Tawa Baptist

The Spirit & Stephen

Scripture: Acts 6-7

Video Link: https://youtu.be/-NhR2-BJGTY

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Grace and power
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning, everyone.

A light bulb works when it is connected to electricity. Without electricity, all you have is a glass globe and darkness.

A river works when water flows through a channel along the ground. Without water, there is no river, just a scar on the landscape.

Your mouth and your tongue speak when your mind provides a thought. Without a mind, the mouth and the tongue having nothing to say.

During the month of August, we are focusing on four messages from the book of Acts in support of Arotahi, the New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society. Then, at the end of August, we will take up a special Renew Together offering for our Baptist missionaries.

The book of Acts tells how the Holy Spirit used ordinary men and women to share the message about Jesus. The Spirit is essential to the spread of the gospel.

The Spirit is to mission what electricity is to a light bulb.

The Spirit is to mission what water is to a river.

The Spirit is to mission what the mind is to speech

The church simply cannot function without the Spirit of Jesus.    

Last week we heard how the Holy Spirit worked through Peter and the other apostles, in Acts 2. This week we hear how the Holy Spirit worked through Stephen. From Acts chapter 6, verse 8, we pick up the story of the Spirit and Stephen…

8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen… who began to argue with Stephen. 10 But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke. 11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.” 12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.” 15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

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

Grace and Power:

Some things are powerful but not graceful. Storms are like that. Lots of power, but little or no grace. Storms can do a lot of damage. Guns are also powerful, but once the trigger has been pulled, there’s no grace. The bullet is unforgiving.

Other things are graceful, but not powerful. Take butterflies for example. Butterflies are graceful, they are beautiful to watch, but they lack power. You have nothing to fear from a butterfly.

Flowers are also graceful, but not powerful, at least not in the same way that storms and guns are powerful. In fact, flowers are quite fragile. Sometimes flowers can have a powerful affect though, if arranged in a certain way or given with great love.  

Then there are those things which are both powerful and graceful.

Medicine is powerful and graceful on a chemical level. It has the power to heal you, in a relatively gentle way.  

Dancers possess both power and grace. They have exceptional strength for their body weight. At the same time, their movement is beautiful to look at. A ballerina glides with a grace and power that defies gravity and touches the heart.

And then there is the power and grace of the moon. The moon is beautiful to look at. Reflected light gracing the night sky, but with the power to move whole oceans.

The Holy Spirit combines divine grace with divine power. The Holy Spirit possesses a power unmatched in the universe and a grace far beyond human comprehension. The Holy Spirit gives life to all creation.

In verse 8 we read that Stephen was a man full of God’s grace and power.

This is another way of saying that Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit.

If Stephen was the lightbulb, then the Holy Spirit provided the electricity.

If Stephen was the channel, the Holy Spirit was like water flowing through him.

If Stephen was the mouthpiece, then the Holy Spirit was the mind providing the thought for Stephen to speak.  

The grace and power of the Spirit of God enabled Stephen to perform great wonders and signs among the people. We are not told exactly what these signs and wonders were, but it may have included miraculous healings. To heal someone is an action that is both gracious and powerful.

Verse 9 says opposition arose from one of the Jewish synagogues. A synagogue was a bit like a local church congregation, except for people of the Jewish faith. These Jews began to argue with Stephen, but they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him.

Here we see the God given power and grace of reason and logic. The Holy Spirit empowered Stephen to overcome his opponents with words of reason, as opposed to acts of violence.

Christian faith has intellectual integrity. Becoming a Christian does not mean throwing away critical thinking. Although we cannot grasp all the mysteries of Christian faith, we still seek to understand what we can. Jesus taught us to love God with our mind as well as our heart and everything else we possess.  

Stephen’s Spirit inspired rationale and wisdom should have been enough to convince the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah, but they refused to believe. Worse than that, they framed Stephen. They falsely accused Stephen of blasphemy. They stirred up the anger of the people and brought Stephen before the Sanhedrin.

The Sanhedrin was the name for the ruling council of Jewish leaders. Jesus stood before the Sanhedrin, falsely accused of blasphemy, just a few years before Stephen. Stephen was quite literally following in the footsteps of Christ.

The accusers said Stephen spoke against the holy place (that is, the Jerusalem temple) saying Jesus will destroy the temple and change the customs Moses handed down.

Jesus had predicted (with tears) that the temple would be destroyed. This happened in AD 70, nearly 40 years after Jesus. But it wasn’t Jesus who destroyed Jerusalem. The Romans destroyed the holy city because the Jews rebelled against Rome. Jesus tried to warn the people, telling them not to revolt against Rome, but the people would not listen.

As for the charge that Jesus had come to change the customs Moses handed down, this wasn’t right either. In fact, Jesus came to fulfil the law of Moses.

Stephen could see that Jesus’ once for all sacrifice on the cross made the ceremonial and ritual aspects of the Jewish Law unnecessary.

The moral aspects of the Law, which can be summarised as loving God and loving your neighbour, still stand. But we don’t need to keep sacrificing animals for the atonement of sin because Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is sufficient. Our forgiveness is through faith in what Jesus has done for us.

We can see why the Jewish religious authorities felt so threatened. If they accepted what Stephen was saying, their whole organisation would need to be restructured. They would lose a lot of power and control and status.

What’s more, they would have to humble themselves and admit they were wrong about Jesus. No wonder they wanted to silence Stephen.

Verse 15 says, ‘All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.’

Angels have knowledge from heaven. Stephen had knowledge from heaven and the Sanhedrin could plainly see that, it was written all over his face. Yet they would not concede that Stephen was right about Jesus.

As far as the Sanhedrin were concerned, this was a legal proceeding (Stephen was on trial), so the high priest gave Stephen an opportunity to respond to the charges brought against him. Stephen addresses his accusers with grace and respect, calling them brothers and fathers.

Stephen starts by finding common ground with his enemies. He talks about their shared history (their whakapapa or ancestry). After highlighting God’s call of Abraham, Stephen goes on to feature Joseph and Moses.

The thing Joseph and Moses have in common, is they were both used by God to save the people, and they were both rejected by the people they came to save. Stephen is drawing a connection here with Jesus. Like Joseph and Moses, Jesus was rejected by the people he came to save.

In verses 37-39 of Acts 7, Stephen says…

37 “This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’ 38 He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us. 39 “But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and, in their hearts, turned back to Egypt.

Stephen is saying that Jesus is the prophet Moses talked about, and they (the Jewish leadership) have rejected Jesus, just like their ancestors rejected Moses.

Stephen goes on to talk about the idolatry of the Israelites in the wilderness and how, later when they settled in Canaan, the first Jewish temple came to be built. But the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. Heaven is God’s throne, and the earth is his footstool.

It’s like the Jewish religious leaders have (ironically) made an idol out of the temple. They are worshipping something made by human hands. They have made the temple and sacrificial system more important than God Almighty.

From verse 51, Stephen makes his point clear, saying…

51 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One [Jesus]. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”

This is powerful stuff from Stephen. Stephen is borrowing words from Moses. In Deuteronomy 10, Moses had said to the Israelites in the wilderness, 16 Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.

Circumcision was the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham. In ancient Israel you were not considered part of the people of God if you were not circumcised. You don’t need to be circumcised to become a Christian.

Baptism and communion are the signs of the new covenant for Christians. 

Whether it is circumcision or baptism though, outward rituals mean nothing without a corresponding inward loyalty of the heart and mind.   

Circumcision of the heart refers to keeping the covenant with God in the core of your being. Stephen was saying that many of the Israelites of his time were like the Israelites of Moses’ time, not truly committed to God and his covenant.

The Sanhedrin thought they were putting Stephen on trial, but Stephen (by the grace and power God’s Spirit) demonstrates that it is the religious leaders themselves who are on trial before God. They are the guilty ones, not him.

54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.

In Acts 2, when Peter confronted the crowd with the fact they had crucified the Messiah of God, the people were cut to the heart and repented. But Stephen is facing a different audience. These are not the same God-fearing Jews of Acts 2.

Stephen’s audience are more like corrupt politicians. These are men who only know the power of brute force and coercion by fear. Theirs is a power without grace. The power Stephen knows is different from political power. Stephen’s power is the power of the Spirit, power woven together with grace.

From verse 55 we read how, Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

Stephen, the man with a face like an angel, who possesses knowledge from heaven, is witnessing to the fact that God has vindicated Jesus by raising him from the dead and giving him the place of highest honour in heaven.  

From verse 57, we continue…

57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.  Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

At this point all justice has broken down. This is not a lawful proceeding. This is a lynching. The crowd is out of control. They are about to murder Stephen.  

Stephen has clearly hit a raw nerve. On some level the crowd know that Stephen is right, but they don’t want to admit they are wrong, so they double down.

59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

Stephen responds just like Jesus, with the power and grace of forgiveness.

Verse 60 says that Stephen fell asleep. Actually he died, but for those who die believing in Jesus, death is like a restful sleep. Death is not something to fear if we are forgiven in Christ and forgiving of others. For just as Jesus was raised from the dead to eternal life, so too those who hope in Jesus will be raised.

In verse 1 of Acts chapter 8, we read how, on that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

While persecution is not pleasant, we can see God’s power and grace at work in it. It’s not that God wanted the followers of Jesus to be harmed. But, like Joseph who was sold into slavery by his brothers, God used it for good.

As Christian believers fled for their lives, they took the message about Jesus with them, and so the Christian faith spread like seeds on the wind. 

Conclusion:

Stephen was the first Christian martyr. When we hear the word martyr, we think of someone who was killed for their beliefs. And while that is true, the word martyr originally meant witness. A martyr is a witness. Stephen bore witness to the power and grace of Jesus and died as a consequence. 

As Christians we don’t want to be persecuted for our faith. We pray that God delivers us from trial and persecution. But if we do suffer because of our allegiance to Christ, at least we know our witness is being taken seriously.

Jesus said, 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Sharing our faith with others is a brave thing to do. It makes us vulnerable to rejection and abuse. But that is the pattern Jesus set. No one was more vulnerable than Christ on the cross.

Sometimes our witness for Jesus is well received, like when Peter spoke to the crowds at Pentecost and 3000 responded in faith to his message.

Other times though, our witness for Jesus is misunderstood, or it is understood all too well, and we are rejected like Stephen.

Peter’s message (in Acts 2) was in the goldilocks zone, but tradition says Peter was eventually crucified (upside down) for his testimony about Jesus.

We are not likely to be killed for our witness, like Stephen or Peter. But the reality remains, sometimes we make ourselves a target when we speak the truth about Jesus and align ourselves with him.

The promise of Scripture is that those who share in Christ’s suffering will also share in his glory. May the Spirit of God, fill us with the power and grace to stand for Jesus. 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. How did the Spirit’s grace and power find expression through Stephen? Can you think of examples of the Spirit’s grace and power at work today?  
  3. How does reason support Christian faith? What role does reason and logic play in your faith?
  4. In what ways does Stephen’s experience correspond with Jesus’ experience?
  5. What are some of the key points of Stephen’s message to the Sanhedrin?
  6. Why did the crowd murder Stephen?
  7. How did God use Stephen’s death and the subsequent persecution of the church for good?
Tawa Baptist

The Spirit & Peter

Scripture: Acts 2:1-41

Video Link: https://youtu.be/hckX4rgSt9I

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The Spirit’s presence
  • Peter’s message
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning, everyone.

Many of you probably know that the Tawa tree (from which our suburb gets its name) relies on just two birds for the dispersal of its seeds, the kererū and the kokako.

The fruit of the Tawa tree is quite big, up to 3.5cm long. The kererū and the kokako are the only birds large enough to eat the fruit and pass the seeds through their gut unharmed. If the kererū and the kokako became extinct then the tawa tree might follow.

Everything in God’s creation is connected. Each part relies on the parts around it for propagation and survival.

Today, we say goodbye to Joseph and hello to the book of Acts. During the month of August, we will focus on four messages from the book of Acts in support of Arotahi, the New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society. Then, at the end of August, we will take up a special Renew Together offering for our Baptist missionaries.

The book of Acts tells how the message about Jesus started to spread throughout the world. Just as God uses kererū and kokako to spread tawa tree seeds, so too the Spirit of God uses ordinary men and women to spread the gospel.

The Spirit’s presence

Let’s begin then with a reading from Acts chapter 2, when the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost. From Acts 2, verse 1 we read…

When the day of Pentecost came, they [the disciples of Jesus] were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tonguesas the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?  8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?… 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

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

You may have heard of the goldilocks principle, named after the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Like Goldilocks, we human beings want things ‘just right’. Not too hot or too cold. Not too hard or too soft and not too big or too small.

Dark KitKat is (for me) a goldilocks chocolate. Not too sweet (like milk KitKat) and not too bitter either. The biscuit gives the KitKat a nice texture without breaking your teeth (not too hard or too soft). And one KitKat finger is just the right amount, not too much or too little.   

Planet earth is in the goldilocks zone, situated the perfect distance from the sun and the moon and in the right part of the galaxy. The temperature and gravity (and hundreds of other things) are just right for supporting life.

The day of Pentecost, in Acts 2, is a goldilocks moment. Thousands of God-fearing Jews from all over the known world have come to Jerusalem to celebrate the festival of Pentecost. It has been seven weeks since Jesus’ death and resurrection. The disciples have spent much of that time in prayer and worship. They are in the zone, spiritually speaking.

The disciples are together, ready and waiting for what God will do next, when a sound like a violent wind blowing from heaven fills the whole house. This sound is not too loud that it deafens them and not too soft that they don’t notice it.

The Holy Spirit is like the wind in some ways. A powerful, untameable, uncontrollable, unseen energy. But it’s not like the wind in every way. The Spirit is more than just an energy. The Spirit is a person; creative, intelligent, intentional and capable of self-control. The Spirit is just right.  

After the sound like wind, the disciples saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. The Spirit’s touch was not too hot or heavy. No disciples were harmed by the tongues of fire.

In the ancient world, fire was thought to be the purest thing of all. The Holy Spirit is like fire in some ways, an agent of cleansing and purification. But the Spirit is not like fire in every way. The Spirit is life giving. The Spirit fills people just the right amount, without destroying them or requiring a 111 call.

Verse 4 says all of the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit enabled the apostles to speak in different languages (languages they did not know and had not learned) so that people from all over the known world heard a message in their mother tongue.

Why did the Holy Spirit do this? Well, the Spirit is given for the purpose of mission. The Spirit empowers believers to communicate Jesus.  

One thing we observe about the Spirit, from our own experience, is that he has a unique way of creating connections. It appears the Spirit was connecting the dots for those present at the Pentecost festival in Acts 2. 

If you find yourself in just the right place, at just the right time, with just the right skills and resources to help someone, that’s probably not a coincidence.

A goldilocks moment like that may well be the Holy Spirit’s way of connecting someone with Jesus. Making Jesus real for that person.

The crowd were amazed and perplexed, asking one another, “What does this mean?” They cannot understand how uneducated men from Galilee (a despised place) were able to speak so fluently in foreign languages. From verse 14 we pick up the story…

Peter’s message:

14 Peter raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. …this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

17 “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

In the Old Testament, the festival of Pentecost celebrated the giving of the Law. For Christians though, the festival of Pentecost celebrates the giving of the Holy Spirit. The Law was given through Moses, but the Spirit was given through Christ. 

Peter quotes some familiar verses from the prophet Joel as a way of interpreting these events. This is what the prophets foretold centuries earlier. This is God pouring out his Spirit on humankind.

The remarkable thing about the gift of the Spirit is the universal scope. It had always been God’s intention to pour out his Spirit on all people, not just the Jews, but Gentiles also. Not just men, but women too. Young and old.   

About 35 years ago, I worked for Youth for Christ as a volunteer. In those days YFC ran youth groups, camps and rallies, through which the gospel was presented in creative ways. YFC also provided training for their leaders. One skill they taught us was how to give a short talk about the gospel.

When speaking in front of a crowd your talk needs four things: hook, look, book, took. The hook is something to get people’s attention. Something that connects them to the message. Once you have people’s attention you tell them what your talk is about. ‘Look, here’s the point of what I’m saying’.

Then you support your main point with some words from the Bible, that’s the Book part. And the ‘took’ is the takeaway, something people can do to apply what you’ve said so the message sticks.

We see this pattern of hook, look, book, took, in Acts 2. The Holy Spirit provided the hook, by enabling the apostles to speak in foreign languages that the audience could understand. That certainly got people’s attention. It brought them together and connected them.

Then Peter (by the inspiration of the Spirit) provided the look, book and took parts. In verses 22-24 Peter points to Jesus, as if to say, ‘Look, here’s the point’…   

22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

In just three short verses Peter directs his audience to look at the work, death and resurrection of Jesus, which was all part of God’s plan of salvation for humankind and directly linked to the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Peter’s comment that it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Jesus, indicates that Jesus has conquered sin and death. For if death is the consequence of sin, then it logically follows that Jesus was without sin, for death had no claim on him.

Peter draws on various Scriptures (from the book of the Old Testament) to support his point. For example, in verses 25-27 of Acts 2, Peter quotes Psalm 16 saying…

25 David said about him: “‘I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 26 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope, 27 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay.

Peter is saying here that king David was talking about Jesus’ resurrection from the dead when he wrote Psalm 16. More than this, Jesus is even greater than David, for God did not raise David from the dead. So, Jesus is God’s promised Messiah. 

In verse 36 of Acts 2, Peter drives his main point home saying…

36 “Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”  37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

This is gutsy stuff from Peter. He is telling his audience, quite bluntly, you are responsible for killing Jesus, the Messiah of God.

Verse 37 says the people were cut to the heart when they heard this. What Peter said resonates as true and they cannot deny it. They are convicted to their core.

This feeling of conviction and remorse is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit shows us the truth about ourselves so that we realise our need for God’s grace and call out for help.   

In verses 38-39, Peter finishes with his took. This is the takeaway of his message. This is what his listeners are to do, so the message sticks…

38 “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

Peter gives us a recipe for Christian conversion here. Becoming a Christian involves believing in Jesus’ death and resurrection, as well as repentance, water baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit.

The elements of Christian conversion don’t always happen in the same order and they don’t always happen on the same day. Elsewhere in the book of Acts we see a variety of conversion experiences, all of which are based on faith in the resurrection of Jesus. And all of which are orchestrated by the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit is always pointing us to Jesus. Always looking for ways to connect us to Christ and make Jesus real in our experience.   

Not everyone accepted Peter’s message that day, but for about 3000 people it was a goldilocks sermon, it was ‘just right’. Most of those 3000 had been present for the Passover festival, two months earlier, when Jesus was condemned and crucified. Now they were present for a miraculous outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Many of the 3000 were pilgrims from other parts of the world. They were like the kererū and the kokako. On returning to their homes, they took with them the digested seed of the good news about Jesus, the Messiah. Jesus has conquered sin and death. Through Jesus, God’s Spirit is poured out.

Conclusion:

One other thing we notice and that is the transformation that takes place in Peter in such a short time. Just seven weeks earlier, the night of Jesus’ trial, Peter had denied knowing Jesus three times. At that stage the Holy Spirit had not been poured out and Peter was understandably afraid for his life.

Now at Pentecost, when the religious leaders are still a very real threat, Peter (an uneducated fisherman from the backwaters of Galilee) is filled with the Spirit and boldly tells thousands of people about Jesus.

Without the Holy Spirit, Peter’s best intentions to stand for Jesus, end in failure and shame. But with the Holy Spirit, Peter bears witness to the risen Christ, with courage and clarity.

The Holy Spirit does not always manifest his power in such dramatic ways, like he did in Acts 2. But, 2000 years later, he is still very active in the world, creating connections and making Jesus real for people.

The work of the Spirit does not need to be dramatic to be effective. We may not speak in foreign languages, like the apostles, but our experience of the Spirit is still valid. There is a certain winsomeness and intimacy in seeing the Spirit do something special that only you and one or two others notice.

The point is, when it comes to Christian mission, we cannot do anything without the power and guidance of God’s Spirit. Our part is to prayerfully wait for the Spirit, remaining open to receive what God wants to give and ready to respond to Jesus’ prompting.

Whether we are speaking to thousands, like Peter did, or simply sharing our faith with one person over coffee, may we go on being filled with the Spirit of Christ. 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. In what ways is the Holy Spirit like wind and fire? In what ways is the Spirit not like wind and fire?
  3. Why does the Holy Spirit empower the apostles to speak in foreign languages? Why is the Spirit given?
  4. What is the main point of Peter’s message in Acts 2?
  5. If you had the opportunity to tell people about Jesus, what would you say?
  6. How did you become a Christian? Are any of the elements of conversion, mentioned by Peter in Acts 2:38, missing for you?
  7. What is your experience of God’s Spirit? How does the Spirit help you to share the love and truth of Jesus?
Tawa Baptist

Jesus’ Commission

Scripture: Matthew 28:16-20

Video Link: https://youtu.be/BsRMobff4y8

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Make disciples
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Today we continue our Renew Together mini-series in support of Arotahi.

Arotahi is the new name for the New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society.

Arotahi means to focus in one direction, concentrating on one thing together.

Renew Together is about remembering God’s mission of gospel renewal and our part in that mission. Over the three weeks of this year’s Renew Together campaign we are using the sermon time to focus on Matthew 28, verses 16-20.

Although this passage is called ‘the great commission’, there’s actually more going on here. Last Sunday we heard about Jesus’ great authority and next week we will hear about Jesus’ great presence.

Today though our focus is the commission part of ‘the great commission’. Jesus’ great commission is to make disciples. Let’s remind ourselves of what Jesus says in Matthew 28…

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

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

If we think of the great commission as a house, then Jesus’ authority is the foundation on which the house is built. ‘Making disciples’ is like the structure of the house. While the Spirit filled people of God, who live in the house, provide the presence. Our focus this morning is on Jesus’ commission to make disciples.

Make disciples

Perhaps the first question to ask then is, what does Jesus mean by a disciple?

Well, the Greek word used in the New Testament for ‘disciple’ is mathetes, from which we get the word mathematics. 

A mathetes (or a disciple) is a learner, a student, an apprentice. Someone, in the context of the gospels, who is learning to be like Jesus by following his example. The heart and soul of Christian discipleship is learning to love and obey God, like Jesus did.

Being a Christian is like being a tradesperson; a builder or a plumber or a boiler maker (if they still have those). In the same way you don’t become a qualified tradie overnight, so too you don’t become proficient at loving and obeying God instantaneously. It’s a process.

Jesus is the master tradesman and we are his apprentices. We learn how to love and obey God by listening to what Jesus tells us and by watching and following Jesus’ example.

Jesus commissions his eleven disciples to go and make more disciples, after training them. For three years the disciples accompanied Jesus wherever he went. They spent many hours in conversation with Jesus. They listened to his preaching. They watched how Jesus cared for people and they experienced his power and love for themselves, firsthand.

Not only that but they cut their teeth on some short term mission trips of their own. They put into practice what they saw Jesus doing by having go at preaching and healing for themselves.

The point here is that before the eleven could make disciples, they had to do their apprenticeship as a disciple. But even after they had done their apprenticeship and got their commission, they were still learning. Christian discipleship is a lifelong process.    

It’s the same with us. Before we can make disciples, we have to be a disciple. And, in this life, we never stop being a disciple. We never stop learning to love and obey God.   

There is a real freedom in being a disciple. If you think of yourself as a learner, and not as an expert, then you don’t have to have all the answers. A disciple is not a guru. A disciple is not perfect or elite. A disciple is curious. Sometimes disciples make mistakes but they learn from those mistakes. A disciple is on a journey to becoming more like Jesus. 

In verses 19 & 20 of Matthew 28, Jesus outlines the two main things involved with ‘making disciples’: baptizing people and teaching people.

Baptism is the sign of Christian conversion. Or to put it another way, baptism is how we enroll to become a disciple of Jesus. To be baptized is to surrender your life to Christ. Baptism says, I am making a commitment to learn to love and obey God, with Jesus as my teacher.

While baptism is important and is something to celebrate, it is not an end in itself. Baptism is a beginning. Jesus did not say, ‘Go and make converts’. No. He said, ‘Go and make disciples’. 

The bigger part of making disciples is teaching them to obey everything Jesus has commanded. 

Now, when we hear the word ‘teach’, we might think of a classroom setting with a teacher at the front and pupils sitting in desks. Chalk and talk. Part of discipleship does involve sitting and listening to people talk about Jesus.

But learning happens in other ways too, especially in the example we set. Discipleship is caught more than taught.

Teaching people to obey Jesus isn’t just about stuffing knowledge into people’s heads. Christian knowledge is primarily relational. So the point is not to know lots of facts about God and Jesus. The point is to help people grow in their experience of God’s love and truth.

The disciple, Simon Peter, learned something of God’s grace by listening to Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son and by watching the way Jesus forgave other people. But Peter’s most profound lesson on grace and forgiveness happened when he denied the Lord and was then later restored by Jesus.

In John 13, Jesus gave his disciples the command to love one another, as I have loved you… By this everyone will know you are my disciples.

Learning to love other Christians only happens when you spend time with them. And spending time with Christians (who may be quite different from you, or perhaps too similar in all the wrong ways) is more difficult than you might think. But we can’t expect to learn how to love one another without some form of church involvement.

As important as church life is, discipleship happens mostly in the ordinary, mundane routines of life.

If you are married, then marriage is the primary context for your discipleship. For example, you learn patience, grace and humility by listening to your partner, by doing the dishes and the vacuuming, by forgiving each other’s mistakes and so on.

Likewise, if you are single, then discipleship happens in the context of your singleness. Without a husband or wife, you might, for example, learn to rely more fully on God in faith and become good at companionship as you share your time and talents with the church and community.  

The workplace is another important context for discipleship. In most work situations you will have to get along with people who hold different beliefs from you. There may be times when you are tempted to do something morally wrong. As someone learning to love and obey God, how do you choose the Jesus’ way?

We learn by doing. We learn to love and obey God through the life situation we find ourselves in. Christian discipleship is a full emersion process.

In the 1970’s James Engel, of Wheaton College in the United States, developed what is known today as the Engel scale. The Engel scale describes the process of Christian conversion and discipleship.   

James Engel came up with 16 steps in this process. Most of those steps are taken before someone makes the conscious decision to become a disciple of Jesus.

Generally speaking, we start out in life having no awareness of God, that’s step one. Then, at some point, we become aware that other people believe in a higher power that we call ‘God’. Step two.

Having some contact with Christians is another important step in the process. You might, for example, grow up in a Christian home or you might know Christians at school or in your work place.

Hopefully, this contact with Christians is positive so you become interested in finding out more about Jesus, because Jesus is the heart of the Christian faith. 

As you learn more about Jesus you are faced with some decisions. Do I believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Do I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead? Do I believe God’s grace is sufficient for me? And, if I do accept these things as true, am I willing to surrender my life to Jesus and become his disciple?

The Alpha Course is helpful when working through these questions of faith.  

Once you have decided to become an apprentice of Jesus, by God’s grace you gain confidence in your decision and you make changes to your lifestyle in obedience to Christ. Those changes might include giving up drugs or alcohol or becoming kinder and more generous, or some other change depending on what God’s Spirit is doing in your life.

Part of your discipleship journey will include practicing spiritual disciplines like a daily quiet time for prayer and Bible study, attending Sunday worship regularly, giving to the poor and to the church, observing a Sabbath, volunteering your time in service to others and so on.

Eventually, you will learn to share your faith authentically, in a way that fits the shape of your soul. And, in the process of sharing your faith and discipling others, you yourself continue to grow in your relationship with Jesus.       

The Engel scale isn’t just about growing in our head knowledge of Jesus. More importantly it has to do with our attitude toward God. Are we cultivating a greater openness to God’s Spirit? Are we learning to love and obey the Lord more and more in faith?

The steps that James Engel developed provide a rough map of the discipleship process for some people. But the thing about maps is they don’t always match the reality on the ground. Discipleship is not necessarily a linear step by step process.

Sometimes we do the steps in a different order. Sometimes it’s three steps forward, one step back. Sometimes we have to repeat certain steps. And your particular discipleship journey may involve other steps that James Engel didn’t think of. That’s okay.

The point is, discipleship is a process and, like any learning process, you have to give yourself to it. We have to submit to our teacher, Jesus.

One of the helpful things about the Engel scale is that it reminds us to be sensitive to where other people are at in their journey toward Christ likeness. The Engel scale prompts us to listen and seek to understand others first.

If someone is in the early stages, just beginning to make contact with Christians, then you want their first contact to be positive. Do your best to ensure their experience with you is warm and real, not weird or scary.

You don’t need to dump a whole lot of Christian doctrine on people in the early stages. A theological framework can come later. Just be honest and kind. Listen with empathy and understanding. Let people experience the love and truth of Jesus through you.  

A couple of weeks ago we had the filters in our home ventilation system changed. The guy who came to our house to do this was from India. Jesus said ‘go to the nations’ but in many ways the nations have come to us here in New Zealand.

When I was paying the bill this guy asked me what I did for work and so I told him I was a minister at the local Baptist church.

He was curious about the different denominations, like Catholic and Protestant, so I said the various church traditions are like different flavours of the Christian faith. What really matters though is Jesus. Jesus is the one we share in common. Jesus is the heart of the Christian faith.

Now, most of the time when you mention the name Jesus, people change the subject. But this guy wanted to keep the conversation going. Fine by me.

He told me how he had been working in a woman’s house recently and she had given him a coin with ten rules on it. I guess it was the ten commandments.

While I admire this woman’s boldness, I’m not sure she was paying attention to where this guy was at or what he needed.

Yes, Christian discipleship does involve learning to obey the commandments, but knowing Jesus needs to come first. Because if we don’t know that Jesus loves us, then we won’t be able to obey.

Sadly, she gave him another rule, telling him not to get vaccinated against Covid. On the rare occasion someone wants to know about your faith, please talk about Jesus. Do not go off on a tangent. Do not take them down a rabbit hole. Keep the main thing the main thing. Jesus is the main thing.

This guy had been vaccinated so where does that leave him? Probably feeling judged, if not condemned. What would Jesus do in that situation?

Well, I believe Jesus would stand in solidarity with the man.

So, as Jesus’ representative in this situation, that’s what I did. I told the man I had been vaccinated too and that I believe God gives us science for our health and wellbeing. In other words, you don’t need to feel condemned for being vaccinated. Vaccination is not a barrier to becoming a Christian. Science is not the enemy of faith.

He looked at me and communicated his understanding with one word, ‘Freedom’. This guy was intelligent. He made the connection that Jesus and the Christian faith are about setting people free to love God, to love their neighbour and to love themselves. (Keep the main thing the main thing.)

Of course, there is much more you could say about Jesus and the gospel but you don’t have to cover everything all at once. Making disciples is a process and you may be just one of the many people God uses in that process. I believe there is still more God wants to do in this man’s life.

For the first eleven disciples, being commissioned by Jesus to go and make disciples of all nations meant actually travelling out from Jerusalem to other countries with the gospel. Does it mean the same for us as well? It might do, but not necessarily.

Obviously, God does still call people to become overseas missionaries. That’s what Arotahi is about. But he is more likely to call you to make disciples in your own neighbourhood; your school, your home, your church or your workplace.

If you are a parent or grandparent, then regularly reading stories about Jesus to your children and grandchildren is the obvious place to start. If you are married to someone who is not yet a disciple of Jesus, then showing your partner in marriage what a follower of Jesus looks like is surely a priority.

If you have the time and skill and desire to work with children or young people, then serving in Kids’ Church or Youth Group is a sensible way to make disciples. Likewise, if you love the Bible and people, then leading a small group Bible study might be one way you carry out Jesus’ great commission.

Or, if you work with someone who is interested in knowing more about Jesus, then embrace the opportunity the Lord has provided. Walk humbly with that person and share the grace and truth God’s Spirit has given you.

Conclusion:

Where are you at in the process of learning to love and obey God?

What are the next steps for you?

May the Lord bless you with wisdom and courage as you go and make disciples. 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 a disciple? What is the goal of Christian discipleship?
  • Where are you at in the process of learning to love and obey God? What are the next steps, for you, in that process?
  • Think of those who have been instrumental in discipling you? What did they do that helped you to love and obey God?
  • What are some of the ways we might make disciples? How do you, personally, work out Jesus’ commission to make disciples?
  • Discuss / reflect on the Engel scale. To what extent do these steps align with your own experience? How is it different? How might the Engel scale help in the process of making disciples? 
  • If you had one minute to talk about your faith with someone who had some awareness of God but little or no experience of Christian faith, what would you say? 
Tawa Baptist

Jesus’ Authority

Scripture: Matthew 28:16-20

Video Link: https://youtu.be/4UlurtIrQV0

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Mountain top moments
  • Worship and doubt
  • All authority
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Today we begin a new sermon series in support of Arotahi.

Arotahi is the new name for the New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society.

Arotahi means to focus in one direction, concentrating on one thing together.

Each year we spend three weeks focusing on the work of our Baptist missionaries working overseas and in New Zealand. We call this three weeks’ focus on mission: Renew Together. (In the past it was called Self Denial.)

Renew Together is about remembering God’s mission of gospel renewal and our part in that mission.

The New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society (NZBMS) began in 1885 with this statement of purpose: “…to fulfill the ‘Great Commission’ of the Lord Jesus Christ in those areas of the world to which He may direct.”

Over the three weeks of this year’s Renew Together campaign we will use the sermon time to focus on Jesus’ great commission. Let us begin then with a reading from Matthew 28, verses 16-20…

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

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

Although this passage of Scripture, is called ‘the great commission’, there’s actually more going on here, including some important things about Jesus’ great authority and Jesus’ great presence. We will get to the commission part of ‘the great commission’ next week. The focus of this week’s message is Jesus’ authority.

Mountain top moments:

I grew up in the city of Hamilton. Unlike Wellington, the Waikato is a relatively flat place. The closest mountain of any significance is Mount Pirongia, about half an hour’s drive west of Hamilton.

It takes four and half hours to walk up Mount Pirongia, give or take. The thing I remember about the climb was the way it just seemed to go on and on and on. You thought you were making progress and then you had to walk down into a saddle, knowing you would have to climb up that distance again.

But just when you think the grind is never going to end, you come around a corner and you are there, at the summit. It’s a mountain top moment.

In general terms, ‘a mountain top moment’ is an expression which means a moment of exhilaration, joy and triumph after achieving a goal.

In spiritual terms though, ‘a mountain top moment’ refers to a significant revelation given by God. It’s a sacred time when you feel especially close to the Lord. Mountain top moments may not last long but they have the feel of eternity, like you are transcending time somehow. They leave a lasting impression.

Mountain top moments are a gift from God; we can’t really conjure them. But, in the Bible at least, they often come after some kind of ordeal.

Abraham had a mountain top moment when the angel of the Lord stopped him from sacrificing Isaac. Moses received the ten commandments on a mountain. And Elijah had a mountain top moment after his confrontation with the prophets of Baal.          

Mountain top moments mark the beginning, middle and end of Jesus’ earthly ministry in the gospel of Matthew. Jesus gives his famous sermon on the mount in Matthew 5. Then, in Matthew 17, we read of Jesus’ transfiguration on a mountain. While, in Matthew 28, the risen Jesus appears to his disciples on a mountain in Galilee.

All of these are special moments of revelation given by God. The sermon on the mount reveals Jesus’ authority in relation to the law. Jesus isn’t just a skillful and wise teacher. He is the one who fulfills God’s law of love on behalf of humanity.

Likewise, the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain reveals Jesus’ authority as God’s representative. Jesus stands glorified alongside two of Israel’s greatest prophets, Moses and Elijah. Then a voice from heaven says of Jesus, ‘This is my Son, listen to him’. Jesus is the one the prophets spoke about.

The appearance of the risen Jesus, on a mountain top in Matthew 28, reveals Jesus’ authority over life and death. Jesus has conquered sin and death through his obedience to God in going to the cross. Jesus has authority to grant eternal life. 

As much as we may enjoy the mountain top moments and wish them to never end, we cannot remain on the mountain indefinitely. The disciples didn’t stay on the mountain top. They came down and went out into the world. In the same way, we must come down the mountain to live our lives on the flat.

Where are you right now? Are you on the mountain top or in the valley? Or somewhere in between? The mountain top may be where we are most aware of God. But really, God is with us wherever we are, even if we feel like we are in the pits.

Worship and doubt:

You’ve probably heard the saying, ‘Keep it real’. It means something like, be honest, don’t lie to yourself, be authentic. Live in your own soul. Be who you are.

The Bible has a way of keeping it real. It is such an honest book. It shows people as they are. It doesn’t gloss over the mess or the complexity that comes with being human. Verse 17 of Matthew 28, keeps things real where it says…

17 When [the disciples] saw [Jesus], they worshiped him; but some doubted. 

What we have here is a very honest picture of the disciples. A mixture of worship and doubt.

These disciples are Jewish and had been raised in the knowledge of the ten commandments, which said you shall worship no other God but Yahweh. The fact that the disciples worshipped Jesus shows they acknowledged his divine authority. After three years of not really understanding who Jesus is, the disciples finally get it. A mountain top moment of divine revelation. 

Matthew could have left out the part about some of the disciples doubting but he chooses to leave it in. And I’m pleased he did. It has the ring of truth to it.

It resonates with our own experience. Matthew is keeping it real.

So what does it mean that some doubted? Well, it is not doubt in the sense of complete disbelief. It is not the intellectual doubt of an atheist. Nor is it the arrogant doubt of those opposed to Jesus, like the religious leaders who believed in God and yet disbelieved that Jesus is the Messiah of God.

No. It is the kind of doubt that puts a person in two minds. It is an honest doubt that says, ‘I want to believe the good news, that Jesus is alive and God loves me, but I have some practical concerns that I find difficult to reconcile.’

We might call it the doubt that seeks integrity. Not the doubt of a closed minded skeptic but the doubt of an open minded seeker of the truth.

Let me offer two examples of how this honest doubt operates.

In the gospel of John, the disciple Thomas refused to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead without physical proof. Thomas wanted to touch Jesus’ wounds. For this he earned the nick name, Doubting Thomas, which is a bit unfair.

When we consider Thomas’ stand on this point we notice a certain thoughtfulness and integrity in the man. He was not willing to simply go along with the crowd. Thomas was in two minds. He wanted to believe Jesus was alive but he had some practical concerns he needed to reconcile and he was being honest about that.

When the risen Jesus did appear to Thomas a week later, Thomas believed and worshipped Jesus. Thomas rightly perceived Jesus’ divine authority. The interesting thing is that of all the disciples, Thomas travelled further with the gospel than anyone else, taking the message about Jesus all the way from Palestine to India.

There is another way to understand the doubt of the disciples in this context. That is: self-doubt. Richard France observes how the disciples were mindful of the way they had deserted Jesus when he needed them most. They were probably feeling a bit embarrassed by their lack of moral fiber.

They may have had no doubt that God had raised Jesus from the dead. What they doubted was themselves. How can I call Jesus, ‘Lord and friend’, when I have let him down so badly? How can I worship Jesus with integrity after my own lack of integrity has been so clearly shown?

You know there are some worship songs I find hard to sing. I am quite comfortable singing about the greatness of God and the worthiness of Jesus to receive all honour, praise and glory. I don’t doubt that God raised Jesus from the dead. That makes perfect sense to me.  

But when the chorus has me singing about what I will do for God or what I will give to God, my confidence evaporates. I doubt myself with good reason. I know my own limitations. What integrity I do have, stops me from making extravagant claims about what I will do for God. Like the first disciples, I worship with doubts about myself.

The good news is that Jesus’ authority is not threatened by the disciples’ doubt. Jesus is not unsettled by your doubts either. Jesus understands our weakness and frailty and is able to work with us.

Verse 18 tells us how Jesus came to the disciples and spoke to them.

Many, many times in Matthew’s gospel we read how people came to Jesus either for help or to question him. But only twice do we read that Jesus came to his disciples. Once, in chapter 17, after his transfiguration and then again in Matthew 28, after his resurrection.

Jesus comes to restore a sense of normality when his disciples are feeling overwhelmed by a supernatural event. [1]

Isn’t that cool. Jesus doesn’t use his authority like a big stick to keep his disciples in fearful submission. Jesus uses his authority to reassure his disciples and to calm their fears. Jesus accepts his disciples, honest doubts and all.

To be accepted by someone in authority is not only a great honour, it also fosters confidence and puts doubt in its place. Jesus’ authority is greater than our doubts and fears.   

The message here is that honest doubt does not exclude you from friendship with Jesus, but cynical doubt will. Know yourself and keep it real with God.

All authority:

Perhaps the clearest indication of Jesus’ authority, in Matthew’s gospel, is found on the lips of Jesus himself, where the Lord says: All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me…

This is both a statement of fact and a reference to the prophet Daniel who foresaw one like a son of man who was given all authority by God Almighty (the Ancient of Days). Jesus is the son of man prophesied by Daniel. Giving all authority to Jesus is something God had planned for centuries.   

One thing we notice here is that Jesus’ authority is universal. Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and earth. This means there is nowhere that Jesus is not in charge. There is no place seen or unseen that is beyond Jesus’ jurisdiction. The risen Jesus is Lord of life and death, of time and eternity, of this world and the next. 

Another thing we notice is how Jesus’ authority is given by God. It is not taken by force. In the same way that love can only be given freely, so too authority is given. Authority that is taken by force is not genuine, it is counterfeit. Jesus’ authority is legitimate because it is given by God Almighty.

Those who are familiar with Matthew’s gospel will understand that the key to Jesus’ authority is found in Jesus’ loving obedience to God the Father.     

In Matthew 4 we read that, when Jesus was being tested in the wilderness, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. ‘All this will be yours’, the devil said, ‘if you bow down and worship me.’

But Jesus refused. Jesus would not betray God nor take the devil’s short cut.

By choosing the longer route of obedience to God the Father, Jesus received all authority in heaven and earth, far more than Satan offered.   

Returning to Matthew 28. In verse 19 Jesus goes on to say…

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 

We will get to the part about ‘making disciples’ next week. Today our focus is the authority of Jesus.

Baptism is the initiation ceremony for Christians. Baptism represents a number of things, including submission to Jesus’ authority. When we are baptized, we are effectively saying; ‘Jesus is my Lord and King, I give my allegiance to Christ and commit myself to obeying him’. 

We also see Jesus’ authority in the baptismal formula he uses. Jesus, the Son, places himself in between God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus is saying, quite clearly here, that he is divine.

Notice though that we are baptized into the name (singular) of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are not baptized into three names but into one name. So God the Father, Son and Spirit are one. There is a mystery to the Trinity that we cannot fully comprehend.  

Conclusion:

Let me leave you with this thought: Jesus, who has been given all authority in heaven and earth, shares his authority with his disciples by commissioning them to make more disciples.

And who are Jesus’ disciples? Is it just the eleven who met him on the mountain 2000 years ago? No. A Christian disciple is anyone who loves and obeys Jesus. So the question is: do we love Jesus enough to do what he says?

May our God of grace bless you with his peace and a deeper awareness of his love. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

  • Why does the risen Jesus meet his disciples on a mountain? What other mountain top moments do we read about in Matthew’s gospel? What do these mountain top experiences say about the authority of Jesus?
  • Have you ever had a mountain top moment (spiritually speaking)? What happened? What impression did you come away with? What change did it make in your life?
  • Why does Matthew include the comment that some of the disciples had doubts? What is the difference between honest doubt and cynical doubt?
  • Do you have doubts? What is the nature of those doubts? How might we best handle our doubts?
  • Where does Jesus’ authority come from? Why did God give all authority in heaven and earth to Jesus?
  • Who does Jesus share his authority with? What might it look like to exercise the authority Jesus shares?

[1] R. France, NICNT Matthew, page 651.

Tawa Baptist

Symbols

Scripture: John 21:1-14 and Isaiah 25:7-8

Audio Link: https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/sermon-recording-4-apr-2021-john-211-14

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Mission
  • Devotion
  • Meal
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

If you have ever been to a Marvel super hero movie (like Guardians of the Galaxy or Thor or the Avengers) then you probably know that, when the movie has finished and the end credits are rolling, there is an extra bonus scene after the credits. Usually this final scene provides some crucial piece of information that sets you up to watch the next movie. It points forward to what’s coming next.

Please turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 21. John 21 is a bit like the last scene after the end credits in a Marvel movie. It’s a kind of epilogue. This is not to imply that chapter 21 is separate or unrelated to the rest of John’s gospel. It is still very integral to the whole. The point is that John 21 has a special role in pointing forward to what comes next. From John 21, verses 1-14, we read…

After this, Jesus appeared once more to his disciples at Lake Tiberias. This is how it happened. 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael (the one from Cana in Galilee), the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples of Jesus were all together. 

3 Simon Peter said to the others, “I am going fishing.”

“We will come with you,” they told him. So they went out in a boat, but all that night they did not catch a thing. 4 As the sun was rising, Jesus stood at the water’s edge, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

 5 Then he asked them, “Young men, haven’t you caught anything?”

“Not a thing,” they answered.

6 He said to them, “Throw your net out on the right side of the boat, and you will catch some.” So they threw the net out and could not pull it back in, because they had caught so many fish.

7 The disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Peter heard that it was the Lord, he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken his clothes off) and jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples came to shore in the boat, pulling the net full of fish. They were not very far from land, about a hundred yards away. 9 When they stepped ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there with fish on it and some bread. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.”

11 Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net ashore full of big fish, a hundred and fifty-three in all; even though there were so many, still the net did not tear. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and eat.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. 13 So Jesus went over, took the bread, and gave it to them; he did the same with the fish.

14 This, then, was the third time Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from death.

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

This scene, from John 21, did not happen on the first Easter Sunday. It happened some weeks later. According to John’s gospel, on the first Easter Sunday, Jesus appeared to Mary and then, later that evening, to the other disciples in Jerusalem.

A week after that Jesus appeared to the disciples again, this time including Thomas, who wasn’t there for Jesus’ first resurrection appearance. Now, in chapter 21, Jesus appears to his disciples a third time. Only they aren’t in Jerusalem anymore. They are in Galilee, about 70 odd miles north of Jerusalem.

We might think the symbol of Christianity is the cross but it wasn’t our first symbol. For people in the first century a cross was an instrument of torture and execution. It was a painful reminder of the threat they lived under. It was not a comfort.

Instead early Christians identified themselves using the symbol of a fish. If you met someone you didn’t know you might find out if they were a believer by drawing the shape of a fish in the dirt with your toe. At a time when Christians were persecuted it was sort of like a secret handshake. These days the fish symbol is a bumper sticker.

John’s gospel is packed full of symbols. There are two main symbols in today’s reading: one is the miraculous catch of fish and the other is the meal afterwards. Both symbols point beyond themselves to something bigger. First let’s consider the miraculous catch which points to Jesus’ mission for the disciples.

Mission:

Most of you have probably heard of the term succession planning. Succession planning is the process of identifying and developing new leaders who can replace the current leaders when they leave or are promoted to glory.

The British monarchy have a very clear succession plan. When the Queen retires or dies, Prince Charles is next in line for the throne and after him Prince William and then Prince George and so on. In the business world, succession planning involves identifying and developing internal people to fill key positions in the organization as these positions become vacant.

Jesus had a succession plan too. Jesus looked to develop internal people (his disciples) to carry on his work after he had ascended to heaven.

Peter and some of those with him were fishermen by trade. They had been up very early (while it was still dark) trying to catch fish. The miracle of Jesus’ resurrection did not do away with the practicalities of life. They still needed to eat.

A man on the shore, who they couldn’t recognize from a 100 yards in the early dawn light, asked if they had caught anything. They replied, they hadn’t. So the man suggested they try throwing their net on the right side of the boat. Perhaps he could see something they couldn’t.

When they did this, they caught so many fish (153 to be precise) they struggled to pull the net in. Even so, the net did not break.

In verse 7 we read: The disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”

This ‘disciple whom Jesus loved’ was most likely John, the author of this gospel. Apparently John recognised the miraculous catch as a symbol of Jesus.

In Luke 5, when Jesus called his first disciples (including Simon Peter, James and John) the Lord told the men to throw their net out again, even though they had caught nothing all night. And, on that occasion, the catch was so large the net began to break. This time though (in John 21) the net does not break.

Various commentators throughout the centuries have suggested some symbolic significance in the number of fish caught. But we shouldn’t try to find a symbolic meaning in everything. Most likely the number 153 simply shows us this was an eye witness account. Fishermen had to count the catch in order to divide it equally with everyone involved.

If anything, the large number of fish points to the abundance and blessing given by the risen Jesus. It is the presence of the risen Christ that makes the difference. What’s more, it is as the disciples, lean not on their own understanding, but instead listen to and obey Jesus, that the fish come in.

The miraculous catch is both a historical fact and a parable (or symbol) of Jesus’ mission for the disciples. Right at the beginning of his ministry, when Jesus first called the fishermen to be his followers, the Lord had said ‘I will make you fishers of men.’ Meaning, you will catch people and bring them into God’s kingdom. This post resurrection miraculous catch is Jesus’ way of reminding the disciples that they are his succession plan.

Matthew’s gospel ends on a similar ‘succession plan’ note, only Matthew puts it more plainly, with Jesus saying: Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…  

Returning to John 21; if the miraculous catch is a parable of Jesus’ mission for the disciples, then the net symbolises the church universal which will not break no matter how much strain it is under. The picture Jesus gives here is full of hope with many entering God’s kingdom, not just a select few.

The image of the disciples catching people to bring them into God’s kingdom shouldn’t be pressed too far though. This is not to imply that new converts are like fish that will be gutted and eaten. No. The point is the fish need to be taken care of. Verse 11 tells us Peter himself dragged the net ashore. We notice that each fish is counted and none are wasted.

We also notice how the metaphor changes to one of shepherding, in the verses that follow, when Jesus takes Peter aside and charges him with responsibility for feeding his lambs. Three times, in verses 15-17 of John 21, Jesus tells Peter to take care of his sheep. This means Jesus wants Peter to look after the people who come into the fold of the church.

Okay, so that’s the first symbol in John 21. The miraculous catch represents Jesus’ mission for the disciples to bring people into God’s kingdom. This catching of people for God’s kingdom happens when the risen Jesus is present and obeyed.

Having said this, it should be noted that as important as Jesus’ mission is, it is not the most important thing. Devotion to Jesus is more important.  

Devotion:

Verse 7 of John 21 gives us an indication of Peter’s devotion. As soon as Peter hears that it is the Lord, he girds his loins, dives into the water and swims ashore to see Jesus. That’s how eager he is to greet Jesus. Peter is more interested in the living Christ than he is in the miraculous catch.

This reminds me of that scene in the movie Forrest Gump, when Forrest is driving his shrimp boat into the harbour and he sees Lieutenant Dan on the wharf. Forrest is so excited to see his old friend he jumps overboard, while the boat is still moving and swims to greet Lieutenant Dan.       

Jump first and deal with the consequences later; that’s classic Peter behaviour. Keen, enthusiastic and committed. The point of application for us is that Jesus doesn’t always choose the best and the brightest to carry out his mission. I think Jesus chose Peter because Peter was devoted to him.

Sometimes in Christian work it can become about us. Maybe we serve in the church to prop up our reputation and make ourselves look good. Or maybe we do outreach work to satisfy some unmet (and unconscious) need within ourselves; to make ourselves feel better. (Like ‘playing Jesus to the lepers in our head’, as Bono would say).

God sees the heart and he knows our true motives, even if we are not fully conscious of this ourselves. For the mahi (work) of mission to be effective our devotion needs to be to Jesus, rather than to the work itself. 

I am thankful for Oswald Chambers who reminds us…

“The greatest competitor of devotion to Jesus is service to Him. It is never ‘Do, do’ with the Lord, but ‘Be, be’ and He will ‘do’ through you.”

This is what Jesus was getting at in John 15 when he said ‘I am the vine. You are the branches. Apart from me you can do nothing.’

The point is: Devotion to Jesus is more important than service to him. Peter may not have been the most skilful or articulate or intelligent of men. But Peter was devoted to Jesus, as his Forrest Gump like dive off the boat to greet Jesus shows. Yes, Peter made some mistakes. He got it wrong sometimes but, because he was devoted to Jesus, he was able to get over himself and move on with Jesus. 

We do well to remember that one day the work of mission will be over but our relationship with Jesus will never end.

If the miraculous catch is a symbol representing Jesus’ mission for the disciples to bring people into God’s kingdom, then the meal that follows points forward to a time when the mission is complete and people of all nations party together with Jesus in the fullness of God’s kingdom.

Meal:

Some of you may have given up something for Lent. Special acts of devotion like this are between you and God.

Maybe you gave up chocolate or coffee or alcohol or swearing or screen time or some other comfort. If you did give up something, then you are probably really looking forward to today, because Easter Sunday is when Lent finishes and you can finally break your fast. Easter Sunday is the day you can finally eat your Easter eggs.

It is significant that the risen Jesus cooks breakfast for the disciples. Breakfast is the first meal of a new day. John 21 describes a new day or a new beginning for the disciples and indeed for the world.

When the disciples step ashore they see that Jesus has already got some bread and fish ready for them. I love the practical thoughtfulness of Jesus here, making a meal for the disciples who were no doubt tired and hungry after a hard day’s night.

This meal of bread and fish reminds us of Jesus multiplying the loaves and fishes in John 6, to feed the multitudes. After that miracle Jesus said, ‘I am the bread of life.’ The risen Jesus sustains those who believe in him with the hope of resurrection to eternal life.

At the same time, Jesus preparing a meal, also reminds us of the heavenly banquet that awaits the faithful. In Isaiah 25 the prophet talks about the Lord Almighty preparing a banquet for all the nations of the world – a banquet of the richest food and the finest wine. Here he will suddenly remove the cloud of sorrow that has been hanging over all the nations. 8 The Sovereign Lord will destroy death forever! He will wipe away the tears from everyone’s eyes and take away the disgrace his people have suffered throughout the world. The Lord himself has spoken.  

Isaiah’s vision of a heavenly meal is a parable or a symbol of what God planned to accomplish through Jesus long ago. To be welcomed to dine with a King is to receive a royal pardon. It is a great honour for it means the King considers you his friend.

But Isaiah’s parable of the banquet goes even further, for it is here that death and sorrow and disgrace are removed forever. We might think of the richest food as a symbol of eternal life and the finest wine as a symbol of everlasting joy.

Jesus fulfils this prophecy of Isaiah. Jesus’ resurrection is both a historical fact and a living symbol. Jesus’ resurrection is the first taste, the deposit if you like, guaranteeing God’s promise to destroy death and wipe away every tear.

Now while the breakfast by the Sea of Galilee is not the actual banquet Isaiah had in mind, Jesus preparing a meal for his disciples like this foreshadows Isaiah’s vision of God preparing a meal for humanity in the fullness of His kingdom.

In verse 12 of John 21 Jesus invites the disciples to, ‘Come and eat.’ Apparently the disciples were slow to come for verse 13 tells us Jesus went over, took some bread and gave it to them. Then he did the same with the fish. In other words, Jesus served his disciples.

I wonder if the disciples appreciated what Jesus was doing for them in that moment? Probably not at the time but I imagine afterwards they did. It seems the disciples were all a bit overwhelmed. Verse 12 goes on to say that none of the disciples dared ask, ‘Who are you?’ because they knew it was the Lord.

Perhaps the reality of Jesus’ resurrection was still sinking in. Perhaps also the risen Jesus did not look exactly the same as the pre-risen Jesus. We cannot expect someone to be the same after they have been through death and come out the other side.

Conclusion:

The miraculous catch, in John 21, is a symbol of Jesus’ mission for the disciples to catch an abundance of people and bring them into God’s kingdom.

But to be fruitful in carrying out Jesus’ mission we must be more devoted to Jesus himself than to his work. 

Likewise, the meal of bread and BBQ fish points forward to that day in God’s kingdom when the King Himself will serve the nations of the world with a royal pardon, with honour and with eternal life.  

We are all invited to that banquet. Will you come?     

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?

  • Put yourself in the shoes of the disciples in John 21. How do you feel seeing the risen Jesus? What would be going through your mind? What would you like to say to Jesus?
  • What is the meaning of the miraculous catch of fish? What is Jesus communicating to his disciples through this symbol?
  • Where does your greatest devotion lie? Are you more devoted to Jesus or to the work he has given you to do?
  • Why does Jesus prepare breakfast for his disciples? How does this meal connect with the bigger picture of the Biblical story?
  • John 21:1-14 sounds a number of symbols of hope. Discuss / reflect on the hope implied in these verses.  
Tawa Baptist

Both / And

Scripture: Mark 6:6b-13

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Rejection and expansion
  • Powerful and vulnerable
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Some things in life are both/and, while other things are either/or. Some things go together and other things don’t.

For example: bread and butter, love and marriage, worship and sacrifice, breathing and singing, creativity and mess. These sorts of things are both/and, they go together.   

Then there are those things which are either/or, things that should never really be put together. Like ice-cream and vegemite…

Now, at this point, some of you may be thinking, ‘Wait a second. This sounds familiar. I’m pretty sure we heard this last Sunday.’

Well, fear not. This is not ground hog day. You are not going to get the same message two weeks in a row.

Last week we heard about the either/or of Jesus’ earthly mission. How Jesus’ new way of doing things cannot be patched on to the old Jewish ceremonial law. This morning we hear about the both/and of Jesus’ mission. 

Today marks the third week of the annual Tranzsend prayer and self-denial campaign. Tranzsend is the sending and resourcing arm of the New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society. For the three Sundays of the self-denial campaign we have looked at different aspects of Jesus’ mission from the gospel of Mark.

Please turn with me to Mark chapter 6, page 53, near the back of your pew Bibles. In this reading Jesus sends out 12 of his disciples to help him in his mission work of preaching and healing. From Mark 6, verse 6b we read…

Then Jesus went to the villages around there, teaching the people. 7 He called the twelve disciples together and sent them out two by two. He gave them authority over the evil spirits 8 and ordered them, “Don’t take anything with you on the trip except a walking stick—no bread, no beggar’s bag, no money in your pockets. 9 Wear sandals, but don’t carry an extra shirt.” 10 He also said, “Wherever you are welcomed, stay in the same house until you leave that place. 11 If you come to a town where people do not welcome you or will not listen to you, leave it and shake the dust off your feet. That will be a warning to them!”

12 So they went out and preached that people should turn away from their sins. 13 They drove out many demons, and rubbed olive oil on many sick people and healed them.

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

In this Scripture passage we note two both/ands. Jesus’ mission involves both rejection & expansion and Jesus’ missionaries are both powerful & vulnerable.

Rejection & expansion:

Has anyone here not heard of the name Google? [Wait] That’s what I thought.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin were still studying at Stanford University when they tried to sell their idea for $1,000,000 to George Bell, the CEO of Excite.

George Bell rejected their offer. Five months later two other companies agreed to inject $25,000,000 into Google, not as a buy-out but simply as an investment. The rest is history. Now Google has a market value of over one trillion dollars.   

Van Gogh, a now famous and celebrated painter, faced a lot of rejection in his lifetime. He didn’t start painting until he was 27 years old and, while he was alive, he only sold one piece for very little money.

Van Gogh’s work was often criticised for being too dark but despite the lack of encouragement he kept painting, eventually producing over 900 pieces. His work wasn’t really appreciated until decades after his death. In 2017 a Van Gogh painting sold for $111 million.

In 1919 Walt Disney was fired from one of his first animation jobs. The editor said he lacked imagination and had no good ideas. Walt responded to that rejection by starting his own animation studio. It went bankrupt in 1923. But that did not deter him. Walt and his brother moved to Hollywood and started Disney Brothers Studios which is pretty big now.

Colonel Sanders, the founder of KFC, was fired from a number of jobs before he started cooking chicken at the age of 40. It took him over 10 years to perfect his secret recipe. He was rejected many times before finding a business partner. Now KFC is one of the world’s largest restaurant chains.

Stephen King, the famous author, struggled to write his first novel (Carrie) while living in a caravan and teaching English. That first book was rejected by 30 publishers before it finally went to print. Since then he has published more than 50 novels.

I could go on but the point is, each of these people persevered. They were not deterred by rejection and their work and enterprise eventually flourished. Their stories show us that rejection and expansion are not necessarily either/or, they can be both/and.

Our Bible reading today describes the expansion of Jesus’ mission, as the Lord sends out 12 of his disciples to preach and heal in the surrounding villages of Galilee. But immediately before today’s passage, Jesus was rejected by the people of his home town of Nazareth. From verse 1 of Mark 6 we read…

Jesus left that place and went back to his hometown, followed by his disciples. 2 On the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue. Many people were there; and when they heard him, they were all amazed. “Where did he get all this?” they asked. “What wisdom is this that has been given him? How does he perform miracles? 3 Isn’t he the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters living here?” And so they rejected him.

4 Jesus said to them, “Prophets are respected everywhere except in their own hometown and by their relatives and their family.”

5 He was not able to perform any miracles there, except that he placed his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 He was greatly surprised, because the people did not have faith.

Despite the rejection he faced, Jesus’ belief in himself and his mission was stronger than the opinion of others and he did not dwell on it or take it too personally. He figured the problem was with their perception, not with him. People are sometimes blind to what is staring them in the face.

In any case, Jesus responded to that rejection by empowering his disciples and expanding his mission.

Verse 12 tells us the disciples went out and preached that people should turn away from their sins. Their message was quite challenging. No one likes to be criticised. It was inevitable that some would reject their word.

With this in mind Jesus tells his disciples, in verse 11, how they should deal with rejection saying,

“If you come to a town where people do not welcome you or will not listen to you, leave it and shake the dust off your feet…”

In other words, don’t let it get to you. Don’t waste your time banging your head against a brick wall. Shake it off and move on without making too much of a fuss. There will be other people and places who do accept the message.

Rosalie Macgeorge, New Zealand’s first Baptist missionary faced some rejection in her work in India. It was tough going. While some did not mind her Bible teaching there were others who asked her, ‘Do you intend to teach that Jesus is the Son of God?’ When she said ‘Yes,’ they said point blank, ‘We don’t want you.’

The men grew noisy and vehement.  But Rosalie quietly and bravely held her ground. She said a Bengali hymn and gave out tracts, offered to come into the homes and talk to the women if they invited her.  During this tense moment, Rosalie asked to be allowed through the crowd and walked away quietly, followed by the children.

Soon she had permission to enter 30 homes weekly where there were about three women in each. God’s Spirit is able to turn rejection into expansion.

All of this is easier said than done. Rejection still hurts. Some personality types can more easily shake it off and move on. Others are more prone to brooding and feeling defeated. This may be one reason why Jesus sent the disciples out in twos, rather than on their own. Having someone beside you helps to remove the sting of rejection and keeps you both on track.

So that’s our first both/and. Jesus’ mission involves both rejection and expansion. Our next both/and seems just as unlikely. The disciples were both powerful and vulnerable at the same time.   

Powerful & vulnerable:

Some of you may be in to superhero movies. The thing with superheroes is they each have a special power, whether that’s x-ray vision or flying or running really fast or invisibility or super strength or whatever.

There’s a scene in the movie Justice League when the Flash asks Bruce Wayne (aka: Batman) what his superpower is and Bruce says, “I’m rich.” Power comes in a variety forms.

Whether you are a DC fan or a Marvel fan, probably at some point you have dreamt of having a superpower.

In verse 7 we read that Jesus gave the twelve authority (or power) over the evil spirits. It was like Jesus shared some of his superpowers with his disciples. Or to use another metaphor, it was like Jesus was the sheriff and he deputised his disciples by giving them a spiritual badge and gun.

Then in verse 13 we are told the disciples drove out many demons and healed many people who were sick. Clearly the disciples were powerful. But it was a power borrowed from Jesus.

Acts of power in mission can come in a variety of forms, not always miraculous. Quite often mission power comes in the form of some special knowledge. Missionaries often serve as teachers or doctors or nurses or builders because these professions carry the power of knowledge to help people.

Rosalie Macgeorge’s main superpower was teaching English. She was also gifted in working with children. But on one occasion she saved a child from a snake bite through her quick thinking and practical first aid.    

Sometimes when I’m at the supermarket buying groceries, I get an electric shock picking canned goods off the shelf. Not sure why that is. I guess there’s some power that needs to be earthed and I’m effectively the earth wire. Happens on trampolines too.

If power is not earthed with a low resistance wire, the one touching the power source is vulnerable to getting a shock. In order for power to be safe it needs to be earthed.     

Jesus’ approach was very down to earth. Jesus’ instructions to his disciples, in verses 8-10, provide an earth. They keep the disciples’ feet on the ground…  

“Don’t take anything with you on the trip except a walking stick—no bread, no beggar’s bag, no money in your pockets. 9 Wear sandals, but don’t carry an extra shirt.” 10 He also said, “Wherever you are welcomed, stay in the same house until you leave that place.

Jesus is basically telling his disciples to travel light. Take only what you need and rely on the hospitality of strangers. This is not a rule to be followed for all time irrespective of the circumstances. No. These are specific instructions for a specific situation. This is a short term mission trip in a cultural context quite different from our own. Later, in the gospels Jesus tells his disciples to kit up and be self-reliant because people are not going to be friendly to them. [1] 

Thinking of the context of Mark 6, in that culture it was not the responsibility of the travelers to find their own accommodation, like it is today. Rather, it was the responsibility of the village to find accommodation for the visitor. If the village failed to provide hospitality to those in need, then it brought shame on the people in that village.

Nevertheless, there is a certain powerlessness or vulnerability to Jesus’ approach here. The disciples are being sent out into the world without any money or food or motel bookings.

Jesus wants his disciples to trust themselves to God and to the goodness of those they visit. In this way they are showing faith in humanity. Or said another way, they are modelling the example they want others to follow. Jesus wants people to respond to him and his message with openness and trust.

The disciples are to stay in the same house until they leave. This is about showing respect to the host and not dishonouring them by leaving if you get a better offer.

Living with the locals also helped the missionary disciples to get to know the people of that place and their ways. There is nothing like living with real people (as opposed to staying in a hotel) to keep one earthed and grounded.

Rosalie Macgeorge took a similar approach during her time as a missionary in India. She chose to live with a Hindu family and earned her keep by teaching some of them English and other subjects. This enabled her to understand the culture more.

The word vulnerability is interesting. It derives from the Latin word vulnus which means wound. To be vulnerable is to leave oneself open to injury. It may also mean letting people see our wounds. When you let people see your wounds (your vulnerability) this helps to create trust.

Of course, being vulnerable requires some wisdom. You don’t make yourself vulnerable to everyone and showing people your wounds is not normally the first thing you do in building a relationship. Share, don’t scare.  

Again, Rosalie Macgeorge’s story is instructive. Rosalie’s witness was most powerful when she was vulnerable with an illness and living with a Hindu family. One evening a small boy peered into Rosalie’s room and saw her praying to her God. When Rosalie asked her house owner for some goat’s milk she carefully checked that the woman’s child would not receive less milk because of her. The boy saw this and later, as a grown man, became a Christian.   

Henri Nouwen used to talk about the followers of Jesus being wounded healers.

Nouwen writes: “The great illusion of leadership is to think that humanity can be led out of the desert by someone who has never been there.” When people have seen the scars you got from being in the desert, but also that you survived and found a way out, that speaks volumes.

If we try to separate vulnerability from power, it doesn’t usually end well. Straight after this account of Jesus empowering his disciples and sending them out in vulnerability we read the account of king Herod killing John the Baptist.

Herod had power but he wasn’t prepared to be vulnerable, at least not in the right way. Sadly, as a consequence, John lost his head.    

Conclusion:

What is your superpower? What special gift has Jesus shared with you to help others? And what is your vulnerability? What is the wound that keeps you earthed (grounded) so that others don’t get a shock when they touch your power?

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?

  • Have you had an experience of being rejected (perhaps because of your faith)? What happened? How did you feel? How did you respond? Would you do anything differently? How did God expand (or bring good out of) that experience?
  • Why did Jesus instruct his disciples not to take money or food or an extra coat?
  • If you could choose a superpower, what would it be? Why? What power (or special ability/gift) has God given you? How can (or do) you use this power?
  • What is your point of vulnerability? What is the wound that keeps you earthed so that others don’t get a shock when they touch your power?
  • When is it appropriate to make oneself vulnerable? When is it not appropriate?
  • Today’s message touches on two both/ands of Jesus’ mission. What other both/ands can you see in these verses?  

[1] Refer Luke 22:36

Tawa Baptist

24 Hours

Scripture: Mark 1:21-39

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Communicating with confidence
  • Caring with wisdom
  • Communing with God
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

There are 24 hours in a day. That’s 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds.

How do you spend that time?

The answer will differ from person to person and from day to day of course but if we say the average person works 8 hours, sleeps for 8 hours, spends about 2 hours eating & drinking, around 2 hours shopping or doing housework, maybe 30 minutes to an hour on personal care (depending how long you take in the shower and how many times you have to go to the toilet), and say 30 minutes to an hour travelling places. Then that leaves maybe 2-3 hours of spare time. The remains of the day.

Today marks the beginning of the annual Tranzsend prayer and self-denial campaign. Tranzsend is the sending and resourcing arm of the New Zealand Baptist missionary society. In two weeks’ time, on the 28 March, we plan to collect a special offering to support the work of New Zealand Baptist missionaries. On the table in the foyer are some A5 sized brochures explaining a little about Tranzsend, with a detachable bookmark to remind us to pray for our mission workers. You are welcome to take one per household after the service.

Please turn with me to Mark chapter 1, verse 21, page 45 near the back of your pew Bibles. For the three Sundays of the self-denial campaign we plan to look at different aspects of Jesus’ mission from the gospel of Mark. In this morning’s message we read how Jesus spent 24 hours, one day, near the beginning of his ministry. From Mark 1, verse 21, we read…

21 Jesus and his disciples came to the town of Capernaum, and on the next Sabbath Jesus went to the synagogue and began to teach. 22 The people who heard him were amazed at the way he taught, for he wasn’t like the teachers of the Law; instead, he taught with authority.

23 Just then a man with an evil spirit in him came into the synagogue and screamed, 24 “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Are you here to destroy us? I know who you are—you are God’s holy messenger!”

25 Jesus ordered the spirit, “Be quiet, and come out of the man!”

26 The evil spirit shook the man hard, gave a loud scream, and came out of him. 27 The people were all so amazed that they started saying to one another, “What is this? Is it some kind of new teaching? This man has authority to give orders to the evil spirits, and they obey him!”

28 And so the news about Jesus spread quickly everywhere in the province of Galilee.

29 Jesus and his disciples, including James and John, left the synagogue and went straight to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30 Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a fever, and as soon as Jesus arrived, he was told about her. 31 He went to her, took her by the hand, and helped her up. The fever left her, and she began to wait on them.

32 After the sun had set and evening had come, people brought to Jesus all the sick and those who had demons. 33 All the people of the town gathered in front of the house. 34 Jesus healed many who were sick with all kinds of diseases and drove out many demons. He would not let the demons say anything, because they knew who he was.

35 Very early the next morning, long before daylight, Jesus got up and left the house. He went out of the town to a lonely place, where he prayed. 36 But Simon and his companions went out searching for him, 37 and when they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.”

38 But Jesus answered, “We must go on to the other villages around here. I have to preach in them also, because that is why I came.”

39 So he travelled all over Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and driving out demons.

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

I’m not sure this was a typical day for Jesus but it was certainly a full day. At a guess he might have spent about 6 hours communicating with people, maybe 6 hours caring for people and probably around 6 hours communing with God. Which left him with roughly 6 hours for everything else, like eating, sleeping, walking, washing and toileting. 

It’s impossible to be certain about these numbers but what we do know for sure is there was no screen time in Jesus’ day.

I don’t hold this pattern up as an example for us to follow necessarily. Most days we should be aiming for more than 3 or 4 hours sleep. If you tried to follow Jesus’ example in Mark 1 every day you would soon burn out.

The point is, Jesus’ mission appears to have consisted of three main things: communicating with people, caring for people and communing with God. First let us consider Jesus’ communication. Jesus communicated with confidence.

Communicating with confidence:

When I pack the car to go away on holiday I always put the larger, less flexible, items in first. So the suitcases and chilli bin go in before anything else. If I can get the suitcases in, then I have confidence I can fit everything else in as well. Shoes and sleeping bags and raincoats and miscellaneous stuff like that can squeeze in the corners and gaps.

Communicating is like packing a car. Some topics are more important than others and if they are left unsaid that’s like leaving the suitcase of essential items behind. But once you have said the big stuff, the stuff that is weighing heavy on your mind, then you can have confidence that the other things will fit as well. The less bulky topics of conversation can be fitted in around the main suitcases.

There may be something important your family needs to discuss. You don’t try talking about those big issues when you are in a rush trying to get everyone off to school in the morning. You wait until a time when you can all sit down together, around the table at dinner, to talk things through in an unhurried way.

By the same token there are often little gaps in the day when you are walking or driving somewhere and are able to say something small but significant. How was your day at school? How was that meeting at work? Do we need milk? Life has felt quite full lately. Shall we try and get away this weekend?

I remember the day Robyn and I were married. We were being driven by a friend of my grandfather’s, Mr Ken Pike. Ken was a lovely guy and he used the time to make conversation with us. One of the things he said was, ‘Never let the sun go down on an argument.’ In other words, make it a priority to communicate. Don’t let the seed of bitterness or resentment take hold. 

A big part of Jesus’ mission was to deliver a message; a suitcase of ideas if you like. He needed to make sure that packing that suit case in the boot of people’s minds was his priority.

I estimated before that about 6 hours of Jesus’ day was spent communicating. Some of that would have been formal public speaking, when Jesus preached in the synagogue in the morning. That was like the suitcase that he had to get in first.

But much of the communication would have been informal personal conversations with people, perhaps while he was walking to and from the synagogue or while he was having lunch at Simon & Andrew’s place.

Some of those informal conversations would have been significant but Jesus had to get the suitcase of preaching & teaching in first. His suitcase of ideas set the agenda for the little conversations that squeezed in the gaps of the day. Indeed, Jesus’ suitcase of teaching has set the agenda for the past 2000 years.     

Today’s Scripture passage doesn’t tell us exactly what the content of Jesus’ preaching and conversation was but we get an idea from reading all four gospels. Probably it was about the Kingdom of God, the centrality of love, the dynamic between repentance and forgiveness, the importance of grace and the need for faith.

At this stage, Mark is more interested in pointing out that Jesus communicated and taught with authority. I take this to mean that Jesus spoke with confidence. Jesus’ words were original, they were his own words and ideas, and not someone else’s. More than that though, Jesus’ words had the ring of truth. They were not light weight. They had a substance and meaning that resonated in people’s hearts, minds and experience. Jesus’ words carried an eternal significance.

Verse 22 says that people were amazed at the way Jesus taught. Unfortunately, amazement is not really an adequate response. The obedience of faith is a better response to Jesus. In other words, we need to move beyond amazement to trust. The kind of trust that is willing to put Jesus’ words into action. When we do that, understanding follows. Not just understanding what Jesus’ words mean but understanding who Jesus is.

Last week we heard the story of Rosalie Macgeorge, the first New Zealand Baptist missionary. Rosalie left New Zealand in 1886 to reach women in Bengal. Most of her mission work centred around communication. She spent her first two years learning the language and most of the next two and half years talking to women and children about Jesus and the Bible. It was hard graft.

Communicating who Jesus is along with the content of the Christian faith is not easy in our land today. Like Rosalie Macgeorge and other overseas missionaries, we have to learn the language of contemporary New Zealand society. We have to find words and stories that are original and authentic to who we are. Words that relate and resonate with people.

It seems the church has lost something of its authority too. That means we have to build trust and confidence in the gospel by living the message we preach.

Caring with wisdom:

If the message Jesus preached was the suitcase, then Jesus’ wise care for people puts handles on that suitcase. Communicating and caring go together.

In today’s reading from Mark 1 we are told Jesus did two main things to demonstrate his care for people. Jesus cast out demons and he healed the sick. In other words, he cleansed people and made them functional again.

Ironically the demons recognised who Jesus was (the Holy One of God) but Jesus silenced them. Jesus did not give the demons an audience. It is not for evil spiritual beings to dictate the agenda.

People these days, people like us in the Western world, are heavily influenced by a materialistic mind-set. We find it difficult to accept anything non-material or non-physical. The fact remains there is a spiritual realm all around us which we don’t see but which is nevertheless very real. Christian mission is engagement in a spiritual war.

It’s not that Jesus or his followers go out looking for a fight. Rather, when one proclaims truth and does good, evil reacts in a defensive way. As Bono says: ‘Darkness gathers around the light’.

Once again Mark emphasises Jesus’ authority. After seeing Jesus cast out a demon the people in the synagogue remark how even the evil spirits obey Jesus.

Following the morning synagogue service (which was sort of like Jewish church) Jesus goes to Simon and Andrew’s house for lunch. As soon as he arrives Jesus is told that Simon’s mother-in-law is sick in bed with a fever. Without saying a word Jesus takes the woman by the hand and the fever leaves her. In this case Jesus is not casting out a demon, he is healing a physical illness.       

The woman responds to Jesus’ care for her by showing care for him and serving them lunch. As is so often the case in the Bible, it is a woman who shows us the right kind of response. We are saved to serve.

After sunset the people of Capernaum brought to Jesus those who were sick or demon possessed and Jesus cleansed and healed them. The people waited until sunset because it had been the Sabbath day, a sacred day of rest, and the Sabbath ended at sunset.

By this stage it was after six at night. I imagine Jesus was quite tired and yet he summoned the energy to care for people where they were at.

A couple of things we note about Jesus’ care for people. Firstly, it was personal or one to one. Jesus did not apply a one size fits all protocol or procedure. He didn’t perform a mass healing. He dealt with people on an individual basis. This means he treated each person according to their need. The man screaming in the synagogue received a different kind of care to Simon’s mother-in-law who had a fever.

Dealing with people on a one to one basis like this is not efficient. It is time consuming. But it also makes the person receiving the care feel particularly loved and special. 

The other thing we note is that Jesus’ care for people was wise. Although Mark doesn’t put a great focus on the wisdom of Jesus’ care we know from a wider reading of the gospels that Jesus cared in a wise way, a discerning way.

Jesus had the ability to accurately diagnose the problem at a glance. So his care was wise in that it treated the cause of the issue. We also know that Jesus was careful not to create dependencies. Jesus empowered people to be restored to inter-dependent relationships with others in the community.

The key to caring for people in a wise way is understanding what the individual can and can’t do for themselves. Jesus did not do everything for a person. Jesus’ care addressed the thing that person could not do for themselves. That’s wise. That’s empowering care.    

We are not all able to do great things. We might not have the ability to drive out demons or heal people miraculously, like Jesus did, but we do have the capacity to care in practical ways, like Peter’s mother-in-law did when she waited on Jesus. Often it is simple acts of care and concern (small things done with great love) that communicate most powerfully the Christian message that God is love.

You may remember, from last Sunday, the power of Rosalie Macgeorge’s care. How when she asked for some goat’s milk for herself, she made sure the mother would not reduce the small boy’s share of milk. And how this impressed the small boy so much that, as a grown man, he later became a follower of Jesus.

After a full and busy day of communicating with and caring for people, Jesus spends probably the better part of six hours communing with God.        

Communing with God:

In the old days of sailing, before satellite navigation and radar technology, sea captains set their course by the stars and by hand drawn maps. If you were heading for a small group of islands in the pacific you had to be pretty accurate with your bearings or you could easily sail right past the very place you needed to stop for water and provisions.

Navigating by the stars meant staying up late at night. We don’t know what time Jesus got to bed that evening. If people didn’t start turning up at Simon’s house until 6pm, then they probably didn’t leave until maybe 10 or 11pm. Verse 35 tells us that Jesus got up very early the next day, long before daylight. If daylight was around 6am then that means Jesus was up in the early hours of the morning, maybe 1 or 2am. That doesn’t leave much time for sleeping.

Verse 35 tells us that Jesus went out of town to a lonely place, where he prayed. On this occasion at least, Jesus felt that communing with his heavenly Father was more important than sleep.   

We know from reading the other gospels that Jesus often went off by himself to pray and commune with God. However, Mark’s gospel only mentions three occasions. Here at the beginning of his public mission, then in the middle of his ministry (after the feeding of the multitudes), and finally in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before his crucifixion.

Each of these three times marks a significant stage in Jesus’ journey to the cross. On each occasion Jesus needed to keep his perspective and get a bearing (not from the stars) but from God.

Mark chapter 1 describes the beginning of Jesus’ mission and the passage we heard this morning describes one day in particular when Jesus became famous and popular. The risk with popularity and fame is that one can be carried away by the adulation of the crowd and, in the process, lose perspective and direction.

Just as the sea captains of old needed to get up in the middle of the night to navigate by the stars, Jesus needed to spend time communing with God, in prayer, in order to stay on track and not lose his way.

The band Six60 have a song ‘Don’t forget your roots my friend’. It’s about remembering where you come from, who you are and where you belong. It’s about staying on track through life and not losing your way.

Taking time apart to commune with God was Jesus’ way of remembering his roots and his purpose. God the Father is Jesus’ roots and bringing in God’s kingdom (His reign) was Jesus’ purpose.

In order to stay true to God and his mission, Jesus needed to keep moving around preaching the Kingdom of God to other people. He could not allow himself to be side tracked or domesticated by the people of Capernaum. Jesus was not a people pleaser. He was a God pleaser. It made him unpopular and misunderstood at times but it resulted in our salvation.   

In some ways this single verse about Jesus going to a lonely place to pray is really frustrating. I want to know how Jesus did it. How did he get close to God? How did he find that intimacy of communing with God? How did Jesus hear God’s voice with such clarity and find his direction? Mark doesn’t give us an answer. Jesus’ communion with God is cloaked in mystery

All we know is that it involves slowing down and setting apart time (a decent amount of quality time) to be with God. Now, in my experience, setting apart sacred time to listen to God does not automatically guarantee that you will hear God speak. Sometimes you hear God clearly and sometimes you don’t.

Whether you hear from God or not, there is still value in making time for him. If nothing else, it restores our perspective and reminds us that we are not in control. God is. 

Conclusion:

This morning we have heard about three aspects of Jesus’ mission: communicating the suitcase of God’s message with confidence, caring for people with wisdom and making time to commune with God.

Communicating, caring and communing. These are not three separate things. They are all inter-related and overlapping. Caring for people gives credibility to our communication of the gospel message. And communing with God keeps us faithful to God’s mission and message.

The other thing that needs to be acknowledged is that Jesus is out of our league. Compared to us Jesus is a spiritual superman. He was able to do what he did as an individual but we can’t. We need to take a team approach to mission. We shouldn’t try to do it all on our own.

Whenever someone is baptised I’m conscious of the many people who have contributed to that person’s decision to be baptised. Whenever someone becomes a Christian it is usually because more than one person has cared for them and communicated to them the love and truth of Jesus in different ways.

It is God’s mission and it is our part to be available to serve him as He requires. In order to serve most effectively we need to stay close to God. We need to be still and commune with him.   

The musicians will come now and lead us in the song: Be still and know…

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?

  • How do you spend your time in an average day?
  • What was the communication like in your home growing up? What is it like now? Are you happy with your communication? If not, what would you like to change? 
  • How often is Jesus (and his ideas) in your conversation?
  • In what ways was Jesus’ care wise? Who do you provide care for and how do you do this? 
  • Why did Jesus sacrifice sleep (at the end of a long and tiring day) to commune with God? Why is it important for us to make time to be with God? 
  • Thinking of the three aspects of Jesus’ mission (communication, caring and communing) which do you think you are strong in? Which aspect(s) do you need to develop?
  • What is your part in God’s mission?    
Tawa Baptist

Mirrors & Reflections

Scriptures: Genesis 1:26-27; John 1:14-18; John 15:8 & 2 Corinthians 4:6-15

Title: Mirrors and reflections

Key Idea: Our mission is to glorify God and be a blessing to His world

Later this morning, during the AGM, we plan to quiz you on the content of the Annual Report – I’ve got a warm-up question for you now

  • What did I see as I walked the streets of Tawa early in June this year?
  • [Wait] That’s right. A kowhai tree

Kowhai 1

And what was significant about this tree?

  • It was in full flower at the beginning winter; 3 months earlier than usual

The tree, which was on Lincoln Ave, was full of Tui (I counted at least seven) all feeding off the nectar of the flowers

  • I stood and watched the Tui in the kowhai tree for nearly 10 minutes
  • It was a beautiful sight, a glorious sight, and I found myself quietly praising God under my breath
  • The kowhai tree was a blessing to the Tui and a blessing to me

This morning, because it’s AGM Sunday, we are taking a break from our sermon series in Ephesians to focus on our church’s mission

For many years now we have expressed the church’s mission with the words:

  • To glorify God and be a blessing to His world
  • I don’t talk about this very much and probably should put it before you more often than I have – but there it is

 

To glorify God, means to show others what God is like

  • To reflect His good character
  • To praise His name and give God the credit or the honour

To be a blessing, means to communicate through word and deed something of God’s love and truth and presence to others

  • To do something that enhances someone’s else’s well-being

‘Glorifying God’ and ‘being a blessing’ are two sides of the same coin

  • When we glorify God by showing others God’s grace and truth, His justice and mercy, the world is blessed

This statement also reminds us that our mission is to God’s world

  • The church does not exist only for itself
  • We are here both for those within the church and those outside of it
  • So it’s not all about us
  • Our purpose, our ‘why’, our reason for being is God and the world

 

Some of you may be wondering, where did this mission statement come from?

  • Well, it comes from the Bible and from Christian tradition
  • The shorter Westminster catechism sounds similar a note where it says: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”
  • The people who penned that were drawing from the meta narrative (the big story) of the Bible when they wrote

Right throughout the Bible we read about God’s glory and the role of God’s people in mediating His blessing

Ask for a volunteer

  • All you need to do is stand at the front here with your back to the audience. You don’t need to say anything and you can’t turn around

Position myself with a mirror facing the volunteer so the congregation can see the face of the volunteer reflected in the mirror.

Put up your hand if you can see [volunteer’s] face reflected in the mirror

  • What if I do this with the mirror – can you see now?
  • Try the mirror in a variety of positions and get the congregation’s feedback
  • What if the mirror was all dirty? You wouldn’t be able to see as clearly

Okay, thanks, you can sit down now

At the beginning of the Bible, in Genesis chapter 1, we read… 

Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness… So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them.

Our purpose as human beings is to glorify God

  • To glorify God means to show others what God is like
  • God created us to be like mirrors – to reflect His image to all of creation,
  • Sort of like the mirror reflected [volunteer’s] image so you could see her face
  • In practical terms this means that God wants us to shows others what His kindness and love and forgiveness and truth and care is like

Unfortunately, the mirror of our lives gets a bit dirty sometimes or it’s pointing in the wrong direction so we don’t reflect God’s image very well

  • When that happens we need to clean the mirror and reposition it

There are many stories in the Bible of how God has elected certain people to glorify Himself and be a blessing to His world

  • For example, the Lord said to Abraham, “…all peoples on earth will be blessed through you,”
  • God’s plan was for Abraham’s descendants, the nation of Israel, to show the other nations of the world what God is like and, in so doing, enhance their well-being
  • God gave Israel His law (the 10 commandments and so forth) to reveal His goodness and justice
  • Sometimes Israel managed to glorify God and be a blessing, and other times they failed miserably
  • Eventually, when the time was right, God sent His Son, Jesus, to show us how it is done. From the gospel of John chapter 1 we read about Jesus…

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth… From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

In other words, Jesus glorifies God

  • Jesus shows us, better than anyone or anything else, what God is like
  • Jesus fulfils the purpose of humanity in being the perfect image of God
  • And therefore we need to look to Jesus to see what God is like and to see how to be human

As well as a mission statement our church also has a vision statement

  • A vision is a picture of what we are aiming for
  • If our mission statement is about purpose, then our vision statement is about hope
  • Why are we here? To glorify God and be a blessing to His world
  • What does that look like? It looks like Jesus; or as we phrase it, Christ in community.
  • We don’t have time this morning to explore what we mean by Christ in community, suffice to say that Jesus shows us how to glorify God and be a blessing to the world

 

Now it is important to understand that there is nothing we can do to add to God’s glory – His glory is perfect or complete already

  • God doesn’t need us to fill up the tank of His ego
  • Or to make Him look good – he already looks good
  • We can’t improve on His perfection

 

  • We are the mirror – the mirror doesn’t add anything to the image, it simply reflects what is already there

So when we talk about glorifying God we really mean reflecting or revealing the goodness of God that has always been there since before creation

In the same vein of thought, there is nothing we can do to create or manufacture blessing

  • In blessing others, we are simply passing on the blessings we ourselves have received from God – we are paying it forward

Lift up a plate covered with a tea-towel

  • I have here a plate with a number of items on it
  • You can’t see what is on this plate because it is covered with a tea towel
  • Would anyone like to guess what is on this plate? [Wait]
  • Okay, they were interesting guesses.
  • Let’s see what actually is on the plate [remove the tea towel]
  • It’s a fruit platter: we’ve got an apple, a banana, a mandarin, a lemon and a kiwifruit

Glorifying God is like removing the tea towel to reveal what God is like underneath; removing the tea towel doesn’t add anything to the plate it just shows people what’s there

  • God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and quick to forgive and a whole lot of other really wholesome things besides

Now, imagine you’ve never tasted any of these kinds of fruit before

  • I could try to explain to you what the fruit tastes like, by saying its yummy, or its sweet or its juicy, but you wouldn’t really understand, not until you tasted the fruit for yourself
  • People taste what God is like when they experience Jesus through us
  • Our lives are like the plate that holds or displays the fruit of God’s goodness

In John 15, Jesus says to his disciples…

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit…

Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing…

My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

The kind of fruit I believe Jesus had in mind here includes things like: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control

  • When people see and taste that kind of fruit in our lives they are blessed and God is glorified; much like the Tui feeding off the nectar of the kowhai tree

When we are able to tell others about the good things God has done in our lives, naturally and without embarrassment, we glorify God

  • There is so much hope and meaning in the Christian faith; when we are able to find wise and creative ways to communicate that hope and meaning, we glorify God
  • When we have the humility to admit we were wrong and the courage to put things right, we glorify God
  • When we have the grace to forgive those who have hurt us, we glorify God
  • When we have the faithfulness to keep our commitments, even though it is not convenient to us, we glorify God
  • When we have the patience to handle someone else’s anger with gentleness, we glorify God
  • When we have the faith to be generous and not worry too much about tomorrow, we glorify God
  • To be able to bear this sort of fruit we need to stay close to Jesus

 

One of the things you may notice about our mission is that it’s quite broad and inclusive – a lot of different things could fit under the framework of glorifying God and being a blessing. That’s intentional.

  • The glory of God is broad and the richness of His blessing is wide
  • God is glorified in many different ways

A child glorifies God by their innocence, their uncomplicated trust, their delight and their wonder

  • Young people bless us with their energy, their fresh ideas and their belief that, together, we can make a positive difference in this world
  • Those of us in mid-life tend to bless others by providing support and scaffolding for young and old alike
  • And those who are older glorify God by keeping the faith – they bless us with the wisdom and perspective that comes with experience
  • Older people often don’t realise how valuable their presence, their prayers, their support and their encouragement are to the rest of us

I’m speaking in generalisations of course and don’t mean to draw too sharp a distinction between the generations

  • Older people can still glorify God through their delight and wonder
  • And those in mid-life can still bring fresh ideas
  • Just as our young people can bless us with their service
  • The point is, everyone has a something to offer – God is able to use us all to glorify Himself and be a blessing to His world

 

Sometimes we may think we that we can only glorify God and be a blessing from a position of strength, but this is not true

    • God often uses our weakness and suffering to glorify Himself
  • As we heard Jesus say in John 15, God prunes every branch that bears fruit to make it bear more fruit…

 

  • Pruning hurts – it is not usually pleasant
  • Suffering and glory go hand in hand

In John 11, Mary and Martha sent a message to Jesus to say that their brother Lazarus was ill, and Jesus responded by saying…

  • ‘This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory’

 

    • By the time Jesus arrived in the town of Bethany, Lazarus had been dead four days, and the sisters were in pain, grieving
    • Nevertheless, Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone’
    • When Martha protested that there would be a stench Jesus said to her,
  • ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God’

 

  • So they took the stone away and Jesus called Lazarus back from the dead

The miracle Jesus performed in raising Lazarus was a sign pointing to Jesus’ own glorification – his death and resurrection

  • It seems in this life we can’t glorify God without suffering

In 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 Paul connects our weakness & troubles with God’s glory, when he writes…

For God…made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

  • In other words, Jesus shows us what God is like and God helps us to understand this in our inner being. Paul continues…

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

  • ‘Jars of clay’ is a reference to our earthly bodies
  • A jar of clay is something humble and fragile; as opposed to a gold cup
  • God is glorified, His power it seen more clearly, in our weakness

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

  • Which is another way of saying, Jesus is glorified through our suffering and troubles

…we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

  • In other words, Jesus is our vision (our hope)
  • Jesus’ experience provides the picture or the pattern for us to follow
  • And the pattern is suffering, death and then resurrection to eternal life

Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

  • The glory of God is a weighty thing, a meaningful thing, an enduring thing, a thing of substance
  • When we share in the sufferings of Christ, God shares His glory with us
  • Suffering in this life is the price we pay for glory, but really it’s a small price to pay in the light of eternity

I know that many of you face difficulties and challenges – perhaps with your health or with your family or in some other way

  • You may not always feel like you are glorifying God or being a blessing but it does not depend on you – not entirely
  • It is something God does when we remain in Christ
  • God is the great artist painting a masterpiece with our lives – he uses all the colours of our character and circumstances to display His glory
  • One of the joys of heaven will be seeing what God has done with our lives to reveal Himself and to bless others

 

There is a lot more we could say about all of this but that’s enough for now.

 

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 does it mean to glorify God?

3. What does it mean to be a blessing to God’s world?

4. How do we know what God is like?

5. In John 15 Jesus talks about himself as the vine and us as the branches. He then says God is glorified by the fruit we bear and by us becoming his disciples.

  • What is the fruit Jesus is talking about? (Give practical examples)
  • Abiding in Christ is the key to being fruitful. How do we abide in Christ?

6. Can you think of someone who glorifies God through their weakness or suffering?

7. What is your purpose (mission) in life?

  • How does this fit with God’s purpose/mission?