Tawa Baptist

The Freedom Paradox

Scripture: 1st Corinthians 9:1-18

Video Link: https://youtu.be/ZG-yEtPvtoY

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • An apostle’s proof
  • An apostle’s rights
  • An apostle’s responsibility
  • Conclusion – Paul’s freedom

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Less is more. The only constant is change. The more you know, the more you know you don’t know. You have to spend money to make money. It’s hard making elegance look easy.

Each of these statements describes a paradox. A paradox is a statement or situation that seems contradictory or absurd at first but when investigated proves to be true.

Two weeks ago, we started a new sermon series in First Corinthians, not the whole letter, just one section of it: chapters 8, 9 and 10. We interrupted this series last Sunday for Mothers’ Day. We return to Corinthians again this morning.

In this section of Corinthians, Paul addresses the issue of freedom. How are Christians to use their freedom? Well, for Christians, freedom is somewhat of a paradox. When it comes to freedom, less is more. From First Corinthians chapter 9, verses 1-18 we read…

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord? 2 Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. 3 This is my defence to those who sit in judgment on me. 4 Don’t we have the right to food and drink? 5 Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas? 6 Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living? 7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink the milk? 8 Do I say this merely on human authority? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing?  9 For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned? 10 Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because whoever ploughs and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. 11 If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? 12 If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ. 13 Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? 14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel. 15 But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me, for I would rather die than allow anyone to deprive me of this boast. 16 For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. 18 What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel.

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

There are a few twists and turns in Paul’s thinking here. So that we don’t get too lost, let me summarise…

Some of the Corinthian believers were questioning Paul’s pedigree as an apostle because he refused financial support from them. They figured, we pay the other apostles and preachers who come to visit but we don’t pay Paul, therefore Paul can’t be a real apostle.

In a world that attaches value to money there is this false assumption that if you are a volunteer (and not a paid professional) you are somehow less.

Paul counters this assumption by proving that he is an apostle and as an apostle he has every right to claim support. By the same token he is also free to refuse financial support.

Here in lies the freedom paradox. Less is more. If he accepts his right to payment, Paul loses his freedom as an apostle. But by refusing payment he loses his credibility but preserves his freedom.  

In the process of presenting the freedom paradox, Paul illuminates an apostle’s proof, an apostle’s rights and an apostle’s responsibilities. Let us begin then with an apostle’s proof. How do we know someone is a genuine apostle?

An Apostle’s Proof:

If you ever have the misfortune to call your bank or insurance company on the phone, you will have to prove to them that it’s really you. It’s not enough to give your name, you also need to tell them your date of birth, your address, your last eftpos withdrawal and what you ate for dinner on Wednesday three weeks ago. It’s hard to prove who are sometimes.

As I said before, some in the church at Corinth were questioning whether Paul really was a genuine apostle. So, in the opening two verses of Corinthians 9, Paul gives them his credentials by way of a series of short rhetorical questions. This shows humility on Paul’s part and invites empathy from his readers.

Paul’s first two questions are these: Am I not free? Am I not an apostle?  These two questions go together because what Paul is really talking about here is his apostolic freedom.

The word ‘apostle’ literally translates as ‘sent one’. An apostle is one sent by Jesus, like an ambassador of salvation sent to a foreign land. By definition an apostle is free. Not free to do what they want, but free to go where the Spirit of Jesus sends them. Paul is clear in his own mind that he definitely is an apostle.

Paul’s next question is this: Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?  

An apostle bears witness to the resurrection of Jesus. And so, in the first century, one of the qualifications of apostleship was having seen the risen Jesus with your own eyes. Paul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus and it turned his life around. It transformed his whole outlook.

Not many people these days can claim to have seen the risen Jesus with their own eyes, although we do hear reports of some in the Middle East and Asia who say Jesus has appeared to them. Given the transformation that happens in their lives as a result, we need to take their testimony seriously.

In any case, to be an apostle one must be completely convinced of Jesus’ resurrection and live out of that conviction, as Paul did wholeheartedly.  

After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to 500 people on one occasion. Not all of them though became apostles. Consequently, Paul’s final proof is this: Are you not the result of my work in the Lord?

This is probably Paul’s strongest proof and the hardest one for the Corinthians to refute. They had come to faith in Jesus through Paul’s evangelism and preaching among them. How could Paul have done this if he wasn’t a real apostle?

Indeed, to call Paul’s apostleship into question is to call their own conversion into question. Paul’s intellectual and spiritual leadership is proof that his apostleship is genuine.

The Corinthians are the seal of Paul’s apostleship in the Lord. In ancient times a wax or clay seal guaranteed the authenticity of a document. The presence of the Corinthian church guarantees the authenticity of Paul’s apostleship.

So do we have apostles today? Yes, we do. To say we don’t have apostles implies the risen Jesus has given up on sending ambassadors of salvation to the world, which he hasn’t of course.

In practical terms, we might think of an apostle as someone with special gifts of leadership and preaching, who establishes churches in unreached places.

Paul doesn’t spend too much time proving his apostleship (just two verses), the evidence speaks for itself. Rather strangely, he spends a lot more time talking about an apostle’s rights (12 verses).

An Apostle’s Rights:

The Prime Minister of NZ is entitled to a number of perquisites or benefits.

To start with they are paid close to $500,000 a year. Their official residence while in office is Premier House. They are transported by the Diplomatic Protection Service in a BMW car or by Air NZ or the Air Force.

The Prime Minister and their spouse and children are also entitled to travel allowances and reimbursement for accommodation.

The Prime Minister is given the title ‘Right Honourable’ and retains this title after leaving office. Those Prime Ministers who serve for more than two years get paid an annuity after leaving the role. Usually, they are made a knight or a dame as well and they are entitled to a state funeral.

Most Prime Ministers accept these entitlements and fair enough. It’s a demanding job and they shouldn’t have to pay their own way. There was one Prime Minister though (John Key) who gave up some of his rights by donating his salary to charity.

In verses 4-6 Paul outlines the rights of an apostle to receive food and drink from those they minister to and to take a believing wife along with them, who would also be supported by the church. We are not talking about a Prime Minister’s entitlements here. Just basic food and lodging.

Paul mentions that other apostles (and their wives) receive this kind of support, including Cephas (which is another name for the apostle Peter) and the Lord’s brothers. Apparently, Jesus’ half-brothers became believers after Jesus’ resurrection and had an honoured role in the early church.

Paul and Barnabas, however, chose to pay their own way. They supported themselves by working with their hands to make ends meet, then preaching and evangelizing whenever they could. Paul was a tent maker. He worked with leather (sort of like Suzy from the repair shop).

Paul came from a Jewish background, where rabbis worked at a trade and refused to be paid for teaching the Torah. For the rabbis, using the Torah to make money was like using something sacred as a spade. They wouldn’t do it.

But for the Corinthians, who had a Greek influenced background, the idea of a teacher or philosopher working with their hands was absurd, it was a contradiction. Philosophers were supposed to have lots of free time to think.

How can you think properly if you are laying bricks or sewing tents all day?

This may be why the Corinthians questioned Paul’s apostleship.              

Paul then proceeds to provide a series of justifications for why apostles (like himself) have a right to be provided for. Soldiers, vintners, shepherds, temple workers all get fed on the job. Even oxen get to eat the grain as they work.

How much more right does Paul have to be fed. He was the very first apostle to bring the gospel to them.  

As usual, Paul saves his best argument to last saying in verse 14: In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.

Paul is referring to Luke 10, verse 7, where (in the context of sending out some disciples on a short-term mission trip) Jesus says: Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages.

Boom. There you have it. Mic drop. Paul is entitled to financial support from the Corinthians and yet he declines this support. Why?

Well, rights come with responsibilities, something once known as duty.

Rights and responsibilities are two sides of the same coin. The more rights you claim, the greater your responsibility and the greater your responsibility the less free you are. It’s the freedom paradox you see.    

An Apostle’s Responsibilities:

Imagine a future in which you are a scientist and you discover a way to make engines run on water. The great thing about your discovery is that it doesn’t use up water in the environment, it recycles water without causing pollution.

Your discovery means that fossil fuels are no longer needed. The potential benefits for the world’s ecosystems are manifold, reducing humankind’s carbon footprint and saving the planet from ecological disaster.

You now have a choice. You could, by rights, sell your intellectual property for an enormous amount and make a lot of money so that you never had to work again. But that would hinder the roll out of your discovery and millions of the world’s poor would pay the price in the meantime.

Alternatively, you could post your research online, making it freely available to any and all to reproduce. You would still need to work for a living but you would also remove any hindrance to the redemption of the environment and save millions of lives.

It’s a choice between the money or the environment. You can claim your rights by taking the money or you can give up your rights and save the environment from the tipping point of climate change. What would you do?

The apostle Paul did not discover the secrets of the water engine, but by God’s grace, he did discover the key to eternal life when he encountered the risen Christ. And from that point on he chose to make Jesus freely known to as many people as he could.    

After going to great lengths to show he is entitled to the right of support from the Corinthians, Paul then says (in verse 12), But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.

This phrase about not hindering the gospel is key. Paul wants to avoid anything which might prevent a clear road for the advance of the gospel. How then does accepting support hinder the gospel?

Probably the main reason Paul doesn’t want to accept support from the Corinthians is that he would lose his apostolic freedom. As an apostle, Paul needs to be free to go wherever Jesus sends him.

If he is on the Corinthians’ payroll then he has a greater obligation to the Corinthian church. He would get sucked into doing a lot of admin for them and he wouldn’t be free to preach to other unreached people groups. Also, he would not be as free to correct the Corinthians when they got out of line.

In verse 16 Paul says he is compelled to preach the gospel. In other words, he doesn’t have a choice. For Paul, preaching the gospel is compulsory. He has been commissioned by Jesus to do it.

He does have a choice however in whether he charges for his services and, as we read in verse 18, Paul chooses to offer the gospel free of charge and so not make full use of his rights as a preacher.

Paul’s pay is to receive no pay, thus preserving his apostolic freedom. This is the freedom paradox. Less is more. Claiming less rights allows Paul more freedom.

I know what some of you are thinking. If Paul didn’t accept payment for his work as an apostle, why don’t I do as Paul did? Why don’t I preach for nothing? Well, I’m not an apostle. I don’t have Paul’s gifts or energy. Besides, preaching is not the only thing I do for the church.

We need to ask the right question. Not the superficial question. The deeper question. The question is not, should we pay people to do Christian ministry? The question is, what will remove any hindrance to the gospel? Or said more positively, what will make the gospel more accessible to others?

If I worked fulltime as an accountant or a business analyst or a teacher or a movie star, I would earn more money, but I would be less free to give myself to preaching the gospel.          

Now please understand, there’s nothing wrong with secular employment.

The world needs Christians to be salt and light for Jesus in the workplace. Accounting and teaching and plumbing are no less sacred than church work.

If I could do both, I would. But if God compels you to preach (like Paul) then you have to give yourself to the gospel.   

For Paul it was all about the gospel. Although he would not accept support for himself, he did ask for money to help other churches in need, and he did ask for travelling expenses for his mission work. Why? Because this promoted the gospel and preserved his freedom.

Paul’s example warns us to avoid self-interest. We don’t want to be like some TV evangelists from the 80’s who always had their hands out for money. It is not right to use the gospel like a spade to dig for cash, taking advantage of the sick and the old. That sort of thing is a hindrance to the gospel. As Bono said, ‘The God I believe in isn’t short of cash’.

Nevertheless, there is still a price to pay in making the gospel accessible to others.

A question for you personally to consider, what are you compelled to do for the gospel? Not everyone is compelled to preach. Not everyone has the same gifts or calling. What are you compelled to do for the gospel?  Maybe you are already doing it. Maybe you are yet to discover it? Don’t look back with regret. Look forward in hope.  

Conclusion:

In thinking about Paul’s freedom paradox, I’m reminded of another paradox. We might call it the life paradox. In Luke 17, verse 33, Jesus says: Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.

Let us pray…

Lord Jesus, thank you for the freedom we enjoy. Help us to spend our freedom responsibly in service to your gospel purpose. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
  2. What is an apostle? How do we know someone is a genuine apostle? Can you think of any apostles in recent history?
  3. Why do some in the Corinthian church question Paul’s pedigree as an apostle? How do you think this made Paul feel? How does Paul respond?
  4. Why does Paul give up his right to financial support? What is the cost to Paul of doing this? What does Paul gain by giving up his right to support?
  5. What would you do if you discovered how to make an engine run on water? Take the money or give your research away to save the environment? Why?
  6. What are you compelled to do for the gospel? 
  7. What sorts of things today are a hindrance to the spread of the gospel? What will make the gospel more accessible to others?
Tawa Baptist

Why the Gospel

Prepared by Mike Harvey

Good morning

For those of you who don’t know me, or who are new or new-sh to this church, you might guess I’m from Canada or the US.  Pretty good guess – California actually.  I moved to NZ 22 years ago to see the lovely sights in this country, well, one lovely sight whose name is Geraldine.  Being the smart man I was, I married Geraldine almost straight away, and we have been attending Tawa Baptist since 2003.

I grew up in a Christian home, and went to what I think was a pretty typical evangelical church in America.  I was a child of the 1970s & 80s — at the time, evangelical leaders and groups such as Campus Crusade were big on such jargon and ideas like being born again, the Four Spiritual Laws, and the Romans Road to Salvation.

There was a big emphasis on sharing the Gospel, or ‘the Good news’; and as a college and university student, I did a bit of that, knocking on doors once (frightening experience), and then after university I did missionary work for a while.   Later in life, I heard sermons that it’s not only your words, but it can be your deeds too, that attract people to the Gospel.  And the importance of prayer.  So that was nice, took the pressure off.  I didn’t feel I always had to be ‘out there’ talking to strangers.

But lately I’ve come to realise that in my life, I haven’t heard many sermons about WHY I should evangelise, or do good deeds, or pray.  Was it primarily to get people into Heaven?  Or was it primarily so they’d have better lives now, while they are still alive?  They would feel loved (?), for example, by the Divine, and so they’d feel more able to love others?  Which one of these was the primary reason?  Or were all of these good reasons in equal measure?  All of these goals were of course mentioned in some of the things I heard and read, but I don’t remember hearing or reading anyone saying, THIS is the main goal, and those other things are secondary, or no, THAT’s the main goal, and here are some by-products.

As a Christian singular, where am I trying to go?  Or maybe a better question – As Christians plural, as a church (Tawa Baptist and the wider church), where are WE trying to go?  What are we hoping to achieve?

I was listening to a podcast a couple months ago and Matthew W Bates was being interviewed.  He’s a professor of theology at a small university in Illinois and he’s written a handful of books.  His most recent book is called  Why the Gospel?  On the podcast he told a story about him talking to a room of pastors and he gave them this question:  “Why did God give us the Gospel?”

He said,  “There was a fairly stunned silence.  If I had asked What IS the gospel, I would have got some pretty good answers.  But the question WHY the gospel is one I think throws people off.”  When he has asked this to other groups, he does say after a while he gets answers such as “Well because we need forgiveness” or “Because God loves us”. 

Mr Bates went on to say this:  “But both of those miss the target, I think, by short circuiting what Scripture teaches us…, and misses the primary reason God gives us the gospel…and that is, because we need a King.”

Mr Bates later goes into what he means by that, and if you want to listen to the episode, I have a link to that podcast at end of my sermon notes.   But I want to use his idea of kingship to go in a different direction.  And that is: Why a king?  Why is THAT important – what human need does a king fill? 

As an American import living in NZ, I have had to become familiar with NZ’s connection to the British monarchy.  At first, I didn’t quite understand that relationship, and I suppose I still don’t fully get it.  Why keep that connection?  Indeed, why does the UK still have a queen, or a king?  When it’s only a ceremonial role?   What practical use does it have?

But then I watched the Queen’s and King’s Christmas messages over the years.  The Queen would often talk about peace and reconciliation, of community service, of faith and hope.   Last month, King Charles said we “must protect the Earth and our natural world as the one home which we all share”.

And then there was the movie ‘The King’s Speech” about King George VI. (A terrific movie by the way, recommended!)  The day Britain declared war on Germany, he said in a radio address:

“The task will be hard. There may be dark days ahead, and war can no longer be confined to the battlefield. But we can only do the right as we see the right, and reverently commit our cause to God.  If one and all we keep resolutely faithful to it, ready for whatever service or sacrifice it may demand, then, with God’s help, we shall prevail.”

So now I was starting to get it – what the point of a monarch was.  At their best, they can inspire us to do great things, or rally us in times of difficulty.  And in the movie, you saw all of Britain huddled around radios together as families or at a pub.   In the old clips of the Queen visiting NZ, we see throngs of people, all together as one as they welcomed her. 

At our best, this speaks to something about identity, doesn’t it?  A CORPORATE identity.  By joining together around a king or queen, we’re making a statement that we are part of a group, with a common purpose.  We are saying we want to be a PLACE of justice, freedom, and beauty, a place of joy, hope and love.

In other words, yes I agree with Mr Bates that we need a king, but it would be kind of strange for me as individual to have a king who is king of only me.  King implies there is a kingDOM, a group of people rather than just one person.  And to me, that’ a more exciting prospect, that I would be part of a kingDOM, to have a sense of belonging, of knowing who I am in the context of community.

First Sameul 8 tells us that 1000 years before Jesus, Israel wanted a king like the other nations had.  And if you’ll recall, God was pretty mad at them for asking that.  But it wasn’t because he was against the idea of kingship and kingdom;  it was because HE was supposed to be their king.

Israel was to be different from other nations – while they had human kings, Israel was to have a DIVINE king.  They were to have a UNIQUE identity, a unique corporate identity, a divine identity, which would be a model of peace and justice and fairness and joy and love to other nations, that other nations may be drawn to them and ultimately to God the King, so that all of humanity would experience the same glory.  After all, God had promised Abraham in Genesis 12 that all peoples on earth would be blessed through him.

But Israel wanted that human king – they gave themselves over to worldly powers.  This was sin with a Capital S.

I think it’s helpful to think of sin in two ways – Capital S versus small S sin.  Capital S sin is when we overvalue things of this world that are temporary, like $$, personal success, or comfort, and undervalue our relationship to God, undervalue our relationship to each other as God-image-bearing humans, and undervalue God’s Creation.  When we have Capital S sin in our lives, we’re much more likely to commit small s sins, such as greed, envy and hatred, and that’s what often happened with Israel, according to the Old Testament.

Time and again in the Old Testament, we see God trying to help Israel out of the trap of Sin and sins. He gave them laws to help them value their relationships with Him and each other, and he gave them prophets to warn them when they were going off on the wrong path.  Through his prophets, he also showed them his heart, how much he loved them. Listen to these words from the prophet Hosea – chapter 11:

1 When Israel was a child, I loved him,
    and out of Egypt I called my son.
2But the more they were called,
    the more they went away from me.

It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,  [Ephraim was one of the 12 tribes of Israel]
    taking them by the arms;
but they did not realize
    it was I who healed them.

Verse 4: To them I was like one who lifts
    a little child to the cheek,
    and I bent down to feed them.

Will they not return to Egypt because they refuse to repent?

Verse 7:  My people are determined to turn from me.
    Even though they call me God Most High,
    I will by no means exalt them.

Verse 8:  “How can I give you up, Ephraim?
    How can I hand you over, Israel?

My heart is changed within me;
    all my compassion is aroused

Verse 9:  I will not carry out my fierce anger,
    nor will I devastate Ephraim again.

Behold the heart of God!   Verse 4, he shows the tenderness of a parent.  But verse 7, he’s angry and pained at their rejection, and says he will not exalt them.  But then verse 8, he says his heart is changed and says he won’t carry out his fierce anger.  You see this internal anguish, the going back and forth between pain and compassion.  One would have hoped Israel, when listening to these words by Hosea, would have finally turned to God.

But in general, Israel wouldn’t budge; they would fall under the temptation of Capital S sin and, as a result, become so weak and powerless, burdened by a multitude of small s sins, they’d again fall victim to invasion and exile.  The pattern, the cycle, continued, even up to the time of Jesus, when they still found themselves under the power of someone else, this time the Romans.

But was Jesus now the King, the Messiah who would free Israel from this worldly power Rome?  Well, no and yes.  Jesus certainly didn’t live the life of a king.   But he did show his power over human and demonic forces, with healings and forgiveness.  He didn’t start a political revolution in the traditional sense, but he did show a revolutionary way of living where the law of God, the law of love would be followed, rather than the unjust laws of man –  but in the end Jesus, and so God himself, was rejected and killed.

History had been building to this moment.  God coming to earth through his Son was the ultimate illustration of God’s desire to reconcile mankind with Himself, and reconcile mankind with each other.  The cross was the ultimate incident of mankind’s rejection of God’s love.  And because of this, it was the ultimate incident of divine suffering, and so the ultimate expression of God’s love.

Sin, with a capital S, that is, mankind’s rejection of God, had seemed to have won.   But on the 3rd day Jesus rose, showing that Sin and death were conquered.   And by the way, not all of Israel had rejected Him.   Lifted in their spirits by the resurrection, 11 of his disciples, and then Paul, all 12 of them Israelites, and then small groups of followers, took up the mantle and spread the Gospel. They wrote letters and books that became the New Testament that tried to explain the meaning of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.  And we’re still grappling with understanding that meaning in 2024, and today in this sermon.

So what does all of this have to do with individual salvation and sharing the Gospel to my friend so my friend can be saved?   You may have noticed so far I’ve been using words like Israel and mankind (rather than the individual) – I’ve been talking about groups of people and communities.  When we read the Bible, I wonder sometimes whether we over-individualise certain verses, and fail to see the larger context, the larger story, that is of God’s purpose for Israel and the church, of what our divine corporate identity is to be.

I’ll give an example.  At the start of the sermon, I mentioned the common tools of the Gospel used in the 1970s/80s, like the 4 Spiritual Laws and the Romans Road.  From what I can tell on the internet, they are still being used today.  The Romans Road is a series of 4 or 5 verses plucked from different parts of the book of Romans.  One of them is Romans 5:8:

“But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” NRSV

Here is the way many Christians read this verse: 

While I was a sinner (e.g taking drugs, being envious, being selfish, not honouring my parents), he died for me, which means I can go to Heaven despite my sins.

But putting this verse in the larger context of Romans and the wider Bible, how about this as another way to read it?

While Israel, when humanity, was looking to other things besides God as giving meaning to their life, not relying on Him, rejecting Him as a community (Sin with a capital S), and while this led to societal breakdown and to the increase of individual sins and people going off the rails, and while all this was happening despite God time and again trying to show his love and guidance – while this terrible rejection of God from humanity was going on, God stepped into History and upped the ante, showing humanity EVEN again AND EVEN MORE how much he loves us, by sending us His Son to death, setting US free from the ‘death’ that we as a community were bringing on ourselves.  Sin ‘did its worst’ but he conquered it.  This means that we as individuals and as a community are free and empowered to bring his Kingdom indeed to Earth.

To me, this is a far richer way to understand Romans 5:8, and the ‘why’ of the Gospel.  The Lord’s prayer says thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Revelation 21, which Angela read earlier talks about the end of the age, when heaven comes down to earth, when the divine and humanity meet. 

God’s dwelling place is now among the people…He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death  or mourning or crying or pain.

Revelation 21 is a vision of a corporate salvation.  And it’s not about escaping the earth, but about the arrival of God’s Kingdom ON earth.  That’s our corporate goal.  That’s our corporate Gospel.

I am not suggesting that individual salvation is not important – but I propose that our thinking about it can be enhanced.  I am saved – saved from what, and in order to do what?  Well, not only saved at some future date from this world, to go to the new heaven and new earth, but rather saved NOW from the stranglehold of sin on my life, in order to free me up to live NOW as a divine image bearing human, to enjoy God’s creation now, to improve this world now, to belong to a community, a community of other empowered people whom God has also saved, maybe to work alongside them to bring hope and healing to our society, that is, to bring the kingdom of God to Tawa, NZ and the ends of the earth.  And in this way, bringing Revelation 21 to pass.

In closing I’d like to share something from NT Wright, an Anglican NT scholar who was the Bishop of Durham for a number of years and has written over 70 books.  In his book ‘The Day the Revolution Began’, he says this as a commentary on Galatians 1:4:

“The loving purpose of God, working through the sin-forgiving death of Jesus, frees us from the power of the present evil age, so that we may be part of God’s new age, his new creation, launched already when Jesus rose from the dead, awaiting its final completion when he returns, but active now through the work of rescued rescuers, the redeemed human beings called to bring redeeming love into the world – the justified justice-bringers, the reconciled reconcilers, the Passover People.” (Pages 364-5.)

Amen.  So be it.

Further notes and resources

  1. The podcast episode featuring Matthew W Bates who asked the room of pastors ‘Why the gospel’

https://podcast.choosetruthovertribe.com/episodes/why-the-gospel-matthew-bates?hsLang=en

  • The Day the Revolution Began (2016), by NT Wright – the book from which I used to conclude the sermon.  NT Wright is well known for his criticism of the North American church’s overemphasis on ‘going to heaven when you die’ – see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._T._Wright
  • Other NT Wright resources

– https://ntwrightpage.com/

– https://www.premierunbelievable.com/shows/ask-nt-wright-anything  – a series of 30 minute podcasts where NT Wright asks listener questions.  I’ve found this very helpful.

– Go to youtube and search “NT Wright” – you’ll find many sermons, lectures, interviews etc.

  • Divine Government:  God’s Kingship in the Gospel of Mark (1990) by RT France

“…the personal change of values which Jesus required must obviously have an effect on the lifestyle and relationships of those who followed him.  The new relationship with God…could never by a purely private, individual affair, and it is particularly in their relations with one another that the new values of God’s kingship must begin to operate.  Hence the frequent stress on matters of status and leadership, the call to welcome the insignificant, and to serve rather than to be served….In this topsy-turvy community, where the first are last and the last first, the new values of divine government can begin to take visible form.   And when that happens, as a result of the inward transformation which God’s kingship demands, there is the promise of a truly transformed society, not changes merely by a reordering of its structures, but by a reorientation of its values.” Page 62.

  • Further to the idea that kingship can inspire a positive corporate identity, this is from the Guardian’s review of ‘The King’s Speech’ flim:

“When war broke out in 1939, he [King George VI] became an unlikely symbol of national resistance, his mundane domesticity a reminder of what Britain was fighting for. ….[H]is newsreel appearances were regularly interrupted by applause from the audience. But it was not merely deference that explains the public reaction, even though it played its part. The truth, I suspect, is that when thousands applauded the King in the cinema, they were not just acknowledging their monarch; they were applauding themselves.”  https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jan/02/the-kings-speech-george-vi

Tawa Baptist

The Consequence of Resurrection

Scripture: 1st Corinthians 15:12-20 & 29-34

Video Link: https://youtu.be/axBZHOQ-Bd0

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Logical consequences of resurrection
  • Moral (& practical) consequences of resurrection
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Imagine, if you can, a world without gravity. It would make life very difficult. Even if you managed to get to sleep on the floor, you would wake up on the ceiling. You wouldn’t be able to take a shower very well. Trying to keep your food down would be tricky and going to the toilet would be a nightmare.

But really, you wouldn’t be able to do any of those things because, without gravity, life as we know it would not exist. The earth would disintegrate. 

Today we continue our sermon series in 1st Corinthians 15. There were some in the church in Corinth who were saying there is no resurrection of the dead. In chapter 15 Paul corrects this mistaken thinking.

To say there is no resurrection of the dead is like saying there is no gravity. Without the resurrection of the dead the Christian faith disintegrates.

Last week we heard how the death and resurrection of Jesus is the heart of the gospel. In today’s passage, Paul invites us to imagine the consequences of denying the resurrection. From 1st Corinthians 15, verse 12, we read…  

12 Now, since our message is that Christ has been raised from death, how can some of you say that the dead will not be raised to life? 13 If that is true, it means that Christ was not raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised from death, then we have nothing to preach and you have nothing to believe. 15 More than that, we are shown to be lying about God, because we said that he raised Christ from death—but if it is true that the dead are not raised to life, then he did not raise Christ. 16 For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is a delusion and you are still lost in your sins. 18 It would also mean that the believers in Christ who have died are lost. 19 If our hope in Christ is good for this life only and no more,then we deserve more pity than anyone else in all the world. 20 But the truth is that Christ has been raised from death, as the guarantee that those who sleep in death will also be raised.

29 Now, what about those people who are baptized for the dead? What do they hope to accomplish? If it is true, as some claim, that the dead are not raised to life, why are those people being baptized for the dead?  30 And as for us—why would we run the risk of danger every hour? 31 My friends, I face death every day! The pride I have in you, in our life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord, makes me declare this. 32 If I have, as it were, fought “wild beasts” here in Ephesus simply from human motives, what have I gained? But if the dead are not raised to life, then, as the saying goes, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.” 33 Do not be fooled. “Bad companions ruin good character.” 34 Come back to your right senses and stop your sinful ways. I declare to your shame that some of you do not know God.

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

The more observant among you may have noticed that part way through this reading we skipped from verse 20 to verse 29. We missed out eight verses. We will look at those eight verses next week. Our focus today is on the consequence of saying there is no resurrection of the dead.

Broadly speaking, verses 12-19 deal with the logical consequences of no resurrection and verses 29-34 deal with the moral & practical consequences. Let’s start with the logical consequences.

Logical consequences:

ACC have a series of TV advertisements which are aimed at preventing accidents. In one scenario a young man has the idea that he will jump from the top of a waterfall. Before he does though, he has a hmmm. He considers the consequences of jumping from a great height.

As he thinks it through he realises there is a serious risk that he will injure himself. Recovering from the injury would be a significant inconvenience to himself and his friends. With both his arms broken, who would wipe his bottom when he had to go to the toilet?

In verses 12-19 of 1st Corinthians 15, Paul gets his readers to have a hmmm; to think through the consequences of going along with the idea that there is no resurrection of the dead.

We could summarise the logic like this…

If you say there is no resurrection of the dead, then it logically follows that Jesus was not raised from the dead. And if Jesus was not raised from the dead, then the gospel message is false, our faith is based on a lie and our sins are not forgiven. Without the resurrection, Jesus died for nothing.

The main point here is that the integrity of the Christian faith rests on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Without a good foundation, the building collapses. Without the resurrection of the dead, the Christian faith collapses. If you remove a beating heart, the person dies. If you remove the resurrection of the dead, the Christian faith dies. Without gravity, the earth would disintegrate. Without resurrection, Christian faith disintegrates. 

Some of you may be wondering, how exactly does our forgiveness depend on Jesus’ death and resurrection?

Well, by raising Jesus from the dead God was vindicating Jesus. God was saying: I verify that Jesus was right and that he died for the sins of the world.

The resurrection of Jesus proves that Jesus did not die for nothing, that Jesus was true in what he taught about God. Logically, the resurrection of Jesus signals the triumph of love over hate, truth over falsehood, goodness over evil and life over death.  

Last Sunday we heard how the objective historical evidence for Jesus’ death and resurrection is very strong. I don’t need to rehearse that again today. Suffice to say, Paul can declare with confidence, in verse 20, But the truth is that Christ has been raised from death, as the guarantee that those who sleep in death will also be raised.

Okay, so when we have a hmmm and think through the consequences of saying there is no resurrection of the dead, we can see logically that the Christian faith comes undone.

Hand in hand with denying the logical consequences of the resurrection, there are also some very real moral and practical consequences. The moral and practical consequences relate both to this life and the next.

Moral consequences:

Viktor Frankl was an Austrian-Jewish psychiatrist who survived the concentration camps of the second world war. Viktor Frankl believed that life is the quest for meaning. Indeed, we are motivated by a hunger for meaning.

Viktor Frankl said: ‘When a person cannot find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.’

It is my observation that people search for meaning in all sorts of ways and are often disappointed. One of the things that gives a deeper (more satisfying) meaning to this life is the conviction that there is another life waiting for us beyond death. Because if this life is all there is, then death has the last word and if death has the last word then what’s the point?  All you are left with is hedonism, the maximisation of pleasure and the minimisation of pain.  

In verse 19 Paul makes the comment: If our hope in Christ is good for this life only and no more,then we deserve more pity than anyone else in all the world.

If we took this verse in isolation, we might misunderstand Paul to mean that the Christian faith is only good for the next life and is of no benefit for this life. But that’s not where Paul is going with this.

When it comes to being a follower of Jesus, there are costs and benefits in this life. One of the costs of being a Christian is that you can’t put your own pleasure ahead of everything else. For example, you can’t get drunk and you can’t sleep around. Nor can you lie, cheat and steal to get ahead in life. To make things even more difficult we are honour bound to forgive people when they wrong us.    

As it happens, following Jesus also comes with benefits. For example, because you don’t get drunk, you don’t suffer a hangover. Likewise, because you don’t sleep around, you avoid the shame and emotional trauma of cheap sex. Also, people are more inclined to trust you because you don’t lie, cheat and steal. What’s more, it is in forgiving others that we ourselves are forgiven and set free.

So, in many ways, living a Christian lifestyle is actually a morally and practically smart thing to do in this life. But again, that’s not where Paul is going with this.

Later, from verse 31, Paul goes on to say: My friends, I face death every day!… 32 If I have, as it were, fought “wild beasts” here in Ephesus simply from human motives, what have I gained?”

Paul is referring to the very real cost of being an apostle of Christ. When Paul says, I face death every day, he means he risks his life to preach the gospel every day. The “wild beasts” Paul fought in Ephesus are most likely the crowd that wanted to lynch him because his preaching of the gospel threatened the Ephesians’ false view of God and was bad for business.   

Paul suffered a great deal of hardship in the process of proclaiming the death and resurrection of Jesus. Why would he put himself through all of that suffering if he wasn’t convinced the resurrection is true? Paul found deep meaning through an encounter with the risen Jesus Christ. The meaning of Jesus’ resurrection sustained Paul as he suffered injustice for the sake of Christ.  

We are unlikely to suffer to the same degree that Paul did but we might sometimes face social rejection and misunderstanding for our beliefs. It would be fair to say that identifying as a Christian is not cool. The temptation to surrender our faith in the resurrection is strong in the materialistic society in which we live. But if we do that, we empty this life of its deeper meaning.

Paul continues in verse 32 saying: But if the dead are not raised to life, then, as the saying goes, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.”

If there is no resurrection, then that means this life is all there is. And if this life is all there is, then you may as well party hard. It’s like Viktor Frankl said: ‘When a person cannot find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.’

Paul goes on to say in verse 33: Do not be fooled. “Bad companions ruin good character.”

Paul is quoting the ancient Greek playwright Menander. This is Paul’s equivalent of using a movie clip to illustrate the point. The point being, if you spend too much time in the company of people who say there is no resurrection you will end up living a dissolute, immoral lifestyle.

If you let go of your belief in the resurrection, you discard the deeper meaning of your life. And if you discard the deeper meaning of your life you become a danger to yourself and to others.

God wants us to be close with him in right relationship. Jesus’ death and resurrection enables intimacy with God in this life and the next. Intimacy with God is the deepest (most satisfying) meaning there is.

That last sentence, in verse 34, I declare to your shame that some of you do not know God, is interesting. Paul is drawing a connection between God’s character and the resurrection. The fact of the resurrection testifies to God’s goodness and power. If you say that God did not raise Jesus from the dead, then you are really saying sin and death are stronger than God’s love, which is an ignorant thing to say. The power of God’s love has no rivals.

Some of you might be thinking, what about verse 29? Well, I’m saving that for last. Verse 29 reads: Now, what about those people who are baptized for the dead? What do they hope to accomplish? If it is true, as some claim, that the dead are not raised to life, why are those people being baptized for the dead?  

Baptism itself is a visual symbol of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Going under the waters of baptism represents the death of Jesus and the death of our old way of life. In the same vein, rising up out of the waters remembers Jesus’ resurrection and, at the same time, points forward to our own resurrection.

On the face of it, verse 29 seems to suggest there were people in the ancient church who were baptised on behalf of the dead. Maybe they had a friend or a family member who died before being baptised and so they went through the waters of baptism for them, to ensure their loved one’s eternal salvation.

Paul is not condoning this sort of thing. Far from it. Paul is simply pointing out the inconsistency in the Corinthians’ logic. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t say there is no resurrection and then be baptised on behalf of the dead.

Having said that, experts over the centuries have come up with about 40 different ways of interpreting verse 29. I’m not going to take you through all 40 interpretations, but I will mention one alternative which seems sensible to me.

Being baptised for the dead might refer to those who are baptised and become Christians as a result of a Christian believer dying. Like when a non-Christian is baptised in the hope of being reunited with a loved one who has died. For example, a heathen husband gets baptised ‘for the sake of his believing wife’, so that he might be reunited with her in the resurrection. Or a dying mother wins her daughter with the appeal, ‘meet me in heaven’. [1]

When I was about 10, my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. By the time they picked it up the cancer had spread to her liver. Nan lived with us for the last three months of her life.

During that time, we invited a faith healer to come and pray for my Nan. It was the early 80’s when NZ was in the midst of the charismatic renewal movement. The prayer did not result in my Nan’s physical healing. She still died of cancer but her death became the catalyst for our family to become Christians.    

We were not baptised for my Nan’s eternal salvation. Nan is saved through her own faith in Jesus. We were baptised as a sign of our conversion and in the hope that we would see my Nan again in the resurrection.

Who would you like to see again in the resurrection?

Conclusion:

Returning to the main point of our message today. What you believe about the resurrection has very real consequences. The resurrection is essential to the Christian faith. It is as essential as gravity is to the physical world. Christianity doesn’t have a lot of non-negotiables but the resurrection is one of them.    

As Paul says in Romans 10:9, If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord”, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Confessing with our mouths that ‘Jesus is Lord’ is not hard for most of us. Believing in our heart (in the core of our being) that God raised Jesus from the dead can be more difficult.

Intellectually, we may have no trouble accepting the historical evidence for Jesus’ resurrection. Likewise, we can see logically how Jesus’ resurrection makes sense of the Christian faith. The resurrection of Jesus gives substance and meaning and integrity to our faith.

But intellectual agreement is not the same thing as heart commitment. Sometimes the seed of our belief in the resurrection sits just below the surface of the soil, it doesn’t go that deep. So there is a gap between what we say we believe and how we respond when our faith is tested.

Jesus told his disciples about his death and resurrection at least three times before it happened. But the reality of what Jesus was saying didn’t really penetrate the soil of their hearts at first. The disciples’ heart commitment to Jesus’ resurrection came after the fact; after they had been through the crucible of the cross. They saw Jesus’ resurrection in the rear vision mirror.  

It is the same for us. Normally we have to go through the crucible of unjust suffering, or face the death of someone we love dearly, before the reality of resurrection takes root in our heart.

In the book of Job, possibly one of the oldest books in the Bible, Job says this while he is suffering great injustice: 25 I know that my redeemerlives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. 26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yetin my flesh I will see God; 27 I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within!

Job found meaning in his life, in the face of unjust suffering, by believing in a bodily resurrection. Job believed that even after death he would see God who would redeem his suffering and make sense of it all.

That yearning in your heart that no words can describe. That deep sense of dissatisfaction you feel with the way the world is, that no amount of entertainment or pleasure can numb. That is the desire for resurrection, for eternity, for intimacy with God. It is a desire only God can satisfy.  

Over the years I have sat at the beside of a number of Godly people as they passed from this world to the next. There is a calmness, a peace, an acceptance, an absence of fear, even a curiosity, in the spirit of these men and women of faith that shows me the resurrection is real.    

The journey to deep, heart-felt belief in the resurrection of Jesus can take a life time. Don’t worry. God’s grace is sufficient for you. He will get you there in the end if you hold to Christ.     

May God’s Spirit grant you the grace and strength you need for the journey. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • Why is the resurrection essential to the Christian faith? What are the logical consequences of saying there is no resurrection of the dead? 
  • Why did God raise Jesus from the dead? What does the resurrection of Jesus prove?
  • Discuss / reflect on Viktor Frankl’s thought: ‘When a person cannot find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.’ What does he mean? Do you agree or disagree? How do you find meaning for your own life in this world?
  • What are some of the costs and benefits (for you personally) of living a Christian lifestyle? Why are you a Christian? (Or, if you do not have faith in Jesus, why are you not a Christian?)
  • Has your belief in the resurrection been tested? If so, how? And what did you learn?
  • Who do you look forward to seeing in the resurrection?          

[1] Kenneth Bailey, ‘Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes’, page 450.

Tawa Baptist

The Gospel

Scripture: 1st Corinthians 15:1-11

Video Link: https://youtu.be/USnGS04z94s

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The heart of the gospel
  • The truth of the gospel
  • The grace of the gospel
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Some years ago our washing machine stopped working mid cycle, full of water and clothes. I got the repair person to come and take a look.

Turns out there was a hair clip trapped in the water pump. (Not my hair clip, by the way.) I watched to see how he unblocked it and then, the next time a hair clip went through the wash, I was able to fix it myself. (Even when you check pockets, things still find their way into places they shouldn’t.)

Although it was frustrating at the time, if the water pump hadn’t become blocked, I would never have learned how the washing machine worked much less how to remedy a blockage. Problems and mistakes usually provide a learning opportunity.

This morning we begin a new sermon series based on 1st Corinthians 15. Not the whole of Corinthians, just chapter 15. First Corinthians is a letter written by the apostle Paul to the church in ancient Corinth, which is in Greece.

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul addresses a number of problems in the church. For example, some people were saying there was no resurrection of the dead, which is sort of the equivalent of a blocked water pump in your washing machine. It basically stalls faith, stops the flow of hope and kills joy. 

In chapter 15, Paul shows us the inner workings of his theology of resurrection. He pulls apart the Corinthians’ thinking, clears the blockage and puts things back together again.

As frustrating as it must have been for Paul to have to correct this breakdown, being able to read how Paul addressed the issue provides a learning opportunity for us. It shows us how to fix the same problem.   

First Corinthians 15 is over 50 verses long, so the plan is to look at this chapter in smaller pieces during the weeks leading up to Pentecost. This morning we cover the first 11 verses, in which Paul writes about the gospel. From 1st Corinthians 15, verse 1 we read… 

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter,and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. 9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

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

As I mentioned before, the main theme of these verses is the gospel. Gospel is a word which simply means ‘good news’. The gospel of Jesus is the good news about Jesus Christ. In today’s message we consider the heart of the gospel, the truth of the gospel and the grace of the gospel.

The heart of the gospel:

When we talk about the heart of something we are normally referring to the core of the matter, the most important part, that aspect upon which life depends.

Paul gives us the heart of the gospel in verses 3-5. Essentially, Christ died for our sins and was raised on the third day. The death and resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah, is the heart of the gospel.

So what does Paul mean when he says, ‘Christ died for our sins’?

Well, there is a mystery to what Jesus accomplished in dying on the cross. So we need to approach these words with a good measure of humility.

Some people think solely in terms of punishment. For them the phrase, ‘Christ died for our sins’, means that God punished Jesus for our sins. The problem with this kind of thinking is that it makes God out to be a monster.

If you have two children and one of them does something bad and the other does something good, you don’t punish the one who did good as a substitute for the one who did bad. That would be child abuse.

In fact, as a loving parent, you are probably not thinking about punishment at all. You are more likely thinking about how best to teach your child the right way. In other words, how can I redeem this situation?

The main emphasis with this idea that ‘Christ died for our sins’ is redemption. Jesus died on the cross for our salvation. The cross is really God’s way of showing his love for us, so we can be close to him.

Kenneth Bailey uses Jesus’ parable of the good shepherd and the lost sheep to explain. When a sheep goes astray the good shepherd acts out of love for the sheep. He goes looking for the sheep and when he finds it, he brings it home so the life of the sheep is redeemed.

The shepherd does not say to himself, ‘The lost sheep has wandered five miles off the beaten track, so I must hike five miles through the bush to pay for the sheep’s mistakes’. No, what would be the point of that? The sheep would still be lost and the shepherd would be tired. When it comes to ‘Christ dying for our sins’, the focus is on the rescue, not the penalty. [1]

Or to put it another way, if we think of sin as a grenade. When we pull the pin of the grenade (when we sin), Jesus is the one who smoothers the grenade with his own body to shield us from the shrapnel. By going to the cross to die for our sins, Jesus was falling on the grenade to save us. Jesus was taking our sin upon himself so that when he died our sin died with him.

With the cross of Christ, the emphasis is on redemption, not punishment. If we put the emphasis on punishment, we end up with a warped idea of God; a God who is graceless and unfair and just waiting for us to slip up. Belief in a God like that is not sustainable.     

There’s an old Star Trek movie (called The Wrath of Khan) in which the Star-ship Enterprise is having engine problems. The core reactor is melting down and needs to be fixed before the whole ship explodes. Spock enters the reactor and fixes the problem but, in doing so, he is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation and dies. Spock gives his life to save the ship and its crew.

Jesus dying for our sins is a bit like that. Our sin is causing the whole of creation to melt down. Jesus’ going to the cross is like Spock going into the reactor to fix the problem. In the process of saving us and redeeming creation, Jesus dies.  

The writers of the Star Trek movies must have been reading the gospels because in the very next movie, Spock is resurrected. 

After Jesus had died on the cross for our sins and been buried, God raised Jesus to eternal life on the third day. That is the heart of the gospel. What about the truth of the gospel?

The truth of the gospel:

There are two kinds of truth: objective truth and subjective truth. Objective truth describes reality as it actually is, without bias from an individual. While subjective truth is reality as it is perceived or experienced by the individual.

For example, ‘the sun rises in the East’, is objective truth. That is true, irrespective of what you personally think or feel about sunrises. Whereas, ‘the sunrise is beautiful’, is subjective truth. Some people find a sunrise beautiful and others could take it or leave it; they would rather sleep in.

The good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection is objectively true and, for Christians at least, also subjectively true.

In verses 5-8 Paul gives evidence for the objective truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection. The risen Jesus appeared to Peter, to all the apostles (including James), to 500 others at one time and then later to Paul himself.

Paul was probably writing to the Corinthians about 20 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. So most of the original eye witnesses were still alive and therefore could provide objective testimony to confirm Jesus’ resurrection.

We know these witnesses were telling the truth because they were prepared to give their lives in testifying to the fact that Jesus had been raised from the dead. Their encounter with the risen Jesus was stronger than death itself. Indeed, the apostles were not afraid of death because they had seen first-hand how Jesus had conquered death.

Paul talks about those eyewitnesses who have died as having ‘fallen asleep’. That’s the difference the resurrection of Jesus makes. For the Christian believer, physical death is not ‘good bye forever’. Rather, physical death is simply, ‘goodnight my love, I will see you in the morning’.

Given the diverse number of witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection, plus their level of commitment to what they had witnessed and the closeness of the written record to the actual events, the objective historical evidence for Jesus’ death and resurrection is very strong. 

In verses 3 & 4 Paul offers the witness of the Old Testament as further evidence to support the facts of the gospel. These things did not happen at random. They happened according to God’s plan.    

But is the witness of Scripture objective truth or subjective truth? It’s both and.

Personal experience is the lens through which we interpret the Scriptures. The early Christians who had actually witnessed Jesus’ death and met the risen Jesus, could see how the Old Testament foretold these things because their personal experience gave them the insight to recognise it.

In talking about objective and subjective truth, it’s not that one is more valid or more important than the other. When it comes to the gospel, both are needed. If we don’t receive and believe in the truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection subjectively, for ourselves, then it won’t become a source of hope or joy or comfort for us personally.

Imagine you are out on the open sea. The boat you are in is sinking fast. Then along comes another boat. The captain of the other boat can see you are in trouble and asks if you want to come on board his boat. The rescue boat doesn’t look that flash but at least it is not leaking.

Both boats and the ocean are objectively real. Whereas, how you personally feel about the situation is subjectively real. Two people on the same sinking ship might be experiencing quite different emotions. One might be in a state of happy denial and the other might be frightened for their life.

Subjective truth matters a great deal because how you personally feel about the situation influences your decision. The objective truth is that if you don’t climb aboard the rescue boat you will drown.

In verses 1 & 2, Paul reminds the Corinthians that they did in fact receive the gospel he had preached to them and that they have taken their stand on the truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection and furthermore that they are being saved by the gospel.

The gospel is like the rescue boat and Jesus is the captain. The gospel may not appear that flash at first but it is objectively true, it does not leak. What’s more, the Corinthians have accepted the gospel as subjectively true for them. They have taken their stand in the boat of the gospel and it is saving them. To change their mind and jump out of the boat would only result in their death.

The grace of the gospel:

Okay, so the heart of the gospel is Jesus’ death and resurrection. The gospel is objectively true but it also needs to be subjectively true for us personally, if we are to be saved.

Jesus embodies the truth; he is the truth. Jesus also embodies the grace of God. With Jesus, truth and grace go together. Let’s consider then the grace of the gospel.

Grace means gift. Grace is not an entitlement, like wages or the repayment of a loan. It is not earned or owed. Grace is undeserved goodness. Or, to borrow a phrase from years gone by, grace is unmerited favour.  

In verses 5-8, Paul mentions three people by name whom the risen Jesus appeared to: Peter, James and Paul. The curious thing here is that Paul does not mention Mary Magdalene or any of the female disciples by name.

The gospels of Matthew, Mark & John all tell us that Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene on Easter morning. So why does Paul leave Mary out?

Well, we can’t know for sure. Perhaps Paul was only naming individuals that the Corinthians knew and they didn’t happen to know Mary, whereas they did know Peter, James and Paul.

What we can say is that Peter, James and Paul were shown special grace by the risen Jesus. Peter denied knowing Jesus and yet the risen Christ restored Peter asking him to ‘feed my lambs’.

Likewise, if the ‘James’ Paul is referring to here is the biological half-brother of Jesus, then Jesus was reaching out in grace to James. Jesus’ brothers did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah; they all thought he was mad. Seeing the objective truth of the risen Jesus changed James’ mind.

And then there is Paul, who says of himself in verses 8 & 9…

8 and last of all he [Jesus] appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. 9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

The risen Christ appeared to Paul, on the road to Damascus, even as Paul was on a mission to kill the followers of Jesus. In his grace, the Lord gave Paul the gift of a new perspective and a whole new mission. Paul’s response to Jesus’ grace was to obey the Lord in faith.

The phrase in verse 8, abnormally born, translates more literally as ‘miscarriage’ or ‘abortion’. It’s a term of verbal abuse. Perhaps Paul was ridiculed by his critics as an ‘abortion’ of a man?

Paul graciously endures the insult and turns it into something positive, for God’s glory. Paul says in verse 10…  

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.            

One way to understand Paul’s thought here is like this: Yes, my work before I met the risen Jesus was a lifeless abortion. My attempts to please God by persecuting Christians were a miscarriage. But, by God’s grace, my work since encountering the risen Christ has been fruitful and life-giving. [2]     

We are talking about the grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The grace of Jesus is greater than Peter’s denial, more real than James’ disbelief and more powerful than Paul’s persecution. The objective historical truth is that the grace of the risen Jesus is greater than human sin. 

One other thing we observe about grace. Notice how Paul says (at the end of verse 10), I worked harder than all of them – yet not I but the grace of God that was with me. Paul thought of God’s grace as a co-worker, someone working with him, alongside him. What a beautiful idea.

Have you ever felt like you’ve let God down? That might be your subjective truth (your internal reality) but it is not the objective truth. The objective truth is that you cannot let God down. You are not actually supporting God. God is supporting you, by his grace.   

When we serve the Lord we are not alone. God’s grace is working with us. Yes, we want to give our best but more often than not even our best will fall short. That’s okay. We don’t need to beat ourselves up. God’s grace is sufficient for us. God will see to it that his purpose prevails.

As you start the week, try to imagine God’s grace as a co-worker, supporting you, working with you as you serve God in your home, in your place of work and in the community.   

Conclusion: 

The heart of the gospel is Jesus’ death and resurrection. The gospel is objectively true but it also needs to be subjectively true, if we are to be saved. It is the grace of the risen Jesus which makes the truth of the gospel real for us.

May God’s Spirit of grace and truth make the resurrection of Jesus real for you and me, personally. Amen. 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • Can you think of a time when a problem or mistake created a valuable learning opportunity for you? What happened? What did you learn?
  • What is the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ?
  • How do we know the gospel about Jesus (his death & resurrection) is objectively true?
  • Discuss / reflect on the phrase, “Christ died for our sins”. What does this mean? Why is it important to emphasise redemption (rather than punishment) when thinking about what Jesus accomplished on the cross?
  • What difference does the death and resurrection of Jesus make for you personally?
  • What practical things can you do to remind yourself that God’s grace is a co-worker, supporting you and working with you as you serve God’s purpose in your home, in your place of work and in the community. 

[1][1] Kenneth Bailey, ‘Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes’, page 432.

[2] Refer James Moffatt’s commentary on 1st Corinthians, page 239.

Tawa Baptist

Grace

Scripture: Various (see below)

Title: G.R.A.C.E.

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • God                   (Romans 5:6-10 & Luke 10:30-36)
  • Realisation        (Luke 18:9-14 & Luke 15:11-24)
  • Acceptance        (John 13:6-10 & 2nd Corinthians 12:7-9)
  • Change              (Luke 3:7-14 & Matthew 18:23-35)
  • Evangelism       (Luke 8:26-39)
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Hi everyone

  • This morning we are taking a break from our series in Ephesians for a one off sermon on grace. The word grace simply means gift.
  • We can’t earn grace; we can only receive it, like soil receives a seed or like a baby receives her mother’s milk.
  • Grace is a good gift, a beautiful gift, a valuable gift, a treasure.
  • God’s grace is also a process, but it’s not an entirely easy process.  

God:

Not surprisingly God’s grace starts with God Himself.

  • Grace is always God’s initiative and God’s grace is often at work long before we are even aware of it. In Romans 5 Paul writes,

You see, at the just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us…

For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life.  

These verses are saying; God’s grace was at work to save us when we were still enemies of God, long before we were even aware of our need for God’s help.

  • God does this because that’s who God is. He saves us out of his goodness and love. When God shows grace He is simply being true to himself.  

Many of you will be familiar with the parable of the Good Samaritan.

  • You know the one; where some poor bloke got mugged and left for dead on the side of the road.
  • Most people of that time were easily identifiable by what they wore.
  • You could tell who was Jewish and who was Roman and who was Samaritan and who was Greek by their clothes.
  • But the man who had been beaten up wasn’t wearing anything because the robbers had taken his clothes.
  • The Samaritan had no way of knowing whether the stranger was a friend or foe.
  • Maybe the wounded man was Jewish, a sworn enemy to the Samaritans.
  • But that didn’t matter, his need trumped everything else.
  • The Good Samaritan showed grace and mercy to that man, even though he didn’t know the guy.

Jesus is like the Good Samaritan and we are like the stranger, unconscious and bleeding out in the gutter.

  • Jesus shows us mercy and grace while we are helpless to save ourselves and indeed, while we are still concussed and unaware of how vulnerable we really are.
  • So often we can only see God’s grace in the rear-vision mirror.

Realisation:

The next step in the process of grace is realising our need.

Have you ever had the experience of losing your keys, needing to find them in a hurry and frantically searching everywhere for them?

  • Robyn has and I’ve been the mug frantically looking with her.
  • After about a minute or two, when it becomes obvious the keys are not in any of the usual places, we realise our desperate need and start praying, asking God to help us find the keys.     
  • Then, when they finally turn up, we are very relieved and thankful. 

Of course, looking for lost keys is a frivolous example, at least in hindsight.

  • Realising our need can be far more painful and difficult, but it’s necessary if we are to become aware of God’s grace
  • Without realising our need, we can’t really accept, let alone appreciate, God’s grace.

They say, ‘You can’t trust someone who has never lost anything’ and its true.

  • In Luke 18 Jesus tells a story of two very different men, a Pharisee and a tax collector.
  • The Pharisee, who is at the top of the pecking order in his society, has never lost anything – he isn’t aware of his need for God and consequently he looks down on others.
  • He thinks he is better than everyone else and reminds God of all the good things he does.
  • The tax collector, on the other hand, knows loss all too well – he is somewhere near the bottom of the social ladder and is acutely aware of his need.
  • He stands at a distance, not daring to look up to heaven, beating his chest saying, “God, have mercy on me a sinner”. 
  • Jesus concluded his story by saying it was the tax collector who went home justified by God.

Before God’s grace can find its home in our heart, we have to realise our need for it.

  • When life is tickety boo and everything is going along fine we usually aren’t aware of our need for God – we tend to think we can manage on our own, without God.
  • It’s not until we are faced with our need that we cry out for help
  • We come to a realisation of our need for God by having our heart broken.
  • To paraphrase Richard Baxter, ‘God breaks every person’s heart in a different way.’
  • Perhaps through illness, maybe through the loss of a loved one, sometimes through betrayal or our own failure or in some other way.
  • But having our heart broken isn’t enough in itself – we also need to reflect on our situation.
  • Reflection (thinking time) helps us to join the dots. Reflection allows the penny to drop.

The problem is, many of us don’t take the time to reflect – we don’t sit with our pain long enough.

  • We find some way to distract ourselves or we numb the pain with alcohol or by keeping busy.
  • Not all pain is good, but sometimes pain is God’s messenger if we would only listen to it.   
  • Having said that, we need to find the right balance between reflection and action.
  • We don’t want to spend so long sitting with our pain that we become stuck, feeling sorry for ourselves.    

The prodigal son, in Luke 15, didn’t come to his senses (he didn’t realise his need) until he hit rock bottom and became so hungry he would have eaten the food he was feeding to the pigs.

  • But it wasn’t just being hungry that made him realise his need – it was also honest reflection.
  • As the younger son thought about how well his father’s servants were treated he realised his best bet was to return home and ask for help.

If God’s grace is a sapling plant and our heart is the soil, then realising our need is the spade which opens our heart to receive God’s grace.

  • Or if God’s grace is a wholesome meal, then realising our need is the hunger which opens our mouths to dine on God’s grace.
  • The same God who breaks our heart also heals our heart.

Jesus said, Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

  • The poor in spirit know their need for God’s grace and they’re not too proud to ask for help.

Acceptance:

After we have realised our need, the next step in the process of grace, is accepting God’s help.

  • This might seem obvious and it might seem like the easy part but it is neither obvious nor easy. Accepting God’s help can be humiliating.
  • The problem is we often want to stay in control. We want to accept God’s grace on our terms. But that’s not how grace works.

The night before he died Jesus washed his disciples’ feet and when he got to Simon Peter, Peter refused because he thought it was beneath Jesus to do this. [1]

  • Perhaps Peter meant well but it’s not for us to set the terms of grace.
  • Jesus said, if you don’t let me wash your feet (if you don’t accept my grace on my terms) you have no part in me
  • Peter couldn’t argue with that and neither can we.

We don’t dictate the terms of God’s grace. All we can do is accept or reject what God decides to give or withhold. 

  • In 2nd Corinthians 12 Paul talks about two of God’s graces given to him.
  • Paul was given a wonderful vision or revelation but then, to stop him becoming conceited, he was also given a thorn in the flesh.
  • Paul writes; Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
  • The vision and the thorn were both forms of God’s grace.
  • The vision was pleasant and the thorn wasn’t.
  • Paul would rather not have had the thorn, but we don’t decide the terms of God’s grace.
  • We are not God. We are his creatures and our part is to come to terms with God’s grace for us – to learn to accept what God gives, as Paul did.

When it comes to God’s grace we may also have a hard time accepting what God does for others.

  • Returning to the parable of the prodigal son, in Luke 15, the older brother certainly had a hard time accepting his father’s grace for the younger son.
  • We see his resentment at the father welcoming the prodigal home with a party.

The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him.    

God’s grace for others requires us to be gracious too and that can be difficult.

The process of GRACE starts with God. Next comes the realisation of our need, followed by acceptance and then change.

Change:              

Sometimes we long for change don’t we. Other times we prefer to keep things as they are.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously said…

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy, for which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.

Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow… Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us.”

Those were Bonhoeffer’s words.

  • Grace requires change. The technical words for the change grace requires are repentance and sanctification.
  • Repentance means a change of mind and a change of behaviour.
  • And sanctification is the process of becoming more like Christ.
  • Repentance goes hand in hand with forgiveness and sanctification should follow justification.
  • We can’t expect God’s grace to leave us unchanged or untouched.
  • We can’t say, ‘Thank you God for your forgiveness. I’ll be on my way now to live as I please.’

In preparing the way for Jesus (the Messiah) John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He didn’t mince his words.

  • Here’s a sample of John’s preaching from Luke 3…

“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance…9 The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”10 “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.11 John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”13 “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”

John preached costly grace and so did the apostle Paul. In Romans 6 Paul says,

  • What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

I said before that we were taking a break from Ephesians but actually today’s sermon, about the process of grace, follows the pattern of Ephesians.

  • In the first part of Ephesians Paul talks about what God has done for us in Christ (all the good gifts that are ours because of Jesus).
  • And in the second part of Ephesians Paul talks about the change God’s grace should effect in us.

Now in saying that grace requires us to change we need to know that God is not asking us to be something we are not.

  • The change is from our false self to our true self.
  • It also needs to be said that God is willing to help us change.
  • Sometimes we want to change but we can’t, at least not on our own – we are stuck, frozen like statues. We need the help of God’s Spirit.
  • God’s grace comes with truth to set us free from the lies that trap us.   

The ultimate test that God’s grace has changed us (made us more true on the inside) is our willingness to forgive others. As we say in the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.’

Jesus told some chilling tales – real horror stories. One of his scariest parables, in Matthew 18, was told as a warning against cheap grace.

  • The story goes that a servant racked up an incredible debt with the king. We might say a billion dollars in today’s currency.
  • I don’t know how this man did it. Maybe he had a gambling problem or maybe he just liked fast cars and expensive parties.
  • Anyway, when he was brought before the king and asked to give account the servant fell to his knees begging for more time to repay the debt.
  • The servant thought he could set the terms of grace and buy his way out.
  • The King (and everyone else) knew the servant had no hope of repaying the money and yet the King did more than the servant asked for – he forgave the entire debt outright.

Now, you would expect the King’s generosity to change the servant.

  • Sadly, the servant went out, found someone who owed him about $50, grabbed the man by the neck and demanded payment.
  • When the man begged for more time the first servant refused and had him thrown into debtors’ prison.
  • The other servants were extremely upset and told the King.
  • The King, who was a just man, became angry saying, ‘I forgave you the whole amount, you should have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had mercy on you’.
  • Then the King sent that servant to jail to be punished until he should pay back every penny.
  • And Jesus concluded: ‘That is how my Father in heaven will treat every one of you unless you forgive your brother from the heart’.

God’s grace may be free but it’s not cheap. We need to be careful not to forfeit it. The real proof that grace has done its work in changing us is our willingness to forgive others.  

God, Realisation, Acceptance, Change and Evangelism – spells GRACE.

Evangelism:

Evangelism simply means, passing on good news.

  • Evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.
  • True evangelism is the fruit of a thankful heart – a heart that has been touched and changed by God’s goodness.

I remember as a kid my grandparents had a Newton’s Cradle, like this one, only bigger. [Hold up Newton’s Cradle and set it going]

  • When you lift one metal ball and let it fall, the energy passes all the way through the row causing the metal ball on the end to swing up.
  • The device is named after Isaac Newton because it demonstrates one of the laws of physics; the conservation of momentum and energy.

God’s grace is an energy – it must find release or expression somehow, somewhere. Evangelism and praise are two natural ways in which the energy of God’s grace is released.   

  • If the process of God’s grace is like a Newton’s Cradle, then God’s goodness is the metal ball on one end and evangelism is the ball on the far end. [Set the Newton’s Cradle going again]

Often when Jesus healed or forgave or delivered someone, that person would then tell others what Jesus had done for them.

  • Even when Jesus warned them to be quiet they couldn’t help themselves; the positive energy of his grace needed to find release and expression.
  • Sometimes though Jesus did instruct people to pass on the good news.

In Luke 8, Jesus crossed over to the other side of the lake with his disciples to Gentile territory.

  • No sooner had they stepped off the boat and they were confronted with a man who was possessed by a legion of demons.
  • This man was so troubled, his life in such chaos, that he used to live among the tombs.
  • People tried to restrain him, for his own safety and their own, but he broke the shackles and lived like a wild animal. 

Jesus commanded the demons to leave the man. The demons were afraid of Jesus and begged him not to send them into the abyss.

  • So Jesus showed them grace and let them enter a herd of pigs, which promptly ran off the side of a steep bank and into the lake. 

When the villagers saw the man sitting with Jesus, clothed and in his right mind – his dignity (and humanity) restored, they were frightened.

  • The grace of God is a powerful energy and divine power can be terrifying.
  • Because of their fear the people of that region asked Jesus to leave.
  • Jesus is meek (strong & gentle at the same time) so he did what they asked of him.
  • As Jesus was leaving the man who had been delivered begged to go with him, but Jesus said; Return home and tell how much God has done for you.

Here we see the wisdom of God’s grace.

  • The man had been estranged and alienated and lonely for a long time.
  • He needed to belong again – to be restored to his community.
  • The man was a Gentile. If he went with Jesus, back to Jewish territory, he would be excluded all over again.
  • The man also needed to find expression for the energy God’s grace had created within him.
  • By sending the man back home with the task of telling his story of grace, Jesus was releasing the man.
  • So the man went away and told everyone in town how much Jesus had done for him.   

Conclusion:

This morning we’ve heard about the process of God’s grace.

  • Grace begins with God’s goodness, before we are even aware of it.
  • But for grace to do its work we must realise our need for God.
  • Once we have realised our need we must accept grace on God’s terms.
  • Then comes change for good; personal repentance, proven in the crucible of forgiveness.   
  • Eventually though, the energy of grace must find release in evangelism, and praise; telling others the good things God has done for us.

This process of God’s grace isn’t just a one off thing though – it is a cycle which repeats itself, going deeper and deeper into our soul each time, until we reach maturity in Christ-likeness.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. What stands out for you in reading these Scriptures and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
  2. Thinking back over your life, can you recall a time when God’s grace was at work before you were aware of it? (When have you seen God’s grace in the rear-vision mirror?)
  3. Can you recall a time in your life when you realised your need for God? What happened?
  4. Why is it important for us to reflect on our situation when things go wrong?
  5. What has been your experience of accepting God’s grace? Is it similar to that of the prodigal son, or of Peter having his feet washed or of Paul’s thorn in the flesh? Or is it different to that?
  6. What is the difference between cheap grace and costly grace?
  7. What change has God’s grace brought in your life?
  8. How can we release the energy of God’s grace?
  9. Is there someone who would benefit from hearing about the good things God has done in your life?
  10. Take some time this week to reflect on the different times God has led you through His cycle of grace. Where are you at in the cycle of grace right now? What are the next steps for you?    

[1] John 13:6-10

Tawa Baptist

Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch

Scripture: Acts 8:26-40

 

Title: The Gospel as Treasure

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

Recently Robyn & I were fortunate enough to spend a week in Taupo

–         While we were there we came across a pamphlet detailing the top 10 walking tracks around the Taupo area

–         One of these walks was up Mount Tauhara, which is the mountain you can see tucked behind the Taupo township

–         I was quite keen to climb this mountain so Robyn and I came to a mutual agreement that she would go shopping for a mothers’ day present for my mum while I went climbing (climbing is less exhausting than shopping)

 

Anyway, Mt Tauhara isn’t that tall – the summit is only 1,088 meters and the track begins half way up anyway – but it is pretty steep all the way

–         I smashed it – got the top in 1 hour – which isn’t bad for an old guy

 

At the top a woman, with her three kids, laid down a painted rock

–         She explained to the rest of us there what she was doing

–         The idea is to paint a rock and then write on the back # the name of your town Rocks

–         For example, we might write #TawaRocks or if you come from Dunedin you would write #DunedinRocks

 

You hide the rock somewhere that people are likely to find it and then the finder snaps a photo holding it, uploads the photo onto social media, and re-hides it for someone else to find

  • – It’s sort of like a treasure hunt – except you don’t keep the treasure for yourself, you pass it on for others
  • – Apparently one rock which started in NZ has ended up in Italy

 

Today is the first of three Sundays when we promote Tranzsend’s prayer and self-denial campaign

–         Tranzsend supports and resources NZ Baptist missionaries serving overseas

–         The theme for this year’s self-denial campaign is treasures handed down

–         Jesus is the greatest treasure God gave the world and one of the main ways that Jesus is handed down to us is through the gospel

 

The word gospel simply means ‘good news’

–         In particular it refers to the good news that, through faith in Jesus, God accepts us

 

The gospel also refers to the four accounts of Jesus’ life and work, which we read about in the New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

–         In many ways though the whole Bible points to Jesus – both the Old Testament and the New Testament – it’s all about Christ

–         In fact, Jesus is the key to understanding the Bible

 

Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch:

Please turn with me to Acts chapter 8, verse 26

–         You can find Acts 8 on page 161 toward the back of your pew Bibles

–         The Scripture reading I’ve chosen to go with this theme, that the gospel of Christ is treasure, is the account of Philip’s conversation with the Ethiopian eunuch

–         This is sort of a painted rocks story in that the treasure of the gospel is passed on to a distant land

–         From Acts chapter 8, verses 26-40 we read…

 

26 An angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get ready and go south to the road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This road is not used nowadays.) 27-28 So Philip got ready and went. Now an Ethiopian eunuch, who was an important official in charge of the treasury of the queen of Ethiopia, was on his way home. He had been to Jerusalem to worship God and was going back home in his carriage. As he rode along, he was reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah. 29 The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to that carriage and stay close to it.” 30 Philip ran over and heard him reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah. He asked him, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

31 The official replied, “How can I understand unless someone explains it to me?” And he invited Philip to climb up and sit in the carriage with him. 32 The passage of scripture which he was reading was this:

“He was like a sheep that is taken to be slaughtered,     like a lamb that makes no sound when its wool is cut off.     He did not say a word. 33 He was humiliated, and justice was denied him.     No one will be able to tell about his descendants,     because his life on earth has come to an end.”

34 The official asked Philip, “Tell me, of whom is the prophet saying this? Of himself or of someone else?” 35 Then Philip began to speak; starting from this passage of scripture, he told him the Good News about Jesus. 36 As they travelled down the road, they came to a place where there was some water, and the official said, “Here is some water. What is to keep me from being baptized?” 37

38 The official ordered the carriage to stop, and both Philip and the official went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away. The official did not see him again, but continued on his way, full of joy. 40 Philip found himself in Azotus; he went on to Caesarea, and on the way he preached the Good News in every town.

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

 

In my 20’s I got a job working for a Non-Government Organisation which supports people with disabilities to live in the community

–         Part of my role was to accompany people, who experienced disability, as they led awareness training

–         This involved visiting schools and workplaces so people could talk about their lives and their disability as a way of breaking down barriers and helping mainstream society to accept individual difference

 

One guy I worked with lived with cerebral palsy

–         Cerebral palsy can affect people in different ways but in his case his movement and speech was disrupted, which meant he used a wheelchair to get around and other people found his speech difficult to understand

–         Every other part of his anatomy was in good working order

 

Although he was quite intelligent and capable the sound of his voice created a barrier in other people’s minds so that he was often prejudged as inferior or people simply lost patience with him and wrote him off

–         Part of my job was acting as his interpreter

–         He would say something and I would repeat it so that those in the room who weren’t used to his voice could get his meaning

–         My job then wasn’t so much to help him – he didn’t need my help

–         My job was to help others to understand him

 

One thing I learned quite quickly was that disability is a social construct

–         By which I mean it wasn’t cerebral palsy that disabled this guy so much as the society in which he lived

–         Other people’s prejudice was more disabling to him than cerebral palsy

–         It was not being given a fair go that disabled him

 

Our passage from Acts today begins with an angel of the Lord telling Philip to go out into the wilderness to a lonely road

 

An angel of the Lord is basically a messenger sent by God

–         That’s what angel means, ‘messenger’

–         Receiving a visitation from an angel made it abundantly clear that God was in this

 

Philip was one of Jesus’ 12 disciples

–         When Jesus called Philip to follow him, the first thing Philip did was to introduce one of his friends (Nathanael) to Jesus [1]

–         Nathanael also became a disciple of Jesus

–         Some people are like Philip – they are the glue connecting people

 

Philip was known as an evangelist

–         Evangelism has almost become a swear word these days, which is quite sad because evangelism is actually a good thing

–         It is a word closely related to ‘gospel’ or good news

–         An evangelist is essentially someone who spreads good news

–         Or to put it another way: evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread

–         Philip is called an ‘evangelist’ because he was one man telling others in need they could find acceptance with God through faith in Jesus

 

Prior to being visited by an angel of the Lord, Philip had a very successful time telling the Samaritans the good news about Jesus

–         Crowds of people believed Philip’s message and became Christians by being baptised

 

It seems quite strange then that, after such a successful ministry in Samaria’s principal city, God would then send his star evangelist into the middle of nowhere

–         But Philip didn’t question God’s strategy – he simply trusted that God knows best and went where the Lord directed him

 

Travelling down this deserted road (at the same time as Philip) was an Ethiopian eunuch. What are the chances?

–         It’s a bit like finding a painted rock from Africa on the top of Mt Tauhara

 

Now when we hear the word Ethiopia we tend to think of famine and poverty and starving children

–         But in the ancient world Ethiopia was different to that – more wealthy

–         On today’s map it is located in North Sudan

–         So the Ethiopian eunuch was most likely a black African man

 

A eunuch is a man who has had his equipment (his tackle, his junk) removed or damaged so he can’t have children or even relate with a woman sexually

–         To a certain extent he has been disabled by the society he lives in

–         On the one hand a eunuch (if he was skilled enough) could rise to great power in government

–         This particular Ethiopian eunuch was something like the minister of finance in a very wealthy nation – so he was no slouch

–         But on the other hand eunuchs were also the subject of much derision and scorn – people made fun of them or despised them

 

I imagine it was a very isolated and lonely life being a eunuch

–         You could fall in love but you couldn’t marry or have children

–         You could rise to great power but only in the service of others

–         You could be very good at what you do but still have to endure sniggers and smirks behind your back from people far less capable than you

–         You could serve a very important purpose but never actually belong or be remembered. There was a certain injustice that came with being a eunuch

 

The Ethiopian eunuch had travelled a long way to Jerusalem to worship God

–         Somehow he had heard about the God of Israel and liked what he heard

–         Assuming he had been castrated though, under the Law of Moses, he could never belong to the congregation of God’s people [2]

–         He couldn’t even be circumcised and yet he did what he could to draw near to the Lord

–         He travelled to Jerusalem to worship God, he obtained a copy of the scroll of Isaiah the prophet (no doubt at great expense) and he read these holy Scriptures to know God better

 

It appears the eunuch’s visit to Jerusalem was somewhat disappointing

–         As Jesus had demonstrated, when he cleared the temple, the whole Jewish religious system was set up to exclude foreigners like this eunuch

–         No doubt his experience in Jerusalem had made it more difficult for the eunuch to understand the Hebrew Bible (our Old Testament)

–         How might he relate with this wonderful, powerful, creative, redeeming, faithful God?

 

The Bible is difficult to understand

–         What is meant as good news often comes across as bad news or, even worse, as nonsense

–         Because the Bible is hard to understand many people these days lose patience with it and write it off as a myth or untrue

–         In this way they seek to disable the Scriptures

–         This is quite unfair to God (a denial of justice)

 

Part of our role as Christians is to interpret the meaning of Scripture for those (like the eunuch) who do genuinely want to understand what the Bible is saying

–         That’s one reason why we have Bible study groups – not just to improve our own knowledge but also to help others interpret the Scriptures

 

The guy I worked with, who had cerebral palsy, struggled with understanding the Bible and the Old Testament in particular

–         There are verses in the Old Testament which seem to us today to be quite unfair to those who live with disability.

–         For example, Leviticus 21 where it says…

 

No man with any physical defect may make the offering: no one who is blind, lame, disfigured or deformed; no one with a crippled hand or foot; no one who is a hunchback or a dwarf; no one with an eye or skin disease; and no eunuch. 

 

If you live with a disability and you don’t understand the broader context of the Bible then words like these can very unhelpful – they sound like rejection

 

What we need to understand is that the Law of Moses is not the ideal and it was not meant to be permanent

–         God gave the Law to Israel as a provisional step towards restoring His ideal for creation [3]

–         There are a number of things the Law of Moses appears to condone which are far from ideal – like slavery for instance

–         Is slavery God’s ideal? No – of course not. But God couldn’t change everything all at once, it would be too much for people.

–         So God, in His grace and wisdom, meets people where they were at and regulates certain contemptible practices (like slavery) to protect the vulnerable

–         The Law of Moses was actually a huge moral advance for people living at that time in history but it was never the end goal – it was merely a stepping stone to the ideal

 

The prophets who came after Moses (like Isaiah & Jeremiah and all those guys) also provided a stepping stone, but ultimately we find God’s ideal in Christ

–         Jesus didn’t come to do away with the Law & prophets – he came to fulfil the Law – that is to restore God’s ideal for humanity

–         If the Law and the prophets were given to help transition us to God’s ideal then Jesus came to complete that transition

 

Jesus is the one who shows us what God’s ideal looks like

–         And when we look at Jesus’ attitude towards people who lived with disability we find it was one of acceptance and respect and empowerment

 

Returning to our friend the Ethiopian eunuch

–         God, who sees everything, is aware of the eunuch’s struggle with the Old Testament and acts to help him understand the full picture

–         The Holy Spirit says to Philip, Go over to that carriage and stay close it

–         Philip runs over beside the carriage – it would have been moving quite slowly so would not be hard to keep up with

–         And Philip hears the eunuch reading from the book of Isaiah (it was customary to read aloud in those times) so he asks the eunuch…

–         “Do you understand what you are reading?”

 

Socially speaking Philip and the eunuch were poles apart

–         The eunuch was high ranking and Philip was low ranking

–         They were also likely from a different cultural background

–         But that is often the way of Christ – he comes to us in weakness, when we least expect it and in the presence of someone quite different from us

–         Despite the social distance between them the eunuch is humble enough to admit he doesn’t understand and invites Philip to sit with him

–         By inviting Philip to sit beside him the eunuch closes the gap between them

 

The passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading was this…

 

“Like a sheep that is taken to be slaughtered, like a lamb that makes no sound when its wool is cut off, he did not say a word. He was humiliated and justice was denied him. No one will be able to tell about his descendants because his life on earth has come to an end.”   

 

Interestingly the eunuch doesn’t ask Philip, what does this mean?

–         He already knows what it means from his own personal experience

–         The eunuch knows what it is to have parts of himself cut off

–         He understands humiliation and injustice

–         He is well aware that he can’t have descendants and that his life is coming to an end

–         He knows well enough what it is to be near the top and still feel like you don’t belong, still wonder what the meaning of your life is

–         He can identify with the one being written about in a very real way

–         So he asks Philip,

–         “…of whom is the prophet saying this? Of himself or of someone else?”

–         Because whoever it is, the eunuch can relate to that person profoundly

 

Philip starts where the eunuch is at by explaining that the passage he is reading is talking about Jesus – Jesus is the key to understanding the Scriptures

–         Philip then goes on to explain the good news about Jesus – that through faith in Christ we can find acceptance with God

 

We can’t be sure of all that Philip talked about but given that the eunuch had a copy of Isaiah’s scroll on his lap it’s tempting to think that Philip pointed him to chapter 56 where Isaiah says…

 

A man who has been castrated [a eunuch] should never think that because he cannot have children, he can never be part of God’s people. The Lord says to such a man, “If you honour me… and if you do what pleases me and faithfully keep my covenant, then your name will be remembered… among my people longer than if you had sons and daughters. You will never be forgotten.”

 

Do you see here how Isaiah moves beyond the Law of Moses?

–         The Law said a eunuch could not be part of God’s people but by the time of Isaiah God is saying the eunuch is able to belong

 

I can imagine Philip saying to the eunuch: the way we honour God, the way we please him, the way we keep his covenant is through faith in Christ. Put your trust in Jesus, believe in him, and you will find acceptance with God

–         You see, Jesus has fulfilled the law on our behalf and so being a foreigner and a eunuch is no longer a barrier

–         This was incredibly good news to the eunuch

 

As they travelled down the road, they came to a place where there was some water and the official said, “…What is to keep me from being baptised?”

–         In other words, I believe in Jesus and I’m willing to demonstrate my faith in Christ through baptism

–         God had clearly set this encounter up – he had clearly woven Philip’s and the eunuch’s lives together at just the right moment

–         So Philip baptised him

 

After the eunuch’s baptism the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away to preach the good news about Jesus in other places while the eunuch went on his way rejoicing because he had found acceptance with God through Jesus

 

We don’t hear any more about the Ethiopian eunuch (in the New Testament at least) but early Christian tradition, dating from Irenaeus in the second century, says that he went on to proclaim the good news about Jesus in Africa

–         The eunuch shared the treasure of the gospel he had been given

 

Conclusion:

Part of the work of our Tranzsend missionaries involves being a Philip to those around them – helping others to understand the good news about Jesus found in the Bible

[1] John 1:43-45

[2] Deuteronomy 23:1

[3] Refer to Paul Copan’s book, ‘Is God a Moral Monster’, pages 57-62.

Tawa Baptist

Sharing Christ

Scripture: John 7:37-39

Title: Sharing Christ

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Open wells
  • We are the cup
  • Grace & truth
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Today, because we have welcomed people into church membership, we take a break from our series on Moses to focus on one of our members’ pledges:

 

To share with other people the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

To some people sharing their faith comes naturally, but not to all of us

  • For many of us sharing the gospel of Christ feels anything but natural
  • It feels awkward or difficult or scary
  • And while there is risk involved in sharing our faith we need not be afraid

Looking more closely at that statement on the wall, the word ‘gospel’ simply means good news

  • We Christians are not being asked to share bad news
  • We have something positive to share, something life-giving

And the good news we have to share is about a person, ‘Jesus Christ’

  • Sharing the gospel isn’t primarily about passing on ideas or rules or doctrines (although it does include those things)
  • Sharing the gospel is first & foremost about sharing a relationship – introducing others to Jesus, our friend

Open wells:

One of the best illustrations of what it means to share Christ with others is found in John chapter 7 – page 128 toward the back of your pew Bibles

To put you in the picture, Jesus is in Jerusalem for the festival of shelters

  • This is an 8 day festival held at the end of autumn
  • Autumn, in the Middle East, is usually a dry time of year and the people are looking to God to provide rain
  • On each of the first seven days of the festival the priest draws water from the pool of Siloam, then leads a procession to the Temple, where he pours the water onto the altar
  • The people are reminded of God’s provision for Israel in the wilderness after leaving Egypt – particularly the way God made water pour out of a rock in the desert
  • Words from Isaiah may be read as part of the water pouring ceremony
  • “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” [1]
  • Or, “You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” [2]

It is against this background that Jesus makes His statement

  • From John 7, verse 37, we read…

[Read John 7:37-39]

 

May the Spirit of Jesus refresh us today

On the wall here is a picture of the fresh water springs at Petone

  • Most of you would have been to this spring I’m sure
  • Water bubbles up through the ground naturally – and as it passes through the sand and gravel the water is purified
  • Even though people could easily get water by turning a tap on at home they still come to the spring to fill up bottles to drink

 

In John 7, Jesus uses the water symbolism of the feast of shelters to talk about the living water He will bestow

  • The land is dry and the people are thinking of rain and of their own physical thirst [3]
  • Jesus turns their attention to the deep need of the soul and to the way he would meet that need – with the gift of Himself, the gift of His Spirit
  • Jesus is like a fresh water spring (or a well) – and the water He offers is God’s Holy Spirit

With this in mind, sharing the gospel of Christ is best understood as introducing others to Jesus – the one person who can satisfy the thirst of the soul

  • In sharing the gospel, therefore, we are showing thirsty people where they can get a drink
  • More than this though we actually become the means through which Jesus delivers His water

 

Jesus says…

  • “Whoever believes in me, streams of life-giving water will pour from his [or her] heart”

In other words, those who believe in Jesus (those who trust Him and are committed to Him) will become a vessel for God’s Holy Spirit

  • Wow – that’s pretty incredible

A fresh water spring or a well works by being accessible and open

  • People are drawn to a well and they draw from a well

One of the keys to sharing our faith is simply being open & honest with people

  • Listening carefully to what people are saying & letting them enquire of us
  • We don’t need to try and make something happen
  • God will create the opportunities naturally – we don’t need to force anything – but we do need to be open and available

If you look at our organ pipes here you will see they have holes in them

  • Holes in either end and a hole in the front
  • The pipes make a sound precisely because they are open
  • If we were to block up the holes so the air couldn’t pass through then there would be no music
  • Each of us is like one of those organ pipes – we must stay open to strike the right note
  • But as organ pipes we don’t provide the air
  • God is the organist and the wind of His Spirit passes through us

Christian believers are like organ pipes and water wells – we work best when we are open – open to God and open to others

Openness to God and to others could mean accepting an invitation to dinner

  • Or, if someone asks you what you did on the weekend you include the fact that you went to church
  • Being open might mean being interruptible enough to listen to someone or help them with something
  • Those who volunteer to help support a refugee family to relocate in our area (if that is needed) are showing an openness to God & to others

Other times openness means allowing people to draw the water of grace & truth out of us by answering the questions they ask, openly and honestly

Not that we must always wait to be asked what we believe – sometimes it is appropriate for us to take the initiative

  • If you can see someone is thirsty, then why not put a cup of water directly into their hands

We are the cup:

Okay, time for a practical demonstration

  • I need a volunteer to come up the front on the stage with me
  • This would especially suit someone who doesn’t like me that much
  • [Wait for volunteer]

On the table over here we have a bowl of water and a cup

  • I want you [the volunteer] to fill the cup with water from the bowl and stand ten steps away from me
  • Now I’m going to open my mouth and I want you to try and throw as much water as you can from the cup into my mouth, without moving from the spot

[Volunteer throws water, I get wet and dry myself]

 

[To the congregation] what would be a better way to get the water into me? [Wait for people to respond]

  • That’s right, pass the cup to me and let me drink from it myself
  • [Get the volunteer to do that – then ask them to sit down]

For the purposes of this illustration I want you to imagine…

  • The bowl is Christ
  • The water is the gospel – the good news of salvation
  • And you are the cup

As the cup you have no ability to manufacture the water by yourself

  • The most you can do is be filled with the good news about Jesus so that others can drink from you

Sharing Christ, sharing the gospel, doesn’t really work from a distance

  • It doesn’t work to throw the gospel at someone
  • You have to get close to people to share your faith
  • Introducing others to Jesus is an intimate thing
  • It will inevitably require us to make ourselves vulnerable

Making yourself vulnerable means demonstrating trust in others

  • In Luke 10, when Jesus sent out 72 of his followers to share the gospel, He said to them, “Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals… When you enter a house… stay in that house eating and drinking whatever they give you…”
  • In other words, don’t go in strength, go in weakness
  • In that situation, Jesus wanted his disciples to trust themselves to the mercy and hospitality of strangers
  • Talk about making yourself vulnerable

If you go up to someone cold, on the street, and say to them…

  • ‘You’re going to hell unless you repent and accept Jesus’
  • Then that’s not making yourself vulnerable
  • That’s like throwing water in their face
  • I guess God could use that as a wake-up call for some people
  • But I expect most people would be turned away from Jesus by that sort of approach – it would just make them feel angry and like you’re trying to manipulate them

We need to be careful with the way we represent Christ and His gospel

  • Yes, there is a judgment which we must all face one day
  • And yes, there is a hell which we want to avoid
  • And yes again, Jesus is our hope of salvation
  • But trust needs to come first – faith is the foundation
  • And it’s a far stronger foundation than fear and guilt

We are the cup, we are the container – we don’t manufacture the water, we simply hold it for others to drink

  • But people quite often need to trust the cup before they will drink its contents
  • If the cup is dirty then people will be less inclined to drink from it
  • We need to keep the cup of our soul clean

So what does it mean then to keep the cup clean?

  • Well, in a word, integrity

What we do needs to match what we say

  • It’s no good speaking about faith in Jesus and then ignoring those in need
  • As James says, ‘What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.’ [4] 

We need to share Christ with our words and our deeds

Integrity (or keeping the cup clean) also means keeping our motives pure

  • Our motivation for sharing Christ with others needs to be love
  • Love for God and love for our neighbour
  • If your motivation is fear or guilt or self-interest then people are less likely to trust you
  • They won’t want to drink from your cup
  • Even if you what you have to say happens to be true

Grace & truth:

There’s a wonderful movie which came out a few years ago called ‘The Bucket List’, starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson

  • Carter, the character played by Freeman, is a believer
  • But Edward Cole, played by Nicholson, is not
  • Carter is always trying to put the cup in Edward’s hand, but Edward is reluctant to drink

 

You can put the cup of water into someone’s hand but you can’t make them drink – people need to be thirsty before they will drink

One of the things I like about Freeman’s character in this movie is that he is honest – there is truth in his conversation with Edward – truth with grace

  • Freeman’s character (Carter) does not deny his faith in any way – he accepts Edward without bending to accommodate him too much
  • Carter is honest about who he is and what he believes – and through that honesty trust grows between the two men
  • Then, as the trust grows, Carter begins to challenge Edward
  • Because Edward is actually very thirsty – he just doesn’t know how to satisfy that thirst

Although Nicholson’s character (Edward) is closed to God at first, Carter helps Edward to find the joy in his life

  • In the end Edward’s heart is opened – opened by truth and grace

As we have already noted, the living water Jesus talked about in John 7 is the Holy Spirit of God

  • The key characteristics of the Spirit are truth & grace
  • When the Spirit of Jesus is in us, our words and actions will communicate grace and truth

In John chapter 4 Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman at a well

  • He does the culturally inappropriate thing of asking the woman for a drink of water
  • The woman answers, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan – so how can you ask me for a drink?” (Jews won’t use the same cups as Samaritans)
  • The woman is taken aback by the grace Jesus shows here – the grace of acceptance

And Jesus replies with truth, “If only you knew what God gives and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would ask him and he would give you life-giving water… ”

As the conversation progresses Jesus asks the woman to go and get her husband

  • But she says, “I haven’t got a husband”
  • And Jesus agrees, “You are right when you say you haven’t got a husband. [The truth is] you have been married to five men and the man you live with now is not really your husband.”

By saying this Jesus reveals that He is a prophet

  • And as a prophet Jesus has put His finger on an inconvenient truth – the woman has a chequered past and is currently living in sin
  • But the woman stays in the conversation with Jesus, even if she does change the subject to talk about where God should be worshipped
  • In the end though Jesus reveals that He is more than just a prophet – He is the Messiah
  • The woman believes in Jesus and tells those in her town about him – many of whom believe also, because of her testimony
  • She has become the first missionary to the Samaritans

 

Conclusion:

To share with other people the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord.

  • This is one of the most important reasons for us being here

The good news is about a person, ‘Jesus Christ’

  • Sharing the gospel is first & foremost about sharing a relationship – introducing others to Jesus, our friend

In sharing Christ we are not selling anything – we are giving something away, by keeping ourselves open and accessible to God and the world

  • We are not trying to prove something
  • We are putting the cup of the gospel (a cup of grace & truth) into people’s hands and letting them decide for themselves

Let’s pray…

[1] Isaiah 12:3

[2] Isaiah 58:11

[3] Leon Morris, NICNT ‘John’, page 373.

[4] James 2:14-17