Tawa Baptist

Fullness

Scripture: Ephesians 3:14-21

Title: Fullness

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Paul’s prayer for fullness
  • Strength for your inner being
  • Knowing Christ’s love
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

I have here a dry sponge [hold up the sponge] all rigid and hard

  • For this sponge to be useful it needs to be wet
  • I could sprinkle a few drops of water on top so that its damp in places but that’s not really going to work for wiping down a table
  • To carry out its purpose this sponge needs to be filled with water
  • [soak the sponge in a bucket of water]
  • When water has passed through every pore the sponge is no longer hard but becomes flexible and able to serve its purpose

This morning we continue our series in Ephesians by focusing on chapter 3, verses 14-21. This is Paul’s prayer for his readers

  • From the New Revised Standard Version we read…

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

Paul’s prayer for fullness:

Prayer isn’t just words we might say. The 19th Century hymn writer James Montgomery wrote…

Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,
Unuttered or expressed,
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast. [1]

This tells us that prayer has to do with true intention or desire

    • Sometimes that desire is expressed in words and other times it burns in our heart like a hidden fire
  • We might not always have the right words when we pray but that doesn’t matter so much to God because His Spirit understands the unseen intention of our heart

In verse 14, of Ephesians 3, Paul writes, “I bow my knees before the Father…”

    • Most Jews of Paul’s day stood up to pray, so the act of kneeling to pray is unusual; it demonstrates Paul’s earnest intention, his heartfelt desire
  • The richness and beauty of Paul’s language in Ephesians 3 suggests he is trying to find words to do justice to his hidden fire
  • Paul’s prayer is that his readers (people like us) would be filled with all the fullness of God
  • In other words, Paul wants us to be filled with the Spirit of Christ – not just a few drops on top of the sponge of our soul but completely saturated so our inner being expands to become flexible and useful in God’s hand
  • For that to happen though our inner being needs to be strengthened

 

Strength for your inner being:

In one hand here I have a plastic bag and in the other a hot water bottle

  • If I was to fill both of these with boiling water, which one would you put in your bed to warm up the sheets? [Wait]
  • I would put the hot water bottle in – I wouldn’t risk using the plastic bag because the plastic bag isn’t really strong enough

 

These are a couple of cardboard boxes and this is a wooden chair

  • What do you think will happen if I sit on the card board boxes?
  • Let’s find out [sit on the box]
  • Now what happens when I sit on the chair? [sit on the chair]
  • The card board boxes weren’t strong enough to support my weight but the wooden chair was – no surprises there

 

Okay, one more – If you are planning to stay in the same place for a while then chances are you will live in a house

  • But if you are just passing through or visiting a place on holiday then you might camp in a tent
  • A tent is okay for temporary accommodation but it’s not as strong or as warm as a house – houses are generally more permanent

In verses 16 & 17, of Ephesians 3, Paul writes: I pray… that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through God’s Spirit and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.

As I said earlier, Paul’s prayer (his deep desire) is that we (his readers) be filled with all the fullness of God, but for that to happen our inner being needs to be strengthened 

God fills our inner being (our soul) like hot water fills a hot water bottle, so that we radiate his warmth to others

  • Without the strengthening of the Holy Spirit our inner being is like the plastic bag; it’s not suitable for holding the hot water of God’s fullness

 

Our inner being (our heart – the core of ourselves where desires are born and decisions are made) is a bit like a chair or, better still, a throne

  • Without the strengthening of the Holy Spirit our heart is like a cardboard box; it’s not strong enough to hold the weight of Christ the King

Our inner being is like a dwelling place; through Christ, God fills us like a family fills a house

  • For you Bible nerds out there, there are two words in Greek for dwelling
  • paroikeo, which means to inhabit a place temporarily as a stranger
  • And katoikeo, which means to settle down permanently – to make that place your home [2]
  • The word that is used, in verse 17, for Christ dwelling in us is katoikeo
  • Without the strengthening of the Holy Spirit our inner being is like a tent; it’s okay as a temporary measure but Jesus isn’t just passing through
  • Christ intends to take up residence in us permanently
  • God wants to make his home in us – pretty amazing aye

As you can see there, at the end of verse 17, Paul uses two other images of strengthening – being rooted and grounded in love.

  • Being rooted in love makes us think of a tree
  • Just as a tree gets its strength from being rooted in the soil, so too our inner being gets it stability and nourishment from being deeply rooted in God’s love
  • Being grounded in love makes us think of a building
  • Just as a house gets its strength from a firm foundation, so too our inner being gets its security and resilience from remaining in God’s love

You may be wondering, ‘what does it mean to be rooted and grounded in love?’

  • Well, in John 15 Jesus says, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love… This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you…”
  • We remain in Christ’s love by loving one another

Some of you may have noticed Paul’s reference to the Trinity in Ephesians 3 – God the Father, Son & Holy Spirit

  • In receiving the Holy Spirit, we are receiving Christ and in receiving Christ we are receiving the fullness of God

 

Okay, so Paul’s prayer is that we (his readers) be filled with all the fullness of God and for that to happen our inner being needs to be strengthened

  • But there is something else we need in order to be filled with the fullness of God and that is the knowledge of Christ’s love
  • It seems we come to know Christ’s love incrementally, in stages

Knowing Christ’s love:

In verses 18-19, of Ephesians 3, Paul writes…

I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

In these verses Paul seems to be talking about the dimensions of Christ’s divine love, which are beyond measure

  • Sometimes (perhaps most of the time) our thinking is too small where God is concerned
  • We have a tendency to put God in a box because it’s too overwhelming or too scary otherwise
  • As well as being strengthened, our inner being (our thinking) needs to be expanded or enlarged to receive the fullness of God
  • Knowing Christ’s love enlarges our inner being to make room for God
  • Sort of like water enlarges a sponge or like warm air inflates a balloon or baking powder expands cookie dough

How then do we know Christ’s love?

  • Well, Paul touches on two ways in verse 18: by the Holy Spirit and through the church

The ‘power to comprehend’ is likely a reference to the Holy Spirit

  • The Spirit of Jesus is a Spirit of love and truth
  • Jesus said His Spirit would lead us into truth
  • So we comprehend Christ’s love by the power of God’s Spirit, just like we understand the Scriptures by the illumination of God’s Spirit

The Holy Spirit gives us a lens through which to interpret the events of our lives

  • Two people may have exactly the same experience and yet see that experience in a completely different way because one has the power to comprehend and the other doesn’t
  • When the people of Israel were in the desert, Moses sent 12 spies into the Promised Land to check the place out
  • Ten of the spies returned saying the people are giants and we can’t possibly take them on
  • Those 10 spies had a pretty small idea of God – either they didn’t really believe that God loved them or they thought God was pretty weak
  • But two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, returned excited, believing that God wanted to give them victory
  • While all 12 spies had the same experience, only Joshua and Caleb had the power to comprehend that God loved them and was bigger than the people of the land

Let me give another example of how the Spirit helps us to comprehend Christ’s love. This is a personal example and I’m reluctant to share it because it makes me feel vulnerable so please don’t make me regret it

  • Last week we were away from Tawa on holiday and for some reason or other I was feeling grumpy so I poured out my heart to God
  • Things build up over time and the holidays are often the only opportunity I have to do any house-keeping on my soul
  • Anyway I was honest with God about how I felt and my feelings were not pretty – I was quite sour with God
  • Afterwards I felt a bit bad for being so honest with the Lord
  • God is incredibly good to me, He is so kind and gracious
  • I want to always give God my best but sometimes he gets my worst – my pain and my anger; and that’s not fair because he doesn’t deserve that
  • But in that moment, of feeling bad for being sour, I sensed God’s Spirit saying to me that he likes both my sweetness and my sourness
  • Just like I enjoy sugar and lemon on my pancakes
  • You need the sourness of the lemon to cut the sweetness of the sugar

Normally I would hide the fact that I can be sour sometimes but I take the risk of sharing this with you because I think that most of us (perhaps all of us) unconsciously think that there are parts of ourselves which are unacceptable to God and which God cannot love

  • We don’t like that part of ourselves so how can God like it?
  • God’s love is far more spacious and generous than we imagine
  • God’s love is great enough to swallow our sourness and kiss our ugliness
  • It’s God’s Spirit who reveals this truth to our inner being
  • I can tell you that God accepts you but you won’t be convinced until God’s Spirit touches that part of you
  • I believe this is one of the things Paul is praying for when he says, ‘may you have the power to comprehend Christ’s love.’

 

The next thing we note, in verse 18, is that knowing Christ’s love happens ‘with all the saints’

  • ‘Saints’ is just another word for other Christian believers – the church
  • A saint isn’t an especially good Christian in this context
  • In Paul’s thinking, all those who believe in Jesus are saints, no matter where they are in their journey of faith
  • The point is, we need other Christians (or the church) to enlarge and deepen our knowledge of Christ’s love

For example, when you look at the church, through the lens of God’s Spirit, you see the wide range of different people who follow Jesus and you start to get an idea of the breadth of God’s love

  • You realise that God doesn’t just love people like me – he loves all sorts of different kinds of people
  • You only have to look around this room – Tawa Baptist is made up of people of every age group, from many different cultures and countries and with a whole variety of denominational and theological backgrounds
  • God’s love is big enough to embrace humanity in all its diversity

Now anyone who has managed to remain in the church for more than a few years will realise how imperfect the church is. People get hurt in churches

  • Usually it’s not intentional or malicious but either way it’s only a matter of time before someone ruffles your feathers or offends you or takes you for granted or even wounds you deeply and you are faced with a choice: either forgive them or leave in a huff
  • It is in the act of forgiving the hurt that we begin to know Christ’s love in forgiving us
  • The paradox is we wouldn’t have known that aspect of Christ’s love unless we had been hurt ourselves

Of course, we learn about Christ’s love in more positive ways too

  • Not long after I became a Christian my parents divorced – I was in my early teens at that stage
  • In the years that followed I experienced the love of Christ through one or two men in the church who took the time to come alongside me and be there for me, to listen and give me support
  • The time they spent with me showed me I was cared for and valued
  • Looking back, I may not have experienced that aspect of Christ’s love unless my parents had split up

We come to know Christ’s love, therefore, through the Holy Spirit, through other Christian believers and through our own suffering

  • You see, there are two sides to love – there’s joy and there’s pain, there’s comfort and there’s grief
  • The truth is we can’t know Christ’s love without some degree of suffering
  • And so we come back to our need for Christ who redeems our suffering
  • By His Spirit, God takes the imperfect circumstances of our lives and uses them to renovate our soul – to strengthen and enlarge our inner being so that the fullness of God fills us

Conclusion:

We do well to remember that it is God who renovates our inner being

  • We can’t enlarge or strengthen ourselves any more than a plastic bag could change itself into a hot water bottle or a cardboard box could change itself into a chair or a tent could change itself into a house
  • As Paul says in verses 20-21, of Ephesians 3, the glory goes to God, who is able to accomplish abundantly more than all we can ask or imagine…

 

  • Paul’s confidence was in God

Having said that, we still need to cooperate with God’s Spirit at work in us

  • We still need to pay attention to our inner being
  • We need to spend time in prayer and study of the Scriptures
  • We need to guard our thoughts and weigh our desires
  • We need to be intentional about listening for God and discerning His will
  • There is a healthy balance to find here of course – we don’t want to become so focused on our inner life that we forget to love our neighbour
  • By the same token, we don’t want to become so caught up in serving others that we neglect our own soul

How is the sponge of your inner being?

  • Is it filled with the fullness of God, wet through and flexible in His hand?
  • Or is it dry and hard and in need of refreshment?

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

  • Why do you think this stood out to you?

2.) Discuss / reflect on James Montgomery’s thought that, Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire, unuttered or expressed.

  • Are you aware of your soul’s sincere desire?
  • To what extent do the words you pray reflect your soul’s sincere desire?

3.) What was Paul’s sincere desire for his readers?

  • What does it mean to be filled with all the fullness of God?

4.) What do you think Paul means by our ‘inner being’?

  • How is our inner being strengthened and enlarged?

5.) How do we come to know Christ’s love?

  • Can you think of a time when the Holy Spirit has given you power to comprehend Christ’s love for you?
  • Can you think of a time when you have experienced some aspect of Christ’s love from other Christian believers?
  • What role does suffering have to play in the process of knowing Christ’s love?

6.) How is the sponge of your inner being?

  • Is it filled with the fullness of God, wet through and flexible in His hand?
  • Or is it dry and hard and in need of refreshment?

 

[1] John Stott’s commentary on Ephesians provided the inspiration for this illustration on prayer

[2] John Stott, The Message of Ephesians, page 135-136.

Tawa Baptist

The Big Reveal

Scripture: Ephesians 3:1-13

Title: The Big Reveal

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • God reveals his plan
  • Paul preaches Christ
  • The church reveals God’s wisdom
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Walk on to stage with a blindfold on: I can’t see. Can anyone help me?

  • Wait for someone to tell me to take the blindfold off
  • That’s better – now all is revealed

The goodness of God, the providence of God, the grace of God, the beauty of God, the thoughtfulness of God, the wisdom of God, the kindness of God, the plan & purpose of God is all around us

  • But we don’t always see it because we haven’t removed our blindfold

 

This morning we continue our series in Ephesians by focusing on chapter 3, verses 1-13

  • In chapter 2 Paul had been talking about our salvation in Christ, both our personal salvation and the salvation of the group
  • Now, in chapter 3, Paul is about to pray for the Ephesians when he gets side tracked for a few moments talking about the work God has given him to do – this is essentially the work of revealing God’s eternal plan
  • Paul’s job is to help remove the blindfold by preaching Jesus
  • From Ephesians 3, verse 1, we read…

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles — Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture

Following Paul’s train of thought can a little difficult at times – like a braided river Paul’s stream of consciousness is complex and intertwined

  • We need to step back to try and see the bigger picture – where is this braided river heading?
  • Well, Paul is essentially talking about the revelation of God’s eternal plan
  • In Ephesians 3 Paul describes the revelation of God’s plan like this…

By his Spirit, God reveals the mystery of his plan to Paul and the other apostles

  • Paul (and the other apostles) then reveal God’s plan of salvation to humanity by preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ
  • As a result of their preaching people find peace with God and with each other – communities of like-minded believers become the church
  • And, through the church, God reveals his wisdom to the unseen (non-human) spiritual beings
  • So that’s the big picture of this passage – now let’s look at the different braids of Paul’s thought
  • First let’s consider the mystery of God’s plan revealed to Paul

God reveals his plan:

Hold up a USB stick. I have here, in my hand, a USB stick

  • No one here (but me) knows what secrets are held in this device
  • And none of you, just by looking at it, can know – not without plugging it in to a computer – but even then you might not understand it

In verses 2-5 of Ephesians 3 Paul talks about the mystery of God’s plan revealed to him

  • In this context a ‘mystery’ is a truth known only by divine revelation
  • In some ways the Old Testament Scriptures were sort of like a USB stick – they contained a secret, the mystery of God’s plan, but no one knew how to properly access the Scriptures to reveal the contents
  • Jesus and the Holy Spirit unlock the USB of the Scriptures to reveal God’s plan
  • Paul, and the other apostles of the first century, got to see the contents because God showed them – he opened their minds with insight to understand
  • Therefore, the writings of the New Testament achieve the status of holy Scripture because they are a record of God’s revelation to human beings

When we were kids we would go to birthday parties and almost always we would play a game of pass the parcel

  • Sitting in a circle we would pass the present around and each time the music stopped the person holding the present would remove a layer of paper. Pass the parcel was exciting because it was full of mystery
  • No one knew when the music would stop or how many layers of paper there were or what present was waiting inside
  • The mystery of God’s plan is a bit like the present hidden inside layers of paper in a pass the parcel game
  • Each generation removed a layer and got a bit closer to revealing the mystery inside but it was Paul’s generation who were at the right time and place in history to open the final layer

So what is God’s mystery plan then? Well, it was a gift no one expected. Paul spells it out in verse 6…

This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

Notice here the repetition of the word ‘together’

  • Paul is talking about God’s creation of the church in this verse

Those of us who have grown up in NZ probably don’t realise how incredible and audacious God’s plan is because most of us haven’t been close to the kind of Jewish / Gentile hostility that Paul was in touch with

  • But we do have some idea. Throughout our lifetime we have watched news reports of the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and Israel’s other Gentile neighbours
  • God’s mystery plan is to bring the Jews & Gentiles together, in peace, and make us one in Christ
  • And it’s the church’s purpose to model that togetherness – it is the church which embodies the hope of that peace
  • But God’s plan goes beyond mere reconciliation – God’s plan is to give believing Jews & Gentiles equal status in Christ
  • While the Old Testament does talk about the Gentiles turning to the God of Israel no one thought we would be included on an equal footing with the Jews, as members of God’s family – no one foresaw the Christian church hidden in the USB of the Hebrew Bible

 

Paul preaches Christ:

Having received the revelation of God’s plan, Paul then shares it with others by preaching Christ to people – he realises he can’t keep it to himself

  • If you are a scientist and you discover a cure for cancer you don’t keep it to yourself – you share it with the world
  • Evangelism, sharing the good news, is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread

In verses 8-9 Paul says…

  • Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery…

Paul hasn’t forgotten how he used to persecute the followers of Christ and so he refers to himself as less than the least of all the Lord’s people

Paul describes the preaching task he has been given as a ‘grace’ – that is, a gift, a privilege, something beautiful that God has given him

  • As well as being a privilege preaching is also hard work and it can get you in trouble
  • Preaching that it was God’s plan to include the Gentiles on an equal footing with the Jews got Paul arrested and jailed
  • He was under house arrest when writing this because of the message he preached, but his eyes weren’t on his chains
  • His eyes were on the privilege of being the one who got to unwrap the final layer of God’s parcel of truth to share with others

The content of Paul’s preaching is the boundless riches of Christ

  • Paul has already touched on the nature of these riches in the first two chapters of Ephesians – let me refresh your memory…
  • Christ’s riches include: resurrection from death,
  • Enthronement with Jesus in the heavenly realms,
  • Reconciliation with God and peace with other believers
  • Citizenship in the Kingdom of God
  • Adoption into God’s family
  • And intimacy with God – becoming a part of God’s new temple, where his Spirit dwells

In verse 12 of Ephesians 3 Paul describes another one of the riches of Christ

  • In Christ and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
  • This connects with what Paul had been saying at the end of chapter 2 when he talked about us being part of God’s family and indeed his temple
  • This access of all Christian people to God through Christ is what the sixteenth century reformers termed ‘the priesthood of all believers’ [1]
  • In Old Testament times, only the descendants of Aaron could serve as priests in the temple but through faith in Christ we too can draw near to God as his priests

So it’s not like Daryl & I are the only priests here, you also are priests

  • The role of a priest is to help people in their relationship with God
  • When you intercede in prayer for others you are acting as a priest
  • When you listen with compassion to someone at work and encourage them to find the right path you are acting as a priest
  • When you say a blessing over your children at home and proclaim the goodness of God to them you are acting as a priest
  • When you sacrifice your time and your money for the sake of God’s church and God’s purpose in the world you are acting as a priest

Paul’s message to everyone also includes the administration of this mystery

  • In verse 2 Paul talks about the administration of God’s grace
  • Two ways of referring to the same thing – God’s plan of salvation
  • Paul’s use of the word administration is quite refreshing
  • Normally we associate administration with tedious paper work but Paul associates it with the mystery of God’s grace
  • Medicine might be administered in the form of a pill or by an injection
  • And the payment of money might be administered by cash or eftpos
  • But the mystery of God’s grace is administered by faith in Christ and by preaching

When I was reflecting on this passage over the past week or so I was reminded of Joseph, the son of Jacob, who was an administrator of God’s grace

  • Sold into slavery in Egypt, Joseph proved to be a good manager and, through the revelation and insight God gave him to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams, Joseph rose to the position of Prime Minister where he administered God’s grace in the form of food security

We, like Paul and Joseph, can also administer God’s grace at least to the extent that we have received it

  • What grace or gift has God given you as one of his priests?
  • Is it the grace to be present and listen – who would God have you come alongside?
  • Is it the grace to speak words of encouragement into the lives of others – what would God have you say?
  • Is it the grace of being in a position to help people with your influence or your resources – who would God have you empower?
  • Is it the grace to remove someone’s blindfold so they can see God’s goodness in the world around us – who can you help to see the good news?
  • There are many other gifts of course but the question is: What grace has God given you to share as one of his priests?

God revealed his plan to Paul and Paul didn’t keep it to himself – he preached Christ to all kinds of people because Christ is the key to God’s plan, Christ opens God’s USB

 

The church reveals God’s wisdom:

But there is another level of revelation going on that we can’t see and might not even be aware of: The church reveals God’s wisdom, not to humankind necessarily but to non-human spiritual beings in the heavenly realms

A tapestry has two sides – a top side and an underside

  • The underside of the tapestry usually looks like a mess – you can barely tell from the underside what’s going on up top
  • The physical / material world in which we live is like the underside of the tapestry, while the spiritual world is like the top
  • From our perspective (in the upside down, from underneath) we can’t see things as they really are in the spiritual realm

In verse 10 of Ephesians 3 Paul writes…

  • His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers & authorities in the heavenly realms,

God’s wisdom is manifold – it is multi-faceted, with many different threads forming a coherent and beautiful picture

  • The rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms is most likely a reference to spiritual (non-human) creatures like angels and demons
  • The main idea here is that God reveals his wisdom to these spiritual beings through the church on earth
  • From our perspective below, the church doesn’t always seem beautiful or gracious or perfectly ordered – it often looks and feels a bit messy
  • But when angels & demons look at the church they see the topside of the tapestry and they are in awe of what God has done through Christ

We might wonder why God would do this – using a church comprised of imperfect human beings to reveal his wisdom to the spiritual realm

  • I don’t think it is just to make himself look good
  • More likely God does it to redeem his non-human creation
  • It is, after all, God’s plan and purpose to reconcile all things to himself through Christ – ‘all things’ includes the creatures of the spiritual realm

Now, if you think about it, this places a very high value and meaning on church

  • The church isn’t just about us – it’s also about a whole dimension of reality that we can’t see
  • When we gather for worship each Sunday our audience is greater than we might imagine

 

Conclusion:

This morning we’ve heard how God, by his Spirit, reveals the mystery of his plan to Paul and the other apostles

  • Paul (and the other apostles) then reveal God’s plan of salvation to humanity by preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ
  • As a result of their preaching people find peace with God and with each other – communities of like-minded believers become the church
  • And, through the church, God reveals his wisdom to the unseen (non-human) spiritual beings

This morning’s reading finishes with Paul saying…

  • I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.
  • The reason Paul was in prison was that he believed Gentiles now have the same access to God that Jews have
  • Paul’s suffering tells us that he really loved the Gentiles and believed in God’s plan for them
  • ‘Glory’ is a weighty word, it refers to something substantial and meaningful, something lasting
  • Paul’s suffering for the Gentiles gives real weight and substance to his message and it gives glory to his Gentile readers also
  • Paul’s suffering says people like us matter to God
  • You might not feel that glorious – you might not think your life is that significant but Paul’s suffering for us says otherwise
  • You are glorious, your life is significant, you do matter to God
  • We matter to God

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  • What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon?
    • Why do you think this stood out to you?
  • Have you ever had a significant ‘aha’ moment, when God revealed to you a deeper insight about himself and his purpose?
    • What happened? What was the revelation you received? How did you respond?
  • What revelation did God give Paul?
    • How did Paul respond?
  • Why do you think Paul describes the task of preaching as a ‘grace’?
    • What grace (or gift) has God given you to share with (or administer to) others?
    • In what ways can you act as a priest?
  • Discuss / reflect on / give thanks for the boundless riches of Christ
  • What are the implications of Ephesians 3:10 for us?
    • How might this verse inform our attitude and behaviour regarding church?
  • Take some time to reflect on Paul’s suffering for preaching the gospel to the Gentiles.
    • How do you feel knowing that Paul (and others) have paid a high price so that you/we can be included in God’s family?
    • How might you/we honour Paul’s sacrifice?

 

[1] John Stott, The Message of Ephesians, page 124.

Tawa Baptist

Included

Scripture: Ephesians 2:11-22

Title: Included

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • A new access
  • A new humanity
  • A new temple
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

As well as being Trinity Sunday, today is also Disability Awareness Sunday

–         My first job after leaving university was with a community organisation who worked with people with disabilities, in Tauranga

–         I was 23 at the time and had very little disability awareness – so they made me a disability awareness educator

–         Nothing like being thrown in the deep end

My job was to help people with disabilities to be included in the community by educating the community

–         For many years people with disabilities were excluded from mainstream society – they were locked away in institutions and this proved to be quite harmful, both to the people locked away and to mainstream society

–         One of the challenges people with disabilities faced, when they were released from institutions, was the prejudice of others

–         I soon learned that disability isn’t so much a deficit with an individual person, it’s actually more a deficit with our society

–         It is our society which disables people

–         If the only means of access into a building is stairs, then it’s not the person in the wheelchair who is disabled, it’s the building

–         If someone pokes fun at a person because they can’t hear then the problem is not with the person who is deaf

Unless you’ve been excluded (or spent meaningful time with people who are excluded) then you don’t really see the barriers that exist in our society

–         The world we live in says, in a thousand ways, that our value is based on our ability – but the Bible says that isn’t true

–         The truth is our value comes from God who made us and loves us

This morning we continue our series in Ephesians

  • – Our focus today is Ephesians 2, verses 11-22
  • – We could summarise this passage by saying: ‘We were excluded, but in Christ we have now been included, reconciled and brought home’
  • – In today’s reading Paul traces the movement from division to unity
  • – From alienation to reconciliation
  • – From hostility to peace
  • – From despair to hope
  • – And from being excluded to being included
  • – From Ephesians 2, verse 11, in the NIV we read…

Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

In our message last week we heard about three aspects of our personal salvation

  • – This week’s reading is about the salvation of the group
  • – In and through Christ we have a new access to God, a new humanity under God and we become part of God’s new temple
  • – First let’s consider the new access we have in Christ

 

A new access:

When I was a boy we used to visit my great aunt Avis in Auckland

–         She has passed on now but in her day she was a very capable woman

–         Avis’ fulltime job was as PA for Mr Gladding, the general manager of South Auckland Motors

–         In addition to her day job Avis attended St Philip’s Congregational Church in Papatoetoe where she taught Sunday school for many years and also served as the church secretary for a while

During the 1950’s my aunt studied by correspondence to earn her lay preacher’s license

–         It was quite a significant qualification involving Greek, theology, Biblical exegesis and so on

–         The minister, a man named Ted Tabor, was supportive of my aunt and included her by providing opportunities for her to preach in church

–         Having no family of her own the church became her family – she was warmly included

Then in the early 1960’s Avis applied to become a minister within the Congregational denomination

–         Despite her qualifications, her professional skills, her church ministry experience & the support of her minister, the denominational hierarchy turned her down

–         No reason was given but it appears my aunt didn’t make the cut because she was a single woman

–         Now I don’t want to be unfair to the people that made that decision

–         Attitudes in NZ society were different then – maybe they thought they were doing what was best for her and the church at the time

–         But my aunt didn’t see it that way

–         Although Avis had access to the Bible in its original language and although she had proven herself to be a faithful servant of the church for many years, she was denied access to fulltime pastoral ministry

–         Sadly this was not her first rejection in life

–         She decided to stop attending church after that

In some ways my aunt’s experience was similar to that of many people – a mixture of being included and excluded

–         Although she wasn’t excluded from God’s people or from lay preaching, she received the message, ‘you can come this far but no further’

 

In verses 11-12 of Ephesians 2, Paul reminds his non-Jewish readers how, previously, they were excluded from God’s people and God’s promises, having no hope in the world

Now for most of us, who are used to being included, these verses are water off a ducks back – they don’t penetrate the surface, we don’t really appreciate them

–         But if you have been systematically excluded and de-valued over a long period of time you will be very sensitive to what Paul is saying here

When I was working with and for people with disabilities there was one guy (with cerebral palsy) who knew I was a Christian and took a crack at my faith

–         He found some verses in Leviticus 21 which talk about how people with disabilities can’t draw near to offer sacrifices – how they are kept at arm’s length and don’t have the same access as able bodied people

–         He was quoting Scripture out of context – so I tried to explain how that was in the time of the Old Testament but now, because of Jesus, we have a new access to God – we go from being excluded to being included

–         Or, as Paul says in verse 13, now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ (that is, by Christ’s sacrifice)

–         Unfortunately my friend with cerebral palsy was too angry to listen – and after the hurt and rejection he had experienced in life it was no wonder

–         Having said that, we don’t do ourselves any favours by holding on to our hurt

There is a temptation when we are rejected or excluded to feel sorry for ourselves – but when that happens we still have a choice

–         We can either carry on feeling sorry for ourselves and wind up polishing the bar with a hard luck story

–         Or we can find a way to forgive the hurt and move on

–         I don’t mean to sound brutal but sooner or later everyone suffers – no one gets through life unscathed

–         Everyone sins and everyone is sinned against – so we have to learn to forgive, because without forgiveness we can’t have peace

 

Returning to the story of my aunt for a moment…

–         Some years later a minister from the Congregational church went to visit Avis. When he heard her story he apologised (although it wasn’t his fault) and asked her to return. Sounds like he was trying to bring reconciliation

–         Although my aunt didn’t go back to church I never heard her speak ill of the church – we only learned about her experience through a couple at St Philips who stayed in touch with her after she left

–         The fact that Avis didn’t bad mouth the church and kept her friendship with people in the church, suggests to me that she did forgive and find some peace

 

We are talking about salvation in a corporate or group sense

–         In and through Christ we Gentiles, who were excluded, now have a new access to God

–         More than this though, in and through Christ, God creates a new humanity

 

A new humanity:

The Rohingya people are a stateless ethnic group who reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar. The majority are Muslim while a minority are Hindu

–         Described by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world, the Rohingya are denied citizenship under the 1982 Myanmar Nationality Law

–         Although Rohingya history in the region can be traced back to the 8th Century, Myanmar law does not recognize the ethnic minority as one of the eight national indigenous races

–         They are also restricted from freedom of movement, state education and civil service jobs.

–         Because of persecution hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees, have crossed the border into Bangladesh from Myanmar

–         The Kutupalong refugee settlement, in Bangladesh, has grown to become the largest of its kind in the world, with more than 600,000 people living in an area of just 13 square kilometres

I don’t really understand the situation or how God might work his purpose in it – but clearly the Rohingya have suffered hostility and are excluded

 

The sort of hostility the Rohingya have experienced is foreign to most of us but it wasn’t foreign to the people of Paul’s day

–         For centuries Jews and Gentiles had been at each other’s throats

–         When we read the Old Testament we see that Israel is almost constantly in a state of war with the surrounding nations

–         But Jesus came to bring peace between Jews and Gentiles

–         In fact he came to make the two groups one

–         In Ephesians 2 verse 14, Paul writes of Christ…

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations.

This verse requires some explanation

  • – The ‘two groups’, as I’ve already alluded to, are the Jews and Gentiles
  • – Generally speaking both sides hated each other
  • – The Jewish temple of Jesus’ & Paul’s day had a literal wall which Gentiles were not allowed to go past – you can go this far but no further
  • – In fact there was a sign on the wall that basically said, ‘Gentile trespassers will be executed’ – not ‘prosecuted’ but ‘executed’
  • – The temple in Jerusalem wasn’t literally destroyed by the Romans until AD70 – but spiritually speaking Jesus destroyed the dividing wall decades before that

 

With his death on the cross Jesus also set aside the law with its commands and regulations

  • – Now those who are familiar with Matthew 5 will see a red flag here, because in his sermon on the mount Jesus said, ‘Do not think I have come to do away with the law – no, I’ve come to fulfil it’
  • – John Stott helps to give clarity on this point
  • – When Paul talks about the law in Ephesians 2 he means the ceremonial law, not the moral law
  • – But when Jesus talks about the law in Matthew 5 he means the moral law

The ceremonial law is that part, in Leviticus for example, which says people with disabilities can’t draw near to the altar to offer sacrifices

  • – Jesus’ coming makes the ceremonial law unnecessary because we don’t approach God by offering sacrifices in the temple in Jerusalem anymore
  • – Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross does away with the need for animal sacrifice
  • – We now approach God through Jesus and anyone can come to Jesus
  • – In distinction from the ceremonial law, the moral law includes things like the 10 commandments – don’t steal, don’t murder, don’t covet, that sort of thing
  • – Jesus doesn’t do away with the moral law – rather he fulfils it so we are no longer condemned by it

I have in my hand a walnut. To eat this walnut I must first remove the shell

  • – The shell is like a dividing wall – it is useful for a time, to protect the nut inside – but once the shell has been broken we no longer need the wall
  • – The Law of Moses is like a walnut
  • – The outer shell represents the ceremonial law, while the nut inside represents the moral law
  • – Jesus came to fulfil the moral law – in other words he came to crack open the shell and remove the dividing wall of the ceremonial law so we could eat the moral nut inside

 

In verses 15 & 16 Paul continues talking about what Christ did…

–         His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.  

This is mind blowing stuff – Jesus takes two groups of people who for centuries have been trying to kill each other, and reconciles them to God and to each other so they become one body of people at peace

–         To give you an idea of the sort of reconciliation Jesus achieves here, it would be like getting Donald Trump to apologise to Hilary Clinton and Hilary Clinton accepting it

–         It would be like having the people of Myanmar welcoming the Rohingya home with full citizenship

–         Or like seeing the National Rifle Association lobby for stricter gun laws

–         Or, closer to home, like seeing the Treaty of Waitangi honoured

 

Jesus came with a message of peace for those, like us, who were far away – the Gentiles, women, people with disabilities, the Rohingya and so on

–         And he preached peace to those who were near – able bodied Jewish males, like Paul

–         For through Christ we both have access to the Father by one Spirit

–         Here we notice the Trinity : Father, Son & Holy Spirit

–         Paul is saying that in and through Christ we are able to participate in the very life of God – a bit like Abraham & Sarah participated in the life of God when they received the three visitors in Genesis 18 and soon after Sarah became pregnant

 

As a consequence those who were once far away and excluded are now brought near and included as citizens of God’s kingdom & members of God’s household

–         In other words, in Christ the excluded become part of God’s family

–         But wait there’s more – in Christ we actually become a new temple for God’s presence

A new temple:

Bullseye - 16 Jun 2019

This diagram on the wall here (which looks like a bullseye) shows the three images of inclusion Paul uses in verses 19 to 21

–         Being a citizen in God’s kingdom (the outer ring) is closer to God than being a foreigner

–         Being a member of God’s family (the next ring in) is closer again than being a citizen

–         But being part of God’s temple (the bullseye) is the closest one can get to God, because to be God’s temple is to have the presence of God inside you

From verse 20 Paul expands on the new temple image

The foundation of the new temple is the apostles and prophets – essentially the teachings of the New Testament

–         As John Stott observes: the church’s foundation documents are the New Testament Scriptures. And just as a foundation cannot be tampered with once it has been laid and the structure is being built on top, so too the New Testament… can’t be changed by additions, subtractions or modifications [1]

–         If we try to build something outside the footprint of the New Testament then it won’t last

 

Verse 20 tells us Jesus is the cornerstone of the new temple – the one who holds the whole building together

Those who were here for the all-age Christmas service last year may remember these verses and how we built a wall out of shoe boxes at the front

–         Neville explained how a cornerstone, in Biblical times, was the largest, most solid stone in a building. It gave the building its shape and size.

–         If you took the cornerstone away, the whole building would fall down

–         More recently, buildings have cornerstones on each corner, supporting all the smaller bricks. The idea is the same.

–         As a cornerstone, Jesus is like a solid rock supporting us, a friend beside us who we can rely on – the one from whom we get our plumb line

That makes us the bricks (or living stones) of God’s new temple

–         In Christ we too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

–         Again we notice the Trinity in this image and our participation in the life of the Trinity

–         God the Son, is the cornerstone, we are the bricks and God the Father lives in us by his Spirit

This means the Christian church replaces the Jerusalem temple, which was destroyed by the Romans in AD70

–         We don’t replace Israel as such, but we do replace the temple building

–         So wherever you go in the world, particularly when you go with another believer, you take the presence of God with you

–         Although my aunt stopped going to church the church didn’t abandon her

–         One couple from the church, who loved Avis, stayed in touch with her and supported her through a difficult time

–         This couple embodied God’s presence for my aunt – they literally took the temple to Avis by visiting her and showing care for her

–         Is there someone you can take the presence of God to?

 

Conclusion:

This morning we’ve heard how Christ includes people in the very life of God

–         Through Christ we have a new access to God

–         Through Christ we become a new humanity under God

–         And through Christ we become a new temple for the presence of God

 

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 been excluded in a significant way?

–         What was this like for you?

–         Have you been able to forgive the hurt and move on?

3.)    Do you know what it is to be included (&/or reconciled) in a significant way?

–         What was this like for you?

–         Have you been able to include others too?

4.)    What is the difference (or relationship) between the ceremonial law and the moral law?

–         What does Jesus destroy and what does he fulfil?

5.)    Where do we see the Trinity in Ephesians 2:11-22?

–         What is our relationship to the Trinity, in Christ?

6.)    Looking at the bullseye, in the sermon notes above, where are you in relation to God?

–         Ask someone close to you if they agree. Where do they see you in relation to God?

–         Where would Paul say you were in relation to God?

7.)    Reflect on (or discuss) the various aspects of the temple image in verses 20-22. That is, the foundation, the cornerstone, the bricks, God’s Spirit

–         What are the practical implications with each of these aspects?

–         Is there someone you can take the presence of God to?

 

 

 

[1] John Stott, BST Commentary on Ephesians, page 107.

Tawa Baptist

Once were Zombies

Scripture: Ephesians 2:1-10

Title: Once were Zombies

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Once were Zombies
  • God’s salvation

o   God’s salvation changes our relationship with Him

o   God’s salvation changes our spiritual environment

o   God’s salvation changes our condition

  • Conclusion – God’s character

 

Introduction:

On the wall here we have a list of movie titles

–         28 Days Later

–         Black Sheep

–         World War Z

–         I am Legend

–         Pathogen (and)

–         Warm Bodies

–         Can anyone tell me what these movies share in common?

That’s right – they all have Zombies in them

–         A Zombie is a fictional creature – they don’t exist except in the movies

–         Zombies used to be human but have lost their humanity (usually through a virus) and essentially become the walking dead

The script for most Zombie films that I’ve seen (and to be fair I haven’t seen that many) usually involves a remnant of people who are struggling to survive the Zombie apocalypse

–         And survival normally involves lots of guns and shooting – with the human survivors destroying the Zombies to save themselves

But the better Zombie films usually try to create some redemption and hope by having the hero and heroine find a cure to reverse the Zombie virus or at least give people immunity from it

 

This morning we continue our series in Ephesians by focusing on chapter 2, verses 1-10

–         In this section Paul talks about God’s salvation of us

–         Paul contrasts the way the Ephesians believers used to be, before God acted to save them, with the way they are now

–         Before believing in Christ’s death & resurrection we were essentially like Zombies – the walking dead

–         But with Christ we are raised to new life and our humanity is restored

–         From Ephesians 2, verse 1, we read…

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to walk when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following the desires of body and mind. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

This reading is essentially about God’s salvation of us

Once were Zombies:

Paul begins by describing our situation before God saved us – we were once Zombies – the walking dead

–         In verse 1 Paul says we were dead in our transgressions and sins

–         We tend to think of death in physical terms – when someone’s heart stops beating and their brain function ceases

–         But that’s not what Paul means here by death

–         Often when the Bible talks about death it refers to spiritual death

–         If eternal life is union with God, or intimacy with God, then death is separation, or alienation, from God

–         Someone might still be breathing and walking around, (even able to run marathons) apparently going about their life like normal, but if they are estranged from God then they are dead, spiritually speaking

We see this in Genesis – God told Adam & Eve they would die if they disobeyed Him by eating the forbidden fruit

–         Then, after they ate the fruit, God sent them away from the Garden of Eden and they lost their close connection with the Lord

–         Adam & Eve didn’t die physically for a long time – but they lost the intimacy they previously had with God

–         Sin was the virus that entered the human race and made us Zombies so that we lost an important part of our humanity, our connection with God

–         That’s not to say we have completely lost our humanity but we have missed the mark God intended for us – we have gone astray

The word ‘sin’ actually means to miss the mark and the word ‘transgression’ means to cross a boundary that shouldn’t be crossed, to leave the path and lose our way

 

One of the things about Zombies is that they don’t know they are Zombies

–         Their self-awareness isn’t working all that well – they are obtuse

–         Zombies are driven by an insatiable desire which they can’t control

–         Zombies are consumers in the extreme, following their own cravings without regard for anyone else. We live in a consumerist society.

 

In vs. 2 Paul continues to describe the situation we were in before God saved us

–         We followed the ways of this world

–         We followed the ways of the ruler of the air (i.e. Satan)

–         And, in verse 3, we followed the desires of our mind and body

–         The old fashioned expression for that unholy trinity is ‘the world, the flesh and the devil’

–         Like Bob Dylan said, ‘You gotta serve somebody’

–         If we don’t follow God (if we don’t serve Him) then we will end up serving something far less – the world, the flesh and the devil

–         And when that happens we essentially become slaves to evil

 

In verse 3 Paul continues his summary of our situation before God saved us by saying, ‘Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.’

–         ‘Like the rest’ says we are not better than anyone else, the ground at the foot of the cross is level, we all have the same zombie pedigree

–         ‘By nature’ describes what we become when left to our own devices

–         ‘By nature’ stands in contrast to ‘by grace’ which we’ll come to shortly

To be an ‘object of wrath’ means to be destined for the garbage heap or headed for destruction

–         If I make a mistake on a piece of paper I might screw it up and throw it in the bin – the paper is an object of wrath

–         Or if my car keeps breaking down and costs too much to keep on the road then I might sell it to the wreckers – the car becomes an object of wrath

–         I’m not necessarily angry with the paper or the car, it’s just that they are headed for destruction

Now the word ‘wrath’, in the English language at least, has associations with powerful and destructive anger

–         Wrath makes us think of someone flying off the handle or losing their rag, going into a rage

–         We need to distinguish human wrath from God’s wrath

–         Although Paul doesn’t attach God’s name to the wrath in this context, God’s wrath seems to be implied – certainly Paul isn’t shy about talking of God’s wrath in other letters he wrote

–         It is important to understand that God’s wrath is not an arbitrary reaction, nor an impersonal process, like human wrath can be

–         God doesn’t fly off the handle in a rage or lose his rag

–         John Stott describes God’s wrath as his ‘constant hostility to evil, his settled refusal to compromise with it and his resolve to condemn it’

–         The idea of God’s wrath shouldn’t scare us – it should comfort us

–         God’s wrath is an appropriate and measured response to injustice

–         God’s wrath means that God won’t abide evil, at least not forever

–         God’s wrath means evil will ultimately be destroyed but first God wants to redeem his good, albeit damaged and fallen, creation

In a nutshell then, we were once like zombies – dead in our sins, slaves to the world, the devil and the desires of our own mind & body and, because of our union with evil, we were objects of wrath on a path to destruction

 

Now, as someone who didn’t grow up in a Christian household, and who still feels an affinity with non-Christians, I’m a bit uncomfortable with the strength of Paul’s language in these verses

–         To say your non-Christian friends and family are akin to zombies is kind of offensive – it makes me cringe

–         And although Paul doesn’t exactly use the word ‘zombie’, that’s pretty much what he is describing when he talks about the walking dead

Three things I would like to say in Paul’s defence…

–         Firstly, Paul himself is very quick to point out that Christian believers are in no position to look down on unbelievers

–         In no way can we claim to be superior or ‘holier than thou’ because we have all been like zombies at some point in our life, to some degree

–         What’s more Paul emphasises the fact we are saved by God’s grace, not by any virtue or merit on our part – therefore we cannot boast

–         We may be luckier than some but we’re not better

–         The second thing is that Paul, more than most, had a genuine desire to see people of all creeds and races come to faith in Christ

–         Paul suffered greatly so that zombies like me could become human again

–         And the third thing to say in Paul’s defence is that his language is accurate – Paul doesn’t mean to be offensive – he’s simply being honest

–         To really appreciate what God has done to save us, in Christ, we must first realise how bad the problem was

–         Sin created a zombie apocalypse and God provided the remedy in Christ

 

God’s salvation:

Okay, so we were once zombies, before God saved us

–         What then does it mean to be saved by God?

–         Well, it means a number of things – God’s salvation is not one dimensional, there are many facets to God’s salvation

–         Three dimensions in particular to be aware of from today’s reading…

o   Salvation brings about a change in our relationship with God

o   A change in our spiritual environment

o   And a change in our condition

–         First let’s consider salvation as a change in our relationship with God

God’s salvation changes our relationship with God:

In verses 4 & 5 we read that God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions

–         Remember to be dead, in a spiritual sense, means to be separated from God – therefore to be made alive means to have our union with God restored

–         Eternal life isn’t just about living forever – eternal life describes a certain quality of relationship with God

One of the things about zombies is they don’t talk – they don’t have any means of communication and so they aren’t capable of real intimacy

Intimacy is about being close with someone – it’s about sharing yourself with them and letting them share themselves with you

–         Intimacy requires us to trust the other person – to lower our defences and make ourselves vulnerable

–         It also requires honesty and a deep respect for the other person who is putting their trust in us

–         With intimacy we let the other person in and a common understanding forms, an understanding too deep to express with words

–         Intimacy is the antidote to loneliness and alienation

–         One of the biggest diseases (killers) in our society today is loneliness and the feeling of alienation that comes with it

Now the important thing to note here is that we are made alive with Christ

–         When God raised Christ from the dead all those who believe in Christ were raised from spiritual death too

–         So it’s through Christ and His Spirit that God restores the communication and intimacy with us

Imagine you’ve been walking around, lost in the desert for days – your water bottle has run out and you’re extremely dehydrated

–         As a consequence you are having hallucinations and seeing mirages

–         You’re just not sure what is real anymore

–         Eventually you fall down, unable to go any further, and as you lie on the ground panting for breathe, a man rides up to you on a camel

–         He gets off his animal, bends down and offers you a drink

–         At this point you have a choice – you can either trust that he is real and not another hallucination, accept his kindness, drink the water and live

–         Or you can refuse to believe he is real, not trust his water and die

–         We are raised with Christ – we are saved by believing that Jesus’ resurrection is real and accepting his Spirit for our parched soul

–         You see, the real thirst of our soul is to be close to God – to share in His life, to drink His Spirit

 

God’s salvation changes our spiritual environment:

Another dimension to God’s salvation is that it changes our spiritual environment. In verse 6 of Ephesians 2 we read…

–         And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus…

Last week we celebrated Jesus’ Ascension. Forty days after his death & resurrection Jesus ascended to the heavenly realms

–         The ‘heavenly realms’ refer to the spiritual realm – which we can’t see or hear or measure but which is still very real

–         Paul is saying that what is true for Christ is true also for those who believe in Christ

–         Just as Christ ascended, so too we who are in Christ have ascended to another spiritual realm

–         Physically we are still here on earth, but spiritually we have changed sphere’s or environments

For those who watch the Netflix show, ‘Stranger Things’, it’s like we used to live in the ‘upside down’ (spiritually speaking) but God saved us by transferring us to the world above

Or if Charles Dickens is more your thing, it’s like we used to live in a slum with a gang of pick pockets who answered to a criminal called Fagin but now we have been delivered to a better, healthier environment – one in which we are not forced to steal to survive

Or if fiction is not your thing, then it’s like we used to live in a refugee camp but now we have been granted citizenship to live in a land which is free of poverty and injustice

Or it’s like we were soldiers, fighting in a war overseas we wanted nothing to do with, but now we have been released from our tour of duty and are free to return home to live in peace

Or it’s like we were born in prison, where might is right and it is survival of the fittest, but now we have been released into a society where weakness is met with compassion and the measure of success is how well we treat the least

As I said a couple of weeks’ ago – Christian conversion is ‘in Christ’

–         When we become a Christian we are entering a new spiritual realm

–         We leave the realm of Satan and enter the realm of Christ – and Jesus is a far kinder and more just ruler than the devil

 

In Paul’s mind salvation means a restored relationship with God and entry into a new spiritual environment, one in which we can thrive

–         God’s salvation also changes our condition, our self

 

God’s salvation changes our condition:

If we were once zombies then God’s salvation is the process of restoring our humanity to its fullness

–         God originally made us in His image and he declared us to be ‘very good’

–         We became infected by sin and the image of God was damaged – we lost something of our humanity and became like the walking dead

–         God’s salvation includes re-creating us in His image

In verse 10 Paul writes…

–         For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Again we note that the environment in which God creates us is ‘in Christ’

–         Just as God creates a baby inside a woman’s womb, so too we are created inside Christ

And our creation is meaningful (not accidental) – we are created for a purpose

–         Previously we walked in sin, but now we are to walk in good works

–         To walk in ‘good works’ means we live our life in a way that points to God and reflects His image

–         Paul is quite clear (in verse 9 and other places) that ‘good works’ are not the means of our salvation but rather the outcome

–         Twice in our reading today Paul says we are ‘saved by grace’

–         In other words God’s salvation is a gift – we don’t do anything to earn it

–         God’s grace is the root of our salvation, good works are the fruit

 

Conclusion:

So God’s salvation changes our relationship with him, it changes our spiritual environment and it changes our condition

 

We may well ask, why did God save us? After all, as zombies, we had nothing to offer – we were not at all attractive and we were powerless to save ourselves

–         God saved us because that’s who he is – saving us was simply Him being true to His character – to not save us would be a denial of Himself

 

Verses 4-10 of Ephesians 2 are peppered with words which describe God’s character and motivation

–         Verse 4 tells us, God made us alive with Christ because of his great love for us, and because, He is rich in mercy

–         Verse 7 tells us, God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms…to show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

–         And verse 10, For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus…

–         God is a craftsman, an artist, who enjoys making things

–         So God saves us because He is loving, merciful, gracious, kind & creative

As creatures made in God’s image – we are to emulate God’s character

–         Like God, our good work (the way we live our lives) is to be loving, merciful, gracious, kind and creative.

 

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.)    Do you have a favourite Zombie movie? What is it and why do you like it?

3.)    What was our situation / condition before God saved us?

–         What does Paul mean by death in Ephesians 2:1?

4.)    What is God’s wrath?

–         Why is God’s wrath a comfort to us?

5.)    What does it mean to be ‘made alive with Christ’?

6.)    What does it mean to be ‘raised with Christ and seated with him in the heavenly realms’?

7.)    What does it mean that we are ‘God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works’?

8.)    Take some time this week to reflect on the words Paul uses to describe God’s character

–         How might we emulate God’s character in our daily lives?

Tawa Baptist

Knowing

Scripture: Ephesians 1:15-23

Title: Knowing

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Know the hope of God’s calling
  • Know the glory of God’s inheritance
  • Know the greatness of God’s power
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Knowledge is K.E.Y. – Knowledge Empowers You

–         I may have the latest computer with 10 terabytes of memory, all the latest application software and lightning fast broadband, but if I don’t know how to turn it on (let alone use it) then it’s wasted on me

–         I may own a luxury launch equipped with satellite TV, full kitchen facilities and a spa pool, but if I don’t know where I am in relation to land then I’m lost at sea

–         I may have access to the finest library in the world, all the books, journals and source documents I could wish for, but if I can’t read then I’m just guessing

 

This morning we continue our series in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians

–         Last week we looked at verses 3-14 which, in the original Greek, are one long sentence of praise to God for his blessings for us in Christ

–         This morning we focus on chapter 1, verses 15-23, which is another long sentence, only this time it’s a prayer

–         Paul follows his praise of God with a prayer for the Ephesian believers

–         After thanking God for their faith and love Paul prayers for wisdom and revelation for them – he asks for the eyes of their heart to opened so they would know God better – because knowing God is KEY

–         Knowing God empowers you.

From Ephesians 1:15-23, in the New International Version, we read…

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

May the Spirit of Jesus open the eyes of our heart to know God better

 

In some ways our faith is like a puppy

–         When it is born its eyes are closed over – it is blind

–         But as it grows its eyes are opened

–         Enlightenment is when the eyes of our heart (our inner being) are opened and our faith begins to see God’s blessings

In this prayer Paul asks that the Ephesians would know God better

–         This knowing isn’t just an intellectual head knowledge – it is the deeper kind of knowing that comes with relationship and experience

–         I might have read lots of books on parenting and attended all sorts of helpful courses, but I don’t really know what it is to be a parent until I care for a child through all the ages and stages of their development

–         It’s this kind of long and deep experiential, relational knowledge that Paul is praying for the Ephesians

–         It’s a knowledge of God born of faith & love as well as vulnerability and suffering – it’s a knowledge not given lightly

In particular Paul asks that the Ephesian believers would know… [1]

–         The hope of God’s calling

–         The glory of God’s inheritance

–         And the greatness of God’s power

If you can imagine a bridge anchored at one end by God’s call and at the other by God’s inheritance, with God’s great power spanning the chasm in between

–         It’s the hope of God’s call and the strength of God’s power that gets us to the other side, the glory of his inheritance

–         First lets us consider the hope of God’s call

The hope of God’s call:

When we applied for ministry training one of the things they wanted us to be sure about was God’s call – how well did we know God’s call on our lives?

–         Knowing the hope of God’s call on your life is important for all Christian believers, in whatever capacity you might serve

–         Knowing deep within that God has called you to himself and to a greater purpose in Christ, provides a firm foothold when the going gets tough

–         God’s call often comes with some kind of promise which inspires hope

The Bible is full of stories of God calling people

–         For example, when God called Abram to leave his homeland he promised to bless Abraham and make him into a great nation

–         And that promise sustained Abraham with hope for a journey of a lifetime

When God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery he promised to be with Moses, to give him the words and power needed for the task

–         And that call, from the burning bush, guided Moses as he led the people of Israel for 40 years in the wilderness

When God called Isaiah to be a prophet he gave Isaiah a vision of His splendour and touched Isaiah’s lips with a coal saying, ‘Your guilt is gone, your sins are forgiven.’

–         And that vision informed Isaiah’s message even as he preached to a people who refused to listen

When Jesus called Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John to be his disciples he said, ‘Come follow me and I’ll make you fishers of men.’

–         And that promise was fulfilled as the disciples became witnesses of Jesus’ death, resurrection & ascension in a hostile environment

When Jesus called Zacchaeus (the tax collector) he did so by inviting himself over for dinner, which gave great honour to Zacchaeus in his culture

–         And, as Zacchaeus opened his home to Jesus in hospitality, the little tax collector realised God’s call to be fair and generous despite being hated by the community

God’s call can come in any number of different ways

–         It may come quietly while you are alone, as it did for Samuel at Shiloh

–         Or it may come very publicly, as it did for Zacchaeus in front of a crowd

–         It may come while you are at church, as it did for Zechariah in the temple

–         Or it may come while you at work, as it did for Matthew the tax collector

–         It may come all of a sudden, as it did for Saul on the road to Damascus

–         Or it may develop slowly over a period of time, like the growing seed in Jesus’ parable

–         It may be a call to leave, as it was for the Israelites in Egypt

–         Or it may be a call to stay and bear witness where you are, as it was for the man delivered from a legion of demons

–         It may be a call to a particular vocation or task, as it was for king David and the prophets of old

–         Or it may be a call, not so much to do something for God but, simply to receive something from God, as it was for so many of those whom Jesus healed – Unless we let Jesus wash our feet we have no part in him

God’s call on your life is likely to be unique – so we can’t measure the call we receive with the call others have received

–         We don’t all get a burning bush like Moses

 

Now some of you may be thinking, ‘I don’t know what my calling is. How do I find out?’

I like what Frederick Beuchner says…

–         The place God calls you to, is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.

–         This tells us at least two things:

–         God’s call fits who you are – it goes with the grain of your soul

–         So God is not going to call you to a place or a vocation that you are not suited to – he has made you a certain way for a certain purpose

–         The other thing this tells us is that God’s call is not all about us – it’s about others and their deep need

Some couples would be deeply glad to become parents but for whatever reason they aren’t able to have children

–         There are many kids out there who have a deep hunger for a loving home

–         The Open Home Foundation are always looking for couples to foster kids

–         The place God calls you to, is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.

 

Often we have already been called and we aren’t aware of it or we’ve forgotten

–         If that’s the case for you then ask God to make you aware of His call and the hope which comes with it.

 

The glory of God’s inheritance:

Okay, so Paul prays for the Ephesians to know the hope of God’s call and the glory of God’s inheritance

–         What then does it mean to know the glory of God’s inheritance?

Well, God’s inheritance could mean either the inheritance God receives or the inheritance God bestows

–         If it means the inheritance God receives then, according to the Old Testament, God’s people are his inheritance

–         But, if we follow Colossians 1:12, it means the inheritance God gives us – that is eternal life

–         Either way God’s inheritance amounts to the same thing – enjoying abundant life with the Lord forever

Now, this side of Christ’s second coming, we can’t fully comprehend what the inheritance of eternal life is like – it is hidden in the realm of mystery

–         But we can catch a glimpse of it in the here & now

–         And perhaps this is what Paul wants for the Ephesians, that the glory of God’s inheritance wouldn’t be some pie in the sky a way off in the future

–         But rather they (and we) would experience now the sort of closeness and union with God, in Christ, that is the essence of eternal life

–         Because, at its core, that’s what eternal life is – union with God

 

Please turn with me to Luke 14, verse 15 – page 99 toward the back of your pew Bibles

–         In Luke 14 Jesus tells a parable which I think speaks to this idea of God’s glorious inheritance in the saints and of our need to not be so focused on the temporary things of this world that we miss the eternal

–         From Luke 14, verses 15-24 we read…

15 When one of the guests sitting at the table heard this, he said to Jesus, “How happy are those who will sit down at the feast in the Kingdom of God!”

16 Jesus said to him, “There was once a man who was giving a great feast to which he invited many people. 17 When it was time for the feast, he sent his servant to tell his guests, ‘Come, everything is ready!’ 18 But they all began, one after another, to make excuses. The first one told the servant, ‘I have bought a field and must go and look at it; please accept my apologies.’ 19 Another one said, ‘I have bought five pairs of oxen and am on my way to try them out; please accept my apologies.’ 20 Another one said, ‘I have just gotten married, and for that reason I cannot come.’ 21 The servant went back and told all this to his master. The master was furious and said to his servant, ‘Hurry out to the streets and alleys of the town, and bring back the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ 22 Soon the servant said, ‘Your order has been carried out, sir, but there is room for more.’ 23 So the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the country roads and lanes and make people come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you all that none of those who were invited will taste my dinner!’”

May the Spirit Jesus open the eyes of our heart to know God better

Jesus uses the image of a great feast (a party) to point to God’s glorious inheritance in the saints

–         Some of those who were invited declined the invitation because they didn’t know the importance of it

–         Paul wants his readers to understand the eternal significance of God’s invitation in Christ

 

Again I’d like to quote Frederick Beuchner…

Whatever you do with your life – whatever you end up achieving or not achieving – the great gift you have in you, to give to the world, is the gift of who you alone are; your way of seeing things, and saying things, and feeling about things, that is like nobody else’s. If so much as a single one of you were missing, there would be an empty place at the great feast of life that nobody else in all creation could fill.

This life is not all there is – beyond this life God is planning a party and there is room for you

–         Sadly not everyone accepts God’s invitation, perhaps because they don’t know the one who is calling them or the inheritance to which they are called

 

Paul prays for the Ephesians to know the hope of God’s call, the glory of God’s inheritance and the greatness of God’s power

 

The greatness of God’s power:

God’s great power bridges the gap between the hope of his call and the glory of his inheritance

Power is the ability to do something

–         Paul describes God’s power (His ability to make things happen) as beyond compare

–         The message is, no matter what obstacles we might face, no matter how weak or inadequate we might feel in our circumstances, God’s power is all sufficient for those who believe

The interesting thing here is that Paul is writing from prison

–         Ironically Paul writes about enlightenment while he is in a dark place

–         And he writes about God’s power in exalting Christ while he is powerless

–         Paul’s confidence in God’s power is not wishful thinking – it is not based on blind (puppy) faith

–         Paul’s claim about God’s power is based on the historical facts of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and ascension to heaven 

When Jesus was at his weakest – when he was dead and buried in the tomb – God’s power was evident, raising Jesus from the dead

–         But God’s power at work in Christ did not stop there

–         Because after God had raised Jesus from the dead, He exalted Jesus to his right hand in the spiritual realm

–         To be seated at God’s right hand means to be given the highest honour, the highest authority and the most power of all

–         Paul is saying that Jesus is above all powers

John Stott sums it up nicely when he writes…

–         The resurrection and ascension were a decisive demonstration of divine power. For if there are two powers which human beings cannot control, but which hold us in bondage, they are death and evil. Human beings are mortal; we cannot avoid death. Human beings are fallen; we cannot overcome evil. But God, in Christ, has conquered both and therefore can rescue us from both.

 

God’s power, in Jesus, does not necessarily mean the absence of evil

–         Nor does the presence of evil in the world in any way discount Jesus’ power or authority over evil

–         If evil exists in the world it is only because Jesus (in his ultimate wisdom) allows it for a time – but he won’t allow it forever

–         At the end of the age evil will be uprooted and destroyed

–         In the meantime Jesus gives the strength we need to live with it

 

Okay, so God is more powerful than anyone or anything else and he shares that power with Jesus – but knowing God is all powerful doesn’t necessarily give me comfort, unless I also know that God’s intentions toward me are good 

In verse 22 of Ephesians 1, Paul says that God… appointed Jesus to be head over everything for the church, which is his body…

–         This tells us that God’s power is for our good

–         Jesus exercises power as someone who himself knows first-hand what it is be powerless and oppressed

–         Jesus exercises power from a place of understanding and compassion and love toward us

Let me give you an analogy

–         At the same time that Jacinda Ardern is the Prime Minister of NZ, she is also the mother of Neve

–         Neve has a mum with more political clout than anyone else in her kindergarten or neighbourhood

At the same time that Jesus is head over all things, he is also head of the church and so we Christians have a leader with more clout than anyone else

–         Jesus isn’t our mother but, spiritually speaking, he is our older brother if we believe in him

–         Which means we have a special relationship with the one who is above all powers

To say the church is the body of Christ, means that we are closely connected to Jesus and to each other

–         So, if something happens to us – if we suffer in some way for example – then Christ (who is head over all) feels that and is moved by it

–         And knowing this is what gives us comfort and strength in this life

 

Conclusion:

Knowledge is key – knowledge empowers you

–         When we know the hope of God’s call on our life, we have purpose to sustain us when life is difficult

–         When we know the glory of God’s inheritance that awaits us, we can keep our perspective when others are losing theirs

–         And when we know the greatness of God’s power for us, we are released from fear and free to love

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

–         Why do you think this stood out to you?

2.)    Why do you think Paul prays for the Ephesians to know God better?

–         What kind of ‘knowing’ is Paul praying for?

3.)    Are you aware of God’s call on your life?

–         If so, what is that call and how did you become aware of it?

–         If not, how might you become aware of it?

4.)    Why is it important that we know the hope of God’s call?

–         How does this help us?

5.)    What is meant by God’s inheritance?

6.)    Why is it important that we know the glory of God’s inheritance?

–         How does this help us?

7.)     How did Paul know that God’s power is great beyond compare?

8.)    Why is it important that we know the greatness of God’s power?

–         How does this help us?

 

[1] The structure for the sermon (taken from the text) aligns with John Stott’s view, in his BST commentary on Ephesians, page 55ff.

Tawa Baptist

Artesian Wells

Scripture: Ephesians 1:1-14

Title: Artesian Wells

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Praise for God’s blessings
  • Blessings in the heavenly realms
  • Blessings in Christ
  • Blessings by God’s will
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

When Robyn and I were sent from Welcome Bay Baptist (in Tauranga) to train for ministry in Auckland, one of the members of our sending church (a guy called Dave) said to me, ‘Look for artesian wells’

–         It was said with love and out of a concern for our well-being

–         Dave was using the term ‘artesian wells’ as a metaphor of something that is deep and ancient and life sustaining

–         An artesian well is different from a regular well in that the water rises to the surface by internal pressure, so you don’t need a bucket or a pump to draw the water out

The water in an artesian well is trapped between layers of rock and consequently is under pressure so that when a hole is drilled in the upper layer of rock the water trapped underneath rises to the surface

–         The pressure may be created by a glacier or snow melt from a mountain which feeds the underground aquifer – and the well acts like a pressure release valve

Artesian wells were named after the former province of ‘Artois’ in France, where many artesian wells were drilled by Carthusian monks around 1126AD

–         The monks found the well water was a lot safer to drink than river water, because it had been filtered over centuries

Water from a flowing artesian well, therefore, is deep and ancient and pure

This morning we begin a new sermon series in the book of Ephesians

–         Ephesians reminds me of an artesian well

–         It is such a pure and positive letter – Paul is not writing to the Ephesians to correct some problem in the church and so it has quite a different tone to many of his other letters which are dealing with problems

–         More than this though, Paul has tapped into the goodness of God and it bubbles up naturally to the surface of his writing

Our focus this morning is Ephesians 1, verses 1-14

–         Verses 3-14 are an outpouring of praise to God for his goodness to us in Christ – technically known as a doxology

–         Paul’s praise is rising, like water from an artesian well, from a deep aquifer of spirit. From verse 1, in the NIV we read…

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfilment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

 

Praise for God’s blessings:

There’s a lot being said in these verses – they are thick & rich with meaning like condensed milk

–         What we need to keep in mind, as we wade through the words, is that this is worship – it is primarily adoration of God

–         Verse 3 says it plainly:  Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…

–         Paul goes on to punctuate his doxology three more times with the phrase: …to the praise of his glory…

–         In the original Greek this effusion of praise, in verses 3-14, is one long sentence – It’s like Paul is surfing a wave of God’s goodness and the wave is carrying him the length of the beach

What makes this even more remarkable is that Paul is under house arrest – he is chained to a Roman soldier while writing this letter

–         Physically he isn’t free but internally (his mind and his spirit) are soaring on wings like eagles

–         Most people in Paul’s situation would not be happy but Paul is worshipping God like he’s on cloud nine.

–         How is Paul able to do this?

Well, Paul can do this because the aquifer of his spirit is fed by the thought of how God has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

 

Blessings in the heavenly realms:

That phrase, ‘heavenly realms’, refers to the spiritual realm

–         The spiritual realm is sort of like another dimension all around us that we don’t normally see

–         We live in a materialistic society – so many of us have a bias toward physical, material things that we can touch and see

–         We tend to be less aware of spiritual realities, even though the spiritual world is just as real as the physical

Dogs can’t see orange or green, like we do, but they can see blue and yellow, so the same picture looks quite washed out in their eyes

–         If you throw a bright orange ball across the lawn they will struggle to see it because the orange & green look the same greyish colour to them

–         When it comes to the spiritual realm we are a bit like dogs (no offence)

–         We don’t see all the colours – spiritual things are camouflaged to us

–         This means there is more to reality than meets the eye

–         The heavenly realm or spiritual realm is still real even if it is beyond what we can perceive with our five senses

In 2nd Kings, chapter 6, the prophet Elisha and his servant are surrounded by an army of Arameans, with their chariots and horses, all there to capture him

–         The servant is shaking in his boots and says to Elisha, “Oh my lord, what shall we do?”

–         “Don’t be afraid”, Elisha answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

–         And Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.”

–         Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

–         Elisha could see the spiritual realm – the Lord’s army right there to protect them

 

You know, it’s that time of year again when I look at the church’s attendance statistics and write my contributions for the annual report

–         The last few years’ attendance has been a bit discouraging

–         We need to remember there is more to the picture than meets the eye

–         There is a spiritual audience all around us which we don’t see

–         In many ways the church is like an ice-berg with a lot happening under the surface – God is doing more than our statistics can measure

 

When we read Paul’s letter to the Ephesians we might imagine some kind of large and thriving church that has it altogether and enjoys a wonderful relationship with the community around it – but that wasn’t the historical reality

–         The church in Ephesus was quite small by our standards – only about 12 men and I suppose their families, if the men were married

–         And most of the wider community of Ephesus didn’t like the Christians all that much because they were bad for business

–         Ephesus was famous for making silver idols and Christians are against idol worship

–         But as small and as unpopular as they were, God was at work through the Ephesian believers to achieve his purpose

–         In Christ they were making waves in the spiritual realm

The other thing we need to keep in mind is that Paul’s letter was read aloud to the believers as they gathered in people’s homes for a church service

–         In a way Paul’s letter to the Ephesians functioned like a liturgy

–         Paul was leading the people in worship through his writing

–         They may have felt small and extremely vulnerable but I imagine Paul’s artesian well of adoration and praise refreshed them

–         It had the power to lift their eyes off the here & now and remind them of the spiritual reality

–         They might feel pretty insignificant and at odds with the world around them but in spiritual terms they had it made

 

Blessings in Christ:

One of the things Paul is at pains to emphasise it that God’s many blessings for the Ephesian believers (and for us) are ‘in Christ’

–         That expression ‘in Christ’ crops up 11 times in 14 verses, in the original Greek, although you won’t find it that many times in English translations

–         Paul describes the Ephesians as faithful in Christ – verse 1

–         They (and we) have every spiritual blessing in Christ – verse 3

–         God chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless – verse 4

–         We are given grace in Christ – verse 6

–         In Christ we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins – verse 7

–         God revealed his will and purpose to us in Christ – verse 9

–         Again, we are chosen in Christ – verse 11

–         We put our hope in Christ – verse 12

–         We are included in Christ when we believe the gospel – verse 13

–         And we are marked in Christ with the seal of the Holy Spirit – verse 13

Clearly the key to God’s many blessings is being ‘in Christ’

–         What then does it mean to be in Christ?

–         Well, it can mean different things depending on the context

–         But generally speaking, being in Christ refers to being in a particular spiritual environment

The environment in which we live (the geography, the climate, the values, the history and so on) shapes and defines who we are as a person

–         If someone lives underwater then they are a fish and not a person

–         Or if someone works in the countryside they have quite a different outlook to someone who works in the city

–         Or if someone grew up in middle class society this shapes them differently to someone who grew up in poverty

–         If you have been immersed in Maori culture then you will think in a different way from someone immersed in Pakeha culture

–         I grew up in 1970’s New Zealand and in many ways that has shaped me, just as my family have shaped me and the church too

–         If I had grown up in Russia or Iran or Germany or Venezuela I would be shaped by a different cultural and political reality

When our family became Christians in the 1980’s, spiritually speaking, we entered a different environment – we went from a pagan materialistic environment to being in Christ, and this required us to learn a whole new way of thinking and living

 

Being in Christ shapes and defines who we are – it informs our outlook

–         We live in Christ like a fish lives in water – Jesus is our natural environment, we belong in Jesus

We are in Christ like someone granted citizenship – Jesus becomes our new country, with all the rights and responsibilities that entails.

–         When we enter a new country we don’t impose our own culture on that country, we learn the local language and obey the laws of the land

–         When we become a Christian we cross a spiritual border, we enter Christ

–         That means we leave our old way of life behind – we don’t try to colonise Christ by imposing an ungodly culture on him

–         We learn his language of grace & truth and we follow his law of love & forgiveness

We are in Christ like a lock in a rugby scrum, or a first five in the back row – we are not just individuals, we are in Jesus’ team, we wear his colours

We are in Christ like a child adopted into God’s family – which means the history of God’s people becomes our history, our story, our whakapapa

–         Being adopted into God’s family also means Jesus is our older, kinder brother who looks out for us

We are in Christ like we are in a premium Kiwi Saver scheme – Jesus is our eternal security.

–         Yes, we make some contributions to the scheme but really God, our employer, contributes far more than we do

We are in Christ like being in a good job – God is our boss and discipleship is our career

We are in Christ like a business in profit – Jesus has saved us from bankruptcy and liquidation

–         He has turned the business of our lives around by paying our debts and making us prosper, so we are free to be generous

We are in Christ like survivors in a life boat – God has provided the means for our rescue

We are in Christ like a branch grafted into a vine – Jesus makes our lives fruitful for God’s glory

We are in Christ like being included in someone’s will or estate – we stand to inherit the kingdom of God

We are in Christ like a fine artwork in a collector’s possession – God values us and appreciates us and he won’t sell us at any price

We are in Christ like a reader who has finished a book – we know how the story ends

–         I could go on but you get the point: God blesses us in many, many ways but all of those ways are in Christ

 

Ok – so we’ve heard how the opening verses of Ephesians are an artesian well of praise and adoration for God

–         This worship is the natural overflow of God having blessed us in the spiritual realm and in Christ

–         The other idea that comes through strongly in our Bible reading this morning is that of God’s will, his purpose, his plan

–         We are blessed by the will of God

 

Blessings by the will of God:

In verse 1 Paul says he is an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God

In verse 5 he says, God predestined us to be adopted as his sons (and daughters) through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will

In verse 9, God made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure 

And in verse 11 we read, In Christ we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will…

Paul wants to make it very clear that all these wonderful spiritual blessings are happening by the will of God

–         They are not happening by fate or chance or karma or by anything we do

–         They are happening according to God’s purpose and plan

–         What’s more they are not happening because God is under any sort of obligation – God is acting freely, his hand is not forced

–         These blessings are happening (and indeed have happened) because it gives God pleasure – he wants to bless us generously, lavishly

 

Now some people hear the word ‘predestination’, which appears twice in our reading today, and they get themselves tied up in knots

–         They start thinking things like, ‘So we get no choice. God chooses some people to be saved and others miss out. That doesn’t seem very fair’

–         Or they think, ‘I go to church. I must be predestined for heaven. It’s all arranged and so I don’t need to do anything. I don’t need to worry about people who don’t yet know about Jesus because their fate is already decided. And I don’t need to worry too much about my own behaviour either because I’m already in’

–         That sort of thinking completely misunderstands what Paul is saying here

–         The whole tone of this passage is adoration, not calculation [1]

–         God is good – he is generous and thoughtful and kind and fair

–         God is looking for ways to include people in His plan of salvation

 

Our thinking is shaped by our society which, generally speaking, is very individualistic – Paul is talking in collective terms, not individual terms

–         So it’s not that God decides beforehand this person is in and this one is out – it’s not a fait a accompli

–         Christ is the one who was predestined by God before the creation of the world – Christ is the one God has elected to save and bless

–         Therefore if we are in Christ we too are saved and blessed

 

If you can imagine being at sea in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and the boat you are on is sinking – it was damaged in a storm and despite your best efforts to keep it afloat you know it’s just a matter of time before it goes under

–         Jesus is the rescue boat prepared by God, before the storm, to save us

–         When God’s rescue boat comes our way we have a choice – we can either stay on our own leaky boat or get on board with Jesus and go looking for others who are about to go under

–         To be in Christ is to be in the rescue boat with others with a mission

 

Eugene Peterson provides a helpful comment on this issue of predestination

–         He notes how the verb ‘destine’ (as in predestine) derives from the noun ‘boundary’ – so when it talks about God having predestined us in Christ, it means God has marked out the boundaries in which we live

–         In other words, Christ defines the boundaries for life – sort of like a rescue boat defines the boundaries for our survival

–         More than just surviving though, Christ is the environment in which we get the most out of life

–         If we are in Christ then we are in a good environment for spiritual life

–         But if we are not in Christ, who holds us and supports our life, then we’re overboard treading water to delay the inevitable

 

Having said we are blessed and saved in Christ, we need to remember it’s not all about us

–         Verse 10 tells us God’s purpose is to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ

–         God cares for all of his creation, not just human beings

–         ‘All things’ includes the physical that we can see and the spiritual that we can’t see

–         It includes the land and the sea, the animals, birds, fish, insects and plant life, as well as the angels and other spiritual beings

–         The scope of God’s plan is both comprehensive and beyond our comprehension

 

Conclusion:

When was the last time you spontaneously burst into praise for God’s goodness and blessings? Maybe it’s been a while.

–         Perhaps the only time you offer God adoration and praise is at church on a Sunday morning

–         Is your spiritual life feeling a bit dry – a bit empty

–         Look for artesian wells

–         Find ways to tap into the aquifer of God’s blessings in Christ

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

–         Why do you think this stood out to you?

2.)    Why do you think Paul starts his letter to the Ephesians with an outpouring of praise?

3.)    What awareness do you have of the spiritual realm?

–         Where does this awareness come from?

4.)    What affect do you think Paul’s description of God’s activity in the spiritual realm would have had on the Ephesian believers who were relatively small in number and at odds with many of the people in their community?

5.)    What does it mean to be ‘in Christ’?

6.)    Why does God choose to bless us?

7.)    Where might you find an artesian well (spiritually speaking)?

–         How might you tap into the aquifer of God’s goodness to us in Christ?

 

[1] This is my paraphrase of something Markus Barth said

Tawa Baptist

Salt & Light

Scripture: Matthew 5:13-16

Title: We’re making a difference

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Salt & Light
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Last Friday night I found myself standing on the corner of Courtney Place and Allen Street

–         Like most people I normally walk along a busy city street in my own little bubble – not making eye contact, not engaging with anyone at all

–         It’s funny how we do that in cities – we’re there but we’re not really involved, we’re just passing through

Anyway, last Friday I did something different and stood still on the footpath

–         After a few minutes of just standing there, a man came up to me and started talking – complete stranger, never seen him before in my life

–         We had a conversation for quite a while, and he probably would have talked all night, before the person I was waiting for came along and I had to excuse myself

On reflection afterwards, it occurred to me the way we often pass through this world without really getting involved in it

–         This stranger who spoke to me was actually present in a way that most people aren’t – he was involved

 

Today we continue our series for Self Denial

–         The overall theme for this year’s campaign is Where God Leads

–         Last week we heard from Jonah who spoke to us about how God led him to preach a message of repentance to his enemies

–         This morning we are thinking about making a difference

–         Earlier in the service we saw a video which showed some of the things our Baptist missionaries overseas are doing to make a difference in Asia

–         Now let’s turn to the Scriptures to consider how we can make a difference. From Matthew 5, verses 13-16 we read the words of Jesus… 

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

Salt & Light:

We make a difference, in the world, by being distinctive & involved

The one thing that salt & light have in common is that they are distinctive

  • – Salt is different from the food it is sprinkled on just as light is distinct from darkness
  • – The power of salt & light is not in its quantity but in its quality – it’s distinctiveness
  • – You don’t need a lot of salt or a lot of light to make a difference

 

Obviously for the salt to have any effect it needs to be in contact with the meat of the world

  • – Likewise, for light to be effective it needs to be revealed and not hidden

Salt and light graph

 

If you imagine a graph with distinctiveness on the y axis and involvement in the world on the x axis then we are aiming for the yellow quadrant

  • – The followers of Jesus are not to assimilate to the world’s values nor live separately from the world
  • – We make a difference by being distinctive, in a good way, and involved, not just passing through in our own little bubble

But the kind of distinctiveness that is in view here is not an aesthetic or cosmetic difference – rather it is a difference of being or character

  • – In the ancient world salt was associated with purity because it came from the purest of all things – the sun and the sea
  • – Because of its association with purity salt was rubbed on sacrifices
  • – Salt had a holy or sacramental use

One of the primary functions of salt is to preserve things, to arrest decay

  • – Before freezers people used to put salt on meat to make it last longer
  • – In saying, ‘You are the salt of the earth’ Jesus is calling his disciples to remain pure and be a moral disinfectant in a world where standards of morality are low

Another function of salt is to bring out the flavour in food – salt lends flavour to things

  • – As Christians, therefore, we should bring out the best in people, through our example, through our conversation and through our very presence

 

So, Jesus wants us to be like salt, pure but not bland

Being the salt of the earth comes with a warning: we shouldn’t lose our saltiness

  • – In other words, we shouldn’t lose our purity,
  • – We shouldn’t let our standards slip
  • – We mustn’t assimilate to the values of our society nor conform to the patterns of this world
  • – The world needs us to resist and subvert evil with the grace God gives us

To retain our saltiness (our flavour) we must maintain our distinctiveness

  • – So how do we do that – how do we maintain our distinctive Christ flavour?
  • – Well, as I’ve already alluded to, we don’t do it by dressing differently or living separately – we do it by staying close to Jesus
  • – It is the Spirit of Jesus who makes us salty
  • – It is the Spirit of Jesus who gives us light to share with others

 

In verse 16 Jesus says, “…let your light shine before men [and women], that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

  • – (The term ‘men’ is gender inclusive – as in humankind)
  • – This verse tells us our light reveals our good deeds – perhaps a bit like sunshine causes flower petals to open

The image of light is rich in interpretive possibility – light represents a number of things at once

  • – For example, light could be wisdom – so this verse can mean, let your wisdom shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven
  • – When we do our good deeds in a way that is smart, that doesn’t create dependencies or cause other problems downstream, then people look at those good deeds and praise God
  • – One of the wisest things a missionary can do is learn the language and culture of the people they are sent to and then, having become familiar with the culture, translate the Scriptures into the people’s own language

As well as representing wisdom, light characterises the first day of creation, so light could equate to creativity – as in, let your creativity shine…

  • – Therefore, when you do your good deeds, whether that’s making a meal for someone or preparing a Sunday school lesson, or coaching a kids’ sports team, or buying a gift or whatever, don’t be boring – be creative
  • – Do that good work in a way that is fresh and unique and expresses who God made you to be

Light is also associated with joy – so it’s like Jesus is saying, let your joy shine…

  • – Therefore, when you do your good deeds, don’t do them grudgingly or out of a sense of loveless duty – do them with good humour, have fun
  • – Guys, when you’re making breakfast in bed for your wife she doesn’t want you to approach the task with a heavy heart
  • – “Oh, not mothers’ day again. How do you want your eggs?”
  • – Most mothers of small children want to sleep in but when you do make her breakfast she’ll want you to want to do it and she’ll also want you to clean up the mess afterwards
  • – What I’m saying is that when you do your good deeds don’t make the other person feel bad about it
  • – Our good deeds are just a vehicle for what we are trying to communicate, God’s love
  • – If you make the breakfast with joy then your wife will feel loved
  • – But if you make it like a martyr she will probably feel stink

 

Wisdom, creativity and joy are just some of the things light represents

  • – Light has other positive connotations as well but you get the point:
  • – Light illuminates our good deeds, it sets our good deeds apart in a special way, it gives them a winsome quality

Elsewhere in the gospels Jesus describes himself as the light of the world – which points to Jesus as the source of our inner light

  • – More than just reflecting the light of Christ we actually hold the light of Christ’s wisdom, creativity and joy within us
  • – Or to say it another way, we are the lightbulb and the Spirit of Jesus is the electricity or power enabling us to shine
  • – Let your light shine then means let people see the Spirit of Jesus in you
  • – Let them see love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, self-control and all the other fruits of the Spirit in your good deeds

Now some of you may be thinking to yourself…

  • – “I’m not wise. I feel like I’m bumbling my way through life
  • – Nor am I joyful, in fact I feel pretty miserable most of the time.
  • – And I’m not that creative or patient or peaceful
  • – So what does that say about me?
  • – Does that mean I’m not a person of light?”
  • – Well no. Being light doesn’t mean having a perfect life
  • – You don’t have to have it altogether to be light
  • – Just before these verses about being salt & light, Jesus said this,
  • – Blessed are the poor in spirit… Blessed are those who mourn…
  • – Blessed are those who hunger for righteousness… and so on
  • – Jesus is not describing here people who have their life together
  • – He’s describing people who are broken, wounded, hurting and hungry
  • – People who don’t feel wise or happy or creative but who, through their weakness, display the wisdom and creativity of God in redeeming humankind

Jesus uses the image of a lamp giving light, not the image of a star

  • – A lamp has a warm and inviting glow, you can get close to a lamp
  • – Stars give off light but you can’t get close to a star
  • – The poor in spirit and the meek are not stars – they are humble & down to earth – like an old style lamp with an open flame, giving comfort & joy
  • – Or to put it more plainly, being the light of the world isn’t always about what we do when we feel at our best
  • – Light is more often about what God is doing when we are at our worst
  • – In that case, “Let your light shine”, means be open, be honest – let people get close enough to see God’s goodness & grace at work in your life

 

So, what might it look like (practically) to be salt & light in the world? Well, it depends on the situation to some degree…

If everyone in the room is raising their voice and pushing their own agenda, then being salt & light (being different in a good way) might mean listening

  • – Listening reveals patience and gentleness

Or, if you are in a meeting at work and everyone in the room is saying ‘yes’ to a decision that will increase profits at the expense of peoples’ welfare, then being salt & light might mean saying ‘no’ – and offering a better alternative – one that shines with the light of Christ’s wisdom and compassion

Or, if you are in a conversation and people are maligning someone else behind their back, then being distinctive might sound like disagreeing with them and shining a light on that person’s better qualities

  • – It might cause some short term tension to disagree but longer term it will build trust

Or, when everyone is filling their lives with busy-ness and activity and the stress that accompanies that, being salt & light might mean slowing down and taking time out for prayer, corporate worship or spiritual retreat

  • – Enjoying Sabbath rest is a positive way of subverting the impatience and greed of our consumerist society
  • – The world needs us to be different in a good way – it needs us to subvert evil with grace & truth

Now, you need to know I’m being a bit easy on you – my examples of being salt & light don’t set the bar very high

  • – If Jesus was standing here preaching to you now, I imagine he would be saying some very difficult things
  • – For example, being salt & light (being distinctive & involved in the world) means not retaliating when someone punches you in the face but turning the other check
  • – Being salt & light means loving your enemies and lending to people who can’t afford to repay you
  • – It means you will respond to abuse and prejudice with joy
  • – It means you won’t do things to promote yourself or make yourself look good – you’ll do things in a way that makes God look good
  • – Being salt & light means you will do what you say even when it is no longer convenient to you
  • – It also means you won’t worry about the future – you’ll live in the present
  • – I’m not making this up, by the way, I’m getting it all from Matthew 5, 6 & 7 – the sermon on the mount

So that we don’t feel too overwhelmed though we need to remember that being salt & light is not something we do on our own

  • – When Jesus said to his disciples, “You are the salt of the earth” and “You are the light of the world” the “You” is plural, not singular
  • – And when Jesus says in verse 14, “A city on a hill cannot be hidden”, this indicates a community of lights – not just a single house
  • – Sometimes we might be the only one in the room saying the unpopular salty thing but we do that in the knowledge we are not acting alone
  • – We are acting as Christ’s representative and as a member of his body, the community of the church

 

A couple of real life examples of what it means to be salt & light

  • – The first is from New Zealand history and the second is from the Bible

Those who were at the Salvation Army for the Easter Sunday service a few weeks ago may remember the story of Piripi Taumata-a-Kura

  • – Jay Ruka retells Piripi’s story in his book, Huia Come Home
  • – Piripi came from the Ngati Porou tribe on the East Cape
  • – He was captured in the 1820’s by a Nga Puhi raiding party and taken away as a slave
  • – While he was in Waimate, Piripi met the missionary Henry Williams who taught him to read & write and introduced him to the gospel of Jesus
  • – Long story short, Piripi was returned to his tribe on the East Cape about 10 years later, where he shared the gospel with his own people before any Pakeha arrived in the area

One situation in particular demonstrates the salt & light influence Piripi had on his world. …

When asked to fight with his people against another tribe, Piripi was reluctant at first

  • – Eventually though he was persuaded, but only after he convinced his fellow warriors to adopt a code of conduct which reflected Christian ideas of compassion towards enemies
  • – There was to be no cannibalism and no destroying the enemy’s crops
  • – In agreement to these conditions he entered the battle
  • – Legend says he defied the bullets whizzing around him and emerged unscathed
  • – His bravery and trust in God captured the imagination of his people [1]

Obviously the ideal is a world without war, but we don’t live in an ideal world

  • – If Piripi had refused to fight the outcome for his enemies would have been worse
  • – So when peace wasn’t an option Piripi found a way to be salt & light, to remain involved and make a positive difference

 

Our second story of what it means to be salt & light comes from the book of Exodus, chapter 1

  • – The people of Israel were living in Egypt and they were thriving
  • – This made Pharaoh paranoid and he began to oppress the Israelites with slave drivers to crush their spirits
  • – But the more the Egyptians oppressed the Israelites the more they increased in number
  • – So the king of Egypt called the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah to his palace for a chat
  • – “When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, kill the baby if it is a boy, but let it live if it is a girl.”

This put the midwives in a difficult position

  • – If they did what Pharaoh wanted they would be in trouble with God
  • – And if they did what God wanted they would be in trouble with Pharaoh
  • – Some people may have abdicated their responsibility by resigning their position but not Shiphrah and Puah – they were made of sterner stuff
  • – If they weren’t involved some other midwives with little or no conscience might take their place and then they would have blood on their hands
  • – Better to stay involved and have some influence for good

Ultimately the midwives were more afraid of God than Pharaoh, so they let the boys live. But they were clever about it

  • – They didn’t make placards and stand in protest outside Pharaoh’s palace
  • – That might work in a democracy but not in a dictatorship
  • – They were as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves
  • – They subverted Pharaoh’s authority quietly and discreetly

On learning that his plan wasn’t working the king of Egypt summoned Shiphrah & Puah back for another meeting and asked them…

  • – “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”
  • – Pharaoh wasn’t the sharpest knife in the draw so Shiphrah & Puah said to him, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before we arrive.”

This wasn’t true of course – it was a lie – and while it is not ideal to speak falsely, we don’t live in an ideal world

  • – If the midwives had been completely honest they would have put the king in a position where he felt obliged to kill them to save face
  • – God didn’t seem to mind the midwives deceit though – they were simply being salt & light – staying involved in the world and making a positive difference as they were able
  • – God protected Shiphrah & Puah and gave them children of their own
  • – The midwives’ subversive tactics worked and Pharaoh had to find another way to carry out his plan of genocide

When I think about the situations that Piripi and Shiphrah & Puah found themselves in, I imagine the pressures would have been huge

  • – But they didn’t cave
  • – They didn’t run away or assimilate
  • – They found a way to stay involved and make a positive difference

 

Conclusion:

Mission isn’t just something that happens overseas

  • – Opportunities for Christian mission are all around us, right here in NZ
  • – Jesus said, ‘You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world’
  • – Jesus means for us to have a positive influence where we are
  • – We are to be pure but not bland
  • – We are to be different but not separate
  • – We are to be open and not pass through life in our own little bubble

Having said that we do well to remember our saltiness and our light comes from our union with Christ

  • – This means we can’t be in the world all the time
  • – To stay salty and keep the lamp burning we need to guard against busy-ness and make time, apart from the world, to take care of our relationship with Jesus – reading our Bible, praying, gathering for worship and so on
  • – If you want good fruit you need to take care of the root.

 

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 do salt & light share in common?

3.)    What does it mean to be the salt of the earth?

4.)    What does it mean to be the light of the world?

5.)    Where would you place yourself on the graph below? Why?

Salt and light graph

6.)     How might we move from assimilation to distinctiveness?

–         How might we move from separation to involvement?

7.)    Piripi and Shiphrah & Puah provide good examples of people who acted as salt & light in their respective worlds. Can you think of any other examples from your own experience or from history or the Scriptures, where people have been salt & light? (I.e. made a positive difference through their involvement in a less than ideal situation.)

 

[1] Jay Ruka, Huia Come Home, page 48.

Tawa Baptist

Does God care about these people?

Scripture: Jonah

Title: Does God care about these people?

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Jonah 1
  • Jonah 3
  • Jonah 4
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

Are you a glass half empty or a glass half full person?

–         For a long time I was a glass half empty sort of person

 

Forgive me, I’m forgetting my manners – allow me to introduce myself…

–         My name is Jonah, son of Amittai – you may have heard about me in Sunday school

–         I was born nearly 800 years before Christ, which makes me about 2,800 years old now

–         I know what you’re thinking – I look good for my age

–         Some of you may be wondering, ‘Why is he wearing that outfit?’

–         Well, I’m a prophet – this is what the future looks like baby

–         I’m just kidding – I wear it because it’s comfortable

–         Although, when you’ve lived as long as I have, you notice fashion does keep going around in circles

 

Anyway, as I was saying, I used to be a glass half empty person – in fact my wife would say I was a bit grumpy and cantankerous, on a good day

–         All I wanted was the quiet life – to be left in peace with my work, to ignore my neighbours and make an appearance at the synagogue just often enough to avoid a visit from the local Rabbi

–         As you can see, by the way I’m dressed, I don’t like to draw attention to myself – I have no interest in public speaking either

–         God knew this of course – he knew how much I valued my privacy and yet he completely disregarded all that and called me to be a missionary prophet

 

Sounds a bit grand, even wonderful, to say ‘I am a missionary prophet’ but I can tell you the reality is far from it

–         Being a prophet is an incredibly lonely life

–         It makes you famous & poor, which is a combination you want to avoid

–         The messages God gives are usually unpopular – warnings of judgement if you don’t change your wicked ways

–         In a society like yours where people are always bowing down to the idol of individualism and your media insists personal freedom be worshipped, no one likes to be criticised for the way they live their life

–         And on those rare occasions when I do get to bring a message of hope, people are usually so despondent they refuse to believe it

–         It takes a great deal of courage to risk hope when you’ve lost nearly everything

 

Jonah 1

That’s why I did a runner when the Word of the Lord came to me

–         Don’t ask me how I knew it was God speaking – some things you just know to be true in the core of your being

–         God said to me, “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

 

My first reaction was to ignore God, pretend like I didn’t hear

–         But there is an inevitability about God’s Word – it gets under your skin – the more you try to ignore it the more it irritates you

–         It becomes an itch that just has to be scratched

–         I tried distracting myself by keeping busy but that didn’t work so, even though God was leading me to Nineveh, I set off in the opposite direction for Spain – that’s how much I didn’t want to do this

 

What you need to understand is that Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria, which you probably know as northern Iraq

–         The Assyrians were our enemies – I won’t go into it all but they did some terrible things to our people

–         And God wanted me to go to them as a missionary prophet, when I wasn’t even prepared to cross the street to give them the time of day

 

Now you might be thinking, ‘Surely Jonah you would jump at the chance to tell your enemies how rotten they are’

–         Well, you’re wrong. I knew God well enough to know his true motivation

–         God was sending me to Nineveh because deep down he really cares about them – why else would he give them a warning?

–         God likes to give people second and third and fourth chances – it’s just the way he is

–         I know this about God because he has been giving my people (Israel) hundreds of second chances for centuries

–         God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love

–         He doesn’t want anyone to perish but wants everyone to be saved

–         Which is a real pain in the backside – because it means mugs like me get sent on a fool’s errand

–         I knew how it was going to turn out and that’s why I ran away

I guess I thought I would get away with it – I reasoned that if I didn’t go God would send someone else

–         I mean it’s not like I was anyone special – there were plenty of people more capable, more eloquent, more sociable, more charming than me

–         The Lord could use one of them

–         For a moment there I managed to convince myself that I was actually doing God a favour – I would probably stuff it up anyway

–         It never occurred to me that he would interfere with the weather

 

There I was, below deck, sleeping like a baby, while all hell was breaking loose above me

–         The men on board were seasoned sailors and they were scared for their lives, which tells you just how bad it was

–         As soon as they woke me I knew I was to blame

–         At that moment the psalmist’s words returned to me,

–         Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

–         Still I wasn’t ready to give in – I thought, ‘God cares about these men, he isn’t going to let them drown because of me.’

–         It was like I was playing chicken with God and the lives of everyone on the ship – that’s how reckless I had become

 

Eventually they caste lots (which is like throwing dice or drawing straws) and my number came up

–         That’s one of the differences between you people today and the ancients

–         They didn’t believe in chance like you do

–         Nothing was random to them – everything had a purpose and a meaning

–         The spiritual realm was everywhere – the hands of the gods were directing fate. Nothing happened by accident

–         You call it superstition or luck and your post enlightenment, hyper-rational mind-set rules out the possibility of divine involvement

–         People today close their eyes to what they don’t want to see

–         No wonder you are starved for meaning

–         Your society may be rich, in material terms, but it’s spiritually poor

 

Anyway, enough about you, let’s get back to me – as I was saying, my number came up and I had to fess up

–         The storm was caused by my God – the same God who made the land and the sea – a God far more powerful than any other

–         And the Lord was doing this because I was running away from him

–         I told the sailors it was my fault and that if they picked me up and threw me into the sea it will become calm again

–         But they didn’t want to do it – they tried to save me by rowing to shore

–         There was I, a son of Abraham, one of God’s chosen people

–         I had grown up being taught the ways of the one true, living God, and I took my Godly heritage for granted, despised it even

–         These sailors didn’t even know the Lord – and yet they were risking their lives to save mine

–         Their religion was based on a lie (they worshipped idols) but their humanity was true

–         They loved me like a brother and they hardly knew me

–         I can’t tell you how much their actions touched me – as lonely as I was

 

When the storm got even worse, and they realised I was right, they reluctantly threw me overboard. The water became dead flat in an instant

–         Jesus did the same thing on a lake in Galilee 800 years later

–         People these days have no idea how powerful the Lord is – if you did you would show him more respect than you do

 

As providence would have it I met one of those sailors years later and he explained how profound his conversion experience was at the moment the waters became still

–         It occurred to him just how gracious and wise God is, turning my failure, my disobedience, into their salvation

–         If I hadn’t run away those sailors may never have known the power of God’s goodness

–         The old sailor’s eyes misted up when he told me that and I was humbled to silence

Of course that humility came years later with the benefit of hindsight – at the moment of being thrown overboard and hitting the water I was terrified

–         You New Zealanders are surrounded by the sea – you love going to the beach and swimming in the waves – but I’m a Hebrew, a land-lover

–         The sea reminds you of summertime and holidays but for me the sea represents chaos and death

 

I hadn’t been thrashing around in the ocean for long when a huge fish swallowed me up

–         Now I know that many people today struggle to believe this

–         Your culture holds up this ideal of being broad minded & inclusive and yet your imagination is too small to include this possibility

–         I’m not going to waste my time trying to convince you – arguments about the fish are a distraction

 

The point is: God is sovereign – he is in control of the outcome

–         He is able to work all things for good

–         I thought I was a gonna when that fish swam up

–         Funny how sometimes the things we fear most, the things we think will destroy us, actually turn out to be our salvation

–         It’s like that famous hymn writer William Cowper said…

–         God moves in a Mysterious way, His Wonders to perform,
He plants his Footsteps in the Sea, and rides upon the Storm.

–         Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; the clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head.   

–         I knew William Cowper – he was a glass half empty person, like me

–         During his lifetime he never really grasped how deeply God cared for him

–         But I’m not sure any of us do

 

I was three days and three nights in that fish and, after I had calmed down from the initial shock, it gave me time to think

–         I wrote a song of my own, which didn’t make it into the charts but did make it into the Bible.  Suffering is the mid-wife of art

 

Jonah 3

After the fish had spat me out on the beach the Word of the Lord came to me a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”

–         So this time I obeyed the Word of the Lord and went to Nineveh

–         Now, getting to Nineveh is not easy – it’s a journey of hundreds of miles on foot. There were no cars or aeroplanes 2,800 years ago

–         It actually took me weeks to get there, and I had to rely on the kindness of strangers the whole way

 

Naturally I thought a lot about what had happened to me

–         How God had given me a second chance and persevered with me despite my stubbornness

–         How he didn’t trade me in for a more reliable, lower maintenance missionary prophet

–         How his Word to me the second time was different from the first time

–         The first time he told me to ‘preach against the city’, but now his message was more open ended, more flexible – simply: ‘Proclaim the message I give you’ – which could be anything

–         I wondered what he might ask me to say – I guess that’s faith isn’t it, walking in trust, not knowing what the future holds

–         Which doesn’t suit me at all – I want to know beforehand, I want to be prepared

 

When I finally arrived in Nineveh it was as bad as I had imagined – domestic violence, child abuse, women treated shamelessly, bribery and corruption in the justice system, a huge gap between rich & poor and an economy fuelled by war mongering – How can people live like that?

 

The message God gave me was simple: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.”

–         It had to be simple really – I spoke a different language to them and, as I said before, I don’t enjoy public speaking. None of that mattered though

–         Even though I must have looked a pitiful picture to them the people believed my message – don’t ask me how

–         I guess some things you just know to be true in the core of your being.

–         The people believed God and showed remorse for their wrong doing by fasting and wearing sackcloth

Fasting is when you go without food – it is an act of self-denial

–         Fasting is the opposite of celebrating

–         When you fast you have more time to pray and listen to God

–         Wearing sack cloth is a way of putting appearances aside

–         When someone puts on sackcloth they are saying I am spiritually poor and I’m not going to hide my poverty

The people of Nineveh were serious about their repentance – the king even issued a proclamation telling everyone to call on God for mercy and give up their violent ways. And the people did

–         When God saw they had turned away from evil, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened

 

Jonah 4

And they all lived happily ever after – except for me – I was not happy

–         Like I said before, I knew God was sending me to Nineveh because he really cares about them

–         It was God’s hope all along that the Assyrians would repent

–         God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love

–         He doesn’t want anyone to perish but wants everyone to be saved

–         God will jump at the chance to let people off the hook, if they are genuinely sorry

 

I was so gutted I said, “Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

–         I did tell you I was a ‘glass half empty’ kind of person – but at that moment it seemed to me like the glass was completely empty

–         Not only did I have to live with the indignity of having my prediction unfulfilled (God didn’t make my words come true) – I just couldn’t face returning to my family and community

–         I knew people personally who had family members killed, crops destroyed and their homes burned to the ground by the Assyrians

–         How could I live with the shame of having helped my enemies

–         It was too much to bear – I felt like a traitor

And you know what God said to me?

–         “[Jonah], have you any right to be angry?”

 

Sullen and brooding I decided to give God the silent treatment

–         I wanted to put some distance between myself and the city, and between myself and God, so I walked East, even further away from the temple in Jerusalem

–         Have I any right to be angry? How could he ask that? Of course I do

–         Grace is fine when it’s for me and the people I care about, but mercy for the people of Nineveh, after all the suffering they had caused?

–         Where was the Lord’s sense of justice?

–         Cleary he cared about them but he didn’t seem to care about Israel, or about me.  I felt betrayed by God – whose side was he on?

 

God has a way of getting us to talk, even when we don’t want to

–         The Lord caused a vine, a leafy plant, to grow up beside me – it was incredible, sprang up overnight

–         The plant gave me shade from the sun – it was a comfort to me, my only comfort actually

–         Next day though God provides a worm to kill the plant

–         So that was my reward for obedience

–         I felt like Job – the Lord gives and takes away

–         The wind and sun was particularly bad that day – and I knew it was Him who was doing it

By this stage I could see the plant had been a real and living parable

–         You know you’re in trouble when God gives you a parable

–         Parables irritate you, they get under your skin and become an itch that has to be scratched – so I broke my silence and said again,

–         “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

–         I didn’t really want to die – I just didn’t want to be in pain anymore

–         I wanted to get off this nightmare carnival ride I was on

–         I wanted to get out of my head and feel good again

–         I wanted my cup to be full to overflowing

–         So God said to me, really softy and gently, “[Jonah], do you have a right to be angry about the vine?”

–         He was trying to help me feel better but I couldn’t see that yet. I replied,

–         “I do have a right to be angry. I am angry enough to die.”

–         I wanted God to feel my pain, to understand

–         He sits on his throne in heaven, makes his plans, gives his orders and expects us to carry them out, but does he know how difficult this life is, how hard it is to be human?

 

The Lord said to me: “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”

It was an argument from the lesser to the greater

–         I cared about that plant, even though I had done nothing to create it or look after it – how much more then should God care about 120,000 people (and their livestock) who he did create and who are far more valuable than a single vine

–         There was nothing I could say in reply to that – God had the last word

 

Conclusion:

Will asked me to preach today because my story fits with the theme of your self-denial campaign: ‘Where God leads’

–         Well, God led me hundreds of miles away from home to preach a message of repentance to my enemies

–         And why did he do that?

–         Because his purpose (his mission) is not all about me – and it’s not all about Israel either

–         God cares about my enemies (and yours)

–         Think about the person you care the least for in this world – God loves them – their life is precious to him

–         In fact he cares for all of his creation – not just human life

 

I said before that I wanted God to feel my pain, to understand, to know how hard it is to be human

–         Well, 800 years after I was born, he did just that

–         God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth

–         And he suffered terribly – he felt my pain alright, and then some

–         His cup was emptied completely and after he had tasted death, his cup was filled to overflowing with eternal life

Jesus’ experience was my experience

–         I used to be a glass half empty sort of person – then the Lord emptied me completely, but only so he could fill me again with something far better

–         Jesus’ coming fulfilled the purpose of my life

–         He can fill your glass too but first he’ll probably want to empty it and make you wait – and that’s the hard part

–         Hold on to God through the emptying and the waiting – it’s worth it in the end

 

Where is God leading you?

–         Maybe overseas but more likely just over the fence to your neighbour or to someone in your own family

–         Peace be with 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.)    Are you a glass half empty or a glass half full person?

3.)    Why did God call Jonah to preach against the city of Nineveh?

–         Why do you think Jonah ran away?

4.)    Has God ever asked you to do something you really didn’t want to?

–         What happened?

5.)    How did God work Jonah’s disobedience for good?

6.)    Why do you think Jonah was angry after God relented from destroying Nineveh?

–         How did God handle Jonah’s anger?

7.)    Think of someone you don’t like or don’t care about

–         Take some time to imagine God’s love and care for the one(s) you don’t like

–         Ask God to bless your enemies

8.)    In what ways does Jonah’s story point to Jesus?

9.)    Where is God leading you?

 

Tawa Baptist

A New Filter

Scripture: Luke 24:36-49

Title: A New Filter

Structure:

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

Introduction:

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture.

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

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

 

From fear to joy:

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

Jesus deals with their fear by engaging the disciples’ senses

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

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

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

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

 

From doubt to understanding:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

–         If he dies then he can’t live again

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

–         Jesus can be the Messiah and be crucified

–         Jesus can die and be raised to life

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

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

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

 

So what does this mean for us?

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

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

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

–         God loves us and allows us to suffer

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

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

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

 

Repentance & forgiveness also go together

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

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

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

–         If nothing changes, then nothing changes

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

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

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

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

–         Sometimes we are slow to let ourselves off the hook

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

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

 

From disbelief to witness:

In verses 48 & 49 Jesus says to his disciples…

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

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

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

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

–         Here we have another ‘both / and’

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

–         The ship came ashore near where Piripi was held captive

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

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

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

–         Piripi sailed home with the leaders from his tribe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

–         Piripi suffered like Jesus suffered

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

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

 

Conclusion:

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

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

 

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

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

–         Why do you think this stood out to you?

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

–         When does a filter become detrimental and need replacing?

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

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

4.)    When is doubt a good thing?

–         When is doubt not a good thing?

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

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

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

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

–         How might God give us a new filter?

 

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

Tawa Baptist

The Whole of the Moon

Scripture: John 17:20-26

Title: The Whole of the Moon

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Jesus prays for us to be one
  • Made one by Jesus’ glory (love & suffering)
  • Made one for a purpose (that others would know & believe)
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

[Play the first 2 mins and 5 secs of the song: ‘The Whole of the Moon’]

 

I pictured a rainbow, you held it in your hands.

I had flashes but you saw the plan.

I wandered out in the world for years, while you just stayed in your room.

I saw the crescent, you saw the whole of the moon, the whole of the moon.

You were there at the turn stiles with the wind at your heels

You stretched for the stars and you know how it feels to reach too high, too far, too soon, you saw the whole of the moon. 

I was grounded, while you filled the skies.

I was dumbfounded by truth, you cut through lies.

I saw the rain dirty valley, you saw Brigadoon.

I saw the crescent, you saw the whole of the moon.

Can anyone tell me the name of the band who wrote this song? [Wait]

–         That’s right – The Waterboys

–         It’s a song about someone who has the vision to see the bigger picture, beyond the immediate, beyond the here & now

 

Over the past couple of weeks we have been working our way through Jesus’ prayer in John 17

–         Jesus prayed this prayer the night before his trial, crucifixion and death

–         He knew very well what was coming

–         If it was any of us I imagine our focus would be quite narrow – we would be thinking about the pain of the next day – the here & now

–         We would struggle to see beyond Good Friday

–         But Jesus has a bigger perspective

–         Yes, he prays for himself, but his vision stretches higher & further than that

–         Jesus sees the whole of the moon – not just the crescent of his crucifixion

–         He looks out across the centuries and sees the millions who will believe in him and come to know God’s love

–         From verse 20 of John 17 Jesus prays for us…

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading

 

Jesus prays for us to be one:

Jesus’ prayer in these verses is that we, who believe in him, may be one

–         What then does it mean to be one?

Well, to be one can mean a number of things

–         Last week we heard how Jesus prayed for his disciples to be one and I connected this oneness with integrity, because in the context Jesus was talking about holiness and integrity is an aspect of holiness

From a mathematical perspective, to be one is to be whole or to be 100%, as opposed to something less than one, like a half or some other fraction

–         So when Jesus asks God the Father to make those who believe in him one he could mean he wants us to be whole – both whole in an individual sense but also whole in a collective sense

 

To be whole in an individual sense means to be undivided, completely committed to God and without split loyalties

–         Being one is akin to being pure in heart, not having mixed motives and not serving two masters

–         In Matthew 5 Jesus promised that the pure in heart will see God

–         There is a certain peace & joy which comes with being one thing and not a whole lot of different things

–         So, in praying for us to be one, Jesus could mean he wants our personal undivided loyalty – he wants the whole of us not just some part

 

To be one (or whole) in a collective sense means having no one missing from the group

–         Last week I used the analogy of a football team being one (or having integrity) when all 11 players are on the field and in the right position

–         If a player gets sent off or out of position then the team loses something of its integrity or its oneness

–         In Luke 15 Jesus tells three parables: about a lost sheep, a lost coin and two lost sons

–         In each of those stories Jesus is making the point that God’s purpose is to restore, to make things whole again – make them one

–         The shepherd’s flock of a 100 sheep is not whole if one is missing

–         Just as the woman’s set of 10 silver coins is not whole if one is missing

–         And the family is not whole (it doesn’t have integrity) if either one of the sons becomes estranged from the father or each other

–         So, in praying for us to be one, Jesus could also mean he wants no one to be lost

 

Looking more closely at the context of John 17, Jesus says in verses 21-23…

–         I pray… that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity.

This tells us the oneness Jesus has in mind is relational – we are one with each other in the same way that God the Father and God the Son are one

–         Jesus seems to be talking about an ontological oneness here – a oneness of being, something intrinsically shared

–         God the Father and Jesus the Son are not the same person but they share the same essence, the same Spirit, the same DNA so to speak

–         Likewise, we who believe that Jesus is from God share a oneness of being

–         We share the same Spirit, or the same spiritual DNA

–         This oneness of being is given and inherent – it is not something we create ourselves through some sophisticated organisational structure

–         For example, we Baptists, here in New Zealand, are one with Coptic Christians in Egypt, even though we are different in other ways

Unity, as you know, does not mean uniformity – it doesn’t mean everyone being the same

–         Unity allows for diversity while at the same time holding some things in common. So what is it we hold in common?

–         Well Jesus says, I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one…

–         This tells us we are made one by the glory of Jesus

 

Made one by Jesus’ glory:

Once again the glory God gave Jesus can mean a number of things – two things in particular from the context:

–         God gave Jesus the glory of being loved and the glory of suffering

The glory of love

–         First the glory of love. Jesus says in verse 24…

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”

  • – And then in verse 26 he says…

“Righteous Father… I…will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them….”

God loved Jesus and Jesus passes that love on to us, therefore the love of God makes us one – we are all loved by God, we share this in common

–         What did the one lost sheep share with the other 99 who didn’t go astray?

–         The lost sheep was loved just as much as the other 99

–         What did the younger (prodigal) son share in common with the older (resentful) son?

–         They were both loved equally by the Father

–         To see the glory of Jesus is to know that we are loved by God

 

I don’t know if you have ever been in love, or if you can remember, but when you love someone they populate your every thought

–         You find it hard to be without them, hard not to talk about them

–         And you become quite jealous where they are concerned – not jealous in a bad way but jealous in the sense of wanting the best for them

–         When you love someone it hurts not to be able to express your love – you want to tell them of your love and show them love in any way you can

 

Jesus is saying in his prayer that he wants us to know the glory of his love, which is essentially the love that God the Father has for him

–         And this is remarkable really when we consider that Jesus was about to be crucified – At a time when most of us would be focused on ourselves, because of the ordeal that lay ahead, Jesus’ thoughts are populated by us

–         Although he is about to depart this world, while we remain here, Jesus ultimately wants us to be with him where he is

–         Jesus is jealous for us – not jealous in a bad way but jealous in the sense that he wants the best for us

–         He wants us to know how much we are loved by God

There are times in this life when it is difficult to believe that we are loved by God – times when circumstances are against us and darkness closes in

–         We see the crescent – we see only in part – we don’t yet realise the full extent of God’s love for us

–         But Jesus sees the whole of the moon and he wants us to see the full glory of God’s love too

 

We are talking about the glory that Jesus has given us – the glory that makes us one: first there is the glory of love, but there is also the glory of suffering

 

The glory of suffering

Suffering is the natural partner of love

–         Suffering strips away illusion – it proves the truth of love, actually helps us to see love in all its glory

 

I’d like to play you part of Joni Mitchell’s song, ‘Both Sides Now’ …

Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels

The dizzy dancing way that you feel

As every fairy tale comes real

I’ve looked at love that way.

But now it’s just another show

And you leave them laughing when you go

And if you can don’t let them know

Don’t give yourself away

I’ve looked at love from both sides now

From give and take and still somehow

Its love’s illusions that I recall

I really don’t know love

I really don’t know love at all

 

There are two sides to love aren’t there

–         There’s the wonderful high we get from love – the dizzy dancing way you feel – and then the fairy tale comes real

–         There is the joy of being with the one you love and then the pain & grief we feel when we lose our lover

“Love’s illusions” are normally felt by us in the early stages of a relationship, when we are blind

–         Love’s illusions makes us think the good feeling will last forever

–         Love’s illusions lead us to make grand promises we can never keep – to imagine we are invincible and the rules don’t apply to us

–         Love’s illusions is what we recall because the pain of love:

o   The giving of ourselves when there is nothing in it for us,

o   The long haul commitment,

o   The things that irritate us and make us mad,

o   The way our lover shows us a mirror for a faults,

o   The grief we feel when death separates us,

o   All the suffering of true love, we prefer not to face

–         Love’s illusions are sweeter

 

There can be a romanticism in Christian faith that actually sets us up for a fall

–         Sometimes we believe in a fairy tale, don’t we – one in which God’s love for us equates to a dizzy dancing feeling that we think will last forever

–         We imagine our faith to be invincible and we make grand promises in the worship songs we sing and the prayers we pray, promises we can’t keep

–         We might think, for our faith to be true we must always feel peace & joy,

–         But then the ‘fairy tale comes real’ and God seems distant

–         We might feel alone, like God has abandoned us to sickness or despair or the violence of our unwanted thoughts & compulsions, the tyranny of self

We find that sanctification, being made holy, becoming like Christ, includes being shown a mirror of all our faults and it’s too much to take

–         Sometimes being a believer in Jesus is bliss – but much of the time it’s just hard graft, in this world at least (I’m not sure what the next life holds)

–         And ‘still somehow its love’s illusion we recall – we really don’t know love at all.’

 

Suffering is the natural partner of love

–         Suffering strips away illusion – it proves the truth of love, actually shows us love in all its glory

–         We can’t know how much God loves us until we look in the mirror and see what we are really like

–         Nor can we know how much we love God until we give ourselves to him when it seems there’s nothing in it for us

 

Jesus gives us the glory God gave him and that glory includes both love and suffering

–         We might not all suffer in the same way, but we all suffer, and so our oneness comes from carrying our cross, as Christ carried his cross

–         We are to love one another because God first loved us and because we are all hurting in our own private way

–         We don’t ‘give ourselves away’ when maybe sometimes we should

–         Life is hard – we need to be on each other’s side

 

Made one for a purpose:

There is purpose in the oneness of our love & suffering

–         We are made one, not just for ourselves, but primarily for others – that the world would know and believe that Jesus comes from God

In verse 21 Jesus says…

Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

–         And in verse 23 he says…

…May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

In verse 21 Jesus prays for our oneness so, that the world may believe and in verse 23 he asks that we be brought to unity, that the world may know

–         Believing & knowing go hand in hand in this context

–         It seems the kind of knowing Jesus has in mind here is not just a superficial mental awareness but the knowing of deep conviction

–         Believing it in your core – trusting the knowledge

 

The relationship between knowledge & belief is found throughout the Bible

–         In Psalm 9, verse 10, for example we read…

–         Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

 

To help us understand the relationship between knowing and believing, imagine you are standing on one side of a huge chasm

–         There is no way around and the only way across is a narrow swing bridge

–         To get to the other side of the chasm you need to know where the swing bridge is and how to get to it

–         But simply knowing where the bridge is, is not enough in itself to get you across

Once you have reached the bridge you then need the faith to cross it

–         You need to believe that it will hold your weight and that the destination on the other side is worth the risk

Jesus is the bridge

–         The miracle of our oneness is the sign which points to the bridge so people know where to cross

–         And knowledge of God’s love for us helps people to believe in Jesus, to trust him – it gives people confidence to cross over to the other side

–         (Because if God can love us he can love anyone)

 

In John 9 Jesus heals a man born blind

–         This man then gets interrogated by the Pharisees

–         The Pharisees say, ‘We don’t know where Jesus comes from’

–         And the man replies:

–         “What a strange thing that is. You don’t know where he comes from but he cured me of my blindness… Unless this man came from God he would not be able to do a thing.”  

–         The Pharisees didn’t like that logic so they expelled the man from the synagogue

At that point the man born blind can see the crescent but he can’t see the whole of the moon – he knows that Jesus is a prophet, who comes from God, but he doesn’t yet realise that Jesus is far more than a prophet

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

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

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

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

 

Knowledge and belief go hand in hand

–         Knowledge enables us to see the crescent

–         Belief helps us to see the whole of the moon

 

Conclusion:

This morning we’ve heard how Jesus prayed for us, who believe in him without ever having seen him

–         Jesus prayed that we may be one as he and God the Father are one

–         We are made one by the glory Jesus gives us – the glory of God’s love and suffering

–         And we are made one for a purpose – so the world may know & believe that God sent Jesus

 

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 had the experience of seeing the crescent of something and then being shown the whole of the moon? What happened?

3.)    What do you think Jesus had in mind when he prayed for us to be one?

–         Discuss (or reflect on) the possibilities

4.)    What did Jesus say makes us one?

–         What is the glory Jesus has given us?

5.)    To what extent do you (personally) know you are loved by God?

–         How do you know this?

–         Why is suffering necessary to love?

6.)    Listen to Joni Mitchell’s song, ‘Both Sides Now’

–         What are you in touch with as you listen? (What do you feel and remember?)

7.)    Why did Jesus pray for us to be one?

–         Why do we need to love one another?

8.)    Thinking of the man healed by Jesus in John 9, what is the relationship between knowledge and belief/faith?

–         Why is knowledge necessary to belief, and vice versa?