Tawa Baptist

God’s Control & Compassion

Scripture: Genesis 41:1-40

Video Link: https://youtu.be/BkeLVZRDzN0

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Genesis 41:1-8
  • Genesis 41:9-16
  • Genesis 41:25-32
  • Genesis 41:33-40
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Many of you will know the story of king Canute. Canute the Great was king of England about a thousand years ago. He was a good ruler and the country enjoyed peace and prosperity during his reign.

One day king Canute decided to demonstrate to his flattering courtiers that there were some things outside of his control. To do this he set up his throne on the seashore and commanded the incoming tide to halt.

The tide continued to rise, of course, washing over his legs.

Then the king stood up and said, ‘Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings, for there is none worthy of the name, but He whom heaven, earth and sea obey by eternal laws’.

King Canute then hung his crown on a crucifix and never wore it again to honour God the Almighty King. 

Today we continue our sermon series in the life of Joseph by focusing on Genesis 41, verse 1-40. In this passage, we see that God is in control and God is compassionate. God’s control and his compassion go together.

From verses 1-8 of Genesis 41 we read…

Genesis 41:1-8

1 When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing by the Nile, 2 when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds. 3 After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the riverbank. 4 And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up. 5 He fell asleep again and had a second dream: Seven heads of grain, healthy and good, were growing on a single stalk. 6 After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted—thin and scorched by the east wind. 7 The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy, full heads. Then Pharaoh woke up; it had been a dream. 8 In the morning his mind was troubled, so he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.

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

In Roald Dahl’s book, ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, five children win golden tickets for a guided tour through Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. Four of the five kids are used to always getting what they want and because of this they come to a sticky end.

Charlie is the only child who knows what it is to not get what he wants, and he is the only one to make it out unscathed.

You see, the problem with always getting what we want is that it creates the illusion that we are in control when, in reality, we are not.

Yes, we do have choices and we can control ourselves if we put our mind to it. But ultimately, we are limited in what we can do.

There are forces at work in the world more powerful than us which we must submit to. Trying to maintain the illusion that we are in control creates a great deal of stress and anxiety. Ultimately, we function better when we trust our lives to God.   

Unfortunately, Pharaoh is used to having his own way. He is the dictator of the Egyptian empire. He can have whatever he wants whenever he wants. This only serves to strengthen the illusion that he is in control.

For Pharaoh’s own good, God dismantles the illusion by giving Pharaoh a dream. God needed to disturb Pharaoh to get his attention. As king of the land, Pharaoh was not used to being disturbed. A man in his position had assistants who filtered out much of the riff raff and bad news.

But there is no filter for our dreams. We cannot control the great ocean of the unconscious.

Pharaoh’s dreams were frightening. It cannot be pleasant watching a scrawny cow eating a fat cow. Cows are supposed to eat grass, not each other. Same thing with grain. Both dreams depicted something outside of Pharaoh’s control and he did not know how to interpret them.  

Pharaoh was probably also disturbed by the fact that the River Nile featured in his dream. The ancient Egyptians believed the River Nile, and its annual flooding, were the source of life, fertility and prosperity.

Unlike Palestine, which relied on rainfall for successful crops, Egypt relied on the Nile. As long as the Nile watered everything, the people were happy and Pharaoh’s throne was secure. Any threat to the Nile was a threat to Pharaoh’s power.

Pharaoh’s magicians and wise men cannot figure out Pharaoh’s dream either, which only exacerbates Pharaoh’s anxiety. And this is where Joseph comes in. From verse 9 we read…

Genesis 41:9-16

9 Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today I am reminded of my shortcomings. 10 Pharaoh was once angry with his servants, and he imprisoned me and the chief baker in the house of the captain of the guard. 11 Each of us had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. 12 Now a young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us, giving each man the interpretation of his dream. 13 And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them to us: I was restored to my position, and the other man was hanged.” 14 So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh. 15 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”

16 “I cannot do it,” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.”

Joseph in Pharaoh’s court reminds us, a little, of Charlie in the Chocolate Factory. When Charlie won his golden ticket, things changed for him, and quite quickly. He was lifted out of poverty and his dreams came true. It was similar for Joseph.

Joseph’s sudden rise from the dungeon to the palace sounds a note of hope for us. Sometimes when we are in the pit, we can feel like we have no future, with nothing good to look forward to. The truth is none of us knows what’s around the corner. God can change things for the better very quickly, so don’t give up.

When we feel down and out, we do well to remember the words of Jesus, the first shall be last and the last shall be first. 

Joseph did not abandon his hope in God. Joseph remained close to the Lord in prison. Then, when his opportunity came, he was ready.      

Standing before Pharaoh, Joseph was under no illusion as to the limits of his power and control. Joseph understands he can no more interpret Pharaoh’s dreams than hold back the tide. Joseph is quick to credit God as the one with the answer Pharaoh desires.

What we notice here, in verse 16, is Joseph’s complete confidence in God. Despite everything he has been through, Joseph is totally convinced that God is in control, not Pharaoh or anyone else. More than this, Joseph also believes God is compassionate.

Joseph listens carefully while the king retells his dreams…

Genesis 41:25-32

25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. 26 The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream. 27 The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine. 28 “It is just as I said to Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. 29 Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, 30 but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land. 31 The abundance in the land will not be remembered, because the famine that follows it will be so severe. 32 The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do it soon.

Have you ever looked at a puzzle or a problem and not been able to make sense of it? Then someone comes along with the insight you need which unlocks the answer for you. All at once everything makes sense. In hindsight it seems so obvious.

This is what God does for Pharaoh through Joseph. God unlocks the meaning of the dream. Pharaoh does not question or doubt the interpretation. It all makes sense the moment it is explained.

What is perhaps less obvious is the way Joseph repeatedly underlines the fact that God is in control and God is compassionate.

In verse 16, Joseph says God will give the answer.

Then in verses 25 & 28, Joseph says that God has revealed what he is going to do.

And in verse 32 we read that, God has decided the matter, it will happen soon. 

Joseph is speaking truth to power in these verses and the message is clear: ‘Pharaoh, you are not in control of this. You have no say in the matter. But don’t worry. God is in control and God is compassionate.’

That is a brave statement for Joseph to make. Especially to a man who could take his head off.

The idea that God is in control is not difficult to grasp; we see this in the way Joseph says, God will do it soon, the matter is firmly decided.

It’s a little harder, though, to see how God’s compassion comes into it. After all, the seven good years are followed by seven years of famine, so severe that the good years are forgotten. 

Well, we see God’s compassion in the warning he gives. God is not angry with Egypt. There is no call to repentance here. The seven years of famine are not a judgement or a punishment. They are simply bad weather.

God has revealed to Pharaoh what’s going to happen,so Pharaoh can take action ahead of time to save lives. God, in his compassion, gives a long-range weather forecast so the king can avoid a humanitarian crisis.

There was a problem with one of the air forces’ planes during the week which meant our Prime Minister was late to some important meetings in Australia. I kept thinking, how good it was that our air force personnel were on to it and detected the fault before the plane took off.

The flight might have ended badly if the plane had taken off with faulty landing gear. To my mind, God’s control of the situation and his compassion were at work through the care and initiative of the air force crew.     

For some people, the story of Pharaoh’s dream raises a philosophical question. Is the future fixed or flexible? Is the future closed or open? Is the course of history set in stone or more fluid, like a braided river?

Well, I don’t think we can draw any firm conclusions based solely on Pharaoh’s dream and Joseph’s interpretation. It would appear, from a broader reading of Scripture, that God does determine some things in advance but not everything.

The fact that God, in his inscrutable wisdom, predetermined seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine, in Genesis 41, does not negate human initiative.

As Walter Brueggemann points out, the fixed purpose of God is no occasion for human abdication. God’s purpose is not the end of human planning but the ground for it.  

Knowing what God has planned is no excuse for throwing our hands in the air and saying, there’s nothing we can do anyway. To the contrary, knowing God’s purpose for the future gives clarity about how to proceed in the present. The choices we make matter.

This is certainly how Joseph sees it. Joseph is confident in God. He does not wait to hear if Pharaoh agrees with his interpretation. Joseph sees himself primarily as a servant of Yahweh, more than a servant of Pharaoh.

With this in view, Joseph offers a prudent response, a plan of action to save Egypt. From verse 33 Joseph says…

Genesis 41:33-40

33 “And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt. 34 Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. 35 They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh, to be kept in the cities for food. 36 This food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine.”

One thing that churches throughout the country are wrestling with currently is the ever-increasing cost of insurance. If we knew when disaster was going to strike, we could prepare for it.

But, unlike Pharaoh and Joseph, we don’t know what the future holds. We live by faith. Thankfully, the life of the church and our salvation are not based on our insurance policy. The future of the church depends on God. And Jesus has said, ‘I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’.

Bearing that in mind, it is still prudent to have insurance if you can afford it. Joseph’s plan is to insure against the coming years of famine by putting aside the overflow of the good years.      

37 The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. 38 So Pharaoh asked them, “Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?”  39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. 40 You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.”

Pharaoh, a man who up till that point in his life had trusted in a river, found faith to publicly acknowledge that the ‘spirit of God’ is in Joseph.

And while it is not clear what Pharaoh meant by the ‘spirit of God’, it is clear that Pharaoh trusted Joseph in a very real way. For Pharaoh made Joseph second in command of the entire Egyptian empire.  

Throughout today’s reading we have seen Joseph’s confidence in God. Now we observe Pharaoh’s confidence in Joseph and his faith in God.

Pharaoh is like king Canute in the way he recognizes the limits of his power and control. Pharaoh understands he can no more prevent the coming famine than he can hold back the tide.

By handing Joseph the keys of his kingdom, Pharaoh acknowledges that God is in control and God is compassionate.

Conclusion:

When we look at the world we live in today, a world scarred by war, hunger, injustice, climate change and a whole catalogue of evils, it may be difficult to swallow this belief that God is in control and God is compassionate. If that is true, if God is in control and God is compassionate, then why is there so much suffering in the world?

God has not given us an explanation for suffering. Instead, God has given us his Son, Jesus, who shares in the suffering of the world.

When you are in the thick of it, you don’t need an explanation. What you need is to know that you are not alone and the suffering will not last. The best is yet to come. Jesus’ death and resurrection communicate divine presence and hope in ways that words cannot.

God sent Jesus to establish the kingdom of heaven on earth. Whether we can see it or not, the Spirit of Jesus is at work in the world to bring an end to the chaos and violence. Jesus came to make all things new.

Herod could not prevent the birth of Jesus and Pilate could not prevent the death of Jesus. For God had already decided that Jesus would be born human, die on a cross and raised to eternal life. 

It may not be in our power to stop the crisis in Gaza or the war in Ukraine or domestic violence in New Zealand. But it is in our power to put our faith and hope in Jesus. And so that is what we do.    

May God open our eyes to see his control and compassion at work in the world around us. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

  • What sorts of things are outside of our control? What, in your life, can you control? What strategies do you have for dealing with the things you cannot control?
  • Can you think of a time when God lifted you out of a pit? What happened? How does that experience strengthen you to face the future? 
  • Why does Joseph tell Pharaoh that he cannot interpret dreams, but God will give Pharaoh the answer?  
  • In what ways do we see God’s control and God’s compassion at work in Genesis 41? In what ways can you see God’s control and God’s compassion at work in the world today?
  • Why does God reveal the future to Pharaoh? What plans do you have for the future? How do your plans fit with what you know of God’s plans? 
  • Discuss/reflect on the ways Jesus embodies/works out God’s control and compassion. 
Tawa Baptist

Living in Hope

Scripture: Genesis 40

Video Link: https://youtu.be/4goHi0qKgzg

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Living in hope
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

The American poet, Emily Dickinson, once wrote…

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tunes without words and never stops at all.

Hope is the enduring belief that something better waits for us in the future. Hope gives our soul wings. It makes the present, with all its trials and difficulties, easier to bear.

Today we continue our sermon series in the life of Joseph, focusing on Genesis chapter 40. We see hope woven through this passage. Joseph is living in hope, even while in prison. From Genesis 40, verse 1, we read…

Sometime later the king of Egypt’s wine steward and his chief baker offended the king. 2 He was angry with these two officials 3 and put them in prison in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same place where Joseph was being kept. 4 They spent a long time in prison, and the captain assigned Joseph as their servant. 5 One night there in prison the wine steward and the chief baker each had a dream, and the dreams had different meanings. 6 When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were upset. 7 He asked them, “Why do you look so worried today?”  8 

They answered, “Each of us had a dream, and there is no one here to explain what the dreams mean.”

“It is God who gives the ability to interpret dreams,” Joseph said. “Tell me your dreams.”

9 So the wine steward said, “In my dream there was a grapevine in front of me 10 with three branches on it. As soon as the leaves came out, the blossoms appeared, and the grapes ripened. 11 I was holding the king’s cup; so I took the grapes and squeezed them into the cup and gave it to him.”

12 Joseph said, “This is what it means: the three branches are three days. 13 In three days the king will release you, pardon you, and restore you to your position. You will give him his cup as you did before when you were his wine steward. 14 But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to the king and help me get out of this prison. 15 After all, I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here in Egypt I didn’t do anything to deserve being put in prison.”

16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation of the wine steward’s dream was favourable, he said to Joseph, “I had a dream too; I was carrying three breadbaskets on my head. 17 In the top basket there were all kinds of baked goods for the king, and the birds were eating them.”

18 Joseph answered, “This is what it means: the three baskets are three days. 19 In three days the king will release you—and have your head cut off! Then he will hang your body on a pole, and the birds will eat your flesh.”

20 On his birthday three days later the king gave a banquet for all his officials; he released his wine steward and his chief baker and brought them before his officials.

21 He restored the wine steward to his former position, 22 but he executed the chief baker. It all happened just as Joseph had said. 23 But the wine steward never gave Joseph another thought—he forgot all about him.

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

Living in hope:

Robert Schuller once said…

Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future.

This is about not looking back in bitterness but instead imagining a better future. Not as easy as it sounds. It’s not like you can flick a switch to turn off our hurts and turn on our hope.

Some hurts run deep and long. Some hurts need to be faced and disarmed, like a bomb. Other hurts are smaller though and can be brushed off before they settle in the mind and take root in the soul.

Letting your hopes, and not your hurts, shape your future requires a renewing of the mind. A change of thinking.

Just as you grow a plant by watering it so too you grow an idea by thinking about it. The more you consider your hurts, the bigger your resentment grows and the more turned in on yourself you become.

Likewise, the more you think about your hopes and the good coming your way, the deeper your feelings of gratitude and the more outward looking you are.       

Joseph had suffered some significant hurts. Hated by his brothers. Sold into slavery. Falsely accused and put in prison. The temptation for Joseph was to look back in anger. To feed his hurt with fantasies of revenge.

But Joseph does not water his hurts. He refuses to let bitterness take hold. Joseph chooses to look forward in hope. God has given Joseph a dream, even if to some it seems like a nightmare.

Despite his present circumstances, Joseph believes the good God has promised will come true. Joseph let’s hope shape his future.

What hurts do you need to brush off or disarm?

What hopes do you need to water?

Genesis 40 begins by telling us the king’s wine steward and chief baker had offended the king of Egypt, so Pharaoh threw them both in prison to await investigation.    

The wine steward and chief baker had special roles in protecting the king’s food and hiring reliable staff. They were men Pharaoh trusted with his life. When the text says that these men offended the king, it probably means that one of them behaved in a way that put Pharaoh’s life at risk.

Because of the power and position he held Pharaoh had to be constantly on his guard against those who might try to kill him. It is no small irony that powerful people cannot afford to live in hope. More often powerful people live defensively, viewing others with suspicion.

Joseph does not live in suspicion though. Unlike the king, he has nothing to lose. Being assigned to look after these court officials raises Joseph’s hope.

After some time in prison, the cup bearer and the baker both had a different dream on the same night. They woke up the next day visibly upset.

Contemporary psychology says that most dreams are about the person’s past, not their future. But in the ancient world people were inclined to view their dreams as an omen from the gods; a prediction of things to come. Hence the wine steward and baker’s anxiety. Are their dreams heralding good news or bad news?   

Joseph notices something is wrong and asks why they look so worried. Hopeful people (like Joseph) tend to be outward looking. Hopeful people are not so focused on themselves that they miss the cues other people give. Hopeful people are inclined to show empathy and to offer help.

The two court officials were worried because they had dreams about their future and no way to interpret them.

But Joseph lives in hope and replies, “It is God who gives the ability to interpret dreams, so why don’t you tell me your dreams”.

In this verse we see that God is the basis for Joseph’s hope.

Hope doesn’t just happen by itself. Joseph has cultivated hope in God. He has taken care of his relationship with God. We know this because Joseph’s default setting, his instinctive reaction, is to reach out to God for help. Joseph is confident God will answer him.   

And God does answer Joseph. After listening carefully Joseph explains the symbolism of the dream, reassuring the wine steward that in three days he will be restored and all will be well. Now the wine steward is living in hope too.

Believing in a better future for himself, Joseph sees an opportunity to give his future a helping hand, saying…

But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to the king and help me get out of this prison…”

The word translated as kindness, in verse 14, is Ḥeseḏ in the original Hebrew. Joseph is asking the wine steward to show him Ḥeseḏ.

You may remember from last week that Ḥeseḏ is a word loaded with meaning and history. Ḥeseḏ is an action essential to the survival or the basic wellbeing of the recipient. Given the circumstances no one else can do it. And Ḥeseḏ takes place in the context of an existing relationship.

Ḥeseḏ is pregnant with hope. If someone promises to do Ḥeseḏ for you, then you have a basis for believing the future will be better.  

Some commentators criticize Joseph for asking the wine steward for help. They think he should not have sought to gain from the situation. Perhaps those commentators have never been in a tight spot like Joseph was.

There’s nothing wrong with asking for help when you cannot help yourself. Joseph did not leverage the wine steward. He did not try to coerce or manipulate anyone. Joseph did not say, ‘I will only interpret your dream if you promise to help me first’. No, Joseph helped the wine steward freely, in hope that the good he did would return to him.

By asking for help Joseph shows humility and trust. Giving is often easier than receiving. It takes a certain kind of grace to accept help.

Hope is infectious. If you spend time with hopeful people, their hope tends to rub off on you. In verse 16 we read…

“When the chief baker saw that the interpretation of the wine steward’s dream was favourable, he said to Joseph, “I had a dream too…”

This might betray a guilty conscience on the baker’s behalf. The wine steward told his dream first, without fear, indicating a clear conscience – nothing to hide.

But the baker holds back sharing his dream until he hears a favourable response. Perhaps the baker knows he is to blame for their predicament and is somehow hoping to get off the hook.

Whatever the case, the baker’s hope is misplaced. Hope can be a dangerous thing if it is not fulfilled. After listening carefully to the baker’s dream, Joseph gives the interpretation.

In three days the king will release you—and have your head cut off! Then he will hang your body on a pole, and the birds will eat your flesh.

Joseph speaks the difficult truth. The flip side of hope is judgment.

The oppressed are not set free unless the oppressor is removed.

The righteous cannot prosper unless the wicked are stopped.

We cannot expect the future to be better if those who do evil are allowed to continue. We cannot have hope without judgment.

The trick is being on the right side of hope. Jesus came to save us from judgement. Jesus came to give us a future with hope. Receive Jesus, trust in his righteousness, and you will have hope for eternal life.

If you confess with your mouth that ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved.      

Three days later, on the king’s birthday, everything happened just as Joseph said it would. The king restored the wine steward and he had the baker executed.

23 But the wine steward never gave Joseph another thought— he forgot all about him.

It would be two more years before Joseph was remembered. God does things in his own way and his own time. The text does not tell us how Joseph felt to be forgotten. We don’t really hear much about Joseph’s feelings until the end of his story.

But, from our own experience, we know that feeling of darkness which settles in the heart when we realize the help we had hoped for is less and less likely to come through.

Francis Bacon once said…

Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper.

Perhaps what he meant was, hope that remains unfulfilled is not good.

It is helpful to start with hope. Hope sustains you through the morning and afternoon of life. But if, by the end of the day, your hope has come to nothing, you are left feeling emptier than ever.

Sometimes as Christians we pray earnestly and sincerely for someone or something, fully believing that God will answer our prayer as we wish. But, despite our faith, the good we had asked for does not happen and our hope is dealt a savage blow.

We may feel disappointed and angry with God or at least confused and questioning. There is risk with hope, just as there is mystery with prayer. Sometimes God answers our prayers with a yes. Other times with a no. And quite often with wait. Yet we cannot understand why.

We don’t always get what we want in this life. This life is not always fair, but this life is not all there is. God raised Jesus from the dead and so the hope we have in Christ transcends death. God has a way of making things right, if not in this life, then in the next. God’s timing is not always our timing.

The beatitudes of Jesus are statements of hope. Jesus says…

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.   

When we put our hope in Jesus we get some comfort, some filling and some knowledge of God in this life, but our hope is not fully realized until Jesus returns in glory. In the meantime, like Joseph, we eat the breakfast of hope.

The early Christian author, Tertullian, once wrote…

Hope is patience with the lamp lit.

Hope is not always invigorating or vibrant or strong. Sometimes hope is muted and fragile, a quiet waiting in the dark, comforting yourself with the warm thought that things will change for the better, even if you cannot imagine how.    

Whatever disappointment Joseph may have felt, he did not abandon his hope. Joseph kept believing in the dream God had given him. He kept waiting to be remembered.   

Sometimes we are like Joseph, feeling forgotten as we wait in the dark of not knowing. Hang in there. Don’t let the lamp of your hope go out. Ask for help if you need it. Be patient and remember, God’s timing is not always our timing.

Other times we are more like the wine steward, forgetting those who have helped us. Remember with thanks those who have been there for you when you were anxious or sad. Do they need your help now?

How can you pay their kindness forward? Who can you light the lamp of hope for?   

Conclusion:

Today, because it is the first Sunday of the month, we are sharing communion. Interesting that this reading, featuring a server of wine and a baker of bread, just happened to fall on a communion Sunday. I did not plan it that way. Was it God’s providence? Maybe.

Communion is a time to remember Jesus.

To remember someone, in Christian thought, means more than simply recalling that person to mind. It’s more than merely thinking, ‘Oh Jesus, yea I remember him. He was that guy who died on a cross 2000 years ago, right?’

For believers, to remember is to make good on a commitment.

To remember someone is to show kindness to them.

To remember Jesus is put into practice his teaching in our daily lives.

We don’t just remember Jesus while eating the bread and drinking from the cup. We remember Jesus by loving God and by loving our neighbour as we love ourselves.

Remembering is both personal and practical. Yes, remembering is meant to happen in church on a Sunday, but we also need to remember throughout the rest of our lives, Monday to Saturday.    

The problem with human beings is that we tend to forget. We get caught up in our own stuff and stuck in our heads. We forget our purpose and we get a bit lost. We need to be reminded of who we are and why we are. That’s what communion is about.

May God’s Ḥeseḏ for us, in Christ, be a lamp of hope for all, through the long dark night of waiting. Amen.   

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

  • What is hope? How does hope help us?
  • How might we let go of our hurts and give more attention to our hopes? What hurts do you need to brush off or disarm? What hopes do you need to water?
  • Why is it harder for powerful people to live in hope? When has hope been most real in your life?
  • Discuss / reflect on the relationship between judgement and hope? How can we get on the right side of hope?
  • Who has been there for you? How can you remember them? How can you pay their kindness forward? Who can you light a lamp of hope for?   
  • What does it mean to remember Christ? How do we (you) remember Jesus?
Tawa Baptist

With

Scripture: Genesis 39

Video Link: https://youtu.be/S4Rksw5XlBQ

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • God’s presence
  • Joseph’s faithfulness
  • God’s kindness
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Sometimes when you are reading a book or watching a movie you come across a story within the story. The smaller story helps to make sense of the bigger story.

The Bible is really one big story, the true story in fact, of God and his people. Today we continue our sermon series in the life of Joseph, focusing on Genesis 39. The account of Joseph is one of those smaller stories which helps to make sense of God’s bigger story.

You may remember from two weeks ago how Joseph had been sold into slavery by his brothers. From verse 1 of Genesis 39 we pick up the story…

Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.

When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favour in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put Joseph in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. So he left in Joseph’s care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”

And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!”

But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” She kept his cloak beside her until Joseph’s master came home. Then she told him this story:

“That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger.

Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favour in the eyes of the jailer. So the jailer put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The jailer paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

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

There are three parts to Genesis 39. Verses 1-6 emphasize God’s presence with Joseph. Verses 7-19 reveal Joseph’s faithfulness to God. And verses 20-23 tell us about God’s kindness to Joseph.

These three things; presence, faithfulness and kindness, all find connections with the bigger story of God and his people. First let’s consider God’s presence with Joseph.  

God’s presence – vv. 1-6:

Nicky Gumble tells the story of a young boy playing on a piano. The boy didn’t know what he was doing really. He simply banged away at the keys in front of him.

A maestro happened to hear the child and although the boy was making a ghastly sound, he didn’t interrupt. He simply listened. After a while, the maestro noticed that the boy seemed to be following his own rough sort of pattern.

The maestro then sat down beside the boy and began filling in notes alongside the pattern the boy was making. And in moments the noise was transformed into song. The maestro’s presence made all the difference.

Joseph’s brothers had sold him into slavery to get rid of him and then lied to their father to cover up what they had done. Consequently, Joseph was taken to Egypt. The Lord did not stop this from happening. But the Lord was with Joseph in Egypt.

What does it mean to be with someone?

To be with someone means to be by their side, to identify with them and to stand in solidarity with them. To be with someone means to keep pace with them, not running ahead and not lagging behind. To be with someone means to listen to them.

To be with someone means to join in whatever it is they are doing. To help them and to support them by filling in the missing notes.

God was with Joseph in Egypt. That means the Lord came alongside Joseph and joined in with the work that Joseph was doing. In a sense, it’s like God chose to become a slave with Joseph.

The signs of God’s presence may differ, depending on the situation, but in Joseph’s case the light of God’s presence was evident in the success of Joseph’s work. Everything Joseph put his hand to prospered.

This resulted in Joseph being trusted and given greater freedom to manage Potiphar’s household. Those who are faithful with little will be trusted with much.

Joseph was blessed to be a blessing. Joseph’s success was to Potiphar’s profit. God doesn’t just bless us for our own sakes. God blesses us for the sake of the world.

Jesus talked about putting our lamp on a stand and not hiding it under a bushel. Let your light shine before others.

If the light Jesus is referring to here is the light of God’s presence, then Jesus wants us to put our light on a stand so that others may benefit. Jesus wants us to let people see that God is with us.

Joseph’s faithfulness – vv. 7-19:

Now in associating God’s presence with Joseph’s success (as Genesis 39 does) we must underline the fact that true success (in Christian thought) is defined by faithfulness, not health, wealth or popularity. As we remain in Christ and faithful to God our lives will bear good fruit.

The problem with success is that it often comes with the ball and chain of temptation. And without faithfulness to set us free, it is just a matter of time before temptation puts our success in the ditch of failure.

Temptation can come in many forms but for Joseph it came in the form of Potiphar’s wife. It doesn’t pay to be too attractive.

Apparently, Joseph’s chiseled features, bronzed skin and good teeth were too much and after a while Potiphar’s wife told Joseph to sleep with her. The phrase, ‘Come to bed with me’, in the original Hebrew, is only two words. A very blunt command. Maybe something like, ‘sex now’.

Joseph tells her, clearly, ‘no’. Joseph resists temptation with truth. And the truth is, sleeping with Potiphar’s wife would be a wicked betrayal of his master’s trust and a sin against God. Joseph could not live with himself if he committed adultery. These are the facts.

We might think that would be the end of the matter but unfortunately that is not how temptation works. Potiphar’s wife keeps on trying to seduce Joseph day after day.

Temptation is a siege. With temptation we are surrounded on every side. Temptation wears us down slowly, over time, before making its final assault, often when we are at our weakest.

Joseph is under no illusion. He has the self-awareness to know he is vulnerable. He is a young man in his twenties and, at that age, the male libido is strong. To add to his vulnerability, Joseph is alone. He doesn’t have a wife and is a long way from home.

Who wouldn’t hunger for a little comfort in his situation? But Joseph doesn’t take the short cut offered by temptation. Joseph seeks refuge in the Lord who is with him.

What about us? What can we do to resist temptation? Not just sexual temptation but any kind of temptation? Whether it is the temptation to gossip or lie or feel sorry for ourselves or whatever. Three things…

Firstly, be completely honest with yourself. Have the self-awareness to understand your points of vulnerability and put safeguards in place.

For example, if alcohol is a weakness for you, then don’t go to the pub. Put distance between yourself and temptation. Sometimes an accountability group is necessary for keeping you honest. Like AA or Celebrate Recovery.

A second thing you can do to resist temptation is think about the outcome if you were to give in. How is this action going to affect the people I care about? How will this affect my own personal wellbeing? Could I live with myself if I did this?

Thirdly, find a life-giving alternative to temptation. For example, spend time with people who respect you and care about you. Take a holiday somewhere nice. Or, if reading is your thing, then enjoy a good book.

Whatever is decent, whatever is noble, whatever is true, think about that. Whatever fills your spiritual tank and keeps you grounded, do that. Remember to pray.

As a slave Joseph is trapped. He can’t resign and get another job. He can’t even take a holiday. Nevertheless, Joseph successfully resisted the siege of temptation by standing firm in his resolve and keeping out of her way.

Now it needs to be acknowledged that Genesis 39 isn’t just about resisting temptation. It’s also about sexual harassment. Potiphar’s wife was sexually harassing Joseph. Joseph wanted her to stop but she wouldn’t.  

Joseph was a slave and slaves are often exploited for sex. Potiphar’s wife thought she was entitled to Joseph’s body. But she wasn’t. Your body is sacred. It is holy. Your body belongs to you and to Christ. No one else has a right to it.

Avoiding Potiphar’s wife works for a while but eventually she gets Joseph alone and grabs his cloak. At this point her prolonged sexual harassment of Joseph threatens to become sexual assault. It is unusual for a woman to do this. More often it is men who assault women.

If we think about this from Joseph’s point of view, we realise he has three options. He could give in to her and let her have her way. He could hit her in self-defense. Or he could run. Freeze, fight or flight.

Joseph flees. He runs for his life, leaving his cloak in her hand. It is the only righteous option available to him. By running Joseph shows respect for everyone concerned. Unfortunately, it makes him look guilty.

Potiphar’s wife uses Joseph’s cloak to frame him. She blames Joseph for her own crime. This shows us that she did not love Joseph. The inclination of love is to give and protect. First, she seeks to consume Joseph and when she can’t do that, she tries to destroy him.  

We know that Joseph is innocent because the text makes it clear he did no wrong and because sexual abuse is about power. You can’t abuse someone when you have no power over them. Joseph is a slave. At no point did Joseph have any power over Potiphar’s wife. Potiphar’s wife holds the power over Joseph.

Sadly, not everyone who is sexually harassed is able to run or defend themselves. If you are a survivor of abuse, then you need to know, it’s not your fault. You are not to blame. What was done to you was wrong but that does not make you wrong.   

If you ever find yourself in the position of being harassed, then you don’t have to put up with that. You are not a slave. You have options. You can ask someone you trust for help and formulate an escape plan.

But in asking for help, please understand that (depending on the situation) other people or agencies like the police or Women’s Refuge may need to be involved. If you want to escape an abusive situation then you will need help and that means some people finding out.

Of course, in a room this size, there may be some who are guilty of abusing their power. If that’s you, what can you do?

Well, you can stop and be honest with yourself. Don’t make it worse. Don’t double down. Admit your wrongdoing and repent. That means stepping aside from positions of power and seeking help. Seeking God’s mercy for your soul.

Split Enz have a song from the 1980’s. The chorus reads: History never repeats, tell myself before I go to sleep. Don’t say the words you might regret. I lost before, you know I can’t forget.

We like to tell ourselves that history never repeats but deep down we know that is not always true. The time, the place, the people may all be different, but sometimes we get hurt again in the same way we’ve been hurt before. And we can’t forget.

History repeats itself for Joseph. Just as Joseph’s brothers took his cloak from him, so too, Potiphar’s wife strips Joseph of his cloak. And just as Joseph’s screams from the pit were ignored by his brothers, so too Joseph’s voice is silenced by the accusations of his master’s wife.

Verse 19 tells us how Potiphar burned with anger on hearing his wife’s version of events. It is unclear, though, exactly who Potiphar was angry with. Was he angry with Joseph or was he angry with his wife?  

Potiphar is no fool. Potiphar knows his wife’s character and he knows Joseph’s character too. In all likelihood, Potiphar suspects Joseph to be innocent but in order to save face and keep peace with his wife he has to punish Joseph in some way.

God’s kindness – verses 20-23:

Potiphar could have had Joseph killed on the spot. But he doesn’t. Instead, he puts Joseph in the king’s prison.

Although it probably doesn’t seem like it, being put in the king’s prison was a kindness really. Not only was this the most lenient punishment Potiphar could hand Joseph, it also meant Joseph was free from further harassment by Potiphar’s wife.

Sometimes the thing we fear most is the very thing God uses to set us free from our fear.

Verse 21 says the Lord (Yahweh) was with Joseph (in prison); he showed him kindness and granted him favour in the eyes of the prison warden.  

The word translated as kindness is actually hesed, in the original Hebrew.

Kindness doesn’t do justice to the full meaning of hesed. Loyal love or steadfast love is a better translation.

Katherine Sakenfeld, who did her PhD on this subject, outlines the three main criteria of hesed… [1]

Firstly, the action is essential to the survival or the basic wellbeing of the recipient. So it’s not something you do to entertain a whim or a fancy.  

Secondly, the needed action is one that only the person doing the hesed is in a position to provide. Given the circumstances no one else can do it.

And thirdly, hesed takes place in the context of an existing relationship.

Examples of hesed might include donating a kidney to save a loved one’s life. Or adopting the child of a friend who has died. Or paying off a significant debt for a family member so they are not in poverty.

In Genesis 39, the Lord God did hesed for Joseph in a number of ways. The Lord saved Joseph from being killed. The Lord was with Joseph in prison, so that he was not harmed. And the Lord gave Joseph favour with the prison warden, so that Joseph was trusted to run the place.  

It’s interesting that God did not prevent Potiphar’s wife from maligning Joseph. But the Lord did not abandon Joseph either. God joined Joseph in prison and worked it for good, as we will see in the coming weeks.   

It’s good to remember that. When we are going through a hard time, God is with us in that experience.

Conclusion:

I said at the beginning of this message that the account of Joseph is one of those smaller stories in the Bible which helps to make sense of God’s bigger story. You have probably figured it out already but, if not, let me explain…

What happened to Joseph foreshadows what would happen to the people of Israel. Just as Joseph was a slave in Egypt, so too the people of Israel became slaves in Egypt.

And just as Joseph was raised to a position of honour, before being thrown into jail, so too Israel was exalted for a time among the nations, before being thrown into exile in Babylon.

But whether they were exalted or humiliated, God stuck with his people through thick and thin. The Lord showed hesed (loyal love) to Israel.

Sadly, the people of Israel were not always as faithful or righteous as Joseph. The nation of Israel was more like Judah, who we heard about last week.

Nevertheless, Joseph points to Christ who resists temptation and remains faithful to God. Jesus fulfils God’s purpose for Israel in an even greater way than Joseph.    

Let us finish with one other connection, from Psalm 139…

7 Where can I go from your Spirit, O Lord? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

May we be aware of God’s presence with us this week and always. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

  • What does it mean to be with someone? In what ways are you aware of God’s presence with you? How might you let people see that God is with you?
  • Why does Joseph refuse to sleep with Potiphar’s wife? Why do you resist temptation?
  • What temptations are you particularly vulnerable to? What strategies do you have for resisting temptation?
  • What can you do to escape a situation of harassment or abuse? How can you help someone who tells you they are being harassed or abused?
  • What is hesed? How does God do hesed for Joseph? How has God done hesed for you? Who can you do hesed for?
  • In what ways does the smaller story of Joseph illuminate the bigger story of God and his people?

[1] Katherine Doob-Sakenfeld, Ruth, page 24

Tawa Baptist

Changing Spots

Scripture: Genesis 38:1-26

Video Link: https://youtu.be/SHr5xYlysAQ

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Genesis 38:1-11
  • Genesis 38:12-23
  • Genesis 38:24-26
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Let me ask you a question. It’s a rhetorical question, so you don’t need to answer. Can a leopard change its spots?

The Lord God posed this question to his people through the prophet Jeremiah many centuries ago. It’s a question that is still relevant today. Can a leopard change its spots? It’s like asking, can people change their ways? Can bad character be re-formed into good character?

Today we continue our sermon series on the life of Joseph by focusing on Genesis 38. Last week we heard how Joseph’s brothers sold Joseph into slavery and then deceived their father into thinking that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal.

This week, the focus shifts off Joseph and Jacob and onto Judah. Judah was Jacob’s fourth son and Joseph’s half-brother. It was Judah’s idea to sell Joseph into slavery. Judah was the opposite of Joseph. Joseph was sincere and virtuous, while Judah was calculating and immoral.

Among other things, Genesis 38 addresses the question of whether a leopard can change its spots. It shows how God re-formed Judah’s character.   

Genesis 38:1-11

Genesis 38 begins with Judah leaving home. If the home environment you grew up in was violent or toxic, then sometimes the best thing to do is leave. Nothing changes if nothing changes. But you need to leave to something better. Otherwise you may be jumping out of the fry pan and into the fire. 

Judah’s family was dysfunctional and Judah contributed to that dysfunction. Unfortunately, when Judah left, he did not leave to something better. Judah went to live with the pagan Canaanites.

As Bruce Waltke observes, “Judah’s geographical descent from Hebron’s heights to Canaan’s lowlands mirrors his spiritual condition”. [1]

Judah makes a moral decline. He has little regard for God’s ways or God’s purpose. Far from having a positive effect in the world, Judah conforms to the Canaanite way of life against the purpose of God. He marries a Canaanite woman and has three sons: Er, Onan & Shelah.

After some time, Judah found a Canaanite wife for his eldest son Er. Her name was Tamar. We are not told what Er did, only that his conduct was so evil in the Lord’s sight that God put him to death.

God, who sees the heart, must have known that Er would never change his spots and, perhaps as a way of protecting others from harm, God took back Er’s life.

Now, we need to be careful in reading a verse like this. We cannot make a formula out of Er’s death. Just because someone dies young or experiences some kind of misfortune, it does not automatically follow that God is displeased with them or punishing them.

There are plenty of bad people in this world who live long and prosper. Just as there are many good people who suffer injustice or die young. Next week we will hear how Joseph was sent to prison for doing the right thing.

Jesus was without sin and he was nailed to a cross. The test that someone has found favour with God is not health or wealth in this world. Rather it is resurrection to eternal life. Yes, Jesus died a horrific death at just 33 years of age, but God vindicated Jesus by raising him from the dead.

When it comes to suffering in this life, there is no formula for explaining it. Sometimes life is fair and sometimes it isn’t. The challenge of faith is believing that God is fair, even when circumstance is not, and that God can redeem suffering. He can work it for good.

Er died without fathering any children, so Judah said to his second son, Onan…

“Go and sleep with your brother’s widow [with Tamar]. Fulfil your obligation to her as her husband’s brother, so that your brother may have descendants.”

This is called ‘Levirate marriage’. Levirate marriage was a practical way of taking care of the family. By marrying the dead man’s wife and giving her children, the living brother was giving his dead brother descendants. And he was providing food, shelter & children for the widow, so that she wasn’t destitute. It was a form of social security.

Levirate marriage may seem strange to us. Probably there are some women here who would prefer not to marry their brother-in-law. But in the culture of Genesis 38 it was considered the honourable thing to do.

In effect, Judah was asking Onan to take Tamar into his household and get her pregnant. If Tamar gave birth to a boy, then that boy would be considered Er’s son, not Onan’s son. In other words, the boy born to Tamar would receive Er’s inheritance (as first born) which means there would be less for Onan.

Onan did not like this idea, but he did not want to lose face either, so he faked it. He slept with Tamar in a way that ensured she did not get pregnant. Coitus Interruptus. Onan repeatedly took advantage of Tamar and only pretended to do the right thing.

What Onan did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death also.

Let’s reflect on the bigger picture for a moment. Judah had robbed his father Jacob of his favourite son Joseph. Now Judah learns what it is to become a father and lose two sons. Judah is reaping what he sowed.

Sometimes God allows us to experience the consequences of our actions as a way of preparing us for change. Consequences don’t necessarily effect immediate change, but they can lay the groundwork for long term change.    

The loss of two of his sons does not change Judah for the better in the short term. All it does is make Judah more fearful, more self-interested. What if Tamar is bad luck? Or worse, what if she is a witch? Judah doesn’t want to risk his third son. Fear has Judah running from change.

We notice a certain obtuseness from Judah here. He is spiritually insensitive. Judah seems blind to his sons’ wrongdoing. Instead of facing the fact that his sons were not good people, he superstitiously suspects that Tamar is to blame. 

Judah kicks for touch, he plays it safe and sends Tamar back to her father’s house in mourning, telling her to wait until his youngest son Shelah is old enough for marriage.  

This was another act of deception on Judah’s part. He had no intention of giving Tamar to his youngest son in marriage.

Judah’s spots don’t show any sign of changing at this point.  Judah denies Tamar the freedom to marry anyone else but at the same time he doesn’t provide for her through his son Shelah. Judah’s deception of Tamar is cruel, just as his deception of Jacob had been cruel.

Genesis 38:12-23

After a long time, Judah’s wife died. When it became clear that Judah had no intention of letting Tamar marry Shelah, Tamar came up with her own plan of subterfuge.  

Tamar changed out of her widow’s clothes, covered her face with a veil and sat down at the entrance to the town of Enaim, knowing Judah would pass that way.  

When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, so he went over to her and said, ‘Come now, let me sleep with you.’ He had no idea who he was talking to.

Tamar said, ‘What will you give me to sleep with you?’ Judah doesn’t realise it, but this is a loaded question. Tamar is hoping he will give her children.

Judah replies, ‘I will send you a young goat from my flock’. This shows that Judah is acting on impulse. He has an itch that needs scratching. He didn’t come prepared to hire a prostitute, but he also doesn’t have much self-control.

The fact that Judah is unprepared plays right into Tamar’s hands. She asks for Judah’s seal with its cord and the staff he is carrying.

Men in the ancient world carried a seal around their neck on a cord. The seal was the shape of a cylinder with unique markings on it which could be rolled over soft clay to authenticate a transaction.

The staff Judah carried was a symbol of his authority, also with unique markings to identify that it belonged to him. In today’s terms Judah was basically giving Tamar his credit card and driver’s licence as guarantees of payment.

Judah is a victim of his own lust and ego. If you give away your moral authority, like Judah did, then you tend to lose other forms of personal authority also.

Judah hands over the symbols of his power and authority to Tamar without realising what he is doing. Once again, Judah is reaping what he sowed. Just as Judah deceived his father Jacob, now Tamar deceives Judah.      

There is a significant difference in Tamar’s deception though. Unlike Judah who deceives for his own selfish ends, Tamar deceives with the more honourable motivation of preserving the family line. Some call it a faithful deception.

After Judah sleeps with Tamar, she becomes pregnant by him. Later Judah sends the young goat he promised but Tamar is no longer there. She has changed back into her widow’s clothes and returned home.

So Judah lets the matter drop. He doesn’t want to become a laughingstock.  

Judah is more concerned with his reputation than he is with doing what is right.

About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution and as a result she is now pregnant.”
Judah said, “Bring her out and have her burned to death.”

If Tamar was guilty then Judah would be expected to respond like this to preserve family honour. But even so, natural justice requires him to test the facts first. Judah is quick to condemn Tamar without a fair trial.

His callous response reveals an ulterior motive. Judah sees this as a convenient opportunity to get rid of his daughter-in-law so that he doesn’t have to give his son to her in marriage. Judah thinks he has found a way to avoid his responsibility while keeping up appearances.   

As readers we can see the double standard. Why is a man called a stud, but a woman is called a slut? Why is it her fault when he is the one who is angry?

Why can’t Judah see what lurks in his own shadow?

Genesis 38:24-26

As Tamar was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law.

“I am pregnant by the man who owns these,” she said. And she added, “See if you recognise whose seal and cord and staff these are.”

‘Do you recognise your own credit card and driver’s license, Judah?’ Mic drop.

In the original Hebrew, Judah literally says, ‘She is righteous, not I.’

Now we might ask, ‘How can the Hebrew Bible say that Tamar is righteous?

She tricked her father-in-law into sleeping with her and, according to the Bible, sex outside of marriage is a sin. Well, Tamar’s example does not give us a licence to deceive people and sleep around.  

Tamar is declared righteous because she acted in faith and loyalty for the well-being of Judah’s family.  

When we consider how risky Tamar’s plan was, we realise that God was helping her every step of the way. There was so much that could have gone wrong but didn’t.

What if someone else tried to solicit Tamar before Judah came along?

What if Judah ignored Tamar as she sat disguised by the side of the road?

What if Judah had not given Tamar his seal and staff?    

What if Judah had recognised Tamar?

What if Tamar had sex with Judah but didn’t get pregnant?

What if Judah had denied any wrongdoing and accused Tamar of stealing his seal and staff and lying about it?

Tamar acted in faith, taking some huge risks to her personal safety, all so she could do the right thing by Judah’s family. Tamar risked her life to give life.    

Returning to the question we started with, can a leopard change its spots? Can a person like Judah change their ways?   

Well, Judah changed his environment and went to live with the Canaanites but that didn’t make him better. If anything, it made him worse. Becoming a husband and a father didn’t change Judah either.

And when he suffered the loss of two of his sons and his wife, there was still no positive change. If anything, these losses only made Judah more fearful and more self-interested.    

A leopard may not be able to change its spots, but God can. Judah could not change his ways, but God did change Judah. God reformed Judah’s character by grace and God’s grace came in the form of Tamar, a Canaanite woman from the wrong side of the tracks, the one no expected.

We can rightly call Tamar the heroine of this story because she saved Judah from himself. God used Tamar’s brave faith as the catalyst for Judah’s repentance and transformation.

The tipping point for character change is honest confession. Judah’s humiliation (at being found out) goes hand in hand with his honest confession and the first steps of his conversion. Nothing changes until Judah is honest with himself.      

God rewarded Tamar’s faith with twin boys (Perez & Zerah) to replace the two sons Judah had lost. This is the grace of God. Tamar literally gives birth to the grace of God for Judah. She mediates God’s grace to Judah.

One thing to note here is that we don’t always reap what we sow. Judah had been quick to condemn Tamar to death for prostitution. By that measure Judah himself should have been killed also. But God in his grace does not punish Judah. God blesses Judah when Judah has done nothing to deserve it. 

When Judah realises that he is the father of Tamar’s babies he knows that God is giving him another chance. And in response to God’s grace, Judah repents. He acknowledges Tamar’s righteousness, and he does not sleep with her again.

God changes Judah. We don’t see all the changes in Genesis 38. But, towards the end of the Joseph story, we see what real character change looks like.

By his grace God changes Judah from being deceitful to being truthful.

From being insincere to being authentic.

From being powerful to being vulnerable.

From being hypocritical to being humble.

From being sexually promiscuous to being self-controlled.

From being callous to being compassionate.

Perhaps the greatest transformation to Judah’s character though was the change from self-interest to self-sacrifice. 

In Genesis 44, when the brothers go to Egypt to buy grain, Judah (the former slave trader) offers himself as a slave in Benjamin’s place. Judah offers himself as a sacrificial lamb to save his family.   

Conclusion

Both Tamar and Judah are mentioned in Jesus’ genealogy (in Matthew 1).

Each of them points to Jesus in different ways.  

Tamar points to Jesus as one who mediates God’s grace to sinners.

And Judah points to Jesus who offers his life on the cross to redeem creation.  

What spots is God changing in your character?

May the Lord guide us in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Amen.  

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

  • Can a leopard change its spots? Can a person change their ways? Can bad character be reformed?
  • In what ways does Judah reap what he sowed? Can you think of a time in your life when you reaped what you sowed? (Whether good or bad.) What happened? Can you think of a time in your life when God (in his grace) saved you from reaping what you sowed? What happened?
  • Why does Judah say, “She is righteous, not I”? Why is Tamar considered righteous in this situation? Why is honest confession necessary / important for character change?    
  • What changes does God bring about to Judah’s character? How does God change Judah’s character?
  • Looking back over your life, so far, what changes has God brought about to your character? How did God effect these changes?
  • How do Tamar and Judah point to Christ?

[1] Bruce Waltke, ‘Genesis’, page 510.

Tawa Baptist

The Dream

Scripture: Genesis 37:1-11

Video Link: https://youtu.be/f4wWy7Cf3JI

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • God’s election
  • God’s revelation
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

In the early 1970’s the musical production, Joseph and the amazing technicolour dream coat was launched on stage. The story line is based on the account of Joseph in the book of Genesis. 

It must be one of the most popular musicals of all time. Something like 20,000 amateur productions have been performed throughout the past 50 odd years.

Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber took some liberties with their version, but we won’t hold that against them. It’s good to see a Bible story celebrated.

Today we begin a new sermon series based, not on the Joseph musical, but on the original story of Joseph in Genesis. From Genesis 37, verses 1-11, we read…

Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan. 2 This is the account of Jacob’s family line. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. 5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.” 8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. 9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

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

If you didn’t know anything about the Joseph story, and all you had to go on was the title, Joseph and the amazing technicolour dream coat, then you might think it was a story about a dude called Joseph who had a coat which gave him special powers.

But really, the Joseph story is not about a coat and it’s not primarily about Joseph either. At its core, the Joseph story is about God and his hidden purpose.

Today’s reading highlights the twin themes of God’s election and God’s revelation. Sadly, God’s revelation and election are misunderstood by his people.

God’s election:

God’s election is a technical theological term that refers to God choosing a particular person or group of people for a particular purpose. To be elected by God is to be chosen for a purpose.

If you think of God as a carpenter and human beings as the carpenter’s tools, then God’s election is like the Lord selecting a particular tool to do a specific job. Maybe, at one time, he will select a hammer. But he won’t always select a hammer. Other times he will select a measuring tape or a scribe or a saw, depending on what he wants to achieve.

God makes people differently, each to serve a different purpose. Being chosen (or elected) by God does not make you better or more important than other people. Nor does it make your life easier. But it does give your life eternal meaning.

Earlier in the book of Genesis, God elected Abraham to serve the divine purpose of blessing the nations of the world. As part of God’s election of Abraham, the Lord made certain promises. Those promises, together with God’s election, were passed on to Isaac and then to Jacob. 

God changed Jacob’s name to Israel, and Jacob became the founding father of the nation of Israel. Israel being God’s elect, his chosen people and the inheritors of God’s promises to Abraham.

Put very simply, God elected the people of Israel for the purpose of blessing the world. 

Jacob had four wives, twelve sons and one daughter. (He must have been exhausted.) These days we would call this arrangement a blended family. The twelve sons became the twelve tribes of Israel.

It would be fair to say, Jacob’s family dynamic was not that healthy. In fact, it was dysfunctional. There were rivalries and jealousies, secrets and lies, violence and cover ups. There wasn’t much love to go around.

God’s election is inscrutable. It is beyond our comprehension. If you are selecting someone for the All Blacks or the White Ferns, you pick the best of the best. More than selecting raw talent though, you pick people who work well together as a team.

But, from our limited human vantage point, it appears God’s election does not work like that. God’s election is not based on our virtue or competence.

Jacob’s family were not very good at being a family. They did not work well together as a team. And some of them lacked a moral compass. It is a testament to God’s wisdom and grace that he was able to use such a dysfunctional family to bless the world in a significant way.     

Joseph was Jacob’s second youngest son and he was Jacob’s favourite. Jacob gave Joseph a special coat to wear. We don’t know whether the coat was one of many colours but it stood out in some way, perhaps a bit like a korowai in that it was a symbol or mantle of leadership.

The coat sent a clear message to the whole family that Joseph was Jacob’s favourite to take over one day. The brothers hated him for it. Being elected the favourite tends to isolate you.

I’m reading Martin Seligman’s book, Flourish, at the moment. It’s about positive psychology and wellbeing. In his book, Martin writes about the Losada ratio.

The idea is that for organisations and teams to function well, people need to be saying at least three positive statements for each negative statement. Three to one is the minimum.

A ratio of five positive statements to one critical statement is better though.

For example, if you want a strong and loving marriage, you need to be saying five good things to your husband or wife, for every critical comment.  

That being said, critical comments still have their place. If there is no critique, then the positive statements tend to lose their credibility. The point is, for human flourishing we need to aim for a ratio of five positive statements for each negative statement.        

Three times in today’s passage we read how Joseph’s brothers hated him and they could not speak a kind word to him.

Joseph did not get a Losada ratio of five to one. He didn’t even get a three to one ratio. The negative comments he received outweighed the positive. Which was like pouring weed killer on the relationship.

Joseph’s mother, Rachel, died when Joseph was around six or seven, so Joseph was pretty much on his own in the family, except for his father and his younger brother, Benjamin. Life within the family was not easy for Joseph.

Which brings us to a sobering point. Election, being chosen or set apart for a special purpose, is not easy. Election has a way of putting a target on your back. 

Some might say that Joseph did not help himself in this regard. In verse 2, for example, we read how Joseph was working with four of his brothers and brought a bad report about them to his father.

Some commentators criticize Joseph for doing this, saying it shows he was a spoilt brat, a tattletale and unwise. But the text makes no criticism of Joseph.

Joseph’s honest report to his father is more likely a sign of his integrity. Joseph was not like his brothers. He was not inclined to deceit. He did not hide things. Joseph was an open book.

In talking about election, we must also talk about Jesus. As we will see throughout this series, Joseph points to Christ in many ways.

Joseph is like Jesus in that God used Joseph to save many people.

When it comes to God’s election, Jesus does more than Joseph though.

Jesus opens the door of God’s election to all people.

You see, God has elected one person, Jesus, to be the Messiah, the Saviour of the world. Therefore, anyone who accepts Jesus and is found in Christ becomes part of the elect people of God.

As I mentioned before, becoming part of the elect people of God does not make you better than others. Nor will it make your life easier (in this world). Being part of the elect people of God comes with the responsibility of serving God’s purpose. Obeying his will.

Some believe that God elects certain people for salvation and others for damnation. And they call that predestination. I don’t believe that. I believe God gives everyone a fair go.

It’s more like God is saying to humanity, if you want to become part of my elect people, then Jesus is the pathway. Jesus is the doorway for entry. Accept Jesus and you are in, you are one of the elect. Jesus is way, the truth and the life.

Now, at the same time, God is free. Free to help certain people onto the right path. Free to help certain people to receive Jesus. But God’s action in doing that does not exclude anyone else from coming to Christ.

You might wonder, ‘So what about those who are not in Christ? What about those who don’t accept Jesus? Perhaps because they did not have much opportunity. What happens to them?’

Well, Jesus taught that God treats everyone with justice and fairness. That means, at the end of the day when we face judgment, the least we can expect from God is fairness.

The measure you use for others is the measure God will use for you.

If you forgive others, God will forgive you.

Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.

These are the sorts of things the Lord said. Therefore, it is in our interests to be kind, forgiving, and generous. Of course, if someone is living their life like this, then they have accepted the way of Christ, even if they are not aware of it.

God’s revelation:

God’s election goes hand in hand with God’s revelation. Revelation is another technical theological term that basically refers to the way God reveals himself and his plan. Revelation is God’s way of communicating with us, in other words.

God can communicate in all sorts of ways. One way is through dreams.

In the ancient near east, people were inclined to believe that a dream was a message from the gods, like an omen or a prediction of things to come.

Let me be clear. Just because Joseph had a dream that came true, it does not automatically follow that every dream you have is a message from God about the future.

Current thinking tells us that dreams are our mind’s way of processing what has already happened to us, in the past, especially the recent past. Our dreams help to untangle knots in our thinking and feeling. Dreams are sort of like anti-virus software on a computer, identifying bad code and cleaning it up.

Or, to put it another way, dreams are the unconscious mind communicating with the conscious mind. For example, if we repress an emotion during the day,

that emotion is likely to pop up in a dream at night. Maybe a dream that gives us a good feeling, or a nightmare, depending on the emotion.

The other thing to understand is that dreams use symbols or picture language to communicate. It does no good to try and interpret a dream literally. You have to translate the images in your dream, according to what those images mean for you personally, or the dream won’t make sense.

What I’m saying here is most dreams are about your personal past, not the future. And most dreams are a message from your unconscious mind, not a message from God.

There are exceptions to this rule, however. There may be times when God plants an idea in your mind while you sleep. Sort of like the movie Inception.

With the benefit of hindsight, it appears God revealed something of his purpose for Joseph and Jacob’s family through the dreams in Genesis 37.

Joseph had two dreams which he shared with his brothers. In the first dream the brothers’ sheaves of grain bowed down to Joseph’s and in the second dream the sun, moon and eleven stars bowed down to Joseph.

Interestingly, Joseph does not offer an interpretation of his own dreams. He simply shares the dreams and lets his family draw their own conclusions. Sometimes we are too close to our dreams and we need the perspective of someone who knows us well, someone we can trust, to help us interpret our dreams.

Unfortunately, Joseph’s brothers did not really know him all that well and they were not trustworthy caretakers of his innermost thoughts. The brothers respond defensively, saying, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?”   

Joseph’s brothers question the revelation Joseph has received. They cannot accept it. Joseph’s dreams are dangerous. They threaten the status quo. They are an omen of upset in which the natural order of things is turned on its head. The young are supposed to serve the older, not the other way round.    

Sadly, Jacob’s family do not properly understand Joseph’s dreams or God’s purpose. In God’s scheme, the greatest is the servant of all and the one in charge does not lord it over the others. This is what Jesus taught us.

What Jacob’s family do not yet realise is that Joseph has been elected by God to save the family, more than rule over them. Had Joseph’s family understood the suffering Joseph would go through to achieve God’s purpose, they might have had a different response.

Although Jacob echoes his sons in publicly rebuking Joseph, privately the old man kept the matter in mind. We are reminded of Mary who, at the wonderful revelations surrounding Jesus’ birth, pondered these things in her heart.   

Jacob knew enough of God’s ways to not rule out the possibility that Joseph’s dreams would come true. Likewise, we should not be too quick to judge.

We should never say, ‘God cannot use me. I have nothing to offer’. Nor should we say, ‘God cannot work through this person or that situation’. God is free to work out his purpose however he wants. We need to let God be God.

God’s inscrutable election means we live with hope and possibility. We do well to ponder these wonders in our heart.  

Conclusion:

Just as God elects his Son Jesus to save the world, so too God reveals himself to the world most clearly through Jesus.

Jesus is the perfect image of God. Jesus shows us what it looks like to be human, as God intended. If we want to know God’s purpose, our best bet is to look to Jesus who embodies the truth and grace of God.

Let me conclude our message now with another way in which Joseph points to Jesus. The dreams Joseph had were similar to the dream God has given us. Similar, but not identical.  

Joseph dreamed that his family would bow down to him. Our God inspired dream is not that people would bow down to us, but rather that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

When that happens, God’s kingdom will be realized in its fullness and we will have heaven on earth. No more injustice, no more war, no more loneliness, no more sickness or pain. That is the dream.

May the Lord strengthen our hope as we wait for the day of Jesus’ return. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

  • What do we mean by ‘God’s election’? Why does God elect people?
  • How do we become part of God’s elect people? What are the implications of being part of God’s elect people?
  • What ratio of positive to negative comments do you use in your conversation with others? What ratio of positive to negative comments do you receive? Does anything need to change for your relationships to flourish?
  • What do we mean by ‘God’s revelation’? What are some of the ways God communicates with you?
  • Have you ever had a dream you sensed was from God? If so, how did you know God was speaking to you in the dream?  
  • Discuss / reflect on the twin concepts of God’s election and revelation as they relate to Jesus? How does Jesus fulfil God’s election and revelation?
Tawa Baptist

Mind That Child

Scripture: Proverbs 22:6 and Proverbs 13:24 and Matthew 18:3-6

Video Link: https://youtu.be/qaaKStX-yjU

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Train your child
  • Protect your child
  • Trust your child to God
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

When I was five, and about to start school, my parents taught me how to tie my shoelaces. For some reason the method I learned was different from the way most other people tied their shoes.

There’s nothing wrong with the method I learned. It has worked for me as long as I’ve been wearing shoes, but I still get the occasional comment from people along the lines of, ‘Gee you tie your shoes in a weird way.’

Some years ago, I asked Robyn to show me the normal way of tying shoes, but it was too late. I had been tying my laces my own unique way for so long I couldn’t unlearn it. Can’t teach an old dog new tricks I suppose.  

Earlier in the service we had a graduation ceremony for the children moving up a level in Kids’ Church.

With this in view it seems appropriate to conclude our series in the book of Proverbs by focusing on chapter 22, verse 6, which reads…

Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not turn from it.

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

Train your child:

Although this translation uses the masculine pronoun ‘he’, the principle is the same whatever the gender of the child. Train a child in the way he or she should go and when they are old, they will not turn from it.

Now, when we read this verse we might think, ‘Oh, that’s straight forward enough. If I teach my kids the right way to do something, then that will become the pattern or default setting for their life. They will get in the habit of doing things the way they were taught and find it very difficult to change’. Sort of like me and my laces. 

There’s nothing wrong with reading the verse in this way, but really there’s more to it than that. Something is lost in the English version.

The original Hebrew word translated as train, doesn’t just mean teach or instruct. It can also be translated as dedicate. As in dedicating a temple to the worship of God. Or dedicating a house to use as your family home.

When you dedicate something, you set it aside for a special purpose, you bless it. In the context of the book of Proverbs, parents are to dedicate or train their children to live a life of wisdom.     

When you walk into the train station in Wellington city you notice several different tracks. At first glance all the tracks appear to be headed in the same direction. But they are not of course.

Each track is dedicated or trained to a specific location. If you want to end up in Tawa or Porirua, then you must be careful not to get on the Hutt line. You need to get on the Waikanae line.

Training your child is like putting them on the right track. That is, the pathway that is dedicated to wisdom and leads to life.   

As I said before, earlier in our service of worship today we held a graduation ceremony for the children moving up a level in Kids’ Church. It is important to mark transitions and special occasions with a formal ceremony like this because it validates the child’s journey. It says, you are on the right track, keep going.

The graduation ceremony is a tangible, visible way of dedicating our children to a particular path of wisdom. It’s a way of publicly acknowledging the importance of learning about Jesus and how to relate with God through Christ. 

In Proverbs 22, verse 6, where it says, train a child in the way he (or she) should go…’ that literally translates, ‘train him according to his way…’

In other words, the way is specific to the child. There is no universal, cookie cutter, one size fits all approach for training a child to be wise. Each child is different and needs a different approach suited to the way they are wired.      

This means parents and grandparents need to seek to understand their children and respect each child’s individual personality, gifts and way of learning. 

When one of our daughters was still at school and wondering what she might do for a job, we took her along to see a careers advisor. The careers advisor suggested a job in agriculture.

I looked at Robyn in disbelief. I couldn’t decide whether the careers advisor was trying to be funny or was just really bad at her job.

There is nothing wrong with being a farmer, it’s good honest productive work. Likewise, there is nothing wrong with women being farmers.

But it was plain to me that putting up fences and shearing sheep was not going to come naturally to our daughter. Sending her to Lincoln to get a diploma in agriculture and work on a farm would have been the wrong path for her.

The point here is that when training children in the way they should go, parents need to go with the grain of their child. If your child is not good with animals but is good with children, then don’t encourage them into farming. Help them explore options that involve working with kids.

Likewise, if your child is not academic but is good with their hands, then don’t force them down the path of university. Help them find their way into a trade.

Of course, training a child in the way they should go is not limited to career advice. Training a child also has a moral aspect as well. We don’t just want our kids to be good at their jobs. We want them to become decent human beings who contribute positively to society.   

Character formation tends to be more caught than taught. Generally speaking, children often learn more from their parents’ example than anything their parents might say. Words are still important, but actions speak louder.

All my parents and grandparents had a strong work ethic. I learned how to work by being immersed in a family that worked all the time. We were always doing something productive. This was good up to a point, but we may have benefited from learning to take a Sabbath as well.

What rhythms and routines do you maintain as a family? Children pick up a great deal unconsciously from the regular daily and weekly patterns their parents set.

Some of you may be wondering about the discipline aspect of training children. Sometimes kids are delightful and a joy to be with. But they can also be really demanding and test our patience.

How do we teach children self-discipline, so they are capable of achieving worthwhile goals. How do we correct a child when they cross the line? What is an appropriate response to poor behaviour? 

Again, parents need to respond in ways that fit the child and the situation. Train him according to his (or her) way…

You may have heard the saying, behaviour is communication. Behaviour is like the tip of the iceberg; the part you can see above the water line. Behaviour is driven by what’s happening beneath the surface.

If your child is behaving in a way that does not meet your expectations, then you have to ask yourself, ‘What is my child telling me?’ ‘What are they trying to communicate by their behaviour? ‘What’s going on beneath the surface?’    

Maybe they are simply tired or hungry or sick, but they are not able to use their words, so they throw a tantrum. In that case, they don’t need to be punished. They need some food and a sleep.

Or maybe they are bored, in which case they might benefit from some responsibility, being given a household task which is a bit challenging without being overwhelming. Ideally something they can do with you.

Behaviour is communication. What is your child saying when they throw their toys or yell at you or pull their sister’s hair? Well, they might be telling you they are angry. Anger is the normal reaction to injustice. Kids like things to be fair.

Everyone wants things to be fair, but kids are especially tuned in to matters of justice, at least as it pertains to them. Unfortunately, the world we live in is not always fair, and so part of training a child means acknowledging the injustice and helping them find constructive ways to express their anger.

Your kids need you to be consistent and fair. Then they will learn to trust you and they will know where to turn when life gives them lemons.

Protect your child:

So, what about physical punishment? Is it okay to smack your kids? Afterall, doesn’t the Bible say, ‘Spare the rod and spoil the child’? Meaning, a decent hiding is good for a child.

Well, no, the Bible does not say that at all. Spare the rod and spoil the child is an old English proverb. Those words are not found in Scripture. 

What the Bible actually says, in Proverbs 13 verse 4, is this…

He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline.

The rod in this proverb is a metaphor for discipline in the sense of training or correction. This is poetry, not to be taken literally. The emphasis is on loving your children and being careful in what you teach them and how you correct them. This is not a recommendation for hitting children.   

Literally hitting children is likely to teach them fear, anger and violence, more than anything else. Positive reinforcement and encouragement is a far more effective way of correcting children. Kids need to grow up around adults who have gentle hands, kind words and a positive, warm presence.

In the 23rd Psalm, David says of the Lord, …your rod and your staff they comfort me. Here the rod is associated with comfort, not punishment.  

The shepherd’s rod was like a club (a weapon) the shepherd used to fend off wild dogs and other predators that threatened the sheep. The shepherd did not hit the sheep with his rod. He protected the sheep with his rod.

Likewise, loving parents will not use the rod to hit their children. They will use the rod to protect their children from harm.

For example, loving parents will put safeguards in place to ensure their young children don’t have access to content on the TV or internet that would be disturbing to them. And, as their children get older, loving parents will teach them how to navigate the internet safely.

We might think of the rod as a metaphor for setting boundaries. Boundaries tend to make kids feel safe.  Loving parents will create healthy boundaries for their children. They will say ‘no’ to their kids when that is appropriate.

Of course, you don’t want the boundaries to be too tight or too strict. Kids need room to explore and learn and have fun. By the same token, it’s not helpful to let your kids run wild either. You set boundaries to fit the soul and temperament of the child.

Do you get what Proverbs 13 is saying? The rod is not used for hitting children. It is used for protecting children from those things which do harm.

Jesus was very strong on protecting children. Listen to what he says in Matthew 18, verse 6…

“If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

Okay, we have unpacked the first part of Proverbs 22, verse 6. Train a child in the way he should go. This is about dedicating a child to the path of wisdom, or putting them on the right track, in other words. But the right track is not a generic, one size fits all. The right track is tailored to the needs of the child.

Understand and respect your child’s individuality. Train your child in the way that fits who they are. Remember, behaviour is communication. So called naughty behaviour might actually be a cry for help. Are you listening to what your child’s behaviour is saying?  

Trust your child to God:

What about the second part of that verse? Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not turn from it.

Hmm. The thing we need to remember here is that this is a proverb, not a promise. A proverb is a like a general rule or a principle. There will always be exceptions to the rule.

As a general rule, training a child in the way he should go will result in that child sticking to what they have learned throughout life, like the way I tie my shoelaces.

However, there will be times when even the best training does not stick and children walk a different path from the one their parents intended for them. So, we should not blame parents for the sins of their children. As adults we need to take responsibility for our own actions.

We also need to be aware of the historical and cultural differences. The Old Testament book of Proverbs was written maybe 2,500 to 3000 years ago at a time and place in history that is very different from our own.

In the world of the ancient near east, adulthood was marked by taking on responsibilities for your family and the neighbourhood. To be an adult was to look after your parents, your wider family and your community.

By contrast, in modern western culture, adulthood is defined by individuation, leaving home and becoming independent.

Another key difference between then and now is the number of influences people face. In the ancient near east, people did not have TV or the internet or social media. They were mainly influenced by their own family and the people they lived with in their community.

Also, parents and children worked and lived together much of the time. So, children were not exposed to as many alternatives as they are today. A young person back then might be more inclined to go along with what their parents taught them because they did not know anything else.

These days our children can literally access a world of different alternatives at the press of a button. Kids don’t spend as much time around their parents, which means parents don’t have nearly as much influence as they once did.        

The point I’m making here is that these days, when you train a child in the way he should go it does not necessarily follow that when he is old, he will not turn from it. Your kids might stick to what you taught them. But then again, they might pick and choose what bits to adopt and what bits to discard.

Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of stories like Treasure Island and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, was born into a Christian home. Both of his parents were devout Presbyterians, and his grandfather was a Church of Scotland minister. Stevenson’s nurse was fervently religious too.

All of this is to say that, as a child, Robert Louis Stevenson had plenty of people training him in the way he should go. He knew about God and he knew his parents loved him, but this did not guarantee a life time of walking closely with Jesus.   

In 1873, at the age of 22, Robert Louis Stevenson no longer believed in God and had grown tired of pretending to be something he was not. His father was devastated to hear that his son was an atheist saying, ‘You have rendered my whole life a failure’. His mother was equally wounded.      

Parenting is one of the hardest things you can do. To learn that your child has rejected what you hold dear is difficult indeed. Sometimes there is nothing you can do but pray and trust your child to God’s grace.

Stevenson’s rejection of God and the church did not turn into a lifelong atheism though. About five years later, at the age of 27, Robert wrote to his father saying…

Christianity is, among other things, a very wise, noble and strange doctrine of life… I have a good heart and believe in myself and my fellow-men and the God who made us all… There is a fine text in the Bible to the effect ‘that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord’.

Robert Louis Stevenson returned to Christian faith in the second part of his life, but it wasn’t the same faith he had as a child. Nor was it exactly the same as his parents’ faith. Stevenson emerged from his time of spiritual disorientation with a new orientation.       

Churches are full of faithful people who do their best to encourage their kids to follow Jesus, only to have those same kids walk away from Christ and the church. Not that their kids are bad people. They often operate out of some very Christ-like values, perhaps without realising it. They just don’t embrace everything their parents tried to teach them.     

Life and faith are a journey with many unexpected twists and turns. As parents we have a responsibility to train our children and to protect our children. Ultimately though, we must trust our children to God. We are not responsible for the choices our adult children make.

Conclusion:

The other thing to remember here is that children have something very important to teach adults. As Jesus says in Matthew 18…

I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Let us pray…

Loving Father, help us to train children in the way they should go. Help us to protect children and to trust our children to you. Help us also to learn from children. Through Jesus we pray. Amen. 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

  • Can you think of something you were taught when you were young that has stayed with you throughout your life? What was it? Has it served you well?
  • What does it mean to train your child in the way he or she should go? How might you do this?
  • What rhythms and routines do you maintain? How are these rhythms and routines shaping you and those around you? What would a child learn from your example?
  • Discuss / reflect on the statement, behaviour is communication. What does this mean? Can you think of examples from your own experience?
  • How do we teach children self-discipline? How do we correct a child when they cross the line? What is an appropriate response to poor behaviour?
  • How might we protect children? Why do children need boundaries?
  • What can we learn from children? (c.f. Jesus’ comments in Matthew 18)   
Tawa Baptist

Why the Gospel

Prepared by Mike Harvey

Good morning

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here is the way many Christians read this verse: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Amen.  So be it.

Further notes and resources

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

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

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

– https://ntwrightpage.com/

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tawa Baptist

His plan, your story

Sermon by Neville Gardner

Please bear with me as I give a brief outline of the story of The Penguin Who Wanted to Fly, which I read out earlier in the service. This is for people who will read the online text or listen to a recording of the sermon, which don’t include the story.

The story was of a penguin who thought that, because penguins are birds, they belong in the sky. Against the advice of all the other penguins, he tried hard to fly, running faster and jumping from higher, but always crashing. Even from the highest iceberg he could find, he just crashed into the sea – only to find that he could fly, in the upside-down sky beneath the waves.

At the risk of spoiling the fun of a good story, I’d like to raise four things that struck me:

The penguin was determined to carry out his own plan for his life

The penguin tried to succeed using his own strength and determination

The penguin did not listen to advice

The penguin wanted to share his story (I like to think the penguin who told the story to the man on the beach was the same as the one featured in it, but I can’t be sure).

Each of these topics merits its own sermon. But, because this is the first sermon of the year, I thought I’d just do a gentle overview. Stir up your thinking, perhaps.

  • The penguin put all his time and effort into carrying out his own plan.

This was beyond a simple New Year resolution – trying to fly was everything to the penguin. Self-help books by the shelf-full tell us that if we try hard enough, practice enough and sacrifice enough, we can do anything, be anybody. Inspirational, even if not true.

Working towards your own dreams and challenging yourself with New Year resolutions can have their place. But now is as good a time as any to remember that God has plans for you too. He has a general plan, the same for everyone, and he has a specific plan, different for each person.

The Bible is full of what God wants for, and from, us. One summary is contained in Micah 6:8

“. . the Lord has told us what is good. What he requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God.”

Matthew 22 records that Jesus said “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the most important commandment. The second most important commandment is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself.”

God’s general plan is for everyone to have a relationship with Him, to love Him and to love other people.

As well as this general plan, God has a specific plan for each individual believer. Ephesians 2:10 tells us “God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do.” 1 Corinthians:12 gives us a picture of a body made up of many parts, each with a vital role to play – everyone who follows Jesus is like a part of his body (meaning the church), each with a special role to play. For you, this role is called your ministry.

God has given every believer a personal ‘gift’ to use to serve him. That means we are wired to care more about some things than others, with a particular style of relating to other people. Every believer has at least one such gift – a passion, a heart for serving God in a particular way.

1 Peter 4:10-11 tells us

“Each one of us, as a good manager of God’s particular gift, must use for the good of others the special gift he has received from God. Whoever preaches must preach God’s messages; whoever serves must serve with the strength that God gives him, so that in all things praise may be given to God through Jesus Christ.”

Our gifts are to be used for God and others, not ourselves.

If you are one of the many Christians who are not sure what God’s plan is for them, ask him. James 1:5 says “But if any of you lacks wisdom, he should pray to God, who will give it to him; because God gives generously and graciously to all.” But be prepared to wait for an answer.

We are used to reading in the Bible of times when God sent an angel or a dream to people, telling them exactly what he wanted them to do. And they did it. Remember Mary, Joseph and the shepherds in the Christmas story? If only it was always that simple.

From my own experience, and from talking with others, I don’t think God always suddenly reveals a lifetime plan to someone and expects them to accept it and get on with it. His plans may well be revealed to you gradually during your journey with him. God gives you the tools and guidance for carrying out his plan, but expects you to use your own skills and initiative too. Of course, there are times during your journey when God says “I want you to do a certain thing, and I want you to do it now.” We need to be open to those opportunities.

A couple of years ago I was due to give a sermon here, and I was sitting in church waiting for the service to start. All of a sudden, a single new sentence popped into my head, and I knew I had to include it in the sermon. I found a pen and scribbled it into my notes. After the service, someone thanked me for saying something that they had really needed to hear – you’ve guessed, it was that last minute sentence. If I learned nothing else from that experience, I know to keep a pen handy!

As an example of God only gradually revealing his plan, I’m afraid I’m going to use my experiences again. Not because it’s a particularly good example, but because it’s the one I know.

For the first 30 years of my life, I knew nothing of God. I was like the penguin, doing my own thing, succeeding or failing by my own abilities, or lack of. After leaving school and working for 10 years, I came up with a plan to be an archaeologist. I went to university, worked hard, got some good qualifications and prepared to fulfil my dream. Then God stepped in, and being an archaeologist didn’t figure in his plan for me.

To start with, he formed a relationship with me. My eyes were opened, just like those of the penguin when he found he was meant to fly in the sea, not the sky.

And the change to my life was almost as dramatic – less than a year after accepting Jesus, I was married and had moved from the UK right around the world to New Zealand. Here, my relationship with God developed.

At some stage, God gave me a gift of teaching, for want of a better word, something I had not been interested in before. I started a job that helped me develop teaching and writing skills, and looking back, this was part of my preparation for ministry.

It was only after developing a relationship with God, realising my God-given gifts and gaining the necessary skills and personal style of doing things, that God started the next stage in his plan – He put me to work teaching about Him. Firstly with children, then adults and all ages. At various stages along the way, such as when Will first asked me to give a sermon, I would ask “Really God, you want me to do that now? Am I ready?” I could sense God shaking his head and saying “I am God you know, I don’t make mistakes.”

I think I now have a broad awareness of God’s plan for me, much of it gained by hindsight.

God’s plan for me involved forming a relationship with him, receiving a special gift, developing the skills I needed, and only then obviously serving him as he intended. This was just my experience – things might happen, or have already happened, quite differently for you.

  • Back to the penguin in the story. He tried to carry out his own plan, using his own strength and determination.

There is only one person who can carry out the ministry role God has planned for you – you. But you will need his help, your own strength will not be enough.

In Philippians 4: 13 Paul said “I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me.”

Proverbs 3 says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Never rely on what you think you know. Remember the Lord in everything you do, and he will show you the right way.”

  • The penguin did not listen to advice.

We have no excuse for doing this, because we each have the Holy Spirit to teach and guide us, to help us overcome our weaknesses. The Holy Spirit also helps us know God better, and helps him know us. When we don’t know what to pray for, the Holy Spirit will intercede for us.

Romans 8:26-27 tells us: “In the same way the Spirit also comes to help us, weak as we are. For we do not know how we ought to pray; the Spirit himself pleads with God for us in groans that words cannot express. And God, who sees into our hearts, knows what the thought of the Spirit is; because the Spirit pleads with God on behalf of his people and in accordance with his will.”

  • The penguin wanted to share his story

This is a positive aspect of the tale. The Bible teaches that followers of Jesus will want to tell others about Him and what he’s done in their lives. Sharing with others is a vital part of the Christian life – it’s another aspect of God’s general plan for everyone. Just before Jesus was taken up to Heaven, it is recorded in Acts 1:8 that he told his disciples “But when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The story of The Penguin Who Wanted to Fly was just that, a story. But I have used it to remind us of a few aspects of our journey with God. Your story will be different from mine, it will be different from everyone else’s, but it will be your story, one God has created with you. God’s plan for you is a story that’s still being written.

Are you ready to turn the next page?

Tawa Baptist

Christmas Day Message

Video Link: https://youtu.be/8O8tlfGlmuQ

Learning by Experience:

Kia Koutou and good morning everyone.

Mark Twain once said, ‘If you hold a cat by the tail, you learn things you cannot learn any other way.’

In other words, some things you cannot be told. Some things can only be discovered through personal experience. What you discover when you hold a cat by the tail is not to hold a cat by the tail. We tend to learn more from our mistakes than our successes. 

Albert Einstein, another dude with bushy hair and an impressive mustache, put it this way, ‘Learning is an experience. Everything else is just information.’

The point here is that we learn by doing. You don’t learn how to hammer a nail by watching The Repair Shop. You learn to hammer a nail by hammering a nail. 

Or take parenting as an example. Parenting books and Ted Talks may provide helpful information, but the real learning comes with the experience of trying to settle a crying baby or being there to support your kids when they need you or managing your feelings of powerlessness as your son or daughter leaves home. 

So does this principle of learning by experience work with God as well? Because God is not like us. God is Spirit. We can’t really see God or take him out for a coffee to get to know him.

Well, learning about God is not exactly the same as learning to hammer a nail or be a parent. But we still learn by experience.

We learn faith by being trusted.

We learn hope by being made to wait.

We learn love by being forgiven.

And we learn about God through Jesus.

Yes, you will pick up some helpful information by listening to sermons and reading spiritual books but the real learning about God comes with an experience of Jesus’ Spirit. 

When Mary (the mother of Jesus) first learned she was with child, she went to visit Elizabeth who was about six months pregnant with John the Baptist. 

41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favoured, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

Through the experience of the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth learned that Mary was carrying the Messiah of God. Elizabeth felt God’s presence in herself, and it was the experience of pure joy.

When the angels appeared to the shepherds, proclaiming the birth of the Messiah, the shepherds didn’t just say, ‘O yeah, good to know.’ Rather they hurried off to find Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger.

They were not satisfied with mere information. They wanted to experience the presence of the Christ child for themselves, and that experience affected them. It compelled them to share the good news.  

When the wise men saw the star shining in the east, they knew from their research that it was significant. These wise men understood that real learning comes through experience.  So, they set off on a long journey to find the King of the Jews and experience his presence for themselves, in person. They were not disappointed.

Fast forward 33 years and we read about Thomas, the disciple who would not take other people’s word for it. When Thomas’ friends told him the information that Jesus had been raised from the dead, Thomas wanted to experience the risen Christ for himself. Let me touch him. Let me put my fingers in his wounds.

A week later Jesus appeared to Thomas and Thomas discovered firsthand that Jesus is both human and divine. Learning is an experience.

What is your experience this Christmas? Is it a busy time for you? A stressful time, a week of running around trying to fit everything in. When Christmas is uncomfortably full it can be difficult to experience the presence of Christ. Difficult but not impossible.

The very first Christmas was busy and full, messy and unpredictable. Nevertheless, Jesus was present in the most unlikely of places, a feeding trough. The Spirit of Jesus has a way of showing up where we least expect him.  Make room for the Spirit.

What is your experience this Christmas? Is it a lonely time, a sad time, an empty time when you feel the absence of those you love. Everyone around you seems to be happy but you cannot wait for the season to end and for things to return to normal. 

When Christmas is painful and joyless it can be difficult to experience the presence of Christ. Difficult but not impossible. Jesus was born into a violent world, a sad world, a troubled world. The good news is Jesus was born to redeem this world through his death and resurrection.

Blessed are you who are sad or lonely this Christmas. You are closer to God than you think. 

Let me pray for you…

Loving God, we thank you for entering into the human experience through Jesus. May you be real for us this Christmas and always. Open our hearts and minds to the presence of Christ, that we would learn from you. Amen.  

Tawa Baptist

Before & After

Scripture: Ezekiel 36:26-27

Video Link: https://youtu.be/RQtLqS7-W9s

Before and After (the difference Jesus makes)

Before humankind learned to cook, people had to eat their meat raw. Since learning to cook though, there has been a lot less food poisoning and better nourishment.

Before the invention of the wheel, it was a lot harder to move things around. It took a great deal longer to get anything done. Since the wheel though, people have been able to carry more stuff and get places faster.

Before someone thought up the printing press, people had to copy words by hand onto scrolls. It took ages and was really expensive, which meant not many people got the opportunity to read or write. Since the printing press though, books have become more accessible, which makes the transfer of information a lot easier.

Before the discovery of penicillin, people often died from infections and the average life expectancy was less. Since penicillin though, there have been more people surviving into old age. Antibiotics have reduced human suffering considerably.

Christmas is a time when we celebrate Jesus’ coming into the world. Jesus’ life makes a bigger difference than the wheel, the printing press, penicillin and cooking all put together. The main difference Jesus makes is to our relationship with God.

Before Christ, if someone did something wrong, they had to sacrifice a goat or a lamb in order to be forgiven. Since Jesus’ death on the cross though, there is no need for animal sacrifice. If we forgive others, God will forgive us.  

Before Christ, if someone wanted to belong to God’s people, they had to be Jewish. Since Jesus’ resurrection though, the key is not genetics, but faith. When we accept Jesus, God accepts us, no matter what our whakapapa or family tree. Because of Jesus we can call God, Father.

Now, in talking about the positive difference Christ makes, we might think that because of Jesus we can get God to do whatever we want. But that is not how it works. God is not like Santa Claus. Sometimes doing the right thing and following Jesus makes your life, on this earth, harder.

Through Jesus we can be friends with God but the point of being friends with God is not to get what we want. The point is to do what God wants and enjoy him forever. Jesus shows us what God wants.

The prophets of the Old Testament looked forward to Jesus’ coming. They knew the difference the Messiah would make to our inner life. In Ezekiel 36 the Lord says through his messenger…

26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

The heart, in this context, represents a person’s inner life, the place inside you where decisions are made. The heart is not just your emotions, it’s also your mind and your will.

A ‘heart of stone’ is a dead heart, it’s a mind and will that is unresponsive to God. Whereas a heart of flesh is a living heart, it’s a mind and will that is obedient to God.

With the birth of Jesus, God offers humanity a heart of flesh. It is through the Spirit of Jesus that God gives us a new heart, a new attitude, a new way of thinking and feeling so we are inclined to do what God wants.

In a moment we will pray. I will pray the words in plain type, and I invite you to respond with the words in bold. Let us pray…

Father God, we thank you for Jesus who reveals your love and truth.

            Hallowed be your name.

Father God, we thank you for Jesus who brings heaven to earth.

            May your kingdom come, and your will be done. 

Father God, we thank you for Jesus who understands our needs and longings.

            Give us this day our daily bread.

Father God, we thank you for Jesus who takes away the sin of the world.

            Forgive us our sin as we forgive those who sin against us.

Father God, we thank you for Jesus who shows us Your way.

            Deliver us from evil.

Father God, we thank you for the Spirit of Jesus who transforms our heart.

Yours is the glory. Amen.