Tawa Baptist

On this rock…

Scripture: Matthew 16:13-20

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

Audio Link: Stream Sermon – 21 Jun 2026 – On this rock… by tawabaptist | Listen online for free on SoundCloud

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Clear identity
  • Stable leadership
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

You don’t own a cricket bat just to oil it. The purpose of a cricket bat is to score runs. Of course, a bat cannot score runs by itself. It needs to be guided by the hands of a skilled cricketer.

Likewise, you don’t buy a tea pot just to keep it on the shelf looking pretty.

The purpose of a tea pot is to brew tea. But the pot cannot make the tea by itself. A person needs to pour the water and add the leaves.

You don’t purchase a tractor to leave it sitting in the shed. The purpose of a tractor is to do work in the field. However, the tractor isn’t going to operate itself. The tractor needs a driver.   

The church does not exist for itself. The purpose of a church is to carry out God’s mission, his purpose in the world. But the church cannot carry out God’s mission by itself. The church, which is the community of God’s people, is built up, guided and moved by the Spirit of Jesus.

Over the past couple of weeks our messages have been in support of the work of Arotahi, our New Zealand Baptist missions organization. Two weeks ago, we heard how Mary said yes to God’s call on her life. And last Sunday we heard how Jesus is our way home to God.

In today’s message we listen in to Jesus’ conversation with his disciples about building his church. From Matthew 16, verses 13-20, we read… 

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hadeswill not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will bebound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will beloosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

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

This morning’s message is about building the church. Not the bricks and mortar construction of church buildings, but the spiritual and relational formation of a community of people who believe in Jesus. The church is the people.

As he talks about building his church community, Jesus has two things in mind: clear identity and stable leadership.

The Christian church gets its identity from Jesus and it requires stable leadership; leadership that is guided and sustained by the Spirit of Jesus.   

Clear identity:

Front and centre of today’s reading is the importance of having a clear sense of identity; we need to be clear about who we are. Without a clear identity, the church risks being assimilated into the surrounding culture. We don’t want to lose our saltiness, our distinctiveness, and become just another club.

Some of you may be familiar with the Avatar movies, made by James Cameron. This series of films features a fictional people known as the Na’vi. The Na’vi have blue skin. They live close to the natural world and they care for it. The Na’vi have a clear sense of identity. They know who they are and what they value.

When the Na’vi’s world is invaded by corporate raiders wanting to steal the planet’s natural resources, the Na’vi do not assimilate. They stay true to who they are. They remain clear on their identity and hold to their values.

The Na’vi have a saying, ‘I see you’. More than just a way of greeting people,

‘I see you’ is an acknowledgement of who that person is, deep in their soul.

It conveys respect, understanding and value for the person.

‘I see you’ is often accompanied by the gesture of moving one’s hand from the forehead to the chest, signifying trust and profound spiritual connection.    

As human beings we have a deep longing to be seen, in this way, by someone. We even have a word for it; intimacy. Into-me-see.

In verse 13 of Matthew 16, Jesus asks his disciples “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” The Son of Man is Jesus’ way of referring to himself. Jesus is asking, ‘Who do people (in general) say I am?’ It is a question of identity.

The disciples reply, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Each of these people were servants of God, his spokesmen.

Herod thought Jesus was John the Baptist returned from the dead. Herod’s conscience was haunting him after he had John killed.

Elijah was one of Israel’s greatest prophets. He lived during the time of king Ahab and queen Jezabel. Like Jesus, Elijah confronted false religion and afterwards was taken up to heaven. Unlike Jesus, Elijah used violence.

People at the time of Jesus believed Elijah would return to herald the coming of God’s Messiah. In fact, it was John the Baptist who prepared the way for Jesus.

Jeremiah was probably more like Jesus than any of the other prophets.

Like Jesus, Jeremiah was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And like Jesus, Jeremiah, challenged the Jewish nationalism of his day, without resorting to violence. He had the unpopular task to telling his people to submit to their enemies. Sadly, the people paid a high price for not listening to Jesus or Jeremiah.   

In some respects, calling Jesus a prophet was no small thing. The Jews of the first century did not think God had spoken through a prophet in 400 years. And while it is true that Jesus was a prophet, this title is not adequate for him. Jesus is more than a prophet. The people of Jesus’ day did not see him, not properly.

So Jesus said to his disciples, “But what about you? Who do you say I am?”
And Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Peter nailed it. Peter sees who Jesus really is.

Messiah is a Hebrew word which literally means ‘anointed one’. Christ is the Greek equivalent. In Old Testament times, God selected someone to be a prophet or priest or king by having his messenger pour oil over their head; oil being a symbol of the Holy Spirit’s anointing.

Jesus is God’s anointed one. He is not just a prophet. He is priest and King as well. More than this, there is something qualitatively different about Jesus.

He is in a league of his own. He is the Son of God. There is no other prophet, priest or king who comes close to Jesus. No other with the same standing.  

As Son of God, Jesus knows the mind of his Father. Indeed, Jesus reveals God the Father. To see Jesus is to see God.

Only God can reveal God, and so Jesus affirms Peter’s declaration, saying: Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter… 

The name Peter means rock. It’s like Jesus is saying to Peter, “I see you. You are a rock, strong, dependable.”

Two points of application here. Firstly, our discovery of Jesus’ identity must be a personal discovery. Peter was not following the crowd. His perception of Jesus was not influenced by the surrounding culture. Peter was able to see who Jesus really is because God revealed it to him personally.  

Being a Christian is more than simply knowing about Jesus. Being a Christian means knowing Jesus through a personal relationship with him. Recognising who Jesus really is, on the inside. Understanding that he is Lord of life and death, that he alone is righteous; and therefore, worthy of our trust and obedience. To see Jesus is to have an intimate spiritual connection with him.  

Only God can reveal God. We need the Holy Spirit to turn the lights on in our mind and spirit if we are to see Jesus. 

The second point of application is this: We don’t define ourselves. Jesus defines us. Peter was not always called Peter. His given name was Simon. Jesus gives Simon a new name (a new identity) and a new purpose.

The surrounding culture we live in says, you can create your own identity; you can define yourself. Our surrounding culture is at odds with the gospel of Jesus. We don’t create our own identity. Our identity and purpose are intimately entwined with Jesus. It is in discovering who Jesus is, for ourselves personally, that we discover who we are and why we are.

A cricket bat is not a cricket bat until it is in the hands of the batsman. Without the batsman, the bat is just a piece of wood. Jesus is the batsman.

A tea pot is not a tea pot until it holds the tea. Without someone to pour the water and add the leaves, it is just a pretty ornament, an empty vessel. Jesus is the one who pours the water and makes the tea.  

A tractor is not a tractor until it is put to work in the field. Without the driver, the tractor is just a hunk of metal sitting in the shed. Jesus is the driver. Jesus defines us.

We do not know who we are or why we are without Christ. Jesus shows us our true self and he helps us to fulfil our God given purpose. More than that, Jesus defines the church (the body of believers) and he enables the church to fulfil God’s mission.         

Whenever someone asks me what the vision of the church is, my answer is always the same, Jesus is the vision. Jesus is God’s vision for the church. No one can improve on him.

Stable leadership:

The Christian church gets its identity from Jesus. But for the church to have a sustainable future, it needs stable leadership; a team of people who will steady the ship and make decisions that are in keeping with the will of Christ.

After Peter makes his personal discovery that Jesus is God’s anointed one, the Lord then goes on to appoint Peter as leader for the early the church. In verse 18 Jesus says: “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hadeswill not overcome it…”  

The word translated as church is literally assembly, as in the assembly of God’s people. As already mentioned, the Christian church is not a physical building or even an institution. The church, as Jesus describes it, is a gathering of people who can say with Peter, “I see you Jesus. You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”    

That Jesus is building his church on a rock speaks of stability. The church has a secure, strong, dependable foundation. So strong in fact that the gates of Hades shall not overcome it.    

Hades is the Greek name for the realm of the dead. Some English versions say the gates of hell, but that translation is misleading. Hades is not the same as our modern concept of hell. We think of hell as a place of torment and demons and destruction. But Hades, in this context, is simply a metaphor for death, no torture or suffering implied.

Jesus is saying his church will be stronger than death. Indeed, those who are part of Jesus’ church (his assembly of people) will be raised from the dead.

The church on earth may not appear that strong or robust, but it is eternally secure, not because of Peter but because of Jesus.

As we have already noted, the name Peter means rock. When Jesus says that the apostle Peter will be the rock on which he builds his church, he is speaking poetically. In plain language, Peter will be the leader of the early church; his leadership will give stability to the church community, like a rock foundation gives stability to an actual building.

Now when we think of leadership, we picture the person at the top. But that is not the picture Jesus gives us of leadership. According to the logic of God’s kingdom, the leader is on the bottom, like the foundation of a building. The leader paves the way for others; the leader supports others.

Providing stable leadership includes setting standards for the community; making it clear what is acceptable and what is not. In verse 19 Jesus says to Peter, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven;

This verse has been prone to quite a lot of misunderstanding over the years.

In popular culture, there is this idea that Saint Peter stands at the pearly gates, deciding who to let in and who to turn away. But this is not what Jesus had in mind in Matthew 16. Peter does not decide who gets into heaven. That is God’s decision.

We are better to understand the keys to the kingdom of heaven as the gospel concerning Jesus. As we heard last Sunday, Jesus is the way to God the Father. Therefore, the key is believing in Jesus. But how are people to believe in Jesus unless someone tells them the good news about Jesus?

Peter and the other apostles opened the door to the kingdom of heaven by their witness and preaching about Jesus. For example, in Acts 2 at Pentecost, Peter opened the door of the kingdom for 3,000 souls when he called on those present to repent and believe in the risen Jesus.

Likewise, in Acts 8, Peter and John opened the door of the kingdom for the Samaritans, by praying for those who believed in Jesus to receive the Holy Spirit, which they did.

And then, in Acts 10, Peter opened the door of the kingdom for the Gentile, Cornelius and his household. By doing this Peter was laying the foundation, paving the way, for all peoples to enter God’s kingdom through faith in Jesus.  

Of course, Peter was not doing this on his own initiative. Peter was responding to the impulse of Jesus’ Spirit.

Jesus continues addressing Peter saying, “…whatever you bind on earth will bebound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will beloosed in heaven.”

Binding has to do with what one forbids or prohibits, while loosing has to do with what one permits or allows.

During the first century the Jewish Rabbis had responsibility for interpreting the Law of Moses. Their interpretation either bound certain things (meaning it was prohibited), or it loosed certain things (meaning it was permitted).

Jesus is the word of God. In Jesus we have someone greater than the Law of Moses. Indeed, Jesus is the true interpretation of the Law. Peter has just confessed Jesus as the Son of God and so Peter (and the other disciples) were given the responsibility of interpreting the teaching of Jesus. [1]

To be clear, it is not that Peter makes a decision and heaven then endorses it. No. It’s the other way round. Peter is not the initiator of new directions for the church, he is the faithful steward of God’s prior decisions. [2]

Jesus’ words to Peter here are a promise of divine guidance. If Peter is like the cricket bat, then Jesus is the batsman guiding Peter. If Peter is like the tea pot, then Jesus is the one who fills Peter with the water of his Spirit and the tea of his word. If Peter is like the tractor, then Jesus is the one in the driver’s seat. The Spirit of Jesus is guiding Peter in accordance with God’s will in heaven.

We see an example of the Spirit’s guidance in Acts 10. Just before Peter went to preach the gospel to Cornelius (the Gentile), the Lord gave him a vision of all sorts of animals both clean and unclean, saying it was okay to eat them. This happened three times to reassure Peter it was okay to fellowship with Gentiles.

This vision gave Peter authority to loosen the tradition around food and fellowship so that the gospel of Jesus could spread. Without this direction from heaven, Peter could not have opened the door of God’s kingdom for Cornelius and other Gentiles.    

Conclusion:

This morning we have heard how Jesus builds his church; the community of his people. Two things are crucial for building the church. Having a clear identity in Christ and having stable leadership, which is guided by the Spirit of Jesus.  

For more than 140 years New Zealand Baptists have been involved globally in planting and building churches by training pastors and evangelists and supporting church associations so that churches are equipped to grow.

In particular, New Zealand Baptists have helped to plant churches in Tripura, a northern state of India. We have worked alongside these churches for 87 years. Now, with local growth, there are 1,000 Baptist churches with over 100,000 members who collectively make up over 60% of all the Christians in Tripura.

The Tripura Theological College is the only theological college in the state.

To serve such a large population, it needs support to train people to interpret God’s word and provide stable leadership for the church.

Following this morning’s sermon (while we are singing our closing song) the stewards will take up the special Renew Together offering for the work of Arotahi. Some of this money will help support the building of Jesus’ church in Tripura.

Now though, let us pray…

Jesus, you are the one who builds your church. Our identity is found in you. You define us. Help us to stay true to who we are in you. Bless your church, here in Aotearoa and overseas, with stable leadership guided by your Spirit. 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 the church? Why does the church exist? What is the purpose of the church? What is God’s purpose for you in relation to his church?
  3. Why is having a clear sense of identity important for the church? Where does the church’s identity come from? How do we strengthen / maintain our sense of Christian identity?
  4. When did you first ‘see’ Jesus? How did this happen for you?
  5. Why is stable leadership important for the church? What does stable leadership look like?
  6. Discuss / reflect on Matthew 16, verse 19. What does verse mean? What does it not mean? In what sense did Peter unlock the doors of the kingdom for people? What does it mean to bind and loose?    
  7. Who are you?

Bibliography:

  • R.V.G. Tasker, ‘TNTC: The Gospel According to St Matthew’, 1963.
  • William Barclay, ‘Gospel of Matthew Vol. 2’, 1967.
  • Michael Green, ‘BST: The Message of Matthew’, 2000.
  • R.T. France, ‘NICNT: The Gospel of Matthew’, 2007.
  • Craig Keener, ‘The Gospel of Matthew – A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary’, 2009.

[1] Green, page 180.

[2] France, page 627.

Tawa Baptist

The Way Home

Scripture: John 14:1-7

Video Link: https://youtu.be/L8xoKm0YL8g

Audio Link: Stream Sermon – 14 Jun 2026 – The Way Home by tawabaptist | Listen online for free on SoundCloud

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Jesus is our hope (vv.1-3)
  • Jesus is our way home (vv.4-7)
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Having a home, a place to live and belong, is foundational to our wellbeing.

It is a deeply seated need; essential not just for our physical survival, but for our soul and spirit too. Having a place to call home gives us a sense of security and connectedness.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, more than 117 million people have been forced to flee their homes due to persecution, conflict or violence. That equates to 1 in every 70 people on the planet and it doesn’t include those hundreds of millions of people around the world who are homeless in their own country due to poverty.

Today we continue our annual Renew Together campaign in support of Arotahi, our New Zealand Baptist missions organization. The Renew Together campaign runs during June, culminating with a special appeal next Sunday.

Today’s message draws on part of Jesus’ farewell discourse in John 14, where the Lord talks to his disciples about the eternal home he is preparing for them. Jesus is the way home to God. From John chapter 14, verse 1 we read…

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

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

There are two main points to our message this morning. The first is that Jesus is our hope. The second is that Jesus is our way home.

Jesus is our hope:

Hope and home are two words that go together. They are almost spelt the same, just one letter difference. Swap the p for an m and your hope becomes a home. More than mere spelling though, our hope is often intimately entwined with our desire to find and make a home.

Hope is believing you have a good future. Or to say it another way, hope is knowing your future is secure. When you don’t have a home, you look for one, in hope. You imagine what that home will be like. You look forward to finding a home, a place where you can be secure and belong.   

Let me tell you a story, an allegory, about the hope of finding a home.

Once there was a small boat carrying refugees across the ocean to a neighbouring country. The refugees were not safe in their own land and were looking for a new home. A place where they could be secure and find peace.   

During the night a storm blew up capsizing the boat. Most of the those on board managed to swim to a nearby island but not everyone made it.

Once ashore one of their number, a young man in his thirties called Josh, emerged as their leader. He found water, built a shelter, made fire, caught fish and took care of the sick and injured.

The survivors loved Josh and depended on him; he possessed a wisdom beyond his years. His kindness kept them calm. Although stranded on a remote island, this small group felt safe with Josh, much safer than in the war-torn land they had escaped from. In many ways Josh became their home.

After three years on the island, a ship was spotted on the horizon. It was headed straight for them. At first the survivors were excited. It looked like they were going to be rescued.

But when they realised it was a pirate ship, their joy turned to terror. Josh was not afraid though; he saw this as an opportunity. If he allowed himself to be captured by the pirates, he could escape the island and then come back to rescue the others. It was a daring plan, but he knew going away was the only way to secure his friends’ future.

Josh’s community were deeply troubled by the idea. They wanted to keep their leader with them. Josh was their security. All their hope was wrapped up in him. But what could they do. They were not strong enough to fight the pirates and no one else was going to help them.

Sensing how they felt, Josh reassured them he would return one day and take them to be with him.

The next morning the pirates anchored in the bay and sent a raiding party ashore to scavenge what they could. Josh went out to meet them while his friends hid in the trees. Quite unaware of the other survivors on the island, the pirates kidnapped Josh and sailed away. Josh had saved his friends by surrendering himself to evil men.

At first, those left on the island were distraught, thinking Josh was dead and the plan had failed.

But after several weeks, an airplane flew over, dropping supplies to the island by parachute. There was a note with the supplies. It read, “I made it and I’m coming back for you.” The survivors took heart and lived with the hope of knowing their future was secure. 

For those who need me to connect the dots, the Josh in this story represents Jesus and the survivors on the island are like Jesus’ disciples. The pirates are the pharisees who took Jesus away to be crucified and the supply drop is the gift of the Holy Spirit.

In verse 1 of John 14, Jesus says to his disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled…” Why are the disciples so deeply troubled?

Well, Jesus has just been explaining that he has to go away and leave them for a while, by which he means he is going to surrender himself to evil men and be killed.

The disciples are understandably upset by this. They have sacrificed a lot to follow Jesus, including leaving their homes and families. Indeed, Jesus has become their home and their security. Now they are going to be separated from him, the one they love and depend on, the one they have invested all their hope in.  

With this in view Jesus reassures his friends that the separation is not permanent; but it is necessary if he is to secure their future. Jesus is going to prepare a place for them in his Father’s house, that is in heaven. The preparation Jesus has in mind here is his atoning sacrifice on the cross.  

There are times in our journey of faith, when Jesus feels very absent. Times of darkness when our peace and joy are stolen. Times when our prayers don’t seem to make it past the ceiling and our heart feels empty. Times when all we can do is wait out the spiritual winter in faith and hope.

In stillness and trust is your salvation. The Lord has not forgotten you. He will return for you.

In verse 3, Jesus promises to come back for his disciples and take them to be with him. Just as Josh had to leave the island to find the means to rescue his friends, so too Jesus had to leave this world (via the cross) in order to save us.

Most commentators agree Jesus is talking about his second coming in glory here. After Jesus died, he was raised to life by God on the third day. Then he appeared to his disciples for 40 days before being taken up to heaven.

Ten days after his ascension, the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost and is still being poured out. One day, we don’t know when, Jesus will return for those who love and trust him. That is our hope, a hope which is guaranteed by Jesus’ resurrection and ascension.

Jesus is our hope and Jesus is our way home.

Jesus is our way home:

Another story for you. This one is a true story about finding my way home; one I’ve told a couple of times in sermons. When I was about four, I got lost, separated from my mum, in Chartwell Square. Chartwell Square was, at the time, Hamilton’s largest shopping mall.

At first, I felt fine. I just walked around looking up at everyone. But it didn’t take long before I started to get upset. The mall was new and big. I wasn’t familiar with it and I had no idea where to find my mother.

The adults around me were friendly enough but as is often the case with adults, they were not much help. They didn’t know where my mum was or even who she was.    

For some reason (perhaps God put the idea into my head) I decided that my best bet was to return to our car, which at that time was a burnt orange Mark 1 Ford Escort (similar to this one); relatively easy to find. Being the 1970’s no one locked their cars, so I let myself in and waited.

I just wanted to go home and I knew the car was my way home. Eventually my mum did return to the Ford Escort, relieved to find her son safe and sound.

In verse 4 of John 14, Jesus reassures his disciples that they know the way to the place where he is going. Thomas, who is known for his doubt and his honesty, says: “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

To which Jesus famously replies: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me…”    

Jesus was going home to his Father, in heaven. Therefore, Jesus is the way home. We come to God the Father by being in Christ.

To put it another way, Jesus is like the car in my story. Find the car and you are guaranteed a ride home. Find Jesus, remain in him, and you will be taken to God the Father. Jesus doesn’t just give you directions on how to get to the Father. Jesus takes you to God the Father himself.

The emphasis in these verses is on Jesus being the way to God the Father. Access to the Father is only through Jesus. The idea that Jesus is the only way to God is offensive to many people these days. It comes across as arrogant, like Christians think they better than everyone else.

Well, Christians are not better than everyone else. The ground at the foot of the cross is level. As one of my lecturers (Brian Harris) used to say, ‘We are all sinners and we are all sinned against’.

A Christian is not better than others. I Christian knows they fall short and is relying on Jesus’ righteousness.

While it is true that Jesus is the only way to God the Father, it is also true there are many ways to come to Jesus. We human beings have only one heart, but there are many blood vessels leading to our heart.

Some people come to Jesus because a friend introduces them. Others encounter Jesus in a dream or through a miraculous intervention in their life. And still others (smart people like C.S. Lewis) work it out logically, rationally.  

Whatever way we might come to Jesus, we won’t really accept him (not properly) until we know our need for him. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. The horse will only drink if it is thirsty. It is our need, our thirst, our hunger, which makes us open to receiving Jesus.   

Someone might say, what about those who don’t know anything about Jesus? It’s not an even playing field, especially if you are born in a country that is not friendly to Christianity.

Well, God is fair. He takes all those factors into account. We don’t know how God will work things out in the end, but we do know he will do what is right by each person. The worst we can expect is justice. The best we can expect is mercy.

Jesus also said he is the truth. We (in the west) tend to think of truth as a body of knowledge, or a system of belief. Something is true or false; it is fact or fiction. For example, it is true to say the sun rises in the east, but it is false to say the earth is flat.

And while that captures part of what truth is, it is not the whole picture. Jesus takes a broader view, a more relational view. Jesus says he is the truth. Which means, truth is more than just a body of knowledge or a system of belief. Truth is a person; someone we can relate with.

The body of knowledge Jesus passed on to us (his teaching) is true because Jesus is true. If we think of our faith as a house, then Jesus is the foundation of the house.

When the foundation of a house is straight and true, the walls are straight and true. The doors and windows open and shut easily, the picture frames hang properly, the roof doesn’t leak and everything else is level.

But if the foundation of the house is crocked or untrue, the rest of the house will be out of square and prone to problems.     

We can trust Jesus’ word to us because Jesus is true. We can build our life on the foundation of Jesus’ teaching and know that the house will stand, because Jesus is on the level. He is faithful, reliable, trustworthy, strong.

Another example of what Jesus means when he says, ‘I am the truth’.

It’s like the difference between whole foods and processed foods. Whole foods are foods which are eaten in their natural state (or close to it). Things like fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts, grains and boiled eggs. Whole foods have a high nutritional value. They sustain you through the day.

Processed foods (on the other hand) have been altered or modified. Processed foods, like biscuits and white bread and fruit loops, tend to be high in sugar and carbohydrates, but low in nutritional value. They give you a quick pick me up, they make you feel good for a short while, but they don’t sustain you. They let you down over the long haul.

Receiving the truth of Jesus is like eating whole food. It is high in nutritional value, it sustains you. It doesn’t let you down. You can rely on it.   

Jesus doesn’t just tell us things that are true, he embodies the truth in himself. Jesus shows us the truth by his example. The Lord practices what he preaches. Jesus says, ‘love your enemies’ and when his enemies strike him, he turns the other cheek.  

The suffering of Christ shows us Jesus is trustworthy. He is true. You can rely on him.

Jesus completes the trifecta by saying, “I am the life”. Now, most people today think of life in merely physical terms. If you are breathing and your heart is beating, then you are alive. That is a relatively narrow definition of life. Again, Jesus takes a broader view, a more relational view on life.

In Christian understanding, life is connection. Specifically, connection with God.

The life of a plant depends on its connection with the sun. A plant can survive through the night, but if the night never ends, the plant will die. For a plant, life is connection with the sun.

Likewise, the life of a human being depends on their connection with God.

We can survive through the dark night of the soul, when it feels like God is absent, but if we are separated from the light of God for too long, we will die.

Without a real connection with God, our heart may still beat and our lungs fill with air, but our spirit will be dead. We will lose the capacity to give and receive love. We might exist but existing is not the same as living.

Eternal life is not existing forever. That would be a kind of hell. Eternal life is never ending connection with God. Eternal life is intimacy with God, forever. Life that is worth living. Life that never grows tired. Life that keeps its wonder and vitality.

Conclusion:

In verse 7 of John 14, Jesus indicates it is through him that we are able to have intimacy with God. Jesus says to his disciples, “If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

Very simply, Jesus shows us God. If you want to know what God is like, if you want intimacy with God, then look to Jesus, remain in him. To remain in Christ is to stay connected to God, the source of life. As we remain in Christ, the Spirit works through us to create life-giving connections for others.   

Putting it all together, God is our home and Jesus takes us home to God, so stick with Jesus.

This year Arotahi is building homes; physical bricks and mortar which serve as places of security where people can connect with Jesus and each other.  

In partnership with the Bangladesh Baptist Church Fellowship, Arotahi is building hostels in Bangladesh for children. In addition to this, Arotahi is building homes here in Aotearoa, New Zealand for people who face barriers and adversity, including former refugees.

These homes will provide safe and stable spaces for people to live and belong. They will be rented at social housing provider rates to ensure affordability.

The rent received will contribute to the care of the children in the Bangladesh hostels.

Over the years to come, the value of these local homes will grow, creating a lasting legacy that will contribute to Arotahi’s future work.  

Let us pray…

Jesus, you are the way home to God. You are our hope, our security, our place to belong. Make us fruitful as we remain in you and wait for your return. 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 a home? Why is home important?
  3. Why are the disciples so deeply troubled? Why did Jesus have to go away?
  4. Have you ever been lost? What happened and how did you find your way home? 
  5. Discuss / reflect on Jesus’ statement: “I am the way, the truth and the life”. What does it mean that Jesus is the way? What does it mean that Jesus is the truth? What does it mean that Jesus is the life? 
  6. Why do we need to remain in Christ? How do we stay connected to Jesus?
  7. Do you know someone in need of connection? How might you reach out to them? 

Bibliography

  • R.V.G. Tasker, ‘TNTC: The Gospel according to John’, 1960.
  • William Barclay, ‘The Gospel of John: Vol. 2’, 1975.
  • Bruce Milne, ‘BST: The Message of John’, 1993.
  • Leon Morris, ‘NICNT: The Gospel According to John (Revised)’, 1995.
  • Gary Burge, ‘NIVAC: John’, 2000.
Tawa Baptist

Mary Said Yes

Scriptures:   Luke 1:26-38, Matthew 2:13-15, Luke 2:41-50,

Mark 3:20-21 & 32-35, Luke 14:31-33 and John 19:25-27.

Video Link: https://youtu.be/cBEKGkHA5rE

Audio Link: Stream Sermon – 7 Jun 2026 – Mary Said Yes by tawabaptist | Listen online for free on SoundCloud

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Saying yes requires faith
  • Saying yes changes you
  • Saying yes costs you
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Yes, is a powerful word. Yes, makes things happen. Yes, can change the course of your life and sometimes the course of history.

Some yeses are relatively low impact, like when someone asks you for the time or when they ask you to open a jar of pickles and you oblige. Other yeses cost you more and cannot be taken back, like enlisting in the army or agreeing to start a family.

Today we begin our annual Renew Together campaign in support of Arotahi, our New Zealand Baptist missions organization. The Renew Together campaign runs over the first three Sundays in June, culminating with a special appeal on the 21 June.

Today’s message draws on the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Let’s read how Mary said yes to God, from Luke chapter 1, verse 26…

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favour with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be calledthe Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.” 38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

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

Today’s message is about saying yes to God: saying yes requires faith, saying yes changes you and saying yes costs you. Let’s continue with the faith that’s required to say yes to God.

Saying yes requires faith:

A river is a powerful thing. Sometimes deep and calm, other times wild and rough, but always moving forward. A river nourishes the land; it serves people, plants and animals alike.

God’s purpose, his redemptive will, is like a river; powerful, life-giving, unstoppable. Saying yes to God’s purpose for our lives is a bit like climbing into a whitewater raft. It is an act of faith. It requires courage.

Whitewater rafting puts you close to the action. It’s not some easy pleasure cruise. You are bound to get wet. Sometimes the water is slow moving and you need to paddle quite hard. Other times its swift and raging, and all you can do is hold on.

The thing with the river of God’s purpose is that we never know what’s around the corner or when it will end. Our best bet is to stay in the raft, follow the instructions of our rafting guide (the Holy Spirit) and take care of others on the river with us.

When Mary said yes to the angel, it was like she was climbing into a whitewater raft. Mary’s yes required real faith. She didn’t know what she was in for.

As far as yeses go, they don’t come much bigger. Mary was a teenage girl engaged to Joseph the carpenter. For Mary to get pregnant while still engaged was a huge risk for her personally.

Worst case scenario, she could have been stoned for what others would have wrongly presumed to be her infidelity. More likely though, Joseph would have been obliged to divorce her, which would leave Mary a single mum with little or no means of supporting herself financially.

For Mary to say yes, in this cultural context, was brave indeed. It required a high level of trust in God to provide for her. She really didn’t know how her yes would play out.

Mary’s faith was rewarded though. After Mary said yes in faith, God confirmed his call and gave Mary encouragement along the way. When Mary went to her cousin Elizabeth, it was as the angel had told her. Elizabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist and greeted her warmly.

On returning home Mary was not stoned and Joseph did not divorce her.

He stuck by her. Mary’s yes was supported by Joseph’s yes.

Later, after Mary had given birth to Jesus, the holy family received a visit from the wise men, who brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Then, when at the temple, the elderly Simeon and Anna, both spoke prophecies over the Christ child. God confirmed his call.

Mary pondered these things in her heart, not really understanding their meaning or where it would lead her.

In speaking about Mary’s faith in saying yes to God, we must also acknowledge God’s faith in trusting Mary with his son. God could have gone with a far safer plan, but he didn’t. God relied on the help of a vulnerable young woman.

God’s choice of Mary is interesting in itself. Mary embodied the righteous poor. The Lord worked through ordinary human beings (like Mary and Joseph) who were willing to say yes in faith. This shows God trusts us. Will we trust him?

Saying yes to God requires faith. Saying yes also changes us.

Saying yes changes us:

At the start of the Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey, Gandalf asks Bilbo to come on an adventure with him. Bilbo is not sure. He takes a while to say yes.

Gandalf says, “You’ll have a tale or two to tell of your own when you come back”.

And Bilbo asks, “Can you promise that I will come back?” 

To which Gandalf replies, “No. And if you do… you will not be the same.”

For some, the call to overseas mission work is like Gandalf inviting Bilbo on an unexpected journey. There Bilbo is, minding his own business, enjoying his garden and his books, when quite out of the blue a wizard interrupts his hobbies and his peace. Bilbo does eventually agree to follow Gandalf on the journey, but he has no idea what he is in for.  

Saying yes, changed the direction of Bilbo’s life. He did return to the shire, but he was not the same. Saying yes to God, set Mary on a journey of change too.

Parenting is a journey that changes us. We embark on that journey not knowing what we are in for. You have settled times of course, but you also get blindsided occasionally. There’s no terror like a parent’s terror.

Not long after giving birth to Jesus, Mary and Joseph were forced to flee to Egypt. They became refugees, living in exile, for a couple of years. Being away from home in a forced exile is no easy thing. Having to learn a new language and new customs. Not knowing anyone. Trying to fit in. Missing loved ones. Eventually, though the holy family were able to return to Nazareth.

Those sorts of experiences shape us; they change us somehow. We return from a cross-cultural experience seeing the world and own culture differently.

Another scary moment came when Jesus was around twelve. The family had travelled to the temple in Jerusalem for a feast and, when it came time to leave, Jesus was left behind by accident.

When Mary found Jesus again (three days later) she said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this. Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

Jesus replied, “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they didn’t understand what he was saying to them.     

Even at twelve, Jesus knew who he was, but his parents were slow to catch on.  They did not understand their son. We might think we know Jesus, but do we really? Jesus won’t be tamed or domesticated. He will surprise us.

On another occasion, when the adult Jesus was preaching to the people, his mother and brothers heard about his ministry and thought he was out of his mind. They tried to take charge of him, but they could not get near him because of the crowd. Jesus was not out of his mind. He was in God’s will.

When someone told Jesus that his mother and brothers wanted to see him, he replied: 33 “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

Saying yes to God redefines our relationships with others. To say yes in obedience to God is to choose a new loyalty.

Saying yes to God requires faith and it sets us on a life long journey which changes us. Mary also discovered that saying yes to God would cost her.    

Saying yes costs us:

Over the past couple of months Robyn and I have been watching the TV programme Grand Designs New Zealand. Grand Designs documents the house building process from architectural drawings to new build and lived in.

At the beginning of each show Tom Webster (the host) asks the owners what their budget is and at the end of the show he asks them what it actually cost. Almost every time the owners end up going over budget by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Building houses usually costs more than you expect.

Saying yes to God is like building a house. It takes time and energy and despite your best laid plans, there will be hold ups and challenges and frustration and it will cost you, probably more than you expect.

A hundred and twelve years ago thousands of men said yes (in good faith) to the call of king and country to go overseas and fight in the first world war. When these men enlisted, they had no idea of the real cost of war. Many did not return and those who did were not the same. The war left its mark.

Saying yes to God is like enlisting in the army. You give up your freedom and your comfort for a time, and you follow orders, so that others may be set free.

Saying yes to God will cost you in blood, sweat and tears. You won’t be the same on the other side.

In the gospels, Jesus tells a parable or two about counting the cost of discipleship. In Luke 14 the Lord says…

“…suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.”

Saying yes to following Jesus, means surrendering our lives to the Lord’s purpose. It means saying no to many other things. No to the selfish pursuit of fame, fortune and our own grand designs. Not to mention the more painful decision of saying no to family at times.

Saying yes to Jesus may cost us dearly, in this life. It certainly cost Mary.

In John 19 we read something of that cost…

25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother… 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.”

From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

Mary saw her son die in the worst way imaginable. We often talk about Jesus’ sacrifice, and it is right that Jesus gets the glory; but Jesus’ sacrifice was also Mary’s sacrifice.

The bond between a mother and a child is profound. I imagine, next to Jesus, no one at the foot of that cross felt the anguish more than our Lord’s mother. As the prophet Simeon had said to Mary in the temple over 30 years earlier, “And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

Mary was able to take comfort in knowing Jesus’ death was not in vain; that her son’s death meant our salvation. Mary knew Jesus’ resurrection.

We might not know (in our lifetime) how our saying yes might serve God’s purpose and benefit others. That’s okay. We do know God does not waste anything, especially what we offer in love for him.

Whatever our yes may cost us, God is able to restore in full measure. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away and then the Lord restores again. Orientation, disorientation, new orientation. (It’s the cost that changes us.)

Conclusion:

Saying yes to God reminds me of the Mainland cheese ads. ‘Good things take time.’ Mary’s yes was a life-long response. As a teenage girl, Mary may not have known what changes her yes would bring about or how it would cost her, but Mary saw it through in faith that God would work it all for good.

As New Zealand Baptists we have said yes to ongoing partnerships with Christians across Asia, with Maori in Aotearoa and with people in other parts of the world. Our work and relationships are for the long haul.

Our goal, our hope, is to see gospel renewal in all places and for all people.

This doesn’t happen quickly; it takes the faith and work of many generations continuing to say yes to God’s purpose of salvation.

Mary’s yes begs the question: What is your yes to God? What is our yes?  

A question like that may leave you feeling burdened. Yet another thing to do and another thing to feel bad about if it doesn’t get done. Saying yes to God doesn’t just mean doing things for God, as important as that is. Saying yes begins with receiving what God wants to give us, by his Spirit.

Grace comes first. We can only give to others what God has given us.

Without the Holy Spirit, Mary would not have been able to bear God’s Son. Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot become vessels of God’s word either.

So the question becomes: What particular grace has God given you to share? What grace has God given us?

If you are not sure what God has given you, then ask him to reveal it.

You probably won’t be visited by an angel, as Mary was. Often the grace we have been entrusted with is so familiar, so natural to us that we take it for granted, not realising the treasure we hold in these jars of clay.  

Let me finish now with a prayer written by the people at Arotahi…

God, you who first spoke yes, are the One who breathed life into being.

You, who drew close, spoke to Mary, calling her to bear your hope into the world. Teach us to listen to the movement of your Spirit, and to walk humbly in your ways, so that we too may say yes, echoing the love and openness that Mary showed. Weave our response into the fabric of your kingdom work: to notice the faithfulness of others, to nurture the seeds of courage, and to invite others to say yes. May our yes be to the work of justice and renewal: to stand with those at the margins, and to go to the places you call, from here to the ends of the earth. Like Mary, may we carry your hope. May our yes join with your work, so that your kingdom of justice and peace may take root in our world. 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. Imagine being Mary. Put yourself in her shoes. How would you feel? How might you have responded to the angel? Why was Mary’s response brave?
  3. How did God confirm his word/call to Mary? How has God confirmed his word/call to you?
  4. In what ways has God shown trust in you?
  5. What is your (personal) yes to God? What particular grace has God given you to share?
  6. If you have been saying yes to God for a while, how has this changed you?
  7. What has it cost you to say yes to God? In what ways has your yes served God’s purpose and benefited others?    
Tawa Baptist

The Spirit’s Flow

Scripture: John 7:37-39

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

Audio Link: Stream Sermon – 24 May 2026 – The Spirit’s Flow by tawabaptist | Listen online for free on SoundCloud

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The inward flow of God’s Spirit
  • The outward flow of God’s Spirit
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Few people in our society do more to support our physical health and wellbeing than plumbers. Plumbers, in my view, are up there with doctors and nurses in terms of preventing disease and promoting community health.   

Think about it for a moment. Plumbers ensure we have clean water for drinking and washing. They keep the rain out and the sewage pipes clear. Without plumbers we would be living in our own filth a lot of the time, exposed to all sorts of bugs and overrun with rats. Plumbers prevent us from getting sick.

Today is Pentecost Sunday, fifty days after Easter. Pentecost is a special time in the church calendar when we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the church.

The Holy Spirit is often associated with water in the Bible. If the Holy Spirit is like water, then Jesus is much like a plumber, connecting us to the water mains of heaven, bringing refreshment and cleansing to our spiritual lives.

With Pentecost and the Holy Spirit in mind, our Scripture reading this morning focuses on John chapter 7, verses 37 to 39…  

37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

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

In John 7, Jesus uses water as a metaphor for the Holy Spirit. What we notice here is the water of the Holy Spirit flows two ways: inward and outward.The Spirit is something we drink into ourselves, like water. And it is something that flows out of us like a spring.

First let us consider the inflow of the Spirit which quenches our thirst for God.

The inward flow of God’s Spirit:

The story is told of Lawrence of Arabia who once visited London and brought along some of his desert-dwelling friends. These men were impressed by the bustling city and its modern conveniences. In particular, they marvelled at the water taps. All one had to do to obtain fresh water was turn a handle.

Not understanding how it worked the visitors asked Lawrence, ‘Would it be possible to take some of these water taps back to the desert?’ They didn’t realise the taps were connected to an elaborate system of pipes which in turn were connected to a huge reservoir of water.

The tap was simply the outlet. To disconnect the tap from the source of the water is to render the tap dry and useless.

Verse 37 of John 7 tells us that on the last and most important day of the festival Jesus stood up and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink…”

The festival referred to here is the Festival of Shelters. During the eight days of this festival the people were required to live in temporary shelters as a way of recalling the Israelites’ 40 years in the desert when they lived in tents and relied on God to provide for them day by day.

The festival of Shelters was celebrated in Jerusalem during late autumn, once all the crops had been gathered in. It was both a joyous thanksgiving to God for his provision through the past year and a request to God for his on-going provision.

Being late autumn, it was the driest time of year; a time when it didn’t usually rain and water reserves were low.

So, by standing up in the dry season and announcing in a loud voice,

“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink…” Jesus was making a prophetic statement. Jesus was not addressing people’s physical thirst. He was addressing their spiritual thirst for God.    

In much the same way that we need water to survive physically, so too we need the infilling of the Holy Spirit to survive spiritually. The Spirit quenches our thirst for the living God.  

Notice the implication here. Jesus is saying the Festival of Shelters and indeed the Law of Moses finds its fulfilment in him. Jesus fulfils the purpose of the Law like a plumber fulfils the purpose of a tap. Without Jesus to send the water of his Spirit, the tap of the Law is dry and useless. It cannot refresh.

Notice too, the way Jesus appeals to people’s need for him. Jesus does not appeal to our ego. He does not flatter us. Nor does Jesus appeal to our fear.

He does not threaten us with a big stick.

Jesus simply appeals to our basic need for God. He is honest with us. Our soul needs God’s Spirit like our body needs water. The reality is, we won’t come to Jesus until we are genuinely thirsty; until we realise our need for him.

How then do we drink in the water of God’s Spirit? Through faith in Jesus.

Faith isn’t just believing something in your head. Faith is a verb. It is something we act on, something we do.

If someone offers you a cup of tea, then faith isn’t just believing the tea exists. Faith is trusting the person enough to drink the tea. It’s like that with Jesus. Faith isn’t just believing that Jesus is real. Faith is trusting Jesus enough to drink in His Spirit.   

In practical terms, this means coming to Jesus in prayer and asking for the water of his Spirit. You can pray on your own, or you can invite other believers to pray with you and for you as well.

You might receive the Spirit the moment you ask. But you may also have to wait. Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until the Spirit came. They waited together for 10 days, in trust and prayer, between Jesus’ Ascension and the Holy Spirit’s coming at Pentecost.   

Drinking the Spirit is about taking the Holy Spirit into ourselves, through faith in Jesus. But the Spirit doesn’t just flow inwards. There is an outward flow with the Spirit too.

The outward flow of God’s Spirit:

Many of you would have seen the freshwater spring at Petone. Some of you may have helped yourself to the water. The water there bubbles up through the ground naturally. Even though people could easily get water by turning a tap on at home they still come to the spring to fill up bottles to drink.  

In verse 38 of John 7, Jesus says: Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

The expression ‘living water’ literally translated from the Greek means ‘running water’, as opposed to stagnant water. Running water has a cleansing effect. Because it is moving, it carries the impurities away.

If our hearts, spiritually speaking, are like a well, then the Holy Spirit is the water in the well of our heart. The water of God’s Spirit does not sit stagnant in the well of our heart, no. The Spirit is given in such abundance that it bubbles up through the layers of our soul, giving life to others through us.

To be clear, the Spirit does not come from us. It comes from Jesus. We are like the tap. We, who receive Jesus by faith, act as conduits or vessels of the Spirit. We don’t keep the gift of the Spirit to ourselves; we pass it on.   

Jesus is speaking in a poetic way here. How might we translate this to our own experience? What does it look like for rivers of living water to flow from within us?

Well, the water of God’s Spirit bubbles up in all sorts of ways. One way is through the words we speak.

In Acts 2 we read how the Spirit enabled the apostles to proclaim the message of salvation through faith in Jesus. The apostles spoke in the mother tongues of those who were gathered in Jerusalem for the Jewish festival of Pentecost. Thousands believed their message and were baptised.    

We might not preach to thousands in a foreign tongue, but we might share the story of how we came to faith in Jesus with someone who is ready to hear it.  

Or we may be the person God uses to first listen and then offer a kind word in season, to heal a hurt.

Our Spirit inspired speaking may contain words of truth which get under someone’s skin, leading them to change their ways for good.

Our words, welling up from the Holy Spirit within, may also be words of grace, gentle words which God uses to turn away wrath and bring peace.

Of course, the living water of God’s Spirit does more than issue forth in a fountain of words. God’s Spirit empowers our actions as well.

The Holy Spirit enabled God’s servants in both the Old and New Testaments to perform all sorts of miraculous signs, from parting rivers, to feeding multitudes to healing every sort of illness and infirmity.

Sometimes we get to participate in the miraculous, and it is wonderful when we do, but more often God’s Spirit flows out in our day-to-day work. What aptitude or special gift has Jesus given you?

Are you a teacher, a parent, a plumber, a doctor, a nurse, a chef, an accountant, an artist? Whatever our work, whether paid or voluntary, it is the Holy Spirit who inspires our imagination and lends the skill we need to serve God’s purpose and bless others.

As we remain in Christ, the Spirit of Jesus welling up from within will gradually have a purifying effect on our character; influencing the way we handle ourselves through the highs and lows and the stresses and strains of this life.

I’m thinking about the fruits of the Spirit here: In Galatians 5, Paul writes…

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.

You see, it’s not just what we say and do that matters; it’s also the way we say it and do it. Our words and our deeds are to be offered in the Spirit of God’s holy love.

Conclusion:

In verse 39, John explains that the living water Jesus is talking about is the Holy Spirit. At the time Jesus made this offer, the Holy Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

In John’s gospel, Jesus’ glorification refers to his crucifixion and death, together with his resurrection from the dead and his ascension to heaven. For John, the suffering of Jesus is an essential part of Jesus’ glorification. There is no glory without suffering.

The point we should not miss here is this: Sin had to be dealt with first [by Jesus on the cross] before we could enter life in the Spirit. [1]

Jesus’ atonement for sin made it possible for the Spirit to be poured out at Pentecost. This means we are fortunate, for we live at a time in history when the Holy Spirit is available to all who repent and put their faith in Jesus.

Now, we don’t always feel fortunate do we. Life is difficult. Sometimes our faith can feel more like a burden than a blessing. We might hear these words of Jesus about the living waters of God’s Spirit welling up from within us and think, ‘Yea right, I wish’.

At various points on our journey through this world, we can feel weary, tired and empty; like God is absent. You are not alone in feeling that way. Many faithful believers before you have walked the same path.

Is the well of your soul dry, browned out? Do you thirst for God’s presence?

Before the Spirit can flow out of you, He must first flow into you. Ask Jesus to fill your heart with his Spirit and wait in hope for him.

29 The Lord gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Not everyone here will feel browned out and empty. Some of you may feel very close with the Spirit. Is the well of your soul full to overflowing? Enjoy the experience for the gift it is. But remember, the Spirit is not given merely for our own private enjoyment. The Spirit of Jesus is meant for sharing.

We cannot be everything to everyone, but we can be something to someone. So ask yourself, what particular gift has Jesus given you to share? And who might he want you to share it with this week?

Let us pray…

Lord Jesus, go on filling us with your Spirit we ask. Make our souls like a well-watered garden, bearing good fruit for the praise of God’s glory and the wellbeing of others. 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 role does water play in your life? How do you use water? How long could you survive without water?
  3. What is the significance of Jesus’ announcement on the last day of the festival of shelters? What does this tell us about Jesus?
  4. How do we drink in the water of God’s Spirit? What is your experience of waiting for and / or receiving the Holy Spirit?
  5. What did Jesus mean when he said, “Rivers of living water will flow from within them.”  Discuss / reflect on the various ways the Holy Spirit may flow out of us (based on your own experience &/or your reading of Scripture).    
  6. Is the well of your soul dry, browned out? Do you thirst for God? Ask Jesus to fill your heart with his Spirit and wait in hope for him. Who can support your prayers in this regard?
  7. Is the well of your soul full to overflowing? What particular gift has Jesus given you to share? Who might he want you to share it with this week?

Bibliography

  • William Barclay, The Gospel of John, Vol. 1, 1975.
  • Leon Morris, NICNT The Gospel According to John, 1995.  

[1] Leon Morris, NICNT John, pages 379.

Tawa Baptist

As He Is In Heaven

Scripture: Revelation 5:1-14

Video Link: https://youtu.be/15y0IXakKzk

Audio Link: Stream Sermon – 17 May 2026 – As He Is In Heaven by tawabaptist | Listen online for free on SoundCloud

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Worthy
  • Sacrifice
  • Redemption
  • Omnipotent
  • Incense
  • Praise
  • Hope
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

The first time I saw Aoraki Mt Cook up close and personal, I was awestruck.

The mountain was magnificent, majestic, beautiful. I could have sat there soaking up the grandeur all day. Every other little thought faded from my mind. It was liberating.     

Last Thursday was Ascension, a special day in the church calendar when we remember the Ascension of Jesus. For 40 days after his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples before ascending to heaven.

Today, in celebration of Jesus’ Ascension, our message focuses on Revelation chapter 5. In Revelation 5, the apostle John describes his vision of the ascended Jesus in heaven. John’s vision is magnificent, far greater than seeing Aoraki Mt Cook for the first time. It has the power to leave us awestruck in wonder and praise. 

As we read this Scripture then, I invite you to park your questions and simply bask in the glory of the scene which John describes. Don’t think too hard about what it means. Simply enjoy the drama and majesty of it all. We will get to the interpretation later. From Revelation 5, verse 1, we read…      

Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?”  3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4 I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. 5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” 6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the centre of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spiritsof God sent out into all the earth. 7 He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. 9 And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” 11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12 In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise!” 13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honour and glory and power, for ever and ever!” 14 The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

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

The number seven is significant in the book of Revelation. It represents wholeness, completeness, perfection, like the seven days of creation. With this in view, our message today touches on seven key words from this chapter.

Our first word is worthy.

Worthy:

Some of you may be familiar with the legend of King Arthur. The story goes that one Christmas Eve an anvil sitting on top of a stone appeared in a churchyard. Embedded in the anvil was a sword. According to Merlin, only the true king could draw the sword out of the anvil.  

Many nobles tried, but none succeeded. None were found worthy to be king. Then came the young Arthur, a teenage boy, whose true lineage was unknown. Quite by accident and without being aware of the contest, Arthur pulled the sword out of the anvil easily. The humble Arthur proved to be the only one worthy to release the sword and inherit the throne.  

Revelation 5 begins with God holding a scroll in his hand. We wonder to ourselves what the scroll contains. Some think the scroll reveals God’s will and purpose for the future. More than just revealing knowledge though, opening the scroll may in fact release God’s plan of salvation on the earth.

This fits with the theme of Revelation. But we cannot afford to be too dogmatic, nor too literal in our interpretation. We can’t see the whole picture, which is probably the point.

In any case, the scroll has seven seals which can only be opened by someone worthy. To be worthy here is to be morally good enough. The seals of the scroll are like the sword in the anvil. They cannot be released by brute force or cunning. The test for unlocking the scroll is the moral worth that comes from divine pedigree.   

How different heaven is from the world we live in. In this world, rulers get things done by force or deceit or just being popular. But in heaven things get done by righteousness, purity of heart and goodness of character.

When the angel asks, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?”, no one can be found. John weeps. Weeping is a Godly response to the evil that happens in this world.  Is there really no one good enough to open the scroll and release God’s saving purpose on the earth?

I like the way Leon Morris sees this: The seals that no man can break speak to mysteries in life. We can feel caught up in the world’s evil and its misery, unable to break free. At times we feel a sense of hopelessness and helplessness in the grip of forces stronger than us. The world’s agony is real. The world’s inability to break free from the consequences of its guilt is real. [1]

Only Jesus is worthy enough to open the seals and release God’s saving purpose.  

From verse 5 we read…

5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

Those of you who know your Old Testament will recognise that the Lion of the tribe of Judah and the Root of David is code for Jesus, the Messiah. So why not just say ‘Jesus is worthy to open the scroll’? Why does John hide what he is saying in poetry?

Well, John was protecting the church. In the historical context of the first century, the early church was persecuted by the authorities. If John wrote in a plain straight forward way and the Roman authorities got hold of his writing, Christians everywhere would suffer for it.

Much of Revelation is written in code, using language that would be understood by Christians but not by outsiders. John was being as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves to protect the infant church.       

Sacrifice:

And so we come to our second word: sacrifice. In verse 6, John is given a vision of a Lamb that looked as though it had been slain. In Old Testament times, lambs were sacrificed as an atonement for sin. Jesus is the sacrificial lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Notice the contrast here. One of the 24 elders has just told John to look at the Lion of Judah, but instead of seeing a mighty lion, John beholds a wounded lamb. Jesus still bears the marks of his sacrificial death, even in heaven.

Most earthly kingdoms use mighty beasts to represent their countries.

Russia elevates the bear, Britain the lion, India the tiger and America the eagle.

Each of these creatures is noble but also naturally inclined to devour its prey.

New Zealand bucks the trend by having the kiwi as its national bird. The kiwi is a shy, flightless bird that comes out mostly at night to eat insects. The kiwi is no threat whatsoever. In fact, it is a vulnerable species.   

In heaven, the lamb is elevated. Lambs are a bit like kiwi, vulnerable.

How different heaven is from the power broking kingdoms of this world. Jesus conquered sin and death, not by brute force, but by obedience to God the Father. Jesus gained the victory by losing. The weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Redemption:

Hand in hand with Jesus’ sacrifice is our third word, redemption. In verse 9 the 24 elders sing to Jesus the Lamb, saying: and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.

This verse is speaking about redemption. Jesus purchased, he bought back, he redeemed human beings for God. The purchase price of our redemption is the blood of Jesus the sacrificial lamb.

What we notice here is that Jesus redeems persons from every tribe and people group. John’s vision of redemption is broad and inclusive in its scope.

Omnipotent:

We need to be careful not to overplay the lamb of God image. Yes, Jesus is represented as the Lamb who was slain, but he is not powerless or defenceless. This lamb has seven horns.

As we have already noted the number seven signifies wholeness, completeness or perfection. The horn, in Biblical imagery, represents strength or power. Seven horns, therefore, represents complete or perfect power. Omnipotence in other words.

Jesus’ omnipotence (his power) is perfect in the sense that no one can defeat him. As we sang earlier in the service, “There’s nothing too big, big, big for his power”.

But Jesus’ power is also perfect in the sense that Jesus is incorruptible. Jesus is worthy enough, he’s good enough to hold absolute power without being corrupted by it.

He possesses the strength of a lion and the gentleness of a lamb. Jesus exercises his authority as one who understands suffering. His power is tempered with compassion.

What about the seven eyes, which are the seven spiritsof God sent out into all the earth. Well, eyes are about seeing. Jesus is all-seeing, all knowing, he is omniscient, like God. There is no place in heaven or earth that the risen and ascended Jesus cannot see you or reach you.    

In Psalm 139 we read…

7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

I invite you to sit with that for a moment. Soak in it, like a warm bath. Jesus is watching over your life for good, 24-7. He is with you always. Wherever you go, he sees you. Jesus sees the good you do that no one else notices. He sees your heart, your motivation, your wounds. He sees your desire, your doubt, your faith, your quiet desperation. Jesus bears witness to your life. He is worthy of your trust.

Incense:

Knowing that Jesus sees us and is near to us is an encouragement to pray. Indeed, the prayers of God’s people are precious to Jesus. In verse 8 of Revelation 5, John saw the 24 elders holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.

Incense is our fifth word this morning. How different heaven is from earth. Most people in this world do not see the value in praying. It seems so weak, so ineffectual, so feeble. How can prayer make a difference? But in heaven our prayers are like expensive perfume, highly valued as a fragrant offering to God.

To pray to Jesus is to acknowledge that Jesus is worthy. Worthy of our time, yes, but more than that. Jesus is worthy in the sense that he understands us completely and is he willing and able to help us.  

We have touched on five of our seven words so far: Jesus alone is worthy to open the scroll. Jesus is the lamb of God who, by his sacrifice, redeems humanity. Jesus is omnipotent, all powerful, all knowing and he values our prayers like costly incense.

Praise:

Praise is our sixth word. In verse 12 of Revelation 5, John saw and heard countless angels giving praise to Jesus, saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise!”

Notice there are seven things Jesus (the Lamb) is worthy to receive here. Notice also that these seven things are highly valued by most people in this world too. People want power, wisdom wealth, strength, honour, glory and praise for themselves. In fact, we human beings tend to make idols out of them.

When we pursue these things, they tend to ruin us. How easily we become slaves to money and the approval of others. We are not worthy, not morally strong enough, to receive too much of these things.

King Solomon is a case in point. He had power, wisdom, strength and wealth in abundance. He was showered with honour, glory and praise from all around, but it led him away from the Lord and it caused him to oppress his own people.   

Unlike Solomon, Jesus is worthy. Throughout his ministry the devil tempted Jesus with offers of counterfeit power and glory, but Jesus resisted the evil one, remaining loyal to God the Father.

By overcoming these tests, Jesus proved that he alone is good enough, pure enough, righteous enough, strong enough, to receive and handle power and glory in all its forms, without becoming a slave to it.  

Hope:

Our seventh word is hope. In verse 9 we read how the 24 elders sang a new song… The book of Revelation is full of new things: a new name, a new song, a new heaven, a new earth, a new creation. The elders sing a new song because God is making all things new, through Jesus.

The New Testament was originally written in Greek. The Greek language has two words for new, Neos and Kainos.

Neos means new in terms of time or age, something recent. Like when someone says, have you seen the new Spiderman movie? It’s the latest version of the same old story. Or when someone buys a second-hand car; its new for them but not brand new.  

In contrast, Kainos means new in terms of quality or essence. Something fresh, something original that has not existed before or that we have not experienced before.

Revelation uses the word Kainos. New in the sense of: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no human mind conceived what the Lord has prepared for those who love him.’  

One of the big themes of the book of Revelation is that Jesus comes to bring a newness that is original and fresh, a quality of life that we have not experienced before. This Kainos type newness gives us hope.

The Christians of the first century (that John was writing to) were suffering and persecuted in this world. They needed something better to look forward to.   John’s vision of the ascended Jesus, ruling from heaven, gave them hope that the life to come is not just more of the same. It is qualitatively new, different.

The hope John articulates is this: You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

God’s people may often be last in this world, but they will be first in the next. They may be subject to oppression in this life, but they will reign in the next. Through Jesus, God is making all things Kainos new.

Conclusion:

This morning we have touched on seven words, inspired by Revelation 5.

If we rearrange these seven words, the first letter of each word spells, W.O.R.S.H.I.P.   W stands for Worth, O is for Omnipotence, R is for Redemption,

S is for Sacrifice, H is for Hope, I is for Incense and P is for Praise.  

Jesus alone is worthy, for he is omnipotent, perfectly powerful. Jesus redeems humanity through his atoning sacrifice. Through Jesus we have the sure hope that God is making all things new. The Lord values our prayers like costly incense. Jesus is worthy to receive our praise.

Revelation 5 describes John’s vision of the ascended Jesus being worshipped alongside God the Father. We worship Jesus because he is divine.

Let us pray…

Jesus, you are worthy to receive power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honour, glory and praise. You are our hope, our righteousness, our joy. Be large in our awareness 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. Have you ever had the experience of being filled with awe and wonder? What were the circumstances?
  3. What does it mean that Jesus is worthy?
  4. Discuss / reflect on some of the ways John’s vision of heaven (in Rev. 5) is different from the way things operate on earth.
  5. What does it say about Jesus that he is described as a slain lamb with seven horns and seven eyes?
  6. Why does John hide what he is saying in poetic code?
  7. Why do the elders sing a new song? Take some time this week to compose a song or write a poem in praise of Jesus.    

Bibliography

  • William Barclay, The Revelation of John, Volume 1, 1965.
  • Leon Morris, Revelation, 1969.
  • Marva Dawn, Joy in Our Weakness, 2002.

[1] Morris, page 93.

Tawa Baptist

Three women and a baby

Scripture: Exodus 2:1-10

Video Link: https://youtu.be/6GXi7kmRR4o

Audio Link: Stream Sermon – 10 May 2026 – Three women and a baby by tawabaptist | Listen online for free on SoundCloud

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Creative faith
  • Courageous intercession
  • Compassionate leadership
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Today is mothers’ day, a time to honour the women in our lives who have given birth to us, fed us, raised us and cared for us. With this in view our message today focuses on three women who acted in motherly ways. From Exodus chapter 2, verses 1-10, we read…

Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basketfor him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. 5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. 6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said. 7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” 8 “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”

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

There is more than one way to be a mother. In this passage we observe how three women all act as mothers for the same child. Moses’ biological mother exercises creative faith. Moses’ sister exercises courageous intercession and Moses’ adoptive mother exercises compassionate leadership. Let us begin with Moses’ biological mother.   

Creative Faith:

There is a classic puzzle known as the nine dots puzzle. The aim is to link all nine dots using four straight lines without lifting the pen. What you discover (after much time and frustration) is that it’s impossible to do this if you think inside the box.

The only way you can do it is by drawing your lines outside the box. The nine dots puzzle requires outside the box thinking; that is, thinking in a creative way. Moses’ biological mother had a problem which required outside the box thinking. So what was the problem?

Well, the king of Egypt (also known as Pharaoh) had issued a command to all his people, to throw every newborn Hebrew boy into the River Nile.

Pharaoh was basically instigating a policy of genocide or ‘ethnic cleansing’ against the Israelites.  

In the opening verses of Exodus 2, we read how Moses’ mum gave birth in the usual way and she saw that her son was a ‘fine’ child. There are echoes of the creation story here.

In Genesis 1, on the sixth day of creation we read, God saw all he had made and it was very good. The Hebrew word translated as fine, in Exodus 2, is the same word as good, in Genesis 1. Can you see the connection? Moses’ mother looked on her son and saw he was fine (or good), just as God looked on his creation and saw that it was good.

Although God’s name is not mentioned in the story of Moses’ birth, the reader is reminded of the creation story. Just as the Lord brought order to the chaos in the beginning, at creation, so too he is bringing order to the chaos of Pharaoh’s decree to murder Hebrew babies.   

Moses’ biological mother cannot drown her own son, so she hides him as long as she can. This kind of ‘in the box thinking’ was never going to be a permanent solution. It would soon become impossible to keep her child hidden.

Let’s just pause a moment and imagine what life was like for Moses’ parents. Normally, the birth of a child is something to celebrate, but Moses’ mum and dad could not share the good news with anyone.

Presumably, Moses’ mum tried to hide the fact she was pregnant in the first place. Then there was the difficulty of giving birth as quietly as possible, not to mention the constant stress to trying to keep the baby from crying once he was born.

Parenting a newborn baby is difficult at the best of times. Just imagine how exhausted and on edge Moses’ parents must have been trying to protect their son with a death sentence dangling over his head.

Moses’ mum is a smart lady. She knows that hiding her son is not sustainable.

If Moses is to have a chance, she needs to think outside the box, and this is the creative solution she comes up with. Moses’ mum took a basket, covered it with tar to make it watertight and set it among the reeds of the Nile with her baby in it.

Moses’ mum didn’t just throw her son into the deep end to see if he would sink or swim. No. She put him in a water-tight vessel and nestled him in the calm part of the river, among the reeds, where he was likely to be found, hopefully by someone kind.

By doing this, Moses’ mum was exercising creative faith. Creative faith is not blind faith. Creative faith is smart faith, faith that thinks outside the box for the wellbeing of others. Faith that is as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Faith that provides doorways for our kids, giving them the best possible chance in life.

There were no guarantees with the plan. In fact, there was a lot that could go wrong. But it does no good to overthink the things we cannot control. Moses’ mum did everything in her power to give her son the best chance she could, and she gave God an opportunity to act. This is what creative faith does; it gives God options.

Courageous Intercession:

How many here have a younger brother or sister? Being an older sibling comes with responsibility. Indeed, the eldest child in the family normally possesses a stronger sense of responsibility than others. We often find ourselves in a parenting role for our younger siblings. It shapes us.  

Moses’ biological mum was not the only woman who provided care for Moses. Moses’ sister also played a mothering role in her brother’s life by exercising courageous intercession.

Intercession comes from a Latin word that simply means ‘to go between’.

An intercessor intervenes on behalf of another person. Acting as the go between, or the advocate, for someone else. 

Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, was a courageous intercessor. She was vocal in her support of the African American civil rights movement. Eleanor opposed her husband on this issue by becoming one of the only voices in the Roosevelt administration insisting that benefits be equally extended to Americans of all races.

Oskar Schindler (an Austrian born industrialist) was another courageous intercessor. He intervened, not with words but with actions, to save 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust of the Second World War. He did this by creative ‘out of the box’ thinking; employing Jews in his enamelware factory and bribing SS officials to look the other way. 

Eleanor Roosevelt and Oskar Schindler were people of power. Their intercession was courageous in the context of the times, but they interceded from a position of relative privilege. Moses’ sister did not enjoy such power or privilege, which made her intercession all the more courageous.

In verse 4 we read how Moses’ sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to her baby brother. Unlike Cain, who killed his brother Abel, Moses’ sister watched over her brother for good. As an older sibling she had a strong sense of responsibility. She was her brother’s keeper.

When Moses’ sister saw that Pharaoh’s daughter had taken pity on the baby, she found the courage to speak up and intercede for Moses saying, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”  

What an incredibly brave thing to do. Moses’ sister was a lowly slave girl, while Pharaoh’s daughter was among the powerful elite. And yet, Moses’ sister was suggesting to Pharaoh’s daughter that she break the law and go against her father. Moses’ sister could have wound up in a lot of trouble for even talking to the king’s daughter, let alone encouraging civil disobedience. It was a huge risk.  

But Pharaoh’s daughter agreed and Moses’ sister acted as an intercessor, a go between, fetching Moses’ mother. This resulted in Moses’ mother being paid to nurse her own son.  

I invite you to pause and reflect in silence for a moment. Who has interceded for good in your life? Bring that person to mind. How did it make you feel when you learned they had your back? If it’s a good feeling, sit with it for a while.

Is there someone who needs you to intercede for them?

Compassionate leadership:

There is more than one way to be a mum. Moses’ biological mum exercised creative faith, Moses’ sister exercised courageous intercession and Moses’ adoptive mum, the princess of Egypt, exercised compassionate leadership.  

God’s deliverance often comes from unexpected quarters. Pharaoh’s daughter is the one we least expect to save Moses. She is a pagan. She is the daughter of Israel’s arch enemy and she comes from a life of privilege.

We might expect her to be so self-absorbed that she doesn’t even notice the baby. Or, if she did notice him, so blindly loyal to her father that she would leave the child to drown. But this princess’ behaviour topples our prejudice.   

Some commentators observe that God is parallel to Pharaoh’s daughter here.

We wouldn’t naturally associate God Almighty with a princess, much less a pagan princess whose dad is a homicidal maniac. And yet this is what we find in Exodus 2.  

The Lord (Yahweh) is not mentioned in Moses’ birth narrative, but we see his image reflected in the way Pharaoh’s daughter responds to the situation with compassionate leadership.

Verse 6 tells us that when the princess opened the basket and saw the baby crying, she felt sorry for him. This ‘feeling sorry for him’ goes deeper than superficial sentimentality. She demonstrates genuine compassion for Moses.

Compassion is a feeling of empathy which moves a person to an act of mercy. Compassion doesn’t just feel sorry for the poor. Compassion does something to help the poor.

Jesus whole ministry was an act of compassion. In Matthew 9 we read…

35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”  

Jesus didn’t just feel sorry for people. He was moved to heal people and show them a better way to live. The interesting thing here is that Jesus drew others into the work of compassion with him. Indeed, he encourages us to pray for God to send more workers to help with the heavy lifting of compassion.     

In verse 9 of Exodus 2, Pharaoh’s daughter says to Moses’ mother, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.”

Pharaoh’s daughter shows double compassion here. Compassion in saving the baby Moses and also compassion for a struggling Hebrew family. Pharaoh had subjected the Hebrew people to slave labour. But Pharaoh’s daughter does not agree with slavery. She wants to be fair and pay the workers.  

Notice the connection with Jesus here. Just as Jesus invites others to help him in the work of compassion, so too Pharaoh’s daughter draws together a team of people to care for baby Moses.   

Pharaoh’s daughter takes the risk of going against her father’s command and makes a long-term commitment to provide for Moses. She eventually adopts Moses as her own son, thus saving his life. This act of compassionate leadership is, at the same time, an example of courageous intercession.

God is parallel to Pharaoh’s daughter in this chapter. At the end of Exodus 2, we read how the Israelites cried out to God under their slavery and the Lord heard their cry and was concerned for them.    

Just as the princess was moved with compassion by the cry of the Hebrew baby, so too God is moved with compassion by the cry of his people. And just as Pharaoh’s daughter was faithful in adopting Moses as her own son, so too God provides for our adoption through Christ.

In Galatians 4 we read…

4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.  6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

Through faith in Jesus, we are adopted into God’s family. We are royalty. 

The name ‘Moses’ is actually an Egyptian name, probably meaning ‘son’, but it sounds like the Hebrew word, ‘to draw out’. Just as Pharaoh’s daughter drew Moses out of the Nile, so too God will draw Israel out of slavery in Egypt.

Moses’ deliverance, by the hand of Pharaoh’s daughter, foreshadows Israel’s deliverance by the hand of Yahweh.

The princess’ compassionate leadership and courageous intercession remind us that not all the Egyptians are like Pharaoh. We cannot judge a group by one member of that group.

The actions of Pharaoh’s daughter also remind us that God’s people don’t have the monopoly on compassion. God is free to work with and through whoever he wants.

Conclusion:

As is so often the case, the Lord begins his work of redemption quietly, unobtrusively, under the radar, often through the creativity, courage and compassion of those we least expect.

In Israel’s case, God sowed his seeds of salvation through women. We see God’s sense of humour here. There is considerable irony in Pharaoh’s policy of killing the sons and preserving the daughters. As it turned out, the daughters were far more dangerous than the sons. 

May the Lord bless you.

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 are some of the ways a person can be a mother? Who has been a mother to you? 
  3. How is the beginning of Genesis similar to the beginning of Exodus?
  4. What is creative faith? How might you exercise creative faith in your everyday life?
  5. What is intercession? Can you remember a time when someone interceded for good in your life? What happened? How did you feel? Is there someone you can intercede for?
  6. In what ways is God parallel to the daughter of Pharaoh?
  7. What connections do you observe between Moses and Jesus? 

Bibliography:

  • R. Alan Cole, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries: Exodus, 1973.
  • George A.F. Knight, Theology as Narration: A Commentary on the Book of Exodus, 1976.
  • Terence E. Fretheim, Interpretation Commentary: Exodus, 1991.
  • Alec Motyer, Bible Speaks Today: Exodus, 2005.
Tawa Baptist

The weeds among the wheat

 Scripture: Matthew 13:24-30 & 36-43

Video Link: https://youtu.be/_0WKCa2_7so

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Heaven on earth
  • Evil tolerated
  • Creative judgement
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

You may have heard of the Glycemic Index. The Glycemic Index (or GI for short) is a scale from 1 to 100 that ranks food based on how quickly it raises blood sugar levels after being eaten.

Food with a low GI is generally better for you because it is digested slower, providing a more gradual, sustained release of energy. Examples of low GI foods include things like quinoa, lentils and non-starchy vegetables.

By contrast, high GI foods like white bread, potatoes and lollies tend to spike blood sugar levels, giving you a quick energy hit before dumping you again.

For the last three months we have been exploring some of Jesus’ parables in the gospels. In many ways, the parables of Jesus are like low GI spiritual food. The meaning doesn’t come quickly. The parables digest slowly, providing a sustained nourishment for our faith.        

Today we conclude our series by focusing on the parable of the weeds among the wheat, in Matthew 13. In verses 24-30 Jesus tells this parable to the crowds then later, in private, the disciples ask Jesus to explain the meaning, which he does in verses 36-43. From Matthew 13, verse 24 we read…

24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. 27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ 28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ 29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

(Jumping ahead to verse 36…)

36 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” 37 He answered, 

“The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. 40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

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

Heaven on earth:

This parable is about the kingdom of heaven, also known as the kingdom of God. The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are interchangeable terms. They are different ways of saying the same thing.

God’s kingdom is not like any earthly political system we may be familiar with. Nor can it be equated to a geographic location. On a basic level the kingdom of heaven is God’s government or God’s reign. Said another way, the kingdom of heaven is life with God in charge. Life when God’s will is done. The kingdom of heaven is God’s way of operating.

In Matthew 13, Jesus compares God’s kingdom to a field of wheat. Jesus begins his parable by saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.”

We know from the interpretation Jesus gives later, that the man in this parable is the Son of Man, which is code for the Messiah; Jesus’ himself. The seed that Jesus plants represents those people who belong to God’s kingdom. While the field represents the world in which we live. Ponder that for a moment.

Often times people think of the kingdom of heaven as some place in the sky or somewhere else not on this earth. A place we hope to go to in the future after we die. And while there is a heaven separate from this earth, Jesus’ purpose is to bring God’s reign, his way of operating to this world.

We sometimes sing a worship song by Brooke Fraser, ‘What a beautiful name’. There’s a line in that song which reads: ‘You didn’t want heaven without us, so Jesus you brought heaven down’. That line captures something of Jesus’ meaning in this parable. Jesus came to establish the kingdom of heaven on earth.    

But notice the way Jesus establishes God’s reign on earth. God’s kingdom does not come by military force, nor by political manoeuvring. God’s kingdom comes organically, gently, gradually, invisibly at first, like seed sown in the ground.

The wheat Jesus sows is low GI.

In the same mysterious way a seed grows by itself, so too the kingdom of heaven grows by itself (no one knows how). Indeed, the growth of God’s kingdom is inevitable. It cannot be stopped.

When the world seems in chaos and our hope is threatened, we need not despair. God’s kingdom will be realised in its fullness one day. The establishment of God’s reign on earth does not depend on us.

In all of this we are to see the obvious; that this world rightfully belongs to God. And God is redeeming it in his own way through Jesus.

Evil tolerated:

Now at this point you might be thinking, what about all the wars, all the suffering, all the injustice and every other bad thing we observe and experience in this world? If Jesus came to establish the kingdom of heaven on earth, 2000 years ago, then heaven falls a long way short of the paradise we might have expected.

Well, Jesus addresses this question in verse 25 saying: But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.

Jesus later explains to his disciples that the enemy here is the devil, and the weeds are those people who belong to the evil one.

In the 1995 film, The Usual Suspects, the main character, Roger Kint famously says: “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”

This line goes back to 1864, with the French writer Charles Baudelaire who coined a similar phrase. The quote suggests the devil’s most effective strategy is making people doubt his existence, thus making it easier for evil to go unnoticed.

Charles Baudelaire may have got his inspiration from Jesus, for the weeds sown by the devil do go unnoticed at first. Verse 26 tells us, it was only when the wheat sprouted and formed heads, that the weeds also appeared.

The word translated as weeds is not weeds in a generic sense but refers to a specific kind of plant commonly known as darnel. The fruit of the darnel plant will make you sick if you eat it.

Darnel looks a lot like wheat when it is young. It is only as the wheat and the darnel reach maturity that you can tell them apart. By that stage it is too late to pull the darnel out because the roots have become entwined with the wheat.

This is why, when the servants ask the owner of the field if he wants them to pull out the weeds, the owner says, ‘No, because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest.’  

This is the most challenging part of the parable, I think. Remember the weeds (the darnel) represent those people who belong to the evil one. In practical terms, pulling out the weeds would mean first identifying and then killing certain bad people with the aim of trying to make the world a better place.

William Shakespeare, the famous playwright, explored this theme in his tragedy, Hamlet.  Hamlet was the prince of Denmark. When his father died, Hamlet returned home to discover his uncle, Claudius, was married to his mother, Gertrude, and Claudius had taken the throne.  

It turns out Hamlet’s father, the king of Denmark, had been murdered by his brother Claudius. Claudius was having an affair with Gertrude and he wanted the throne for himself.

In thinking of Jesus’ parable, Claudius was what we might call a weed.

He looked like wheat, but really he was poisonous darnel. ‘There was something rotten in Denmark.’ Hamlet took it upon himself to avenge his father’s death and weed out Claudius by killing him.  

Tragically, it all went wrong. In the process of trying to kill Claudius, Hamlet accidently killed the wrong man, Polinius. As the play goes on the body count mounts. By the end Ophilia, Claudius, Gertrude and Hamlet himself are all dead. That’s what happens when you try to weed out the darnel.

Hamlet is a work of fiction but tragedies like this play out in real life all the time. History is littered with assassination attempts and plots of revenge. Human beings playing God, trying to make the world a better place by weeding out certain individuals or groups.  

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the famous Christian theologian, wrestled with this very question (about whether or not to pull out the weeds) and he became embroiled in a plot to kill Hitler. He failed and was imprisoned for a while before being executed.

Most people these days view Bonhoeffer as a hero of the faith. Was Bonhoeffer right to try and weed out Hitler or would he have been better to leave well alone? I don’t know. That is for God to judge. I pray we never have to face a decision like that.

The point is, in God’s kingdom on earth, evil is tolerated for a while. Evil is allowed to grow alongside the good, until the harvest. The implication here is that God permits suffering in this life. Which means we are called to practice the unpopular virtues of patient faith, forgiveness and perseverance.

In God’s kingdom, judgement about who belongs to Jesus and who belongs to the evil one is left to God. We are not to judge. We don’t have all the facts and we are a bit biased anyway.   

Letting the weeds be, fits with Jesus’ teaching about how to treat our enemies. In verse 39 of Matthew 5, Jesus says: Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Then in verse 44 the Lord goes on to say: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

In other words, God waters the weeds as well as the wheat. This is challenging stuff. We cannot love our enemies in our own strength. We need special grace from the Lord to do this. May God deliver us from the time of trial.       

Creative judgement:  

God will not permit evil and the suffering it causes to remain in the world indefinitely. At the end of the age there will be a final judgement, a day of reckoning, when all evil will be weeded out, not by us, but by the angels of God.

Just as weeds (in ancient times) were burned in the fire, so too everything that causes sin and all who do evil will be destroyed. Scary stuff if you are on the side of evil. But it’s good news if you are in Christ. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied.

When we think of judgement our focus is often drawn toward the pyrotechnics, the blazing furnace, the weeping and gnashing of teeth and such like. We can go down all sorts of rabbit holes exploring theories about the conditions of hell. And while the prospect of judgement is understandably concerning, we must not overlook the creative aspect of God’s judgement.

What we notice in this parable, is that God separates the weeds from the wheat at the end of the age. In another judgement day parable, God separates the sheep from the goats. Basically, at the judgement God separates good from evil.

By doing this God is restoring order to his creation, much like he did in Genesis 1 and 2 where we read how the Lord brought order to the chaos by separating things that were mixed together.

For example, the Lord separated the light from the darkness. He separated the dry land from the sea, and he separated the water below from the water above, making the expanse we call ‘sky’. In doing this the Lord made the world functional for human life.  

What I’m saying here is that judgement day is also creation day. It’s not all hellfire and brimstone. God’s judgement makes this world new, functional, beautiful again.

Nevertheless, we may still feel some fear and trepidation in listening to Jesus’ parable in Matthew 13. How do we know if we are weeds or wheat? The human heart is deceitful, who can know it? Even when we want to do the right thing, we often end up doing the wrong thing anyway. Are we not all sinners?

Well yes, the Bible tells us all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That is true. However, God in his grace has atoned for our sin through Jesus’ death on the cross. What separates the wheat from the weeds is a personal relationship with Jesus. We relate with Christ by faith.

Changing metaphors for a moment, Jesus is the good shepherd who goes out of his way to find the lost sheep, but salvation is not automatic. Repentance and faith in Jesus are how we accept God’s salvation.

Two criminals were crucified with Jesus. One on his right and the other on his left. We might think both criminals were weeds, poisonous darnel destined for the furnace. Certainly, one of the criminals hurled insults at Jesus, but the other criminal showed his support for Jesus saying…

“Don’t you fear God, since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our sins deserve. But this man [Jesus] has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” And Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise”.

Faith and repentance you see. As human beings we are able to make choices and the choices we make do matter. We cannot be sure who will prove to be wheat until the final judgement; therefore, we cannot judge others.  

Conclusion:

Jesus concludes the interpretation of his own parable, in verse 43, by saying… Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

You might think the wheat gets ground into flour and eaten after the harvest. No. That would be to take Jesus’ parable in a direction he never intended.

The righteous are more than mere wheat. If we trust and obey Jesus, we are children of God the Father. We may seem pretty ordinary, pretty beige, in this life. But in the age to come we will be golden.

Let us pray…  

Lord Jesus Christ, you are God with us. Grant us the grace and strength to persevere in faith, bearing good fruit to the praise of your glory. 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 proportion of your physical diet is low GI food? What proportion of your spiritual diet is low GI?
  3. What does the parable in Matthew 13:24-30 show us about the way Jesus establishes heaven on earth?
  4. Why does God tolerate evil on earth, at least for a while? What are the implications for us? 
  5. Discuss / reflect on what this parable reveals about God’s judgement. In what way is the day of judgement a creative act of God? What notes of hope do we find in this parable?
  6. How do we know if we are weeds or wheat? What separates the weeds from the wheat?
  7. How does Jesus’ parable of the weeds among the wheat make you feel? Why do you feel this way?

Bibliography:

  • R.V.G. Tasker, ‘TNTC: The Gospel According to St Matthew’, 1963.
  • William Barclay, ‘Gospel of Matthew Vol. 2’, 1967.
  • Robert Farrar Capon, ‘The Parables of the Kingdom’, 1985.
  • Michael Green, ‘BST: The Message of Matthew’, 2000.
  • Leonard Mann, ‘Green Eyed Monsters and Good Samaritans’, 2006.
  • R.T. France, ‘NICNT: The Gospel of Matthew’, 2007.
  • Craig Keener, ‘The Gospel of Matthew – A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary, 2009.
Tawa Baptist

The rich man and Lazarus

Scripture: Luke 16:19-31

Video Link: https://youtu.be/yi8J-TveAQc

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Jesus’ purpose
  • The rich man and Lazarus
  • The afterlife
  • The rich man and Abraham
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

GPS stands for Global Positioning System. The GPS in your car or phone receives signals from satellites orbiting the earth which allow it to determine the latitude, longitude and altitude of your location within inches.

If your GPS only gave the latitude coordinates, then it wouldn’t be very helpful. You need all three reference points to be able to pin-point your position with accuracy.

Accurately interpreting Scripture is like finding the right GPS location. You need more than one coordinate. A single verse or passage won’t do. Scripture interprets Scripture.

Today we continue our sermon series on the parables of Jesus, this week focusing on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16. Also known as the parable of Dives and Lazarus. ‘Dives’ being the Latin word for ‘rich man’.

Fair warning, the content of this parable may disturb some listeners. It has the quality of a Stephen King movie. It plays on our worst fears about the afterlife.

We need to remember; the parable of the rich man and Lazarus is just one of many stories Jesus told in the gospels. We cannot expect to get an accurate picture of salvation and judgement based on this one parable alone.

That said, from Luke 16, verse 19 we read…

19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. But the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ 25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ 27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ 30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

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

Jesus’ purpose:

The first question we need to ask ourselves is, why did Jesus tell this parable? What was his purpose? Understanding Jesus’ purpose prevents us from going down the wrong path with our interpretation. We discover Jesus’ purpose by looking at the context. The context gives us another coordinate.

In verse 13 of Luke 16, Jesus says: 13 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” 14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.

Jesus then goes on to talk about the value and permanence of the law and prophets before telling the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.

The immediate context shows us Jesus’ purpose. Jesus told this parable for the Pharisees, who were sneering at him because of his teaching about money.

This parable, therefore, is not about the temperature of hell. It’s about the Pharisees’ attitude to money and their interpretation of what we know as the Old Testament.

The rich man in the parable is a cartoon portrait representing what the Pharisees themselves believed. As you know, cartoon portraits tend to exaggerate certain features of the person being drawn. It appears Jesus is using hyperbole here to make his point.

Jesus is saying to the Pharisees, your interpretation of the law and prophets is wrong and therefore your attitude to money and people is wrong. You don’t value what God values. If you don’t repent, you will end up in a bad place, like the rich man. Let me give you two examples of how the Pharisees misread the Bible.

Firstly, they assumed they were automatically accepted by God because they were Jewish, descended from Abraham. Tough luck if you are not Jewish.

All those filthy gentiles are going to hell. That is severe prejudice, that’s racism, right? But, as we see in Jesus’ parable, being a descendant of Abraham does not help the rich man.

The Pharisees’ reading of the law and prophets also led them to believe (wrongly) that health and wealth are God’s reward for being righteous, therefore the rich and healthy must be righteous in God’s sight. Conversely, those who are sick or poor are being punished by God for their sin.

This belief is still around today. It’s sometimes called ‘cargo cult’ or ‘prosperity doctrine’. Jesus’ parable turns the Pharisees’ beliefs about money upside down.      

The confidence the Pharisees put in their ancestry and their wealth was misplaced.

Okay, so we can see (from the context) that Jesus’ purpose in telling the parable of the rich man and Lazarus is to correct the Pharisees’ misguided interpretation of the law and prophets. Now let’s look more closely at the parable itself.

The rich man and Lazarus:

Of all the parables Jesus told, this is the only one in which a character is named. The rich man is not named. When someone is not named in the Bible, it is often because they don’t deserve to be remembered.

The poor man, Lazarus, is named though. By giving the poor man a name, Jesus is signalling to his audience that Lazarus (even though he is poor and sick) is the hero of the story. Lazarus gets the honour of being remembered.

Lazarus is a Hebrew word which means ‘the one whom God helps’.

At first glance Lazarus’ name may seem ironic, because it does not appear that God is helping Lazarus, at least not in this life.

Lazarus does not enjoy good health. He is covered in sores and apparently cannot walk by himself. Verse 20 says Lazarus is laid at the gate of the rich man, which implies he must be carried. All of this means he cannot work or participate in gathered worship. He is an outcast, obliged to beg for survival.

By contrast, the rich man wears expensive clothes and lives in luxury, fine dining every day. The rich man is well connected.

In many ways Lazarus reminds us of righteous Job who lost everything, through no fault of his own, and ended up sitting by the rubbish heap scraping his sores with a piece of broken pottery. Lazarus does not scrap his sores with pottery, but he does (apparently) make friends with the local dogs who lick his sores.  

Unlike Job though, Lazarus does not complain to the Lord or to anyone else. Lazarus sits in silence. He does not call out for help from the people who pass by him every day on their way to the rich man’s banquets. He says nothing, all the time quietly longing to eat the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table.

But no food comes his way.

According to the internet, 1% of the population in New Zealand own 16% of the wealth. And according to the 2023 census, over 112,000 people (or 2.3% of the population) are severely housing deprived. 14.3% of children live in poverty.  

Growing up in the 1970’s, I don’t recall seeing anyone begging or sleeping rough in New Zealand. Now we see it all the time and we live in a welfare state. How did this happen? How do we turn it around?

There was no state funded welfare system for Lazarus. He was literally on the bones of his bum, dependent on the kindness of others.

The afterlife:

In time Lazarus dies and the angels carry him to Abraham’s side where he is comforted. The rich man also dies but he doesn’t go to the same place as Lazarus. The rich man finds himself in torment.

By the Pharisees’ reckoning the rich man should have been with Abraham, but Jesus turns their belief on its head.

Now, if all we had to go on was this one parable we might think the poor go to paradise when they die and the rich go to hell. Fortunately, the Bible offers other points of reference, other coordinates, that give us a more accurate picture of judgement and salvation.

We know from a wider reading of the Scriptures that the rich man did not go to hades because he was rich. He ended up in hades because he did not love God or his neighbour.

When asked, what is the most important command in the law, Jesus replied:     

30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’There is no commandment greater than these.”

The rich man loved luxury and fine dining more than he loved God or his neighbour. If he had loved God and his neighbour, he would have trusted God’s word and helped Lazarus in some way. He had the resources and he could see the need. Lazarus was right on his doorstep. But the rich man didn’t seem to care.

By the same token, we know being poor does not give you a free pass to paradise. Abraham was accepted by God because of his faith. In Romans 4, Paul writes: 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

That Lazarus found himself by Abraham’s side in the afterlife shows that Lazarus was justified by his faith in God, just as Abraham was justified by faith. God, who looks at the heart, could see Lazarus’ patient faith, even though Lazarus looked to everyone else like he was rejected by God.

Suffering and poverty, in this life, are not proof of God’s displeasure. Nor is health and wealth proof of righteousness. This life is not always fair.  

Returning to Luke 16, in verse 23 Jesus says the rich man was in torment in hades. Some English translations use the word ‘hell’, but the original Greek says ‘hades’, which is not exactly the same as hell.

What then is hades? According to Greek mythology (which is not supported by the Bible) the souls of the dead went to hades, a place characterised by darkness and gloom (sort of like Wellington on a bad weather day).

The Greeks imagined different zones within hades. For example, a neutral zone, where ordinary souls are kept, neither a place of reward nor punishment. There was also a paradise zone, where heroes and righteous people are rewarded. As well as a zone of torment where evil doers are punished.

Lazarus, it seems, was in the paradise zone with Abraham, while the rich man was in the place or torment.

There is a Greek myth about hades which shares some similarities with Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus. In this myth, a man by the name of Tantalus did a few things to anger the gods, so they sent him to the torment zone in hades where he was forced to stand in water with a fruit tree above his head.

Whenever Tantalus tried to bend down to drink, the water receded. And whenever he tried to reach up and pluck some fruit from the tree, the branch would spring away. This meant Tantalus was always thirsty in the presence of water and always starving in the presence of food. It is from this myth, about Tantalus, that we get the English word tantalise.   

The rich man’s punishment, in Jesus’ parable, was similar to that of Tantalus. The rich man could see Lazarus in paradise with Abraham and longed for a splash of water to cool his tongue. He was being tantalised.  

Now, just because Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus bears some similarities with aspects of Greek mythology, it does not automatically follow that Jesus endorsed Greek mythology. We know the Greek gods are not real because the Bible tells us there is only one true God, the Lord, Yahweh.

Likewise, we cannot base our understanding of hell on this one parable.

The New Testament employs a variety of different images and metaphors to describe exclusion from the kingdom of heaven.

Sometimes we come across the phrase outer darkness, and other times we are given the picture of a fiery furnace. Jesus also used the image of Gehenna, which was the rubbish dump outside of Jerusalem.

Where does that leave us? Well, if we take the Bible seriously, then we know there is a final judgement and there is a hell. We know hell is a place to avoid, but we cannot say with any certainty what hell is like. Is it a place of eternal conscious suffering? Or is it a place of total annihilation? Or is it a bit of both, some punishment before a second death? There are many theories but honestly, we don’t know.

What we do know, from the Bible and from our own experience, is that God is good. He sees the whole picture and he looks at the human heart. He is just and merciful, slow to anger, full of compassion and rich in love. He won’t treat anyone unfairly. God has provided for our atonement through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Forgiveness is available for all who repent and believe in Jesus.

The rich man and Abraham:

We see God’s fairness worked out in the rest of Jesus’ parable. In verse 24 of Luke 16, the rich man calls out: ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’  

What we notice here is the rich man’s attitude toward Lazarus has not changed. He still thinks of Lazarus as beneath him, someone to be used like a slave or a servant. He doesn’t seem to understand that the social status he enjoyed while he was alive has no currency in the afterlife.

The rich man is willing to put Lazarus in harm’s way just so he can cool his tongue momentarily. The rich man’s sense of entitlement is incredible.

What the rich man should have said was, ‘Lazarus, please forgive me. I’m so sorry’. But he doesn’t. The rich man remains unrepentant.

25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.

The thought here is not that people who receive good things in this life are automatically destined to receive bad things in the next life. No. That’s hardly fair. Besides, the reality is we each receive a mixture of good and bad things in this life. The point is, the rich man is being judged by his own standards.

In Matthew 7, Jesus says the measure you use for others is the measure God will use for you. The rich man neglected to care for Lazarus and now he himself is being neglected.

From verse 27 the rich man says to Abraham, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

This is the only glimmer of virtue we see from the rich man. Sadly though, he still fails to see Lazarus as one of his brothers. Yet again, the rich man thinks he can boss Lazarus around like a slave.

Through all of this, Lazarus remains silent. There is no angry outburst from Lazarus. No resentment. Lazarus does not tell Abraham what to do. Lazarus has forgiven the rich man, harbouring no bitterness toward him.

Abraham refuses to send Lazarus back from the dead saying, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

There it is. The law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets make it clear what God wants; for people to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly. The rich man and his brothers have no excuse.

Jesus is telling the Pharisees here that his teaching about how to use money (and everything else for that matter) is in accordance with the law and the prophets. So when the Pharisees sneer at Jesus’ teaching, they are putting themselves at odds with Moses and the prophets.  

Like the Pharisees who keep arguing with Jesus, the rich man continues arguing with Abraham, insisting that if his five brothers see someone rise from the dead, they will repent and be saved. But Abraham is not having a bar of it.

‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”.

How true that turned out to be. When Jesus raised his actual friend, Lazarus, from the dead (in John 11), the Pharisees and other religious leaders did not repent. They became more determined to kill Jesus and Lazarus. That’s how badly they misread the Scriptures.

Conclusion:

So what can we take from Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus?

Here’s three things:

Firstly, what we do in this life has eternal consequences. Our choices matter. When we love God and love your neighbour, money becomes our servant, something we can use to help others. If we don’t love God and our neighbour, money will inevitably become a cruel master that oppresses us and others.

Secondly, when we fail to love God and our neighbour (and we will fail at this), we need to repent and put our faith in Jesus. Salvation is not an entitlement. Getting into the kingdom of heaven is not automatic. God is looking for ways to get us into his kingdom, but we still need to repent and believe in Jesus.

Thirdly, we need to be very careful how we interpret and apply the Bible. Remember, we need more than one coordinate. Scripture interprets Scripture. If we read the Bible in a self-serving way, we risk ending up in a very bad place.

Let us pray…

Jesus, you are our righteousness and our hope. Empower us by your Spirit to love God and love our neighbour as we love ourselves. We ask you to deliver us from evil that we may enjoy fellowship with you forever. 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 is our interpretation of Scripture important? How can we check that our interpretation (and application) of Scripture is accurate?
  3. How does Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus make you feel? Why do you think it makes you feel this way?
  4. Why did Jesus tell the parable of the rich man and Lazarus?
  5. Why did the rich man end up in a place of torment after he died? Why did Lazarus end up being comforted by Abraham?
  6. What does the rich man’s dialogue with Abraham reveal about the rich man? What does Lazarus’ silence throughout reveal about Lazarus? What does the parable reveal about Jesus and God?
  7. What is your key takeaway from this message? What might you do differently? How might you think differently?  

Bibliography:

  • William Barclay, ‘The Gospel of Luke’, 1965.
  • Leon Morris, ‘Tyndale Commentaries: Luke’, 1976.
  • Fred Craddock, ‘Interpretation Commentaries: Luke’, 1990.
  • Darrell Bock, ‘NIV Application Commentary: Luke’, 1996.
  • Joel Green, ‘New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Gospel of Luke’, 1997.
  • Kenneth Bailey, ‘Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes’, 2008. 
Tawa Baptist

Baptism (by Peter Barnett)

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • A brief history of baptism
  • The reformation and the birth of Baptists
  • Biblical roots of baptism
  • John the Baptist and Jesus
  • What baptism means
  • Why immersion?
  • Conclusion

Introduction

Did you know there are around 12 churches in the Tawa–Linden area?

I was surprised when I first heard that. I used to think the churches along the main road were all there was—but of course there are many more including those meeting in the Linden Community Centre.

And if you look closely, you’ll notice something else: they’re not all the same.

In fact, if you asked all 12 churches what they believed about baptism, you’d probably get about 15 different answers!

The sign outside our church says we are a Baptist Church.
Now what does that actually mean?

Most churches practice baptism in some form. We’re not unique in that.
But what is distinctive is how we practice it—we baptise by full immersion.

Some churches sprinkle water. Others pour it.
We fully immerse.

So the question is:
Why does that matter?

Let me start personally.

I was born into a nominally Anglican family, and as a baby I was baptised by sprinkling. In my teen years I became a Christian. Later, when I was about 21, I made the decision to be baptised by immersion.

That raises an important question:
What changed? And why do Baptists do things this way?

You know, one of the things I remember most about that day wasn’t just the water.

It was the moment before going under.

Standing there, knowing that this wasn’t just a private belief anymore—it was public.

There’s something about stepping into that water where you realise:
this is real… and people are watching.

And I think that’s part of the point. Faith was never meant to be hidden.

A Brief History of Baptism

Baptists today practice full immersion because we believe it best reflects what baptism means: dying and rising with Christ.

But throughout history, baptism has been understood in many different ways.

In the early church, there was a strong belief that baptism washed away sin—once and for all. Because of that, some people delayed baptism until very late in life.

A well-known example of this is the Roman Emperor Constantine.
He legalised Christianity in AD 313 and was baptised only shortly before his death in 337.

So why wait?
It was thought baptism resulted in all your sins being forgiven. Because people feared committing serious sin after baptism, they didn’t know how their sins would be dealt with. So they delayed it.

That shows how seriously baptism was taken—but also how it could be misunderstood.

And while we might look at that and think, “That seems strange,” it actually raises a question for us:

Do we sometimes misunderstand what baptism really does?

Back then, people almost treated it like a final cleansing.

Today, we can sometimes go the other way—treating it as just a symbol with no weight at all.

But the truth sits somewhere in between.

Baptism doesn’t save us—but it’s also not meaningless.

It matters because of what it points to.

As Christianity spread, baptism became more formal.

Between the 4th and 6th centuries, churches built special buildings next to major basilicas called baptistries—often large, octagonal structures used specifically for baptisms.

Last year my wife and I visited one of these baptistries in northern Italy. It was separate from the church building itself and was ornately decorated.

The thinking at that time was that a person who had not yet been baptised should not enter the main church building.

Over time, however, something changed.

Infant baptism became more common.
And instead of immersion, many churches began practicing pouring or sprinkling—or what is called affusion.

By the medieval period, baptism was considered essential for salvation and became one of the seven sacraments of the Western church.

The Reformation and the Birth of Baptists

Fast forward to the 1500s and the Reformation.

The reformation of course generated intense debate about many issues—including baptism.

Some groups began to ask: Should baptism be something chosen, rather than something done to infants?

Out of that question came what we now call believer’s baptism.

The Baptist movement itself began in the early 1600s.

Two Englishmen, John Smyth and Thomas Helwys, left the Church of England and left England and went to Holland around 1609.

They believed baptism should follow personal faith—not precede it.

Helwys later returned to England and helped establish one of the first Baptist churches there in 1612.

From those beginnings, Baptists grew into a global movement with millions of believers.

There are even Baptist Churches in China and Russia.

Biblical Roots of Baptism

But baptism didn’t start with Baptists—or even with the early church.

Its roots go much further back—into Jewish practice.

Jewish people practiced ritual washing called “tevilah”—full immersion in water for purification.

These immersions took place in pools called a “mikveh”.

This wasn’t unusual—it was part of everyday religious life.
Even many homes had facilities for ritual washing.

Throughout the Old Testament water carries deep symbolic meaning: There was –

  • Noah and the flood
  • The crossing of the Red Sea by Moses and the people of Israel in their escape from Egypt
  • The crossing of the Jordan River by the people of Israel into the promised land
  • The story of Naaman washing and being healed
  • The Levitical washing and purification ceremonies

Again and again, water represents cleansing, judgment, and new beginnings.

In fact, many early Christian baptisms were also done by immersion.

Some of those ancient baptistries I mentioned earlier were large enough for a person to walk down into the water.

That tells us something important.

While practices have changed over time, immersion wasn’t something Baptists invented—it’s something we have returned to.

John the Baptist and Jesus

By the time we reach New Testament times, John the Baptist is calling people to repentance—and baptising them.

People came in response to his message, confessing their sins.

Then something remarkable happens.

Jesus comes to be baptised.

But Jesus had no sin.

So why was He baptised?

In Matthew 3, Jesus says it is “to fulfil all righteousness.”

This moment marks the beginning of His public ministry.

It shows several important things:

  • There is obedience – Jesus submits to the Father’s will
  • There is identification – He stands with sinners
  • There is approval – The Father speaks, and the Holy Spirit descends
  • Jesus models what His followers should do

It is also a kind of preview—a symbol pointing forward to Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Jesus’ baptism was the moment when heaven publicly declared who He was.

The Father said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

And in a smaller way, our baptism is also a public declaration.
It says: “I belong to Him.”

What Baptism Means

So what does baptism mean for us today?

Here’s the key point:

Baptism does not save us.

The Bible is clear on this.
Romans 3:20 says that no one is justified by works of the law.

No amount of water can wash away sin.

Only Jesus can do that.

So what does baptism do?

Baptism is an outward sign of an inward change.

It is a picture.

When someone goes under the water, it represents:

  • dying to sin
  • being buried with Christ

And when they come up:

  • rising to new life
  • living for God

Think about what actually happens in immersion.

You go all the way under the water.

For a brief moment, you can’t breathe.
You are completely covered.

It is a powerful image.

It is not just washing—it’s burial.

And then you are brought back up again—breathing, alive, renewed

That is why the Apostle Paul says in Romans 6:

“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

That is the picture.

Not just improved people—but people made new.

Baptism is like a living sermon.

No words needed—just action.

Illustrations

Let me give you a simple illustration.

A wedding ring doesn’t make you married.
But it shows that you are.

In the same way, baptism doesn’t make you a Christian.
But it shows that you belong to Christ.

Or think about it this way.

If someone asked you, “Are you a Christian?”
you could say yes—and that would be true.

But baptism is the moment where you show it.

It is stepping out of the crowd and saying:
“I’m not just thinking about this—I’m identifying with Christ.”

And that takes a bit of courage.

Imagine someone enlisting in the army.

They do not become committed just by thinking about it.
There is a moment where they step forward publicly and say,
“I’m in.”

Baptism is like that.

It is a public declaration:
“I belong to Jesus.”

Why Immersion?

So why do Baptists emphasize full immersion?

Because it most clearly reflects the picture:

  • Death
  • Burial
  • Resurrection

You can sprinkle water—but it doesn’t quite capture that same image.

Immersion tells the whole story.

Conclusion

So where does this leave us?

For some, this is a reminder of something you have already done.
And it is a chance to reflect:

  • Am I still living out what my baptism represents?
  • Am I walking in new life?

For others, maybe you have never been baptised as a believer.

You believe—but you have never taken that step.

If that is you, then this is worth thinking about seriously.

Not because baptism saves you.
But because Jesus calls His followers to it.

Sometimes we move past these things too quickly.

But baptism is one of those moments in life where we stop and say:

Something has changed.
I am not who I was.

Baptism is simple.

It is water.
It is a moment.

But it points to something far greater:

  • A changed life
  • A new identity
  • A Saviour who died and rose again

And the question is not just,
“What do Baptists believe about baptism?”

The real question is:

What does your life say about your relationship with Christ?

If you wish to consider baptism, I’m sure Will or Daryl would be happy to talk with you.

Tawa Baptist

Fishers of Men (by Pat Hutchison)

Scriptures: John 1:35-42, Luke 5:1-11, Acts 1 & 2

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The Call
  • The Journey
  • The Fulfilment
  • Conclusion:

Introduction:

Some of us consider we have done Easter, we have had our share of Hot Cross Buns, Easter Eggs and we came to Church twice, so let’s move on,  But wait a minute are we missing something if we end Easter on Easter Sunday?  We celebrate the Resurrection with some amazing songs and there is so much hope.  Something wonderful has happened that changed our world forever, prophecy came true and we have a Risen Saviour who is in the world today.

I want us to pause and take a look at some events before and after the Resurrection. 

What was it really like for the disciples, in particular Simon Peter. 

We will look at: The Call

                              The Journey

                              The Fulfilment

The Call:

It began for Simon Peter with “The Call” We read in John 1:35-42.

The next day John was there with two of his disciples.  When he saw Jesus passing by he said, “Look the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.  Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”). “Where are you staying?” “Come” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying and they spent that day with him.  It was about four in the afternoon.  Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus.  The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.  Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John.  You will be called Cephas” (which when translated, is Peter).

John had his disciples, it was not uncommon for a Rabbi to have followers – “Come and you will see” was an invitation to follow Jesus, but Jesus was more than a “Rabbi”.   The two disciples left John and followed Jesus. 

Andrew is named as one of the disciples with John and one of the first things he did was to find his brother and tell him “We have found the Messiah (that is the Christ) Andrew brought Simon to Jesus who named him Peter.

Jesus wanted them to be more than followers, they were to become “Fishers of Men”.  In Luke 5:1-11 we read:

One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret (Galilee). The people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God.  He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets.  He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the shore.  Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.  When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch.”  Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything.  But because you say so I will let down the nets.”  When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break, so they signalled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.  When Simon Peter saw this he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful man!”. . .   Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on You will fish for people.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed Jesus.

Simon respectfully addresses Jesus as Master but is clearly not happy with the command to go a little deeper and cast his nets.  He tells Jesus that they had worked all night and caught nothing so what was the point of casting their nets again – inferring they were fishermen who knew night was the best time for fishing.  This is one of the first glimpses we get into Peter’s personality – blunt. To the point.  Peter disagreed with the request but nevertheless obeyed. 

The catch was amazing – way more than they could cope with. Peter recognised this as being a miracle, Peter experienced the grace of God and was aware of his sinfulness.  Peter was awestruck.  He is aware that his life is changed and henceforth they will be “Fishers of Men”.

So we are beginning to get a picture of Simon Peter:

  • He is a fisherman
  • He has heard about Jesus
  • He is Andrew’s brother
  • Andrew brings him to Jesus
  • Jesus gave him the name of Peter.
  • He is obedient
  • He speaks his mind
  • He becomes a disciple of Jesus.

The Journey:

This brings us to “The Journey”.  What did the disciples see and learn.  They witnessed the teaching of Jesus, the miracles, the parables, the healings.  How the religious leaders treated Jesus, how the Pharisees were looking for ways to show Jesus was not following the laws of God.  They were there at the feeding of the 5000.  They participated in the sending out of the 12 in pairs.  That was a lot to absorb and process.   Most of the references are “the disciples” but as events are drawing closer to the end of Jesus ministry, we find Peter mentioned by name.

These events give us glimpses of Peter’s personality as well as his belief and understanding of who Jesus was. It is not possible for us to look at everything so I will just focus on a few key events.

Peter experienced a very personal and close experience of the healing power of Jesus.  In Matthew, Mark and Luke Jesus went to Peter’s house with his disciples. When the disciples were in that area they often used Peter’s house as a meeting place, so they were familiar with the house and all who lived there. On this occasion Peter’s Mother in Law was sick with a fever and Jesus touched her.  Immediately she was healed and able to get up and serve her guests. The healing was complete and was a healing of someone close to them. 

There was the time after the Feeding of the 5000 when Jesus sent the disciples ahead of him by boat so he could pray by himself.  The water became rough and in the early morning Jesus came to them – he was walking on the water and the disciples saw him.  They were terrified and said – It’s a ghost. 

Jesus calmed them and assured them it was himself.  Peter replied asking Jesus to tell him to come to him.  Jesus did this and Peter got out of the boat and walked towards him.  Peter was distracted by the wind and began to sink, he cried out to Jesus and Jesus rescued him rebuking him for having little faith.  When they climbed back into the boat the wind died down and the disciples worshiped him saying, You truly are the Son of God.

At the Transfiguration, Jesus takes a small group of the disciples – Peter, James and John up a mountain. They witnessed a vision of Jesus, Jesus was praying and his appearance changed, his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men – Elijah and Moses were with him and spoke of Jesus forthcoming death. Peter and the other disciples were sleepy but became fully aware at the vision in front of them. 

Peter immediately responds by wanting to build booths to house the three figures.  Is this Peter’s impetuousness or does he misunderstand the vision?  God speaks and Peter and the other disciples are awestruck and Elijah and Moses disappear.  Jesus reassures them not to be afraid and when they are coming down the mountain Jesus tells the disciples not to tell anyone what they had seen.

The Transfiguration marks a turning point in Jesus Ministry as from here on everything points towards the Cross. Jesus foretold his death.  Peter responds to this by taking Jesus to one side declaring this will not happen.  We see Peter’s impetuousness come to the fore and Jesus rebukes him. The idea of Jesus dying is difficult for Peter and the disciples to grasp.  Peter has not grasped the full meaning of Jesus as the Messiah and what this means for Jesus. 

Jesus and the disciples are in Jerusalem, it is just before the Passover and Jesus is escalating his preparation of the disciples for what is coming and Peter is continuing to act impulsively.

We have the Washing of the disciple’s feet, Jesus tells of his betrayal by one of them.  Jesus gets up from the meal, takes of his outer garments and begins to wash the disciples’ feet, something expected of a servant, not a leader.  Peter does not want Jesus to wash his feet and Jesus explains the necessity of this.  Peter over reacts and wants Jesus to wash all of him.  Jesus replies and in his explanation tells them there is one present who is not clean and teaches them about servanthood.  This is bewildering to the disciples who could not possibly grasp what is to happen.  It is in this situation that Jesus predicts his betrayal and Judas leaves the group.

Jesus prepares his disciples by telling them he will be with them only a little while longer and giving them the command to Love one another.  By this everyone will know that they are His disciples by their love.  Peter asks, “Where are you going?” Jesus tells Peter that where he is going no one can follow but they will follow later.  Peter vows to lay down his life for Jesus and Jesus answered and predicts that before the rooster crows Peter will disown Jesus three times.

Jesus and his disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus took Peter and two other disciples further into the Garden and told them to wait and watch while he went to pray.  Jesus began to be sorrowful and troubled – he knew what was coming.  Three times they fell asleep while waiting and Jesus tells them his hour has come and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners, Rise:! Let us go! Here comes my Betrayer.

Judas betrays Jesus and Peter reacts with his sword, cutting off the ear of one of the men in the group coming to arrest Jesus.  Jesus rebukes Peter and heals the severed ear.  Jesus is lead away.  Peter and another disciple follow Jesus trying to keep as close as possible to him as they could.  Peter is recognised as being close to Jesus, first by a servant girl and another two times and a rooster crows.

How devastating for Peter who is immediately aware of Jesus prediction and we are told that Peter wept.

We don’t hear much about Peter until after the Resurrection when he sees Jesus along with the other disciples.  Peter and another disciples were told by the women that Jesus was not in the tomb when they came to anoint him, and they saw the empty tomb. Peter was also in the locked room because they were fearful about the rumours circulated by the guards at the grave that the disciples had taken the body from the grave. Jesus appeared to the disciples. 

Peter was fishing and again they caught nothing.  Jesus appeared to them and Peter is again told by Jesus to put down his net and the catch was amazing.  Jesus had breakfast with the disciples and Jesus reinstates Peter, and declares his love for Jesus and Jesus tells Peter to feed his sheep.

From the journey we learn:

  • Peter stayed with Jesus from the time of his call
  • Peter declared Jesus was the Messiah
  • Peter often acted impulsively
  • Peter often misunderstood Jesus
  • Peter was rebuked by Jesus
  • Peter didn’t want Jesus to die and said he would do everything to stop it
  • Peter witnessed the  transfiguration of Jesus
  • Peter denied knowledge of Jesus three times
  • Peter was with the disciples when Jesus appeared to them
  • Peter recognises Jesus when they were fishing after the Resurrection
  • Peter is reinstated by Jesus and given responsibility for the followers of Jesus.

The Fulfilment:

This leads us to the Fulfilment of Jesus bestowing on Peter he was to become a “Fisher of Men”.

The story of Peter continues in the Book of Acts.  He is indeed a Leader and is empowered by the Holy Spirit from being a follower to bringing many into faith and belief in Jesus.  We cannot look at all the accounts of Peter in Acts.

In Acts we read, before Jesus was taken up to heaven, He appeared to the disciples over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.  On one occasion he gave them this command “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.  For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.   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 Day of Pentecost occurred at the same time as Jews gathered to celebrate The Feast of Harvest, so that explains why there were crowds from many places.  The origins of Pentecost is 50 – it was celebrated 50 days after the Passover and on the eve of 50 days after the Resurrection.

The Holy Spirit came with a great wind and tongues of fire.  They could understand the different languages and people were amazed – some people used the opportunity to say the people were drunk.  We read of Peter addressing the crowd calling on them to Repent and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.  And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call. We are told about 3000 came to faith that day.  This was indeed the beginning of the Christian Church.

We also learn about Peter healing a lame beggar asking for money by saying “Silver or Gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you.  In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Many who knew this lame beggar were amazed and Peter took advantage of this and preached to the gathered crowd.  Shortly after Peter and John who was with him were arrested and imprisoned after being brought before the Sanhedrin.  This resulted in them speaking the truth despite being threatened into silence.

Healings continued along with persecution but nothing could stop them. The Sanhedrin wanted Peter and John put to death but a Pharisee named Gamaliel spoke to the Sanhedrin telling them to leave them alone saying if their activity is of human origin it will fail.  But if it is God they will not stop these men. They were released after a flogging.  They never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.  And many believed.

Peter was summoned to go to Cornelius a Roman Centurion who is described as devout and God fearing.   Peter had a vision and the result of this is that Gentiles (non-Jews) became Christians and were welcomed into the Community of Believers.  

The story does not end with Acts.  Towards the end of the New Testament we have the Letters of Peter, these are attributed to Peter.

From the Fulfilment we learn

  • Peter was empowered by the Holy Spirit
  • Peter was bold
  • Peter healed a lame man
  • Peter was put into prison for his preaching and teaching
  • Peter was persecuted
  • Peter had a vision
  • Peter took the gospel to the Gentiles
  • Peter left us with the Letters of Peter

Conclusion:

Our faith journey begins with a call and our faith journey has ups and downs with difficult times.  We may not be imprisoned or persecuted but there is suffering involved.  We learn from Peter that when you answer God’s call you don’t become perfect.  You don’t have to strive for perfection.  Faith is always growing – we learn and grow. 

Like Peter we need to keep looking to Jesus – if we take our eyes off Jesus we will sink like Peter. 

We too can become Fishers of Men.  Peter’s brother bought him to Jesus we too can bring our brothers and sisters to Jesus.  We can speak to individuals, we can pray and we can increase God’s Kingdom and so become Fishers of Men.

Let us pray…

Almighty God we have heard about Peter, his call his journey and his fulfilment of being a Fisher of Men.  Help us to be bold like Peter and to become Fishers of Men to bring others into your Kingdom. Amen.