Tawa Baptist

Nineveh Repents

Scripture: Jonah 3

 

Title: Nineveh Repents

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Jonah’s preaching
  • Nineveh’s repentance
  • God’s compassion
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

The Economist Intelligence Unit did a global livability study looking at the most “tolerable” cities to live in given crime levels, threat of conflict, quality of medical care, levels of censorship, climate, schools and transport links [1]

–         And they came up with a list of the 10 best cities in the world

–         There were 4 Australian cities in the top 10 and 3 Canadian cities

–         With Melbourne being rated the best city to live in, in the world

–         Auckland, NZ, came in tenth – which made me wonder whether they had considered Wellington at all

–         We lived in Auckland for 3 years and while it wasn’t too bad, Wellington is a way better city in pretty much every way

 

At the other end of the spectrum, if you google ‘most violent cities’ then Latin American countries are predominant

–         The city of Caracas, in Venezuela, is currently ranked the most dangerous with nearly 120 homicides per 100,000 people  [2]

 

Today we continue our series on the city of Nineveh

–         These days Nineveh is more of a province in northern Iraq

–         But in ancient times it was a significant city

–         Nineveh would not have won any prizes for being the most tolerable place to live but it was certainly up there as one of the most violent places

 

For two Sundays now we’ve looked at the city of Nineveh through the book of Jonah

–         This morning we pick up the story from Jonah chapter 3

–         I will be reading from the New International Version – the words will appear on the wall…

 

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” 3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh.

 

Now Nineveh was a very important city; a visit required three days. 4 On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

 

6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.  9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”

 

10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

 

There are essentially three parts to this chapter…

–         Jonah’s preaching

–         Nineveh’s repentance

–         And God’s compassion

 

First let’s consider Jonah’s preaching…

 

Jonah’s preaching:

Robert Frost has a poem called Reluctance

–         The last verse goes like this…

 

Ah, when to the heart of man

Was it ever less than a treason

To go with the drift of things,

To yield with a grace to reason,

And bow and accept the end

Of a love or a season?

 

Jonah is sometimes described as the reluctant prophet – and for good reason

 

When God asked Jonah to go to Nineveh, Jonah protested and when his protest failed he tried running away

–         Then when God saved Jonah from drowning, by providing a large fish, Jonah was thankful but he wasn’t really sorry for running away

–         Nevertheless God wanted to give Jonah a second chance, so he spoke to the fish and the fish spewed Jonah out onto the beach

 

Once again God calls Jonah to go and preach to the people of Nineveh

–         This time Jonah obeys God, but only reluctantly

–         His heart is not really in it

–         ‘The drift of things’ (of everything in fact) is pulling Jonah towards Nineveh and yet it still feels to his heart like treason

–         Yes, Jonah obeys God this time, but it is a reluctant yielding to reason

–         Like a man subject to the change of seasons or to a love which is ending, Jonah is subject to forces he cannot control

–         The most sensible option available to Jonah is simply to go with it

 

We can’t be sure where the fish spewed Jonah out, but we do know that Nineveh was inland by quite a distance (about 500 miles north of Jerusalem) so it would have taken Jonah a fair while to walk there

 

Verse 3 tells us that a visit to Nineveh required three days

–         This probably means Jonah could reasonably expect to budget three days to proclaim his message in all of Nineveh’s public places

 

Jonah’s sermon, in a nutshell went like this…

–         “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned”

 

Now you might think, a short sermon is a good sermon

–         But this is too short

–         We know for a fact that Jonah could do better

–         Just last week we heard his beautifully composed poem about how God rescued him from drowning

–         Jonah delivered this poem in the belly of a fish where no one but God could hear

–         Now, when he is faced with an enormous audience, Jonah gives 8 words of doom (it’s actually only 5 words in the original Hebrew)

 

There are no illustrations or movie clips and no miracles to prove his point

–         There is no explanation of what Nineveh has done wrong, nor is there any specific application about what they can do to put things right

–         In fact, God’s name is not mentioned at all

–         If Jonah wanted to save Nineveh then we might expect him to be a bit clearer with the details

–         Instead Jonah’s message is blunt and vague

–         It appears that Jonah is forcing himself to obey God – all the time hoping that his message won’t be successful

–         To be fair to Jonah though, the people of Nineveh spoke a different language – so that may have been a limitation

 

Language is a funny thing

–         One word, spelt exactly the same, can have two quite different meanings

–         For example, the word bark can mean a loud noise, like a dog might make, or it can mean the covering of a tree

–         The word light can refer to a lamp but it can also mean not heavy

–         And the word cool – can refer to temperature but it can also mean something is really good or acceptable – as in, ‘that’s cool man’

 

The word, “overturned”, which Jonah uses in his sermon (hapak in the original Hebrew), has a double meaning [3]

–         On the one hand it can mean destroyed – as in God is going to wreck this city

–         But on the other hand it can also mean changed – as in God is going to transform this city, he is going to turn your world upside down so that your whole way of life is different

 

Jonah was hoping for the first meaning (destroyed) but he knew God well enough not to rule out the second meaning (changed)

 

Nineveh’s repentance:

Despite his half-hearted (reluctant) sermon, Jonah’s success as a preacher is unparalleled in history

–         The entire city from the least to the greatest (from the livestock to the king himself) took Jonah’s message to heart and very quickly repented

 

Apparently Jonah didn’t need to use the full three days to spread his message, because the people of Nineveh spread it themselves

–         They didn’t need the problem explained to them because they already knew what they had done wrong

–         The king of Nineveh certainly knew – he summed it up as…

–         “Let them give up their evil ways and their violence”

–         What’s more, even though Jonah never mentioned Yahweh’s name, verse 5 tells us the people of Nineveh believed God

 

Belief in God goes hand in hand with repentance

–         You can’t really have one without the other

–         If we believe in God it will inevitably lead to repentance

–         If belief doesn’t lead to repentance then we are just kidding ourselves

 

For example, if it’s cold and the clothes you are wearing are wet, then the best way to get warm is to get out of the wet clothes and into something dry

–         Simply thinking warm thoughts isn’t repentance

–         Actually changing your clothes (changing your behaviour) is repentance

 

The problem is, most people don’t want to get out of their wet clothes because they think, “I’m not that wet anyway” or “I’ll soon dry off” or “It’s going to make me even colder getting changed”

–         They’re not really facing the problem

–         In order to change our clothes we need to feel even colder

 

If we apply this metaphor to the people of Nineveh, then they were already cold, standing around in wet clothes, when Jonah turned up

–         Jonah’s message to them was, “You’re going to get hyperthermia & die”

 

The people of Nineveh didn’t need convincing – they were freezing and they knew what they had to do to get warm – change into some dry clothes

–         In other words, stop their violent ways and practice kindness

 

Real repentance only comes about when we realise just how cold & wet we are

–         So long as we hold on to the illusion that we are right – so long as we keep denying the truth and justifying ourselves,

–         So long as we keep saying, “I’m not that wet, I’ll dry off soon” – we can’t change

 

It’s harder for good people, respectable people (like Jonah) to admit when they are wrong – they don’t want to change their wet clothes, it’s too embarrassing

–         It was easier for the people of Nineveh to admit they were wrong because they could feel the coldness of their actions

 

Again it is ironic that Jonah (who has experienced God’s miraculous power & grace) is unwilling to say sorry and seek forgiveness

–         Yet the people of Nineveh (who have never experienced God’s miraculous power and only hear a message of judgment) are willing to repent and seek mercy

 

In Matthew 12 Jesus says to the men & women of his day…

–         The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here.

 

If the people of Nineveh listened to Jonah (a foreigner) and believed his message (as poor as it was), it seems crazy that Jesus’ own people did not believe Jesus’ message (as rich as it was)

 

In some ways the king of Nineveh shows more insight than Jonah himself

–         In verse 9, after making a royal decree for everyone to repent and change their ways, the king says…

–         Who knows? God may relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish

 

This is interesting for what it reveals

–         Unlike Jonah, the king of Nineveh seems to intuitively understand that God is free

–         Just because they have repented, it doesn’t automatically follow that God must forgive them

–         The king throws himself and his people at God’s mercy and hopes for the best

 

Earlier this week Brian Gillies sent me a link to an article about Henry Gerecke[4]

–         Gerecke was an American army chaplain during the second world war

–         He served in a field hospital in 1944 following the D Day invasions

–         He also saw inside the Nazi concentration camps at the end of the war

 

Gerecke was preparing to return to the US following the war when he was asked by Colonel Andrus if he would stay behind to act as a chaplain to some high profile Nazi war criminals (Hitler’s henchmen) as they stood trial at Nuremburg

–         Many people on the home front thought these Nazi’s shouldn’t be given the chance to make their peace with God

–         Consequently, Henry Gerecke (a Lutheran pastor) together with Father Richard O’Connor (a Catholic priest), were inundated with hate mail

–         What they were doing was thought to be anti-Semitic, unpatriotic and unjust – a kind of betrayal of the Jews and allies who had died at the hands of the Nazi’s

 

It was a difficult decision to make but in the end Gerecke and O’Connor felt that ministering to these loathsome men was what Christ would have them do

–         Christ too was criticised for keeping bad company but always maintained he came to seek and save the lost

 

Gerecke’s situation was similar to Jonah’s in that God had called Jonah to minister to his enemies – people Jonah considered beyond redemption

–         It would have felt like a betrayal of his own people

However, unlike Jonah, Gerecke and O’Connor were willing to serve and did not try to run away from God

–         Gerecke & O’Connor were not as successful as Jonah

–         Of the 21 men who stood trial, 11 were condemned to die and, according to Gerecke’s final report, only four of them…

–         “…died as penitent sinners trusting God’s mercy for forgiveness [and] believing in Jesus who shed his blood for their sins.”

 

Will those repentant Nazi’s be forgiven and make it into heaven?

–         God is free, so like the king of Nineveh the most we can say is…

–         Who knows? God may relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish

 

God’s compassion:

Jonah’s preaching was reluctant – half hearted

–         By contrast, Nineveh’s repentance was genuine – fully committed

–         But it’s God’s compassion which triumphs in the end

 

10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

 

There are two sides to the coin of compassion

–         One side is entering into the suffering of another – sharing their pain

–         The other side is doing something to alleviate that pain

–         When we feel someone else’s pain as our own then we are motivated to relieve their suffering

–         So to have compassion is firstly to feel and then to heal

 

This is a picture of the memorial at Gallipoli

 

The story that goes with this memorial is that there was a wounded British soldier groaning in agony in no man’s land between the trenches

  • – At that moment a piece of white underwear was raised from the Turkish side and a well-built, unarmed soldier appeared.
  • – The Turk walked slowly towards the wounded British soldier, took him in his arms and carried him to the Allies’ side, before gently placing him down on the ground and returning to his trench.

 

There are some who question the accuracy of this story

  • – I don’t know, I wasn’t there
  • – Either way, it is a picture of compassion
  • – Feeling another’s pain and then acting to help & heal that person
  • – Feeling and healing

 

To say that God had compassion on the people of Nineveh means that he was affected by their sin (he felt the hurt they inflicted on each other) and he acted to heal that hurt – feeling and healing

 

God’s compassion wasn’t just a response to the people’s repentance

–         His compassion is seen long before that, when he sent Jonah to warn them

 

That God is compassionate and open to change tells us that the details of God’s will are not fixed in stone

–         Sometimes we are tempted to think of God’s will as a train travelling along the tracks

–         The thing about a train is that it can’t really deviate off the tracks – it has to follow the path laid out for it

–         And once the train gets up some speed it is very hard to stop, because it’s got all this weight (all this history) behind it

 

But I don’t believe God’s will is like a train following the tracks

–         I see God’s will as more dynamic than that

–         God’s will is like a 4WD vehicle

–         God can follow the road or he can go off road

–         If someone or something is in the way then God can easily stop to wait or change course to avoid a collision

–         Yes, he has a fixed destination in mind (the redemption of his creation)

–         But he also has the power and freedom to alter his course in getting to that destination

–         And that’s what he does in the case of Nineveh – God changes his course (without changing his overall purpose) and saves the city

 

Conclusion:

This morning we’ve heard that Jonah was a reluctant preacher

–         But despite his reluctance the people of Nineveh still humbled themselves in genuine repentance

–         And God had compassion on Nineveh

–         God is free and he uses his freedom to love his enemies

 

I’m conscious that today is September 11 – fifteen years since the attack on the Twin Towers in New York

–         The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people and injured over 6,000 others

–         In response to these attacks America declared a war on terror and thousands more died

–         So people might say the city of New York is akin to Nineveh, with its violence

–         Others say, no, it’s the terrorists who are more akin to the people of Nineveh

–         I suspect it’s not that black & white

–         All of our cities have violence in them

–         All of our hearts the seeds of terror

–         None of us can claim to be completely pure or righteous

 

I don’t think the events of 9/11 were God’s will

–         I think what happened that day grieved his heart and went against his will

 

Jesus points us to the will of God (to the compassion of God) when he says…

 

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous…

 

 

Let us pray…

 

https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/11-sep-2016-nineveh-repents

[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/pictures/9477990/The-worlds-10-best-cities-to-live-in.html?frame=2311083

[2] http://www.businessinsider.com/most-violent-cities-in-the-world-2016-1/?r=AU&IR=T/#1-caracas-venezuela-had-11987-homicides-per-100000-residents-50

[3] James Bruckner, NIVAC ‘Jonah’, pages 90-91.

[4][4] http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/may-web-only/would-you-share-gospel-with-hitlers-worst-henchmen.html?start=3

Tawa Baptist

Jonah thanks God

Scripture:

Jonah 1:17 – 2:10

 

Title:

Jonah thanks God

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Jonah’s thanksgiving
  • Jonah’s hope
  • Jonah’s blindness
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

This morning we continue our series on the city of Nineveh

 

In today’s terms Nineveh is located in Northern Iraq and in ancient times was one of the strongholds of the Assyrian empire – Israel’s enemies

–         The two books of the Bible which have the most to say about Nineveh are the prophets Jonah & Nahum

 

A couple of weeks ago we started looking at Jonah

–         We heard how God asked Jonah to go to Nineveh to preach against its violence and wickedness

–         Jonah, who believed strongly in justice, didn’t think Nineveh should be given a chance to repent and be forgiven

–         So he got aboard a ship and sailed away in the opposite direction

–         But the Lord didn’t give up on Nineveh or on Jonah

–         God sent a powerful storm and, long story short, the sailors threw Jonah overboard

 

Today we pick up the threads from the end of chapter 1

–         Please turn with me to Jonah 1, verse 17 – page 897 in your pew Bibles

–         At this point Jonah is in the water, no land in sight and no life jacket – things are looking a bit grim for the prophet

–         From verse 17 to the end of chapter 2 we read…

 

17 At the Lord‘s command a large fish swallowed Jonah, and he was inside the fish for three days and three nights.

2 From deep inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God:

2 “In my distress, O Lord, I called to you,     and you answered me. From deep in the world of the dead     I cried for help, and you heard me. 3 You threw me down into the depths,     to the very bottom of the sea,     where the waters were all around me,     and all your mighty waves rolled over me. 4 I thought I had been banished from your presence     and would never see your holy Temple again. 5 The water came over me and choked me;     the sea covered me completely,     and seaweed wrapped around my head. 6 I went down to the very roots of the mountains,     into the land whose gates lock shut forever. But you, O Lord my God,     brought me back from the depths alive. 7 When I felt my life slipping away,     then, O Lord, I prayed to you,     and in your holy Temple you heard me. 8 Those who worship worthless idols     have abandoned their loyalty to you. 9 But I will sing praises to you;     I will offer you a sacrifice     and do what I have promised. Salvation comes from the Lord!”

10 Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah up on the beach, and it did.

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

 

Jonah’s thanksgiving:

In an address to the U.S. National Prayer Breakfast in 1994 Mother Theresa told this story…

–         “One evening we went out, and we picked up four people from the street. And one of them was in a most terrible condition.

–         I told the sisters, “You take care of the other three; I will take care of the one who looks worst.”

–         So I did for her all that my love could do.

–         I put her in bed, and there was such a beautiful smile on her face.

–         She took hold of my hand as she said two words only:

–         “Thank you.” Then she died.

 

I could not help but examine my conscience before her. And I asked:

–         What would I say if I were in her place?

–         And my answer was very simple.

–         I would have tried to draw a little attention to myself.

–         I would have said, “I am hungry, I am dying, I am in pain,” or something.

–         But she gave me much more; she gave me her grateful love.

–         And she died with a smile on her face.

–         Gratitude brings a smile and becomes a gift.”

 

Even though Jonah is in a dark and terrifying place

–         As close to death as one can come

–         He does not offer a prayer of complaint

–         Or even a prayer of confession

–         He offers a prayer of thanksgiving

 

It may not be immediately obvious to us that Jonah’s prayer is a thanksgiving because we don’t explicitly read the words, “Thank you God”

–         But we know it was a prayer of thanksgiving because it follows the same pattern as other Jewish thanksgiving psalms

 

Typically with Hebrew psalms of thanksgiving there is a retelling of the crisis in retrospect

–         That is, a looking back at the near death experience and an acknowledgment of Yahweh’s deliverance

–         And there is a promise or a vow to praise the Lord and offer sacrifices to him – as a practical way of saying thankyou

–         If someone does something nice for us then we might acknowledge that by sending them a thank you card

–         What we read in Jonah chapter 2 is the prophet’s ‘thank you card’ to God, for saving him from drowning

 

The first thing we note about Jonah’s prayer of thanksgiving is that it was composed in the belly of a large fish

–         I imagine the belly of the fish was cramped, dark, slimy and smelly

–         It’s not like Jonah had a pen and paper with a desk and chair and lamp to sit down and write

–         Which means that Jonah would have composed the psalm in his head (drawing on other psalms of thanksgiving with which he was familiar) and then spoken or even sung it out loud to God

 

Some people these days have a difficulty with a large fish swallowing a man whole and then vomiting him out 3 days later

–         They think if something is miraculous then it’s not historical

–         And so they explain the story of Jonah as a parable which, although made up, nevertheless communicates some very profound truths

 

Well, that’s one theory, but personally I have no problem with the miraculous

–         I think God could easily make a fish large enough to swallow a man – no problems with that

–         In fact it seems to me to be exactly the sort of practical joke God might play on someone like Jonah

–         It’s totally fits with God’s whacky sense of humour

–         Anyone who has experienced God’s sense of humour for themselves will understand what I’m saying

 

Where the story becomes difficult to believe is in the next chapter – in Jonah 3 – where the entire city listen to Jonah’s message and repent

–         That really stretches the imagination – but we’ll get to that next week

 

In Mother Teresa’s story, which I mentioned before, the dying woman simply said ‘thank you’ – she didn’t draw any attention to herself

–         By contrast Jonah attracts a lot of attention to himself

–         One of the striking things about Jonah’s psalm of thanksgiving is it’s self-centered-ness

–         Most of the psalm focuses on Jonah’s crisis – it’s I, I, I, me, me, me, most of the way through

–         I called, I cried, I thought, I went down, I felt, I prayed, I will sing, I will offer – and so on

–         With all this I, I, I, me, me, me, talk it’s little wonder Jonah gave the fish a belly ache and was vomited up

 

We don’t want to be too hard on Jonah though

–         After all he has been through a tough time and nearly died

–         In fact it is at the very cusp of death – at his lowest ebb – that Jonah finally prays to God. Verse 7…

–         “When I felt my life slipping away, then, O Lord, I prayed to you”

 

You may remember from a couple of weeks ago that Jonah did not pray when the storm hit

–         The pagan sailors were all praying and even called Jonah to prayer, but Jonah refused to talk to God

–         It’s only when he hits rock bottom that Jonah breaks his silence

–         And it’s only when he prays that God sends the fish to rescue him

 

It’s not like the sailors threw Jonah overboard and the fish swallowed him up straight away – No

–         God waits for Jonah to pray before he sends the fish

 

Sometimes we might be tempted to think,

–         ‘What’s the point in praying? God already knows what I’m thinking – he knows what’s in my heart.

–         Why bother saying it out loud?’

–         Well perhaps it’s because we need to own it

 

We’ve been watching that mini-series on Sir Edmund Hillary on Sunday nights – quite enjoying it so far

–         Sir Ed is depicted as a fairly quiet character

–         Kind of a classic kiwi bloke – holds it all in

–         Doesn’t really say how he’s feeling

–         At the end of last week’s episode the girl that Ed fancies is about to head off to Australia for 3 years

–         This girl knows that Ed likes her, but she (quite rightly) doesn’t want to do all the work in the relationship

–         Even though she knows that Ed likes her, Ed still has to be the one to say it out loud – she can’t say it for him

–         When Ed realizes that he may not see the girl of his dreams again for a long time he says,

–         “I wish I had found the courage to ask you out”

–         And that’s enough for him to get a kiss

 

It’s a similar thing with prayer

–         Yes, God knows what we are thinking but we must still say it out loud – he can’t say it for us

 

So Jonah finally prays and God saves him

–         But Jonah’s salvation is not yet complete because he is still in the belly of the fish and he won’t be able to survive there for long

 

Jonah’s hope:

In some ways this is Jonah’s finest moment – thanking and praising God (from the belly of the fish) before his deliverance is fully realized

–         It shows us that Jonah’s faith & hope in the Lord is strong

 

A team of child psychologists wanted to observe how different children respond to negative circumstances

–         So they filled a room with horse manure

–         And put a child in the room to see how he might react

–         The boy whined and cried and despaired that he was in a room full of smelly horse poo

 

Then the psychologists put another child in the room

–         The little girl immediately started tearing around and digging in the manure with an excitement that baffled the on-lookers

–         After a few minutes of watching this, they asked the child why she was so excited

–         And she replied, “With all this manure in the room, there’s got to be a pony somewhere”

 

The reaction of the second child is a picture of hope

–         Even though the little girl could not see a pony

–         She could see the signs of one

–         Her hope of finding a pony was strong because of the manure

 

What was it the Apostle Paul said?

–         For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

 

Paul’s point here is that hope is often strongest when things appear worst

–         Not when life is at its best

 

Jonah’s situation was significantly more life threatening than being in a room full of horse manure

–         Most of his prayer describes the horror of his situation

 

Generally speaking the people of Israel were not a seafaring people

–         They were afraid of the sea and other large bodies of water

–         For them the sea was a symbol of chaos as well as a symbol of deliverance by trial

 

Noah had to pass through the chaotic flood waters (in the ark) in order to save his family and the animals from death

–         The people of Israel had to pass through the Red Sea in order to be delivered from slavery in Egypt

–         And they had to pass through the river Jordan in order to enter the promised land

 

I expect Jonah was conscious of these stories of deliverance through threatening waters, during his 3 days & nights inside the fish

–         And I expect these stories of deliverance strengthened his hope

–         I imagine the smelly inside of the fish and sea all around were for Jonah like the manure was for the little girl

–         Where there is manure there must be a pony

–         Where there is a great body of water there must be deliverance

 

So Jonah’s faith & hope in the Lord was strong – he praises God for his deliverance even before that deliverance is fully realized

 

One of the implications here is that God’s salvation of us is normally a process – it happens in stages, not all at once

–         God didn’t magically transport Jonah to dry land or back to the temple (like in Star Trek when they say, ‘Beam me up Scotty’)

 

The first step of salvation for Jonah was God sending a violent storm

–         The second step was Jonah being thrown in the sea and nearly drowning before he finally cried out to God for help

–         The third step was being saved from drowning by a huge fish

–         Jonah could see where this was going – eventually God would return him to dry land

–         And so while Jonah was waiting for the next phase, he praised God

 

One of the things we do each Sunday is to come together to sing songs of praise to God

–         Some weeks singing songs of praise is easier than others

–         If things are going well and we are aware of God’s goodness in our lives, then no problems singing

–         But if we have had a hard week and we are struggling to see God’s goodness or we feel like we aren’t quite out of the woods yet, then it can be more of a struggle to sing about how great God is

–         This life is not perfect – there are times when God seems absent and we shouldn’t try to deny or ignore the feelings this raises for us

–         But it doesn’t help to dwell too long on those feelings either

–         While we are waiting for God to complete our salvation we can still offer thanks & praise to him in anticipation of what he will do

 

So if you feel like you’re wading through a lot of poo at the moment – just think, there must be a pony somewhere

 

Jonah’s blindness:

Having celebrated Jonah’s strength of hope from the belly of the fish we also need to acknowledge the fundamental contradiction we find in Jonah

–         Yes, Jonah is a thankful believer in Yahweh, but he is also a disobedient believer

–         And to make matters worse, Jonah is unrepentant

 

Once when the famous preacher and evangelist, Billy Graham, was driving through a small town in the southern states of America

–         He was stopped by a policeman and charged with speeding.

–         Graham admitted his guilt, but was told by the officer that he would have to appear in court.

 

The judge asked, “Guilty, or not guilty?”

–         When Graham pleaded guilty, the judge replied…

–         “That’ll be ten dollars – a dollar for every mile you went over the limit.”

–         Then the judge suddenly recognized the famous minister.

–         “You have violated the law,” the judge said.

–         “The fine must be paid – but I am going to pay it for you.”

–         He took a ten dollar bill from his own wallet, attached it to the ticket, and then took Graham out and bought him a steak dinner!

 

“That,” said Billy Graham, “is how God treats repentant sinners!”

 

Many of us have heard that message before – that God forgives and pays the debt for repentant sinners

–         (For those who admit their guilt and try to change their ways)

–         So we are not surprised or impressed by Billy Graham’s story

 

What would make the story more interesting is if the judge still paid the fine even though Billy Graham did not admit his wrong doing and was not sorry for speeding

–         This is basically what God does for Jonah – which is what makes his story so interesting

–         God saves Jonah, even though Jonah is not repentant

 

Nowhere in his psalm does Jonah say, “Woops, sorry Lord. I was wrong, you were right. Will you forgive me?”

–         Jonah may be thankful that God saved him but he’s not sorry for running away

–         Jonah is, in a sense, blind to some aspects of himself

 

The psychologist Carl Jung came up with a term he called the shadow side

–         For many years I mistakenly thought our shadow side was that part of us which was like the dark side of the force – the bad in us

–         But actually our shadow is more simply those aspects of our personality (both good & bad) that we are not aware of and can’t see easily or won’t acknowledge

–         So our shadow side is really our blind spot

 

Now the fact is we all have a shadow-side or a blind spot, including people of outstanding integrity and faith like Jonah

 

In verse 8 Jonah says, rather revoltingly…

–         “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But, with a song of thanksgiving, I will sacrifice to you”

–         This is a clearer translation than what we have in our pew Bibles

 

It’s sort of like Jonah is saying here,

–         “I’m not like those scum bag idol worshippers. I’m better than them. You can count on me to make good on my promises”

 

What Jonah doesn’t realize is that after he was thrown overboard those pagan idol worshipping sailors became worshippers of Jonah’s God, Yahweh

–         And they did exactly the same thing that Jonah promised to do

–         They made vows and offered sacrifices of thanksgiving to Yahweh

–         So Jonah isn’t all that different to the pagan sailors

–         He just has the advantage of knowing more about God than they do

 

But there is an even deeper blindness in Jonah here because actually he is guilty of idolatry as well [1]

–         While Jonah may not literally bow down to images of wood or stone he has attempted to make God in his own image

–         He has tried to make God conform to his way of thinking

 

Whenever we put God in a box or reduce God so that he is smaller, more domesticated, more controllable and less free (as Jonah did) then we are guilty of idolatry

–         As we talked about last time the great Kauri tree of justice is so large in Jonah’s forest of belief that the small Sapling of mercy has no light to grow

–         In Jonah’s mind God is not free to forgive the people of Nineveh

–         Jonah has tried to make God conform to his way of thinking – and that’s basically idolatry

 

Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament had a lot to say about faith

–         And that’s because faith is fundamental to a relationship with God

–         We, finite beings, can’t be in a relationship with the infinite God without trust

–         Faith (trust) doesn’t try to control God – faith let’s God be free

 

Conclusion:

Jonah is a complex character isn’t he

–         He is sincerely thankful and genuinely hopeful but ultimately unrepentant

–         Nevertheless God in his grace breaks with our expectations and saves Jonah anyway

–         Salvation really does belong to the Lord

 

I’m not saying here that God is bound to save us even if we remain unrepentant – far from it

–         God may be patient but he’s no fool, so we shouldn’t push our luck

–         The point is: Deliverance belongs to the Lord

–         That means God is free – free to show mercy to whomever he wants, but also free to withhold his mercy

 

Like all the prophets of the Old Testament, Jonah points to Jesus

–         In Matthew 12, Jesus is asked to perform a sign or a miracle to prove his credentials but Jesus refuses saying…

 

“No! The only miracle (or sign) you will be given is the sign of the prophet Jonah. In the same way that Jonah spent three days and nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will spend three days and nights in the depths of the earth”  

 

Jonah may not have been perfect but God still used him to point to Jesus – in particular Jesus’ death and resurrection

 

It is Jesus’ death & resurrection we remember today as we gather around the Lord’s Table

–         The musicians will come now to lead us in sung praise as we prepare for communion…

 

 

Out Takes:

Another thing we notice about Jonah’s prayer is that the Lord’s temple features a couple of times

–         Verse 4, “…I thought I would never see your holy temple again”

–         And verse 7, “…I prayed to you [from the depths of the ocean] and in your holy temple you heard me.”

 

God designed the temple to be a safe, peaceful and ordered space

–         In the temple there is a place for everything and everything in its place

–         The sea (or the ocean) is the complete opposite to the temple

–         The sea is dangerous, messy and chaotic

 

Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone – pave paradise, put up a parking lot.

–         It’s often when we lose stuff, when we are cut off from the people and places we love that we truly realize just how much we value them

–         Jonah had been running away from God and from the temple but when faced with the prospect of never being able to return he suddenly realized what he had

 

https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/4-sep-2016-jonah-says-thanks

[1] Refer Terence Fretheim, ‘The Message of Jonah’, page 103, for more on this

Tawa Baptist

Jonah’s Justice

Scripture: Jonah 1:1-16

 

Title: Jonah’s Justice

 

Structure:

  • Introduction – Nineveh
  • Jonah and God (vv. 1-4)
  • Jonah and the sailors (vv. 5-16)
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

Today we begin a new sermon series on the city of Nineveh

–         According to Genesis, Nineveh was founded by Nimrod (the great grandson of Noah and a mighty warrior & hunter) [1]

–         Archaeologists have found pottery at the site of Nineveh which dates back to 3000 BC – so Nineveh was a very ancient city indeed

In Old Testament times Nineveh was located in the Assyrian Empire – what we today would call Northern Iraq (about 220 miles north of Baghdad)

–         The Assyrian Empire doesn’t exist anymore but back in the day the people of Nineveh were Israel’s enemies

–         At the height of their powers (during the 7th Century BC) the Assyrians controlled a vast area – reaching down through Palestine into Egypt

–         The residents of Nineveh had a reputation for cruelty and violence

–         Consequently the city of Nineveh was considered an evil place – sort of like Sodom & Gomorrah or Babylon

 

The two books of the Bible which have the most to say about Nineveh are the prophets Jonah & Nahum

–         We are going to start our series on Nineveh by looking at the book of Jonah and, depending on how that goes, we may look at the book of Nahum later in the year

Jonah was a prophet who lived in Galilee (that’s the northern part of Israel)

–         We read about Jonah in 2 Kings chapter 14 – where he successfully predicted king Jeroboam II would recapture some of the lands of Israel to restore its former borders

–         In other words, Jonah gave the king of Israel confidence to fight and reclaim lost territory for Israel

–         This was a good message to bring – a patriotic message

 

It also tells us Jonah lived and prophesied in the 8th Century BC, so he came after Elijah & Elisha, but before Jeremiah

–         Jonah was a contemporary of Amos & Hosea

Please turn with me to Jonah chapter 1 – page 895 in your pew Bibles

–         We can’t be certain but the story of Jonah is probably set about 750 years before Jesus when the Assyrians were on the rise – just before they became a super power

–         From Jonah chapter 1, verses 1-16 we read…

 

One day the Lord spoke to Jonah son of Amittai. 2 He said, “Go to Nineveh, that great city, and speak out against it; I am aware of how wicked its people are.” 3 Jonah, however, set out in the opposite direction in order to get away from the Lord. He went to Joppa, where he found a ship about to go to Spain. He paid his fare and went aboard with the crew to sail to Spain, where he would be away from the Lord.

 

4 But the Lord sent a strong wind on the sea, and the storm was so violent that the ship was in danger of breaking up. 5 The sailors were terrified and cried out for help, each one to his own god. Then, in order to lessen the danger, they threw the cargo overboard. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone below and was lying in the ship’s hold, sound asleep.

6 The captain found him there and said to him, “What are you doing asleep? Get up and pray to your god for help. Maybe he will feel sorry for us and spare our lives.”

 

7 The sailors said to each other, “Let’s draw lots and find out who is to blame for getting us into this danger.” They did so, and Jonah’s name was drawn. 8 So they said to him, “Now, then, tell us! Who is to blame for this? What are you doing here? What country do you come from? What is your nationality?”

9 “I am a Hebrew,” Jonah answered. “I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made land and sea.” 10 Jonah went on to tell them that he was running away from the Lord.

 

The sailors were terrified, and said to him, “That was an awful thing to do!” 11 The storm was getting worse all the time, so the sailors asked him, “What should we do to you to stop the storm?”

 

12 Jonah answered, “Throw me into the sea, and it will calm down. I know it is my fault that you are caught in this violent storm.”

 

13 Instead, the sailors tried to get the ship to shore, rowing with all their might. But the storm was becoming worse and worse, and they got nowhere. 14 So they cried out to the Lord, “O Lord, we pray, don’t punish us with death for taking this man’s life! You, O Lord, are responsible for all this; it is your doing.”

 

15 Then they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea, and it calmed down at once. 16 This made the sailors so afraid of the Lord that they offered a sacrifice and promised to serve him.

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

Irony - polar bear

Jonah & God:

Here we have a road sign saying, ‘Watch for ice’, with a polar bear slipping over in the background – this is a picture of irony

 

Irony, in this sense, is when the situation seems to reverse normal expectations

–         We wouldn’t expect a polar bear to fall over on the ice, so it is ironic

–         The book of Jonah is full of irony – especially chapter 1

 

The story begins with God telling Jonah to go to Nineveh to speak against it because of its wickedness

–         This is not what Jonah expected

–         Normally in the Old Testament when prophets were asked to speak against foreign nations they simply did it from the relative safety of Israel

–         But in this situation, God actually wants Jonah to go to Nineveh in person

 

The difference is this…

 

If you preach against your enemies at home, then people will applaud you

–         They will take heart and gain hope from your message

–         Not only that but your enemies are unlikely to hear your message and therefore even less likely to change their ways and be forgiven

 

But if you go to your enemies and preach to them, then you are putting yourself at great risk

–         It would be like God saying, ‘Go to ISIS controlled territory (in Iraq) and preach against their violence’

–         You would expect to be killed

–         Having said that, there is an outside chance they will listen, change their ways and be forgiven – after all, you wouldn’t expect God to send you unless he thought there was some possibility of success

 

Jonah doesn’t like what God is asking him to do so he lodges a protest with God

–         The opening chapter doesn’t record Jonah’s protest – it presents Jonah as silent on the matter

–         But chapter 4 makes it clear that Jonah had words with God before going

–         As we shall see, Jonah was not afraid of dying

–         Jonah was afraid he would be successful – that the people of Nineveh would be conscience stricken by his message, repent and be forgiven

 

This also is ironic – a prophet who doesn’t want his message to be successful

–         Jonah didn’t think God should forgive the Assyrians

–         Jonah believed in justice and forgiveness isn’t fair

–         Just as there was no room for Jesus in Bethlehem – there is no room for forgiveness in Jonah’s heart

Instead of obeying God, Jonah goes to Joppa, pays his fare and gets on a boat bound for Tarshish – in Spain

–         Now Tarshish is in the opposite direction from Nineveh

–         In Jonah’s day Tarshish was considered to be on the edge of the known world

–         The point is, Jonah was trying to get as far away from Nineveh (and from the presence of the Lord) as he possibly could

 

Now when it says that Jonah was wanting to flee from the Lord, it doesn’t mean that Jonah somehow thought he could outrun God or go somewhere that God wasn’t

–         As a prophet Jonah knew that God was present everywhere in the world

–         Jonah ran away from Israel because Israel reminded him of the Lord and he didn’t want to be reminded of what the Lord wanted him to do

 

The band U2 have a song, ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’

–         The words go like this…

 

I want to run, I want to hide

I want to tear down the walls that hold me inside

I want to reach out and touch the flame

Where the streets have no name

 

‘The walls that hold me inside’ are the things that restrain us and make us feel trapped on the inside

–         And I interpret ‘Where the streets have no name’ to be a place that is unfamiliar to you – a place you don’t know at all

 

I’m not sure what Bono meant by those words but they speak to me of a person (like Jonah) who is wanting to run away from something but feels trapped

–         If you’ve lived in the same place for a while then you build up this library of memories – some of them good and some of them bad

–         And those memories are attached to places – to streets with names

–         So every time you go down a particular street it reminds you of something – perhaps a failure or a regret or even worse, something good that you’ve lost

 

My grandfather used to take me fishing when I was kid

–         We had some great times in this little aluminium dingy of his

–         He was good to me – we were close

–         When he died I inherited the dingy

–         Funny thing is I never took it out on the water again

–         I can’t really explain it but perhaps it reminded me of my loss

–         Fishing without my grandfather just wouldn’t be the same

 

I reckon Jonah wanted to go somewhere completely new where the street names didn’t have any memories attached to them – where he wouldn’t be constantly haunted by what God wanted him to do or by what he had lost

–         For Jonah, Spain was a place where the streets had no name

–         A place where he wouldn’t be reminded of the Lord

–         Of course, Jonah’s action in running away from God was like playing with fire – reaching out and touching the flame – he would get burned

 

Now at this point God has a choice

–         He can either replace Jonah – cut him loose and ask someone else to go to Nineveh in his place

–         Or, God can go after Jonah and turn him around

 

We’ve just completed a series on the 23rd Psalm and have learned that the Lord is not inclined to cut his sheep loose

–         If a sheep wanders off and gets lost then the Lord (who is a good shepherd) goes looking for that sheep in order to restore it to the flock

–         This is exactly what God does with Jonah

–         God, in his goodness, pursues Jonah – he doesn’t give up on him

 

Verse 4 tells us how God sent a wind on the sea that was so violent the ship was in danger of breaking up

 

Jonah & the sailors:

It must have been a pretty bad storm because the sailors, who were used to high seas, were terrified

–         The fact they threw cargo overboard tells us this was a serious situation

 

But throwing cargo overboard is not the first thing the sailors do

–         These sailors are not atheists – they are pagans

–         They don’t know about Yahweh, the God of Israel, and yet they are still religious in their own way

–         Their first response is to pray – each to his own god

–         Their gods are not real and have no control over the elements but the sailors don’t know that

 

What makes this scene highly ironic is that Jonah (the prophet) is fast asleep while the pagan sailors are praying

–         We would expect Jonah to be leading the prayer meeting, not sleeping through it

 

That Jonah is able to sleep so soundly through such a violent storm tells us that his conscience is not disturbed

–         We would expect Jonah to be feeling some degree of guilt or shame and therefore not to be sleeping well – but apparently he is comfortable with the decision he has made

 

Why is that?

–         Well some people might say it’s because Jonah has hardened his heart

–         But I don’t think so – that doesn’t fit with Jonah’s character

–         He’s actually a fairly sensitive bloke

 

I reckon Jonah is able to sleep easy because, in his mind, he is acting with integrity

 

Jonah’s belief in justice – that people should get what they deserve – is so strong that it allows no room for God’s grace or forgiveness

 

You know how in a forest the larger trees overshadow the smaller saplings

–         So the light doesn’t get through and those smaller plants don’t ever get a chance to grow

–         Well it’s a bit like that with Jonah

 

In Jonah’s heart and mind justice is the really big, dominant tree in the forest – and mercy or forgiveness is the sapling that just doesn’t get a chance to grow

–         Jonah believes the people of Nineveh should not be given an opportunity to repent and be forgiven

–         In his mind that wouldn’t be fair, not after what they’ve done

–         God has to prune the trees of justice in Jonah’s mind to let the light of his grace through and allow the saplings of forgiveness to grow

 

Any guilt that Jonah may feel as a consequence of disobeying God is absolved by his self-imposed exile

–         Jonah is consistent – if he doesn’t obey God’s word then he doesn’t deserve to live among God’s people

–         Which may be part of the reason he takes himself off to Spain

 

Unfortunately, acting with integrity doesn’t guarantee that you are right

–         It is possible to be perfectly consistent and yet still be wrong

 

It seems to me that Jonah has confused justice with God

–         While it is true to say that ‘God is just’

–         It does not automatically follow that ‘justice is God’

–         God is free – both free to punish and free to forgive – that’s what makes him God

–         If God had to submit to Jonah’s idea of justice then he wouldn’t be God

 

The captain has to go and wake Jonah

–         “What are you doing asleep”, he asks, “Get up and pray to your god for help. Maybe he will feel sorry for us and spare our lives.”

 

Irony again

–         The pagan captain is basically saying to Jonah, “Pray for mercy”

–         This is what Jonah should be saying to the people of Nineveh

–         But Jonah doesn’t believe in mercy – he believes in justice

–         Despite the captain’s call to prayer Jonah doesn’t pray at this point – he is giving God the silent treatment

 

The sailors draw lots to find out who is to blame

–         We can’t be sure, from this distance in history, what ‘drawing (or casting) lots’ involved, but it was something like throwing dice

–         If your number came up then you were it

–         Surprise, surprise, Jonah’s number comes up

 

The sailors ask Jonah a series of quick fire questions and Jonah responds…

–         I am a Hebrew

–         I worship Yahweh, the God of heaven who made land and sea

–         And, I’m running away from the Lord

 

Now the sailors are even more afraid

–         But their fear this time is different

–         At first they were simply afraid of dying

–         Now they’re afraid because they have become aware they are in the presence of such a great and powerful God

–         It’s that sense of wo-oh – this is for real

–         We are not alone, we are in the presence of someone or something that we do not understand and cannot control

 

The sailors are absolutely shocked that anyone would disrespect their God like that – especially a God so powerful

 

The waves were getting worse so the mariners ask Jonah, “What should we do to stop the storm”,

–         And Jonah replies, “Throw me into the sea and it will calm down”

 

Now this is a brave and interesting move by Jonah

–         There was more than one way to stop the storm

–         Jonah could have cried out to God for mercy and forgiveness

–         The Lord would have stilled the waves and the sailors could return Jonah to Joppa

 

But Jonah doesn’t do this – sadly his integrity gets in the way

–         Jonah wouldn’t ask for forgiveness and mercy for himself all the while expecting justice and judgement for the people of Nineveh

–         No – if they deserve justice, then so does he

–         Jonah may be wrong but at least he is consistent

–         Jonah would rather be thrown in the sea and die than ask the Lord for forgiveness – that’s how tight his integrity is

 

As Terence Fretheim points out…

–         “Jonah admits that he is guilty, yet he will not repent. And so he will satisfy God’s justice. He will take upon himself what he deserves…

–         In a clever move Jonah has here succeeded in throwing the ball back into God’s court. He will show God how to act justly” [2]

 

We the audience are left wondering, ‘How will the Lord respond?’

 

That Jonah is willing to sacrifice himself to save the pagan sailors also shows us that Jonah wasn’t against Gentiles (or non-Jews)

–         Jonah’s resistance in going to Nineveh wasn’t a racial thing – it was a justice thing

 

Like Jonah, the sailors have integrity too

–         They are not about to throw Jonah overboard if they can help it

–         Ironically, they try to repent on Jonah’s behalf – they try to row back to shore

–         But it’s no use – you can’t repent for someone else, they must do it for themselves

 

The wind and waves just get worse

–         In the end they realise there is nothing else for it

–         The sailors pray to Jonah’s God – to Yahweh – asking for mercy,

–         “O Lord, don’t punish us with death for taking this man’s life”

 

Yet again we see the irony…

–         Jonah won’t pray to the Lord (he won’t ask God for mercy, even though he knows he’ll get it)

–         But the pagan sailors do ask, even though they’re not sure of the outcome

 

As soon as they throw Jonah in the drink, the sea goes calm

–         At this the sailors fear the Lord

 

The Hebrew word for fear (yara) is the same as for worship

–         So to fear the Lord (in this context) is to worship the Lord

 

The sailors have been pretty consistent through all of this

–         They have been afraid the whole way along

–         But the nature of their fear has changed

–         In the beginning, when the storm started, they were afraid of dying

–         But in the end, when the stormed ceased, they feared God

 

Two quite different types of fear

–         When you are afraid of dying then you tend to do stupid things

–         But when you fear the Lord, you make better choices

–         The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom

–         The sailors’ fear of the Lord led them to offer sacrifices to him and promise to serve him

 

Again there is this beautiful irony

–         Jonah’s disobedience to God results in the sailors’ conversion

–         God doesn’t waste anything, especially not our mistakes

–         If Jonah hadn’t got on that boat to Spain the sailors would never have come to know the Lord

–         They would never have experienced the reality of God’s power like they did in that storm and the calming of the storm

–         Nor would they have met a prophet like Jonah to interpret God’s power for them

 

And that’s the fascinating thing right there

–         God’s power in and of itself was not enough to change the sailors

–         The storm is inarticulate – it doesn’t make sense

–         God’s power by itself just makes the sailors more afraid of dying

–         The sailors need Jonah to articulate God’s purpose in the storm

–         When Jonah interprets the events for them then the sailors’ fear is transformed from soul destroying appeasement to life giving worship

 

We might think the part we play in God’s plan of salvation is unimportant

–         And while it doesn’t depend on us entirely God does give us a vital role

–         Like Jonah we may be called upon to interpret God’s power

–         The wonderfully ironic thing is that it’s through his weakness that Jonah interprets God’s power

–         It is when Jonah confesses his wrong doing that the sailors come to know God’s grace

 

Conclusion:

Some Biblical commentators are pretty hard on Jonah

–         They think the moral of the story is, “don’t be like Jonah”

–         But I don’t think that’s point at all

–         I like Jonah – he is honest and he is brave

–         And most importantly he points to Jesus

 

The name ‘Jonah’ means dove

–         Doves were used by the poor, in ancient Israel, as a sacrifice to the Lord

–         If you couldn’t afford a lamb or a goat then you sacrificed pigeons or doves instead

–         Jonah (the dove) sacrificed himself – he put himself at risk – for the sake of those who did not know the Lord

–         Remind you of anyone?  (That’s right – Jesus)

 

Jesus had integrity – he believed in justice, but not at the expense of grace and mercy

–         God is free – free of our expectations

–         We must have a belief system (a theology) which is spacious enough to allow room for both justice & mercy

–         We don’t want to let the tree of justice grow so large that the sapling of forgiveness has no light to grow

 

Let us pray…

 

https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/21-aug-2016-jonahs-justice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Genesis 10:8-11

[2] Terence Fretheim, ‘The Message of Jonah’, page 88-89.

Tawa Baptist

God’s House

Scripture: Psalm 23:6b and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever

(With reference to John 10:7-10)

 

Title: God’s House

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The house of the Lord
  • Jesus is the gate
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

For most of this year we have been journeying through the 23rd Psalm together, exploring some of the ways it points to Jesus

–         Who can tell me the overarching message of Psalm 23? [Wait]

–          That’s right, the Lord is my security

–         And what are the two main metaphors that David uses to describe the Lord? [Wait]

–         That’s right, the Lord is a good shepherd and a generous host

 

In all of us there is a yearning for home, for a secure place to dwell – a place to belong, to put roots down and be sustained

 

And yet we live in a world which is highly mobile

–         People are more transient on the whole than they once were

–         We might travel a lot for work or move cities & countries for another job, leaving behind family, friends and community

–         Add to that the millions of displaced people in the world – those who are forced to shift by circumstance – the homeless and refugees

–         There is much in this life which works against our longing for home

 

Today we conclude our sermon series by focusing on the last half of verse 6…

–         And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for the length of days.

–         This verse speaks to the ache in our heart for home

 

Before we get into it though let’s read the whole Psalm together…

 

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

He leads me beside still waters

He restores my soul

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

Even though I walk through the valley

of the shadow of death I will fear no evil

For you are with me;

your rod and your staff they comfort me

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me

all the days of my life

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord

For the length of days

 

May the Lord illuminate his Word for us

 

The house of the Lord:

In Maori culture when you are formally introduced to someone, they usually tell you where they are from

–         They might say, this is my iwi (or tribe), this is my hapu (or sub-tribe), this is my awa (my river), this is my maunga (my mountain) and so forth

–         Traditionally Maori feel a deep connection with the land and with their ancestors

–         So the place you’re from – both your geographical home and your biological house (your family) – are very important

 

In this way Maori culture is fairly similar to Jewish culture

–         Land and family are really important to the Jews as well

–         Where you are from, your house, your tribe & your piece of dirt, matters

 

What then does David mean by that expression house of the Lord?

–         Is he talking about a specific building?

–         Or is his emphasis more on being part of God’s family – his household?

–         Or is it both / and

 

Well, we might think the house of the Lord refers to the temple in Jerusalem

–         Just like we might think of this church building as God’s house

–         While God’s house can refer to a special building consecrated for worship (like this auditorium) it is not limited to this meaning

 

One of the problems with equating the house of the Lord (in Psalm 23) specifically to the temple in Jerusalem is that during David’s time the temple hadn’t been built yet

–         The ark of the covenant was housed in a tent or a tabernacle

–         And it wasn’t suitable for people to dwell in – it was a sacred space

 

The other problem with associating the house of the Lord with the temple or the tabernacle is that God cannot be contained in a building or a tent

–         He is far too big for that

 

In ancient Hebrew thought God fills the earth and indeed the universe with his presence

–         So the whole cosmos is God’s temple – not just this building, not just the Vatican in Rome or the temple in Jerusalem

 

Therefore, when David says, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord, what he probably means is that…

–         ‘I am at home with the Lord wherever I go. There is no escaping God’s presence’

–         In other words, David’s sense of belonging is not connected to a building or a specific location – it is connected to the Lord himself

–         ‘Wherever you go Lord, that’s my home’

 

Billy Joel has a song called “You’re my home”

–         There’s a great line in the chorus where he says…

–         “I never had a place I could call my own, but that’s all right my love because you’re my home”

–         The Lord God is David’s home – wherever he goes

 

And that’s quite striking when we remember how important the land and a sense of place is to the Jewish people

–         It’s like David is saying, ‘my river, my mountain, my turangawaewae, my ground of being, my security, is God

–         Or to use another illustration, it’s like David has taken the welcome mat at the front door of his home and turned it around so that it is facing out

–         Every time he walks out the front door he is reminded that he is at home and welcome with God wherever he goes

 

To make the point, if dwelling in the house of the Lord, means being at home with God anywhere in the world then David’s home would be a camper van – a mobile home

 

If dwelling in the house of the Lord in David’s mind also means, being in God’s family, belonging to God’s tribe, then this too is striking

–         Most kings in the ancient world (and in the contemporary one) are interested in making a name for themselves

–         Doing something to be remembered, creating a dynasty – leaving a legacy

–         But not David – he is more interested in God’s name than his own

–         Again it’s like David is saying, ‘my iwi, my tribe, is Ngati Yahweh

–         I belong to God’s household – his whanau

 

So dwelling in the house of the Lord means being at home with God anywhere

–         And it also means being part of God’s family

 

This idea that God is David’s home and his family would have been a tremendous encouragement to the Jewish people, especially when they were cut off from their land and had lost family, after the exile to Babylon

–         And it can be a tremendous strength to us also

–         Land & family can be taken from us, but no one can take God from us

 

What about the last part there?

–         And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for the length of days

 

Most of us are probably more familiar with and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever

–         But for the length of days is actually more accurate, even if it is more ambiguous

–         For the length of days can mean for the rest of my earthly life

–         But it can also mean forever – as in, for eternity with God in heaven

–         Heaven is of course God’s eternal house – otherwise known as the Kingdom of God

 

Whichever way you want to slice it, David’s point seems to be…

–         ‘I am at home with God, both in this life and the next. Because of the Lord my future is secure.’

 

Jesus is the gate:

Please turn with me to John chapter 10, verse 7 – page 132 toward the back of your pew Bibles…

–         Psalm 23 points to Jesus

–         Jesus is the good shepherd and the generous host that David spoke of

–         It is through Jesus that we are able to dwell in the house of the Lord for the length of days. From John 10, verses 7-10 we read…

 

7 So Jesus said again, “I am telling you the truth: I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All others who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever comes in by me will be saved; he will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only in order to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come in order that you might have life—life in all its fullness.

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

 

This is a picture of a predator proof fence – like you might see at Zealandia

–         It’s not designed to keep the birds in – rather it is designed to keep the predators out (rats, stoats, opossums and so on)

–         If you are a native bird then you want to be inside the fence, especially at times when you may be vulnerable, like nesting or breeding season

–         But there is nothing to stop the birds coming and going otherwise

 

In John 10, Jesus (the good shepherd) refers to himself as the gate for the sheep

–         What does he mean?

 

Kenneth Bailey, who has been so helpful in this series, sheds light on what Jesus is getting at in John 10 [1]

–         He explains how in the Middle East, towards the end of the year and before the winter rains, when it is very dry, the shepherd must lead their flock further and further from the village to find pasture

–         This means it is harder for the flock to return to the relative safety of the village each evening – so they stay out in the wilderness overnight

 

To protect the flock, and get some sleep, the shepherd builds a rough enclosure using stones in the field

–         They might also put thorns on the top of the brick fence, like razor wire to keep the predators out

–         The enclosure doesn’t have a roof and there is no gate

–         The shepherd acts as a human gate by lying across the entrance way

–         If a predator or thief tries to enter the shepherd is woken and can protect the sheep from harm

 

Jesus is the human gate to God’s house (God’s kingdom)

–         He lets the sheep in, where we can have sanctuary, and he keeps evil out

–         All who enter by Jesus are saved

 

Verse 9 says, those who enter will come in and go out to find pasture

–         This verse speaks of the freedom and sustenance we have in Christ

–         Salvation does not mean the shepherd feeds the sheep from the safety of the barn or the stone enclosure

–         Rather, salvation includes freedom to go in for protection at night and out to the fields during the day to find nourishment for your soul

–         Like the birds at Zealandia who can fly in and out of the enclosure

 

But the main point here is that Jesus is the key to dwelling in the house of the Lord – he is our home security

–         Jesus is the good shepherd who provides sanctuary and acts as a human gate to God’s kingdom, wherever he may lead us in the world

–         So we can abide in Christ anywhere – even in the wilderness

 

On the night before he died Jesus said to his disciples, “Abide in me”

–         Trust me, dwell in me, remain in me, make me your home

–         When you do that you will be sustained and fruitful – like a branch connected to the vine

 

There’s a programme on Friday nights called, ‘The NZ home’

–         It’s a documentary type series looking at the history of NZ architecture

–         Last Friday they were covering the 1990’s when a lot of leaky homes were built

–         They took the cameras inside one of these leaky homes and the mould was so bad they had to wear suits and breathing masks

–         The house had become toxic and the occupants had been forced to leave

–         Really sad stuff

 

Our soul, our heart & mind, our inner person can dwell in damp, mouldy toxic conditions, like the leaky home

–         Or we can abide in Christ who sustains our life

 

What then does it mean to abide in Christ?

–         Let me give you some examples…

 

You can abide in the opinion of others – always a slave to what they think (which is toxic to the soul)

–         Or you can abide in the acceptance that Jesus offers (which is life giving)

 

You can abide in guilt & shame – always carrying out an autopsy on your mistakes, always trying to justify yourself

–         Or you can abide in the forgiveness that Jesus offers

 

You can abide in worry about the future – always anticipating the worst, always planning your escape

–         Or you can abide in the hope that Jesus offers

 

You can abide in loveless duty – always driven to do what you think you ought to do, not what you really care about

–         Or you can abide in the freedom that Jesus offers

 

You can abide in a fantasy world – always avoiding pain, grief & confrontation

–         Or you can abide in the truth and healing that Jesus offers

 

You can abide in bitterness – always feeling sorry for yourself, always taking offence where none was intended

–         Or you can abide in the grace to let go, that Jesus offers

 

You can abide in temptation – always looking over the fence, always imagining that you are missing out

–         Or you can abide in the simple contentment that Jesus offers

 

You can abide in your own abilities and cunning – always looking over your shoulder, always seeing your neighbour as a competitor, a threat

–         Or you can abide in the friendship that Jesus offers

 

You can abide in a treadmill of activity – always on the go, never able to be still long enough to enjoy anything

–         Or you can abide in the peace that Jesus offers

 

We could go on but you get the point – we can dwell in something toxic or we abide in Christ who is our life

 

Jesus says, “Abide in me” – trust me, make me your home

–         Jesus doesn’t leak

 

Conclusion:

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for the length of days means that God is our home and our family (our security), both in this life and the next

 

On the night before his crucifixion & death Jesus also said to his disciples…

 

Do not be worried and upset. Believe in God and believe also in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house and I am going to prepare a place for you. I would not tell you this if it were not so. And after I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to myself, so that you will be where I am.

 

These verses are often read out at funerals because they talk about our eternal home in God’s house

 

Jesus is the good shepherd who travels with us through the wilderness of this life – giving shelter and sustenance

–         He is also the good carpenter who goes ahead of us into the next life to build a home for us with God

 

https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/14-august-2016-gods-house

[1] Kenneth Bailey, ‘The Good Shepherd’, pages 220-224.

Tawa Baptist

Comfort

Scripture: Psalm 23:4b – “Your rod and your staff they comfort me”

(With reference to Matthew 9:1-8)

 

Title: Comfort

Structure:

  • Introduction – comfort
  • The shepherd’s rod & staff
  • Jesus comforts the paralysed man – Matthew 9:1-8
  • Conclusion – The Comforter

 

Introduction:

On the wall here are some pictures

  • Some chocolate
  • A teddy bear
  • A sofa piled high with pillows
  • And a couple giving each other a hug
  • Looking at these pictures what seven letter word comes to mind?
  • Let people respond
  • That’s right: Comfort

 

These are the sorts of images we might ordinarily associate with comfort

  • Chocolate is comfort food
  • Pillows provide for comfortable rest
  • A hug communicates emotional comfort and security as does a teddy bear

 

Although we (today) might equate comfort with physical ease, luxury or even self-indulgence it didn’t always mean this

 

To comfort someone generally implies that the person receiving the comfort is in a state of pain or affliction [1]

  • Comfort causes us to feel less worried or upset [2]
  • Comfort eases our grief or trouble
  • And it gives strength and hope – it cheers up in other words

 

The word ‘comfort’ derives from two Latin words

  • Com – meaning with
  • And fortis meaning strong
  • So to comfort someone is to be with them in a way that fortifies them with courage – making them stronger & safer

 

Chocolate and pillows have their place but they don’t provide real comfort – because in the long run they don’t actually give strength or security

 

Other images which are closer to the original meaning of comfort might include

  • A life jacket – because this is a vestment of security; it makes you safer on the water
  • A walking frame – because this fortifies people, giving them strength & confidence to stand
  • A speed camera – because they actually make the roads safer
  • We can still keep the hug because physical closeness helps us to feel less alone and more secure
  • In the right context each of these things comforts us in the sense that they provide strength, courage and relief from anxiety

 

Okay, one more illustration to help us grasp the meaning of comfort

  • On the wall here is a picture of some cake batter being poured into a tin
  • Without the cake tin the batter would run out everywhere and the cake would have no strength to hold its shape
  • The tin comforts the cake in the sense that it gives strength to the cake – at least while the cake is baking in the oven
  • Once the cake is cooked you can take it out of the tin and it will hold together by itself
  • But until then the tin provides the comforting framework or the healthy boundaries needed for the cake’s strength

 

Today we continue our series on Psalm 23

  • The message of Psalm 23 as a whole is: the Lord is my security.
  • God looks after me like a shepherd looks after a sheep.

 

So far we have covered the first three & 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

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

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil

 

 

Today we finish verse 4, the centre of the psalm…

 

For you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me

 

This is primarily about the Lord’s comfort in the valley of darkness

  • Not comfort in the sense of ease & luxury – not chocolate & pillows
  • But comfort in the sense of strength, courage & security
  • Real comfort which makes us safer, relieving our anxiety & fear

 

The shepherd’s rod & staff:

So what does David mean by your rod and your staff?

  • How are these a comfort (or a strength) to him?
  • How do they provide security and relieve his anxiety?

 

Well, the rod and staff are two quite different tools of the shepherd’s trade

 

Kenneth Bailey observes that sheep have a special problem – they have no defences [3]

  • Cats have claws, dogs can bite, horses can kick, bears can crush, deer can run, but sheep have no ability to protect themselves
  • Without the shepherd, the sheep are completely vulnerable
  • The shepherd is their only security

 

 

The shepherd’s rod is one of his tools for protecting the sheep

  • It looks something like this…
  • [Show the rod]
  • I collected a couple of examples while walking on the beach up the Kapiti Coast
  • These are the closest I could find resembling a rod
  • As you can see a rod is relatively short and has a lumpy bit on the end – like a mace or a club
  • The rod is essentially a weapon
  • The shepherd uses his rod to protect his flock from predators – wolves and wild dogs and so forth
  • If a wolf threatens the flock the shepherd hits the wolf across the head
  • Good night wolf

 

The rod is a comfort to the sheep because it makes them more secure – it saves them from the wolf

  • David is less anxious knowing that the Lord (his Shepherd) is present with a rod to protect him

 

The shepherd also uses the rod for counting the sheep

  • When the flock return to the village in the evening the shepherd holds the rod over the sheep to account for each one
  • If a sheep or lamb is missing then the shepherd goes out to look for it
  • Knowing that the Lord counts his sheep with the rod also gives David comfort – he is less afraid of being forgotten or abandoned
  • So that’s the rod – it is never used against the sheep

 

Here we have a couple of examples of a shepherd’s staff

  • As you can see the staff is longer & thinner than the rod
  • Some are straight, like this one
  • And others have a curved bit (or a crook) on the end, like this one
  • If the sheep is about to fall down a bank or into a stream the staff with crook gives the shepherd extra reach to grab hold of the sheep and pull it back to safety
  • The shepherd uses the staff to gently guide the sheep back onto the path

 

In the wild Middle East where there are no fences and flocks roam in open country, the shepherd’s staff is like the proverbial fence at the top of the cliff preventing the sheep from going over the edge

 

So while the rod protects the sheep from predators, the staff protects the sheep from itself

  • David is comforted by the Lord’s staff because it keeps him on track – it stops him from going over the edge
  • In this sense the staff is a bit like the cake tin I showed you earlier
  • Like a cake tin the staff provides a framework (a healthy boundary) for holding us together while we are still growing into maturity

 

In some ways, children are like cake batter

  • They are comforted and strengthened and less anxious when they grow up with fair rules and consistent boundaries
  • We don’t need to be hard on our children
  • They don’t need us to hit them with the rod
  • But they do need us to guide them with the staff – to be firm and fair

 

The Lord’s staff, his tool for keeping us on track, is the moral law – the 10 commandments for example

  • There is something quite comforting about the staff of rules and tradition
  • Without the staff of rules and healthy boundaries (like uncooked cake batter) we won’t have the strength to hold together and keep our shape

 

In the Bible the staff is also a symbol of power, authority and journey

  • Moses, for example, used his staff to part the Red Sea and perform other miracles as he guided the people of Israel on a 40 year journey through the wilderness to the Promised Land

 

I mentioned last week that pagan gods are fixed in one location – in so called sacred places like temples or shrines

  • But Yahweh (the living God) is not fixed
  • Yahweh (the Lord) is free to move wherever he wants
  • That the Lord carries a staff (in David’s imagination) is a sign that God is with David wherever he goes
  • Knowing that God is with you (in close proximity to you) is a comfort – it gives strength and confidence and security in the darkest valley

 

For you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me

  • The Lord has the tools and the skills to take care of us
  • His presence gives strength & courage in dark and difficult places

 

Jesus comforts a paralysed man (Matthew 9:1-8)

The film Dolphin Tale was inspired by the true story of a dolphin called ‘Winter’ who lost his tale and had to learn to swim again with the help of a prosthetic tale

  • The doctor who made the prosthetic tale was working in a veteran’s hospital making prosthetic limbs and braces for returned soldiers
  • One soldier in particular, Kyle, was having a hard time adjusting to his disability
  • Kyle used to be a champion swimmer – but after his injury he had to give up that dream
  • When the doctor (played by Morgan Freeman) comforted Kyle, he didn’t do it with words of sympathy (with chocolates & pillows)
  • Instead the doctor comforts Kyle with words of strength

 

  • When Kyle says he is broken the doctor takes a glass and drops it on the ground so that it breaks and says, ‘the glass is broken – you’re not broken
  • Kyle still has options
  • There are a million other things he can still do, even with a gammy leg
  • Kyle is focusing on what he has lost so the doctor reminds him of what he still has – telling Kyle to go home to his family
  • In the long run, Morgan Freeman’s words have the effect of strengthening Kyle, so in that sense they provide more real comfort than sympathy

 

 

How then did Jesus, the good shepherd, comfort people?

  • How did Jesus inspire strength & courage?
  • Well, in Matthew chapter 9 we are given an example…

 

Jesus got into the boat and went back across the lake to his own town 2 where some people brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a bed. When Jesus saw how much faith they had, he said to the paralyzed man, “Courage, my son! [Take heart] Your sins are forgiven.”

 

3 Then some teachers of the Law said to themselves, “This man is speaking blasphemy!”

 

4 Jesus perceived what they were thinking, and so he said, “Why are you thinking such evil things? 5 Is it easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 6 I will prove to you, then, that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, pick up your bed, and go home!”

 

7 The man got up and went home. 8 When the people saw it, they were filled with awe, and praised God for giving such authority to people.

 

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

 

Being paralysed the man in this story was basically defenceless, like a sheep

  • Not being able to move he was vulnerable, powerless

 

Fortunately this guy had friends to help him

  • The friends comforted the paralysed man by carrying him to Jesus
  • Their comfort wasn’t in the form of sympathetic words
  • Their comfort was in the form of practical action
  • Another version of this story in the gospels tells how the friends made a hole in the roof of the house where Jesus was and lowered the man down
  • The friends’ faith in Jesus (collectively) gave emotional strength and spiritual courage to the paralysed man

 

When Jesus sees their faith he speaks words of comfort to the man

  • “Courage my son. [Take heart]. Your sins are forgiven.”
  • Jesus’ words fortify the man’s inner being
  • We don’t know why the man was paralysed
  • It probably wasn’t because of any sin he had committed – otherwise we would all be in wheelchairs
  • But the social reality was such that most people listening to Jesus at that time would have assumed the paralysis was a punishment for sin
  • And it appears the man himself had bought into this lie
  • It appears the man believed he deserved to be paralysed

By saying, “Your sins are forgiven”, Jesus removes the man’s fear

  • Think about that for a moment
  • Forgiveness is a form of comfort – one of the most powerful forms of comfort in fact, because forgiveness takes away the fear of punishment
  • We can equate forgiveness to the shepherd’s rod because sin, guilt & shame are the enemies of the human soul
  • And forgiveness is the weapon by which Jesus, the good shepherd, protects us from sin, guilt & shame
  • Jesus’ rod of forgiveness comforts the paralysed man
  • The rod of forgiveness gives the man courage & permission to stand and walk without fear of punishment

 

Many people of Jesus’ day would have thought the Lord’s rod was some kind of weapon or military force to smash the Roman oppressors

  • But that’s not what Jesus came to do
  • Christ didn’t come to smash people
  • He came to smash sin and its consequences
  • And to guide people in the right path – the path of abundant life

 

By saying to the man, “Your sins are forgiven”, Jesus is making a startling claim – that he has divine authority to forgive sins

  • The scribes (the teachers of the law) are discomforted by Jesus’ claim
  • They begin to get off track thinking Jesus has committed blasphemy
  • So Jesus neutralises their fears and brings back onto the right path by healing the man
  • The miracle Jesus performs is like the shepherd’s staff – it is a symbol of Jesus’ God given authority – his right to forgive and to guide

Jesus wields the rod of forgiveness & the staff of healing with his tongue

  • It was by words spoken with power that Jesus, the good shepherd, brought real tangible comfort to people

 

 

Conclusion:

There is another way that Jesus comforts people and that is with the Holy Spirit

 

On the night before he died Jesus spoke words of comfort to his disciples…

 

The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you… Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

 

The Comforter, the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, comes alongside us with strength and courage and truth to guide us, even through the darkest valley

 

Let us pray…

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort

[2] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/comfort

[3] Kenneth Bailey, ‘The Good Shepherd’, page 49

Tawa Baptist

Pray

Scripture: 1st Kings 17:8-24

Title: Pray

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Prayer is listening in faith
  • Prayer is asking in hope
  • Prayer is confessing in truth
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Today is the first of three Sundays when we focus on the work of Tranzsend and our NZ Baptist missionaries serving overseas

 

The framework for the three weeks of the campaign is…

  • Week 1 – Pray (Inoi)
  • Week 2 – Shine (Tiaho), and
  • Week 3 – Thank (Mihi)

 

The Scripture story Tranzsend suggest for, this, the first week of the appeal is…

  • 1st Kings chapters 17 & 18 – which focuses on the story of Elijah and the drought in Israel

 

Elijah was one of the great prophets of the Old Testament

  • He lived at the time when Ahab was king of Israel
  • Ahab was the worst king in the entire history of the nation
  • Ahab married Jezebel and together they committed all sorts of evil
  • In particular Ahab encouraged the Hebrew people to turn away from the one true living God, by building a temple for Baal worship

 

In the ancient world Baal was thought by some to be the god of fertility and rain

  • So pagans who wanted a good harvest or rain to water their crops would offer sacrifices to Baal in order to appease him and find favour with him
  • Baal worshippers did all sorts of cruel things including child sacrifice

 

God was not happy with this and wanted to show the people that Baal worship was a lie, so the Lord sent Elijah to tell king Ahab there would be no rain for a few years

  • By stopping the rain God intended to show the people Baal was false
  • Of course, without any rain, the crops failed and there was a terrible famine throughout the region

 

Please turn with me to 1st Kings 17, verse 8 – page 357 toward the front of your pew Bibles

  • At this point in the story the drought & famine have been in progress for some time and people are really feeling the pinch
  • From 1st Kings, chapter 17, verse 8 we read…

 

8 Then the Lord said to Elijah, 9 “Now go to the town of Zarephath, near Sidon, and stay there. I have commanded a widow who lives there to feed you.” 10 So Elijah went to Zarephath, and as he came to the town gate, he saw a widow gathering firewood. “Please bring me a drink of water,” he said to her. 11 And as she was going to get it, he called out, “And please bring me some bread, too.”

 

12 She answered, “By the living Lord your God I swear that I don’t have any bread. All I have is a handful of flour in a bowl and a bit of olive oil in a jar. I came here to gather some firewood to take back home and prepare what little I have for my son and me. That will be our last meal, and then we will starve to death.”

 

13 “Don’t worry,” Elijah said to her. “Go on and prepare your meal. But first make a small loaf from what you have and bring it to me, and then prepare the rest for you and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The bowl will not run out of flour or the jar run out of oil before the day that I, the Lord, send rain.’”

 

15 The widow went and did as Elijah had told her, and all of them had enough food for many days. 16 As the Lord had promised through Elijah, the bowl did not run out of flour nor did the jar run out of oil.

 

17 Some time later the widow’s son got sick; he got worse and worse, and finally he died. 18 She said to Elijah, “Man of God, why did you do this to me? Did you come here to remind God of my sins and so cause my son’s death?”

 

19 “Give the boy to me,” Elijah said. He took the boy from her arms, carried him upstairs to the room where he was staying, and laid him on the bed. 20 Then he prayed aloud, “O Lord my God, why have you done such a terrible thing to this widow? She has been kind enough to take care of me, and now you kill her son!” 21 Then Elijah stretched himself out on the boy three times and prayed, “O Lord my God, restore this child to life!” 22 The Lord answered Elijah’s prayer; the child started breathing again and revived.

 

23 Elijah took the boy back downstairs to his mother and said to her, “Look, your son is alive!”

24 She answered, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the Lord really speaks through you!”

 

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

 

In this passage we see how prayer is listening in faith

  • Asking in hope, and
  • Confessing in truth

 

Prayer is listening in faith:

First let’s consider prayer as listening in faith

  • Listening is about paying attention
  • Being aware of what’s going on around you
  • Taking heed of what God is saying and doing, so that we can respond in obedience to God – so we can work in harmony with Him

 

The story is told of a man who had lost his job and was unemployed [1]

  • Not being able to find work he was facing a personal famine of sorts

 

One cold winter’s night as he was driving home he noticed an old lady stranded on the side of the road – he could see she had a flat tyre and needed help

  • So he pulled over in his Holden Belmont, parked behind her Mercedes Benz and got out

Even with the smile on his face the woman felt anxious and vulnerable

  • It was a quiet road and no one had been past in the last hour
  • The man looked a bit rough – he was missing a tooth and he hadn’t shaved in a few days

 

He could see the woman was cold and frightened, so he tried to make her feel more comfortable…

  • “I’m here to help you. You look freezing. Why don’t you wait in the car where it’s warm? By the way, my name is Sam.”
  • The woman decided to trust Sam – she sat in her car and popped the boot open, so he could get the spare tyre out

 

Sam soon had the tyre changed

  • Feeling relieved the lady offered to pay him
  • But Sam just smiled and said, “You don’t owe me a thing. This is what it means to be human – to help people”

 

Humbled by Sam’s kindness she thanked him, got back in her car & drove away

  • A few miles down the road the lady saw a small café
  • Feeling hungry she went in for a coffee and a bite to eat

 

The waitress had a sweet smile even after being on her feet all day and being 8 months pregnant

  • She went out of her way for the old lady, moving the heater closer for her to sit beside

 

As the old lady drank her coffee she remembered Sam’s kindness to her

  • She wanted to help someone too
  • Not wanting to embarrass the waitress the old lady wrote a note on a paper serviette, “Someone once helped me out the way I’m helping you.”
  • When the waitress returned to the table the old lady had left her a $100

 

Later that night when the waitress got home from work and climbed into bed, she thought about the money and what the lady had written

  • How could she have known how much she and her husband needed it?
  • With the baby due next month it was going to be hard
  • She knew how worried her husband was since he had lost his job
  • As he lay sleeping beside her she kissed him softly and whispered…
  • “It’s going to be okay. I love you Sam.”

 

Prayer is listening in faith

 

Our reading from 1st Kings earlier began with Elijah listening to God in faith

  • God told Elijah to go to the town of Zarephath, near Sidon, and stay with a widow there
  • I’m not sure exactly how Elijah heard God but I’m pretty sure it would have taken a fair bit of faith for him do what God said

 

Zarephath was not part of Israel

  • This means Elijah had to leave his home country
  • In a very real way this was cross-cultural mission – representing God in a culture which was not his own

 

The other thing about Zarephath is that it was near where Jezebel came from

  • Jezebel, the queen married to Ahab, was Elijah’s nemesis
  • God was sending Elijah into enemy territory – but Elijah listened in faith and obeyed God

 

Our Tranzsend missionaries serve God overseas in a cross-cultural context

  • And like Elijah they are often called to live with and amongst people like the widow of Zarephath
  • People who are poor and vulnerable and barely scrapping to get by

 

Just as Elijah listened in faith to God, so too the widow of Zarephath listened in faith to Elijah

  • When Elijah asked for bread and water she said…
  • “All I have is a handful of flour and a drop of olive oil… That will be our last meal and then we will starve to death”
  • But Elijah said to her…
  • “Don’t worry… The bowl will not run out of flour or the jar run out of oil before the day that the Lord sends rain.”

 

Despite the fact she and her son faced starvation, the widow listened in faith and prepared some bread for Elijah

  • That’s some faith – sharing your last meal with a complete stranger
  • But this act of faith saved the woman
  • She discovered the flour and oil did not run out and there was always enough for the three of them

 

Tranzsend call their campaign Self Denial

  • The implication being that we deny ourselves something in order to identify with the poor and support the work of overseas mission
  • We appreciate that everyone is in a different position financially
  • Some people are able to give more than others – that’s okay
  • From a human perspective the amount you give does matter
  • But from God’s perspective the faith and love with which it is given matters more

 

People should decide how much to give after listening to God in faith

  • So I encourage you to try and hear God on this
  • Is there something you could give up (like a daily cup of coffee or some other treat) in order to put the money toward the Self Denial appeal
  • Or do you have a stash of loose coins sitting in your car that you could clear out to give to Tranzsend at the end of the month
  • Or is God saying, “Be more generous than that. Give a day’s pay”

 

I’m not here to tell you how much to give – that’s between you and God

  • What I can say is that when we give as God directs, like the widow of Zarephath, we find that our needs are met

 

Prayer is listening in faith, and prayer is asking in hope

 

Prayer is asking in hope:

Things seemed to be going along okay for the widow and her son until sometime later the boy fell ill

  • He got worse and worse until finally he died

 

I can only imagine how hard it would be to lose a child

  • But for this poor widow it was worse
  • She had already lost her husband
  • And her only son was her whole life – her present and her future

 

At this point the widow says to Elijah…

  • “Man of God, why did you do this to me? Did you come here to remind God of my sins and so cause my son’s death?”
  • Ouch – these are the words of a mother in pain
  • The woman blames everyone – she blames Elijah, God and herself
  • She thinks God is punishing her for her sins

 

The widow’s words reveal a lot about what she believes

  • She had been brought up to think like a pagan
  • A pagan lives in fear of the gods
  • A pagan thinks, ‘If something bad happens to me it’s my fault and I’m being punished’
  • That was part of the lie and the evil of Baal worship

 

Sometimes we can believe the lie that God doesn’t like us

  • We may suffer some misfortune and wonder…
  • ‘What have I done wrong this time? Is God punishing me?’
  • We may have this concept of God as a harsh judge and cold executioner
  • And while the Lord is judge of all the earth, He is not harsh or detached
  • God is more like a loving Father and a caring coach – he likes us
  • God is not our critic – He doesn’t want us to fail
  • God is our strength and our support – He wants us to prevail
  • Whatever might happen to us – God still loves us
  • So when things go wrong we have hope – we can ask God for a solution

 

The widow wasn’t feeling God’s love though – she was feeling judgment

  • Elijah knows that her perception of God is out of balance and he goes about giving her a new (more accurate) concept of God

 

Because Elijah has hope – he takes the boy in his arms, carries him upstairs and asks God for a solution. Crying out with heartfelt emotion he says…

  • “O Lord my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die? Let this boy’s life return to him.”

 

The Good News version, which you have in your pews, has Elijah saying to the Lord, “…why have you done such a terrible thing to this widow?”

  • I think that translation may have taken a few liberties with the original text – it almost sounds like Elijah is accusing God
  • Rather Elijah asks God respectfully “…have you brought tragedy on this widow?…”, as if to say…
  • ‘I don’t believe it is your will for this widow to suffer like this’

 

Elijah can’t tell God what to do – but he can ask God in hope – and when he does the Lord restores the boy’s life

 

Prayer is listening in faith, asking in hope and confessing in truth

 

Prayer is confessing in truth:

The famous Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon once said…

 

“True prayer is measured by weight, not by length. A single groan before God may have more fullness of prayer in it than a fine oration of great length.”

 

On seeing her son restored to life the widow confesses in truth, saying…

  • “Now I know you are a man of God and the Lord really speaks through you”

 

What we notice here is that the widow’s confession of truth is hard won

  • It’s not just loosely patched on the outside – she owns it on the inside
  • The crucible of loss & despair gives weight & substance to her confession

 

In John 17, Jesus talks about how his disciples have been sanctified by the truth

  • To be sanctified is to be made holy, purified, cleansed
  • In a way this woman has been sanctified by the truth
  • Not only has Elijah been proved a bona fide prophet of God
  • The widow has also come to know, through personal experience, that Yahweh is Lord of life and death – Baal is just an imposter
  • And knowing that truth sets her free from the fear of Baal

 

What God did for the widow of Zarephath is kind of a story in miniature (a living parable) of what he was doing for Israel through the drought

  • Israel had to go through the crucible of the famine to realise the truth that Yahweh is the Lord of life & death and Baal is just a fraud
  • It’s the truth that sets people free
  • It’s the truth that sanctifies us
  • But getting the truth through a hard heart takes tough love
  • And Ahab, it seems, had the hardest of hearts

 

In his book The Ragamuffin Gospel Brennan Manning (a recovering alcoholic) tells the true story of a group therapy session he participated in once [2]

  • It was April 1975 and there were 25 chemically dependent men in this rehab facility for drug addicts and alcoholics

 

The leader of the group was a skilled therapist by the name of Sean Murphy-O’Connor

  • Sean told one of the patients, Max, to sit in the hot seat in the centre of the group
  • Max was a nominal Christian, married with 5 children and the owner of a successful company
  • He was wealthy, affable and gifted with remarkable poise – it was hard to rattle him

 

Sean, the group leader, started bluntly…

  • “How long have you been drinking like a pig, Max?”
  • Max winced, “That’s a bit unfair”
  • “We’ll see”, replied Sean. “How much do you drink each day?”
  • “Two drinks before lunch, two after work, two before dinner and two before bed”
  • “So that’s a total of 8 drinks a day, Max?” Sean inquired
  • “Yes, not a drop more and not a drop less”

 

“You’re lying”, Sean replied

  • Max didn’t like Sean’s tone and insisted that his word was his bond but Sean wasn’t buying it
  • “Get me a phone” said Sean
  • A phone was brought in and Sean consulted a memo pad for a number
  • The phone was on speaker so everyone in the room could hear

 

Sean dialled Max’s local and spoke to Hank Shea the bartender

  • After introducing himself Sean asked Hank if he knew Max
  • “Yea, I know Max well”, Hank replied, “He has his standard six martinis every afternoon”
  • Max leapt to his feet and unleashed a stream of profanities that would make a stevedore blush
  • Then, after regaining his composure, he sat down again

 

One of the addicts in the group, a guy named Fred, spoke up…

  • “Have you ever been unkind to one of your kids, Max?”
  • “Glad you brought that up Fred. I have a fantastic rapport with my four boys. Last year I took them on a fishing expedition to the Rockies, a great time. Two of my sons graduated from Harvard you know…”
  • “I didn’t ask you that Max. At least once in his life every father has been unkind to one of his kids… Now give us a specific example.”

 

There was a long pause while Max tried hard to think

  • “Well, I was a little thoughtless with my 9 year old daughter last Christmas Eve”
  • “What happened?”
  • “I don’t remember exactly. I just get this heavy feeling whenever I think about it”
  • “Where did it happen? What were the circumstances?”
  • “Now wait one minute!” I told you I don’t remember.”

 

Sean dialled Max’s home number to speak with his wife

  • “Sean Murphy-O’Connor here ma’am. We’re in a group therapy session and your husband just told us he was unkind to your daughter last Christmas Eve. Can you give me the details please?”

 

A soft voice filled the room.

  • “Yes, I can tell you the whole thing. Our daughter Debbie wanted a pair of shoes for her Christmas present.
  • On the afternoon of December 24th my husband drove her downtown, gave her $60 and told her to buy the best pair of shoes in the store.
  • That is exactly what she did
  • When she climbed back in the car, she kissed her father on the cheek and said he was the best daddy in the whole world
  • Max was preening himself like a peacock and decided to celebrate on the way home
  • He stopped at the Cork n’ Bottle and told her he would be right out
  • It was a clear, extremely cold day, so Max left the motor running and locked both doors of the car from the outside so no one could get in
  • It was a little after three in the afternoon…”

 

Max’s wife began to cry.

  • “My husband met some old Army buddies in the tavern… He lost track of time and didn’t make it out of the Cork n’ Bottle until midnight
  • He was drunk
  • The motor had stopped running and the car windows were frozen shut
  • Debbie was badly frostbitten on both ears and on her fingers.
  • When we got her to the hospital, the doctors had to amputate her thumb and forefinger.”

 

On hearing his wife speak the reality of what he had done Max collapsed on the floor and sobbed hysterically – undone by the truth about himself

 

Max was a liar: his lie consisted in appearing to be something he was not – a social drinker

  • Truth for him meant acknowledging that he was an alcoholic and his drinking was hurting those closest to him

 

Like Max, king Ahab and much of Israel were lying to themselves – appearing to be something they were not – righteous

  • Truth for them meant acknowledging that their religion was false and that their worship of Baal was hurting those closest to them
  • God had to turn the rain off to get the message through
  • Israel had to go through a crucible of loss and despair to realise the truth – to be able to pray in truth

 

It’s the truth which sets us free – the truth that sanctifies us

  • I’m not sure what your truth is
  • Maybe you’re not an alcoholic, maybe you are a workaholic
  • Or maybe you’re addicted to something else
  • We all have a tendency to lie to ourselves in some way
  • The point is: prayer requires us to be honest with God
  • But before we can be honest with Him we need to be honest with ourselves
  • Prayer isn’t just reciting a few words from a book
  • Prayer is confessing in truth
  • Being real and owning what we say before God, personally

Conclusion:

They call it the Tranzsend Prayer and Self Denial campaign, because prayer is essential to mission – without prayer there is no mission

  • Prayer means listening in faith
  • Asking in hope, and
  • Confessing in truth

[1] This story is adapted from the story, By the way, my name is Joe, in “Stories for a Man’s Heart, compiled by Al and Alice Gray, pages 17-18.

[2] Refer pages 123-130 of Brennan Manning’s book, ‘The Ragamuffin Gospel’.

Tawa Baptist

Baptism

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

 

Title: Baptism

 

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

 

Structure:

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

 

 

Introduction:

This morning Duan is being baptised

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

 

Baptism comes up in the New Testament quite a bit

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

Baptism is where God’s grace meets our faith:

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

 

Baptism is where God’s grace meets our faith

 

Or as Beasley-Murray puts it…

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

 

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

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

Just so we are on the same page…

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

 

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

 

Baptism is where God’s grace meets our faith

 

Let me illustrate by way of analogy

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

 

Grace is being given the new car for free

 

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

 

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

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

 

Baptism is where God’s grace meets our faith

 

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

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

Translating the analogy for you…

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

 

So what is this grace of God?

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

 

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

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

 

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

  • And union with Christ [4]

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

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

 

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

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

 

It also means a change to our lifestyle

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

 

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

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

 

Union with Christ gives you the promise of resurrection

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

We will now hear a testimony from Duan…

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Mark 16:15-16

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

[3] Acts 2:38

[4] Galatians 3:27

[5] 1 Corinthians 12:13

[6] Romans 6:3 & 5

Tawa Baptist

Strengthening Fellowship

Scripture: Ephesians 4:1-3

 

Title: Strengthening Fellowship

 

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

 

Structure:

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

 

Introduction:

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

United by Christ, not by likes:

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

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

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

 

The church is not a building

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

 

The church is not a club either

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

 

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

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

 

Think about the implications of that for a moment

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

In one of his letters Screwtape writes to Wormwood…

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

 

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

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

 

We are united by Christ, not by our likes

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

 

Strengthening fellowship:

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

Patience is also needed for strengthening the fellowship of the church

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

Patience is making room for other people when it matters

 

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

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

 

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

one another in love  

 

Bearing with one another means putting up with people

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

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

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

 

Paul is saying, don’t sweat the small stuff

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

 

The bond of peace:

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

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

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Firstly, the Spirit of Christ creates unity in the church

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

Sometimes the bond of peace gets a kink in it

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

Conclusion:

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

 

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

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

 

In a few minutes we will share communion together

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

 

Now though let’s stand and sing…

 

♫       Brother, Sister, let me serve you…

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

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

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

Tawa Baptist

He Guides Me

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

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

 

Title: He Guides Me

 

Structure:

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

 

Introduction:

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

He leads me beside still waters

He restores my soul…

 

‘Lying down’ is about God providing rest

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

 

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

 

Today we complete verse 3…

 

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

 

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

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

 

Psalm 23:3b

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

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

 

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

 

Life is not exactly like Snakes & Ladders though

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

 

 

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

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

 

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

 

The Lord guides me:

Firstly, the Lord ‘guides’ me.

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

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

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

 

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

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

 

Righteousness is a path:

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

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

 

In the wild Middle East pathways are not so clear

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

In hindsight I didn’t really listen to God

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

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

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

 

Not that the business management stuff was wasted

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

A path indicates movement, process, change and journey

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

 

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

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

 

For his name’s sake:

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Here we have two pathways

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

 

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

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

 

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

  • God did not require that – but tradition did

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

From verse 10 of Matthew 15 we continue…

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

May the Spirit of God illuminate this reading for us

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

To Jesus’ original audience this was a revolutionary idea

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

Jesus is talking about inner pathways here

  • Where are your thoughts, feelings and desires leading you

 

Remember righteousness is a pathway – not a destination

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

Conclusion:

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

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

 

Let us pray…

 

Tawa Baptist

Green Pastures

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

 

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

 

Structure:

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

 

Introduction:

This morning we continue our series on Psalm 23

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

 

Today we unpack the green pastures of verse 2…

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

 

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

 

May the Lord illuminate His word for us

  • Please be seated

 

 

Green Pastures:

Food is essential to life

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

 

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

 

Which is better for you?

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

 

The answer is: about the same – okay next question

 

Which has fewer calories?

  • Baked potato
  • Brown rice
  • About the same

 

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

 

Which has less sugar?

  • Apple juice
  • Orange juice
  • About the same

 

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

 

Okay – one more

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

In our modern culture we have a saying…

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

Let me demonstrate what I mean…

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

 

Are you feeling full looking at those images?

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

Jesus is the good shepherd who feeds us:

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

May the Lord feed us with His word

 

Before you can swallow your food you have to chew it

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

Verse 31 of Mark 6 says…

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

 

The people followed Jesus because they were hungry

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

Jesus’ integrity is impeccable

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

Conclusion:

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

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

 

Jesus nourishes the whole person – body & spirit

 

What is it you hunger for?

 

 

 

 

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

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

[3] Matthew 4:4

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

 

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

[6] Matthew 11:28-30

[7] Matthew 12:20

[8] Matthew 5:3