Tawa Baptist

God’s Finger Prints

Scripture: Genesis 24:10-27

Title: God’s Fingerprints

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Asking Prayer
  • Listening Prayer
  • Conclusion – Giving Thanks

Introduction:

Fingerprints are detailed, unique to the individual, difficult to alter and durable over a lifetime. For these reasons fingerprints are one means of identifying people

Today we continue our series on the life & faith of Abraham

–         In this episode Abraham’s servant finds a wife for Isaac

–         We see God’s fingerprints throughout this story

–         From Genesis chapter 24, verses 10-27, in the NIV we read…

Then the servant left, taking with him ten of his master’s camels loaded with all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor. He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water. Then he prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water.

May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”

Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again.

The servant hurried to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water from your jar.”

“Drink, my lord,” she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink. After she had given him a drink, she said, “I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink.”

So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels. Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful. When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels. Then he asked, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”

She answered him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milkah bore to Nahor.” And she added, “We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night.”

Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord, saying, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.”

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

 

When we talk about the finger prints of God we mean that God is involved in the details to make good things happen or to prevent bad things happening

–         We know something has God’s finger prints on it when three main variables line up: timing, placement & power

–         If you find yourself in just the right place at just the right time with just the right power or ability or knowledge to help someone, then that probably has God’s finger prints on it – God is likely involved somehow

For example, imagine you are walking down the street one day and you notice a ball rolling down a driveway with a child running after it

–         The ball hits your legs, so you pick it up and give it to the child

–         Just at that moment a truck rushes by and you realise that had you not been there at that exact moment the child would have run out onto the road after the ball and been hit by the truck

–         Right time, right place, with the right kind of power to help

God’s finger prints go by many names…

–         Theologians call it providence

–         Poets call it serendipity

–         Philosophers call it synchronicity

–         Gamblers call it luck

–         Scientists call it evolution

–         Pagans call it fate

–         And cynics call it coincidence

Whatever we call it though, prayer is the lens through which we see God’s fingerprints – as we pray we notice God’s timing, placement & power at work in our lives

–         In today’s reading from Genesis 24 Abraham’s servant prays and, as he does, he sees God’s finger prints in finding a wife for Isaac

–         The servant’s prayer includes asking God for help, listening for God’s response and giving thanks for God’s answer

 

Asking Prayer:

Abraham’s servant sets out to find a wife for Isaac with 10 camels

–         Camels are sort of the ancient equivalent of a late model Land Rover

–         They provide reliable transport over variable terrain and are the sort of vehicle only the rich can afford

Although the journey from Hebron to Aram Naharaim is hundreds of miles and would have taken weeks, the author of Genesis skips over that part and focuses on what happens when the servant arrives in the town of Nahor

–         As it happens Abraham’s servant arrives towards the end of the day when the women normally came to draw water from the well

–         The timing and placement has God’s fingerprints all over it

–         However the servant needs power to discern which of the women is to be Isaac’s wife

 So he prays, asking God for help…

–         “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water…

The servant’s prayer is interesting – it shows us that Abraham didn’t keep his faith a secret – he must have shared his faith with others in his household because Abraham’s servant knows about the Lord and he understands that faith has to do with depending on God

The servant says “Give me success”, which in the Hebrew literally means, “make happen before me” [1] (I’d like to see your finger prints here God)

–         The servant is asking the Lord to make it clear which one of these women is to be Isaac’s wife – he is asking for power to discern

–         But the success isn’t for himself – the success is for his master Abraham

–         The servant asks the Lord to show kindness to Abraham

The word translated as kindness there is hesed in the original Hebrew

–         You may recall me talking about hesed on other occasions

–         It’s one of those Hebrew words that needs more than one English word to capture it’s meaning

–         Sometimes it is translated as kindness, other times as mercy or steadfast love or loyalty. Hesed is often used in connection with God’s covenant

Hesed isn’t a trifling thing – hesed is an act of real importance, it’s a big deal, life & death stuff

–         With hesed the inferior partner depends on the kindness of the superior to meet a desperate need. [2]

–         So in this case the inferior partner is the servant and he is depending on God’s kindness/hesed to meet the desperate need he has of finding a wife for Isaac and being released from his oath to Abraham

In asking God to show hesed or kindness to Abraham the servant isn’t telling God what to do, nor is he asking God to do something out of character

–         God loves hesed – hesed is at the core of who God is

–         The servant is simply saying, be true to yourself God – keep your promise to Abraham by helping me to find a wife for Isaac

 

The servant also believes that God is present there with him – he says, ‘See, I’m standing here beside this spring…’

–         Unlike most other people of his time, who believed there were many gods who were limited to specific territories or domains, Abraham’s servant believes that the Lord Almighty is with him everywhere – because Abraham’s God is Lord of all the earth

This is amazing – the servant has caught something of the spirit of Abraham’s faith & theology, and we hear it reflected in the opening lines of his prayer

The servant continues praying…

  • – May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”

Abraham’s servant is asking for a sign and he’s telling God what the sign ought to be – something quite extraordinary

–         Giving a drink to a stranger would be expected of a woman in that culture but volunteering to go the extra mile, by watering 10 camels as well, would not be expected – it was quite a stiff test for Isaac’s would be wife

Now at this point I want to make a distinction between looking for God’s finger prints and asking for a sign – they are not the same thing

–         It is good for us to look for God’s finger prints

–         Part of listening to God includes looking for evidence of his presence in our lives – those little details which suggest that God is involved here

–         When we look for God’s finger prints we leave the initiative with God and we give him considerable freedom to act as he wants

–         But asking for a sign is like creating a little artificial box and expecting God to only do things inside that box

–         As a consequence we are less able to accept what God might want to do outside the box

Asking God for a sign is not generally a good thing in the Bible – in fact it usually reveals a lack of faith

–         When Gideon asked for a sign by laying a fleece – he did that because he didn’t really believe God [3]

–         Likewise when the Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign, Jesus was like, ‘Really? You’ve just seen me heal all these people and reveal all this wisdom and you still don’t believe me. The only sign you will get is the sign of Jonah.’ [4] (That’s my very loose paraphrase)

The tricky thing is that faith doesn’t just require us to trust God, it also requires us to trust ourselves (that we have heard God correctly)

–         Asking for signs suggests we have little or no faith in our own judgement

–         By asking for a sign I’m abdicating responsibility for my actions

–         I’m saying, ‘I don’t really trust myself to discern God’s will in this situation, so if things go wrong, it’s your fault Lord’

–         In a sense, asking God for a sign is like using God to cover your backside and that’s not cool

Part of having a mature faith is owning the decisions we make

–         Now some people have too much confidence in themselves – they have illusions of grandeur and need to question their own judgement more

–         Others of us don’t trust ourselves enough and need to take more risks

–         Managing our self-confidence is like riding a bike – it requires balance

–         We need time and truth to grow in self-awareness and humility

–         If we do our best to discern God’s will and still get it wrong then we don’t blame God, but nor do we lose heart and give up on ourselves

–         We ask for forgiveness and trust that our relationship with God is strong enough to handle it

It seems to me that Abraham’s servant trusted God – he just didn’t trust himself, and that’s why he asked for a sign

–         Even though it is not best practice, God in his grace accommodated the servant’s request – after all the servant was trying to discern God’s will for Abraham’s benefit

 

Listening Prayer:

Prayer is the lens through which we see God’s fingerprints – as we pray we notice God’s timing, placement & power at work in our lives

–         Sometimes we think that prayer is simply us talking to God

–         We might have a quiet time in the morning during which we say some words to God then get on with the rest of our day, completely forgetting our earlier conversation with the Lord

–         But prayer has a much broader application than simply talking to God

When the apostle Paul said, ‘pray without ceasing’,[5] he didn’t mean talk to God all the time – he meant, ‘live your whole life in conversation with God’

–         Sometimes that will mean us speaking to God but most of the time it will mean listening to God by looking for his finger prints, both in the bigger picture and in the details of our daily lives

 

Let me tell you a story…

–         Once there was man, called Caleb, who came to Christian faith at the age of 34

–         Caleb was a big bloke – tall & thick set, ideally suited for the position of lock in a rugby scrum

–         Despite his menacing physical presence Caleb was actually quite a gentle soul

Caleb caught the train to and from work and usually redeemed the time by reading the Bible on his phone

–         One evening he was kept late at the office to meet a deadline

–         By the time he made it to the station, the platform was virtually empty, except for a girl in her 20’s all alone

–         He stood a little way off from her, because he didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable, and busied himself by reading the Bible

–         It was that part in Exodus where some women were being harassed at a well and Moses protected them [6]

–         Caleb was just thinking about the qualities of a good shepherd when he noticed 3 young guys standing around the girl – they had been drinking

–         She didn’t seem to like it much and tried to move away but they kept following her

Caleb had a strong sense that he should walk over – so he did

–         He didn’t say anything – just stood there between the 3 guys and the girl

–         The guys shuffled off to the side but the girl stayed near him – she seemed grateful for his presence

–         The train arrived and the five of them; Caleb, the girl and the three young guys, all got on board

–         Caleb didn’t talk to the girl or sit too close to her either – he didn’t want to appear creepy – but his presence kept the drunk guys in check

Caleb was meant to get off at Tawa but when he noticed that the girl was staying and would be alone in the carriage with the three drunk guys he decided to stay too

–         The train went all the way to Waikanae before the girl got off and by that time the 3 guys had fallen asleep

–         When the girl saw that Caleb wasn’t leaving the carriage she realised he had stayed for her benefit and smiled at him as if to say ‘thank you’

As Caleb sat in the train on the way back to Tawa he thought about what had happened and realised that this situation had God’s finger prints all over it

–         It was unusual for him to be kept late at work

–         Not only that but what were the chances of him reading the story about Moses at just the moment the girl was being harassed

–         It was like God had arranged for him to be in the right place at the right time with the right kind of power to provide peace & prevent harm

 

Prayer is the lens through which we see God’s fingerprints – as we pray we notice God’s timing, placement & power at work in our lives

The bigger part of prayer and perhaps the more difficult part, is actually listening to God

–         Before Abraham’s servant had even finished praying Rebekah comes over with her jar on her shoulder

–         Apparently God had anticipated what Abraham’s servant would ask for and was already at work answering his prayer

–         So the servant asks for a drink and waits to see what will happen

He thinks he has set a pretty stiff test for God & Rebekah

–         You see, the water jar Rebekah was carrying most likely had a capacity of about 3 gallons or 13½ litres

–         Giving the servant water was no big deal

–         He might drink only 1 litre, if he was thirsty, but watering a camel was a far bigger task

Camels can drink up to 25 gallons at a time if they’re empty [7]

–         25 gallons equates to over 113 litres – that’s quite a bit of water

–         If Rebekah was using a 3 gallon water jar then it would take at least 8 trips from the well to the watering trough to satisfy just one camel

–         And Abraham’s servant had 10 camels – so that’s potentially more than 80 drawings from the well – over 1130 litres of water

–         As you can imagine this would take some time and effort

The fact that Rebekah volunteers to go the extra mile to help a stranger like this speaks volumes about her character

–         It shows she is strong and not afraid of work

–         It also shows that she has an outward focus and is hospitable

–         You will remember that hospitality (as opposed to consumerism) is one of the key characteristics of Abraham’s household

–         Furthermore it shows that Rebekah knows what is important for life – in this case water

–         One of the problems with affluence & wealth is that it tends to make people forget what matters

–         Rebekah is in touch with reality – she has her priorities right

In verse 21 we read, Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful.

–         The servant’s patient waiting & watching is an act of listening to God and is just as much a part of his prayer as the talking he did at the beginning

 

Conclusion – Giving Thanks:

Once the camels have had enough to drink Abraham’s servant asks whose daughter she is and learns that Rebekah is in fact Abraham’s great niece – that is, the grand-daughter of Abraham’s brother Nahor

–         That clinches it for the servant

–         After giving Rebekah generous gifts of gold the servant bows down and worships the Lord, saying,

–         “Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness [his hesed] to my master. As for me the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.”

–         In other words, this has God’s finger prints of all over it

The servant’s prayer started with petition and ended in praise but was filled with listening. (Listening was the greater part)

–         Prayer is the lens through which we see God’s fingerprints – as we pray we notice God’s timing, placement & power at work in our lives

 

Let us pray…

–         Holy Spirit, help us to see God’s finger prints in our lives

–         Give us ears to listen and eyes to see you at work in the world around us

–         Encourage us by your presence and make us ready to do your will as we live for the praise of your glory. Through Jesus we pray. Amen.

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

2.)    What do we mean by the phrase, ‘the finger prints of God’?

–         In what ways do we see God’s finger prints in finding a wife for Rebekah?

–         How might we see the finger prints of God in our own lives?

–         Do you have a ‘finger prints of God’ story?

3.)    What does the servant’s prayer (in verses 12-13) reveal about Abraham?

–         What does the servant’s prayer (in verses 12-13) reveal about God?

4.)    How is ‘looking for God’s finger prints’ different from ‘asking for a sign’?

–         Why is asking God for a sign less than ideal?

5.)    How does your faith in God compare with your faith in yourself?

6.)    What do you think the apostle Paul meant when he said, ‘pray without ceasing’?

7.)    What does it say about Rebekah that she volunteered to water the servant’s 10 camels?

8.)    Take some time this week to listen to what God is saying to you?

https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/22-july-2018-gods-finger-prints

[1] Bruce Waltke, Genesis, page 328.

[2] Ibid

[3] Judges 6

[4] Matthew 12:38-39

[5] 1 Thessalonians 5:17

[6] Exodus 2:16-20

[7] Bruce Waltke, Genesis, page 328.

Tawa Baptist

Paul & Timothy

Scripture: 1st Timothy 4:6-16

 

Title: Paul & Timothy

 

Structure:

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

 

Introduction:

I have here a guitar with six strings

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

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

–         This end is fixed – it doesn’t change

–         This end can and does change

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

–         Mentoring relationships are a bit like guitar strings

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

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

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

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

 

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

–         But Paul’s trust wasn’t abdication

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

–         Rather Paul trusted his young protégé and gave him guidance

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

 

Paul’s belief in Timothy:

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

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

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

–         After a while I became a house group leader

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

–         Belief & guidance go together

 

To expound that point a little more…

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

 

This is how it was with Paul & Timothy

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

–         This meant Timothy had a difficult choice to make

–         In becoming a Christian he was aligning himself with Jesus

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

–         Nevertheless Timothy took the risk

 

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

Timothy accompanied Paul & Silas to Macedonia

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

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

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

–         Eventually Timothy & Silas catch up with Paul in Corinth

 

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

Paul’s guidance for Timothy:

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

–         Among other things these letters contained some guidance for Timothy

 

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

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

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

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

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

–         Paul doesn’t force his way with Timothy

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

–         Paul wanted Timothy to stand for the truth

–         This meant Timothy was facing opposition from the false teachers

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

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

–         Focus instead on what you can control

 

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

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

 

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

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

–         Let your actions speak for you

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

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

 

As William Mounce observes…

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

–         It’s the same principle for Timothy at Ephesus

 

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

–         In many ways its great advice for us too

 

Maybe you’re at work surrounded by people behaving badly

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

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

 

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

–         That can be quite lonely at times

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

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

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

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

 

Conclusion:

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

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

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

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

 

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

–         Guidance is not coercion, it’s not force

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

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

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

 

Let me leave you with two questions…

 

Do you know that God believes in you?

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

 

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

 

Reflection questions:

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

 

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

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

[2] 1st Thessalonians 3:1-3

[3] 1st Corinthians 4:17

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

Tawa Baptist

He Guides Me

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

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

 

Title: He Guides Me

 

Structure:

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

 

Introduction:

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

He leads me beside still waters

He restores my soul…

 

‘Lying down’ is about God providing rest

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

 

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

 

Today we complete verse 3…

 

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

 

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

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

 

Psalm 23:3b

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

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

 

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

 

Life is not exactly like Snakes & Ladders though

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

 

 

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

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

 

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

 

The Lord guides me:

Firstly, the Lord ‘guides’ me.

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

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

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

 

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

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

 

Righteousness is a path:

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

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

 

In the wild Middle East pathways are not so clear

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

In hindsight I didn’t really listen to God

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

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

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

 

Not that the business management stuff was wasted

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

A path indicates movement, process, change and journey

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

 

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

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

 

For his name’s sake:

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Here we have two pathways

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

 

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

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

 

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

  • God did not require that – but tradition did

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

From verse 10 of Matthew 15 we continue…

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

May the Spirit of God illuminate this reading for us

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

To Jesus’ original audience this was a revolutionary idea

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

Jesus is talking about inner pathways here

  • Where are your thoughts, feelings and desires leading you

 

Remember righteousness is a pathway – not a destination

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

Conclusion:

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

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

 

Let us pray…