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

Power

Scripture: Jonah

Audio Link: https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/sermon-recording-24-jan-2021

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Patient & Omnipotent
  • Wise & Equitable
  • Redemptive
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

You may have heard the saying: ‘Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men…’

This phrase was coined by Lord Acton, who was a British historian and politician during the 1800’s. He wrote this in a letter to an Anglican bishop. Whatever Lord Acton’s reason for writing about power in this way, it has stuck. It resonates with people. Generally speaking, we human beings are suspicious of power and reluctant to trust those who hold it.

Certainly we can think of many people throughout history who have abused power but really the problem is not power itself, the problem is with the human heart. Power simply reveals the contents of a person’s character. 

Sadly, a negative attitude to power tends to taint our faith in God. By definition God is the most powerful being there is and if we think that power corrupts then we may struggle to trust God.

We need to understand that God’s heart and character are quite different from that of a human being. This morning we are looking at five aspects of God’s character through the story of Jonah. That is, God’s patience, God’s omnipotence, God’s wisdom, God’s equity (or fairness) and God’s redemption. Firstly, let’s consider God’s patience and omnipotence.

Patient & Omnipotent:

Over the past couple of weeks, we have been fortunate enough to spend some time walking on the beach. The ocean is both powerful and patient. A beach is created over thousands of years as the surf gradually pounds stone and shell into sand. The work of the ocean points to the power and patience of God in transforming the human heart.

Patience is the ability to wait something out or endure something tedious, without losing your temper. Having patience means you can remain calm, even when you have been waiting ages or dealing with something painstakingly slow or trying to teach someone how to do something and they just don’t get it.

In Corinthians 13, when Paul writes about love, patience is the very first descriptor he uses. “Love is patient, love is kind…”

Patience, therefore, is an expression of love. 

Omnipotence simply means ‘all powerful’. Omni means ‘all’ or ‘everything’ and potence refers to ‘power’. Power is the ability to do something. To say that God is omnipotent, therefore, is to say that God can do all things; there is nothing beyond God’s ability or reach.

In the book of Jeremiah 32:27 the Lord says to the prophet, “Is anything too difficult for me?” It is a rhetorical question. The answer is clearly, ‘No, nothing is too difficult for the Lord’. God is omnipotent – all powerful.   

We see God’s patience and power in the story of Jonah…

The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Ninevehand preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa,where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

You see, Jonah was an Israelite and Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria, the headquarters of Israel’s enemies. Most of the time when God told his prophets to preach a message against Israel’s enemies the prophets had the luxury of doing so from the relative comfort and safety of home. But God wanted Jonah to physically go to Nineveh and tell the Assyrians how bad they were.

Talk about a hospital pass. Jonah knew it was a bad assignment and so he got on a ship headed in the opposite direction. It was not that Jonah doubted God’s power. Jonah was quite convinced God could make the mission successful. And that was precisely the problem. Jonah did not want to be involved with saving his enemies. That would feel like a betrayal of his own people.

But God was patient with Jonah. In truth, God’s omnipotence (his power) is tempered or controlled by his patience. God waited for the ship to get out to sea and then he sent a storm. The storm was a frightening display of God’s omnipotence.

The pagan sailors did everything they could to save the ship but the storm just got worse. Meanwhile Jonah was asleep below deck. When the sailors woke him up he explained that he was running away from the Lord of heaven and earth, who made the land and sea. Their best chance of survival was to throw him overboard.

The sailors were honourable men and did not want to do this but eventually Jonah persuaded them and as soon as the prophet hit the water the storm stopped. Once again God’s omnipotence was on display, this time to bring a great calm.     

God’s omnipotence is not limited to the weather though. God has power over all things. God sent a giant fish to swallow Jonah whole. The incredible thing here is not that Jonah was eaten by a fish. The truly incredible thing is that Jonah was able to remain alive inside the fish. 

This may seem impossible to some of us but that is precisely the point: God is omnipotent, nothing is too difficult for the Lord. Not only that but God is in control, not Jonah and not us, which is just as well.

A giant fish that can swallow a man whole, without digesting him, is a symbol of God’s patient omnipotence. The Lord has the power to destroy Jonah but instead God uses the very same power to save his messenger.   

God’s omnipotence and patience go together. God did not get frustrated with Jonah. God did not use his power to kill Jonah. Nor did God use his power to overthrow Jonah’s will. It may have been much easier and quicker for God to find someone else to go. But God’s ways are not our ways.

God waits for Jonah and his patience is rewarded. After Jonah had repented from the belly of the fish, the fish spat him out on dry land and Jonah went to Nineveh in obedience to God. 

God’s patience (his fuse) is very long indeed. When the nation of Israel turned away from him, the Lord patiently waited for them to return for a couple of hundred years.

And he waits patiently for the world to turn to him again. As we read in 2nd Peter 3:9, The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.     

God’s omnipotence is tempered by his patience. What’s more, God is wise and equitable in his dealings with creation.

Wise & Equitable:

We live in a democracy but the Kingdom of God is not a democracy. The Kingdom of God is a theocracy, which means it is ruled by God. Heaven is a place where God’s will is done. This is not to imply that God is a dictator. No. Dictators are closed to the voice of the people and tend to eliminate anyone who disagrees with them. By contrast, God is secure enough within himself to be open to what his subjects have to say. God listens to people and takes our thoughts and feelings into account when making his decisions. That is one of the reasons we pray.

When Jonah finally made it to Nineveh his preaching was simple. “In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed.” At first that sounds like a very closed message. There is no hope in it. No call to repentance. No nuance. No clever illustrations. No compassion. No redemption. No PR. No subtle maneuvering of the media. Just doom and destruction.

Nevertheless, Jonah’s message was wise and fair. While God is patient, he is no one’s fool. God’s omnipotence includes the capacity to destroy. God must be worshipped. If we do not put God first (if we worship something else in God’s place) then God is well within his rights to exercise his power either to destroy the things we worship or to destroy us.

God gave Jonah that message for Nineveh because the people’s behavior was very bad. They were incredibly violent and ruthless. God’s sentence on the people may have seemed harsh but it was wise and equitable, it was fair. God could not, in good conscience, allow the Assyrians to run amuck oppressing other people groups. That would not be kind or just. 

Jesus said the measure we use for others is the measure God will use for us. If we are generous with others, God will be generous with us and vice versa. The Assyrians were violent in their treatment of others so God gave them fair warning, he would destroy them.    

We can see God’s wisdom in sending Jonah. While Jonah’s preaching was incredibly blunt, it was also without pretense or guile. He did not disguise his contempt for the Assyrians and this (paradoxically) made his message all the more believable. Had God sent a diplomat to speak smooth words, the people of Nineveh probably would not have believed the message.

In response the people of Nineveh decided that everyone should fast, which means go without food. And everyone from the least to the greatest was to put on sackcloth to show they had repented.

The king of Nineveh issued a decree that all people must pray earnestly to God and must give up their evil ways. Perhaps God will change his mind and we will not die, they thought. 

God saw what they did; he saw that they had given up their wicked behavior. So he changed his mind and did not punish them as he had said he would.      

The people were open to change their ways and so God was open to give them another chance. 

As much as it grated with Jonah to preach to his enemies, actually, it was in Israel’s interests. Having their enemies bow to Yahweh was a victory of sorts. From a political point of view, Nineveh’s repentance meant some respite for Israel.

Not only that but God’s mercy with the Assyrians offered hope to Israel when they strayed from God’s path. If God relented with the Assyrians, then how much more when Israel repented.

God is patient and omnipotent. He is also wise and equitable. Ultimately though, the Lord’s patience & power, wisdom & justice, all serve the purpose of redemption.

Redemption:

As I mentioned earlier, we were fortunate enough to walk the beach during our holiday. The beaches between Pekapeka and Paekakariki collect quite a bit of drift wood. As a consequence, you see these wooden structures at regular intervals along the beach. People have redeemed the drift wood and detritus for a creative and useful purpose. Human beings seem to have this insatiable urge to build shelters with whatever is at hand. 

I wonder if this urge to build and create and redeem reflects something of the residue of God’s image in us. It is interesting that when God became a man (in the person of Jesus) he chose to apprentice himself to a carpenter, a builder.

In any building or renovation project there is usually some demolition involved. But this demolition serves the ultimate purpose of creating and constructing something new and better.      

To redeem something is to reclaim it, to save it or restore it. God’s heart, his preference, is to redeem whatever he can. The story of Jonah is full of God’s redemption. Let me touch briefly on three examples.

First there is the way God redeems Jonah’s running away. God used Jonah’s disobedience to inspire the sailors’ worship.

I said before that the sailors were honourable men. They may have been pagans but they were good pagans. They had a moral compass and wanted to do the right thing. At the height of the storm, just before they reluctantly threw Jonah overboard, the sailors cried out to the Lord saying…   

14 “Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man,for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.” 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly fearedthe Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vowsto him.

If Jonah had not done a runner, the sailors would not have encountered the Lord in the way they did. The sailors’ prayer shows us they believed the God of Israel to be powerful, just and wise. Jonah’s attempt to get away from the Lord actually resulted in the sailors getting closer to the Lord. That is the power of God’s redemption.

The second main act of redemption is seen when God changes his mind and decides not to destroy Nineveh. The people of Nineveh are similar to the pagan sailors in that they recognize the power and justice of God and submit themselves to the Lord in fear and hope.

The Assyrians’ redemption is not unconditional or automatic. Their redemption hinges on their response to Jonah, their enemy. Paradoxically they are saved by trusting the word of their enemy. Sort of like in the second Terminator movie when Sarah Connor is confronted by a Terminator who she thinks is out to kill her. But the Terminator (played by Arnie) says, ‘Come with me if you want to live’. The people of Nineveh were helped by their enemy. This shows God’s wise redemption.

But the one who is offered more redemption than anyone else is Jonah himself. At the beginning of the story Jonah is like the younger prodigal son who has run away from home. But God redeems Jonah and puts him on the right path again using a storm and a sea monster. 

By the end of the story though, after God relented and saved Nineveh, Jonah is more like the older son in Jesus’ parable (in Luke 15). Just as the older son stood outside the party refusing to celebrate the return of his younger prodigal brother, so too Jonah sat outside the city of Nineveh refusing to celebrate the Assyrians’ repentance and salvation. In chapter 4 of the book of Jonah we read,

But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is why I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knewthat you are a graciousand compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life,for it is better for me to diethan to live.”

Jonah acknowledges that it is God’s heart and character to redeem but strangely this makes Jonah depressed. He’s had enough and wants it to be over.

There are any number of reasons why someone might become depressed, human beings are complex. But the cause of Jonah’s depression is related to his anger. If you hold onto your anger and resentment, if you bury it deep inside, the in-rage you feel will eventually result in depression.

This is not to suggest that all depression is caused by repressed anger. But we know it was the case for Jonah because God says to the prophet, “Is it right for you to be angry?”   

This is another rhetorical question. We all know it was not right for Jonah to be angry but Jonah has to arrive at that conclusion himself. Even though God is omnipotent he does not click his fingers and resolve the issue for Jonah. He makes Jonah do some inner (soul) work.

Jonah was angry and depressed but God did not give Jonah a pill or counselling or a support group or cognitive behavioural therapy, as helpful as some of those things may be. God patiently sought to redeem Jonah by giving him a parable. 

5 Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. [I imagine this shelter was similar to what one might see on the beach along the Kapiti Coast.] The Lord God provideda leafy plantand made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die,and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

10 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concernfor the great city of Nineveh,in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”

And that is how the story of Jonah ends. God has the last word.

The Lord’s message to Jonah seems to be that Jonah is the one who is not being fair and equitable.

If it was up to Jonah the city of Nineveh would be destroyed but God’s power (his omnipotence) is different from the way human beings exercise power. God’s power is tempered with patience, guided by wisdom and equity and used to serve his redemptive purpose.  

Conclusion:

God is free to use his power as he wishes. Sometimes that will disappoint us and make us angry, as it did with Jonah. We do not control God and we cannot leverage his power for our own ends. We have to make peace with the fact that we are not in the place of God. We are not omnipotent. We have to embrace our powerlessness and let God be God. Or, as Jesus put it, we must pick up our cross and follow him.

Like Jesus’ parable of the two sons in, Luke 15, we don’t know how the story of Jonah ends. We don’t know whether the older son let go of his anger and joined the party. Nor do we know how Jonah responded. Did he sit with his resentment or did he find redemption?

This is not a rhetorical question. It is not an abstract theoretical debate about a man who lived thousands of years ago. It is a very real existential question that we must all face. If it hasn’t happened already it is just a matter of time before you will feel disappointed by God. When that day comes (and I expect for many of us here it has already arrived) I pray that we will be able to forgive.

Forgiveness is the greatest power available to us. It is the pathway to redemption.  

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 does God’s power make you feel? In what ways is God’s power different from the way human beings exercise power?
  • In what ways do we see God’s patience and power at work in the story of Jonah? In what ways are you aware of God’s patience and power at work in your own life?  
  • In what ways do we see God’s wisdom and equity (fairness) in the story of Jonah?
  • Discuss / reflect on the various aspects of God’s redemption in Jonah. For example, how does God redeem Jonah’s running away? How has God redeemed your mistakes?      
  • The people of Nineveh were saved by believing the word of Jonah, their enemy. Can you think of a time in your own life when God has used an enemy to help or save you?
  • Why does Jonah want his life to end? How does God help Jonah? What does Jonah need to do to find redemption? Have you ever felt disappointed by God, like Jonah? If so, how did you find redemption from resentment?
Tawa Baptist

Power

Scripture: Jonah

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Patient & Omnipotent
  • Wise & Equitable
  • Redemptive
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

You may have heard the saying: ‘Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men…’

This phrase was coined by Lord Acton, who was a British historian and politician during the 1800’s. He wrote this in a letter to an Anglican bishop. Whatever Lord Acton’s reason for writing about power in this way, it has stuck. It resonates with people. Generally speaking, we human beings are suspicious of power and reluctant to trust those who hold it.

Certainly we can think of many people throughout history who have abused power but really the problem is not power itself, the problem is with the human heart. Power simply reveals the contents of a person’s character. 

Sadly, a negative attitude to power tends to taint our faith in God. By definition God is the most powerful being there is and if we think that power corrupts then we may struggle to trust God.

We need to understand that God’s heart and character are quite different from that of a human being. This morning we are looking at five aspects of God’s character through the story of Jonah. That is, God’s patience, God’s omnipotence, God’s wisdom, God’s equity (or fairness) and God’s redemption. Firstly, let’s consider God’s patience and omnipotence.

Patient & Omnipotent:

Over the past couple of weeks, we have been fortunate enough to spend some time walking on the beach. The ocean is both powerful and patient. A beach is created over thousands of years as the surf gradually pounds stone and shell into sand. The work of the ocean points to the power and patience of God in transforming the human heart.

Patience is the ability to wait something out or endure something tedious, without losing your temper. Having patience means you can remain calm, even when you have been waiting ages or dealing with something painstakingly slow or trying to teach someone how to do something and they just don’t get it.

In Corinthians 13, when Paul writes about love, patience is the very first descriptor he uses. “Love is patient, love is kind…”

Patience, therefore, is an expression of love. 

Omnipotence simply means ‘all powerful’. Omni means ‘all’ or ‘everything’ and potence refers to ‘power’. Power is the ability to do something. To say that God is omnipotent, therefore, is to say that God can do all things; there is nothing beyond God’s ability or reach.

In the book of Jeremiah 32:27 the Lord says to the prophet, “Is anything too difficult for me?” It is a rhetorical question. The answer is clearly, ‘No, nothing is too difficult for the Lord’. God is omnipotent – all powerful.   

We see God’s patience and power in the story of Jonah…

The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Ninevehand preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa,where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

You see, Jonah was an Israelite and Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria, the headquarters of Israel’s enemies. Most of the time when God told his prophets to preach a message against Israel’s enemies the prophets had the luxury of doing so from the relative comfort and safety of home. But God wanted Jonah to physically go to Nineveh and tell the Assyrians how bad they were.

Talk about a hospital pass. Jonah knew it was a bad assignment and so he got on a ship headed in the opposite direction. It was not that Jonah doubted God’s power. Jonah was quite convinced God could make the mission successful. And that was precisely the problem. Jonah did not want to be involved with saving his enemies. That would feel like a betrayal of his own people.

But God was patient with Jonah. In truth, God’s omnipotence (his power) is tempered or controlled by his patience. God waited for the ship to get out to sea and then he sent a storm. The storm was a frightening display of God’s omnipotence.

The pagan sailors did everything they could to save the ship but the storm just got worse. Meanwhile Jonah was asleep below deck. When the sailors woke him up he explained that he was running away from the Lord of heaven and earth, who made the land and sea. Their best chance of survival was to throw him overboard.

The sailors were honourable men and did not want to do this but eventually Jonah persuaded them and as soon as the prophet hit the water the storm stopped. Once again God’s omnipotence was on display, this time to bring a great calm.     

God’s omnipotence is not limited to the weather though. God has power over all things. God sent a giant fish to swallow Jonah whole. The incredible thing here is not that Jonah was eaten by a fish. The truly incredible thing is that Jonah was able to remain alive inside the fish. 

This may seem impossible to some of us but that is precisely the point: God is omnipotent, nothing is too difficult for the Lord. Not only that but God is in control, not Jonah and not us, which is just as well.

A giant fish that can swallow a man whole, without digesting him, is a symbol of God’s patient omnipotence. The Lord has the power to destroy Jonah but instead God uses the very same power to save his messenger.   

God’s omnipotence and patience go together. God did not get frustrated with Jonah. God did not use his power to kill Jonah. Nor did God use his power to overthrow Jonah’s will. It may have been much easier and quicker for God to find someone else to go. But God’s ways are not our ways.

God waits for Jonah and his patience is rewarded. After Jonah had repented from the belly of the fish, the fish spat him out on dry land and Jonah went to Nineveh in obedience to God. 

God’s patience (his fuse) is very long indeed. When the nation of Israel turned away from him, the Lord patiently waited for them to return for a couple of hundred years.

And he waits patiently for the world to turn to him again. As we read in 2nd Peter 3:9, The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.     

God’s omnipotence is tempered by his patience. What’s more, God is wise and equitable in his dealings with creation.

Wise & Equitable:

We live in a democracy but the Kingdom of God is not a democracy. The Kingdom of God is a theocracy, which means it is ruled by God. Heaven is a place where God’s will is done. This is not to imply that God is a dictator. No. Dictators are closed to the voice of the people and tend to eliminate anyone who disagrees with them. By contrast, God is secure enough within himself to be open to what his subjects have to say. God listens to people and takes our thoughts and feelings into account when making his decisions. That is one of the reasons we pray.

When Jonah finally made it to Nineveh his preaching was simple. “In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed.” At first that sounds like a very closed message. There is no hope in it. No call to repentance. No nuance. No clever illustrations. No compassion. No redemption. No PR. No subtle maneuvering of the media. Just doom and destruction.

Nevertheless, Jonah’s message was wise and fair. While God is patient, he is no one’s fool. God’s omnipotence includes the capacity to destroy. God must be worshipped. If we do not put God first (if we worship something else in God’s place) then God is well within his rights to exercise his power either to destroy the things we worship or to destroy us.

God gave Jonah that message for Nineveh because the people’s behavior was very bad. They were incredibly violent and ruthless. God’s sentence on the people may have seemed harsh but it was wise and equitable, it was fair. God could not, in good conscience, allow the Assyrians to run amuck oppressing other people groups. That would not be kind or just. 

Jesus said the measure we use for others is the measure God will use for us. If we are generous with others, God will be generous with us and vice versa. The Assyrians were violent in their treatment of others so God gave them fair warning, he would destroy them.    

We can see God’s wisdom in sending Jonah. While Jonah’s preaching was incredibly blunt, it was also without pretense or guile. He did not disguise his contempt for the Assyrians and this (paradoxically) made his message all the more believable. Had God sent a diplomat to speak smooth words, the people of Nineveh probably would not have believed the message.

In response the people of Nineveh decided that everyone should fast, which means go without food. And everyone from the least to the greatest was to put on sackcloth to show they had repented.

The king of Nineveh issued a decree that all people must pray earnestly to God and must give up their evil ways. Perhaps God will change his mind and we will not die, they thought. 

God saw what they did; he saw that they had given up their wicked behavior. So he changed his mind and did not punish them as he had said he would.      

The people were open to change their ways and so God was open to give them another chance. 

As much as it grated with Jonah to preach to his enemies, actually, it was in Israel’s interests. Having their enemies bow to Yahweh was a victory of sorts. From a political point of view, Nineveh’s repentance meant some respite for Israel.

Not only that but God’s mercy with the Assyrians offered hope to Israel when they strayed from God’s path. If God relented with the Assyrians, then how much more when Israel repented.

God is patient and omnipotent. He is also wise and equitable. Ultimately though, the Lord’s patience & power, wisdom & justice, all serve the purpose of redemption.

Redemption:

As I mentioned earlier, we were fortunate enough to walk the beach during our holiday. The beaches between Pekapeka and Paekakariki collect quite a bit of drift wood. As a consequence, you see these wooden structures at regular intervals along the beach. People have redeemed the drift wood and detritus for a creative and useful purpose. Human beings seem to have this insatiable urge to build shelters with whatever is at hand. 

I wonder if this urge to build and create and redeem reflects something of the residue of God’s image in us. It is interesting that when God became a man (in the person of Jesus) he chose to apprentice himself to a carpenter, a builder.

In any building or renovation project there is usually some demolition involved. But this demolition serves the ultimate purpose of creating and constructing something new and better.      

To redeem something is to reclaim it, to save it or restore it. God’s heart, his preference, is to redeem whatever he can. The story of Jonah is full of God’s redemption. Let me touch briefly on three examples.

First there is the way God redeems Jonah’s running away. God used Jonah’s disobedience to inspire the sailors’ worship.

I said before that the sailors were honourable men. They may have been pagans but they were good pagans. They had a moral compass and wanted to do the right thing. At the height of the storm, just before they reluctantly threw Jonah overboard, the sailors cried out to the Lord saying…   

14 “Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man,for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.” 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly fearedthe Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vowsto him.

If Jonah had not done a runner, the sailors would not have encountered the Lord in the way they did. The sailors’ prayer shows us they believed the God of Israel to be powerful, just and wise. Jonah’s attempt to get away from the Lord actually resulted in the sailors getting closer to the Lord. That is the power of God’s redemption.

The second main act of redemption is seen when God changes his mind and decides not to destroy Nineveh. The people of Nineveh are similar to the pagan sailors in that they recognize the power and justice of God and submit themselves to the Lord in fear and hope.

The Assyrians’ redemption is not unconditional or automatic. Their redemption hinges on their response to Jonah, their enemy. Paradoxically they are saved by trusting the word of their enemy. Sort of like in the second Terminator movie when Sarah Connor is confronted by a Terminator who she thinks is out to kill her. But the Terminator (played by Arnie) says, ‘Come with me if you want to live’. The people of Nineveh were helped by their enemy. This shows God’s wise redemption.

But the one who is offered more redemption than anyone else is Jonah himself. At the beginning of the story Jonah is like the younger prodigal son who has run away from home. But God redeems Jonah and puts him on the right path again using a storm and a sea monster. 

By the end of the story though, after God relented and saved Nineveh, Jonah is more like the older son in Jesus’ parable (in Luke 15). Just as the older son stood outside the party refusing to celebrate the return of his younger prodigal brother, so too Jonah sat outside the city of Nineveh refusing to celebrate the Assyrians’ repentance and salvation. In chapter 4 of the book of Jonah we read,

But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is why I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knewthat you are a graciousand compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life,for it is better for me to diethan to live.”

Jonah acknowledges that it is God’s heart and character to redeem but strangely this makes Jonah depressed. He’s had enough and wants it to be over.

There are any number of reasons why someone might become depressed, human beings are complex. But the cause of Jonah’s depression is related to his anger. If you hold onto your anger and resentment, if you bury it deep inside, the in-rage you feel will eventually result in depression.

This is not to suggest that all depression is caused by repressed anger. But we know it was the case for Jonah because God says to the prophet, “Is it right for you to be angry?”   

This is another rhetorical question. We all know it was not right for Jonah to be angry but Jonah has to arrive at that conclusion himself. Even though God is omnipotent he does not click his fingers and resolve the issue for Jonah. He makes Jonah do some inner (soul) work.

Jonah was angry and depressed but God did not give Jonah a pill or counselling or a support group or cognitive behavioural therapy, as helpful as some of those things may be. God patiently sought to redeem Jonah by giving him a parable. 

5 Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. [I imagine this shelter was similar to what one might see on the beach along the Kapiti Coast.] The Lord God provideda leafy plantand made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die,and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

10 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concernfor the great city of Nineveh,in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”

And that is how the story of Jonah ends. God has the last word.

The Lord’s message to Jonah seems to be that Jonah is the one who is not being fair and equitable.

If it was up to Jonah the city of Nineveh would be destroyed but God’s power (his omnipotence) is different from the way human beings exercise power. God’s power is tempered with patience, guided by wisdom and equity and used to serve his redemptive purpose.  

Conclusion:

God is free to use his power as he wishes. Sometimes that will disappoint us and make us angry, as it did with Jonah. We do not control God and we cannot leverage his power for our own ends. We have to make peace with the fact that we are not in the place of God. We are not omnipotent. We have to embrace our powerlessness and let God be God. Or, as Jesus put it, we must pick up our cross and follow him.

Like Jesus’ parable of the two sons in, Luke 15, we don’t know how the story of Jonah ends. We don’t know whether the older son let go of his anger and joined the party. Nor do we know how Jonah responded. Did he sit with his resentment or did he find redemption?

This is not a rhetorical question. It is not an abstract theoretical debate about a man who lived thousands of years ago. It is a very real existential question that we must all face. If it hasn’t happened already it is just a matter of time before you will feel disappointed by God. When that day comes (and I expect for many of us here it has already arrived) I pray that we will be able to forgive.

Forgiveness is the greatest power available to us. It is the pathway to redemption.  

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 does God’s power make you feel? In what ways is God’s power different from the way human beings exercise power?
  • In what ways do we see God’s patience and power at work in the story of Jonah? In what ways are you aware of God’s patience and power at work in your own life?  
  • In what ways do we see God’s wisdom and equity (fairness) in the story of Jonah?
  • Discuss / reflect on the various aspects of God’s redemption in Jonah. For example, how does God redeem Jonah’s running away? How has God redeemed your mistakes?      
  • The people of Nineveh were saved by believing the word of Jonah, their enemy. Can you think of a time in your own life when God has used an enemy to help or save you?
  • Why does Jonah want his life to end? How does God help Jonah? What does Jonah need to do to find redemption? Have you ever felt disappointed by God, like Jonah? If so, how did you find redemption from resentment?
Tawa Baptist

Now Unto Him

Scripture: Jude 24-25

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Preventing a disaster
  • Keeping the end in sight
  • Giving God the glory
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Back in November last year we started our Anthems series with the song Build my Life. In this series we have looked at the lyrics of one hymn or Christian worship song each week to see how that song informs our thinking about God and how it connects with Scripture and the heritage of our faith.

In many ways this series has provided an opportunity to do some Biblical theology – that is, to reflect on some of the bigger ideas about God and our Christian faith. The way we perceive God is influenced quite a bit by the songs we sing in church.   

Today we conclude our Anthems series with the song Now unto Him. We sometimes sing Now unto Him at the end of church services and meetings as a way of concluding proceedings. The tune for Now unto Him was written in the early 1970’s by a New Zealand woman called Olive Wood. Olive originally called the song ‘Benediction’. Benediction simply means blessing. Technically it is really more of a doxology – a statement of praise to glorify God – but it serves just as well as a benediction.

Although I can’t tell you anything about Olive Wood’s life, we do know the words to this short hymn come from the closing verses of the New Testament book of Jude. The name Jude is short for Judah.

Most scholars think that Jude is probably one of the biological half-brothers of Jesus. So Jude would have grown up in the home of Joseph and Mary with Jesus as his older brother. As far as we know Jude didn’t hang out with Jesus and the other disciples during Jesus’ three years of earthly ministry. Apparently he became a believer after Jesus’ resurrection.

Preventing a disaster:

When I was kid we were told the story of the Dutch boy who stopped his town from being flooded by putting his finger in the dike. A dike is a massive sea wall for keeping water out. The story goes that as the boy was walking home one evening he noticed a steady flow of water coming from a small hole in the dike. The boy then had a dilemma. If he ran to get help the hole might become larger and break open the sea wall, flooding the town. But if he stayed to stop the flow he might be stuck there all night.       

Although it was tempting to ignore the problem and hope that someone else would see it before it got worse, the boy felt a sense of duty and put his finger in the hole to prevent a disaster and save his town. Despite the cold and dark, the boy stayed there all night until some adults found him the next morning and fixed the sea wall.

Jude had wanted to write to the churches about salvation but instead he felt compelled to write a letter of warning to prevent a flood of false teaching in the church.

“Apparently these false teachers were trying to convince believers that being saved by grace gave them license to sin, since their sins would no longer be held against them.” [1]

These false teachers were de-moralising the church. What they said sounded credible at first but really their ideas undermined people’s motivation to act in morally right and holy ways. They had created a little hole in the dike of the young church’s faith and Jude wanted to plug that hole with his letter before it got any worse and destroyed the church.

The apostle Paul faced the same kind of problem. In Romans 6 he says: What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer.

In some ways Jude’s short letter is not pleasant or comfortable reading. He uses a series of tragic examples from the Old Testament and other Jewish apocryphal writings to make his point that we can’t take God’s forgiveness for granted. We can’t major on grace at the expense of truth. We can’t cast off God’s moral law; for that would be like throwing the baby out with the bath water. God’s redemption should make us more motivated to be holy. God’s grace is not a license to do whatever we want. God’s grace is meant to set us free to become more like Jesus.

I’m sure Jude would rather have written about God’s goodness and love but, like the boy who spent the night with his finger in the dike, Jude was trying to prevent a disaster.   

Keeping the end in sight:

The story of the Dutch boy who saved his town is fictional. It’s made up. But it does contain some truth and the simplicity of it opens a window on one’s imagination.

What would it be like to sit all night, alone in the dark and cold, with your finger in a sea wall. I imagine your finger would go numb. Your eyes would become heavy with sleep. There would be no one there to encourage you or support you. It would be easy to become de-moralised, to give up and let the town go under water. How would you make it through the night? I guess you would have to keep a picture in your mind of what you were aiming to achieve. You would need to keep the end in sight when the village was saved and you were home again tucking into a hot meal.  

We call this hope. Hope is the capacity to see a positive future; to keep the end in sight, to keep going.   

Do you remember those radio competitions where a dozen people would try to win a new car by keeping their hand on that car the longest? If you lost concentration and took your hand off, even for just a moment, you were out. The last person with their hand still on the car was the winner.

I think they may have stopped running competitions like that because it is considered too cruel, even abusive. People literally went on for days without sleep in the uncertain hope they might win. Sure they got to stop every few hours for a toilet break but can you imagine how devastating it would be to hang in there for 5 days only to be the runner up. There was no prize for second place, just the emptiness of regret and misplaced hope.

Even if you were the winner you would still feel pretty stink for the others who walked away with nothing. Not to mention the utter physical and emotional exhaustion of the experience. I’m pleased they don’t do competitions like that anymore. 

Returning to verse 24 of Jude’s letter. After having given the false teachers a serious serve, and putting the fear of hell into those who may be inclined to believe them, Jude inspires hope. Verse 24 reads: Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.

The first thing we notice here is that God is able. God has skills and power and abilities. As we read in Romans 16:25, God is able to establish you by the gospel, the proclamation of Jesus Christ.

Or as Paul says in Ephesians 3:20, God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.  

God is able. This means the journey of Christian faith is not like those hand on car competitions. We are not doing this alone, in our own strength. It does not depend entirely on us.

God is able to keep us from falling. We are reminded here, of the words of Psalm 121: 1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot slip…
    

In other words, God is present with us now, helping us to get to the end. God is our number one supporter. God is not looking for the first opportunity to exclude us. If we do slip up, if we do take our hand off the prize for a moment, we are not automatically out. We have a God who gives second, third and fourth chances. God prefers to redeem his children if they are willing. So when we make mistakes we can return to God, admit our wrong doing, ask his forgiveness and the strength to carry on.

God is able to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. Imagine that; being presented faultless before God. That is the Christian hope in a nut shell. No one really wants to stand before God with all their sins and faults exposed. That would be terrifying and humiliating. But to be presented faultless, perfect, whole, as one who is righteous and without blemish. That would be a beautiful thing indeed. 

How does God do that? Well, one way to understand this is that God makes us faultless in Christ. To be a Christian is to be in Christ.

To be in Christ is to enter a new spiritual realm, like being granted citizenship in a new country, the land of Jesus.

To be in Christ is to be a branch grafted into the vine of Jesus. Apart from Jesus we can do nothing but when we abide in Christ we become fruitful.

To be in Christ is to be given a new status, like being released from prison into society and having your criminal record expunged.

In fact, when we are baptised into Christ we put on his righteousness. If our thoughts, words and deeds are like dirty rags, then being in Christ is like taking those rags off, having a bath and putting on Jesus’ clean clothes.    

Now some of you may be thinking, ‘Okay, it’s one thing to be faultless in Christ, to put on his righteousness and all that, but isn’t that like cheating or pretending or something? Isn’t that like dressing up mutton and calling it lamb, because it’s Jesus’ faultlessness, not our own. Besides what has been done in the past can’t be undone. We can’t say the mistakes we have made didn’t happen.

Well, let me offer you another couple of ways of thinking about this. If you can imagine your soul is like a stream of water. Sin pollutes the water of our soul. Sin makes the stream of our soul unreliable, toxic even. Through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, God purifies the water of our soul so we are actually pure and faultless on the inside. It’s not that the history of our soul is faultless. It’s more that the future of our soul is faultless, because of the work of Christ in us.

Or to use another analogy. Imagine your heart is an engine. Over time an engine develops faults and problems. The spark plugs become worn, the alternator fails, the battery goes flat, a gasket blows and you find you are burning too much oil. Through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, God reconditions and fine tunes the engine of our heart so it runs smoothly and without fault. We don’t pretend we never had engine problems. Rather, we enjoy driving again with God beside us.      

But we shouldn’t just look at this in an individualistic way. While being in Christ is a personal thing, it is also a community thing. We aren’t in Christ by our self. We are in Christ as part of his body the church. So thinking collectively, to be presented faultless before God may also mean the church community is presented perfect and whole before God, without any missing limbs or organs.

With the Christian faith, it is not a case of the winner takes all (as it is with the hands on a car competition). We share the prize of God’s kingdom. What’s more, we share the prize with exceeding joy. That is, without regret. Without feeling stink that we have won at the exclusion of others.

When I first considered that phrase, with exceeding joy, I thought the joy belonged to God. In other words, God is full of joy to see us presented faultless, in Christ, before him. I read it this way because of what Jesus says in Luke 15 with his parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost sons. In all three stories the punch line seems to be that all heaven rejoices when lost sinners repent and are found.

But when I read what the experts had to say about this verse, they reckon the joy belongs to us. So we are the ones who experience the exceeding joy when presented faultless before God. I suppose it doesn’t have to be either / or. It can be both / and. Both you and God have exceeding joy in each other’s presence.

When we are in the thick of the battle, denying ourselves for Christ, carrying our cross and following Jesus, we do well to remember the end goal is not suffering and self-denial. The end goal is union with God through Christ and the overflow of our union with God is exceeding joy.

Giving God the glory:

Because of God’s ability to keep us from falling and present us faultless, Jude ends his letter with a doxology; an expression of praise for God’s glory. In verse 25 we read: To the only God our Saviour be glory and majesty, dominion and power, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore. Amen.

You need to be aware that the lyrics of the song are slightly different to the actual words of Scripture in Jude.

We sing, to the only wise God. Whereas Jude doesn’t have the word ‘wise’ in there. To the only wise God actually comes from Romans 16:27 where Paul writes, To the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ.

Really it doesn’t make a lot of difference. The point is, there is only one God and wisdom is found in him, through Jesus Christ. That is, we gain access to God’s wisdom through Jesus.

The other difference between the song lyrics and Jude’s words is that the song leaves out the phrase, through Jesus Christ our Lord. I’m not sure why Olive Wood left that out. It seems quite important. Probably it was something to do with the meter and phrasing of the song. It would be too much of a mouthful to sing all those words fluently. In any case, the Christian belief is that we come to the only true God through Jesus. Jesus is the bridge and passport to the kingdom of God.

Many of you will be familiar with the Star Wars saga. The Star Wars universe is based on the belief that there are two opposing powers at work in the galaxy; the light side of the force and the dark side. Jedi knights, like Yoda and Luke Skywalker, are practitioners of the light side of the force, while Sith lords, like Darth Vader, use the dark side of the force. The philosophy of Star Wars is known as dualism. Dual (as in two) forces of equal strength pitched against each other.    

Why am I talking about Star Wars you may wonder? Well, there was a belief system which started to develop late in the first century (around the time Jude wrote his letter) which was similar, in some ways, to the philosophy of the Star Wars universe.  This belief system eventually developed into what we call Gnosticism. Gnosticism is a dualistic belief, with two gods pitched against each other, sort of like the dark side of the force and light side. The experts reckon the false teachers probably preached an early form of Gnosticism. 

When Jude wrote, ‘To the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, dominion and power…’ he was making the point that, contrary to what the false teachers were saying, there is only one God, not two. While there clearly is the presence of evil in this world, evil is no match for the one true living God, our Saviour.

God’s glory includes his splendour, beauty, magnificence, greatness and transcendence. God’s glory is a weighty thing, it has substance, mass, gravity. We revolve around God’s glory, even if we don’t know it.            

God’s majesty refers to his royalty or his sovereignty, his authority or right to rule.

Dominion is an old fashioned word having to do with domain or territory. God’s dominion is his turf, his kingdom, the area of his royal reach.

And power is God’s ability to do things, to make stuff happen. We have heard about God’s ability to redeem and restore, to make perfect and present us faultless.

When we sing ‘To the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, dominion and power…’ we are agreeing with Jude and millions of other Christians throughout history that God is above all and totally beyond compare. We want his reign in this world and his will to be done in our lives.      

The last line of the song which reads, ‘both now and forever’, doesn’t quite capture the full scope of Jude’s words which read, ‘before all time, now and forever.’ The glory, majesty, dominion and power of God are not limited by time. They are before all time, that is before creation. They are now in the present time in history. And they are forevermore, beyond time into eternity.

Conclusion:

We may become de-moralised by the state of the world and by the state of ourselves at times. We may become frustrated with how faulty and dysfunctional things are. When life is hard and confusing, when the news is all bad, we need to keep the end goal in sight. This life is not all there is. We were made for more. Jesus came to make all things new.

Our God is able to finish what he started. Our God is infinite, eternal and inexhaustible. He is bigger, longer, older, wiser, deeper, kinder, fuller and more generous than we can imagine. There is no other and never has been any other and never will be any other like him.

Let’s stand and sing…

Now unto Him who is able to keep

Able to keep you from falling

And present you faultless before the presence of His glory

With exceeding joy

To the only wise God, our Saviour

Be glory and majesty, dominion and power

Both now and forever, Amen. 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

Listen to the song ‘Now unto Him’.  What are you in touch with as you listen to this song? (What connections, memories or feelings does the song evoke for you?) 

In what way was Jude like the boy who put his finger in the dike? Have you ever been in a similar/analogous situation? What happened?

How should we respond to God’s grace? What is Christian freedom for?

Why do we need to keep the end in sight? How can we keep the end in sight?

What does it mean to be presented faultless before God’s presence? 

How is the philosophy of Star Wars different from Christian belief?

Take some time this week to imagine the goal of your salvation; standing faultless before God and enjoying him forever.

[1] Refer to the NIV Study Bible, 1985, page 1919. 

Tawa Baptist

Be still for the presence of the Lord

Scriptures: Genesis 28, Exodus 3, Isaiah 6:1-7, Matthew 17:1-3, Matthew 8:1-13

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Verse 1 – Holiness
  • Verse 2 – Glory
  • Verse 3 – Power
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

When our kids were young we took them to the Wellington Zoo

  • The day we went they had the Cheetah’s out of their cage taking them for a walk around the grounds on a leash
  • The zoo keepers explained to us that if we ever find ourselves in the presence of a Cheetah in the wild, the best thing to do is stay completely still, don’t move a muscle
  • Because as soon as you start running the Cheetah is hard wired to think you are dinner and will chase you down
  • Being in the presence of a creature as fast and powerful as a Cheetah gives one a feeling of vulnerability and respect at the same time.

Today we continue our ‘Anthems’ series

  • In this series we are looking at the lyrics of one hymn or Christian worship song each week to see how that song informs our thinking about God and how it connects with Scripture and the heritage of our faith.

The song we are looking at this morning is Be still for the presence of the Lord

  • If you ever find yourself in the presence of God the best thing you can do is be still.
  • God won’t eat you, like a Cheetah might, but he is powerful and you can’t outrun him, so you may well feel vulnerable.
  • Being still and listening shows God respect and it helps us to take in the experience; to be present to God

The music and lyrics for “Be Still” were written by David Evans

  • David J. Evans was born in 1957 in Dartford, Kent, the United Kingdom.
  • He grew up in Winchester and was educated at the University of Southampton, studying social science

David Evans has been involved in a variety of church denominations and has led musical worship for much of his life

  • He works in the field of music education, having done research into the psychology of music
  • David will turn 63 this year but he was in his 20’s when he wrote Be still for the presence of the Lord

At the time Evans was involved in the charismatic movement of the 1980’s

  • The charismatic movement emphasises the ecstatic gifts of the Holy Spirit and encourages the expression of those gifts in gathered worship
  • For example, giving a word of knowledge, speaking in tongues, miraculous healing, prophecy and so forth
  • An ecstatic gift of the Spirit sometimes involves a mystical experience of God’s presence which overwhelms or transcends a person’s self
  • Many of the songs we might associate with the charismatic movement have tended to be upbeat, light and breezy type choruses
  • Be still for the presence of the Lord is not like that. Be still has a more serious, reverential tone.

In worship we are expressing to God how amazing he is

  • If we become too chummy or casual with God, then we undermine the basis of worship
  • Apparently David Evans felt that some of the worship of the charismatic movement risked treating God in a trivial fashion
  • So he wrote ‘Be still’ as a kind of reminder to the church of the awesomeness of God
  • We need to be careful not to treat the presence of the Holy Spirit cheaply
  • We need to remember just who God is (his holiness, glory & power) and be still in his presence

Verse 1 – Holy:

Hence the song begins…   

Be still for the presence of the Lord, the Holy One is here.

Come bow before Him now with reverence and fear.

To claim that the Lord God is here, with us, may seem a bit presumptuous, but it’s not. In Matthew 18, verse 20, Jesus says to his disciples…

  • For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.  
  • Which means when we gather for worship on a Sunday the Lord Jesus is present with us by His Spirit

Verse 1 highlights the holiness of God

  • Holiness encompasses a number of concepts at the same time
  • To be holy is to be different, not the same, unique, set apart as sacred
  • God is different from us, he is ‘other than’ his creation, not made of chemicals or physical matter like the earth or a plant or an animal 

Holiness also speaks of wholeness or oneness – having moral integrity or goodness, being the real deal   

  • God’s holiness holds together justice and mercy (as one) 
  • God can be relied upon to do the right and good thing because he is holy

Reverence is a feeling or attitude of profound respect and deep awe

  • People have traditionally demonstrated their reverence by bowing down. 

Verse 1 of the song also refers to the fear of God; bowing with reverence & fear

  • The sort of fear that is in view here is not terror or anxiety
  • The sort of fear that is meant, in this context, is the feeling or motivation to respond in worship and obedience to God 

C.S. Lewis gives us a wonderful picture of what it means to fear and reverence God in his book, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe  

– Lucy is curious about Aslan’s nature and in a conversation with Mr & Mrs Beaver she asks, “Then he isn’t safe?”

– To which Mr Beaver replies, “Safe? …Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he is good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

One of the ways we might encounter the presence of God is in reading the Bible

  • About 12 or 13 years ago now, I stood in the pulpit here and gave a reading from the prophet Isaiah, chapter 53. It was getting close to Easter
  • Isaiah 53 tells about the suffering servant – it describes in profoundly accurate detail the way Jesus suffered. You know the passage…

…Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

As I read that Scripture I felt deeply moved and started crying.

  • It was like the Word of God was present to me in a special or unique way (or perhaps I was present to it) and my emotions were overwhelmed
  • Crying like that, in a work context, is very unusual for me. I’m a trained professional. I don’t do public displays of emotion even at funerals.
  • With tears comes a feeling of vulnerability, a feeling of coming undone.
  • Somehow though, I managed to get through the reading
  • When I had finished and taken my seat in the congregation again a sense of stillness settled over me – sort of like when someone does something really nice for you and you feel touched and humbled by it.

Scripture is holy. Sometimes when we handle the Scriptures, we become aware of the transcendent (the holiness or otherness of God) and we are filled with a deep sense of awe and respect.

  • My tears, and the stillness that followed, were a natural expression of reverence – a sort of internal bowing of my heart before God’s goodness.

The second part of verse 1 of the song continues…

In Him no sin is found, we stand on holy ground.

Be still for the presence of the Lord, the Holy One is here.

We stand on holy ground sounds echoes from both Genesis and Exodus

  • In Genesis 28, Jacob is on the run for his life, after having deceived his father and stolen Esau’s blessing
  • At sunset he came to a holy place and lay down to sleep, resting his head on a stone
  • He dreamt that he saw a stairway reaching from earth to heaven, with angels going up and coming down on it.
  • And there was the Lord standing beside him, on earth.
  • Then God spoke to Jacob promising to be with him and protect him
  • When Jacob woke up he said, “The Lord is here. He is in this place and I did not know it.”
  • Jacob was afraid (he felt small and vulnerable) and said,
  • “How awesome is this place. This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
  • Jacob responded to God’s presence in an attitude of worship, promising to give God a tenth of his income.

We are also reminded of Exodus 3 when God called Moses

  • Moses was tending the sheep of his father-in-law when he noticed a burning bush. Although the bush was on fire it was not consumed
  • When Moses drew closer to see what was happening God called from within the bush saying, “Moses, Moses.”
  • And Moses said, “Here I am.”
  • “Do not come any closer,” God said, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

When Robyn & I got engaged, we gave a wedding invitation to my pop (my grandad). He immediately said, ‘The church will fall down if I walk into it’, by which he meant, I haven’t been to church in years and I don’t feel worthy to go.

  • My pop associated church buildings with the presence of God – his generation considered churches to be holy ground
  • For him attending a wedding in a church was not a trivial thing – the very thought of it raised feelings of vulnerability and reverence.

In some ways our contemporary western society has lost its sense of reverence for the holy. Many things that were once considered sacred are now treated as ordinary or profane.

  • Traditional Maori culture has managed to retain a respect for the sacred though

A few weeks ago a German tourist died on the Tongariro Crossing

  • The local iwi put a rahui on the mountains for three days
  • A rahui is a ban or prohibition against a particular area or activity
  • You could say a rahui is an order (or edict) to be still
  • No one was allowed to walk the Tongariro Crossing while the rahui was in place – in a sense it became holy ground (tapu)
  • TV reporters interviewed the son of the man who died and he said that, while he didn’t understand the Maori language (the words they spoke), he felt a deep sense of reverence or respect from the local iwi (tribe)
  • He was genuinely touched by the people and the rahui protocol.

We need to recover our sense of the sacred if we are to give God the honour he is due.

Verse 2 – Glory

While verse 1 highlights the holiness of God, verse two emphasises the glory of God…

Be still for the glory of the Lord is shining all around.

He burns with holy fire, with splendour He is crowned,

How awesome is the sight, our radiant King of light.

Be still for the glory of the Lord is shining all around.

The word glory has more than one meaning

  • Glory can mean ‘high renown, fame or honour, won by notable achievements’  
  • As in the glory of winning an Olympic gold medal, or the glory of saving someone and being known as a hero
  • Certainly the Lord’s achievements are very notable and he is famous everywhere
  • God’s glory is a weighty thing; a thing of substance, the real deal, solid glory through and through, not just glory coated 

But glory can also refer to beauty or splendour, radiance or magnificence

  • As in, the sunrise over the mountain was glorious
  • This sense of the word glory also fits for God
  • God’s grace is beautiful, his smile is radiant, he is clothed in splendour

For Christmas last year I was given a book of poetry by Anne Powell, who lives on the Kapiti Coast. She has a poem called Letting Go…

When it comes to prayer

trying hard is not the answer.

Think more of flying

a kite to freedom

on a clear day

or bathing beneath a waterfall

each sense awake

or letting the heart-gaze rest

on beauty.

Beauty opens to presence.

I want to draw your attention to that line: Beauty opens to presence.

  • One of the ways we become aware of God’s presence is by being still enough to let our heart-gaze rest on beauty
  • When I see something beautiful, whether that’s a sunset
  • Or the moon when it is full and close to the horizon,
  • Or dolphins leaping out of the water
  • Or Tui feeding in a kowhai tree
  • Or a snow capped mountain bathed in sunshine
  • Or a child’s smile
  • Or a quiet act of kindness done in secret
  • Whenever I see beauty I am reminded of God our creator
  • Beauty opens to [the glory of God’s] presence
  • But to see the beauty that opens to presence we need to be still, still on the inside.

Back to verse 2 of our song…

  • ‘Be still for the glory of the Lord is shining all around’
  • Jesus said, Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.
  • Perhaps when Jesus said this he meant, you can see the beauty of God’s glory everywhere you look.

In Isaiah 6, the prophet had a vision of God

  • In his vision he saw seraphs (heavenly creatures) calling to one another:
  • Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.
  • If you read on you will see how Isaiah felt both vulnerable and full of reverence in God’s presence – he was acutely aware of how far he fell short saying, ‘Woe is me. I am a man of unclean lips…’

When Moses came down from the mountain, after meeting with God, he had to wear a veil because his face shone with the reflected glory of God

  • Even though the glory of God, in the face of Moses, was second hand the people still couldn’t look at Moses directly.  

We see the glory of God, first hand, in the person of Jesus

  • In the opening chapter of his gospel the apostle John writes…
  • We have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father
  • And at the birth of Jesus, the glory of the Lord shone around
  • Then, in Matthew 17, we read how Jesus was transfigured on the mountain top with Peter, James and John as witnesses
  • As they looked on, a change came over Jesus: his face was shining like the sun and his clothes were dazzling white. 

And, in talking about the glory of God in the face of Jesus, we are reminded of Jesus’ crucifixion & death, along with his resurrection & ascension to heaven

  • There is no glory without suffering – suffering always precedes glory
  • Each year, at ANZAC parades around the country, we pay respect to those who served, suffered and died in war
  • Part of any ANZAC service involves being still and observing a few moments of reverent silence
  • Sometimes we forget how much God has suffered (and continues to suffer) for his creation
  • If we show respect to fallen soldiers how much more should we show respect to Christ for all he went through.
  • The appropriate response to the suffering and glory of God is to be still in an attitude of reverence and respect

Verse 3 – Power

Verse 1 of our song draws attention to the holiness of God’s presence

  • Verse 2 talks about the glory of God’s presence
  • And the theme of verse 3 is the power of God’s presence…

Be still for the power of the Lord is moving in this place.

He comes to cleanse and heal, to minister his grace

Implicit in these lines is the good news that God is not coming with power to destroy us, but rather with power to do good to us

  • Minister here is a word which means serve
  • And grace is any good gift of God, usually undeserved.
  • In other words, the Lord serves good gifts to people, sort of like a chef serves a meal to the hungry or a chemist dispenses medicine to the sick or a priest serves communion to the faithful.

Last week we heard how God’s power cleansed and healed the bitter waters at Marah, so the people could drink (Exodus 15)

  • In the gospels we see time and time again Jesus’ power to cleanse and heal and minister God’s grace   
  • In Matthew 8, for example, we read…

When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

The first thing we notice here is the man’s vulnerability and reverence before Jesus. He doesn’t presume upon God’s grace

  • He addresses Jesus as ‘Lord’, a title of respect and then he says, “…if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
  • He is truly respectful. He doesn’t tell Jesus what to do. He asks.
  • We can’t begin to understand how much rejection this man experienced in his life because of leprosy
  • He was taking a huge risk. He was making himself vulnerable. What if Jesus said ‘no’? It’s not like the man had any leverage in this situation. He is at the bottom of the heap.

3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. 4 Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

Jesus ministered God’s grace by cleansing and healing the man with leprosy

  • Notice though that Jesus still required the man to fulfil his obligation under the law after he had been healed
  • Jesus’ kindness does not equate to slackness or casual dismissal of the law. Rather Jesus’ kindness leads to respectful fulfilment of God’s law.  

No work too hard for him. In faith receive from him

  • This line of the song reminds me of the Roman Centurion (also in Matthew 8) who came to Jesus for help…

6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”

7 Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him?”

8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith…”

13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.

The Roman Centurion is at the opposite end of the social scale (compared with the man who had leprosy) and yet he still behaves in the same way when in the presence of Jesus – with vulnerability and reverence

  • Even though he is an officer in the Roman Army the Centurion treats Jesus with the respect due to a superior
  • And even though the Centurion has the weight of the Roman empire on his side he doesn’t exert this power (he doesn’t attempt to leverage Jesus)
  • But instead makes himself vulnerable before Jesus, for indeed he does feel vulnerable.
  • Like Isaiah, he is acutely aware of how unworthy he is saying, ‘I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word and my servant will be healed…’ Reverence and vulnerability you see.
  • The Centurion believes that nothing is too hard for Jesus and in faith he receives from Jesus.

Conclusion:

The song, ‘Be still’, reminds us of the holiness, glory and power of God

  • But these attributes of God’s presence are not separate things – they are integrated as one, just as God is one.
  • We may well feel vulnerable in God’s presence – but that’s okay, in fact it is appropriate
  • Vulnerability with reverence prevents us from treating God’s presence too lightly and it purifies our worship of God making it more meaningful.  

In a few minutes we will share communion together

  • Communion is about celebrating the presence of Jesus among us
  • Communion is a holy ritual, not something to be treated lightly, but something to be handled with an attitude of reverence 
  • Communion reminds us of the suffering and glory of Jesus
  • Just as it reminds us of the power of God over sin and death.

As we prepare our hearts to receive communion let’s stand and sing, Be still for the presence of the Lord the Holy One is here…  

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. Listen to (or sing) the song, ‘Be still for the presence of the Lord’.  What are you in touch with as you listen to this song? (What connections, memories or feelings does it evoke for you?) 
  2. Why did David Evans write the song ‘Be still for the presence of the Lord’?
  3. What is your experience of the charismatic movement? Or, have you ever had a mystical experience of God’s presence? What happened?
  4. What do we mean by the holiness of God?
  5. What does it mean to ‘bow before God with reverence and fear’?
  6. What is the glory of God?
  7. How did the man with leprosy and the Roman Centurion (in Matthew 8) behave in the presence of Christ? How do you behave in the presence of Jesus’ Spirit?
  8. Discuss / reflect on Anne Powell’s poem, ‘Letting Go’. Is it true for you that ‘beauty opens to presence’? Take some time this week to let your heart-gaze rest on beauty.
Tawa Baptist

Roots of Freedom

Scripture: Ephesians 6:5-9

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Slavery then and now
  • Personhood, purpose and power
  • Onesimus and Philemon
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Last week someone gave me a book called, Church Signs Across America

  • As the title suggests it’s a book with photos of church signs, like this one
  • The sign reads: “To win in a relationship don’t keep score”

Today we continue our series in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians

  • We are at that point in Ephesians known as the household codes, where Paul talks about the various relationships in Christian homes
  • Last week we heard how wives and husbands are to relate
  • This week we focus on the relationship between slaves and masters
  • From Ephesians 6, verses 5-9 we read…

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favour when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. 9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favouritism with him.

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

Slavery then and now:

A few months ago we were on holiday in Taupo and went for a walk around the lake. In some places the tree roots had grown under the footpath and were lifting the cobbles – not quite as badly as in this picture but enough to be a trip hazard.

  • Today’s reading is like tree roots – over the centuries it has quietly lifted and broken our concrete thinking on slavery and employment relations

Now when we hear the word slavery we might think, ‘How is slavery relevant to us today? Wasn’t slavery abolished in the 19th Century?’

Well, laws were passed in the 19th Century to say that people can’t buy and sell other people anymore, but slavery still exists in the form of forced labour, child soldiers, sexual exploitation and forced marriage

  • There are estimated to be around 40,300,000 people in some form of modern slavery in the world today
  • And it’s not a problem confined to poorer countries either – there are thought to be about 15,000 people in Australia currently engaged under conditions defined as Modern Slavery, and approximately 3,000 people in New Zealand in the same situation. [1]

Although slavery still exists today, it should be noted there are a number of differences between slavery in the ancient world and slavery now

  • As many as one third of the population in Greece and Rome were slaves
  • Slaves did most of the work – without slaves nothing would get done
  • We are used to associating slaves with a particular race of people – like the African Americans of the 19th Century, picking cotton in the fields or harvesting sugar cane 
  • But slaves in the ancient world were all variety of races and served in all sorts of roles, both skilled and unskilled
  • A slave might be white or black, a doctor or a farmer or a business manager or a cook or even a prime minister
  • What’s more, many slaves in the ancient world gained their freedom after the age of 30 – so it wasn’t necessarily an all of life thing [2]
  • The treatment of slaves in the ancient world was mixed – some were treated with kindness but many were abused and mistreated

Ok, if slavery is a bad thing then why does the Bible seem to accommodate it?

  • I mean Paul doesn’t say to the masters, ‘set your slaves free’, nor does he call the slaves to revolt against their masters.
  • To the contrary Paul instructs slaves to do their best for their earthly masters and to have a good attitude about it    
  • This almost sounds like Paul is condoning slavery but actually, he’s not
  • Paul is, in fact, sowing seeds that would eventually grow into roots that would undermine slavery and set people free

The Bible makes it clear that slavery falls well short of God’s intention for humanity – it is not what the Lord wants for people

  • God is free and we are made in God’s image – slavery does not fit with being God’s image bearer  
  • Christ came to set the captives free and, as Paul says elsewhere, in Christ there is no longer slave nor free

While that sounds lovely, the reality is, we don’t live in a perfect world do we. We live in a fallen world and suffer the ill effects of sin

  • God understands this and so he meets us where we are at
  • He comes to us in the form of Jesus, a human being who we can relate with, and he says, ‘Follow me’
  • God’s word, in the Bible, addresses the realities of this world, like slavery, not to condone them but to lead us out of them
  • So when the Bible talks about slavery it’s not holding up an ideal to aspire to – rather it is providing some guidance on how to manage a less than ideal situation by providing restraint for masters and protection for slaves – sort of a first step in the right direction.

It’s remarkable how people’s attitudes change

  • For many years we accepted lead in petrol as normal and even necessary until we realised that lead is toxic and now we wouldn’t dream of using it
  • Same thing with plastic supermarket bags – for years we used plastic bags without a second thought to what happened to them when we threw them away, but now we’ve banned single use plastic bags

The ancient world, that Paul lived in, did not see slavery as an evil thing like we do today

  • For them slavery was simply accepted as a normal and necessary part of the economic system – sort of like we accept having a mortgage as normal and necessary to buying a house – or like we used to accept leaded petrol and plastic bags. 

It would have been foolish for Paul to advocate revolt against slavery

  • The early church was not politically powerful – they were in no position to dictate to the rest of society how people should live
  • The church needed to be moderate in its approach to show the Roman authorities they posed no threat to the peace of the empire
  • Consequently, slavery and other social issues were not Paul’s main focus – he and the other apostles were simply trying to get the message of the gospel out there and establish Christian faith communities 
  • Paul’s approach was wise – he sowed seeds of thought that would eventually grow to undermine and break up slavery
  • You see, slavery isn’t the underlying problem – slavery is just a symptom
  • Paul sought to address the deeper more fundamental issues – in particular: personhood, purpose and power.

Personhood, purpose and power:

On the wall here is a picture of a drill

  • A drill is a tool, it helps a tradie to do their job quicker and easier
  • A drill is a slave to the person operating it
  • It is in your interests to take care of your drill because if the drill breaks the job will be held up and you’ll have to buy another one
  • But you don’t treat your drill with same respect you would a person
  • Slaves tend to be treated like drills – they are not usually acknowledged as people in their own right
  • Slaves are seen as tools for getting things done, for making life easier or for making money

So the first seed Paul sows in these verses is the seed of personhood

  • Paul has just addressed wives & husbands and children & parents, now he addresses slaves, as people, alongside their masters.
  • Given the historical and cultural context in which slaves were thought of and treated as living tools (and not as human beings) it is remarkable that Paul addresses them at all
  • By including slaves in this way Paul is acknowledging their personhood and giving them dignity  
  • It indicates that slaves were accepted members of the Christian community and that Paul regards them as responsible people (like their masters) to whom he can make a moral appeal. [3]

Taking this thought further, Paul gave honour to the role of a slave by identifying himself as a slave of Christ.  

When we look at verses 5-8 of Ephesians 6 we notice that Paul keeps referring to Jesus

  • Verse 5, slaves obey your earthly masters… as you would obey Christ
  • Verse 6, obey them… like slaves of Christ
  • Verse 7, Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men
  • Paul is saying here a person is not defined by their job or their master
  • A person is defined by Christ
  • What’s more, our value and identity as persons do not derive from our social standing or our circumstances but from Christ.

Paul gives slaves the dignity of personhood – and when we see other people as persons (not as tools) we start to value them better.

Another underlying issue Paul addresses in these verses is that of purpose or motivation in a slave’s work and life  

Albert Camus, the famous existentialist writer once said, ‘Without work all life goes rotten. But when work is soulless life stifles and dies.’

  • Albert Camus was talking about purpose or motivation in working
  • For your work to have soul you need to have a good purpose, an intrinsic motivation in doing it
  • You need to feel your work fits with the values you carry in your heart
  • You need to have a sense that you are fulfilling a higher calling
  • Without a good purpose, without an intrinsic motivation, work becomes soulless and life stifles and dies

A few weeks ago I told you about my misspent youth studying business management. It wasn’t a total loss though. There was one case study, from the course on organisational behaviour, which I found meaningful…

  • In the 1920’s researchers carried out some tests on factory workers in America
  • The test involved changing the level of lighting in the factory to see if workers’ productivity was effected
  • As they gradually increased the lighting the workers produced more
  • The researchers thought they might be on to something until they dimmed the lights and found that workers’ productivity continued to increase – which was puzzling and counter intuitive
  • When the illumination studies finished and the researchers left the factory, workers’ productivity slumped
  • Apparently the level of lighting had nothing to do with the workers’ productivity – it was the presence of the researchers themselves that was effecting productivity. Why was that?
  • Some say the workers were more motivated because of the interest being shown in them by the researchers
  • Going a bit deeper though, I think there was more to it than simply being observed – I wonder if the presence of important people doing important stuff gave the workers a greater sense of purpose in what they were doing
  • I wonder if the researchers’ presence gave soul to the workers’ jobs
  • With the researchers there the factory workers weren’t just assembling radios on a production line – they were in fact serving a higher calling; they were part of something bigger and more lasting.
  • Whatever the reason, it became known as the Hawthorne Effect

In verse 6, of Ephesians 6, Paul addresses the deeper issue that we all face in our work, whether we are paid or volunteer, and that’s the issue of purpose

  • What is your ‘why’ for working?
  • What is it that gives your work soul so that life thrives?
  • Paul makes it clear that the purpose (or motivation) for obeying earthly masters is not just to win their favour, when their eye is on you, but to do the will of God from your heart
  • Paul is advocating for an intrinsic motivation
  • Your manager may not always show an interest in you
  • Your boss may not always appreciate your work but God does and his interest in your work, his appraisal of you, means more than your boss’

God sees the good we do in secret and he rewards us

  • But that reward is not necessarily measured in dollars
  • The reward God gives is that of a meaningful purpose
  • God makes our work serve a higher calling – he has the power to give our work soul, so that life thrives.

Personhood, purpose and power

  • The slave / master (employee / employer) relationship is traditionally a top down relationship – it involves the use of power

In verse 9 Paul says: And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favouritism with him.

  • This is a reminder to both slaves and masters that power ultimately rests with God
  • God may delegate his power to certain people for a time but that power is only ever on loan from God – it always returns to him

Do not threaten them, means don’t try to control people with fear – use encouragement – the carrot is usually better than the stick    

And the instruction for masters to treat their slaves in the same way, is a reminder of the mutual submission that Paul described in chapter 5, verse 21

  • If slaves are to serve their masters as if they were serving Christ and masters are to do the same for their slaves, then we have a relationship in which the master is using their power for the well-being of their slave
  • In fact, the master / slave relationship is transformed so that the slave becomes family

Paul was a wise man – he didn’t try to change the legislation or rebel against the authorities – he addressed the underlying issues of slavery by restoring to slaves (and masters) a sense of personhood, purpose and the right use of power.

Philemon & Onesimus:  

Reading Ephesians 6 I am reminded of Paul’s letter to Philemon

  • Philemon was a Christian, someone Paul had led to the Lord
  • Philemon owned a slave called Onesimus
  • It appears Onesimus may have stolen from Philemon and run away
  • This was pretty serious stuff back in the day – Philemon could’ve had Onesimus killed for that sort of behaviour
  • But, in God’s providence, Onesimus found his way to Paul who was a prisoner in Rome at the time
  • Paul led Onesimus to the Lord and then went about reconciling him to Philemon
  • Let me read to you some of Paul’s letter to Philemon
  • Notice how Paul presents Onesimus as a valued person (not as a tool)
  • And how he persuades Philemon to use his power to show mercy and forgiveness
  • Paul reminds Philemon that to win in a relationship we don’t keep score
  • From verse 8 of Philemon we read…

Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9 yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. It is as none other than Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus— 10 that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. 11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.

12 I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you. 13 I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. 14 But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favour you do would not seem forced but would be voluntary. 15 Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever— 16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.

17 So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. 18 If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back—not to mention that you owe me your very self. 20 I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. 21 Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.

We don’t know what the outcome was in this situation

  • We do know that if Paul had his way then Philemon would have taken Onesimus back, not as a slave, but as a brother.
  • The letter to Philemon shows us God’s intention to abolish slavery  

Conclusion:

Thankfully, most of us are unfamiliar with slavery, although in working for wages or a salary or having to pay off a mortgage we do have some idea of what it feels like to have someone own our time 

  • What Paul says in Ephesians about slaves and their masters can be applied to the employee / employer relationship  
  • Workers are not tools; they are persons of dignity to be valued
  • Likewise, employers are people too – so employees shouldn’t try to stick it to the man
  • Give your best – work for your boss as if you were working for Christ and God will reward you
  • Whatever our station in life, our purpose is to do God’s will
  • Any power we have is temporary and needs to be used in a way that pleases God.      

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. Why did Paul instruct slaves to obey their masters (rather than rebel)?
  3. In what ways was ancient slavery different from modern slavery? In what ways are they the same?
  4. What deeper underlying issues does Paul address in Ephesians 6:5-9?
  5. Where does your personal sense of identity (or personhood) and value come from?
  6. What is your ‘why’ for working? What gives soul to your work?
  7. How are masters/employers to use their power? 
  8. How might Paul’s instructions to slaves and masters be applied today in employee / employer relationships?
  9. Take some time to read and reflect on Paul’s letter to Philemon this week. What does this letter reveal to us?  

[1] https://www.onestaff.co.nz/blog/modern-slavery-in-new-zealand-addressing-a-widespread-issue/

[2] Klyne Snodgrass, NIVAC ‘Ephesians’, page 327

[3] John Stott, Ephesians, page 252.