Tawa Baptist

Liminal Experiences

Scripture: Acts 1:1-11

Video Link: https://youtu.be/x8IwMmDbypc

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Proof of life
  • Promise of Spirit
  • Purpose moving forward
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Our lives are peppered with liminal experiences. A liminal experience is a time or place of transition and change. An in-between moment, a period of waiting.

The word “liminal” comes from the Latin word “limen,” which means threshold. A liminal moment therefore is one in which we stand on the threshold of something new and different.

A liminal experience may last only a few seconds or it could last many years. 

The days a caterpillar spends in a cocoon, before it becomes a butterfly;

the years it takes to go through adolescence; the minutes you spend waiting at the bus stop or the train station; these are all examples of liminal time.

Indeed, bus stops and train stations are liminal spaces, places of transition. Pregnancy is a liminal experience, an in between time, when you are waiting on the threshold of a significant life change. The seconds between when a baby is born and takes its first breath is a liminal moment.  

That imperceptible time between waking and sleeping, when your mind is half half-conscious, emerging from a dream; that’s a liminal experience.

Routine, stability, normality are the opposite of liminal experiences. Life in the liminal can feel exciting, like you are on the cusp of realising a long awaited hope. But it can also feel a bit disorienting or scary, because your regular routine is unsettled and you are not sure what comes next.   

Last Thursday was Ascension Day, that day in the Church calendar when we remember Jesus’ ascension to heaven. We usually celebrate Ascension the following Sunday (which is today) because hardly anyone is at church on Thursday.

According to the Bible the risen Lord Jesus appeared to his disciples for 40 days after his resurrection before being taken into heaven. The time in-between Jesus’ resurrection and ascension was a liminal period for his followers.

With this in mind we take a break from our series in First Corinthians to focus on Acts chapter 1, verses 1-11, which describes what happened during those 40 days of liminal time. From Acts 1, verse 1, we read…

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized withwater, but in a few days you will be baptized withthe Holy Spirit.” 6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. 10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

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

Quite a bit happens in the liminal moments of our lives, although we are often unaware of it. There isn’t time now to cover everything Luke writes about in Acts 1, so we will focus on three of the main things that Jesus did in those 40 days of liminal time.

Firstly, Jesus presented himself to his followers, proving that he really is alive and well and risen to eternal life. Secondly, Jesus promised his followers the gift of the Holy Spirit. And thirdly, Jesus gave the apostles purpose moving forward. Let us begin with Jesus’ proof of life.

Proof of Life:

Learning things, taking in new information, is a liminal experience. Learning so it becomes second nature, involves a process of change. With any real learning there is an uncomfortable in-between moment when we are leaving what is familiar to venture into unknown territory.

Take learning to drive for example. Knowing the road code is one thing but actually getting to a place where you feel comfortable behind the wheel is another thing altogether.

If you learned to drive in a manual car, then getting the hang of synchronising the clutch and the accelerator smoothly probably took months of practice.

That practice time was a liminal experience. It may have felt uncomfortable at first, but now you change gear without thinking about it.  

Or take marriage as another example. You have the wedding and become husband and wife, and its lovely and all that, but holding a marriage certificate doesn’t automatically make you a competent marriage partner.

There is a liminal period, which may last a year or two, when you are adjusting to married life. Getting used to living together. Abandoning a single person’s mindset. Sorting out roles and responsibilities. Learning to say, ‘Yes dear, you were right’, and settling into a new rhythm and routine.

Luke, the author of Acts, starts by saying: In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach.

Luke’s former book is the gospel of Luke. The significant thing here is that Luke says he wrote about all that Jesus began to do. The implication being that Jesus’ earthly ministry was only the beginning. And in fact, what Theophilus is about to read in the book of Acts is the continuation of Jesus’ deeds and words.

Jesus’ ministry on earth was followed by his ministry from heaven, exercised through the Holy Spirit by his apostles. [1] The apostles (empowered by the Spirit) function as Jesus’ hands and mouth. Of course, this all points to the fact that Jesus is not dead, he is very much alive.

Luke draws attention to Jesus’ resurrection in verse 3 where he writes that after his suffering, Jesus presented himself to his apostles and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

As I said earlier, the initial 40 days after Jesus’ death and resurrection was a liminal time. It was an in-between moment, a period of adjustment and learning for Jesus’ followers. 

The apostles had seen Jesus brutally murdered, his body dead and buried.

Then on the third day, God raised Jesus from the dead. Even though Jesus had predicted this would happen, it was still a lot for the disciples to process. They needed time for this new information about Jesus to sink in.  

Grief is a liminal experience. It takes time to accept the fact of someone’s death. Have you ever had the experience of losing someone you love and then seeing them in the supermarket or across the street. But it’s not them, because they are gone. Your mind is still in liminal space; still catching up with the reality of what’s happened.  

The apostles had no real chance to come to terms with Jesus’ death, before they had to adjust to his resurrection. Their minds were in liminal space, disoriented, standing on the threshold of something entirely new. 

Learning to trust the reality of Jesus’ resurrection was like going through the grieving process in reverse. It was conceptually more difficult. Death is normal for us, it is commonplace. But Jesus’ resurrection was a first. Yes, people had been resuscitated before but not resurrected to eternal life, like Christ.    

In the same way you don’t learn to drive after one lesson, so too it wasn’t enough for the apostles to see Jesus once. They needed to see the risen Christ several times doing normal things with them (like eating and talking about the kingdom of God) before they could comprehend the reality of his resurrection.

You know, by God’s grace we can believe in the resurrection of Jesus in our head, but it can take years (and much suffering) for that belief to descend into our heart. The journey from the head to the heart is a liminal experience.

The reality of Jesus’ resurrection puts us on the threshold of eternity and all the mystery that entails. 

Okay, so that’s the first thing Jesus does in the 40 days of liminal time prior to his ascension; he offers proof of his own life, helping his followers to adjust to the reality of his resurrection.

The second main thing Jesus does is to promise the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit is essential to the work Jesus will do through the apostles. Without the Spirit the apostles have no power or agency, no connection with the living Christ.

Promise of Spirit:

Whenever you go to the beach you become aware of the tidal system. Most of the day the tide is on the move, either going out or coming in. There are times in the day though when the tide is slack. Around high tide and low tide the water is relatively still.

A slack tide is a liminal period for the sea. It’s a time of waiting in-between tidal changes. This liminal time, when the tide is slack, provides a kind of smoko break for sea life. It allows sediment from the seabed to settle so water clarity is restored.   

One of the key characteristics of a liminal experience is having to wait.

Waiting for exam results. Waiting for a break in the traffic. Waiting to hear whether you got the job you interviewed for. Waiting to find out if you have kept the job you’ve got. Waiting for the doctor’s diagnosis. Waiting for the next Covid lockdown announcement.  

Waiting can feel tense or stressful but, if we don’t overthink the unknown, times of liminal waiting also allow the dust to settle. And when the dust settles, we receive the gift of clarity and perspective.    

In verse 4 we read how the risen Jesus said to his apostles, wait for the gift my Father promised, by which he meant the gift of the Holy Spirit.

There were 40 days between Jesus’ resurrection and ascension and another 10 days between his ascension and the day of Pentecost. Those 50 days (in total) were like a slack tide. They were a liminal time of waiting.

In that time of relative stillness, the sediment stirred up in the apostles’ minds by recent events was allowed to settle, giving them clarity and perspective before the tidal change brought by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Jesus wants his apostles to wait during these 50 days of liminal time, because as any good fisherman knows, you are not likely to catch much when the tide is slack. That is, until the Spirit gets the waters moving.     

Unfortunately, the apostles aren’t quite getting it. They ask Jesus, “Lord, will you at this time give the Kingdom back to Israel?”

In other words, are you now going to boot the Romans out of Israel and put us in charge of our own country again? (Like when David and Solomon were king.) The disciples had confused the spiritual kingdom of God with the political kingdom of Israel.

Jesus’ response shows they were asking the wrong question. First Jesus says, “The times and occasions are set by my Father’s own authority, and it is not for you to know when they will be”. Jesus is basically saying here, ‘forget about the political situation of Israel. That’s not what is important right now’.

Jesus then goes on to show the apostles what is important. He says…

“…when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”    

The apostles’ purpose, their mission, is to be witnesses for Jesus. They are to pass on Jesus’ teaching, tell the truth about his death and resurrection and proclaim salvation through faith in him.

The disciples had been thinking about power in a narrow political sense. They didn’t realise it at that time, but they were standing on the threshold of receiving a different kind of power, the power of the Spirit. The power to bear witness and proclaim, not the power to control or coerce.  

Jesus dismantles the apostles’ nationalism telling them plainly that they will be witnesses, not just to Israel but to the ends of the earth.

I like what John Stott says about these verses: The Kingdom of God is… spread by witnesses, not by soldiers, through a gospel of peace, not a declaration of war and by the work of the Spirit, not by… political intrigue or violence. [2]

Witnesses, not soldiers. The word for witness in Greek is martys, from which we get martyr. To be a witness for Jesus in the first and second centuries was to be a martyr, someone who suffered for their faith. The fact the apostles were ready to die for their witness concerning Jesus, shows their witness is true.

Purpose moving forward:

Although liminal experiences are necessary in helping us to make transitions in life, it’s not good to become stuck in a liminal experience. We need to find our purpose moving forward.

The butterfly can’t fly unless it emerges from the cocoon.  Eventually you have to deliver the baby and when the baby is born it needs to take its first breath. At some point we must leave adolescence behind and accept the responsibilities of adulthood. You can’t live in a bus stop or at the train station. And if we don’t find a way to let go of our grief, well, we get stuck in the past. 

The apostles needed to witness the miracle of Jesus’ ascension, so they didn’t get stuck in their liminal experience. For 40 days since his resurrection, the risen Jesus had been appearing and disappearing. If Jesus just disappeared one day without explanation, the apostles would be left in confusion, stuck in liminal time, not able to cross the threshold and move forward with purpose.

After proving his resurrection and promising the Spirit, Jesus was taken up to heaven as the apostles watched him and a cloud hid him from their sight.

In the Old Testament the presence of the Lord guided the Israelites through the wilderness in a pillar of cloud by day [3] and when Jesus met with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration a bright cloud enveloped them. [4]

Now, at his ascension, Jesus is taken into a cloud. It was no ordinary cloud that hid Jesus as he ascended. It was a supernatural cloud, a sign of God’s presence.

Jesus’ ascension was a miracle of God, just as the resurrection was a miracle. And because the ascension was a miracle, we don’t need to try and find a materialistic explanation for it. We don’t need to think of heaven as some place up in the sky or in space. Better to think of heaven like another dimension, hidden from our eyes. And the cloud is like a curtain into heaven.   

For the early Christians, Jesus’ ascension was very important. For them the ascension went hand in hand with the resurrection. The disciples would suffer much as witnesses for Christ. The memory of Jesus’ resurrection and ascension was an anchor for their faith; something real and tangible they could hold onto when all else was against them.  

Jesus’ ascension means he sits at the right hand of God in heaven, interceding for us with the Father. We do not need to fear, for our best friend (Jesus) is the Lord of the universe.

Verses 10 and 11 of Acts 1 tell us how the disciples were still staring up into the sky (apparently stuck in a liminal moment) when two men dressed in white suddenly appeared beside them and said…

“Galileans, why are you standing there looking up at the sky? This Jesus, who was taken away from you into heaven, will come back in the same way that you saw him go to heaven.”

The men dressed in white were probably angels, heavenly messengers sent to help the disciples move forward with purpose. Angels announced the birth of Jesus. Angels announced his resurrection too. Now there are angels again at Jesus’ ascension.

There are two points of application here: Firstly, the apostles were not to become so focused on heaven that they were no earthly use. By the same token they still needed to keep the end in sight. They were not to become so busy ‘witnessing’ that they forgot why they were doing it.  

Like the apostles we need to find our purpose moving forward. We do this by looking outward in compassion to a hurting world and forward in hope to the return of Jesus who makes all things new. 

Conclusion:

Acts 1 describes the liminal experience of Jesus’ apostles in-between the Lord’s resurrection and ascension. What liminal experiences are you going through? What life transitions are you navigating? What thresholds do you stand on the edge of?

Don’t rush it. It takes as long as it takes. Wait for the Spirit. But don’t get stuck in your liminal experience either. When the Spirit comes, move forward with him. Next Sunday is Pentecost.

Let us pray…

Eternal God, help us to wait for you. May the risen Jesus be real for us and may we find our purpose moving forward by your Spirit. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
  2. Can you think of some liminal experiences from your own life? What happened? How did you feel? How did you make your way through?
  3. Why are liminal experiences necessary?
  4. Why did the risen Jesus appear to his disciples repeatedly over a period of 40 days?
  5. Why did Jesus tell his disciples to wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit?
  6. Why did Jesus ascend to heaven? What difference did Jesus’ ascension make for the disciples? What difference does Jesus’ ascension make for you?
  7. Why is it important not to get stuck in a liminal experience? How might we know when we are stuck? How can we move on?

[1] Refer John Stott’s (BST) commentary on Acts, page 34.

[2] John Stott’s commentary on Acts, page 42

[3] Exodus 13:21

[4] Matthew 17:5

Tawa Baptist

Transformation

Scripture: Isaiah 65:17-25

Video Link: https://youtu.be/Spt3lNxBec0

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • God’s new creation
    • From grief to joy
    • From death to life
    • From frustration to fulfilment
    • From harm to harmony
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Miracles of transformation are all around us. Perhaps the most common and yet unnoticed transformation is the miracle of photosynthesis.

Plants are able to absorb water, carbon dioxide and sunlight then transform it into glucose energy. As part of this process, plants release oxygen into the atmosphere as a by-product. We human beings benefit from this miracle of transformation. Plants form the basis of the food chain and they give us air we can breathe.

I wish I could explain to you the miracle of cows transforming grass into milk,

or acorns transforming into oaks or caterpillars transforming into butterflies or salmon transforming from saltwater fish into freshwater fish, but that’s a whole other level of complicated. Miracles of transformation are happening around us all the time.

Today, Easter Sunday, is a day when we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus is more than mere resuscitation, it is a miracle of transformation.

One of the classic Old Testament readings for Easter Sunday is Isaiah 65. In this passage we hear how God intends to transform the whole cosmos. From Isaiah 65, verse 17 we read…

17 “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. 19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. 20 “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reacha hundred will be considered accursed. 21 They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They will not labour in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them. 24 Before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.

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

God’s new creation:

You’ve probably heard of anagrams. An anagram is a word, or a phrase, created by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase. For example, you can rearrange the letters of the name Andrew to spell Warden.

The names Andrew and Warden are quite close in meaning. Andrew means manly or strong, while Warden means guardian or watchman. Not all anagrams are similar in meaning though.

Those anagrams which are opposite or contradictory in meaning are called antigrams. For example, you can rearrange the letters of the phrase entails sin to create the word saintliness. The antigram of the phrase ill fed is filled. On the sly becomes honestly and antagonist transforms into not against.

Fluster is actually restful in a muddle. Violence converts to its opposite, nice love. Ailed becomes ideal. And adultery changes to true lady. Just as we can transform the meaning of a word by rearranging its letters, so too God can transform our quality of life by rearranging our values and circumstances.

In verse 17 of Isaiah 65 the Lord God (Yahweh) says he will create new heavens and a new earth. This does not mean God plans to throw out the existing heavens and earth. Rather it means God is going to transform this world into something far better.

In the Genesis accounts of creation, God rearranges the elements of chaos to create order so that life can flourish. In doing this, God did not destroy what was there, he transformed it into something functional and beautiful, into a paradise.    

Likewise, when God raised Jesus from the dead, he didn’t destroy Jesus’ earthly body. Rather he transformed Jesus’ corpse into a spiritual body, a body that would not get sick or age but would be fit for eternity. A body made new with the stuff of heaven and yet still bearing the scars of his earthly experience.  

In verse 17 the Lord God goes on to say, the former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.

This indicates God’s renewed creation will be fully realized in the age to come. The current age we are living in now is drawing to a close and when it does the things we have suffered in this life will be forgotten, like a bad dream.

Indeed, the start of the next age (when God makes all things new) will be like waking up to the reality of what God originally intended for his creation.

From grief to joy:

In verses 18-19 we read of the first transformation, from grief to joy.

From weeping and crying to rejoicing and delight. From funeral to real fun.

(That’s right, if you rearrange the letters of the word funeral you get real fun, it’s an antigram.)

Verse 19 highlights the transformation of Jerusalem, the holy city.

In Matthew 23, Jesus lamented over Jerusalem saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”

In the age to come, the new Jerusalem will be transformed from a source of grief to a source of joy and a delight to the Lord. The thing that strikes us here is that God suffers with people. When bombs rain down on homes, when parents lose their children, when families are torn apart, God is grieved.

By the same token, when human beings treat each other with justice and compassion, when we exercise self-restraint for the well-being of others,

when we turn away from violence and greed, then perhaps we put a smile on God’s face and a warm glow in his heart.

From death to life:

The next picture of transformation is from death to life, or more accurately from an untimely death to long life. 20 “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years…

The average life expectancy in New Zealand these days is 82 years and 9 months. A little less for men, a little more for women. In 1960 the average life expectancy was a touch over 70 years.

The oldest human being, in recent history, was a French woman who lived to be 122 years old. The oldest living land animal is a giant tortoise (named Jonathon) who is thought to be at least 192 years old.

But these ages are nothing compared to some varieties of trees. The largest living kauri tree (Tāne Mahuta) is estimated to be roughly 2000 years old, give or take.

In verse 22 of Isaiah 65, the Lord says, ‘For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people’. This is a proverbial way of saying, that in the age to come (in God’s new creation) people will live much longer than the 70-80 years we are used to. People will live for hundreds of years.

Now for those who are feeling the aches and pains of getting older, that might sound like a terrible thought. But it’s not, for these extra years will be good ones, filled with health and vitality. As verse 20 says, one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child.

In the book of Job chapter 14, Job laments the brevity of human life and the finality of death saying…

7 “At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. 8 Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, 9 yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant. 10 But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.

There’s a Norwegian spruce tree growing in Sweden which (according to carbon dating) is over nine and half thousand years old. However, it is not the original tree. When the trunk and branches die, the roots remain alive and grow a new trunk and branches. Some trees can do this.

But human beings are not like that. When a person dies, we don’t sprout a new body and limbs. There is a finality to death which mocks life’s meaning and cuts hope short.

Many centuries after the time of Job, Jesus conquered sin and death on the cross. God raised Jesus to eternal life on the third day and now humanity has hope of another life, a more abundant life, after death.

From frustration to fulfilment:

Returning to God’s vision for his creation in Isaiah 65, so far we have observed the transformation from grief to joy and from death to life. Now we note a third transformation, from frustration to fulfilment.

I’m working on a little building project on my days off at the moment, making a small retaining wall in one part of the garden where there is risk of erosion. This has involved digging some holes for the posts.

Unfortunately, the ground is hard and compacted with lots of tree roots in the way. While the tree roots help to provide stability for the soil, they also make digging quite frustrating. Rather than breaking my spade and my back, I decided to buy a manual post hole borer.

It worked like a dream, peeling through the dirt and slicing up the tree roots. The right tool for the job, transforming frustration into fulfilment.

Anyway, the next morning after digging the holes, I was woken by a heavy downpour. The first thing I thought, on hearing the rain on the roof was, what’s happened to my holes. Hope the rain hasn’t washed away my hard work, because that would be really frustrating. 

By God’s grace (and the shelter provided by a camelia tree) the holes survived and frustration was avoided.

In verses 21-23 of Isaiah 65, the Lord says to his people…

21 They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat… my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They will not labour in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;

Note the three crippling frustrations in these verses. The loss of houses, the loss of income, and the even more devastating loss of seeing your children suffer misfortune. Home, work and family. These are things we can identify with.

Many people in this world work hard to establish some form of security, they labour to have something to hold on to and something that will hold them, only to have it ripped away by forces beyond their control. Sometimes the things we hoped would be fulfilling turn out to be frustrating.   

But this is not what God wants for humanity. The Lord’s vision for the age to come is one of fulfilment, not frustration. A future in which his people enjoy the fruits of their labours and get to see their children doing well.

Previously, in Isaiah 64, the prophet had cried out to the Lord in frustration…

1 Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down… 10 Oh, look on us, we pray, for we are all your people. Your sacred cities have become a wasteland… 12 After all this, Lord, will you hold yourself back? Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?

This shows the great chasm the people felt between themselves and God.

The Lord seemed distant and indifferent to their suffering.

We all have times like that don’t we. Times of desolation when we feel like God has forsaken us, that he doesn’t care. Times of frustration in prayer when we desperately desire God to intervene and come to our aid, but we get no response.

In verse 24 of Isaiah 65, the Lord answers the prophet’s prayer of frustration, saying:Before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear.

In the age to come, the frustration of unanswered prayer will be forgotten.

The Lord will be so close to his people that we will know the fulfilment of God’s presence in real time.

To be heard and understood is a precious thing. It makes us feel less alone, more connected. This kind of intimacy with God is what eternal life is like.

From harm to harmony:

We are talking about the transformation God envisions for his creation. It is a transformation from grief to joy, from death to life, from frustration to fulfilment and from harm to harmony. 

In verse 25 we read…

25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.

This verse may sound familiar; it is found in Isaiah 11 as well.

In this world, the age in which we live, the wolf is the proverbial enemy of the lamb. Wolves are ferocious predators and lambs are defenseless creatures. Wolves (as we know them) do harm to lambs. But, in the next age, the wolf will do no harm to the lamb. To the contrary, wolves and lambs will live in harmony.

In this world, lions eat meat and they pose a threat. They are to be feared.

But in the age to come (in God’s perfect world) lions will be vegetarians and pose no threat. This is a parable. Wolves and lions represent the strong and powerful, while lambs represent the weak and vulnerable.

The Old Testament scholar, John Goldingay, explains…

Harmony in the animal world is a metaphor for harmony in the human world. The strong and the powerful (the wolves and lions) will live together with the weak and the powerless (the lambs) because the weak and the powerless can believe the strong and powerful are no longer seeking to devour them. [1] 

The mention of the serpent eating dust is a reminder of Genesis 3, where the snake tempted Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. In God’s vision for the future, sin and temptation will be under our feet. Sin and temptation will have no power over us.

The harm we experience in this world will be transformed into harmony. All of God’s creatures living in peace and respectful relationship with one another.

Conclusion:

Isaiah 65 is a picture of paradise. It is life as God intended it. It is the kingdom of heaven on earth. It is creation raised from the dead. Sadly, the world we live in is like a desert in comparison. It may seem to us that Isaiah 65 is just pie in the sky, a mere pipe dream that will never be realised.

Well, if it was up to human beings to realise the vision of Isaiah 65, then we would have to agree, just pie in the sky, opium for the masses. But it does not depend on us. It depends on God Almighty, and all things are possible with God.

God’s sovereignty sets the tone for the vision of Isaiah 65. In verse 17 the Lord says that he will create new heavens and a new earth. We could no more bring about our own transformation than we could raise ourselves from the dead.         

The renewing of God’s creation is God’s work. The resurrection of Jesus is the first fruits, the down payment guaranteeing God’s commitment to make all things new. Knowing God plans to transform and renew his creation gives us real hope for the future.

When we are overwhelmed by grief, we recover some joy and strength from knowing that grief will not have the last word.

When death cuts life short or we feel like our life is going too fast, we remember that this life is not all there is. The best is yet to come for those who are in Christ Jesus.

When our prayers, our work and our plans for our family are frustrated by forces beyond our control, we find consolation in trusting that God works all things for good in fulfilment of his redemptive purpose.

And when the wolves of this world devour the lambs, when the strong crush the weak, when harm is done to people and the planet, we live in the light of the age to come (the age of harmony). We take responsibility to care for others and protect the environment, to the extent we can.

Let us pray…

Sovereign God, we thank you for the hope that is ours through faith in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. May your vision for the transformation of the cosmos be real in our minds. Keep our feet on the ground as we walk through this world with you. Through Jesus we pray. Amen. 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
  2. What miracles of transformation do you observe in the natural world? What miracles of transformation do you observe in history? What miracles of transformation do you observe in your own life?
  3. What does it mean for God to ‘create’ in Isaiah 65? What does Isaiah 65 show us about God’s intention for his creation?
  4. How does Jesus’ resurrection relate to the vision of Isaiah 65?
  5. Discuss / reflect on the four main transformations envisioned in Isaiah 65. That is: from grief to joy, from death to life, from frustration to fulfilment and from harm to harmony.
  6. What frustrations have you experienced in your life? How might we deal with our frustrations? What fulfilments can you give God thanks for?
  7. What difference does the vision of Isaiah 65 make for us now, today?  

[1] Refer John Goldingay’s commentary on Isaiah, page 85.

Tawa Baptist

Good Wood

Scriptures: Mark 15:16-23, Luke 23:32-34, John 19:28-37

Video Link: https://youtu.be/aLIuV-PCblo

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Thorns
  • Myrrh
  • Cross
  • Hyssop
  • Spear
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Easter is almost upon us. Easter is the time when we remember Jesus’ death on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. It seems strange to call the day Jesus died ‘good’, but it is right.

The Friday of Jesus’ death is good in the sense that it is a holy day. It is good for humanity, for it is through Jesus’ death that our sin is dealt with on the cross and we can be reconciled with God.

Today we continue our Testimony of Trees series by considering the trees of Good Friday. I couldn’t resist calling this sermon Good Wood.

Thorns:

Let us begin then with a reading from Mark 15. To set the scene, Jesus has just been condemned to death by Pilate. From Mark 15, verse 16 we read…   

16 The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. 17 They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. 18 And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” 19 Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

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

We don’t know for certain what variety of tree the soldiers used to make a crown of thorns for Jesus. One of the leading contenders (according to tradition) is the garden plant Euphorbia Milii.

Euphorbia Milii can grow up to 1.8 meters tall, although sometimes it grows along the ground. It has beautiful flowers and spines up to 3 cm long. The sap of the Euphorbia Milii is moderately poisonous and can cause irritation on contact with eyes or skin, which would have added to Jesus’ suffering.

The Euphorbia Milii plant is good wood though. The World Health Organisation has recommended using extracts from Euphorbia Milii to control snail populations in African countries. This prevents the spread of a water borne parasite carried by the snails.

The charge against Jesus was insurrection. Jesus was accused of being the King of the Jews, which he is, only Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world. The soldiers made a crown of thorns for Jesus to wear as a way of mocking him. The crown of thorns was a parody of the laurel wreath Caesar wore.

Anger wears many different faces. Sometimes the face of physical violence. Sometimes the face of silent resentment. Sometimes the face of foul language and contempt. Other times the hidden face of deep sadness. Sarcasm and mockery is another face worn by anger. 

The soldiers mocked Jesus, spat on him and beat him. These are classic signs of anger. Jesus did nothing to deserve the brunt of the soldiers’ abuse, but he absorbed it anyway. What we notice here is the way Jesus responded to the soldiers’ anger, with meekness.

These days meekness carries the unfortunate connotation of being weak or timid. This is wrong. The meekness of Jesus combines strength with gentleness. To be meek is to bring one’s strength and power under control.

An elephant or a horse or an ox, that is obedient to its master, is meek. Not weak, but powerful and controlled.

At any point during his ordeal Jesus could have called down fire on those who were mocking and beating him, but he did not do this. Jesus took the soldiers’ abuse without retaliating. Christ did this in obedience to God the Father. That is meekness.

Does this mean we too should simply take it when others abuse us? Well, not necessarily. Jesus had three main strategies for dealing with abusive people. Often Jesus engaged the person in conversation using words and reason. There were other times though when he simply walked away. Jesus’ third strategy was to stand his ground and turn the other cheek.  

Jesus’ situation on Good Friday was special. God was asking Jesus to go to the cross to die. If Jesus hit back against the soldiers, he would be disobeying God and undermining the very purpose for which he came. Jesus chose to trust and obey God, even though that meant turning the other cheek and suffering rough treatment.

Let me be clear, if you are in an abusive relationship, then I don’t believe God would want you to stay and take it. Make a plan, get some support and get out. When the early church suffered persecution, the advice of the apostles was to flee; get away from it. In fact, the gospel spread to new places as Christians fled persecution. 

Myrrh:        

We continue Mark’s account of Jesus’ suffering, from verse 22: They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). 23 Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 

Myrrh is the oil or resin that comes from the Myrrh tree (scientific name: Commiphora Myrrha). The Myrrh tree is good wood. At the time of Jesus, myrrh had a variety of uses including as a perfume, as incense and for medicinal purposes. Myrrh oil was used on the skin as an antiseptic and an anti-inflammatory.

Myrrh is harvested by cutting the trunk of the myrrh tree. Cutting the tree causes it to bleed out the myrrh sap. Before being crucified, Jesus was scourged. He was whipped until his back was cut open. As the Scripture says: By his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)

When myrrh is mixed with wine it has a narcotic effect. It acts as a pain killer.

In Roman times there was a group of women from Jerusalem who offered myrrh mixed with wine to those who were being crucified. They did this as an act of mercy to ease the suffering of the condemned. It was probably this group of women who offered Jesus the pain killer. But Jesus refused.

Does this mean we too should never take pain killers or anesthetic? No, it does not mean that. Good Friday was different. Jesus faced a number of temptations while on the cross and needed to have the presence of mind to resist those temptations. The myrrh mixed with wine would diminish Jesus’ mental fortitude and make him more vulnerable to temptation, which is why he refused it. 

If you are in pain and the doctor prescribes medication to manage the pain, then take the medication as prescribed. There is no shame or guilt in that.

Pain is incredibly draining. Pain killers enable your body to direct its energy to healing. Plus, they usually make you less grumpy and easier to live with.

By the same token, if you wrestle with addiction to drugs or alcohol, then Jesus’ refusal to take the wine laced with myrrh is an inspiration to stay strong and not give in to temptation. Jesus knows your struggle and stands in solidarity with you.

Cross:  

From Luke 23, verse 32 we continue the account of Jesus’ suffering…     

32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”    

No one knows what kind of tree was used to crucify Jesus. It could have been any kind of tree growing nearby, the Roman soldiers weren’t fussy. Whatever was strong enough to hold up the dead weight of a body.

There might have been more than one kind of tree involved. Historians tell us the condemned were forced to carry the horizontal cross beam to the execution site. Once there, the cross beam was slotted into a groove in the vertical part of the cross. It’s possible the cross beam was a different kind of wood to the upright pole.

The Catholic writer Eileen Duggan (who wrote mostly during the first half of the 20th Century) has a poem called Irony. It goes like this…

Not hawk, not leopard is ironic. Believe me it needs mind to see the mortal wit of using kind on kind. Some poor fellow for a pittance made the cross-bar sure to hold another carpenter on it for the poor.

Eileen Duggan was observing the layers of cruel irony involved in Jesus’ death. A carpenter killed by wood, that is ironic.

None of the gospel writers describe the gory details of Jesus’ crucifixion.

Luke simply says, they crucified him there. The first century readers of the gospels did not need the technicalities of crucifixion explained to them. Most people would have witnessed crucifixion first hand and wished they could forget.

People were nailed to crosses, usually through their hands but sometimes also through their feet. The nails were not what killed the victim. The nails added to the pain while also preventing friends and family from rescuing the victim when no one was looking.

Crucifixion was usually a slow way to die. In some cases it could take days, although it was quicker than that for Jesus. The condemned were naked, so they suffered from exposure to the elements and dehydration.

Most crosses were low to the ground, leaving the person vulnerable to attack by wild animals. And, given the scourging that normally preceded crucifixion, I expect some died from sepsis. Most though would suffocate. Eventually it becomes impossible to breathe in that position.         

The Roman authorities crucified Jesus between two criminals and so the Scripture was fulfilled that Jesus was numbered among the transgressors. [1]

By accepting this kind of death Jesus was identifying with sinful humanity.

Even though Jesus is without sin, he does not stand aloof from us. Jesus stands in solidarity with humanity, especially those who suffer.

Jesus did not have much to say from the cross, which makes what he did say all the more potent: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”   

Forgiveness is about release, releasing others and releasing ourselves.

It’s about letting go of hurt and anger, guilt and shame. Choosing not to get even. Forgiveness is perhaps the greatest proof of love.

In 1936, just before the Spanish civil war, Ernest Hemingway wrote a short story called The Capital of the World. It’s about a Spanish father who longs to restore his relationship with his estranged son.

The father puts an advert in the local newspaper: Paco, meet me at Hotel Montana at noon, Tuesday. All is forgiven. When the father arrives, he finds 800 Pacos have responded to his ad, all looking for forgiveness.

Hemingway’s story speaks of the deep longing in every heart to have our guilt removed and our sins forgiven.    

When Jesus said, Father, forgive them, I believe he wasn’t just referring to the Roman soldiers who were crucifying him. He was speaking about all of us. Jesus’ words were like God’s advertisement to each one of us, all is forgiven. 

Some people think God was punishing Jesus on the cross for our sins. The problem with this idea is that it makes God seem smaller, more cruel, less just.  

It is more accurate to think of Jesus taking our sins upon himself, on the cross, in order to destroy sin and death. So, when Jesus was nailed to the cross, our sin (past, present and future) was nailed there with him. When Jesus died, our sin died with him.

This is hard for us to understand because, in this life, we still wrestle with sin. But in the life to come sin will have no power over us because of what Jesus did on the cross.

If we think of sin like a live grenade, about to explode, Jesus is the one who throws himself on the grenade. Jesus absorbs our sin to shield us from the blast. The person who throws themselves on the grenade is not being punished. They are sacrificing themselves that others may live.

Ultimately there is a mystery to what Jesus did on the cross. We cannot fully comprehend it. We only know that in order to receive the Father’s forgiveness, we must respond in faith and obedience to God’s offer of reconciliation in Christ.

As an instrument of torture, the cross is brutal. But as an instrument of forgiveness, the cross is good wood. Thorns, myrrh and the cross. What’s next?

A stalk of hyssop. From John 19, verse 28 we read…

Hyssop:

28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

There’s nothing like blood loss to make you thirsty. Part of the torture of the cross was the feeling of unquenchable thirst.

The jar of wine vinegar was not the same as the myrrh laced wine that Jesus rejected earlier. Nor was it like vinegar as we know it today. One commentator describes the wine vinegar of Good Friday as the ancient equivalent of Gatorade or Powerade. It was a thirst-quenching drink used by soldiers and day labourers. [2]

Jesus says he is thirsty, because he was no doubt incredibly thirsty, but also because it fulfils Scripture. Probably Psalm 69 where the psalmist says he is parched (verse 3) and they gave him vinegar for his thirst (verse 21). But also, Psalm 22 where the psalmist says: My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth…     

From a practical point of view, Jesus’ mouth was dry and he needed to wet it before he could speak. It wasn’t feasible to pass Jesus a cup, so a sponge was soaked in the cheap wine, put on a stalk of hyssop and offered to Jesus.

Now strictly speaking hyssop is not a tree. It’s more of a garden herb or shrub but it is still good wood. Hyssop is a hardy drought tolerant plant with medicinal properties. It can be used to relieve ear ache, asthma and bloating. But that is not its main significance here at the cross.  

Hyssop was used in cleansing rituals, to restore those who were ceremonially unclean. Also, Moses instructed the Israelites to paint their door posts with the blood of the Passover lamb, using the branches of the hyssop plant. The blood of the lamb protected those in the house from the angel of death.  

The mention of the hyssop stalk at Jesus’ crucifixion suggests that Jesus is the Passover lamb whose blood cleanses us from sin and protects us from death.  

After Jesus had wet his mouth enough to speak, he cries out, ‘It is finished’. This is not the weak cry of resignation. This is a victory cry of accomplishment. Jesus has completed the work God gave him to do.  

Language experts tell us that the phrase about Jesus bowing his head has the same sense of resting his head, as if on a pillow. Jesus’ task is complete, now he can rest.

Notice how Jesus gives up his spirit. Death does not overpower Christ. Jesus is not afraid of death. Jesus in control here, offering his spirit back to God. We come from God. We return to God.

Thorns, myrrh, the cross and hyssop. All good wood of that first Good Friday. There’s one more piece of wood we need to consider. Can you guess what it is? From John 19, verse 31 we read…  

Spear:

31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water… 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”

Hidden in these verses is the Ash tree. When the soldiers came to break Jesus’ legs, they saw he was already dead and so they did not need to smash any of his bones to speed the process of dying. Instead, they pierced his side with a spear.

The Roman stabbing spear, known as the hasta, was usually made from the wood of the Ash tree, with a metal tip attached to the end of the shaft. Ash is a hard wood and therefore strong in battle.

There probably isn’t any theological significance in the Ash tree, but I mention the spear because it is good wood. The piercing of Jesus’ side is good for four reasons…

Firstly, it proves that Jesus is a real human being, with a physical body. He is not some phantom or apparition as the heresy of Docetism supposes.

Secondly, the piercing of Jesus’ side demonstrates that Jesus was properly dead. Knowing that Jesus was fully dead (and not just unconscious) is essential to believing in his resurrection.

Thirdly, blood and water represent life. The blood and water that flowed from Jesus’ side when he was pierced signify that Jesus’ death means life for us.

The piercing of Jesus’ side also fulfils Scripture, thus showing us yet again that all this happened according to God’s will.

Conclusion:

The thorns remind us that Jesus faced mockery with meekness.

The myrrh reminds us that Jesus handled temptation with a sober mind.

The cross reminds us that Jesus overcame hate with forgiveness

The hyssop reminds us that Jesus’ blood cleanses us from sin.   

The spear reminds us that Jesus’ suffering and death were real.

And the empty tomb reminds us that God raised Jesus from the dead.

Let us pray…

Thank you, Jesus, for throwing yourself on the grenade of our sin. May we not take your sacrifice for granted. Help us to walk humbly with you, in faith and obedience and the knowledge of your grace. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. What stands out for you in reading these Scriptures and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
  2. Why do we call the day of Jesus’ death ‘Good Friday’?
  3. Why did the soldiers put a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head? What three strategies did Jesus have for responding to abuse? When is the best time to use each strategy?
  4. Why did Jesus refuse the wine laced with myrrh? When is it okay to use painkillers? 
  5. Why did Jesus take our sin upon himself on the cross? What forgiveness do you long for? What is an appropriate response to forgiveness?
  6. What is the significance of hyssop in the Bible? What does the use of hyssop at Jesus’ crucifixion suggest about the purpose of Jesus’ death?
  7. Why is the piercing of Jesus’ side a good thing? What do we learn from this?    

[1] Isaiah 53:12

[2] Refer Ben Witherington III, ‘The Gospel of Mark, page 399.

Tawa Baptist

The Almond Tree

Scriptures: Numbers 17 and Jeremiah 1:4-12

Video Link: https://youtu.be/s7j84uA3qy0

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Numbers 17 – Priest
  • Jeremiah 1 – Prophet
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

One of the greatest joys in life is learning something new. One new thing I learned this past week is that walnuts, cashews, pistachios and almonds are not nuts. Technically they are drupes. 

A drupe is a kind of fruit with the fleshy part on the outside and the seed inside. The seed, on the inside, is often encased in a hard shell. Other examples of drupes include peaches, plums and cherries. The flesh is on the outside and the seed is on the inside.

It’s a bit confusing because with peaches, plums and cherries we eat the flesh on the outside and throw away the seed in the middle. But with walnuts, cashews, pistachio and almonds we don’t eat the flesh on the outside. We discard the flesh and the shell and eat the seed in the middle.

When you buy walnuts, cashews and almonds in the shop they usually come with the outer fleshy part removed. Sometimes they come in their shell, but more often all we see is the edible seed.

Today we continue our Testimony of Trees series by considering the almond tree, the fruit of which is not a nut but a drupe. There are different kinds of almonds, some bitter, some sweet.

My favourite kind is a variety known as Scorched Almonds. Scorched Almonds are native to New Zealand. Unlike regular almonds, you do eat the chocolatey flesh on the outside as well as the almond seed on the inside. No part of the scorched almond fruit is wasted.

Our message this morning focuses on two readings from the Bible which feature the almond tree. Numbers 17 and Jeremiah 1.

Numbers 17 – Priest:

We begin with Numbers 17, where we pick up the story of Aaron and Moses and the people of Israel in the wilderness. From Numbers chapter 17, verse 1 we read…

The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and get twelve staffs from them, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes. Write the name of each man on his staff. 3 On the staff of Levi write Aaron’s name, for there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral tribe. 4 Place them in the tent of meeting in front of the ark of the covenant law, where I meet with you. 5 The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites.” 6 So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and their leaders gave him twelve staffs, one for the leader of each of their ancestral tribes, and Aaron’s staff was among them. 7 Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the covenant law. 8 The next day Moses entered the tent and saw that Aaron’s staff, which represented the tribe of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds. 9 Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the Lord’s presence to all the Israelites. They looked at them, and each of the leaders took his own staff. 10 The Lord said to Moses, “Put back Aaron’s staff in front of the ark of the covenant law, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so that they will not die.” 11 Moses did just as the Lord commanded him. 12 The Israelites said to Moses, “We will die! We are lost, we are all lost! 13 Anyone who even comes near the tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all going to die?”

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

Almond trees grow best in a Mediterranean type climate. They prefer warm dry weather. Too much rain and the crop will fail. A few years ago, they tried growing almond trees in the Hawke’s Bay. At that time the Hawke’s Bay had a drought and they found the almond trees did well in the dry weather, better than any other tree.

The name ‘almond’ derives from the ancient Greek word, ‘amygdala’.

For us today, the amygdala refers to that part of the human brain (shaped like an almond) which is associated with memory and emotion, in particular fear. The amygdala triggers the body’s fight or flight response when you feel like you are in danger.   

For example, if you have a bad experience around water when you are young, your amygdala stores that memory so that whenever you find yourself in a similar situation, you automatically feel frightened and want to get out as quickly as possible, whether it is dangerous or not.   

People in Biblical times would not have understood the structure of the brain in the same way we do today. For them an amygdala was an almond, so we shouldn’t make too much of it, but it’s a curious connection, particularly given the fear reaction of the Israelites in Numbers 17.

In the context of Numbers 17, the people of Israel are in the desert after their exodus from slavery in Egypt and they are not happy. In fact, many of the people are angry with Moses and Aaron.

Some people (led by a bloke called Korah) resented Moses and Aaron, accusing them of setting themselves above everyone else. Korah thought any Israelite should be able to serve as a priest.

It was the priests’ job to act as an intermediary between the people and God. Among other things, the priests helped the people deal with their sin so they could be right with God.

But ancient Israel was not a democracy. Ancient Israel was supposed to be a theocracy, which means the priesthood is decided by God, not popular vote.

When Korah and his followers tried to act as priests by burning incense (in Numbers 16) some were swallowed by the ground, some were consumed by fire and others were killed by a plague. Thousands died. It was carnage.

To settle the matter once and for all, the Lord tells Moses to gather up the staffs of the leaders of the 12 tribes of Israel, write each man’s name on his staff and leave them in the tent of meeting (aka: the tabernacle).

The tent of meeting was a holy place, like a mini portable temple for God’s presence. God would choose the high priest he wanted by causing that man’s staff to sprout.

Sure enough, the next morning when Moses went to collect the 12 staffs, he saw that Aaron’s staff had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds.

Normally, it takes about three years before the almond tree is ready to bear fruit and once it is mature enough it takes between 7 and 8 months from when the tree first flowers (in early spring) to when the fruit is ripe (in autumn).

God had made Aaron’s staff (a dead piece of wood) flower and produce almonds in one night. This miracle served as a sign to the people that God had chosen Aaron and his sons to serve as priests for Israel.

We don’t need to try and find a scientific explanation for Aaron’s staff budding. That would miss the point. Better to be filled with a sense of awe and wonder.

The miracle performed by Yahweh shows that God enlivens every stage of life, from flower to fruit, from youth to maturity. Indeed, it is the Lord who makes life fruitful and fulfils its purpose.

More than that, the Lord has power over sin and death. It is God who appoints an intermediary to deal with our sin and it is God who causes dead things to spring to life.

From our vantage point in history, we who believe in Jesus, can see that Aaron’s budding staff points to the resurrection.   

You might be wondering, why did Aaron’s staff grow almonds? Why not plums or cherries or apples? Well, if Aaron’s staff was made from almond wood, then that might explain it.

Nevertheless, there is a curious connection between God and the almond tree. When God gave instructions on how the tabernacle should be built, he stipulated in Exodus 25, that the gold cups of the lampstand be shaped like almond flowers, with buds and blossoms. The almond tree, then, is associated with divine light, holy light.  

I said before, there are different varieties of almonds, some bitter and some sweet.

Bitter almonds contain a compound that when ingested breaks down into cyanide. Cyanide is poisonous of course.

Sweet almonds (which you get in the supermarket) are safe to eat, but bitter almonds are dangerous and should be avoided. Around 50 bitter almonds could kill an adult, even less would kill a child. 

Were the almonds on Aaron’s staff bitter or sweet? We don’t know. But there is something mysterious and potentially dangerous about these almonds. Just as there is something mysterious and potentially dangerous about God.

The young nation of Israel is terrified by the miracle of Aaron’s staff growing almonds overnight. It is a clear sign of God’s holiness, power and sovereignty. The memory of God’s holiness sears itself on the collective amygdala of the nation.

Instinctively, on an unconscious level, we all know that God is holy. Deep down we all know that God is good, but he is not safe.

People living in a Western society today (people like us) tend to struggle with what God did in Numbers 16 and 17. It offends our sensibilities. The society we live in believes in personal freedom.

Freedom is not a bad thing in itself, it’s a good thing. I’m thankful for the freedoms we enjoy in New Zealand (democracy is better than fascism).

But if we put personal freedom on a pedestal and make an idol out of it, then we reject God’s sovereignty and forfeit true freedom.

Any society that sacrifices holiness on the altar of individualism is on a dangerous path. May God deliver us from ourselves.

Jeremiah 1 – Prophet:

Our second reading, featuring the almond tree, comes from the book of Jeremiah chapter 1. In Numbers 17, the Lord makes it clear to everyone that he has chosen Aaron as high priest. In Jeremiah 1, the Lord chooses Jeremiah to be his spokesman, his prophet to Israel and the nations.

From Jeremiah chapter 1, verses 4-12, we read…   

4 The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knewyou, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” 6 “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.” 7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. 9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” 11 The word of the Lord came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

“I see the branch of an almond tree,” I replied. 12 The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watchingto see that my word is fulfilled.”

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

The famous Renaissance artist, Michelangelo, painted an image of the prophet Jeremiah on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel in Vatican City. In Michelangelo’s fresco, Jeremiah is depicted as deep in thought and anguish as he laments over the destruction of Jerusalem. His face is darkened with grief, his countenance heavy with unwanted responsibility.

Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. He was reluctant to accept God’s call on his life. He didn’t want the job and who could blame him. He had the unenviable task of telling the nation that Jerusalem would be destroyed because of the people’s sin. Very few people listened to him. Jeremiah was misunderstood and mistreated, even though he was the real deal.  

God’s call is not always attractive or comfortable. Sometimes we are compelled by God, whether we like it or not. We may protest (like Jeremiah) or rebel (like Jonah) but eventually we realise God’s purpose is inevitable and irresistible, like the current of a river or the ocean’s tide, or the pull of gravity.

Some art historians think Michelangelo’s painting of Jeremiah is a self-portrait. It seems Michelangelo identified closely with Jeremiah. Michelangelo was burdened by unwanted responsibility. He did not want to paint the Sistine chapel. He wanted to sculpt, but the Pope gave him little choice.      

Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests of Israel. That means Jeremiah was related to Aaron, for only Aaron’s descendants could serve as priests.

Jeremiah’s message was two parts judgement and one part hope. In verse 10 the Lord says to Jeremiah: “See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”

For Jeremiah there will be twice as much uprooting as there will be planting. Uprooting and planting is something one does with trees. This metaphor suggests God’s sovereign activity in restoring order to his creation by his word.

The almond tree features in verses 11 and 12 of chapter 1, where we read:

11 The word of the Lord came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
“I see the branch of an almond tree,” I replied.

12 The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.”

Sometimes in English you come across words which sound the same and are spelt the same but have different meanings. We call these words homonyms.

Take for example the word bark; depending on the context bark can refer to the skin of a tree (as in tree bark) or it can refer to the noise a dog makes.

Crane is another homonym. A crane can be bird or a piece of machinery used for lifting heavy objects. One might also crane their neck to see over an obstacle. Spelt the same but with a different meaning.

Homonyms are fodder for puns and jokes. And so we get sayings with a double meaning like, “You’re barking up the wrong tree”.  

We can’t see it in the English translation but in the original Hebrew there is a play on words with almond and watching. They are not homonyms exactly, but they are very close. In Hebrew, the word for almond and the word for watching come from the same root and are spelled the same except for one letter. [1]

This gives the word almond a double meaning. Essentially, the almond tree is also the watching tree.

It makes perfect sense. One thing that is true of almond trees the world over is they are the first tree to bud and flower in spring. They are like the daffodils of the tree kingdom.

Just as one might watch for the flowers of the almond tree to see when winter is ending and spring is starting, so too God is watching over his word to see that it is fulfilled.

On the one hand this is a word of encouragement to Jeremiah, a reassurance that God will make his word (through Jeremiah) come true. God isn’t going to let Jeremiah down or give him a message that is not fulfilled.

At the same time, God is telling the people of the day that Jeremiah is the one to watch. By paying attention to Jeremiah, the people will know when the long winter of Judah’s idolatry and apostacy are coming to an end and the spiritual renewal of spring is close at hand.

Basically, God’s word through Jeremiah is like flowers blossoming on an almond tree. God’s word will bear fruit in season but not right away. In fact, Jeremiah prophesied for about 40 years before the words God gave him about Jerusalem were fulfilled.

Conclusion:

You may be relieved to know the almond tree passages in Numbers 17 and Jeremiah 1 are not primarily about us. In the Bible, the almond tree is a sign of what God is doing in Israel. They also point to Christ.

The almond tree is associated with God’s selection of Aaron to be the high priest of Israel. Jesus is the high priest chosen by God to be our intermediary. Faith in Jesus makes us right with God. Don’t be like Korah who rejected God’s sovereignty. Choose life.

The almond tree is associated with the lamp stand in the Tabernacle, God’s holy place. Jesus is the light of the world; the holy one who reveals God’s glory. The light of Jesus casts out darkness and fear. The light of God’s love for us in Christ illuminates the way of humility and respect. Walk in the light.   

The almond tree is associated with the fulfilment of God’s word through the prophet Jeremiah. Jesus is the word of God in human form; Jesus (the Christ) fulfils the law and the prophets. If you want to understand God’s word, then trust and obey Jesus.

The almond tree is associated with spring and new life. Jesus is the first sign of the resurrection to come. Those who embrace Christ, even though they suffer for it, will be raised to eternal life. Build your hope on the firm foundation of Jesus’ resurrection.   

The almond tree is a sign pointing to the beauty, the mystery and the holiness of God’s presence among us. With this in view our response needs to be that of wonder, awe and praise. May the word of the Lord blossom in your life. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
  2. What are some of the characteristics of the almond tree and its fruit?
  3. What is the almond tree associated with in Numbers 17?
  4. What did the budding of Aaron’s staff signify? Why did the people of Israel react with fear? What do we mean when we say God is holy? How does God’s holiness affect you? 
  5. What is the almond tree associated with Jeremiah 1?
  6. In what ways is does the almond tree point to Jesus?
  7. Discuss / reflect on the meaning of Jeremiah 1:11-12. 

[1] Refer Derek Kidner’s commentary on Jeremiah, page 27.

Tawa Baptist

Hope feeds faith

Scripture: 1st Corinthians 15:51-58

Video Link: https://youtu.be/4Iw4j_DrU6Q

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The hope of resurrection
  • The work of faith
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Bishop Bill Frey once said: “Hope is hearing the music of the future; faith is dancing to it today.”

I like that. Hope is the capacity to imagine a good future. If you know, by faith, that something good is waiting for you in the future, it gives you positive energy in the present. The name for that positive energy is ‘joy’.

Today we conclude our series in 1st Corinthians 15, where Paul writes about the necessity and certainty of resurrection for the Christian faith. In these verses Paul summarises some of the main points of chapter 15 and he draws a connection between the future hope of resurrection and what that means for Christian faith in the present.  From 1st Corinthians 15, verses 51-58, we read…   

51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”  55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”  56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.

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

Today’s message is about two things: The hope of resurrection and the work of faith. Bishop Frey used the imagery of music and dancing to describe the dynamic relationship between hope and faith. ‘Hope is hearing the music of the future; faith is dancing to it today.’

We might also use the metaphor of food. Hope feeds faith. Hope is not a quick sugar rush. True hope doesn’t pick you up and then dump you. Real hope is nutritious food for the soul, giving sustained energy over time.

The future hope of resurrection feeds our faith in the present, so we can go the distance in doing the work God has prepared for us as we hold to Christ.   

The hope of resurrection:

Does anyone here watch Bear Grylls? He has a TV programme where he takes celebrities on an adventure in the wild. It usually involves doing something risky and eating something disgusting.

In pretty much all the shows I’ve watched, Bear makes a fire to get warm and to cook whatever he happened to find on the trail. But each time he demonstrates a different technique for getting the fire going.

In one episode he said he was going to start a fire using his own pee. It was a mystery to me how he would transform urine into fire. I’m pretty sure pee isn’t flammable, although I’ve never put that to the test.

Long story short, Bear did not pour his urine onto the kindling. Rather he peed into a clear plastic bag and then held the bag of urine up to the sun, refracting the light through his pee, just like you would concentrate light through a magnifying glass. This was enough to ignite some dry grass which he then fed with sticks and logs to get the fire going properly.

From pee to fire. Such a clever transformation. So obvious and simple in hindsight.

From verse 51 Paul reveals the mystery of resurrection. Namely that those who belong to Christ, whether they are sleeping in death or still living when Jesus returns in glory, will be transformed in the blink of an eye.

We might read that and think, how? That seems as unlikely as using pee to start a fire. But for God it is easy. In hindsight, post resurrection, I expect it will be obvious to us all.   

As we heard last week, the transformation of resurrection happens to our bodies. The Christian hope of resurrection does not imagine a disembodied soul in the next life. The Christian hope of resurrection includes a transformed body, one that is suited to our new existence in the kingdom of heaven.

Just as a seed is transformed into a plant and a caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly, so too our earthly bodies will be transformed into heavenly bodies, only much quicker. The change is from a body that wears out and dies to a body that doesn’t wear out or die. That is the hope of resurrection for all who belong to Christ.

In 1977 the rock band Queen released a song called We are the champions. It is a victory song, intentionally written for crowd participation. Even now (nearly 50 years later) We are the champions is instantly recognizable and easily sung at sports stadiums around the world.

In verses 54 & 55 Paul offers his own victory song, where he writes: Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death is your victory? Where O death is your sting?

Paul is referring to Isaiah 25 here, where the prophet says…

7 On this mountain the Lord will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; 8 he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.

It’s like Paul is saying: through Jesus’ resurrection, we are the champions. Through Jesus’ resurrection, we are on the winning side. Through Jesus’ resurrection, we have the victory over sin and death.

Of course, while it is true that in and through Christ we are the champions, it also needs to be acknowledged that we live in the now but not yet. Yes, Jesus has won the victory over sin and death on the cross. But we haven’t yet fully realized that victory. We still await the final victory when Jesus returns in glory. We are (in a very real sense) on the way to victory.   

In verse 56 Paul explains his metaphor saying: The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

If you think of a scorpion, it is the sting of the scorpion that causes death. Sin is like a scorpion’s sting. Sin leads to death. But if you cut off the tail of a scorpion it cannot sting you, it is essentially harmless. Likewise, if you get rid of sin, then death loses its power and cannot harm you.

Paul also makes a connection between sin and the Law of Moses. Ironically, it is the law which gives sin its power. Romans 7 sheds some light on what Paul means here…

7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 

Even though the Law is good, it cannot save us. It can only show us our guilt and accuse us. The thought of having our faults revealed and being judged tends to fill us with fear and dread.

Returning to 1st Corinthians 15: To keep it simple, with the return of Jesus, death is destroyed and sin can no longer touch us. Through Jesus, we have victory over death. Knowing that, one day, God will destroy death in all its many forms gives us something good to look forward to; it gives us hope and that hope feeds our faith, it helps us to obey God in the present.

This hope of transformation through resurrection is not a long shot. It is not like the hope of maybe winning Lotto one day. For those who belong to Jesus, the hope of resurrection is a sure thing because it doesn’t depend on luck or our own ability or goodness.

Our hope of resurrection depends on what Jesus has already accomplished through his own death and resurrection.

One thing we notice as we read these closing verses from 1st Corinthians 15 is that Paul doesn’t play the fear card. Paul keeps it positive. Paul doesn’t threaten his readers with hellfire and brimstone. He doesn’t say, turn or burn. Paul uses the carrot and not the stick.

Some of us may have become Christians out of fear, because we wanted to avoid the pain and torment of hell (as our uninformed minds imagine it). God is gracious and he will still accept you on the basis of wanting to avoid hell but really a relationship which is based on fear is not ideal.

It’s not what God wants. God is love and he would prefer that our relationship with him be based on faith, hope and love, not fear.  

Hope feeds faith like a river waters the land or like bread nourishes the body.  And our faith needs to be fed and watered if we are to find the strength to do the work God has prepared for us. And what is that work? Our work is to believe in the one God has sent, to believe in Jesus.

The work of faith:

Recently I came across a short story by JRR Tolkien (of Lord of the Rings fame). The story is called ‘Leaf by Niggle’.

Niggle is an artist who lives in a society that does not value art. This does not stop Niggle from painting though. He loves beauty and painting for its own sake. Niggle is a perfectionist and spends many hours over the details.

He has a vision of a great tree with a forest and mountains in the background. But Niggle is better at painting leaves than he is at painting trees. He is always reaching to capture his grand vision of the tree but never quite getting there. Part of the problem is that Niggle has many mundane chores that prevent him from devoting his time fully to his master piece.

To make matters worse, Niggle has a kind heart and is not able to turn away from his neighbour in need. His neighbour, Parish, is lame and Parish’s wife is sick. When Parish’s roof starts leaking Niggle is imposed upon to help. In the process Niggle catches a chill and dies before he can finish his painting.

After Niggle dies, the precious canvas on which he painted his tree is used to cover the roof of his neighbour’s house and is all but ruined, except for a small corner which has a perfectly painted leaf on it. The ‘Leaf by Niggle’ is put in a museum but after a while the museum burns down and Niggle’s painted leaf is destroyed.  Niggle is soon forgotten by the people of this world.

In the afterlife, Niggle hears two voices. The voice of Justice and the voice of Mercy. Justice and Mercy are debating with each other about what should become of Niggle. The severe voice of Justice talks about how Niggle wasted his life and was always distracted, never accomplishing much. He never finished his painting of the tree.

But Mercy, a strong but gentle voice, points out that Niggle was kind hearted and helped his neighbour in need. What’s more, Niggle did not paint for fame or money. He painted for the love of art and beauty. Mercy and Justice agree to send Niggle to a kinder place for ‘a little gentle treatment’.      

When Niggle arrives in the heavenly country he finds the tree in his vision, the tree he had been trying to paint all his earthly life. Except now the tree is alive, it is not just a painting. And behind it is the forest and the mountains he had imagined on earth.

Parish joins Niggle in the afterlife and together they work to make this good place even better. The place is named “Niggle’s Parish” and becomes a garden of healing for people as they make their transition into eternity.

Most of us can identify with Niggle. We all have a dream or a vision of what we hope to accomplish in this life but none of us seem to be able to fulfill our aspirations. The demands and interruptions of this world get in the way, as do the limits of our skill and capacity. This life becomes marked by frustration, bitterness and gall until we find ourselves asking, what is the point? 

I like Tolkien’s story though, because it is hopeful. It reminds us this life is not all there is. It imagines a future in which our efforts in this life are not wasted but put to good use in the next life.

Said another way, our purest aspirations in work will come to complete fruition in God’s future. In paradise, the work you do will be useful, bringing you (and others) joy and satisfaction. You will not be frustrated by a lack of time or ability, for you will perform with all the skill you can imagine. [1]

Some might hear Tolkien’s story of Niggle and think: ‘Phew, the pressure is off. I can cruise through this life and it doesn’t matter too much because it will all be sorted in the next life.’  Well, that’s not the point of the story. Nor is that what Paul is saying in 1st Corinthians 15.

In verse 58, Paul writes…

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.  

Some in the church in Corinth were saying there is no resurrection of the dead. Paul counters this by encouraging the Corinthians to stand firm in their belief in the resurrection. Let nothing move you; let nothing shift your hope in the resurrection, because those who hold to their faith in the risen Jesus will realise the deeper meaning and purpose of their life.

The hope of resurrection is not supposed to make us complacent or apathetic. The hope of resurrection is supposed to inspire and energize our work of faith in this world. What we do in this life matters for eternity because it is not just our bodies which are transformed and resurrected. The fruits of our labours in the Lord are also transformed and resurrected.   

Whatever you do in love and faith in this life, bears abundant fruit in eternity. In fact, we could think of the faith and love we share in this life as an investment paying dividends in heaven.

As Jesus says in Matthew 6…

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  

Where is the treasure of your hope? What vision of the future captivates your heart?

Conclusion:

Given that hope feeds faith, how then do we get a seat at the restaurant of hope?  By holding fast to our belief in the resurrection of Jesus and taking time to feed our mind and soul on what we know of resurrection life from the Bible.

Over the past few weeks we have done just that…

In the resurrection those who abide in Christ will be given new supernatural bodies. Bodies that do not get sick or wear out or fail. Bodies that are well suited to eternity. Let the hope of a resurrected and transformed body feed your faith and your soul.

In the resurrection those who abide in Christ will receive a share in God’s kingdom. We will enjoy a paradise in which God’s will is always done perfectly. A place of joy and peace and abundance. No more poverty. No more grief. No more homelessness or war. Plenty of good things to go around for everyone.

Let the hope of heaven coming to earth motivate you to love your neighbour and care for the environment.


In the resurrection those who abide in Christ will experience the redemption of their life’s work. Your purest aspirations in work will come to complete fruition in God’s future. The work you do will become useful and satisfying. Your true calling will not be frustrated by a lack of time or ability.

Let the hope of having your life’s work fulfilled and made fruitful sustain your labour in the Lord now. 

In the resurrection those who abide in Christ will be reunited with loved ones who are also in Christ. Parents who have lost children too soon will see them again. Orphans deprived of their parents’ time & love will be cared for. You who are widows and widowers will meet your husbands and wives once more.  

Let the hope of restored and properly functioning relationships inspire you to be kinder, more patient, more honest, more gracious and more forgiving with those near to you today.


But the greatest hope, the most nourishing hope, of resurrection is the indescribable joy of intimacy with God. The ravages of loneliness in this world will pass like a bad dream. In the resurrection we will be so close to God, so immersed in his love, that we will know instinctively what the Lord wants and be willing and able to do it.

Let the hope of intimacy with God fill you with wonder so that your soul overflows with whole hearted worship and praise. 

“Hope is hearing the music of the future; faith is dancing to it today.”

May the music of heaven give you the rhythm and joy you need to dance through this life. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

  • Discuss / reflect on Bishop Frey’s quote: “Hope is hearing the music of the future; faith is dancing to it today.” What does this mean? What does this say about the relationship between hope and faith? 
  • What does Paul mean when he says, ‘the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is death’? 
  • Why does Paul focus on the hope of resurrection (rather than the fear of hell)? What is your relationship with God based on? Does anything need to change?
  • How do you feel hearing Tolkien’s story about Niggle? In what ways does the story ‘Leaf by Niggle’ relate to 1st Corinthians 15:58?
  • What does it mean to share faith and love in this life? How might we do this?
  • Where is the treasure of your hope? What vision of the future captivates your heart? How does the hope of resurrection influence your faith in the present?  

[1] Timothy Keller, ‘Every Good Endeavour’, page 96.

Tawa Baptist

Continuity & Transformation

Scripture: 1st Corinthians 15:35-50

Video Link: https://youtu.be/VUUAN9TiW8E

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Symptoms & Cause
  • Continuity & Transformation
  • Before & After
  • Conclusion – application

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

If you are out at sea and the boat you are in is leaking, you need to do two things. You need to bail out the water you’ve taken on board and you need to patch the hole to stop the leak. Patching the hole deals with the cause of the problem and bailing out the excess water deals with the symptoms.

Likewise, if you are running a high temperature you may need to take some Panadol to bring the temperature down but Panadol, by itself, only deals with the symptoms. To deal with the cause of the problem you need to go to a doctor. If the underlying issue is an infection, then you might need antibiotics to treat the cause.  

Today we continue our series in 1st Corinthians 15, where the apostle Paul writes about resurrection. Some in the church at Corinth were saying there is no resurrection of the dead. Having dealt with the symptoms of this problem, Paul also addresses the underlying cause of the problem. From 1st Corinthians 15, verses 35-50, we read…

35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendour of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendour of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendour, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendour. 42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.  45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man. 50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

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

Symptoms and cause:

In the first 34 verses of 1st Corinthians 15, Paul writes about the absolute necessity of the resurrection for Christian faith. As helpful and necessary as these verses are, they mainly deal with the symptoms of the problem.  

Now, in verses 35-50, Paul addresses the underlying cause of the Corinthians’ problem. He patches the hole in the sinking boat of their faith. He administers the theological antibiotics needed to treat their infected thinking.

You see, the people of Corinth were strongly influenced by Greek thought. The Greek philosopher Plato (who lived about 400 years before Paul) came up with a theory that each human being has a divine soul of pure fire that, in this life, is imprisoned in a body. At death the soul (or spirit) escapes from the prison of the body and returns to the divine fire from which it came. [1]

To the ancient Greek mind, there was a false dichotomy (or a divide) between body and soul. The body was considered inferior (even bad) relative to the soul or spirit. Consequently, the ancient Greeks had a hard time accepting the resurrection of the body. The idea that God would raise people’s bodies from the dead was revolting to them.

Paul was Jewish and so his thinking started with the story of creation where God made all things and declared them good. For Christians there is no dichotomy between body & soul. Your body is not a prison, it’s not bad. Your body is good; it is sacred even. The problem is with sin and death.  

But Paul’s Greek readers didn’t think like that. They had been conditioned differently and so Paul had to address the underlying cause. Paul had to undo the Greek idea that the body was bad (like a prison) and he had to correct the false notion of a disembodied spirit after death.

People in our society today might also struggle with the idea of a bodily resurrection but for different reasons, perhaps because materialism is so pervasive in our culture. For many people, if they can’t touch it or see it or explain it, then it doesn’t exist. That’s how we are conditioned to think.

In verse 35, Paul imagines two questions some of his readers might ask:

How are the dead raised? (Or how is resurrection possible, in other words.)

And with what kind of body will they come? (Or said another way: what is the resurrected body like?) Paul answers these questions in the verses that follow.

He begins by saying, ‘How foolish’. Paul is not calling his readers stupid or unintelligent. Rather, he is using the term ‘fool’ in the Old Testament sense of someone who fails to take God into account.

How are the dead raised? By God of course. And with what kind of body will they come? A different kind of body, perfectly suited to eternity.

Continuity and transformation:

In short, Paul is saying there is a continuity between this life and the next but there is also transformation. Continuity with transformation.

There is continuity in the sense that just as you have a personal body in this life, so too you will have your own body in the next life. Contrary to Greek philosophy then, you don’t become a disembodied spirit when you die and you don’t lose your individuality.  

Having said that, your resurrected body will be a different kind of body from the earthly body you inhabit now. Your body will undergo a radical transformation in the resurrection.

This principle of transformation was different from what the Jewish Rabbis taught in the first century. The Rabbis believed in a bodily resurrection but they didn’t think the body changed. They believed you just get your old body back, which for most of us (as we get older) is not a happy thought.

When it comes to the resurrection, the Christian belief is continuity with transformation.

Paul isn’t making this stuff up. This is not some ethereal woolly idea without any basis in reality. Paul has a firm (evidence based) foundation for his claims about the resurrection.

In verses 36-41, Paul lists a series of examples from nature which demonstrate the continuity and transformation of resurrection. Paul talks about the bodies of plants, the bodies of animals, fish and birds, as well as celestial bodies like the moon and stars. It reminds us of the account of creation in Genesis 1 & 2. Indeed, resurrection is a new creation.

Paul is showing how the continuity and transformation of resurrection are built into the very fabric of the natural world. From verse 37 we read…

37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 

Take a tomato seed for example. The seed that is buried in the ground looks nothing like the plant that grows from that seed. Yes, there is a continuity between the seed and the plant, the seed has a body and the plant has a body, but God transforms the seed into something different, something more. 

Although Paul doesn’t mention it, we see the twin principles of continuity and transformation in the life cycle of a butterfly. A butterfly doesn’t start life with wings. A butterfly starts as a caterpillar before going into its cocoon and being transformed.

Paul goes on in verse 39 to talk about the different kinds of flesh God has given to animals, birds, fish and human beings. Paul is saying here that God gives all of his creatures a body type which uniquely suits their existence and their environment.

For example, he gives whales a body that enables them to live in cold water and dive to great depths. But, in the same way a whale doesn’t do so well on land, a human body couldn’t survive in frigid waters like a whale can.

Likewise, God gives birds a body that enables them to fly. But if a goat were to jump off a cliff, it wouldn’t fly, it would fall to the ground because God has given it a different body type, one which is suited for climbing mountains.

All of this is Paul’s way of answering the question posed earlier: with what kind of body will the resurrected come? With a body that is suited for eternal life.

The earthly bodies we inhabit now would not be able to cope with the glory of heaven, any more than a goat could fly or a human being could live in the sea.

Before and after:

In verses 42-44 Paul talks plainly about the transformation of the body through resurrection:  42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.         

In these verses Paul notes four differences between our earthly bodies and our resurrected bodies. 

To begin with, our earthly bodies are perishable, they wear out, get sick and fail us until eventually we die. But the transformed body we receive through resurrection is imperishable. Which means it is physically resilient. It doesn’t get sick or tired or wear out. Think Wolverine or Superman or Captain Marvel.

Our earthly bodies are sown in dishonour and raised in glory. Glory is the opposite of dishonour. Glory, for human beings, has to do with honourable qualities like courage, integrity, faithfulness, wisdom and self-control.

In this life we may want to act with honour all the time but in reality we fall short more often than we would like. In the resurrection we will have the kind of transformed character that supports our best intentions to act with courage, integrity, faithfulness, wisdom, self-control and so on. 

Or as William Barclay puts it: we will no longer be servants of our own passions but rather instruments of pure service to God.

Our bodies now are weak but in the resurrection they will be powerful. We will be able to cope with the rigours of God’s kingdom both physically and morally. In thinking of power, don’t think in terms of brute force. Instead, think of Jesus.

Power (in this context) isn’t just about how much you can bench press or how much you can bend people to your will. We are not talking about military or political power here.

Power, in a Christian understanding, is more about moral fitness. Jesus had the power to stand against injustice, to speak the truth and, at the same time, to be gracious and gentle. Jesus had the personal power to turn the other cheek and to forgive. What’s more, Jesus also had the supernatural power to heal people and deliver them from the tyranny of Satan.

Power is defined by the example of Christ, not by the broken standards of this world. Christ-like power appears weak at first but don’t be fooled; the weakness of God is stronger than the might of empires.    

The fourth transformation of the body (named in verse 44) is the change from a natural body to a spiritual body. To be spiritual means to be responsive to God’s Spirit. It means being so close to God, so in tune with him, that you instinctively move at the impulse of his love. 

Imagine finding a piece of drift wood on the beach. Now imagine taking the wood home and transforming it into a finely crafted wooden flute, which you play beautiful music with.

Your body in this world now, is like the drift wood. In the resurrection, God transforms the driftwood of your body into a beautiful instrument that is in tune with him, through which his Spirit works to ‘render the music of perfect worship, perfect service and perfect love’. [2]

We are trying to describe the indescribable. We are trying to imagine the heavenly using earthly images. Words fall short.

Understand this though, a spiritual body is not an immaterial thing. A spiritual body is not a phantom or a ghost. A spiritual body has real substance. You can touch and feel a spiritual body.

When the risen Jesus appeared to Thomas, the Lord said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put into my side…’

Thomas was able to physically touch Jesus’ resurrected body.

If an earthly body is a what we might call a natural body, then a spiritual body is a supernatural body, one that is fit for the kingdom of heaven.

In verses 45-49, Paul compares and contrasts Adam and Jesus. The first Adam was made from the dust of the earth and received life from God. There is no shame in being made from mud, in being earthy. God declared our bodies (and indeed all he made) to be good.

Being people of the earth is a natural and necessary stage in our development, just as being a caterpillar is a necessary stage of development for a butterfly. Or being a seed is a good and necessary stage of development for a plant.

But this life is not all there is. The next stage of our development is to become like the risen Jesus, the last Adam, the heavenly man.

Like us, Jesus was an earthy person. He was made of dust as well. But, after Jesus had died, God raised Jesus to eternal life and gave him a heavenly body, a supernatural body, suited for eternity. Jesus is our model, our pattern.

Those who belong to Jesus will be resurrected like Jesus and given a new body, one made from the stuff of heaven so that we can be close to God and enjoy him forever. The stuff of heaven is imperishable, it is glorious, honourable, (morally) powerful and perfectly in tune with God.

Conclusion:

You might be wondering, well that’s all well and good but how does this apply to us now, today? Let me suggest three points of application…

Firstly, when it comes to the question of how your earthly body is disposed of when you die, from an eternal perspective, it makes no difference whether you are buried or cremated. Our earthly bodies are made of dust and return to dust. In the resurrection we are given new supernatural bodies, made from the stuff of heaven. God doesn’t need your old bones to make the new you.

So you don’t need to tie yourself in knots worrying about how God will resurrect you. This is not his first rodeo. He created the heavens and the earth. He created you. God knows what he’s doing. Nothing is too hard for the Lord.

Secondly, as you get older you will notice your body doesn’t work as effectively or efficiently as it did when you were younger. You move slower. You seem to have more aches and pains and you find you can’t do as much as you once could. Getting older is difficult.

The good news is that in the resurrection you will be given a new body which is resilient and doesn’t let you down or become frail. So, whatever physical pain or limitations you may be enduring now, these will not last.

Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

A third point of application. Whether you are young or old or in between, you may feel at times like a moral or spiritual failure. You may struggle to understand what God wants you to do in any given situation, let alone have the courage or integrity to obey him.

Remember, you are a work in progress. In this life you are like the seed. You are like the caterpillar. You are like the driftwood. God has not finished with you yet.

Be confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

In the resurrection, we who belong to Christ will be so close to God, so in tune with him, that we instinctively move at the impulse of his love. It might be difficult to imagine right now, but God will get you there in the end if you hold to Christ. His grace is sufficient for you.

There are other points of application, but that is enough for today. May our God of grace strengthen our hope as we look forward to the transformation of our bodies in the resurrection. Amen.

(Prayer will be available after the service by the water cooler.)

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?

  • When faced with a problem, why is it important deal with both the symptoms and the cause of the problem? What was the likely cause of the Corinthians’ problem concerning the resurrection?  
  • Do you believe in a bodily resurrection? Why or why not? Has your understanding (or belief) about resurrection changed over time? If so, how? 
  • In what sense is there a continuity between this life and the next?
  • Why is it necessary for our bodies to undergo a transformation in the resurrection?
  • Thinking of what Paul says in vv. 42-44, how is our resurrected body different from our earthly body?
  • Discuss / reflect on the three points of application offered at the conclusion of this message. Can you think of any other ways in which the Christian belief in a bodily resurrection applies to us now?  

[1] Kenneth Bailey, ‘Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes’, pages 454-467.

[2] William Barclay’s commentary on Corinthians, page 177. 

Tawa Baptist

The Consequence of Resurrection

Scripture: 1st Corinthians 15:12-20 & 29-34

Video Link: https://youtu.be/axBZHOQ-Bd0

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Logical consequences of resurrection
  • Moral (& practical) consequences of resurrection
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Imagine, if you can, a world without gravity. It would make life very difficult. Even if you managed to get to sleep on the floor, you would wake up on the ceiling. You wouldn’t be able to take a shower very well. Trying to keep your food down would be tricky and going to the toilet would be a nightmare.

But really, you wouldn’t be able to do any of those things because, without gravity, life as we know it would not exist. The earth would disintegrate. 

Today we continue our sermon series in 1st Corinthians 15. There were some in the church in Corinth who were saying there is no resurrection of the dead. In chapter 15 Paul corrects this mistaken thinking.

To say there is no resurrection of the dead is like saying there is no gravity. Without the resurrection of the dead the Christian faith disintegrates.

Last week we heard how the death and resurrection of Jesus is the heart of the gospel. In today’s passage, Paul invites us to imagine the consequences of denying the resurrection. From 1st Corinthians 15, verse 12, we read…  

12 Now, since our message is that Christ has been raised from death, how can some of you say that the dead will not be raised to life? 13 If that is true, it means that Christ was not raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised from death, then we have nothing to preach and you have nothing to believe. 15 More than that, we are shown to be lying about God, because we said that he raised Christ from death—but if it is true that the dead are not raised to life, then he did not raise Christ. 16 For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is a delusion and you are still lost in your sins. 18 It would also mean that the believers in Christ who have died are lost. 19 If our hope in Christ is good for this life only and no more,then we deserve more pity than anyone else in all the world. 20 But the truth is that Christ has been raised from death, as the guarantee that those who sleep in death will also be raised.

29 Now, what about those people who are baptized for the dead? What do they hope to accomplish? If it is true, as some claim, that the dead are not raised to life, why are those people being baptized for the dead?  30 And as for us—why would we run the risk of danger every hour? 31 My friends, I face death every day! The pride I have in you, in our life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord, makes me declare this. 32 If I have, as it were, fought “wild beasts” here in Ephesus simply from human motives, what have I gained? But if the dead are not raised to life, then, as the saying goes, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.” 33 Do not be fooled. “Bad companions ruin good character.” 34 Come back to your right senses and stop your sinful ways. I declare to your shame that some of you do not know God.

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

The more observant among you may have noticed that part way through this reading we skipped from verse 20 to verse 29. We missed out eight verses. We will look at those eight verses next week. Our focus today is on the consequence of saying there is no resurrection of the dead.

Broadly speaking, verses 12-19 deal with the logical consequences of no resurrection and verses 29-34 deal with the moral & practical consequences. Let’s start with the logical consequences.

Logical consequences:

ACC have a series of TV advertisements which are aimed at preventing accidents. In one scenario a young man has the idea that he will jump from the top of a waterfall. Before he does though, he has a hmmm. He considers the consequences of jumping from a great height.

As he thinks it through he realises there is a serious risk that he will injure himself. Recovering from the injury would be a significant inconvenience to himself and his friends. With both his arms broken, who would wipe his bottom when he had to go to the toilet?

In verses 12-19 of 1st Corinthians 15, Paul gets his readers to have a hmmm; to think through the consequences of going along with the idea that there is no resurrection of the dead.

We could summarise the logic like this…

If you say there is no resurrection of the dead, then it logically follows that Jesus was not raised from the dead. And if Jesus was not raised from the dead, then the gospel message is false, our faith is based on a lie and our sins are not forgiven. Without the resurrection, Jesus died for nothing.

The main point here is that the integrity of the Christian faith rests on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Without a good foundation, the building collapses. Without the resurrection of the dead, the Christian faith collapses. If you remove a beating heart, the person dies. If you remove the resurrection of the dead, the Christian faith dies. Without gravity, the earth would disintegrate. Without resurrection, Christian faith disintegrates. 

Some of you may be wondering, how exactly does our forgiveness depend on Jesus’ death and resurrection?

Well, by raising Jesus from the dead God was vindicating Jesus. God was saying: I verify that Jesus was right and that he died for the sins of the world.

The resurrection of Jesus proves that Jesus did not die for nothing, that Jesus was true in what he taught about God. Logically, the resurrection of Jesus signals the triumph of love over hate, truth over falsehood, goodness over evil and life over death.  

Last Sunday we heard how the objective historical evidence for Jesus’ death and resurrection is very strong. I don’t need to rehearse that again today. Suffice to say, Paul can declare with confidence, in verse 20, But the truth is that Christ has been raised from death, as the guarantee that those who sleep in death will also be raised.

Okay, so when we have a hmmm and think through the consequences of saying there is no resurrection of the dead, we can see logically that the Christian faith comes undone.

Hand in hand with denying the logical consequences of the resurrection, there are also some very real moral and practical consequences. The moral and practical consequences relate both to this life and the next.

Moral consequences:

Viktor Frankl was an Austrian-Jewish psychiatrist who survived the concentration camps of the second world war. Viktor Frankl believed that life is the quest for meaning. Indeed, we are motivated by a hunger for meaning.

Viktor Frankl said: ‘When a person cannot find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.’

It is my observation that people search for meaning in all sorts of ways and are often disappointed. One of the things that gives a deeper (more satisfying) meaning to this life is the conviction that there is another life waiting for us beyond death. Because if this life is all there is, then death has the last word and if death has the last word then what’s the point?  All you are left with is hedonism, the maximisation of pleasure and the minimisation of pain.  

In verse 19 Paul makes the comment: If our hope in Christ is good for this life only and no more,then we deserve more pity than anyone else in all the world.

If we took this verse in isolation, we might misunderstand Paul to mean that the Christian faith is only good for the next life and is of no benefit for this life. But that’s not where Paul is going with this.

When it comes to being a follower of Jesus, there are costs and benefits in this life. One of the costs of being a Christian is that you can’t put your own pleasure ahead of everything else. For example, you can’t get drunk and you can’t sleep around. Nor can you lie, cheat and steal to get ahead in life. To make things even more difficult we are honour bound to forgive people when they wrong us.    

As it happens, following Jesus also comes with benefits. For example, because you don’t get drunk, you don’t suffer a hangover. Likewise, because you don’t sleep around, you avoid the shame and emotional trauma of cheap sex. Also, people are more inclined to trust you because you don’t lie, cheat and steal. What’s more, it is in forgiving others that we ourselves are forgiven and set free.

So, in many ways, living a Christian lifestyle is actually a morally and practically smart thing to do in this life. But again, that’s not where Paul is going with this.

Later, from verse 31, Paul goes on to say: My friends, I face death every day!… 32 If I have, as it were, fought “wild beasts” here in Ephesus simply from human motives, what have I gained?”

Paul is referring to the very real cost of being an apostle of Christ. When Paul says, I face death every day, he means he risks his life to preach the gospel every day. The “wild beasts” Paul fought in Ephesus are most likely the crowd that wanted to lynch him because his preaching of the gospel threatened the Ephesians’ false view of God and was bad for business.   

Paul suffered a great deal of hardship in the process of proclaiming the death and resurrection of Jesus. Why would he put himself through all of that suffering if he wasn’t convinced the resurrection is true? Paul found deep meaning through an encounter with the risen Jesus Christ. The meaning of Jesus’ resurrection sustained Paul as he suffered injustice for the sake of Christ.  

We are unlikely to suffer to the same degree that Paul did but we might sometimes face social rejection and misunderstanding for our beliefs. It would be fair to say that identifying as a Christian is not cool. The temptation to surrender our faith in the resurrection is strong in the materialistic society in which we live. But if we do that, we empty this life of its deeper meaning.

Paul continues in verse 32 saying: But if the dead are not raised to life, then, as the saying goes, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.”

If there is no resurrection, then that means this life is all there is. And if this life is all there is, then you may as well party hard. It’s like Viktor Frankl said: ‘When a person cannot find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.’

Paul goes on to say in verse 33: Do not be fooled. “Bad companions ruin good character.”

Paul is quoting the ancient Greek playwright Menander. This is Paul’s equivalent of using a movie clip to illustrate the point. The point being, if you spend too much time in the company of people who say there is no resurrection you will end up living a dissolute, immoral lifestyle.

If you let go of your belief in the resurrection, you discard the deeper meaning of your life. And if you discard the deeper meaning of your life you become a danger to yourself and to others.

God wants us to be close with him in right relationship. Jesus’ death and resurrection enables intimacy with God in this life and the next. Intimacy with God is the deepest (most satisfying) meaning there is.

That last sentence, in verse 34, I declare to your shame that some of you do not know God, is interesting. Paul is drawing a connection between God’s character and the resurrection. The fact of the resurrection testifies to God’s goodness and power. If you say that God did not raise Jesus from the dead, then you are really saying sin and death are stronger than God’s love, which is an ignorant thing to say. The power of God’s love has no rivals.

Some of you might be thinking, what about verse 29? Well, I’m saving that for last. Verse 29 reads: Now, what about those people who are baptized for the dead? What do they hope to accomplish? If it is true, as some claim, that the dead are not raised to life, why are those people being baptized for the dead?  

Baptism itself is a visual symbol of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Going under the waters of baptism represents the death of Jesus and the death of our old way of life. In the same vein, rising up out of the waters remembers Jesus’ resurrection and, at the same time, points forward to our own resurrection.

On the face of it, verse 29 seems to suggest there were people in the ancient church who were baptised on behalf of the dead. Maybe they had a friend or a family member who died before being baptised and so they went through the waters of baptism for them, to ensure their loved one’s eternal salvation.

Paul is not condoning this sort of thing. Far from it. Paul is simply pointing out the inconsistency in the Corinthians’ logic. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t say there is no resurrection and then be baptised on behalf of the dead.

Having said that, experts over the centuries have come up with about 40 different ways of interpreting verse 29. I’m not going to take you through all 40 interpretations, but I will mention one alternative which seems sensible to me.

Being baptised for the dead might refer to those who are baptised and become Christians as a result of a Christian believer dying. Like when a non-Christian is baptised in the hope of being reunited with a loved one who has died. For example, a heathen husband gets baptised ‘for the sake of his believing wife’, so that he might be reunited with her in the resurrection. Or a dying mother wins her daughter with the appeal, ‘meet me in heaven’. [1]

When I was about 10, my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. By the time they picked it up the cancer had spread to her liver. Nan lived with us for the last three months of her life.

During that time, we invited a faith healer to come and pray for my Nan. It was the early 80’s when NZ was in the midst of the charismatic renewal movement. The prayer did not result in my Nan’s physical healing. She still died of cancer but her death became the catalyst for our family to become Christians.    

We were not baptised for my Nan’s eternal salvation. Nan is saved through her own faith in Jesus. We were baptised as a sign of our conversion and in the hope that we would see my Nan again in the resurrection.

Who would you like to see again in the resurrection?

Conclusion:

Returning to the main point of our message today. What you believe about the resurrection has very real consequences. The resurrection is essential to the Christian faith. It is as essential as gravity is to the physical world. Christianity doesn’t have a lot of non-negotiables but the resurrection is one of them.    

As Paul says in Romans 10:9, If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord”, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Confessing with our mouths that ‘Jesus is Lord’ is not hard for most of us. Believing in our heart (in the core of our being) that God raised Jesus from the dead can be more difficult.

Intellectually, we may have no trouble accepting the historical evidence for Jesus’ resurrection. Likewise, we can see logically how Jesus’ resurrection makes sense of the Christian faith. The resurrection of Jesus gives substance and meaning and integrity to our faith.

But intellectual agreement is not the same thing as heart commitment. Sometimes the seed of our belief in the resurrection sits just below the surface of the soil, it doesn’t go that deep. So there is a gap between what we say we believe and how we respond when our faith is tested.

Jesus told his disciples about his death and resurrection at least three times before it happened. But the reality of what Jesus was saying didn’t really penetrate the soil of their hearts at first. The disciples’ heart commitment to Jesus’ resurrection came after the fact; after they had been through the crucible of the cross. They saw Jesus’ resurrection in the rear vision mirror.  

It is the same for us. Normally we have to go through the crucible of unjust suffering, or face the death of someone we love dearly, before the reality of resurrection takes root in our heart.

In the book of Job, possibly one of the oldest books in the Bible, Job says this while he is suffering great injustice: 25 I know that my redeemerlives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. 26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yetin my flesh I will see God; 27 I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within!

Job found meaning in his life, in the face of unjust suffering, by believing in a bodily resurrection. Job believed that even after death he would see God who would redeem his suffering and make sense of it all.

That yearning in your heart that no words can describe. That deep sense of dissatisfaction you feel with the way the world is, that no amount of entertainment or pleasure can numb. That is the desire for resurrection, for eternity, for intimacy with God. It is a desire only God can satisfy.  

Over the years I have sat at the beside of a number of Godly people as they passed from this world to the next. There is a calmness, a peace, an acceptance, an absence of fear, even a curiosity, in the spirit of these men and women of faith that shows me the resurrection is real.    

The journey to deep, heart-felt belief in the resurrection of Jesus can take a life time. Don’t worry. God’s grace is sufficient for you. He will get you there in the end if you hold to Christ.     

May God’s Spirit grant you the grace and strength you need for the journey. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

  • Why is the resurrection essential to the Christian faith? What are the logical consequences of saying there is no resurrection of the dead? 
  • Why did God raise Jesus from the dead? What does the resurrection of Jesus prove?
  • Discuss / reflect on Viktor Frankl’s thought: ‘When a person cannot find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.’ What does he mean? Do you agree or disagree? How do you find meaning for your own life in this world?
  • What are some of the costs and benefits (for you personally) of living a Christian lifestyle? Why are you a Christian? (Or, if you do not have faith in Jesus, why are you not a Christian?)
  • Has your belief in the resurrection been tested? If so, how? And what did you learn?
  • Who do you look forward to seeing in the resurrection?          

[1] Kenneth Bailey, ‘Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes’, page 450.

Tawa Baptist

The Gospel

Scripture: 1st Corinthians 15:1-11

Video Link: https://youtu.be/USnGS04z94s

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The heart of the gospel
  • The truth of the gospel
  • The grace of the gospel
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Some years ago our washing machine stopped working mid cycle, full of water and clothes. I got the repair person to come and take a look.

Turns out there was a hair clip trapped in the water pump. (Not my hair clip, by the way.) I watched to see how he unblocked it and then, the next time a hair clip went through the wash, I was able to fix it myself. (Even when you check pockets, things still find their way into places they shouldn’t.)

Although it was frustrating at the time, if the water pump hadn’t become blocked, I would never have learned how the washing machine worked much less how to remedy a blockage. Problems and mistakes usually provide a learning opportunity.

This morning we begin a new sermon series based on 1st Corinthians 15. Not the whole of Corinthians, just chapter 15. First Corinthians is a letter written by the apostle Paul to the church in ancient Corinth, which is in Greece.

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul addresses a number of problems in the church. For example, some people were saying there was no resurrection of the dead, which is sort of the equivalent of a blocked water pump in your washing machine. It basically stalls faith, stops the flow of hope and kills joy. 

In chapter 15, Paul shows us the inner workings of his theology of resurrection. He pulls apart the Corinthians’ thinking, clears the blockage and puts things back together again.

As frustrating as it must have been for Paul to have to correct this breakdown, being able to read how Paul addressed the issue provides a learning opportunity for us. It shows us how to fix the same problem.   

First Corinthians 15 is over 50 verses long, so the plan is to look at this chapter in smaller pieces during the weeks leading up to Pentecost. This morning we cover the first 11 verses, in which Paul writes about the gospel. From 1st Corinthians 15, verse 1 we read… 

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter,and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. 9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

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

As I mentioned before, the main theme of these verses is the gospel. Gospel is a word which simply means ‘good news’. The gospel of Jesus is the good news about Jesus Christ. In today’s message we consider the heart of the gospel, the truth of the gospel and the grace of the gospel.

The heart of the gospel:

When we talk about the heart of something we are normally referring to the core of the matter, the most important part, that aspect upon which life depends.

Paul gives us the heart of the gospel in verses 3-5. Essentially, Christ died for our sins and was raised on the third day. The death and resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah, is the heart of the gospel.

So what does Paul mean when he says, ‘Christ died for our sins’?

Well, there is a mystery to what Jesus accomplished in dying on the cross. So we need to approach these words with a good measure of humility.

Some people think solely in terms of punishment. For them the phrase, ‘Christ died for our sins’, means that God punished Jesus for our sins. The problem with this kind of thinking is that it makes God out to be a monster.

If you have two children and one of them does something bad and the other does something good, you don’t punish the one who did good as a substitute for the one who did bad. That would be child abuse.

In fact, as a loving parent, you are probably not thinking about punishment at all. You are more likely thinking about how best to teach your child the right way. In other words, how can I redeem this situation?

The main emphasis with this idea that ‘Christ died for our sins’ is redemption. Jesus died on the cross for our salvation. The cross is really God’s way of showing his love for us, so we can be close to him.

Kenneth Bailey uses Jesus’ parable of the good shepherd and the lost sheep to explain. When a sheep goes astray the good shepherd acts out of love for the sheep. He goes looking for the sheep and when he finds it, he brings it home so the life of the sheep is redeemed.

The shepherd does not say to himself, ‘The lost sheep has wandered five miles off the beaten track, so I must hike five miles through the bush to pay for the sheep’s mistakes’. No, what would be the point of that? The sheep would still be lost and the shepherd would be tired. When it comes to ‘Christ dying for our sins’, the focus is on the rescue, not the penalty. [1]

Or to put it another way, if we think of sin as a grenade. When we pull the pin of the grenade (when we sin), Jesus is the one who smoothers the grenade with his own body to shield us from the shrapnel. By going to the cross to die for our sins, Jesus was falling on the grenade to save us. Jesus was taking our sin upon himself so that when he died our sin died with him.

With the cross of Christ, the emphasis is on redemption, not punishment. If we put the emphasis on punishment, we end up with a warped idea of God; a God who is graceless and unfair and just waiting for us to slip up. Belief in a God like that is not sustainable.     

There’s an old Star Trek movie (called The Wrath of Khan) in which the Star-ship Enterprise is having engine problems. The core reactor is melting down and needs to be fixed before the whole ship explodes. Spock enters the reactor and fixes the problem but, in doing so, he is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation and dies. Spock gives his life to save the ship and its crew.

Jesus dying for our sins is a bit like that. Our sin is causing the whole of creation to melt down. Jesus’ going to the cross is like Spock going into the reactor to fix the problem. In the process of saving us and redeeming creation, Jesus dies.  

The writers of the Star Trek movies must have been reading the gospels because in the very next movie, Spock is resurrected. 

After Jesus had died on the cross for our sins and been buried, God raised Jesus to eternal life on the third day. That is the heart of the gospel. What about the truth of the gospel?

The truth of the gospel:

There are two kinds of truth: objective truth and subjective truth. Objective truth describes reality as it actually is, without bias from an individual. While subjective truth is reality as it is perceived or experienced by the individual.

For example, ‘the sun rises in the East’, is objective truth. That is true, irrespective of what you personally think or feel about sunrises. Whereas, ‘the sunrise is beautiful’, is subjective truth. Some people find a sunrise beautiful and others could take it or leave it; they would rather sleep in.

The good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection is objectively true and, for Christians at least, also subjectively true.

In verses 5-8 Paul gives evidence for the objective truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection. The risen Jesus appeared to Peter, to all the apostles (including James), to 500 others at one time and then later to Paul himself.

Paul was probably writing to the Corinthians about 20 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. So most of the original eye witnesses were still alive and therefore could provide objective testimony to confirm Jesus’ resurrection.

We know these witnesses were telling the truth because they were prepared to give their lives in testifying to the fact that Jesus had been raised from the dead. Their encounter with the risen Jesus was stronger than death itself. Indeed, the apostles were not afraid of death because they had seen first-hand how Jesus had conquered death.

Paul talks about those eyewitnesses who have died as having ‘fallen asleep’. That’s the difference the resurrection of Jesus makes. For the Christian believer, physical death is not ‘good bye forever’. Rather, physical death is simply, ‘goodnight my love, I will see you in the morning’.

Given the diverse number of witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection, plus their level of commitment to what they had witnessed and the closeness of the written record to the actual events, the objective historical evidence for Jesus’ death and resurrection is very strong. 

In verses 3 & 4 Paul offers the witness of the Old Testament as further evidence to support the facts of the gospel. These things did not happen at random. They happened according to God’s plan.    

But is the witness of Scripture objective truth or subjective truth? It’s both and.

Personal experience is the lens through which we interpret the Scriptures. The early Christians who had actually witnessed Jesus’ death and met the risen Jesus, could see how the Old Testament foretold these things because their personal experience gave them the insight to recognise it.

In talking about objective and subjective truth, it’s not that one is more valid or more important than the other. When it comes to the gospel, both are needed. If we don’t receive and believe in the truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection subjectively, for ourselves, then it won’t become a source of hope or joy or comfort for us personally.

Imagine you are out on the open sea. The boat you are in is sinking fast. Then along comes another boat. The captain of the other boat can see you are in trouble and asks if you want to come on board his boat. The rescue boat doesn’t look that flash but at least it is not leaking.

Both boats and the ocean are objectively real. Whereas, how you personally feel about the situation is subjectively real. Two people on the same sinking ship might be experiencing quite different emotions. One might be in a state of happy denial and the other might be frightened for their life.

Subjective truth matters a great deal because how you personally feel about the situation influences your decision. The objective truth is that if you don’t climb aboard the rescue boat you will drown.

In verses 1 & 2, Paul reminds the Corinthians that they did in fact receive the gospel he had preached to them and that they have taken their stand on the truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection and furthermore that they are being saved by the gospel.

The gospel is like the rescue boat and Jesus is the captain. The gospel may not appear that flash at first but it is objectively true, it does not leak. What’s more, the Corinthians have accepted the gospel as subjectively true for them. They have taken their stand in the boat of the gospel and it is saving them. To change their mind and jump out of the boat would only result in their death.

The grace of the gospel:

Okay, so the heart of the gospel is Jesus’ death and resurrection. The gospel is objectively true but it also needs to be subjectively true for us personally, if we are to be saved.

Jesus embodies the truth; he is the truth. Jesus also embodies the grace of God. With Jesus, truth and grace go together. Let’s consider then the grace of the gospel.

Grace means gift. Grace is not an entitlement, like wages or the repayment of a loan. It is not earned or owed. Grace is undeserved goodness. Or, to borrow a phrase from years gone by, grace is unmerited favour.  

In verses 5-8, Paul mentions three people by name whom the risen Jesus appeared to: Peter, James and Paul. The curious thing here is that Paul does not mention Mary Magdalene or any of the female disciples by name.

The gospels of Matthew, Mark & John all tell us that Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene on Easter morning. So why does Paul leave Mary out?

Well, we can’t know for sure. Perhaps Paul was only naming individuals that the Corinthians knew and they didn’t happen to know Mary, whereas they did know Peter, James and Paul.

What we can say is that Peter, James and Paul were shown special grace by the risen Jesus. Peter denied knowing Jesus and yet the risen Christ restored Peter asking him to ‘feed my lambs’.

Likewise, if the ‘James’ Paul is referring to here is the biological half-brother of Jesus, then Jesus was reaching out in grace to James. Jesus’ brothers did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah; they all thought he was mad. Seeing the objective truth of the risen Jesus changed James’ mind.

And then there is Paul, who says of himself in verses 8 & 9…

8 and last of all he [Jesus] appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. 9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

The risen Christ appeared to Paul, on the road to Damascus, even as Paul was on a mission to kill the followers of Jesus. In his grace, the Lord gave Paul the gift of a new perspective and a whole new mission. Paul’s response to Jesus’ grace was to obey the Lord in faith.

The phrase in verse 8, abnormally born, translates more literally as ‘miscarriage’ or ‘abortion’. It’s a term of verbal abuse. Perhaps Paul was ridiculed by his critics as an ‘abortion’ of a man?

Paul graciously endures the insult and turns it into something positive, for God’s glory. Paul says in verse 10…  

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.            

One way to understand Paul’s thought here is like this: Yes, my work before I met the risen Jesus was a lifeless abortion. My attempts to please God by persecuting Christians were a miscarriage. But, by God’s grace, my work since encountering the risen Christ has been fruitful and life-giving. [2]     

We are talking about the grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The grace of Jesus is greater than Peter’s denial, more real than James’ disbelief and more powerful than Paul’s persecution. The objective historical truth is that the grace of the risen Jesus is greater than human sin. 

One other thing we observe about grace. Notice how Paul says (at the end of verse 10), I worked harder than all of them – yet not I but the grace of God that was with me. Paul thought of God’s grace as a co-worker, someone working with him, alongside him. What a beautiful idea.

Have you ever felt like you’ve let God down? That might be your subjective truth (your internal reality) but it is not the objective truth. The objective truth is that you cannot let God down. You are not actually supporting God. God is supporting you, by his grace.   

When we serve the Lord we are not alone. God’s grace is working with us. Yes, we want to give our best but more often than not even our best will fall short. That’s okay. We don’t need to beat ourselves up. God’s grace is sufficient for us. God will see to it that his purpose prevails.

As you start the week, try to imagine God’s grace as a co-worker, supporting you, working with you as you serve God in your home, in your place of work and in the community.   

Conclusion: 

The heart of the gospel is Jesus’ death and resurrection. The gospel is objectively true but it also needs to be subjectively true, if we are to be saved. It is the grace of the risen Jesus which makes the truth of the gospel real for us.

May God’s Spirit of grace and truth make the resurrection of Jesus real for you and me, personally. Amen. 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

  • Can you think of a time when a problem or mistake created a valuable learning opportunity for you? What happened? What did you learn?
  • What is the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ?
  • How do we know the gospel about Jesus (his death & resurrection) is objectively true?
  • Discuss / reflect on the phrase, “Christ died for our sins”. What does this mean? Why is it important to emphasise redemption (rather than punishment) when thinking about what Jesus accomplished on the cross?
  • What difference does the death and resurrection of Jesus make for you personally?
  • What practical things can you do to remind yourself that God’s grace is a co-worker, supporting you and working with you as you serve God’s purpose in your home, in your place of work and in the community. 

[1][1] Kenneth Bailey, ‘Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes’, page 432.

[2] Refer James Moffatt’s commentary on 1st Corinthians, page 239.

Tawa Baptist

Doubt – by Sam Barris

Scripture: John 20:24-31

Sermon Notes:

I grew up in a Christian home. I was very blessed to have known and heard about God my whole life. Early on as a kid, I wasn’t sure if God was real. I hadn’t heard anything, seen anything, or really felt anything. I tried praying to God, asking for Him to show me he was real. I would read all these Bible stories about God intervening in a physical way, miracles taking place, angels appearing to people, staffs turning into snakes, bushes lighting on fire and wondered why none of this happened to me. I would ask God to show himself to me in a physical way – maybe it was a sunny day and I’d pray “God, turn this weather into a thunderstorm” and then I’d count God down from 5.  5, 4, 3, 2, 1, still sunny, shock. One time I remember standing outside and praying “God, let a Bible fall from the sky to show me you’re real”. What a fool. Please pick up your pew Bibles and throw them up and let them land on your head. That’s what I was praying for. Thankfully, God is infinitely wiser than me and did not let a Bible hurtle from the sky at a child’s head. 

While these are quite silly examples, I was experiencing a very normal thing. Doubt. Doubt is defined as a feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction. I think doubt can be something we’re afraid of or keep to ourselves. We might feel that we’re less faithful or not a good Christian if we’re doubting God or doubting what we hear at church. Today, I want us to understand that doubt is normal, it happens, we see it happening in the Bible but also: how do we deal with it and use that doubt to strengthen our faith? I thought this would be a good topic this week coming off Easter last weekend. At Easter, we hear how Jesus became human, sacrificed his life for all of us, to pay for our sins, and then 3 days later, was resurrected from the dead. It’s exciting stuff but believing it and understanding the true impacts it has takes faith. 

I went away to Easter Camp with our youth group and it’s an incredible weekend where teenagers have these opportunities to hear the Easter story, hear how God loves them and has a plan for their lives – but then so often, we head home and there are a lot of questions to answer still. If God loves me, why does my life still suck? I’ve heard God has a plan for my life, surely it’s not this life? We come away from this weekend of high emotion and praising God and then normal life hits again and doubts about what was experienced this weekend come flooding in. I think that can apply to everyone else as well, right? We might experience this incredible moment that feels like God’s hand is involved or we hear Will speak about God’s everlasting love and compassion and then go to work on Monday and wonder how this all works in the day-to-day. Where is God when work is stressing me out, when my family is sick, when I’m not where I want to be in my life? 

Let’s look at how doubt is addressed in the Bible. I want to start with the story of when Jesus appears to Thomas. Please turn with me to John chapter 20 verses 24-31, I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation version so feel free to read along with the words on the screen. 

One of the twelve disciples Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him “We have seen the Lord!”. But he replied “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.” 

Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you” he said. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” 

“My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed. Then Jesus told him “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in Him you will have life by the power of His name. 

Let’s look at this in 3 parts. Firstly, I want to touch on how Thomas deals with his doubts, secondly how Jesus intervenes, and finally how does Thomas respond to that? 

I feel a bit bad for Thomas, he’s remembered almost solely in the Bible for his doubts, ‘doubting Thomas’ he can sometimes be known as. I think he makes a fair point here in this cartoon – why don’t we call Peter ‘Denying Peter’ or Mark ‘Ran away naked Mark’? Despite being stuck with the name Doubting Thomas, we should respect Thomas for his faith and how he dealt with his doubts. It can be easy to read the Bible from the perspective of the all knowing audience thinking “Come on Thomas, why don’t you just trust that Jesus is alive again?” but let’s be real here. I know for a fact I would massively struggle to believe if it was me in Thomas’s sandals. I’d absolutely have the same reaction “OK, where is he then? Show me an alive Jesus, I’m not just going to take your word for it”. 

It’s better to doubt out loud than to disbelieve in silence. Thomas shows us a great example of how to deal with our doubts. He seeks to believe – he doesn’t just disregard what the disciples have told him, called them crazy, and stopped hanging out with them. He’s been honest and said “I’m going to struggle to believe it until I see it”. If we hold on to our doubts and don’t open up about them, confess them to God, and search for the answers to the questions raised by these doubts, that’s when we can be at risk of turning away from God or falling into temptation. Times of doubt and questioning can help us sharpen our faith but staying in that space can also be dangerous. When we are doubting, those are the times to lean further into God, read his Word, sing praises, and seek to understand like Thomas did. The worst thing we can do is go off and try to find the answers ourselves without God. This is obviously much easier said than done, it is not an easy thing to put into practice when you are in the midst of your doubts, but it is the way forward out of doubt and into true understanding. 

So Thomas has expressed his doubts, said “I’ll believe it when I see it” and then 8 days later, Jesus is there standing amongst Thomas and the other disciples. Let’s look at how Jesus intervenes on Thomas’ doubts. 

Then he said to Thomas “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe.”

Jesus gives Thomas what he needs to believe. In this case, what Thomas needs and wants seem to match up. This is not always the case for us, sometimes what we need from Jesus isn’t a sudden thunderstorm to appear out of nowhere or a Bible to hurtle from the sky towards your face but He knows what we need. We might also find that our answers don’t arrive in the timeframe we expect – maybe we catch ourselves counting God down from 5 like I did, giving Him a time frame that we want an answer. It takes 8 days from when Thomas expresses his doubts until he sees Jesus. Maybe sometimes things go unanswered for us for longer than 8 days, maybe it’s weeks, months or even years. 

I want to quickly turn to Luke chapter 7 and look at another scenario where John the Baptist is doubting Jesus and how Jesus deals with that. 

From Luke chapter 7 v 18-23: 

The disciples of John the Baptist told John about everything Jesus was doing. So John called for two of his disciples and he sent them to the Lord to ask him “Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting or should we keep looking for someone else?”. John’s two disciples found Jesus and said to him “John the Baptist sent us to ask ‘Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting or should we keep looking for someone else?’. At that very time, Jesus cured many people of their diseases, illnesses, and evil spirits, and restored sight to many who were blind. 

Then he told John’s disciples, “Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard – the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor. And tell him, God blesses those who do not turn away because of me. 

In the same way as Thomas, Jesus gives John what he needs to believe. All he does is point them to what he has done. To John, he says “The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good New is being preached to the poor” – a pretty compelling list. To Thomas he says “Feel my wounds, look at what I’ve done for you” – you can’t really argue with that. 

Just like Thomas, John’s doubts were natural and Jesus didn’t rebuke him for having them. He responded in a way that led to understanding. “Look at what I’ve accomplished”. God can handle our doubts and he welcomes our questions. 

These are great examples of how Jesus intervenes and quashes doubts but how can he do that for us? Jesus isn’t walking the streets of Tawa, performing miracles on the Main Road, or turning up here to physically show us his wounds. I sometimes used to think that if I was around when Jesus was on earth and saw him performing miracles, I would obviously just fully trust in Him, follow Him and how could anyone who saw these miracles in person do anything differently? Jesus counters that with “Blessed are those who believe without seeing me”. If we’re looking for answers, we have all the proof we need in the words of the Bible. “But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in Him you will have life by the power of his name” – just as Jesus gave the evidence to John the Baptist and Thomas, he gives it to us. 

But not just through reading the Bible. Engage in this church community, talk about your faith and your doubts with each other, listen to the testimonies of those around you, pray that God reveals these answers to you. Jesus isn’t anymore real or present to the people we read about in the Bible than he is to us. 

So we’ve looked at how we should raise our doubts using the example of Thomas, and we’ve seen how Jesus helps us with our doubts, how do we respond to that? How does Thomas respond when Jesus appears to him? 

He could have chosen to respond by saying “8 Days? You made me wait 8 days? You appeared to the others ages ago but made me wait! Why? Where have you been?”, questioning Jesus’ plan and timing. 

He could have said “I don’t know. How’d you pull this off? What kind of trick is this?” and carried on doubting, turning away from Jesus. 

All he says is “My Lord and my God”. 

He had his doubts, sought to believe, Jesus revealed himself to him and he believes. He doesn’t question the way this has happened or whether Jesus is tricking him, all he does is believe. 

How often do we hold onto doubt when all we’ve been asked to do is believe? We might get an answer from God and get stuck asking “Why did you make me go through this for 5 years before you gave me the answer I wanted?” or we get so caught up in trying to fix our problems ourselves that we miss the answer from God right in front of us. Or maybe we find ourselves in a tough spot and forget about how God has already helped us previously and the doubts come back. All we have to do is believe. 

There’s a story in Mark chapter 8 where Jesus and the disciples are on a boat, crossing a lake but they’ve forgotten to bring food – they had one loaf of bread with them. Jesus is trying to warn them about “the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod”, yeast symbolising evil in this passage. The disciples are just not paying attention, they’re arguing about how they all forgot to bring food and what are they going to eat? If only they knew a man who could do something about it. They’re arguing about their own problems amongst each other, wondering how they’re going to eat when literally just before they had seen Jesus feed 4 thousand people with 7 loaves of bread. 

Jesus says to them from the end of verse 18 

“Don’t you remember anything at all? When I fed the 5000 with five loaves of bread, how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up afterward? 

Twelve, they said. 

And when I fed the 4000 with seven loaves, how many large baskets of leftovers did you pick up? 

Seven, they said. 

Don’t you understand yet? He asked them. 

They were trying to solve their problem by ignoring Jesus and arguing amongst themselves as to who should have brought the bread. All they needed to do is believe and they didn’t understand that yet. When going through doubts or just a tough time in general, it can be easy to question God – why is this happening to me? In that space, take time to reflect. What has God already done for me? Do I actually need to worry and doubt or has God dealt with this before and will do it again? 

It wasn’t God’s plan for me to control the weather or let Bibles fall from the sky. God knew that wasn’t what I needed to believe. I believe through what I read in the Bible, the incredible life-giving changes God has brought to those around me, and through a great community. Sometimes it is hard to believe that God loves me, other times it’s as easy as “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so”. His love doesn’t waver like we do, whether I’m having a hard time believing it or not, it doesn’t matter what we think – He loves us. 

I wanted to end by sharing this article from 2020. A Christian group called Voice of Martyrs launched balloons containing bibles towards North Korea. When the balloons reach an altitude of between 20,000 to 30,000 feet, the atmospheric pressure forces them to pop. The bibles within them will then fall to the ground, landing, hopefully, in North Korean territory. God will make bibles rain from the sky if that is his plan. It wasn’t his plan for me but it was for those who truly needed it. 

Let’s pray:

Dear Heavenly Father, we are grateful that we can come to You at any time, about anything. We come to you with any lingering doubts on our minds and hearts and we ask for Your help. Have mercy on us in our doubts and give us vision and hope for what You will do. Deepen our trust in You. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. 

Tawa Baptist

The intimacy of opposites

Scripture: John 20:11-18

Video Link: https://youtu.be/EJA2Fnz9wX8

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Mary Magdalene
  • Blinded by grief
  • Seen by Jesus
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone and happy Easter.

We have a tradition, in our house, of making pancakes every Saturday morning. It says the weekend is here. For reasons I can’t really explain, it just doesn’t feel the same eating pancakes any other day.

Pancakes by themselves are a bit bland, they need some kind of topping. Being a creature of habit, I usually add lemon and sugar. There’s something about a sweet and sour combination that tastes so good. An intimacy of opposites.

Lemon and sugar on pancakes is a kind of parable for life. Much of day to day life is pretty bland, pretty flat. It’s the interaction of opposites that gives life it’s flavour. A squeeze of sourness here and a sprinkling of sweetness there. We need both, in the right measure.  

This morning’s message is based on John chapter 20, verses 11-18. The first thing that strikes me about this passage is the intimacy of opposites. In John 20, sweet meets sour. From verse 11 we read…

11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

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

Mary Magdalene:

Put up your hand if there is someone in your family named Oliver, Jack or Noah. Now put up your hand if there is someone in your family named Charlotte, Isla or Olivia. Apparently, these are among the most common baby names in New Zealand in recent years. (You can put your hands down now.)

The name Mary doesn’t appear in that list but if we went back a few years I expect it would. Mary seems to have been a very popular name among Jewish women in the first century.

Today’s reading features Mary Magdalene. So who is she?

Well, this is not Mary the mother of Jesus. Nor is it Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus. Magdalene is not Mary’s surname. It is most likely the place she comes from, on the shores of Lake Galilee. ‘Magdalene’ means watch tower.

In Luke 8 we learn that Mary Magdalene (among others) provided financial support for Jesus and his disciples after Jesus had delivered her from seven demons. This would suggest Mary was relatively wealthy, very capable and probably a leader in her own right. Mary Magdalene is a tower of strength.

In popular culture there is this idea that Mary Magdalene was a bit promiscuous, maybe even a prostitute. But there is no historical evidence for this thought. Mary Magdalene was not the woman of ill repute who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. That’s a different lady.

And, contrary to what the fiction writer, Dan Brown (of Da Vinci code fame), would have us believe, Mary Magdalene was not Jesus’ girlfriend or wife.    

Mary Magdalene was devoted to Jesus though. Not only did she support Jesus’ work in practical ways, she was also present at the cross when Jesus died just days before. The past 72 hours have been sour for her indeed but they are about to get sweeter.

Blinded by grief:

When I was a kid, my grandfather made my cousins and I an onion salad for lunch. When I say ‘salad’, it was basically a bowl of raw chopped onions with a few slices of tomato on top. No lettuce. No dressing.

He wasn’t being mean. He was a kind and generous granddad. But, for some reason, he believed that raw onions purified the blood. In his mind, onions prevented cancer. I’m not sure if there is any science behind that but I can tell you for a fact, it cured me of eating raw onions.  

Many years later I discovered caramelised onions. When you cook brown onions in a pan on a low heat, add some balsamic vinegar and a little brown sugar, the raw onion is transformed from bitterness to sweetness. A beautiful flavour. Who would have thought; vinegar & sugar. The intimacy of opposites.   

In verse 11 we catch Mary at a vulnerable moment, weeping at Jesus’ tomb. The sweetness of love, coupled with the bitterness of death, an intimacy of opposites. The more we love someone, the greater our grief when they die.

Mary isn’t just upset that Jesus has died. She is distraught that Jesus’ body is missing. Her mind is dragging her down a path she doesn’t want to go. She thinks ‘they’ (maybe the religious leaders) have stolen Jesus’ body.

When she looks inside the tomb she sees two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been. They ask her why she is crying. They are not asking because they don’t know. They are asking because tears are out of place at this moment.  

You would think the sight of two angels would startle Mary out of her grief but she doesn’t miss a beat. Her devotion to Jesus is so powerful, not even the presence of angels can distract her. Mary wants just one thing, to be close to Jesus.

In Matthew 5, Jesus gives the beatitudes. The beatitudes hold together the sweet and sour of being a follower of Jesus. These beautiful sayings of Jesus describe the intimacy of opposites. To live inside the beatitudes is to be close to Jesus.   

Mary is living inside three beatitudes in particular…

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.   

And blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Mary is poor in spirit, at the end of her rope. Heaven has come to earth for her. Mary is mourning, crying her eyes out. She is comforted by angels. Mary is pure in heart, willing one thing, to be close to Jesus. She is about to see God’s Son.

When Mary turns around, Jesus is standing there. But she doesn’t recognise him at first. She thinks Jesus is the gardener. Perception is a funny thing. So often we see what we expect to see, not what is actually there.  

When I write a sermon, I check the grammar and spelling. I think it’s all good to go and then I read it again the next day, with fresh eyes, and notice the odd word missing. With the first edit I saw what I expected to see, not what was actually there. It pays to take a second and third look.

Mary was not expecting Jesus to be alive and so she didn’t see him at first. She assumed him to be the gardener, perhaps because they were in a garden and who else would you expect to see that early in the morning.

But when we reflect on this scene, in the context of the Old Testament, we see there is perhaps a deeper connection here. The garden Mary and Jesus found themselves in would be fragrant with the myrrh and spices of Jesus’ grave clothes lying neatly in the tomb. This setting reminds us of the Song of Songs, that sacred love poem, which takes place in a garden filled with fragrance & spice.

In the Song of Songs the woman says…
16 Awake, north wind, and come, south wind! Blow on my garden, that its fragrance may spread everywhere…
And the man replies…
1 I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.

The Song of Songs celebrates a love so powerful it conquers death. The power of God’s love (in Christ) has conquered death. 

To be clear, Mary and Jesus were not lovers in a physical sense, but they did care deeply for each other. Mary’s devotion is tempered with restraint. You know that bitter sweet feeling (when you are young) and you like someone but you hold your feelings back? Lemon and sugar. The intimacy of opposites.

Seen by Jesus:

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
And in that moment Mary’s eyes are opened, her perception is changed and she recognises Jesus. He is risen. He is alive.

The interesting thing in verse 16 is that Jesus addresses Mary using the Hebrew version of her name, Miriam. Jesus speaks Mary’s heart language.

Tell me, who is Miriam in the Old Testament? [Wait] That’s right, Miriam is the older sister of Moses.  Miriam was devoted to Moses, taking care of him as a new born child, watching over him as his basket floated down the Nile to where an Egyptian princess was bathing.

Intimacy is when someone sees into you. They see you as you really are and still accept you. To be intimate with someone is to let down your guard, take off your mask and stop pretending. If you are comfortable to be yourself with someone and they are comfortable being themselves with you, that’s an intimate relationship.

Jesus had seen Mary at her worst, when her life was a mess and she was under the influence of seven demons. But Jesus saw past the mess and the demons. Jesus saw who Mary truly was, on the inside. Who God had made her to be.

Jesus is the new Moses. The new leader of God’s people. The one who fulfils the law. By calling Mary, ‘Miriam’, Jesus is honouring her as his big sister; a tower of strength who has taken care of him in life and in death.  Jesus is saying to Mary, ‘I see you’.

It’s only after Mary realises that the Lord sees her, that she is able to see the risen Jesus herself. It’s in being seen for who we are that our eyes are opened. It is through intimacy that we are set free to be our true selves.  

Intimacy requires trust. Trust is at the heart of faith. Putting your faith in Jesus doesn’t just mean believing he exists. Putting your faith in Jesus means trusting him enough to be yourself with him.  

Of course, when it comes to intimacy, we need to exercise wisdom. We cannot trust everyone. We cannot be intimate with everyone. We must be discerning about who we reveal ourselves to. Don’t put the pearls of your trust before swine. Your trust is precious. Value it.

Mary replies by addressing Jesus as ‘Rabboni’ (which means teacher). This indicates that Mary sees herself as one of Jesus’ disciples. She is his student, his apprentice. Sometimes men overlook the fact that Jesus had female disciples as well as male disciples.

In verse 17, Jesus says to Mary, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father…”

The first thing this verse tells us is that Mary is holding onto Jesus. Maybe clasping his feet or giving him a hug. It’s little wonder Mary responds by reaching out to hold Jesus. She loves him and is overjoyed to see him again.

The fact that Mary is able to touch Jesus shows us the risen Jesus has a physical body. He is real. Mary is not hallucinating. Jesus is alive, he is not a ghost.

We might be a little puzzled as to why Jesus tells Mary to stop holding on to him. It’s not that Jesus is afraid of being contaminated by Mary in some way.

Rather, Jesus wants Mary to know: I’m not leaving right now, but I will be ascending to God my Father soon, so our relationship is going to change. It won’t be like it was before when we all hung out together. Once I’ve ascended, we will have a different kind of intimacy, a deeper intimacy. You won’t see me or be able to touch me, but I will be with you and among you by my Spirit.     

Although Jesus doesn’t explicitly mention the Holy Spirit in his conversation with Mary, later in verse 22 when the Lord meets with the other disciples, we read how Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”.

The other reason Jesus tells Mary to let go, is because Jesus has something he wants Mary to do. Jesus says, “Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

It’s interesting that Jesus chooses Mary to give this most important message. In the first century women were not legally allowed to be witnesses in court proceedings. They were considered inferior or not reliable enough.

That idea is offensive to us today and Jesus didn’t like it much either. Peter and John were at the tomb only moments before. Jesus could have appeared to them first but he waited until they had left and then appeared to Mary instead.

Jesus did not think women were inferior or unreliable. Jesus sees Mary and he commissions her to be an apostle to the apostles. By trusting Mary with the good news of his resurrection, Jesus was letting the disciples know that women have equal status, equal value with men.      

Notice though the intimacy in Jesus’ statement: “Go to my brothers… My Father and your Father. My God and your God.”

With Jesus’ death and resurrection, the disciples’ relationship, to Jesus has changed. Now they are family. Which means they have a closer connection, a deeper bond, with God through Jesus.

In obedience to Jesus, Mary went to the other disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord”. Intimacy with Jesus produces faithfulness to Jesus.

Conclusion:

Don’t you find it curious that when Jesus rose from the dead he didn’t appear in the temple and say, “I’m back”. Jesus did not reveal himself to the masses. He didn’t issue a press release and stage a massive rally. No.

Jesus revealed his resurrection personally, intimately, to individuals and small groups of people whom he had formed deep relationships with. Why did he do it this way? Because eternal life is not a stadium rock concert. Eternal life is intimacy with God through Jesus.

The resurrection of Jesus is the basis of our hope of resurrection. Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we have real hope of being raised to eternal life through faith in him.

But eternal life is not just something in the distant future when we die. Eternal life is intimacy with Jesus. And intimacy with Jesus can be experienced now, in this world, when life is making us suck lemons.

I would like to offer you a recipe or a formula for creating intimacy with Jesus, but it doesn’t work like that.

Maybe you have enjoyed an intimate experience with the Lord while working in your garden, or singing praise in church or reading your Bible in private or walking in the hills. But it’s not like that every time is it. Sometimes reading the Bible feels dry. Sometimes being in the garden is a chore. If Mary had gone back to the garden the next day, she would not have found Jesus there.

Intimacy isn’t something we can switch on like a light. Intimacy cannot be manufactured. Intimacy comes to us as a gift at the intersection of opposites, in the crucible of personal suffering, when we are least expecting it.   

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.  
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

The intimacy of opposites. When we find ourselves inside the beatitudes, we are close to Jesus. May the Lord bless you with intimacy.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

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

  • How do you like to eat your pancakes? (What topping do you prefer?) What culinary opposites tend to work well together?
  • What do we know about Mary Magdalene from the Bible?
  • What is intimacy? Why do we need intimacy?
  • Discuss / reflect on the beatitudes of Jesus as examples of the intimacy of opposites. What does it mean to live inside the beatitudes? Which of the beatitudes are you living inside at the moment?
  • Why does Mary fail to recognise Jesus at first? How does Jesus enable Mary to see?
  • Why does Jesus tell Mary not to hold onto him? Why does Jesus choose Mary to be an apostle to the apostles?  

Outtakes

To mistake Jesus for the gardener reminds us of another garden and another gardener. I’m thinking of the garden of Eden, before the fall. We read in the opening chapters of Genesis how God took the first man (Adam) and put in him the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Now Jesus, the second Adam, the new paradigm or model of what it means to be human, is thought of (in Mary’s mind) as a gardener. We also read of the intimacy (the close companionship) Adam and Eve enjoyed with God, as the Lord walked in the garden of Eden in the cool of the day. Now Jesus, the Son of God, is walking in the garden of resurrection with Mary.