much of what God looks for is concerned with the relationship between God and that person. And that’s not for us to know, and even less to judge. We cannot look at the heart in the way that God does.

But we can still make the effort to go beyond appearances. I think we tend to look for two main categories of things – character and needs. We look for character traits that affect our relationship with the person, even if it’s a fleeting one. We might look for honesty, integrity, compassion, kindness, fairness and trustworthiness. And people look for the same things in us too. By looking beyond appearances, we can also get to understand people’s needs that are not obvious on the surface, or that we miss because of our initial judgements.

This is not to say that we should totally ignore appearances. After all, Jesus showed that he cared about physical appearances when he healed people of various diseases and disfigurements, although even then the results were often internal as well.

Proverbs 27: 19 sums this up – “As in water the face is reflected as a face, so a person’s heart reflects the person.”

Jesus knew what it was like to be misjudged because of his appearance. He didn’t have the appearance of the powerful king the Israelites were expecting. So he was continually having to prove who he was, that his authority came from within, not from what he looked like. Jesus often wanted people to look for his inner self.

Getting people to look at his inner being was a hard lesson that did not always sink in. Towards the end of his ministry on Earth, Jesus’ disciples looked for reassurance about what was going to happen next.

In John 14:8-10 we read that

“Philip said “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be content.” Jesus replied, “Have I been with you for so long, and you have not known me, Philip? The person who has seen me has seen the Father! How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me?”

In other words, Philip had not really looked beyond appearances.

Jesus wanted people to see his inner self, but not all humans are so open. Many people have barriers which can prevent or delay others moving beyond appearances. These could be barriers of language, culture or social difference, or they could be things like shyness, rudeness, poor social skills, anxiety, the need for privacy. Some people even go so far as to deceitfully create false impressions, with the aim of causing harm.

As part of the Sermon on the Mount, (Matthew 7: 15), Jesus warned “Be on your guard against false prophets; they come to you looking like sheep on the outside, but on the inside they are really like wild wolves.” We should look out for people, not just false prophets, who appear harmless on the outside, but are actually dangerous and deceitful inside.

Jesus encountered many barriers like this. He had constant run-ins with the Pharisees, who were an influential group big on tradition and external display, rather than on inner belief.

Jesus didn’t hold back when he said

“Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you look righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” Matthew 23: 27-28.

As well as encouraging us to look out for hypocrites and wolves in sheep’s clothing, Jesus modelled other ways to look at the heart rather than the appearance. And what we do with what we find there.

Just for example, Mark 12 41-44 tells us

“Then Jesus sat down opposite the offering box, and watched the crowd putting coins into it. Many rich people were throwing in large amounts. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, worth less than a penny. He called his disciples and said to them, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the offering box than all the others. For they all gave out of their wealth. But she, out of her poverty, put in what she had to live on, everything she had.”

One thing he was saying was not to look at and judge the appearance of a small offering, but consider the sacrifice and heart behind it.

In John 4 we read of an encounter between Jesus and a Samaritan woman at a well. She was a female in a society that held women in disregard, she was from a culture despised by Jews and she lived in shame, a social outcast. Outer appearances did not look good. But Jesus looked at her heart, spoke with her and offered eternal salvation. She went on to give testimony to her whole town.

Verse 27 tells us “And at this point His disciples came, and they marvelled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?””

The disciples looked at the appearance, but did not think to look any further.

This reminds me of a news item I saw a couple of weeks ago. Georgia Evans was playing rugby for Wales in the Women’s Rugby World Cup. During the competition she was subjected to considerable online abuse – not for her playing, but for her appearance on the field. Her reply was “The bows in my hair, the eyelashes and full-face makeup I choose to wear – none of that affects my ability, passion or fight for this game.”

That’s just the attitude we’ve been talking about in Christians – look past the appearance at the passion, the belief.

I said earlier that what God finds in a person’s heart is part of a relationship that we are not meant to see. It’s okay to keep this inner self hidden from other people, if that’s what we want, but there is one thing that God does want other people to see in our hearts.

God wants people to see our belief in Him, to see our Christianity. In fact, Jesus tells us that people shouldn’t have to see into our hearts – our faith and Christianity should shine out anyway.

In Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus said

“You are like light for the whole world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl; instead it is put on the lampstand, where it gives light for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.”

So, people shouldn’t have to look inside us to see that we are Christians, that should be part of our outer appearance.

In some parts of the world, shining out your Christian belief can get you into serious trouble. That’s not the case here in New Zealand, for which we are thankful, but there is a level of opposition to Christianity. There are many people who love God, but for various reasons tend to shy away from revealing this to strangers. There are also people who are happy to walk into a room of strangers and almost the first thing they say is “Hi, I’m a Christian.”

Whatever we feel comfortable with (or sometimes not!), God expects other people to be able to recognise us as Christian by the way we live our lives. We shine our light by exemplifying the Christian qualities of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are all aspects of character we can develop through the presence of the Holy Spirit. We can also shine our light when God calls us to use the spiritual gifts He has given us – and again, we have the Holy Spirit to help us do that.

And we need to show those qualities all the time, not just when we feel like it. In that sense we are lamps on a lampstand, shining continuously – not like lamps totally hidden under a bowl, or even lamps under a colander letting bits of light leak through the holes, and definitely not like a torch, switched on and off to suit.

How much is being a Christian part of your external appearance, as well as your inner character?

I’d like to finish by going back to the decorated church in Slovenia. There is a sequence to the frescoes, and they end with what is known as ‘The Dance of Death.” There are eleven skeletons, each leading a person towards an open grave. There’s a child, a man with a wooden leg, a young man, moneylender, merchant, monk, bishop, cardinal, queen, king and a pope.

The message of this image is simple – When God looks in our hearts, we are all equal in his eyes, regardless of appearance or how important we think we are in our worldly life.

Tawa Baptist

Wisdom & Knowledge

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:8

Video Link: https://youtu.be/NW9ykX-QVGk

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The gift of wisdom
  • Words of knowledge
  • Knowledge needs wisdom
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Both my grandfathers had a shadow board for their tools. A shadow board is normally hung on a wall in a garage with an outline of the tools on it so you can see where the tools go and whether a tool is missing.  

My shadow board is much less impressive than my grandfathers’ ones. The tools that get used often look in good condition. But the tools I don’t use all that much have gathered a bit of rust over the years.

Today we begin a new sermon series on spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts are like tools, given by God to help the church. Different jobs require a different tool. Of course, if we don’t use the tools God provides, they tend to gather rust.  

Over the years, I have not paid much attention to the topic of spiritual gifts in my preaching. This series is overdue. My aim is simply to explore what the Bible says about the gifts of the Spirit and let God do with that whatever he wants.

In First Corinthians 12, Paul lists nine spiritual gifts. Paul’s list is not exhaustive; it is an ad hoc sample. There are any number of ways in which the Holy Spirit equips the church. We come across other spiritual gifts in other parts of the Bible too. I’m starting with Corinthians 12 because that’s as good a place as any to start. From verse 4 we read…

4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.

5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

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

Our message today does not cover all those verses. I read that passage from Corinthians 12 to give you some context. In a nutshell, what Paul is saying here is this: the one Holy Spirit of God distributes a variety of different gifts for the common good of the church and by extension the world.

So, as we consider each of these gifts over the coming weeks, we need to keep that in mind. There are many gifts which all come from the one Spirit to be used for the common good.

Our sermon today focuses on the first two gifts in Paul’s list: wisdom and knowledge, or more accurately the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge. We will begin with the gift of wisdom, before considering the word of knowledge.

The gift of wisdom:

Wisdom is slightly different from knowledge. Knowledge is about knowing facts and information. While wisdom is about how you handle life and people. True wisdom always serves justice, the kind of justice that leads to genuine peace.

King Solomon was known for his wisdom. He asked God for wisdom and God gave it to him. Earlier in the service I read an account of Spirit inspired wisdom from First Kings chapter 3.

Two women were living in the same house. Each of them gave birth to a baby just days apart. One of the babies died during the night. Now the two women were arguing over whose was the living child. They wanted Solomon to decide.

When Solomon ordered the child to be cut in two, one of the women said to the king, “Please, your majesty, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!”

But the other said, “Don’t give him to either of us; go ahead and cut him in two!”

Then Solomon gave his ruling: “Do not kill the child. Give him to the first woman; she is his real mother.”

That is an example of the spiritual gift of wisdom. Solomon knew how to handle the situation so that justice was done and peace was restored.  

Some people think of the gifts of the Spirit like a superpower. You know, Superman has the ability to fly, Wolverine can recover from mortal wounds, and Spiderman climbs buildings and spins webs.

But with spiritual gifts it’s different from that. The gift is not necessarily your possession to keep forever. It’s not a power you can pull out to use whenever and however you want. The exercise of a gift depends on the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit, more than it does us.

The Spirit of God clearly gave Solomon wisdom to deal with certain problems, but the king did not always act with wisdom. He did a lot of things that were unwise, including marrying hundreds of women and oppressing his own people with heavy taxation.

Spiritual gifts are not a reward for good character. The Spirit is pure and holy, but the gifts are given to imperfect human beings, and we are full of contradictions.

We find another example of Spirit inspired wisdom in Mark 12, when Jesus responds to some Pharisees who try to trap him in his words…

The Pharisees begin by flattering Jesus. They say: “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You are not swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.

Then, after coating the bait in honey, they ask: “Is it right to pay the imperial taxto Caesar or not?” 15 …But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.”

16 They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

17 Then Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And they were amazed at him.

Jesus exercised the gift of wisdom by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit enabled Jesus to see what was really going on and gave him the right words to handle his opponents, without getting himself into trouble.

Not sure about you, but I don’t usually think of the wise thing to say until a few days later. The wisdom of hindsight is not the same as the wisdom the Spirit lends in real time.

Okay, so there’s a couple of examples of what Paul means when he writes about the gift of wisdom. What about the word of knowledge? What does that look like?    

The word of knowledge:

Some of you probably watch the Chase on TV 1 before the six o’clock news. Although the Chasers have a great general knowledge, they are not exercising the gift of knowledge when they play the Chase. The kind of knowledge Paul has in mind here is not acquired by reading books.

In Corinthians 12 the gift of knowledge probably refers to a supernatural endowment of factual information, that could not otherwise have been known without the Spirit’s help. [1]

Last Wednesday the photocopier in the church office was playing up. I opened the copier door to find a paper jam. Now you have to be very careful when removing paper jams because, if you rip the paper, it can be very difficult to get all of it out. You need to take it slow and remove the paper in one piece.

There I was carefully removing the paper when I noticed a component of the hardware was not sitting right. It was loose. I tried to put the component back properly, but it would not stay in place.

After a few failed attempts I began to feel a bit annoyed. I had a lot to do and did not need another hold up. I wish I could say my first thought was to pray, but it wasn’t.

Eventually though, after taking a few deep breaths, I did pray. My prayer went something like this: ‘God, please help me to see the problem’. No sooner had I prayed and a thought came into my mind: ‘You are looking at the wrong end. Look at the other end.’

So, I turned the component over and noticed a piece of plastic was missing. The component would not sit right because the piece of plastic which held it in place was broken. The copier repair guy had to come and replace the part.

The information I needed to remove the paper jam did not come by a word of knowledge. I learned that knowledge through previous experience.

But the information I needed to identify the problem with the hardware, that came the moment I prayed. Was the thought that came to mind as I prayed a word of knowledge or was it just common sense? I’ll let you decide.

What about when you lose your keys and after rushing around for 20 minutes in a panic, you finally pray (in desperation) for God to help you. Then, within seconds, you are reminded of where you left your keys. Is that a word of knowledge or just blind luck? I’ll let you decide.  

We come across people giving words of knowledge in the Bible quite a bit.

Like when Jesus was talking with the Samaritan woman at the well, in John 4. Without knowing the woman at all, Jesus received a word of knowledge that she had been married five times and the man she was currently with was not her husband.

This word of knowledge established Jesus’ credentials as a prophet and helped the woman to trust Jesus.

But it seems Jesus did not always possess this kind of supernatural knowledge. On a different occasion, when a woman with a bleeding complaint touched the fringe of Jesus’ cloak, Jesus knew power had gone out from him, but he did not appear to know who had touched him. He kept looking around and asking, ‘Who touched my clothes?’

We come across another instance of a word of knowledge in Acts 10. From verse 19 we read: While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them.”

Peter obeyed the Spirit and went with the men who took him to the home of Cornelius the Roman Centurion. Through that word of knowledge, Peter was directed by the Spirit to preach the gospel to the gentiles with the result that Cornelius and his household believed in Jesus and were saved.

You may be wondering, how do we know when a word of knowledge is from the Holy Spirit? How can we tell the difference between the Holy Spirit’s thoughts and our thoughts? Well, in John 16, Jesus said this…

13 …when the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 

These verses show us that a Spirit inspired word of knowledge is true and it glorifies Jesus. If a word of knowledge proves false or if it does not glorify Jesus, then it is not the real deal.

We could add a third test also. In Corinthians 12, Paul says the gifts of the Spirit are given for the common good. Therefore, we need to ask if the word of knowledge serves the common good. Is it helpful to others in the church?

We know a word of knowledge is genuinely Spirit inspired when it is true, it glorifies Jesus and it serves the common good.    

The problem with these tests is that the results may only be known after the fact. How did Peter know the word of knowledge he had received was true beforehand? Indeed, how can we be confident to act on a word of knowledge?

Hmm. I expect this kind of sensitivity to the Spirit is developed through faith and experience. Peter was able to recognise a genuine word of knowledge because he knew the Holy Spirit personally. He spent time in prayer and study of the word, so he was tuned in to the Spirit.

Ultimately though, Peter had to take a step in faith and act in obedience to the word of knowledge he was given. Proof follows obedience.

Knowledge needs wisdom:

Although Paul lists the gifts of wisdom and knowledge separately, they tend to work better together. Wisdom and knowledge need each other like a right hand needs a left hand.

Have you ever tried to cut a piece of steak with just one hand? It’s really difficult. You need both hands; one to hold the steak with a fork and the other to cut the steak with a knife.

What about tying your shoe laces with one hand? How hard would that be?

You need two hands to tie laces. Knowledge needs wisdom like the left hand needs the right hand.

You may know the story of David and Bathsheba. While Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, was away fighting in the war for Israel, David slept with Bathsheba and Bathsheba got pregnant. Wanting to hide what he had done, David arranged to have Uriah killed on the front line, making it look like Uriah was just another casualty of war.

But the thing David had done displeased the Lord. God, in his justice and mercy, could not turn a blind eye to David’s abuse of power. Therefore, the Lord sent the prophet Nathan to confront David over his sin.

This means Nathan must have received a word of knowledge from the Lord. How else would the prophet know David had committed adultery and murder? David had kept his wrong doing well hidden.

Knowing this inside information about David was one thing, but communicating it to David, without getting his head chopped off, was another thing altogether. David was a soldier king, he was a man of power and violence, and he had a lot to lose. Nathan needed to approach David with wisdom.

In Second Samuel chapter 12, we read the wise way in which Nathan handled the king. Nathan began by telling David a parable…      

When Nathan came to David, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. 4 “Now a traveller came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveller who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.” 5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! 

Nathan then went on tell the king how God was not pleased with the way David stole Uriah’s wife and had Uriah killed. Nathan also spelled out the consequences for David. The king would reap what he sowed.

To his credit, David admitted his fault and the Lord took away David’s sin, but he did not take away David’s consequences.

Conclusion:

A word of knowledge from the Lord is always true and truth is sometimes difficult to receive. A word of knowledge needs to be given with wisdom.

Let us pray. Gracious God, thank you for the gifts you bestow. Help us to tune in to the truth of your Spirit, to be quick to listen and faithful to obey, for the glory of Jesus and the common good of your people. Amen.  

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. Why does God give spiritual gifts to people?
  3. What does Paul mean by the gift of wisdom? How is the gift of wisdom different from the word of knowledge? How do we see the gift of wisdom at work in the Bible?
  4. What does Paul mean by a word of knowledge? How is a word of knowledge different from general knowledge or learned knowledge? Have you ever received a word of knowledge? What happened?
  5. How do we know when a word of knowledge is from the Holy Spirit? How might we tune into the Holy Spirit?
  6. Discuss / reflect on the interaction of wisdom and knowledge in the story of Nathan confronting David. Why does knowledge need wisdom?

[1] Refer Gordon Fee, ‘NICNT, The First Epistle to the Corinthians’, page 592.

Tawa Baptist

Paul’s Parenting

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12

Video Link: https://youtu.be/-WsJU41EXAg

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Paul’s love
  • Paul’s model
  • Paul’s coaching
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Today is Father’s Day. You might wonder when and where Father’s Day originated. Well, it depends on what part of the world you come from.

The Eastern Orthodox church has been celebrating Father’s Day for centuries. However, in their tradition it is not a celebration of your own dad. It is called Sunday of the Forefathers and commemorates the ancestors of Christ, listed in Jesus’ genealogy near the beginning of Matthew and Luke’s gospels.

In the Catholic countries of Europe, Father’s Day has been celebrated since the 1500’s. Although again, it’s different from the way we celebrate Father’s Day. The focus is on Joseph, the step-father of Jesus.

Our modern version of Father’s Day, which is about honouring our own dads, comes from a movement among Christian women in early 20th Century America.

Saint Matthews Church in Auckland first celebrated Father’s Day, as we know it, in 1929. By the early 1930’s other kiwi churches began adopting it as well.

People these days have mixed feelings about Father’s Day. For some it is a day of joy and coming together as a family. For others it is a day of sadness or regret, perhaps a day to avoid coming to church.   

Our reading this morning comes from First Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 7-12. In this passage, the apostle Paul describes his parenting style. From First Thessalonians 2, verse 7, we read…

7 … Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. 9 Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. 10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. 11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

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

As I said earlier, in this reading Paul describes his parenting style. But before we get into the detail, I need to clarify; there is more than one way to be a parent.

The weight of Biblical and historical evidence strongly suggests the apostle Paul did not have a wife or biological children. Paul chose singleness as this freed him to do the work of an apostle. Although Paul did not have children of his own, he was a spiritual parent to many.

In First Thessalonians chapter 2, Paul is not giving advice to parents specifically, although what he writes here is helpful to parents. Rather, Paul is describing how he was a like a mother and a father, in a spiritual sense, to the new believers in Thessalonica.       

There is more than one way to be a parent. Like Paul, you may not have children of your own, but if you provide pastoral care for others, then you are a spiritual parent to those you care for.

Maybe you serve as a leader in kids’ church or youth group or run a Bible study, or otherwise support, nurture, feed and protect someone in their faith. This sermon is for you, as much as it is for mums and dads with young children at home.

Three verbs to describe Paul’s parenting style: love, model and coach.

Paul loved the Thessalonians. He modelled a good example for them. And Paul coached the Thessalonians in the Christian faith. Let us begin with love, because that is a very good place to start.

Paul’s love:

The Sound of Music tells the story of a young woman, Maria, who is sent to be a nanny for seven children who have lost their mother.

The children’s father, Captain Von Trapp, is a retired naval officer and a strict disciplinarian. He controls his children with a whistle. Since loosing his wife, the captain has become distant and cold. Fraulein Maria is quite the opposite.

She is kind and warm, fun but also firm. 

One of my favourite scenes in the movie is when Fraulein Maria has a stand-up argument with Captain Von Trapp in which she tells him off for being such a grump. Maria says to the captain…

Maria: Children can’t do all the things they’re supposed to if they have to worry about spoiling their precious clothes.

Captain: They haven’t complained yet.

Maria: Well, they wouldn’t dare! They love you too much. They fear you too much!

Captain: I don’t wish you to discuss my children in this manner.

Maria: Well, you’ve got to hear from someone! You’re never home long enough to know them.

Captain: I said I don’t want to hear anymore from you about my children!

Maria: I know you don’t, but you’ve got to! …Friedrich, he’s a boy, but he wants to be a man and there’s no one to show him how.

Captain: Don’t you dare tell me about my son.

Maria: Brigitta could tell you about him if you let her get close to you. She notices everything… And Kurt pretends he’s tough not to show how hurt he is when you brush him aside, the way you do all of them… and the little ones just want to be loved. Oh, please, Captain, love them! Love them all!

Eventually, Captain Von Trapp comes round to seeing it Maria’s way. Through love and music, something inside the captain is healed and the father is restored to his children once more.  

In verse 7 Paul describes his way of relating with the Thessalonians. Paul is much like Fraulein Maria. Paul says: Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.

There is a real tenderness in Paul’s words here. The Thessalonian believers were brand new Christians, toddlers in the faith. Paul, Silas and Timothy cared for their spiritual needs like a mother nursing young children.

One of the characteristics of a true parent is that they know their children and the child knows them as well. Personal knowledge goes hand in hand with love. One of Fraulein Maria’s points was that Captain Von Trapp did not know his children and they did not know him. There was a distance between them.

This was not the case with Paul, for he not only shared the gospel with the Thessalonians; he shared his very life with them. They knew him as a real person and he knew them as a mother knows her children.    

Love, in a Christian understanding, is a commitment to another person’s wellbeing. Love is not out for what it can get. Love wants to give.  

In verse 9 we see the evidence of Paul’s love. Paul, Silas and Timothy worked night and day to support themselves in order not to be a burden to anyone while they preached the gospel to the Thessalonians. Paul’s love was the real deal.

We are talking about Paul’s parenting. Paul loves the Thessalonians like a mother and one of the ways he expresses that love is by modelling a good example for them.

Paul’s model:

Years ago, before we had children, Robyn and I had a dog, a little Jack Russell we called Chip. He was a good-natured dog, full of beans.

Chip had been abused as a pup by his previous owners and consequently would hide under the house if he could, whether he was in trouble or not. Although we were quite soft with Chip, his first owners had left an impression of fear on him by the way they had behaved.

I remember one sweltering hot summers day in Papamoa, when a swarm of flies came into the house. I rolled up a newspaper and went around swatting the insects. After a few minutes, we noticed Chip was cowering under a chair.

The poor little dog was trembling all over, scared out of his wits.

I had never used a newspaper on Chip, but we guessed his original owner had. Swatting the flies seemed to trigger Chip’s PTSD. I quickly stopped my fly killing spree and gave Chip a cuddle to calm him down and show I wasn’t angry.     

The model Chip had been given, as a young pup, was one of cruelty and anger. Consequently, he lived in fear and interpreted otherwise benign actions as a threat.

People and dogs are similar in that both are shaped by the example they are exposed to. If a child is given the model of fairness, consistency and kindness, they will learn to feel secure and be more likely to make better choices in life.

But if a child is treated like Chip was as a puppy, well they need to be shown a better model.  

In verse 10 of Thessalonians 2, Paul writes: You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed.

Paul is talking here about the example he modelled for the Thessalonians.

Holiness is about being whole, being one, having integrity, being the same on the inside as you are on the outside. Righteousness is about relating to other people in a right way and being blameless is about doing no harm.

The three go together. They speak of treating God and the people around you with fairness and respect. Paul provided a good model for the Thessalonians in the way he lived his life and related with others.

Paul’s model, his regular pattern of behaviour, created a pathway for the young Thessalonian believers to follow. They learned how to be Christians by imitating Paul.

So, when Paul was abused or treated unfairly because of his testimony for Christ, they learned how a Christian responds in a situation like that, by observing Paul’s example. Paul did not retaliate with violence. But he did defend himself with words of grace and truth.

The question for us is this: What are others learning about Jesus from our example? Are they learning Jesus is someone to be trusted? Or are they put off by our example?

This question applies whether we have children of our own or not.

If you are a leader in kids’ church or youth group, know that the children and young people you work with are watching your example and learning from you. Some will be leaders themselves in another 5 or 10 years.

For those of you who are a bit older and maybe have less energy to serve in programmes these days, let me ask: what are those in their 30’s or 40’s or 50’s learning about Jesus from the way you live your life and relate with others?     

The older people in our congregation model a wonderful example of what it looks like to provide pastoral care and support for one another. You check in on your neighbours, your church attendance is great, you have lunch together regularly and you pray for others.

We are talking about what it means to parent well, whether you have kids of your own or not. Paul loved the Thessalonians. He modelled a good example for them and Paul coached them.

Paul’s coaching:

Being a father is a bit like being a coach. The coach does not do everything for his players. He teaches them to do things for themselves. After all, the coach cannot be on the field with the players. He can only watch and cheer from the side lines.

Like a coach, a father believes in his children. You show your kids you believe in them by trusting them with responsibility; this builds confidence. Giving kids responsibility is a bit like adding salt to food. Too much and you ruin the meal. Too little and the meal lacks taste. A father’s trust ought to bring out the best in his kids.

One of the most important roles of a father is to be there for their children, in a good way, to remind them they are not alone. Like a coach, a father comes alongside his kids when he is needed, to lend strength and understanding.

Or simply to share the experience.   

The right kind of fatherly presence is like being handed a torch when you are lost and in the dark. It is light for your mind.

The right kind of fatherly presence is like coming inside to sit by a fireplace when you have been outside in the freezing cold. It is warmth for your spirit.

The right kind of fatherly presence is like being served your favourite home cooked meal when you are famished. It is nourishment for your soul.

The right kind of fatherly presence is like crawling into a freshly made bed at the end of the day when you are exhausted. It is rest for your whole being.      

Who is there for you, when you need it? Who can you be there for? 

From verse 11 Paul says: For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 

Notice here that Paul dealt with each of the Thessalonians personally.

Paul came alongside them and got to know each one in a fatherly way.

How do fathers come alongside their children? How do they get to know them? By playing with them of course. The father / child relationship is not a formal relationship. It is a fun relationship. The father / child relationship is not an awkward or cold relationship. It is an affectionate, warm relationship.

By the same token, the father / child relationship is not a permissive relationship, in which the child can do whatever they want. It is a safe relationship, in which the father protects the child by putting reasonable boundaries in place.     

The next thing we notice (in verse 12) is the three verbs Paul uses to characterise the way in which he relates as a spiritual father to his Thessalonian children: encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God…

There’s quite a bit of overlap with encouraging, comforting and urging.

They are not three separate things. They offer three lenses on the same thing.

Encouraging, comforting and urging are done by teaching, believing in and being there.

To encourage literally means to put courage into someone. Children need courage to face the world; they don’t need fear. We put courage into children by speaking good words into their life and soul.

We also put courage into children by believing in them; trusting them with an appropriate amount of responsibility (when they are ready for it) and rewarding them when they do well.

Children need comfort from their fathers too. Comfort is not about spoiling your kids. Comfort is about showing kindness and tenderness, especially when a child has gone through a hard time. We comfort children by being there for them, being reliable. This makes our kids feel less alone, more brave.

Setting reasonable boundaries also creates a sense of security and comfort.

Last Friday’s Our Daily Bread devotional talked about boundaries. Elisa Morgan writes…

“A team of landscape architects studied the effects of providing fencing around a preschool playground. On playgrounds without fences, children tended to gather close to the school buildings and their teacher and didn’t stray away. But on fenced-in playgrounds, they enjoyed the entire area. The researchers concluded that boundaries can create a greater sense of freedom.”

Urging is about pointing children in the right direction, teaching them to find the right path for themselves. Urging is quite different from controlling or forcing or driving. Urging is about providing internal motivation to achieve a particular goal.

One of the best ways to urge children in the right direction is to tell them stories. Stories of redemption and hope. Stories where the hero wins against the odds. Stories that motivate the child to live the values of God’s kingdom. Gospel stories.  

The main goal with all of this is to live lives worthy of God. In other words, practice justice, mercy and humility. Practice living now how you will one day live when God’s kingdom is realised in its fullness. 

Conclusion:

Whether you have natural children of your own or not, you can still be a parent to others in the faith by loving them, modelling a good example and coming alongside to provide comfort and encouragement.

Let us pray…

Father God, we thank you for loving us. Lord Jesus, we thank you for modelling the best example for us. And Holy Spirit, we thank you for coaching us to live lives worthy of God. 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. Discuss reflect on the various ways one can be a parent. In what ways have you been a parent to others?
  3. What might love look like in a parenting relationship?
  4. Why is the example we model for others important? What example did Paul model for the believers in Thessalonica? What are others learning about Jesus from your example?
  5. How might we come alongside someone and get to know them?
  6. In the context of 1 Thessalonians 2, what does it mean to encourage, comfort and urge others in the Christian faith? How might we do this?
  7. Who has God used to encourage, comfort and urge you? Give thanks for them. Who can you encourage, comfort and urge to live a life worthy of God?    
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

Paul in Ephesus

Scripture: Acts 19:1-12

Video Link: https://youtu.be/k3K5R935iaQ

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Christian initiation
  • Evangelism strategy
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

In his book, ‘That they may have life’, Sri Lankan pastor, Daniel Niles writes: “Evangelism is witness. It is one beggar telling another beggar where to find food.”

Evangelism comes from a Greek word meaning ‘good news’. For Christians evangelism is telling others the good news about Jesus Christ. Evangelism can be as simple as one person telling another person how Jesus has helped them.

Evangelism is as necessary for life and survival as eating food. Evangelism is not a top-down thing, it’s a side-by-side thing. Those who do the evangelising are not better than those being evangelised, both need the bread of salvation.

Evangelism can be quite challenging in our society because most people do not think of themselves as beggars. Most people are not aware of their spiritual need.      

Today we continue 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. 

This week’s sermon focuses on Acts chapter 19, verses 1-12, where we learn how the apostle Paul did evangelism in the city of Ephesus. From Acts 19, verse 1, we read…

While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit whenyou believed?”

They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

3 So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”

“John’s baptism,” they replied.

4 Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tonguesand prophesied. 7 There were about twelve men in all. 8 Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. 9 But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. 11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.

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

There are two halves to our message today. In the first half we consider Christian initiation; that is, what’s involved in becoming a Christian.

And in the second half we observe Paul’s strategy of evangelism; in other words, how Paul went about reaching people with the gospel of Jesus. We begin with Christian initiation.

Christian Initiation:

For seeds to germinate they need the right amount of four things: water, oxygen, temperature and light.

Water is essential for seed germination. A baptism in water softens the seed so it swells and ruptures. Most seeds need to absorb between 25% and 50% of their weight in water before they will germinate.

Oxygen provides the energy the seed needs to grow. If seeds are planted too deep in the soil, they might not get the oxygen they need to sprout.

The temperature has to be right too. Different seeds germinate at different temperatures, but most activate between 16 and 25 degrees Celsius.

The fourth requirement for seed germination is the right amount of light or, in the case of some plants, the right amount of darkness.

In the same way the germination of a seed involves the right amount of water, oxygen, temperature and light, so too Christian initiation involves four things: repentance, faith in Jesus, baptism in water and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Repentance means turning away from sin. Repentance is a change of mind that leads to a positive change in behaviour. Repentance is when we stop walking away from God and start walking towards him.

Faith in Jesus means trusting our lives and our eternity to Jesus. Believing in his death and resurrection. Relying on Jesus’ righteousness and not our own. Holding to the sure hope that Jesus will save us.

Faith in Jesus is made possible by the work of the Holy Spirit. Without God’s Spirit, we cannot truly believe in Jesus or start walking toward God.

Baptism in water is an outward and visible sign of our faith in Jesus.

Water is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. To be baptised then is to signify that you have begun to follow Jesus with the help of the Holy Spirit.     

In the New Testament, repentance, faith in Jesus, baptism and the Holy Spirit are always present when someone becomes a Christian. The order in which these things happen may vary, but all four belong together when it comes to Christian initiation.

When Paul arrived in Ephesus he found some disciples. As he talks with them Paul notices something is off. These men seem to be missing something.

So Paul asks them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit whenyou believed?”     

They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

Now, that cannot be right. The Holy Spirit is mentioned many times throughout the Hebrew Scriptures and during his earthly ministry Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to his followers. Clearly, there is a gap in these disciples’ understanding of what it means to follow Jesus.

Paul knows that no one can truly believe in Jesus without the Holy Spirit, so he asks, “Then what baptism did you receive?”

“John’s baptism,” they replied. Now everything becomes clear. They are not disciples of Jesus; they are disciples of John the Baptist. 

 Paul explains, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”

These 12 men could not have been Christian before meeting Paul, because they had not believed in Jesus up to that point. They were aware of their sin and committed to repentance, but they did not know Jesus personally, through the Holy Spirit.  

From verse 5 we read: 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tonguesand prophesied.

As I understand it, the Ephesian disciples received the Spirit and believed in Jesus on the same day they were baptised. When Paul laid his hands on them to baptise them in water, they received the Spirit as a gift from Jesus.

How were you initiated into the Christian faith? As I reflect on the Ephesians’ experience, I’m conscious of how different it was from my own experience of Christian initiation. When I came to faith in the early 1980’s, there seemed to be three stages to becoming a Christian.

Praying the sinners’ prayer and asking Jesus into your heart, stage one.

Then, after some time had passed, getting baptised in water, stage two.

And then after some more waiting, being prayed for to receive the Holy Spirit.   

Others of you may have a had different experience again. Perhaps you were baptised as a baby, then later confirmed your faith in Jesus as a young person.   

This idea of Christian initiation involving two or three separate events over a period of years was a foreign concept to Paul and the other apostles. Must Christian initiation conform to the pattern we read of in the book of Acts?

Hmmm. We should not be too dogmatic about how the Spirit of God brings people to faith in Jesus. The Holy Spirit does not have to conform to our rules and formulas. Our part is to be open to the work of the Spirit and to trust and obey Jesus out of love for God.

What we can say with confidence is that Christian initiation, both now and then, involves repentance, faith in Jesus, baptism in water and the gift of the Holy Spirit. But the order and timing may vary from person to person. Are any of these four aspects missing for you? What might God be saying?

Another question we may stew over is how do we know we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit? Repentance can be measured and baptism in water can be seen, but it may be more difficult to sense the Spirit.

Verse 6 says the Ephesians spoke in tongues and prophesied when they received the Holy Spirit. Does that mean tongues and prophecy are the signs you have received the Spirit? Well, they can be. But not always.

The Holy Spirit gives all sorts of different gifts. Not everyone who receives the Spirit speaks in tongues or utters words of prophesy like the Ephesians did.

So if you don’t speak in tongues, then don’t worry. The Spirit may give you assurance of your salvation in other ways. Some may feel their heart strangely warmed. Others may be filled with a profound sense of peace.

For me, the Spirit sometimes comes with tears. It is the feeling of being overwhelmed by grace. Humbled by God’s goodness so I cannot talk. Speechless in the presence of the Lord.

Whether you have had a special experience or not, the primary sign of the Spirit is faith in Jesus. You know the Holy Spirit has been given to you when you trust in Jesus. The Spirit makes Jesus close and real.

The question remains for each one of us, do we believe in Jesus? Believing in Jesus is not just a one-off event. Faith in Jesus is on-going, the journey of a lifetime. Therefore, we need to go on being filled with the Holy Spirit to keep faith with Jesus. Don’t stop believing.   

Evangelism strategy:

Okay, that is Christian initiation. Now let us consider Paul’s strategy for evangelism. How did Paul share the good news about Jesus with the people of Ephesus?

You’ve probably heard of the story of the three little pigs. You know the one. The first pig built his house out of straw and the big bad wolf blew his house down and ate the little pig. The second pig built his house out of sticks and the wolf blew his house down and ate him too.

But the third little pig built her house out of bricks and no matter how much the wolf blew, he could not blow her house down.

I suppose the moral of the story is this: to keep the wolf from your door you need to be prepared. It may take longer to build your house out of bricks and it may cost more, but it will be worth it in the end.

In line with the wisdom of being prepared, there’s a Chinese proverb which says: “If you are planning for a year, plant rice. If you are planning for a decade, plant trees. If you are planning for a lifetime, educate people.”

When Paul went about evangelising, he planned for a lifetime. Paul invested a lot of time and energy educating people in the way of Jesus, so their faith would be brick house strong, built to last.

When Paul arrived in Ephesus, he started in the Jewish synagogue. Paul spoke boldly about the kingdom of God, using reason to persuade people that Jesus is the Messiah and therefore people should repent and believe in him.

Starting with the Jews was good evangelism strategy. There was already common ground; Paul did not have to start from scratch. Jesus and Paul were both Jewish and the Hebrew Scriptures point to Jesus.    

Despite the common ground though, some of the Jews refused to believe Paul’s message and started to bad mouth the Way. The Way is code for the way of Christ. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Jesus the Son.

Being maligned and rejected by his own people grieved Paul deeply. It was no easy thing for him walk away. In Acts 20, verse 19, Paul says of his time in Ephesus: “I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, although I was severely tested by the Jews”. 

When Paul’s evangelism was rejected, Paul did not waste energy fighting those who were entrenched and stuck in their ways. He left the synagogue and took the disciples he had baptised with him.

Paul then carried on educating people about Jesus and the kingdom of God in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This lecture hall was neutral ground. It was a public space that anyone (Jew or Greek) could access.

Paul did not just give lectures though. Paul held discussions, he dialogued with people, using reasoned arguments to educate and persuade. The Alpha Course is a contemporary version of evangelism modelled off Paul’s strategy of reasoned discussion and persuasion. Alpha is worth doing.

Not everyone goes down the Alpha path though. Some come to faith in Jesus after hearing an emotional appeal. The music plays, the smoke machine purrs, the mood lighting comes on and the speaker pulls on everyone’s heart strings (or guilt strings). Then, in the heat of the moment, people come forward to make a commitment to Jesus.

These sorts of emotionally based commitments don’t usually last, unless followed up by someone who intentionally comes alongside the new believer to nurture and disciple them.   

Paul did not build his house with the straw and sticks of raw emotion and stage tricks. Paul built his house with the bricks and reinforcing steel of sound argument and truth. Paul planned for a lifetime.

Verse 10 tells us; this went on for two years so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.       

Ephesus was like a hub for the province of Asia in the first century. People from the surrounding towns came to Ephesus to do their shopping, visit their family or watch the games. While in Ephesus they got to hear the gospel through Paul.

Some took what they heard back home with them. And so the gospel spread by word of mouth.  

In Acts 20, verse 20, we learn that Paul also went house to house telling people to repent and have faith in Jesus. A strong work ethic was woven through Paul’s evangelism strategy. And the Spirit of God was clearly with Paul, upholding and empowering him every step of the way.

In verses 11 and 12 of Acts 19, we read how God did extraordinary miracles through Paul. The people of ancient Ephesus were spiritually aware. Some dabbled in magic and the occult. When people saw the power of God to heal and deliver, many turned away from sorcery and the dark arts to follow Jesus.

The miraculous signs and wonders done by God, verified Paul’s gospel message as authentic and true. If you read on in Acts 19 you will see how Paul’s evangelism eventually divided the city. People were confronted with the truth about Jesus and had to choose a side. Evangelism takes ground for God’s kingdom.

Although it is not covered in our reading today, an important part of Paul’s evangelism strategy was establishing an organisational structure to take care of the young church after he was gone. In Acts 20 we learn that Paul had appointed pastors and elders to protect and care for the new believers.

In verse 28 Paul says to the elders of the church at Ephesus: Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. 

Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.

Perhaps the most important part of any evangelism strategy is love. Persuasive arguments and intelligent apologetics only get you so far. If we do not love the people we are trying to reach, the message won’t sound true.

Paul’s love for the Ephesians and their love for him is evident in Paul’s farewell speech to them in Acts 20. From verse 37 we read: They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. 38 What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. 

Conclusion:

Paul’s Herculean efforts of evangelism are intimidating. It may feel like too much of a leap to try and imitate Paul exactly. Let me offer a few practical strategies for evangelism which most Christians can attempt…

Look for people of peace. That is, people who are open to talking about faith and friendly in their attitude to things Christian. Paul started with the disciples of John the Baptist, people of peace. He did not start with the witches and gangsters of Ephesus.    

Pray for someone who does not yet know Jesus. Pray for them by name, daily, that the Holy Spirit would make Jesus close and real for them.

Know what you believe. Educate yourself. Read your Bible and think about how Jesus has been good for you personally. Be ready, prepared to talk about what Jesus means to you and what you really believe.

Love others. To love others means being kind and fair.  Listening generously. Showing up when you are needed. Doing no harm. Being patient and respectful.

And when you are given the opportunity to talk about Jesus, be brave without being arrogant. Don’t be ashamed or embarrassed. Be straight up. Own your faith with humility. Stand by it and trust your testimony to the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray…    

Gracious God, you love those who don’t yet know you. May the good news about Jesus be real for each of us, personally. Give us wise words and a winsome Spirit to tell others about Christ. Glorify yourself 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. Who first told you about Jesus? How did they do this?
  3. What is evangelism? Why is evangelism important?
  4. How were you initiated into the Christian faith? Are any of the four aspects of Christian initiation missing for you? If so, which aspect(s)? What might God be saying to you?
  5. How do we know we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit? How does the Spirit make Jesus close and real for you?
  6. Discuss / reflect on Paul’s evangelism strategy in Ephesus.
  7. What can you do to share the love and truth of Jesus with others?