Tawa Baptist

The Cedar Tree

Scriptures: Leviticus 14, 1 Kings 6, Psalm 92, Ezekiel 17

Video Link: https://youtu.be/PAZlUkTL934

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Health (purification)
  • Holiness (presence)
  • Hope (purpose)
  • Conclusion

Good morning everyone.

There are five countries in the world who have a tree on their flag, one of which is Lebanon. Would anyone like to guess what tree we find on the Lebanese flag? [Wait] That’s right, the cedar tree. 

Today we continue our testimony of trees series by focusing on the cedar tree. The Cedar of Lebanon (scientific name: Cedrus libani) is mentioned many times in the Old Testament. The cedar is a majestic tree, reaching a height of 20-30 metres. It grows in the mountains of Lebanon where the temperature is cooler and it gets plenty of water. 

Our message this morning draws on a variety of Scripture references. Essentially though the cedar is associated with health, holiness and hope.

Or, if you prefer the three points of a sermon to start with a P, then purification, presence and purpose. Let us begin then with purification and health. From Leviticus 14, we read…

Health – Leviticus 14

The Lord said to Moses, 2 “These are the regulations for any diseased person at the time of their ceremonial cleansing, when they are brought to the priest: 3 The priest is to go outside the camp and examine them. If they have been healed of their defiling skin disease, 4 the priest shall order that two live clean birds and some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop be brought for the person to be cleansed. 5 Then the priest shall order that one of the birds be killed over fresh water in a clay pot. 6 He is then to take the live bird and dip it, together with the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, into the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. 7 Seven times he shall sprinkle the one to be cleansed of the defiling disease, and then pronounce them clean. After that, he is to release the live bird in the open fields.

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

How many of you say grace before eating a meal? To my mind, a meal isn’t ready to eat until we have said a prayer to thank God and bless the food.

The spiritual ritual of saying grace is as important as the physical ritual of cooking the food properly.

We are not just bags of skin, bone and flesh. We are spiritual beings, inhabiting a physical body. There is a relationship between the physical and the spiritual. Saying grace before eating, acknowledges the reality of God’s provision for our lives.

In ancient Israel, people with skin diseases were excluded from community life. Although they may have done no moral wrong, they were considered ceremonially unclean and therefore not allowed to participate in religious events.

If a person recovered from their skin disease, then the priest (who was also the public health officer) checked the disease was gone and performed the purification ritual described in Leviticus 14 to declare the person fit to return to community life.

This ritual involved the use of cedar wood. It’s not that the cedar tree was used to heal skin diseases. Rather, once a person had been healed of a skin disease, cedar was used in the purification rite declaring them clean.

This ritual probably seems strange or unnecessary to us but, to someone with an ancient mindset, who believed in spiritual reality as much as material reality, the healing wasn’t complete until the priest had carried out the ritual.

We might think of this ritual like saying grace before eating a meal. The ritual acknowledges the reality of God in our lives. It is God who heals and purifies us, just as it is God who feeds and sustains us.

One of the distinctive features of the cedar tree is its natural resistance to insects and rot. The cedar tree contains certain oils which make it smell nice and repel insects, while also preserving the wood. It may be for this reason that the cedar tree was used by Jewish priests in purification rituals. Cedar wood symbolises restored strength and good health.

One of the interesting things about the ritual in Leviticus 14, is that two birds are used. One bird is offered to God as a sacrifice, while the other bird is set free, signifying that the person who was healed is now free to rejoin the worshipping community. 

As Christians, we don’t need to perform the rituals prescribed in Leviticus every time we recover from shingles or boils or scabies or whatever. But we do need to give thanks to God for restoring our health and purifying us. What rituals do you observe that acknowledge the reality of God in your life?

Alongside health and purification, the cedar tree is also associated with holiness. In particular, the beauty of God’s holy presence represented by the temple.

Holiness – 1 Kings 5 & 6

In First Kings chapters 5 and 6, we read how Solomon used cedar in the building of the Jerusalem temple. The external structure of the temple was mostly made from stone, but a lot of cedar wood was used inside the temple.

Cedar trees grew abundantly in the mountains of ancient Tyre. The region of Tyre lay north of Israel in the land we know today as Lebanon. Solomon made a deal with Hiram, the king of Tyre, to obtain the cedar.

Solomon conscripted 30,000 labourers to cut down the cedar trees. The trees were then brought to Jerusalem where they were used in the construction of the temple. Let me read you a selection of verses from First Kings chapter 6, which describe how the cedar tree was used…

14 So Solomon built the temple and completed it. 15 He lined its interior walls with cedar boards, panelling them from the floor of the temple to the ceiling and covered the floor of the temple with planks of juniper. 16 He partitioned off twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. 20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar.

These verses tell us cedar was used extensively in the temple, including in the most holy place and for the construction of the altar.

Most likely cedar was used for both practical and aesthetic reasons. As already mentioned, cedar is a strong, durable wood that smells nice, repels insects and is resistant to rot, making it an excellent building material.

Aesthetically, cedar wood has a beautiful grain, without knots. It is pleasant to look at. Cedar is beautiful inside and out.

A temple is a holy place, a place of God’s presence, where prayers and worship are offered. Ideally, a place of reconciliation that brings people closer to God and closer to one another. Because of its use in the temple, cedar is associated with the beauty of holiness.  

We don’t often think of holiness as a beautiful thing. Holiness in our society seems more weird than attractive. Not so in ancient Hebrew society.

In Psalms 29 and 96, we are told to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

The kind of beauty in view here is that of splendour or majesty. God’s holiness is like the beauty of a mountain range or the beauty of a cedar forest. God’s holiness is evergreen, its beauty does not fade.

To worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness is to worship God with clean hands, a clean heart and a clean conscience, without pretense or hypocrisy.

Worship the Lord like no one is looking.

Solomon cut down thousands of cedar trees, both for the temple and for his own palace. His carbon footprint was enormous.

Does this mean we (today) need to use cedar in the construction of our church buildings? Well, no. For Christians, God’s holy presence does not rest in a building. God’s presence is found in Jesus and among his people. We are the new temple, a temple not made by hands. The church is like a forest of living souls, made pure and holy by Christ.

The cedar tree is associated with health and purification, together with the beauty of God’s holy presence. The cedar tree is also pregnant with hope and purpose.

Hope – Psalm 92 & Ezekiel 17

Because of their strength and beauty and usefulness, the cedar forests of Lebanon have been depleted down through the centuries. Consequently, the Lebanese authorities have established special reserves to protect and regenerate cedar trees.

Despite humanity’s greed, some cedars have survived for more than 2000 years. One of the keys to the cedar’s longevity is its root system. The roots of the cedar tree grow deep to find water and give the tree stability. Once the tree is established, it will generally last a long time if left undisturbed.   

In Psalm 92 we read…

12 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; 13 planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. 14 They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, 15 proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

Psalm 92 is a worship song for the Sabbath day. Being a song for the Sabbath, Psalm 92 looks forward (in hope) to that day of eternal rest, when there will be no more evil or suffering or death, when every day will be a perfect day, an everlasting Sabbath fulfilling God’s purpose for creation.

Cedars don’t grow as quickly as some plants, but they do grow tall and last a long time. The poetry of Psalm 92 is saying the righteous have hope for a good and lasting future. Their purpose is to serve and worship God.      

Righteousness in the Bible simply means right relationship. The righteous relate with God and their neighbours in a right way, in a way that is gracious and true, fair and kind.

You don’t have to be perfect to be righteous. Righteous people sometimes mess up. But if a righteous person does make a mistake, they do everything in their power to put it right.

Faith is the foundation of righteousness. Or to use the metaphor of the cedar, faith is the root system of the tree. Faith in God finds the water of life and lends stability to the tree.

Notice the underlying tone of humility in these verses. Just as the cedar grows best at altitude (in the mountains of Lebanon), so too the righteous grow best in the courts of our God. That is, in close relationship with the Lord and his people. The righteous owe their vitality and fruitfulness to the Lord, not their own righteousness. It is by God’s grace that the cedar tree enjoys long life.

The point is, the righteous are like cedars, they have hope of an evergreen future. The worship and service of the righteous is purposeful and lasting.

We are talking about the cedar tree and its connection with hope and purpose in the Bible.

In Ezekiel 17 we read… 

22 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it; I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain. 23 On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches. 24 All the trees of the forest will know that I the Lord bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish.

You all know the story of Cinderella. The girl who was loved by her father but hated by her stepmother and stepsisters. When her father died, Cinderella experienced a reversal of fortunes. She became a servant to her stepmother and stepsisters and was mistreated by them.

When the prince of the realm decided to hold a ball, Cinderella was made to stay home, until her fairy godmother intervened. Cinderella goes to the ball and dances with the prince but has to leave in a hurry at midnight. In her rush she leaves behind a glass slipper.

In his search for the mysterious woman who left so quickly, the prince goes through the land trying to find the one who fits the glass slipper. Eventually, after a few twists and turns, the prince is reunited with Cinderella and they are married.

Once again Cinderella experiences a dramatic reversal of fortunes, this time from being a lowly servant girl to becoming a princess.         

The Bible is full of Cinderella stories. In fact, the fairy tale of Cinderella is inspired by the true stories of the Bible. The stories of Jacob and Joseph are packed with reversals. As is the story of Ruth and Naomi. To say nothing of the history of Israel; from slavery in Egypt to exodus in the wilderness to a fresh start in the promised land of Canaan to exile in Babylon and return from exile. 

Why does the Bible contain so many stories of reversal? Two reasons mainly. Firstly, because these stories literally happened in history. And secondly, because stories of reversal inspire hope and humility.

If you are down on your luck, bullied by your enemies, poor in spirit and unable to see a way forward, you can remember how God reversed his people’s fortunes to give them a good future.

God did it for Joseph and Ruth and Naomi and Hannah and Israel and many others. Perhaps he will do it for you too. These true stories of reversal inspire hope and give purpose to our struggles.

At the same time, if life is going well and you feel like you are on top, healthy, wealthy and wise, remember how God reversed the fortunes of people like Nebuchadnezzar, Pharaoh and Saul, to humble them. Then any pride you might feel at your accomplishments will be diminished. Stories of reversal let the air out of an over inflated ego. No one wants to be the ugly stepsister.   

God has the power to reverse our fortunes. In verse 24 of Ezekiel 17, the Lord says: All the trees of the forest will know that I, the Lord, bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish.

That is a picture of reversal, inspiring both hope and humility at the same time.

In verses 22-23 of Ezekiel 17, the Lord says that he will take a shoot from the top of a cedar tree and plant it on the mountain heights of Israel, where it will become a splendid cedar tree.

To the ancient mind the image of a majestic tree (like a cedar) stands as a metaphor for a mighty king and his kingdom.

For Christians, the shoot that God takes from the top of a cedar tree to replant, is a picture of Jesus, the Messiah. Jesus is the King who embodies the tree of God’s kingdom on earth.

God’s kingdom, established through Jesus, is strong and enduring like the cedar tree. God’s kingdom is healthy and holy, with a purifying presence resistant to rot. God’s kingdom bears good fruit and provides shelter for every kind of bird. The birds here probably represent the different peoples of the world. God’s kingdom is for all nations.

We are reminded of Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed. The kingdom of heaven starts small like a mustard seed but grows to be a large garden plant providing shelter for the birds of the air. Transformation from small to large; sounds like a story of reversal, inspiring hope, giving purpose.

Conclusion:

Most of you will see where this sermon is headed. Jesus, the prince of heaven, born into humble circumstances. Raised in obscurity, the son of a carpenter. Homeless and relying on the kindness of strangers for the three years of his public ministry.

Condemned for a crime he did not commit. Sentenced to a humiliating, agonizing death on a cross. Dead and buried, then raised to eternal life on the third day. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus is God’s ultimate reversal story and the foundation of our hope.

Let us pray…

Lord Jesus Christ, you are the priest who purifies us and sets us free. You are our holiness, the root of all righteousness. Your resurrection is the ground of our hope. We thank you for your faithfulness to God and to us. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
  2. What are some of the distinctive characteristics of the cedar tree? What is the cedar tree associated with in the Bible?
  3. Why did God provide rituals of purification for people who had recovered from a skin disease? What rituals do you observe that acknowledge the reality of God in your life?  
  4. Why was cedar wood used in the construction of the Jerusalem temple? What does it mean to worship God in the beauty of holiness? How do we do this?
  5. Why does the Bible contain so many stories of reversal? What purpose do these stories serve? Do you have a personal story of reversal? If so, what happened?
  6. How does the parable of the cedar shoot (in Ezekeil 17:22-24) point to Jesus?
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

A New Generation

Scripture: Luke 9:1-10

Title: A New Generation

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Jesus creates a new generation
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Over the past couple of weeks we have been working through a sermon series for the Tranzsend Self Denial campaign called Made New

–         Jesus came to make all things new and that newness begins with the initiative of the Holy Spirit

–         Last week we heard how Jesus gives us a new perspective

–         Today we conclude the Self Denial series by looking at how Jesus creates a new generation  

Please turn with me to Luke chapter 9, verse 1 – page 89 toward the back of your pew Bibles

–         In today’s reading we hear how Jesus empowers the new generation of his disciples to heal the sick and preach the gospel

–         From Luke 9, verses 1-10 we read…

Jesus called the twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases. 2 Then he sent them out to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick, 3 after saying to them, “Take nothing with you for the trip: no walking stick, no beggar’s bag, no food, no money, not even an extra shirt. 4 Wherever you are welcomed, stay in the same house until you leave that town; 5 wherever people don’t welcome you, leave that town and shake the dust off your feet as a warning to them.” 6 The disciples left and traveled through all the villages, preaching the Good News and healing people everywhere.

7 When Herod, the ruler of Galilee, heard about all the things that were happening, he was very confused, because some people were saying that John the Baptist had come back to life. 8 Others were saying that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago had come back to life. 9 Herod said, “I had John’s head cut off; but who is this man I hear these things about?” And he kept trying to see Jesus.

10 The apostles came back and told Jesus everything they had done. He took them with him, and they went off by themselves to a town named Bethsaida.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

Jesus creates a new generation:

We are talking this morning about how Jesus creates a new generation, but what do we mean by the word generation

–         Well, as a verb (a doing word) generation means producing something or bringing something into being

–         As in generating power or producing a crop or getting a project underway

 

But as a noun (a naming word) generation refers to a group or cohort of people born about the same time

–         As in generation X or baby boomers or millennials

 

We see both senses of this word generation in our reading from Luke 9 this morning

–         By empowering the disciples and sending them out to heal & preach Jesus is generating something new, he is creating a new movement

–         Also the disciples represent a new generation of God’s people

–         Just as there were twelve tribes of Israel, so too there are twelve disciples representing a new generation of leadership

 

Jesus does a number of things to create this new generation

–         Firstly he calls the disciples – inviting them to leave their old lives and follow him, learn from him, become his apprentices

–         We read how Jesus called his first disciples in Luke 5

 

Then, once Jesus has called the new generation, he shows them what to do by his own example – Jesus gives the disciples a model of how to do ministry

–         When we think of education we might think of sitting in a class room but the disciples learned by being with Jesus 24-7

–         Prior to Luke 9 the disciples have been following Jesus around everywhere, looking & listening, soaking up his way of doing things

–         I call this the tea bag approach to learning – Jesus’ example is like a tea bag and the disciples are like the water

–         As the disciples spend time with Jesus his way of doing things is infused into them, like tea is infused into water

–         This kind of learning happens without us necessarily being aware of it

–         The next generation (the children in our midst) are having our example infused into them, so we need to be careful of the model we provide

 

In Luke 9 Jesus takes the next step in creating this new generation of leadership

–         At this point the disciples have a clear picture in their mind of what preaching & healing the Jesus’ way looks like but they haven’t actually done it themselves

–         They know it in their head but they don’t yet know it in their hands

 

Last Tuesday night 14 of us gathered in the church lounge to learn how to operate the defibrillator

–         Amy from the Wellington Free Ambulance explained some procedures to us and then demonstrated on a manikin what to do if someone has a cardiac arrest (if their heart stops)

–         After showing us by her example, Amy then got each of us to practice on a manikin as well

–         It’s one thing to watch someone demonstrate a certain technique

–         It’s quite another to actually do 100 chest compressions a minute for over 2 minutes – watching and doing are quite different

 

Having shown his disciples what to do Jesus then gives them the opportunity to have a go themselves

–         But before sending them out Jesus first sets them up to succeed by giving them power & authority over demons & disease

–         No point in taking a knife to a gun fight – I imagine Jesus wants his disciples to have some wins, to get some runs on the board, because that will help generate confidence

 

Power & authority aren’t exactly the same thing although they often go together

–         Power is the ability to do something while authority is the permission or license to do it

–         I might have the power to drive a bus because I have the key but I don’t have authority to drive unless I have a license

–         I might have the power to cut down a tree because I have a chainsaw but I don’t have authority to cut it down unless it’s on my property

–         Jesus deputises his disciples with both the ability to drive out demons & heal disease as well as the license to do it

 

Demons are a manifestation of spiritual evil (the minions of Satan if you like) and disease is a manifestation of physical evil

–         What we observe here is that Jesus has jurisdiction over both the spiritual realm and the physical realm – there is nothing beyond Jesus’ reach

 

We also observe that Jesus shares his power & authority with those he trusts

–         Jesus doesn’t do it all himself, he uses a team approach

–         At the defibrillator training the other night Amy underlined the importance of using a team approach

–         You don’t try to do everything yourself – you get someone to ring 111 while you do chest compressions and you line up one or two others to help you do the chest compressions like a tag team

–         Later in Luke’s gospel we read how Jesus sends out the 72 in pairs

–         By using a team approach Jesus creates a new culture of cooperation & partnership, in contrast to the old culture of competition & one-up-man-ship – the new generation has a new culture

 

Another thing we notice is that Jesus gives the new generation a new focus and a new purpose

–         The old generation had been focused on things like politics and money and military might, because those things enable one to control people

–         But Jesus doesn’t give his disciples power & authority to control people

–         Rather he gives them power & authority to drive out demons & disease

–         Therefore Jesus’ focus, and the focus of the new generation, is to set people free from the forces of evil – both physical & spiritual

 

Most people have no difficulty understanding what is meant by physical disease – science has provided helpful insights into physical illness

–         Unfortunately we don’t understand as much about spiritual dis-ease

–         Demons are beyond the reach of science – in fact a lot people today would want to deny the existence of spiritual forces

–         However, just because we can’t look at it under a microscope doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist

 

When I was about 15 I was asked to sit in on an exorcism and provide prayer support (because you don’t do an exorcism on your own).

–         I was a relatively new Christian at that stage

–         The woman was having the exorcism because she had been a witch, part of a coven and all that goes with that

–         Witchcraft is the opposite of setting people free – witchcraft is about controlling or manipulating people

–         The sad reality is that when we seek to control or manipulate others we open the door to forces of evil that end up controlling us

–         At first this woman appeared quite normal – you wouldn’t know she was any different from anyone else

–         But as we started praying her behaviour changed – strange stuff happened to her, stuff she wasn’t in control of, stuff I can’t explain

 

I went away from that experience realising that demons are real – there are forces at work which we don’t understand and often aren’t even aware of

–         But we do not need to be afraid – Jesus has defeated Satan

–         If we have trusted our lives to Christ, if we have placed ourselves under his Lordship, then we are under his protection

 

We talked a couple of weeks ago about the human spirit being like a cup and the Spirit of God being like communion wine or fresh clean water

–         If the cup of our human spirit was designed to hold the water or wine of God’s Holy Spirit then we could say that demons (or evil spirits) are like dirty water or poison in the cup of our human spirit

–         To caste out a demon then is to clean out the cup of our spirit – to remove the dirty water, extract the poison, sort of like vomiting removes a stomach bug

–         Science can find cures for many physical diseases but only Jesus has the cure for what ails us spiritually

 

Now in talking about the spiritual realm and the physical realm, demons & disease, I don’t mean to imply a false dichotomy

–         While the spiritual & the physical are different by definition, they are not separate or mutually exclusive

–         There is some kind of inter-relationship between the spirit and the body

–         I’m not going to say much more about that relationship because I’m not sure I really understand it – for me it is in the realm of mystery

 

The other thing I want to say is that medical science doesn’t stand in opposition to Jesus, nor in isolation from him

–         Historically speaking science owes its existence to Jesus and the church

–         As I see it medical research to cure disease can be as much a part of God’s work of healing as the laying on of hands in prayer

–         Jesus takes a team approach – he often uses both doctors and our prayers to heal people

 

Take cataract operations for example

–         If left untreated cataracts can make a person go blind

–         They didn’t have cataract operations in Jesus’ day (that we know of) so Jesus simply healed by saying a word

–         Later in history God gave us the knowledge we needed to safely remove cataracts and restore people’s sight – that’s the sort of thing we would expect to happen under the reign of God.

–         These days thousands of cataract operations are performed every year, so it doesn’t seem miraculous to us anymore – it seems routine & mundane

–         We still pray for someone when they have a cataract operation though because we are depending on God, not just the surgeon

–         We acknowledge that healing comes from God and God is free to heal however he wants, whether that’s through science & doctors or in some other way – nothing is beyond Jesus’ reach

 

We also acknowledge that God is free not to heal

–         So if we pray with sincerity and in good faith for God to heal and nothing happens, it is no reflection on us or our prayers

–         It just means God has said ‘no’ on this occasion

–         God said ‘no’ to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus prayed to avoid suffering

–         God had a far bigger purpose in mind – the redemption of creation

 

In Luke 9, Jesus empowers his disciples to heal disease and exorcise demons because it served the immediate purpose of setting people free, as well as the bigger purpose of showing people that the Kingdom of God was near and had in fact arrived in the person of Jesus

 

I think it was C.S. Lewis who said, ‘Miracles are for beginners’

–         When we are just starting out, when we don’t yet know Jesus, miracles can serve the purpose of making us aware that Jesus is the real deal, he’s not fake or an imposter – miracles can ignite faith, get it started

–         But once we accept Jesus by faith the miracles are no longer necessary – just as sign posts are no longer necessary once you have reached your destination, or matches are no longer necessary once you have lit the fire

–         Yes, miracles are nice to have and God still does miracles today, even if we might take them for granted, but they are not the main thing

–         Jesus is the main thing, the Kingdom of God is the main thing

–         God doesn’t want us to rely on miracles, he wants us to rely on Christ

 

So if Jesus and the Kingdom of God are the main thing what does it mean then to preach the Kingdom of God, as the disciples are instructed in verse 2?

 

Well, the Kingdom of God refers to the reign of God, as in the government of God. The kingdom of God is what life is like when God is in charge

–      When God is in charge we have justice & mercy, we have truth & grace, we have healing & deliverance, we have peace & joy, we have freedom – not freedom to do what we want, but freedom to do God’s will, freedom with righteousness and we have abundant life

 

In verses 7-9 of Luke 9 we read about Herod, the ruler of Galilee

–         The reign of Herod stands in stark contrast to the reign of God

–         Under Herod, righteous men like John the Baptist were beheaded

–         Herod would later involve himself in the plot to kill Jesus

–         But under God’s reign there is justice so that Jesus (& those who belong to him) are resurrected to eternal life while Herod reaps what he has sown

–         In Acts 12, verse 3 we read how an angel of the Lord struck Herod down and he was eaten by worms

 

The disciples were sent to preach the Kingdom of God – to tell people that God’s reign was beginning – and that was good news for those who were oppressed by evil

 

One of the things we notice here is that Jesus sent his disciples throughout the villages of Galilee

–         Villages indicates smaller settlements, as opposed to the more populated cities – we might imagine villages to be the sorts of places most people pass through on their way to somewhere else

–         And the region of Galilee was considered a bit inferior, at least by those in Judea & Jerusalem

–         The poor in the villages of Galilee are visited by Jesus and his disciples, while Herod the ruler misses out

–         So this is a case of the last being first and the first being last

–         On this occasion Jesus sent his disciples to the least on the margins, before sending them to the greatest at the centre

 

Last Thursday Sarah Harris, a lecturer from Carey College, came to Wellington to speak to a group of Baptist pastors, and over lunch she told us a true story

–         A couple of years ago Sarah arranged a trip to Israel and on this trip there was a woman who was hearing impaired, practically deaf

–         The woman wasn’t sure about going, she was anxious about whether she would fit in – being deaf you tend to miss out on a lot of the conversation

–         Anyway one day on the trip they paused at a certain holy place for a while before moving on

–         Later that evening the woman said to Sarah, wasn’t that beautiful music we heard earlier today (presumably the woman had some hearing)

–         And Sarah replied, what do you mean? There was no music.

–         Yes there was – it was like nothing I had ever heard before

–         Sarah said again, we didn’t hear any music

–         Then the woman said, so you’re saying that I was the only one in the group who heard music and yet I’m deaf?

–         At that moment they both realised God had done something quite special just for her. She was deeply touched and her anxiety was relieved

 

God didn’t permanently heal the woman’s deafness, she was still hearing impaired, but he did let her hear a small sample of his Kingdom

–         It was like God was saying to her, my Kingdom is coming and this is what it sounds like

–         I expect no one appreciates the sound of heaven more than someone who is deaf

–         The disciples’ short term mission trip was giving people a taste, a glimpse, of the reign of God (this is what’s like when God is in charge)

 

One of the striking things in Luke 9 is the paradox of power & vulnerability

–         On the one hand the disciples are given incredible power, to cast out demons and cure disease, but at the same time Jesus says to them,

–         “Take nothing with you for the journey: no stick, no beggar’s bag, no food, no money, not even an extra shirt. Wherever you are welcomed, stay in the same house until you leave that town; wherever people don’t welcome you, leave that town and shake the dust off your feet as a warning to them.”

 

Jesus has called his disciples

–         He has given them an example to follow,

–         And he’s given them power & authority to do the job – to set people free

–         Now he gives the new generation wise advice specific to this situation

 

By telling the disciples to travel light Jesus is saying, go in weakness, make yourselves vulnerable

–         To be vulnerable is to be exposed to the possibility of harm – to be in need of protection, care or support. The disciples went without a staff to protect themselves and with no money to pay for lodgings or food. They were are the mercy of strangers. They were vulnerable.

Vulnerability protects against the corrupting influence of power

–         They say, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”

–         But when we find ourselves in a position of needing others’ help we are less inclined to abuse our power or misuse it for selfish ends

–         Yes, the disciples have power to deliver and heal but the people to whom they come also have power – power to welcome & provide, or not

–         The disciples go to help people in need, having needs of their own

–         This sort of power with vulnerability fosters interdependence (or reliance on each other) and interdependence has a way of distributing power

 

It’s like Jesus is saying:

–         Don’t abuse the power I’m giving you by shopping around for the best accommodation in town, honour your host by staying in the first home that welcomes you

–         Don’t abuse your power by retaliating against those who reject you – don’t make a big fuss, just quietly dust your feet off as a warning against them and leave judgement in God’s hands

 

Jesus is the very picture of vulnerability both at Christmas and at Easter

–         Born in a stable to poor parents during a time of violence

–         Becoming a refugee to escape the sword of Herod

–         Growing up under Roman occupation

–         Coming from Nazareth where it was presumed nothing good was found

–         Being misunderstood by those he came to save

–         Then being nailed to a cross, naked & bleeding, for all the world to see

–         The vulnerability of Christ has the power to open the human heart

 

It should be noted that Jesus’ advice to travel light was for a particular short term mission situation and doesn’t necessarily apply for all time

–         Later in Luke chapter 22, Jesus says to his disciples…

–         When I sent you without purse bag or sandals, did you lack anything?

–         “Nothing” they answered

–         He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one…”

–         Travelling light is not always the right approach – different situations call for different strategies

 

In verse 10 we read how Jesus cares for his disciples by taking them away by themselves to debrief and refresh – a sort of spiritual retreat I suppose

–         Jesus is teaching the disciples to care for themselves

–         Alongside self-denial we also need self-care

–         We can’t be on the job all the time, we need to have a break every now & then so we don’t burn out

–         The new generation is not a disposable object to be thrashed & thrown away – Jesus wants his disciples to go the distance

 

Conclusion:

This morning we have heard how Jesus went about creating a new generation to lead God’s people

–         This new generation of disciples wasn’t just a carbon copy of the old one

–         The new generation has a new culture, a new approach and a new purpose

–         The culture is one of team work and cooperation

–         The approach involves power with vulnerability

–         And the purpose is setting people free to enter God’s kingdom

 

Questions for discussion or reflection

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

2.)    What do we mean by the word generation?

3.)    How does Jesus go about creating a new generation to lead God’s people?

4.)    What example are we setting for the next generation?

5.)    Jesus gave his disciples power & authority to drive out all demons and to cure disease

–         What do we observe from this? (What does this tell us?)

6.)    Why do you think Jesus told his disciples to take nothing with them (to travel light) on their journey?

7.)    Has God ever showed you a glimpse of his Kingdom? What happened?

8.)    In what ways is Jesus’ new generation different?

–         (Think culture, approach & purpose)

9.)    How is the balance in your life between self-denial & self-care?

–         What strategies do you have for looking after yourself?

10.)       Take some time this week to reflect on the vulnerability of Christ

 

https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/18-march-2018-a-new-generation

 

Tawa Baptist

Kings & Priests

Scripture: Psalm 132

 

Title: Kings & Priests

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • A place to call home (King David)
  • A call to worship (Priests)
  • Conclusion – Jesus (King & Priest)

 

Introduction:

Once there was a young man smitten with a beautiful girl

–         She was somewhat indifferent to him though, and careless with his feelings in the way pretty girls can afford to be, but this didn’t deter him

–         When the young man heard the girl’s birthday was coming up he told her he would send her a bouquet of flowers, one for each year of her life

–         Later that afternoon he called the local florist and ordered 21 roses, with instructions that they be delivered on the girl’s birthday

 

As the florist was preparing the order he decided, that since the young man was such a good customer, he would put an extra dozen roses in the bouquet, bringing the total to 33

–         The girl didn’t take it so well and fortunately for the young man, he never heard from her again

–         Years later he found someone else better able to reciprocate his love [1]

 

This morning we return to our series on the Songs of Ascents

–         These songs were probably sung by Jewish pilgrims as they made their way to the temple in Jerusalem for various religious festivals

–         They are songs for the journey home to God

 

Our focus today is psalm 132 – It is a kind of a duet in two halves

–         The first half is essentially a prayer asking God to remember King David and his plans to build a house for the Lord

–         While the second half details the Lord’s response to this prayer

–         Like the florist in the story, God answers by giving his people more than they asked for or imagined.

–         Sometimes His ‘more’ may seem like a set back to us – but in the long run it proves better. From the NIV we read…

 

1 Lord, remember David and all his self-denial. 2 He swore an oath to the Lord, he made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob: 3 “I will not enter my house or go to my bed, 4 I will allow no sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, 5 till I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.” 6 We heard of it in Ephrathah, we came upon it in the fields of Jaar:7 “Let us go to his dwelling place, let us worship at his footstool, saying,8 ‘Arise, Lord, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. 9 May your priests be clothed with righteousness; may your faithful people sing for joy.’” 10 For the sake of your servant David, do not reject your anointed one. 11 The Lord swore an oath to David, a sure oath he will not revoke: “One of your own descendants I will place on your throne. 12 If your sons keep my covenant and the statutes I teach them, then their sons will sit on your throne for ever and ever.”13 For the Lord has chosen Zion, he has desired it for his dwelling, saying, 14 “This is my resting place for ever and ever; here I will sit enthroned, for I have desired it. 15 I will bless her with abundant provisions; her poor I will satisfy with food. 16 I will clothe her priests with salvation, and her faithful people will ever sing for joy.17 “Here I will make a horn grow for David and set up a lamp for my anointed one. 18 I will clothe his enemies with shame, but his head will be adorned with a radiant crown.”

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

 

A place to call home:

There’s been a lot in the news lately about housing shortages, especially in Auckland but also in other main centres

–         Tawa has seen a bit of development as well

–         For some years now new houses have been going in around the Woodman Drive area

–         More recently a sub-division has been going ahead at Kenepuru

–         And we hear of plans for medium density housing around the Tawa Junction area

–         People are wanting room – a place to call home, space to dwell and rest

–         And for many that involves sacrifice & self denial just to save enough for a deposit

 

Psalm 132 begins with the psalmist remembering David’s self denial before the Lord

 

To remember means more than just re-calling to mind a thought from the past

–         The kind of remembering the psalmist is doing here is tangible and practical – like when someone ‘remembers you in their will’ – they actually do something for you

–         On ANZAC day we remember the self denial and sacrifice of soldiers by taking a day off work and holding dawn services to pay our respects

–         More than this though we don’t take our freedom for granted

–         In NZ when someone reaches the age of 65 the government remembers their years of tax paying and contribution to society by giving them a weekly superannuation payment and a gold card

–         We stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us – we appreciate the benefits their self denial has brought

 

So when the psalmist says, Lord, remember David and all his self-denial, I think he is letting God know that he values the legacy David has left

–         He doesn’t take David’s self denial for granted

–         It’s kind of a thanksgiving for what David did in the past

 

Verses 2-5 detail David’s vow to find a place for the Lord

–         David plans to deny himself – he won’t rest until he has made room for God

 

What then does it mean to find a place for the Lord?

–         After all, God fills the universe – how can David possibly create a dwelling for God?

–         That would be like me thinking I could dig a hole large enough to contain the oceans of the world

 

David is well aware that God cannot be contained in a house – God will not be domesticated

–         More than likely psalm 132 has the events of 2nd Samuel chapters 6 & 7 in mind when David brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem

 

This is a picture of what the Ark of the Covenant might have looked like

–         For Israel the Ark embodied the holy presence & rule of the Lord God

–         It was also a tangible reminder of God’s covenant with Israel as it contained the 10 commandments

 

Since its construction in the wilderness the Ark had been kept in a tent

–         Having the embodiment of God’s presence travelling around in a tent showed the people that God wasn’t tied down to one specific location

–         For many years the Ark had sat in obscurity on someone’s farm until David thought to bring it Jerusalem

–         Then, once David had brought the Ark to the capital, it began to bother him that the Ark was kept under canvas while he lived in a flash palace

–         So when David talks about finding a place for the Lord, he means he wants to provide better accommodation for the Ark – he wants to bring it to Jerusalem and build a temple to house it

 

Interestingly God is referred to (in verse 5) as “the Mighty One of Jacob”

–         Jacob was famous for wrestling with God all night as he returned home after many years away

–         Perhaps there is an association here with David wrestling or struggling in his efforts to find a place for the Lord to dwell

–         Certainly it wasn’t an easy thing bringing the Ark to Jerusalem

–         It took David two attempts and a man died in the process

–         Not only that but David became estranged from one of his wives

 

David also wrestled with God over building a temple to house the Ark

–         David lost sleep over this issue – it kept him up at night, just as the angel of the Lord kept Jacob up all night in a wrestling match

 

I think there is a point of application here for us today

–         In our busy lives God often gets crowded out and like David it requires some self denial and commitment on our part to create room for God

 

Let me illustrate what I mean…

–         One of the consequences of more housing in Tawa is more pressure on infrastructure and roads

–         The intersection on the Main Rd and Surrey St, just outside the church here is a case in point

–         The Council would like to put a roundabout there to help traffic flow

–         And while there are some benefits for the wider community in having a roundabout those benefits come at a cost to the church – in particular its looking likely that we will lose around a dozen car parks give or take

–         The Council have been really good in talking with us about how we can minimise the loss of parks – they have gone out of their way to help us by seeking to free up other parks nearby

–         Obviously we would want to reserve the closest parks for the elderly, for those with young children and for visitors or newcomers

–         But there will be some who may have to deny themselves by parking further away in Oxford St, for example

 

Now the church doesn’t exist for itself – we are here for Jesus and for the world that God loves – so I’m not protesting against the roundabout

–         If it benefits the wider community then perhaps we need to see the loss of parking as part of our mission of being a blessing to the world

 

I’m also aware that having to park a little further away is a relatively minor inconvenience, especially when compared with the events in Manchester this past week

–         But although it’s a relatively small thing it is yet another thing in a long list of things which put distance between the church and society and make it more difficult for people to attend worship services

 

The loss of parks seems to me to be a kind of parable in that it illustrates what’s happening on a larger scale in NZ today

–         Incrementally, over time, God and the church are getting crowded out of our society by all sorts of things, like work & sports and other stuff

–         At the same time there is a growing distance between the church and society: the church often holds values which are at odds with society and we Christians cringe at the way the church is misrepresented in the media

–         Our society is generally less accommodating to God and the church (as we’ve seen with CRE) and so it is becoming harder to be a Christian

–         Therefore we who believe in Jesus need to be more intentional, more committed in making a place in our own lives for God to dwell

–         Like David, it is going to require more self denial on our part, to build a bridge between church and society

 

Returning to psalm 132: Despite David’s good intentions the Lord God did not want David to build a house (or a temple) for Him

–         Instead, the Lord would build a house (as in a royal dynasty) for David

 

In verses 2-5 David makes a vow to God, now in verses 11-12 God makes a vow to David, saying…

–         “One of your own descendants I will place on your throne…”

–         The Lord is referring here to Solomon

–         David would not be the one to build a temple for the Lord, but his son Solomon would

 

God then goes on to make a conditional promise to David…

–         “If your sons keep my covenant… then their sons will sit on your throne forever…”

 

This was a pretty big deal

–         Moses’ sons didn’t become the leaders of Israel after him

–         Nor did Joshua’s or Samuel’s or Saul’s

–         This was new – David had no reason (in history) to think that his descendants would be king after him

–         Here God is giving David far more than he ever asked for or imagined

–         We can’t out give God – He is too generous

 

A call to worship:

When I was about 6 my dad decided to build a swimming pool in our backyard

–         My dad likes a project and he is pretty handy at that sort of thing

–         It was 1976 so the pool was kidney shaped and deep enough to dive into

–         Anyway, dad decided he wouldn’t get a digger in to excavate the hole for the pool but would dig it out himself by hand

 

When we started I thought that with my help we could dig the hole in a day, but I quickly learned I had overestimated my digging ability

–         Despite all my efforts it took me most of the morning to shift half a cubic metre with my little spade

–         In the end my contribution was fairly modest and I had to adjust the timeframe I had in mind for completion of the project

 

We worked on digging that hole for weeks but it was worth it in the end

–         We got so much fun and enjoyment out of that pool

–         Of course it’s the end you need to keep in mind when you are shovelling clay – it’s the end that keeps you going

–         The interesting thing is that when the end is in sight you find a second wind – an extra burst of energy in anticipation of realising your goal

 

For the Jewish pilgrims making their way to Jerusalem to worship the Lord the journey was perhaps a bit like digging out the hole for the pool by hand

–         They didn’t fly there in a plane or drive there in a car or ride on a train

–         They typically walked, sometimes a very long way

–         This wasn’t a journey they could knock off in a day – it might take weeks depending on where they had come from

–         But by keeping the end in mind – thinking about the temple in Jerusalem – they found the strength to keep going

 

Returning to verse 6…

–         Ephrathah and Jaar refer to the region around Bethlehem, David’s hometown – Bethlehem is quite close to Jerusalem, about 9 km’s away

 

Verses 7-9 appear to be a call to worship

–         As the Jewish pilgrim’s walk through the fields of Jaar they know they are getting close, the end is in sight and they get a second wind, so they say: “Let us go to his dwelling place…” that is, to the Lord’s temple

–         “Let us worship at his footstool” – his footstool being the Ark

 

Verse 8 recalls the time of the Exodus from Egypt when Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years

–         The Lord God led the people by a pillar of cloud and fire

–         Each time the pillar moved the Israelites would pick up the Ark and say,

–         Arise, Lord, and come to your resting place, you & the ark of your might.

–         They were essentially asking God to bring them home to the Promised Land

 

Verse 13 of psalm 132 tells us the Lord chose Zion for his dwelling – his resting place

–         For the psalmist, in the Old Testament, Zion equated to Jerusalem – basically the main centre from which God ruled

–         For us Christians though Zion isn’t limited to geographic Jerusalem – it is essentially anywhere that God reigns

–         So Zion is a code word for God’s kingdom – the kingdom of heaven

 

Verse 15 tells us that where God reigns (where His kingdom has come) there is abundance and no poverty

–         I will bless her with abundant provisions; her poor I will satisfy with food

–         Verse 15 is looking forward to the realisation of God’s kingdom in its fullness when everyone will have enough

–         We haven’t got there yet, we are still digging the hole, still fighting against hunger and poverty in our time – and so the underlying assumption of the economic system we live under is scarcity

–         But this is not what the end looks like at all – the underlying assumption of God’s kingdom (of Zion) is abundance

–         What was it Jesus said? I have come that you may have abundant life

 

In connection with worshipping at God’s footstool (at the Ark) we have the prayer (in verse 9) that the Lord’s priests be clothed with righteousness;

–         The Lord responds positively to this desire in verse 16 saying…

–         I will clothe her priests with salvation, & her saints will ever sing for joy

 

These two verses are almost identical, except that in one the priests are clothed in righteousness while in the second the priests are clothed in salvation

–         Righteousness means ‘right relationship’ – dealing with people in a way that is fair and kind.

–         While salvation means being given abundant life, as opposed to being destroyed or excluded

–         Salvation comes in many forms: physical healing, forgiveness of sins, peace in our relationships, deliverance from evil, the eradication of poverty, acceptance into God’s family and so on

–         In the Bible righteousness & salvation are not things we achieve by our own efforts – they are gifts from God received by faith – by trusting God

–         Having said that God still likes to involve us in the process

 

When I was digging the hole for the pool with my Dad and my Pop, they pretty much did all the work – my contribution was quite small really and yet I probably got more use and enjoyment out of the pool than they did

–         It’s a bit like that with God’s gifts of righteousness and salvation – God does most (if not all) of the spade work but he still accepts what we bring

 

One of the key roles of the priests was to mediate God’s forgiveness to the people through the sacrificial system

–         The priests were there to help restore righteousness – that is to restore people to right relationship with God and between people

–         Priests that are clothed in righteousness therefore are priests who are able to mediate forgiveness because they themselves have been forgiven and stand in right relationship with God

 

Closely related to their role in mediating God’s forgiveness, the priests also had a role in mediating God’s salvation

–         The priests were a bit like doctors (except without the science)

–         The priests didn’t necessarily heal people but they had the authority to declare someone clean after they had been healed or purified

–         We read about this in the gospels. After Jesus healed some lepers he told them to show themselves to the priest so they could be declared clean and re-join the community

 

The Jewish priests wore special garments in carrying out their priestly duties – but wearing a special costume doesn’t make the priest fit to cleanse people, any more than wearing a surgical gown makes me fit to remove an appendix

 

The people’s prayer was for their priests to be clothed in righteousness

–         But in verse 16 God responds by saying, I can do better than that. I will give you priests who are clothed in salvation – that is, priests who mediate my power to heal and cleanse

 

The other part of the prayer in verse 9 is that God’s faithful people sing for joy

–         Worship should not be a loveless duty

–         Singing for joy is the icing on the cake – it speaks of a life that is overflowing with gratitude for the goodness of God

–         God’s response in verse 16 is that Zion’s faithful people (those who submit to God’s reign) will ever sing for joy

–         Once again God answers his people’s prayer with more than they asked for or imagined – their joy will be forever, without end

–         The grind of digging the hole for the pool may last for weeks but the joy of using it lasts a lifetime

 

Conclusion:

Psalm 132 concludes by looking forward in hope to God’s ‘anointed one’

–         ‘Anointed One’ in Hebrew is Messiah

–         As Christians we believe Jesus is the Messiah

 

We find three images for Jesus the Messiah in verses 17 & 18:

–         Horn, lamp and crown

 

Horn is an image of strength

–         Lamp is an image of clarity (or truth & wisdom)

–         And crown is an image of royal dignity – not just power but holiness too [2]

 

Verse 18 tells us that the Messiah’s head will be adorned with a radiant crown

–         The original Hebrew literally reads, ‘his crown will blossom’ [3]

–         Unlike the glitter of a man-made crown which looks pretty but is still dead, God will adorn Jesus’ head with the crown of life

–         God’s Messiah will be King over life and death

–         The poetry here is pointing forward to Jesus’ resurrection life

 

The poetry is also pointing back to Aaron, the high priest of Israel during Moses’ time

–         You may remember how God caused the wooden staff of Aaron to bud and blossom as a way of accrediting Aaron’s ministry as his priest

 

For Christians the connection is intuitive

–         In and through Jesus, God’s promises are fulfilled

–         Jesus replaces the Ark of the Covenant – he is the embodiment of God’s power & presence

–         Jesus is the ideal priest clothed in righteousness and salvation with power to forgive sins and to bestow abundant life

–         Jesus is David’s greater son who, following his resurrection from the dead, ascended to heaven where he sits enthroned in Zion

–         And Jesus is God’s answer to his people’s prayers – an answer far more generous and far better than we asked for or imagined

–         In short, Jesus is our hope and joy

 

Let us pray…

 

 

[1] Adapted from a story found in the book “The bells! The Bells!” compiled by Mark Stibbe, page 70.

[2] Derek Kidner, Psalms 73-150, page 488.

[3] Ibid.