Tawa Baptist

Baptism

Scripture: Mark 16:16a “Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved”

 

Title: Baptism

 

Key Idea: Baptism is where God’s grace meets our faith

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Baptism is where God’s grace meets our faith
  • Conclusion

 

 

Introduction:

This morning Duan is being baptised

  • The word ‘baptise’ means to dip or immerse
  • There is a pool of water here at the front – we call this the ‘baptistery’
  • Duan will go into the water, make a profession of his faith in Jesus, then be immersed under the water before coming out again
  • That is the act of baptism

 

Baptism comes up in the New Testament quite a bit

  • John the Baptist immersed people in the Jordan river to get them ready for the coming Messiah
  • Jesus himself was baptised by John, as a sign that he had come to take away the sins of the world

 

Later Jesus went through another sort of baptism – not in water – but on the cross, when he was immersed in suffering

  • After his resurrection from the dead Jesus commanded his disciples to…

 

Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. [1]

 

Throughout the Book of Acts, the apostles did as Jesus instructed…

  • They preached the gospel and when people believed in Jesus the apostles baptised them

 

Baptism is where God’s grace meets our faith:

We could go on listing other New Testament references to baptism but the key idea I want to communicate this morning is…

 

Baptism is where God’s grace meets our faith

 

Or as Beasley-Murray puts it…

  • “Baptism is… the divinely appointed rendezvous of grace for faith.” [2]

 

In the New Testament the same gifts of grace are associated with faith as with baptism – so grace, faith and baptism go together

  • Baptism is a nexus point for God’s grace & our faith

Just so we are on the same page…

  • By grace we mean a multifaceted gift from God
  • A gift, by definition, is freely given – we don’t pay for it
  • So grace is unearned – it costs God but it doesn’t cost us

 

And faith is believing (or trusting) to the point we are prepared to act on that belief

 

Baptism is where God’s grace meets our faith

 

Let me illustrate by way of analogy

  • Imagine someone tells you that Mexted Motors are giving away cars – brand new cars at no cost
  • All you have to do is turn up at their car yard, collect the key, get in the car and drive away

 

Grace is being given the new car for free

 

And baptism is the rendezvous point for collecting the new car – that is: the yard at Mexted’s

 

Faith is believing that what you have been told is true and then acting on that belief by walking down to Mexted’s, collecting a key, getting in a vehicle and driving away

  • Faith is not saying, ‘I agree that Mexted’s are giving away cars’ and then sitting at home on the couch
  • Faith is acting on your belief – trusting that what you have heard is true

 

Baptism is where God’s grace meets our faith

 

Now, in many ways this is an inadequate analogy for baptism

  • We don’t just turn up to collect the goodies from God and then drive away – see you later. No
  • In baptism we become forever friends with Jesus
  • So when we get in the car (when we are baptised) the Spirit of God is already there waiting for us – ready to show us the way to go through life

Translating the analogy for you…

  • Duan has heard the gospel preached
  • He has heard the good news that God has grace – a wonderful multi-faceted gift to give away
  • And he has come to the waters of baptism in faith to receive God’s grace
  • After receiving the grace God wants to give, Duan will continue his journey through life with God

 

So what is this grace of God?

  • Well, firstly Duan, there’s no free car
  • And that goes for the rest of you as well
  • I don’t want anyone turning up at Mexted’s this afternoon, saying…
  • “I’ve been baptised. Where’s my free car.”

 

Seriously though, Jesus embodies the fullness of God’s grace

  • All the different facets of God’s grace we find in Christ
  • Jesus is God’s gift to the world for the salvation of creation

 

When we are baptised into Christ we receive forgiveness from sin [3]

  • And union with Christ [4]

With forgiveness God wipes our slate clean – He doesn’t hold our wrong doing against us

  • That means our guilt is removed – we’re justified & accepted before God
  • Not only are our sins forgiven – but sin also loses its power over us
  • The power of sin is death – because we are forgiven, death can’t hold us
  • And because we are justified, the accusations of the evil one won’t stick

 

In believers’ baptism we also receive from God union with Christ

  • Baptism is sort of like a wedding ceremony in that it unites us to Christ
  • Just as marriage is for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, so too union with Christ is for better or worse, through thick & thin
  • Baptism doesn’t mean the end of suffering or difficulty in this life
  • But it does mean the end of trying to cope with difficulties on your own

 

It also means a change to our lifestyle

  • I remember when I married Robyn, I had to change my mind set
  • No longer could I think like a single man
  • Now I had to consider Robyn in everything I did
  • I needed to learn to listen to her and tell her what I was thinking & feeling
  • It’s the same with our union to Christ – we have to consider him in all our decisions – how will this affect Jesus?
  • We need to listen to him and be honest with him – we call that prayer

 

Union with Christ is a biggy – it comes with a number of benefits

  • For starters union with Christ gives you the Spirit of Jesus
  • The Holy Spirit is the key to everything really
  • The Spirit precedes baptism in that He leads us to Christ and makes faith & repentance possible
  • Faith is a gift from God
  • The Holy Spirit is also given in baptism [5]
  • One of the Biblical metaphors for the Holy Spirit is water
  • We are baptised in water as a sign that through our union with Christ we are being immersed in God’s Spirit
  • The Holy Spirit then follows baptism – we go on being filled with the Spirit who empowers us to live the Christian life

 

Union with Christ gives you the promise of resurrection

  • In Romans 6 Paul writes: Don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death?
  • …If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. [6]

 

Because Jesus is God’s Son, union with Christ makes us sons & daughters of God

  • As co-heirs with Christ we will inherit God’s kingdom

 

And last but not least, union with Christ means we become members of the church universal

  • Duan’s baptism is not something which is done in isolation
  • It’s not just between him and God
  • Duan’s baptism is between him and God and us
  • Duan is being incorporated into Christ’s body, the church
  • So we who have been baptised are affected by this
  • We are encourageed and strengthened by it

 

There is much more I could say about baptism but that’s enough for today

  • The main point is: Baptism is where God’s grace meets our faith

 

We will now hear a testimony from Duan…

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Mark 16:15-16

[2] G.R. Beasley-Murray, ‘Baptism in the New Testament, page 273.

[3] Acts 2:38

[4] Galatians 3:27

[5] 1 Corinthians 12:13

[6] Romans 6:3 & 5

Tawa Baptist

Strengthening Fellowship

Scripture: Ephesians 4:1-3

 

Title: Strengthening Fellowship

 

Members Pledge 5: To do all I can to strengthen the fellowship of the church by developing the spirit of love in the family of Christ’s people.

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • United by Christ, not by likes
  • Strengthening fellowship (Eph. 4:2)
  • The bond of peace (Eph. 4:3)
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

Over the past couple of months we have been journeying through the 23rd Psalm – making reference as we go to the various ways in which this psalm points us to Jesus

  • During May we take a break from Psalm 23 to focus on other things
  • We have a baptismal service next Sunday
  • And for the following three Sundays after that we will give our attention to the annual Tranzsend Prayer & Self Denial campaign
  • We intend to return to Psalm 23 in June.

 

With Ben & Becca Allen being welcomed into membership our message today focuses on one of the members’ pledges…

 

To do all I can to strengthen the fellowship of the Church by developing the spirit of love in the family of Christ’s people.

 

Sometimes people ask me, ‘why do we have membership?’

  • ‘If I become a member of the church universal when I’m baptised then why do I need to become a member of a local church also?’
  • After all salvation is not by local church membership – it’s by faith in Christ
  • Well, joining yourself in membership to a local church is not something you do primarily for yourself
  • It’s something you do for the well-being of the people in the local church

 

From a legal and financial point of view the church needs to differentiate between members and non-members in order to protect itself

  • In our situation the members are the ones charged with the responsibility for decision making
  • If we didn’t have members with voting rights then, in a worse-case scenario, some other larger group could come along to a church meeting and pass a resolution to take over our buildings & programmes for their own nefarious purposes
  • So the people we allow into membership really need to have the best interests of the local church at heart

 

Therefore, when someone becomes a member of Tawa Baptist they pledge…

  • To do all I can to strengthen the fellowship of the Church by developing the spirit of love in the family of Christ’s people.

 

United by Christ, not by likes:

Membership isn’t just about providing a measure of legal and financial protection for the local church

  • More importantly it’s about taking care of Christ’s reputation as well as our relationships with each other

Strengthening the fellowship of the church and developing the spirit of love, is essentially about the quality of our relationships together, as a community of faith

 

The church is not a building

  • The church is a network of relationships – like a family
  • In a general sense, a family shares the same heritage, the same blood, the same DNA
  • As a church family we share Christ’s heritage, His blood and His Spirit
  • It is Jesus who unites us and so the primary criteria for church membership is our relationship with Christ as formalised in baptism

 

The church is not a club either

  • A club is a group of people who are united by a shared liking for something
  • So for example, people who like collecting stamps might form a stamp collecting club
  • And people who like shooting guns might get together to form a gun club
  • And people who like drinking wine might form a wine tasting club

 

But a church is not a group of people united by a shared liking

  • The church is united by Christ
  • Therefore the church brings people of different likings, different cultures, different socio-economic backgrounds, different ages and different personalities together

 

Think about the implications of that for a moment

  • Being united by Christ means we don’t necessarily like the same things
  • For example, we don’t all like the same kind of songs
  • Some prefer hymns while others prefer Hill Song music – some enjoy all styles of music and still others can’t wait till the singing is over
  • Some people like interactive worship services – where you get up and move around – others like to sit still and listen to sermons
  • And others aren’t as interested in the sermon as they are in catching up with people over a cup of tea afterwards

 

The point is we all like different things and that’s okay – that’s as it should be

  • Because we are not a club – we are not united by our likes
  • We are united by Christ

 

The main metaphor for the church in the New Testament is family

  • You can choose your friends based on common interests or shared likes
  • But you can’t choose your family
  • You don’t get to choose who else comes to church here
  • You may like different things from the person sitting next to you
  • But you are still committed to their well-being

 

If you like Hill Song music then you still sing hymns for the sake of the person in the pew opposite you who is helped by singing hymns (& vice versa)

  • Or if you prefer the more interactive stuff to the sermon then you still listen patiently to the sermon for the sake of the person here who is fed by preaching
  • In these sorts of ways we strengthen the fellowship of the Church by developing the spirit of love in the family of Christ’s people

 

C.S. Lewis wrote a book called The Screwtape Letters

  • It’s an enjoyable and thoughtful piece of fiction
  • Screwtape is the name of a demon who writes letters to his nephew, Wormwood – Wormwood is an apprentice tempter
  • Screwtape’s letters are full of advice on how the young demon, Wormwood, might turn a human being away from the Christian faith

 

In one of his letters Screwtape writes to Wormwood…

  • “Surely you know that if a man can’t be cured of churchgoing, the next best thing is to send him all over the neighbourhood looking for the church that ‘suits’ him until he becomes a taster or connoisseur of churches.” [1]

 

If you ever manage to find a church which caters for all your likes and avoids your dislikes then you probably aren’t in church – you’re in a club or a bar

  • The opposite is also true
  • When you find yourself not liking something in church then you can probably take it as confirmation that you’re in the right place

 

We are united by Christ, not by our likes

  • And Christ’s Spirit (His DNA) is love
  • Love seeks the well-being of others

 

Strengthening fellowship:

What then does the Bible have to say about strengthening the fellowship of the church?

  • Well, one key passage which sums it up well is found at the beginning of Ephesians 4
  • While in prison for preaching the gospel of Christ, the apostle Paul wrote to the first Century church in Ephesus saying…

 

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

 

Paul gives us 4 or 5 qualities which are essential to strengthening the fellowship of the church – this is how Christians are to treat each other…

  • With humility
  • Gentleness
  • Patience
  • Forbearance
  • And love

 

Humility in this context means ‘lowliness of mind’ or thinking low (not being proud or haughty) [2]

  • Being humble is really an attitude
  • It’s about having an accurate awareness of yourself in relation to others – not thinking too much of yourself
  • Being conscious of the fact that without God our life has no meaning and that without Christ we can do nothing
  • Humility is recognising that we need other people and more importantly the wider community of which we are just a small part needs other people
  • We are not the centre – it’s not all about us

 

A humble person does not think, ‘My team needs me to a score try’

  • A truly humble person thinks, ‘How can I best support my team mates to score tries?’

 

The church at Ephesus was a mix of different cultures – some Gentile, some Jewish

  • While humility was a virtue in Jewish culture, it was not valued in Gentile culture at that time

 

But valued or not, humility is primary to strengthening any fellowship or community

  • Humility keeps our ego in check and prevents us from worshipping ourselves
  • Humility also makes gentleness possible

 

If humility was despised in the ancient gentile world then gentleness is surely despised in our contemporary culture

  • Violence, brute force, power – these are the things which are glorified in our day and age
  • Gentleness is misunderstood as weakness when the truth is: gentleness requires a greater strength than brute force or violence
  • Gentleness requires self-control and skill

 

If violence is the hammer, then gentleness is the screw driver

  • If force is the butcher’s cleaver, then gentleness is the surgeon’s scalpel
  • If power is a drone strike, then gentleness is the kind word which turns away wrath
  • You might be tempted to smack your children into submission but you are more likely to take a gentle approach – to remain calm, wait for the tantrum to pass and lead them to better choices
  • You can coerce a person into grudging obedience to God by threatening them with the fires of hell,
  • Or you can gently remind them of God’s goodness and grace so they want to do His will

 

Humility and gentleness – these are two qualities that Jesus embodies in himself

  • In Matthew 11, verse 29, Jesus says…
  • Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

 

Patience is also needed for strengthening the fellowship of the church

  • An ancient Christian preacher by the name of John Chrysostom said,
  • To have patience is to have “…a wide or big soul” [3]

 

Having a ‘wide or big soul’ means having room for other people in our lives

  • Not being so fixated on our own agenda that we don’t have room for interruptions
  • Now it is not appropriate for us to accommodate every interruption
  • It is important to maintain some healthy boundaries
  • But we don’t want to be so tightly scheduled, so tightly managed and focused that we can’t attend to what’s important

 

The parable of the Good Samaritan illustrates largeness (and smallness) of soul

  • The priest and the Levite were so fixed on their own little agenda
  • (Must get to church on time – must be seen to do the right thing)
  • That they didn’t have room to care for the wounded stranger on the side of the road
  • By contrast the despised Samaritan had a largeness of soul which made it possible for him to put aside what he had planned to achieve that day, dress the stranger’s wounds and carry him to safety

 

Patience is making room for other people when it matters

 

Strengthening the fellowship of the church requires the patience (or the largeness of soul) to make room for each other

  • To sing each other’s songs,
  • To prefer each other’s needs,
  • To listen to each other’s concerns,
  • To help in practical ways where we can
  • Or perhaps simply to be together without any agenda

 

So then, the fellowship of the church (our relationships together) are strengthened by humility, by gentleness, by patience and by bearing with

one another in love  

 

Bearing with one another means putting up with people

  • And love, in this context, means seeking the other person’s well-being

The reality is that other people can be annoying sometimes – they can get on your wick (often it’s the little things)

  • It’s not that they mean to aggravate you – they are just being themselves and it gets under your skin

 

Paul is saying, don’t sweat the small stuff

  • Don’t walk away from the church over some trifle
  • Put up with the little things for the sake of love – that is for the well-being of the whole community

 

I remember the pastor who married us said, “Don’t worry about a bit of poop in the stable – poop is a sign of life”

 

Yea – people will annoy you sometimes but don’t lose sight of the fact they also have qualities which are good and which the rest of the church needs

  • Besides, we all have things about us which annoy others
  • You might think you are being very gracious in putting up with someone
  • But they probably think the same thing about you
  • What we realise as we get older is that we are all difficult in our own way
  • So we all need to show each other grace
  • And we need to learn to laugh at ourselves too

Now this exhortation to ‘bear with one another in love’ needs to be held in balance with verse 15 of Ephesians 4, where Paul talks about…

  • Speaking the truth in love so that we will grow up into Christ

 

There is a time to bear with difficult behaviour and a time to speak the truth

  • If we always graciously tolerate things we don’t like then the other person never really learns or improves and resentment grows
  • The trick is speaking the truth with humility and gentleness
  • Not being too quick in speaking the truth – but checking ourselves first to make sure we have removed the plank from our own eye before pointing out the speck in theirs
  • Making sure that we are motivated by what’s best for others and not just our own comfort or convenience

 

The bond of peace:

It’s been a dry summer and autumn here in Wellington – the weather’s been lovely

  • We’ve had to water our gardens more than we’re used to lately
  • Sometimes when you water the garden you get a kink in the hose and the water flow slows down to a trickle
  • If that happens, what do you do?
  • Do you throw the hose away or do you fix the problem by taking the kink out of the hose?     [Wait for response]
  • Yes, that’s right you straighten the hose to take the kink out – then the water flows properly again

 

 

Paul continues his exhortation to the Ephesians in verse 3 saying…

 

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

 

I’m not sure I fully understand this verse but I’ll share with you what I know

 

Firstly, the Spirit of Christ creates unity in the church

  • We don’t create unity, the Holy Spirit does
  • However, we are responsible for maintaining the unity
  • And we maintain unity through the bond of peace

 

Peace (in the Bible) isn’t just the absence of conflict

  • It’s shalom, it’s abundant life, joy and right relationship in community with others

 

The bond of peace, therefore, is not a bond which stops us from doing things

  • It’s not like hand cuffs or shackles or a leash or a tie
  • The bond of peace is something which connects us to each other in positive ways
  • It is like a hose with water flowing through it – it is life-giving

 

Sometimes the bond of peace gets a kink in it

  • Sometimes our relationships get a bit twisted
  • People misunderstand each other or have expectations which are disappointed, then one thing leads to another and before you know it they’re not talking – the life-giving flow of water slows to a dribble
  • When our relationships get a kink in them we don’t throw the relationship out – we don’t say, ‘Well stuff you – I’m out of here’
  • No – we find a suitable time when we are calm and unhurried to talk it through – we straighten the kink out – we forgive each other

 

We don’t create the unity but we do need to maintain it by taking care of our relationships, by taking the kink out of the hose

 

Jesus encouraged his disciples to maintain the bond of peace with each other by teaching them to pray…

  • “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”

 

You see Jesus establishes a bond of peace between us and God

  • He gives us a brand new hose with water running through it
  • Because of Jesus, God forgives us up front and in advance
  • We get given that forgiveness, that bond of peace, for free
  • But we still have to maintain it
  • And we maintain the bond of peace by paying it forward – by forgiving others, just as God forgave us in Christ

 

Conclusion:

This morning we have explored what it means to strengthen the fellowship of the Church by developing the spirit of love in the family of Christ’s people

 

In short we are to relate with one another in an attitude of humility,

  • With gentleness and with patience (or largeness of soul)
  • We are to bear with one another in love – not sweating the small stuff but at the same time not ignoring those things that need to be addressed

 

In a few minutes we will share communion together

  • Communion is a time when we remember (and celebrate) the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace established by Jesus

 

Now though let’s stand and sing…

 

♫       Brother, Sister, let me serve you…

[1] C.S. Lewis, ‘The Screwtape Letters’, page 81

[2] Klyne Snodgrass, The NIVAC on Ephesians, page 196.

[3] From Chrysostom’s homily on 1 Corinthians 13:4 – referenced in Klyne Snodgrass, The NIVAC on Ephesians, page 197.

Tawa Baptist

He Guides Me

Scripture: Psalm 23:3b – with reference to Matthew 15:1-20

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake

 

Title: He Guides Me

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Psalm 23:3b
    • The Lord guides me
    • Righteousness is a path
    • For his name’s sake
  • Matthew 15:1-20 – Jesus guides the people
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

Over the past couple of months we have been journeying through the 23rd Psalm making reference, as we go, to the various ways in which this psalm points to Jesus, the good shepherd.

 

The message of Psalm 23 as a whole is: the Lord is my security.

  • God looks after me (personally) like a shepherd looks after a sheep.

 

So far we have covered the first two and half verses…

 

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

He leads me beside still waters

He restores my soul…

 

‘Lying down’ is about God providing rest

  • ‘Green pastures’ is about nourishment
  • ‘Still waters’ is the peace God gives
  • And ‘he restores my soul’ has to do with rescue

 

  • When I am lost the Lord brings me back or rescues me
  • Rest, nourishment, peace and rescue – these are the ways in which God takes care of his people

 

Today we complete verse 3…

 

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake

 

This is primarily about the guidance or wisdom that the Lord offers

  • After bringing me back (or rescuing me) when I’m lost, the Lord then sets me on the right path, so I can carry on to find more green pastures

 

Psalm 23:3b

When we were young we used to play a game called Snakes & Ladders

  • With Snakes & Ladders you roll the dice and move your counter the number indicated on the dice
  • If you land at the foot of a ladder then you move up the ladder
  • But if you land on the head of a snake then you slide all the way down the snake and have to make your way back up the board again
  • Whoever gets to the end first, wins

 

Snakes & Ladders is entirely a game of chance – there is no skill involved and no choice – the dice determines your fate

 

Life is not exactly like Snakes & Ladders though

  • In life we can (to some extent) choose the path we will take
  • However we don’t always know where that path will lead us (at least not at first)
  • Sometimes what we think is a ladder turns out to be a snake & vice versa

 

 

The journey through life is more like travelling in a foreign country where you don’t know the language or the customs

  • You can try to do it on your own but that can be a bit hit & miss – you never really know if you’re landing on a snake or a ladder
  • If you’re smart you will find someone with local knowledge to guide you
  • With a trustworthy guide you can avoid the snakes and find the ladders

 

Returning to our key verse for this morning’s message – there are three main points to note in this phrase…

 

The Lord guides me:

Firstly, the Lord ‘guides’ me.

  • We are not guided by fate or the throw of the dice
  • We are guided by the Lord
  • The Lord is like the person with the local knowledge who shows us the way by walking with us through life

The Lord doesn’t force us or manipulate us or drive us – he guides us.

  • Guidance indicates a relationship of listening and trust
  • A relationship of freedom and respect

 

So we are not following a set of rigid instructions or a list of rules

  • We are following a person
  • The shepherd doesn’t give the sheep a map and a compass and then leave them to it – saying, “you’re on your own now mate”
  • The shepherd remains present with the sheep
  • He walks ahead of the sheep and the sheep follow the shepherd’s lead – his example

 

Righteousness is a path:

There is a new concrete pathway between Tawa and Porirua – running parallel to Kenepuru Drive

  • If you are starting from the Porirua end, heading south, then you come out at Findlay Street – by the Cricket Club
  • It is lovely to walk on and you have no doubt about where the path is
  • The way ahead is very clear

 

In the wild Middle East pathways are not so clear

  • There may be a number of faint trails in the wilderness but not all of them lead to a good destination
  • The shepherd knows which is the right path and consequently which other paths to avoid

 

I remember when I was 18, at the end of the 7th Form (Year 13), I wasn’t sure what to do next

  • In the end I decided to study business management at Waikato University
  • Most people in my family had a business background and so I followed the tradition of my ancestors
  • Unfortunately, at 18, I didn’t know myself very well
  • Truth be told I wasn’t really like anyone else in my family
  • I would have been better studying something like philosophy or sociology or something else in the field of humanities
  • The problem with those sorts of subjects is that they don’t have a clear career path – what would I do for a job at the end of the degree?

 

I thought that by doing business management I was landing on a ladder

  • Little did I realise that for me business management was a snake
  • Ironically the right path seemed wrong and the wrong path seemed right

 

Now I’m not saying that business management studies is bad – for some people it is the right path, it just wasn’t right for me

  • One man’s ladder is another man’s snake I suppose

 

In hindsight I didn’t really listen to God

  • In fact I don’t remember even asking for his guidance
  • For some reason I compartmentalised the different parts of my life
  • It didn’t occur to me as a young man and a new-ish Christian that I could ask God about career options
  • But even if I had asked for God’s input and he had answered, I’m not sure I would have had the faith at that age to step into a path which no one in my family had ever walked before

I battled my way through the degree with a B average but my heart wasn’t in it

  • Despite being on the wrong path God eventually brought me onto the right path
  • When I returned to Varsity some years later to study the Bible and theology I found my fit

 

Not that the business management stuff was wasted

  • As it turns out pastors these days spend a lot of time doing management type tasks
  • Perhaps there was some method in God letting me wander off on the wrong track

 

The second thing we note about our key phrase today is that David describes righteousness as a ‘path’

  • Think about that for a moment – righteousness is a pathway
  • For many of us righteousness is a destination – it equates to achieving some kind of moral or ethical standard
  • But in the Bible the destination is abundant life and righteousness is the path which leads to life
  • Furthermore the Bible teaches us that righteousness is by faith
  • So we walk the path of righteousness by faith – by trusting God

 

The right path is not always clear to us, is it

  • (Not like the pathway between Porirua and Tawa)
  • And so, because the right path is not always clear, it takes a certain degree of faith to walk in it

 

A path indicates movement, process, change and journey

  • The Lord’s guidance is not rigid or static – it is flexible and dynamic, appropriate to the terrain.
  • We don’t always know what’s around the corner and we may sometimes stumble or grow weary as we walk along the path
  • But we don’t trust in our own skill or strength – we trust the good shepherd who guides us

 

God is particularly interested in the inner pathways of our heart & mind

  • Where are our desires, our thinking and our feeling taking us

 

For his name’s sake:

The third point to note in this verse is that the Lord rescues us and guides us for his name’s sake

  • On a fairly superficial level “for his name’s sake” means for the sake of his reputation
  • But at a deeper level “for his name’s sake” means for the sake of his integrity

 

In other words, the Lord isn’t worried about what other people might think of him

  • The Lord rescues the lost and guides his sheep in the right path because he is a good shepherd and that is what a good shepherd does
  • The Lord could not live with himself if he did not take proper care of his sheep
  • By keeping his sheep safe & sound the Lord is being true to himself

 

For his name’s sake takes a lot of pressure off us

  • It means that God’s care of us does not depend on whether or not we are good enough
  • God’s care depends on his own integrity which is without question

 

Okay then – that’s the three main things David is saying in this phrase

  • The Lord guides me by his example
  • Righteousness is a path, and
  • God’s motivation for all of this is his own character – his own integrity

 

Matthew 15:1-20 – Jesus guides the people:

How then does this point to Jesus, the good shepherd?

  • Please turn with me to Matthew chapter 15 – page 22 near the back of your pew Bibles
  • There are many examples of Jesus guiding the people in the right path
  • I’ve chosen this one largely because it draws attention to the fact that the path of righteousness is not always as it appears to be
  • From Matthew 15, verse 1, we read…

 

Then some Pharisees and teachers of the Law came from Jerusalem to Jesus and asked him, 2 “Why is it that your disciples disobey the teaching handed down by our ancestors? They don’t wash their hands in the proper way before they eat!”

 

3 Jesus answered, “And why do you disobey God’s command and follow your own teaching? 4 For God said, ‘Respect your father and your mother,’ and ‘If you curse your father or your mother, you are to be put to death.’ 5 But you teach that if people have something they could use to help their father or mother, but say, ‘This belongs to God,’ 6 they do not need to honour their father. In this way you disregard God’s command, in order to follow your own teaching.

 

We are going to pause there – so don’t close your Bibles, leave them open, we will return to this reading shortly

 

Here we have two pathways

  • The path of righteousness according to human tradition, and
  • The path of righteousness according to the Lord

 

According to the Jewish tradition of that time righteousness was maintained by washing your hands frequently in a prescribed way

  • The thinking was that the world out there is contaminated
  • There are certain foods you can’t eat and certain people you can’t associate with and certain things you can’t touch
  • Because if you do you will become unclean and then God won’t accept your worship

 

To avoid the risk of contamination one must wash their hands in a particular way before eating – that was the tradition passed down by the ancestors

  • God did not require that – but tradition did

 

The original intention may have been good but over time what resulted was a very superficial form of righteousness

  • This pathway of righteousness, according to human tradition, didn’t lead to abundant life – it led in ever decreasing circles to a dead end

 

When the Pharisees (the guardians of human tradition) notice that Jesus’ disciples don’t wash their hands in the prescribed way they ask Jesus, why?

  • Presumably the disciples are following Jesus’ example
  • And Jesus doesn’t follow the path of human tradition

 

The Pharisees are on the wrong path and because Jesus is a good shepherd he wants to guide them onto the right path

  • But before he can do that Jesus has to show the Pharisees they are on the wrong track – so he asks them a question…
  • And why do you disobey God’s command and follow your own teaching?
  • Then Jesus gives the example of how the Pharisees say it’s okay not to provide for your elderly parents if you give the money to God

 

In those days there was no fortnightly superannuation payment from the government for those over 65

  • Your children were your superannuation scheme in the sense that you hoped your adult children would take care of you in your old age

 

The Pharisees were basically saying, give your money to God (or to the temple treasury, which we control) and you don’t have to take care of your parents

  • In order to make themselves rich the Pharisees made up a rule which effectively undermined God’s command to honour your father & mother
  • That was not the right path – that was not cool – and Jesus told them so

 

From verse 10 of Matthew 15 we continue…

 

10 Then Jesus called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand! 11 It is not what goes into a person’s mouth that makes him ritually unclean; rather, what comes out of it makes him unclean.”

 

12 Then the disciples came to him and said, “Do you know that the Pharisees had their feelings hurt by what you said?”

 

13 “Every plant which my Father in heaven did not plant will be pulled up,” answered Jesus. 14 “Don’t worry about them! They are blind leaders of the blind; and when one blind man leads another, both fall into a ditch.”

 

15 Peter spoke up, “Explain this saying to us.”

 

16 Jesus said to them, “You are still no more intelligent than the others. 17 Don’t you understand? Anything that goes into a person’s mouth goes into his stomach and then on out of his body. 18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these are the things that make a person ritually unclean. 19 For from his heart come the evil ideas which lead him to kill, commit adultery, and do other immoral things; to rob, lie, and slander others. 20 These are the things that make a person unclean. But to eat without washing your hands as they say you should—this doesn’t make a person unclean.”

 

May the Spirit of God illuminate this reading for us

 

There is a lot emphasis these days on keeping the environment clean

  • Now tell me, when it comes to a motor car – which is better for the environment?
  • Washing your car, so it’s nice and clean and sparkly on the outside
  • Or taking measures to improve the fuel efficiency – maybe getting a hybrid vehicle or an electric engine [Wait]
  • That’s right – taking measures to improve the fuel efficiency
  • Washing your car does nothing to help the environment – in fact the waste water may be bad for the environment
  • It’s what comes out of the car that really matters
  • It’s the engine (the inner workings) that is important

 

Returning to Matthew 15, Jesus could have dropped the subject after responding to the Pharisees, but he doesn’t

  • Jesus’ integrity won’t allow him to abandon the crowd to following the path of human tradition where that tradition is wrong
  • Jesus is the good shepherd so he gently (but clearly) guides the people in the right path saying…
  • “It is not what goes into your mouth that makes you ritually unclean; rather, what comes out of it makes you unclean.”

 

The disciples still don’t understand what Jesus means so he explains further…

 

“…from the heart come the evil ideas which lead you to kill, commit adultery, and do other immoral things… 20  These are the things that make a person unclean.” But to eat without washing your hands… this doesn’t make a person unclean.

 

To Jesus’ original audience this was a revolutionary idea

  • It was a radical reversal of what they had been led to believe was true

 

Jesus was effectively saying – the world out there is not bad, it is not contaminated

  • God’s creation is good – you can eat whatever you want

 

The problem isn’t out there with those who are different from you

  • The problem is in here – in the human heart – because that’s where evil comes from
  • You can wash your hands as much as you like but it’s not going to change what you think inside
  • You can polish your car till you can see your own reflection in it but that won’t change what comes out of the exhaust

 

Jesus is talking about inner pathways here

  • Where are your thoughts, feelings and desires leading you

 

Remember righteousness is a pathway – not a destination

  • When we look at the 10 commandments what we find is that they are talking about avoiding certain destinations
  • Do not steal, do not commit adultery, do not bear false witness, do not murder and so on
  • These are all destinations we should avoid
  • And the way to avoid those destinations is not to start on the path which leads to them

 

In Matthew 5, during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talks about paths of righteousness and paths of destruction

  • For example, he says (and I paraphrase a bit here) – don’t look at a woman lustfully, because that will put you on a path to adultery
  • And don’t stay angry with your brother and don’t call your sister insulting names, because that will put you on a path to committing murder
  • And don’t make an oath (don’t swear by heaven or earth), because that puts you on a path to bearing false witness
  • And don’t worry about money or food or clothes, because that puts you on a path to stealing

 

Instead you should love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you because that puts you on a path to God and to life

 

The problem isn’t out there – the problem is in here

  • It’s not what we eat that makes us unclean – it’s what we say and do that makes us unclean
  • And because what we say & do comes from inside us we need to take care with our inner pathways – our neural pathways
  • We need to make sure we are on the right track with our thinking
  • We need to be careful not to allow the desires of our heart to lead us in the wrong direction
  • We need to acknowledge what we feel without being led by what we feel
  • We need to let Jesus, the good shepherd, guide us from the inside out

 

Conclusion:

Many people these days think that it doesn’t matter too much which path you take in life – because all paths eventually lead to God anyway

  • I don’t believe that
  • That is not how life works in my experience
  • Some pathways lead to joy and peace
  • While other pathways lead to frustration and regret
  • They don’t all lead to God
  • But the good news is: God has sent his Holy Spirit (the Spirit of Christ) to show us when we are on the wrong path and guide us into the right path
  • What’s more God has a canny way of redeeming the time we spend on the wrong path

 

Let us pray…

 

Tawa Baptist

Green Pastures

Scripture: Psalm 23:2a (in green pastures) – with reference to Mark 6:30-44

 

Key Idea: Jesus nourishes the whole person – body & spirit

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • In green pastures
  • Jesus is the good shepherd who feeds us
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

This morning we continue our series on Psalm 23

  • The key message of Psalm 23 (as a whole) is, the Lord is my security
  • God looks after me like a shepherd looks after his sheep
  • A couple of weeks ago we considered how the Lord makes me lie down
  • In other words He makes it possible for me to rest
  • Rest is the very first need the Lord takes care of for us
  • We work best from a foundation of rest

 

Today we unpack the green pastures of verse 2…

  • ‘Green pastures’ speaks of feeding and nourishment
  • Before we explore this metaphor of ‘green pastures’ though let’s stand and sing the whole psalm together now…

 

♫       The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want (Crimond)

 

May the Lord illuminate His word for us

  • Please be seated

 

 

Green Pastures:

Food is essential to life

  • We need to eat in order to gain energy to move, repair & grow our bodies
  • In our society there is quite a bit of emphasis placed on nutrition and the quality of the food we eat
  • We are encouraged to have 5 plus (fruit & vege) a day and to buy food with the Heart foundation tick or with 3 or more health stars
  • Some fats are good for you and some are bad
  • What’s more we are warned against too much salt and too much sugar

 

With this in mind I thought we might have a wee food & nutrition quiz – here’s our first question…

 

Which is better for you?

  • A cup of rice
  • A cup of pasta
  • About the same

 

The answer is: about the same – okay next question

 

Which has fewer calories?

  • Baked potato
  • Brown rice
  • About the same

 

The answer is: baked potato – one potato has about half the calories of a serving of brown rice. A potato (with the skin on) also has more vitamin C than rice

 

Which has less sugar?

  • Apple juice
  • Orange juice
  • About the same

 

The answer is: orange juice. In fact apple juice has about the same amount of sugar as coke and there’s over 9 teaspoons of sugar in a can of coke [1]

 

Okay – one more

  • How long would you need to walk to burn off the calories in a Big Mac? [2]
  • 20 minutes
  • One hour and 20 minutes, or
  • Two hours and 20 minutes

 

The answer: about two hours and 20 minutes – slightly more in fact

 

As I said before our focus today is the green pastures of verse 2

  • Sheep eat grass and so the green pastures of Psalm 23 is a metaphor for food & nutrition – both physical sustenance and spiritual sustenance
  • As Jesus said, ‘Human beings cannot live by bread alone – but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God’ [3]
  • So ‘green pastures’ refers both to the food we eat with our mouths and the Word of God which sustains the human soul and spirit

 

Most farms in NZ have green grass almost all year around, except perhaps some of the large sheep stations in the South Island

  • But in the Middle East (where David, the author of this psalm, comes from) green pastures are only plentiful for about 2-3 months of the year
  • Most of the time green pastures are a delicacy and a delight

A skilled shepherd will know exactly where to lead his or her flock to find the best pasture, even during the dry season

  • So when David says, the Lord makes me lie down in green pastures, he is implying that God is an expert shepherd
  • The Lord knows exactly where to take his sheep for the best quality nourishment – the food God provides has a 5 health star rating

 

In our modern culture we have a saying…

  • ‘The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence’
  • Which refers to the way we tend to look at other people’s lives through rose tinted glasses
  • We imagine our neighbour has it better than us, when in fact s/he doesn’t
  • Bob Dylan captured this thought in the song lyric, ‘What looks large from a distance up close ain’t never that big’

 

I think we all have those ‘grass is greener’ moments don’t we

  • Times when we’ve had a few hard weeks (or months) and start to think,
  • ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we lived somewhere else or we had a different job’, or whatever it is we imagine the problem to be
  • The Big Mac over the fence looks more appealing than the rice salad right in front of us

 

Sometimes the grass might be greener and we can improve our lot by making a change – but in reality most of the time it isn’t

  • Generally speaking, ‘the grass is greener’ is a warning against thinking we’re hard done by

By saying the Lord makes it possible for me to lie down in green pastures David is implying: with the Lord the grass is not greener on the other side of the fence

  • God doesn’t provide second rate nourishment
  • The Lord knows where the best pasture is and how to lead us there
  • This speaks to His wisdom and skill as our shepherd

 

Of course, sheep in a Middle Eastern context don’t usually wake up to find themselves in green pastures

  • The sheep must often travel through relatively barren wilderness before arriving in green pastures
  • So we can’t expect green pastures every moment of every day
  • But we can expect them often enough to sustain us

 

The other thing to point out is that while the Lord provides the green pastures we still need to eat for the nourishment to have any effect

 

Let me demonstrate what I mean…

  • On the wall here is a delicious selection of food
  • Hmmm – look at that pork-chop and salad – yum
  • Or maybe you prefer the healthy burger
  • Imagine finishing with the freshness of that fruit salad
  • Or perhaps the smoothness of the marbled chocolate cheesecake

 

Are you feeling full looking at those images?

  • No – why not?
  • Because just looking at the food, just smelling it and being near it doesn’t nourish you
  • For the food to do any good you have to eat it – you have to actually take it in to yourself – right?

 

God will bring us to green pastures but we still have to feed ourselves

  • The Lord has provided His word for us but unless we take it to heart it won’t do any good

 

God’s word is available to us in a whole variety of ways

  • Sometimes God’s word comes to us in conversation with others or by listening to a sermon or through a sequence of events
  • One of the main ways we feed on God’s word is by reading the Bible
  • Not just reading it once over lightly but taking time to allow the message to sink in – meditating on it, digesting it

 

Sometimes reading the Bible can become just another chore that we tick off our list, like brushing our teeth or washing the dishes

  • We do it without thinking and are pleased when it’s over because then we can get back to what we really want to do
  • I don’t think that’s what God intends for His word
  • Reading the Bible in that way won’t nourish you much

 

When you read the Scriptures – read slowly – chew on the words

  • And when you come to a verse which resonates with your spirit – pause and linger over that verse – read it and re-read it
  • Savour it like a piece of chocolate melting in your mouth
  • Or crunch the words like an apple – enjoy the taste

 

The experience of reading the Bible and coming across a gem of a verse that just speaks to your heart can happen in the most unexpected of passages

  • Psalm 94 is a bit like that
  • It starts off, ‘O Lord, God of vengeance shine forth… give to the proud what they deserve…’
  • Then it carries on with the psalmist spitting tacks over evil doers
  • Not very uplifting or positive stuff
  • Just as you’ve had enough and are about to put it down you come to verse 19 – a ray of light…

 

“When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul”

 

I love that – it speaks to my experience and nourishes my soul

  • After walking through a wilderness of spleen venting we break out into a vista of green pastures
  • Not that all that talk of vengeance doesn’t have its place
  • If you’ve been badly treated or oppressed with injustice, like the psalmist, then ranting against evil doers might be exactly what you need to hear
  • It may be food for your soul to know you are not alone in your grievances

 

The point is, God knows what we need to sustain us and He is faithful in providing what we need

  • But we need to do our part too and take in what He is saying to us
  • Allow God’s word to register in your inner being & strengthen your hope

 

Jesus is the good shepherd who feeds us:

Please turn with me to Mark chapter 6 – page 53 in your pew Bibles

  • Jesus is our shepherd – he knows what sustains us and is an expert at providing it
  • On many occasions Jesus demonstrated his shepherding skills in his care of the disciples and the crowds that followed him
  • Mark 6, verses 30-44 describes one such occasion
  • As we read these verses I want you to listen for echoes of the 23rd Psalm
  • From Mark chapter 6, verse 30 we read…

 

30 The apostles returned and met with Jesus, and told him all they had done and taught. 31 There were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his disciples didn’t even have time to eat. So he said to them, “Let us go off by ourselves to some place where we will be alone and you can rest a while.” 32 So they started out in a boat by themselves to a lonely place.

33 Many people, however, saw them leave and knew at once who they were; so they went from all the towns and ran ahead by land and arrived at the place ahead of Jesus and his disciples. 34 When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw this large crowd, and his heart was filled with pity for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began to teach them many things. 35 When it was getting late, his disciples came to him and said, “It is already very late, and this is a lonely place. 36 Send the people away, and let them go to the nearby farms and villages in order to buy themselves something to eat.”

37 “You yourselves give them something to eat,” Jesus answered.

They asked, “Do you want us to go and spend two hundred silver coins[a] on bread in order to feed them?”

38 So Jesus asked them, “How much bread do you have? Go and see.”

When they found out, they told him, “Five loaves and also two fish.”

39 Jesus then told his disciples to make all the people divide into groups and sit down on the green grass. 40 So the people sat down in rows, in groups of a hundred and groups of fifty. 41 Then Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, and gave thanks to God. He broke the loaves and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 Everyone ate and had enough. 43 Then the disciples took up twelve baskets full of what was left of the bread and the fish. 44 The number of men who were fed was five thousand.

 

May the Lord feed us with His word

 

Before you can swallow your food you have to chew it

  • Before you can ingest a passage of Scripture you have to understand the context

 

Previously Jesus had sent the 12 apostles out in pairs to preach to the people, drive out demons and heal the sick

  • The apostles had now returned to Jesus having experienced some success in their work
  • But while they were gone King Herod had killed John the Baptist – cutting his head off [4]

 

John the Baptist was regarded as a prophet by the people – the first prophet Israel had heard in about 400 years

  • So the common people were upset, confused and angry at what Herod had done
  • The atmosphere was tense – a powder keg ready to blow at any moment

 

John was also a blood relative of Jesus – so with John’s death Jesus lost a family member and a friend

  • Not only did Jesus have his own personal grief to deal with he also had to cope with the cultural & political pressure to avenge John’s murder

 

Verse 31 of Mark 6 says…

  • There were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his disciples didn’t even have time to eat

 

Kenneth Bailey observes that this is the only instance in the Gospels that speaks of people both ‘coming and going’

  • Why this sudden back-and-forth flow of people?
  • Because all across Galilee people wanted to know how Jesus planned to respond to this horrifying murder of John, his relative
  • They came to hear what Jesus intended to do and then went back to report his initial response [5]

To avoid the constant flow of interruptions, Jesus the good shepherd says to his disciples…

  • “Let us go off by ourselves to some place where we will be alone and you can rest for a while.”
  • There we have an echo of Psalm 23 – He makes me lie down
  • Jesus makes it possible for me to rest, in other words

 

They get into a boat and cross the lake for a lonely place where they won’t be disturbed

  • But the people saw them and followed around the lake on land
  • When Jesus got out of the boat he saw this large crowd and his heart was filled with compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd
  • Sheep and shepherd – another echo of Psalm 23

 

The people followed Jesus because they were hungry

 

I imagine many were hungry for justice or revenge – ‘O Lord, God of vengeance shine forth… give to the proud what they deserve…’

  • Herod was supposed to be the shepherd of the Jewish people – at least in his province – but he was a bad shepherd
  • He abused & scattered the sheep
  • Herod shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this

 

I imagine also in the crowd those gentler souls who were too broken in spirit to pursue revenge – those hungry for joy – those craving some lightness and relief from the daily grind of poverty

 

So Jesus himself shepherded the people in their time of need and hunger

  • Verse 34 says that Jesus taught the people many things
  • In other words, he fed them with calm words of wisdom fitting for the situation they found themselves in

 

We don’t know exactly what Christ told the crowds but I expect he satisfied their hunger for justice by talking about God’s judgment

  • The measure you use for others is the measure God will use for you
  • So love your enemies, turn the other cheek, repay evil with good
  • Treat others the way you want to be treated
  • Don’t take matters into your own hands – vengeance belongs to God
  • Remember this world is not all there is – God will make all things right

 

Jesus’ integrity is impeccable

  • Jesus practiced what he preached
  • Naturally there was a huge wave of sympathy for Jesus
  • He could have easily raised an army of willing soldiers to march against Herod – but he doesn’t
  • Jesus himself turns the other cheek despite being under immense pressure to avenge John’s murder

 

For those who were hungry for some comfort and joy I expect Jesus had words of understanding and grace

  • ‘Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light [6]
  • Or perhaps, ‘A bruised reed he will not break and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory’ [7]
  • Or maybe, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ [8]
  • “When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul”

 

Jesus cares about the whole person – both the spiritual and the physical

  • In fact he doesn’t separate the two – he holds the physical & spiritual together
  • After nourishing hearts, minds & spirits with the word of God, Jesus then nourished people’s bodies with food, by multiplying the loaves & fishes

 

In verse 39 we read how Jesus told his disciples to make the people sit down on the green grass…

  • The echo from Psalm 23 could not be clearer
  • Jesus is the good shepherd who …makes me lie down in green pastures
  • Jesus is the one who feeds me both with God’s word and with food

 

There are many other things we could say about this passage but that’s enough to digest for one day

 

Conclusion:

Jesus is the good shepherd who knows where to find the best pasture for his sheep

  • Jesus is not interested in leading a bloody crusade
  • He has compassion on people and feeds them with the wisdom which leads to peace
  • When we are hungry for vengeance Jesus satisfies our anger with a vision of God’s justice
  • And when we are hungry for joy, because the cares of our heart are many, the consolations of Jesus’ grace cheer our soul

 

Jesus nourishes the whole person – body & spirit

 

What is it you hunger for?

 

 

 

 

[1][1] http://www.livestrong.com/article/283136-how-many-teaspoons-of-sugar-are-there-in-a-can-of-coke/

[2] http://www.calorieking.com/foods/    (a Big Mac has 549 calories)

[3] Matthew 4:4

[4] I imagine that, on the one hand, the apostles were pumped (or excited) at all they had done. But on the other hand they were unsure if it was appropriate to express their excitement given that John had just been killed. It’s kind of like having a baby but not feeling like you can celebrate too much because someone else has recently died.

 

[5] Kenneth Bailey, ‘The Good Shepherd’, page 163.

[6] Matthew 11:28-30

[7] Matthew 12:20

[8] Matthew 5:3

Tawa Baptist

Rest

Scripture: Psalm 23:2a – He makes me lie down (also: Luke 13:10-17)

Key Idea: The Lord makes it possible for me to rest

Structure:
• Introduction
• The Lord (Jesus) makes it possible for me to rest
• Conclusion

Introduction:
This morning we continue our series on Psalm 23
– The plan is to look at one aspect of the psalm each week
– So far we have covered the first verse…
– The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want
– Today we unpack the first part of verse 2…
– He makes me lie down
– To give us some context though let’s read the whole Psalm together now

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside still waters, He restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

May the Lord illuminate His word for us

The key message of Psalm 23 (as a whole) is, the Lord is my security
– God looks after me like a shepherd looks after his sheep
– A couple of weeks ago we considered how the Lord knows our needs and provides for them – therefore I shall not want
– Today’s focus is: He makes me lie down…
– Lying down in green pastures is the picture of rest
– So the very first need the Lord takes care of for David (and for us) is rest

He makes it possible for me to rest:
On the wall here are pictures of four creatures…
– A dog, a tiger, an elephant and a dolphin
– Who can tell me what these four animals have in common?
– [Wait]
– Yes, that’s right – they can all be trained to do things, like sitting, rolling over, fetching stuff and so on

Okay, what about these two animals – what do they have in common?
– A cat and a sheep
– [Wait]
– Yes, that’s right – they can’t be trained
– A cat and a sheep might follow you but if you ask a cat to sit they will probably walk off in the other direction
– Likewise there is no telling a sheep to lie down

Aesop was an ancient Greek story teller credited with a number of fables
– One of my favourites is the fable of the wind and the sun

The Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger when they saw a man coming down the road
– The Sun said, “I see a way to decide our dispute. Whichever of us can cause that traveller to take off his cloak shall be regarded as the stronger. You begin.”
– So the Sun retired behind a cloud, and the Wind began to blow as hard as it could upon the traveller.
– But the harder he blew the more closely the man wrapped his cloak around himself, till at last the Wind had to give up in despair.
– Then the Sun came out and shone in all its glory upon the traveller
– Soon the man found it too hot to walk and of his own volition freely peeled off his cloak

Verse 2 (of Psalm 23) begins with the words, ‘He makes me lie down…’
– The phrasing here, ‘He makes me…’, can give the impression that some kind of force or coercion is involved, as if God were making David do something against his will, like the wind in Aesop’s fable
– But there is no force involved here – God is more like the sun, creating an environment in which David can relax

A better way to convey the meaning is: God makes it possible for me to rest

As Kenneth Bailey observes…
– “A dog can be trained to sit and lie down. [but] Not a sheep”
– No one can force a sheep to lie down.
– Sheep will only lie down when they have had plenty to eat & drink and are feeling safe
– We are similar to sheep in this respect – if we are hungry or thirsty or feeling anxious or threatened by something we won’t be able to rest
– God not only provides time off to rest but also the environment to rest
– He takes care of our needs and concerns so we can let go enough to relax

Interestingly the very first need which David talks about God taking care of is the need for rest
– We might expect rest to come last but it comes first

About 10 years ago now a TV advertisement came out for Mallow puffs
– ‘Have you done enough for a mallow puff’
– In that ad there was a father and son mowing the lawns
– The back lawn was quite large and they only cut a small patch of it
– But it’s enough to spread out a couple of deck chairs, sit back for a break and enjoy a mallow puff

In many ways this ad goes against the grain for us kiwis
– We are not like this at all
– We find it hard to relax when the job isn’t finished
– We just want to get the job done and then we will feel like we can rest
– We see work as the star of the show and rest is just an optional extra
– In our mind rest might be the icing on the cake but it’s not the main thing

We may have this back to front
– In the Bible, rest is the foundation on which our work is built
– It’s not the icing on the cake – it’s the tin in which the cake of work is baked
– Rest supports work
– So the makers of the mallow puff ad may be on to something
– We don’t just rest from our work, we work from our rest

When rest is the foundation (or the container) supporting work, then work goes better

Neuro science would agree with this
– There are different parts to our brain
– The frontal cortex is where we do our best thinking
– While the brainstem is where our survival instinct comes from

The more stressed or anxious we feel (and therefore the less rested we are) the more our brain stem (or survival instinct) takes over
– And the more our brain stem takes over the less we are able to engage our frontal cortex
– When one is up the other is down

By the same token when our brain stem is calm & rested we have greater access to the higher reasoning powers of our frontal cortex
– The more we use our cortex, the better our decision making and so the better the quality of our work

In other words, starting with rest (as the foundation) actually helps us to work smarter

He makes me lie down means the Lord calms my brain stem, he settles me down
– The Lord God doesn’t want us to be stressed or pressured or over worked
– He wants to bring us to a place of rest, where we are not anxious about our survival
– He wants to bring us to a place of trust in Him
– From that place of trust and rest we are better able to function as God intended – better able to make choices which serve God’s purpose

The fact that rest is important to God is seen in the way God provides a Sabbath day of rest once a week

Pastor and writer, Peter Scazzero, gives a helpful definition of Biblical Sabbath
– Pete reckons there are essentially four main elements to Sabbath…
o Stop work – find your off button
o Enjoy rest – kick back and relax (feet up)
o Practice delight – do something that you really enjoy
o Contemplate God – don’t think about work, think about God’s goodness

The Sabbath is more than just a day off from paid work
– Taking a day off to catch up on chores around the house is not a Sabbath
– Sabbath is meant to be a day of enjoyment & delight – a little slice of heaven on earth, each week

For the sake of integrity I need to say that I don’t do Sabbath very well
– It’s a foreign concept to me
– I’ve been a Christian for a while now but I’m only just scratching the surface of what true Sabbath means
– Sadly I’ve majored on sacrifice at the expense of Sabbath – which is something Jesus warned against
– Yes, there is suffering involved when we follow Christ (pick up your cross and follow me) – but there is also meant to be joy & delight
– God has given us divine permission for freedom, joy and delight but we are sometimes slow to give ourselves that same permission

Interestingly, Jesus had a bit to say about rest
– In fact he seemed to intentionally perform many of his miracles on the Sabbath as a kind of sign of what God intended for humanity
– Please turn with me to Luke chapter 13 – page 98 toward the back of your pew Bibles
– Luke 13, beginning at verse 10 and continuing to verse 17…

One Sabbath Jesus was teaching in a synagogue. 11 A woman there had an evil spirit that had kept her sick for eighteen years; she was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called out to her, “Woman, you are free from your sickness!” 13 He placed his hands on her, and at once she straightened herself up and praised God.

14 The official of the synagogue was angry that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, so he spoke up and said to the people, “There are six days in which we should work; so come during those days and be healed, but not on the Sabbath!”
15 The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Any one of you would untie your ox or your donkey from the stall and take it out to give it water on the Sabbath. 16 Now here is this descendant of Abraham whom Satan has kept in bonds for eighteen years; should she not be released on the Sabbath?”

17 His answer made his enemies ashamed of themselves, while the people rejoiced over all the wonderful things that he did.

May the Spirit of Jesus gives us ears to hear

This is a story of a woman who could not rest for 18 long years
– For 18 years she had been without joy or delight, without genuine Sabbath

The religious leaders of that time had a whole lot of rules about what you could and couldn’t do on the Sabbath and healing people was against their man-made rules (the synagogue ruler majored on sacrifice)
– It wasn’t against God’s law though and so Jesus reminded the people of God’s purpose for the Sabbath by healing the woman
– Jesus made it possible for her to rest by releasing her from the evil spirit
– Now the woman could delight in God – now she could enjoy life again

This miracle of Jesus didn’t just set the woman free – it set everyone in the room free
– Now the people were able to enjoy the Sabbath without guilt or fear of breaking the Pharisees’ rules

Conclusion:
He makes me lie down – he makes it possible for me to rest

There are many things that might prevent us from resting
– Sometimes we stay busy to avoid the emptiness we feel inside
– We are afraid to stop because then we will have to face that emptiness
– Perhaps we can’t rest because we don’t really believe we are loved
– We think we have to be constantly achieving things in order to be accepted
– Or maybe we don’t give ourselves permission to rest – maybe we’ve majored on sacrifice at the expense of enjoying God and His creation

As I said before I’m not really qualified to preach on this subject – not from my own experience anyway
– The most I can do is point to Jesus
– Jesus came to set us free from whatever it is that might prevent us from resting

Jesus is the good shepherd – He is the one who gives us rest
– The one who calms us and settles us down so we are better able to enjoy God and live for His glory

Tawa Baptist

My Shepherd

Scripture: Psalm 23:1a

Key Idea: The Lord is my shepherd

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The Lord is my shepherd
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

In a moment we are going to read a psalm together

  • A psalm is basically a song or a poem
  • The words of the psalm will appear on the wall
  • I invite the men to read the words in plain type and the women to respond by reading the words in italics
  • From Psalm 23 we read…

 

The Lord is my shepherd,

I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

He leads me beside still waters,

He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness

for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

 

May the Lord illuminate His word for us

 

Today we continue our new sermon series on Psalm 23

  • The plan (God willing) is to look at one aspect of the psalm each week
  • Last week we began with the opening phrase of the psalm – perhaps the most well-known verse in the Bible: The Lord is my shepherd,
  • And so you might expect this week’s message to focus on the second part of that verse, I shall not want
  • But that will have to wait till next week because we still haven’t finished with the Lord is my shepherd

 

The Lord is my shepherd:

Last Sunday we considered the meaning of the word ‘shepherd’

  • What did King David (the author of the psalm) mean when he called the Lord God his shepherd?
  • Well, very briefly, he meant the Lord is my security
  • God looks after me like a shepherd looks after his sheep

 

This week the focus is on the Lord as my shepherd – with the emphasis on my

 

Don’t you find it interesting that thousands of people in the world suffer every day, in a whole variety of ways, and yet for the most part that suffering doesn’t really touch us or affects us?

  • It’s only when we know someone personally, when we have an attachment to them, that their suffering moves us

 

We can watch children starving on the TV news and feel sad and maybe even send some money to help them

  • But if we knew those kids personally – if they were our own children – then we wouldn’t just send money
  • We would get on a plane with some Weetbix, find them, feed them and bring them home with us
  • That’s the difference a personal connection makes
  • Personal relationship has a powerful influence on our soul

 

It is quite striking really that David says, The Lord is my shepherd – singular

  • We would expect David to say, The Lord is our shepherd – plural
  • After all, sheep normally get taken care of as part of a flock, together with other sheep – it doesn’t make sense (economically) to have one shepherd for each individual sheep
  • Not only that but in Middle Eastern culture, where this psalm was written, people are far more community minded – they are more inclined to think in terms of we as opposed to me
  • Generally speaking in the west today we are the opposite – the focus for us tends to be more on the individual

 

 

It’s not that one way is right and the other is wrong, we need to value the importance of both the community and the individual at the same time

  • There might not be an ‘i’ in ‘team’ but there is an ‘i’ in ‘community’

 

Anyway, David, who was brought up in a culture where the sense of community was so strong that the importance of the individual could be neglected, [1] he says, The Lord is my shepherd

  • In other words, I have a personal relationship with the Lord
  • I know, from my own personal experience, that God can be trusted to take care of me
  • This was something David knew to be true, not just because he read it in a book or inherited the idea from his parents or the society he grew up in, but because he lived it and owned it for myself

 

So when Goliath challenged the army of Israel, David’s default setting was, “I’m not afraid of this Philistine. The Lord is my security”

  • And when Saul was trying to kill David, David did not get scared and take matters into his own hands – David trusted the Lord with his future
  • And when the Ark of the Covenant was brought into Jerusalem, David didn’t worry about what people thought of him
  • He danced before the Lord in worship because his security was in the Lord, not in public opinion
  • David wasn’t perfect as we know, but he did trust in the Lord

 

Sometimes in science fiction movies the characters learn new skills, new languages, new ideas simply by having the information downloaded into their mind with a computer

  • So in the film The Matrix, Neo learned Kung Fu in a matter of minutes by being plugged into a computer and having software fed into his brain
  • But in the real world, that we live in, learning is a process which takes time – often years
  • David learned to put his security in the Lord the hard way – through real life experiences – not just through a download of information
  • It’s the same for us – simply listening to a sermon isn’t enough to make God your personal security

 

Bloom's Learning Taxonomy

 

In the 1950’s an educational psychologist by the name of Benjamin Bloom did some research and found there are different categories of learning – some learning happens at a deeper level than others

  • For example: memorising something so you can remember it and repeat it by rote is a superficial form of learning
  • Understanding what you remember and being able to apply it, is a deeper level of learning again

 

A person might remember that the 23rd Psalm starts with the words, The Lord is my shepherd, and still not understand what those words mean

  • If you listen carefully to the sermon you might gain some understanding and learn that The Lord is my shepherd means The Lord is my security
  • If you are really keen you might go home and analyse the psalm yourself and discover other nuggets of meaning
  • The ultimate form of learning though is doing something creative with the psalm
  • Perhaps finding a new and inventive way of teaching the psalm to a group of Flock Sunday school kids
  • Or becoming less anxious in life as you place more trust in the Lord

 

Benjamin Bloom’s classification of learning has undergone a number revisions and adaptions over the past 60 years

  • Here’s another way of looking at it…
  •  Learning Pyramid

[2]

 

This version shows the different stages of learning to integrate a new idea or a new belief into your life

 

The first stage is simply becoming aware of the new idea

  • ‘Hmm, the Lord is my security, that’s interesting. I hadn’t thought of Psalm 23 in that way before’

 

The second stage is pondering the idea, finding out more about it, getting to grips with it in your head

  • This might involve going home after the service and meditating on the psalm in light of that word security
  • You might get your Bible out and look for the word shepherd in the index and consider other passages where the shepherding metaphor is used
  • Or you might do some other form of research into security and risk

 

The third stage is valuing the idea – agreeing with it, perhaps even telling others it’s a good idea.

  • Stage 3 normally begins with great enthusiasm for the new concept
  • ‘Wow, the Lord is my security, that’s so cool. That means I don’t have to worry because God has got my back. I feel really good knowing that.’
  • What we notice here is there is often a gap between agreeing this is a good idea and acting on it
  • There’s a gap between talking about it and doing it

 

Although stage 3 (the valuing stage) often starts with great enthusiasm, it normally ends with a deep sense of conviction – a feeling of guilt & remorse

  • Eventually this new idea that we are so excited about bumps up against reality – it is tested
  • ‘The Lord is my security’ is easy to say when things are going well
  • But when we experience some kind of loss, that’s when we really discover whether the Lord is my security or not
  • I might think the Lord is my security but then I might lose my job and start to worry about how I will pay the mortgage
  • I might also lose my confidence and not try applying for other jobs
  • At that point I realise, ‘actually my job was giving me a greater sense of security than the Lord was’
  • Not a nice feeling to be humbled like that but it’s the beginning of stage 4

 

Now, losing a job is just a random example

  • We could use other examples too – like losing health, or losing a loved one, or leaving home, or a marriage break-up, or anything else that might challenge our sense of security

 

The fourth stage is when we start to apply the idea

  • We reprioritise our life so the new idea actually becomes integrated with a new lifestyle and new behaviour

 

In the case of losing my job, reprioritising so the Lord is my security, and not my work, could mean…

  • Not allowing fear to rush me into things, but pausing long enough to commit my way to God in prayer
  • Reprioritising could also mean reviewing my expenditure and setting a new budget
  • Or not measuring my worth by how many job interviews I get
  • Reminding myself that I am valued by God and was loved by Him before I was born – that is, before I had achieved anything

The final stage (at the top of the pyramid there) is when we own the new idea or belief

  • Owning it means it is properly integrated into my daily life
  • So all my decisions & actions are based on this new idea – this new belief
  • The hard work of re-prioritising is over and I have a new default setting.
  • When I own the belief that the Lord is my security, I’m not concerned about being fully employed or unemployed
  • I’m not worried whether other people think I’m a success or a failure
  • I am content with little and with much

 

Why am I telling you all this – you may be wondering

  • Well, we can’t hide behind someone else’s faith – whether that’s the faith of our parents or our spouse or the faith of one of the pastors or whoever
  • We can’t assume that simply coming to church and listening to sermons will make the Lord my security
  • If we are going to follow Jesus (the good shepherd) then each of us must integrate the practice of trusting Christ into our lives
  • Each of us must be able to say honestly: ‘The Lord is my personal security’

 

This process of learning to own something isn’t just a modern idea

  • The process may have been articulated in the 1950’s but it’s been around a lot longer
  • We see it in the gospels over and over again
  • People don’t normally get what Jesus is saying straight away
  • It takes time for God’s word to sink in
  • And even more time for it to bear fruit in our lives

 

Take Nicodemus for example [3]

  • Nic, as he was known to his friends, was an important man
  • He was a member of the Sanhedrin – sort of like a Member of Parliament
  • He was one of the leaders of the people
  • He was also a Pharisee – a learned and morally upright man
  • Highly respected and not inclined to suffer fools gladly
  • Nic was in a very secure position in his society – or so he thought

 

One day Nic became aware of a young Rabbi in his 30’s teaching the people with real wisdom and performing all sorts of miraculous deeds – healing the sick, casting out demons and making people freer in themselves

 

Nic ponders this & eventually concludes that this Jesus fellow must be from God – how else could he perform all those miraculous signs?

  • The idea that Jesus is sent from God is thrilling to Nic – he gets a bit excited by it and in his enthusiasm goes to meet Jesus
  • The problem is Nic’s Pharisee mates don’t like Jesus much and so Nic decides the most prudent thing is to visit Jesus by night – in private
  • That way no one will find out about it – after all he does have his reputation to think about
  • At this point Nic is at stage 3 of the learning process – he values the idea (in his head) but isn’t ready to change his life for it

 

Nic opens the conversation with Jesus by sharing his belief that Jesus must be from God

  • Jesus then challenges Nic to act on this new belief saying…
  • No one can see the kingdom of God without being born again
  • This confuses Nic
  • He had been born and raised a Jew, one of God’s chosen people,
  • Wasn’t he automatically accepted into God’s kingdom because he was a descendant of Abraham?
  • What does Jesus mean by being ‘born again’?

 

Jesus goes on to say, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.”

  • In other words, ‘Nic, your security is misplaced. You think being a Jew and being a Pharisee makes you secure (safe), but it doesn’t
  • You can’t rely on the faith of Abraham to save you
  • And you can’t rely on your good deeds to save you either
  • You must have your own personal faith in the Son of God to be saved.’

 

Nic had come to Jesus like a triumphant school boy, certain he had solved a difficult problem and Jesus just seemed to be giving him more homework

  • Apparently there was a gap between what Nic said he believed about Jesus and what he was prepared to do about it

 

As time passed the hostility toward Jesus increased

  • Most of Nic’s Pharisee mates didn’t think Jesus was from God, like Nic did – they saw Jesus as a threat & wanted to arrest him
  • But Nic tried to stand up for Jesus saying…
  • “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing”
  • The other Pharisees shouted him down though

 

Nic wasn’t ready yet to re-prioritise his life around his new found belief that Jesus was from God

  • He wasn’t prepared to completely abandon his career as a Pharisee
  • But it was a first tentative step in that direction
  • Nic was attempting to bridge the gap from stage 3 (valuing) to stage 4 (re-prioritising)

 

Eventually the Jewish leaders had their way with Jesus

  • They manipulated the Roman governor and the crowd to have Jesus crucified
  • Nic didn’t go along with it – but there was nothing he could do to stop it
  • I imagine he felt a deep sense of conviction at this point
  • I imagine he felt guilty and ashamed at what his mates had done

 

Jesus was dead and so Nic went with Joseph of Arimathea to claim Jesus’ body for burial

  • Finally Nic ‘came out’ and identified himself with the crucified Jesus
  • This was a huge risk – to show support for Christ in his death
  • Not even Jesus’ closest friends were prepared to do that
  • Nicodemus finally owned his belief that Jesus was from God
  • He made Christ his security

 

Conclusion:

Today is the first Sunday in Lent

  • Lent is the 40 days (or so) leading up to Easter
  • It is a time when we re-prioritise our life in order to follow Jesus more closely
  • Lent is about bridging the gap between stage 3 (talking about it) and stage 4 (actually doing it).

 

What idea or belief do you personally need to integrate into your life?

  • What is it you need to re-prioritise in order to follow Jesus more closely?

 

Let us pray…

[1] Kenneth Bailey, The Good Shepherd, page 38.

[2] Peter Scazzero uses this adaption of Bloom’s taxonomy in his book ‘The Emotionally Healthy Leader’ page 44

[3] Refer to John 3:1-21; John 7:50-52 & John 19:38-42

Tawa Baptist

Security

Scripture: Psalm 23:1

 

Title: Security

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The Lord is my security
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

Today we begin a new sermon series on Psalm 23

  • Some of the inspiration for this series comes from Kenneth Bailey’s book The Good Shepherd
  • The plan (God willing) is to focus on just one verse or one aspect of the Psalm each week
  • Today’s focus is the first part of verse 1: The Lord is my shepherd,
  • But, to get us into gear, let’s read the whole Psalm together, antiphonally
  • Which means I will read the words in plain type and you are invited to respond by reading the words in bold italics
  • From Psalm 23 we read…

 

The Lord is my shepherd,

I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

He leads me beside still waters,

He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness

for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

 

May the Lord illuminate His word for us

 

The Lord is my security:

NZ has changed a lot in the last 40 years or so

  • It seems to me we have become a more anxious society

 

When I was a kid growing up in the 70’s it was nothing to disappear for the day with my mates and not turn up again until dinner time

  • My parents didn’t worry about me or need me to text them – cell-phones weren’t invented
  • Some of the stuff we got up to was semi-dangerous I suppose by today’s standards but consequence is a great teacher
  • When I was five I walked to school 2 or 3 kilometres by myself – no worries
  • On holiday my cousins and I would walk to the beach by ourselves to go swimming & fishing – no sun block, little (if any) adult supervision
  • It wasn’t that our parents didn’t care – they did care very much – it’s just that people felt more secure, safer somehow
  • We didn’t feel the need to lock our houses or our cars during the day
  • And we didn’t have ads on TV every 10 minutes warning us to avoid some kind of danger

 

Don’t get me wrong – NZ is still a great place to live – it’s probably safer in many respects than most other parts of the world

  • It just seems that despite our advances in technology people are more anxious and less secure on the whole
  • These days there seems to be a lot more fear around
  • People are generally less trusting and less inclined to take risks
  • In fact we have a lower tolerance for risk

We try to eliminate risk in a whole variety of ways

  • Security cameras
  • Security lights
  • Security guards
  • Security alarms
  • Security clearance
  • Cyber security, anti-virus software & fire walls
  • Police checks
  • Warrant of Fitness checks and code of compliance certificates
  • Occupational safety & health procedures
  • Hazard management plans
  • Road safety messages
  • Insurance and so on

 

These things aren’t bad in themselves, they are quite sensible really – but I’m not convinced they make us any more secure – not deep down where it matters

 

Psychologically speaking security is a fundamental human need

  • We need to feel safe and secure in order to be able to function properly
  • Interestingly the Bible has quite a bit to say about security

 

As Kenneth Bailey notes, the predominant image of God found in the psalms is one of security.

  • Many psalms describe God using words like: shield, high tower, fortress, refuge, rock, stronghold or horn of salvation.
  • Psalm 18 includes many of these images…

 

I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised and I am saved from my enemies...   [1]

 

These images are understandable in an ancient Middle Eastern context where living out in the open made one very vulnerable.

  • People naturally felt a compelling need to reside in a well-fortified enclosure on the top of a hill to provide some security against Bedouin raiders or an invading army.
  • Yet overuse of such ‘homeland security’ language could produce paranoia and a siege mentality. [2]
  • And so the psalter offers other (less common) images of God which inspire security without the paranoia
  • One of those images is God as a Shepherd

 

Yes, the security God gives can be likened to something hard and unyielding like a high tower or a fortress or a rock or a shield

  • But God (and the security He offers) can also be understood in more personal, relational terms, like a shepherd

 

As New Zealanders we probably think we know all about sheep but actually the way we care for sheep is quite different from the way shepherds operate in the Middle East

  • In NZ our sheep are relatively safe
  • They are fenced in on farms and don’t normally face that many threats
  • But in Palestine sheep are far more vulnerable
  • They are literally led out into the wilderness to find pasture
  • In those trackless, fenceless open spaces the shepherd and his sheep are alone and at risk of bandits, wild animals, snakes and extreme weather
  • The shepherd and the sheep are without police protection [3]
  • It is a more dangerous environment than a NZ farm

 

The various kings of Israel throughout the Old Testament were referred to as the ‘shepherds’ of Israel

  • Why?
  • Because it was the king’s job to take care of the people – like a shepherd takes care of sheep
  • As head of the army the king was head of security for the country

 

Psalm 23 is attributed to King David

  • Before becoming the shepherd (or the king) of all Israel
  • That is, before becoming the guy in charge of security for his country, David was a shepherd of actual sheep
  • So he had a very grass roots insight into shepherding

 

 

When David writes, “The Lord is my shepherd…”

  • What he means is, The Lord God is my King
  • Yahweh is my security
  • The Lord isn’t just my security when I’m behind the well-fortified walls of Jerusalem
  • He is my security in those situations where I must leave the safety of the fortified city and journey through the wilderness, unprotected

 

In other words, as my shepherd the Lord gives me the sense of security or the confidence to step out of my comfort zone and to go into new and unfamiliar environments – wilderness places where I am not in control

 

The Lord is my security when I step out into the unknown

  • The Lord is my security when my employment is uncertain
  • The Lord is my security when my health is uncertain
  • The Lord is my security when I start a new school and I don’t know anyone
  • The Lord is my security when I leave home for the first time
  • The Lord is my security when I have to leave my homeland to settle in a new country and the language is different and the customs and different
  • The Lord is my security when I become a parent and there is no manual
  • The Lord is my security when I leave a comfortable lifestyle to follow God’s call on my life

 

Let me tell you a story – about a guy named Pete [4]

  • Pete was a fisherman
  • He wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed but he was honest
  • You always knew where you stood with him
  • Pete didn’t have a filter – he had an unfortunate tendency to speak before thinking and it got him into trouble on occasion

 

One time he was out in a boat with his mates, at night, and it was getting pretty rough

  • As a fisherman Pete was used to a bit of chop but this was different – this was scary, even for him
  • This was a wilderness experience – a situation in which they had no control over the environment

 

As they were fighting against the wind and the waves, people in the boat began to notice this figure, walking across the water

  • Seeing someone walking on water was something completely outside their experience and so they didn’t know how to interpret it
  • I’m not sure about you but when I’m faced with something new and unfamiliar I tend to think the worst – Pete & his mates were no different
  • They jumped to the conclusion that they were seeing a ghost
  • Not Casper the friendly ghost but something more sinister
  • Some kind of omen of death
  • They were hysterical

 

The figure on the water was actually Jesus

  • Pete and his mates followed Jesus wherever he went
  • Jesus taught them how to be human – that is, how to trust God
  • In an attempt to calm them down Jesus said…
  • “Courage. It is I. Do not be afraid”

 

At which point Pete spoke without thinking…

  • “Lord, if it is really you, order me to come out on the water to you.”

 

Really?

  • He had to say that?
  • Couldn’t he have said something less risky like…
  • ‘Lord, if it’s really you, tell me what’s the first thing you ever said to me’.
  • Or something else no one but the real Jesus would know
  • Instead he had to risk his life by saying, ‘order me to come out on the water’

 

Perhaps I’m being a bit tough on Pete

  • Perhaps his first instinct was good
  • Perhaps this shows he was willing to think the best in this situation

 

In any case, Jesus liked where Pete’s head was at and said…

  • ‘Sweet – do it – come to me’

 

At this point Pete had a choice – either he could step out of the safety of the boat or he could stay put

 

In his book, ‘Take the Risk’, Dr Ben Carson (a gifted surgeon) assesses the risk in any given situation using four simple questions: [5]

 

  • What is the best thing that can happen if I do this?
  • What is the worst thing that can happen if I do this?
  • What is the best thing that can happen if I don’t do it?
  • What is the worst thing that can happen if I don’t do it?

 

(In many ways this is similar logic to Pascal’s wager)

 

The best thing that could happen, if Pete stepped out of the boat to walk on the water, is that he wouldn’t sink – he would know it was Jesus and everything would be alright again

 

The worst thing that could happen, if Pete stepped out of the boat, is that he could drown and his mates in the boat could drown as well

 

The best thing that could happen, if he stayed in the boat, is that he would survive but have to live with the shame of making an offer he couldn’t follow through on

 

The worst thing that could happen, if he stayed in the boat, is that he and all his mates would still drown anyway

 

Clearly, by this best / worst analysis, not taking the risk and staying in the boat was a worse option than taking the risk and leaving the boat

 

I don’t know if Pete thought it through like this or not but in the end he made a good choice – a courageous choice

  • On some level Pete had the imagination to believe that Jesus could do this
  • He had the faith to hope for the best and so he stepped out of the boat

 

At first things went well – Pete actually did walk on water

  • But when he took his eyes off Jesus and paid more attention to the strong wind he lost his confidence – he became afraid and began to sink
  • Interesting thing, even though he was sinking Pete still hoped for the best
  • He still believed this figure standing on the waves was Jesus and he said,
  • ‘Save me Lord”
  • So Jesus reached out to grab hold of Peter

 

Now the thing about Jesus is that grace & truth go together

  • You can’t have one without the other
  • The grace of saving Peter came with words of truth
  • “How little faith you have. Why did you doubt?”

 

This seems like an unkind thing for Jesus to say

  • I mean, it was a big deal for Peter to get out of the boat
  • He put his life on the line, not just to satisfy his own curiosity but for the sake of his mates as well
  • If Peter didn’t have much faith then the other disciples had even less – no one else was prepared to take the risk
  • I imagine Jesus’ words would have stung a bit – not just Peter but everyone else in the boat too, because they had all doubted

 

Jesus wasn’t being unkind though – he was simply being real, being honest

  • The truth is their faith (plural) was small
  • No point in pretending otherwise
  • Another word for lack of faith is insecurity
  • The wound of their insecurity had to be cleansed with the antiseptic of truth

 

Conclusion:

To say ‘the Lord is my shepherd’ and really mean it is to say that our security is in Christ – that we trust him in every situation – including those times & places when we are not in control of the environment

 

Please understand me – stepping out of the boat, leaving your comfort zone is not always appropriate

  • There are times when we need a fortress, a safe place, a refuge
  • But there are other times when we are better off to take the risk
  • Learning to trust Jesus as our shepherd (our security) takes time – it’s a process
  • Fortunately for us the Lord is patient

[1] Psalm 18:1-3

[2] Kenneth Bailey, “The Good Shepherd”, page 36.

[3] Kenneth Bailey, ‘The Good Shepherd’, page 37

[4] Refer Matthew 14:22-31

[5] Ben Carson, Take the Risk, page 105.

Tawa Baptist

Restoring Joy

Scripture: Psalm 126

 

Title: Restoring Joy

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Joy remembered, joy hoped for
  • Sowing in tears, reaping joy
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

This morning we are talking about joy

  • To help us think about joy I’d like to give you a few moments now to ask those around you: what is joy?
  • When you’ve done that for a minute or two I’ll invite you to quickly share your thoughts with the rest of us

 

[Give people a chance to discuss what joy is and then invite their feedback]

 

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on joy

  • Joy is one of those qualities that is hard to define in words
  • In many ways it has to be experienced
  • But even then the experience is complex and multi-faceted
  • Joy can be experienced differently depending on the circumstances and the person

 

Joy is both a gift (like a pleasant surprise) – and a choice or a decision we make

 

Joy can be both a positive energy (like a happy or exhilarating feeling)

  • But it can also be a settled, calm assurance (or a quiet confidence) that God is working all things out for good even though life might be difficult right now

 

Joy can be the product of hope – the anticipation of something pleasing

  • Or it can be the realisation of something good – like when a positive change is made or something lost is finally restored to us

 

Psalm 126 captures something of the complexity of joy

  • We will read this Psalm antiphonally which means I will read the lines in plain type and then you can respond by reading the lines in bold italics…

 

 

1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,     we were like those who dream.

2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,     and our tongue with shouts of joy;

then it was said among the nations,     “The Lord has done great things for them.” 3 The Lord has done great things for us,     and we rejoiced.

4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord,     like the watercourses in the Negeb.

5 May those who sow in tears     reap with shouts of joy.

6 Those who go out weeping,     bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy,     carrying their sheaves.

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

 

Joy remembered becomes joy hoped for:

For many people Christmas is a difficult time of year

  • And one of the things that makes it so difficult is the expectation that we must be happy – Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy
  • But if you have experienced a significant loss in your life then Christmas will tend to remind you of that loss – sort of amplify it

 

It’s like C.S. Lewis said…

  • “The pain I feel now is the happiness I had before. That’s the deal.”

 

Pain, grief, sadness is the price we pay for happy times we have lost

  • There is no escaping that fact

 

Although Psalm 126 is about joy, the context is one of loss and the sadness of longing for something that is no more

  • Psalm 126 is very much ‘the pain I feel now is the happiness I had before’

 

In the first three verses the psalmist looks back to a time in Israel’s past when the people had suffered loss and the Lord had restored them

  • What we notice is that the first 3 verses of Psalm 126 are all past tense…

 

1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.

  • In other words: ‘When I look back to a time when I was happy I remember it was because God restored us’
  • It was God doing great things for us that made us laugh and rejoice

 

In this picture of joy (past tense) it is God who is the source of joy

  • God did something which made us happy
  • But now that joy of restoration has gone and it’s like waking up from a happy dream to a harsh reality

 

As the exiles made their way home to Jerusalem after their captivity in Babylon it was like floating along in a pleasant dream at first

  • But when they arrived in the holy city it was like waking up to reality
  • There were weeds to be pulled, crops to sow, walls to build and a temple to restore
  • The honeymoon was over too quickly and all the work was ahead of them

 

If all we had was the first three verses we might think the psalmist was wallowing in self-pity – looking back to the good old days in a way that makes him feel depressed in the present

  • But this looking back isn’t self-pity
  • These memories contain the seeds of hope
  • God has restored our fortunes in the past and so he could do it again
  • Joy remembered becomes joy hoped for

 

We see this hope expressed in verse 4 where the memory of past joy turns into prayer…

  • Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like watercourses in the Negeb
  • In other words, ‘Surprise us with the joy of restoration Lord’

 

The word Negeb means ‘dry’ or ‘parched’ – it is the name given to the southernmost part of Judah

  • For much of the year the Negeb is a desert but then suddenly, in winter, the rains come, turning dry gullies into rivers and streams
  • Literally overnight the desert is transformed into fields of grass & flowers

 

This is a vivid image from the geography of Israel

  • The message is clear – don’t lose hope
  • God has the power to transform dry places and he can do it quickly
  • Maybe your life is miserable now but anything could happen
  • Things can & do change for the better

 

Some things in life can be scheduled and other things can’t

  • You can schedule buses and trains
  • You can schedule a holiday and shifts at work
  • You can schedule meal times and exams
  • You can schedule TV programming and your dentist appointment
  • But you can’t schedule everything

 

You can’t schedule your mid-life crisis, for example

  • There is probably a 20 year window in which it might happen but you don’t get to decide the day or the hour
  • Just like you don’t decide when you will get sick or when someone might die
  • Some things simply can’t be switched on & off like a light

 

So what about joy then – can joy be scheduled?

  • Well, the impression we get from the psalm so far is that joy is not something we have much control over – like rains in the Negeb it all depends on God and so it can’t be planned for
  • This is dangerous thinking – it leads to a victim mentality

 

Sowing in tears, reaping joy:

To help restore the balance Psalm 126 finishes with a contrasting image to the streams in the desert

 

May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy

 

There is quite a bit in this one liner

  • For starters, we can’t expect to feel happy or joyful all the time
  • Tears, sadness, grief & pain are part of life
  • In fact the image of sowing in tears suggests that sadness is a necessary prerequisite to joy

 

Tears are something which cleanse our eyes and our soul

  • When you set the table for a meal you don’t put out yesterday’s dirty dishes to eat off – you put clean plates on the table
  • Tears cleanse the plate of our soul so a fresh meal of joy can be served up

 

What I’m saying is intuitively obvious to anyone who has suffered loss

  • We can’t really enjoy something good until we have first grieved our losses – accepted them

 

Sowing and reaping is slow and arduous

  • Unlike the streams in the Negeb it doesn’t happen overnight
  • Sowing & reaping happens over the course of a year as a combination of hard work & patience on the part of the farmer as well as God causing the seed to grow
  • We might say: joy is not entirely in God’s hands, it’s in our hands too – so (like farming) it’s a partnership

 

Or as Henri Nouwen put it…

  • “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.”

Yes there are some things in life that we don’t get to decide – some things we have little or no control over – but with joy we do have a choice

  • We can’t expect to always feel happy – there will be times when life is hard graft
  • But if we sow seeds of hope in God during those tough times, we will eventually reap a harvest of joy

 

And what does it mean to sow seeds of hope?

  • What are the difficult choices we need to make to eventually reap joy?
  • Well, sowing in tears might mean praying for someone in hope that God will save them
  • It might mean forgiving someone in hope they will come right in the end
  • Or, it might mean asking forgiveness in hope that this will lead to peace
  • It might mean saying ‘no’ when the bong is being passed around in hope that our friends will say ‘no’ too
  • It might mean saying ‘yes’ to helping someone, without hope of reward
  • Or it could mean suffering shame, insult, misunderstanding and abuse in the hope that some might find Christ

 

Conclusion:

Sowing in tears can mean a lot of things

  • Ultimately, for Jesus, it meant suffering an agonising death on the cross in hope that humanity would be reconciled to God
  • Of course, after Jesus had sowed in tears, he reaped a harvest of resurrection joy

 

Christmas is a time of joy – not painless, tearless joy – but joy on the far side of pain and grief

  • Maybe you haven’t got to the far side yet
  • Maybe you are still sowing in tears
  • That’s okay – in fact it’s more in line with the gospel than you might think: Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted
Tawa Baptist

Free to Worship

Scripture: Exodus 35-40

 

Title: Free to Worship

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Preparation for God’s coming (hope)
  • Worship from the inside out (freedom)
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

Today we conclude our series on Moses in Exodus by looking at the final six chapters – 35 through to 40

  • In this section the people make the tabernacle in accordance with the detailed instructions Yahweh gave them in chapters 25 to 31

 

The tabernacle, you may recall, is like God’s mobile home – it is a sacred tent for God’s presence

  • The God of Israel is not aloof or detached and He is not fixed in one place
  • Yahweh wants to be present among His people – on the move with them

 

We don’t have time this morning to read all six chapters – I really just want to draw your attention to some of the main points in view, in particular…

  • Israel’s preparation for God’s coming
  • And their worship from the inside out

 

Preparation for God’s coming:

As we heard earlier, today is the first Sunday in Advent, which means we are less than a month away from Christmas

 

Tell me, what are some of the things that you have been doing (or at least need to do) to prepare for Christmas?

  • Write and send Christmas cards
  • Shop for Christmas presents
  • Put up the Christmas tree
  • Decide where you will spend Christmas
  • Buy special food
  • Attend end of year parties

 

Okay, show of hands, who really enjoys this time of year?

  • And who can’t wait for it all to be over?
  • There is much to do in preparing for Christmas – it is a busy time

 

Recently, in the last 3 months, we’ve had two new babies born in our congregation – Matthias & Pascal

  • There is quite a bit to do in preparing for the arrival of a new born baby, especially if it’s your first (as it was for Oti & Ann Na)
  • You need to set up the nursery, buy baby clothes, make arrangements for time off work, get a baby seat and maybe get a bigger car

 

At the beginning of this month Prince Charles paid a visit to Tawa College

  • I imagine there was a fair bit of preparation involved with that visit
  • Communicating to the pupils and the parents what was happening
  • Having some students ready to greet and perform for the prince
  • Liaising with police about security
  • Having some contingency plan if things didn’t quite go as expected
  • I don’t know – I guess there was lots to think of

 

There is certainly a lot to think of in preparing for a wedding

  • Organising the ceremony itself and then the reception afterwards
  • Inviting guests, buying a dress, hiring a suit, arranging flowers, working through some kind of marriage preparation course with the minister
  • Writing a speech, planning the honey moon – all sorts of details you wouldn’t imagine until you go through the process

 

Next week’s ‘19 Sleeps to Christmas’ guest service involves lots of preparation too (nearly as much as a wedding)

  • I don’t want to give too much away but there has been quite a bit of planning and work going on in the background for several weeks now
  • At this afternoon’s practice we’ll put it altogether to see how it works

 

That word Advent (on the front of your newsletters) simply means ‘coming’

  • During Advent we look back to Jesus’ first coming to earth 2000 years ago and we look forward to Christ’s second coming in glory
  • Christmas Advent is meant to be a time of preparation for the arrival of both a special event and a special person

 

When you read through Exodus chapters 35 to 40 you get a feel for the amount of preparation that went into Yahweh’s coming

 

There’s lots of detail about joining and fastening and making and then assembling the tabernacle. For example:

  • He made curtains of goats’ hair
  • He joined five curtains by themselves
  • He made the table of acacia wood… and overlaid it with pure gold
  • He cast for it four rings of gold and fastened the rings to the four corners
  • He also made the lampstand of pure gold… and so on

 

The image presented is not a static one

  • We don’t get a still photo of the completed project
  • We get a series of moving pictures, describing the process of the people’s preparation for the coming of God to dwell in their midst.
  • The community is in Advent mode.’ [1]

 

Much of the detail in chapters 35 to 40 is repetition of chapters 25 to 31

  • The main difference being that in chapters 25-31 God describes things in order of sacredness – starting with the ark in the most holy place and working His way to the outer courtyard and surrounding curtains
  • Whereas in chapters 35 to 40 we get a works report – so the order follows the practical logic of construction

 

Why the repetition? (albeit in a different order)

  • Because preparing for the Lord’s coming (His Advent) is important
  • It is not instant coffee or a microwave meal
  • It is not a Bunnings flat pack or ready-made curtains
  • Everything is unique, a one off, custom made and hand crafted

 

In the Old Testament the tabernacle isn’t just a symbol of God’s presence – it is an actual vehicle for divine presence

  • When God fills the tabernacle in Exodus 40, Moses is unable to enter

In the New Testament Jesus is the actual vehicle of God’s presence – more than just a symbol

  • As the Israelites prepared for Yahweh’s coming so we need to make room for the Christ child – we need to be ready to receive our risen Lord

 

Being prepared for Christ’s coming gets some attention in the gospels too

  • Jesus told a number of parables about being ready for his return
  • The parable of the 10 virgins – only 5 of whom kept their lamps trimmed
  • The thief in the night
  • The parable of the servants and the talents, and so on
  • This looking forward to Christ’s return is not meant to be an anxious thing – it is supposed to inspire hope – Hope is an attractive energy

 

Looking at the book of Exodus as a whole, we notice a contrast between the beginning and the end of the book

  • At the start of Exodus the people are despairing – Pharaoh is crushing their spirit under cruel slavery – they have nothing to look forward to
  • But by the end of the book Pharaoh is nowhere in sight and the people are busy preparing for the Lord’s coming – energised by hope

 

  • Despite the Pharaoh’s of this world and despite Israel’s own failure, God promises to be with His people and that promise fills the people with a sense of joyful anticipation
  • Like the joy and excitement we might feel as we anticipate getting married or as we look forward to the birth of a child or being reunited with loved ones at Christmas

 

As well as describing Israel’s preparation for God’s coming, Exodus 35 to 40 also shows us the quality and fabric of their worship – from the inside out

 

Worship from the inside out:

Aesop has a story about the sun and the wind – it’s a classic, worth repeating

 

The North Wind boasted of great strength.

  • The Sun argued that there was greater power in gentleness.
  • “We shall have a contest,” said the Sun.

 

Far below, a man travelled a winding road.

  • He was wearing a warm winter coat.
  • “As a test of strength,” said the Sun, “Let us see which of us can take the coat off of that man.”

 

“It will be quite simple for me to force him to remove his coat,” bragged the Wind.

  • The Wind blew so hard, branches broke off trees. The world was filled with dust and leaves.
  • But the harder the wind blew, the tighter the man clung to his coat.

 

Then, the Sun came out from behind a cloud, warming the air and the frosty ground.

  • The man on the road unbuttoned his coat.
  • The sun grew slowly brighter and warmer.
  • Soon the man felt so hot, he took off his coat and sat down in a shady spot.

 

“How did you do that?” said the Wind.

  • “Gently, from the inside out”, said the Sun

 

Pharaoh was like the wind to Israel – forcing them against their will with threats and whips and external pressures

  • But the way of Yahweh was more like the Sun – warming Israel, wooing them gently, so they were moved of their own volition, freely, naturally, from the inside out

 

From Exodus 35, verse 4 Moses said to all the congregation of the Israelites:

This is the thing that the Lord has commanded:

Take from among you an offering to the Lord; let whoever is of a generous heart bring the Lord’s offering: gold, silver, bronze… [and so on]

 

And they came, everyone whose heart was stirred and everyone whose spirit was willing and brought the Lord’s offering to be used for the tent of meeting…

So they came, both men and women; all who were of a willing heart brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and pendants, all sorts of gold…

[and so on]

 

Willing heart – willing spirit

 

In this context the ‘heart’ stands for the inner constitution or disposition of a person – their unseen inner reality

  • While the human ‘spirit’ refers to personal energy, gusto or inner drive [2]

The point is, no one was forcing the people to provide valuables for making the tabernacle – they did it freely and willingly, from the inside out

  • God, in His grace, had moved them with the warmth of His loyal love and commitment
  • The people were so generous that they had to be asked to stop giving

 

The best things in life are simple – Chocolate is a point in case

  • Chocolate only has three ingredients – and two of those ingredients come from the same plant
  • You can add other things to the chocolate like fruit or nuts or some other kind of flavouring but essentially the chocolate itself only has 3 parts
  • Would anyone like to guess what those three ingredients are? [Wait]

 

Yes, that’s right

  • Cocoa beans (or cocoa mass), cocoa butter and sugar

 

The cocoa beans give the chocolate that dark look and bitter taste

  • The sugar is needed to balance out the bitterness
  • And the cocoa butter gives it a smooth silky texture

 

Worship is a bit like chocolate – in that it has three basic ingredients

  • Giving (as in some form of sacrifice or offering)
  • Willingness (as in a willing spirit or a generous heart)
  • And obedience (doing what God asks)

Giving is integral to worship – like cocoa beans are integral to chocolate

  • We can give all sorts of things to God – we might offer songs of praise, money, talents or our time
  • The offering we take up each Sunday isn’t just to cover the church’s expenses – It is primarily an act of worship
  • Likewise, if you volunteer your time on the music team or the property committee or the deacons board or helping with Club Intermed or Youth group or Sunday school or doing the lawns or whatever else you may do
  • Then, so long as you are doing it for the Lord, it is worship

 

We’ve already heard how the people offered their valuables to God – their gold, silver, fine linen and so forth

  • The other thing they gave was themselves – their time and talents in service to make the tabernacle

 

Those who were at Doris Lindstrom’s funeral yesterday would have heard a reading from Exodus 35, verse 30…

 

30 Then Moses said to the Israelites: See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; 31 he has filled him with divine spirit, with skill, intelligence, and knowledge in every kind of craft, 32 to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, 33 in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, in every kind of craft. 34 And he has inspired him to teach…

 

The Scriptures go on to say how others joined Bezalel, under his guidance and tuition to build the Lord’s tent and equipment

  • They offered their time and skill

 

What this means is that work is sacred when it is done as an act of worship for the Lord

  • Your work during the week can be as much an act of worship as singing songs of praise in church on a Sunday morning

As the apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians

  • Render service with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not to men or women, knowing that whatever good we do, we will receive the same again from the Lord… [3]

If giving is to worship what cocoa beans are to chocolate, then willingness is like the sugar, making the giving sweet

  • Worship isn’t meant to be an empty ritual
  • Worship is not blindly going through the motions
  • Worship needs to be from the inside out – from a willing heart and with a spirit (or an energy) which really wants to express love and appreciation
  • Without willingness the giving becomes bitter drudgery & loveless duty
  • Without willingness the letting go of sacrifice doesn’t free our heart – it clenches our heart into a fist of resentment

 

Okay then – if giving is the cocoa beans and willingness is the sugar, then obedience must be the cocoa butter

 

More than the other two ingredients it is the cocoa butter which determines the quality of the chocolate

  • The cocoa butter is the most expensive of the three ingredients and so cheap chocolate tends to skimp on cocoa butter or substitute it with something else
  • Just as there is no substitute for cocoa butter in quality chocolate, so too there is no substitute for obedience in quality worship
  • Obedience is indispensable to worship

 

Exodus 35-40 never tires of stating how the divine instructions were carried out in precise detail; there are 18 references to Moses doing as God commanded [4]

  • Obedience – doing what God wants – is more important than giving to charity or anything else we might think of as ‘good works’
  • What is it the Lord says, ‘Obedience is better than sacrifice’

 

Without cocoa butter it isn’t really chocolate

  • Without obedience it isn’t really worship

 

The cross was Jesus’ ultimate test of obedience to God

  • We read about it in the accounts of Jesus’ anguished prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane
  • Not my will Father, but Your will be done

 

Giving God what He wants, willingly, that is true worship

 

Conclusion:

The book of Exodus finishes one year after the people left Egypt with the presence of God filling the tabernacle

  • Exodus means ‘exit’ or ‘leaving’ – so it’s really about movement
  • It’s about God taking Israel out of Egypt and into the wilderness
  • Out of the known and into the unknown
  • Out of forced labour under Pharaoh to willing worship of Yahweh
  • Out of slavery and into freedom
  • Out of despair and into hope

 

And it hasn’t been an easy journey for Israel or Yahweh or Moses

  • It’s been a rollercoaster of redemption, failure, forgiveness and faith
  • But through the Lord’s (& Moses’) loyal love, Israel are a new creation

 

Jesus came for our Exodus – for our redemption – to make us a new creation, free to worship the Lord – free to willingly give God what He wants

 

Let’s stand and sing about the Lord’s love and faithfulness as we prepare for communion…

 

 

[1] Terence Fretheim, Exodus, page 314

[2] Alec Motyer, BST Exodus, page 320.

[3] Ephesians 6:7-8

[4] Terence Fretheim, Exodus, page 313.

Tawa Baptist

Moses Intercedes

Scripture: Exodus 32:1-14

Title: Moses Intercedes

Key Idea: Moses intercedes for the people by asking God to be true to Himself

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Israel’s disloyalty (vv.1-6)
  • God’s anger (vv.7-10)
  • Moses’ intercession (vv.11-13)
  • Conclusion – Yahweh repents (v. 14)

Introduction:

The Christian mathematician, Blaise Pascal, famously said…

  • All human evil comes from a single cause, man’s inability to sit still in a room 

With the holidays approaching some of you may be contemplating travelling away for a break

  • Most holidays we go to see family who live about 7 hours north of here
  • When our kids were little they would sleep some of the way but invariably we had to provide some entertainment for most of the trip
  • We might listen to the Wiggles or High Five for a while but by the third or fourth time through the tape that got a bit tiresome
  • We played the classic I spy with my little eye & word association games
  • But my favourite game (and probably their least favourite) was seeing how long they could stay completely quiet and still for
  • Some attempts were more successful than others

Please turn with me to Exodus chapter 32 – page 92 in your pew Bibles

  • Today we continue our series on Moses
  • At this point in the story Moses is up Mount Sinai receiving instructions from Yahweh
  • He has been gone about 6 weeks and the people are growing impatient
  • Like passengers in the back seat of a car, all they had to do was sit still and wait quietly. Sadly, they weren’t able to do this
  • From verse 1 of Exodus 32 we read…

[Read Exodus 32:1-14]

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

This Scripture passage rather conveniently divides into three parts…

  • Israel’s disloyalty in verses 1-6
  • God’s anger in verses 7-10
  • And Moses’ intercession in verses 11-13

First let us consider Israel’s apostasy – their disloyalty or rejection of Yahweh

Israel’s disloyalty:

As an explanation of the quote we opened today’s sermon with, Blaise Pascal goes on to observe…

“Nothing is so insufferable to man as to be completely at rest, without passions, without business, without diversion, without study. He then feels his nothingness, his forlornness, his insufficiency, his dependence, his weakness, his emptiness.”

 

Moses has been up the mountain listening to Yahweh for about six weeks

  • All the people had to do was be still and wait, but they couldn’t manage it
  • Moses’ absence had put them in touch with their own nothingness, their insufficiency, weakness and emptiness
  • To overcome these insufferable feelings the people gathered round Aaron and took matters into their own hands, saying to Aaron…

‘We do not know what has happened to this man Moses, who led us out of Egypt; so make us gods to lead us.’

There is quite a bit wrong with this sentence

  • For starters we hear contempt in the phrase, ‘this man Moses’, as if Moses were a stranger to the people

Worse than this though there is a complete denial of God

  • The people credit Moses with leading them out of Egypt when in fact it was the Lord Almighty who led them
  • By pretending God does not exist the people are able to say, ‘make us gods to lead us.’

This request is a blatant disregard of God’s instruction not to make images or idols for worship

  • It amounts to nothing less than a rejection of Yahweh who delivered Israel from slavery – It is a betrayal of the worst kind
  • The people don’t want a God who can think and speak and act
  • They would rather have a lifeless object which they can see and touch and control

An idol isn’t necessarily a statue that people bow down to

  • It could be money in the bank, or our job, or a status symbol, like the clothes we wear or the car we drive
  • An idol is basically any mechanism or device which makes us feel like we are in control
  • By that definition a bomb or a gun could be an idol

We are not in control of course but it makes us feel more powerful, more secure if we can maintain the illusion that we are calling the shots

  • Jesus said that human beings live by faith
  • Which means we are actually more empowered, more secure, when we accept the reality that we are not in control and simply trust God

Apparently Aaron gave little resistance to the people’s demand

  • He asked for the people’s ear rings, melted them and made a gold bull
  • Then the people said, ‘Israel, this is our god, who led us out of Egypt’
  • Aaron went along with this and built an altar in front of the golden bull saying, ‘Tomorrow there will be a festival to honour the Lord (Yahweh)’

What we have here is syncretism

  • Syncretism is the combining of different, often contradictory, beliefs

In the ancient east statues of golden bulls or calves were used by pagans in the worship of Baal

  • Aaron was combining aspects of Baal worship with the worship of Yahweh, the Lord Almighty. That was syncretism
  • It was also the breaking of the third commandment not to take the Lord’s name in vain

[Set up table with water & turps and empty glass]

I have here a jug of water and a bottle of turps together with an empty glass

  • Imagine the empty glass represents the human soul
  • You only have one soul – one container
  • Worshipping the one true God – the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ – is like pouring water into our soul – it refreshes us, it is life to us
  • Idol worship is like pouring turps (or poison) into our soul – it will kill us
  • Syncretism is when someone tries to mix the water and the turps
  • Even a little bit of turps will ruin the water and make it unfit for drinking
  • It doesn’t work to worship God and Buddha at the same time
  • Just like it doesn’t work to follow Jesus and put money or career first

[Return to the pulpit]

From our vantage point in history we might look back and think, how could the Israelites do such a terrible thing?

  • But at the time the people of Israel couldn’t see that it was terrible
  • They probably thought they were doing a virtuous thing – not unlike terrorists who also think they are doing a virtuous thing
  • What’s more Israel were doing it in a democratic way – this was the collective wisdom of the majority. (So much for democracy)

We shouldn’t feel too superior to the Israelites – I’m not sure any of us is so pure in our worship of the Lord

  • That’s the thing about syncretism – we can’t always see it
  • Like turps it appears the same as water
  • Apostasy doesn’t present itself as a red devil with horns
  • It comes as an angel of light – we may think it a good thing at first

 

Verse 6 tells how the people sacrificed to the golden calf and then sat down to a feast which turned into an orgy of drinking and sex

  • Idolatry (putting ourselves in control) leads to moral chaos and the breakdown of society

So, that’s the people’s disloyalty

  • What about God’s response?
  • Well, God is angry

 

God’s anger:

My grandad had a pool table and we used to play pool together

  • Pool is basically a game of physics – it’s about the transfer of energy
  • Energy is transferred from the cue to the white ball and onto a numbered (or coloured) ball

Anger is essentially a form of energy

  • Energy is not good or bad – it’s just energy
  • When we are angry we have an intense concentration of energy in us which moves us – sort of like balls in a game of pool are moved

If anger is the white ball (on a pool table) then the numbered (or coloured) balls on the table are the different faces of anger

  • Just as a moving white ball transfers energy to the other balls on the table so too anger expresses itself in a variety of behaviours
  • Perhaps the black 8 ball represents outrage – swearing or yelling or throwing your weight around
  • But outrage isn’t the only face of anger – sometimes people hold the rage in and it becomes sadness, bitterness, resentment, cynicism, or contempt

One common face of anger is sarcasm

  • Some people think sarcasm is funny, but it’s not something I enjoy
  • Sarcasm is a form of anger
  • If you are sarcastic a lot then you have a problem with anger, underneath

God uses sarcasm with Moses in verse 7, where He says…

  • “Go back down at once, because your people, whom you led out of Egypt have sinned and rejected me
  • God is picking up on what the people said earlier about Moses leading them out of Egypt
  • God is angered by the people’s denial of Him and this angry energy is transferred into words of sarcasm – like the white ball transferring energy onto the yellow ball

The other thing to say here is that anger is never a primary emotion – even with God (perhaps especially with God) – anger is always secondary

  • Anger is energy that has been transferred from something deeper
  • The white ball on a pool table doesn’t move by itself
  • The white ball (of anger) moves because it is hit by the cue

So what does the cue in the hands of God represent?

  • The cue represents what we might call care or love or compassion
  • It is precisely because God cares so much that He hits the white ball of His anger
  • If God didn’t care about the people He wouldn’t have been so upset
  • If God hadn’t been so attached to Israel He would have put the cue down and walked away from the game

As I understand it Buddhism is a non-violent religion

  • Jesus also taught non-violence
  • So Buddhism and Christianity appear similar (like turps & water)
  • But when you take a closer look you realise how different they are
  • Buddhism says the way to avoid violence is to not care, to not love and not form attachments
  • Because when you don’t care about anything, you don’t get angry or upset about anything and so you don’t hurt anyone

By contrast Jesus teaches us that we must care, we must form attachments

  • We shouldn’t become attached to money or material objects but we should care about our neighbour and we should love God
  • Of course this means we will inevitably get angry
  • The pool cue of care will set the white ball of our anger in motion
  • Jesus’ intention is that we use the energy of anger for good
  • Release the energy in a controlled way and in a direction which achieves a positive outcome

I think, in hindsight, that my grandad was using the game of pool to teach me lessons for life

  • He was always telling me don’t hit the ball too hard
  • Take your time, line it up right and hit the ball gently because then, even if you miss, at least it will be in place for you to sink next time
  • Hitting the ball hard just makes a mess of things

God was angry with the Israelites because He cares

  • The Good News Translation has God saying to Moses…
  • “Now don’t try to stop me. I am angry with them and I am going to destroy them. Then I will make you [Moses] and your descendants into a great nation.”

Words like this in the mouth of God are difficult for us – especially in light of events in Paris yesterday

  • We have to keep the bigger picture in mind – God’s overarching goal for humanity is, not to destroy but, to save as many as possible

The Good News Bible is usually pretty good but their translation of the opening sentence, ‘Don’t try to stop me’, is a bit misleading

  • God actually does want Moses to stop Him, why else would He tell Moses what He was thinking

A more accurate translation (like the NIV) reads…

  • “Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”

This translation makes better sense

  • The fact that God is asking to be left alone with this decision tells us at least two things…

Firstly, that God is in control of His anger

  • He is not about to react in the heat of the moment
  • God is not like David Banner, who could turn into the Incredible Hulk at any time. ‘Don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry’ – that’s not God
  • God is taking time to consider His actions – measure twice, cut once

Asking to be left alone also tells us this was not an easy matter for God

  • It’s like finding out that your husband or wife has been cheating on you
  • There is tremendous grief involved for the Lord
  • God wants time on His own to deal with His grief and anger, that’s how deeply affected He is by Israel’s rejection

Now it is important to understand that God’s grief isn’t all about Himself

  • Yes, Israel’s rejection of Him hurts but I reckon God is also grieving for the other nations of the world – for humanity generally
  • The Lord’s intention for Israel was that they be a holy people – a nation of priests who would lead the other nations of the world to God
  • By worshipping the golden calf Israel have pointed the other nations away from the Lord and over a cliff
  • Israel have made it harder for people to come to God and that grieves the Lord’s heart

God doesn’t want to destroy anyone, least of all His beloved people

  • His overarching purpose is to save as many people as possible
  • But what is He to do if Israel rejects Him?
  • He can’t force the people to love Him
  • What choice does He have but to start again with Moses?

Moses’ intercession:

Although God has asked Moses to leave Him alone with His grief and anger, Moses stands His ground and intercedes for the people and for God

With an idol, there is no dialogue – there is just the monologue of our own self talk

  • But with God there is dialogue – our prayers can influence God
  • What we say and do makes a very real difference
  • Which means that to some degree the future is open
  • God’s overall purpose is to save or redeem as many people as possible and, thankfully, we can’t change that
  • But we can influence God’s strategy for how He reaches His goal

To use the metaphor of driving a car…

  • If God is the driver and we are the passengers, and it’s His purpose to travel from Auckland to Wellington, then we can’t change His mind about the destination
  • But we can influence the route He takes in getting there, where He stops and how many people He picks up on the way, that sort of thing

It’s not like life is a movie and we are just playing the roles and reading the lines that have been written for us

  • We are not fated to a particular destiny
  • Christians don’t believe in fate
  • Christians live by faith
  • Faith is not set in stone – it’s organic, it’s interactive, it’s dynamic

When God made humanity He didn’t make us in the image of an idol – a lifeless lump of stone that can’t talk back or change anything

  • God gave us a mind to think with, freewill to choose, emotion to move us and a voice to speak
  • God made us like Himself, in His own image
  • And in doing that the Lord was sharing His power with us

Moses seems to understand this and so when God says, ‘Leave me alone…’, Moses stands his ground and talks back

  • Moses is not disrespectful to God
  • He does not minimise or condone or justify what the Israelites have done in betraying Yahweh
  • And he does not deny the truth of what God is feeling – although he does ask the Lord to put His anger aside

Moses speaks up and appeals to God’s reason, reputation and integrity

  • Moses does not appeal to human rights – he doesn’t say, ‘God, you can’t kill the people because they’ve got rights’
  • We may have rights when it comes to other human beings but when it comes to God we don’t have any rights
  • All we have grace – everything we have is a gift from God
  • Human rights don’t come into it

When we consider what Moses says to God we soon realise that Moses is actually interceding for God Himself, more than the people

  • Moses is asking God to be true to Himself

In verse 11 Moses appeals to the Lord’s reason…

  • “Why should your anger burn against your people whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?”

In other words, Lord, why destroy the people you have just saved – that doesn’t make sense. You’ve got a lot invested with these people. Don’t throw that away

 

Then in verse 12 Moses appeals to the Lord’s reputation…

  • “Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’?”

In other words, Lord, killing the Israelites now will make You look bad so that it will be harder for the other nations of the world to trust You

  • God needs to preserve His reputation if He wants to save as many people as possible

                                                                    

And in verse 13 Moses appeals to the Lord’s integrity…

  • Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever’.

In other words, remember who You are Lord. You are a God who keeps His promises.

  • If You break Your promise to Abraham You won’t be able to live with Yourself

 

Conclusion:

Interestingly the text does not record God saying anything else here

  • Moses has the last word on this occasion
  • God listened to Moses – He changed His mind and did not bring on the people the disaster he had threatened
  • The future is open

This is perhaps Moses’ finest hour

  • He saves the people from destruction by asking God to stay true to Himself

Outtakes

Moses knows all about anger

  • He knows all about caring too much
  • And he also knows the sting of rejection

Remember how Moses (as a younger man) killed the Egyptian slave driver who was beating a Hebrew slave

  • And then the next day when Moses tried to settle a dispute between two fellow Israelites, the man answered sarcastically…
  • ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?’