Tawa Baptist

Barnabas & Mark

Scripture: Acts 15:36-40

 

Title: Barnabas & Mark

 

The term ‘big hearted’ describes someone who is:

–         Compassionate, generous, open, kind, gracious, encouraging & noble

–         Someone who is big hearted looks beyond the flaws in others to see their  potential – they accept people and make room for them

 

Please turn with me to Acts chapter 15, verse 36 – page 171 toward the back of your pew Bibles

–         This morning we continue our series on intergenerational relationships

–         An intergenerational relationship is one between people of different ages or generations

–         Next week Brian Gillies will conclude our sermon series by looking at the relationship between Jonathon’s son, Mephibosheth, and David

–         This morning’s focus though is Barnabas & Mark, two missionaries in the New Testament

–         Barnabas was Mark’s older ‘big hearted’ cousin

–         Although the young Mark made a false start, Barnabas gave him the grace and the courage to make a fresh start

 

From Acts 15, verse 36 we read…

 

36 Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in every town where we preached the word of the Lord, and let us find out how they are getting along.” 37 Barnabas wanted to take John Mark with them, 38 but Paul did not think it was right to take him, because he had not stayed with them to the end of their mission, but had turned back and left them in Pamphylia. 39 There was a sharp argument, and they separated: Barnabas took Mark and sailed off for Cyprus, 40 while Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the care of the Lord’s grace.

 

May the Spirit of Jesus give us understanding

 

Although the focus of today’s message is primarily the relationship between Barnabas and Mark we can’t we really talk about them without also mentioning the relationship between Barnabas & Paul and Peter & Mark

–         Intergenerational relationships don’t just happen in pairs – they often hold together within a network or a community

 

Barnabas and Paul had been friends and co-workers for a number of years

–         When Paul first became a Christian all the other believers were scared of him and wouldn’t accept him

–         You can’t blame them though; previously Paul (who was then known as Saul) had been persecuting Christians

–         So it was a bit suspicious having him turn up on their door step wanting to be friends – maybe it was a trick

 

Barnabas (who was full of the Holy Spirit and faith[1]) was big hearted enough to forgive the past

–         He trusted the Holy Spirit’s work in Paul’s life – that Paul’s conversion would stick and he acted as Paul’s advocate in that situation

–         Barnabas took Paul to the apostles and vouched that his conversion was genuine

–         Consequently Paul found acceptance among the other Christian believers

 

About eight years later, after Paul had returned to his home town of Tarsus and been all but forgotten, it was Barnabas who remembered Paul and went to Tarsus to enlist his help in teaching the new Gentile converts in Antioch

–         I’m not sure if there was any age difference between Barnabas and Paul but Barnabas had certainly been a Christian longer than Paul

–         Barnabas saw potential in Paul and sought to develop that potential

–         If it had not been for Barnabas, Paul may not have had such an influence in spreading the gospel

 

After a year or so of ministering together in Antioch, Paul & Barnabas were sent to Jerusalem to deliver a monetary offering for the believers there

–         While in Jerusalem they met Barnabas’ cousin , John Mark

–         The church in Jerusalem met in Mark’s mother’s house – so Mark would have had a strong Christian network

–         Many of the original disciples, people like Peter, James & John, would have gathered in his home for worship services

 

Barnabas & Paul took John Mark back to Antioch with them [2]

–         Then, sometime later, when the Holy Spirit sent Barnabas and Paul out on their first missionary journey together they decided to take John Mark with them as their helper [3]

–         But for reasons unknown to us Mark didn’t complete the journey – he gave up part way through

–         Sometimes when we are young we bite off more than we can chew or we simply mess up and make a false start

–         Those of us who are older need to be careful not to place so much hope or expectation on our young people that we are devastated when they slip or fail

–         Our young people are still learning and growing as we are all learning & growing

–         On the one hand young people need to be allowed to take some risks but we shouldn’t be surprised by a few false starts along the way

–         Those of us who are older need to remember our own mistakes and the grace we’ve been shown

–         We need to be big hearted enough to give a second or third chance

 

After Barnabas & Paul finished their first missionary journey they returned home

–         Sometime later they decided to make a second trip to visit and encourage the churches they had planted the first time

–         Big hearted Barnabas wanted to give his cousin, John Mark, a second chance – after all, being given another chance is the gospel of Jesus, the gospel of grace – but Paul was adamant that Mark should stay behind

 

If we give Paul the benefit of the doubt he was probably thinking of both Mark’s well-being and the success of the mission

–         What if Mark turned back a second time – that wouldn’t be good for him or the mission

 

It appears that in Paul’s mind at least Mark came with too much risk

–         Barnabas, on the other hand, had a different perspective

–         He was willing to trust God with the risk

 

Barnabas’ real name was actually Joseph

–         Joseph got the nickname ‘Barnabas’ because he encouraged people

–         That’s what Barnabas means, ‘son of encouragement’ [4]

–         Encouragement is more than just saying nice things to people

–         To encourage someone literally means to put courage into them – to give them confidence

–         Barnabas gave people confidence with his presence, his trust and his words of truth

 

I imagine that Mark felt like a complete failure after his false start

–         Barnabas could see that Mark had ability – what he lacked was confidence

–         Mark needed someone like Barnabas to give him the courage to get back on the horse and try again

 

Remember it was Barnabas who believed in Paul when no one else did

–         It was Barnabas who opened the door for Paul to be included in the fellowship of the early church

–         It must have seemed, to Barnabas, like a double standard that Paul would reject Mark, given Paul’s own chequered history

 

The Bible is a very honest book – it tells the story warts and all

–         Luke, the writer of Acts, does not hide the fact that Barnabas & Paul had a ‘sharp argument’ over this

–         Here we have two Godly men, full of the Holy Spirit, good men who love Jesus and are totally committed to serving him, whatever the cost, and yet they have this heated argument over whether or not to take Mark

 

That neither Barnabas nor Paul were prepared to back down shows us that this issue touched on a deep conviction for them both

–         Perhaps for Paul the deep conviction was that people needed to hear the good news about Jesus – nothing should get in the way of their mission and Mark’s lack of reliability threatened the mission

–         Perhaps for Barnabas it was a matter of integrity – ensuring they practiced the gospel they preached

–         How can we go on a missions’ trip preaching a gospel of grace if we ourselves are not willing to be big hearted enough to forgive Mark?

 

Barnabas was being consistent in advocating to give John Mark a second chance, just as he had advocated for giving Paul a chance years earlier

–         Despite Barnabas’ advocacy Paul didn’t see it the same way and the two of them decided to part company for a while:

–         Barnabas & Mark went to Cyprus while Paul & Silas went to Cilicia

 

This bust up may seem less than ideal to us but God used the separation for good

–         Paul went on to mentor the young Timothy and after working with Barnabas in Cyprus, John Mark went on to become Peter’s assistant

–         God, in his grace, was big hearted enough to use Paul & Barnabas’ disagreement to multiply the workers

 

I said before that intergenerational relationships don’t just happen in pairs – they often hold together in a network or a community

–         A healthy inter-generational church provides the network of relationships necessary to sustain and grow faith

–         Mark had more than one mentor

–         As well as Barnabas and Paul, Mark also had Peter

 

In many ways Peter was a good match for Mark

–         The apostle Peter, who denied Jesus three times, was well acquainted with false starts – his failure served to deepen his experience of grace

–         As Jesus said, the more you’ve been forgiven, the more you love

 

Mark assisted Peter as he preached the good news about Jesus

–         In one of his letters Peter refers to Mark as a son [5]

–         Clearly Peter appreciated Mark and loved him

–         Tradition tells us that John Mark wrote the gospel of Mark based on Peter’s preaching

 

Mark may have made a false start but by God’s grace, mediated through Barnabas and Peter, he found the courage to make a fresh start

 

But Mark’s story doesn’t end with Peter

–         The gospel of Jesus is a gospel of forgiveness & reconciliation

–         We don’t know exactly how it happened but it did happen

–         Mark & Paul were reconciled to one another (as were Barnabas & Paul)

 

Some years later, in his letter to the Colossians, Paul writes…

–         Aristarchus, who is in prison with me, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. (You have received instructions to welcome Mark if he comes your way.) Joshua, also called Justus, sends greetings too. These three are the only Jewish converts who work with me for the Kingdom of God, and they have been a great help to me. [6]

 

But wait, there’s more…

–         Towards the end of his life, Paul writes to his protégé Timothy saying,

–         Get Mark and bring him with you, because he can help me in the work. [7]

 

Paul, who previously rejected Mark because he didn’t think he was up to it, now accepts Mark and acknowledges that Mark is a great help to him

–         By implication Paul was admitting that his old friend Barnabas was right

–         That’s the grace of God – that’s the power of the gospel

 

So what do we take from this – what is the application for our lives?

–         Well, two things…

 

Firstly, if we make a false start or we mess up in some way or turn back as Mark did, then that doesn’t mean the end for us

–         The good news is that through Jesus we get a second chance

–         And not just a second chance, but a third and a fourth and so on

–         When Peter asked Jesus, ‘How many times should I forgive’ the Lord replied, ’70 x seven’ – or as often as the person repents in other words

–         So that’s the first thing, with Jesus a false start makes room for grace

 

The second point of application is that we (like Barnabas) need to be big hearted enough to give courage & confidence to others who are struggling in the faith

–         The early church in Jerusalem struggled to believe that Paul had really changed but Barnabas gave them confidence to trust the Holy Spirit’s work of conversion in Paul’s life

–         Some years later Paul himself struggled to believe that Mark could make it as a missionary but Barnabas stood up for Mark, giving the young man confidence to trust in God’s grace and make fresh start

 

Eventually Paul came round too

–         Paul learned that God’s grace is made perfect in our weakness

–         He also learned that believers in Christ are connected, like a network or a body

–         We need each other: the eye cannot say to the hand I don’t need you

–         [Nor can Paul say to Mark I don’t need you]

–         On the contrary, we cannot do without the parts of the body that seem to be weaker; and those parts that we think aren’t worth very much are the ones which we treat with greater care. [8]

 

So the question is: who can you be a Barnabas for?

–         Who is your Mark?

–         Who can you encourage?

–         Who can you give confidence to?

–         Who needs greater care?

 

Questions

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

2.)    What does the term ‘big hearted’ mean to you?

–         Can you think of someone who is big hearted?

3.)    How did Barnabas help Paul (and the church) when Paul was a new convert?

4.)    What does it mean to encourage someone?

–         How did Barnabas encourage people?

5.)    How did God use Paul & Barnabas’ separation for good?

6.)    How did Paul’s attitude toward Mark change over time?

7.)    Who can you be a Barnabas for?

–         Who is your Mark?

–         Who can you encourage?

 

https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/1-oct-17-barnabas-mark

[1] Acts 11:24

[2] Acts 12:25

[3] Acts 13:1-5

[4] Acts 4:36

[5] 1st Peter 5:12-13

[6] Colossian 4:10

[7] 2 Timothy 4:11

[8] 1 Corinthians 12:21-22

Tawa Baptist

Time

Title: Time

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Time is a gift
  • Time has a purpose
  • Conclusion – reflection stations

 

Introduction:

With today being the start of daylight savings the theme of our all-age service this morning is time

–         There’s two things I want to say about time

–         Firstly, that time is one of God’s gifts to us

–         And secondly, that time has a purpose or a goal

 

Time is a gift:

We often hear it said that ‘time is money’

–         This is wrong in that it leads us to think we somehow earn time by working

–         The truth is: time is not money – time is a gift from God

–         We don’t do anything to earn time, we receive it freely

–         We don’t all get the same amount of time and none us knows when our time will run out – so we need to make the most of each day

 

Time is God’s gift to us and it’s a multifaceted gift

 

On the wall here is a picture of a Swiss Army knife

–         A Swiss Army knife has a range of different uses

–         It can be used as a bottle opener, a screwdriver, a pair of scissors, tweezers, a tooth pick, a cork screw and so on

 

In God’s hands, time is a bit like a Swiss Army knife

–         God uses time in a whole variety of ways to accomplish his purpose

 

For example, we are not born fully developed – God gives us time to grow and to learn

–         When we are sick or hurt in some way, God uses time to heal us

–         Or, if we have suffered some kind of loss then God gives us time to grieve and accept our loss

–         When we pray God gives us time by listening to us

–         And when we are tired God gives us time to rest

–         When we make a mistake or get off track God waits for us – he gives us time to come to our senses and return to him

–         God uses time to achieve his purpose with us and for us

 

God is generous in giving us time

–         When someone is generous in giving us time we call that patience

–         God is patient with us

 

Time is God’s gift to us and time has a purpose, an end goal

 

Time has a purpose:

We might think of time sort of like a wheel on a bicycle

–         Like a wheel, time goes round and round in circles but always moving the bicycle forward toward a destination

 

We see the cyclical nature of time in the days, the months & seasons of the year

–         The sun rises, it’s day time, the sun sets and it’s night time, then the sun rises again and sets and so on

–         Summer follows spring and autumn follows summer and winter follows autumn and then we are into spring again and so the cycle goes

–         In the ancient world, in which the Bible was written, the year was structured around the annual cycle of farming:

–         Planting, growing and harvesting crops

 

Like a wheel on a bicycle God uses time to bring things to fulfilment

 

Fulfilment is a word which means to complete, to make perfect or whole

–         A bicycle fulfils its purpose when it gets its rider to her destination

–         A seed fulfils its purpose when it grows into a tree and bears fruit

–         A caterpillar fulfils its purpose when it becomes a butterfly

–         Wisdom fulfils its purpose when justice is done

–         Medicine fulfils its purpose when a person is made well

–         Guilt fulfils its purpose when the wrong doer repents

–         Grief fulfils its purpose when we make peace with our loss

–         The law fulfils its purpose when we love God and our neighbour

–         We human beings fulfil our purpose when we become like Jesus

 

The point is God uses time to fulfil the purpose of things

–         Whether it’s a seed or a caterpillar or a human being, God uses time to make his creation complete, perfect and whole

 

What about time itself – what is the fulfilment of time?

–         Well, eternity is the fulfilment of time

–         Eternity is time made complete, time made perfect and whole

 

Conclusion:

Time is God’s gift to us and time has a purpose

Tawa Baptist

Saul, David & Jonathon

Scriptures: 1st Samuel 17:31-40; 19:1-7 & 24:1-7

 

Title: Saul, David & Jonathon

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Saul & David
  • Jonathon & David
  • David & Saul
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

Last year there was a four part documentary series on TV called Why Am I? The science of us.

–         The series was based on the groundbreaking work of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health & Development Study which has documented the well-being of 1037 people born in Dunedin between 1972 and 1973

–         So it’s a massive long term scientific research project basically

 

One of the things they looked at was the question of nature vs. nurture

–         Are we the way we are because we were born that way (nature)?

–         Or are we the product of our environment (nurture)?

 

What they discovered is that it isn’t necessarily either / or, it can be both / and

–         In other words, with many things nature loads the gun while nurture (or environment) pulls the trigger

–         This could be both a negative thing and a positive thing

–         For example, you could have a genetic predisposition to a certain type of illness which is triggered under certain environmental conditions

–         On the other hand you may also have latent strengths built into your DNA which are brought out under particular circumstances

 

Science is helpful (it provides part of the picture) but one of the things that science doesn’t take into account is God

–         None of us have perfect DNA and none of us grow up in a perfect environment

–         Everyone faces challenges one way or another – no one is exempt

–         But at the end of the day God’s grace trumps both nature and nurture

 

My grandfather had a tough life in many ways

–         When his dad died his mum remarried and his step father beat him regularly, for no good reason – just because he was there

–         It wasn’t a good environment so my pop got out – he left home to make his way in the world at the tender age of 12

–         He lived through the great depression and then served in the Air Force during the second world war

–         He was part of a Lancaster bomber crew

–         Somehow he survived 87 missions flying over Africa and Europe

 

Now some people would go through all of that violence and hardship only to be completely wrecked by it

–         It would trigger something bad in them and bring out the worst

–         They might abuse alcohol or beat their wife or their kids or suffer some kind of emotional collapse

–         But, by the grace of God, that wasn’t the case with my grandfather

–         Somehow God used all that bad stuff to bring the best out of him

–         He never drank to excess, he was faithful to one wife, and he was never violent with his family, in fact he was kind & generous to them

–         He died at the age of 92 from lung cancer, probably triggered by smoking cigarettes when he was younger

 

I’m not sure what genetic bullets nature loaded in his gun but I’m convinced that God’s grace trumped his environment

 

Today we continue our series on intergenerational relationships in the Bible

–         That is, relationships between people of different ages or generations

–         A couple of weeks ago we looked at the mentoring relationship between Paul & Timothy

–         Paul was like a father to Timothy – he believed in Timothy and gave Timothy good guidance, both through his letters and his example

 

Today’s focus is on Saul, David & Jonathon

–         Saul was the first king of Israel and David was his successor

–         Jonathon was Saul’s son and David’s best friend

 

Saul’s relationship with David was quite different from Paul & Timothy’s

–         While Saul was old enough to be David’s father, Saul did not believe in David & Saul provided lousy guidance, both bad advice & a bad example

–         In fact, Saul went out his way to try and destroy David

 

Now we might think that the violence and hardship that Saul put David through would trigger something bad in David and bring out the worst in him

–         But, by the grace of God, that wasn’t the case with David

–         God used Saul to bring the best out in David

–         Whatever David’s DNA may have been the Spirit of God was with him

–         God’s grace trumped David’s environment

 

Saul & David:

Please turn with me to 1st Samuel chapter 17, verse 31 – page 285 near the front of your pew Bibles

–         To set the scene, the Philistine giant, Goliath, is challenging the Israelites to a dual – winner takes all

–         None of the Israelite soldiers are willing to take him on – none that is except David, who isn’t really in the army as he is still a boy

–         Nevertheless the Spirit of God has loaded David with bullets of courage and the Philistine’s challenge triggers David’s courage

–         From verse 31 of 1st Samuel 17 we read…

 

31 Some men heard what David had said, and they told Saul, who sent for him. 32 David said to Saul, “Your Majesty, no one should be afraid of this Philistine! I will go and fight him.”

 

33 “No,” answered Saul. “How could you fight him? You’re just a boy, and he has been a soldier all his life!”

 

34 “Your Majesty,” David said, “I take care of my father’s sheep. Any time a lion or a bear carries off a lamb, 35 I go after it, attack it, and rescue the lamb. And if the lion or bear turns on me, I grab it by the throat and beat it to death. 36 I have killed lions and bears, and I will do the same to this heathen Philistine, who has defied the army of the living God. 37 The Lord has saved me from lions and bears; he will save me from this Philistine.”

 

“All right,” Saul answered. “Go, and the Lord be with you.” 38 He gave his own armour to David for him to wear: a bronze helmet, which he put on David’s head, and a coat of armour. 39 David strapped Saul’s sword over the armour and tried to walk, but he couldn’t, because he wasn’t used to wearing them. “I can’t fight with all this,” he said to Saul. “I’m not used to it.” So he took it all off. 40 He took his shepherd’s stick and then picked up five smooth stones from the stream and put them in his bag. With his sling ready, he went out to meet Goliath.

 

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

 

The first thing we notice here is that Saul doesn’t believe in David, like Paul believed in Timothy

–         Saul says: “How could you fight him? You’re just a boy…”

–         Saul doesn’t believe in David but God believes in David

–         And David believes in God

–         David is convinced that God can use him as young as he is

–         God’s grace is made perfect in our weakness

 

Eventually Saul agrees to let David fight and the guidance he gives David is, ‘wear my armour’

–         Saul’s advice is bad – his armour doesn’t fit

–         Fortunately David has the good sense not to follow Saul’s advice

 

In refusing Saul’s armour David reminds us of Jesus who put aside the traditions of men and used a simpler approach

–         Jesus did not allow himself to be weighed down by the cumbersome armour of the Pharisees’ man made rules & regulations

–         Instead Jesus made himself vulnerable (without armour), slaying evil with the slingshot of his tongue and the smooth stones of his Word

 

A point of application here – be discerning about the advice you accept

–         You are wise if you consider the advice of those more experienced than you, but at the end of the day you are the one who has to live with that advice so you decide whether it’s a good fit for you or not

 

I remember about 14 years ago I was in my last semester of training for pastoral ministry and was considering a call from this church

–         At that time Tawa had a bad reputation

–         It has a better reputation now so you don’t need to worry

–         But back then it was hard to find anyone who would say anything good about the place

–         It was quite a confusing time

–         There I was getting advice from people I respected, who were older and more experienced than I was, telling me not to come here

–         And yet it felt to me like we would be a good fit for Tawa

 

We had other options and they were good options, but (like Saul’s armour) they just didn’t fit

–         Now I’m not suggesting the people who were guiding us were like Saul – they were good people but it appears they got it wrong in this instance

–         In the end we made a decision to respectfully set aside their advice and we came here

–         As it turned out you were lovely to us (on the whole)

 

The point is, we don’t live in a perfect world

–         Sometimes our mentors get it wrong

–         Listen to your elders, by all means, but be discerning about what advice you take

–         Wisdom comes from God and God places his Spirit in our hearts to recognise his wisdom

 

In spite of Saul’s doubt and bad advice David faces and kills Goliath, because God is with him

–         After that Saul becomes jealous of David’s success and sends him off to fight Israel’s enemies in the vain hope that David will be killed

–         But the combat experience is good for David and makes him even more popular with the army and the people alike

–         Ironically, in trying to make things more difficult for David, Saul actually brings the best out of David – that’s God’s grace

 

Jonathon & David:

Please turn with me to 1st Samuel chapter 19 – page 287 in your pew Bibles

–         Saul had a son named Jonathon

–         Jonathon was very different from his father

–         Jonathon loved David as himself – they were best friends

–         In many ways Jonathon was like an older brother to David – he looked out for David and advocated for him, even at the expense of himself

–         From 1st Samuel 19, verse 1, we read…

 

Saul told his son Jonathan and all his officials that he planned to kill David. But Jonathan was very fond of David, 2 and so he told him, “My father is trying to kill you. Please be careful tomorrow morning; hide in some secret place and stay there. 3 I will go and stand by my father in the field where you are hiding, and I will speak to him about you. If I find out anything, I will let you know.”

 

4 Jonathan praised David to Saul and said, “Sir, don’t do wrong to your servant David. He has never done you any wrong; on the contrary, everything he has done has been a great help to you. 5 He risked his life when he killed Goliath, and the Lord won a great victory for Israel. When you saw it, you were glad. Why, then, do you now want to do wrong to an innocent man and kill David for no reason at all?”

 

6 Saul was convinced by what Jonathan said and made a vow in the Lord‘s name that he would not kill David. 7 So Jonathan called David and told him everything; then he took him to Saul, and David served the king as he had before.

 

I remember when I was about 7 or 8 years old there was a guy at school who was a few years older than me, I guess he would have been about 12

–         For some reason he looked out for me

–         We didn’t hang out all the time but he was friendly and talked to me, even though there was nothing in it for him

–         It doesn’t sound like much now but when you are a junior and a senior student talks to you in a positive way it gives you a real boost – it makes you feel good about yourself

–         Not only that but it says to the other kids at school, ‘Don’t pick on this kid. He’s with me’

 

My older friend had the job of ringing the school bell at the end of lunch to tell people to go back to class

–         It wasn’t an electronic bell – it was an actual metal bell that you rang by hand (this was before electricity)

–         Anyway, one day he saw me across the quad, called me over and asked me to ring the bell for him.

–         He was doing me a favour – it was a special privilege to ring the bell

 

Unfortunately this is one of those anecdotes that doesn’t go anywhere

–         He left school the next year and we lost touch after that

 

I tell you this story to highlight the value of friendships with those who are just a few years ahead of you

 

With most of the intergenerational relationships we’ve looked at in this series the age gap between the people involved has been quite large – anywhere from 20-60 years

–         We don’t know exactly how old Jonathon was in relation to David but I imagine it was probably something like 5 years difference, give or take

–         While they weren’t, strictly speaking, of a different generation from each other, Jonathon was still a few years older

–         Sometimes we need someone, who is like an older brother or sister, to show us kindness and give us confidence

–         People, like Jonathon, who are old enough to take care of us but still close enough in age that we can relate with them easily

 

In the reading from Samuel 19 we see that Saul’s jealousy (his madness) has grown to the point that he is actually talking to others about killing David

–         But Jonathon intervenes to protect David

–         With sound logic and diplomacy Jonathon convinces Saul not to harm David and David is restored to Saul’s presence once more

–         Blessed are the peacemakers. They will be called children of God

 

It wasn’t really in Jonathon’s interests to advocate for David like this

–         By protecting David’s life Jonathon was putting David ahead of himself, opening the door for David to become the next king of Israel

–         Jonathon cares more for David’s well-being than he does for the throne

–         Saul’s appalling behaviour only serves to bring the best out of Jonathon

–         That’s God’s grace

 

In some ways Jonathon reminds me of John Baptist – Jonathon opened doors for David, sort of like John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus

–         Jonathon was willing to decrease so that David (God’s Messiah/anointed one) could increase

 

We need a Jonathon in our lives, especially when we are younger – someone who will watch over us for good, be our advocate and open doors for us

–         Here at Tawa Baptist we encourage our teenage young people to get involved as helpers in Sunday school and crèche

–         Club Intermed also have junior leaders who are just a couple of years older than the kids who attend the programme

–         In youth group Daryl recruits leaders in their late teens and twenties – just a few years ahead of those in College

–         And at Night Church Peter & Dan encourage those just a few years younger than them to play music, sing and lead worship alongside them

 

Three main reasons we do things this way

–         One, we need the practical help, the extra hands

–         Two, it’s good for the discipleship of those helping

–         And three, it creates the opportunity for those who are younger to form positive, healthy relationships with those just a couple of years older

–         If you are 8 then it’s often easier to relate with someone who is 14, than someone who is 44

–         Or if you’re 16, then someone who’s 23 is likely to be more in touch with what you’re going through because the 23 year old has just gone through it themselves

–         We still need parent and grandparent figures but older brother & sister relationships are also needed – it’s not either / or, it’s both / and

 

Jonathon was a comfort & shield for David in dealing with Saul

–         Who is your Jonathon?

–         Who is your David?

 

Jonathon’s peace-making efforts worked for a time but eventually Saul lost the plot again and David was forced to get out of that toxic environment

–         Jonathon helps David escape, while still keeping the door open in their relationship

 

David & Saul:

We pick up Saul & David’s story again from 1st Samuel 24 – page 292

–         Saul was obsessed with destroying David. From verse 1 we read…

 

When Saul came back from fighting the Philistines, he was told that David was in the wilderness near Engedi. 2 Saul took three thousand of the best soldiers in Israel and went looking for David and his men east of Wild Goat Rocks. 3 He came to a cave close to some sheep pens by the road and went in to relieve himself.

 

It happened to be the very cave in which David and his men were hiding far back in the cave. 4 They said to him, “This is your chance! The Lord has told you that he would put your enemy in your power and you could do to him whatever you wanted to.”

 

David crept over and cut off a piece of Saul’s robe without Saul’s knowing it. 5 But then David’s conscience began to hurt, 6 and he said to his men, “May the Lord keep me from doing any harm to my master, whom the Lord chose as king! I must not harm him in the least, because he is the king chosen by the Lord!” 7 So David convinced his men that they should not attack Saul.

 

In the Star Wars film Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker and Darth Vada have a light sabre dual

–         Luke beats Vada and cuts his hand off then the dark lord encourages Luke to kill Vada and turn to the dark side but Luke refuses

 

In some ways Saul is like Darth Vada and David is like Luke

–         Luke has it in his power to kill Vada but he refuses to give in to the dark side, just as David has it in his power to kill Saul but instead chooses to spare Saul’s life

–         By God’s grace Saul’s dark side brought the best out of David

 

In our reading from Samuel 24 David gets some more bad advice, not from Saul this time but from his friends who tell him to kill Saul, just as the dark lord told Luke to kill his father

–         Fortunately David has the conscience to reject his friend’s advice

–         David refuses to turn to the dark side as Saul had done

–         Instead David leaves the matter in God’s hands

–         By setting the right example the young David becomes a mentor to the senior Saul

 

By saving Saul’s life David once again points to Jesus, who had the power to destroy his enemies but instead resisted the temptation and submitted to God’s purpose by going to the cross to die for his enemies

–         Both David and Jesus show us God’s grace

 

Conclusion:

You may be wondering why I chose to preach on Saul & David, given that Saul wasn’t a particularly good model for David

–         Well, not all intergenerational relationships are healthy or good

–         That’s the reality of the world we live in

–         We don’t always get to have a Moses or an Elijah or a Paul as our mentor

–         Sometimes we might get a Saul but usually we have someone who is a mixture of good and bad

 

Saul & David’s very imperfect intergenerational relationship shows us that the future of the protégé doesn’t need to be determined by the mentor

–         By the power of God’s Spirit the protégé (in this case David) has a choice about how he will respond to Saul, his would be mentor

 

So, if those older than you haven’t provided a good example, if they (like Saul) have given bad advice or misbehaved in some way, you have a choice

–         By God’s grace you can choose to be different from them

–         My grandfather chose to be different from his step father

–         David & Jonathon both chose to be different from Saul

–         What it comes down to is knowing who you are and who you want to be

–         (Usually when we are given a really bad example, that clarifies for us who we don’t want to be and by implication who we do want to be)

–         As Christians we find our identity in Christ – we want to be like Jesus

 

I’m not saying it’s an easy choice to make

–         You don’t just click your fingers and say, “I’m going to be different from my parents or my boss or whoever is in authority over me”

–         There’s usually quite a bit of pain and anger and forgiveness involved

–         The point is, if the model you’ve been given is bad then you need to get out of that environment and find a better model

–         Jesus is our model – there’s no one better than him

 

The other thing Saul and David’s relationship shows us is that ultimately God is in control

–         God’s grace trumps our nature and our nurture

–         What Saul intended for David’s harm, God used for David’s good

–         And that should encourage us when we, who are mentors, do a bad job

–         We might not intend to harm the next generation, as Saul did, but we are bound to make mistakes and stuff it up from time to time

–         The good news is, God is gracious – he is able to redeem our mistakes

–         In fact our mistakes (our weaknesses) are often what God uses to bring out the best in others

 

Reflection Questions:

 

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

 

2.)    What do you think of the Dunedin study’s finding that nature loads the gun and nurture (or environment) pulls the trigger?

 

3.)    God, in his grace, is able to use a bad environment to bring out the best in people

–         How did God use Saul to bring out the best in David?

–         Thinking of your own life situation and / or upbringing, how has God’s grace been at work to bring out the best in you (or others)?

 

4.)    What led David to not take Saul’s advice (in wearing Saul’s armour)?

–         (Refer 1st Samuel 17:31-40)

–         How might we discern what advice to accept and what to reject?

 

5.)    Do you have (or have you had) a Jonathon in your life?

–         Who can you be a Jonathon to?

 

6.)    How does David become a mentor (set an example) for Saul?

–         (Refer 1st Samuel 24)

 

7.)    In what ways does David point to Jesus?

–         How does Jonathon remind us of John the Baptist?

 

8.)    What two main things does Saul & David’s (imperfect) intergenerational relationship show us?

 

Tawa Baptist

Paul & Timothy

Scripture: 1st Timothy 4:6-16

 

Title: Paul & Timothy

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Paul’s belief in Timothy
  • Paul’s guidance for Timothy
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

I have here a guitar with six strings

–         For the strings to work (to make a sound) they need to be held in tension

–         To create the tension one end of the string is firmly tied to the main body of the guitar while the other end of the string is attached to a tuning peg

–         This end is fixed – it doesn’t change

–         This end can and does change

–         With just the right amount of tension the string sounds the right note

–         If there is no tension at all then there’s no sound

–         But with too much tension the string is out of tune and at risk of breaking

 

Today we continue our series on inter-generational relationships in the Bible

–         That is, relationships between people of different ages or generations

–         The focus of this morning’s message is the mentoring relationship between the apostle Paul and his protégé Timothy

–         Mentoring relationships are a bit like guitar strings

–         With mentoring we need to hold two things in tension: belief & guidance

–         On the one hand we need to have a rock solid belief or trust in the other person – that’s like this end of the string which doesn’t change

–         At the same time we need room to make adjustments by giving & receiving guidance – that’s like this end where the string is tuned

–         Belief and guidance – two things held in tension – both needed to keep the relationship in tune

 

As a father in the faith (a mentor) to Timothy, Paul believed strongly in Timothy – he trusted him with significant responsibility and difficult tasks

–         But Paul’s trust wasn’t abdication

–         He didn’t blindly leave Timothy to his own devices

–         Rather Paul trusted his young protégé and gave him guidance

–         First let’s consider Paul’s belief in Timothy

 

Paul’s belief in Timothy:

In thinking about this idea of believing in people let me tell you a personal story

–         When I was in my late 20’s I attended a Baptist church in Tauranga

–         Little by little the leadership of the church trusted me with responsibilities

–         After a while I became a house group leader

–         Then one day the pastor asked me to preach on a Sunday morning

–         Afterwards he gave me some guidance – 54 minutes is too long for a sermon (apparently I’m not that interesting to listen to)

–         But the pastor believed in me enough to ask again and next time I followed his guidance and made the message shorter

 

My faith really grew in that church because people older than me believed in me and they cared enough to give me guidance and feedback

 

After watching me in action for a couple of years the pastor of the church told me he believed I had a call to pastoral ministry

–         Some others said the same thing around the same time so we went to Carey College to get more guidance, which is how we ended up here

 

The basic point I’m trying to make is that when you are mentoring people you need to believe in them and provide them with guidance

–         It doesn’t work to do one without the other

–         Belief & guidance go together

 

To expound that point a little more…

–         You don’t just tell people you believe in them – you show them by trusting them with real responsibility

 

This is how it was with Paul & Timothy

–         Paul demonstrated his belief in Timothy both with words of prophecy and with actions – that is, by trusting Timothy with real responsibility

 

To give you some context, Paul’s first missionary journey took him through Timothy’s home town of Lystra

–         We can’t be sure but it is possible (perhaps even likely) that Paul led Timothy to Christian faith during that visit

–         What we do know for certain is that Paul enlisted Timothy’s help on his second missionary journey. In Acts 16 we read…

 

Paul travelled on to Derbe and Lystra, where a Christian named Timothy lived. His mother, who was also a Christian, was Jewish, but his father was a Greek. All the believers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of Timothy. Paul wanted to take Timothy along with him…

 

It appears that Timothy’s mother was a Christian but his dad wasn’t

–         This meant Timothy had a difficult choice to make

–         In becoming a Christian he was aligning himself with Jesus

–         The risk was that he might alienate his father in the process

–         Nevertheless Timothy took the risk

 

It also appears Timothy had some special quality to him because all the believers spoke well of him

–         Most likely Timothy had showed promise as a preacher and had an easy personality so he got on well with people generally

 

Evidently Paul saw something in him too because he invited Timothy to accompany him on his second missionary journey

–         Paul was a clever guy – perhaps he saw Timothy’s mixed parentage (half Jewish / half Greek) as making him an ideal candidate for mission work

–         Timothy would be able to act as a bridge between Jews and Gentiles

–         In any case the fact that Paul was keen to recruit Timothy is saying something because Paul wasn’t easily impressed

 

At the end of Acts 15 we read how Paul wouldn’t take John Mark (the writer of the gospel of Mark) with him because Mark didn’t go the distance on their first mission trip

–         Essentially Paul didn’t believe in Mark but he did believe in Timothy

–         And he demonstrated that belief with words & actions – he spoke words of prophecy over Timothy and he asked Timothy to join them

–         (The words of prophecy aren’t mentioned in Acts but Paul does remind Timothy of them years later in both his letters to Timothy [1])

 

The life of a Christian missionary in the first century was pretty dangerous – there was a good chance of being whipped, thrown in prison or even killed

–         Timothy, for his part, responded to Paul’s belief in him by taking the risk and submitting to Paul’s guidance

–         Timothy was most likely in his late teens or early 20’s at this stage, which makes Paul’s belief in Timothy even more remarkable in that cultural context where the younger you were the less respect you got, generally

 

Timothy accompanied Paul & Silas to Macedonia

–         The next time we hear about Timothy is in Acts 17

–         After arriving in Berea there is trouble and Paul has to leave but Silas & Timothy stay behind in what is a hostile situation – most likely to instruct the new believers in the faith

–         By leaving Timothy in Berea Paul is demonstrating his belief in Timothy

–         Eventually Timothy & Silas catch up with Paul in Corinth

 

Over time Timothy becomes Paul’s right hand man – he is to Paul what Joshua was to Moses

–         Paul continues to show he believes in Timothy by sending the young protégé as his representative to teach and encourage some of the churches Paul had planted on his various missionary journeys

 

For example, while Paul was in Athens, he sent Timothy to the Thessalonians to establish them in their faith and encourage them through teaching & preaching [2]

–         Although the Thessalonian believers received Timothy positively the city of Thessalonica was not a friendly place

–         The young church was experiencing persecution there – but Paul had confidence in Timothy that he could handle the challenge

–         Timothy would have needed to be a calm presence, providing comfort and strength to the believers there

 

Sometime later, while Paul was establishing the church in Ephesus during his third missionary journey, he sent Timothy to the Corinthian church

–         This was also a challenging assignment for Timothy but in a different way to Thessalonica

–         The Corinthian believers had got off track by listening to false teachers and following bad theology

–         Paul sent Timothy into that situation to correct dodgy doctrine and immoral behaviour

–         Paul writes about Timothy’s purpose in his letter to the Corinthians saying…

Therefore I sent Timothy to you, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church [3]

 

Here we catch a glimpse of the closeness there is between Timothy & Paul

–         Paul loves Timothy like a son and Timothy knows Paul’s ways like a son knows a father

 

Timothy is often portrayed by preachers as a bit timid, a bit sickly and not particularly robust, always in need of encouragement

–         But there isn’t much Biblical evidence for this stereotyping of Timothy

–         In actual fact the New Testament shows us that Timothy was faithful, resilient and steadfast under pressure

–         You don’t send someone you love into difficult situations if you don’t think they can handle it

–         What’s more you don’t keep going back into hard places if you are timid

 

Paul believed in Timothy but it wasn’t blind belief – it came with guidance

 

Paul’s guidance for Timothy:

Earlier I told you a personal story of my pastor believing in me – that was when I was in my late 20’s

–         Let me tell you another personal story of something that happened when I was about 10 years younger than that – this story is a little bit different

 

So there I was, 18 and full of confidence, sitting in church with my best friend when the director for Youth For Christ (YFC) came up to my friend and asked him if he would like to be a youth leader

–         My friend wasn’t really that keen – he said he’d think about it which meant ‘probably not’

–         The funny thing was the director didn’t ask me – even though I was sitting right there beside him when he asked my friend

–         Not sure why that was – I suppose it’s because he didn’t really believe I’d be suitable – he was probably right

–         But that didn’t stop me from saying, “I’ll do it”

–         I could tell by the way he stumbled over his words that he wasn’t expecting me to volunteer like that

–         Clearly I wasn’t his first choice but he must have been desperate because he agreed to take me on, with guidance

 

Now in that little story I brought belief while the director brought the guidance

–         I believed in the mission of YFC, I believed in the director and I believed in myself, even if no one else did

–         I worked with YFC for a number of years part time and did eventually earn the director’s trust – we got on well together

–         However, a big part of earning his trust was my willingness to follow his guidance

 

Towards the end of Paul’s life, while he was in prison, he sent Timothy to the church in Ephesus, once again as his representative to sort out some issues there

–         It was while Timothy was in Ephesus that Paul wrote two personal letters to him, which we know as 1st & 2nd Timothy

–         Among other things these letters contained some guidance for Timothy

 

Please turn with me to 1st Timothy chapter 4, verse 6 – page 262 toward the back of your pew Bibles

–         This is one of those passages where Paul gives Timothy guidance 

–         By this stage Timothy has worked with Paul for something like 13 to 15 years (thereabouts)

–         Which means Timothy would have been in his late 20’s or early 30’s

–         One of the things we notice about Paul’s guidance is that isn’t coercive

–         Paul doesn’t force his way with Timothy

–         Rather he offers Timothy the benefit of his experience & example, then allows Timothy room to choose for himself

–         From 1st Timothy chapter 4, verse 6 we read…

 

6 If you give these instructions to the believers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, as you feed yourself spiritually on the words of faith and of the true teaching which you have followed. 7 But keep away from those godless legends, which are not worth telling. Keep yourself in training for a godly life. 8 Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is valuable in every way, because it promises life both for the present and for the future. 9 This is a true saying, to be completely accepted and believed. 10 We struggle and work hard, because we have placed our hope in the living God, who is the Saviour of all and especially of those who believe.

 

11 Give them these instructions and these teachings. 12 Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but be an example for the believers in your speech, your conduct, your love, faith, and purity. 13 Until I come, give your time and effort to the public reading of the Scriptures and to preaching and teaching. 14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift that is in you, which was given to you when the prophets spoke and the elders laid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things and devote yourself to them, in order that your progress may be seen by all. 16 Watch yourself and watch your teaching. Keep on doing these things, because if you do, you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

 

Quite often when professional sports people are interviewed on TV prior to a big match they get asked a question which is a bit provocative or controversial and you hear them respond by saying something like…

–         “We’re not thinking about that. That’s outside of our control. We’re focusing on what we can control.”

–         The idea is, there’s no point in worrying about what other people are thinking or saying because you can’t do anything about that

–         The best you can do is control yourself and so that’s what you give your time and thought to

–         Making your tackles, reducing handling errors and giving clean passes

–         They’re the sorts of things you focus on because they are the things you can control – they’re also the sorts of things that silence your critics

 

As I said before Timothy was sent to the Ephesian church to sort out some problems there

–         False teachers had been spreading various heresies among the Ephesian believers and it was Timothy’s job to remind people of the truth

–         Paul wanted Timothy to stand for the truth

–         This meant Timothy was facing opposition from the false teachers

–         So people were thinking and saying all sorts of things that weren’t true both about God and Timothy

–         Paul’s advice (his guidance) for Timothy was don’t worry about what other people are thinking and saying – you can’t control that

–         Focus instead on what you can control

 

Don’t get caught up in pointless arguments over words and myths – instead read the Scriptures publicly and preach from them

–         Because by preaching from the Scriptures you make truth clear, giving people a pathway out of the confusion created by the false teachers

 

Don’t let people look down on you because you are younger than them but instead be an example to them

–         In other words, don’t worry about what other people think of you

–         Let your actions speak for you

–         Or as Ghandi famously said, “Be the change you want to see”

–         Because it’s your example which will silence your critics

 

As William Mounce observes…

–         “Many of the characteristics that Paul encourages Timothy to follow stand in contrast to the opponents’ characteristics

–         Timothy is to be an example in speech (the opponents are babblers)

–         Timothy is to be an example in conduct (the opponents have brought the church into disrepute)

–         Timothy is to be an example in love (which the opponents have abandoned)

–         Timothy is to be an example in faith (which the opponents have ship wrecked)

–         And Timothy is to be an example in purity (which the opponents have stained)” [4]

 

In short Paul tells Timothy to persevere in the truth because the truth will always prevail in the end, while that which is false cannot last

–         And the way to persevere in the truth is to watch yourself & watch your teaching

–         In other words, take care of your own relationship with Jesus first and practice what you preach

–         Don’t worry about what your opponents are saying or doing – it’s not your job to control them

–         Just focus on what you’re doing – keep your eye on the ball

 

It’s like when you’re driving a car – you need to be aware of other traffic but not distracted by it

–         Keep your eyes on the road – look where you’re going, otherwise you’ll go where you’re looking

–         If someone else is driving dangerously, give them a wide birth – you concentrate on driving safely

–         It’s the same principle for Timothy at Ephesus

 

So that’s a sample of Paul’s guidance for Timothy

–         In many ways its great advice for us too

 

Maybe you’re at work surrounded by people behaving badly

–         You can’t control them but you can control yourself

–         Be different from them (that’s what it means to be salt & light)

 

Or perhaps you have a husband or a wife or children or parents or friends who don’t share your belief in Jesus

–         That can be quite lonely at times

–         You might get on well enough but there is still a level of intimacy that you can’t share with them

–         Timothy understood what it was like to have a father who didn’t believe

–         We can’t control what other people think or believe

–         What we can do is pray for them, talk about Jesus and be an example in speech, conduct, love, faith & purity

 

Conclusion:

As I said last week, one of our values here at Tawa Baptist is passing on our faith to the next generation

–         We want to see others continue to walk in trust with Jesus

–         One of the ways people learn faith is by having someone show faith in them – it’s in being trusted that we learn to trust

–         It’s when we realise that God believes in us that we are able to believe in Christ

 

The other thing we do in passing on our faith is we provide guidance

–         Guidance is not coercion, it’s not force

–         Guidance is offering the benefit of our experience and example in a way that leaves the other person free to choose

–         Jesus is the source of our guidance – he’s our prime example

–         But he’s not just a historical example – Jesus continues to guide people today by giving his Spirit to those who believe

 

Let me leave you with two questions…

 

Do you know that God believes in you?

–         He believes in you so much that he sent his only Son, in trust, that you would accept him

 

If you do know that, and you have accepted Jesus, then what guidance are you giving others by your own example?

 

Reflection questions:

 

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

 

2.)    Can you think of a time when someone believed in you?

–         How did their belief affect you? What difference did it make to you?

 

3.)    Is there someone younger (in the faith) than you that you believe in?

–         How can you demonstrate through your actions that you believe in them?

 

4.)    How did Paul demonstrate his belief in Timothy?

–         How did Timothy respond to Paul’s belief in him?

 

5.)    Putting aside the stereotype we often get of Timothy (as shy, timid, sickly, etc.) what picture does the New Testament actually give us of Timothy?

 

6.)    What do we notice about the nature of Paul’s guidance?

 

7.)    What advice (guidance) did Paul give Timothy in his letter? (from 1st Timothy 4:6-16)

–         How might we apply Paul’s advice to our own lives and situations?

 

8.)    What guidance have you found most helpful in your walk of faith?

–         What guidance are you giving others by your own example?

 

9.)    Do you know that God believes in you?

 

 

https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/3-sep-2017-paul-timothy

[1] 1st Timothy 4:14 and 2nd Timothy 1:6

[2] 1st Thessalonians 3:1-3

[3] 1st Corinthians 4:17

[4][4] William Mounce, Word Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles, page 245.

Tawa Baptist

Elijah & Elisha

Scriptures: 1st Kings 19:19-21 & 2nd Kings 2

 

Title: Elijah & Elisha

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The call of Elisha
  • The empowerment of Elisha
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

On the wall here we have a picture of a Maori Adze (or axe)

–         The head of the axe is made out greenstone (pounamu) and the handle is made out of wood

–         The handle has carving on it which symbolises the history or whakapapa of those leaders who have carried the adze in previous generations

–         With each new generation of leadership the greenstone head is removed and a new handle is carved for the new leader

–         So the pounamu head stays the same from generation to generation, while the handle changes

–         This means there is continuity with the past but also freshness or newness with each succeeding generation

 

Today we continue our series on intergenerational relationships in the Bible

–         That is, relationships between people of different ages or generations

–         This morning’s focus is the relationship between Elijah & Elisha

–         This is a relationship in which the mantle of prophetic leadership is passed from one generation to the next, so the work of God continues

–         Elisha is like the new handle for the old pounamu axe head

–         Elisha carries the word of God as Elijah did before him and as others would after him

 

Today’s message is in two parts:

–         Firstly, the call of Elisha and then the empowerment of Elisha

 

Elisha’s call:

The call of Elisha is found in 1st Kings 19, just after Elijah’s encounter with the Lord God on Mt Horeb

–         After defeating the prophets of Baal, Elijah runs for his life into the wilderness because Jezebel wants to kill him

–         Elijah feels scared and alone – he has lost his perspective, his sense of continuity (some would say he is burnt out)

–         But God meets him, not in the fire or the wind or the earthquake but in sheer silence

–         After this Yahweh tells Elijah to go and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat to succeed him as prophet

–         By giving Elijah an apprentice the Lord is making Elijah’s work less lonely and he is giving Elijah a sense of hope & continuity

–         The Lord’s work will not die with Elijah

–         From verse 19 of 1st Kings chapter 19, we read…

 

19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,” he said, “and then I will come with you.”

“Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?”

21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.

 

On the wall here is a picture of some Korowai

–         A Korowai is a special type of Maori cloak (or mantle) woven out of flax with tassels and sometimes feathers on it

–         It can take anywhere between 4-12 months to make a Korowai by hand

–         They are a special garment to be worn on special occasions like graduations or weddings and other important ceremonies

–         Korowai are often handed down as an heirloom from one generation to the next

–         They provide a continuity or connection with the past, present and future

–         A Korowai is reflective of honour, leadership, identity, warmth, protection, skill & beauty

 

One of the intriguing things about Elisha’s call is that Elijah doesn’t actually say anything to Elisha

–         Elijah simply takes his cloak (or his mantle) and throws it over Elisha

–         Elijah’s cloak wasn’t a Korowai as such, (it may have been quite ordinary for all we know) but it was nevertheless special because Elijah wore it

–         By throwing his mantle over Elisha, Elijah was effectively bestowing honour, leadership, identity, warmth, protection and skill on Elisha

–         It was an invitation for Elisha to become his successor and Elisha understood this intuitively

 

Another thing we note is that Elijah found Elisha at work in the fields plowing

–         To give some context the land had been in drought for over 3 years and after Elijah prayed the rains came

–         This meant that farmers, like Elisha, were finally able to get out and plow the ground and sow their crops

–         Which means Elisha was being called to leave his work at a time when things were picking up again

–         It wasn’t so much that one door closed and another opened for Elisha

–         It was more like two doors opened at the same time and Elisha had to choose which one he was going to walk through

–         Was he going to be a farmer or a prophet?

 

Elisha chose to follow Elijah – but first he asked permission to kiss his parents good bye

 

Elijah granted permission saying: “What have I done to you?”

–         It is unclear what Elijah meant by this exactly

–         It could mean, ‘you are free to choose what you do’

–         But at the same time, Elijah may have his own experience in mind so he means something like, ‘In calling you to be a prophet, I’ve called you to a difficult life. You will be lonely, misunderstood and you will lack the usual securities and comforts that other people enjoy’

–         Jesus said a similar thing to those who followed him – people will hate you because of me

 

Elisha is young and willing – he’s a good keen man which is just what the older more jaded Elijah needs

–         After some difficult experiences Elijah (who is recovering from burn out) is at risk of falling into cynicism and contempt

–         Elisha is a breath of fresh air for Elijah

–         I imagine Elisha’s youthful enthusiasm and sense of hopefulness inspired Elijah to be the best version of himself that he could be, for Elisha’s sake

 

To mark his commitment in following Elijah and God’s call, Elisha sacrifices his two bulls as a fellowship offering – there’s no turning back now

–         Sometimes choosing continuity with God’s story means discontinuity with our old way of life

–         Elisha feeds the people with the meat from his oxen

–         This is symbolic of his ministry – as a prophet Elisha will sustain people with the meat of God’s word (man cannot live by bread alone)

 

When I started here at Tawa, you (the congregation) gave me a mantle of sorts – a cloak in the form of a Hurricanes rugby jersey

–         I come from the Waikato / Bay of Plenty area where the Chiefs are based

–         Had I been a Chiefs supporter I suppose I would have had to burn my chiefs jersey, sort of like Elisha burned his oxen and farming equipment

–         Luckily for me I was never a Chiefs supporter

 

After Elisha has said his goodbyes and fed the people he goes with Elijah and becomes his attendant or servant

–         Similar language is used of Joshua who became Moses’ servant centuries earlier

–         We, the reader, are meant to see the continuity woven into the Korowai of God’s salvation story

–         Elisha is to Elijah what Joshua was to Moses – someone chosen by God to carry on the Lord’s work after Elijah is gone

 

Elisha’s empowerment:

Some of the external doors of the church auditorium have been difficult to open and close, partly due to their age and partly due to all the rain we’ve had lately

–         During the week Ewan & Neville fixed the fire exit here at the front

–         One of the things they did to free the door up was replace the hinges – the old hinges were a bit rusted and seized

–         They didn’t throw the door out – they kept the door but replaced the hinges so there is continuity with the past, present and future

 

The purpose of a hinge is to allow movement and change – to create openings and endings

–         In some ways a prophet is a bit like a hinge in that they allow movement and change

–         They are anchored to the past (the door frame) and to the present (the door itself)

–         Through the words they speak God’s prophets make society aware of hinge moments in human history

–         They let people know when new doors of hope have been opened

–         They also warn people when old doors of sin & injustice are about to close in judgment

 

Of course, it is God who opens and closes the doors of history – the prophet (like the hinge) simply helps to facilitate that movement

–         If a prophet performs the function of a hinge in history then we could say, Elisha is like the new set of hinges on the old door

 

We are not told much about how Elijah mentors Elisha, as we were with Moses & Joshua

–         Presumably Elisha learned like any apprentice, by watching and doing

–         In any case the emphasis of the text isn’t on the technical aspects of mentoring – it is rather on the spiritual empowerment of Elisha

 

The next time we hear about Elijah & Elisha together is 2nd Kings chapter 2

–         After a bit of a tiki-tour through Gilgal, Bethel and Jericho, Elijah & Elisha head out into the wilderness toward the Jordan

–         They both know that Elijah is soon to be taken by God

–         When they reach the river Elijah strikes the water with his cloak, the water divides and the two of them walk across on dry ground

–         Sort of like Moses separating the Red Sea with his staff

–         Once again we find a continuity – the past, present and future are woven together into the wider cloak of the Biblical narrative

–         We pick up the story from verse 9 or 2nd Kings chapter 2…

 

9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”

“Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.

10 “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.”

 

In ancient Jewish culture the first born son inherited a double portion of the Father’s estate

–         So in asking for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, Elisha is asking to be Elijah’s legitimate heir – that is, the prophet’s successor

–         Elisha wants to carry on the prophetic work Elijah started but he needs the power of Elijah’s spirit to do that

–         And by “Elijah’s spirit” we don’t mean his human spirit we mean the Spirit of God that rests on Elijah

 

Elijah says to Elisha, “You have asked a difficult thing”

–         In other words, it’s not up to me whether you will be my successor or not

–         I can’t control what the Spirit of God does any more than I can control where the wind blows

–         The hinge doesn’t get to tell the carpenter what door it will hang on

 

From verse 11…

11 As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. 12 Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two.

 

By calling Elijah his “father”, Elisha is showing deep respect and affection for his predecessor

–          “The chariots and horsemen of Israel” is another title of respect for Elijah

–          Elisha is basically saying that Elijah is the Lord’s weapon against evil

–          God’s word through Elijah was far more powerful than any army of chariots and horsemen

 

The point, not to be missed here, is that Elisha saw his master go, which means he would inherit Elijah’s spirit – the Spirit of God

–         Elisha would now become the Lord’s weapon against evil

 

Yet again we see continuity with the past, present & future

–         Elijah’s ascension foreshadows Jesus’ ascension to heaven – it is all part of the weaving of the larger Biblical narrative of salvation

–         Just as Elijah ascended to God’s presence in heaven before Elisha inherited his spirit – so too Jesus ascended to heaven before pouring out his Spirit on his disciples at Pentecost

–          So if Jesus is like Elijah then we are sort of like Elisha, empowered by Jesus’ Spirit to carry on the Lord’s work

 

Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.

 

Again we notice the Lord’s masterful weaving

–         Just as Joshua (the successor to Moses) separated the river Jordan so the people could cross over into the Promised Land, so too Elisha (the successor to Elijah) divides the waters of the Jordan on his re-entry

 

The interesting thing here is that it didn’t work the first time for Elisha

–         He has to strike the water twice and ask where God is before the river parts for him

–         Perhaps this is a reminder that the power is not in Elijah’s mantle – the cloak is not magic – the power is with the Lord God Almighty

 

In any case…

15 The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, “The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha.” And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.

 

Conclusion:

The other night around our dinner table one of the kids asked what is salience?

–         I had a vague idea but wanted to make sure I had my facts straight so went to get a dictionary off the book shelf to look it up

–         Robyn laughed at me (as she usually does) and said, “Just google it”

–         Of course I ignored her and went off to find an actual dictionary while she looked up a virtual dictionary on her phone

–         Robyn has kept up with the new generation – I’m more old school

–         Not that it really matters – different approaches, same answer

 

Salience is the quality of being particularly noticeable or important

–         A salient point is one which is prominent – or sticks out like a tall poppy

 

The story of Elijah & Elisha is enigmatic – it is cloaked in mystery

–         Yes, theirs is an intergenerational relationship but so what?

–         What is the salient point of their story?

–         What’s the application for us?

 

Well, the thing that stands out most prominently to me is that God is weaving the cloak (the Korowai) of our salvation

–         One of our values as a church is passing on our faith (the Christian faith) to the next generation

–         We don’t want the church to end with us – we want to leave things in good shape for our kids and see them continue walking with Jesus

–         We want there to be a continuity between the past, present and future

–         That’s one of the reasons we encourage an intergenerational culture in the life of the church – that’s why we are having this sermon series

 

The salient point with Elijah & Elisha’s story is that God is the weaver, not Elijah & Elisha

–         Yes, Elijah was obedient to God when the Lord told him to appoint Elisha as his successor

–         And yes, Elisha was willing to submit to God’s purpose, even though he had other options

–         But really it was the Spirit of God who empowered both Elijah & Elisha and created the continuity

 

What I’m trying to say is that, even though the tide of cultural change is against us at present, we don’t need to be anxious about the future of the church

–         Yes, we have our part to play but what really counts with passing on our faith to the next generation is the power of God’s Spirit

–         Like Elijah, we don’t get to tell the Spirit what to do

–         God is the master weaver and he will draw it all together in the end

–         We are part of his larger Korowai – his cloak of salvation

–         The Lord will provide the continuity by his Spirit

 

 

Reflection Questions:

 

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

 

2.)    Why did God tell Elijah to anoint Elisha to succeed him as prophet?

–         How might Elisha help Elijah?

 

3.)    What was the significance or meaning of Elijah throwing his cloak (mantle) over Elisha?

 

4.)    Have you (like Elisha) had the experience of two doors opening at the same time and needing to make a decision about which one you will walk through?

–         Can you share your story? (E.g. What happened? How did God guide you? What and why did you decide as you did? Etc.)

 

5.)    How is Elisha similar to Joshua?

 

6.)    In what sense is a prophet like a hinge?

 

7.)    What does Elisha mean when he asks for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit?

–         Why is this a difficult thing to ask for?

 

8.)    In what ways does Elijah foreshadow Jesus?

 

9.)    What is the salient point in the story of Elijah & Elisha?

–         And what’s the application for us?

 

 

https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/27-aug-2017-elijah-elisha

Tawa Baptist

Jephthah and his daughter

Scripture: Judges 11

 

Title: Jephthah & his daughter

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Jephthah’s rejection
  • Jephthah’s vow
  • Jephthah’s daughter
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

On the wall here we have a picture of a piece of rock with a vein of gold running through it

–         It is the image of a precious metal mixed in common granite

–         People can be like this – a mixture of things precious and things base

 

This morning we continue our series on intergenerational relationships in the Bible – that is, relationships between people of different ages or generations

–         Most of the intergenerational relationships we’ve looked at so far have been positive – like Moses & Joshua, Naomi & Ruth and Eli & Samuel

–         Not all intergenerational relationships are so rosy though

–         Some are more a mixture of things precious and things base

 

The focus of today’s message is Jephthah and his daughter, whose name we are not told

–         Theirs is truly an intergenerational story but not in a good way

–         More in the sense of the sins of the father having a negative downstream impact on the next generation

–         Having said that the hard rock of this story is not without its veins of gold

 

Jephthah was one of the Judges (or leaders) of ancient Israel during the time between Joshua and the kings, Saul & David

–         The Israelites had moved into the Promised Land, after their 40 years in the wilderness, but they hadn’t yet subdued their enemies

 

The period of the Judges was a sad time in Israel’s history when the nation was unfaithful to the Lord (Yahweh) by worshipping the Canaanite gods

–         Generation after generation there was a repeating pattern of the people rejecting Yahweh, then being oppressed by their enemies before turning back to Yahweh for help

–         When his people repented the Lord would empower a special Judge to lead Israel against their enemies.

–         Israel would gain the victory and everything would be okay for a while until the people forgot the Lord again and began to conform to the ways of the world around them

–         Sadly with each cycle the behaviour of the next generation got worse

 

With this background we read the book of Judges knowing that the stories it contains are not an ideal to aspire to, but rather a cautionary tale of what happens when people don’t follow the ways of God

 

Jephthah came after Gideon and before Sampson

–         Like most of the Judges of that time, Jephthah was a mixture of things precious and things base

 

We will cover three parts of Jephthah’s story this morning…

–         Jephthah’s rejection, Jephthah’s vow, and Jephthah’s daughter

 

Jephthah’s rejection:

Let’s begin with Jephthah’s rejection – from Judges, chapter 11, verse 1

–         I’ll be reading from the New Revised Standard Version…

 

Now Jephthah the Gileadite, the son of a prostitute, was a mighty warrior. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. 2 Gilead’s wife also bore him sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah away, saying to him, “You shall not inherit anything in our father’s house; for you are the son of another woman.” 3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Outlaws collected around Jephthah and went raiding with him.

 

4 After a time the Ammonites made war against Israel. 5 And when the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of Tob. 6 They said to Jephthah, “Come and be our commander, so that we may fight with the Ammonites.”

 

7 But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Are you not the very ones who rejected me and drove me out of my father’s house? So why do you come to me now when you are in trouble?” 8 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “Nevertheless, we have now turned back to you, so that you may go with us and fight with the Ammonites, and become head over us, over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

 

Who can tell me what this guy on the wall is famous for?

–         His name is Dr Thomas Midgley [Wait for people to respond]

–         That’s right – Dr Midgley was a key figure in a team of chemists who put lead in petrol and produced the first chlorofluorocarbons or CFC’s

–         Lead has been taken out of petrol now because its considered too much of a health risk and CFC’s are what caused the hole in the ozone layer

–         So Dr Midgley is famous for at least two innovations which damaged the environment on a large scale

 

There was a saying in ancient Israel

–         “The fathers eat sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge”

–         It basically means that children often have to live with the consequences of their parents’ actions

–         Thomas Midgley died in 1944 before many of us were born but the sour grapes he ate have set our teeth on edge

–         We are still living with the ill-effects of his work – the sins of our fathers

 

Jephthah paid the price for the sins of his father

–         Mr Gilead got a prostitute pregnant and Jephthah was born

–         Although Jephthah was not to blame for his father’s actions his half-brothers would not accept him and forced him to leave home

 

Two weeks ago I showed you a tripod for holding a video camera

–         For the tripod to stand on its own it needs three legs

–         With just one or two legs the tripod will fall over and the camera will be damaged

–         Three things the human soul needs to stand are identity, belonging and purpose

–         Identity, belonging & purpose go together – they give us strength & security – a sense of wholeness and well-being or shalom

 

When Jephthah’s brothers rejected him and drove him away they cut off his identity & belonging in their family so that Jephthah was forced to find these things elsewhere

–         Acceptance is the way to strengthen identity & belonging

–         Had his brothers accepted him I think Jephthah’s story would have had a very different outcome

 

Jephthah was a leader so he soon attracted other outcasts and became a force to be reckoned with

 

When Israel’s enemies threaten, the leaders of Gilead come cap in hand to ask Jephthah for help

–         Their approach is quite self-serving – they don’t really care about Jephthah, they just want to save their own necks

–         Jephthah agrees but only if they accept him as their leader

–         They have offered Jephthah purpose but he wants identity and belonging as well – he is hungry for their acceptance

–         The deal is done

 

In some ways Jephthah’s treatment at the hands of his brothers is a parable (in miniature) of Yahweh’s experience with Israel

–         Through no fault of His own the Lord is rejected by Israel and then, when Israel find themselves in trouble, they repent and ask for help

–         Israel doesn’t really care about Yahweh – they are desperate and are using the Lord for their own ends

–         Although Yahweh doesn’t need Israel’s acceptance (like Jephthah did) the Lord is still in a difficult position

–         He knows Israel is using him and will reject him again but he can’t turn his back on the people he loves

 

Once he has been made leader of the Gileadites, Jephthah approaches the king of the Ammonites (Israel’s enemies) and seeks a diplomatic solution

–         This shows wisdom and good leadership on Jephthah’s part

–         Unfortunately it doesn’t work

–         Israel is in a weaker position so the Ammonites choose war

 

In his exchange with the king of the Ammonites, Jephthah has his finest hour

–         From verse 27 of chapter 11 Jephthah says…

 

27 It is not I who have sinned against you, but you are the one who does me wrong by making war on me. Let the Lord, who is judge, decide today for the Israelites or for the Ammonites.” 28 But the king of the Ammonites did not heed the message that Jephthah sent him.

 

Although Israel is in a weaker position from a military point of view, Jephthah has the faith to say publicly that the Lord God (Yahweh) is the ultimate judge and he will decide who is right and who gets the land

–         There is real gold in what Jephthah says here but the gold soon runs out and Jephthah’s finest hour is turned to stone

 

Jephthah’s vow:

29 Then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh. He passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, 31 then whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return victorious from the Ammonites, shall be the Lord’s, to be offered up by me as a burnt offering.”

 

Jephthah is making a solemn deal with the Lord

–         If God gives him victory he will kill (as a human sacrifice) the first person who comes out of his house to meet him

 

Steve Hansen has been on the telly lately advertising Arnott’s biscuits

–         The ads imagine Steve Hansen (coach of the All Blacks) riding on a motorbike through a post-apocalyptic wasteland

–         Steve then recreates the events which led to the destruction of the world

–         Essentially it involves one of the All Blacks eating someone else’s biscuits (either their Shapes or their Tim Tams)

–         Then the person who has lost their biscuits over reacts, triggering a series of misunderstandings which lead to nuclear war

–         The moral of the story is, “Never, ever lose your biscuit.”

 

To ‘lose your biscuit’ means to lose your cool or lose your perspective

–         ‘Never lose your biscuit’, therefore, means stay calm

–         Don’t be afraid, don’t stress out, don’t over react because you don’t know what disaster may come from it

 

Unfortunately Jephthah did lose his biscuit

–         In public Jephthah was full of confidence that God, the righteous judge, would give him the victory

–         But in private Jephthah was that scared little boy who had never been properly accepted – who longed to be identified with his father’s family, to be counted as belonging with his brothers

 

Jephthah had been called by men to fight the Ammonites – but God had not spoken to him yet

–         God had spoken to other leaders in the past, either through an angel (as he did with Gideon) or through a prophet (as he did with Barak)

–         But in Jephthah’s case, Yahweh had been strangely silent

 

Certainly the Lord had sent his Spirit on Jephthah enabling him to go through various towns to rally support

–         The presence of God’s Spirit on Jephthah should have given him confidence that he had God’s support – but it didn’t

–         Perhaps Jephthah wasn’t aware of the Spirit’s empowering presence – perhaps he mistakenly thought he was doing this in his own strength

–         Or maybe he was aware of God’s Spirit with him but didn’t make the connection that this implied the Lord’s support

 

Whatever the reason, on the eve of battle Jephthah was not able to stand the awful silence of God and he lost his biscuit, making a rash and unnecessary vow

 

Let me be very clear – Jephthah’s vow had nothing to do with the Spirit of God and everything to do with Jephthah’s own fear & insecurity

–         Jephthah had power from the Holy Spirit to do a particular task but having power from God is not the same thing as having a relationship with Him

–         Jephthah didn’t really have a relationship with the Lord and so he didn’t know God all that well

–         Because he had been rejected by his own family in the past, Jephthah was probably afraid the same thing might happen with God & he over reacted

–         But God is not like Jephthah’s family, the Lord is faithful

 

Jephthah’s vow was wrong on a number of counts

–         Firstly, it involved human sacrifice, which is against God’s Law

–         The Old Testament Law allowed animal sacrifice but human sacrifice was murder – it was absolutely forbidden

–         It stands to reason that Jephthah didn’t know this

 

Secondly, Jephthah’s vow was a faithless attempt to bind God

–         God is free – he won’t be placed under obligation by us, although he may of his own free choice place himself under obligation for us

–         Trying to manipulate the gods by making sacrifices is a pagan thing

–         Yahweh does not operate like that

–         The Lord operates by grace and faith

–         We don’t pay God to do things for us

–         In faith we receive from God, freely, and we respond with thankfulness

 

Jephthah mistakenly thought he could make a deal with God

–         The tragedy is that Jephthah already had the victory

–         He didn’t need to make a deal with God – he simply needed to trust God

 

As I said at the beginning of this message – the stories of the Judges are not an ideal to aspire to, they are cautionary tales, warning us of what to avoid

 

Okay – so far we’ve heard about Jephthah’s rejection as a youth and his rash vow as an adult

–         Now let’s consider the intergenerational impact on Jephthah’s daughter

 

Jephthah’s Daughter:

After winning a crushing victory over his enemies, Jephthah returns home triumphant. We pick up the story from verse 34 of Judges 11…

 

34 Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah; and there was his daughter coming out to meet him with timbrels and with dancing. She was his only child; he had no son or daughter except her. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low; you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow.”

 

36 She said to him, “My father, if you have opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the Lord has given you vengeance against your enemies, the Ammonites.” 37 And she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: Grant me two months, so that I may go and wander on the mountains, and bewail my virginity, my companions and I.” 38 “Go,” he said and sent her away for two months. So she departed, she and her companions, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains.

 

39 At the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to the vow he had made. She had never slept with a man. So there arose an Israelite custom that 40 for four days every year the daughters of Israel would go out to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

 

May the Spirit of God help us to know Jesus

 

When Jephthah made his vow to sacrifice the first person who came out of his house to meet him he probably had in mind one of his many servants

–         I don’t think he was expecting to kill his only daughter

–         And yet, as cruel chance would have it, she was the first to meet him when he returned home

 

The text makes it clear that she was his only child and that she was a virgin – which means that with her death Jephthah would have no descendants

–         In that culture, to die without children or descendants was a fate worse than death – this is why Jephthah tears his clothes as a sign of grief

–         In seeking to bind the Lord with a vow Jephthah has bound himself and can see no way out of it

 

We shouldn’t interpret this as Yahweh’s punishment of Jephthah

–         The Lord does not punish children for their parents’ mistakes – although children are sometimes the innocent victims of their parents sins

–         In this case Jephthah actually has the audacity to blame his daughter for his own mistake saying: “You have brought me very low; you have become the cause of great trouble to me.”

–         It was hardly her fault though – she didn’t know about his vow

 

I don’t believe God wanted any person to die or suffer for Jephthah’s vow

–         I say this because God’s Law provided a way out in situations like this

 

In Leviticus chapter 5 we read,

 

If someone makes a careless vow, no matter what it is about, he is guilty as soon as he realises what he has done. When a person is guilty, he must confess the sin, and as a penalty for the sin he must bring to the Lord a female sheep or goat as an offering. The priest shall offer the sacrifice for the man’s sin.

 

Jephthah had made a careless and evil vow

–         Clearly God did not require Jephthah to follow through on his vow and murder his daughter – yet that is exactly what Jephthah did

–         By carrying out his vow, Jephthah made his word more important than God’s word

–         So there was no virtue in Jephthah keeping his vow – he only made things worse

 

Most likely Jephthah was ignorant of the fact that…

–         One, human sacrifice is unacceptable to the Lord

–         And two, if you do make a rash vow, God has provided a way out

–         All Jephthah needed to do was confess that his vow was a mistake and have a priest offer an animal sacrifice in place of his daughter

–         The biggest cost would have been to Jephthah’s pride in admitting he had made a mistake

–         But there is less shame in admitting you are wrong and stopping evil than insisting you are right and fulfilling it

 

Whether he was aware of God’s law or not Jephthah didn’t need to kill her

 

This is what Jesus had to say about oaths and vows…

 

“You have heard that people were told in the past, ‘Do not break your promise, but do what you have vowed to the Lord to do.’ But now I tell you: do not use any vow when you make a promise. Do not swear by heaven, because it is God’s throne; nor by earth, because it is the resting place for his feet; not by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King.  Do not even swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’, be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No,’ be ‘No’. Anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”    

 

Jephthah’s vow came from the evil one

 

Thinking about our granite rock with a ribbon of gold in it – the response of Jephthah’s daughter is something very precious

–         She is far more gracious and courageous than her father

–         She doesn’t blame him for his mistake, even though he unfairly blames her – nor does she try to negotiate her way out of it

–         Instead she asks for two months to grieve with her friends in the hills

–         This is a wise move by Jephthah’s daughter – it creates a period of grace

–         Who knows what might happen in that grace period

–         Perhaps someone from the community will intervene and persuade her father to change his mind – or maybe God will intervene

 

When Abram was about to sacrifice his son Isaac, an angel of the Lord intervened to stop Abram and God provided a ram as a substitute

–         Also, when Saul made a rash vow which could have cost his son Jonathon his life, the men around Saul intervened to save Jonathon

 

Sadly there is no intervention for Jephthah’s daughter, divine or otherwise

–         No one thinks to inform Jephthah of the way out and God remains silent

–         The two months pass and Jephthah kills his only child

 

Conclusion:

When we put it altogether this is such a tragic story

–         We have Jephthah’s painful rejection as a young person

–         His unnecessary vow – made out of fear and insecurity

–         And then his failure to find redemption for his only child

 

Hebrews 11 mentions Jephthah as one of the heroes of the faith, which is surprising given his faithless vow & ignorance of God’s ways

–         The fact that he makes it in is more a testament to God’s grace than anything else – Jephthah is a cautionary tale, not an ideal to follow

–         I think his daughter is more the hero, for she reminds us of Jesus who accepted his Father’s will in going to the cross for our redemption

 

Jephthah’s daughter also reminds us of the millions of innocent children who are sacrificed in our world today, through child abuse, slavery, war or blind ambition and neglect

–         As John Hamlin puts it…

 

Jephthah sacrificed his daughter because of his own anxieties and ambitions. Today parents who have a driving ambition to achieve security, wealth or fame may, through neglect, unwittingly sacrifice the welfare of their own children. We might also look at nations whose drive for power or wealth or security is so strong that a whole generation of its youth may be lost in war, while the after effects may lead many to drugs or crime. [1]

 

We may not be that different to Jephthah

–         We may be disturbed by the reality that God seems to remain silent in the face of this child abuse

–         Perhaps we should be more concerned with our own silence

–         Humanity is more culpable than God

–         That said, God doesn’t always intervene to save those most vulnerable

–         I don’t have an adequate answer for this – I can’t see the whole picture

–         All I have is my one or two pieces of the puzzle

 

I do believe in resurrection though – that those innocents who are sacrificed (like Jephthah’s daughter) are given abundant life in heaven

–         God is just and merciful – he makes all things new in the end

 

I also believe, there is a redeemer

–         A redeemer for those who have been condemned by the sins of their parents

–         And a redeemer for those who have lost their biscuit and over reacted – causing others to suffer

–         The name of this redeemer is Jesus, God’s own Son

 

 

Let us pray…

 

–         For those children in our world today who are sacrificed or abused in various ways – for God’s healing grace and redemption

–         For those who are parents – that the sins of the parents would not be passed on to their children (this may involve asking God to forgive our own parents)

–         Forgiveness for those times when we ‘lose our biscuit’ or over react causing others grief

 

Out Takes

It is probable that Jephthah was not well acquainted with God’s law

–          He had lived much of his life as an outlaw among pagans, therefore he wasn’t exposed to a lot of teaching about God’s ways

–          But I’m not sure living in ancient Israel would have helped him that much either

–          The time of the Judges was a time when people largely ignored God’s law anyway and did whatever seemed best in their own eyes

 

 

[1] E. John Hamlin, “Judges, At Risk in the Promised Land”, page 124.

Tawa Baptist

Job & Elihu

Scripture: Job 32-37

 

Title: Job & Elihu

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Job
  • Elihu
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

As you arrived this morning, some of you would have been given a puzzle piece

–         Based on the piece of the puzzle you have, can you tell me what you think the full picture is?  (What time of the year is it? Etc.)

–         [Let people make their guesses]

Well, they were (mostly) good guesses – but this is the full picture when you put all the pieces together…

It’s a photo of The Remarkables taken from Frankton, near Queenstown

–         The point I’m trying to make here is that when we have only one piece of the puzzle it is extremely difficult to accurately imagine the whole picture

 

Today we continue our series on intergenerational relationships in the Bible by focusing on Job & Elihu

–         Job was an elder in the community and Elihu was a young man

 

Job:

For those not familiar with the story, Job was a righteous man who went out his way to always do the right thing by God and his neighbour

–         He lived by a strict moral ethical code

–         Job prospered in everything he did, had a large family and was well respected in the community – he was a genuinely good guy

–         Then one day Job lost everything

–         Through a series of unfortunate events he lost his great wealth and all his children were killed in a single day

–         Despite this incredible loss Job did not curse God

–         He said, ‘The Lord gives and takes away – blessed be his name’

 

Not long after that Job lost his health as well – he was covered in painful boils

–         Although he was suffering in every way that its possible for a man to suffer, Job still did not curse God

 

For seven days he sat in silence on the ash heap, scraping the puss out of his boils with pieces of broken pottery

–         When Job’s friends came to offer him comfort they could hardly recognise him

–         The three men sat in silence with Job, waiting for him to speak

 

When Job finally did open his mouth, it wasn’t to curse God but rather to curse the day of his birth – Job felt so miserable he wished he’d never been born

 

Although Job didn’t curse God he still had a beef with the Almighty

–         All his life he had lived by a strict moral code based on the belief that God is just and all powerful – he rewards good behaviour & punishes bad

–         That was the one piece of the puzzle that Job had

–         He didn’t have other pieces of the puzzle like we do

–         For example, he didn’t know there was a resurrection of the dead

–         For the people of Job’s day this life was all there was – you lived and died and that was it

–         So if you didn’t get justice in this life, you missed out altogether

 

And therein lies the rub for Job – he felt he had been unfairly treated

–         Job knew that, although he wasn’t perfect, he had never done anything bad enough to deserve this

–         How could God (who is just) let a good man like him come to ruin?

–         If Job had a belief in the resurrection then he would at least have the comfort of knowing that whatever injustices he suffered in this life, God would make it up to him in heaven

–         But Job doesn’t have that piece of the puzzle

 

From Job’s perspective it seems that God has punished him unfairly, without explanation

–         Job wants his day in court with the Lord

–         He wants God to tell him what he’s done wrong

–         Job wants the opportunity to justify himself – but God is silent

 

Job’s friends (Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar) are well meaning but unfortunately they have the same puzzle piece that Job has

–         Like Job they believe God rewards good behaviour and punishes bad (in this life) – end of story

–         Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar don’t want to face the inconvenient truth that sometimes bad things happen to good people – so this life isn’t fair

–         They can’t see a both / and solution to this problem

–         They can’t see how both God and Job can be justified at the same time

–         For them it is either / or – either Job is right or God is right

–         God can’t be wrong therefore Job must have done something really bad to deserve the calamity that has fallen on him

 

Now not everything the friends say is wrong – some of what they say is right and true – they simply lack the humility to admit they don’t have all the answers

–         Their faith isn’t spacious enough to accommodate doubt

–         Like someone once said, ‘the opposite of faith isn’t doubt. The opposite of faith is certainty’

 

As the dialogue goes back and forth between Job and his friends, the friends become more hostile toward Job until in the end they accuse him of heinous crimes from the past – crimes Job never committed

–         Job is misunderstood by those closest to him and that just adds to his feelings of isolation and mistreatment

 

In their rush to defend God, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar are unkind to Job (they kick the man while he is down). As Derek Kidner points out…

–         “One of the lessons of the book is that God [hates] our special pleading for him, with its suppression of unwelcome facts” [1]

–         In other words, God doesn’t like it when we deny or falsify the facts to defend him

 

Job said it well when he replied to friends…

 

Will you speak falsely for God and speak deceitfully for him?

Will you show partiality toward him, will you plead the case for God?

Will it be well with you when he searches you out? [2]

 

Last night Robyn and I went to my cousin’s, 40th birthday party

–         My cousin is married to an artist and he had a painting on the wall that looked something like this…

If you can imagine a whole lot of circles of different sizes and colours arranged on the wall, with space in between the circles – it looks really cool

–         The artist has an interesting process

–         He starts by painting one really big single art work and then he cuts the circles out and puts them on the wall

–         So we don’t get to see the whole picture – we just see bits and pieces

 

Some would call this abstract art but in my mind it points to reality

–         I don’t know why he paints like this but I reckon it’s a parable of how we experience life

–         We never see the full picture – we only see bits and pieces

–         We have blind spots

–         There are gaps in our understanding and gaps in our conversation

–         There’s the things we say and the things we hide

–         There’s our words and our silence

–         There’s the circles and the space in between

–         Faith lives in the space in between

 

God, the artist, sees the whole picture – we don’t

–         We might look at the fragmented pieces of our life and not be able to make sense of it – that’s how it was for Job

–         He didn’t have the full picture – he just had bits & pieces and he was struggling to join the dots, to make sense of it all

 

It was similar for Job’s friends – they looked at the ruin of Job’s life and couldn’t see the full picture

–         They weren’t comfortable with the space in between – they tried to force all the circles together and in the process they left no room for faith

–         They misunderstood both Job and God

 

All the while that Job and his three friends are having this conversation, others are watching and listening in, including a young man called Elihu

–         The interesting thing here, from an intergenerational perspective, is that young people (like Elihu) were allowed to observe and even participate in deep theological discussions like this

–         They weren’t excluded or shielded from these difficult matters

 

 We pick up the story from Job chapter 32…

 

So these three men stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 But Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God. 3 He was also angry with the three friends, because they had found no way to refute Job, and yet had condemned him. Now Elihu had waited before speaking to Job because they were older than he. But when he saw that the three men had nothing more to say, his anger was aroused.  

 

Elihu is angry with his elders because he feels like they have misrepresented God in their conversation

–         By insisting on his innocence Job has made it appear as though God is unjust

–         And by letting Job have the last word, the three friends have made it seem like God was in the wrong

 

For the next six chapters Elihu presents his ideas

–         Some commentators dismiss Elihu’s contribution as unimportant

–         But when we listen to what he has to say with an open mind, without looking down on him because of his age, we have to admit he adds value

–         Elihu does take a different approach to his elders and in the process helps us to see one or two other pieces to the puzzle

–         He doesn’t have the whole picture and he misunderstands Job at times but he also foreshadows some of the things Yahweh says to Job later

 

The first point of difference is that Elihu addresses Job by name

 

You might think this is a small thing but actually it’s quite significant

–         How do you feel when someone forgets your name?

–         Most of us feel less somehow

–         But when people remember our name we feel like we matter, we exist – we are not nobody – we are somebody

 

Elihu calls Job by name which is a way of acknowledging that Job is a person and he is not ashamed to admit that he knows Job

–         Job’s three friends don’t use Job’s name when talking to him which seems to indicate that he has become a stranger to them

–         It’s not that they’ve had a senior moment and forgotten Job’s name

–         It’s more like they are embarrassed to admit they know Job and that’s hurtful

–         (Having said all that I hope I don’t forget anyone’s name today – if I do, it’s not intentional)

 

The next main point of difference is that Elihu bases his comments on what he has heard Job say

–         He doesn’t accuse Job of some imaginary sin from the past or make up some alternative facts like Job’s friends did

–         Elihu sticks to the evidence available to him

–         Elihu was actually listening to Job and trying to give him a fair go

 

This said, Elihu sometimes gets his wires crossed and misunderstands Job

 

For example, in chapter 33, Elihu quotes Job as saying…

–         ‘I am pure and without sin; I am clean and free from guilt. Yet God has found fault with me; he considers me his enemy. He fastens my feet in shackles; he keeps close watch on all my paths.’

 

Elihu makes it sound like Job is claiming moral perfection and…

–         “While Job is confident that he has followed God’s way faithfully, he never asserts that he has not sinned.” [3]

–         Job’s position is that he cannot recall having ever done anything bad enough to warrant such harsh punishment

–         Elihu hasn’t properly understood Job

 

On the whole though Elihu’s basic approach is miles better than that of Job’s three friends, even if it lacks some refinement

 

Another point of difference is that Job and his friends seem obsessed with the cause of Job’s suffering while Elihu suggests they would be better to consider the general purpose of suffering

 

Do you understand the difference between cause and purpose?

–         If you are receiving chemo treatment for cancer then you might experience some hair loss

–         The cause of the hair loss is the chemo drugs – but you don’t think too much about the cause because there’s no gain in that

–         Rather you choose to focus on the purpose of the chemo drugs, which is to make you better

–         Thinking about the purpose gives meaning to the hair loss and strengthens your resolve to carry on with the treatment

 

Elihu tries to get Job and his friends to quit their obsession with the cause of Job’s suffering and start thinking about the purpose – what does suffering achieve?

 

In chapter 33 Elihu says to Job…

–         Why do you complain to [God] that he answers none of man’s words? For God does speak – now one way, now another – though man may not perceive it. [God speaks] in a dream, in a vision of the night… Or a man may be chastened on a bed of pain…

 

One of Job’s complaints was that God was silent and wouldn’t respond to him

–         Elihu suggests that God has been trying to communicate with Job

–         Through dreams of the night (Job had certainly had nightmares)

–         And through pain (C.S. Lewis said that pain is God’s mega phone – Job was in a lot of pain)

–         The purpose of the nightmares and pain, according to Elihu, is so God…

…may terrify them with warnings, to turn man from wrongdoing and keep him from pride, to preserve his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword

 

In other words, stop worrying about the cause of your suffering Job and consider God’s purpose which is to save you from death

 

While Elihu is on the right track, he can’t see the whole picture

–         God’s purpose isn’t to turn Job away from wrong doing – Job was never on the wrong path in the first place

–         God’s purpose was to set Job free from the prison of himself

–         Of course Job didn’t know this at the time – we seldom know the purpose until after the fact

 

Elihu carries on, in chapter 33, with a note of hope, saying…

 

Yet if there is an angel on his side as a mediator… to tell a man what is right for him, to be gracious to him and say, ‘Spare him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom for him’ – then his flesh is renewed like a child’s; it is restored as in the days of his youth.

 

Elihu’s idea here is that God provides an angel to help the man in trouble – to be his advocate, pay the bail and get him out of prison

–         This is really Job’s idea, but Elihu does well to agree with Job on this point – Job had said in chapter 16…

 

Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend.

 

In his desperation Job had accurately guessed one of the pieces of the puzzle yet unseen – a very important piece as it turns out

–         Jesus is our witness in heaven – our advocate on high

–         The Spirit of Jesus is our intercessor and friend who pleads with God on our behalf (with groans and sighs too deep for words)

 

One of the poetic twists in the story is that Job himself acts as a mediator and intercessor, praying for God to forgive his friends, at the end of the book

 

In chapters 34 & 35 Elihu gives Job a hard time for insisting on his own innocence – this is not Elihu’s finest speech

–         Like Job’s friends, Elihu’s purpose is to defend the reputation of God

–         Ironically, in making the point that God is just, Elihu is unfair to Job

–         What Elihu doesn’t realise is that it’s not necessary, in Job’s case, to defend God – the Lord is big enough to handle our questions and doubts

 

Elihu finishes well though – in chapters 36 & 37 he focuses on the greatness and splendour of God – which is what Job needs

–         Elihu asks Job a series of questions which Job can’t answer. He says…

 

Listen to this Job; stop and consider God’s wonders. Do you know how God controls the clouds and makes his lightening flash? Do you know how the clouds hang poised, those wonders of him who is perfect in knowledge?

 

And so on…

–         Because of his obsession with being right Job had become locked in a prison of self-absorption

–         By talking about the mastery and wisdom of God in creation, Elihu reminds Job that he is not the centre of the universe.

–         The world doesn’t revolve around Job

–         In this way Elihu gets Job thinking about something other than himself and he anticipates God, who asks Job a lot of unanswerable questions too

 

Conclusion:

God’s response seems baffling to us for God doesn’t speak directly to Job’s complaint (which is essentially, ‘What have I done to deserve this?’)

–         The point seems to be that Job and his friends had arrived at a faulty conclusion because they weren’t asking the right questions

–         God wasn’t interested in punishing Job – he wanted to set Job free from his moralistic, man-centered theology

 

Sometimes, like Job, we can become too preoccupied with questions of ethics and our destiny

–         We might be uncomfortable with the space in between the circles – the unknown, the realm of mystery, where faith lives – God is in the gaps

–         If we force the circles together too tightly – if we try to confine God within our narrow theological system – then God may need to pull the circles apart again to make room for faith and communion with Him

–         God is in the gaps

 

It’s when Job gives up trying to justify himself that God vindicates Job, restoring his life and perspective

 

The people at the Fuller Youth Institute say that…

  • – Young people who have safe relationships in which to share their questions and struggles tend to have stronger faith
  • – But I don’t think it’s just young people that need safe relationships
  • – We all need someone who will listen without condemning us and without trying to save us or fix our theology
  • – Being safe doesn’t mean having all the answers – it means being able to handle the truth with grace and without fudging the facts to defend God
  • – It means having a faith that is spacious enough to accommodate doubt

 

Sadly, neither Job’s friends nor Elihu were equipped to provide Job with a safe relationship (although Elihu did a slightly better job than his elders)

  • – Through the process though Job became a safe person for others

 

I’m not sure how you have suffered

–         I’m not sure what doubts you wrestle with

–         But I am sure you can’t provide sanctuary for others unless you yourself have suffered loss and been hollowed out by grief

 

As Jesus said…

–         “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.”  [4]

[1] Derek Kidner, ‘The Wisdom of Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes’, page 61-62.

[2] Job 13:7-9

[3] John Hartley, NICOT ‘Job’, page 440.

[4] This is the Message Bible’s translation of Matthew 5:4 ‘Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted’.

Tawa Baptist

Jesus in transition

Scripture: Luke 2:41-52

Title: Jesus in transition

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Foreshadowing
  • Identity, belonging, purpose
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Recently I had an eye exam and was told I needed transition lenses, which are sort of a modern take on bifocals

–         Switching to transition lenses is really weird – it’s a transition in itself

–         With transition lenses you have to turn your whole head to keep things in focus. It takes a bit of getting used to

 

I’m telling you this for two reasons:

–         Firstly, if I seem to be looking at you funny, don’t be offended – I’m just getting used to these new glasses

–         And secondly, it relates to this morning’s message – Jesus in transition

 

Please turn with me to Luke chapter 2, verse 41 – page 77 toward the back of your pew Bibles

 

Today we continue our series on intergenerational relationships by focusing on Jesus, as a 12 year boy, interacting with adults in the temple in Jerusalem

–         In Jewish culture of that time, a boy became responsible for keeping the Law at 13 – so 12 was an age of transition as he prepared for manhood and the responsibilities associated with the Law, also a time of viewing oneself (in relation to God and the world) differently

–         And, as we’ll hear shortly, it wasn’t only a transition for Jesus, it was a time of transition for Jesus’ parents as well

–         From Luke 2, verses 41-52 we read…

 

41 Every year the parents of Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival. 42 When Jesus was twelve years old, they went to the festival as usual. 43 When the festival was over, they started back home, but the boy Jesus stayed in Jerusalem. His parents did not know this; 44 they thought that he was with the group, so they travelled a whole day and then started looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 They did not find him, so they went back to Jerusalem looking for him. 46 On the third day they found him in the Temple, sitting with the Jewish teachers, listening to them and asking questions. 47 All who heard him were amazed at his intelligent answers. 48 His parents were astonished when they saw him, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been terribly worried trying to find you.”

49 He answered them, “Why did you have to look for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand his answer.

51 So Jesus went back with them to Nazareth, where he was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 Jesus grew both in body and in wisdom, gaining favour with God and people.

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate the gospel for us

Foreshadowing:

On the wall here we have an example of foreshadowing

–         The picture of a cave man, from the past, holding a stick foreshadows present day man who holds a cell-phone

 

Foreshadowing is a literary technique where the author plants little clues at the beginning of a story to hint at what is to come later

–         Foreshadowing helps us make the transition from ignorance to meaning

–         It creates a point of reference helping us to join the dots so we can accurately interpret the story

 

Many of the characters of the Old Testament foreshadow Jesus

–         Joseph, who was betrayed by his brothers but then later saves them, foreshadows Jesus who was betrayed by his own for our salvation

–         Moses, the law giver, foreshadows Jesus who fulfils the law

–         David, the shepherd king, foreshadows Jesus the good shepherd king

–         Elisha who heals Naaman, the gentile leper, foreshadows Jesus who not only healed lepers but came that people of all nations would be cleansed

–         We could go on but you get the point: the Old Testament foreshadows Christ

 

We notice quite a bit of foreshadowing in this morning’s account of the boy Jesus in the temple

 

Luke 2, verse 41 tells us how every year the parents of Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival

 

The Passover remembers one of Israel’s great transitions – their exodus from slavery in Egypt

–         This little vignette of Jesus going to the Passover festival foreshadows Jesus’ death on the cross at Passover time

 

Travelling from Nazareth to Jerusalem is a journey of about 5 days each way on foot – so that’s at least 10 days on the road

–         Add to that another 8 days for the festival itself and the round trip took nearly 3 weeks – that’s a big commitment to make every year

–         Living as far away from Jerusalem as they did Mary & Joseph weren’t legally required by the Law to attend the Passover festival every year but they freely chose to do so – foregoing 3 weeks income to be there to honour the Lord

–         This shows us that Jesus’ parents, Mary & Joseph, were devout people – they were very committed to God and his law

 

With the festival over, Mary & Joseph head back to Nazareth

–         Because they were travelling in a large group with extended family & friends they didn’t realise Jesus was missing until the end of the first day

–         You can imagine their worry and anxiety – anything could have happened to their boy

 

It takes a day for them to return to Jerusalem and then on the third day they find him in the Temple

–         Here we observe a foreshadowing of the resurrection – for Jesus would be raised from the dead on the third day

 

Mary & Joseph are astonished (or surprised) to find Jesus sitting with the Jewish teachers, listening to them and asking questions

–         How is a small town boy (a carpenter’s son) able to foot it with these heavy weight theologians from the big city?

–         It would be like losing your 12 year old child at the stadium after a test match, only to come back and find him discussing the game with Steve Hansen and Kieran Reid (the All Blacks coach & captain)

 

‘Listening & asking’ suggests humility and respect on Jesus’ part, so we shouldn’t imagine a precocious or arrogant child setting his elders straight

–         The 12 year old Jesus doesn’t know it all – rather he is hungry to learn

 

Apparently the teachers asked Jesus some questions too – not because they expected to learn something from the boy – but because questions encourage people to think for themselves – that was their teaching method

–         And all who heard Jesus were amazed at his intelligent answers

–         In other words, Jesus’ response showed a deep understanding of the Scriptures – far deeper than one would expect from a 12 year old

 

This picture of Jesus discussing theology with the teachers of the Law foreshadows Jesus’ ministry when he will amaze people with his wisdom and insight in teaching the ways of God

 

We all have foreshadowing in our lives don’t we

–         Things that happened to us in our childhood which anticipated an even deeper reality in adulthood

–         Some of that foreshadowing may have been helpful – it may have set you on a good path

–         By the same token some of it may have been detrimental – history has a nasty habit of repeating itself

–         Whatever foreshadowing you’ve had in your own life, whether good or bad, Jesus understands

–         He is able to join the dots and make sense of your life – give your life meaning

 

Identity, belonging and purpose:

I have here a tripod

–         This tripod is used to support a video camera

–         For this tripod to stand on its own it needs at least 3 legs

–         With just one or two legs someone needs to hold it, otherwise it will topple over and the camera will be broken

–         To make this tripod stable it helps if each of the legs are evenly matched

–         If one leg is shorter than the others it is more prone to tipping

 

Three things we human beings need to stand are: identity, belonging & purpose

–         Identity, belonging & purpose are like the three legs of the tripod supporting our soul

 

Identity answers the question: Who am I?

–         Belonging answers the question: Where do I fit?

–         And purpose answers the question: Why am I here?

–         Who, where and why?

 

As human beings we go through a number of transitions or changes in our life

–         And these transitions are not always easy – they may leave us feeling like a fish out of water, at least for a little while

–         The transition from the security of the womb to the outside world

–         The transition from home to kindy and then kindy to school and eventually from school (or university) to the workforce

–         The transition from childhood to adulthood – otherwise known as adolescence – this is a challenge for both teenagers and their parents

–         Some people make the transition from being single to being married or perhaps from being married to being divorced

–         Having children is one of life’s most profound transitions

–         A number of you here have made the transition from a different country and culture to come to New Zealand

–         Others have made the transition from full time paid employment to retirement

–         Grief is a kind of transition – as we come to terms with loss and adjust to a new normal

 

The point is: we go through lots of transitions in life and these are sometimes painful or difficult at the time

–         Having a good sense of identity, belonging & purpose gives us security – supporting us through times of transition and change

 

The transition Jesus was going through at 12 was not easy for Mary & Joseph

–         When Mary asks Jesus…

–         “My son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been terribly worried trying to find you.”

 

Jesus points out that they had no need for concern, saying…

–         “Why did you have to look for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be in my Father’s house?”

 

Jesus’ response here reveals a strong sense of identity, belonging & purpose.

–         Jesus identifies himself in relationship with God

–         He basically says, ‘God is my Father and I am His Son’

–         That’s identity

 

Because Jesus knows who he is (God’s Son) it then becomes clear where he belongs – in His Father’s house, that is, in the temple

–         As God’s Son, Jesus felt perfectly safe and at home in the temple

 

And as for purpose, well, ‘I had to be in the temple’

–         In other words, it was inevitable that you would find me here discussing theology with the experts – because the temple is where people learn about God and my life’s purpose is to teach people the ways of God

–         How can I teach others unless I first learn myself?

 

If you are going to be a doctor it is inevitable that you will go to medical school and hospital

–         If you are going to be a teacher it is inevitable that you will go to teachers’ college and end up in the classroom

–         If you are going to be a minister or a priest then it is inevitable that you will study the Bible and spend time in church

 

This all seems intuitively obvious to Jesus – but it’s lost on his parents

–         Mary & Joseph didn’t understand what Jesus was saying to them

–         They knew from the circumstances of his birth that he was somehow special – but they didn’t yet realise his identity as God’s Son, much less his purpose in life or where he belonged

 

Incidentally, being misunderstood by those closest to him is another foreshadowing of Jesus’ future ministry

 

Jesus is not put off by his parent’s slowness to understand though

–         He is secure in his identity, belonging and purpose

–         Jesus knows that God (his Father) understands him and that’s enough for Jesus

–         So he returns to Nazareth with Mary & Joseph and is obedient to them

 

Conclusion:

Luke 2 finishes by telling us that Jesus grew both in body and in wisdom, gaining favour with both God and man

–         That Jesus ‘grew in wisdom’ tells us that our Lord wasn’t born knowing everything – he had to learn wisdom like everyone else

–         (Although it appears he was a faster learner than you or I)

–         Even though God was his Father, this didn’t mean any short cuts for Jesus

–         He did his time, paid his dues and went through puberty as we all do

–         Jesus wasn’t just fully divine – he was also fully human

 

Sometimes we might think that being Christian somehow makes us exempt or gives us immunity from the misfortunes or hardships of life – It doesn’t

–         We are just as likely to catch a cold or have car trouble or be misunderstood or made redundant or lose a loved one, as anyone else

–         God didn’t prevent his own Son from experiencing loss and suffering and difficulty – so we shouldn’t expect special treatment either

 

Like Jesus we do have some advantages though

–         In Jesus we have a secure and level tripod for our soul

–         We find our identity, our belonging and our purpose in Christ

–         Jesus is our answer to those deeper questions of who, where and why

–         Jesus is our brother – that’s identity (we are brothers and sisters with Christ – that is who we are)

–         Through Jesus we have a place in the Kingdom of God – that’s belonging (you might not feel like you belong in this world, well we are just sojourners passing through – heaven is our home)

–         And, with the power of Christ’s Spirit in us we find our unique purpose (we are all different and that’s because we each have a special purpose)

 

Let us pray…

 

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, you are our security in an insecure world – you provide stability for our soul through times of change & transition. Whatever the foreshadowing in our own lives, may we find our identity, belonging and purpose in you.

Tawa Baptist

Eli & Samuel

Scripture: 1st Samuel 3

 

Title: Eli & Samuel

 

Structure:

  • Introduction – Immersion
  • Learning by immersion (repetition & routine)
  • Spiritual direction
  • God’s ways are not our ways (grace & truth)
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

I have here a sponge and a bucket of water

–         In order for a sponge to work it needs to be wet

–         Now I could get the sponge wet by sprinkling water on it like this

–         But the best way is by immersing it in the bucket like this

 

Today we continue our sermon series on intergenerational relationships

–         An intergenerational relationship is a relationship between two people from different generations, someone older and someone younger

–         We find a number of intergenerational relationships in the Bible

–         For example: Moses & Joshua, Ruth & Naomi, Elijah & Elisha

–         As well as the apostle Paul and his protégé Timothy

 

Our focus this morning though is on the relationship between Eli & Samuel

–         For those who may not be familiar with the story, Samuel was dedicated to the Lord’s service by his mother Hannah

–         This meant that once Samuel had been weaned she left him at the temple in Shiloh to serve with Eli the chief priest

–         Hannah didn’t just sprinkle a bit of religion over her son, she immersed him totally in the Lord’s service

 

The ground of today’s message is 1st Samuel chapter 3

–         At this stage Samuel is still a boy – we are not sure exactly how old but probably no older than 12?

–         By contrast Eli is an old man, most likely old enough to be Samuel’s grandad

–         From 1st Samuel chapter 3 (in the NIV) we read…

 

3 The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.

2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the Lord called Samuel.

Samuel answered, “Here I am.” 5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.

6 Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”

7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

8 A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”

Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel,

“Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

 

10 The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

11 And the Lord said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. 12 At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family—from beginning to end. 13 For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God, and he failed to restrain them. 14 Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’”

 

15 Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, 16 but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.”

Samuel answered, “Here I am.”

17 “What was it he said to you?” Eli asked. “Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you.” 18 So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, “He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.”

 

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

 

Learning by immersion (routine & repetition)

When it comes to learning we human beings are a little bit like a sponge

–         We tend to learn best by immersion – rather than sprinkling

–         If you think about it a child learns to walk and talk not by attending a lecture, but by being immersed in an environment where other people are walking and talking

–         In the process of listening to adult conversations and seeing other people walk the child naturally picks up what to do and then starts attempting to walk & talk themselves

–         It’s good for young children to be around older children and adults because that’s how they learn

–         If small children only ever hung out with other small children they wouldn’t learn what the next steps were, so to speak

 

Repetition and routine are an important part of the ‘learning by immersion’ process

–         It’s amazing how small children love to hear the same story over and over again and how they can play ‘peek a boo’ for what seems like hours on end without ever growing tired of it

 

G.K. Chesterton has a wonderful quote about children and repetition. He says…

 

“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”

 

Churches tend to accumulate traditions

–         There are certain rhythms and regularities that we follow

–         We stand for the offering because we aren’t just giving our money – we are offering ourselves to God as living sacrifices

–         We celebrate communion once a month, usually with the same words of institution for the elements

–         We give out chocolate fish each week to celebrate special occasions

–         We light candles during Advent

–         I almost always start the sermon with ‘Good morning everyone’

–         And we have combined services at Easter & Christmas and so on

 

Having traditions may seem monotonous or boring to us, as adults, but they tend to be quite exciting and full of wonder for small children

–         And they provide a sense of comfort for people in the twilight of life

–         Those traditions that we might prefer to break, in adolescence & mid-life, are actually a great vehicle for teaching our kids

–         While it’s okay to change traditions every now and then we need to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water

–         Most of our traditions (our repetitions) serve an important purpose

 

There would have been a lot of repetition in Samuel’s life, immersed as he was in the rhythms of the temple with its daily routines of worship & related chores

–         Opening the temple doors at the start of the day & closing them at the end

–         Filling the lamp with oil

–         Gathering wood to burn the sacrifices & cleaning up the mess afterwards

–         Whatever the details of Samuel’s day, it followed a repeating pattern and that repetition was good for Samuel – there was comfort and security in it

–         What’s more, because Samuel was young and abounding in vitality, he was able to exult in the monotony of tradition (not just endure it)

 

Now, in pointing out how Samuel was immersed in the rhythms and routines of the temple, I’m not for a minute suggesting that you should drop your children off to the church for me to look after them each day

–         I can’t see that working out very well

–         What you can do, if you have responsibility for young children, is immerse them in good routines

–         Immerse them in the stories of the Bible

–         Immerse them in your prayers

–         And immerse them in service to the Lord with you

 

You might, for example, have a little bedtime routine where you read a Bible story and then pray the Lord’s Prayer with them

–         It may be the same stories and the same prayer over and over but that doesn’t matter – repetition is an important part of spiritual formation

–         Don’t just limit it to bedtime though – take any opportunity you can find.

–         In Deuteronomy 11, while Moses is giving the people of Israel God’s Law, he instructs them saying…

 

Teach these things to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up

 

One of the things we do here at Tawa Baptist to help spiritual conversations at home is we try (as much as possible) to have the Flock Sunday school curriculum follow the sermon series

–         So the sermon you heard last week about Ruth & Boaz is what the kids are learning about in the Flock this morning

–         You may have noticed on the back of the newsletter a couple of sentences letting the congregation know what the Flock kids are learning with an invitation to talk with your kids about it later

 

Another thing you can do is bring your kids to church regularly

–         If you only come occasionally its harder to feel like you belong

–         I’m not saying this to make you feel bad if you don’t come every week – I understand that it’s not always possible to be here every Sunday

–         But come as often as you are able because by doing that you give yourself and your kids the best chance of feeling at home here

 

One of the things we do in this church is keep the children in the morning service for a good 20 minutes or so before sending them out to Sunday school

–         This is teaching by immersion

–         Children naturally pick up what to do in a worship service and feel comfortable simply by being in it

–         We still need some separate programming for the kids though because they are at a different developmental stage and have different needs

–         Besides, my sermons are too long and serious to hold a child’s attention

 

Tawa Baptist has a strong tradition of grandparents bringing their grandkids to church and Sunday school – which is fantastic, keep doing that

 

Whether they are your kids or your grandkids though the trick is to involve them in those areas of service you are involved in – let them participate

–         So if you are on door duty, get one or two of your kids to do it with you

–         Or if you are collecting the offering, get the child with you to help

–         Sometimes Ang puts instruments out at the front for the kids to use while we are singing – that’s about encouraging participation

–         And when your kids reach College age, there are opportunities for them to serve in crèche and the Flock and the music team and Club Intermed

–         Learning by immersion involves both observation and participation

 

Shona (who is on piano this morning) told me that her Dad, Frank Duncan (who used to be a minister in this church) got her involved playing piano on Sunday mornings from a young age

–         More than just playing piano though, Frank gave Shona real ownership in the service by asking her to select some of the songs

–         Participation you see

 

Returning to Samuel & Eli

–         Samuel grew up immersed in the rhythms & routines of the temple and it had a shaping effect on his soul – it formed him spiritually

–         Sort of like a rock being made smooth as it is continually washed in the surf on a beach

–         Or a piece of clay being shaped and moulded as it spins round and round on the potter’s wheel

 

Eli, for his part, did a good job involving Samuel in the tasks of the temple so that Samuel wasn’t just a spectator or a consumer but an active participant, a contributor

 

Spiritual Direction:

Samuel quite happily followed the rhythms & routines of temple life until one night God introduced a new routine

 

While he was sleeping somewhere near the vicinity of the ark (the symbol of God’s presence) Samuel was woken by a voice calling his name

–         Eli was old, overweight and almost blind – he relied on Samuel to help him with things – so Samuel naturally thought Eli was calling him

–         But when he goes to Eli the old priest says, ‘My son, I did not call you. Go back and lie down.’

 

This little pattern is repeated three times and by the third time Eli realises Samuel is hearing the word of the Lord, so Eli offers Samuel some spiritual direction – he tells the boy what to say if he hears the voice again

–         Say, ‘Speak Lord, your servant is listening’

 

Eli does well here

–         In the first instance he does well not to get frustrated with Samuel for waking him in the middle of the night

–         More than this though Eli has the presence of mind and the spiritual sensitivity to realise God is calling the boy

–         Eli’s insight is quite remarkable when we think about it

 

Remember we are told, right at the beginning of chapter 3, that ‘the word of the Lord was rare in those days’

–         Most people wouldn’t have expected God to speak at all, let alone to a servant boy. A child prophet? That was unheard of

–         Nevertheless Eli realises that God is talking to Samuel

 

Given the unexpected nature of it all, how does Eli discern this?

 

Well, it seems to me that Eli knew Samuel well

–         It wasn’t like Samuel to wake him in the night 3 times for no reason

–         Samuel wasn’t a naughty kid – he was compliant

–         Samuel wouldn’t have disturbed Eli unless he had heard a voice

 

I think also that Eli saw a potential in Samuel and he loved the boy

–         So it wasn’t difficult for Eli to imagine that God might speak to Samuel

–         In fact, given the miraculous circumstances of Samuel’s birth and Hannah’s dedication of Samuel to God’s service it logically followed that God had a special purpose for Samuel’s life

–         Eli reminds those of us who are older to see the potential in those who young and not discount their usefulness to God

 

Eli also knew enough about God’s ways to realise this is often how the Lord operates – through the unexpected and through repetition

 

When I was in my late teens / early 20’s I said I would never be a pastor

–         Then one day, some years later, four people independently of each other said to me in the space of 24 hours…

–         ‘Will, I think you should consider becoming a pastor’

–         I wasn’t expecting that – and I certainly wasn’t looking for it so I knew it didn’t come from me

–         The unexpected, unsolicited nature of the message and the repetition of it made me think, perhaps God is trying to say something to me here

 

God speaks to people in different ways

–         He spoke to Samuel directly, so that Samuel saw a vision and heard an audible voice – it was nice and clear

–         That kind of communication from God is extremely rare – it’s not like that for most people

–         We are more likely to hear from God through reading the Bible or through another person or a sermon or an alignment of our circumstances

–         As a general principle though God’s word is often unexpected (from our perspective) and it is confirmed through repetition of the message

–         God’s word is always consistent with the person of Jesus – for Jesus embodies the word of the Lord – he is God’s word in human form

 

Samuel certainly wasn’t expecting God to speak to him

–         At that point in time it was outside of his experience

–         Fortunately Eli was present to give Samuel the spiritual direction he needed

 

God’s ways are not our ways:

You know the more I read the Bible the more it occurs to me how different God and I are

–         For one thing, God is a lot younger than I am

–         He appears to be far more trusting than me – more ‘fierce & free’, willing to take incredible risks

–         I imagine God would find roller coasters and sky diving exciting & fun

–         Whereas I’m too anxious for roller coasters and too grown up for fun

–         I prefer to keep my feet on the ground by going for a quiet walk on the beach or reading a book

–         God loves the whole world in all its wildness and diversity – he is present in the world everywhere, even the dark and dangerous places

–         The reach of my love is not so great however

–         God is uncreated, unlimited and eternally young

–         In contrast I am created, very limited and growing older every day

–         God thinks big – I think small

–         He is in no hurry – I’m always busy

–         He does not need anything from anyone and certainly not from me

–         But I depend on him for my very life & breath

–         I like to be organised ahead of time, with my sermon notes written out almost verbatim and my rosters prepared 3 months in advance

–         God, on the other hand, tends to be more last minute, leaving the future open – I don’t think he uses Excel spreadsheets or rosters either

 

God and I are very different but we do share one thing in common – Jesus

 

Why am I telling you this?

–         Well, God’s ways are not our ways

–         If it was up to me I wouldn’t have risked giving a young boy like Samuel such a hard task to do – at least not straight away

–         I would have eased the boy into his work – but not God

–         The Lord throws Samuel into the deep end on his first assignment

–         The very first message God gave Samuel was one of the most difficult of Samuel’s career

–         It was a message of judgment against Eli and his family

–         Basically, God wanted Samuel to tell Eli that the sins of Eli’s unrepentant sons were so bad they could never be forgiven or atoned for

–         Not only that but Eli himself was guilty too for not restraining his sons

 

That’s a heavy message for a young boy to tell the gentle old man he loves & respects

 

Now in saying that God threw Samuel in the deep end, I’m not suggesting the Lord is reckless or careless

–         God knew what Samuel could & couldn’t handle

–         God would not have asked Samuel to do this if he thought Samuel wasn’t up for it

–         The point is: sometimes we under-estimate what children can cope with

–         We want to protect them from what seem to us to be harsh realities and difficult truths – and, at times, rightly so

–         But as adults we need wisdom to discern when it is right to shield our kids and when it is better to let them hear the truth

–         In this instance God doesn’t protect Samuel – he doesn’t wrap the boy in cotton wool

–         Instead he gives Samuel the grace he needs to cope with a difficult truth

–         Ironically, that grace comes in the form of Eli

 

Eli notices that Samuel is avoiding him – which indicates Samuel has something to hide

–         So Eli goes to Samuel and puts a little pressure on him, getting him to release the burden he is carrying by saying, ‘May God deal with you severely if you hide anything from me’

–         A good spiritual director knows when & how to squeeze a person to draw out the truth

 

With permission to speak freely, Samuel relays God’s message in its entirety & Eli accepts it without getting angry with Samuel or censoring him

–         In this way Eli makes it safe for Samuel to be completely honest in the future

–         We need to do for our kids what Eli did for Samuel – release them from the burdens they carry by making it safe for them to be honest with us

 

It is not always easy to hand over tasks to others

–         Generosity towards those who are called to replace us is a real sign of grace [1]

–         God had clearly rejected Eli’s family and chosen Samuel to be his spokesperson to Israel

–         Samuel demonstrated integrity in speaking the truth of God’s message

–         And Eli demonstrated grace in making room for Samuel

 

Conclusion:

God’s ways are not our ways – which is just as well

–         He uses an inexperienced youth and a tired old priest to work out his purposes – such an unexpected combination

 

 

[1] Mary Evans, ‘The Message of Samuel’, page 37.

Tawa Baptist

Ruth & Boaz

Scripture: Ruth 2

 

Title: Boaz & Ruth

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Safe Access
  • Warm Understanding
  • Community Connection
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

Earlier in the service I stood on a table and tried to give someone a hand up so they could stand on the table with me – It didn’t work

–         But when I stood on the ground and gave them a hand up from alongside, it worked much better

–         I want you to keep that picture, of a hand up from alongside, in your mind as you listen to today’s message

 

This morning we continue our sermon series on intergenerational relationships in the Bible

–         An intergenerational relationship is a relationship between two people from different generations, someone older and someone younger

–         We find a number of intergenerational relationships in the Bible

–         For example: Moses and Joshua, the aging priest Eli and the young prophet Samuel, King Saul and King David

–         As well as the apostle Paul and his protégé Timothy

 

Our focus this morning though is on the relationship between Ruth and Boaz

–         We don’t know the age difference between Boaz & Ruth, only that Boaz was somewhat older than Ruth, maybe between 10 & 25 years older

–         Setting aside the romantic attachment that developed between them, Boaz demonstrates for us a number of things that those who are older can do to come alongside those who are younger and give them a hand up

 

Boaz gives Ruth access, understanding and connection

–         We also can do these things for those who are younger than us

 

Setting the scene:

We touched on Ruth’s story 3 Sundays ago when we looked at the inter-generational friendship between Naomi and Ruth

–         But in case you missed that I’ll give you a quick overview to set the scene

 

The story takes place during the time of the Judges in ancient Israel – which is after Joshua and before Saul & David

–         In many ways it was the worst of times – when men behaved badly

–         But it brought out the best in certain people

–         There was a famine in the land and Naomi’s husband and two sons were forced to leave Bethlehem to try and find food in Moab, the land of their enemies – they were essentially refugees – displaced people

 

While they were in Moab, Naomi’s husband died and her two sons married Moabite girls: Orpah and Ruth

–         Ten years passed in Moab before Naomi’s two sons died also

–         Despite 10 years of marriage Orpah & Ruth had no children

 

When Naomi hears that God has provided food for his people in Israel, she decides to return to Bethlehem

–         Long story short – Orpah stays in Moab, while Ruth goes with Naomi saying…

 

“…Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God…”

 

Ruth wholeheartedly commits herself to Naomi, to Naomi’s people and to Naomi’s God. This was a huge leap of faith and a great act of hesed or loyalty on Ruth’s part

 

Ruth & Naomi return to Bethlehem just in time for the barley harvest

 

The Law of Moses was written with the poor and vulnerable in mind, using a hand up, not a hand out, approach

 

One of the safety nets provided by the Law was a practice called gleaning

–         With gleaning, the poor were allowed to follow behind the harvesters picking up the grain left behind

–         The harvesters were to ensure there was adequate left overs for the gleaners to pick up by not harvesting the edges of their fields and not going over the ground twice

–         Gleaning was not a ‘hand out’ because the gleaners had to work for their grain

–         Having said that, gleaning by itself wasn’t enough to lift someone out of poverty – but it did at least save people from starvation

 

So they wouldn’t starve, Ruth respectfully asks to go gleaning in the fields and, as providence would have it, she finds herself in Boaz’ field

–         I say, ‘as providence would have it’ because Boaz does three things to help Ruth:

o   He grants her safe access to his field for gleaning

o   He shows Ruth warm understanding

o   And he connects her with others in the community

–         Safe access, warm understanding and community connection

 

These three things that Boaz does for Ruth are things that we can do for those who are younger than us

 

Safe Access:

Firstly, Boaz grants Ruth safe & generous access to his field

 

When Boaz turns up to see how his harvesters are getting on he notices this young women working in his field, so he asks his foreman who this mystery gleaner is, and the foreman replies…

 

“She is the Moabitess who came back from Moab with Naomi. She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters’. She went into the field and has worked steadily from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”

 

There’s a few points to note here:

 

Firstly, the foreman doesn’t seem to know Ruth’s name – he identifies her as the ‘Moabitess from Moab’

–         In other words, she’s not one of us, she’s an outsider

–         Despite the fact that Ruth was an outsider the foreman still granted her access to glean in Boaz’ field

–         Apparently word had got around of Ruth’s hesed (or loyalty) to Naomi

 

Secondly, Ruth asks permission to glean in the field, even though the Law of Moses already says she can

–         This tells us that Ruth doesn’t come with any sense of entitlement

–         She approaches the foreman with respect and humility

 

Thirdly, the foreman says how Ruth has ‘worked steadily’

–         This indicates Ruth’s virtue

–         She’s not lazy, she’s not looking for a hand out, she’s not there to pick up a man – she’s there to provide for herself & Naomi and for this the foreman respects her

 

Boaz comes alongside Ruth and says to her…

 

“My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field… Stay here with my servant girls. Watch the field where the men are harvesting and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”

 

Although immigrants like Ruth (who embraced the God of Israel and his covenant) were provided for and protected under the Law, this didn’t guarantee their safety

–         The time of the Judges was a bit of a dodgey time in Israel’s history when people tended to do what was best in their own eyes

–         Consequently finding people who kept the Law was rare

–         Boaz was one of those who did keep God’s Law but he was well aware that many of his countrymen didn’t

–         Had Ruth gone to glean in another field she could have been driven away or worse, assaulted

–         That’s why Boaz encourages Ruth to stay in his field where she won’t be molested

 

Boaz is in a position of power – he is careful not to abuse his power, but rather to use it to help Ruth, to empower her by granting safe access to his field

–         Granting safe access to those young people who embrace Christ (as Ruth had embraced the God of Israel) is something we can do also

 

At a recent deacons meeting Daryl gave a devotion from the Fuller Institute’s book “Growing Young”

–         In this book we find the following true story…

 

Remember your first set of keys?

–         Stephen — who goes by “Stretch” — received his first set of keys when he was 16.

–         His town handed him a driver’s license, and his parents handed him the key to the family car.

–         Heart pounding with excitement, he climbed behind the wheel and pulled out of his driveway for the first time on his own.

–         Stretch couldn’t believe the newfound freedom and responsibility he had been given.

–         He took a step away from childhood and a step closer to adulthood.

 

As Stretch pulled onto the street and began to accelerate, he faced an important and practical question. Where should I go?

–         Within a moment he knew the answer. Over the past several years, his church had become like a second home to him. There he felt known, accepted and valued. So naturally, he headed in that direction.

 

As he drove into the parking lot, the church’s childcare was wrapping up for the day.

–         One of the coordinators who knew Stretch noticed him driving the car.

–         Given a recent shortage of childcare workers and seeing that he now had transportation, she asked if he was interested in helping after school.

 

She was only halfway through the question before Stretch knew his answer. He would get to hang out at the church, spend time with kids, and on top of it all … he would get paid. This day couldn’t get any better!

–         Until a few minutes later, when she returned from the church office and handed him a key to the church. “If you’re going to help us, there will be times when we’ll need you to lock up,” she explained.

 

Stretch was staring so intently at the key that he barely heard her words.

–         The pastor had this key.

–         His Sunday school teacher had this key.

–         Other adults who were mature — who had power — had this key.

–         But him? It was like he had been waiting on the sidelines during the big game and was now being called to step onto the playing field.

 

Life was truly as good as it could be. Until it got even better.

 

A week later, while Stretch was working in the childcare center, the youth pastor dropped by. “You know, Stretch,” he said, “if you have your license and are already at the church, would you be willing to stock the soda machine for me? The job comes with all the Mountain Dew you can drink.”

–         Key to the car. Check.

–         Key to the church. Check.

–         Key to the soda machine. Check.

–         Stretch knew he had arrived.

 

Later that night, Stretch received the final “key” that forever changed the course of his life. Standing alone in the empty church, he heard God speak to him — not audibly but distinctly.

–         “You like to be here, don’t you?” God asked.

–         “Yes, I do,” Stretch answered.

–         “Well, get comfortable, because you’re going to be here a lot.”

 

From that day on, Stretch knew that both his future and his vocation were closely tied to church ministry.

–         Leaders he deeply respected had entrusted him with access and authority by giving him keys, both literally and figuratively.

In the several decades that followed, others continued to entrust him with the keys of leadership & he’s now been a youth pastor for over 20 years [1]

 

That’s a good news story

–         The more mature adults in the church put faith in Stretch, they trusted him and gave him access

–         And Stretch, for his part, was respectful of the trust (the keys) he had been given – he didn’t take it for granted, nor did he have any sense of entitlement – he was simply grateful for the faith others showed in him

 

Keys provide access

–         Granting access is really about trusting people and empowering them

 

We let our young people (who embrace Christ) have access in a number ways

–         Sometimes literal access to the church buildings by giving keys

–         But also access to opportunities for service & leadership, through the music team or through Sunday school, Club Intermed, youth group and night church

–         The next generation may do things differently to the previous generation but that’s okay – so long as each generation holds to Christ

 

It seems to me that Daryl is very good at trusting the young people in his care by giving them access to the church and opportunities for service

–         But it’s not just Daryl – our deacons and our congregation as a whole want to continue seeing the next generation participating in church life

–         By the same token we are fortunate to have young people who (like Ruth and Stretch) are respectful and responsible with the keys we give them

 

Warm Understanding:

Not only does Boaz grant Ruth safe access to his fields, he also shows Ruth warm understanding

–         When Ruth asks Boaz why he is showing her such favour, Boaz replies…

 

“I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband – how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before… May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.”

 

To which Ruth replies…

–         “…You have given me comfort and spoken kindly to your servant…”

 

Ruth’s reply indicates there is real warmth in what Boaz says here

–         He is showing her, with his words, that he understands and appreciates what she has been through and what she has given up for Naomi’s sake

–         Consequently Ruth feels comforted by his words

 

What’s more, by saying, I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law, Boaz is making it clear to Ruth that the rumour mill is positive

–         She doesn’t have to worry about how others are perceiving her

–         He’s not the only one who knows about her hesed (her loyalty) to Naomi

 

Sometimes when we are young we can feel a bit unsure of ourselves

–         We might not have worked out who we are or where we fit just yet

–         One of the things older people can give younger people is encouragement – kind words communicated warmly, not cold words of criticism

–         You don’t have to be over the top with complements or embarrass people by doing it publicly – just a few gentle words on the quiet at the right time to show you are on their side

 

Mother Teresa once said:

–         Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty

 

The thing about warmth & understanding is that it stops people from feeling alone and unwanted – it keeps their demons at bay

–         When you feel that someone really gets you, really understands you, then you feel more at peace, more at home with yourself and with others

 

The 24-7 youth work that Jo & Thomas do at Tawa College is about warmth and understanding

–         It’s about coming alongside and being present to listen so young people don’t feel alone

 

A few weeks ago I attended the Baptist Lead conference in Lower Hutt

–         One of the speakers there, Tricia Hendry, told a story of a boy who was sent to live with his gran

–         The boy began wagging school, not just once or twice, but regularly

 

When his gran found out he’d been wagging she didn’t react straight away

–         She took a deep breath and considered how to approach the situation

–         Her grandson was respectful to her at home and so it was a bit puzzling why he would do this

 

In the end the gran decided to take him out to KFC for dinner – he loved KFC

–         On the way the boy asked, ‘Why are you taking me to KFC gran?’

–         ‘Because you’ve had a rough time lately and I wanted to do something nice for you.’

–         They sat in the restaurant and ate their KFC – the grandmother didn’t say anything about the boy wagging school

 

After they’d eaten the gran drove the boy home, but she took the long way.

–         They were sitting side by side in the car, not face to face, and so the posture was not top down or confrontational, it was alongside

–         The boy asked, ‘Why are we taking the long way home?

–         And his gran replied, ‘I want to ask you a question. When you are not at school are you keeping yourself safe?’

–         The gran’s question let the boy know two things:

o   That his gran was aware he was wagging, so he didn’t need to hide or keep that secret anymore (the truth sets us free)

o   And secondly, that she cares – there’s no judgement, no threat of punishment, just warmth and a genuine desire to understand

 

The boy says, ‘Yes gran. I am looking after myself. I go to my mother’s work and sit outside her window so I can be there to help her if she needs me.’

–         You see the reason that boy was sent to live with his gran was that his father was being violent to his mother

–         The boy just wanted to protect his mum

 

What a wise gran – full of truth and grace

 

Sometimes older people think they have nothing to offer.

–         That’s not true

–         If you are older then you have experience and you can show warmth and understanding to those who are younger

–         (You can be a surrogate grand-parent)

 

Now I’m conscious there are a lot of teachers here, some of whom may have to deal with students who wag school

–         I’m not suggesting you take them all out to KFC – a teacher’s role is quite different to the role of a grandparent

–         Besides, not all kids wag for good reasons like the boy in that story

–         The point is, whether you are a teacher or a parent or a grandparent or whoever, warm understanding is usually a more helpful place to start than cold criticism

 

Tawa College is great with their restorative practice – it’s a warm understanding approach

 

Community Connection:

Okay – so far we’ve heard how Boaz gives Ruth a hand up (not a hand out) by:

–         Granting her safe access to his property

–         And by communicating with warmth and understanding

–         The other thing Boaz does for Ruth (in chapter 2) is he creates connections for her in the community

–         He does this by inviting her to eat lunch with him and his workers

 

At mealtime Boaz said to Ruth, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.” When she sat down with the harvesters he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over.”

 

By sharing a meal together the workers got to know Ruth a bit so that she wasn’t just the Moabitess from Moab – she wasn’t a stranger anymore

–         And by giving Ruth more than she could eat Boaz is underlining Ruth’s status as a person to be valued and accepted by others

–         Boaz is modelling for his workers how he expects them to treat Ruth, with generosity and respect

 

Sometimes you find yourself in a conversation with someone who says something like: ‘Young people these days are terrible’

–         If you do then don’t abide that – put them straight

–         Model for them a positive way to talk about young people

–         Tell them about the young people you know who are good

–         Most young people are good these days – certainly better than I was

 

A few things we do to help foster relational connections in the life of the church include: tea & coffee after the morning service, ‘Count Me In’ lunches, small group Bible studies and all-age (intergenerational) services from time to time

–         Those things in themselves don’t guarantee community connections – they are a hand up (from alongside), not a hand out

–         So some effort to talk to someone new and get to know others is still needed on our part

 

There’s heaps more we could say about creating community connections but that’s enough for today

 

Conclusion:

Boaz gives Ruth a hand up by granting her access to his field, warm understanding and community connection

–         These are things we can do also

 

Boaz points us to Jesus

–         Jesus came down from heaven and became human to be alongside us and give us a hand up

 

For those who may identify with Boaz…

–         Is there someone you can come alongside to offer a hand up?

 

And for those who identify more with Ruth…

–         What can you do to help yourself?

 

Let us pray…

[1] https://www.nae.net/unlock-keychain-leadership/